“Down on your knees, Abby Sinclair!”
Rain poured from the freezing night sky as
Abby ran down the empty ally. Red and
blue lights of the police cars flashed off the darkened abandoned buildings
around her. They were going to catch
her, she knew it! They were going to hurt
her, do bad things to her, horribly bad things to her… they were…
Three more police cars pulled into the mouth
of the alley in front of her – blocking her off, trapping her in! – lights
flashing, sirens going! They were so
noisy! These guys jumped out of their
cars, pointing their guns at her, hiding behind their doors!
Skidding to halt, she spun and saw one cop
from behind her running towards her, shouting and order. He wasn’t armed. She doesn’t know how she knew this, she just
did; but he wasn’t going to hurt her.
There was something about him that made him somehow safe – he was going
to help her. Abby knew he wasn’t going
to make it to her in time and panic welled in her gut as time seemed to slow
down. She heard a series of pops –
gunshots – from the other lot of armed cops.
His eyes widened as he dropped to the flooded ground to watch her die.
Abby turned as the good cop dropped. She felt her heart beat slow down and her
blood pumping in her ears as her left hand rose in front of her – open palmed –
breathing out through her mouth, she watched as every bullet fired smacked into
an invisible wall and dropped to the ground in a tinkling of bells as the rain
fell with them. She looked at the spent
bullets briefly before casting a benign look at the armed cops in front of
her. Some of them lowered their fire
arms, while others wanted to shoot, but didn’t.
Whistler stayed on the ground staring, he
couldn’t believe it. He had been told of
her powers, but until he saw her use it, he hadn’t believed it, “Holy mother of
God.” He whispered pushing himself to his feet, “Exactly what I’m going to do
with her I’m not sure.”
She turned to him, “You tried to protect
me. Why?”
“You have a power which is valuable to me.” He
said, then glance at the other end of the alley where the armed cops were, “But
you scare the crap out of the public.”
“So, you’re going to lock me up?”
“No.
We’re going to utilise it.” He smiled, “You’re useful, but you have to
learn to control your power better without almost killing yourself.” He reached
out to touch her shoulder, but stopped himself.
He had heard stories that she could break bones without touching people,
“Want to learn?”
“And if you’re lying to me?” Abby asked.
“You can kill me here right now, and they’ll
kill you in some way.” He gestured to the cops at the end of the alley.
She looked over at them, “They were a test?”
“No, mixed orders.”
Abby nodded, “Let’s go. But first, what’s your name?”
He smiled, “Whistler. I’ve got powers too, but nothing like yours.”
They drove to a large house on the outskirts
of the city where the two stayed for a couple of days. Whistler needed to get some history about
Abby first before he took her to the right agency who’d work with her. He hated being a scout and he really wanted
to work closely with these kids. She was
the oldest one he’d found, but he wanted to make sure she was going to be safe.
“You killed a dog when you were eight?” he almost
choked on his coffee.
“Yeah.” She bowed her head, “Its owner set
it on me because he hated me hanging out with his son at school. So, while I ran – while I was terrified – I wished
it was dead, and threw my school port over my shoulder further, but…”
“That move also threw the dog too.” He sighed.
“It was a big dog as well.” She looked up at
him, “I didn’t mean to kill it… I just wanted to get away.”
He nodded, “It’s okay… you were little and
you were scared.”
“The guy tried to sue, but that was when Dad
realised I wasn’t normal; and we moved.” She sniffed, “Every time I did
something weird, we moved… must have cost my folks a fortune before they just dumped
me at a church one day with all my stuff and drove off.”
He reached across the table and touched her
hand, “You’re wanted now.”
“I’ve stopped wondering where they are.”
“Did you get adopted?”
“No.
Well, kinda… the parents saw me and liked me, but once I did something
like I did out there in the city, what you saw, they sent me back.” She sighed,
“Nobody wanted a child with special powers.
It’s not like kill anyone, I’m not violent.”
“So, you do have control?”
“Yes… it’s hard, but I can do it.” She nodded,
“Okay, the sugar bowl on the table, I can put it on the counter over there.”
He glanced behind himself, “Okay.”
She opened her right hand, cupping it as
though she held the bowl, and moved the bowl to the counter. But just before it reached the edge, loud gun
shots were heard and she concentration broke suddenly! It was the authorities!
Men barged in quickly! Whistler couldn’t react fast enough, and Abby
couldn’t stop the bullets as they were fired from a Police Special. Her guards went up too slow; and instead of
stopping the bullets, she threw the cops back hard against the floor and walls,
injuring them.
“Oh, no!
I’m sorry, are they okay?” she stood from the table only to be slammed
down next to Whistler’s body. Her hands
wrenched behind her back and her rights read to her. Closing her eyes, she worked the locks on the
cuffs, but couldn’t work them fast enough.
“They’re not the ones you’re used to, Miss
Sinclair. These are magnetically locked.”
The cop said, “And you’re off to a government facility.”
“But Whistler…” Tears fell from her eyes and
stained her grubby cheeks.
The arresting officer looked at him, “Oh,
don’t worry about him. He can’t
die. By the time he comes around, you’ll
be long gone.”
