by Nathan Roten
He bent down further and put his left hand into the water to feel it’s temperature. Damien saw this as his time to strike. Dropping the bottles, he hovered both arms to his right side of his body as the water beside him began to churn. A large wave formed under his arms beginning to twist and turn in a circular motion. Damien scrunched his nose and bared his teeth. In a quick motion, Damien flung both arms towards Branson as he bawled, commanding the huge wave to follow. Branson barely had time to look up from the water. As he lifted his head, he saw a large spiraling tidal wave hurling towards him, slamming into his chest.
It hit him so hard, than his feet flew up in front his face. As the water surrounded him, the electric sparks from his hand surged and engulfed the wave. Gargling screams echoed through the valley as the fog lit up like fireworks. Branson’s body tensed under the surge of electricity flowing though him. He rolled to the side, curling up into a ball, then straightening his legs, going stiff as a board. He writhed in pain and shock for a few more seconds while the water soaked into the ground. He was unconscious, but his body was still twitching with the residual effects of being electrocuted.
Damien was concerned that he actually killed him, but the faint puffs of white vapor coming from Branson’s mouth told him otherwise. Murphy sprang from his post at the site of his fallen comrade, running towards Damien. Once waist deep in water, Damien now stood near the middle of the pond with the water around his calves. With his teeth still bared, he lifted both hands up, his palms facing the sky, bringing the remaining water of the pond with them.
“AAHHHHH!”
Damien screamed again as he flung both hands in front of him. The water gathered together in two large streams and shot upwards towards Murphy. The force was so strong, that even the moisture from Damien’s clothes was stripped from the fabric. The water rushed towards Murphy, but it was obvious that he was anticipating this move.
Murphy whispered something into the air holding both hands up in front of him as he sprinted. Two large walls of light formed in front of him, acting as a dam between him and the water. The streams of water slammed into the wall of energy, diverting the water to each side. Murphy created the wall far enough ahead, so that he did not have to slow his pace. Once the wave was gone, he pulled his arms down at 45 degree angles causing the light to disappear.
Damien took a fighter’s stance. He put one foot back bracing himself against the dry lake bed for Murphy’s attack. What once was a pond, was now just a dry hole in the ground. With his arm drawn back, Murphy was the first to shoot a blast of light from his hand. Damien reacted by doing the same. The blasts met in between the two of them creating a blinding light and sounds of booming thunder. The blasts flattened into discs, then faded away into the thick fog. Damien reared back for another blast, but before he could release, the ground erupted beside Murphy, creating a mound of earth protruding out and upwards towards Murphy. The dirt and rock crashed into his face, propelling him over Branson’s crumpled form, and into the vacant pond. He rolled past Damien like a rag doll. He was out cold.
Damien looked up to see Kel running towards him with an outstretched hand. She glanced over to Damien to see if he was okay. Damien was far from ok in the general sense, but given the circumstances, he wasn’t complaining. He confirmed his condition with a nod. Two down, two to go. They looked around them for any sign of the others, but the fog was too thick, and the light of the sun was beginning to fade behind the horizon. Damien hopped from the hole in the ground. The two of them ran over to Branson and pulled him back down into the hole beside Murphy.
Kel stood shoulder to shoulder now with Damien, looking for any sign of Cavaness or Chase. Starting left and sweeping the perimeter of the woods, they looked for movement. A gust of wind began to blow, forming goose bumps on their arms. They both shrugged their shoulders in reaction to the chill, as the hair on the back of their neck began to stand up. The fog in front of them began to whip and whirl. The gust of air grew stronger, carving a channel in the fog. Before they could process the abnormality of the wind, they saw a blur of movement through the path in the fog. They barely had the time to take a breath before the blur began to glow and a blast hit them both in the torso. They both crumpled over in pain, falling back into the lake bed. The blur stopped at the edge, and once the fog separated, they could see Chase standing there looking down at them.
Chase had his hand up with the same blue fiery energy flame dancing around his hand. He looked over at Murphy and Branson lying in the dirt and shook his head sarcastically from side to side.
“Now that wasn’t very nice,” Chase said. “Though I’ve got to say that I am impressed. No one has knocked one of us out, much less two.” Chase stood there with a genuine appreciation with the strength of this group. “But please don’t tell me this was all you had to your little plan.”
“It’s not,” mumbled Damien holding his aching stomach.
“Good. I was hoping for a little more flare.”
“Get away from them Chase.” Graham’s voice carried through the clearing, echoing through the trees, making him sound much bigger than he really was.
“Graham! I was wondering when you were going to make your entrance.”
Graham felt sick to his stomach. The last thing he wanted to do was have a death match with Chase. He was older, faster and stronger, but he could not dwell on that now. It was his turn to save his friends.
“I’m done with your games. Whatever you are doing here, we will not be a part of it. If you want to take us, you will have to go through me first.”
Chase’s eyes widened as he chuckled. “Wow, such authority! If I didn’t know you better, I would actually think that you were serious. But you aren’t that serious, are you? It is a good facade, but I know deep down, you are freaking out.”
Chase looked back over to Kel and Damien. “Did you teach him that?”
“HEY! Don’t look at them, look at me.” The blood rushed to Graham’s cheeks as the small sticks and rocks from the edge of the woods hovered around him. A faint glow appeared around his body. His eyes began to flicker. A deep amber color began to overtake the blues of his iris.
“And put your hand down.”
Chase obeyed. The light around his hand faded away as he turned to face Graham. “That’s it. Keep going,” Chase said under his breath.
Tilting his head backwards towards the pond, Chase said, “You two stay put. Daddy needs to show Graham how playtime really works.”
Chase then refocused and calmly walked towards Graham. Not backing down, Graham kept his pace and met up with Chase. His fists were balled up and his jaw was clenched tight. Chase opened his mouth to speak, but before he could, Graham shoved him with small blasts of yellow light springing from his palms. Chase stumbled backwards a few steps, then regained his balance. He smiled as he patted at his chest, as if to dust off the light from the blast.
“Come on bro. Surely you have more than that.”
Graham quickly realized that there was hardly any force behind his blast. He was still holding back. He wasn’t trying to, but something inside was blocking his ability to let go. Why can’t I use this power outside of my nightmares, he thought. He glanced at Damien and Kel watching his confrontation, then focused back on Chase. Maybe I just need to warm up the old fashioned way. He sprang towards Chase. Leaning over, he tensed up and sank his shoulder as hard as he could into Chase’s gut. Chase fell backwards, shocked that he had just been tackled. Before his back hit the ground, he brought his legs to his chest, doing a backwards roll and popping right back up on his feet.
As soon as he landed he fired a blast at Graham. Graham reacted by firing another blast at Chase. The two blasts collided, and like the previous collision, the two balls of light slammed into each other, flattening into small discs, then disappearing in a flash of light and thunderous crackle.
Chase fired again and again, throwing two blasts at Graham’s legs. Graham jumped up, tucking his legs as the blasts bolted underneat
h him. Chase’s wrists began to glow and his eyes had already begun their gradient transition to amber. Once Graham had landed back on his feet, he stretched out his hand, but there was no blast. No glowing of the wrist. He grunted and strained to get something to happen, but nothing did.
“Stage fright?” asked Chase.
Not waiting for an answer, Chase ran in a blur behind Graham, held his hand to the small of Graham’s back and fired a blast. In a millisecond Graham was flung forward onto his chest, with his back feeling like a hot iron had just smashed into him at 50 miles an hour. He laid there in puddles of water that had not yet soaked into the grass from Damien’s wave.
As he pushed off the ground, he noticed his wrists had a very faint glow. It is not what he hoped for, but at least it was a start. He stayed on the ground as Chase walked up closer behind him. When he was close enough, Graham shot two blasts into the ground, propelling himself quickly upwards. He twisted around with a glowing fist landing a solid punch to the left side of Chase’s face.
Chase took the punch in stride, letting the force of the punch twist him a full 360 degrees, returning face to face with Graham. He hovered his hand above Graham’s rib cage and fired another blast, sending Graham crashing to the ground. Graham crumpled into the fetal position, holding his side. The pain from his back merged with the fresh sting in his side to create an overpowering throbbing throughout his entire mid-section.
Chase walked over to Graham and knelt down beside him.
“Come on Graham-y.” He poked Graham in the shoulder a couple times as he continued talking. “Open the floodgates. Why are you holding back? Don’t you want to save your pals?”
Graham could hardly speak through the surges of pain. He winced as he sat up to face Chase.
“Why do you want me to open up so bad? So you can take my energy for yourself?”
Chase looked up to the sky with an inquisitive expression, shrugging his shoulders. “Hmm, interesting theory. Did the Casey file give you that idea?”
“Maybe….among other things. Is she dead?”
Chase chuckled. “Well….yea.”
“Did you kill the others before us, once you were done with your sick experiments?”
“What makes you think I want you dead? According to you, I need your energy, so let me ask you this. How exactly did you see me taking it? Was it something like this?”
As Chase spoke, he quickly grabbed Graham by the wrists. His grip was so tight, Graham thought his bones were going to crack. The amber of Chase’s eyes grew more intense, as glowing vapor began to rise from his hands. Graham felt light headed. His wrists tingled as he felt a steady flow of energy flow from his wrists into Chase’s hands. The glowing vapor whipped around Chase’s hands, rising in circular motions around his forearms. Graham’s rebellious stare gave way to fatigue, as his eyes began to roll into the back of his head. Just as the darkness began to overtake him, Graham saw Chase fall with a grunt to the side.
Damien stood at the edge of the bank with his hand stretched out. Chase rolled over to see what had just hit him in the back of the head. A water bottle was laying beside him. He shook his head throwing off the pain, as he picked up the bottle and stood to his feet.
“Nice arm amigo! You had some heat behind that one. That actually hurt a little.”
“It wasn’t a throw,” said Damien. His wrist was beaming with light. The bottle ripped from Chase’s hand and hovered in the air for a second before slamming into Chase’s face, then gut. The bottle was throwing jabs at Chase like a professional boxer with his opponent in the corner of the ring. The motion of Damien’s outstretched hand was mimicking the same motion of the bottle. After the 5th hit from the bottle, Chase shot a blast from his right hand, disintegrating the bottle and releasing the water inside to splash in the grass.
Looking over at Damien, Chase said, “Not bad! Not bad at all.” He turned to walk towards Damien. “You know, Aquatics are pretty rare. Actually, I don’t think I have seen one come through here before.”
As Chase walked past Graham in mid-monologue, Graham made his move. His wrists lit up as he fired a blast at Chase’s feet. The force was not strong, but it was enough to send his feet into the air, making Chase fall flat on his back. Graham leapt from the ground and straddled Chase, pinning his arms to the ground, with a tight grip on his wrists. Chase wiggled to get free, but before he could do much of anything, Graham reared back and slammed his forehead into the bridge of Chase’s nose, making blood spray from his nostrils. Graham focused all his energy on his hands. As he concentrated, the bands of Graham’s wrists slowly began to glow like the light from an oil lamp as you turn the dial to increase the flame. Faint, translucent vapor began to rise from Graham’s grip. Chase wiggled under Graham’s weight, but found that the struggle was too taxing as the energy left his body.
“Doesn’t feel so good, does it?” mocked Graham through bared teeth.
Blood continued to run out of Chase’s nose, making a small stream that flowed down past the corner of his mouth and pooling in the hollow of his neck, just below his Adam’s apple. He fought against Graham’s grip, but as the energy from his body continued to escape, he felt his head hit the grass as the star lit sky and fog began to fade.
“ENOUGH.”
Graham whirled around to see Cavaness walk out into the clearing holding a small girl under his arm who was kicking and mouthing silent screams. Hearing his voice sent waves of fear through Graham, so much in fact, that he loosened his grip from Chase’s wrists. Graham quickly forgot about his current battle. In an unanticipated reaction, he stood up, dismounting Chase like a horse. Chase’s eyes rolled back to consciousness. He flexed his fingers trying to regain the feeling in his hands. He sat up slowly. As he did, the pain from his nose hit him like a ton of bricks. He brought his hand up to his face, cradling his nose and forehead in his palms.
“Let her go, Cavaness,” said Graham.
“I don’t take orders from little boys,” replied Cavaness in his usual calm, authoritative voice.
Cavaness looked over at Chase, who was still inspecting the damage done to his face.
“We tried it your way. Now we do it mine.”
Not bothering to turn and look at Graham, Cavaness shot a blast into the ground a few feet in front of him. The ground rumbled, then a small mound of dirt shot up, sending Graham into the air, but before he could go too high, Cavaness fired a blast into his chest, sending him violently back into the ground. The intensity of Graham hitting the ground flattened the mound of dirt back into the earth. Cavaness never broke eye contact with Chase. His stare gave silent command, expecting Chase to acknowledge his insubordination, and confirm his pending actions. Chase let his head sink. He looked at the ground for a moment, then back at Cavaness. He reluctantly shook his head in agreement.
Graham didn’t move. He laid in the wet grass in complete shock from the intensity of the blast. It was much worse that Chase’s hits. Kel and Damien rushed towards Cavaness at the same time firing blasts from their hands as they sprinted. The first two hit Cavaness in the shoulder, but with one large blast from his hand, he countered their attacks, and with one blinding flash of light, the balls of light vanished. Cavaness then shoved his hand forward hitting both Damien and Kel with an invisible force. It hit them so hard that they flew back at least ten feet before crashing into the dry lake bed.
Ailey was still dangling at his side, punching at his stomach and kicking the air. Cavaness did not flinch. It was as if he did not even notice her at all. He remained focused on Kel and Damien as they slowly stood back to their feet. Cavaness held his hand back up. His wrist was glowing like fire, and another ball of light was forming around his hand. Ailey looked up and saw that he was about to hurt her friends again.
Not really understanding what she was doing, she looked down at Cavaness’ massive forearm and saw the glow of his other wrist. She grabbed the glowing band with one hand. Her eyes immediately began to turn an amber color. Her wrists lit up a
nd she clenched her jaw. She flung her other hand towards the ground shooting a beam of light into the grass underneath them. The ground erupted like a small volcano underneath Cavaness, hurling them both through the air. Ailey was flung back towards the tree line and Cavaness landed over near Chase.
Cavaness rolled over to his stomach and bringing one foot up, he rested his elbow on his thigh. He shot an angry look at Chase.
“Hey, don’t look at me. I told you she was a Bridge,” said Chase.
Cavaness was not used to being knocked down, especially by a little girl. He stared at Ailey as she pushed herself up, sitting indian-style in the grass. His snarl turned into a small grin. She was a feisty one. She had a lot of spunk, and good reactionary skills. She was a good find. Still wearing the grin, he fired a blast, hitting Ailey in the legs while she tried to stand to her feet. The force knocked Ailey back to the ground. Ailey grabbed her knee with stinging pain running through her leg.
“GET AWAY FROM HER!” screamed Kel. She reacted like a mother whose child was under attack. She threw a blast at Cavaness, but with a simple flick of his wrist, Cavaness countered her blast with his own, sending it back into her chest. Kel fell to the ground, hitting her head on the hard dirt. Damien looked down beside him and saw the other water bottle laying on the ground. He held his hand above the bottle, and as if throwing a baseball, he flung his hand forward. The bottle sprang from the ground and shot towards Cavaness, but before it could hit him, he raised his hand and caught the bottle. His hand radiated light and with a vice like grip, he squeezed the bottle, bursting the water from within. Without expression, Cavaness threw the crumpled bottle to the ground and turned his attention back to Ailey.
Walking over to Ailey, Cavaness put his fist in the palm of his other hand. Light from his palm formed around his fist in the shape of a small bowl. He then removed his fist from the light and a bowl like glow remained in the palm of his hand. Cavaness then grabbed both of Ailey’s wrists and held up her hands. He set the glowing bowl like object over her hands. The light then contracted over her hands, trapping them like handcuffs.