Exodus Part Two

Posted on Fri Dec 8th, 2023 @ 2:22pm by Ethan Hale

492 words; about a 2 minute read

Mission: Catching the Crooks
Location: LA California
Timeline: Ten years ago

Now it was time for flight. Literally. There was no turning back, he was now the prey and not the predator, he'd likely be looking over his shoulder for a very long time.

He had no regrets. None at all.

He took a running start and leaped into the California sky.

Ethan knew that he didn't have a lot of time to escape. As soon as Daniel's body was discovered he'd be a hunted man. Phoneix, the cops, the Feds, MRD. Everyone and their brother would be coming after him. Which way to go was the question. The most prominent one anyway. He flew North pushing himself to his maximum flight speed of eighty miles an hour. he may have even exceeded that a bit.

As the adrenaline wore off, the regrets he thought he wasn't going to have flooded his mind. What kind of person was he? Catch and beat on some poor mutant kid because he was just following orders? Kill someone? If anyone deserved it, it was Daniel. But he was a human being and Ethan had taken things into his own hands and executed him. He really hand;t had a chance. The thought twisted his stomach into knots and it was all he could do, not to throw up. He'd never killed another person before, not in reality. It was so much different than a video game.

He made it just north of LA, to the area called the Grapevine. He landed well away from I-5in a small valley near Castaic Lake. He was still in a hurry but there was something he had to do. He'd be caught if he didn't.

He extended a single claw, not quite to its full length, and made sure there was no residual poison on it. Then he probed the side of his neck, with his other hand, wishing he had a mirror. He took a deep breath and sliced a deep gash in his neck. Warm blood started flowing as he reached in with his off hand and pulled out the tracker he knew they'd implanted there.

It hurt like hell, but it was a lot better than the alternative.

He dropped it on the ground and stomped on it.

He didn't mind that they could follow his movements up until now because it had only been a diversion. He was going to fly East as far as he could get.

He had no idea of where, he just wanted to get as far away as possible.

He was on his own for the first time in his life.

He had the clothes on his back, thirty dollars, and nothing else other than a big target on his back.

And he was already hungry and knew he was only going to get hungrier. Still, he had to push on. He had no choice.

Then it got worse.

"Hello, Predator," he heard Apex's cybernetically controlled voice.

TBC

RSS Feed