Breachers

Breachers – Path of Steel

14

I

Vegetable

- - -

30 minutes earlier

Felix

Felix cruised along in his truck, steering smoothly to the left while singing along with the radio. With his arm resting nonchalantly out the window, he tapped the side of the door with the palm of his hand, missing every beat, and his off-key singing echoed through the vehicle, turning the melody into a discordant symphony of questionable vocal prowess. He took another left before driving down a ramp into the hospital’s parking garage, narrowly avoiding a car pulling out of a parking spot. A mischievous grin stretched across his face as he found a spot close to the entrance while ruining the last few verses of the song before he switched off the engine. Grabbing the keys, he got out and sent them soaring into the air before catching them with his other hand. He stole a quick glimpse of his reflection in the side-view mirror, ensuring his dark hair was perfectly in place.

“I’ve got this,” he said to his own reflection, his brown eyes betraying his uneasiness. “I’ve waited years for this. I mean, if anything, Marcus should be nervous, right?” He took a deep breath, trying to steady his racing nerves, then nodded to himself before he made his way towards the stairs. When he remembered what floor he needed to go to, he quickly changed his mind and drifted towards the elevator instead. Pressing the button, he waited for it to arrive before stepping inside. As the doors closed, another wave of nervousness washed over him. “He’s fine and he needs his friends. That’s what I should focus on.”

While the elevator started climbing, he thought about what to say to Marcus, and what to keep to himself. A pang of guilt stirred within him as he recalled the last time that they had seen each other, with him being the only one able to walk out of the destroyed Tech expo building. Even now, thirteen years later, he could still recall the way Marcus had used the robot to try and protect him and Oscar. ‘Shit… Oscar. How the hell am I going to break that to him? Did his family explain Oscar’s death to him?’ he thought before he grabbed his phone to distract himself. He went over the text messages from Martin and Joline, along with his own replies filled mostly with emoticons and an inappropriate GIF. When the doors opened, he hesitated briefly before stepping out.

Making his way through the hospital halls, he got turned around a few times, but a kind old lady showed him the right route he should take. He walked down the corridor at a leisurely pace, hands tucked in his back pockets, intentionally slowing down. Felix glanced around, desperately seeking something to divert his attention and prolong his journey, even stopping to pause and carefully examine the artwork on the walls, inspecting each piece. He even took the time to straighten any paintings that were slightly askew. Finally, he arrived at the correct door, where he saw Marcus’s last name listed below the room number.

He hesitated when his hand touched the door handle. ‘Crap... I didn't bring anything! Flowers? A card? Is that what you're supposed to bring for someone waking up from a coma?’ Thoughts raced through his mind as he discreetly looked around for a solution, or flowers he could ‘borrow’ for a few minutes. ‘Nah, dudes don’t give each other flowers… do they?’ Nervousness surged through him like a tidal wave, his throat parched, and his palms slick with sweat. “What am I gonna say to you, Marcus?” he muttered softly.

He just stood there, his expression frozen, only for it to transform quickly into a relaxed smile as a nurse passed him by. Upon seeing her expression, he realized how strange it must have seemed for him to linger near the door while he figured out what to say to his friend. ‘Ah, what the hell! Let’s go with a joke. Afterall, the dude hasn’t had a decent laugh in years,’ he thought, firmly grasping the handle and stepping into the room with a proper shit-eating grin.

“So, how’s my favorite vegetable doing?”

- - -

“Still, it’s great to see you up again. Minus the drooling bit,” Felix teased a few minutes later as he played with Marcus’s cactus, gently rotating the small pot in his hand and seeing a few broken spines. He felt the urge to hug Marcus again but remembered the uncomfortable groan the man had let out when he had hugged him in the beginning. Marcus’s sister was standing a bit to the side, folding some clothes for her brother and placing them in the closet. “Still, you look good, buddy,” he lied, offering a gentle smile as he twirled the cactus. “You’re thirty-three, but you still have a baby face going on. Must’ve been quite the power nap, huh?” Marcus managed a smile, afterwards forcing out a word that vaguely resembled a yes. Just hearing the sound tugged at Felix’s heart.

‘Remember, just keep it light and positive. Like I promised his family. Don’t mention the destroyed cities, dead parents, friends, neighbors, people fighting monsters, or the fact that a lot of weird monster producing objects are still out there, lying in wait like dormant ticking timebombs,’ he silently reminded himself, recalling the instructions from Marcus’s family. He had been told how Marcus had been assaulted two days ago, and that the attack might have triggered his awakening. Felix felt conflicted about it all. On one hand, he was relieved by the turn of events, seeing as he got one of his best friends back, but on the other, he couldn’t help but feel the need to repeatedly drive his truck into the person who would attack someone in a coma.

‘Still, he’s alive. And he’s awake. Focus on the good.’ With a grin, Felix kept the conversation going, gossiping about their former classmates, sharing amusing anecdotes about their peculiar jobs, ugly babies or how fat and bald most of them had gotten. While talking he steered clear of the topics of death, loss, and anything that might be too overwhelming.

Joline’s phone suddenly rang, drawing Felix’s attention. He watched her stare at it, realizing it was probably related to her job. “It’s okay, go ahead and take it. I’ll stay with sleeping beauty over here and share all the things I can’t say when the opposite sex is around,” he remarked, a disarming grin spreading across his face. Joline snorted at his comment, accepted the call and stepped outside. Felix then shifted his focus back to his friend. “So, any burning topics you want to discuss? Trust me, TV and movies have only gotten worse in recent years. But music! Buddy, there is this weird mix between pop and—”

“Tr... th,” his friend suddenly muttered while his expression turned serious, as if he had been waiting for this moment to be alone with Felix.

Marcus’s intense gaze sent a shiver down Felix's spine. “The truth?” he asked hesitantly, noticing his bedridden friend’s nod. “Sure. The truth about what?”

Felix noticed his friend pause for a moment, fingers clenching the sheets, as if trying to gather his thoughts and strength. “Mon... s... ers.” The mention of monsters gave Felix pause, making him question if Marcus’s family had already explained a few things about the appearance of them and how the world functioned and what his sister did for a living. Just as Felix was about to change the subject, his friend continued, “K... ll... Os... car.”

‘Really? Straight for the gut punch?’ Felix thought while sighing, his eyes fixated on the cactus cradled in his palms for a moment. “How about we talk about something else for now?” he suggested before looking up. He noticed his friend’s expression growing harder, though he could see him struggling to maintain it. “Come on... don’t give me that look. Why don’t you ask your sister that in a few minutes?”

Marcus trembled as he forced himself to lean forward, nearly losing his balance. Felix instinctively moved to help, but his friend’s ice-cold gaze halted him in his tracks. With a frail and trembling hand, he pointed a finger at Felix, his violent shaking intensifying with each passing second. It was clear to both of them that Marcus wasn’t able to maintain it and that it was painful to do so. “Ow...e me,” his slurred words struggled to emerge. “Sav... d. You.”

Felix just stared at his friend at that, thoughts racing. “You just had to hit me with the guilt trip, huh?” he muttered quietly as he made sense of his friend’s broken words. He again recalled the way the robot’s frame had shielded him from all the impacts and flying debris. ‘He saved my ass back there, despite suffering horribly for it,’ he thought as he ran a hand through his dark hair. He knew full well that he was going to tell his friend what he wanted to hear, but he didn’t like the fact that it would upset the man’s family, especially his sister, since he had promised them. “Alright, but only a basic explanation. And please, don’t go sharing that I spilled the beans, alright? I don’t think you understand yet how scary your sister is,” he replied, his gaze fixed on the floor as he pondered how to explain everything. “You’ve heard about what happened to your parents, right? And the boatload of other people that died all those years ago?” he asked cautiously, visibly relieved when he saw his friend nod. “Thank God for that!” he said before his eyes widened immediately. “Oh shit, that came out wrong. I mean... it’s awful that your folks passed away, but it’s good that I’m not the one breaking the news. Could you imagine that?”

In response, his friend just stared at him, impatience evident in his expression. “Alright... moving on,” Felix said, taking the hint. “Look, at first, we all thought the meteors were just that, meteors. Terrible enough, really, as they caused the deaths of millions and widespread destruction. But it got worse when the remnants of those meteors started creating these strange fields around them, like giant bubbles of distorted light. They have fancy names for them, but most people just call them Spheres. Inside those Spheres... Wait, do you know what Mana is?” Felix asked, before feeling an instant relief at seeing Marcus nod once. “So, inside those Spheres, Mana began to form and gradually transformed their surroundings. People who stayed within those Spheres started falling ill within hour or even minutes, most even dying because of it. Well, except for people like your sister who had managed to survive a meteor impact.” He glanced at his frail friend, unsure if he was overwhelming him with the information, or if his botched attempt at handing out information was even helpful. ‘His sister is going to be furious with me,’ he thought before taking a deep breath. “After the Spheres and Mana-sickness came the monsters – nasty creatures roaming inside Spheres. If you want a better explanation, ask someone with a degree or experience, but basically, the Orbs inside of the Spheres spawn or grow those nasty creatures.”

Felix stopped talking then for a moment, gaze focused on the cactus as he remembered the first horrible year after since the Great Impact. The people he had lost, the things he had done in order to survive. He regretted a lot of things during those first few months, but he knew he had at least done one thing right. “The only good thing about those bastards is that most of them die when they leave the Sphere or when it gets destroyed. Well, that, and Breachers usually kill them.” With a flick, Felix sent one of the already broken cactus spines off the table. “So Breachers are... Well, officially, they’ve got some fancy official name for people like you and your sister. Governments made an effort to make a nice label, but everyone stuck to calling those who survived the meteor as ‘Marked.’ You know, with the whole Marks covering your bodies. It’s hard to miss. That and the fact that most of you guys now have weird Abilities or are freakishly strong.” He then searched for another spine to toy around with. “Those Marked that went out to actually fight monsters started calling themselves Breachers, named after the first official group of people that used their new Abilities to carve a bloody path through those Spheres and started pushing back and reclaiming cities. I think they were some party or early form of a guild in New Zealand or something?”

With a nonchalant shrug, Felix continued. “History isn’t exactly my strong point, so don’t go quoting me on this stuff. During the start of it all, I was busy pissing myself and hiding in shelters with the rest of the masses. Anyway, the Breacher group didn’t last long, with most of their members slaughtered during one of their runs. Still, the name stuck, and it ignited a whole new generation of ‘Breachers’ who took up the torch. Eventually, it actually became a proper profession to kill monsters, just like what your sister’s doing.” When he shifted his attention back towards his friend, he could see Marcus’s eyebrows narrowing, causing Felix to freeze momentarily before the realization struck him like a lightning bolt. “No... Fuck, I forgot! She never told you what her job was, did she?” The door then swung open as Joline entered while stowing her phone away. Felix's eyes widened as his best friend jabbed a trembling, accusing finger in his sister's direction before muttering the fragmented word 'Breacher'. Time then seemed to stretch as if the world had hit slow motion around Felix while he witnessed the room erupting into chaos. Amidst the turmoil, a pair of green venomous eyes locked onto him, narrowing with female rage.

‘Well, at least I know why I’m going to die.’

- - -

Copyright: OsiriumWrites