The truck was silent. Hatch, Quentin, Tara, Kylee, and Torstyn all sat in complete and beautiful silence. Torstyn's face was red, he never could find a good way to hide his anger.
"I'm gonna fry that little..."
"Do not speak of Michael!" Hatch snapped.
"Sorry, Sir." Torstyn quickly responded.
"I don't care if you're sorry or not." Hatch uttered. "I've alerted the United States that the Terrorists are headed there. I've set up a decoy at every airport taking flights from anywhere in South America. They won't last a day."
Hatch looked out the window, his face bent in anger. "They're being assisted."
Quentin looked up. "By who?"
"By the 'voice'. He's not dead."
Quentin asked, "What about the mother? And tanner?"
"They escaped as well;" Hatch growled. "But we'll find them."
Kylee looked scared. "What about the Electroclan?"
Hatch quickly looked over to her,
". . . er, terrorists." She said.
"As I said, I'm going to find them also. I'm temporarily stopping all programs and focusing on finding them. I'm done forgiving. Once I find them, we will put Michael, Taylor, and Zeus in custody, then kill the others on the spot."
"What will you do with Taylor?" Tara asked.
"She's going to wish she would have obeyed me. As for Michael and Zeus, They will suffer. Until they break and tell us about the voice. Then we will kill them."
Torstyn spoke up, "Can I help with Michael sir?"
Hatch looked over at him. "Of course. When I put him in Cell 26 – our new and improved version of Cell 25 – I'll let you burn him each and everyday of his miserable life. He'll tell us everything he knows about this so-called 'voice'."
"That would be horrible . ." Kylee said, looking down.
Hatch turned to her. "Don't you dare get soft. It's because of that fool that the Ampere sunk. He is an uncontrollable mess."
She said nothing.
"Sir?" Quentin asked
"Yes?"
"What are we going to do if they don't break?"
"Oh they will. I'll even get Michael to break."
"But what if he doesn't?"
"He will," Hatch said,
"Hopefully we'll have them soon." Tara said,
"One thing's for sure," Hatch said, "The Electroclan will be ours by the end of the week."
I always wondered if I would make a difference in the world, I'm sure almost everyone has. Turns out, I did. Well, me and my group. We call ourselves the Electroclan. My name is Michael Vey. You're probably wondering something like "How the heck did you make a difference in the world?" So I'm going to tell you.
I'm electric. So are you, of course. The entire human body is made up of electrical signals. But I'm more electric than you can possibly believe. I can shock people, (I call it pulsing or surging) I've learned to control it, thankfully. I also have Tourette's syndrome. You've probably seen someone pretending to have Tourette's, they swear a lot. Most of us with Tourette's don't do that, we just blink a lot, and sometimes make gulping noises. The Elgen –who are hunting me down as we speak– Created a machine known as the MEI (Short for Magnetic Electron Induction) It was to be used for finding defects in the body. Instead, it created the electric children, us.
There were originally seventeen Electric children. My girlfriend, Taylor Ridley, is also electric, but in a different way. She shocks peoples brains and make them forget what they had just been thinking. (She calls it Rebooting) She can also read peoples minds. But she has to be touching you to do it.
My best friend, Ostin, doesn't have powers, but he's insanely smart. Really, its crazy. He doesn't like to admit it, but he's really into clogging as well. (I'm kidding.)
Jack has no powers either, but he's the strongest guy I know. He does like, a million pushups a day. His best friend Wade West, was shot and killed a while back. Jack was crushed, we all were.
Zues is a beast, he can shoot lightning like the Greek god.
McKenna creates light and fire. Abigail stimulates nerve endings to take away pain.
Ian is blind but can see far better than any of us. He uses Electrolocation, kind of like how bats use echolocation. Except Ian sees through sending out electrical waves.
Our newest member Tessa, enhances our powers.
That's the Electroclan. And were going to finish Hatch.
1 A new world.
"Ah." McKenna exclaimed as we stepped out of the airport.
"Goodbye, South America. Hello United States!" Taylor shouted. I had to smile, it was good to be back. California felt amazing, warm, and happy. As we walked into the outdoor food court, I asked "Anybody hungry?" Ostin and Jack raised their hand.
"I'll go grab some Pizza." I said,
"Oh man I'm coming Michael," Tessa said.
"Alright, what kind do we want?"
"Cheese!" Taylor yelled. I laughed
"Got it, be back in a few." Me and Tessa started walking over to a pizza hut. Tessa said "Remember when we were in the jungle? And we talked about how much we wanted cheese pizza?"
"Yeah, its kind of weird that we're about to eat it."
"I know," She said,
We reached Pizza hut and I ordered three large cheese pizzas. When we got the Pizza, we walked over to the group. They were all sitting down on two benches. We set the pizza down and they dug in.
"So where do we go from here?" Ostin asked, after getting a slice.
"The voice said he would have a guy waiting for us." I said, taking a piece. I took a delicious bite. "Oh man that's good."
I looked at Taylor. She was clearly happy about the pizza and was already on her second piece. She looked at me and smiled.
"Sorry, I'm really hungry." she said,
I laughed "You don't have to be sorry."
After eating, I stood up.
"Ian, do you see anybody that might be ours?"
after a moment, he said "Yeah, in about 30 feet you turn a corner and there's a guy leaning against a bus, I think it might be our guy."
"Alright, I'll go talk to him." I said
"I'll go too." Taylor said. We started walking and she took my hand. "I'm so happy were back."
I smiled, "Me too, its kind of surreal. I never thought I'd be back here."
"Me neither."
We turned the corner and saw a tall man with long brown hair, he was leaning against a bus.
"Hopefully that's him" We walked up to him, he looked at us and smiled,
"Welcome! You are the Electroclan?"
I nodded
"Where are the rest of you?" He asked
"Are you with the voice?" I asked.
He hesitated, "The voice, yes."
"Okay, the rest of the group is eating, We'll go get them." After we had gotten the group, we walked back. He was in the bus and opened the doors.
"Welcome everybody! We are very proud of you for destroying the Ampere, This will be the Elgens downfall.
We all clapped as boarded and found our seats. Me and Taylor sat together about five rows back. Ostin and McKenna, two seats ahead. And the rest sat behind us. The man walked over to Ian,
"Hello, you must be Ian." He said smiling
"Yeah, why?"
"The voice told me to give you this." The man held up a banana shake. "He said this will improve your vision greatly"
Ian looked at it for a moment, then reached out and took it, then started sipping on it.
"Well, thanks I guess."
The man nodded then walked up to the front.
The man came over the intercom "It will be about a 5 hour drive to the safe house, so get comfortable. If anybody wants to sleep I have some pillows in a compartment up here. Also if you get hungry, there are some cases in the back with food. Enjoy the ride."
Taylor laid her head on my shoulder and I put my arm around her. I didn't normally enjoy long road trips, but with Taylor here, it wasn't so bad. She fell asleep in the first ten minutes of driving, and about Thirty minutes later, I dozed off.
I then had a dream, I was in the jungle in Peru. I then heard a noise behind me, I spun around and saw Wade West on the ground. He called out for help, so I knelt down beside him. But as I touched Wade, he disappeared. I then heard the words.
"I'm coming."
The voice belonged to Hatch.
2 The betrayal
I awoke to the sound of the engine stopping, I opened my eyes and realized my head was resting on Taylor's lap. I got up and looked around, dazed. I saw Taylor smiling at me.
"Morning, sleeping beauty." She said, laughing
"How long was I asleep?"
"For about 3 hours"
"Wow, that went by fast." I said, grinning.
I stood up and stretched, then looked behind at everyone else. Tessa, Ian, Zeus and Jack were asleep. I laughed a little, Abigail was sitting next to Jack and she put her finger over her lips and smiled. I smiled and nodded, then sat back down.
"Almost everyone is sound asleep."
Taylor grinned, "They deserve it,"
"One second," I said
I got out of my seat and walked up to the front of the bus.
"Why did we stop?"
He looked up to me and smiled,
"We cannot continue up the dirt road on the bus. There are 2 jeeps for you and you're friends. Travel up the dirt road and it will take you to a large shack. That is the safe house."
"Thank you," I said,
"You're welcome, now wake you're friends,"
Nobody was happy about getting woken. Especially Tessa, who argued for almost 10 minutes before resenting and getting up. We all piled in the jeeps. Me, Jack, Abigail, Taylor, and Ian in one, Tessa, Zeus, Ostin, McKenna in the other, And started down the dirt road.
Not surprisingly, Ian had fallen asleep right after we started driving. He was really tired. I didn't blame him. After about 30 minutes of driving we arrived at a dead end. It had a trail head, so we all got out and started down the trail. Ian was half-asleep and Jack had to carry him most of the way. When we finally emerged from the brush, we saw the place. It was a rundown shack that looked more like a haunted mansion. Really, you would have to see it to believe it.
"Do we have the right place?" Taylor asked
"It has to be, there's no other place around..."
Ian suddenly looked up, as if being woken from a deep sleep.
"Guys, we need to get out of here, now."
I looked at him, "Why?"
"Its an ambush."
I looked around and suddenly heard a shout, then around sixty Elgen guards emerged from the bushes Around us. All of them wearing those copper helmets.
"Everybody on the ground now!" I heard one shout. I looked over at Tessa and she immediately enhanced Zeus, and he started shooting lightning like it was a bad habit. Guards were dropping everywhere. Most of the guards were diving for cover.
"Guys!" I yelled
Zeus's hands were crackling with electricity. With Tessa magnifying him, lightning was flying everywhere. He stopped and they looked at me.
"Come on! We need to get out of here!"
They nodded and started to run back up the trail, the same way the rest of the group was running in.
"Michael, hurry up!" Ostin shouted, almost 20 feet ahead of me.
I started to sprint up the trail also. Come on, I thought, please let us get out of this...
I looked back at the Elgen soldiers, There were about 30 that were still on there feet. Running after us, their guns raised.
"Hurry!" I heard Abigail shout.
"Michael!" I looked over and saw Taylor, she had tripped and had fallen onto the muddy ground.
"Taylor!" I yelled.
I stopped and ran back to her, Then grabbed her and pulled her up. As we started running, I noticed that she had a limp on her left leg.
"You're okay, we can do this!" I said as I put my arm around her to help her run.
The rest of the Electroclan was about thirty feet ahead, and they had almost made it to the two jeeps.
"Michael hurry!" Tessa shouted "We don't have all day!"
As I was sprinting with Taylor, I heard some shouts behind us.
"Almost there!" I yelled,
We hopped in Jacks jeep, and closed the metal door. A barrage of bullets started to rain onto us. We all ducked down,
"Were in! Jack, get us out of here!"
"Got it!" Jack yelled as he slammed his foot on the petal.
Our jeep swerved off and went flying down the dirt road. I looked around, Ian, Abigail, Jack, Taylor and me were all in. behind us and saw Zeus's jeep speeding down the road right behind us.
After a minute, the sound of bullets stopped. I took a deep breath.
"What just happened?" Ian said, panting.
I looked at him "You were asleep,"
He shook his head, "I'm sorry, I just got so sleepy all of a sudden. We almost were captured."
"Well, we made it." I said, forcing a smile.
Taylor, who was sitting right next to me, had her hands on her left foot.
"Taylor, what happened?" I said putting my arm around her.
"I twisted my ankle," She said, wincing in pain.
"I can help." Abigail said,
Ian and her switched places and she gently touched Taylor's ankle. Taylor's face immediately relaxed. After a moment she said "Thank you."
Abigail smiled "You're very welcome."
I looked over the group, We were all tired, and It looked like nobody felt like talking. We had just narrowly escaped a trap set by the Elgen. After about 10 minutes in silence, I finally said
"Jack?"
"Yeah?" .
"Where are we going?"
He let out a long sigh. "To tell you the truth, I don't know. Does anybody know if there's a hotel around here or something?"
"On our way here I thought I saw an old motel." Taylor said,
"Okay, where?"
"Lets just follow this road until we get out of the forest, then we can figure things out" I said.
After almost thirty minutes of driving the forest cleared and we got onto a main road.
"I'm so hungry.." Abigail said, .
"Don't worry, When we find the motel we'll get food." I said.
"How long do you think it will be?"
"Hopefully, soon." I said trying to comfort her.
After another two hours , we finally arrived at a very rundown motel.
At first I was worried that It was out of business, but it had lights on. We all got out of the jeeps and stretched. Then formed a circle.
I cleared my throat.
"First off, I'm sorry everybody, That just proves that we can't trust anybody right now."
Ian stepped up.
"No Michael, I'm sorry. I should have seen that coming, I fell asleep and wasn't there for you guys. At least were all here though," he stepped back.
After a moment of silence. I said "You shouldn't be sorry Ian, You've saved us countless times." He just looked down.
"Me, and Jack will go in and get some rooms, So everybody else just wait out here."
"Can I come?" Taylor asked.
"What about you're foot?"
She shrugged. "I'll be okay."
"Alright, lets go." I said
I put my arm around her and helped her walk. As we walked into the Motel office, An old, scruffy looking man stood up from his chair. He looked about a thousand years old.
"Hello there." He said In a scratchy voice.
"Hi," Jack said,
"Do you need a room?" He asked,
I noticed a very old T.V on the wall, it was on the news and had a picture of Jack on it. I started to tick. I noticed the man looking at me, after a moment he asked
"Is something wrong son?" I quickly looked at him. "Oh, nothing." I looked at the T.V again, trying not to seem to suspicious. The man followed my gaze and looked at the T.V
"Wait... you're on the news.." he said looking over at Jack
I turned pale. "Uhh... That's someone else." I quickly said.
The man turned pale. "You're...you're the terrorists! I'm gonna... gonna.."
I looked over and smiled at Taylor.
I quickly said "Are you still going to give us our keys?"
He looked dazed, "Oh.. uh?"
"Four keys please." I said.
He walked into the back room, and came back out holding four keys.
"Rooms One, two, three, and four." I took the keys and walked out with Taylor, while Jack payed for the rooms. She took my free hand.
"You're welcome." She said with a confident smile.
"Thanks," I said, grinning.
When we got to the group, I led them to our rooms.
"Okay, so the boys are in rooms One and two. Girls in three and four. Got it?"
Everybody nodded in agreement. I handed a key to Tessa and a key to Taylor. I unlocked the first door, then handed a key to Zeus. I then turned and walked into the room. It was a dump. The walls where an ugly shade of brown, and the room smelt of rotting lemons.
I heard Ian laugh behind me,
"Well, this isn't exactly kings treatment," he said.
"At least its a place to stay." I said.
I sat down on the first bed, Ostin came and sat down next to me.
"Wow, Just wow." he said,
Zeus walked in, "This place is horrible."
"Agreed," Ostin said. "Anybody as hungry as I am?"
"Lets go grab some food, Ostin." Zeus said, "I'm willing to do anything to get out of this Pigpen."
They walked out and I got up. I went over to a window, only to find it looking out at a brick wall.
"Nice view, huh?" Ian said, laying back on the second bed. "Michael, I'm confused."
I looked at him, "About what?"
"About how I was asleep for so long."
"Ian, everybody has to sleep..."
"I know, but I never really sleep for that long, and I wasn't even that tired. But I started to get really sleepy after I drank that banana shake." He said, looking scared.
"Maybe the bananas made you tired," I said,
"Or maybe the driver put some kind of sleeping powder in the drink, then gave it to me so I couldn't see the ambush... Maybe it was all set up."
I looked at him. "At least we escaped, That's all that matters."
About 10 minutes later, Taylor walked in.
"The place is terrible." She said. "My bed had a rat in it."
"Well, that's mice. Er, nice." I said, laughing. "You see our fantastic view?"
She shook her head, then came over to me and looked out. "Beautiful." She said, chuckling.
After a moment, she asked "Want to come for a walk with me?"
"Of course." I said smiling. We walked out, I noticed Taylor wasn't limping as much. We started walking through the parking lot as I took her hand.
"How is your foot?" I asked
"Its been better, but its not hurting as much."
I smiled. "Good,"
"I need to ask you something, Michael."
"Anything,"
"What are we going to do after this? How are we going to find your mother?"
I exhaled slowly, "I really don't know, I'm just hoping the voice is okay."
"I just want to see my parents again, I miss them so much." She said,
I smiled.
"I miss my mom too," I said, then added "And Inca Kola."
In spite of the sadness, she smiled. "When Hatch kidnapped me, he said he had already texted my parents on my phone saying how much I hate them." She stopped walking and looked at me. "Do you think they hate me now because of that?"
I looked intensely into her eyes "Of course not. They'll never hate you. I know that."
She smiled, then wrapped her arms around me. "I hope you're right." When we parted, I saw Zeus' jeep pull up. We walked over to it. Zeus and Ostin hopped out. Ostin was holding a box of powdered doughnuts. He was beaming, and his face was covered in powder.
"Oh man that hit the spot." He said,
Zeus walked up to us
"Go grab everybody else while I get everything out, I'll set it on those tables over there," He pointed to some picnic tables.
We got everybody and walked up to the old park bench just across from the jeep. There were about 7 boxes of doughnuts, 2 Liters of Rootbeer, 1 Liter of Lemonade, and 4 Large Pizzas.
"Let's get eating." Zeus said, smiling. Everybody dug in. I motioned for Ostin to come sit by me, but he waved it off and sat by McKenna. I was happy for him, but still surprised he had enough courage to even talk to her. Once everybody had gotten their food and was sitting down, I stood up.
"Attention everybody!" They stopped talking and looked at me.
"I know some of you are wondering where we are headed next, and how long were staying here. But, the truth is, I don't really know. We'll find out soon enough. So let's just enjoy being together. As for the rooms, I'm sorry. But they provide us beds and that's good enough for me."
Everybody laughed and continued eating. After we had finished, we cleaned up and walked over to our rooms.
"Michael," Taylor said,
"Yeah?" I said turning toward her.
"See you in the morning," she said.
I smiled, "You too, have fun sleeping in you're rat infested bed." I said laughing. She burst out laughing.
"Oh I will, hopefully I'll survive." We hugged, then parted to our rooms.
As I walked in, I asked "Okay, so whose bed is whose?"
"I'm guessing that's Ian's," Ostin said, Ian was fast asleep on the second bed.
"Ostin, you have that one," I said pointing to the first."I can sleep on the ground,"
He tried to protest but I shushed him. I layed out some blankets and collapsed. Not that comfy, but we're safe. And that's what matters. It didn't take long for me to fall asleep.
3 The surprise
I awoke to the sound of Ostin opening a box of leftover doughnuts. I looked up at him and he smiled back.
"Looks like you found you're breakfast." I said
He laughed "Yeah," Then he added "Did you know that doughnuts in dutch, were originally called oily cakes?
"That's cool." I said, trying to sound like I cared.
Ian sat up, then stretched. "Oh man.. this is the worst bed I've ever slept on."
"Can't be much worse than the floor." I said rubbing my back.
Ian smiled, "I guess you're right" Suddenly Ian's smile vanished. "You've got to be kidding me"
"What?" I said, starting to tick.
"Get everybody up, now!"
I sprang up, "What?"
"There's three Elgen Trucks pulling in. And there's a glow with them, Get everyone now!"
I sprinted over to the door and flung it open. Then banged on Jack and Zeus's door. After a moment, the door slowly opened. Jack answered, looking half-asleep
"What?" He asked groggily
"The Elgen are coming, Get everybody up and meet in my room, now!"
I woke everyone else and in minutes they were in my room.
"Ian, how close are they?"
"There about a quarter of a mile away." He said.
"Can you tell who the glow is?"
"I've never seen him before, he's tied up."
"That might be a good sign," I said
"Let's hope,"
"Guys, are best chance is to hide here and hope they just keep on moving. I said, "So everybody just stay quiet."
"Why don't we just take off in the jeeps?" Zeus said, "We could maybe outrun them."
I looked at him, "We could, but that would be risky. It's up to you guys,"
"I say we just stay here," Abigail said, "They might just be asking for directions,"
I looked around, almost everyone nodded in agreement.
"The odds are not in our favor. Lets just stay quiet." I said
Everyone sat down and I took Taylor's hand.
"They're just hanging out." Ian said, After a moment "They're out in the parking lot."
Everyone in the room froze, I started to gulp, but stopped myself.
After another moment, Ian said in a whisper "Two guys are getting out and going to the office."
"What about the glow?" I asked
"They left him in there car,"
"What does he look like?" Tessa asked
"He looks our age, wearing a hoodie. I've never seen him before," Ian said, "Great. They're arming themselves."
I looked at Zeus, who had electricity arcing between his fingers "Get ready." I said. Jack was hiding right behind the door, a baseball bat held in his hands.
We heard the door knock.
"Tessa," I whispered "Get ready to enhance Zeus" She nodded. After a moment we heard another knock on the door.
"Wait.." Ian said, "The glow is getting out of the truck, his hands are unbound now." After a moment we heard a scream, followed by a massive blast. "Wow!" Ian yelled.
"Shhhh!" Taylor said,
"What Ian?" I whispered.
"The glow.. he's throwing electric spheres.. like you can, Michael. But he's... throwing them really fast and insanely accurate."
Tessa gasped.
I looked over at her. "What?"
She looked over at the door. "Impossible..."
I got up and walked over to her, "What Tessa?"
She looked up at me "He...He.. this can't be happening"
"Do you know him?" I asked
"I did, but he's supposed to be dead."
"What does that mean?"
"His name was Shock, But he died... I was there." She mumbled.
We heard another explosion
"Does anybody else know Shock?" I asked.
"Nobody did, except for me. Shock is number Eighteen" Tessa said,
I looked at her in confusion. "But, there's only seventeen electric children."
"That's what Hatch told everybody. He wanted everyone to think that. So if something were to happen to the rest of us, he would still have an unknown electric child that would be safe. He showed me him so he could see what Shock could do while being amplified. He made me promise never to tell anybody about him." Tessa looked down, we heard another explosion. I looked over at Ian, "How is he doing?" Ian shook his head in amazement
"Wow.. he has some skill."
Tessa looked at him. "You should see him when he's amplified."
"He's almost gotten every soldier down, and there were about thirty." Ian said.
I looked back at Tessa. "What do you mean he's supposed to be dead?"
She looked like she couldn't comprehend what was going on. "One day, Shock asked Hatch if he could go shop around. Which was kind of odd since he had never asked before. After some talking Hatch agreed and the three of us went down to some stores. After a while, Shock told Hatch he was going to run into this place to look around real fast, and a little while after Shock ran in, the entire building blew up.. Nobody but me and Hatch knew about his death. And Hatch was not happy."
Ian stood up. "Nobody found out about the explosion?"
"They did." Tessa explained. "But it just came to the conclusion that a gas-pipe had been leaking."
"The guards are down." Ian said.
"What about Shock?" I asked
"He's holding his arm, I think he was shot."
"Tessa and I will go get him, just to make sure its safe."
Taylor tried to protest but I quickly shushed her as Tessa and I walked out cautiously. We slowly made our way over to a van and peeked out. I then saw Shock. He had short, blonde hair, with a black hoodie on, As Ian had said. I slowly stepped out and started to walk toward him, with Tessa behind me. He looked up while holding his arm.
"Get away! Now!" He said.
I put up my arms,
"Its okay. I'm not with the Elgen, I hate them. I'm on you're side."
He didn't look convinced.
"I swear you take another step and you'll regret it..."
Then Tessa stepped out behind me. He looked at her and his expression changed.
"Tesla?" He asked,
"Shock!" She yelled. She ran to him.
He stood up and they embraced.
When they parted Shock had tears in his eyes. Tessa asked, "How...how are you still alive?"
He smiled "I.. I faked my death. Once I realized who Hatch was, I just.. I just wanted to run away. But I managed to find a store with a gas line running under it and... I blew it. I ran out the back door, and just sprinted away."
Tessa's eyes teared up. They embraced again.
"And it's Tessa now." I said, When they parted, he looked at me,
"Who are you?" he asked
"I'm Michael Vey." I said,
"I've heard about you. One of the last two."
I smiled. "Yeah, how were you captured?"
"I lived in a homeless shelter. One day I saw some Elgen trucks driving by, I figured they had caught me, so I got rid of them. They caught me today. Thankfully they didn't have any signal so Hatch hopefully doesn't know about me,"
I nodded, "So do you want to join us? And stop Hatch?"
He looked at Tessa, "Are you with them?"
She smiled, "Yes, we call ourselves the Electroclan."
After a moment, he said, "There's nowhere else I can go, so sure, I'll join you. Is it just the two of you?"
"Oh, no." I said laughing, "We have more, follow me, I'll show you." We walked over to the apartment and the group was already walking outside.
"Shock, these are my friends, Abigail, McKenna, Zeus, Jack, Ostin, Ian, and my girlfriend Taylor. She's the other last electric child."
He looked at Taylor, "Cool,"
"Well, welcome to the Electroclan, Shock." I said,
4 Something wicked this way comes.
After we had shown Shock his room, (Which he was sharing with Zeus and Jack,) We wandered off into small groups and talked. It was midnight so me and Taylor were sitting in front of the motel on a grass hill, looking at the stars.
"It's so beautiful." Taylor said, gazing at all the stars.
"Yeah, there's the big dipper," I said, pointing towards it.
"I know, it's so cool."
"Yeah, I've always been fascinated by the solar system."
She looked at me and smiled, "Me too," She leaned towards me and pressed her lips against mine.
After a moment I heard a voice say "Michael?"
We turned around and I saw Shock walking up the hill towards me. He stopped and looked at us for a second, then said "Oh, sorry if I'm interrupting anything."
I laughed, "You're okay, so what do you need?"
"I was just coming to ask you something, in private."
I looked over to Taylor and she nodded, then stood up and walked over to where Abigail and Jack were sitting.
He looked a little nervous.
"So what's you're question?" I asked
"How did you tell Taylor you liked her?"
I laughed, "I didn't really,"
He looked confused, "Then how is she you're girlfriend?"
"After I rescued her from the academy, we just got together. I think she already knew I liked her though because she read my mind. Why? Do you like someone here?"
He looked over towards Tessa and Zeus.
I smiled, "You like Tessa?"
He said nothing, reached into his pocket and pulled out a slightly crumpled photo and looked at it.
"What's that?" I asked,
He handed it to me and I held it up. It was a picture of Tessa, it looked like it was taken at a school. After a moment Shock said, "There were pictures of all the electric children in my room at the academy. It may sound creepy but I took her photo, so whenever I get sad or angry, I can see her. Ever since I first met her I've had a crush on her" He looked down. "I sound like a stalker."
I laughed, then said, "Maybe a little, but it's okay. You should tell her."
He looked up at me, "I think she's into Zeus."
I looked up at the stars, "I doubt it."
"I'll just wait and see what happens," He said, exhaling.
I smiled, "that's usually the best thing to do."
"Zeus said you can throw lighting like me," He said, changing the subject.
I cupped my hands and formed a brilliant ball of lightning about the size of a tennis ball. He smiled. "Not bad," He held out his left hand and formed a ball about the size of a watermelon.
"Wow." I said, staring at it.
"Can you throw them?"
"That's my problem, I can throw them, but my accuracy is a joke."
He nodded, "I'll teach you how to throw them better soon." After a moment, he stood up, "Thanks Michael."
"No problem," I said, smiling. He turned around and walked over to Tessa and Zeus. Taylor got up and walked over to me, then sat down. "What was that about?" She asked.
"He likes Tessa," I replied.
She smiled, "Is he going to tell her?"
"Not yet, but he will eventually. He also said he's going to teach me how to throw Lightning better."
She put her head on my shoulder, and I put my arm around her. There was so much going through my head I couldn't think straight. Where do we go after this? Do we try to meet up with my Mom and Tanner? I thought.
I just held Taylor in silence. So much was going on. Suddenly a thought came to my mind, The Elgen, they must know about the missing vans. They could be sending an army to us right now."
Taylor jerked up, her eyes wide, "You're right.."
We stood up and I called everybody over to us. Once we were all here, I said "Everyone, we need to get out of here. The Elgen must know by now about the missing trucks, there could be an entire fleet headed towards us right now. So lets pack up fast and get out of here."
"Then where are we going?" Jack said,
I looked around at the group, everyone looked tired and weak. After a moment, I said "We're going to head back to the airport. It's our best shot at trying to find the voice." Nobody said anything, "Alright, let's roll." I said, trying to sound encouraging.
About fifteen minutes later, we had piled into the jeeps, and started down the road. It was very dark, and the only light came from the headlights. After 10 minutes of trying to keep my eyes open, I finally submitted and fell asleep.
5 The dream
"Michael,"
I opened my eyes, then looked around. Taylor was sitting right beside me, I sat up. It was just us in the jeep.
"Wheres everyone else?"
She smiled "They're almost there."
I looked at her, confused, "What?"
"Come on! We can't be late!" she said as she jumped out of the jeep. I came out with her, it was nighttime and we were in the parking lot of my apartment in Meridian. I gasped,
"My apartment! Come on let's go see if my moms there!"
I turned around to get Taylor, but she was gone. I then heard laughing behind me and spun around, nothing was there. Scared, I ran into the building and came up to my door. I opened it and walked in, my mom was sitting on the couch, along with everyone else.
"Mom!"
She didn't even budge. They all just sat there, staring at me, eerily. "Guys?" I looked around the room.
Suddenly a dark smoke started to creep out of the window and enveloped them quickly. The deafening silence was replaced with bloodcurdling screams. After a moment, the smoke immediately ceased and I saw every member of the group on the ground, unmoving. Blood was everywhere. I just stood in place, trying to comprehend what I was looking at. Then, a pillar of smoke formed in the middle of the room, swirling. After a moment, it dissipated and Hatch was standing there. He grinned
"Don't you see the big picture, Michael? You led them to their deaths. This is all your fault."
Tears were running down my face, "No!"
His smile grew wider and he took a step towards me. "Nobody cares about you Michael. Ostin has hated you ever since you got him into this. He only liked you in the first place because of your power. Taylor never, ever loved you. Do you really think a girl that beautiful would even remotely notice you? She only felt bad because you were so desperate. And all of your friends -well, the people in your group- they hate you. Wade's death was all you're fault. They will never care about you. Nobody ever will. That is how things should be. You, and everyone else. That's how you were born. That's how you will die. A fake life, for a fake boy."
I fell to a knee. "I know you're lying." I said, angrily.
His eyes narrowed into slits.
"What could I possibly lie about?" He said,
"Are you that blind? You live a lie."
He laughed, "And what makes you think that?"
"Because I have something you don't."
He started to slowly walk towards me, "and what is that?"
"I have hope. And you don't."
"I don't need hope, Michael. Why would I?"
"Because you're against a force you can't stop."
"And whats that?"
"Me."
I shot to my feet, rushing forward and surging with all I had as I collided with him.
That's when I woke up.
6 Reality
I opened my eyes and realized I was in the jeep, I sat up and looked outside. It was morning and light was starting to pour in. I looked around, everyone was sleeping, and they looked like they had just gone to sleep. I should go take a look around, I thought. I slowly opened my door, trying not to wake them. Then stepped out into the fresh air. I took a deep breath, then looked around. We were in the parking lot of the airport, and I immediately recognized where we had gotten on to the bus.
As I started walking towards the airport I heard some footsteps behind me. I turned around and saw Ostin walking towards me.
"Hey,"
"Morning," He said,
"What time did we get here?"
He looked around, "About three in the morning."
I nodded, "Want to come take a look around?"
"Sure,"
We walked over to the food court, the stores were already starting to open, I looked up at the big clock, It read 10:27.
"Just say something if you see anything weird." I said,
He nodded. After about five minutes, I saw something strange. There was a man sitting on a bench, he had short red hair, and had a large, muscular build. He looked nervous and was whispering to somebody on a phone. He kept on looking around him, as if expecting to see the police barge in or something.
"Ostin," I said, quietly.
He turned "I could really go for some KFC right now."
"Ostin, listen to me."
"What?"
"You see that guy over there?" I said, pointing to the man.
"What about him?"
"He's acting weird, I'm gonna go take a better look."
He looked around. "Okay, be careful, he could be with the Elgen."
I nodded, then casually walked over and sat on the other side of the bench behind him.
"Do you think they left?" He said, After a moment he said "I know, but I've been here for days and haven't seen a trace of them." After a moment, "do you think the Elgen captured them? We should have just taken them on our own plane, It would have been safer."
That was enough for me. I stood up, and walked around to the other side, standing in front of him. He looked up at me, for a second he just stared, then said "I'll call you back." He put the phone in his pocket. "Michael?"
"Yeah,"
He stood up, "Is the rest if the Electroclan here also?"
I nodded. "What's your name?"
"My name is Mason, what happened to you? I've been waiting here for three days. You were told to meet me here."
"We were picked up by somebody else..." I said, "Who are you with?"
"The voice, of course. Picked up by who?"
"He claimed to be with the voice, he brought us to a safe house which turned out to be an Elgen trap. So we escaped and stayed at a motel."
He turned pale, "We need to get out of here. Where are the others?"
"In our jeeps, I'll go get them."
He nodded, "I'm coming with you."
I got Ostin and we walked over to the jeeps. I opened the front door, "Everyone wake up. We've found our way out of here." I went over to the other jeep and woke them. After almost five minutes, everyone was up. "Guys, this is Mason. He's with the voice, so we need to get up and leave with him."
Jack looked at Mason cautiously, "How do we know he's with the voice?"
Taylor stepped up, "I can tell," She walked over to Mason, then touched him. He flinched, as if expecting a shock. After a moment she turned back toward us. "He's on our side. He hates the Elgen."
He looked around at us. Then stopped at Shock. "Who's this?"
"He's a new addition to the team." Ian said,
He stared at Shock with a peculiar expression. "Is he . . a glow?"
I hesitated, "No," I didn't know how much I wanted to tell him.
Mason nodded, "You're gonna need all the help you can get. Follow me." As we walked, Taylor took my hand, "We'll see your mom soon." She said, I smiled. "Hopefully."
He led us to an old, rusty school bus. "Its not much," He said, "But it works."
We climbed in. The inside was way nicer than the outside. It had nice leather seats, and had a Mini-fridge at the very front. Taylor and I sat down in the second seat. Everyone else behind us.
Once we were all seated, Mason walked over to me, holding something. "I heard you like Inca Kola, is that true?" He asked,
I gasped, "Do you have it?"
He smiled, "Of course, Jaime sent some to us specifically for you." He held out a bottle of Inca Kola. I thanked him and took it.
Mason started the bus, and we were off. I opened the Kola and took a sip. "Oh man that's good, It tastes like bubble gum. Here try it," I said, handing the bottle over to Taylor, she took a sip. Then smiled, "Wow, that's amazing."
I nodded, she handed it back to me after taking another sip.
After a moment, I leaned forward and asked Mason "Where are we going?"
He turned and looked at me, "To Meridian, Idaho."
"Is my mom there?"
"Yes, she is. You will see her, but it's gonna to be a very long trip." he said,
I nodded and leaned back.
"I'm starting to get sick of all these road trips." Taylor said, I put my arm around her and she put her head on my shoulder. I'm so excited to see my mother.
7 Flashback.
It was a very long trip, roughly eleven hours. We stopped only three times to go to the bathroom and eat. I was finally starting to recognize where we were. Taylor wanted us to drive by her house, so we took a detour to see it. As we passed it, Taylor broke down crying. I tried to comfort her, but it didn't seem to help. When we arrived at the parking lot of my apartment, as we got out Mason said, "Okay everybody. You will all stay in Michael's apartment, I will be back in a few days. See you then." He started the bus and left. We started to walk towards the door, I took Taylor's hand.
"You excited?" She asked
"Yeah," I said, starting to feel dizzy.
She must have noticed because she stopped walking. "Are you okay?"
"I think..." Suddenly, everything went black.
I opened my eyes and realized I was buckled tightly to a cot. With a RESAT strapped down tightly to me. I felt very weak. And something seemed eerily familiar,
"Michael,"
I looked over to where I had heard the voice. Taylor was to the side of me. She leaned over and kissed me on the forehead. I felt as though I was in danger.
"What's going on? Get these wires out of me." I said,
"It's okay," she said, "We're safe."
"We're not safe, please help me get the RESAT off, we've got to get out of here,"
Taylor just smiled, "Why would I want to escape?"
"What?"
Her smile grew larger, "I want to tell you a secret," She leaned close to my ear and whispered, "The whole boyfriend-girlfriend thing, it's not real. I made it up to get you down here for Dr. Hatch. I delivered you to him. And in return Dr. Hatch gave me this beautiful diamond bracelet." She dangled it over me.
Everything went white.
A moment later, the white faded and I realized I was in the jungle at night, I looked around and saw a structure–The Elgen compound in Peru– lit only by sporadic fires. Smoke was billowing into the sky. As I looked over the compound I saw them coming. Shadows. They were everywhere. There were more than a thousand of them, silently moving toward the jungle. The guards had been sent out to find me.
Everything started to spin and blur around me, What's going on? What's happening to me? I collapsed.
8 Demons
I opened my eyes, only to see blackness. My glow was faintly illuminating stone around me. Where am I? I suddenly felt a fear I'd only felt once before, I was in Cell 25. I suddenly felt as if a creature was in the cell with me. Lurking in the shadows. "What's in here?"
Demons, everywhere. Spiders, all over. I'm going to die, I want this to end.
I screamed. What's happening to me? I'm so weak,
I slowly crawled around the room, touching the cold, hard stone walls. I can't be here, this is all a dream. I thought, Wake up Michael, wake up. I pinched myself, nothing. Suddenly, I heard a clicking noise behind me and turned around. I was at Meridian High School. I turned around only to see a hallway. What just happened? I then saw Taylor walking up the hallway towards me with three of her friends.
"Taylor!" I ran up to her and put out my arms to hug her,
She just stood there, looking at me with a strange expression, I put my arms down.
"I'm sorry, but do I know you?" She asked, her friends looked at each other and started laughing.
"Taylor, It's me Michael..."
She looked embarrassed. "I'm sorry, but I think you have the wrong person."
"Taylor, do you really not remember me? I'm your boyfriend."
Her friends burst out laughing, "You have the wrong person, sorry." She turned around and walked off with her friends, blushing like crazy.
What's going on? I thought,
Everything started to spin around me.
Make this stop. Please.
9 Panic attacks.
"I think he's waking up."
I opened my eyes and immediately recognized I was lying on a couch, my mother was standing above me, along with everyone else.
"Mom?"
"Michael!" She yelled, I sat up and she threw her arms around me. I realized we were in my apartment.
When she let me go, I asked, "What happened?"
"You passed out," Taylor said,
I rubbed my head,
"Are you okay man?" Zeus asked,
"Yeah," I lied.
I realized Taylor had her hand on my arm, I looked over at her and she was frowning, concern evident in her eyes.
"I'm so happy you're safe, Michael." My mom said, Smiling. I looked around and saw Tanner sitting on the couch, looking out the window.
"It's good to be back," I said,
"Michael, are you sure you're okay?" Abigail asked,
I sighed, "I don't know."
"Mrs. Vey, Is it okay if I talk to Michael in private for a minute?" Taylor asked, My mom nodded. We stood up, then walked into my room, I sat down on my bed, she shut the door behind us, then walked over and sat down next to me.
"Michael, what's wrong?"
"It's nothing," I said, starting to tick.
"It's obviously something Michael,"
After a moment I exhaled, then said, "I think I had a panic attack or something."
She scooted closer, "What happened?"
"I had some strange flashbacks. Like when we destroyed the Elgen compound, or when I was in Cell 25. I even had one of when we were still in school."
"That's strange."
After a moment I said, "If I had a wish, I would wish that none of this had ever happened. That we would be back in school and Hatch never had found us. Wade wouldn't of been killed, and we would all be safe."
Taylor looked down, "I wouldn't wish that."
I looked at her, "Why?"
She looked into my eyes, "I wouldn't have you."
I smiled, then put my arm around her. She put her head on my shoulder. I held her in silence for a minute. Then she said, "We should probably get back to you're mom. I told her we would only be a minute."
We stood up, then walked into the family room.
10 What now?
"So, what do we do now?" Ian asked,
"We wait." Jack stated, looked towards the door.
"Is anybody hungry?" My mother asked, starting to walk towards the kitchen, nobody raised their hand. "Nobody?" she said, "Okay, just say the word if you are."
After a minute of silence, Shock said, "Why are we here? Wouldn't the Elgen know about this place and have it guarded?" I looked over at Ian, then said, "Ian can tell us if the Elgen are around here."
The next four days went by slowly, we were all anxiously waiting for Mason. At around 12:00 on the third day, I asked, "Taylor, Tessa, Shock, do you guys want to come to the gas station with me?" I wanted Shock to spend some time with Tessa.
All three nodded. I told my mom and we started to walk over to the gas station, I took Taylor's hand. Once we arrived, we got doughnuts, slurpees, and some sunflower seeds.
As we were walking out, I spotted a black truck driving up to us. The windows were darkly tinted so we had no idea of who was driving it. We started to walk towards the apartment, and the truck pulled up in front of us. Three men hopped out, "Hi there," he said, eyeing Taylor.
"What do you want?" I said, moving in front of her.
He glared at me. Then pulled out a gun, "All we want are the two girls, we won't kill you if you give them to us."
Before I had the chance to pulse, I saw a Ball of lightning fly by me and strike the man in the head, he collapsed. I ran up to the second and surged, he dropped. Shock already had the third guy on the ground.
Tessa looked dazed, "That was fast."
Just as she said that, I felt a sharp pain, I heard Taylor gasp. I flung around and she was pointing to my neck. I put my arm up and felt a dart. I suddenly felt another in my leg, then four more. That's when I passed out.
11 Not like this.
I was awoken by a sharp pain. Followed by a steady painful sting. I slowly opened my eyes and looked at my chest. I had a RESAT cinched tightly to my chest.
"Look who's awake."
I looked over and saw Torstyn standing beside me. His crazy hair draped around him. We were in a white room, I could see Shock on a bench with his hands bound above his head. His face was red and sweaty and he looked as if he was in much pain. Taylor and Tessa were in cots and each had a RESAT connected to them. I wondered if the others had been caught. Ian probably saw them coming, I thought, trying to comfort myself.
"You're done for." Torstyn said,
I struggled speaking. "Oh is Hatch unhappy about his boat? That's too bad."
His expression turned dark. "Don't think I won't fry you, Vey. Hatch told me I could if you tried to resist."
"Go ahead."
He glared at me for a moment, then said, "Hatch has something special for you. You remember Cell 25? Just wait. You're gonna love Cell 26."
I shuddered at the thought of it, then said,
"Did you capture the others?"
He turned away, "No, but we will soon."
I looked back over at Shock. He had a red burn on his neck. "Do you even know who that is?" I asked, through some struggle I motioned over to Shock.
"No, so I'm taking him to Hatch. Why?"
"He works for the voice." I lied.
"Not for long. You see that burn on his neck? That's from me. When we shot you guys with the tranquilizer darts I figured I would make him an example."
After a moment, I asked "Where are we?"
"Waiting."
"For who?"
"For our private jet, idiot."
"Where are we going?"
"That's none of your concern, battery boy."
I felt a sharp sting and winced, he looked over at me and smiled. "You like that?"
"Why do you continue to work for the Elgen? You can join the Electroclan."
He laughed, "You've got to be kidding me. Why would I want to join your tribe of failures?"
"So we can stop Hatch."
"It's a no, lightning freak. Now shut up."
13 Well, This is strange . . .
I laid there for what seemed to be five hours before guards came in. They looked at me for a moment, then pressed a button on the panel controlling my RESAT. I felt like I was just hit by a truck, I was in so much pain I couldn't even breathe, then everything went black.
"Michael,"
I opened my eyes and saw a pretty girl with brown hair to the side of me. After a moment I realized it was Kylee. I had a RESAT connected to me, but it wasn't up too high.
"What's going on?" I asked,
She put her hand on my cheek. "We're on a plane, fly ing to meet up with Hatch." She took her hand off and started to lean into me, as if for a kiss. Despite the pain, I pulled myself back.
"You're a creep." I said,
She frowned, "Oh come on Michael, you're probably going to die, so why not enjoy being kissed by a beautiful girl while you still have the chance?"
"I have a girlfriend," I said,
"So? You're not going to see her again. You may as well make the most of the time you have left, sweetheart." She said, smiling sweetly.
"Kylee . . ." A guard came in and asked her something. She nodded, then looked down at me for a moment. "I'll be right back." She stood up and left.
What's her problem? I thought. Through some struggle, I looked around the room. It had nice carpet, with some wooden cabinets. Looked kind of like a family room. And there was a video camera in the top corner of the room.
After a minute, Kylee walked back into the room. She was carrying a tray with some bread and water on it.
"Hey handsome," She said, smiling. She sat down on the seat next to me and put the tray on a side table.
I didn't say anything.
After a moment, she said, "What's wrong?"
"What's going on here?" I asked,
She put her arm over me, then lowered her head until her lips were only two inches away from mine.
"I like you, Michael,"
"Get away from me." I said, trying to lean back, It didn't help.
She smiled, then leaned closer and pressed her lips against mine. After a moment, she leaned back.
"See Michael? We have a connection."
"No we don't. Get away from me." I said through clenched teeth.
She reached over and picked up some bread from the tray. Then put it to my mouth, I was starving and took a bite. I then closed my eyes.
She smiled, then said, "Michael, if we get together, you wouldn't be killed. You could join us,"
I shook my head. I opened my eyes and saw her looking down sadly. After a moment she sighed, "I realize I'm not that attractive, Michael. But this is for your own good." She looked up, then sadly gazed deeply into my eyes, "I don't want you to die, Michael."
After a minute I said, "You are beautiful, Kylee. But this isn't the right way to go around winning boys hearts, especially taken ones"
She smiled sadly, then leaned over and kissed me on the lips again. This time longer than the first. I tried to scoot back but it didn't help. After a moment, she leaned back,
"Will you stop that?" I said,
She looked over to the door, then stood up and walked out of the room.
I felt so guilty. For one, a girl kissed me when I have a girlfriend. And I also felt like Kylee truly was trying to save me.
14 Tears
Taylor had been gagged and forced to watch the live video of Michael and Kylee through the security camera.
Tears were streaming down her face, she tried to close her eyes, but the guards turned up her RESAT until she opened them.
Torstyn was sitting on a chair next to her, smiling.
"The truth hurts, huh?" He said, "Kylee is winning him over. She's already kissed him twice. Are you sad, Taylor? Michael's already in love with her."
New tears formed in Taylor's eyes.
Kylee walked into the room, then walked over to the couch and sat down.
"Well done Kylee," Torstyn said,
She just looked down.
It was nearly four hours later when the jet landed.
15 Escape
Once the planes tires touched the cement, Shock quickly looked around, then formed an orb of lighting in his left hand. The plastic zip ties started to smoke, then gave way.
I'm out. He thought, I need to get Michael.
Shock scanned the room, there were two guards playing black jack about ten feet away, and Torstyn was sitting in one of the seats, looking out the window. Shock slowly stood, then simultaneously formed two large Lightning balls in both palms. He instantly threw one at Torstyn, Torstyn dropped to the ground. The two guards looked up just as a Lightning ball the size of a watermelon hit in between them. They screamed as they dropped to the ground.
Okay, Michael should around here somewhere.
He walked up to a door then tried it, nothing. Then took a step back and kicked it open. As he entered he saw Michael looking up at him. Michael's face lit up, "We need to get out of here. Now." Shock said, He turned off the RESAT, then unplugged it. Michael stood up. "Lets get out of here."
16 Apologies
"How did you escape?" I asked Shock,
"No time to explain. Right now we need to get Taylor and Tessa, then get the heck out of here." He said, starting to walk out. I followed him. Shortly after we exited the room, we entered a room on the opposite side of the jet. I saw Taylor in a cot hooked into the wall. I ran over to her. Her eyes were puffy and she didn't even look at me. I looked around and saw the RESAT panel on the wall, I turned it off and unhooked Taylor. She stood up and looked at me for a second.
"Come on!" I said, grabbing her hand, starting to jog over to where Shock was unhooking Tessa. Tessa stood up as we arrived. Suddenly, the door in front of us opened, and light from outside poured in. Three Elgen guards emerged, there guns drawn. Shock already had a Ball of Lightning formed in his left hand. He clenched his hand and Lighting started to quickly pour out of the cracks of his hands like water. The guards stared at it in awe. After it had reached two feet down, it froze in place. Shock raised his hand and and swung the rope of Lightning at the guards. It immediately dropped all three. Then he opened up his hand and the lightning fizzled out.
"Wow." I said,
"C'mon!" He yelled, taking Tessa's hand. Then ran over to the door.
Taylor and I ran over to the door and stepped out. The air was warm and refreshing. Shock and Tessa were already running over to an Elgen truck. We ran over by them. Thankfully the doors were open, We all hoped in, I was in the drivers seat. And I realized that The keys were in the ignition.
"Umm.. Can any of you guys drive?" I asked,
"I can," Shock said, he looked out the window, there was another Elgen Van just thirty feet away. "But you're going to drive this one."
"What?"
"We need a distraction." He looked over at Tessa. "And I'm going to be that distraction."
Tessa said, "Shock . . . They'll kill you"
He looked down. "Tessa, I've wanted to tell you this since the first day I saw you,"
Tears started to form in both their eyes.
"I . . . I love you." He said,
Tessa's eyes widened, "Shock . . ."
We heard a shout come from outside.
"That's my cue," He looked over to me, "Drive safe."
"Shock!" I yelled, he had already slammed the car door and was sprinting over to the other truck. I jumped out of the jeep, sprinting around the jeep towards Shock. "We're not leaving without you!" He turned around, smiling.
"I appreciate the concern, Michael. But this is what my destiny is. I never wanted to be the hero of the story, I just wanted to be someone that helped make a difference. Now please, let me make a difference."
I sadly stared as he turned around, jumping into the other jeep. After a moment of conflicted feelings and emotions, I ran back into the jeep. Taylor had constrained Tessa, who was screaming. I jumped into the seat and turned the keys, hearing the engine roar to life. I put it in drive and we took off. I started out slow, gradually gaining speed.
"Shock!" Tessa yelled, looking through the window. "Michael, please turn around. Please."
"I'm sorry Tessa. This is what he wants." I sadly stated, trying to comfort her. Tears were pouring out of her eyes.
"Taylor, what's going on back there?" I asked,
"There's almost twenty guards, They've surrounded the truck. It seems like the truck hasn't even moved since we left." She said, sounded a little somber. "I can't see much with all the guards there."
I looked around, It seemed like this was a private airport, we were surrounded by a dense jungle, and everything except the runway was dirt. There were little to no cars. I noticed a dirt road that led into the jungle. I turned off and we started down the road.
After fifteen minutes of silence, Taylor asked softly,
"Did . . . did you like it?"
"Like what?" I said,
"Did you like kissing Kylee?" She asked coldly.
"Taylor . . ." I reached behind and took her hand, while having my other hand on the wheel. "She forced me to kiss her. I was strapped down."
Taylor didn't say anything.
"Taylor, you can read my mind."
She looked over to me, "I know, I guess I just thought you were falling in love with her."
"You know better."
She smiled, Tessa started sobbing again, Taylor crawled into the back and wrapped Tessa up in her arms. "It's going to be okay," She said. "Shock's going to be fine."
Tears were pouring out of Tessa's eyes, "I should have told him I love him," Tessa said, "I should have."
"You'll be able to tell him when you see him again." Taylor said. "You will see him again."
I focused on the road, I saw nothing but plants. It seemed like it was leading us deeper into the jungle. I wondered about my mother and the rest of the group, if they were safe. And Shock, Hatch would surely silence him if he realizes that Shock faked his death to get away from him.
Part 2
17 Revenge.
Shock opened his eyes. He felt extremely weak and was in much pain. He groaned, What happened? The last thing he remembered was hopping in the truck and realizing the keys weren't in it.
"Hello, Shock."
Shock quickly looked over to his side, Hatch was sitting down next to him. "Hatch . . ."
Hatch smiled, "Now where have you been?"
"Does it matter?"
"Yes, as a matter of fact it does."
Shock turned to his other side,
"Shock, How are you still breathing?"
Shock said nothing,
Hatch leaned back, "Ah, not talking." After a moment, he said, "You do realize if you don't talk I'll get someone in here who has a . . . different . . . method of getting you to talk."
After a moment, Shock said, "I ran away."
He nodded, "Why?"
"Because your a fraud."
Hatch laughed, "I'm a fraud? Is that what Vey told you?"
"He didn't have to tell me, I found out myself."
After a moment, Hatch said, "Michael Vey is a liar. He will always be a liar."
Shock said nothing,
"Are you still loyal to me? Don't tell me the liar Vey convinced you that we are the bad guys."
"Michael is nothing close to a liar." Shock said,
Hatches eyes narrowed into slits, "I knew it. Where are they?"
Shock said nothing,
"If you don't tell us, we will kill Taylor, Tessa . . ."
Shocks eyes widened, "No, please!"
"Hmm, do you like Tessa?"
Shock closed his eyes.
"Do you have feelings for Tessa?"
After a moment, he said "Yes"
"If you tell us where your friends went, we won't kill Tessa,"
Despite the pain, Shock turned and spat at Hatches face.
"I'm never going to tell." Shock said,
Hatch wiped his face, "You are going to regret that," He motioned for something, and Torstyn walked into the room, his face bent in anger.
"Torstyn, teach Shock a lesson. But don't kill him, not yet." He said, then stood and walked out. Torstyn rubbed his hands together.
"So your the wimp that shocked me," he said, "Now its my turn."
Hatch smiled as the sound of Shock screaming in agony filled the halls.
18 How long?
Shock was on the ground, holding his legs up to his chest. His legs were severely burned. Along with his chest.
Sweat was beading down his forehead. He was put in this cell only one hour ago, though it seemed like it had been an eternity. The RESAT connected to him was very painful. There was a lone light in the middle of the cell that faintly illuminated everything. Suddenly the door to his cell clicked, then opened, and three kids that looked Shock's age stepped in. They all seemed familiar, Shock suddenly recognized Taylor.
"Taylor . . ." He croaked.
She laughed, "Its Tara,"
Shock looked at her quizzically, "You look just like her,"
The group laughed, "She's a twin."
"What are you people doing here?" He asked after a moment.
The blonde boy spoke up, "Were just coming to see you."
Torstyn walked in.
Shock shuddered, "What is he doing here?"
Torstyn sneered, then knelt down next to him.
"You do realize your going to die here, right?"
Shock tried to turn over, Torstyn grabbed him and pulled him back.
"Don't touch me." Shock said,
Torstyn laughed, "Watcha gonna do? Bleed on me?"
"Just leave him alone, Torstyn." A pretty girl with brown hair said,
"Don't tell me what to do Kylee, you know I only take orders from Hatch."
"Shut up," Shock said,
Torstyn grabbed Shock's hair and yanked up, Shock screeched out with pain. After a moment, Shock said, "If you think your so strong, how about we fight? One on one."
Torstyn laughed, then let go of Shock's hair, letting him fall onto the cement. "Fight you? Are you kidding me?"
"Are you scared?" Shock said,
"Am I scared to fight a pathetic loser like you? Not at all." He darkly grinned, "I'll go ask Hatch."
All of the teenagers walked out. An hour later, a guard walked in.
"Get up!" He barked,
"My RESAT . . ." Shock said,
The guard walked over and pressed something on a tablet he was holding, most of the pain suddenly stopped. "If you shock me, Hatch will have your head. Do you understand?"
Shock nodded, then tried to stand, but fell. His legs were burnt so badly he could barely move.
The guard walked up to shock and pulled him up.
Three more guards came in, they dragged Shock down three hallways and finally came to a door. He could hear shouting and voices coming from inside. The guards opened the door and he saw something that made his heart drop.
There were over a hundred people surrounding an elevated platform. They were all chanting something he couldn't quit understand. The room was a gymnasium, he quickly noticed Torstyn standing on the platform facing him. What have I gotten myself into? He thought, I'm gonna die here. As the guards brought him over to the stand, he started thinking of Tessa. I hope she's okay, I hope everyone's okay. The guards dumped him onto the platform, then hurried off. He couldn't even stand.
My legs . . .
A voice came on overhead. "Here it is! A rivalry that will go down in history!" Shock was terrified.
"Torstyn everyone!" The entire room erupted into a cheer. After the cheering had calmed down, it said, "And Shock!" The room went silent. After another moment, Hatches voice came on. "They will fight to the death. Let it begin!"
A bell rang, and Torstyn started casually walking towards Shock. He stopped right in front of him and knelt down.
"Do you miss Tessa? Oh that's too bad." He punched Shock in the nose, blood started to run down Shocks face. "You want more?" He punched him again.
This is it, I can't even get up.
"Stand up!" Torstyn yelled, "Or I'll fry you right here."
Despite the pain, Shock slowly got up from the ground. Almost falling more than once. Torstyn turned around and walked about five feet back, then turned back around and started running towards Shock. Shock quickly dropped to the side and Torstyn tripped on his foot, slamming into the ground. The crowd erupted. Torstyn quickly pushed himself up. His eyes snapping, "You think I can't take a hit?"
He kicked Shock hard in the gut, Shock cried out with pain.
"You can't imagine how much I'm enjoying this," Torstyn said, laughing. "Once I'm done with you, were gonna get Tessa, and she's gonna be all mine."
That's it.
Shock pulled himself up, Torstyn looked surprised and backed up. Shock formed a ball of lightning in his hand, then threw it directly at Torstyn's head. Torstyn ducked just as it flew right where his head had been. It flew past him and hit three or four people in the crowd. There were multiple screams,
"Now were talking." Torstyn said, then he raised his hand and pointed it towards Shock, Shock had already formed two more electrical orbs and had flung them at Torstyn. He dove to the side just as they exploded where he had been.
Shock then formed two in his hands, then clenched his hands, lightning flowed out and formed an electrical rope. Torstyn's eyes turned wide, Shock walked up to Torstyn lying on the ground.
"What the . . ." Torstyn mumbled.
Shock looked down at him, "C'mon tough guy."
Torstyn raised his hand, Shock quickly swung a rope and it hit his arm, Torstyn screamed out with pain and grabbed his arm with his other hand. The crowd was silent.
Shock crouched down next to him.
"Who's the pathetic loser now?"
Torstyn said nothing,
The Electric ropes fizzled out. Shock then formed two very large lightning orbs in both hands, then increased the voltage so the orbs were growing larger. Once they had reached the size of a basketball, Shock looked down at Torstyn,
"If you survive this, I want you to know that I'm not done with you. And if you put a finger on Tessa, it will be the last thing you do."
Torstyn's eyes grew wide. I hope this works, Shock thought. He then slammed his hands together. Forcing the electrical orbs to collide.
A huge electric boom echoed through the building. Every window in the gymnasium shattered. The room briefly lit up for a moment, Shock was blown backwards, along with everyone else. The lights went out. A collage of screams and groans pierced the air. Shock sat up and looked around. Everybody in the room was on the ground. He quickly stood and started sprinting towards a door. Where do I go? He flung the door open, there was a hallway. He turned right and started running down the hall.
I've got to get out of here, Fast.
19 A new enemy
Despite the intense pain, Shock had been running through the maze of hallways for almost fifteen minutes. Guards were continually trying to stop him, but failed. As he ran into yet another hallway, he saw a strange sight. There was a boy about his age standing in the middle of the hallway. He had never seen him before, he had brown hair in a Mohawk. Shock started walking towards him, forming an electric whip.
"Get out of my way, now!" Shock said,
The guy grinned, then looked intensely at Shock for a moment.
"I said move it!"
The guy suddenly closed his hand, and lighting started to pour out, then it formed a whip. Just as Shock had done,
"What the heck?" Shock stood there in awe.
The guy swung the whip at Shock.
Shock immediately passed out.
20 I'm done.
Shock awoke to the familiar pain of a RESAT.
"You're never getting out of here."
Shock looked up and saw Hatch. He groaned,
"I see you've met Bolt."
"Was that the boy in the hallway?"
"Yes. Do you know his power?" Hatch asked,
"Making electric whips."
"Actually, no. He senses power similar to Tessa and Nichelle. But he can actually replicate it. Fascinating isn't it?"
"He can replicate my power?"
"He can replicate any power. Here, let me show you Bolt,"
Bolt stepped in, then walked up to the side of Hatch.
"Sup," He said,
"Hi,"
"Bolt," Hatch said, "Show Shock your power."
Hawk took a step back and formed an electric whip in his hand.
"He currently has your power," Hatch said, "If he wants to take another power, like Torstyn's, he will give up this power and move on to the next one. He can only use one power at a time. Like your electrical whip, he can use that. But he cannot form lightning orbs as you can. Unless he took it as another power.
"Shock, we need you to join us. Michael Vey is a deceiver and a liar. With you we could take down the Electroclan. Stop this madness."
Maybe I could lie? Shock thought.
After a moment, Shock exhaled. "I guess your right, maybe Michael did deceive me."
"Finally, you see the truth."
Shock nodded, "I'm sorry I disobeyed you. I guess I was just scared and didn't really know what was going on."
Hatch stood up and walked into another room, after a moment, he came back into the room. He walked up to Shock carrying a paper and a tablet. He pressed something on his tablet and most of Shock's pain immediately ceased. Hatch unplugged a few things, and let Shock sit up. Hatch handed him a paper. It read:
I do hereby promise that I will follow and obey Dr. Hatch and will do whatever is required of me to promote and advance the Elgen's work, mission, and objectives as long as my services are required.
X_
Shock looked at it for a moment, then signed it.
Hatch smiled, "Welcome to the family, Shock. Now let's see if you mean it."
21 Trap
The car had grown silent. Taylor was in the back holding Tessa, who was quiet. I felt wrong. Why did I leave Shock like that? Tessa probably blamed me for the whole thing. What if I had gone instead of him? Would Shock be in my exact place? So many questions, and so little answers. I couldn't stand it. I couldn't stand the fact that I may have killed Shock.
The road was evening out, and the bumps and jumps had grown to a minimum. Suddenly, the forest opened, and lead out into a wide green field.
"Do you know where we are, Michael?" Taylor asked.
"No clue," I said. "I just want to see the Electroclan again."
"I wonder what they're doing right now."
"Probably tracking us down as we speak."
"Let's hope they are."
"They are." I said, half believing my own words.
"Stop!" Tessa screamed. I veered to the right and pulsed out of instinct. The car made a sickening squeak, and the lights went out. The car rolled for another thirty meters before coming to a stop.
"What?" I yelled, spinning around. Tessa was pale white, pointing a shaking finger out of the window.
"I saw him!"
"Who?" Taylor asked.
"Shock!" She screamed, forcing open the door. She jumped out, then proceeded to sprint down the path we had just been on. Taylor and I were just behind her.
"Where did you see him?" I yelled, Tessa didn't respond.
"Michael!" Taylor yelled as she began to fall forward. I quickly pulled back and caught her. She was sweating, with a pained expression on her face. "My leg, it's hurting again." She managed through ragged breaths. I gently set her down on the grass.
I looked up to where Tessa was running. "Tessa!" I yelled as she ran out of sight into the dark forest.
"How's your leg doing?" I asked, looking back down to Taylor.
"It hurts." She mumbled, grasping her leg.
I propped her head up onto my thigh. "You'll be okay, I promise."
She looked up at me smiling, but pain evident in her eyes. "I love you, Michael."
Before I could respond, a gunshot rang out from ahead of me. A searing pain shot through my bicep, and I grasped it. My vision blurred as I fell to the ground.
I couldn't make out much. I saw figures surrounding me and Taylor, then I was picked up and dragged for what seemed like a lifetime. I was then put into a vehicle of sorts.
The pain in my arm was growing. I tried to scream, no sound came out.
I thought of my mother as I passed out.
"Michael, wake up." An all too familiar voice said. I slowly opened my eyes and groaned. Hatch was sitting just beside me, grinning. Behind him was the whole team. Torstyn, Quentin, Tara, Bryan, and Kylee. A strange boy was on the other side of me, sitting alone.
"Looks like the little worm woke up." Torstyn said, spitting on me.
"Oh, look at him. He's practically crying." Tara sneered.
"What a loser," Quentin said, laughing.
"Looks like somebody isn't too happy about their boat." I added. The room grew silent.
"I believe you know somebody here," Hatch said, ignoring my comment. "Send him in."
Shock entered the room. I held my tongue.
"Hello, Michael." Shock said, half grinning.
"Where's Taylor?" I asked, looking over to Hatch. He smiled.
"Your girlfriend is currently being detained for putting the Elgen corporation at risk, as are you. The only difference is, she'll be executed first. I'll have it streamed live directly to this monitor, for your enjoyment." He said, nodding towards a Television Monitor just above me.