TITLE: Ch1: Strangers from another world By Tim Greene 02/14/09 |
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1
Mark At Midnight
“What was that?” said Zack, as he sat up in his bed.
Zack listen for whatever had woken him from deep sleep. He scanned the room for anything that he could accredit to the sound. Looking through the dark room all he could make out was a few dirty clothes on the floor, which was only visible from the light from his alarm clock, which read two twenty-three. He continued to look about his room, when a bright flash of lightning lit up the whole room, followed by a loud clash of thunder that sounded like two cars smashing together.
“It was just thunder.”
Zack plopped his head back down on his pillow and closed his eyes, hoping he could return to his dream that if it were to come true would be the perfect life, however he did not have the chance a few moments after closing his eyes he heard it again, this time there was no mistaking it, the sound of plates shattering as they hit the floor could heard faintly coming from the first floor. Zack opened his eyes once again and slowly sat back up. He knew for sure not that someone was in the house. He sat there not sure what to do, the eerie feeling of something bad was going to happen slowly grew.
For several moments, he did not move when a loud thud hit the floor; bring Zack back to reality, and to action. He slipped out from under his cover and gently lowered his feet to the hard wooden floor. He stood up, reached over, and grabbed the handle of one of the many swords he collected. He silently pulled it from its sheath. Once free he crept across his floor over to his door, he grabbed the handle and opened it oh so carefully.
He moved out into the hall and inch on his tiptoes down the hall to another door, cautiously he opened the it and peered in, only to see his faint silhouette of his mother lying under the covers facing the far wall. Zack closed the door with care and continued down the hall, as he reached the stairs, he heard a several small thuds as someone had just stumbled over something.
“Oh great a drunk.”
The sounds seem near the other end of the house, so he continued down the stair trying carefully not to make a sound. As he moved down the stairs, he could feel his heart starting to beat faster. Knowing that one wrong move could alert the intruder to his location. Zack gracefully moved down the steps pausing only after a creak as he stepped on one of the lose boards. At the bottom of the stairs, he scanned the kitchen in the faith light, but by now his eyes had adjusted to the darkness. No sudden movements showed him that whoever was down there was in the room was not there. He continued across the floor over to the open doorway.
He leaned his body up against the wall, making his body as flat as he possibly could and peered around the corner to make sure it was safe to move. Once Zack saw it was clear, he moved into the dining room, after a few steps a sudden stabbing pain was sent racing through his foot. He quickly lifted his foot from the floor and looked down to see that he had stepped right onto some of the plates he heard shatter. A small clay piece was stuck in the heel. Lowering his sword, he turn head back into the kitchen, holding on to the wall where he could and where he could not limped over to the far side next to a close wooden door. He grabbed the doorknob and slowly opened it.
Zack leaned his sword up against the wall outside the room, and hobbled inside and reached over to the wall on his right and flicked a switch. Light poured into the room, nearly blinding him, forcing him to close his eyes. After several moments his eyes adjusted, he quickly turned and grabbed the doorknob and closed it behind him, not wanting the light to give away his location. With the door closed, Zack turned to a small mirror, opened it, and pulled out a small box of band aides.
He limped over to the white porcelain toilet, sat down, and pulled out one of the band aide and placed it on the counter next to him. He quickly grabbed the small piece of clay plate out of his heel, wincing as he pulled it out. Zack placed it on the sink, then took the band aide and removed the covers and securely placed it over the wound. With the wound cover, he placed his foot back on the floor and stood up.
He cringed from the pain as it surged through his foot as he put his weight on the foot. He waited for the pain to past and then turned, faced the door, and walked over to it. Before opening the door, he flicked the switch killing the light. With the lights off, Zack opened the door, he entered the kitchen and closed the door with caution, and reached for his katana, but it was no longer where he left it.
Zack whipped his head around looking for where the intruder could be, his bags swung as he moved his head, but he could hardly make out anything, the light from the bathroom caused his eyes to readjust to the dark once again. Beads of sweat started to form on his forehead as his heart continued beat even faster. Zack was freaking out, without a sound the drunk was able to get his sword, and get away without giving any trance where he had gone.
“Why did I turn the lights on?”
Now unarmed, still no idea of where this person was, but if they were not armed before, they were now. Thoughts flooded his head; the one that stood out was that it was stupid of him to try to be the hero. As stupid as it was, all that matter was to get to a phone without being seen. He tiptoed over to the counter by the stairs, where the portable phone was kept, once he reached the counter he saw the only thing worst then his katana being taken, it was not there.
“Not good,” said Zack, as the beads slowly began to roll down his face. “Crap, I had it up in my room before I went to sleep.”
Zack turned to head back up the stairs, he paused thinking that the intruder might be up there waiting for him to go back the way he came. Not wanting to risk it, he turned and headed back towards the bathroom, once there he turned the corner leading into the living room. He eyes once again had adjusted to the dark, could see well enough to make out where things were. Dodging the sofa and coffee table, Zack reached the stairs and went to got up when a thud behind him caused him to freeze. For a moment he stood where he was before taking a breath and turning to see what caused the noise.
Nothing in the living room was out of place and he could not see anything in the dining room since it was too far away. A wall of darkness prevented him from seeing behind the living room. Zack turned to go up the stairs a flash of lightning lit up the both rooms, shattering the wall of darkness. Just behind where the wall was the intruder. Zack’s heart started race, causing the vein in his neck to pulse.
The intruder stood holding onto the wall of the dining room with his knee bent. From the body was position, the intruder was clearly a man, and he was not drunk but injured. At his feet laid the katana that had clearly slipped from his hand causing the thud. He just leaned against the wall staring at Zack as if he had to use all of his strength to stay on his feet.
He stood in shocked of what he was seeing, this guy as not dressed normal. His head covered by a hood that attached to a cloak, and his clothes under that could be seen were so dark he could not make out colors, but looked like something they wore during the sixteenth seventeenth century. Only thing that stood out was the chainmail on his arm that feed into a gauntlet on his right forearm, that he holding onto the wall.
Zack was not sure if he should attack since he was hurt or to run and call the cops. Before he could decide, the hooded knight took a step towards him, and he reacted. He charged at the knight, avoiding furniture and threw his shoulder into chest of the knight. The two fell back on to the floor with a loud thud, the chainmail raddled as he hit him. Once on the floor Zack turned and reached for the sword but it was a few feet from him. He got up on his toes swung his body towards the down knight who was still on his back and quickly threw is right knee into his side. The knight let out a loud groaned from the hit and rolled onto his stomach.
Zack knew it was his chance and stood up and ran for the sword as fast as he could. As he got to the sword but his foot hit the handle and caused it to swing hit him just above his left foot. He stumbled and fell to the floor and rolled, when he stopped he looked up and saw a small slash where the blade caught him, but it was not deep, and did not hurt, his adrenaline was in full force. He grabbed the handle of the sword and pulled it to him. Zack got a firm grip on the handle as he got to his feet and raised the sword ready to strike, just as he got it into position his whole body went limp letting got of the katana, dropping it to the floor with a thud as it hit.
The hooded knight stood before him with his arm stretched out before him with this pointed finger on his forehead. A band glowed around his wrist, which some how caused his whole body to relax, yet somehow he remained on his feet. Zack tried to move, but could not every part of him was limp but stiff at the same time. The knight pulled his finger off his forehead and grabbed the wall to support him.
“Sorry,” same the man in a gruff voice. “I did not mean wake you.”
The hooded knight using the wall as his guide slowly limped around Zack to his back, as he past Zack could smell faint odor coming from him, it was damp with the scent of blood mixed in. It was not too strong; the rain prevented the smell from lingering in the air for long, explaining why he did not even notice it until the knight past him. Even once he was behind him, he could still smell it as if it were on him, at that time Zack noticed his pajama pants and sleeveless shirt were damp from when he tackled the knight, but that was not all the odor of blood was on him as well.
Not sure what the man was doing behind, him Zack used all of his strength to break free from whatever the hood knight did to him. After what felt like hours, he realized it was pointless he was not going to get free. His heart still racing from scrimmage with the knight as well not knowing what was going on, the sweat was now pouring down his face, his bangs soaked with small beads forming its tips. It seemed like an eternity since the knight had past by, but Zack knew he was still behind him. He could hear his chainmail rattle with any movement he made.
“You don’t have to fear, I am not going to hurt. I just need a place to hide so I can heal.”
With those words, Zack felt something ice cold touch the back of his neck. It was fine, more of and edge then a point, but not sharp. It was also wet, which made sense he had been out in the rain and was wet, but what Zack did not expect was when he moved the tool as if he were drawing something. What he thought was wet from rain was ink until he got a whiff of the odor that came from the what he was using, Zack realized it was not ink but blood; the knight was using his blood to draw something on his neck.
Thoughts raced through his head trying to figure out why the knight was using his blood to draw something. He said he needed a place to hide, but how could it involve using his blood. At the time, he felt the tool left off his neck only to touch it a just below from where he had been drawing before. This time the knight just touched the tool to his neck and twisted to make a circle.
“Don’t worry,” said the hooded knight, as he removed the tool from Zack’s neck. “You won’t remember any of this.”
“What!” said Zack.
The knight flipped the tool over to a pointed side and touched the dot that he had just made. As he touched the dot, a faint white light with a blue tint began come from the mark. The light quickly grew brighter and soon engulfed the hooded knight and filled the room. The light became so bright that it made it impossible to see anything in the room. Zack was force to close his eyes from the light, because it became too painful to keep them open, yet even closed it did not help that much. The light lasted for several seconds and than faded just as quickly as it appeared, as if someone hit the off switch. Zack felt his body become free, before he could do anything he hit the floor and was out.
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