Prodigy Eternal (book 2)

Chapter Twenty-Four

The sun was descending, but it was still muggy out. They had been walking for hours and were drenched with sweat. During that time, the people around the world had suddenly snapped out of their dazes and started to move again. Like being in a prolonged day dream, their minds were still conscious, but just in a suspended state. None of them seemed to notice that everyone else had also been under a trance, or if they did, they did not completely grasp what had happened. Most people stumbled around in confusion. Their throats were sore, eyes dried out, and some even soiled themselves. There had even been a few deaths that occurred from people who were at the top of stairs and lost their balance, or who were swimming at the time of the global event, but most of the injuries were from sunburn and dehydration.

Since Alex and her friends were not around any people, they did not know the global sleep state had ended. They also felt comfortable ditching their head wraps without fear of being recognized. It felt good for Alex to no longer have to hide her face. To pass the time, they got to know each other better, told jokes, and shared stories. Aris was in the middle of a story, “… then all of the sudden, these dogs came out of nowhere and started chasing me—”

“Guys, we’re being followed,” Glitch interrupted.

There was a bridge up ahead about a hundred yards away. The three of them kept walking toward it as if everything were normal. Alex casually reached behind her head and pulled her scarf over to conceal her face. She glanced around, but did not see anyone.

“Are you sure?” she whispered.

“I’m sure,” Glitch affirmed. “There are three men behind us and another three are up ahead. They’re waiting until we reach the bridge before they make their move.”

“Glitch, are we going to be okay?” Alex asked worriedly.

“We’ll be fine, just stay close to me.”

Since Glitch’s senses were super astute, he picked up on the bandits before anyone else. Without knowing what kind of danger, if any, they were in, they each remained on alert. Aris slowly reached into his satchel and pulled out his stun gun, while Alex made sure her neck was limber in case there was an altercation that turned physical.

“Maybe they’re friends of yours,” Aris suggested.

“I assure you, they are no friends of mine. There’s a hospital a few kilometres away, I told my friends to meet us there.”

“Can you tell them to come help us?”

“Sure, but if these people cause us problems, my friends will never make it here in time. I’ll notify them anyway just to let them know we may be in trouble.”

Most citizens were kind, but Alex and Aris were in the middle of nowhere, on the other side of the world from where they grew up. It was certainly possible that people were not as civilized as they were in big cities. While in prison, Alex had met many opportunistic and dangerous criminals, so she was well aware those types of people existed in the world.

When they reached the bridge, that’s when Alex and Aris saw the men hiding. With nowhere else to go, they decided to take a chance and cross the bridge. At the halfway point, the men came out of hiding. They all wore masks and matching attire to show their unity. One of them was holding a large machine gun while the other two were brandishing samurai swords. Alex and her friends stopped in their tracks. Behind them, three more thugs emerged and moved in to cut off their escape.

“What are they supposed to be, ninjas?” Aris asked

“I don’t know, why don’t you ask them?” Glitch replied.

“I don’t suppose you have any tricks up your sleeve that will disarm these goons?”

“Just be cool, let’s see what they want,” Glitch said.