EXISTENCE

CHAPTER 21: Dreams of a Demon

Gabriel opened his eyes and sat up, unsure where he was. He felt his hands resting on something soft, a mattress, maybe. He felt his chest as he remembered what had happened - somehow he had been stabbed. Instead of his skin, he felt bandages. He looked around him; sleeping on top of his blankets were Juan and Adam, who looked as though they had simply fallen asleep while watching over him. He smiled.

"You're awake!"

He turned to the sound of the voice. Sitting at his right side was a tearful Amy, doing her best to greet him with a smile. "I'm so glad...I thought you were going to die."

Gabriel gave her a warm smile. "Didn't I tell you? A man won't ever leave his woman, no matter what happens." He grabbed her hand. "I'm sorry if I worried you, Amy."

She nodded over to the two boys. "I think you should owe them an apology too. They were absolutely frantic. Especially Adam."

Adam slowly began waking up. "One more goal, coach..." he mumbled as he slowly sat upright. He rubbed his eyes. "BOSS! You're okay!" He flung his arms around his friend. "I didn't know what to think!"

Gabriel gave the boy a pat on his back. "I'm sorry if I worried you, Adam." He noticed Juan slowly waking himself up. "You with us there, sleeping beauty?"

Juan smiled. "I'm here. I'm glad you are too, man." He quickly put on a serious face. "Still, what the hell happened, man?"

Gabriel shook his head. "I just remember some dude with glasses talking bullshit before he stabbed me. He actually stabbed me."

Adam nodded. "When I pulled out the knife, it disintegrated. You know what that means, right, Boss?"

"Yeah. It looks like we've got nothing but trouble."

Juan sat back. "And three more months before summer too. They couldn't even leave us alone that long."

Gabriel scowled. "That guy...he said the same things that other guy Ethan said. Something about this all being a game."

"You think they must be connected," Juan stated.

"I do. The energy I felt from him...it was all black. Just like Ethan."

Juan sighed. "I guess we've got our work cut out for us, then."

Everyone turned to face him. He let out another sigh. "It ain't like we've been training for nothing, right? Gabe's got a lock on his energy. We follow that energy and we find and take out the source. We'll be taking out two birds with one stone."

Gabriel raised an eyebrow. "I feel like that's too obvious."

"Got any better ideas, Stabby?"

"Boy, if you don't-"

"Wait a second!"

The two boys looked at Adam, whose face was lit up with an idea. "Now listen, we know how they fight, right? Coming at them is something they'll be expecting. So we just need to walk in there...with our energies hidden!"

Gabriel thought on the idea. "That's actually not a bad plan."

Adam jumped up. "Good! Then let's go-"

He was quickly beaten into submission by Juan.

"Dumbass, we can't go now! We've got a goddamn casualty on our hands and the first thing you wanna do is storm the enemy base? Jesus, man."

Adam rubbed his head. "You didn't have to hit me..."

Gabriel chuckled. "Listen boys. Let's just get ourselves well-rested for now. We'll have time to worry about those guys when they start expecting us." He turned to Adam. "Y'know, I could really go for another Fanta Lemon, man."