The Talents of the Fallen - 11. Part Eleven: Revenge of the Forgotten Son

Chapter Eleven: Revenge of the Forgotten Son

As Sam sat shotgun and wondered how he had allowed himself be talked into leaving Lakes after midnight. “Jon, what the hell are we doing here?”

“I told you why… I want to make sure he’s safe.”

The black teenager closed his eyes and did his best not to be pissed. “Safe from what dude? Are you afraid some horny sports freak is going to jump his bones? If that’s the case then I suggest you take us back to the dorms because you’re the only horny one out here.”

“It’s not like that.”

“Oh yes it is. Ever since he caught your eye you’ve talked about nothing else. Jeeze dude he’s a retard.”

Jon took a deep breath. He didn’t want to break his friend’s jaw. Not yet at least. “According to Andrew he’s quite smart. He seems retarded because of how shy he is.”

“And you’re going to change that, are ya?”

“Andrew is the last person Aaron should be hanging around… Better me than him.” he hissed under his breath.

“What did you say?” Sam leaned in closer.

“Nothing…” He placed an open palm on Sam’s forehead and pushed him back. “So mind your own business.”

“Oh you got it bad. I’ve not seen you this hung up since Tad.”

“Leave Tad out of this.”

“Why… miss him that badly.”

“The only thing that I miss is the beating he’ll get if I ever see his lying face again.”

“Oh you’re such a hypocrite. So what if he cheated on you.”

“Cheated? How about tell me he loved me while he was still secretly still sleeping with his ex-boyfriend. He used me god damn it.” Jon slammed his head against the steering wheel. “He used me.”

“And you made sure they knew how you felt about it. The two of them were in the infirmary for what, a week?”

“Five days… they should consider themselves lucky it wasn’t five years.”

“Yeah… if it wasn’t for Andrew you probably would have killed them.”

“I wouldn’t have killed them.”

“Okay you would have left them a pair of quadriplegics with limp dicks for the rest of their lives. Some say that would be worse than death.”

“Maybe it would be a worse punishment than death.” Jon noticed one of the lights go out. “Did you see that?”

“See what?”

“One of the lights went out. There… do you see it?”

“Hard to see it when the light is out but yeah it’s the forth one down on the left.”

“We should check it out.”

“Why… because a light bulb went out. I hope you don’t take this the wrong way but you’ve gone schizoid on me buddy.”

“You can stay in the car like the chicken shit you are. I’m going out.” Jon popped the driver’s side door open and popped the trunk.

“If you insist on chasing shadows can you leave me the keys?”

Jon picked up a tire iron from the trunk. He then went over to the passenger side and poked his head into the car. “Thinking of driving off without me?”

“No, just want to listen to some tunes while you’re away.”

“Too bad then you ain’t getting them so get your sorry ass in gear and come with.”

“You’re the one with the sorry ass. You won’t even let me fuck it and we’ve been friends since, what, 5^th grade?”

“Are you coming or not.”

“I’m coming… if only so I can record you stupidity on my cellphone.”

When they reached the broken light they found the blub and its glass casing had been shattered. “I’m still saying this is silly.”

Crack… hiss… shatter.

Jon pointed down the street. “Look the next light’s gone out.”

Crack… hiss, crack… hiss… crack… hiss.

“Look three… four, five.” Jon sprinted down the trail of darkening street.

Sam, lacking the physical Talent of his friend, struggled to keep up. By now he had to admit Jon was right. Something strange was going on. As he looked further down the road he could see that the lights were going out on the other end. He knew without counting the lights that the last one that would go out was the one in front of the Mays house.

Jon reached the house just as the last light went out. Along the way he saw men and women he recognized as being members of the Council’s Liaison department lying unconscious on the asphalt. At least he hoped they were only unconscious. Whatever guards Captain Harper had placed to watch over Aaron had been caught off guard and easily overwhelmed. Only those with the Talent could have achieved either.

The yard was littered with the torn remains of dead agents. No sound however came from the house itself. Like the street no light shown. Cautiously Jon stepped inside. Just as he passed the threshold he felt the wind pick up from behind. He jumped on the awning above the first floor.

He did so just in the nick of time. Rusted nails were ripped from a hanging tree house and shot like a storm of arrows right to the spot where Jon had a second ago had been standing. The shooter stood at the foot of the tree. He was ghost pale youth whose hair had fallen out well before the proper time. Sores oozing black puss cover his face and hands yet the young man had chosen to wear a white suit. His eyes were vacant holes except for a pinpoint of glowing red in the center. His parted mouth showed missing and rotten teeth.

At Lakes Jon had read of the effects of the Taint and the signs of its overuse but he had never thought he would meet a person so ravaged by the drug. “Who are you?”

“I could ask you the same.” The man sounded like a frog fighting to breathe in a pond of scum.

“Jon Omicron.”

“Well Jon Omicron I am Tom Mays and you stand between and my mother.” With each syllable puss squirted from his face. Spots of rot appeared where it touched the green lawn.

Jon smelled the sick odor of decay and fever. “Your mother?” Just by taking in a breath to speak had him wanting to throw up.

“The one who abandoned her family for that brat.” He hick up a ball of chucky black green phlegm and spat. Hitting an inch from where Jon stood on the yawning it burned like acid into the wood tiled roof.

Forcing himself to look away from the spot, he glared at Tom and shouted; “That brat is the reason I’m here. I do not care what business you have with Ms. Mays but leave Aaron out of it.”

“But he is the reason my mum abandoned me to the Coven. Do you know what the Coven does to those who have the Talent?”

“I can only imagine but you have gone further than just convert. You’ve taken Taint.”

“I took a shit load of it to make me strong. Without strength, without true Talent you are no one to the Coven. Just meat. Of course you know that. You are one of original families’ brats while I will never be more than a Blip.”

“You’ll be dead soon if you keep on taking Taint.”

“It doesn’t matter.” Some of the bravado melted off along with part of his flesh.

Jon could now see the white bones of Tom’s skull. “Then why are you here?”

“To visit my mother and her darling retarded grandson. I even brought them gifts.” Tom reached into his pants and pulled out two vials of the back tar Taint. “See...” He hacked black phlegm to clear his lungs. “Once they take these they’ll be just like me.”

“I’ll kill you before that happens.” Jon had threatened to kill a lot of people and had put a few of them in the hospital but this time he meant it.

“I’m afraid I cannot oblige. I have a tight schedule to keep.” He put the vials back into his pocket. “I’ve managed to piss off the Prefect by stealing all his magic candy. If I don’t run for it I’m finished. He wants me dead more than you. Not that it matters. I have my own Coven now and they will do whatever I ask.” From the shadows dozens of Tom’s enslaved drug addicts stepped forward.

“Oh shit.” Jon had been confident he could have killed the pipsqueak with no problem. The creep already had a foot in the grave. Jon should have known Tom had not come without his drugged out Talented pals.

“Okay boys… let’s watch him dance.” Tom’s follower raised their palms and summon their drug fueled kinetic Talent.

Jon felt the wind pick up. Waiting till the very last second he jumped. While the force of each was weak, the total was enough to smash in the front of the house. With his physical Talent it would not have killed him but it would have forced him out of the game. He knew he couldn’t stay on the defensive forever. One way or another he needed to take the fight to them.

As he debated his next move he felt the thoughts of another enter his mind. “Hey hot shot miss me?”

“Sam! Where the hell are you?”

“Hiding like the chicken shit I am.”

“Coward.”

“No really… I’m across the street.”

Jon focused his physically altering Talent and looked with mirrored eagle eyes across the street. He saw Sam hiding in the lower branch of an oak tree. “Think you can give me a distraction?”

“Like show them my cock… just kidding. I think I can do more than that.”

Jon felt the wind pick up and jumped. This time a third of the roof was blown off. “Now Sam!”

Sam, a potent empath, projected a wave of awakened nightmares among Tom’s followers. They screamed and clawed at whatever horrific terrors they were experiencing. This gave Jon an opening to go on the attack. He drew the jack knife he had taken from Aaron’s rapist from a back pocket and with a flick of his wrists had it out. He dived from the roof, knife slashing. When he landed on his feet two throats had already been cut. By the time he took three steps two more were dealing with deep gashes to the gut. In ten seconds eight were dead, in twelve thirteen.

Against so many he could not keep the advantage forever. When Sam reached the limits of his Talent the Tainted recovered and went back to lashing out with kinetic might.

Jon got two more of them before he was forced back to the roof. “Hey Sam… you still there.”

“Yeah… sorry dude. I couldn’t keep it up. There’s just too many of them.”

“Don’t worry I got around a dozen of them. Think you can give me a count as to how many are left?”

“Uhmmm 15 I think.”

“You think.”

“Some of the ones you said you killed aren’t quite dead alright.”

“Fine 15 it is.”

“Watch out Jon, some of them got inside.”

“Damn it.” Jon knew he had to get rid of those in the house first but the restricted confines would limit his agility. He had no choice. He had to follow.

He jumped down into the attic from the hole in the roof. With his Talent all it took was a hard kick to the floor he punched open a hole large enough for him to drop to a second story bathroom. From the hall he could hear three men cursing while pounding on a door.

“Fuck, we can’t break it down.”

“Why not? It’s just wood.”

“Then you try to break it down.”

“Shit. Tom isn’t going to like this.”

“I don’t find this situation funny either.” While the three had been arguing Jon had slipped in behind them.

“What the fu…” was all one said before all three were down. Jon was congratulating himself when someone snuck on him. An invisible force slammed into him from behind. By the strength of it his attacker had to be Tom. Pinned to the wall he watched as Tom passed him by.

The freak looked at the door and frowned. “That’s strange. I should be able to break something like this down with a flick of a finger but I can’t focus my mind around it. Will have to do things the old fashion way. He took out what looked like a grenade and stuck it between the door and the knob. “He looked at where Jon was pinned but a few feet away. “Bang, bang cowboy man.” He made and explosion gesture with both hands. He then pulled the pin and raced out of the house.

The guy’s an idiot. Doesn’t he know anything about setting off an explosion within a confined space?” It was nothing like what they showed in the movies. The force would shape itself around the confines of where it exploded. That meant the force released with be multiple times stronger than if it had taken place in the open. Those on the other side of the door were going to be crushed.

Suddenly the force holding Jon disappeared. He knew he didn’t have much time. Grabbing the grenade he raced back to the bathroom and tossed the grenade through the hole he created. It exploded just as it reached its zenith. The explosion ripped most of the roof off and set fire to what little was left.

Jon, untouched by the force was again saved by his Talent. Jon hurried back to the locked bedroom. It was only a matter of time before Tom came back to inspect the destruction.

The door was indeed jammed but not unbreakable. He rammed the door twice with his shoulder and he was through. Inside he found that all the room’s furniture had been stacked against the door. In the far corner by the bricked up window Dr. Mays and Aaron had their faces buried against each other.

“Stay away from us!” Mary screamed. She grabbed a discarded dictionary and threw it at him.

“Hey… I’m with the cavalry.”

“If you’re the cavalry can you tell us what the hell is going on?”

“It’s your son.”

“Son?” She looked at Aaron confused.

“Not him… Tom. He’s got a chip on his shoulder and he’s itching to scratch it by taking it out on you and Aaron.”

“Tom… my Tom?” Mary’s eyes went vacant. She was going into shock. It had never occurred to her that that Tom would try to kill her, let alone possess Talent.

“Damn it we have no time for this. Aaron, take my hand. I’m getting you out of here.” Aaron didn’t budge. If anything he tightened his hold on his grandma. “Damn it this is not time to get stubborn on me.” Jon grabbed Aaron around the waist, not caring what the contact would do to him.

He had barely pulled the two apart when he heard a cold evil laugh from the door. Tom was the source. “Once again you have my thanks. For some reason I wasn’t able to force it open with my Talent. Tom turned his attention to his mother. “Hello mum… miss me.”

“Tom… Tom is that you? My precious, precious boy?”

“Precious? Let’s not lie to ourselves… no on matters more to you than poor Hal. You even preferred the retard over me. What did I ever do to you make you hate me? Did I do something wrong to scare you away?”

“No Tom… you did nothing. It’s me. I screwed up but I promise to make things right.”

“You will?” Really? He had taken on the tone of an over excited evil child.

“Of course Tom. All three of us will go back to Bulls Bay…”

“Three?”

“Yes you, me, and Aaron. We’ll all go back home… together.”

“But mum there is no home to go back to.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well you see when the Coven came for me they gave me the love you wouldn’t and I loved them back. I loved them so much that when they asked me to bump off dad and Amber… well I really had no choice but to do as they asked. But don’t worry mum. Don’t worry. I won’t kill my own mother. But I will insist you treat me better from now on. After all I’m all the family you have left.” He took out a bowie knife and used it to clean under his blackened nails.

“Of course Tom. Whatever you want.” Mary was too shocked to comprehend what her Tainted son was telling her.

“What I want is for you to kill Aaron.”

“Aaron…? Kill him?” The mentioning of Aaron’s name brought Mary halfway back to reality.

“Yes mum… kill him for me. We can then gather at the breakfast table and make a meal out of him like a normal family. The Coven had me eat dad and he was delicious.” He licked his lips with a pustule covered tongue.

“No… no Tom. Never. I… I won’t let you kill Aaron.”

“You’re just going to have to I’m afraid.” He offered the knife to his mother. He then reached with his tainted mind and took control of his mother. At the same time he pinned Jon to the wall. He forced his mother to take the knife. “There you go mum… go fetch breakfast.”

Mary fought to stop herself from walking back to Aaron with the knife. Tom’s will was the stronger of the two. Tears ran down her face as she raised the knife. “Please Aaron… please forgive me.”

“No… don’t eat me. Don’t’ eat me!” Aaron covered his ears with both hands and screamed.

Suddenly Jon could move again. He ripped the knife from Mary’s hands and in a single motion threw it back to its owner. The knife buried itself deep into Tom’s right breast. He vomited out black acidic blood. “No… this can’t be. He promised… he promised you would kill him. Mum… please mum… don’t look at me that way.” He screamed as he fell through the floor down the hole pool of acid at his feet had opened up.

Mary pulled on her hair and wailed as madness took her.

Jon, blind to all else but Aaron led the terrified young man from the room. He heard Aaron beg over and over not to be eaten. Once out of the house he found the rest of Tom’s followers had scattered.

Sam was there waiting for them. “Thank god you two are alright but where’s Dr. Mays?”

“She’s occupied at the moment.” Jon replied.

“Doing what?”

They heard a high pitched scream come from the house. “Suffering a psychotic breakdown.”

“And him?”

“I was hoping you could use your mumbo-jumbo and calm him down.”

“One empathic special coming up.” Sam concentrated on Aaron, blink, and tried to focus harder. “No can do… can’t reach him.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Never met a dude I couldn’t effect but there’s always a first time. It’s like he’s there but isn’t. Why don’t you try that touchy-feely thing you haven’t been able to stop talking about?”

“I don’t think this would be the appropriate time.” Jon couldn’t admit that physical contact with Aaron’s skin triggered a hard-on.

The three of them sat on the porch until the authorities arrived. These authorities were not the police but agents of the three main political entities of the Elected: the Order, the Coven and the neutral Council. With them was Chief Liaison Harper.

In accordance to the Council Treaty, Tom was taken away by the Coven to face the harsh justice of the Master. Once the Coven had a list of Tom’s heretic followers, death warrants would be issued. Any faction could then hunt them down without fear of retaliation from the Coven.

As far Aaron was concerned, the investigators labeled him an innocent bystander who got caught up in a son’s revenge against his mother. When mentalist tried to search his mind all they found was an empty void. Given the boy’s emotional state they didn’t think more aggressive probing would produce better results. A cursory search of Tom’s memories showed no sign that Aaron possessed any Talent. So long as he showed up at the Lakes School to be interviewed by the headmaster there would be no need for further inquiry.

As for Mary Mays she would be handed over to the cleaners. Tonight’s events would be wiped from her mind. She would be given a new identity and set of memories and live the rest of her days in a community designed to take in people like her. The Council would keep a close eye on her for the first two years to make sure no residual memories resurfaced. She would then be allowed to move on with her new life and leave the settlement if she so wished. Most didn’t but it was an option she would be given.

As for the state of the house the damage would be made to appear as the result of a gas explosion. It would later be bulldozed and replaced. In a year it will be as if nothing had happened.

Jon didn’t worry that the true events would be discovered by the Untalented authorities. They were so easy to fool. What concerned him was how Aaron would recover. The youth seemed to have lived a life taken out of Dante’s Inferno… an early childhood spent in the Coven to later live as a mentally handicapped. He had been the victim of assault and attempted rape and now almost killed by a vengeful son driven mad by Taint. Any normal kid would end up as broken as he seemed to be. Tomorrow would be another day. Potentially a better one at the Lakes School.