Different

Chapter 3

Zion's head throbbed in silence for a few heartbeats until suddenly an excruciating scream echoed in his head. All of the sudden a thousand voices started yelling in his head. Pain, sorrow, joy, excitement, rage, all whirling around him like an uncontrollable hurricane. He dropped to his knees, the weight of the voices crushing him. His vision blurred, though he thought he saw Jack and Roxie start to run towards him. Everyone's voices were dull and distorted as if underwater to his ears, but in his head they were clear as day. "Oh my gosh, is he alright?", "I guess this initiate will die, at least the others seem okay...", "Do I call an ambulance or.. Maybe I could..." the voices were swept away into the whirlwind in his head. Zion's vision turned red, then faded to black, his only escape from the voices was the sweet silence of unconsciousness.

*****

Zion opened his eyes. He was on a cot inside of a truck. He looked around and saw Sage, Fletcher and Roxie sitting on some other seats in the truck. He saw Jack at the foot of his bed, eyes closed, hands hovering over his chest.

"Uhh..." Zion wasn't sure what to make of what was going on.

Sage realized that Zion was awake. "Oh thank goodness," he sighed with relief.

Jack opened his eyes, wonder shining on them, a grin on his face. "Wow, I can't believe that just happened," Jack said. Only, he didn't say it, it was more like Zion could hear what he was thinking.. But that couldn't happen, could it? That Professor did say it would give them powers but...

Fletcher seemed to awaken from a daze. "Oh, er, yeah... I guess you'd like to know what's going on." He hesitated.

"Well, those pills gave us special abilities. I got super strength, we think Fletcher got smarter.. If that's even possible, Sage can.. Well, she kinda turned into a bear, then a tortoise so I guess she's a shapeshifter, and Jack here got super healing, well, that's what he claims." Roxie explained. "We're on our way to meet the other people who worked at the facility Goldenberg works in."

"I don't understand why a big, strong muscular man like me got super healing, I should have something cool, like laser vision! Super healing is a girl's power.." Jack muttered under his breath. Everyone just rolled their eyes and ignored him.

Zion could somehow tell that she wasn't lying, but it still felt like this was all some elaborate joke, or possibly a dream. Then Zion realized that it couldn't be a dream because of his insomnia. "Well, what's my power then?" he asked.

"We don't know yet," Sage said, "but have you felt anything... Strange?"

"Well..." Zion hesitated, worried what his friends would think. "When I took my pill... I could start hearing... voices, like, right now, I can hear all of your voices... But you aren't talking. It's..." Zion trailed off as he saw his friends looking at him, the fear clear in their eyes. A wave of voices flowed over Zion, causing him to cry out in pain and clutch his head. Everyone was still shocked, most likely thinking he was losing his mind, and they were probably right.

Sage suddenly straightened up, as if realizing something. One of the voices in his head whispered, "What if he could read minds..." Zion's eyes widened. Sage opened her mouth about to say something, but Zion beat her to it.

"Mind reading... I can read minds... At least, that's what Sage thinks, and I'm pretty sure she's right."

Sage paled, "Oh... My..." She didn't finish, she just stared at him, in shock. The others were also speechless. After a few moments the truck pulled to a stop.

"Alright, everybody out!" The driver called from the front. As Zion climbed out of the truck he felt as if he had put up barriers in his mind to block out the voices, and the barriers were starting to crack. So many voices, thoughts, and experiences were trying to get his attention. It took all his will to block them out again. He looked around and saw they were at some sort of testing facility. He skimmed the ocean of voices to see if he could find the name of the place they were at.

Professor Goldenberg walked over to them, "Ahh, yes, welcome to-"

"Valetnog Cross," Zion said, "a secret science testing facility located in-"

"My, my! You've taken to your powers quite nicely, haven't you Zion?" Goldenberg said, his voice tight. "This kid could be useful... As long as he can keep his trap shut,"

"What are we doing here?" Roxie asked.

"Why, this is where you'll meet the others, once you've been tested," the professor said calmly.

"Testing," Jack repeated softly, "What kind of testing?"

"To see what kind of powers you have of course! Now, come with me, and we can get started right away."