Chapter 188
- Becky -
I can't lose him again...
Before I could get to Josh, a powerful gust of subsonic wind slammed into us like a wall. Knocking me to the ground. At the same time, a bright, blinding light flashed, temporarily blinding us for a few seconds.
I blinked and saw Josh's cyan flames rippling like crazed waves of light. A silent pressure and force exploded, as if reality itself were being folded into a single point.
A black surge of energy rippled like a collapsing star from Daniels' chest to Josh.
The glass nearby nearly bent inward and slightly pulled us like a vacuum.
And Josh absorbed it.
Only an explosion of light and a shockwave were not enough to hurt anyone; he absorbed the entire blast himself.
A sphere of violent energy collapsed into one point and into him as he stepped back from Daniel.
The force of his hit is on his body for a split second; his flames glowed with the same energy of the violent dying blast from the bomb's explosion.
Then, a painful cold struck the air; an unnatural cold spread out from his body.
Then nothing. The explosion didn't release the energy it had compressed and absorbed it.
Josh's nose bled, and he fell backward. I caught him before he could hit the ground.
His chest was still glowing from the reactive explosion.
"Josh, you idiot, why?"
He let out a painful breath.
"Don't worry, this isn't the first time..." He winced. "I absorbed the blast that night from the lab, which was the first time I accidentally found out about this power. It will subside, and I will recover thanks to my generation powers."
I looked upon his body with burns all over his skin. My flame got burned.
"I would be lying if I said this didn't freaking hurt." He managed a small, weak smile.
"Hick—don't do that again."
"No promises..." he said as he reached up and wiped away my tear.
"Give me a few seconds to rest; I'll be back in the fight."
- Evan POV-
Realization hit me like a train as I turned to the bank.
But before my eyes hit the building.
BOOM!!!
The sound didn't hit all at once.
Then everything stilled—stretched—deep and distorted—like the world itself had been pulled tight and struck like a drum.
I feel an electric explosion from Kaysi. Her eyes snapped open as if seeing something nightmarish. She gasped hard as though taking her first breath.
She caught my shirt tightly.
The sparks jumped from her into me.
It threaded through my veins, wrapped around every cell that was pulsing in my blood—and everything inside me surged forward at once.
My heart skipped a beat for a second. Or rather, it hammered so hard in my chest my ribs could barely contain it.
My vision heightened.
The world didn't stop—I just slipped ahead of it, but only by a moment.
Kaysi locked eyes with me, and something unknown glittered behind them.
"Evan, save them!"
I was gone the moment I placed her on the ground. I took another large step, the ground cracked beneath my foot, and I moved with the speed of light.
The air folded slowly.
Glass burst outward, almost coming to a complete stop in glimmering arcs.
Fire didn't explode—it unfolded, blooming throughout the lobby in a rolling wave of orange and golden glow.
The doors shattered as I hit them within the blink of an eye. I was inside.
People are caught in slow motion, turning, and flinching in fear. Mouths opening into screams that hadn't reached sound yet.
Everything was still moving, just slower than I was.
I reacted fast, a man frozen near the entrance. I got him out to a safe location beyond the building's possible collapsing zone.
A woman, stumbling backward mid-fall, was pulled clear.
A child and mother in the opening, eyes wide, not understanding, but the mother leaning over and into her child to shield her.
Gone.
Again and again and again. I moved as fast as my powers could carry me and even faster than before, with Kaysi's charge and the kinetic energy driving me forward.
The ceiling groaned—then split.
Chunks of concrete peeled away, drifting downward like falling mountains.
I caught one man by the collar and yanked him forward—the slab crunched the floor where he had been standing, a heartbeat later, after I returned again.
Glass bowed inward along the windows, trembling—
I hit the frame, grabbing two people in the motion, and tore them away just as it shattered into a storm of blades behind me.
Everything is breaking and collapsing, but not fast enough to stop me.
When I entered this time, I saw it. The blast was not just a single explosion; it was a pattern of wires hanging on the many support columns.
Explosions rolling through the structure, a predictable sequence—one after another—like a pulse moving through veins.
Support points are load-bearing lines.
This was all staged with a purpose.
My jaw tightened.
This is great; that meant I could beat it.
Outside the shattered entrance, I caught flashes of movement.
Josh, forcing himself up with Becky's help.
Micah, dragging Daniel back.
Duke was already moving—commanding, directing—all of them pushing the line of people back.
All of them are moving just too slow; not their fault, though, just... not fast enough.
I left them until the end, confident they were prepared, and stepped aside.
I went deeper.
The air inside thickened with heat and dust.
Another blast rolled through the floor beneath me—the building shifted.
Time was catching up.
I pushed harder.
traveling trip after trip, collecting people.
Five.
Six.
Seven, eight.
More and more out of harm's way.
My lungs burned.
Muscles screamed.
My nose bled.
But Kaysi's energy held me together.
It held.
Not overwhelming. Not wild, just enough to keep everything sharp.
Keeping me here.
In the rage of the fire and the bloom of the bomb, I saw him.
The bomber was right next to the charge. There was no saving him; the flames fully consumed his body.
Not running or hiding.
Even as the world collapsed.
All that remained in the slowed moment was his face above the ball of energy coming his way. He has a smile as he has won. This all came into his plans, but why? What did he want to gain even by losing his own life?
Madness, a cold and final end to his legacy.
I moved, crossing the distance in a blink, as the last charge went off on the building, and the ceiling dropped.
The entire structure folded in on itself.
No more sequence or control; it collapsed in slow motion like the waters of a waterfall.
The people were all out of the building. I left everyone outside now far enough back except for Kaysi, who had pulled herself up using a tree but was still slow and weak. Becky had managed to place Josh and started to point herself toward Kaysi to return and get her, but she was too far.
I ripped her off the ground and turned to run.
I just made it to the safe point, then the world snapped back.
I hit the ground as the explosion's shockwave finally caught up to us in real time.
Every delayed force compressed in a shockwave, slamming into my back like the world itself trying to correct me.
I planted my feet, held on to her, and took it.
The raw energy drove me across the dirt. The thermal heat wave seared into my back. We were the closest to the blast.
The air ripping past debris, slamming us, and the sound of it all crashing back at once.
Then nothing but silence.