The Ghost

Number Eighteen

I had never seen so many people moving around the facility. In my two, or three weeks of being here. There were at least 10 people at every turn in the hallway. I purposely walked around all the hallways in the facility to make sure I wasn't crazy, and I was right. Everyone was out. I stopped walking down the hallways and looked down at my hands. I spread my arms out and focused. Suddenly, my vision became blurry, and I was tiny. I had turned into electricity. I instantly bolted through the hallways at lightning speed, passing past dozens of people in a second, until I finally found Kevin, who was frozen in time. I focused myself again, my vision going blurry, and I became bigger. I had returned back to my normal form and forgot that Kevin had never seen it before.

"Holy shit!" Yelled Kevin as he fell back onto the ground, rolling over. He quickly got back up, noticing that there were small sparks bouncing off of him. He rubbed the sparks off and looked me in the eye.

"Next time," He said. "Give me a warning."

"Sorry," I apologized. "I forgot that you didn't know I could do that." Kevin sighed and continued walking forward.

"Hey uh, why is everyone out today?" I asked. Kevin stopped walking.

"Overdrive didn't tell you?" He said. I shook my head.

"Oh, ok then," He said. "Well, basically you're going to Africa with a scout team to find someone. Overdrive will call you and tell you the rest when it's time." I wasn't going to wait until Overdrive called me.

"Wait what?!" I yelled. "We're going to Africa? Why didn't she tell me sooner?"

"Yeah, that's exactly what I said! I wanted to tell you since she was going to be busy, but she said she would call you when she needed you," Said Kevin. "Which is fine, I guess, but I feel like telling you sooner would've helped you get comfortable instead of freaking out."

"Where do I meet her?" I asked. Kevin shrugged.

"Just walk around. She'll find you."

Overdrive eventually found me. I had been walking down the hallways, noticing that everyone was carrying boxes full of supplies. Water, food packets, and basically everything else you think you would need on a trip to Africa. Overdrive walked up right in front of me and told me to walk with her. We walked for a good... three minutes until we arrived at a room. When she opened the door, there was a small group of people sitting down in a circle in black uniforms. Kevin was sitting on the opposite side of the room, with Delta next to him. On the left side of the room, there was a large map of Africa, there had been some lines already drawn. Overdrive sat me down on the side and left me there. She walked up to the map and erased the lines.

"Some of you may be wondering why you're here." Announced Overdrive to the group.

"Actually, I think it's just Michael that doesn't know," Said Delta. "We all know why we're here." Overdrive looked over at me, and I shrugged.

"Very well, Delta," Said Overdrive. "Michael, do you know why you're here today?" I looked at the rest of the people in the group, who all looked like they wanted to kill me.

"We're going to Africa," I said. "To find someone."

"Basically," Said Overdrive. "But let me explain you the rest." I leaned back in my chair, preparing myself for the boatload amount of information I was about to have to process.

"You know how many colors we've hypothesized have landed on the planet, and you know where they've landed," Said Overdrive. I nodded. "Good, then you know that you might not be the only one out there with this type of power." I nodded again.

"Ok good," Said Overdrive. "The mission is to go to Africa, find the color or colors that landed there, either convince them to come with us and help them control their abilities, or they die."

"Woah," I remarked. "Why did you just jump to conclusions that fast?"

"Because we can't risk anybody else taking control of their power," Said Delta. "If one of the world's governments had control of a color, we don't know what they'll do with it." I nodded, realizing it made sense, also realizing I needed to think before I talked.

"I'm guessing you need me if anything goes wrong," I said. Overdrive, Delta, and Kevin nodded.

"Yeah, basically." Said Overdrive. I leaned back in my chair, feeling good about myself, feeling smart.

"We would've had you trained a couple more days, but we can't afford to wait too long. The GBEI already knows you exist, and they know where the other colors are, so it's a race to the last 5 colors." Said Overdrive.

"The GBEI? What's that?" I asked.

"The GBEI is the Global Bureau of Empirical Investigation. The base that we broke you out of, remember? That was them." Said Delta.

"What does that mean?" I asked, again.

"Global, means the entire goddamn world, obviously," Said Delta. "Bureau means an organization, and Empirical means 'based on observation rather than logic.' So basically, it's a global club of investigating things that don't make sense." I looked back at Overdrive.

"Yeah," She remarked.

"Anyways," Said Delta as she looked down at her watch. "ETD in 30 minutes. Get all of your shit in bags... you might not be coming back." Overdrive looked at me as she said that.

"Except Michael... he's... most likely coming back."