Death Bash Boys
Before sneaking out, Aryan Baahi checked his pocket to make sure he had his Tracker with him. He never used it but Humair always nagged at him if he joined the team without it. Sometimes Humair’s ideas didn’t make sense to him. I’m not a kid anymore, he thought. I’m sixteen. I’ve been fighting monsters for years now, so what could happen?
He opened his window gently. A cool breeze blew in, but it didn’t disturb his gel-spiked black hair. His parents were attending a couples-only dinner, arranged by the company his father worked at. So he took the opportunity to be in his most outrageous hair-do. He wore a black earring on his right ear (the piercing was also against his parents’ will) and a red T-shirt that went well with his caramel complexion. Sprawled across the front of his T-shirt was the quote: ‘THE ONLY THING STRONGER THAN MY WILL IS YOUR FEAR’. Together with his stylishly ripped jeans, he was striking enough to make his grandmother faint.
He climbed out of his window and onto a large pipe beside it, which ran from the ground floor to the rooftop; his only escape route. He couldn’t use the front door since his sisters were at home. They thought he had a headache and had gone to bed early. They had no idea that some of their ancestors were aliens. They didn’t know that, except for Aryan, their great-grandmother was the last person to inherit alien power. After all, why would anyone suspect the boy who mixed glue with his elder sister’s shampoo at the age of five? Why would the boy, who had once painted silly faces on his younger twin sisters’ favorite dresses, actually develop superpowers?
He could have told them if he wanted to. He could tell his immediate family. Telling anyone else would mean spending the next thirty years in prison. But he knew that telling his parents would be the end of all his adventures. That was one thing he had in common with the rest of his teammates; none of them told their parents about their powers and tasks. They all agreed that their parents would think it was too dangerous.
With ease, Aryan scaled up the pipe, sometimes grabbing a window ledge for support. He was close to the roof when he accidentally clutched a ledge on the right too hard. A handful of concrete broke off.
“Whoops,” he said, staring at the chunk in his hand. “Ok, now what am I supposed to do with you?”
He looked around. There was a balcony on his left. He dropped the chunk of concrete there and climbed up the pipe. There’s going to be thousands of wild theories about that chunk of concrete, but at least no one will ever guess the truth. When he was near the top, his phone rang. Great. He peeked over the railing. Luckily the roof was empty. Or else the neighbors would have freaked out seeing a boy hanging from a pipe six stories high. He climbed over the railing and pulled out his smartphone. It was Nabeel, a friend from school.
“Hey!” Aryan said. “What’s up?”
“Hey Bro,” Nabeel said. “Where are you? C’mon, we’re having a party at Afnan’s place.”
“Nah. Can’t make it tonight.”
“No! You’re coming, man. You’re coming this time.”
“No, no.”
“Yes!”
“No. Seriously I can’t. I’m kind of busy.”
“Why? Are you off to your cousin’s? Mahir? Why don’t you bring him too? It’ll be awesome. I’m sure Afnan won’t mind. You know we all like Mahir.”
“Yeah, but no. Not going to Mahir’s place. He’s got exams next week.”
“So what about you? What are you doing?”
“Oh. Um… nothing really.” It wasn’t technically a lie; he was just standing on the roof at the moment. “Look, I need to finish my homework.” I’ll finish it right after I come back home tonight. Or maybe tomorrow. “Ms. Sanjida has been complaining about my grades again. And my parents are really angry now.”
“Oh. Tough luck. She’s been really angry at you for the last few days. You know, today after you went home, she caught Rakib shooting paper clips at the other guys with a rubber band. He told her that you gave him those and taught him how to shoot.”
“Huh? But wait a minute, he’s the one who started it! And do you know what he did at first? He shot me with board pins! And that hurt! That’s why I told him to use paper clips instead. And yeah, I did shoot a couple of guys with the clips. But seriously, he didn’t tell the teacher about that?”
“Nope. He didn’t say anything about that. So that’s really what happened, right?”
“Yeah. I don’t know why, but I seem to be everybody’s favorite scapegoat.”
Nabeel laughed.
“That has got to be the biggest truth about you.”
“Yeah. Even you framed me a couple of times. I still remember how you framed me for those water guns last year.”
“Hey! C’mon man. You were the one who brought those and stuck Coke bottles on them.”
“It was Pepsi. And yeah, I did that, but I didn’t tell you to shoot Pepsi at the teacher’s room window!”
“I didn’t do it on purpose! Rakib pushed me and I accidentally aimed too high!”
“Rakib didn’t push you! I saw him. He was too busy messing with Nawid. You were bragging about how you could shoot a mango off a tree with that Pepsi bazooka and you hit the window instead.”
“No! He seriously pushed me-”
“Hey, sorry man, but I have to go. Do you want to hang out tomorrow morning?”
“Your parents are going to let you hangout tomorrow and not tonight?”
“No they won’t. But they will let me go and see Ishrak when I say I have some trouble with pure maths homework. And after he explains it to me, there’s no reason we both shouldn’t go out and have some fun. My parents won’t find out.”
“Oh, now I see.”
“And you can join us too.”
“Alright. See you tomorrow then. And I swear Rakib pushed me.”
He hung up, a smile on his wide, mischievous-eyed face. He glanced around. The bright moonlight made it easier for him to see the surrounding rooftops. Those were empty too, so he began to run. In less than three seconds, he reached the opposite end of his roof. With one smooth motion, he jumped onto the next building and continued running. If he encountered a taller building, he would just leap onto a window then climb. He wasn’t worried about being seen; he was already too fast for the human eye. He was free. No strict teachers. No watchful parents. No one was there to stop him.
He suddenly thought of his Facebook profile. What if he described his interest as: ‘traveling around Dhaka city in the moonlight, racing faster than a supersonic jet and with no traffic to slow me down!’? He was, after all, the fifth fastest Elnathian in the world. Too bad we have to keep our powers a secret. And too bad we have only three powers: super speed, super strength and a third, individual power. Two individual powers would have been better than one. Yeah, would have been awesome if I could fly and shoot fireballs! Like the Human Torch!
A minute later, he was at the top of a tall building from where he could see the national stadium. It was much windier up there and the sounds of the street below were mute. It was also empty. He was supposed to meet his team there before they go on their usual rounds. Officially, he was part of Team 141226 of the Security Department. Unofficially, his team was known as the Death Bash Boys, thanks to the Elnathian magazine Super. He remembered the reporter approaching him right after a game of football where he and his friends had won, 140-125. She had interviewed him for her ‘Hot Ten 2015’ article (all Elnathians could sense each other’s energy levels in a way that was similar to sensing heat and the stronger an Elnathian, the ‘hotter’ they were). The article featured the most powerful teams in the world and Aryan had convinced her to write his team as the Death Bash Boys.
Neither of his friends had any interest in their team’s name. Kaysan totally hated the publicity. But then what else did he expect? We are lucky we’re powerful. It’s totally random the way Elnathian power passes down through generations. You never know who is going to inherit the powers or how strong they will be. And not only are we powerful individually, we were put in the same team. Now finally we’re within the top ten in the whole world. Kaysan should have been expecting this. Where is he anyway? And Humair? There was still no sign of them. He checked the time on his phone. What’s taking them so long? He decided to call Humair first. By chance, he looked over the railing and then looked again in excitement. There was movement in the stadium. Is that the cricket team? Are they here for practice?
He saw six figures on the field but he couldn’t see their uniform in the dark. No. This can’t be the cricket team. They wouldn’t practice in the dark. He saw one of the figures approach the edge of the field. Squinting hard and leaning over the railing, he could faintly make out the shape of the person; he or she seemed to be very short and fat. Then he noticed the stadium seats’ outline. He compared the figure to the seats and realized it was too big to be a human being. Hey, it’s like the size of a small truck! That’s the twentieth monster attack this month. Weird. There were never so many monsters before. Oh well, at least it means more fun for me! His Tracker buzzed. Base had detected six Frost Lions at the National Stadium. Frost Lions? What are they doing in a warm country like this? He pocketed his Tracker and phone then dashed towards the group of monsters. A few seconds later, he was running down an aisle in the stadium.
He stopped at the edge of the field. The monsters were searching for food a.k.a. humans. Luckily they came to the wrong place. The monster nearest to him growled. Because its body was covered in thick midnight blue fur, much more suitable for colder climates, its kind was rarely seen in South Asia. It didn’t have eyes and it didn’t need them either; its strong sense of smell and sharp hearing were more than enough. Fangs, similar to a saber-toothed tiger, glinted in the moonlight. Despite its size, its six powerful limbs with razor-sharp claws made the monster agile.
The diamond-shaped tip of its long tail flashed like a sharp blade. Not only could the fangs, claws and tail’s tip tear through flesh, they could also inject frost. The diamond-tip was often used to pierce victims and freeze their heart. That was the monsters’ deadliest attack.
The other Frost Lions approached Aryan slowly and silently, surrounding him like Earth’s predators would. Suddenly he remembered a few lines from Combating Extraterrestrials, one of his fighting manuals:
‘The average Frost Lion could kill up to thirty-five people in fifteen minutes. An enraged Frost Lion could kill the same number in less than ten minutes.’
Aryan smiled. Bright yellow flames ignited on his hands.
“C’mon baby, time to get barbecued.”
A Frost Lion sprang at him, fangs and claws bared. But he was ready. He threw fireballs at it and ducked as a second Frost Lion lunged at him from behind. When it landed on the ground, he grabbed its tail with both hands and tossed the monster away. It hit the first Frost Lion, which was still burning. Both monsters flew backwards before tumbling to a stop about ten meters away.
A third ran to him from his right. He turned and blasted its head with fire. Hissing in pain, it stopped and shook its head violently to blow the fire out. He ran to it and punched its side twenty times at supersonic speed. The monster suddenly slashed his shoulder with its claws. He kicked its face, knocking out a fang. Then he poured fire on it and it collapsed on the ground, unmoving. The frost in his shoulder stung him but his wounds were already healing. The remaining Frost Lions snarled but stayed where they were. They hated fire.
“Don’t any of you want to play?” Aryan asked the monsters mockingly. The flames on his right hand disappeared as he began to fumble his pocket, searching through his ‘toys’. Finally he decided on an old coin that was nearly worthless because of inflation. Even beggars wouldn’t accept that coin. Holding it between his middle and index fingers, he ignited his hand again. Flickering yellow flames engrossed the coin. He took aim. This should annoy them. He flicked it towards the three Frost Lions.
The coin flew nearly as fast as Aryan could run. It had lost its flames, but not its heat. The glowing coin traveled through the monsters and then arched its way back to Aryan like a boomerang. After he caught the coin, the monsters reacted to what happened. The coin had punctured through the first Frost Lion’s back legs. It had pierced through the middle one’s ribcage. Then it had entered the last Frost Lion’s body through its side and exited through its front leg. The monsters howled in pain but the sound was drowned out by the roar of the other two Frost Lions, the ones that had first attacked Aryan. They charged at him. Now we’re going to have some fun.
He shot fire at one Frost Lion and somersaulted away from the other monster’s claws. Then, standing on one hand, he shot at the second Frost Lion. He stood up and started tossing fireballs at it. Suddenly all of the monsters began to roar at the same time. He covered his ears but that didn’t make much difference. It was a long, bone-chilling chorus Aryan had never heard.
It stopped abruptly and the monsters attacked again. Startled, Aryan made fire burst out from his arms. But this time it didn’t scare them. He was engulfed in a storm of fang, claw and fur.
Before he knew it, he was on the ground. In the midst of the struggle, a glint caught his eye. It was the deadly diamond-shaped tip of a tail. It plunged straight towards his chest.
Fire! Tall flames roared out from his upper body, burning his T-shirt into ashes. The tail caught fire and swerved away. But the monsters didn’t retreat. The relentless fangs and claws still slashed at Aryan, even though the monsters were burning.
Time for a Hot Bath! Aryan shot out fire so hot that it was white. He was relieved by the extensive-power emission but the relief was short-lived. Too soon it was replaced by rolling waves of pain. Frost Lions screamed as the white inferno spread within a forty foot diameter. At last they backed away.
Almost immediately he heard the familiar sound of water being poured deliberately over his fires, extinguishing them before they went out of control. Someone called out his name. And then through the flames on his face, he saw Humair appear before him.
He stopped using his third power. After the bright glare of his fire, everything looked starkly shadowed. His friend was a dark silhouette bending over him. Humair was the team leader and he fit the role perfectly. According to Aryan, he was the ‘angelic Einstein guy, adored by all mothers’. Six and a half feet tall with curly black hair and a serious expression most of the time, Humair was always attracting attention in crowds. Unlike Aryan who loved being in the limelight, Humair preferred to blend in.
“Can you walk?” he asked. Although he had nearly flat, wiry muscles, he was still within the top ten strongest Elnathians in the world. His third power was electricity, meaning he could conveniently charge his own laptop.
“Well duh,” Aryan snapped. “I’m fine. It’s just a few cuts.” But when he tried to sit up, he groaned and fell back; all of his bravado vanishing instantly. “Ok, maybe not.”
Another boy appeared at that moment. It was their teammate, Kaysan. He was obsessed with testing his strength and endurance; pushing himself beyond limits. He worked out more than anyone Aryan knew, and he had broad strapping shoulders, bulging biceps and rock-hard six packs to show for it. That and his quiet, brooding, tough guy attitude contrasted with his face. His large eyes and smooth cheeks made him look like a kid but practically every girl in the world thought he was ‘boyishly handsome’. He had thick eyebrows and a scar slanted across the left one. It was a relic from the car accident that killed his father about seven years ago. He was the same height as Aryan, 5’11”, with the third power of completely pure water. Last year he won second place for having the widest extent of control over his third power.
“How bad is it?” Kaysan said.
“Pretty bad,” Humair said. “He’ll need an hour to heal completely. And he won’t be able to move much at first so I’ll have to carry him.”
“No way! I’ll be fine. Just wait for me a few minutes.”
“And wait for the police too,” Kaysan said, rolling his eyes. “Let’s take him to my house. My mom’s out.”
After a lot of groaning and grumbling, Aryan agreed to let Humair carry him to Kaysan’s house. Aryan and Humair went to Kaysan’s room. Kaysan fetched the first aid kit and two clean T-shirts (Humair’s one was stained with Aryan’s blood and Aryan had burned his one into ashes). The two of them bandaged Aryan’s injuries as he explained to them what had happened. Usually they didn’t require bandages since they healed much faster than the average human. And the cuts on Aryan’s legs were not serious, most of them had already healed. But the wounds on his torso needed more than his powerful immunity system.
“That doesn’t make sense,” said Humair, when they were done. “Ecmersotios are supposed to be afraid of fire. All monsters of the Krypherochia genus loath heat.” It took Aryan a while to remember that Ecmersotio was the original name of a Frost Lion. Referring to monsters by their ‘nicknames’ was a practice which began about twenty years ago. It started as a quicker way of communication in the Security Department but soon it spread to nearly all of the departments. Research and Medical were the only exceptions and Humair was destined to join the Research Department when he would turn eighteen.
“I know,” Aryan said, irritated. “That’s why I was on fire. To scare them.”
“So how can they attack you even when your arms were on fire?” Humair said. “And still continue attacking when your entire upper body ignited? That’s impossible.”
“But it’s true!” He put on Kaysan’s T-shirt as he spoke. It was a plain black one, as were all of Kaysan’s T-shirts. Man, if he’s going to wear black then at least wear one with an AC DC picture or something. This looks so boring. No other color could be found in Kaysan’s wardrobe, not even a pair of blue jeans. All he needs are some black nail polish, eyeliner and ta-da! He’s a Goth. “Those things kept clawing at me even while they were burning. They even tore up my six packs! Thank goodness chicks dig scars. I’ve got hundreds of them now.”
“You hit your head while fighting?” Kaysan asked.
Aryan groaned.
“There’s nothing wrong with my head! It’s those monsters! Right after they roared like crazy. It was like they didn’t care about getting burnt. They kept attacking till I gave them a Hot Bath. Even then they were biting me until a few seconds before you guys showed up. I’m telling you, those things committed suicide.”
Humair frowned.
“Monsters have always been fighting for survival. All animals are like that. Even the animals of Earth will do anything in their power to live. It’s in their genes. And that’s why monsters come to Earth in the first place. Earth is a much better habitat than Elnath.”
“I know that. But I don’t think those Frost Lions did.”
“But none of this makes sense. Unless there was a mutation, monsters will never suicide. There have been mutations in the past but that is extremely rare. And for Frost Lions, the rate of mutation is one per ten thousand. The chances of finding six mutants together on Earth is so low that it’s nearly impossible.”
Aryan rolled his eyes.
“Dude, just forget about it, ok? Those Frost Lions are dead! They probably got some brain damage while crossing the space bridge, that’s all.”
At that moment, Humair’s Tracker began to ring. He answered it and soon looked horrified. But that look was quickly replaced by a grim one. He was already heading towards the door before hanging up.
“I’ll explain when we get there,” was all he said before running off at supersonic speed. Aryan and Kaysan followed.
A few minutes later, they were standing on the rooftop of a building opposite a shopping mall. Most of the glass was shattered on the lower levels of the mall. From the shops’ bright lighting, they could see that everything inside the mall was broken and out of place, as though a hurricane had passed through. It was also deserted, unlike the street in front of it. Under the streetlamp’s orange glare, Aryan could see a huge crowd had gathered. More than half of it consisted of the police and reporters. The air was charged with tension. You can almost smell the fear.
“The group is of considerable size,” Humair said, assessing the damage. He turned to the others and frowned. “What are you doing here? You’re supposed to be resting at Kaysan’s.”
“No way,” Aryan said. “I’m fine. Seriously.” A little sore but fine. And there’s no way I’m missing the action. “So what’s in there?”
“Farhan said it was a group of Bone Claws.”
“Farhan? Is he from Security? I’ve never heard of him.”
“No, he’s from Media.” When he saw Aryan’s questioning look, he elaborated. “Remember the guy who was singing ‘Moves of a Jagger’ on New Year’s Eve, before he tripped on a wire and fell off the stage? That’s Farhan.”
“Oh yeah, now I remember.” On some other night he would have laughed at that memory but not tonight. Kaysan still looked confused, but that was probably because he never attended any party at Base or, as far as Aryan knew, any party in general.
“Why did Farhan call us?” Kaysan said. Oh so that’s why he looked confused.
“It’s due to the monsters’ erratic behavior,” Humair said. “They attacked the mall about an hour ago. It was evacuated and a SWAT team infiltrated it before Security could send their own. They sent Team 230409 to rescue the SWAT team. Unfortunately, there were only three survivors by the time they arrived. They managed to get the survivors out but they couldn’t deal with all of the Bone Claws. Two of their teammates have been taken to Medical due to the severity of their injuries.”
“That’s a lot of Bone Claws,” Aryan said.
“Yeah. There’s over a hundred witnesses claiming that the mall was attacked by strange ‘animals’. Currently the death toll is forty-two.”
“So why are we just standing here? Let’s go!”
“No. We wait for Farhan’s call. He and Amelia are going to cut the power so that no one can see us.”
“Weird,” Kaysan said. “The Bone Claws attacked a mall. They hate lights. So why attack a brightly-lit mall?”
“Told you so,” Aryan said. “Monsters have gone wacko. I got trashed up by fire-addicted Frost Lions. And now we have light-loving Bone Claws.”
At that moment the lights went out, shrouding the mall in darkness. Now no one can see what lies inside. Things sure are getting pretty dangerous tonight. Just the way I like it.
Humair’s Tracker rang. He had a short conversation before hanging up.
“That was Farhan?” Aryan said, eagerly.
“Yeah. We have one hour till the power is restored. He suggested that we use minimal lighting. So Aryan, I want you to light up your fists when we get inside. Don’t do anything brighter than that until we’re right at the center of the mall. Come on.”
They entered the mall in their supersonic speed. It was still cool inside and unusually quiet. A horrible smell hung about the mall. Aryan sprouted little flames from his fists, dimly illuminating the site. The first thing he saw was a dismembered arm, which startled him. Then he realized it was the arm of a mannequin. Dude, stop being such an idiot. Shattered glass and dozens of CDs littered the front of the store next to him. Earrings sparkled from the floor of the one beside the first. Finally, Aryan found the source of the stench and he felt slightly nauseated. Thick trails of blood marked the floor. In the flickering firelight the blood looked like spilt ink. It looked as if victims had been dragged across after they were attacked. A pink purse lay next to the beginning of one trail, a white cap and a blue smartphone next to another; items discarded by victims in their last moments. Aryan felt as though he had plunged into a horror film.
“Where are all the Bone Claws?” he demanded. His words sounded too loud in the oppressive silence.
“They escaped?” Kaysan said. There was disappointment in his voice.
“We need to check,” Humair said. “And we meet back here in five minutes. Shout if you find anything.”
Humair emitted bright sparks from his fist and Kaysan took out a flashlight. Then they split up and began to search. Aryan found more blood trails in four shops. But as he entered the fifth, he found a disgusting mass of flesh at the end of a trail. It took him a few seconds to realize what it was. Nausea and dizziness hit him as he tore his eyes away from the body. That was how Bone Claws earned their nickname from the Security Department; they never ate flesh, they ate bones. He had taken only one step away when a monster pounced on his shoulder, grazing his back. Fire burst out from his forearms. He pulled the spidery monster off and kept punching it till it died. He continued to punch it even after it was dead. Finally he managed to stumble out of the shop.
He stood still for a few minutes and tried to regain his composure. Most of the time, his team had managed to stop monsters before they could kill anyone. He had encountered corpses only on five occasions ever since he started hunting monsters, which was at the age of nine. The first time he had seen a corpse was when he was only thirteen. This was the first time he found a victim who had been dead long enough for the smell of decay to set in.
“There you are! Found anything?” Humair asked as he appeared. Aryan nodded his head towards the shop behind him.
“Bone Claws,” Humair said softly, after taking a quick look. “They have the most repulsive eating habits I’ve ever seen.”
“There was one in there,” Aryan said. “I got rid of it.”
“Only one?”
“Hey guys!” Kaysan shouted. Aryan and Humair made their way to him. He was waiting near the center of the mall, standing next to the elevators. As they approached, Aryan caught the stench of death again. He couldn’t help shiver.
“The Bone Claws piled their leftovers right next to the escalators,” Kaysan said, pointing beyond the railing behind him. Although he looked like his usual calm and vigilant self, his voice shook slightly. For him, that meant he was really freaked out. “It’s better if you don’t see it. But is this normal Bone Claw behavior?”
“No,” Humair said. “All monsters abandon their prey after they’re done. This is completely anomalous. I don’t know what to expect anymore.”
Suddenly a growl startled them. They looked back at the center of the mall. Crawling out of the darkness on every floor, an entire army of creatures with shining fangs emerged.
Bone Claws.
Aryan felt something stir behind him. He spun around and saw more Bone Claws. They were surrounded.
Weird. There was never enough Bone Claws to take over a café and now this? Billions of them, all crowding around the three of us, getting ready to munch on our bones? Weird.
The Bone Claws inched towards the team from all sides. Their scrawny quadruped bodies were about three foot long with no eyes like the Frost Lion. But they had no fur, only scaly green-black skin. Thick ten-inch claws jutted out from their limbs. They also had two mouths; one big mouth with huge pointy fangs and another small one inside the first with short molars for grinding bones.
“Where were they?” Kaysan said.
“Don’t know and don’t care,” Aryan said. Anger blazed in him. The little freaks took out a mall. They killed so many defenseless people. His face ignited. “First monsters to attack are the first to taste defeat.”
As if they heard Aryan, the Bone Claws pounced on them. He made a wide stream of fire pour out of his hands, burning all of the monsters