G.U.A.R.D. Book #2: Aberrations

-19-

    The sun dipped over the horizon. It seemed like everything fell asleep. With nothing else to say, Jade pulled her long hair back in a tight ponytail, then took off, running full speed through the shadows. Once she was out of sight, I gazed up at the huge mansion and felt a small shiver run up my spine. I suddenly felt unsafe and vulnerable. It was like Jade provided a layer of protection around me, but now that she was gone... it disappeared.

Clutching my legs closer, I waited in the darkness until I could see a shadow scaling the mansion's wall, going in through one of the open windows. That had to be Jade. Wow, she was good. She didn't miss a beat, didn't even pause on her way up.

I waited. Minutes passed slowly, crawling like a snail. With each second, I grew more nervous. There was nothing to do, nothing to occupy myself with. Slipping my hand in one of my pockets, I grasped Cindy's folded letter in my hand. The memory of her face burned bright in my mind. I couldn't help but wonder if I would be in this situation if she was still alive. With her super strength, she could've... done something at least. She might've saved us all. Or would she just have died then instead?

When I took my hand out again, I zipped up the pocket. As I looked back to dark night, a pain exploded in the back of my head and everything turned black.

  ----  

I woke up disoriented and confused. My stomach felt like hurling. I couldn't remember what happened until I opened my eyes and saw I lay on my side, on the ground. A worm wriggled around on the soil a few inches from my nose, which didn't really help my nausea. Something rough kept my hands pinned together. Out of the corner of my eye, I could see the shadow of a man. He talked to another figure. It was hard to focus on their words through the pain in my head. But I had enough sense to know these guys were with the League.

The first guy grabbed my by the upper arm. I forced myself to remain limp. With a grunt, he flipped me over his shoulder. The force of his bone hitting my abdomen shot all the air out of my lungs, which was actually fortunate since it disabled me from groaning. As my heart sped up, I tried to discreetly fish around in my pants, looking for a gadget. I could barely move from the bonds on my wrists, though, and I was scared the League agent would notice.

"He's not waking up," the agent behind us said, tone implying he was a little concerned.

"Guess you hit him harder than you tried to," the guy carrying me said.

He finally flipped me back to the ground, not bothering to even try to cushion my fall. I hit the soil with a thud, and it took all my power not to make a noise. My head pounded. I carefully opened one eye, making sure to keep it mostly closed. The second agent, who was on the scrawny side, stared down at me. The bigger guy mounted a motorcycle, slipping on a helmet. Not ideal, but the sooner the better.

I quickly turned onto my stomach and got to my knees. As I did, I desperately clawed at my pocket, coming out triumphantly with a pen. No sooner had I gotten it, though, that the skinny guy hit me in the shoulder with the butt of his rifle. I fell back with a newly-formed bruise, but it didn't deter me. Uncapping the pen, I stabbed it in his ankle, through the pant leg. He froze for a second, then shuddered and fell limply to the ground. The pen was smoking, fried. Useless now.

Staggering to my feet, I ran into the forest, directly through a bush (which inadvertently caused me to stumble), then over a log. I could barely keep my balance with my wrists bound. The big guy tore off his motorcycle without bothering to remove his helmet. Small branches slapped me in the face. Twigs and bushes tore at my clothes. Then my feet hit the gravel. It was loud compared to the soft soil, throwing loud punching sounds into the air.