Bad News: The Wicked Side Will Fall (Book one in the Bad News Series)

Dead Dan

~The Stranger~

He didn't move.
Not even to breathe.
He just laid there. Defenseless, unconscious, and no way to run.
Worthless.
He had no backstory, no good life that he'd left behind.
He was just...Dan. Regular guy. Boring life. No chance of getting past Bad News' expectations.
And he looked so dead.
"Dead Dan." I whispered and chuckled to myself.
Little did he know that I could make that come true before he could take a breath.
But I was just waiting for the right moment.
And it was coming...soon.
Then I would be that little orphan's nightmare.
And it would be the last one he had.

~Corey~

They wouldn't let me in.
Those pathetic, creepy jerks wouldn't let me in the stupid room.
I went on a rampage.
I stood up, walking toward Dan's room.
"Sir, you can't go in there." A nurse called out to me.
After she realized that I didn't give a crap about what she'd said she came and stood in my path.
Without thinking I nailed her in the face with my right fist as she was about to say something. She fell in a heap on the floor, and I continued walking.
Reaching for the knob of the door, a male's voice suddenly called out to me.
"Sir, don't go in there."
A hand was placed on my left shoulder and I instinctively spun around.
I faced a crowd of doctors and nurses.
"Don't you ever, lay a hand on me again you piece of crap."
He again put his hand on my shoulder.
I shook my head. "Big mistake."
With that I started throwing punches left and right until all of them were knocked unconscious.
Then I opened Dan's door just as the window closed.

~Dan~

I woke up in a hospital bed, in a small room with no lights on. But light streamed through the uncurtained window, falling across the floor.
I looked to a chair in the far corner to my left, where Corey sat.
He looked extremely tense, and he was gripping the arms of the chair like his life depended on it. His dark hair was disheveled, his face was stern, and the gaze of his green eyes was locked on me.
"Hey." I called out while sitting up. "When did you get here?"
His gaze stayed locked on me. He replied through gritted teeth.
"Who was in your room?"
"No one." I answered. "And when did you come in here?" I asked again.
"A minute ago. And there was someone in your room. Someone who didn't have the decency or courage to face me so they climbed out the window. And I want to know who it was."
"Well don't ask me! I was sleeping!" I replied.
He stood up to go look out the window.
"Exactly. Someone snuck in here, and watched you sleep. Maybe even planned on hurting you, but I came, so they ran."
Realization and dread flooded through my veins. He was right. They could have hurt me or worse, and no one would have known what happened.
"Dead Dan...." A voice whispered.
I couldn't tell if it was a male or a female voice, it was barely audible in the first place and it was very raspy.
"You're going to be dead...soon...." The voice whispered again, just as quiet as the first time.
I started freaking out.
"You'll pay...for their mistakes." The voice again whispered.
"Corey?" I asked.
"What." He was inspecting the window.
"Do you hear that?"
He turned to face me.
"Hear what?"
"That creepy whispering, it's telling me that I'm going to die."
He laughed while shaking his head and went back to inspecting.
The whispering stopped, and I became aware of my dislike of staying in bed for long amounts of time. I turned to put my feet on the floor, and when I did, a hand shot out from under the bed.
When I started yelling, Corey rushed over, pried the hand off of my ankle, and yanked the person out from under the bed, fist ready.
He suddenly softened, then helped the person up.
It was Ava.
He wrapped his arms around her and looked into her eyes.
"I'm sorry if I frightened you, I really didn't mean to."
She nodded, and I had to fight back a gag.
Corey pulled away and said,
"Ava, how long have you been here?"
I stood up and walked over, eager to hear her answer.
"Long enough to hear some man or woman start whispering stuff, laugh, then leap out the window as you came in, and everything after that." She replied.
"You couldn't tell if it was a man or woman?" Corey asked.
She shook her head.
We stood in silence for a few minutes, before Ava suddenly shouted,
"I totally forgot! Bad News wants us to be in the training room in..." She glanced at her watch. "three minutes!"
A look of concern washed over Corey's face, and then they both rushed out of the room, with me at their heals.
Once we were out of the building, they began to sprint down the sidewalk.
It began to get harder and harder to keep up with them, and right when I thought I couldn't go anymore, they began to slow down.
I collapsed to the ground, and they didn't even seem phased at all by the longest run in all of history.
"Dan?! What are you doing here?!" Ava half asked, half shouted.
"What, you couldn't hear my panting all the way here?" I said in between breaths. "Gosh, how'd you guys even run that far without breaking a sweat?"
They both exchanged glances, a look that showed they were hiding something, but it wasn't really a secret.
"What?" I asked.
Corey sighed. "You've been out for a month. Bad News didn't want us to wait, so we've been training every day since you got knocked out."
"What?" I asked.
"Yeah," Ava added. "the first week was to get us acquainted with each other, and to get to know the place. But ever since then we haven't stopped training."
"Today we get to meet the assistant leaders though, which reminds me, we should go, now." Corey added.
Ava nodded and they both swiftly walked toward a narrow bridge that hovered over a murky and disgusting swamp.
As we walked, one by one, into the depths of the swamp, the air became thicker and a fog began to roll in.
After a minute or so I saw a large building looming in front of us. Corey lead the way, with Ava in the middle, and me on the end. I have to admit that I was quite frightening by the exterior of the building, and I couldn't even imagine what the inside looked like.
Corey got the doors open without effort, and we filed inside. It didn't look bad inside at all.
It was clearly a training room. Different types of exercise equipment were scattered around the enormous room, filling all of the space. The walls were painted a gold color, the ceiling and floor black.
Corey and Ava walked through the maze of equipment toward a staircase, and after pausing another second to take everything in, I followed.
The second floor was obviously meant for housing, every room was a bedroom, well, except for the one we were headed for.
All the kids were chatting amongst themselves when we walked in, not one turning their head to look at us.
Ava, feeling like an attention seeking little piece of-whatever, unclipped her watch from her wrist and it plummeted toward the ground, landing with a loud clang that filled the entire room.
All heads turned, all eyes stared, all fixed on me.
The chatter and excitement returned, but this time it focused on me.
My name was spoken by everyone in the room, until one kid stepped forward.
Silence fell upon everyone in the room.
"Oh look, the Danasoar decided to wake up, what a nice surprise." He sarcastically said. He stepped closer to me, sticking his arm out. "The name is Paul, the future leader of the Wicked Side."
I didn't reply, or shake his filthy hand, he was obviously a jerk, and I wanted no part of him.
He looked me up and down. "Fine, be that way."
I stepped toward Corey, trying to tell him that I wanted help, without actually saying it.
Some blonde girl I didn't recognize saved me instead.
"Paul, could you just not be a jerk for one day?" She asked.
"No, that would require me caring." he spat back.
She rolled her eyes, just as Bad News walked in.
Bad News took one look at her and sighed.
"Audrey, I thought I told you to stay in your room."
"But Daddy-" she whined.
"Shut up and go to your room!" He suddenly shouted, interrupting her.
She crossed her arms. "I want to train with the initiates." She replied.
"No." He stated.
"But I'm the same age as them! If I had lived on the other side-"
"But you didn't live there and you most certainly don't live there now. Now, go. To. Your. Room."
She glared, stomped her foot, then stomped out of the room. Right before she walked out she kicked some glass thing over, breaking it.
"Classic Audrey." Paul whispered in my ear.
Bad News clapped his hands once, grabbing everyone's attention.
"Today you're going to meet my assistant leaders." He said.
Two men walked in, each of them looking a few years older than me.
"This is Charlie," he continued, gesturing to the one on his right. "and Cato." He said, pointing to the other.
Charlie was taller, skinny as a twig, and had little muscular strength compared to the others. He had a pointed nose, green eyes, and hair so blonde it was almost white.
Cato was also tall, although not as tall as Charlie, and had humongous biceps, about 3/4 the size of someone's head. He had dark hair, the tips of it dyed blue, which matched the color of his eyes. His face was the perfect description of beauty, not that I was gawking over him like all the girls, he was just, prettier than me.
Suddenly Audrey came running back in.
She leaped into Cato's arms, and oh great. Would anyone like to barf in my mouth? Anyone? She pressed her lips to his. I had to turn away, disgusted.
Almost all the girls shot her dirty looks as she backed away, cheeks flushing red.
Paul stepped forward. "Hey, I wouldn't mind a little kiss on the cheek, thank you very much." He sarcastically remarked while leaning forward toward Audrey.
Cato, obviously not taking as a joke, slapped Paul hard across the face.
Paul backed up, bewildered on what had happened. A red handprint showed up on the side of his face, turning purple really fast.
I looked over at Bad News, who had almost a look of amusement on his face.
"Training is cancelled!" He shouted, catching my gaze. "Go wherever you want."
I followed Corey and Ava around until nightfall, then we walked to the dorms.
"Yo Danasoar!" Paul shouted. He now had a handprint bruise on the side of his face. "Wanna switch beds for the night? Yours hasn't been used for a month, and I like the bed I lay in to be clean."
"Knock yourself out." I replied.
Everyone began talking to me, saying that I was missed and stuff like that. Carla even apologized for hospitalizing me, and she didn't look too good herself either.
I didn't need to guess, I knew. One word, Corey. Meaning, his rage was set free, targeting poor (but deserving) Carla. And now she looked like how getting sick felt.
I could have shouted ha in her face.
I laid down in the bed that read Paul over it, and quickly fell asleep.

~

Screams woke me up. Worried people frantically dashed around the room.
I stood up, looking for the cause of the commotion.
A crowd was formed around my bed. Not Paul's, mine.
I pushed and shoved my way through to see what was going on, and almost puked when I did.
Paul was dead.