Chapter 50

Beware The Guardian

The radio blared on, then off again as Trent fiddled with the buttons on the dashboard, still familiarizing himself with his brand-new pickup truck.

Leo put his cellphone away and looked at Trent from the passenger seat. “Do you know where Alco Park is?”

“I think so. Why?”

“I met this martial artist yesterday and now she wants to train,” Leo said, giving Trent a very abbreviated account of the day before. “Want to join us?”

“I did more than enough fighting in my youth, and normally I'd say no. But you say the world's going to end? Let's go.” Trent started his pickup truck.

Coming home late again, but I swear I have a good reason. Leo texted his mother while they were driving. I'm doing extracurricular work with Mr. Osmond, our honors science teacher. He included the teacher's phone number.

No response from Mom. Just as well.

***

Alco Park was a large, open, grassy area just starting to turn brown for the winter next to a sandy area with playground equipment.

Angie was with the guy from the diner, Howie, and a tall, skinny, older boy he'd never seen before. Like Angie, the boy's left arm was missing.

Trent pulled up to the curb. They got out of the truck and approached the other three.

A drone hovered nearby, just above the trees. It was silent, colored to blend into the overcast sky, making it difficult to see.

Police drones watching over a park were normal, and Leo knew he should ignore it, but he couldn't shake the feeling this drone was watching them.

Howie was holding a pad and the older boy was punching it.

“Come on! My 78-year-old mother can hit harder than you!” Howie was saying. “You only got one arm, so make it count! Drop your right knee and put some weight into it!”

The boy's response was to quit hitting the pad and turn away in disgust, sweat pouring off his face.

“Hey, Leo! And Leo's friend. Welcome.” Angie jogged over to them. She pointed to the large man. “That's Howie, who Leo's already met. And the other guy is Liam. Met him in prison, where he'd taken over the place.”

“Shut up,” Liam said, walking over to join them. “We met in the hospital, where they cut my arm off. Prison would have eaten me for breakfast. Thank God my parents knew a good lawyer.”

“Liam was solid, though. At the hospital he didn't flinch, didn't even need anesthetic,” Angie said.

Liam looked anything but solid. He was tall, but way too skinny, with short dark hair. His glasses kept sliding down his nose from sweat, and he was breathing hard and shaking from his recent exertion.

Liam glared at Angie. “Yeah, right. Look, I don't do this martial arts thing. I'm a pacifist.”

“You don't have a choice,” Angie responded. “Leo is the one who told me about you-know-what,” she pointed to where her left wrist had been, “and the end of the world.”

“So you know about the aliens?” Liam asked.

“I'm sure they exist,” Leo said. “That's about it.”

“Something creepy is going down in the dark web,” Liam said. “Certain rich, important people received a message. They've all been conversing with one another, trying to figure out what it means.” Liam pulled out his cellphone, punched the screen a few times with his index finger, and showed it to Leo.

This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

Beware The Guardian. 5191

“That's it?” Leo asked.

Liam nodded.

Leo shivered. “Weird.”

“'Guardian' is a character class, right?” Angie asked.

“Supposed to be one of the better ones,” Trent said, having watched silently up to now. “I'm Trent, by the way.”

Leo nodded. “One of the best character classes if you're part of a group. Not as good if you're alone, but decent even then. Do you think that message is from the aliens? And what does 5191 mean?”

“That's the story,” Liam said. “And no idea.”

“I knew of several Guardians,” Leo said. “From what people told me, they were strong. But they got slaughtered, like the rest of us.”

“Right. You see the future,” Liam said, looking skeptical.

“Crap,” Leo said, looking at Angie. “Did you tell them?” Leo looked at Liam and Howie.

“Yeah, I told Liam and Howie everything,” she said. “Don't worry. You can trust them.”

“You can trust us not to say anything,” Liam said, “but I'm not convinced you're sane.”

Leo shrugged. “We'll find out soon, one way or the other.”

Beware The Guardian 5191? That was weird. And what did that number mean? That warning hadn't happened in the previous future. If it had, Leo would have heard something. Wouldn't he? What were those aliens up to?

“So Howie's your trainer?” Trent asked, nodding towards the larger man.

“Only in a part-time, amateur fashion,” Howie responded. “Coach Davis was Angie's trainer until the implant thing. He won't even speak to her now.”

“To be fair, if it gets out that Coach Davis teaches implant wearers, he's toast,” Angie replied.

“It's still not right,” Howie said. “Taking Bio-Blessed is perfectly legal, so rich assholes dominate the fights, while people like us get shit, as usual.”

“Breathe, Howie, breathe,” Angie said. “Just the way it is. No point in getting upset.”

Trent cleared his throat. “I was hoping Leo here would give us some pointers. If the world is ending, it would be nice to know what we're up against.”

Leo nodded. “Okay. Why don't we do that?”

It felt strange to be standing on the grass with four people staring at him, waiting for him to speak. Nervous. He took a deep breath.

“The first thing to know about Afflicted is they are faster and stronger than you are. Their humanity is gone, they cannot be reasoned with. They have claws and teeth and will kill and eat you without the slightest hesitation.”

“Can they turn you into one of them?” Liam asked.

“Does anyone who takes Bio-Blessed become Afflicted?” Angie asked. “If so, I think a lot of us have problems.”

“Yeah, I was wondering about that myself,” Trent said.

“I'll try to explain. There's a unit dosage on every product containing Bio-Blessed called BU's—short for Bio-Blessed-Units. For example, my dad's Bio-Blessed low-grade energy drinks are 10 BU's apiece, and he drinks at least 10 a day. In addition to that, he and my mom also take pills, also 10 BU's apiece, and have been known to indulge in Bio-Blessed enriched, high-grade energy drinks that contain 1000 BU's apiece.”

“You just described every adult with a decent job who's not rich enough to afford the good stuff,” Liam said.

“True,” Leo responded. “Now if you don't take Bio-Blessed, or have taken less than 10,000 BU's. You're fine. There's not enough in your system to change you. After that, your odds of changing increase steadily up to 100,000 BU's. If you've taken over 100,000 BU's, you will change. It's that simple. Over 100,000 BU's, the more Bio-Blessed you take, the stronger an Afflicted you become.”

The four stared at him for a few seconds, digesting what he'd said.

“If that's true, at least half the adults in this country will turn into Afflicted,” Liam said. “Including my parents.”

“More than half,” Angie said.

“What about our military?” Howie asked, looking frightened. “They do get the good stuff. They get million-dollar, ten-million-dollar injections.”

“The military wasn't as bad as people feared,” Leo said. “They changed, but mostly low-level Afflicted. Someone told me weapon contractors in charge of Bio-Blessed distribution kept most of the Bio-Blessed for themselves. The soldiers got maybe a tenth of the claimed dosage. And I'm sorry, Liam, my parents are in the same boat as yours. Before anyone asks, no, there is no known cure. In the next fifty years, nobody I spoke to heard anything about a working cure. But if you guys find one, let me know.”

“Shit,” his four-person audience said at the same time.