'Shit!, I'm about to die'.
'I didn't even have time to flaunt my newly acquired physique and beauty'.
Then the thought hits, 'I haven't seen Ashanté in a while'. A deep resolve followed his sigh. 'Damn, I'm going to miss Indigo'.
'Rest in peace mom, seems I am about to come and meet you soon. Dad, I missed you, and I'm going to meet you now'.
Orion thoughts wandered as his legs kept propelling him forward. He could see the laboratory ahead, the one he had just left.
"I think this would be the best place to hide at the moment".
Looking back, he was surprised he was able to extend the distance between himself and the hordes that kept chasing him with maxed brutality. Even the flying ones were some meters behind.
'Jeez! Never really knew I was this fast'.
Ashanté had heard the sounds of a hundred feets stomping the ground, with intermittent growls and roars. Stunned with what she was hearing, she came out from under the car and looked at the direction of the sound.
What she saw was unbelievable. She could see Orion running like a mad man, with speed thrice that of a normal human. She also observed the stampede coming behind him ready to squash him into a paste.
"Orion!" She screamed.
On getting to the entrance of the laboratory, Orion was shocked to have heard the familiar voice, that voice that had mesmerised him the first time he heard it at close range. Looking up, he was aghast to have seen Ashanté there.
'How did you get here? This place is a death labyrinth'.
Carried away by his thoughts, he tripped on a stone and fell to the ground face flat. He could feel his chest carved in, forcing air out of his lungs, iron tang filled his mouth. Hurriedly trying to stand, the first flying bird which was nearest to him dove down for the kill.
With adrenaline pumped into his blood, Orion had stretched his hand, ready for impact, as he rolled his hands into a fist, he felt power surge out of him, like a shadow and mist, he felt himself diffusing into the mind of the bird.
Puff.
The bird turned to dust.
'What! Did I just saw that?' Ashanté had exclaimed, with her two hands on her head. Her knee wobbled and she fell against the car.
Orion felt like he was in a dream, frightened 'Holy yikes! What have I done?'.
He stood up in a haste and faced the hordes head on, the rampaging beasts all coming for him with deadly intent. "Let's do this once again".
He lifted one of his hands, and stretched it at the hordes. With no time to think, Orion closed his eyes tight and held his breath, with the only sense organ working were his ears. Allowing the sound of their feet to get closer, Orion rolled up his hand in a fist and again, there was a power surge.
He could see himself covered in shadows and mist, shining with scattered starlights like the galaxies. He felt himself entering inside the minds of the beasts and pulled their brains.
He opened his eyes and a quarter of those beasts shrieked in agony and turned to dust.
Some of the beast stopped, some tripped and fell. The others kept coming, aiming at Orion.
Orion in a bit of awe looked at his hands, he felt the shadow presence this time, circling around him like mist, he could also perceive the fragrance around him which came with the presence of the shadow.
Exhaling, Orion laughed. "Now, this is power!"
Raising his head up, Orion looked at the hordes still coming at him and raised his two hands up. He could feels the sparks of the air currents around his arms, ready to devour and eliminate in a puff anything within range.
"This is glorious" Orion laughed.
Fixing his eyes on the hordes, he slammed his two hands into a fist once again and screamed. The power that surged out of him doubled. He felt himself inside the brains of more than half of the hordes at once.
Surprised that the way into their minds was a door, and it was opened, he slipped in like a shadow and summoned his blade which blazed as soon as it appeared on his hands.
With a ninja finesse, he slashed into the air, and puff, more than half of the hordes collapsed and turned to mist.
He saw his body changing for each kill, his fire got hotter, his blades got sharper, and he felt there's more power that he could harness but he doesn't know how to reach it first. He felt his shadow could become stronger too, but he doesn't know how to improve that.
He looked at the remaining hordes which were about 10 meters away from him, and he decided to run.
Running into the laboratory premises, he ran towards Ashanté, whom couldn't believe what she was seeing. He picked her up and they both ran into the building. Due to the presence of his girlfriend, he felt some quantity of his power leaving him and forming a shield around the building, made of shadow and mist, acting as a protective shield and also to make him aware of any intruder.
'Hmmm, this power is also protective of my second half or offspring'.
"Jayden, where is the boy?"
"Hey, Martha. Long time no see" Lucas Moro greeted.
Aiming the gun at him, "If you don't shut that hole up, I will fill it up with bullets".
"Nah! You don't wanna do that to an old..."
Gunshot cracked.
"Okay...okayyyy.. Chill"
"I am not gonna miss next time" Martha clapped.
"Now, answer my questions, Jayden. Where is the boy?".
"He is at Stellenbosch".
"Which place in Stellenbosch, you fool?"
"At the laboratory, the project site, the factory" Jayden responded.
"What? Why is he there? Why did you take him there?" Martha asked, venom lacing her words.
"Well, we took him there to be held hostage. What do you expect?" Lucas blurted.
Martha gave him a sneered look.
"What about his mom? She's not in the hospital anymore".
"She was taken alongside, with Orion to the factory" Jayden responded.
"Why? To do what in particularly? Answer me now!".
Tears could be seen welling up around Martha's eyes, expecting the worse, she had thought if possible, Orion and his mom would have been killed. As an ex member of the organisation, she knew all the beasts and experiment in the laboratory were all humans. Humans they had kidnapped and declared missing. Men, women, children, old and young, taken off the street for their mega project experiment.
Those that failed the experimental process were the ones that had turned into beasts. Hundreds of thousands of them. Martha knew how much more beasts are likely to appear in the coming days, because billions of dollars had been spent on the project. And millions of people had been used as specimens, most especially criminals, immigrants and terminally sick people.
Martha retreated and asked for Lucas car key and to pick one of his cars. Lucas threw the key at her, and slowly, Martha entered the nearest car, ignited and zoomed off.
The car automated response system came alive, "Good day Ma'am, where are we heading to?"
"Good day, Mira. Long time no see. We're heading to Stellenbosch, I guess".
"Okay ma'am, off to Stellenbosch".