“How does it feel?” The Outsider asked Glen.
“Good.” Glen replied plainly.
“Is it all you have to say?”
“What do you expect?”
“Perhaps ‘amazing’ or ‘awesome’ would be a better word.
“You think too much. You talk too much.”
“Do I?”
Glen was in control of his body now. He carried a large bag with the package he received from Lou on his shoulder and its weight had worn him down. Not much left, he thought, walking up the stairway, panting. A long grey jacket and a hood concealing his face gave hard time for his skin to breathe. He did not dare to lift it up before he reached a less crowded place. Now, when his pictures were on the media he needed to take additional precautions.
After he got to the top, he walked the main path for a minute and turned to a small pathway covered by overgrown trees. He brushed his way through until he found himself standing in front of a large white house. He lifted his hood. The cold wind blowing on his sweating forehead refreshed him. Glen stroked his hair, caught his breath and went to the house.
“Don’t be afraid, Glen,” The Outsider spoke, “Come in, meet my puppies. Meet the guys.”
The sound of the door slamming shut brought out the creatures living in this place. Two dirty drunkards walked out of one of the rooms.
“S’up. I’m Jin,” said the first one.
“S’up. I’m Dean,” added the second.
“These are your friends?” Glen mocked the Outsider.
“Here,” Glen said to the men, dropped the bag to the ground and was about to walk away.
“Stay, man,” Jin said.
“Yeah, stay,” Dean added.
“Stay, Glen,” the Outsider whispered. An unimaginable pain pierced Glen’s back.
Glen turned to the men and said, “Well, If you insist,” The pain went away.
He followed the two to the kitchen and sat down. A smell of tobacco was strong there, it irritated Glen’s nostrils.
“So, bro. You friends with the Voice?” Dean looked at Glen with his round eyes. Both men did not try to hide their excitement.
“Ye, me and the Voice are buddies,” Glen stressed the word ‘buddies’.
“Amazing.” The men nodded, saliva was about to drip out of their mouths.
Glen talked to the Outsider in his head, “What do you want me to talk with them about? Women, politics, science, or …”
“I want you to wait and endure. One of them is coming home in a few minutes, I want you to get him. He’s a bit of annoyance. He has a bad attitude.”
“What do you mean by ‘get him’?”
“Oh, you know, smack him a bit. He needs to sleep off a week or more.”
“Sure,” Glen sighed. He was finally free. He did not want to lose the control again. A bit of controlled violence was a small price to pay for the pleasure of feeling alive
“Hey, bros. What up with that?” The third ‘boy’ entered the room. He was carrying a lase-gun in his on hand and slamming it hard by the grip with another. In an instant, Glen bowed his head under the table. He looked at man’s legs and saw him walking out of the room.
The voice in his head said, “Sorry for that. Happens, you know.”
After Glen regained his posture the man returned to the room empty handed and said, “Hey bros. What up?”
“That’s our pal, Tom.” Jin introduced his housemate.
Glen greeted the man, “Hi, Tom.”
“You want some milk?” Tom asked.
“Nah, I’m fine.”
“Ok.” Tom walked to the fridge, opened it, took out a bottle of milk and left the room. He moved so slowly and plastically that Glen let out a long yawn after observing him.
‘Jewels,’ Glen thought.
“You don’t seem to believe in magic, do you?” The Outsider said.
Door of the house opened up. A tidy man walked into the kitchen, noticed Glen and looked at him distrustfully. Finally a human being in this house, Glen thought.
“That’s the guy,“ the Outsider said.
“My name is James, nice to meet you.” The newcomer nodded his head. “I will be back in a moment, the nature calls. Took quite a run because of that,” He added and left the kitchen.
After a second the door of the house slammed hard. You must be joking, Glen told himself. He stood up and rushed to the door. But for his inconvenience it was locked.
He slammed it with his shoulder once, slammed it twice. The door budged, he took a few steps back and ran forward. The door opened after the third hit.
He jumped outside and listened for a moment. Tree branches being brushed could be heard in the distance from the direction of the overgrown path.
Glen threw himself forward, ignoring bruises the trees inflicted on him. Enjoying the pain he felt after a long time. Glen stepped out of the bushes, put up the hood back to conceal his face and looked forward. There was no way he could outrun me, he thought.
His ears rang as a strong piece of metal hit his back. Glen bowed a little. The next strike came to his leg and Glen fell down to his knees. The last hit came to the back and as he dropped to the ground, head first, vision began to ripple. He shook his head, turned to the side and desperately attempted to grab the attacker by his foot. This happened to be not the wisest of choices – Glen miraculously succeeded, he could see a shadow of the man falling, and then, through the fog he saw a sole coming to the direction of his face. Glen lost the grip. Blood spilled out of his nose. He could feel tears coming to his eyes.
It took good ten seconds for Glen to stand up and come to full senses to continue the pursuit. After a sharp turn he had James in his sights. The man was running down a short alley, towards one of the shopping centers. Glen ran like a devil, he quickly gained distance, twenty more meters, fire more seconds and he would get his hands on him. Just you wait, you poor bastard! he thought.
Something hard hit his leg and he flew a few meters, rolling forward, breaking at least one bone with each roll. He lay on the ground again, following the running man with his eyes, feeling warm blood dripping from his shank.
A thin female voice shouted angrily from behind him, “You just touch a finger on James’s head and this will be the last thing you do!”
Glen stood up and turned around. A beautiful, muscular teenage girl was juggling an industrial crowbar, looking menacingly at him. The tool in her hand was mainly used in the constructions. If turned on - on touch or hit, it emitted powerful vibrations to weaken or break materials. It gave nasty feeling to the victim if used as a weapon. If the thing hit someone, that person would have the experience of a lifetime.
Glen’s whole body was hurting like hell, but he ignored it, as he ignored the girl. He stood up and started running again. He got his sight on the man by the end of the alley. It was a crowded place. Many people were going about their daily business.
Glen grabbed the man by his yoke, locked his arm behind his back and was about to say some ‘sweet’ words.
“Hey!” The girl shouted from behind. “People! Look at this. That thug is attacking a person in the middle of the day!” She pointed her hand with a crowbar at Glen and turned on the sonic disruptor – the ‘special’ function that the tool possessed. All people around turned their eyes to the two men.
“This is security business!” Glen turned to the crowd. His face still concealed by the hood. He took out his old badge and showed it to the people.
“Bullshit! Security business, my ass!” The girl shouted and started running forward.
“Sorry man, she left me no choice.” Glen told to James and swiftly slammed his fist to the side of man’s neck. James’s eyes closed and he started falling. Glen was about to hit the man once more to the back, but the crowbar hit him before he could finish the job. The blow resonated through his entire body. The vibrations from the tool spread the pain from the place of impact to his whole body. Glen turned to the girl, his eyes wide open, and shouted at her face, “You monster!” before driving his fist to her neck and putting her to sleep on the cold pavement by her friend’s side.
He pushed his way out from the crowd and ran towards one of the closest residential districts. He needed to get his hide as far as possible from here before the real security came.
“Don’t you say a damn word,” Glen told the Outsider after he began hearing his laugh.