Quarantined

Chapter One

Amir

“Come on, kid! We’ve gotta go!” There was a tug on Amir’s arm. “They are coming! Let’s go!” Amir stood from his lying position, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room. The boy who had called to Amir was on the opposite side of the room facing the door. He confirmed the door was locked when he tried to pull the handle and it stayed put. “This is bad, kid,” the boy murmured, tracing back over to Amir.

The boy scaled the wall up to the single barred window. In an instant, a bright light shot out from his hand, cutting the bars from the window. His fist slammed through the glass, shattering the window into pieces. An alarm sounded down the hall and outside red lights flashed.

“We’ve gotta go. Come on.” The boy finger-waved to Amir as he climbed through the shattered remains of the window. Amir willingly obliged to the boy’s command. He gathered that they were in some kind of prison or holding facility, but he couldn’t understand why. What had this boy done?

“I killed many people. Listen, kid, now isn’t the time for questions.” His fingers laced together with Amir’s, and Amir felt some familiarity from the contact. “Stay right here.” He placed a kiss on Amir’s thumb and ran through the pathway between two buildings. Amir watched as the red lights danced across the boy’s muscular body and knew that the boy couldn’t go wherever he was going alone. He chased after him, weaving through the red lights.

He watched as guards threatened to attack the boy, but the boy was quicker. He shot the light from his palms and dashed down the center path. The boy knew wherever he was going, and Amir figured that he wasn’t going to enjoy following the boy.

“I told you to stay there! This is dangerous, Amir!” The boy howled over the sirens, barely breathless.

“I don’t care.” Amir was losing his speed. He jogged over to the corner of the building as the boy ran farther out into the open. Amir rested against the chilled wall, until he heard the piercing laughing of a female.

“So, so. Tried to escape, did we?” The ground trembled as the female landed from her jump off the top of the building. She had directed the question at the boy, oblivious of Amir’s presence. Suddenly, a circle was drawn around the boy and the female. The ground trembled once again as the chunk of land began to levitate into the air. “There is no escape this time, Hocks. Just you and me.”

The boy smiled a devious grin. “We’ll see about that.” His palms locked together and burst into a cloud of light. The female was faster as she, too, locked her palms and released a stream of light. Their beams of light collided and exploded, rocking both of their bodies back. The boy dove into the air, flying above the girl. She grabbed him by the waist and slammed him against the ground. Her hands held an object above his throat.

“Nice knowing ya, Hocks.”

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Amir awoke in a fright, grasping his bed linens firmly in his palms. His breathing was irregular, and his heartbeat was quickened. Sweat coursed over the contours of his body clothed in a simple wife beater and boxer-briefs. He inhaled slowly and let out a trembling sigh as his hands relaxed, releasing his bed sheets.

Yawning, he sat up and stretched with his arms above his head. He pulled his cell phone from the top of his nightstand and checked the time. 3:27 AM. He threw his sheets aside from his body. His feet met with the harsh coldness of the hardwood floors in his bedroom. With his hands outstretched in front of him, he wandered the darkness of his room until he found the light switch by the door.