Shadow at college, p.4
Shadow at College,
p.4
Sean nodded. "Right after breakfast.
"You know you will have to start looking for work soon."
Sean nodded again and sighed. "Yes, I know, and after the last four years of hunting, the game is getting kind of thin here."
"Which means it is time for you to bring your gift to another place more deserving of your abilities."
Sean sighed. "I'm going to miss you, Teru. I think I'll even miss scrubbing the floor."
Miyamoto chuckled at that. "Masters shouldn't scrub floors anyway. Besides, you'll have another semester or two, with your new studies."
"True," Sean said, finishing his breakfast. "Well, I guess I should go see what the registrar has for me."
One Last Hunt
Sean lay in the darkness, quiet, patient, waiting. In his full panther form, time had little meaning, so he didn't get bored; he knew his prey would show soon, he had staked this one out over a week ago when he'd taken down the leader of their little 'group'. He'd made that death look like a suicide; he didn't want the other members to run, of course, until he was ready to act. Now he was finally down to the last member. He'd already taken care of five others this weekend, and by now this one should be in a panic.
The last year had been a very fruitful one; his new hybrid form had made hunting so much easier that he'd finished up with the monsters in Philadelphia much faster than he'd have thought possible, easily avoiding the supers, now that he'd been able to change his mode of operation. Then of course there was his new 'healing' form he'd gained prior to starting out on this last hunt before leaving Philadelphia, now that his studies were complete.
All that extra studying at school for the background to create his healing form had brought a second and completely unexpected benefit: he'd been recruited to a leading biotechnology firm in Boston and received a fairly lavish offer due to his 4.0 average over the last five years.
Tomorrow, he'd say his goodbyes to Miyamoto and the city. But before he left, he had this one last group to deal with. He'd had to range farther than he ever had before to find them, making several long trips after a tip he'd dug out of the phone of another recent kill of his bore fruit.
The garage door opened as he was pondering that, and a car pulled in, the door closing behind it once it stopped. The single light of the garage door opener was the only thing providing illumination in the room, as the driver turned the engine off and got out of the car.
"Now I want you to go pack your things, Jeremy," the man getting out of the car said as a young boy got out of the passenger's side.
Sean looked at the boy; he was probably eleven, twelve tops.
"Does this mean I get to join the circus?" the boy said, looking excited.
"Yes, Jeremy. It does. So make sure you pack all your things, don't leave anything behind."
"Oh, boy! Thanks, Dad! Will Danny be there? Can I call him?"
"Let's surprise him, okay? Now, go get your things together. I need to call Mr. Preston."
"We're not going over to his house, are we?" Sean could hear the distaste in the boy's voice.
"Don't backtalk me, Jeremy!" he said angrily. "Unless you don't want to go to the circus?"
"I'm sorry," the boy said, though Sean didn't think he really meant it, and the boy quickly left the garage.
Sean watched as the man pulled out his cell phone and dialed a number.
"Come on, Stan!" he muttered. "Answer, answer the damn phone!"
Sean stood on the beam he was on and stretched quietly. The man swore, hung up, and dialed another number as he went around the back of the car and opened the trunk, throwing a shovel and some blankets in.
"Damn it! Where is everybody?" he said and swore again.
Sean dropped down onto the floor, shifting into his hybrid form in the process. He landed lightly behind the guy, who didn't hear him.
"He's dead," Sean growled, rising up behind him. "I killed him this afternoon."
"AH!" the man yelled and jumped, turning around facing Sean, his eyes going wide as the scent of his panic filled the air. "Who…what are you?"
"So little Jeremy is going to join the circus, is he?" Sean said, giving a pointed glance at the blankets and shovel in the trunk of the car. "How many other boys have you sent to the circus?"
"Get away from me! I'll call the cops!" he said, raising his cell phone.
"Go ahead, call them. I'm sure they'll want to know how a ten-year-old runaway ended up living at your house. And after they question the boy, I'm sure they'll want to have a few words with you."
"I'll kill you, then!" he said and drew a gun from under his jacket.
But he wasn't fast enough; Sean grabbed his arm and bent it back, forcing the gun under the man's chin.
"Guess you're the one who's going to be joining the circus this time, you sick bastard!" Sean growled and waited until realization showed in the man's eyes, then he pulled the trigger, giving a satisfied rumble as his prey's brains splattered the wall behind him.
Taking the phone, Sean let the body fall to the floor, and then pressed the emergency button to call 911 on it, as he set the phone and a carefully prepared suicide note on the trunk of the car, away from the blood splatter.
Walking around the parked car to the door to that led into the house, he jammed the door with a screwdriver so Jeremy wouldn't have to see the body of the man who'd kidnapped him and spent the last two years raping him. Sean had now killed all the members of this ring and freed twenty-one young boys. It had been a good hunt, and while it had taken several long weeks to find all the people in this ring, he felt a sense of accomplishment that these groups were getting harder and harder to find in this area. Obviously his efforts over the last few years were thinning out the ranks.
It was definitely time to move on to Boston, where he was sure the hunting would once again be plentiful.
Somewhere a detective was scratching his head, or would be soon, looking at another string of deaths that seemed to be too much of a coincidence to be just that. Of course once the obvious conclusions were reached, someone else would tell the detective to stop wasting his time and put him on a case that people cared about. While not everyone approved of Sean's methods, enough did that it made his job easier.
Taking a last look around to make sure nothing was left behind, Sean left the way he’d come, got in his car, and drove back to the dojo. With any luck, he'd make it by sunrise, and soon, soon he'd have a whole new city full of fresh prey to offer him. A whole new city of victims to save.
He couldn't wait.
End
Afterword
I hope you enjoyed this short piece about how Sean began the journey that ended with him becoming Shadow. This has always been a part of his back story, most of it living in my notes. I had a version of this that was originally a part of the story I published, but I felt it really didn't work with the larger book, so I removed it.
In this world, Shadow is what's known as 'An Avenger', a super who gains their power after a horrific incident, one usually perpetrated against them by an evil person. They then go on to hunt those evil people, regardless of the cost. Their single-mindedness and focus leads to a lack of social skills, isolation, and at times insanity. Sean's chance encounter with Miyamoto, a skilled martial artist and a former prosecutor who has seen the worse men can do to each other, is what saved him.
Miyamoto gave him discipline and taught him how to use his powers. He also didn’t judge Sean; in fact, he believed strongly in what Sean was doing. This discipline and acceptance not only helped Sean with his 'calling', but it kept him from losing his mind and going insane, and also taught him how to cope with the outside world.
As always, if you enjoyed this story, please take the time to leave a positive review. I do have more stuff on Shadow, stories from times both during and after the novel. The biggest thought now is whether to put them out as shorts, or try to string them together into a more coherent novel.
Thanks!
-Jan Stryvant / John Van Stry
Jan Stryvant, Shadow at College
