HMC LEADS

Introduction

2009-01-11T23:00:00.002+08:00

Hello fellow readers,

Unlike HMC Mystery Chronicles (my other story), this story is more interactive. This story involves not only me, but also the reader. There will be a lot of interesting things going on here, you'll soon find out.

HMC LEADS is now going into its true stories. There are, at the moment, 3 character stories and more will be added slowly. The main story is starting now, but I still won't tell you what LEADS stands for.

THIS STORY IS NOT RELATED WITH THE NEW COUNCIL CALLED 'HMC LEADS' IN THE HMC DEPARTMENT

A few notes before you continue to read.

Note:

1. Characters in this story may contain real people's name but are totally fictitious.
2. The story might contain grammatical mistakes and a few rare logical errors which escapes me.
3. I cannot add everyone in this story so I apologise if your name is not in there.
4. This work is copyrighted. If you wish to use anything from here, please reference it. If you wish to copy everything and distribute it, please inform me first.

That's about it. Enjoy.

Status Update (16 Jan 09): New Character Intro - Joshua
Status Update (20 Jan 09): New Character Intro - Ben
Status Update (21 Jan 09): Prologue added
Status Update (23 Jan 09): Chapter 1: The Search (Part 1) added
Status Update (01 Feb 09): Short Story: Living in Books added
Status Update (03 Feb 09): Chapter 1: The Search (Part 2) added
Status Update (24 Feb 09): Chapter 1: The Search (Part 3) added

Also, I've got a new blog for the fun of it: http://the-one-liner.blogspot.com

Characters

2009-01-11T22:05:00.000+08:00

Carmen
Joshua
Ben
Jeremy
Unknown
Unknown

Mr. M
Damian

Character Intro: The Night Is Young

2009-01-11T21:00:00.000+08:00

She sat on the ground; her legs sprawled out over a pool of blood. Her eyes were wet as well as her hands. Tears dripped down her face, rolling past her cheeks with a trail. Her jet black hair was dyed with the stains of red. Her clothes drenched by various human fluids. Her mind was blank and the only thing she could do was sob. So she sobbed. She pulled her hands from her face and stared at them under the moonlight. She was frozen. Red dripped like a watery ink over the groves of her palms. Such a scene and it was completed when the light disappeared and sky started to cry. Tears from heaven poured upon the ground, masking the scent of the dead for a while. Blood flowed away from her. It cleansed her hands, her jeans and her t-shirt but it did not clean her. Such a tragedy and she was only fourteen. She placed her wet hand over her neck and wrapper her fingers around the side. Her thoughts slowly came back to her and she wondered. How did all this happen?

---

A few days ago.

"Carmen! Carmen!"

A call came from across the basketball court. Carmen, the short slim girl who was considerably small, turned her attention away from the ball and towards a couple of girls who were running towards the basketball court. She was wearing a red basketball jersey with a big number eleven written at the back and a sport shorts.

The evening sun shone from above between the white clouds. The sky was beautifully painted with a tint of orange but it was as bright as the day. The court was made out of grey tarmac with white lines drawn at the appropriate locations. Wooden benches on each side of the court in front of some trees planted. Two hoops on each end of the court on a large pool and placed in front of a board.

As soon as she turned her attention away, an orange ball flew past her, barely touching her on the nose. She felt the draft blew by on face as the basketball she was supposed to catch landed in the hands of her opponent.

"Carmen!" yelled one of her team-mates.

"Sorry," she apologised and informed them that she would take a break. She headed towards the bench where her friends were standing and grabbed one of the towels on the bench.

"What's up?" she asked as she dabbed the sweat before slinging it around her neck.

"Guess what we got?" asked one of the girls.

"We got tickets to one of the greatest band ever!" exclaimed the other excitedly.

"Really?" gasped Carmen.

"I know! The concert's next Friday!"

The trees rustled as the wind gently nudged it. The three of them chatted as the sun set with the sound of the dribbling of a basketball behind them.

Soon, as it was getting darker, the three of them parted. Carmen exited the court with her backpack and headed for home. The walk to home was about ten minutes since it was just a few blocks away. She decided to take an evening stroll in order to enjoy the relaxing dusk. She walked down the pavement beside the fence which surrounded the court. Thick, leafy trees stood behind the fence before the court. A sudden gust of wind swept by and everything began to rustle. She felt hair stand behind her neck. A cold chill shivered down her spine. She turned around but no one was there. All her friends who were playing basketball had already left. However, she could feel someone staring at her. She picked up the pace and started walking in panic. She kept looking behind to check if something was after her. Her heart began to pound against her chest. Her walk became a sprint. Her body was pumped up with adrenaline gland. Blood rushed through her body, heating her up but she still felt that cold chill. She started to pant. Closer and closer she got to her home and when she finally reached it, she quickly unlocked the gate and entered the house. She ran up the stairs to her room immediately and slammed the door shut. She slipped her backpack off her shoulders and dropped it on the floor. Then she ran for the curtains to close it over the shut windows. She ran her on the side of her neck, rubbing it absentmindedly.

---

The Friday after, in the past.

Loud noise and bright lights flooded the scene. It was the day. Carmen and her two other friends stood in line while they waited for the gates to open into the stadium. They were there since the evening so they were first in line. The crowd grew eventually and there were easily a thousand people waiting to get in. Carmen glanced at her watch and continued talking to her friends.

Soon the gates opened. The crowd rushed forward, attempting to squeeze through the multiple narrow entrance of the stadium. Carmen and her friends managed to get in first and ran as fast as possible to the space right in front of the stage.

After a while, the crowd filled up the circular bowl of the stage till its brim. Then, the band came on stage. Then, the people cheered. There was much jumping and screaming and dancing. It was like ecstasy. People pushed against each other as they danced. Carmen was having a time of her life.

Until it happened.

Carmen felt something wrap around her ankles. It felt like appendages of a person's hand, except these ones were cold. She shivered when someone's smooth, chilly flesh pressed against her own. The hand gave her leg a tug and she looked down. However, it was too dark to see anything below her waist. And then there was another tug but she tried pulling back this time. However, she could not fight it. Whatever that was pulling her leg was too strong. She was being pulled down, drowning in the sea of crowd. No one noticed her disappearing. She was just gone.

---

She could not remember anything after that. Everything else after was a blur. She struggled to fight the thing that was dragging her. She felt something come down on her, restraining her on the ground. Something pierced through the flesh of her neck. She ended up sitting in a pool of blood on the wet grassy ground next to two dead bodies. But she could not care. She was hungry and she wanted something to eat. She heard a rustle from the bushes far ahead. Something was there, moving and living. And she was hungry.

Character Intro: Flashback after Flash Back

2009-01-11T20:01:00.000+08:00

When Joshua first entered college, he was an enthusiastic kid. His short hair was spiked with gel in the centre, possibly spent hours doing so. He put on his black t-shirt with an 'es' in the centre inside a diamond shaped box. He put on his spectacles and jeans on his face and legs respectively, not the other way round. He also did not put his underwear over his jeans and on the inside. He had a single-lens reflex camera with additional flash and an add-on lens slung over his shoulders. Over his back was a slim backpack which looked as though it was compressed.

On his first day and his second day, he was quiet. But on his third day, he was already in the front of the classroom, waiting to join the yearbook committee. Apart from that, he was being very noisy. He was busy talking to almost everyone he came across. For very obvious reasons, he joined the team as a photographer and his first assignment was given. He had to go to some event and snap some pictures for it. It was easy, it was simple.

---

When the day before the event came, Joshua was well-known in the college, mainly for his attics and harmless insults. He knew almost everyone and everyone knew him by his name or by the person who kept taking their pictures. He was also the class clown in all of his classes and throughout the corridor of college. Another thing about Joshua was that, unlike his camera, he was unfocussed and he was not very careful.

During the same day, he misplaced his camera in college. His normal reaction would be to panic before trying to figure out where he left it. He remembered that he lent his camera, who he named Rachael, to his friends because they really like abusing his camera. He went around inquiring everyone about his missing camera but to no avail. Desperate, he decided to give something to anyone in exchange for his camera. However, he managed to find it in the end by his own and everything was in perfect condition. It was such a relief.

---

Tomorrow came and Joshua prepared for the event. It was the orientation night for the new intakes. He recharged the batteries of his camera, making sure all equipment is fully functioning. He wiped his lens and he hopped down to college. The day went smoothly. He took a lot of great photographs and the event too went quite well. It was such a great turn out which was rather unexpected. All in all, it was a success.

That night itself, Joshua went home wearily from all the excitement at about midnight. He was dead tired but everyone had been bugging him to upload his photographs as soon as possible. They all liked his pictures and they all wanted it. In the end, he conceded to their request. He dragged his laptop out from the backpack and placed it on his bed. With heavy eyelids, he placed his camera on his bed and connected both gadgets together. His finger tapped the pad below the keyboard of the laptop and swirled it around to move the cursor. Soon, he managed to actually do what he was supposed to do, even though it did take ten minutes longer. Everything after that was automatic. The photographs were being transferred into the laptop digitally and the progress was being shown on the screen with a bar. The estimated time of completion was about thirty minutes and Joshua could not keep awake much longer. He fell asleep.

He dozed off as the job was being done. As he fell on top of the warm space next to his laptop, his hand dropped against his camera and his fingers slammed against some of the buttons. His camera slanted and its button was leaning against his laptop. The flash coincidentally lit on and something interesting was about to happen.

---

The next morning, Joshua woke up as though he had a hangover. He forced himself to lift those heavy eyelids. Once he finally got it open, he was in for a surprise. The camera flashed into his eyes and an image of a bright white light was burnt into his corneas. His first reaction was to close his eyes shut and scream in pain. It was next followed by a very shocking reaction and immediately checked his camera. As he was about to figure out what was going on, the batteries died. He quickly took out the batteries to charge them and took out the memory card where all the photographs would have been inside. He inserted the memory card into his laptop and found about two thousand pictures of Joshua's drooling face in it. Upon seeing that, he immediately deleted every single trace of it.

It was a Saturday morning and seeing that he was awake, though he was planning on sleeping in, he decided to finish uploading all the photographs online. He managed to fall asleep after that and woke up around two hours later. When he woke up this time, he felt something sharp pierced through his brain momentarily. He clasped on his head until it was gone. After a few more minutes of lazing, he finally got out of bed and headed downstairs. He went to the kitchen in attempt to make breakfast when he realised he forgot where he put that spoon he used the night before. He tried to remember and then something clicked. It was like his brain was a drawer filled with photographs and someone was going through it, one by one, with great speed. The little man in his head scanned through each photograph and stopped when he found the perfect one. He took it out and showed it to his thought and his thought saw the glittering metallic utensil in between his Mathematics textbook.

For a moment, he stood there dazzled by this ability. He could never do this before. Then, he started to think of the possibilities. But he realised; this could easily be a dream. So, he pitched himself and felt agonising pain because he overdid it. And he tried it again. He tried remembering the first time he cheated on his examination and everything was fuzzy. He tried to remember something more recent, like what happened last night and he could not. He, instead, tried to remember what happened the first time he woke up and he could remember it all really well, as though it was recorded. He went took the nearest book next to him and looked at it and he could memorise the entire recipe for quiche.

He hurried to the nearest mirror and looked at himself for abnormalities. There was none. He smiled. And from then onward, he could remember that smile.

Character Intro: Techno-logical

2009-01-11T19:07:00.000+08:00

Jobs were such a bore at times. Ben was sitting on an office chair slouched; his head rested on his hands. His other hand was on the mouse at his computer, clicking away. It was days like this he hated, where multiple round of first shooting games did not last him. He was taking a break from what he should be doing and surfing the web. Eight hours had already past and one more till five before he could leave. Time was moving so slow, he could actually feel everything moving around his at the same pace. He could feel and hear the second hand of the clock ticking.

The office was quiet because everyone else had to run errands. Ben was sitting in front of the monitor. He was dressed smartly with a long sleeved white shirt tucked in a belted pair of black trousers. He was huge in size, but that was how he was naturally built, like a giant. He had a jacket placed behind of him, hung on the head of the chair. He looked through his glasses, staring at the screen. His attention diverted when he suddenly heard two of his colleagues walked by. It was not eavesdropping if they were speaking loud. Apparently the two of them were talking about a television series where normal ordinary humans gain extraordinary abilities. Then they went on blabbing about a rumour about a webpage where one could actually gain abilities. It was interesting; interesting enough for Ben to keep in mind about. It was a win-win situation for him as well. If he did find out it was a false, he could prove them wrong. If he did find out it was real, which was quite illogical, he would have gained a new ability.

---

That same day after an hour ride home, he rushed to his room and slipped the black bag carefully off his shoulders. He headed for his worked desk which was in the corner of his room and took a sleeping laptop out from the bag. He booted his desktop and placed his laptop next to his dual monitors. His hands danced upon the keys of the plastic board. The sound of tapping filled his room. He came out for room once which was just for dinner and hid back inside the room again. He was fixated on the screen.

---

Eventually, it became a habit. It was unhealthy. All he did was go to work, come back home and continue his research. He only came out when necessary, for food and such. He was good with using the search engine but not good enough to find out what he wanted. His dual monitor would display the search while his laptop had a game on whenever he needed to break away from his obsession, which was quite seldom.

Days passed. It turned to weeks. As time went on, he soon quitted his job. It was not because of his obsession but it was also because his college was about to start. However, because he did stop work, he had more time to do his research. His research, which he had been constantly working on, was almost completed. He could feel it.

---

One day, at around six the morning, Ben rubbed his weary eyes. He was tired and should have been asleep a few hours ago but he managed to endure the exhaustion. He blinked his eyes, yawned and continued to click on his mouse. His mind was half dead as though everything he was doing was automated.

The dark dusk sky grew darker. Raindrops splattered on the window of his room. He could hear the storm which woke some of his mind. It was raining heavily and he was now half hoping that his new uninterruptible power supply, or battery back-up, was ready for the test.

Finally, he got what he was searching for. He clicked on the link for which he had been eagerly searching and the webpage loaded slowly. The loading bar at the bottom of his web browser inched slowly, teasing him. When the page finally loaded, the power in his room went out. The monitor went off for a split moment and it came back on with the same site. On the webpage, there was only a video. He loaded it and he played it and all he saw was some hypnotic and surreal images. In the end, the webpage redirected to another webpage which had a few words on it. After reading those words, even if he was not in the right state of mind, he knew that it made no sense at all. There were instructions which asked him to close his eyes and concentrate.

Lightning struck once more and a powerful thunder boomed near by. His uninterruptible power supply was running out of power. With nothing to lose, he did what the instructions were written but could not care less. Then, there was a humming sound, as though his computer had no more juice left. And then there was the sound of the whirring fan, as though his computer just came back alive again. He noticed there was something weird and he looked under his table to check on his uninterruptible power supply. He found out that his uninterruptible power supply was as dead as it could ever be. Confused, he did various his hand gestures. The computer in his room, as well as his flashlight placed beside him, responded to him even though he was not touching them.

"This is amazing," he said to himself, "I just learnt something new off the Internet."

Prologue

2009-01-11T18:00:00.000+08:00

Something big is always happening. In both sides of good and evil, in both sides of the opposing force, something is always happening. Life goes on even though there are certain things people easily miss. Secrets live among lives. Behind the shadows, jobs are done to keep the balance and order. And for jobs to be done, people have to do the job. And for there to be people doing the particular jobs, they must stand out and it takes some encouragement before the can stand out.

---

There was a car. Then, there was light. After, there was screeching. Later, there was nothing. There was excruciating pain at first. But peace soon followed after. Everything was black. Then, everything was new. There was only flashing of it. It was only a montage of images.

He opened his eyes and saw the peaceful surroundings. There was the clear blue sky untouched by clouds. There was the clear sea in front of him. Sand was beneath his feet and some above them. The atmosphere was cool as the calm breeze blew by. He could feel the air in his slightly curly hair. He stood there in his red collared t-shirt with his hands in his blue jeans and glasses on, being reflective. He wore something around his neck; it was a sharp canine tooth on a string with a bit of decorative. He could see trees beside him and the tide washing the shores.

He opened his eyes for the last time. That imagery vanished and replaced by another scene. Blue skies and sun were replaced by low ceilings with fluorescent lights. His beach was replaced by a narrow carpeted area of a corridor with his socks as the sand. His trees became walls, enclosing the area up. He stood there, staring at the white dim area of the ceiling until someone called his name.

"Jeremy!" called a boy who was walking towards him. He was slightly shorter than Jeremy. He had seemingly short hair which he spiked in the centre.

"Hey Damien," he greeted, "How's LEADS?"

"Great," he replied with energy, "No work yet since we were just picked. I have something for you."

Damien took out a piece of paper from his pocket and handed it to Jeremy. He unfolded the paper, read it and said, "What if I say no?"

"He said he was prepared for that and to tell you that you owe him."

"Then I guess I have no choice."

Chapter 1: The Search (Part 1)

2009-01-11T17:00:00.000+08:00

HUC, a university college, had an underground building built in the hills. The building had two sections which were the main offices in the main foyer and the corridors. The corridors were where all the classrooms, computer laboratories, lecturers' offices and wireless network were. The corridors were also where the HMC department had most of their classes. If it was viewed from above, it was like two long narrow rectangular attached to opposite ends of a square with exits at various location. At the other end, there was stairs leading up to a room above before exiting to the outside world. It was the department of student affair's room or also known as the DSA room and it was also where the new council room was located. Briefly, that was what one of the three HUC buildings looked like.

Jeremy was sitting on one of the chairs at an oblong table meeting table in an epileptically room. This room was a secret room, only known to few. In front of the oblong table was a large screen, switched on, with a dark figure in it. On the tables, there were five files.

"Mr. M," he started with slight annoyance, "What brings me here?"

"I need you to do something for me," the figure on the screen answered with a deep and digitally altered voice.

"Remember what happened the last time I did?" asked Jeremy.

"Yes, I do," he replied, "But this time will be different. You won't be doing it alone."

"What about your other team up there?"

"This is different."

"How is it different?"

"You'll soon find out."

"And what if I decline?"

"I can't force you to do it but if you do decide, you know where to find me," said Mr. M before the screen turned black. Jeremy leaned back on the chair, stumped, before he stood up and left the room, leaving the files untouched.

---

Ticktock went the clock.

Jeremy walked through the corridors, taking a light stroll to clear his mind. He strolled past the people who were busy heading for class. It was ten minutes after the class interval and those who were walking by were either late for class or simply hanging about.

He wondered if it was the right decision. He recalled the last time he dealt with the devil, danced with death. When compared with playing with fire, it was totally different and it was much saner to play with fire. At least there was a possibility that fire would help. He had the bullet wounds to prove his last painful so-called mission. It was all before the holidays. That reminded him about the holiday he had. It was only a month, but it was a good month. He went to the beach.

He glanced into the glass windows of the double doors to one of the classrooms. All classrooms had blue double doors with windows on each side. When closed, the windows formed a semicircle. He ignored the empty classroom until he heard something buzzing. It was not obvious at first, but it was getting increasingly louder.

He stepped back and opened the double doors to the empty classroom. Doing so made the sound much clearer. It played to a tune. It played to a particular and familiar tune in fact. The tune sounded as though it was an intro to a song. The song played on and he came nearer.

I think I'm drowning, asphyxiated.

Jeremy approached closer to the source of the tune. Chairs with attachable flipped tables were nicely arranged. The sound seemed to be coming from the left which was the large desk placed for the lecturers' use.

I want to break this spell that you've created.

Even though it was not that obvious, there was something soft in the background of the singing. It was some sort of buzzing, much like a vibrating mobile phone.

You're something beautiful, a contradiction.

He headed towards the desk and took a look underneath it. There was a mobile phone attached to some sort of black box. There was a digital screen on the box with bright red numbers. Wires went all over the device.

I want to play the game, I want the friction.

The number counted down. He had thirty-eight seconds left. Straightaway, he knew exactly what that was. He grabbed the box and lifted it in his hands. It was not as heavy as he thought and he managed to hold on to it. He needed to.

You will be the death of me; you will be the death of me.

He quickly ran out of the classroom and headed for the nearest exit which was at the large square area of the corridor.

Bury it.

He struggled with the box as he climbed up the stairs to the ground above.

I won't let you bury it.

Above ground, there were offices, restaurant and outlets. There was a maze of roads between the buildings above HUC. He had to do something quick.

I won't let you smother it.

He grabbed something small heavy and placed it on the ground. Conveniently, he found a piece of plank next to a shop that was being renovated. He balanced it over the brick. He placed the mobile phone box on one end.

I won't let you murder it.

He climbed up the stairs nearby and jumped onto the other end of the plank. The black box catapulted into the air.

Our time is running out; our time is running out.

The number counted to triple zeroes but it did not explode. The black box detached itself from the mobile phone and let out a very high pitched screech. Everyone in the area immediately shut their ears with their hands.

You can't push it underground.

Once it stopped, the box flew somewhere else but the mobile phone dropped right in front of his feet. He picked it up and the timing was perfect. It was the end of the chorus.

You can't stop it screaming out.

He stood stunned. He stood on the scene of autumn, where leaves were made out of glass. His surrounds looked like a graveyard of shattered windows. Everything and anything fragile exploded into a million pieces. Everyone else was stunned as well and some were injured from the occurrence. He did not; he stepped away from the splinters of glass as it fell behind him. He scooped the mobile phone on the ground, pocketed it and ran down the road and headed for where the black box. He scanned the area but he could not find where it had flown. He climbed down the stairs, back into the college university.

---

An hour and a half passed.

"Mr. M-" spoke Jeremy as he noticed the screen coming to live, "I've decided to take the job."

"Sure," replied Mr. M from the screen.

"Just so you know I'm not doing this for you. And I might just leave if I feel like it," he informed.

"That's fine by me. I just need you to be in the team for one month at least," Mr. M said as a silhouette of him could be seen in the screen taking out a file and opening it.

"There are five people I've considered. There are files on all five of them but only three of them are somewhat completed. I have details of another but not the name and the last person has completely eluded me," Mr. M explained, "It's up to you who you want on your team. You can take your time but you cannot delay it for too long. I'll give you your first task when you have your team."

"Yes, sir."

He glanced through the five files placed on the oblong table. Each of them led very different lives and he was going to add spicy to that. He was pondering on which one he would approach first. And whether getting into this mess was the right thing to do. And whether getting someone else into this mess was right as well.

Short Story: Living in Books

2009-01-11T16:00:00.000+08:00

Rumours exist.

There was once a tale told by many librarians. The librarians would soon pass the stories down to the students which would spread among friends. With each degree of passing, the story became even more elaborated, even twisted out of proportion. No one knew the truth behind it and most did not believe it.

The story told was about a library. It was a library located in a secluded location which only few had discovered. They said that the library contained infinite knowledge. There was books for everything; books of all. It had everything from the past, to the present and even in the future. It had every book ever written throughout history of both fictional and non-fiction. However, that was not what made this library the key topic of the rumour. The thing about this library was that it contained about six billion books opened over an area as large as the North Pole or even larger and each book had a pen in it. Pens were erected, pressed down on the dusty pages, scribbling away. The ink sipped into the paper, staining it with black markings and sealing the words within the pages. And there were more than six billion others which were tossed aside collecting dust on the closed cover. Each one of these books represented a life each.

They said that the library was located at Mount Olympus, up within the skies where it was Zeus' territory. They said Athena built it with her hands and Zeus used his daughter's work to learn about women to seduce them.

They said that Alexander the Great read many books from that library. From there, he learnt about the weaknesses of many continents and used it at his advantage in his conquest to conquer worlds.

They said that Nostradamus found the library and he had read the future. However, he became crazy with knowledge that all his prophesised were gibberish and too vague to be interpreted.

They also said Marcus, a student of HMC who had ended his third semester and was about to head into his fourth, decided that it was a good idea to seek the library. He heard about the rumour and wanted to pursue it because he did not want to repeat HMC once more. So, during the holidays in December, he went for a trip in search for the library. But he never came back. He was never found.

---

School just started. It was another year in school; Snyder sat in class of the last year before college. He was wondering where his missing brother had been. All there was left of him was a letter with a brief note about his departure after they had returned from Korea. Their parents panicked but they could not do much. Marcus was old enough to take care of himself.

Snyder, however, thought otherwise. He though something fishy was up. He pondered about the sudden interest of his big brother which was something to do with a library. He knew Marcus had no interest in going to the library. Besides, he too had heard rumours about this great library. The 'Great Library' they called it which contained infinite books with infinite knowledge. There was something different about him after a certain date which he could not recall. He was shadier. Snyder noticed changes in his brother.

Snyder tapped the head of his pencil on his notebook. Classes were boring though he should be concentrating. It was his big year in the academic calendar. At the end of the year, he had to sit for a big examination which was considered the biggest he would ever have to take in his higher education life. He did not care about it.

Once he got back from school at about two in the afternoon, he said screw it to his responsibilities and packed up his hiking gear. He left a note on the refrigerator door and left home. He had one problem; he did not know where to start apart from the rumours. It would really be troublesome if it would really be in Greece and with that limited amount of money. He started his journey to the north by bus after taking a taxi to the bus stand.

---

"...and no one heard from him again."

"That's a horrible story."

"That rumour was used too many times already."

"It's not a rumour! It's true."

"How do you even know that?"

"Yeah, how do you?"

"Because he told me himself."

"Now, that's just crap."

"Don't tell me. He sent you a message through telepathy?"

"No, shut up. I'm not lying. Stop laughing."

"Ha, I'm sorry; you just tell the funniest jokes."

"Do continue on."

"Well, Snyder went searching for his brother. He still is."

"And how would you know that?

"Yeah, how do you know that, Redins?"

Redins stood up with a smirk and turned towards them. He turned towards the door and headed outside. The bell rang loudly and the air around it vibrated. He walked passed a mirror and it reflected his name backwards. He spun around and said to them, "I just do."

Short Story: Sketches

2009-01-11T15:00:00.001+08:00

Pictures are worth a thousand words. These pictures, however, are to die for. No one knows who sketched these pictures because they were never found. Few knew the existence of these pictures; even fewer knew why they were to die for. They just were.

Chapter 1: The Search (Part 2)

2009-01-11T15:00:00.000+08:00

Jeremy stood in the elevator. His wristwatch showed him nine colon zero one. He could feel his weight was increasing as it went up. He took out his personal digital assistant mobile phone and slipped the stylus out from the side. He tabbed the touch screen and checked the notes. The elevator in the hostel was slow. The hostel was located above HUC, in one corner of the maze of offices and outlets. He reached the designated floor and walked across the corridor until he found the room was looking. He knocked once and someone answered the door.

"Is your roommate here?"

"No, I think she's at one of the restaurants eating."

Jeremy thanked her and took the elevator back down. He exited the hostel and walked on the road out of the guardhouse of the hostel. He headed for the food outlets along the stretch of buildings. He walked past the first outlet and saw someone else there. It was Ben. He was having his dinner with his laptop beside his meal. His body was largely built with glasses on his face. He wore a red collared t-shirt and black trousers. He hung his jacket on the head of the chair behind of his back.

He headed on to the next few outlets which were pretty empty. Then something happened. Something small and dark dashed by across the road and into an alley. Jeremy halted. Following that was something bigger and humanoid. The shadow of the creature fell upon him. He glanced up and he could see a feminine figure moving with grace across two rooftops, blocking the moonlight. For a moment, her long, red hair flew up as she jumped from one building to another. Her face was pale but not as pale as the moon. He turned left and started running through the alley and into the maze of concrete to chase after the figure.

---

Carmen was running after a stray dog. She was pacing herself. If she actually used her speed, the dog would have been a goner. But this was her evening jog as well; she wanted some exercise. The dog yelped as she chased it through the buildings. The dog ran through the alley; she decided to scale the walls and used the rooftops. She jumped down the building and right in front of the poor dog. As she was about to pick up the corner dog, she heard footsteps. She heard roaring sounds. The world around her slowed down. She turned around and she saw a nice yellow sports car about to hit this boy. She sprinted across the street towards the boy and dragged him on the sidewalk. Both of them tumbled on the hard ground before rolling onto soft dirt. She looked at him who was lying next to her and was shocked.

"Jeremy?!"

---

Jeremy chased the figure between the alleys and appeared on the other side. He saw the girl jumped down in front of the little furry creature. However, instead of going straight at her, he headed for the nearest main road. He saw a bright light and he stepped back. He was still afraid, after the last incident. He hesitated for a moment but he closed his eyes and stepped in the bright light, right in front of the oncoming car. To himself, he thought, "This better work."

The light got brighter; he saw it through his eyelids. All of a sudden, he felt a great force pushing him to the side. He flew with the thing that came at him but it did not feel like a car. He felt flesh and bones and hair.

"Jeremy," he heard the concern voice of the girl, "Are you alright?"

His eyes were closed as he rested on the moist dirt. It was comfortable. He could feel a bit of grass beneath his palms.

"Carmen, is that you?" he asked as he opened his eyes and sat up straight.

"Yeah, it is. That was crazy. The car almost hit you."

Both of them stood up. Jeremy dusted himself but stopped as he winced.

"I think I cut myself," he said, showing the long slash on the opposite end of his palm, below the knuckles. The breach in his skin was covered with fresh, crimson red. Glittering teardrops of ruby dripped to the floor.

Carmen stared at it as though it was a sin. Her expression changed though she tried to hide it. It looked as though she wanted it, needed it. The sin of lust was written all over her face. She was controlling it, but not enough. It was dragging her nearer and nearer and nearer. The temptation was killing her. She slapped it away but the sticky red was smudged all over her palm. She brought it to her face and stared at it for a moment before licking it.

As she opened her mouth to taste her palm, Jeremy saw the predicted abnormal top canines on both sides of her mouth. She froze when she heard the sound of a dog. Jeremy too heard the soft sound of a howl.

"I'm sorry, Jeremy," Carmen apologised and pushed him aside before running into the maze of buildings.

---

A dog, Carmen and Jeremy. Carmen kneeled down with a dying dog in her mouth. Jeremy stood behind Carmen, watching the whole incident. She placed the what-was-once-living dog on the ground. There were two holes pierced near the neck of the dog. She sniffled; she was crying. Glittering teardrops of sapphire dripped from her eyes. He went in front of her and extended a helping hand. She took a while before accepting it and he helped her up.

"I'm really sorry."

"Don't worry," he consoled.

"You can't say that if you don't know what I've been through!" she yelled at him with her head up and facing him. He could see a lipstick of blood on her face.

"Carmen, nineteen this year, student of HMC, last semester this year," he spoke as though he was reading out and then hesitated before saying the last point, "Vampire."

"How... how'd you know?" she stammered.

"Mr. M told me."

"Who's Mr. M?"

"Someone you'd love to hate," he said, "He wants me to form a team and you were top of his list."

"A team?" she asked puzzlingly.

He nodded and added, "Some weird things are happening."

"What can be weirder than being a bloodsucker creature of the night?"

"If I knew, I wouldn't be dragging you into this."

"That'd suck," she commented.

"What?" he said in shock.

"Well, all my life I've been alone. Now I know there's someone like me."

"In a sense," he added.

"So, who are the..."

Before Carmen could finish, Jeremy placed his palm onto her mouth and beckoned her to move aside, into the darkness. He pushed her against the wall.

"Waas at boot," she spoke with a hand muffling her voice. Jeremy hissed back at her.

"Keep quiet," he whispered. He let go of her mouth and she gasped as softly as she could. Both of them stayed very still for a while. Then, Carmen broke the silence with a whisper, "What's that about?"

"Something's following us."

"How do you know? I don't hear anything."

Jeremy whipped out a penknife from his pocket and flipped the knife out. He came out from the shadows and headed for one of the walls. He brought it quickly across the bricks. There was a draft and a cough. Out of nowhere, blood splattered to the ground. He glanced at his knife and there were smudges of red liquid. A blur outline of a human fizzled in the air.

"Was he-" started Carmen but stopped as she realised that the image was running away.

"Yes," replied Jeremy hastily before going after the translucent figure. She too decided to help him and started chasing after the strange thing.

Jeremy ran through the maze of buildings, following the image of a person. The person tipped over the trashcan in front of Jeremy as he entered the through the alley. Drips of blood dropped to the floor, leaving a trace of red dots. Jeremy jumped over the trashcan and as soon as he landed, his feet pushed the ground to accelerate him.

Carmen took the high way; she was going through the rooftops as though she was flying. She ran on top of a couple of boxes until she could reach a very small ledge of the building. She pushed herself up from the ledge onto the window and pulled herself up onto the rooftop. She started sprinting until the ledge of one building and sprang her legs at the very last moment. She extended her legs, reaching for the other end. When her first leg touched the ledge of the second building, she would ground her foot and propel herself forward.

The almost invisible runner kept dragging things down to slow Jeremy. He toppled down bins, dragged chairs behind him and tipped tables. He pushed his fifth trashcan down. Jeremy glanced to the ground for a split-second and he saw something. He slowed down just a bit and pulled back his right leg. The runner found himself in a T-junction. Jeremy shot a tin can at the back of the runner's head. For a moment, the runner was disorientated, just a brief moment. Jeremy took a slide and blocked off the right entrance. With no other option left, the runner took the left turn into the short alley and headed for the main road. Dead ahead of him were railings parallel to the road which was a safety precaution in case people fell off the hill. The drop was deadly and the edge was perpendicular to the ground.

The runner ran on the main road, heading to the left when suddenly Carmen appeared out of nowhere in front from him. He spun around but noticed Jeremy had already caught up to him. He pushed both of them aside and both of them got ready to grab him if he went back into the alley. However, instead, he headed for the cliff. Both of them headed for him, with Carmen in the lead. The partially seen person climbed over the railing. He hung on to the other side as they approached him. He lifted one hand to wave before he let go at the same time completely disappeared from view. When both of them reached the railing, they glanced down and saw a vague, possibly imaginary, outline of the runner.

---

What will Carmen and Jeremy do?

Vote now. Poll is below.

Chapter 1: The Search (Part 3)

2009-01-11T14:00:00.000+08:00

Jeremy looked down from above and grabbed tightly on the bar of the railing. He stretched his arms and lifted himself over the sideways. His legs was about to go over the bar when Carmen grabbed onto his forearm.

"I don't think that's such a good idea," she suggested, tugging him on the sleeves.

"I guess you're right," he agreed, unsatisfied, "We'll call it a night."

---

The next day.

Carmen stood above the corridors of HUC, on the little maze of a town. She was here last night. She could see the result of that; there were little remains over the floor of last night. There were also small fragments of glass scattered over the ground. Some buildings were bare. Others had cracked glass and the lucky ones were not affected.

Dustbin toppled over and tables tipped over. One of the alleys probably had the stench of a dead canine lying on the ground. It was all so clear in the day. The light revealed all.

"Coming to class?" asked a classmate who approached her, on her way down to the underground corridors from the stores.

"I'll be there soon, Rachel," she replied with a partially forced smile. Rachel smiled back and walked on down the stairs.

There was a brief pause. Then, she heard sounds of voices. It was followed by footsteps.

"How are you out in the sun?" said a voice, from behind.

"You know," she said, "Fresh air."

"I mean-"

"I know what you meant," she interrupted, "I don't know myself."

"What about blood?"

"I eat when I'm hungry," she replied bluntly, "If they have too little blood, they die."

"That won’t turn them-"

"No," she shook her head.

There was another pause after that.

"I'm going to class," she said and she left with a wave.

He waved back, still standing at the same spot. He stood there staring at the scenery she was staring at. The same fragments of shattered glass on the ground, the same dead dog and the same toppled trash can. He was reflecting. He glanced up into the bright skies, eyes fixed on the deep blue. Suddenly, the images jittered like an old television set with terrible reception. He took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes but nothing changed. He turned behind him and faced the stairs where Carmen headed. The deeper it went, the darker it was and the darkness was seeping out of the corridor. The jittering reduced but the sky was turning black. Finally, the jittering stopped. However, the whole scene had changed before his eyes. It was darker and eerier. Something was wrong with the place.

He did not panic but he was confused. He knew weird things were happening- he was partially living proof of it- and things were getting even stranger after meeting with Carmen. This, on the other hand, topped the scale.

From a distance, he could see a figure heading at him. He was slightly big and slightly short. He wore a pink t-shirt with white stripes and a pair of jeans. He was in a hurry, rushing towards Jeremy wearing a worried look on his face.

"CC," he called, "What's going on?"

"It's coming," CC warned with a hoarse voice.

"What is?" he asked.

"The horde."

"This isn't exactly like left-" he stopped dead when he saw a huge cloud of shadows approaching their direction. The stench was unbearable. It was like an army of rotting flesh. The little city fell dead except for the sounds of moaning. The smell was strong; imagine the smell of the product of consuming a mix of rotten everything blended up into a possibly green coloured juice.

The earth shook. Silhouettes fell from the buildings, appeared from the alleys and marched down the roads. Jeremy realised they were indeed an army of rotting flesh headed towards them. As soon as it got too dark to see, streetlamps lit up the path but it was still quite dim.

"I stand corrected," he admitted, "What are we to do, CC?"

"We fight," said CC firmly. He lifted the back of his t-shirt and wedged in his jeans was a handgun. He pulled it out from his jeans and pulled the slide of the gun.

"Is that a gun?" asked Jeremy.

"An M1911 to be exact," he said, getting into position. The large gathering of living and walking rotten human took notice of them and started running at them.

"Damn, they're fast," mutter Jeremy. As soon as he placed a period to that sentence, one of the mutants broke from the crowd and dashed towards Jeremy. CC's quick reaction saved him. He raised the gun at the creature with both hands on and a finger on the trigger. One bullet and the head exploded. Blood and remains of the brain splattered all over their clothes. The rotten, dead corpses fell on top of Jeremy who immediately pushed it aside.

"What should I do?" asked Jeremy.

"Pick up that Molotov and throw it at the horde," instructed CC who pointed the gun at the bottle with a rope on the ground. Jeremy scooped up the bottle from the ground. CC took out a lighter for his pocket and a stick of cigarette. He placed it in his mouth and lit it up before lighting up the rope soaked with a cocktail in the bottle. Jeremy cocked it back and threw it at the en masse.

The glass shattered but there was no fire. And even though there was no fire, everything seemed brighter. The sky seemed to be clearer. He took one glance around and everything was back to normal. He noticed a fresh shattered item on the ground ahead of him.

Still baffled and dazed by the experience, Jeremy headed back into the corridors of college.

---

"Joshua," called the lecturer, "I'm very surprised."

Joshua stood up tall with his spiked hair and his favourite black t-shirt with the letter 'es' in the centre of a diamond.

"Eh heh," he giggled mischievously.

"You got seventy-nine percent for your quiz," announce the lecturer.

"Of course, Ms See," he proclaimed, "I'm very smart."

The class burst in laughter once they heard that. It was true that he did improve on his Statistics but he was still a clown. He sat back down next to his girlfriend, Kim who was almost as tall as him. In front of him was Ben and on the side of Kim was Rachel and behind Rachel was Carmen. Carmen was not usually in their class because this was not her group but this was a replacement class for her. She dreaded coming this early for class; she was not much of a morning person. In fact, she was half-asleep, slumped on the desk.

Class finally ended and the students hurried out of the classroom. Jeremy was standing at the side of the door, waiting for them to leave the class. Ben came out and Jeremy pulled him to the side. After a while, Joshua too came out and Jeremy called him to the side. Carmen noticed this but she decided to head in the opposite direction.

"Ben, Joshua," he called.

"Jeremy," Ben called back.

"Hungry," moaned Joshua, "What's this about?"

"Mr. M wants to me to form a group."

"No, no, no, no," said Joshua before pausing and adding, "No."

"Doesn't he have another team? HMC Leads lead by Daniel," stated Ben, "Why does he still need us?"

"Because," Jeremy took a deep breath and looked around, "He needs your abilities."

"My abilities?" repeated Ben quizzically, "My abilities to do what?"

"I know I am very handsome," bragged Joshua jokingly.

"Handsome, my foot," said Ben.

"No, he knows about the both of you."

Both of them fell silent. Ben looked slightly more serious than he was before. He broke the pause by asking, "What does he know?"

Jeremy turned to Joshua and asked, "How do you think Joshua scored so high this time for his Statistics quiz?"

He turned to Ben and said, "And if I'm not mistaken, you knew our marks for our last paper before it was even uploaded on the website."

"That doesn't proof anything," argued Ben, "And that was not a true story."

"True or not, Mr. M wants you," said Jeremy, "Something's going on."

"I did not say I would not refuse to join the team," said Ben, "Mr. M knows I would never deny when he asks me for something."

"How about you, Joshua," he asked Joshua who was contemplating. Joshua felt slightly surprised due to the fact that Jeremy, and possibly Mr. M, knew something about him even he was still confused.

"I'll think about it," replied Joshua after a minute of thought.

"Very well, I'll leave you two to be now" said Jeremy before he walked away.

---

Everything felt so dreamlike. He was merely an observer, viewing the world in a third person view. He could hear a voice. That was all he heard and what he was hearing was not what he was seeing. What he saw was horrid. There was no gore, no violence, just an act of evil. The voice got louder. He knew what the voice meant but he was trying to avoid it. There was no avoiding it no matter how hard he tried and this was not the first time. He was compelled towards the voice. Finally, he stopped resisting and let go.

"Janson," called the voice once more, "Janson, wake up."

"Uh," he mumbled groggily.

"Slept late last night, right?" asked the lecturer.

"Sorry, sir," he apologised immediately after he was full consciousness.

"What am I to do with you?" said the lecturer as he shook his head and went back to teaching. Janson realised he was holding the pencil in his hand. It was the same thing again. He did this in most of his classes when he fell asleep. His right hand pressed the black granite lead on the white piece of paper. The side of his hand was coloured black. On the previously blank piece of paper was a drawing. It was a sketch, to be precise, of a girl of his age trapped in a room with brick wall. The door was blue, much like any other door in college. There were red pipes over the place and the door was grey concrete. There was something unusual this time. He had used the red inked pen this time and it was all over the girl's hands which seemed to be slamming on the door. A mobile phone was drawn with great accuracy, laid on the floor next to her feet. The phone showed the personal details but the dim light reflected against the screen. It read: 'Name: Ti-'.

Janson slowly slipped the paper in a folder filled with other various drawings and pretended to do his work.

---

End of Chapter 1

Author's note: I am seriously going slow on this one. I'll step up on the speed. Next voting option will be in Chapter 2 which will be more interesting and different. You'll find out who the two others are.