The Freaks: Chapter 1 - Origins Unknown

A brief introduction to a few of the characters and their abilities.

Chapter One

Origins Unknown

 

 

My name was James.

 

That was all I knew about myself.

 

My whole life, everything I had ever done, was no where found in my memory. It was lost. I could not remember anything but my name. Hell, I didn't even know my own age.

 

Everything began, from which I can remember, when I woke up from the sleep that killed my memory...

 

 

 

My eyes widened, taking in the faces above me. I did not know where I was. I did not know the people around me. I was being dragged by them - whoever they were. I was deaf at first. Everything was silent, but I could see fear on their faces. They shouted to one another.

 

Something was happening. It wasn't good, whatever it was.

Then my hearing slowly came back. Gun shots. That was the first thing I heard. My head was spinning. My eyes were closing, drifting into a sleep, then reopening suddenly. I was being dragged across a cold floor by a boy around my age - whatever that was.

 

Running beside me was a blond girl. Under any other circumstances, I wouldn't have been able to take my eyes off her. But through the gun shots, loss of memory, being dragged across the floor, it was fairly easy to wander my eyes away from her.

 

Then the boy dragging me snatched me up by my shirt. I stood limply on my feet. My knees buckled, but the boy caught me.

"Hey! Wake up! We've gotta move!" the boy screamed right in front of my face. My eyes were drowsy, like they are when you're dozing off to sleep. Saliva was making its way down my chin. The boy gave me a good slap to my cheek.

 

"Wake up!" I tried telling him I was awake for God's sake, but I was unable to speak. A few mumbled, mixed up words came out instead.

 

"We've got to move, Damion!" the girl said behind him. The boy, Damion, took me by my shoulders and shook me violently.

 

"I'm awake! I'm awake!" I said. Hearing my own voice woke me up more than the good shaking he gave me. I looked around, taking it all in.

 

It was the first time I was able to see clearly since I awoke. Damion was a dark-skinned boy, muscular, maybe a little older than myself. He fit the role of a football player very well. A good football player for that matter. He wore the same clothes as the girl, and, as I would soon come to notice, myself. We were dressed as if we'd just escaped prison.

 

The girl's eyes seemed to carry dazzling stars in their ocean of blue. She wasn't very tall, but she had a well-curved body. Even the fearful expression of her face could not take away her beauty.

 

We were in a tunnel. Where was the tunnel? I do not know. How did I get there? Same answer. All I knew was to my right was a group of men, soldier looking guys, aiming their weapons directly towards us. I may have lost my memory, but I knew guns aiming at you was not a good thing.

 

Damion pushed me down an intersecting tunnel. We ran as fast as we could. My knees were weak. I could barely feel my legs. It was like running through a tunnel made of water as the water spun around you. My sense of direction was lost. Fortunately, Damion was there to push me along the right direction.

 

Atleast I hoped it was the right direction.

 

It wasn't, of course.

 

The tunnel was a dead end. A brick wall stood before us. The army of men came around the corner and slowed down into a walk when they realized we were done for.

 

"S**t," Damion said. Famous last words.

 

"Damion," the girl whispered, "do your stuff." She watched the soldiers make their way towards us, backing ever so slowly away from them, towards the brick wall behind us.

 

"I can't. I don't know how, Elina," Damion said.

 

"You can. Try." The girl, Elina, was pleading now. Pleading for Damion to do whatever it was he did.

 

An army truck came around the corner of the tunnel, swirved around the soldiers, and screeched to a halt several yards from us. Simultaneously, a group of soldiers poured from the truck like a swarm of mice.

 

Then came what must have been the "leader."

 

He was no different from the other men, wearing military clothing and carrying a machine gun, but the way the soldiers departed to make room for him to walk was a good hint he was of higher authority. He had olive skin and a thick, scraggly beard that covered most of his face and neck. Several medals and stars were on his shirt, but I had no clue what they meant.

 

"You thought you could escape?" he called out to us in some strange accent. His looks and tone of voice brought to my mind some country...China?...Australia?...Iraq! That was it. Iraq. My memory of the world was slowly coming back. But the history of my own life was not.

 

"Go. Now," Elina demanded in a slight whisper, though I did not know how that was possible. Damion grimaced. Whatever it was they were talking about, he wasn't so sure about it. I did not know why. I did not know much of anything, for that matter.

 

Damion took a step back towards the brick wall. I watched him expectantly. The army was making its way towards us, the leader leading the way, of course.

 

"You petty fools! You can not escape us!" the Leader called out again. Damion had a stern look on his face. Completely unemotional.

 

"I'll try and hold them off for as long as I can," Elina said. Any other time, I may have laughed. A girl, around my age, who probably spent her time dreaming of marrying some hot actor, singing wherever she went, gossiping with her friends, planned on stopping an entire army? But something in her voice made me believe she could do it.

 

Damion gave a slight nod towards her. She, in return, nodded. The Leader was getting impatient with us not responding to his taunts.

As soon as it looked like the Leader was about to say something more, Damion spun on his heels, held his fist high behind him, and punched the wall.

 

The brick wall shattered like a bullet shot through glass. Shards of bricks flew everywhere. The impact of his fist against the wall sounded like a massive bomb, which only echoed through the tunnel.

 

Before I could even try and grasp what just happened, I heard the scream of the Leader:

 

"Fire!"

 

I held my hands up, closed my eyes, tried to remember anything of myself before I died. The bullets, dozens of them, sounded like massive fireworks exploding in every direction. But they were not fireworks. They were bullets. Bullets aimed for me.

 

I waited...

 

And waited...

 

Waited...

 

The bullets never came. I must've been lucky enough to not be hit by any of the bullets that blew pass me. I looked at Damion and Elina. They were fine. Unharmed. What happened?

 

I turned my head, slowly. My hands were stilled raised. I lowered them when I gazed upon the sight in pure astonishment.

 

There, a few yards before me, were the bullets, frozen in mid-air. It was as time got bored and just quit. But that was not what happened. The soldiers behind the wall of bullets stood, like me, in amazement. Frozen.

 

Then I came to a conclusion. It was a crazy one. But it would soon be proven.

 

Elina stood beside me, hands raised, with a look of determination on her face. Sweat formed on her forehead and streamed down her cheeks. She was struggling. Struggling to keep the bullets frozen in space.

 

Whatever it was, however it may have happened, she was holding the bullets by some unseen force in the air. My jaw seemed to be touching the ground. It was impossible. But then again, what did I know?

 

The girl slowly turned her hands, and the bullets simultaneously turned as well. The soldiers seemed to have understood what was happening about the same time I did. The bullets were now aiming back at them.

 

She paused briefly, giving the soldiers enough time to be horrified. Then she threw her hands forward, as if pushing a large door open, and the bullets flew through the air, like they had once again been shot by some unseen gun.

 

The soldiers screamed, fell, ran, died. Bullet after bullet pounded them down to the ground. When the last body had fallen, only a few remained, including the Leader.

 

Elina was breathing heavily. Her knees buckled and she collapsed. Before she hit the floor, I caught her by her armpits and held her up.

 

"What was that?" was all I could think to say. She didn't answer.

 

"No!" I heard a scream. The Leader. "No! Don't shoot!" I looked up to see the Leader waving his arms in the air, shaking his head rapidly.

 

The Leader's commands were not given in time. From the top of the army truck sprouted a soldier with a bazooka. The rocket was fired with a great explosion, soaring over the Leader's head and directly towards us.

 

Two feet away it stopped. The girl's hand was held out. I could tell she was putting the last few drops of energy she had left into protecting us from the rocket. She turned her hand and the rocket did likewise.

 

"You fool!" the Leader yelled back at the soldier who had fired the bazooka. The soldier just then realized his fatal mistake. But it was too late. The rocket shot back towards the army truck.

 

The truck exploded in a massive ball of fire. The tunnel shook around us, beneath us. The truck bounced in an inferno of fire and fell on its side. The Leader was devoured in flames.

 

I stood there, amazed. It was too amazing to believe, yet there I stood before it, seeing every bit of it. Damion rescued me from my paralyzing shock when he took the girl from out my arms.

 

"Are you okay?" he asked her. She mumbled and gave a slight nod. He cradled her in his arms.

 

"What-" I started, "What are you two?" Damion looked up at me and smiled.

 

"What are we?" he said through his slight grin. "You are one of us, too, my friend."

Author's Note

Review? :)

Reviews

[~Lizzy♬]

Haha! I see you're getting more reviews now. It just takes time okay? lol!

Anyway, I didn't review the prologue because I didn't have time. I will, however, review the rest okay? Great start and I wanna read more. I wonder who the girl could be?

~Lizzy~

[TPK Stories]

Great story.

[KP Merriweather]

it was jarring from third to first person. Also is James telling someone his story? Otherwise there is no need to introduce himself. Also he refers to himself in past tense "my name was james" so that means he's no longer called james which makes introductions redundant? Unless James is talking to someone (is he the last srviving member of his squad?) the use of first person is too limited of a story with this big of a scope. You have too much going on for us the reader to see through just one set of eyes.

[MetBySunlight]

I like this! :P

[Daydreamer54]

Awesomness!
group of men, soldier looking guys,- group of men in camoflage uniforms or in armor. something of that sort.
"What are you two?"- you can leave out the two.

[Aly Jones]

Ooh, telekinesis. Nice.

[Coyote Poetry]

No weakness in this chapter. It was fast pace and the storyline was very good. I like the way you are describing things. In real war. Few things are done automatic. You react and try to survive. I like the way the characters are working together. A excellent chapter.
Coyote

[CHRIS ANDES]

...a real sotry in a very unreal world.....awesome!!

[halflives]

Love it. Very X-Men-y. Well done, I love it. MUST READ ON.

[BabyBluee]

wow, this is an amazing start for a story...a very strong start. you developed the characters very well for the first introduction. I love the story plot so far it kept me interested, and thats not easy to do haha. great chapter!!