Malcolm didn’t waste any time. He used the wind to propel himself down to the opposite end of the hallway, checking each room for trapped students as he went. Most of them were already empty. One of them had a small, red pool of blood on the center of the floor, but there was no body in sight.
He moved to the next classroom, and then the next after that, slowly approaching Tapestry and the shooter. He couldn’t hear what she was saying to him, but the boy hadn’t opened fire, which was a good sign.
Malcolm found a classroom full of older students three doors down from the danger at the end of the hallway. The door was barricaded, and they were all hiding underneath desks, shielding themselves with books. Malcolm tapped on the door urgently. They just stared at him.
Of course. They don’t know who the shooter is. I need to convince them that they can trust me.
He waved through the vertical window alongside the door, and then used his wind manipulation to make his clothes flutter while miming running in place. Most of the students looked he was crazy, but one of them picked up on his meaning and explained it to the rest. Malcolm waited, feeling impatient and more than a little stressed out as they got the door open.
He slid into the classroom and shut the door firmly behind him. The students, along with their teacher, a chubby woman with red hair, looked at him expectantly.
“I’m going to get you out of here,” he said. “You’re going out the window. Don’t worry, I can make it so that your fall is cushioned by the wind.
At least, I think I can. This will be the test case.
“Class!” said the teacher, in a high-pitched voice. “Just… follow along with what the champion is saying. Evacuating is the best thing we can do at the moment.”
Malcolm heard the shooter shout something out in the hallway. He frowned, trying to push his concern for Tapestry to the side so that he could focus on the rescue.
The window had a screen behind it that was attached firmly to the window frame. Malcolm knocked through both the glass and the screen with a concentrated blast of wind.
“Anybody interested in going first?” he asked.
None of the students said anything. Malcolm pointed to one at random.
“You’re up,” he said.
It wasn’t as hard as he’d expected it to be. Each of the students climbed halfway out the window, and then Malcolm gave them the signal to jump and created a cushion of wind to slow their fall before they hit the ground. A few, too afraid to let go, had to be pushed out the window.
“You’re Wind Runner?” One of the girls, a short brunette with freckles, stepped in close to Malcolm. “I saw you, yesterday. On the TV. And on Instagram. And on Twitter… Your name is a hashtag now that people use whenever someone does something outrageous and gets away with it. I think it’s appropriate. It just seems to fit you really well. Wind Runner. Did you pick it, or-”
“Hey,” said Malcolm. “No offense, but I’m trying to focus.”
He had to push another student out the window, and this one let out an almost comical cry as he fell to the ground, the wind slowing his fall to almost a standstill for the last few feet.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to distract you,” said the girl. “My name’s Melanie. I talk a lot. Especially when I’m nervous. You didn’t go to school here, did you? I’d recognize you if you did. You’re only like, what, 19? 20? That’s pretty young for a champion. Though I guess it really doesn’t matter what age you-”
“Hey, Melanie?” said Malcolm. “Shut up!”
She did, for a couple of seconds. Malcolm tried to pull her over to the window to push her out next, but the teacher stepped up before he could.
“I’m sorry,” said Melanie. “Really, I am. I don’t mean to talk so much. It’s like sometimes when I’m nervous I start talking, and just keep going, and going. I’m on the debate team. It’s my main hobby, though some of the football players told me I’m cute enough to be a cheerleader. That’s kind of a weird thing to tell someone, I think, and I don’t really know if it’s true. Plus-”
Gunshots came from the hallway. Malcolm still had a half dozen students left, including Melanie. He felt a flash of panic as he considered what would happen if the shooter made it into the classroom while he was in the middle of helping a student to the ground.
No choice. I have to go out there.
“Barricade the door as soon as I leave!” he shouted. Melanie gave him an army salute. Her eyes were wet with tears, and Malcolm suddenly felt a little bad for not noticing earlier.
CHAPTER 14
Tapestry was laying on the hallway’s tile floor, clutching her stomach, a pool of blood spreading out underneath her body. The shooter was standing over her with menacing body language, the gun dark and metallic in his hand. Malcolm was just down the hall from them, pressed into a door well, trying to make himself into as small a target as he could.
“Tapestry!” Malcolm shouted. “Are you okay?”
The shooter answered the question with several gunshots in his direction. Malcolm gritted his teeth, trying to ignore both his concern for Tapestry and the ringing in his ears.
She said that she can regenerate. I have to trust that she knows what she’s doing…
Malcolm leaned out, feeling his fear surge as he exposed his head as a target. The shooter was fumbling around, trying to slip one gun into his pocket so he could reload the other. Malcolm thrust his hand out, summoning the wind. Before he could pull up more than a breeze, the shooter aimed and fired, proving that he still had at least one bullet left.
“Hey! Hey!” shouted Malcolm. “Let’s just talk about this. Come on, man… This isn’t a good road to go down!”
He tried to think of what he could possibly say to make the shooter back down. The kid had already committed to what he was doing, already opened fire on his classmates. There was no coming back from that, at least not from the perspective of a teenager.
“They deserved it!” shouted the shooter. “You don’t know what it was like.”
Malcolm took a slow breath, feeling his heart pounding painfully hard in his chest.
“I don’t know,” said Malcolm. “I can’t say that I know what you’ve been through. But they can’t all deserve it, surely? Think about that for a second.”
The shooter didn’t answer him. Malcolm took a breath, and then continued.
“That’s my friend you have on the ground,” said Malcolm. “She’s going to die. She’s going to bleed to death. She doesn’t go to your school. She never did anything to you.”
He doesn’t know about her regeneration. Maybe I can appeal to his emotions.
“She’d tried to attack me,” said the shooter. “And if she’s your friend, then I can’t trust you either!”
“You can trust me!” said Malcolm.
“Then come out here,” said the shooter. “Come out where I can see you. And then I’ll talk to you more.”
“I can talk to you from where I am,” said Malcolm.
“Come out here or I’ll shoot your friend in the head,” said the shooter.
Malcolm swore under his breath. He didn’t know if Tapestry could recover from a headshot or not, and wasn’t interested in having to find out. She was silent, probably unconscious, and that wasn’t a good sign, either.
“Alright,” said Malcolm. “I’m… coming out.”
This could be it. Well, I’ve lived a good, albeit short, life.
He stepped out into the hallway. The shooter had both his guns back in hand. He wasn’t wearing a mask, or any kind of disguise. He had brown hair and darker brown eyes. He was crying, too, just like Melanie had been.
“You’re the guy from yesterday,” said the shooter. “Wind Runner. I saw all that shit.”
“Yeah, that’s me,” said Malcolm. “Look… I was just like you. I wasn’t any different. I just got lucky.”
“That’s what makes you different,” said the shooter. “Some people get lucky. Some people don’t. Some people end up being m
onsters in the end.”
“You aren’t a monster,” said Malcolm. He wasn’t sure if he believed it.
“They treated me like I was one, first,” said the shooter. “You treat someone like something for long enough and that’s all they know how to be.”
“Hey, easy,” said Malcolm. “Don’t talk like that.”
“Sorry.”
The shooter raised his gun and aimed it at Malcolm’s head. He watched as the shooter pulled the trigger, and reacted without thinking.
Summoning the wind, Malcolm sent it forward in a thin, powerfully directed burst. He kept his focus on the gun, and on the bullets that were on the way out of it. He flinched as the first one exploded out, but held his focus.
Using the force of his wind manipulation, Malcolm was able to divert the bullet off its course by a couple of inches. If he’d been closer to his target, or reacted more slowly, it wouldn’t have worked. As it was, he felt the air tearing within an inch of his head. His heart skipped a beat. The shooter pulled the trigger again, and a second bullet blasted toward him.
Malcolm felt hot lead scrape across his cheek, tearing a thin, shallow cut into the flesh there. He threw his other hand forward in anger, slamming all the wind power he could summon into the shooter’s chest. The boy flew back against the lockers against the end of the hallway, striking with a hollow crash and dropping his guns.
Malcolm swept them out of the shooter’s reach immediately, and then banged the kid off the ground a second time, for good measure. His head hit hard enough to knock him unconscious, and it was hard for Malcolm to care about any potential damage.
Was this guy a monster? Or was he just a bullied kid with some guns and no sense?
Tapestry let out a groan. Malcolm hurried over to her, setting a hand on the wound on her stomach. It wasn’t there anymore. In the time since she’d been shot, she’d already started to heal.
A strange, tingling sensation spread through Malcolm’s hand and into the rest of his body, almost like he’d just touched a live wire. He frowned, feeling the pain from the cut on his cheek vanish. He reached up and slid a finger over it. There was still blood there, but no more was coming out.
“Good work… Wind Runner,” said Tapestry.
“You okay?” he asked.
“Bullets went through me,” she said. “It’s only a pain when they get stuck against a bone. Have to have surgery every now and then to get them all removed after that happens too much.”
She cleared her throat and stood up. The shooter had obviously unloaded on her, because her shirt was in shambles. As was her bra, underneath, leaving the edge of one of her nipples poking out through the bullet holes. Malcolm chuckled and took off his sweatshirt, passing it to her.
“You should put that on,” he said.
Tapestry looked confused, until she looked down and saw what he saw. She blushed, and then glared at him like it was his fault. Malcolm grinned back at her.
CHAPTER 15
Three students suffered critical injuries, but in the end, nobody died. It was a miracle, from Malcolm’s point of view. He stood next to Tapestry as she discussed the situation with the police, impressed by how professional she was when giving them the rundown of what had happened.
More emergency vehicles, police cars, and ambulances crowded the parking lot than Malcolm had known existed in Vanderbrook. The school had taken a complete count of all the students after the shooter had been taken into custody, slowly releasing them to their parents and legal guardians as they arrived on scene. The reunions were tearful, and watching them made Malcolm aware of how important of a role he and Tapestry had played.
Without us, it wouldn’t have just ended there.
Tapestry spent close to an hour speaking with the police. As soon as the conversation was finished, Malcolm heard footsteps headed their way. He flinched, still tense and high strung, but it was just Melanie, the talkative girl from earlier. She ran up to Tapestry and threw her arms around her.
“I was so worried!” cried Melanie. “Just let the police handle it next time! It’s their job! It’s what they do! They have body armor, and guns, and negotiators, and riot shields, and, and…”
“And I can regenerate from any injury,” said Tapestry. “I think I have them beat.”
Melanie laughed and gave her another squeeze. Malcolm raised an eyebrow, glancing back and forth between them. He remembered what Tapestry had said about how someone she cared about went to the school.
“Are you two sisters, or something?” he asked.
Both girls looked at each other, hesitant and awkward.
“Something like that,” said Tapestry. “Malcolm, this is Melanie. Melanie, this is Malcolm, or as he’s known in the press, Wind Runner.”
“I met him already upstairs.” Melanie smiled, which made her face seem even more freckled. “It’s so nice to meet you officially, Malcolm. I guess you’ll be Aubrey’s partner from now on, huh? You better keep her safe. She takes way too many risks. I’ve told her so many times before to be more careful!”
“Aubrey?” Malcolm glanced at Tapestry. “That’s your… real name?”
Tapestry gave a small nod. He’d never asked her before what her real name was and she’d never offered him it. Malcolm wondered if it was because of how overwhelmed he’d been with his own changes, or perhaps to a bit of secrecy on Tapestry’s part.
“Keep calling me Tapestry,” she said. “I like to keep my work separate from my home life, when I can.”
Malcolm shrugged. Tapestry was looking at his face, and after a second, she reached out and touched the scratch from the bullet.
“You’re wounded,” she said. “You should get someone to take a look at that.”
“It’s fine,” he said.
It’s more than just fine. It’s just a scab, now. Injuries aren’t supposed to heal that fast normally.
“Well, at least wash it when you get a chance,” said Tapestry. “Even a small cut can lead to a bad infection, and you wouldn’t want something like that scarring badly.”
Malcolm nodded. Melanie was still at Tapestry’s side, practically clinging to her sister.
“So, is that a wrap for today?” he asked. “It might be hard for us to focus back on training after this.”
Tapestry started to answer, but Melanie spoke before she could.
“I really don’t want to be home alone, Aubrey,” she said. “Please… Can you stay with me? I’m still so overwhelmed. I feel like I might have a panic attack if I don’t have somebody around to talk to. Please? Just for today? And then you can-”
“Fine,” said Tapestry, with a sigh. “You’re kind of needy sometimes, you know that?”
The two girls smiled at each other. Malcolm walked with them back to the car, taking the front seat at Melanie’s insistence. Ten minutes later, he was back outside his apartment.
“Same time tomorrow morning,” said Tapestry. “I’m going to have to speak to Multi about how we handle the aftermath of what happened today. You might have to make a media appearance or two.”
Malcolm frowned and furrowed his brow.
“Why me?” he said. “We both saved the day.”
“The attention you already brought onto yourself yesterday is only going to snowball after this,” said Tapestry. “And besides, Multi has already explained to the local press that I don’t like to be in the public eye like that.”
Malcolm felt a little annoyed, and a little like he was being thrown under the bus.
“Come on,” he said. “That’s not exactly fair. I just became a champion yesterday.”
“We’ll talk more about it tomorrow morning,” said Tapestry. “Just be ready. And wear something nice.”
“Bye, Malcolm!” called Melanie.
Tapestry drove off before he could get another word in. Malcolm rolled his eyes and headed up the stairs into his apartment.
He wasn’t sure what to expect once he got inside. It looked just as it had when he’d left, exce
pt for a few pieces of food missing from the fridge.
So, she does need to eat. Well, that’s good to know.
Malcolm opened the door to his room slowly. Rose was sleeping naked in his bed. The curtains were drawn, and her breathing was steady and rhythmic. She looked beautiful, and strangely vulnerable, so unlike the dark, seductive spryte who’d he’d fought and fooled around with the night before.
He left her like that, deciding that she probably needed the sleep. Malcolm made himself some food and sat down on his couch. He booted up his Playstation and spent the next few hours playing video games, relishing the opportunity to relax and get his mind off his life.
CHAPTER 16
It was late afternoon when the door to his room finally opened. Malcolm glanced up and saw Rose in the doorway, wearing one of his shirts. It was baggy on her, and hung down just past her butt, revealing her long, flawless, purple hued thighs. Her hair was loose across her shoulders, and seemed imbued with the shadows that her powers let her manipulate.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey,” said Malcolm.
The smile on her face was mischievous, and she walked toward him slowly, her hips swaying with each step. Malcolm was still playing his game, in the middle of a soccer match against an online opponent.
“Oh, don’t mind me,” said Rose. “I’m just the girl who’s been sleeping naked in your bed all day. Who is now wearing your t-shirt, and nothing else.”
Malcolm grinned at her.
“You’re welcome,” he said. “If it wasn’t for me, you’d have the Champion Authority after you right now. Tapestry came within a glance of seeing you this morning.”
“Maybe you deserve a reward for that?” said Rose.
She slid her hand up Malcolm’s thigh. He resisted the urge to quit the match and focus his attention on her, instead waiting to see what would happen if he just let the tension build.
Rose let her palm play across his jeans, drawing closer and closer to his crotch. Malcolm was hard after only a couple of seconds of it, and when her fingers finally began to trace the outline of his erection, he almost gasped with pleasure.
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