Remember

Chapter Twenty (edited)

 Jordy rose slowly to his feet, searching around Kaden with a confused look, and put a hand out for Colette to take. She only stared at it as she used the handle on the abandoned truck to hoist herself up from the ground. Colette stretched the muscles in her body, preparing to make yet another hasty escape from the Paradisium Federation. She did not understand how the hell they found them so easily and quickly. They were like natural born bloodhounds if they were able to track the three of them so quickly.

Her muscles already ached enough and she was not ready to make another run, but the only other option was to stay and fight, and they would not stand a chance fighting. Not only was Kaden the only one who could take them on, but Colette saw how much using his powers drained him from holding off the guards in the compound. He was not in any shape to take on two highly trained guards in a full on fight.

In fact, everything about the way Kaden was acting right now was making her nervous. The way his eyes shot between her and Jordy frantically and seeing him so tense. As terrifying as it was to know there were people hot on their trail trying to capture them or maybe even kill them, Kaden would never let it show if it scared him. He would rather put himself at risk than get any of his friends hurt. Yet, he stayed silent and issued no warning to her or Jordy that something was wrong or that they had been found again.

Colette cocked her head to the side and glanced at Jordy, making eye contact with him as she raised her eyebrow. Before they could ask Kaden what was going on, a man and a woman made their way towards them.

The girl, who looked no older than Colette, flanked the left side of Kaden. Her hair was dark brown and dirty and hung around her face in a curly mess of a ponytail. The clothes on her body looked ragged and torn, as if she had been out here for a long time. Colette could not help but wonder how she had managed to survive for so long out here. She did not look like she could kill a fly, but the way she held the gun in her hands with such confidence said she was willing to put a bullet in any one of them with a simple command.

On the right of Kaden was a man who looked to be in his early thirties. His dark hair was buzzed to his head and the look in his deep brown eyes was menacing. As if he could kill a man with one look. He was much more toned than his female companion. The muscles could be seen under his tight fitting shirt and he carried a much larger gun than the girl. Instead of holding it to the ground he trained it on Jordy and Colette, his finger hovering right over the trigger.

Jordy and Collete immediately threw their hands up as a third person appeared on top of the car behind Kaden, her pistol trained on Kaden's back. The woman looked much older than the man, quite possibly in her late forties. She was slender like the girl with the same dark brown waves. She must have been the girl's mother, but Colette doubted the man was in any relation. He did not exactly look like the family type.

"You've risked your lives by coming here. You better hope we find something good in those bags of yours or you'll be dead." The man to the right laughed coldly as he spoke with a voice that sounded like sandpaper. He cocked his gun in warning, his finger coming to rest on the trigger. "Throw those bags to me." And when neither Jordy nor Colette moved an inch he fired a warning shot into the air. "I said drop the bags! Don't think I won't put a bullet in you next."

Colette and Jordy shrugged off their bags and tossed them at them man's feet reluctantly. Colete knew there was nothing in those bags that could be of any use to these people. Their food rations were nearly gone and their water down to mere droplets. She looked at Kaden who stood unnervingly still. His eyes met hers and she shot him a look of confusion. Why was he not using his powers to knock the guns out of their hands? He shook his head slowly, a silent command to obey these people. Something was not right, more so than them being robbed by a bunch of bandits.

The two women stayed silent with their guns trained on the trio as the man dropped to his knees and sifted through their bags. Colette was doing everything she could to keep from shaking, to keep from showing these people any signs of weakness. The inside of her lip was starting to bleed from how hard she was biting into it. The man was going to find nothing and deem them useless and she did not want to find out what these savages did to people who had no use.

The man clicked his tongue between his teeth and shook his head when he finished going through the contents. "Well I regret to inform you that you will be of no use to us." He raised his gun at Jordy and the girl to the left cocked her pistol and trained it on Colette. Colette could no longer contain her shaking as tears started to form in her eyes.The earlier fire from the gun sang a horrifying melody of goodbye in her head as she waited for it to sound again.

The sound never came, instead there was a shuffling of feet next to her as Jordy stood up and took on a fighting stance. Colette tried to keep the confusion off her features as she let Jordy do whatever it was he was planning to do, though she could not shake the horrifying feeling that he was going to get shot.

"I would not do that if I were you." Jordy spoke confidently as if there were not guns threatening to end his life with every inch he moved. "I can do things you couldn't dream of. I could end all of your lives with a single movement of my hand." It was a hoax, a good one at that or so she thought. An honorable attempt, if nothing else.

The woman on top of the car hopped down with an agile grace, still keeping her gun pointed at Kaden who now looked more frightened than ever. The thieves were not buying it. Either they were not aware of people having powers -- which seemed highly unlikely -- or they were very confident in whatever powers they may have possessed.

The older woman laughed as she stepped past Kaden and now focused her gun on Jordy, in turn the man moved to point his gun at Kaden. They never let a second go by without a gun trained on all three of them. It made Colette wonder just how long these thieves had been doing this work. It must mean there were many more people not in simulations than she thought if they had so much practice. The thought gave her hope. If they could escape these three, then perhaps they could make a whole new life out here with more people.

"Boy, do you think me a damned fool?" The older woman was now a foot away from the two of them, her gun only a few inches from Jordy's face, but even that did not make his act falter. "I bet you're wondering why your friend up there hasn't tried to make a move with his little powers. Yea, that's right. You see I know for a damn fact your powers can't do a damn thing to me. Now yours." The woman turned to Colette. "You could enslave mankind with those powers of yours. Too bad they're locked up inside of that little mind."

Colette took a huge gulp as the woman took another step towards her. Her instinct was to step back, but the woman grabbed her by her chin before she could even try. "Ho-how do you know I can't use them? How do you know I was not waiting for the right moment to unleash it upon all of you?" Colette barely managed to squeeze the words out of her mouth and through the thick layer of fear that held her tightly.

The woman laughed, but it was much different than the one before. More of a snort than anything. "If you knew what your powers could do, you would have used them by now." The woman stared into her eyes for a moment and Colette could see that this woman was not playing a game. Despite the words that leaked from her cracked lips, the woman was terrified deep inside. Whatever the woman thought Colette could was enough for her to drop her hand from Colette's face and take a step back.

She finally retreated back to Kaden and turned to her companions. "Lincoln, Prissy, grab them. We're going on a little walk." Colette was hoisted to her feet by who she assumed to be Lincoln as Prissy -- who had not said a word this entire time -- came up behind her.