The Fifth Elemental - Shepisode 2 - Breakout Read online

  “I’m sorry,” Lucius said. “This was a bad idea.”

  He turned to leave, and just as he reached the last step of the front porch, he felt a hand grab his arm, turn him around and slap him hard. His eyes stung, and it took a moment for him to register what had just happened. Lara was standing in front of him, breathing heavily as tears ran down her cheeks, her eyes shooting daggers at him.

  “You bastard!” she shouted. She tried to hit him again, but this time he deflected the blow. “You sorry excuse of a man!”

  “Lara, please,” Lucius started, looking around to make sure none of the neighbours were watching. He didn’t want anyone knowing he was here.

  “How dare you come to my house?” Lara was shouting. Lucius grabbed her by the arm and pushed her back to the door, quickly, forcefully, closing it behind them as soon as they were inside. “Get out!”

  “I was out!” Lucius screamed back, his outburst shutting her up.

  Lara raised a hand to her side and started moving her fingers, cracks coming from the floorboard below her.

  “Lara, don’t,” Lucius said, grabbing her hand and stopping her.

  “You betrayed us,” Lara hissed at him.

  “I had no choice.”

  “Yes, you did, and you chose the Order. After all we had gone through, after losing Samantha, you went back.”

  Lucius held her arms as she tried to break loose. “The Order didn’t kill Sam, and I didn’t go back. There was nothing to go back to. I was rebuilding our home.”

  “This was our home!”

  “No, this was an escape,” Lucius tried to calm her down. “We were hiding out here, running away. This was never meant to be permanent. This was never meant to be home.”

  Lara stopped struggling and stared at him, her eyes bloodshot. “For hundreds of us, this is exactly what it was. It just wasn’t enough for you, Lucius. This was never enough for you.”

  Lucius let go of her and stepped back, unable to say anything. He knew she was right. He hated the man he used to be, vengeful, without remorse as he destroyed homes and tore his kinsmen apart. The old war had been bloody, and he had been the cause for at least half of that. Now he stood in front of the one person in the world who had brought him back from the abyss, lost for words, unable to say anything to comfort her.

  “I just wanted to see you,” Lucius finally said. “I wanted to apologize.”

  Lara sat down on a chair and shook her head as she hugged herself. “It’s too late, Lucius,” she said after a moment of awkward silence. “It’s far too late for that.”

  Lucius stood in his place, unsure of what to do next, wanting to make things right in any way possible, yet unable to think of how.

  “Why didn’t you come back before?” she broke the silence. “Why did you wait this long?”

  “I was scared,” Lucius admitted.

  Lara smiled bitterly, nodding.

  “Lara, I truly am sorry. I just wanted to say that.”

  “Well, you said it,” Lara looked up at him. “Now get out.”

  Lucius watched her get up and walk away, turning into a room and slamming the door behind her. He contemplated following her, and then decided against it. He dug a hand into his pocket and pulled out a necklace that had belonged to Samantha, hanging the trinket on a key holder beside him. He took one last look at the closed door Lara had disappeared behind, and left.

  Leah had been sound asleep when the shooting started.

  Without batting an eye, she jumped up, still fully dressed, and pulled Nadia out if her bed just as the room’s windows exploded. They kept their heads low as bullets flew over them, burying into the walls, shattering glass and ripping wood to splinters.

  “They found us!” she screamed at Nadia, groping for her lighter and cursing when she couldn’t find it in her pocket.

  Nadia tried to get up and was pulled down harshly before another round of bullets tore through her. She helped Leah push a bed over, trying to shield them both as much as possible.

  “How the hell did they know where we were?” Nadia screamed over the noise of automatic rifles going off in the night. Leah shook her head, confused. She tried to look over the bed, but the bullets kept her from getting her head out far enough.

  “We need to get to the others,” Leah said, the urgency in her voice mixed with anger at being caught off guard. “Could you take down that wall?”

  Nadia looked at where Leah was pointing to and shook her head. “Not without taking the whole thing down on top of our heads,” she said. “We need another strategy.”

  Leah looked around her, her mind racing. They were stuck.

  When the SUVs raced into the motel parking lot, Rick and Patricia had been walking back to their room. Before they could act, the occupants had jumped out and had started shooting. Rick had gotten them both behind the car just before the first rounds tore through the wall where they had been standing. He barely had enough time to think before three more SUVs followed the first group and gunmen started pouring out.

  Their attackers weren’t taking any chances, shooting at everything, obviously backed up with enough firepower to warrant the aggressiveness of the attack. Rick was able to get a quick look over the hood of the car at the sheer magnitude of their numbers, losing count at fifteen before bullets slammed into the car and sent him down again.

  “We can’t stay here,” Patricia cried out, seeing a few gunmen racing out of the shelter of their vehicles. With the fire cover they had, they would easily be able to make it around, and then she and Rick would be out in the open.

  “I’m thinking,” Rick said, worried as he saw bullets fly into the rooms where the rest of the Quartet was.

  “Rick, now!” Patricia screamed.

  Rick turned to where Patricia was looking, three gunmen turning around the beat-up car and raising their guns to shoot. Rick quickly raised his hands, his eyes burning bright as he felt heat race through his body. In an instant, sheets of water rose from the ground, throwing the men off. He clenched his hand into a fist and pushed with every bit of energy he had, the sheets of water slamming into the gunmen, throwing them in different directions.

  “That’s not going to keep them,” Rick said.

  As soon as the words left his mouth, he felt a gust of wind rise around him. Quickly, the torrents picked up speed, mixing with the rain, twirling in little tornadoes around him and Patricia. Rick barely had enough time to throw himself over Patricia as the winds suddenly blew outwards. The car they were hiding behind rocked as he heard screams of pain around him, looking up to see Eric step out of his room, arms stretched out, eyes burning white.

  The motel was in complete chaos.

  Eric stood fast, pushing the air around him in waves at the gunmen in front of him. He watched them slam against the SUVs they had just been hiding behind, falling still to the ground. He brought his arms up and around in circles, the winds picking up speed, throwing the others off guard as they aimlessly tried to shoot at him. With a burst of energy, he sent another wave at the closest SUV, watching it flip over the men hiding behind it.

  In the midst of the pandemonium, he could see Leah and Nadia race out of their room, the shooting stopping long enough for them to escape their hiding place and join the fight. Nadia was already on top of her game, her hand aimed at another SUV as she forced the ground under it to heave and topple it over onto its side.

  Patricia raced out from her cover and into her room, Rick getting up from his hiding place in time to push the rain in the direction of the gunmen. A bullet flew too close to his head for comfort, and he pushed harder, the torrents of falling water slamming into the gunmen like pellets.

  “Leah!” he screamed at the redhead.

  “I can’t find my lighter!” she shouted back, hiding behind the other car as bullets slammed into the glass around her.

  Rick cursed under his breath and ran towards her, bringing a wave of water up off the ground for cover. He slid down beside her and loo
ked around for the rest. What had started as a single force assault was slowly turning into a full out blast fest, and at the moment, he and his friends were at a disadvantage.

  Ethan prayed.

  He wasn’t the religious type, but at the moment, he felt it was his best option. He had slid behind a wall, covering his head as glass and splinters showered him, bullets screaming over his head. He had watched Eric step out and almost screamed in horror when he saw his eyes burn as if aflame. He was scared, confused, and on the verge of panic.

  He heard Rick shouting outside, and suddenly Patricia raced into the room. She grabbed him by the arm and started to pull at him, but he resisted.

  “We have to get out!” she was shouting at him, and when he wouldn’t budge, fell down next to him. “What the hell are you doing?”

  “That’s the stupidest question I have ever heard!” Ethan shouted back.

  “We’re sitting ducks here,” she urged. “We need to leave.”

  “I happen to like my body bullet free!”

  Before Patricia could reply, the shooting outside picked up volume, and she pulled Ethan down.

  When Ethan felt the heat for the first time, he was lying on the motel room floor, half covered by Patricia, bullets flying around him and threatening to end his existence.

  The heat came suddenly, urgently, and it burned like nothing he had ever felt before. He remembered how his hands burned after he had tried to save his parents, the pain staying with him for weeks after the skin had healed. The doctors had told him that it had all been in his head, that the burn degree hadn’t been at all as serious as he had believed. Still, he had felt the heat as if his hands had been pushed into a furnace.

  This felt the same. He felt the burning in his hands first, and screamed as it snaked up his arms to his neck and down to his core. He felt it race throughout his entire body, burning him from within, eating away at everything inside as it spread. He felt the heat behind his eyes, inside his skull, crushing as he grabbed his head in agony.

  Patricia felt it too, and as she rolled off him, she could see his eyes burning the flames she had slowly gotten accustomed to seeing in the rest of the Quartet. This was different though, and for a moment she forgot all about the bullets flying over her head. Her jaw dropped as she saw Ethan’s eyes glow in colours, changing from red to blue, white to green. She watched him writhing in pain as she clamped down on his head, the intensity of the flames in his eyes growing.

  Outside, the Quartet was losing control as well. Rick was the first to fall, clenching his head as he felt a surge of energy race through him. Leah was next, closely followed by Eric and Nadia. The four lay helplessly on the ground, the heat racing through their bodies like wildfire, their control lost in the midst of the pain they were being subjected to.

  The shooting intensified, then slowed as the gunman realized they were getting no resistance. A few ventured slowly from out of their hiding places, guns raised as they walked towards where their prey was hiding. After a few stray shots, the shooting stopped completely, and in an organized line, the hit squad made their way forward.

  Leah opened her eyes

  Her mind strained as she tried to register a hundred different things at the same time. Around her, her Quartet lay on the ground, unconscious, helpless. She was on the ground beside them, her body burning with a heat she had never felt before. The shooting had stopped and she could hear footsteps coming closer. She looked at the door that led into Eric and Ethan’s room, her eyes barely making out Patricia cradling Ethan in her lap, her eyes wide in shock.

  Leah stood, and as she did, dozens of automatic rifles held their aim at her. She looked at the men standing around her, keeping their distance and unsure of what to do. She felt her eyes burning, and when she looked down at her hands, she could see fire rising out of the palms in little candle-like flames. She clenched her hands and the flames quickly balled around her fists.

  “Stand down!” she heard someone shout at her.

  She looked up slowly, confused as to what was happening to her. Something was different, and she had no idea what it was. She felt for the energy inside her, the one she was used to calling upon when needed, and was taken aback when greeted by something else completely. Something stronger. Something wilder.

  “Stand down or we’ll fire!”

  Leah locked eyes upon the speaker, the gunman closest to her, and cocked her head as she felt the new energy race through her. She could feel it claw its way into every inch of her, filling her completely, and she smiled. It spooked the gunman, and before he could pull the trigger, he was engulfed in flames.

  As the rain fell and the winds blew, fire burned through the motel parking lot. The hit squad never stood a chance.

  Lucius ignored the first two times his phone rang.

  His meeting with Lara had hit a chord, and he had decided against going back to William’s. He didn’t think he’d be able to sleep anyway, and there was still another stop he had to make. The sooner he got things over with, the faster he could be on his way before he overstayed his welcome.

  Driving out of town, Lucius was amazed at how much Sommerst had changed since he had last visited, the town having grown beyond what he remembered. The Ferns had really put their heart and soul into the little haven, with much support from residents who were obviously keen on maintaining it. There was a charm to it that he had forgotten completely, and he knew that it was only a matter of time before more people would become aware of just how beautiful it was.

  Lucius slowed his car down a few miles out of town, turning onto a dirt road that had been half concealed and forgotten. He drove through overhanging branches as his tires crunched on stones, the ride slow but bumpy as he made his way forward. After a mile, the road opened up to a clearing and a log house, dark and looming with its woodland background, uninviting. Lucius parked his car, stepped out and breathed in the fresh air.

  He walked up the house’s front steps and opened the screen door. He pulled a key from his pocket and pushed it into the front door, struggling with the locks as he turned. He had to push his shoulder against it just to move it on its hinges, but eventually it gave way and let him in.

  The house was just as he had left it.

  Lucius walked into his old home, closing the door behind him. He took in his surroundings with fondness, his eyes touching on every detail he had almost forgotten. He dropped his key on a small table next to the door, disturbed dust jumping into the air and dancing before falling back. He walked through the house, running his fingers across tables and chairs, picture frames that hung on the walls and stood at attention on the mantelpiece, and old trinkets that had belonged to his wife which he had kept safe even after Samantha had passed. He felt tears build in his eyes, his mind refurnishing the house with memories of how it had looked when it had been busy with life.

  He made his way past the kitchen and towards his bedroom, stepping in cautiously as he eyed his old bed and the chair he had spent years reading in when he hadn’t been off fighting somewhere. It felt lonelier than it had felt when it had actually been lived in. He shrugged off the nostalgia and walked to his old closet, pulling the doors open from their dust-covered handles, revealing a flight of stairs inside that went straight down into darkness.

  Lucius made his way down, lights instantly erupting around him as he descended. He was glad the old system still worked. His task would have otherwise been quite impossible.

  The stairs led to a large room, lights illuminating rows upon rows of shelves. During the first war, this had been the resistance’s armoury, its location hidden and only known to a handful. He remembered how the first Fern had labelled it hell’s asshole, a man who had always been uncomfortable with weapons and violence, despite their need for both back then. Now the shelves were barren save for a few old crates and the dust that accompanied them.

  Lucius walked to the back of the room where he had stored his personal belongings, things he had not had the chance to p
ick up when Sommerst’s residents had turned on him and his Quartet. He opened the first box and rummaged inside, his hand pushing memories from one side to the other as he looked for what he wanted. When he didn’t find it, he pulled the box down and aside, and then rummaged through the second with the same results.

  It was only after the fourth did he find the music box. He sat down against a wall and looked at the old thing, blowing the dust off it and winding it up. He let the music that emanated soothe him, and he smiled at the memory of him and Sam dancing arm in arm to the melody. It had been a birthday present for his wife on their third anniversary. Lucius had had it custom made to play a lullaby her mother had sung to her as a child, and Samantha had cried when she had first heard it. Now, even Lucius couldn’t hold back the tears.

  When the song was over, he waited. There was a click from within the music box, and wiping his tears away, Lucius turned the top of the box anticlockwise and opened it. There was a key inside, made of stone and decorated with hieroglyphs. At the top of the key was a triangle with a line through it, the element sign of air. Lucius took the key out, put it in his pocket, and closed the music box again.

  He hesitated for a minute, looking at the beautiful contraption, and then put it back in the box with the rest of his things. He replaced the boxes quickly, urgently, racing up the stairs and out of the house as memories of his life with Samantha raced through him, threatening to suffocate him. He fell to the ground, breathing heavily, trying to calm down as the emotions washed over him in torrents. He cried freely, unashamed.

  His phone rang again, and Lucius reluctantly answered when he saw Calliope’s name on the caller ID.

  “Where the hell have you been?” Her voice was shrill, a mix of annoyance and anxiety.