Altered

Chapter 42

I ended up training all the guys over the course of a week, showing them the basics of defence and offence. I even used my powers a few times. They had improved so much that I almost wondered if they were faking being terrible at it in the first place.

There had been no sight of anyone from the facility since I had gotten back. I was praying that I had kille- gotten rid of everyone inside that God-forsaken building and that I would never see them again.

Austin had mentioned a few times when he felt like he was being watched, but he brushed it off quicker than I did, so I trusted him to tell me if anything else was wrong.

Natalie and Alice hadn't bothered me after I came back because I lost it on one of Natalie's friends when they got in my face on the first day back. After my outburst, everyone had stayed away from me.

Austin and I were basically a couple, though it wasn't official. All the guys bothered us about it, but a death glare from me shut them up real quick.

I was getting constant glares from Alice in math who still hadn't dropped the lies from Natalie. I wanted to ask her about what they were but I had a strange feeling that she'd spit on me and then kick me in the shin like we were 4 years old.

I had to explain to all my teachers that I had some complicated and highly contagious sickness just so they wouldn't question me. I had a metric crap load of homework which I still had yet to complete.

I was currently getting ready for another day in school when I had gotten a call from downstairs. My mom sounded slightly scared, so I raced down the steps at a lightning fast sped which cause some papers to fly off the table due to my momentum.

"What is it?!" I looked around defensively. I couldn't see any immediate threats but I could never be too sure.

"You left your phone down here, so I picked it up when someone was calling you. Austin was on the other end, but there was a lot of noise in the background. I didn't want you to worry, but it doesn't sound good," my face had
paled by now and my blood was running cold.

Austin was the only one to say the smallest things that he was suspicious about. I blew them off because they weren't anything so monumental that they scared him or me. Now I realized that I made the worst choice possible in a situation like this.

"Did he say anything?" My voice cracked and I felt my throat close.

"No. The line cut before he could talk," I spent no more time talking to my mom and flew out the front door after grabbing my keys. I slammed the car door shut and sped off to Austin's house where his parents were never home.

There were a few cars in the driveway, by I recognized them all as his and Mitch's friends. I didn't even pull the keys out of the ignition and I was already at his front door. It had been broken down, another sign that made my heart accelerate another 100 beats.

"Hello!?" I yelled with a scratchy voice, barely containing my tears. If he or anyone else was gone, it would be on my shoulders forever, even if I did find them again.

There was a light groan from the living room, and I raced in as fast as my legs would carry me.

The scene I witnessed would forever haunt my nightmares.

7 of Austin and Mitch's friends were all scattered around the room that was torn to shreds. The air stunk of tear gas and some kind of tranquilizer. There were a couple canisters of what looked like gas on the floor, rolling slightly in the breeze coming from the shattered windows. My breath caught when I didn't see the familiar face that I had come to love more and more every day.

"Where is he?" I whispered to no one in particular. Someone coughed, but it sounded distant, like they were talking through cloth meaning that my senses were probably shutting down. I choked on a sob when it finally hit me that they had found me, but they chose a different way of getting to me.

They kidnapped him like they did to me nearly 2 years ago.

I dropped to my knees as someone coughed my name. A stifled sob escaped my closed lips before I let another one through. Then they started coming louder and more uncontrollable.

I was the reason for all this mess. If I just stayed where I was supposed to, none of this would have happened and Austin would still be here, at his home. Not with some deranged group of scientists who were probably planning something even more messed up than what they did to me. This is all my fault. This is all my fault. My fault.

I didn't stop the waterworks until my tears ran dry and I was choking on air. Only a few of the guys had woken up, but when they tried to get near me, I yelled at them to stay away, they reluctantly listened.

Someone had called my cell and my mother was at the house a short time later. She was trying to comfort me, but my eyes remained glued to the blood stain on the floor.

It was like the focal point of some demented painting. I couldn't take my eyes off it.

I hadn't even blinked in minutes as she hugged me or tried to get me to look at her. Dad was here too, but he was tending to the guys and their injuries. No one was bleeding, so that left only one option for who left the stain behind.

Austin.

Even the thought of him bleeding because of me was making my stomach turn and bringing bile into my already sore throat.

I moved my eyes from the carpet and to my mother, the gaze I held burning into her, making her shift uncomfortably.

I held her face with my eyes unwavering and spoke only six words that I would make sure I would carry out unless I died in the process.

"I'm going to kill them all."