Evolve - Chapter 5 Chapter 5

Morning comes or at least I think its morning and I’m seated on the chair next to my bed because my door won’t open as yet. I wonder if Frank and the others are looking for us or have their efforts on finding the last of us with that in mind what would they do with Nicole if they did find her.

I’m starting to wonder what Frank meant by ‘freeing’ the five of us.

“Good morning, son.” Says dad

“Hey dad, can I leave my room now.” I say

“Yes it’s time for your everyday training. Someone’s here for you.”

“Where’s mom?”

“She’s…. Elsewhere.”

“Is that code for ‘if you keep asking about your mom I’ll get my head lobbed off’ dad?”

The door slides open and on the other end stands a lady with short ginger black hair and glasses, dressed in all white with a white coat over it. In her hands she carries a white steel box with a handle which she sets down on my bed and opens from it she pulls out a five inch size device that has a small needle at the end.

She gestures for my arm which I gingerly offer and with a sharp prick she jabs it into my wrist and stares at its screen. After a seconds of staring she gets a “satisfied with what I see” look on her face then pulls it out and steps away once again reaching into her box she pulls out a maroon red speedo like jumpsuit and sneakers and places them on the bed. She closes the box.

“Change into that, its made from durable materials that will survive whatever abilities it is exposed to. I will be waiting outside to escort you to the training dome.” She says

And with that she steps out. And leaves me staring at this very crotch revealing jumpsuit, I mean why does it have to a jumpsuit? Why can’t it be a nice of pair of durable material jeans and a t-shirt. I suppose I gotta put this on anyway.

With my jumpsuit and shoes on, I walk out and join lady sunshine and walk with her this time I do get to go down the right side of the hall way. Come to think of it this place is pretty straightforward or circle like, the halls aren’t exactly straight, it’s more like walking in a semi circle in any direction then hitting a set of colour coded double doors like the one we’re approaching now.

The doors swing open into a high roofed dome room, to my far left is the glass display to what looks like an observation room, I count four people in there dressed like lady sunshine here next to me, Infront of them are computer screens.

Floating high above close to the roof are more of those drone like things that scanned me when I woke up yesterday, a camera arm fixed at the very center of the roof top swings about, so I’m guessing that’s how they’re gonna keep an eye on us analysing and whatnot.

Mounted on the walls are different kinds of kendo sticks, that’s gonna hurt assuming I get hit. I’m still walking forward admiring the place when lady sunshine puts a hand on my chest and stops me moving forward.

“Don’t walk past the line until they say so.” She says

Sure enough on the ground is a maroon red line where my foot rests, actually its more like a large maroon red square painted on the ground, like a coach’s dugout at a soccer match.

“Why shouldn’t I walk past it?” I ask

She looks at me and says, “Just don’t.”

Well alright then lady sunshine, if I wasn’t afraid of dying I’d walk over just to see what happened.

The other colour coded doors swing open and one by one step through Toni, Marc and Carla, all of them are their own colour code jumpsuit with a person dressed in white with them and I find myself not able to take my eyes off Carla. Yes I’m a guy bite me.

“Good morning all.” Says Euroc Carmichael from up in the observation room his voice bounches around the room.

“For the benefit of the new ones they shall go first. Mr Van Der Walt please step forward.” He says, Marc steps forward. “Now your abilities are as such. Generation and full control of electricity, intangibility meaning you can go through anything within this room, last but not list your enhanced agility which is self-explanatory.”

I’m pretty sure he means anything they let him walk through. But still a pretty cool set of powers, enhanced agility explains how he moved the way he did inside of O.R’s cages. I wonder what happened to the time travelling young looking geezer.

Marc’s stare up at the observation room and and the he fists are clinched tells me he wants to try something but I really hope he doesn’t. I feel like security only feels lax in this place.

“This room is a state of the art simulator meant test your abilities to the limit. We will now begin.” He says finishing.

“I suggest you move your foot unless you want to lose it.” Says lady sunshine.

I take her advice just in time because from the maroon circle a force field goes up, its a very light near colourless blue and a small buzzing sound comes from it. Curiosity overcomes me and I touch it, a pleasant bit of friction goes down my spine which a brings a smile to my face and I withdraw my hand.

“It’s for our protection, it’s harmless to a person but it is unbreachable.” Says lady sunshine

“What’s your name anyway?” I am tired of calling her lady sunshine to be honest.

“You can call me Hera.” She says

“Like the Greek Goddess? Is that your real name?” I ask

“Does it matter?” She asks

I shrug my shoulders, as long as I’m not calling you lady sunshine in my head anymore Hera.

The entire room suddenly goes dark and I can’t see the observation room or the others anymore.

“Uhm Hera?” I ask nervously

“Stay calm. It’s just the simulator starting up.”

And sure enough something else starts to happen, almost like a ps1 game starting all around me a jungle generates. The door behind me is gone so is the observation room. I can’t see others anymore either but I can see Marc, he’s looking around just as amazed as I am. As the jungle generates more it becomes more detailed, cleaner now it’s as though I’m in a ps4 game but it’s not stopping it’s getting more detailed. Then it stops, now it’s as though I’m standing in an actual real jungle. Tall trees with sun rays coming through them, a few fresh water streams, bushes all around, even the sounds are there from birds flying by and I’m pretty sure I just saw a monkey move through that tree. On the low branch next to me a lady bug lands on a leaf and it looks so real.

I reach out with my finger and it hops on and I can feel it on there, is this really fake?

“Hera, are we still at WECA?” I ask?

“Yes we are. You’re still inside the force field.” She replies

“And where’s everyone else?”

“They’re here, watching like you.”

“This is cr—-” the bushes behind me rustle. Marc hears it too and is on guard his hands buzzing with electricity.

I turn just as a black form rushes past me headed straight for Marc, my eyes follow it as it swipes a talon at Marc who jumps over it and kicks out an electrically charged foot connecting with the form sending it crashing into a tree. Marc lands with a smile on his face. But why is he smiling?

Then I see it, and immediately understand why we’re wearing these jump suits they aren’t just durable they’re something more kinda like the fantastic four suits, I say this because as I watch Maec closely I notice the electricity sparking from every part of his body to the point where his suit is almost glowing. The black form picks itself up and stares at Marc.

“Hera, what are these suits?”

“Unlike normal clothing they are a second skin a skin that vibrates the cells that births your abilities maximising them the more more you use them, your friend there has been vibrating electricity since he stepped in this room he’s already two steps ahead of that thing he’s facing. Next will most certainly be the call.”

“The call?”

“Watch.” She says

The black form looks and seems like its in pain as from place where it’s head is a set of eyes tear open and so does a mouth and from that mouth a shriek tears through the air, silencing every jungle sound for about five second then more rustling follows. This time from high up in the trees three more forms drop down these ones dont have eyes and a mouth like the first. Marc is surrounded but he’s still smiling.

The new ones instantly attack all at once toward Marc but mouth-eyes doesn’t it simply stands there watching.

Marc’s suit stops its glow, his electricity power’s down but something else is about him, he seems less there?

The first of the new three reaches Marc and kicks right through him, with nothing to connect the kick on its off balance and falls to the ground rolling, the second throws a fist that goes through Marc but leaves a small crater in the ground, all the while Marc still smiles.

The third doesnt attack instead it backs off and it too grows a thin mouth and grunts a few times, mouth-eyes who still hasn’t moved grunts back.

They’re communicating, what the hell are these things.

They continue to grunt.

“Do we all train with those things?”

“Only on your first time.” Replies Hera

Thin-mouth and mouth-eyes stop grunting and then they rush right past Marc and cosume the other two. Well I didnt see that one coming, survival of the fittest I guess.

They spasm for a few minutes and then stop, they don’t change or anything but I can tell something’s different.

Thin-mouth moves first, charging Marc with twice the speed it had before with hands outstretched to grab and Marc. My instinct tells me Marc should be moving but Marc doesn’t move because Marc is still smiling, thin-mouth is able to grab Marc despite his intangibility being on, with Marc in firm grip thin-mouth spins and tosses an amazed Marc at Mouth-eyes.

Mouth-eyes jumps up over Marc and crashes into him feet first pushing him into ground hard, so hard he sinks into the ground ever so slightly. So that’s what Euroc meant when said it evolves.

Mouth-eyes picks up Marc, who’s somewhere between almost out cold and barely awake and punches him in the gut so hard a small thump sound echos, Marc spits up blood. Ouch.

“He’s gonna die out there!” I shout rushing forward and smacking into the force field face first.

“He won’t die, Toni Lewandowski him can heal him.”

Thin-mouth grabs Marc from mouth-eyes and just rag dolls into a tree and the beat down continues. And suddenly an explosion of electricity eminates from Marc sending Thin-mouth and Mouth-eyes flying.

Marc stands, his face is a bit of a bloody mess as he stumbles and leans against a tree. There’s an angry look about him as he raises his hands at the two black forms before him and with a yell he lets loose a constant stream of electricity which hits the beasts and but it won’t hold them for long. Marc notices it too, halts his stream and fires two quick condensed electric shots out that seem to hurt like hell because thin-mouth and mouth-eyes howl like crazy and go into electric shock mode. Marc starts to run, he’s trying to regroup that’s smart but he’s hurt and he’s running gingerly and those two will recover quickly. Somehow even from where I’m standing we’re following Marc like a third person game camera.

“You gotta let me out, he can’t do it alone. Those things out there they’ll kill him. And I don’t give a shit about Tony being able to heal people. Tell Euroc Carmichael to let me out.” I say to Hera being sure to get up in her face.

She look at me but she isn’t really focused on me, she touches her ear, nods twice only then do her eyes focus on me.

“Well it seems to get to play hero, the forcefield won’t stop you.”

Without hesitation I’m immediately running forward lifting off my feet and flying through into the simulation.

The second I’m out of the force field I lose sight of where I was and find myself high in the sky above the trees and its beautiful from up here I can see the tops of the trees and sun light. Is this really just a simulation? If it is how did I end up this high, I was at ground level, it makes no sense but now it’s the time. I gotta help Marc.

My eyes don’t search for long until I spot him, and his assailants who are getting close. I’ve always wanted to do a superhero landing and I can’t help but smile at the idea.

I fly down rapidly, dodging tree branches with ease. Woah I didn’t think I’d have this much control, I guess these suits really do act like a wearable Adderall.

As I’m about to reach the ground I switch into a midair ground palm strike position with my hand behind my ear and turn of my flight immediately wind rushes past my ears. I switch to energy projection and focus it on my knees and palm then i hit the ground and smash my palm into the ground and releasing the clear murky energy.

The ground infront of me caves in the opposite direction trees, large chunks of the earth, everything affected just explodes in the direction I’m facing. A few trees impale thin-mouth and mouth-eyes as they are hurled backwards with everything else ultimately they’re buried beneath the earth and vegetation. The aftermath is a ruined sight of earth and trees and bushes, making it look like a small bomb, minus the fire exploded.

Panting slightly and feeling a little pain in my knees (I guess Deadpool was right about a superhero landing being hard on the knees) I stand and turn to face Marc who has a look of surprise mixed in with the look of some who’s impressed on his face.

“Dude, that was sick. How the hell did you get here I thought I was alone?” He asks

“Somehow I was watching then I asked to leave and I should have come up from behind you but somehow I ended up in the sky above you and this feels really real man, like…like… like it’s actually humid and whatnot.” I reply

“Yeah I know it feels too real to not be you know. Almost like it isn’t a simu——” from behind me there’s the sound of movement from beneath the destruction I just caused. “You’ve gotta be kidding me, you just did the jungle equivalent of dropping a building on those things and they’re still alive.”

“We’ve gotta work together look I’ve got an idea but we gotta lost while we discuss it, come on this way.” I say turning and jogging in a random direction.

“You have any idea where you’re going?” Asks Marc who’s wincing with every step, he definitely has a few broken…somethings

“No, that’s the point,” I say, “Listen when I was watching, you focused on one power at a time for too long and to be honest you kinda underestimated those things.”

“Oh yeah? Well what’s your bright idea?” He asks

“This is only my second scrap and they’ve both been way too erratic, the more brawn we use here the better at taking us on these things become, well you for the most part because I haven’t really done a lot. Point is,” I say stopping behind a large tree, “We gotta switch it up on them, can’t stick with one thing at a time. You can move I’ve seen you so you gotta use that.”

“I think I’ve got a couple broken ribs and something else, don’t really wanna make that worse.” He replies

“Oh don’t worry, Toni’s apparently got healing hands or something like that.” To which Marc raises an eyebrow.

“Okay, so that’s your whole plan? It sounds simple.” He says

“Oh yeah? Well what’s your bright idea?” I ask mocking him.

Marc scowls at me. There’s rustling in the trees. An idea hits me like a light bulb going on.

“This might seem weird but just go with it.” I say wrapping my arms around Marc augmenting my legs and using the strength to jump to a high branch then using my flight to stay up and let Marc down on a particularly thick branch.

“Snipe them from up here for a little bit.” I say before flying back down.

“I’m support really?” He shouts.

I reach the ground just as mouth-eyes emerges from thick shrubbery, it looks much scarier in person. Well time for my best All-Might impression.

I augment my entire body and feel strength surge through me and throw a powerful right hook catching it sending it flying backwards. Thin-mouth has me by the waist before I know it and is about to deliver a german suplex on me when my instincts kick in and I switch to flight and shoot straight up to Marc then offer up Thin-mouth to Marc, he connects with two condensed electric shots that loosen the grip enough for me to shake it and send it crashing down.

Okay I’ll admit it, I feel alive.

I send myself careening toward thin-mouth my fist thrust out firmly ahead of me, then turn off my flight and head wind past my ears again and I switch on augmented strength combining it with my careening momentum I punch a hole straight through thin-mouth and then firing a concentrated bit of clear energy projection literally tears thin-mouth in half.

Damn didn’t account for the ground which I hit hard knocking the wind out of myself, could have been worse had I not landed on the two halves of thin-mouth. Then again I can’t see where mouth-eyes is…. My left leg is yanked out from under me before I process what’s happening I’m thrown way up high, I’m about to react when my neck crashes into a branch and I go little limp and hit the ground hard again only this time all the wind really is knocked out of me.

I find myself grunting as I try to pull myself up, but as I stand I’m still dizzy and my vision blurred because all I see is the silhouette of mouth-eyes rush toward me followed by a sharp slicing pain, everything is moving so fast.

I’m thrown up in the air against my will again, right next me is mouth-eyes. My vision clears just long to see he’s swinging a branch down at me and as it connects oh so painfully I scream in pain and I’m careening toward the ground again half knocked out just as I’m about to hit the ground I’m hit by impact from my side and turn to see Marc next to me, the both of us crash into some semi soft shrubbery. Everything in me hurts.

“I underestimated them huh?” Says Marc sarcastically.

I’m still looking up and catching my breath painfully when I see mouth-eyes descending slowly from above, Its freaking flying down. Okay maybe we may out of our depth but we gotta keep going right?

“Hey you gotta help me up.” I whisper.

Marc helps me up, now its two hurt dudes facing down a whatever the hell mouth-eyes is.

“How about we REALLY work together this time not that leave me up in a tree to play support shit, this isn’t a videogame.”

“Cool. Ideas?”

“We just wing it and try not to hit each other.” He says

“Okay, let’s do it.” I reply

Thankfully I can stand, but movement will be tricky but then again I can fly, landings are gonna be a pain however, literally.

“Alright let’s do it.” I say

“End simulation.” Comes Euroc Carmichael’s voice.

Mouth-eyes backs away slowly before running and disappearing into the jungle.

That feeling comes again, that same feeling I got the night I got my powers like my senses are punishing me all at once but it doesn’t last long and then I’m back in the dome, standing right in the center of the large room.

“What was that for, putting us through all that!” Marc shouts at the observation room.

“An initial analysis of your abilities.” Says Carmichael calmly.

I can’t stand anymore so I’m gonna drop to a knee, only now do I realise I’m bleeding from somewhere.

Soft footsteps echo through the dome, I turn to see Toni rushing toward us. He reaches me first and lays a hand on my forehead. A warm feeling rushes through me, when he takes his hand away I feel….. Great, I’m exhausted but I’m not in pain anymore.

“You really do have healing hands.” I whisper, Toni pauses for a moment before standing in front of Marc and gesturing for him to come low to enough for him to touch his forehead.

As I’m looking at Toni I wonder if he had to go through what we just did, to fight those things just like Marc and I just did. He’s just a kid, I’m a kid too but he’s seven frigging years old.

My gaze switches to Carmichael who’s staring at us stone faced, my gaze switches to the other white coats standing at the colour coded entrances also stone faced, Carla does look concerned I’m not sure if its us or Toni.

This place is gonna do a lot to the four of us, but what’d it do to you first Carla because you were here before anyone else.