I smiled, my eyes blazing bright and blue. “I think your aim could use some work.”
“What’s going on out here?” Marshall, the ginger, asked as he ran out of the house, David close behind. When they looked towards the center of the cul-de-sac where I stood, they froze, their eyes darting around for any sign of their hostages. Standing behind them I could see the teen boy and girl who’d volunteered to lead them through their camp peeking above their shoulders. The girl tapped the boys shoulder, and gestured behind her. The two of them escaped out the back of the house without anybody save for me noticing.
All the hostages were clear.
Now I could play.
“Look, you guys should probably just set your guns down and run along,” I said.
They all exchanged glances with each other, all except for Robert, who wouldn’t stop glaring at me. From the rage that danced in his eyes, it almost seemed like he was trying to get me to burst into flames. Which, of course, could’ve been a possibility. Fortunately, none of these Supers seemed like pyros.
“You destroyed my arm,” Robert said, gesturing with the pistol that he’d switched from his useless left hand to his right.
“I did do that. You’re observant. Unfortunately for you, I don’t feel particularly bad about it,” I said with a patronizing tone.
Robert raised his gun and fired off a couple of shots. I dodged the bullets easily, and as they flew past me I reached out for them and threw them back at Robert’s feet. They ripped through his right foot, and he fell to the ground.
“Robert,” I said as I walked towards him. “I’m not in a very good mood.” I crouched down next to him on the ground. “Just leave while I still let you.”
“Screw you. We just needed some supplies. We were just going to take supplies.” Robert’s expression changed as he looked up at me. I was close enough to him now that his glowing blue eyes looked into mine, and he recognized me. “You’re Tempest,” he said, his words in awe.
“In the flesh,” I said gesturing at myself with a smirk.
“I’m gonna kill you, you sack of shit.”
Somebody grabbed my shirt, and threw me backwards with incredible force. It caught me so off guard that I tumbled across the ground for a few moments before I got my bearings. I looked up to see who’d attacked me and watched something happen that I’d never seen before, and that’s saying a lot coming from me.
The five Supers all grabbed each other’s hands, and there a bright flash of light that I had to shield my eyes from. When I looked up again, I saw a terrifying monster almost ten feet tall come charging at me, its body a grotesque conglomeration of muscular flesh and different patches of skin color meeting each other like puzzle pieces. A roar of anger launched from its alien looking face causing my bones to shake like the ground did with every step the monster took.
Its glowing blue eyes were just a few inches from mine before I shook myself from my daze. I jumped to my feet, about to dive out of the way. I was too late, though, as the monster slammed its body into mine, sending me flying backwards, through the front of the house directly behind me, and out the back. I slid across the backyard that was much better maintained than the front, and right through one of the vegetable gardens.
I looked up to see the beast jump through the air, coming down over the back of the house, right to where I was lying.
This time I was ready.
4
THE CREATURE WITH THE SNAKE TATTOO
I reached out for the monster’s large bare left foot right before it hit me, and using their momentum against them, swung the creature around and back into the air.
The grotesque beast flew through the air, tossing and turning trying to right itself. I leaped up after it, drawing my fist behind me, ready to strike. I reached it as the creature reached its apex and was about to begin its descent back to the ground below. I figured I’d give it a little help as I slammed my fist into its chest. The creature slammed into a field nearby the neighborhood, a deep crater forming in the dirt.
I flew down landing next to it as the beast leaned on its dark left arm. The snake tattoo that the woman had was stretched across the creatures arm. The arm was dark tan all the way until the shoulder, where it turned to a light tan, closer to the complexion of Robert, the gang’s leader.
Working on a hunch, I ran to the creature, jumped up, and slammed my fist as hard as I could into the creature right where the skin color began to change. A blight white light flashed across the crater, and as it dissipated, I saw the woman with the snake tattoo falling towards the ground. I swooped down and caught her. I flew as fast as I could away from the now one-armed creature with the woman in my hands. I dropped her off many miles away and flew back to the crater.
The beast climbed out of the hole, and roared at me, beating its black right arm against its tan bicep. I flew down, ready to punch at where the two Supers were joined, but the creature rolled out of the way in an impressive feat of agility. It reached up and plucked me out of the air, slamming me into the ground hard.
The air knocked out of me and I struggled for a breath. The creature slammed its balled up fist into my back, smashing me in the ground.
After a few more seconds, I regained my composure. Right as I saw the shadow of the fist coming down atop me, I flew straight forward, my fist in front of me, digging the dirt out of my way. Once I flew underground for a few feet, I turned upwards, bursting from the ground, dirt exploding around me.
I turned and flew as fast as I could towards the creature, who was searching around, trying to figure out where I went. I slammed my fist into its pale left thigh. There was another flash of light as the scrawny ginger kid was disconnected from the rest of the creature.
I grabbed him by the back of his shirt before he hit the ground, and flew off as the creature stumbled into the dirt behind me. This time, I flew in the opposite direction of the woman who acted as the left arm of the creature, leaving the scrawny ginger miles and miles away from the rest of his crew.
I flew back to the creature as it struggled to get up from the ground. But since it only had a torso, right arm, and left leg, there wasn’t much it could do.
Next I disconnected the beast’s final arm, taking the disoriented man far away. I came back and did the same to the left leg. When I came back, all that was left of the beast was its torso, rolling around in the dirt, trying in vain to prepare for my return.
I landed on the creature’s chest, and it froze, staring into my eyes with an intense hatred. I wasn’t sure how to return Robert to his human state, so I did what’d I done so far, and went with a hunch. I slammed my fist down onto its chest. There was an explosion of light, and once it went away, I was floating a few feet above a tattered and worn Robert.
His chest heaved as he tried to regain his breath. I floated down next to him. “Told you I wasn’t in a good mood,” I said.
“T-this is all you-your fault, you…know,” Robert said between heavy breaths.
“It’s my fault your part of a five-piece monster?” I said with a chuckle. I looked at his shoulder which seemed to have healed when he was part of that creature. “It seems like I helped you.” I gestured to his now-healed wound.
He shook his head. “We were just t-trying to survive. Survive in this world you and Supers like you created.”
I felt my chest grow heavy as anger boiled within. I reached down and picked Robert up by his shirt. “I haven’t done a damn thing. It’s not my fault almost everybody who got superpowers turned into a psycho like you.”
I didn’t let Robert get in another word. I flew through the air as fast as I could. I flew hundreds and thousands of miles away. I dropped Robert down in the parking lot of a grocery store somewhere in Nevada.
He spun around, trying to get his bearings.
“Have fun trying to get back to your friends,” I said with a smile. I floated into the air, showing Robert my middle finger as I rose into the sky. He shouted many expletives at me, but I
just kept smiling as I turned around and flew back home.
5
CHANGING OF THE GUARD
I landed outside the abandoned house we'd set up as our campsite. The house was a ranch-style house with red brick and a long rock driveway leading from the garage to the road half a mile away. The grass had almost grown up as tall as the houses I'd just come from. We hadn't planned on staying there for long, but three weeks sure felt like forever, especially when we were missing someone like Samantha who was our backbone.
I opened the front door, the hinges creaking as I stepped inside the house. The thick mint green carpet felt plush under my feet, and as the blast of air conditioning cooled my skin, I realized how tired I was.
Doug looked up from the ugly faded-red couch that sat against the wall to my right. The look on his face said it all.
I shook my head, confirming his fears that I'd heard nothing.
“What happened to you?” Eddie asked as he walked in from the hall way on the right. He had a screwdriver in one hand and a small engine in the other.
I looked down at myself and realized that I was pretty dirty and desperately in need of a shower. “Ran into some Supers with a power I've never seen before.”
Doug and Selena, who were too busy sitting at the dining room table that sat across the living room on the other side of the hallway Eddie stood in, perked up. “Looks like they put up quite a fight,” Selena said.
“More like it put up quite the fight,” I said as I crossed the living room and sat down in the recliner next to the couch.
“Dude, you're so dirty. Don't get it all over the furniture,” Drew said.
“Have you seen this furniture?” I said pointing at the hideous floral design in the chair. “At least a little dirt will cover this pattern.”
“Guys, focus,” Selena said. She stood from her seat at the table and walked into the living room. “What new Supers?”
“There were five people attacking a community probably two hundred or so miles away from here. I flew down to stop them, and all five of them came together and formed into this ugly looking troll-like monster. I'm serious, this thing was not fun to look at.”
“What were its powers?” Doug asked.
I turned to look at him, his eyes in awe as he soaked up every word. “It was really strong. It could definitely take a punch. It could also jump really high.”
The group chuckled at how ridiculous “high jumping” sounded as a power.
I continued explaining to them everything that happened, being sure to go through with Selena how I defeated it should she encounter something similar. I left out the words that Robert said to me. That this reality was all my fault. I told myself that I did so just because it didn't mean anything, but really, I couldn't help but have those words nag at me for some reason I couldn't describe.
Once I was done with story-time, I stood from the chair. “Eddie, is the hot water running still?”
Eddie smiled big, a crackle of electricity sparking through his eye. “Of course it is. It might even be too hot.”
“Awesome. I'm gonna go take me a shower then,” I said.
“Alright, I guess it's my turn to go listen for Samantha then,” Selena said as she walked over to pick up her shoes from the pile by the door.
Darkness began to seep back into my world at the mention of her name, and the pit in my stomach began to grow.
I walked off towards the bathroom, already anticipating turning the water as hot as it could go so as to take my mind off things for just a few moments longer.
****
I sat down next to Doug on the couch as he typed away on his keyboard. I leaned over to see what he was doing, and saw him typing words into a message box. His laptop was connecting to all sorts of gadgets, the wires and boxes sprawling from the computer and all over the coffee table. “Who’re you talking to?” I asked.
“Just keeping in touch with some of my online friends from the Super message boards. I put out the word about Samantha, but so far no one has heard anything,” Doug said as he continued typing. It was really interesting to watch him type one conversation on his laptop, while having another one with me, and he never got confused or mixed up.
“We’ll find something soon, I’m sure,” I said, trying to reassure him even though I didn’t feel the most confident.
He just grunted a response and continued typing away.
I decided to change the conversation to something a little more enjoyable. “So,” I said as I smiled and nudged him with my elbow. “How’re those powers coming?”
Doug’s jaw tensed and he stopped typing. He shook his head and continued typing. “Like shit. No matter what I do I can’t figure out what my powers are.”
I was dangerously close to striking a nerve. Doug has always been the number one fan of Supers. He wanted to be one so bad, so when we found out he was one a few weeks ago, he was ecstatic at first. Well, as ecstatic as you can be after coming back from the dead and then finding out your sister went missing. Still, it seemed like it’d be a silver lining to it all. Yet, for the life of us, we couldn’t figure out exactly what his powers were. “Maybe it’s your hacking skills like you always joked about?” I said.
Doug shook his head. “There are plenty of people out there who are better than me, and they’ve been around well before the Supers.”
I looked down at my hands, picking at my nails, trying to think of something else to dig myself out of the hole I was slowly making for myself. I was just trying to help Doug feel better—take his mind off Samantha. And it didn’t hurt that it was helping me take my mind off things. Yet all I was doing was annoying him, reminding him of all his shortcomings.
There was one thing, however, that only Doug could do.
“What about our friends across the pond?” I said, doing my best British accent, laughing at myself.
This got a small reaction from Doug, so it was something. “They’re starting to step up their security, especially after Leopold and his crew spent their week over here. They have strict curfews now, increased soldiers on the street, and their Supers are out patrolling instead of sitting in their headquarters waiting on a mission.”
“Wow,” I said once Doug was finished. “Sounds like they’re getting ready for a war.”
Doug nodded. “Yeah, hopefully they’ll be able to learn something from us and be a bit more prepared.”
“That’s the truth. What about Leopold and the rest of them? Ellie, Avery, you heard from any of them?”
“Ellie is leading the group now. Leo is apparently out on a mission, but they can’t tell me anything else,” Doug said as he exited his browser and began the process of putting his computer to sleep.
“That’s interesting,” I said, my mind spinning off wondering what type of mission Leo could be out on. “Well, we’ll have to pay them a visit whenever Samantha is back with us. See if there’s anything we can do to pay them back for helping us.”
“Yeah, maybe something like that,” Doug said as he began to pack his things up, his mind already wandering off.
“I’m going to go take a nap,” I said, standing up, taking the hint that Doug wanted to go somewhere else where he could be alone. I walked towards the hallway, my eyes growing tired at just the thought of sleep. “Hey Doug,” I said before I left the room.
Doug looked at me as he zipped up one of compartments of his backpack that he’d just shoved a wad of cords into.
“We’re going to find out where your sister is at, one way or the other.”
Doug nodded and offered me a weak smile.
I smiled back at him, and turned to walk down the hallway. I entered the second door on my right, my bare room with gray walls greeting me. First thing I did when we moved into this place was remove anything that reminded me of the previous occupants of the house. I laid down on the bed, briefly wondering where the owners were at now before I fell into a deep sleep.
6
FIELD TRIP
I
slept for two and half hours. I could’ve slept for much longer, but Selena yelling my name jolted me from my slumber.
I jumped up from bed and ran out my bedroom door in a daze, my sleepiness lingering. I ran to the end of the hallway just as Selena was entering.
“What is it?” I asked, the panicked look on her face concerning me. Her eyes were still glowing blue, turning them off clearly being the last thing on her mind.
“There’s a couple Supers I heard attacking a group of people,” she began to explain.
“Another group? Damn, that’s the second one today. What’s going on around here?” I asked, mostly thinking out loud.
“That’s not it though. Three or four Supers I can take no problem. But there’s something different about these ones. Their eyes weren’t glowing blue. They were white.”
I stared at her for a few moments, taking in what she was saying. “White? How’s that possible?”
She shook her head. “I have no idea. I’ve never seen anything like it.”
“Neither have I.” My mind trailed off, trying to figure out what white glowing eyes could possibly mean. “What did you do?”
“They’re still out there,” Selena said, backing out of the hallway and into the living room, doing her best to keep from tripping over Doug, Eddie, and Drew who’d gathered around behind her listening. “I figured if these Supers have white eyes there’s no telling if that means they’re more or less powerful. Didn’t want to run in there without backup.”
I followed Selena fear gripping at my insides. I’ve seen Selena take down many Supers all on her own, so if these Supers made her come back and get me for backup, she must’ve had a really bad feeling about them. Which, in turn, gave me one.
“Let me come with you, I could shock them if I needed to,” Drew said, stepping up.
“We don’t know what these things are capable of. Kane and I are the only ones that can heal. There’s no coming back for you,” Selena said.
The Secret of the Supers (The First Superhero Book 4) Page 2