Empowered book 1: "Run"

Chapter 2

Howdy....I have absolutely no idea why I said that. So! Before we begin I will first say that I am not on a fixed schedule so my uploads are gonna be sporadic af. But hey! If you're into fixed schedules then you should check out my best friend's account ladykatiestyle. She's got like four or five stories in production at the moment and no doubt she's going to make more soon. Anyway she has a schedule on her account that show what days she will update certain stories. Go check it out! And now *drumroll* lets get back into the story!

     Cara still couldn't move. She wanted to though. She wanted to shove Charlie off of her and demand an explanation, but she could only repeat his name. It was as if that was the only word she knew. What the hell was going on?
     "Hey, uh, Charlie?" Evan sounded uncomfortable. "Shouldn't we go now, hug later?"
     Charlie let go of Cara and nodded. "Right." He glanced at the security camera above them. "We have to get rid of the security footage and get her out of here. We should have been miles away by now. Ashley was already pissed when we got here. I wouldn't be surprised if she's torched the car at this point."
     Evan laughed. He was such a happy person. That much was obvious. "Ok. Let's go then."
     "What?" Cara asked. "Where are you going?"
     Charlie gave her a sad smile. "Cara...you have to come too."
     "Are you crazy?" Cara's voice rose. How could he possibly think she'd agree to something like that?
     "I hate this part," Evan mumbled. He had the same sad expression as Charlie.
     They were both on either side of her, and she knew she wouldn't be able to outrun them, if it came to that. She could feel confused, angry tears threatening to spill over. She swallowed, took a deep breath, and closed her eyes. Down. Down. Down. Funny, this time it seemed to take longer for her to regain control, but as always, within a few seconds she was able to open her eyes and face them. She looked at Charlie first. He was looking at her with a raised eyebrow, almost as if he could hear her repeating that word to herself. Of course he couldn't though. He couldn't possibly know what he'd put her through. Cara turned to look at Evan next. He simply looked like he'd rather be anywhere but there. He looked to be deep in thought, but also nervous.
     "Cara..."
     "No! You think you can abandon us for a year and then just pop back into our lives like it never happened? You can't! And you can't make me drop everything and join you on your little...whatever this is! We thought you were dead! Dad is killing himself just to make sure I can go to college! Did you know that  ALL of your records are gone? The police did everything they could to try to find you! How did you even manage to avoid them?! And who the hell is he?!" She gestured at Evan, who was now looking at her with a mix of shock and confusion on his face. In fact, they both were. That was the last straw. "What the hell are you looking at?!"
"Excuse me," a new voice said.
They turned around to see a middle-aged man carrying a mop bucket approaching them. A janitor by the looks of it.
Cara knew all the adults in the building. She'd stayed after school on enough occasions to be able to recognize anyone she saw, even the janitors, but she'd never seen this man before, and it seemed strange that they would hire someone new at the start of summer, when almost no one would be in the building.
The man stopped a short distance away, and smiled warmly. "What are you kids still doing here?"
"My dad-" Cara started.
Charlie cut her off. "We were just leaving."
Seriously? Did he still expect her to go with him? Cara looked at Charlie. His facial expression was...threatening? Charlie never threatened anyone! Yet here he was, looking at the janitor like he wanted to rip him apart. Cara took a deep breath. "I would like to apologize for my brother's behavior. He's not normally a jerk." She glared at him, but he didn't even react to her comment.
The man laughed. "That's alright. He's still more polite than the kids at the last school I worked at."
"And what school was that?" Charlie asked.
"It was out of state. I'm sure you've never heard of it."
"Try me."
     The janitor smiled and took a step closer. "Really, kid. You wouldn't know it." He stepped closer again, and that's when the gunshot sounded. The sound was so loud that Cara almost had to cover her ears. She watched as the janitor slowly looked down at the blood that was spreading over his white polo shirt. He looked back up at them and opened his mouth. A small stream of blood flowed out of it, sending him into a coughing fit. He dropped to his knees and regained his composure. He opened his mouth again. "You will never win." His eyes then rolled back in his head, and he collapsed face first on the floor.
     The sound Cara made didn't even sound human. She couldn't tear her eyes away from the body, or the pool of blood that was getting bigger by the second. She closed her eyes, but she could still see it. There was a hand on her shoulder. It gently pulled her farther back from the mess, which was quickly covering the floor. She opened her eyes and looked behind her at Evan. He was deathly pale. He almost seemed to be using her as a way to keep himself standing rather than trying to comfort her. She actually felt bad for him. Evan struck her as more of an innocent bystander in all this rather than an asset.
     Once they were farther back, Evan looked a little better. "Charlie...how did you know?"
     Cara glanced at Charlie, and what she saw she almost couldn't believe. Charlie was sliding a small pistol into a pocket on the inside of his brown leather jacket. Charlie had just shot someone, and he didn't seem to care. In fact, he was walking closer to the body. "You should have heard the shit he was thinking."
     "What? You can read minds now or something?" Cara asked. She hated how scared she sounded. Charlie had never given her a reason not to trust him before, but this...
     He turned around and looked her directly in the eye. "Yes."
     Evan followed after Charlie at a distance. He was obviously squeamish about blood, but now he seemed almost interested. "So, what have we got?"
Charlie crouched down next to the bucket. "Let's see. We got a tranquilizer gun, a knife, and...what the hell?" He reached in the bucket and pulled out a rectangular object. It was a plain steel grey color. Nothing particularly fancy. It had a green blinking light on the top, along with a long antenna. When Charlie turned it over, Cara could see that it had a small screen. It looked like old technology. Charlie obviously couldn't tell what it was, and he was clearly getting frustrated. He was flipping the object over in various ways, trying to figure it out. Finally, something familiar about him. Charlie had always tried to figure out how things worked, at least, when Cara knew him. He'd wanted to go to college to be an engineer. Hell knew where that plan went.
Evan groaned in exasperation. "For God's sake, Charlie, just give it to Darcy! Can we please go now?
"Yeah. Ok." Charlie shoved the device into his back pocket, and looked at Cara. "I know you don't trust me now, but you're going to have to. There will be more like him on the way. You aren't safe here."
Cara looked at the body on the floor, and back at Charlie. She could feel the tears again, and she was sure Charlie could see them. She tilted her head back and blinked away the tears before they could fall. Down. Down. Down. Finally she looked at Charlie and Evan. "Just take me home."
Charlie's face fell, but he nodded anyway. "Ok."
The walk the the front door of the school was awkward at best. No one said anything. No one acknowledged the fact that they'd left a body in the hallway, or the fact that Charlie and Evan had asked Cara to come with them. Neither of them seemed ready to drop the subject yet, but Cara would deal with that when the time came.
"One second. We have to get the security tapes," Charlie said. He pulled open the door to the main office.
"Charlie, the secretaries are still there," Cara said. "If you think you're making a clean getaway with them seeing you-"
Charlie walked into the office as if he hadn't heard her. She waited for gasps of surprise or shocked screaming, but the expected sounds didn't come. Evan held the door open for her. He didn't seem at all affected by the way Charlie just walked into the office like he always had countless other times. Unsure of what to do, Cara followed Evan into the office.
There was only one secretary working that day. Her name was Mrs. White, and she got excited over pretty much everything, so...why was she not freaking out? She didn't even acknowledge that they were there. She simply continued to type on her laptop and sip her coffee.
"The tapes are in the back room." Charlie pointed to the room in question, and Evan jogged directly past Mrs. White, who continued to ignore them.
     Cara shifted awkwardly as she watched Mrs. White push her shoulder length brown hair behind her ears and adjust her glasses. Why would she just let Evan go into the back room? Normally she would be calling the cops right now. "Mrs. White?"
     "She can't hear you, Charlie said.
     Cara walked up to Mrs. White's desk. "Mrs. White?" She waved her hand in front of the secretary's face. Still nothing.
     "Ok. I think this is all we need," Evan said, coming out of the back room. "I grabbed these three off the table and I also grabbed the ones that were currently recording. That should be enough right?"
     "Yes. That's fine."
      "Awesome!" Evan glanced at Mrs. White. "She seems nice."
     "Ok. Let's go."
     They walked past the metal detectors, which had clearly been disabled judging by the exposed wires, and by the cover for the electrical box that was left on the floor.
What other insane things have you done? Cara wondered, looking at Charlie.
He looked back at her. "Explaining that would require a comfy place and a shot."
He knew what she'd been thinking? But that was impossible. Wasn't it?
Maybe I should wait for Dad.
"Not a good idea."
How the hell had he known she was thinking that? There was no way. She was truly terrified now. A murderer. She was getting into a car with a murderer. A murderer was offering to drive her home. At least, that's what he'd said. Could she even trust Charlie anymore? The thought of not trusting him was too painful to think about. He was more than her brother. He was one of her best friends. And now he'd killed a man right in front of her. As she stepped outside and looked around at the familiar parking lot, she almost bumped into Evan. He stopped walking and scanned the area.
     "Anything?" Charlie asked.
     "I don't think so," Evan said. "I'd say keep your mind open anyway."
     "Got it."
     What were they talking about? 'Keep your mind open?' What did Evan mean by that?
"Today just doesn't make sense," she said under her breath.
Evan shrugged. "We've had worse days."
They lead her towards a black Hummer that was parked next to the curb. A girl with long red hair was leaning against the driver's seat door. She appeared to be playing with a lighter. Cara watched flame as it moved and danced between her fingers. The girl looked like she was lost in her own world. A black hoodie covered most of her face.
     "Ashley, didn't you see the janitor?" Evan asked.
     "Janitor? The work schedule that Darcy found said they weren't supposed to be there today." The girl didn't look up.      As they got closer, Cara's mouth fell open. She watched as the flame, just the flame created shapes and patterns in the girl's hand. She moved her hand to the left, and the flame moved with it. The expression on her face showed that she was concentrating hard.
     "Hey, Ashley," Evan said. "Think fast!" He tossed one of the videotapes he was carrying in the air.
     Ashley looked up at the flying tape. Suddenly it burst into flames. She looked at Evan. "I can get at least three at a time now."
     Evan grabbed three more tapes and prepared to throw them.
     "Wait," Ashley said. She was looking at Cara. "You guys did tell her...right?"
     "We got a little distracted," Charlie admitted.
     "Poor kid. She looks terrified." Ashley really did look sorry. She quickly extinguished the flame that was hovering in her hand. "Was this because of the so-called janitor?"
     Charlie nodded. "His body is in the middle hallway. Now as for Cara, we were going to tell h-" Charlie paused for a minute. "Get down!" He tackled Ashley just as the gun fired. A bullet bounced off the window right where her head had been a second ago.
Bulletproof glass. The car had bulletproof glass. Why on Earth would Charlie need a car with bulletproof glass? Are they all in a gang?
"No, Cara, we are not in a gang. Now get in the car!" Charlie yelled.
"How the hell do you know what I'm thinking?!"
     "Ok, Ash, ready?" Evan tossed the remaining five tapes into the air.
     Ashley scrambled to her knees and focused on the tapes. Three went up in flames. "Dammit Evan! I said only three at a time!" She raised her hands, aiming at the two other tapes. Streams of fire erupted from her hands, incinerating the tapes until they were nothing more than piles of ash on the sidewalk. Ashley was her own flamethrower. Despite all this madness, Cara had to admit she liked her.
But who had shot at them? Cara turned around to see two people wearing black...armor? Yes. Armor. Black metal plates covered their chests, arms, legs. Anywhere that a fatal wound could appear was heavily covered. Black helmets covered their faces. There was something written on their right shoulders. Cara squinted. "ETD." What did that mean?
The armored figures started running. The one on the right fired his gun, but the bullet burst into flames and disintegrated. Cara glanced at Ashley. She was smirking.
"Cara!" Charlie ran up and grabbed her by the shoulders, forcing her to look at him. "I know you're scared, and I know you don't trust me, but now I need you to do exactly as I say. Alright?"
"I..."
"Just do what he says!" Evan yelled.
Cara looked around. Ashley was still incinerating bullets, but Evan was nowhere to be found. "Evan? Evan!"
"Cara, please just get in the car! You'll be safe there!" Charlie was shaking her now. "Please, Cara!" He looked like he was about to cry, but...Charlie never cried. "Please," he whispered.
"Don't make me drag you!" Evan was suddenly standing beside them.
"That's it!" Ashley yelled. She squared her shoulders and aimed each hand at an armored figure. The fire blasts were bigger this time. They consumed the figures so completely that Cara couldn't even see them.
     "Ashley! Stop!" Charlie yelled.
     Ashley lowered her hands and the flames faded, revealing the armored figures...completely unharmed.
     The one on the left laughed. "Fireproof armor, sweetheart. You like it?"
     Ashley gaped. She was completely frozen.
     "That's right," the man said. "We know all about you, Ashley Lynn. And your friends."
     Suddenly he doubled over in pain. The other one cried out as he was pushed down, his rifle falling out of his hand. And then the rifle flew up and hit its owner in the head.
     "The gun is floating," Cara said. "I'm not even surprised anymore."
     The rifle moved to the other man, but he jumped up at the last second and grabbed it. He appeared to be fighting someone for it, except there was no one there.
     Cara turned to Charlie. "I've got to be dreaming, right?"
     He shook his head.
     "Wait. Where'd Evan go? Evan?!"
     The man with the rifle suddenly pulled his gun free. "We also know about you, Evan McNair."
     Out of nowhere, Evan materialized next to the gunman, looking just as surprised as Ashley.
     "What?!" Cara couldn't believe it. How had Evan done that?
     "I thought you weren't surprised anymore," Ashley said.
     Evan vanished right before their eyes, and appeared again at Cara's side. "Hey."
     The gunman didn't hesitate. He fired directly at them.
     Cara cried out and instinctively raised her hands in defense. Then everything just...stopped. It simply froze. She looked at Charlie. He'd been frozen in the midst of raising his pistol. Ashley's hands were flaming, but the fire didn't move and dance like normal fire. It was completely still. Evan had frozen while disappearing. Cara could still see him, but she could see straight through him. Cara, however, was completely fine. The whole world was frozen, except for her. Hesitantly, she took a step. Nothing happened. She took another step. Still nothing. She looked at Charlie again, and gasped. The bullet had frozen about a foot away from his forehead. Without thinking, Cara quickly grabbed it. She stared at it in the palm of her hand. What is going on? Why is this happening?
     And just like that, everything unfroze. Charlie raised his pistol and fired, Evan disappeared completely, and Ashley threw a melee of fireballs, which of course did nothing. None of them seemed to notice what had happened.
     The gunman, on the other hand, definitely noticed. He knew he couldn't have missed. Fortunately, the distraction was all they needed. The gunman suddenly gasped and dropped to his knees, dropping the gun. It immediately rose up, and hit him in the back of his head. He then collapsed next to his fallen comrade.
     For a moment there was silence, then Evan materialized next to the unconscious gunmen. "Man, the one place they don't have armor...who knew?" He slung the rifle over his shoulder and began walking to the Hummer.
     Charlie put a hand on her shoulder. "Cara...we can't go home. Not after this."
     "But you said-"
     "I'm so sorry." He put his hand on top of her head. "Please forgive me."
     She suddenly felt a wave of exhaustion wash over her. She tried to fight it, but it was getting stronger by the second. "Charlie..." He was doing it. She didn't know how, but she was sure that it was him. She tried to back away, but he was gripping her shoulder. There was no escape.
     "I'm sorry."
     Cara's vision became blurry at the edges. Her knees buckled. She could feel herself falling. Somebody caught her before she hit the ground and held her tight. She struggled to keep her eyes open, but it was no use. Everything went black.