Unique

by Starr Z Davies

  More than anything, I want to defeat this man, but I don’t want it to be like this. He deserves punishment for what he’s done, not death.

  I drop to my knees, grinding debris beneath me, and wrap my hands around his.

  “Forrest…Forrest help.” My voice sounds distant, unlike my own.

  Forrest stumbles over, covering his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt. He drops to his knees on the other side of Seaduss and stares. Just stares.

  Seaduss gurgles blood, coughing it up as his hands fall away from the wood.

  “He’s already dead,” Forrest says, climbing to his feet. “No healing can help him now.”

  I shake my head. “He’s not dead yet. He’s still breathing. Ro—Rosie. Rosie can heal him…” I press my hands against the jagged wound around the spike. Blood pours out over my hands, reminding me of Bianca’s death. The slickness makes it hard to apply pressure.

  “They’re both dead.” Forrest shuffles stiffly toward the door in shock. “It’s over.”

  Both? He can’t mean Rosie. Maybe…maybe he means Dr. Cass. She did go to Paragon. Maybe Forrest thinks she died in the collapse.

  He disappears into the hallway.

  I sink back on my heels as Seaduss’s chest stops moving, and I stare at the blood on my hands. Heaviness weighs down my shoulders, making it impossible to move. I blink slowly, my head spinning, trying to make sense of what just happened.

  This wasn’t my plan. I wanted Seaduss to survive. I wanted him to see reason and face the decisions he made. Now he’s dead. He’s dead. And Dr. Cass may be dead, too. I needed them alive. I wanted to give the people the chance to choose. It isn’t my right to decide their fate.

  Without realizing what I’m doing, I begin wiping my hands on Seaduss’s body, trying to clean off the blood.

  Cries and screams from the streets shatter the silence pulsing in my ears. I stagger to my feet and shuffle toward the balcony, leaving a trail of dragging footprints on the dust-covered floor. My legs shake, and I stumble forward, catching my weight against the balustrade, wrapping an arm around it to keep from collapsing.

  Dead bodies litter the square. Not nearly as many as I expected. Only a few dozen versus hundreds. Some people struggle to get up or bow over a fallen loved one, wailing. The glass in all the buildings as far as I can see is shattered. Citizens stumble out of buildings, dazed. Then I gaze at the gaping hole in the skyline where Paragon Tower used to be.

  The Protectorate did this.

  Willow did this.

  Shock ebbs away as white-hot rage burns in my veins. I grip the balustrade so tightly it hurts my fingertips.

  So much for a peaceful ending.

  I push away from the railing to head back toward the shattered doorway, then freeze in my tracks as I come face to face with Forrest again.

  Forrest glares at me, his hands balled into fists at his sides. “You are the worst kind of rabid dog,” he says, his voice empty, void of his humanity. “You’ve ruined everything.”

  Light warps around him and my jaw drops. I’ve never witnessed a Power like that before. It must be off-the-charts Divinic Manipulation.

  Forrest’s fist slowly rises, then he flattens out his hand, shaking with fury.

  His Power slams against my already weakened body like a sledgehammer and a scream rips out of my throat, but my body won’t move. I’m frozen in place, unable to do more than blink.

  Forrest growls, “It’s time to die.”

  Pure hate radiates from every part of him.

  This isn’t Forrest.

  This is Super Forrest.

  44

  Forrest turns his hand like turning up an invisible dial. As he does, the heat in my own body increases, burning hotter and hotter. The intensity of it makes me tired, weak, but immobilized, I simply stand there, unable to stop him. Sweat rolls down my face and seeps out of every pore until I can’t take it anymore. It’s too hot, like bathing in the heat of a volcano.

  Something crashes against the tiled floor behind me.

  “Forrest!” Bianca steps closer, scanning me before turning her attention back to him. “Enough.”

  Forrest bares his teeth, not breaking focus from me. “Do you understand what he’s done?”

  Bianca plants her feet beside me, cracking the tile as she digs in the balls of her booted feet. She clenches her hands into fists, the muscles in her body tightening and enlarging. It’s more Power than I’ve ever seen her hold. “What about what you’ve done? You lied to me, to our parents. You killed me.”

  His gaze momentarily flicks to her and the heat lessens, but it only lasts for a moment. “I didn’t pull the trigger.”

  “You didn’t stop the guards either,” she says. “You were my brother. Does that mean nothing to you?”

  “It won’t matter anymore if Elpis falls,” Forrest says with a conviction I would find unnerving if he weren’t boiling me alive.

  “Let him go.” Bianca’s hands ball into fists. “This is between us.”

  “No.” Forrest turns up his imaginary dial and a groan escapes through my already open mouth.

  Bianca lunges at Forrest, twisting and grabbing his arm, then bending the arm around behind his back before placing several hard punches into his ribs.

  His hold on me breaks, and I crumple to the floor, unable to catch myself before my head hits the ground. The tiles feel like ice through my clothes and I press against them, welcoming the cold.

  Bianca sweeps her leg out in an impressive low spin that knocks Forrest off balance. His back hits the floor with a thump, but he recovers quickly. Too quickly.

  I roll to my side, then push to my knees as my limbs all quiver. Forrest slaps a hand toward me and suddenly my body weighs too much, pulling me down, crushing me under my own weight. How can I possibly defeat someone with so much Power?

  Beyond the shattered Administrative office, thunder and lightning rumble across the sky, striking against a translucent barrier around the building. Is the building under attack?

  Bianca throws a punch at Forrest’s jaw that makes a sickening crunch. As he works his jaw, I watch as stone retreats along his skin from the point of impact, as if he manipulated his own cells to turn into stone to protect his skin and bones from her punch. Her punch has little impact. Except to infuriate him.

  “Why did you let them steal my memories?” Bianca asks, choking out the words.

  Forrest turns to the side as he rises, keeping distance between himself and Bianca as best he can.

  “I brought you back from the dead.” Forrest raises his hands, indicating himself. “I did that, but you aren’t thanking me for that, are you?”

  The self-adulation makes my stomach twist.

  Bianca moves so quickly I almost miss her lunging toward Forrest, wrapping an arm around his neck as she flips her body around behind him. The momentum slams them both to the floor hard enough to crack the tiles. I wince and move to help, but I can hardly move at all.

  Forrest turns on his side and coughs up blood.

  Bianca rolls across the floor, slamming her leg down against his chest with a half-scissor kick. More of Forrest’s ribs crack.

  I glance around on the floor for something to help. Anything. There’s so much debris lying around that something must be useful in a fight.

  Bianca kicks back onto her hands and springs forward for another attack as Forrest claws at the floor for leverage to get up, but his sister closes in on him quickly. Punch after punch connects with his jaw, skull, and ribs. Each time, he transforms his skin to stone, making her blows futile. Frustration twists Bianca’s face into a snarl and she rises over Forrest.

  “Why did you steal my memories?” Bianca raises a boot over his back.

  The weight pressing down on me lightens, and I try to warn Bianca of the coming attack, but it’s too late. Forrest flips over and grabs her ankle.

  All the color drains from Bianca’s skin. She stumbles to the right, grunting. Is she feeling the same effect as I a
m?

  Forrest scrambles away as she rushes toward him, but her strides are slowed, and he easily evades her. Bianca pitches forward and thumps against the floor like an overturned statue.

  I crawl toward Forrest, hoping to grab his leg, throw him off balance, put off his concentration, but weight once again crushes down on me, making my body feel five times heavier than it is. It flattens me to the marble tiles. I struggle to stay alert, let alone move, as more thunder and lightning hammer against the shield protecting the building. None of this will end well.

  “Your loyalty to him was a weakness,” Forrest says as he grabs Bianca’s arm and twists her onto her back, releasing the arm swiftly—possibly out of dread that she would recover fast enough to get a hold of him. His hands move in a circle away from each other as he kneels over her. “I removed that weakness. To protect you. As I’ve always done.”

  Bianca turns her head to meet my gaze, and the haunting memory of her death returns…

  … Bianca turns her head, meeting my gaze. Tears roll down her temple, and she shakes her head. Even from more than twenty feet away I can see her tensing her muscles, preparing for another strike. Then she screams, “Run!” A gunshot. Blood on the Paragon lobby floor…

  Bianca screams, squirming on the tiles beneath Forrest. He’s torturing her.

  I muster all the strength I can summon and crawl toward them.

  “I tried to help you,” Forrest says.

  I can’t see his face, but his voice is thick with grief. Like she’s already lost.

  Bianca tries to buck him off, but Forrest snaps his hands closed into fists.

  Her back arches off the tiles and her mouth opens in a silent scream. Blood trickles from her ears and the corner of her lips.

  … Blood from inside Noah’s body comes out of his pores, forming a swirling red cloud as Noah screams. The muscular Somatic body shrivels then withers…

  Blood Power trumps a Super Somatic…especially being enhanced.

  Tears blur the edge of my vision. He’s killing her. He’s killing his own sister. I claw closer. Hold on. I’m trying to help… The spike that killed Seaduss lies on the floor less than a foot from my fingertips. I redouble my efforts to reach it.

  Bianca’s back settles against the floor. Tears cleanse trails along her cheeks, dripping into her hair. Her voice is weak as she pleads with him. “Don’t…don’t make me…please…”

  Forrest’s shoulders slump, but he hasn’t noticed my slow approach. Somehow, his Power continues to bear down on me without him even looking.

  “It isn’t supposed to be like this,” he says, his voice thick with anguish.

  “Fo-Forrest…” Bianca squeezes her eyes shut, taking a shuddering breath.

  I won’t let him kill her again. I can’t. My fingertips brush the spike that killed Seaduss, and I bite my lip, then increase my efforts to grab it. Electricity from the lightning outside makes the hairs on my neck and arms rise.

  Bianca notices just as my fingers manage to pull it closer and gives a small shake of her head. Why doesn’t she want my help? Is it because this is her brother?

  Bianca releases a ferocious howl, then kicks her legs out so hard her back rocks off the floor. Forrest soars through the air into the wall where his limp body embeds in the stone. The pressure from Forrest’s Power vanishes and I collapse against the floor breathing a deep sigh of relief. Bianca rolls to her feet and stalks across the office.

  “We need to go,” I say, gasping and gulping down air. “The building is under attack.”

  “You go,” she says, rolling her shoulders as she stops in front of Forrest. “I have unfinished business with my brother.”

  The coldness in her tone gives me chills.

  I chew my lip. Should I leave her? It can’t be safe with the Protectorate attacking.

  “Why did you come back for me?” I ask, gazing down at her.

  “I came back for answers,” Bianca says. “You just happened to be there.”

  The statement is so matter-of-fact that my heart aches. The old Bianca would have been there to help me like she was during that final Survival test at Paragon. This girl is colder, more callous. Her fight isn’t my fight. She has her own goals.

  “Go.” Bianca doesn’t turn to me.

  I hesitate. That’s the same thing she said back in Paragon as she died. I left her then. I can’t do it again. “Come with me.”

  Bianca spins around, glaring at me. “I need to do this. Please. Go.”

  Leaving her is a terrible idea, but I also know how stubborn Bianca is. She won’t be swayed.

  I pick my way to the balcony to assess the situation.

  My gaze sweeps over the chaos below.

  Across the street, the courtyard in front of the Administration Building is a chaotic battleground. Men and women wearing DMA uniforms and street clothes launch Powers at each other on both fronts. A line of troopers struggles to stave off the flood of civilians attempting to break through their line and breach the front doors of the Administration Building. A handful of troopers in the back hold their hands toward the sky, perspiration beading on their brows as they work together to create a shimmering protective barrier around the building. I’ve never witnessed so much Power in one place.

  Smaller groups of men and women usher people out of the courtyard to safety. The civilians attacking the building aren’t just anyone. They’re Protectorate mixed with the people who chose to fight back. Their anger toward the Directorate radiates from each strike as they throw everything they have at the Administration Building—concrete slabs roll off the translucent barrier; the ground quakes beneath DMA troopers; lightning spiderwebs outward along the shield. So many Powers. So much anger.

  Amid the mass of warring bodies in the courtyard, I spot Enid fighting beside Miller and Jayme near the front lines. Their Powers batter in tandem against the shield blocking the building. A wave of earth and a funnel of wind followed by a barrage of lightning. I call out to them, but the roar of battle swallows my voice. I need to get to them.

  Enid looks up—straight at me—and calls out, but I can’t hear her any better than she can hear me. Someone in the crowd, or several someones, lifts an enormous chunk of the broken courtyard fountain high into the sky. My breath catches as it soars through the air toward the Administration Building. Miller and Jayme follow Enid’s gaze.

  The protective shield flickers as several DMA troopers are shot. In seconds, they bodies begin writhing on the ground. Only one kind of bullet has that effect. Their Powers are being removed.

  I scramble for safety deeper in the office as the boulder races at the balcony, shattering the shimmering shield blocking the building. Thunder strikes and rocks the building, throwing me off my feet. The whole world lurches around me, tossing me to the floor. Walls and ceiling join the floor as marble tiles rise up to greet them. My ears ring. A cloud of dust fills the air, and I cover my mouth and stagger to my feet. My head spins. Waving away the particles clouding the air, I call Bianca through the cloth of my shirt.

  The air clears just enough to see the debris littering the floor and the gaping hole in the front of the building. I spin around in circles, limping from a gash in my leg, desperate to find signs of life.

  “Bianca?”

  What if that boulder crushed her?

  “Bianca!”

  She calls back to me, her voice muffled by a pile of debris. I climb toward the sound of her voice, over lumps of ceiling and steel rods. A steel support beam shifts and Bianca roars as she pushes the beam upward.

  I rush to her aide, but my extra muscle is useless against the weight of the steel. “Are you hurt?” I ask, scanning her for signs of injury.

  Blood mats her hair against her head where a gash flows. Dust covers her black tank top and leggings, with rips in the cloth here and there. Smaller cuts have already begun to cease bleeding. But the muscles in her body remain enhanced as she moves the beam an inch to the side where another mound of debris props it up.r />
  “Broken ribs, and I think I dislocated my shoulder.” She whimpers as she releases the beam against the mound of debris, then she sinks back against the body beneath her. Forrest’s body. “I’ll be fine. You go. Find your friends.”

  “I can reset your shoulder first,” I say, remembering how I did it for Enid in the first Survival test at Paragon.

  Bianca glances at Forrest before nodding and sitting upright. The two of them remain pinned beneath the debris, but if I reset Bianca’s shoulder, I have no doubt she can get them out. I gently take her left arm and shift it into position. Bianca winces but doesn’t complain.

  “Ready?” I ask.

  “Do it,” she says, gritting her teeth.

  I rotate the arm out swiftly, popping the shoulder back into place.

  Bianca grinds her teeth and tears water her eyes, but she doesn’t make a sound.

  I pull back and she begins rotating her arm, testing for motion. “I can help you out of here.”

  Bianca shakes her head. “Time is wasting. Find your friends. I’ll deal with Forrest.”

  I hate the idea of leaving her here while the building is still under attack, but she’s right. I need to find my friends. I need to find Enid.

  I pick my way to the gaping hole at the front of the building to seek Enid out again.

  Everything is eerily quiet. Bodies litter the ground, either rendered unconscious or killed by the removal of their Powers. Only a few people mill around, crouching beside bodies and using healing. But many of the injuries sustained can’t simply be healed.

  No sign of my friends.

  The floor hums and vibrates beneath my feet, drawing my gaze downward.

  The Protectorate has breached the Administration Building.

  45

  With hurried, though staggered steps, I make my way out of the office to find an exit. If I can reach the lower floors, I should be able to find them. That’s where Enid and Miller will be. I look up one last time, thinking of Bianca and how she yelled at me to leave. Still feels wrong, but I did as she asked.