The Awakening

Chapter Nine

There are no more gunshots, only the whisper of the wind. They stopped as soon as Jane's vines retracted back into the ground.
"Why aren't they shooting?" Adriane asks. I can't see her face, but I can tell by her voice that she is confused.
"It's not like we look like kids anymore either," Kate adds, motioning to her suit.
"Who cares? We should take the chance while we have it," Emma says, trying to move forward a little, but a second after she moves there is a large bang, but it misses us by a couple feet.
"Ella, you're sure this will hold right?" Jane asks, seeming a bit worried.
"I already told you, I have no idea what I am doing," I respond. Then we here the slight patter of footsteps on the hard ground. We all freeze as a troupe of armed strangers stomp around in the area next to us. They all look around, but can't seem to focus on anything. At first, I am confused but that's when I realize I did not make a force field, it's more like an invisibility bubble. I look behind me to find Jane and kick her with my foot. It makes a bit of noise which makes a couple of soldiers heads turn, but after a minute or so they continue scoping the ground. Jane shrugs her shoulder at me, and I nod towards the armed men and women. I wish I didn't have this mask on so she could see my face, it would make everything easier. Even without facial expressions, I can see that she knows what I am getting at. My stomach has gone way passed butterflies, but I keep my breath steady, knowing any sudden movements could set something off. Jane isn't the only one who sees my signal, and we put our backs together, getting ready for a fight. We could make ourselves silent, but the more guards we take out now, the easier it will be as we get close to the base. Jane starts to sway her hand, causing small plants to grow rapidly out of the ground. When enough plants grow, the guards start to see that something is off, but before they can react Jane balls her hands into a fist, and the plants latch onto the soldiers feel, causing them to fall over, and be engulfed in vegetation. Then the guns start going off again, but Emma easily locates where they were coming from, takes three machine guns out with a small fireball. Within seconds the guards have fallen, and I am able to release our cloak. As the bubble disappears around us, we can get a close up of the damage we have caused. This all seems too easy, but any guard still standing could have a good shot of at least one of us. As off-putting as it all feels, we have to keep going. As we walk through the now grassy plain, we seem many lumps that are in no doubt bodies. In the distance, we can see fires starting to spread, and I shiver. I know that after everything I have been through this should not faze me as much as it does, but it's still awful to think that all these people are dead because of our actions. I bury my guilt, even though I know it's dangerous, but I will have to deal with it later. I don't fully shut off my emotions though, doing that could push me right over the edge if something big happens, and we cannot afford for me to go rouge. We eventually reach the edge of the plain and find mountains reaching towards the sky above us. We decided that it would be best to find a cave or something to take refuge in because of Jane, and I was not the only ones who had gotten shot. Now that my adrenaline has worn off, I think I may have gotten hit a couple times too when I let down our barrier. It was have only been a couple seconds, but bullets are fast. It is a good thing we have these suits, or we would all be dead by now. We begin to climb the mountain range, but all too soon it's starting to get dark. The wind is also picking up, but the nice thing about that is, we get a clear view of the starry sky. I take in a deep breath of fresh air and smile to myself. My smile quickly fades when I remember what we are here for, but in that brief moment, I could have sworn I felt a tinge of happiness. Since we can no longer see, Jane creates some sticks that Emma lights with a single snap of her fingers. She has definitely gotten her powers down pat. As we reach a steeper part of the mountain, we stop to take a break. There is a narrow strip leading to a cave that Kate, and I glide over to, checking it out before we help the other girls over. When we find nothing inside, we decide that it's safe, and offer to fly them over, but Jane rolls her eyes, swishes her hand, and creates a bridge. When we are all safely tucked inside the cave, I lift some nearby rock to cover the entrance. At least now we are mostly hidden. When we don't hear anyone coming we turn off our suits, and they quickly get replaced by our training outfits. They are made of a soft, stretchy material, which is comfortable. Weirdly enough, our suit felt more comfortable, even if they were bulletproof, and always moving to protect us. Jane and Emma work together to start a fire while Sophie creates a stream of water that runs from her fingertip, that looks like it could be part of a water fountain, for us to drink.
"Hey Ella, want to conjure us up some food or what?" Jane asks when the fire is going.
"Why don't you call some animals over to bring us food?" I respond, trying to mock her sarcastic tone. I know that's not how her powers work but whatever. She shrugs and waves her hands. We wait for a while, but nothing happens.
"Well that was pathetic," Emma says, which make us all laugh.
"The only thing I have ever been able to make from nothing was a piece of dirt," I say, frowning the corner of one of my lips, and shrugging. Even though I am starving, I don't think I could even if I tried.
"Come on Ella," Kate pleads. "We're starving."
"I can't. Jane, can you not grow an apple tree or something?" I ask, and she rolls her eyes at me.
"Yes Ella, I can grow a full tree in this tiny little space, while a fire is going. What a brilliant idea!" She exclaims. After giving me an annoyed glare she smiles. I roll my eyes back at her, knowing that she was just trying to get under my skin and let it go. If Jane had a problem with me, she would just say so, but she also can never resist a good tease. She does, however, wave her hands, and create three small bushes. Each bush holds berries, and the sight of them makes my mouth water. Strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries are literally at our fingertips, but we strip the branches carefully so that it takes less energy out of Jane if she needs to refill them again, which she does. She has to refill the branches at least six times before we are all content, and our stomachs full. It may not look like it, but using our powers takes a toll on us. It tires us out and makes us more hungry. If we use too much we feel dizzy, and sick, just like anyone would if they pushed themselves too hard with anything.
"We should be keeping watch, just in case," Kate says, playing with the dirt by lifting it into the air using a short gust of wind, and then dropping it.
"Ella and I will take first watch them," Emma says, shooting me a look. I know she wants to talk about something, but I'm not sure what. The other girls don't object as they lie down, and almost instantly fall asleep. Emma and I sit across from each other near the entrance to the cave and sit quietly until all we can hear is the girl's quiet breaths. A small flame dances in the palm of Emma's hand, and she lets it run until she closes her hand, and looks up at me.
"What's wrong," I ask, moving to sit next to her. You can tell by the tone in my voice that I already know something is up, so she doesn't hesitate to speak.
"It's just, well..." she stutters, at a loss for words.
"Spit it out," I order, knowing that if she doesn't tell me soon, she won't tell me at all.
"We just killed those people," she says. "They could have had families, or kids, or siblings,"
"Emma, those people were good people, but that doesn't mean you're bad," she looks at me.
"What do you mean? It pretty much does," she sighs. Technically I didn't kill anyone but I don't tell her that.
"No, you would have never done that if we didn't have to. You know what those people would do to us if we cannot complete this mission. Forget about us, our families could be killed. This is way bigger than just us now," I tell her. As odd as it may be, my own words are getting to me. I haven't really thought much of my family, but this sudden realization makes me mourn for them.
"But really, we just spared our lives by taking theirs," she responds, turning to look away from me.
"Well, one day we will make them pay for it. Make them pay for turning us into their weapons, and most of all, make them pay for the lives we have taken," I say and Emma smiles at me.
"It's a promise," she smirks, and we both gaze out of the corner of the doorway, and into the starry night sky. They start to twinkle in the darkness, and it gives me a warm feeling, one that I haven't had in a very long time.