Deviants

Chapter 2

Amee

Deciding to take a break from my schoolwork, I lay on my bed. I sigh, completely exhausted. I reach up and touch the ugly green rock that's connected to a rusty chain that always hangs from my neck. I feel every bump beneath my fingers, remembering what I'm doing this for. I'm doing this for justice. I'm doing this for revenge.

I can just imagine Delilah bending down to her knees and planting a manipulative kiss on my forehead. I can hear her speak: I bought you that last year, dear, and you didn't like it. It's okay, sweetie, you don't need food tonight. I know it hurts, hon, but I didn't mean it. You know Mike and I love you. I touch the tip of my forehead and wipe it with the back of my hand as if to wipe her kiss away.

I stand from my bed and walk to the mirror hanging on my closet door. I untuck my shirt from my skirt and strain to see the large fresh cut on the back of my side. It will blend in plenty with all my other scars on my body, especially the long straight one that's on my right side. It's the straightest scar I have, considering it was deliberate. I softly touch the fresh wound that I got last week. I'm not even sure how I got it exactly but as I thought about it, it was probably a knife that was thrown at me right when I jumped in the ravine. It's not the only thing that hurts; my entire body is aching with sore muscles and yellow bruises from rolling down the ravine.

I push my shirt down and change into simple jeans and a shirt since it's past school hours and I'm too tired to focus on my homework, but I do put on my red sweater. I reluctantly make my way to the end of the football field where the team practices and a few students jog the track. I glance behind me, just to make sure I don't have anyone staring at me, before walking into the forest line.

The forest is thick with thousands of trees, standing and fallen. My muscles throb and beg me not to go any farther, but I have to push myself. I have to get to the old bunker that's outside of town to train. No matter how hard or difficult it will be, I have to exercise.

Passing a creek, I bend down to drink the ice-cold water. The leaves on the trees have turned brown and they've barely begun to fall for the season. It was a little cold when I first got out but now, I'm sweating, and I have to tie my sweater around my waist. The cool breeze and ice water feel amazing.

I groan as I force myself to stand and drag my feet towards the haunting entrance that leads to the bunker. I carefully step over the sound trap that I've placed in a circle around the entrance since I started ambushing vehicles.

Walking down a small set of concrete steps, an enormous boulder blocks my way to enter the bunker. I stand before it, trying to clear my mind from work, school, Clint, my new roommate and most importantly: I.O.E. I close my eyes and imagine pressing against the boulder even though I'm two yards away from it. Being farther helps me concentrate more when I'm tired. I imagine pressing my entire body against it, imagine shoving it away. It becomes harder to think about it. It nearly begins to hurt thinking about it. Damn, do I really need to exercise today? I think. But by that time there is already a gap between the boulder and the wall that I can squeeze through. It's a tighter fit then what I usually give myself, but I make it through.

The bunker is a smaller one with rocks of all different sizes surrounding- covering the floor. There is no source of light aside from the entrance and the few battery powered lanterns that I light up. I walk down farther into the bunker where more rocks and boulders are scattered on the floor, the other end of the bunker collapsed, blocking it off years ago. I light the lanterns on the lower level as well and start practicing immediately.

Imagining lifting the smallest rocks are easy, they don't hurt my mind. I can even think about Kate while I lift them. I can see them hovering in the air all around me, no support aside from my mind. My ability.

I lift the next biggest, while still holding the smallest in mid-air. Whenever I think about Kate while training, I get frustrated. She should be in here with me. She should be exercising her ability with me. But she is so set on denial and being normal. I suppose it's my fault. I never told her why it was so important to know how to use her ability.

A sharp pain shoots through my brain and I have to shove Kate from my mind to be able to catch the middle-sized rocks. I'm able to lift the rocks right before they become boulders and it's too much. It begins to strain not only my mind but my body.

With my mind I set all the rocks back into their original place, my knees tremble from exhaustion and I bend over, breathing heavily. My head pounds against my temples and I know it's a headache that will last until the morning.

I walk to the door that's under the stairs and unlock it with the key that I always bring with me wherever I go. I switch on the lanterns in there and open the laptop that was left here by Kevin, the one man that's ever shown me anything that's next to love. But what Kevon had for me was not love.

The only thing this laptop is useful for is to track the I.O.E. vehicles; their route, what they are carrying, the time they are traveling and how heavily guarded it is. So far, I've been taking on the trucks with less security because I've only been doing this since the middle of summer. Last time I was stupid and messed up. Am I ready for a heavier vehicle? I know I want to be. Those are the ones that actually carry their science experiments.

I'm not ready, I think, feeling the painful cut in my side. Maybe it's a good thing. I know it's only a matter of time before they start to look for the perpetrator. Four of their trucks have already been ambushed, information has gone missing, people have been killed and they have no idea by who. It makes a smile creep onto my face. Just imagining The General and Slade getting livid about this brings joy to my heart. At least it does when I imagine Slade bemused by it.

I stand and walk to my billboard that has a map of the United States pinned to it with so far only one red thumbtack stuck into it. It pins points to the place where I got all my scars from. Kevin could've given me more locations, but he didn't believe I was ready for that information and he died before I was.

I pull Slade off the board and stare into his stone-cold eyes. Eyes of murder and torture. He's walking in the picture- I don't know where. If it weren't for Kevin, I wouldn't even have the information I do now. Sunshine reflects off his bald head, his jaw is clench and a certain haunting glee is in his eyes as if he's off to kill someone, or he just got back from doing that. I can still remember his cold blue eyes that seemed they couldn't feel anything.

I pin him back on the wall.

"I'm doing this for you, dear," I say to him. I smile and walk out of the room, locking it behind me.

A/N:

Dedicated to @Bananaleigh9799  for being there to endure all my first drafts and how stupid they were.