Super Glitches 3: Stranded

Terminhater

I marched along the street, smiling at everyone I passed. It felt like a shard of ice had peirced my heart, lodged in the valve that controlled my kindness, a valve that was already half shut. Despite what thar freaky scientist dude had said I'd remembered the entire conversation and could feel all of the pain. There was no way I would knowingly murder the Super Glitches but something had taken over my mind. I was a robot, determined to fulfill my mission. 

"Oi, sir," a voice yelled. "You just walked in front of our game. Come back here and fight it out!"  

I turned on my heel and strode back to the teenagers. They were older than me and one hell of a lot cockier. A fist swung out of nowhere and connected with my head. I didn't flinch, shadows grabbing the startled boy's wrist and draining the life out of him. My eyes narrowed and I let the darkness show. The boys screamed and ran just as their friend crumpled to the floor, lifeless. The busy street went silent as people stopped to stare, the only noise and movement from the petrified teenage boys. 

"What the-?" The whispers began.

"Is that boy okay?"

"What was that darkness?"

"Momma, I'm scared of the nasty man."

"Is he a murderer now?"

"Someone call the cops!"

"He's some kind of demon, look at his eyes!"

"Get an ambulance!"

"Stop that-!" Everything froze. People stopped talking mid-sentence, the wind stopped blowing, hearts stopped beating. The world was caught up in a single second, life becoming a picture. 

I spun around slowly, taking in everything. There was a man stood towards the back of the angry crowd, one arm raised and tilting a can of beer towards him. I walked towards him and tilted my head. The beer was pouring down his throat but it was locked into place. Nothing moved, the man didn't breathe, didn't flinch. The liquid didn't flow, the can didn't empty.

I blinked in surprise as I took in all the facts. Then I grinned. Whilst the world was stuck in a time-freeze I was free to move. After killing that boy using the power of death I was about to be taken to jail and that wouldn't be good. I could do anything whilst the earth had stopped spinning! 

My brain fogged over and a cloud obstructed my vision, a red mist. In the back of my mind something connected with a Midgardian saying of 'seeing red' when they were angry and I linked it with this. But why?

Oh yes. That scientist programming me to murder my friends.

*

Georgina clicked the stopwatch again and the street was once more full of bustling activity. She smiled and pressed the button. Everything stopped. 

"Why did you stop it again?" Sophie asked. Georgina pointed at a group of boys that were running down the road, screaming at the top of their lungs. It was obvious that something horrible had happened but the look on their frozen faces was too comic for any of the Super Glitches to take in the seriousness of the situation. 

Rebecca walked over to stand directly in front of the boys, fire whirling around her feet. She used the air to move the boys around slightly, accidentally scalding them in the process. Georgina pressed the stopwatch once more and the boys all crashed into one another. The Super Glitches fell about laughing until one boy grabbed Sophie's shoulders and shook her frantically.

"Run!" he screamed. "That boy, he, he used shadows and, oh God, he killed Jimmy!"

"What do you mean?" Georgina asked, pulling the boy away from her friend. "Describe the boy to us. The one who used shadows."

"He, um," the boy stammered, "he... well... he was a little bit taller than you but most of his height was a stupid blonde-brown quiff... His eyes, they were as dark as night, glittering with pure evil."

"He had a haunted look on his face," another boy added. He seemed calmer than the first and so Georgina turned to him.

"Why?"

"I dunno," the boy shrugged, "it was just as if something was controlling him. Like, like he wanted to stop what he was doing but couldn't. He looked surprised that he killed Jimmy, sad almost. Then he grinned and his eyes went even darker but there was something about his face. Like he should be crying."

"Why?"

"I'm no pyschic, am I?" the boy snapped. "That kinda magic don't exist."

"Necromancy does," a third boy chipped in. "That kid used shadows and darkness and drained the life out of Jimmy. Then the boy got a lot stronger... Like Rod said, it was as if something took him over."

"Thanks for your help," Georgina said, patting one boy on the shoulder. "Now you might want to keep on running, yeah?"

"Why?" the first boy whispered. "Who is this kid?"

"Our friend," Rebecca said glumly. "He's gone insane."

"I still don't get it," Rod argued, folding his arms and refusing to move. "Why would he randomly kill Jimmy? It's like, like he was a terminater." 

"I don't know," Georgina muttered. "Maybe Shaade just snapped. Now, eff off, bozos." 

The boys scattered and kept on moving, walking swiftly away. Georgina sighed and raked a hand through her fringe anxiously.

"What do we do?" Rebecca asked. "How do we stop Shaade now?"

"With extreme difficulty," Georgina replied. "And a lot of magic."

"And glitching," Sophie added. 

"Who's that?" Rebecca asked, pointing down the street at a blurred figure. Georgina pressed the stopwatch so that they could walk over unharmed. The figure kept on coming. 

"What the hell?" she exclaimed, stumbling over her feet as she backed away.

"I think we found Shaade," Sophie said as the figure started running. Shadows snaked across the ground, plants dying and grass wilting as the dark and the living connected. Georgina slammed her thumb back on top of the stopwatch and as people started moving again the figure vanished.