Chronicles of the Supers (Book 1): Born From Darkness (The Story of Max) (5 page)

In
addition they were replacing all the locks on every door and
replacing all of the glass with bulletproof glass. The door and
window frames were being replaced with metal frames that were covered
to make them the same appearance as the originals because the aging
wood was incredibly easy to break. They even added a simple and
hidden hydraulic door system that was capabled of generating enough
force to keep the door open or closed against a small army. And the
windows for the dorm rooms had been replaced with ones that couldn't
be opened, since it was determined that the man had entered using a
window.

All of
it was for their reputation more than the students protection
though. The school hadn't given a fuck before the incident and Max
knew they still wouldn't even after the previous night. The school
board was meeting already to decide the fate of the school due to the
nature of the crime. And many of the students families sat on that
board.

They
were worried about the safety of their children and had called an
emergency Sunday session to try and fix the problem before anyone
could turn the spotlight on them, which they would do since the board
was technically the schools superior. The school, on the other hand,
was doing it's damnedest to assure the school board that they were in
fact a safe school so they could stay open, even if it meant spending
nearly half their money on security they didn't care to ever use.

Max
closed her eyes to try and rest. The wound in her side was clearing
up quite fast and the doctors said she would be able to go home on
tuesday at the latest. The wound hadn't been that deep but she still
needed stitches. As well they had to check her out to ensure there
were no other injuries such as a concussion.

Just
as she was drifting off to sleep again, the door opened. Then, and
only then, did the person knock. Max scowled slightly but quickly
covered it up with a fake smile. She opened her eyes to see a man in
a very old suit. He had a frown on his face and a badge hanging from
a chain around his neck. Max focused her eyes and saw the badge was
an FBI badge. She glared at the man standing in her doorway as he
closed the door behind him.

"Maximiliana
Einhardt?" he asked as he turned around.

"Yes"
she answered shrewdly.

"I'm
Special Agent Collins, of the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Would
you mind if I asked you a few questions?"

"Yes
I would. Now leave."

"I'm
sorry Maximiliana, I can't do that."

Max
pursed her lips at the sound of her first name. Or at least the first
name she wished to be known by after having escaped her father. If
the man was using it instead of 'Miss Einhardt', then clearly he had
no intentions of following her order to leave. She quickly considered
running, but there was no way she would be able to get away. If the
guy knew her name then he already knew enough to track her wherever
she went. She really didn't want to go through the hassle of starting
over at a new school and getting a new identity. So instead she
resolved to get him off her case as fast as possible and would just
have to pray that he got the message.

##########

The agent left Max's room looking decidely more tired than when he'd
entered. He was convinced she had known nothing of the terrorist
organization she had worked for. That had been a random happenstance.
She claimed she'd run because she was frightened and all evidence the
police had gathered had supported that and she was cleared of any
crime she might have committed.

She had also claimed she didn't know the man who had snuck into her
room and tried to rape her. That, though, the agent hadn't believed.
Every time she brought up the man the look in her eyes told him that
she knew the man quite well. Probably even years ago, when she was
but a young child. He'd wanted to press more and see what she knew,
but he wasn't officially investigating the crime. That was being left
to the local police. His questioning about it had overstepped his
jurisdiction already and he didn't need to stir up too much trouble
by pressing the issue. He could lose his job if they knew he'd
questioned her at all.

The agent sat outside the door and pulled a picture out of his
wallet. He stared at it as a single tear fell down his cheek. After a
long hour, he finally left. He had a criminal to chase and he
shouldn't be spending so much time on the past anyway.

##########

Max closed her eyes to try and sleep again. She hoped that no one
would interrupt her this time. The FBI agent had been annoying beyond
belief with his unending stream of questions about her father. She'd
denied anything about knowing him, but she doubted he believed that.
Still he had eventually left, much to Max's relief. She desperately
wished she could lock the damn door to prevent anyone else from
entering on her.

After a while of cursing the man, Max finally fell asleep. When she
did though, she had a nightmare that affected her far deeply than any
nightmare before it ever had.

##########

Max awoke in a fright. She sat up in her bed panting while sweat
soaked her entire body. She looked around rapidly but noted she was
alone. The room devoid almost entirely of light and her bed was a
warm metal table. She quickly curled up and closed her eyes and
wished for safety.

She heard a soft clicking noise and started crying. After a long
while she slowly opened her eyes. She saw that she was back in her
room at the boarding school. She opened her eyes a little more and
saw that she was alone in the room.

After a long moment, Max sat up slowly and looked around to confirm
that no one was in the room with her. She slowly uncovered herself
and slid her legs around to the side of the bed, intent on getting a
glass of water and using the restroom. Just as she swung them over
the side of the bed, her legs hit something.

Max's entire body froze and her blood felt like it had turned into
ice. She slowly looked up and saw her father standing over her. He
had a wicked looking knife in his hand. Max let out a screech capable
of awaking the demons of Hell as she tried in vain to back away.
Suddenly, the man let loose a blood curdling roar as he stabbed her
in the side. She screamed and brought her right arm up to slap the
man as her left arm clutched her side in a desperate attempt to stem
the blood flow.

As Max's hand made contact with her fathers face she heard a very
sickening cracking sound. She tried to keep her eyes closed but the
tears that were welling up stung and she opened them to see her
father still standing over her, with the side of his head caved in
and his bodily fluids leaking out like a smaller and deadlier Niagara
Falls. Max let out another ear piercing screech to the heavens as
the body started moving again. She jumped up and bolted out of her
room. She didn't even bother opening the door when she reached it and
crashed right through, leaving it in pieces behind her.

She made a beeline straight for the front door of the dorm hall and
burst through it too, leaving a spray of shrapnel in her wake. As she
stopped to get her bearings she saw a few cops moving towards her
with their guns drawn. They were yelling at her but she couldn't hear
them. She turned to run the other way and was stopped by a tall man
in an old suit. She looked up into the face of Agent Collins.

He put his hands on his shoulders and started speaking to Max, though
she couldn't hear what he was saying. She tried to escape the mans
grip but every time she was successful he grabbed her and stopped her
again. After her third unsuccessful attempt to escape she felt a
rough hand grab both of her wrists. A moment later she felt a cold
metal cuff around her right wrist. Before the other wrist could be
cuffed she pulled her arms forward. She then brought up a knee into
agent Collins groin. She heard a sickening crack as the mans legs
seemed to cave in and he felt to the ground like a broken doll.

Max then turned as she felt tiny stings on her body. As she looked
she saw the small army of cops firing their weapons repeatedly at
her. She blinked as one of the bullets made way for her eye. She felt
it hit, but instead of any real pain, she felt a minor sting for a
moment as the bullet bounced off of her eyelid.

Max opened her eyes to see the cops still firing and, in a panic, she
ran. Only she forgot to turn away and ended up running towards them.
She bowled them over quickly, leaving them on the ground with limbs
tangled and broken in multiple places. At least one of them was dead
from his injuries and the others were in no shape to continue
pursuing Max.

Max ran and ran and ran, quickly losing track of where she was. After
what felt like years of non-stop running she slowed down. She came to
a stop after a short jog and sat down on her legs to catch her
breath. As she did she heard a loud screech. Looking to her left to
see where the sound had come from, Max spotted the front of the house
she lived in up until just a few years ago when she'd run away from
home.

Panicking, Max ran inside to see her younger self taped to a heavy
wooden table. Next to her, near the front door, was her mother. Her
mother had rope roughly tied around her, keeping her held firm to the
chair she was standing next to. She was screaming as Max's father
pulled the trigger on his revolver. Thankfully the bullet didn't fire
and kill young Max.

Max's older self screamed at the man to stop as he walked back
towards Max's mother. She stood there frozen in place and screaming
for him to stop as he held the gun to her head and spun the revolver
chamber a few times. Then he pulled the trigger. The loud explosion
of a gunshot rang throughout the room and Max felt her mothers blood
splatter on her body.

She screamed a horrible screech that blew out the windows and
dangerously shook the room as she grabbed her fathers gun arm. With
one single motion she ripped the arm clean off. Then, less than a
moment later, she sloppily punched the man. Her fist went right
through him, ripping a hole into his body. His organs splattered on
the floor and his body followed shortly after.

Max looked over at her younger self and saw the girl fade as her
tears began forming a small puddle on the ground. After several
minutes Max felt herself begin to fade too. She lay on the floor
curled up into a ball crying as the world around her began to lose
its presence.

##########

Max awoke screaming in pain as she felt someone grab her. She opened
her eyes to see doctors and nurses gathered around her. One of them
produced a syringe full of fluid and ordered some of the nurses to
hold Max down. Max struggled in as they grabbed her and tried to
prevent her from moving. When she noticed the syringe was about to
touch her arm she screamed. The window to the balcony outside her
room blew out from the pressure of the sound wave as several eardrums
on the nurses burst. She threw one of the men holding her into a wall
on the other side of the room before grabbing the other. She yanked
his arm and the entire thing shattered from the force of the blow.
Just as she was reaching for the doctor who held the syringe she felt
it stick in her side.

She looked down at the tiny syringe as the fluid was injected into
her near the knife wound. She screamed loudly and grabbed the doctor
by the throat. Without realizing what she had done she fractured his
neck, leaving him alive but paralyzed from his waist down. He fell to
the floor in a heap and Max grabbed the syringe. She pulled it out of
her side and hurled it as hard as she could against the door. The
tiny projectile stuck in the door as the needle hit, scaring the
nurses who were about to enter the room to help with the situation.

Max tried her best to stay awake but the drug began
taking effect almost immediately. She fought hard against it but was
soon rendered unable to stand. As the other nurses and a few security
guards rushed in, Max lost consciousness. Her last thought before she
slipped was a solemn vow to kill anyone who had touched her during
that little episode.

Part 2:

Descent

Chapter 6:

Awakening

Max awoke slowly but kept her eyes closed. She could vaguely feel the
presence of the guard who had been posted outside her room. It was
almost as if she had another sense that gave her a radar for her
immediate vicinity.

She
finally opened her eyes to see her surroundings. She was in a new
hospital room after she'd destroyed the other one and killed the
nurse she'd thrown against the wall. She'd also crippled the other
nurse she'd grabbed and the doctor who had injected her. Both had
disappeared into early retirement after the event just 2 days ago.
Several of the other staff held a grudge against her for it and the
guard had to be posted for Max's own safety.

Max
had extremely vivid memories of what had happened but it made no
sense to her. She'd been thinking on the memories since she had
awoken but had made no sense of them whatsoever. Silently she got out
of bed. There was only one way to resolve what was happening to her,
and that was to test herself.

She
looked at the large chair next to her bed and knelt down. Reaching
underneath the chair and grabbing hold of a small metal bar, Max let
out a sigh and, after a moments hesitation, she blew out her breath
and lifted. She had to close her eyes as she struggled with the
weight of the chair. After a moment she felt herself moving up and
hesitantly opened her eyes. Her jaw dropped at the sight before her.

There
she was, holding an overly large and impossibly heavy chair. It was
being held at an odd angle as she used her fingers to try and
stabilize the wobbly chair. Her fingers were aching from the strain
of keeping the chair mostly in the same upright position it had been
in when she lifted it, but she was still managing to do it. After a
moment her hand became too worn out and she gently set the chair back
down.