I woke up on Gar’s couch. It was a nice couch. It was teal and looked like something out of an old 70’s sitcom. I was wrapped in a thick brown wool blanket. My head was laying against the arm rest. Plugged into the wall next to me was the battery for my suit. The contents of my backpack had been scattered on Gar’s floor and laid out in pieces. Gar was in the kitchen area of the apartment frying eggs. He saw that I was awake and gave a little half hearted wave. I laid my head back against the armrest without waving back.
“You should eat before the others show up.” He said from across the apartment.
“I’ll eat when I’m dead.” I grumbled as I closed my eyes and tried to go back to sleep.
“I don’t let zombies room with me.” He said halfheartedly. I could hear the sound of bacon being flipped.
Breakfast at three in the morning.
“You make it sound like zombies are real.” I said as I pulled my warm blanket off and tried to wake up my legs.
“Alistair mentioned something about a Platinum that could summon demons, so who knows.” Gar replied, completely seriously.
I managed to get to my feet and made my way to the little area at the back of the apartment where Gar kept the stove, microwave, and a table for eating. It had a tile floor unlike the rest of the carpeted apartment. As living spaces went, it wasn’t that bad.
“What job are we doing tonight?” I asked as I made myself a plate and filled a glass with soda. Gar glanced over at me.
“Commotion out at the cartel’s hideout. Alistair wants us to check it out and see if we can contribute to the chaos.” Gar said with a smirk. “He also wants us to welcome some guests afterwards.” He added.
“Are we his butlers now?” I said sarcastically. Gar turned around for a brief second and gave me a warning look.
“I’d watch what you say. He seemed to want you in particular there.” He said.
“Yikes.” I replied.
John and Odie barged in. They weren’t dressed in silver this time around. Black shirts, black jeans, and a black baseball cap. They were both dressed the same. Odie rushed towards the food and made himself a plate, while John walked measuredly behind. They sat down near me.
“Are you ready for a workout, little man?” Odie asked me as he sucked down bacon and eggs.
“Not much of a workout, just a few thugs.” I shrugged.
“Alistair thinks Antonio’s back from the dead.” John said, dryly. Odie and Gar’s seemed surprised.
“Didn’t he send that fucker flying through the air like a hacky sack? If he’s alive, he’s definitely not on his feet.” Odie said with worry in his eyes.
“I wouldn’t say that.” I mumbled. “I’ve seen a few others come back when they weren’t supposed to.”
…
“What’s going on in there?” Odie asked. We were all four laying flat on the ground on a hill with a perfect view of the warehouse. We passed around a single pair of binoculars. Odie was holding them an inch away from his eyes with a single hand.
“Let me see.” Gar said, then grabbed the binoculars and held them to his eyes. He sat there for a second staring intently. But then he stood up, and seemed alarmed. I realized why as the warehouse exploded right in front of us.
“Holy shit!” Odie shouted.
“Well this was a bust.” John grumbled.
I had stayed on the ground, dressed in my suit. I didn’t need binoculars but I didn’t feel the need to share that with those three. I could see a pale white figure walking through the flames. My eyes were fast enough to spot the flickering of black in the flames, moving faster than any person or animal. I jumped to my feet, then I leapt down the hill towards the fireball that was a warehouse. Gravity took hold as I started down the hill, but the suit was strong enough to keep me on my feet. My legs were powerful as I ran down, tail flicking behind me.
I’m tired of this. I’m taking this one out before he becomes a problem.
“What are you doing!?” Gar shouted in confusion.
I could hear their mumblings and yelling behind me even as I ran down the hill. I ignored it all and focused my mind on the task at hand. I clenched my fists as I leapt in the air and down towards the white figure. But something caught me from the side as I was in the air. I could feel spikes piercing my side, and I fell hard on the ground and rolled four times before stopping with a heavy weight on my chest.
I opened my mechanical eyes and felt something attempt to pierce my throat. It didn’t break through the layers of fur, but I got a good look at it. It was reptilian. It looked like a velociraptor, or what someone thought a velociraptor looked like.
Featherless and scaly, with bright yellow eyes that pierced mine. It was about the size of a Doberman, bipedal, and hissing at my face. I tossed it with ease, and it ripped out chunks of my fur as it flung off of me and into the air. It landed with a loud thud, sending a dust cloud flying. When it hit it let out a whimper and immediately went limp.
I got to my feet seconds later, but by that time I was already surrounded by them. My tail flicked in the firelight. I crouched down to make it easier to jump if I needed to. The white figure approached me at a walking pace. I got a good look at him now. It was like he was dressed in bones, with a black armor underneath.
The suit resembled a t-rex skeleton shrunk down to fit a man. His eyes were the hollow cavities of the skull. As he approached he let out a laugh. A very human laugh. It made me shiver. He stopped right as he made it to the ring of raptors that had surrounded me.
“What is it they call you?” He asked with humor in his voice. He was staring me dead in the eyes with his empty holes.
“Monkey Man.” I replied. He let out a chuckle.
The raptors hissed at me as I took a step closer to him. They moved forward and their circle around me shrunk. I saw another set of raptors approach their dead friend and start dragging him away.
“Your name sucks.” The white figure said. “Call me Extinction.” He added.
“Did Polybius send you?” I asked. I didn’t get an answer because a rifle crack was followed by one of the raptors dropping like a bag of flour.
I leapt forward and this time I landed on Extinction and he fell to the ground. I wrapped my tail around his throat. Sniper fire continued taking down raptors, but they all charged me at once. They leapt on me, scratching, biting, and attacking with their tails. After the fourth or fifth barrage I was off of Extinction, and on the ground a few feet away. He stood up and dusted himself off.
A raptor was on my chest hissing in my face and trying to rip the fur off my throat, and partially succeeding. Then Extinction was knocked onto his knees with another blast from the rifle.
I struggled to look past the raptor on my chest to see if Extinction had been killed. He rose from the ground in front of me. There was a large dent in his mask, where the bullet had hit him. He was otherwise fine.
“I don’t really care about you, kid. But Polybius does.” Extinction said as the dent slowly returned to its original shape. He whistled and the raptor looked back at him and jumped off my chest. “He wanted me to send you a message: accept his deal or I send my pets after your friends.” He continued walking towards me. I tried to get to my feet, but he stepped on my chest and sent me back down. He held his foot on me.
“I don’t really know what kind of deal you’ve made with him, but he isn’t the kind of guy you should mess with. Just do what he says.” He finished. “For your own good.” Then he turned around, and what remained of his raptors followed behind him.
Some of them were carrying their dead comrades by their throats. Others were carrying the corpses of people by their legs. I don’t know what exactly they planned to do with them. I got to my feet and grabbed one of the dead raptors before a living one could get to it. The living raptor hissed at me, but turned around and ran off.
Those things are fast.
