Strike 3: The Returning Sunrise (23 page)

Jennifer looked to the ground. “I don’t even know what it is I’m doing. Or what I’m
gonna
be doing.”

“Me either, to be honest. But whatever it is, I know it’s going to be really important.”

A moment passed. Jennifer listened to the crickets chirping in the woods.

“Tobin is really lucky to have a friend like you,” Scatterbolt said, breaking the silence.

Jennifer smiled. “You think so?”

“Yeah. He talks about you all the time.”

Jennifer cocked an eyebrow. “He does?”

“Yeah, especially lately. You’re practically the only thing he ever talks about the last few months.”

Jennifer was surprised. “I am? What does he say?”

“Just how much he likes hanging out with you, how long you guys have been friends, that kind of thing. He just really likes talking with you, he said. He said you’re the only person he can talk with about certain stuff. He’s worried about what’s gonna happen when you go away to school in Chicago in a few weeks, because already he doesn’t see you as much as he used to.”

Jennifer thought it over, her forehead furrowed. “Really?”

“Yeah. He said you’re the best person he’s ever met. He said you’re his best friend.” Scatterbolt rolled over in the hammock, facing away from Jennifer. “He’s really lucky. I hope I get to have a friend like you someday.”

Jennifer smiled. After a moment, when Scatterbolt was quiet, she assumed he had shut down. Standing up from the tree stump, she looked to her left, and through the dark trees, she could see the shore of the ocean. With a deep sigh, she decided to cross through the sparse forest and walk to the edge of the water.

As Jennifer stood there, with her arms crossed against her, she looked out over the ocean. For the first time in her life that she could remember, the beach sand and salty air didn’t feel calming and comforting. They instead felt cold, and damp, and grey, and empty. As the biting wind whipped off the ocean and barreled over her, she realized this beach didn’t feel like the one back home in Bridgton, where she had spent the afternoon only a few days before, with Chad and their other friends.

Though she didn’t know why, as she listened to the lapping waves, Jennifer had the sudden feeling that she had lost something that she could never get back.

***

On a long balcony outside Rigel’s office on the top floor of the Trident, the red giant stood with Nova and the Daybreaker. The Daybreaker was fully dressed in his bladed, silver armor, with his helmet underneath his arm.

“This is where we believe they are, Daybreaker,” Nova said, pointing to the holographic map of Rhode Island that hovered over the circular device in his hand. “We know they have stolen information from us about the trigulsaur project in Fairfield. And we know one of our captured Rytonian Rebels had plans on him that mentioned the trigulsaurs. We need you to go there now and level everything you see around the trigulsaur base of operations.”

“Orion is there?” the Daybreaker asked. “Are we sure?”

“We can’t know for sure, but there is strong evidence this is where they were headed. And even if they aren’t, we must send them a message. We must show them we know what they are doing, and that our people will not be put in danger without repercussions.”

Rigel pulled the Daybreaker aside by his arm and spoke to him one-on-one.

“This is it, Daybreaker,” the red giant said. “This is one of the moments we spoke about. This is when we finally show you to the people of Earth—and, even more importantly, to the people of Harrison. The people of this city want to see you, Daybreaker. They want to see what you are capable of, they want to see how you will protect them. This is our chance. Let’s show your people why they have so much faith in you. Let’s show them what you will do with your powers.”

The Daybreaker nodded and turned, stepping to the edge of the balcony.

“The coordinates have been uploaded to your helmet,” Rigel continued. “You can use them to—”

“I won’t need them,” the Daybreaker said. He looked out over the skyline of Harrison. “I know where they are. They are in a camp only a few miles from the navy base.”

“They are?” Rigel asked. He turned to Nova. “How do you know?”

“I can sense it,” the Daybreaker replied, looking down at his armored hand. He opened and closed his fingers. “My powers...they’re expanding. I’ve been working on them, during my recovery sessions. I suddenly feel stronger, and more in tune with my powers, than ever before. The treatments with Dr. Brooks are working. New areas of my powers have been accessed. They go so far beyond controlling lightning and electricity. They control everything: all energy, all electrons and atoms around me. I can sense them, feel them. Manipulate them.”

“And these new powers,” Rigel said, “they are telling you where Orion is?”

The Daybreaker pulled his helmet over his head. “There are several life forms in the forest near the trigulsaur base. It must be them. I will go there and destroy everything to expose them.”

The Daybreaker stepped away from Rigel and Nova. He looked up into the night sky.

“I will be back shortly,” the boy said. “Make sure all of Harrison is watching. Make sure they know I am protecting them.”

“Yes, sir,” Rigel said. “We will.”

As Rigel and Nova watched, confused, blue electricity formed around the Daybreaker’s legs, before spreading down to his feet and building there around his ankles. Then, in a sudden, blue flash and boom of thunder, he shot up into the sky. Soaring through the air like a rocket, with his arms extended in front of him and blue electricity trailing behind his feet, he flew over the buildings of Harrison and toward the edge of the dome.

Rigel and Nova watched as the boy disappeared toward the horizon, leaving a streak of electricity in the dark sky.

“Did you know he could do that?” Nova asked.

“No. And I have a feeling that is just the beginning of what he can suddenly do.”

“Why? Where did these new abilities come from?”

Rigel stared out over the buildings. “Dr. Brooks told me this might happen. The extractions are draining him of his powers. In an attempt to counteract this, his mind and body are opening themselves, accessing all areas of his possible abilities. He may think he’s getting better, but this is simply his body’s last-ditch grasp at staying alive. It’s fighting back and allowing him access to powers he otherwise would have never known he had.”

“His mind is willing itself to be as strong as it can be,” Nova said. “But doesn’t that mean we are killing him?”

“No. Draining him to complete uselessness and frailty, but not killing him.”

 Rigel turned and walked toward the sliding glass door of his office. “None of that matters now. We have enough of his power extracted so that soon we will no longer be answering to him. We have been able to siphon and store more of his power than Dr. Brooks ever thought possible. And soon we will put that power to use. But in the meantime…” The red giant stepped into his office. “Let’s alert the media that the Daybreaker is about to reveal himself.”

Standing on the shore of the beach, Jennifer looked out over the quietly lapping waves and the starry sky above them. Just as she was about to call it a night and head back to camp, she heard a loud
BOOM
!
behind her. Turning around, she looked toward the tree line. To the left of the camp, deep within the forest, she could see a bright white light—what looked like the glow of fire—hovering above the treetops.

Back at the Rytonian Rebels’ camp, Scatterbolt lay in his hammock, with his eyes closed and his body shut down. Then, suddenly, his eyes opened, flashing with a yellow light.

“Orion!” The little robot jumped up and dashed across the camp. “Orion, Orion, Orion!” he yelled, sprinting toward the main tent.

Orion, Keplar, Ida, and Chad ran out to meet him.

“What is it, Scatterbolt?” Orion asked.

The little robot’s eyes were wide. “My sensors—all of them—they’re going off. My radar—it’s detecting something. Something heading this way.” He turned toward the trees. “Oh no, it’s already here. It’s here. The power levels...I’ve only seen this once before.”

“What is it?” Orion asked. “Where is it?”

Scatterbolt looked to the treetops. “It’s all around us. In the forest. And it’s the same readings I got when Tobin was fighting the Daybreaker.”

Frightened, Chad looked around the camp. “Where’s Jennifer?”

***

Bursting through the edge of the forest and onto the sand, Orion, Keplar, Scatterbolt, Chad, and Ida ran onto the shoreline. In the distance, in the trees running along the ocean, they could see the glow of white fire in the sky. Then, as Chad watched in shock, five deer—two small ones and three of them full-grown—ran out of the forest, stampeding down the beach toward them in a panic, away from the white glow.

“What’s going on?” Chad asked, looking up as a flock of squawking birds flew over his head. “Where are all these animals coming from?”

“From the forest,” Orion replied. “It’s on fire. Where’s Jennifer?”

Scatterbolt pointed down the shore. “There!”

Near the water, towards where the deer emerged, Jennifer was turned away from the group, looking down the beach toward the white glow.

“She’s freaking out,” Keplar said. “She’s not running.”

“I don’t think she realizes what’s happening,” Orion replied. He cupped his hands around his mouth. “Jennifer, you need to get away from there! Over here!”

Jennifer turned toward Orion, but just as she did, an explosion of white fire erupted out of the forest and burst toward her. She dropped to the ground and fell into the wet sand, overwhelmed by the blast.

“Jennifer!” Orion yelled. He started toward her, but Keplar held him back.

“You stay here with them,” the dog said. “Get everyone out of here.”

“Keplar, wait!” Orion shouted, as the dog ran down the beach. “We don’t know—”

Another explosion of white fire blew out from the trees in front of Orion, scalding the sand and scattering tree branches and debris across the shore. The heroes and Chad braced themselves against the heat and flying wooden shrapnel.

“Dammit!” Orion shouted, his face singed with soot. “Scatterbolt, get back to camp and tell everyone there to evacuate! Take to the skies in the choppers and get out!”

Scatterbolt ran back into the trees. “Got it!”

“Chad, you go with him!” Orion shouted.

“No, I can’t leave Jen here!”

“Go, now! This is no place for—”

Another explosion boomed, right where Orion was standing. He, Chad, and Ida were thrown to the ground, just as the trees behind them were engulfed in white, towering flames.

“What is doing this?” Chad asked, covering his head and cowering.

Ida looked up from the ground. She stood and pointed over the treetops down the shore. “There.”

Orion looked to the sky. The Daybreaker emerged from the burning treetops, floating upward and hovering a few feet over the engulfed forest. The white-and-orange flames were reflecting off his silver armor.

“My god,” the old man said, watching the boy float in the sky.

Chad began to panic. “How’d he find us?” he shouted. “How’d he find us?”

Orion spun to Chad. “Get away from here, Chad! Back to camp, now!”

Clambering up off the sand, Chad ran into the woods. But, instead of continuing on to camp, he stopped a few feet into the tree line, hiding behind a large tree trunk. Terrified and unable to catch his breath, he watched as the Daybreaker floated through the sky toward Orion. The boy in the silver armor was completely surrounded by white, glowing fire.

Stepping forward, Orion looked up at the Daybreaker, who was hovering over twenty feet in the air.

“Tobin!” Orion shouted. “Listen to me! You’ve been lied to! We need to help you! What Rigel has told you isn’t—”

“Raaaaaaarrrrggghh!” the Daybreaker bellowed. In one swift movement, he extended both of his arms, and white, billowing fire suddenly shot downward out of his palms and knocked Orion backward onto the sand. As the Daybreaker moved closer to the old man, a circle of fire surrounded Orion, bursting up from the ground. The roaring fire only grew in intensity as the Daybreaker shouted downward, his finger pointed at Orion.

“You will pay for what you’ve done! You will kill no more innocent people! I am here to destroy you! I am here to save them all!”

Down the shore, several dozen feet behind the floating Daybreaker, Keplar finally reached Jennifer and dropped down beside her.

“Jennifer,” the dog shouted. “Are you okay? We gotta move, c’mon!”

But the girl didn’t answer. When Keplar turned her over, he saw that her face was smeared with black soot and her clothes were singed. She was unconscious, her eyes closed.

“Dammit!” the dog yelled. Reaching underneath her body, he lifted her up off the sand and carried her in his arms toward the tree line. Once in the forest, he sprinted toward camp, holding Jennifer tight, being careful not to injure her any further.

But then Keplar stopped. He sniffed the air. He could feel intense heat and hear the sounds of trees crashing behind him.

Keplar turned around. A wave of white fire had followed them from the shoreline, and it was now eating up all of the forest behind him.

“No!” the dog yelled. With Jennifer’s limp body draped across his arms, the dog dashed through the trees as fast as he could, leaping over fallen trunks and large rocks, but he knew he would not be fast enough. The camp was still too far away.

The dog turned around again. The heat against his body was already burning his fur. The white wave of fire was now only a few feet from reaching them, tearing down every tree in its path. In seconds, it would be there, overtaking them.

With no other choice, the dog knelt down and placed Jennifer’s body on the forest ground. As she lay there, he hunched over and pulled her close, covering her with his body and arms, ensuring no part of her was exposed. His back, however, was facing the approaching fire.

Looking down, the dog felt Jennifer move, and then saw her eyes flutter open. Frightened, she began to cry.

“It’s okay, Jen,” the dog said. “I got you. Just stay there and don’t—”

The dog howled in agony as the fire washed over him. It engulfed his body and set him ablaze as the burning trees fell down around them.

Back on the shore, Orion held his arm across his mouth, trying to protect himself from the searing ring of flames that had trapped him. Squinting from the heat, he looked up, spotting the Daybreaker hovering in the sky.

“Tobin!” he yelled over the noise of the fire. He could hear more explosions booming in the forest to his right. “Please! We are not the enemy! We have not hurt anyone! Your father was my best friend, and I can prove to you that—”

The Daybreaker once again held out his armored hand and sent a barrage of white fire down at Orion—this time, the flames were entwined with snapping, blue electricity. Diving and rolling out of the way, Orion jumped up, got to his feet, and ran through the ring of fire, covering his face with both arms. Sprinting across the sand, his red coat smoking, he reached Ida, who was crouching behind a massive, moss-covered rock near the tree line. She had her laser rifle in her arms, locked and loaded.

“Goddammit,” Orion snapped, the skin of his hands burning. “Take him down. Do not take any fatal shots. Under any circumstances.”

Ida held her laser rifle tight against her shoulder. “I don’t think you have to worry about that. Something tells me there are no fatal shots with this one.”

Jumping out from behind the rock, Orion and Ida fired their bow and arrow and laser rifle up at the Daybreaker. However, none of their projectiles had any effect. Any arrows that came near the Daybreaker were disintegrated with a wave of his hand, and he simply dodged all of Ida’s laser fire, his body teleporting out of the way in quick blue flashes whenever a beam seemed on track to hit him.

Screaming with rage, the Daybreaker swooped down on Orion and Ida like a screeching hawk, blasting them with white fire, forcing them to scatter. Then, as he turned his hands to the trees, he flew along the shore and began blasting his flames wildly in all directions, setting the entire coastline ablaze. Regrouping behind the moss-covered rock, Orion and Ida continued to barrage the armored boy with laser fire and red-tipped arrows, but it was clearly useless. Now, the arrows and beams were hitting him, only to disappear against the white, glowing fire burning around his body.

Watching from the forest, in one of the only spots not yet set ablaze, Chad peered out from behind the tree and watched in horror, desperately trying to think of a way to help. Hearing a crashing of branches and leaves behind him, he turned around, only to see the trunk of a burning oak tree falling toward him. He dove out of the way and rolled onto the shore, but one of the tree limbs clipped him, falling onto his legs and pinning him to the sand.

“Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaah!”

Hearing Chad scream, Orion spun around and saw the boy trapped by the tree.

“Chad!” the old man yelled, before running across the sand toward him.

From the sky, the Daybreaker spotted Orion dashing out from behind the moss-covered rock. Spinning quickly toward him, the armored boy extended his glowing palms, ready to fire. However, he then suddenly stopped. His arms fell at his sides.

The Daybreaker watched as Orion lifted the tree limb off of Chad.

“Are you okay?” Orion asked, as he held the blackened branch in the air.

“I shoulda went back,” Chad said with a whimper, lying on the ground and holding his knee. “I shoulda went back. Are we gonna die? Please don’t let me die.”

Orion knelt down and checked on Chad’s leg. “It’s okay, Chad. It’s okay. It’s not broken. I’m not gonna let you get hurt. It’s okay.”

Orion looked up. The Daybreaker was simply hovering above the shoreline, watching him and Chad, his head slightly cocked. The white fire around him soon faded away.

Near the moss-covered rock, Ida stepped out and pointed her laser rifle up at the Daybreaker.

“He’s stopped,” she said to Orion. “His flames are gone. Do you want me to fire?”

“No,” Orion said, helping Chad stand and keeping one eye on the Daybreaker. “Just wait.”

Chad winced as he clenched onto Orion’s coat and got to his feet.  “Ow. Ow. Ow. My leg. Ow, it hurts, it hurts.”

“It’s okay, Chad,” Orion said, his arm draped across Chad’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I’m sorry.”

The old man glanced up at the Daybreaker, who was still watching them in the sky. Then, in a blue flash, the armored boy suddenly turned and rocketed away, flying away from the island at the speed of a jet. Within seconds, he was gone, leaving only a streak of electricity behind. Slowly, the fires around the island extinguished, and all was quiet. The trees were no longer set ablaze.

Exhausted, Ida let her shoulders relax. “Good god. How in the world are we ever going to face that again?”

With Chad leaning against him, Orion walked toward her. The sky was filled with smoke, and the coastline was reduced to burnt cinders.

“I don’t know,” the old man said. “Right now we need to regroup and get the hell out of here.”

Hearing the sound of helicopters, Orion looked over his shoulder. Down the shore, the choppers of the Rytonian Rebels were flying toward them above the water. When one of the choppers landed on the sand, its door flung open, and Scatterbolt jumped out.

“Orion! Do we still need to leave? Are the fires stopped for good?”

“I don’t know. Either way, we’re leaving. Help me get Chad in the chopper.”

Scatterbolt looked around. “Where’s Keplar?”

Running through the quiet, leveled forest, Scatterbolt, Ida, and a few of the Rytonian Rebels followed Orion as he dashed across the smoking, burnt carcasses that were once trees. Eventually, the old man heard Jennifer screaming from within the forest.

“Help! Somebody, please help!”

Sprinting toward her cries, Orion soon found the girl, kneeling in the middle of a scorched clearing. Keplar’s body was laying on the ground in front of her.