Kill for Cure by Ishvam Sahi (easy to read books for adults list .TXT) 📕

out and he grew even taller than he already was. He looked like a raging bull ready to crush anyone in his path. He was only a few feet away from him. Ethan was scared out of his skin. Reflexively, he grabbed a throwing knife from his left pocket and swung his arm out and threw the knife using every ounce of power and muscle in his left arm. The knife's trajectory was directly between the eyes. At the speed at which he threw the knife, it would have hit its target in a second like a bullet, but for Ethan, he saw everything in slow-motion thanks to his powers. He watched it go; spinning clockwise, now just a few inches away from the target's face, spinning, about to pierce his skin and instantly kill him, spinning. Ethan was smiling like an idiot, but at that moment he realised that his target wasn't even trying to dodge the attack. Is the knife too fast for him to dodge? He soon got to know that was not the reason why he was standing still. That throw would have killed any normal human on the spot, but that was not the case here, because that man was no ordinary human. At the exact moment the tip of the knife touched the target's forehead, it turned into shards as if a piece of glass was thrown against a metal wall. The guy didn't even flinch. The sound of the hilt hitting the floor faded in a second under the screaming and stampede of the crowd.

 

He chuckled again and said, “Oh where are my manners, mah name's Bryan, an’ I'm lab rat number 1”. Bryan could turn his body invincible, but it required a hefty amount of concentration that resulted in slow movements. Ethan knew he had no chance of winning when he could not even control his powers; only option left was to escape. So he got back up on his feet, but as he did so, Bryan's hand reached for his neck. He was too late to react and was now trapped in Bryan's iron grip.

 

“Leavin’ already? I expected ya would try to run away as soon as ya get the chance", he said with a wide grin. He swung his arm out and punched Ethan on the cheek knocking him back a few steps. To Ethan's surprise, he couldn't feel any broken teeth. That punch hit him no harder than an average male's punch. He looked at Bryan, who was looking down at his hand with a tensed look. He had lost his concentration, resulting in his hand turning normal again, or 'defenseless' as he preferred to call it. Ethan slowly equipped his brass-knuckle on his left hand and took a few steps back. He concentrated for a second; focusing on the distance and speed he would require for reaching Bryan. He then blasted off towards him in a blink, sending out a small shockwave behind him. He swung his arm out and smacked Bryan in the jaw. Ethan was sure that with enough speed and force, he could do at least some damage and buy himself time to get away, but he was proven wrong in a second. Just like the knife, the brass-knuckle turned into pieces at the point of impact. The force of wind Ethan’s fist carried was immediately killed after touching Bryan’s jaw.

 

 

“Damn kid I underestimated ya, didn't think you'd have the balls to pull a stunt like that, especially when your first attempt failed miserably. Or maybe you're just a stubborn brat who can't learn from his mistakes”, Bryan said with a stern look on his face. Ethan slowly backed away. Now that fighting was out of the question, it was time for flight. He had already turned his back towards Bryan and was ready to take off, but as he took his first step, he instantaneously heard the loud bang of a gunshot behind him and in a split-second a bullet whizzed past his ear. He immediately lost his balance and fell down. He turned around only to find out Bryan aiming a revolver at him. He said, “Are ya really that naive to think ya can just run away so easily?" He pulled the hammer of the revolver, then continued,

“Damn, this was way quicker than I expected, I don't know what I was expectin’ from ya, but never thought it'd be this simple. Well, no point in wastin’ time, lets end it now shal-” He was interrupted when a small cylindrical-shaped metal object came bouncing off the ground and rolled to a stop between them. As they looked down at the source of the noise, a quick flash of light escaped the object, blinding the two. Bryan raged and blind fired a bullet, missing Ethan. Ethan still blinded, felt slightly weak for a second as he felt a hand on his shoulder, trying to get him up on his feet. Once Ethan got up, he was starting to see a little, but not enough to figure out what was happening. He then felt another hand on the back of his neck, gripping it tightly. An unfamiliar voice whispered in his ear, “Jump”. While in mid-air, he felt a strong gust of wind blow against his face. When he opened his eyes again and looked around, he realised he was nowhere near the street where he encountered Bryan. He looked on his left hand side and saw a lean guy about his age with his hands on his knees, panting hard. Sweat poured down his face. The stranger was slightly taller than Ethan, with short straight brown hair, wearing a pair of plain black sweatpants with a white-stripped, dark-blue windcheater.

 

“W-Who are you? How did I get here? Wait where the hell even am I?” the questions escaped his mouth like bullets, and although he had dozens of other questions, he decided to calm down and breathe first.

“Its good to meet you, Ethan. My name is Aiden.”

“Whoa stalker alert, how do you know my name?” Ethan said as he rose to his feet quickly, already distancing himself from Aiden.

“Just calm your ass will you. I bumped into you a while ago on the streets. When I returned home, I was doing everything at an uncontrollable speed. At first I couldn’t understand what was wrong with me, but after a while I was back to my normal pace. Then it hit me, you had to be one of the test subjects, and when I bumped into you I had borrowed you power.”

“Oh so you were the hooded figure? Wait what do you mean by you ‘borrowed’ my power?”

“Yeah you see, that’s when I figured out that most likely, I have the ability to ‘borrow’ someone else’s power, but to do so, I need to touch them with either one of my hands. I took a huge gamble risking my own life while trying to save you; I just wanted to know if my theory was correct. If a bump was enough, then a slight tap would work too, but I still don’t know the limitations and time limit for the ability.”

“So you don’t have any ability of your own, you have to rely on someone the whole time?”

“Yeah I mean more or less, but that’s why I’m here. I want you to team up with me. You have a powerful ability, we could keep each other’s back safe, and we would have one less opponent to worry about? What do you say, you in or what?”

“You do realise after telling me all this, I could just kill you, it will still result in one less opponent to worry ab-”

“Try me” Aiden said with his suppressed glock already pulled over Ethan’s head.

“OH GOD when did you even- aaaghhh!”

Ethan cried out as he felt a sharp jolt of pain in his knees as he tried to use his super-speed to get away from Aiden. His muscles still hadn’t become fully familiar with his new ability, using it excessively took a fair toll on his body.

“Remember I still have your power, so don’t try to pull any tricks on me. Damn, it sure as hell is exhausting though…so what do you say, you wanna team up, or I can just finish you off right now.” Aiden said with a grin

“Geez I was kidding dude, don’t go around pulling a gun at me. <Sigh> Well its not like I have choice here, anyways I owe you one for saving my life, so thanks.”

“Ok then, this was easier than I expected. So let me introduce myself properly this time. I’m test-subject nine, Aiden. I mean that’s what I have been told at least. I’m from Los Angeles. As far as I can tell, I can borrow the ability of the other subject’s for a short period of time.”

“As your stalker skills have already told you, I’m test-subject seven; Ethan. I have super speed, and I come from Texas. By the way you still haven’t told me, how did you figure out my name?”

“Oh that was simple, I just tipped off the cashier at the weapon’s store to check for anyone using a similar card as mine, after that all it took was a little hacking and I had all the information I required. Turns out they store everything about you and the experiment in these cards, your abilities, what number are you and all. I tracked your home address later and attached a tracking chip to the back of your neck. Umm yeah its still there by the way…in case you are wondering.”

“No wonder I was feeling all itchy there, you creep.”

“Oh your welcome”

“Yeah, yeah whatever. So where to now?”

Aiden took a deep breath, then said, “I think the most important thing we should do is collect as much information as we can about the other experiments. Try to figure out their identity and abilities. But firstly, lets get somewhere private and indoor. After the entire ruckus we’ve caused someone’s bound to notice. Plus you need to rest up. We should also first try to figure out the limitations and strengths to our own abilities, it would really help us utilize them to their full extents properly. As we just saw, right now your body can’t withstand the blasting pressure your speed puts on your legs, but if you get used to it, you might just master the ability. We still have quite a lot of time left in our hands before we die, so better save up your energy for the end.”

“Aye aye captain” Ethan said as he got up to his feet, smiled and shook Aiden’s hand.

 

At this moment, they had no idea about what challenges they will face in the future, who they will meet, and who they will kill. Neither one of them had even thought that not long from now, they will be facing each other, just like this again, but rather than a hand for friendship, they would have knives ready to slit each other’s throat.

 

To be continued…

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Publication Date: 03-24-2018

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