91 CHAPTER 90 THE BOY FROM THE RACE

Matt held his nose, wiping out the tears that had lined his eyes. The nose was not bleeding at least, but he could still feel the burning sensation as they traveled to every part of his body. It was a good thing to note that his vision had not blurred from the tears that lined his eyes. The double-barrel of the machine boy still pointed at him and as long as he stood there, staring his death in the face, nothing seemed to move. The world and the noise of the Air Tripler which was humming now were not in existence as long as he was a concern.

"Too bad to see you end like this," The machine boy said. 

Matt could not explain it, but he thought he saw the hot electric ball as they started out of the barrel, towards his direction. It was happening fast, and as he braced himself for impact, he was surprised when the electric ball finally came out with an intense speed but swooshed pass him to the right, hitting the wall behind him and sending ember sparks flying.

Matt heaved with relief when he realized that Pinna had come to his rescue in the last hour. She had pushed the boy to the side and was struggling with him now.

"Matt, get the gun," She screamed.

Matt did not wait to be told twice. He picked his own shocker gun from where it had fallen and aimed it. "Let her go," He threatened, but neither the boy nor Pinna seemed to hear. They had fallen to the ground now as they continued their struggle.

Pinna's feminine punch caught the boy across the face, but that did not seem to faze the smirk that lined his face. The punch had been weak because she was holding his metallic hands away from her and from Matt. Just one silly mistake and they might be a story in history.

"Let her go," Matt threatened again. He was shifting his gun from one end to the next. How could he shoot the boy without hitting Pinna? The answer came to him almost immediately. There, he found the open spot and pulled the trigger without hesitating. The boy had beaten Pinna to the ground, giving Matt the best opportunity he was looking for.

"Are you alright?" He threw the shocker gun to the floor and hurried towards Pinna, who was trying to get the convulsing boy away from her.

"You could have fried my brains with that gun, Matt." Pinna panted. She had successfully crawled out from the boy's grip and was trying to make it up to her feet.

"But I didn't," Matt grinned with both satisfaction and relief. The training of the Keepers just paid off. He had hated it at a time. They had been made to shoot inanimate objects for days. It was a hard practice and required patience and accuracy. Even though the commander had not tasked them with the number of objects, they would shoot in a day, they had always tasked them with the accuracy, and that was what actually kept them on the training camps for days. It was the maintenance of accuracy with the shocker gun. Only a true Keeper can shoot steadily without missing, and they had been beaten with training until they mastered the act.

"Don't try that next time, Matt. You scared the living day out of me." Pinna grouse when she finally stood up to her feet. Her dark hair was in a mess, a testimony of the struggle with the boy on the floor.

"But you could have died if I haven't intervened."

"Sooth your conscience, Martins. I would have been dead either way." Her emerald green eyes still had questions in them, but Matt was glad when she only walked back towards Ham, who still laid on the glass cylinder, breathing but now waking up.

The convulsing boy still shivered as if battling with cold. His dark hair was standing on his head and his face was as pale as the moonlight. Matt had shot him with a lower voltage. A red voltage would have turned the boy into an inferno, and he would have been dead.

"You…think…this changes anything?" The agonizing voice of the boy said as Matt looked down at him. "This is just the beginning it, Keeper. You will never live in the light again, I promise you. All your days you will be running." 

"Is that a threat or something?" Matt pushed the small lever on the gun and a green light flared. The boy's laughter turned to a smirk when Matt pointed the reloaded gun at him. He could die if Matt shoots him with another ball of electricity. 

"I don't make threats, my dear. I don't make threats." The boy said. Those dark eyes of his that glint with the red lights of the tarmac had not averted from the gun Matt was holding. True that he hid his emotions and expressions behind them, but Matt could still see the terror and fear that was written in them. It was too obvious; the boy was the one that made other people tremble before him. He had not been in this position before. Not until today.

"What then do you mean?" Matt asked, enjoying the discomfort as the boy shifted his weight on the hand.

"Spare me. I will remove your name from the book of the Glut-Hunters. You will not have to run with your eyes looking over your shoulders."

"And why will I trust you?"

"Because if you kill me now, you will be running all your life and your friend will never wake up," 

Matt bit down anger and hate. It was hard to tell which one was enveloping his body at the moment. From his shoulders he could still see Pinna, sobbing over the body of Ham, whose breathing was steady but yet not waking up. The girl was a bag of tears. How much must she cry and weep? Matt gnashed his teeth as the sadness started slipping into his own bones. Who could have guessed that Pinna was so fragile and emotional?

"What have you done to my friend?" Matt raised the gun. He didn't care if the boy was some secret Glut hunter working for the government. If he refuses to talk, the face of this barrel will be the last thing he would ever remember.

"I don't know, believe me," The boy shouted, raising his nonmetallic hand into the air. The amusement in his face had disappeared, replaced by a dread that sent a chill down Matt's spine. This boy wanted to live. He loves living, even though he had sent other people to an early grave.

"I thought you said you knew?"

"I was only told to bring him back to the quarters. I met him like this, believe me. I don't know why he is not waking up"

"Then you are no use to me," Matt hissed and released the trigger. He nodded with satisfaction when he saw the blue electric ball, engulfing the boy's metallic arm, damaging it.

"What have you done?" The boy's cry covered the surface of the tarmac. His wide eyes were looking down at his hands, which were twitching with sparks of white lights. 

"Sparing your life" Matt dropped the gun, "Now, get lost before I change my mind."

"You will regret this, Keeper. I promise you." The boy cried as he stood up and ran towards the only door in the tarmac.

"Do you think he is dead?" Came Pinna's whisper when Matt walked towards him.

"He will be fine," He patted her shoulders and walked towards the other end of the cylinder.

Ham looked peaceful in his sleep. Those sunglasses still lined his eyes, covering the robotic eyes that had been used to keep his skin from showing. Matt could have sworn that the boy was dead if his chest was not falling and rising.

"Let's get him to the plane." He took the edge of the cylinder and started dragging them towards the Air Tripler. Pinna said nothing. She only followed behind, trying with all failed attempts to keep the tears from flowing out of her eyes.

"We have to get him somewhere safe," Matt said when they had settled in the plane and were ready to take off. Pinna sat beside the cylinder, a few paces away from the cockpit.

"Your house?" She asked without looking at him.

"No, my house will not be safe. I suspect those guys might search my apartment at the moment." Matt shrugged. If that was true, then he has a bigger problem. There were things in his house which he does not wish anyone will tamper with. But what can he do? "I have a friend; he might help us. Ham will be safe in his house."

"Just when I thought that everything was returning to normal. Just when I thought I would have time with my friends. The old memories…"

"Pinna," Matt heaved and turned his attention to the girl. Her face was red, and her eyes, God. Her eyes were bulging out of her skull, looking sullen with some dark patch underneath them. 

"I promise you that we would find a way to revert this. I promise"

That seemed to settle the case. Matt could not say. But he was glad when the girl nodded and wiped the tears. This time, the tears did not resurface.