V.I.R.A.L

Alton woke in the middle of the night to tapping. He sat up, rubbing his eyes confused. He waited for a short while only to hear the sound again coming from his window. Alton opened the window getting hit by a cube. He stumbled back holding his face. "What the fuck?!"

"Thank God, this is the eight window I've been knocking on."

Alton leaned forward seeing Iris balancing on the fence to the Dawn manor. "Iris?! What the hell are you doing?"

"Keep it down, will ya? This place gives me the creeps. You free?"

"Iris, it's two in the morning. Can't this wait?"

"I think I found the hideout for the Cult."

Alton's eyes widened as he jumped out the window onto the fence. "How?"

"Does it matter? I was looking around and discovered a possible hideout. You want to take it down?"

"Why are you asking me?"

"Do I need a reason? You're a reliable guy, and if I were to ask anyone to help me, it would be you."

"What about your sister?"

"Jeez, do you always ask questions. I want you. Think about it. You remember what the CEOs said?"

"The streamer who takes down the cult becomes the number one streamer? You serious on that?"

Iris gave him a dodgy look. "Yeah? Why the hell wouldn't I be? I want my sister to get to the top. I'll help no matter what. If we do this now, we won't have to worry about any other competition. You want the Montagues to be the number one streamer?"

"You have a point."

"Of course, I do, this is me we are talking about. You and me take down the Cult we both get a piece of the pie."

Alton sighed. "Shouldn't we get my team up? I mean if we are facing the cult, we will probably go up against P4R4D0X. You think two of us could take down an entire Cult of potential anti-humans?"

"Did Unity ever complain about you acting like a pussy? Look, the way I see it, we have two of the strongest streamers around. Do I need to remind you who took down Vanguard?"

"Oh boy, this again?"

"Don't give me that, you would do the exact same thing if you took the bastard down."

"You know for a thirteen-year-old you have a really foul mouth." Alton sighed, jumping from the fence. "We doing this or what?"

Iris smirked flipping from the fence. "Hell, yeah we are, oh and for the record. I'm fourteen in a few months so lay off me."

"I'll be sure to buy you the edgiest t-shirt possible to go with your rebellious phase."

"Bite me, grandpa." She laughed, looking through the fog. "Come on, let's end this tonight."

****

The fog was different tonight. For the two streamers, it was hard to pinpoint why, but it just felt different. A massive tremor hung on their shoulders, weighing them down. The visibility wasn't any better as the location Iris had scouted out was in the middle of a forest. Bumping into a tree, Alton stepped back troubled. "Iris, are you sure that this is the place?"

Iris stepped on a twig making her jump she had her cubes floating near around her. "I'm sure. Don't let this fog get to you. P4R4D0X feeds on fear."

"Pleasant. But we've already established that this P4R4D0X is just a copycat. Pretty sure the original one never existed." He muttered, catching something watching him in the corner of his eye. Turning around, Alton saw nothing. "Did? Umm, say, how do those powers work? They sure are different from anything I've ever seen."

"My cubes? I couldn't tell you. One day I awoke to them sitting on the end of my bed. They responded to my touch, and now I can control them. I can change their size to anything I can imagine. Any shape to my liking. They are nearly indestructible."

"Nearly?"

"I can thank my dear sister fo- did you hear that?"

Alton looked around confused. "What?"

"Nothing. I guess." She whispered. "The base is just up ahead." Rushing ahead neither was sure if it was out of determination or desperation, but they quickly came across the small hideout—a small hut which looked wared down. Broken security cameras lay around the floor. Plastered all over the walls was cracked monitors playing nothing but white noise. "See."

"This definably screams the hideout of P4R4D0X alright," Alton whispered feeling something watching him from the trees. "How do you want to take this?"

"Splitting up with be stupid. I've seen enough horror films to know where this is going."

"Finally, something we can both agree on." He exhaled. "After you then."

They both walked up to the entrance which was boarded up with a sign hanging over the edge. "Aoi's play den. Could this be the one playing P4R4D0X?"

"Only one way to find out." Iris pulled her arm back as the cube curled back like a slingshot. Opening her hand, the cube smashed through the entrance. Alton ducked into the small hut seeing it better on the inside. The place looked like it could fall apart any second being held together with logs and sticks and some rope. It looked like a poorly made treehouse by children. "Into the rabbit hole we go."

Looking around the small hut, there were a few things of note. Scraps of paper lying everywhere. Somewhere of drawings while others were scribbles of what looked to be a diary entry, to top all of this, there was a large monitor tied to the wall and although there couldn't be any power source the monitor was on with white static sounds emitting from the device. Alton crouched down looking at the paper. Holding it close to his face he could just about make out the words. "It took her today. It took her away, and I'm never going to see her."

Iris gave a creeped-out stare looking at another piece of paper. "Mummy and Daddy don't believe me. It's in the fog. Always in the fog. It chooses who's worthy. I don't like this Alton."

"Neither do I. Keep looking." He muttered seeing a drawing on the wall of two girls. They shared similar features, such as hair and eye colour, but both wore different clothes. One of the girls was drawn with a sad face while the other had crossed through their eyes. "I'm starting to think this isn't the hideout for the Cult."

"Agreed. We should get out of here." They were both ready to leave until the monitor glowed brightly on one last piece of paper. Iris hesitantly picked it up, taking a deep breath. "It took her. Mummy and Daddy found her down by the river. The Fog hasn't gone yet. I see it too. It is coming for me."

Alton tried putting the pieces together lost. "From what I can see here. Two girls played here. One of them was taken by something in the fog, and the girl was found dead. After that, she too began seeing the thing in the fog."

"This has P4R4D0X written all over it. I've seen things in the Fog myself. Things only I can see."

"The more I think about this, the more this doesn't match up with the P4R4D0X story. P4R4D0X attacked and stalked its victims through technology. Social media, the internet. Phones anything that required electricity. People getting taken. Monsters in the fog. This is nothing like the P4R4D0X story."

"What are you saying?"

"I'm saying our culprit. This girl who lost her sister is P4R4D0X. She wanted us to see this. Come to think of it. I remember now. A few years back, there was a murder in the forest. A girl was kidnapped and killed; the body was found in the river down by the victim's house. The killer was never found. Could this be the same case?"

The Monitor flickered on as a figure stood there in a wooden mask and their hair draped over. She looked exactly like the girl in the drawing. "I hate you." The room began to shake as serval projections of the same figure stood around them. "I hate you with every fibre in my bone. I hate you with every breath I will ever take. I hate you more than life itself. I hate you. Hate, hate, hate, hate, hate."

"Alton…" Iris whispered as the figures began getting closer.

Alton stepped in front of her ready for a fight as each attack he threw went through the projections. They all just surrounded the two streamers—the same words repeating over and over. "I hate you. I hate you all so much. I hate you. I hate you all. You are not worthy. I hate you!"

The Monitor shut off as everything went silent. Alton stood still as Iris was holding his arm fearful. Some time went by before the monitor cracked turning back on showing them two standing there with P4R4D0X behind them. They both shot their heads around, seeing P4R4D0X holding her head screaming. "I hate you!"

The hut exploded as both of the streamers were sent flying to the ground—the fire lighting the area up. Alton coughed sitting up. "Iris! Iris!"

"I'm alright. I'm fine. So that was a trap."

Alton laid back down, catching his breath with thoughts dancing through his head. "Yup, big trap. Knew it wasn't that simple. Although I don't think P4R4D0X wanted us dead."

"What makes you say that?"

"That explosion was small. Just enough to catch us off guard. Keep us down. She wasn't trying to kill us."

"I mean we some tough son of bitches."

"True that." He laughs, pulling out his phone—a notification for the girl of the hour. "You are not worthy, and I will show you. This is it."

"What is?"

"Coordinates to the Cult's Hideout."

Iris sat up rubbing her face. "Why the hell would she sell out her allies?"

"It's not a sell-out. It's a call to war."