PRL Serials

The PRL Event: CZS 7

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Ivan walked slowly to the apartment building where his family lived. Things looked exactly as they had when he left, the stairs made the same screeching sound when he stepped onto that first step, and when he was at the front door of his family’s apartment, he smelled the familiar smells of his mother cooking. 

He knocked before he could overthink it, before he could talk himself out of it. And his mother answered the door before he could run away.

“Aye, mi hijo!” She said excitedly and rushed to hug him.

A single tear welled and fell slowly down his cheek as he hugged her with the same love that she had given him. 

“Where have you been?” She asked, ushering him inside the apartment where his siblings looked up from their video games and cell phones long enough to notice him. They crowded around and hugged him as well, then returned to their things as he sat with his mother at the dining room table. 

“I was in TN,” Ivan said. “I was looking for something, I found it. I’m sorry, mami.”

They both cried and hugged, and she kissed his cheeks.

“We both said things we wish we could take back.” His mother was obviously full of regret. “You are always welcome here. And we can go to church more often, you can get closer to God and he can help you with the gay thing. We can be a good family again.” She smiled at him and looked ready to make things right, completely unaware that she was making things impossible.

Ivan felt defeated. He knew that she loved him. But it didn’t seem that she would ever be able to accept the truth that he would love Clay despite anyone’s objections, even his mother’s god. 

Ivan took a deep breath and just as he was about to say this to her, he heard his father call his name. He had just returned home for his lunch break. The man was not happy. 

“¿Qué estás haciendo aquí?”

“Papi, I…”

“¡Salí! Ya no eres bienvenido aquí. No eres mi hijo.”

In a lot of ways, it made it easier for Ivan to leave. His mother and some of his younger siblings were upset to see him thrown out of the home that he had helped to stabilize, a home he had helped to build. His parents had depended on him, but it seems that they had never wanted him to have a life for himself. And even though it was hard, it was the best thing for him to leave, this time, with no intention of returning.

Ivan walked slowly back to the spot where he had seen Crude, and he was happy that he was not crying. But just as he neared the apartment building where he had left Clay and the others, he felt a familiar feeling that had been lost to him for many years. Many years ago, Ivan had witnessed a friend named Kevin sitting with an icon of the religion of Ivan’s grandfather, and Ivan had experienced a sensation of creation that he had not experienced since. But that feeling swept over him again suddenly as he returned to Clay and the police officers investigating the Crude situation. He knew that it must be Kevin. Many things had happened to Ivan since he last saw Kevin and he felt that he should seek him out. Maybe he could give him answers to the mysteries of the powers that he and Clay had. And rather than pretend that he was not the amazing man that he was, Ivan focused the energy that he knew he had on glowing green and levitating, and it took him no time to arrive at Kevin’s home where he had last seen the man.

He landed at the front porch and stood there looking up at the door, just as Kevin emerged.

“Long time.” Kevin said when he noticed Ivan. They smiled at one another, then shook hands. “I have a message for you from someone you don’t know. And I need you to go to Durham to meet her. Now.”

Ivan was easily persuaded. Kevin explained everything that he and Alia had been doing, and he explained what Ivan had seen all those years ago. Kevin had created the glowing figure that Ivan had been so inspired by with his preternatural ability that had an alien origin. Ivan asked if Kevin thought his glowing and levitating had the same origin.

“I don’t know,” Kevin said. “It’s possible, but I don’t know. We can find that out later, I know, but now, the Alia needs you.”

“Come back to the apartments with me. They’re waiting for me.” Ivan said.

Even before Kevin and Ivan arrive at the apartment complex, they know that something horrible is happening. There are crowds of people fleeing, on foot and in cars, and there are police keeping people from entering the neighborhood. The two fly over the commotion. Kevin imagines a jetpack and a suit of armour that he had used before to disguise himself and make him much stronger. They spot Clay before they recognize everyone else around him, and when they land, Ivan stands before Clay to calm him. Kevin recognizes the detective from Knoxville, TN right away. They had met years ago and Kevin wasn’t sure if he would remember him.

“You’re that boy from the hospital.” Young says when he sees Kevin’s face. “You can make stuff can’t you? Just like Sandra said.”

Kevin nods. Manuel shakes his hand and Adam screams at everyone. “This is the wrong time for this. We need to stop that thing. Its bulletproof and contagious, we think. Clay can probably put it down, but he definitely shouldn’t touch it.”

“I can do it, Ivan.” Clay says.

Ivan looks to Kevin. “Can you protect him?”

“Of course. You go help Alia.”

Ivan kisses Clay, and then he is off. He is much better at flying than he had been and he is gone in a flash of green.

Kevin stands before Clay. “Are you one of them?” He points at the blue monster that is slowly advancing on the group. 

“Fuck you.” Clay growls.

“I didn’t think so.” Kevin says. He imagines a suit of armour for Clay that is similar to his own. The armour allows for easy movement, but it is durable and near indestructible, though Kevin figured that their blue friend would test that limit. “Let’s do it.”

Clay yells one last time, louder than he has all day, and then he charges the blue man. Even though Clay is physically bigger than normal, the blue man is bigger by a foot. But Clay is not intimated. Once he reaches the blue man, Clay swipes at his feet, tripping the blue man who falls flat on his face. The blue man rolls over fast, but struggles to his feet, and Clay attempts to kick him in the head. But the blue man has fast hands and he catches Clay by the leg, then flings him into the side of an apartment building. Kevin flies at the blue man before he can stand, and he connects with his big torso that is like a brick wall. Kevin recoils, and the monster swipes at him, knocking him to the parking lot. Manuel and Adam charge next. Adam has a gun in each hand, and Manuel wields a shotgun. Kevin fits them with armour when they are close to the monster, and they both run circles around it, dodging its arms and taking shots when they can. When Clay regroups, he lets out a quick yell that tells Adam and Manuel to fall back, and then he charges the monster and grabs the flesh of its neck with both hands. Clay lifts the blue man off the ground and all the while, the monster flails his legs and fists, occasionally connecting blows against Clay’s head and arms. But Clay holds tight. Kevin shackles the blue man’s limbs to protect Clay. 

“You got him!” Young yells. “Knock him out.”

Clay slams the blue man face first against the ground, over and over again until the blue man stops moving.

When the struggle is over, Clay makes his way to the group of men who are all exhausted and dirty. The apartment complex is a wasteland and at least three of the buildings are completely or partially destroyed. 

“Where the fuck are the police?” Adam asks. “Why are we the only people here looking out for the people in this community?”

“There they go.” Manuel says, pointing in the direction of what appears to be a SWAT team advancing on them with guns drawn and clear shields. 

“You five! Hands in the air!” A man yells through a bullhorn.

“I got this.” Kevin says, and he imagines a reflective aircraft that appears invisible to an outside observer, that is big enough for the five of them. They jumble around the darkness inside, cursing and complaining, until the aircraft lands. They are at the home of Kevin’s family that is now abandoned. 

“I guess we can make ourselves at home here.” He says as the men eye the house. “We can wait for instructions from Alia and Ivan.”

Inside the house, Kevin fills the men in on what he and Alia have been doing in Wilmington.

“So this Dr. Worthington, he’s the one who did all this?” Adam asks. “Why does he want to kill his son?” In enrages Adam that someone could be so flippant with the life of their own child, regardless of their age.

“That’s an Alia question.” Kevin says. He looks to Clay. “She and Ivan have things in common that I don’t understand, and they will find Dr. Worthington. I know that. She sent me here to help you guys.”

“Thank god you showed up.” Manuel said. 

“We have to go back.” Adam says. “We have to find that woman. She turned those things on, I know it.”

“Did you see where she went?” Kevin asked.

“No, but take me back now. I can talk to the police. I have my credentials on me.”

Kevin shakes his head. “If you want to go back, go ahead, but I can’t risk it.”

Adam nods. “I’m going, whoever wants to come with me. We can bring that woman back here and question her. But we can’t let her go into police custody.”

“I’ll take you.” Clay says.

“You can fly?” Adam asks.

“Something like that.”

Adam and Clay stand outside in front of Kevin’s house. Young, Kevin and Manuel watch as Clay stands behind Adam, wraps both his arms under his armpits and around his torso. Clay is taller than Adam, so his legs dangle. Clay’s eyes turn green and then he bends his knees, then pushes up, faster than any of the observers can register, and both he and Adam appear to disappear in the blink of an eye.

“I swear,” Young says and he sits in a rocking chair on the porch. “Young people today.”

Clay and Adam land just outside the complex. Adam pushes away from Clay.

“I thought you could fly! That wasn’t flying. I thought I was gonna die.”

“We’re here, aren’t we?” Clay says. “Shut up, I’m gonna see if Ivan can help us.” He closes his eyes and he calls for Ivan. 

Clay had been unaware, but he and Ivan had shared a psychic link since their first meeting. The first time they ever touched one another’s hand, they could always sense one another, and if they concentrated, they could even communicate in real time. They realized this after Ivan had caught up to Crude and saved Clay. As Clay stands with Adam near the apartment complex, he calls out to Ivan on a mental plane that he cannot fully appreciate. To Clay, it is just a matter of hearing Ivan’s voice in his mind, like his own inner monologue. But for Ivan, the experience is much more vivid. Clay doesn’t need to explain the situation that he and Adam find themselves in, and it isn’t long before Ivan is telling him that the woman had fled the complex and was meeting with a group of others preparing to leave town.

“We came here for nothing.” Clay says to Adam. He grabs him again and before Adam can protest, they are jumping toward Kevin’s home.

“They’re headed back to Durham.” Clay reports to the group. They’re loading trucks now and they’ll be leaving any minute. We think they have maybe four or five other monsters with them. All the people that Crude hurt, and Crude herself, are in Durham. We have to stop them before they get there, or we can stop them once they get there. But we have to make a choice.”

The group is silent while it deliberates.