Lost Souls

Life was never easy for me with my dad never being around and my mom having an on-off relationship with drugs. The only thing that kept me grounded to the world was my sister Cara. Protecting her was an everyday job for me since I was the only responsible adult in the family. Louisiana was thrown into a spiral after The Beast ravaged through the country. The whole state was mourning the conduits that died. While they were mourning new conduits were breaking out across the country. It was at this time the people retaliated bombing my home town. This was the first time I had ever been separated from my sister. She was at school when the bombs were dropped. I regret the fact I wasn't there to help her.

I was on my way home from my deadbeat job when the sky got dark for no reason. I came from a superstitious family so I hurried home to find my mom packing saying she couldn't take it anymore. I begged her to stay and as she opened the door the bomb struck. I woke up with my mom's dead body on me. I was scared but just as always my main concern was finding Cara. I ran as fast as I could and while doing so assessed the situation I was in. I wasn't hurt which was a miracle no doubt thanks to my mom being in front of me. The town was ravaged and I didn't see anyone coming from the rubble. As I ran past my job I saw no one. I had child-hood friends in that place not even 15 minutes ago. I became even more eager to find my sister. I ran twice as fast just getting over the hill overlooking the west side of town. I could see my sister's school and the rest of the town along with it. I speed down the hill almost falling along the way and found myself standing before the first person I'd seen since the blast. He stood about 30 yards away and glanced at me once before bolting away in a flash of white. I was tempted to chase after the man but Cara comes first. I got to her school shortly after or at least what was left of it. I traversed through the broken glass and torch school posters.

I spent god knows how long out in that rubble only coming up with lost hopes. I started to walk back to my house certain that my sister was alive and that everyone must have just left on time or something but when I got home I remembered there was nothing left.

About two weeks passed and I just went through the motions catching rides from people and gaining supplies. I had heard that a woman and a girl had been traveling on foot northwest so I traveled along the grape vine (metaphorically). As I did so I slowly started to realize why I was still alive. People with powers were starting to be noticed in places that had got bombed. Even more surprising I had shown no sign of having powers of my own. In my spare time in between travel I would inspect myself of any transformations or changes in my body, obviously not finding any.

I traveled this way until reaching the border of Ohio. This is where everything changed for me. The federal government had issued every state under martial law and also every border with a conduit checkpoint. It was simple blood test that took only minutes they said. The nice family I had been traveling with took the test with me and as we waited for the results I reassured the little ones that we would be fine. Instead of the doctor that had greeted us, a squad of troops came in and dragged us out on the curb putting us in a line. Their commander walked out after we were lined up and said in a calm tone "Tell us which one of you is the conduit and you all will live." I could feel the tension in his voice and I knew there was an intended "or else" to that. I was suspicious of myself but I also didn't know if any of the others where conduits or not. As I struggled with the thought of one of these nice people being a conduit the commander yelled "FIRE!" and one of the kids fell lifeless. I realized the serious of the situation and decided to plead for them to let us go. I was denied every time along with the dissatisfying sound of another shot and another body drop. I tried to stand and caught a knee to the back. I face planted and while I lied there the commander leaned in and whispered "We know it's you, so why don't you just fess up." I couldn't take it anymore and in a flash I disappeared. I mean as much as someone can totally vanish I did. I was one with the air just like that. I could sense where all the people were around me and I almost lost focus and drifted with the wind but the situation my friends were in kept me grounded. I rematerialized behind the line of soldiers. Now realizing my power was to control wind I used it to knock the weapons out of the soldiers hands coincidentally breaking a couple fingers also. I quickly suffocated the line of soldiers and as they passed out the commander charged at me. It was then I took in my surrounding noticing that there was a bay just behind me. In a couple seconds I would get knocked into a bay by this brute and probably die. I couldn't think my way out of this but I thought to myself at least I had saved these people although I couldn't save my sister.

We plunged into the murky bay and as we did so I struggled with the man over a knife that wasn't even a few inches from my face. I was ready to die but not to go down without a fight. I could tell the water was slowing him down and I used that to counter attack by kicking him away. This only dazed him as I used the push to paddle away from him. He was on me in a matter of seconds and the knife I had avoided was now planted into my spine. I screamed in pain and melted away. Or at least I thought it was just my consciousness. I noticed one defining thing though it felt like I could sense him. As shocked as I was, I knew this was an opportunity. I strangled the man with the current and ended my struggle.

I rematerialized in the water and crawled onto the nearby dock. I rested for a couple seconds with the thoughts of what I had just done running through my head. I got up and ran back to where the family was. There were sirens wailing all around me. I was just getting to the family when a bunch of military trucks were coming through the front gate. I got the family down to the dock and told them to get in a boat and try and stay as far off the coast as possible. They did as I said I don't know if it was fear or trust. I started running up the dock. Avoiding the thousands of troops running around I made my way past the western part of the checkpoint. I stole a military hum-v and drove it out of Ohio. The car ran out of gas about two hours after I stole it and I coasted it into a local forestry. I got out and took a breath.

I took that time to recuperate from the earlier events. I thought about my powers, the family, and the men I killed. I killed people and I was the reason people were killed. It was my fault. I couldn't take it. I still can't. I couldn't waste time on worrying about the dead and the family id saved. I picked myself up and took off down the street heading towards a gas station.

When I got there I asked the clerk for a map. I tracked the way I would need to go on the map to avoid the checkpoints and still get to Seattle. I asked the clerk how long would it take and he said about a day in a half in a car. I said I didn't have a car and he laughed and said good luck. I yelled at him to at least look it up and he said the trip would at least take a month and I would be stupid and or crazy to try to do it. I stormed out of the 7/11 and accidentally shattered all the windows when I slammed the door.

The next couple of weeks I took the time in between walking and catching rides to practice my powers. There was water and the northwest was under a drought so I only had the wind. I used the wind to chop trees and lift rocks. It was a strain on my body as well as my mind.

I was about a day out from Seattle. The days had started getting longer with the training and the traveling. I had to avoid lynch mobs which were sprouting up all across the country. I had started to hear rumors that two conduits were caught in Seattle and were being kept in a military base deep in the city. I could tell I was close to my sister. I felt like I could take on the world and my powers were just growing.

"The next day I approached the front gate only to be greeted by a new type of checkpoint and a new military. You know the rest though."

-written by mjs1797 & BabyBlueJaye

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