Judge

Chapter 18

Maddie blurs into a streak of navy and gray. In a split second, Kara is flying backwards, cracking the concrete wall behind her. An Oof sound fills the chamber as the air whooshes out of her lungs.

Water flows out of a broken pipe in the wall and forms a hemisphere around the gasping Kara. I take my chance and push the remaining barrier down the hall, towards the soldiers who are still firing their weapons at us.

I split my telekinetic wall into two parts, like an inside-out snowplow. The soldiers part like the red sea, yelling as they are piled against the walls, a mass of tangled limbs. The gunfire stops, finally.

I take off instantly. Maddie joins me as the halls fly past. I release my barrier. I turn and break through the ceiling, the baseboard crumbling around me. Maddie soon jumps up through the hole I leave.

"We've got to get out of here safely. I don't see the old bastard anywhere." I comment.

"Yeah. Let's hope he doesn't show up." I turn towards those same glass doors and shatter them as I exit the building head first. It's morning, maybe past that into noon. The fresh air fills my lungs with the smell of rain and foliage. Maddie soon overtakes me, though I get the feeling that she's slowing down to let me keep up. The flight is relatively routine.

I've got a million different thoughts running through my head and none I can voice. Now that we're out of there...She kissed me. Wow. The realization is still sinking in.

We're going through a forest now. Man, this is like the camping trip. How does she actually feel about me? I wish I was in her head.

I promptly run into a tree.

A cracking sound and the brisk stop of my flight are the primary sensations that bring me back to earth. I slide slowly down the slick and elastic branches of the pine. I just let myself fall. I hit the ground, compressing leaves into the dirt as I laugh at the impact. Maddie soon finds me.

"Something wrong?" She asks

"I ran...into a tree." I manage to get out before we both dissolve into rare fits of laughter.

"You...You..." She giggles uncontrollably.

"You're like a baby giraffe!" I roll my head around on the forest floor, holding my gut. It feels incredibly like a cleanse as I lay there in the midst of a bed of brown pine needles.

I remember when she first called me that. We were roller skating during sophomore year. Before the thing that made me into a killer landed next to us. The smile melts off my face. It's been nice, but the last time I had fun, Maddie was taken.

I stand up abruptly, brushing myself off. I don't know if my face shows it, but I am too grim for someone who's with the person he loves.

"We should go." Her face falls and she nods.

"Right." And with no further ado, we resume our frantic flight, only one thing on our minds.

Our families. Oh, god, what are they going to think? Maddie's father comes back tomorrow - he'll be pretty surprised. I put a hole in his closet, wore his stuff. I'm pretty sure I cleaned all that stuff up from the party bu- What am I thinking? He'll be in danger! MY family will be in danger! We've got to get them out!

My pace quickens as we bend the miles in order to reach home. The adrenaline pumping through my veins seems to tire my body as much as it speeds up my heart. Maddie speeds up as if she grasps this as well, and the air rushes past ever faster as we hustle home.

I touch down in my driveway, cracks spreading from where I land like a spiderweb. Out of the corner of my eye, the blur that Maddie becomes when running solidifies into a single figure in front of her doorstep. The cars are still there, black scratches still present on my Accord. I release the power I've been holding and feel myself return to normal.