Neil's History. For real. Check it out.

[Samuel]

So, this has taken me forever, but, I finally finished. At least the first chapter. Anyway, it does a much better job of giving some background to the character. And yes, there is more to come. But I definitley won't put a date on it.


Chapter 1:
Ransom


“Linae? Are you here?” Neil looked around, but there was a black cloth tied around his eyes, and he could only see faint lights seep in from the edges. He was sitting in a wooden chair, and was tied to it, with a thick, itchy rope wrapped tight around his arms. Trying to remember how he got here, all Neil could think of was that he was in the park not long ago. Or at least it didn’t seem like long ago. He felt that his forehead was wet, and his hair was sticking to it. “Linae!” He yelled again. He heard a thick cough from in the room, which echoed throughout, leading him to believe he was in some kind of warehouse. “Who’s there?” It was obviously not Linae. He heard footsteps coming towards him, and he tried to see from under cloth.


“She is fine, but not in this room.” A voice said, in an unusual accent. Eastern European, but Neil couldn’t place it. “You are not Franklin Aveeni, are you?” Neil shook his head. “No, my name’s Neil. Who are you? What do want?” There was a loud metal clang, someone hitting something hollow with a fist. The man ignored Neil. “Did I not tell you this was not them? They look nothing like the Aveenis!” ‘Aveeni…” Neil thought. ‘The ones over in Huntington Palms? They have all kinds of money, no wonder they were the targets of these guys.’ A second man in the room started shouting back. “You give me only an address and bad description. Black haired boy, dark eyes, and thin, Brown haired girl with very light blue eyes, but tan skin. I give you the boy and girl you ask for, that is them! The boy lies to protect him and girl! We should ask her, to get better answers.” Neil felt a sense of dread run through him; they had not only taken him, but his girlfriend too. And who knows what they would do to her, or what they might have already done. The first voice started speaking a language Neil did not recognize, and they went back and forth in the dialect for several minutes.


Finally, they came over and grabbed Neil’s Face. “No, I can tell you with all certainty that this is not them. So what now?” The second man, who sounded younger than the first, took only a moment to decide. “We kill the boy, and take the girl with us back home. There is no option.” Neil, perhaps foolishly, spoke up. “Hey, the Aveenis are my neighbors; you did get the wrong people. But I haven’t seen any of you, if you let us go, I couldn’t tell anyone what you look like or where you are.” “It would be more work on our part to do that. But perhaps if you will tell us where we can find the Aveeni children, we will let you and your sister loose.” The first man said coldly. “She’s not my sister, she’s my girlfriend. But they live in the biggest house in Huntington Palms. They’re a year younger than me; they’re sixteen.” There was shouting in the foreign language again. “Huntington Palms, not Hallowed Palms!” “It is Miami, every neighborhood is something palms! This was a poor plan from the start.” The first one coughed again, this time sounding worse than the last.


“You need rest, brother. Put her in this room, we’ll lock it up and decide what to do in the morning.” It was apparent that one of them was sick, perhaps seriously. Neil considered that the ransom might be used for medicine, or surgery, and for a moment, empathized with his captors. The men walked out of the room, talking to each other quietly. A door slammed, and it was quiet for a moment. Then it opened back up, and there was a sound of metal dragging on the concrete. “Who the hell are you? I’ll rip your eyes out when I get out of here!” ‘Dignified, as usual. It’s her alright,’ He thought. The door slammed, as the men ignored her threats. “Linae! Are you alright?” Neil struggled against the ropes, but they held tight. “Yeah, I’m fine. Are you blindfolded too?” she asked him. “Yes. Apparently they mistook us for the Aveenis, and that’s why they took us.” Linae nodded, even though no one could see them. “That’s what they were talking about on the way here. Oh, I meant to tell you, I wasn’t knocked out. When they hit you, you were out, but when they hit me, I just went limp and pretended to be out. We were on a boat for a few hours, so I figure we’re somewhere in the Bahamas.” “Do you think they’ve noticed we’re missing yet?” Neil asked. “You don’t check in very often with your parents, so they probably won’t be suspicious for a day or two. And mine won’t be back from vacation for a week and a half. So, we might be in some trouble here.” “Well if they don’t, somebody will. We were in public when they got us, somebody had to see what happened.” “If you saw two people get abducted at night by big scary strangers, would you be very eager to get involved?” She asked sarcastically. “It’s the right thing to do. I have to believe that there are people out there who aren’t afraid to do what needs to be done.” “That’s pretty much it. It’s not that there are more bad people than good people, but it’s when good people don’t do anything; that’s the problem. So, how are we getting out of this?” Neil tilted his head. “What makes you think I have a plan?”


Linae laughed, although not enough to make light of their situation. “Because,” She said, in a matter-of-fact tone, “You always have at least three plans to get out of whatever situation you end up in. But I don’t see what this one is, since you didn’t, you know, do your thing to those guys.”
“That wouldn’t have done any good; they would just be angry when they got up. Plus I can’t do it that well when I can’t see the target. It could just as easily have affected you too.” “Well okay Mr. Killjoy, if you’re not doing that, then what do we do?” She heard rubbing sounds, and then rope hitting the floor. “This is what I’m doing.” Neil had slipped through the ropes. It was fortunate he had a slight build, or the task would have been impossible. He yanked off the blindfold and immediately removed Linae’s, and could see her jade-green eyes for the first time today. “Neil, oh my God, have you seen your head?” No, he hadn’t. He felt his forehead, and matted black hair, and saw that his hand was soaked with partially dried blood. “Is it bad?” He asked, while untying the knots on her ropes. “It looks like they hit you with a gun or something hard and blunt. You don’t feel it though, do you?” He shook his head. “I kind of automatically block those kinds of injuries. We have bigger problems right now though.” Looking around, it appeared that they were in an old sugar mill. The machinery was dusty, and apparently hadn’t been used in years. There were boxes stacked nearly to the ceiling, but it was hard to tell where it was, since the windows were boarded up and there was only one working light bulb, which hung limply from a wire on a rafter. There were several places on the walls where it looked like the company’s logo had been painted over. Neil’s eyes darted around the room. “Okay, if you were holding someone hostage, you wouldn’t leave them alone. They’re probably in another room. And even if they were locked up, you wouldn’t leave them alone very long; they’ll have someone come check on us, more likely sooner than later. So we have to do this fast.” They began hanging ropes and boxes, with Neil giving specific instructions for each step.


It was only minutes before the door opened, and a huge man came through. He was very tan, with an enormous moustache, and he was at least a head taller than Neil, who was six foot one. They were both physically imposing, although the older one seemed to be slightly out of his prime. He looked around, and began shouting in their language to his brother, who quickly ran in the room. Neil and Linae were not to be seen. Both men drew pistols from their pockets; one was an antique revolver, the other a more modern semi auto. They started to run away from the door, but before they had taken a step, two large boxes suspended by ropes swung down toward them. They hit both men and splintered around them. The one who had been coughing was knocked against a machine, and fell down, with blood coming out of his mouth. The other landed in a pile of ropes, and he quickly got back up. He was bruised and had splinters all over him. “You have made our decision for us; we will kill both of you and feed you to dogs!” He went to his brother, and checked his pulse. He was still alive. He picked up his comrade’s gun, and started circling the room. Linae, hidden behind a pile of boxes, heard Neil cough, which was her signal. She hit a metal hammer against a small toolbox three times as hard as she could. Simultaneously, Neil popped up from behind a pile of sacks, holding a small drill, and pretended to fire it, three times. The kidnapper shot at Neil, only to realize he had shot at a mirror. Suddenly, he felt three spots of intense pain in his chest. He fell to his knees and passed out, believing he had been shot. Linae stood up and looked over the boxes, seeing both men unconscious. She glanced over at Neil. “We should probably shoot them,” he said to her, “Before they wake up and come after us.” “No way,” She said, “Then we’re no better than them. We should get out of here while we can.” She started for the door. Neil followed, but not before sliding the guns into a pile of broken boxes.
The room connecting to the main factory room led to the outside. It was night as they found out, and they were near a beach. The full moon illuminated each wave as it lazily broke against the low tide line. It was an entirely unfamiliar area. “We need to find a way to a town, so we can call for help.” Neil announced, still thinking about each next step. “Is that a good idea? I don’t trust anyone here; I wouldn’t think you would.” “No, I don’t. That’s why we don’t ask anyone here for help, I meant we call home. But we need to stay quiet and keep moving. If either of those guys wakes up, they’ll be desperate to find us, and probably kill us.” They went around the outside of the factory, behind the bushes that surrounded it. Suddenly, they heard scrambling noises from inside, and shouting. Taking it as a cue to hurry up, they quietly hurried away, crossing a dark street, and going through the trees on the other side.


The land became soft very soon after crossing the tree line, and soon became a mangrove swamp. Neil was concerned, because there was no quiet way to go through it. Each step was a splash, but walking slow was not an option either. He decided the best way was to try and hurry to the other side. Linae tried not to think about the awful creatures that dwell in swamps at night; snakes, crocodiles, stingrays, barracudas, sharks… When the water was nearly waist deep, she became visibly nervous. But back by the road, the sound a gun firing strengthened her will to get through. At least one of the brothers was up, and not wasting any time coming straight for them. The kidnapper jumped into the water, and ran through it, sounding like a washing machine with the way he displaced the water so quickly. Neil grabbed Linae’s arm and pulled her, as they made a sudden left turn. The water became shallower, and there was a faint light in the distance, which is why Neil headed towards it. They broke through the tree line, and saw they were on another beach. The glow came from the water itself. Linae momentarily forgot about their pursuer. She opened her mouth to ask Neil what it was, but he closed her mouth. “Its bioluminescent algae that is being activated by the waves. I thought it was lights too. Lets go.” He said, in a low voice. Even though the beach was more open, it was much quieter, and he figured they could gain some distance, and then duck back into the mangroves. He heard another gunshot, from back inside the swamp, and figured that the gunmen must be shooting at animals he mistakes for the two of them. If they could just get to more urban environment, he would not be able to find them out of a crowd at all. But that was out the question, chances were that he knew the island in advance and picked it due to its desolation.


Neil stopped running. “Linae, stop. We have to turn around.” He said in a low voice. She looked him in eye, head tilted. “We just ran onto the beach. And we’re being followed, so, turning around would mean going toward the angry man with a gun. What the hell are you thinking?” He looked over the path that they had come. “We have to because we’re leaving tracks in the sand. He’ll probably figure out we’re not in the swamp anymore, and come over on the beach. So we head back a little ways, stay quiet, and go back the way we came. And I’ll figure out the rest on the way.” The pair retraced the tracks for fifty yards or so, and then slipped back into the swamp, where they found a large mangrove. They ducked down under the enlarged roots, which were well out of the water.


But after several minutes of nothing but insect noises, it was apparent something was wrong. Neil carefully stood up through roots, and looked around. Suddenly, he was yanked out of the roots by his shoulders. He was slammed into the trunk of a large tree. The hands holding him were on the most massive arms he had ever seen. This man was not either of the original kidnapers, though he looked to be related. In the dim light of the swamp, he could only see a sliver of the beast’s face, which was half covered by a wild black beard. Also, he was about a foot taller than either of the brothers. “I found one!” He shouted to the other side of the mangrove. The other brother came up from the roots, holding Linae, while she struggled. “Haha Ho! These are childrens who give you trouble?” The giant continued to laugh, at his brother’s expense, but was mostly ignored. “Now we deal with problem. How we should kill them, Aztrik?” Aztrik thought for a moment. Neil tried to break loose, but Aztrik was immensely strong. He didn’t seem to notice Neil moving.
“Dvorak, I can break this one. We should keep girl.” “No,” Dvorak answered, “They killed Sadigev, we kill them. Go ahead.” Aztrik smiled, and put both hands on Neil’s right arm. “This could be quick, boy, but brother insists that you feel pain. So please enjoy.” Neil considered the statement, and realized he had no choice. He looked over to Linae, who nodded. Neil closed his eyes tight. Aztrik began to shout, and he dropped Neil. The giant fell to his knees, which still left him barely in the water. Neil opened his eyes, and soon Dvorak was in a similar position. Linae kicked him in the stomach. “I can’t do it anymore, we need to go now!” Neil yelled. “Right!” Linae began retracing their path, which wasn’t too hard since there were many broken trees along the path this time.


Finding their way out of the trees, the pair was back at the old sugar factory. Neil turned to Linae. “They had to take a boat here; hopefully we can use it to get back.” “We do? Neither of us knows how to drive a boat, and, Jesus Neil, we’re screwed. Those guys will be back in a few minutes, and there’s nowhere to go. The only thing way we could get out of this is to wait till morning and try to flag down a passing ship.” He knew she was right. He didn’t know how to drive a boat, nonetheless how to hotwire one. “You’re right. Then we don’t have any choice. Stay out here, I’ll be right back.”


Before she could object, he ran back into the mill, and into the main production room they were in before. He saw the body of the third brother, proving that they had indeed killed him, even if it was accidentally. Neil went over to the pile that he had stowed the guns under, and took out the revolver, which was the only one left. He checked, and saw that it had been fired twice. He tried to think how many shots it would take to bring down each of the men.


Two shots were fired outside. Chills went down Neil’s spine, and he felt very cold. He got up and walked over to a window, which had a hole in it. He saw Dvorak and Aztrik standing over Linae, who was face down on the ground, in a puddle that glimmered red in the moonlight. Dvorak looked around, and told Aztrik to stay outside. He walked through the doorway of the main room, and Neil put one round straight through his temple. He had estimated precisely where and when Dvorak would walk through the door. He was compelled to fire again, but he needed to save the rest for the beast, who, as expected charged through the doorways, denting the walls where he ran into them. Neil used the last three shots to bring down Aztrik, who fell near his brother.


Instead of confirming the brother’s deaths, Neil jumped over them and back outside. He knelt beside Linae, and propped her up, only to reveal the gaping bullet wound in her neck. The pain was unimaginable, Neil couldn’t deal with it, but he couldn’t force it out like he usually could. Every time he saw her broken body, or felt her in his hands, or remembered any other time that they had shared together, it only added to his agony. Killing the brothers had not made it any better. They were not even on his mind; there was no room for anything but agony. He figured death would be less painful than this, but cruelly, there were no bullets left. He had no way of ending his own life. There were tears in his eyes, but none appeared to fall, they remained stuck on the surface. For the first time within memory, Neil had no idea what to do. He sat on the beach for the rest of the night, until the tide came up and lapped at his legs. He was still not ready to let go of her, however. He held on until the sun rose, which was just a new wave of pain, remembering how Linae loved sunrises.


The tide went back out, and finally Neil stood up. He went back into the mill and came out with a shovel. He entirely ignored the murderer’s bodies. He spent until afternoon digging the deepest hole he could. He decided against a coffin, Linae always said that they were stupid anyway, like putting a new coat of paint on a car headed for the junkyard. He buried her there on the beach, saying nothing the whole time.

Finally, he went back inside, to Dvorak’s body. He reached in his pocket, and took out a wallet full of American twenty dollar bills. He then left the bodies, and started making his way around the island. When he finally made it to a small town on the opposite side of the island, he nearly fainted. He was taken to a makeshift hospital, where doctors found out he had not had a drink in almost two days. He stayed for two days to recover, never speaking unless asked a question. After he paid his bill, he paid a boat owner to take him back to Miami. It was a long, quiet boat ride. Paying the man, he stepped off the boat and onto the dock. He had to find a new handle on life if he was going to go on. Something to keep him occupied. He had a lot of thinking to do.

[Samuel]

Chapter 2 is out, this one introduces Tex.

Chapter 2:
Reunion


Neil unfurled the wadded up phonebook page from out of his pocket. He looked at the name on the top. Jenson F. Averon. He put it back in his pocket, and saw the house in front of him. It was a small, one bedroom place, a glorified shack. The teal paint was chipping off, and a dirty brown truck sat rusting in the driveway. There was a path that led through the weed filled yard. He walked over it, observing the cracks that ran throughout it, like a nervous system. It was likely caused by the pair of oaks on both sides of the yard. Neil pushed his hair out of his eyes and pushed the doorbell. Somewhat unsurprisingly, it made no noise. Sighing, he made a fist, and used the back of it to knock on the door. It made a hollow sound, indicating either poor wood, or termite damage.

Almost immediately, a dog started barking, followed shortly by another one. One was a small yapper, and the second a much larger dog. Probably a mastiff, or bullmastiff. Neil heard someone yelling at them, and a door inside slammed. The front door cracked open, and a rugged faced man in his late twenties looked out. He didn’t say anything; he just looked at Neil, as if he was confused. Neil spoke up for him. “Tex? How’s it going? It’s been a while.”

“Neil Tack! Get in here! I haven’t seen you for years!” Tex shouted excitedly. He pushed open the door all the way to allow Neil entry to his home, and as he did so, the small gray dog ran out, jumping up Neil’s legs. “Mayer! Get back in this house right this second before I kick your hairy-” “Tex! Don’t worry about it.” Neil bent down and picked up the yapping mutt. Instantaneously, the dog quieted down, and began licking Neil’s face. Tex smiled. “Mayer doesn’t like anybody, not even me. You’ve still got it, don’t you? Here, come on in” The two entered the house, closing the door behind them. The walls were cracked inside, the same as out, and the ceiling had uneven discoloration from water damage. But the carpet, furniture, and appliances were all quite clean. Vacuumed, scrubbed, and polished, it seemed that Tex was no repairman, but a decent home keeper.

“Sorry about the mess; I’ve been pretty busy lately. I’m looking for a new job, since I can’t stand the mall anymore.” Neil sat down on the sofa, and started petting Mayer, who followed him quietly. “You’re still working at the sports shop? You were working there back when you lived next door to me and the folks.” Tex nodded as he walked over to the refrigerator in the adjacent kitchen. “Yeah, and I hated it four years ago too. You want a beer?” “Tex, I’m eighteen.” Tex put the second beer back and grabbed a store brand cola. He counted on his fingers on the way to sit in the chair across from Neil. “Not that I care about age, but I figured you’re seventeen.” “Today’s my birthday.” Neil said calmly. Tex handed him the soda.

“That’s right, happy birthday buddy. So, where’ve you been? How’s mom and dad? And Lin? Are you still seeing her?” Neil stopped petting the dog, who promptly walked away. “Jenson, Linae is dead.” Tex dropped his bottle, and then quickly propped it back up. “Jesus Neil, I’m, I’m so sorry. When did it happen?” Neil opened up his can. “It was five days ago.” He took a sip. Tex stared, almost in disbelief at Neil’s lack of emotion. “How?” was the only thing he managed to ask. Neil put down his drink. “It’s a long story.” Neil retold his account of what happened on the island, how she died and he didn’t. Tex listened intently. Linae was his friend too. He had often thought that he would have been a better match for her, had he been ten years younger. But he liked Neil, because he reminded him of himself when he was younger. He recalled that when they were neighbors, Neil didn’t have many friends his own age. When Linae came along, Tex knew he should give them their own space, since it would be better for them. It was one of the reasons he moved away.

“So you killed them both, huh? I didn’t think you had it in you.” Not the best choice of words after hearing a sad story, but it was Tex’s style to be blunt, and say what he was thinking. Neil was used to it, but gave a slight look of confusion. “Well, it was easy under the circumstances. You were in the army, did you ever kill anyone?” Tex had never admitted that he was a cook in the army to Neil. When he left, he was eighteen, and Neil was fourteen. He considered telling the details of his service, but decided against it for now. “No, I didn’t,” he finally said. “I was lucky. I’m sorry you weren’t.” Tex took another drink.

“I’m not. I know it won’t bring Linae back, or make me feel better, but the world is better off without them. They were scum that sunk to the bottom; all I did was scrape it clean. I’m working on a way to take out all the trash like them, though. Would you be interested?” Tex put his beer on the table, and went over to close the blinds, as the setting sun was spilling through into his eyes. He sat back down and looked Neil in the eye. “No, I want no part of that. I’d like to help you, but… You don’t watch much news, do you?”

Neil shook his head. “No, I figure if something is important I’ll find out sooner or later.” “You’d better believe this is important. They’ve been cracking down lately, on people who are, you know, like you.” “And you. You don’t have to pretend, I’ve known you were like me for a while. You don’t hide it well.” Tex’s metaphorical jaw dropped, as he looked blankly at Neil “How you knew?” was all he managed to mumble. “Well, you have a tendency to lean on things. Whenever you’re standing near something, you lean on it. At the last New Year’s party before you moved, I noticed you leaning on the stove. While it was on. It was on high, which is somewhere around five hundred degrees. I was very confused, I thought that maybe you were borrowing my skills. But it would still leave you burned, which you weren’t. So I figure you must either have some kind of rapid healing, or some kind of thermodynamic manipulation.”

“Um, yeah, I can soak up heat, and then push it back out, to put it simple. We ought to go out to an open field one day; I’ll show you what it can do. But what I’m wondering, is what exactly it is you do. I know, you do something with feelings, but could you explain it to me?” “Of course, here, I’ll demonstrate. Neil stood up and walked over to the door with scratch marks all over it. “Hey, Oscar doesn’t like anybody; he puts up with me, but if you let that dog out of there, I won’t be able to get him off you alive.” Tex jumped up, but Neil opened the door anyway. “Hey!” He shouted into the dark room, waking up an enormous bullmastiff. The dog stood up, it’s dark coat blending into the background. It was slightly bigger than Tex, in terms of weight, and Tex was slightly bigger than Neil.

Neil tilted his head in the dog’s direction. It started to growl, and then bark. A real bark, one that even humans could clearly interpret as a threat. It ran at Neil, but fell at his feet, and began to whimper. It only lasted a moment, until Neil knelt down next to it, petted him. In a complete 180 of the apparent agony the dog was in, it rose to its feet, shook off any remnants of the previous feeling, and began licking Neil’s face. “It’s simple really, all I do is effect nerves throughout the body into feeling what I instruct them to feel, and I also change what hormones are produced. That was much trickier to perfect. So it’s easier to hurt someone than to make them feel good. Anything in between can be accomplished by combinations of nerve impulses and hormone usage simultaneously. And of course, I can sense what other’s feel by syncing that part of our minds.”

Tex looked at the dog wagging its tail happily. “I see. Well, what did you have in mind? What I was trying to say is that we can’t go around playing super hero. People get arrested for that.” Neil shooed the dog back into the bedroom and went to get himself a drink from the kitchen. “That’s why we won’t do that. To the contrary, we’ll have to show people just how bad things can be.” Tex narrowed his eyes. “That’s stupid Neil; you want to be a criminal to get attention? You won’t make anything better that way.” “Yes, I will. But not by being a criminal. More of a terrorist. See, that’s the point. A terrorist can do more good for the world than a hero can. When a terrorist attacks, people unite against him. They won’t put up with it, and they’ll do whatever it takes to stop him. So the bigger the threat, the more people unite. It’s pretty simple. You know what I mean?” “I don’t like where you’re going with this. Not only won’t I help you, I hope they catch you the first time you try to do something stupid. But I won’t turn you in. I still owe you that much.” Neil took a long drink from a store brand soda can. “Yeah, you do. But I can see how you’d be skeptical. It’s not something that I can prove just by messing with your dogs. All that proves is that if anyone is perfectly suited for the job, it’s me. I can’t be hurt, and I can make others follow me. So that’s all I have going for me now. I sure could use some firepower. But I won’t make you follow me. Thanks for the drinks.” Neil tossed the empty can into an overflowing trash can, and walked out the front door.

Tex sat down at his desk in the office room, and pulled out a newspaper. He flipped through the pages, and then set it down. There was no article telling Neil’s story. Had he made it all up? Or had he just gone crazy? It was possible that it had not yet been reported, but it seemed like an interesting story. He booted up his pc and searched online for any instance of a Bahamas tragedy, but came up with nothing. The kid was clever, but he couldn’t have covered up a gunfight near an inhabited town. Tex realized that if he was telling the truth, there might be more than even Neil knew to be worried about.