Exterminators Infected (The Exterminators Book 1) (26 page)

“Huh?” was all Peter muttered after a few moments of silence.

“I become this...this thing. Like a monster of some sort. I don't change form or anything like the Hulk but I become strong. Fast. Different.” Fred looked to Peter for help. Peter looked at him in disbelief.

“Are you taking drugs?”

“No, I'm not taking drugs!”
“Have you've been drinking alcohol?”

“NO!”

“You sound a bit crazy. Not to be mean or anything.” Peter looked back towards the road. He liked Fred as a person he could depend on in battle. Fred also was very easy to talk to about problems. Yet, now he sounded too crazy for Peter to even take him seriously.

“Dude, listen. I become some crazy beast!” Fred was getting angry. Peter ignored him, focusing on something else. “Hey, listen to me!” Fred grabbed his friend and threw him against the wall of a local bakery. “I'm telling you what's happening to me and you ignore me!? Why!?” Spit flew from his mouth. Peter watched, not sure how to react. He wasn't scared but he was curious of the change. He could see the anger in his eyes. He could see a slight change in color as well. He peered deep into Fred's eyes, to see a tiny hint of red in the center of them.

“Your...your eyes,” Peter muttered. Fred let go of his friend and backed off. “What happened to your eyes?” Peter asked. Fred stepped back. “I saw something in them. Is that what you were just talking about?”

“Just forget what I said.” Fred waved his hand, covering his face with his free hand. He began to back away. “Just forget it.” He began to break out in a jog.

“Wait! Don't run!” But it was too late. Fred was already half way down the block, covering his entire face from the world. Peter stood there, not sure how to react. He never felt this way before either. Anger. Excitement. Happiness. He experienced all of those now multiple times. Yet this was something new. He was feeling worried. Worried about his friend.

Chapter 24 – Secrets

Nick picked up his phone. It was a text from Kelly.
“Hey, cutie. When you coming over?”
Nick smiled. It had been less than a day since they'd been together. Each day they've spent together, the harder it was to be separated from one another.

“I'll be there in less than an hour.”

“Okay, hurry! I can't wait to see you. I got a surprise for you ;)”

Nick jumped off his bed. He didn't need to be told twice. He quickly snatched some clothes up and threw them on. He grabbed his beeper and Rod just in case and ran down the steps. His smile was bigger than it should have been, but he didn't really care. His mind was focused on the surprise he was about to get in a few minutes.

“Hey Nick, come here for a second.” Nick had his handle on the door. He turned to his father.

“Yeah pops?”

“Come in here.”

“I got to go. It's...”

“I said come here now, this is important.” Nick lowered his head, said a curse under his breath, and walked towards his father.

“Yeah pops, what's up?”

His father looked at his son while drinking his morning coffee. “How's classes going?” He asked between sips. Nick knew it was coming. It was almost March and school was ending in a few months. Meaning report cards were coming in soon. Which usually meant Nick was in some deep trouble.

“I think I'm doing okay,” Nick lied. His grades were barely passing. He knew he wouldn't have good grades in any of his classes but he didn't need his father to know that. Not yet.

His father put his mug down. “You're a terrible liar. I got a call from your math teacher. They said if you don't put in more effort they might fail you. This is your senior year. Do you really want to be left back?” His father wasn't angry. He was disappointed more than anything.

“No pops, I won't fail. I promise I'll get my grades up before the year ends.” Nick sounded sincere enough. For a moment or two he actually thought that it was possible, as well. The amount of training him and his team did though made it almost impossible. With the amount of missions given to them, it was getting to the point that to do anything extra you'd have to have almost no sleep. The only free time he got he spent with Kelly. He found her far more important than math or science. His father didn't see it that way.
“Please, I don't want you left back. This is important. I know you think high school isn't important. I've been honest with you most of your life.”

“Most?”

“Well, that one time with the hamster...”

“Lucky!?

“Anyway, back to the point. High school is just a small part of the very big scheme in life. It's still very important to get through it. Graduating makes your life a lot less stressful in the long run. Trust me on that.” His father was a smart guy. He built his construction business from the ground up. He also never graduated high school. He never even stepped foot in a college. He worked hard to get where he was and he didn't want his son to have to go through the same struggle.

“I got it dad. I promise, I'll try harder.” Nick began to walk backwards. “I really got to go.”

“Put too much time in with the girl, not enough on the future. Just remember you can't be there for her working at a hamburger shop the rest of your life.”

“I understand pops and that won't happen.” He opened the door. “I'm going to start working in the summer, after I graduate. You'll see. I'll be home a little later.” Nick waved and shut the door. His father rubbed his eyes, feeling weary. All he did was care for his boy. It was only natural to care about your own son’s future more so, than for Nick to care about it.

Marshall entered the park. He hit the button on his beeper and went into the other realm. He was told by Carl to meet him at the park, but to jump realms first. It was for a meeting of some sort, a one on one, t talk about issues and get to know each other. Marshall wasn't the biggest fan of talking things out but he didn't mind Carl. He figured he could ask more questions, solve more issues he had on his mind, as of late.

As he walked deeper into the park he imagined how much his life had change. He didn't hang out with anyone at school anymore. Mostly stayed around Fred or Nick. Even sometimes Peter. Though mostly he just talked and Peter sat there. He kept his same terrible grades, dealt with his same annoying brother, and everything else felt the same from last year. What changed in his life was Lucy. Lucy changed a lot for him.

He loved the way she smiled. The way she grabbed his hand. The way she laid her head on him. Even the way she put him in his place. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind. Marshall loved that about her. He'd always be the one to be the most outspoken in a group. He was never afraid to tell them his side of things, no matter the situation. With Lucy, he felt as if it was an even playing field. That she had just as much as opinion on subjects as he did. She wasn't afraid to speak her mind and neither was he.

They also had the secret.

The secret that sometimes haunts him. He could feel a terrible tug at his gut, feeling as if he wasn't supposed to ever tell her. Yet, he had, and he wasn't sure why. He had people in his circle of friends to speak to. He had Carl, as a mentor, in case he needed to let his problems out. Yet, he broke one of the biggest rules and told Lucy the secret. Now, he had the fear in the back of his mind that someone would find out.

He spotted a huge silver beast. He went for his Rod but saw Carl standing next to it. The Unknown was Silver, the pet wolf that Carl had. He must have sensed Marshall because he stood up and turned towards him. “Hey, big fluffy,” Marshall called from a few yards away. Silver ran up to him, then once close enough, licked his face. “Ugh, your breath dude!” he yelled, laughing. He pushed the big silver wolf out of the way.

“He missed you,” Carl said walking up to him. Silver gave another lick on the side of Marshall's face.
“I missed him too. Big dumb boy,” he chuckled and patted the big wolf down, brushing his shaggy fur. He remembered going into a brawl with the beast, Silver easily dispatched all four boys and still stood even when they gave it all they had. Such amazing strength from such a beautiful creature. Marshall loved how kind Silver was to them, but he had no doubt in his mind that Silver could easily kill them if he was ordered to. Which he might be commanded to if they found out Lucy knew their secret. Dark thoughts and what ifs surrounded Marshall's mind.

“So, I figured we could walk around some with Silver. Talk about any issues you were having.” Carl looked at Marshall who kept patting Silver. The wildest one of the batch of kids, yet one of the most reliable. Not so much because he would follow commands. If anything he'd disobey them on purpose to prove he could. No, it was because of his kind nature. Something he hid from so many people. A joker amongst the crowd, a loyal friend behind the scenes.

“Yeah, that sounds good to me.” Marshall began to walk away from Silver. Silver trailed behind them as they both traveled deeper into the park. Marshall watched the kids playing in the small water park. Jumping into the water sprayers then back out, yelling and screaming, so carefree. “How's the work load going? You've seemed a bit less stressed lately.”

Carl laughed. “It never gets easier. You just have to work with it, get better at it, and then it'll get better.”

“Sometimes I wonder what would of happened if I never picked that letter up.” Marshall glanced one last time at the kids playing in the water. He wanted to be like them for just a moment. Not have a care in the world.

“You can keep wondering that or accept that it was fate.”

“Don't believe in fate. We all have choices. I made mine.” Marshall looked back towards Carl. “Why didn't you become a Protector instead of a Bora?”

“I wanted to help others.” Carl thought about becoming a Protector at one point. Sent out on high signal missions, hunt and kill, it was something he was very good at. He felt the obligation in his mind to help others, though. To raise others to the best of their abilities.

“You haven't been helping us though. We basically built ourselves up to this point.” Marshall never held anything back. Carl admired that in a lot of ways.

“I know. I've failed to train you so far. I've been dealing with-” he didn't want anyone to know about his drinking problems. He'd kept it at bay for weeks now. Bringing it up wouldn't help anyone so he kept quiet. “-issues. However, I'm here now and I will be helping. Especially with training as soon as I can. I have to handle a few more cases but I'll start training in terms of fighting with all of you soon enough. I'm evaluating everyone's mind right now. Getting to know you guys is the first step in my training process.”

Marshall paused a moment before speaking. “I don't mean to be rude or anything. I'm just stating you should of started sooner. Still better late than never.”

“Is there anything bothering you?”

“No.” Marshall said shortly.

“Nothing? No issues with teammates, people in the organization? How about any issues outside of your job?”

Marshall thought about it for a moment. “Do you believe people could change?”

“I do.”

“I don't.”

“Why's that?”

Marshall laughed. “People don't change. They adapt to situations, sure, but they don't change.”

“People change all the time. Sometimes people have to change in order to survive.” Carl pointed out the boys. “Without you guys changing, becoming stronger, you'd never been able to survive for so long against the Unknowns.”

Marshall shook his head. “We changed our physical bodies. We were able to become faster, stronger, maybe even smarter. Sure. We didn't change us, though. We became what we were meant to become.”

“Oh, now who's the one bringing up fate?” Carl asked, grinning.

“No. What I mean is the person we are didn't change. We adapted. We're always had the ability to do what we do every day now. The difference is we adapted and changed our bodies to physically be able to complement our fighting style. The fighting style is made up of the person who is using it. You can follow someone to a “T” while training but in the end you'll always have a slightly different fighting style. Even almost identical fighting style is still “almost” and not completely. ‘Cause we are who we are, a person. We are individually different. So I believe we don't change, we change things around us. We are who we are, it's impossible to change.”

Carl watched his student. He never thought much of Marshall's intelligence. He was always the loud mouth, funny guy. Inside though, it was obvious Marshall thought a lot about social issues and things no one else cared to discuss because they were afraid to speak up about it. Marshall wasn't. “Fair enough. I will take that into consideration.”

“I mean the reason I'm stating this is ‘cause I think I'm changing sometimes.” Marshall studied his hands, as if there was something on them. Something only visible to himself.

“Changing for the better?”

“Changing at all should be impossible. I shouldn't be changing my emotions to something I'm not used to.”

“Who's the girl?”

“Girl?” Marshall asked surprised. He never mentioned Lucy to anyone really. He kept his relationship on the down low except for his friends.

“Only a girl can make you feel this way. Especially at your age. Who's the girl who's changing the loud mouth Marshall to the sensitive, thought-provoking kid standing in front of me?” It was Carl's turn to laugh now.

“She's amazing,” Marshall said with a distant look. It was always the first thought that popped in his head when he thought of her. “I think she's changing me. I feel different when I'm around her. I feel different just being near her. Like I can achieve more, I can be more. Yet, my beliefs make me believe opposite. So what's the real answer? Em I really changing? Or is this me adapting to who I really em when I'm in this type of situation.”

Carl expected to talk about a number of subjects with Marshall today. He knew his student wasn't shy of asking questions. This wasn't one of the questions he foresaw coming. “It's called love.” Marshall tried to wave it off. “Yeah, something like this has to be love. You don't feel the change in you unless it's that. You feel obligated to do better for yourself, because you want to do better for her. Right?”

It was as if Carl was reading his mind. He never talked to his parents about this type of thing so this was the closest he was going to get to speaking with someone. An adult. Someone he trusted. “I...I think I love her. I just can't tell her I love her.”

“Why not?”

“Because...”

“Because of what?”

“Because what if she doesn't say it back?” Marshall looked up at Carl. Carl nodded.
“The biggest fear in the world. Rejection.”
“I don't fear rejection. I fear resentment.”

“Why would she resent you?”

“What if I say I love you, she doesn't back. Then she thinks this whole time I was over my head. That I cared too much. What if she never wants to speak to me again? What if she runs away from me? What if...” Marshall would have kept going but Carl put his hand up.

“Stop with the “what ifs” and focus on the now. Remember? We got this one chance to try things. You'll never know unless you tell her.”