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Chapter 7

Chapter 7

He pulls me out the door and begins to bring me down the hallway, not to the bunks, but to the left, down a hall I’ve never been in, through doors I’ve never gone past. My hearts starts to panic and I yell out “Brian! Brian!” Mr. Carter tightens his hold on my arm and shakes me roughly.

“Shut it.” he says, pulling me through the doors. I pull against him.

“No!” I yell again, “Brian! Alexia!” I hear a commotion down the hall.

“Ricki!” I hear Brian’s worried voice loud in my head.

“He’s taking me away. I don’t know where, help!” I think to him. I hear someone running down the hall towards us. I kick and I scratch and my breathing is heavy. Brian bursts through the door, followed by at least 10 more people.

They stop for a moment, but before anyone can move Pan yells out, her voice resonating, for him to let me go, to loud for any girl her size. It’s deeper and the echo lasts longer than it should. The young man’s face goes blank and his eyes are empty. He releases my arm.

Dr. Dillard bangs his way out of room 315. He stops, scared, and says “ I called the guards. Just calm down and no one needs to get hurt I’m sorry, but none of you can leave. If we could jus-”

before he can finish his speech Duke, a skinny black kid from Chicago reaches out a hand and places it on the old man’s white head.

Dillard has a calm expression on his face and suddenly collapses. He’s breathing heavily, sleeping very deeply. “Nice one,” I breath, jumping over his body to hug Brian. “Thanks,” I tell Pan.

My heart rate begins to slow. “We’re leaving,” I say, looking around. By now everyone else had joined us. We stand as a group in the middle of the industrial hall. “You can stay if you want, but I’m high tailing it out of here.” A couple people nod in agreement. Some look at me like I’m insane.

June, a stuck up Asian girl yells “Look!” she points down the windows of the door the man was trying to bring me through. Guards that usually manned the fence surrounding the compound are rushing down the hall.

My heart jumps back into my throat. We all take a frightened second to stare and are then running towards the café. The guards yell for us to stop, but we continue, scared of what will happen if we do.

I heard a shot and hit the deck, my mind flying to all kinds of conclusions about their intentions. Someone’s foot hits my head and I see stars. I turn to look at the guards I imagine are raining down on me, but my face meets a wall of heat.

Stretching from the green tiled floors to the white tiled ceiling is a wall of flame. Nina stands in front of it, letting the fire flow out through her mouth. She stops it coming out for a moment to yell, “They’re only rubber bullets! Run!”

I stand, but see Willa on the ground and run to her. I shake her, she doesn’t open her eyes, but she shifts ever so slightly. I feel a big knot growing on her spine. “Rubber bullets” I think to myself. Then all of a sudden Nina is thrown back.

I leg it out of the hall and into the café. Heather and Evan wave me in quickly, closing the doors after me, pushing a table up against it. “What the hell are we even doing?” Heather yells. Her dark hair stands out against her light brown skin. “Why are we even running?” 

A crash of glass catches my attention and something whistles past my arm. What looks like a needle hits Evan’s arm. We all duck down to the ground, out of range of my things coming through the windows.

His eye lids flutter quickly before his cellular regeneration kicks in and they snap open. He rips it out of his arm and yells, “Drugs! They’re trying to knock us out!”

Heather throws up her hands. Rubber bullets and needles fly through the broken windows and she stands up, yelling, “I give up! Don’t shoo-” She lands backwards, a needle in her chest.

I crawl out of range and then stand and run out of the café, into the courtyard. I can hear Evan leaning down to Heather, tapping her face, saying “Heather? You’re so god damn stupid!”

The moment I step on to the grass I feel a hand grab my head and feel a sudden rush of drowsiness. Someone yells something distantly and the hand releases me.

It is a moment before I realize that Duke and York are standing outside the doorway. York shakes me a little, “You okay?” he yells, “You gotta go!”

My eyes feel heavy, but I run forward anyway, not even checking to see if they’re coming along with me. I slam one foot in front of the other. Devin stops me quickly. I look ahead of me to the surrounding grass.

It is a surreal moment, it feels like slow motion. Devin’s arm slamming into my stomach, the green grass of the court yard mismatching the mood of the scene happening behind us. 

“The fence!” I hear her yell. I stop trying to get past her. “It’s electrified!” I see those of us left in the yard staring up at it. I get close and can feel a current. Cal walks right up to it. Vaughn yells at him not to touch it.

But Cal places his hands on it. Suddenly his body is clear and his form is of water, electricity arcs of the metal. He looks absurd, clear water were his skin should be, but his clothes hang on the form like it’s solid.

The water expands, covering all visible areas of the fence. It freezes, making the fence look like it’s made of ice.

“There, that should work.” he says, stepping back, his skin taking form and coloring again. His clothes are soaking yet, but his brown hair and light skin are dry.

He’s still concentrating hard on keeping the ice up. I hop into it automatically. The ice is cold but there’s not current. I climb up and over the top, slipping, but gripping it as best I can.

I land on the other side and suddenly I realize no one else is over it yet. Alexia is back with some others, attempting to stop the guards. Figgie stands close to the fence, unsure of where to go.

Ella and June and rid two men of there guns. June, using her ability has cloned herself and three of her are trying to wrestle a big man to the ground. Ella’s opponent is smaller, but isn’t afraid to hit her.

She throws out expert punch after punch, fists flying. I see Devin, she’s climbing up the fence, yelling at Figgie to move. I see Vaughn grab a man by his face and breath into it. His breath comes out in a cloud of thick green vapor.

The man shakes and writhes in Vaughn’s hands and falls to the grass, when he’s gone from his hands he runs to the fence, vaulting himself over it as quickly as possible. Devin and him land themselves next to me nearly simultaneously.

I see Luke run out of the crowd and grab Figgie’s hand, pulling her towards the fence. “Come on!” he yells over the noise. They begin to climb the fence. Ash, Gil, and Brian appear out of the crowd, running to the fence.

The five of them climb over it and stand next to the three of us. We stand in horror, watching what is happening.

I see Ella and June separate themselves from the writhing crowd and make their way over the fence. I watch as Alexia and Cal are shot with tranquilizers.

The ice on the fence melts a soon as Cal goes unconscious. A guard yells something about it and another runs to a small metal box on a wall.

He flips the door open and slams a switch. Pan and Mia are left. The rest of us run, hearing the electricity crackling again. Our backs are turned and we’re running into the desert. I’m a coward.

But I want to get away. I can hear Pan yelling in a quivering voice for the guards to stop. I don’t turn to see if they do.