On the poll I have posted on the side of my blog people voted for some of my original stuff, well here's an original story I started writing, but first I'm going to tell you how I came up with it. It came to me in a dream, like, literally, this was actually just a dream I had. Of course I added a few things, changed a few things and all of that fancy writer stuff because if I didn't it would be really confusing (as most dreams are). There is no title yet, but I was thinking something along the lines of The Immortals, cause it just fits. Basically, the story you are about to read is a story of love, fear, suspense and friendship but it's not your average romance novel or something like that, because there's a twist. What is it? Read on to find out...
> Things had been pretty strange lately, to say in the least. News reports in the paper, on the tv, over the radio, all going on about missing people, buildings being set on fire, and so on. It may not seem strange because these things do happen but it's not the events happening that was strange, it was how frequently they had been happening. I had decided to bring it up with my "kind-of-boyfriend", Alexander as we stood in my kitchen of my apartment one late afternoon. I say "kind-of-boyfriend" because we really hadn't put a label on our relationship yet but we might as well have been dating.
"You see the news lately?" I asked
"Yeah," he replied "why?"
"I don't know," I said, shaking my head "it just seems kind of strange is all."
"Oh yeah, I agree. They said they have no leads on who might have been doing it either." he nodded, looking concerned.
"Well, whoever is doing this must really know what they're doing. I'm really worried, I mean, what if something happened to one of us? I can't even..." I trailed off, not wanting to think about what I would do if I lost him. He pulled me close to him.
"Me too." he whispered into my hair.
That's one of the things I've always loved about Alexander, he could say so much without saying hardly anything at all. Cheesy as it may sound, we could look each other in the eye and it was like we could have a whole conversation without saying a single word.
"I've gotta get going though." he said, breaking the silence.
"Where are you off to?" I asked out of curiosity
"Oh, nowhere," he said nonchalantly "Just to meet an old buddy of mine."
I hesitated for a moment. Alexander was never vague about his plans, I couldn't help but be slightly suspicious. Alexander himself was mysterious, sometimes you just couldn't tell how he felt about things, he kept his emotions hidden from everyone. This often made me question his feelings towards me. After all, we still didn't have a label on our relationship and we had been seeing each other for a couple months. Alexander broke my train of thought by moving my hand away from my face.
"Stop biting your nails, you'll regret it later." he reminded me "What are you so nervous about anyways?"
Unlike Alexander, I've always been very easy to read. My facial expressions and behaviors give away everything all the time so it's nearly impossible to keep secrets, especially from someone as observant as Alexander. I looked away from his big, green eyes. I couldn't look him in the eye and lie to him.
"Just don't get hurt okay? It's dangerous out there."
"I won't," he smiled sympathetically "I'm just going to the mall anyways, there's lots of people there. I don't think anyone would try anything in such a public place at this time in the evening."
"Yeah you're probably right." I mumbled
"I'll see you in a few hours, okay?" he reassured me with a kiss on the cheek
"Okay."
He grabbed his coat and walked out the door. As I heard the door shut I walked into my living room. I sat down on my "white as snow" couch alone for a few minutes, thinking. The whole situation was kind of strange, he seemed so excited to see this "buddy" of his who I'd never heard him talk about before. And since when did he use the word "buddy", it wasn't a word in his day-to-day vocabulary. Or since when did he not tell me who he was going to go meet? I never even had to ask before, he'd just tell me where he was going and who he was going with automatically, something was weird about this. I may have been paranoid or jumping to conclusions but the only thing I wanted to do was jump in my car and go investigate. I glanced at the clock, it was 5:30 pm. Alexander had left almost half an hour before, it would be safe for me to go to the mall and check up on him. Besides, I needed to pick up a few things anyways, or so I told myself to feel reassured about nearly stalking my own partner. I quickly got ready and jumped in my car. It was freezing as I turned on my heater full blast, I hoped the roads weren't going to be icy, it was the middle of January, and colder than ever.
I finally arrived at the mall after being stuck in traffic and trying to find a parking spot. I had managed to avoid a few accidents almost caused by people who weren't smart enough to invest in winter tires. By the time that I got into the mall I was irritated and frustrated beyond belief, cursing and swearing people under my breath. I became even more irritated and frustrated when I realized how impossible it was going to be to find Alexander in this crowded mess of a mall. I walked around for awhile looking at people, looking for someone with longish, brown hair, green eyes, pale skin and a smile that lit up my world but found none of those, only strangers who didn't smile at me at all.
Finally, I gave up and accepted defeat, clearly I wasn't meant to find Alexander. Clearly, I was being paranoid and stupid and all my efforts were a huge waste of time. I walked over to the movie theatre's concession stand they have conveniently located in the mall and bought myself a bag of popcorn with extra butter, who cares about the extra calories and things that make your body go "ick", I was feeling down. After sitting down and eating the whole bag of popcorn feeling stupid, I was about to get up to go home when I saw him. There was Alexander, walking out of the theatre, laughing and chatting with some girl who looked like a spitting image of a Barbie. Anger bubbled up inside me, yeah right, hanging out with a "buddy". I stood up and marched over to them.
"Oh, Alexander, hey!" I said through a fake smile "So, this is the 'buddy' you were talking about? How nice."
"Marie? What are you doing here?" he asked, looking genuinely surprised.
"Oh, I just remembered that I had to pick up a few things. Can I talk to you for a moment, in private?" I turned and looked at Barbie girl who was just standing there, smiling. So, she was stupid too. "I'm his girlfriend by the way."
"I'm Kendra, but my friends call me Kenny, I'm-" she began
"That's nice, Ken. I just need to talk to Alexander for a teensy, weensy moment here so just give us a minute okay?" I cut her off, dragging Alexander away. She smiled and waved at us, yet looked kind of confused. Clearly, she just didn't get it.
"What do you call this?!" I exclaimed as soon as we were safely out of earshot. "You're hanging out with a 'buddy'? Buddy is a word used to define a guy friend you watch the game and have a couple beers with, not some blonde chick you take to see a movie!"
"Marie, if you just let me explain-" he began
"I don't need you to explain what's right in front of my eyes! I see it clear as day! You're with another woman!" I cut him off "You know, I never pushed for a label on us, but maybe I should have. Maybe there was a reason why you never pushed for one either!"
"Why won't you listen? I'm trying to tell you I'm not seeing another woman!" he said through his teeth.
"I don't believe you." I retorted.
"You don't believe me?!" he asked, looking at me incredulously "I have never given you a reason to not trust me."
"You just did." I pointed out.
"You know what? Forget it, Marie. You're being impossible, I'm done with this conversation. Goodbye." he said angrily and walked back to Barbie girl.
I sighed in defeat and sat back down at the table. I watched them walk away slowly as if they were trying to rub it in my face. I watched them walk off into the distance and disappear in the crowds when suddenly I heard something. First, a crash and then a bloodcurdling scream. I froze where I was, trying to comprehend what had just happened. As soon as I could move I ran over to where the sounds came from. As I turned a corner I saw it and I was stuck where I stood, frozen with fear. Already, half of the mall was filled with flames, screaming people and bodies all over the floor. Blood covered everything that surrounded this horror scene.
"Alexander." I whispered to myself as I whipped back around the corner. Did he get out of the mall already? Was he alive? My previous anger towards him quickly turned into fear and sadness. I couldn't lose him, especially not the way we had left things. I had to find him. I glanced around trying to figure out who or what was causing this mess. I peeked around the corner again and as I did I saw one of them. At first I thought it was just a man but when I looked at him closer I noticed he was kneeling down beside someone. He grabbed their head between his hands and suddenly with a twisting, jerking motion he snapped their neck without any effort at all. I gasped and covered my mouth, hoping he hadn't heard me but it was too late. He stood up slowly and turned towards me. His eyes met with mine for just a second and I couldn't believe it but I could have sworn his eyes were glowing a deep red, like the colour of fresh blood. A huge, evil grin spread across his face as if he were saying "you're next". He raised an eyebrow at me and took a step forward. I just stood there, in shock, watching him. I managed to make my legs work and backed up slowly around the corner. With my hands at my sides, I felt a cold surface behind me, and turned around to see a window with an older man looking at me from behind the glass. I jumped back in surprise. The man moved forwards and I heard locks clicking and a doorknob turning. I wanted to run but something told me not to. The man opened the door a few inches and beckoned to me.
"Quick, come in!" he hurriedly said in a hushed voice. Without thinking I grabbed the door and hurried inside the small room. The room looked like some sort of meeting room, only smaller. It had a table that could seat about six people, a white board, an old desk with a green lamp on it and a big white clock mounted on the wall. Other than that, the room was empty. The man began re-locking the door and turned off the fluorescent lights. It was pitch black other than the little light coming in from the window. I heard some shuffling and then the lamp was turned on.
"Please, sit down." the man said gesturing to the chairs surrounding the table.
I did as he suggested and sat in the chair farthest from the door. The man pulled open the desk drawer and pulled out of stack of black paper and some tape and began placing them over the narrow window.
"What happened here?" I asked
"The same thing that has been happening for some time now, don't you watch the news?" he replied.
"Well, yes," I nodded "so these people, they're robbers or something? Terrorists? Serial killers?"
For each suggestion I came up with he shook his head. "Immortals." he said flatly.
"Excuse me?" had I heard him correctly?
"They're not normal people, they're immortal in a way. They don't need to sleep, eat, or even breathe." he sighed. Oh, great. I managed to escape a crazy killer and now I was locked in a room with someone just as crazy.
"You're telling me these things are like mythical creatures, like vampires or zombies?" I half rolled my eyes.
"No, I'm not." he retorted "They don't kill for blood, they don't kill for brains, they don't feed off of people at all. They kill for the thrill of it, my theory is that they live off of fear."
I wasn't sure what to think. "Why do you know so much about all of this?" I asked suspiciously.
"I was curious," he replied " I looked into all of the reports, really looked into them. I figured it wouldn't be long before I'd see this with my own eyes and experience it so I might as well be aware of what I'm getting into."
It made enough sense to me. I looked at the man in depth for the first time since I had gotten into the small room. His hair was greying, wrinkles beginning to form on his wise face. As he talked his bright, blue eyes were wide with fear and knowledge. I realized he was wearing a navy blue uniform.
"So you work here?" I asked
"Yes ma'am. I'm a security officer." He showed me his badge. It certainly wasn't as cool as a police officer or something like that but somehow I felt a bit safer. "This is my office. By the way, the name's Chester."
"Nice to meet you Chester, my name is Marie." I smiled slightly. "So, Chester, what are we going to do?"
"Well," he began "I'm not an expert on these things yet, I don't know what they're capable of but I know that not only are they strong, but they carry weapons. All that fire you see out there? Flamethrowers. No clue where they got them and got so many of them but they've got 'em."
"Flamethrowers... great..." I felt nauseous, where was Alexander?
"Now, what's wrong young lady? Something's on your mind, aside from the fact that we're trapped in a tiny room with killing machines running around. There's just this look on your face, and you gotta stop biting your nails." Chester said, trying to make a joke out of the situation.
"It's a man, a man I love. He's here somewhere in the mall and I don't know whether he's dead or alive." I lowered my head.
"Ah," Chester said sympathetically. "I lost my wife three years ago, I know the feeling of loss. Tell me what happened, why wasn't he with you?"
I launched into my story starting back at the apartment, I told him all about Barbie girl and how he stormed off, angry with me.
"And now that brings me here." I ended the story.
"You wouldn't let him explain?" Chester shook his head and clucked his tongue. "One thing you always have to remember in life is to have patience, always give people second chances and stop being in such a hurry to point fingers."
"I know, I realize that now," I replied, a tear forming in my eye. "But for all I know it could be too late."
"Don't you worry," Chester said, walking over and bending down to wipe the tear from my cheek "You'll find him, you just have to be brave. Here, I have something for you."
Chester walked over to the desk and rummaged around for a minute. He came back and handed me a switchblade knife, reached into his belt and handed me a taser.
"It's not much but it's all I have, well, that and my good ol' beating stick but I'm gonna keep that for myself just in case. I'd appreciate it if you wouldn't tell anyone about the knife, not supposed to have those no more." He winked at me.
"Thank you, so much." I said, and I really meant it. I stood up and made my way towards the door, knowing what I had to do next. I had to face the immortals and find my Alexander. Chester walked over to the door with me and put one hand on my shoulder and the other on the lock.
"Be careful out there, Marie. I don't know what other weapons they have, I don't know of any other things they can do, but my one word of advice is that at any time you come across one, flight before fight. I've noticed some of them are slower than average and if you're in good shape unlike me, you can probably outrun them." He said
"Again, I can't thank you enough, Chester. Is there anything that I could do for you at all?" I asked
"I don't want much, I'm just glad to help out, it is my job after all. But you could do one thing, if you happen to come across a Twix chocolate bar, bring it back for me will you? They're my favourite, and I'm starving. I'll just be in here, hiding out." He smiled and patted me on the back. "Good luck young lady."
"Thank you, you too." he unlocked the door and I turned the handle, about to face a whole world of the scary unknown, but I could do it. I could do it for Alexander.
----
> I opened the door and peeked around the corner, it seemed as if the immortals had left, I clutched the knife at my side just in case. I walked slowly and carefully down the hallway of the mall, all around me was broken glass, blood and dead bodies. I tried not to look at the bodies but it was nearly impossible, there were so many. As I passed one body I heard a moaning noise coming from it. I stopped suddenly, contemplating whether or not I should go see if they were okay. I saw no harm in it so I walked over to the moaning person. I knelt down beside them, they were laying on their side, clutching their stomach. I rolled them over and looked into their face to find it was a face I recognized. I gasped with shock. A young man with bright blue eyes, blonde hair and a strong jaw looked back at me vacantly. There lay one of Alexander's coworkers, Mason. I had only met Mason a few times, and I had him and Alexander over for supper one night. I never really got to know him well, but seeing him laying on the floor dying was still heartbreaking.
"Mason, can you hear me?" I asked him
"Yes.." he managed to whisper.
"What happened?" I asked, frantically looking around.
"Those things... they.." he took a breath and moved his hand which was resting on his stomach. Underneath his hand was a giant wound, it looked as if he had been stabbed. My mind raced, what should I do, should I get him to a hospital? But I needed to find Alexander.
"Mason, have you seen Alexander?" I asked, feeling bad about asking.
He nodded and pointed in the direction that I had been heading before. I looked at Mason and decided I couldn't just leave him there, I had to do something to help him.
"Mason, do you think you can move if I helped you?" I asked
Mason hesitated for a moment then nodded. I moved to near Mason's shoulders and glanced around quickly to make sure we were still safe. I slowly lifted him up, using all of the strength in my body that I could. With his help, I managed to get him on his feet and got him to lean on my shoulder. Together, we walked back in the direction I had came from. I needed to find somewhere safe for him and I knew where that could be.
I brought Mason back to Chester's office. I knocked on the door quietly and whispered for Chester to open the door. I heard the lock click and the door open a crack.
"Good gracious!" Chester exclaimed, "Back already? Is that your Alexander?"
I walked in the door with Mason leaning on me, it was so hard to walk with him since he was taller than me but at least 5 inches. "No," I replied "But this is one of his friends, he got attacked by the immortals, it looks as if he's been stabbed. I have to try to save him."
"Well, you're going to need to get some sort of dressing on that wound to slow the bleeding or he'll bleed to death." Chester pointed out. "There's a store here in this mall that has towels, it's not too far from here, just go around the corner and keep walking until you come to the food court, take a right from there and it should be right in that area, it's pretty easy to find."
I nodded, and made an attempt at passing Mason to Chester, Chester wavered under Mason's weight. I looked at him, as if asking if he could handle it. "I've got him," Chester reassured me "I'll do what I can while you're gone. Go quickly now."
I rushed back out the door and around the corner, nearly running down the hallway of the mall, I got to the food court in no time at all. I paused once I was in the food court, glancing around to make sure I was alone. I didn't see anyone but I just had a feeling that someone was watching me, waiting for me. I shrugged it off and hurried to the right where the store was supposed to be, I saw it immediately and ran in. It wasn't a small store like I was expecting, it was one of those big stores attached to the mall. I ran down the first aisle I saw and looked frantically for towels. Nope, not the first aisle I checked, not the second one either. I looked towards the back of the store and saw a sign that read "linen". I assumed there would be towels in that aisle and made a beeline for it.
Once I was in the back of the store I got that same feeling again, the feeling of being watched, of being hunted. I couldn't shake it off this time, I swore I saw something out of the corner of my eye but when I turned to look there was no one there. I saw a large, folded up, white sheet and grabbed it, thinking it would work the same. I quickly turned back around and made my way to the exit, not running this time. Every corner I turned I looked before walking, I still felt the presence of another person.
I was nearly at the exit when I heard something go whizzing by my ear. It hit the wall just past my head and shattered into a million pieces. I examined the mess for a moment and realized it looked like it was once a glass jar. I turned around slowly, to face one of them, staring at me with another glass jar in his hand about 15 feet away. I put my hand on my knife, ready to pull it out if needed. It wasn't until he smiled at me that I recognized him. It was the same immortal I had seen before when Chester saved me. He raised his eyebrow at me as if to challenge me and took a step forwards. He whipped the glass jar at me and automatically I ducked. It flew over my head and smashed against the wall, joining the other shards of glass laying on the ground. He took another step forward.
"What do you want?!" I exclaimed without knowing why I'd even said it. I wasn't even sure these things could talk.
His eyes narrowed and he looked right into my eyes. "You." he said in a deep, harsh voice.
Startled, I took a step backwards a bumped into a table. I glanced behind me and saw a sign on the table marked "Clearance" with a bunch of items laying on it. My eyes automatically went to the kitchen knives in a box laying partially opened on the table. I grabbed them as fast as I could, taking another step away from the immortal, trying to rip open the box. He took two more steps towards me and slowly raised his hand with his palm facing up. He beckoned with his fingers as if saying "come here".
I shook my head and freed the first knife from the box, it was just a small knife but it was sharp. He took one more step towards me and without thinking I threw the knife at him. It went tumbling through the air and to my surprise stuck right into his arm. He looked down at his arm with the knife in it without any expression at all. He grabbed the handle of the knife and pulled it out with ease and dropped it to the ground. I noticed there was no blood on the knife. I froze in shock.
Suddenly, I remembered what Chester told me. His voice came into my head. "My one word of advice is that at any time you come across one, flight before fight. " I nodded as if he were really talking to me. I dropped the box of knives and turned around and started running for the exit. Once in the hallway I paused for a brief moment to look behind me and saw him making his way towards me, not running at all, merely walking with a smirk on his face that said "I will get you, eventually." I started running down the hallway again towards the food court. I threw the sheet over my shoulder and pulled the taser out of my pocket and held it in my hand as I ran.
Every corner I turned I glanced behind me to see if he was still following but once I was out of the food court I couldn't see him anymore. I finally reached Chester's office door and pounded on it loudly. He quickly unlocked it and opened it then shut it quickly behind me.
"You're as pale as a ghost." Chester noticed aloud.
"I.. I saw one." I stuttered. I handed Chester the sheet and sat down on the floor. "It was the same one as before."
Chester raised an eyebrow at me and bent down beside Mason who looked to be unconscious. He began dressing Mason's wound, quickly yet so gently. "What happened?" he asked
"I saw him in the store where I got the sheet, he threw glass jars at me so I threw a kitchen knife at him. He just pulled it out like nothing and there was no blood at all. When I ran away he didn't run after me, he just walked, it was so strange.." I trailed off remembering the look on his face as I ran. I shook off the thought and turned to Chester who was deep in thought.
"Hmm.." Chester said after a few moments "That does seem very peculiar. Well, the more we know about them the better, but I'm glad you're safe."
"Yeah, not for long. I have to go back out there and find Alexander. Thanks to Mason, I know which way he went." I turned to look at Mason who was laying on the floor. "Is he going to be okay?"
"I sure hope so," Chester replied "He's losing consciousness but he's still breathing, I hope he'll be alright. He needs to get to a hospital really soon though."
"Well, what are we going to do?" I asked
"I called them on my cell phone, they said the authorities have already been informed of what's happening but they're not sending anyone in yet." He shook his head looking angry "There's people in here who are suffering and dying, they need medical attention, it's just not right."
I nodded my head in agreement and remembered Alexander. He could be somewhere needing medical attention too. I figured it was time to go back out there and find him. "I guess I better get back out there," I said turning to the door. "Here I go, again."
---
Once back outside I began running the way that Mason had pointed. I clutched the knife at my side and glanced behind my shoulder as I ran through the food court. I had been expecting the immortal to be standing there, or still slowly walking towards me with a smirk on his face, as if he had all the time in the world to catch me and kill me. I shook my head trying to rid the morbid thoughts in my head. I didn't have time to think about how I would die right now, I had to concentrate on Alexander.
I passed the store which had broken glass trailing out of the exit and looked towards the escalator that lead upstairs to other stores. There was a sign showing all of the stores that were on the second floor. There was a candle store of some sort, a book store, a couple clothing stores, shoe stores, a coffee shop and more. As I skimmed through the list of stores I didn't see any reason for Alexander to go up there, unless maybe he were looking for a good book when everything happened so suddenly.
I got the feeling of being watched again, but this time the feeling of being hunted wasn't accompanying it. I turned my head to peek over my shoulder and saw a figure standing in a dim corner near the escalator by a bench and a garbage can. The figure stepped towards me quickly then stopped suddenly as if realizing I was not the person they thought I was. They retreated back to the bench and sat down. Out of curiosity I began walking slowly over to the figure. It obviously wasn't an immortal, if it were I would probably be already dead.
As I drew closer I started recognizing the figure, it was a man sitting there, hunched over, but it wasn't just any man.
"Alexander?!" I gasped. I began smiling ear to ear. Relief swelled over me, just knowing that he was alive. I stopped smiling when I saw his grim expression. "Thought you'd be a little happier to see me..."
"It's not that I'm not happy to see that you're alive and safe, it's just the circumstances are..." he paused, clearing his throat as he gestured to our surroundings "rather grim."
I took a look around us finally seeing everything in depth now that I was no longer distracted with finding the love of my life. There were ashen stores with flickering flames and glowing embers, there were moans of people suffering from stab wounds and various other injuries, everything in the mall was completely out of place. Papers lay scattered along the floors along with broken glass, dirt from knocked over plants and blood. I turned back to look at Alexander and realized for the first time that he was alone. I was unsure if I should ask him the question that I was sure I didn't want to know the answer to.
"Where's Kendra?" I asked softly, almost whispering.
Alexander shook his head. "I don't know, I've been looking for her but I haven't been able to find her. I last saw her just after we parted at the movie theatre. When there was that loud noise everyone began panicking and scattered everywhere, she got lost in the crowd."
"Oh.." I trailed off. I couldn't help but notice that he had mentioned he looked for Kendra but not me. I guess he was really upset with me.
Alexander saw the expression on my face and read me like a book. He lifted my chin and looked into my eyes. "I tried to look for you too, you know that right? I'm not a cold person you know."
We both smiled slightly as we were on the verge of kissing and making up but we both paused for a moment when we both heard a faint sound. This faint sound was too familiar for me to ever forget, even if I tried. It was the sound of footsteps, but not just any footsteps, the footsteps that belonged to the immortal that had been following me around the mall, slowly as if he knew he'd get me eventually. I'd be damned if I let him get me now, now that I knew that Alexander was alive. I had completed my mission but I wasn't giving up yet.
"We have to hide somewhere." Alexander said, eyes wide. "We can't stay here much longer or it will see us."
"I know of somewhere.." I trailed off. I thought of Chester's small office but then remembered it was in the direction that the immortal was coming from. "But we'll have to see if we can find another way there, he's blocking our path. Let's try to go upstairs and go around somehow."
Alexander nodded and took my hand and we crept around the railing of the escalator and peered and the immortal slowly making his way to us as we travelled up the stairs. It was hard to tell what he had in his hand but as a beam of light hit the object and the light shone off of it I was fairly sure I could guess. This immortal had found a flamethrower.
**to be continued.
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