West Coast Issue 6
Drake Ramsey
"Are You Guys for Real?"
Those morons woke me up with all their talking.
They were actually whispering. And I was only half awake.
"We are breaking in tonight."
What the heck is happening?
"Hey! You listening, Aaron?" Max's voice.
I stayed motionless. I was super lazy. To be honest, I liked eaves dropping too. Under my blankets it was warm and I felt the nylon fleece all over my body. It was too cold tonight to sleep in the nude, but I only wore my boxer briefs.
"Yeah. You still wearing the chip Mr. James gave us?" Aaron. He could fly like I could. I manipulated the atom to push my body through the air but Aaron could fiddle with gravity itself. Man it was cool. I caught the name "Mr. James" though.
"Yeah. Mine's still on. You guys good? Wouldn't want Ms. Lexis squashing this before the students scream." Max again.
I just stilled. What was going on? It felt weird now. Awkward. Then it clicked. "Mr. James" was Robert James. He was a powerful technopath who had fought Mr. McCoy and Ms. Lexis a year ago. What was Max and Aaron doing with his stuff?
It went from bad to worse.
"I'm good."
"Me too."
"Yeah, all of us are good."
Lots of voices now. It was hard to tell them apart though I was fully awake.
"This worked out great, Max. Dante isn't even in here and only Drake would have been a problem but he's asleep."
The rest of my roommates… Andrew, Isaac, Jackson, and Kavik all were in on it. Their voices distinct as I paired them with their hushed laughs.
"Still. I don't want any chances." Max was scaring me. "Anything you can do to pin him here, Aaron?"
I didn't like where this was going. It did give me tons of peace knowing Jon wasn't among them. But still.
"I can try, but not for long. I'll want to use my powers outside when we let the rest of the Brotherhood in." Aaron clapped his hands and rubbed them.
My other augmentation was pretty sweet. I had kept it to myself because it was kind of weird. Ms. Lexis knew about it, but she was teaching me to not be afraid. Teaching me ethics about it. Guidelines.
I heard footsteps come closer.
"Hey, Drake…" Aaron shook me. I had to make this quick. I had to get to Ms. Lexis. I had to warn Jon. Mr. McCoy was back in Westchester for a week so it was up to us. In the back of my mind, all I wanted was to get to Loren.
"Drake. Wake up. We need to talk." I had to play this off.
"Just do it, Aaron!" Max pushed him. What a fag.
"I'm going to at least tell him so he doesn't have a heart attack."
Smooth, Drake. Be smooth…
I whipped around, throwing my covers off. The room was still black, no lights.
"Are you guys for real?" I blended. My skin changed jet black. The black boxer briefs I wore was the perfect choice. I couldn't have planned my wardrobe better.
Confusion roamed.
"What the… Find him!" Max screamed orders, turning and smashing our huge dresser to splinters with one fist. Yeah, he was a bit stronger than your average herd of elephants.
I shot to the roof as fast as I could and waited. I had to get to the door but Kavik sat in front.
"Hold on to something. Its going to get really heavy." Aaron stretched out his hands. The gravity began to get heavier and heavier. My power of flight makes me tired after a while and fighting the growing gravity was too much, way too fast.
Kavik ripped off his left arm and had it ready like a club. Of course, he grew another left arm in no seconds flat. Still in night-blend, I blasted out, crushing Kavik into and out the door. I erupted from the dorm, into the frigid night air. IN MY UNDERWEAR!! Let's just say…my nipples were hard.
Out of all my roommates, I was pissed it was Kavik I had thrashed. Damage was never permanent on him. But still! They were about to do something very stupid. My heart raced, carrying adrenaline through my veins.
I stretched out with my hands, blasting through the air, toward the Staff Housing. I was supremely happy Ms. Lexis was an insomniac. Her window was open and the TV was playing a movie, as always. She got up from her couch, her black hair past her shoulders.
"What is going on, Drake?" I felt her filtering through my mind like a file cabinet. She played back my memories in a tenth of a second. I didn't even have to answer.
Ms. Lexis opened her armoire, a dark blue suit floated to me. It was thick, cooling leather. Did I mention Ms. Lexis was telekinetic too? I was still in night-blind and still in my underwear.
Put this on.
I looked at her. It was a tactical uniform. Adrenaline flowed free again.
Jon will need your help. He's in the Cafeteria. Hurry, Drake. They're already headed there.
I zipped up the suit and exploded out the window. Loren was still in my mind. I was scared and I just wanted to protect her.
