8
From the far stall Cobie could hear the groans of the person in the first stall. With tears falling from his face he called out. "Hey man, you okay?" He was answered with a groan. Cobie got up and walk out of his stall. The groans came from the closed stall next to his.
"Cobie, I don't feel very well man." It was Darren's voice, but it was followed by dry heaving.
"Open the stall dude," Cobie said, fear rising in his chest. His best friend can't be sick either. He was answered with another groan. "Open the door!" He grabbed the top of the door and started to shake it. He was losing his mind at the thought of his friend ending up like people in the classroom. He had to help. The latch was released just as Cobie pulled on the door. The backward force threw Cobie to the ground and onto his back.
When he scrambled to his knees he saw his pale friend taking shallow breaths on the ground. "Cobie?" He asked weakly.
"I'm here man, I'm here." Cobie scurried to his friend. When he reached him Darren gave a weak laugh.
"I don't know how this happened man, I was fine this morning. Didn't think I would go out in the guy's bathroom. Damn," Darren said closing his eyes slowly.
Franticly, Cobie reached out and grabbed Darren's arm. "No, you're going to be fine man." Instantly Darren screamed and grabbed his arm then started contorting. Foam came from his mouth and tears fell from his eyes. He looked confused and scared as his last breath passed his lips. His body stopped moving and blood dribbled out of his mouth. His eyes never shut, instead a blood vessel popped in one and blood made his eye red.
Cobie was shaking and crying. He just watched his best friend to die. "What's going on?" Cobie asked himself through sobs. He was completely bawling telling Darren that he was sorry, he didn't know what was happening but he felt responsible.
"What's going on?" He heard the deep voice of the football coach.
Cobie tried to call for help but all that came out were sobs and strangled sounds. The tall bald man came around the corner and looked into the stall. "What the hell! What happened? Kid are you okay?" He grabbed Cobie's shoulder and screamed in pain. When Cobie looked back the man was cringing holding his hand. "What did you do to me?"
"I . . ." Cobie tried to talk but couldn't as he saw the man start to convulse. He closed his eyes and just listened to the man die until the sounds stopped. When he looked back the coach laid in a spread eagle formation with blood streaming from his nose mouth.
"I'm sorry," Cobie said over and over starring at the coach. He came to the conclusion that he's killing everyone. That whenever he gets touched by anyone they die. He slowly stood up, shaking the whole way. Step by step he left the bathroom, apologizing silently through his sobs. He saw paramedics and police rushing into the school.
"Cobie?" He heard his mother's voice from behind him. He turned around and saw her rushing towards him.
"No! Stay away from me!" He turned and ran, he couldn't let his mom touch him. He didn't know where he was going, but he ran right into a paramedic and pushed past him with his shoulder. Cobie cringed as he heard the man fall and cry in pain as he died. He rounded the corner listening to his mom call out his name. Then she screamed as she saw the man dying. Cobie knew where to go to hide. With tears streaming down his face and he ran down the white and blue halls to the band room. It was never locked so he pushed it open and ran straight to where the tuba was stored. He pulled out the tuba and climbed into the empty space and closed the door.
It was dark in there, the only light was the crack between the doors. There he cried and thought about the people he just killed. Their faces and screams rang in his head. He knew that the police will be looking for him. One would grab him and die and the others would shoot him right there. He was thinking for anyway out of the school, but the police most likely have the school surrounded and won't let anyone in or out, until the killer is caught.
He heard the door to the band room open and footsteps rang out on the linoleum before reaching the carpeted steps that led to the instrument cubbies where he was hiding. It was only one but if they touched him the screams would bring more.
Who ever it was started to hum softly, he recognized the sound instantly. It was the band teacher's kid. Her mom is probably looking for her now, which explains why the band room was empty. The humming got closer then stopped. A small voice rang out, "Why is this one out?" The little girl made a straining noise as she tried to lift the tuba and move it back to the cubby. It didn't take long for her to give up. The small sounds of her feet on the carpeted floor came closer to where he was hiding.
He heard the band room door open, "Jessica!" The voice called out. It was the band room teacher. The steps stopped.
"Up here mommy! There's a thingy out of its spot. It's too big for me!" He heard the teacher start running to her daughter. Without warning the door to where he was hiding opened and he saw the sweet face of Jessica.
"Get away from me!" Cobie yelled at the little girl. She jumped back and started to cry. Better her sad and scared than dead. The teacher, Mrs. Aims, made it to where her daughter was crying.
"Cobie, are you okay?" She asked as she looked at his face.
"No," was all he said and started to cry. He heard footsteps coming towards him.
"It's okay, Cobie, let's get you out of there." He heard her say.
"No, stay away from me!" He cried out, but it was too late because her hand landed on his shoulder. She flinched back and screamed. "No," Cobie whispered as she fell to the ground grunting as blood came from her nose and mouth. Jessica started to scream and cry. She didn't know what to do.
Cobie looked at her and made eye contact. "I'm sorry, Jessica. I'm so sorry." She screamed again. Mrs. Aims crawled over to her, but she backed away from her mom's bloody face.
Through her pain she tried to calm down her baby, "Shhh, it'll be okay baby." She was obviously trying to hide the pain to protect her baby. "It'll be," she started gasping for air and tears streamed down her face. She reached for her kid but Jessica just ran away from her dying mom.
"I'm sorry," Cobie whispered. Gasping and chocking on her own blood she looked at me as if asking for help. Cobie closed his eyes and cried as he heard her stop struggling.
The band room opened and he heard the kid running out crying. The door closed and he got up. He couldn't be here with another body.
He slowly walked out of the band room. He walked past closed doors, knowing kids were in there hiding from the "intruder."
"Cobie!" He heard his mother call out.
How was she still in the school? The police should have made her leave, unless she tried to follow her son.
"Cobie, stop right now," she called out, but he wasn't going to let her die. He tried to run but tripped over himself. He was dizzy and scared. "Cobie, what's going on?"
He heard her getting closer but he couldn't see right, the world was blending together. "Mom, don't," but tragedy strikes again. His moms hand grabbed his. "No," he said as she screamed. She fell into his arms and she started to shake more and foam filled her mouth. His dizziness fell away and he was suddenly filled with energy. He watched his mom die in full HD. Blood filled her eyes and streamed out like she was crying blood.
Cobie cried the whole time and she was trying to look for him through the blood in her eyes. "Mom, I'm so sorry." He said crying over her.
"C. . . C . . . Cobie." She said as her head went limp and her last breath left her body.
Just then police came around the corner weapons drawn at Cobie. "Put your hands above your head and step away from the woman." One of them said.
"She's my mom!" Cobie screamed not getting up even though he was filled with energy.
"You killed her! You're a monster!" The man with the gun shouted. "Stand up, now!"
"No, I'm not a monster. I didn't mean it." Cobie said putting his forehead on his mother's.
He heard the cocking of the handguns. "You killed her, you don't deserve to live! You killed her! You killed her!" He was confused why they were screaming at him what he was thinking. "You killed her!"
Cobie couldn't handle it anymore. He screamed and felt all his energy leave him. The police all dropped to the ground screaming in pain. Blood poured from their mouths as they died. One shot himself in the head. He heard screaming from the room he was by and more screaming from down the hall. There was a thud from the other side of the classroom door and blood oozed from under the crack.
He felt a hand on his shoulder and he flinched. When he looked up he saw a girl about his age with Hazel eyes. His heart skipped a beat just from her beauty. Then he passed out.
"There now you know everything that happened. How I killed my best friend, a kid's mother, my mom, and countless others." Cobie said, laying back tears falling from his eyes.
"They never called you a monster," Taylor said from beside him.
"What?" Cobie put his head up and looked at Taylor.
"They never did. I was there, they were asking what happened and you started to scream at them that you didn't mean it and that you weren't a monster. Then you screamed and they all died."
"Except you because of your power," Cobie said, putting his head back. "Why didn't you save them?"
"I was too slow. I never saw it coming and by the time I realized what was happening they were dead." She looked down and Cobie could have sworn he heard her sniff and stifle a sob.
"Cobie, you have killed the most people out of all of the recruits here. A total of seventy-four people died because of you. This is one thing you have to come to terms with. A burden we all must carry."
"The most kills? God you make it sound like a competition to see who can be the better murderer."
"I killed thirteen people, when I first discovered my powers. It was at my birthday party, a clown scared me and I threw up a shield and sent him flying into the air. He landed on his head and died right in front of me. After that I killed both my mom and dad by pushing them against a wall and crushing them. Director Price found me crying in an alley. He had a tracker with him, that's how he found me. He made me go through the same process. You're not the only one Cobie." Taylor said, spilling out her story holding herself back from crying the whole time.
"The first step is to overcome your past. To move on from what you did when you couldn't control yourself. This is why control is important, if you lose control you can not only kill yourself but countless others."
"What happened to my school?" Cobie asked, ignoring the director's words.
"They closed it down and are looking for what happened, they found seventy-five bodies, including yours. All dead from a mysterious poison," Price said in a stern voice.
"Oh. So I will never be mentioned or investigated," Cobie said softly. "That's a relief I guess."
"Cobie, I'm going to give you something. It's not meant to hurt you, but to be a driving factor in forgetting the past. Come to terms with each one of these. One by one if necessary, as long as it's done." He gave Cobie a manila envelope. He took it and looked at the bottom side. Written in black marker was a word, "Cyanide."
"What's this?" Cobie asked, pointing at the word.
"That's your given code name, Cyanide."
"Mine's Aegis," Taylor said grabbing his hand and tugging on his connection.
"Aegis and Cyanide? A protector and a killer. A perfect match." Cobie said as he opened the envelope. He pulled out a stack of pictures held together with a rubber band. His hand went to his mouth and tears fell from his eyes. "It's only been a couple of days, how can they already have these?"
"It's been a little bit longer than a couple of days, Cobie. We kept you a sleeping state for two months before we interrogated you. We used that time to study you and make sure that you were healthy before we questioned you." Price said, standing up. "It's time for me to go. Aegis, keep an eye on Cyanide here." Price walked out of the room with the door reappearing.
"I'm tired, Taylor. Mind if I go to sleep?" Cobie asked, crying.
"Of course, I'll be right here if you need me." She said with a smile, pulling on the bond trying to comfort him.
"I was wondering if you'd hold me," Cobie said, sniffing and wiping his eyes.
"You're such a child," she said as smiled and she stood up. Cobie put the pictures away in the envelope and put them on the side table.
"Thank you," he said as he wrapped his arms around her and cried into her shoulder, the whole time he cried, Taylor held him and told him it was all okay and tried to calm him down by giving him reassurance with their bond. It didn't work as he cried himself to sleep.