Joices: DevestationZhaddi (Chapter7-9)

Chapter 7:

The crew spent four long years in the warehouse, capturing Joices in cages to train with them, practicing their aim with a gun, building new things, renewing their food supply every once in a while, and surviving many attacks by Joices. They strived through the four years, receiving heavy wounds and losing three brave members to the Joices: Fred, John, and Gary. Only Joe, Brian, Sue, and Todd remained.
They had many wounds, and had built a first aid room with all sorts of bandages and medicine and such. Joe, Sue, and Todd were now eighteen years old. Brian was twenty.
They were now more skilled with a staff than ever before. They could take on averagely about ten Joices alone with a staff. With guns, they were very good aimers. They could peg a Joice easily with a bullet if it were flying straight at them. But even with all their training it was difficult to shoot a Joice if it were darting around, unless you had a shotgun.
The four survivors were doing well against the Joices, but they weren’t making the situation any better. Yes, they were defending themselves fine and growing stronger and more skilled, but they weren’t doing anything on the offensive side. The Joices were quickly populating very fast, and it was only a matter of time before things began to get worse.
They had just finished an attack by the Joices. The Joices were attacking a lot heavier now, Joe noticed. Their numbers were bigger with every attack and they were getting stronger. Brian received a huge gash on his back, and they were quick to get a bandage and some medicine on the wound.
Joe had a long gash on his arm from a Joice skinning him, but he didn’t worry about it.
After a while, he began to feel a bit weird. “I’m not feeling so good,” he said, sitting down on one of the benches they built. Sue and Todd were repairing the door. It was now made entirely out of wooden boards.
“I don’t feel so good either,” said Brian, sitting on the bench next to the one that Joe sat on.
“It feels like my veins are moving,” commented Joe. “Or more like, the blood inside is squirming.”
Suddenly, Joe felt a burning sensation in his veins. He grunted and fell to the ground in pain, holding himself and gasping.
“What’s wrong?” they all asked.
“What do you feel?” asked Brian.
“I feel… burning,” Joe said in severe pain. “It burns!” Suddenly, he let out a sigh of relief. “It stopped,” he announced. “That was painful.”
“I don’t feel burning,” said Brian. “But I do feel the squirminess.”
“The Joices are getting better,” said Joe. “They’ve now found out a way to somehow poison us.”
Brian grunted in pain all the sudden.
“Do you feel the burning now?” asked Joe.
“No,” replied Brian in pain. “I feel stabbing pains!” Brian rolled onto his stomach. Joe lifted Brian’s shirt and saw little lumps popping up on his back.
“None of this happened to me though,” said Joe, confused. Then he had an idea. “It must be my blood! The poison burns in my blood!”
“Well that’s great news for me!” Brian said sarcastically, and then gave out a little shout in pain. “I’m screwed.”
“No!” said Joe harshly. “You’re not screwed!” He looked at Todd. “Pass me a knife,” he requested.
Todd nodded and handed Joe the knife. Joe tore the bandages off Brian’s wound, pressed the knife against his forearm and sliced a clean line. Blood poured from his arm as he held it over Brian’s wound. The blood fell onto Brian’s wound, mixed in, and flowed into Brian’s veins.
“Ow!” Brian bellowed in pain. “It burns!”
Joe clapped his hands together. “Yes!” he exclaimed. “That’s good news! Brian, I’m pretty sure you’re going to be all right.” Joe grabbed some bandages and put new ones on Brian’s wound, and put some on his own new wound.
After a while, Brian gave out a sigh of relief. “There,” he whispered in relief. “The burning’s gone, and the stabbing is gone.” Brian got up and sat on the bench.
“What do you think the poison does?” asked Todd.
“Judging by the pains Brian described and the lumps appearing on his back, I’m guessing and my senses are telling me the Joices can plant babies in our veins by biting us in the right spot.”
“That’s what I thought,” said Brian. “It sort of felt like little Joice buggers crawling around in there.” Brian paused and shook his head. He grabbed his temples sort of as if he was in pain. “I feel weird,” he announced. “I think I have a headache.”
Joe turned his head right at Brian and had a look of shock on his face. “Describe this ‘headache’,” said Joe. “What does it feel like?”
“Quiet Joice roars,” Brian said. “It’s strange.”
Joe sighed not in relief, but in disappointment. “Just as I thought,” he muttered. “Brian, about a quarter of your blood is mine, and you’re becoming a quarter like me.”
“What does that mean?” asked Brian. Sue and Todd were looking at Joe with interest.
“Brian can somewhat sense Joices,” Joe told them. “Not as well, but you can still do it. Plus, you get the downfall of being able to sense Joices, which is whenever Joices are near, you get headaches.”
“Joices are near?” asked Todd.
Joe nodded and pointed to the giant cage where they were holding their training Joices captive. “Being near that many can give you some pretty big headaches sometimes,” Joe explained.
“We can let them free now,” suggested Sue. “We have enough training now. We don’t really need them anymore.”
Joe shook his head. “I have a new use for them other than training,” Joe told her. “We need them for testing and experimenting.”
“For what?” asked Todd.
“To see what’s in them,” Brian answered. “Right Joe?”
“That’s right,” said Joe, nodding. He quickly took a Joice from the cage and held it to the table. “Nail his wings to the table,” Joe instructed.
“Why don’t we kill it and see?” asked Todd.
“Their bodies won’t be the same when they’re dead,” answered Brian. He walked over to the Joice with a hammer and nails and nailed its wings to the table. The Joice was heavily growling and struggling.
Joe put on some heavy-duty gloves and pried the Joice’s mouth open. Sue made an objecting sound and turned away. “This Joice deserves what it’s getting,” Joe assured her. “Brian, pull out a tooth.”
Brian walked over and yanked out one of the Joices teeth. Green ooze dripped out from the hole in the gums along with some red blood. Joe saw that the tooth was filled with the green ooze.
“See if you can squeeze the stuff through the front of the tooth into a cup,” Joe instructed. Brian put a cup on the table and squeezed the tooth. A tiny line of green ooze squirted through a tiny hole in the bottom of the tooth and into the cup. wings down to the table. Blood seeped through the piercing of the nails.
“It works,” reported Brian. He poured all the green ooze into the cup from the top of the tooth and inspected the cup. Only a little of it was filled.
“Yank out more teeth to fill the cup better,” said Joe calmly, still holding the Joice put. “So we can inspect it easier.”
Brian pulled out more teeth from the Joice as it roared in pain. Brian poured ooze from six more teeth to fill the cup half full. He lifted the cup (transparent plastic cup) and gazed at it closely. “There are very tiny little dots,” said Brian. “Barely noticeable, but they’re there all right. Lots of them, too.”
The Joice tore a wing free from the nail and began flapping it wildly. It flung some blood on Joe’s face and he quickly wiped it off. As he did so, the Joice tore its other wing free and flew around the room with difficulty.
“Stupid Joice,” said Joe, taking out a pistol. He aimed a bit ahead of the Joice and fired, pegging it right through the ribs. It lost flight and crashed into the wall in a mess of Joice blood.
“We’ve got to clean this place up,” commented Sue. “There’s Joice blood and bodies everywhere.”
“We’ll get to that,” said Joe. “Now I need to stare at this ooze and figure out what’s going on.” Joe sat on the bench with the cup, stared at it, and thought hard. His Joice senses helped him with the thinking. As he was lost in thought, the other three were cleaning up the mess.
*
“I think I have a theory,” announced Joe, after a long time of thinking. “As we already knew, Joices inject poison in our veins which grow little baby Joices. Now, obviously this green ooze is the stuff that does this, and the tiny dots are embryos of some sort. But the thing is, this stuff isn’t natural. They’ve had this ooze the whole time, but they aren’t born with it. What I’m thinking is that someone injected them with something so they could reproduce. Now if someone gave them the ability to reproduce, than that someone must’ve created them. What I’ve always wondered is why on Earth are they always flapping around in the sky? The answer to this is simple: there are two labs involved, and the Joices go to one lab to get injected, and then to another to bite a certain something that injects the ooze into a tub of warm liquid. The warm liquid in the tub is a special kind of liquid that gives the embryos nutrients and the embryos grow in it. This is how the Joices are born and why they are always migrating back and forth. Both labs inject and make babies, but the people make them migrate back and forth just so that they’re outside to attack people every night. What I don’t know is how this all started.”
“That’s a very good theory,” complimented Sue.
“An amazing theory,” agreed Todd.
“I bet that’s right,” said Brian. “That theory seems very realistic. Your senses never fail us, Joe.”
“But how do we find out about how they started?” asked Joe. “Plus, we need to find where these people are. We need to know who they are and why they created the Joices.”
“The best way to do that is to join the CPD,” said Brian. “We should become cops.”
“That’s a good idea,” agreed Joe. “Then we can-“ He cut off and had a very worried look on his face.
“I sense it too,” said Brian, also very worried. Joe had a vision that looked very alike to the one when the army came.
“This attack’s going to be massive,” said Joe.
What’s up? What’s up? What’s up? What’s up? What’s up! What’s up! What’s up! What’s up! WHAT’S UP!! WHAT’S UP!! WHAT’S UP!! WHAT’S UP!!
“NAIL THE WINDOW!” Joe shouted loudly. “BOARD THE DOOR! FORGET THE LATCH!! HURRY!!!!”
They all jumped and got going. They boarded the window heavily and the door as fast as possible. They grabbed as many pillows that were left and jumped into the armoury. They covered themselves completely with pillows and waited, breathing heavily.
“There’s so many this time,” panted Joe. “Definitely over a thousand. Forget about preying, we’re dead. We’re dead.”
“We’re not dead,” panted Brian. “We still have a chance. The Joices might not find us.”
“What are we doing?” asked Joe suddenly. “Why are we all in the same room? We should spread out! Right away!”
But it was too late. Crashes were sounding all over the warehouse. They heard a huge smash as a hole broke through the wall. The humans shut their mouths and stayed silent. The Joices were coming in crazily and swooping around. Joe assumed they found the cage, because suddenly the roars were ten times louder and the cage crashed to the ground. Joe peeked under a pillow and under the door and saw the warehouse full of Joices swarming around. Joe, Brian, Sue, and Todd were each holding a shotgun and had more weapons around them. Joe was very skilled with his two knives, which he was counting on using if it came to that and his bullets ran out.
Soon, the door to the armoury was bashed down and the four people were pushing as hard as they could on the pillows as the Joices kept bouncing off into other Joices’ mouths. Soon, the Joices found away in and tore their way through. At close range, Joe began swiping with his knife. The others were blasting away with guns and blew pillows away more than Joices. They killed a lot, but not enough. Soon all the pillows were useless the Joices were more savage than ever. Joe rolled out of the armoury, losing sight of everyone else and fending for himself in the Joice-covered warehouse. He was randomly blasting with his shotgun and killed around ten every shot. When a Joice came near, he slashed it with his knife quickly and effectively. In the corner of his eye he saw Brian spinning around with his staff and pulling off good moves to kill the Joices. Todd and Sue were blasting away with guns and were doing the poorest to fend for themselves. Joe had a really high kill-count (he wasn’t counting) and only had minor injuries so far. He was killing like crazy when one got him in the leg and he fell. He felt a series of bites, and all of a sudden the Joices left the warehouse.
Joe was lying on the ground in pain. He was bleeding all over and found it difficult to move. He slowly sat up and saw Brian standing there, but no Todd or Sue.
“Where are the others?” Joe struggled to ask.
“They were carried away,” panted Brian. “I saw the Joices lift them and carry them out of the building. Right when Todd and Sue left, all the Joices left.”
“I almost died,” said Joe. He slowly limped to the bench and lay on it. “I’m lucky they were carried away. As for them though, they’re not so lucky.” Even though Brian wasn’t heavily injured, Joe spotted lots of fresh Joice wounds on Brian’s body.
“What are we going to do now?” asked Brian.
“The only thing we can do,” replied Joe. “We’re going to join the Chip city police force and stick with the only theory we have.”

Chapter 8:

Joe and Brian joined the Chip Police Department the very next day. When they got to the Department, they saw that it was heavily guarded in a similar way to how the warehouse was.
“Open please!” Joe shouted into the building. “We’re humans!”
They heard footsteps and a bunch of knobs turning on the inside of the door. Soon, the door opened revealing a man wearing the CPD uniform.
“Where are you guys from?” asked the man, looking concerned.
“Down the street,” answered Joe. “We’ve been surviving the Joices like you have for the past four years.”
“Really?” asked the man. “I thought we were the only ones left in Chip city. How many are with you?”
“Just us,” admitted Joe sadly. “There were eight of us at first, but slowly our crew was slaughtered.”
“I’m sorry,” said the man. “Were they good people?”
“Yes,” replied Brian impatiently. “Can we join the police? Can we become police officers of the law?”
“Well,” said the man, thinking it over. “You guys have survived against the Joices for four years by yourselves, so you must have good tactics. You’re on the force.”
“Thank you,” said Joe. Then he had a vision. “The Joices are coming!” he warned. “Get into the building!”
They all hurried into the building and the man closed the door and locked all kinds of locks.
“I’m Pete,” said the man. “The rest of the force is upstairs.” He walked into a closet and pulled out two rookie uniforms. They looked pretty clean.
What’s up? What’s up?
Pete looked at Joe strangely. “How did you know?” he asked. “You were right.”
“I’m always right,” Joe assured him. “Brian and I can sense them. If you get bit enough… it’s weird. But you’ll see.”
Pete nodded and threw Joe and Brian their uniforms. They quickly put them on.
“Not bad,” commented Brian. “This makes me look like I mean business! People will take me seriously now.”
“These look all right,” said Joe. “They’re pretty cool, actually. A nice fit, too.”
Bernom, bom, bom. Bernom, bom, bom.
“Upstairs!” shouted Pete. They all ran upstairs quickly and met the rest of the force.
Joe and Brian received a few weapons, but Joe still held onto his knife with one hand, and a pistol in the other. His knife saved his life so many times already; he was too afraid to let go of it.
They were all positioned near the corner opposite the door and window with their guns pointed out.
“These maggots always find a way in,” commented Rusty (one of the police officers). They heard loud bumps from outside and downstairs. Soon, a board flew off the window, but the Joices didn’t make it more than two inches inside the building. The cops blasted them away instantly with really good aim.
“You guys are good,” Joe complimented.
Another board flew out and eight Joices were trying to get in. With a bigger space, three made it inside, but Joe pegged one and Brian pegged the other. The third flew at Joe but he swiped at it with his knife and killed it.
“You guys aren’t bad yourselves,” complimented Pete. “It’s good to have you with us.”
I’m fine. I’m fine.
“What does that mean?” asked Greg. “We’ve never heard that before.”
“Only my watch does that,” Joe told them. “It means that the Joices are gone.” His alarm went off and he reset his watch.
“Aren’t you gonna set the time?” asked Rusty.
“My watch is special,” Joe explained. “When I reset it before five, it somehow cuts down the amount of attacks.”
“What are your names?” asked Pete.
“I’m Brian Mayhem,” said Brian.
“And I’m Joe Sage,” said Joe.
“Joe Sage?” asked Pete, wide-eyed. “We’ve been trying to find you for four years!”
“You should’ve tried the warehouse at 94 Livestone Drive,” said Brian with a chuckle.
Pete nodded. “So you’re Joe Sage,” he said, looking at Joe. “I finally get to meet you. We all thought you were dead! You’re the one that came up with the Joice detector watch, right?”
“That was me,” replied Joe.
“Remember me?” asked another cop. Joe thought the voice was familiar, but he shook his head. “I’m Officer Ed Wayne. I’m the guy you told about the Joice-Detector Watch.”
“Oh yeah,” said Joe. “I thought your voice was familiar.”
Some cops went to the window and began nailing more boards onto it.
“Let’s get down to business,” said Brian. “We have a theory that the Joices were created in a lab and they migrate back and forth between two labs, getting injected with liquid that gets them to reproduce, and injecting the liquid into a tub of stuff that grows babies.”
“I see,” said Pete (the Chief). “Go on.”
“We joined the force because we believed that you guys would help us find out what’s going on,” Joe continued for Brian. “We need to find out who they are and where they live.”
“We should go to the warehouse,” suggested Brian. “We left some things there.”
“We’ll come with you,” replied Pete. “Let’s see your crazy hideout.”
They left the police department and headed for the warehouse. On the way, a couple Joices tried to attack but got shot down before they tasted a hint of flesh.
When they got to the warehouse, the cops noticed a giant hole in the wall of it. “The Joices did that,” Joe explained.
They entered the warehouse and looked around. “What was the cage for?” asked Ed, pointing at the empty mangled cage lying on its side.
“We were holding Joices captive,” answered Joe. “For training and studying.”
“And food,” said Brian. “It was really hard to find proper food in this town since there are few stores still running. We eat Joices mostly, even though they taste like crap.”
“Yeah,” agreed Joe. “They taste really bad, but sometimes it’s all we have.”
“We’ve been having trouble finding food, too,” said Pete. “We used to have a huge stash of canned food. We were limiting ourselves to one can a day, and some days we went out instead of eating canned food. Now we rely on the grocery store right beside our building. We have two units stationed there to protect it. That store is the only store in Chip city that still gets shipment to it. We’re using our money to keep it in business.”
“Don’t the Joices ever attack the shipment trucks?” asked Joe.
“Sometimes,” replied Pete, nodding. “But our two men there try to protect it the best they can.”
“That sucks that you have to eat Joice meat,” commented Jack. “That’s gross! You guys are real troopers.”
“When it comes to Joices, you have to be a trooper,” replied Joe. “You know what I just realized?”
“What?” asked Brian.
“I’m eighteen and I don’t have a car!” Joe told him. “I need to get a car.”
“There are no places here that sell cars,” said Pete. “I’m sorry to break it to you.”
“Then I’ll have to get one from somewhere else,” Joe said simply. “We’ll sleep at the department, and then leave in the morning. I’m gonna get a car!”
“Do you have enough money?” questioned Jack. “Cars are expensive!”
“Crap,” said Joe. “I didn’t think of that one.”
“You don’t need to buy anything!” said Brian, half laughing. “There are tons of abandoned cars everywhere! Just blow out someone’s door, take their keys, and you’ve got a car!”
Joe hit himself in the head. “Good thinking,” said Joe. “I should’ve thought of that.”
Joe suddenly heard footsteps coming from the hole in the wall. He quickly swung around to see who it was. “Todd! Sue!” shouted Joe. “Where have you been?”
Todd and Sue awkwardly walked through the hole in the wall and had strange looks on their faces.
“Are you guys all right?” asked Brian.
“Who are they?” asked Pete.
“They were part of our crew,” said Joe. “They were carried away by Joices.”
“Joe Sage,” said Todd strangely.
“J-Joe Sage,” Sue added.
Joe grabbed Todd by the shoulders. “What’s wrong?” he asked harshly. “What did the Joices do to you?”
Brian grabbed Sue by the shoulders and questioned her the same way Joe questioned Todd.
“Joices?” they both asked blankly.
“I’ve had about enough of this!” Joe shouted in Todd’s face. “What’s wrong?”
“Joe Sage, nothing’s wrong,” Todd said in a strange way. “Joices are cool.”
Joe pulled out his knife and held it to Todd’s throat. “Drop the attitude right now!” Joe yelled harshly.
Pete took a step toward Joe, but Brian held his shoulder. “Don’t interfere,” he said. “Something’s up.”
“No attitude,” said Todd, frightened. “What’s going on?” He still had the strange look and voice. Joe shoved Todd away and turned to Brian.
“Let’s try something,” Joe insisted. They walked over to the stove where they cooked Joices and heated up canned food. Joe cut his arm and let some blood fall into a cup. He boiled water in a pan and filled the rest of the cup with boiled water.
“I need a needle,” said Joe. “An empty one.” Brian fetched a needle from the first aid kit and handed it to Joe. Joe filled the needle with the blood-mixed hot water. He shook it up a bit and walked toward Todd.
“This won’t hurt,” Joe told him. “Brian, I think by boiling it I can get rid of whatever’s in them without poisoning their mind. My senses say yes, so I’m going to try it.”
“What are you doing?” said Todd nervously. Brian quickly grabbed Todd and held him still.
“This is for your own good,” Joe assured Todd. “Now don’t watch.” Todd closed his eyes. Joe stuck the needle into Todd’s neck and injected all the contents of the needle into his vein.
Todd gave out a shout of pain. “It burns!” he screamed.
Joe took out the needle and looked at Sue. She backed up cautiously, looking at Joe in fear. Joe took one step towards her and she turned and ran out the hole in the wall.
“Damn,” muttered Joe. He tossed the needle to Brian and chased after her. He caught her pretty easily, since she couldn’t run very well at the moment. He brought her inside as she struggled to get free.
“I’m trying to cure you!” Joe shouted at her.
“Joe Sage!” she screamed. “You’re trying to kill me!” She pointed at Todd, who was lying on the ground motionless.
“Stop using my last name!” yelled Joe.
Brian walked over with the needle and stuck it into Sue’s neck and injected it all into her. She screamed in pain and then passed out in Joe’s arms. Joe carried her to the bench and lay her down.
“They’ll be awake in a while,” Joe guessed. “My blood wouldn’t kill them, would it?”
“No way,” said Brian. “You’re blood’s just taking time to kill the evilness in them.”
After the cops had a nice look around, they took the green ooze that was in the cup and left the warehouse to go back to the CPD, carrying along with them Todd and Sue.
They slept at the CPD and had a good amount of sleep. When Joe woke up, he left his room to go to the bathroom and saw Sue standing in the hallway.
“What time is it?” Joe asked sleepily.
“What did you do to me?” Sue asked.
Joe paused to think, and then he remembered what happened the day before. “Oh,” he said. “Are you okay?”
“I’m not sure,” Sue replied. “What have you done to me?”
“I need to know what happened to you when you were carried away,” replied Joe. “Why were you acting so strangely?”
“What are you talking about?” she asked. Then she stopped to think. “Wait a second. I remember battling a bunch of Joices… what happened after that?”
“They carried you and Todd away,” explained Joe. “Did they erase your memory?”
Sue was straining to think really hard and remember. “I was carried away,” she said hesitantly. “They were carrying me and Todd through the air, in the sky.”
Joe nodded. “After the sky?” he asked. “Where did you go after the sky?”
“What’s going on?” asked a voice from behind Joe. Joe turned around and saw Todd.
“Todd, what happened?” Joe asked him. “Where in the world did you guys go?”
“We didn’t go anywhere!” Todd said harshly.
“Yes we did, Todd!” said Sue. “I kind of remember now. We were carried through the air, remember?”
Todd shook his head. “What are you talking about? Joe, leave her alone! You’re screwing with her head!”
Joe looked at Todd in confusion and slowly approached him. “Todd,” he said slowly. “What have they done to you?”
“Stay there!” Todd demanded.
“What’s going on, Todd?” asked Joe, still approaching. “I need to know! Sue’s not crazy right now, you are.”
“Stay away from me!” shouted Todd. Joe noticed an arm behind his back. “Sue, we’re leaving! Joe Sage is crazy!”
“You said my last name,” Joe said quietly in confusion. “You’re still being weird.”
A door opened from behind Todd, revealing Brian. “What’s all the noise – what the hell?” he was looking at Todd’s back. “What’s that for?” He grabbed something from Todd’s hand, and it was a needle with green liquid.
“Todd!” shouted Joe. “What were you thinking?”
“Why you little!” shouted Brian. He threw a punch at Todd’s temple and knocked him over. Since Brian was much bigger than Todd and Joe and Sue, his punch did a lot of damage to Todd.
Todd slowly sat up, dazed. He glanced around strangely. “Where am I?” he asked.
“You gotta be kidding me,” said Joe, almost laughing. “Brian, I think you punched him so hard that you knocked some sense into him.”
“I think so too,” laughed Brian.
Sue ran to Todd’s side. “Are you okay?” she asked.
“I just wanna know where I am,” replied Todd. “Where are we, Sue?”
“I’m not quite sure of that either,” admitted Sue.
“Does anyone know where we are?”
“We’re at the police department,” Brian told him. As if on cue, a couple officers stepped into the hallway.
“Oh no, what did we do?” asked Todd in fear. “Did I get knocked out with a billy-stick?”
“No, actually Brian just hit you,” said Joe, chuckling. “It was a good hit.”
“Why’d you hit me?” Todd asked, looking at Brian.
“You were being evil,” explained Brian. He held up the needle that Todd was holding earlier. “You were planning on injecting this into Joe. The scientists must’ve made you do it.”
“Scientists?” asked Todd.
“Don’t you remember?” pleaded Sue. “We were carried away by Joices and brought to… a lab! They brought us to a lab!”
“Oh yeah,” said Todd. “I can just barely remember. It’s as if it was a dream.”
“Where was the lab?” asked Brian.
“What did it look like?” asked Joe.
“I kind of remember passing a sign,” said Todd slowly, raking his mind.
“The city’s name had something to do with fire,” said Sue, also raking her mind. “Or something hot…”
“Coal?” asked Joe anxiously. “Coal city?”
“That’s it!” Todd and Sue said at the same time.
“That’s where I used to live,” explained Joe. “What did the lab look like?”
“I remember it looking like an abandoned building,” said Todd.
Joe stared at Todd with a massively serious look on his face. “Did the building have the number thirteen on it?” he asked in a calm and extremely serious voice.
Todd slowly nodded. “That’s right,” he said quietly. “An abandoned worn out building with the number thirteen on the front.”
“I know where it is,” said Joe. “I always knew there was something evil about that building. Something in my head kept telling me it was. I know now that my senses sensed it. My parents always told me never to go near it.”
“What did you see inside?” asked Brian.
“All I remember is a lab with all kinds of strange things,” said Sue. “I can’t put any of it together. I was dropped on the floor and I guess I blacked out. I have no memory of what happened after that.”
“Obviously the evil person of all this brainwashed you guys to inject me,” said Joe. “And probably others, too. My blood must’ve fought it off.”
“If your blood fought it off, why was Todd still evil after passing out, when I wasn’t?” asked Sue curiously.
“Maybe when we injected Todd with Joe’s blood, it was mostly hot water,” suggested Brian. “We probably mixed it too much, and for Sue we had the right amount.”
The other cops already knew about all that. Since Joe and Brian told them the night before. They each had their own bottle of Joe’s blood mixed with boiled water. Joe told them that if they get bit by Joices too many times and start to feel weird, inject themselves with it right away.
They spent the next while catching up on stuff with Todd and Sue. They told them about what happened while they were gone, and the theories they had come up with.
Everyone was glad they were together again, and had a good time that day in celebration for their return.
Their next destination: Coal city.

Chapter 9:

The next day, Joe’s plan was to get a car. Brian never owned his own car either, but he drove a lot and was really good at driving. He told Joe that he would teach him how to drive.
Joe found a car he liked pretty easily, since there was a different car in every driveway. It was an average car that looked all right and could go pretty fast. Joe picked it because it was so average.
The keys to the car were on the porch next to a dead body. “Poor lady,” Joe said to himself as he scooped up the keys. “Your car’s now in good hands.”
Joe practiced for a week as Brian trained him, while the cops stayed at the department doing research. They were doing all the research they could about the abandoned house in Coal city on the police computers.
A week passed and Joe was officially a good driver.
“The computers have no record of that building,” confessed Pete. “But we were able to find something. When we set the computer back ten years, we did the search again and found what we were looking for.”
“Who lived there?” asked Brian.
“A couple lived there,” answered Pete. “A man and woman by the last name of Cutler. Jake Cutler and Joyce Cutler.”
“Joyce,” said Joe. “Joyce, Joice. I think they were the ones that created all this.”
“This is really gonna baffle you,” said Pete. “The man’s maiden name is Sage, they went with the wife’s last name for some reason.”
“Sage?” asked Joe. “When was this again?”
“Ten years ago, in 1995,” answered Pete.
Joe thought hard. “I was eight years old,” he said. “My dad was dead by then. It couldn’t of been dad, his name wasn’t even Jake.”
“Maybe when you thought he died, he really went to live a new life,” suggested Jack.
“What?” exclaimed Joe.
“Jack, shut up!” commanded Pete. “A father would never abandon his wife and kids! Unless for business reasons, or safety reasons, or gambling reasons, or-“
“That’s quite enough,” interrupted Brian. “Joe, did you have any uncles?”
Joe shook his head. “At least, my parents said I don’t,” he told them.
“Has anyone ever visited you often?” asked Pete. “Anyone close to your father or mother?”
“I remember when I was really little, around four or five, there was sometimes a man standing outside staring through the window,” explained Joe. “Dad always told me to go wait in my room with the windows shut. But I always peeked outside and watched dad and the stranger yell at each other until the stranger left.”
“Well apparently your dad and your secret uncle didn’t get along too well,” stated Brian.
“The house became abandoned that year,” said Joe. “I remember the big moving truck and everything. Nobody moved in after that. The house slowly became ruined walls with holes in the roof. It wasn’t suitable for living at all.”
“Well that doesn’t make sense,” said Brian. “If the house is in such bad shape, how can there be a lab in there?”
“Think, Brian,” replied Joe. “Underground. The lab is being secretly built underground and no one knows about it.”
“I think we should pay a visit to this house,” said Pete. “Chief Pete Wilson will not stand for this!”
“Let’s go then,” decided Joe. “We can go in there, arrest the Cutlers, and gather evidence from their lab. The Joices will be no more.”
And that’s what the crew did. Joe and Brian were about to experience their first arrest. They drove in two separate vehicles (Brian sitting in the passenger’s seat of the car Joe was driving) and drove all the way to Coal city.
They all had radio walky-talkies to talk to each other. “Joe, pull up ahead,” said Pete. “We’ll have to follow you from here on.”
“Got it,” replied Joe. He drove ahead of the police car so it could follow him. Suddenly, a strange shadow went over them. Joe had a quick vision that only revealed a Joice’s face.
“Code red!” Joe called into his radio. “Don’t look up!” Joe himself looked up and saw lots of Joices in the air. He heard “What’s up? What’s up?” coming from beside him from Brian’s watch.
Joe pressed hard on the gas pedal and gave the car a boost in speed. He didn’t bother obeying stop signs or speed limits, which made a bunch of people angry.
“I’m gonna make it look like I’m chasing you,” Pete said. He turned on his alarms and chased Joe at the same speed. This made it so no cops bothered to help.
They fired down the streets at high speeds, swerving crazily around corners.
“You’ve really picked this up,” mentioned Brian, clamping his hands on his seat. Sue and Todd were in the back seat having quite a ride.
Bernom, bom, bom. Bernom, bom, bom.
Joe heard crashes and other nerve-racking noises from behind. He glanced in the side mirror and saw Joices attacking traffic. Then he slammed on the gas and the car was zooming at break-neck speed.
“Now you’re getting too used to this,” commented Brian. “You might wanna slow down.”
“Look behind you,” said Joe. Suddenly, he saw his old house and slammed on the breaks. He heard a huge skid noise from behind them and saw the police car struggle to avid them and stay in control.
“Jesus Christ!” Pete complained in the radio. “Are you trying to get us killed?”
Joe jumped out of the car and ran for his old backyard. He took out two pistols, turned around, and started firing at approaching Joices while running backwards.
“Man he’s a pro at this,” commented Pete as he and the other officers shot at Joices and ran for Joe’s old backyard.
The Joices were coming heavily and got low enough to start biting. Jack and Ed received heavy wounds and couldn’t move very fast.
“Stupid Joices!” complained Jack as he limped his way. More were coming, and Joe knew he was in trouble. Jack dived to the side and avoided one Joice, but another was already behind him and chomped on the back of his neck.
“NO!” shouted Pete. As he ran for Jack, Ed tripped and was fed upon by about twelve Joices.
“Keep moving!” Joe yelled at him, slicing at a nearby Joice with his knife.
“Never,” replied Pete, but the two other officers grabbed him and hurried him along.
They passed Joe’s backyard and entered the backyard of the abandoned house. They ran inside it and slammed the door shut, holding it shut.
“There’s holes everywhere,” muttered Brian. “We’re screwed. We’ve finally lost.”
“Don’t talk like that, Brian,” disagreed Joe. “I think they’re gone.”
“Ed Wayne was my best man,” sulked Pete. “I’ll never have an officer like him working for me again. He was so brave, so tolerant, so obedient, so respectful.”
“He’s gone to a better place,” said Rusty. “We’ll try our best to be like him.”
“I think Joe Sage is the new Ed Wayne,” stated Greg. “He’s an even better shot.”
“Why’d the Joices stop attacking?” Joe asked in confusion. “That doesn’t usually happen.”
“They’re probably tricking us,” guessed Brian. “I bet they’re still around here somewhere.”
I’m fine. I’m fine.
“According to my watch, the Joices are gone,” said Joe. “All gone.”
“All right,” said Brian. “How do we get to the basement?”
“Let’s start searching,” suggested Rusty.
Joe noticed Pete standing still looking really glum. “Are you okay Pete?” Joe asked, walking over. “I know what it’s like to lose companions, it can be pretty depressing. I even lost three parents to Joices, let alone many companions.” Joe patted him on the back.
“We should probably start searching,” Pete informed them, trying to cheer up. “We’re police officers. Let’s do our duty.”
Suddenly, a big piece of the floor slid to the side, and a lift rose out of the floor with a man standing on it. Everyone instantly had their guns pointed at him. He quickly put his hands up.
“What’s the meaning of this?” the man questioned. “You break into my house and point guns at me? I ought to call the cops!”
“We are the cops!” spat Joe. “Why don’t you let us take a look around downstairs?”
“I won’t allow it!” the man snapped back. “Besides, you guys aren’t our city’s cops. You’re from Chip city! It says so on your uniforms!”
“Listen buddy, you better back up and tell us what the hell you’re hiding before I bust a bullet right into your left eye you little punk!” Brian threatened harshly. “We’re in control here!”
“Not in this city!” the man snapped. “I’ll call the Coal city cops and have you guys outta here!”
“Whatever city we come from doesn’t change the fact that you’re doing illegal things down there!” shouted Joe. “Now you better back your ass UP!” He approached him closer with the pistol held up in front of him and a knife held in the other hand. He couldn’t help noticing that the man looked somewhat similar to Joe’s father. “Who are you anyway?”
“My name is of no importance to you,” he muttered. “What’s really important to you is that I’ve already called the real cops.”
Joe’s arm shot up and the knife was held against the man’s throat. “I asked you a question and I expect an answer,” Joe whispered evilly.
“Get that knife away from me,” the man said. “My name is Jake, you happy?”
Joe chuckled. “I’m guessing you’re last name is Cutler, how far off am I?”
Then the man chuckled. “Joe Sage,” he muttered. “You are smarter than I thought. But you’re no longer a threat to me. I can beat you.” Jake was whispering now, so only Joe heard it.
“Beat me at what?” hissed Joe with his teeth clenched.
“Oh, so you mean this is more than a game?” Jake asked in a mocking voice.
Joe exploded with rage, and swiftly smashed Jake in the eyebrow with the handle of his pistol. Jake stumbled backwards and fell to the ground. He was moaning in pain and holding his forehead.
“You little bastard,” he groaned. “You’re gonna pay for that! Just like your miserable father!”
Joe dropped his things, ran up and kicked Jake in the ribs. Jake got up and tried to hit Joe, but Joe had one hand on Jake’s throat and the other bashing him in the face. He soon whipped the guy to the ground as two others pulled him away.
“You never talk about my father!” Joe yelled. “You could never match up to him! You never match up to me! Your Joices are gonna turn on you soon, and you’ll pay for everything!”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about,” mumbled Jake as he got to his feet. His nose and mouth were bleeding badly, with blood leading all the way to his shirt. “What do you mean by Joices turning on me?”
“You know perfectly well what I mean,” Joe growled in utter anger. “I mean YOU created them, you stupid Cutler!”
“Calm down,” said Brian, still having to hold Joe tightly. They heard sirens from outside.
“Oh you’re in big trouble now,” chuckled Jake. “Not to mention you assaulted your own uncle!”
“Just let me kill him,” said Joe, struggling to get out of Brian’s grasp. “Just one shot, right to the head!”
“It’s not worth it, Joe,” warned Brian.
“Oh it’s worth it,” replied Joe. “Just look at that stupid smirk on his face! I wanna wipe that away for good! He murdered my father!”
“I did no such thing,” replied Jake with his stupid smirk.
The door was kicked down and five cops came inside. Joe, Brian, Pete, Rusty, Greg, Todd, and Sue all had their guns pointed at the opposing cops.
“We’re covering this,” said Pete. “Get lost.”
“This is our town,” argued the other chief. “You get lost!”
“We have more people,” replied Pete. “I suggest you leave.”
“Are you telling me you’re looking for a shoot-out?” the chief questioned. “I got back-up on the way, buddy.”
“Well your back-up won’t have anyone to back up if you don’t leave,” threatened Pete calmly.
In the corner of his eye, Joe noticed Jake move toward the lift. Joe quickly turned and shot, pegging Jake right in the leg. Another bullet was fired and hit Joe in the chest, followed by another and got the guy (who shot Joe) in the head. Suddenly, a whole shoot-out began. To Joe’s great relief and surprise, every single Coal police officer was shot dead and all the others remained bullet-less. Except for Joe, of course.
Joe fell to the ground gasping for air. He was just glad that Jake could no longer walk at the moment, and that Rusty was able to cuff him to the floor. Brian quickly pulled off Joe’s bulletproof vest and felt around Joe’s chest.
“No blood,” Brian reported. “The bullet didn’t get through.”
“You’re one lucky kid, kid,” said Pete.
“I thought I was shot for sure,” replied Joe, pressing against his chest. “That really hurt. I can barely breathe.”
“You guys are in trouble,” whined Jake.
“What the hell are you hiding down there?” questioned Joe, walking over to the lift. “You wouldn’t happen to be creating Joices, would you?”
“You’ll never figure out how to operate that thing,” spat Jake. “Of course a son of Michael Sage wouldn’t know how to operate anything!”
“You just crossed the line!” shouted Joe, running over to Jake and grabbing him by the throat.
“Don’t do anything stupid,” warned Brian, stepping beside Joe. “We need him alive.”
“He wouldn’t kill his own uncle,” replied Jake.
“You’re not my uncle!” denied Joe. “I’ve never had an uncle, and I don’t have an uncle! All you are to me is a man that murdered my father!”
“Your father’s my brother!” snapped Jake. “A pathetic brother, but a brother nonetheless. I didn’t kill him!”
“Baloney!” argued Joe. “Why don’t you show me where he is?”
Rusty hauled Jake up to his feet roughly. “Turn on the goddamn machine!” he commanded. “Right now! Before you receive a beating!”
“I demand to see a lawyer!” demanded Jake.
“The only thing you’ll see is my fist if you don’t cooperate!”
“Agreed!” agreed Joe, raising his fist. “Every time you deny anything, I’ll smash your teeth in!”
“Operate the lift!” commanded Rusty.
“NO!” denied Jake.
Joe slammed his fist into Jake’s mouth as hard as he could. Jake slipped right out of Rusty’s grasp and onto the floor. He grabbed his face in pain and groaned. Rusty picked him back up.
“Operate the lift you moron!” Rusty yelled.
“Go screw yourself!” replied Jake.
Once again, Joe swung at Jake’s face, knocking a tooth out. Jake howled in pain as blood was all over his chin. He wrapped his fingers around his lip and held his mouth tightly.
“You bastard!” wailed Jake.
Joe thrusted his fist this time right into Jake’s nose, and then gave him a left into the stomach. Rusty threw him to the ground and pointed his pistol at him.
“You better get us downstairs!” commanded Rusty.
Greg walked over and lifted Jake to his feet. “Listen,” he said very seriously. “We want to have a look around down there. You either show us, or die. If you’re innocent, than you have nothing to hide, right?”
Jake wiped the blood off his face with his shirt and nodded. “Whatever,” he muttered. “Right this way.”
Greg turned his head. “Joe, go with him to look around,” he told Joe. “We’ll send Rusty and Brian down in a minute, but first we need to clear something up with Jake here. Good luck on your first bust.”
Jake operated the lift and Joe stepped onto it. The square of the floor he was standing on lowered, and he was taken to a strange clean advanced room. The floor closed over him as he made it to the lower-level floor.
What Joe saw was horrible. He saw a laboratory with all kinds of strange machines. He saw Joices in glass cages and people in other glass cages. He saw scientists conducting experiences much worse than Joe and Brian were at the warehouse. He saw, with his own eyes, Joices in the making.
But the strangest thing of all that he saw was someone approaching. This specific person was a real mystery, because Joe thought he was dead. Joe saw the big bully Ryan from his classroom walking towards him.
“Well if it isn’t Joe Sage,” said Ryan merrily. Ryan was obviously much bigger than he used to be, but for some reason his looked bigger than before in proportion to Joe. Joe had become very big and strong and fit over the years of defending himself against Joices, but Ryan was a monster. “It’s about time we meet again.”
“But you died,” said Joe in complete confusion and disbelief. “You hid in the closet, and the Joices killed everyone in there.”
“Joe, Joe, Joe,” said Ryan, shaking his head. “You’re not as smart as everyone thought you were. Didn’t you pay attention to my last name those many years ago?”
Joe shook his head.
“My full name is Ryan Cutler, you dim-witted sack of feathers!” Ryan snapped in anger. “I’m your goddamn cousin! That’s right. I’m the son of the man who created Joices. Do you really think my dad would let them eat me? He controls the Joices!”
“How?” questioned Joe, experiencing a huge headache. “How is it possible?”
“It’s possible,” said another familiar voice from behind Joe. “Anything’s possible.”
Joe swung around to see who spoke, and he saw David. Yes, the David that hated Joe and ditched him at the warehouse.
“I’m Ryan’s older brother,” David said with a smile on his face. He too was really big. “I suppose you’re wondering why both of us are huge.”
“What is going on?” questioned Joe in a rage.
“Our father can make us stronger,” said Ryan, ignoring Joe’s question. “We’ve always been stronger than the other kids our age because our father has a special liquid that he injects us with every year. For some reason, it doesn’t work on adults like him.”
“How the hell and why the hell does your father control Joices?” Joe yelled, trying to keep an eye on both Ryan and David.
David chuckled at Joe’s question. “You think your dad’s dead, don’t you?” he asked, smirking.
“What did you say?” asked Joe, approaching David in anger.
David walked up to Joe and met him half way. “Uncle Sage is still alive,” he grunted, staring at Joe with furious eyes. “But he’s not doing so good. Dad has him all plugged up in a glass cage. We’ve penetrated his mind and body. We’re using his blood, you’re blood in a way, to create and control Joices. By giving your dad’s mind a command in our own way, the Joices receive the command. This is why your blood is special with these Joices. We’ve somehow turned your dad somewhat psychic from using his mind to tell the Joices what to do. Since you and your dad’s minds are similar, your dad can warn you when the Joices are coming.”
“And that’s how I sense them,” said Joe, figuring it all out. “And now that Brian has my blood, dad can warn him too. By injecting the others with the boiled water blood, my blood’s in their veins and not their minds, so they can heal and kill babies but not be warned about them.”
“You’re pretty smart after all,” remarked Ryan. “Too bad your smarts can’t help you now.” Joe was staring at Ryan in confusion.
Suddenly, he had a vision of David shooting him in the head from behind. He quickly swung around and knocked David’s gun right out of his hands. And that’s when the brawl started.
David jumped on Joe, taking him down, and they both began beating on each other. David was bigger, and older by a year, so he had the advantage in the fight. For even more of an advantage, Ryan dived into the fight too.
Joe was just throwing punches and kicks all around him. He quickly rolled to the side and got to his feet. He wasn’t hurt at all, but neither were David or Ryan. This was going to be a tough fight.

(The last three chapters will be on a separate item.)