Festering Evil: Shattered Past Book 4

Testing Grounds

David was sitting at the kitchen counter, eating one of his favorite creations, a roast beef melt with garlic powder. His older sister taught him how to cook when he was younger, and his enjoyment of it only seemed to grow. He had taken another bite before his ghost floated outward.

"Uh, David?" Geneva asked him.

"Yeah G, what's up?" He asked swallowing the bite of his sandwich.

"You've got an incoming comms call, it's from the Cosmodrome."

"Alright, patch it through," David said to her. The comms call was patched through to him, and David didn't hear anything at first. "Hello?" He asked.

"Hi there." A voice said to him. David's eyes widened, that wasn't a voice he recognized, nor one he remembered sharing his comms number with.

"Who are you?"

"Your Uncle and I have something that I need to tell you," He said to the boy. "Your family members are in grave danger, I have them captured down here with me, and if you want to have any hope of keeping them alive, you need to come to these coordinates." Upgrade threatened. David's eyes stayed wide.

"You're bluffing." He said.

"How about I show you?" He said displaying a feed of cameras with his family members in tow.

"No......" David said shocked.

"And just to make sure that my threat is credible." He said delivering a shock to all four of them. David wanted to cry, his family was in trouble, and he was the only one who could save them. "Clock's ticking David. You'd better hurry."

"David.....don't....go," James muttered before the feed cut to static.

"D-Dad?" He questioned before he sat down on the ground and started crying. "I can't do this...I-I can't." He said putting his face on his arms that were crossed over his knees. Geneva flew close to him.

"David?"

"I can't save them, Geneva, I'm not strong enough," He said to her honestly. He'd never felt so hopeless in his entire life, they were in danger, being tortured and he couldn't do anything. He just wanted to disappear and never be seen again, for this issue to just go away. It was much more than just a bullying incident at school where he'd cry himself to sleep at night, there were lives at stake here. Worst of all it fell on him to save them. He couldn't go to anyone for help, that would just put more people in danger. He honestly felt stuck.

"David, what's wrong?" She asked him.

"I can't.....I can't." He sniffled.

"You can't what?"

"I can't save them, Geneva, I'm not strong enough." He cried.

"Yes, you are."

"No, I'm not, look at me. I'm just a kid, the people who he's captured had a hundred plus years more experience than me."

"That won't matter David,"

"Yes, it will!" He yelled. "Don't tell me it won't, I was in over my head from the start." He said to her looking up for a moment to see the black and purple ghost. "It was just like the bullies at school said, it was a stupid dream."

"David, look at me," Geneva ordered him.

"What?" He sniffled looking at her.

"The way that you're acting right now, that was exactly how I felt when your parents chose me to be your ghost." She said floating close to him. "You know what was the other reason why your parents wanted you to be a guardian?" Geneva asked him.