Episode 04 – The Hunted

The word hung between them, sharp and impossible.

Magic.

A fairytale word, so absurd Carter’s mind struggled to grasp it. He just stared at the disheveled man, at the wild gray hair and intense eyes.

A simple explanation clicked into place.

“Yeah, I figured… You’re crazy,” Carter said, the words flat, dismissive.

“Uhh… Excuse me?” the man replied, a flicker of offense in his eyes.

“No offense, but you look homeless, and you’re asking me about magic.”

“Ugh…” The man sighed. Pure frustration. He ran a hand through his messy hair, looking like he’d give up.

“Listen, I don’t have time for this,” Carter said, shaking his head. He turned to walk away. “I’m in the middle of work.”

He moved past the man, heading deeper into the store.

“I hope you get the help you need,” he called over his shoulder.

“Hey, wait a second…!” the man said, but Carter ignored him. The glass door of the cooler aisle hissed shut behind him.

The gray-haired man didn’t follow. He stayed at the entrance, irritation clouding his face.

Inside the store, the air was cool, still. A contrast to the chaos outside. A few other people were there. One, a cashier in a colorful, lightweight shirt. A young man scrolling his phone. A middle-aged woman talking loudly into her device. An older man in a white hardhat and neon green vest, staring at the lottery scratchers.

Carter walked around the store’s circular layout. He grabbed a cold drink from the cooler. Condensation on the bottle. A small, grounding feeling against his clammy palm. He headed to the checkout. He lined up behind a young man lost in his phone. The young man paid and left. Carter stepped up to the counter. The cashier rang him up, his movements lazy, automatic.

“That’ll be $3.50,” the cashier said. His voice a monotone drone.

Carter reached into his back pocket. Pulled out his wallet. He handed the cashier a five-dollar bill.

“Here you go,” he replied.

The words left his mouth. But they were not Thaylic. They were the strange, alien language haunting him all day. The language he used to shatter the car window. Now it spilled from his lips with unnerving ease.

As soon as he spoke, everything stopped.

The world froze. The cashier, hand outstretched for the money, was a statue.

The five-dollar bill hung in the air between them. Carter stared. His heart began a frantic, panicked rhythm against his ribs.

“Uhh, are you okay…?” he asked. His voice trembled in the sudden, profound silence.

He looked around. The woman on the phone was frozen mid-sentence, mouth open. The construction worker stood with his hand hovering over the counter. Not a single fiber of their bodies or clothing moved. Time itself seemed suspended.

Then, it happened.

He watched in horror. The eyes of the store clerk and the two other customers began to change. Color drained from their irises. Replaced by pure, glossy black.

A void. A chilling emptiness. No hint of life, no recognition.

They don’t even look human.

Carter is terrified.

“H-hey… What’s wrong with you? What happened to your eyes?” he asks. His voice is a choked whisper. He’s not speaking Thaylic. He can’t. The words are gone, erased.

Why am I not talking like normal? he thinks. Panic washes over him. I don’t even know where I learned these words.

“Hey, I’m an EMT. My team is across the street… We can…” Carter tries to reason with the cashier. The man’s black eyes are fixed on him, cold, predatory.

Then, the people in the store speak. All at once. Their minds, their voices, one. Not their own voices. A strange, singular tone. Like a recording through three speakers.

“ABERRATION DETECTED. SAFEGUARD ACTIVATED.”

“BY ORDERS OF THE KING…”

“KILL THE DEFIANT…”

The cashier moves again. He ignores the money in the air. Reaches under the counter. Bends down. Straightens up holding a pump-action shotgun.

“HOLD HIM…”

the possessed clerk speaks. His voice the same eerie, robotic monotone.

The other two people move with terrifying, unnatural speed.

They grab Carter’s arms. Their grips are iron vices.

The construction worker takes his left arm. The woman takes his right.

Their strength is beyond normal humans. The cashier pumps the shotgun. The sound is deafening.

shk-shk in the silent store.

He points the barrel at Carter’s skull.

Adrenaline floods Carter. Pure, unadulterated terror.

With all his strength, every ounce of will, he jolts his body left.

The woman holding his right arm stumbles. Pulled off-balance. Stumbles into the shotgun’s path.

The cashier pulls the trigger.

The blast is deafening. The bullet pierces the woman’s skull. Her head disappears in fine red mist. Bits of flesh and bone fly. Splatter across the floor.

Carter falls backwards. Lands on his butt. His mouth open in a silent scream. His face a mask of horror.

“Y-you… You killed her…”

“Oh, my god… She’s dead… S-she’s really dead,” Carter says. His body shakes. He stares at the headless body collapsing. A grotesque puppet. Blood sprays from her neck. A puddle expands on the linoleum. Now, only the cashier and the construction worker are left.

They speak again. The same eerie, simultaneous recording.

“ABERRATION DETECTED…”

“BY ORDERS OF THE KING…”

“THE DEFIANT SHALL BE ELIMINATED.”

“The king?” Carter replies. His voice cracks. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The cashier cocks his gun. Carter jerks up. Runs for the door. Survival instincts scream. Flee. The cashier and construction worker chase him. Neither are in good shape. Carter outruns them.

He bursts out of the store. Lungs burning. Runs for his life. Waves his hands. Towards the police, Jasmine, Diego. The gray-haired man is still near the store. Talking on a phone. He tries to get Carter’s attention.

Shouts, “Hey, kid!…” But Carter is focused on survival. Doesn’t hear the man.

The gray-haired man watched Carter flee. Then he saw the cashier and the construction worker. Their eyes were black. They emerged from the store, pursuing.

“Ahh, shit… So, that’s what happened,” the man thought.

A grim understanding dawned.

“He triggered it.” He sighed. Pure exasperation.

“This is what I was trying to warn you about, kid… I was gonna try to talk to him again. My fault. The phone call from the boss distracted me. He never calls this number when I’m in the outside world.”

He paused. A frown creased his brow.

“But, I didn’t think he’d break free so soon. I thought he’d have days. Not minutes.”

He looked at Carter sprinting across the street.

“This kid must have an unnaturally strong connection! I should end this before it gets bad.”

Carter made it back across the street. The cashier, moving like a remote-control robot, ran into the busy street.

Didn’t look. Hit by a car. Full speed.

A sickening crunch of metal and bone. The construction worker, overweight, slow, continued his lumbering pursuit.

Carter panted, terrified. Tried to speak to the policeman. “Wha’d ya get, an energy drink or something? You look like you were running for your life…” the policeman said. His tone casual.

Diego approached. “Hey, are you good? You were sprinting kind of crazy across the street, man?”

Carter, still unable to speak Thaylic, tried to communicate. “Haah… Hahh… Hah…”

“HE KILLED HER!” yelled Carter. His voice a raw, desperate scream. “The cashier pulled out a gun and killed a woman. In broad daylight!”

Suddenly, it happened.

Again.

Everyone nearby who heard Carter speak—onlookers, police, firemen, Jasmine, Diego—froze. For a few moments.

Then, their eyes turned black.

Carter took a few steps back. His worst fear. He felt trapped, helpless.

The construction worker made it across the street. The policemen, firemen, his partners—everyone began to move. Reaching for anything that could be a weapon.

Police drew guns.

Firemen grabbed axes from their truck.

Jasmine and Diego picked up blunt metal from the car accident.

Just like in the store. They all spoke in unison. Their voices a single, terrifying, robotic drone.

“ABERRATION DETECTED. SAFEGUARD ACTIVATED.”

“BY ORDERS OF THE KING…”

“THE DEFIANT SHALL BE ELIMINATED.”

Tears streamed down Carter’s face. “Jasmine… Diego… Why…?”

“WHY IS THIS HAPPENING TO ME!?” he yelled. He turned and ran.

The policemen aimed. Shot their pistols. Firemen threw axes. Adrenaline maxed out. Carter dodged projectiles. Ducked behind the EMS truck.

They said the same thing! A king’s orders? This is fucked. Everyone’s trying to kill me! What do I do!? I need to get out of here.

Can’t stay on foot, they’ll catch me. Steal the EMS truck? No. Mother and baby are in there. Fuck, fuck, fuck… I’m screwed…

I’m gonna die…

While thinking, Carter spotted a small SUV. Door left wide open. Belonged to an onlooker. Now under the safeguard.

“Wait, is that…?”

He turned his head. The mob reached him.

He ran as fast as he could toward the SUV. Hopped into the driver’s seat.

Sorry! I know this is stealing, but I’m not dying today!

Luck.

The car was still running. Keys in the ignition. A quarter tank of gas.

Why leave keys in the car? Who cares, not questioning it!

The mob ran at full speed. Bullets flew. Shattered the SUV’s rear window. Carter slammed the door. Put the car in reverse. Floored it.

The car was parked on a one-way street. He dodged oncoming traffic, reversing fast. Once he had distance, he whipped the car forward. Speeding away from the mob.

The gray-haired man was across the street. By the time he reached the accident site, Carter was gone in the stolen SUV.

“Shit. Gotta look for him,” the gray-haired man thought. “God dammit, kid… I was trying to help.”

“Before you trigger someone close…”

Carter sped down the road. Heart pounded. He hit a red light. Forced himself to calm down. Knuckles white on the wheel.

Just breathe, Carter. Okay, you committed a felony. But it was for survival. Need to get home. Need to figure this out. Right now I can’t talk to anyone.

Thaylic wasn’t in his vocabulary. Even if he tried, the words wouldn’t come out. Just that strange language.

“The homeless guy… Asked about magic?”

What am I saying? Magic? Am I an idiot? Listen to yourself… Magic ISN’T real.

There has to be a logical explanation.

The light turned green. Carter floored it. Forced himself to slow down. Paranoia screamed.

I can’t get pulled over right now with a stolen SUV. It would force me to talk.

“Three minutes away,” Carter said. The station was three minutes away. Can’t take this car to the station either he thought.

Fuck it, just park it here. I’ll walk back.

He found a discreet spot. Shut off the car. Put keys in the console. Got out. Closed the door. Began walking toward the station. Reached it. Ran inside.

Goal: grab his things, ride home. Before anyone he knew saw him. But his boss, Thomas, and higher-ups were there.

Thomas tried to speak. “Carter? Back already? I thought…”

Carter ignored him. Said nothing. Jolted to the parking lot. Grabbed his bag. Took off his EMS shirt. Secured helmet and gloves. Rode out of the station fast. On the way home, text on signs, traffic directions, are no longer in Thaylic.

Earlier it was only a few. Now it’s everything.

What is happening to me? Carter thought, riding frantically home.

He made it back. Ran inside. Locked the front door.

His back against the door. Palms flat on the cool wood. He looked up. Thought for a second.

Finally home. God… What now? Can’t talk to anyone.

He pulled out his phone and tried the text app, everything was unreadable.

“Damn, my phone too? Shit… Can’t read anything.”

“Mom and Dad said they’d be home today.”

“Someone has to know. Sam and Leo… Maybe they can help.”

He opened the phone app and dialed Sam. Luckily the numbers were memorized, so the unreadable text didn’t matter.

But, Sam didn’t pick up. Call ended.

“Ah, right. I forgot, he’s in med school. Probably in class so his phone’s on mute,” Carter said. “Leo then. He’s at work, but I’m sure they’d let him take a call.”

He dialed Leo’s number and waited. The phone began to ring, then a sharp ‘click’.

Leo picked up.

“Hey! Carter… is that you?” Leo said.

“Le…” Carter tried to interrupt.

“Wait. Before you say anything. Sorry about those guys a couple weeks ago. They were drunk assholes. Marcus wanted me to say sorry. He says he felt like a total dick…”

“LEO! Listen, that’s not why I called,” Carter’s voice was a torrent of panic. “Didn’t know who to call. Insane shit today. I can’t trust cops. I don’t know if you can even understand me…”

“For some reason, I can’t speak Thaylic anymore… When I try to talk, people go into a blind rage.”

“L-Leo…?”

The phone was silent, the house was so quiet Carter could hear his heart pound. The suspense was a physical weight, crushing him with tension, waiting for Leo’s response.

“Where are you?” Leo replied.

Carter’s face changed. Desperation to relief. Those three words. *Where are you?” A lifeline of sanity in a world gone mad.

“You can understand me?” Carter asked.

“Yeah, dumbass… Of course I can,” Leo replied. “Dude, doesn’t matter what language. I recognize your voice, haha.”

“Oh, thank god. Thought the same thing would happen to you. These people at the store… Their eyes went black. They tried to seriously kill me. My co-workers, the cops too. I had to borrow a car. Rushed home.”

“They were all saying the same weird shit. A king, safeguard…”

Leo replied, “So… by borrow, you mean steal? Haha.”

“Yes, but that’s not the issue. I know it sounds like bullshit, I know, but dude, I was freaked the fuck out. Hearing you talk cooled me down.”

“No worries. I believe you,” Leo replied. “But… you didn’t answer my question… Where are you?”

“Oh, I’m home. Where else would I be?”

“I see. I’m leaving work, stay there, I’m oming to your house.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do that. You answering the phone is enough,” Carter said.

“But, I MUST.”

“THE KING COMMANDS IT…”

The last words sounded distorted, and metallic. Like a corrupted file.

“Um… What…?” Carter says.

A sharp “CLICK”, as the call ends.

His relief had vanished. Replaced by cold dread, as he stared at the phone for a few seconds. His mind refused to accept it.

The king? Maybe Leo was joking. Leo’s funny like that. That’s his personality. But… Strange.

Leo hadn’t been over his house since high school.

30 Minutes Later…

Thirty minutes pass. Carter is in his bedroom, at his desk, and still can’t read Thaylic on the computer screen.

“Well, worth a try,” he says. Hears voices downstairs. His Mom and Dad, now back from vacation, at the worst time. His heart sank.

Crap, back already! Talked to Leo. Don’t know if it’s the same with Mom and Dad. Maybe it’s an age thing?

Wait… What about writing?

He grabbed a notebook, and a sharpie. He opened the pages and wrote a few sentences on each. Carter took a breath, and raced himself to confront his parents.

“Okay… Here we go…”

He went downstairs. Parents by the front door. Bringing in luggage.

“Carter, is that you? Back from work early? Is everything okay?” his mother asks.

“How’s it going, son! Can’t wait to tell you about the trip.”

They stopped, and stared confused, as Carter stood there, completely silent, as he holds a notebook.

He held out his hands, with the palms facing forward, to create a “stop” gesture.

Then he waved his hand, with the fingers flat towards his neck, making a left and right motion. Indicating he couldn’t speak.

“Can you not speak?” his mother asks.

“What happened? Lost your voice?”

He opened the notebook. Pointed to the text. All caps.

“I CAN’T SPEAK THAYLIC ANYMORE. SOMETHING HAPPENED AT WORK. IT’S NOT SAFE FOR ME RIGHT NOW. TALKING IS NOT SAFE.”

He waited as they read. But then…

“Ahh! Oww!” his mother Yasmin yells, as she crouches in pain. Holding her forehead.

“Ahh!” yells his father, Cam. As he does the same.

“What happened? You guys okay!?” Carter speaks. Accidentally.

Parents go silent. Bodies straighten. Unnatural, robotic movement. Freeze for moments.

Oh, god… Oh, no… Not them! Please! Anyone but them, Carter thinks as hi face twists in panic.

His parents’ eyes turn a pure, lifeless, glossy black.

Then, it begins again.

They speak the same words. The very same that were heard at the store, from police, firemen, and his co-workers.

“ABERRATION DETECTED. SAFEGUARD ACTIVATED.”

“BY ORDERS OF THE KING…”

“THE DEFIANT SHALL BE ELIMINATED.”

Carter tries to run, but his father Cam grabs him. Cam is fit, and muscular. Much more so than Carter.

Carter runs ten miles a day, and lifts weights. But even so, his father’s possessed grip is immense, far greater than any average human.

“HOLD HIM…”

“I WILL FIND A SUFFICIENT WEAPON…”

His mother says.

Her voice not her own. It was the same voice, that sounded like an old recording. She walks into the kitchen and searches the drawers for a knife, as if she’d forgotten where they were.

Carter struggles against his father, he can’t break free.

Outside a car pulls up. Footsteps toward the front door.

Who is that? Leo?

“LEO! HELP!” Carter yelled.

The door was unlocked, then Leo entered. Carter felt pure horror as he saw the truth, Leo’s eyes turned black, just like his parents.

The phone call DID trigger him, he was just playing along.

“No…”

“You too?” Carter said, as his mother walked back toward the living room with a large kitchen knife.

All three spoke at once.

“THE DEFIANT SHALL BE ELIMINATED.”

With all his strength, and every bone, Carter flipped his father over and broke free. The front doors escape was blocked, as Leo stood by the door.

His mother, with a knife in hand, had blocked the pathway to the garage. There was no choice but running pstairs, and barricading inside his room.

Carter ran up the stairs to his bedroom at the end of the hall, and locked the door. He shoved a chair against it.

Leo, his mother and father went upstairs as well. With footsteps that sound like heavy, ominous thuds. They reached the room and banged on the door.

“THUD! THUD! THUD!”

My parents… Leo too? Carter thought. With his back against the door, and his options gone, he can’t fight three people.

Especially not people he knew.

“Hey, need help, kid?” a voice from the corner.

Carter whipped his head around. It was the gray-haired man from the convenience store.

“Who the fuck are you?” Carter said in a raw voice, filled with shock and terror.

“We talked at the store. Remember?” the man replied. Tone unnervingly calm, as he stood in the corner, cloaked in shadow.

He looked like he’d been there all day along.

“You left before I got answers.”

He stepped forward in the rays of sunlight through the window. “If you’d listened, I could have warned you.”

Warn me? Does he know what’s happening? Carter’s thoughts races in a chaotic jumble of fear and hope. “How’d you get in my room?” he asked. Eyes darting. Man. Rattling door.

“Through the window, of course,” the man replied. He nodded and pointed toward the open window.

The knocking at the door grew louder, and more frantic.

“Are you the one doing this?” Carter asked with a tight voice, filled with accusation.

“Listen, kid, I know I just showed up. I’d be freaked out too,” the man said. Voice softened. “But there’s three people outside, trying to kill you. I’m guessing your parents, or relatives.” He paused, and let words sink in.

“I promise, I’ll explain everything. AFTER I stop them, Ok?”

He held out his hand, as a silent offer. “Deal?”

Carter hesitated. A second. Splintering wood. Door made the decision. “Okay, deal.”

The man held out hands, and began speaking a strange and powerful language. Carter’s language.

“SUMMON. Artemis!”

The man spoke.

The gold ring on his finger with a strange flower emblem, began to glow. A firearm materialized, forming out of the light. Carter was shocked, with his jaw hanging wide open.

“What the?”

“How did you… DO THAT?”

“Hey, I said, AFTER,” the man replies. His attention fixed on the door.

“Artemis. Sleep,” he says.

He twists the handle, and yanks the door open. The three figures behind it: his mother, father, and Leo instantly rush in. Moving with jerky, inhuman precision. Their black eyes fixed on Carter. But the gray-haired man is much faster, closing the gap in seconds, as he shoots them. Not with bullets, but strange pulsing green bolts released from the tip of his firearm. They drop to the floor. Bodies looking like limp, unmoving heaps.

“WHAT DID YOU DO? You KILLED—” Carter yells with pure rage, as it washes over him. He lunges at the man, but a swift, precise blow to the head stops him cold. Forcing him to stumble back.

“They’re not dead, kid. They’re nconscious,” the man replies with a sharp impatient voice.

“Those weren’t normal bullets. In a few hours they’ll be awake and forget everything. Check their heads if you don’t believe me.”

Carter scrambles to his mother with his ands trembling. He searches for a pulse as he places his hand on her neck. It was strong and steady. He checks father, then checks Leo. No wounds. No blood. The maan was right, his parents and best friend were only unconscious, not dead.

Completely astonished, Carter looks up as his mind struggles to comprehend the impossible events.

“Who are you?”

“My name’s Killian. Killian Faust. Your name, kid?” asks the man.

“Carter. Carter Cross,” he replies.

“Artemis. Seal.”

Killian says. The gun in his hand dissolves as particles of light retract into the gold ring.

“Great. Introductions done.”

“What are you? That was impossible. Your gun came out of nowhere,” Carter says with bewildered awe.

“No, it’s not impossible,” says Killian.

“I did it the same way you broke car glass.”

“Well, maybe not that way.”

“What are you talking about?” Carter replies as his confusion deepens.

“Magic. I’m talking about magic,” says Killian.

“I’m a mage.”