Deacon - Chapter 4 (Part 2)

"Hey, Kelly... I'm sorry about back at the camp." I say, "Anyways... What the hell happened with me back there?"

"Don't apologize, you lost your parents twenty years back. Worst of all, you held your mom's hand while she got shot." She says, "I lost my parents too. Except, they didn't get shot in the head. They made it much more painful. They injected a version of the virus into them. I watched them turn into those freaks for a week."

"Hey, I found this diary in the back pocket of Jane's pants." I say. I hand it over to Kelly, "Do you mind reading it out for me?"

"Sure," she answers.

"Day 1, time 2000: We've successfully transferred the infected bait into the hospital where the subject is seated with female subject's clone. Time, 2001: Subject got fooled into walking into ground zero areas and successfully managed to get through, safe with the clone. Time, 2005: Subject successfully bonded with clone and knocked out. Time, 2006: Subject taken by two young boys. One grown man took out our militia from a distance. Day 2, Time, 0419: Remainder of the team reached base with one missing car. Time, 0500: Virus continues to accelerate the amount of infected. And..." Kelly pauses for a brief second, looking confused. I stop the car as I notice that I am the subject of something. "Say it Kelly." I encourage her. "And, if you're reading this, we know, you are Deacon Arculeptone." She reads out.

As soon as I hear my name in the book, I freeze and take a short gasp. Soon, something begins to beep. "The book!" screams Kelly. I roll down the window and throw the book into the window of a building. About ten seconds later, the whole building blows up. I close my eyes and bend the other way on my seat. A second later, I open my eyes to see something I've never seen or felt. Kelly is holding my arm and leaning her head on my shoulder as she cries. Everything is so loud here right now. The sound is only making her more scared than she is, so I move the car away from the noise and about a minute later, I stop the car and give Kelly a warm side-hug to make her feel comfortable and less scared. Soon, the car shuts off on itself. Battery's dead.

Kelly looks at me with tears rolling down her eyes. I rub them out with my sleeves, and while doing so, she says, "Thank you Deacon. No one's ever known that this makes me feel better, except for my dad and, you're like him in many ways. Everyone I've ever cared about and loved has took off from my arms. I won't let you do that."

"And I won't do that." I reply and make her smile. All of that is happening from a single hug. Now I know, hugs are stronger than guns. "Alright, kiddo. Let's continue the hug later on. For now, let's find Jane.

That gave me a flashback, a memory. It was in my house. I'd won a pie cook-off with my neighbor and, they gave each of us a ticket for a trip to Mauritius. But I rejected that prize and gave the tickets back to them. I exchanged them for a family hug. "Oh David," says a woman with a smile. Then that reminds me of something. That's my dad's name.

I gasp back to real-time. "Hey... about that book. They said 'clone'. That means, Jane is still there somewhere. She's not dead. I'm not losing hope now... Just saying"

"She's back at the shitty camp. She's immune so they're using her as a tap for medicine." Says Kelly. "And... You knew that all along? Also, mind your language!" I reply while cross, "What about the hospital shit?"

"Hmph... No. You mind your tongue. And, there's no hospital. They sent us out to get time to extract the substance that makes her immune to the virus. They'll be done by now." She replies.

"We have to go back. NOW" I say. "How?" asks Kelly. "There seems to be a farm ahead. Maybe we can find a horse." I reply.

So, we start walking towards the farm and to my surprise, there is a horse. I got on the horse and Kelly got on the back, and we begin. On our way, I notice how destroyed every building is. Not a single window with fully intact glass on it. The road full of dust and a clotted bloodstream on the edges.

As we reach the camp, it's just barely evening and orange in the sky. We don't go into the camp. I set myself on a hill. My dad showed me how to use a hunting rifle just like this one. I take cover near a thick tree. Kelly is behind my back, being careful to not be spotted. I then take the rifle out, fill up the 6-round magazine and look down the sights. With David's head right in the middle of the sights, I take the shot, and then, it's on. No one saw the kill but all of them heard the shot. The remaining six people come out and surround the body of David. They are now at full alert. 29 rounds left. Soon, I see Matthew and Joel with sniper rifles. They place themselves on a roof. That's when I decide to move behind the next tree. Soon, green lasers point at the previous tree. They both stood behind each other. I put Matthew's head in between my sights and take the shot. The bullet pierces through his head and goes into Joel's head.

Four to go, but it seems, everyone ran inside. I make a shiv out of a twig on the floor. I bend it to one side and then, the other. I kept repeating that until it broke off.

The shiv has a blunt face, but it has sharp corners. I have no choice but to go down there and hunt them out. Before I do so, I look through the binoculars and spot a hatch. Jane must be under there.

I slowly move down there. I leave Kelly and my luggage with her on the hill. I move down with the shiv and enter the tin-made gates of the camp. I then take cover behind a piece of the tin gate and scan for noises. The remaining four are all in one tent. As I walk towards it, a person holds me in a choke position. I try to let go of the pressure. I have just enough strength to be able to push his arm about three inches away from my throat. Then I quickly duck and get out of there to face his direction. He pulls out a gun, points it to my head. Just before he shoots, A loud bang is heard from my right. The man gets shot in the hip. As I look to the right, I notice that Kelly is the one who shot him.

He tries to get back up on his feet, but I hold down his neck. and get a quick flashback of every single memory. While doing so, again, everything turns blue and voices get muffled. Then, my hand burns up. The heat melts his skin away, I press through it to reach his trachea and snap it like a twig.

Still seeing blue, I walk into a tent to see a family of three. I leave them there. Then, Kelly comes down and stands near me. That's when the fire on my arms is extinguished and I begin hearing and seeing normally again.

We make our way to the shed. "Shit, it's locked." Says Kelly. "Mind your to-... You'll never change the habit of cussing, will you?" I ask her. "Did you?" she replies.

I try to change the topic. "Maybe I could melt off the padlock." I suggest. "But how do you trigger your power." She asks. "It just happens." I reply. "Every time you had a flashback, you burnt up to a chicken nugget. Maybe you just have to think of something to trigger it." She suggests.

"ha-ha... Ill try." I reply. I then close my eyes. "Think Deacon, Think. Try to remember." I say to myself. Soon, I fall short of breath and then the flashback starts.

It was me at home. Going to my room at around evening. I hear my dad say that he misses someone. But then, I hear something I heard before. "Oh David, Candice is proud of you..." my mom said. Before anything else happened, I got pulled back into the present from a type of portal.

Then, everything turns blue and voices muffle. My hand burns up and heats the padlock. I have to push harder to make it hotter. With a face of determination, I then push. I take final breath before I push one last time, as hard as I possibly can. Soon, the metal melts away and the padlock is scorched open. Then, everything returns to normal.

I then lift up the hatch and drop down. Kelly jumps onto my shoulders.

"Jane? Call out.!" I scream out. I look behind me... and there she is. I'd never want to see her like that. She's held in a capsule, standing up with her head bent backwards. They are filtering the blood from her shoulders. I take those pipes out and cover up the hole.

She's still beating, but knocked out. I pick her up and put her on the back of the horse. Then, Kelly sits right in front, leaning her head on my chest as she asks me, "What now?"

"Now, we get outta here, find somewhere safe and wait for Jane to wake up." I reply. We then set off into the sunset.

Kelly then snores off while leaning her head on my chest.

As I ride the horse into the sun, I begin to realize that this is my family now. I must use my power and everything else I have to protect it. I stop the horse on a canyon. The view was just spectacular. The orange light bleeds away with the sun. I can see the outline of the rays disappear and bend upwards. Soon, it is dark, I decide to call it a day. And as a family, we all sleep next to the horse under the same blanket.