Defiance.

7

"We need to disarm everything now!"

Jamie's voice patched through "We can't. Once they're armed they have to blow that's it."

"We were given bad intel. There's people here. There are children here. We need to do something because we are not letting these innocent people die!" I was furious.

"There's another safe house 8 miles from here to the north. We need to get them out and over there ASAP," Acid said through my ear piece.

Micah stepped forward and all of the people huddled in the corner started yelling.

"We're not going to hurt you. Now please believe me when I say we had no idea this building had anything but some rebel guards and weapons in it. We were given bad intel. We've set the place to blow, upon our orders, and the bombs can't be disarmed. We need to get you out of here and to another safe house immediately. Please follow us." Some had started crying saying they were going to die. There were people praying.

"We need to go now! Follow him and keep up we need to get as far away as possible. We're not going to hurt you. We have only minutes," I yelled. That sparked some people to get up and soon the others followed. Micah led them out of the room and down the corridor while I stayed behind to make sure everyone got out.

"There's only 1 minute. The bombs have synced up so they'll explode in unison. You guys need to get out!"

I quickly ran through the building checking each room to make sure there was no one left behind. I came to the last room where I found a little girl cowering in a corner with a stuffed animal. She couldn't have been more than 5. She looked so innocent with her hair in two puffs and big brown doe eyes.

I didn't even say anything before I scooped her up and ran toward the exit. "30 seconds." I pushed myself to run faster. I reached outside and all but shoved the little girl into Micah's arms.

"You have to get out of here. I'll buy you some time to get as far away as possible."

"Takoda," Micah warned.

"Hurry! You need to save her. This is our fault." I turned to the little girl, "He's gonna take care of you, okay? Don't worry, we'll find your mother." She looked up and me and stuck her hand out. She placed her small hand on my cheek lightly. Almost like magic I felt all of my wounds closing up. It burned a little but not bad at all. She must be a healer. I smiled at her as Micah ran north before turning around to face the building.

"Alright tell me everyone's out."

"We're all out but it's going to blow in three, two," Daze began.

"One."

I raised my arms using my powers to contain the explosion as the bombs detonated. I only managed to contain the explosion on the side closest to me, but it didn't matter. As long as I kept holding it they would make it out. I used all of my energy to try to compress the explosion, but it was too much. It was almost as if I was in the center of the explosion. Pressure built up in my head and my veins burned as all my power surged through me. Though my cuffs were on the lowest setting, they still beeped and shocked me as my power built past the limit of what the dampeners allowed.

As I was holding it I heard an aircraft above. I thought it was EVAC, but I was very wrong. The aircraft flew over the building and dropped a bomb.

The last thing I saw before everything blew up was the white letters spelling out "Haz Rehab Unit Military EVAC" next to an American flag on the aircraft.

•

"He's not dead and he's not dying. You don't know Blitz like I do. He can't be dead. He doesn't die."