The email had been sent to everyone across the country on the day of February 1st, 2021. There was no named sender indicated, nor what company had been responsible for its distribution. All Emily Tempest knew is that it sent shivers through her spine and made her hands twitch as she struggled to control herself from the sparks threatening to unleash while clutching her smartphone. She had received it as marked urgent by the time she turned her phone back on as her plane was landing in Eastern Europe.
Subject Name: Emily Azure Tempest
Female
27 years of age
Born in Canada on the 7th of May 1993
Eye colour: green
Hair colour: red
Caucasian
This subject is extremely dangerous, reported having been struck by lightning as an infant, an accident that would normally be fatal instead caused drastic changes to the subject's DNA. The subject has grown up with the ability to manipulate lightning and create devastating thunderstorms. Several incidents have already been confirmed across the country, with many casualties and the destruction of public property. No one knows the nature of these attacks, or the cause of them, but the subject is clearly unstable and must be terminated immediately once found.
If you detect this subject anywhere in the world please inform one of the agents stationed in your region immediately and all necessary precautions will be taken. Rest assured the subject will be properly disposed of once found and isolated from citizens.
Sincerely,
BSAA
At the bottom of the email were three surveillance photos of her highlighting all the details of her appearance the BSAA just described. Emily wanted to know when the hell those were taken, but she guessed it was only a few months back when she began her escape. How dare they sneak around like paparazzi, those fuckers, why can't they just leave me alone?
Emily lowered her phone into her lap and pulled the hood of her N7 sweater forward more to conceal her long flaming red hair, it was the first thing that anyone would detect and recognize her now that the word was out. But thankfully, she'd hope this was her escape. It was, after all, only sent within Canada and the rest of the world didn't know she existed. It took them over twenty years to realize that she was impregnable.
They were correct though, there was a horrifying event not long after Emily's birth. Her parents were scientists studying the weather, and if it weren't for the thunderstorm that night, she would not be en route to Eastern Europe. Her mother, outside on a cloudy day rather than in the labs, with a newborn babe at her breast, hoping to soon return to her research much like her husband, and suddenly, thunder crashing, reiterating, each one louder than ever. Mother and child were out in the fields far furthest from the towers, the former believing time away from the labs would give her time to connect with her daughter.
There was no way to stop it from occurring, but when the thunder briefly ceased, the wind blew violently, the infant wailing endlessly and the mother knew it was time to go inside. Across the field she ran, careful not to drop her child, father pounding at the glass window screaming at her to hurry, but as the tallest around, it was far too late.
It happened so quickly, the bolt flashed like turning the lights on and off, transmitting through the veins of both in nanoseconds. Screams echoed and died instantly. Father horrified at what he just witnessed had no choice but to wait for the storm to subside to avoid being struck himself.
Come dawn, both were found in the grass. The mother had gone cold, no matter how many times he screamed and applied compressions, he could not find a pulse, she was gone. But then, a miracle was present before his eyes, the baby's cries as she lay alongside the corpse. How was it possible for the infant to survive a lightning strike directly?
That was what Emily's father spent his lifetime researching, while her life turned into the one of a lab rat. None of these tests were enjoyable for Emily as a child, all she wanted was to live a normal life, go to school, make friends, maybe even find love, but her father would stop at nothing to ensure that her condition is used for his own desires.
Emily was sixteen at that time, a time where at that age one would obtain their driver's license or date, but no, her sweet sixteen was spent doing another test to find out why lightning bolts emitted from her hands whenever she felt certain emotions. Was this some kind of mutation that developed as she grew? Possibly immune to lightning strikes, and now there was this?
"I've had enough of this father! Can we just stop all the fucking tests, it's my birthday today!" she shouted through the massive glass window that separated them, her voice audible like the glass vanished, any louder and it would certainly shatter.
"Honey I'm this close to figuring out how we can use this power inside you so there will be no more deaths like your mother's. If we can just see if we can narrow down what makes you activate it the most,"
As the sparks started to intensify, tremors shook the room like mini-earthquakes, followed by a rumble of thunder. Was it anger that triggered this power or was it isolation? No matter, what followed afterward was the worst thing anyone could witness other than her mother's death. The girl screamed out her refusal to participate and the glass window shattered, followed by the surrounding walls, exposing the lab to the open sky now covered in dark gray clouds as if they had formed instantly. This test was conducted on a clear sunny day and now another storm was coming just like that, and Emily stood, feeling that she was ready to take control of her life on her own terms. Something in her was mutating, light engulfed her like an angel and she rose into the stormy sky declaring,
"If you're not going to treat me right, then you're not my father anymore!"
It was the most exhilarating moment imaginable if it weren't for such devastating power, like a breakthrough in one's research, that is, until the lightning struck the building once again and the place was ablaze in seconds. The fire spread fast giving no time for her father and the scientists to escape, and Emily didn't bother to watch the place burn, flew away and out into the same grassland, to the very spot where her mother died. Weeping furiously, at what she had just done, and finally free from her father's controlling ways, she vowed to control her power, hide it, and be a better person.
***
For the next eleven years, Emily had learned that indeed her emotions did cause it to manifest at its worst. Therefore, she disconnected herself by living in abandoned buildings and learned to trust no one. But there were other traits she noticed like touching metal did not give her the shock that any normal human experienced. Emily never went to school due to her father's endless experiments and what was the point of starting now? She was gaining survival skills, but nothing was meant to last in this place that she was trying to make a home out of.
Eventually, the ruins of the lab were discovered, which made her nearly have a panic attack when preparing to go to her first job after struggling to find work for several years due to a lack of skills. It was that time of her life when she reached the age of twenty where she felt like she could keep her powers concealed and walk among the public. The first and only job she landed was at an ice cream parlour in a small town near Toronto, a place she considered revolting with its cheesy music, she put up with it for the next six years. Then, her mental health worsened.
Loneliness, fear, depression all attacked her daily like an army of werewolves clawing at her flesh, reminding her of the torture from her childhood. There were times she refused to leave whatever place she squatted at, then at her shifts, people got suspicious whenever she excused herself. One employee even reported there were sparks emitting from underneath the bathroom door where she fled.
It was the tipping point at the end of January 2021 when it was just another day in paradise when Emily had a customer who started to hit on her during her shift on a rainy day. Disgusted at his complete scarcity to acknowledge her refusal, was when another storm resulted in multiple deaths. The police and military arrived in a matter of minutes once everyone realized this was no natural phenomenon, but their presence only upset Emily further, and she attacked.
In awake of the chaos, this young woman's power began spreading like wildfire all across the country's media, more incidents followed like she lost all control again running from city to city in just a few days. No one would want her, no one would care for her or love her. Emily realized she needed to escape. Returning to an old bomb shelter that she lived in as the most secure place than any other, she gathered her savings and bought a flight ticket through her mobile phone in the dark and dismal single room the shelter possessed, to a place where no one knew about her, and maybe this time, things would go better.
***
"Welcome to Transylvania, thank you for flying with Air Canada, be sure to collect all your belongings and proceed to the nearest exit," the cool woman's voice sounded over the intercom like she just had an orgasm.
And all this for some stupid guy made me come here, Emily thought as she stuffed her phone in her jean pocket. Following the tunnel off the plane and into the airport, Emily took in the overcast sky and light snowfall like diamonds trickling from the clouds. It was magical and perhaps with weather like this, her storm abilities would have no effect here.
Transylvania was a region in the country of Romania in Eastern Europe, Emily had chosen this place because she was drawn to its Medieval image; castles, little villages, and ancient ruins. Beyond the airport's runways was nothing but wilderness and Emily had never considered where she would be staying. When preparing for her escape, she had only bought her flight ticket and didn't have enough money in her savings for a hotel.
Emily followed baggage signs walking among all the bustling travellers of all shapes and sizes from hurrying businessmen and women, to families with little kids screeching like velociraptors about why they couldn't just run around wherever they like. Emily grimaced and covered her ears; she didn't like children, and she wondered what it is she disliked more: how loud and obnoxious they were at a young age because their voices were squeakier than mice or the mere thought that she might accidentally kill one if something set her off. So, she resumed walking forward and did her best to ignore them.
Aside from her N7 sweater, Emily was wearing a magenta babydoll tank top, black skinny jeans and lace-up faux leather boots, her rock & roll look was something she always went by as the only money she spent, back in Canada, other than the essentials, was clothes while living in that bomb shelter. The little iPod she carried in her purse, was her only source of happiness since all this crap had hit the fan.
The airport was crowded at midday but Emily let the attractions from the duty-free and paintings on the wall distract her. When she made it to the baggage area, she very discreetly took her small suitcase that contained only a week's worth of clothes and toiletries. There wasn't much, but it was all that she had. After passing through the gates was where the real problem arose about where she would embark from here. Once again the answer eluded her as it did when she was landing. Then, across from the airport's main exit was a small train station.
Emily crossed the busy roads quickly, eager to escape the crowds of travelling riff-raff, entered the station, and was welcomed by its grandiose wooden architecture like she was in a castle foyer. Digging into her purse, she still had some money left for a ticket somewhere and she approached the booth.
"Good afternoon miss, where would you like to go?" the gentleman said, dressed in a brass uniform and black mustache,
Emily rubbed the back of her neck that was inside her hood, what she really wanted was to just be alone, so maybe the answer was already there, "Do you have a train going somewhere close to nature?" she asked politely even though inside she was irked, craving solitude.
"Why yes miss, there's one departing soon for the local mountains. Quite the scenic view that is,"
"Okay fine I'll take a ticket for that one," Emily interrupted, the sooner she could go the better.
The man handed her the ticket and Emily scurried out of his sight, that could have been better, what if I set off more bolts? It doesn't matter now, let's just get going. Maybe once we get into the valleys we can find a nice place there to be where I can't hurt anyone, as a hermit, Emily thought and she boarded the train and took her seat by the window. Trains in Europe were a lot fancier with their private cabins and faster than the ones back home. It made her feel secure and that put a smile on her face, and minutes later, the train departed, taking her towards nature and away from society.