The air feels different when I wake up.
A bright light is all around as I open my eyes, blinding me and leaving spots of pain inside my head. I blink, seeing the sky first before anything else. Then my head moves, my eyes scanning the floor I am lying on. The rough gravel digs painfully into my body as I turn this way and that, seeing where the Freak might be.
But I see Brianna instead. She's laying down on the floor a couple of feet away from me, her eyes still closed and her hands tied behind her back. She's still not moving.
It takes me a moment to realize I am also tied up. The sharp sting of plastic tells me that he tied us up with zip ties. A little too tight at that. I look around some more, seeing the lip of concrete all around the perimeter, with pipes and some broken plant pots surrounding us. It doesn't look like the outside of the school. We must be on the roof of the building.
I look back down to Brianna.
"Brianna?" I choke out, suddenly noticing I'm speaking in my normal accent. I switch it back when I say, "Brianna?" again, louder this time.
"She's still out cold," I hear from behind me, and I look up to see the male Freak that must have knocked us out peering over me. "Don't bother trying to wake her up, because it won't work."
"Let us go," I say, glaring at him even though he looks like a silhouette against the gray sky, "or we will hurt you."
I know I shouldn't be saying this to him, since I should really be saving him and bringing him back to the Ghetto with all the other Freaks, but at this rate, I doubt he'll keep me alive long enough to even explain who—or what—I am.
"I am quaking with fear, truly," he says slowly, crouching down, his words dripping with sarcasm. "But do you really think you should be threatening me when one: I have you tied up, and two: I have a weapon and freaking powers?"
"So, what? Are you going to kill us?" I ask, my voice even, cold.
The Freak laughs, looking ahead at something I can't see. Maybe it's the other Freak that attacked us, but I can't hear if it is or not. A moment later he looks back down to me. "Most definitely," he says, smiling wickedly. "Don't feel so special, though. You wouldn't be the first Soldiers I've had to kill in my time in this lovely building."
I choke back a gasp. "You've killed Soldiers?"
"Of course. You sound surprised." He laughs again. "How do you think I escaped the iron grip of the Soldiers when they captured me many years ago?" He stares at me for a moment, watching whatever expression my face must hold. "If the Soldier I killed was one of your friends, don't worry—I made sure it was as quick as lightning." He claps once and continues laughing. "Quite literally."
But that would mean—
No.
For a moment my mind doesn't register his words properly. He put thoughts into our heads when we were wandering down the corridor looking for him. It wasn't another Freak. This is definitely the voice I heard. He broke the ceiling so it would have fallen on us if we didn't move out of the way quick enough. He used lightning to kill the Soldiers that captured him, all those years ago.
No.
This Freak is like me. He has multiple abilities.
I thought I was the only one.
I guess I was wrong.
My radio crackles to life and I startle at hearing Taylor's worried voice drift into the air, her words incoherent. I whip my head from side to side to try and see where it is, but my head can't seem to move too far. My hands shake and I try to pry them apart, but to no avail. I feel around my belt as much as I can, but I can't find it anywhere.
"Looking for this?" the Freak asks, moving my radio in front of my vision. He stares at the object with a slight furrow of his brows, tilting his head at it. "This little thing has been going off for a while, annoying the hell out of me."
"Hello? Come in, anyone," Taylor says, her words rushed and heavy with worry. "Brianna? Jackson? Someone? Come in."
The radio comes closer to me and I think the Freak does as well, pressing the cool plastic against my mouth. "Tell her to go away, Soldier."
The radio crackles and another voice shoots from the speakers, one that makes my heart beat ten times faster.
"Jackson? Come in, you moron," Nox says, his voice irritated and not as worried as Taylor's.
"Tell them both to go away now," the Freak says. When I don't say anything, I feel the cold sting of a blade against the side of my neck. I swallow and try not to show fear. "Now," he hisses, and I can hear the fury in his voice. He will kill me if I disobey.
"Fine," I choke out, despite myself. "Press the button on the side and—"
"I know how to work a walkie-talkie, I'm not stupid." Without giving me a second, he presses the button and keeps it close to my face.
"Taylor?" I say, keeping my voice calm as I stare up at the sky and wonder how different this situation would be if I used my abilities against the Freak. "Come in, Taylor."
"Jackson?" She breathes out a loud sigh that makes the radio crackle loudly. "Thank God you picked up. Did you find anything yet? You've been silent for a long time."
I stare at the Freak behind the radio. It would be so easy to call for help, but what good would that do? The Freak wouldn't hesitate to plunge the knife into my neck if I said the wrong thing. He raises his eyebrows when I don't say anything for a moment, pressing the blade more firmly to my neck, threateningly.
I breathe deeply and choke out, "Negative." I feel my heart pound furiously as red fills my vision the longer I speak. I look up to see the Freak's gaze firmly set on me, fire—both hatred and anger alike—burning behind his eyes. And that's what makes me continue, saying, "Going radio silent."
"Wait, Jackson— don't—"
The Freak turns the radio off and throws it to his side, letting it clatter to the floor. "Finally," he says, laughing to himself. "Her voice was so annoying."
I swallow the rock stuck in my throat and look up at him again. "If you're going to kill us, then why haven't you done it already?"
His head drops down and he stares at me for a few tense seconds before his face breaks out into a smile. "Because I didn't get the chance to look the Soldiers in the eye before I killed them. Remind them of what they're doing to people like me."
A chill runs down my spine and for a single, perfect moment I suddenly feel so weak and hopeless that I don't even care when I blurt out, without thinking, "You're insane. A monster."
My chest clenches so hard and so quick I can only assume it's the Freak hovering above my body. I choke, feeling like my throat is shrinking into nothing. Shrinking and shrinking and shrinking—
He lets me go and I gasp, taking in the rough, scratchy air that right now feels so amazing and refreshing as it enters my lungs slowly, then all at once.
"Most certainly," the Freak says, his voice oddly calm and almost happy after what he just did to me. His voice sounds like he completely forgot that he was literally choking me to death.
This Freak is insane.
And like me.
"How would you feel if you were made into someone like this, Soldier?" he snaps, his tone suddenly angry, venom dripping out of his mouth. "Someone beyond human? Branded as a monster? A literal freak?"
I get my breathing back under control, keeping his eyes on mine even though he still looks like a silhouette, pushing the strange feeling running down my spine as his crazed stare stays on me. I make sure I keep my voice even, without a trace of hesitation, as I say, "I know so much more than you could possibly imagine."
And that's when I move my hands out from behind my back, the zip tie open and useless, dangling from my finger.
In the scant second before the Freak realizes what I've done, he's already flown backwards with a simple wave of my hand. I hear him hit the wall with a thump, his angry grunt echoing loudly around the roof and beyond, into the air.
I'm up and facing him in a second, forcing his back against the wall like he did to me, all the anger and adrenaline coursing through my veins the only things present in my mind. I bring the pain of what he's done to both Brianna and me to the front of my mind, placed right next to the anger.
So, so much anger.
I feel it deep within my chest; how it makes my throat hurt from stopping the screams that want to escape my lips; how I just want to take something and rip it in two again and again; how I just want to punch a wall and—
And how I just want to use my abilities to throw this Freak off the roof.
I'm pushed to the side by a large rock, the whole thing hitting me square in the side of my body. I stumble, my feet catching on the broken rubble and I fall right to the ground, avoiding the block of concrete before it squashes my head.
All the training I went through back in the Ghetto prepared me for a moment just like this. It all comes rushing back to me in waves; me standing in front of five Freaks with different abilities, each one coming at me with such intensity it almost knocked me off my feet. The way Veronica tried to kill me with her lightning swims into my vision—how angry I felt when I turned to look at her after she almost destroyed the wall behind me.
I bring all of that anger back up to my head.
I bolt up from the floor before the Freak can do anything else. I watch him take in a large lungful of breath. Just a second later, I feel him try and push me back with an intense force, but I tighten my muscles and use that power, absorbing it before using my own ability—
And pushing him backwards against the wall again. He stumbles and falls to the ground, his bandana slipping down his face, showing me just who this Freak is. A dark beard adorns his cheeks, a sharp contrast to his pale skin. He must be one of the oldest generation of Freaks, like Dara and Leo would've been if they hadn't been killed.
I watch, stunned, as he pulls the knife from his belt with his ability, twirling it around like he's taunting me with it. "I should have guessed," he says slowly, his chest still heaving up and down as the knife spins around his hands. "I've seen my fair share of Soldiers since I've been a Freak, and you do not act like a good one."
I watch silently as he moves the knife in mid-air, a slow, careful smile curling under his beard. "You're too clumsy for a Soldier," he continues, voice laced with amusement. "You weren't even holding your gun properly. Pathetic."
As I watch the knife move, I wonder why he doesn't just use his abilities to kill me. If he's like me and has more than one power, then why doesn't he just use the lightning or anything else to strike me down? If I could probably guess, he might not know how to use them as well as I do. He might not even have as many abilities as me, because he seems to have spent his entire time alive in this school, not being able to train with them like I did.
Good. The weaker he is, the stronger I am.
Before I can even reply, he's speaking again, tiny sparks of lightning igniting from his fingertips, but nothing more than that. "There's only two people in this world now," he says slowly, like he's speaking to a small child. "Freaks and Soldiers. You were such a bad Soldier, so that only leaves one other option." His crazy stare turns back to me, and I see the moment something snaps within his gaze. "You're a Freak."
And he flings the knife in my direction.
I catch it with my ability just in time, the tip of silver only a centimetre from my face. I take the handle in my hand, pulling it down and studying the pathetic size. "You're right, I am a Freak," I say, turning the weapon over and over in my hand, looking up and seeing the dropped face of the man as I slowly run my finger up and down the blade. "But I'm a Freak you've never seen before."
I throw the knife back at him, letting the power coursing through me guide its way. I watch with satisfaction as the knife buries deep inside the wall behind the Freak, the top of his hood caught along with it, trapping him.
It's my turn to smirk when the Freak lets out a loud gasp and a shaky breath. He seems too shocked to try and use his abilities, so I take his arm with my own power and, with one simple sharp tug—
I break his bone.
He screams out in pain and tries to use his other arm to soothe it, but I break that one too in a second, the crack echoing loudly inside my mind and around the air, but I ignore it. His screams of pain turn white noise. Nothing else.
Nothing is in my head anymore as I watch the Freak struggle. The fact that my first intention when coming in here was to save this Freak has completely vanished from my mind, now replaced with anger and burning hatred. I don't want to shake the feeling away, even when I know I should.
It seems everything good has been sucked out of my mind.
I take a step forward, my eyes watching the silent tears streaming down his face from how much pain he's in, though trying his hardest to hide it. A dignified death? Maybe. "What was that you said?" I say, my voice lined with nothing but venom. "You were going to kill me? And my Soldier friend?" I tilt my head at him slowly, watching the tears glide down his cheeks, faster than before. "Is that right?"
He shakes his head as much as he can with the knife keeping his hood against the wall. "N-no," he gasps, still shaking his head. "No, I wasn't going to kill you. I-I promise."
"Like anything you say right now I'll believe."
He shakes his head again but doesn't say anything in reply. I yank the knife out from above his head and throw it to the ground so the blade sticks into the hard concrete. The sound of metal against stone grates inside my head as I pull the Freak along in front of me with my ability. I take slow, agonizing steps towards the edge of the roof, dangling him over the ledge, where there's not only about a fifty foot drop, but there's also many broken pipes and sharp rubble along the way down.
He'll be dead before he hits the ground.
"The funny thing is," I say slowly, a small humourless laugh escaping my lips that I make sure he can hear clearly over his pathetic crying, "when I came in here, it wasn't to kill you. No, no, no." I shake my head, the red in my vision the only thing I can see. "It was actually to save you. I was going to bring you to other Freaks that I know, give you warm food and new clothes..." I trail off when I know he gets my point. "But at this rate, it looks like you won't get that opportunity ever again."
He's crying again, shaking his head as he kicks his legs this way and that, trying to find something to land on even though there's nothing but a long, long drop below his shaking feet. "Please," he rasps, the words harsh against his throat. "We Freaks need to stick together."
I consider his words for a moment, suddenly realizing the truth they hold. Freaks do need to stick together, like all the guys down in the Ghetto. They've been together for so long they may even consider one another their families now. My face falls as I look down at the drop under his feet.
"You're right," I say, my eyes sliding up to his gaze. "Freaks need to stick together."
He nods his head and smiles once, his mouth opening to say something to me, but I interrupt him.
"But that's another funny thing. You're not a Freak anymore," I say, my eyes locked with his as I take one more step forward, bringing him further out. "You're a monster."
And I let him drop.
I try not to but I listen to his screams and the thud as he hits the pipes and rubble before finally, the ground. My heart beats rapidly in my chest as I look down at my hands, the same ones that let the Freak drop to his ultimate demise.
I know I should feel something—guilt, sadness, even anger—but surprisingly, I just feel hollow and empty, like the old Luca has been sucked out and been replaced with nothing but numbness.
But I can't think about that now. What's done is done. I turn away from the edge and kneel down beside Brianna. Thankfully, she's still breathing. I can feel and hear the faintest breaths escape her lips when I lean down and put my ear near her mouth.
"Brianna?" I say, pulling her up from the ground and snapping the restraints off her wrists with a quick wave and curl of my fingers. "Brianna? Can you hear me?"
After a few more shakes of her shoulders and calling her name, her eyes slowly flutter open. She furrows her brows at me, her eyes scanning my face for a moment in silence before she breathes out, "Jackson?"
"It's me," I reply, helping her sit up. "You feeling all right?"
She presses her hand to her temple and winces as pain slices through her head. "I feel like total crap." She removes her hand and looks up at me. "How do you feel?"
Nothing, I don't say. I don't feel anything.
"Been better," I say instead, only half-lying.
"What happened to the Freak?" she asks as I help her up from the ground.
The man falling from my grasp flashes before my vision. The thud echoes around inside my head. I push the thoughts away, letting the numbness take over my entire body.
"I took care of him," I say. "He knocked us out. He was going to kill us if I didn't do something."
Brianna nods slowly, righting herself as she sways. "That's good. I'm glad he's taken care of." She shakes her head once and rubs her eyes, looking over at me. "What do we do now?"
"I think by now we should head back," I say. "They'll be wondering where we have gone."