-Present Day-
Zak froze.
He was a deer staring down the front of something like an exotic car.
Something fast and flashy.
That was Ace.
That was any situation that involved Ace.
Fast, and flashy.
"Archer, talk to me- are you alright?!?" He moved to take a step closer. Kasper was motionless, panting a few feet from where Archer sat slumped. Move- you have to move. He lowered his gun. Zak wondered why he even carried the thing in the first place, he never shot it. It was useless in his hands.
Ace was finicking with his blade, and by now, at least half the people he travelled with were all watching.
Zak knew there was nothing he could do. "Arch. Can you move?" He tried again, taking another step.
Ace had triggered something deep within Kasper; it was the very thing they couldn't control, a volatile thought-loop that sent him spiraling into nothing. One of his "moments." He was trapped somewhere in the labyrinth of his own mind; he was as dangerous as a Flicker. There was no reaching him.
"Zak don't-" Archer slid away. Covering the bleeding wound on his side with a shaking hand. "Don't move. Just stay there. It's just a graze."
Kasper's breathing changed, quickening before snapping off at the end as his body pitched to the side. He rolled over onto his stomach in the direction of Archer. "Urrghh—no—" he gasped, jolting awake with a start; he scrambled to get to his knees, pushing himself up.
Archer had slid a good distance away and sat quietly, trying to stop the bleeding. "Ace-" Archer winced, "Do something before one of us dies-" shoving cloth into the wound. "Hurry-"
"Kas - you have to wake up." Zak did his best "commanding" tone; it did nothing.
Small spines and spikes had begun pushing their way through Kasper's skin, popping through his shirt along his spine where holes from the times before sat in rows. He was changing. "KAS." The urgency in his voice deepened.
Kasper's blood poured from the cuts in his skin, gathering around them in inky pools. An ungodly popping came from his entire body, a cacophony of bone and sinew unsettling. It was happening, and his bones began to readjust, cracking with each breath he took.
Ace only laughed.
"Ace- FIX THIS." Zak pointed his gun and backpedalled. Bullets won't kill him, but they'll slow this down. "Kasper! Snap out of it!" He looked to Ace, who folded his arms.
"Shut it pretty boy, It's too bright for Adam to make a full appearance anyway. I'm trying to help him." Ace gripped his knife as he approached Kasper. "Can you hear me you ungrateful brat? I'm helping."
YOU ARE READING
The Eden Projects (EDITING)
General Fiction"This story has no hero." Set in the distant future, where the government has been overthrown, and a new world power has risen, known only by the Moniker "ARK Corporation." We follow Kasper as he fights to survive in a nightmare where wrong is made...
