John and Sera chill on the roof as school closes hours ago, they didn't care that they had the ability to leave, no plans for the night. "So, I heard that the fight between you and Arlo has been moved to Sunday" Sera comments. "What's up with that?" John asks. "Who knows, you know what let's just forget about that jerk. Sorry I brought him up" John sighs. "Hmm, you know I feel bad sometimes, he seems like he's just stressed and...." Sera hugs John tensely.
"NO JOHN! HE'S A JERK AND THAT'S THAT!" John gets caught off guard. "Sera, are you okay?" John asks rather puzzled by Sera's reaction. "Sorry, I just, I don't know, I'm just pissed at him."
"I just, he'll make you into a royal, just like he did to me when I came here, he fueled what my parents had started."
"And I don't want you to become that, because I don't want you to leave me" Sera says as she sheds a tear. John hugs Sera as he pats her head to reassure her. "Don't worry, it's alright. I won't ever leave you. Come on you know me better than that. John pecks Sera on the cheek. Sera doesn't move, scared that John just read her mind and gave her something she desired.
"John" Sera asked.
Who's Sheene?
John froze up.
"Sheene, don't you know? She's the one who helped me find you, she has mind manipulation, she can basically manipulate how people think and recent memories" Sera cuts John off. "I'm sorry, but it doesn't ring a bell." Sera says as she looks away from her partner. "What? Wait a second....." Sera just leans on John as the two watch the sun start to set. "Sheene, why, this isn't fair to her, why would he take her back now, and erase all of our memories of her, maybe he has a reason I don't get, but then why not tell me, whatever it is, I gotta ask him. God what gives?!"
Meanwhile Arlo and Joe are talking while walking through the suburbs right outside of New Oklahoma City. "So, you saw that girl die?" Arlo asks Joe as the two walk through the empty streets of the city. "Yeah, she was walking with that other girl you told me was Elaine, I tried to prevent this I really did, but if I were to charge out there with just my ability. I would have just been another homicide victim." Arlo nods. "Yeah, I get it, I just wish I acted more rationally." Joe puts his hand behind Arlo's back. "It's okay sometimes to snap, to act rational in that situation would be to not care, you were scared of losing someone you love, it's understandable." Arlo looks back at Joe as his eyes shake with despair. "Sounds like you've had experience?" Arlo suggests.
"I-I have I was with my family eating dinner, at the time I was 17, senior year in New Oklahoma was fucked because of that Spider wench. My family was slaughtered by a French men among those Devil Men ranks, the authorities at the time managed to stop the invasion from invading the suburbs and they only evacuated near by houses." Arlo nods. "Hmm, Strange, then after The Golden God came you would have thought they would move in and take the city back." Arlo points out.
"Yeah, but then that only was the tip of the iceberg, more devil tiers managed to move from out of the woodworks, you see, Rein wasn't the queen, in fact he and his vigilante friends managed to take only a tiny piece of the city back for a little bit, but then the rest of the Devil Man Hierarchy moved into where she was, she had a little ring going, but was considered an outcast. They didn't want to disrupt the peace though since she was the only reason why they even had a city to themselves, so they let her keep a small portion for herself and managed to get along well. In fact, the poor bastard who killed her, they said was wearing a white plague mask, they swore to kill him in the most horrible way imaginable. Towards the end they actually started to like Rein, that's why they are now moving in on the suburbs."
Arlo begins to bow. "I'm sorry about your family" He says. "You're not the one who should feel sorry, but thank you. I was given these weird powers because of them. You know though, I'd like to meet Rein's killer one day, and give him a firm handshake. Haha, anyways, my powers..."
"Powers?" Arlo inquires.
"Yeah, my powers were increased intelligence, nothing crazy, but then I got this worm shoved in me and well, if it doesn't take over your brain you can utilize it. I call it devil or devils arm, it's somewhat of a high tier ability." Arlo chuckles. "Haha, high tier, I'll show you what a weak God tier looks like." Arlo then looks at the ground with self pity.
"Listen, I may not be a God tier, but this thing can do more than you think, I can't actually control it 100% because it has a mind of its own, but it only acts as a self defense mechanism, so I'll never get it's full use. Making me an elite tier when I'm in school or out in the streets. But habing this is better than nothing, and sometimes a second mind is just what I need." Arlo nods. "Huh, let's find some of those freaks to smash their heads in so I can see what you talking about." Joe nods. "How about the church that I said they'll be at, because that's what I've noticed their rituals to take place." Arlo nods. "Oh yeah, how come that's the case, you hang around these parts a lot." Joe sighs as he adjusts his tie and looks off into the setting sun. "Yeah, I'm not going to college right away because I need to kill this thing first, the purple headed asshole who took everyone precious to me away."
"Hmm, yeah, I'd like that too. Hey, you mentioned infections and worms, what's up with those?" Arlo and Joe hear weird clicking noises, they see a group of people around the neighborhood, different people armored with some kinda fungus, or tentacles coming out of their necks where a head should be. Joe and Arlo hide behind a concrete jersey barrier. Joe begins to whisper. "Okay man, these are the zombies that we have to be careful of, the mushroom looking ones, those are cordyceps with abilities, you see most organic matter that has an ability is multicellular, so like mammals and reptiles, but most non homosapiens rarely get an ability, and a good one, animals that are above a mid tier are hunted"
"Yeah, I learned about that, The Emu war in Australia was man vs a bunch of high tiered Emu's. Also, it's Homo Sapian Sapian. That's what we are." Arlo says with a smirk.
"Yeah yeah, okay smart ass, so anyways, the mushroom guys are infected with a strange kind of fungal bacteria, one of millions of species, although this one is special because it has a low tier ability that allows it to infect other things that aren't bugs." Arlo's eyes widen. "Shit, could we get infected?" Joe shakes his head. "Negative, the nanobots in our cells that give us our abilities make us immune, they would have to cripple us in order to turn us into one of those. That's the running theory but I'm confident.
"SHIT, those people who drugged Seraphina, were they trying to turn her into one of them?! Even if not the possibility is….." "There's no, can't let that image freak me out. Besides to get this many they'd just kidnap anyone right? The people who drugged Seraphina chose her specifically for a reason. I can investigate her ability's dissapearence later. For now I need to stay focused." Arlo thought to himself. "Most likely they're using the infected as a form of defense. However those things with the long arms and blades....." Joe sayus as he points to one of the mindless infected. It's head is completely replaced by a squash shaped structure of muscle that branches out into tentacles made of muscle. At the end of them are sharp metal blades acting as giant claws, daggers of some sort.
"Those things are what happens when a person is taken by these freaks, and forced to let that small green worm crawl up an open hole that'll lead to their brain. We must make sure we are not captured." Arlo shivers as the idea of being turned horrifies him. "Yeah well, they're the lucky ones, you could have a centipede or millipede carrying the tissue from a green worm do the same thing turning you into a devil man. Thaat's arguably worse." Joe comments. "No wonder they're growing" Arlo adds. "Yeah, this is just a revenge mission, it won't help though, in order to defeat this threat, we need to take them out once and for all in one swoop. When we kill these things they always create more. It's just a matter of time before they sweep out entire cities. The government is waiting for them to act in oder to enialate them, waiting for vigilantes like us to put our lives in danger before they wipe them out once and for all. That's called using your enemy to defeat your enemy." Arlo looks around until he finds a way through a tunnel.
"Hey, come on, we have an opening." Arlo and Joe sneak behind a house to get to the church on a hill, however they run into an infected person, it swings its arms at Arlo, he uses his barrier and boxes it to the ground, smashing its head in. "Shit man, we gotta go, come on, I know another way to the church. Quickly before more are attracted!" Arlo and Joe head up the street, the infected all around them start to swarm and run at them. Arlo uses his barrier to protect him and Joe while Joe uses his devil arms to cut the throats of the infected. The parasitic freaks are all that's left, they swing at Joe's arms cutting them off, he regrows them and falls back within the barrier, leaving the freaks just to mindlessly pound against the barrier.
They are suddenly told to halt, a man walks out of the crowd. "Hahahaha, so you've met my children." The man says as his arms turn into tentacles, each armed with blades. A total of six all swing around as Joe's hand turns into a living weapon. Each finger of his turns into a blade as an eye looks up at him.
"Who the hell are you?" Arlo asks as the man looks at them with a sinister smile, while looking naive at the same time. "That would be the Devil men's head infected. Swanson." Joe says as he adjusts his tie to loosen it. "Ahahaha, You got me Joe. Why so bitter to me, we're two different sides of the same coin?" Arlo starts to giggle, the giggle turns into him laughing hysterically.
"Dude, what are you doing, he could kill us all, look man, I think we're screwed! You need to run!" Arlo starts to calm down and looks at Joe. "Listen man, you're barely a high tier, so I could see why you'd be scared or concerned at the very least, but this guy is nothing special, in fact, I could kill him." Swanson despite being a collection of parasites, begins to show emotion and clench his fists. "HOW DARE YOU!" Arlo chuckles. "Ahaha, I thought it was funny, Joe and Swanson, two sides of the same coin. Man that's cute, like that cartoon that's on Fox." Swanson swings his tentacles around. "Enough, fight me then, I'll call back my freaks!" Arlo puts down his barrier and walks towards Swanson. "Okay, you can't stop now!" Arlo continues, walking closer and closer by the second. "YOU COCKY BASTARD, DIE!" Swanson swings his tentacles at Arlo, they hit a barrier that moves around him now, as a result of Arlo training his ability, he can now be mobile with his barrier, but then they hit a barrier that surrounds him, he then sees the yellow glass like dome over his head. "NO, PLEASE!" Arlo lowers the barrier over Swanson, putting him on his knees. He continues to close in on Swanson.
"I told you Joe" Arlo says as he looks back with a cocky smile. "No way, what's he.....?"
Arlo puts on his mask, as he looks down at Swanson, Swanson begs for his life. "Look man you can rule my people! You can lead us! You're head of the infected division! I had a council but they're all wiped out, but you can reelect one and-" Arlo ignores him and crushes the man with his barrier. He then puts a barrier around him and Joe, the range of it has increased, he then crouches a little, concentrates, and his eyes start to glow blonde yellow like his hair, he then pushes out a barrier explosion similar to Blyke's repel ability, shoving all the nearby infected away, he and Joe start running for the hills.
"FOLLOW ME, INTO THE SCHOOL!" Joe yells.
Arlo and Joe boost each other up to get into the school, they land in a music room, the room. They pull out their phones and turn on their flashlights.
"We're in the building, start looking for a map!" Arlo yells as he takes off his mask. "No need, this was my old high school! I know the way." Arlo nods as his blue eyes leave streaks of light behind. "Oh, okay then, where do we go from here?" Arlo asks as the two gun it down the hallway. "We need to cut across the third floor, so we can go on the roof, from there we will be a couple blocks away from the church, where they most likely will have Elaine!" Arlo looks at Joe nervously. "How do you know though?" Joe looks at Arlo as his non glowing eyes begin to glow a strange color, one that can't be described. "I've done a lot of spying here, you think I'm about to let them get away with killing my family?!" Arlo looks away as the two keep running through corridor doors. "I don't know, this just seems…" Joe cuts Arlo off.
"Listen man, you don't trust me fully! I get it. I don't fully trust you to be honest! But we've trusted each other enough to get this far, we just gotta hold on a little longer!" Arlo nods. "I get it, I'm watching you though." The two give each other a look of understanding as they enter the schools gym. They slam the doors shut as another set are broken down. A loud gargling roar could be heard as something massive begins to stomp over towards them. Joe covers Arlo's mouth, they both hear something that makes their skin crawl, they hear more clicking noises in the school, but now something else. "Fuck man, fuck man what is that?" Arlo asks. He tenses up, nervous about the impending battle. "That's, what we call a sacker."
Arlo pauses as he stares at a massive creature with a busted head. Boils and swelling could be seen all over the creature. Shrooms could be seen growing out of open soars, and limbs are incredibly disproportionate. "Shit, we gotta be quiet. Here, put these in your mouth so they can't hear your breathing."
Joe hands Arlo a cloth to gag himself with, Joe ties it around himself. The two start to sneak around the building but notice a bunch of infected guarding the stairwell, Some of the infected look like people, their eyes glowing yellow and red, some have only one eye and look like one of the clicking infected, some are just the normal looking infected, and some in the back look bloated, only not like the one they heard, it was louder and more of a scream than a click. The infected notice Arlo and run at him, he takes his gagger off and uses his ability to lead them away from Joe, Joe watches and heads towards the roof.
Arlo runs at the speed of light, or what at least he feels like is the speed of light, he uses his barrier to push back some of the weaker infected, but the sack-like infected pound on it, breaking his barrier. The three sack-like infected all charged at Arlo. He uses his barrier and re-enforces it to trap them, causing the infected to freak out, unable to break it they explode, launching spores in the air. Arlo retreats as more infected run through the clouds of spores. He uses his ability and fights the infected hand to hand, remembering the lessons his aunt gave him for combat training.
He took each infected one on one, breaking their limbs and killing them. After he's done he wipes off the blood on his face. "Man, I need to pay her a visit, I have some questions." Arlo tells himself as he remembers seeing himself with Blyke, and John as kids running around a playground, he also sees a kid who looks like John. All together as a young boy. "Wait a second, James? That name feels so familiar."
"So, you have those same memories, the one's she erased from our heads."
Arlo turns to see someone in a mask talking to him. In the flesh a shadow stood above him wearing a hood and some robes to cover it's figure. A red eye glew from inside the hood. "Y-you, you're The Devil Man!" Arlo yelled. "In the flesh and blood, but there's something else I want to show you." He takes off his mask, revealing his face, Arlo looks, confused at first but then he realises something that no one else did.
The Devil Man and John look related as Arlo took in that hint and put several pieces together. "James? Is that your name?" Arlo asked. "I don't wanna fight, I know you're thinking the same thing I am." Arlo begins to feel his head split as he forms a barrier around himself. "No, shut up, you kill people, no, EAT THEM!" The Devil Man takes offense as he powers up, creating several tentacles. "You think that's my fault?!" He asks. "ARLO NO!" Joe yells. He jumps on The Devil Man, they struggle as they use their abilities. The Devil Man crushes Arlo's barrier as he gets a good strike on him before Joe wrestles him to the ground. "Joe, WAIT UP!" Arlo yells as he gets back up from his wound. "No man, go to the roof, you'll see the church from there, the stairwell should be clear, if not then, well, I'm sorry." Arlo hesitates to join in the brawl, realizing that despite his barrier getting stronger it was still taken out by this entities tentacles in one hit. Joe gets thrown around, only acting as a distraction as he barely keeps up in the fight. "Just, don't do anything stupid!" Arlo yells as he runs away, an image of John running the same way plays over. Resembling John running from Blyke and Isen fighting in the halls. Arlo desperately trying to find his way to save Elaine.
"So, you're the King around these parts" Joe says calmly. "Yeah, what about it?" The Devil Man says. "I can't wait to get my revenge you sick fuck" Joe says with tears in his eyes. James puts on his mask as he too cries, unable to properly share his pain and story with Joe while understanding what he's probably going through, his guess was just that, a guess. "Yeah, alright then bring it on!"
"Arlo, so you were the one who killed Rein, unlike you to be a superhero from what I heard, but you have nothing except my highest respect, a true specimen you are, I hope you find the one you love, and cherish her with all your heart." Joe thought to himself.
"Don't make the same mistake I did."
Joe says as he recalls the past.
"Mom, HURRY UP and quit acting like a CHILD!"
"Quit embarrassing me!"
"What the hell, you missed my birthday?!" Joe says as he is now talking to a girl in his class.
"ENOUGH, STOP IT , EVERYONE JUST LEAVE NOW!"
Joe tears up as he sees the faces of everyone he pushed away in his life. "Mom, Shara, I'm so sorry, I love you both." Joe then looks at his enemy in front of him. He begins to scream as helplessly charges towards him. The two charge at each other! Meanwhile Arlo runs towards the stairs when he sees something that makes him stop dead in his tracks. "That isn't the thing I fought earlier, it's the one Joe spotted. Or is it? Wait are there multiple?!" Arlo sees some people throw a brick bottle at the sack thing. Two older men, and one girl. They fire shots at the thing, the little girl uses her ability and shoots spores at the sack thing, but it gets angry. The first old man uses his ability, his grey eyes highlight materials and he starts picking them up, the second old man uses his ability and starts to increase the fire rate of his gun to shoot at the thing faster, Arlo jumps in and uses his ability to trap the sack. "Woah, what the?" A man names JJ asks. "Come on guy, you!" A girl named Emiy yells as she grabs Arlo and runs dragging him. "Here, to the Gym!" The group of now four head to the schools other gym where they can barricade the door against the sacker. They all quickly pause to catch their breath when JJ and the other man move one more barricade.
Arlo sees some people throw a brick bottle at the sack thing. Two older men, and one girl. They fire shots at the thing, the little girl uses her ability and shoots spores at the sack thing, but it gets angry. The first old man uses his ability, his grey eyes highlight materials and he starts picking them up, the second old man uses his ability and starts to increase the fire rate of his gun to shoot at the thing faster, Arlo jumps in and uses his ability to trap the sack. "Woah, what the?" A man names JJ asks. "Come on guy, you!" A girl named Emiy yells as she grabs Arlo and runs dragging him. "Here, to the Gym!" The group of now four head to the schools other gym where they can barricade the door against the sacker. They all quickly pause to catch their breath when JJ and the other man move one more barricade.
(Meet the bloater)
"ANOTHER ONE?!" Arlo yells as one bursts through the door. "CRAP! THIS SCHOOL IS OVER RUN, WE GOTTA GO!" Emily yells. Arlo uses his barrier against the beast but a group of three infected jump Arlo, a fourth one with tentacles for a head emerges from a window, it grabs the older fat man as he charges up his ability, it tries to take him out of the window but he manages to rapid fire the thing, causing it to bleed out and die. It drops the man. Emily throws a Molotov at the group running at Arlo. "HEY, you could have HIT ME!" Arlo yells as Emily's green eyes leave glowing green streaks from her dashing. "Sorry!" Arlo nods as he smiles a little. "It's alright, what's your name?" Arlo asks. "Emily, This is Jack Johnson, we call him JJ, and that's David!" Emily yells as the other two dash towards the enemy, their eyes both glowing a dark brown and blue. "I'm Arlo!"
Arlo uses his barrier and enforces it as much as he can, his eyes glow yellow and he starts to crush the beast, but it fights back, breaking the barrier, it manages to break free and throws spore bombs at everyone. But Arlo is only getting started, he manages to create another barrier, remembering how weak he was against John, he gets riled up and charges at the Bloater with his own strength, forming a barrier around him and the beast. "ARLO, WAIT!" Emily yells. "NOOO!" JJ screams as Arlo starts ripping it limb to limb, meanwhile another one walks out and charges at Emily, JJ, and David.
"NOO, I CAN'T THEY'RE JUST LOW TIERS, THEY WON'T BE ABLE TO....." Arlo finishes up with the bloater, he then lowers his barrier and turns to confront the other beast when he sees that the three have blown it up. "Hey, you know, we may be lower on the tier scale, but we can still kick ass." Emily yells "Huh, I didn't even say anything!" Arlo yells back as he shakes off some of the blood from his uniform. "That Wellston uniform sometimes makes people cocky, but it looks like you're not some snobby rich kid, just a legit high tier. I'll admit that was some cool stuff." Arlo nods as he looks back at the three of them. "Yeah, well, I'm Arlo, King of Wellston. You guys?" The three look at him rather shocked. "I'm Emily, this is my dad JJ wearing the green shirt, and my Uncle David in blue."
"Nice to meet you, what abilities do you guys have, if it's okay to ask?" Emily nods as she looks back at her crew. "Well, I can shoot tiny particles of someone else's ability, so like your barrier, I can take small shards of it and shoot them, basically any ability that can be particalized I can break down and shoot back at 3.4. JJ here can highlight useful materials and memorize crafting recipes for bombs, molataves that enhance the fire ability, med kits, and other useful stuff like gun upgrading. 2.4"
"Man all you do is talk.
"I get it from you! Oh yeah, big chungus over there can increase the kinetic energy in gunpowder, basically any gun becomes a machine gun and he can do other cool stuff. 4.3"
"HEYY!"
"Cool, they all sound like convenient abilities. What are you guys still doing here? wasn't this place invaded years ago?" Emily shakes her head. "Not the suburbs, they just moved here a week ago, after The Golden God came and brought his vigilantes, they killed Rein, which was the first mistake they ever made, I don't blame them though it's not like they knew. But no one remembers the low tiers in society. And even if they did, we're the folk who've lost everything. We stay back and fight for vengeance hoping it gives the rest of society a chance to prepare to gight back while these guys focus on uniting their territory. Looks like we're running out of time, there are few of us left and no one on the outside is doing a thing about it." Arlo looks at Emily in dismay. "Huh, what happened?" He asks.
"Well, when Rein died, it pissed off the Devil men, they started to get to know her more, she acted out of revenge against the city, but the government officially released that Rein didn't want more expansion, she wanted a city reserved for her people, and that they wouldn't bother anyone else. This gave people confidence to move back to the suburbs. That however started the human trafficking with people to them."
"Damn, that might be what happened to James. Assuming that is James. I have no doubt about it." Arlo thought to himself. "Anyways, someone in a white Plague mask killed Rein. That motivated them to expand out of revenge, now there's gonna be a short war, but one with casualties. We might win this, but they live miserable lives with nothing to lose, the destruction will be devastating."
"Well, I bet whoever killed her didn't know the full repercussions and thought that they would have done something good." Arlo says.
"Yeah well, no point on making that person feel guilty. For being weak we earned this." Emily walks past Arlo and picks up a white mask. She goes to hand him it. "Especially when they don't know any better." She pats him on the shoulder while he looks in a mix of fear and confusion. "Over here, I found a way back to the stairwell. We can leave the building through the walls." David objects. "No, we leave through the bleachers!" JJ nods. "Yeah, the bleachers make more sense, we're trying to leave!" Arlo looks around. "Hold up, I got to go to the church. Something I came here to take care of." Emily looks back at Arlo in shock. "Well, sorry we can't help you, but we were heading out of this place." Arlo looks back at them and smiles. "Don't sweat it, I wouldn't let you anyways, too dangerous." Emily smirks back at him. "Haha, you're cocky."
"Am I, opening up? It feels weird. She seems like a cool person, she and Elaine, I wonder if they would get....."
"Hey, can you at least show me how to get out of the gym?" Arlo asks as he cuts his thoughts out short. "Yeah sure thing!" David suddenly roars as he is seen getting dragged by a tentacle parasitic monster, it starts shredding him into pieces, as they get dragged out of the window, starting with his legs, then arms, all while he's alive. "UNCLE DAVID, NOOOO!" Emily yells as she activates her abilities and rushes towards him. "Emily!" JJ yelled. Emily rushes towards David only for JJ to carry her out, as he runs he grabs Arlo as well. "Come on you two, we gotta haul ass!"
JJ helps Emily squeeze through a crack in the wall, then Arlo starts to squeeze in, as the two start to crawl JJ starts to fit though, as he's fitting in the hole infected starts to pour out from the bleachers. JJ barely fits in but manages to squeeze in. "Jeez, that was close, everyone alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine." Emily says with tears in her eyes. Arlo hesitates to say something, not sure if he can comfort Emily or only make things worse. "Well, I know a guy who could help us get out of here, his name is Joe, he has a parasite stuck in his arm, but he isn't one of them. I worked with him." Emily sniffles a little. "Okay, that sounds great." The three start to squeeze through, seeing the end in sight, but they hear a low growl like noise. Suddenly Emily gets grabbed through the walls and pulled out, thrown against the other side of the building. Arlo falls down a hole created by the monster down to the first floor where he and Joe were.
As Emily and Joe battle, they find themselves using the guns they had on them since the spores are so thick their abilities are busy fighting them off.
Meanwhile Arlo is in the basement of the school listening to the battle going on upstairs helplessly, he looks around and finds a body face down in the flooded basement. He goes to flip it over, horrified to find out who it was. "J-J,"
JOOOOOOOOOOEEEEEEEEEEE!
To be Continued....