-Mentally Trapped-UnOrdinary-

Chapter Twenty Eight: Not Out Yet...

The halls stretched out before them, dark, flickering, filled with smoke and sparks from damaged wiring. Sirens wailed faintly in the distance, a soft warning that the facility was no longer stable.

"Left!," Isen shouted, pointing around a collapsed corridor. "There's a secondary staircase, follow me, I downloaded the blueprints!," The group sprinted, but it was no longer effortless. John stumbled again.

Seraphina tightened her grip on his arm, eyes full of worry. His weight was heavier than before, his steps slower. He blinked, trying to focus, but everything around him was starting to blur—walls bending, lights flashing in pulses that made his head pound.

His legs dragged like they were shackled. "Keep it together, Johnny," He muttered to himself. Elaine ran beside him, casting glances at his eyes. "His pupils are dilated again. His aura's misfiring, he's losing control,"

John didn't deny it. He couldn't.

The pressure in his chest felt like it was crushing him from the inside. Every time he breathed, it felt shallower than before. The foreign energy of the drugs was returning, fighting the healing, creeping back in.

Every second that passed, he felt himself slipping. Behind them, debris shifted. Something moved something fast. "Something's coming!," Remi yelled.

A loud hiss echoed through the vent system, followed by the heavy, dragging sound of metal-on-metal. The force of John's earlier attack had damaged more than just Keon, it had ruptured parts of the facility's structural core. "It's collapsing," Arlo said grimly. "We're out of time,"

They turned another corner, just in time for a steel beam to crash down behind them, sealing off the hallway.

!!BOOM!!

The floor rumbled. John staggered again, falling to one knee. "John!," Seraphina crouched beside him. "Talk to me," Clentching John's hand tighter "I-I," he gasped, squeezing his eyes shut. "It's...hard to breathe. Hard to think...," Elaine pressed her hand to his shoulder again. "Let me try-,"

"No," He whispered. "Save your energy. You might need it later...,"

Blyke came around and pulled one of John's arms over his shoulders. "Not slowing down now, buddy. You just threw a monster through five walls you've earned a break,"

They kept going, Remi taking the lead, Isen and Elaine guiding the back. John's vision flickered like a dying screen, the outlines of his friends warping and twisting as the drugs attacked his mind again.

Suddenly-

!!FLASH!!

A memory surged.

Seraphina's smile.

The rooftop.

"I'll be there for you. Always...," He winced, pressing a hand to his temple. "Stop...," He whispered to the echo in his head. But it kept coming. More flashes. Blyke yelling at him on the court. Remi crying after the newspaper incident.

Keon's voice echoing in his head...

"You're just a tool. A weapon,"

He gritted his teeth.

"Stop...,"

Then...He heard something that wasn't a memory.

Keon's voice. Real. Right behind them.

"You really thought you could leave?,"

The group turned in horror, just in time to see Keon, bruised and bleeding, dragging himself through the smoke like something from a nightmare. His eyes were bloodshot, his body warped from copying John's copied abilities.