HSH: Camp Hero - Chap 25-26
Here we go with the next installment of Camp Hero. Check out all the fun action.
Anyway, enjoy the next part of Camp Hero!
Read the previous chapters.
Chapter 25
Breaking Out
Minutes ticked by. Several times I thought I heard someone coming, but it must have been my own paranoia. I’d hidden myself, and Eddie, in one of the creepy medical offices. He lay on the exam table, thawing. It had been nearly twenty minutes since I’d removed him from the Cryo-Chamber, and though the color had returned to his skin, and his eyes had fluttered open a few minutes earlier, he showed no other real signs of stirring.
The waiting was killing me. I couldn’t afford to sit here. I needed to act. It had to be at least six o’clock. I needed to get back to my grandparents before they killed me – or worse, called my mother and she killed me. I also needed to rescue my friends, who were locked away someplace under my feet.
Eddie was finally beginning to wake from his forty-eight hour nap. His confusion seeped into his consciousness as his brain slowly realized he wasn’t dreaming. Hopefully it wouldn’t be too much longer before he woke up fully. Once he was up and running, I could get him to imagine something that would allow me into the command center.
While I waited, I studied the spearhead. The thing that weirded me out the most was the fact that it seemed to speak to me. It wasn’t speaking in any language, but more like feelings. Like when it made me wait for the doors to the Cryo-Chamber to open. I still hadn’t figured that part out either. How had they opened?
The only two things I could think of were: 1) Someone saw me waiting outside the chamber and had opened it for me, or 2) The spear opened the door.
Neither seemed very likely. The only people that would have seen me were Agents, and none of them would have helped me free their prisoner. And the spear, though it could speak, was still an inanimate object, and therefore couldn’t open the door. If it had, then why hadn’t it been able to open Eddie’s cylinder?
Maybe I’ll have Quinn look at it when I get back.
Then I remembered: I can’t trust Quinn. God knew what was up with the science teacher. Was he Quinn, member of Project: Hercules, and friend to my grandfather? Or was he Quintus, former Nazi soldier, and enemy to the United States? All the evidence since I arrived at Camp Hero pointed toward him being the Nazi soldier. One way or the other, Quinn had never been to Camp Hero, which meant he’d lied to me.
A low moan pulled me from my own head. Eddie was moving. He’d lifted one arm to cover the top of his head. I walked to the table and stood over him. I grabbed his arm, and he jumped at my touch. Holding him in a firm grip I moved his arm away from his head so he could see me.
His skin felt so cold, like touching an ice cube. His eyes were out of focus, but he tried to concentrate on me. His mouth opened like he wanted to speak, but instead all that came out was a string of coughs.
“Relax.” I kept my voice low, so not to startle him further. “You’re safe.” Sort of.
“Where am I?” he groaned, then sputtered out a few more coughs.
“We’re in an underground bunker,” I explained, waiting for the right time to tell him exactly where the bunker was located. I didn’t think the first thing he needed to hear was about how we were being hunted by an army of Agents.
“Why is your skin so hot?” he moaned.
“It’s not. You’re just really, really cold.” I ran my hands over his frigid arms to try and warm him up. He wasn’t shivering, but thought he was so cold that he really wasn’t able to shiver – I’d heard that somewhere. For some reason I kept thinking of beginning stages of hypothermia. I wasn’t worried. His body was warming up, not cooling down.
“Who are you?” he asked.
For some reason, I didn’t know how to answer. Should I tell him who I was? Should I tell him I’d seen him in a dream? Should I tell him about my powers? Eventually, I just decided on, “I’m Christine, a friend.”
Thankfully, he accepted my answer.
He began shaking, and I knew his body temperature had finally reached the critical stage of his warming. I rubbed my hands over his arms.
Eddie’s body shook so violently I feared he might fall off the table. “So, wh-what, h-h-happened to m-m-me?”
“You don’t remember?” I asked.
He shook his head, though that could have been from the violent shivering. “I w-was running from the Agents in the m-m-museum. Th-that’s the l-l-last I can remember.”
It was strange to think I remembered more about the incident than he did, and I hadn’t even been there – not physically, anyway.
“Abby Davidson stabbed you in the neck with a sedative. Then they brought you here and froze you.”
“Oh,” he muttered. Then his eyes closed and he stopped shaking.
That wouldn’t have worried me, except that his mind once again went blank. I stopped rubbing his arms, and put my hand near his nose and mouth – I didn’t feel anything. I put my hand on his chest, over his heart – again, nothing.
“No, no, no!” I shouted, like if I screamed enough, he would wake up.
I didn’t know what to do. Sure, I’d seen people do CPR in the movies and on TV, but I’d never actually done it myself. That didn’t matter. I needed to get his heart started again, or he would die. This time it really would be all my fault, because I’d been the one to free him from his frozen coffin too soon.
Leaning over him, I placed both my hands over his heart and pushed down. I could feel his ribs as I applied the pressure, but they moved only slightly, but it was just enough that I was sure his heart would feel it. I did this several more times, then paused – nothing.
Come on, Eddie. Please, get up. Please.
I knew I would have to do the thing I really didn’t want to do. It didn’t feel right – not at all. Nonetheless, I leaned over him once again, pinching his nose with one hand and pressing my lips to his. They were frozen. Just the feeling of my lips touching his made me shiver from head to toe – for more than one reason. As I blew into his open mouth and watched his chest rise several times, I imagined Ethan stepping in on this scene and wondering what I was doing. For the first time, I was actually thankful my friends were locked away in the cells on the bottom level.
Nothing – absolutely nothing. Life seemed to have given up on Edward Eagan, but I hadn’t. I repeated the cycle again, discovering just how tiring it was. Already breathing heavily after just one go-around and my arms felt ready to fall off, I didn’t know how much longer I could keep it up.
I continued, pressing on his chest, then waiting, and breathing into his mouth. Several times I did this, each time feeling like I couldn’t do anymore, but still I went on. Eddie wasn’t going to die, not on my watch – not today.
Dammit, Eddie! I projected at his nearly dead body. You need to wake up!
Leaning over one more time, I blew all the air I could into his mouth. Eddie’s response to this was to cough madly right back into mine. Talk about a totally disgusting situation.
His body convulsed again, this time from the sputtering coughs he was issuing – his body trying to get air back into his lungs. After a few moments, he was gasping more normally, then he began shivering again.
I needed to warm him up. Simply rubbing his arms wasn’t going to do it. His core temperature had to rise, and rapidly. Unfortunately, there was only one was I could think of to warm him quickly enough so he didn’t try dying on me again.
“Brace yourself,” I told the shivering boy.
Before he could respond, I rolled him flat on his back and jumped on top of him. I lay my body down upon his. Again, I thought of hypothermia victims. You were supposed to strip them down – which I wasn’t doing – and strip yourself down – another blatant NO – and press up against them. This was the next best thing. Hopefully, my body heat would transfer to his body with force.
I still couldn’t get over how cold he was. This had to work.
“Don’t get any ideas,” I said, laying my head down upon his chest.
“Wh-what are y-you talking ab-b-bout?”
I placed a hand upon his cheek and gave it an affectionate pat. “Good boy.”
It felt like we lay there like that for an hour. After a few minutes though, his shaking slowed and eventually stopped. With my head on his chest I could feel his heart, and I could hear his breathing, so I knew he hadn’t slipped away again. But I still wasn’t about to get off him just yet, not until I made sure he was going to be all right.
“So, who are you again?” His voice still sounded low, as if he were straining to get the words out. I couldn’t blame him for being weak, after all, the boy had been through a very trying weekend – even if he had been asleep for most of it.
“My name is Christine Carpenter,” I said. He was ready for more of the story now. “I’m like you. Not exactly like you. I can read people’s thoughts and stuff like that. I had a dream where I saw you get captured, and came to find you.”
“You came for me? Why?”
I was still asking myself that same question. I had to be insane to continue on this damned foolish crusade. However, one phrase stuck with me, something I’d heard months ago from a middle-aged man in black tights who had absolutely no super-powers. “It was the right thing to do.”
“You’re nuts,” he said with slight laugh.
“I know.”
He moved under me again. I could feel the restlessness in his mind. “Could you get off me now? I think I’m okay.”
I slid off him and stood on the floor beside the table. He looked at me, as if for the first time. It probably was his first time truly seeing me – his eyes were much more focused.
She’s kinda cute.
“Thanks,” I said. “But, please, keep your thoughts to a minimum if you can. I’d block you out, but I need to keep my senses open in case anyone comes looking for us.”
His cheeks flushed, apparently embarrassed. “I’ll try my best.” He attempted to sit up, but I put a hand on his chest. He took the hint and stayed where he was. “Thanks, by the way. For saving me, that is.”
“Well, we’re not out yet,” I explained. “And we kinda need to go back. My friends are here, and I need your help to save them.”
He didn’t even question it. “Let’s go,” he said, trying to sit up again.
I pushed him back down on his back. “I think you can use a few more minutes. You still don’t sound like you’re one-hundred percent.”
“I’m fine,” he insisted, this time resisting the pressure from my hand.
Pushing my hand away, he practically leapt off the table, landing before me on the floor. He stood half a foot shorter than me. I wasn’t used to that. All the guys from school were taller than me.
He jumped up and down a couple of times, and then stretched like a runner might before a race. “You see? All I have to do is–”
“Imagine it,” I finished. “I know.”
“Yeah. Anything I imagine becomes a reality.” He said it like it was a badge of honor. It wasn’t an accomplishment, though. It was all an accident of genetics. “So what do we need to do to spring your friends?”
“You are way too eager.” I shook my head, smiling. My thoughts once again turned to Ethan. Eddie’s enthusiasm could definitely rival his.
Maybe it’s because of the first letter of their name. Eager Eddie and Enthusiastic Ethan. Mentally, I smacked myself for such a silly thought. But as stupid as it sounded, it was the truth. Eddie was aching to get himself downstairs to save the others – talk about heroic. The boy was just in an ice coma, and he was already gearing up for a small skirmish. I had to applaud him.
It also helped that I wasn’t going in alone. With Eddie by my side, I doubted an army would be able to stop us.
I checked once more, to make sure no one was nearby. Then I stepped back out into the dingy corridor, motioning for Eddie to follow. “We’re going one level down,” I whispered. “When we get downstairs, we’ll have a long corridor, maybe about a hundred yards or so until we reach the command center.”
“Relax, girl,” he said in an arrogant manner that for a second reminded me of Tommy. “All we need to do is bum-rush them. They’ll never know what hit them.” He grinned and stepped past me, heading right for the stairs like he knew exactly where he was going.
For a second, I stood, wanting desperately to yell at him and explain how reckless he was being. He wasn’t going to do me any good if he ended up being sedated again. He sure wasn’t going to do me any good if they actually killed him this time. For some reason, I didn’t think the MHDA would be opposed to lethal force in his case – or mine, for that matter.
“Slow down, you idiot.” I stepped in front of him. “Running down there without knowing what we’re running into isn’t just stupid, it’s suicidal.”
“Who cares? They can’t touch me. I won’t let them.”
“Like last time?” I asked, a little too harshly. “It didn’t seem so hard for them to catch you in the city. And there’s probably about a hundred Agents down there.”
“That’s different,” he said, sticking with his arrogant tone. “That woman tricked me.”
“Oh, so now you conveniently remember.” I threw my arms up. He was about as infuriating as Ethan, too. How I ended up getting involved with people like this was beyond me. “A few minutes ago you said you were drawing a blank about how you got captured.”
“It’s coming back,” he explained.
He’s telling the truth, the voice in my head told me.
“So then how did they catch you?” I asked.
His eyes glazed over again. “She came for me after school – stopped me in the street. I ran. She chased.” The simple explanation said a great deal. His emotions were like a whirlpool, spinning around inside him, first sad, then angry, confused, and back to angry. “I knew I couldn’t go home. They knew where I lived, and I couldn’t drag my family into it. So, I thought I’d find someplace to hide.”
“Yeah, the MET was a great choice. Really out of the way.” I rolled my eyes.
He was genuinely offended by my remark. “I said I was trying to hide, I didn’t say I was going to stay at the museum. I’m not stupid!”
“Still doesn’t explain how you got caught.”
He sighed and ran his hand through his hair. “Well, they had me, I knew they did. I could have imagined a way out of the museum. I could have imagined all the Agents were somewhere else. But I figured, it didn’t matter. I couldn’t go home, ya know? They’d only come after me again. And like I said, I wasn’t letting my mother get dragged into this.”
He’d said “family” before, but I wasn’t going to complain about semantics. I remembered his mother from yesterday. By trying to protect her, he may have made things worse. She’d been very worried, almost beside herself with grief. She probably thought he’d run away. That had to have been ten times worse.
“So I gave up. How was I supposed to know that woman would double-cross me?”
“Yeah, she’s like that. But I pretty much figured that out from the second I met her. She tried taking me down in a café.” I didn’t think it prudent to mention it was actually my grandfather who rescued me that day. I’d let him think I’d gotten away on my own.
“How’d she get you then?” he asked.
“She hasn’t yet.” I let a little pride sneak into my voice. “She only thinks she has.”
Eddie didn’t look at all impressed. He didn’t bother asking any questions.
“Anyway, can we try and do this my way?” I asked.
“What way might that be?” The edge in his voice said he wasn’t taking things slow. Apparently his enthusiasm was too much. He couldn’t wait to get into action.
I took a few deep breaths to calm myself. I didn’t think it would be a good idea to knock him back out, even if every inch of my body wanted to. I tried not to sound angry as I spoke, but my jaw had clenched itself shut, and didn’t seem to want to open. “The way that doesn’t require running into a dangerous situation blindly.”
Not waiting for him to respond, I charged toward the door. I was taking the lead on this one. I couldn’t trust Eddie to do it. He probably didn’t even have experience dealing with situations like this.
Neither do you, the voice said.
More than he does, I responded.
Into the stairwell I went, ahead of Eddie by only a couple steps. It was quieter now. The alarms had been turned off. That didn’t mean they had stopped looking for me. A few hours of blaring sirens, and I’d have shut them off too.
Stopping at the bottom of the steps, I crept back to the door. It was almost too quiet, but I sensed a great many busy minds, still searching. A few of the minds were trying to figure out how I’d broken into the Cryo-Chamber.
Pushing past me, Eddie stepped out into the hallway with no regard for stealth at all. Before he made it more than three feet, I grabbed hold of him with a mental tendril and pulled him back into the stairwell.
“What do you think you’re doing?” I grabbed him hard by the shoulder and spun him to look at me. “You can’t just rush into battle without thinking. You have to survey your surroundings. There are people nearby. They could be right out in that hall. Think! Before you get us both killed.”
“Ease up, Obi-Wan.” He shrugged my hand off.
“What did you call me?” I’d heard it, but the name he’d uttered was so absurd. “That doesn’t even make sense.”
“I’m not the one being all ‘Use the Force’.”
Why do I have to save this kid again? I gave serious thought to smacking him to shut him up.
“Just let me handle this,” he said, and made to head out into the hall again.
This time I physically grabbed him, whirled him again to face me. My teeth were clenched tight as I said, “We don’t know if there’s anyone out there.”
He sighed. “You are so uptight. You really need to relax.”
He took a look over his shoulder. I thought at first he was contemplating dashing out into the hallway and forcing me to follow. Fortunately, this time, I was wrong. He turned back to me. “You want to make sure the hall is clear? I can do that.”
“What are you talking about?”
He didn’t answer. Instead, he closed his eyes, a smile spreading across his face.
This can’t be good.
A moment later, the ground beneath my feet started to shake. Tiny grains of sand and dirt vibrated across the floor. I thought it must have been an earthquake, somehow brought to life by Eddie. I was only half right. Eddie was the cause of the shaking, but it was nowhere near being an earthquake.
Rushing passed the doorway, trampling headlong down the hall, came a rhino, followed by two more, then a pair of elephants, and some tigers, a few zebras, and some strange bird-looking thing. They all stampeded in the same direction, toward the command center.
Gunfire soon filled the corridor, followed by screams that were quickly cut off. Whatever Agents had gotten in the way of the stampede, were probably dead now on the floor. Inwardly, I shuddered.
Eddie looked at me and smiled as if to say, “Told you so.”
Sticking my head into the corridor, I gazed upon an empty, well-lit hallway. I had to admit, the boy had cleared the corridor out nicely – even if his methods were a little brutal.
Maybe, you’re jumping the gun here, the voice said. Maybe what he imagines can’t hurt anyone.
My eyebrow arched, intrigued by the explanation my mind had formed. I had to find out.
“Your…” I paused, trying to find the right word to use. In the end, I sounded so stupid, because the only word I could think of was, “things.”
His own eyebrows rose, as he tried to figure out what I meant. “My things?”
“Your imaginings,” I amended. I rolled my eyes and mentally kicked myself. Yeah, that was a much better word.
At least he understood, because he nodded. “Yeah. What about them?”
“Are they real? Like, can one hurt me?”
My stomach dropped as he nodded. There wasn’t even a pause for him to consider whether they could hurt, or possibly kill someone, or not. I couldn’t tell if he was bothered by it. Since discovering my own powers were dangerous, especially the “fear” one, I’d used them sparingly. I didn’t want to hurt anyone – unless they deserved it. Eddie didn’t seem at all reluctant to use his powers, and I couldn’t decide if that was a good thing or a bad.
I didn’t pursue the matter further. Whether or not he used his powers without regard for others was something I would look into later. I needed the boy’s help now.
It was eerily quiet again. Our footsteps thundered down the hall even as we tried to be quiet. At least I was trying. In my opinion, Eddie was trying his best to be loud, as if inviting Agents to come and attack us. Ahead lay the command center, the minds inside blissfully unaware of our approach.
“What is that stupid thing you’re holding anyway?” Eddie asked, a little too loudly.
I realized I still had the spearhead clutched in my hand. “It’s just something I found. I think it might be important.”
“Well, ya know, it looks useless to me.”
Ignoring the comment, mainly because I didn’t want to start an argument, I noticed we’d come close enough to the command center. The Agents inside were talking to one another, but I still couldn’t see them.
One relayed orders to the rest. “Scan sector two. Make sure they aren’t hiding in a shaft somewhere.”
“They couldn’t have gotten that far,” a female voice interjected. “The boy was still unconscious when she went up the stairs.”
“Scan it anyway. They have to be somewhere!”
“Yes, sir.”
I counted five minds in the room, but those were only the ones I could feel. For all I knew, there could have been a dozen more, all wearing thought inhibitors.
Turning to Eddie, I asked, “What can you do to get them out of that room?”
“I can do a lot of things.” His chin seemed to stick up a little and his chest swelled as he said the words. The boy was actually proud of the things he could do, a major difference between him and me, I guess.
“What non-lethal things, then?” I asked. No one else would die on my watch.
“I don’t know, give me an idea. I’m horrible at things like this.”
Smacking him might have been a bad idea, but I did it anyway. “Are you kidding? You can make anything you imaging a reality, and you can’t come up with a simple idea of your own?”
The excitement level of one of the Agents in the command center rose sharply. The man didn’t say anything, but he didn’t need to. I could still hear his thoughts. They’re right outside, he thought and possibly even whispered to the man in charge.
At that moment, the command center went silent. No one spoke. The next few seconds ticked by an eternity at a time, while I thought of something for Eddie to imagine. Though the room around me was quiet, the thoughts flooding the air were more insistent than ever.
Call in the reserves.
Get me my gun.
We’ll have them surrounded in a moment.
Why do I always get screwed with overtime?
“Tear gas,” I said, knowing full well we only had a few more seconds before they raised the alarm again.
“What?” Eddie asked.
“You seriously are dense, aren’t you?” I did my best not to raise my voice, but I was positive they’d heard me from inside the room. “Fill the room with tear gas.”
Closing his eyes, Eddie pictured the command center. I saw the image as clearly as if I were actually standing in the room myself. A second later, a yellowish gas filled the room. The Agents began gagging and coughing.
An instant later, something heavy weighted down my face. Eddie was wearing a gas mask, which he’d apparently imagined for me as well. His eyes looked bulbous behind the glass lenses, and the long tube meant to filter out the fumes made him look like some alien creature. I knew I looked no better.
“I figured, if we wanted to get in that room after they clear out, we’d better have these. Ya know?”
“Good thinking,” I said. Maybe the boy wasn’t that dumb after all.
Then, just as Eddie had imagined it – exactly the same as I’d seen it in his head – the Agents fled the command center, coughing and wheezing in the corridor amid the yellow smoke wafting from the doorway.
I charged into the room, Eddie right behind me.
It wasn’t easy to see through the smoke. The monitors glowed in the haze, still showing the now clouded images of the prisoners’ cells. What I needed was the control that would open each and every one of those doors. I figured, I’d have less than a minute before the noxious gas cleared their systems and they were ready to be on the attack again.
“Eddie! Imagine me finding the controls for the prisoners’ cells.”
He nodded and closed his magnified eyes. I felt him picturing what I’d told him.
Then it hit me. I sat at one of the computers and pulled up a security program. A window opened with a small box meant to type commands. Typing in “Endgame”, and then clicking confirm, the click and hiss of a hundred doors sounded outside. The monitors showed many of the people inside the cells rushing out to freedom. Some lingered in their cells as they tried to figure out what was going on.
Other monitors showed Agents tromping down the corridors toward the command center. I doubted any of them had any idea what they were getting themselves into. At that very moment, through the glass window, a few dozen prisoners rampaged down the corridor, out for blood.
Chapter 26
Prison Riot
The command center staff didn’t stand a chance. The super-powered prisoners rounded the corner and attacked like a pack of jackals. I had to turn away as the five occupants of the command center were torn apart by two-dozen incredibly irate inmates.
Vaguely, I wondered why none of them had used their powers. I figured it must have been because of the same drink Abby poisoned me with. The effect of the drink hadn’t lasted very long on me, but it could’ve been because my ability shortened its time span. Who knew how much longer it would be before the prisoners regained their abilities?
They grabbed and pulled at every body part they could reach. Some inmates swung at their captors wildly. Blood spattered from gashes. The brutal beating caused my skin to crawl, yet I did nothing to stop it, watching as if it was a bad reality cop show. That disgusted me even more.
There didn’t seem to be any confusion among the prisoners as to why they’d suddenly been let out of their cells. They just attacked as if the whole thing had been planned down to the letter. But even if they had planned it, they still couldn’t have possibly known I’d be here to let them free.
The other funny thing I noticed was, the prisoners pummeling the snot out of the Agents in the corridor, weren’t radiating any anger. I could usually detect anger, because it was an incredibly powerful emotion.
And then I realized why. Standing beside me, watching the scene unfold with a satisfied look on his face and contented thoughts running through his head, was Eddie. I couldn’t believe it. He was actually the cause of all this hatred.
“Eddie! Stop this!” I yelled. “Imagine them away!”
“No. Not until they pay for what they did to me!” There was a fire in his eyes – a madness I couldn’t explain. His feelings went way beyond anger—beyond anything I could rationalize.
“You’re going to kill them! Is that what you want?” I was almost on the verge of tears.
He pointed an accusatory finger at me. “If you’re so concerned about them, then why aren’t you helping?” He gestured out the window to the action in the corridor. “They were going to put me away forever – not just my life, understand? FOR-EV-ER! And they would’ve done the same to you in a heartbeat. They deserve this, and you know it!”
His argument made sense. Which is probably why you haven’t yet jumped to their rescue. A part of me did want these people to suffer. A part of me wanted to see them as something other than human beings.
But they were human beings, and no matter what Eddie said, they didn’t deserve this.
The first thing I did was put a mental shield around the five Agents. Then I expanded the shield to force the prisoners back. Each of them stumbled away from the guards, unable to penetrate my fields. Then, I sent soothing thoughts to each of the inmates until they calmed down.
Once they were calm, I did a check on the guards. All were a bloody mess. Some of their limbs were bent at awkward angles. Three were confused. Stabbing pain shot from each of their wounds and into my head. Another was unconscious, but I still felt her thoughts. The last, the man who’d been in charge of the command center, I couldn’t feel at all. He was dead.
“You killed him.” I glared at Eddie and pointed at the corpse. “Are you happy now?”
His vacant stare was fixed on the dead man. His breathing was quick but heavy, almost like he was hyperventilating. He just barely managed to shake his head. “No.”
“Well, he is.” I wasn’t letting up now, my own anger getting the better of me. I wasn’t sure if I was angry at him, or myself for standing by and letting this happen. “And I doubt even your imagination can bring people back from the dead.”
“It can’t.” There was a certainty in his voice that told me he’d already tried to bring someone back.
I did nothing and someone died because of it. Rage boiled up in me, and the black shadow, which I’d been able to keep in check for months, reared its ugly head. The last time I’d seen the shadow was when Lance and Kyle nearly killed Ethan when they iced the school’s steps as a practical joke. That seemed like a lifetime ago. That was before I’d killed someone myself.
Quinn had told me what could happen if I let the black shadow take control – it would kill me, and whoever I was aiming my anger at. I closed my eyes and took a few deep breaths, settling myself into a feeling of serenity – at least, as much serenity I could possibly feel.
I figured Eddie’s rage had gotten the better of him as well. He had every right to be angry, and if I had been in his position, I didn’t know how well I’d be able to control myself. Also, if I didn’t have any training with my powers, the black shadow would have killed all those Agents without a second thought.
Feeling the emotions coming from Eddie, I hoped he’d learned the same lesson– not to let your anger control you. It was a hard lesson to learn, but a necessary one, especially with super-powers. When you can kill someone with a thought, you need to stay in control all the time.
I slapped him on the back, a gesture to say I was still with him. “It’s okay, Eddie. I hope you’ve learned a lesson from this.”
He nodded, but didn’t even try to speak. I could tell he was trying desperately to hold in a sob. Even after what he’d just done, he still had to play the tough guy.
“It’s not going to happen again?”
He shook his head. It was a sincere response, and I trusted him.
You better be worth it, kid. There better be a really good reason I had to come here and get you.
I didn’t have time to dwell on it. Coming down the hall in one direction were more prisoners. Among them this time were my friends. In the other direction were the synchronized footfalls of booted feet belonging to heavily-armed Agents. We had to move.
When I saw the final six inmates, trailing the rest as if herding them into the corridor, I burst out of the room and sprinted for them. I pretty much flew into Ethan’s arms – yes, literally flew. He was quick to wrap them around me into a tight hug. My excitement in seeing him severely outweighed the jealousy and anger I felt. At that very moment, I couldn’t remember what I’d been jealous about. All I knew was it felt like it had been too long since I found myself in his embrace.
“How are you?” I asked before long.
“Fine. Lost my powers for a while, but they’re back now,” he answered. The truth was, he seemed fine too – what I wouldn’t have given for some super-speed. Then I’d heal like he did. “What’ve they been doing to you?”
“Nothing,” I told him even as I shuddered. The crowd of prisoners was closing in around us, and my breathing was growing heavy in panic. Thankfully, it wasn’t so bad I couldn’t handle it – as long as they didn’t press in further.
Who let us out?
Where are all the guards?
How do we get out of here?
Where’s my mom?
These, and about a hundred other questions pummeled my brain into submission, and I was once again forced to close my mind off to them all, so their musings turned into a low static in my brain. I wished I could help them, but I honestly didn’t know what to do. Even if I got them all out of the bunker, they’d be on their own – we couldn’t very well fit them all into Sam’s tiny car.
“All right, Chris,” Samantha interrupted, ruining my happy reunion with my boyfriend. “What’s the plan?”
What’s this? I asked myself. Is Samantha actually putting her trust in me?
Looking at the way her lips curved downward, and how her eyelids trembled, combined with the emotions of sheer dread and concern radiating from her, I was forced to answer, Yes, she is.
I opened my mouth to answer, but was silenced by several dozen guns being cocked. I didn’t have to look up to know we were surrounded.
The inmates, as would be expected, backed away from the men with the guns, pressing in on me and my friends. I was beginning to panic now, and held tighter to Ethan, who was acting as my security blanket for the moment. This is not going to end well.
Then I managed to pull my thoughts away from the crowd and stare back at the command center. Standing right where I’d left him was Eddie. He’d be able to help us.
“Hands in the air!” one Agent called. “Everyone! NOW!”
My head spun as the prisoners pressed even closer. Now, with their hands up, I felt even more closed in. I would lose control, and soon. People would get hurt if I couldn’t pull it together.
Amid the nervous murmurs of the crowd, I knew what I needed to do. I opened my mind again, hearing the screams inside of each of their heads. As quickly as I could, I located Eddie’s brainwaves and latched onto them with a vice-like grip. Imagine a way out of here, I projected.
He looked around the room, trying to find the source of my voice. I guess Eddie had never had someone talk in his head before. Must be nice.
I really didn’t want to explain what was happening, but–
I’m out in the hall, Ed. We’re surrounded. I waited until his eyes fell upon me. I could use a good imagination right about now.
I’ll try, he thought at the same time his mouth formed the words.
His eyes closed and he began visualizing. Still attached to his mind, I saw it all. Unfortunately, as I spectator in his head, I was unable to stop him when I discovered what he was imagining.
Just as I screamed, “No!” all the prisoners found their powers restored. And once again, all hell broke loose.
Those who’d had their arms raised above their heads in submission became the attackers, lashing out in a flurry against the Agents surrounding us. Flaming balls spat from one girl’s mouth, setting one Agent ablaze. In his panic, he squeezed the trigger on his gun, spraying the inmates with gunfire. With my growing sense of panic, I couldn’t tell if they were bullets or darts, but several of them sent prisoners sprawling on the floor.
Another inmate, a boy who couldn’t have been older than ten or eleven, grabbed hold of an Agent’s rifle and instantly froze it solid. The Agent, though shocked, didn’t hesitate to smack the boy in the head with the icy weapon.
I noticed Johnny multiplying himself in the corridor, making the hall ever more crowded as he fought off several Agents at once. There was no sign of Gina, but she was probably invisible.
We need to get out of here, I said to my friends.
“This is getting ugly!” Savanah exclaimed, as she tossed one of the Agents into one of his comrades.
More shots were fired into the throng. Several more inmates fell.
“Freeze!” an Agent directly in front of us shouted. As soon as the word came out of his mouth, he convulsed and fell to the floor, Peter’s blue lightning electrifying his body.
Several inmates jumped on the closest guards, clearing a path out of the battle.
“This way! Come on!” Sam called.
Suddenly, I was being dragged away.
We pushed our way through a bunch of the inmates, and then we were in the clear. Once out of the scrum, my senses returned and I was able to move on my own. Getting my breathing back to normal, I pulled away from Tiffany and Samantha – who had apparently been the ones dragging me– and followed them.
Looking over my shoulder I tried to locate Eddie. Above the heads of all the rioting inmates smashing and clawing the Agents, I saw the command center was empty. Instead, the boy was standing right next to me and I didn’t even realize it.
“How we getting outta here?” he asked.
Unfortunately, because of the mass battle behind us, the quickest way to the staircases was blocked.
“No idea,” I admitted.
We needed to find someplace quiet where we could think. With all my friends together, I was sure we would find a way out.
We ran down the halls. The screams and gunfire became more muffled with each step we took. The now open and vacant cells seemed to zoom past as we escaped. Ethan led our pack, and even though he could easily have sprinted away, he never strayed more than ten steps ahead.
Sam, on the other hand, lagged behind. Not being very athletic to begin with was probably a factor. There was something more, though. His senses were dulled. A brief scan revealed he had something running through his body that I assumed was some of the sedative. His system must have been much slower to metabolize the stuff than everyone else’s.
Slowing down myself, I ran beside him, giving him mental boosts when needed.
The narrow corridor eventually opened up into a much wider one that appeared as if it could be an underground mini-highway. Though, how they might get a car down here was way beyond my comprehension.
It looked much like the hall in the other bunker we’d been in, only well-lit and much less run down. The first thing I looked for was an air shaft, like the one we’d gone down the last time, but then I remembered just how deep underground we were. There’d be no air shafts this deep.
That didn’t change the fact that we needed to escape. For now, though, the more pressing matter was finding someplace to hide so we could come up with a plan. I spotted a set of double doors and pointed them out to the others. I tried to sense any human life on the other side, and found none.
“In there,” I said just loud enough for my friends to hear. I hoped the Agents were too busy with the other prisoners to worry about finding us.
Ethan, still leading the group, ran for the doors, opening them and ushering the others inside. Sam and I were the last to enter, the boy now leaning on me and practically stumbling through the door.
Savanah and Ethan both pulled the doors shut, plunging us into darkness. As I set Sam against a wall, a blue light washed over us and the unmistakable crackle of Peter’s lightning filled the room.
“Someone find a light switch,” Tiffany suggested.
Ethan’s quick footsteps echoed into the darkness.
“All right, Chris,” Savanah said. I sensed her tone and prepared for the verbal barrage. “Think maybe it’s time you told us where in God’s name we are? And what the Hell we’re doing?”
“You know where we are,” I spat, in no mood to take her attitude at the moment. “We’re still at Camp Hero, in one of the bunkers.”
“How long have we been here? Tiff asked.
“Few hours,” I said a bit more cordially. “As far as I can tell, anyway.”
“Can someone do something for Sam?” Samantha bent over him. “I think he’s sick.”
“He’s not sick,” I explained. “He’s got that sedative running through him. He’ll be fine.”
She didn’t seem to care for that response, and her fist clenched like she was going to hit me. She thought how insensitive I was, even toward my friends. Fortunately, she didn’t make further comment, because her attitude combined with Savanah’s, I would probably have to put one of them through a wall.
“So who the hell is this?” Savanah asked, causing every muscle in my back to seize. I closed my eyes and took a deep, calming, cleansing, breath.
“This is Eddie.”
They regarded him as if he was some kind of god. Eddie, for his part, looked at me a little cross-eyed. He had no idea why they were all in awe of his presence.
“Let’s just say they’ve heard about you,” I mentioned.
He seemed to revel in the attention, sticking his chest out proudly, but at the same time, his cheeks flushed in embarrassment.
A second later, there was a loud bang and then a low hum as the room was flooded with bright white light, temporarily blinding us all.
“Found the light switch!” Ethan called from somewhere in the room. A second later, with a gust of wind, he was standing beside me. “You’d think they’d put the switch by the door, and not all the way in the back.”
There was some joke I could have made about government facilities and logic, but I didn’t think the situation called for it. Besides, whatever comment I might have had would have been lost to the marvel that was this room – if one could call it a room.
Eddie didn’t need to worry about people staring at him anymore.
The room was at least two stories tall, and had to stretch at least the length of a football field. It was twice as wide as one, too. Within this humongous room were rows and rows of shelves, stretching from floor to ceiling, each one filled with…stuff.
It had to be a storage room of some kind, though “room” didn’t do the place justice at all. It was more like a warehouse.
“Guys, he really doesn’t look good,” Samantha whined.
I was about to shout at her, and tell her to stop moaning, but as I faced her, I saw she was right. Sam had gone pale. His eyes had sunk slightly into his skull. His mouth hung open and droplets of drool hung from his lower lip.
Rushing to his side, I knew I needed to clean the crap out of his system. Whatever was infecting him now was no mere sedative.
Everyone stood by, crowding us and making me more nervous– precisely what I didn’t need at the moment. It was like they were all witnessing the scene of an accident and just couldn’t help but stop and stare.
“Go see if there’s another way out of here!” I shouted.
They all went off into the recesses of the warehouse. All, that is, except Samantha, who gave me a look that said I’d better not order her away. I sympathized with her. Had our situations been reversed, and it was Ethan lying there on the ground, there’d be no way she’d pull me away.
Once she saw I wasn’t sending her off with the others she gripped Sam’s limp and clammy hand, and I went to work.
I scanned him again and noticed the number of poisoned cells in his blood had multiplied since the last check a few minutes earlier. It was like the poison was taking over his body, assimilating his healthy cells and turning them into their slaves. And it wasn’t the MHDA sedative at all. It was something much more dangerous.
But what?
While I pondered this, I created several mental nets to cover all his vital organs. I didn’t know what the poison might do, but I wasn’t taking any chances. Immediately, the nets filled with the substance in his blood. Whatever it was, it was fighting me. It wanted to break through. It wanted to kill him.
What could have done this? No answer formed in my brain.
That wasn’t entirely true – something did come to mind. We’d had to push through a bit of the crowd to make our escape. Sam could have easily touched one of the prisoners in our attempt to flee. What if one of those prisoners couldn’t be touched?
I hadn’t noticed any full-body-suited prisoners in the crowd, but I was sure he was there – Cyanide. The name sent a chill down my spine as I saw firsthand what he could actually do. If he hadn’t been wearing his suit, he’d taken it off. And if he’d taken it off, it meant he’d actually meant to kill someone.
He really was dangerous. Maybe he did need to be frozen.
Now, more than ever, I needed to get this stuff out of Sam’s body. I steadily brought the mental nets up and toward his mouth, pushing slowly, taking my time, despite the urgency. It wouldn’t do Sam any good if I accidentally let some of the poison through.
Eventually, I got it all there, ready for him to expel it.
“Step back.” I gave Samantha a mental nudge so there’d be no argument.
As soon as she was clear, and I had moved away as well, I gave one last shove and Sam spewed the poison, mixed with a little blood, from his mouth. He heaved again, splashing more of the substance on the cement floor in a disgusting puddle that stank like raw sewage.
I had to look away because the scene threatened to make me sick.
As I did, I was once again taken in by the grandeur of this seemingly insignificant warehouse. Who knew what lay on those shelves, and for how long? I wondered if there were any artifacts left from when my grandfather was stationed here.
“Are you all right?” Samantha whispered to Sam.
“Think so,” Sam moaned. “Feel better…at least.”
And another crisis averted, I thought, even as I braced myself for the next one I was sure would be along any time now.
I left Sam to his girlfriend’s tender care and found a corner to sit in and think. Resting my elbows on my knees, I let my head hang down and closed my eyes. Exhaustion overtook me again, and I slipped into a world half between sleep and wakefulness. The only thing keeping me awake was my mind, open for intruders that might wander nearby. A couple of times I thought I sensed someone, but the feeling went away almost as soon as it manifested.
I can’t tell how long I sat there, but it wasn’t very long. Suddenly something light hit my stomach. My eyes instantly went wide, and I looked for my attacker.
I was greeted by the mischievous smile of my boyfriend, who’d apparently dropped a bag in my lap. “Enjoy your nap?”
“I wasn’t asleep,” I insisted.
“You were snoring away. To me, that means you’re asleep.”
I would have said something, but I didn’t feel like starting another argument. Looking down in my lap, I saw the item he’d dropped was my bag. They’d stored my stuff in here when they captured us. I opened the zipper and found the bag’s only contents – my grandfather’s journal, my cell and my mask.
“I thought you might like to have that back.”
Absentmindedly, I slipped the spearhead into the bag, zipped it up again, then stood and gave Ethan a hug and a kiss.
“Thank you,” I whispered. He knew how important my grandfather’s journal was, and when he recognized the bag, he must have known it was inside. He was the best boyfriend ever.
“Get a room, you two,” Savanah muttered as she walked past. “There’s no other way out.”
Tiffany followed behind her carrying an armload of fabric. It looked-brand new, and almost the same bright white color as the garments I’d borrowed from the medical center – which I realized I was still wearing. She walked over to Sam and Samantha and dropped the bundle on the ground in front of them.
“I found us something,” she proclaimed.
Oh no.
Samantha looked at it in disgust, almost as much as Savanah would look at one of those “I’m With Stupid” T-shirts. As Tiffany began putting the garment on, I knew there would be no stopping her. No stopping any of them.
Tiffany had managed to find the bio-suit Abby had worn in Manhattan. She’d be able to do all the things Abby had done then. For now, it wasn’t such a terrible thing because it would offer her protection as we made our escape, but once we were out, I would have to figure out how to get it away from her – no easy task. With the suit, I’d have no excuse for her not tagging along, or at least, that’s what she thought.
“Put them on.” Tiffany zipped up the front of her own suit. She gave it a few test bounces, jumping about four feet high with each one.
I turned away as Eddie returned to view. The boy was talking to Peter, and yes, Peter was actually talking back – an astounding sight.
The thing was, even as I looked at Eddie, I still had no idea what to do with the boy. I had to rescue him. I just wished I knew why. It didn’t matter yet, because the bigger task would be escaping.
“Okay, everyone,” I announced. “We’re getting out of here.” I looked at Sam, who’d recovered nicely. Samantha still hovered over him like an over-eager nurse. “Suit up. We’re making our break in five minutes.”
Like what you’ve read? Well we have more parts coming over the next few months. But if you can’t wait to read it, the book is available on Amazon, or on our website, here!
Also, if you like the content above, we have plenty more for you! We will always post stuff you can access for free, but we also have premium content for our premium subscribers. Want to access this content and see what it’s all about? You can be hitting that Subscribe Now button below and starting a 7-day free trial!
Thanks all!
STAY AWESOME!!!