Children Of Deurom

Chapter 3| Running In The Halls

    Aidan lies in bed staring up at the ceiling, he glances at the alarm clock 5:36. He knew he had time before having to get up for school. He couldn’t get last night out of his head. The smell of the rubber, his hands on fire, Alejandro screaming. What the hell was all of that? He sat up in bed and grabbed his phone and begins to dial. I should tell Adonis, right? Aidan thought. But, then what? He’s not here, it’s not like he can make me go see a doctor or something. I wasn’t hurt, I’m fine. I just need to get through the day. Aidan hops out of bed and goes through his normal routine; push-ups, sit-ups, shower, then heads over to the local deli, grabs breakfast, and then head to school. He was earlier than most of the kids, so he just sat on the bench while and ate his breakfast. Nolan pulls up in his car and notices Aidan sitting on the bench.

            Aidan’s here early. Nolan noticed. Maybe I can talk to him now, it might be easier without Arminius… ease him into it. Nolan steps out of the car and approaches Aidan.

            “Hello, Aidan.” He greets. Aidan looks up from his breakfast to his teacher and quickly swallows his food.

            “Good morning, Mr. Johnson.”

            “You’re here pretty early aren’t you?” Nolan asks, sitting next to Aidan on the bench. Aidan feels something peculiar about him, something different.

            “Yeah well, the early bird gets the worm am I right?” Aidan replies sarcastically. Nolan chuckles.

            “Listen, Aidan, there’s something I need to--” Nolan is cut off by the arrival of Ian who proceedes to slams his hand down on Aidan’s shoulder and grabs a sandwich out of Aidan’s bag.

            “Thanks man.” Ian  cheers as he takes a bite out the sandwich. It’s only after catching Nolan’s disconcerning look at the corner of his eye, did Ian even notice him.  “Hey, Mr. Johnson. You’re here early.”

“So are you buddy.” Mr. Johnson stands up. Crap. Too late. “Well, I’m going to head in.” Mr. Johnson begins to walk away. Aidan runs up to him.

            “Mr. Johnson. You sounded like you had something you needed to tell me.” Nolan snaps his fingers in response.

            “Right. Right. I need to see you after class, you’re not in trouble mind you. Just have to talk to you about something.” Aidan nods his head and Nolan walks away. Aidan returns to the bench and plops down.

            “Crap,” Aidan exclaims. Ian is still munching on his sandwich. 

            “What’s up?” Ian asks, mouth full of sandwich.

            “I gotta see Mr. Johnson after class.”

            “For what?”

            “Dunno. He didn’t say.” Aidan goes back to eating breakfast along with Ian. Chloe and Joan pull up shortly after, Chloe steps out and Aidan is immediately transfixed. Her hair, which was normally in ponytail, was let down which surprisingly reached to her waist. The lightess of the blonde color and the ray of the sun almost make is seem as if a warm glow was wrapped around her which oddly highlighted the short grey dress she was wearing. Short enough to be appealing but not too short that people would get the wrong idea. Aidan’s mouth must’ve been hanging open because Ian elbowed him, chuckling. Aidan shoved him back in response.

            “You guys are here early.” Chloe states with a smile.

            “We could say the same for you.” Ian replies back.

            “My mom had to go to work early,” Chloe claims, sitting down on the bench next to Aidan. He holds out her sandwich to her.

            “Want a bite?” Aidan asks.

            “No, thank you.” Chloe chuckles in response. Joan stands, eyebrow raised at Aidan. Ian swallows to the last of sandwich and turns to Joan.

            “I’d have offered you some but… I kinda ate all of it.”

            “That is quite alright, Chloe’s mother actually made breakfast.” Aidan finishes his breakfast quickly and the four head into school. As they walk the halls, Aidan again gets caught in the clutches of the sword.

            “Really interested in that huh?” Chloe asks, trying to get Aidan’s attention.

            “It’s just, really neat. That’s all.”

            “It’s Germanian,” Chloe informs them.

            “No, Chloe, look closer,” Joan tells her. Chloe looks at the sword again.

            “Romanian.” Chloe realizes.

            “Correct.” Joan praises. “Looks like it’s from…5 AD by my estimate.” Something about the way Joan mentioned the sword’s age raised Aidan’s suspicion. Its as if she just realized something troubling, as if the sword was cursed and about to jump out at her.

            “That’s scary accurate.” Ian praises her.

“My father is a historian, I’ve learned quite a bit.” Joan boasts. Aidan and Ian disregard the comment and return to the sword. The bell rings and they all separate into their first period classes. Aidan sits down in the back of the classroom and starts pulling out assignments from his backpack, with all the excitement last night, he had forgotten about his homework. Aidan begins filling in random answers, when suddenly the homeroom teacher, Mr. Adams walks in. He was a short man in his 30’s.

            “Alright class, settle down. Settle down.” He orders, tossing a black messenger bag onto the desk. “Can everyone please pass up the assignment from last night?” s**t. Aidan quickly fills in the rest of the answers with random answers and passes it to the person in front of him. Mr. Adams comes around to the first desk of every row and grabs the piles of paper. He tosses the piles of homework down on his desk. Suddenly, the school alarm begins to sound and a voice comes on the announcements.

            “Attention, this is an emergency. At this time secure everyone in your classrooms and take roll. If not in a classroom, report directly to the nearest classroom with a staff member.” The message repeats one more time.

            “Everyone, just remain calm.” Mr. Adams tries to keep order. The door is then kicked off its hinges and flies across the room. Everyone begins to scatter towards the back of the classroom when a man walks into the room. He is wearing a gladiator helmet which cover’s his face and conceals his identity. He is wearing bracers and a chest piece over what appears to be a black bodysuit. In his hands were gladius blade, similar to the one in the display case and a round Roman shield.

            “Son, put the weapon down. No one has to get hurt here.” Mr. Adams pleads in an attempt to defuse The Gladiator. The Gladiator appears as though he is looking for something. “Common, just… hand me the weapon, and let’s talk through this.” Mr. Adams reaches for the sword, but The Gladiator jerks his hand back.

            “Back away!” He commands, still searching through the wave of students. “I don’t want to hurt anyone I don’t have too.”

            “You don’t need to hurt anyone.” Mr. Adams pleads. “Just put the weapon down and leave, no one is going to persue you.” The Gladiator attempts to shoot an intimidating glance at Mr. Adams. The Gladiator goes to leave but stops at the door, someone has caught his eye. Aidan.

            “Found you.” He utters. Mr. Adam attempts to leap and grab the sword but is backhanded by the Gladiator with his shield and sent flying into the wall. The class begins to freak out and scatter amongst the classroom. The Gladiator takes the shield off his arm and tosses it like a Frisbee towards Aidan who instinctively manages ducks out of the way. And with good timing as the shield careens and lodges into the cement wall behind him. The Gladiator races up and swings his sword at Aidan who manages to evade, only to be grabbed by the Gladiator’s free hand and slammed against the wall of the classroom. The Gladiator’s grip is tight around Aidan’s throat. The class chaotically runs out of the classroom.

“Let go!” Aidan screams. He tries to push the Gladiator off of him but to no avail. The Gladiator thrusts his sword into Aidan, missing his intended target and stabs through Aidan’s shoulder. Aidan screams in pain. “Why are you doing this? What did I ever do to you?” The Gladiator remains silent as he pulls the sword out of Aidan’s shoulder. “Just let me go, man. You don’t have to do this man. Please.” The Gladiator tilts his head at Aidan, the only noticeable feature being a pair of regret filled eyes.

“It’s not about what I want.” He replies, raising his sword high. Aidan puts his hands up in defense, fire burst through them and slams into the Gladiator sending him flying back to the front of the classroom and into the wall. The top of his bodysuit under his chest piece catches on fire. Aidan makes a dash for the door and runs out into the halls. He meshes in with the other students as they flood the halls. The Gladiator begins to tear at the top half under the chest piece until the fire is out. He runs to the back and retrieves his shield and then races out to the hallway. He scans the crowd looking for Aidan, attempting to push his way through. Aidan looks back but unfortunately catches the attention of the Gladiator. The Gladiator pushes forward to get to Aidan and bashes him with the shield strapped to his arm sending Aidan flying into the glass display case with the sword inside.

“Hey!” A voice calls out. The Gladiator turns around to see Chloe standing down the hall. The Gladiator begins to approach Chloe, who is paralyzed in fear. Suddenly, a trophy hits the back of the Gladiator’s helmet. He turns around to see Aidan holding a sword.

“Common ugly, you were after me, right? Let’s go!” The Gladiator takes the shield off his arm and tosses it, Aidan. Aidan drops to the floor, the shield flies and embeds itself into the wall.  Aidan looks up to see Joan dragging Chloe out of the hallway. The Gladiator approaches and tries to bring his sword down on Aidan, who deflects it using the sword that was in the case. He wasn’t expecting that, here’s my chance. Aidan pushes up back with the sword, making the Gladiator lose his footing, he then makes a run for it down the hallway. The Gladiator regains his footing and goes back after Aidan.

Once he was certain he had created some distance, Aidan turns behind him to make sure the Gladiator wasn’t following. After not seeing anything, Aidan slows his pace in an attempt to catch his breath. The Gladiator then bursts through the wall, grabs Aidan and then proceeds to start slamming him against the lockers. Aidan starts to throw hits at the Gladiator, one such hit shot a burst of fire into the Gladiator’s shoulder. He throws Aidan down the hallway, as he grabs his shoulder in pain. Aidan crashes into a plexiglass panel that stands next to a door. The glass cracks but unfortunately doesn’t break causing Aidan to be indented into the glass, the sword falls from his hand. His breathing starts to turn into wheezing as his entire body shoots with pain, the smell of his own blood fills his nostrils as he falls from the glass and onto the floor, fighting to stay at least a bit conscious. The Gladiator grabs his sword and begins to approach Aidan. Aidan begins to cough up blood as he tries to stand up. He falls back to the floor and slips into unconsciousness. The last thing he sees is the Gladiator as he approaches. See ya soon, mom. But, as the Gladiator gets closer, a wall of fire blocks the Gladiator from Aidan.

“You’re not supposed to interfere.” The Gladiator turns around to face Arminius, standing at the other end of the hall.

“The rules state, that I’m not allowed to strike nor kill you. It says nothing about defending my contestant.” Arminius replies. “Now, I haven’t struck you. And I obviously haven’t killed you, so I am within my rights. But of course, this means that you are also not allowed to strike me.” The Gladiator sheathes his weapon.

“Julius gets what he wants, and he wants you out.” Arminius scoffs.

“Christ, it’s been about 2,000 years. Tell him to get over it.”

“You can’t be around all the time.” The Gladiator responds. But it came out as more of a warning than a threat. As if what he meant to say was He’ll make me try again. Police sirens are heard in the distance but getting closer with speed.

“Better hurry.” Arminius warns. The Gladiator flees as Arminius drops the wall of fire and goes to check on an unconscious Aidan. Nolan rounds the corner.

“I got here as soon as I could. I had to get the students out.”

“Understood.”

“So what’s the plan?” Nolan asks. Arminius begins to think of something. He takes a coin out of his pocket.

“Take the boy back to the house and bandage him up. I’ll deal with the situation here.” Nolan nods and tries to pick Aidan up. Ian comes out of nowhere and helps Nolan.

“I got him.” Ian and Nolan help Aidan to his feet.

“What are you doing here?” Nolan asks.

“I’ll explain later Mr. Johnson.” Nolan looks at Ian and chuckles.

“You’re one of them. Aren’t you? A contestant?” Ian looks at Nolan, knowing full well what we meant and nods his head. As they open the door, Chloe and Joan run into the school from the door Aidan was laying at. Ian and Nolan turn their heads to face them. Chloe was dumbfounded. “You too?” Nolan asks. Chloe begins to try and stutter up a response.

“Joan,” Arminius calls from down the hall.

“Arminius,” Joan replies. “Good to see you again.”

“And you as well.” He replies. “This your contender?” He asks pointing to Chloe.

“She is.” Joan looks at the bloody, unconscious Aidan. “And I suppose he’s yours?” Arminius nods. “I told you there was something about that boy, Chloe.” Chloe runs and checks up on Aidan. Joan walks over to Arminius. “About to use it huh?” She asks gesturing to the coin.

“Might as well.” Arminius looks at Joan. “I’m surprised you came to assist another contender, Joan. It’s a bit out of character.”

“It was not my choice. She heard that it was that boy and came running.” Chloe looks to Joan, embarrassed.

“Joan!”

“Well it’s true, couldn’t have run fast enough. She infatuates over that boy.”

“Joan!”

“Ha! Knew it!’ Ian mocks, still holding Aidan.

“Stop this lollygagging. Get him back to the house so I can do this.”  Arminius scolds. Nolan nods as he and Ian begin to walk Aidan out of the school. Arminius throws the coin to the ground and it bounces back up. Suddenly, the sirens blur out, it seems as though time has stood still except for Arminius, Joan, Nolan, Ian, Chloe, and Aidan.

“Hear me, all-powerful Deorum.” Arminius snaps the coin out of the air. “I call to you in the name of secrecy, grant me the ability to fix this mess.” The coin begins to glow and Arminius lets out a deep sigh of relief. “Thank you, all-powerful Deorum.” He closes his eyes tightly and begins to think of a solution, he then throws the coin down the hall. The coin begins to fly away lighting the school and the surrounding area in a golden light. Joan watches with Arminius as the golden light engulfs the sky. 

“So. What did you come up with?” Joan asks.

“Water heater exploded… That’s why there’s so much damage.”

“And what of the boy?” Joan inquires. “How do you explain his absence?”

 “What absence?” Arminius replies. “Aidan didn’t even come to school today.”

“Smart.” Joan compliments, taking in the sight of the coin.

“May I make a proposal?” Arminius asks. Joan looks up with intrigue.

“I’m listening.”

“What happens in Nirvana, happens. But maybe… here, on Earth. We could look after one another.” Joan scoffs with shock.

            “An alliance? Really?” Arminius tries to reason with Joan.

            “We can train together, look after one another. Gives us better odds.” Joan doesn’t appear to be taking it into consideration. “Think if it was your contender he came after. Would she have survived as mine did?” Joan begins to look worried. Would Chloe have survived?

            “I’ll think about it,” Joan claims, walking out the door. Arminius smirks as the coin flies back into his pocket. Arminius snaps his fingers and everything returns to normal.

            Chloe opens the door to Aidan’s apartment, allowing Ian and Nolan to carry Aidan inside while she carries a black duffel bag.

            “Bedroom?” Nolan asks. Ian tilts his head to the direction of Aidan’s room. The two carry Aidan to the bed. Nolan takes the bag from Chloe. “You two wait in the living room, if I need you, I’ll call.” Ian and Chloe nod and walk into the living room. Ian plops down into one of the chairs while Chloe begins to walk around. She picks up a photo of a young Aidan and his mother.

            “So this is his mom?” Chloe asks Ian, showing him the picture.

            “Yeah, his mom and my mom were childhood best friends.”

            “Which led to you guys being friends.” Chloe concludes.

            “He’s like a brother to me.” Ian replies, his voice riddled with concern. Chloe puts the picture back and looks at Ian who is staring at the floor.

            “He’s gonna be ok. Mr. Johnson’s got this.” Chloe tries to assure Ian.

            “For now, but we both know what’s gonna end up happening later on.” Ian stares at Chloe who picks up another picture, this is an older picture of Aidan who looked to be about five years old and his mother, along with another boy who was probably about in his mid teens with dirty blonde hair.

            “We’ll cross that bridge when we get there.” Chloe holds the picture up to Ian. “Who’s that guy with Aidan and his mom?” Ian looks up at the photo.

            “That’s his older brother. Adonis.” Chloe looks surprised.

            “I didn’t know he had an older brother.”

            “He’s technically Aidan’s guardian, but he’s never around. He’s always away for work, he pops by every once in a while to check on him… but besides that, he’s just here by himself.”  Chloe puts the picture back where she found it.

            “That’s sad.” Chloe comments. The door opens and Arminius and Joan enter the living room.

            “Where are they?” Arminius asks.

            “Bedroom” Replies Ian, waving his thumb behind him. Arminius runs back into the bedroom. Aidan’s sheets are stained with blood, he lays face down on the bed, still unconscious. Nolan is pulling pieces of glass from Aidan’s back with a pair of tweezers.

            “How is he?” Arminius asks.

            “He’s gonna live. But… these are bad Arminius.” Nolan claims to put down the tweezers. “His ribs are broken, the shoulder that was punctured is defiantly dislocated… Its gonna be quite a while before he can do any type of training.” Arminius looks down at Aidan.

            “As long as he heals up, we’ll be fine,” Arminius claims. “Just finish patching him up.” Arminius looks around the room, it’s pretty well kept for a teenage boy; aside from the queen sized bed, there’s a dresser with a small TV sitting on top of it, a desk sits in the corner by the closet, there are some pictures on the wall along with a few posters that appear to be for some sort of video game or movie franchise. Arminius begins to search through the desk, only to find it’s neat and organized. He pulls out one of the drawers to reveal multiple files; past report cards, paid statements for bills, bank transactions, his mother’s medical records. “Are we sure we’re in the right place, Nolan?”

            “Of course. Ian brought us here. Why?”

            “Because, the impression you gave me of this kid was that he was the bright, lazy type. He keeps records of his bills, his rooms not a pigsty, the house, in general, is very neat. If it weren’t for the gaming console in the living room and the posters on his wall I would never have guessed a teenager lived here.”

            “With all due respect sir, adults play video games too,” Nolan sarcastically replies.

            “Not the point.”

            “If you think about it though, it makes sense.” Nolan says pulling out another piece of glass.”

            “How so?”

            “Well, brother left home when he was around Aidan’s age, came back every once and a while to help him when their mother got sick. But mostly it was Aidan. He had to grow up pretty quickly.” Nolan concludes.

            “It shows. Not sure if that’s gonna make this harder or easier.” Arminius ponders. Picking up a photograph on Aidan’s desk of him and his mother. “I swear she looks so familiar.”

            “Can you help me with the bandages, sir?” Nolan quickly asks. Arminius puts down the photograph and helps Nolan gently lift up Aidan so he can bandage his ribs. Aidan groans in pain. Nolan moves as fast as he can and finishes, allowing Arminius to lay Aidan back on the bed. “I’ll let him sleep for a bit before I move him again. We should probably clean the sheets.” Arminius nods and walks out of the bedroom and into the living room where Chloe, Joan, and Ian are waiting.

            “He’ll be ok. He’s got some broken ribs, his shoulder’s dislocated, had to stitch it up… but he’s gonna fine.” Chloe and Ian let out sighs of relief with the news of the friends impending recovery. Nolan closes the door to the bedroom and walks out.

            “I’m gonna run and grab something to eat. Like a pizza or something. I’ll be back.” Arminius gives him a nod of approval before he leaves. Arminius then turns his attention to Ian.

            “So kid. Joan’s with the girl--”

            “Chloe.” Chloe interrupts. Arminius turns to her. “My name is Chloe.” Arminius nods annoyed he was interrupted and turns back to Ian.

            “Joan is with…Chloe. So who are you with?” Ian begins to look nervously from Arminius to Chloe to Joan. “Common kid, out with it. She’s the only one that could kill you and I doubt that’ll happen. So spill it.” Ian takes a deep breath.

            “Wallace.” He replies. Arminius winces.

            “Ouch, I hear he’s a pain in the ass.”

            “You’ve got no idea,” Ian replies. Arminius sits down in one of the chairs.

            “So, Chloe right?”

            “Yeah.”

            “Joan tell you about my little proposal?” Joan scoffs in response.

            “What proposal?” Chloe asks.

            “Arminius has suggested…that we… look after each other, here on Earth.” Joan replies with an agitated tone in her voice.

            “Really?” Chloe excitedly asks.

            “That’s what I said. I also believe I mentioned training together as well but...” Arminius trails off, knowing if these contestants want to look after each other they wouldn’t care about what their mentors said.

            “Can I get in on that?” Ian asks. Arminius looks at him, intrigued. “Wallace keeps stressing about the whole safety thing. And after today, I think it’s a good idea. We’re not strangers, we can trust each other.”

            “Oh really? Is that why none of you knew about the others’ involvement until today.” Joan comments. “Can you really trust one another?”

            “Joan.” Chloe turns to Joan. “I wanna do this.” Joan looks back to Chloe, searching her eyes for some kind of doubt but not finding it.

            “Chloe. This is not a game. This is a very serious situation. I need you to look deep inside yourself and ask. ‘Can I really trust these men?’ And you need to be absolutely sure of your answer.” Joan consoles Chloe.  “If you can truthfully answer that question with a yes. Then I will agree with Arminius.” Chloe thinks back to Aidan saving her in the school. He had distracted a man out to kill him so she could escape. Chloe looks Joan right in the eyes.

            “I can trust them.” Joan looks at Chloe and knows she is genuine. Joan takes a deep breath.

            “Alright, then Arminius. Let’s go along with your plan.” Arminius smirks, victorious.

            “So.” Ian intrudes. “Can I uh, get in on this little alliance?”

            “Is that what we’re calling it?” Joan asks.

            “Sure.” Arminius answers. “Why the hell not.” Joan looks shocked.

            “Are we just going to include everyone in this?”

            “No. But Ian knows Aidan… Chloe too, at least that’s what I assume” Arminius explains. “Why not add another set of eyes or too. Call Wallace and have him meet us here.”

            “Yeah, I can’t do that…right now.”

            “Why the hell not?”

            “Said he has something to take care of for a few days.”

            “He just left you to yourself?” Joan asks.

            “Yeah,” Ian replies. “Not a big deal.” Arminius gestures to Joan to follow him and the two walk off to the kitchen.

            “So it looks like Wallace is uhh… not present.” Arminius states.

            “I don’t know anyone who would ever leave their representative alone.”

            “All the more reason to look after the kid. He goes, our reps are gonna get distracted and lose their focus.”

            “And he could die,” Joan adds.

            “Yeah, that too.” Arminius walks back into the living room. “Alright, kid. You’re in. Let us know when Wallace is back and we’ll pitch him the idea and see what he says.” Arminius plops back in the chair. “Now we just gotta wait for Aidan to wake up.” Hopefully, that’s soon. I doubt our enemies will stay dormant for long.