SEED

Chapter 9

I woke up quite early the next day.  It was not because I felt like it but because I couldn't stand the stupid loud bang on my door.  I got out of my bed in anger and unlocked my door.  I wasn't surprised when my newly found arch-nemesis, Mr. Dean Grayson, was in front.

"You're late," he exclaimed in his grouchy voice. "For what?" I asked, rubbing the drowsiness of my eyes.  "You've got a test today which you and I know you're going to fail.  Agent Podolski is a busy man, so we need your failure to be done early.  Now go get dressed".  He instructed.

Man, the nerve that guy had—a new surge of energy shot through me.  I couldn't wait to pass the test and shove it in his face.

"Four eyes, you're going down," I muttered under my breath and quickly freshened up.  I followed him into sector 8, which I noticed was only used for obstacle courses.  We walked up to a well-built man who I reckoned to be Agent Podolski.  His body made both Grayson and I look like toddlers.

"Is this the boy?" Agent Podolski asked as we approached him.  "Well, he has already failed. He isn't fit to be an agent".  "What the ..." I said furiously in my mind.  Who the hell does this man think he is?  "Well, we won't know until we find out,"  I said, standing up to the guy...

"Whoa, he is a fighter, huh.  I like that,"  Agent Podolski laughed out. "Alright, then follow me"  He gestured and sent us to some obstacle course, which I noticed tested swiftness. I grinned at the sight of the obstacle.  Swiftness was my specialty.

"So, what do I do?" I asked Agent Podolski, and he just smiled.  I noticed a little girl walk up to him.  "Little Maggie here is going to show you how it's done."  He exclaimed, and the little girl dashed at the obstacle.

A stopwatch appeared on a huge screen as the girl swerved past walls, did the monkey bar holds, crawled under a wire, and eventually climbed to the finish line in under one minute.

"That's it?" I asked in disappointment.  "That's how the juniors do it.  You will do it the hard way," He said and took a remote control.  I smiled; challenges always got me excited.  I did a little warm-up and bolted at the obstacle.  I swerved, ducked, and jumped over walls.  This was going to be easy.  As soon as I turned into another corner, an infected person jumped at me. 

"Aaarrrgghh" I screamed and fell to the ground.  I could hear the laughs of Agent Podolski and Mr. Grayson.  I decided to take another look at the Neuron Hex Infectant, and to my dismay. It was a dummy.  I screamed out in anger as the plastic walls were pulled back into the ground.

"You know, you're a hilarious kid.  This wasn't even close to the test we give before you become an agent."  Agent Podolski stated.

"Alright, Cole, that's enough. Follow me; you've got to get ready for school tomorrow."  Mr. Grayson teased.  Geez, I couldn't believe I got tricked by two old geezers.  This was the worst; it really was. I got up slowly and followed Mr. Grayson.

"I'll be back soon," I said to Agent Podolski as we left sector 8.

For the first time in a long time, I finally got to get out of N-Tek, but I ended up doing so with Mr. Grayson.  He drove like a geezer with no care in the world through the city of Quarto. He had this stupid theory about looking presentable in school, so I was forced to get a haircut.  I never told you this, but my hair was really messy and covered my face. I was not too fond of the idea of getting a haircut, but after it was done, I noticed how bright my green eyes looked. After I was done, Mr. Grayson took a seat, which didn't make any sense because he was practically hairless.  I took advantage of him getting a haircut to sneak through town; yeah, yeah, I know I was stupid, but I needed to explore what I can say. 

I turned into an alley and came across two guys trying to mug a girl.  You know what they say about how you don't find trouble, but it finds you first.  Well, trouble did find me then.

"Hey!" I yelled as I walked up to them. "Ugh," the girl in distress shrugged.  "I don't need your help, Mr; I can handle this."

"There's no need to be ashamed of being rescued beautiful. Just let me ..." I exclaimed and turned to meet a fist in my face as one guy punched me.

The two guys pounced on me and began to pound me to the ground.  They beat me to a pulp when the girl grabbed one of them from behind and threw him into a trash can.  The second guy attempted to punch her, but she grabbed his fist and squeezed. I had never seen a man scream like a lady before until then.  The second guy begged her to stop, crouching to his knees. She shook her head in disappointment and punched him.

"I told you, I've got it," she said, turning to me and picked her bag to leave.  She left me there as I wallowed in my defeat.  I really felt like crap being embarrassed in front of a pretty lady.

"Where were you?" Mr. Grayson asked angrily as I got back.  "Where were you? Oh, come on, man, I'm hurt.  Couldn't you have at least asked what happened to me?" I thought to myself. "Nothing, let's get back.  School is tomorrow. I've got to get ready," I said and sat in the car.