We're Coming Back From Where No One Lives

The Advisor laughed, gliding his hand over the crack in his mask.

“Young man, you are the first ever opponent to damage my mask. Up until now, no one has even put a chip in it.” The Advisor’s eyes smiled as he asked “What is your name, boy?”

“You wouldn’t deserve to know.” Hendrix walked out of the cloud of dust he had been hidden in up until now.

“It’s Hendrix, isn’t it?! How these rebels are so creative, giving each other nicknames in such a futile fight against a God!” The Advisor continued to touch the crack in his mask like he was entranced with it.

Hendrix grit his teeth and balled his fist.

“Futile?! Futile?! I’ll make you choke on every word you’ve ever preached! Then, I’m gonna go after this God you talk about! I don’t care if I die trying!” Hendrix’s shouting echoed through the room. The kids were shocked at his words. They realized they had never seen Hendrix so visibly angry, and they had been even farther from seeing him so verbally angry.

“Hendrix… You don’t really mean that last part, right?” Vida asked, just loud enough for Hendrix to hear.

Hendrix looked at her, then looked right back to the Advisor. He didn’t say a single word in response.

Vida fell to her knees.

“Is this… Is this all even worth it?! Hendrix is going to kill himself fighting…” She fought the urge to cry.

The images of Milo’s corpse, the Frewin’s last moments, and the countless times Hendrix has stepped in front of her as her lifeline flashed before her eyes. The weight of rebellion seemed to sink on her heart.

The other kids tried to keep their eyes on the fight so that they could dodge any stray projectiles. They were all frozen in fear.

The Advisor laughed at Hendrix’s statement. “Hendrix. Now that I know your name, I shall tell you mine. You see, once you’re recognized as an Advisor, you’re given a codename by God. The day of my twentieth birthday, I was given my name. My name is Shezmu, God’s servant of blood.” The Advisor kept his gaze on Hendrix, gauging his reaction.

The pink-haired boy looked up towards the ceiling, like he saw something above him.

“Yes… Let it all out…” That hopeless voice rang through his head again.

Suddenly, those matte black strings appeared once again. This time, they extended from Hendrix’s spine, catching the Advisor off his guard.

The metallic grinding of the black strings twisting and scraping against each other sent chills through the bystanders.

Shezmu pushed himself off of the ground, landing on one of the steel tentacles.

He began to run on the string, closing the distance between him and Hendrix.

“You’re so much more than them, Hendrix! When I take you in, you’ll see. You can go toe to toe with a Correctional Advisor and live! Don’t you see that you’re above these sinners?” Shezmu ranted as he continued sprinting towards Hendrix on the black strings.

“Your goal is to kill them. Kill them all… Avenge Mr. and Mrs. Frewin.” The voice whispered into Hendrix’s ear.

“I’ll kill them all…” Hendrix muttered to himself, seeming to enter a daze while staring at the ceiling.

As Shezmu continued to try to close the distance on the black strings, the six other teens noticed a figure run up the hill.

“I’ve got the barrels!” Officer 1060 struggled to roll four barrels up the hill that led to the open wall.

Chase pulled his revolvers out, ready to aim them towards the now one eyed Officer.

“Don’t.” Taro put a hand on one of Chase’s revolvers. Chase grit his teeth.

“What?! What are we going to do, just stand around?! Hendrix is out there literally DYING! Are we just going to watch him get beat up?!” Chase’s frustration had finally boiled over verbally.

“Do you want to get in the middle of that?! Even a slight shout will put the attention on us!” Taro pointed at the fight in front of them while looking at Chase for an answer.

Hendrix was now looking at Shezmu as he jumped off of one of Hendrix’s strings.

“Yes! Open them!” Shezmu yelled mid air at the Officer as he noticed what he had dragged to the compound.

Shezmu dodged Hendrix’s steel tentacles, using a hardened blood-fueled platform to pivot mid air.

Hendrix continued to try to strike the Advisor until he touched the ground.

As Shezmu’s feet hit the ground, he held his hand up, the same gesture that killed Milo.

Hendrix paused, growing cautious at the gesture.

Suddenly, the four barrels next to the Officer began to rumble. One by one crimson blood shot out of the top of them, with Shezmu guiding the levitating waves of blood to him.

“Now! Now it’s time to show you the full power of a Correctional Advisor!” Shezmu said as the blood grew nearer.

Hendrix, whose eyes had wandered upwards, staring in shock at the tidal wave of blood, saw his guitar still impaled in the ceiling by its neck.

He sent a matte black guitar string towards the guitar, quickly reeling it back as Hendrix grasped the guitar in his hands.

The crimson tidal wave rushed down towards Hendrix.

Hendrix let out a power chord, manifesting a large black-smoky cloud of soundwaves, moving towards the bloodwave.

The blood and the soundwaves crashed against each other. For a moment, the soundwaves held the blood back, only for a moment, though.

The soundwaves quickly dissipated, letting the wave of red fall once again.

Shezmu closed his fist, causing the wave to form into a sharp point at the front.

The spear of blood rushed downwards towards Hendrix.

Just in time, his instincts kicked in. One of Hendrix’s guitar strings jutting out of his back shot towards a support beam on the other side of the cafeteria. It wrapped around the beam, pulling Hendrix out of the attack area.

As Hendrix got whipped towards the other side of the cafeteria, the support beam cracked under the pull of his string.

Alex felt the structure of the compound buckle under her.

The sudden jolt was just enough to wake Bloom up.

“What…” Bloom uttered. Alex turned to her in shock. Bloom didn’t feel rejuvenated, just energized enough to be lucid.

“No time to explain. We need to get out of here.” Alex felt the compound buckle again.

Hendrix fell on the defensive. He whipped around the cafeteria, his guitar strings grappling support beams to dodge the spear of blood.

Each time Hendrix grappled a support beam, it would snap, causing the compound’s structure to buckle under the uneven pressure.

Hendrix felt his head beginning to spin.

“This feeling… It’s just like that fight in the street… I’m about to pass out, aren’t I? I can’t run out of Spirit already… Let me finish this.” Hendrix felt that old familiar sting in his heart. He could tell his body was running low on Spirit, and that his nervous system would knock him into a coma to prevent him from bottoming out.

“Is that… Is that Hendrix?” Bloom asked as she came to her senses.

She grew shocked at the sheer speed Hendrix and the Advisor were fighting.

“Is… Is this the same sixteen year old we trained?!” Bloom asked herself as she watched Hendrix bring down one of the last support beams in the cafeteria.

“What is it? Don’t tell me you can’t keep up with the full power of one of God’s disciples?!” Shezmu yelled as he guided the waves of blood with his hands.

Hendrix grabbed another support beam with his guitar strings, when he felt himself losing consciousness.

Mid air, he brought all of his guitar strings towards him. With his last ounce of strength, he wrapped himself in his steel tentacles to protect himself from any further attacks.

The now unconscious Hendrix crashed like a missile into the last support beam head on.

Alex and Bloom both felt the compound buckle one last time before a rumbling ensued.

“Now!” Alex shouted at Bloom as she sprinted towards the idle kids as fast as her Mode would allow her.

Bloom, now travelling at superhuman speeds, grabbed each kid one by one, placing them a few yards outside of the compound.

Before anyone could comprehend what was happening, all seven of the kids, including the unconscious Hendrix, and Alex were at the bottom of the hill that the compound sat on.

“We need to move, now. Help each other carry Hendrix.” Alex pointed to Hendrix, who lay wrapped in his own guitar strings.

“HENDRIX!” Shezmu shouted from inside the compound.

“I’m out… you’ll have to carry me, babe.” Bloom spoke weakly. She had channeled the little Spirit her body had recovered after her coma into her legs to activate her Mode at full force for just a couple seconds. She was starting to feel just as light headed as Hendrix before he passed out.

Taro, Kai and Chase helped each other carry Hendrix’s steel sarcophagus as the group began to move into the city.

Up on the hill, Shezmu fell to his knees in fury, the gallons of blood falling directly onto him as he released the crimson red liquid from his control.

The blood covered him, coating him in a deep red. As the blood soaked his wooden mask, the crack in the bottom half of it began to heal itself. This didn’t seem to use any of Shezmu’s attention.

“Sir, may I ask if we should call for backup?” Officer 1060 spoke timidly, trying not to undercut Shezmu’s fit of rage.

“They’re all busy keeping the public’s attention off of this scene. That’s the only reason we were able to go all out on the infiltration without stirring questions in those sheeps’ heads.” Shezmu ran his fingers through his dreads, trying to calm himself down enough to think.

“Report that some of the rebels have escaped. Send a description of the dissenters to all units, and advise them to report their location to us, do not engage, they are extremely dangerous.” Shezmu kept his head down as he spoke.

Officer 1060 pulled his radio out, relaying the Advisor’s message.

“...If you see those rebels, do not engage. They are intensely hostile Spirit users. They are likely heading for Hand Of God National Airport to travel to one of the other compounds in their underground network. DO NOT LET THEM GET TO THAT AIRPORT!” Officer 1060 screamed into his radio.

“Hendrix. I will find you, and I will show you the path to redemption. You will be a valuable weapon of God in due time.” Shezmu pressed his hands together in prayer, talking to the rising sun. The compound began to collapse behind him as he fell to his knees on the lawn in front of the rubble.