Journey for the Truth

Chapter 14: Ripped List

This Chapter is told by the POV of Devin

"Girls are you alright?" I ask Beth and Kelly

"Yeah. We're ok" Kelly answers. Beth just stands there staring at me. Must be some way to see your dead boyfriend again, him shooting lightning out of his hands after jumping through a second story window

"Ummm, where's Anto-" I begin to ask when Beth attacks me with hugs and kisses and begins sobbing. I hug her back and stand there for a few minutes. Ive missed her so much. During those long months in hiding, the one thing I wanted more than anything was to hold Beth in my arms again

"Leave her alone!" I hear behind me as a fist slams into the side of my face sending me to the ground. I roll to the side and hop from my back to my feet ready to fuck a bitch up. I raise my fists and concentrate electricity on them and look to see who the attacker is. Once the dizziness from the punch goes away I see Antonio standing there covered in blood and his shirt all torn up

"What the hell happened to you?" I ask taking a step towards him and lower my fists

"Oh my god, Antonio!" Kelly screams and runs forward "Are you hurt?"

"I'm fine babe" he says then turns to me "I'm so sorry dude! I thought you were the panther man attacking Beth" he lowers his head in same. I feel bad now, he was only trying to protect her

"Hey, it's ok man" I say putting my hand on his shoulder "You hit like a girl anyway" I laugh letting him know there are no hard feelings. He looks up and smiles then quickly looks around concerned

"If your not the panther man then where is he?!" He says getting up and pulling Kelly behind him

"Hey, hey, calm down, he's gone for now" I say "I fought him off and he left. So we have to leave before he brings reinforcements" I say gathering the few things we will need. I pull Mike's knife out pf his pocket and toss it to Antonio

"You'll need this more than me" I say. He catches it then tries to hand it back to me

"I'm not going to leave you defenseless" he argues, looking out for me. I hold up my hands and run sparks through my fingers. He puts the knife in his pocket "Point taken" We head out and start walking back to the abandoned house to wait for the others to get there. We stay pretty silent until we're about three houses away

"Hey Antonio?" Beth stops and asks

"Yeah?" He replies looking over to her

"What really did happen to you at Kelly's house?" she asks and we all stop walking and look at Antonio, covered in dry blood and his shirt still covered in cuts and tears. I look closer and don't see a mark on him, nothing at all

"I fought the panther man.." he says lowering his head "and I lost.." we all get wide eyed and concerned

"What do you mean you lost?" I ask getting worried that he maybe isn't as alright as he appears to be

"He used his claws to slit my throat.. then threw me out of a window.." he says quietly. I remember the broken window when we were downstairs. I was wondering about that but was in too much of a rush to care about a window

"What do you mean he slit your throat?" Kelly asks confused

"He tore open my neck and I healed" he says looking like he doesnt even believe himself

"How is that possible?" Beth asks me. I look down in shame for keeping this a secret for so long. I didn't know what it meant until now. I pull a sheet of torn paper out of my pocket and hand it to Antonio

"What's this?" He asks looking at the paper. He reads what it says and looks even more confused "All it says is me, you, and Milton's names? And some chic named Jessica? What's this for?"

"I got it off of the clipboard the doctor guy at the lab was holding before I left. The power outage that I told you about was me as you have probably already guessed. This is the list of people he is tracking. I didn't know why until now" I say looking down and shaking my head wishing it wasn't true

"So.." Antonio says looking down at the paper "I have powers too then.. wow.." he seems like he's going insane inside. He reaches inside his pocket and takes out the knife

"Antonio wait!" I shout but its too late. He opens the knife and stabs it into his hand. The girls both flinch and back away. He pulls the knife out and hands it to me "It'll heal. Just you watch" I watch as his hand bleeds and doesn't stop bleeding

"Antonio, what did you do?!" I yell at him for being so careless "Why do you have to be so stupid?!"

"Shut up Devin! You're not my fucking boss! You don't have to take care of me!" He says glaring me down. Kelly steps forward and pushes Antonio backwards, falling to the ground

"What's gotten into you?!" She scolds him "You two are best friends" Antonio looks down in disappointment of himself. I look over at his hand and see the dirt start to move itself over the wound from the knife. My eyes get wide as I stare in disbelief. The others notice and stare as well. The dirt fills the hole then stops moving altogether. Antonio shakes his hand and clears it of the dirt to reveal that the wound is gone, along with any sign that it ever existed. I want to say something but can't bring myself to.

"Guys!!" Screams a voice from behind us "Come quick!! Milton is sick, really sick!!" Did he just say Milton? I turn to see Jacob running over to us as fast as he can

"Hey, chill out dude" I say trying to calm him down "Tell me exactly what's going on" I tell him

"Milton is sick, he has a extreme fever" he stammers

"How extreme?" I ask worried because he's also on the list

"350°!!" Jacob exclaims

"And you left him alone?!" I run past Jacob towards the house, knowinghe for sure this has something to do with Milton being on that list. Just as I get to the door and turn the knob an explosion tears the building apart and sends me flying onto the across the street neighbor's roof. I sit up to see the remains of the house being engulfed by a raging fire.