“No, stop, you can’t take … ” Paul was saying, as a bullet scratched against his shoulder.
“Stop it, don’t shoot … ” Randy was moving now toward Paul, ready to take him down while screaming to the guards. They wouldn’t listen to him. Two more shots were fired, these two entering into Paul as he and Randy’s bodies clashed. Paul’s body already falling into Randy, unable to knock Randy down; instead he twisted and fell on to the field.
Paul was still yelling for them not to hurt Donna, who was out of the fire now. Her alert self was still lost in seeing everything in a way she had never seen the world before while her old self was so lost, angry, and emotionally beaten by seeing this boy being shot. Her hands, lost in that emotion, were raised and a ball of electricity was there before she knew it. She barely flickered her wrist, and it was flying out, hitting the shooters. This in turn sparked more shooters to pull out their guns and shoot at her, sending another bullet sloppily into Paul while the other ones came through her, unable to even jar her this time.
“Put your guns down!” Randy was screaming at them. The moment he looked away from Paul, not knowing what to do, and onto the guards, they were on fire, her electricity not needed anymore. Randy looked up at Donna. She was only three feet away from him now. He was an angry wall in the way of her helping her dying friend, flames levitating in his palm.
“You two are working together!” Randy’s fire shot out like a hose coming for Donna, but she moved too fast this time, it didn’t touch her. She ran around Randy, kneeling next to Paul. She tried to force herself back to humanity, her body starting to become opaque so she could touch him. She wanted to drag him away from here and find a way to help him. Somehow she had to.
“No,” Paul whispered weakly, tears in his eyes, tears of an eighteen-year-old boy being robbed of his life. “I’m done now, I can feel it.”
Donna was still at his side, paralyzed by his words. In her head she was crying too, this body unable to let her show it. How could this be real, how could life do this?
“There was little more I could do, anyway. It’s up to you guys now to stop them,” his words were quiet and weak, losing life. “There are so many different forces out there, all blind to what’s coming. I know, I know you’ll be a part of the ones left to stop it, but, only if … ” Donna couldn’t understand his mumbling anymore. He was speaking too low and his skin was growing so pale.
Randy was behind Donna now, but he wasn’t trying to stop her. The guards around them were screaming and other loud new noises were joining them, but all that seemed so far away. Paul’s last words seemed to only stop time around them, while everywhere else was motion and chaos.
“ … but please … ” Now his words were louder, a new light in Paul giving him strength to ask this. “Protect her for me.” His eyes were alive as he said the word “her,” and then he didn’t seem to see Donna anymore. He seemed to be lost in a memory. The look in those eyes made Donna feel desperate and helpless. Her hand, just her hand and no other part of Donna, turned back to a human hand made of flesh as she touched his lightly, afraid it would shatter. He was still lost somewhere as he grabbed it a little. Donna’s observant self who was merely a whisper now, told her he was grabbing for someone else.
Rebecca … Donna was sure in Paul’s mind it was Rebecca holding his hand. She was the “her,” his world, the one he wanted Donna to protect. All this from the time the first guard had fired a bullet to now, as Paul lay here, felt like at least minutes had gone by. When really, it all had happened in seconds. Then the last drop of life left Paul and he died.
* * *
Spencer
Everything had kept going from bad to worse, from insane to impossible by the second. Spencer barely had time to process it all. He was going to help Paul, he wasn’t sure how, but he was, but then before Spencer could blink Paul had been shot. He froze, and absolutely wet himself like a toddler. He’d seen people get shot, he and his mother both were almost killed by guns when he was only a child. So why was this different?
Because this was Paul and Donna being shot at, and the world wasn’t suppose to turn out this way. Donna had gone to Paul’s side, but as the next second passed Spencer saw him grow still. Spencer knew it then. He wasn’t near enough to really tell, yet he just knew, Paul was dead. These people had killed him.
* * *
Donna
The world seemed to end, and then time sped up, Donna’s other electric arm reached out to hold Paul, to somehow retrieve the soul that had left, but then electricity was pouring into him and Donna pulled away. Oh God, I’m hurting Paul! Her human hand was feeling for the pulse it was unable find. You can’t hurt the dead, Donna, her observant voice gently whispered. Then the sound of sirens, coming to stop the fires, got louder, and two more Hummers filled with guards were on the way.
You need to run, Donna! the voice told her. Anger took over. Paul just died, died for me! She turned to Randy who already had fire in his hands. Her alert self seemed to try to tell her something but Donna refused to listen. She was completely electric and glowing bright. A ball of electricity was forming in her hands, growing bigger and bigger as the new guards were coming behind Randy toward her. Donna threw the ball with all her might right at Randy. It was too big just for him; its force, like a small bomb, sent him and all the men flying backwards. Then Donna ran for her life.
* * *
Spencer
The electrical person Donna had become had let off a blast of electricity so large it was like Spencer had seen a bomb go off. He’d ducked under the bushes for cover and when he looked up Donna was running into the woods.
Left alone, survival took over Spencer next. He knew he could not run out now without being noticed, but if he stayed in this bush he’d certainly die. So he quickly crawled into the porch of the small house he was near. The sliding glass door had been left unlocked. The old lady who owned the house had probably never locked it a day in her life. This was suppose to be a boring small town, after all. Yeah, till a few months ago, when the already unsafe world ran amok!
“God, I’m in hell!” Spencer whispered to himself.
In the dark, smelly house Spencer stood, his mind racing. They would surely find him in here soon enough. The phone had been ringing, the machine picked up: “Ruth, this is Wilma. I heard there are three fires near you out there. Not sure if you’re back from visiting the grandkids yet but just wanted to make sure you’re all right.”
Spencer sat on the bed for a long moment in the dark, hiding and ignoring the message machine. Hiding was something he understood, something he was used to. He had in the back of his mind always resented his mom for wanting to hide, when the boy in him wanted to fight like one of his heroes on TV. All those fantasies were gone; having to watch his best friend and classmate become the heroes and one of them not survive was just … numbing. Paul, they killed Paul! his head screamed. This is life, Spencer, this is the real world where bad guys kill people! You knew that when you first started through the forest. Yeah, he had, but when he had sent Rebecca off, he was sure he was the one that was going to die. He could just feel it. Then Paul was out there before he could make a decision about what to do. He should have just blindly run behind him.
Spencer crawled on the floor and watched out the small dusty window as golf carts full of more men in suits were coming. There were at least fifteen guards being hauled into ambulances. EMT’s must have been trying to resuscitate Paul. A man had those paddle things in his hands, but after a moment, he just shook his head. Someone already had a white cloth to put over his body, more reality to prove he was dead. They’d really killed him. Paul was dead and life as anyone had ever known it was surly over.
* * *
Randy
Randy pushed the EMT that was coming to help away. “Get the hell away from me!” he yelled, furious. He walked toward one of the agents who was awake and on a stretcher while his EMT was giving more immediate attention to others. “You shot him!
You all shot him!” he yelled.
Yeah, Paul was a dork, and after yesterday Randy thought he was a freak, but he was still powerless. He hadn’t had a gun in his hand. He certainly wouldn’t have been a threat to Randy. All they had to do was let Randy knock the guy out cold, and they’d have had their prisoner by now, and Paul would be alive. Randy had helped yet another “innocent until proven guilty” person die. This was his life, the weak dying to the strong.
Randy’s anger flared and he felt like he was going to set the man in front of him on fire and fought himself not to. His eyes turned into flames, and he glared down at the pathetic man twice his age.
“Your father ordered it, sir. He said shoot to kill,” the man panicked. “He said he couldn’t afford anyone escaping here, that the police were on the way.”
Randy left the man and walked away. He walked fast and felt all his anger and sorrow flare up inside him. He was a curse. His life was a curse. He’d been trained to kill and capture, and even when he wasn’t trying, person after person died in front of him anyway.
The moment he got far enough away from the police and fire trucks, he sent the field around him into flames. This wasn’t the first time or the last time someone innocent would die because of him.
* * *
Rebecca
Rebecca had the radio on. They were saying one of the houses near the plant had caught on fire. They were lying of course; everything about this town, the police, the news, all of it a lie. It was nearly the afternoon now. Rebecca had been alone for hours of disgusting nothingness, not knowing if anyone was ever going to come for her.
Rebecca heard a noise and when she turned, Donna was in the house, as bright as an electric sun. She must have run through the back kitchen wall because no door had been opened. Just seeing Donna looking so inhuman made Rebecca let out a small scream, but Donna didn’t seem to notice her. Donna just kept running, going so fast the light blurred as she moved, and she was upstairs before Rebecca could compose herself. There was a horrible silence before she heard the shower turn on.
Rebecca walked up the stairs, wondering where Paul and Spencer were. Had they been captured or had … Oh God, no! Yet something told her yes. The way Spencer had been before she’d had to leave him seemed to bring a sick reality to mix with her urgency to save Paul, the reality that Donna or Spencer could die. No, no, please no! Rebecca stood outside the bathroom unable to ask. What would she do if it was just her and Donna now? If the two boys, one her best friend, the other the love of her life, were gone? She wouldn’t be able to bear it.
Rebecca got up the courage to open the bathroom door. She saw Donna, back to looking like a human girl again, but not looking anything like any version of Donna she had ever seen. Donna was naked and holding herself in a fetal position while the water was pouring down on her in the shower with the curtain open.
She asked her what happened, and all Donna said was, “They shot him.”
Rebecca felt the life drain from her as well. Suddenly Donna’s disfigured state started to take over Rebecca like a chilling plague.
“Spencer?” she asked, expecting to hear a yes, feeling her body about to give out and wanting Paul there to hold her. Donna stayed silent and absolutely out of it, shaking and looking like she belonged in a mental institution. The next word slipped out of Rebecca’s mouth before she could even understand her own question. “Paul?”
Donna turned her head for a sickening moment, meeting Rebecca’s eyes. She looked like she was crying, though Rebecca couldn’t tell if the tears were really shower water. The emotion Rebecca felt through those eyes hurt her.
Donna nodded and then turned and went back to her shaking, out of it state. Rebecca stayed frozen, refusing to understand what that had meant, leaning against the sink while she replayed the whole thing from when she first walked in, to now, over again. No … I must not understand ... I …
An hour could have passed right then, or just a minute. She didn’t know, as she stood there and refused to understand. When she heard the door open, she raced out of the bathroom and down the stairs. Spencer was at the door; he looked … changed, but alive.
Rebecca paused several feet away from him, gripping onto the staircase ledge. If Spencer was right here in front of her then Donna meant … Rebecca felt her universe cease to exist.
“Paul, where’s Paul?”
Spencer slowly walked over to her, his hands on her shoulders as he started to speak, but Rebecca couldn’t listen.
“Guards … bullets … Paul … ambulance … gone … sorry … feel … should of … ” All his words were a distant echo of mush as every light inside her died. She let go of the ledge and was seconds away from smashing onto the stairs when Spencer caught her and swooped her up in his arms, and then the tears came.
* * *
Spencer
Spencer cried with Rebecca, and after an hour he went upstairs. The shower was still running with the door opened. He walked in slowly and found no one inside the bathroom. All that was left in the tub was what looked like a pair of soles from Donna’s running shoes that were scorched and burned up.
He left and looked in Donna’s dad’s room, which was close by, and saw no one. Then he walked into Donna’s room. Her lights were off, and he saw her lying in bed shaking with her eyes opened wide. She didn’t look toward him or even notice he was in the room.
He took a step closer and saw that she was crying. He slowly reached out his hand and touched her. Her skin was beyond fever hot, but it wasn’t anywhere near hot enough to burn him like the day of the accident. She was barely covered under her sheet, and completely undressed underneath. Spencer pulled the thin sheet up to cover her and then got into bed with her, over the sheets, holding her as she shook.
Chapter Twelve
Two Weeks Later
Donna
Donna walked with Rebecca and Spencer to school. They looked as normal as they could, holding straight faces and having fake conversations with one another. The school was decorated with Christmas decorations, and in one week they’d be out for winter break.
It was the first day that the three of them had come back to school together. Donna had tried two times yesterday and the day before but couldn’t bring herself to walk in. Spencer had gone back last week; he was a lot better at pretending than they were, though if you knew him well you could tell something was off. Guess it worked out that the three of them never were popular. Rebecca’s mom had gotten her and Donna excuse notes, calling the guidance counselor and saying they were good friends of Paul’s.
Donna took her first step onto the school grounds. The bell had rung about ten minutes ago, and they were all late. They walked Rebecca to her class first, then, after they hugged her, Rebecca went in. Rebecca still, two weeks after Paul’s funeral, had the look of death. Like her soul had been sucked out. Donna had been as strong as possible for her on their way to school today, but now that she was gone, Donna was trembling. She had tried her best to be as normal as possible every time she’d been forced to leave her house, but this was different. Normal people weren’t in this class with her. He had this class with her. She didn’t know if she’d be strong enough to hold it together.
“Donna, we have to go inside,” Spencer told her.
She looked at him with one hot tear rolling down her face; it was all her body was able to produce even after drinking seven bottles of water this morning. “I don’t think I can.”
“I feel what your feeling, Donna. It’s killing me too,” he whispered, his face close to hers. “But if we act the least bit suspicious, the least bit different, if they find out what you are, then Paul died for nothing.”
Flashes of Paul’s death started again in her head and she pushed them away, holding Spencer’s hand for support, she nodded. They looked into each other’s eyes for a moment, then he opened the classroom door. They walked into class, Donna still holding his hand, masking her fear with the best normal face she could make. She didn’t look tow
ard Ryan, she kept her eyes right toward her desk as she and Spencer walked toward it.
“Look who’s late, as usual,” Lynn snickered.
“Are they dating?” A couple kids were whispering gossip near by.
Donna kept her face on the board, took a deep breath, and pulled out her piece of paper, pretending to take notes as Mr. Harris went over the homework. Donna just scribbled shapes and numbers on her page, watching the clock, counting down the minutes she’d have to sit there. Tonight was her gymnastics tournament; they had postponed it because of Paul and the fires. Today was the day she had thought fifteen days ago would never come. Her way out … she had been craving it like regular humans crave air. Now, though, it was a day she just wanted to be over with. Like yesterday, and the day before. Every day was a day of just pretending and hiding and trying to not be noticed. Every day was like another bullet being shot at her, and all she could do was hope it didn’t kill her.
* * *
Ryan
Ryan sat next to his girlfriend in math class. She was whispering to Tara next to her while she played with Ryan’s hand. He couldn’t stop looking at Donna. She looked so … out of it. He hadn’t seen her at all in the past two weeks except for Paul’s funeral, where she hadn’t looked at him once. He hadn’t even known she was close to Paul, but then apparently Paul and Rebecca had started dating, so it made sense that Donna knew him.
Randy hadn’t come to school since Paul’s death, either. Everything had turned upside down in the last two weeks, and the whole thing was still a blur. There was some kind of Electrolite intruder. Why he had come, they still didn’t know exactly. Some thought maybe it was to help Paul, but then others thought it was to get information.