Day 360
6 days. I woke up to cool air blowing over my face. I opened my eyes and smiled. Lilian was staring at me.
“Hey Lilian.”
“Oh, Max-Um-Hi!” her face colored as she realized she had been caught staring at me.
I chuckled softly.
“So, what were you doing staring at me?”
“Me? I wasn't staring....I was-” she smacked my forehead, “killing a Mosquito.”
I rubbed my head.
“I think you got it,” I said, still rubbing.
I looked around our makeshift shelter.
“Where's Tim? Is he awake?”
“Yeah, he went to scout out the perimeter. He seems to be perfectly fine.”
I sighed with relief. If Tim had been seriously injured I just don't know what I would do. I don't think I could handle anyone else dying. My mom's death replayed in my mind. Her body was blown through the air from the explosion. Blood literally sprayed from several places at once. I shut the images out of my mind before my emotions could take over. I didn't want to cry.
“Hellooo, earth to Max.”
Lilian was waving her arm back and forth in front of my face.
“Are you okay Max? You were kind of spacing out there.”
I took a deep breath.
“Yeah, I'm going to talk to Tim.”
“Okay....”
I got up and walked towards the trees. I wasn't really going to talk to Tim, I just needed some time alone. I walked in a random direction letting my thoughts jumble around in my head. Four days ago my dad had been killed. Yesterday my mom had been killed. Both of my parents had been killed because of Emily.
Anger surged through me. How had I ever liked her? Had I ever actually liked her or was it because she was using her hypnosis power on me? It was all so confusing. I couldn't remember how the days had gone by so fast. It seemed like it was only yesterday that I was standing in line after school and had heard the dreaded beeping.
Now I was on the run from a facility that wanted to find out how I had every single power that was possible. I was still somewhat shocked myself that I had all the powers. So far I found that I had super speed, mega strength, excelled eye-site, could fly, my body would heal itself, and just yesterday I froze a rocket that was speeding toward us.
There had been a lot of bad things that had happened lately. Would it ever be all over? I suppose that it would once I was dead. Unfortunately for me, that was a lot sooner than I wanted. I only had six more days including today.
“Oomph!”
I fell to the ground next to Tim. He had rounded the tree at the same time as I had, our collision causing us to both grunt at the same time. We scrambled to our feet and dusted ourselves off.
“Max!”
“Tim!”
We man-hugged, of course because we're guys, and stepped back.
“Hey man how are you feeling?” I asked him.
“My head kind of hurts and my leg tingles every once in a while but other than that I feel fine,” he replied.
“That's good, not that your leg and head hurt, but that you're feeling better."
"Yeah-"
Crackling static noise broke off the last of Tim's sentence. It seemed to be coming from near Tim. His face was ashen.
"Tim, what's the matter?"
"My radio. I forgot to leave it at the fortress," his voice was laced with fear.
"So, what's wrong with that?"
"They can talk to us....And track it."
"Track it!"
I grabbed his radio and was about to crush it in my hand when I heard a familiar voice come from it. It was General Whitcom.
"Tim, I know that you can hear me. Hand the radio to Max."
There was a pause and then he continued.
"Max, I have someone that you love dearly," the generals voice was cold and hard.
Suddenly my mom's voice came over the radio.
"Max, don't come. Don't do anything they-"
I jammed the talk button down, "How can that be me mom? I saw her die."
"Oh, did you think that Lilian was the only illusionist? We have our own people and we had to have a way to get you so we faked your mother's death. Come to the fortress in exactly two hours. You give yourself up and your mother can go free. Come alone and don't try any funny business or we will kill her."
The generals voice vanished and was replaced by some static. Then all was quiet once more.
"What are you going to do?" Tim wondered.
"Give them what they want. Come on, follow me."
I ran back to our shelter, crushing the radio in my hand as I ran. There was no way that I would let my own mother be killed. I didn't want to just give myself up either. We were going to rescue her. I reached Lilian and grabbed her shoulders.
"Lilian, how do you make yourself invisible?" I asked.
"Um, I just kind of imagine myself that way. Why do you want to know?" she looked confused.
I started to pace around.
"Okay, so my mom wasn't actually killed. Some more people with powers like yours made it look like she was."
"Okay...so where is she?"
"They have her at the fortress and they want to exchange me for her."
"You can't give yourself up!" Lilian exclaimed.
"Oh, I had no intention of doing that. We are going to rescue her."
"Sweet," Tim grinned.
"So," I continued, "I need to know how you make yourself invisible so that I can make myself invisible."
"Oh....Well, you just have to imagine yourself as not being seen. You have to imagine that the colors around you are going right through your body. Being an illusionist is a lot about just imagining things."
I nodded and closed my eyes. I focused on imagining that I was invisible. There was a loud crack and I knew that it had worked.
"Lilian, what's up with the cracking noise?" I looked at Lilian.
"I don't really know. Sometimes you hear it and sometimes you don't," she answered.
"Okay, we need a game plan," I changed back to being visible with another crack.
"Right," Tim and Lilian chorused.
"Lilian, you make Tim invisible and yourself invisible too. I'll fly us in and then we'll split up. You guys will have to stay within each other's eye-site so you can communicate. I'll keep in touch with Lilian."
"How are you and Lilian going to talk without a radio or anything?" Tim raised an eyebrow.
I had forgotten that Tim didn't know that Lilian and I could talk to each other in our minds.
"We can talk to each other in our heads," Lilian stated.
"Really!" Tim exclaimed.
"Yep. Okay, once we split up then we find my mom. Whoever finds her make sure that you tell me or I'll tell you whichever way it goes. We'll meet up and I'll fly us all out of there."
Lilian turned to Tim and he disappeared from view.
"Um, Lilian?"
"Yeah?"
"You might want to wait to make him invisible until after I get us in the air or I won't be able to see you guys."
"Oh, right."
We held hands and I took off into the air. Soon I heard two sharp cracking sounds and I knew that Tim and Lilian were now invisible. Sure enough, when I turned my head it was like I wasn't holding on to anyone at all. It was a strange feeling. I knew that they were there and yet I couldn't see anyone. I focused on myself and became invisible as well.
I flew in the direction of the fortress somehow just knowing which way to go. There was one more thing that I needed to do. The ray gun would still be a problem unless there was some way I could use my powers to block it.
The ray gun probably produced some sort of signal that counteracted someones powers. If there was some way to block the signal then it wouldn't be a problem. I focused on felling what was around me. Suddenly it was as though another world had opened up.
I could feel every molecule of air around me and I could feel the different signals from all the radios and satellites. I felt, rather than saw, them passing harmlessly through my body. I produced some sort of signal myself and now all the signals were bouncing away. I expanded the signal to surround all three of us.
We flew towards the facility for almost an hour before we finally saw the fortress ahead. I magnified the giant oval with my eyes and could see the many guards along the wall. Inside the fortress itself were a lot more guards. Many of them were holding rocket launchers so they must have been expecting us to be flying in. Mom was nowhere in sight.
"Remember the plan," I whispered, "I'll go towards the training field and you guys head for the other part of the fortress.
Tim and Lilian didn't respond but I knew that they were ready. I flew directly over the center of the fortress and down to the ground. No one had spotted us since we were invisible and we split up as planned.
I walked softly to the house that I had stayed in while I was at the fortress and slipped past the guard at the door unseen. The door had been taken off of its hinges so I didn't have to worry about opening anything. I turned left and crept down the hallway. My mom's room was the last one on the right.
Two guards were standing in front of her door. How was I supposed to get past them? I didn't want to kill them or anything cause then everyone would know that we were here. Suddenly I had an idea. I stood against the opposite door facing the guards and looked at the door behind them.
If I made the door invisible then I could see if she was in there. There was only one problem though. What if making the door invisible made another cracking noise? I could only hope that it wouldn't. I imagined the door becoming invisible.
Crack!
Oh, shoot. This is not good. The door became invisible and one glance around the room told me that my mom wasn't in there. When the guards heard the noise they both pulled out a gun and one of them spoke into a radio which was in his other hand.
"General, we may have an intruder."
"I'll be right there."
Great, now the general was going to come here. I quickly imagined the door as being normal and it was no longer invisible. Thankfully there was no second crack. I walked briskly to the front door and slipped out past the guards.
General Whitcom was two feet away from me and I quickly flew into the air to avoid running into him. I took several deep breathes to calm my racing heartbeat. That had been way too close. The general stopped in front of the door and turned to his assistant.
"Send some more guards to the weapons shed."
Then the general disappeared inside followed by his assistant and about five guards. He must think he needs a lot of protection. Well, now I knew where they were keeping mom. They were probably keeping her in the secret room underneath it.
Didn't they know that I had been down there before though? I thought about it. It was a pretty good place to keep someone and if I did get trapped down there then there was no way to get out through those solid brick walls. Maybe they thought I wouldn't go down there on account of my dad. I flew to the weapons shed before any thoughts of going inside the house and killing the general for all the stuff he had done to my family could enter my head.
There were two guards standing in front of the door and a little ways out, five more guards were pacing back and forth. There was no way to get past them. I needed a distraction or I would be forced to kill them.
The sound of gunfire came from the part of town that I had told Lilian and Tim to go to. I hoped they were alright.
"We're surrounded and holding them off with some guns we picked up. Did you find your mom yet?"
I had almost forgotten that Lilian and I could talk to each other in our minds.
"Yes, hold them off for as long as you can and then get out of there. I'll meet up with you as soon as I can."
"Okay, hurry."
Now that they knew that we were here then I didn't have to worry about being stealthy anymore. I pulled my knife out and flew directly down in front of the guards at the door. In two swift moves I slashed their throats and they fell to the ground.
Quickly I used my super strength and kicked the door open. I ran inside and created a wall of ice where the door had been. I made it really thick so that no one could get through it. I was the only one in the shed and so I pressed the button on the end of the gray knife.
The floor split in the middle and I saw that the light were already on. I ran down the steps and was faced with the same door that I had broken into before. I knew that I didn't have time to figure out the code or anything so kicked this door open as well.
There were several doors lining the hall. I must have not noticed them last time I was down here. I tried the first door. It was unlocked but totally empty when I opened it. I opened the door on the right and it was empty as well.
All of the doors opened into nothing and I was left with one last door to try. The same door that my father had been behind. I hesitated with my hand on the knob. What would I find when I opened it? I thought about how my dad had been hanging from the ceiling held up by his wrists. I knew I couldn't let them do that to my mom and twisted the handle. It was locked.
I kicked open the door and saw my mom standing at the far end of the room. Duct tape covered her mouth. Her hands were held up in the air but what surprised me was that Sergeant Walker was standing next to her with a gun pointed at her head. Suddenly I felt as though my powers were gone.
"Hey Max," the sergeant seemed unsure of himself.
He could see me. I looked around and behind me were two guards in full black combat gear each pointing a ray gun at me. General Whitcom was standing behind him and he grinned evilly when I caught his eye. Why didn't my signal block the ray gun and how had they gotten through my ice wall?
"So I see that you made it here after all," the general sneered.
He turned and nodded to one of the men holding a gun. The man pulled his helmet off and I immediately recognized him. It was the man who had frozen me back at the facility. My hands were suddenly wrapped in ice and pulled behind my back.
"I hoped that you would try to save your mother, Max. Now I get to kill her right before your eyes," the general had a look of pure hatred.
He nodded to Sergeant Walker who looked at my mom sadly. My mom started to scream against the duct tape
"Wait!" I yelled, "Sergeant Walker, why are you doing this? You know that all I ever did was to follow your instructions. I never did anything bad to you and neither did my mom so why do this? You don't have to become a bad person. Don't be like the general."
The sergeant paused.
"KILL HER," the generals voice boomed.
"He's right," Sergeant Walker said softly and lowered his gun.
"I'LL KILL HER MYSELF."
The general pulled out his gun and pointed it at my mom. My hands were still held strongly behind my back so there was nothing I could do. He pulled the trigger.
"Noooo!"
Bang!
Sergeant Walker fell to the floor. At the last second he had positioned himself between my mom and the bullet. I kicked at the general's hand and the gun flew at my mom. She caught it and swiftly shot the two men holding the ray guns. They were too surprised to do anything to avoid the bullet and fell to the floor. I knew my powers were back.
Bang!
The general fired another bullet. I used my super speed and time slowed down. I saw the bullet moving slowly at my mom's face. Her eyes were slowly widening. I ran to the bullet and plucked it out of the air. Time went back to normal. The general's eyes widened in surprise and before he could fire another bullet I froze him in a large cube of ice.
"Come on mom, we really have to go."
"Wow honey that was pretty impressive! I mean, Lilian said that you had powers and all but that was really neat," she seemed unfazed from almost being shot.
I shook my head and grabbed her hand. I ran to the stairs pulling her behind me. Two more guards started down the stairs and I froze both of them. We didn't meet anyone else and when we reached the part of the shed where the weapons were kept I quickly re-created the ice wall from before. It looked like someone had heated the previous one which was just a puddle on the ground.
"Okay, I'm going to make us invisible so don't make any noise or anything."
"Don't worry, I won't."
I grabbed her hand and she disappeared from sight. I could hear bullets hitting my ice wall and thin cracks started to form. The rain of bullets stopped for a second and I made the wall of ice disappear with a wave of my hand. I ran out and quickly flew my mom and I into the air.
The bullets sprayed the weapons shed. They didn't know that we had escaped. I flew in the direction I had sent Lilian and Tim and followed the sound of gunfire. Soon I saw them. Two guys in the combat gear were pointing ray guns at them and another twenty or so men were firing at them. Lilian and Tim were hiding around a corner of one of the buildings.
The men were advancing slowly being held off by short bursts of gunfire from Lilian and Tim. I flew closer and froze the two men that were holding the ray guns. I froze the rest of the men and quickly dropped down next to Tim and Lilian.
"Let's go," I called out.
Tim and Lilian both jumped.
"Max is that you?" Lilian asked.
I realized that I was still invisible.
"Yeah, let's go."
Tim and Lilian held out their hands and I grabbed them.
"Mom you're going to have to hang on to my back."
I only had two arms and so I could only hang on to two people at one time. Mom put her arms around my neck and I took off into the air. There was a whoosh and a ball of fire flew past me. I stopped and hovered in midair.
Looking back I saw a woman watching us. Flames were burning on her arms but weren't hurting her. She must be able to control flame. She threw out her arm and another fireball flew at straight at us. Everyone but me screamed.
I created a cube of ice around the fire and both disappeared. They had sort of cancelled each other out. I started to fly away and another ball of fire whooshed by. I couldn't fly fast enough to get away. Suddenly I had an idea. What if I combined my speed and flight?
Another fireball flew at us and I quickly created another ice cube around it. Everything around me slowed down as I used my super speed and I flew away. This time I flew like a bullet through the air. Mom hung on to my neck with all her strength and I pulled Lilian and Tim behind me.
After we were a safe distance away I slowed down. Where should I go? I couldn't go back to the bridge because that was near the town that Emily and Charles had found us a few days earlier. We couldn't go back to the clearing in the woods because Tim's radio had probably been tracked to that location. I hovered in midair.
"Where are we supposed to go you guys?"
"Good question," Tim said.
"Well, why don't we head for Alaska. I don't think they would look for us that far," mom said knowingly.
"I don't think they have any facilities there either," Lilian voiced.
I turned directions and flew on. The sun was starting to set painting beautiful pictures in the sky. Since we were high in the air we had a perfect view. Finally after it had gotten dark I landed on the ground in a wooded area.
"We should probably stop for the night."
No one complained and we laid on the ground next to each other. No one had any blankets or anything but the ground wasn't hard and it wasn't cold out. Everyone fell asleep quickly. I smiled as I listened to Tim and Lilian snore. My mom breathing deeply in her sleep. I fell asleep soon after, thankful that my mom was alive and with us.
Author's Note:
Oh, man, I'm glad that Max's mom is alive! Her name is Julia in case you didn't know. Max doesn't really say her name cause she's his mom and if her called her by her first name that would be kind of weird. Anyway, this part took longer to write than I thought!
The deadline is one week from tomorrow! I don't know if I can make it. I might have to put some shorter parts for the rest of it. Not too many more exciting things happen, but you never know!
P.S. I hope I can finish this in time!