The Real Ram

Chapter 6

 It's a quiet walk to get to lunch. The bell rings just as we walked out the door, so everyone's already made their way there. It's just us four walking. We get there without a word spoken and right away someone bumps into me. I mumble an apology but the person doesn't take it. Instead they grab my shoulder and rip me away from my group. I gasp at the sudden pain as I'm pushed out the cafeteria doors. I look back just before the doors close to see my friends didn't even notice. Great awareness guys, Flame would be so proud.

I'm shoved into the wall and I finally get to see my attacker. Mac...great.

"Who are you," he asks harshly.

"I'm Zo—"

"Not your name, idiot!" He shoves me into the wall again. "Where the hell did you come from?" I freeze up like an idiot. I can't do anything right, what a failure. "Tell me!" I notice a spike in his blood pressure.

I shake my head, unable to speak.

His eyes turn a dark black, and he smiles wickedly. I shake my head and ask softly, "Who are you?"

He responds by throwing a punch and I duck. I start to run and he shrieks. I hear his footsteps start behind me. "Oh Zoey!" His voice sends chills down my spine. I start to run faster, but I hear him gaining on me. 

Something sparks inside me. My breathing slows, as well as my vision, I turn around and see Mac. Only, it's not Mac. His aura used to look weakish. He's a shifter, I knew by his dark green power flow. 

But this guy...all I see is pitch black running through his veins. It comes off him like an aura of wickedness. I trip on my footing and fall to the floor. I feel pain spike through my left ankle. 

Mac is on me within seconds. He turns me so my back is to the floor. He gets on top of me and tries to pin my arms. "Stop fighting Zoey...John just wants the best for you."

I let a scream out and he manages to trap both or my arms with one hand. The other he covers my mouth. I struggle the best I can, but he's so strong. He lurches and suddenly black mist shoots out of him. He falls the the floor beside me and cries out as the black mist exits through him.

I crawl away from him just as Beast and the others round the corner. He spots Mac and me and he comes charging. 

Mac lays on the floor coughing out black tar. Beast meets us and asks, "What the heck happened?"

Mac is still coughing, as I stutter my lack of knowledge of the situation.

"Your ankle," Trish kneels beside me and I look down. It's already starting to swell. 

"Did he do that to you?" Beast points to Mac.

"Beast, wait a sec," Mac manages to say. 

"Wait a sec?" Beast hauls him up and slams him into the wall, "What were you doing to my team mate?"

"Beast," I say softly. "It wasn't him. Well it was but someone was controlling him."

Mac start to have another coughing fit and Beast lets him go. He falls to the ground and Shawn kneels beside him. "We need to get them to the infirmary."

Beast swings Mac's arm around his shoulder. "Trish help Zoe."

Trish gets my arm around her shoulder and hauls me up. I try to put my ankle on the ground and pain spikes from it right away. I grimace and Trish says, "Wait till a healer looks at it."

We get to the infirmary and when we walk in a young healer looks shocked. "What's happened?"

"Mac attacked my team member," Beast says angrily. 

I hear commotion from the room farthest down the hall. The young healer says, "Here follow me. The main nurses and healers are dealing with a major patient right now. I will help you all I can."

We follow her to two rooms just as Mac's group rushes in. "Mac!" a girl screams. She rushes to us and soon realizes Beast is helping hold him. "What did you do to my Mac?" She pushes Beast and Trish leaves me balancing on Shawn to stand in front of Beast.

"Listen Melody, it was your Mac that attacked our newbie. So shut up and wait until we get them both help before you try and start a fight. Besides, your mine to take down, not Beast." I can already see these two have a beef against each other. What is with these two groups?

"Mac wouldn't attack another person unless they started it," Melody looks to me and I notice her eyes are clear. I frown and she sighs, "What? You curious as to why my eyes are clear?" To my surprise I actually nod, "Well let me show you," she looks into my eyes with a confident smirk and...nothing. Nothing happens for a good ten seconds. 

The younger girl in the group says softly, "It's not working."

Melody groans and says, "You're such a freak!" She storms into the room where the healer has already dropped off Mac.

I look down, knowing she's right.

"She's just jealous that she couldn't use her mind control ability on you," Beast says from behind me. "Come on let's get you into your room."

I nod and just as I start hopping we hear a shriek from across the hall. We all look and see a girl in the hallway, she's yelling the word no, and pacing around. She slams the wall and screams her way into a sob. Someone exits the room she came from. He pulls her into a hug and I know by the red hair that it's Flame.

Beast gently pushes Trish and says, "Come on, we don't need to be in their business."

Trish walks into the room with Beast, and Shawn helps me hop my way in. I look to Flame just one more time and we make eye contact. He closes his eyes and pulls the girl in tighter. She still seems inconsolable.

Shawn and Beast help me sit onto the medical bed and then sit beside Trish. I notice she's crying. Beast and Shawn both look sad too. I feel an urge to turn my eyes, but I don't know to what. They brighten and suddenly I can see colors coming from my friends. I see colors in the hallways, seeping from the rooms around me. I look up to the vent and see colors swirling in.

"What are you looking at, Zoe?" I ignore Beast as I try to make sense of the colors. The main color inside the infirmary is a dark blue. Through the vents I see yellow and pink and some blue.

"Zoey Ram?" My eyes rip from the vent to the healer walking into the room. She's saturated in dark blue. I frown and her and when she makes eye contact with me she drops her clipboard. I jump from the noise and my eyes go back to normal.

Beast picks up the board and says, "Everything okay?"

"Yeah...I just," she pauses. "Are you...never mind."

"Is she what?" Trish asks.

The healer looks to Trish then back to me, "You remind me of an old friend." I turn my eyes again and see the blue is shifting to a light green.

I'm not seeing abilities, because A, abilities don't change colors, and B, this is like a misty aura. Abilities are shown within. What am I seeing then?

I think back to my mother's notebooks. I remember seeing something like this. I'm not seeing abilities or sounds, I'm seeing...emotions.

I see the list in my head so many complex colors for each emotion. The only ones that matter right now are dark blue and light green. Dark blue is seen in sad people. Considering what happened down the hallway, that's why the infirmary is shaded in dark blue. Light green stands for regret.

"Why are you regretful?" The words slip out of my mouth before I can catch them. I look around and see confused looks of everyones faces.

The healer smiles and she says softly, "My my, you're just like her."

"Like who?" Trish asks. 

"Her mother."