Super Secret | Half Hero Book 2 [ON HOLD]

Chapter 16: Panic Room

Millions of limpid shards tinkled like deadly wind chimes when we slammed into the glass wall lining my family's home. The fiery explosion ballooned out in a flash of smoke and deafening sound, taking down anything nearby. Stones and hunks of debris flew like rubber bullets, crashing into anything in their path (including my ribs and head.)

When I was finally able to look around, the man in black's full weight was pushing down on my chest. A sharp ring filled the space between my ears, mixing with the dust and destruction swirling around us and choking my vision.

I tried to shove him off, but his body was alarmingly limp as my hands slipped on something warm and moist under his coat. I pulled my palms back to find them covered in blood, which I'm pretty sure wasn't mine.

"Mom! Aaron!" I screamed over the acute buzzing in my head, thrusting the lifeless stranger to the side.

Gunfire crackled dangerously in rounds that sounded like the automatic magazines in action movies. The worst of the noise was muffled by the feedback assaulting my eardrums, but I could still hear the man in black's agonized moans.

"You've got to be kidding me, you weigh a ton!" I complained, hooking my arms under his muscly shoulders to haul him along. "C'mon big guy, wake up!"

My legs were shaky from the impact of our fall and the blood covering his clothes made him quite the slippery sausage to drag out of harm's way. More gunfire rattled in the near distance, layering over the lethal patter of other assault weapons.

My head snapped up to try and see the guns through the hazy cloud of smoke. That's when I noticed the heads of people creeping over the wooden privacy fence. They were wearing the same idiot man pajamas as the ninjas that broke into the Scion lab.

Kicking into high gear, I drug the man through the ruins of my mom's living room.

As soon as I had him propped in the hallway, I concentrated on the ions threatening to jump out of my skin. The electricity swelled out of my chest to warm my cells with its intoxicating hum, but died out unceremoniously before I could send a blast of electricity in the direction of our attackers.

"What the-?" I cried as another explosion blew the wall clean apart, tossing me like a wet noodle (again).

I fell against the man in black to tumbled into a heap as beams of solid wood, splintered like toothpicks and covered us in drywall dust and nails. Despite my heart slamming into my ribcage, my supernatural glow had not surfaced and panic began to choke my vision.

My mother's high-pitched shriek was the only thing that brought me back from the brink of terror and I clawed my way free of the mess. Ignoring the pain igniting my muscles, I untangled myself from my emo-stalker to escape the pile of rubble.

"Mom!" I shouted through the smoke, dropping to the ground when more bullets crackled behind me.

Clasping down on the stranger's arm, I foisted him out of the rubble as his eyes fluttered open. His chest was heaving as though it was difficult for him to breath, but at least he was alive.

"Let's go!" I shouted while boots hit the wreckage in the next room.

"Get to your family," he panted, narrowing his eyes and fighting to stand while I wedged myself under his armpit to prop him up. "Hide!"

With a throaty growl, he threw both his hands up toward the calamity barring down on us. Nearby, full-grown men yowled in agony, baying like werewolves at a full moon.

"Ella!" Aaron's voice carried up the hall, mixing with the anguished cries of our would-be captors. "There's a panic roo-"

He was cut off by the terrible paroxysm that rocked the house to the studs. A scream burst from my chest and I streaked away, following the scent of Aaron's powerful body spray mixed with fresh blood.

Another explosion shook the foundation of their house, throwing me to the floor. Pure fear and adrenaline propped up my legs to run again, my only focus was my family.

I found Aaron leaning against the doorframe to the den, his face twisted in pain and his eyes swollen with horror.

"I think it's b-broken, Ella," he whispered as the remnant of his dinner spilled over his lips and into his lap.

His leg, which should have been pointed away from him, was bent behind Aaron's back and bleeding heavily. His face had been shredded in the blast, but my brother was in too much shock to realize the full extent of his terrible injuries.

Well, unfortunately it looks like Ella's plan didn't work out the way she'd hoped! To be continued...