Children of a Lesser God

Chapter 309: It Awakens

No one knew.

Laz had no idea. He had been sent here by giant forest spirits because here was where he needed to be, or so he figured. Even after the gate though, he wasn't sure. Yeah, it was a thing. A big thing. But that didn't mean he needed to be a part of it. He got some nice things from it, things he hasn't even had a chance to take a look at.

But did that mean he needed to be there? No. Laz had thought about that since he got out and started hunting the bugs. Ironically, while running, he had a lot of time to think.

There was more to take into consideration as well. He didn't know that groups were gathering. He had the feeling that after making the live stream, there would be some response from the government and probably from the chosen. That was kind of the plan with doing so. Give the people a look at an actual infected who was fine with his abilities while showing that the ones who were suppose to be protecting the people weren't actually doing anything.

There was no deeper part to the plan than this. Little did he know just how successful this strategy was.

...

"I can't believe he did this..." Leona said, watching clips. She, Ruby, Malene and Kennedy along with Vivi were sitting in the hotel room while watching clips that had been uploaded to social media sites.

"Look at how many views this one has gotten. Over 8 million. I mean, I don't know how much the other ones got so far, mostly due to them being taken down almost as fast as they are being uploaded. But since anyone can put the video up with a new account, people just keep loading up as soon as the big ones are taken down," Malene pointed out.

"I honestly didn't think he was this... smart?" Vivi questioned. She had been the one to find the video after looking around for information about what was happening in the city.

"This does seem a bit... genius. I mean, looking at it from all angles. Sure you've got the idiot trolls who are just on here talking shit left and right. But there are many other's who have been sharing some stories of their own. It's not just evil us anymore. But... from our boy?"

"I don't think he intended this when he did it. Or, I should say, I don't think he knew it would be this big when he did it. He probably thought he'd just be a jerk and tell people that he's saving lives while the government and the chosen are letting people die. That would be where his thoughts stopped. But now... it's almost like he's created a sub culture. How the hell does that boy keep getting so lucky. The little bastard..." Kennedy added with a smile.

After a moment of silence with no responses, she looked up to find the Leona, Malene and Ruby all looked a little red in the face while not making eye contact. Vivi, on the other hand, was just trying not to laugh.

"What?" Stern faced Kennedy asked.

"Nothing," The girls all said at once, not commenting. They knew she missed him most of all, but that for reasons she kept making up, she was avoiding him.

...

"I go away for just a few days. Just to unwind and get some rest after having worked my ass off. AND I COME BACK TO THIS?" Tommy yelled, throwing stuff around the mobile command center that Agent Wallace and his team was using. Although he seemed pissed off at Agent Wallace, Tommy wasn't a complete idiot either. He knew the man in front of him had no power to order around any of the Chosen. Even if Tommy had told them to listen to him, they would find some way around that.

What he was pissed off about was that now he had more work to do during this public relations nightmare.

"How the hell do some kids using fucking cell phones manage to gather a larger audience then almost every single national news network, huh?"

Besides just the PR nightmare, the other big problem was that this video had been seen by more citizens in the country than anything they had put out about the dangers of the infected. In fact, the video had even began circulation around the world, with hostile nations using it as fodder to attack the US's response to this crisis.

"Alright. Everyone out. Get back to what you should be getting back to," Agent Wallace kicked his people out once he figured out that there was nothing useful that was going to be coming from Tommy who actually appeared to be drunk.

"Sir. Although now isn't the best time, it's better to do something now than nothing," Agent Wallace suggested..

"And what the hell should that be, eh?" Tommy snapped back, staggering.

"Get your people out there, walking the streets. Have them meet up with some of our teams and make it showy. Then, when people ask where they have been, we just say they have been here the whole time, helping out," Wallace responded.

"So we just act like we been helping out all along?" Tommy seemed to grasp the idea.

"Yes. After all, who could say otherwise?"

"Excellent. I'll make the call right now," Tommy said, taking out his phone.

Agent Wallace got up and left the tent to where a few of his subordinates were waiting.

"Is it done sir?" One of them asked.

"Yes. He's assigning some chosen to come assist. I'll see who's coming and get them with the ground teams," Agent Wallace informed them while rubbing the bridge of his nose.

"Is the young sir in there... ok?

"He's drunk. And he brought his pet so make sure the press stay the hell away from him for right now. I need to go report in now that we have a solution."

"Yes sir!" The agent said, walking off to make arrangements.

"These chosen are fucking useless. The sooner we can control them, the better off we will be. I hope those ass hats in Research and Development have some good news for me soon or I am seriously going to start shooting these fuckers..." Agent Wallace said to himself while dialing a number on his cell and walking away into a quieter corner.

...

Laz had no idea the girls were in town and also had no idea that Tommy was gathering chosen to come help out the clean up efforts as a way to save face. Instead, Laz was standing over the two dead bodies of the invaders while looking at the ground in wonder.

Laz had killed fifteen of them at this point, but this time was strange. Not only had he found two of them together, but after they died, a strange, reddish black circle spread out from underneath their bodies, looking like a scorch mark on the ground.

He had checked it out closely, even using his fingers to try to break the line of the circle, but to no avail. It was like it was there, but it also wasn't there.

What was more surprising was that there were more circles that had spread out from the remains of some of the regular humans the bug like creatures had killed.

All in all, nine such circles appeared all at once while Laz was watching. They flashed briefly while a star was formed inside of them, then, just as quickly as they appeared, the stars vanished, leaving behind just the outline of the circle.

Laz pinched himself several times to make sure he hadn't accidently fallen asleep.

'Seriously... What the hell is this now?' Laz asked himself, not having anyone else to ask.

In a moment of desperation, Laz decided to just try whatever.

"Hey. Golden glob in my head... What am I looking at here?" Laz asked the sealed drop of blood that was hanging out inside of him, floating around his foundational base like a tiny sun.

Laz didn't expect anything, which made it that much stranger when he got a response.

What came to him wasn't words or a direct answer, but more like a string of pictures in a slideshow that took place in his head.

After more than a minute of darkness with one picture after another flashing in front of him, Laz got the gist of what it was saying.

Knowing this, Laz decided to sit back down on the slightly smashed carcass of the bug and close his eyes. The beaming of the pictures to his brain wasn't a pleasant experience. But what he learned hurt so much worse.

...

"My goddess!"

Freya stood before the crystal coffin and bowed low to the being resting inside.

:Is everything ready?: came the gentle reply.

"It is. Everyone is already on their way to retrieve the bodies and attempt to capture a few of the invaders alive."

:Excellent my girl.:

"I'm surprised that these bodies could be of such use to you, my goddess. Had Helen known, she would have had our people bring some back from the gate," Freya said with a frown. Although the things they brought back were pretty good, none of them were powerful enough the help their goddess awaken sooner. But the blood of these creatures was a good tonic she didn't want to miss out on after she had heard about the situation.

Just as they were both thinking about their next steps, Freya got a call from one of her teams.

"Mistress. We've located one of the bodies and checked it, but it seems like there is no blood left in it."

"That's odd. Most of the kills Laz was doing didn't involve the things bleeding. Move on to the next one." Freya commanded before hanging up the phone.

Her goddess had heard everything that was said, but neither of them minded too much. After all, things had a tendency to bleed out when being killed, although to have no blood left in the body at all was a bit unusual.

The strange part came when Helen's team and another team reported similar circumstances which left both Freya and her goddess confused.

:Is there anything strange around the bodies?: The goddess asked from inside her coffin.

"Is there anything strange around the bodies?" Freya relayed the message while talking with Helen.

"There's this burned out circle that looks really weird. It's like someone scorched a circle around the bodies."

Freya then relayed what was said.

:GET EVERYONE BACK HERE NOW!:

Freya was shocked at first, never having heard her goddess raise her voice. In that moment though, Freya felt like the lowliest of ants crawling on the ground in front of a heavenly queen who's very voice could alter the fabric of reality.

It took her several minutes to wake herself out of that delusion.

:Now... Hurry!:

The goddess seemed to have realized that she had let a part of her power out unintentionally and tried to calm down Freya who then told Helen to return to the restaurant as soon as possible. Freya then sent the same message to the other teams and told them to cancel the mission and return.

"What's wrong my goddess?" Freya asked, still shaken.

:It's too soon. Way too soon. But the creatures coming in must have resonated with the buried one. This is a huge problem. And once this one awakens, more will come even sooner than expected. They will sense each other and make a move.. this....:

The sleeping beauty in the coffin was communicating to Freya while trying to sort out her thoughts, causing everything to become garbled and leaving Freya confused.

Just when Freya was going to ask again, a rumbling could be heard, coming deep from the ground.

...

Laz stood up and spread his sense as deep as it could go, but even then he was able to sense nothing.

"Is it just an earthquake?" Laz mumbled to himself, but the bad feeling wasn't going away.

He knew what the circle meant. In terms of the golden drop of blood, something this crude was barely even worth it knowing about, but it had many instances of memories of tiny worlds that suffered from this before.

Laz really, really wanted to believe it was just an earthquake.

...

The rumbling happened all over and could be felt by everyone. As it got stronger and stronger, people started to panic thinking that there was a full fledged earthquake going on. But soon enough, the rumbling stopped and the city was quiet again.

No one knew that in the basement of the St Louis Cathedral, the floor began to buckle and bend upwards as something eerie started to rise up from the ground.