LOCATION: NORTH-EASTERN ARKANSAS
TIME: 2:47 PM
"Wake up! Come on, get your ass in gear!"
A woman continued to try and get the younger man beneath her to awaken. Shaking the poor soul was only getting the bear minimum of a groan in protest for her actions. She was losing patience, if only for the fact that this was not a good time for her or any of the now escapees to be just lying around when they should be getting as far away from their current location as possible.
Her name was Nataline, or as she preferred to be called, 'Natie'. Out of her current circle of friends, she was the oldest at twenty-two years old. She had a fair complexion, which was only offset by her dirty blonde hair that never wanted to stay completely straight no matter how much she combed it. It might have been due to the lack of proper hair care products that she didn't have access to for the last five years of her life. Or perhaps it was to her own lack of maintenance of said hair, but it wasn't like her top priority for most days of those five years was quality hygiene. Though, one could say that her natural ability to control electricity or most electrical energies may play a factor in her getting a split end or two.
It might be important to know, if one didn't already know, that the young woman known as Natie is a 'conduit'. A being with the ability to absorb, control, and manipulate a certain type of matter or energy known to man. The world has had its fair share of run-ins with this new breed of 'super-humans' in the past. Some that could lift objects over a hundred times their size and weight with just their minds. Some that could turn an entire city block into a frozen wonderland, or wasteland depending on who you asked. Then there were some that could reduce an entire city into a desolate, post-apocalyptic crater of its former glory with just a snap of their fingers. These types of people were both loved and feared by mankind depending on how they utilized their powers, but one thing was certain about all of them; they all died out. Or so the world thought for a while.
A long time ago, an event took place in an old bayou of a town. This event was also the turning point for a major crisis that the people of earth were suffering through known as 'The Plague'. Not many people really remember what went down in that old town, but most people remember what came after. A wave of bright light swept across the skies all around the world. Those that had been suffering because of 'The Plague' were suddenly cured. Not even the most brilliant of doctors could figure out what caused this miracle cure. Though, not everyone was left to wonder about this unexpected turn of events. At the same time as the wave of light spread across the earth and those that had been sick were miraculously cured, there were those that inexplicably just collapsed, dead were they once stood.
All of this took place in such a short amount of time that the vast majority of the world's populace were left in utter shock and confusion. News outlets had scrambled to keep on top of the story as it unfolded, but ever since the first sightings of these so called 'super-humans' and 'The Plague', then to their sudden disappearance had left them reeling. It was like a dream that everyone suddenly woke up from all at once, and the world was left to deal with the broken pieces to pick back up. So, that's what they did. The world kept moving and more started to forget the craziness that the world was subjected to for just over a single year.
That peace hadn't lasted for long though. The beings known as 'conduits' began to spring up all over the world again almost within another year. One by one, more people with super-human abilities were revealed to the eyes of the world, and with them, sprouted a fear in the rest of the populace for what these beings could do. In the United States of America, these super powered beings were often hunted down out of fear. Rallies of lynch mobs grew in number and the rest of the country was thrown into a panic. That's when the government stepped in, or rather, the organization that the government put in charge of the matter; The Department of Unified Protection.
This new organization was swift, precise, and above all, what the people of the U.S. had been praying for. They hunted down the now rebranded 'Bio-terrorists' with impunity. Subjugated them and imprisoned them in the maximum security detention center, Curdan Cay Station. For seven years, and with the government at their back, the D.U.P. soothed the U.S. of their fear of the 'Bio-terrorist threat' and brought about a certain amount of peace to the country.
Yet, when the order for the D.U.P. to be disbanded and all bio-terrorists were to be released into the custody of the U.S.'s government, a certain group of those bio-terrorists took this as their one and only chance at escaping their imprisonment. This is where one of those bio-terrorists, known as Natie, now stood. Or rather, leaning over another one of her fellow escapees, giving him electrically charged slaps across the face. The guy she currently was trying to rouse groaned even louder as he became aware of the world around him.
"Ow…"
The one word reply was all he could manage under the circumstances. He felt like a truck got flipped over on him. Though to be fair, it wasn't a completely inaccurate assessment. He just happened to be inside the truck when it got flipped. Getting thrown about the inside of an armored transport tends to jumble the memory a bit.
"Come on, Sam!" The woman called out impatiently, "We need to get moving before they realize what happened!"
"Ugh, five more minutes," the younger man on the ground mumbled like he was trying to hit the snooze button on an alarm clock for the umpteeth time.
A scowl crossed Natie's face as she charged up a more powerful slap filled with electricity to give his face.
*Kzzt-Smack*
"Yeeeooowwch!"
The young man shot up from the ground after having been literally shocked back to full consciousness.
He shook his head around to clear the spots from his eyes before giving Natie an annoyed look.
Sam looked just on the verge of being out of his teens. Thick lengths of jet black hair whipped around his brow before settling into a style that looked like he just got out of bed. Wide, sky blue eyes gazed curiously out at the world around him. Many had mistook this look before for someone who had no idea what was going on around him, but those who knew him knew he was always observing his surroundings and keeping an eye out for danger.
"Damn it, Natie," The youth known as Sam said, "Couldn't you have gone a little bit easier on the wake-up call?"
From a couple yards away, another guy was stretching and giving Sam a devious grin, "What, was pretty boy expecting a kiss from his Prince Charming or something?"
"And a hardy 'Fuck you' to you too," Sam smartly replied.
Lu, the third member of this little group of 'delinquents', was about a year older than the other adolescent. Though, he was more broadly built and stood almost a head taller. He had a mess of dark brown hair that almost looked like mahogany. It seemed to naturally sweep up without any evidence of gel. Cool hazel eyes with flecks of green around the iris gave him a sharp gaze toward anyone that looked directly at him. If anyone gave him a passing glance, they would say he was of an asian decent, although, he was only half Chinese. The rest was a bit of a mix, but it just wasn't as noticeable unless you looked.
The two guys were about to get into their usual quarrel if not for a crackle of blue electricity catching their attention. The woman that was giving them both an aggravated glare hissed angrily at them, "Both of you shut up and get your shit together, or you're getting left behind!"
Lu rolled his eyes, but went back to checking over the wreckage of the first overturned vehicle. Sam did as the woman asked, but there was one last thing he had to take care of before he was ready to move.
"Uh, Natie? A little help with these?" Sam asked, holding up his hands that were still bound within a set of standard D.U.P. suppression cuffs.
Natie was already on it as she brought her hands up to clasp the outer casing of the all encompassing device. More electricity surged from Natie's arms and into the cuffs. Consequently, this also meant that all that electricity was passed through the youth and caused him to seize up from the thousands of volts now coursing through him.
Luckily, he wasn't an ordinary youth, also being an entity known as a conduit. Much like the woman, Sam wielded power that no ordinary human could use, but that didn't make him invincible. So, although it hurt, the overcharge did its job in frying the electrical locks on the suppression cuffs and caused them to clatter open. The smoking cuffs fell to the ground, leaving Sam's hands free at last.
"Thanks," Sam offered in gratitude while massaging his wrists, before getting a silly smirk on his face, "Don't suppose you could give my phone a charge while you're at it?"
He had no actual phone, but it was just Sam's way to joke at a time like this. Natie was unamused however and snapped her fingers in front of his face. Electricity jumped across her fingertips before she snapped them forward to point behind Sam.
"Go get Isabelle, make sure she's ok, and get ready to move," Natie hissed, inches away from Sam's face with a fierce look.
Sam pushed his arms up defensively and backed away slowly, "R-right, I got it."
Sam turned around to find their final companion sitting on the ground, still shaking off her dizziness from the crash.
Isabelle, the youngest out of the group was a frail looking girl. Yet, like Sam or Natie, her appearance was deceiving and hid a deceptive strength for a girl her size. Golden brown locks of hair cascaded down from her head and down to just past her shoulders. Some of it even fell over her bangs and partially hid her seafoam green eyes. A bit of dirt and grass dusted the girl's frame, but this did nothing the detract from her visage.
Sam closed the distance between them and knelt down beside her. His hand moved up to clasp her shoulder to which she reacted to with a flinch and a sharp intake of air. Though, upon seeing who it was, she slowly relaxed.
Sam smiled gently to put her further at ease before asking, "Hey, you okay?"
Isabelle answered with a silent nod and looked down at her still bound hands. Sam noticed this and offered his own, now free, hands to see what he could do to remedy this.
"Don't worry, I'll have those off before you can say, 'Harry Potter Spoilers'," Sam said with another encouraging smile.
Isabelle knew how much Sam loved his movies, even if neither of them had seen one in years, so the little bit of cinematic humor was just another way to cut the tension even further. It seemed to have done the trick as Isabelle let out a giggle. She raised her encased hands up for Sam to inspect before uttering that a certain potions master of Hogwarts was the cause of death for its headmaster. Sam chuckled and rolled his eyes before getting to work on getting the suppression cuffs off of his friend.
The male conduit searched the contraption until he found the one access plate that he was looking for and that wasn't riveted shut. At Natie's insistence, Sam had vigorously studied the D.U.P. suppression cuffs of every detail it had whenever the guards at Curdan Cay weren't looking. He knew just about every part of them from his countless times of looking over his own whenever he was made to wear them.
The thing about these specially designed cuffs was that a conduit who wore them couldn't use their powers due to the ray field radiation, a conduit's raw form of energy, suppressive material that insulated the whole of the interior of the cuffs themselves. Once a conduit was locked up in the device, other than their physical mutations, they were practically no different than an ordinary human being.
However, the outer casing was left with no countermeasures against outside conduit forces seeking to tamper with them. This meant that any components, such as the electronic locking mechanism or the emergency manual release key port, were left unguarded against these types of tampering. Which was exactly what Sam was working on at this very moment.
The face plate to the key port came loose after just a minute of prying at the cheaper metal. He tossed the offending piece over his shoulder and proceeded to check the inner components that were now exposed. Technically, there wasn't much to see other than the key port. So, Sam raised his right hand and closed his fingers into a fist aside from his pointer as if he were pointing directly at the key port itself.
Being a wire conduit, Sam was endowed with the ability to, well, control and manipulate metal strands or wires. It was a bit of an unusual subset of the known 'metal' conduit abilities, but certainly not unheard of. Honestly, the wire conduit didn't mind it all that much. He considered it a good challenge to adapt and overcome some the more 'powerhouse' types of conduit abilities whenever he was put to the test against said types.
"Alright, I've got fifty-two seconds as my old record," Sam looked up and smiled reassuringly to the younger conduit before him, "Bet I can shave at least five off that here."
Isabelle laughed softly, quite happy to enjoy the lighthearted comment in this dire situation. Once he knew that Isabelle was comfortable, Sam refocused on the cuffs and his job to unlock them. Concentrating a bit more, Sam felt the familiar sensation of his powers responding to his command. It was a comforting feeling and soon his commands were answered in the form of a single strand of wire materializing from his outstretched finger. The metal strand snaked its way downward, growing longer until it disappeared into the key port and started wriggling around.
The wire twisted and Sam felt the little strand move the pins of the key port's lock into place. Sam hurried his work as he knew time was short, and soon he was rewarded in his efforts with the satisfying sound of the lock's tumbler unlocking with a click. The cuffs sprang open and the young girl's hands were freed at last.
"Ha, forty-nine seconds!" Sam cheered happily.
His celebration was cut off by Isabelle's arms wrapping around his torso and pulling him in for a hug. It was a surprise, but not unappreciated, so the wire conduit wrapped his arms around Isabelle in return. Their little victory hug would have to be cut short though, as they were still on a clock. So, reluctantly, Sam untangled himself from the embrace and looked Isabelle over once more.
"You gonna need a top off?" Sam asked, noticing the quiet girl's lack of usual energy.
Isabelle nodded her head and replied weakly, "Yes. They had me drain a lot of my source for the transport."
Sam nodded his understanding and stood up. After brushing off a bit of dirt from his bright, orange detainee garb, he offered a hand to help the younger girl up. She was a bit wobbly on her feet once she was up, but Sam was right there to support her. They moved carefully to the still blazing fire at the front of one of the transports when the engine blew up. The heat was intense, but the younger girl didn't seem at all bothered by it. In fact, the closer she got to the open flames, the more sure her footing became. Isabelle gestured that she could do the rest and Sam backed off a few steps to let her do her thing.
With hands outstretched toward the flames, the glows of the fire began to shift in an unnatural fashion toward Isabelle. The flames danced like they were in an unfelt wind and not long after, they began to be absorbed into the outstretched arms of the fire conduit reaching toward them. It was practically magical with the sight that Sam beheld, even if he'd seen it dozens of times before. Swirls of reds, oranges, and yellows moved up the young girl's arms, like the flames of gently burning candle and Isabelle as the wick.
With the colors and dance of the blaze being as distracting as they were, it was no wonder neither of the conduits took notice of the sight hidden behind the flames until they all but disappeared. Isabelle was the first to spot it and jumped back from the grizzly sight and yelped. Sam saw it next and was both shocked and nauseated by what he saw in the vehicle's front cabin.
The wire conduit heard his friend start to hyperventilate and swiftly blocked her view. A quick glance over his shoulder only made him feel more sick than his first look at the scene. It seemed that the person riding shotgun did not adhere to standard practice of wearing one's seatbelt while on the road. The force of the crash had ejected him from his seat and through the windshield. Since the APC was a military grade vehicle, the windshield itself was reinforced just like the rest of the vehicle. Thus, Sam could only guess how much force it would have taken to break such a heavy plate of plexiglass, but knew that that amount of force would be anything but survivable for a regular human. The blood splatters and misaligned limbs of the corpse only reinforced that notion.
The driver fared no better. With the APC having landed on the driver's side when it was flipped on its side, the guard's body was crushed under the crumpled side of the cabin. From Sam's angle, only one arm was visible from the body and was flopped lazily over the steering wheel. He didn't need to see the rest as the pieces of gore and pool of blood soaking the ground painted a bloody enough picture that he didn't want to think about it any longer than he already has.
With a shaky arm, Sam directed Isabelle away from the scene, "Don't think about it, Isabelle."
Even though Isabelle was practically on the verge of tears, she tried to stay strong. Sam admired her effort, but even he was feeling like he needed a minute after that. It wasn't like he didn't expect something like this to happen. Him and the rest of the group have had this escape planned out for weeks. There was just the unavoidable fact that no matter how carefully they planned, someone was going to end up hurt. They only wished it would have been a couple of D.U.P. troopers instead. That way, they wouldn't have had to feel as sorry for what had inevitably come.
They're d-dead, Sam," the fire conduit choked out, "Why?"
The single word question was easy enough for Sam to understand what the crying girl was asking. He was thinking the same thing too in his head. He had to remind himself of what Natie had told him when he brought the issue up, and her only response to what would ultimately haunt him for the rest of his days.
"It was necessary," Sam repeated the answer that he had to tell himself constantly, "I don't like it either, but if we hadn't done it, we would have lost our only chance to escape."
Isabelle knew it was the truth, but the knowledge that there was blood on her hands, made her want to curl up in a corner and cry.
"Hello~, how long are you two gonna hold us up?"
Sam ground his teeth and sheltered the distraught girl behind him as he turned to stare down the person that interrupted their moment. The cocky bastard, Lu, had his arms crossed over his chest and tapped his foot against the ground impatiently. The hate filled glare that Sam gave him seemed to do nothing and the other male just snorted in apathetic response.
"Lu is right," Natie returned from her own scavenging of the wrecked vehicles to stand by Lu, "We can't stay any longer. The transports are supposed to check in at the next rendezvous in just under half an hour. I hate to say this, but we're gonna have to put our personal shit on hold until we get out of here."
Sam hated when Natie was right about this kind of thing. He especially hated it when it was Lu who was right about the same thing in the first place. Isabelle was still trembling from the scene she witnessed earlier, but she slowly made her way out from behind Sam's sheltering arms. She took a deep breath and let it back out slowly. Her exercise worked, for the most part, and she gained a hesitant look of determination to hide most of her current distress.
Isabelle nodded and tried her best to hide the distress in her voice as she spoke, "O-ok, I'm ready."
Natie nodded and turned to the other two conduits to ask, "Anyone else need anything before we leave?"
Lu shook his head and replied in a cocky tone, "Asphalt's a bitch to convert, but I got what I needed."
A thumb jerked back to point over his shoulder and behind him to show the others the sizeable patch of the road now missing. Obviously used to restore the loud-mouthed asian's concrete powers.
Sam wanted to make another biting comment, but time was running out. So instead he ran back to the second destroyed vehicle, doing his absolute best to ignore the grizzly sight in the front cabin. There was a spool of braided cable with a hook attached to the front bumper that made up the vehicle's forward emergency tow line. What was left of Sam diminished reserves of wire answered his call and shot out from his outstretched hands. The ends of his wires connected with those from the tow cable's and the spool shuttered. Sam pulled his arms back, and with them, the tow cable unraveled from the spool and unbraided itself until it was swiftly absorbed by the wire conduit, restoring his power to full.
Once the spool no longer had any more wire to give and spun uselessly on the front bumper's hinge, Sam raced back to the others and gave them a silent nod of his readiness.
"Alright," Natie said as she looked over her fellow fugitives, "The guards' GPS put us at the eastern part of Arkansas, and their rendezvous is to the west. We'll head east and away from the rendezvous until we cross the state. After that, that's up to you all. For now, let's get moving."
Four beings with incredible, destructive powers took off on foot in the direction opposite of the sun's motion. They may still be fugitives of the law, and a strong sense of uncertainty for what lies ahead scared them, but for the first time in years, they couldn't help but savor this sense of freedom that they had been longing for when the only world they were allowed to have was encased in concrete.