"Aliens?"
"The Talon are an intelligent species that will begin to show up in 9 years. Many of them bare features similar to insects or microbes."
"Really?" Donny exclaimed in surprise. "How do you know they sent the comet?"
"They arrive here through the exact same method the Talon virus does. And the Talon can survive the vacuum and all the dangers of space."
"Why are they called Talon then if they aren't birds?"
"Because the virus came first. The virus, when observed under a microscope, looks like a talon. Which is where the name comes from."
"So they invade our planet? Are they here to dominate us or wipe us out?"
"We don't really know what their goal is. Some of them kill us, some enslave us, some just ignore us, and though I've never seen it, there are rumors that some have engaged in trade with humans." Will shook his head. "Honestly, I don't think they really care about us, at least from what I've seen of them. Many people have compared the Talons to the colonists. The virus is the disease and guns wrapped up in one neat package that creates chaos and disrupts the status quo for the locals."
"That sounds messed up."
"But there is one thing that all Talons want." Will added. "They all seem to want Parasites."
"Parasites?" Donny asked while he made a face.
"Parasites are organisms that live inside a host while leeching off of the host for food and safety."
"I know what a parasite is-"
"And in exchange, they grant their abilities and traits to their host."
"What?" Donny asked in bewilderment.
"Because of the virus, some organisms have a chance to gain the ability to leech onto and share their aspects with a host. This has the potential to give someone abilities and traits that would have never been possible." As Will explained, Donny eyes grew wide with disbelief. "I'll give you an example of a Parasite that I possessed. I had a very lucky break and found a parasitic holothuroidea—which is just a fancy word for a sea cucumber. Sea cucumbers have a very strong ability to regenerate tissue. They can regrow lost organs in less than six weeks. After obtaining and integrating with it, I grew back a finger that I had lost previously."
"No way...superpowers?"
Will nodded.
"Then can I fly?"
"It's possible. There are people that can fly." Will confirmed.
"Holy shit!" Donny exclaimed in excitement. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go save the world!"
"Not so fast." Will thumbed back towards the gym. "I need to finish my workout, and if you're joining me in the future, you need to work out as well too."
Donny began to complain. "Come on bro, seriously? I just finished smoking one and I don't have a change of clothes."
"Doesn't matter, no excuses. I have spare clothes if you need."
"Is it like the plain ass clothing that you were wearing earlier? Cause I'll die if I have to wear those."
Will gave a Donny a stern look. Donny flung his arms in the air and let out an exaggerated sigh as he gave in. "Alright....mom! What are we working on then?"
"Cardio."
"Ahh, a man of culture. I see that you follow the first rule."
----------------------------------------
"I think I'm gonna be sick." Donny complained as the two arrived in the school parking lot and exited Will's truck. "Maybe I should quit smoking too?"
Will choose to remain silent at his friend's words.
"What are we doing back here anyway?" Donny asked, looking around the deserted parking lot.
After going through an exhaustive workout session, the two friends went out for a meal after as they caught up and Donny grilled Will about the future. They had skipped the entire school day and returned only after classes were out.
"There's something I need to do. Just keep a lookout for me." Will said as he led the way to the teacher's offices. The halls were mostly empty, with only a few people here and there, who had stayed late for clubs and other extra-curricular activities.
Will entered the lobby to the teacher's offices after taking a quick peek around the corner to confirm that it was empty. Some of the doors were still open with teachers staying late and he could hear discussions being carried out in low voices. Will went to the empty offices and tested each door, finding them locked. Donny was immediately startled once he saw what Will was doing and looked around in panic. On the 5th door, Will caught a lucky break and found a door that was still unlocked.
Entering the small office, Will headed straight for the computer behind the desk and booted it up.
"Dude...what are you doing?" Donny hissed, looking out the door with worry.
"Just stay outside and block the window so no one sees me. Stall anyone that might come."
"Shit." Donny left the office and closed the door behind him, glancing around nervously.
Once the computer was booted up, a login screen displayed itself. Seeing that, Will promptly inserted a USB stick into the slot on the computer and the program automatically ran. A screen popped up and words constantly scrolled by on its own.
Reading wordlist...
Executing brute-force attack (Written by th3hack3r4chan)...
Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: password
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: admin
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: 1
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: 1111
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: 123
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: 123456
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: 1234567
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: 12345678
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: 123456789
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: 1234567890
...
Will sat there waiting, his finger tapping the table as the program ran itself. Will let the program run for about a good minute until it finally stopped.
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: c2h5oh
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: bubbles1
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: bro123
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: brook
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: brady
Attempting to connect with User ID: S.Campbell1541 - Password: brandy
...
Password found
User ID: S.Campbell1541
Password: brandy
He let out a sigh of relief as he was given access to the computer. He soon opened up the program to access the school's network and entered his name into the search. Finally, finding what he was looking for, Will changed the contact number listed to his own phone number before changing the mailing address to a P.O. box that he had opened up during the weekend.
"Coocoo coocoo."
Will glanced up when he suddenly heard Donny trilling like a bird on the other side of the door. Soon, Donny was talking to someone.
"Mister Reid, what a pleasant surprise. How can I help you?" Mrs. Campbell asked.
Seeing that he was out of time, Will quickly opened up Donny's information and made the same changes. While doing so, he could hear Donny stuttering on the other side.
"Uh...uh..." Donny struggled to come up with an explanation.
"You must be here to retrieve your cellphone, correct? Mister Mitchel found me immediately right after the bell rang but you were a no show. I had thought that you had forgotten."
"No no no no no no. Not at all. That's exactly why I'm here." Donny nodded quickly, glad that this just happened to be Mrs. Campbell's office.
"Of course, then let me just retrieve it for you, it's in my office." Mrs. Campbell moved to open the door to her office but Donny stepped in the way.
"Is there something else?" Mrs. Campbell asked.
"Uh..." Donny felt that his heart was about to burst.
"I can't get your cellphone for you if you're blocking the way into my office, Mister Reid."
"Oh, sorry."
Left with no choice, Donny slowly stepped out of the way. Mrs. Campbell opened the door to her office and retrieved Donny's phone from her drawer before returning to Donny. Donny could only stare into the office dumbfoundedly. Other than Mrs. Campbell, there was no sign of anyone else.
"You're already in your final year, and you'll be graduating very soon. You are basically an adult. Hence, this should be reflected in your behavior. If you have a disagreement with someone, then you should talk it out civilly instead of throwing out threats. You could find yourself in a lot of trouble if you do this out in the real world. Now, I hope you learned your lesson, Mister Reid." Mrs. Campbell said before holding out his phone.
"Uh..."
"Is there something the matter?" Mrs. Campbell followed Donny's line of sight, turning around and looking inside her office.
"No. Thank you...yes, I've learned my lesson." Donny finally took his phone back.
"Good, then I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, Mister Reid."
"You too." Donny said before turning around and quickly leaving the office.
When Mrs. Campbell stepped back into her office, she found it a little chilly. She went over to her window to check if it was open. It wasn't open, but she found that it was in the unlocked position.
"Dear me, did forget to lock it?" She mumbled to herself, making sure to lock the window.
When Donny exited the school, he found Will waiting for him in his truck.
"Let's go." Will said.
Donny got into the vehicle and they drove off.
"How did you get out!? And what the hell were you doing back in there?" Donny demanded, his nerves still frayed and his hands shaking.
"I climbed out the window." Will said calmly. "As for what I was doing, I changed some of our info on their system, so we won't get any annoying headaches from our parents or the school going forward. At least not until graduation."
"Dude, you should have told me you were going to do something crazy like that." Donny rubbed his hair in exasperation.
"If I told you, would you have gone along with it?"
"I don't know..." Donny shook his head.
"Exactly. Besides, you probably still had your doubts about me, right?"
"You did all that just to prove that you came from the future?" Donny asked incredulously. He received a shrug in return. "But if you can hack their servers, why not just come back at night?"
"Well, first of all, I did not really hack them. I ran a simple brute-force program on the computer. You can easily find one online.
"Simple program? Doesn't the school have like anti-hacking or something if it's such a simple program?"
"The school is a public school and they are severely underfunded. Which mean that everything they run on is extremely archaic."
"I guess that's true. Me and Mikey were trying to raise our ranking on the computer lab PCs but they couldn't even run the game on the lowest settings."
"And second, I wouldn't have a way into their offices. So that was the best time to get in."
"You can hack them but you can't lockpick them?" Donny asked.
"It's not hacking...never mind." Will shook his head. "In the future, with the way the world is, do you think people will have time to lockpick? We just break the locks if we need to."
"That makes...sense. Then what are we going to do now?"
"We're going to prepare and put ourselves in a position of power to better face the approaching shitstorm."
"How are we going to do that?"
"If I recall correctly, your birthday was close to mine, right?"
"You even forgot my birthday?" Donny deadpanned but the only response he got was Will staring straight back at him, waiting for an answer. "It's in two weeks..." He sighed.
"We'll be needing a lot of money to bankroll what we need to do. So in two weeks, we'll go pick up some of the capital we'll need."
"Money?!" Donny suddenly perked up. "You have lottery numbers or something like that?! Wait, is money even important after the living dead rise up?"
"I would say that money is even more important in the future." Will's demeanor suddenly changed a little as he spoke mutedly "You don't want to be broke in that kind of world. You either have to do dangerous work or live in a high-risk area in order to survive."
"Oh..."
"As for lottery numbers, how would I remember lottery numbers after 15 years? I don't even know the ones that are up now." Will said, taking the wind out of Donny's sails. "But I do remember our city making a huge deal during the upcoming playoffs. The money we'll be picking up will come just in time for the start of the playoffs."
Donny suddenly perked up again. "Do we win?! Do the Toronto T-Rexes win?"
"You'll have to wait and see." Will said playfully.
"Yo, that's not cool, bro! You can't tease me like that." After trying and failing to get an answer for a while, Donny finally gave up.
"Where are we going to get money from?"
"We're going to borrow it."
At that moment, Donny's phone began to ring. His ringtone sounded like a bird squawking, purposely designed to annoy people around. Donny answered his phone and hung up shortly after, and grinned at his friend.
"That was the school's automated caller informing me that I missed classes today."