The Lost Boy

< The Mysterious Light

"What was that?" Melissa asked, having only seen a flash of the red light which had startled her.

Seeing the red light streak across the sky, highlighting everything in an eerie blood red light in its wake, Atticus stepped back. "What is that?" He exclaimed.

"It's the creepiest flash of scarlet electricity I have ever perceived." says Chris, taken aback.

Savannah stood in awe of the beautiful red streak, watching as it went over the trees and out of view, turning the sky back into the regular dusk color.

Chris noticed that a figure was walking in the distance.

Melissa stood next to Savannah watching. "What should we do?" she asked as she looked at the others.

"Our 4-person faction should track the location of a magnifying device in order to investigate the status of this being." said Chris.

"What about a magnifying device??" Atticus said, looking for the figure and not seeing anything as it was starting to get dark.

Chris saw the others were confused. "I mean, our group should go get a device that can help us identify the danger level of that figure." he corrected himself.

"How would that even work? That doesn't seem possible." Atticus said.

"I don't know." Melissa looked at Savannah who was still looking into the forest in the way the light had gone.

"Well, when I was somehow reactivated, I found a very odd thing that seemed to be a primitive technology-it was like my brain in a portable format. However, I recently lost that device, so now we should go find it, as it will likely help us. My brain is not programmed to magnify and analyze the traits of living beings, so that portable thing is our best bet to see if that figure over there is someone to trust." Chris replied.

A man walked towards them. This man, wearing a gas mask and an ascot, reached into his coat and grabbed a sawed-off, steampunk-esque revolving shotgun. He said, through the muffled mask, "Identify yourselves!"

"My name is Cunning Humanoid..." Chris began, stopping himself. "Disappointingly, I have a rather long name. Just refer to me by the moniker Chris McFarlane."

"I'm Atticus Anoethite." Atticus said.

"Cunning Humanoid... Chris..." The man took off his mask. "Hello, Chris, I'm... an old friend of your father." Gabriel straightened his suit and put the gun back. "Come, I have a semi-truck. It's full of supplies and extra space."

"Dude, we just woke up in the middle of nowhere with no memories. We're not going to just get in some random guy's truck." Atticus said.

Melissa stood close to Atticus. "I'm Melissa and I agree with Atticus. It's not safe to just get in a truck with anyone. How did you even find us?"

"Oh, don't worry. Nothing's safe anymore. Come with me if you want to live." He turned around to walk back to the truck, and the little girl, with her face painted like camo, walked with him. He turned his head, "You coming?"

"I guess.." Atticus said, cautiously walking forward, looking behind him to see if he could still see the other figure. When he realized that he couldn't, he went back to following the man.

The semi-truck appeared to be strangely clean, and looked a little advanced. On the side, there was an emblem of a beaker encased in the letter 'A'

"What does the A stand for?" Atticus asked.

"Alchem Corp." The man laughed. "Multi-billion dollar corporation. I'm the CEO, Gabriel Alchemilia."

Savannah was weary getting into the truck. "Are we sure we can trust this guy?" She asked.

"He says he knows my father. I don't remember my father." said Chris. "Plus, I am sensing that he is a good guy using my super-intellect."

"Okay then," Atticus said, climbing into the truck.

"Where are we going?" Chris asked.

"Um, good question.." Savannah said, crossing her arms, still not getting in the truck.

Melissa climbed into the truck and sat next to Atticus. "Real question is where are we now?"

Savannah still stood outside of the truck. "I'm not getting in until I know where we are going."

Gabriel spoke. "We're going to Alchem Corp headquarters."

"Can we not go?" asked Chris. "I want to go back to that animal feeding station and fix it up."

"We should go with Gabriel instead of going to some place that is torn up and abandoned." Atticus said.

"I agree with Atticus, plus the barn has no source of food or anything." Melissa explained.

"Well, there is a berry bush nearby," Chris pointed out. "And I don't eat."

"A berry bush isn't really a good source of food," Atticus said.

"I'm still not going," said Chris, walking away.

Melissa rolled her eyes. "We will never get anywhere at this pace."

"I'm not going either," Savannah said.

Chris went over to the blackberry bush. "Want some berries, Savannah?" he asked.

Melissa got out of the truck and walked over." We have to go we cant stay here forever."

"What's that noise?" asked Chris. "I must stay here and investigate, I'll join you guys in a few minutes. Go on. Savannah, what about you?"

Melissa heard a noise from the woods that sounded like walking. "Does anyone else hear that?"

"I am picking a sound as well." said Chris, going to the woods to investigate. He saw some sort of structure and a figure slowly walking, kind of hunched over as if they were limping.

Melissa walked closer to Chris, looking over at the odd figure. (hoping this will make him reply sooner)

Marshall walked through the bushes, he saw a girl with cat ears and a tail standing next to what seemed like a normal boy both where staring his way oddly. he looked at them and then saw two other close to them he eyed them wondering what they were doing here. "Um, hello." He said to them.

"Hello, what brings you here?" asked Chris.

Melissa looked at the limping boy slightly worried about who he was she looked over at Chris. Then she looked back to the boy. "Who are you?"

Marshall slowly limps to a tree stump, sits down and says "I'm Marshall Rooke. I'm a 14 year old kid, I know loads of survival things. I just need medical assistance, I hurt my leg badly." Marshall attempts to stand up but struggles so he remains on his tree stump.

"It is marvelous to make your acquaintance, Marshall." Chris said.

Atticus stepped forward. "How badly are you injured?"

Marshall stares off into the view produced beyond his eyes and says "It hurts a lot, even more if I think about it. I got hit by something, it's bleeding. Maybe someone hunting, I'm not sure but it scared me". Marshall then looks down in pain, not revealing the truth behind what really happened.

"Well, we're kind of lost ourselves, so we can't help you much here. But there is a truck farther back that the driver is going to take us somewhere". Atticus said. "Maybe you can come with us?"

Marshall looks up and smiles to say "Thanks, I appreciate the help. Please, tell me when I need to get ready. Well, I think I am actually. One of my friends have my things.

Melissa walked over to Marshall smiling at the injured boy trying to give him some comfort. "Will you need help getting to the truck?"

Gabriel answered a call on his cellphone. "No, I'm not going through with thi- He's there? I'll be on my way soon" Gabriel hung up, and yelled for the kids to hurry up. Impatiently, he got up and went to help Marshall over to the truck. The young girl watched.

"Mr. Alchemillia," said Chris. "Can you elaborate on some details of your life please?"

"I was born centuries ago, but let's not dwell on that. This is my daughter, Galena." The girl waved. "And I am a billionaire scientist" He smirked

"Billionaire scientist..." Chris thought. "My father was a scientist...he created me with all my evil brothers...what do you know about my father?" Chris interrogated.

"Andrew was a thief and a liar and I'm glad he is dead."

"That would explain why he made my brothers evil, but it is curious that he made me nice. What did he steal, and how did he lie?" Chris asked, as everyone boarded the truck.

"Oh, he stole my entire concept of Androids. Took all the blueprints, too."

"So are you able to make an exact duplicate of me?" asked Chris. "That would be fascinating, but I'd rather..." Chris was interrupted by the car lurching forward suddenly.

A scream was heard from under the car.

Marshall hears Melissa's question, it circles his mind. It flies around, with the time. After he passed out, he wakes up later somehow remembering the question. After 3 minutes of confusion, he calls out to Melissa saying "I may need a little help, thanks. I don't know how much longer I can be like this though"

After hearing the scream, Marshall's confusion turns into curiosity and a little anger, he says to himself "What the heck was that?". As he tries to get up to explore what happened, he is unable to do so as his leg was injured badly.

"Watch where you're going!" a voice yells.

"Wonder who that was," Chris said. "Stay in the car, all of you, it may be dangerous."

As Chris exits the car, he sees a guy in glasses lying in pain with a broken leg. "Who are you?" he asks Chris.

"Cunning Humanoid-C.H.R.I.S. McFarlane," Chris replied. "Under what circumstances did you end up by the side of a road? We are taking an excursion."

"That is of no importance to you." replied the guy. "I am Oliver Baldwin from the nation of Rodina. I thought traffic laws were better enforced here. However, I am partly to blame too. I have not been looking where I'm going which is an incredibly unintelligent action on my part so I shall forgive you for this attack. What type of excursion are you on if it's not classified?"

"We are traveling to the company of a billionaire scientist, Dr. Gabriel Alchemilia." Chris replied. "Do you wish to accompany us?" He started getting a bit worried, and stepped back towards the truck.

"Eh, sure. Why not?" Oliver replied. "I think I may find something there."

"Alright," said Chris. "Dr. Alchemilia, do you mind if I bring an...um...acquaintance on our road trip?"

"...Sure." Gabriel gripped his shotgun with one hand

"Alright, come along Oliver," said Chris, leading him into the truck.

Oliver boards the truck but is noticeably cautious about this due to trust issues.

After Oliver boarded and everyone made room for him, Atticus closed the door of the truck as Gabriel began to drive off towards Alchem. Corp.

Alchem. Corp >