Heroes

Chapter 16. Freedom

It took me a couple of seconds to process what Jack had just said. The doors had opened? The first thing I thought of was 'how?' I've never heard of doors just opening by themselves, especially since I was a sceptic. Jack had already left by this point, presumably heading to the entrance to finally leave after so long. I glanced at Nate and saw that he was standing stock still, barely breathing, seeming to be going through something difficult. I wanted to ask him if he was okay, but thought it best just to leave him for the time being. And then I thought why he was acting funny: he's been in here for 5 years of his life. He hasn't seen daylight for 5 years. That must be why he suddenly froze. But something else bothered me. Nate had telepathy, didn't he? That was his power. That's why he knew that Morgan told me his name, that's why he was able to call Morgan to him without actually saying anything. That's why he was able to communicate with me just now so Jack wouldn't hear.
" Nate?" I asked quietly, trying not to startle him. He looked at me with a confused expression, then quickly wiped it away and answered me.
"Yeah, Mark?"
"Are you okay?"
I think he could sense the genuine concern in my voice because he gave me a small smile.
"Yeah, I'm good. Don't worry about me."
"You wanna get out of here?"
His eyes glinted for the first time since I'd met him.
"Do you really have to ask that?" He asked, then took off. I followed him, trusting that he knew his way, and we came to the main corridor where I'd originally seen him and this whole chase had begun. And sure enough, the doors were wide open. Sunlight streamed in and illuminated the floor, casting golden glows across the walls. I know I'd only been there a few days, but it truly was a sight for sore eyes. I forgot that Nate was by my side for a moment; I was too encompassed with the beauty of outside. Inmates poured out of the open doors, while guards tried to round them all up. But the guards were quickly overpowered and trampled down by the stampede. I couldn't see my friends anywhere, but I assumed they were outside. Leaving Nate, I walked up to the door and breathed in the fresh air, feeling it fill my lungs and giving me a sense of life again. I turned around to find Nate making his way towards me, sort of in a daze. I wondered once more if he was okay, but then thought that I think about that way too much.
"I agree," Nate said from beside me, not looking at me as he did. Now, what I'm about to tell you is still, to this day, the most amazing thing I've ever seen and I would give anything to be able to do this. Nate started flying. And by that, I mean he literally just took off. It's like he became one with nature and just took control of the wind. Now obviously, since he hasn't felt the wind on his face since before he was a teenager, I left him to his own devices. But honestly though, I would give my right arm to be able to fly. I asked him about it years later, asked him how he learnt to fly and he just said that it took a lot of practice. As I processed the fact that he could fly, I clocked that he now had two powers. Two. The rest of us only had one. These experiments just have been pretty powerful to be able to give him multiple powers. And this made me wonder if he had any others. I didn't wonder about it for long though, because I saw the other guys standing together around 30 yards away and waving me over. I ran over to them, feeling the spring of the grass under my tread. I got to them and we looked at the building where we'd been held prisoner. It was time to say goodbye to that place forever.