The Powered People

Chapter 14

Cloaked in leaf coats, moving swiftly and quietly, the group maneuvered through the woods. Evian kept her eyes to the east, constantly peeking through the holes in the leaf-filled sky to see if the iron walls were visible. Macabre seemed to not be too used to sneaking about with them. She often stepped on dry leaves and sticks or made too much noise pushing away a bush to walk through. And when the quintet had to hide, she'd be the last to hop into the brush.

At the first glance of the huge iron fort, Taiga gasped. Nolan raised an eyebrow at her.

"You've never seen this place before?"

"No, I-"

"'Cause you seem to talk about it a lot."

"Sh! Recon requires silence," Imani whispered. Nolan hardly considered this as any form of reconnaissance. Getting too close would get them caught. Well, Nolan would probably be fine (if Tyrone kept quiet). But the rest were a different story. Nolan remembered seeing kids dragged in, kicking and screaming. Nolan would roll his eyes and look away like it was just a nuisance.

Evian's eyes scanned the walls, pretending to check for any weak spots. Finding none, she put her hand against a tree and looked up.

"We could climb up there and go through the top door," Evian told everyone. "The few strongest could take out the two security guards."

"Which of us are the strongest?" Taiga asked, snaring Evian in a trap of judgment.

"Probably...the...four of us?" Evian blurted out.

"Five," Nolan corrected.

"Nolan is still a beginner."

"Hey, you gave me one practice-"

"Sh!" Taiga shushed. Macabre was the only one who didn't talk, and the only one who seemed focused. She kept her eyes stuck on the lab. She watched closely as people moved around on the roof. She pressed her hand against tree trunks and pulled on the strongest branches. All the while the rest of the group was conversing with each other.

"Are we going to do recon, or-" Nolan began.

"Guys..." Imani whispered, pausing and staring forward.

"-because this seemed to be pointless."

"Guys," Imani repeated.

"Could you all just shut up so we could-" Taiga grumbled before a rustling in the bushes cut them all off. Imani impulsively threw her back against a tree, the vines entrapped and camouflaging her. Evian, Nolan, and Taiga threw their hoods over their heads and dove into the bushes. Confused, and breathing heavily, Macabre did the same.

Everyone stood (or kneeled) still, in dead silence. The rustling got louder while everyone there tensed. But after a second, that rustling died down a little. For just a moment, everything was completely quiet. All that could be heard was the light breeze dancing with the tree branches, making the leaves sing. For a second, everything seemed to be safe.

Then a hand fell onto Macabre's shoulder she scratched at it, pulling the person's arm in and shoving it away. The rest of the recon group took the time to spring up and run away. Imani broke through her cage of vines, cringing and yelping in pain. They stumbled through the wall of brush and low branches before picking up the pace. After scratching the culprit's face and kicking him square in the stomach, Macabre started to run right behind them.

Evian soon was running ahead as the scientist behind them started to run after them. Evian didn't even get a good glimpse of his face. All she could catch was clean shoes, a swinging lab coat, and a notebook. It was all she could process as she ran for her life.

Taiga stomped on each step, even if it hurt Imani a little bit each step. Taiga angrily clenched her fist. How many times had she told them to stop talking? And did they listen to her? No! And now look where they were? Running for their lives.
"Stupid Nolan, putting them in trouble!" She muttered under the sound of crunching plants. Imani cringed a little at each plant crushed beneath her feet. It was like a needle poking at her side with each round of stomps. But she had to keep running. She just had to choke it down.

Macabre stumbled a lot as she ran. She would almost lose her balance every time she fell behind. The man that grabbed her was right on her tail, yelling curses and shouting for them to come back. The only one even close to being as far behind as she was Nolan.

Slowly, the man started to catch up with them. Just as fatigue was interrupting the sense of panic, the man reached out and grabbed Nolan by the hood of the leaf coat. Macabre surged at the man, tackling him to the ground. Nolan tugged at his hood until it was free. The man rolled out from under Macabre and grabbed her by the arm. As she clawed and struggled, the man pulled her back into the bushes. Nolan gasped before surging to follow her. But a hand firmly grabbed his shoulder.

Nolan was about to slap it off of him, but he looked up to see Demetri, looking him right in the eye.

When Macabre didn't walk in with them, there was a swarm of whispers and questions. Demetri tried to put in a firm word, or a piece of useless wisdom, or some type of discipline, but nothing got through. Nolan couldn't even hear a thing.

He was ushered out of the main room as the whispers turned to yells. He could hear the faint noise of Taiga fussing about something, but that was it. All that sunk in was that he was being pushed up the ladder before willingly climbing it. He then mindlessly moved towards his mattress and sat right down.

He let out a heavy exhale he'd been holding in. His pupils started to flicker. He suddenly became aware of the soft but dusty fabrics under his fingers. He breathed in the muggy air of the room. He realized that his calves were sore and how out of breath his lungs were. He laid back against the wall, panting like a dog. He looked around to see that everyone else in the room was staring at him.

Particularly Evian.

He looked her right in her blues eyes. He took a deep breath, and for the first time said, "They would've taken me...and tested me."

Evian's eyes flickered. She paused and stiffened every muscle within a second. She looked down at her feet, biting her lip, then lifted her chin towards him. She took a second to contemplate her next move as everyone watched in complete and tense silence. Slowly, She took a few steps in his direction. Each one creaked against the stone floors. Once she reached him, she squeezed her eyes shut, and took a deep breath. As she opened her eyes, she told him, "No, they wouldn't."