Chapter 4- The welcome gift.
Luan notices that he's in a desert and that everything has a reddish tinge. He looks around and there's only sand and rocks. Suddenly a little girl appears at his side and calls to him:
-Come, come... come with me...
Luan wonders who this child is, but for some reason goes after her. However, when he was close to reaching her hand, everything goes dark and he finds himself in elsewhere in a dark forest with lots of trees, he suddenly starts to feel a ringing in his ear, a loud ringing...piiii piiiiii...
When he opens his eyes, right in front of him is a different "lifeform” that has no body, it looks like a spirit, but it's totally dark, it approaches Luan, smiles and says:
-Time to wake up again.
It devours Luan taking over his body in a matter of seconds.
Luan wakes up startled, placing his hand over his ear,
-Oh, that dream again, and that buzzing sound is back again!
Luan looks at the clock... there are no classes at school today, it's the Teachers' Meeting, but Luan has to go to Grandpa Han's house early to practise, and they've also arranged to rehearse with the band at Derick's house, he's also waiting for Mary to check the facts with Katty, about what could really be going on, and she said that she's taking action on Olivia's case as well, that she'll let him know soon.
...
Message:
-Good morning Mary, have you checked the information with Katty?
-Yes, I am checking it right now and I'm also still sorting out Olivia's stuff. As soon as I’m done, I'll let you know what we're going to do.
-Ok, let me know then.
....
He arrives at Grandpa Han's house.. But strangely enouse, his grandfather isn't home, he's sorting out some private matters, so they'll have to train on their own, Derick takes over the training. The training is as hard as ever and they finish training almost, roughly 40 minutes after. Luan goes home to meet the boys first, Derick stays to finish packing up the equipment and then goes home too, Luna looks at her cell phone and sees a message from Kenji and Theo:
...
Message:
We'll be waiting at the gate of Derick's house to rehearse.
...
Luan is arriving at the square and sees Lena, coming out of the grocery store, so he greets her, Lena sees him and gets all excited she knows that he lives nearby, and knows that in this square there are many machines with different drinks, so she decided to come and try, Luan then decides to go and help get some drinks for her, since it is a kind act. Luan decides to help her and gave out some drink suggestions to her, so he starts picking up different kinds and putting them in his bag and hands Lena a juice to try, they're distracted for a few minutes, when Luan notices some strange people coming from one side of the square, soon enough, they would form a bit of a small crowd. They don't look friendly at all.. Which then causes Luan to get pensive:
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(Who could they be?...I don't remember seeing them around here, and I feel they're different..)
Luan decides to get Lena out of the place and leave her safely, he turns to her and softly said that he has to go and rehearse with the boys, and asks if she wants to go along, Lena gets excited and agrees to go along, he then starts to hurry his steps, Lena understands that he is in a hurry and hurries too. They start to walk a bit fast, but Luan wants to get Lena out of that place as soon as possible. When they’re getting close to the market on the corner of the square, one of the guys whistles and talks to Luan:
-Fweet, hey kid, you're wearing a blue sweater...
Lena asks Luan if he knows them, Luan shakes his head and nervously said that he doesn't know them, he points and asks Lena to follow him to the end of the street, and that if she needs to run she should run, she would follow that street to get to Theo and Kenji who are in front of Derick's house waiting for them, Lena is a little reluctant to go, but Luan insists and rushes her to go, she then understands the situation and runs off to get help, Luan turns to them and says:
-What? Are you talking to me?
The guy smiles, cracks his knuckles and his neck and speaks:
-Come on....
There are at least 10 guys standing all before him, so far. Luan looks at them as if he's calculating something, he changes his countenance completely, he starts snapping his fingers too and says:
- You can come and get me then!
They all run after him, then Luan picks up the bicycle from the market and throws it at them.
-You kid... how dare you! Finish him off!
Luan doesn't run because he's afraid they might get close to Lena, so he initially holds them back, then bends down and prepares to try and knock down as many people as he can and thinks:
(I can't let them pass here, I don't know if Lena is a good distance from here yet, and the boys must already be nearby, I can't bring them into this!)
Lena is super-fast, and runs out to ask for help. She knows they'll be close by, she spots Kenji and Theo who are standing near the gate of a house, then she starts shouting from afar, they look to see who's shouting in the middle of the street. They ask Lena to stay with the instruments, though she wants to go and help... but the two of them simply told her to stay and wait, Kenji picks up the microphone stand and they run off towards the square. Just then, Derick meets Andrew, on the way he had asked Andrew to come along to the rehearsal, so he could help with some Rap verses, Andrew is really good, while they are talking Derick senses something, and they start to hear some noises, so they hurry up and run off towards the square, during which Luan knocks several guys down, but they get up, they end up hitting Luan somehow, he ends up getting punched in the arm and leg to defend himself, but Luan manages to kick one off. But of course, another man catches him by the arm, and manages to punch Luan in the face, so Luan fights back and pushes him with his elbow, then Kenji and Theo arrive and get on top of the rest, it's a huge mess out here!
Theo and Kenji arrive in the square and rush over to Luan, Theo turns to Luan and says:
-Luan, you've got all the fun to yourself, and you don't even tell us?!
Luan is surprised and worried at the same time:
-Aii, well damn. I didn't want to bring you into this, and these guys aren't normal at all! Be careful!
Then Kenji pats Luan on the back to reassure him that they're not going down so easily, so they agree to each stay on one side, Kenji fights Kendo and Theo is training Boxing, they have a certain skill in fighting, so Kenji runs about and ends up hitting one of them in the legs with a rack, Theo punches one in the face, while Luan jumps on the other.
Derick is very fast and very skillful, and as soon as they arrive in the square he's already beating up two guys, Andrew kicks another, and when Luan turns back to look at Derick and Andrew, for a moment he's distracted, someone comes and hits him with a brick on the right side of his head.
Then Andrew shouts:
-Luan look out...behind you!
Luan dodges one, but the guy with the brick in his hand ends up hitting Luan in the head, making them both bleed a little, Luan tries to balance himself and not lose control so as not to fall, he puts his hand on his head and feels a ringing in his ear again, he then sees his blood on his hand, his vision becomes blurred and everything darkens, his countenance closes, and his eyes turn black and his pupils change color. He then puts on his hoodie, turns around, and goes over to the guy who hit him with the brick, he starts punching him violently, Derick finds Luan's behavior strange and quickly grabs Luan's arms and immobilizes him, Luan seems out of control so Derick continues to hold him tightly.
Derick then asks:
- Luan, what are you doing?
Luan doesn't answer, he seems to be out of his mind...
...