The Terrible Bolter

Chapter 3

Great Friends

"You lot seem awfully…weird." Thus spoke Yonder, the reporter interested in an odd lot of superhumans. Riot, the bored bartender, leans on the table. While Yonder couldn't see his eyes due to Riot's goggles, he felt an intimidating stare.

"Yeah," Riot said, speaking as if his mind was wandering elsewhere. "There's no one like my group of misfits. Always staring up trouble. Sometimes for pity reasons, which will get us into a lot of trouble. Especially from that one guy…."

Riot cringed at the thought of that particular person the first time Yonder seems him without a smile.

"You're talking about Bolter, right?"

Riot looks away from Yonder as if hiding his expression. "Yeah," he says, placing his hand behind his neck. "That's him. He normally starts as much trouble as often as he ends them. Which is surprising since he doesn't know how to fight worth shit."

"Surely you're overreacting," Yonder chuckles. "I've seen plenty of Bolter from tv, and he never seemed like a pushover. Many of the heroes that fought him barely made it out of there. That and how badly he'll mess a place up makes him a boogeyman for most people I know."

"You're not wrong. Bolter definitely saved me from time to time. But it still doesn't change that dude can be a bit much sometimes."

"Definitely. Like that one time in the forest."

Riot looks down while pinching his head. "Like that one time in the forest. I don't even need to tell you about that mess. That damn blog told it all."

The Terrible Bolter

On a night in a dense forest, I witness a terrible bolt.

This was a complete surprise to me, as there was no rain, no thunder to warn of this. This bolt of lightning hit upon the trees with a roaring shout. This is what I witnessed that night as I was patrolling the forest.

While I was up at the tower, I reached for my radio to inform of a potential wildfire. Yet I got no answer. In this cold of nights, I suspect that no one could sleep sound tonight in the silence of nights. I was sure Rose would have heard and seen the crazed bolt. Yet the only answer I got from the radio was a strange sound alien to me. With no other choice, I went down to investigate.

The forest was no longer quiet when I got down from the tower. No longer could I hear the smooth sound of the wind or the buzzing of insects. It was all replaced with a pinging sound. The sound isn't loud, yet it's sharp enough to penetrate the mind. As I followed the dim blue light, it was hard to think of anything but the sound. But how I tried. It was hard to ignore the heat that was around me. It was almost as if countless bodies were suddenly around me. Yet I do not see anyone. If anything, I could be so close to death that I feel the heat of a ghost.

But I pushed on. And when I finally reached the light, I didn't know what to think. The area had electricity around it. Still electricity. Everything that looked like thunder was slavering, trying to move but couldn't. The area's heat felt terrible as if the sun was only ten feet away. No other trees were standing but one. And laying on a tree was a man bleeding from his head. The blood dripped down from his ripped mask, making dark red spots on his cargo pants. He wasn't moving, and it was hard to see his face.

I carefully stride from all the still electricity. One so had still shocked me, but not violently. When I got away from them all, I tried getting closer to the band around his arm, having a familiar-looking symbol.

"Back off," the man said ruffly. This was such a shock that I tripped back to the ground. It was clear that this man had fallen from an extreme height. To still be able to talk, much less live, one must be more than human.

"Wh-what are you? Why are you here? And how can you still talk?"

"Just ask one question at a time," the man says. "Damn. Like it was bad enough to fall from that plane. Grand's going to have a rant when I see him again."

"What? Who's Grand? And what d-"

"Better yet man, just shut up. I…need to close my eyes a bit."

Soon after, he says that a loud cry can be heard. It wasn't clear how close it was to us; the shout had caused a minor earthquake. But it wasn't as crazy as the sky turning pink. No longer was their darkness around us, but a violently bright color that promises to be the omen of us all.

"Well," said the man. "It seems like that Demi woke up. Ahh, man, so I got to get up now…HEY BRAH?!"

The man's short has the same intestates as a lion. I sat in place, and only my mouth quivered.

"Y-Yes s..sir?"

"I need a pick me up. Carry me to the nearest bolt."

I look back at the bolts of energy that stood around the area. I could tell that the bolts were getting dimmer and more minor when looking back from earlier. But the site didn't lose its brightness thanks to the pink sky.

"COME ON! Hurry up before one of those freaks comes!"

As if my life depended on it, I rushed to the injured man. His dark complexion made it hard to see the dark blood around him, so my hands got sticky off his blood. I carried him from his shoulders with much struggle. Not only was he heavy, but for some reason, I felt stings coming from him. It was almost as if the electricity was from him.

As we'd got closer to one of the bolts, it started to move in a frenzy. Parts of its curves moved back and forth as if it were getting loose from a grip. Fastly it was to do that, but slowly the bolt moved closer towards our direction, growing brighter by each inch it moved.

"Okay, pussy, you can let me go now. And once you do, run for it."

Before I could comply, the man just pushed me out of the way. At first, I was shunned, even hurt, so I didn't think to move. But when I saw the man getting closer, seeing electricity pouring into his skin, my body moved on its own. I quickly ran from the man as far as I could until I tripped on a fallen branch. I also quickly turned around to see the area burst into lines of colors. Lines of shades of blue, yellow, and green were all over the place, moving in and out, being bigger and smaller within an instant. Within the center for where all the lines connect was the man, laughing like a madman, bright as an angel with the face of the devil.

Then it all came to me. The man mentions a person named Grand. With colorful bolts of lightning.

This man was Bolter. The Shock Devil.

When Bolter had absorbed all the nearby bolts, his brightness has disappeared. He stood proudly as his wounds were covered with a blue static. He looked at me and smiled.

"Surprised, huh? Yeah, any lesser man to see that would have pissed there-"

Suddenly, he dropped down to his knee, letting out a mean gown. I got closer to him to check upon him.

"I'm fine. At least as good as I could be. I didn't really heal myself; I just…kept myself functioning? I don't know; it's hard to explain. How are you feeling…?"

"My name is Charles. And I'm fine."

Bolter responds with a nod while looking around him. I did the same to look at what was once a forest turning into a different place. Trees had strange red veins crawling around them, sticky with mold. The grass was covered with a thick smoke of pink. But it was the sound that was bothering me the most was the smell of the forest. No longer could I smell bark or flowers, but instead the smell of decay, vomit, and other undeniable odors.

"Goodness," says Bolter, "This place smells bad. Can't believe how fast these freaks got working."

"Freaks?" I asked. "What is going on?"

Bolter took a deep breath. "I was with my crew transporting somethings for a friend of ours. Don't tell anyone I said this, but we were transporting creatures called the Glutton. These things are animals infected with some bad stuff. Stuff we don't know, so we needed some smart folk to investigate it. We just so happen to be careless. I dropped down with the Glutton, so that's how I'm here."

"What can these Glutton do?"

"Honestly, we don't know. Believe it or not, we caught them where they were sleeping. While we noticed the area was...drunk, we didn't say too long to figure out what it does."

"So, what do we do?"

Bolter looked around a bit, figuring that answer himself. He scratched his head, tapped his head, and smacked him for answers. While he was walking, some mist got into his boots, leaving some pink stain.

"Well, fighting's a no-go. NOT because I can't beat them, but because you're with me. Everyone would get mad at me if I left a civilian behind. You ARE a civilian, right?"

I nodded. Was there any other way he expected that conversation to go?

"It's not going to be saved for anyone to be alone. And I'm willing to bet that this could be contagious. If that's the case, then we'll both be in trouble. But maybe not. Anyone else in this forest that you know of?"

"Starr, my coworker. She should be on the other side of this forest. I wasn't able to contact her earlier."

"Alright then. We'll snitch that Starr lady up and then leave the forest. Grab what you need from your tower, then we head out. Hopefully, I kick the ass of whoever's the honcho."

So, he stood with his arms crossed, pondering himself a plan. I was sure that whatever he had in mind would be close to insanity, but there's no other that can guarantee me and Starr's safety.

The further south we went, the worst the smell of the forest became. Any plant life near us was rotting with pink mold. The forest became harder to see within the pink mist, and the danger of these Glutton presses by the minute. This was a nightmare.

...yet the mad Bolter kept walking carelessly as if nothing could hurt it. If anything, he seems slightly annoyed. Any conversations to be had were short, and I could not tell if it was either because he was forced, or I wasn't that interesting to him. Regardless, there was one question that kept bordering me. One that I started to think that I'll, as my younger brother would say, jinxes it. But I couldn't help myself, for any talking is better than the decaying sounds.

"Why do you think these Glutton hasn't attacked us yet?"

"They might be regrouping or killing each other. Hell, if I know, man. But one thing's for damn sure, they haven't attacked use yet. Oh, isn't this the spot?"

The watchtower mainly was left untouched, thank God. The dark wood tower was standing as tall as ever, but it was too quiet at its peak. Starr was there, right?

"There's no point in standing here. Come on."

While we went up the tower, I did something that defied common sense; I kept looking down. I won't have been surprised if these beings were to ambush us soon, yet there was nothing else we could do. It won't have been safe for me to be alone, and we had to make sure that Starr was okay.

Once up there, I didn't see anything out of place. The lights were on, the fan was blowing, and there was Starr, acting like nothing was wrong. She kept her back to us as she forced her writings on her disk.

"Starr, are you okay?" I asked.

"Of course," she said, rather sleepy. "It's not like anything's ever going on."

Bolter pushes me to the side. "Clearly, you haven't been looking outside as of late."

"What is there ever to see outside? All I can see is everlasting darkness, never-ending cold. What is there to see, Alex?"

I looked around in confusion. Was she referring to Bolter? Out of surprise, Bolter walked towards her and turned her chair around. What we saw was her face, covered in a pink substance. It was from her nose to her forehead, and she was breathing hard.

"Isn't it beautiful, Alex?" she says again.

"How do you know my name?"

"We know a lot about you Neutrals, as we know a lot of the world. We are not as mindless as you think."

"Get off of Starr!" I yelled too emotionally.

"Don't despair. This woman is fine under our control. After all, you're only seeing what we want you to see."

"What's that's supposed to mean?", Bolter asked. "Can you not be clearer in that statement?"

Outside, we heard a terrible scream. I looked out in fear. Looking down, I can see many glowing eyes looking in our direction. What else I could see was bits of their fur tensing up. We were clearly outnumbered.

"Did you think we would not notice you? We have eyes in places you don't know. We are more than mindless beasts."

"Then what are you?" asked Bolter."

"Beings beyond your mind. What we are doesn't matter. What matters is what to do with you."

"What do you want?"

"Freedom. When you Neutrals found us, we were trapped here by heroes of the past. I believe it was during the Golden Era. We were in a deep hibernating state when you found us, and without a host, we could not talk. Now we can. We want freedom."

"As most people do. And you think we'd just yet you free? How can we trust you?"

"If we wanted to kill you, it's clear that now you would be powerless to stop us. But we didn't. This should be clear to you that we don't want any trouble. All that we ask is that we are left alone."

"And what about Starr? The one you're mind-controlling?"

"I'll be traveling with you as you leave us."

The room felt devoid of air as the two were negotiating. More and more, the welling coming from outside was becoming unbearable. They weren't too loud, but a particular peeking sound that landed on my eardrums became one of implement pain.

But while I was worrying, Bolter seemed irritated. He'd kept tapping his feet with his arm crossed as if he wanted to hear the important part. The part that they are leaving out.

"Cool that you're trying to be respectable and all, but this won't do you well in the long run. No matter how much hospitality you show us, the world will see your ugly mugs, think only of your ugly mugs, and feel threatened no matter what you do. Do you think they're not going to send another group to smoke you out? Really think that this isn't happening RIGHT now?"

"We are not fools; we were already aware that our 'ugly mugs' can offend people. For that reason, we'd be planning a diversion. One big enough for us to escape."

There was a moment of silence as Bolter and I absorbed those words. Then, I looked back at where we were and how easy it was to cause a huge distraction.

"You're planning on burning the forest, aren't you?"

Bolter's eyes went wide, and he swung his head in Starr's direction. Starr, as always, was emotionless.

"Either we have this place, or no one else will. With being taken out of our habit, there is no place to go back. As I'm sure that our presence enough will keep us from our ride home."

"I knew there was a catch," says Bolter. "I can't let you do that."

"We didn't ask to be moved by your group. We didn't ask to be in this environment. Yet we have tried to be as reasonable as possible. Alex O'Malley, we all know full well that you are the least sympathetic of your group. But even you must see that this isn't right. Don't do this."

"The way I see it, you're going to cause more harm than good for everyone. You're fault or not, your solution sucks. Sorry, but your ass got to go."

Before I could blink an eye, Bolter lunged at Starr before she, or her controller, was able to react. Once given the opportunity, he pulled her arms towards him and headbutted her. The impact was full of static, as I could see a blue light coming out of his head. He then immediately looked back at me.

"Don't look at me like that; she'll be alright. Can you carry her?"

As a common habit, he throws her at me without me answering. Before I could get a proper hold of her, Bolter went out of the door and looked down.

"We're fighting our way out of this. Stay close to me, but not too close."

I caught up with Bolter, and we'd saw a clear view of our enemy within moments. The best way I could describe them was skinny tigers with human bodies. Their orange fur was barely covered by pink scars, scars so bright it was as if they were still burning. Their faces had an animal's face, with fangs and sharp eyes, but were skinny and dry, as if they hadn't eaten in days. Even Bolter seemed to freeze at the sight of them, however briefly.

They ran up the stairs and climbed up the sides to get to us, all tripping and ripping through each other to get to us. Before Bolter could attack the closest one, one of the creatures had done it for him; a hand whose fingers were black craws had pierced its ally's torso, barely missing Bolter's face. In reaction, Bolter tightly grabbed hold of its hands and shocked it and anyone else. This thoughtless approach had paid off, as the multiple of the beast started to fall back on each other. Yet there were plenty of more desperately climbing above them. And some behind me.

"Bolter!" I yelled in fear. It had only tokened an instant before Bolter stood by my side within the tight stairs. And then he roared. A roar that was fit for a lion, so strong that all was silent, and all was still for a moment. Electricity flowed through the air, and even I could feel the stings. He must have gotten angry. He grabbed one of the craters from behind us on its arm, using its body to push the others off the stairs. Once he was back in front, still using the body, he tried to push back against the countless of Glutton. At first, he was struggling to move, expected even with his strength. Then he glowed of static, and everyone went up like lights. Too bright for my eyes, but I knew that they were hurt. I could smell their burning skin and hear screeks just as painful as the pain of that they were feeling. I also hear multiple bodies rolling down the stairs and slamming into the forest.

By the time I opened my eyes, I couldn't clearly tell where most of the beast had gone. It was too dark for me to see their remains in my path. However, what I can see clearly as day was Bolter, tense and breathing heavily.

"Let's…hurry."

We managed to make it to the ground while I had tripped while still holding Starr. Ether the Glutton was too shocked (literally) to move, or their souls were electrified.

"They're not going to stay that way for long," Bolter says as he looks at Starr's truck nearby. "Do you think she still got her keys?"

I placed Starr on the truck's hood and checked all her pockets. I tread lightly to ensure I didn't touch her in certain areas. Bolter notices.

"Brah, we don't have time! Find them!"

Spooked, I looked and looked until I found a pouch that she had. Within it were the keys, and I quickly unlocked the car. I took the fount seat while Bolter placed Starr at the back. I stared at the car right at the nick of time as the Glutton moved towards us.

"Move, move, move!" yelled Bolter. And so, I did. I went to the car trail while bouncing into anything that was nearby. By the time we were going on a straight line, one of the Gluttons was on the truck's top. Bolter sat on his door window and punched the Gluttons as hard as he could, sending them flying.

As the Glutton was in the air, their bodies tricked horribly. Glowing from their backs were fly like wings, small but many. I won't think it would do them any good for their big bodies, but they were flying towards us, slowly catching up.

"Damn these freaks! I'm going to get on the back. If anything happens to me, just keep moving!"

Bolter had moved to the back of the truck effortlessly as if he had plenty of experience. When the Glutton noticed him, they screamed at him. He shouts back. I couldn't catch everything that was happening since I was driving. But I did continue to smell burnt flesh; I did hear loud bumps from behind me. And I listened to the Glutton screaming in pain, flinging themselves to Bolter no matter how futile it might seem. As if they had no choice, their lives depended on our death.

It was hard enough to see due to the pink dust that surrounded my vision. But barley, I can see slim shadows, getting bigger the closer they were to me. I tried to dodge them all as I rode the skinny road. It wasn't as hard as I thought it would be because the truck lights were blinding them.

Yet they kept coming, each bigger than the last until one jumped tried to leap on the truck's hood. This was no ordinary one. From the little I glanced at, the thing was muscular and seemed to have half of its face melted with metal. I could dodge the Glutton by making a turn, but as soon as it missed, it showed its huge wings and flapped. Its force was strong enough to push back all the approaching Gluttons and give him enough momentum to get closer to Bolter.

It dropped down on the back, causing the truck to violently stop. Me and Starr's body hit the truck's roof and back down again, this time with me hitting something on my head.

There was a sting in the air; that sting wakes me up. My consciousness slowly returned to my body as I felt a bad headache. It was better than being outside, despite the pain of saying within the hot truck with my belt pulling too tightly on my chest. It was much better.

Hordes of these Gluttons, up to a hundred or a thousand, ignored Starr and me and ran to the human night light. I couldn't tell how long it's been since I've been here, but judging from all the burned corpses around, it most certainly been a while.

I am sure that whatever was fighting them was Bolter. But he looked different. Colors of blue, yellow, and green lines were all over the being. No longer were Bolter big and muscular with the torn mask, but instead skinny, with long arms, claws, and teeth embedded with electricity. Its screams were short and low pitched, yet hearing it nearly gave me a heart attack. It crewed through them with lighting speed, shooting thunderbolts and breaking the earth beneath them. There was no self-control, no consideration, just pure rage.

And before I knew it, it went high to the air with the Gluttons leader, who attacked the truck. It didn't fly but leaped into the air with a strange grace. As they went up, I could see the leader's bones lighting up as his flesh melted and landed to the ground, melting the other Gluttons that were touching it.

And then, he dropped to the ground.

Were there screaming, were my bones breaking, I couldn't hear them do so. Nor could I have felt them. The sensation of electricity flowing through everything and anything around me was not a terrible feeling.

Perhaps because, even if these were my last moments, this was the closest I ever felt connected to anything.

Strangely enough, Starr and I were still alive.

We were found within the car. Still pretty beaten up, but alive nevertheless the less.

And for Bolter and the Gluttons, there were nowhere to be seen. All that was left was a butchered forest. Some think of Bolter as a villain for nearly destroying the forest. Because of there being no signs of the Gluttons, the media blamed everything on Bolter, saying it was some sort of vent of a mental breakdown. But I know the truth. I'm not sure who he truly is or his intentions, but he saved Starr and me that day. I'll never forget him and try to keep in mind the Neutrals.

Some of the leaf's veins are of colors blue, yellow, and green. The colors of the Terrible Bolter.