Revolution (7 page)

             
What do we do?

             
Keep fighting. No choice. I'll call Miguel. Maybe a few grenades will make them slow their roll.

             
What
in the worlds
does that mean?
He glared at me from across a Lighter's back.
Why are you constantly talking like Cain and his non-English gibberish?

             
I laughed.
I just mean maybe it'll make them think twice if we have some tricks up our sleeve. Miguel! Grenades, now!

             
I know I couldn't wait for his reply because there would be none, but I hoped he got the message and was on the way. The Lighters kept coming and we kept staking them and what not, but it wasn't enough. I saw the back store
door swing open, but flames were
what I saw. Then Miguel with his wolfish grin and swagger.
"We improvised a bit!" he yelled and laughed as he threw a grenade, but it was trailed by a flaming rag of some sort that was stuck to it.

             
When it landed on the Lighter's chest, he engulfed in flames and within seconds, burned up with lightning. I heard Jeff in my mind.

             
Ok, this sucks, but it's still the same old Li
ghters. This isn't new. What were
Ellie and Marissa talking about?

             
I shrugged and bumped into Daniel. He looked upset or agitated about something. "What?" I barked wasting no time.

             
He shook his head bef
ore looking at me with his now silver
,
human
eyes. "I can't sense them, and they seem to not be able to sense me. I'm just a human to them now."
             
I sighed. "Look, that's a good thing in my book. It means you're not the enemy anymore."

             
The Marker's screech was loud and brazen. I turned in utter shock. Markers never came out in the daylight. Ever. I thought it had been a rule or law of their nature, but apparently not. Was this what she had meant? That we'd see something we'd never seen before. I hoped so.

             
Behind you!

             
I turned just in time to duck. The Marker's foot swiped my arm and we both yelled at the contact. I tried to tame the writhing and glanced at my arm. That bastard! It was like he didn't even care that he was going to injure himself by injuring me. I looked up to see Jeff staking him. He looked up confused and shrugged his shoulders.

             
I groaned a
s I got up, the venom from the
Marker was
relentless and plagued you for long minutes after the touch. But our little group didn't have minutes, so I pushed through the pain and pounced on a Lighter's back who was attacking Racine. Once again my skin grazed his on my wrist and we both jolted and groaned.

             
It seemed that I was just as desperate to save my people as they were to save theirs.

             
The rules were changing for us. I wasn't sure I liked that idea or not. But then the howl of a beast rang through the melting snow and debris scattering the yard, making us all stop in our tracks. I glanced around to look for it, but came up with nothing. The Lighters all looked at each other and then shot into the sky all at once, leaving us confused in the yard. We huddled together in a circle with our backs to each other's .

             
"Look alive," Jeff said to everyone. "This isn't over by a long shot."

             
"What was that? A freaking werewolf?" Cain barked.

             
"I don't know," I answered. "Just wait."

             
A loud thump resounded. It sounded like a giant's footsteps
,
as childish as that was. "There!" I yelled as a man came around the corner of the store.

             
He was normal looking
enough
, but his steps were deep and loud beyond their capability.
He smiled at us from across the yard and even from that far distance I could see that his grin was too wide, his teeth too long. He took another step and it shook the ground under our feet. He kept coming and I could practically smell the fear wafting from our group. I was sure that our new guest could, too.
I wished we had a few minutes for a pep talk, but time was up.

             
He got closer and clapped his hands, just once, but it was so loud that we all winced and covered our ears. He watched us and we watched him. He grinned once more and then blurred quickly to Jeff on the other side of us. He smashed his fist into Jeff's stomach, sending him crashing through us and skidding in the sludge of mush and snow. We picked ourselves up, but Jeff was s
l
o
w
moving.

             
What is that thing, Merrick? I've never been hit that hard in my life.

             
You got me, brother.

             
I
felt my conscience zing in warning and looked up to see the thing
moving his way to Danny, who was attempting to use compulsion on it. I blurred to Danny, throwing myself in front of him, but Danny kept concentrating. The thing slowed to a crawl pace before shaking, as if to shake off the compulsion. Danny screamed and grabbed his head before looking up in awe. "Ah, man. He threw my compulsion back at me."

             
Miguel threw
a grenade at it, but it just blurred out of the way and… smirked?
             
"Get back," I
told Miguel and Danny
. "We need to regroup."
             
But the
thing
was already looking at Daniel.
He spoke and his voice was painful to our ears. It was like grating metal. "Hello, traitor."

             
"What are you?" Daniel asked it.

             
"I am the balance. You switched sides, and not only that
,
but in such a traitorous way that evil was rewarded a new species. Me." He grinned, his gums dark and blackened with only God knew what.

             
"I…" Daniel looked back at us, his face impossibly white with terror. "I did this? But-"

             
"You and only you did this," the thing said. "How does it feel to know that your treachery to us is what will be all of your demise?"
             
"Don't speak to him again," Jeff ord
ered
. "Let's kill this thing and be rid of it."
             
Daniel nodded and said,
"
I'll take my punishment. I deserve it."

             
"Not you, idiot!
I'm talking about th
at thing!" Jeff barked in exasperation
and pointed his stake at the new beast. It just laughed at us with a metallic crunch to its voice.

             
"
And you," the thing said and appraised me with deep eyes. "You have death all over you."

             
"I have life all over me!" I yelled and charged it. I blurred and hit it in stomach with my shoulder. He was made of lead, or may as well have been, but he at least fell to the ground. With my ego intact with that fact, but bruised
,
I raised my arm to finish him with a fist.
He opened his mouth and howled this howl that caused me to see stars it hurt my ears and head so badly. I fell to the ground beside him and covered my ears fully expecting blood to come seeping out.

             
Cain stepped forward
, with Josh…uh, Simon right by his side,
and blasted him with his palms out, but the thing just flew back a bit then back flipped back into a standing position. Cain gawked and looked around at us. This wasn't working. We needed to think.

             
It couldn't end like this. After everything…it just couldn't be the end this way.

Hot Hands

Ryan

             
I watched as Jeff crumpled to the ground, taking another hit from the
thing
we had yet to identify. I ran my hands through my hair with frustration at having absolutely no idea what to do. My human brain just wouldn’t think.

             
I began to feel the tug and buzz of my conscience. I cocked my head to the side
,
and hoped and prayed that
Calvin wasn't doing anything stupid.
He had begun to be aggressive in his efforts to help us and fight, but there was no way in hell or on this Earth I was letting that happen.

             
And when that thought hit me, so did another.
My conscience…it wasn't buzzing because Calvin was in trouble, it was buzzing because t
his was Calvin's task. In all the hustle of fighting and trying so hard to keep our charges safe, we'd forgotten the most important thing. The reason the Specials were special and needed to be protected was to keep them safe until their task was presented to us and could be fulfilled.

             
I looked across the field to see Merrick shielding Danny and
it all fell into place for me. I gulped down my petty fear and ran. I saw Miguel eyeing me as I ran passed him, like he couldn’t believe I was being the coward I was.

             
But he didn't know
what I was up to.

             
I yelled to let Marissa know it was me and she s
wung the door open. I ran past
her without explanation
right to the door that I knew Ann was guarding on the other side. I stopped for just a second and took a breath. Please, please, God, let me be right.