Exterminators Infected (The Exterminators Book 1) (24 page)

Carl was in his office looking at Fred who was checking out the room. Carl didn't want to train until he had a chance to get used to the kids first. He was a trainer but also a mentor. If his own unit didn't trust him, how could he train them? “You haven't said much about your life. Tell me more about the parents.”

“Screw ‘em. They never did me any favors.” Fred picked up a baseball and threw it in the air, catching it with his left hand. He studied the ball, yet his mind drifted to a different place. “They're never in town. I really just rather not talk about them.”

“Fair enough,” Carl said sitting down. “How do you feel about the other boys? Are you getting along with them all?”

“Yeah, of course. We've all been through hell together. We're gonna stick together, of course.”

“Anyone you don't see yourself getting along with?”

“Is this some type of test? To see if I'm stable?” He could feel himself getting upset. He wondered if Marshall mentioned the incident that happened a month ago. When he began forming into something...something he was scared to talk about. Especially to the organization.
“Not at all. I just want to know more about my students.”

“Nick's cool, Marshall is an idiot but my best friend, and Peter is slightly weird yet I feel I can always count on him. I actually can count on all three. So yes, we all get along.” Fred tried not to show his fury that was growing. He’d rather not lead Carl on to show him how scared he was.
“I see. Well, I'm very glad you all are getting along so well.” He watched as Fred's eyes darted around the room. “What's wrong? You seem nervous.”

“I'm not.”

“That's what a nervous person would say.”

“I'm not nervous. I hate being interviewed.”

“This isn't an interview.”

“Then stop acting like it's one!” Fred threw the baseball across the room. It flew into the wall directly to the side of Carl's face. The speed was amazing; if a normal person saw it they'd guess he was on the baseball team. The ball would have hurt anyone in its way. Carl didn't move a muscle. Instead, he smiled at his student.

“Something's troubling you. What is it?”

“Nothing. Not a thing in the world!” Fred placed his hands on the desk. “What's troubling you, big boss? Why haven't you've been training us at all?” Fred's voice was getting deeper, angrier, darker. “Why have we done all the damn self-training while you sit here wallowing in your past? You messed up? Oh poor Carl, what will he ever do?” His voice changed, both sinister and playful.

“Fred, watch the next words that come out of your mouth.”

“Or what?” Fred leaned closer in on the desk. His teeth showing, a smile that could only be considered wicked. “Are you going to betray me, too?”

“What did you say?”

Fred backed off the desk and looked away. He could feel his body shifting. The anger fighting its way up his body but he forced it to stay at bay. He needed to keep calm. Needed to restrain himself from getting upset. From unleashing whatever has been trying to get out. He could feel it growing the last few weeks but he kept quiet. Not even telling Marshall, his closest friend and the only one who knew about his secret.

“I said...” Fred was spun around by a furious Carl. He had an extremely tight grip on his student as he put his face right in front of Fred's. “What did you say to me?” Fred felt the spit from Carl hit his face. He had never seen the calm and collective teacher so livid. He had never seen someone as angry as Carl was at this point.

“I said...I said...” Fred couldn't find the words. He couldn't remember the words. “I don't know what I said. I'm sorry,” he said, fumbling words.

Carl could see the boy was telling the truth. The Fred of a few seconds ago was gone. Replaced now by a frightened child. He let go of his student and backed away. He himself had to calm down. His temper is what got him in trouble before. He didn't want to reveal this side of himself to anyone. Especially to his unit.

“I'm sorry, too.” Carl rubbed his head. “I thought I heard something. Brought back memories.”

“Why don't you tell me about some of your memories?”

It was a simple enough question. Everyone wants to know about a person they care about. It's only natural to be curious where a person came from and how he came to be. Carl didn't let the question hurt him like it usually does. Instead, he reached back to when he began his Exterminator days. “Well, when I was in my first year, I was grouped with three girls.”

“Oh,” Fred said, now taking a seat. “Go on. This I wanna hear more of.”

“Well, it was three young ladies. All older than me though at that time.”

“How old were you?”

“I was fourteen.”

“What!?” Fred was in shock. He felt they were too young to be in the organization. Yet, Carl was just starting high school when he joined. “Weren't you afraid? You were just a kid.”

Carl laughed and nodded. “I was scared. Not to mention being the only boy on my team as well as the youngest, was scary. I had to be the leader, though.”

“You were the leader?”

“Yeah. I couldn't let my team down. They were all great fighters, however, I was the one with the plans. When we worked together with my strategies we almost never lost. My team survived their entire run. Two of them are still alive now.” Carl pointed to the picture behind Fred.

Fred took a look to see the smiling faces of four young people. One girl was red haired with a bunch of freckles on her face. She had braces in her mouth and looked to be around sixteen. The other two were hugging each other. One with black hair, one with brown. The black haired one was the oldest-looking one, probably in her late teens with her two fingers up in a peace sign. The brown haired one was waving at the camera. All the way to the left was Carl. He was looking at the girls smiling, as if he was proud. The youngest of them all, yet he still looked like the leader. The way he smiled in the picture, his eyes nearly shut closed, joyful of the company he was with.

“You look so happy.” Fred kept his eyes glued to the picture.

“I was. Those people were my family. They still are. The one with red hair,” Carl said pointing to the girl with braces. “That's our Gada. She's the boss of this place. Her name is Amanda but everyone calls her by her last name. Ross.”

“Whoa, so the one who runs this whole organization is your friend?”

“Yeah, best friend.”

“Any perks?”

“Not a single one.”

“That sucks,” Fred said laughing. He looked back at Carl. Could see him reliving the past. The many years of going on missions as a young Exterminator, killing the Unknowns of those times. He could see how much Carl missed it. “What about the other two?”

Carl looked down at the floor. “Amber, the one with the black hair is still alive. Funny enough, Peter would like her.” He walked over to his desk and sat down. “She focuses on magic. She's one of the best in the business and an excellent Protector. She hunts like no other. I've never seen someone so advanced with magic like her.”

“And the other...is she gone now?”

Carl nodded. “She is. I...” he began. Memories resurfaced like a wave, hitting hard. He remembered so much good, yet so much bad crept in with it. He tried to separate the two but it was almost impossible. In such a short time everything went terrible. All the good he worked towards was shattered so quickly. “Let's save that discussion for another day. I'm getting a bit tired.”

“Yeah, me too,” Fred lied. He could see his boss getting tired. Weak from just bringing up the past. He didn't want to push him any further.

“I'm glad you came by today.” Carl rested back in his chair. “Sometimes talking things out can help.”

“I agree.” Fred got up from his chair. He felt calmer, as if he was getting used to Carl. This was the first real conversation he had had with his Bora. It felt like something was building, more so he got to see a little into his teacher's world. It was a damaged place, but an intriguing one, none the less. If Carl wanted to help his student, Fred felt he needed some help from the others. He was willing to try. “I'll head out now. Take care Carl.”

“Take care Fred.”

Chapter 23 – Company
Fred walked towards Peter. Peter was inside the gym bending back his arms, stretching out his legs. “Hey Pete, how's things hanging?”

Peter's face turned towards Fred. “Hey Fred. I'm fine. How are you doing today?”

Fred shrugged and dropped his bag. He went straight to stretching, too. “Decent, glad it's the weekend.” It had only been a week since Fred was in Carl's office, he kept thinking about the incident. The second when he felt so angry he couldn't see clearly. When he wanted to rip off his Bora's face. It stilled remained fuzzy however, as if it was trying to repress the memory quickly.

“I agree. It'll be nice to get a few hours of extra training in.”
“I was thinking of extra rest,” Fred said, laughing.

“Hey Fred, can I talk to you later on?” Peter wasn't sure what came over him. He felt the need to speak to someone. Fred nodded.

“Everything okay?”
“Yeah, it's just some stuff I want to go over. It won't take long.”

“All right man, just remind me...” Fred began but the door opened. Marshall and Nick waltzed inside the gym laughing.

“Whatup, my brothers from another dad.”

“It's my brothers from another mother,” Fred pointed out.

“I don't think so,” Marshall responded.
“Let him have this one. Trust me, it'll be a lot easier that way,” Nick said.
“So, anyone know why we're here today? I just got a text from Carl and Jin to meet here.” Nick threw his bag to the side and began stretching. Marshall followed his lead.

“No clue, we both got the same text.” Fred pointed to Peter and himself.

“Well, more training can never hurt,” Peter said getting up.

“Did you take my advice?” Marshall asked.

“What advice?”
“Getting a girlfriend?”

“I told you I'm not attracted to any-” Peter began.
“-girl in class. Yeah I heard you. I'm saying any girl on the street. Dude, you focus so much on training you don't live. Come on!” He slapped Peter hard on the back. “It's time to loosen up and live a little huh?”
“Do not hit me.”

“Or what? You gonna punch me, sissy boy?” Marshall chuckled.

Peter got into Marshall's face. “I said, do not touch me.”

“Hey bro, get the hell out of my face.” Marshall stood over Peter. Peter didn't back down though. He looked up at Marshall, anger flaring in his eyes. The boys were meant to butt heads. Ever since they first met, Marshall thought lowly of Peter. Peter's whole objective with the training was to prove he was strong. Valuable.

“Okay guys, chill out.” Nick stepped in between the two separating them with his hands. “We don't need this right now. We're teammates remember?”

“Just tell freak over here not to get all pissy.”

“You keep calling me a freak,” Peter said plainly.

“That's ‘cause you are.” Marshall put his hand out. “I mean, look at you.”

“Let me ask you a question smart guy,” Peter started, walking towards Marshall. Nick tried to step between them but Peter put his hand up. He walked past Nick and back into Marshall's face. “Is it really wise to piss off the freak then?”

Marshall met his gaze. For a moment it looked as if he would punch him. Fred and Nick stayed tense, ready to leap in if it broke out into a fight. Marshall kept his face still, looking into the eyes of his teammate. All he could see was eagerness.
Marshall smiled and placed his hand on his shoulder. “We cool man,” he said softly. Peter relaxed. This wasn't a person he had to prove his strength to. They knew he was a powerful ally. He smiled back. “You still a freak but you’re
“our”
freak.”
The boys conversed a few more minutes. Talking about school, how it was already half way done, what their plans were during the summer and so on. Marshall was heading to Florida for the summer with his brother. They'd stay with their grandparents for two months. Nick knew he'd be going with his father on vacation for a while but not sure for how long. Peter planned on staying in New York City mostly focus on training. Fred wasn't sure what he’d be doing this summer, other than hunting more Unknowns.
As they were talking the doors from the other side of the gym opened up. In strolled Carl, Jin, and four other people. They all looked to be around the same age as the four boys. The group consisted of two girls and two guys. One guy was African American, tall, bulky, and seemed to be leading the group. The other boy was of Indian decent. He was short, bald, and wore business type clothing. The two girls walked side by side. One with dark brown hair, glasses, freckles, and a cute bow on the top of her head. The other had black curly hair, crystal blue eyes, and pale white skin.

“Well, hello ladies!” Marshall greeted the girls. They looked at each other and giggled. “My name is Marshall, this is my crew.” He put his thumb up and behind him, pointing to the other three boys.

Nick pushed Marshall out of the way and walked up to the tall African American. He extended his hand. “My name is Nick. Pleasure to meet you.”

He met the greeting. “My name is Daryl. Nice to meet you.”

Nick let go and nodded. He then pointed to each member of his unit. “The big mouth is Marshall. The serious one over there is Peter. The other one is Fred. This is my team of Exterminators.” Nick hadn't ever called his friends his team. Somehow he felt obligated to act as if it was his team. Usually Marshall would be the first to protest in this type of situation, yet he smiled and nodded. All of them nodded, it was as if they accepted Nick as the leader, naturally.

“This is Sam,” Daryl began, pointing to the black haired woman. “This is Rachael,” placing his hand on the other girl's shoulder. “And the quiet one on our team is called Ali. This is my team of Exterminators.” Nick felt the same as Daryl. Proud of his team. Proud to be a leader to them.

The door swung open again and two ladies walked in. One with black hair, one with red. They were much older, around Carl's age. As they walked forward Carl spoke up. “Boys, I'd like to introduce you to your Gada. She is the leader of the organization.”

The boys watched in awe as the two ladies approach. A heavy sense of power came from both of them. The red haired fighter was their Gada. Her name was Amanda Ross. Everyone just called her Ross. “Pleasure to meet you boys. I've heard a lot about you four.” She then turned to the other group of four Exterminators. “Not to count you out either. Because I've heard quite a bit about you guys, too.” She had a bright smile.

“So you're our leader.” Marshall stepped up. “I got a few questions for you.” Nick placed his hand on his friend's chest to hold him back.

“Marshall, back off.”

“Why? I have a few questions is all.”

“Be respectful. This isn't just someone you can throw your questions at.”

“Hey listen, she's our Guda right?”

“Gada,” Fred corrected him.

“All right whatever-” Marshall took a deep breath. “I just want to ask her questions that Carl didn't answer. I'm not going to attack her.”

“Let the boy speak,” Ross said. Nick looked at her then back to Marshall. He slowly let go and let Marshall proceed on ahead.

Marshall walked a little further and stopped a few feet away. “I'm just curious since you're our leader, is killing the only thing we can do?”

“You're referring to the Unknowns?”

Marshall cocked his head to the right. “I'm just curious why we can't do something other than killing them. It doesn't make sense that we always have to kill.”

Ross looked at Marshall and smiled. She remembered reading his file months back. He was rash, outspoken, yet kind-hearted. She always knew someone would speak up in a group. People had questions; she had so many as a young Exterminator. Yet, she never pegged Marshall to be the one to question things. She couldn't help but smile, feeling the slight resemblance to her childhood memories.

“If we leave them in this world it begins to break barriers.” All the young Exterminators looked puzzled. “Even having Callers and Healers on our side disrupts the balance. Realms are meant to be set in place, not broken. These creatures come here upset, angry, and want to destroy because of it. Jumping barriers usually disrupts their minds. At least it's what we're told by certain Unknowns who come through and still keep themselves intact. The Callers we pulled through to our world still have trouble adapting to our world. This world isn't meant for them. The barriers aren't meant to be broken.”

Everyone listened. It was information they assumed but never knew how serious it was. They knew they had to exterminate. It was who they were. Yet they all questioned it at times, Marshall most of all. They now were accepting the fact that this job was serious so they couldn't slip up.

“Fair enough,” Marshall stepped back into his group. “If I figure out one day how to keep peace amongst the Unknowns and us we better do it. I don't want to exterminate them for no reason.”

“I like your way of thinking, young one,” Ross said cheerfully. She looked at her old friend Carl. “How are you doing?”

“You know, same old. Training these crazy kids. How are you? Also, I don't get a “Hi”, Amber?” He looked past Ross to the Protector standing next to her.

She looked to her side at her old teammate. “Sorry, was just studying the fighters. Hi little one.”

“Hey, I'm not little anymore!” Carl yelled loudly, the women both laughed.

“You'll always be my little Carl,” she told him happily. She could remember how they trained together when they were kids. The brute force of his power, the magical abilities she had clashing together. They were almost unstoppable.

“So you're a Protector right?” Peter asked Amber. Amber turned to the young Exterminator and nodded.

“What's a Protector?” Fred asked.

“It's the highest status you can go as an Exterminator for hunting. We're just trainees. Beginners. Once we are able to obtain four Rods we can either become a Bora like Carl or a Protector like Amber,” Peter informed them, as if it was natural to him.

The Protector and Gada looked at him, slightly surprised. “He reads a lot,” Jin pointed out from Carl's side.

“I hope to be the strongest Protector there is,” Peter said with conviction. He could feel his body heating up. He wanted to fight to prove how strong he was.

“I don't think so,” Ali said loudly. “I plan to be the strongest and become the personal Protector for our Gada.”

“I don't think it's wise to try and take my spot,” Peter said stepping forward. This was the first time he ever stepped up to the plate. He felt like this was his moment to prove himself. He was standing in the presence of his Gada, the leader of all. If he had to prove to anyone his strength it was her.

“Geez, they act like I'm already dead,” Amber said, laughing.

“Peter here is hot headed when it comes to fighting.” Marshall stepped in front of Peter. “Yet, I agree. I think we should have a little face off. See how the teams are coming along.”

Daryl stepped up. “It's up to your leader. I wouldn't mind a spar.”

Marshall looked back to Nick. Nick wasn't planning on fighting today. Just a bit of training, yet he now felt the hunger to battle. He looked at Daryl, could see the same eagerness. He felt Marshall and Peter's willingness to fight. “I don't see why not,” he said stepping forward.

“These young ones,” Ross said while walking over to Carl. “You'd think they'd want to conserve energy. All they want to do is fight.”

“Can you blame them? It's what we used to do,” Carl said with a slight chuckle.

“Yeah, but...” her voice trailed off. “Well, if nothing else I can see how the teams have progressed. Why didn't Gail come for her team today?”

“She's on a hunt. Something big came through today,” Jin answered.

“What came through?” Now Amber was interested.

“Nobody knows but it's big. The Callers said the next few weeks are going to be rough. They sense a lot of big signals trying to break though. The Summoners are up to something,” Jin whispered in a low voice, not wanting the students to hear as they got ready to fight.

“I've heard about the bigger-than-expected signals popping up, yet I didn't know the forecast was this bad. We should be on high alert. Any news on the hunt for the leader?”

“Nothing,” Carl replied, gritting his teeth. He could feel himself getting angrier but he hid it behind his invisible shield he kept from the world. Especially from his friend, who he didn't want to worry.

“Well, best we could do now is wait and attack when the time is right,” Ross chipped in, watching the fighters line themselves up for battle. “For now, we watch as our replacements battle it out. In a few years these will be the Exterminators having to deal with these issues.”

“Oh God, help us,” Jin said, they all laughed.

Nick grabbed his Rod. He looked at his opponent, trying to figure out what they would create. He had to be careful. Making the wrong weapon could result in a lost battle. He turned to whisper into Marshall's ear. “Create that gun.”

“Wouldn't that kill them?”

Nick turned around. He gave Marshall a long sharp looking eye. “THE gun. Remember training?”

Marshall already had formed the weapon. “I just like messing with you.”