Thunder and Storm

The New Guy

SALLY

I pulled open the tent flap and almost collided with Ash. She jerked backward and chuckled lightly.

“Watch where you’re going,” she said

“Sorry,” I apologized.

She nodded as she gave me a once-over. I tucked my tongue in my cheek. Rayne had packed my hair up in a high ponytail and left a few tendrils to fall around my face. It made my cheeks come out. I’d never worn such a bold look before. My hair was either braided behind me or falling around my face.

“I like your hair. You look good,” she said and smiled at me. “You look really pretty.”

My cheeks heated and I looked down at my feet, wringing my fingers together. No one has ever called me pretty before, other than my parents. I was getting a lot of compliments today.

“Thank you.”

“Looks like we’re roommates,” she commented.

Uhn?

“I didn’t know this was your tent,” I said.

“It’s okay. It’ll be nice to have a roommate for once. Everyone will be getting one anyway. A lot of your people came back with us.”

“My people?”

“The kids at the military base.”

Oh!

“Well, I’ll talk to you later, gotta go,” she chirped and was off.

I watched her walk away and join Hakeem by his tent. He said something to her and she threw her head back and laughed. I quirked a brow. I didn’t think Hakeem has ever said anything that funny.

I turned and entered the tent. There were new additions I hadn’t noticed before: a standing mirror and two lamps placed on the floor to brighten the space. I moved closer to the mirror and checked out my reflection. She was right. I did look pretty. My eyes stood out the most of all my features. It shone brightly in the dimly lit tent.

Rayne had coated my lips with pink gloss and darkened my lids a little with eyeshadow. It was just a little makeup but it made me look different or maybe I’d always looked this way and I’d never noticed.

I heard it again, the heartbeat and mine skipped a bit. I peered into the mirror at the space behind me and I gasped. Eyes were staring back at me in the dark.

I blinked and they were gone. There was a glitch, almost like the shadows moved with something. I ran out of the tent in hopes of catching whatever it was and collided chest first into Ryan. I jerked back before he could touch me.

“Hey.” He smiled. “I was just about to come get you.”

I licked my lips and looked behind him. No one was acting strangely or moving weirdly. Cameron came out of his tent and our gazes met. He gave me a small wave and I waved back. Seemed like he was in a better mood now.

“Who are you– Oh!” Ryan exclaimed as he followed my gaze. He grabbed my hand and I felt a jolt of heat run up my arm. It burned and I jerked away from him.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized.

I looked down at my hand expecting to see burn marks but there was nothing there. “Why did you do that?”

“I’m sorry, I was just trying to get your attention.”

“Please, don’t touch me again. Ever.”

He gave a slight scoff. “It was just a touch, Sally. It’s no big deal.”

“Ever,” I repeated firmly and he swallowed.

I walked away from him and moved towards Cameron’s tent. A chuckle stopped me in my tracks. I heard the heart beating steadily again and I turned. A dark-skinned boy was talking to Gail. He had closely cropped hair like Hakeem, full brows, and a stud on his right ear. I moved closer to him and our gazes met, he smiled, showing his perfect set of teeth. He was good-looking. His brown eyes flashed with emotion but it was gone before I could decipher it.

“Oh, Sally. I didn’t see you there,” Gail smiled.

“Hello, Sally. I’m Grayson.” He grabbed my hand and shook it. I almost screamed but I realized I didn’t feel anything from him. His hand was warm but not sweaty. His palm was soft like a baby’s. My mouth fell open in surprise.

“H-Hi.”

“Gail!” Rayne called and she excused herself, leaving me alone with Grayson.

“It was you, wasn’t it?” I asked.

“Pardon?”

“You were in my room earlier and by the pool too. Why are you following me?”

He chuckled like I just made the most ludicrous comment. “I’m not following you. I don’t even know you.”

“I could hear your heart beating just like I can now. It’s the same tempo, I know it’s you.”

He tucked his tongue in his cheek and looked around then sighed. “Fine. It was me. I just...I can’t control my abilities and sometimes I wind up in places I never meant to go.”

I frowned. “You can teleport?”

“Yes but only through the shadows.”

“You can move through shadows?” I smiled, “That’s amazing.”

He cocked a half-smile. “It’s not so amazing ending up in strange places and spooking strange girls.” He winked, referring to me and I grinned.

He was just like me, unstable. It felt good to know someone else was also struggling with their abilities like me. Everyone I’d met so far seemed to have a good grasp on their power.

“Gather round everyone,” Cameron declared.

“Come on.” I motioned towards Grayson and he followed.

“Where are you from? I never saw you back at the Underground so I’m guessing you’re not from there.”

“Oh! Yeah, I’m not. I’m from Illinois, I’ve just been moving around since the outbreak and I found your friends. They told me of a place I could stay so I decided to tag along.”

“What about your parents?” I asked. If he wasn’t taken like the rest of us, he should be with his parents.

He clenched his jaw. “They died when the virus broke out.”

“Oh! I’m so sorry, I shouldn’t have asked.” Stupid me, of course, that was what must’ve happened if he was alone out here.

“It’s okay, you didn’t know.”

“You weren’t allowed in a safe house?” We finally made it to the rest of the group. Now instead of ten, we were up to thirty, probably more.

“Well, to get in I had to get a blood test done. I almost did too but as soon as I realized what they were looking for, I ran out of there.”

“What do you mean? What were they looking for?”

“You don’t know?” He seemed surprised. “The blood tests aren’t for the virus. They’re looking for X genes, looking for people like us and once they find it in you, they hand you over to Medex Corp.”

I gasped in surprise. Cameron was right, this all seemed like some kind of big conspiracy.  I looked at Cameron speaking in the middle.

“As you all have noticed, we have new additions in our midst so I’m afraid we’re all going to have roommates, some even three,” he said.

They started whispering amongst themselves, some already picking their roommates.

“Grayson can stay with Ash and me,” I offered and he smiled at me.

Cameron stared at both of us and shook his head. “He’ll stay with me.”

Grayson pouted and I shrugged. I tried my best. They all got paired with one another and I was left with just Ash. We moved to the bonfire to have dinner and Ryan caught up to Grayson and me.

“Sally, I’m sorry for touching you like that. I was just trying to grab your attention.”

“It’s okay.” I wasn’t mad at him anymore anyway. “Just don’t do it again.”

“I won’t, I promise.” He smiled. He glanced at Grayson and frowned at him. “Who are you?”

“I’m Grayson.”

“Ryan,” he replied stiffly.

I frowned. What was his problem? They stared at each other for a while and then he looked down at me.

“Wanna sit with me and Cam?”

“No, I’ll stay with Grayson but thanks anyway.”

He didn’t seem pleased by my response. He glanced at Grayson once more before walking off.

“Your friend doesn’t seem to like me very much,” Grayson commented as we sat down by the bonfire.

“Ryan? No, he’s really friendly. He just needs to warm up to you.”

He shrugged. “Whatever you say.”



CAMERON.



I watched Sally as she conversed with the new guy. She had mentioned his name earlier but I didn’t remember or maybe I didn’t want to. They were too chummy for people who just met.

Ryan scoffed beside me. “What does she see in him anyway?”

I followed his line of vision to see him staring at Sally too. “I don’t like him,” he said.

“Me neither,” I replied. “There’s just something about him that’s off. I can’t quite put my finger on it.” I bit into an apple and chewed.

He lifted his hand and moved her hair aside, his hand grazed her cheek and she smiled at him. My stomach twisted and I bit into my apple hard. I couldn’t touch her without repercussions but here he was touching her freely and she was allowing it. They just met for goodness sake and I’d known her since middle school.

She was always that fragile girl sitting in the corner. I’d always wanted to talk to her but she never looked at me, not once. I stayed away, preferring to just watch her from afar. It felt better that way. She wouldn’t be interested in being friends with me anyway. My reputation preceded me and everyone believed what they wanted to believe about me.

I glanced at Petra seated with Rayne and Gail. They were talking to her but she didn’t seem to be listening, her eyes were focused on Sally. I frowned. She had better not be thinking of trying anything funny here. There would be no bullying on my watch.

She must’ve felt my gaze on her. She glanced at me and our eyes met. I waved so it wouldn’t seem creepy that I was staring at her. She took that as an invitation and got up. I blew out a breath as she approached me. I wasn’t in the mood for talking tonight.

She sat beside me and crossed her legs. “Hey, Cam.”

“Hey.”

“You’ve got quite a full house here. How do you plan to manage them?”

I took another bite of my apple and took a drink from my water bottle. “What do you mean?”

“Well, I’m assuming you weren’t planning on having so many people in here when you made this place your hideout. There’s also the matter of food.” She trailed a finger up my arm and smiled coyly.

Is she flirting with me right now?

“We’ll be going for another food run once this runs out so you don’t have to worry about food.” I picked up the water bottle and got up, walking back to my tent.

I caught Sally watching me as I walked away and I waved at her. She smiled. Maybe we could be friends after all.

I pulled open my tent and Max’s ears perked up. He ran to me and barked, standing up on his hind legs.
“Hey, buddy.” I rubbed his head and he sat down. I gave him the remainder of my apple.

I grabbed a bowl from the pile stacked in the corner and scooped water out of a bucket. I heard a groan from my sleeping area and I went there, dropping the bowl beside me on the floor.

“Cam?” She groaned.

“Hey, Jemma.” I pulled her up, resting half her body on my chest. Her voice was raspy as she breathed out, her skin wet and clammy. I packed her hair aside and stroked her cheek. She was hot, feverishly hot.

“It hurts, Cam. Please, make it stop.” She groaned.

“I know. I’ll make it go away, I promise.” I grabbed the bowl of water and pulled out a pocket knife from my pocket.

I flipped it open and cut my palm open. I winced at the pain as my blood dropped into the bowl. Only a few drops fell in but they were enough. I raised the bowl to her lips and she took gulps out of it then fell against my chest tiredly.

“I’m so tired, Cam. I just want it to stop. You have to make it stop.” She grabbed my hand and looked into my eyes. I stared back at her green eyes filled with pain and my heart clenched.

“I can’t do that, Jemma. Don’t ask me to do that.”

She groaned and turned away from me. “This isn’t going to keep me alive for long, you know that.”

“I’ll find the cure, I promise you I’ll find it.”

“You’ve searched everywhere. Maybe there is no cure. You need to accept it, Cam.”

“No, there has to be a cure for this. I’m not going to let you die, Jemma.”

She didn’t say anything anymore. Her raspy breath came out softly as she breathed. She was asleep again. I poured the remaining water into Max’s bowl and walked out of the tent. I needed to vent out my frustration and I preferred not to do it in here.

I walked out of the cave, into the snow and closed my eyes. I felt the cool air against my cheek. It was quiet but there was a storm raging in me and I needed to let it out, so I did. The wind picked up, blowing harshly, steering up the snow.

There were four stages to the virus. Coughing, fever and bleeding, dark eyes and veins then finally death. Jemma was in the second stage moving to the third. Mixing my blood with her water had slowed down the process but it was only a matter of time before it consumed her. She didn’t deserve for this to happen to her.

The wind increased to a tornado blowing around me, I fuelled it with anger, despair and in turn, it grew, shaking the trees violently. I screamed and let it all out. There had to be a cure, there just had to.