Infamous • A Force of Nature
Chapter I
Erika seizes the opportunity swiftly rushing in & taking possession of the ball from the fallen opposing player scrabbling to get back on her feet. Erika put herself between the ball & her team's goal, 'what's the deal' she thought glancing down at the girl 'that's the fifth opponent to slip today'. This is a playoff match, had the other team not come prepared to play or was her side having a stroke of extremely good luck, but the thought quickly faded her concentration snapping back to field. She took off running full speed away from her goalkeeper, a few yards up field a defender stood securely awaiting her opportunity to strip the ball away.
With nearly flawless ball control Erika spun clockwise avoiding the defender & continuing her path to the cheer & applause of her team's adoring home crowd. She was on point today not missing a single step & was the clear reason her team was ahead. Even though the game was a third of the way through she didn't feel exhausted at all. The crisp steady breeze kept her cool & collected, the warm sunlight against her brown skin helped fuel her winning determination. She'd always been a great athlete & today seemed to be in particularly good condition with a high competitive spirit.
As she crossed mid field she could see an opposing jersey rapidly closing in behind her, glancing back she hoped that her team's good fortune would strike again & knock over this competitor. Instantly as the idea entered her mind it was like she could feel the turf underneath her challenger's feet twitch, her eyes widened at the sight of the chasing girl tumbling to the ground. A small vine had sprung from the soil & snagged the girl's cleats. Erika's speed drastically reduced "what the hell" she whispered to herself barely moving her mouth eyes lock on the fallen athlete as if in a trance.
"Erika!" One of her unguarded teammates firmly shouted out flailing her arms asking for the ball, the sound of her name being called attracted Erika's attention breaking her gaze on the downed girl. She gave the ball a solid kick in the direction of her ally passing it on, as the ball sped away from her Erika's focus turned back to the now risen opponent. She watched motionlessly as the girl in the number four jersey hurried to get back into the game 'I did that, but how' she ponder rewinding the game in her mind searching for an explanation. Flashing back to the other players who'd tripped up earlier every single one of them went down at the most beneficial time for her.
Fear gripped her in this mental review, fear of the unknown, the uncertain, her heart begin to beat faster as she attempted to sort out her thoughts. 'But how? What exactly was that? What did I do? Was it really me? & if so, could I do it again?' A wave of questions flooded her mind as she stood fixed in place eyes still glue to number four who was now yards away sprinting towards the ball carrier. 'What could have possible happened?' Was it the grass she wondered lowering her vision toward the ground, she remembered almost being able to feel it just a second ago & even in this moment she could feel it, the grass against her cleats as if she were barefoot.
As she focused on the grass it started to overwhelm her senses, in a good way, it appeared as if a brighter green than normal almost illuminating. The smell of nature was extremely potent & it was almost like she could hear it. It felt soothing, refreshing, energetic she started to calm down & got a hold of her emotions. Without any real effort or even fully realizing it she was absorbing energy from the grass, as this energy flowed through her body she felt powerful, unbeatable maybe even unstoppable. The answer to all of her question immediately became clear, she was what the public feared & the D.U.P. had been hunting down for years.
Conduit was the only explanation, "I'm a conduit" she softly muttered under her breath, & the thought of it was exciting, a small smirk washed over her face. "I'm a conduit" she repeated this time a little louder but still soft enough for it to go unheard, her face gave away her elation. In her moment of clarity her mind raced with possibilities both good & bad, 'this could be, no, this is dangerous. If I'm discovered I'll be arrested or more than likely killed', but the fear she felt before in her confusion didn't come back, she wasn't afraid she was thrilled. She was awake & she loved it. Now the only question Erika had left was 'how do I do it again?'
Erika's eyes linked back up with jersey number four who at this point was only a few feet away from the teammate she'd just passed the ball to when the reality of the situation came back to her. 'Up until this point I'd been inadvertently knocking players over but if I do it intentionally it would give our team an unfair advantage. Cheat or play fair? We're ahead & the game is pretty much over anyway, there's no way they can catch up so why not keep the odds in our favor.' & with a little concentration, a mental command & a crafty grin she could feel the grass following her instructions. A thin vine sprang from the turf & quickly coiled around number four's ankle sending her toppling to the ground.
Fortunately the vine was small enough to go unnoticed by the other players & spectators but by the look on number four's face as she glanced down at her feet she definitely found it odd. Not as subtle as Erika had hoped but having just discovered her power she didn't really expect to have a lot of finesse just yet. Never the less the move was successful, it freed up her teammate & gave Erika a little more confidence. She got in plenty of more conduit practice as the last few minutes of the game ticked down, unconcerned about how bad she was making her challengers look. & when the referee blew the final whistle she proudly celebrated with her team & basked in the cheers from the crowd.
After both sides shook hands in a show of good sportsmanship Erika's team headed back to the locker room where the coach gave them praise for a game well played. But Erika barely heard a word, deep in thought about her new found abilities. 'How awesome was that, what else can I do? How much command over grass do I have? Is it just grass? How far can I take my powers?' She couldn't wait to start really testing her powers & pushing their limits. But her thoughts were broken up when a campus security guard firmly knocked on the wall alerting everyone to his presence. "Excuse me ladies sorry to interrupt" he said as he walked into the locker room followed by two D.U.P. soldiers wearing their unmistakable black & yellow armored uniforms & carrying assault rifles.
Erika's heart began pounding the instant she laid eyes on the soldiers, the security guard opened his mouth to say something to the coach but was cut off by one of the soldiers stepping forward & speaking first. "We detected some anomalies out on the field" he announced as he scanned the room looking for any signs of someone specious or something off. "Did anyone notice anything strange while you were out there?" he asked finally resting his gaze on the coach. The room was silent for a few seconds, everyone just stared at the soldier before the coach answered "no, I didn't notice anything. Girls?" she said looking from the soldier to her athletes.
Most of the team nervously answered no while a few girls just shook their heads but Erika stayed silent & didn't move a muscle. She was the source of the anomalies & in that moment being a conduit didn't seem as fun as it did minute ago. But as terrified as she was she kept a composed demeanor so not to give herself away. 'What the hell am I going to do now' she thought 'they don't know it was me, at least not yet but they have some kind of detector so they'll figure it out soon enough. I have to get out of here before they do', she was starting to feel anxious racking her brain for potential escape strategies.
'The looker room doesn't have a backdoor & the windows are too small to fit through, & even if they weren't it's not like I could just make a break for it. There's no telling what's waiting outside, they could have the whole school surrounded. The D.U.P. doesn't mess around when it comes to catching conduits, the fact that they got here so fast is proof of that, the game only ended ten minutes ago.' The soldier's voice echoed thought the room as he spoke again "bio-terrorist are extremely dangerous & there's one somewhere close, are you sure you didn't see anything odd, any little thing could be useful?' & just like his first question he got all negative answers from the team.
But Erika knew that the D.U.P. wouldn't just give up the search based on their word alone, she had to get out of the school & she had to get off campus away from the D.U.P. "Well if no one saw anything that's fine. I just need all of you to follow me outside we have a scanner that'll identify a bio-terrorist and it'll only take a second, no one here has anything to worry about right." As the soldier requested this he nodded his head towards the exit then headed out, most of the girls silently followed but there were a few sighs & groans of frustration. Erika's heart nearly jumped out of her chest but she concealed her anxiety & slowly followed her teammates out of the locker room.
The second D.U.P. soldier was the last out taking a final look around to insure the room was empty. Despite the precarious situation Erika felt a bit of relief when she stepped back outside, it wasn't the worst case scenario she had dreaded. There were only three more D.U.P. soldiers not the infinite army surrounding the school that she had envisioned. They were in the parking lot standing near the visiting team's bus, two of them had rifles & the third had a tablet looking device. The visiting team was lined up, the girl in the front put her hand on the scanner, it beeped & the soldier told her she could get on her team bus.
But being back outside was comforting the soothing scent of the grass alone made Erika feel a little sturdier. Out here she had a lot more options on how to handle her predicament & she explored her choices. 'I can't get scanned there's only five of them, I've seen conduits fighting against the D.U.P. on the news & I bet I'm twice as strong as they are. But then again fighting the D.U.P. wouldn't be anything like tripping girls up on the soccer field, & I just got my powers I might not stand a chance. I could just run maybe I'm way fast than them, all that armor might slow them down & nobody gets hurt. Fight or run? Either way I should get back to the field.'
Suddenly Erika dash towards the soccer field running pass the D.U.P. soldier who was behind her "hey stop!" he yelled raising his gun towards her. But as fast as she was moving she'd already made it to the greenery by the time he'd took proper aim. The second her cleats touched the grass she felt powerful & she knew exactly what she need to do. She started absorbing more power, in a dynamic display creating a radiant green glow as she siphoned a massive amount of energy from the grass leaving the area beneath her feet colorless & bare. Chaos instantly followed the crowd of people scattered, some rushing to hide in the bus some running back into the school & ducking behind parked cars scrabbling to get away from this bio-terrorist.
The D.U.P. all took aim at Erika but held fire due to the dozens of panicking bodies in their line of sight. These people were her friends & classmates she didn't want to see them get hurt so she took off at full speed away from the crowd. Unfortunately for her one of the soldiers now had a clear view of her & opened fire with his assault rifle. But she quickly darted around the side of the school building barely evading his shots, all five soldiers gave chase rushing to catch up. As the first soldier turned the corner after her on sight he didn't hesitate to shoot at the dangerous bio-terrorist.
Erika could hear bullets whizzing past her, it was frightening but only motivated her to run harder there was no turning back now. Yet her luck didn't hold up two rounds hit her square in the back, she slowed & stumbled forward but didn't fall. She was surprised by the effect, the shots were painful but not as lethal as gun shots should have been. But she couldn't just let him continue shooting at her following her instincts she turned around & just let the attacks flow. Targeting the soldier she held out her hand & launched a barrage of sharp edged leaves that easily pierced through his armor as if the leaves were razor steel.
He winced in pain dropped his gun & feel to the ground. When she saw him collapse Erika hoped she hadn't killed him but she didn't have too much time to think about it as two more D.U.P. soldiers flew around the corner. For these two she used a move she was more familiar with but this time she put a lot more strength into it. In a swift motion she extended an arm in the direction of the soldiers' spring up two long slender vines that began coiling around the both of them. The vines quick overtook both enemies causing one to drop his gun before completely entangling them leaving only their heads exposed.
Having used up a good amount of energy & still feeling a slight sting from be shot Erika decided to plug back into her energy source. When the final two D.U.P. soldiers turned the corner they were greeted by the unmistakable green glow of her recharging her power & being healed by the grass. They opened fire immediately & even though she was sort of bulletproof Erika wasn't too eager to get shot again. She zipped to the side trying to avoid their bullets, extending an arm she attempted to grab them with her vine snare. Two vines extended from the grass but missed their targets, both soldiers managing to evade the snare that was currently hold their two colleagues.
In the background Erika could hear the faint sounds of sirens but she couldn't worry about it at the moment she had to stay focused on guys shooting at her. The two D.U.P. soldiers separated attempting to divide her attention, one ran to her left side the other went right. She was getting pelted with bullets from either side. She aim right & launched her leaf razors, the soldier tried to dodge but still caught a few slashes to the arm it wasn't nearly enough to deter him though as he continued shooting. However Erika was quickly reaching her limit, zipping in different direction trying to evade gun fire yet no matter which way she went or how fast she moved she was still being bombarded with bullets.
The pain was starting to overwhelm her, clearly her inexperience was starting to show & to make the situation worse the sirens were getting louder. She seriously couldn't handle more of them right now weather it was D.U.P. back up or police. She'd managed to take down one D.U.P. soldier & restrain another two not bad for a rookie but it was time to cash out. Erika realized if she kept fighting it really wouldn't end well for her, she had to get away before the people connect with the sirens arrived. So in a tactical retreat she turned & ran as fast as her legs would move in the opposite direction the sound of sirens were coming from.