Derailed - 9. Stand Off

Chapter 8

The next few moments seemed to stand still. It was like the world in its entirety was in a state of suspended animation. The mixture of dust and smoke still hung heavy in the air, reducing visibility down to zero. Breathing would have been just as hard to do at that moment, but I don’t think anyone was able to take a deep enough breath to really notice it. Instead, we all stood there staring on in total panic. A million thoughts crashed and rushed through my mind, seemingly all at once. How did they know? How did they find us? How many are there? Twenty? No, not twenty, more have shown up since the fog began to clear. How many are there? What’s the best way to escape? How many are outside waiting for us?

All I could do is let my mind wander as I looked down to see more and more soldiers point their guns at Corbin, with Jeremiah laying in his arms.

Corbin stood among the rubble of what was once the front entryway of the church, pieces of stone and the grand door now lay scatted at his feet. He seemed to almost hunch himself over the unconscious boy he carried in his arms, much like a mother lion would to protect her cub. He had a look on his face that was almost daring one of the solders to try to make a move. Despite having the clear advantage, the solders still seemed almost afraid of him. It was impossible to fully gauge their emotion because their faces were blocked by black-mirrored gas masks, but the way they moved reminded me of the way tamers would move around a wild animal, wanting to contain him without getting close enough for his claws to rip through their chest or his teeth to clasp around their jugular.

One lone solder took one step forward, but the minute his gaze met Corbin’s, he quickly stepped back. Soon after, another one attempted to get close, but was quickly backed up as well. This dance continued for several seconds. Meanwhile, I noticed that other solders began to advance on the refugees who had huddled into the back corner with Father O'Sully standing in front of them, as if he were trying to protect them, even though it would be futile; he had no means of protection. He couldn’t regenerate like Corbin or disappear like Seth or even talk to computers like Mark. He was simple a priest, a normal human. Yet still he stood with a gun pointed at him trying his best to protect those he barely knew.

I looked down; something needed to be done and fast, or soon we’d be even more overrun than we already were and then none of us would have a chance to get out of here... not alive anyway. More troopers began piling in, as the ones enclosing Corbin began to get bolder and bolder. Finally, one of them got up the nerve to speak.

“Just put the child down and come quietly. Our orders are to bring you all in alive for processing; we don’t want to hurt you, but we will open fire if you continue to resist,” said one of the solders standing in front of Corbin. Corbin looked back at the men with a look of utter contempt, there was almost a rage in his eyes.

“Go to hell you god damn military dog!” Corbin said, as he held Jeremiah’s limp body closer to his chest. But as brave and as tough as he seemed, he, just like me and probably just like the rest of us, knew that this situation was getting really bad and fast. We needed a plan, but we had no way of communicating openly. All I could do was stand there and watch as my friend’s, my leader’s life was held against the edge of the knife.

It was a second or two later before I realized that Seth was no longer standing right next to me. This brought on a new wave of panic crashing through me. I began to look around me, franticly searching. It wasn’t until I heard the lightest crack from right below me that I looked down over the railing and saw a new head poking up from where Father O’Sully was pinned down. I watched as the crowd shuffled a little to make room for Seth, who had appeared right in the very back of the huddled children. He was crouched down low, so he could not be seen by the troopers. But their main focus was Corbin, who was still in the middle with more and more closing in on him slowly. Finally, one of solders, the one who had spoken before, set his gun down and turned to the crowd and finally, he slowly removed his mask. He looked like you would expect an aged veteran to look. The years of his job had caused his face to become hardened. Wrinkles stretched almost perfectly over his forehead.

“We truly mean you no harm. We have reason to believe that you are all infected and, therefore, a threat to yourselves and those around you. Please come with us for the public’s protection, as well as yours. If you comply, no harm will come to you. I promise. However, if you continue to resist, we will have no choice but to use force,” he said, giving a sad attempt at a friendly smile. If he were trying to gain our trust, it wasn’t going to happen anytime soon. It’s hard to gain someone’s trust when you have guns pointed at them.

“Yeah right, we know how the hell you operate you fuckin’ scumbag. You’re not taking any of us anywhere,” Corbin said, looking up from Jeremiah who was beginning to stir in his arms. “We know what the hell you want, so don’t try any of that bull, it won’t work.”

The man spun around to once again look at Corbin. The second he did, another pop was heard, as Seth and an entire group of the children vanished from behind Father O'Sully, who hadn’t moved an inch since the showdown had begun. Once again, the man spun toward the source of the noise and saw that half his captives had vanished right behind his back. At ounce his face turned a violent shade of red as he raised his gun back towards Corbin.

“WHERE ARE THEY? TELL ME NOW, GODDAMMIT! WHERE THE HELL ARE THEY?” The squad leader looked flustered as he now aimed the gun directly at Corbin's head. In a low growling voice he spoke again, “Tell me now or I swear to god, I’ll put one right between your eyes, you infected freak!”

Corbin got a sly almost twisted grin on his face “By all means, be my guest,” Corbin said as politely as he could manage. It was somewhat bizarre hearing him speak in such a sweet tone, but I knew it was only to enrage the now redder man.

“YOU THINK I’M JOKING! I’LL DO IT RIGHT HERE IN FRONT OF EVERYONE!”

He was now shaking as the words came out and his eyes began glistening with a fury at Corbin's lack of concern for him or his gun.

It was then, among all the yelling and confusion, that Jeremiah, who had been knocked out by the gas, stirred awake in Corbin's arms and opened his eyes to face the man with the gun. At that moment I hadn’t been paying attention, but as soon as I saw the boy stir awake, my heart sank. During the explosion, the sunglasses had been destroyed. He opened his eyes in all their glory, perfectly for the red-faced captain to see. A spit second later a loud thud was heard as his gun was dropped and he began shaking. I saw his eyes grow wider until they were locked in a full gaze. He dropped to his knees and began shaking. A few seconds later he let out a blood curdling scream, almost like the one I had heard when I looked into those same eyes. I knew exactly what he was seeing. All the pain he had known in his life was sent back to him in one extreme moment and, being in his line of work, I could only imagine what all he was having to look back on. Not a word was spoken as a few seconds passed and the red face became pale, almost colorless.

The captain dropped and curled up in a ball, shaking and stuttering something inaudible to himself. It was at that exact moment that the silence was broken as a single shot was fired into Corbin's shoulder causing him to drop Jeremiah to the ground. Before he even hit, Seth appeared, grabbed him and disappeared again, right as a bullet slammed into the ground they had occupied.

That was the moment things snapped. Corbin instantly rushed the solder closest to him, bullets flying and hitting him from all directions, but they did nothing if not only further his drive, as the holes began to close up with ease and his power kicked in. I wasted no time as I instantly began reaching out for any loose object I could sense and, thanks to the ruble littering the ground, I had plenty to work with. I felt the energy-flow of several bricks and quickly sent them flying at the group trying to close around Corbin. Almost all of them made contact as they hit some in the chest, knocking them on their backs. One hit another in the leg with the definite snap of a broken bone. The last on smashed through the helmet of anther and he fell to the ground unconscious.

The moment they became aware of the source of the bricks, they aimed their guns up at the balcony. I quickly dropped down to floor on my chest as a spray of bullets whizzed through the air above my head, riddling the wall with hundreds of holes and hitting the window with the picture of the long haired man. I covered my head as the stained glass window image was shattered and pieces of sharp colorful glass landed all around me. I found a large stone column and crawled to it for some form of cover, but it was beginning to chip away, as bullet after bullet pelted it. I would have to move and soon, but there were only two options: a door way at the far end of the balcony and the stairwell leading down into the fray, neither of which seemed appealing to try for.

A second later I heard a pop and looked up to see Seth in the doorway holding his hand out for mine, a look of total panic on his face

“Cameron, hurry! Corbin needs our help, more are coming!!!” he said, leaning out a little further.

I looked ahead towards the stairway as a group began to advance upward. Still covering my head and ducking from the fire, I reached out again mentally and found the one closest to the top and, with a quick shoving motion of my hand, sent him flying into the others, sending them all falling back down the stairwell.

The falling solders gave me the split second distraction I needed and as the guns down below stopped firing for a split second, I made a mad dash for Seth’s outreached hand. As I ran, I got my first glimpse of the fray below. I could see Corbin down below, taking on a growing number of them by himself. More and more bullets pelted him, but he still seemed to not even feel their effect, as his power worked double time to try to heal his wounds as fast as he was obtaining them. He couldn’t keep it up forever and eventually, his power would give out, but despite knowing this, he continued to pound his way through them one by one. I looked closely and saw a brick in one hand, which he used to smash into the neck of the nearest gunman. He fell down and crumpled, with his head in an awkward position. One solder had elected to abandon his gun and had jumped on Corbin’s back, knife in hand, but the moment he did, Corbin grabbed the arms around his neck and pulled the man over his head. The moment the soldier hit the ground, he found Corbin's elbow dropping into his face with all of Corbin's sheer size and weight backing it up. This combination crushed the man’s head, helmet and all.

I saw Mark, who had ducked behind another column. He had what looked like two single-handguns in each hand and the moment he got an opportunity, he would rush out firing, trying to give Corbin what cover he could, while not being hit by stray bullets himself.

Finally, in the far corner I saw Father O'Sully and the few remaining children whom Seth hadn’t managed to get out. They were still there, but now, what seemed like some kind of semi-visible energy shield surrounded the entire group, blocking bullets and all from getting too close. The multitude of bullets and pounding fists seemed to have no effect as it held, keeping the solders inches from their targets, but there was no real way of knowing how long this protection would last. We would need to get them out and soon.

I found myself grabbing a hold of Seth’s hand at the very last second. The minute I found his hand in mine, another bullet whizzed right behind my back as he pulled me into the doorway on top of him. I looked into his blue eyes and saw mine reflected back. And before we could speak, I felt the ground beneath us disappear as were teleported down below. We ended up near Mark, who had ducked into a corridor for cover. Seth and I had appeared right in the entryway and were left exposed to the gunfire. On sheer reaction, I reached out and mentally grabbed the nearest bench from the main chapel room where the fight was happening. I pulled it to us enough to block the entryway. The wood was nowhere near enough to stop the bullets, but it did prevent them from getting a clear shot, long enough for us to get to our feet.

“Do you not know the meaning of the word ‘hurry’?” Mark asked, as Seth and I scrambled to opposite sides of the doorway. The moment I saw us both out of the line of fire, a quick motion from me sent the bench flying, crashing into another group and pinning them onto the far wall. However, this victory was short lived, as more poured in to take their place.

“We’ve got to move. Corbin is tough, but even he can only take a beating for so long,” Seth said to Mark, trying to catch his breath. It was easy to see using his power this frequently was taking a toll on him.

“I’ve already tried,” Mark said, poking his gun out and firing three shots at another solder as he was trying to come up from behind Corbin. The first bullet missed by inches, the second one hit the padding of the armor, but the third one found its mark in the side of his neck. I saw him drop his gun, clutching his neck, which began to send out a jet stream of red liquid between his fingers.

“Corbin won’t move until we get the last of the children out.” Mark retracted himself into the corridor as another round of bullets was sent in right past our heads. I could hear the pounding of the footsteps as they rushed in our direction. Thinking only of the last thing I had used, I pulled the bench from the far wall and sent it back in our direction. As it got closer, I felt it slam into the backs of the advancing troops, resulting in them being sent flying into the wall in front of us. They fell in a pile, out cold at our feet, but we knew more would be coming soon enough.

Without even waiting for someone to say anything, Seth grabbed both out wrist and focused. A second later, our vision went black and we felt the ground disappear and reappear beneath our feet. Mark stumbled a little bit as we landed on the other side of the chapel in another hall behind the pillars that held up the second floor balcony. Right on the other side of the stone columns, Corbin's situation was becoming more tense, as two of his attackers managed to get a hold of his arms and a third used the opportunity to spray him down with a round of bullets. But he quickly twisted himself into position to land a side kick perfectly into the chest of the soldier on his left, sending him to the ground a few feet away. With his hand now free, he pulled the one on the right in close and clotheslined him onto his back. As he did this, I could see the bullets that once held open gaping wounds in his chest and face fall to the ground at his feet, as the wounds healed and closed up. His body was almost completely blood soaked and there wasn’t much left to his shirt at all. The fight was beginning to wear on him and soon his power would give out.

“Seth, do you think you could teleport the rest out?” Mark asked, as he fired five more rounds into the fray, but by this point, things had become so intense with Corbin, that none of the soldiers seemed to notice Mark’s stray bullets. Their main job now was to take Corbin down.

“You think I haven’t already tied?” Seth yelled, as more bullets shot past us, one just barely missing his head by a fraction of an inch. “Nothing is getting inside that damn bubble, not even me. We need a distraction to get the guards away.”

“Where the hell is Tim?” Mark yelled, as he reloaded his pistols, but as we heard the click of the gun, Seth looked down. A sullen look on his face told us that something was wrong.

“What happened, Seth?” I asked. After a few moments of silence between us, he looked up, tears in his eyes, barely unable to speak.

“Right after the fight broke out they got a hold of him. I tried to think of away to get him out of there, but I was too late... they took him. They got Tim.” Seth looked down at his feet again as his hands clenched into fists at the thought of our teammate being taken.

“We can figure out what to do about that later, but right now we need to get them out before Corbin will even think about making a run for it,” Mark said, nodding in the direction of the group of solders working at a now shrinking energy field. From this angle I could finally make out the source and, surprisingly, it seemed to be coming from a young girl who I recognized as one of the children who had been sitting with Jeremiah earlier. She was standing next to Father O'Sully with her arms outstretched over her head, concentrating on keeping the field up through the barrage of attacks.

As I leaned in to get a closer look, I felt something break beneath my feet. I looked down and saw a piece of emerald-colored glass from one of the shattered windows. Light was now pouring in from them. The sun had shifted over head of the tower, lighting up this side of the city. It was then that the idea came to me, like a bat being swung over the back of my head. I knew how to move the solders off of the field, but it would be a huge risk and there was a good chance it wouldn’t work. At this point, it was our only plan and we need to do something.

“Seth I need you to take us back up to the balcony! I have an idea, but we’ve gotta move fast. It’s going to take me a few moments to do what I need to do, but if it works, we can get everyone out of here alive. Mark, I need you to cover me for as long as you can.” I looked at Mark, he gave me a curious gaze as he tried to piece together what I was planning, but realizing that there was no time to decide logically whether or not to trust my judgment. He looked at Seth and with a hint of finality he softly said, “Let’s do it!” Once again, without being told, Seth grabbed our wrists and we were gone. A split second later we stood in the spot where only minutes ago I was willing and ready to spill my heart out to my best friend and crush for so long. But as I stood here again, rubble now surrounding me, it felt like so many ages ago. As drastically as things had changed, it might as well have been, but I had no time to dwell on that now. I had a job to do and no time to do it.

“I really hope you do know what you’re doing,” Mark said, as he held up both guns, waiting for someone to try to make a move

“You just make sure no one tries to bother me,” I said, holding out my hands and getting into position. ‘Seth, get somewhere safe and wait. You’ll know what to do when the time comes,” I said, giving him one final glance. And with that he disappeared and prepared for the moment.

Remembering the fight I had with Magashi the day before, I knew this would take every bit of concentration I had. It was hard enough pulling off this trick in that small tunnel, doing it on a scale this size was going to be all that much harder, but I knew it was the only chance there was. Mark and Seth had put their faith in me and I could not, no, I refused to let them down!

With one final breath, I sent myself out mentally in all directions. Instantly I picked up on the presence of several large objects, but they weren’t my target. Instead, I began concentrating on all the small pieces of rubble that littered the ground and what I found almost overwhelmed me. Thousands upon thousands of stones, pieces of brick and, more importantly, the main thing I searched for - the glass from the windows! All colors of it, red, blue, green, all colors of all spectrum, they were all about to become what was probably the largest scale I had ever used my power. More and more as my mental reach went out further, the number of objects now reached far into the thousands all the small bullets that had dropped from the battle with Corbin, blood soaked wooden chunks from what was left of the once beautiful doors of the church, they all now came within my mental reach. I scanned the entire church until I was certain I had every tiny pebble located. But I still wasn’t finished. I still had yet to go for the biggest part of my plan.

As I shifted my focus, I heard the thump, thump, thump of heavy boots stomping up the stairwell. I heard five quick shots fire off as Mark sent two bodies falling back down the stairs, but this only caused more attention to be drawn to us. Then I saw a gun pointed at me, but before he had a chance to send a shot off that would almost certainly kill me, Corbin came up behind him and with a swift movement grabbed his head. Only his head spun around to face Corbin and the man fell to the ground... dead. If my mind hadn’t been so set on the task at hand, the sight would have been enough to disturb me, but in my current state it didn’t seem to faze me. The act did, however, bring enough of the attention back on himself to allow me to continue.

“YOU BETTER HURRY UP WITH WHATEVER IT IS YOU’RE PLANING!” I heard Mark yell, as he took out another one coming from the far hallway. Having been granted another moment of calmness, I continued. Having located everything I needed on the floor, I now set my sight to the windows, both the ones that were shattered and only had a few pieces of glass sticking off the sides, as well as the still solid ones, filled with beautiful colored images of angles and heaven. For me to complete my plan, they couldn’t remain that way. I would, in a few moments, be shattering all of them. What I needed was the sunlight, the final piece to my plan and they were, unfortunately, blocking it. I sent myself out further until I had all the windows in my mental lock, four on each side, giving me a total of eight, not counting the one behind me making nine. As I locked on, I knew that the time had come. I was about to give everyone a show, the likes of which they had never seen.

I gave out one final deep breath and began to focus on everything I had found. I cleared my mind of everything possible. I would need complete focus and to remain completely calm to do what I must I concentrate on, only one word... ‘Lift’. As I focused, I used my hands as conductors and began to make a lifting motion with my arms. Instantly I felt the resistance of the weight and gravity itself, but the more I felt, the more I focused and pushed... still nothing moved. The rocks wobbled a little, but failed to move. I continued to pour into them until I was physically straining. But nothing moved and I started to worry that I wouldn’t be able to deliver on my promise of a solution. I needed more power. Power that I just didn’t seem to have.

I again heard a loud shot right by my ear as Mark fired off another round, hitting an armored figure in the back of the head. He had apparently lost his helmet sometime during the fight, giving Mark a clear shot. It was then that I though back to the test with Mark and the can lifting with such insane speed after Mark had induced the images of my mother. And then Magashi's words rang in my head, “Your powers feed off your emotions. The more you give in, the more you powers will react.”

I knew what I had to do, but the thought of it made me sick to my stomach. I looked around and saw the fight becoming more and more grave. Some of Corbin's wounds were no longer closing right away, but rather, they were sustaining themselves, causing him to bleed more profusely before finally closing. More and more began trying to over run him. If something wasn’t done to end the fight, we’d be losing our leader. I had made up my mind; I needed this to work and there was only one way of doing it.

Ignoring Magashi's warning, I closed my eyes and began to focus on remembering everything I could about my mother. I remembered her auburn hair, the way she smelled, her smile. I remembered when I was 4 and she would always wake me up to eat breakfast with her. I remembered falling down and scraping my knee when I was little and her rushing over to comfort me, holding me and telling me that Mama was gonna make everything better. I remember her telling me the same thing when my father was killed for harboring us. My father, a man I barely knew, killed because he had fallen in love with an infected woman and refused to see us taken away. So he lied and used every trick he knew to keep us from harm. And I remembered the night my mom got the call telling us he was killed trying to stop a group of soldiers from raiding his office and finding out where we lived. He had gone as far as to swing at one. And it cost him his life. Then I remembered the years we spent underground and the time my mom spent away from me. And that brought me to the night that haunted me... the night she was taken and I wasn’t able to save her.

I closed my eyes tighter, feeling a tear run down my cheek and hit the floor, as I allowed the memories to fill my head, memories of a life that was taken from me. And as I stood there, my arms still outstretched, I felt the rocks slowly rise off the ground. I opened my eyes to see a layer of debris floating at head level around the war zone... and as my powers fed off the emotion I gave it, they began building more and more. Now I could direct the rocks more and more easily. There was still so much chaos down below that no one noticed the floating assortment of glass, rock, stone and wood. I let them linger there for a few seconds, making sure I had a definite control of the emotion I fed into my power. And as I did, it gave me an extra sense of control I hadn’t felt before. It was like I was laminated to the objects themselves and in return, they bent to my will. I was ready to make my move.

With one swift pulse I sent out, the remaining windows shattered and millions of pieces of rainbow colored glass flew inward. The sound and sight caused a pause in the fighting as everyone looked up to see the sunlight now pour into the battle ground. It was a bright clear sunny day outside and I was never more thankful for it.

As the shattering glass fell from the frames, I slowed them to a stop until they were right in line with the other floating pieces. It was now that they were fully noticed. I watched as the solders, completely mesmerized by the sight, began touching and pushing the stones as if to assure themselves of what they were really seeing.

It was at this second that I gave the only possible warning I could. “CORBIN, GET DOWN!” I yelled. And with one flick of my wrists, I sent the debris shooting in all directions imaginable. He ducked down right as the pieces began flying, getting hit in the shoulder by a stray chunk of stone. Meanwhile, the still standing solders found themselves being pelted by what now could only be described as an angry swarm of stones and glass. There was no defense they could give against an attack of this magnitude; no matter where they ran, they were sliced and pelted. I let this continue for a few seconds. As Corbin ducked away from the now panicking gunmen, some began shooting in vain in an effort to hopefully hit whoever was causing the tornado of rainbow colored razorblades.

I let this continue until I remembered the reason for the swarm: the group in the corner who still had three men working on breaking through the small barrier. I thought back to when I had pinned Magashi to the wall and was about to take him out. With that thought, I reformed the chaos into a cloud, or rather, a more concentrated swarm, and still using my hands, I redirected them.

The swarm hit all three with such force that it sent all of them flying into the wall with a hard impact and they fell to the floor on top of each other. They were done with their fight for today. Five more began finally freeing the remaining refugees from their onslaught. An instant later the barrier dropped and more began to rush in, a last effort to grab who they could among all the mayhem. I had to act fast to finally put the distraction into full glory.

I focused my attention to only the glass bits and began to swiftly separate them from the rest of the debris. I seemed to be getting the hang of directing such a large group of objects. I could feel them begin to respond to my mental commands much sooner than before. I would move my outstretched hands and the swarm would mimic the movements.

Without much effort, the glass divided and began to rise upward and form its own separate group. I was now using one hand each to direct the flow of each swarm. I allowed the rocks to remain below and wipe out everyone they came into contact with. They hammered another soldier who had gotten close the corner, buying me a few seconds more. I continued to raise the colored glass to the ceiling... and the edge of the light pouring in from the outside.

In the final second, right as Father O'Sully was about to take the impact of the butt of a gun, the first piece hit and a bright flash of green light swept across the room and the light reflecting almost blinded everyone and then another flash and another and soon they came in rapid secession. Flash red, flash blue, flash yellow repeatedly, until the entire room was lit up with such brilliance that visibility no longer existed. It was after the first second of this that I heard the loud cracking sound and then once again, squinting my eyes, I looked over to see only Father O'Sully in the corner. It had worked! Seth had gotten the last of the refugees out. With that, I knew it was time to end this battle.

I lowered the glass, ending the light show, and reformed the swarm as one. I looked to see our remaining enemies still battling it out with Corbin. More were rushing in from the hole in the wall. With a swift swing motion of my arms I sent the swarm towards the hole. It collided with a soldier who had just emerged, sending him flying back to where he came from, I could sense the colliding motion as my attack hit more and more, blocking off their main means of entry.

After a few seconds I felt the soldiers slow their advance and pulling everything back to the main fight happening down below. Like a symphony conductor, the glass obeyed my commands. I sent them into a soldier trying to rush Corbin's back; the impact had such ferocity that he was sent flying at least 19 feet in the air. He landed a few yards back, falling and breaking a few bones on the hard wooden benches that still sat lined up. Then with a swift pulling motion to my chest, the attack changed directions. At first it seemed it would make a direct impact with Corbin, but about three feet out from him it split into two directions and then reformed on the other side of him, slamming into another soldier on his other side. The more and more I continued the more control I had over the objects; I could feel myself able to command them in ways I never thought possible.

Using the swarm, I lifted a soldier upward into the air as high as I could. It now came to me with such ease that I felt like showing off my new found understanding. The man rose until he was almost to the ceiling and right before he collided, I split the group into not two, not three, but four separate swarms leaving him suspended for a split second before falling 30 feet back down to the ground.

As he and the swarms fell, I reformed the swarms in a perfect circle around Corbin, blocking anymore attacks from the enemy. He was completely safe; he was in the eye of a hurricane of destruction. I continued to let this circle him for a few seconds until the few remaining solders understood that they had no way of attacking him.

It was then that the signal was sent out. Almost as fast as they had appeared, they left like something had scared them out of the building. I wondered for a second if maybe it was me, but deep down I knew better. They wouldn’t leave for this. A couple of them grabbed some of the wounded and dragged them out as they left and within a few more seconds they were gone with no explanation. Either way, this was the opportunity to make an escape.

I focused on lowering the glass and for a second the swarm obeyed my thoughts, but then I felt something that sent a chill down my spine... a resistance as I went to lower the swarm from around Corbin. Images of my mother once again began flashing in my head and rather than fall, the circle around Corbin began to speed up. So again I pushed and again more images were flashed, images of the dream I had the night before of my friends being killed and me helpless to save them. With each flashing image, the swarm sped faster and faster until you could hear a whistling sound of the air being split around Corbin. I now began to panic and focus harder and harder, but I met more and more resistance. My power now had a will of its own and it didn’t want to stop.

Tears began to stream down my face as a sense of overwhelming sadness took over. More and more images of my friends dead, the orphans we had just rescued, my mother being taken from me. And then as more and more speed built up within the cyclone, I felt more and more pieces leave my control and fly out like bullets, shooting into the wall. One of them flying past Corbin's head almost putting a fresh wound into his temple.

“Cameron, what are you doing?” he asked, just barley dodging the stray stone. I could sense Mark over my shoulder, a look of concern across his face as he knew all too well what was happening; he had seen this before. I was swiftly losing control of my power. I let out a scream of anguish as the images became too great. And more pieces began to fly away from the swarm. As they fell out of my control, the swarm itself began to shake and lose its shape.

“Cameron, listen to me, you have to calm down or you’re going to completely lose control and then you risk hurting all of us!” I looked over as I felt Mark’s hand on my shoulder. Instantly images of him hurting and dying flashed in my head and more sadness washed over me as more and more of the swarm began to lose its hold and fly out. I let out another scream and Mark was sent flying. It was too late! My power was out of my control! There was no reeling them back in. Magashi's words once again rang in though my head.

“The more you force your power, the more influence your emotions will have.” I had ignored his warning and now I was paying the price for it.

More and more flew out from the tornado of debris I had created. I heard Corbin scream out as a piece struck him. Father O'Sully had gotten underneath a bench, his hands over his head. I let out another cry as I sent out another pulse, sending Mark flying further away from me. The ground beneath my feet began to crack and break as several small objects around me began to rise up around me. I closed my eyes as I felt the final blast begin to burn inside of me. The release of my power would bring this whole building down and I was helpless to stop it.

It was then that I heard the loud pop right next to me. Seth stood there, a look of shock on his face. It killed me inside for him to see me like this, completely out of control. He would be afraid of me from now on. I knew he was the one person I cared more for than anything in this world and he’d be afraid just to come near me.

I closed my eyes, crying, unable to look him in the face as total shame took a hold of me. I then felt what could only be described as the most insane feeling there was; I felt arms wrap around me. As Seth had pulled himself close enough to embrace me, his arms wrapped around my shoulders as he buried his head into my chest. And I heard him sobbing the words,

“Please Cameron, you have to stop. I don’t want to see you like this. You have to get control of yourself. Please, I know you; I know that this isn’t you.”

I opened my eyes and they met his. Tears were streaming down his face and images of him filled my vision, all the times he laughed, all the times he would cheer me up, even after my mother was captured, he was the only one who made me smile again. And as he filled my vision, I felt an ease of my powers. The debris began to slow and reform itself more and more. I felt Seth as he hugged me tightly and eventually I was able to raise my arms to hug him back until we stood there in a full embrace. The rocks stopped spinning and lingered there in the air for a few moments until they finally fell.

I was at total ease as we stood there, our arms wrapped around each other. Finally I looked up to see his face, still stained with tears, and without even caring what happened beyond this point, I uttered the words,

“I love you.”