When Shit Hit The Fan

Astrid

Landon was still on my mind as I headed to pick up Jason. I left work early today to make sure to be there to get Jason from work and hear all about his first day. I kept shaking this feeling of dread off. I figured it would have subsided by now after the Lieutenant left but it was still there, still ominously telling me something worse was going to happen. I pulled up to Jason’s building. Seeing him smile and wave at me helped ease some tension.

“Astrid, it was wonderful!” He exclaimed, entering the car and buckling up. “Everyone was so nice and I have a mentor and she’s so smart and nice” He said, smiling so big.

“ I am so happy you had a wonderful first day” I smiled back at him trying to drown my worry. “I wonder how Ruby will feel about this mentor of yours,” I teased.

Ruby was Jason’s girlfriend. He met her when he had first moved in with us. It was cute seeing them together. Ruby was human though so they had to be careful. Specials and human relationships were definitely not approved by many.

“She won’t care. She’s not like that” He said, blushing a bit at the thought of her.

“Mhmm” I teased again “Be careful.” I warned.

He shook his head smiling. I drove us home listening to Jason tell me more about his day and how great it was. I was so happy that he was able to find a great workplace, especially one with such accepting humans. Not all humans were kind, not all humans were okay with working with a special, yet alone hiring one.

As I put the car in park, I saw it deep inside my mind. Images flooded my brain, tanks, soldiers, combat boots, guns, blood. They were coming, something happened and they were coming. Jason tensed beside me. He had seen it too, through me. Normally I can keep Jason out but when a premonition hits my barriers come down. I looked at him and there was so much worry in his eyes.

“What was that?” He said.

I usually don’t let premonition hit because if they were big enough they would set the radar off. I only ever let them come if something dangerous was headed our way.

“The future Jason. I knew something was off” I said, beating myself up. I could feel it all day, this is what was coming, not some soldiers and a lieutenant in my office. A full on brigade was coming. “We need to leave.” I said, Jason looked at me confused, stunned.

“Our future? What do you mean? Leave? ” he said. I never explained everything to him, I didn’t think I needed to. I didn’t think we would be here now. I was going to explain it to him in another 10 years when he would realize I wasn’t aging.

“Jason I am going to need you to walk and read my mind at the same time. Don’t dig deep. I'll bring everything you need to know up to the surface. Pack a small bag with any essentials you need. Anything you can’t live without. Don’t worry about clothes, we can get that, just anything that can’t be replaced” I said, placing my hand around my locket.

I started to bring things up to the surface of my brain as I got down from the car. I started with my age 1,213 years old. Going on to the number of abilities I had, that was well over 30. The wars between humans and specials I have seen, the soldiers this morning and finally the others and how old they were. Shawn was the youngest of us aside from Jason at 330. Then it went to Libby at 350 years old, and Whisper at 415. These were just the 3 that he had met. I then showed him Micheal at 558 year olds, and Lucas and Tristan, the twins, 670 years old. Finally showing him Lana 820 years old. They too had more than 2 abilities. Jason’s eyes widened and he stopped walking.

Lucas and I had decided that it would be best to keep the family in 2 groups. It was too dangerous to have us all together in one house. We rotated who stayed with who every few years so we all wouldn't go too long without seeing each other. Since I didn’t have the problem child Micheal with me this time around, I was able to let Jason join us and I am thankful for that. He is a great addition to the family and I can’t wait for him to meet the rest of them. I hated being away from Lucas, from all of them but it was what was best.

“Jason I need you to walk and read babe.” I ordered, realizing he had stopped walking from the shock. “I know it’s shocking, but I don’t know the exact time these tanks and soldiers are coming. We need to go” I said urgently, trying to empathize, but having no time. I know it was a lot to drop on him at once but it couldn't be helped. He started walking again. I showed him how the war started between humans and specials and how awful it was. He started to pick up the pace then.

When we entered the house I handed him a small bag for his irreplaceable things. We both headed upstairs to our respective rooms and began to pack. As we were going up the stairs I started to feel emotions I knew were not my own. Fear, so much fear, and anxiety. They were here, Jason was still in my head so he knew they were here too.

“Astrid, we need to go!” Jason yelled after me scared.

“I know, okay! Trust me I know!” I yelled after him trying to shove my most treasured possessions in the smallest bag possible. How the am I supposed to fit my life into this small ass bag?

“Let’s go!” I hear Jason yell again.

Dammit. I shove the only picture of my family I have and some letters I couldn’t live without along with money, passports, and IDs in the bag. I give one last look at the place I called home for 10 years and yell “Got it. Let’s go”

We left out the back and headed down the alleyway to avoid being seen. How did this happen? We were so careful! I didn’t understand.

As if reading my mind Jason asks “How did this even happen?”

“I don’t know Jason. It doesn’t make sense. We’ll find some answers later. We need to make sure the others are okay. They went to the ocean today” I turn right passing the flowers now stained with blood. A body lies on the pavement, eyes open and lifeless looking up at me. I don’t recognize the face. It isn’t one of ours. Human. “They’re using lethal force now.”

“Things must be really bad. Dammit. Why did this start again?” There has been peace for 15 years now. Life for us specials hasn’t been ideal, but at least we weren’t being hunted down. It’s starting again and I don’t understand why. Everything was fine this morning.

We turn the corner carefully, creeping behind a car. I hear some combat boots marching down the street.

“Did you find her?” I hear one soldier ask. HIs voice deep and demanding, must be a captain. Shit has really hit the fan when a captain shows up. I listen closer. Who are they looking for?

“No sir, we checked her house. She must have left in a hurry. She left this behind.” He said holding up a locket. I instinctively reached for mine, only it wasn’t there. Shit.

“Keep searching! We can’t let her leave. Remember she is dangerous so if you see her use the blue bullets.” The captain orders.

Blue bullets were used on the most dangerous specials. They contained a serum inside that halted any healing abilities a special may have and caused explosive pain that would render any human dead and special unconscious.

I turn my head to Jason. He no longer speaks using his mouth, he telepaths to me. “They’re looking for you,”

“I need to warp us out of here” I telepath back to him.

“The moment you do they will know where we are and where we land” Jason replies.

“I know but it’s our only way out of here right now” I take a deep breath calming my heart. I can’t let Jason or the others get hurt because of me. “I need that locket back. I am sure as shit not leaving that behind.” He nods but I know he is scared and I know he thinks it is a terrible idea. I know it is too, but we both know how much it means to me. It’s the absolute most precious possession of mine. His forehead was drenched in sweat causing his normally well kept honey brown hair to stick to his face. His light green eyes gave away the immense fear he was feeling. His face was still innocent and unscared.

“Here’s the plan” I start. “ I am gonna warp you to the others. Have Shawn use his mind control ability to get yourselves a car. Have Libby use her hijack ability to upgrade the vehicle. It needs to be bulletproof and if possible armor body and re-inflate tires. I know it will be hard but ask Whisper to make it invisible for as long as she can.” I swallow hard realizing just how messed up everything got so fast. “Jason You have to make sure you get this all done in less than 5 minutes, or they WILL catch you. Do you understand?”

His body is starting to shake. I know he is so scared. It is his first time having to go through any of this. His abilities didn’t manifest until 5 years ago during the peace. He nods his head finally and I continue.

“I will warp myself in the car. Make sure not to go over 120 or it won’t be so pretty when I warp in.” I shake the thought off of being torn in half mid warp. I place my hand on his shoulder. “You can do this, I know you can!”I control his emotions, calm him, and push his confidence forward. He knows what I am doing but he isn’t fighting, he’s welcoming it, like it’s the only thing saving him from falling to the ground and curling into a ball of fear.

I place my forehead on his and he vanishes into a white puff, blowing wind all around. Within seconds I hear the soldiers yell. “We have a teleporter! High alert.”

“I want to know where they landed, track it now.” The deep voice I heard earlier ordered, it was the captain. “Send two teams to Barker street. Why wasn’t the field up? Put it up now!” The captain sounded furious.

Frick! I forgot about the barrier. Great, really flipping great Astrid. I have about 3 minutes to take down about 25 soldiers and a captain, grab my locket and warp out of here before the barrier fully activates. I speed run down the alley in a flash, towards where I heard the captain.

“We have a speedster” I hear a female soldier yell.

“Make sure the pickos are active” The captain commands.

When did they get pickos into the ground? They just got here. If I step on one I am done for. Stepping on one means 10,000 volts shoot straight up into me. I am tough and may be able to heal, but even that would wipe me out for a while. I came to a halt and knelt down to the ground. I have 2 minutes and 40 seconds now. I feel the earth beneath me and sink my hands in it. I take a breath and feel beneath the surface, 10 ft, 20 ft, 30 ft, 50 ft. I force the earth to do my bidding and pop all the pickos out. They blow out of the ground into the air as if mother nature spit them out herself.

I hear scattered yelling, a little fear in their tones. “Elemental!”

“There’s an Elemental!” Another soldier yells.

“Watch your backs!” Female soldier yells again.

“Bring the negators!” The captain yelled.

Negators, they get close enough and all my abilities are gone. I will be left with just my fist and fighting skills which won’t be worth a thing against these soldiers. My hands still inside the earth I feel for the negator's feet against the ground. I found them 10 blocks away. I wait for them to take a step and I open the earth enough to pull their feet deep into the surface. They can no longer move. I must stay away from that area.

1 minute 20 seconds left. I need to hurry. The fastest, but most dangerous way it has to be. I look up to the sky, sending a beam of light straight up to the clouds. I impatiently wait for them to come find me. I need to get all the soldiers in one spot and wipe them all out at once. I use the earth to form armor around my body. Hard rocks and asphalt encase me all over.

One bullet flies by my head. I see it coming a mile away so of course it doesn’t hit. 3 more fly by. Rocks start to crumble off me and I know a negator is nearby, I need to hurry before it gets here. I breathe in 3 deep breaths and clone myself. Now there are 5 of me.

My clones are identical in appearance but not in abilities. My abilities are divided into the number of clones I produce. The more clones the less abilities each have and the weaker they get. 5 of me should be good enough for this situation. Each clone manifests a weapon. I have lightning whips, one clone has a fire sword, one has a rifle, one has a body made of light, and one has bracelets spinning around her wrists made of water and ice.

The clone with the rifle shoots down the negator that was left. They can’t negate a bullet. The clone with the fire sword speeds to some soldiers and cuts their guns melting it in their hands. I use my lightning whips to do the same to the other guns. I grab one soldier's foot with the whip and throw them across the air into nearby soldiers.

The clone with the water and ice bracelets freezes the soldiers feet in place while putting a bubble of water around their faces. They start to drown. We don’t kill them but wait for them to become unconscious before releasing the water bubble. The clone with the body of light touches the guns and they melt instantly. Normally I would have her walk through the soldiers melting their insides and killing them instantly, but I am not trying to start a war over a locket. 37 seconds left. I look around and find the captain. He is unshaken, with absolutely no fear on his face even though his soldiers are falling all around him. He grabs his gun and loads it with a blue bullet. He shoots for a clone’s blind spot but because I see it so does the clone. We have shared vision, we can all see what the other sees. The bullet misses the clone and hits one of his men.

He seems confused and just a bit panicked now. I ran over to him jumping over a couple soldiers on my way . I grab his gun with my whip and with some effort I pull it away from him. I get up close and he tries to punch me but I push it away. “This belongs to me.” I say as I snatch the locket from him. He realizes who I am just a bit too late as I pull my arm back in a fist punching him right in the jaw. I know I broke it from the sound and feel of it. His head spins around and he lands on the floor. I warp out and my clones disappear back into me with 5 seconds to spare.