I didn't know the last time I had felt alive.
The first thing I remember is dust. Thick enough
to taste, thin enough to sear my lungs. The smell of oil and soot attacked my
nostrils. I crouched in the corner of the abandoned factory, listening to the
footsteps echo through the metal rafters.
They're close.
Too close.
I gripped my knees tightly forcing myself not to
make a sound. I tried to slow down my breathing, but fear has its own rhythm.
Fear, like any other emotion, can be sensed. Fear turns into panic. Panic makes
noise. Noise gets you found. 5 Star loves people who get found.
A sudden crash got everyone's attention. Heads
whip towards the sound. A little girl couldn't have been more than 7 or 8 years
old screamed in fear at the sight of the men walking towards her hiding spot.
The leader of the squad slowly walked up to the girl; each step felt like
scissors clipping the wings of hope. "Well, well, look at what we have here.
More livestock to feed to the wolves." The child voice cried out, at least
that's what I think she does but no sound can be heard. Just a small whimper akin
to that of an animal.
"Take her away," The same man barked orders at his
men while turning away seemingly losing interest in the girl. I tried to speak
desperately wanting to try do something, anything but no words come out.
Not again I
think to myself Please not again.
In my panic I gripped my knees more tightly. I
hear the leaders voice cut through the darkness once more. "She's not the one
we are looking for … Fan out the mute kid has got to be in here somewhere".
Great they know I'm in here. Today isn't the
day I thought I'd die. I pushed my back
against the cold concrete of the building its grainy texture rubbing against my
skin. A sheet of rusted metal worn away by the harsh environment of the
Wastegrounds balanced high in the rafter starts to tilt. For a brief second, I
thought I was dreaming. That I had imagined the movement. Another wobble. My
chest tightens. The whole piece comes crashing down from the roof falling
straight towards me.
Move…
MOVE!
My body reacted before my mind had a chance to
think. My throat seized up making it hard to breathe. Before it hits me, I let
go – mentally, physical to the idea of being solid. I felt the entropy leave my
arm like my breath I didn't know I was holding. My arm blurs like a glitch in
reality. One second, it's there and the next gone. Then the pain hit. Searing,
unfathomable pain. I could barely contain myself from crying out. The sheet
passed through where my arm should be crashing onto the floor next to me.
I instantly tried to bring back my arm. Come
on, Come on. I tried to focus just like I had practiced. I closed my eyes
imagining the sensation of the flowing entropy back into my arm. I opened my
eyes. My arm had returned however the skin felt wrong thinner, numb. As if some
part of it had never returned or it had come back with someone else's skin.
"There!" A man yells in my direction. Three men
started to rush towards me like hunting dogs who had escaped their chains and
found their next victim. I jumped up without thinking and started to bolt
towards the exit. "Don't bother running kid, we just wanna talk," one of the
men gleefully shouted.
I kept running however before I could take any
more steps, I felt the ground shift beneath my feet. His Ability? I
thought to myself as I came crashing down to the ground my momentum halted. I
felt the warm, sticky blood running down my face.
"What did he tell you kid. Don't bother running.
We need you alive anyway." I recognised that voice as the leaders. I turned to
face the direction the voice was coming from. What I saw was a man, probably in
his mid-twenties with a lean muscular build. He had short, dark, unkempt hair
with eye narrow like a cat.
"Bind him. We'll put him with the next shipment to
head out." The 3 men started to walk towards me, I tried to stand up and run.
The ground shifted again. I didn't even make it onto my feet before the ground
connected with my face. I had started to accept my fate.
Please I don't want to go. I beg of you. Please
spare me. Why me. Please God why me. All
these thoughts swirled around in my head but I couldn't say a word. All I could
do I stare into the abyss that were their hearts and pray to God for a miracle.
A flash of blue appeared out of nowhere before the
men could get to me. The air around me cooled becoming denser. I closed my
eyes. When I opened them again a second later two of the men were out cold on
the floor with the third gasping for air as an unknown new man had his hands
around their neck. I watched in awe as he choked out the air of the third man.
He let go of his limp body sending him crashing to the floor.
"Well ..ah..this just became interesting" said the
leader surprisingly unaffected by fact his colleagues had been left like
lifeless corpses on the floor. "What's good Ghost, It's so nice of you to show
up. How's life, How's Lysic." The leader looked almost ecstatic as he spoke, as
if he had been waiting for something or someone to grasp his interest.
Ghost…Lysic.. Who are these people.
"Shut up" the man who had appeared in front of me
retorted with no emotion. I finally got a good look at the person who had saved
me. A man wearing a black trench coat and a wide brimmed black hat with a gold
trim. He wore a shirt with black tie and long black trousers. He held a cane in
his left hand. He's dressed like he's a runway model going to a funeral.
"Fine if you don't want to use your words let's
talk with our fists" the leader lunged at Ghost clearly the space between them
in half a second. Ghost instantly disappeared in a flash of blue light
appearing on the other side of the warehouse "I always hated that ability of
yours you know" the leader sneered.
I felt a change in the air. The smell of something
burning. I looked in fear at the leader. "So, you finally noticed" he jeered at
me. Something started to appear around his body. A blue aura. His ability.
The aura started to take shape.
Wait is that…
Electricity. Coating and entering his entire body.
It flowed like a circuit making the air around us burn up. In creating this
circuit, it seems like his body became supercharged. I didn't know what this
meant but knew that I was in danger.
Ghost looked at me and sighed. A disappointed
almost condescending sigh. Without a moment's notice another flash of blue
appeared where Ghost and previously been standing. The leader lunged not where
Ghost was standing but tried to predict where he would go.
So, he lunged at me. He was faster than before. I
had no time to react. My throat seized up again.
Another blue light appeared in front of me. Ghost
stood in front of me having parried the strike with his cane. The leader
groaned in annoyance jumping back. Moving at a breakneck pace he ran straight
at Ghost throwing a right hook. Again? But Ghost would just block like the
first time.
I was naïve to think this. The leader stopped his
punch just before Ghost went to block, dashing through his guard to his blind
spot. Pivoting off his right foot he spun to kick However Ghost didn't seem
surprised, instead a small smile appeared on his face. He ducked the kick while
thrusting his cane into the leader's abdomen. Winded the leader stumbled back.
Ghost looked at me with a look of disgust and
pity, sorry for my existence but annoyed by it all the same. Without saying
anything he took a hold of me. Another flash of blue. I heard the cry of the
leader become distant as we teleported out of the warehouse.
The last thing I remembered was the logo of some
kind of shop. A black bull with 3 horns and a white moustache.
Where am I….
I collapsed and blacked out.