Power left my hands completely, my fingers going limp. I could hardly breathe out the shallow, icy breaths that filled the cruel air. The only lights that were on disappeared suddenly when my eyes focused. One dark figure lay on the ground, twisted and bloody. Another shape, a rather petite one, became limp before my eyes, now leaning against my father. Spud and three other guards, in addition to the morbid creatures holding my dad captive, circled me in the dark of all their evil. They can't do this is here; it is too small for all of us here. No, I am just being stupid. They can do whatever they want. Light exploded into all of our faces, illuminating the evil deeds these mutants have accomplished. Maddie's red hair mixed in with the crimson blood that drips from the lethal wound atop her light face. Blank, glassed-over eyes stared at me as if they were accusing me of her murder. As for Serenity, her hands twitch every now and again, but there are no gashes on her, not even a scratch. What the heck did they do to her?
"Where are the boys? Hm?" An arrogant voice disturbed the air; my shoulders twitched in surprise letting a shudder run through my spine. None of my words spoke from my frozen shut mouth; I didn't even let out a heavy breath. Everyone, even my dad, stood still in my defiance to answer.
"Aw, come on Renee. We know that my brother and your little friend are in here somewhere ready to save the day." Spud smirked. I took some time to think this through. I honestly don't know where Mike and Alex are, they could be right next to me and I wouldn't even notice them.
"Do you want the truth?" I stalled, my words weak and unsatisfying.
" Of course my dear." Spud placed his hand on my shoulder. Something told me that I had to act this out. There is no way that I can pull this off if I am not convincing with my lie, Alex is obviously in this very room. However, whether he is with Mike or not, I have no clue. Here I go.
"Knowing these two… I would have to say…" I trailed off. My eyes caught my dad's face, full of horror. I knew what he was thinking: I am a traitor. I shook my head ever so slightly.
"Please…." I whispered.
"Okay, kill 'em." Spud raised his stubby fingers.
"No! Mike is in here, somewhere, I don't know. Alex must be out of this room."
"Stop! Search for them. You heard what the girl said." Spud coughed. A sharp blow to my back knocked me to the ground. Instinctively, my hands found their place in front of my face. Spud's foot prevented me from getting up from this putrid ground.
"I know you can still use your powers on me, but I also know that you wouldn't dare jeopardize your father's life. Now would you?" He taunted. Squirming, I scraped my nails hard against the cement, breaking off tiny pieces of my dirty nails.
"Why are you doing this?" I pleaded with him.
"I guess you deserve to hear the real facts." Spud wouldn't budge. Only the mutants holding my dad and Serenity were left from Spud's squad.
"I h-hope so." I tried being sarcastic, but I fought for my breath under his foot made of lead.
"You know Alex, he has a brilliant ability. Our parents thought that he was smarter than me, always compared him to me—" Spud stopped.
"That is what parents do. All you had to do was talk to them." I heaved.
"Shut up! I did. And they stopped if you must know. I love my parents very much. You see, during that time that I was compared to my little brother, it made me more competitive in school. I wanted to be the best at everything and science intrigued me the most out of all subjects. After all, biology helped explain some parts of your mutations. I took that in mind when I went ahead and started to find out about YOU 'people'. I did some harmless experimenting on Alex. I wouldn't do anything to hurt him, until now. Anyway, once I was in college, I came up with this fantastic idea. The idea of being able to turn normal humans into mutants themselves permanently. That way we have a choice to be like you guys or not. Oh what a dream! Soon that dream became only about me becoming that mutant, only me. We don't need you guys. You are just a nuisance to the world. Shortly after my thoughts turned towards me, I began to notice the wrongs and the rights of the world and that I knew all of the rights. I should be the one in charge. With me, everything will be fine." He swallowed.
"And be a tyrannical dictator? Take away all of our freaking freedoms? Killing off all of the mutants? That means killing your brother! And you would be a freaking mutant yourself. THINK!" I spat.
"Didn't I just say I don't care about him?"
"No. You never said that."
"Don't be smart with me!" Spud dug his heel further into my back. I muffled a scream. My heart is to my throat now, beating faster and faster. Dad protested against my harm. The woman struck him down with a hard fist. His exhausted face almost to my level now, showing his concern.
"Mutants! Okay. On with my story. Years passed and I tried every design I could think of to take away and use the powers of a mutant, but nothing worked. Nothing! That was, until I met your father. Who not only knows how to absorb the powers and use them, but also end up killing the mutant that comes in range of that darn thing. And now you know, my dear." Spud scoffed. All of what he said to me makes no sense. All he is, is power hungry. He doesn't care about right or wrong, up or down. Just about himself. Serenity started to wake up as my dad got up form his crippling stance. Her eyes widened in shock and in shame. The grip around her wrist tightened, pinching the soft skin of Serenity.
"When did you guys get here? I thought you were in the torture room. Whatever you call it." Serenity asked hazily. Huh? Dad and I looked around: the room transformed into a room the size of at least two cafeterias, shelves, chairs, pipes, and wires filled the room.
"You guys don't know where you are do you?" Spud smiled. I didn't move and no one spoke.
"Fine, you guys are five miles away from the compound. Mutants like my little brother did this to you guys. From the time any of you guys woke up 'till now, you thought you were in a small room in the compound." Spud explained with pride. What are we going to do now? As much as I believe in Mike and Alex, they can't through this. Too many guards. Just too many guards. I guess this is it. All I've gone through has been a complete waste and people died in vain. Thoughts about the pass I don't know how many days played in my head. Lying to my teacher about taking medication. Fighting with June… I wonder what happened to the students in my class.
"I did that. I made them think that there was a fire drill, but I have to clue to where your teacher was."
"Alex! Where is Mike?" I exclaimed in my head.
"I don't know, I am holding off the guards. Mike said something, but I couldn't hear him." I didn't pay attention to Alex. Well, I guess Alex was outside after all…
Out of nowhere, everyone, Spud, the two other mutants, Serenity, Dad and I were launched into the air. Mike popped up from the impenetrable floor, flipping forward on the ground. Serenity and I were slammed into each other, giving me yet another headache. The woman and the snake like mutant were knocked out onto one of the pipes. As for Spud, he is too big to have been moved too much from the shock.
"What have you done? Do you know what happens now? This place has bombs where you were hiding! You just set them off. It is a matter of time!" Spud shouted at us. I gradually turned my vision to Mike. His triumphant expression turned into fear, the color leaving his face. A blast of fire blew me down on my back, a noise ringing in my ears. Desperation stirred in my head and I thrust my hands forwards. My dad shielded Serenity from the explosion and looked around. In the shield I had put around us created a silent cocoon. Mike hesitantly lifted his hands from the back of his neck.
"What's it going to be Renee?" Spud growled, his leg twisted underneath him. Of course, I can't do anything. If I move, everyone dies. Pipes, bricks and other chunks of the building hovered above us, waiting to crush our beaten up bodies. Serenity peeked over my dad's shoulder, frowning.
"No, Spud. No. Do you want to die or live?" Mike yelled, running to him.
"I would rather die than join you." Spud sniffed.
"Renee?" Mike gestured at me.
"I can't kill him Mike. I can't just let him die." I whimpered.
"Oh. Well I will just kill you then." Spud reached for something. What is it? I squinted to see, but before I could recognize anything, Mike stabbed Spud in the abdomen. Spud instantly fell without a sound. The weight of the debris became unbearable, and my legs crumbled to the ground. I grunted, blood dripping from my nose. I can't let go, but I can't hold on either.
"Go go go!" Mike helped my dad and Serenity up, dragging them down, underground. Soon after, a hand gripped my foot, bringing me outside within moments.
The early morning light welcomed me outside from the partly cloudy sky, warming me up a bit. The aroma of grass tickled my nose, as well as the aroma of the smoke and ashes. Bushes outnumber the trees, providing some shelter from the strong wind and debris falling from the number if explosions. I couldn't resist laughing with Serenity and Mike. I am just so happy. We, as a team, survived this thing. Whatever this was. So far everyone except for my dad and me have major cuts or gashes. Our clothes are torn and most of our clothing is black from all of the dirt and mud we have been in. My heart is light now, allowing me to breathe, the welcome air inflating my lungs.
"Mike! What the heck did you do back there?" Alex sprinted towards us, his stone hard face relaxing.
"Alex, we were going to go back to the compound." My dad hollered to him. Oh yeah, the people at the compound. I started putting one mangled foot in front of the other on my torn flip-flops. Serenity fell in step next to me, explaining what she did when she was nowhere to be found.
When we got to the compound, it was swarming with the police and ambulances. More and more flashing lights bombarded my sight once more. The five of us stood at a distance, observing the kindness of these people.
"I wonder how they knew." I scratched my nose.
Alex crept up behind me. I jumped, turning around. The wind gently patted my face and my white blonde hair wavered. I sighed, there is nothing for me to worry about now. As far as I know, we are all safe. No more targets painted on the back of our heads. No more panels to worry about and no more mind tricks. At least not now. I curled my fingers, feeling the stiffness ebb away into a fluid motion. Mike scrambled his way to my side. Little crusted scratches here and there could be seen on his face. On this otherwise rough canvas, a straight mouth formed. His tight lips relaxed and opened his mouth.
"I wonder what is going to happen at school… I mean, what if everyone heard about what happened? This is the local police… They can't really hide anything." Mike pointed out.
"I guess we can only roll with the punches, but I doubt anyone will find out about us. The kids we saved are not with the police, they are with that woman." I slurred my words together. What a long journey this has been.
"Yeah you guys are fine. I have a trick up my sleeve." Alex winked.
"What about me?" Serenity popped up in front of me.
"You will be a new student. We will change the last name and disregard what people ask you about what happened years ago." Mike answered her.
"Where will I live though? I can't live in that tree thing for much longer." She complained.
"Are you willing to be Mike's neighbor? A friend of mine is moving out in a couple of days. I could pay for the rent." My dad came to complete the circle.
"Where do you get all of this money?" I had to ask.
"You will soon learn what your father does other than his normal job in a more complex way. And that other job is funded by a certain group of people." My dad chuckled. All of us started chatting about what we are going to do once we get back to our "normal" lives. I don't really know what I am going to do, except for one thing in particular. Eat. Looking at myself, the color is drained from my skin and some bones are starting to stick out. All of my cuts are healed and blood is dried all over my shirt, face, and hands. The sickening color made tear drops sneak out of my eyes, slide down my face and fall onto my arms. Quickly, I sneezed to cover up my emotions, the stinging in my nose increasing each moment.
"Let's go home." My dad announced in his firmest voice.
The softness of my green sweater was easy to get used to in this snowy season of winter. Surprisingly no one asked about my torn up backpack and no one really thought anything of the whole episode with June on that fateful day over a month ago. Ms. Wakes, however, stopped bothering me with sleeping in class after the word about the whole mutant thing spread around. The chatter of my noisy classmates fluttered in the air today in my last class of the day. Word has it that we are going to have a snow day tomorrow if the weather keeps up like this. The thought of that made excitement rush in my fingers. I had to push that thought aside, finishing my homework before the bell rang.
"Okay class, have a nice day! Hope to see you tomorrow!" Ms. Wakes hollered after us as the bell rang and everyone rushed to go play in the snow.
"I don't get the big deal of the snow day. Christmas break starts in five days." Serenity caught up to Mike and me in the hallway. Clenching to my backpack, I flinched at how fast she raced to us.
"I think it is fun." Mike retorted.
"I like the snow days though." I admitted.
"Two to one Serenity." Mike laughed. By the time we got outside, our breaths icing over in the thin air, Alex was waiting for us in his car.
"Hey do you want to go skating with us at the pond tonight?" Serenity asked Alex.
"I can't, Renee and I are going to the movies tonight." Alex kissed me on the cheek.
"Pssst. Serenity, why don't we spy on them?" Mike whispered. Serenity giggled, knowing what I would say in this comfortable moving car.
"Crap!" Alex exclaimed. I stopped abruptly and whipped my head around. A car sped towards us not even slowing down. I gasped and Mike put his hand on the car while I did the same, but for a different reason. With my buffer, the car slowed down, but not to a complete stop and tried to ram itself into the car. Instead, the car blasted backwards, stopping traffic.
"Good thinking Mike." Alex praised him. Serenity and I laughed our heads off from being so tense. We were so close to almost being dead again! Would this ever end for us mutants? No it wouldn't. People are afraid of us and I don't blame them: I am afraid of my own kind too. Over half of the mutants that I have met tried to kill not only people, but mutants as well. There will always be a never-ending circle of this. What everyone can do, mutant or not, is not to jump to any conclusions. Not to be quick to react, but to be quick to accept.