Awakening - The Last Science #1

Chapter 26 - Monsters - IV

  The bolt crackled forward in a low splintering path, but it didn't strike the ground immediately. Natalie had aimed too high. The electricity followed the path of least resistance through the air and onto the tips of Roger's pitchfork, which was pointed directly at Rachel.

  The metal fork exploded. The wooden haft caught fire, while the superheated metal tips shot off in different directions like shrapnel. One skipped along the ground and punched a hole through Rachel's dress, just missing her leg as it flew into the distance. A few people fell to the ground, screaming in agony from the molten steel on their skin.

  Natalie's hands flew to her mouth in horror. Roger dropped the burning remains of his weapon with a shout and leapt back in fear. The crowd was suddenly far less eager to approach. Rachel had to take command of the situation while she could.

  "Get out of here, now," she shouted. "Go home!"

  Wrong word, she realized immediately.

  "Our homes are fucking gone!" Roger shouted back. He picked up the burning wood and threw it at Rachel, who just managed to dodge aside in time. The crowd jostled about, lifting weapons and moving forward heedless of the injured among them.

  I'm so sorry. "Natalie, do it again."

  "But they're—"

  "Do it now!" Rachel cried, as Roger almost closed the distance between them.

  Natalie threw out another desperate, powerful crackling bolt of electricity—directly at Roger.

  The lightning connected with his skull. His eyes went wide for the split-second before the discharge rocketed around his body, travelling along the sweat on his skin. As it reached down to his arm, the lightning jumped across to the next person in line with noticeably less intensity, until it had travelled through four or five people and finally fizzled out on the ground.

  They collapsed. Roger was clutching his heart and twitching slightly, his mouth open wide but without a voice. Rachel looked up again, hoping to finally see a retreating crowd and enough space to get away.

  She only saw desperate, unbridled rage. The shouting doubled over as the mob called for death. Rachel didn't have any other option.

  "Again, Natalie!" she shouted. Natalie threw another bolt of lightning, brilliant purple-edged sparks blinding Rachel as it struck another group.

  The girl didn't need further prompting, throwing bolt after bolt in the heat of the moment. The mob kept coming as Natalie kept firing, the girl shouting out in exertion and fear with each burst of electricity. Rachel closed her eyes as the bolts became too bright for her, keeping close to Gwen and trusting Natalie to keep her safe.

  The shouting died away. The whip-cracks of lightning stopped. The only sound was the gentle growl of Gwen and the heavy pained breathing of the girl seated atop her. Rachel reluctantly opened her eyes.

  No one had survived. Several of them had huge burns across their skin. The scent of singed hair and flesh was thick in the air. The bodies were laid out in a circle around them. All twenty-five were totally, utterly still.

  Not a single one had turned away or tried to run.

  "Natalie?" Rachel asked tentatively.

  "...Did I do okay?" she stammered. The girl looked like she might collapse again, but it wasn't the satisfied exhaustion of a job well done Rachel had seen the night before. Natalie looked like she'd seen a ghost. Her eyes were wide as dinner-plates, her mouth quivering. She looked like she might burst into tears.