Fugitives《Book 3》

Powerless

Their plan would work surely. It had too. It was the only way that they wouldn't be captured. Dr. Egan stood in the aisle. It was a bit weird to be wearing a lab coat in a pharmacy market, but Eli was sure that that wasn't the weirdest thing these employees had ever seen. The tall plump man approached Eli. Eli almost flinched from his form.

Riser was still a haunting memory. "We should go. I don't want to be here anymore. I'm getting a bad feeling." Tucker said. Even though he looked like Riser, he still sounded like Tucker.

"Why? We are disguised." Eli pointed out. He looked at the several snacks to pick from. The sun was setting through the windows near the ceiling.

"Something feels off." Tucker mumbled. An old lady walked by them, carrying a purse with a small chihuahua in it. The dog growled as the lady passed them. The lady gave them a puzzled look and picked up the pace to get away from them.

"Well, don't be so obvious, Tucker. You look like you're about to throw up. You're so pale, you'll make a ghost jealous." Eli said while inspecting a package of Ding Dongs.

"No. I genuinely think there is something wrong. We should pay for the stuff that we need and leave." Tucker urged. Eli sighed and placed the chocolatey sweets back. He followed Tucker to the register. A bored woman started to ring them up. Eli tapped the government credit card on the counter as the lady scanned their canned foods. The government hadn't yet thought of turning off the A.P.S. cards so they'd take advantage of it.

The old lady and her dog came up to stand behind Tucker and Eli oddly close. The chihuahua started to growl and then yipped aggressively. "Now now, Umbra. That's not nice to do to these abilitors." The lady said. Tucker and Eli froze. The register lady stopped scanning the items and looked at them with a crooked smile.

"Hello again, Tucker and Eli." She said in a voice that wasn't hers since it was a guy's voice.

"It's a trap!" Eli yelped. He dashed for the doors that were to his right but the chihuahua leaped out of the lady's purse as she disappeared into shadow and it morphed into a large shadow hound. It leaped in front of him and snarled, guarding the doors. Two more melted from the shadows.

A bear galloped past Eli and roared at the three dogs. They took a step back. A purple lasso lashed out in between Tucker's paws and wrapped around his snout. He was able to break it but lost ground on the shadow hounds.

Eli changed into a large lion and snarled at the shadows. Eli was suddenly tackled. A large shadow hound bit at his shaggy mane as they rolled on the floor. Eli kicked it off and it smashed into several shelves of food and toothbrushes. This hound was different. Blue ice protected its back and chest like armor. Eli changed into a dragon. He flared his wings and roared.

The problem started in his forelimbs. They tingled. It was getting harder to control Tucker's ability. That was his weakness after all. He could only mimic another abilitors ability as long as he had the strength too. The longest he had gone was fifteen minutes with consistency using Tucker's ability. Those fifteen minutes were just about up. He had been disguised as Dr. Egan for a while while they got food. He had a feeling that that was a part of their trap.

He glanced at Tucker who was in a battle of his own with two armored hounds. The shadow lunged at Eli and sank its teeth into one of his claws. He roared and batted the hound away with his tail. This form was getting too difficult to hold. He had to be something different.

He changed into a hairy warthog. Eli pawed the ground before charging the hound with his sword-like tusks primed. He plowed through clothing racks and snack stands like a bulldozer. He was about to hit his target when he squealed in pain. Another shadow hound thrashed his back leg around and pulled him off his feet. The hound threw him into the wall of shelves, causing shampoo and body wash bottles to fall on him. He changed back into his human form. His leg was bleeding again like a couple of nights ago.

They were targeting him. The two hounds growled as they stalked toward him. He changed into a wolf himself. His legs trembled from losing energy to control the form. He couldn't put any weight on his back leg either. He bared his fangs at the shadows with his hackles raised. They would rip him to shreds, no doubt. The hound on the right leaped at him but whimpered when a ram the size of the hound smashed into it.

The ice armor that protected it crumbled and it vanished into the shadows. Ram Tucker hopped and bucked when one of his shadow hounds leaped onto his back and latched onto the back of his neck. Two more hounds had joined the fight to bring down Tucker.

Eli's legs buckled. He fell to the floor and changed back into his human form. He couldn't change again. The second shadow hound licked its lips at the small abilitor, weak at its feet.

Eli couldn't run. His leg was too badly damaged from both bites and he was helpless without the energy to use his ability. The second shadow hound was burnt before Eli's eyes. Tucker was a large red dragon he flicked his wings and a shadow hound that was on his back was slammed so hard into the rafters on the ceiling that it instantly vanished. Tucker then squished the other three with his tail like annoying bugs.

The lights flickered until they went out. The air went cold like Eli just walked into one of the freezers in the frozen section. A pair of green eyes walked over the ruined products on the floor. Cold air whirled around Smii7y. A blast of ice froze Tucker's jaw closed. He used his claws to try and get it off.

Eli tried to get himself up but winced when something brushed against his leg. From the amount of blood that soaked his pant leg, the wound was bad. A shadow hound materialized in the darkness along with a pale man. Shade seethed, "That looks pretty bad. I guess we better take you to get that patched up."

"Fuck off!" Eli spat. He tried to move again but cried out in agony. He saw stars and his vision blurred. The hound took a step forward and took Eli's sleeve in its jaws. Eli pulled away but the hound clamped down around his wrist before he pulled away. Eli screamed.

"I was trying to be nice." Shade smirked and turned. The hound started to pull and Eli yelped with pain as it pulled him by his flesh. Tucker was fighting with ice still around his jaws and his wing frozen to his side. Eli couldn't see Smii7y since the shadow hound was dragging him away.

Eli was dragged out the back door where the hound vanished. "Did you have to tear him up that badly? Aytrix does want him alive." A familiar voice hissed. Eli looked up and saw Neo who was looking down at him. Eli pushed himself up with his good arm. He tried to scoot away but purple ropes lashed around both of his wrists. He yelled out in pain as they tightened around his bloody wrist.

Shade shrugged, "Sorry. I was bloodthirsty. Wanted to mess one up real bad."

"We can mess up the one who can hear things well. Aytrix doesn't care about him." Nycta said excitedly as she walked up next to Neo.

Neo rolled his eyes, "Just don't let him bleed out." He walked away, toward the building. Nycta came up to Eli and kneeled next to him.

"Your ability is pretty useless when you can't steal them." She spat at him. She was keeping her distance, however.

"Seems to have worked on you before." Eli tried to shoot back but felt himself getting dizzy. He could still hear Tucker fighting inside. He hoped Tucker could get away. She reached behind his head and placed a disk and a mask unfolded around his face. Shade made someone bandage his leg and wrist.

He still felt dizzy as Shade and Nycta walked him to a helicopter. They didn't wait long before Neo walked into the helicopter with green-eyed Smii7y behind him. Smii7y had a nasty scratch on his right thigh. Eli was very glad he didn't see Tucker when the helicopter door started to close.

He just hoped he'd be the last one to be captured. Their plan didn't work as well as they hoped.