They both threw aside their bags, fell to the backs and took in several deep breaths. Then, "Thanks", said Drea genuinely smiling for her life. "Don't wanna give up now do you?", he said with a wink and pulled her to her feet. Noticing how they both were shivering, Drea opened up her bag and pulled out the clothes she had stuffed into it in haste last night. "All I can say is they are less wet than the ones we have on" "And not my exact size or designer but it will do" joked Matt as he disappeared into the forest to change. Drea did the same. Then sitting along the banks, Matt removed a tin of cucumbers and shared them with Drea as he said,
"So with all that craziness, I have to say you're a genius! We are progressing our way to conversion."
"What?"
"Don't you have it all figured out? You know I was constantly thinking about why you wouldn't let me kill the boy and finally get it!"
"I don't get you though. I asked you not to kill the boy because it was a kid, and also because I wanted to take a chance. I did the same when I killed envy and all the horses had just stopped. It was kinda neat."
"Oh my god Drea! Do you realise how much time this would have saved us if you told me this before?" Matt was now pacing left to right making Drea dizzy as he spoke.
"Matt you really are just hyperventilating right now and I do not get your point."
"Okay. Okay here we go. So you remember your enemies?"
"Agony, fear, anger, arrogance, umm.."
"Envy, greed, impatience, insecurity and desperation! Yes those guys! All of them, how did you kill them? And do not tell me with your gun. I mean the tactic. You do what they wouldn't want you to do. Be patient, be calm, be self-less, be fearless.."
"What's your point Matt!?"
"My point is that this is your last enemy. What you see in front of you. Anyone that is a reflection of yourself, anyone that matches your calibre. Anyone that is your ego. Everyone we know, like Scott said, is here in pairs. The people who made it to conversion, were in pairs! You and your strongest ego!" Drea only nodded. Matt continued,
"This is our final cut Drea. Haven't you noticed? When we give up our opinions and work with eachother it works out! Starting from when you let me help pull you up the tree, when I let you teach me shooting, when you didn't move as I shot that Mutagen, when you followed me in the department store and when I let you lead me. And more than all, right now! When we trusted our whole goddamn life on eachother. Okay Holly and Sharon, they couldn't make it and died. Jason the brander, he said the smarter ones made the conversion! So whoever kills ego as an enemy, are taken to the alien world and are apparently safe. Those who fail work in shifts as Branders. And they are not even aware of themselves when they are Branders. Everything Jason said now makes full sense!"
"I... you're brilliant Matt. I don't know what to say. The involuntary helping and corporation is actually what has kept us alive. It's our last test! It's everything we have fought- The agony, sorrow, greed, envy, anger, impatience and trust- it's all being tested at each moment!"
"Does that mean, you didn't mean it when you called me horrible?"
"For cheating with Joanne, yes you are horrible! I just don't care about it as much anymore."
"I thought we were over that!"
"Never will be until you tell me why!"
"Because I was stupid. I was angry at you for being right. I didn't want to follow your but my melody for our new song, and I didn't want to change the motor on my robot! I couldn't handle being controlled by you and knowing it was probably better than me. And then you seemed to walk in when I was whining to Joanne and she kissed me!"
"You never bothered to sort that out!"
"Because I was still a selfish and angry jerk. You just acted like you didn't care anyway and can do fine all by yourself. Which pissed me off more because I felt like I held no impact on you!"
"And I thought you never cared! You even quit the band and that made me hate you so much! You knew it would end us. Right before Nathan had a chance to get into university for music. We couldn't perform in the competition the sponsors were judging Nathan and it ruined him! I just hated to let you know we were so hopeless without you."
"So now you see? All this ego had been holding us back. Geez I feel so foolish!"
"I feel like a bossy bitch who gave no value to others opinions."
"At least that changed."
Smiling a little, Drea sarcastically said, "Thanks! That helped!" Matt smiled and gave her a warm hug saying, "Sorry. We work together for eachother now." Then like an epiphany, Drea faced him saying, "Oh no Matt! The aliens are light travellers!"
"What?"
"Remember the T.V forming itself? What do we know about aliens? Green headed blobs? But that's only as far as the human brain sees them! In reality they are so modified that they can travel light. If they are here they have conquered the speed of light, and more possibly the speed of time! Which means they're basically like a small particle that can rearrange itself to be able to travel. The loud boom that changed everything, was all the energy produced when they first arrived. The intensity of breaking the barrier changed everything, maybe even killing so many of us on the spot."
"So they can basically be anything they want by being able to reconfigure into any particle?"
"Yes! Imagine this- all your older enemies, anger, envy and so on, were just forms of this alien. You could do anything you wanted because you are living in a world made by them; the trees, the grass, the water, the heat, everything in just a sequence of alien particles that changed before you could die since they conquer the speed of light. You are basically immortal if you can control every atom in your body. And why did things change when you blink? Because you are living at the speed of time. For say, so many possible things in other parallel universes happen in the time you blink, that it messes up the configuration with your current existence."
"It all makes sense! When they need an army big enough they just bring us back to the real world! Make us our own slaves; control every atom in our body and that way control the emotions of the Branders! If all this is true, then we are in danger because Jose knows."
"What!?"
"Jose knows Drea, that sick swine knows!! He and Scott survived! They have passed. Scott knows this place like blood and soul, he even said he has been here long enough. They have been calling them aliens all along! Even worse, they are one of them and we were just made to walk right into their den"
As Matt was about to speak more, Scott called out from about 100m away, "I thought I lost you kids!" Holding Drea's hand and picking up her bag, Matt sternly said, "How did you find us Scott?" He replied, "Some mappin' and walkin.." "The truth!! How did you know where we were?" They kept walking closer to Scott at every word until they reached him and threw him to the floor tying up his hands with the discarded shirt. "You guys have it wrong trust me!", Scott tried protesting. "Oh we know well enough", said Drea as she pulled him to his feet. She then said, "Now take us to Jose and tell him the warriors are here with news. I know you won't need mappin' or walkin' for that!" With every step Matt and Drea found themselves losing trust in all humanity around them. How easily had they been tricked? Upon reaching the store both of them stormed inside and people made way as they angrily walked towards Jose. Then all at once, Matt was on Jose, throwing his best punches and screaming, "You traitor!! You did it to kill us! Kill us all! You are going to rat us out aren't you?" Jose was too strong and easily pushed Matt off hitting him hard enough to tear his lip. Drea tried to kick him when for that, but just as easily he blocked her blows and pushed them both against the wall. "Unless you dirtbags are ready to listen, I wouldn't mind hitting some more sense into you. Walk straight up to the roof and stop creating this scene", spoke Jose through clenched teeth. Looking at eachother once, Drea and Matt only nodded and followed Jose up the staircase trying not to make eye contact with any of the others. Upon reaching the top, Jose furiously yelled, "Both of you need to rationalise!! You think I didn't recognise you the minute you stepped in!?"
"Then why this false show of a group? Just kill us all!"
"You young lady may have a brain too wise for human standards but an experience the size of your particle existence- now that you have figured it all out. But we? We have been to that side of the world and are fighting for what is right!"
"You and Scott? You made it to the new world didn't you? How good was it when you exchanged all your humanity to the aliens for a chance to destroy our lives under their command? Does he pay you with a sponsored vacation to a Roman Olympic game back in time???"
"You do not get my point. I was, I am and I will always be human. We are no match to the aliens and there is no new world! If you think you win this battle and go to a planet made of titanium in a time travelling spaceship you're wrong!! They are here, on Earth, among us and saving us!"
"What are you talking about!? They are killing numerous people, saving 8 souls and slaving 100 and you say they're right?"
"Do you realise they killed your negativity instincts? Those 100 are improving. The 8 are being sent to a better Earth, the Earth before our human apocalypse. We humans were born with a flaw of the greedy brain! We have been tremendously selfish in thinking we are the only intelligent species in this universe. We are the ancient and underdeveloped future of the universe for them. If they're doing anything, it's stopping us from making the mistakes they made. We have romanticised possible alien invasions; how typically human of us to think they are here to destroy our race and conquer our planet. But in all reality, they have been helping us, they are healing us."
"They are playing with your mind!"
"I, to remind you, have more control over my mind than you do over yours. And your minds, could be slaved just as easily if they wanted! But they want the human race to not only survive, but heal for the right. Drea, Matt, I sent you there because you two seemed ready. I am here to train and to help. You guys did it! You found out the depth to all this. You figured yourself out, killed the ego and had it all good. I want more of us humans to see that side of the world. I want more to embrace the right approach. Trust me one last time and do it! If we need a little help sometimes, then that's alright. Give up that ego. The aliens, Mutagens as you rightly call them, are here just for that. To change a gene of the human behavioural flaw. They're a small group, a small force and only stopping us before we are wiped out like them. You have all the right to hold onto your fight, it's the human tenacity to put up a good fight; but sometimes you don't even know if what you're fighting for is the right cause. You have done this before, do it one last time."
"And what makes you think..." began Matt when Drea held his hand and spoke to him, "Let yourself be led. One last time Matt. If you can't take commands change that too! Give up on your enemy. One last time. Let's see how much of a liar Jose is. At the end of the day, we still got his mapper as hostage and ammo under siege" said Drea with a calm smile.
"God not again Drea! Why do you love risks so much? One LAST time!"
Jose smiled and said, "Shake hands on it then?", and they did.
They were downstairs cleaning blood off Matt's lip and carving more arrows when Jose narrated the plan. The plan, literally,was driving the branders into the camp site. Jose would prepare everyone for war, and they'd fight their best, as one full team. So based upon that, Matt and Drea -alhough exhausted- made their way back up the hill towards the alien camp. As per the plan, Matt shot out an arrow from behind the bushes straight into a brander's shoulder. It was enough to call attention and the rest was only a chase game all the way to the department store. Jose flung open the door for Matt and Drea to run in and shut it tight behind them. The inside of the store was covered in darkness and when their eyes adjusted they saw 34 people lined up shoulder-to-shoulder with weapons varying from soda cans to actual guns. Each one of them looked terrified but united. With a sense of strength, Matt and Drea joined them and waited. It seemed forever before the door flew open and a stream of Branders flooded into the space. They too, shocked by the transition stopped and waited till they could see. Taking advantage of this everyone ran forward to attack and took the Branders by shock. They slowly spread out all over the store and screams sounded from every direction. Not sure of which side was winning, everyone continued to fight with all their strength. Matt and Drea stuck together taking down a Brander after another.
Then looking up at the skylight, Drea called out to Matt saying, "Sunset any minute. If Jose was right we should be going to the new world" Matt looked up and shook his head saying, "If he wasn't, we are responsible for the death of all these people."
"We have killed enough people anyway! Just because they didn't have a soul doesn't mean they haven't been human. We give something to get something."
At that time Matt said, "Oh boy, you won't believe who just is coming this way to grant your wishes. Go get her!" Drea turned and looked at Joanne, as a brander walk towards them. Immediately her hand went to her gun and every emotion in her body asked her to finish the enemy she so truly hated. And then something in her stopped. She turned to Matt and said,
"If I kill her, I am responsible for your and my soul. The lines on the wall Matt, 'The rules you see, you lost your soul to me. And if I win here, both of us lose to the higher power'. It's the rule of three, you lost your soul to me. And if I let my ego win by killing Joanne, our fate is the same as hers: Mutagen. I can't kill her."
"But then she kills us."
"The sun is going to set!"
"She will be set upon killing us first!" Out of no choice, Matt pulled out an arrow and had it fly straight at Joanne. Like a ghostly experience, it flew through her and she disappeared with a tiny spark. "Damn those time travel perks", mocked Drea. But deep down, they both smiled filled with hope. They dropped their weapons and stood hand in hand while they waited for the sun to set through to constricting skylight. Then just like the first time, a flash of lighting and and intense pain knocked them unconscious.
When they woke up, before them were fields radiating positivity. Hope filled the air and joy looked at them in abundance. They walked barefoot on the soft wet grass of a planet they could never believe was their own. And a few steps away stood a figure, a man, who held out his hands for both of them to hold. He looked human, he sounded human but his eyes looked like the entire Universe was in them; like a celestial dust cloud adorned with sparkling stars. He noticed their awe and said, "You will soon get used to them. It's just one of the unique things we bring along with us." Matt and Drea smiled in disbelief. He continued, "We have no form or body. We are just a presence. To see us, we need to take forms, the best one being human. The eyes, are just what we are. Everything and nothing. We are the empty space in you and around you. We are the space that makes you and that you make up; the space called universe. Together, we make this place that made us. Save it, preserve it, and most importantly, save us. Save the human inside you."
"So with all that craziness, I have to say you're a genius! We are progressing our way to conversion."
"What?"
"Don't you have it all figured out? You know I was constantly thinking about why you wouldn't let me kill the boy and finally get it!"
"I don't get you though. I asked you not to kill the boy because it was a kid, and also because I wanted to take a chance. I did the same when I killed envy and all the horses had just stopped. It was kinda neat."
"Oh my god Drea! Do you realise how much time this would have saved us if you told me this before?" Matt was now pacing left to right making Drea dizzy as he spoke.
"Matt you really are just hyperventilating right now and I do not get your point."
"Okay. Okay here we go. So you remember your enemies?"
"Agony, fear, anger, arrogance, umm.."
"Envy, greed, impatience, insecurity and desperation! Yes those guys! All of them, how did you kill them? And do not tell me with your gun. I mean the tactic. You do what they wouldn't want you to do. Be patient, be calm, be self-less, be fearless.."
"What's your point Matt!?"
"My point is that this is your last enemy. What you see in front of you. Anyone that is a reflection of yourself, anyone that matches your calibre. Anyone that is your ego. Everyone we know, like Scott said, is here in pairs. The people who made it to conversion, were in pairs! You and your strongest ego!" Drea only nodded. Matt continued,
"This is our final cut Drea. Haven't you noticed? When we give up our opinions and work with eachother it works out! Starting from when you let me help pull you up the tree, when I let you teach me shooting, when you didn't move as I shot that Mutagen, when you followed me in the department store and when I let you lead me. And more than all, right now! When we trusted our whole goddamn life on eachother. Okay Holly and Sharon, they couldn't make it and died. Jason the brander, he said the smarter ones made the conversion! So whoever kills ego as an enemy, are taken to the alien world and are apparently safe. Those who fail work in shifts as Branders. And they are not even aware of themselves when they are Branders. Everything Jason said now makes full sense!"
"I... you're brilliant Matt. I don't know what to say. The involuntary helping and corporation is actually what has kept us alive. It's our last test! It's everything we have fought- The agony, sorrow, greed, envy, anger, impatience and trust- it's all being tested at each moment!"
"Does that mean, you didn't mean it when you called me horrible?"
"For cheating with Joanne, yes you are horrible! I just don't care about it as much anymore."
"I thought we were over that!"
"Never will be until you tell me why!"
"Because I was stupid. I was angry at you for being right. I didn't want to follow your but my melody for our new song, and I didn't want to change the motor on my robot! I couldn't handle being controlled by you and knowing it was probably better than me. And then you seemed to walk in when I was whining to Joanne and she kissed me!"
"You never bothered to sort that out!"
"Because I was still a selfish and angry jerk. You just acted like you didn't care anyway and can do fine all by yourself. Which pissed me off more because I felt like I held no impact on you!"
"And I thought you never cared! You even quit the band and that made me hate you so much! You knew it would end us. Right before Nathan had a chance to get into university for music. We couldn't perform in the competition the sponsors were judging Nathan and it ruined him! I just hated to let you know we were so hopeless without you."
"So now you see? All this ego had been holding us back. Geez I feel so foolish!"
"I feel like a bossy bitch who gave no value to others opinions."
"At least that changed."
Smiling a little, Drea sarcastically said, "Thanks! That helped!" Matt smiled and gave her a warm hug saying, "Sorry. We work together for eachother now." Then like an epiphany, Drea faced him saying, "Oh no Matt! The aliens are light travellers!"
"What?"
"Remember the T.V forming itself? What do we know about aliens? Green headed blobs? But that's only as far as the human brain sees them! In reality they are so modified that they can travel light. If they are here they have conquered the speed of light, and more possibly the speed of time! Which means they're basically like a small particle that can rearrange itself to be able to travel. The loud boom that changed everything, was all the energy produced when they first arrived. The intensity of breaking the barrier changed everything, maybe even killing so many of us on the spot."
"So they can basically be anything they want by being able to reconfigure into any particle?"
"Yes! Imagine this- all your older enemies, anger, envy and so on, were just forms of this alien. You could do anything you wanted because you are living in a world made by them; the trees, the grass, the water, the heat, everything in just a sequence of alien particles that changed before you could die since they conquer the speed of light. You are basically immortal if you can control every atom in your body. And why did things change when you blink? Because you are living at the speed of time. For say, so many possible things in other parallel universes happen in the time you blink, that it messes up the configuration with your current existence."
"It all makes sense! When they need an army big enough they just bring us back to the real world! Make us our own slaves; control every atom in our body and that way control the emotions of the Branders! If all this is true, then we are in danger because Jose knows."
"What!?"
"Jose knows Drea, that sick swine knows!! He and Scott survived! They have passed. Scott knows this place like blood and soul, he even said he has been here long enough. They have been calling them aliens all along! Even worse, they are one of them and we were just made to walk right into their den"
As Matt was about to speak more, Scott called out from about 100m away, "I thought I lost you kids!" Holding Drea's hand and picking up her bag, Matt sternly said, "How did you find us Scott?" He replied, "Some mappin' and walkin.." "The truth!! How did you know where we were?" They kept walking closer to Scott at every word until they reached him and threw him to the floor tying up his hands with the discarded shirt. "You guys have it wrong trust me!", Scott tried protesting. "Oh we know well enough", said Drea as she pulled him to his feet. She then said, "Now take us to Jose and tell him the warriors are here with news. I know you won't need mappin' or walkin' for that!" With every step Matt and Drea found themselves losing trust in all humanity around them. How easily had they been tricked? Upon reaching the store both of them stormed inside and people made way as they angrily walked towards Jose. Then all at once, Matt was on Jose, throwing his best punches and screaming, "You traitor!! You did it to kill us! Kill us all! You are going to rat us out aren't you?" Jose was too strong and easily pushed Matt off hitting him hard enough to tear his lip. Drea tried to kick him when for that, but just as easily he blocked her blows and pushed them both against the wall. "Unless you dirtbags are ready to listen, I wouldn't mind hitting some more sense into you. Walk straight up to the roof and stop creating this scene", spoke Jose through clenched teeth. Looking at eachother once, Drea and Matt only nodded and followed Jose up the staircase trying not to make eye contact with any of the others. Upon reaching the top, Jose furiously yelled, "Both of you need to rationalise!! You think I didn't recognise you the minute you stepped in!?"
"Then why this false show of a group? Just kill us all!"
"You young lady may have a brain too wise for human standards but an experience the size of your particle existence- now that you have figured it all out. But we? We have been to that side of the world and are fighting for what is right!"
"You and Scott? You made it to the new world didn't you? How good was it when you exchanged all your humanity to the aliens for a chance to destroy our lives under their command? Does he pay you with a sponsored vacation to a Roman Olympic game back in time???"
"You do not get my point. I was, I am and I will always be human. We are no match to the aliens and there is no new world! If you think you win this battle and go to a planet made of titanium in a time travelling spaceship you're wrong!! They are here, on Earth, among us and saving us!"
"What are you talking about!? They are killing numerous people, saving 8 souls and slaving 100 and you say they're right?"
"Do you realise they killed your negativity instincts? Those 100 are improving. The 8 are being sent to a better Earth, the Earth before our human apocalypse. We humans were born with a flaw of the greedy brain! We have been tremendously selfish in thinking we are the only intelligent species in this universe. We are the ancient and underdeveloped future of the universe for them. If they're doing anything, it's stopping us from making the mistakes they made. We have romanticised possible alien invasions; how typically human of us to think they are here to destroy our race and conquer our planet. But in all reality, they have been helping us, they are healing us."
"They are playing with your mind!"
"I, to remind you, have more control over my mind than you do over yours. And your minds, could be slaved just as easily if they wanted! But they want the human race to not only survive, but heal for the right. Drea, Matt, I sent you there because you two seemed ready. I am here to train and to help. You guys did it! You found out the depth to all this. You figured yourself out, killed the ego and had it all good. I want more of us humans to see that side of the world. I want more to embrace the right approach. Trust me one last time and do it! If we need a little help sometimes, then that's alright. Give up that ego. The aliens, Mutagens as you rightly call them, are here just for that. To change a gene of the human behavioural flaw. They're a small group, a small force and only stopping us before we are wiped out like them. You have all the right to hold onto your fight, it's the human tenacity to put up a good fight; but sometimes you don't even know if what you're fighting for is the right cause. You have done this before, do it one last time."
"And what makes you think..." began Matt when Drea held his hand and spoke to him, "Let yourself be led. One last time Matt. If you can't take commands change that too! Give up on your enemy. One last time. Let's see how much of a liar Jose is. At the end of the day, we still got his mapper as hostage and ammo under siege" said Drea with a calm smile.
"God not again Drea! Why do you love risks so much? One LAST time!"
Jose smiled and said, "Shake hands on it then?", and they did.
They were downstairs cleaning blood off Matt's lip and carving more arrows when Jose narrated the plan. The plan, literally,was driving the branders into the camp site. Jose would prepare everyone for war, and they'd fight their best, as one full team. So based upon that, Matt and Drea -alhough exhausted- made their way back up the hill towards the alien camp. As per the plan, Matt shot out an arrow from behind the bushes straight into a brander's shoulder. It was enough to call attention and the rest was only a chase game all the way to the department store. Jose flung open the door for Matt and Drea to run in and shut it tight behind them. The inside of the store was covered in darkness and when their eyes adjusted they saw 34 people lined up shoulder-to-shoulder with weapons varying from soda cans to actual guns. Each one of them looked terrified but united. With a sense of strength, Matt and Drea joined them and waited. It seemed forever before the door flew open and a stream of Branders flooded into the space. They too, shocked by the transition stopped and waited till they could see. Taking advantage of this everyone ran forward to attack and took the Branders by shock. They slowly spread out all over the store and screams sounded from every direction. Not sure of which side was winning, everyone continued to fight with all their strength. Matt and Drea stuck together taking down a Brander after another.
Then looking up at the skylight, Drea called out to Matt saying, "Sunset any minute. If Jose was right we should be going to the new world" Matt looked up and shook his head saying, "If he wasn't, we are responsible for the death of all these people."
"We have killed enough people anyway! Just because they didn't have a soul doesn't mean they haven't been human. We give something to get something."
At that time Matt said, "Oh boy, you won't believe who just is coming this way to grant your wishes. Go get her!" Drea turned and looked at Joanne, as a brander walk towards them. Immediately her hand went to her gun and every emotion in her body asked her to finish the enemy she so truly hated. And then something in her stopped. She turned to Matt and said,
"If I kill her, I am responsible for your and my soul. The lines on the wall Matt, 'The rules you see, you lost your soul to me. And if I win here, both of us lose to the higher power'. It's the rule of three, you lost your soul to me. And if I let my ego win by killing Joanne, our fate is the same as hers: Mutagen. I can't kill her."
"But then she kills us."
"The sun is going to set!"
"She will be set upon killing us first!" Out of no choice, Matt pulled out an arrow and had it fly straight at Joanne. Like a ghostly experience, it flew through her and she disappeared with a tiny spark. "Damn those time travel perks", mocked Drea. But deep down, they both smiled filled with hope. They dropped their weapons and stood hand in hand while they waited for the sun to set through to constricting skylight. Then just like the first time, a flash of lighting and and intense pain knocked them unconscious.
When they woke up, before them were fields radiating positivity. Hope filled the air and joy looked at them in abundance. They walked barefoot on the soft wet grass of a planet they could never believe was their own. And a few steps away stood a figure, a man, who held out his hands for both of them to hold. He looked human, he sounded human but his eyes looked like the entire Universe was in them; like a celestial dust cloud adorned with sparkling stars. He noticed their awe and said, "You will soon get used to them. It's just one of the unique things we bring along with us." Matt and Drea smiled in disbelief. He continued, "We have no form or body. We are just a presence. To see us, we need to take forms, the best one being human. The eyes, are just what we are. Everything and nothing. We are the empty space in you and around you. We are the space that makes you and that you make up; the space called universe. Together, we make this place that made us. Save it, preserve it, and most importantly, save us. Save the human inside you."
i...have no words! so amazing! fast paced and clear! oh i love it! :* stay awesome, stay human! :)
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