The Powered People

Chapter 25

A dark green body bag was the only thing found that could be used as a coffin. It was ironic and uncomfortable, but it was their only real choice. That man Alonzo made a rectangle-shaped hole right outside of the lab that was about three feet deep. The rather light bag was dropped in the hole, but not buried so that she could be viewed during the funeral.

Toby carved her grave in the side of the building with his finger. The little ones covered their ears as the screeching noise filled the dead air. After a grueling three minutes, the simply grave said:

R.I.P Macabre (Mack)

It was all that they really knew about her. Hell, most of the powereds didn't even know the year. Nolan and Meg did, of course, but didn't want to speak up during the solemn time.

Just about half the people from the house came outside for her funeral. They gathered around the grave, staring down blankly. In the hole was what was left of a girl they barely knew but knew they would miss. They couldn't see her face one last time. Or any of her. The last time anyone had seen her was when she was a tool of the lab. Someone who would try to kill them if triggered.

Little Desmond wore a completely blank face. Evie held back tears and clung to Taiga's freezing hand. Robbie was all the way in the back and couldn't even see anything, but still couldn't help but frown. Toby stood in the very front, silent and blank.

But the only one crying in the whole crowd was Greg.

He let tears silently roll down his face. He let out a few strangled sobs, but none warranted any attention. He held hands with the Delta siblings right in front of the grave. He let his salty tears drip down onto the body bag, leaving tiny wet spots all over Mack's "coffin." Greg wasn't even embarrassed to be letting it out. He cried and cried without any care. And no one said anything about it. Even Nolan.

He had no tears left to cry. He'd been worn out. The amount of sorrow he poured into her death pretty much exhausted him. All he could do was just gaze down blankly, like what was in front of him was unpleasant but not devastating. But he held Greg's hand tight as Nolan listened to the older man's cries.

Evian kept on glancing over at Nolan, to see if he was going to start crying, too. She would squeeze Greg's hand each time she checked, then got back to staring down at the grave. The sight of Mack cutting at her own throat kept on playing in the back of her head, but she the look of almost relief Mack had on her face was burned right into her brain. It was almost like Mack thought it was better that way. Better dead than a product of a system.

What would the powereds do with her if she didn't die? Knock her unconscious and put her in a cell until someone found out how to remove the chip? Would she run off with the other controlled people, following behind a master to who-knows-where? Whatever it was, Mack thought that ending the shocks and the pains and the burns for good was better.

Alonzo shoved the large mound of dirt back into the hole and stomped on it to smooth it out. And just like that, the only clue anyone was under there was a rectangular patch of dirt devoid of grass and a handmade grave marker. Everyone stood still and stared for a minute until the people in the back of the crowd turned to leave. One by one, people made there way back inside to live with their new found freedom. The group got smaller and smaller until the only people remaining were Evian, Nolan, and Greg.

"I'm going to miss her," Greg blurted out, not making any eye contact. Evian leaned against his arm.

"Me too," Evian whispered, biting her lip. Following suit, Nolan awkwardly pressed his left cheek against Greg's upper arm.

"M-me too," Nolan agreed. He tugged on Greg's arm, and the three made their way back inside.

Nolan found Meg sitting in that control room, typing on a silver-colored laptop. She kept her eyes locked on the bright screen as her fingers moved quickly across the keyboard. Nolan walked towards her slowly, trying not to make a sound. But Meg suddenly lifted her fingers off the keyboard but didn't stop staring at the screen.

"Oh hey," she stated before getting back to typing. Nolan tried to glance at the screen, but the room was so dark and the screen so bright that he couldn't make out what she was looking at.

"What...are you doing?" Nolan asked.

"Nothin' much," Meg replied, blankly. "I haven't been on a computer in a while, sorry."

By then, Nolan's eyes adjusted enough so that he could read her screen. It looked like a social media site, where the screen was full of profile pictures with captions.

"I'm just...searching," Meg explained. "Seeing if anyone else is out there."

"People like us?"

"Yep."

Nolan bent down next to her, sighing. He watched as a swarm of faces scrolled by.

"Do you think anyone knows we're here?" Meg asked. "Like, does anyone really know that there's some lab in the middle of the woods where kids got tortured?"

"I mean, I heard about this from my par-foster parents and they put me up for an apprenticeship program. So...someone has to."

"And I'm guessing everyone we chased out ran to somewhere."

The two stayed in awkward silence for a minute until Meg suggested, "Ya think we could put ourselves out there?"

Nolan raised an eyebrow. "What?"

"Call some people. Find someone people. Let people know we're here."

Nolan glanced at her, and she smirked at him.

"Can't do any harm," she pointed out in a sing-songy voice. Shrugging and smiling, Nolan said, "Let's take the risk."