RBSFS Story #342 ("Truth-Seekers: The Metagene Wars" Story #7) Note: Turn on "word wrap" in Notepad before viewing. "Attack Of The Clones" By Richard Broadstreet ---------------------------------------------------------- Early Saturday, January 1, 2011 - 12:00am Home - near Nathrop, CO, USA ---------------------------------------------------------- "What the hell?" I muttered, staring in shock at the unhooded figure before me. He was me. I was him. "Who are you?" I tried to keep my voice sounding strong. "You already know." my clone said to me, in my voice, only with a slight menacing tone. "You've been cloned by some of the greatest minds of Earth. You should be proud to be one of the first human test subjects. Now I must do what I was sent here to do." "And what is that?" I asked. "To kill you." the Richard clone replied. He quickly raised his hand and another blast of pure energy sent me flying. I hit the side of the wall of my house with a thump and fell to the snow-covered ground. I suddenly felt very weak. I was face down in the snow and I could barely move. It took all the power I had just to roll over. I looked up to see the clone approaching me again. "Pitiful." the clone muttered, looking down at me. I attempted to stand up when the clone again raised his hand and everything immediately went black. Early Saturday, January 1, 2011 - 12:16am Richard's dream plane ---------------------------------------------------------- I was again standing in the dark space with the mist rolling at my feet. A form appeared from nowhere ahead of me. It was Dana again, my long-lost sister. She approached me. "Am I dead?" I asked her. "No." Dana answered. "Just unconcious." "I got my ass kicked." I muttered. "Yeah." Dana said. "I saw. But I have come to tell you the only way to defeat this enemy." "How?" I asked. "The only way I see you will be successful is if you manage to restore your Metagene powers to full strength. If you do not, you will most likely not survive." Dana told me. "And how am I supposed to do that?" I asked. "Only overstress activates full Metagene powers." Dana replied. "You must--" Just then, Dana disappeared. She was gone. I tried calling her name, but there was no reply. There was no sound except for the slight sound of a blowing wind. Until a voice called my name. "Richard." a female voice called to me. The voice sounded somewhat familiar. I turned and saw an attractive woman who also seemed familiar. Then, out of nowhere, came a name into my head: Krystal Ford. Krystal had went to high school with me and we had had a relationship going for about a year. Afterward, we had stayed friends until I lost touch with her after high school. But now here she was, more beautiful than ever. She had long blond hair that ended just below her shoulders and amazing light blue eyes. I suddenly had a rising desire to kiss her. A thought entered my mind and became my own. 'Krystal Ford is my soulmate.' The thought had just appeared in my brain as if placed there. Krystal closed the gap between us and she passionately kissed me. When our lips joined, I felt as if electricity were running though my body instead of blood. I felt supercharged. I've never felt so great before. Until now. Krystal's lips parted from mine a few moments after, leaving my lips hungry for more. 'We will meet again. We will be married and raise offspring.' More thoughts entered my mind, making ne ponder thier origin. 'Krystal loves you and you love her.' Early Saturday, January 1, 2011 - 1:21am Home - near Nathrop, CO, USA ---------------------------------------------------------- I awoke among the snow of my front yard. I had had another dream. But I knew it just wasn't a dream. It was an important message. I had to activate my Metagene powers. And I must find Krystal Ford. It seems very important that I see her again. I now had a new-found passion to find Krystal. It was love. Monday, January 3, 2011 - 1:02pm Home - near Nathrop, CO, USA ---------------------------------------------------------- I walked out to the car. Scott had kept on bugging me to get to the store to get some more food because we were almost out. I sighed as I unlocked the car door. Why couldn't Scott go? Because he was just too lazy. I was about to open the door when I noticed the sound of crunching snow coming up behind me. I turned around and before I knew it, I was up in the air, and I couldn't breath. I was being strangled. I could feel my clone's hand around my throat. Yet I was actually floating in air. The clone's hand was in a choking position a foot or so below my throat, just being held in midair. I fought to breath as I was suspended in air. I looked down briefly and saw a blank expression on the clone's face, as if he had no feelings whatsoever. The clone threw me suddenly across the snow-covered lawn. I flew through the air, then hit the long base of a tree. I heard a loud cracking sound as I hit it and pain shattered through me as I fell to the ground. I could only watch as the clone casually walked toward me and then stopped a few feet away. "So pitiful." the clone muttered. I tried to stand but I could not. "I was told that you would be a suitable opponent. They must have been mistaken." I tried again to stand but was not successful. More pain radiated through me as I watched the clone begin to give off a slight glow. He slowly aimed the palm of his hand directly at me. He was powering up...to fire. I braced for the hit. I'm going to die, I thought to myself. This was the end. Then I felt something come from deep within. It was a heat, a tingling. And it was speading. It spread from my toes to my fingers. The tingling heat spread throughout my body. I no longer felt near death. I felt re-energized. I felt healed. Before I even realized I was doing it, my palm was aimed at my clone. A sphere of oure energy came from my hand and struck the clone square in the chest, forcing him to the ground. I stood up quickly as the clone struggled to his feet. When the clone succeeded in standing, I again aimed my palm toward him. He looked at me with a blank expression then he just disappeared before my eyes. Another sphere of energy escaped my hand before I could stop it. It rocketed through the cold air and hit the snow-covered ground, making a light hissing sound as the snow melted away quickly. I then pulled back my hand, looking at my palm with astonishment. I couldn't believe it. The Metagene powers were now out at full force. Monday, January 3, 2011 - 11:38pm Grocery store - Nathrop, CO, USA ---------------------------------------------------------- Scott parked the car in the grocery store parking lot and got out. Someone had to go to the store since Richard never made it there. "Damn..." Scott muttered, looking toward the store. He had sworn this store was open twenty-four hours. But apparently it wasn't. It was quite dark in the store and the parking lot was almost completely empty. The only light came from the lamps above. Scott was about to get back in the car when the lamps above fizzled and died, leaving him in near darkness. He looked upward toward the night sky in confusion. Then he heard the footsteps. They approached him slowly. Someone was coming, he'd realized. And then he was flying. As if he was pushed without being touched. Scott fell to the ground with a thud. Pain ached through him following impact. A shadowy figure walked up to Scott. "You're...you're...the clone..." Scott groaned. "Yes. I am." the figure replied in a familiar voice. Scott reached into his pocket, pulled out a pen flashlight, and shone it at the figure's face. Scott was shocked at what he saw. "You--... You're me!" Scott said then cautiously got back to his feet. He stared at his own face across from his. "I really thought you would be more powerful than this." the clone said. "Powerful?" Scott asked. "Powerful." the clone repeated. "Your Metagene gifts." "I don't have the Metagene." Scott told him. "Yes, you do." the clone insisted. "Someone has turned them off though. Or perhaps they were never turned on." "How do you know?" Scott asked. "It... runs in the family." But, let's get back to the point. I have been sent here to kill you." the clone said. "By who?" Scott asked. "Turcotte." the clone replied. He then raised his hand and Scott felt as if he could no longer stand. Scott crumpled to the ground and stopped moving. The clone aimed his palm down at Scott, readying to fire. Then, it seemed as if the clone had changed his mind. "Too simple." he muttered. He then used his powers to lift Scott off the ground. "This'll be much more fun." he said with an evil smirk. The clone levitated Scott higher and higher into the sky. Scott was unable to do anything but blink as he flew through the air. He got so high, the clone and the parking lot now looked no bigger than a grain of sand on a computer chip. Then, he suddenly stopped. A few seconds later, Scott began to fall. Scott could only watch as the concrete parking lot below became closer and closer, faster and faster. He was falling to his death. Suddenly, Scott could feel again. He could move on his own. He felt heated from within. He felt energized and powerful. Could this be what Richard had explained to him? Could his Metagene powers have just been turned on? The ground was racing toward him at an incredible speed. But then he wasn't. He had stopped only about fifteen feet above the cold, hard concrete. He was floating in the air again. His feet soon landed on the ground softly. "Wow." Scott muttered. "It...it can't be..." the clone said with an astonished look on his face. "Believe it." Scott said with a smile. Before Scott could fire, his clone suddenly disappeared from sight. Wednesday, January 5, 2011 - 12:41pm Home - near Nathrop, CO, USA ---------------------------------------------------------- I switched on the light as I ented the UFO study room. The room contained nearly endless shelves of books and a computer. I mostly did my UFO research and reading here. I walked to the yearbook section and serched for the right one. When I found it, I pulled it out and flipped it open, searching for Krystal Ford's picture. When I found her picture, all the high school memories came back to me. Krystal and I had met at a party during my sophomore year. We quickly became friends, even though I had wanted it to be more than that. She was the most beautiful girl in school. Atleast to me. We stayed friends until my sophomore prom. That's when things changed. We ended up going togather to the prom and that's when we had shared our first kiss. It was exactly the one I had had in my dream. And every following kiss was exactly that, if not better. Then, when my junior year was about finished, something odd happened. Krystal told me that our relationship should end, and that we should go back to being friends. I was saddened, but I wanted her to be happy, so I had agreed. We stayed friends until the end of high school. After graduation, we said our goodbyes and I never saw her again. Until she appeared in my dream just a few days ago. Since that dream, I've had this yearning desire to have her near me again. To hug and kiss her. To love her. I carefully closed the yearbook and put it back away. I got to find Krystal Ford, I realized. I must. Early Thursday, January 6, 2011 - 2:33am Richard's dream plane ---------------------------------------------------------- I stood in the virtually endless field of mist. Above the horizon, everything was the darkest shade of black. "Richard!" a familiar voice called. I turned and saw my sister, Dana. "Wake up!" "Huh? Why?" I asked. "The clones are in your house!" Dana warned. Early Thursday, January 6, 2011 - 2:38am Home - near Nathrop, CO, USA ---------------------------------------------------------- I awoke suddenly in my bed and sat up. The clones are in the house, I remembered. I stood and quietly put on my robe. I then exited my room and carefully walked downstairs. That's when I saw that the light was on in the kitchen. I silently went to the doorway to the kitchen and peeked inside. "Oh, hey bro... you can't sleep either?" Scott asked. I stepped into the kitchen and sighed with relief. "I thought you were one of those...clones..." I said as a new dose of paranoia overtook me. Scott might not be Scott, I realized. "Why would...they be here?" Scott muttered, barely audible. I noticed then that he was sweating. "What's wrong? You're sweating." I asked him. "Nothing. Just go back to sleep." Scott demanded. "No. What's going on?" I asked. Scott raised the palm of his hand at me. I intercepted his shot of power and sent it back to him two-fold. Scott flew backwards, hit the refrigerator, then fell to the floor. "You're not Scott." "How'd you know?" Scott's clone replied. Suddenly, I felt a shot of power hit me from behind, making me fall to the floor face-first. I flipped over quickly to see who had done it. I found that it was the other clone, my own. "This is your final day, Richard." my clone said. "I have been created and sent here to obliterate you. By your good friend General Turcotte." I stood up from the floor and I tried to hide that I was slowly powering up. I just stared at my clone hatefully. My clone stared back with an evil smile. "Powering up won't work. It will just get you killed." All of a sudden, the real Scott came into the room and fired a very large blast of energy at my clone. The energy filled the room with light two times that of the sun. The energy hit my clone and an inhuman scream of immense pain erupted from his throat. With a flash of white light, the clone was reduced to a mound of sand which slowly just disappeared from sight. "Watch out!" Scott warned as his clone ran toward me. Reflexively, I fired my gathered energy at Scott's clone. The remaining clone also turned to sand and soon faded from sight. I sighed in relief. Thursday, January 6, 2011 - 9:42pm Everett's Pub - Nathrop, CO, USA ---------------------------------------------------------- Scott sat alone at the bar. Richard had said he had something more important to do. So, Scott ended up alone. He took a drink of his beer. A moment later, an attractive woman came and sat on the bar stool next to him. She ordered a drink then looked at her watch. "Hey." Scott said. "I'm Scott. What brings a pretty lady to such a place like this?" She was about to mention that that line was one of the oldest pick-up lines ever, but changed her mind. "Just killing time, really..." she said. "I'm in town looking for an old friend." "Ahh, good luck." Scott said. "Thanks." she said, smiling. "I'm Krystal Ford. Nice to meet you." "The feeling's mutual." Scott said, shaking her hand and smiling back at her. End Of Story #342 To Be Continued... Next Story: "At Last" Krystal arrives in town searching for Richard, claiming that she's been having similar dreams to his. When Richard and Krystal first meet, they never want to be apart again. Meanwhile, Scott attempts to sharpen his new-found Metagene powers.