Rogue (Exceptional)

by Petosa, Jess

  Ordinary Ally would have jumped at a chance to dance in a place like this. She would have led the group into the building, bouncing in her step. Exceptional Ally had grown cautious, and slow to trust.

  Max pulled her into the throng of people. Sweaty bodies of girls and boys alike bounced off her sides and she used her free arm to shield her face. The further they moved into the crowd, the more the music pulsed through her. She could feel the others moving along with the beat, and in turn, wanted to move along with them.

  Max put his hands on Ally’s hips and she stiffened.

  “Relax,” he spoke by her head. “I just want to be your friend, Ally.”

  Ally had never tried dancing to music like this before, but as her body swayed back and forth to the hypnotic thump thump thump of club music, she found that she was enjoying herself. Dancing in the settlement had been erratic, and dancing with Luke had been nice, but this was fun. Everyone around her moved to the beat in unison but also in his or her own way. A girl to her right was swinging her hips back and forth quickly, while a boy just behind her pumped his arms in time with the music. Ally peered over at Sabine, who was spinning in circles with Stosh and had her head thrown back in laughter.

  Alexis and Andrea were standing on either side of a boy about their age, moving their hips around him in ways that made Ally's cheeks fill with heat. She was thankful they were most likely already red from the warm temperature of her body. Even though she didn't feel overly cold or hot like the Ordinarys did, the building was stifling and the air felt thick in her lungs.

  "Nice moves," Max mouthed to her.

  She shrugged and swayed back and forth to the beat again, finding that she couldn't help herself. She nodded her head in the direction of Alexis and Andrea. "Is it normal to dance like, well, like that."

  Max glanced over at them and then brought his eyes back to Ally, a small laugh coming from his mouth. "That is nothing compared to some of the girls around here. It makes you uncomfortable, doesn't it?"

  Ally rolled her eyes and turned away from him, not wanting to show him any of the anger she was feeling. She was growing tired of the constant reminder of just how naïve she was about the outside world. She had thought that she had an air of innocence going into the City, but being in the Wilderness was a large eye opener. There weren't as many rules out here, and there was more freedom. She should be basking in it, but the changes made her nervous.

  She felt Max's hand on hers again, and by the softness in his touch, she felt his unease. Good. She hoped he was second-guessing the banter he insisted on using with her, like they were old friends.

  "Your brother is waving us over," he didn't lean near her this time. Had he known she could hear him at a distance all along?

  She moved past him and saw that her brother had moved off of the dance floor and was surrounded by a group of Ordinarys. She recognized the same group from the settlement, the ones she had met on her first night in Champaign. When reached the group, they all smiled and exchanged hellos.

  "Isn't this place amazing, though?" said Mabi. "I mean, it is like the settlement but more fun. They have all these activities for us and we don't have to work every day."

  Stosh and Sabine listened with wide eyes while the others shared stories of all they had seen and done while here. A few of them had taken a ride in a canoe, which was apparently a type of boat and let them float down the creek without getting wet. They used it to catch fish for a meal and even camped out in the woods under fabric roofs called tents. They shared stories of other parties they had been to, and how the boys and girls their ages were exciting and fun.

  Ally was starting to feel uneasy. She wanted to pull Stosh and Sabine away from the group, grab Willow and Cody, and leave right now. Sabine's expression was almost dreamlike as she listened to the others, and Stosh's grin grew wider and wider. They were being sucked into this fantasy world, and they weren't going to want to leave once they had heard enough. She reached forward to grab Stosh's arm but Max met her in the middle and pulled her away from the group, not stopping until they were standing outside of the building.

  "I know what you are doing," he said. His expression was unreadable but Ally could see the tension rolling of him in from his posture. His back and neck muscles were rigid.

  "Okay, what am I doing?"

  Max crossed his arms over his chest. "You're planning on running. You see how much your brother and his girlfriend like it here and you want to take off. What about the talk with my Uncle? What about your ‘We’ll see’?"

  "They are becoming complacent!" Her voice grew louder. "We don't belong here. We are supposed to move south and meet up with the others."

  Max threw his hands up in the air. "Why? Why do you have to keep moving? Plans change. You didn't expect to come upon a town like ours in-between but you have. What are you afraid of?"

  "I'm not afraid," she growled. She could feel anger welling up inside her again. Why couldn't she control her emotions better these days?

  But he continued. "You are afraid you might like it here and that you might want to stay. You want so bad for this plan of yours to work out that you are looking past anything good that comes along."

  "What good? You?" she shouted this time.

  Max clenched his hands into fists by his side. "Me, the others, Champaign. We have a lot to offer here, Ally. You are letting your crazy emotions get in the way."

  Ally took deep breaths and counted to five. "Did you just call me crazy?"

  Max smirked now and Ally wanted so bad to reach over and slap the look off his face. She intertwined her fingers and looked for anything other than Max to focus on. What was wrong with her?

  Max pursed his lips and sighed, apparently battling over which words to say. "You aren't the first," finally left his lips.

  "First what?" she asked, her voice level back to normal.

  "The first Ordinary to change into an Exceptional later in life," he responded.

  She was quiet for a moment. "Who?"

  "I’ve met others," he retorted, "and I can tell you that what you are feeling is normal. Well, normal for the changes you are going through. Let me guess, when you were starting the change, really before you even knew that you were becoming an Exceptional, your emotions were subdued, right? You probably didn't get angry when you should have, sad when you should have, and so on."

  Ally bit back the words that fell to her tongue, immediately thinking of several moments where her emotions had surprised her. There were a few times where she should have been angry with Luke, and she had been, but she had gotten over it quickly. She hadn't pushed the issues or lashed out, she just let it go. There was her mother's death and how she mourned in quiet and without many tears, while her brother shed tears for hours over their loss. Even on the night when she escaped the City, she had trouble mustering up enough fear to back out of their plans, or any guilt for killing the Guards at the wall. That is, until recently.

  Her expression must have told the truth because Max's expression softened, changing to something that almost resembled pity. "Your emotions are suppressed when you first start to change. It is almost the body’s way of fighting off any extreme reactions to the change. Imagine if your emotions had been running on overdrive when you first learned of your abilities? You could have taken out a quarter of the City just on rage."

  Ally closed her eyes. "How do you know so much about this?"

  Max ignored her. "Your emotions are going to try and return to a normal range now, but first they will be out of hand for a few days. Which is happening now. Don't let a lack of control get the better of you, Ally. You need to be thinking clearly when you make decisions."

  "I'm doing just fine!" She was yelling again, and realized she was proving his point, but she couldn't control it. She felt angry at the moment, and the feeling was building. “You’ve known me for what, twenty-four hours?”

  Max ignored the last statement. "How about that boyfriend of yours back in the City? Did he notice
your subdued emotions? You are trying to convince yourself and everyone else how important he was to you..."

  "Is..." Ally interrupted, the word sounded raspy through her heavy breathing. “Is important.”

  Max rolled his eyes. "Fine, how important he is to you. But how do you know what you really felt for him? Your feelings were all a farce, and maybe his were, too. Whatever you feel for him is fake. You don't know what you want yet, and you haven’t had a fair chance to learn."

  A wave of new emotion rushed through Ally, pushing the anger aside. She raised her hand and caught a lone tear with her finger. "Why are you saying these things?"

  Max raised his hand toward her as though he wanted to comfort her, and then let it drop back to his side. "To help you, Ally. The City only cared about you being an Exceptional because of your abilities, not because of whom it makes you. And I... we do. We will."

  The wave of sorrow rushed back out and the anger resurfaced in the form of a boiling pot of water. It bubbled through her center and into her arms. Too late she realized that the bubbling feeling was more than just anger, it was her abilities rising to the surface. With a piercing scream she aimed her hands at a tree behind Max and let loose a torrent of bright, white light. Max raised his hands in defense, following the line of light with his eyes. The large oak tree sizzled and hissed as every inch of it was engulfed in flames. In one moment the tree was a fiery beacon, reaching toward the night sky, and the next it was sinking to the ground in a giant pile of ash.

  Ally lowered her hands to her side, making a gulping sound and she tried to calm her breathing. She met Max's eyes and was met with a look mixed with awe and fear.

  "That's what you wanted, wasn't it? To elicit a response and prove some sort of point?" She glared up at him.

  A crowd was starting to gather outside the building now, and their bodies formed a misshapen circle around Ally and Max. None of the Ordinarys came within twenty yards of her.

  “Ally…” She could see the regret in Max’s eyes, and hear it in his voice. He reached a hand toward her.

  Ally first felt the tears start running down her cheeks and then watched as they slipped onto the dirt ground beneath her. She caught Stosh's gaze in the crowd and shook her head. Ally took off at a run, which was more like a dead sprint to an Ordinary, and leaped over the grouping of Ordinarys directly in front of her. They all ducked and a girl let out shrill screams as she soared overhead. As soon as her feet hit the ground she picked up her speed, almost certainly appearing like more of a blur to the others at this point.

  Ally traveled through the woods quickly, making sure to keep southeast and stay away from the Guard outpost. Right now she was fighting the urge to rush back to the City, up and over the wall, and into Luke's arms, which she wasn't sure would even offer a welcoming embrace. She stopped when she came to a wide creek, mostly like the same one in which she had met Max. She cupped her hands together and scooped the cool, fresh water into her mouth, and then splashed some across her face. Once she felt calm enough she would go back into the town and confront Max. Then she would gather her friends and they would discuss what to do further. If they didn't want to leave, she wasn't going to force them, but she couldn't stick around much longer. It was obvious she didn't belong. After the stunt with the tree, she doubted any of the townspeople would trust her anyway. Word about the incident would spread quickly.

  It was as she was standing to stretch her back that she first heard the footsteps. Her senses told her the person was about a half-mile away, but he or she was headed in her direction. During her time in the Wilderness she had learned to discern human versus animal movement, and this sounded distinctly human. The steps sounded as though the human was moving somewhat quickly, but every now and then there was a break in the movement. Maybe the traveler was tripping over tree roots. An Ordinary wouldn't be able to see very well in the night, even if the almost full moon bathed the forest in a white light.

  Ally cut a path through the trees, bent on finding out who was traveling this time of night. He or she might be injured and in need of help, but she put her defenses up just in case. She moved silently through the brush, using her training from the City to keep quiet. She was amazed at how agile she had become in the past several weeks. When she came within a hundred yards of the traveler, the footsteps ceased. Had she been noticed? Were they taking a break? She stood absolutely still and closed her eyes, using her senses to check her surroundings. The footsteps were definitely gone, but there was a new scent in the air. It wasn't pleasant at all and for a moment Ally wondered if maybe the traveler had killed an animal. No, this smelled more like rot, as though the animal had been gone for days.

  The back of Ally's neck felt prickly and a sudden realization hit her.

  Rogues.

  CHAPTER TWELVE

  Her eyes shot up and she swallowed a scream as she looked directly into a pair of glowing, yellow eyes. The Rogue stood a foot from her, its head cocked to the side as if observing her. He was far into the transformation, and Ally hoped he had intelligence, like the Rogue Luke had mentioned.

  She took a quick breath before speaking. "Hello?"

  The Rogue let out a low growl before opening its mouth wide and letting out an inhuman roar. Its sharp teeth, more like fangs, gleamed in the moonlight and the stench of rotting breath hit Ally's nose. She leaped into the air just as the Rogue dove at her and grabbed onto a low branch of the tree above them. She swung herself onto the branch and began to climb. The Rogue let out another roar, and it was with slight horror that Ally realized it might be calling more of its own kind to its aid. She had to stop it.

  She stopped four branches up and looked down at the Rogue. It was climbing up behind her, with the same ease she felt when it came to scaling trees. It peered up at her and Ally swore she saw a smirk pull up at the corner of what used to be its lips. When it reached the third branch she flipped backward around the branch and used the momentum to carry her feet right into the Rogue’s head. With a startled cry the Rogue flew backward and out of the tree, landing with a thump on the ground. Ally leaped out of the tree behind it and landed at what she decided was a safe distance away. The Rogue lay motionless on the ground, its chest rising just slightly before going back down. The movement stopped. It couldn’t be that easy.

  She took a few cautious steps forward and immediately regretted her decision. The Rogue's sunken eyes popped open and it lunged for Ally’s feet, grabbing a hold of her ankles and pulling roughly. Her head hit the ground with a cracking sound and her vision blurred for several seconds. The Rogue sprang on top of her and leaned over her, a continuous rumbling sound emitting from its throat. A thick slime dripped down its fangs and onto her face, leaving a tingling trail of pain on her cheek as it dripped down.

  The large lump cutting into Ally's pocket reminded her of the small pack she had grabbed just before they left for the club. Sabine had told her to leave it behind but Ally wasn't that trusting of the town just yet, or its safety. She wanted to be prepared if they had to make a quick getaway. She didn't know why she felt as if the vaccine was crucial to survival in the Wilderness, but at that moment, it was all she had. Ally slipped her hand into her pocket and took hold of one of the syringes. She had filled several of them and capped them a few nights ago, after an intense feeling that she needed to. She carefully used her thumb to uncap one of the needles, keeping her eyes on the Rogue. It growled again and leaned toward her, its mouth opening quickly. In one quick motion she brought her hand up and stabbed it in the side of the neck.

  The Rogue let out a high-pitched cry and sat up, clawing at the spot where the syringe still stuck out of its neck. It grabbed a hold of the end and pulled it out, tossing it into the woods. The Rogue raised a clawed hand toward her and then fainted to the right, its dead weight hitting the ground just beside her.

  As Ally sat up and leaned over his body, a new thought entered her mind.

  If the vaccine worked to suppress the Exceptional gene in Ordin
arys it might do the same for Rogues.

  She might have just found a cure, and a way to save the City that was on the brink of war.

  Ally was suddenly aware of the sound of multiple footsteps racing toward her and the Rogue. Before she had time to think or move, bodies burst into the space around her. Max held a gun in ready position, Heath held a large light of some sort and a gun, Stosh raced up behind them holding a light, and two men she didn't recognized appeared as well. Heath's gaze turned murderous as he took in the Rogue. He raised his gun and cocked it back.

  "No!" Ally yelled out, placing her body over the Rogue.

  "Are you insane, Ally?" Max growled. "It could kill us."

  "I don't care," she responded. "I want to see what happens to it. I want to see what it remembers when it wakes up."

  "What are you talking about?" Heath lowered his gun just slightly.

  "I stabbed him with a vaccine, right in the neck. That is how I got him to stop." She looked down at the Rogue and then up at the others, mainly Heath. "What if it heals him? We would have a cure. We could stop the Rogues.”

  Heath's gun dropped so quickly that Ally thought he had let go of it all together, but it just swung by his side.

  "Whoa," was the first word spoken after several quiet minutes and it came from Stosh's mouth.

  “What vaccine?” Max asked.

  Their voices seemed to awake something in the others because Heath ordered the two nameless men to pick up the Rogues body and get it back to the town. Max dropped to Ally's side and gazed over her body.

  "Are you hurt?" he asked. “Ally, I’m so sorry… about earlier…”

  “Save it, Max.” She shook her head. "The Rogue surprised me but I outsmarted it. I think for a moment I surprised it, too. It was smart though, and it almost had me. If I hadn't had the vaccine in my pocket, and hadn’t thought to use it, I would probably be dead right now."