IncuBUST

Slow or Quick?

"I can't be a part of this," Sissy said, and I threw my hands up saying, "Then leave! We don't need you here anyway!" She stared at me for a long moment before turning to Barapha and murmuring, "Don't you dare let him die." She stood and her wings shot from her back. She kicked off from the ground and soared up into the sky. Soon she was nothing but a distant speck barely visible through the trees. I scoffed and shook my head in disbelief before reaching out and helping Barapha to his feet.

Barapha's hand tightened around mine as I headed towards the clearing. I looked back at him, and he met my gaze saying, "If you're serious about this, then I am with you one hundred percent. But I don't want you to feel like you have to do this. Not for me."

"I'm not just doing this for you," I said, and he nodded grasping my hand in his and pulling me out into the clearing. Nothing happened. We kept walking. There was a subtle scraping sound followed by the echoing crack of a gunshot. Barapha's hand darted out in front of my face and my heart jumped into my throat.

Barapha squeezed the bullet in his hand feeling the heat of it melt into his skin and he turned to look at the window through which the shot had come. There was a young man. His eyes were wide with shock. Barapha dropped the bullet. The man raised his nine to take another shot. Before he could get one off, frost spread across the window. The glass shattered and the man dropped his gun covering his face and rearing back away from the window.

Barapha and I approached the front door of the building and found it locked. Barapha easily kicked it down and immediately went for the shooter whimpering pitifully upon the floor clutching at his bloody face. He reached down and grabbed the man by the throat wrenching him into the air so that his feet dangled several feet above the floor.

The man gagged and scrabbled at Barapha's hand. Barapha smiled and squeezed harder, sighing at the warmth of the blood dribbling down the man's face and across his hand. Barapha glanced at me and asked, "Would you like it to be slow or quick, Chase? You're the one he tried to kill."

I stared at the man. He looked so young. His face cut up and bloody, his eyes wide with pain and fear. I clenched my fists and replied, "Neither. Let him go." Barapha considered me for a long moment before sighing and releasing his grip on the man's throat. He collapsed to the floor shivering violently and gasping for breath.

A door suddenly burst open and four gun-toting maniacs began open firing. Barapha whirled around, caught me in his arms and dematerialized. We landed roughly in the room from which the shooters had just come and Barapha waved his hand causing the door to slam shut and the lock to freeze over.

"What about them? Can we kill them?" Barapha asked and I stared at his back. He had been hit several times. The bullets weren't deep but dark blue blood spotted his shirt. There was a pounding on the door. I rushed over to him and asked, "Are you alright?" He caught my hands in his and said, "I'm fine, but you need to make a decision." His eyes drifted away from mine and focused on something behind me.

"Shit," he murmured, and I turned to see Octavia bound and gagged on the floor. She had a black eye and was stained with dirt but otherwise she seemed relatively unhurt. The person next to her was much worse for wear. My eyes widened and I whispered, "Nikolai." I ran over to him and crouched down. He was lying on his side, his face was swollen and caked with dried blood, bruises purpled his skin. His wrists were bound behind his back, the skin raw and red beneath the ropes. It looked like he had been here for days.

"Niki," I said grasping his arm and trying to pull him upright. He cried out against the gag in his mouth, and I stopped my hands fluttering uselessly over his body. I lifted his shirt and found his torso covered with huge dark bruises. I reached out and apologized repeatedly as I felt his ribs. He whimpered and I grimaced. Several of them were broken.

"Stop squirming," I heard Barapha snap, and I saw him picking at the knots binding Octavia's hands. I shot Octavia a look and she immediately stopped struggling and let Barapha untie her. I gently removed the gag from Nikolai's mouth and saw that it was covered with blood. I almost started crying. Several of his teeth were missing. I sniffled and began working on the knots binding his wrists.

He winced as the rope rubbed his ragged flesh and I whispered, "Shh, it's okay. You're gonna be okay." I untied his wrists and ankles and tried to help him to his feet. He wobbled and his knees buckled beneath him. I caught him under the arms and said, "I know it hurts but you have to try and stand." He squeezed his eyes shut and clutched at his head mumbling, "Floor's wiggly." I looked at the floor them back at him asking, "What?"

"Chase," Barapha said, and I glanced at him and Octavia who was now standing. She raised her hands and said, "They drugged him. Every couple of hours they inject him with something so he's too out of it to use his powers." I looked back at Nikolai. His pupils were huge, the whites of his eyes bloodshot. He giggled and slurred, "You're pretty." Before wincing and sagging heavily in my arms. I lowered him carefully back to the floor and tilted his head to the side. A series of small overlapping bruises stained his skin. I felt rage surge through my veins and at that moment the four people pounding on the door finally broke through.