Toby walked through the woods with his hands in his pockets, clicking his teeth together, looking for the house that Alex had come from. He took off his goggles and stared into the night. With Alex’s death, Alex’s friends James and Michelle were Toby’s next targets. He saw a shed, walked towards it, and tried the door. It was locked. Toby looked around, and, convinced that no one was around, kicked the door in! He found nothing he could use, no food, no water. He was about to leave when he saw a box in the back of the shed. Toby cocked his head at a fifty degree angle, causing his neck to crack loudly as he walked towards the box.
Toby slowly lifted the lid and removed two small pick-like objects, and a belt with holsters for them. “This will do nicely,” Toby said to himself. He heard a noise coming from behind him, and whirled around, picks in hand. He saw the house he was searching for, and in its backyard he saw a person talking to a girl. It was James! A memory flashed through Toby’s mind of laying on the ground with a cut on his forehead while James, Michelle, and Alex laughed at him. Toby shook with rage, slipped the picks into his belt, and started for the house.
As he peeked through the bushes and scanned the backyard, the light from the house hurt his eyes so much that he pulled his goggles on. There were nine people in the yard, and Toby wanted them all to fear him!
Toby drew his weapons, vaulted the fence, and started walking toward James. One of the boys saw him, yelling, “Hey, you! You weren’t invited!” Toby kept walking. “Hey Marcus, he has a weapon!” Toby recalled that Marcus was the local tough guy, and what better way to make these people fear him then by taking him out?
Marcus grabbed a beer bottle, saying “I can take this guy easy!” in a tone rich with bravado. He raised the bottle and smashed it over Toby’s forehead.
Toby felt the cold liquid running over his head and looked Marcus in the face, unflinching.
“H-how did you?” Marcus stammered.
“I have a syndrome that prevents me from feeling pain,” Toby said while rubbing glass from his hood. “You, on the other hand, look perfectly healthy!”
Toby grabbed Marcus’ arm and twisted his wrist! There was a horrible cracking sound and Marcus buckled. Toby had plenty of leverage and he decided to show everyone that he was not weak or scared to use force. He grabbed the back of Marcus’ head and slammed him face down onto a lit gas stove on a table! With was a horrid sizzling noise and a high pitched screech, Marcus fell to the floor clutching his face, causing the stove to topple to the ground, alighting shrubs next to the house.
One of Marcus’ friends threw a punch at Toby, but Toby side stepped and buried his picks in the boy’s back.
James watched in terror as Toby ripped his weapons from his victim’s back, then started to advance. Toby kicked James to the ground, and raised his pick above his head. James curled into a ball, waiting for the blow that would end his life to come.
It never did.
Unbeknownst to James, Toby had sought him out because he’d recalled that after being taunted while injured on the ground, James had waited until the others had left, and given Toby a helping hand up. He opened his eyes and saw that Toby had his hand extended toward him. James took it and stood up.
“Do you remember me?” Toby asked.
“Toby, it’s you, right?”
Toby locked eyes with James. “Alex and Michelle made your life miserable. The only reason you stayed with them was because you were scared, right?”
James nodded his head.
“Good, then you’ll tell me exactly where Michelle is.”
