Earth 50 years later

A Chapter by phillip hamilton

The beginning

Earth 50 years later.

I awoke to the sound of yelling.

My head began to pound as i sat up, as though someone drove a truck over my skull.
I looked around, trying to figure out where i am, and what is going on.
The last thing i remember i was being ejected into space far away from Earth.
Solid ground, dirt is beneath me as i gazed unto a wasteland.

A city was once nearby, now it is rubble and ruins.
There is no plant life, the trees are lifeless husks, the air is acrid, thin, making it difficult to breathe.

My eyes are the same, prismatic, swirling in a multitude of colors.

They were once the key to seeing a new energy, an energy so powerful that it could save or destroy the world.
In space goggles were made to replicate what the solar flare did to my eyes.
I liked to think of it as gods programming, this energy.
With it a man could tap into such a power that only a god could compare.
Betrayal led us into the path of the solar flare, killing good men, and once they had what they wanted betrayal led me to my death.
Am I dead?
Is this some sort of limbo?

I heard the yelling again, a loud holler, possibly a taunt.
The sound was coming from behind me.
I turned and saw that the devastastion wasnt as bad going away from the city.

I sat upon a hillside, from which i had a good viewpoint of the destroyed city but from afar.

The sound came from the rubble behind me.
If someone is in trouble then i have to help them.
I looked around for a weapon, finally standing up.
Fire went through my legs, but I managed to stay up, leaning against a large boulder for support.
I flexed my hands and was relieved to see my super advanced gloves.
In fact, I was wearing the same gear I had on in space. Black leather gloves with a black jumpsuit. My tools seemed to be in the many pockets still. They will come in handy.
I saw black shapes moving quickly chasing something, or possibly someone.
I couldn't get down from my perch that direction, it was a straight drop, so i looked for another way down.
Then i noticed they were coming right for me which let get a better look.
A boy, probably around 14 years old, with black hair, dark skin, a cloak, and a crossbow in his hand was running from what looked like zombies.
There were three of them chasing him, necrotic flesh hanging from exposed bones.

Freaking zombies?

What the hell is going on?

Now before i continue my story it is important to explain a few things.
When the solar flare hit our ship in outer space it changed my eyesight, so much so that i gained the ability to see what is known as a humans aura.
An aura is basically a field of unknown energy(they therorized that it is a magnetic field) that surrounds the body with layers of different colors.
It was believed that the color of your aura could tell you a lot about a persons personality.

I see auras differently, including my own.
I did a great deal of study and experimentation in space to better understand the phenomenon.
I developed the ability to weild my aura using a field generator in my gloves, giving me a form of telekenisis.
I had a friend of mine implant a microchip in my brain for another purpose but as a side effect I gained this new power.
Now back to the story.

The boy had a greenish blue aura, which generally means that he is kind hearted and jovial, which is good.
The zombies auras were black with tendrils reaching out from the edges as though seeking something to devour.

I wanted to help the boy, and if there was dark matter around i would rain fire down upon them but there seemed to be none to be seen.
I called upon the power of my aura using the link between my nervous system and the microchip to will it into motion.
My aura responded to my mental commands, forming a large hand that rested upon the boulder.

With a mighty heave the hand flung the massive rock upon the zombies as they passed by below.

The boulder obliterated them, sending black blood flying in every direction.
The boy looked up at me for the first time and gave me a half crooked smile, revealing a perfect set of pearly white teeth.

I decided to make an even bigger entrance and formed my aura into a flat disk then stepped upon it, lowering my self to the ground below.
To him it looked like I could fly and I chuckled as his jaw dropped to the floor.
He stuttered as he tried to speak " Wh wh who are you?"
I smiled at him, " My name is Nathan, who are you?"

He frowned his face confused, " Dad says I'm not supposed to talk to strangers, but you saved my life, so my name is Ezekiel, it's good to meet you. "

He held out his hand for me to shake and his aura changed.

A ripple of black flowed from chest down his arm to flow around his hand.

I thought to myself before i moved.

I don't know this kid, who is definately trying something, but I also don't know where I am or what's going on.
He may be my only hope of getting some answers.

I don't trust him, Ill just have to be careful.
Instead of shaking his hand I distracted him, pointing over his shoulder at something non existant.
" Look there's more of those things we need to go somewhere safe."
His fear of the zombies trumped whatever he had planned.

He looked around worried, dropping his hand, the darkness in his aura dissapating.
" I don't see them"
Disbelief was obvious in his tone.

I feigned confusion,
" Hmm I swear I just saw one, well either way it doesn't seem safe. What are you doing out here anyway?"
"Scavenging, what are you doing out here? "
I decided to be honest.
" I don't know, I don't remember how i got here. "
The boy was confused.
" What do you mean? Did you get hit on the head?"
He was closer to the truth than he could have imagined. I recalled the arguement with Cato on the ship.
The coward hit me on the head with my back turned and ejected me into space, leaving me for dead.

Those last few moments were an adrenaline fueled blur.
My aura barely kept my body from freezing as I desperatly tried to figure out a spell that would save my life.
I must have done it, because I'm here and alive.

I don't think this boy will understand that I came from space through a magic portal so I chose a different path.

After a second of thought I replied to his question,
" Yeah, sorta. Look I have a ton of questions and since I saved your life do you think you could answer them? "
Ezekiel's aura darkened for a second, then returned to normal. " Alright Ill answer your questions, but I've already been out to long. My dad doesnt like when I bring anyone home but my mom doesn't mind, she will proly make you some dinner too."
I didn't realize how hungry I was so the mention of food made my stomach rumble.
" Alright Ezekiel you have a deal."
He agreed and I motioned for him to lead the way.

He led me through the rubble away from the big destroyed city.

I checked the settings on my gloves as we walked.

The gloves were my most important invention, and I am the only one with a pair like them.

20 Tiny speakers are embedded thoughout each hand, and connected to programming embedded in the micro chip in my brain.
With it I can produce any one of a thousand sounds, at any pitch or freqeuncy simply by thinking it.

To test it I thought of a Katy Perry song 'I kissed a girl' and it began to play exactly as I remembered it.
Ezekiel turned confused,
"What is that?"
I shrugged,
"What? Oh you mean Katy perry?"

The boy looked even more confused,
"What's a Katy perry? Why does she want to kiss a girl?"

He made me laugh,
" She was a singer and I always wondered why she wanted to kiss the girl, I assume its cause she liked it."

He shook his head,
" Where is the sound coming from, your gloves?"
I nodded,
"Yep, there pretty cool. Alright I was just making sure they worked, Ill stop now. "
With a silent command the gloves went quiet.

We contined walking in silence.

At first the area seemed equally destroyed, but things started to get better the more we walked.

The land was dead though, no grass, the trees were rotten and falling apart.
This whole world was bugging me, things just weren't right.

There should be at least insects or something, but it was just quiet. No birds, no animals of any kind, it looked like the apocalypse had hit the world.
Then I saw a sign laying on the ground, green with faded and missing letters.

NOW L AVING DAL AS POP 318 643.

My stomach dropped, as the recognition hit me.

Dallas Texas is completly gone.

I had family that had lived in dallas, she was a great aunt but still.

I hadn't taken the time to think about my family but now that I knew I was on earth I could no longer put my feelings to the side.

Ezekiel had noticed me looking at the sign, and since I wasn't moving he crouched looking at it with me.

He whispered ,
"What does it say? I cant read. "

I was surprised to hear him say he couldn't read but that tells me the apocalypse happened at least 14 years ago.

So I time traveled?

Maybe I'm jumping to conclusions, who knows maybe there is an explaination.
I turned to him and frowned,
" This is a sign, and once this pile of rocks was a city named Dallas . Have you ever heard of it?"

"Nope, Dad says there is to much work to do to learn a bunch of useless stuff. "

" Your Dad sounds like a nice guy."

The kid obviously didn't understand sarcasm because of his reply,
" Hes really not nice at all."

I didn't press the issue and decided that the dad would be the one to answer my questions.

We reverted to silence and continued walking.

As we walked I saw less and less rubble, a few junked cars scrapped of engines and tires.

At one point we passed a litteral forest of dead trees. We could see shapes moving about so we hurried through that area.

Up until after the dead forest we were following an old concrete road which had broken chunks every few feet making it impossible to drive a vehicle down.

I followed him off the broken road over some rubbble to a well kept paved road.
I was surprised to see a road in such good shape, and even more surprised when he pulled a camouflage tarp off reavealing a two seater off road vehicle.

Battery powered, it looked modified, had armor plating, looked pretty bad a*s.

The boy grinned,
"Im tired of walking. Hop in."

My stomach was grumbling so I wasted no time getting in. The engine roared to life.

Yep definately modified.

We took off down the road, ezekiel flooring it.

An awkward silence set in which I'm not a fan of.
"So where do you live?"

He was hestitant to answer,
" In a mansion about 30 minutes down this road."
Hmm
" A mansion eh, you got any servants. " I said with a laugh.

He grinned ,
"Yes, just not the conventional kind.
"
This confused me.
" What do you mean?"

His aura grew dark, a deep purple color which i had seen before in space from a man that was trying to hide something.

That color represents the act of deception.

It was then that i noticed the bare glimmer of something shiny underneath the drivers side console which he quickly covered inconspiciously with a blanket.

"What is that?" I asked.

The boy was sharp, raising his voice
" That is none of your damn business is what it is. Ok you are asking all these questions and i know nothing about you. "

He was right.
" True enough, well I was once a thing called a scientist and my job was to find the truth about the world around us . "

The kid interrupted me
"Quit bullshitting, everyone wants to know the truth how did you get here?"
I was shocked at the audacity of this kid, who projected this image of being dumb and illiterate when he obviously isn't either.
" Well I was getting to that. "

" Use the abriged version, I don't have time to listen to you talk all day. "

" Hmm for someone who can't read abriged is a big word. "

Ezekiel stared me down as I grinned.

He sighed and said
"Fine I can read, and I've probably read more books than you have Mr Scientist. "

The purple in his aura had dissapated, so I guess he was warming up to me.

"As I was saying I was once a scientist who went into space working for a company called global industries. "

When I spoke the name global I could see recognition in his eyes but I continued, deciding to tell the truth and see what happens.

"Well they sent us into space where they tried to kill us by putting our ship directly in the path of a solar flare.
The flare changed my eyesight and I made the most incredible discovery man had ever made. I discovered Dark matter."

Once again I saw recognition in his eyes.

" Dark matter contains the entire universe in every ounce and I figured out that it responded to sound. With the right combination of sounds you could access any thought, feeling, action, object that had ever existed. "

The boy seemed interested at this point.
" So what happened? If you had this dark matter how did you get here?"

I sighed, taking a deep breath before I continued.
" I was a trusting fool. We were dying, our life support wasn't holding up, I was crushed beneath part of a wall, trapped for days before a woman named Ester found me. We were lost, I had been looking at this energy for days, trying every concievable combination of sounds to make the dark matter do something. It wasn't until I used a computer to generate the sound that I understood. You see I am a programmer at heart, I could see the energy like code, I figured out the pattern. The problem was that Dark matter exists within matter, but isn't real. It requires a spark to make it real. A man named Hugo along with ester brought me the components I needed, and I built the first sound glove. I used it to change the energy to the form of healing. "

I flexed out my hand for emphasis and touched the index finger to the center of my palm.

A bright blue spark was emmitted for a second.

" With a spark it came to life and began to heal my legs and internal organs, literally regenerating flesh and bone. It gave me supernatural strength for a few minutes, allowing me to easily remove the debris around me. "

The kid had been listening intently as he drove.

" So how did you get to here?"

I sighed.
"So once I figured out how to use Dark Matter I was able to use it to fix the life support systems. Once they had seen dark matter in action my fellow surviving scientists took a ton of interest. They couldn't see it, so I let them study my eyes. They were able to design goggles that replicated what my eyes saw though not quite as detailed. I created new gloves, that had predefined tones , what I called Sequences, that changed the dark matter into usable forms. Things like fireballs and force fields, not that I got to try any of those out. Shortly afterward I was betrayed, knocked over the head and ejected into space. I managed to use the dark matter to make a portal that dropped me here. I had been here less than a minute when I met you. Now you know everything. "

Ezekiel looked stunned.
"Well I guess I have to believe you, especially since I found this the other day. "

He reached into a pack behind my seat and pulled out a pair of goggles and a pair of gloves.

On the side was the logo for the company I once worked for ,GLOBAL.

DAMN! Damn damn dammmity damn. This is not freaking good. I stared at the items he held completely silent.
I could hear Ezekiel talking but I wasn't listening. This is all my fault..
My stomach dropped as full recognition hit me.
I should have never told anyone, I knew this power in the wrong hands could very well destroy the world and It seems that it has.

Damn, now its my freaking responsibility to fix all this crap.

My plan was to scavenge a video game console and ignore everything for a very long time but now I have to save the world., yay.

I interrupted whatever ezekiel was saying " Have you ever put these on? "
"Yeah, I didn't see anything different though. "
"You wouldn't, there's no dark matter anywhere, which is strange because I theorized that Earth would have substanstially more Dark matter than deep space and it should be a great deal more potent. "
"Look I want to believe you, but even if there is dark matter there is no way to prove your story is true.   " I thought for a second realizing that I hadn't been paying attention to our surroundings very well. I vaguely recall desolate buildings and flat dead landscape. We had entered a residential compound named stoney creek where a bunch of rich people used to live. The sign was overgrown with dead vines, and dead plant life. I turned to Ezekiel after a minute , " I'm sorry man I get distracted easily. There's a lot on my mind what were you saying?"
He rolled his eyes and continued, " I was asking you if I knew where some dark matter is, could you prove to me you are who you say you are?"
"Wait, you know where some dark matter is?"
"Yeah I'm pretty sure, can you do what you say?"
"Absolutely."
He stopped the vehicle suddenly.
We were on the curb next to an old victorian style house that had a huge gaping hole in the roof, but the rest was intact. Ezekiel hopped out and started walking around the back of the house. He extended his hand , " Come on its this way. "
I got out of the car and followed him. We went around the house to the backyard where a small hill led us to a well. The well had something covering it, and upon closer inpection revealed to be a petrified tree. This area was strange to me. Everything was overgrown, but dead. As though this area had been sprayed with insecticide. Ezekiel spoke when we reached the well,
" I have been drawn to this place since I was 12 and I'm not sure why. I have had a similar feeling when I went to see my girlfriend. I think there is some in that well. "
I brushed aside the implications of his words and focused upon the well. I could feel the power of my aura respond to my thoughts through the neural link. The petrified tree that was covering the well, oddly seemed to be protecting it, but that would be crazy. My aura reached out forming a massive hand and as soon as I touched upon the tree I knew the boy was right. I could feel it beneath the stone, and with a mighty heave I peeled it back. A loud grinding ensued breaking the tree and sending a cloud of dust into the air.   From the well seeped a beautiful and wonderous sight. Dark matter, pure and powerful, more alive and potent than anything I had ever seen in space. I had remembered to grab the global goggles and tossed them to the boy. " You'll want to see this."
The Dark matter touched my aura and it changed. My aura became as electricity or lightning, super charged blue, crackling with power and exitement. Dark matter was unlike any substance in the universe because it contains the entire universe, you simply have to make the right sounds in the right order and you can access anything. I figured out the pattern, its unexplainable but I get it. The boy put on the goggles and while I knew he couldn't see my aura he could definitely see the dark matter. His eyes were wide at its beauty and I couldn't blame him. Swirls of flutuatating colors moved and changed, forming and dissappating hundreds of times each second.

There were many things I could tell ezekiel but seeing is believing.

I began to let my mind relax, to remember the pattern.
Sound waves began to come forth from my hands , a sound both beautiful and melodic.

The energy responded, rearranging its molecular structure to the whims of my mind.

I ran through a mental list of sequences. Water, fire, shield, healing, strength, speed, ice, the energy becoming the pure personification of the name.

No one who saw could deny what it is, or truly explain it.

The energy can be changed multitudes of times but without a spark it can never come into existance, it will continue to be an invisible energy.
Over the next few minutes I showed the boy the universe, my mind running through countless cycles of code.
I had never given anyone a look at the true extent of the power and I didn't hold back, running through all of the sequences in my original grimoire and beyond.

Until finally I stopped my mind made up on the sequence I wished to use. I called it Growth, the personification of natures most resourceful ability.

It was green, alive and vibrant, unexplainable in its beauty.

I reached out and touched my index finger to my palm sparking the dark matter into existance, from antimatter to real matter.

Like a match to kindling the green energy came to life and surged into the tree transforming it.
The petrified stone became rejuvenated, turning the trunk into a rich dark brown.
The majority of the tree trunk was seperated, laying on the ground.
Impossibly fast the tree grew and connected to its trunk, rejuvenating it as well.
After a matter of seconds, it became apparent that it was once a willow tree.
The ground shook beneath us as the roots spread deep into the earth. There was a loud grinding, and with a mighty snap it stood up straight.

Its willows flowed down around us like a curtain. Grass had grown, flowers bloomed before us becoming large and colorful.

Ezekiel was amazed, awestruck, standing still with a smile on his face. His aura was a bright vibrant green that matched the color exactly of 'growth', I just hadn't noticed before now.
Kinda odd but I'm sure its meaningless. I gathered the remaining Dark matter with my aura surrounding myself with it then turned to the boy.
" So do you believe me now?"

He smiled, but before he could reply and explosion rocked the ground beneath us.

We rushed out from under the willow tree to see what was going on.
A huge plume of fire lit up the sky, streching thousands of feet into the sky.
Ezekiels aura changed turning fiery red and he began to move insanely fast, like superhuman fast.
I was still at the bottom of the hill and he had rushed up it, in two steps he wall climbed the three story house and did a neat little flip to land on the roof. I barely heard him yell out ,
" Its coming from my house! I gotta go!"

Then he was gone.

What the hell was going on?

I knew there was something going on with that boy. I wasn't gonna let him run away, though he may be more trouble than he's worth.
Fine brain we will help him, it seems he is in trouble.
I sigh deeply, and for some reason that I cannot explain I thank the tree for her service.

I thought of the sequence I had been wanting to try out since in space, which simply translates to @FLY@. I spark it into being and feel freaking amazing.

My body became weightless, but the greatest part was the mental connection to the spell. I could think where I wanted to go and I would move.

I'm freaking superman.

I shot into the air, flying hundreds of feet in a matter of seconds.
My viewpoint had dramatically changed, I could see the mansion on fire in the distance, with thousands of tiny dark shapes surrounding the fire.
Headed straight for the fire was the boy in his vehicle. I willed myself forward and the power of the sequence surged through me, allowing me to close the gap with Ezekiel. I flew down over, flying just over his vehicle, hoping to reason with him. Then I made a bunch of observations that changed my mind. I saw that the dark shapes were Zombies, thousands of them. These ones were different than the others I had seen , human looking, skin still completly intact. In fact they looked really in shape, they moved with a speed I could define as superhuman. There auras were the same as the zombies though, black with what seemed to be an intent to destroy. I was definately dealing with the Undead. The ones I crushed must have been starving.
I also noticed the rocket launchers Ezekiel had apparently installed in his vehicle sticking out the side. Was six really necessary? Then I looked out at the crowd of evil in front of us and realized six was not nearly enough. He fired, all six rockets spiraled forward exploding with devastating force. The Undead were blown every direction, many were set aflame. The boy had cleared a path, I had to distract them and get that fire put out. This was insane, but what the heck I may have inadverntly created these things, guess its my job to deal with them. I flew away from the boy, using my aura I began to fling random objects at them, yelling out obsenties in there direction. It worked, they all looked at me. Yep these are not typical zombies. There faces were freaking evil, they looked like they wanted to eat me. I thought the sequence @Shield@ and sparked it into existance, I could feel the drain on my strength making me slightly more tired. The sequence activated, forming a protective bubble like a force field surrounding me. Now typically in zombie movies you can take them out because you only have to fight a few at a time.

Not typical zombies.

They leapt into the air, impossibly high forming a wave of flesh that cascaded down from above.

I could not escape it, their weight hit my shield with the force of a jet crashing at max speed. With all my might I tried to fly upward but the sequence was not strong enough, I was dragged to the ground. They were all around me, visciously pounding on my shield. They spoke. Terrible words erupted from a thousand voices, telling me of my demise. How they would eat me, how delicious I look, ect. Ect...
I couldn't move. I was scared shitless, I tried to use my aura to bat them back, but when it touched one if them I could feel the drain on it so I retracted. In that moment though I saw a glimpse into its life what it is, what its done.
This thing, had once been human, but had its soul drained from its body, forever needing to feed upon any life force to survive.

These things killed all the trees, the animals, people.....

This one had drained over one hundred human souls.
I was different, powerful, and they wanted me.
I felt myself shutting down, succumbing to the fear I felt so presently.

But then a random zombie shout snapped me out of it, "COWARD!"

Rage built in me, dissapating my fear, replacing it with pure hate.

My aura responded, becoming like pure lighting.
My mind formed a sequence, @Cyclone@ though that would be a tame description.
I sparked it.
From my outstreched hands came a tornado, a whirlwind of epic proportions.
A tornado comes from the sky, but Dark matter doesnt follow the rules of the universe so this cyclone was sideways, horizontal.

The voices dissapeared, leaving only the sound of rushing wind. All of them were gone, ripped up by the sheer force of nature, the sideways cyclone slamminng the dead into the ground repeatedly until there was nothing left but blood. The cyclone reached the house extinguishing the fire.

Then the impossible happened.

A lone figure walked amonst the cyclone from the house, seemingly un bothered by the powerful winds. As he walked the cyclone dissapated, as though he was putting out my sequence. He walked slowly, methodically making his way to me, unaffected by the power I had so desperately called forth.
Me=flipping the fudge out.

I had no dark matter left, only my aura and my shield, and my aura seemed to little but feed these things. A hundred feet away, my sequence completly shut down, letting me look my foe in the eyes. I recognized the face of someone I met in space, Samuel, he was an engineer. He was never interested in our dark matter stuff, thought it was a waste of time. Maybe it will be fine, maybe I can talk him out of eating me?

I tried, calling out , "Samuel!? Is that you, its Nathan. Remember me ? You don't have to do this. "

For a half a moment I thought it would work, the man cocked his head to the side as if in recognition, but then tilted his head back and laughed maniacly.

Strangely his voice was not alone, it was as though thousands of voices laughed with him.

It was freaking scary.

To increase its level of scariness the thing was shapeshifting, its face would change hundreds of times a second, each with their own wicked smile. Then they spoke " You are right to fear. We have waited long for you. Soon you be with us and we will be king!"
I had no time to ponder its words, because it attacked.
A blur of motion it covered the hundred foot gap in a second.

I tried to use my flight sequence to fly back and up but it was too fast. It leaped and smashed into my shield shattering it.
For a split second before the blow time seemed to stand still. This thing had an aura that was like a black hole , reverberating with the power to destroy.
As time seemed to stand still it became samuel, just samuel, who spoke words that would haunt me. "Why didnt you tell us? "

His words reverberated in my brain as the force blew me backward into the air hundreds of feet.

My flight sequence was gone, I couldnt breathe. I fell slowly to the earth, everything moving in slow motion.

This is it, I'm gonna die, or worse have my soul sucked up by that thing.
I saw the thing watching me fall, a triumphant look on his face.

Then I saw Ezekiel, his Aura a fiery flame . Standing a mere foot behind it with his sword drawn.

He was in mid air as the blade slid through the skull of the thing and brought it to the ground.

A bright stunning light escaped
its mouth and eyes blinding me.

The last thing I heard before blacking out were the death cries of a thousand souls.

----------------------------
I dreamt of space.

My friend hugo was a crazy russian doctor. We were bunk mates.
People thought he was rude but he was just honest. So I got along good with him.
He begged me not to perform the procedure, the recovery could take to long.

Tension was already high, there was talk of a traitor.

Also I could die and it could not work at all.
I convinced him it would work, that I hadnt designed these new gloves for nothing, that I had used a knowledge sequence to come up with the idea.
He accepted.
"You know you have to be awake. "
" I have a sequence that wont let me feel the pain. You need to use a healing sequence, number 7 on the glove when your done. "
"Ok , If your sure Comrade."
" Do it"
I awoke as he peeled back my skull revealing my brain.

I was in a room with a bed, a lamp, white walls and nothing else.

Ezekiel was there, looking flustered, "About damn time to wake up, you have been a sleep for hours, cmon we got to go! "

He began to walk towards the door. I held up my hand,
" Wait a minute, what the hell is going on? What happened? Did I really see you samurai sword that guy?"

I expected the boy to smile at his ownage but he looked grief stricken.
" Yeah I killed him, but I didn't want to."

I was confused.
"Man that dude was evil, he was going to kill me, you saved my life. "
He sighed deeply,
" Yeah I know but I killed 3578 people with that one blow, they don't get to come back." This shocked me but I could see it I guess.
" How do you know?"

More pain crossed his face
"I felt them, all of them , I saw all of there faces as they died. "

I felt for the boy, I heard the screams and it was so awful it made me black out.
I tried to change the subject,
"So why the hurry?"

For the first time he smiled, "Because we are going after them."
"Wait going after who? And who said I'm coming?"
Ezekiels face became serious, his aura changed fiery as he spoke, "
Listen, I saved your life because you helped me, your distraction gave me enough time to talk to my dad before he died. "

I was silent, unsure what to say, my voice a whisper after a moment, " I'm sorry man."

"Yeah, me to, but it doesnt matter now. They took my mom, and you are gonna help me get her back. "

" Look man I would love to help, but I doubt Ill do much good. "

"No man, its destiny."

"Destiny? Really? Don't tell me you are superstitious and stuff."

He shrugged,
"Not really, but look a lotta things have been happening that don't make sense any other way. "

Ok he had peaked my interest, "Ok do elaborate."

"Alright, so me and my mom have done this thing with a gps tracker where we hide stuff then write down the coordinates and the other goes and finds it."

I had done something similar as a kid called geotracking.
" I know what your talking about, go on. "

"Well three days ago she gave me a new map, more complicated than ever, she said she wanted to challenge me. "
He removed his pack and pulled out two objects.

One was the sword and the other was a very large cystal, like the size of the hope diamond.
He continued,
" My first coordinates led me to this sword, with this note attached. "
He pulled a note from his pants pocket and handed it to me. It read.
"Use this only when neccessary, you will know when the time is right. "

"Hmm that's weird, but that could mean anything. "

" Yeah that's what I thought too, I thought she was just being over protective. But check this out. The second to last coordinate led me to this gem, which was less than 20 yards from you, and guarded by two zombies, which chased me right into your boulder.

" Okay so that was pretty
weird. "

"That's not all though, when you asked about dark matter i recognized the last coordinates. They led right to the well. She knew I was going to meet you and take you there."

I was pretty stunned, it made a lot of sense, but knowing the future is pretty impossible right?

I shrugged my shoulders,
" I'm sure its just coincidence. "

He shook his head,
"No I think she saw Exodus. "

"Exodus? Whats that?"

" Its not a what its a who. My mom a long time ago told me of a man who calls himself Exodus. He claims to be able to see the future. "

"And you think this guy helped
your mom set up us meeting?"

He nodded.

I thought about it. On one hand I dont know this kid. Why should I risk my life for him? I know the pattern to Dark Matter, I could leave and do whatever I wanted, fly all day, surely I would forget about all this. I could move on, right...........?
Stupid heart, why do I have to have all these feelings.
I sighed deeply, " Fine, Ill help you, but only because you saved my life."
Ezekiel pumped his fist in the air and jumped in the air enthusiastically doing a backflip in place. "Yes!"
He did a mini celebration dance, which made me smile. My body was sore, I wished I had some Dark matter I could make it go away. O well I used the rest of it with the cyclone. I hadnt had a moment to think, but the boy doing a backflip made me think about his previous impossible acts.

I held up a finger, stopping his celebration mid step.
"There's just one thing you have to tell me, where is your power coming from?
The boy shrugged,
" You mean like how I moved that fast? "

"Yeah amonst other things."

" I just do, I dont know where it comes from, or how it happens it just does. Its normally when I get upset. "

Something struck me, the boys movements resembled the way the leader of the soulless had moved. The other soulless were fast but the leader was at another level of badass. The boy was intriging, secretive, and annoying but I like him.
After a moment of thought I decided to change the subject ,
"So whats so special about this cystal? I cant imagine theres a money system in a world like this. "

Ezekiel shrugged ,
" I dunno I thought you could tell me. "
I inspected the diamond closely with my eyes before picking it up. The moment my hands touched it I knew its purpose.
My thoughts were interuppted by the floor and walls shaking.

The boys entire demeanor changed, his aura became fiery his face became serious,
"They found us we have to go!"

"Who!? Who found us?!"

" Them! Those things we fought, hurry up come with me to the control room I have cameras we can see what were up against."

The boy turned to leave the room but the wall imploded, causing ezekiel to go into overdrive.

Whatever it was that came into the room came for him but he dodged easily letting me get a good look at our attacker.

It was one of the soulless for sure, Male proly 7 '4 with a giant frame. I was hesitant to believe it was a leader because his form wasnt changing but his aura was unmistakable.
Like a black hole surrounding him ready to destroy and consume anything in its path and right now that was Ezekiel.
The boy was distracting him for the moment, I just needed a couple more seconds. I focused on the crystal, I knew from the moment I touched it that it contained super condensed Dark Matter, I just needed to get it out.
With the simplest of thoughts the energy poured from the gem, to reside in the palm of my hand.

I wasted no time and thought the sequence which in rough translation meant imprision. I gave it a spark bringing it to life, a bundle of red energy. The sequence wavered for a second as I focused on the target. Red energy flowed from my hand surrounding the soulless becoming an impentrable barrier. The boy had managed to get out of reach of the sequence, and was looking pretty dumbfounded.
The soulless guy was tripping pretty hard core.