Path to the Apocalypse

Benjamin waited in a small coffee shop, shifting nervously as he glanced between his phone and the door. Every time the bell rang, he'd jump, studying the person entering carefully, watching for some kind of sign, before looking away again. He was studying his phone, wondering if he'd read the message wrong, when a seemingly normal customer sat across from him. "Hello, Benjamin. Nice to finally meet you." The man greeted him, taking a sip of his coffee.

Benjamin blinked at him. "You-" He froze as the man opened his jacket slightly, revealing a green pin of an arrow piercing a skull. Benjamin gulped nervously, pulling out a small packet and handing it over to the man.

"You got everything?" The man asked, opening the packet slightly to check it. Inside were several pictures of Andrew, an outline of his usual schedule, and maps of the town and school with specific locations circled in red.

Benjamin nodded. "Y-yeah. But it isn't much… he just goes between school and home, and that's it."

"You never know what will make a difference." The man muttered. "That being said, this does seem to be a simple job. We can probably get it done tomorrow."

Benjamin blinked. "That- that's it?" He asked hesitantly.

"That's it." The man nodded. "A simple pull of the trigger to end a future monster. Of course, the aftermath is a painful death, or years on the run, since the creatures don't take kindly to the death of one of their own, and they have many resources at their disposal. But there are many of us, and few of them. Which is why we include the second part of our deal." The man commented, as he undid his pin and slid it across the table to Benjamin, along with an envelope.

Benjamin took the pin and the envelope, opening it to find several tickets, a detailed itinerary starting later that evening, and several documents for false identities associated with each ticket. "A life for a life." He muttered, gulping slightly.

The man nodded. "You take my place, training until the time comes for you to fulfill your duty. Good luck." He stood to his feet, giving Benjamin a final nod goodbye, before turning to leave.

Benjamin sunk back in his chair, letting out a breath. That was it. There was no turning back. He'd sealed Andrew's fate with a few pictures and some simple information. It seemed fitting that he'd sealed his own in the same instance. From now on, his life was no longer his own. He'd give up his family, his friends, his future to be a weapon against these creatures, a tool that could be used to end one before they became too powerful. His eyes hardened as he took a deep breath and stood to his feet, picking up his bag and leaving the coffee shop, heading towards the nearest bus station. He had a long journey ahead of him.

*

"Have you seen Benjamin today?" Cathryn asked with a frown as they headed towards their usual spot for lunch.

Andrew snapped his fingers. "That's what's missing! The ever-present feeling of dread he gave off! Man, I was wondering why I felt so relaxed today."

Cathryn let out a frustrated sigh. "He just doesn't get it! Still, it isn't like him to miss school… I hope he's alright."

Andrew paused. "Maybe he got kidnapped by one of those machines?" He offered with a shrug.

Cathryn smacked him. "Don't joke about that!"

"Who's joking?" Andrew retorted, raising an eyebrow at her. "We've encountered them twice already. The odds of more showing up are pretty high at this point."

Cathryn scowled. "That better not be what happened." She grumbled.

Andrew shook his head as they sat down. "It probably isn't. The better odds are that he's sick or something."

"I know, but now I'm wor-" Cathryn began with a sigh, when she was suddenly cut off by Andrew's head exploding!

Andrew's vision went dark, a brief vision of a dark room with a five sided table appearing, the table beginning to split, before an ashen aura enveloped it, pulling it back together as his head reformed. He felt a hard lump form in his chest, before it dissolved back into him, like he'd just absorbed an ability crystal or something. Andrew blinked briefly as both Li Jing and Cathryn stared at him with horrified looks, a few other onlookers giving him looks of disbelief as well, the blood and brains splattered everywhere making it clear that what they'd just seen was not just a part of their imagination. "He is a Vampire!" Someone exclaimed in horror.

"Did I just get shot?!?" Andrew muttered incredulously, turning towards where the bullet had come from, his aura flaring as he did. His pupils turned to pinpricks as his vision sharpened, catching a glimpse of the man lying flat on a nearby hill just in time to see the rifle he was holding fire again. Suddenly his skin turned to carapace as the bullet hit him square in the middle of his forehead, knocking him back slightly, but not actually hurting him. "Yup, I was shot." Andrew growled, his eyes narrowing as his wings formed, bursting from his back and vibrating as he shot into the air, hurtling towards the man on the hill.

The man cursed, scrambling to his feet, but before he could even get two steps away, Andrew was on him, knocking him to the ground and grabbing his gun, breaking it to pieces. "Cursed monster!" The man growled, pulling out a knife and lunging at Andrew, attempting to stab him in the chest.

Andrew just rolled his eyes, grabbing the man by the wrist and breaking it, causing him to scream in pain and drop the knife. "If it didn't work the first two times, what makes you think the third would be any different?" The man just spit at him. "Rude." Andrew growled, the full implications of what the man had done only just hitting him. This man had tried to kill him! If not for whatever weirdness was going on with his aura, he would have died! If he'd targeted Li Jing or Cathryn, they would have died! If he'd actually succeeded, Cathryn still would have died! His grip tightened on the man's wrist, grinding the bones to dust as rage built within Andrew's chest. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't take my time slowly turning your body into ground sausage while you scream in agony!" He hissed, emphasizing his point by grabbing the man's hand with both of his and twisting it, mangling it into a bloody pulp. Not his brightest move, however, as the man immediately blacked out due to pain. Andrew frowned as he held the limp man up by his mangled arm. "Well, shit." Andrew sighed.

*

Andrew didn't even bother hiding anything, shifting into a mix of his Monkey and ant form, grabbing the man with his tail and flying back to Cathryn and Li Jing. He quickly grabbed them and flew away again, taking all of them back to the house. The moment they landed, Arose burst out of his house rushing over to them, having sensed their panicked and confused emotions. "What happened?!? Why are you in your Beast form?!?" He demanded.

Andrew turned back to his human self, dropping the man in front of Arose. "This fucker shot me! Everyone saw!"

Arose paused, before quickly kneeling down and ripping open the man's shirt. He grimaced as he glared at the tattoo of an arrow piercing a skull on the man's chest. "Monster Hunters." He spat in a tone of sheer disgust.

"Monster Hunters?" Cathryn asked nervously, glancing between him, the furious Andrew, and the cold Li Jing, all of whom were staring at the man like he was a bug that needed to be crushed.

"Mortals who have learned of our existence and decided we're a threat that needs to be exterminated." Arose explained in a low growl. "They target children, because older Bonded have already mutated their abilities to enhance their defenses."

"Thankfully they focused on me, instead of Jing." Andrew commented, a hint of relief bleeding through his anger, which suddenly surged again as he continued. "If they'd gone for her…" He growled, eyes hardening.

"They didn't, and we can only be thankful for that." Arose interjected. "The real question is how did they find you?!? This town is too small for their operatives to have a presence here…"

They all frowned in thought, before Cathryn and Andrew suddenly shared a look. "Benjamin!" Andrew spat angrily. "That little piece of shit!"

"Benjamin?" Arose asked, raising an eyebrow at them.

"He's- he was our friend…" Cathryn explained hesitantly. "When we started school, he told me- he was convinced Andrew was a Vampire. If- if he told anyone…"

"Of course he told someone!" Andrew exclaimed. "He was obsessed with those damn cryptid sites! He probably put his theories all over the damn things, giving the Monster Hunters everything they needed! I swear, once I get my hands on him." Andrew finished with a growl, flexing his hands, miming choking someone.

"Andrew, you know he wouldn't do something like this on purpose!" Cathryn protested. "He's just an idiot, not evil."

Arose hesitated. "That may not be the case… Monster Hunters are required to recruit a new operative before they begin their mission. Once they make themselves known, we can catch them fairly easily, so the only way they can continue operating is by constantly recruiting and replacing their number. The most common targets for recruitment are the very people who brought the Bonded to their attention, since they usually already have grievances against us… If this Benjamin is the one who informed them, the odds are he's one of them now."

Cathryn's eyes widened. "But… no, Benjamin wouldn't- he couldn't do something like that!"

Andrew's expression twisted. "She has a point… Benjamin was kind of a coward. I don't think he'd have the guts."

Arose grunted. "We shall see. This event requires a lot of clean up." He let out a sigh. "The Dogs will be busy." He paused. "And we're going to need to move." He cursed.

"Wait, what?" Cathryn asked, her eyes widening. "Why would we move?!?"

Arose gave her a look. "Cathryn, the Monster Hunters know we're here! If we continue to stay here, the three of you will continue to be in danger! They failed once, but they will try again! And next time, they won't just try to kill Andrew. They start with rifles, but once that fails, they move to explosives. We can't risk you or Li Jing getting caught in the crossfire. We need to relocate to someplace safer."

Li Jing scowled. "My parents won't let me hear the end of this." She grumbled.

"For now, we'll need to move to the Outside until we can create new lives for ourselves." Arose continued, before glancing at Andrew. "We'll also need to give you more lessons on how to remain under the radar." He looked at the other two. "Might as well teach the both of you as well. You can never be too careful."

*

The next few days passed in a blur as they packed everything up. Andrew's parents took the move in stride, not the first time they'd been through something like this, and Amy was her usual matter of fact self, but Kate was taking things hard. She'd just joined the track team and started making friends, and now she had to give it all up for who knows what! Jack and Sarah were both in college, and not local ones, so they had the option to either come with the rest of the family or stay at college, only needing a minor increase in security to make sure no one would try to kidnap them to get to Andrew. It wasn't a common strategy of the Monster Hunters though, so it wasn't too much of a concern. The Monster Hunters solely focused on the Bonded, and while they didn't mind collateral damage, they didn't purposely bring civilians into their fight. Or maybe they just believed the Bonded wouldn't care for mortals, since they believed they were monsters. Admittedly, there were Bonded who wouldn't give two shits if their family was threatened… Still, if Jack and Sarah stayed at college, they wouldn't be able to contact the rest of the family, at least not for a while. Relocating would be pointless if the Monster Hunters could just follow them back to the family. They had to choose between their lives and their family, and they had to choose soon.

Andrew hated that he had to put his family through this, and he despised Benjamin even more because of it. Once they'd discovered his disappearance, they'd gone through his computer and found the messages from the cryptid site. Even if Cathryn didn't want to believe it, Benjamin's guilt was clear. Admittedly, it was also clear that he believed Andrew was some kind of monster who had mind raped her into submission, but Andrew refused to accept that as an excuse! As far as he was concerned, if he ever saw Benjamin again, he was dead. He was even tempted to hunt the little shit down, but the Monster Hunters were smart enough to make sure no operatives could give away information on the others. The Monster Hunter they'd caught couldn't even tell them when Benjamin had left, let alone where he'd gone.

That Friday, Andrew stood in the living room of his emptied out home, along with his parents, Cathryn, Li Jing, Amy, Kate, and Sarah. Sarah had only just started college, so she decided to go with the rest of the family, but Jack had put in too much work already to just give it up. He was also getting increasingly serious with Amelia, which Andrew thought was the bigger issue. If someone had asked him to choose between Cathryn or Li Jing and his family… there was no way he'd give Li Jing up, and he literally couldn't give Cathryn up, not that he would even if he could.

"This sucks." Kate grumbled bitterly.

"I'm sorry." Andrew apologized with a twisted expression. "If I'd been more careful… if I'd never tried to be friends with Benjamin-" Andrew's expression darkened as he thought over how much better his life would have been if he'd just ignored the weird boy sitting next to him on the bus. Benjamin would never have noticed the oddities surrounding him. He'd never have pushed him to bring Gregory to school. He'd never have drawn the attention of Eric that first day. Andrew's life would have been completely different! "I should have just kept to myself from the start." He spat bitterly.

"Andrew…" Cathryn muttered in a pained tone, placing a hand on his shoulder as she gave him a concerned look. The problem was… he had a point. His life probably would have been better if he'd never made friends with Benjamin.

"Son, life isn't that simple." Stephen sighed. "Yes, when you give someone a chance, you open yourself up to being hurt, but if you never open yourself up, you never give anyone the chance to be good either. You could live a life without risk, but what kind of life would that be? Not one I would like to live."

Li Jing grabbed his hand, squeezing it. "Don't become like my parents, scared of anything that might hurt you." She whispered.

Andrew blinked as he considered that. At first he wanted to completely reject the idea that he was anything like Li Jing's parents. He wasn't scared of living his life! But… wasn't that exactly what he'd been doing? Avoiding people because he didn't want to be hurt? Putting up emotional walls, instead of physical ones? He scowled. But people sucked! Half of them refused to see anything from any point of view but their own! Hell, most of them didn't recognize that there was any other point of view!

*What about me?* Cathryn sent. If he'd completely given up on people, never interacted with anyone… would they be Bonded? Would she have just been taken by that machine? Would he have even cared enough to try and save her? *Would you give me up just to stop what happened with Benjamin?*

Andrew blinked, before wrapping an arm around her waist and pulling her close. *Never.* "This still sucks though." He grumbled aloud. "Fuck Benjamin."

"Language!" Helen scolded him.

"Dear, I believe in this scenario, that is a perfectly valid use of the expletive." Stephen commented, a hint of amusement in his voice. Helen just grunted in grudging acceptance.

Andrew and his sisters took a moment to look around the house, the place that had been their home for their entire lives, the place they'd probably never see again, all because of a stupid kid who saw things he didn't understand and assumed the worst. For the first time, Andrew questioned the wisdom of the Bonded hiding who they were, what they did for humanity. If people only knew, then things like this would never happen! However, as his thoughts turned to how humanity would react to the knowledge that there was an entire world full of creatures that could end them with a thought… He let out a weary sigh as he imagined people arguing that they should nuke the Outside. Humanity tended to overreact when they thought they were being threatened. Case in point, Benjamin.

"We should go." Stephen suggested as he felt his childrens' emotions stabilize, placing a hand on Kate's shoulder, giving it a comforting squeeze. She was the one having the most trouble with all this. Kate twisted to give Stephen a hug, burying her face in his chest as tears began to flow. She hated this! It felt like she was just getting to start her life, only for it to suddenly be yanked out from under her. She knew it wasn't Andrew's fault, but… a part of her wished he could just be normal. That she'd never been born into this Bonded mess! It just- it wasn't fair! Slowly they all began to move down to the basement, until they reached the railcar, meeting up with Arose and Ertemis as they came from their home, all of them piling in and heading to the portal station, leaving their old lives behind.