ONE

My eyes shot open as I gulped in a generous amount of air. While my eyes were still trying to focus themselves, I gazed around my surroundings. The place was dark. No sound was heard. Only the tinted glow of the emergency light lit up the spot where i lay. Buzzing noises also emerged from it. Smells of strong chemicals filled my nostrils.

This smell seems familiar. I thought. Indeed it was. The smell was the chemicals used to preserve dead bodies. There was only one place I recognized this same foul odor. A hospital morgue.

Dead bodies littered the place according to my depth perception. Possibly about to undergo an autopsy. I proceeded to sit up and stretch, cracking tense bones in the upper portion of my body. My wounds seemed to have healed pretty quickly. All that was left was my bare skin along with the blood and organs that function beneath it.

Carefully, I started to lift myself off the gurney, dropping some of the blankets. Then I realized that i was completely naked. Searching around for something to cover myself with took some time with so many bodies being in here. Fortunately, I found a blanket of some sort. It was big enough to cover everything but small enough so i don't trip or fall.

After wrapping myself, I inched towards the door; hands shaking in angst. Carefully, I cracked the door open and peeked out. My senses switched on as if I were a metal detector searching for any signs of treasure within its presence. Only I was searching for people.

No sounds were audible. The only sounds that were audible were distant footsteps that seemed to get farther away each passing second. Eyes only saw faint lights while others turned off. Nose only smelled chemicals wafting out of the morgue. Hands shakily grasping the door knob. Mouth tasted saliva and the dry air from the hallway.

The hospital seems to be closing. This is my chance. I thought. As I heard the distant slam of hospital doors closing. Gripping the sheet closer to me I sprinted out the door and down the darkened hallways.

Where would my clothes be? My mind pondered the different possibilities; given to someone else; thrown out; or still in the room I was situated in. I went for the latter.

My sprint slowed to a light jog and I looked left and right for the surgical ward. After what felt like hours, I grunted in frustration. My intentions were not to be here for too long. I didn't like being in hospitals. Sick and injured people everywhere. And from the morgue, this hospital was a labyrinth. Especially with it being farthest from any other hall. Fortunately for me, I was led into a ward that i was familiar with. The Intensive Care Unit. From there, I could easily find the operation rooms. Passing hallways every which way, I eventually found the place I was looking for.

There was a list of names posted on a whiteboard by last name. Scanning, I found the G-s. Gonzalez. Seven people obtained the same surname. Through that list, I looked for the E-s. Aha! Gonzalez, Emanuel. Second from the top. Room H217. I continued my jogging down the hall and made a left towards the 200s. I continued my jogging down the hall and made a left towards the 200s. 214...215...216... Bingo, H217!

My hands steadily grabbed the doorknob. Fortunately, it was unlocked. Seriously, why don't people lock doors in this place? As I stepped in and switched on the light, the first thing I notice is the structure of the room. It was fairly small. The hospital bed lie in the left corner with a heart monitor right next to it. A chair sat perpendicular to the bed as well. On the chair were my clothes.

After having changed back into my clothes, I stepped back into the hallway, cautiously looking left and right as if were about to cross the street. My legs didn't hesitate to take off into a sprint again. Instead of the normal route from before, I ran through the back routes. Knowing the hospital like the back of my hand really pays off. The morgue’s door came into view. Just a bit further was the door that led to the dumpster.

Refreshing breezes of the midnight air smacked me against the face as I pushed the door open. Goose bumps trailed down my arm. Quietness filled my ears except for cars on the roads around the other side of the hospital and chatter from late night pedestrians. The only light was the dim luminescence of street lamps perched parallel in rows while I walked around the perimeter of the hospital. The, I stopped dead in my tracks.

Call me crazy, but I don’t think normal people are usually supposed to see a person falling ten stories and plummet to their death. Then again, I’m not normal. As I was about to check on the person, a girl flew down to what is now a corpse. Wait, flew? Did I miss a generation where humans were granted supernatural abilities? The girl carried bright, long blonde hair tied up in a tight ponytail and stretched to a bit past her back. A black cloaked draped over her, covering everything except her head and her feet. From what I can see, she wore combat boots that looked like they could crush the tusks of an elephant. Yes, that was a very bad analogy but just bare with me here.

I heard the unknown female mutter a word. Probably in another language that I couldn't understand. Then, she walked off, her hair swishing about behind her.

Just as she did, a groan escaped from the lips of the dead body. The sounds of bones cracking and reforming caused me to grimace. Said person sat up with a hiss. It was a male. His hair was white with black streaks. Within the black streaks were a set of silver streaks. The man slowly stood up and brushed himself off. Black seemed to cover this guy all over (I really didn't mean to sound racist just then). Though it was true. Everything he wore was jet black; the Kevlar shirt, the trench coat with belt-like cuffs on the sleeves, black skinny jeans, steel-toed boots, even the scratched up glasses that he picked up and put back onto his face (it’s a miracle how that didn't shatter upon impact). In my opinion, he looks like one of those guys from teen romance novels or movies that girls drool over or even those demon princes from a cheesy anime. It’s kind of much and cliche if you ask me.

The girl from before turned around astounded. Her expression had a bit of frustration and anger too.

“You’re alive?” She questioned, walking back towards the guy. I  pondered whether I should help or just ignore. Being the person I am, I chose the latter. There was no way I was going to be able to avoid this situation.

A bag lie on the ground near my feet. Assuming it belonged to the guy that was about to be killed yet again, I called out to him.

“Hey, you dropped something!” Both the guy an girl looked in my direction. Walking to thee male, the hairs on my body pricked up from the glares I was receiving from the blonde.

"Danke," he murmured as i returned his bag. He accepted the offer. I swiveled back around to stare at the scowling female. 

"So, explain to me," I started off. "How did it come to you falling ten stories to your death?" 

The male chuckled.

"You see, I just happened to bump into her and I may have made a snarky comment about her height. She got angry and started lashing out at me. I know there's something else to that anger too. It had to do with illusionists or something like that." 

All I could do was stare in confusion. The girl seemed to pick this up and responded.

"An illusionist is a person with the ability to generate illusions. Usually for the purpose of harming those weaker than them. Illusionists can resurrect themselves due time after they have been killed. Seeing as Mr. Smart-mouth over here has resurrected himself for what is now the third time, I have reason to believe that he is indeed one of them. And illusionists MUST die."

She  continued on about how for generations, these so called 'illusionists' have brought calamity to mankind.

"Now it's my turn to ask you something, stated the 'Mr. Smart-mouth. "What were you doing watching me plummet to my death?"

It was my turn to chuckle.

"I just so happened to be walking out of the hospital morgue until you came crashing down." I replied. We both let out laughs.

"So, you're one as well, huh?" Anger and a hint of amusement filled the blonde's voice. "More the reason for both of you to be annihilated." Then, she charged at us with a blade in hand.

"Don't let that blade touch you!" The white-haired male exclaimed."One scratch will send you to hell. Literally.

Just as he said this, we dodged in separate directions avoiding our impending dooms. Our foe stumbled past, but regained her footing and ran straight back at me. I managed to grasp her arm in the process while also sidestepping out of the blade's way.

"Listen, Rapunzel, I'm still not sure about this whole illusionist situation, but I'm sure I'm not one. Oh, and one more thing. What's your pain tolerance?"

Heat flared in the palm of my hand. Rapunzel struggled while hissing in pain. She then sent a roundhouse kick to my chest, sending me flying into a nearby car. How did I just do that? I don't know, but I could've sworn I heard ribs breaking from that kick. The car alarm blared, jolting me from my daze.

The white-haired male fought her in hand-to-hand combat in which they seemed to be equally skilled. My ears detected the sound of gun being cocked. From my blurred vision, I saw the male wielded a pistol aimed at the girl's torso. Way to draw attention. He pulled the trigger and the boom rang through the air. Said girl vanished into thin air and reappeared behind. To quick to react, the male was then flipped over onto his back, her boot on top of his chest. 

"Who are you?" She questioned.

"Richter. Richter Weinhelm." He replied.

Richter? That name seems awfully familiar. Rapunzel smirked. Then walked up to me.

"And who are you?"

In between cough and wheezes, I replied, "Emanuel Gonzalez."

Silence overtook the air until our enemy let out a sigh. 

"Neither of you bear any marks or symbols. This means you haven't been found and taken yet." 

"What marks?" Asked Richter as he stood up and headed in our direction. 

She let out another sigh.

"Government scientists gather those deemed to be illusionists and mark them with symbols of their respective illusions. Then officers are supposed to train them to work as puppets for the government. I'm supposed to train you, however, you two haven't been marked. Yet."

I glared at her clutching my chest. "What do you mean you were supposed to train us.? Who exactly are you?"

"I'm Viktoria Alexeev. A necromancer working as an officer for the Russian government. Since I found the two of you, and you are both deemed as illusionists,I'm supposed to train you. Though not after you have been marked. I vas sent here to America to recruit. And I'm sick of it."

"Well instead of trying to kill us, MAYBE you can try and help us hide from the International government to keep us safe. Manny and I don't know anything about what is going on around the world." Richter held annoyance in that statement.

Viktoria nodded. "Very well. I shall help you. On one condition. Manny stops calling me Rapunzel and Richter stops making derogatory comments about me. Deal?"

"Deal." Both Richter and I said in unison.

"That was two conditions." Exclaimed Richter. 

"Yes, thank you smart-a*s. We should meet up again somewhere private to discuss a plan." Viktoria retorted annoyingly.

My mind came up with an idea. "I have to look for a new place to stay anyway. I'm thinking about the woods. Maybe there's a cabin or something we can use. If not, we will just have to build one." Slowly getting up, I gave both allies glances. They returned with nods. Lights flickered on, signaling us that we should scram before we caused any more chaos. Viktoria vanished again, and Richter and I headed our separate ways. He to somewhere I don't know and I towards the woods in search of a new home. Questions yet again appeared in my head such as how did I burn Viktoria? Can Richter do something like that too?  Or are Richter and I really illusionists?

There's only one solution to those questions.

Figure it out ourselves.

Reviews

[A.R. Murray]

There are some capitalization errors, There are a lot of lowercase i when they are supposed to be uppercase. Also, there are some punctuation errors such as you used a semicolon when it was supposed to be an apostrophe.

I enjoyed reading this and it seems interesting. I like Manny so far. Great job.