“I haven’t done that since before you left. My emotions are in check,” I interrupt, quickly halting his concerns.
“What if something has happened to Brazen? Will you be okay then?” he continues.
I take a deep, steadying breath before answering, “Then you’ll have to bring me down before I hurt someone.”
He doesn’t breathe another word. I think he was basically asking for permission to do what only he can. The demons of my past, the monster inside me, and the daily struggle just to live is constantly taking its toll on me. If anything happens to Brazen, they’ll all collide at once.
I see the dust stirring, and I hear the screams as the bullets continue to spiral mercilessly through the air. Each whistling zip strikes with deadly intent. I’m relieved to see no gifts are in play, meaning they don’t have gifted hybrids. Clay is the only gifted hybrid in our crew here, and he refuses to use his gift for anything but science.
I jump from the car before Hale has a chance to even stop it. It took us thirty-seven minutes to get here. That gives me seven minutes to end this, get them out, and make sure Brazen is tucked inside a heavily tinted car before the sky’s tint fades from view.
“Captain Banner,” a man says with a salute.
“We’re going in,” Hale asserts, and the man starts grabbing armor to pad our chests.
“We don’t have time for that,” I growl, and I dash toward the firing squad holding our people down.
“Araya, you can’t go in there without some protection. You’ll-”
“I’ll be fine long enough to get them out. Just have the tinted cars ready to conceal the full bloods,” I instruct, and I rush into the blazing fires and bullet storms.
The whistling of a uranium loaded grenade whizzes by my ear, and the bullets begin snapping against my body as I walk through the hazy swarms of them. I know I’ll only have a few minutes to do this before my body weakens and I lose my invincible shield. I have to kill them all soon in order to get Brazen and the others out.
I look toward the barricade I know they’re nested behind, and I see a group of men coming in from the backside. Bullets are still flying from the barricade, which lets me know they’re still alive. Brazen had better be alive.
The bullets, small missiles, and flames continue to prove ineffective against my body when I flip the scales upside down and take control of the battle. I concentrate on the scenery, and smirk when I feel my incredible power building as I release my gift. The trucks hiding the attackers lift into the air, and then I slam them to the ground in unison with barely the flick of my wrists.
The bullets screeching toward me are halted, and I return them with another flick to take out the army of men firing too freely. More and more screams erupt, and I feel the burning starting. My build is becoming too strong, and my cursed gift reminds me of the toll it takes on my rare invincibility.
My skin shreds from my side and arm when a new storm of bullets blindside me, but I stop the rest before they finish their deadly attack. I scream to the barrier, and I only hope I hear a familiar voice.
“Brazen?” I plead as more bullets tear at my weakened flesh.
“He’s alive, but he’s in too much pain to talk. Get us the hell out of here,” a man’s voice pleads.
“Get down,” I command, and then I feel the explosive power exuding too strong for me to control.
The dreaded, deadly blast erupts from my body, burning through me and into the mass of gunmen. The remaining attackers are blown from their feet, their skin is shedding from their body as the lifeless corpses start folding to the ground.
“Araya!” Hale screams in panic.
“It’s still my power… just my power!” I yell back to squash his worry. “Get the fuck back.”
The metal of the gun wilts, folds, and gives in to the unbearable pressure radiating from my body. Glass shatters as I shred the fragile vehicles they had once been hiding behind. The dust screams out in pain as my forceful eruption travels through it. The sound barrier is ripped when the sounds try to catch up to what the eyes see first, exploding it into the air. The blast continues around me, and it takes all my strength to stop it from traveling too far - though I don’t know how to actually stop it.
My hands fall to my side as the crashing remnants of my overexertion sound off against the ground. I have nothing left to give now. My stomach tight with knots, I start looking around at the chaotic destruction I’ve evoked. The dust has clouded my view of the barricade. Dead bodies are all that surround me, filling me with a darker, draining knot forming in my throat. I only pray that barricade shielded them all from my deadly blast.
“Brazen!” I panic.
“He’s here,” Clay says, and I rush over to see the gashes covering our commander.
My eyes move to the man lying in his lap, and my heart pops up in my mouth as a cold heat floods through me. I can barely tell it’s Brazen. His eyes are open, but he’s almost strangling to try to talk. His lips are cracked, singed. His charred skin hides the beauty he normally displays as the red pours from his gaping, fatal wounds. His labored breaths tell the secrets of the excruciating pain he’s in, forcing my tears to pour out in abundance.
“A uranium grenade almost hit me. Brazen stepped in front of me to absorb the blast,” Clay explains with guilty eyes, but he looks as if he was almost blown up too.
Hale and the others swoop in just in time to start grabbing people up. I stand frozen, staring at the man I’ve promised my life to as he suffers in agony.
“Get the full bloods to the tinted vehicles now. The rest can be treated here. Bring the blood. All of it,” Hale commands, and men scramble to do as he asks.
