AJ opens his eyes and blinks a few times as the sun light beats down on him. He stretches out slightly on the couch where he was laying. God did he ever have a headache. He yawns slightly before sitting up on and couch and cracking his neck. He looks around the living room and finds no one else in there beside himself. ‘They were probably all in the kitchen anyway’, he thinks as he stands up and stretches again. Sleeping on a couch had some bad drawbacks. He yawns again before standing up and walking through the living room into the kitchen. The Browers were all seated around a table except for Stanton who was sitting on top of a counter nursing a cup of coffee. Kevin was standing by the table leaning against the wall and Brian was next to him drinking a glass of water.
“What’s going on?” AJ asks walking into the room and looking at them all.
“God only knows,” Stanton mumbles into his coffee.
“What the hell happened last night?” Jordan asks Kevin.
Kevin sighs, “The scroll was opened.”
“What scroll?” Nate asks.
“There is a scroll in the hands of somebody and on that scroll it tells what is supposed to happen to us all.”
“What does it matter if it’s open?” Xander asks.
“Once that scroll was opened every person who is going to be involved in this felt something. The seers had dreams, the followers felt a pull, others…others just knew it was opened.”
“What happened to my brother?” Xander asks him.
“He felt the pull,” Kevin says looking up at Stanton, “He felt a surge of a pull and he still feels the pull even know.”
Stanton stares at them all with bright green eyes before looking back down at his coffee.
“Brian felt it too,” Kevin says as Brian looks at him.
“What about AJ?” Jordan asks.
Kevin shrugs, “I don’t know,” he says looking at AJ.
“What do you mean what happened to me?” AJ asks looking at them all with bright red eyes.
“You lost it AJ,” Jordan says looking at him, “You were rambling on about not touching Brian and Stanton then backed yourself into a corner before passing out. You don’t remember do you?” Jordan asks seeing the puzzling expression on AJ’s face.
“No,” AJ says calmly.
“What does that mean then?” Xander asks Kevin.
Kevin looks over at Stanton and locks his purple eyes on his green eyes.
“I have to leave,” Stanton says as his brothers turn to look at him.
“What?” Xander asks, “You…you can’t leave.”
“I have to,” Stanton says hopping off the counter top.
“You can fight this thing,” Cole says to Stanton.
“No,” Stanton says walking over to the table and putting his cup down, “I need to leave.”
“You can’t go out there,” Jordan says to Stanton.
“I need to,” Stanton says to Jordan before looking at Brian.
Brian looks at him calmly before nodding slowly and walking over to him.
“You guys will be fine here ok,” Stanton says walking out of the kitchen,
“What are you joking?” Nate asks following him along with everyone else in the room.
“No,” Brian says as Stanton stares at them all.
“I’ll be fine don’t worry about me,” Stanton says, “Xander watch over everyone ok.”
“You have got to be kidding me,” AJ says.
“You’re not going to stop them?” Jordan asks Kevin.
“It’s not my place to stop them,” Kevin says calmly before looking at Brian, “You sure you have to go now?” Brian nods, “I don’t want to, but I have to.”
“This is the biggest crock of shit,” Nate yells.
“Nate listen to Xander,” Stanton says before walking out of the living room into the garage with Brian close behind, “Are we actually going to do this?” Stanton asks Brian.
“What else can we do?” Brian asks him.
Stanton shakes his head, “I dunno,” he says as he hands Brian the discs for his helmet before putting on his own.
“You guys can’t leave,” Cole says following them into the garage.
“Cole go back inside,” Stanton says as the helmet begins to form around his head and Brian stares at them both from underneath the helmet.
“No,” Cole says.
“Cole go back inside,” Stanton says as he jumps onto his cycle and starts the engine.
“No,” Cole says as the cycle comes to life and begins to hover above the ground.
“Go INSIDE,” Stanton says as Brian hops onto the bike behind him.
Cole stares at them as Stanton takes one last look at him before kicking the cycle into drive and it takes off into the tunnel.
“I’m going to the library,” Nate snaps walking over to the couch and picking a leather jacket up off it.
“You’re not going alone,” Xander says to him.
“C’mon AJ,” Nate says to AJ who sighs in reply and follows him out into the garage.
Nate walks into the garage and looks around before looking at AJ.
“What?” AJ asks.
“There are two cycles gone,” Nate says.
AJ stares at him.
“Fuck,” Nate says, “Fucking Cole you shitwhore,” Nate mutters.
“What?” AJ asks picking up two discs and placing them on his ears.
“Cole followed Stan,” Nate says as he picks up two discs of his own and places them on his ears, “Boy is Xander gonna be pissed,” he says the helmet folds down over his face.
“Where are we going?” AJ asks walking over to a cycle and jumping onto it.
“Library,” Nate says jumping onto his cycle.
AJ nods as he starts up the engine to his cycle and Nate does the same.
“Just hoping there is library left by now,” Nate says as he kicks his cycle into ignition and takes off out of the tunnel as AJ follows close behind.
The ride over to the library was a fast one. Both AJ and Nate wet speeding down the streets over cars and debris darting in and out of streets. The library was a newer building and still n a section of New York where the power was working. The library was around seventy-nine stories tall with small elevators located on the outside of the building itself. There were three small black pods the size of cars on either side of the building traveling up and down the sides of it.
“Where do we put the bikes?” AJ asks Nate as the approach the library.
“Put them inside the main floor,” Nate says as the two of them ride slowly into the main floor of the building as the front door opens for them automatically.
They both hop off their cycles leaving them parked in the middle of the main floor. It was probably the safest place to keep them for the time that they would be here. Nate knew where he was going though. He hit the ground and started to walk down the hallway as the helmet unfolds around his face with AJ following close behind. AJ looks around the building as his helmet unfolds.
“What we need is on this floor,” Nate says to him, but not looking at him.
“What are we looking for?” AJ asks him.
“The mother computer system.”
“Do you even know how to use that?” AJ asks as they turn a corner and walk into a large dark room. As they step inside the room lights up clearly showing the silver metal work inside the room. The walls were lined with silver metal and in front of them was a large metal desk filled with buttons and a keyboard on it.
“Ah shit,” Nate says as he walks up to the desk.
“What?” AJ asks walking up next to him.
“Censored,” Nate says looking down at the desk that had a soft black light glow coming from it, “Son of bitch,” Nate says looking down at the light as his green eyes glow even brighter, “They won’t even let us learn now.”
AJ shakes his head and fishes into his pants pocket producing a pair of dark sunglasses and putting them on, “What do you have to do?”
“It’s just like a normal NEMA computer,” Nate says.
“You sure,” AJ asks.
“Yeah,” Nate says, “Why?”
“Move,” AJ says reaching across him and grabbing a pair of large black gloves that were the size of hockey gloves and putting them onto his hands.
“AJ you’re not going to be able to get in,” Nate says to him.
“Watch me,” AJ says adjusting the gloves to fit his hands and the lights in the room go off.
“Welcome to the New York City Library,” a female voice from the computer says and the keyboard on the desk lights up slowly, “Please make a selection.”
AJ looks at Nate, “What am I looking for?”
“Prophecies I dunno.”
“Now you don’t know,” AJ hisses at him.
“Sorry,” Nate says.
“Prophecies,” AJ tells the computer.
“Processing Prophecy,” the voice says as a transparent screen pops up in front of them both.
“There are 200 search results,” AJ says, “Give me something else to work with.”
“I dunno the date maybe,” Nate says,
“Computer search for the Silema Prophecy,” AJ says to it as Nate stares at him. AJ stares as more transparent screens appear one on top of the other before him.
“Silema Prophecy,” the computer repeats.
“No,” AJ says reaching up with his hands and moving the first screen out of the way, “No,” he says again skimming the second screen and moving it away again with his hands, “No. No. No,” he says moving three more screens away quickly, “Here we go,” he says as a transparent screen appears before him and he skims it, “Computer show me the prophecy,” AJ says as the screen flickers for a second and slowly the words begin to take on a soft green shade, “Silema Prophecy,” AJ says reading over it, “Blah. Blah. Blah. Cannot be read under normal circumstances. No. No. No. Written by Simone Silema in 2497…cannot be read…has not been found…no records contain the original script. Wonderful,” AJ says, “Computer shut down,” AJ says to it pulling off the gloves and slamming them down onto the desk as the lights come on again, “What?” he asks turning to Nate.
“How did you know that?”
“Know what…how to work it?”
“No. The name?”
“I…I dunno,” AJ says.
“Do you hear that?” Nate asks him.
“What?”
“It…it sounds like its raining.”
AJ looks up at the ceiling and shrugs, “I dunno maybe it is.”
“AJ…it hasn’t rained naturally here in over fifty years,” Nate says.
“Shit,” AJ says before taking off and running down the hall to the main lobby with Nate close behind. The two of them dash out the doors and onto the sidewalk.
“Damn,” Nate says.
AJ holds out his hand and looks down at the rain as it hits it, “Why is it red?” he asks turning to Nate.
“It’s blank,” JC says looking down at the scroll lying before him on the floor.
“What do you mean its blank?” Justin asks sitting on the bed and looking down at JC who is once again sitting on the floor.
“It’s blank,” JC says, “There is no writing.”
“There has to be writing,” Justin says standing up and walking over to him and seeing the blank parchment, “Huh,” he says sitting down next to Josh, “Wonder why?” he asks. Well this made his job a whole lot easier now, “Let me see it,” he says reaching forward and touching the parchment slightly as he begins to pick it up, “Ouch what the hell,” he yells as he feels a small shock come off the paper.
“Look at that,” JC says looking down at the paper as faint writing begins to appear on it, “It’s getting darker,” he says as the writing gets heavier and fills up a few lines on the paper before stopping abruptly, “I can’t read it,” he says looking at the writing.
“Latin,” Justin mumbles softly staring at the writing then looking back down at his hand.
“Can you read it?” JC asks Justin.
Justin stares at the words and nods. He knew he shouldn’t say anything, but he couldn’t help it and the words came out anyway, “The end will begin as the following. First the elders of the tribes will disappear and the youth will come to rule. The one will come into the possession of the scroll and will head east. The followers will feel the pull and set off while the chosen few will come to terms with their dreams…” he says trailing off slightly, “The earth will mourn the loss of many as it rains blood tears and cries for its children. The prophet will find the wanderer and…and that’s all it says,” Justin says looking up at JC, “Where’s the rest of it?”
“I dunno,” JC says, “Maybe it will come up later. What is all this about?”
“I…I dunno,” Justin says truthfully as he hears a scream down the hall and someone begins yelling in French.
“What?” JC asks as Justin stands up quickly and rushes over to the window in their cabin.
“Fuck,” he mutters as he looks out over the sea.
“What?” JC asks standing up and walking over towards him gazing out as the red drops of rain strike the cool surface of the blue ocean. JC looks at the sky as the rainfalls before turning around quickly and looking down at the scroll, “What the hell is going on?”
Justin looks at him with wide eyes, “Oh shit,” he says as a pain fills his head and he falls to his knees.
“Justin?” JC says as Justin stares at him until his image becomes blurry and Justin shuts his eyes tightly.
Justin looks around the cabin again and begins to panic. No. No. Not this again. He looks over and sees JC there again. Shit. He turns around and sees the girl in the other corner crying again. He rushes over to her and drops to his knees in front of her. He goes to say something, but can’t. He tries to say something, anything, to warn her to get her to leave the cabin. He grabs onto her shoulders and begins to pull her up. He motions to the door franticly and she stares at him continuing to cry. Justin shakes his head no and begins to pull her toward the door. He reaches the door this time and begins to pull on it franticly when he hears the thunderous boom again. He hears her scream and begins to pull franticly on the wooden door as the water begins to fill up the house again. He tries to kick it as the water begins to rise towards his head. He looks over at the girl and panics as he realizes that she is so much shorter and the water is already covering her neck. He picks her up and begins trudging through the water over to a table hoisting himself up along with her and standing on it. He holds the girl close now and takes in large breaths of air as the water begins to rise above his head finally. Then the darkness came again sweeping through the water towards him. He could feel the chill in his bones again as the darkness came towards him. He holds onto the girl tightly as he feels a pull on her and she begins to be yanked away from him forcefully. He looks at her in a panic and takes a breath of the water as his eyes lock on her’s…her green eyes.
“Justin!” JC yells at him as Justin’s eyes pop open again and he begins to breath in the air franticly, “Justin are you ok?” JC asks.
Justin sits up abruptly and looks down at his hands that are shaking uncontrollably again.
“Are you ok?”
“Fine,” Justin says as he wraps his arms around himself trying to get rid of the chill in his bones.
“Justin,” JC says, “Justin you’re crying.”
Justin stares at him before reaching on a shaking hand to his face and touching the tears on his cheeks, “Shit.”
“What’s wrong with him?” a voice asks.
“I don’t know. He’s pretty bad though,” another voice says, “He needs help.”
“Shit,” the first voice says.
“I told you we shouldn’t have left him,” a female voice says.
“I’m sorry ok,” the first voice says.
“Nick,” the female voice says, “Nick open your eyes c’mon.”
Nick opens his eyes slightly and sees the blurry images before him. He could tell there were three people, but he couldn’t make out their features except for their eyes.
“Jesus Christ he’s soaked,” the female voice says.
Nick looks around at the blurry objects and finally notices the way his clothes were clinging to his body and the way small streams of water were running down his face.
“He’s all red we need to get him inside,” the female voice says as Nick feels a air of arms pick him up off the ground and another pair pick up his legs, “Get him to the car.”
“ I can’t even fucking see through this damned rain,” the second male voice says.
“He’s probably got fucking hypothermia we need to move,” the female voice says.
Nick tries to open his eyes wider, but stops as the pain in his head happens again.
“Get the car Pilar,” the first male voice says as Nick sees one of the blurry images go racing off around the corner.
“Pilar?” Nick slurs out.
“Yeah just hold on,” the first male voice says to him and Nick could make out his face now.
Nick closes his eyes again and hears a car pull up and a door being opened loudly.
“Put him in the back,” the second male voice says and Nick could feel himself being carried and then felt his body coming to rest on a softer seat. The arms let go of him and he hears the door slam around him.
“We need to get out of here those people who did this could still be around,” the first male voice says, “I’m driving Pilar.”
“Fine,” the female voice says and within a minute Nick felt a jerk as the car roared to life and went flying down the street, “You ok Nick?” the voice asks as he feels a hand on his forehead, “C’mon Nick.”
Nick turns his head towards the voice and opens his eyes slightly to see a pair of bright green eyes staring at him, “Pilar?”
“Yeah,” the voice says.
“Don’t go out at night,” Nick says before passing out again.
“Where am I going?” Nick asks looking over to his left at a taller darker man with bright purple eyes.
“You go where your gut tells you to go,” he says to Nick
“I don’t want to leave,” Nick says.
“You need to,” the man says.
“No.”
“Then we die.”
“No, I’ll go. What do I have to do?”
“You need to find my cousin. You need to bring him back here,” the man says locking eyes with him.
“You’re cousin?”
“Yes,” the man nods, “Hurry.”
“Wait…what’s his name?” “Brian.”
Brian stares out from inside the helmet as Stanton drives around the cars and cycles that litter the highway. Beside them another cycle roars as Cole follows their lead across the land. Brian had no idea where he was going. What he was going to do. Or what was going to happen. All he knew was that he needed to go south and he needed to go now.
