Chapter 36

36: After the excitement of the moment passed, Barney told Daniel, "You've got quite an acumen for vacuuming.  How did you know to do that?"
  Jeff rejoined the group when he couldn't see Chadwick out the window anymore.  He was a little out of breath and put his hand on Alex's shoulder for support.  "What's up with that Chadwick guy?  Where the hell did that mother fucker run off to?"
  Alexander scratched his head.  "Am I my mother fucker's keeper?  How should I know where he went?"
  "Not you," Jeffrey retorted.  "I was asking Daniel.  What's the deal?  Is he going back to the Defectors?"  Everyone was intensely interested to know the answers to Barney and Jeffrey's questions.
  Daniel sat on a table, winded from the encounter.  "Ever since Chadwick said that Rend is at large, I've been halfway expecting Rend to try to break into the hotel at some point.  I just wasn't sure how he would do it.  Chadwick and I came up with a plan for what to do in case of an attack.  This morning the faucet in my bathroom wasn't working.  Immediately, I heard Mina scream in the next room and I knew it had to be him.  Kenn had the wet vac ready in his room down the hall.  Once I put Rend outside, I had Chadwick follow Rend so we can find out where the Defectors are staying.  We might need that information at some time."
  "I hope we can trust Chadwick.  The timing of the attack seems like too much of a coincidence to me.  That was a close one.  You saved my life, Daniel," gasped Mina who was still in shock from the trauma of the attack.  Someone brought her a glass of water.  Not quite trusting water just yet, she hesitated a moment before accepting it.
  "It is my honor to help in whatever way I can.  And about Chadwick, I'm a very good judge of character.  I feel entirely confident that we can trust him.  I think there's a specific reason that Rend grabbed you.  It must have to do with your green aura.  He might need you for some unknown purpose.  I had a feeling he wouldn't harm you.  There's some reason he needs you alive.  I don't know what it is, but it may have something to do with that name he called himself when I entered the room."
  "I noticed that too.  Was that some sort of foreign word?" asked Kenn.
  "He said he was Yulomyn.  That is the name of an Ithodynian dark spirit in Sypraxian theology.  The spiritual entity of ours which most resembles your Lucifer is called Ithodyn.  In our language, 'ith' means light, 'od' means bring, and 'yn' is a suffix denoting a person who does something.  So, literally, Ithodyn is a light bringer.  Kinda similar to Prometheus or Lucifer, which, coincidentally, also translates to bringer of light.  Anyway, Yulomyn is supposed to be one of his most loyal minions.  'Yul' means death, and 'om' means make.  Yulomyn is the death maker. Think of him as our version of the grim reaper.  I believe that Rend is possessed by Yulomyn.
  "You see, Rend hasn't always been one of the Nocent.  Years ago, back home on Sypraxia, he was a Collective scientist.  He betrayed us and went to follow the Nocent.  His betrayal is why we had imprisoned him.  He was even given a Syproid gland by the Nocent, which is why he has a red aura instead of a green one like the Collective.  He'll probably try to get in again some time.  We should be on the lookout.  Did you notice he was dressed like a fisherman?  That must have been the first human he encountered when he climbed out of the lake.  He can take any form so we must be vigilant."

Chapter 19

19: Miles away, at the Johnson/McGee Copper Mill, a man stood overseeing the implanting of the chips.  The massive iron structure of the mill offered little shelter from the elements, but it suited his needs just fine for now.  The Defectors served as guards and a few who were doctors helped out as chip implanters.  A 38 year old female road worker wearing an orange vest was currently on the operating table.  The surgeon sterilized the back of her hand with a piece of gauze dipped in hydrogen peroxide.  He then took his scalpel and made a half-inch incision in the center of the back of her hand.  An assistant handed him one of the chips and he used surgical pliers to insert it into the incision.  After that, it was a simple matter of three or four stitches and her hand was bandaged up to keep it safe from infection while it healed.
  The man who seemed to be in charge, known only as Rend, smiled with satisfaction at the sight before him.  He was of a medium build and dressed like a fisherman with a camouflaged vest and blue jeans with leather boots.  "There are only a few chips left.  Then these pathetic sons of Adam will soon be completely vanquished and the sons of Ithodyn shall have a new home on this bright blue globe."
  One of the Defectors, apparently a grocery store bagger wearing a forest green apron, turned to Rend and asked, "Who is Ithodyn?"
  "My young follower, Ithodyn is your new master.  Here on Earth you have the one you call Lucifer, which means 'bringer of light'.  On Sypraxia, we have Ithodyn, which also translates to 'bringer of light'.  He has his own followers who are the equivalent of dark spirits here on Earth.  You all have so much to learn and I shall teach you."
  A red-haired woman in her mid-twenties who wore a flower-print cotton blouse and khaki capris seemed to be disturbed by this and began to head toward the exit.  "Grab her.  Bring her to me."  Two of the guards seized the helpless woman before she could get very far.  "My poor child, what seems to be the rush?"
  With a horrified look in her eyes and a defiant smirk on her lips she replied, "I don't owe you anything.  Look at my hands.  No chip.  I am still untaken and I will never follow you."  She spat on the floor.
  Instead of walking to her, Rend seemed to melt before everyone's fascinated eyes.  This rush of what looked like water moved closer to her and then formed up again into the man they knew as Rend.  "Fool!  The Untaken shall all die!"  With that, he gently lay his hand over her mouth which didn't seem like a threatening gesture, but the woman's eyes went wide as she struggled for air.  He calmly pulled his hand away and she fell to the floor dead.  He had drowned her.
  Just then a middle-aged male Defector dressed in a yellow buttoned shirt with a brown tie ran into the mill and knelt before Rend.  "Rise, my loyal follower."
  "I just got back from town.  It seems that many of the Untaken have made their way to a local amusement park and are staying at a hotel there.  There's no telling what they're planning."
  "Good work, son.  We need to plan an invasion of this hotel of theirs.  There is no way of knowing what sort of danger they might be if they band together."  Rend turned back to the corpse on the floor.  "Get this wretch out of my sight now!"