Dead Friends and New Enemies

Logan, Matthew and Keller end there time at a small hole in the wall Cafe in downtown Seattle completely unaware of the evil about to enter the world.

Chapter 3

  Halfway across the United States, Logan, Matthew, and myself were finally leaving the Cafe. Our heads buzzed with Caffeine and the amount of newfound energy in Logan was causing quite the ruckus. I had always known he could never handle Caffeine well, even at the age of 18, and he was trying his best to parkour his way back to the bus station that would lead us to our dorm rooms. After seeing him trying to run up the wall, jump over benches, and tightrope walk a railing, I very quickly realized that this act would only obtain any form of complement through the sheer humor found in the moment. Logan had never been very athletic, even though his job as a stocker for a local Hardware store kept him fairly fit, and it showed with every step he took. His first attempt to wall running looked more like a chicken attacking a brick wall all legs and sliding with no traction, the bench jumping almost killed him as he made it over two benches then tripped on another almost breaking his neck, much to Matthew’s amusement, and the tightrope walking of the railing I will not document to save true parkourers the shame of having to read about Logan’s failure. Matthew’s deep laughter did not help the situation much as Matthew helped Logan pick himself up off the ground and Logan began to look around for something else to kill himself on. Luckily the bus showed before he had the opportunity.

Seizing the opportunity, I shouted, “Logan. Matthew. Common get yourselves over here before the bus leaves us behind. I am not walking back to campus for the next 2 hours.”

Matthew turned from Logan “Be right over their man,” and started jogging with his long powerful strides towards me and the bus.

Logan was not so easily persuaded by my voice “Wait one minute Keller. I gotta try to run up this railing and leap the people eating dinner over at the pier.” The nut started running towards the designated railing and the poor innocent couples. Before reaching them, he flopped over another table on the pier and proceeded to pick up speed barreling towards the railing blocking him from the table.

All that we could do before the inevitable occurred was thunder, “We will leave you behind if you take one more step. Don’t be an idiot.” Then he was airborne. He actually managed to hurdle the railing in some miraculous twist of fate. He was airborne and hurtling towards the table his weight pulling him down way faster than he had thought possible. At this rate a collision with the couple, the table, and their food was inevitable. Time seemed to freeze at that moment as I felt my insides cringe for my friend and I saw Matthew begin to take a step towards Logan, probably to apologize and make up some excuse for Logan’s idiocy rather than having the dude at the table floor him. All this flashed through my mind and then the shock wave hit. A raw blast of powerful energy that sent Matthew and I sprawling up against the bus which was now bucking from the blast its widow’s shattering inward and raining glass amongst the road and the occupants. In the case of Logan, the blast probably saved his life as he flew backward over the railing and landed in a heap on the concrete as the table the couple was seated at flipped over from the blast scattering food and them on the ground.

As I viewed the destruction I slowly realized I was flat on my back and gingerly lifted myself off of the concrete a high pitched ringing in my ears. All of the tables had flipped over on the pier scattering garbage, garbage cans, and pedestrians on its weathered concrete surface. I saw some of them stirring while others were crying for help as tables had flipped on top of them pinning them to the ground. Slowly as more cries came to me and screams, I realized my hearing was returning as the odd ringing left my ears. Quickly, I turned to look at Matthew and saw him lying unresponsive next to the bus. I grabbed him and began to shake him awake shouting his name and was rewarded with a slug to the face. As I staggered back Matthew shot up fists clenched ready to fight whatever or whoever he believed was assaulting him. The fight left his eyes and body as he saw me with a split and rapidly forming fat lip.

“I’m sorry man,” He screamed above the cries of pain and others calling for aid. It was apparent he had not fully regained his hearing.

As if remembering the destruction that had taken place all around me, I realized hundreds of people were running away from the pier some injured and bloodied others escaped the blast with minor bruises or were lucky enough to evade injury all together. However, in the desire to escape the freak show at the pier people had lost all regard for the wellbeing of the severely injured. Many were stuck on the ground trapped by overturned tables or had been injured when the glass exploded on the pier. Looking out on the scene an almost animal terror filled me urging me to flee with the group. A small voice seemed to whisper to me, “they have abandoned those to stupid to survive. Let them die and save your own life.” Fighting down the animal voice I ran towards the pier searching for Logan who I realized had been lost under the stampeding crowd.

Luckily, I found him immediately he was conscious but had not yet stood up. As I approached I could tell that he had rolled under one of the overturned tables in order to avoid being trampled to death under the feet of the crowd.

Logan glanced at me and I saw his eyes for the first time and the sight of them stole the breath from my lungs. Small blood ran from the outside of his eye to the ires creating indiscernible patterns in the whites of his eyes. However, his pupils were the most disturbing part of his eye. They seemed to have visibly changed from there normally size to shape to dominate half of the visible whites of his eyes. They almost gave a hunters look to him as the small amount of moonlight on the pier seemed to reflect off of his orbs. Something was definitely wrong but what I could not place. Then I realized it was his silence. Normally Logan was the hardest one to get to shut up in class and out of class. Whatever entered his brain came forth for better or worse. But no greeting was given. No words were spoke. Instead, he just stared at me like a statue with his emotionless eyes. Eyes that seemed to be taking in every part of me and deciding what to do with the “specimen” they had discovered.

Softly I whispered, “Logan are you okay?” The eyes just stared in response. Even though I had tried to ignore it, the animal fear was returning urging me to run but my love for my friend held me back. The need to make sure he was safe no matter what had happened to him in the blast took precedence over any internal instinct. Logan needed my help and I was not about to leave him sitting there in shock or whatever else he was in. I fought against my legs every step of the way. I fought against my own mind even but step by step I headed towards Logan. Right before I reached him I thought I saw a flicker of life behind those eyes. A small part of human emotion of the old Logan looking at his friend from High School fled across his eyes before the same inquisitive stare returned to his eyes but with each step I took something else seemed to be growing behind those eyes. A look of need. A look of desire. I could not tell as I approached but I hoped that just maybe he realized his need for help. Maybe he realized that it was his old friend looking at him but I could not be sure.

Once I reached him, I knelt in front of Logan looking into his scrutinizing eyes, “I am going to help you up Logan. Ok. You are going to be fine but we have to get to a hospital and make sure nothing on you is broken.” I reached out my hand and gently touched his shoulder and something emerged from his eyes. Something dark and animal was visible as I finally identified how he was looking at me. It was not as a friend or an unknown. It was as an animal looking at his prey. A hunter figuring how to best go in for a kill of something far inferior to it. Logan’s hand shot out and grabbed me by my shirt collar and bodily heaved me 20 yards towards the bus stop. I flew and landed hard trying to breath and register what was happening.

Matthew who I thought had left in the crowd stampede because of his silence, ran to me and screamed at Logan, “What is wrong with you man. He was trying to help you.” No sooner had those words left his mouth then I heard him utter a prayer. A terrified calling out for help from God that he would deliver us from whatever was occurring. It was not the prayer that worried me though it was the sudden look of fear in his eyes. The sudden terror that came over his features I had never seen before. His strength and fearlessness had been a constant aid to myself and Logan during the hard times in our lives. Times that Matthew’s family was generally unscathed by. But to see the almost animal look of terror, the horror in his eyes it gave me strength born of fear. Whatever was striking terror in Matthew, we must flee from. I willed my body to stand and then I forced it to when it did not respond. Pain wracked my body from my sudden flight.

My vision flickered but as it cleared, I saw a bodily change overtaking Logan. It appeared that a serpent or some colossal worm was instigating a change within Logan. A large round structure seemed to be making its way throughout his body and Logan began to mutate. His body structure appeared to fuse and change before my eyes as the body fat on Logan began to turn into rippling muscle revealing the disturbing changes that were taking place. His legs had begun to elongate and buckle bringing his body to a kneeling position as the flesh on his body began to pale to a ghostly white as if all the blood in his body had traveled to his bloodshot eyes. The skin on his hands peeled back and his bones began to fuse with his skin into bone white claws that spread out as fingers. Menacing and pale Logan stood before us. His bloodshot eyes boring into us. Then Logan collapsed.

His body fell hard on the concrete and his body began to convulse heavily. Matthew and I moved as one, everything that just occurred to Logan forgotten as we ran to his side wanting to help him. The smell that hit our nostrils as we approached him met us like a wave. Matthew threw up the contents of the drink he had ordered at the Cafe and I was hard pressed to keep my food and coffee down as well. Logan smelt as if his insides had been burnt to ash. A strong smell of burnt flesh flooded the air but the stench of decayed flesh existed as well. A strange paradox of the purity of fire and the corruption of diseased dead flesh.

“What happened to him man,” Matthew wondered aloud. “It’s like something else is in that body.”       

    “I know. On the pier he looked ready to kill me,” I responded. “This cannot be him, It just cannot.” I looked at his corpse. “What are we going to do with his body? He has to be dead, no one would survive that.”

Matthew bent down and slowly turned Logan over. “That blast man. It has to be the blast. It did something to him. Something to those people who ran to. They could have cared less if they killed someone running away. People are not like that. Logan was not like that.” His voice cracked and he knelt on the ground next to Logan his body being racked with sobs.

I felt the overwhelming sadness as well. The adrenaline in my body finally wearing off as well as the numbness of the illogical events that had just occurred. I fell down and hugged Logan’s body. The body of my High school friend who would never hurt a soul. The one with a heart as bigger than anyone I had met. I held his stinking body with its mutations and wept over his demise. I wept for the craziness of the situation. I wept that this was even allowed to happen and that life had again chosen me to be its plaything. Give me hope and love than take it away. I wept because my body could not take anymore pain that had been inflicted upon it by the cruelness of life. I wept because that pain had consumed Logan. That was I certain of. Someone would pay for the life of my friend. I would make them pay.

Author's Note

This is the 3rd chapter of the book. As soon as I have the content copyrighted I will be posting more chapters. Enjoy and as always any comments would be helpful