Hybrids: A New Species

He’s in there. In that old brown house. The man Jack has been tracking. The one with the cure to the Fallen virus, is in that house. It has only been a few minutes since Pierce went in that house to confront Ben. Jack lays back on the black Camaro, staring at the blue sky and whistling a tune to himself. He waits for Pierce to return.

“Poor fool might die.” he says to himself, snickering.

A loud crash is suddenly heard from within the house, like something was destroyed. Jack stands himself up from the car now, his hand on his Desert Eagle. Grunts and loud banging emit from the house. It seems Pierce has started his fight. Jack begins walking forward to the house, his gun drawn now. He keeps his focus on the door, waiting for someone to burst right through at any moment. The sound of banging continues to come from the brown house, it looks as if it’s shaking vigorously. Jack is getting anxious; his gun is pointed at the door now.

He’s putting up a fight that’s for sure. He thinks to himself.

Then the commotion unexpectedly stops and the house has stopped shaking. It’s gone quiet. Jack is curious now.

Did Pierce die? he thinks.

Suddenly the bay window to the right of the door shatters in pieces. It catches Jack off guard as he steps away, avoiding flying glass shards. What Jack sees next shocks him. A man flies out the window and lands face flat onto the yard. Jack takes a second look at the man, who’s covered in blood and barely breathing.

“Pierce? What happen?” Jack says, holstering his gun.

Pierce moans from pain. He tries to say something, but he coughs jaggedly. Jack rolls Pierce over on his back and shakes his head in disappointment.

“I told you, didn’t I?” Jack says.

Jack then notices the fear in Pierce’s face.

“Jack… He’s a monster.” he sluggishly speaks.

“Oh really?” Jack says with a smile.

The sounds of glass crunching grabs Jack’s attention. He looks over to the destroyed window Pierce flew out of.

A tall man steps out, holding a gun in his right hand and Pierce’s metal weapon in the other. His eyes shine yellow and the pupils are thin, making him look like a demon. It’s Ben, and he looks furious. Jack stands up, ignoring Pierce who is still barely breathing. Jack shines his charming smile and begins to speak.

“Hello! My name is-” but his sentence is cut short when Ben aims his gun to him.

“Shut up.” Ben speaks in a harsh tone.

Jack raises his hands and his smile fades as he becomes serious.

The back of Jack’s neck is sweating. “We don’t want trouble.” he says.

“Your guard dog here attacks me and you say you don’t want trouble?” Ben asks.

Jack chuckles. “I apologize for my…” he looks to Pierce. “my ‘guard dog’ but we had to be sure.”

“Sure of what?” Ben says, aggression still in his voice.

Jack examines Ben. He appears to be in a healthy state for someone who was bitten a few days ago, but what catches his attention is Ben’s eyes. They’re definitely not human. More animalistic. Jack is intrigued by them. It’s almost captivating.

Jack shows his smile again.

“So, your eyes. Are they the results of the cure?”

Ben’s eyes widen. He drops Pierce’s weapon and cocks his gun as he steps closer to Jack. The barrel of the gun is only a foot away from Jack’s face now. Ben’s first thought when Jack asked about the eyes was Cole. Did these guys find Cole when he was gone? Is Cole dead? Is this man a friend or enemy? These questions rush through Ben’s head. He wants to pull the trigger but he wants to know who this man is first.

“Who the hell are you?!” Ben yells.

Jack keeps his smile, which makes Ben uncomfortable. How a man could be smiling like that with a gun to his face isn’t normal.

“Don’t make me ask twice.” Ben says, gritting his teeth.

“My name is Jack. And yours?” Jack asks.

“I’m asking the questions here. How do you know about the cure?” Ben presses on aggressively.

Jack stands there, his hands still up and his smile shining bright.

“It’s rude to ask for my name when you don’t give me yours in return.” Jack says chuckling.

Jack’s statement irritates Ben. He gets his gun closer to Jack’s face now.

“You really want to die than? Fine!” Ben yells as he prepares to shoot Jack in the head.

Suddenly Jack’s hand swiftly moves up to Ben’s gun. He pushes it away from his head as Ben pulls the trigger, firing a bullet in the air. Jack’s speed was unexpected for Ben. He slips his fingers in the trigger of Ben’s gun and presses it, unloading the remaining bullets in the clip. Ben was caught off guard by Jack, he didn’t expect this counter attack. However, Ben quickly draws his knife and arches it forward at Jack. He stops Ben’s arm mid-swing. Ben pushes his arm forward and begins to overpower Jack. He grits his teeth, trying his hardest to hold back Ben’s strength, but it’s overwhelming. He quickly lets go and jumps back to avoid Ben’s strike. Ben drops his empty gun and rushes forward him at full force. Jack quickly draws his Desert Eagle and aims it towards Ben. He stops in his tracks, his knife still in the air aimed at Jack’s neck. Both men do not move. They’re both heavily breathing. Ben begins backing up, now his hands up in the air.

“Drop the knife.” Jack requests.

Ben drops it, the blade hitting the dead grass around them. He’s hating himself right now. He got caught off guard. His senses are more enhance than a normal human, yet, Jack was able to get the upper hand. Ben keeps his eyes locked on Jack’s gun, hoping he doesn’t shoot.

“So. What’s your name?” Jack asks, his sinister smile showing his teeth.

Ben opens his mouth to speak but nothing comes out. He swallows and tries again.

“My name is Ben.” He says, feeling discomfort from Jack’s expression.

“Ah. Benjamin?”

“No. Just Ben.”

Jack chuckles, “I prefer Benjamin. Sounds more sophisticated.”

Ben doesn’t say a word as he chooses not to argue against the man with a gun pointed to his face.

“So, Benjamin. Let’s talk about this cure.”

It’s the afternoon, the bright sun warms the abandoned neighborhoods of downtown Denver. Jack and Ben have met for the first time; however, it is not an abundant meeting. Jack has Ben at gunpoint, and he has control of the situation. Ben stands still, his hands still up to show he’s been caught. Jack stands across from Ben with his Desert Eagle aimed at his head and the sun glimmers off the red lens of Jack’s sunglasses. While Pierce lays on his back, blood draining from his nose, his scarred face bruised, and various cuts throughout his body. Ben won that fight. However now, he has lost against Jack who is half the size of Pierce. Ben has no bullets, he’s unarmed and defeated. Now he has no choice but to listen to Jack, and hopefully learn what he wants and why.

“You can put your hands down.” Jacks tells Ben.

Ben hesitates at first, but then he slowly lowers them. One wrong move and he eats a bullet.

Jack laughs, “Look I don’t want to kill you. I just want to talk.”

Ben snickers at the remark, “If that’s true, why do you have a gun pointed at me?”

Ben’s statement amuses Jack. He takes a quick look down to his fallen friend who is struggling to stand up. Pierce grunts in pain as he gets on his knees.

“Well I have to protect myself. Especially after seeing what you could do” Jack says, pointing to Pierce.

“He attacked me first.” Ben smugly responds.

Pierce spits out blood at Ben. A dark red goo lands by his feet.

“I’m going to kill you.” Pierce mutters, striking Ben with a fierce look.

Ben chuckles, “Try it big man. Next time I’ll make sure you stay down.”

Pierce grunts and attempts to stand but drops down to his knee when a sharp pain strikes his rib. He might have broken one.

Jack laughs.

“Pierce be nice to the man. You did attack him.”

Pierce throws Jack a dirty look. “But he-”

Jack interrupts him and his tone suddenly becomes serious.

“Pierce.”

Jack’s voice strikes Pierce, making him stop and look down at the ground. Ben is shocked to see this large man quickly calm down by the mere mention of his name. The way Jack spoke gave Ben an uneasy feeling as well. As if his voice had some kind of magic power of calming people, or striking fear in their hearts. Ben is now nervous. Who is this man and what does he want with him?

Jack now gives his attention to Ben.

“I apologize about him. He has anger issues.” Jack speaks.

Ben calms himself as well. Which causes his yellow eyes to transition back his original brown ones. Jack witnesses the transition and is amazed.

“How interesting.” He says. “You can revert your eyes back to normal?”

Ben didn’t notice his eyes change. He was too worried about not getting on Jack’s bad side, but he nods in agreement to his question.

“I’m sorry, but how do you know about the cure?” Ben asks, hoping anything he says doesn’t result to his death.

“A little birdie told me.” Jack jokes.

Ben half smiles, pretending to be amused by his answer. “No. Seriously.”

Jack takes his sunglasses off to rub his left eye. Ben takes a careful look into his eyes. They are blue. Seems normal until Jack begins to stare back at Ben. Now they’re making eye contact, and Ben gets chills tingling through his spine. It’s not just the way Jack speaks that makes his presence feel cold, but it is his eyes as well. Even though Jack shines his smile like he is happy, his eyes are dead. As if he has no compassion in them. No morality.

“I know about the cure the same way you do.” Jack finally answers.

Ben’s expression is enough to tell Jack he doesn’t understand.

“I’m sure you know about the young man by the name Cole and his experimental pet.” Jack continues.

Ben’s eyes widen in astonish.

He knows about Cole and Dr. Mori. He thinks to himself.

Ben swallows, “Yes I know Cole.”

“Good!” Jack exclaims. “Well the boy told me everything about the cure!”

“So you know who Cole is then? You’re a friend of his?” Ben says in confusion. He recalls Cole mentioning that only himself and Dr. Mori were that last ones of his research team.

Jack laughs, “I don’t think the feeling is mutual. You see, I had to squeeze the information out of the poor boy.”

When did this happen? Ben thinks. Then suddenly, memories flash through his head like rushing water.

Back at the pharmacy in George Town. The two men that held him at gunpoint mention the name Jack. Fast forward. He’s in the cave after being bitten by his daughter and is knocked out cold. The last thing he recalls from that is a sinister laugh, a laugh similar to Jack’s. Now he is at the drifter’s camp, being forced to eat the mutated creature formerly known as Dr. Mori. Brian, the camps leader mentions Jack’s name.

Ben snaps out of his daze, then gives Jack a heated gaze.

“You’re Jack?” Ben says, fire in his eyes.

Jack tilts his head, his smile now gone. “Yes I am. Did you-”

Ben cuts Jack’s sentence short. “You son ova bitch!” he yells, his fist up to attack.

Jack shoots his gun.

Ben stops in his tracks. Everything has gone quiet. Just the echoing sound of Jack’s Desert Eagle is left throughout the air. Ben stands very still, his ears ringing from the gunshot. Smoke escapes from the barrel of the gun. The bullet missed Ben.

“That was a warning shot.” Jack explains.

The barrel of his gun is nearly pressed against Ben’s skull. He can feel the heat coming off of it.

Ben nervously swallows. That was almost the end for him.

“Step back.” Jack tells Ben.

Ben slowly takes a few steps away from Jack. He’s sweating, realizing he let his anger get in the way.

“No more of that hm?” Jack tells. “I just want to talk.”

“I have nothing to say to you. Your men almost killed me. You’re the reason that creature was tortured.” Ben explains. “I can’t trust you!”

“I’m the reason you’re still alive!” Jack snaps.

Ben grits his teeth. “I lost everything!”

The two men look intently at each other. Ben wants to break Jack’s neck. There is no talking for a few seconds. It feels like hours.

Jack clears his throat. “Tell me Benjamin. Are still with that young man, Cole?”

Ben calms down. He thinks for a moment.

Should I tell him Cole is with me? No. He’s probably after him.

“What do you want with him exactly? Didn’t you get all the information you needed?” Ben questions. Hoping to get more information from Jack about what he knows.

“He’s useful to me.” Jack answers. “Are you really protecting the boy? After what he did?”

What he did? Ben thinks. Confused.

Jack grins his cold smile again. “He didn’t tell you everything did he? Oh, this wonderful.” Jack explains.

“What the hell are you talking about?!” Ben snaps. Losing his patience.

Jack positions his sunglasses back on his face. The sunlight reflects off the red lenses.

“Cole is the reason the virus even exists.” Jack tells.

Ben’s heart drops down to his stomach. Did he really just hear that? Is Cole really responsible for the virus?

“… and it was Cole’s idea to test the cure on you. He’s the reason you’re like this.”