Forgotten Spark

Chapter 14

Three helicopters were firing down on the ranch, but it sounded like more were coming. The main building was smoking--a small fire had started. Jack, Ostin and I had just come out of the dorms.

I looked at the burning building. "There are people in there still." I mumbled. As I watched people running in and out of the building, I saw a blur of light brown hair, and my eyes widened in horror. Without thinking, I burst into a run towards the building.

"Michael!" I didn't know whether it was Ostin or Jack that called for me. All I knew was that I needed to reach her. I needed to get Taylor out of there. 

As I reached the halfway point, I felt an intense heat. I turned my head to the left. A bright flash burned my eyes. The force threw me to the side as the sound slammed into my ears. I hit the ground hard, and curled up to cover my head.

My ears were ringing. I opened my eyes, but everything was white. I rolled over and got up to my hands and knees, feeling my way around. I coughed, but I couldn't hear it. It was as if someone had stuffed thick cotton in both ears. I began to crawl away. A sharp pain stung me on the left side of my body. I brought my right hand up to feel. It all felt hot and wet. I gritted my teeth and kept going.

I opened my eyes wide, desperate for them to see anything but white blobs. After a moment, I could distinguish shapes. I decided I could stand and began to run, the pain in my side barely slowing me down. I looked behind me at where the explosion had gone off. The girls' dorm was up in smoke, hardly anything left of it. I bit my lip and faced away from it.

I noticed a blurry figure running towards me. I put my hands up in a defensive position, before realizing it was just Jack. His eyes were wide and urgent. His lips moved, but his voice was far away. I shook my head and pointed to my ears. He understood. He grabbed my wrist and pulled me back towards the boys' dorm. I got the hint and started sprinting beside him.

When we got behind the building, I leaned against it to catch my breath. The ringing in my ears was still all I could hear. Jack grabbed my right shoulder and forced me to look into his eyes. He shouted something, and I read his lips. What were you thinking???

"Taylor," I said, my voice a muffled sound in my own head. Jack eyes softened, but not much. 

She's strong. She can take care of herself, seemed to be what he was saying now. His hands on my shoulder tightened and his eyes were intense. 

I looked down. He was right. She could probably take care of herself better than I could. What was I going to do when I reached her? I didn't have any fancy powers like everyone else.

"If it was Abi?" I retorted, my voice sounded so strange that I cut my sentence short.

Jack's grip loosened. His eyes wavered. He sighed. Fair enough.

A flash of light in the corner of my eye. We both flinched as another shock wave went through us. There was desperation in Jack's eyes. Has the mess hall been bombed? I saw all the resolve drain from Jack's face.

I followed him as he peaked around the edge of the building. He ducked back behind as a barrage of bullets shot past. He looked around again and jumped out into the open. I followed without hesitation.

We bolted to the mess hall, now burning earnestly. People flooded out every door. I scanned to chaos looking for Taylor or Abi. Where were they? My breaths became shallow. I ran through the crowd. Someone collided with me, and I fell. A muddled apology worked its way through my damaged ears. A hand reached for mine. I took it and was pulled to my feet. I barely registered the dark skin and lanky frame of the boy before rushing off again, my attention taken. I searched and searched, shouting and shoving, hearing nothing in return.