3

The Escape

Mark woke up in a dark, smelly, damp space. At first he thought it was his bedroom, but on closer inspection, it didn't have enough clothes on the floor, in fact there were none. He was in some sort of cell. There was a small hole in the wall, covered in bars to stop him escaping.

He sat there for days, disturbed only by the dinners he was passed under the door and the occasional 'guarded' drink. After they found out his power no-one would let him near water without proper protection. After what seemed like a few weeks in the cell, there was a creak as the door opened. Someone walked in and shut the door behind them.

"I won't be long, go away." Said the voice, it was Jake.

"What do you want with me?"

"First of all, I want to know if you're ok" he said, looking out of the small window in the door to check if the guard had left.

"Excuse me? That's even worse then 'Anyone special in your life?'"

"Look, Mark. I'm sorry, let me explain."

"Ah…does my father finally admit he has a son then?" asked Mark, walking over to a small iron bed in the corner of the room, sitting and folding his arms in a huff.

"What?"

"I told you my name was Dave… you just called me Mark."

"Oh, no…I looked at your profile. Anyway, you weren't very convincing."

"Whatever." He said, shrugging him off. "Anyway… explain, I'm all ears, I wouldn't miss this for all the tea in china!" he said, moving to the edge of his bed and pretending to look interested with an obvious overdose of sarcasm.

"Oh, well…when I was young, I was out with my mother and father. There was an attack. Some mutants were hiding and what was to become the Friends of Humanity were hunting them. They set off an explosion to try and kill the mutants. The mutants saved me and my father, but they couldn't save my mother. Dad always blamed the mutants for being there, not the humans for doing it. He forced me to join when I was young. I've always hated it…"

"Oh please…you expect me to believe that you just never got around to leaving? Grow up"

"No, I stayed on purpose." This shut Mark up. "I thought that I could do my part to help mutants."

"How the hell did last night help us?"

"Let me finish! When I met you, when you were attacked, I was out pulling down the posters. I hear things from inside and do what I can to stop them."

Mark paused while he thought about what Jake was saying. It was all perfectly plausible and believable. Could he trust this guy?

"Ok, lets say I trust you, for the moment This doesn't mean you can start kissing me again. Ok?"

"All right"

"Good, now…are you going to get me out of here?"

"Not just yet, sorry. You'll be safe for the mean time though."

A sudden wave of seriousness washed over Mark, who stood up and moved over to Jake. He stood next to him and looked up into his deep blue eyes.

"Thank you, I'm sorry about what happened to your mother."

"It's ok."

"No, really" he said, pulling Jake down to kiss him tenderly on the lips to say thank you.

"I thought you said no kisses?"

"I lied." He said before kissing Jake again.

Jake pulled away. "I can get you out, but not yet."

He went on to explain the plan in detail to Mark, who listened intently. First Mark would wit until there was a shift change, then Jake would get him out of the cell he was in, then there would be a few minutes for them to get to the air ducts, where they could crawl to a sub-junction and make it outside then escape.

"Good idea" Mark started "but I have a better plan, one where it doesn't involve you leading me into a trap!"

Mark had known all along that Jake would try to double cross him, mainly by the syringe he had kept hidden behind his back. Although Mark had not seen it, he could feel the liquid held inside.

Jake leaped up and pulled the syringe into plain sight. "What are you going to do? There's no water in here! We made sure of it!"

"Are you all that stupid?" Mark said, causing Jake to put on a rather confused expression. "Humans…and mutants alike…are 80 water, and I can use any liquid, so that must be…a whole lot of human I can control!" as Mark finished what he was saying he pointed his hand at Jake and lifted him into the air, then with an almighty thud, Mark's captor was throne into the door, knocking it off its hinges.

Mark ran for it, any guards trying to stop him would either be thrown aside, or in the path of oncoming bullets.

The outside was so fresh, and after all of the time Mark had spent in his cell the sun was overpowering. He found himself in a forest. The tree's were tall and the ground was covered in twigs and leaves, making him easy to trace.

Only a little way into the wilderness, Mark heard voices coming his way. Above him was a tree covered in vines and, thinking of the water in the vines, Mark made them move down and pull him up to cover.

A small group of humans came into the area, all holding pistols. Mark knew that he needed more defence than his powers and so he decided to take the soldiers. Summoning the vines to his side, he grabbed two by the legs, leaving them to dangle upside-down. He then pulled the last one up to his height and began to question him.

"Is anyone else coming?"

"Filthy mutant"

"Ill ask again, is anyone else coming?"

"Fuck you!"

Mark moved the water in the mercenary's body, causing him to scream out in agony.

"Sorry but my patience is wearing thin…this is your last chance, is there anyone else coming?"

The human paused, still unwilling, until Mark sighed and made the gesture he did before to cause the pain, then he blurted the answer.

"No! no-ones coming." He said, looking as though he thought that talking to a mutant was as bad as swallowing a stink bug from hell.

"Good…where are we?"

"Go to hell!"

Mark squeezed.

"Where are we?"

"America, a mutant holding facility. That's all I know, I swear."

Mark paused, thinking whether or not to believe the man.

"Alright…I'm convinced."

Then he reached out with his free hand and pulled the gun from the man's hand.

"Thanks!" he said, nodding slightly, before he pushed the soldier away, into the trees and out of his sight. The then lowered himself out of the tree, taking a second pistol from one of the others on the way.

"HELP!" cried one of the guards, hoping others would hear. Soon after, one guard came rushing onto the scene. Mark was waiting for him, pointing the pistols in his direction.

"Before you shoot, how about we make this fair? No guns, no powers."

They both lowered their weapons, placing them on the floor. The guard immediately ran at Mark, leaping at his legs. Mark managed to dive over him, rolling back up he faced the guard again, only to find him grabbing for one of the pistols on the floor.

Mark ran towards the soldier who span and shot. The boy managed to slide under his aim and kick up, knocking the gun out of his hand and forcing him over. He stood up and looked at the crumpled form on the floor.

There was a click and Mark felt the barrel of a gun on the back of his head. He flinched slightly at the feel of it, and even more at the voice that followed. It was once again Jake's.

"Here we are again"

"Let me go Jake, I don't want to hurt you again"

"What if I do? Where would you go?"

"I'd stop people like you do what you've done to me, and nothing will change that, even if it means dying."

"Don't be absurd, no cause is worth dying for."

Mark took a deep breath to calm himself for what he was about to do, then he spoke.

"Yes…it is."

Jake pulled the trigger, but Mark had already moved, he dove out of the way, only to end up looking down the barrel of the gun that was held at him. The trigger was pulled again, but Mark moved forward, knocked the gun so it missed, then grabbed it and elbowed Jake in the face.

Jake then pulled out a second pistol from his holster. Mark leaped over a fallen tree for cover as Jake empted his clip pointlessly, then he threw the gun down and ran as Mark emerged from behind the felled trunk.

There was an almighty roar as someone from within the woods shot something a little more 'heavy duty' at Mark. He span to see a bazooka missile launching at him. there was nothing he could do, the explosion would kill him, he wouldn't be able to get far enough away!

Suddenly there was a strange sound as everything went dark. It felt as though a great weight was pressing down on his chest. The wind was squeezed from his lungs and Mark thought he was dead. Then everything came back. He felt breath in his lungs, he saw light in the air and there was another faint 'bamf' sound, followed by a rather loud explosion in the distance.

The shock was too much for Mark, that and the lack of sleep and food and drink, and he passed out in someone's arms.