Unbound

Chapter 5

Hayden groaned. Blood ran up his cheek and into the corner of his eye. He tried moving his head, but it was impossible. Something pressed against him. The roof? He strained to move his hands, but they were trapped beneath a body laid out across his chest.

"Is everyone okay?" Simon asked from... somewhere.

It was so black Hayden could barely see. "I can't feel anything," he said, straining to move any part of his body that he could. Nothing. He was completely pinned.

"Be still," a deeper voice said—Jesus.

A light blazed in the darkness of the ruined SUV.

"Can you manage this much, Jesus?" asked Simon.

There was no answer, but Hayden felt something stir in the air. The same feeling he'd had at the church, right before Jesus destroyed their podium. Could he—

Hayden fell to the floor of the Dairy Queen as the SUV disintegrated around them. He rolled away from the person that had been holding him down, his dad, and came to rest on his back, staring up at what looked like a galaxy of fiery stars.

Glass and broken tables littered the area around him, but he barely noticed. "That's..." he started to say, but couldn't finish. It looked like millions of stars in a cloudy, liquid universe. Some of the stars glinted and shimmered like fragments of glass, while others burned and pulsed as if they were suns on the edge of going supernova.

"That's about to explode," Simon finished.

Hayden saw it then, the small globules of liquid floating back and forth above their heads. Gasoline?

With a groan, Hayden pushed to his elbows and looked to where Jesus crouched. The tattoo on his forehead blazed brilliantly, illuminating the area around him. His long, dirty hair billowed out around his bloodied face. His pale eyes stared upward, a look of intense concentration on his face.

"Explode?" Jesus asked.

"Aye," Simon replied, nodding to the cloud. "The liquid is gas, fuel for the vehicle."

"Ah," Jesus frowned, then cast around, eyes searching.

"Back out the window?" Simon suggested.

"Good enough." Jesus reached a hand up, the one still dripping blood from a cut on his palm. His fingers closed into a fist, and he began moving his arm towards the window. The cloud of metal, glass, and gas followed. Slowly.

"Wee bit faster, if you don't mind," Simon said.

Jesus growled.

"Hey, what's wrong with Glenn?" Someone behind Hayden said.

He'd completely forgotten about the old folks. He was about to turn to look and check on them when one of the old men crawled past him. The old man's leg had been split open, and he left a smeared trail of blood in his wake. Was he...snarling?

"Mr. Townsend?" Hayden said. Then another of the old men hobbled past, passing Glenn Townsend. It was Mr. Grimbly, the owner of the eagle-headed cane. "Mr. Grimbly?" Both ignored him.

Jesus slowly turned toward the hole in the Dairy Queen. The cloud was passing through, but sluggishly. Pieces of fire dripped to the floor, splashing against broken glass and tile.

Simon had stood once the cloud passed over him. All of his attention focused on that, so he didn't hear the shuffling steps of the old man creeping up on him.

Mr. Grimbly, the man who was most known in the church for always having candy for the younger kids, bent his weathered knees, and then leaped onto Simon's back.