Two Page Shorts - Nick Venom (big ebook reader txt) 📗

and hair were charcoal-black. 

In Flame’s hand, tightly gripped by him, was a large battle-ax that was greater in height than him by a half-foot. The battle-ax was made out of carbon-black metals with several scraps fused onto it. 

Flame, who was glaring at White Star the entire time since he turned around, cleared his throat before speaking. “Where is Blue Star?” He asked, his voice grumbling and raspy.

“U-Uh… H-He… He’s gone, sir.” White Star lowered his head.

“Killed by the rat?” Flame asked. White Star nodded. “How… did you escape?” His words were a trap waiting to be sprung.

Unfortunately for White Star, he jumped headfirst into it. “I was able to avoid being killed by the rat.”

“So you left your comrade?”

White Star’s eyes widened as he realized what had happened. In Flame’s eyes, White Star betrayed Blue Star. He just provided Flame with evidence of his disloyalty.

“No, no, no! I didn’t leave him! I promise!” He blurted out in an attempt to save himself. However, Flame didn’t care for it.

“Kill him!” He ordered. The guards complied, grabbing White Star, who kicked and tried to squirm out of their grasps. 

“Please, sir! I didn’t betray him! PLEASE!” White Star screamed as he was taken away. His begging words fell on deaf ears as Flame’s orders were definitive. White Star would be executed by his fellow gang members. They didn’t care that they were executing each other by the seconds. The Underground was an area of corruption and death. And death always lingered over them. Watching and waiting. Waiting for the time to strike.

***

Asad wanted to speak with Thomas about Project Titan. The project had gotten started but wasn’t moving at the speed he wanted. He decided to talk with Thomas who he assigned to the project - the only plan they had rolling to combat the Underground.

“This is Project Titan,” declared Thomas, staring at a sphere of blinding light encased in a glass box with a cloth draped over it.

“Can I see how it works?” Asad asked.

Thomas nodded, grabbing a stick from the side of the glass. He equipped a glove before pulling back a section of the cloth from the glass and opened a hatch. He stuck the stick into the glass, waiting several seconds before taking it out. 

Thomas turned to face Asad, showing him the results. Crystals the color of the rainbow had fused themselves with the portion of the stick left inside the glass box. 

“The idea is that we infused an individual with this colorful sphere of light, known as the Elemental’s Crystal, and they should develop powers. It’s a very dangerous and risky procedure that we haven’t tested yet. We still need a lot of time to test out the kinks and make sure it’s safe.” He explained.

“Do we have volunteers for the project?”

“Not yet, Mr. President. It’s still in the early phases, but I think we can begin testing by next week.”

Asad nodded. “Find one immediately. I want you to provide results to the rest of the cabinet before we’re stuck in a civil war.” He ordered. 

Thomas tilted his head, furrowing his brows. “Sir… We could kill somebody like that. We’re still experimenting with the crystal and we’re unsure if it’ll work or not.

“You heard me. Find someone that can handle this power.” He ordered. “Hana and some of my cabinet want to create a war between us and the Underground. I need to stop it now.”

“I… Yes, Mr. President. I will do what I can.”

***

Grian watched as Flame’s gang investigated the fire before departing the scene from a roof a block away. He glanced down at his hands, which were soaked in the blood of Blue Star. He watched the blood as it circled in his hands, moving from one side of his palm to the other. 

“Interesting isn’t it?” A man behind him asked. Grian’s eyes widened before he turned around with the dagger pointed towards the man.

“Who are you?” Grian snarled while glancing over at his side. He was seeing whether or not he had been surrounded or if it was only the man.

“Don’t worry, I’m alone,” The man remarked.

“What… what do you want?” He asked while inspecting the man. He was dressed in black clothing that covered his entire body except for his face, which was bruised and scarred. A scar above his left eyebrow and one directly across his face. He wore a twisted grin, happy with the current events. His long yellow hair swayed in the air, not restricted by a hood.

“Nothing much.” It was now the man’s turn to inspect Grian. “Just wanted to see the kid that brought down one of our men and forced us to kill the other.” He taunted him. Grian went silent, watching the man's every movement, small or big. He now knew that the man was with Flame and, considering that he was already targeted, this disturbed him. 

“I see the fierceness in your eyes. How ‘bout you join Flame’s gang. I’ll be sure to make proper use of you. Maybe even get you a chick and some good food.” He offered with his twisted grin on full view.

“N-no,” Grian whispered.

“ Did I just hear no?” The man asked. His twisted grin faded into a frown. “Do you really want to make that decision?”

“I-I-I… yes.” Grian spat out.

“Hmm. Then I guess you gotta go.” The man’s muscles, which were meek and slim, slowly expanded to the size of a large flatscreen television. “They call me Tank. You’ll see why,” He said before chuckling to himself. He winded up a punch, smiling as he approached Titan.

Grian glanced to his sides and noticed Flame’s men surrounding him, appearing, seemingly, out of nowhere. They blocked every exit except the one behind Grian - off the edge of the roof. The grim reaper stood behind him with a crooked grin. 

“See ya!” Tank shouted as he reached him. He threw the punch that had been gathering strength over the small stretch of time. The punch connected, smacking into Grian’s gut. Grian tried to protect himself by having the dagger absorb much of the force, but it wasn’t enough. Tank’s strength was more than Grian could stomach. He was thrown backward, dropping his dagger in the process, and nearly flew off the roof. Fortunately, however, pity shined upon him. 

He held onto the gutter of the roof. Tank chuckled as he watched Grian holding onto what he could for dear life. “You had a chance. But you rejected it. You could’ve saved yourself, but you didn’t.” Tank laughed as his muscles retracted. Tank crouched down and plucked off one finger. Flame’s men laughed up a storm as Tank plucked off another finger. Then another. Grian’s grip loosened, dropping his right hand, and he began dangling in the air. 

Tank crouched closer to Grian, grinning. “Have you ever heard of the phrase, A titan rises slowly, but falls quickly?” Tank asked. The men around him sneered and joked at Grian’s expense. “Guess what? That phrase was about you.” Tank plucked all five fingers of his left hand with ease, dropping him. Tank let out a big laugh as he watched the fear in Grian’s eyes grow. 

Grian grabbed out for anything, but he only gripped at the air. He was falling fast and would soon hit the ground. He was about to die… for a reason he wasn’t sure of. Did he mess with Flame unknowingly or was this a random attack? Who knew except for Flame? And he would rather die than spill information, especially to someone like Grian. A rat. A being that survives and lives off the scraps of others and is always at the mercy of stronger beings. 

A fitting end for a rat, the dwellers of the bottom. Grian tried to escape the rat life by traveling on the roofs and now he was being sent back to the bottom… in the harshest way possible.

A fitting end.

***

Thomas bypassed the checkpoint as he looked for a suitable candidate. Unfortunately, the project was too dangerous for a normal citizen to handle. Only those who have experienced death and lived a harsh life could handle the fusion. 

He went door to door, searching for a candidate, with a knife in his pocket. He was followed by two knights who served as bodyguards. They searched for a candidate who would willingly go with them, but they couldn’t find anybody. As they searched, they heard a scream coming from nearby. 

“What was that?” Thomas questioned.

“Should we leave?” A knight asked.

“No… Let’s go investigate.”

Meanwhile, two fox demi-humans were being kept in a basement of a member of Flame’s gang. They looked towards the night sky with hope through a locked window, but they understood the harsh truth. They will never get it. No matter how hard they try, they will never be free and get to live a peaceful life. Edge, one of the fox demi-humans, heard a scream coming from a couple of houses down. He woke up his sister, Serina, in a panic. 

“What is it?” She grumbled, annoyed to be woken up.

“I heard screaming,” He whispered. Other slaves rested next to them in the small quarters and he wanted to avoid being killed by them for wakening them up so late.

“It happens every day. Please, go to sleep.” Serina told him.

“I know, but…” his voice trailed off. He looked up at the night sky. He watched as the stars traveled across the sky. “Still… I want to do something about it.”

“You can… by going asleep. We have work tomorrow.” Serina said.

Edge nodded. “O-Okay, sis. I will… soon.”

***

Grian’s gray soul floated in the abyss, chained to a three feet circumference. The empty constraint room held the soul trapped within the abyss. However, a streak of red and blue pierced through the abyss and approached Grian’s soul, swirling around it. 

The colors didn’t mix instantly, for some reason, layering on top of each other. The chains that restricted the soul were torn off by force and the abyss was fractured by the bright lights. 

The soul ventured farther into the abyss, using its new lights as a police siren through the empty roads of the abyss. It traveled across the abyss towards a faint light, that grew as it got closer. The closer it got, the brighter the lights became. 

Eventually, the soul reached the light and disappeared from the abyss. It escaped its chains. It was no longer chained to the fate God had designed. It was creating its own path in a new environment. It was being reborn.

Murder House

Jankin City, Illinois

11:06 AM

Day 000

Subjects: Ryan [Friend], Lindsay [Friend], Alan [Friend], and Grace [Friend]

Subject numbers: Ryan [#393], Lindsay [#889], Alan [#240], and Grace [#675]

Expected Lifespan: 1 Day

Criminal Record: Ryan {Cleared}, Lindsay {none}, Alan {Robbery}, and Grace {none}

“Are you sure it’s a haunted house?” Alan, a redheaded teen dressed in sweats, asked. He stood with three other teens his age. 

“Why? Are you scared?” Ryan, a short-haired blond teen, teased.

“No, I’m just saying,” Alan responded. “Where did you find this?” 

“He probably Google’d it,” Lindsay said. She was a brunette with tanned skin, dressed in her casual clothes of a t-shirt and jeans.  

“You... may be right,” Ryan answered with a smirk. The others laughed at him. 

“Let’s go already,” Grace said before pushing through Ryan and heading towards the house. The house was in