Zack and Rod stand like statues with their hands held together and smiles on their faces. Finally, they back away from each other, and Rod walks toward me. “So, this is the girl you left the town to save?” Zack’s smile grew wider, he nodded quickly. “Yes! This is the infamous human-made weapon, known as Project Star.” Rod tilted his head to the side and raised an eyebrow, “She looks like a regular Demon to me.” Zack put both his hands on my shoulders, I jumped when he did. “I believe that idea of her being created there is nothing but a myth.” I look up at Zack, “But I remember nothing else before that.”
“Probably the result of intense trauma.” Rod added, “So, what are your abilities again Lil?” Lil? That’s not my name. Is it a nickname? I have never had one of those before. “Lil?” I asked, Rod, smiles and laughs to himself. “It’s a nickname, a sign of friendship.” I feel the smile stretch across my face, and my eyes light up with joy. “Really!? We are all friends?” Zack takes his hands off my shoulders and walks over to Rod to stand in front of me. “Yes, we are all friends. Also, she has no abilities. But I personally believe they will unlock in time.”
Rod shrugs it off, then walks behind the bar table. “That’s all right we can discuss that issue later, as well as the monsters in my town. For now, let’s drink to our new friendship! I propose a toast!” He pours the three of us a drink of what I assume to be some kind of beer. Zack and I sit next to each other while Rod stands across from us. I raise my glass into the air, “Here’s to our newfound friendship!” The two boys smile at each other and throw their glasses into the air hitting them against mine. “Cheers!” They both yell at the same time.
We all chug down our drinks quickly laughing together. “You know Lil, your guard here came to this bar every single day! I mean half of the fights were his doing besides the monsters.” Zack laughed and tried to look offended, though the permanent smile on his face couldn’t fade. “Hey now! The locals always challenged me!” I look between them both, “Really?” I laugh. “I didn’t take you for one to start fights.” Rod shook his head quickly, pointing at Zack. “No, no, this one is a wild card! Completely unpredictable!” Now that I could believe it, he certainly was a wild card. I know nothing about him, and he has unknown power I can sense within him. But it is nice to see him interacting with another person. Makes him seem more normal, besides just being the person who saved me and decided to be my guard for seemingly no reason. Zack then went on always interrupting my thoughts.
“Now I could stay here and argue with you all day long, But I think we need to be getting rest. You said you need our help with your monster problem, so we need lots of rest.” Rod frowned and put his glass down, “Yes, you need to wake up in just a few hours. Those things are smart... Not very smart but smart enough. They figured out what times of the day we are awake to strike. That’s why when you got here everyone was up at night.”
“Wouldn’t that just make you more vulnerable during the day if you are asleep then?” He nodded then continued, “Yes, you would think that but, a church group moved into the abandoned one at the back of the town.” I could see Zack’s eyes change their expression after hearing this. “After they moved in, they came to all our houses and blessed them with something. Now the monsters can’t enter our homes, but this has led me to believe they may be Demonic.”
“So, we will have to hunt our own kind?” I exclaim in a panic. Zack looks at me at pats my head. “There is a war going on around us, against our kind and the humans. You were trained for it so you should know that well. But there is something you should know now. We are not on the human's side or the Demons. We are on the side of peace and the idea of living together. So sometimes we will have to hurt our own kind.”
I don’t have anything to say after hearing this. I just stay silent and watch the two talk to each other. “We will talk more about it tomorrow, I am sure this is all really overwhelming,” Rod said looking at me like he felt sorry. “Follow me, I will take you to the Inn down the street.” He said walking to the door.
Zack and I follow him down the street. Everyone has vanished from them I assume they all went to their homes for the day. We go into the Inn and Rod chats with a lady at the counter. I feel something strange watching him chat with her as she giggles away. He comes back with two keys for us. I just look around the large room we are in. A wooden building with a large chandelier above. There were tables in the main room and the front desk was in the middle. Two hallways on either side of it, and two staircases led to upstairs rooms. Strangely, the Inn was so big, yet the town was so small.
“Wondering why the place is so big?” Rod asked, I nod in response. “Yes, I am.” He smiles and looks up at the chandelier. “Well, before the war and collapse of civilization, this town was a bit bigger I have heard. So, there were much more visitors and a higher demand for places to stay.” He handed me the key, then Zack’s. “Your room is number sixteen Lil, and Zack’s yours in seventeen. Get some rest and I will see the two of you in a couple of hours.”
I follow Zack down a hall and find the rooms with the right numbers on them, directly across from one another. “Well, goodnight, Lilly. I’ll see you in the morning.” I look back at him. “Good night, strange guard.” I laugh and go into my room closing the door behind me. When I walked in, I placed the key on the table next to the door. Inside the room were a tiny kitchen and one large bed with a window next to it. To me this sight was amazing! I run over to the bed and jump onto it, enjoying the feeling of finally having a comfortable place to sleep. Before I know it, I have closed my eyes and fallen asleep.
I wake up to the sound of knocking at the door, I don’t want to get up though I am too comfortable. Though I hear Zack’s voice through the door start to call me, “Lilly!! Come on! You have to get up we need to get going!” I sit up on the bed, “Can’t we sleep for another hour?” I yell back, then hear the door open seeing Zack walking in. “Don’t think I won’t carry you out of this room.” It’s nice seeing his smiling face in the morning, I roll my eyes and get off the bed. “Fine, fine, I’m coming.” Zack creates his purple spear in his hand, though I cannot see it glow like usual. The light coming through the window dulls it, “Good! Rod is probably waiting on us downstairs.”
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He walks out of the room using the spear as a walking stick, I run after him to catch up. We quickly leave the Inn to go outside. Zack opens the door for me, walking out I see Rod leaning against the building to my right. The light hits the welding goggles on his hat, but also lights up his face perfectly. I feel my face warm up, I guess it’s the heat from the sun. Looking behind me at Zack this is the first time I truly see what he looks like it seems. His smile is so wide and bright, and I can notice the dimples on his cheeks better with the sun in the sky.
“Wow, you both look so beautiful in the sun.” I laugh, but neither of them laughs. They just look at each other, and then at me with a strange expression not saying a word. Rod clears his throat, “Well, Good morning to you as well Lil. I trust you slept well.” I smile at him, “Yes! It was nice to be in an actual bed.” Zack cut into the conversation, “So! Tell us Rod where the big, bad, monsters are hiding.” He started to laugh holding his stomach, like a drunk man. Rod shakes his head, “You have too much confidence, that could get you killed. I hope this time you don’t get hurt.” This time? What? “This time?” I ask, Zack looks at me and tilts his head. “I broke my wrist the last time I helped the town, but I highly doubt it will happen again.”
“Whatever you say, just don’t die on me.” He nods then turns to Rod who was already walking away. “Come on you two! Let me show you where they have been coming from.” We follow Rod down the street towards the bridge that connects to the living area of the town. Before we get to the bridge though he suddenly stops, turns, and faces an ally between two buildings. A small clothing store and blacksmiths. “Why have you stopped?” I gave him a puzzled look, “They come out from this ally, behind the trees. I forgot that the whole town is surrounded by woods. Who knows where these things are coming from, it could be anywhere. Zack turns towards him, “You go across the stream, make sure everyone stays in their homes. Lilly and I will go into the forest and deal with your problem.”
“Are you sure she should go with you? I mean, you did say she had no abilities.” Zack directs his attention back to me but speaks to Rod. “Yes, I did, but she’s very strong.” He looks back at him. “Just please do as I say.” Rod runs to the bridge and Zack, and I are left alone. “Do you have any idea of what this thing could be?” He shakes his head, “No, but I doubt it’s anything too hard to deal with.” He signals me to follow him, and we go into the forest.
Something is off about the forest this time walking through it. When we were coming back from the lab, after it had exploded, there were the sounds of wildlife all around. Now I hear nothing, no birds, no crickets, not even the sound of wind blowing through the trees. It’s so eerily quiet, when I look at Zack the expression in his eyes, I can tell he has noticed. Suddenly, in the silence, I hear something move behind some bushes ahead of us. “Zack!”
“SHHH!” He holds his arm up, like a wall between me and whatever is ahead. A large hand bigger than my face reaches out from behind the bush, followed by a long thin arm. It clutches onto the ground and only has two fingers and a thumb, the first finger being longer than the rest. Another hand flies out, grabbing at the ground. Then whatever is behind pushes itself up with its hands. The thing is like a large shadow monster. If it was dark out it would completely blend in with its surroundings and we would never see it coming. The only noticeable features are its large circular white eyes and sharp teeth.
I glance at Zack his pupils were small and his eyes were widened. “W-What is that thing,” I whispered to him, taking a step back in fear using all my strength. “It’s a soulless being.” I do a double take looking at him, “A what?”
“It’s a being of any race human, demon, angel, anything. That loses its soul and becomes the monster you see before you. They wonder about the earth searching for the soul of another being to fill the void in its chest. But all it does is eat and eat, nothing will ever satisfy it or replace what was once there.” The soulless being threw its arm at us, and Zack pushes me to the side. I fall to the ground smacking my head. I watch as his spear transforms into a purple sword, and he slashes it through the thing's arm. It gives off a horrifying cry of pain, unlike anything I have heard in my whole life. “Go! Go back to the town! I’ll follow after you.”
Why did you bring me with you if you wouldn’t want my help!” I yell getting up off the ground. “Look at yourself! You are scared to death, on top of that I didn’t expect something so extreme!” The monster's arm started to bubble where it was severed. It was beginning to grow back! “How do you even kill it!?”
“You have to hit it in the center of the chest, where the soul was before!” Zack began to charge to it, “Now go!” He was right, I was too terrified to help him. I begin to run back to the town scrambling forward in a hurry. I get to the tree line pushing myself forward and I fall through into the ally. I catch myself with my hands, then heard footsteps coming to me from ahead. I feel a metal arm grab onto me and pull me up from the ground. “What happened Lil? Are you ok? Where’s Zachary!?”
Too much is happening too fast, I cannot think. I stand there staring at him, I cannot get a single word out. “Lilly?” I shake my head, backing up and pulling my arm away from his grip. I point back into the forest, “He’s back there with the monster! He said it’s a soulless being. Something that lost its soul and wonders the world searching for one to take its place. But nothing satisfies it, so it eats and eats and kills everything!” Rod slowly walks back towards me, and he puts his arms around me. “It’s ok, it’s ok.” He feels so warm, besides his arm being cold. My breathing slows as well as my heartbeat. I back away from him and look through the trees. “Is Zack going to be, ok?” Before Rod can respond I hear something in the woods.
Zack falls through to his knees, Rod and I help him up. He looks like he just fought three men at once. His face was scratched up and his forehead was bleeding. Clothes were all tattered and ruined as well, “What happened!?” I yell in worry, “I killed it.” He then looked at Rod. “But there’s more... This isn’t... over.” Before he said anything else he passes out in our arms. We are left there with nothing else left to say. Besides knowing there is more danger ahead of us.