“These people make me sick.” Ian rubbed his stomach to try and sooth the ache that had formed. “They don't have to live this way if they did not want to.” He whispered out of ear range of anyone's house.
Once Ian had finished following one false trail, he turned down another row and followed the next trail. After one trail had been searched, it faded into the morning’s thick, damp air. His polyester NSSH officer uniform felt moist and tight from the humidity. All he wanted to do now was find the girl and leave as soon as possible.
“Hm, but do I want to?” Ian questioned himself again without even fully realizing it. The set of flames he had been following faded so he shook the thought for the moment and focused on the next trail.
Trey had followed one single trail, leaving Ian to trace down all the false ones by himself. Of course a Hunter with his experience could tell his flames from artificial ones conjured up by another’s ability. As a Hunter, Trey also knew that there were only three people who could scattered the trail, one of which resided in this particular Zone. Approaching a dark skinned woman sitting on top a car, he was ready for some answers. “Do not bother, Hunter.” The woman commented in a harsh and commanding tone. Yet, her voice always seemed calm and rational.
“It's my job, Yasire.” He laid one hand on the car, to her left side.
But Yasire did not seem to care; her meditation was at the top of her priorities. “Um hm.” She eyed him over with closed eyes. “Which job?”
Trey took two back steps. “Look sweet thing, I know she is in that shack you call a home.”
“Do not call me sweet thing! And what is it to you?!” She shot back, voice quick and sharp. “What is that girl doing in there? She is taking forever!” Yasire thought to herself.
“To be honest, I could go charging in there any time I wanted to.” He eyed the door way and the flames that lead there.
“So? Then what are you doing out here?” Not one time during the whole conversation had Yasire opened her eyes? It was part of the spell she had chanted to keep the trails separated, but Trey's words were getting to her and her concentration was waning.
He leaned his ridged back against the car’s hood, and then shrugged his shoulders. The only thing on his mind now was the violet and peach sky, watching as the sun rose.
“Humph!” Yasire continued her spell as the Hunter did nothing to arrest the girl in the house behind them. The pair continued to linger in silence. Once or twice Trey had yawned and stretched his arms, but Yasire refused to budge. Finally, she gave in. “I know you sense that boy of yours, Ian, is headed for trouble.” Her radiant yellow hair tossing over back. “You had best go and retrieve him.” Yasire spoke to Trey in a concerned motherly voice.
Trey shrugged. “Might as well.” He pushed off from the car. “Not like there is anything happening here.”
The Hunter got one last good and full look at the woman on the hood of the car before heading off after his charge. Trey could not care for the sight of Yasire's magnificent form, or the way her hair blew in the damp morning breeze against the dark clouds and light sky. His job called and he knew Ian would not last too much longer on his own.
“Sometimes I swear that boy is not worth the trouble.” Trey didn’t bother saying goodbye. Something told him he’d be back there anyways.
Just as Yasire had said, Ian was headed for trouble. By some luck and chance he had found Trey's trail, but followed it to the back of the woman’s home. Although the house had only one window which was in front of it, he could hear the girl swearing like nothing he had ever heard or thought was possible, from inside. He did not notice that Trey was in front of the house talking to the woman who lived in it and assumed he was alone, besides Recarie of course.
Footsteps were leading away from the back of the house where he was and headed towards the front door. If Ian was to catch this girl, he would have to act soon. Feeling braver than he had in recent months, he hurried to stop Recarie from escaping him yet once again. Click! The front door opened and he jumped in front of it, but what he saw had stopped him in his tracks. This one poor choice would prove fatal for the boy in the future. Looking back on it, Ian should have picked up his feet and ran away.
Recarie twisted the door knob and opened the door. She stepped outside and froze not expecting anyone to be there. A shiver went through her body and she looked Ian dead in the eyes causing her face to burn bright read. Something had happened and she was unable to move from that spot. Her head was telling her body to dash, but Recarie knew that this was not possible. A thousand thoughts went through her mind before she finally took one step back. With gritted teeth and balled fists, the girl was ready to make her getaway.
They had found themselves in one of those situations where two people are going down a hall, both going in the opposite direction. One of them goes left as the other tries to, and then they both move to the right. Some polite smiling and quiet awkward laughs are exchanged in the process, both parties trying to not look the other in the eyes. And then it continues until one of those people speaks up and say 'I am going this way,' and breaks from the situation. But in Recarie’s and Ian’s scenario, one wanted to flee and the other one wanted to prevent them from escaping.
Even though Ian was in an arm’s length away from her, he felt like averting his gaze. It was true. Recarie's appearance would make most men blush, well men like Ian any ways. Pushing all other thoughts out of his mind, he brought himself back to the present. In a daring, very daring move, Ian reached out and grabbed Recarie's arm.
“I caught you!” A reference to Recarie's owns words earlier that morning.
She looked into his hazel eyes with an expression Ian could tell meant 'No you just did not!' That stare of death Recarie sent into his being, started to make Ian rethink his last action, for he knew it might be his last action. In an act of defiance she pushed her arm down and out of his grip.
“And what makes you think that you have me?” Recarie was not being a snob. Her tone was playful and she spoke between a smile, obviously not taking the man seriously.
He did not move. “You have nowhere to go?” Even Ian was unsure of his own statement, still managing to talk through his nervous laughing.
Recarie hovered several inches above the ground, still standing in the door way. “You do not have the nerve to catch me.”
Yasire sighed and hopped off the car, rolling her eyes. She knew that this little fit of witty banter was going to explode into something out of everyone’s control. Her lengthy multilayered dark violet skirt swayed back and forth with each tall, strong step she took toward the pair. This was a woman of great untold power and demanded total respect from those around her.
Ian took a step forward. He did have the nerves and she just struck one of them. “Listen, little girl, you have no idea of what I am capable of so you have better lay off.” His voice serious with traces of nervous laughing in it, Ian took two more steps towards Recarie.
“Oh my, my.” Finding her own strength, she reluctantly took a step back. “Feeling brave are we now?” She leaned her body forward.
“Stop it here!” The island woman shouted.
Recarie's hair was standing on its end, crackling with sparks of her power and Ian was just about ready to try his latest psychic ability development. Yasire knew this was not heading in a good direction and would stop it right then and there.
The girl’s devilish grin faded once the kind and generous woman approached. For helping her, Recarie had developed a sense of respect for the woman who she still did not know her name. Ian, on the other hand, did not have a clue who she was and did not back down.
“This is no way for an NSSH officer to behave.” Yasire shamed Ian. “You have not even read young Recarie here her rights yet, have you?”
Ian shrunk back and hit a wall, although he was sure that there was not a wall there a moment ago. “Eh?” He gripped.
“Watch where you are going.” Trey yelled down to the man who had bumped
into him.
During all the commotion, Recarie shrunk back and made her get a way without Ian’s notice. She ducked low towards the ground and waddled along the outside of Yasire’s house and then when all ways were cleared, she jumped into the air and took off into the golden sky.
Meanwhile on the ground, Ian was too busy being hounded by both the unknown woman and Trey. Through the bits and pieces of sentences Ian could make out, he knew that the woman was telling him how to do his job and that Trey was ranting on about respect for one’s property or something similar.
“Look!” Ian pointed to the object flying in the morning sky. “There she goes!” With his feet firmly pressed to the ground, Ian was about to take off running after her, but something had grabbed the back of his uniform, preventing him from pursuing Recarie. “What now?!” His head hung low.
Trey had pulled the boy to face his face. “Look!” His voice rough and angry as he pointed to the ever fading blur in the sky. “She is headed out towards the sea and we are unable to follow her further.” He dragged Ian out of the Zone, bidding farewell to Yasire by waving his hands who rolled her eyes in response.
Ian was still being held by the back of his uniform and his shoes scuffed against the asphalt beneath them. Although he did not want to be lead like he was, he had hit a low point in his self-esteem.
“Trey, I failed my job didn’t I?” It was the most serious he had been with his friend in a while and was hoping for the same in return.
“Oh yeah little buddy you sure failed big time.” True to Trey’s style, he simply mocked the man’s moment of self-pity.
“I lost the girl and there went my possible chance of a promotion with it.” Ian wouldn’t get out of his funk. “Everything was in my reach, and yet now I am back to where I started.”
“You’re not going to make this day any easier, are you?” He slapped Ian on the back just as the guards closed the gates behind them.
In the sky, Recarie was weaving in and out of the clouds and letting the wind ruffle her overskirt. “Freedom!” Her naturally quiet voice declared to the world as she stretched her thin arms. “Oh...” Recarie had been hit with a wave a depression. “Those people… There’re still put up in those 'Zones' and I’m above it all, enjoying this glorious morning.”
The feeling of the damp and humid air had lost its enjoyable feeling. Her speed decreased and she began to lose altitude. “Somehow I know that I have to help those people, because it is just not right to be locked up and separated from the joy and freedom of being able to explore a world that was so vast and wonderful.” Recarie dipped her toes in the cold sea’s water. “But for right now my first priority is to get away from the NSSH and that man.” Her sentence trailed off into mumbled ranting which seemed to be becoming a habit of hers.
Down below her was lengths of sand bordered by water, salty, salty water. The sand was so white and pure that the sun beating down on it made it look like it was set ablaze. As for the water, it was so clear that Recarie could see the fish swimming about by the shore in the shallower water. Rows of palm trees created a boundary from the start of the white sands, sealing the secret paradise off from the roads that were several miles away.
Every thought was pushed from her ever thinking mind. All Recarie could do was dive towards the water, wanting to touch it for the first time in her memory. She skimmed across its shimmering surface, letting her left hand split a path through it. Twisting on her back, Recarie stopped flying and settled on top the water, allowing her body to just barley touch it. The ocean seemed endless, with various possibilities for the girl.
It was like the scene from a postcard on stand at a tacky souvenir shop, but the scenery soon faded from Recarie's thoughts. They were replaced with visions of a certain man who she had grown to loathe. This was a man whom she hated more than she was enjoying the beauty of the beach. She flew off of the water and landed on the silky white beach sand and lay beneath the shade and shadows of the palm trees. Recarie continued to think how she hated him and why.
“Stupid man!” She muttered in much annoyance, like Ian did when he was mad. Sand trickled through her nimble tan fingers. “Treat me like a damn child...” Her ranting continued in much of the same manner.
Feeling unnaturally safe in here current surroundings, Recarie lay in that same position until nightfall had come. Above her she gazed at the beauty night had brought with it. Silver shining stars sparkled against the pitch black and blue night sky. They illuminated the dark waters of the ocean and turned the sand she laid on, a pale cerulean. It looked more like freshly fallen snow than like any beach sand.
“I only have ever seen the night sky from behind curtains and windows. There’s quite a difference.” Her thoughts turned back to her current situation. “What am I to do now? It was not like I could spend my whole life on this strip of sand and water. But what else is out there?”
Recarie could still not remember her life before the moment she had woken up in the hospital, if she had a life before that point. Was there family out there waiting for her and wondering about her wareabouts? Only if Recarie knew the answers to these questions would she have known her next move. Unfortunately for now, she would have to wait for fate to push her in the right direction. But what she did not know was that fate was already on its way.
“Do not move.” A voice from up above shouted as a light beamed down on her.
It took both of her arms to shield enough of the light out of her eyes to see several black helicopters flying above. Not long after the helicopter showed up did a ground team surrounds her. They came from behind the trees and out of the water. She had let her guard down in the serenity of the beach that she had forgotten she was still being looked for by the NSSH. When Recarie wondered how she had been trapped, she noticed the Hunter’s flames had reappeared and danced along her body.
Dozens of men, and only a handful of women, jumped out of the armored jeeps while they were still in motion and rushed Recarie. Force fields were being created and the sand from under her began to part and swallowed her body in its pit. Water from the ocean formed a cyclone that shot out like a winding serpent around her body. This was a very well planned attack, and through the attacks and constant movement of people Recarie watched as Ian and Trey lead the entire ordeal.
For some reason, she felt rejected, hated, and ignored all at the same time. She did the first thing that popped in her mind when her adrenaline started pumping.
“I just need to focus.” She felt deep within her heart and found her power. A sensation like fire shooting through her veins, but it wasn’t painful. “You all sure you want to do this? There’s still time to turn back.”
Since Recarie's emotions played a big role in the use of her powers, it was no time before she was counter attacking her foes. Skittering over the sand as graceful as a skater on ice, her powers had easily allowed her to disassemble the sand back it the inanimate state it had come from just by thinking about it. The water serpent and wild animals that had recently shown up were an entirely different problem.
Recarie had to physically fend the creatures off with bits of white energy that stemmed from her fingertips. “It is just enough to knock out the animals, not kill them in the fight.” After all she was an animal lover at heart. She would do nothing to harm them past what was necessary to ensure both of their survival.
After pushing a deer to the ground, a moose had come behind her, ramming her back sending her nose first into the sand. Next came a pair of brown bears. Their mighty roars announced their arrival. The bigger of the two made a swipe for Recarie as she laid stomach first, but she rolled over just in time to dodge the attack. She countered by flying off the ground and confusing the bears by conjuring up a water spout. This twister of water collided directly with the bears before they were able to do another attack. With each power she fended off, she also severed the processors powers and left them helpless.
“This is sick!” Recarie spat after wiping the blood from her
lip. “Why don’t you give up or send me someone worth my time!” She hovered just above the shore line.
Blue moonlight lighted up her body’s slender curves and turned her mauve hair a deep violet. Recarie looked very much how she did when they first encountered her, but this time they knew she at least had a soul. A second wave of Combatants were arriving and taking their place. The water behind her rippled from the energy Recarie was emitting. She felt like she could take on the world.
“She is as good as we thought.” Trey commented back to Ian as they watched the battle.
“...” Ian was unsure of just what the girl was capable of. “Perhaps...” He watched his soldiers get beaten down one after the other all while backing Recarie closer and closer to the water’s edge.
Out from in front of Recarie came a sand tornado created from several nature enabled soldiers. She was too busy batting off flying animals and trying to stay on her feet. Sweat and dirt blurred her vision which put her at a disadvantage when the sand tornado finally smashed into her. It came fast and struck Recarie with no warning. Her body was swept into its center, leaving her temporarily defeated.
On the ground everyone watched the collected amount of sand granules graze and cut her fair skin. They watched as she frantically tried to escape the layers of wind and sand only to be pushed back to where she started.
“Ugh!” Recarie cried sweetly like a small child as she was cut by something in the sand.
Up until this point, Ian had tolerated the attacks, but to see this being become so helpless and fragile, biting his lip was no longer helping. His palms sweated and his heart was ready to explode from holding back. Hearing Recarie’s cries did not help either. Although maybe it was from something else.
“Stop it!” Ian shouted surprising not only himself, but also those who were under his command.
With Ian being the commanding officer of the mission, they had no choice but to obey his orders. She was dropped and Ian rushed forward to her. On his hands and knees trudging through the thick sands, he pointed to four other officers and they ran with him.
Misery Saves the Night Page 8