by J. S. Carter
“You’re too weak.”
The necklaced burned white hot and threatened to melt its way towards the center of my heart, but I put it aside. I redirected the pain onto everything in front of me. I could feel each board and nail in the room vibrate with increasing intensity, every square inch of material buzzing with the thoughts of movement. The rumbling stopped abruptly and I took it all in. I mimicked the words. I had already known what it should feel like. I barred my teeth and struggled to hold on to it all as blood pierced my vision.
Let me show you.
I pushed forward and the entire front half of the building tore itself away from me in an instant, every single piece of woodwork and stone flying past my body in a wrecking blur. I pushed Juno away and stabbed her like a spear with the invisible force, her body tumbling end over end within the cloud of destruction.
I fell to my hands and knees in exhaustion. Every limb felt completely hollow and brittle, devoid of all energy. My chest felt like it was about to cave in, but I strained to look up and take in the sudden destruction in disbelief. Everything that had been on the far side and above the foundation of the building had been strewn about into an unrecognizable mess a few meters out into the field. It was like a directional bomb had gone off, just barely sparing Chris from the mayhem. It shouldn’t have been possible, but I had done it. I had done it because the witch had shown me how.
Chris forced air into his lungs and coughed out my name. He managed to stand up and reach out for me, but I immediately pulled back and tried to get some distance. I stared at the cuts on his face as he struggled to control his breathing. Now he knew what I was. Now he knew why I had always ran.
“Tess, wait—” He tried to grab my arm and I shoved him away. I never should have let it go.
“Get the fuck away from me.” I took a step past him and fell onto the dirt, completely missing the flooring that had used to be there just a few seconds earlier. I scrambled to get back up and run away, just barely making it a few meters until he bear hugged me from behind and pinned my arms against my sides.
“Stop! Just wait!” He brought me off the ground and I swung my legs, kicking the air as hard as I could.
“Get the fuck off of me!”
My resistance slowly melted away as the pile of rubble in front of us began to move, the small pieces rolling down first as a weight began to shift underneath. My mind struggled to piece the sight together until it hit me.
She wasn't dead.
Chris was still the first to react, his threat assessment on overdrive. “Tess, she’s too fast. We won't make it.” He let go and I turned to see his familiar face, but it was different. He couldn’t have been the same after what he had just seen me do. “I need your help.”
I tried to pull away, but he grabbed on again and held on tight. I shook my head. “I can't...” I could feel things that he could only dream about, but I didn't know enough. I couldn't control it. I couldn't help. “I don't know how.”
He didn't waste any time. He pulled me along and back into what was left of the house. He swiped my pistol off the floor and then led me down into the wine cellar, only to look around at the barrels around us. I didn't understand how getting trapped was supposed to help us.
“What?”
He put a finger to his lips before pointing me into the corner and letting me know. I scrambled to do as he instructed when Juno hit the floorboards above us, sending dust down and forcing me to shield my eyes. I could hear her foots steps bleed into the kitchen and I begged my hands to move quicker. I threw my head under my arms as the door above us suddenly splintered into pieces and she dropped down.
Chris brought his pistol up only to have it swiped away from him in the blink of an eye. He quickly drew his sword and swung it at her face, the blade whistling as it cut through the air. She effortlessly blocked it with both of her forearms and stopped it halfway through her limbs.
He pried the sword loose and stabbed her in the chest, pushing her back until the length of the blade pierced a wooden barrel. The flammable liquid gushed out and pulled around their feet while he kept her pinned to the side. “NOW!”
I dragged my lit lighter towards a blanket crammed into a bottle of alcohol and it immediately caught the flame, but Juno hissed. She burrowed a claw up into Chris's shoulder and brought him to his knees, though he managed to hold on. He continued to keep her still as another claw pierced his abdomen and he cried out in agony.
I could feel my hand start to burn, the slowly detonating fire bomb primed to go, but I couldn't do it. Not to Chris. He screamed as Juno twisted her hands and finally kicked him away and out into the clear. She grabbed the handle sticking out of her body just as I threw the flaming molotov at the woodwork and set her ablaze.
She started crying out in pain, a sound so defibrillating that I had to put a hand in front of my face just to see where I was going. The flames danced over her skin, warping it into a darker shade than black anywhere the heat began to lick her flesh.
I grabbed Chris and pulled him out of the cellar, up into the kitchen and out into the open living room when we tripped over a secondary explosion that sent flames shooting up from in-between the cracks in the floorboards. My muscles screamed in agony as I strained to pull him off the ground and out of the house. We fell to the ground a few meters from the perimeter as the whole structure began to go up in flames.
I readjusted my grip on his arm and kept pulling. We were both out of breath, but I refused to stop. I barely made it a few more meters from the burning building when he suddenly dropped again and I gave in to follow suit.
I rolled him over onto his back and looked at the damage. Two splinters of wood as big as my forearm had buried themselves into the side of his leg, one of them just missing his ankle. Both of the tips were still smoldering.
“Chris…” I could feel my eyes start to water from the smoke as I hovered my fingers above the shrapnel in his flesh. I didn’t know what to do. Anything I could think of bounced back with a deadly repercussion. He would bleed out if I tried to pull on anything, and jagged, torn sections of his body hung open as blood surrounded the open wounds on his shoulder and side. He was dying right in front of me. He grabbed my hands before I could start to apply some pressure.
“Go.”
I stared at him in disbelief, but he cut me off before I could even argue.
“I can still slow her down.”
I glanced back over at the burning building. A tower of pitch black smoke billowed out over us and into the pristine blue sky. She had to have been dead. There was no way she could have survived that.
“No.” I returned to the strain on his face. The pain overrode everything. “You're coming with me.”
I stood up and peered at the horizon before my gaze finally caught what I was looking for, the blurred silhouette of Arrino just a few miles away. I would never be able to drag him that far. I wiped the blood that started to sting my eyes again and slung the bolt action rifle from my back. I aimed at the town and took two shots in its general direction, the sound of the larger caliber rounds echoing off into the distance.
“What are you doing?”
I threw the gun to the side and took off my shirt and got to work on ripping it into strips while in my tank top. “I’m getting help.” I took a length of the cloth and brought it over his shoulder until he pushed me off again, finally realizing.
“You can’t…”
I torqued his hand back down and he winced at the pain. “Try and fucking stop me.” I wrapped a piece of clothing around his shoulder and tied a knot over the gaping wound, tightening it until he screamed out in pain. Small beads of sweat ran down his face and he tried to catch a breath as I started on his leg.
“They’re gonna take you.”
“I don’t care.” I wrapped another piece around his waist, then started on his thigh, just above the first piece of shrapnel and held it there while I reached into my boot for the other half of my lock pick. I stuck the broke
n toothbrush underneath the makeshift bandage and turned it, tightening the cloth and applying pressure to his leg. The last strip was tied around that to keep it from moving. The improvised tourniquet wouldn’t last long, but it would only need to restrict the blood flow to his limb long enough for me to get him back alive.
“You’re fucking stubborn.” He winced as I checked both bandages and tightened them.
“Guess who taught me?” I swung the bolt action rifle over my back again and tried pulling Chris back up. I made him lean on my good shoulder and we somehow managed to start walking again.
“I didn't know...”
I strained to look over at him as his face contorted with every step on the ground. My thoughts flashed backed to Juno’s teeth and my mind automatically animated them biting into a piece of flesh. I had flung her body into the air and had torn a house in half without even lifting a single finger. I didn’t understand exactly how, but I didn’t have to. I didn't even want to. Chris was still alive. That was all that mattered at the moment.
“I’m sorry.” He pushed me off and flashed a pocket knife in front of me. I tried to take a step closer but he prodded the air in front of my face. He wasn’t kidding.
“What the fuck are you doing?”
He hesitantly kept the knife in between us. “You need to leave me here. You need to go before they find us and they take you back. You need to get as far away from this place as you can. Don’t you get it? They think you're...” He drained his own words and it pissed me off.
“What?”
Just say it. A Paranormal? A goddamn Sed?
He shook his head. “They're looking for you.”
I watched the sun dance across the blade's edge as it shook and kept us apart. No, I didn’t understand, but clearly he didn’t either. “I’m not leaving you.” I took a step forward and he swung at me again. I caught his wrist, bending it back and forcing him to drop the knife on the ground as I stuck my face into his. “You’re a moron.” Why did he always have to fight? I pushed him away and swung the bolt action rifle into my arms again.
“They’re gonna hurt you.”
“I don’t care.”
Let them.
I was sick and tired of all the bullshit thrown in my direction. I was sick and tired of all the death and violence and struggling to survive. If they wanted to hurt me, then go for it. I’d survive the torture and show them what it was worth. I’d show them who I really was and then they would be forced to listen. They would learn to be afraid.
I fired off another two rounds in quick succession towards Arrino and looked back at the smoke behind us. Anybody that heard the gunfire was bound to turn and see the smoldering wreckage from miles away. So why wasn’t anyone coming for us? I pulled Chris back up and forced him to keep marching with me.
It didn't last long until he finally dropped down again.
I turned him over. His breathing was shallow. His eyes looked glazed over and he had trouble keeping me in focus. “Chris. Hey, come on...” I slapped his face only to get the same response.
I got back up and started pulling him across the ground. Everything hurt. Everything burned at the effort. He was too heavy for me, but I wasn't going to give up. Not with Chris. I wouldn't let it happen.
I looked back and finally noticed a blurred shape growing more distinct as it flew closer across the ground. I peered through the scope on my rifle to see two pickup trucks speeding towards us, clouds of dirt dragging behind them like coattails. There was no turning back anymore. I stood next to Chris with my gun at the ready as the two cars split off and surrounded us before stopping.
Four screaming men armed with rifles jumped out of each truck and threatened to shoot us. I held my hands up and was quickly disarmed and shoved down. A knee pressed itself into the small spot of my back while a hand kept my cheek against the dirt.
“Please!” I could see my heavy breathing kick up a cloud in front of my face. “He needs help! He’s hurt.” I craned my neck just in time to see Chris as a boot stomped right in front of my nose before making its way over to him. I instantly recognized who it belonged to.
“Well,” said Kyle. “Would you look at this...” The men surrounding Chris brought him up to his knees. “Let him go.” They did as ordered, and Kyle stopped just in front and looked at the burning building off in the distance before coming back down. “It looks to me like you’ve had more than enough time to think it over.”
I struggled to understand. What the hell was he talking about? Why wasn't he helping him?
“So what's it gonna be?”
Chris simply wavered in the air for a moment. I didn't think he even knew what was going on, but he eventually answered, the word precise and unmistakable. “No.”
Kyle nodded. He seemed to mull it over before casually pulling out a pistol and pressed it down against Chris' forehead. “Suit yourself.”
He pulled the trigger.
Secrets
I screamed.
Chris' body heaved inward and fell over onto its side, motionless. His eyes stared away as the blood began to trickle down, but there was no movement. His body was kept still. He wouldn't move. All I wanted was to see him move.
I yelled and shook as hard as I could while someone kept me down and taped my hands together behind my back. I watched, my vision already beginning to blur, as a pair of men grabbed his lifeless body before stopping at Kyle’s command.
The insults never made it past my broken nerves. My mouth hung open and everything came down over my face. I couldn't believe it. I couldn't understand how it had all been taken away so quickly. I let myself go. I was paralyzed. I barely noticed as someone rolled me over and slapped a piece of tape over my mouth before dragging and loading me onto the back of a truck.
I could hear the doors slam shut and the engine turn over and we started to move. The endless blue sky stared back in front of me, the rush of air blowing my hair over my face and stifling the salt that stung against all the wounds that fought against my pores. I lost myself in the vast expanse. The emptiness washed over while my body tumbled with every bounce of the car. The ground blurred past on either side faster than I could have ever gone on my own, the whole time the sky there as if I was nothing.
The view was abruptly blotted out by a bag that was thrown over my head, shoving me into utter darkness. I waited, completely helpless, until my body moved at the familiar sound of the brakes and I was picked up by the arms and dragged out of the car. I heard shouting as I was led across concrete, and then the sudden absence of human voices turned into footsteps as I was pushed into a building and led into another room. I was shoved into a chair and handcuffed to something metal. I tried testing the bands around my wrists.
“Don't.”
I froze at the word, which was quickly followed by the sound of a handgun being cocked and primed to fire right behind my head. I didn't move anymore. I could hear a door close and I tensed my arms, but I didn't dare stretch anything past a few inches, the constant threat of a bullet flying through the back of my skull at any time always on my mind. Whoever had spoken could have left, or there could have been more than one person in the room with me. It didn't matter. It had worked. I couldn’t see. I couldn’t scream for help. I could only replay the same scene in my mind again and again as I paced out the torture and waited for it to end.
It had to have been hours by the time the door opened again and someone saved me from my agony. The handcuffs were taken off my wrists and the bag was pulled from my head. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust. By the time they did, I finally realized I had been sitting in a classroom and the sun was already beginning to set again. The last rays of light fell through the windows and threw everything into an orange hue. I had been alone for the whole day.
Alone.
Alone because Chris was dead.
I looked up to see Ryan as he tore the tape off my mouth before walking back to the blackboard. It was just the two of us and it had been a while since we
had been alone together. He still limped with every movement, but the swelling around his face had long died down to only a few scars that littered the area above his neck. I waited in an uncomfortable silence as he paced around the teacher’s desk at the front of the room, ultimately deciding to stop there and stare at me for a moment before skipping the formalities.
“Do you have any idea how much bullshit you’ve caused us?”
I didn’t bother answering. I didn't see the point of it all. I had given myself up to help Chris, but nothing had worked out the way it had supposed to. Even with all the questions that were swimming around in my head, there wasn’t any reason for me to go along with the demands anymore.
Ryan didn't care. He walked over to the door again and swung it open, ushering somebody else inside. “Bring him in.”
A pair of guards brought in another man with a bag on top of his head and sat him down in the seat next to mine.
Ryan dragged his chair over so that we'd be facing each other. He pulled the bag off and my stomach dropped to see Jeremy stare back with a piece of tape over his mouth, his eyes sunken and his cheek bones more pronounced from lack of food along with a stream of faded bruises.
Jeremy glanced around before his eyes settled on mine, and they suddenly changed to grow somber. Who looked worse between the two of us?
Ryan stood just to our side. “We know his friends have been planning on making a run for it.” He put a hand on Jeremy’s head and pushed it to the side, making him glare back in silence. “Soon, if I’m not mistaken.”
I watched Jeremy's eyes again as they fell back onto me. I knew he wanted to ask what had happened, if I was okay, why my face had been cut open and covered in blood, but I couldn't take it anymore. I couldn’t have even guessed what he had gone through while I was gone. It finally made me give in.
“What do you want?” I hadn't said anything all day. The words were harsh and dry.
“There’s something out there looking for you and it’s not human.”
Juno.
