Exterminators Infected (The Exterminators Book 1) (15 page)

“It's just odd, I guess. I mean there are some cuties in all my classes. What's your type?”
“I don't have a type,” Peter answered awkwardly.
“Everyone has a type.” Fred waved his hands around. “Is it some weird thing? Like the ugly red heads or something?”

“No. I just don't find anybody attractive. I don't have a type. I don't care about hair color or skin color. I could care less if they are fat or skinny. I just don't find anyone I'm attracted to. I really don't see what the problem is,” Peter grumbled. He didn't realize it came off a bit rough, as Fred looked surprised.
“Sorry, dude,” Fred muttered.
“I took no offense. I'm sorry if I came off upset. I'm just not sure why I have to be attracted to someone in our classes. I find certain girls attractive - just none in our school.”

“Well who do you find hot then?”
“Well… my psychiatrist is beautiful.” Peter remembered her beautiful black hair reaching all the way down to her lower back. She had glasses and a smile most of the time. Pink lipstick was her favorite, so she always wore it. She had a very thin and tall frame, which Peter instantly found attractive. He also loved the fact she was extremely smart. More so she always spoke to him like he was an adult. Very respectful. He loved that about her.
“I didn't even know you had a psychiatrist.” Fred was surprised. He'd been hanging out with the guys a lot the last few months. They mostly focused on training though and making plans during fights. He never really bothered to learn about Peter. He liked him well enough but they never teamed up alone. Now he was interested to learn more about this fellow Exterminator. “So she's hot, huh? Maybe you just like the older ladies. I can understand that.” He playfully elbowed Peter. Peter smiled back, as he pushed him away.
Peter never talked about his psychiatrist. He never spoke about his problems to anyone. “I go to her ‘cause sometimes I feel...different. I don't know why I am the way I am at times. Sometimes I feel it's my...” He wanted to speak more. He didn't know why he found it easy to talk to Fred about the problems that clouded his mind. He just felt the words come out so easy. “I think my father being the way he is has made me not feel emotions like normal people do. I don't know if I shut my emotions off or I never had them to begin with.”
Fred listened to his friend speak, formulating his own opinion on it. Peter looked at him, then to the ground. He was wondering if he went too far into detail about his problems. He was about to speak up but Fred spoke first. “I can understand that.” Peter looked back up at Fred. “My parents are never around. They provide for me, money-wise, but are never around to even be with me. Is that even parenting? I don't know. Sometimes I feel like I'm raising myself. I just want a normal family, yet I basically live in a house that's empty. I don't feel the love from my mom or dad, I don't know if they even love me, to be honest.” Just like Peter, it was easy for Fred to spill his thoughts. He wasn't sure why it was so easy either, but he had to get it off his chest.
“I feel like the fact my mom never wanted me to stay out past four on school days growing up and my dad telling me to keep quiet, shut up, and stay in my room turned me into this. This kid with problems. I can't even understand people's emotions at times. It makes me feel weird, like maybe I just don't belong with people. With you guys…” Peter let his voice drift off as he felt the stress slowly leaving his body. The words he had kept in for so long were finally leaving. Finally they were getting away from him. He gladly let them evaporate into the air.
“You belong with us. You're part of the team, remember?” Fred placed his hand on Peter's shoulder. “Don't ever doubt that. We're in this together, and that's that. When things get rough, we work through it, together. You can't feel emotions sometimes? That's fine. We'll help you. Don't ever think you don't belong with us.”
Peter felt a tug, almost as if someone ripped away a part of him. The part he hated the most. The part that kept him under a shield. A shield that made him what he is today. That part of him just got stripped away. He felt like someone cared, something he never felt before. He felt like someone cared about him, and wasn't afraid to tell him that they cared. He felt like he had an actual friend. “Thank you,” was all Peter could finally say.

They reached the house. Fred smiled at his friend. “Never need to thank a friend. Let's go do some training.” Fred walked up the steps. Peter took a look at Fred going up the stairs. He smiled, as he watched him walk to the door. He never had a real friend before. These guys were his unit. Now they were becoming his friends. He liked that. “You coming?” Fred looked back from the door. Peter nodded and began climbing the stairs.

“You look amazing!” Marshall exclaimed as Lucy opened the door. She was dressed up as a zombie bridesmaid. She had on a beautiful white dressed with zombie makeup. Chunks of whole skin were missing on her face. Marshall felt under dressed in just regular clothes with ripped holes through his shirt. He also had a fake rubber knife in on his left leg. “You're by far the hottest zombie I've ever seen.”
“You look like an attack victim. You aren't very scary,” Lucy said laughing. Marshall shrugged. “I like it though. It could be like I attacked you, and tried to stab you. We match up.” She shut the door behind her.
They walked side by side, at first not saying anything as they went down the block. She wanted to say something but she was never good with conversations. She usually said something odd and it made people just look at her weird. She wasn't sure how to start a conversation.
“I think this dance is going to be cool.” Marshall finally broke the silence. He wasn't really sure what to say after that. Lucy wanted to say something, instead she just nodded. “I mean I can't dance, but it'll be fun. I think. Can you dance?”
“Not really. I have two left feet.”
“Yeah, me too!” He sounded too excited. He tried to hold it back but she saw the excitement and giggled. “Hey, no fair. You can't laugh at me. You have two left feet, remember?”
She put her hand over her mouth, trying to hold in the laugh. “It's just funny how excited you got at the fact we both have two left feet.”
“Well, you kind of make me nervous.”
“
I
make
you
nervous?”
“You do. I think you're cute.” Marshall may not have been a ladies man, but he had no problem speaking his mind. He could always straight out tell someone what he was thinking. It was his gift and his curse.
Lucy smiled, her face turning bright red. She had boys ask her out before, boys even telling her she's cute, but never someone saying it so out in the open. Through text or online messaging is one thing, but to say it to her face is another. She felt happy, scared, nervous, and excited all at once. “You know what, I think tonight is going to be pretty great,” she told him.
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Well, I'll try to make it as memorable as possible,” Marshall returned smiling. He slid his hand in hers. Her heart stopped for moment then she gripped his hand tighter. She could feel the heat of his hand and she loved it. She gave a quick glance over at him and he looked back. She smiled. Little did Marshall know he already made this night memorable for her.

Nick moved his body in such an odd way it made Kelly almost fall over laughing. Nick didn't know how to dance, but that didn't stop him from trying. Kelly found it to be the funniest thing she'd ever seen. She slapped her knee, she gasped for breath, and she even begged him to stop. Still Nick proceeded to shake like an epileptic patient having a seizure, throwing his hands in the air. The people around him gave him odd looks as they moved away.
“Please babe, just stop!” Kelly threw her hands in the air. She couldn't stop her laughing, though. The song ended a few moments later and Nick stopped moving.
“Hey, people just jealous of my awesome dance moves,” he told her laughing. She shook her head, grabbing onto him. He loved it when she grabbed him and pulled herself closer. He gave her a long kiss; something he wanted to do over and over again then grabbed her shoulders and pulled her even closer. Kissing her even more, he felt the old lust feeling finally turning into love.
They began a slow dance, working with the music and each other. They let the sound of the room move their bodies in a graceful motion. They went back and forth, close to one another, lost in each other. The feelings they felt for each other grew with each step they took together. Nick had felt so lost as of late, but with Kelly he felt whole. He felt like he was finally someone.
The song came to an end, and they pulled away from each other. “Let's go get a drink,” Nick said, while grabbing her hand. As they walked back to the table of drinks they ran into Marshall. He was talking to Lucy, both laughing loudly. “Hey man, how's it going?”
Marshall turned to Nick. He gave him a boy’s handshake. “Great man, this is Lucy.” She shook both Nick and Kelly's hands. “We just got here a few minutes ago, this place is jam packed.”
“Yeah, no joke. We just got here about thirty minutes ago, and been dancing as much as possible.” Kelly grabbed harder onto Nick. She was so pleased to be with him. “Well, we're going to grab a drink. See you on the dance floor.” Kelly waved goodbye as they walked away.
Marshall grabbed Lucy's hand. “Let's get to dancing. We should at least try to dance,” he said winking at her. She giggled back at him and they went to the center of the dance floor. The song was a fast paced one so they both broke into a frenzy of throwing their hands around and shaking their bodies. To everyone around them, they looked insane dancing, but they both were laughing the entire time together.
Nick and Kelly arrived near the refreshments. “I'd actually like some water,” Kelly told Nick. Nick nodded and went to go grab a bottle. As he reached over the table he saw an odd statue standing behind the drinks. He leaned his head over the table and saw an address on it. Only seven blocks away from the school. His eyes got wide. He checked his watch; it was already getting close to eight o'clock. “A mission,” he gasped.

Chapter 16 – Bullet
Nick wasn't sure how to handle the situation. He knew he had a mission, but he knew he couldn't just leave Kelly at the dance. He gazed at the rock once more, mentally taking note of the address. He stepped away from the table and back over to Kelly. She tapped his chest. “Hey, you okay? You look like you've seen a ghost.”

Nick looked towards the dance floor.
“I should tell Marshall,”
he thought to himself. He then saw Marshall dancing like a crazy man with his equally crazy-looking date.
“I can't ruin that for him.”
He turned back towards Kelly. “Yeah baby, I'm fine. Here's your drink.” He could feel the sweat crawling down his face as he handed her the water bottle.
Nick had been waiting weeks for this. He still hadn't had his first mission. He fought with Peter, Marshall, and Fred multiple times on their missions taking down a couple of beasts in teams. He still never had a chance to actually fight on his own mission, though. Now that he got one he wished it could have been any other time but now.
Nick leaned over to Kelly and kissed her lips. “I'm really sorry but I have to go. I'll be back in a few minutes. I need to grab some air. Wait for me?” She stared at him confused. “I'm sorry about this,” he said, sadness radiating from his voice.
“You look terrible. You're sweating like a man who just escaped prison,” She said as she wiped his forehead. Her heart twisted as she felt a sudden grief and became worried for her boyfriend.

“I swear I'm okay baby. Let me go grab some air and I'll be right back, promise.” He began strolling towards the exit.
“All right...I'll be waiting here.” He could hear the sadness in her voice. It killed him to hear that. He'd do anything for her not to be upset, but he needed to complete his Objective. He never knew the consequences of not finishing a mission but he wasn't about to find out.
Nick quickly went to the side of the school. In this empty space he clicked the button on his beeper and went into the other realm. He wanted to complete this mission as quickly as possible. He ran towards the address that he had written down.
As he ran through the streets invisible to the normal world, he watched as kids were all around the area. Even three blocks away from the school they were hanging out near cars, on lawns outside the house, in garages. He ignored it, focusing on the mission. He grabbed his Rod and began focusing on a weapon. He'd been training with the spear a lot lately. However, he wanted to master his skills in sword play. He loved the way the sword danced with his body. He focused for a moment, imagining a black handled, silver tipped, three-foot sword. In a matter of seconds it formed in his hand. It gave him a sense of power to hold such a weapon every time he created it.
He arrived at the address. Looking around quickly, trying to spot the beast that passed through the realms. He saw a few kids walking down the block but, besides that, the street was completely empty. Nick jogged up the block looking side to side trying to find it. He wanted to be cautious but also wanted to hurry back to the dance.

As he reached the end of the block he heard a hiss. Turning quickly to his right he backed up on instinct. He checked under the last car on the street and found a pair of red eyes peering back at him. He held the sword close to his side, waiting for the creature to pop out. It hissed again from the darkness. Nick hadn't seen or heard this creature before.
As if it was on a timer, the beast darted out from under the car and flew towards Nick. Its whole body was black, eyes dark red, with teeth that were razor sharp, and claws coming out of its paws. It looked similar to a wolf but mixed with a fox in terms of body design. Nick brought his sword up as the thing leapt towards him. He wasn't ready for its speed as it tackled him before he could even raise the sword up.
The creature used its weight to push Nick down. He slammed on the ground, letting go of the sword. The Unknown dug its front paws into Nick's chest. It tore right through the shirt and into his upper body. As it dug right in, Nick let out a cry of pain, and blood began seeping out almost immediately. The white shirt he was wearing was slowly becoming entirely red. On reaction he kicked his two feet up, knees hitting the creature, as he flung it off him. The creature hit a truck heading down the street head on. Nick heard a crushing sound and a few yards away the truck swerved to the side and came to a full stop.
Nick got up, coughing. He grabbed his chest and could feel the blood. He took a glance downwards realizing he looked a lot worse than it actually was. He tried to ignore it but the pain soared through his chest with a burning sensation that he couldn't do anything about.
He surveyed the truck down the road that hit the Unknown. He could see a blood trail not far from the truck. He had been hoping the impact would have killed the beast. He slowly walked towards the truck, trying to brush away the pain. He could hear a few kids from down the block shouting. They heard the impact from the crash and were now making their way towards the truck. Nick heard another hiss. Now he had to kill this thing before anyone could get involved. The mission importance just jumped tenfold.
Fred sat in the gym after a four mile run. He was holding forty pound weights in his backpack determined to build up his strength. He wasn't going easy on his body anymore. He refused to ever be in another fight and badly hurt like he was in the first mission he was on. He wanted to become an important part of the team, and to do that he had to push himself beyond anything he imagined before. He kept at it, never giving up.
Peter on the other hand kept playing with the elements; forming them into different shapes while trying to figure out how to use them as weapons besides just throwing them. He learned a few new tricks that made him better at close range as well as farther away. He just had to figure out how to combine his skills to make him the perfect fighter. His strength was to push himself to the point of perfecting an art. This however, was also his weakness in that there is the occasional art that cannot be perfected no matter how hard he tries.
Fred turned to Peter. “Feels good to work out sometimes. Gets that pent-up stress relieved. Ya know what I mean?”
“Agreed,” Peter nodded.
“I do kind of wish I had gone to the dance now.” Fred wondered how the dance was going. Wondered if he should have asked someone after all. Maybe it would have been fun. He never really danced but to hold a lady and let their bodies move in unison would have been pretty special. At least Fred imagined it would be since he had never had the chance.
Peter couldn't understand the need to go to a dance. He never liked to dance in the first place. The dress up part was also foreign to Peter. He'd never gone trick-or-treating or done anything special for Halloween. He couldn't understand the fascination of going out and getting dressed up for candy. He didn't want to seem like the odd one out again though. “Yeah, could have been fun.”
“Yeah...” Fred thought about it. He wasn't sure what else to say. He felt Peter wouldn't understand the need of being near a girl. Peter seemed content at this moment in his life but Fred ached to have a girl to comfort him. He'd never been on a date, never held a girl, never kissed one. At this moment he wanted to so badly; to just try, if for no other reason than to try something new. He also wanted to be close to someone. Being in a lonely house all day made him crave for another human being.
“Have you ever dated a girl?” It was as if Peter could read Fred's mind. Fred looked back in shock.
“O-of course,” he replied stuttering.
Peter read his body language and response. It was easy to see he was lying. “I never have,” he said figuring if he told the truth that Fred would follow suit.
“Really?”
“Yes. I've thought about it occasionally.” Peter didn't have much time for dating in his life. He figured one day he'd find someone but spent most of his time studying and now training. Still, every so often he saw a couple walking and felt like he was missing that. That connection that he dearly wanted. If he were to gain it he'd be feel even more normal. Something he wanted to be so desperately.
“Okay I lied. I've never dated. It just feels weird. I mean I'm seventeen and I haven't dated. How sad is that?”

“Nothing sad about it. Just ‘cause you take your time in life with certain things, like dating, doesn't make you sad.” Peter walked over to Fred and sat near him. He pulled his knees up close to his chest. “I do want to find someone special though. I don't have many reasons other than to find out how it feels. I want to see if I can form a connection that others are always speaking about.”
“Yeah, I understand that. I try to envision the same thing. I want to know how it feels. I think I want that more than the other stuff. I mean, don't get me wrong, I'd love to get down and dirty.” Fred said laughing, pushing Peter. Peter laughed back, sincerely this time. “I just want to know how it is to have someone you can love. Know what I mean?”
“I do.” Peter wondered what it meant to love every day. He felt like he couldn't even love his own mother. The person who gave birth to him. So, did that mean he could ever truly feel that feeling of love? He questioned it every single day.
“Man we sound like two sappy losers, don't we?”
“I don't think so.”
Fred laughed, patting his friend on the back. “Yeah, you wouldn't. All right, I'ma run another lap then we can get out of here.” Peter nodded and Fred got up. They both went back to their training.
Marshall let Lucy's head lay on his chest as they slow danced. He could feel her movements every step they took. He could feel the heat of her body fuse with his own. He laid his head on top of hers, feeling like he was becoming closer every step they took. It felt amazing. Marshall was glad he went to the dance after all. He was overjoyed that he asked Lucy to accompany him.
The song ended and they pulled away from each other. “You're a much better dancer than you give yourself credit for,” Lucy said smiling at Marshall.

“Who would of guessed?” he grinned.

“Thank you,” she said, looking around the dance room.

“For what?”

“For taking me here. With you. It's something I never expected to do. I-” she began then shook her head. Looking back into his eyes he could see her's were watery. As if she were about to cry. He wanted to pull her in closer, to make sure she never cried.

“I've never had a date that was this great. Thank you for coming with me.” Her smile grew as did his. He felt a bond he never experienced before flourishing.
“Marshall,” Kelly walked up to them both. “Nick said he was going out for some air. It's been over thirty minutes. I'm starting to worry.”

Marshall looked at Kelly; he could see how nervous she was. “He just walked out in the middle of the dance? Was he sick?”
“I don't know. He looked nervous. Now I'm scared.” she told him. He could sense the sadness in her voice.

“I'm sure he's fine.” He grabbed Lucy and looked at her. “I'll be right back. I'ma go look for him and bring him back here. Dummy probably got lost around the block,” he said laughing. A hollow laugh that neither of the girls bought.

“All right, please hurry back.” Lucy never thought she would say something like that. Especially to someone like Marshall, no less.
“I will. Kelly, stay close to her. We'll be back in no time. You both owe us our last dance, remember that!” he called back as he walked through the crowd. He made his way outside as quickly as he could. Pushing through the vast amount of kids at the dance was harder than Marshall imagined it would be. He didn't want to push anyone or get into a fight.

He reached the door and pulled through. As he ran down the steps and was about to make a turn he bumped right into Ryan. Ryan, the school bully, who looked angry as hell. He turned around and grabbed Marshall by the tip of his shirt. “Hey, little Marshall. I've seen you hanging out with the nerds and freaks. You loser.” He pushed Marshall hard into the ground. Marshall fell, but only because he was busy trying to figure out which way Nick went. Ryan towered over him. “Hey loser, get up.”

Marshall looked past Ryan. He could see in the distance a truck's back lights shining red. He figured that must be the way Nick went. Nobody would stop in the middle of the road for nothing. “Listen dude, I don't got time for this.” He rose and began to walk past Ryan. Ryan grabbed him again but Marshall quickly pushed his arm away. Ryan didn't expect the swiftness of the much smaller boy. Marshall then broke out in a run. Ryan took a few steps then stopped. The drinking caught up to him and he couldn't get very far without wanting to throw up. He watched as Marshall ran around the corner, cursing under his breath.
Nick held the sword tightly. He was searching under the truck where the hiss came from. He saw the blood smeared along where the truck was and underneath it, but no beast. He smashed his fist on the side of the truck.
“Where the hell is this thing?”
He heard the front of the truck open. “No,” he muttered. He quickly made his way from the back of the truck but it was too late. The second the driver stepped out of the truck the creature leapt from the top of it. The poor man couldn't see or even hear what was attacking him. He was just knocked to the ground as the beast dug its claws into him. He cried out in pain as the beast took another swipe at him on the ground.
Nick rushed forward, his sword tucked to his side. He roared trying to scare the beast but it was too busy with its prey. Nick took advantage of the distraction and charged forward. He was able to tackle the creature from behind, sword sliding right through its side. It viciously let out a howl of pain as they both fell to the side. Nick recovered quickly, drawing the sword out of the beast.
The beast bellowed in pain. He wrenched the sword back, ready to finish it off. The beast reacted and threw all four of its short legs forward. It jolted him backwards; he dropped the sword while flying a few feet back. He could feel his back crack on the concrete. It hurt his chest even more, the burning was reignited and he bit his lip to try and forget the pain.