The Boy Who Could Shape The Air

-=Chapter Four - I Could Use A Stupid Joke After That=-

  "Be careful!  Don't slip!"

  Scrambling and sprinting up the face of the mountain- the whole group.  All nine of us.  Ominous, thunderous impacts echoed from behind us, lending a bit of extra motivation, a bit more drive to ascend the shambling rock face.  To get to a place where they couldn't reach us.

  Aaron yelled again.  "Still got everyone?  Mark?  Dan?  Ella?  Isaac?"

  One by one, we all answered in the affirmative, Ella's reply coming as more of a gasp.  She was tiring.  We all were.

  The first few constructs, black stone automatons with nasty-looking weapons instead of hands, burst out of the spindly trees a hundred feet back.  They powered up the rock face, slowly narrowing the distance between us.  Ella's tide of water, intended to sweep them away, just slowed them slightly.

  "Notgoodnotgoodnotgood!"  Aaron yelled as one construct threw a knife that could have taken off his leg.  "Isaac?  Can you shake them around?"

  "I can try," he panted, flop of blond hair blowing into his face as he turned to use his power.

  There was a tremendous shaking, and the constructs all crashed to the ground.  Jess nearly stumbled, but we all powered through, advancing up a rock face by way of a set of steps I rapidly shaped.

  Isaac kept the shaking directed at the constructs as we reached the pinnacle.  We all collapsed in exhaustion- except for him.  Isaac's face was white, his body rigid, his hands extended like claws toward the onrushing constructs.

  "What's wrong?" I shouted, struggling to be heard over the constant shaking of the earth.

  Isaac was muttering something under his breath.  "Can't turn it off can't turn it off can't..."  With a jolt of horror, I realized he was talking about his power.  The shockwaves from his attack reverberated out from the constructs, crashing through the ground all around, making their way toward us.

  "Turn it off!  We're safe!"  Aaron was practically bellowing to be heard.

  "I... I... I CAN'T!"   Isaac's pained shriek was accompanied by a slightly more pronounced effect.  A wave through the earth, the strongest yet, resounded from everywhere... It ripped through everything, and the crescendo in my ears rose to intolerable levels.  Through a haze of pain, I glimpsed crumbling stones, tumbling and falling and rolling down the mountainside.  One tore through the group of constructs like paper, ripping all but two to pieces.  Another nearly collapsed the earth below me, but I scrambled back to firm ground in time.

  I was the lucky one.

  Another piece of stone, smaller than most but moving faster than a bullet, smashed through the trees behind us.  It hit Ella straight in the small of her back.

  It slammed into her, knocking her away, off the cliffside.  She tumbled down the mountain like a rag doll.

  I recoiled as a wave of pain pierced through our mindlink.  A piercing agony that shattered my mind.  Then... nothing.

  That was worse.

  The sound around us abruptly cut off, giving way to Ethan's inhuman scream, to the quiet sobs of Haley, to the dull-eyed horror of Mark and Aaron.  Rocks all around us thudded to the ground.

  Isaac, in the center of our group, lay curled up in a ball of dazed terror.

  Ethan's barrage of swearing was interrupted by Jenna, who quickly knelt to talk to Isaac.  "It's okay.  You're... you're..."