Power (15 page)

Chapter 13
Reunion

I jumped out of bed, almost running out the door. Today was the day I would get to go home, home to Texas, home to my mom! I couldn’t wait. Sam and I had made sure we were completely packed a couple of days early. Sam was bringing several things she had made with the artists. The plans were already made. The tickets purchased. We would go back the way we came, helicopter, plane, and all.

We ate quickly, being too anxious to take our time. David said he had business in Texas, so he would make the trip with us. But he wasn’t coming to my mother’s house, and he wouldn’t stay as long as we would. He would return to the Compound Saturday evening instead of Monday. But it was nice that he would be with us at least some of the time.

On the airplane I sat so close to him I could feel the heat radiating off his arm, so I reached over and grabbed it. I didn’t wait for him to reject me or try to pull away, I just looped my arm under his and held on. Then I rested my head on him, hugging his arm close to me. I needed him right now, and I wanted him to be a part of this with me.

I could tell at first he wanted to pull away. I knew he was too much of a gentleman to yank his arm away from of me so I just held on. Instead, he rested his hand, palm down, on my leg. I felt my hope surge, though I knew I shouldn’t. Maybe someday things would go back to normal between us.

I wondered if he was distancing himself because he had learned more about the claim on my future, if I was the prophesied Descendant that was going to save the world. I nestled my head deeper into his arm, smelling him. And then I relaxed, no longer thinking about the wars or famine, the Seals or The End, or the future at all. I simply savored being that close to him. We stayed like that the whole ride home.

As soon as the plane landed, we were running through the airport. Mom was supposed to be waiting for us. I grabbed Sam’s hand and we weaved our way through the crowds. I didn’t even care about the luggage at this point. David kept up with us but stayed a step behind.

When I saw her, my eyes started flowing over with tears. I couldn’t stop them. I hadn’t realized how much I missed her. It was as if I had a huge hole in my heart, in my life. And when I saw her, that hole was filled.

I ran to her and hugged her. My tears welled up and streamed freely down my cheeks, smearing what little makeup I had applied. She was wiping her own tears away as she held me, and then we held Sam between us.

The three of us just stood there and hugged. There were no words that would express our feelings, so we said nothing. I knew that I had only been away from her for just over two months, but it felt like forever. So many things had happened, and were still happening, and I just needed my mom. She was my best friend, and I, hers.

We pulled away long enough for David and her to pass their pleasantries. As David was about to take his leave, I turned to him and opened my arms, a clear invitation for a hug. It was a request, not a demand. At first, he began to say no, and then his features changed.

He accepted my offer and pulled me into a hug. It was the first hug we shared since that morning he almost kissed me, and I didn’t want it to end. Without looking at me, he kissed my head, leaving an indelible mark that went straight to my heart, and then stepped away from me.

He hugged Sam good bye, said good bye to my mom, and then walked away, without looking back. For a moment I forgot where I was, that I was back in Texas and with my mom. For a moment, the only thing I could think of was that he kissed me. The spot on my forehead that his lips had touched was still burning with fire, a fire that spread throughout my whole body and left me on edge.

As I watched him walk away, my mom came up to me again, bringing me back to the present, and we hugged some more before heading out to the car. The town that I grew up in was too small to have a real airport, I mean there was one there, but I never saw it. And I don’t know what kind of planes actually flew in and out of it. So we had to fly in and out of the nearest big city, San Antonio. During the 30 minute drive home, I looked out the window to see if I could find any changes. After the first few minutes I realized that everything had changed drastically. My favorite place in the world was Texas, but this didn’t feel like it anymore. The sky was shrouded in darkness, as if the very Earth could feel the terror everyone faced now. The roads were littered with trash, and people ran around crazed.

Though we hadn’t been bombed yet, as everyone feared, the war still raged on. Food was rationed and no one felt safe anymore. We drove past a building that had once been large and glorious, a big shopping mall, but now it stood desolate, the walls covered in spray paint tags and the windows blasted in.

The air didn’t even taste the same. It wasn’t fresh anymore. It was dry and stale. It was dirty. Nothing felt right. I couldn’t hear the cicadas singing or the crickets flying. I couldn’t hear the birds or the trees blowing in the wind. The wind wasn’t even blowing at all. Everything seemed so… lifeless. This is what I imagined death to feel like. Empty, sad, and dark.

This didn’t really feel like home anymore. I mean, I was still thrilled to be here, to be out of the compound, and most of all to be with my mom, but it didn’t feel like home anymore. It felt more like a vacation. A scary, empty vacation. I realized that I now associated the Compound as home, not because everything outside of the Compound was being ruined by the impending apocalypse, but because my home was with the Order.

As soon as we pulled onto my old street, something felt off. At first I credited it to me no longer feeling like this was home. But as we got closer to my mother’s house, the feeling started to change from odd to flat out bad.

Unfortunately I didn’t put two and two together soon enough, and once we got out of the car his stench burned my nose. It was a stink that hadn’t touched my nose in months now and it instantly sent chills through me. I felt all the hairs on my arms and neck stand up, and a shiver crept up my spine.

I checked for my internal shield, it was up and in full effect. He never could have sensed me here. He never should have been able to track me, yet he was here. I couldn’t see him yet, but I could feel him as clearly as you can feel the smoke hug your skin when you are near a fire.

Actually, I could feel more than just him. There had to be several of them here. I reached out with my mind and counted four strong members and maybe five weaker ones. Dang! I reached within and summoned my power. I didn’t care what random bystanders might witness my open display of power; all I cared about was my family staying safe.

“Mom, Sam, come close and get behind me.” As I said the words I felt my power escape my finger tips and flow out, the familiar purple lifting my hair and swirling it around me. I let it spread further, surrounding not only me, but my mother and daughter as well. That’s when I saw them. There were ten of them. Damien was in front, followed by two gorgeous women and a huge, giant of a man. The other weaker ones trailed behind.

“Do you honestly think you are strong enough to come up against the leader of the Rising and live?” Damien growled at me. I could see the blackness of his power begin to rise, but only his. The others did nothing. Still, the sight was horrifying.

I was terrified. No amount of training could have prepared me for this. I wasn’t prepared to deal with the risk of losing either of the people standing next to me. And with them here, I knew I wasn’t going to defeat him, or really fight him at all. I couldn’t risk losing. At that realization, I was pissed. I was fuming with anger that I could taste on my tongue. I knew then, without a doubt, that I wanted to kill this man, this monster, before me.

With that thought, my hands burst into flames, literally. I looked down, shocked, as Sam gasped and stepped away from me. My hands were covered in purple flames that licked up into the air.

Damien and his men chose that moment to start their attack. Had it been only me I needed to protect, I could have been more focused on attacking him back. But as it was, I had to spread my shield over all three of us and hope that it would be enough to keep them away. It was strange that in all the times I practiced with my shield, I had never seen it come out like fire; it was always just a purple design that shimmered in the air. But now there was fire all around us.

I could feel his power touching mine, scratching at the surface, trying to find a weakness. I could taste it, like rancid food. I could smell the death emanating from him and feel him weakening me. As I felt the weight of his power descend on me, I dropped to my knees. This was worse than standing in the Compound with all that power pushing you down. Worse than at the park with my own power, Damien’s, and Rick’s swimming beneath my skin. It was more than power overload. It was heavy and unyielding pain.

My mother placed her hand on me, trying to offer her support.

Despite the pain that his power caused, I was able to hold him off, and I started to stand. I would not bow before the devil. I would not cower and crawl. I would stand tall and do everything I could to keep him away from us. Hope swelled within me and I looked up at him, smirking with insolence. He saw the look of defiance in my eyes and with a flick of his wrists, all the others started attacking me with power as well.

I dropped to the ground harder than before, no longer able to keep my feet beneath me. I couldn’t allow myself to fall, to be defeated once and for all, because if I died, so did Mom and Sam. Tears sprung forth and slid down my face and neck as I tried as hard as I could to maintain my shield.

I wished David was here. I wished with all my might he were here to help me, to tell me what to do and how to do it. To offer support and to help keep my family safe. I couldn’t do it alone. I started to sob loudly,
David! David, I need you!

Unexpectedly, he answered me,
Allison, what is going on? I can hear you. Can you hear me?

He was not here with me, he was far away, but it didn’t matter at the moment. He was in my head and I could hear him as clearly as if he stood in front of me. Not sure how long this would last, I shouted the answers at him,
David! We are being attacked. Damien is here with several others. I can’t hold them off. I’m freaking out! It hurts! Please come!

He is there? Now? Where are you? I’m on my way!
His reply brought me hope, but it was fleeting. I remembered he was at least 30 minutes away; there was no way I could hold them off for that long.

David, what do I do? I can’t hold them off!
There had to be something I could do! I racked my brain thinking through every lesson I ever had, trying to find an answer.

I’ll be there in 20 minutes.
He thought to me.

It was at that moment I realized that some of the weaker ones were coming closer to me. My mom, still kneeling beside me, stiffened at their approach. She held her head high, though there was nothing she could do to defend herself. I lifted myself up to a kneeling position; I knew I couldn’t stand so I didn’t even try. I held Sam in my arms and grabbed for my mother’s hand. I wouldn’t be able to run. We couldn’t fight. I only was going to die with them in my arms
. I don’t have 20 minutes.
I thought sadly.

The youngest man, who was horrendously evil looking, walked right up to me and reached out his arm to hit me. I braced myself for the impact. But it didn’t come. I saw his arm swing through the air only to be stopped by my purple fire. His hand caught fire, and as he burned, he started screaming bloody murder. Shock crossed my face, as it did all the Rising members I could see.

The others who had walked up with him stopped and turned to look at Damien, waiting for instruction. Damien looked at the screaming man with distain. The fire didn’t spread from his hand, but it didn’t go out either, his hand just kept burning and burning as he continued thrashing around, wildly out of control.

In my head, David was talking again.
Listen, you can do this, Allison. You will not let them past your shield. And while you have it up, you need to try to kill them.

He must be crazy!
How, David? I can barely move. It’s taking all my strength just to kneel and not be smashed face first into the ground.

That is just your physical strength. Your power is stronger than your body. You can kill them through telepathy. Reach out to them with your mind. Not like you are trying to hear their thoughts, but like you are trying to throw your thoughts at them. Similar to what you did just now to get me to hear you. You have to reach into their minds and throw your power into them. You can do this, Allison!
That last sentence was filled with such confidence that he once again gave me hope.

During our internal conversation, Damien had been debating whether to send the rest of his minions over to get burned as well. I didn’t wait for his decision. I started my attack. Considering how much power I was using to hold my shield intact, it was almost freeing to allow it to roam towards the Rising members around me. I had practiced so hard in the Compound to keep my power under control, but now I was allowing it to fly unconditionally. It felt like a dam on a lake that had broken and allowed the water to finally run free.

I closed my eyes and searched with my mind, hunting for the black holes I recognized to be their brains. I found all ten of them, including Damien. I wasn’t sure if I should attack them all at once or one at a time, but as I saw Damien nod the start of their assault, I had no choice but to attack as many as possible.

With all the black spots clearly pinpointed in my mind, I reached out with my power. Instantly I could hear what they were thinking, their loyalty to Damien, their hate for me and for the Order, and their fear of being unsuccessful and of the pain of my fire. With the channel open, I sent as much power as I could manage into those black holes, filling them up with a deep purple light that continued to brighten as time went on.

I saw them stop in their tracks, and as the light in their minds grew and the black faded, their screams grew louder. I could tell that only the weaker ones were screaming, the light in them almost full force now. But the stronger ones had only a small spark of purple that kept trying to grow, yet kept being put out. Damien’s black hole seemed completely unaffected by my light.