“No!”
This was it. Once again, the colonel had pushed all the right buttons. The sixteen-year-old kid who had respected authority all his life had all but vanquished. One might say that his innocence had disappeared back inside that hangar when he first defied the colonel. Creed stood there on the walkway of his college and saw red, while the colonel’s men caught up with Genesis. One soldier grabbed her arm and began tugging her back. In a sudden movement, Creed had sprung from the ground and flew over towards the responsible soldiers. Without further hesitation, Creed slammed into one of the soldiers which sent him sailing a few yards into the distance before grabbing another one by his arm. The young officer looked up at Creed in intense horror right before he was flung towards the helicopter, his body being cut into pieces as it met the fast swinging blades. Col. Posey’s mood didn’t change much as he watched on. The rest of the platoon began pulling out their guns. Creed grabbed onto Genesis tightly and paused while staring into her eyes.
“Run.”
“I’m not leaving without you.”
“I’ll be fine. I promise.”
“They’re going to take you away again.”
“They’re not going to take me anywhere. But you have to go.”
Genesis’ eyes filled with tears.
“Genesis, go now.”
Creed grabbed onto her and gave her a quick kiss. If just for a moment, the world behind them along with Genesis’ unease disappeared. The energy between them right then could’ve easily capsized a submarine. This was the same powerful kiss they first shared on that fateful day by their meet up spot.
“Now you must go, I’m begging you.”
As soon as their lips let go, Creed once again ordered her to go.
“I love you.”
Genesis ran off, heading towards the same dormitory that Creed had descended from. Every single soldier out there now had their gun aimed straight at him. Creed looked up at the colonel staring back at him. The colonel quickly muttered something into his headphones. In the same time it took a single bullet to reach the young college student, Creed was already lifting one of the Humvee’s off the ground and thrusting it violently towards the soldiers. He quickly zipped over to the next Humvee and completely eviscerated the next group of soldiers by dropping the vehicle right on top of them. A red glow had begun to encompass Creed as more bullets came whizzing by him. It was the same glow that originated back at the High School. Every single bullet that came close to him would turn to ash while Creed was now lifting the third and final Humvee into the air. He paused as he clenched onto the vehicle and looked up at the colonel, who was now anxiously yelling into his headphones. Creed leaned backwards before lunging the two-ton vehicle towards the helicopter. The pilot was able to narrowly avoid the airborne Humvee, but before Posey could reposition the chopper, Creed had already jumped on board. With one quick motion, Creed grabbed one of the rotor blades from the inside and started pulling it downwards. He successfully ripped away the entire rotor mast and the helicopter began falling towards the ground. Just before the helicopter crashed, Creed flew away from the assured destruction. He watched as the vehicle landed violently and broke off into pieces.
After a few minutes, the dust eventually settled, and Creed noticed that the cockpit was mostly salvaged. Col. Posey sat there helplessly as the young man approached him. Creed noticed the colonel happened to have sustained a few knocks to the head and was bleeding down the right side of his head, and out his ear. A few of the remaining soldiers that survived the attack, ran off in the opposite direction and away from the crash site. Creed eventually relaxed his fists and soon the red glow had completely disappeared. By the time he turned back towards the school building, he noticed Genesis was already running back towards him.
“Creed.” Col. Posey was struggling to call out from inside the helicopter. Genesis had finally caught up to him and hugged him tightly. They both looked on as the colonel attempted to move his legs. “Please…” he muttered.
“Don’t walk away from this son. You could help us.”
“Oh yeah, like before?”
The colonel began coughing and wheezing in pain as he tried to plead with Creed.
“I promise you, it will be nothing like the last time.”
“Bullshit.”
“Son, you truly are something special. Why are you the only one that can’t see that? This diagnosis was truly a blessing, exceeding anyone’s imagination. You stand there equipped with these extraordinary gifts, and you just simply wish to walk away? You’re just choosing to throw it all away when others would die to have what you have?”
“You’re wrong though? You say that others would die to have these abilities, but that’s a fantasy. What would you know about what this must be like for me? Nothing. This is real life Colonel, I’m real life. I chose to hide my gifts for obvious reasons. And look what happened to me when it was revealed. Do you honestly believe that others would be willing to go through what you put me through? And look around and open your eyes, who’s the villain in this comic book story?”
The colonel crushingly sighed, he was both physically and mentally defeated. Amongst the rubble, he had finally got his right arm moving, but couldn’t manage to get anything else on his body to cooperate.
“Look, whatever you might think, you’ll never be able to outrun this. You can get rid of me, but there will be others. You can count on that. People will talk, and others will find out. And they will be no different from me. So, I might be the villain, but there will be more.”
“Then we’ll leave.”
“Where?”
“We’ll leave the States.”
“You’re an educated boy Creed, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you that villains aren’t limited to just the states.”
“Well nobody has to know. We’ll make a fresh start wherever we go.”
While they talked, a barrage of sirens could be heard wailing through the sky. The couple looked up and noticed a few tiny dots slowly becoming larger.
“God will this ever end?” Genesis cried out.
Within seconds after they noticed the incoming planes, there were scattered explosions going off one by one in the distance. Black clouds were starting to form all throughout the sky. Genesis was becoming panicked as the planes approached the college.
“Come on, we have to go Creed.”
“Well where are we going to go? You heard the colonel, they’ll just keep coming until they find us.”
“What are you suggesting?”
“Flying far away.”
“What?”
“Fly until we’re far away from here, far from this war.”
“How far? And what about our folks? What about my brother, and Kushala? We can’t just leave them.”
“I don’t know, I don’t have all the answers just yet. But you know they’d all want us safe and away from all of this madness.”
“So, you just want to leave?”
“You trust me, right?”
“Yes.”
Genesis and Creed stood there staring at each other while multiple explosions were going off around them. From where they stood it appeared the entire world was on fire and quickly going to hell.
“Creed.” The colonel shouted. “Don’t do this. Don’t leave me here. I promise you, get me out of here and we can work together, this time you call the shots.”
Creed stood there watching the explosions all around, ignoring the colonel’s attempt at one last plea. He then looked down at Genesis who was now smiling peacefully. She wrapped her arm around him as he slowly began lifting off the ground. This was it; they had made up their minds. Of course, Creed would be lying if he said he didn’t at least think about the colonel’s request. Not about working together with him, but about the possibility of being a hero and saving the day for everyone. But after everything, Creed felt like mankind had to pay for their own transgressions. What was there to save anyway? People were cruel. He figured even after this
war ended, there would be more to come. As long as men had pride and greed racing through their blood, they would never ultimately see eye to eye. Creed transitioned his thoughts to his parents, as well as Genesis’ family. The guilt of leaving everyone behind had entered his mind. Creed knew his family would ultimately understand running away and letting the world burn, but he wished he could at least say goodbye. As Creed lifted further into the sky and watched the ensuing chaos, the very last thought on his mind before flying away was Genesis. No matter what was to happen from here on out, he knew that nothing else in this world mattered unless she was by his side. That was only thing he was sure of. As his eyes locked on to hers he became absolutely certain that wherever they went, his home would always be right there in her eyes. With that conviction, Creed and Genesis flew off into the unknown with inspiriting smiles, and warm reassuring winds upon their face.
About the Author:
Philip Mathis was born in the harsh winters of Lewiston, Maine in 1983. At a very early age Philip developed a prodigious affinity for creative writing and was incessantly encouraged to write original works by multiple teachers growing up. Beginning in 1999, Philip began authoring innumerable works of poetry as well as three screenplays. Goodbye Sky Harbor is Philip’s freshman work as a novelist in his attempts to further branch out into the spacious writing spectrum. His influences include Stephen King, Jack Kerouac, William Faulkner and Marly Swick. Philip currently lives in San Antonio with his wife and four kids.
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