Young Writers Society

Zodiac XII:
Dominion of the Dead

Chapter 1

Luke York went stumbling back after the other guy slammed his knuckles across his face. The crowd in the background was chanting, “Fight, fight, fight!” over and over. Luke fell back into the crowd, but was caught under the arms by his two friends Peter and Carl. Luke thanked his two friends as he staggered back to his feet and wiped a little blood from his lower lip. He raised his arms to protect himself again before motioning for his opponent to come at him again.

Hard to believe that this fight had started for the stupidest reason. Luke, Carl and Peter were just walking down the street, talking about completely random subjects. Some guy, the person the Luke was currently fighting, came walking around the corner. None of the three seemed to recognize who this person was, not hard to believe really, since most of his dirty blond hair was covered by a black bandana with a blue flame design, his eyes were covered with a pair of sunglasses, and he wore a black trench coat. The group fell silent, immediately knowing that this guy wasn’t one to be messed with, until he passed. Then, Carl turned to Luke and asked who that guy was. Luke only shrugged and aid, “Probably one of the kids from the orphanage.” The next thing he knew, Luke was lying on his stomach with his face pressed against the cold concrete and the stranger sitting on his back. On sheer instinct, Luke rolled over and punched that guy in the face and that’s how it all started.

Luke really wasn’t the one people would expect to get in a fight. His shaggy blond hair, constantly wearing tank tops and shorts (even in the dead of winter), and uncaring nature made him seem like the surfer type, even though the town he lived in was around the southern coast of Lake Michigan. However, his comedic persona, the fact that he was a star quarterback and basketball player, the fact that he had won multiple awards in track, and that he rode a motorcycle instead of just driving a car made him the popular kid in the local junior class. No one really thought of him as the violent kind of person, nor could anyone in town remember him getting into a fight in his entire life.

Peter and Carl were two of Luke’s closer friends out of the many he hung out with. Absolutely everything about Carl screamed one thing: class clown. His short brown hair, constantly wearing T-shirts with sarcastic sayings on them, and never taking anything seriously just labeled him as the local comedian. Peter was a lot more mellow and quiet than Carl. Being one of the few black kids in town, he made a point of avoiding being the general stereo type of African Americans. He kept himself simple, wearing plain clothes and just trying to get through life. Like Luke, he was on the football and basketball teams, though he wasn’t a star played like Luke.

The stranger refused to move, so Luke went ahead and rushed at him, thrusting his fist at the other guys face hard and fast, but not fast enough. The stranger managed to duck under his punch and slam his fist into Luke’s stomach, sending him toppling over. Luke silently cursed himself for not seeing that coming and then started groaning from the pain in his gut.

The stranger glared down at Luke far a few seconds before picking his trench coat off the ground and slinging it over his shoulder. He then picked Luke off the ground by the front of his shirt and lifted him up to eye level. “If there’s one thing you should never say to us orphans, it’s reminding us where we live!” with that, he slammed his knuckles into Luke’s jaw one last time before dropping him to the ground again and walking away.

A dark haired girl came rushing out of the crowd and knelt down next to Luke. This was Morgan, Luke’s girlfriend. She made sure he was ok before turning her head to the stranger and shouting “Hey, who the heck do you think you are?”

He stopped in his tracks and stuffed his hands into his pockets before turning around and saying, “My name is Scott Scorpio. And don’t you forget it.” With that Scott continued down the sidewalk and disappeared around the corner.

The crowd began to disperse, leaving only Peter, Carl, Morgan and another girl to help Luke to his feet. No one seemed to recognize the other girl. Carl seemed to recognize her short brunet hair, however, and said she was, “Some freshman.”

With Peter’s help, Morgan managed to pull Luke to his feet before making sure that he was ok one last time and running off, claiming she had something important to do. Carl just walked off, saying he had more important things to do (most likely go home and fall asleep). Peter left just as quickly, saying he was already late for his after school job as it is. This just left the new girl to make sure Luke didn’t pass out on his way home. “That was some fight.” She said.

“Yeah.” Luke chuckled. “That guy Scott can really take a punch.”

“I’m Tory, by the way. Tory Blaire.” She said, offering a handshake to Luke.

Luke was a bit amused by how calm Tory was when she talked to him. Most girls were too embarrassed to even talk to him. Even Morgan had stuttered a bit when he’d first asked her out. But this girl, she wasn’t intimidated by him at all. Luke shook Tory’s hand an introduced himself. “I’m Lucas York. But please, call me Luke.”

“So, Luke is your name, eh?”

Luke and Tory completely forgot their conversation to find whoever had spoken. They eventually spotted an old man standing at the corner. He held a cane in on hand and a plastic grocery bag in the other. He had a thick, gray mustache; a pair of glasses placed on the bridge of his nose; and wore a beret to cover his completely bald head. “Um, can we help you sir?” Luke asked.

The old man only nodded and took a few steps forward. “My name’s Hermes.” He said. “Now tell me, Luke, have you ever been to war?” it was all Luke could do to shake his head in confusion. “Ghastly thing, war is. I still remember my years in the service like it was yesterday. Let me tell ya, once you go to battle, you never want to go back.”

“Um, if you don’t mind my asking sir, why are you telling us all this?” Tory broke in.”

Hermes glanced over to Tory, glaring at her darkly for a few seconds before giving her a small smile and nodding. “You both have great destinies about ya. Maybe the eternal war will end sooner than even I expected.” Hermes looked up to the sky quickly before hurriedly and rather roughly shaking both Luke and Tory’s hands and starting on his way. “May the god give you both their blessings!” he shouted to them after crossing the street. The next thing they knew, a white van came zooming by and Hermes had disappeared after it had passed.

Luke and Tory just stood there for a moment, gawking at the spot where the old man had disappeared. What was that all about? Why did Hermes tell them about his years in the service, and what did he mean by the “eternal war?” Tory eventually shook off the eerie feeling in the air and broke the silence. “So, uh, it was nice meeting you, Luke. See you at school on Monday.”

Luke snapped back to reality at the sound of her voice.” Uh, yeah, nice meeting you too. See ya Monday.”

~TWO DAYS LATER~

Tory raced down the sidewalk, breathing heavily and mumbling darkly to herself. “I can’t believe the damn alarm clock didn’t go off!”

Normally, Tory didn’t need an alarm clock because she usually slept soundly and woke up early on her own. But she’d been up late last night thinking over what all had happened over the past weekend. When she looked over at the clock, it was already two a.m. as she figured she’d better set the alarm just in case.

Where to begin on what had happened over the weekend? Well, to start with, Tory and Luke were already becoming good friends, even though it had only been two days since they’d met. But, from what Luke had told her, everything seemed to be going down hill for him ever since that talk with that Hermes guy. And not by luck, but by choice. Apparently, after he’d gotten home, Luke had an argument with his father and something strange happened afterwards. The next day he made a few phone calls and before anyone knew it, he’d taken himself off the football team and had broken up with Morgan. When Tory, along with Peter and Carl, asked him why he’d done all this, he simply said that he didn’t want anyone getting hurt. This really raised more questions than it answered. What was weirder was that when Luke mentioned Hermes, Peter and Carl said they’d ran into the same old man too.

Sunday night, Tory called two of her friends to see if they knew anything. First she called Veronica Green, a black cheerleader in the sophomore class. Veronica and Peter were good friends, seeing as how they had the same shift at the same job, and told each other pretty much everything. So, Tory figured that Luke might’ve told Peter something and he might’ve told Veronica. Unfortunately, Veronica seemed to know as much as she did. But Veronica did say that Peter mentioned Hermes, and that she’d ran into him as well. After Tory and Veronica had finished talking (approximately three hours later), Tory called her best friend, Candice Anderson, or Candy, as she preferred to be called. Candy was one of Carl’s ex-girlfriends, but they still remained close and told each other a lot. However, Candy didn’t seem to know anything at all. But, like everyone else, she said that she’d ran into that old man too. What was it with this Hermes guy talking to all of her friends?

What shocked Tory the most throughout the whole weekend, however, was when she ran into Scott Scorpio at a local bookstore. The two shared a conversation there and afterwards Tory couldn’t see why he and Luke had gotten into a fight in the first place. Scott, despite his dark exterior, seemed like a pretty nice guy. He just wanted to live his life normally without being constantly being reminded that he’d never met and probably never would meet his birth parents. And, being seventeen already, he’d most likely be leaving the orphanage on his own. Scorpio wasn’t Scott’s real last name, just a title he’d adopted to give himself a complete identity since he didn’t actually have a last name. He did, however, plan to legally change his last name to Scorpio when he turned eighteen. Tory wasn’t sure whether he was joking or not, but she chuckled either way.

When Tory asked Scott if anything strange had happened to him since Friday, Scott turned his head towards the window and sighed. He said that later that same night he’d still been wandering the streets when he came across an old man on the ground struggling to get back to his feet. Scott helped the old man back to his feet without a second thought. The old man introduced himself as Hermes, of course, and offered to repay Scott with something amazing. But Scott refused, stating that he shouldn’t have to be paid to help out his elders. Hermes understood and simply thanked him one last time before walking away. Other than that, nothing unusual had crossed Scott’s path, or at least that’s what he said. Tory could tell that he was lying, but didn’t say anything about it.

What was it about Tory and everyone she knew that drew this old man Hermes to them? Why did it seem like her life was about to take a turn for the worst? Why… why was Tory asking herself these questions? She was going to be late for school! Run, don’t think!

Tory kept on running for as long as she could until she eventually ran out of energy and stopped dead in the center of a crosswalk. She placed her hands on her knees for support as she took in as much air as she could. It was starting to hurt for her to breathe. Do I really live this far from school? She mentally asked herself. She never got the chance to answer herself. When she stood up right again, the sound of a car horn blowing burst from seemingly nothing. It didn’t take long for Tory to notice a semi truck heading straight for her going way to fast for her to duck out of the way in time and there was no chance of it stopping in time either, as close as it was.

Tory braced herself for the impact as her life began to flash before her eyes. She screwed her eyes shut and crossed her arms out in front of her as the first and only fourteen years of her life flashed by in less than a second.

Then, as fast as it had begun, it was over. She felt the impact, felt the cold steel of the truck slam against her skin, she hears glass shatter, and felt flying shards of metal and glass cut into her arms and upper body. But one thing that she’d expected didn’t happen… she wasn’t sent flying through the air. She didn’t feel her body go soaring and then crash into the road just before she died. Heck, she didn’t even die.

Tory opened her eyes to find herself standing in the exact same spot as before. Scraps of metal and shards of glass lay all around her and a few were stuck into her arms. The truck that had crashed into her was lying a few yards away on it side, completely totaled. From what she could tell, the driver inside was dead. She looked herself over to find a few cuts, bruises, and sharp objects stabbed into her, but nothing more. No broken bones, no gaping gashes, no missing limbs, nothing. She’d amazingly only sustained minor injuries.

Tory grabbed onto one of the glass shards in her arm and yanked it out. It amazed her that she barely felt the pain at all; it was really more of a tickling feeling. Then she was left in complete awe as the wound healed almost instantly.

Tory forgot her amazement when she remembered the driver that had been in the truck. She slowly walked over to the… well, it was really more of a trash heap now, and looked through the broken window. She turned away immediately when she saw the body. There’d been a hatchet on the back shelf and his had gone flying into the back of the drivers head on the impact. Tory couldn’t stand the sight of blood. She closed her eyes tightly again and placed her hand on the remains of the truck, trying in vain to move it. In vain, until something came over her. In one swift motion she literally picked the tuck, which easily weighed a couple tons, over her head and threw it out of sight. From what she could tell, it probably landed in a field somewhere out of town.

“What in the world is happening to me?” she mumbled to herself just before she heard the faint sound of the semi crashing to the ground in the distance.