They departed the airplane and exited the terminal at the front of the airport with no problem. Karis stood on the side walk next to Kaleb with his duffle bag in his hand, waiting to see where they needed to go from here. The air smelled of salty ocean and smog. She remembered Titanium saying something about a beach, but it was still dark enough she couldn't see the ocean. Karis could see the hint of sunrise as the sky started to turn a light blue with an orange tinged glow. Titanium was leaning against the airport window next to Kenny glancing around at each person that walked by while Jessica was trying to flag down a cab.
"I could sure use a cup of coffee right about now." Kaleb said trying to break the silence.
"You don't drink coffee." Karis implied.
"Yeah, but I need something to keep me on my toes today. I don't know what to expect from this school, plus I didn't sleep good on the plane."
"You could've fooled me." Karis teased. "I thought you slept pretty soundly from all the drool on the pillow."
"That was from the position I was sleeping in. Believe me nobody can sleep soundly sitting next to her." Kaleb pointed at Jessica as she waved both hands in the air at a cab that zoom past her. She cursed out loud and waited patiently for another opportunity to flag another cab. "Does she know that if she would just wait a minute a cab will stop in front of the airport on its own?"
"From the looks of it I would say no." Karis giggled. "Let's go see what Titanium and Kenny have planned for us."
"Really, do we have to? I'm perfectly content standing over here with you, away from them, waiting for a cab."
"Oh, put your big boy pants on and come on."
"Fine!" Kaleb said and followed Karis over to where the other two boys stood next to the building.
Titanium and Kenny were discussing the plans on how to keep the powerless duo a secret at school when Karis and Kaleb walked up and stood next to them. Titanium looked at Kaleb like he was a thorn in his side then looked at Kenny and snorted. Kaleb ignored Titanium's reaction and put his arm around Karis to keep the chilled breeze off of her. Titanium's mocking grin toward Kaleb turned into a frown as he ran his fingers through his hair and looked at them with a serious look.
"Okay guys, before we get to the school we need to have some kind of signal for Kenny and Kaleb to let each other know when Kenny needs to use his power for Kaleb to fake his power." Titanium said as he crossed his arms over his chest and started biting his thumbnail.
"How about I grab my crotch or maybe even hop on one foot?" Kaleb said rolling his eyes. "Look, I really don't think faking powers is going to work. What's going to happen when I get my powers in a couple weeks and it's not the force power? How are we going to explain that one?"
The two boys glared at Kaleb with contempt. "We'll cross that bridge when we get there." Titanium said through clenched teeth. "Right now we are trying to figure out how to keep you from getting your ass kicked during those two weeks. So be a PAL and think of a signal other than grabbing you crotch."
"How about pressing your fingers to your temples and squint your eyes. You know, like when you have a headache?" Kenny said in his deep German accent. "That way it looks like he's using his mind for the force power."
"Like this?" Kaleb demonstrated by putting his fingers on either side of his temples and closing his eyes acting like he was in deep concentration.
"Yeah, that'll work. Just ease up a little on the eye squinting it looks like your constipated and nobody needs that image in their head." Titanium pointed out.
"Very funny, I'll work on that just for you." Kaleb said sarcastically.
"Hey guys, I finally got us a cab." Jessica called over to them. "I thought I was going to have to jump out of the way from this one. He must really need the money."
The cab was a yellow suburban that practically looked brand new. It was freshly painted with no scratches or dents. The taxi letters down the side of the door weren't peeling off like all the other taxis around them, it looked as if they were put on recently.
"Is this our cab or is he looking for someone else?" Titanium asked reluctantly.
The cab driver slightly cracked the dark tinted window on the passenger side door and asked, "Getting in?"
Kaleb opened the back door to let everybody in the taxi. There were two sets of bench seats in the suburban. Kenny and Jessica sat in the back bench. Titanium, Karis, and Kaleb occupied the front bench. A dark tented glass separated the taxi driver from the passengers. The glass slid down an inch and the taxi driver's deep voice asked for the address where they wanted to be dropped off at. Titanium gave him the address of the school and with that the cab took off.
"Wow, this is a privilege to get a new taxi cab in this town. And a suburban at that, at least we didn't have to get two cabs." Jessica said excitedly.
"Something's not right." Titanium said with a disconcerting look on his face.
"Yeah, I don't like the feeling of this situation. It's making me very nervous." Kenny said.
"Well hell, if you two don't like it, I sure as heck don't like it. Do we need to stop the cab and get out?" Karis asked anxiously.
"What kind of cab driver has dark tented glass on the inside of their cab? The glass is usually clear so they can see who got in, right." Kenny stated.
"Ok, let's not over react before we even know if we need to over react." Titanium said. "Kenny, just be prepared to use your power. Karis and Kaleb, you two make sure your seat belts are buckled. Jessica, use your sight power and see who's driving this cab."
Jessica narrowed her eyes and stared at the dark glass. "It looks like a stocky man with a dark robe or trench coat that has a hoodie attached to it. He's wearing the hoodie over his head right now. I don't see anything out of the ordinary except he's wearing leather gloves. The thermal images I see from his body doesn't show any weapons on him at this moment."
"Maybe we're over reacting. The driver hasn't done anything suspicious yet, has he?" Kaleb asked.
"Not yet. We only have five more miles to go, let's just wait it out." Titanium said in a steady voice.
"Hey, mister, are you up there?" Kaleb asked as he banged on the glass with his hand.
"HEY! What are you doing?" Titanium grumbled through gritted teeth.
"Why sit here and wait when you could just strike up a conversation with the dude." Kaleb banged on the glass again even louder than before.
Jessica looked through the dark glass again with her sight powers. "Um, Kaleb, I think the cab driver is ignoring you. He flinched when you hit the glass, but he's not moving or making any effort to talk to you."
"Well, I say that's definitely suspicious. There are very few people that can ignore me."
Titanium leaned forward to look at Kaleb. "I would love to meet one of those few so they can tell me how they do it."
Suddenly the taxi cab made a sharp right turn down a loose gravel road that led away from the school. The suburban gained speed as it drove further away from the location they told the cab driver to take them. Titanium's eyes widen when he realized that something wasn't right. He could kick himself for not trusting his instincts, but right now they need to get out of that taxi.
"Ok, change of plans! Kenny when I say 'GO', I want you to stop this cab any way you can and help me detain the driver. Jessica, get Karis and Kaleb as far away from this cab as possible. Go in the direction towards the school and we'll try to meet up with you as soon as we can." Titanium said in a low voice.
Kaleb tried to find the latch to open the door, but there was nothing on the door. He slid his hand up and down the door, but there was nothing there to roll down the window or unlock the door. "How are we going to get out of the door, there's no door handle to open it."
"I'll take care of that when I stop this cab." Kenny said.
"Okay, is everybody ready to move when I give the word?"
"As ready as we can be." Karis said nervously looking over at Kaleb.
Kaleb winked at Karis to reassure her and held her hand tight in his. Karis squeezed his hand to let him know she wasn't going to let go.
When Titanium yelled "GO" everything seemed to go in slow motion. Kenny raised his hand, palm up, and the brakes locked up on the cab sending it sliding on the loose gravel trying to stop. The driver must have panicked and turned the steering wheel because the cab started to fish tail, making it spin out of control on the gravel road. Titanium punched his fist through the dark glass in the middle of the suburban and grabbed the driver from behind. Kenny tried to get control over the steering wheel with his mind so he could stop the cab from spinning only to find out the roads loose gravel kept the wheels on the cab skidding uncontrollably. Jessica held on to the seat in front of her for dear life while Kaleb pushed Karis's body down and guarded her with his body from broken glass.
Unexpectedly, the tires of the cab blew out and caused the taxi cab to roll over. Jessica let out an ear piercing scream as glass flew everywhere and metal started crushing in on top of them. Karis squeezed her eyes shut and waited for them to be crushed. Kaleb yelled for Karis to 'hold on' over the sound of crushing metal around them. The taxi cab finally came to rest on the roof. Everything was silent for a minute before Karis started hearing moans around her. When she finally opened her eyes she was disoriented for a minute until she realized that Kaleb was hanging upside down, unconscious beside her in his seatbelt. Everything was upside down except for Kenny and Jessica who were lying on the crushed in roof of the cab. Jessica had a couple of cuts from glass flying on her, but she had some kind of force field around her that protected her from the blunt trauma she would have suffered without it. She tried to crawl towards Kenny only to find out the force field had her pinned where she could not move.
"Where's Titanium?" Jessica screamed.
Kenny's eye lids fluttered as he struggled to stay awake. "He was thrown out with the driver. I put a force field around him, as I did with you when we started to flip. I think he might be okay, but I'm not certain." Kenny said weakly. He had a large knot forming on his forehead and a large, slender piece of metal was protruding from his left shoulder. His right hand was shaking slightly as he fought to keep the force field around Jessica. Suddenly his eyes fell shut and his hand went limp as the force field around Jessica evaporated. She rushed to his side, tore one of her sleeves off her shirt and placed it around the protruding metal object to stop the bleeding. Jessica looked over at Karis and yelled, "Are you hurt? Karis listen to me! Are you hurt?"
"No, I think I'm good." Karis said shaking her head slowly while staring off into space looking lost. At this point she could move all her extremities with no pain, but she knew when the shock wears off she would feel it later.
"Is Kaleb hurt? Check him over and make sure he doesn't have any wounds or bleeding anywhere."
"I can't do anything upside down. I've got to get us out of these seatbelts. I'll try to unbuckle Kaleb first."
Karis reached over and unbuckled Kaleb's seatbelt. He fell on his back with a thud and slightly moaned. Karis relaxed a little when she saw that he was breathing. She reached up slowly to unbuckle her seatbelt when something huge reached through the broken window, grabbed her arm with a death grip and forcefully ripped her out of the cab. She felt a tearing pain in her left shoulder as the seatbelt broke loose around her. The person flung her approximately five feet through the air away from the cab, causing her to land on her hands and knees. She tried to tuck in her body and roll like she seen done in the movies, but it happened too fast for her to react. Her knees had a sudden burning sensation as she slid ungracefully across the gravel on her side only to be stopped by a large tree stump against her back in the ditch. Karis cried out in pain as she tried to stand up, but her legs crumbled underneath her. She could hear Jessica inside the overturned taxi cab screaming for Kaleb to wake up. Karis sat up slowly to look at the crushed cab when her eyes met the man who jerked her out of the wreckage. He was standing a short distance between her and the cab, breathing heavily like he was about to go into respiratory distress. He wore a dark dirty long coat with a hood covering his head.
At first, Karis thought he might be hurt from the crash because when he started walking towards her, he was limping in an eccentric way while slightly dragging his right foot. It was only when he got closer to Karis when she noticed the massive hump around his shoulders which made him walk stooped over. She discovered that his clothes were shredded underneath his dirty coat that exposed the green scales that covered his forearm and lower legs. She could see clearly now that he was not even human.
"What do you want from us?" Karis cried out to the creature.
He didn't speak as he slowly made his way closer to her. She could hear a low growl in his throat that sounded like an angry cat ready to attack a mouse for its dinner.
"Karis!" Jessica yelled out to her from inside the crushed cab. "Run, get out of here! I can't get out of the cab to help you. Kenny's wound will bleed out if I let off the pressure. Kaleb is in and out of consciousness and I don't know where Titanium's at or if he's even safe. Just get yourself out of here!"
"I can't!" Karis cried, tears streaming down her cheeks. "My legs are hurt and won't hold me up to run."
"Titanium! Can you hear me? Help!" Jessica frantically screamed. "Karis, I can't even see him with my powers. Do you see him anywhere?"
"No, I just see the taxi driver in front of me, which by the way is a Scraper and he doesn't look happy."
"Just try to get out of here!" Jessica shouted.
As the Scraper limped his way towards Karis, his foot kicked Kaleb's ripped duffle bag on the ground which made a loud clank sound as all the daggers and swords slid across the gravel. The creature bent down slowly and picked up a ten inch dagger that had strange markings on it.
"Oh Crap!" Karis shrieked as more tears flooded her eyes. "Jessica! The taxi driver isn't human and he now has a weapon!"
She heard Jessica say several choice words as the cab's back glass shattered. Karis guessed that it was from Jessica kicking it out. The loud noise didn't seem to have an effect on the creature as he started walking towards Karis again.
"Look, I don't know what you want, but I don't have anything. I don't even have powers. Just please, don't hurt me or my friends. What do you want from us?"
"Where is it? Give it to me and I will have mercy on you." The Scraper growled in a deep evil voice.
"What is...'IT'? I don't have anything." Karis stammered
"My child, do not play your human games with me. My boss wants what you have. So, give it to me!"
Karis started shuffling backwards, dragging herself along the ground as the creature got closer to her with the dagger in his gloved hand. His claws were penetrating out the tips of the gloves where they ripped through. He was close enough now that Karis saw his cat like muzzle that replaced his human face. His eyes, black and shining, looked at Karis with determination, like a demon from Hell rising to take an innocent soul. The look on the creature's face was pure evil.
"If I had what you wanted I'd gladly give it to you, but I don't have it. Your boss must have me mixed up with someone else."
"Fine, if you will not give me what I am after, then I will just take you instead."
The Scraper pounced on Karis in one swift motion. He grabbed her by the hair, jerked her to her feet, and placed the dagger across her neck. She felt the sharp blade cutting into the skin of her neck as a drop of blood trickled down slowly. She winced in pain as she swallowed hard to keep down the bile that was rising in her stomach from the smell of rotting flesh as the creature squeezed her tight against him. Karis tried to scream once but the creature silenced her by applying pressure to the blade against her neck.
"Hey Freak! Why don't you pick on somebody your own size?" Said a deep voice from behind them.
The Scraper spun around with Karis still in his massive grip. Karis's eyes fearfully widened when she saw Titanium standing in front of them with his fist clenched tight, ready for a fight. He had a cut above his right eye and had blood smeared down the side of his face.
"You fool! Do you really think your strength power will stand up to my power?" The Scraper growled.
"I don't know, but I sure would like to test it out." Titanium glared at the creature with hatred in his eyes. "Now let the girl go!"
"My pleasure." The Scraper licked Karis's blood off her neck with its black forked tongue then dropped her on the ground. "I will take care of you first and then take my prize."
The Scraper leaped at Titanium with the dagger slicing through the air towards him. Titanium moved quickly to the side, dodging the dagger and punched the creature between the shoulder blades. The Scraper fell forward landing face first on the hard ground. The impact resulted in forming a crater in the dirt. As it tried to get up, Titanium brought his elbow down onto the creatures back forcing it back to the ground. Titanium began kicking it several times in the ribs while the creature laid on the ground. On the third kick, the creature swung the dagger around and sliced Titanium in the calf, leaving a deep bleeding cut across his leg. Titanium fell to the ground and the creature dove on top of him. Titanium grabbed the creature's hand with the dagger as it tried to stab him. They struggled with each other on the ground as the beast tried to bring the dagger down closer to Titanium's chest. Karis tried to move herself closer to the creature to help Titanium but her legs were shaking uncontrollably. She crawled across the ground towards a sword that had fell out of Kaleb's bag when she saw a movement of something out the corner of her eye. She turned her head to find Kaleb running up to her. He had blood all over him but she couldn't tell where it came from. He had cuts and abrasions on his face and neck. His blue eyes were wide with worry as he squatted beside her, looking at her neck where the dagger cut her. "Where are you hurt? Put your arms around my neck, I'll get you out of here."
"No, Kaleb! Help Titanium, he needs you more right now than I do."
Kaleb watched as Titanium struggled with the Scraper that was on top of him. The dagger blade was shaking as Titanium used all his strength to keep the dagger from piercing his chest. The creature tried to put its body weight onto the hilt in order to drive the dagger down but Titanium finally got his other hand free to punch the creature in the side of its head. The creature lost its balance but did not drop the dagger. They started rolling on the ground trying to get punches to connect with each other.
"Okay, Karis, stay here... I'll try to help Titanium." Kaleb looked around on the ground for something to use against the Scraper. A couple of feet away from Kaleb laid the sword Karis had been crawling towards. The sword was partially lying outside his duffle bag. He jumped up, grabbed the sword and spun it skillfully in his hands as he waited for the right time to jump in the fight. Titanium looked at Kaleb with the sword in his hand and nodded; he swiftly let go of the Scraper's arm to make one last attempt to spin it around for Kaleb to get a good shot. The creature pushed the dagger down towards Titanium as he spun, cutting through his shirt and piercing his left side, just missing his ribs. He cried out in pain, forcefully pushed the creature away from him. The creature stumbled a few feet back then in a flash let out an evil laugh as it leaped back on Titanium and pulled the dagger out of his skin, with blood dripping from the blade. As Titanium struggled in pain, the creature rolled on top of him and raised the dagger for one last blow. Kaleb saw his opportunity and stabbed the creature with the sword between its shoulder blades all the way to the hilt. Kaleb felt his hands burn as the Scraper's acidy blood squirted out of the wound. It let out a piercing cat like scream that Kaleb would never forget. Kaleb jerked the sword out of the creatures back and kicked him forward where it collapsed on top of Titanium. Kaleb stood there for a minute with the sword still raised for combat in case the creature attacked again. He was staring at the Scraper, waiting for it to melt into a sulfur smelling slimy liquid like the first one did, but it lay motionless on top of Titanium.
"Are you just going to stand there or are you going to get this heavy thing off of me, it stinks?" Titanium said in a muffled voice underneath the motionless creature.
"Are you alright?" Kaleb asked as he dropped the sword and pushed the creature off of Titanium.
Titanium lay on his back for a minute, grabbing his side where the creature stabbed him. "I'm just peachy! It's not every day you get in a major car wreck and stabbed by a mutant creature, all in the SAME DAY." Titanium looked down at his calf where the creature had cut him with the dagger. The wound was still seeping blood. "Damn, more stitches. That sucks."
"That was a Scraper? Then why didn't it melt like the others when I stabbed it?" Kaleb asked as he rubbed his hands on his shirt to get the blood off.
"Because," Titanium muttered, "it's not dead. You just stunned it."
Kaleb slowly backed away from the creature and turned to go help Karis. She was lying on her stomach, sobbing with her head resting on her arms. Kaleb sat next to her on the ground. He brushed her hair back gently away from her face. "Hey, it's over. We got the Scraper. It won't hurt us anymore."
"I know, but what's going to happen when the next one comes after us. Or the next one?" Karis said lifting her head to look at Kaleb. "What if we're alone without powers? I'm tired of people getting hurt because of me. Maybe I should've let that thing take me to his boss. If I would've then at least I'd know what they want from me."
Kaleb wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into a tight hug. "No Karis that wouldn't solve anything. One thing's for sure, we know they want this package your parents are supposedly mailing to you. Let's just concentrate on getting that package and go from there."
"What about Kenny? He has a piece of metal sticking out of his arm. And Jessica would've been hurt really bad if Kenny didn't put a force field around her. Oh and not to mention Titanium was stabbed by that thing. At this rate he'll be covered from head to toe with stitches trying to protect me. And you, Kaleb, I couldn't live with myself if something happened to you. You're hurt because of me. It's all my fault." Karis buried her head into Kaleb's chest to hide the tears streaming down her face.
Kaleb gently pulled Karis away from him to look directly into her eyes. He caressed the side of her face with both hands and said, "It's not your fault! I'll always be here for you. When I woke up in that taxi and you were nowhere in sight, I totally freaked out. I saw Jessica screaming, Kenny hurt pretty badly and you were gone. I totally panicked- not because of the situation, only because I couldn't find you. I wish you could've known the thoughts that were racing through my mind at that moment." Kaleb shook his head as if trying to shake the image out of his head. "I thought I'd lost you. All I could think about was you being thrown out of the cab during the wreck. It felt like I was stabbed in the heart with a sharp knife until I heard your voice outside the cab. I couldn't think about anything at that point except how to get to you and make sure nothing happens to you. I would sell my soul to keep you safe, Karis, do you understand?"
Karis gazed into Kaleb's blue eyes. She lightly touched his cheek to wipe away the dirt and gravel around it. Karis noticed that Kaleb was easing his face closer to her. She could feel her heart beat rapidly through her chest. She wanted him to lean in and kiss her. She wanted desperately to feel his soft lips on hers. She yearned to have him hold her and tell her everything was going to be okay. But what was she thinking? She was confused. She didn't want a moment like this be a mistake because of mixed emotions. Karis forced her mind to halt the train of her thoughts. Instead Karis looked at the dried blood on the side of Kaleb's face and asked in a concerned voice. "Are you sure you're not hurt anywhere, you have blood all over you?"
Kaleb had a guarded look on his face, but managed a smile as he kissed the back of Karis' hand. "Yeah, I'm good, this isn't all my blood. I helped Jessica and Titanium pull Kenny out of the taxi cab."
Karis's eyes widened as she snapped back to reality. "Kenny! Did he stop bleeding? Is he going to be okay? We need to call an ambulance. What about Titanium? That creature really messed him up with that dagger. Help me stand up, I don't think my legs can hold me up yet. I must have hit that tree stump pretty hard with my back. I can feel my legs, but they're so weak I can't stop them from shaking."
"Hold up, Karis... slow down...you may be injured." Kaleb stated.
"I'm OKAY! We need to check on everyone else." She urged.
"Just put your arm around my shoulder and lean on me. We'll go check on them." Kaleb said. "Oh, by the way, has anyone ever told you that you ask way too many questions when you are nervous. I couldn't even answer the first question without you popping another one."
"Oh, shut up! I believe you've told me that before. Just get used to it because I seriously doubt that will be the last time I do it,"
Titanium was standing over the tied up creature with the dagger in his right hand. He was holding the puncture wound on his right side with his other hand to stop the bleeding where the creature stabbed him. Kaleb and Karis helped eachother over towards Titanium and stood beside him.
"Has it awakened yet?" Kaleb asked.
"Yeah only long enough to growl and tell me how his boss is going to rip me to shreds." Titanium turned his head to glance over his shoulder at Kaleb. "Hey man, where did you learn how to use a sword like that?"
"My dad showed me some different techniques. He thought it would be better to start learning early in age rather than to wait until I get my powers. I guess he was right."
"Your dad, huh.... Smart man, did he teach you how to use any other weapons?"
"Yeah. He mostly knows about knives, dagger, and swords. We use to practice boxing, but he's been too busy lately to show me anymore. I know enough to hold my own."
"Oh, you're talking about you step dad, I thought your real dad was the one that might have taught you."
"Heck no, I haven't seen my real dad since I was five. I don't even remember what he looks like. Patrick is the only man I call dad."
"He taught you the basics well. You'll learn pretty fast in weapons training." Titanium commented with respect surprising Kaleb.
"Wow, was that a compliment coming out of your mouth. Should I duck before lightning strikes us dead?"
"Yeah, yeah, laugh it up now, but don't get used to it. That'll probably be the only compliment you'll be getting from me." Titanium said, winking at Karis. He opened his mouth to say something else when the creature let out a yowl that sounded like a noise from a werewolf movie.
"Let... Me... Go! Give me what I came for and I will let you live." the Scraper rumbled in an angry voice. "If you don't give me what I ask for then there will be more of my kind that will come for it. You all are walking around weak and wounded. Your kind does not heal fast enough. Sooner or later you will be too weak to fight us. It is your choice when that will occur. Just give the girl to me and the fighting will end."
"I tell you what, let us know what it is your boss wants with the girl and we'll send you back to your hell hole in one whole piece." Titanium warned.
"You... Chose... Wrong! My boss will make sure he gets what he wants and you all will suffer." The Scraper hissed an evil laugh as turned his black eyes towards Karis. "And you will be the one to suffer most, physically and emotionally. You think you are in pain now. Just wait, you will wish you were never born."
Titanium looked at the creature with disgust. He pulled black leather gloves out of his pocket and slowly put them on his hands. "Oh, for your information, the girl isn't for sale, so I'll ask you one last time, asshole, are you going to talk?"
"Go... to... Hell, and when you get there I will make you my slave." The Scraper scowled through his sharp canine teeth.
Titanium raised the dagger in his right hand and said, "No thanks, you're not my type."
With that Titanium buried the dagger in the creature's head. The beast let out a gurgling yell as its body shook vigorously before it collapsed and melted in a thick yellow liquid. The air filled with a sulfur smell then fell silent. Titanium fell to his knees with exhaustion. Kaleb lowered Karis next to Titanium for her to sit down.
"You two wait here while I go check on the others. We need to get away from this place as soon as possible. I sure don't want to run into any more of those creatures in the dark on a gravel road with us being injured. I'll be right back." Kaleb said as he bolted up and vanished behind the wreckage.
Every muscle in Karis's body was crying out in agony. Even muscles she didn't know she had were hurting. Karis leaned against Titanium, resting her head gently on his shoulder.
"Do you feel as bad as I do right now?" Karis joked.
"It depends on what you mean by the word 'BAD'." He said.
"I mean sore, hurt, crushed, you know, bad." She explained.
"And yet again, those words have several different meanings."
"Okay, what are you feeling at this moment?" Karis asked in a frustrating tone.
Titanium pulled his hand away from his side to examine the wound. "Right at this very moment I feel pissed off. I knew something wasn't right about that cab. We should've never got into that cab. I made a mistake and people got hurt. I'm supposed to protect you guys but instead I threw us into danger. You ask me if I feel 'BAD', then yes Karis, I feel bad."
"None of this is your fault, Titanium. If you want to blame someone then you should blame me. I'm what that thing wanted."
"NO!" Titanium interrupted. "It wanted something your parents had. They should've hid that package themselves instead of mailing it to you and putting YOU in danger like they did. If you would've gone with that thing you would probably be dead right now. You don't want to know how those types of monsters kill things. They like to torture their prisoners. They feed off people's pain by killing them slowly. Don't ever let a Scraper take you alive. You must fight them to the end. That means either you kill the Scraper or you die trying. Those things get their energy to survive off the pain that they inflict on others." Titanium mumbled. "Besides, I'm not blaming anyone, I just know that I need to be more cautious and trust my instincts."
"You did kick that Scraper's butt. If I wasn't so scared at that moment I'd have to say that was the sexiest fight I've ever seen." Karis said elbowing Titanium playfully.
"Really! Well you should see me in weapons training. I'll even take my shirt off for you." Titanium chuckled.
"Flattery will get you nowhere with me, Titanium. It's all about the scars baby." Karis snorted.
"Well, you're in luck. I've got plenty of them."
"Plenty of what?" Jessica asked as her and Kaleb came walking up to them supporting Kenny between them. "You two aren't making plans without us are you?"
"Nope, we're waiting for you guys to stop playing around over there so we can get moving before something else tries to attack us while we are down." Titanium grinned and rose to his feet wincing as he placed his hand back over his side. "We need to get to the school so we can get patched up before we bleed to death."
"Shouldn't we go to the hospital?" Kaleb asked.
"No, the school has its own healing room. The professors there can heal us faster than regular physicians or nurses." Kenny said in a strained voice. "Now, can we please get moving, it's only a couple of miles from here and I really want to get this piece of metal out of my shoulder."
"Yeah, the sooner we get out of here the better." Titanium said.
"Let me just grab the swords and daggers that fell out of my duffle bag and we can get going." Kaleb said as he started stuffing his ripped duffle bag with the weapons.
"Why don't you just leave them here, we've got tons of weapons at the school that are a lighter metal than those." said Jessica.
"No, I trained with these weapons. I'm use to the heaviness of the metal. I can't just leave them behind. They're worth a lot to me.".
"Okay, Okay. Just hurry up, we need to get out of here as quick as we can. Karis, can you walk?" Titanium asked as he held out his left hand for Karis to grab so he could help her to her feet.
"I'm not sure. My legs still feel like Jell-O. Let me try to stand up for a minute and start the blood circulating again."
When she stood up her legs were too weak to hold her up. She lost her grip on Titanium's hand and started to fall backwards. Kaleb dropped the dagger he had in his hand and dove under her before she hit the ground. He wrapped his arms around Karis while he used his body to cushion her fall. Karis was speechless when she finally opened her eyes to see that she was lying on top of Kaleb. She looked over her shoulder to see Kaleb's blue eyes staring at her. "I'm getting pretty good at catching you. If I didn't know any better I'd think you like falling into my arms."
"Um.... I guess my legs are still kind of wobbly." Karis said mesmerized by Kaleb's eyes. He smiled at her showing his perfect dimples that made Karis go even weaker in the knees.
"I can carry you on my back if your legs are still too weak to walk. You weigh next to nothing so it won't be a problem. Besides I like it when you are this close." Kaleb whispered in Karis's ear. Karis could feel her face turning scarlet red as she looked up to see Titanium looking down at them in a perturbed way.
"Thanks anyway, Kaleb. I think I can walk if I have something to hold on to."
Titanium held out his hand for Karis to grab so he could help her off of Kaleb. This time he had a tighter grip on her hand as he pulled her up and placed her arm around his shoulder. Kaleb's smile disappeared off his face when he looked up at Titanium.
"Karis, we can lean on each other while we walk. I need your help just as much as you need mine." Titanium said as he glared at Kaleb. "Hopefully, we'll get to the school before someone calls the cops on a bunch of kids limping down a road."
"Yeah, if someone doesn't call the cops on the crushed tin can in the middle of the road first." Kaleb said pointing at the wrecked taxi cab on the road. He slowly got to his feet, not taking his eyes off of Titanium, and picked up the dagger he dropped.
Titanium smirked at Kaleb as he put his arm around Karis's waist to get a better hold on her. "Well, don't just stand there, help Jessica with Kenny and let's get moving."
Kaleb clenched his jaw tight with jealousy as he put the dagger in his duffle bag with the rest of his weapons and proceeded to help Jessica with supporting Kenny while they started walking towards the school.
"I really don't like him." Kaleb stated.
"That's okay, because he doesn't like you either. I guess that makes you both even. Now, can we stop acting like barbarians and get to the school, I am dying for a pain pill." Kenny snapped.
"Okay, let's start walking, someone is getting cranky." Jessica said.
Kenny rolled his eyes at Jessica as they started walking towards the school in silence. Titanium and Karis were in front of the group walking slowly so everybody could stay together. The only time they would stop was to catch their breath or to make sure they were not being followed.
I hope you are enjoying the book so far. Please vote, comment, and tell others to do the same if you like it. I will post the next chapter soon. Happy reading.
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Wishful Deviltry
ParanormalEach person inherits an ancient genetic code from their biological parents. Unfortunately, not all humans are created equal. For some humans like Karis Kenzie the lottery of genes give some people exceptional powers. Karis and her best friend, Kaleb...
