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Sirens blared as police cars blocked the exit to the alley. Two officers stepped out, two shots were fired at me. I managed to move out of the way of one, but the other grazed my shoulder. It hurt like hell, but I couldn't stop to scream. I needed to run. And run I did. Four officers chased me. They were unable to keep up. I felt springy and spry as I weaved through the labyrinth of back streets. I slid round a corner. Why are they after me? What did I do? Can I keep running like this? Yes. Picking myself up, I keep sprinting away. The sound of bullets ricocheting off of the brick walls is a calming tune. I turn many corners. Left. Right. Right. Left. Left. Right.
Dead end.
"Freeze, you punk kid!" The four officers didn't hesitate to point at me. I stuck my hands up. Glanced to left. To my right. I spot two bin lids lying on the concrete. Looking back over at the officers, I pick up the lids and charge. Three shots are fired, three shots are deflected. I hear shocked gasps as I leap up and smack the first officer across the face. He crumples to the floor, mouth and nose bleeding. Quickly turning, I roundhouse the gun out of another's hands. Then, I sweep his legs and knock him out with one of the metal lids. And with a grunt, he is out cold. The final two shoot me again, but they too were deflected. I throw one of the lids. It misses. One of them laughs, only to have the bin lid bounce back off the wall, hit him in the back of the skull, knocking him dead. He fell like a cut-down tree. One left. He grabs his baton and swings over his head. Blocking it with one of my makeshift shields, I plant the other straight into his stomach. The four bodies lie there, and a sense of morbid pride fills me.
With a closer look, I see that the dead end was in fact a large wooden fence. But just as I was about to hoist myself over, I hear the painful groan of one of my former adversary's. I lift him by the shirt collar and shout at his face, "Why are you after me? Who do you work for?" He grins.
"Death will come for you." He pops a cyanide pill.
I drop his limp body to see his chest exposed. It bore a black tattoo of a pentagram: Black Star. Is this the year they begin to take over the world? Am I in London? Climbing over the wooden fence, I continue to the end of the alleyway maze. I come out onto a bustling street, snow scattered on the pavement, still dancing in the air. I gaze upwards. Big Ben. I am in London. It's winter, but I need to figure out what year it is first. Walking down the crowded street, I glance at multiple souvenir shops, each with racks of calender's saying the year '2011'. From that, I deduced that it was currently December 2010. 40 years before Ricky and Holly wake me up. It's night time. I need somewhere to rest. Strolling into another alleyway, I reluctantly clamber inside a large metal rubbish container. It stinks of rotten dog feces and decaying rats, which is probably what most of these bags are filled with. Despite this, it will keep me warm.
"Hey!" I hear a voice say as I'm about to sink into the garbage, "you don't need to sleep there! Come inside!" I pull myself out and shuffle over to the voice. An older, blonde woman wraps a warm blanket around my frail, shivering body and takes me inside a building. A homeless shelter. Once inside, I am given a hearty bowl of tomato soup, a ham sandwich and a glass of water. The most luxury I've had since two hours ago. All of the volunteers come over and comfort me. Tears came from my eyes. I had no clue why. I did not know how I got to London, why those Black Star police were after me, or why these people are so caring. Across the room from me, I see a small gathering of teenagers glaring at me. Are they jealous? I don't know, but it's likely. The blonde woman from earlier, who's name is Karyn, ushers me into a bedroom. On the bed is a set of clean clothes, but I prefer to keep wearing what I already am. I collapse onto the bed, the mattress enveloping me, and instantly fall asleep. 385Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1hW4aeXJDK
I awake with a fearful gasp. What was that? I just kept falling and falling into nothing, all the while a giant pair of white eyes was staring at me, its gaze cutting further into my soul with every passing second. It had an equally as giant white mouth, jagged and uneven, like a mountain range. I had to push that image into the back of my mind. I dragged my heavy body out of the comfort of the bed, and I see a note on the wall:
"Flint,
We have an important council meeting to attend. The other children have been asked to look after you. There is cereal in the kitchen for you to make some cereal.
-Karyn"
Those glaring teenagers are going to be looking after me? That'll be interesting. I put my shoes and socks on and walk downstairs to search for some breakfast. After pouring myself a bowl of Frosties, I sit myself down at a table. I'm about to start eating when the teenagers sit down with me. Oh dear. "So, Flint, you think you can just waltz in here, get pampered by all the volunteers and act like you own the place?"
"No. I don't own the place."
"Exactly. We own you. We've been here long enough to know the city like the backs of our hands. Don't think for one second you can take that away from us."
"Look, I understand you're angry," I hope making peaceful conversation will resolve things, "but I haven't done anything apart from be invited in here, eat food that was offered to me and sleep in a bed that was offered to me. I'm not trying to take anything away from anyone. Now, if you'll excuse me, I had quite the traumatic day yesterday and I'd like to enjoy some Frosties." After a pause, one of the teen's flips up my bowl and soaks me in milk and cereal.
"You think you're tough, eh? Come on! Have a go!" They all stand up and hold out strong fists in front of them. I did not want to do this. I flip the table, pick up my bowl and throw it at one of the teenagers. It shatters, and so does their chance at beating me up. There are six left. Two throw punches. Both fists are caught, like flies in a web. I pull them towards me, let go of their fists and punch them both square in the face. The fourth teen brings his fist down towards me. Using his momentum, I throw him over my back, slamming him into the floor. I hear the footprints of the fifth attacker, so I wheel around and smack his jaw with the back of fist. Two left. Or so I thought.
They both turned tail and ran from the shelter, leaving the others unconscious on the floor. I sat down, took a deep breath and collected my thoughts. Being honest, there aren't many thoughts to collect. My head is pretty empty right now. But my self-pity was soon interrupted by the creak of the door opening. Was it Karyn? No, it wasn't.
"Wow.I guess I should've come in earlier, huh." A muscular, African-American man stood in the doorway. He removed his sunglasses and scanned the building with a piercing gaze. He then focused on me. He wears a black suit and tie, with a thoroughly shaven head.
"I'm sorry, who are you?" That felt like deja vu.
"My name is Rhys. I am the Deputy Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation."
"The F.B.I..."
"Precisely. I'm to do two things. The first is to tell you what the hell is going on. And the second is to take you to a hidden base to train you to become the strongest being in the known universe."
"That is already too much to take in." Strongest being? that's impossible, surely. But what was I to know? Might as well go with him. "So, where's your car?"
"Right outside, Flint." He opened the passenger side door, then sat in the driver's seat and took to the road.
"So, what is there to tell me?"
"Too much, Flint. Get ready for some pretty heavy exposition. So, the year is currently 2010. You are a 12 year old boy who ran away from home after finding his parents dead bodies in your living room." My parents were murdered? How? Why? "You've been on the run for about 6 months, and for about 4 of those months, Black Star, an evil organisation hellbent on destroying everything, has been trying to track you down. They want to use you to do their dirty work for them. We want to stop that."
"So you want me to do your dirty work?"
"What? No! That's the opposite of what we want! We need your help. I'm sure you want to take down Black Star as much as we do. We can help you grow. We can care for you, help you to become a great man, Flint. A legend."
"And to be a legend, I have to have some pretty crazy abilities, right? What are they?"
"We don't know. Yet. We know you have some enhanced speed, strength, senses, regeneration. The usual stuff."
"And the source? Some sort of special serum?" I want to know if Ricky and Holly are right, or if their findings were wrong.
"That's ridiculous." They're wrong. "We went to the hospital you were born in and looked at your blood samples. It's perfectly normal blood. We just need to run some other tests."
"What will happen after those tests?"
"Who knows? I suggest getting some rest, first. It'll be a long few years." And with that, I lay down across the back seats and drifted off to sleep. But I was greeted by another nightmare.
The giant eyes appeared yet again, joined by a pair of giant hands. It clicked its fingers, and I fell down through a burning ring of fire. Down. Down. Down. The flames stretched higher. I tried to scream, but my throat wouldn't let me. When I landed, all of the air left my body. I called out to the shadows: "Who are you? Why must you torture me like this?" The flames returned.
"My name is not important right now. What is important is what you do with the destiny that has been handed to you. If you do something that I do not like, then it will all be over for you."
I was left in the darkness.
