Chapter 21
I was lying down somewhere. I didn't know where, and I didn't care. I needed just a few minutes to wake up, and I knew that would be likely to happen. Memory avoided me, though. I wasn't sure why I wouldn't be able to sleep just a little more…
"Alex, I know you're awake. You can't take any more energy this fast. Get up." Zechs sounded mad, and I remembered why.
I blinked my eyes open, still not wanting to do anything. "Zechs? What are you doing here?" I remembered him being hurt, "You need to get to a doctor."
He rolled his eyes "You need to stop using energy, you're going to get yourself killed," he snapped.
I snapped back, "Look who's talking, what were you just doing?" We glared at each other. I asked again, "What are you doing here?"
"Waking you up while everyone else tries to find away out of here. That little stunt you pulled caused Gabriel to raise the defenses everywhere. Every psychic in the place must have felt it," Zechs said.
Now I was even more confused. I hadn't done anything big. Just switched over the control of a few zombies. At least I was in the same room, though, I could kind of find my way around from here if I had to leave. "So are they going to be back any time soon?" I asked.
"Duo and Jack might, but Matt ran off once he heard Mariemaia was here. Talk about a guy dedicated to his job. Julia got ticked off because she thought he should be helping out so she ran after him," explained Zechs. "So it's just the two of us for the moment."
I nodded slowly. "I can work with that. But seriously, are you okay? You look horrible."
Zechs shrugged. "I feel worse, but I'll stay standing for awhile. It's more important that you can do something. I gave you enough energy so that you might be able to hold off another batch of those… what'd you call them? Zombies? They're impossible. They just won't stop coming. The group that you handled, they were helping Duo until suddenly they stopped, as if listening to someone else, and then turned on him."
Frowning I nodded. "Gabriel probably did something. I can't control his creations when I'm unconscious."
Zechs agreed, "Too true. We need to get out of here. I can't figure out how though. Gabriel got into the main control room and found every exit we have, even the hidden ones. The zombies keep coming, I don't know where he got all those men from."
"He probably picked them up here and there, there're are too many for him to have changed at once. Their brains are scrambled, they still remember things, but there's no mind to control themselves with," I said.
"It's a useful tool if that's what you want to do, but why would you scramble every mind?" Zechs wondered.
I thought for a moment, then tried to explain, "I don't think he was trying to scramble all of their minds. I think he was practicing controlling his abilities. Figuring out how to stop them from doing or thinking certain things."
"Yeah, that sounds like Gabriel," Zechs muttered. He glanced around the room impatiently. "They should be getting back soon."
I stood up slowly, stretching as I did so. "I'm not really up for waiting. Is there something I can do? Somewhere I can go?"
Zechs shook his head. "Not without getting caught." So I waited. It didn't take long to start pacing. Zechs just stared at me. I think I was annoying him.
Finally Duo and Jack came back in.
Jack looked at me for a moment then smiled to me a moment before saying, "Want to hear good news or bad news?"
Raising an eye brown I said, "Let's go with good news."
"They're not going to come after us right away," Jack said.
"And the bad news?" I asked.
Duo stated, "If they wanted to they could crush us without really trying."
"Is there a way out of this?" Zechs asked.
Jack looked at Duo, who looked back. They knew something, they just weren't sure of it. Jack turned back to us. "There's a possibility," he said. "They haven't guarded every exit. Just the hallways surrounding here. Chances are, if we could get through unnoticed, we can make it out."
It sounded like an okay plan to me. "What's the catch?" I asked. Every okay plan had a catch.
"We need a way to break through a few of the doors. The only way to go unnoticed is to cut the cameras. Best way to do that is to cut the electricity. There's no back up power here, so if the power's gone, it's gone," Duo explained. "So someone has to get to the control room. Meanwhile someone else has to get into the weaponry to grab some small explosives and a few extra guns. Zechs can't leave, no offence but you'd be too slow," Duo glanced at him apologetically. "We'll have to come back from you once the electricity's out. Us three will have to split up. Two of us going to the control room and one of us to the weaponry."
In theory it should work. In theory a lot could work. "So who goes where?" I asked.
"Gabriel will be watching for us two," Jack said. "We should probably make the break for the control room. We can leave first so that they'll be watching us."
I nodded. "'Kay, but I don't know how to get to where I need to be going."
"It's not hard," Duo said, "and there might be some maps around here somewhere." He turned to the cabinets that where in the back of the room. I followed him over to them and we both did a brief search. Duo found a small map and then pointed out where we were compared to the weaponry. When I was sure what I would do I folded the map and put it in my back pocket.
"Okay, so I'll leave a few minutes after the two of you." They both agreed, and then left. I fidgeted for a few minutes. Then, with a wave goodbye to Zechs, I headed out.
No one was in the hallway. I started walking in the direction that the map had said to. After a few minutes there was still no people. That started to bother me. Usually when no one was there to stop you it was a good thing, but at the moment it was just uncanny. I continued walking, being careful to check for people.
There was probably one of two things going on. The first was that I was just getting lucky. It was possible. Some wars are won through luck. Not to mention that I was up against really bad odds kind of helped. I believed the theory that one out of ten one in a million chanced actually worked out. So if my odds were that bad they were still kind of good.
Then again there was the second scenario. That would be that this was all some big set up and I was about to get royally screwed. There were, after all, cameras watching. Gabriel would probably send someone to finish me off if he thought I was really going to be a threat.
The lights flickered. Had Duo and Jack been able to mess with things? The lights flickered again. I wondered why they didn't just go off. Finally, as if it took a lot of effort, the lights slowly faded. The lack of electricity would have been very good if it hadn't left me in pitch black.
I continued walking even though I couldn't see. I kept one hand to the wall so that I would know where I was going. I had to stay along that wall anyway so at least I would know when to turn. I made it past the first turn just as back up lights came on. I frowned. There wasn't supposed to be any back up electricity. If they had extra lights they might be able to get the entire base up and running. I started jogging. I had to get to the weaponry before they figured out I was heading there.
Soon I had to pull out the map to figure out where to go. That slowed down my progress but it was better than getting lost. Hearing footsteps not too far behind me I sped up. Soon the footsteps were gone and I was at the door to the weaponry. There was one problem though, I needed a code to get in. Duo had given it to me when we were going over the directions, but it was useless without electricity.
The main lights flickered again.
I stared at the door, punching in the code. Nothing happened expect the lights flickered for a second time and stayed on. Biting my lip I punched in the code again. A light above the code pad turned green, and the door opened with a swoosh. Stepping inside I shut the door behind me a willed the electricity to go off again.
Examining the room was a disappointment. There were a few computers and bookshelves, several televisions, but no weapons. I was beginning to think I was in the wrong place when I noticed three adjoining doors that led elsewhere. Walking over to the closest one I punched in the same code that I had used on the main door. It opened, but the room on the other side was empty. Quickly I went to the second door. Again the room was empty.
The lights flickered again.
I ran to the third door in hopes that I would get there before the electricity went out, but with a second flicker the lights were gone, leaving only the back up lights. When I punched in the code nothing happened.
Cursing under my breath I wished I had a way to talk to Duo. If there were any weapons they were probably behind door number three, and that was the one I couldn't get to.
Bang!
I turned to the door out. Where had that noise come from?
Bang!
Someone was doing something to the door, but I couldn't tell what. I needed to find away out of the room, though. Unfortunately there was only one door out.
Scrapping came from the other side of the door. Then a moment of silence. The next thing that happened was the most surprising. Sparks flew from the door as someone on the other side was using a blowtorch to cut through it.
I looked around the room more franticly. Hiding wouldn't help, there was no where to go. I walked around the desks anyway, wondering if I should push them up against the door. It probably wouldn't help, but at least I'd be doing something. Then I got an idea.
Last time I had needed to find a way through an Oz base unseen I'd done the most cliché of things, I'd used the air vents. Believe it or not, Oz was stupid enough to make them big enough for people to crawl through. Not to mention there was an opening to one near the ceiling right above the back desk. It was the only one in the room I could crawl through.
I ran to the desk, climbed up onto it, and started working to open the vent. There was a way where if you just took out two screws it would swing open and not fall off. Most people wouldn't notice the screws missing and they'd never know you where there.
Wishing that the desk were higher up I pulled myself as far into the vent as I could. It was a tight squeeze to get through the opening and even harder to pull myself completely in. I had nothing to hold on to, but I managed anyway. When I was finally completely in a took a moment to breath as the vent door slammed shut. I had made it to some kind of safety before whoever was on the other side of the door could bust through.
I carefully I wriggled backwards so that I could stare through the vent. I wanted to see who was behind what was going on. I knew it had to be Gabriel or Mariemaia. No one else would really bother. Did they know what I was going for? Did they even know it was me?
Sparks flew from the door as a box was finished. It was large enough that most people would be able to step through without much difficulty. The sparks stopped and someone started to push on the door. I decided that maybe I should be leaving before whoever was coming had a chance to see me.
Not being entirely sure on where to go I just moved forward. The vents started to widen and it became easier for me to move. I began to crawl instead of slithering around, taking the first turn I saw. The funny thing was I was just turning around a corner in the room. The next vent opened up to the same room, just on the other side.
People were walking inside, searching the area. They turned over desks as they looked around, several walking through the two open doorways. Once the place was secure Gabriel walked in. He had changed to something black. I couldn't see from where I was, but I was glad that he ditched the white outfit. It just seemed wrong on him.
"You can stop looking, she found a way out. She must have left before the power went out," Gabriel stated.
Mariemaia walked in behind him. "Couldn't she have just gone in there?" Marie asked, pointing to the third door.
Gabriel shook his head. "Duo doesn't have the code for that. I had someone change certain codes awhile ago so that they couldn't get into rooms like the armory. She shouldn't have been able to leave though… there's no other way out." Gabriel looked around the room, clearly puzzled. "She couldn't still be here."
"Should we send someone to get the power running again?" Mariemaia asked.
Gabriel nodded. "Yes, that would be good. Please get on that right away." He waved her off. "Oh, by the way," he added, "Watch out for Matt. He's around here somewhere, looking for you."
Marie only shrugged. "I'll take care of him if he shows up."
Smirking, Gabriel shook his head. He turned his back on Marie, ignoring her, and went back to trying to figure out how I disappeared. Mariemaia hesitated a little, wondering if Gabriel would say anything. When he didn't look back at her she left hastily.
Gabriel stood for a long time without saying anything. Then he looked up. "God, I've been stupid. I barely even have to look to find her," he muttered. It took me a moment to actually figure out what he meant, and by then he was in a meditating state. He would find my psychically, and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.
I started crawling again. Normally I would have tried to block him, but I had no energy. Any attempt I might have made wouldn't have been good enough, not when I was so close to Gabriel. If he was looking for me I had to get out of the vents. The next room I came across would be the one I went into.
Lucky for me the exit I came across was bigger than the one I had to climb through originally, and with a few shoves the screws came out themselves and I was able to climb out.
Right into the weaponry.
I blinked as I looked around. There wasn't a lot. A few rifles, a couple small explosives, and a pistol or two. There was enough for a small group of people to stay alive. There was enough fire power that, if I could get past Gabriel, it would be easy for us to get out. I just wasn't sure I could get past him.
Distantly I felt Gabriel prodding the base. I felt his surprise when he realized where I was, and even more surprise when he realized how I got here.
'Alex? What a surprise. You really are creative,' Gabriel said telepathically.
I would have answered but there was that whole wasting energy thing. I was running on Zechs's power, and he didn't have much to give. If either of us tried to do anything big we could seriously hurt ourselves, and I'd rather not do something small and not have energy when I need it.'Alex? Don't pretend not to be there,' Gabriel stated. When I didn't answer he kept talking.
'It doesn't really matter anyway, and I can see you're tired. Just thought I'd tell you that whatever plan you have it won't work. You're not going to get out of there.'
"Great," I muttered. So I was trapped. I might be able to keep them out. It was unlikely, but worth the effort if I could. While I waited for whatever he was going to do I started picking out what I could use the most. I scanned through the items, grabbing something here or there. The last thing I found was a bag to put everything in. After that I was done and could only wait for Gabriel to make a move. I sat down and began to meditate. It was easy, relaxing, and didn't waste energy. More of a natural way to approach psychic powers.
I wasn't surprised when Gabriel took up the blowtorch method of breaking into the room. I didn't want him in here, though, so I had to find a way to keep him out. I didn't think that he himself would be doing the work, so I searched for the gooneys that were actually doing the job. Not being able to focus on just one I targeted the entire group that was in the room. I knew it would be harder, but at least it would slow Gabriel down.
'Stop! Leave me alone! I don't care what you do, just don't come in this room. Don't help Gabriel get in, either. Just leave me alone!' I pushed the commands so far into them, I wasn't sure if Gabriel would be able to change them.
I smiled to myself, happy with what I had done, but I wasn't sure what state it had left me in. At this moment I could do a lot, but the moment I pulled out of meditation I'd be out of it. I couldn't take that chance at the moment, I just had to stay where I was.
'What the hell are you doing, trying to get yourself killed?' I was surprised to hear Zechs yelling at me.
I answered, 'What are you doing talking to me. You're not supposed to be doing anything, so don't be talking.'
'Can't stay put when Gabriel's cronies are dragging me around,' he stated.
Knowing that Gabriel had Zechs on the move I spread out my senses and searched for him. Zechs wasn't hard to find. He was one of the few non-zombie creatures that were in the base. Zechs was slowly moving towards us, which meant Gabriel probably had something planned with him. Right before I could send another thought to Zechs, something seemed to step in front of me. It blocked off all connection I had to Zechs, so if I tried to tell him something he'd probably never hear it.
"Sorry, but I can't have you getting in my way,' Gabriel stated. 'I don't really want to bother you, but unfortunately you threw yourself into this. You need to give up. Now.' I felt something pull at my mind, and suddenly Gabriel made sense. I wasn't going to win, I should just give up.
Wait a minute, I couldn't let myself think that. It was the same thing as what he was doing before, only now I had no defense against it.
'Come on, Alex. Just let me open the door. You can go home afterwards, just stop fighting,' the lull of his voice almost caught me. Gabriel was trying really hard, and I was giving in.
'Gabriel just go away!' I yelled. I put force into the words, hoping it would at least hold him back a little.
Gabriel laughed, and that bugged me. 'Do you think you can stop me? Give me ten minutes. You're so warn out that it wouldn't even take that long. I just want you out of the way. Once I take care of everyone else I don't care what you do. If you don't get out on your own I'll force you. I don't care what it takes, and I won't be nice about it.'
Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but nothing I couldn't deal with. Or so I hoped.
'I can't do that,' I stated simply. 'I don't care what happens, I can't let you get away with what you want to do.'
'You don't care what happens?' I didn't like the way he sounded. There was something almost cruel in his voice. 'So if I said that you have five minutes to surrender or I'm going to kill Zechs, what would you do?'
Damn.
'That depends. Do I have five minutes before you kill him, or are you just asking?' I asked.
'Does it matter?' he asked.
Mentally I nodded. 'Yes.'
'Then you've got five minutes till he's dead,' Gabriel stated.
I didn't know what to do. Siting in this room holding a bag of weapons does me no good, but I couldn't help at all if Gabriel got a hold of me. I don't know if he'd really let me leave or not. He might just be lying. Or maybe he really just wants to get Duo and his followers out of the way. Even if that was the case I couldn't help him. I'd rather die then let him kill my friends… but he wasn't threatening me.
He was going to kill Zechs.
Growling to myself I got to work. I found the zombies that I had ordered to begin with. Getting back into their minds I pulled away my order, telling them to once again obey Gabriel.
They got strait back to work.
'Good choice, Alex,' Gabriel sounded way too pleased with himself.
I slowly began pulling out of meditation as the zombies worked on the door. I ignored them, focusing more on staying conscience. I didn't want to pass out right when Gabriel was getting a hold of me. By the time I was fully out of meditation the zombies were walking up to me. I stood up slowly and carefully. It was hard to stay on my feet, but I managed to get to the door and into the other room.
Gabriel was sitting at a desk holding a gun that was casually pointed at Zechs's head. He'd learned better than to put the zombies in charge of something like that. He didn't want me sneaking into their minds and telling them not to shot Zechs.
"Alex, nice to see you again," Gabriel said cheerfully.
I nodded, almost losing my balance by doing so. I wished someone was here to help me stand, but I didn't want to ask anyone. The only person in the room I could trust was in a worse condition than I was.
Being a little irritated and annoyed I said rather bluntly, "Gabriel, you said I can leave. I'd like to, but I'm not going anywhere without my friends."
Gabriel shrugged. "Unfortunately, Zechs won't be able to go with you. He's on the execution list." Gabriel turned to Zechs, aimed his gun and fired once.
My legs gave way from shock. I'd given up any chance I had for one of my best friends, and Gabriel just shot him. I collapsed to the ground, barely being able to hold myself up on my hands and knees. I was exhausted from so many things, I didn't want to deal with this. I didn't want to look up. I didn't want to see Zechs, but I did anyway.
Zechs had been lying on the ground when I came in, but he had been breathing. He'd had a chance of making it out of here. Now blood was poring out of a wound in his chest. He was dying, and I could do nothing to help him. Too many memories were attached to this scenario. The last time I saw someone dying like this… where I could do nothing…
Why does the past keep haunting me? Vince died. He was shot, and I couldn't help him. Why does the same thing have to happen to Zechs?
"You bastard," I said in a deadly whisper. I would have turned an icy glare on him but I couldn't turn away from Zechs. "You stupid bastard," I growled. I wanted to get angry. I wanted to be so full of rage that I could just kill all of them. I wanted to let go, let fire come out of me and devour everyone. I just wanted to hurt them, and I couldn't do it. Anger just didn't come close to what I was feeling. Rage didn't begin to describe it.
I hated Gabriel.
I hated him for hurting people. I hated him for hurting me. For killing and not caring about it. I hated him for wanting to shape the world into being his world. I hated him for not caring.
And I hated him for killing Zechs.
Something inside me snapped. I wasn't tired anymore. I wasn't hurting. I wasn't feeling anything. I was nothing. I was frozen solid, so cold and uncaring that nothing mattered anymore.
Finally I turned to Gabriel. Hate filled me. It gave me a new strength, and I was able to stand. I crawled to my feet, not caring that my muscles were soar and complaining. It didn't matter.
"I'm going to kill you," my voice was the perfect emotionless tone that just terrified you.
Gabriel turned serious. "Really," he murmured. "Zechs isn't dead yet."
"I don't care," I stated matter-of-factly. "I'm going to kill you."
Gabriel looked confused. Somewhere between him shooting Zechs and me telling him that he was about to die I had done something that greatly confused him. Gabriel stood up in one fluid moment. I could see him pull his power around him, partly to shield him and partly to lash out at me in case I did anything.
I smiled softly. I didn't have to reach for power, it flooded me. Every part of my body vibrated with freezing, icy power that couldn't wait to explode. I closed my eyes as I shivered from the intensity. Then I let it out.
I could feel the power flowing off of me in waves. It hit the zombies closest to me first. They literally froze before the power moved on. It flowed over Zechs, but didn't hurt him. He didn't fight it, he couldn't, and it didn't even touch him. Gabriel had put together a shield. My power rolled off him, but each wave hit harder than the last, knocking back his shield bit by bit.
I felt myself falling to my knees, but I wasn't paying attention to my body. My mind was too busy flowing outwards with my power. It moved through walls and rooms and doors, nothing stopping it. I had no control, I was just the host, something to let the power slide through. I couldn't contain it, and in my state I didn't even mind.
I felt people freeze. Hundreds of zombies were turning to ice. People who weren't zombies were dying.
I don't want to kill you, I thought. I just want to kill him.
But they continued to die. Mindless person after mindless person. They couldn't even defend themselves.
My power paused when I reached Duo. I felt him, and Jack, too. They were fighting, and loosing. They were hurt, but I could help them. It took barely any time at all to kill every zombie attacking them.
My mind was starting to work again, though. I didn't want it to. I didn't want to be sad. I didn't want to have to feel that right now. The guilt would be overwhelming, I knew that, I had to keep going or I would lose this power.
"Alex?" I could hear Jack even though there was no way I should have been able to. "Alex what are you doing?" There was both awe and fear in his voice. I couldn't answer him, but I didn't have to. I kept my power moving outwards, even as I felt him get up and run towards me.
More died, and I didn't stop again until I felt another familiar presence. Three in fact: Mariemaia, Matt, and Julia.
Yet I didn't need to do anything to them. Matt was taking care of it. I could feel him, I could almost see him. Mariemaia was trying to run, she had tried to stop him, but she had lost. Matt was going to finish his job. The cold inside me stopped any feeling of pity, and I moved on.
Now, however, I was beginning to fade. My power was slowly drawing back to me, weakening. I couldn't keep this up any longer, my heart just wasn't in it. I didn't want to kill everyone. I was tired of people dying.
Yet there was one person I wouldn't mind seeing dead, and he had outlasted my attack.
"Gabriel," I croaked as I came back to myself. Once again I pushed myself to my feet. "Gabriel…" my voice was more solid, and much, much emptier.
He stood defiantly, but still looked terrified. "Was that it?" he asked tightly. Fear lined his eyes and his power felt drained, much like my own.
I shrugged. "Your forgetting something," I murmured.
"What?" he snapped.
"That was because I hated you, but there was no feeling with it. Now I'm angry," I said, my voice filled with venom. "You never should have done that."
"You're right," he growled softly, then screamed "I should have just killed you!"
The force of Gabriel's attack knocked me backwards. I would have fallen, but I hit a wall and was able to use it for support. I couldn't let Gabriel kill me, not yet at least. I wanted to kill him first. I was running on will alone, even the cold power having left me. But I was angry, angry and determined. That would have to be enough. I'd do anything to make it be enough.
Gabriel's black power surrounded me, drawing me into it and pulling my mind with me. He was trying to tear me apart and I couldn't let him. I felt fire gathering in me. My rage was finally coming out. I was out of all other options so my natural protection was coming back. I'd burn him if I had to, as long as he ended up dead. Gabriel threw wave upon wave of power at me. I just continued to throw them off. I couldn't let him inside my mind. I would lose if I did. I couldn't let myself loose.
"Why…won't… you…just…die!" Gabriel screamed. He let loose such a strong blast that I screamed in reply.
Clutching my head I collapsed. Breathing hard I glared at the floor.
He won't win! He won't win! He won't win! He won't win!
"Damn you!" I growled. Staring up at him I burst into flame. It was such a rush to feel the fire swirling around me that I almost went black. The fire didn't hurt me, it was just like the ice, just so hot I should have burned to a crisp instead of freezing solid. I threw the fire at Gabriel, channeling it strait into his mind, using his connection to me to throw out my power.
'No! I won't let you win! I'm going to kill you. Then I'll kill everyone of your friends. I'll kill all of you!' Gabriel's shrieks tore through my mind, but I just sent more fire. I'd burn him. I'd stop him.
"Alex? Alex!" I heard Jack yell my name, but I couldn't focus on him. I needed to stop Gabriel right now.
"Gabriel, why won't you just leave me alone?" I whispered sending a wave of flame with my words. "Just…die…" then the strangest thing happened.
Gabriel stopped fighting. My power hit nothing and came back at me. It washed through me, tearing at me before fading. I was left gasping for air and sobbing so hard it was hard that I was making it even harder to breath. Tears streamed down my face and I just couldn't stop crying.
"Oh my god, Alex," I felt more than saw Jack run to me. He clutched me in his arms, holding me so tight I didn't think he'd ever let go. "What the hell were you doing?"
I clung to Jack, crying into his shirt. "Is he dead? Is he dead yet?" I sobbed. Jack didn't get the chance to answer.
"Do you want to kill me?" I heard Gabriel's hoarse voice from across the room. I didn't answer. Gabriel sighed and I heard something sliding across the floor. A pistol hit my leg and stopped.
I didn't touch it, I didn't want to pull away from Jack. It was so nice to just cry, to not have to worry about anything or anyone. It was nice to just have someone hold me.
Gabriel just wouldn't let me be, though. "Just shot me," he begged.
"Why?" I asked. I didn't care if he died anymore.
"I lost," he said. "You won. I don't want to be here. I hate this world, I'll hate living in it. There's nothing I can do, I just want to die."
Anger flooded me. Gabriel was so weak. He didn't like things so he was just going to give up, once and for all. He wouldn't keep fighting. He'd given up against me, and now he was giving up against life. He didn't deserve to have someone else kill him.
Slowly I picked up the gun. I glared at it then looked up to glare at Gabriel. "Kill yourself," I yelled as I threw the gun back. "I'm not going to waste my time on someone as weak as you." I sounded like Wufie, but I didn't care. It was the truth.
Gabriel caught the gun in the air. He was glaring back at me. "You wanted to kill me, but now you won't," he muttered in disbelief. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing's wrong with her," Jack said. "You're just an idiot. You have the chance to live and you're throwing it away. She's not going to stop you if you want to die. But she's not going to help you commit suicide." Silently I thanked Jack for explaining things.
Gabriel stared at the gun. Carefully his fingers traced the lines on it as he thought. He looked at me one last time, meeting my eyes. "You're right Alex, I am weak. Of course, that's why you won." He pointed the gun at his head, clinched his eyes shut, and pulled the trigger.
I think that was when my mind finally collapsed, and I blacked out.
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I was lying down somewhere. I didn't know where, and I didn't care. I needed just a few minutes to wake up, and I knew that would be likely to happen. Memory avoided me, though. I wasn't sure why I wouldn't be able to sleep just a little more…
"Alex, I know you're awake. You can't take any more energy this fast. Get up." Zechs sounded mad, and I remembered why.
I blinked my eyes open, still not wanting to do anything. "Zechs? What are you doing here?" I remembered him being hurt, "You need to get to a doctor."
He rolled his eyes "You need to stop using energy, you're going to get yourself killed," he snapped.
I snapped back, "Look who's talking, what were you just doing?" We glared at each other. I asked again, "What are you doing here?"
"Waking you up while everyone else tries to find away out of here. That little stunt you pulled caused Gabriel to raise the defenses everywhere. Every psychic in the place must have felt it," Zechs said.
Now I was even more confused. I hadn't done anything big. Just switched over the control of a few zombies. At least I was in the same room, though, I could kind of find my way around from here if I had to leave. "So are they going to be back any time soon?" I asked.
"Duo and Jack might, but Matt ran off once he heard Mariemaia was here. Talk about a guy dedicated to his job. Julia got ticked off because she thought he should be helping out so she ran after him," explained Zechs. "So it's just the two of us for the moment."
I nodded slowly. "I can work with that. But seriously, are you okay? You look horrible."
Zechs shrugged. "I feel worse, but I'll stay standing for awhile. It's more important that you can do something. I gave you enough energy so that you might be able to hold off another batch of those… what'd you call them? Zombies? They're impossible. They just won't stop coming. The group that you handled, they were helping Duo until suddenly they stopped, as if listening to someone else, and then turned on him."
Frowning I nodded. "Gabriel probably did something. I can't control his creations when I'm unconscious."
Zechs agreed, "Too true. We need to get out of here. I can't figure out how though. Gabriel got into the main control room and found every exit we have, even the hidden ones. The zombies keep coming, I don't know where he got all those men from."
"He probably picked them up here and there, there're are too many for him to have changed at once. Their brains are scrambled, they still remember things, but there's no mind to control themselves with," I said.
"It's a useful tool if that's what you want to do, but why would you scramble every mind?" Zechs wondered.
I thought for a moment, then tried to explain, "I don't think he was trying to scramble all of their minds. I think he was practicing controlling his abilities. Figuring out how to stop them from doing or thinking certain things."
"Yeah, that sounds like Gabriel," Zechs muttered. He glanced around the room impatiently. "They should be getting back soon."
I stood up slowly, stretching as I did so. "I'm not really up for waiting. Is there something I can do? Somewhere I can go?"
Zechs shook his head. "Not without getting caught." So I waited. It didn't take long to start pacing. Zechs just stared at me. I think I was annoying him.
Finally Duo and Jack came back in.
Jack looked at me for a moment then smiled to me a moment before saying, "Want to hear good news or bad news?"
Raising an eye brown I said, "Let's go with good news."
"They're not going to come after us right away," Jack said.
"And the bad news?" I asked.
Duo stated, "If they wanted to they could crush us without really trying."
"Is there a way out of this?" Zechs asked.
Jack looked at Duo, who looked back. They knew something, they just weren't sure of it. Jack turned back to us. "There's a possibility," he said. "They haven't guarded every exit. Just the hallways surrounding here. Chances are, if we could get through unnoticed, we can make it out."
It sounded like an okay plan to me. "What's the catch?" I asked. Every okay plan had a catch.
"We need a way to break through a few of the doors. The only way to go unnoticed is to cut the cameras. Best way to do that is to cut the electricity. There's no back up power here, so if the power's gone, it's gone," Duo explained. "So someone has to get to the control room. Meanwhile someone else has to get into the weaponry to grab some small explosives and a few extra guns. Zechs can't leave, no offence but you'd be too slow," Duo glanced at him apologetically. "We'll have to come back from you once the electricity's out. Us three will have to split up. Two of us going to the control room and one of us to the weaponry."
In theory it should work. In theory a lot could work. "So who goes where?" I asked.
"Gabriel will be watching for us two," Jack said. "We should probably make the break for the control room. We can leave first so that they'll be watching us."
I nodded. "'Kay, but I don't know how to get to where I need to be going."
"It's not hard," Duo said, "and there might be some maps around here somewhere." He turned to the cabinets that where in the back of the room. I followed him over to them and we both did a brief search. Duo found a small map and then pointed out where we were compared to the weaponry. When I was sure what I would do I folded the map and put it in my back pocket.
"Okay, so I'll leave a few minutes after the two of you." They both agreed, and then left. I fidgeted for a few minutes. Then, with a wave goodbye to Zechs, I headed out.
No one was in the hallway. I started walking in the direction that the map had said to. After a few minutes there was still no people. That started to bother me. Usually when no one was there to stop you it was a good thing, but at the moment it was just uncanny. I continued walking, being careful to check for people.
There was probably one of two things going on. The first was that I was just getting lucky. It was possible. Some wars are won through luck. Not to mention that I was up against really bad odds kind of helped. I believed the theory that one out of ten one in a million chanced actually worked out. So if my odds were that bad they were still kind of good.
Then again there was the second scenario. That would be that this was all some big set up and I was about to get royally screwed. There were, after all, cameras watching. Gabriel would probably send someone to finish me off if he thought I was really going to be a threat.
The lights flickered. Had Duo and Jack been able to mess with things? The lights flickered again. I wondered why they didn't just go off. Finally, as if it took a lot of effort, the lights slowly faded. The lack of electricity would have been very good if it hadn't left me in pitch black.
I continued walking even though I couldn't see. I kept one hand to the wall so that I would know where I was going. I had to stay along that wall anyway so at least I would know when to turn. I made it past the first turn just as back up lights came on. I frowned. There wasn't supposed to be any back up electricity. If they had extra lights they might be able to get the entire base up and running. I started jogging. I had to get to the weaponry before they figured out I was heading there.
Soon I had to pull out the map to figure out where to go. That slowed down my progress but it was better than getting lost. Hearing footsteps not too far behind me I sped up. Soon the footsteps were gone and I was at the door to the weaponry. There was one problem though, I needed a code to get in. Duo had given it to me when we were going over the directions, but it was useless without electricity.
The main lights flickered again.
I stared at the door, punching in the code. Nothing happened expect the lights flickered for a second time and stayed on. Biting my lip I punched in the code again. A light above the code pad turned green, and the door opened with a swoosh. Stepping inside I shut the door behind me a willed the electricity to go off again.
Examining the room was a disappointment. There were a few computers and bookshelves, several televisions, but no weapons. I was beginning to think I was in the wrong place when I noticed three adjoining doors that led elsewhere. Walking over to the closest one I punched in the same code that I had used on the main door. It opened, but the room on the other side was empty. Quickly I went to the second door. Again the room was empty.
The lights flickered again.
I ran to the third door in hopes that I would get there before the electricity went out, but with a second flicker the lights were gone, leaving only the back up lights. When I punched in the code nothing happened.
Cursing under my breath I wished I had a way to talk to Duo. If there were any weapons they were probably behind door number three, and that was the one I couldn't get to.
Bang!
I turned to the door out. Where had that noise come from?
Bang!
Someone was doing something to the door, but I couldn't tell what. I needed to find away out of the room, though. Unfortunately there was only one door out.
Scrapping came from the other side of the door. Then a moment of silence. The next thing that happened was the most surprising. Sparks flew from the door as someone on the other side was using a blowtorch to cut through it.
I looked around the room more franticly. Hiding wouldn't help, there was no where to go. I walked around the desks anyway, wondering if I should push them up against the door. It probably wouldn't help, but at least I'd be doing something. Then I got an idea.
Last time I had needed to find a way through an Oz base unseen I'd done the most cliché of things, I'd used the air vents. Believe it or not, Oz was stupid enough to make them big enough for people to crawl through. Not to mention there was an opening to one near the ceiling right above the back desk. It was the only one in the room I could crawl through.
I ran to the desk, climbed up onto it, and started working to open the vent. There was a way where if you just took out two screws it would swing open and not fall off. Most people wouldn't notice the screws missing and they'd never know you where there.
Wishing that the desk were higher up I pulled myself as far into the vent as I could. It was a tight squeeze to get through the opening and even harder to pull myself completely in. I had nothing to hold on to, but I managed anyway. When I was finally completely in a took a moment to breath as the vent door slammed shut. I had made it to some kind of safety before whoever was on the other side of the door could bust through.
I carefully I wriggled backwards so that I could stare through the vent. I wanted to see who was behind what was going on. I knew it had to be Gabriel or Mariemaia. No one else would really bother. Did they know what I was going for? Did they even know it was me?
Sparks flew from the door as a box was finished. It was large enough that most people would be able to step through without much difficulty. The sparks stopped and someone started to push on the door. I decided that maybe I should be leaving before whoever was coming had a chance to see me.
Not being entirely sure on where to go I just moved forward. The vents started to widen and it became easier for me to move. I began to crawl instead of slithering around, taking the first turn I saw. The funny thing was I was just turning around a corner in the room. The next vent opened up to the same room, just on the other side.
People were walking inside, searching the area. They turned over desks as they looked around, several walking through the two open doorways. Once the place was secure Gabriel walked in. He had changed to something black. I couldn't see from where I was, but I was glad that he ditched the white outfit. It just seemed wrong on him.
"You can stop looking, she found a way out. She must have left before the power went out," Gabriel stated.
Mariemaia walked in behind him. "Couldn't she have just gone in there?" Marie asked, pointing to the third door.
Gabriel shook his head. "Duo doesn't have the code for that. I had someone change certain codes awhile ago so that they couldn't get into rooms like the armory. She shouldn't have been able to leave though… there's no other way out." Gabriel looked around the room, clearly puzzled. "She couldn't still be here."
"Should we send someone to get the power running again?" Mariemaia asked.
Gabriel nodded. "Yes, that would be good. Please get on that right away." He waved her off. "Oh, by the way," he added, "Watch out for Matt. He's around here somewhere, looking for you."
Marie only shrugged. "I'll take care of him if he shows up."
Smirking, Gabriel shook his head. He turned his back on Marie, ignoring her, and went back to trying to figure out how I disappeared. Mariemaia hesitated a little, wondering if Gabriel would say anything. When he didn't look back at her she left hastily.
Gabriel stood for a long time without saying anything. Then he looked up. "God, I've been stupid. I barely even have to look to find her," he muttered. It took me a moment to actually figure out what he meant, and by then he was in a meditating state. He would find my psychically, and there wasn't a thing I could do about it.
I started crawling again. Normally I would have tried to block him, but I had no energy. Any attempt I might have made wouldn't have been good enough, not when I was so close to Gabriel. If he was looking for me I had to get out of the vents. The next room I came across would be the one I went into.
Lucky for me the exit I came across was bigger than the one I had to climb through originally, and with a few shoves the screws came out themselves and I was able to climb out.
Right into the weaponry.
I blinked as I looked around. There wasn't a lot. A few rifles, a couple small explosives, and a pistol or two. There was enough for a small group of people to stay alive. There was enough fire power that, if I could get past Gabriel, it would be easy for us to get out. I just wasn't sure I could get past him.
Distantly I felt Gabriel prodding the base. I felt his surprise when he realized where I was, and even more surprise when he realized how I got here.
'Alex? What a surprise. You really are creative,' Gabriel said telepathically.
I would have answered but there was that whole wasting energy thing. I was running on Zechs's power, and he didn't have much to give. If either of us tried to do anything big we could seriously hurt ourselves, and I'd rather not do something small and not have energy when I need it.'Alex? Don't pretend not to be there,' Gabriel stated. When I didn't answer he kept talking.
'It doesn't really matter anyway, and I can see you're tired. Just thought I'd tell you that whatever plan you have it won't work. You're not going to get out of there.'
"Great," I muttered. So I was trapped. I might be able to keep them out. It was unlikely, but worth the effort if I could. While I waited for whatever he was going to do I started picking out what I could use the most. I scanned through the items, grabbing something here or there. The last thing I found was a bag to put everything in. After that I was done and could only wait for Gabriel to make a move. I sat down and began to meditate. It was easy, relaxing, and didn't waste energy. More of a natural way to approach psychic powers.
I wasn't surprised when Gabriel took up the blowtorch method of breaking into the room. I didn't want him in here, though, so I had to find a way to keep him out. I didn't think that he himself would be doing the work, so I searched for the gooneys that were actually doing the job. Not being able to focus on just one I targeted the entire group that was in the room. I knew it would be harder, but at least it would slow Gabriel down.
'Stop! Leave me alone! I don't care what you do, just don't come in this room. Don't help Gabriel get in, either. Just leave me alone!' I pushed the commands so far into them, I wasn't sure if Gabriel would be able to change them.
I smiled to myself, happy with what I had done, but I wasn't sure what state it had left me in. At this moment I could do a lot, but the moment I pulled out of meditation I'd be out of it. I couldn't take that chance at the moment, I just had to stay where I was.
'What the hell are you doing, trying to get yourself killed?' I was surprised to hear Zechs yelling at me.
I answered, 'What are you doing talking to me. You're not supposed to be doing anything, so don't be talking.'
'Can't stay put when Gabriel's cronies are dragging me around,' he stated.
Knowing that Gabriel had Zechs on the move I spread out my senses and searched for him. Zechs wasn't hard to find. He was one of the few non-zombie creatures that were in the base. Zechs was slowly moving towards us, which meant Gabriel probably had something planned with him. Right before I could send another thought to Zechs, something seemed to step in front of me. It blocked off all connection I had to Zechs, so if I tried to tell him something he'd probably never hear it.
"Sorry, but I can't have you getting in my way,' Gabriel stated. 'I don't really want to bother you, but unfortunately you threw yourself into this. You need to give up. Now.' I felt something pull at my mind, and suddenly Gabriel made sense. I wasn't going to win, I should just give up.
Wait a minute, I couldn't let myself think that. It was the same thing as what he was doing before, only now I had no defense against it.
'Come on, Alex. Just let me open the door. You can go home afterwards, just stop fighting,' the lull of his voice almost caught me. Gabriel was trying really hard, and I was giving in.
'Gabriel just go away!' I yelled. I put force into the words, hoping it would at least hold him back a little.
Gabriel laughed, and that bugged me. 'Do you think you can stop me? Give me ten minutes. You're so warn out that it wouldn't even take that long. I just want you out of the way. Once I take care of everyone else I don't care what you do. If you don't get out on your own I'll force you. I don't care what it takes, and I won't be nice about it.'
Not exactly what I wanted to hear, but nothing I couldn't deal with. Or so I hoped.
'I can't do that,' I stated simply. 'I don't care what happens, I can't let you get away with what you want to do.'
'You don't care what happens?' I didn't like the way he sounded. There was something almost cruel in his voice. 'So if I said that you have five minutes to surrender or I'm going to kill Zechs, what would you do?'
Damn.
'That depends. Do I have five minutes before you kill him, or are you just asking?' I asked.
'Does it matter?' he asked.
Mentally I nodded. 'Yes.'
'Then you've got five minutes till he's dead,' Gabriel stated.
I didn't know what to do. Siting in this room holding a bag of weapons does me no good, but I couldn't help at all if Gabriel got a hold of me. I don't know if he'd really let me leave or not. He might just be lying. Or maybe he really just wants to get Duo and his followers out of the way. Even if that was the case I couldn't help him. I'd rather die then let him kill my friends… but he wasn't threatening me.
He was going to kill Zechs.
Growling to myself I got to work. I found the zombies that I had ordered to begin with. Getting back into their minds I pulled away my order, telling them to once again obey Gabriel.
They got strait back to work.
'Good choice, Alex,' Gabriel sounded way too pleased with himself.
I slowly began pulling out of meditation as the zombies worked on the door. I ignored them, focusing more on staying conscience. I didn't want to pass out right when Gabriel was getting a hold of me. By the time I was fully out of meditation the zombies were walking up to me. I stood up slowly and carefully. It was hard to stay on my feet, but I managed to get to the door and into the other room.
Gabriel was sitting at a desk holding a gun that was casually pointed at Zechs's head. He'd learned better than to put the zombies in charge of something like that. He didn't want me sneaking into their minds and telling them not to shot Zechs.
"Alex, nice to see you again," Gabriel said cheerfully.
I nodded, almost losing my balance by doing so. I wished someone was here to help me stand, but I didn't want to ask anyone. The only person in the room I could trust was in a worse condition than I was.
Being a little irritated and annoyed I said rather bluntly, "Gabriel, you said I can leave. I'd like to, but I'm not going anywhere without my friends."
Gabriel shrugged. "Unfortunately, Zechs won't be able to go with you. He's on the execution list." Gabriel turned to Zechs, aimed his gun and fired once.
My legs gave way from shock. I'd given up any chance I had for one of my best friends, and Gabriel just shot him. I collapsed to the ground, barely being able to hold myself up on my hands and knees. I was exhausted from so many things, I didn't want to deal with this. I didn't want to look up. I didn't want to see Zechs, but I did anyway.
Zechs had been lying on the ground when I came in, but he had been breathing. He'd had a chance of making it out of here. Now blood was poring out of a wound in his chest. He was dying, and I could do nothing to help him. Too many memories were attached to this scenario. The last time I saw someone dying like this… where I could do nothing…
Why does the past keep haunting me? Vince died. He was shot, and I couldn't help him. Why does the same thing have to happen to Zechs?
"You bastard," I said in a deadly whisper. I would have turned an icy glare on him but I couldn't turn away from Zechs. "You stupid bastard," I growled. I wanted to get angry. I wanted to be so full of rage that I could just kill all of them. I wanted to let go, let fire come out of me and devour everyone. I just wanted to hurt them, and I couldn't do it. Anger just didn't come close to what I was feeling. Rage didn't begin to describe it.
I hated Gabriel.
I hated him for hurting people. I hated him for hurting me. For killing and not caring about it. I hated him for wanting to shape the world into being his world. I hated him for not caring.
And I hated him for killing Zechs.
Something inside me snapped. I wasn't tired anymore. I wasn't hurting. I wasn't feeling anything. I was nothing. I was frozen solid, so cold and uncaring that nothing mattered anymore.
Finally I turned to Gabriel. Hate filled me. It gave me a new strength, and I was able to stand. I crawled to my feet, not caring that my muscles were soar and complaining. It didn't matter.
"I'm going to kill you," my voice was the perfect emotionless tone that just terrified you.
Gabriel turned serious. "Really," he murmured. "Zechs isn't dead yet."
"I don't care," I stated matter-of-factly. "I'm going to kill you."
Gabriel looked confused. Somewhere between him shooting Zechs and me telling him that he was about to die I had done something that greatly confused him. Gabriel stood up in one fluid moment. I could see him pull his power around him, partly to shield him and partly to lash out at me in case I did anything.
I smiled softly. I didn't have to reach for power, it flooded me. Every part of my body vibrated with freezing, icy power that couldn't wait to explode. I closed my eyes as I shivered from the intensity. Then I let it out.
I could feel the power flowing off of me in waves. It hit the zombies closest to me first. They literally froze before the power moved on. It flowed over Zechs, but didn't hurt him. He didn't fight it, he couldn't, and it didn't even touch him. Gabriel had put together a shield. My power rolled off him, but each wave hit harder than the last, knocking back his shield bit by bit.
I felt myself falling to my knees, but I wasn't paying attention to my body. My mind was too busy flowing outwards with my power. It moved through walls and rooms and doors, nothing stopping it. I had no control, I was just the host, something to let the power slide through. I couldn't contain it, and in my state I didn't even mind.
I felt people freeze. Hundreds of zombies were turning to ice. People who weren't zombies were dying.
I don't want to kill you, I thought. I just want to kill him.
But they continued to die. Mindless person after mindless person. They couldn't even defend themselves.
My power paused when I reached Duo. I felt him, and Jack, too. They were fighting, and loosing. They were hurt, but I could help them. It took barely any time at all to kill every zombie attacking them.
My mind was starting to work again, though. I didn't want it to. I didn't want to be sad. I didn't want to have to feel that right now. The guilt would be overwhelming, I knew that, I had to keep going or I would lose this power.
"Alex?" I could hear Jack even though there was no way I should have been able to. "Alex what are you doing?" There was both awe and fear in his voice. I couldn't answer him, but I didn't have to. I kept my power moving outwards, even as I felt him get up and run towards me.
More died, and I didn't stop again until I felt another familiar presence. Three in fact: Mariemaia, Matt, and Julia.
Yet I didn't need to do anything to them. Matt was taking care of it. I could feel him, I could almost see him. Mariemaia was trying to run, she had tried to stop him, but she had lost. Matt was going to finish his job. The cold inside me stopped any feeling of pity, and I moved on.
Now, however, I was beginning to fade. My power was slowly drawing back to me, weakening. I couldn't keep this up any longer, my heart just wasn't in it. I didn't want to kill everyone. I was tired of people dying.
Yet there was one person I wouldn't mind seeing dead, and he had outlasted my attack.
"Gabriel," I croaked as I came back to myself. Once again I pushed myself to my feet. "Gabriel…" my voice was more solid, and much, much emptier.
He stood defiantly, but still looked terrified. "Was that it?" he asked tightly. Fear lined his eyes and his power felt drained, much like my own.
I shrugged. "Your forgetting something," I murmured.
"What?" he snapped.
"That was because I hated you, but there was no feeling with it. Now I'm angry," I said, my voice filled with venom. "You never should have done that."
"You're right," he growled softly, then screamed "I should have just killed you!"
The force of Gabriel's attack knocked me backwards. I would have fallen, but I hit a wall and was able to use it for support. I couldn't let Gabriel kill me, not yet at least. I wanted to kill him first. I was running on will alone, even the cold power having left me. But I was angry, angry and determined. That would have to be enough. I'd do anything to make it be enough.
Gabriel's black power surrounded me, drawing me into it and pulling my mind with me. He was trying to tear me apart and I couldn't let him. I felt fire gathering in me. My rage was finally coming out. I was out of all other options so my natural protection was coming back. I'd burn him if I had to, as long as he ended up dead. Gabriel threw wave upon wave of power at me. I just continued to throw them off. I couldn't let him inside my mind. I would lose if I did. I couldn't let myself loose.
"Why…won't… you…just…die!" Gabriel screamed. He let loose such a strong blast that I screamed in reply.
Clutching my head I collapsed. Breathing hard I glared at the floor.
He won't win! He won't win! He won't win! He won't win!
"Damn you!" I growled. Staring up at him I burst into flame. It was such a rush to feel the fire swirling around me that I almost went black. The fire didn't hurt me, it was just like the ice, just so hot I should have burned to a crisp instead of freezing solid. I threw the fire at Gabriel, channeling it strait into his mind, using his connection to me to throw out my power.
'No! I won't let you win! I'm going to kill you. Then I'll kill everyone of your friends. I'll kill all of you!' Gabriel's shrieks tore through my mind, but I just sent more fire. I'd burn him. I'd stop him.
"Alex? Alex!" I heard Jack yell my name, but I couldn't focus on him. I needed to stop Gabriel right now.
"Gabriel, why won't you just leave me alone?" I whispered sending a wave of flame with my words. "Just…die…" then the strangest thing happened.
Gabriel stopped fighting. My power hit nothing and came back at me. It washed through me, tearing at me before fading. I was left gasping for air and sobbing so hard it was hard that I was making it even harder to breath. Tears streamed down my face and I just couldn't stop crying.
"Oh my god, Alex," I felt more than saw Jack run to me. He clutched me in his arms, holding me so tight I didn't think he'd ever let go. "What the hell were you doing?"
I clung to Jack, crying into his shirt. "Is he dead? Is he dead yet?" I sobbed. Jack didn't get the chance to answer.
"Do you want to kill me?" I heard Gabriel's hoarse voice from across the room. I didn't answer. Gabriel sighed and I heard something sliding across the floor. A pistol hit my leg and stopped.
I didn't touch it, I didn't want to pull away from Jack. It was so nice to just cry, to not have to worry about anything or anyone. It was nice to just have someone hold me.
Gabriel just wouldn't let me be, though. "Just shot me," he begged.
"Why?" I asked. I didn't care if he died anymore.
"I lost," he said. "You won. I don't want to be here. I hate this world, I'll hate living in it. There's nothing I can do, I just want to die."
Anger flooded me. Gabriel was so weak. He didn't like things so he was just going to give up, once and for all. He wouldn't keep fighting. He'd given up against me, and now he was giving up against life. He didn't deserve to have someone else kill him.
Slowly I picked up the gun. I glared at it then looked up to glare at Gabriel. "Kill yourself," I yelled as I threw the gun back. "I'm not going to waste my time on someone as weak as you." I sounded like Wufie, but I didn't care. It was the truth.
Gabriel caught the gun in the air. He was glaring back at me. "You wanted to kill me, but now you won't," he muttered in disbelief. "What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing's wrong with her," Jack said. "You're just an idiot. You have the chance to live and you're throwing it away. She's not going to stop you if you want to die. But she's not going to help you commit suicide." Silently I thanked Jack for explaining things.
Gabriel stared at the gun. Carefully his fingers traced the lines on it as he thought. He looked at me one last time, meeting my eyes. "You're right Alex, I am weak. Of course, that's why you won." He pointed the gun at his head, clinched his eyes shut, and pulled the trigger.
I think that was when my mind finally collapsed, and I blacked out.
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