Whisper

Chapter 50

The gift of concealment.

It's a weird power that seems to flicker on and off for Conrad without his knowledge. His physical body never seemed to disappear, but every time this power was in action - which wasn't often at all - his enemies eyes would almost gloss over, unable to see him for brief moments. To him, it was like his enemies were stunned suddenly, allowing him to get the upper hand. A useful power for someone who is a hand to hand combat expert.

The day he got his scar was when he was a younger man, one with barely any dirt on his boots, on a mission as part of a smaller military operation before he joined the ARC. A simple mission to apprehend a growing terrorist leader from inside his compound in a small tropical island off the coast of Mexico. Capture him dead or alive.

Sounds simple right? 

Not when Abnormals are involved. 

An Abnormal who's hands turned into unbreakable crystal that could destroy anything. 

An Abnormal with super strength, just super strength.

And finally an Abnormal with eyes like a hawk and talons to match. A similar power to the beloved Raptor yet arguably weaker than her. 

With many of his teammates slaughtered by these abominations Conrad was left to try and fight a 2 on 1 battle by himself. They at least killed the one with super strength and their target. All was left was to leave, or in Conrad's case was to leave with what was left of his team, their dog tags. 

There he was, hiding behind a nearby tree, behind him was the hawk-creature and the diamond-hand monster. They were looking around the bodies, trying to find the last American soldier who was still breathing. 

He tried to steady his breathing, even clasping a blood-soaked hand over his dirt-caked face, holding back the sobs of fear. To his relief he heard sounds of footsteps going further and further away. 

"Found you." A sing-songy voice was right next to his ear and he jumped away by instinct. 

It was the crystal-bitch, who was just smirking at him and out of the corner of his eye he saw something fast and black coming straight for his face.  He tried to get away but warmth sudden spread from just above his eyebrow near his hair line all the way down his face. The adrenaline kept it from burning but blood began to pour from the newly formed slice on his face. 

"Oooh, you're a fast one," The hawk-monster chuckled, "Shame though, I wanted to keep your face before we messed you up." 

Conrad couldn't even speak, fear was pumping straight to his head. He didn't know what to do, what he could do. This was the end for Conrad Carson. He wanted to do so many things with his life before the end. 

To see his sister graduate as the first of their family to go to college. 

To fight alongside Rienhart who finally joined the military after so long. 

To tell his parents goodbye and how sorry he was for totally the car that one time when he was a teen. 

But with those thoughts he gathered what little courage he had left and braced himself for an ugly fight, taking off his rifle that was long out of ammo and pulled out his knife from its sheath, ready to go down swinging. 

The crystal swung first, a slow but powerful punch that instantly shattered the poor blade as Conrad tried to block it. The impact had him stumble back slightly but he got his footing fast enough to evade the hawk who swiped at him like a wolverine.  

Conrad was always a fast one, but being already exhausted he couldn't keep this up for long. 

And suddenly crystal landed a solid blow right into his forearm as he tried to block, the impact instantly shattering the bones in his poor arm and sending him flying backwards, rolling down a heavily vegetated hill. 

Deranged giggling followed Conrad as he tried to regain focus as he landed on his back with a loud thump. It felt like his legs just stopped working as he tried to feebly crawl away as he heard slow footsteps descend the steep hill. 

After just crawling a few feet all his willpower just vanished, finally just collapsing into a exhausted heap. Tears finally pouring down his cheeks, dripping off his face as greyish salt water.

Soon the footsteps were right behind him, and the two monsters were just moments away from finishing him off. 

"Damn where did he go?" 

One of them spoke in their mother tongue, but the tone of his voice made Conrad freeze despite not understanding what was said. 

Are they just teasing him? 

Stoking more fear into him just before the kill? 

Sudden a boot-clad shoe fell right next to his face, belonging to hawk who was scanning the entire area. Conrad just stared at his boot, not moving a single muscle as the hawk just began walking away in some random direction. 

"I think he went this way." 

Still not knowing what was said, Conrad just felt a mixture of relief, confusion, and intense shock as both his pursuers began walking out of sight. 

Feeling like he could just relax, his eyes finally shutting close and his body fully shutting down. 

It took 2 days before he woke back up in America in the hospital completely patched up. 

2 weeks later he was asked to join the ARC.