Darxies

The Red Day-1

The Red Day

With a quick movement, Fergus found himself at the side of his wife, who had instantly given up her last breath. "Margie, please, no, no…", he was saying to himself non-stop. "Please do not do this to me. Margie, my love… no! This can’t be happening!" he said as he shook violently her lifeless carcass, which until a few seconds ago he called his wife.

The love of his life, the reason why he gave up everything and started from the beginning, was now lost. Even he did not have the ability to resuscitate her. Maybe if he had managed to finish his training, he would have had some hope, but now there was no way. Especially after Laura was born, she was very weak. Margie's wound was fatal and almost no force on earth was enough to resurrect her.

Even the tallest cypress tree bends in front of the raging storm. Fergus understood that, but it was too late. A flaming drill in his heart - a tool that emanated a stench and searched, like a worm, for the remnants of its existence.

From a distance, various black-clad figures appeared in the scene. From the way they were formed into line, they looked more like cowardly shadows than people.

When Fergus turned his attention to them, these strange men froze. They were reminiscent of plastic soldiers at the mercy of a small child's imagination. Wax figures, still, cold. Fergus lost touch with reality and sank into the torrent of grief. He no longer wanted to have any contact with this useless world. A familiar roar, however, began to ring in his head and blocked his way to resign.

"What will the children become if you resign?" The woman's voice repeated.

Margie begged him to react. Fergus owed her - that, and million things more.

"Get up for them, do it for me. Do not let them get lost," she kept saying, reviving Fergus's morale.

What if Margaret had been dead for a while now? Fergus kept her presence like a treasure inside him. Her will would now be his driving force. She alone would move the threads of his actions from that moment. And so it happened, the decision had been made. The manikin was thrown into the most heroic battle of his life, even without a soul.

Although he knew his skills were not at their peak, Fergus was ready to risk everything. The holy blood inside him was boiling with anger. He was willing to give anything, both to save his children and to take revenge. But he did not know the power of his enemies, nor their identity. And he had not yet reorganized his mind and heart, which swayed between grief and anger - faster than the despotic hand of a pendulum on the wall.

The children cried incessantly out of instinctive fear while Mr. Nikos hid under the table, having absolutely no idea what was going on.

Then Fergus stood up and prepared to act. "Stay where you are, I am coming to pick you up," he shouted loudly to his children.

At that very moment, bullets from many different places began to fall on them like rain. Some found their target, hitting him in various parts of his body, but for now they seemed to have no effect on him.

Fergus knew that if he didn’t do something fast, he would lose everything. He took a deep breath and concentrated. He closed his eyes and seemed to be calling someone by uttering some incomprehensible words, of unknown origin.

"Toukana, toukouno zahiri… tukouste zahiri davos,"he sang three times.

With methodical moves, Fergus drove away all the bullets intended for his children. Then he folded his arms and turned them in all directions. In this way, he created an invisible magnetic field to protect them until he could get close to them.

After making sure that his protection plan had succeeded, Fergus grabbed Laura and with huge jumps reached the other two children who had taken refuge in a small hollow under the sycamore tree.

"I'm here now, calm down. Everything will be fine," he said and hugged them all.

"Mom? What happened to mom?" Dean asked in tears.

Tara looked shocked, her face pale and expressionless, she did not need an answer to her brother's question.

"We will talk about it later, now we have to find a way to save ourselves," Fergus said, maintaining his composure. "Remember we talked about the submarine under the house?" We need to get there but, before we do, we need to press the red button and call Mr. Johnson. We only have to endure a few minutes," he explained to them and got up looking around him.

"The bad guys have arrived," Laura commented, pointing away.

Dean and Tara shook their heads, indicating that they understood their father's instructions.

"On three we will all start running towards the house. Listen carefully. You're both good at running, you should not be late, okay?" said Fergus with his eyes shining. But this glow was not of joy or emotion. His face was more reminiscent of the style of a manic killer when he discovered his next, unsuspecting victim.

The two children exchanged quick glances at each other and then looked at their father and agreed.

"So…one, two, three, go!" Fergus shouted and, with these last words, they all started running, as if their feet were under a hot coal that was scalding them. At the same time, the gunfires fell on the magnetic field, like cold crows gnawing with their beaks’ rotten animal carcasses.

As soon as Mr. Nikos saw them, he raised his head and began to beg, "Wait, please, do not leave me here. Please help me! I don’t understand what is happening." Fergus and the children were currently protected, but he was not.

Mr. Nikos tried to get out of his hiding place and reach them but a bullet found him in the left shoulder. He screamed in pain and covered himself again under the table. "Please, they are going to kill me," he repeated with all his remaining strength while at the same time whining incessantly.

A few meters far away, near the beach, Murphy Williams, trained in the special secret forces of commandos and dangerous missions, gave the last orders to his men. With his state-of-the-art binoculars, he observed and zoomed in on his targets, who were none other than Fergus's family. "Surround them and keep shooting, I don’t want you to come in contact with the subjects yet."

The mercenaries, who faithfully followed his instructions, continued to fire with their weapons non-stop.

Williams then stepped aside, rolled up his sleeve, and spoke to the watch he wore on his wrist. This particular watch had no strap, but was embedded in a round recess in his skin. Several of the men who were with him wore a similar one, in different designs. Some were squarer, while others were diamond-shaped.

This electronic device was a new technology that was in the experimental stage as it had not yet been given for mass production. Soon, however, all the governments of the countries intended to impose it on each of their citizens, as the main means of functioning in society, as it had the ability to be easily touched and integrated into the human body and to function in accordance with its genital code.

"Everything goes according to plan; we have him where we want. It won't take long."

As the family ran to the house, Dean could not bear Mr. Nikos's screams and stopped.

"What are you doing?" cried his father angrily.

"I'm going to help him," Dean replied, clenching his fists. He may not have been smart enough as his sisters, but he was a brave and honest child.

"No! We almost got to the door, come back quickly. Dean, now!" ordered his father.

Dean was adamant and was already heading towards Mr. Nikos who was reaching out and calling him.

Fergus opened the door and observed his daughters for a moment. It might be the last time he would see them, at least as long as he still had his humanity. He intended to fight to the point of exhaustion and use his strength to the limit, which he knew might have dire consequences in the future.

Humanity, in the sense of kindness and love for other living beings, is one of the most important virtues. In case this gets lost, nothing separates someone from becoming the most abominable beast. But Fergus had to risk it, he had no choice. He was willing to sacrifice everything.

To save his children, Fergus would pay the highest price and he knew that this was not even his life. Because what value was there for him just an existence without emotion. No, it wouldn’t be that, his choice once again could affect the fate of the world, and unfortunately for the worse. But he never had the power to put the good of the whole creation above his loved ones. This was the reason why his father considered him unsuitable for the power he possessed.

Fergus glanced at Dean to see how he was doing. Then he turned back to Tara. "I can’t leave him there, you know. Tara, listen to me. Take Laura and go to our bedroom. Do you remember what a wireless radio is?" he asked anxiously in his voice.

"I think…" she replied hesitantly, "it's a weird old phone in your bedroom," she added in an attempt to describe it.

"Great, go and find it. When they answer to you, say that we are in danger."

"But Dad, how do I do that… I don’t know," Tara replied upset.

"Press the red button three times in a row, do you hear? Three times… Leave now! Only you know how. You are the key" Fergus said, pushing her into the house.

"Which key I don’t understand… Dad wait!" she shouted while Fergus had already turned his attention elsewhere.

"Tara, run! There is no time," her father replied with difficulty as he walked towards his son. "I'm coming, Dean, hold on, my son."

The two girls entered the house and ran up the stairs leading to the bedrooms. Tara squeezed her sister by the hand, as it was a special stress relief ball. Three-year-old Laura seemed very cool given the circumstances and coordinated her steps with those of Tara, without creating any difficulties.

"Come on, Laura, we're almost there" Tara said, trying to maintain her courage.

Outside the courtyard, Fergus made a superhuman effort to keep the magnetic shield intact. Nevertheless, some of the consecutive bullets pierced it and hit him.

Dean was with Mr. Nikos under the table, trying to persuade him to come out. "Come with me, don’t be afraid. This is our opportunity," he said as he was stretching out to reach him. Finally, Mr. Nikos grabbed the young man's hand and together they prepared to run home.

Fergus repulsed the gunfire and walked carefully towards them to make sure they could reach there unharmed.

Half a mile away, Peter was driving carefree on the road, until out of the corner of his eye he saw the mercenaries coming out of the sea and quickly crossing the beach. He knew something bad was happening and, without a second thought, threw his scooter aside and quickly covered himself in the bushes. After observing the situation, he went to Fergus's house from the opposite side so as not to lose the advantage of ambush.

The back place of the house was covered with a steep hill and was surrounded by wild vegetation. The house was strategically built on this site - it overlooked one of the most mountainous parts of the island, so that one could hardly access it.

But Peter, as a good soldier, was prepared for any eventuality and had made sure he knew every inch of the area. So, without wasting time, he followed the only hidden path that existed and that would lead him straight to the place he wanted. He had rusted a bit due to having good time, but he was still the family's bodyguard. It was time to do his part.

Things were getting harder and harder for Fergus, who growled in pain when a bullet hit him in the right side of his thigh. He could no longer channel his energy into two different places and preferred to cover Dean.

The opponents fired shots, like hard hail falling from the sky and destroying the crops of the year. Fergus bravely endured one blow after another. Despite the pressure he was under, he did not stop walking for a moment. At the same time, Dean and Mr. Nikos were walking towards him.