Read Online A Day Of Faces by Simon K Jones - Free Book Online

on his shoulder, quickly now.”
    Grabbing at the bandage, I ripped off the packaging and fumbled with it. It wasn’t long enough to wrap and, besides, there wasn’t enough arm left to form a tourniquet.
    “Apply it directly.”
    I did as the man instructed. As soon as it was placed onto the wound the bandage expanded to encompass it entirely, binding itself into the flesh and sealing it up, as if it knew what it was doing. I’d never seen or heard of anything like it. There wasn’t anything like it.
    Then again, this guy had a ray gun. So I probably should’ve been ready for anything.
    “Consider that a gesture of goodwill,” the man said. “So tell me, where is your friend?”
    The man’s outfit was as odd as his accent. Not just the style, but the materials themselves seemed unfamiliar: smoother and more form-fitting. A little like tight leather, but different and less natural. Around his chest he wore a circular contraption with metal filaments stretching out over his torso and down his limbs.
    He raised the gun again, pointing at Marv’s other arm.
    “Wait,” I said, holding up my hands in a vague and obviously useless attempt to shield him, “just wait. He was here. But he’s gone, and I don’t know where.”
    “There’s no door out of this room. So where did he go?”
    “I genuinely don’t know, you arsehole.”
    The man grimaced and stepped closer. “I know your friend has unusual powers,” he said. “What happened when he came in here?”
    I thought about trying to feign innocence, but there was Marv, writhing on the floor and frothing at the mouth, and decided that now wasn’t the time to be awkward. “Something happened when he touched the machine, or whatever it is.”
    His face turned towards me, eyes glaring and jaw set hard. “What happened?”
    “He started changing again.”
    The man dropped the gun to his side. “Well, shit,” he murmured. “That’s really fucked it, then.” He adjusted something on his chest contraption and I heard a barely audible hum as something electronic started charging up. “I didn’t want to get into this, but you’re both going to have to come with me so we can figure out what you know. If anything.”
    I couldn’t take my eyes off his scars. “Go with you where?”
    “Nice try,” he said, smiling icily. “You wouldn’t understand, anyway. The alternative is I just shoot you both now, so take your pick.”
    There’s nothing more lame than being the damsel in distress. Generally, as a life rule, I made a point of not being that. It’s pretty easy to avoid when you just go to school every day. Gets harder when you start hanging out with shapeshifting dudes and leftie anarchists. As it turns out. Anyway, it wasn’t just me - Marv was in far more distress than me at this point, even if I was a lot prettier.
    The air before me puckered then stretched, like when you pull at the surface of an inflated balloon. Where you’re expecting it to tear and pop at any moment, but it doesn’t quite. What I could see of the room refracted through the disturbance, then there was a snap and a rush of air and something formed in front of me, raised off the ground a little.
    Dropping to the floor as he materialised, Cal stumbled a moment then sprang to his feet and reached forwards, grabbing both me and Marv. His clothes were shredded. There was a breath as Cal looked up at the scarred man, who was raising his gun, then the air stretched again and I felt myself being pulled and crushed at the same time as the world cracked in two and all three of us slipped between the cracks.
    Lights and energy flashed all around us and I couldn’t tell up from down, then it was over as fast as it had begun, and I was in open air, floating, the ground half a mile below.
    Scratch that. Not floating: falling . Those blue embers danced around me as I tumbled, and I could see Marv a little distance away, unconscious, dropping limply. Cal was between us and he was changing, his