Endangered: the Demons of M.a.

Endangered: The Demons of Monstrum Academy Pt. 1

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© 2024 S. Round. All rights reserved. No part of this story may be reproduced in any form without permission in writing from the author. All sexually active characters in this work are eighteen (18) years of age or older.

*****

Prologue

Bill was sure that he had the most boring job in the world. All day long he sat at his desk staring at his computer screen. He watched the program do its work and fixed any issues that came up, not that any ever did. Nothing ever happened at this job, good or bad. Most of his workday was spent looking through his social media accounts. It was so boring that he almost wished there would be a catastrophic failure of some sort just to break up the monotony.

The program was simple. It compiled data from doctors around the country about their patient's blood tests. The doctors knew that the government was looking for something important, but they weren't allowed to know what. All they needed to know was what sort of tests they needed to run. Any time blood was drawn, these special tests were done on the blood unbeknownst to the donor. All the results from these millions of tests ended up passing through the program on Bill's computer. And they never showed a positive match.

They had been searching for years and not even one positive result had been found. Every now and then, there was something that showed some possibilities, but it always ended up being a testing error when looked into deeper. Bill no longer believed that they would ever find what they were looking for. Years of seeing negative results had stripped him of any hope he might have had in the beginning. But they kept paying him, so he kept doing his job.

Besides monitoring the results, Bill was also responsible for troubleshooting any problems that arose in the program. However, the most that ever amounted to were a few clicks and a forced restart. It was never long before he was able to return his attention to whatever new video was making its way across the internet.

Bill sighed as he wondered if maybe it was time to look for a new job. It was still early in the morning, which was a bad sign. Usually, his frustration only boiled over towards the end of the day. His stomach started to rumble too, further adding to his problems since it was still a good two hours before lunch. Deciding that he needed a break, he got up and made his way out of his office and towards the vending machines down the hall.

He stopped in front of the machines and prepared himself to make the biggest decision of his workday. Snickers, Reese's, or Skittles? Making the wrong choice here could be devastating. Or at least it could leave him slightly dissatisfied. After a few moments he punched in the number and retrieved his prize. You could never go wrong with a Reese's.

Bill walked back to his office and settled into his desk chair. He ripped open the package and finished off the first cup in a flash. The delicious treat hit the spot, and he knew it was the right decision. He was halfway finished with the second cup before he noticed something was wrong.

His hand was frozen in midair as he stared dumbfounded at his computer screen. A bright red notification was flashing a two-word message. It said something that he had never seen before in all his years there on the job. Positive match.

"Whoa, what!?" Bill said.

He sprang into action and opened the results that the program had flagged. He was sure that it was simply an error of some kind. It couldn't have really found a match, right? He looked over the blood analysis and didn't see anything that might cause a false positive. Then he checked to make sure that the program itself was functioning properly. Everything seemed to be perfectly fine.

Bill's pulse began to race as he continued to check for and eliminate each possible error the program might have made. Finally, he forced the program to run the results again. He ran it over and over, but every time it said the same thing. Positive Match.

"Oh my God."

With a shaky hand he reached for his phone and dialed his boss's number. Three rings later someone picked up on the other side.

"Hello, sir? I think we found something."

*****

A meeting was called the day after the positive results came in. All the top directors of the overseeing council were gathered. The council consisted of eight members, four women and four men. As head of the department responsible for search and data projects, Armand was made to present the findings to the imposing group of high-ranking officials.

It would be his first time ever speaking to any of them, so he was quite nervous. The men and women in this room were some of the most powerful individuals in the country, but they weren't people that the public would recognize. They were in charge of secretive government programs that had great sway over the daily lives of people all around the world. Obviously, they couldn't advertise their positions. But Armand knew just how much power they had due to working within the agency for nearly twenty years. Clearing his throat, he nervously started his presentation.

"So, as you no doubt have already heard," Armand said. "We have received a positive match through our blood analysis project. We checked the results for any possible errors, but it's the real deal."

Armand used the touch screen monitor mounted on the wall to show the executives the details of the findings. There were several slides explaining the markers found in the subject's DNA and the probability of finding such an individual. Being very conscious of how precious the council's time was, he wrapped it up as succinctly as possible.

"We started running this program over ten years ago," he said, ending his presentation. "And this is the only match we have found after running billions of people through. Quite honestly, it feels like a miracle."

Sensing he was done speaking, the council members finally started discussing the findings amongst themselves.

"Definitely a miracle," a portly balding man said. "And just what we need. This man must be brought in under any circumstances."

"Not much of a man," an older grey headed woman said. "He's only a kid. There will be the issue of his parents. We can't just snatch him up."

"This is an issue of national security," a pretty blonde woman spoke for the first time. "We can't worry about hurting anyone's feelings."

"I understand how critical it is that we don't let this kid fall into the wrong hands, but we must remember he's a person, not a thing. We can't simply treat him as an asset."

The blonde simply waved off the comment from the older woman as if it was ridiculous. Armand was observing closely. It was fascinating to learn about the different personalities these mysterious figures had. He was content to be a fly on the wall, but an older gentleman with shoulder length gray hair asked him a question.

"Armand, what all do we know about this kid."

All eyes turned to him again.

"At this time, we don't have much more than what you saw in the presentation," he said. "His name is Evan Matthews, aged 18. He lives with his parents in -"

An explosion boomed through the building, interrupting Armand mid-sentence. The building shook briefly, and everyone in the room braced themselves. Things calmed down soon as they realized the building wasn't coming down. It was only a moment before the portly man phoned someone to get a status report.

"What's happening?" he asked into his phone.

He listened to the person on the other end for a minute before his face got red.

"Don't let her get away!" he shouted before ending the call.

"Security confronted a woman that was caught downloading confidential information," he said. "It was the information about the positive match."

The board members gave each other meaningful glances at the news.

"She triggered a bomb of some kind when they came to arrest her," he continued. "She must have had this planned."

Gunfire erupted from outside, and everyone in the room rushed to the windows to see what was happening. In the direction they looked, there was a stretch of open field before a thick gathering of trees appeared. The building they occupied was the tallest in the area, so they were able to see the chaotic scene below clearly.

They could see a figure running out into the empty field away from the building as security officers chased and shot after her. It looked like she was trying to reach the trees. Armand wondered if it would really be possible to get away like that. He also thought it was crazy she hadn't been shot yet.

It was hard to see her too well from this distance, but Armand could make out a few strange features of her appearance. She had long black hair waving behind her as she ran, but there was also something else there on her head. It looked like she had a couple of long, curled horns sticking out from her skull. As he strained his eyes to catch more details of her appearance, something amazing happened.

The woman stopped in the middle of the field and turned to face her pursuers as something burst into view behind her. It was a dark circle surrounded by wispy dark blue smoke. The officers chasing the woman paused and stumbled at the unexpected sight. Just after the circle appeared, the woman turned back around and jumped into it. The darkness enveloped her, and the blue smoke collapsed in on itself, erasing the dark hole from existence. Nothing but empty field was left behind. The woman was nowhere to be seen.

The gray-haired gentleman that had asked Armand a question earlier sighed loudly.

"We don't have any choice now," he said. "Evan Matthews needs to be brought in as soon as possible..."

Ch. 1

It was finally summer, and young people all over the country were celebrating their newfound freedom from the tyranny of school. Evan Matthews was included in that group, and in his case, it was a celebration of being free from school for good. Now eighteen years old and finished with his graduation, he would never have to set foot in a high school again. So far, this new age of possibilities for his life consisted solely of staying home and playing video games. He would sleep in, eat some food, and plop himself down in front of his TV to play. It had become so routine that he was starting to wear a spot out on the floor where he sat for hours every day. Evan was just settling into this routine once again when there was a knock at his door. He paused his game just as his mother entered the room.

"Plans for the day?" she said.

"Just this," Evan said with a shrug. "Don't really feel like doing much."

"Given any more thought to what you'll do next year?" she said.

"Not sure yet," he said.

"It's fine if you don't want to go to college, but the clock's ticking. You'll need to get enrolled before too long if you do."

"Yeah."

It was a conversation they had gone through several times in the last few months. She was worried about his future, but Evan had no clue what he wanted to do. He had good grades, so college was always in the cards, but he just didn't have any motivation for school any longer. That being said, getting a job wasn't very appealing either.

"You know, I was talking to Josh's mom earlier," she said. "She told me Josh was having the guys over for a little party."

"Yeah, I heard."

"Why don't you go? I'm sure it will be fun, and you might not get many more chances to see those boys once they leave for college."

"Doesn't really sound fun, so I'll pass," Evan said.

"..."

"Doubt they want me to come anyway," he added.

He said the last part under his breath as he resumed playing his game. His eyes were glued to the screen, but he could see the concerned look on his mother's face out of the corner of his eye. He hoped she would take the hint and just leave him alone, but he knew better.

"Evan," she said. "I know things have been rough since graduation night."

"..."

"But you shouldn't be so hard on yourself," she said. "Nobody ever thought you were to blame for what happened."

Evan just shrugged his shoulders and continued playing his game.

"You do know that, right?"

Evan glanced at his mother briefly before returning his attention to the screen. She was looking at him like he was an injured baby deer. He knew it came from a place of love, but it was still embarrassing.

"You going out?" Evan said. "If you are, could you get me some more chips?"

His mom sighed and shook her head. They both knew he was avoiding the subject, but Evan really didn't want to go down that road again.

"Yes, we're going to make a grocery run," she said. "Chips are on the list."

"Ok, cool."

"Alright," she said stepping towards the door. "We'll be leaving in a few. Call us if you remember anything you need while we're gone."

"Will do."

"Love you!"

"Love you too."

Evan heard the front door close five minutes later as his parents left to run errands. He continued playing his game for a little while after that, but it wasn't as fun as it had been before his chat with his mother. He set the controller down and stared up at the bedroom ceiling for a while. He really wished she hadn't brought all that up again.

It was something Evan should have been used to by now. Sometimes it seemed like it was all anyone wanted to talk to him about. His senior year had been difficult, but he knew if he could just get past it, he would be able to start a new, fresh chapter of his life. A chapter where he wouldn't have to keep being reminded of past mistakes. But his graduation wasn't the liberating moment he had hoped for.

Graduation night started off well. All the students were happy to have reached the end, parents were taking a thousand pictures, and there were no last-minute disasters. Evan walked down the aisle with his classmates and took a seat to listen to a few speeches, the first of which came from the principal. He said all the normal things about how amazing the students leaving the school were and how they had such bright futures ahead of them. But it was the end of his speech that changed everything for Evan.

"Not all of this year's graduating class made it here tonight, however," he said. "I am of course speaking of the late Amanda Porter. Her absence has been felt greatly over the last year, and we all miss her dearly. We wanted to include her in tonight's ceremony, so we put together a little something to remember her by. So, I present to you, a short video memorial in her honor."

The blood drained from Evan's face immediately upon hearing that name. He sat frozen, staring at the seat in front of him as the video played. He couldn't bring himself to look at the screen, but he did start to notice something else around him. Several of his classmates began to glance in his direction. He met a few of their eyes as he avoided watching the video. Most quickly turned away, but a few held firm. Evan shook as he imagined what they must be thinking.

The only saving grace was the short length of the video. It ended after a few minutes and earned a round of applause from the crowd. The rest of the ceremony proceeded as normal from there, but Evan couldn't remember much of what had happened then. He had mentally checked out. It was about the only thing he could do to stop himself from causing a scene. He knew he had walked across the stage and received his diploma, but he had no idea how it had happened. The only thing he really remembered about that last part of the night was how the sneaky glances in his direction continued to pour in.

Evan felt judged and blamed by his peers just like he had at the beginning of the school year. It had lessened as the year went by, but the tribute video stirred up everyone's emotions again. Combine that with pressure from his family to make something of his life, and it was no wonder his anxiety was at an all-time high. It was a lot for anyone to handle, but Evan was still a teenager, just taking his first steps into adulthood. His response to it all was to shut down and escape into games. But even a game junkie like Evan knew that wasn't a good response to his problems. That was probably why he couldn't keep playing after talking with his mom. Zoning out again for the day was making him feel too guilty.

Evan decided he would do what his parents wanted and look at some prospects for his future. He grabbed his laptop and went downstairs to browse in comfort. The family's two dogs, a pug and a golden lab, were excited to see him, but they quickly returned to napping when he settled into his spot on the living room couch. Evan got to work browsing for jobs online. He was looking at jobs that appealed to him and paying attention to what the requirements were for candidates. The hope was that he might find the perfect job that required no degree, but it would have also been fine finding a job that might finally inspire him to pursue further education.

Evan scrolled job postings for half an hour before he had all he could take. It never took long. He decided he needed a break and went to get a snack from the kitchen. The two dogs excitedly followed him knowing his destination and hoping for a treat of their own. Normally the two would be stuck to his mother, but they would settle for him when nobody else was around. He was fending off the two dogs from the cookies he had acquired when there was a knock at the front door. He was annoyed knowing that it was most likely someone selling something. Normally, he would never be the one answering the door, but he felt obligated to with his parents away.

Evan opened the door to find a group of four strangers. Three of them were wearing black suits. The fourth was a raven-haired woman wearing a white summer dress and a matching wide brimmed hat. It was the woman in the dress that spoke first.

"Hello," she said. "Are you Evan Matthews?"

"Uhh, yeah, I am," he said. "What's up?'

"It's a pleasure to meet you, Evan. My name is Mariana Vaduva. My associates and I were hoping to talk to you about an exciting opportunity we have for you that we think you will be most interested in."

Evan wanted to just close the door in their faces and be done with it, but he thought that would be too rude. He was also curious about how these people knew his name. There weren't many visitors that showed up at the house looking for him after all.

"What kind of opportunity?" he said.

"Might we come inside and discuss it?"

Evan wasn't curious enough to let four strangers into his home, though. He had seen enough crime documentaries to be wary of where that mistake might lead.

"I don't think so. I'm not interested in buying anything right now anyway. Thanks, though."

Evan moved to close the door after waving goodbye, but one of the men standing next to Mariana quickly reached out a hand and stopped the door from closing any further. Evan was startled by the sudden move and stepped back.

"It's ok!" Mariana said. She pulled the man back and frowned at him.

"You don't need to worry," she continued. "We work for the government, and we just want a moment of your time to talk, that's all."

Evan was on edge after the abrupt actions from the man. He thought he was going to be the victim of a violent home invasion for a second there. But the woman who introduced herself as Mariana didn't seem to want that. And they worked for the government? That was fine, but he still couldn't bring himself to invite them in, even if they did look like the men in black.

"Here, show him your ID," she said motioning to the man beside her.

The man pulled out a wallet and held it out for Evan to see. He cautiously leaned forward to read what was presented. He could see a picture of the man on his doorstep, along with the words Department of Defense. Evan's eyes got big as he realized calling them the men in black might not have been far from the truth.