The Sound of Wind

by Raegan Millhollin

  Chapter Five - Adam

  On his way to see Dr. McFadden about Ted’s experiment, he’d gotten a call from Mr. Hansen. He had an assignment. There was a 16 year old kid in Sacramento who had abilities, but they weren’t sure what those abilities were. They wanted to find that out, and if he could be recruited, to recruit him. Hugo didn’t like the idea of going back to recruiting, but it wasn’t his job, it was CJ’s. It would be easier for the kid to identify with someone his own age, Hugo was just there to make sure she stayed on task. Sol, another member of security, and Dr. McFadden were along in case anything happened.

  Hugo was beginning to understand what ‘anything’ meant and he was running his damp palms over his pants because of it. They pulled into a parking lot a block from one of the kid’s frequent haunts around 10:30pm. Adam was a loaner, so it was going to be easy to get him some personal time with CJ, and it also meant it was a bad idea that anyone else be visible for the meeting; he might get nervous and spook, and then that ‘anything’ might happen.

  Before everyone got out of the car Sol put a hand on CJ’s shoulder, “Do you remember what you are doing?”

  “Yeah yeah,” CJ said with a casual smile, “make him feel comfortable, get him to talk about his powers, than let him know we can hang out at the company if he’s interested.” Sol looked irritated at her flippant tone, but that was essentially what they’d asked her to do, so at the very least she’d been paying attention. It would be nice to have someone CJ’s age around the facility. She needed someone to talk to, the company wasn’t a good place for her, but it wasn’t exactly a good place for him either. He had to miss another band practice for this trip, which was all kinds of bad because they had a show on Saturday and he’d been so distracted lately that he really needed the practice.

  “Go on ahead, CJ. We’ll be right behind you.” Sol’s tone was flat; he was enjoying this about as much as Hugo was. CJ waved, flashing her smile as she walked away. “Can you hear me CJ?”

  “Ten four good buddy,” came back from Hugo’s earpiece. Ok, so the equipment was a little cool.

  Sol granted them access to a roof on a building across the street from the parking lot, and they all waited.

  “She’ll be fine,” The doctor said in the silence, glancing at Hugo, a small smile curving her lips. Hugo found that he couldn’t talk anymore, so he just nodded and tried to smile back. He quickly returned his attention to the street with the flicker of movement.

  CJ was sitting on the curb of the parking lot, a stick she’d found creating foreign designs in the dirt beside her. Adam came to a dead stop in the middle of the lot, lit up by a street lamp. It flickered.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” The kid snapped, his tone sharp.

  Hugo tensed. CJ just glanced up, smiling, “Just hanging out. Any rules against that?”

  The kid took a step back, “N-no, but I haven’t seen you around here before.”

  “Just came into town.” CJ was not worried at all. Perhaps she was storing all of that in Hugo, because it certainly felt that way. “What’s your name?”

  Adam stammered, “Who the hell are you?”

  “CJ,” she offered easily. She stood, patting off her baggy carpenter pants. Adam took another step back, then stiffly made himself stop moving. “And you?”

  “Adam. So what are you doing here?”

  “Looking for something fun to do.”

  “In a deserted parking lot?” His tone was one of incredulous sarcasm.

  “Said I was new around here. Got a better idea?”

  The kid smiled, but it seemed to be made of razors, “I could show you something fun, but it’d just freak you out.”

  Hugo’s heart was shuddering. “Sol,” he heard himself saying under his breath. He wanted to stop this now, but nothing else came out.

  CJ however perked up at this new development. “Oh yeah? Try me!”

  The sharp smile widened further. “You asked for it.” He spread his arms out and floated off the ground like he was helium. He got a good few feet above CJ and looked down on her, laughing. That was until he realized CJ was just looking up at him with a slightly disappointed expression.

  “That’s it? I can do something fun too. Wanna see it?”

  There was no other way to describe his expression beyond ‘put out’ as he floated to the ground. “Why aren’t you running and screaming now?”

  CJ rolled her eyes, “Are you kidding me? I can do stuff too. You’re not gonna freak out if I show you, are you?”

  Adam tsked, but every muscle in his body tensed.

  CJ flipped out her hand, and as she did, it crackled with lightning that consumed her body. Adam was quickly backing away from her, screaming his head off. Sol just watched. CJ turned back to girl form, disappointment written all over her face, “You said you wouldn’t freak out.”

  “Get away from me!” The kid screamed. A light pole lurched out of the ground and flew at CJ. Hugo yelled, but CJ was much faster and she was lightning long before the pole passed through her to crash through a window in a building lining the parking lot. Adam was still screaming, furious and terrified. He shot off the ground and there was a large crunching sound. The buildings lining the lot were folding like accordions. Adam could control gravity, and he was trying to kill CJ.

  Hugo stared at Sol pleadingly, “Do something!” He exclaimed as another light post took a dive into the side of the building. Glass sprayed out into the parking lot and Adam just rose above it. CJ zipped along the ground as lightning. They couldn’t communicate with her anymore and she didn’t know what to do.

  Sol was observing the exchange, completely calm. “He’s not hurting her.”

  “But he’s freaking out! He’s going to hurt someone. He’s trying to kill her!”

  The security officer turned his disinterested gaze on Hugo, “Have you figured out what he can do?”

  “For fuck’s sake he can control gravity! Please, just do something!”

  Sol stood and quickly headed downstairs. Hugo watched a car on the street flatten and then a light pole bowed to the ground with a loud whine. The area of the gravity field was expanding; Sol wouldn’t be able to get to them. He was super tough but he could still be crushed.

  Something needed to be done. Now. Hugo sucked in a deep breath. There was a soft whooshing sound from across the street. 3 seconds. The human brain could survive in a vacuum for three seconds before permanent damage started occurring. The second Hugo pulled out all the air from around the kid he dropped. Shit! Adam plummeted, but slowed down and hit the ground with just a light thud. Who…? Taking her cue, the doctor, with her bag, quickly followed after Sol. Hugo didn’t move. He couldn’t. He watched Sol charge across the street, pull out a gun and shoot the kid several times. Hugo’s heart dropped, but then he let out a breath; it was just a tranquilizer gun.

  “Hugo, get down here,” Sol commanded over the headset.

  Everyone was standing over the body of the kid when he got there.

  “I thought he wouldn’t freak out,” CJ exclaimed, waving her arms a little.

  The doctor straightened from her examination, placing a few things back into her bag, “He’s fine. Although he certainly could have used less sedative,” she said, her statement punctuated by a sharp look to the security officer.

  He offered no apology. Instead he looked at Hugo, “Did you do this?”

  Hugo shoved his hands in his pockets. “He was destroying the entire street,” he mumbled, staring at pavement not occupied by the kid, “I just knocked him out. It was a small vacuum, that’s all.”

  Sol’s voice was flat, “Good job.” Hugo looked up, startled, but the man was already lifting the kid and slinging him over his shoulder.

  “W-where are you taking him?” The doctor asked, following.

  “To the car.”

  Dr. McFadden’s eyes widened, “Shouldn’t we take him home?”

  Sol stopped and pointed to the crumpled buildings around them, �
�Do you see what he did? He tried to kill her; he would have killed her if it had been anyone else here. He’s a threat. We’re taking him back with us before he does some real damage to something beyond property.”

  “But his family-”

  “I will take care of it. Your job is done.” For a moment everyone but Sol stopped moving.

  “We’re taking him with us?” CJ asked a little bewildered. “But he doesn’t want to come with us.” No one had anything good to say, so no one responded. Eventually they caught up with Sol, just as he was placing the kid, carefully, into the trunk of the car.

  “Oh no! We are not-”

  Sol cut short the doctor’s protest, “Get in the car.” Dr. McFadden froze, and then complied, CJ quickly following her.

  Hugo touched the edge of the open trunk, “Do we really have to…?” Adam was smiling that same sharp smile; he was staring up at an office building framed by a night sky glowing from city lights. Behind him Mr. Gideon was also smiling widely as the building before them started to crumple, blowing glass outwards. In the street car alarms went off as the hoods sunk in and the tires hissed as they popped. Adam started laughing over the sound of the car alarms and Mr. Gideon just kept smiling. Hugo sucked in a breath, snatching his hand away from the car.

  “Get in,” Sol commanded sharply.

  Hugo complied, scrambling into the front seat. Both girls were quiet and didn’t look pleased about the situation at all. The doctor had her arms folded across her waist; CJ was fiddling with the car lock. The car lurched forward and they drove.

  He had to do something. The kid had tried to kill CJ, would have killed CJ, and Mr. Gideon was only going to encourage him, maybe give him the Substance. And what if even Mr. Gideon didn’t want him anymore? There was no way to contain someone who could control gravity. He hadn’t seen anything or anyone at Gideon Enterprises that could hold this kid. Another sociopath, an easily threatened one. The kid was going to kill someone. A lot of people. He had to do something. He could stop him, but would he get another chance to knock Adam out before he was crushed? Adam would find out sooner or later what had happened, and he’d probably react even worse than he had with CJ. Hugo needed to do something now, while it was still possible. Before Mr. Gideon could get his hands on the kid and crush buildings full of people with him. He needed to do something.

  A breeze pulled in through the back of the car and Sol immediately lurched the car to the side of the road, climbing out, tranquilizer gun ready. The passengers all watched from inside the car as the trunk flipped open, blocking their view. Sol slammed the trunk closed again and got back into the car, “I think he was waking up,” he said flatly and pulled back onto the road.

  He didn’t want to do it anymore. There had to be a better way than killing the kid, but it was already too late. He’d held the vacuum long enough to cause severe brain damage, what if the kid couldn’t control his power at all anymore and just started crushing or levitating things blindly? That was even worse. He was a vegetable. Hugo would have made him a vegetable. Slowly he rolled down the window, pulled a cigarette out and lit it and shoved his head out the window.

  No one noticed the breeze this time.