The Reduction

CHAPTER NINE

Zara

The cold car against Zara's back made her shiver even though she had two layers on. She turned her head to see Danker lift up the hood of the car. Smoke immediately blasted out of the car and into Danker's face. He winced and quickly moved away from the smoke. Zara adjusted her bandana Danker gave her earlier under her eyes. Once the smoke calmed down danker moved back to the front of the car to inspect the engine. He cursed under his breath and kicked the front bumper.

    Zara sighed and crossed her arms looking towards the way they came from. It was a dirt road surrounded by woods that lead to infinite darkness. The haunting image made her feel uneasy like someone was watching her. She turned back to the hood of the car where Danker poked his head to the side.

    "Okay, I looked at it, and I can fix it. It'll just take some time so get some rest in the car." Danker said as Zara came over to the front to look at the engine herself. She had no idea what she was looking at so she shrugged and walked to the passenger side of the car. She opened the door and sat in the passenger seat and propped her sneakers up on the dashboard. While she reclined the seat back, she closed her eyes again, once more consumed by the darkness.

    Zara adjusted her backpack that was rubbing on her shoulder. She walked up to the front door of her house. Grabbing the key from the side pocket of her pack she noticed the door was already unlocked. In that instant, a wave of fear whipped over her mind. 'What if someone broke into my house.' She thought as she slowly opened the door. It was completely silent as she opened the front door. Once she stepped inside, she cautiously looked around the house. It seemed to be empty so she decided she just forgot to lock it before leaving for school.

    Relieved, Zara made her way to the kitchen to find a note from John on the counter. John was her godfather. Ever since Zara's parents volunteered to be in the army, John had become her legal guardian. He was in his late forties and was growing a small black beard that Zara was never fond of. She was never close to him because he was never home. But they always had breakfast together to catch up with each other's lives. He was very overprotective towards her and was strict too. Recently he has been talking about a micro-society up north that sounded nice to move to for better security.

    John has always been big on security. keeping the doors always locked and owning a couple of guns. He was a natural-born leader but his biggest flaw was that he was easy to manipulate. Zara would always persuade him to let her hang out a couple of hours passed curfew on weekends.

    She read over the note that just said that John would be home because he's going to check out the micro-society that he always talks about. She threw out the note and walked into her room. Immediately taking off her shoes and backpack to take a nap. She had been at detention late again but luckily got saved by this boy, she couldn't remember his name but it didn't matter at the moment.

    Hours later, Zara heard the front door open. She sat up slowly, exhausted from her nap. She got up from her bed and walked into the kitchen to John washing his hands frantically. Confused, Zara walked by and opened the fridge to get his attention without scaring him. He looked up from what he was doing and smiled when he saw her.

    "Ok so I know this is pretty on the spot, but we are definitely moving to that community place." He said now frantically drying his hands with a towel. Zara shut the fridge and bit into an apple that she grabbed and nodded. John stopped drying his hands grabbed her shoulder.

    "Are you sure you're okay with moving so fast?" He asked her with concern in his voice. Zara nodded. She hated where she was living now in the hood part of the city. She had to walk pretty far to get to school and it was always dangerous. Plus she was always getting trouble at school so switching schools wouldn't be that bad.

    "Ok, Zara. Well, I was thinking of starting to pack tomorrow and Wednesday then we'll move on Friday or something. I mean, we don't have much and I would like some better security, but the new place doesn't have many rules, but I'm gonna change that. I think I might run for mayor of the community or something stupid like that so I can get a say in things, I don't know. Oh, and they also have this one teacher who literally stands on a stage and teaches outside, so say goodbye to boring classrooms! Are you in?" 

    Zara opened her eyes to the driver's side door opening. Danker apologized for waking her up.

    "Hey, it won't be long now maybe like another hour if it cooperates." Danker sighed. He seemed exhausted. Out of impulse Zara stretched out her arm and made a fist with her hand. She starred into Danker's eyes, her gray eyes turning white. It felt like fire ran through her veins and into Danker's body. She slowly opened her hand as Danker's energy became restored. When he was completely energized, Zara's eyes turned back to gray and rested her hand down back on the middle console of the truck. Danker exhaled the breath he was holding and shook his body a bit.

    Proud of herself, Zara smiled behind the cloth of her bandana. Danker laughed and thanked her before shutting the truck door again. As Zara started to drift back to sleep she remembered the last time she restored someone's energy.

After living in The Community for a couple of months, John had gained so much respect. He practically ran the place. One of his responsibilities included welcoming a new group of people. Zara had noticed that one day he was practically sleepwalking due to exhaustion. Knowing she couldn't control it, he would never ask Zara to use her power to restore his energy. He was hunched over the counter in the kitchen of his mansion, asleep with a cup of coffee next to him. Zara walked up to him and woke him. Embarrassed, he greeted her and tried acting normal.

    Out of an impulse Zara put her arm out towards him and made a fist. Knowing what she was doing, John stared into her eyes and relaxed his body. Zara's eyes turned white and she felt a burning sensation running through her veins. As the energy entered John's body he flinched at the pain a bit. When the burning stopped, Zara's eyes turned back to gray and her hand was now open. John felt completely awake and energized again.

    "This... this special power that lives inside you, is why I must lead this community to protect you at all costs. Thank you, for choosing to share your power with me. Now go get some rest and charge back up, Sport." John said embracing Zara with a hug. She would remember those words for the rest of her life.

    Zara's body lurched forward as the truck came to a quick stop. She gasped as she opened her eyes to the headlights shining onto a boy in front of the truck. He looked scared and stood looking like a literal deer in headlights. As Zara looked at this boy a little longer she recognized him.

    "James?"

A/N

Zara has the power to transfer her own energy to someone else, like a portable charger lol. Two flashbacks in one chapter!! Btw if you didn't figure it out yet John is the Operator.