Flashf0rward

Chapter 17: The Lonely Girl

Connor

After Yuko first encountered us in the department store, she said she would show us to the place she had been hiding out in. She was fascinated by our horses when we walked out of the store, staring at them with bright eyes. "Wow...I've never seen one of these in person before." Ivy smiled and let her pet Fred. I stayed back and watched the two of them, seeing how well they connected.

Ivy let Yuko jump on the back of her saddle, and I went back onto my horse as the three of us set out, Yuko giving us directions towards the Space Needle. "So, how many people like us are there?" She asked me, asking specifically about metahumans. I shook my head. "We don't know. But there's at least a hundred of us in the village alone."

I decided to ask her a question. "You say you began broadcasting using a radio. How long have you been doing that?" Yuko thought to herself. "Well, not for a while. After everything happened, I was scared to even go outside. Then, when those things left the city, I went to an electronic store. It was so bright to me. I could feel all of them."

Yuko looked at me. "At first, I didn't know what to do with all of them, since they didn't work. But then, I knew I needed to build a radio, and it was like I could tell where all of the parts were and where they would go down to a science. It still took me a few months, but I managed to finally build it. Once I started transmitting, I didn't even know if anyone would respond..."

Turning back to her, Ivy spoke. "What about your parents? What happened to them?" Yuko's eyes seemed to flash slightly at that question, and she looked down. "They...didn't make it." She said in a low voice. It hurt her, clearly, and she didn't want to talk about it any more than she had to. We recognized that, and could both relate to it.

After a while of making our way through the streets, Yuko spoke up again and broke the silence. "So, what's this village like?" Ivy smiled. "We built it a few years ago, and we're still expanding it to this day. Over a thousand people live there, and it's our goal to try and find more people like you." Yuko frowned. "People with powers?" I nodded. "They're the key to saving the world." Her eyes widened. "Whoa...cool."

Looking at our bags, Yuko stared at Ivy. "Hey, um...do you guys have any food or water?" Ivy's eyes widened. "Oh my god, of course! You must be starving, here." She pulled out her canteen and some jerky from her bag and handed it to Yuko. She immediately chugged the entire canteen and stuffed the jerky into her mouth. I couldn't imagine what she'd had to survive on.

A few minutes later, we finally reached the base of the Space Needle. Looking up at it, I'd never seen anything like it before. Ivy noticed my expression. "Big, isn't it?" I nodded. "Yeah...I've never really seen buildings this tall before." Yuko looked at me strangely. "What? How's that possible?" Ivy gave her a sheepish glance. "It's a bit of a long story. We'll explain later."

Getting off our horses and hitching them to a piece of metal rebar sticking out of the pavement, Yuko motioned to us. "Follow me." Walking inside, we saw that the main lobby was pretty much completely covered with debris and fallen pillars of concrete. Yuko maneuvered over them much more nimbly than the both of us, having to wait for us several times. "Geez, hurry up!" She said, and I grumbled.

Making her way towards one of the elevator shafts that would go up to the top, she used a piece of metal nearby to pry open the shut doors, then turned on a small flashlight in her pocket. "Nothing to it." She said as she jumped across the empty shaft to a ladder on the other side. Both me and Ivy were impressed. "I can't get that far." She said, then I had an idea.

"Do you trust me?" I said to her, and she gave me a confused look. "Sure?" Concentrating, I made a small gust of wind push her off the ground, making her hover. Her eyes widened as she wobbled back and forth in the air slightly, her hands out to stabilize her. Finally, she floated across the shaft and grabbed onto the ladder. Yuko was amazed. "Awesome."

Ivy was panting slightly as she looked back at me. "Don't ever do that again." I smirked a little. "No promises." I had to take a moment since she had been difficult to lift, then I did the same to myself, hovering slightly as I grabbed onto the ladder. The three of us began to ascend up the shaft, with only Yuko's light illuminating things. As we climbed, I thought I could hear the sounds of something climbing behind us, but I dismissed it as echoes in the shaft.

We kept going for a few minutes, then Yuko spoke down to us. "Right here!" She motioned to an elevator door, and she stayed attached to the ladder as she pushed it open with her piece of metal. Walking through, she reached down and helped me and Ivy up. We were in a storage area of some kind, probably for maintenance crews, which had since been abandoned.

Yuko placed her hand against the wall, then suddenly the lightbulbs above us came to life, illuminating our path forwards. Walking down the hallway, Yuko opened a door which read "Employees Only", and showed a small room with a cot, random pieces of technology strewn around, and a large makeshift radio.

"Home sweet home." Yuko said as she went to lay down on her cot, sighing and putting her machine gun down on the table next to her. Ivy looked around. "Wow...this is where you've been hiding out?" Nodding, Yuko grinned. "Yup. Freaks don't even come to look in here." I raised my eyebrow. "Freaks?" Yuko nodded. "My nickname for those things. I know they used to be people but...not anymore."

Looking over the radio, Ivy seemed impressed. "You built this whole thing yourself? Amazing..." Yuko sat up in her cot and nodded. "It's mostly built from cellphone parts, walkie talkies, couple microwaves, and a flatscreen TV." Pulling out her walkie talkie, Ivy looked at me. "We can radio Julie with this. Let her know we're alright."

I nodded, and Ivy turned to Yuko. "Can you connect this to your radio so it can boost the signal?" Yuko frowned, then shrugged. "Probably." Taking the walkie talkie from Ivy, she closed her eyes and seemed to concentrate for a moment. Soon, she was disassembling the walkie talkie quickly and connecting it to the radio by several wires. In less than a minute, she was done. "Try that."

Taking the modded walkie, Ivy spoke. "Julie, this is Ivy, do you copy?" Letting go, there was a brief pause. "Julie, this is Ivy, do you read?" There was silence again, and I wondered if we were too out of range. Then, a voice came through. "Ivy, this is Jules. You alright?" Ivy's eyes widened and she smiled. "Jules! Thank god! Listen, we're in Seattle, and we found the girl."

Julie responded. "That's great! But you better get back here soon. Wren found out where you went, and he's not happy. Get out of there as soon as you can." Ivy's face dropped, and I frowned at her slightly. "What did she mean by that?" Ivy stared at me guiltily. "I...didn't...tell you everything."

Before I could fully process that, I suddenly heard something out in the corridor. I raised my fingers to my lips, then motioned for both the girls to get down. Drawing her gun, Ivy nodded while Yuko got behind her. I turned back to the door and took a peek out into the hall. I expected to see a hypermorph, when in reality, I saw a young man with messy black hair and pale skin looking around, searching for something. Then, his eyes turned, and met mine.