“He couldn’t make it. We’ll talk about it later,” he explained softly to me. Great…
“Okay… Well hey, why don’t we all go inside, huh? We can just hang out for a while and–” I said, when Alannah put her hand on my chest.
“Actually, I’m really glad you’re all here, but would you guys mind letting us have some time to ourselves?” she interrupted. My eyes shot open pretty wide on that one, gotta be honest. The others all looked… not really surprised, more taken aback, I suppose. Bentley just threw his hands in the air and walked away.
“I’m gone. Peter?” he called. Bell nodded, and moved back in to give me and Alannah another hug.
“Right!” he said. “Congrats again, you two. I couldn’t be happier.”
“Thank you,” I replied gently, smiling at him.
“Alright, well… do we have to leave too?” Will asked. “Because I called off plans with other people for this–”
“Yes, get out,” Alannah shut down, pointing away from the house. Will frowned a little, and Julia just embarrassingly pushed him away, then running excitedly back to Alannah last second and hugging her tight again.
“Good job not screwing that up,” she said to me, winking.
“Thanks, Jules,” I responded, smiling.
Soon enough, everyone had left, and Alannah and I had the whole house to ourselves. Really though, the whole house wasn’t exactly what we were interested in.
And that’s all I’ll say about that.
11
What’s In Your Head
I went out to search around for a while, see if I could find any trouble. Jason was busy with his proposal, and I wanted so badly to see it work– I knew it would, after all– but I couldn’t help but feel obligated to still try and watch the skies.
I wasn’t as attuned to my suit’s capabilities as Jason was, so I just kind of eyeballed the area, try to see what I could do. I’m sure Jason would have thought of something better in the moment, probably ask the suit to do something or other, but I wasn’t as good on my feet as he was. I was more of the sit and stew kind of thinker; Jason tended to wing it with a twist.
Which was funny. I mean, I guess it was anyway. It was also a little annoying, honestly. I felt like a lot of the time that’s why he could act so brashly. For instance, it may have been why he refused to see my side of the argument for fighting for people. Jason just felt in the moment it would be so dangerous and rash and selfish, but if he just stopped to think about it, I know he’d get my point.
It was the same way whenever we’d have a problem. Jason would always want to fix it, but I’d tell him I needed to think– we both did. It made him go stir crazy, but the more you think, the more you understand something. I’d gone over this idea of actually trying to be heroes at least a thousand times in my head– which could go lightning fast lately, by the way; very surprising. Regardless, I knew this was the best course of action for the both of us. The public was mad at Jason right now, sure, but I knew I could soften out our relationship with the public’s edges.
It took me an hour or so, but eventually, I spotted a rising plume of smoke off in the distance, and naturally, I darted toward it. It was an apartment complex, and the top three floors were engulfed in flames. I could only imagine the worst, but all the same I can’t lie, I felt somewhat excited, too; this was the perfect opportunity to do some real good for people.
“Oh God!" I gasped, darting my gaze all around, trying quickly to find a culprit. I couldn’t, but they were surely somewhere; maniacs like that always liked to watch their horrific masterpiece take place.
What I did see at the moment was a horde of people standing outside: firemen, police, reporters, and presumably residents of the complex that had already gotten out. By the looks on most of their faces, it most definitely appeared that there were still people trapped inside. They hadn’t seen me yet, so I had plenty of time to think as I moved in closer.
I questioned whether or not I should make a move, or if it would go against what Jason had been telling me. It would, surely, but these people needed help! I needed to do something. Still though, what would Jason do if he found out? I hated to make him angry, and we’d been so tense lately…
Then again, he was the one instigating most of those arguments. Jason was stubborn, but I was no pushover; people like that– like me– could always rub Jason the wrong way. That’s why we got into so many fights growing up.
If I did this, people might be saved from an otherwise life-threatening issue. If I didn’t, they’d likely die.
At the same time, Jason would be pissed if I went in there, but if I didn’t… would I really not be pissed at myself? Maybe even Jason? I wasn’t sure, but my gut told me moving in was the right thing to do. So long as I kept my composure, and got out of there quick, I’d be okay. No one would have to see the dead man walking.
Before I could move in on the place, however, a news chopper flew in overhead, and levelled out with my altitude.
“It’s the Wanderer! He’s in a new suit, and it appears he’s changing his ways and attempting to save the residents trapped inside the complex!” a reporter from within announced.
I don’t know for sure how I heard that, but at the moment, one of the only things that stuck with me was that they thought I was Jason, and for some reason that bothered me. A lot. Like, a lot more than I could really even explain; it was like a guttural feeling– like someone just grabbed my heart and squeezed it just a little too hard.
Without another thought, as I’d had enough of those already, I burst into the roof of the complex, and began looking around for people trapped inside. Then Alex called me. I didn’t know it at the time, but regardless, my suit answered.
“Dude, where are you right now? Everyone’s waiting at Alannah’s. There aren’t any challenger attacks going on, are there?” Alex asked.
“Yeah– I’m busy, Alex,” I said. “I’m trying to help people here.”
“With what?”
“A fire.”
“A fire!? Sam, Jason told you to back off, didn’t he?” Alex pressed. “Get out of there, man; let the firemen handle it. Let Jason handle it he needs to.”
“He won’t,” I said, sounding more bitter than I’d intended.
“Sam, if things got so serious either one of you needed to step in, he would; you know that, man!” Alex argued. “Back out of there, seriously! I’m trying to help you here–”
“If you want to help, then let me do my job, alright!?” I shouted. Alex was quiet. I felt awful, realizing just how angry I’d grown, and tried to reel it in. “I…I’m sorry, just… please, Alex. I need– they need my help. Go be with the others, celebrate for me.”
“I don’t…! Okay, Sam… okay,” Alex sighed, then hanging up. I took a deep breath and shook my head, moving further into the building.
It isn’t like any of us ever reprimanded Jason for doing reckless things, right? Alex never stopped him from flying off into space; Julia never yelled at him for leaving our apartment through the terrace and into the sky; Bell never punished him for terrifying an entire team of news broadcasters and journalists. I never even got mad enough at him to say he was doing the wrong thing. Why was everyone so intent on letting me know what a screw up I was at trying to help others?
I shook my head, trying to wave off the negative thoughts. I remembered what Jason said about that– what it did to our powers– and I didn’t want to lose it in here.
I walked around slowly, making sure not to knock anything over that could make the fire even worse. Every little detail I could, I analyzed; weak support beams, smoke from under doors, the sounds of creaks and whimpers coming somewhere within. I could feel the heat blasting against the suit; it made things toasty inside, for sure, but not nearly as bad as it was on the outside.
“Is anyone up here?” I said. “Does anyone need any help!”
“Please! I’m stuck in my bathroom!” a woman called out. “I can’t get the door open! It�
�s too hot!” I could see it, and I heard her kicking on it once or twice. This was my moment.
I darted over to the door, and with one swift movement, I ripped it open and sent it flying into the wall behind me. The woman screamed, both at the suddenness of the door’s opening, and the fact that a red and silver suited, alien-looking thing was standing right in front of her. At least, I can only imagine that’s why.
“Who...Who are you…?” she asked, clearly scared out of her mind.
“I’m the Ranger. I’m friends with the Wanderer,” I introduced, trying to sound friendly, and extending my hand slowly. I smiled, but realized she couldn’t see it anyways; probably for the best, I needed to focus on working, not smiling.
She recoiled in fear as I reached for her, much to my surprise.
“I’m here to help you, but we have to go, quick; the longer we wait, the hotter my suit will be to the touch.”
She hesitated, and slowly got up and took my hand. I held onto her tight, and made my way back over to the hole I had made, bursting back out. I landed next to the civilians, and let her go, immediately flying back in. Like I’d said, it was better to get this done quick and easy, and just let the people know we were about their safety and well-being.
It took maybe ten or so minutes to get everyone else, which was something around ten or so people. I was fairly confident that I had gotten everyone, but I wasn’t positive. Better to be sure than to just fly away. Besides, Jason and I seriously needed the positive P.R. work.
The whole time too, I couldn’t stop reeling back to those thoughts about our people. Jason was and is my best friend, easily, but they acted like he was a patron saint. I love him to death, but Jason is no angel. Before he was a hero, he stole, for God’s sake! Small things, sure, but he still pocketed snacks and drinks from convenience stores, and he took more skip days than sick days during school. It was me who had to cover for him half the time.
I’m not saying everyone is pure and heroic at heart, but Jason was treated like he could do no wrong. Even when Bell and Bentley were mad with him, they never were for long. Especially now, everything was just piled on me– I knew that, even if Jason tried to pretend it wasn’t true.
Alannah loved him almost to a fault; so did he, honestly. I get it, they are a wonderful couple, and in the moment I wished nothing but the best for their engagement. Yes, I liked her too, way back when, but… I got over that years ago.
But still, their arguments were just so futile! They went nowhere! One of them would make the other laugh, and all of a sudden the problem was gone. Now more than ever, Jason was this grade-A guy– and he was, but within reason– and Alannah was his one-and-only. I love them both, really, but it could just get so…
I mean, that everything was always just perfect in Jason’s life except for me nowadays just sucked. I knew he didn’t want it, neither did I, but I wasn’t really the one with the problem; I’m the one who was trying to solve them. I just needed to find a way to do that without stopping this, because really, this was the right thing to do– I just knew it.
Anyway, after the seemingly last hostage to the fire, I landed next to the fire department, and took a breath. One of them looked over at me.
“Is that everyone?” the firefighter asked, standing in a rather defensive position– at least, so it seemed to me.
“I think so,” I said, though I think my lack of confidence broke through to the woman. She looked at me curiously, and took a step forward.
“Well do you want to go in and check to be sure?” she asked. I paused for a moment, and then nodded, bursting back in.
At that point, I’d made enough holes where I could get to pretty much every burning floor possible, which at this point was something like five, and I continued to call for stragglers.
“Hello? Is anyone still trapped here?” I said.
I heard nothing, but was still fairly sure I could hear the creaking of footsteps. It could have just been the wood burning and breaking I suppose, but better to be safe than sorry.
“Uh, suit…?” I asked. “Jason said you can help me out when I need it, so can you like… scan the apartment for living beings?” It took a moment, but then I heard some weird kind of whirring sounds, and then my visor had this red scan go from top to bottom really fast a handful of times.
I looked all around and tried to see if there was any kind of difference. All I could make out was a small, red, glowing blur on the other end of the hallway and down a floor, where the fire had yet to really spread.
“Gotcha,” I said, swooping through the hallway and down the stairs. I broke the door wide open where the blur, now clearly a human body, was sat. “Hey, we have to leave, there’s a fire upst–” I said, then noticing who I’d walked in on.
It was a scraggly looking man; seemingly homeless, from how raggedly he dressed. He shook, whether it be from adrenaline or excitement or some kind of narcotic, I wasn’t sure. I did know this though: the gasoline can in his hand was a strong indicator that this was the perpetrator of the arson currently taking place.
Again, seeing him there, all of a sudden, it just made me so upset. I don’t know why– maybe because of all the Jason stuff going on in my head– I just had all this anger to let loose suddenly.
“You!” I scowled, grabbing the man by the scruff of his loose-hanging shirt. He maintained a wild look in his eyes: one that did seem frightened, albeit solidly deranged all the same.
I burst out of the building through another new hole, not caring all that much for the arsonists safety in the moment, and landed in front of all the people outside.
Quite the crowd had accumulated out front; some passersby now stood around the law enforcement and apartment residents, presumably to watch the show. They all gazed at me as I came flying out of the wall, and some looked more nervous than I would’ve liked. Still, I had to just do my job; I think I’d been doing pretty well, so far.
“This is the guy you’re looking for,” I announced, tossing the arsonist toward a cop car. In the heat of the moment, however, I lost grip on my strength.
I didn’t kill him, but the man made a solid dent in the police car’s door, and seemed to be knocked unconscious almost immediately. I suspected a few broken bones as well, maybe worse. Everyone around me recoiled in fear. That hurt even worse than Alex’s phone call did, I’ll be honest.
“Oh Jesus, sorry!” I apologized, holding my hands out. Some of the police officers had their hands just above their guns, which seemed fruitless to me; it’d do nothing.
Again though, it still hurt. I felt like all that work was suddenly for nothing. No praise, no thank you, no happy faces; just fear– fear that honestly scared me. I could feel my anxiety growing in the pit of my stomach. My hands twitched, and it felt like… I don’t know quite how to explain it– honestly the more scared I became, the harder I found it to explain anything– but it felt like something was about to happen; like something was coming.
“Man will you just get out of here!” a resident shouted, upset. Some of the surrounding public cheered softly in agreement. I was taken aback by that, more so than any of the previously negative expressions. Words were a whole other level of criticism. Of rejection.
“Wait, Wanderer–!” a woman, seemingly a reporter, called out.
“Ranger,” I corrected.
“Sure,” she waved off; I didn’t particularly like the tone of that. “Can you take a few questions? Let the people know what you’re all about?” I paused for a moment, but again Jason and I needed this, dangerously.
“Yes, sure,” I agreed. The firefighters, most of which were just now getting out of the daze of my entrance, ran closer toward the building to try and extinguish it.
“Are you a human, as well as the Wanderer?” the reporter asked. I nodded.
“Yes, I am, and I promise you, I’m only here to help,” I explained. “We both are.”
“Are you working with the Wanderer?” another reporter came out of the crowd to ask,
holding out his phone as a microphone. “Or for him?”
“For–? No, no we work together,” I stammered. My lack of apparent poise seemed to speak volumes to the reporters, however. “I don’t work for him, definitely not. We’re just… He’s my–”
“Back away! She’s going down!” a firefighter shouted, everyone then nervously backing away. Even I jumped back a bit, much to the crowd’s surprise. The building began to fall in on itself– the holes I’d created seemingly made weak point after weak point in the integrity of the complex.
“Man, why’d you make so many holes all over the place!” another firefighter yelled. I just turned to him confusedly, embarrassed at the callout.
“I…” I said, holding my hands out defensively. They felt odd, almost like they tingled; like they were doing something. “I didn’t–”
“Rover, have you had your powers–” one of the reporters tried to ask. I turned to face him.
“Ranger,” I corrected again. The reporter rolled his eyes a little.
“Have you had your powers as long as the Wanderer? If so, where have you been, and why can’t you seem to control them as well? Or are you just more reckless than he is tactical?”
“I’m not–!” I tried to defend. “He’s…! I have not had my powers as long, no.”
This is exactly what I’m talking about. All these critiques, now even just about my grace and form. Jason was way more reckless than I was, at everything! Look at his proposal!
“There was a recent conspiracy by a former coworker of mine that’s been buried by the mainstream media. It claims you’re a personal friend of the Wanderer’s; that you got your powers from him, because you had technically died after one of the alien attacks several weeks ago. That you are, as it were, a zombie– the dead man walking. Can you confirm or deny this?” the first reporter asked.
I froze up; how did she know about that? Who was this reporter, journalist, whatever that knew so much about what happened? It couldn’t have been Jessica, she’s a student. But then again, she’s the only one I talked to recently outside of my friends and the people at the U.S.B. Could she have really ratted me out? Would she? What could she possibly gain from it?
The Wanderer (Book 2): Stranded Page 12