Tuesday

Someone screamed and Erick woke with a start. All around him was quiet, no sign of where the scream came from. It was cold and so dark out that he knew a regular person wouldn’t be able to see the far wall of the alley. To his eyes the area around him was a dull gray. The numbness that had consumed him before falling asleep had worn off and he huddled into an even tighter fetal position. With his eyes mostly shut, Erick could imagine that he was back in the apartment. He was cold not because he was sleeping on the asphalt outside but because he’d left the window open. And that wasn’t his stash of food wrapped up in blankets, but Sarah, sleeping peacefully. Erick moved to get closer to her, to hold her and pretend that everything was alright, that she hadn’t betrayed him.

Pain shot through Erick’s leg. His broken ankle throbbed with renewed vigor at being disturbed and upon further investigation he found that his ankle had swollen to the point where the blanket he’d wrapped around it the night before was now painfully tight. Even though he could barely see what he was doing, Erick began untying the blanket. He couldn’t go much longer with it so painfully tight around his ankle now that he was aware of it. Despite his best efforts, the process of untying the knot was excruciating. When at last he got it undone, a package of now thoroughly thawed meat fell out and hit the ground with a squelch. Some time during the night, he didn’t remember when, he must have stuffed one of the packages of frozen chicken against his ankle. Everything in his blanket sack was thawed and useless now. At the end of the alley was a security light and Erick shuffled over to it to get a better look at his injury. The repressive darkness was beginning to wear on him and there was no way he was going to be able to fall back asleep any time soon.

Maybe I can speed up my healing process. Erick thought, as he examined his ankle.

He prodded at his store of energy, knowing there wouldn’t be much, and began shifting it around to his leg. A faint glow emanated from the skin. It flowed around until the broken bone became distinct beneath his skin. Blood pulsed, carrying needed proteins to the cells so they could regenerate but it was a slow process that would take weeks.

I don’t need to build more bone. I just need put the broken bone back together.

As he concentrated, the bones began to move and Erick braced himself for the pain. Gritting his teeth, he watched as the two ends slid into place and waited.

Now what?

Erick turned to his uninjured leg and studied it for a few moments. With his good leg as a blueprint, he began to splice the broken bone in his injured leg back together. Fibers rejoined, tendons reconnected, and after several minutes, even the bruising was gone and the pain disappeared.

That’ll be useful. Erick thought and flexed his toes as he examined the newly healed joint. It had a pink tinge to it, but other than that he couldn’t see anything that suggested the damage it had had moments before.

The alley was no place to hide. He couldn’t be more than a few blocks away from the apartment, and it was a wonder no one had found him yet. Still, Erick would take the good luck he could get and didn’t question it. With his ankle healed, Erick gathered up his things and began to run from that place, aiming to put as much distance as he could between him and the apartment.

Running had always been a favorite pastime for Erick, though he never competed; Jack would never have allowed it. As it was, Erick always found time to run and so he was able to put a few miles between him and the apartment, staying along the fringes of Purge City, before the sky began to lighten.

When at last the sun rose above the horizon, Erick found himself standing before what appeared to be an old bus yard. The boarded windows and dilapidated fences were enough evidence of being abandoned for Erick to determine that this would be his new home. The bus yard was expansive, with large garages, workshops, parking lots, and a medley of office buildings. Most of the buildings smelled strongly of urine and alcohol and showed signs of recent habitation. In a few buildings, Erick found some sleeping vagrants. Erick drained energy from these and then continued his search for a place he could hide out by him self.

A large, concrete building, only one story tall and wide, sat in the middle of the yard. Heavy steel doors on rollers were chained shut and there were no windows. This appeared to be the only building not broken into already and Erick figured it would be the best place for him to settle into. He’d already learned how to deal with locks and it was only a moment before he’d cracked the heavy lock in two and pulled the heavy, rusted chain free. The door, though on rollers, was incredibly heavy. How it had been originally intended to be opened Erick wasn’t sure and he wondered if there was supposed to be a motor of some kind to move it. That didn’t matter now since any motor would be useless to him now. He grabbed the door and heaved, barely managing to shift the door,

It was becoming more apparent to Erick why this building had been left alone for all this time. No one could get into it. Erick looked up at the roof, then around to make sure no one was watching. It was still very early in the morning and no one was in view. As he did the night before, Erick lifted himself into the air, flying awkwardly as he was still unused to this power. He crested the roof and moved onto it, dropping a little more abruptly than he’d intended. With no windows, Erick had suspected that there must be skylights on the roof and here he was correct. A dozen or so frosted domes dotted the roof. One was missing and the top of a ladder stuck out. It seemed Erick wasn’t going to be the first person after all to get inside. Knowing that, he moved a bit more cautiously in case anyone was inside right now.

He looked down through the missing skylight. Dust was heavy on the ladder rungs and there was no sign of anyone down below. Even still, Erick was careful as he began to descend. He didn’t use the ladder but flew down instead so he could turn all the way around and see the space in its entirety. The building was open, with no other rooms sectioned off. Empty shelves lined the walls and the middle of the space was empty besides on old fire pit and a makeshift bed. The smell of grease and mildew was heavy in the air.

Erick landed and inspected the bed as it was the only thing in here really worth examining. He pulled the top blanket back and a dead face stared back at him. He cried out, leaping back and the blue glow energy began emanating from his chest as he instinctively channeled a blast. Slowly, he reabsorbed the energy and the glow diminished. The corpse was mostly decomposed with only some hair and sinew still clinging to the skull. It seemed whoever had found their way down here had died here as well. Perhaps that was why no one else used this place. The few who had come down here were scared off by the corpse as well. As much as Erick didn’t like the corpse either, it meant this place would probably be the best place for him to hide out for now since everyone else in the yard would likely know to avoid it.

Taking hold of the far corners of the lower blankets, Erick pulled the makeshift bed away from the middle of the room and to the far wall where it would be out of his way. He made sure the top blankets were put back in place to cover the skeleton. He felt like he should say something, but whoever they were had been dead a long time and he knew nothing about them. In the end he just walked away and left them by the far wall.

The concrete floor where the corpse had been was stained with a dark greasy spot that Erick didn’t want to think too much about. He didn’t have anything he could cover it with so instead he situated himself as far away from it as he reasonably could. Now he sat by the wall opposite the one where he’d placed the dead body with his supplies that, he had to admit, were mostly useless to him now. The meat had long since thawed and he wouldn’t trust it after so many hours in the open air. The packages of rolls weren’t much better, but perhaps still edible if he could figure out a way to cook them. That left the rest of the bread, peanut butter, and jelly. Not much, really, when he got right down to it.

“So what now?” he asked himself, his voice echoing in the empty building.

Sarah had betrayed him, been lying to him the entire time. That was why she’d been so insistent that he learn to control his powers. It was what they wanted. They want him for a weapon and she had helped move him closer to that goal. So now what? How long could he live like this? He had no real survival skills so hiding out in the middle of nowhere was out of the question. They knew he was in Purge so getting out of the city should be his first priority, right? Or should he actually develop his powers further in case they found him and he needed to fight them?

It was all so much and he was overwhelmed by it all. He didn’t want to make any decisions right now and he piled up his blankets and curled up in them. A few tears ran down his face and he wiped them away. The blankets still smelled like Sarah and he felt stupid for missing her as much as he was. He barely knew her and yet her betrayal was what was hurting him the most. Or maybe it was just the straw that broke the camel’s back. In the end it didn’t matter. He cried as the sorrow, the fear, and the uncertainty of what to do filled him to bursting.

He wasn’t sure how long he lay like that. All he knew was that it was bright in the building by the time he’d calmed back down. The skylights flooded the building with warm, orange light and the temperature inside began to rise as the building was heated by the sun. Pretty soon it would be uncomfortably hot inside.

“Erick?”

He sat up straight as he recognized the voice that had just called his name. It was Sarah. From the sounds of it, she was just outside the massive sliding doors.

“Erick, I…please let me in. We need to talk.”

She sounded sincere but Erick knew if she was here, then she wasn’t alone. How they’d found him he didn’t know but that hardly mattered anyway. They’d found him and that was the important part.

Erick moved over to the door and listened. It was hard to hear what was going on outside but he made out the sound of muffled voices and heavy footfalls. They were likely surrounding the building.

“Erick, I’m sorry, but please listen to me and let me in.”

I could fly out, Erick thought, but they’re probably expecting that.

He wasn’t experienced enough with flight to move very fast and all it would take was one sniper and he’d be dead.

“Erick, talk to me or else they’re just going to force their way in.”

He sighed, not knowing what else he could do, and grabbed the handle to the door. This time, he flooded his muscles with energy, boosting what he’d normally be able to do and the door screeched open just wide enough for Sarah to slip inside. He was surprised how instinctual his powers were becoming and the ease with which he was learning to control them. Erick glanced out briefly to get an idea of what he was dealing with outside before he shut the door back up. There were dozens of soldiers outside and those were only the ones he could see. They were armed and ready to open fire.

Once inside and the door was closed, Sarah flung her arms around Erick in a tight hug.

“I’m so sorry,” she said with what sounded like real regret. “I swear I never told them where we were,” she went on after letting go of Erick and taking a step back. “I was so confused with everything they’d told me and I should have been honest with you and tossed my phone but I was so scared. Listen, they think I’m in here to convince you to turn yourself in but I think you’re right. You can’t trust them and you need to get out o here.”

“If that’s how you feel then why did you lead them right to me again?” Erick demanded.

Sarah shrank back.

“I didn’t,” she insisted. “They have some way of tracking you, like a compass or something. It only works if they’re already pretty close to you. That’s how they found us before. They had people all over the city with those devices, searching for you.”

“And how do you suggest I get out of here?”

“Fly?”

“I thought of that already and I bet they have too. They’ll just shoot me.”

“Can you become bullet proof?”

“Probably,” Erick admitted, “but that doesn’t sound like a power I’d like to have to use before testing it. I mean, how much time do I actually have in here before they just break down the door and charge in here?”

“I don’t know,” Sarah admitted. “A few minutes, maybe?”

“Great,” Erick grunted.

Even though he doubted he would have enough time, he nonetheless started imagining what being bullet proof would look like for him. He doubted he could just make his skin tough enough so instead focused on making a bubble of energy around himself that would repel any projectile away from him. Nothing immediately happened though he could feel his energy stirring within.

“So why the change of heart?” Erick asked.

“It wasn’t any one thing,” Sarah replied, “but a bunch of little things, you know?”

“Like what?”

“Like how they spoke about you. It was like you weren’t a real person to them. Then there was the way they attacked you at the apartment when you were trying to escape. If they were so concerned with safety they wouldn’t just open fire like that, would they? And then there’s the lies they told about you attacking your family. That was actually what made me initially disobey them and keep where we were a secret.”

As she spoke, a faint blue shimmer began to appear in the air around Erick. He wasn’t sure if it would stop a bullet but it was something, though it drained him at an alarming rate so he let it drop for now. As if on cue, someone outside pounded their fist on the door.

“Listen to your friend,” they barked. “Come on out and give yourself up and we promise no harm will come to either of you. You can even see your family, Erick.”

That gave him pause. His family? Were they alive after all? Sarah looked just as surprised as he felt so Erick didn’t bother asking if she knew anything about them.

Above, shadows began moving across the skylights. They had soldiers on the roof now which meant flying out through the skylight was definitely not a safe option.

“Just make it look like you’re surrendering,” Sarah said, “then fly off as soon as you can.”

“What about you?” Erick asked.

“They’ll just send me home,” she replied. “They were going to do that anyway but I convinced them to let me try and talk to you.”

“Alright,” Erick nodded. It was now or never. “I’m coming out,” he called through the door.

Once again he gripped the door with both hands and pulled, boosting his strength and opening it wide enough for both him and Sarah to fit through. A line of soldiers, their weapons raised and ready to fire greeted them. Erick glanced up and wasn’t surprised to see a few soldiers looking down at him from the rooftop, also keeping their weapons trained on him.

Erick kept his hands raised, ready to throw up his shield at a moment’s notice. It was impossible to watch all of them, though, so Erick instead focused on just watching for any suspicious movement in general. As he and Sarah left the building, one of the soldiers began to move and that was when Erick realized that soldier’s gun was different from the rest. It didn’t look like the military style machine gun, but more like a hunting rife.

Or a tranquilizer gun.

Erick threw his shield up just in time as the soldier fired and the tranquilizer dart shattered on Erick’s shield. Sarah screamed out but time around Erick seemed to be slowing down as Soldier’s began to react. Gunfire erupted all around and each bullet that struck his shield was obliterated, though it took a large amount of his energy to stop them. Unsure of what else to do, Erick grabbed Sarah and pulled her back inside the building and behind the metal doors which he slammed shut once more.

A grenade landed behind them, dropped from a soldier standing above the missing skylight. Without thinking, Erick reached out with his mind, grabbed the grenade, and launched it back up and out of the skylight. It went off and there were surprised shouts from the soldiers up above. It seemed like it was just a flash bang and not a lethal explosive. Still, it would have been devastating in this enclosed space.

“Erick?” Sarah’s voice quavered.

He looked over to her and that was when he noticed all of the blood. She’d been outside of his shield and been hit by the crossfire.

“No,” Erick gasped, laying her down and trying not to count the bullet wounds.

“Erick…I’m sorry…I…

Her voice trailed off as her eyes began to unfocus. He tried to heal her as he had done for himself but something blocked him, as though her own energy was resisting him. All that he managed to do was enter her mind.

“Take me…home…

Thoughts of where she lived, her parent’s faces, flooded into Erick before going blank. She was gone so fast that he never got to say goodbye. Her limp body was suddenly heavy in his arms and he wanted to scream.

Another grenade dropped in and Erick waved it away without even looking. This time it was a lethal grenade and it blew the frame of the skylight out of the ceiling. Erick’s ears rang from the concussive force but he healed at once. Without thinking, he gathered the rest of his energy into his chest and released a massive burst. The building exploded outward all around him. There wasn’t time for anyone on the roof or outside to cry out. One moment they were there, the next they were being flung through the air.

Erick stumbled, still holding Sarah, as his energy all but ran out. He felt like he was going to black out but he held it together. He staggered away, not looking at the devastation he’d wrought, ignoring the cries of pain from the few soldiers who were still close by enough for him to hear. There were a few unconscious soldiers nearby and Erick drained them completely, not stopping to consider what the consequences of that action might be. He didn’t care. He was in shock and a part of him knew it but it was a quiet part of him and easy to ignore for now.

With his energy reserves somewhat replenished, he took to the sky, finding it easier than walking with Sarah in his arms. Together they flew out of Purge city, the wind whipping by as Erick sped up faster and faster. He didn’t fly like they did in comics and movies, in a lying down position, but instead in an upright, standing position. It felt more natural and he didn’t have to kink his neck to see where he was going.

Sarah’s hair whipped about in the wind. Flecks of blood flew away from them as the rest began to dry. He wanted to clean her wounds at least but knew he needed to conserve his energy for the flight. He cried as he flew, his tears being whipped away in the wind almost as fast as they could leave his eyes. The howl of the air around them drowned out the sound of his sobs.

In the back of his mind, Erick was faintly aware that other people would see him. What did it matter? There was so much wrong with the whole situation that being seen was the least of his concerns. It wasn’t as though he had a secret identity to preserve. Sure, it would make following him easier, but he was pretty sure the soldiers back there wouldn’t be in any fit state to pursue him for a while.

It was difficult to tell exactly how fast he was flying. He was going faster than freeway speeds, he was pretty sure, since he eventually had to put up a weakened version of his shield to keep the wind at a manageable level. Now, Sarah’s hair gently waved in the faint breeze even though they were flying faster every second. It was so much easier to accelerate with his shield up like this.

Much sooner than Erick had expected, they arrived at Sarah’s home. He landed on the front step and, not knowing what else to do, knocked on the door. He waited a moment and then the door opened. Sarah’s dad looked at him surprised for a moment, then realized what Erick was holding and collapsed to his knees.

“No, no, nononononono,” he sobbed at once.

“I”m so sorry,” Erick said. “The soldiers opened fire and…it wasn’t my fault. I’m sorry,” he said again at a loss for words.

Sarah’s dad reached forward and Erick handed him the body. His hands trembled as he wiped his daughter’s hair out of her face. Erick wished even more now that he had taken the time to clean up the blood but it was too late for that now.

“I should go,” Erick said and turned to leave.

“Wait,” Sarah’s dad said, clearing his throat and composing himself. “They’re based at Fort Stag. They probably have your family there as well.”

“Thank you,” Erick said, and flew off.

He was surprised he still had as much energy as he did, though he’d need to rest and recharge soon. Fort Stag was on the other end of Purge City. Originally they’d been separated by a few miles but in recent years the city had expanded to nearly envelope the base. There’d been an unspoke request in what Sarah’s dad had said. In telling Erick where they were based, he was asking Erick to fight them, to punish them for what they’d done to both their families.

Going back to Purge City today would be foolish. He was exhausted and not in a fit state of mind. For now, he’d find a new place to hunker down and rest. Finally he had the motivation to train up his powers, to learn what all he could do, and then…well, then he’d make them pay for what they’ve done.