THE SHADE: Chapter One

A brutal murder sets one man on a journey to become the greatest hero ever: THE SHADE. (Note: This is an experiment)

1

 

A huge, glistening limousine pulled up to Serpent Hall. Three guards stood around the bulletproof door that pulled up in between them. The door bore the presidential seal. One guard stepped forward and opened the door. Out came a man, dressed in a dark suit. His hair was slicked back and he had a huge smile on his face.

“Hello, everyone!” he called out.

He stepped forward and walked along the red carpet that led to the front door. Two guards walked on either side of him. A man stepped from behind the small rope that hung on either side of the carpet. A guard was on top of the man, pushing him back with the other spectators. Suddenly, another man, this one more official looking, walked up to the guarded man from the front doors.

“Mr. President,” said the official looking man.

“Hello. Nice to see you again, James,” said the president.

Then, he walked past James and headed towards the front door.

He was Martin Shelley, the President of the United States.

 

As the president walked in, another car pulled into a parking lot behind the hall. It was an old, beaten up Ford Mustang. Out of the driver side walked a young man. A young woman walked out of the passenger side. She walked around the front of the car to meet up with the boy.

“Shoot,” the girl said, looking back to the car. “I left my scarf at home.”

“It’s alright, we won’t be long,” said the boy in reply.

Together, they walked towards the hall. As they entered, one last car pulled into the parking lot: a white van. Once it parked, the two back doors opened and twelve men, all dressed in black and carrying rifles, deployed from the van. They ran, single file, towards the back entrance of the Hall.

 

The boy and the girl walked into the hall, where many tables were spread out on the first floor. The balconies were occupied by many rich and famous people. As they took their seats, the boy smiled. “You know, the president is here tonight.”

“No. Really?”

“Yeah.”

They adjusted themselves in their seats as a waiter came and filled their glasses full of water. The boy quickly acknowledged him and turned to the girl.

“Jennifer, before we-“

“Sir, would you like anything else to drink right now?”

“Um… I’ll be fine right now. You, Jennifer? Yeah, no we’re fine right now. Thanks.”

He waited until the waiter was gone.

“It’s beautiful here,” said Jennifer. “Oh, look Eric! There he is!”

“Who?” asked Eric, looking around.

“The President.”

Eric spotted him immediately. He wore a dark, three-piece suit, his hair was combed perfectly, and his glasses shone in the light. He sat down a few tables away from them.

Eric adjusted himself as he saw a man walk up onto the stage at the end of the hall.

He turned on a microphone and said, “Hello, everyone!”

Everyone perked up and looked towards the front of the hall. The hall was silenced.

 

A guard stood on duty in front of the back entrance to the hall. He was whistling a small tune to himself. He didn’t notice the dark shadows creeping up behind him.

The guard turned around and saw the butt of a machine gun meet his face.

He was down.

The figure who struck down the guard waved his comrades forward.

“Open that door,” he said.

One of the men dressed in black stepped forward and shot the handle on the door. The lock broke.

They ran in and stopped at the bend of the hallway. They checked the turn to see if anyone was there.

No one.

The leader waved the others forward and they ran down the hall. As they ran, they checked their guns.

They were ready to fire.

 

“As you can all see, we have had a big turn out this evening,” said the man on the stage. “And I am very glad to welcome you all to the fifteenth annual Summer Dinner and Dance here at Serpent Hall.”

Applause.

“My name is James Nelson, Jr. and I will be your host this evening. This will be a huge night. Here with us, we have the band that came…”

As James carried on, Eric was distracted by some movements in the balconies and the sound booth up above the stage. Dark figures appeared  and marched in.

 “Eric!”

Eric came back to reality and saw Jennifer staring at him.

“What’s wrong?”

“I have to go and use the restroom real quick. Can you watch my purse?”

“Oh, sure. Yeah.”

As Jennifer left, Eric resumed paying attention to James.

“Everyone should have gotten their food by now, and I don’t want to hold anyone up, so, please, dig in. I hope you enjoy the evening.”

He replaced the microphone in its holder and left the stage. A curtain pulled back to reveal a big band, made up of a huge horn section, guitars, and singers. They started playing classic big band and swing tunes to get the evening started. A waiter came and placed a plate in front of Eric.

Eric began to eat, when James came back onto the stage.

“Everyone, really quickly, I would like to invite someone onto the stage so we can all give him a warm welcome. Please give a hand to our President of the United States, Mr. Martin Shelley!”

As the president walked onto the stage, people began to applaud.

“Thank you, James!” he said as he walked up to the microphone. With a sigh, he said, “Ah, what can I say? This is great. I am really enjoying… not having to be at the office right now.”

A chuckle.

“Well, James, I am very glad that you invited me here and…”

The president continued to give a speech to the public as Jennifer walked back into the hall. She stopped in the doorway when  she saw the president talking. She immediately pulled out a cell phone from her dress and flipped it open. She turned it to camera mode and stood ready to take a picture. As she looked at her viewfinder on the screen, she saw the president in the center of the screen.

Her thumb hovered over her “OK” button. She moved to press it, but she was stopped.

Something in a balcony moved. A dark figure.

A dark figure with a rifle.

She watched in horror as the president turned his face exactly towards the rifle.

“So, as I was saying, when the dog walked up to the man, it immediately sat, and, being so excited…”

Then, he saw it. The barrel of the gun facing him.

He gulped. Everyone leaned in closer to hear.

Eric looked up from his meal and saw the President looking at something up above. Eric followed his gaze and saw what both he and Jennifer saw: the rifle. Eric saw the man up above pull the trigger of the rifle.

BANG!

Several women screamed. Jennifer flung herself to the ground. The president lurched forward.

But the bullet never hit him.

The bullet never left the rifle.

At least not that rifle.

The hitman from the balcony fell from his seat, over the edge and onto one of the tables below. Glass shattered and food flew. The man’s head turned to face the woman sitting there.

She screamed.

He had been shot clean through the chest. His gun still lay in his hand.

James Nelson leapt onto the stage.

“Who is responsible for this?!” cried the president.

As he stood up and saw James, he realized the truth.

James had his own gun and it was pointed at the president. Guards leapt onto the stage, ready to protect.

“Why, James?” asked Martin Shelley.

James aimed his gun at the President.

BANG!

James had never pulled the trigger, yet the president lurched forward, this time really hit. He looked at James blankly, then blood trickled out of his mouth.

BANG!

This shot spun the president around so that he fell on his back.

James looked down at Martin and then up to the second level balcony where a dark figure stood, holding a high-precision rifle.

James realized the next bullet was meant for him.

BANG!

James leapt to the side and evaded death by a hairbreadth.

The dark figure then released a spray of shots on the four guards, sending them to the bloody stage.

Everyone screamed and panicked as they ran from the hall. The band tried to escape, but were stopped by James. James leapt onto the stage and fired at the mysterious gunman. He fired and the dark figure fell from the balcony.

“EVERYONE STOP!” yelled James!

Author's Note

Please be brutally honest. This is a story I desperately want to work, so help me out with any suggestions!

Reviews

[Sylvia E. Lioness]

Ok. I'm going to be 'brutally honest' with you. This story is outrageously awesome. It has continual action and I after the first two sentences, I wasn't not reading the story anymore. I was in the story watching the action. One error that I spotted: the exclamation mark at the very end of the story should be a period. Otherwise great job, and keep writing. You've got a big fan here!