by Nathan Roten
Chase smiled. “Graham mentioned being lab rats when he confronted me. I figured they found something. It is all coming together then, isn’t it. Which file was taken this time?”
“Casey Hagan.”
“HA! The Casey File? That ought to do the trick.”
“Yes, I imagine it would.”
The anticipation of what was to come made Chase forget the headache. He always got a little nervous when it came time for the hunt. He knew it was necessary, but it never did make it any easier. He walked over to where Cavaness was standing and handed him a small frame.
“They found the picture of Alexander as well. I found it laying on the desk with the dirt wiped from the glass.” Cavaness picked up the small frame in his hands and stared at the small path winding through Catalyst Grove. “Now it really begins.”
Jittery, Chase started rubbing his hands together as he thought through what was going to happen next. “You ready for the chase?”
Cavaness thought for a moment. “I’ve got a better idea. Go get Murphy. We are going to need an eye in the sky.”
“You got it, big fella.”
Cavaness rolled his eyes and looked back outside. Holding up his hand, he said, “Wait. What did you get from the Damien kid?
“Not much. It was hard to get a read on that one. I’d say, let’s funnel them to the ravine and see what happens.”
Cavaness thought for a moment. “Alright. It’s a long shot, but there is only one way to find out.”
Chase nodded in agreement, then took off down the hall in a blur, leaving Cavaness standing by himself.
Looking back down at the picture, Cavaness breathed heavy. “What do you think? Is our search finally over?”
Alex stepped out from the shadows behind Cavaness.
“Graham is exceptional, there is no denying it. I have never seen levels that high just after the the application of the catalysts, but only time will tell if he is the one for whom we have been searching.” Alex put his hand on Cavaness’ shoulder. “Time and Trials will always be the best agents for uncovering one’s true nature. Just stick to the plan.”
“Yes sir.”
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
The Casey File
Damien stood to his feet.
“Can you walk?” asked Graham.
“I think so. I’m a little shaky, but I am ok.”
Kel took Ailey’s hand and began walking back towards the path. “Good, because we have to keep moving. If Damien is awake, then Chase is too. We have to go.”
Graham quickly briefed Damien on their plan. Damien shook his head in agreement. They all made their way back down to the path, followed it for a while until they could get a good sense of where it was leading, then they ducked back into the trees, keeping to higher ground.
“I think we can keep following the trail from here and stay hidden.” Feeling a little safer now that they were deeper into the woods, Graham turned to Damien. “Hey, I am sorry I didn’t tell you about my problem. I can’t control it and I didn’t want you to get hurt, but that is no excuse. I should have told you.”
“Yes, you should have,” replied Damien. “But I get why you didn’t. I’m sure it was hard carrying that by yourself.”
“Yea, it has been pretty terrible. I guess it should make me feel special and unique, but it doesn’t. It makes me feel like a freak. I am scared to be around other people all the time. The last time it got out of control, people got hurt. I guess I didn’t think you would stick around if you knew. I don’t know what I was thinking. I am sorry. We are all in this together now, so no more secrets.”
“Good. It is settled then. Now, what was that blasting all about?” said Damien. “That was awesome!”
“I don’t know. For a minute, it is like I could do what Kel did. My arm started to tingle, and it is like something inside was telling me what to do next,” said Graham.
“Same here, but I have never been that strong before.” It was evident from her demeanor that Kel could not believe she was openly talking about being able to move things without touching them. Her face relaxed as she told them how good it felt to be able to finally speak freely, knowing that what she was about to say would accepted.
“Sometimes things close-by would fall down beside me. Most of the time it was a drink or something like that. Everyone thought I was so clumsy, but I would rather them think that than know the truth. Lately, though, bigger objects have moved. About two weeks ago, I sat down in a chair to eat breakfast, and the chair beside me fell over, scooting across the floor a couple of feet.”
Graham was still skeptical. As she continued to talk, it was as if she were explaining his exact emotions. The confusion of not knowing what was going on, trying to play it off like it was a normal occurrence for things to move on their own. The fear of rejection. It was as if he were listening to his inner thoughts speaking through Kel. Did she really have that good of a read on him? Was she saying this so that she could gain his trust? Nice try. I’m not buying it.
“At first, it would only happen every couple months, and it was very subtle. My cup would move an inch or two as I was eating, but lately, it has gotten more frequent. The chair was the most intense I have ever seen it. I certainly have never made chairs explode.” Kel looked over to Graham. “At first, I really did not think it was me. Honestly. There is a big difference between knocking a chair over on its back and blowing it apart.”
Graham ignored her attempts to explain her lie. He would figure out how to deal with this later. For now, they had to deal with their other, more imminent threat. He ducked under a low branch. Once he passed underneath, he lifted it up and let the others pass. Ailey ran ahead of them, making her way down closer to the path to be sure they were still near. A few minutes later, she shuffled back up the hill giving a thumbs up. The frost was almost completely gone now. Their breath no longer produced little white puffs, and because of the constant walking, they had all stopped shivering in the cold. Once Kel had told her story, Graham could not help but wonder how Chase could know about them. If he and Kel had kept it hidden so well, how did Chase and Cavaness know? Before he knew it, Graham was thinking out loud.
“So, somehow they knew we could do things others cannot. How could they possibly know? We’ve kept it hidden,” said Graham. He thought about the man who saw him at Wellington, but surely he did not say anything, and besides, Chase already knew at that point.
“Maybe Ms. Winstone told Chase before we got downstairs,” said Damien. If she new about your nightmares, maybe she knew about the hovering, too.”
“I don’t know. I think she would have said something. She has never been one to hold back.”
“Well, they had to know somehow.” Damien said. He turned to Kel next. “Did anyone see you move things where you are from?”
“I don’t know. Maybe. Ailey knew. Maybe a few others saw it, but they never said anything,” said Kel.
Graham rolled his eyes.
Damien arched his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. “And why did they take me? I have never experienced anything like you two. Why bother with me?”
As they continued to ask questions, Kel remembered about the piece of paper in her pocket. Continuing their trek trough the woods, Kel walked over to Ailey, reached into the pocket of her coat that was still draped around her shoulders and pulled out the folded piece of paper.
“What is that?” both Damien and Graham asked.
“It was a case file from that folder you found,” Kel said to Damien. “I grabbed it before we climbed down the shaft. I thought it may give us some answers.”
Kel unfolded the paper and began reading from the top.
Kel looked up at the rest of the group with fear in her eyes.
Graham and Damien both stopped walking. “Ms. Winstone mentioned a fire that broke out in the Manor years ago. It must have been Casey!”
They all started to rub their wrists at the thought of being enveloped in flames.
“What d
o we do now? How do we get these things out of us?” asked Graham.
“I don’t think that is an option,” replied Kel. “I think they were designed to be permanent.”
“Great, so we really are lab rats then,” said Graham.
“I think the more important question is what experiment we are lab rats for,” said Kel.
Graham gritted his teeth. 10 bucks says you already know.
“I am telling you guys, when Chase had me captured, I felt like the life was draining out of me. I think they are finding ways to take energy from other people to make themselves stronger. You saw his hand. It was surrounded by a glowing flame, but there was no heat. It was some sort of energy coming from inside.”
As they continued to walk and discuss their situation, they heard loud, thunderous cracks above them. They looked up to see small balls of light litter the sky like fireworks, but they did not fade away. The remained, blanketing the sky overhead like like a cloud of mist.
Murphy stood on top of the old warehouse, his hand stretched out in front of him at chest level. Thousands of tiny beads of light shot from his hand like shotgun pellets peppering the skyline above the forest. Once he was satisfied with the covering, the light ceased to fire from his hand, but he kept his hand outstretched as if commanding the beads of light to stay in place. Carefully surveying the forest in slow sweeping movements, Murphy used his throat mike and earpiece to communicate to the others.
“You want to keep moving south-east. I can’t tell how far off the trail they are, but they seem to be sticking close by.”
“Roger that, Eagle One,” chimed Chase through the earpiece.
“Stop calling me that. We are not in the military. We don’t have to speak in code. My name is Brian Murphy.”
The crackle of the headset crumpled in Murphy’s ear for a second. “No, I like Eagle One better.”
“Uhhggh.”
“Hey, at least you aren’t Tinker Fairy. Be thankful,” said Chase.
“Your an idiot, you know that,” said Murphy.
“Yea, but you love me anyway. Just trying to lighten the mood. I think we can all agree this is our least favorite part.”
“You are right about that. I despise the extraction stage.” Murphy continued to survey the landscape until he caught a glimpse of movement. “Chase, keep moving eastward. You are moving in on them.”
Murphy pulled out his earpiece so he could concentrate. He had a unique capability to form these small balls of light and use them to see the energy in other people, like an infrared camera. Each ball was like it’s own censor, giving him a live feed of everything that was happening beneath them. As he looked through the woods, he could see yellow forms running. He grabbed the dangling earwig and stuffed it back into his ear.
“Chase, you are about 200 yards from the target. Looks like your little latino buddy is still alive and kickin’. All four of them are running about thirty feet to the left of the trail.”
“Got it, Eagle One. I am in pursuit.”
“I’m not Eagl…..you know what, forget it. You got this from here. Eagle One, out.”
Murphy shook his head in response to his new nickname. He held his hand out a little longer to be sure Chase was on the right track then closed his fingers, letting his hand fall back down to his side. As he did, the small beads of light faded to a vapor, then vanished.
Graham’s legs were burning. His lungs were on fire. They had all been in an all-out sprint since the lights appeared in the sky. Kel was able to keep pace, but Damien was way ahead of them, even with Ailey on his back. Once the orbs overhead faded away, the let up a little.
Graham came to a stop and slouched over, putting his hands on his knees, trying to catch his breath. Kel did the same. They were doubled over, concentrating so intently on their lack of endurance, they didn’t notice Chase jumping from limb to limb rhythmically and silently in the trees above them.
Damien turned around after noticing that his friends were not with him. He started walking back towards Graham and Kel.
Chase continued leaping like a cat from one tree to another without a sound. His movements were so swift and precise, that the limbs he jumped to barely moved under the weight of his landing.
“Catch your breath, amiga,” Damien said to Kel. “You too amigo, but only for a few minutes. I don’t think those were fireworks earlier, and I don’t want to stick around to find out what they really were.”
Graham and Kel kept panting. They just shook their head’s ‘no’ in reply. Damien let Ailey down from his back. Damien waited patiently as Graham and Kel were able to catch their breath enough to stand up straight again.
Chase sat perched in one of the trees like an owl. He watched and studied them until he was ready to break the silence.
“I gotta tell ya, this is giving me warm fuzzies all over. They knock you unconscious, almost killing you, and you are still looking out for them. The virtue of your loyalty is inspiring. Seriously, I’ve got goosebumps.”
The sound of Chase’s voice hit them all like a sucker punch to the gut. They all whirled their head around to see where Chase was but didn’t see him anywhere.
Chase let out a small whistle. “Up here guys.”
They all looked up just in time to see Chase’s glowing hand fling towards them. A bolt of light sprang from his palm, connecting with a small tree to their left, uprooting it with ear-ringing sounds of cracking wood and grenade-like explosions.
They all fled in panic. Forgetting all sense of direction, they just ran.
“Ah, ah ahh…..not that way,” said Chase.
He reared his hand back again. Pushing his arm forward, snapping his elbow straight, another blast of light came from his hand making another small cluster off trees explode upwards next to Ailey. Ailey cried out in shock, clamping her hands over her ears, shuffling away from the explosion.
They were all disoriented. The panic inside was scrambling their brains, making it impossible to act on a simple decision, like what direction to run. This must have been what war was like. Explosions, fear of walking into the unknown, the pursuit of the enemy, and the uncertainty of life itself. There was no time for the mind to process anything. Instinct kicked in. It was all the body could do. Fight or flight were the two options, and flight was winning by a landslide.
They all made eye contact with one another and ran together like a pack of wolves. Damien had the sense about him to grab Ailey after the second blast, knowing that he was the fastest one. His mind flashed back to being held in a choke-hold by Chase as Ailey’s grip tightened around his throat in reaction to the explosions. He didn’t dare move her arms, though. He could hear her sobs as her face pressed harder into his shoulder blade. He just concentrated on the the rise and fall of her little chest against his back and counted her breaths, helping him focus.
Satisfied with the outcome, Chase fired off one more blast for good measure, then stopped. “There, that ought to do the trick,” he said, watching the others disappear into the distance.
They continued to run as fast as their legs would take them. Graham could hardly think of anything but the pain in his legs, chest, and back. As his legs moved on auto-pilot, he tried to busy his mind as the ran. He pictured Chase up in the tree, wondering how long he had been there, watching. He probably had been there for a while, silently mocking them as they stopped to catch their breath. Graham’s mind kicked into high gear. He is just toying with us. This is pointless! There is no way they could outrun Chase. He could move as quick as lightening. If he was not in pursuit, then he must be satisfied in the direction they were headed. It was his sick little game.
Graham stopped the others. Through heavy breaths, he said, “If he wanted to hit us, he would have. If he wanted to capture us, he would have. I think he is funneling us, making us go where he wants. We need to break off in a different direction.”
Kel could barely speak through her panting. “Ok….but…where?”
There were trees and bushes no
matter where they looked. It was impossible to know where they were or even where they had come from.
“I don’t know. Let’s try there.” Graham pointed to the right, about 90 degrees from the direction they had been running.
Damien agreed. “We are far from the trail now. It’s as good of a direction as any at this point.”
The all picked the pace back up to a fast jog. They traveled about a hundred feet before the ground in front of them began to shake, erupting in a mountain of dirt. The ground moved upward like a giant wall. They all fell backwards landing on their backs. Ailey hit the ground and rolled to the side, just in time to avoid being smushed by Damien. The wall of earth sprang upward until is was at least twelve feet tall.
“Where do you think you are going?” The words from the deep gravely voice weighed them down to the ground like anchors.
They all turned around to see the huge form of Cavaness standing a stone’s throw away from them, with his glowing hand aimed at the ground. They all pushed against the ground with their hands and feet, shuffling backwards in an attempt to retreat.
Cavaness kept eye contact with them, bringing both hands up in front of his chest with his palms facing down towards the ground. As if trying to push the air into the forest floor, he pushed his arms straight, and a pulse of energy shot into the dirt. They immediately felt the ground beneath them shake. Another wall of earth burst from the ground in-between Cavaness and where they lay, knocking them all to the ground.
“RUN!” yelled Graham.
They all twisted their bodies around to their stomachs, making their way to their hands and knees in a runner’s stance, then sprang to their feet. In mid-stride, Damien grabbed Ailey by the arm and flung her up and around his back. They sprinted in the opposite direction from the wall of dirt, dodging and weaving through the trees ahead until they came to a long row of thick shrubbery. Not knowing what was on the other side, they sprinted through, tearing pieces of clothing and drawing blood from the pricks and prods of the small branches. The ground on the other side of the shrubs took a steep decline.
