“2-3, are you coming to this party or what? We’re heading out soon ” Jalen called out as he and Darnell had their heads sticking out of their car.

2-3 is a nickname my closest teammates gave me, representing my jersey number 23. Jalen covered our backend playing Strong Safety, a real game wrecker, while Darnell held it down on the other side of the field from me playing cornerback as well. We grew up together, played together, did everything together. Tonight we will party together.

“Yeah man give me a minute, I’ll be right with you.”

Most of the players had already gone home as well as the fans and extras. The lights are just bright enough to keep the entrance illuminated. As I run out towards the entrance I nearly trip over my feet.

“I’m coming Ethaannn….”

“These drinks aren’t going to drink themselves you know slowpoke” as Jalen holds out a 6 pack of beer.

“Yeah, yeah you’re right, coming.”

Though I couldn’t shake that voice I heard just now, it sounded like it was right behind me, yet I turned around and no one was there. Probably just my head playing games with me, all these hits I’ve been laying out to these pathetic receivers must’ve been getting to me. I jog over to the car, gear in hand as I try not to think about what just happened and instead on how many drinks and girls we were going to get tonight.

“Y'all ready to have THE best night of your lives!” exclaimed Darnell

“More car starting and less talking, please. Thank you.”

“Yeah let me just put my gear in the trunk and we’ll be on our way.”

Soon we were on our way to the party, driving way too fast, drinking WAY too much, and singing the latest songs of whatever happened to pop up on the radio. About half an hour later though…

“Man I gotta pee, Jalen can you pull over real quick.”

“Darnell, are you kidding me!? We like halfway there, hold that shit man. We got HOTTIES waiting for us 30 minutes away.”

“Well it's either that or your new leather gets a brand new stain that’s gonna be VERY hard to clean off.”

“Man HELL no”

I’m laughing, drunk out of my mind as we pull over to a park on the side of the road and Darnell runs(more like hobbles) to the bathroom as fast as his drunken body can get him.

“Man I can’t believe we’re gonna be late to this party because this kid drank too much” followed by a deep belch. “And I’m probably losing the girls there to Kevin...burp… imagine that Kevin hogging all the girls, seems like something he’d do honestly.”

“Can you believe coach threatened to sub me out for Kevin when that one guy caught a 32 yarder on me? INSANE. Can’t believe he’d joke around like that.”

“Don’t mind coach, he's just messing around, trying to get you hyped up for the game. Enough of that though. Did you hear about what happened on the Ave? 3 more bodies dumped behind old man Mark’s.”

The Ave is what all the kids in our town call Central Avenue. It’s the main plaza for all essentials and is where all the places to eat are. About 10 blocks in length, it’s a strip of stores and places to eat as far as you can go. Mark’s is the famous pizza spot that all the kids from our school go to hang out at after classes.

“Yeah man, things have been getting crazy lately, but it's no problem at all, anyone tries to mess with me or you guys, they’re not escaping an ass-whooping by the one and only,” I say as I triumphantly point at myself in a grand gesture.

“Well man, just be on the lookout when you are alone. Don’t want our star player getting killed behind a pizza store now do we?” Jalen says as he ruffs my hair. Looking at his watch he goes

"Darnell! Hurry your ass out, we have a party to get to!”

Finally, Darnell stumbled out of the bathroom looking like he either saw a dead man or did something in the bathroom he shouldn’t have.

“BROOO I just took the BIGGEST dump you’ve ever seen.”

“Man shut up, come on let's get going.”

“Guys I think we should just rest here for a bit, the girls ain’t going nowhere, Kevin isn't taking any girls so let's just stay here and enjoy the fact that we BALLED OUT tonight!”

“Agreed! AND we got more drinks here”

“Thank you, Jalen”

As Jalen handed out drinks, we all sat there laughing, talking, and exchanging our best plays and highlights of the game. Everything seemed to drown out and soon enough we had our drinks in our hands as we were slouched over or laid out as we got too drunk to stay awake. I don’t know how much time passed or what time it was, but all I know is that I heard it again, felt it even this time. However, this time it felt much more real than the last time.

“2 Gears!? You might JUST be worth dinner”

As a rough, yet slight touch of a hand grabs my shoulder, I jolted up, sweat beating down my face frantically looking around as if I was crazy. Am I dreaming or are these hits starting to get to me? Eh, it doesn't matter, it’s part of the game, and you don’t become the best by complaining about a little hit here and there. I groggily checked my phone and bolted up realizing the time and remember I still had a home to get to. I started patting the area around me, attempting to wake up my friends, but they weren’t there anymore.

“Jalen! Darnell! Where are you? Come on it’s 4:30 in the MORNING, we gotta go, my mom gonna KILL ME. Where ARE you guys!?”

I stumbled around, trying to grab whatever I could to hold myself up. I rubbed my eyes, trying to get the drunk sleep out of me and look for my friends, but it was hard with the park lights seeming brighter than usual courtesy of double-digit amounts of beer and mini partying. As I walked for what seemed like hours(really only 5 minutes) I came across what looked like decorations hung up in the park between rows of lights.

“Jalen! Darnell! You guys put this up? Man, I’m sorry for keeping you guys here so long, let's get these back in the car and head back home. We’ll leave the girls for another time.”

As I turned and started walking back to the car, a few steps in I felt the same eerie feeling I had at the field and earlier when I woke up. I also realized that they still weren’t answering me, so I did what any logical teen would do. I searched for my phone, took it out, and dialed their cell phones.

“Brrring… Brrring… Brrring”

I looked up and around, searching for the source of the ringing. Realizing it was coming in the direction of the decorations, I made my way over and began checking out the decorations. Man, these two outdid themselves, these feel like real piñtas. Great, they even forgot their phone in them too.

“Man! Alright now, enough fun and games, guys come out. Let's get a move on.”

As I kept examining the decorations, bits and pieces came back to me, moments before I passed out. Our drinking, partying, and the same eerie feeling that woke me up, I felt it before I knocked out too.

“Drip… drip… drip-”

I wiped the mysterious liquid off my jersey and took out my phone so I can have a flashlight to see what it was. Red. Why’s there red liquid coming from these decorations? I looked up and shone my flashlight up and what I saw made my stomach twist up. As I looked up in pure terror, hanging up weren’t decorations, but my two best friends, mutilated, practically beyond recognition. I wanted to look away and force myself to wake up from this horrible nightmare, but I couldn’t and all I could do was keep looking, as I saw more and more of what had become of my two friends.

The most obvious was their front side, deep gashes ran across their chest as the night and park lights gave flickers of the horror that was bestowed before me. Their eyes gashed out and held inside their mouths. Both their faces were missing as if someone had torn it off leaving just the skin underneath. Legs, half torn off as deep cuts on all their legs left part of the leg dangling as the slight breeze of the night swayed their bodies. The only defining feature was their jersey number and the last name on the back that was barely visible with half or more of the letters soaked in blood.

“SOMEBODY HELP!! PLEASE, ANYONE, HELP ME! CALL THE POLICE!”

I screamed as I stumbled out of the park, still feeling the side effects of the excessive late-night drinking. I tried to push out the image of their bodies but every time I would close my mind, I would see them, with an expression on their face like I had failed them out. As I made it out of the park, I started picking up speed and eventually light jogging down the block when I heard it again and this time, felt it for real.

“Come back and play with me”

I slowed down to a stop and as I turned my head, I couldn’t make out much, but it was enough to see a shadowy figure standing at the end of the block from where I came from. All my football instincts told me one thing and one thing only.

Run.

And so I began running as fast as I could, but at the same time as slow as I could so I would avoid falling over my own two feet while hungover. As I think I’m in the clear suddenly, a writhing, agonizing pain, unimaginable to the average person enters my body. As I stopped to locate the source of my pain, I see a Rapier, one slightly thicker in size protruding through my left shoulder blade. Blood immediately begins soaking through my jersey as I lose all feeling in my left arm.

I howled in pain as I tried to keep pushing forward, but before I could even get a few steps in, I felt my face hit the pavement with a loud

“CRACK!”

As I felt the hand of someone pushing me face-first into the pavement. I felt my jaw numbing, so severe it's not possible for me to even moan out the words

“h e l p meee…”

I could barely get my head turned around completely, but just enough to catch a glimpse of his face, he appeared to have a mask on but the mask looked so real, and that's when it came to me. That wasn’t a mask, it was another person's face, more specifically, Jalen’s face. As I let out a muffled scream in horror, I saw the man raise another weapon above me and furiously bring down the sword, ending my life.

Or so I thought, as the next thing I know, I’m half-conscious, but standing on my own two feet this time, hunched over another mysterious man in an oddly plain blue and white suit. As I manage a glimpse, he has his right hand pressured on my wound as if he’s preventing me from collapsing.

“Moving from top dogs to bottom feeders now? Has business been that slow Murdock?”

As I manage a faint croak

“Who are you?”

“Stop talking kid, any more and my hand won’t be enough to keep you conscious. Then again it’ll be better if you shut up.”

I try to utter a protest, but before the words “Wait” can even leave my mouth, I feel his hand hit the back of my neck, and my eyes roll back as I blackout.

“You know how rare it is to have 2 Gears this young Cain, besides this boy has more value than you can even fathom.”

“You can tell the 'Boss' that I don’t care what he wants the kid for, but I need him alive and kicking for something other than mass murder.”

“And here I thought we could agree, but it seems as if you have left us completely.”

Murdock charges full speed at Cain, slipping into the ground as he approaches.

Murdock reappears, rises from the shadows behind Cain, weapon ready to strike. As he lifts his right arm to swing towards him, Cain catches a glimpse of light reflection off the Rapier, spins around, and strikes him square in the jaw with the flat side of a dagger. Sending Murdock flying back a bit, Cain charges towards him with daggers drawn from underneath his sleeves, and with an upwards motion swipe, slashes Murdock's forearms as he tries to block.

Hitting the ground Murdock gets up, glances at his arms, and exclaims

“Ha, you’ve gotten weaker over the years. Not even going to use your Gear to end me, old man?”

“Please, you’re not worth my energy on that, and besides, I’m old-fashioned. I like my plain old killing.”

“Well if you’re not going to, then I WILL.”

As Cain gets in a stance to defend, Murdock puts his two arms in front of him, pointing downwards in an X formation.

“GEAR SHIFT: ZERO!”

Suddenly, shadows begin enveloping Murdock, the surrounding area seeming to get brighter as if he's absorbing the shadows nearby. The lights soon flicker on and off and eventually burn out completely, as Murdock soon outbursts all the gathered shadows, engulfing the area in darkness.

“Cain, Cain, Cain. What will you do now? Even if you use your Gear, it’s useless if you can’t see anything!”

The area gets darker and darker as Cain looks around trying to find an opening to attack. Murdock soon begins to attack, slashing around Cain, as if taunting him because of the extent of his powers.

“I never knew bugs like you could be this annoying. Makes me remember why I left you guys.”

“What did you SAY!?”

“You heard me, all you guys are the same. Doing work at the command of the 'Boss' no questions asked, just like a pet. Worse than a pet actually, at least a pet gets a reward, all you get is more orders. You’re like a bug, the lowest of the life forms.”

Enraged, Murdock howls, the area getting darker matching his rage as a shadowy figure appears out from the darkness launching towards Cain.

“And that’s why you’re a bug, can’t even understand your position in battle and the basics of Gear Shifts.”

As the shadowy figure directly charges at Cain, he sidesteps and in one motion, grabs his arm, pulls him towards the right while using his left arm to stab him square in the gut, digging his dagger into the body.

The shadows soon starts to dissipate revealing Murdock, blood bleeding through his clothing.

“Im-... Impossible, how… how did you know” as he coughs up blood gripping Cain’s arm in an attempt to pull it out. The blood dripping down his mouth, letting out a bellow in aggonizing pain as Cain twists the dagger.

“You should remember that Gear Shift relies on your emotion, or are you so caught up in being a bug, you forget the basics too?”

As Murdock squeezes Cain’s arm, attempting to pull his arm out to get free, spitting blood out, Cain in a swift motion, pulls the dagger out, raises his left hand, grabs his head and smashes Murdock into the ground.

“Yeah never mind, enjoy the faceful of dirt. Bugs like the ground anyway, so why don’t you stay there and enjoy it fool.”

As Cain slowly gets up, dusting debris and blood off his clothes. Looking around, he sees Ethan, slumped on the ground. Walking over to him he picks him up and throws him over his shoulder.

“You’re a lot more popular than I thought you’d be. Now let's get you out of here before more idiots show up.”

As Cain takes a few steps in the direction away from the park, he takes one last look around beforing flashing away leaving no trace he was there.

Looking down at his sphere, the Boss surveys the area.

“You’ve done some real damage, Cain. And that Gear of yours. Light Speed was it? Interesting, so very interesting. You just make this all worthwhile to crush you and this pathetic world.”