MY FIRST THOUGHT was that this guy must be Whit from my dreams, but I knew that couldn’t be right. Trace would have to be at least forty years older. I didn’t have a long time to ponder it as a flaming body part was hurled in our direction.
The group of us scattered like roaches from the light as it landed. It was disgusting to see. Trace kept reaching down and searing off limbs with his fiery hands and launching them at us. He threw an arm and part of a leg, hitting two Resistance soldiers. The other three soldiers let off rounds at Trace, but he held another flaming body in his hands. He then charged one of the soldiers, slamming him into the wall.
Danny rushed up to Trace and smashed a fist into his chest, sending the hunter sailing to the ground. Trace seemed stunned at first, but when he got up to one knee, he looked at Danny and smiled. That’s when I noticed that his hands had stopped glowing, too.
Danny jumped at Trace again, but this time, Trace caught Danny by the arms and swung him around to the floor. Trace went after him and punched Danny in the face. Danny fell to the floor, next to all the other bodies on the ground.
I stared in horror as I watched. I knew I should have been doing something to help, but my legs felt frozen. Aaron stepped forward to call as much electricity as he could to himself from the various light fixtures throughout the room. Trace dodged a couple of bullets from the remaining two soldiers before he snapped both of their necks. I stood to focus all of my ability on throwing Trace through the air, but he was too quick and he tackled me to the ground.
My breath was knocked out of me and I went blind for at least a few seconds. One punch could do me in. This was it. I was going to die.
At least I won’t die from the virus, I thought to myself.
But when I opened my eyes, I saw Aaron blasting Trace with as much electricity as he could conjure. Trace screamed out in pain. He rolled around until Aaron had to call on more from some other source. In Aaron’s moment of distraction, Trace jumped up and shoved him into the wall. Aaron immediately initiated another blast.
I tried to shake the dizziness from my head as I crawled to Danny who was just starting to wake.
“Where’s Heather?” he asked, kneeling forward.
My eyes darted to the other side of the room. She was still struggling with Anthony who had her by the hair, but he stood there like a statue, unfazed by her screaming and cursing. Danny’s face turned red with anger as he bolted upward and ran after her.
When I looked back at Aaron and Trace, I saw something I wasn’t expecting in the least. Before, Trace had been crying out in pain, but now he was standing upright as Aaron continued to shoot electricity through his body. A smile spread across Trace’s face as he began walking toward Aaron.
I racked my brain to try and understand what kind of Starborn he was. How was it that nothing was taking him down?
Aaron started to back away in panic. He had probably never seen something like this either. What kind of person had the ability to shrug off thousands of volts of electricity except…Aaron?
My mouth gaped open when I realized what Trace could do. He was only feet from Aaron when I ran toward him, lifting him with a thought and throwing him to the floor. I had planned to do it again, but Trace started to fry me with bright blue bolts of electricity. My muscles seized and I became paralyzed as I fell to the floor, shaking violently.
Aaron tried to shock Trace again, but it seemed to only feed the hunter’s power. When Aaron realized this, he ran forward and kicked Trace in the stomach. The bolts released their grip on me but I was unable to move a muscle.
I couldn’t say anything. I couldn’t call out. My vision was fine, and I had full comprehension, but for the moment, that was all I had. My eyes were stuck on Danny as he tried to fight Anthony. The tall, dark hunter dodged everything Danny threw at him, keeping the defenseless Heather in a tight grip in front of him.
I tried to move my eyes to see Aaron, but he was too far out of my vision and my neck wouldn’t budge. In those few moments, I laid out in my mind what Trace and Anthony could do. Anthony must have had some kind of amazing reflex abilities. But it seemed that was all he had. Danny couldn’t touch him, but Anthony didn’t exactly go in for a straight-on attack either. He was probably waiting for the exact moment for Danny to leave himself open before he struck.
Trace, on the other hand, was even more unique. And more powerful. The glowing hands. The electricity. It made sense to me immediately. Trace absorbed Starborn abilities by touching someone, though he didn’t steal them away from his opponent. He simply was able to copy what they did. That explained the reason he could burn things with his hands. He must have touched Jeremiah before he came here. Then when Danny attacked him, he suddenly had the power to knock the brutish man off his feet. He had then tackled Aaron, absorbing the power to use available electricity. But he was limited. I noticed that Trace could only copy one gift at a time. Now he battled an equal Starborn, making the electricity part of him useless against Aaron.
I started to gain more feeling in my limbs. Almost like they had fallen asleep, my entire body began to tingle until I was able to move everything. I pulled my head off the ground and somehow found the strength to sit up. Danny and Heather kept Anthony occupied while Aaron and Trace continued to duke it out hand to hand.
I crawled onto my hands and knees, doing what I could to muster the strength to stand. I watched as Aaron took a knee to the stomach, then a fist to the chin. Trace was a better fighter, probably having more hand-to-hand experience than Aaron. Aaron had never really needed it until now.
As Aaron took another knee to the gut, I was able to finally get to my feet. My mind wasn’t weak. I was lucid and had the ability to call on whatever power I needed. My muscles just twitched randomly and I stumbled forward. I fell to my hands and knees again and I just shook my head. Aaron was taking a beating. I reached out my hand and grabbed Trace by the arm with my mind. I pulled him down and he fell onto his back with a loud thud. Aaron started to make his way to Trace, but I pulled Trace up again, and again I slammed him into the ground.
Aaron hesitated when he realized what I was doing. I knew I had to keep Trace away from me. I couldn’t let him touch me. I couldn’t let him take my abilities from me. What if he found out about my ability to see others? My ability to see Connor? He would know something was up. If Trace survived, Connor wouldn’t last thirty minutes after the fight.
Again, I smashed Trace into the ground like a rag doll. But before I could do it a fourth time, alarms from outside the prison started to go off. Aaron and I froze and looked at each other when we heard it. He immediately brought his wristband up to his mouth and called out for Evelyn to answer.
I didn’t have time to stand and listen. Danny was doing everything he could to take down Anthony, but every move was just too slow for the hunter’s reflexes. As I walked forward, I couldn’t help but grin. I focused my mind on the hand that gripped Heather’s hair and uncurled Anthony’s fingers. He looked up at me in surprise, but not for long because Heather zipped around him and punched him in the side of the head. He fell to the ground with a thud.
“We’ve got to go!” Aaron said as echoes followed him. “Screven soldiers are storming the streets. Some of the Resistance soldiers have been caught already!”
Heather pulled out a knife. “Just let me cut this one’s throat real quick,” she said.
I held out my hand to stop her. “Let him live,” I said.
The look Heather gave me was of disdain and betrayal. But I knew that if this was one of Jeremiah’s hunters, he would probably be meeting with Jeremiah. I reached down and touched Anthony’s arm so I would be able to spy on him. I hoped that I wouldn’t have to use him. I hoped that Connor would be enough, but there was the horrible chance that Connor would be dead soon. Anthony would meet with Jeremiah again.
“We better go,” I said.
Heather gave me another disgusted look before all of us ran out through the only open door on the other side of the room. I stole one last glance back and saw Trace getting up on all fours. I hoped that we would never have to face these hunters again, but I knew that wouldn’t be the case. They were powerful. Once Jeremiah realized we were here, he would use them until they were completely spent.
We followed Aaron through various hallways in the prison even though he didn’t know the way out any better than we did. But within a minute or so, we finally came out into the bright afternoon sun. What had once been a very quiet scene was now a mob of Resistance and Screven soldiers fighting for their lives. At first, the four of us stood out in the open of the prison courtyard, trying to figure out the best way to escape. Aaron got on the radio and the rest of us just stared at the mayhem ahead.
It seemed that the Resistance soldiers weren’t putting up much of a fight at all. Most of them were scrambling to get to safety away from the overwhelming amount of Screven guards.
Aaron tapped me on the shoulder. “Allison and the others are headed for the sewers,” he said. “Just like we originally planned.”
“What about Evelyn and Jeffrey?” Danny asked.
I was more concerned with the one I had brought here. “What about Christopher?”
Aaron just shrugged. “I don’t know. But we’ve got to get to the sewers so we can regroup.”
I nodded at him. I was glad he was taking charge because my legs still felt like rubber. I needed someone to tell me what to do or where to go. As he led the way, I could see the soft glow of yellow on his skin, meaning he still had some electricity left in him. In a way, this comforted me. It meant that we were all at full force. I looked at my shaking hands. Well, at least we all had some use of our abilities.
We ran through one of the large holes in the outer wall that had been blasted with the dynamite and we were instantly spotted by a group of Screven soldiers. They raised their guns at us, but Aaron took them down with a jolt.
“Don’t have a lot of energy out here,” Aaron said to me. “I’ve got to use as little as I can to make sure I can conserve. I’m going to need you.”
But I felt that he could have done well without me. The others held their own. Danny picked up large chunks of debris from the explosion and launched them at a group of Screven soldiers in front of us. Heather displayed her usual charm by speeding up to guards and slitting their throats without them ever seeing who or what had just whizzed by.
We ran several blocks, seemingly in no particular direction before Aaron stopped behind a corner to try and communicate with Evelyn again. He got no answer. He tried with Christopher and Jeffrey and again there was no answer. Aaron cursed to himself as we all crouched next to him, waiting, hoping to reach someone on the other end.
“I guess we just have to run,” Heather said.
“What other choice do we have?” Danny asked.
I knew the answer, but doing what I had in mind would give away my powers. I could close my eyes and try to figure out where Evelyn and the others were, but I wouldn’t be able to do it without raising suspicion.
“Okay,” Aaron said. “Let’s go.” He was about to round the corner when I reached out and grabbed him by the shirt.
“Wait!” I said. He hesitated for a second. I looked at the others and they all stared at me like there was something wrong with me. I let out a deep breath. “I can find them.”
“What do you mean you can find them?” Aaron asked.
I shook my head. “Never mind that, just trust me for now.”
I didn’t give him a chance to respond before I shut my eyes and focused my entire consciousness on Evelyn. I could see her lying in the street, holding on to Jeffrey. They were surrounded by quiet streets on every side. He must have grabbed her and teleported to another part of the city when things got bad. Good.
Jeffrey let go of her and sat back on his rear, wiping the sweat from his brow. He looked down at his wristband. It was broken into several pieces and he just pulled it off, tossing it to the ground.
“How’s yours?” he asked Evelyn.
“Broken,” she answered. “Wasn’t the most graceful teleport I’ve ever experienced.”
“We’ve got to find our way back to the Resistance hideout.”
“Assuming anyone will make it back,” she said.
I opened my eyes to find Aaron, Danny, and Heather staring at me with bewildered looks.
“You enjoying a rest?” Heather asked.
“Jeffrey teleported Evelyn away, so they are safe,” I said. “Let me check on Christopher.”
I shut my eyes again, seeking him out. He was running frantically beside Allison. There were several Resistance soldiers trailing them, letting off rounds of bullets at Screven soldiers as they ran.
One of the Resistance soldiers held open a sewer cap, waving others in until he was shot through the chest. A bullet zoomed by Christopher’s head and he ducked low in reaction.
“Come on, we can make it!” Allison yelled to him.
He was falling behind, no doubt exhausted from hours of healing my symptoms. I couldn’t help but feel that it should have been me that was slow because of the virus, not him.
As he ran toward the sewer, I did everything I could within my consciousness to see his surroundings, to see where he was in correlation to the rest of us. I watched as shots fired toward them, but I also had to try and listen with my physical ears. Where were the shots coming from?
The popping noises kept going off. I could tell that they were firing at Christopher east of where we sat. And given the volume of the shots, they couldn’t be far at all. I opened my eyes and looked straight at Aaron.
“There are a lot of things that you don’t know,” I said.
I thought about my powers. I even thought about the fact that Connor was working with Jeremiah just to help me keep tabs on him. And seeing the look on Aaron’s face in that moment made me wish that I had been more open with him. He and I shared a bond too. He was the first one to help me discover who I really was. Connor had asked me not to tell anyone, and I had honored his request, but it was time to let Aaron in on all the other secrets.
“I will tell you everything as soon as we get back to the hideout,” I said. “But right now we have to go.”
I could tell that he was about to ask me something, but I didn’t give him or the others a chance to say anything. I immediately ran through the first alley to our right. I could hear them following close behind me. More importantly I could hear the sound of gunfire in the streets ahead. I prayed that none of the bullets hit their targets. It would kill me to see Christopher die because I brought him here.
We rounded another turn and this time I could see Christopher sprinting for the manhole. We ran out into the street behind the Screven guards who didn’t see any of us coming. I threw two of them face-first into the ground, while blue light streaked through the air and into others. Heather sped by, slicing the whole way. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Danny pick up a Screven guard by the leg and slam his body into the pavement.
As Christopher neared the manhole, he looked up to see us running toward him. His eyes brightened when he saw us. Heather was already beside him. The rest of us ran as quickly as our tired legs would carry us. Finally, out of breath and wanting to collapse, we made it to the sewer. Christopher climbed down first followed by Heather. Danny was next and Aaron motioned for me to go. As I started to climb down, we both heard the sound of trucks and soldiers coming toward us. They were still out of view, but we were out of time.
“Come on!” I yelled at Aaron, but he didn’t listen to me. Instead of climbing down, he reached out to the manhole cover and started moving it over us. “What are you doing?”
“There’s no time!” Aaron said as he slid it into place.
“Aaron, no!” I screamed out. I tried to climb back up the ladder, but I felt a pair of strong arms wrap around my waist, and then a hand covered my mouth.
A voice whispered into my ear. “Be quiet.” It was Danny, and I knew that I wouldn’t be able to get out of his grip. Not without giving away where we were.
I stopped struggling and Danny finally released his grip on me and I just fell to the floor. We had to get out of there before we were caught, but I couldn’t find the will to make my legs move. Danny seemed to have noticed this because he reached his arms under me and picked me up as though I were a small child that was ready for a nap. I stopped fighting it. As we traveled through the dark tunnels of the Screven underground, I shut my eyes, wiping away a silent tear when I thought of Aaron.
He had picked up a rifle from the ground and began walking toward the trucks that were approaching him. He held the rifle in his hands and walked confidently toward them like he was invincible. Soldier after soldier tore out of the trucks, guns ready, aimed at Aaron.
“Put the gun down!” one of the soldiers yelled at him.
I wondered if he had any electricity stored away. I didn’t notice the yellow glow anymore. It seemed that he was just a normal man walking to face his doom. A distraction to keep the Screven guards away from the sewers.
He kept walking.
One of the soldiers didn’t wait to give him a second warning. The soldier pulled up his gun, aimed, and shot. Aaron fell to the ground.
I let out an involuntary scream as he went down. I could hear my voice echoing through the tunnels, but the guards didn’t seem to hear it. I could feel the comforting arms of Danny pull me tighter as he felt the sobs escape me.
One of the soldiers walked to Aaron and stood over him, barrel pointed at his head. Aaron stared up at him and smiled. “You know this will all be over by tomorrow,” he said.
The guard lowered the barrel until it was pressed firmly against Aaron’s forehead. Aaron never let the smile leave his face.
Through sobs, I felt nauseous. I couldn’t stand to watch, but I couldn’t open my eyes to leave Aaron either.
Before the guard could pull the trigger, a voice came out from behind him.
“Wait,” the voice said calmly.
The guard turned his head around.
“We have to take in everyone we capture in case they are one of the Starborns.”
“This one’s bleeding out,” the guard said.
The soldier who had told the other to wait, walked forward and looked down at Aaron. He shook his head. “It’s just a shoulder wound. We have to take him.”
The guard let out a nasty snarl and stooped down to pick Aaron up from the ground. Aaron let out a painful groan as they grabbed his shoulder roughly.
When I opened my eyes, we were still traveling through the dark tunnels quietly. I felt relief in knowing that Aaron had just survived. But I knew what his survival meant. It meant interrogation by Jeremiah.
For Aaron’s sake, it might have been better to just be shot through the head.