The Storm of Apocalypse

Chapter One: Part Three [1]

The men dropped to the ground with bullet holes in their foreheads. She jumped off of the car’s roof and landed on the right side where the door was left open. She tucked the gun on her back waist. She felt relief seeing Vinceo inside the car, but it didn’t last long when she noticed he was unconscious and cuffed in the backseat. She couldn’t carry him back to their car. She doesn’t have that much strength.

She looked at the tree blocking the way. She punched the air, broke the tree in half, and pushed each part aside. She fell to her knees when she lost her strength. She was catching her breath and groaned when her headache became worse. She sat on the ground for minutes and listened carefully. She endured the pain until it calmed down. When she had enough strength and the pain was bearable, she stood. She rushed to the driver’s seat and took the wheel. She stepped on the pedal and speeded away.

Her hands and arms were still sore and she had a hard time steering the wheel through the woods. She looked around, trying to spot any threats for them. She threw her glance to the rearview mirror and saw Vinceo was still unconscious and lying on the seats.

“Hold on, Ceo.”

•••

HALF AN HOUR passed by and they arrived safely back at the cabin. She stepped out of the car and noticed Arlette was sitting outside the cabin.

“I need help!”

Arlette rushed to her and helped her pull Vinceo out. He was quite heavy but they both managed to get him out of the vehicle and carried him back inside the cabin. The others also helped and followed them. They were worried and waiting for an answer.

“What happened?” Arlette asked as they laid Vinceo on the sofa.

“Herozoan got to Lester first. He attacked us.”  Mycenia sat beside Vinceo and uncuffed him using her psychokinetic abilities. While looking around, noticed the two new faces in their group. She realized that she was the only one who failed in their rescue mission.

“What about Vinceo? What happened to him?”

“I don’t know. I just found him unconscious.”

“And Lester?”

“He’s gone. Probably with Herozoan now.”

“This is bad.” Arlette sighed heavily. “Cyan...come here.”

Cyan approached them and kneeled beside Vinceo. She knew right away what Arlette wanted her to do. She took Vinceo’s hand and closed her eyes. Silence engulfed the living room. Cyan gasped as she had a glimpse of what happened. She then let go and looked at Arlette.

“What is it?”

“He doesn’t have any injuries. But I saw a new implant was planted at the base of his skull, at the back of his neck.”

They all moved him to his side and checked it. Cyan was right. There was a small puncture wound on his skin. Mycenia touched it and felt the small bump underneath the layers of skin and flesh. She sent her psychokinetic force through his skin and felt the implant like she was holding it.

“The implant looked different from our implant before. This one is bigger and it has a hair-like structure that was wrapped around his spine.”

“Herozoan must have known our plan. This changes everything. We need to go now.”

“What? What do you mean, Arlette?”

“You brought their car here and they could be tracking Vinceo’s implant. We need to go!”

But before they could even make their move, an explosion destroyed the left side of the cabin and shook everyone inside. Mycenia was quick to create a wall of psychokinetic energy that shielded them against the splinters, rocks, dust, and the shockwave that were about to impale and sweep them. She screamed in pain as her arms began to sore and sting. She tore her shield down and released a pulse of light force that swept the smoke. And they all saw their rescue, the guy with a thick beard, starting to gather energy in preparation for the next explosion.

She wrapped him with her psychokinetic force. But she gasped in shock when she struggled to keep him. She doesn’t know if he was stronger or she was exhausted. She couldn’t afford to let him explode again. She feared that she might not be able to hold it off again.

But she was knocked off of her feet when a strong gust of wind pushed her like a raging wave. She dropped and rolled on the floor and groaned in pain. The others were also thrown away. She crawled and reached for the chair lying on the floor and used it as a support to pull herself back up. She looked behind her and saw the other rescued woman gesturing her hand, summoning the wind and pushing Renie to the ground.

“Something is wrong in them...just like Lester,” she thought.

She was about to push it away when the other guy exploded for the second time. Once again, she created a shield that prevented the fire from engulfing them. She caught a glimpse through her periphery of how Valtor released volts of electricity that threw and burned the woman with aerokinetic abilities. Her scorched body dropped to the floor releasing the smell of burned flesh.

When she tore down her shield. One gesture of her hand and she had the remaining rescued wrapped by her force. She slowly unclenched her fist and watched how the guy struggled while floating in midair. Valtor joined in and released strands of electricity that burned the man alive. He cried for seconds and when he turned silent, she let go of her influence and dropped his burned body to the floor.

The air was filled with the fire crackling, consuming the wood and the light breeze of wind feeding the fire and spreading the heat. Mycenia was panting as she turned around and checked on Vinceo. He was finally awake and a little bit disoriented from what just happened. She wanted to hug him but she was too weak; her whole body was aching and her vision started to blur. She fell to her knees but Arlette and Cyan were quick to catch her and helped her get to the sofa where she sat by Vinceo’s side.

Cyan placed her hands on Mycenia’s head and started healing her. Mycenia’s became vivid. She was wrapped by a cool sensation that the sore of her body faded like it was blown away. Cyan let go and gasped for air. It must be pretty draining for her to heal the others.

“Thank you, Cyan.”

“You’re too exhausted, Mycenia. Your body is not used to this. Maybe you should slow down,” Arlette suggested.

“Even if I wanted to slow things down. I can’t just stop and not use my powers...not when all of us are not safe.” She turned her attention to Vinceo and noticed something was wrong. “Ceo...what’s wrong?” She waited for an answer but he was silent. “Vinceo!”

He came out of his thoughts and looked at her. “I...I can’t feel my powers.”

“What? No...” Mycenia’s heart sank. She cursed silently. Given how pressing their situation is, they can’t afford to lose his powers. It was her fault. If only she had been careful and quick to help him, she could have prevented this from happening.

“You can’t blame yourself, Mycenia.” Arlette listened to her loud thoughts. “It must be the implant. They have upgraded it.” She inhaled deeply. “Everyone, get out and turn the engine on. We’re leaving.”