Fledgling Wings: Chapter 3

Chapter 3

An Unlikely Reunion

At precisely nine o’clock, Cassandra was waiting on a settee playing with her nails. Her dark brown hair was put into a ponytail. As she sat there, she thought how and why her parents disliked John. It could be his drinking; but he doesn’t drink a lot unless it was a Saturday. It could be his long-life affection with Cassandra; but she didn’t see anything wrong with that. A few minutes later, John arrived in his car, honking his horn three times. Cassandra opened the house door and closed it. Cassandra hurried into the car and put some lipstick on.

   ‘How are you, John?’ said Cassandra.

   ‘I…I…’ John couldn’t finish the sentence.

Cassandra noticed that there was sweat on John’s face.

   ‘Hey, what’s with your face? It’s all sweaty.’

John realized that he still had sweat wrapped around his face. He took out his handkerchief and wiped it rapidly around his face.

   ‘Oh, it’s alright, Cass. It’s just that I had a nightmare before I came here, that‘s all. I’m surprised I’m still sweating after thirty minutes. C’mon, let’s go to Hatten Forest.’

  The car moved fast as Cassandra looked at the road that flashed past the two. Cassandra realized that John was under some stress at the moment.

 

 

The couple eventually arrived at Hatton Forest at 9:52. John had stopped sweating at this point. Cassandra had been watching John’s state throughout the journey. John now seemed relatively fine. Cassandra had brought a her with camera so she could take pictures of wildlife. John had now become very calm, looking out for his ‘site’.

   Cassandra asked, ‘John, what made you sweat back there? I mean, it had to be something quite emotional to make you sweat for thirty minutes.’

   John avoided the question by changing the subject.

   ‘I want to show you something, Cassandra.’

   ‘Don’t avoid my question, John. Just tell me.’

   John looked uneasy as he sighed deeply.

   ‘Okay. It’s this thing in my memories. I always dream about it when I sleep. I’m an infant and I’m being cradled by a man. I think he might be my father. Anyway, these men suddenly burst in and capture him. And…I’m all on my own.’

   ‘I can’t believe it. That’s so sad. Do you really think that that man’s your father?’

   ‘I dunno. I don’t think I’ll ever find out.’

   ‘It doesn’t matter at the moment, let’s just--’

   ‘It does to me, Cassandra! I don’t know who my real parents are! For all I know that man could be my real father!’

   ‘You’re not wrong there,’ a disembodied voice said.

   John and Cassandra looked around to find the owner of the voice. Without warning, a body jumped from the sky, landing perfectly onto the ground.

   The figure wore black body armour covering his chest and belly, resembling a Kevlar vest, covered by a plain-white t-shirt and a dark-blue coat. He had two oddly thin gauntlets that enveloped his arms and had dark, long shoulder-length hair streaming his face. He was quite tall, about three inches taller than John was. The man wore black gothic jeans that looked rather dirty, as well as fierce black boots that would give even the toughest guy the worst stomach pain ever. He had a slightly muscular form that was a little bit more muscular than John’s own body. The man always carried a terrifying look on his face, no matter where he was.

   ‘I suppose you don’t know who you are, eh?’ said the man.

John then realized that the figure was talking to him.

   ‘Y-yeah. I’m John Axe. Who are you?’

   ‘Who am I? I’m your older brother. My name is Stradius Kandeas. And your name is Cufix Kandeas.’ John gave a little smirk.

   ‘Let me tell you something, ‘Stradius’; I was adopted at two months old. I dunno who my parents are, who my siblings are, if I have any, and frankly, I get pissed off at those who say that they’re my family just for laughs. Plus, no one would say that I have a stupid name like Cufix or whatever.’

The stranger sniggered.

   ‘Oh, but I am your brother. I can prove it to you. You’re a human from a distant planet called Kytopia. That crash site you were found in--’

Stradius stared at Cassandra.

   ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t notice you there. Your lover here was found in a crash site in this very forest. That’s why he wanted you to come here.’

Cassandra looked at John, then drew her attention back to Stradius.

   ‘He was found here?’

   ‘Yes,’ spoke John in a quiet, but surprised manner. ‘But how do you know that?’

Yes, how? How could this man, who he had never met before, know about such a thing?

   ‘That’s of no concern for the moment. Look, to prove that I’m not fooling around here, I’ll give you a demonstration of both our powers.’ Stradius then stared closely at a few trees.

   ‘We’ll strike at a tree with as much force as possible. I guarantee you that those trees will shatter as soon as our fists make contact.’

   John, determined to find out if this ‘Stradius’ was really his brother, walked in front of a tree, with the dark-looking stranger following suit.

‘Alright, when I count to three, hit the tree with everything you’ve got,’ commanded Stradius.

John started to clench his fist. How much strength he had in himself, he did not know.

‘One,’ began Stradius.

If the trees did shatter, would everything this man said would be true?

‘Two.’

John braced himself.

‘Three!’

The two men struck both trees with as much strength as possible. Just as Stradius said, the trees shattered into pieces, so many pieces, like glass being dropped from the top of a large building. Both John and Cassandra were shocked by this. Their eyes widened in disbelief. John looked at his fist with shock.

   ‘Now do you believe me?’ said Stradius.

   ‘Y-yeah, I do.’ stuttered John.

   ‘Our human race back at Kytopia,’ said Stradius, ‘are ‘improvements’ to Earth’s humans in strength, speed, intellect and cunning. I’m living proof, just as you are. I’ve used my strength and cunning to overcome my opponents. We come from a planet where the people are under the service of Sir Groutic, benevolent ruler. He raised me when I was abandoned and taught me how to live. I studied politics and looked up to Sir Groutic like a father. While you - you were sent out to Earth by Father to protect you from Sir Groutic. Father was an anarchist, always trying to overthrow Groutic and ‘restore peace to the people.’ It sickens me to call him our Father.’

   John took some time to absorb all this information he had been given about his true origins. John then realized that the man in his dreams was really his father.

   ‘I don’t believe any of this.’ said Cassandra cynically.

   ‘I want you to join me, brother. I want you to go back to your proper home. If you do not comply --’

   Stradius took out the small pistol-like weapon with two rounds. He ran towards Cassandra and grabbed her, readying his pistol at the right side of her head.

   ‘I will kill your lover. You’ve no choice.’

   John studied Stradius. He didn’t know what to do. If he tried to attack Stradius, he would kill Cassandra. The atmosphere was tense.

   ‘Well?! What’s your answer? Talk or I’ll kill her!’

   Cassandra, despite knowing that at that moment she might be killed, was still as strong as ever. Swallowing her fear, she elbowed Stradius in the stomach with as much force as she had. The reaction was weak, not even denting the armour he wore on his body. Stradius reacted to this, pulling the trigger of his gun at Cassandra’s head. Blood exploded out from the left side of her head. She dropped dead as he let her go. Stradius backed a few paces, his gun now pointing to John’s head. John stared at Cassandra’s now dead body.

   ‘Cassandra…’ whispered John.

   His life-long friend had untimely met her end. He wanted to tell her that he was going to ask her to marry her. He wanted to pour his heart and soul into confessing that beautiful passion - that human love - to the angel he knew as Cassandra. Now he never would. An inner rage engulfed his heart. His face fixed on Cassandra, a tear rolled down his eye, and spoke depressingly and quietly.

   ‘Why did you do that? Why kill her?’

   Stradius then replied; there was no emotion whatsoever, save for the murderous excitement he was experiencing.

   ‘The strength of a person depends on their survival. The weak die and the strong survive. It’s not the enjoyment of life I fancy, but its death. It’s the enjoyment of death I like.’ He let out a silent cackle.

   John was crushed by this. He then stared at Stradius with anger and sent his fist flying at his face. Stradius dropped to the ground. He rubbed his red cheek from where he was hit. Now his face sparked with hatred.

   ‘I told you, didn’t I? You idiot. No one hits me. No one! You’ll die, you incompetent fool.’

   Having recovered, Stradius got up and sent a fist to John. John barely managed to dodge the hit, but just as John himself tried to lunge at Stradius, Stradius swiped his gauntlet-covered knuckles onto John’s chin.

   John’s chin bled quickly. John was sent flying; when he got back on his feet, he took out the handkerchief he had earlier and wiped his chin with it. John stopped and felt a great inner strength welling up inside him. He turned around, took out his fist and broke Stradius’ nose. Stradius was in pain with his nose hanging off his right side as the blood formed a sort of waterfall shape. John snatched his brother’s pistol, which he had dropped because of his bloody nose. He raised the gun at his sibling’s head, not sure what bullets each of the rounds it had contained. He cocked the gun.

   Stradius managed to stop the bleeding by holding his nose and squeezing it. This was a way for Kytopians to stop nose bleeds. He stared at his own gun that was in the hands of his brother.

   He thought to himself, this bastard is quite strong. But I’m stronger. I have to be careful now that he’s got my gun.

   ‘Don’t move, ‘brother’. I’ll avenge Cassandra.’

   John pulled the trigger, but Stradius somehow moved out of the bullet’s way. John pulled the trigger ten times, but each time Stradius dodged like hell. John gave up and threw the  gun at the ground. Stradius then took the gun himself and pulled the trigger at John. Nothing happened. No sound, no bullet came out.

   He tried the other round, but, like the previous round, nothing happened. Stradius was distracted by this.

   Is the gun jammed, or -- or is it empty?, Stradius thought. He went for the latter. John ran at his brother and violently punched him several times on the cheeks. Stradius took out a small white capsule, a light grenade, and threw it to the ground like with the gun. A white light consumed the background, covering every person, animal and plant life. Stradius, with experience, had closed his eyes. The grenade would only have effect of blinding a person when their eyes are open at the exact moment of the explosion. John, on the other hand, had no experience. He couldn’t hear or see anything. A white noise was the only thing he could hear. Oddly enough, these light grenade things, as John noted in his incapacitated state, didn’t kill at close range.

   Eventually, the light settled down, bringing back the lost landscape and creatures.                                   Stradius had fled. John could see Stradius running away through the forest. He chased after him.

   John sprinted and jumped at Stradius. He pinned him down to the ground. John unleashed his fury on him with rapid punches. The alien’s face was bloody. Taking out another light grenade, Stradius threw it in front of John’s face. Stradius dashed like mad whilst John rubbed his eyes to get rid of the haziness. As his eyes started to regain their sight, John thought that he was never going to kill him at this rate.

   Damn! This is ridiculous. I guess I’ll have to close my eyes when he does that again.

   He realized that those grenades would blind someone unless they closed their eyes before impact. Alien is alien. It was an odd form of science, none the less. Having finally regained his vision, John too dashed forwards. He followed the path that led to his brother. He caught glimpses of Cassandra’s murderer, following him at every turn.

   He saw a large ship that was twenty-five foot long, fifteen feet wide and ten feet big. The ship was black and dirty, covered in mud and leaves. The sides of the ship read ‘Sir Groutic F56 Stradius Mark I Battle Ship’ in white, ten foot writing.

   Bloody hell!, thought John, And they said that spaceships weren’t real!

   The ship’s door was just closing, so John, leading himself to believe that Stradius was on the vessel, quickly jumped into the ship. The door which he had entered closed slowly. He looked at the inside of the ship; dirt and darkness covered almost all of the ship. Light was seen now and then, flickering like lights being turned on in lavatories. Everything was rather small, as if being in a kiddie pen. John gave off a little smirk, thinking.

   For an insane alien who’s from a more intelligent planet, this guy must not have heard of a vacuum.

   Suddenly, a booming female computerized voice came to life.

   ‘Attention,’ boomed the voice, ‘ship expanding to normal size. Repeat: Attention, ship expanding to normal size.’

   Just as the voice had said so, everything expanded within seconds. Everything grew greatly in size, except the doors, which were already in normal before. Everything seemed to be huge. The ship, on Earth, was twenty-five feet long, but now it was over fifty miles long. John was still at normal size, everything around him had grown much larger. John was astounded by this. Once again, the voice boomed to life.

   ‘Attention, ship preparing to take off. Repeat: Attention, ship preparing to take off.’

   Then, everything vibrated from a little to an unbalancing state. John couldn’t take the immense vibrations as he fell to the ground, getting up again, and the falling to the ground once more. Then, for a split second, the vibrations stopped. John got up, checking everything around him. A third time, the computerized voice spoke.

   ‘Exiting atmosphere. Repeat: Exiting atmosphere.’

   An invisible force propelled John to the wall, never seeming to stop. All of John’s teeth were easy to see, with his cheeks pulled back in pain.

   Outside, the ship flew at high speed, looking like a comet; red and beautiful.

   The invisible force seemed to stop. John’s cheeks returned to their normal position. John realized that he was five feet off the ground against a tough metal wall. John fell quickly. His faced was bruised, and then he remembered about his bloody chin. He took out his handkerchief again and covered his chin with it. He took it off, eager to check if there was blood. There wasn’t any blood at all. Somehow, the blood had vanished, and John felt the once-bleeding hole in his chin caused by his brother’s gauntlet. Miraculously, the hole had already turned into a scab. The bloody chin had been created nine minutes ago. So how could a bloody chin be healed in nearly ten minutes? John sussed it out; being an alien, John’s body must have a small healing factor embedded in his DNA. John couldn’t make hide nor hair of it. It was a guess as good as any.

   He thought about writing a story or something about all this if he got home. Might make a bit of money. But now wasn’t the time to think of such things.

John had no idea where to go to find Stradius.

   ‘Uh…where to go?’ John gave it some thought. After some short time thinking, John came up with the answer. ‘Oh, screw it.’, he muttered.

   He chose the left corridor that stared him in the face. He walked at a slow pace, his eyes wondering around, begging to explore more of the ship. He stopped at one part of the corridor which had many windows showing outer space. John decided to look out of one of the windows. John saw the wonders of the universe. He saw Mars, Venus, the sun, asteroids, Jupiter and the stars. He then realized the exotic and intoxicating beauty of the Universe.