Title: The Outlaw: Origins
Author: Alan Janney
Author: Alan Janney
Publication Date: February 26th, 2016
Category/Genre: Young Adult Sci-Fi/Superheroes
A masked vigilante stalks the
streets of downtown Los Angeles, disrupting crime and rescuing movie starlets.
After being spotted on security cameras and thrust into the national spotlight,
he is pursued by both the media and powerful new enemies. Little does the world
know the Outlaw is just High School junior Chase Jackson wearing a mask and
wondering why his body is suddenly…extraordinary.
The story continues in Book Two of the Outlaw
Series. 'Infected'.
Author
Links:
Prologue of Outlaw, Book One
Los Angeles Times. March 1st. 2018.
“My Night
with the Outlaw.” By Teresa Triplett.
The man in the mask is late.
And
then he is here without warning and, despite myself, I gasp. I am forbidden to
disclose
the location of our rendezvous, but it is dark, it is the middle of the night,
and I’m
terrified.
Superheroes are, of course, fake. They do not
exist in our reality outside of a movie
screen. I
am skeptical and even offended by the growing legend surrounding the Outlaw.
It’s
ludicrous. However, even if he is a fraud, it’s still the story of the year,
maybe even of
the
decade. Although that doesn’t explain why I’m so scared I can barely breathe.
I
don’t know why he agreed to meet me, this man the entire world wants to
interview.
In fact, I never even asked him and perhaps that is why I was chosen, when
ranks
of more
celebrated and prestigious reporters have already been rebuffed. The
Editor-inChief
of the
Times is holding the front page, waiting on this story you’re reading, even
though
I’m not a writer for the paper; I am a television reporter, but the Outlaw
wanted the
story out
immediately. I’m trembling now as we regard each other in silence. I’ve already
decided
that I won’t ask him, ‘Why me?’
I
can feel him more than I can see him. Witnesses claim he is a big man, and that
doesn’t
do him justice. He takes up the whole sky. CNN aired an Outlaw special and
their
experts
were able to measure him using various photographs, so I know he’s not as
immense
as the
naked-eye perceives.
“Hello,” I say, timidly, pathetically. He nods
in reply, and it is at this moment I
realize
how woefully unprepared I am. In my defense, the Outlaw only gave me an hour’s
notice
but I cannot think of a single thing to say. As the silence between us
lengthens and
the
conversational burden on me increases, I relent and betray myself. “So why me?”
He
shrugs and he says, “I don’t know that many reporters.”
He
knows me? We’ll be pouring over that tidbit for weeks because his identity is
still a
mystery. But you know this, and if you’re like the rest of us then you don’t
even have
an
educated guess.
His
voice is deep. Darth Vadar deep, although I can tell he’s masking his voice
somehow.
His words are slow and the vowels are elongated, and the mask falsifies it even
further.
Oh yes. He’s wearing the infamous mask that covers his mouth and holds his hair
back from
his furious eyes. Like every other eye-witness, I’m struck by the eyes. His
gaze
is hard to
return and I find myself fidgeting.
I
make a few more feeble attempts at small talk, trying to gauge his reactions
(of
which
there are none), and then I wonder how Natalie North has maintained a
relationship
with this
stoic dark mystery man. Not only has she withstood his unnerving stare and
imposing
presence but according to the stories she has fallen for him and vise-versa,
making
them the
most unlikely couple and hottest gossip column topic…ever. Beauty and the
beast.
Of course
it could be a publicity stunt, and rumors persist that there’s another girl in
his life.
A real
girl, and a real relationship beyond the mask. I imagine that topic’s
off-limits tonight.
“I
have to ask a question which will sound absurd even to my ears. Are you able to
do things
physically that I can’t? That no one else can?”
He
doesn’t answer, but I can tell he’s turning the question over in his mind.
“Like a super hero?” I press further.
“No,” he scoffs. “There’s no such thing. In
fact, I’m sick.”
“You’re sick?”
“Very. Possibly fatal.”
“Fatal?” I repeat stupidly, incredulously.
“How…from what?”
“That’s not why I’m here,” he says. He growls
his words and he waves my question
away with
his hand.
“Then why?” I ask.
“I
need you to pass along a message. To everyone.”
“What message?”
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