Amy Rench - Fallen Rogue

Three thin red laser beams pierced the sun’s rays from their scopes to rest in a triangle on her chest, directly over her heart. She sucked in a quick breath as spikes of panic prickled under her skin, spreading like a wildfire until she burned with fear.

Wait a second. This wasn’t her own personal video game. There was no Restart button. This was true life. And these large men had every intention of killing her for real.

It seemed as though time slowed and she could see every millimeter of their fingers squeezing the triggers. She willed her chaotic nerves to settle as she’d done countless times before a race. Cold, then hot flashed through her body. She brought up her hand, palm out; just a sharp crack of gunfire echoed in her head. She shoved all fear aside, inviting the energy and focusing on the incoming ammunition.

The rain of bullets halted mere inches away from her hand, frozen in midair.

It worked. It actually worked. What next?

Calling upon the power again, she tested her mind’s fortitude. Her body felt none of the draining effects she’d experienced before. With a concentrated effort, she summoned another swell of energy and directed it at the threatening shells that hovered at the edge of her shield of energy.

A fresh burst flowed through her arm and prickled into her hand, propelling the bullets back toward the three men at lightning speed. Their eyes filled with shock and then pain as they all staggered backward, crumpling to the ground, lifeless.

Harper lowered her hand and gulped a lungful of cool air. Holy cow! Not only had she controlled the power, but she’d been able to direct it, too. What else could it do?

She looked at her hand as if seeing it for the first time. A heavy touch descended on her shoulder. She jumped and swung her elbow backward. Rome caught it just before it hit his throat.

“Are you okay?” he asked, his voice breathy.

“I’m fine,” she answered, realizing it was true. Her vision was clear, and she didn’t have the detached wobbly sensation. Honestly, she felt invigorated.

He kept ahold of her elbow and pulled her over to the three prone men in a cautious approach. Blood seeped out of the bullet holes in their thick black vests. Harper bent down with Rome as he removed one of the garments from the closest body. Amazed, she gawked at the damage as Rome held it up for inspection. The bullets had penetrated the armored vest, killing him instantly.

“I’m sure there’re more of them,” Rome said tightly, dropping the vest onto the ground. “We need to move. Now.”

“Rome,” Harper pleaded, gripping his shaking hand from her kneeling position. “Please don’t be scared of me.” She shook her head sadly.

“Harper…” He gave her a crooked smile and twisted his hand to grip hers back. “I won’t leave you again.” He tugged her up to face him and grabbed her other hand as well. “I won’t leave you.” He leaned forward and planted a feathery kiss on her forehead. “But we do need to leave. Before more of these guys come.”

“They’re already here,” she said dryly, peering past him to see a group of similarly equipped men pacing toward them with definite purpose. Rome turned to see them just as they broke into a jog, aiming their guns.

“Shit!” He pulled out his gun and dragged her to the nearest cover, behind another warehouse. “Can you stop them again?”

“I think so,” she answered slowly, giving him a look she hoped conveyed a confidence she wasn’t sure she had. He nodded at her.

She stepped out from behind the wall to face the oncoming group, noticing they were a bit bigger and bulkier than the other three. Like the men she’d escaped from at the facility. Uh-oh. They probably had powers, too. That could make things interesting. She moved forward a few more steps into the last rays of the setting sun and extended her arms.

The heat cascaded over her. Reliving the rush of power in her mind, she called upon it once more and pitched the energy toward them.

The lead man raised his hand, shooting a murky barrier ahead of him. He ran through her wave of energy unscathed. But two of the men behind him were knocked to the ground. She couldn’t tell whether they were unconscious or dead, but they were still. Only four more to go.

She sent another pulse of power their way. One more down. The other three ran through it like going through a waterfall, slowed but ultimately unharmed. She peppered them again and again, cutting up the air as if sending harsh ripples through a serene pond.

Just before the leader reached her, he was attacked by a different power source: Rome.

But before she could do anything to help Rome as he grappled with their attacker on the concrete ground, the air was knocked from her lungs. She hit the ground hard right next to Rome. Another body piled onto the one already on top of her. The harsh ramming forced a grunt from her lips as she struggled to breathe.

The tussling to her left paused for a moment, then resumed.

A strange sensation flushed over her, a weight heavier than the two men, as though a solid screen pressed against her. Trying to crush her.

Her body strained against the unseen force. After unsuccessfully shoving against the obstruction with all her strength, she suddenly recognized what was happening. These two men were propelling an energy force at her, just like she had at them. Her breath came in strained spurts as panic and anger invaded her senses. Every wrenching intake was tinged with dusty asphalt.

Tilting her head, she saw Rome fighting two men now. They had him pinned and were delivering vicious blows to his body while he flailed and kicked at them.

No. She couldn’t let them take Rome. He’d sacrificed too much for her. She had to do something.

She focused her energy while the men who held her captive tried to force her to turn over, facedown. Molten heat roared through her body, blazing in her blood. Prickles of fire danced under her skin and flashes of gleaming white light sparkled in her vision. An inferno of force swelled from every corner of her mind, racing to her limbs and surging outward, heaving her enemies off her.

They landed several feet away, against the wall of an adjacent warehouse, stunned but not out for the count. Harper shot to her feet and stalked toward them. Angry. Primitive. Hating them with every fiber of her fiery being.

One of the dazed men reached behind his back and pulled out a gun. A cracking sound reached her just before the bullet snapped into the muscles of her shoulder. Harper flinched from the sharp contact but ignored it, continuing to close in on the shooter and his woozy partner.

Stopping mere feet from the two of them, she held out her hand and channeled the power once again without hesitation. She wanted this. Wanted them dead. Surprise was the last look on their faces as the pure energy from her mind crested and tore through their cloudy shield of resistance, killing them easily.

Harper spared them one last glance; then she whipped around, cutting the distance between her and Rome with determined strides. His assailants had frozen momentarily to follow her approach.

The two men shoved away from Rome and stood to face her, obviously regarding her as the bigger threat. Good. She was.

They raised their hands and she felt the displacement of air as their combined power rushed toward her. Unlike her clear wave, theirs was definitely visible. Curious. Spreading her arms palms out, Harper met their energy head-on with her own. A moment of forces colliding, creasing the space between them in nearly invisible wrinkles-then hers ripped through theirs, decimating the two men in an instant.

Blinking the stinging sweat out of her eyes, she tried to take a deep breath of the light evening breeze into her heaving lungs. Looking up, she saw the sun had set and the clear sky behind the trees was daubed in brilliant pink hues.