In Her Head

20. The Storm

The rest of the group packed up their things from the beach as the sky turned darker while rain clouds covered the sky. Jimmy tried to call Cleo but she wasn't answering the phone, but he assumed she wasn't in trouble since she had never talked about any problems, but still wanted to make sure she was okay, so he suggested that the group drive around nearby to see if they could find her since she didn't drive, so she shouldn't be far.

Cleo was close, but it didn't matter as she had been taken to a dark cellar, restrained to a chair in a locked room with the only light coming from a flickering bulb above her head. Cries could be heard from another room as the whimpers echoed through the narrow hallways. Cleo was still unconscious from being hit over the head, giving her time to talk to Zeke in the mindscape.

"I'm so sorry, a friend of mine needed help and I didn't think. I don't even know why I just rushed here without asking for help." Cleo quavered as Zeke continued to sit on the bench.

"That's because you actually give a shit. Don't blame yourself, I don't blame you. But we have a problem. Was it Nova?" He asked as she sat next to him.

"I don't think so, I got a call and my friend said she was being followed by people who were angry about us not delivering the knife." She replied.

"I don't want to wake up Zeke. These people are dangerous and they're gonna hurt me." She sobbed.

"So are you, and you can hurt them." He said assuringly as she looked back at him. She began to stand and tried to compose herself but Zeke stood and put his hand on her shoulder.

"But they shouldn't have fucked with you." He snapped as the mindscape went dark and Cleo's eyes opened to see the room in the cellar as a man approached through the cell door.

The man immediately struck Cleo in the face as he demanded to know where the knife was. 

"You shouldn't have done that, motherfucker." Zeke shouted as he snapped the restraints and released a shockwave which sent the man into the door so hard his back snapped. He removed the restraints from Cleo's ankles and stood as he heard the footsteps of more people rushing to the cell followed by pleas coming from another cell.

Zeke walked to the man who was suffering on the floor and looked down at him as he put his foot on his head and slowly pushed down as he screamed until the pressure caused his head to explode, then grabbed Cleo's phone from the shelf; he left the room to see several people coming toward him with weapons.

Before they could raise their guns, Zeke raised two of them of the ground and slammed them together with so much force they both evaporated, covering the gangsters behind in blood as Zeke continued to walk toward them. They began firing their weapons, but as he'd done before, the bullets stopped in front of Cleo as he fired them back. As they scattered through the air with incredible speed they managed to rip through one of the gangsters, killing him instantly, and wounding the other. A bullet had passed through Zeke's telekinesis and hit Cleo's leg.

Blood poured from the hole and down her leg, but it didn't heal. Zeke was worried that he was starting to lose power, but he continued onward, limping slightly as he walked. He approached the wounded man on the ground and lifted him by the neck as he slammed him against the wall.

"Who sent you? Who do you work for?" He demanded.

"Everyone involved is upstairs okay. Please don't kill me, I was just following orders." The gangster pleaded, but Zeke snapped and his hand turned red hot, melting the gangsters throat as bubbling blood poured over Cleo's soft hands. Zeke calmed as he dropped the body and looked at Cleo's hand as he thought about what kind of man he had become, while thinking about Cleo's innocent personality and shy smile. He looked at her fingernails that she'd found the time to paint before they went to the beach, which were now covered in blood.