The Enhanced Ones (paused)

Ch. 7 Willow

My shoes make a quiet thump as I land in the class room. Without pausing I hurry out the door and down the hall. Upon reaching the lower levels I am struck with a bad feeling. Shrinking against the wall I slowly inch down the hall. Like in John's video games, I try to see around the corner without revealing myself. A woman near my age stands at the door her arms crossed and looking very bored. I step back and stare at the sophomore lockers across from me. Seems so long ago I was just a normal kid. Amazing what can happen in minutes to change your world. I let out a sigh then freeze. Heels click my way as I try to blend with the drab wall behind me.

"Celeste? Bert?" A soft voice calls out with total confidence. "Did you catch the Loose Cannon?" She rounds the corner and stops short upon seeing my failed attempt at disappearing. "Well well well, looks like I do get to have some fun tonight." She moves towards me slowly. It takes me a moment to realize I don't here the clicking of her shoes. She is floating just barely an inch off the ground.

"Oh sh..." I fight the desperate urge to curse and run for the stairs. Her laughter follows me with her floating body not far behind. When something brushes at my hair I scream and slam my feet harder in an attempt to move faster.

"Willow?" Shiloe's voice calls from the top of the stairs.

"Help!" I scream back as I feel another swipe at my hair.

"Duck!"

I drop at the command, slamming my knees against the steps. Over head I hear a slam and grunting followed by the sound of bodies rolling down stairs.

Above me footsteps rush down the stairs. "Willow are you alright?" Sam asks as she pulls me upright.

"Fine, where's Shiloe?" I ask.

Instead of answering Sam pulls out a small flat square that glows with a faint pink color. She taps the top several times then just stands there.

"Hello? Shiloe just tackled a floating person and you aren't rushing to help her." I shout, frustrated.

The square vibrates and Sam nods putting it back into her pocket. "Shiloe is fine. Victoria poses little threat."

"She can fly!" I yell at her then run down the stairs. When I slam to the bottom step the view is something out of this world. A blond girl no older then fourteen stands with her hands in the air and both Shiloe and Victoria trapped inside translucent pink bubbles suspended over head. I charge without thinking and instantly am suspended in the air in a similar bubble.

"Violet, let them down, its alright." Sam says looking from the girl to Shiloe and I. "They are with us." We are both lowered gently to the ground and slight popping sound is all the marks the disappearance of the strange bubble.

"What about me?" Victoria slams her fist uselessly against the side of the bubble.

"You made your choice Victoria, live with it." Sam says dismissively.

Another girl with long red hair in a pink trench coat runs up to us. "Mom we need to leave A.S.A.P. They brought reinforcements after Bert stopped responding to them."

"Damn it!" Sam hisses. She turns to Violet. "Get these two out to the field. Todd should have the car waiting there."

"Whoa! I'm not going anywhere with you." I say backing towards he exit.

"Willow, you can't think we'll be safe out there do you? We are wanted people." Shiloe pleads.

"I'm not wanted."

"Mom what's going on? I though you said they had activated." The redheads asks Sam.

"Naomi had sensed an activation, but she couldn't identify anything else." Sam says without looking away from me. "Willow, Shiloe is right. It's not safe for you here."

"But my family. I cant leave them, they will think something happened to me." I turn and run not wanting to hear my best friend continue to chose strangers over everything we know.

I can feel the wind as I run outside, but I don't feel the chill like on the roof. My chest is heaving as I reach the field. John is sitting on the bench watching the older players. I call his name, but the sound of cheering drowns me out. A young pair of kids run past me throwing a Nerf ball. I dodge them and step on someones toes. "Sorry." I turn and look up into a pair of slate gray eyes.

"It's alright." The boy says with a surfer drawl. In an instant he is several feet away and waving at me. I shake off my confusion and face the field again. John is in the game. On the bleachers Mom and Dad are going crazy. I want to hold on to this moment so badly. To forget that my school is invaded by crazy strangers and that nothing is as it should be. Just as I am about to do just that the loud pop of a gun goes off. everyone freezes as Bert the small man I had left on the roof walks towards me.

"You." He points the gun at me still several paces away. "What did I tell you?"

"Willow!" John's voice calls out from the field followed by hushing from the coach. The whole field is silent as the strange small man holds my life in his fist.

"What do you want from me? I am not Enhanced!" I yell.

"No? Prove it."

"I can't." I say starting to cry for the first time since my night turned nightmarish.

"You can die."

The pop of the gun is followed by a sudden whoosh and I feel so weightless. This is death. I think to myself. It's not so bad.

"I got you sis." I turn my head and see John. My little brother John.

"No he only fired once, how are you dead too?" I sob.

"I'm not dead, you are not dead." He says as I feel solid ground beneath me. I step back from his hug and find myself back on the roof.

"How?"

He spreads his arms as wide as the padding will allow and grins. "I can fly."

"Glad to see you are back for round two." Celeste steps forward as if materializing from shadows. John flies in front of me to form a shield and is immediately struck down with one glance.

"John!" I yell and throw my arms over him. "Stop!"

"Oh, but its so fun." Celeste pouts. A tingling sensation fills my palms as I hear my brother whimper from the mental tortures.

"Stop." I say through my teeth felling my whole body fill with this force unlike anything I have ever felt before. I stand up. Not fully understanding what I am doing I throw out my hands and two geysers of flame shoot out and swallow Celeste. Her scream pierces through the haze in my vision. I stare at my hands completely consumed by flame yet not a single mark is on my skin.

"Celeste!" A streak of pink is all I see as Victoria swoops down wrapping her jacket around Celeste's smoldering body. In a blink both are gone into the night. I try to see them, but the sound of crackling brings my eyes back to the rooftop. The flames have spread over the roof.

"Okay, turn off now." I say to my hands. The flames keep pouring out spreading over the roof and into the structures. "John!" I yell over my shoulder. Gaining no response I quickly fall into hysteria. What kills fire? Water! I spin in a half circle trying to see of maybe a cleaning bucket was abandoned up here. Nothing. "Sh..."

"Willow?" Johns sleepy half conscious voice calls to me. I nearly face him, but remember the geysers of death attached to my hands.

"John, I am over here. Its alright!" I call to him. Mumbling to myself that it may not stay that way.

"Need some help?" Violet says as she lands on the roof standing on another bubbly structure, but this one looks more flat and alot less pink.

"It won't stop." Say through my tears. She nods once and I am captured within another bubble. "The school?" I say as I am lifted from the roof."

"Roxy will take care of it, don't worry." She soothes as another bubble scoops up John. As the fire fills my bubble blocking my vision the last thing I see is my school burning by my own hands.