“Troubling Gifts”

**~Chapter One- Unusual illness~**

He sits down on the soft furry beige sofa in the lobby of the hotel he and the rest of the group are staying in. He glanced at his watch and realizes he got here for the first time way too early. ‘Great’ he thinks to himself sarcastically. The bright lights of the hotel glimmered in the area casting a brilliant glow in the lobby, he squints from the glow as slumps against the sofa. He pulls out a small green journal from his black back pack and settles back in the sofa. “Well, I guess I got time to kill.” He mutters to himself. He runs his fingers through his blond spikes and stares at the book he’s holding. His blue eyes scan the hotel lobby to see if he can spot any of his friends. Yawning, he opens the book and begins to scribble some of his thoughts down. In black ink, he scribbled down his feelings and some personal things he’s experiencing.

‘Hey Journal,

How am I doing? Hmmm. Let me say it’s a long story. God, I don’t know what’s wrong with me? I mean I went to a doctor yesterday and last week and the week before and nothing. That’s right nothing! They say I’m extremely healthy. That nothing is wrong with me. That’s bull and I know it! Why do I feel dizzy at times and my eyes feel like it burns sometimes? They couldn’t answer that because they say that all my test results are fine. Something’s up. It’s like the doctors know something and don’t wanna tell me.

I didn’t tell the guys this, they’ll think I got sick and couldn’t take care of myself. They‘ll lecture me on how I’m a grown man and should know better than to get myself sick, I have to care for myself. I don’t want to be a disappointment to them or to the fans. I mean we just started the new leg of the concert and I’d hate to postpone it cuz I feel sick. I don’t understand why they- the doctors- wouldn’t tell me if it involves my health. I mean this is my personal health and body we’re talking about! God, it’s so frustrating! I can’t believe they would hold some vital info from me. Whatever man, I ain’t gonna stress ‘bout it now. I’ll let you go for now, Brian and Kevin are coming. I’ll write in ya later.

~Peace: Kaos

Nick closes the journal and quickly slips it in his book bag, zipping it close.

“Yo Rok, what up?” Nick states tugging on his white loose cotton polo shirt and dark blue jeans.

Brian smiles, running his fingers through his sandy blond hair. “Nothin’ much. What where you writing? Huh? Was it about me?” Brian states curiously leaning near Nick’s book bag trying to open it. He pulls on his dark blue long sleeve shirt and black denims.

Nick snatches the book bag and flings it on his knees. “Don’t worry ‘bout it, that’s for me to know and for you to find out.”

Kevin laughs and grabs a seat next to Nick. “Don’t listen to him, Brian. Nicky wouldn’t hide anything important from us, right Nick? And besides it is his journal, he can write whatever he wants right?” His striking green eyes light up as he tugs on his black short sleeve t-shirt and dark blue denim.

Nick gulps and shakes his head, “Na, you know I’d tell ya everything.” He feels guilty lying to his ‘older brother’ in such a way. But right now wasn’t the time to tell the guys his condition if he himself doesn’t know.

A.J. comes running in the lobby with a scared look on his face suddenly as he reaches Kevin. “Yo, Kev. Something’s up with D. He just passed out upstairs in his suite!”

Kevin’s eyes grew big, standing up nervously, he pulls on the sleeve of A.J.’s blue tank top “Is he ok now? Did ya call someone?” Kevin asks nervously.

A.J.’s eyes grew big, “I, I think so. A maid came in and is calling a doctor to find his problem. But Kev. Maybe we should postpone the concert if Howie’s feeling sick.” He states quietly.

Brian nods his head, “We’ll see, first thing first, we gotta see what’s up with our friend.” With that he and the others follow to an opening elevator.

Howie’s dark oak suite door opens allowing entrance to the four members. Kevin rushes over to Howie who is on the bed passed out.

“Oh man, damn. D. Howie, you up?” Nick states patting Howie’s cheek gently.

“I found him like this. I went to get him to go downstairs, but he’s out on the bed.” A.J. answers nervously.

Brian shakes his head and puts his palm over Howie’s forehead. “He’s burning. He probably caught a flu or something.” He mutters, shaking his head confused.

Kevin stands near the bedside as the soft brown eyes of Howie opens. Smiling gently, he pats Howie on the shoulder, “Hey buddy, glad you’re up. You got us scared. Are you sick?” Kevin whispers.

Howie shakes his head as he tries to sit up but is pushed back down by Brian. “Lie down d. You could be sick and collapse again trying to stand up.”

Howie feels a dizzy spell as he puts his hand on his forehead. “I’m not sick, I feel fine. I guess I just passed out. It’s weird really. I mean I was about to leave the room to meet A.J. when I feel something like a deep electric current running down my spine. And before I knew, I collapsed on the floor. I thought I was getting electrocuted!”

Kevin stares down at Howie with disappointment in his emerald eyes. “Howie, why were you touching stuff with wet hands? You know you can get electrocuted trying to mess with the appliances in this room.”

Howie stares up at Kevin with confusion on his face. “I never said I touched anything electric. The electricity came from me. I guess I shocked myself.” He whispers, perplexity evident in his voice.

Nick looks at Brian and shrugs his shoulders, “Shock himself, how is that possible? This doesn’t make sense” He questions as the others stare at Howie with uncertainty.

What Nick and the others didn’t realize was this was just the beginning of the gifts they all have and it won’t get any easier for them later on.
~**~

**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Two- Losing Control~**



Kevin wakes up startled, covered in a cold sweat. He rubs his hands down his black boxers and stares at his bare chest soaked in sweat. He rubs his hand across his forehead to wipe away some sweat that appeared as well. He takes a deep breath and leans near the bedside to feel his heart racing. Carefully, he stands up, stumbling over to the bathroom in his suite. Opening the door, he steps in and stares at the reflection before him in the bathroom mirror. Trembling, he splashes cool water on his face and stares intensely into the mirror. His eyes were burning, as if it were on fire. He feels goose bumps on his arms and he shivers as if cold.



“God, my eyes. They hurt!” He grumbles, peering in the mirror at the green bloodshot eyes. He looks at his eyes in the reflection and suddenly the mirror begins breaking as his eyes trace the lining of the mirror. Pieces of the mirror came shooting out, crashing onto the floor. A small crack begins in the center of the glass mirror and then begins to spread throughout the whole mirror, until the entire mirror was broken and crashes to the white tile floor loudly. Kevin backs away in shock and stares at the mess before him shaking nervously.



His heart beats faster and his mouth drops open. He just witnessed something he only believed could happen in a movie of special effects. It wasn’t the mirror breaking that frightened him so much but what caused the mirror to break. His eyes, he felt the burning sensation increase as he traced the mirror edges and his eyes shot out a red laser almost invisible in daylight but can be seen in brightly in the night. He stands there shaking, feeling nauseating. He grabs the white porcelain toilet and leans his head in ready to release the contents of food he digested. Nothing happened and he takes a deep breath, backing away from the bathroom.



“Maybe I got something that’s making me hallucinate, maybe I got what Howie got.” He whispers to himself for comfort. After the incident with Howie, he recalled everyone was left in confusion and tried to rationalize the situation that maybe Howie was hallucinating so much and didn’t remember exactly what happened or how badly he was left electrocuted. Believing he got the same flu that Howie possibly has, he decided to call his management and leave a message that the concert should be postpone until further notice. If he kept feeling like this tonight, he would head to a doctor in the morning and find out his problem.



He scribbles a quick note to remind himself to make the call early in the morning. Walking quietly back to bed, he throws the covers and lies down, hoping sleep can do well for him in the morning. Just as he drifts to sleep, a loud consistent banging wakes him up. His eyes shot open and he grumbles, getting out of the bed towards the front door.



“I’m coming, chill out, it’s two in the morning. You’re making too much noise!” Kevin yells over the banging of the door. He opens it to find a trembling Nick, with eyes wide open, pointing down the hallway to his bedroom.



Kevin shakes his head, “I can’t believe this! Nick you’re twenty-two years old, you can’t possibly be afraid of the dark now, can you?” He glares at the blond man before him.



Nick shakes his head and points down to his room. “You, you have to see this! Come, come on!” Nick says nervously, his voice cracking in fear. He shakes and goose bumps appear on his arms.



Kevin sighs, “Nick, not now! I don’t wanna be part of your practical jokes this time! Go to sleep and stop acting up!” Kevin states getting frustrated, his black spikes a mess now as it lies messily over his head. Nick in blue boxers and green wife beater, points to his room down the hallway.



“Please Kevin, it’s important! You have to see this. I’m not joking around this time. Please I promise you it’s not a joke! I can’t believe it happened. It’s my bed, something’s wrong with it!” Nick states, his blue eyes lit up in fear.



Kevin sighs and grumbles, shaking his head. “This better be good, I swear Nick if you planned a trick in there, forget about waking to see tomorrow!”



Nick gulps and nods his head, leading Kevin to his room.

~*~



Kevin steps in Nick’s suite and his mouth drops open as he stares at the oak king size bed. The bed sheet was covered in black soot as if it was burning, and the center of the bed was the only spot where it wasn’t burnt or even touched by a fire. It looks as if Nick was sleeping in the center of the bed and besides him on either side of the bed sheets, was burnt marks of black soot. Smoke was still rising from the bed as Kevin neared it.



“What the hell happened here?” Kevin asks nervously.



“I don’t know! I woke up and saw my bed like this. I saw smoke rising, and I thought I was gonna burn when I see a flame of fire spreading over my bed!” Nick yells alarmed.



“Wait, hold up! You mean to tell me that a fire just magically started in your bed and no one was involved in starting the fire. Nick, that doesn’t make sense!” Kevin states irritated.



Nick looks at Kevin seriously and whispers, “Kevin, I think something’s wrong with us. First Howie, then this. None of this is making any sense. I heard you screaming, something happened to you too, didn’t it?”



Kevin nods his head, “Yea, yeah. Something like red lasers came shooting out of my eyes. I stared at a mirror and I just looked at it. It just broke! I looked at it and it just broke! It’s like my eyes had something to do with it! These things aren’t normal. Red lasers shouldn’t be coming out of my eyes! What the hell is going on with us?” Kevin states, with fright in his voice.



Nick gulps, “What if we’re imagining this? I mean, maybe we caught what Howie got or something.” He whispers quickly.



Kevin nods his head and leaves the room with Nick following behind. “I’m gonna check on the others. All this is too much for me! Maybe we’re just sick and don’t even know it.” Kevin mumbles softly as he and Nick stop in front of A.J.’s hotel door. Kevin sighs, and believes nothing worse can happen, but he was in for a surprise of his life as well as the other guys. And nothing can be done about it.

~**~



~**TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Three- Powers Unknown~**



Kevin peeks in the crack of the doorway of A.J.’s suite. Quietly, he slips in followed by Nick. The dark room showed a figure under the white thin cotton sheets sleeping calmly. Nick eyes the sleeping A.J. and sits on the edge of the bed. Kevin moves steadily over to the bedside and places his hand on A.J.’s forehead.



“He doesn’t have a fever, I hope he doesn’t catch what we have.” Kevin whispers softly.



Nick runs his fingers through his blond locks which tonight lied in lazily across his head. “Well, let’s go before he gets pissed off. You know he hates it when we wake him up.” Nick whispers tip-toeing to the front to door to leave.



“Ok, fine.” Kevin whispers, walking away from the bedside a few inches before his watch got caught in something. “Uh oh.” Kevin mutters angrily.



“What!” Nick whispers loudly. “Oh man, you’re gonna get it when J gets up.”



Kevin shushes Nick, “Shut up and help me out!” Kevin whispers angrily, tugging on the watch that is stuck around A.J.’s gold chain which tonight, A.J. has around on his neck.



Nick holding in his laughter, pries the watch that was embedded on A.J.’s gold chain. After a few minutes of fighting with the expensive jewelry, the watch is freed from the necklace without A.J. ever moving or waking up.



“Man, we’re lucky!” Nick states smiling, pulling the watch away from the chain and heading out the door. As Kevin and Nick exit the room, they don’t notice A.J. raising his arm from out of the covers. Suddenly a loud crash was heard, surprising both of the men at the door. Kevin turns around and sees a glass vase, floating in the air and suddenly comes careening towards his direction.



“Oh man!” Nick shouts as both men duck down from the crashing vase that slams and breaks inches above them on the wall. Glass shards shatters on the carpet quietly. The shrill sound awakens a bleary eyed A.J.



After a few seconds, A.J. focuses his soft sleepy chocolate eyes on his friends and sits up in the bed. “What the hell are doing in my room?” His raspy voice states, breaking the eerie silence that befallen the room.



“I wanted to see if you’re ok. I was concerned that after Howie’s little problem that you might have caught his flu.” Kevin states quietly, the emerald eyes comforting the brown ones staring at him.



A.J. smiles and in a playful childish voice responds, “Daddy, I’m ok, see. I didn’t get sicky.”



At this, Nick laughs softly as Kevin stares at Nick angrily, “Don’t encourage him, Nick.”



Nick shrugs his shoulders and heads out the room waiting for Kevin.



“Hold up, Kev. Howie didn’t have the flu. I mean he’s not sick, you and I know this. What’s the real reason you came in here? Don’t lie about the flu thing, you’re a bad lair anyway.” Asks a curious A.J. as he crawls over to the edge of the bed, throwing his legs over the edge of the bed.



“It’s well, it’s just that a few minutes before I woke up and went to the bathroom. The problem is…” Kevin states suddenly interrupted by A.J. laughing.



“Bro, I don’t want to know about the whole bathroom ordeal. What you and toilet do is between ya two.” A.J. states holding in more laughter.



Kevin takes a deep breath and rolls his eyes, “Can I finish? This is serious Alex. Stop joking around.”



A.J. throws his arms in the air in defeat, “Sorry, my back. Continue.” He states with amusement in his eyes.



Kevin tells A.J. in clear detail about the red lasers that came shooting from his eyes, breaking the bathroom mirror. “It’s insane. It’s like I’m losing it. This can’t be real, but then something is up with Nick too.” Kevin states, fear evident in his voice.



“Man this is freaky. Nicky what happened?” A.J. asks nervously, eyeing the young blond sitting on the white carpet beside the bed.



“I woke up with fire in my bed!” Nick says, explaining what he saw when he had gotten up.



“What! You saw a flame just appear beside you on the bed, burning and the fire never touched you! How can that be? I mean you said the fire was burning for a good few minutes, how can you not feel the flames on your skin?” A.J. states drawing out confused looks from the other two.



“I don’t know! The flames never touched me. I can’t explain it!” Nick states frustrated, as he picks off some of the lint from the carpet.



A.J. sighs, “K, so you two can do magic tricks, couldn’t we have talked about this in the morning.” He rolls his eyes to one of his pillows to settle down for sleep.



Kevin shoves the digital clock into A.J.’s face, the red glowing numbers showing three am on it. “It is morning and we’re gonna talk about this now!” Kevin states irritated.



A.J. sighs, closing his eyes as he lies down, placing his head back on the pillow. “I hate you guys.” A.J. mutters annoyed, a small smile playing on his lips.



Nick sighs smiling, “The feelings mutual, but something happened with you and you didn’t realize it.”



A.J. twirls his fingers in the air to express his excitement, sarcastically he responds, “ Woo Hoo, why I would love to hear what you have to tell me Nicky?”



“Stop calling me that, A.J.” Nick states getting annoyed.



Kevin sighs and mutters a small profanity under his breath, “Can you two behave like adults now? A.J. you lifted your arm and you somehow threw that broken vase over there.”



A.J. asks confused, “What? NO way! It’s not like I have telekinesis dude. Please go to sleep, ya two are bugging out. And you woke me up from my beauty sleep.”



Nick mutters quietly, “Looks like you’ll be sleeping for a long time then, cause one gotta be beautiful to get that kind of sleep right?”



A.J. flips his middle finger to him and points to the door, “Out now! And enough of the whole magic thing, K.” As he throws a pillow at Nick head.



Nick narrowly misses the pillow and laughs flipping both of his middle fingers to A.J. as he backs out the room all the while Kevin tells him to stop that and leaves the room.



Kevin laughs and pushes Nick and himself out the door, closing the hotel door behind them.



A.J. closes his eyes shortly after they left but the thoughts of what they said, lingered in his mind. ‘Telekinesis. Please what were they sniffing to say that?’ But then again, how did the vase broke? If the guys weren’t in the room yet. None of that made sense and A.J. falls into a fitful sleep as the thoughts hounded his dreams. Hopefully in the morning, things can be explained in clear detail and the guys were probably playing a joke on him. But somehow his heart was telling him something else.

~*~



Brian wakes up, his blue eyes blinded by the bright light of the glowing sun. He gets up and gets dressed in denim jeans and a white striped shirt and heads out to meet the others downstairs. He gets into the elevator and steps out to the lobby. To his surprise, everyone in the group was already there. Surprised, Brian glanced at his watch. He was five minutes early until they had to meet, yet he was the last one down today. He pinched himself to make sure this is all real.



“Yup, Rok, we’re here before you. And for the first time ever, it seems you’re not the early one this morning.” Howie states laughing as the others join in. He tugs on his black t-shirt and rubs his hands on gray cargo pants.



“Man, maybe my watch stopped or something. How are you all here before me? This sucks. I don’t like being the late one.” Brian states with a confused look on his face.



Nick laughs and runs his fingers through his blond spikes, patting Brian’s shoulder gently. “Well, it happens to the best of us at times, Rok.” At this statement everyone bursts out laughing.



Brian looks at his cousin and noticed that something is up. “Kev. Are you ok? What happened?” Brian asks quietly, approaching Kevin who’s sitting on a soft black sofa in the lobby.



“It’s nothing, I’ll tell ya later, we’re gonna be late for rehearsal now.” Kevin whispers, concealing the fear in his voice. He fingers the pockets of his brown leather jacket and tugs on his beige sweater beneath it. He rubs his hands on his black pants and heads to the glass doors.



“What are you hiding Kevin?” Brian states seriously, crossing his arms over his chest.



Kevin stares back at him, “Nothin’ let’s go!” And with that walks to the awaiting jeep at the back of the hotel. Brian sighs and runs his fingers through his sandy blond hair.



“Don’t worry about. Look Howie is fine. His little flu thingy must have passed already. Kevin was just worried about him and A.J.” Nick states smiling, his blue eyes shining.



Brian lets a small smile cross his face to conceal the concern that overtakes him suddenly.



All through the rehearsal, Brian knew something was up, everyone seemed quiet, a little too quiet. Words were rarely said from any of the guys and that bugged Brian out. Finally the silence was too much for Brian and he crosses over to Nick, who’s sitting on the edge of the stage swinging his legs, softly.



“Nick, what’s up with everyone?” Brian states annoyed, his eyes scanning the dark blue denim and white tight t-shirt worn by Nick.



Nick shrugs his shoulder, “Hmm, I don’t know. I guess we don’t have much to say today.”



“Yeah right, tonight’s the concert. We usually get all giddy and hyped, but something’s up. I mean ya all quiet and stuff. And you don’t seem to be excited about tonight. That’s not like you and the others at all. You’re hiding something. Tell me!” Brian states, kneeling down next to Nick and gazes at the large arena: where rows and rows of vacant seats were getting cleaned and prepared for tonight’s concert.



“Tell me something, Brian, do you think a person can have some kind of power mentally?” Nick asks curiously, staring at Brian.



Brian drew confused look on his face. “Just tell me, I have no idea what you’re talking about?”



Nick sighs and goes into detail about last night’s events with him, Kevin and A.J. “And I think Howie can do stuff too.” Nick states finishing the story.



Brian stares at Nick confused, “I know you have a big imagination, but this doesn’t make any sense. Besides where did you get this idea about the powers?”



Nick shakes his head frustrated, “See, I knew you wouldn’t believe me. Tell me Brian, what other explanation can there be! We tried being logical and reasonable about this whole thing but we got no answers. What about Howie? You saw it didn’t you. Everyone else saw the electricity shooting out of Howie hands the other day. Come on! Tell me what other reason can there be!” Nick cries out frustrated.



Brian gulps, shaking his head. “I don’t wanna believe it. If you have that fire power, then what’s my power? Huh?” Shouts Brian annoyed. “You know as well as I do that people can’t do those things. Howie got a little shocked, that’s all. It’s not a big deal. He’s ok now, didn’t you see him laughing and dancing? He’s singing great, like he always does, he’s fine, nothing is bothering him.”



Nick gulps, “Have you asked him how he’s doing? You know he plays off things like nothing is bothering him. But I know he’s not fine. Look at him Brian, tell me, if he looks ok.”



Brian sighs and gazes his blue eyes over to the tan complexion face of Howie. Howie, who’s normally laughing during rehearsal, is sitting in the corner with his head on his knees today. “So, he’s a little tired today. Sleep wasn’t easy with all the commotion you did last night.”



“What is it gonna take for you to believe that something is really wrong with us. I say we all go to the doctor now and find out the problem. If we’re going through some sort of outword depression, I need to know.” Kevin states: leaning over Brian, eyeing his younger cousin cautiously.



Brian shrugs his shoulders, “Depression? Fine, I mean, you guys don’t feel well, let’s talk with a doctor about this. Cause if all of you guys caught something, we gotta cancel or postpone tonight’s concert.”



The others nod and begin gathering stuff, putting on their gym backs and back packs.



Brian heads down one of the aisles backstage and crashes into a middle age woman who works with the planning of concerts. The fluorescent lights shine down on her caramel complexion as she heads the opposite way towards Brian. He was about to wave to her but was stun with what happened next. The woman, who’s black hair had some few strands of grayish white was tied up in a bun. She’s in a black blouse and red long skirt. The woman of average height suddenly after the collision with Brian falls, crashing to the cement pavement, not moving. Her brown eyes stare blankly back at Brian as he touches her face gently. He reached for her wrist to find no pulse. Nothing, she’s not breathing. Brian thinks to himself scared as his heart begins banging in his chest. He takes deep breaths and begins to shout for help. Two security guards arrived quickly along with the other four members of the group. One of the security guards found she died and called for ambulance.



“Sir, this woman died of heart attack.” One of the security guards replied.



Brian bit his lower lip nervously watching the guards carry the dead woman away to the arriving paramedics. Nick stands near Brian and pokes Brian with his elbow. “You know something, don’t you?” Nick whispers softly.



Brian shakes his head, “N, no, why would you say that?”



“Because you looked like you had something to do with the woman’s death.” A.J. states concerned.



Kevin pats Brian’s shoulder and shouts at A.J., “Why would you say that? How dare you accuse him of killing anyone. You heard the guard, she died of a heart attack, not cause Brian had anything to do with it.”



A.J. looks alarmed, “No, that’s not what I meant; I mean if we really have something wrong with us, like that magic crap you all insisted we possess, then maybe Brian has a power that deals with death.” A.J. stuttered at the end of the statement, backing away from the four glaring men. He stares at his black tank top and black cargo pants and gulps nervously.



Howie sighs, “I think Nick could be right on this one.”



“Whoa, care to repeat that again? Blondie over here, right for once in his life. No way, I can’t believe it.” A.J. states smiling at Nick.



Brian stands there shaking violently, he cries out suddenly, “You think I have something to do with that woman’s death. I never touched her! She bumped into me and then she fell dead on the floor.”



A.J. did a low whistle and shakes his head, “Maybe you can touch people and they die in your hands.”



“That’s enough!” Kevin interrupts him. “I don’t wanna hear another word from your mouth A.J.! How dare you say that to him! You apologize to him now. We end this discussion now! We’ll get the answers we need soon. So if you don’t have anything to say not pertaining to this whole magic thing, then don’t bother talking.” Kevin states angrily, gently pulling Brian outside the arena to get into the black jeep taking them to a nearby doctor. The others follow behind, confused and upset.



“Wow, Kevin went all daddy on us again.” Nick grumbles.



Howie smiles, running his fingers through his short brown wavy hair: “He’s scared Nick, about all of this. How will you respond to such a thing like this?” He asks gently, as a gentle breeze filters the sunny sky outside.



“I think I’m responding quite while.” Nick states seriously.



Howie smiles, “He’s worried about all of us, that’s why he’s like that. As of this power thing, it’s too far fetch. That’s like in fairy tales and stuff.”



“And in comics” added A.J. smiling.



“What if they find nothing wrong with us? Then what?” Nick asks softly.



Howie pats Nick shoulder, “They have to! People don’t do things like this, it’s not normal is it?” Howie states to comfort Nick. Yet in his mind, he knew that something is wrong and a simple medication won’t be able to care for their special disease.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Four- No Results~**



Kevin stares around the waiting room in the doctor’s clinic impatiently as he gazes at the other guys. The gray walls are covered neatly with artistic painting and posters. The warm yellow light cascades down the room from one glass chandelier, hanging above them. Brian is nibbling on his lower lip nervously while Howie starts flipping through pages of a magazine reclining on the soft beige leather sofa. Nick taps his sneakers on the black tiles nervously and lets out annoyed sigh. And A.J. keeps checking the clock on the wall tensely and stares at Kevin with a worried expression on his face fiddling his fingers.



“Kev. You think they found out something. Cause we’ve been waiting here for a while now.” A.J. whispers, sitting next to Howie who’s right across from Kevin.



Kevin gulps, “I don’t know. It must be taking a while for them to find anything in our blood.”



Nick fingers the small white bandage on his arm where a few minutes ago, a doctor took samples of his blood as well as the other guys. Now here they are waiting for some form of results to arrive.



Brian sighs and stands up, pacing back and forth in the waiting room. “Kev. He’s coming, the doctor’s coming.” His blue eyes stare at the entrance of the waiting room, as all other eyes follow Brian’s.



A tall dark Caribbean man, his complexion a warm dark chocolate which shines brightly in the florescent light, enters the room. His big gray eyes scan the five men in the room. He opens his lab coat and pulls out a pen. In his hands, he held a small manila folder with a sheet of paper in it.



“Doctor Robertson, did you find any thing that can help us?” Brian states, his eyes practically pleading with the doctor for the results.



“Gentlemen, I’m sorry to say, but in all reality, nothing is wrong with any of you. You’re all very healthy. That’s good news! You should be happy. Nothing was found in your blood and as for any of you suffering from depression. From what I got, talking with each of you in my office. You’re all very emotionally healthy. I can’t tell from anything else why those strange occurrences happen or why it happened? But maybe it’s just from a very hyper imagination.” The doctor states, his Trinidadian accent showing clearly in his voice.



“Imagination? Doctor that can’t be it!” Howie states concerned. “What we experienced last night has never happen before. You can’t tell me why I have electricity shooting out of me?! I can’t believe this.” Howie states nervously as A.J. gulps anxiously. Brian runs over to comfort Howie who’s shaking in fear.



“Doc, look is there any where you can recommend for us to go get ourselves check out? I mean this isn’t normal. Last night my friend A.J. lifted his arm and a vase was magically picked up and thrown across the room! There has to be a deeper explanation as to what’s causing this.” Kevin states, his emerald eyes unfocused as he fights some frustrated tears from filling his eyes.



“Sir I can understand why you would feel this way. This is a strange phenomenon for all of us. I myself have never heard of such a story as yours. But I think I can help. I know of a doctor or rather a neurosurgeon who can help you. If you truly believe this is happening to you, then maybe doctor Rodriguez can help you locate the problem. This can be more of a mental issue and he can help find the solution. Will that be ok?” Dr. Robertson states.



Howie sighs and Nick stares at Kevin with a worried expression on his face.



“Kev. I don’t know about this. A mental issue? I don’t like this whole thing.” Nick states, his blue eyes staring deeply into Kevin’s eyes.



“I think the doctor can help us. I sure for one will not leave until I find out what the heck was that thing that was shooting out of my hands.” Howie states confidently.



Brian gulps and walks to Kevin. “It’s up to you, If you think this can be a good idea then I’m down with this.”



Kevin nods his head, “How fast can see this doctor Rodriguez?” He questions Dr. Robertson.



“As fast as you need him.” The doctor replied.



“Ok, then I say now.” A.J. replies. All the others nod their nods as Dr. Robertson goes behind the counter to arrange an appointment for them.

~*~



Dr. Rodriguez shuffles through piles of papers and scribbles something down. His dark brown eyes scan the paper in front of him as he passes his caramel fingers through his short raven colored hair. He’s a young clean cut doctor. Smiling, he stares at the five men, two sitting, while three are standing. “Ok, gentlemen. This is the deal, as of right now, I can’t give any of you a cat scan until I receive a recommendation from Dr. Robertson.”



He just sent us to you, he said to do whatever it takes to find the cause of the problem.” The blue eyed sandy haired Kentuckian whispers, sitting in a brown folding chair besides the doctor’s desk.



“Gentlemen, I just can’t give you a cat scan. I’ll need to know your health issues before this can be done. Also, you guys are performers right?” Doctor Rodriguez states, smiling.



Nick smiles a little and nods, “Oh, yeah. We’re a singing group. We actually have a concert tonight.”



The doctor laughs, “While I know this sounds weird but my daughter is a big fan and I was hoping I can get you guys autograph for my little girl.”



Brian smiles, “We would love to!” He states passing the paper around so the other guys can sign.



“What’s your daughter’s name?” Howie states smiling.



“Her name is Paul, uh, Paula.” The doctor replies blushing.



A.J. laughs, “It’s ok, we have fans of different ages.”



Brian hands back the sign paper to the doctor smiling. “Well, Doctor, I guess we should leave now. We have to get ready for the concert tonight.”



Dr. Rodriguez smiles and shakes hands with the men. “Come back to me with your health records from the Dr. Robertson after you’re done with tonight’s concert. I’ll help ya get the info you guys need.”



“Great, thanks!” A.J. smiles waving bye to the doctor. As the group heads out the door, Nick; the last one to leave the office, turns back to the doctor and smiles. “Thanks for helping us Paul er, uh, Dr. Rodriguez.”



Laughing, the doctor tells him to keep quiet about that. “Shhh. Hope ya not mad ‘bout the whole postponing the cat scan thing.”



“Na, we can survive. So we’ll see ya tomorrow then with the records and stuff, bye!” Nick states leaving the room to catch up to the other guys.



The doctor closes his folder and closes his office door. He picks up the phone to call Dr. Robertson.



“Ello” the response came from the other phone.



“Hey look it’s me, Paul. How is everything going Dasel?” Dr. Rodriguez asks.



“Well, how is everything with you? Did you sent up an appointment with them?” Dr. Robertson asks.



“Not yet, listen Dasel. I think these are the missing people from Experiment 1b. Can you call Cappa about this? I think they’ll wanna know that their experiment is turning out to be a success.” Dr. Rodriguez whispers quietly as he locks the office door.



Laughter was heard on the other line, “Paul, I’ll do it, but how do you know it’s them?”



“It has to be Dasel, think about it. The experiment was done on five infants of random ages. The so called vaccination was given to five young boys. The ages match exactly when they were first injected with the special liquid. Tell me, what did you see in their blood?”



“You know what I saw, I saw the tiny white crystals in their blood stream. The crystals that gives them that power they were so called complaining about.” Dr. Robertson states.



“Oh man, you know what this means, since we found them, it looks like we’ll be living like kings. I’m thinking of buying a yacht near my soon to be mansion by the beach.” Dr. Rodriguez states laughing.



Dr. Robertson joins in the laughter, “I’ll get right to it, I’m sure Cappa will want to get their hands on these guys, since it’s been such a great successful experiment.”



“They’ll be happy. Man I guess we got front row seats on this plan now don’t we?” Dr. Rodriguez states.



“You bet! Well Paul, I’ll talk to ya later, I have a patient arriving in a few.” Dr. Robertson states, saying goodbye and hanging up the phone.



Smiling, Dr. Rodriguez, reclines on his leather seat and picks up the phone to make a quick call to the government assembly to inform them that their precious cargo will be at an arena performing a concert tonight.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Five- Welcome To CAPPA-**



Yawning, the young woman gets up from her seat in her office and paces back and forth, her black high heeled strapped shoes click on the waxed mahogany planks of her office. She brushes some medium brown strands behind her ears and fixes her hair style, which today was pinned up with a clip. Smiling, her peach complexion shines brightly in the yellow florescent light. Staring at a full length mirror near her small dark mahogany desk, she fixes her green peasant top and rubs her fingers down her black cotton skirt. It’s a simple outfit, casual for the job she obtained in the company of CAPPA. She throws on the white lab coat all employees are asked to wear. She applies some cinnamon lipstick on her pink lips to give her some color on her face. She leans on the edge of her desk and bites her lowers lip in nervousness. Her door opens and in enters the new intern of CAPPA.



Her short blond hair tumbles in her shoulders loosely and her green eyes shine brightly revealing the gold specks in the center of her eyes. Her few freckles appear through the light blush on her cheeks and she smiles taking a seat in front of the desk. Her pale skin shines in the light brightly. She tugs on her white lab coat and crosses her legs staring at the woman leaning on the desk. She taps her black strapped shoes on the floor.



“Morning Miss Summer.” The young woman says staring at the intern in the seat.



Summer smiles and tugs on her green lace tank top and fiddles with her black cotton knee length skirt. “Morning to you too, Miss Jamelet. You seem preoccupied about something. Can I help?”



Jamelet smiles and shakes her head, “Nothing for you to worry about Miss Summer.”



Summer sighs, “You know you can call me just Summer, the whole Miss in front of it sounds so professional right now. Besides, I’m on break. Summer will do just fine.”



Jamelet smiles, “Ok, well I guess you can just call me Jamelet then. The company is so strict on being professional at all times I forget what it feels like to say a person’s name without the mister or miss in it.”



Summer giggles, “I think you’ve been working here too long. I heard I should soon call you doctor Jamelet. Looks like you’re getting your medical degree shortly.”



Jamelet waves her hand gently in the air laughing, “I think it’ll be years before I can pull through with that degree.”



“So Jamelet, are you gonna tell me what’s up? You look like something’s bugging you.” Summer states, beaming happily, settling in the soft leather chair.



Jamelet giggles and pulls her leather chair out from behind the desk to sit down next to Summer. “It’s well, I heard a rumor that the experiment that was done more than a decade ago with some people have been seen with positive results. A Doctor Robertson called earlier today to say he discovered the five men with the crystalline liquid in their blood system that provides special powers.”



“Special powers?” Summer asks, her eyes opening wide in curiosity.



“Remember the secret information that was withheld from you last week about some experiment?” Jamelet asks, watching Summer nod her head in remembrance.



“While I know I’m not suppose to be saying this, but I feel I can trust you. I mean you’ve been working here for almost two months. I feel you should know exactly what you’re really working in.” Jamelet states quietly staring at the closed office door.



Summer gulps, “Somehow I feel this news you’re gonna tell me won’t be good.”



Jamelet nods her head, sighing sadly she stares at Summer. “I guess I should start from the beginning. Before there was a CAPPA. A little history lesson before I tell ya.”



Summer leans back on the black leather seat and waits for Jamelet to begin the story.



“About thirteen years ago, my father, who’s now the boss of CAPPA- this secret organization, began working in politics. Frustrated that he wasn’t making a difference in the government to help find a cure for a disease that my sister had gotten, he decided to create an underground experimentation by testing animals with what he believed could hold the answer to being a cure for her disease. Unfortunately, my step sister didn’t survive the disease that had overtaken her. Her blood was somehow diseased with what seemed like poison. She died about thirteen years ago, sending my father to almost lose his mind. Still working with the government, he decided to open up a testing center with well educated doctors to help him find a cure for that disease that poisoned my step sister. Somehow he found a way to help stop that disease but he needed test subjects to analysis how it will function on a human body. It was a success, the problem is the medication left the subjects with unusual powers or as my father used to say ‘gifts.” Thus we had Experiment 1A. The five women tested on this, unfortunately had negative results. They somehow manage to gain abilities to do things with their minds. But they become so anti social, government feared they are a threat to society. Now these woman are held here.”



“As prisoners!” Shouted a shocked Summer.



“Something like that. My dad figured if he can find out what went wrong with them, he can release the mediation out to the public to help those who need it. Of course again he needed test subjects and he just couldn’t announce that to the community. He knew people cared for their own safety and the last thing they wanted to be was part of an experiment that can go wrong. So with the government’s permission, he got some doctors in a few clinics spread out in the country to experiment with the new medication. The doctors agreed and instead of testing women this time, my father decided to try it on men. Chosen at random, the doctors gave the medication instead of using the medicine for vaccination to five boys of different ages, throughout the country. One boy was given the medication in New York. Another boy was given that same medication in Miami, two others were given that same medication in Lexington Kentucky and the last one in Palm Spring, Florida. Now word has it that those five boys are grown and are doing well socially and are completely healthy. The experiment was a success and now my dad wants to get them and see what they can do. See this medication has the same negative effects of giving the subjects powers or gifts. Mentally, these men are powerful and they don’t know it yet.” Jamelet finishes, taking a deep breath in worry.



Summer sits there with her mouth open as she takes in what was just told to her. “How can this be? What if that medication could have killed those innocent lives? Everyone responds to medicine differently you know.”



Jamelet nods her head, “That wouldn’t be possible, my father is a chemist and knows how a human body can respond to such a medicine.”



“What about these men? Will they get caught to get experimented on?” Summer speaks nervously, getting goose bumps from listening to the horror of this job she got herself in.



“Maybe not, if they cooperate then nothing will happen to them.” Jamelet whispers softly feeling Summer’s green eyes piercing her.



“And, and, if they don’t wanna do what is told, will they get hurt?” Summer whispers frighten.



“I hope not.” Jamelet states sighing.

~*~





The Black and Blue Concert was about to begin in a few minutes and the excitement was running through backstage.



A.J. taps his foot nervously and takes a deep breath. Nick stands next to him and gives him a big smile.



“Yo, you ready?” Nick asks excitedly, the lights glowing on his blond spikes.



A.J. nods his head, “As ready as I’ll ever be!” He whispers animated, jumping up and down ready for the concert to begin. His brown eyes twinkle and he runs his fingers through his black and red dyed hair.



Howie laughs, his brown eyes glittering happily and stands next to Kevin. Brian hurries to take his place next to Nick, his blue eyes twinkling with glee as Nick smiles, reflecting gleaming blue eyes back at him.



Brian has a big grin on his face as the platform they’re on begins rising them to the main stage. The crowd was roaring in excitement as the five vocalists appear on stage, the music playing loudly, driving the crowd to a scream fest. The concert was a great success. Everything was going as planned until towards the end of the concert.



That’s when things took an unexpected turn. During the middle of the “The Call” performance, A.J. who’s standing in the center of the stage raises his hands in the air causing some of the objects on stage to fly off stage injuring the first few rows of people. Brian singing next to A.J. stares at him frighten as another object soars towards the Brian knocking him down on the stage floor. Nick on the other end of the stage stands clapping his hands when suddenly a small flame of fire appears and begins circle him, lapping at his feet. He stands there scared and in shock as the trail of fire spreads over to the other guys, the dancers scream and run off the stage to get a fire extinguisher for the rapidly growing bright orange fire that erupted. Kevin stands there in shock as races over to stomp out some flames that were circling Nick. Howie stands there and tries to get away from the flames coming at him, when he looks at the colored stage lights. The stage lights explode, sending sparks of electricity spraying into the audience. Darkness surrounds the stage as people scream in fear trying to leave the arena in safety. Kevin looks around to see the trap stage doors closed. He stares down and he feels his eyes burning when suddenly bright red lasers shoots out of his eyes and burns the stage floor, creating a hole for the group to escape the terror on stage. Kevin stands there in shock while Brian runs over to the open stage door. Brian shouts to the others to get to safety and runs towards the hole that suddenly appears on the stage due to Kevin’s gift. The guys all run and jump into the hole as fire and electricity shoot out and begin eating away at the onstage materials.



Brian screams out from beneath the stage, “What the hell just happened?!”



A.J. shouts out, “The lights blew up! Rok! The lights just blew up. A fire started and something was flying in the air!”



Nick screams out, shaking violently, “It’s us! It’s us! We did that!”



Kevin runs over to Nick, whispering calmly, “Nick, stop it! We didn’t do that. The lights and stuff went wrong. You had nothing to do with that. There must have been some electrical problem that caused a fire and all that to start.” He says softly patting Nick’s shoulder for comfort.



“Bro, I don’t know about that! Did ya see the stuff floating? We don’t have magic in our concert! What the hell caused some stuff to float and hit the audience?” Brian states, trembling in fear.



Kevin gulps, “I, I don’t know.” He whispers softly.



Howie runs over to Kevin, his eyes adjusted to the sudden darkness beneath the stage, “Come on, let’s get out of here! The concerts over, the fire is spreading and everyone has to evacuate so the fire can be put out!”



Brian points to the exit of the backstage and the group runs out the exit only to crash into ten men dressed in white plastic over rolls and a white helmet concealing their faces. The men wore a large black gas mask. The white bright long sleeve shirts covered the men’s arms as they approach the group. They all wore white mechanical gloves. One of the men, throws a small red glass sphere right next to Nick’s feet.



Kevin stands in front of the group safely getting them out the arena. A cold chill ran in the air as the ten men surround the group. Brian and Howie reach for their cell phone but realize that they are still in their costumes from the concert. Nick tries to make a run for it in panic and crashes into one of the white clothes men. Kevin looks around to see where their management and security are at. But no one was seen around the arena inside and out, except them.



A white clothes man grabs Nick roughly by his wrists as Nick cries out in pain. Kevin rushes over to help Nick but three men grabs him and throws another tiny red glass sphere next to Brian. In a matter of seconds, the red sphere releases a sleeping gas, knocking all five members of the group to the ground in a deep sleep. One of the white clothes men points to the bodies as two men pick up Kevin and throws the body in the back of an all black shiny truck. Two more men picks up Nick and does the same. Two other men reaches for Howie and one grabs his shoulders, the other by his legs, carry Howie to the back of the truck. Two other white clothes men grab Brian the same way and throws the body where the others are. The last two men grabs A.J. and carry him to the back of the truck, depositing him with the other sleeping members.



One man gives the nine other men, a thumbs up and heads to the driver’s seat to take the bodies back to CAPPA, where the experimentation will begin.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Six- Experiments Gone Wrong~**



The dim yellow lights lit up the isolated hallway that Summer and Jamelet walks in. After going down a few stairwells, the place where as Summer would say the “the prisoners are held” is located. Going down the cement pathway through a large copper door, laid a hallway, showing four prisons and at the end of the hallway laid a large metal silver iron door. Jamelet pulls out a keycard and types in a password on a small flat screen next to the copper door. After accessing the code, the door slides open allowing entrance to Summer and Jamelet. Summer follows closely behind as they walk down the quiet hallway. Only the sounds of their heels clicking on the hard cement ground provided some noise in the eerie quietness. Summer stares at the four prisons, each cell had a twin bed and a small dresser. A small bathroom with a shower and tub which was provided and there in the center of the cell was an entertainment system: with a TV and everything electronic that can provide some form of entertainment. The bathroom itself had a doorway and an oak door that allowed privacy in the bathroom.



Summer was stunned with how beautiful the cells looked. It was designed as a small studio apartment, looking comfortable and cozy. A small red carpet was strewn in each cell near the beautifully covered beds. There were red laced curtains hung across a wide circular window exposing the garden outside in front of the CAPPA institution. A small leather beige chair was in the center of each of the rooms for relaxation. Different pictures hung in each of the four cells. The first cell had no one in it.



Summer stops and looks at that cell. “Jamelet, why is there no one here in this cell?” Her green eyes blinking, taking in the scenery before her. The cell smelled of fresh mahogany and perfume.



Jamelet walks to the next cell beside the empty one. “That cell is not being used.”



Summer drew a confused look, “So one of them is sharing a cell with someone else?”



Jamelet shakes her head no and points to the cell in front of her, “Come, I want to introduce you to someone.”



Summer nods her head and stands beside Jamelet looking into the cell. There in the cell was a young sixteen year old with a full set of dark brown wavy hair, mid-length down her back. Her hair hung loosely down her back. The sunlight coming through the window reflected the natural red highlights aligning the hair. Her light tan skin glowed brilliantly in the sunlight as she sat in the center of the chair staring at them with big dark brown eyes. In her eyes a beautiful shade of amber rings surrounds the dark brown.



Jamelet smiles and waves to the girl in the chair. “Come over here, you have a visitor, say hi to her.” She states to the young woman. The teen stands up at a height of five feet seven inches and gently steps close to the front of the prison where the thick black bars are. Placing her hands on the bars, the girl smiles at Summer.



Summer gulps nervously and says a quiet hello. “Jamelet, I don’t see anything wrong with her. She seems innocent enough. Why does she have to be locked away like this? Like she’s some kind of animal.”



Jamelet smiles and looks at Summer gently, “Something is wrong with her. I never said she had something physically wrong with her. It’s in here where the trouble lies.” Jamelet states, pointing to the side of her own head.



Summer gulps and nervously speaks to the young woman in front of her. “Hi, what’s your name? I’m Summer. I work here.”



The girl tugs on her black halter top and rubs her fingers on the dark blue jean pockets she’s wearing. Smiling, the girl spoke softly, “I’m Kimberly but you can call me Kim.” She smiles and sticks her hands out of the bars to shake Summer’s hand.



Summer nervously shakes the girl hands and stares at Kimberly for a few seconds before Jamelet interrupts.



“You’re probably wondering what Kim can do right?” Jamelet states.



Summer nods her head, “I don’t know if that’s a good idea.” She states nervously staring at the young teen before her.



Jamelet smiles, “It’s ok, she won’t hurt you, will you Kim?”



Kim shakes her head and backs away from the cell bars smiling.



“Go ahead, sweetie, show Summer what you can do.” Jamelet states quietly.



Kim smiles and her cinnamon colored lips take a deep breath. She closes her eyes and spreads out her hands away from her on the side. When she opens her eyes, the amber rings in her eyes glowed brilliantly and suddenly the ground shook violently. Summer gasp and grabs onto Jamelet’s arm in surprise.



“What is she doing?” Summer shouts out over the rumbling of the ground shaking.



Jamelet smiles and tells Kim to stop, “Ok that’s enough for now Kim.”



Kimberly nods her head and places her arms down her side. At once the ground stopped shaking. Summer draws in a deep shaky breath and stares at Jamelet waiting for an explanation.



“She has the power of the Earth. Meaning, she can cause tremendous earthquakes, cause landslides, mud slides, avalanches and if she’s lucky move land apart, all with her mind, she can also camouflage with her surroundings if she wanted to.” Jamelet explains to Summer. Summer stares wide eyed at the girl and at Jamelet.



“Why wasn’t I informed of this before I was applying for this job?” Summer states, her breath coming in rapidly.



“Because this is a well kept secret. This organization has withheld this data from the parts of government for more than a decade.” Jamelet states confidently, her medium brown eyes staring at Kim.



Summer gulps and asks, “But why lock her up like this? She doesn’t seem like a danger now.”



Jamelet shakes her head, “She’s not a danger now, but as she grows, she can lose control of her powers and endanger everyone in the society.”



“Isn’t there an anti-drug that can combat these powers?” Summer asks quietly watching Kim grab a seat watching TV.



“We’re working on it. But until there is, this organization owns her, she’s our property.” Jamelet states sadly.



Summer gulps, “I can’t believe this.”



“Come, I wanna show you the other two girls.” Jamelet states, moving across Kimberly’s cell to another similar cell only with a different young woman in it.



Summer steps close to the bars to look into the cell. There lying on the bed was a young teen staring at her. Standing up the young woman at five feet eight inches with blond hair inches above her shoulders lies layered on her shoulders. Her white complexion shines beautifully in the sunlight that trickles through the wide glass window.



“Good evening Rose, how are you doing?” Jamelet asks calmly.



Rose simply smiles and tugs on her light pink flowered peasant top and a knee length jean skirt. Walking near the bars, her beige sandals barely touches the floor.



Summer notices this and backs away from the cell in fright.



Jamelet smiles and pulls on Summer’s arm, “Here, I wanna introduce you two. This is Rose. She’s precious, if you haven’t noticed yet what her power is.”



Summer stands shaking, “Did, did she just float?” She stammers out frighten, feeling the goose bumps emerging on her arms.



“She has the power of wind. She can cause hurricanes and tornadoes. And the neat part about her power is she can float at times when she wants, of course that doesn’t happen very often. She showed you a small part of what she can do when she came floating over to you.” Jamelet states eying Summer through the corner of her eyes.



Summer shakes her head nervously, “I don’t know if I wanna see the other three.”



Jamelet laughs, “Sure you do, you’ll only see two more. I promise it won’t be so bad.”



Rose looks at Summer and smiles, “What’s your name? I haven’t seen you around here before?” She asks quietly.



“I, I, uh, I work here. Jamelet told me about you guys and I had to come see you, to see if it’s true.” Summer answers nervously, turning her head away from the girl.



“Well it is. Do you know I can do other things as well?” Rose states, a naughty smile appearing on her face.



Jamelet shook her head, “Behave Rose.”



“I am, I just wanna show her my true powers.” Rose states smiling at the petrified Summer.



Summer turns her head to Jamelet, “I say we go check out the other three before it gets too late.” She states nervously.



Jamelet smiles, “Lucky for you, we’re gonna move on and check out the others. Rose was gonna use what we call the ‘death call.’



Summer’s eyes grew big, “Say what, care to repeat?” She chokes out in fear.



Jamelet laughs, “Since Rose has the power of wind, she can scream at a high pitch, like a howling wind during those thunderstorms that bang and rattle on the windows. In other words she can make us deaf.”



Summer fakes a smile and responds, “I, I don’t find that funny. See the mouth, no laughing coming from there.” Summer states.



Jamelet throws an arm around the confused Summer and leads her to another cell, this one with a young teen of about fifteen with short blonde hair down her shoulders and orange tips. Her blue grey eyes lit up when she saw Jamelet appearing in front of her cell. She was curled with her legs pulled up to her chest and her head was lying on her knees. She seems wet, with drops of water dripping off of her face, arms and legs. Her clothes: a black tank top with a blue dragon in the center of the shirt and dark blue denims seemed drenched as drops of water fall off her clothes and skin. Shivering a little, she stands up and greets Jamelet, walking to the bars in front of her.



“Summer, allow me to introduce to you Paige, the youngest of Experiment 1A. She’s fifteen. In case you’re curious, she has the power of water. Which explains why she’s all wet now. She can produce water, make it rain, thunderstorm, she can create floods, she can raise water and if she was being bad, can drown people in water.” Jamelet explains to Summer.



Summer shakes her head in disbelief, “How, why would your father do such things to these innocents lives? Can you honestly tell me this is right, testing them, giving them phenomenal powers and then locking them up. Because of CAPPA, they can’t live a normal life. Am I the only who sees this as wrong?”



Jamelet smiles, “What’s done is done. I can’t change the past any more than you can. Which is why this company doesn’t ever want to see such failures again.”



Summer rolls her green eyes, “Ok, fine, but listen the minute you can cure them, you’ll let them go, right?!” Shouts Summer feeling her heart go weak at the poor sight of the girls locked up.



“I promise. I feel as hurt as you do. When my father told me about them, I was so hurt, seeing them like this. But we don’t have a choice. The government doesn’t want them, the community is scared senseless and their parents are afraid of them. No one was going to care for them. Only us. So we did want is right and let them live here as normally as they can with us watching them and finding any answers that can heal them.” Jamelet states anxiously moving to a large iron door.



Summer follows Jamelet to the door and points, “What the heck is that behind the door?”



Jamelet points to the door, as the three girls behind the bars leans their heads to see what is going to happen. “Get ready, this one behind this door is feisty.”



Summer backs up, “Feisty as in hot?” She states, her green eyes wide open.



Laughing from the three girls breaks the silence as Jamelet explains. “No, she just gets a little wild. She’s tame though, don’t worry, she won’t hurt you, I have her under a tranquilizer today. I came down here before about an hour ago to calm her down.”



Summer grimace, “You know I don’t find this amusing. You’re getting enjoyment watching me almost piss myself scared, aren’t ya?”



Jamelet shakes her head, “Why no Summer, how ever can you think that?” She states sarcastically as she swipes the keycard into the slot besides the iron door. The door clicks and slides open to see a cold room. The room looks just like the other cells the other girls have. Cold smoke comes out of the room touching the delicate flesh of Jamelet and Summer.



Summer hugs herself, rubbing her arms, “Man why’s it’s so cold in here?”



Jamelet enters the room like cell, only instead of the bars, an iron door was put up. “This girl right here, is a special one.” She states pointing to a young sixteen year old, with light blond hair down her broad shoulders in a low ponytail. Her white skin shines brilliantly in the bright room as the sun enters through the wide window. The red lace curtains flutter as a small breeze of cold air filters into the room. The girl stands up at an average height with a tight dark blue tank top and light blue jeans with a rip on the knees, exposing her light color. Her bluish green eyes stare at Summer and smiles.



“Summer” Jamelet begins, “This is Ana, her power is ice. She has the ability to freeze and create hail storms. She can make it snow and if she’s bad, she can freeze anything she touches.”



Ana smiles and whispers “Hi.” Extending her hand to Summer’s. Summer forces a smile and simply waves, fearing the girl looks like trouble. Laughing the girl shakes her head, “I promise not to freeze you. I’ll behave. I have too. Miss Jamelet gave me a tranquilizer that numbs my freezing ability for a few hours.” As she speaks, an icy breath comes out of her mouth with each word.



Summer stares at Jamelet who’s saying bye to Ana and leaves the cell with Summer closely behind.



“I hope you come back for another visit, Miss Summer.” Ana states with a naughty grin on her face.



Summer just gives her a quick nod, “We’ll see.” And with that leaves the room. Summer stares and notices that she only saw four of the five girls. She was about to ask Jamelet about that when suddenly her cell went off. Turning it off, Summer was about to complain to Jamelet about strange Ana seemed in there when suddenly Jamelet’s pager went off.



Looking down, Jamelet grabs the pager and smiles, “Well Summer, it looks like we got company. Experiment 1b just arrived to the facilities. Let’s go and meet these men shall we?”



“Ok, but one thing, you showed me four girls. I thought you send there was five?” Summer asks.



Jamelet bites her lower lip and shakes her head, “The fifth one I’ll tell you about her later.”



“Why can’t you tell me now?” Summer persisted.



“Because.” Jamelet continues, “The fifth one is little different. She’s not down here. Don’t worry you’re safe. Her powers are not dangerous at all. All she can do is read minds.”



Summer nods her head, letting the details seek in. Summer gulps, “Well, will they have weird powers like the girls?”



Jamelet shrugs her shoulders, “I’ll guess we’ll find in a few, won’t we?” And with that heads out of the hallway and back up the stairs with Summer trailing closely behind her.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Seven- Introduction To Experiment 1b~**



The wide glass doors open allowing entrance to the ten masked men carrying five sleeping bodies of the men from experiment 1b. The five bodies are dropped roughly on the white polished tiles of CAPPA. The gold lettering across the walls stood out, shining, with the letters CAPPA scrawled across it. The harsh white lights, filters the lobby of the building as the sleeping bodies lie on the floor. Clicking of heels are heard as Jamelet and Summer appear from the corner of the hallway stopping in front of the masked men.



“Well done, my father will be pleased. Drop each man into that special room. The testing will begin immediately upon their awakening.” Jamelet states smiling, her brown eyes pleased with the results.



“Very well Ms. Jamelet.” One of the masked men dressed in all white says.



Two men each grab a body and leave the lobby to deposit the bodies into their appropriate rooms. Summer stares at the sleeping bodies being carried away in shock. Her green eyes flicker as if in remembrance.



“They look familiar to you Miss Summer?” Jamelet says quietly eyeing the young intern.



“Do you have any idea who you just kidnapped?” Summer yells upset, throwing her arms in the air.



Jamelet nods, “I do. I realize we just kidnapped one of the most popular groups around in music. And I also know that we can get in a lot of trouble with them. Everyone will be out to look for them. So we must take extra precautions with them here. I believe I can trust you in keeping your mouth shut until this experiment is over.” She states, gazing at the young intern intensely.



Summer gulps, “Well, what if I call to let people knew we have them.”



Jamelet narrows her brown eyes to her, “You will do no such thing! You speak and you place everyone in this institution in danger of imprisonment and death. So hold your tongue.” She whispers to Summer angrily.



Shaking her blond locks, Summer stumbles back to the wall eying Jamelet. “What are you gonna do to them?” She asks.



“Nothing, just to train them to use their powers wisely. See they don’t know what’s happening with their bodies and we’re here to help them understand what happened.” Jamelet replies.



Summer stares at Jamelet nervously, “You do realize how angry they’ll be with you about all this right?”



Jamelet shrugs her shoulders, “It’s my father’s order. I do it to help him out.”



Summer sighs, “You always do what daddy says? I thought you are trying to help.” She questions Jamelet’s actions.



“I am trying to help!” Shouts Jamelet.



“Then end this! You can stop this! Why do you allow people to get tested like rats or something. You have control of this company like your father.” Summer states trying to speak calmly without losing her temper.



Jamelet shakes her head, “No, I don’t. The eldest son has control and since I don’t have a brother and I’m the only girl, no power will be given to me. The law mandated that the daughter will not have any control of this.” Jamelet whispers sadly.



“Then why work here? You could do other things than to see people in such an environment.” Summer whispers quietly.



Sighing Jamelet shakes her head, “I can’t leave here.”



“Why not?” Summer asks concerned.



“I’ll tell you later, come let’s go.” Jamelet states eying Summer.



“What do I have to do with all this?” Summer states, choking down the lump forming in her throat as sadness stings her heart.



“You” Jamelet whispers pointing to her, “Will help me in training them. There are five men and five women. I take five to train and you take the other five. We’ll switch and see what the results are.”



Summer shakes her head, “No! I don’t wanna work with the girl that freezes, you even said it yourself how dangerous she is that you had to sedate her!” Yells Summer.



Laughing, Jamelet shakes her head, some medium dark brown strands cascade down her cheeks. “You would eventually have to work with them all, so get used to it now.” She states smiling at Summer, patting her shoulder. “Come, let’s see how the guys are doing.” She tugs on Summer’s left arm and pulls her gently down the bright white hallway.

~*~



The young teenager opens her brown eyes and sits up in a black leather lounge chair she had fallen asleep on. She was tired of all the testing Dr. Thompson: the balding, white, middle age man that consistently kept pushing her to use her powers. She feels drained of her powers and energy and takes a deep breath. She gazes at her yellow thin strapped shirt and rubs her hands down her dark blue denim jeans. Her medium dark brown hair topples out of her hand made bun and lies straight down her shoulders. She sighs as she hears footsteps approaching. Assuming it was Dr. Thompson who found something else to test her with, she stands up staring at the closed door of the examination room. Her eyes gaze at the shiny mahogany floor and at the pale blue curtains that hung on the window facing the backyard of the institution. The white walls shine brilliantly in the yellow florescent light, causing her white skin to glow innocently. She leans back against the wall as the door opens.



“Dr. Thompson, please not right now, I feel too tired to get tested more. Can’t we…” the young fourteen year states, stopping mid sentence to see Jamelet and Summer enter the room.



“Why Alison? What are you doing here?” Jamelet states fixing the collar of her white lab coat.



“Oh, it’s you. I thought you were Dr. Thompson coming back again to harass me.” Alison states smiling at Summer.



Jamelet turns to Summer, “I forgot to mention to you Summer, but this is the fifth girl. The one you didn’t see in the cell.”



Summer nods her head and stares at Alison for a moment before speaking. “So, her powers are not as dangerous as the others then right? I mean she’s walking around here like nothing.”



Jamelet nods, “Exactly, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t dangerous. She can freeze and stop time.”



Summer stares at Jamelet, “What? How can that be? I mean time is a reality that can’t be messed with! It’s something that we can’t control.” Summer gazes at Alison with wonderment.



“You’re true to an extent. But we’re talking about people with usual gifts. Abnormal gifts.” Jamelet states reaching for some research papers that lied scattered on the desktop.



Alison giggles and stares at Summer smiling.



Summer feels uncomfortable and gazes at the young girl. “How, how old are you Alison?”



The girl smiles, her pink glossed lips spread apart, “Fourteen, why?”



“I thought you said Paige was the youngest one.” Summer asks Jamelet who’s sitting on the desktop gathering papers.



Jamelet shrugs her shoulders, “Eh, I don’t remember the ages by heart. It’s not a big deal. She’s the youngest one.”



Alison nods her head and giggles twirling in the chair. “Wanna know what else I can do?” Alison whispers to Summer.



Summer sighs and collapses into a smooth leather chair next to Alison, “What else can you do? Show me.”



Alison grins at her and she stares at Summer intensely. Summer, feeling extremely uncomfortable with the girl looking at her like that, crosses her arms over her chest.



“You like him. You like him!!” Alison shouts suddenly, pointing her finger at Summer.



Summer shrugs her shoulders, “What is she talking about Jamelet?”



Jamelet grins and begins laughing, “She can read people’s mind and hearts. It’s really quite amusing. I mean I always use her to find out if the doctors are lying to me. The docs know better than to lie to me now.”



Summer fakes a grin and leans back in the chair. “I’m not liking the joke here. I mean my thoughts are my thoughts! It’s personal! She shouldn’t have that power to read people’s mind. Heck, that’s the only thing I have that I can go to where I can’t be disturbed.” Summer states manically at the girl.



At this Alison burst out laughing, “I’m sorry! But really that is funny. I wonder if he feels the same way about you. I’ll go find out.” She giggles and walks to the door to leave.



“Alison, I suggest you head back to your room before you cause any more problems.” Jamelet states warily.



Alison shrugs her shoulders, “Why? I didn’t do anything yet?”



“Note the word yet. Now go and be a good girl.” Jamelet states, pointing to the door.



“Can’t I see the guys? I wanna see want they look like. I mean really look like. I heard they’re hotties. Who are they?” Alison asks curiously.



Waving her finger no, Jamelet points to the door, “Go, you’ll see them later. I promise.”



Alison nods her head and smiles, “Ok, great. I’ll be waiting. Oh, should I put on something cute for those guys when I see them.”



Smiling, Jamelet laughs, “Trust me, you’re a bit too young for them.”



Alison rolls her eyes, “I’m too young for anybody, according to you.”



Summer smiles and gazes at Jamelet quickly to see her muttering something under her breath.



Suddenly ringing is heard, as Jamelet rushes to answer her cell. Smiling, Jamelet points to the door when she hangs up. “Well, Summer get ready, one of the guys are awake already. And I feel you should go and see him. I have to make sure Alison gets back to her cell or she’ll get it from the security guards.” With that Jamelet rushes off to take Alison back to her room.



Summer sighs and grumbles flicking at her white lap coat, leaving the room to head down to the experiment room two doors down.

~*~



He opens his soft chocolate eyes to be blinded by the bright white lights that filter in the room. “Damn lights.” A.J. grumbles as he struggles to sit up from lying on an uncomfortable cot. H looks to find himself in a white wifebeater and blue jeans. Confused, he thought he was wearing the costume for the concert. But then again he also remembered getting knocked out by some gas. So who knows where he’s at, for all he knew he could have gotten kidnapped by someone and is now in danger. He traces his eyes around the room as he hopes to spot any of the guys but to his disappointment, it was just him in the room. He gazes his eyes around the room to find a wooden chair with a manila folder on it. The rest of the room was empty and no other furniture was in place.



“Where the hell am I? A.J. whispers tiredly, fighting off a yawn that was coming. A.J. stands up and curiously walks over to the chair with the folder on it. When he reaches the manila folder, he opens it to see another folder this time, pale white with gold lettering across of it. “CAPPA? Man, I gotta stop drinking that stuff Nick gave me. It’s making me lose it.” He whispers softly to himself.



His eyes scroll down the white folder to see what the letters of CAPPA stand for:



C- orporation of



A- bsurd



P- ersonality



P- roblem



A- ssociation



His eyes grew big as he mouths out the words. He knew about this company, it’s a corrupt government organization that takes risks with people by doing strange experiments on them. He knew now he was in some problems now.



“What the hell does the government want with me and the guys?” He whispers softly not noting a young intern entered his room.



“I see you read the folder.” The young woman states startling A.J.



A.J. nods his head and looks around waiting for her explanation. “Well?” He says annoyed.



She smiles, “Mr. Mclean, I’m glad to see you awake.” Her green eyes sparkle wildly and the harsh florescent lights shows the gold specks in her eyes. “I’m sure you’re waiting to find out where are you right?”



A.J. nods, sighing, “This better be good. And what did you do to my clothes?” He asks irritable.



She smiles and her blond locks lie beautifully on her shoulders. A.J. smiles at the thought that she looks as beautiful as an angel herself.



“So Mr. Mclean, you, like your friends have been taken here for a reason. But before I do, let me introduce myself. I’m Miss Summer. I’m an intern here for CAPPA. And as you just finish reading you’ve been taken here because you’ve been found to have an abnormal personality problem.” Summer states slowly, enjoying the horrid look that crossed A.J.’s face.



“Look man, woman, whatever. I know I have issues! But this is ridiculous, to lock me in a room. I mean I know I’m no angel, hell by looking around here, it looks like no one is here either.” A.J. states his anger rising in his voice.



Summer sighs and sits down on the cot eying A.J. “Can you stay quiet?” She nervously says eyeing the room, making sure all the hidden cameras were at of her view. “Listen.” She whispers.



“You’re here because you have a power known as telekinesis.” Summer whispers very quietly.



A.J. sighs, “Ok, ok, I see you’re in on the joke too, huh? Man the guys set this joke up nice. You almost had me believing ya.” A.J. states unconvinced.



Summer’s green eyes shot open, “I’m not kidding! You’re in danger! You’re not supposed to be here! You got caught because you like your friends were caught in a drug test gone wrong.” She whispers loudly.



He eyes her, “Sure I am and let me guess, Nick can blow fire out his mouth.”



Summer states with fear in her voice, “Please, listen to me! This is serious. This is a life and death situation. I heard what they’re planning on doing to you and your friends. They wanna mess with your powers and train you to work for them!”



A.J. smiles and laughs, “Nice one. Nicky didn’t tell me he was dating a cute thing like yourself.”



Summer frustrated, shouts at him, “Stop talking and listen to what I’m telling you. Nick and the others are in the same position as you are! You have to get out of here before the doctors come and test you!”



A.J. smiles, “Well test away baby. Man, I knew the guys were gonna throw me a bachelor’s party, I just didn’t think it would be this good. Ok, Summer, I’ll play along for now.” Sarcastically A.J. responds, ‘Why, wherever can we go? I mean there must be a least a few thirty something guards just on this floor alone. I just couldn’t possibly leave without you.”



“Come over here baby and spank me, I’ve been a naughty Backstreet boy! Come show me how to behave.” A.J. teases her jokily, turning up his behind to put in Summer’s face. He shakes his butt in her face all the while laughing.



Summer aggravated yet enjoying all this, secretly pushes away from A.J. “That’s enough! I came here to tell you what’s happening to you and you think this is all some kind of joke. Fine, I’ll like to see you think that way after you get tested later on. Then you can tell me if I was joking!” Summer states upset, walking towards the door to leave the experiment room.



A.J. sighs, “Women. Can’t live with them, can’t live without them.” He states smiling. He glances around the room and sits roughly on the cot waiting to see what will take place next.

~**~





**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Eight- Inside CAPPA~**



She taps her fingers lightly over the computer keyboard waiting for the results to show. She’s been working with CAPPA since the beginning. Her father introduced her to the owner of CAPPA, who also has a daughter her age studying for a medical degree. People were amazed at how fast she succeeded in receiving a medical degree at only twenty one, but she also figured she was blessed with craving to learn more. Yawning, she lets her dark brown eyes scan her medical degree hung on the wall of her office. The beige walls and black marble floor shines in the soft hazy florescent light coming from above her. Nervously, she cracks her knuckles as the computer continues to search for an answer. “Please, find it! Just find it! I know there’s an antibiotic for the disease.” She whispers softly nibbling on her glossed cinnamon lips. She takes a deep breath and sits back on the brown leather chair waiting. She bites her lower lip nervously as the computer screen shows it found twenty five percent of the info. Her office was located farthest from any of the rooms on the fourth floor of the company. Because of her medical degree, she was pushed to one of the best offices the company had to offer.



Her dark brown long straight hair lies loosely on her shoulders as she tugs on her white lab coat. Her light tan complexion graced the light giving her a beautiful appearance. She fixes her green halter top and tugs on her black skirt. The computer makes a small buzzing sound and the screen changes to a black showing in white letter a file. Scanning her eyes, she found what she had been looking for in over months.



File Experiment 1A:

Five females diagnosed with healthy bodies, were given

An elude substance: Girl 1- given rujura, stops disease.

Negative results lie in mental readings.

Girl 2- given karax, stops disease.

Negative results lie in earth control.

Girl 3- given kamonegi, stops disease.

Negative results lie in wind control

Girl 4- given zenigame, stops disease.

Negative results lie in ability of water.

Girl 5- given rapurasu, stops disease.

Negative results lie in ice control.



Results in total, a failure. No cure was found and test subjects are found to be a danger to Buffalo New York. �“subjects held in Washington D.C. till further notice.



Her mouth drops opens as she continues reading the next part of the file the computer extracted.



File Experiment 1B:

Five males diagnosed with healthy bodies, were given

A substantially different formula called Crystalline with defects altered.

Boy 1: Given rizado, health improves

Negative results: Hot substances and burning can occur from the body.

Boy 2: Given erebu, health improves.

Negative results: Electrical currents found in the body.

Boy 3: Given fodin, health improves.

Negative results lie in mind control, telekinesis ability.

Boy 4: Given 2xmr, health improves greatly.

Negative results lie in mental ability increases and red burning forming lasers begin.

Boy 5: Given 1QZY, health greatly increases.

Negative results: MOST DANGEROUS. NEEDS TO GET CAPTURED. EXPERIMENT CAN ENDANGER LIVES AROUND HIM. CAN KILL WITH ONE TOUCH.



Results in total, a complete success. A cure is possible now and test subjects need to get located. Test subjects found to be a possible danger if not found by 2004. Powers will lose control after that lapse of time and they will be a danger to society. **Note the five patients can not be found as of yet. Last found as a group together in Orlando, Florida.**



Answers to Curing negative results are now found below.

Boy 1 can…



Suddenly the computer shuts down and Natalie stares at the black screen in horror.



“What! God no please! I just found the results, what the heck just happened?” Natalie shouts, shaking the computer screen angrily.



Laughing broke the rage in the room as a young fourteen year girl enters through the door. “Dr, Natalie, I’m so sorry I tripped over the wires. I guess the computer just got disconnected. My back.” Alison giggles, shaking her head as her medium dark brown straight hair topples over her shoulders.



Natalie takes a shaky breath as she nods her head, “Do you realize what just happened? Alison, I found the results of the test gone wrong! And you, you just erased a month of memory from that computer. Do you realize how long it will take me to get to get that program back on file?”



Alison raises her eyes to the soft light tan face of the doctor’s. “I said I’m sorry.” She whispers quietly, feeling guilty for her actions.



Dr. Natalie smiles and giggles, “It’s ok. I didn’t mean for that little outburst. I guess I need a vacation. I need to get away from here.” She states, sighing.



Alison smiles and twirls a strand of her dark brown hair. “So I’m guessing you’re not mad at me, are you?”



Natalie smiles and shakes her head, “You tell me, after all, your gift of reading minds and hearts can come in useful now.”



Alison stares at her, her brown eyes glow and a smile appears on her soft white complexion. “You mean it. Thanks.” And she runs to Natalie who has her arms open for a hug.



Giggling, Natalie pats Alison head and whispers, “No problem small stuff.”

~**~



He opens his blue eyes and is blinded by the harsh bright white lights in the isolated room. “God where am I?” He whispers softly, eyeing the vacant room. He sits up in the cot and tries to remember what exactly happened that got him here. But all he can remember is Kevin trying to help him get away from a masked man dressed in all white. Now he’s in a room dressed in only a blue wife beater and dark denim jeans. His eyes were hurting, “Ah, hell!” Nick shouts as he tries rubbing his eyes. The dull pain behind his eyes seems to increase as he touches his eyes. His eyes scroll around the white tiled walls and white marbled floor causing the pain in his eyes to be more bothered. He struggles, standing up and wakes over to the large front locked door. He was about to touch the metal handle when suddenly the door swings opens and in steps a young woman, with wavy brown hair down her back. Her medium brown eyes stare at him before entering the room and locking the door behind her.



“Hello Mr. Carter. I see you’re completely confused about where you at. So I came to fill you in on it.” The woman states, holding a folder in her soft peach hands.



Nick walks back to the hard uncomfortable cot and stares at the white tiles on the floor. “Where am I?” He whispers quietly.



The woman smiles, “Excuse me? Can you repeat that?



“I said, where am I? And where are my friends?” Nick states quietly, staring at her.



She smiles, her cinnamon lips parted, “Mr. Carter, you and your friends are all here in what is called CAPPA, a secret organization that trains special people like you and your friends.”



Nick shakes his head, “Special? What? Who are you?” he states slowly getting angry, he starts nibbling on his lower lip waiting for the woman to respond.



“Before I answer all those questions, let me introduce myself. My name is Jamelet and I work with this company for many years. You and your friends have been part of an experiment a while ago and now you all contain powers. I know you figured out what you can do, didn’t you?” She whispers quietly, smiling.



Nick stares at her before shouting a profanity. “You’re insane! What the hell are you gonna do with my friends?”



“What you’re about to do Nickolas, is what you’re friends are already doing. I’m here to help you find that power that you’ve seen coming out of you.”



Nick shakes his head, “I can’t believe this. Let me out! I ain’t no test rat for you to pulling this on me!”



“Shhh, Nick, don’t get angry, you’re only increasing your power and can lose control of it if not careful.” Jamelet states quickly. “Look, just cooperate with me quickly and this can all be over with in a few minutes. I’ll promise to fully explain everything if you just work with me here.”



Nick gulps, “No!”



“No what?” Jamelet asks pulling out a sheet of paper to write something down.



“I don’t wanna work with you. Why should I help you? You could be hurting my friends. Besides, I’ll just open this door and leave this place, you can’t keep me here!” Nick angrily whispers, he runs his fingers through his blond locks lying lazily on his head.



“On the contrary, Mr. Carter, you belong to this company. So note you’ll be going no where. There are more than fifty guards watching this entire building. If they find you out the building, they’ve been trained to shoot any one on the spot and I don’t think they’ll hesitate with you.” Jamelet states quickly. “Please I see you how upset you are, but I need you to give me a minute of your time and just listen to me.”



Nick shakes his head aggravated, placing his hands over his ears. “What part of no don’t you get? I can sue you for what you’re doing to me!” he glares at her.



This remarks brings a smile to her face. “Sir, we are part of the government. We’re a secret organization that even you can’t find any evidence against us. The court system will simply laugh in your face. Now can we move on?”



Nick smirks, “What? That can’t be! You’re not serious are you? Where the hell am I?”



“Sir, I already told you where you are. You’re losing precious time here sir and your friends could be in danger if you keep it up.” Jamelet states tapping her pen impatiently on the black folder, with the gold lettering of CAPPA scrawled across it.



Nick grumbles loudly and glares at her.



Jamelet smiles, “If you don’t work with me, know that I won’t be leaving this room quickly cause you’re stalling. It won’t hurt for you. Just stand over there away from the cot.”



Nick growls and steps unsteadily over to the other side of the room away from her.



“Nick, promise me that you won’t freak out when you see what is about to happen to you.” Jamelet states quietly.



Nick rolls his eyes, and grumbles a profanity under his breath.



“Is that a yes Mr. Carter?” She states smiling. “Very well. Now all you have to do is place your palms in front of you facing my direction.”



“Is that it? Grumbles Nick.



“That’s it. And then I’ll leave you alone. I think that sounds like a nice deal.” Jamelet states, staring at the young man before her.



Nick takes a deep breath and stretches his hands out before him. He could here Jamelet whispering to concentrate on letting the power come.



Nick confused, thinks what power, what the hell is this woman talking about? The answer to his question came to him as he feels his eyes beginning to burn, his blue eyes glow a fiery blue. A stinging sensation starts on his lower back and creeps to his arms. Then a flame drops to the floor from his hand. He can feel a small flame tickling him painfully on his palm, until a trail of fire shoots out of his hands and lands on the marble floor lighting up the room with orange and red. The small trail of fire spreads out and crawls over to the walls, slowly burning it. Nick stands there in shock and fright as he sees the fire shooting out of his hands. The pain was intense and he feels dizzy suddenly. Trails of fires was starting all over the room. Over the crackling of the fire, he hears the faint voice of Jamelet stating to close his hands now. He did as told, and lets his arms fall listlessly down his side. He stands there as a sudden strong dizzy spell overtook and he passes out.



Jamelet smiles and leaves the smoldering room behind as she exits the room. He won’t get burned, it’s his fire, it won’t touch him. As for the room, the water sprinklers will take care off that. She smiles and jots down the data. ~Carter: power- fire starter.

Now she has to find what the other men can do. She giggles and walks down the hallway smiling all the way.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



*The mind is a terrible thing to waste* -Unknown



**~Chapter Nine- Strange Inhabitants~**



The large company covered a vast amount of land and stands erected near the Pentagon in Washington D.C. The institution stands tall with over twenty-five floors of medical rooms and such. The glass circler windows gleamed brightly in the evening sun portraying the beauty of the building. The white bricked and stainless steel covered the buildings foundation and the large gold letters of CAPPA, is hung above the grand main entrance of the secluded building. Two grand cement pillars stand tall supporting the entrance and the CAPPA sign. The entire building is constructed of white bricks and steel and on the top of it, a balcony was laid out for researching and studying the outdoors in privacy. The area is surrounded by a forest and near the entrance there is a large expensive parking lot. A pathway of gravel stones are laid out to the entrance of the building and the glass doors in the front with the gold lettering of CAPPA painted on it are seen clearly. Surrounding the building are about a total of sixty seven armed security men in black clothes. More than thirty five armed guards stand guard inside the building in case of any disturbance. And all are trained to kill on cue.



A keycard is swiped through and a code was typed in, opening the first experiment room at the end of thirteenth floor, Summer walks into the room as the sliding white cement door opens up. Summer stands near the cot and sees Howie sitting up in the cot with his head in his hands. He seems to be shaking a bit and lifts his head to see who entered the all white room. The harsh lights glare down on both of them and Summer stands next to Howie.



She smiles and whispers, “Good evening Mr. Dorough. I’m Summer, I work here in CAPPA. I know you’re freaked by this whole thing, but I’ll do my best to explain everything to you. See I just finished talking to A.J…”



She’s interrupted as Howie took interest at his friend’s name and shouts out, “A.J.! Oh God, is A.J. alright? Did you hurt him in any way?” He asks nervously shaking in fear.



Summer gulps and feels terrible for this man. She couldn’t even begin to feel what they all must be feeling. To be kidnapped and then thrown in a place separated from your friends only to your surprise to be used as an experiment for the government. Howie was already informed of this news by Jamelet who visited him a few minutes ago explaining in clear detail his reason for being here. He tries to take all this information that he was told before from Jamelet.



“He’s fine. In fact he seems to be taking this all pretty well.” Summer states, forcing a grin on her pale face.



“He didn’t believe you at all, did he?” Howie asks smirking, wiping off a strand of hair off his white t-shirt. He rubs his hands on his black jeans and stares at her confused and in pain.



“Mr. Dorough, Is everything ok?” Summer states, her green eyes sparkling in the light.



He runs his fingers through his short brown wavy hair and nods his head, “Yes, I don’t understand why I’m here though. Why am I here?”



Summer smiles, her pink glossed lips spread apart, “Mr. Dorough, you know why you’re here. I’m sure Jamelet explained this to you already. Listen, can you do something for me real quick?” She asks quietly, gently touching his tan face lightly.



His brown eyes stare at her in confusion, “What do you want from me?” He asks sadly.



“I want you to demonstrate to me, what you can do.” Summer states softy.



Howie shakes his head no. “No, it’s hurts when I do it!” Howie trembles, knowing if he used the new powers he gained, it would involve searing pain.



“I know it hurts, but the more you use the powers, the less painful it gets. Your body is responding to your powers and that’s why you feel the pain you feel.” Summer states, trying to calm him down.



Howie stares at her in pain, “Please don’t do this to me. I feel like I was dying the first time Jamelet told me to use the powers.”



Summer gulps and pats his shoulder, “I see. Look, I’m asking you this, so I can help you get better. You do want to get better, don’t you?”



Howie nods his head, “Yes. Please help my friends and me. I can’t be here getting tested on. It hurts when the doctors injected a needle with some black liquid in it. My arms hurt now and I feel too dizzy to stand. This is wrong! Stop this! Please stop this!” Howie cries out in pain.



Summer gulps and holds back tears, “Howie, there are cameras in this room. The doctors are watching you. Please cooperate with me if you don’t, the company will send another doctor with a stronger medication to inject you with. Please I want to make this easier on you. I can help you escape but I need you to help me out, ok?”



Howie nods and struggles to stand up with Summer’s help. He takes a deep breath as Summer stands away from him near the front of the room. Spreading his arms out on his side, he looks at her, when suddenly what seemed like a lightening came shooting out of his arms. He feels the rush of the current striking at his hands as it shoots out of his palms. The lightening hits the walls, almost burning it, leaving behind a small smoky hole in it. More shots of electricity continue to shoot out before he feels too dizzy to stand. He falls on the white tile floor unconsciously and passes out. Summer stands there terrified, shaking in pure terror. “Oh dear God, what did they do to you? I have to get you and your friends out here, but I’ll need help.” She whispers to herself, leaving the room looking for Dr. Natalie. She knew if she can convince the doctor to help, then there might be a chance to get everyone out to safety.

~*~



Paige stands up to stare into the window that looks into Ana’s cell. Suddenly Ana’s face appears as she whispers “Boo!”

Paige startled, moves back away from the small window as Ana’s laughter breaks the silence.



Rose and Kimberly leans their heads out the bars of the cell to see what’s happening. Rose begins giggling, her layered blond hair swinging across her shoulder. Kimberly stares intensely at Ana as a grin crosses her face.



Ana whispers, each word followed by a cold smoke, “You guys, we can get out of here if we really wanted, don’t you think?”



Paige shakes her head, “No, you know we can’t. They have this place boogie trapped against our powers. Our powers are useless down here in the basement.” She whispers, her blue gray eyes shines as the evening sunlight penetrating through the window.



Rose growls, “Ana’s right we should just bust out of here. I mean we never really tried to get out of here and we can’t take what the doctors told us seriously. They’re probably just saying that cause they know we can do it.”



Kimberly giggles, “I say it never hurts to try right?”



Ana smiles, peeking her head through the small window into Paige’s cell. “I like the way you’re thinking, girl. Give it a try!”



Rose smirks, “Why don’t you do it?”



“I would, but you know I have that stupid medication this chick gave me and my powers aren’t working yet.” Ana grumbles slightly.



Kimberly yawns, twirling one of her dark brown strands with red highlights, “Same here. I can’t do anything either. I got that wack stuff in my system too.”



Rose glares at Paige, Paige shrugs her shoulders, “Sorry same here. I’m useless too.”



Rose growls, “Oh, oh wait, wait. Please don’t help, really, it’s ok. I can do this all by myself.” She sneers sarcastically, glaring at the girls.



Ana laughs, “I’m sure you can knock a wall down, you have the wind power. And they didn’t give you your medication yet.”



Rose sneers and tugs on her short blond hair. “Fine, whatever, you all suck, you realize that, don’t you.” The other girls laugh and watch as Rose stands spreading her arms out. Looking up at the ceiling, she lets her eyes glaze over in a white mist. Suddenly a cold breeze picks up in her cell fluttering the red curtains behind her. The hallway fills with the strong wind that’s picking up in pace. Suddenly the ceiling in her cell begins cracking, tearing the cement ceiling apart a few feet. The wind was so strong that the ceiling begins to crack under the pressure. Before she knew it, a man falls from the ceiling in the room above her. His body slams down on her bed and he seems unconscious. She stops suddenly and lays her arms to her side to stop her power. She gazes at the man on her bed, his blond locks lied messily across his head and his soft eyes are closed. His breathing is normal and he’s dressed in a blue wife beater and dark denims. He seems to be wet from the water sprinkles going off in his room.



A low whistle was heard from Kimberly, “Wow, girl, check that out, you blew and a cutie landed on your bed. Dang, I wanna know what I’ll get if I use my powers.” Kimberly whispers happily, jumping up and down excited. Her dark brown eyes lit up eagerly.



Ana touches the man’s white face and his soft blue eyes flutters open. She smiles and he looks in shock at her.



“Hello.” She whispers seductively at him, her eyes examining the man’s body.



He sits up and rubs his eyes in pain. “You must be the other experiment I heard about.” He grumbles under his breath. “Where am I?”



Laughing ,Ana states, “Looks like blondie needs to get informed. And by the looks of it, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind explaining that to him, right Rose?” Ana whispers, a naughty grin on her face.



Paige giggles, “You know you’re not suppose to have men in you room. Jamelet will be pissed when she sees him there.”



Rose sneered, placing her hands on her hips, “So let her. I’m not afraid of her.”



Rose smiles, running her fingers through her hair. Nick stands up wet with water while some white smoke rises from his hands.



“Somebody better explain to me where the hell am I! Or you’ll be sharing a cell with a very pissed off fire starter.” Nick growls angrily.



The girls gasp, “A Fire starter!” They squeal out amazed. Tests where done before hand to find how to produce this power and sure enough, here this man has that ability.



Rose smiles, batting her eyes at him, “I’ll explain anything you want, just relax. I think you might be here for a while and personally I don’t mind the company.” She smiles running her hands over her flowered shirt and jean skirt.



Ana giggles, “Why this will be an interesting evening now won’t it?” She asks staring at Rose’s cell smiling.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



-A mind is a terrible thing to waste- Unknown



**~Chapter Ten- A Deadly Power~**



The thick white steel door slides open and in steps a young teen girl, with medium dark brown hair hanging loosely straight down her shoulders in a loose braid. She smoothes out her yellow thin strapped shirt and fingers the pockets of her dark blue denim jeans nervously. Taking a deep breath, she stares at the slouched figure in a metal chair. She steps over to the figure who seems upset and his face was buried in his hands.



“Sir?” Alison asks quietly. “Excuse me sir? Is everything ok?”



The man raises his head to look at her, his blue eyes bright with unshed tears. His innocent white face, paled at the sight of the girl and he stands up nervously eyeing her.



“What do you want from me? You came to test me again?” He cries out, backing away from the girl.



Alison shakes her confused, “No, I came cause I wanted to meet you. I love your music and I’m a big fan of yours. I’m Alison.” She states slightly blushing in embarrassment. She sticks her hand out waiting for Brian to shake it, but he never did.



Brian looks at her intensely, “I’m Bri…”



“I know who you are, silly.” Alison interrupts, giggling.



Brian stares at her and a smile crosses his face, erasing all the anxiety that had build up from her entrance. “I, I’m sorry. I’m just not pleased about why I’m here. I thought you were a doctor. Are you one of the first projects that was discussed?” He asks curiously, his southern accent coming out every once in a while.



Alison smiles, “Yeah, I am. But I’m not the dangerous one. I can relate to everyone cause I know what you’re thinking and feeling. I can stop and speed time, but that’s a wack power. You can’t really do anything with that. But that’s about it. I wasn’t considered dangerous at all if you think about it. But the company wanted all the girls that were experimented on, whether or not they are a danger to society or not, to be here to get tested on.” She smiles, her brown eyes bright with interest.



Brian laughs softly, “So you’re ok then after all. I thought I should be on my guard. These doctors keep coming in giving me some painful medication and I got vaccinated more than three times already since I got here about an half an hour ago!”



Alison shakes her head, “I hate when they do that. You think that they realize that one shot is enough. But anyway, how are you doing?”



“Not well, I guess.” Brian says softly, slouching over in the metal chair fiddling with his fingers. “You know what I found out.” He runs his fingers through his beige cargo pants and fixes his dark blue t-shirt.



Alison shrugs her shoulders, “What?” She asks innocently.



Brian takes a deep breath, “I found out what my power is. They say I’m infected with a chemical called 1QZY.”



“What’s that?” Alison asks softly sitting on the white tile floor facing him.



“That’s the worst chemical. They say I’m the most dangerous now. I can kill with the just one touch.” Brian whispers softly, his voice cracking in pain. “I didn’t know I had that power, they say it started slowly, first the people around me would get sick, like getting a flu or something. But now the power has advanced to its full potential. I can just touch and with my mind I can take one’s life energy away. Rather than just simply killing them.”



Alison’s mouth drops open, “That’s why you didn’t shake my hand. You’re afraid something like that might happen to me.”



Brian nods his head and buries it in his hands again. Alison could hear Brian’s muffled cries, “Why this power? Why me?”

He lifts his head up and tries to form a smile for her. “Don’t worry about me though. I can’t kill unless I have control. The doctors state I now fully regained control of it. Meaning you can touch me and nothing will happen unless I want it too.” He whispers, running his fingers through his sandy blond hair.



Alison smiles, “Things will work out, Miss Summer and Dr. Natalie are gonna help you. As for Miss Jamelet, I can’t tell if she wants to help you or not. I mean her father works here, so it’s kind of weird thing for her I guess.” She states shrugging her shoulders innocently.



Brian smiles and crinkles his nose in amusement. “I’m so sorry you have to experience such things as this. This corporation is disturbing.”



“I already knew that. That doesn’t surprise me.” Whispers Alison shyly. “Can I ask you something Mr. Littrell?”



He smiles, “Call me Brian. Sure, what’s that?” He asks, his eyes sparkling at her.



“I know you trust me, I see it in your heart. Your wife will be fine. She’ll see you again. You’ll go home and see your family. Your little boy will see you again. I promise.” Alison states.



Brian smiles and with a surprise look on his face, asked, “You know about my child? Wow. Thanks.”



Alison nods her head and raises her hand, “And to make sure I keep this promise with you, let’s pinky swear on it.”



Brian stares at her closely and smiles, “You know it’s not good to swear, right?” His blue eyes gaze at her through the harsh bright white light in the experiment room.



Alison giggles, “I know, it’ll just symbolize my promise to you.” She states looking around the white walls and cot: the only other furniture in the room.



Brian smiles and nods his head, “Ok, I like promises.” And with that sticks his hand out holding his pinky finger out while the rest of his fingers are tucked in his hand.



Alison smiles and grabs his pinky with her pinky. Holding on to it, Brian whispers, “Because you wanna help me, I’ll help you out too. Ok?”



She smiles, “Ok, but you don’t have too.”



Brian laughs, “Too late for that now, huh? The promise has been sealed.” And with that both pinky fingers clutch to each other. He pulls his hand away from the pinky promise and smiles. “I think you should go now. I don’t want you to get in trouble. I’m sure the doctors are looking for you. Besides I could get in trouble with you here. The hidden cameras are filming this, we could get caught.”



Alison stands up and smiles, “You’re right, I’ll head out now to avoid any trouble. Just be strong. I know we can get out of here.” And with that heads out the room, the large white steel door sliding close behind her.



Brian smiles, thinking, “I hope we can all get out alive. I wanna go home and just be normal again.” He whispers to himself for comfort.

~*~



He raises his head to see he’s on the cot. His head is banging and he tries desperately to get up from the bed. He stares around the white blinding experiment room and sees Jamelet had long left the room. Grumbling, he stares at his hands, which minutes ago was searing with electrical currents. He runs his fingers through his short wavy hair and tugs on his white t-shirt and black jeans. Tapping his feet on the white tile floor, he gazes around the experiment room. He couldn’t believe he’s stuck here. Concern over takes him as he begins to worry about Kevin, Nick and Brian. A.J., he just saw next door and he was relieved to see that A.J. was fine. In fact he wasn’t even tested on it, which eases the worry about him. Now here he is stuck in a large white experiment awaiting the future torture. Suddenly, the large thick steel front door slides open to let a young woman he never saw before enter the room. Her light blond hair lies in a low ponytail and her bluish green eyes perks up when she noticed Howie’s presence. Her broad shoulders show off the dark blue tank top. She fingers her light blue jeans ripped a bit on the knees. The girl smiles, gazing at him with interest in her eyes.



Howie begins to slightly tremble, he heard about this girl. She was the strong one, the one that kills with ice. She was locked below in a special cell, so he had no idea how she escaped from there. His heart begins to race and he suddenly feels a bit cold. The goose bumps on his arms appear as his teeth begin to chatter from the sudden cold that invaded his room suddenly.



Suddenly Jamelet appears, a clipboard in her hands, begins to tug on Ana’s arm, “Ana, wrong room. The testing room for you is next door.”



Ana smiles and whispers a soft hello, a icy white mist appeared after she talked. Her white skin glittered in the florescent light. She turns to leave and blows Howie a kiss with her hands, all the while batting her eyes at him. She leaves the room, the sliding door slams shut behind her. Howie could feel his heart rate slow down and his breathing go back to normal. Somehow her presence had truly frightened him. And he hoped he wouldn’t be placed in the same room with her, cause he really wasn’t in the mood to get frozen by some girl.

~*~



He opens his emerald eyes and gazes at the blinding bright white light that aluminates the experiment room. He just woke up and confusion is clouding his head. His eyes burn and he looks down at what he’s wearing, a dark green tank top and black jeans. Not the outfit he had on when he left the concert. Someone changed his clothes and he had his cell phone in it. “Damn!” He mutters under his breath. He remembered getting caught by some strange masked men, now here he is lying on a cot in a huge white room. The tiles and the ceilings are all in white and the color of it was making him nauseous. Suddenly worry over takes him. “The guys! Oh God, where are they? Are they hurt? Are they being tortured? Will I get out of here?” He whispers to himself. He curls up, drawing his knees to his chest and placing his head on top of his knees in worry.



Suddenly the thick metal door slides open and in steps a young woman, dressed professionally for the job: a black skirt down her knees and green halter top with a white lab coat over her outfit. Yawning she steps into the room surprised to see a man there.



“Well hello there, Mr. Richardson. You’re awake. I didn’t think you would be in this room. Actually this room is aligned next to my office, I didn’t think they would use this room.” Dr. Natalie states smiling. “I’m Doctor Natalie” She states, her dark brown long straight hair topples loosely down her shoulders. Her dark brown eyes open wide after watching how uncomfortable Kevin seems in the room.



“Listen I wanna talk with you about something, just give me a sec. I can’t stand this shirt. I’m going to my office for a few minutes to change. Try not to move around to much, you’re body is in pain.” Dr. Natalie states opening a white almost invisible door leading into her office on the side of the room. She changes from her green halter top to a nice snug small navy blue t-shirt. She grabs her long beautiful hair up in a clip and walks back into the room. She stares at nails and begins picking at a small hangnail. “Man, I have to get manicure, this is sad.” She smiles to herself. She applies a soft pink gloss on her powder pink lips and leaves the office. After a what seemed like a hour an hour trying to convince Kevin of why he’s here and the condition of his friends, she finally got him willing to test his powers.



“Mr. Richardson, I promise this won’t take long. I understand you’re very upset. I won’t bother you for long. If you do this quick, I can escort you to the diner where you’re friends will be as well.” Dr. Natalie explains, her eyes soft at his sad expression.



He sighs and speaks, his deep voice resounding beautifully in her ears. “Please doctor, I don’t know if I should do this. I don’t feel well right now. I think I’m ill.”



“You’re ill because your body is adjusting to your new powers.” Dr. Natalie responds quietly.



His green eyes stare sadly at her as he takes a deep breath, “Fine, what do I do?” He asks.



She smiles, “Just look at something sir. Concentrate on an object such as the wooden chair in the corner over there.” She states, pointing to a chair in the corner of the room nearby Kevin.



He shrugs his shoulders, “This doesn’t make sense.” He mutters, eying the chair with his eyes. Listening to the doctor he gazes at the chair waiting to see what will happen. Frustrated that nothing happen after what seemed like a few minutes, Kevin turns to face her, “See, nothing.” Then it came, the bright red lasers came zapping out from his eyes striking the walls and ceilings around him. He feels his eyes almost burning as the intense pain increases with each laser that came shooting out of him. He burned part of the wall and the chair had completely melted under the intense heat from the lasers. Screaming in pain, he clutches his head and cries out, “Stop it! Please stop this! It hurts like hell!! My eyes! My eyes are burning!!” He screams out in terrible pain, his eyes throbbing.



Dr. Natalie shouts to close his eyes and take a deep breath. He does as said and his eyes throb in agony. He could hear the doctor talking, “Mr. Richardson, that was amazing! Your powers are stronger than predicted! Come let’s meet your friends now.”



Kevin shakes his head, “No, I’m in pain! God it hurts so much!” He squeezes his eyes shut tightly. He stands shaking, “What was that? What came out of my eyes?!” Kevin shouts out.



Dr. Natalie smiles, “Come, I’ll finish explaining to you in clear detail as we head down the dining room.”



Kevin struggles to walk as Dr. Natalie grabs him on the side, helping him walk out the room. He keeps his eyes closed, he couldn’t open them yet. It hurts too much to do that and he feared he lost control of his own vision. At least he gets to see how the others are doing and get a good night sleep tonight knowing that he wasn’t hurt and that the others are safe as well.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Eleven- Reunion~**



The iron door slides open as Jamelet steps into the dim lighted hallway. The cold air caresses her peach skin as she tucks away her keycard into her white lab pocket. She walks quietly to the two security guards in the hallway and smiles.



“Evening gentlemen. How’s everything down here.” Jamelet whispers, her brown eyes curious for a response.



The dark chocolate skin of one of the guards, shines brightly in the light. His thick gruff voice whispers quietly, his dark brown eyes staring seriously at the woman’s face. “Ms. Jamelet , everything seems to be taken care off here. We just stepped out a few minutes ago to get some dinner, but everything seems fine down the hallway.” Sergeant Dillan responds, passing his fingers through his very short black curls nervously.



The other security guard, his cinnamon complexion shining in the white dim light in the hallway, mutters something softly in a deep voice. She tucks some stray dark brown strands behind her ears. She eyes the man in front of her carefully.



Sergeant Canon raises his grey eyes from where he’s sitting at Jamelet. “Ma’am I said that I thought I just heard some yelling occurring down the hall.” He states softly, sitting uncomfortably in the metal folding chair. He tugs on his pistol and fixes some of the weapons on his blazer.



Sergeant Dillan, tugs on his all black attire: black long sleeve shirt, with a black blazer vest over it with pockets full of bullets and other small weapons tucked in the small pockets. His large thick black cargo pants have pockets filled with other weapons of arsenal. He clumps over to her in his thick leather black boots. He grins, showing his white pearly teeth and points to the hallway. “Ma’am, go right ahead, the girls seem quiet. I don’t know what they’re up too.”



Jamelet nods her head, and walks past him smiling, “Good job men. Know my father is watching.” She states, pointing to the cameras hidden in the corner of the hallways. She walks down the hallway as the men salute her and takes a deep breath. Her high heeled sandals click along the cement hallway as she passes Kimberly’s cell. She smiles at the young brown haired woman and walks pass Paige’s cell. Paige giggles, holding her mouth, her blue grey eyes twinkling in excitement. Jamelet nods her head and turns to see Ana sticking her head near the window of her cell giggling. Her bluish green eyes light up in excitement. Jamelet noticing the strange behavior of the girls turn to see Rose and her mouth drops open. Jamelet glares at Rose’s cell, her anger slowly rising.



“Rose, what happened here?” Jamelet asks slowly, trying to remain calm.



Rose smiles, her blue eyes twinkling. She places her hands on her hips and a smile rises on her pink glossed lips. Her blond tresses hung layered on her shoulders as she nibbles on her lower lip nervously. “He dropped by, I guess.” Rose says softly in a sarcastic tone as giggling from the other girls echo in the hallway.



Nick stands there in confusion, “Get me out of here! These girls are wack! She’s freaking me out!” He shouts running to the bars, gripping it tightly in his hands.



Laughing, Rose smiles and takes a seat in her lounge chair watching the events unfolding.



Sighing, Jamelet pulls out a keychain and opens the cell. She glares at Rose and pulls Nick by the arm. “You have a lot of guts to pull this off, next time around you’re getting the medication first. If I ever see you do something like this again, you’ll be placed in isolation away from everyone for punishment. Understand?”



Rose’s smiles fades away from her flustered face as she stutters out, “Ye, yea, yes miss Jamelet. This won’t happen again ever.”



“Good. I’ll be back along with Dr. Natalie and Summer to get the rest of you in a few. We’ll be having dinner with everyone and the guys. I think I should introduce all of you to the other men or rather experiment 1B.” Jamelet states, grabbing on Nick’s arm and pulling him out of the cell. She walks gripping his arm to the front of the hallway where the two security men are. Smiling, she turns to the men, “Well Sergeant Dillan and Canon. You’ve let me down for the first and last time. My father will not take this failure to easy. So I suggest you get ready to pack and leave this institution. You no longer work for CAPPA.” And with that, she pulls out a remote and opens the sliding door to Ana’s cell. “I think she wants to bid you farewell personally.” Jamelet states softly, a grin plastering her peace face.



Sergeant Dillan and Canon stare at the sliding door as Ana steps out of her cell, her icy breath coming out of her mouth. Her blonde hair lies in a low ponytail as she smiles, her bluish green eyes shine excitedly, “Hey guys, wanna play?” She states eagerly, her hands on her hips, smiling evilly.



Sergeant Dillan cowers in fear as he runs to the front door trying to get out of the area. Sergeant Canon gets up from the chair and screams at Jamelet who was watching from a small glass window into the hallway laughing. Sergeant Canon pounds on the door, screaming, “Let me out, Miss Jamelet! Come on! I don’t wanna die!”



Her respond was just laughter and she whispers through the glass panes, “Enjoy!” And with that she left the area with a dumbfounded Nick behind her.



The two guards stand there, screaming for help as Ana reaches for the guards, her breath a white mist. Giggling, she touches one of the guards as he screamed his last scream.

~*~



Summer enters the white experiment room to get the last person, A.J. but before that, he must get tested. Swallowing nervously, she steps into the room tugging on her green lace tank top and knee length black skirt. She pulls out a sheet of paper from her lab pocket and places it on the folder in her hands. She stares to see A.J. lying on the bed casually on his back, his chocolate eyes stare at her.



“Well lookie who’s back. What are you gonna do now? Am I gonna get spanked or what? You know when you left the room before, you left me hanging. I was all eager to get whacked on my booty by a cutie like you.” A.J. states smirking.



“Sir, you still think this is joke don’t you?” Summer states quietly blushing at his remark. She gazes at him in a white wife beater and blue jeans.



A.J. sits up in the cot and looks at her curiously. “I was thinking about what you said before with the powers and stuff. I just have to say I don’t believe a word of it.”



Summer sighs, “That’s understandable sir, just stand up, we’ll be late for you to meet your friends.”



A.J. stares at her with an odd expression on his face. His tan face lights up as he breaks into a smile. “Fine.” He stands up and faces her, running his fingers through his black hair with red dye aligning the side of his hair.



Summer tells him to stare at the chair with the folder on it. He shrugs his shoulder and does as told. Staring at it, he was told to lift his hand up in front of him. He does that and confusion is written all over his face.



“Just raise your hand and concentrate on lifting the folder.” Summer states.



A.J. lifts his hands nervously and the folder floats in the air. He feels a rush of air running through his body and what seems a small shock runs through his fingers. The floating folder crashes on the white floor suddenly. A.J. cries out, “What the hell?” His heart rate picks up and his eyes open wide at the phenomenal event that occurred. He turns to look at her and stares at a lone light bulb swinging in the middle of the room. Not believing he truly possessed such a power and wanting to test again, he lifts his hand and the bulb begins swinging furiously until it smashes and hits the ceiling, breaking it, the glass shards scattering on the floor.



Summer smiles and writes down on the paper: Mclean: power- telekinesis. “Congratulations A.J. you just found your power. Now do you believe?” She asks eying him.



He gulps and nods, “Oh God, man that was crazy. I can do that? I can’t believe it! I guess I should apologize then for me acting a jerk and thinking this whole thing was a joke.”



She states smiling, “That’s alright, now let’s go meet your friends, you don’t wanna be late.” She states, her face blushing as she grabs his arm.



A.J. stops and stares into her green eyes. “Can I ask you something?”



“Sure” Summer states.



“Well, I’m thinking about what you said and all and well I wanna get out of here. Can we get out of this place?” A.J. states quietly.



Summer gulps, “I, I can’t answer that question.” She states nervously, tucking a blond strand behind her ear delicately.



“Why not?” A.J. asks, leaning over her.



“Because if you leave, the government will be after you. You won’t be safe unless…” Summer trials off thinking.



“Unless what?” A.J. states nervously, grabbing her arms.



“Unless we fight back.” Summer whispers, gulping afraid the camera could have caught that part of the conversation.



“So, what’s the problem, if I can do this freaky tele crap then we could get the hell out here!” A.J. says calmly.



She smiles, “It’s not that simple A.J. This organization has power and strength and you just figured out your powers along with your friends. It can wear you out and hurt you if you’re not careful.”



A.J. smiles, “Well that’s why I have you, you won’t let me wear myself out right?” he grins naughty.



Summer rolls her eyes, “Let’s go, you need to talk to your friends, their powers are pretty freaky as well.”



A.J. smiles and grabs Summer’s arm, “Well my lady lead the way.”



Summer grins, enjoying the fact that she could be his lady if it were possible. They leave the experiment room and go down the hallway to take the elevator to the diner.

~*~



The hallway was crowded with doctors and young patients alike in the diner. The large dining room with its beautiful mahogany plank walls and lush dark green carpet covered the waxed mahogany floor. Three large white chandeliers hung around the room with a large dining table in the center of the room. The velvet royal blue curtains hung over each of the large glass pane windows. The five girls are scattered around the room giggling as Dr. Natalie and Jamelet enter the room. Three more doctors enter the room, one Dr. Robertson who saw the men earlier saw the guys there and froze. Security was on high alert this evening with more than fifteen guards in the room armed with weapons.



Brian glared at the doctor and muttered something to Kevin. Nick sneered at the doctor and Howie clenched his fists. A.J .and Summer enter and the other guys race over to him nervously. They all embraced and were glad to see each other alive and well. They all begin discussing what they each can do and they were freaked out to know the ability that they each possess.



“Whoa, Brian, buddy. I was kidding on the death touch, man. I didn’t think it was possible.” A.J. whispers guilty.



Brian pats A.J on the shoulder, “It’s ok J. It’s all good.”



At Brian’s touch, A.J. suddenly jumps and backs away, afraid of Brian’s contact on him. “Nothing will happen to you or anyone unless I want it. I can control it now, so it’s all good.” Brian states sadly, his blue eyes squinting against the yellow light in the room.



Howie sighs, “The whole experience is electrifying isn’t it!”



The other guys groan and shake their heads at Howie’s attempt of a joke. “That is so sad Howie.” Kevin states. Although they were acting normal, they were trying to adjust themselves to the whole freaky experience. The nervousness and concern laid deep in the men’s heart.



Nick sighs, “I just wanna go home and live a normal life.”



Brian pats Nick’s shoulder, “I don’t think we can ever live a normal life again with what we are.”



A.J. stares around the room at notices the five young teen girls in the room. “They’re experiment 1b.” Brian states, pointing to Alison, Kimberly, Rose, Paige and the most unusual girl: Ana. Ana stands there with what seemed like a white cold mist coming from her skin.



Nick points to her and nervously states, “She’s the ice chick! Brian her power is about as strong as yours.”



A.J. shakes his head, “Na, man. What the hell is this place? They’re treating people as guinea pigs! I’m tried of being here and treated like an object!”



Jamelet smiles at his remark, “Now you know the way woman feel when men call them names.”



Dr. Natalie smiles and pulls the guys towards the center to where the dining table is at. “Experiment 1B, this is Experiment 1A , the women who have been here getting examined on. They’re powers are amazing. Why don’t you talk with them and get to know them.”



Kevin gulps and eyes the girls and somewhere in the back of his mind, them all being here didn’t seem right at all. Something is up and looking at the doctor that betrayed them, Robertson, he knew something was about to happen to them. He just hopes whatever it is that he can live to tell the story.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Twelve- Destroying CAPPA~**



She gazes her brown eyes out at the podium, as her father takes a stand to begin the speech. Sighing, she stands watching her father at the podium addressing the guests. Doctors and many scientists filled the dining room for the spectacular event to take place. A total of what seems more than fifty people, mainly men excluding Dr. Natalie, Jamelet and the five girls from the experiment filled the room. Her father, his peach face and head full of thick dark brown hair glazed with light grey along the side, glows in the soft yellow lights casts from the glass chandleries in the room. His dark brown eyes gaze intensely in the large crowd as Jamelet takes a deep breath. She sighs softly as her father, the doctor and the one in charge of CAPPA, stands proudly discussing the event at hand.



“Good evening and thank you all for coming here. I’m Dr. Sanchez and I run the organization of CAPPA as you all know. I’m pleased to announce after years of searching and tracking down for experiment 1B. We now have them here with us in this very room. I’ll make this quick so we can get to the main events. Over here, if you all look at the center of the room, the five men are the one’s we been after since day one.” He states, tugging on his white lab coat and fixing his silver framed glasses.



All eyes stare at the Boys who stands there confused and frightened by the whole event. A.J. looks up at the small stage where Dr. Sanchez was standing and Dr. Natalie gazes at Alison with her dark brown eyes sadly. Jamelet gulps and shakes her head softly. Something was up, she can feel it. Jamelet looks at Dr. Natalie with confusion in her eyes. She was fearing that something terrible was about to happen shortly and it had to do with experiment 1B.



“What’s going on?” Jamelet cries out suddenly feeling extremely guilty. All the negative things she done in the past made her out to look like a bad guy and now the sudden sense of guilt overwhelmed her. She listened to her father before hand, believing that what they, the corporation are doing is legal and safe. Now she knew the truth behind it all and she wanted out. Although there’s no excuse for her past behavior, she figured she can change all that now, if she makes the right choice. She stares at her father quietly and feels her heart racing. Dr. Sanchez smiles at his daughter and places his finger over his soft pink lips.



“Shhh… sweetie, tonight the rest of the world will see what we’ve been hiding this whole time. I think it’s time we tell the media, the joy and discovery of my plan! I found the medication and no one got hurt!” Dr. Sanchez replies to his daughter.



Jamelet murmurs, “How can you say that? Can you even imagine what their feeling or what they went through?” She states suddenly at her father.



He smiles, “Angelito (little angel), how can you come to the defense of them if their just mere vessels of my experiments. Besides what’s your problem with them anyway?”



“It’s my business when you go and hurt them physically. I thought you wanted to be a doctor. Doctors help people, not hurt them!” Jamelet shouts, pointing her finger at him.



Her father laughs, “Oh my precious daughter, relax, this’ll be fun. Part of being a doctor is helping the society as well, amor. (Love) Besides I am helping a lot more people by stopping these men from harming society.



At this Kevin shouts, his green eyes burning in hatred, “How dare you! You claim to help people yet you have us here chained up! I have a family and so do the other guys! Have you ever thought of that? Do you know how many people are searching for us at this moment? Let us go!” Kevin yells angrily at Dr. Sanchez.



The doctor smiles and points to a guard, “Handle him! I don’t have time for his hollering.” The guard nods his head and walks slowly to the Boys.



Jamelet shouts, “You never said you were going to hurt them.” She glares at her father. She can hear the soft frightened murmurs from the Boys.



Dr. Sanchez smiles, “I have a plan and I want to show them my work. I’ve started this corporation and I will watch it succeed.” He tugs on his black pants and green sweater under his lab coat. “And now.” He continues, “I will show you what these Boys can do. Shall we get to it now?”



The crowd roars into a loud applause as Dr. Sanchez along with some tough burly guards, grab the Boys and pushes them to the center of the large room. Nick shakes in fear as Brian stares at the guards. One of the guards dressed in all black with a black blazer and cargo pants filled with arsenal weaponry, pushes A.J. roughly towards the center of the room with everyone else surrounding him.



The guard with black shades and short jet black straight hair, stares at A.J. manically. His skin a caramel color in the soft lights, pulls out his pistol and points it to A.J. head. A.J. could hear the guard fingering the trigger with a grin on his face.



“Show them what you can do!” Dr. Sanchez states from the stage, his brown eyes open excitedly at the scene.



A.J. shouts to the doctor a small profanity before speaking, “Go to Hell!” A.J. states nervously, knowing if they wanted, he would have been shot dead already. He stares at his friends who all have their hands up in the air surrendering.



“I’ll go, but I’ll meet you there later.” Dr. Sanchez states, laughing with glee at the frighten Boys.



Brian walks towards A.J. quickly as a different guard pokes him with the pistol on his back. “Go join your friend over there.” The gruff voice of the guard speaks.



Brian’s blue eyes gaze with dread at A.J. and the other guys. He stands next to him nervously, he leans near A.J. and whispers, “I don’t know what’s happening! They’ll kill us if we can’t think of something to do!”



“We’re not animals for us to get treated this way!” A.J. shouts a little too loud catching everyone’s attention.



Dr. Sanchez smiles, “On the contrary, young man, since the beginning you and all your little friends have been in it. Do you know how pleased I am to see you all here and that the medication works. It’s a success and you, my little experiments, are the proof!” He states, eagerly clapping his hands.



Jamelet brushes her brown strands behind her ears and stares at the horrified Boys with despair.



Kevin stares at Dr. Natalie and shakes his head, “I can’t believe I bother talking to you! You’re twisted just the rest of them!” He screams out as he struggles against getting pushed in the center. A guard in all black, his white face shining with beads of sweat, slams the head of the pistol behind Kevin’s head.



Dr. Natalie closes her eyes sadly as a stray tear rolls down her light tan complexion. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know. If I knew, I would have stopped it a long time ago.” She whispers softly. The guys didn’t hear her, they weren’t interested in what she had to say anyway.



Crying out in pain, Kevin clutches the back of his head as he manically glares at Dr. Sanchez.



“Behave boy, I don’t have time for your ignorance and petty emotions. I have to get on with the show.” Dr. Sanchez states cruelly.



Nick is grabbed from behind and one guard pushes Nick on the head, causing Nick to stumble towards the center with the others as the guests giggle with enjoyment.



Howie stares in fright with soft brown eyes at the scene before him. Suddenly a guard grabs him by the shoulder and with a deep voice booming in Howie’s ear states, “Are you gonna cause me problem like the others? Or will you cooperate?” The guard states with anger raising in his voice. Howie reluctantly walks slowly to the center to join his friends.



“There now, that wasn’t too hard, now was it?” Dr. Rodriguez states suddenly appearing from the shadows of the wall.



A laughter was heard as Dr. Robertson comes into the room with enjoyment on his face. “I must commend you, Dr. Sanchez, I’m completely blown away with the success of this experiment.” He states grinning.



Howie and A.J. scream out, “No, I can’t believe this!” As a doctor enters the dining room door.



Dr. Rodriguez smiles, “Ok, this is the deal guys. You’ve all been found with the substance that was injected in your blood vessels and now that you’re all grown, the powers in the substance have grown completely. As you’ve all been tested, you all know what you can do.” He states, patting his lab coat pockets.



Howie gulps as a group of fifteen armed men surround the guys with loaded pistols in their hands.



“Um, I don’t know if it’s just me, but I wanna live to see tomorrow you guys.” Nick whispers to the guys cluttered together.



Kevin glares, “Fine.” He states to the crowd. “You wanna see some powers? I’ll show you some!” He cries out angrily staring at Dr. Sanchez.



Meanwhile, Ana and Paige look at each other nervously knowing something dangerous was about to happen. Ana’s bluish green eyes lit up as she stares at the guys in the center. Giggling, she whispers something into Rose’s ear. Rose’s pink glossed lips spread to a smile and she gazes her blue eyes at Kimberly. Kimberly giggles when Rose told her about the plan. Kimberly’s brown eyes grew big as she leans in to Alison to fill her in. Alison in turn places a frown on her soft white innocent face.



Dr. Natalie and Jamelet watch in horror as Kevin stares directly at Dr. Robertson. Two bright blinding red lasers shoot out of Kevin’s green eyes, hitting Dr. Robertson in the center of his forehead. Suddenly the quiet room is field with an agonizing screaming from Dr. Robertson. His flesh is torn and splits apart, as the crimson blood oozes out of the hole in the forehead. At this, people begin running around in terror as the guards aim the pistols at the Boys.



A bullet was about to hit one of the guys in the chest when suddenly the bullet and everyone and thing stopped frozen in time. Alison gulps and walks over to a stiff Howie who’s frozen in time along with everyone else. Alison pushes Howie away from the bullet that was stuck frozen in the air.



Alison stares around and hugs herself. “Please make this stop! I wanna be normal! Why does this happen?” She whispers to herself. She walks over to a corner of the room and feels her heart speed up. Her power didn’t hurt her, she was trained to use it so many times that the tingling sting didn’t bother her anymore. She crumbles to the floor and curls herself up, bringing her knees to her chin. The cool satin royal blue curtains caress her skin softly as she sighs. She feels the warm wet tears trace down her cheeks as she closes her dark brown eyes to resume time. All around her, she can here the screaming and the pounding of footsteps scurrying out of danger. The room was in chaos and people race out the room. The guards start shooting; bullets piercing the walls, cracking and damaging the expensive cream wall that’s in the fancy room.



Through all the chaos, Alison is afraid of moving, too much danger for her and she was frightened. She sees Jamelet running up to her through all the mess, “Come with me, I’ll protect you.” She whispers to the young teen. Alison sits still on the floor too scared about the mess that erupted in the room. Jamelet leans down and whispers gently to Alison, “Trust me, I’m on your side now. My father is sick and I intent on putting a stop to his sick medications and experiments.” She places her warm peach hands around Alison’s shaking shoulders and helps the girl stand up.



Through all this, A.J. and Howie are struggling to stay alive avoiding the spraying bullets that’s being shoot out. Nick in his fear, doesn’t realize what he’s about to do. His blue bright eyes, glows a fiery blue and suddenly a flame starts on the royal blue curtains and starts spreading around the room. Another flame shoots out of his finger and the crackling fire starts burning on the waxed mahogany planks.



Brian races out around the room and he touches two guards who suddenly collapse on the floor dead. A.J. turns to one of the guards and lifts up a pistol from the man’s uniform in the air. The guard stares frightened as the floating pistol lingers in the air. A.J. stares at the glass windows and suddenly the windows break, glass splintering inside and the shattered pieces crash on the floor loudly. Some of the few people who were still in the room, stops running and stands scared at the actions.



“Oh dear God! What the hell is he?” One of the unknown doctors shout out.



A.J. continues to stare around the room as Howie raises his hand up in the direction of the chandeliers. In a few second, the lights in the chandeliers break, spraying out large sparks of electricity onto the floor. The room suddenly is enveloped in darkness as the lights in the room are all broken. The smell of fire continues to grow and the girls from experiment 1A stand there smiling and clapping their hands at all that was happening. The door to the room was crowded as people push and shove to exit the place. The five men stand together as the fire started getting out of control. Jamelet and Alison leaves the room through a secret back door hidden behind one of the curtains. Ana, Rose, Paige and Kimberly run to follow Jamelet as Dr. Natalie and Summer tells the Boys to come follow them to safely.



A.J. stands there in fear at all the damage he and his friends did to the room. Summer stares into the soft brown eyes and smiles. “It’s ok. You did you what you had to do. Let’s get you and friends to safety before the guards come in here to kill you.” Summer smiles, gently clasping his hand with hers.



He smiles, “Thanks for not running away, like I’m a freak.” He whispers to her over the crackling of the spreading fire.



Summer giggles, “I’m used to freaks and you’re not that bad.”



Jamelet screams out, “You guys hurry over here, they’re coming!”



“You heard the lady. Let’s go!” A.J. states smiling at Summer.



Howie looks over at Nick and asks Dr. Natalie who’s they.



Dr. Natalie stares at him with a frown, “They are the ones designed to kill you, now let’s move, go!” She states racing over to leave the burning inferno behind her. The guys race out of the room joining Summer and Jamelet along with the others. And Jamelet stares one last time at the incinerating room and closes the door loudly behind her.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



-A mind is a terrible thing to waste- unknown



**~Chapter Thirteen- Face The Facts



The group of five men and eight women sit around the small office room as the crackling of the fire outside slowly begins to die down. Nick sits on the floor, with his knees up to chest, his arms hanging over his knees as his blue eyes stare numbly at the forest green carpet in the room. Howie and A.J. stands around leaning on the wall staring at the girls in curiosity. The mahogany plank walls glisten in the soft yellow light from the only lamp there. Three beautiful paintings plaster the walls around the small office and the lush forest green carpet spreads out in the room. The royal blue curtains are hung on a large glass window, the same colors used in the dining room. A large thick mahogany shelf hangs on the right side of wall, covered entirely with thick fat books of different sizes. In the center of the room is a beautiful thick mahogany desk with gold lining at the corners. On top of the desk are mounds of folders and sheets of paper with writing scattered on it. A thick book with a bright blue cover caught the attention of Brian.



He walks over to the desk top and lifts the heavy book in his hands. Skimming through pages, he lifts his head to gaze at Jamelet. She sits in a brown leather seat sighing quietly as Summer walks over to her in state of shock.



Summer points to the door and asks nervously, “What the hell just heck just happened back there?”



Jamelet sighs and stares at Brian who’s looking at a book on the desk.



Brian flips through the pages of the book and smirks, “What’s with the book on brains and stuff?” Brian asks quietly.



“Jamelet, what just happened? We’re in danger now aren’t we? All of us now right?” Summer whispers softly trying to hold herself together. Her green eyes flutter showing the gold specks in it from the reflecting light.



Gulping, Jamelet nods her head, she whispers, barely auditable, “The powers are at the highest levels now. The guys know how to fully control and use their gifts now. What you saw just happened back there was just a taste of what they can do. We’re all in danger now. My father knows I switched sides and he’s gonna make sure I regret every second of it. We have to work together now. As a team.”



A.J. shakes his head, “Hell no! I ain’t working with someone who’s sick in the mind! Your father owns this place, why don’t you tell him to piss off with this company and leave. He can’t hurt you! Besides you’re his daughter, he’ll listen to you. Just walk out of here and take us with you!” He states with anger in his voice. He runs his tan hands nervously through his black and red hair.



Kevin, who’s sitting in the office chair behind the desk, shakes his head. “Why don’t you tell me how you got into this whole CAPPA business?”



Jamelet rapidly shakes her head and stands up anxiously, “No, we don’t have time.” She whispers nervously, her voice cracking in fear.



Kevin smiles, his green eyes sparkling, “Sweetie, judging by the fire Nicky left back there, time is all we have. I don’t think we’ll be going anywhere ‘till that fire passes.”



Jamelet sits in the seat and watches as Ana stands up walking to the door. Ana places her hand on the door and places the side of her face on the thick oak door covered in iron. Her lips smiles and she whispers, “Oh, so warm.” She states quietly, her icy breath leaving a cold mist behind each word. Her blond hair in a low ponytail swings over her shoulders.



Nick stares at her in shock, pointing a finger at her, he shouts, “She’s dangerous! Watch out for her! She looks like she’s not well in the mind.”



Paige smiles, her blue grey eyes sparkle, “She’ll behave. Right Ana?”



Ana nods her head and walks over to Nick who’s sitting on the ground. She touches her cold hand on Nick’s face and a smile breaks through her face. “You’re so hot.” She whispers, her icy mist caresses his face.



At this remark, A.J. laughs. “He gets that response from a lot of girls. I guess he can’t help his baby face.”



Nick rolls his blue eyes angrily at A.J. and mutters a profanity.



“Now Nicky watch that mouth of yours. I wouldn’t want to be held responsible with the younger audience in this room.” A.J. states, his chocolate eyes glisten in enjoyment.



Ana stares at him confused and looks back at Nick. Laughing, she walks over to A.J. “I didn’t say he was hot in looks but just hot. Touch him and you’ll see what I mean.” She smirks, extending her finger at Nick.



Howie watches the conversation and kneels down to touch Nick’s face. “OW! His face, it feels like it’s burning! Nick, does it hurt?” He asks Nick who’s staring angrily at A.J.



Nick shakes his head, “Na, it just stings, what do you think?” He states in a sarcastic tone. Howie backed off and walked over to Rose and Kimberly who were sitting on the carpet cross-legged.



Kimberly faces Howie and with watchful dark brown eyes with amber rings in it, stares at Howie. She twirls on a strand of her dark brown hair, mid-length down her shoulders and smiles. Howie sits down next to Kimberly and watches both of the girls.



“So can I ask you something?” He whispers to Kimberly, eyeing her closely.



Kimberly smiles, “Sure, what do you want to know?”



Howie chuckles, “Well, Kim is it?” She quickly shakes her head, “Well what can you do?” Howie asks.



She smiles softly and looks into the deep dark chocolate eyes of Howie, “I have the earth power, you know the earthquakes and all that good stuff that the land can do, like landslides and avalanches. You?”



Howie’s eyes grew big as she states that, gulping he shakes his head nervously, “Electricity. I had no idea! Man, you must be so strong then! My powers are nothing compared to what you can do.” He mutters looking at the forest green carpet.



She begins giggling, “I think you have that the other way, remember, you’re part of the successful group that’s ok. Unlike me. Besides your power is way cooler than mines I’m sure.”



Howie smirks at her, “You really think my powers are better than yours. Besides the whole earth thing sounds hot. My electricity bit can’t do much.”



Rose’s mouths drops open, “You’re kidding me right? Do you know how incredible that power is?! That’s one of the cool powers. Dude, you can totally control the whole thunder and lightening thing, that’s like one of the hottest powers out there, of course besides the whole tele and fire thing.” She smiles and twirls her fingers in her blond strands.



Howie smiles, “Thanks, I feel better about myself now.” He whispers to her.



Kevin clasps his hands and in a loud voice shouts, “Well Jamelet you gotta answer that question. We had enough distractions, so tell me, us all, how you got into CAPPA.”



Brian drums his fingers on the desk top and smiles at Jamelet, “I know you feel exposed here, but you gotta understand, if we’re to be working as a team, we gotta be able to trust each other and right now, you’re not the least likely person to trust in all this.” He stares at her intensely with his bright blue eyes, making her feel extremely uncomfortable.



“Well any day now before we age Jamelet.” Grumbles A.J. who smirks at Summer.



Summer giggles as she received a glare from Jamelet.



Dr. Natalie finally speaks and walks over to Jamelet, “You don’t have to tell them anything if you don’t want to.” She whispers, her dark brown hair hangs loosely over her shoulders.



“They’re right, if they’re gonna trust me, I have to tell them about me right? It only makes sense.” Jamelet whispers, looking at Kevin coldly.



Jamelet takes a deep breath and begins, “Fine. My story begins back when I was a child. My older sister died of a mysterious poison in her blood system and no cure was found. My father worked with the government for a while and decided to open a place- this center- to find the cure and problem with the disease. My sister passed away when I was only five years old. Ever since I was growing up, I was determined to help find what took out my sister and put a stop it. She was found with what later is considered some acid that took her life. No one could found what the disease is and since it was never discovered in any one else, it was named after her- Jezebel15…” Suddenly she gets interrupted by Kevin.



“I heard of this disease, it was on news. I’m sorry about your sister.” Kevin whispers quietly.



Jamelet nods her head and continues, “She was only 15 when she died. Now hear is when I come in to the picture. I wanted to help my father out in figuring what took my sister’s life so I took up the job to work here. Somehow while I was working here, I began getting sick. After two weeks of what felt like a flu, I was found to have what my sister had. I now stand here before you with that disease running through my body. You guys I can’t leave, I have no where to go to and this is the best place I can be treated in. My father knows how to work with this disease. Because of his struggles, he helped me live longer. So you must understand, I can’t leave this place, it could literally mean my life. The doctors out there can’t help me and I don’t wanna die not knowing that somehow I could have saved if only I remained here.” Jamelet states softly, all eyes penetrating at her.



“Oh God, I’m sorry!” Summer cries out running to hold Jamelet in an embrace.



“Please, don’t.” Jamelet states, pushing Summer gently away. “I don’t want you to feel pity for me because of this.”



Kevin feels his mouth drops open, “Oh man, I didn’t know. All this time I was pointing fingers at this whole place because of how they ruined our lives and you’ve been keeping quiet, slowly suffering. Truly, I’m sorry if I meant anything bad.”



Brian looks at Dr. Natalie, “One thing remains though, what about these powers we have. I mean is there a cure to stop these powers? Not for nothing, this isn’t normal.” He smiles softly, staring at the carpet.



Dr. Natalie smiles, “Actually there is a cure. But I’ll need to research it more. I was close to finding the information, but it’ll take a lot of hacking to get into it and I’m not much of that.”



A.J. laughed, “Whoo, yes! I knew Nick’s hackling ability would one day be useful.”



Nick smiles and walks over to a small desktop at the corner of room, where a small laptop was placed. Cracking his neck and knuckles, he turns to the others and smiles, “I have to get my body prepared, it’s very important.”



The others smile and laugh at that response and watched as Nick plugged in the lab top and began his searching. “K, doc. I’ll need your help on finding what you want.”



Dr. Natalie smiles and leans on the desktop as Nick begins his searching.



Alison who is sitting on the carpet next to Brian smiles, “Hey Brian, remember when I told you things would work out?”



Brian smiles softly, “Yes, I do.” His blue eyes staring at the young girl happily.



“Well, see things are really working out and we can get out of here.” Alison states, grinning happily.



“You sure did little one.” Brian states, hugging her.



Suddenly Rose stands up along with Kimberly and both girls touch the door, “You guys, the fire is almost out. I’m thinking we jump out the window and get out of here.” Rose states, standing near Nick.



Summer looks at her confused, “If the fire out’s, why go through the window?”



Kimberly smiles, “I don’t think you wanna face all those killer guards waiting for us now do ya?”



Kevin shrugs his shoulders, “I think right now that’s our best option to getting out of here tonight?” Kevin says nibbling his lower lip.



Rose shrugs her shoulders, “Hey I tried, but you realize that on the other side of this door people are waiting to kill us.”



At that remark Nick stops researching and gazes at Kevin fearfully, “I, I, I don’t want to die Kev, Kevin. Can’t we work something out?”



A.J. sighs and looks at Jamelet, “Care to inform us if there’s any hidden places around here?” His raspy voice questions.



Jamelet shakes her head, “Sorry, that’s the only way out guys.” She says, pointing to the door.



Howie raises his eyes to the ceiling, “Man, this is going be one long night.”



“You’re telling me.” A.J. states, grumbling all the while under his breath.



“Well I say, we go now or stay here and wait till they shoot us out.” Summer states confidently.



Kevin shakes his head and has everyone gather beside him, “K, at three, we open this door and run for the exit in the dining room. Get ready and three!” Kevin shouts opening the forbidden door as the fire and bullets begin spraying in their direction.



“You realize if I don’t make it out of here, I’ll haunt you dreams Kevin.” A.J. states annoyed.



Kevin rolled his eyes and heads out the door followed by the others quickly.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Fourteen- Division Is A Must~**



The door opens and Kevin gulps as a spray of bullets come shooting at his direction. Summer grabs for any ones hand and clutches the open hand near by her.



She turns to see A.J smiling, his chocolate eyes sparkling, “You’re kinda fast, ain’t ya?” He states laughing raising his hand to show Summer’s hand cupped in his.



Blushing, Summer pulls her hand away, “I was scared, it doesn’t mean anything, so get over it.” She states smiling, her cheeks a flustered pink.



A.J. smirks, “Sure it doesn’t mean anything, I’ll believe that.” He replies sarcastically.



Alison steps in front of everyone and her soft brown eyes stare at the large twenty something guards shooting at them. Suddenly a copper bullet freezes in front of her face and the guards stand stiff, silent and still. Alison sighs and gazes at the guards dressed in all black, their pistols raised in the air aimed at her and the group. The mass amount of copper bullets stay stuck in the air, unmoving. One bullet almost grazes her ear, as she stands mystifies by the whole scenery. Sighing nervously, she pushes some stray medium dark brown hair off her white beautiful face. Walking over to the unmoving figures, she passes the guards and pushes open the front door of the dining area.



Alison sighs and stares back at the group with the Boys and girls. “Great, now how am I gonna do get the guys out without them getting shot?” She grumbles, tugging on her brown locks. She stands at the exit of the room, it really is tempting to go and leave like this but she couldn’t do that. Not when people depended on her to get them to safety and out of here and especially when innocent lives lie on her help. Gulping nervously she grabs the frozen guards pistols and flings it across the room. About a good amount of the metal weapons lay across the forest green carpet on the other side of the room. “Ok, guys I hope ya ready to run now?” Paige whispers, staring at the guards who are holding nothing in their hands. Suddenly her eyes glow and the scenery moves and time returns to normal again. Kevin watches the guards who stare at group angrily shouting a mixture of profanity and sudden commands.



“Where’s our guns?” Shouts one of the guards loudly, the guards come racing across the large room to the group of five men and seven women.



Kimberly giggles; her dark brown eyes light up and the amber rings in her eyes, glow a bright red. She gazes at the oncoming guards smiling, “Hey guys watch this.” She raises her hands and in the very dim lighted room, the floor beneath them begins to shake violently. The approaching guards stumbling and fall on top of one another all the while shouting and reaching for some other form of weapons on their black blazers.



“Hurry you guys, lets get out of here!” Brian shouts almost stumbling on the carpet as well. Carefully and quickly the group makes it out of the room each holding on to each other so as to not leave anyone behind. Once out the door they all stand in the hallway confused as to what to do next.



A.J. turns to the thick dining room door and lifts his right hand in the air. Clutching his hand like he was closing a door, it seemed like he was holding an imaginary key. He turns his hand and locks the door shut. “They go in but they can’t come out!” He smiles gazing at the rest of the group.



“That was some close call, great job Alison! Dag girl, if I was you, I would have bolted out of here on my own, forget the others.” Nick states eying her happily.



She smiles, “I couldn’t do that. Miss Jamelet, Miss Summer and Dr. Natalie have cared for me all the while I was here. I couldn’t leave you all in danger, I would never get any sleep thinking if you guys get hurt.” Alison states smiling at the women in front of her. She was interrupted suddenly by a loud yawn coming from Ana.



“Oh man, that was too sweet for me. Just too mushy for my liking. Now can we move on? You forgot we have the entire company coming after us.” Ana says annoyed, her bluish green eyes sparkling with glee.



“She right, we have to move on, the shortest way out of here is heavily guarded and there’s no way your powers will work in that area.” Jamelet states, her medium brown eyes glitter in the bright florescent light.



Kevin asks, his deep voice vibrating and echoing down the long white lit up hallway, “So what do you think would be best?”



Jamelet shrugs her shoulders, “I’m figuring if we go as a big group we’re better off so as not to lose anyone along the way.”



Dr. Natalie smiles, “That would be a great idea except for one problem.”



“And the problem with that would be? Summer asks curiously, her short blond locks lay across her shoulders loosely.



“The problem with that would be that we’re too big as a group and this whole place is rigged with traps of all kind. If we travel as we are in this group, sooner or later we would have to break apart any way. The hallways get narrower as we travel eastward and evidently we would have to break into groups.” Rose states, her blue eyes gaze at the women to see what they thought.



Summer shakes her head and throwing her hands in front of her to show her dislike, “There’s no way we can separate now, don’t you see that that’s what they want us to. We do that and we then become easy targets for those guards.”



“I think Rose has the plan right. Think about it, the smaller we are, the more harder it is for some traps and guards to get us. The smaller the better.” A.J. states, concern on his face.



Howie holds back a laugh, “Somewhere along that statement, something just didn’t sound right.”



A.J. rolls his eyes, “Whatever man, let’s keep this clean man.” He smiles flipping his finger at Howie.



Kevin steps in between them, “That’s enough! Come on, let’s go I’m sure they’re coming for us.” His green eyes glowed in worry.



Paige gazes down both sides of the hallway and whispers nervously, “If we’re gonna divide up, then do it now, I see three armed men coming down the west wing!” She tugs on her blond locks which were tinted at the ends with a hue of orange.



Dr. Natalie stares at the group before her, “Fine, I’ll take one group and Jamelet you take the other group down the other end of the hallway. We’ll try to meet up on the back side of the lobby by eleven.” She says quietly, looking quickly at her watch.



Jamelet nods her head, “Fine, we gotta try to divide evenly though, but that’ll be impossible with thirteen people. I got Ana, A.J., Rose, Howie, Nick and Summer.”



Dr. Natalie gazes at the group, her dark brown eyes seem troubled in worry, “Ok, I got Brian, Kevin, Paige, Kimberly and Alison on my team. It’ll do for now, we’re still too big though but we’ll deal. Let’s head out.” Dr. Natalie replies and turns to Jamelet, “Good luck and I’ll see you downstairs.” She smiles softly.



“Be careful.” Jamelet states quietly as Natalie’s group head down the opposite way, down the hallway. Jamelet looks at her group, “Well guys let’s go.”



Summer nods her head, nervously she asks, “Jamelet can you say all of us will make it out of here alive?” Her green eyes open wide in fear.



Jamelet smiles, “Yeah, we should be fine. Don’t worry about it, besides we have Ana, the ice girl.”



“And the other group?” Summer asks quietly staring down the opposite hallway where the shadows of the group were left as they turn a corner.



“They have Brian.” Jamelet states carefree, walking down the hallway down the east side, with the others following.



Summer shrugs her shoulders, “Oh ok.” She says nervously.



A.J. smirks, “And you have me.” He states whispering in Summer’s ears, laughing after seeing Summer blush slightly.



They walk down the white hallway, the bright white lights casting down on them.



“Hey Nick, you think you bad now cause you can cause fire?” Smirks Rose, her blue eyes glittering in mischievous.



Nick rolls his eyes and flips a small flame off his finger on Rose’s peasant flowered shirt. The small flame spreads over the shoulder of her shirt as she screams out, patting at the flame. Nick laughs and points at her.



A.J. shakes his head shamefully and looks at Summer, “You think he would have grown up by now. He surprises me everyday.”



Summer smiles and watches as poor Rose pats away the small flame, blowing at it.



Ana giggles: small cold mists escapes her soft lips and she leans on Howie’s shoulder, “Hey, what do you say me and you use our powers in a different way?” She smiles naughty, licking her lower lip seductively.



Howie smirked, “You’re kidding right? I mean you look so young.”



At this Ana took offense, “Hey, I’m seventeen now! What do you mean I’m young?! I ain’t too young for a car license right?” She yells at him, puffs of cold mists escapes her lips, touching Howie’s cheek sending a chill down his back.



Howie raises his hands in defense, “Whoa, ok, let’s change the subject now. I see you wanna talk about something else.” He tries to laugh it off but he feared Ana’s powers.



Jamelet stops in front of the large white iron door, “K guys this is it, behind this door is where we begin our adventure, buckle up kids, it’s gonna be a bumpy ride.”



“I like things that go bump.” A.J. states gazing at Summer curiously.



Jamelet types a password on the side of the door and it slides open revealing ten armed guards all pointing their rifles at the group.



“Ugh, I knew I should’ve gone in Dr. Natalie’s group, they have Alison, the time girl.” Grumbles Rose.



Nick smirks, “But you forgot you’re in the team with Ana and me the fire starter.”



Jamelet stuttered and stares at the guys, “K guys now would be a good time to use your powers.”



A.J. gulps, “Uh oh. We’ll try but I can’t promise what can happen.” He states and stands next to Howie and Nick who raise their hands to the guards who begin to shoot copper bullets at their direction.



Nick grumbles, “Man this is gonna hurt so much now.” He states feeling his eyes begin to sting for his powers.



Summer gulps and mouths silently to Jamelet, “Can they stop them?”



Jamelet shrugs her shoulders and mouths back quietly to Summer, “We’ll have to wait and find out.”

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~Chapter Fifteen- Where Trouble Lies~**



The guard points his black rifle to the target practice and shoots. The bullet tears through the bull eyes and lands on the black tiles dully, clicking when it lands.



“Perfect.” Dr. Sanchez states, clapping his hands in approval. “I think you’re all ready for the mission.”



“Sir, yes, sir. All thanks to you.” The guard in training states, saluting the doctor.



Suddenly a black haired man runs into the training ground where the doctor and the guard was. His grey eyes sparkle in fear, he clutches his chest and places his dark golden brown tan hand over his chest. “Sir,” The man states out of breath. “I think I found something on the video camera that might take interest to you.” The man states, his gruff voice breaking the silence.



Dr. Sanchez smiles, his medium dark brown eyes glitter in excitement. “If it’s about my daughter, I already know.”



The man sighed, “So I assume you saw her already betraying the company.”



Dr. Sanchez smiles, “Let her do that. It doesn’t matter to me. I found the experiment and I’m about to release it to the public. I don’t care about the side effects, I’ve dulled the gifts in the medication down to a bit. So even if someone is suffering from such a fatal disease, the gifts won’t be deadly at all, in fact it might not even show at all, it depends on the person’s body. So not only will I be making a profit, I supposedly will be helping people lives. Isn’t it great?” He states, grinning amusedly.



The man gulps and shakes his head, “Doctor, I don’t think that’s a good idea at all. Do you know what will happen if you release the contents on to the public? I mean you’re just using them as larger experiments and could be condemning a few deaths! Think about it, I mean something can seriously go wrong with the medication on people.”



Sighing, Dr. Sanchez pulls his silver framed glasses away from his eyes and rubs his eyes softly with his fingers. “What do you want from me Else? I’ve finally created something that will help society and here you are complaining about it. Know what? I have a present for you. Stay right here.” Dr. Sanchez states, pointing to the back tile floor. “Don’t move around too much ok?”



Else nods his head and watches as the new guard and Dr. Sanchez exits the room softly. Else hears the door lock and a buzzing sound erupting from it. Else gazes slowly at the deserted room, nothing there, but the white walls, black tiles, one large rectangular window with the royal blue curtains and a couple of targets with bullets hole through it. The dim lights in the room hung from the ceiling in a simple matter, all aligned together to form a rectangle shape on the white ceiling.



“Else” the voice shouted through a small speaker on the ceiling.



Else noted its Dr. Sanchez voice and responds, “Yes, doctor what is it?”



The voice on the speaker talks, “Else, can you do me a favor?”



Else nods his head, “Alright doctor, what can I do for you?”



Else hears the doctor sigh and his voice answers back, “Else I forget to clear the targets away, can you gather them and throw them away in the trash on the corner? And hurry up, we have business to take care of.”



Else nods his head and races over to the torn targets on the wall, pulling them off one by one. “Else” The doctor’s voice interrupts. Else stops and his back facing one of the targets, looks up to the small camera, “Yes, what is it?” Else states, his voice quivering a little at the unusual circumstance he’s in.



“Forget the targets, look at this camera and don’t move. I’m going to give you a surprise.” Dr. Sanchez states, pushing a button in his office.



Else watches as the walls in the room grew small holes and suddenly bullets came out from all over the room. Else screams as the bullets tore into his body, ripping flesh and piercing organs. The crimson liquid splashes on the wall, like a can of red paint and smears the floor. All throughout this, Else could hear the laughter of the doctor right before he died. Else cries out and collapses on the floor dead. His abused body leaks out blood from the many holes marked by the bullets. Dr. Sanchez smiles, “Don’t ever question me again Else. Just remember you asked for this.” His voice echoes in the training ground where Else’s dead body laid. The new guard watches in horror, clutching his rifle so tight that his knuckles were white. Dr. Sanchez smiles, “Now you know who you are really messing with. I suggest you clean up the mess in the room and don’t talk about this to no one. Or next time that can be you.” Dr. Sanchez states calmly, his voice soft and showed no emotion.



The new guard raised his dark brown eyes to the doctor and salutes him, “Sir, yes, sir. I’ll get right to it.” And with that races out the room immediately with fear tugging at his heart.



The doctor smiles, “That’s a good boy now.” And he turns to watch a camera that showed a group with the experiments and Dr. Natalie in one of the TV screens. “Time for some fun now.” He whispers as Dr. Natalie, along with Brian, Alison, Kevin, Paige and Kimberly walk down a long deserted white hallway.

~*~



The footsteps echo in the white hallways as Dr. Natalie and her group walk down the opposite end of the hallway. Suddenly Alison faints and collapses on the ground, as Kevin catches the young girl in his arms.



Brian stares wide eyed at Alison, “What happened?” He asks nervously, his blue eyes sparkling.



“She’s weak from using her powers, she’ll be ok, but the further down we walk through these corridors, the more difficult it will be to use your gifts. Dr. Sanchez constructed this company and formulated a way that those with your special talents will not regain control of their gifts. You’ll start to lose control of it and you all must be careful! Dr. Sanchez can use your powers against you!” Dr. Natalie states quietly.



Kimberly shivers, “What! No! I can’t even protect myself from myself now, that’s just great!” She states sarcastically, rolling her dark brown eyes.



Kevin sighs, cradling the sleeping Alison in his arms, “Ok, look whatever happens to us, we have to work together and stop this company from succeeding and releasing the medication to the public.”



Brian gulps, “Ok, right, but the thing is, what if the doctor already released it?!” He asks nervously.



Paige shakes her head, “He can’t yet, he has to stop us before he can do that. We’re stalling him by us running around here and that’s a good thing.” Her blue grey eyes open wide as she nibbles on her lower lip.



Brian stops as they all reach a metal door. Dr. Natalie types a password on the side of the thick door and the door slides open after identifying the code. She turns to look at her group, her dark brown eyes filled with concern. She forces a smile and gulps softly. “Ok, this is what we expect. If I know Dr. Sanchez, there must be at least twenty five guards heading in this direction. Get ready you guys and remember that your gifts might not work for you or for any of us, but against us. So beware and watch when you have to use them. Understood?” Dr. Natalie states with trepidation in her voice.



The others nod nervously and follow the doctor into a longer wide white hallway, the harsh bright lights gleaming from the ceiling. Their steps thudded on the white tiles of the hallway and Kevin sighs holding the young teen in his arms. Brian smiles gently and pats his cousin on the shoulder, “We’ll get out of here, I know we will.” He whispers more to himself than the group.



Kevin nods his head, “Hopefully. Otherwise I hate to think what would happen if we can’t free ourselves from this demented place.” He whispers to Brian.



Kimberly lets her dark brown eyes stare all around the hallway in curiosity. Her eyes begin glowing suddenly and the amber rings in her eyes begin to glow steadily. She stops and begins screaming as if she was in pain. The others immediately stop and Dr. Natalie races over to her.



“Sweetie, what is it?” Dr. Natalie cries out, running her fingers gently through Kimberly dark brown hair: a soft tangle of natural red highlights caught in her light tan fingers. “Kim, you have to calm down, tell me what’s happening to you.”



Fear covered the others heart as they all watch the conversation between the doctor and the young teenager. Paige approaches Kimberly who is shaking terribly all the while screaming in pain.



“Doctor Natalie, what’s going on with her?” Paige states, trying to remain calm.



Kevin watches in horror as Kimberly screams out in pure torture, suddenly the hallway remains quiet as Kimberly stops screaming, her echoes fading away. Brian takes a deep breath and for a few seconds nothing happened. Then the ground begins to shake horribly, the white tiles begin cracking and spreading apart, separating the tiles in the hallway.



Paige watches in horror as she loses footing and feels herself falling into the wide gap that emerged from Kimberly’s gift. The ground was shaking violently and everyone was losing footing. Paige stares at the wide gap as she tumbles in that direction, suddenly Paige feels someone grab her arm quickly saving her from her death and fall.



“I got you.” Brian states, holding onto her arm with all his strength, her body swings freely in the hole as Brian pulls her up. She grabs on to the cracked tiles and her body crumbles into a heap as she cries. Brian pulls her in a hug as he passes his fingers gently through her blond hair and at the ends of her hair, orange tips covered her blond locks.



Paige shakes in fright as Brian embraces her in comfort, “It’s ok, I got you, don’t worry.” She shakes horribly as the others watch.



Kimberly feels tears edge their way on her light tan face. Dr. Natalie sighs a deep breath and counts off the group, “Good, we’re still together. You just witness the effects of almost losing control of your powers. Kimberly almost lost it, but she’s ok now. Come on, lets go, I’m sure the doctor is watching and is enjoying all this.” She whispers angrily, gazing at a small camera hung on the ceiling.

~*~



The rifles and pistols float in the air and slams roughly on the guard’s soft face as a fire storm begins coming at the ten guards. The blaze of fire touches the guards and begins to burn their clothes. Screaming erupts and suddenly the lights above the guards blink and explode. A live wire with sparkling electricity swings from the ceiling. The bright sparks strike the guards on their face and emblazes a bright orange yellow glow. A strong gust of wind knocks down the burning guards as screams echo the wide vacant hallway.



Jamelet stares in shock and looks at the guys. “Ok, that’s enough! Stop! You’re destroying our pathway. We can’t travel if fire and electricity are all around.”



A.J. gazes at her and feels a dizzy spell take over. Nick’s fiery blue eyes glow brilliantly and he closes his eyes. He collapses onto the ground suddenly out of energy. Howie places his hands on the side of his head, and he struggles to remain conscious.



Rose asks nervously, “What’s happening to them?” As she places her hands down her side, after using her wind power.



Summer gulps, “Their body is trying to adjust to their powers, it took a lot of strength and energy from them. It looks like it wore them out.” She whispers softly to Rose. Her green eyes gazes at Nick who’s on the floor knocked out and A.J. who’s leaning on the wall for support. She passes her fingers through her short blond locks on her shoulder and watches the fire burn through the guards. Black smoke and the raw smell of burnt flesh lingered in the air as the bodies were entirely burned through. The smoked flesh crumples on the white tiles like a mass amount of dust.



Jamelet shakes her head gently, “Come on guys, we can’t stop now. My father knows I’m against him and he’s determine to bring us misery, we gotta keep going now.” She states, grabbing Nick’s legs as Rose gently lifts Nick shoulder to carry him out the area.



“Is that gonna happen to us?” A.J. asks softly leaning on Summer as he struggles to walk right.



Jamelet nods her head, “It depends, the more you use it, the more stronger you get, thus your body wears out faster like Nick.” Sighing, she struggles with the increase weight from the man she and Rose are carrying. Ana grabs Howie’s hand and helps him lean on her for support.



Summer gazes at Jamelet, she knew this must be difficult for her going against everything that she ever knew and her father. She sighs and stares at Jamelet, whose brown eyes were filled with distress.



“I’m sorry.” Summer whispers to Jamelet gently.



Jamelet turns to look at her confused, her brown eyes showing the puzzled expression. “Sorry about what?” Her peach complexion flustered from the smoke.



“Sorry that you had such a life. I’m glad you’re standing up against CAPPA and against your father. I know it must be so difficult for you.” Summer whispers, eying her.



Jamelet stops and licks her lower lip nervously. She pushes some stray dark medium brown strands behind her ears and her brown eyes fill with tears. She drops Nick onto the floor and collapses on her knees crying out, “I don’t know what I’m doing! I feel lost, no matter where I go, I can never fit in! I never asked to have such a father whose intentions where good in the beginning but power soon controlled him.”



Summer’s heart went out to her and runs over to her, giving her a comforting embrace. Soon Ana, Rose, A.J. and Howie joined in the hug and whispered, “We’re in this together! We’ll make out, don’t worry!”



Nick wakes up and painfully and slowly crawls over to the group in embrace and throws his arms around the hugging group smiling.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

A/N: Man it’s been ages since I wrote another chapter at least that what it feels like to me, *sigh* But I’m refueled and ready to write another chapter for you guys, I hope you all enjoy it! Thanks so much you guys, well off I go, *fingers tingling ready to write* Hehe, ‘Till later, peace out!



“Troubling Gifts”





**~A mind is a terrible thing to waste- Unknown~**



**~Chapter 16- Looking Ahead~**



The footsteps thudded softly on the white tiles of the hallway as Dr. Natalie leads her group down the eerie silent hallway. The harsh white lights blare down on them and the bright white walls seem to blind ones vision. Placing her hands on her side, she faces her group, her dark brown eyes, glittering. She passes her light tan fingers through her dark brown long straight hair, which tonight is clipped in a low ponytail. She nervously fiddles with her tight baby blue t-shirt and tugs on her black knee length black skirt.



“What’s up?” Kevin asks with concern on his face. His green eyes penetrate through her, making her highly nervous and agitated.



“Mr. Richardson don’t take this the wrong way, but can you not look at me too much. Your eyes are quite a dangerous weapon and I don’t want to be caught in them.” Whispers Dr. Natalie with concern in her voice.



Paige giggles, “It’s ok, she tells us the same thing all the time. Don’t feel bad.” She states smiling, patting Kevin’s shoulder, her blue grey eyes glittering.



Brian chuckled and stares at Kevin, knowing Kevin’s concern was of the other group. “Hey, we’re gonna meet up with them. They’re fine, you’ll see. Besides with A.J. and Nick in that group, they’re set.”



Kevin gulps and feels shifting in his arms as Alison opens her soft brown eyes to stare at Kevin. She smiles and giggles, “Now this is the way to wake up.”



The others laugh and feel a bit more relaxed after her statement. Kimberly rubs her eyes and yawns and stares back down the hallway they just passed. Her dark brown eyes squint at the harsh bright lights. Alison gently is placed on her feet as she walks softly.



Alison sniffs the air and frowns, “You guys, they’re coming!” She whispers in fright. Dr. Natalie shakes her head and fumbles for her keycard to swipe at the thick iron door in front of her.



Kevin stares around the hallway in confusion, “Ali, are you sure? I don’t see anyone coming.”



Brian’s blue eyes grew wide, “Oh God!” He yells pointing down the hallway they had already walked down, to see the front door blast open allowing entrance to more than fifteen armed guards all shooting to the group’s direction. Everyone scatters for protection and the clicking of the iron door slides open. Dr. Natalie rushes in followed by the others in the group into another hallway form behind the iron the door. Suddenly the iron door makes a clicking noise and slams shut locking Brian out of safety from the others.



“Brian!” Kevin screams, slamming his hands roughly against the side of the iron door. “Open it doctor! I swear if he dies, I’ll kill you!” He screams out her direction.



Dr. Natalie completely terrified moves away from him down the hallway, “I don’t know what happened! That door shouldn’t have done that! It never did that before hand. I don’t understand how it could have done that!” She whispers, her voice choking on emerging tears.



“Well you better understand! If he dies, know you’ll be serving a nice long term in prison.” Kevin growls under his breath, his emerald eyes shining in anger.



Paige steps in the middle of the two and looks at Kevin. “Kev. It’ll be ok, Brian can use his powers, he’ll be fine. I know he will.”



Kevin stares hard at the doctor and softens as he gazes at Paige’s face. “I’m sorry. I pray he makes it out of there ok, or I’ll never live it down.” He whispers to them.



Alison pats his shoulder, smirking, “Why are you worried? Brian is like the living grim reaper himself. If anything, we should be ones to watch out.” Her brown eyes open wide at him. “So are you ready to go? The door will open again, it’s just jammed, Dr. Natalie can fix that up right?” She stares hard at the doctor, her innocent white complexion glitters in delight.



The doctor nods and gulps, walking over to a small switch box and begins pulling on a black wire.



Kimberly smiles, “Looks like you scared the doctor lovely. Look how she’s all shaking. Man if only Ana can see this.” She states grinning, enjoying and taking in the doctor’s fright.

~*~



Brian watches the iron door slam shut before him as panic seizes him. “No! No not this!” He shouts, banging his fists on the iron door roughly. “Please open, this isn’t funny! Come on, open up!” Brian can hear laughing as the large group of armed guards dressed in all black point their rifles to him.



He faces the guards and he can feel his heart banging against his chest, Goose bumps run all along his arms and down his spine as a cold sweat breaks on his face. One of the soldiers, smirk and pulls off his black shades to stare at Brian. “Looks like you can’t sing your way out of this one now can ya?” This remark is followed by an abrupt laughter from the armed guards and they inch their way closer to Brian. They were only a few feet away from Brian and a few seconds away from firing their weapons.



Brian needed a distraction, but what? He thought quickly following his eyes down the crowded hallway and sees a small camera hanging in the corner tucked beneath down the hallway. Pointing his finger, he opens his eyes and screams, “He’s watching he’s watching!”



The guards shrug their shoulders and Brian can hear laughter, “So, let him look!”



“You can’t kill me! I’m too important for Doctor Sanchez for you to just kill me. He still needs me. I’m his successful experiment, he can’t just get rid of me!” Brian states: knowing full well that Dr. Sanchez is watching and listening to what he’s saying.

~*~



“Damn the boy!” Dr. Sanchez growls, slamming his hands down on his office desk. “He’s too smart for his own good. Capture him then if he feels like acting up. Besides, what’s more fun than punishing a celebrity? We’ll make him eat those words of his.” He states, his voice vibrating in his office.



A solider bits his lower lip and stares at the doctor, his dark brown eyes gazing at the doctor. “They can hear you in the hallway. You forgot to turn off the speaker on the set.” The young solider states, his chocolate complexion glowing in the office light.



“I know that. It’s ok.” Dr. Sanchez replies softly as he pushes a small red button at the edge of his office desk. His medium dark brown eyes lit up as he passes his peach colored fingers through the short brown locks on his head. “If Brian wants to play then we’ll play.” He states eerie, gazing at the large flat screen on his office wall next to his desk. The television shows the hallway beginning to fill up with smoke and some gas as the armed guards there begin screaming in pain. Their skin seems to be eating itself and rot begins to grow on the skin, changing the skin to green. Their flesh begins to rot and wrinkle and get sunken into the bones, the echoing of the loud painful screaming, as they drop dead on the floor. The crimson liquid oozes out of the large bodies and trickles on the white tiles, staining the tiles with its dark red blood. Brian watches in horror as all this takes place. He stands there clutching onto the sides of the iron door, praying it will open and save him from the horror that will take place.



“Oh man.” Brian whispers fearfully as the thick smoke comes towards his direction. Whatever that gas did to those soldiers, Brian knew he couldn’t get out of this one.

~*~



The guard stares at Dr. Sanchez miserably, “Doctor, how could you! You killed all those men with that acid smoke you let out!”



The doctor smirks, “Riley, the smoke is just smoke, there was nothing wrong with that smoke. That was all Brian’s doing. Don’t you see, when the experiments are in fear, their powers reach their ultimate and we just witnessed it!”



“No way! Sanchez I saw you press that button! You killed the guards, not him.” The young guard states, gripping his rifle in his hands.



The doctor laughs, “Believe what you wanna believe, that man has the strongest power yet! He will be the one to bring this company to success. Don’t you see, all this running around as they try to leave this place is only making those experiments stronger! Imagine what I can do once I gain control of the blond fool with the death power? How many people will be at my command?”



The young guard watches in shame, shaking his head sadly. “I can’t believe my dad signed me up for this.” He whispers.



Dr. Sanchez smirks, “Keep on complaining and see what happens to you.”



The young guard who for only twenty is the youngest of all that trained there, stands there ready to do what the doctor asks. He’s built and muscular and stands at a height of six two and his head is covered in an unruly mess of small black curls. The young guard salutes the doctor and apologizes kindly to him. His dark brown eyes lower to floor and waits for the doctor’s next command.



Dr. Sanchez smirks, “You don’t wanna get on my bad side now do ya?”



The young guard shakes his head rapidly. “NO, sir NO!”



“Good, then off you go, put the plan in action, they won’t leave this facility. We’ll smash their plan before they know it.” Dr. Sanchez replies as he watches the TV screen to show the iron door open up and letting Brian join the others in the group. Dr. Sanchez smiles, Good boy, he’s almost too strong for my liking. He thinks to himself as the TV screen fades to black.

~*~



Jamelet leads the way down the burnt hallway followed by the tired men and women behind her. Summer yawns and walks along with A.J. holding onto his side in case he collapsed again. Ana and Howie follows right behind them, Ana who if any one missed her smile, knew she was enjoying every moment of having her chance to grab on a Backstreet Boy. Nick stumbles in pain down the hallway as Jamelet and Rose each hold on to him from either side.



No noise except their breathing and the echoing of their footsteps filled the vacant hallway. No one noticed a guard coming from behind them from beneath the tiles that quietly separated. It allows the solider to rise up from the hidden trap door buried beneath the white tiles. Summer who’s watching the back of the group, notices it and quietly taps A.J.’s shoulder to look. She places her fingers to her lips to let him know not to make noise. That’s the last thing she needs is to alarm the others. A.J. turns and his soft brown eyes begin glowing at the soldier’s direction. Suddenly the soldier went flying in the air and was slammed on the wall hard. The rifle that was in the soldiers hand clatters onto the floor, disrupting the silence. The rest of the group turns and watches as A.J. raises the rifle with his mind and smiles. With his hands he pretends to be holding up the floating gun in front of him. The rifle is pointing at the solider who’s screaming out, “Don’t kill me! Don’t kill me!” A.J. looks at the others and shakes his head, with his fingers held out like a gun, he flicks his thumb like he pushed the trigger of the gun and suddenly the soldier was bombarded with lead in his body as the bullets come shooting out of the floating rifle, slamming the soldier’s body.



Rose blue eyes open wide as she screams out in horror as Summer runs to her, screaming in fright as well. Once the bullets were done, the floating rifle crashes onto the white tiles loudly. Howie and Ana stare at that amazed and Nick begins clapping his hands.



“Yo, Bone, I didn’t know you had a license for a gun.” Nick smirks yet a little traumatized about seeing a dead person.



A.J. feeling the same way, shrugs his shoulders, “I don’t, but I have a license to kill according to the medication in us.”



Howie laughs, I guess.” His soft brown eyes open wide, watching the dead body slide down the wall, leaving a trail of smeared crimson liquid on the white walls.



Ana smiles, her bluish green eyes sparkle in delight, “I like the way he’s thinking.” She states, staring at A.J.



Jamelet rolls her eyes and smirks, “Had enough fun? Let’s go. My father was watching that. Be careful using your gifts. It can wear you out.” She states pointing to a small camera above them on the ceiling.



A.J. smirks, eyeing Summer next to him, “That is if Summer don’t first.” He whispers towards Summer’s direction, causing her to blush in pink.



Howie laughs as he struggles to walk, “Man, what a power.”



Ana smiles, “You ain’t see nothing yet.” And with that leads him along with the others to find the nearest stair case.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

Here for all you’re enjoyment is the next chapter to the story! Hehe. Enjoy and drop a review!



“Troubling Gifts”





~A mind is a terrible thing to waste~



**~Chapter 17- The Dungeon Below~**



Brian races after his group once the cold iron door spreads open. He gasps and stares at the thick white smoke that is slowly evaporating. Kevin runs over to Brian and clutches him tightly. He scans the hallway with his emerald eyes and gulp.



“What the hell happened over there?” Kevin states horrified, his voice quivers at the melting flesh and foul stench of what once used to be human soldiers.



“That smoke! It killed them! Really it did, I saw it with my own eyes. The smoke just touched them and they melted. What ever that sick doctor is thinking of, he’s good at it!” Brian states exasperated, the bright blue orbs wide open as he shakes in fear. “What if we don’t make it out of here? I’m starting to have doubts.” He whispers, clutching Kevin’s arm tightly.



Dr. Natalie’s mouth drops open as she walks over to join the cousins. “Look, we can’t think about that now. I found a stairwell down below that will take us to the other group and out the building. I’m advising we all stay together and not lose each other. I’m sure Dr. Sanchez has many more tricks up his sleeve, so we gotta be careful, you hear.” Her dark brown eyes open wide with concern, her long dark brown locks tumble straight down her shoulders capturing her light tan complexion in the bright florescent light.



Everyone nods and hold on to each other with Dr. Natalie leading the way towards the only staircase at the end of the vacant hallway. Paige smiles: her light blond hair tipped with orange tips hangs gently down her shoulders and stares at Alison with reassurance in her voice, “Hey don’t worry Ali. We’ll get out of here alive. We’ll get to be back with our families and leave this hell hole of a place.”



Alison sighs and gives Paige a smile; her soft brown eyes however spoke a different story showing terror and agony for future expectations. Paige gulps softly and turns one last time to see the decaying bodies of the soldiers. The smell of death was consuming the hallways, lingering in the air as the group walks quickly to the nearest staircase. Kimberly walks behind the girls down the thick cement stairs leading to what seems like a dungeon, dungeon somewhat similar to where she and the other girls were locked at. What stood out the most was the stain of what looked like blood smeared all along the cell walls and its floor.



“Hold up! Wait! I know you’re not gonna put us behind some cells after we got out of it. I’m not gonna move till you tell me where we’re heading.” Kimberly says demanding an answer from the doctor. Her dark brown wavy hair hangs down her shoulders, mid length as her dark brown eyes glow, her amber rings in her eyes stand out from her light tan complexion. “Well? Are you gonna tell us or what?” She states impatiently, placing her hands on her hips.



Dr. Natalie sighs and stops in front of the dimly lit dungeon where cell bars are aligning both sides of the wall. The only light came from a lone light bulb swinging gently from a small breeze coming from a window. She places her hand on the white cement wall, annoyed at the constant questioning emerging from Kimberly. “I’m gonna only tell you this once, and only once, ok. So listen and listen well. This hallway used to belong to what was known as the altra species area. These humans or should I say creatures were transported here to be studied over four years ago.”



Suddenly Dr. Natalie gets interrupted and stops as Alison squeaks out, her voice and body trembling, “No! It can’t be! I heard about them but believed it was just a story used to scare us and keep us in line to behave. They can’t be real! No way!”



Brian and Kevin look at each other and stare at the doctor in suspicion. “Alison, let her finish, I wanna hear about this altra species. Kevin states, his deep voice echoes off the wall down the hallway. Brian nods his head and waits for the doctor to finish.



Dr. Natalie clears her throat and continues, “Well as I was saying, this altra species were once humans. They came from out of the country, somewhere in Asia and Europe. These six men and women, all over the age of twenty five were tested with a chemical called Deoxide which was injected to them similarly like you all were, at random. The results were fatal. After two weeks of the medication in their system, they began changing physically, the chemicals in their blood stream took a turn for the worst and they became as Dr. Sanchez and the rest of the company refers them to as the “Gremlin mother in laws.” Quite a name since Dr. Sanchez wasn’t too fond of his mother in law to begin with.”



Kimberly snorts and rolls her eyes, “Now I know why the doctor kept using that name every time he got a call from her.”



“So we’re does that leave us?” Brian whispers, too afraid to speak loud fearing the worst could be waiting for them in this dungeon.



Dr. Natalie takes a deep breath, “Well this leaves us with the fact that almost two days ago they escaped their cells after security came to drop off some blankets and snacks for them. They shredded and ripped apart the two security guards to pieces and now they’re running around here somewhere ready to get their next prey.”



At this the rest of the group took a sharp intake of air. Suddenly Dr. Natalie was surrounded by tons of questions coming from the group, everyone asking about something or another. “Can we stop them? What do they look like? What are their powers? Can’t we just blow this whole building up and get it over with it? Will they kill us if they see us?”



“Stop it! That’s enough!” Dr. Natalie states loudly, raising her arms in the air to notify the group that she’s frustrated.



“Sorry!” The group all responds, all eyes on her as she fixes the collar of her white lab coat.



“That’s ok. I know you all wanna know about this new info I told ya. But please one at time. Right now, we’re gotta move on, beyond this large experimental area is where we’ll meet the other group and then a hidden exit is below two floors down. Watch out, you lost the ability to control your powers now. Dr. Sanchez has entire control down here with your powers. What happened above with Kimberly is a warning sign, watch out cause it will happen again with each of you and knowing the doctor, he’ll do anything to separate and drain you of your powers. As for the altra-species, they don’t look human anymore. The chemicals in their bodies transform them to look like the walking dead, zombies or even monsters.” Dr. Natalie whispers walking down the drafty hallway. Everyone in the group were mumbling and whispering about the new information that was told to them.



At the corner of the end of the dungeon stood another stairwell leading to two staircases. Dr. Natalie smiles uncomfortably and turns to face the group. “Ok,” She sighs before continuing, “This is it, down these staircases we’re gonna get to the lower level of this company. There’s an exit that we’ll leave from, we’ll meet the other group down there.” She whispers softly, glancing at her watch. “We’re doing good time, we can meet them, let’s hurry. You guys beware, those experiments are around here somewhere.” With that she turns to walk to the staircase until someone yells abruptly. All faces turn to see Paige grabbed by her orange tipped hair in a ponytail. She is lifted in the air by her hair held on by a grizzly brown arm, its flesh now rotting and the bones crack beneath its horrific complexion. The entire complexion of the body is dark brown, its face a skeleton, its yellow bones gleaming beneath the brown flesh. Its face had piercing bright yellow orbs staring back at Paige. The odor from the beast was so unbearable as Brian and Alison start to gag from the smell.



Kevin stands next to the creature whose height is a large seven foot three inches. A small profanity escapes from Kevin’s lips as he watches the beast grab hold of Paige’s hair. Shaking nervously, Brian creeps up behind the creature until he feels a strong pat on his shoulder. Brian shrugged the touch off and turned thinking it was one of the girls, but instead sees a similar creature dressed in the same outfit, the only difference is that this creature had long dry red strands of hair in a tight ponytail. Another creature appears from the staircase as another enters the dim dungeon. A loud crashing sound was heard as the final creature looking the same and wearing the matching outfit as the others crashed though a window. This creature had thick black curls cascade down its decaying shoulders.



Kimberly gulps and shakes as she reaches for Dr. Natalie hand. She stares frightened at the doctor with dread in her face. Dr. Natalie looks back at her in panic as well, her brown eyes staring at the dark brown eyes with amber rings of Kimberly’s. “What are we gonna do?” Kimberly chokes out, the fear evident in her voice.



Dr. Natalie stares at the six monsters all staring and approaching them as Paige screams out in fear from being held up in the air.



“We have to help her!” Kevin shouts over the screams and growls of the monsters. “What can we do?” He screams out, his emerald eyes glowing in fear.



Dr. Natalie stares at him and shrugs, whispering in fear she looks at Kevin, “Pray.”

~*~



They all begin going down the stairs carefully as Ana holds on to Howie and Summer clutches a very weak A.J. who after the incident with the guard fainted and was carried away to the stairwell.



‘After these stairs we just gotta get to the end of the hallway and wait for Dr. Natalie and her group. Your powers are now out of your control. Understand that anything can happen now.” Jamelet whispers staring at A.J. who is being carried with the help of Nick and Summer. All heads nod and all head down the brightly lit hallway. “Ok we’ll just wait here, till the others arrive.” Jamelet states tugging in her dark brown ponytail and sighs.



Suddenly as Ana and Howie are walking down the hallway to reach Jamelet and the rest of group, a large iron door from above slams in front of them, blocking them from the rest of the group. Ana starts pounding on the door in fear as a weak Howie leans on the door in light pain. Another iron door falls down from the ceiling separating Nick from the others. A glass stall rises from beneath the floor and surrounds Nick in it. He begins kicking and slamming into it, hoping to break the glass but nothing worked. A burning sensation rises in his hands as flames begin shooting out of his fingers, his blue orbs begin to glow and a large flame of orange fire shoots out of his hands. He screams out in pain and realizes his powers are out of control. He couldn’t control the fire that was spreading in the stall. Fear rises him as tries to get out of the stall. The flames surround him as he coughs and bangs on the stall door, “Help me! Somebody Please, I’m choking on this smoke!” He screams, coughing hard to let the smoke escape his lungs.



Summer and A.J. glance around and tries to find a way to separate the iron door blocking Nick. With all his strength, A.J. stares at the iron wall and searches for an opening only to see a small screen for a password to be typed in. He stares at the screen and back at the where a large spiked wheel handle in the center of the door is at. With his mind, the wheel handle turns suddenly and breaks off the door as the iron door slides open to reveal a screaming Nick in a smoking stall.



Summer stares at him in surprise, “I thought you can’t control your powers down here.”



A.J. shrugs his shoulders and smirks, “Guess you thought wrong.”



Jamelet and Rose reach Nick and tries to break the glass down. “We can’t break this glass!” Jamelet screams over the sound of the crackling flames. A.J and Summer all try to break the glass down and noting that Nick is slowly suffocating from the inhalation of the smoke, they find an ax and was about to break open the glass case that Nick is in until two more glass cases rise beneath the white tiles, trapping A.J. and Summer together in one case and Rose and Jamelet in another.



Ana hears the yelling of the others and angrily stares at the small TV screen in the corner of the ceiling. She sees Dr. Sanchez face as he laughs and points, all the while stating, “Look who won now! Look who won now! It’s too late to help them Ana, come back and stay in this institution. You know you can’t survive in the real world. All those people out there are too afraid of you and you can’t live a normal life with your problems. You belong to us Ana, you and the others. There is no escaping, so give up now before you all die fighting for freedom. It would be a shame to lose your life for something you’ll never get.” The doctor states slowly, emphasizing the last words.



“Don’t listen to him! He’s just messing with your head!” Howie shouts out as he struggles to stand up and places his hands on the cold iron door. He looks at the small computer screen next to the door and breaks the code by shocking the computer screen and blowing it up with his mind. The iron door opens and they both rush over to see the others in the group trapped in what seemed like glass stalls all screaming for help.



Howie’s mouth drops open in surprise, “Huh? What now? They need our help, what can we do?” Howie desperately races over to one glass stall where Nick was close to fainting from the smoke the flames gave off.



Ana shakes her head and places her hand on the stall, freezing it. Thick ice covered the stall that Nick is in as Howie pushes her out the way. “What are you doing? You’re gonna kill him like that!”



Ana’s bluish green lit up as she shakes her braided light blond hair no. “The fire is out. He’ll be ok, he can warm himself up. Kinda wish someone can warm me up like that?” She states, staring directly at Howie.



Howie a bit uncomfortable turns to A.J. and Summer who are locked in a glass stall as well, both screaming and kicking at the glass.



Ana smirks and stares out at a small window in the hallway showing nightfall. She wishes she can get out of here without dying and waits for the gloomy night to respond back to her but the sinister darkness outside of the window makes no response. She sighs, feeling that maybe all hope is gone and that what Dr. Sanchez could be true. But she couldn’t believe that, at least not yet. ‘There’s always an answer to something’ Howie told her before, but somehow right at this moment that statement seemed hollow. She sighs and shakes her head heading over to see where Rose and Jamelet are locked up. ‘This is gonna be one long night, I can feel it.’ Ana thinks to herself as Howie finds an ax and swings to break the glass stall where the girls are in.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste~** Unknown



~**Chapter Eighteen- What It Takes~**



Ana and Howie stare around the large glass cases that held their friends. Gulping, Ana walks over to the case where Summer and A.J. are.



“Ok, you guys, Howie is gonna try to break this case open with the axe, if that doesn’t work then A.J. try using your power to unlock the door. K. Understand?” Ana whispers at the terrified Summer whose clutching onto A.J. in fear.



Summer’s green eyes reflecting the gold specks in it, stare at Ana widely, as she whispers something inaudible to soft for ears to pick up. Running her fingers through her short blond hair down her shoulders, she stares outside the glass pass to Ana. Muttering something more to herself than to anyone, she seems hypnotize by an image that only she sees. Pointing towards an empty corner of the room, she whispers again, this time more loud than before, “We’re not gonna make it tonight. We’re gonna die. It’s too late for the other group, we’re about to die in the hands of the government. And there’s nothing we can do to stop it.” Summer repeats again the statement as in a trance, “We’re all gonna die! We’re all gonna die!”



Ana looks at Howie and at A.J. who’s trying to comfort the traumatized Summer in his arms. Howie gulps and grips the thick metal ax tightly in his hands. “It’s ok Summer, we’re all make sure nothing’s gonna happen to you. You have my word on it. A.J. will watch out for you too.”



A.J. tries with his mind to break open the glass but whatever that material the glass is, his powers were not functioning. Suddenly like a blast of light, he feels himself getting thrown in the air. Summer gasps and crouches in the corner of the glass case, taking deep breaths to calm down. A.J. slams on the side of the case with a thud, pain grips his lower back as he winces in agony.



“What’s happening?” Screams Ana in shock as Howie shakes his head in worry. They glance at Jamelet and Rose who are trapped in the other glass case across from the others.



Jamelet sighs sadly, “He can’t control his power. He’s being hurt by the very thing he uses. Like what happened with Nick.”



“Howie get them out of there now!” Ana demands, rushing over the front of the glass case hoping to see how Summer is doing.



Summer gulps as A.J. eyes Howie swinging the axe towards the front of case their trapped in. “J, move away as I hit this k,”



A.J. in pure agony backs away from the front of the case, and holds onto Summer. With one swing Howie lets the metal axe make impact with the fiber glass. The glass shatters outward, spraying Ana with shards of it. The glass case broke, freeing Summer and A.J. from it.



Summer sits on the white tiles and draws her knees up to her chest. Ana rushes over to her in concern, “Hey you ok right?”



Summer shakes her head no and stands up with the help of A.J. “What did you see? Tell us.” A.J asks holding the trembling Summer in his arms.



Suddenly a loud crash was hard, from the glass case Rose and Jamelet are in. A large gust of wind was forming in the case and throwing the women in it hard against the glass case.



“Let’s get them out now!” Ana yells trying to grab the axe away from Howie.



“K, calm down.” Howie states slamming the axe into the girl’s case. The shards of glass shot forward as the case shatters letting Rose and Jamelet escape. The girls step out of the box and run towards to Summer to comfort her. Howie runs over to the frozen glass case where Nick lies in and breaks it open. The glass panes crash on the tiles loudly piercing the hallway with its sharp sound.



Howie reaches for Nick who is coughing terribly but looked otherwise fine. He drags his friend out of the case and pulls him over next to Summer. “Nicky you ok?” Howie asks.



Nick nods his head, “Yeah, thanks to Ana.”



Ana’s bluish green eyes sparkle, “Yeah, well no problem.” She states smiling. Howie clears his throat at the sudden quietness between with Ana and Nick.



“Well I guess that’s enough thanks with you guys.” Howie states: placing his hands on Ana’s and Nick’s shoulder.



Nick smiles and winks at Ana and places his finger over his lips whispering, “Looks like poor D is left out. Maybe you should give him some attention.”



Howie raises his eyes at that statement, “What is that suppose to mean?”



Nick shrugs his shoulders, “Nothin, nothing at all D. You got nothing to worry about. I would never take your girl away.” He states, his bright blue eyes glittering.



Howie tries to laugh off the statement, snorting in surprise. “Nick please, I’m not into a little girl. I rather prefer women my age.”



A.J. snorts, “Yeah, sure you do D. Keep telling yourself that and one day you might actually believe dat.”



Howie rolls his eyes and waves his hand in an unconcerned matter.



Summer laughs then and walks over to the corner where she had a vision of some sort. “You guys, I was just hallucinating before hand. I thought I saw the other group getting attacked by something and they wouldn’t make it down here, but it’s ok, I guess. I mean it’s just an illusion right? Nothing real? So let’s move on, we wasted too much time loitering around here. The other group could need our help and we gotta be there.”



“Visions? Since when? Maybe it could be telling you something.” Rose whispers, her brown eyes scanning the exit of the room.



“I guess they should be coming down this direction, so let’s go the stairs to see if we can spot them.” Jamelet says.



The others nodded and follow the doctor’s orders. They left the room and shake their heads, knowing that Dr. Sanchez still has plenty more games to play with them and this wasn’t the end of it.

~*~



Dr. Natalie gazes at the six grisly monsters surrounding her group. Her brown eyes scan the frighten faces of Brian and Kevin who stare at the altra-species. One of the grizzly mutants reaches over to grab Alison by her neck. Alison screams and her powers stopped working. Swinging in the air, Alison struggles to free herself from the monster’s grip.



“Ali!” Kimberly states pushing the beast away with her body. Another monster hits Kimberly across her face, stunning her. Kimberly crashes to the floor in pain and surprise. Another beast with red flaming hair tied in a ponytail above its decaying rotting brown flesh showing the yellow cracking bones beneath, reaches to grab for her.



The yellow dilated eyes of the creature pierces at Dr. Natalie direction. It gurgled something and walks away with Paige in its hands. Brian tries to use his powers but was still too weak for his powers to function. Kevin stares at the beast holding Paige and suddenly the beast begins smoking. Suddenly, the beast screams out, dropping Paige and its body begins to separate in half, the stringy flesh tries to hold the body together but fails and the body is torn in half. The body falls to the floor dully all the while splashing a crimson and dark brown liquid that resembles blood. The red lasers coming from Kevin’s eyes pierces another monster holding Kimberly by her neck. This creature lashes out at Kevin, extending it’s claws towards Kevin’s skin. Kevin backs away staring at the creature shooting sharp lasers at it’s body.



All the while, the three others mutants surround Brian and Dr. Natalie. The doctor very frightened pulls out a small palm pilot and begins to search for something.



Brian noting this screams out, “What are you doing? Are you insane?! These things are trying to kill us and now is when you decide to do research. You’re messed up!”



Dr. Natalie glares at Brian, “I’m trying to save your life, the only thing I’m getting from you is complaints. Stop it. Kevin can’t keep using his powers. Dr. Sanchez will control them if he doesn’t stop!”



Brian confused, yells at Kevin to stop with the lasers, “Chill out! You’re powers are gonna lose control.”



Kevin hears that and closes his eyes to stop the lasers. Kimberly stands up and rushes over to check on Paige. In extreme pain, Kimberly passes her hand across her face to see a stain of her blood smeared on her hand. “That little sucker! I can’t believe it!”



Paige stares at Kimberly in pain and rubs her throat in agony. Crawling over to Kimberly, she pulls out of her dark blue denims a small tissue to place over Kimberly’s hurt face. The creature stomps its way over to Kevin and pushes him to the wall roughly. Opening its rotting mouth, it showed its cracked yellow teeth with rows and rows of sharp fangs aligned together. It was about to get a bite out of Kevin’s arm when suddenly a loud shock of violent electricity runs down its body. Dr. Natalie holds a live wire down the beast backs. The creature screams out and the other three beasts grab Brian. The one getting electrocuted, suddenly blows up, pieces of decaying and foul brown flesh splatters across the floor and room, hitting the group.



The three creatures left, grab Dr. Natalie and picks her up, slamming her against a wall. Brian pulls out a small knife from his pocket and stabs one of the creatures in its eye. The creature screams out and chases after him as the other two claw at the doctor and reach for Alison. Kevin runs over and kicks the two beasts attacking Dr. Natalie. The creatures, their yellow eyes looming in the dim light, sneers in his direction and begins grabbing on Kevin’s clothes. Paige and Kimberly too hurt to really do anything since their powers can’t function in the room, sit there and scream out in terror. Both hold on to each other in comfort and each trying to be brave for the other. Alison runs over to one of the creatures and sticks a live wire in its back. The creature turned around too late and blows up, spraying its filthy flesh across the room.



The last two creatures watched and growled running towards Alison head on. Caught in surprise, Alison stands there too frozen to move. Paige pushes her out the way and practically gets trampled under the two heavy beast’s feet. Screaming was heard as Paige feels the heavy weight of the creature’s pound on her spine.



“OH NO!!” Brian shouts throwing the live wire towards the beasts’ direction. The last two scream out and burn up. Drops of burnt decaying flesh land on the grey tiles and the blood sprays out, covering everyone in the room. Kevin trembles in fear and crawls over to see the condition of Paige. He holds the screaming Paige in his arms and sees what damage is done. Her back according to Dr. Natalie is broken and she can’t walk until a surgery is done to alleviate the condition. Paige’s innocent white complexion is covered in deep blue and black bruises all over her body and her blond strands are tinted with blood on it.



“NO! Oh God! Paige!” Kimberly whispers, crawling over to her friend’s body. “My powers! I can’t use it anymore! It’s gone! If I had it, I could have helped her out. She’s hurt and it’s because of me!”



“NO, she saved me!” Alison cries out: her straight dark brown hair down her shoulders stained with the beasts blood, touching Paige’s delicate face. “Please save her!” She cries out to Dr. Natalie.



“There’s nothing I can do now. I’m sorry. The company wants to kill us and they won’t stop to get all of us.” Dr. Natalie whispers, her light tan complexion glows in the dim white lights. “I’m so sorry.”



Paige screams out one last time before passing out from the intense pain.



“What if she doesn’t wake up?” Brian asks the doctor.



Dr. Natalie shrugs her shoulders, “Then she’s the lucky one, she’s free from all this while we all try to risk our lives to live this place.”



Kimberly bends down and passes her fingers through Paige’s blond strands tinted in orange at the ends. “Don’t sleep too long sweetie. I want you to see what the outside of this place looks like again. Plus your family is waiting for you. Don’t leave us now Paige.” She whispers softly as a warm tear drips off her light tan skin.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

Well off I go to come up with more crazy plots for this story. ‘til later bye!



“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste- Unknown~**



**~Chapter Nineteen- Better Off Dead~**



Jamelet races up the stairs followed closely behind with her group. A large iron door stood before them and behind that door a loud painful screaming was heard.



“Oh No! What’s happening behind there?” Summer whispers, her large green orbs wide open in fright.



A.J. steps in front of the group and with his eyes stares at the lock of the door. The door made a clicking sound and flings open with A.J.’s telekinesis. And before him stood the other group covered in thick splattered red blood. They all seem distracted and formed a small circle staring at something on the floor of what looked like a girl.



“Paige!” Rose cries out and pushes A.J. out of the way. She races over to the other group and pushes her way to the middle to see what they were staring down at. “Oh God NO! Is she ok?” Rose yells out, her blue eyes clouded with worry.



Kevin shakes his head, “I don’t think so, she passed out from the pain.”



Jamelet, Summer and Ana surround the still Paige on the floor. Rose cradles Paige in her arms as Jamelet begins to examine the girl.



“Natalie what happened? She’s breathing ok and her pulse it good. Why she passed out?” Jamelet states pressing her fingers down Paige’s back.



“She was caught in a stampede. The altra-species were sent free and we were left defenseless against them. I had to think fast and used what was available in this hallway. We electrocuted them with the wires on the walls and they died. All six of them are dead. We’re all ok, except for poor Paige. She’ll be ok though, she’s a fighter.” Dr. Natalie states softly, her brown eyes falter a moment before looking straight at Jamelet. “I’m sorry. None of this was suppose to happen. We were just suppose to leave this place but it’s become so difficult with your father watching us at every moment. He knows what we’re trying to do and he’s determine to stop us from freeing his secret. If we tell the government officials about all the illegal activities occurring in this institution, CAPPA will shut down for sure.”



Rose sighs aggrievedly, “Who cares if this place shuts down? I just wanna go home and be with my family now! Save Paige, she’s gonna die if you don’t help her now!”



Summer and Howie approach Kevin all the while the conversation with Jamelet and Natalie is occurring.



“Hey Kev. I don’t understand what happened here. Can you explain?” Howie states gently as Summer smiles trying to bring some comfort to the broken hearted man in front of her.



Kevin sighs and shakes his head, “God D. What are we gonna do? We’re gonna die trying to leave this place. I know Sanchez got some ideas on how to torture us next.”



Howie gulps and pats Kevin’s shoulder, “Don’t think that way, we found the door to leave this hell hole, let’s go before it’s too late.”



Kevin nods but stops and looks around at the other guys and girls. “What about them? We gotta tell them too.”



“They know, let’s go!” Howie shouted persistently. Suddenly the dim bulb light swinging on a wire from ceiling lights up and breaks. The ceiling lights turn on and off, blinking consistently almost memorizing. “Let’s get the hell out of here now!” Howie shouts to the group. Howie lands on his knees and cries out, “Aww, what the heck is gonna on? I can’t control it! My gift, I can’t control it.”



It seems no one else was listening, everyone was distracted by the loud hissing sound the blinking lights were making.



Summer touches Kimberly’s dark brown hair gently. The natural red highlights of Kimberly’s hair blended with the smeared blood on her hair. “Hey girl, how you doing? You ok?”



Kimberly nods her head and stands up with Summer’s help. Alison stands up with the help of Kimberly and they begin walking over to the exit of the room.



“What the hell happened here?” Nick states nervously rushing over to Brian. He walks over to Brian and wipes his finger across Brian’s cheek to see the blood streak on it. “Ugh! What is this? Blood?” Nick asks curious yet the fear in his voice was evident.



Brian tries speaking but only manages to stutter out, “Mon, mon, Monsters came! They wanted to hurt us and they hurt Paige! We killed them though, they’re dead!”



A.J. shakes his head in confusion, “What? What are you talking about? Rok, it’s ok, Just tell me what happened here.” He states with concern in his voice, he pats Brian’s shoulder and squeezes it for reassurance. “Buddy, explain to us from the beginning, what happened?”



Brian was about to start explaining but was cut off by Rose screaming. All eyes stare at Rose who’s screaming in pain as Dr. Natalie and Jamelet gently take the hurt Paige away from her. Summer races over to calm Rose down and helps her stand up.



“Rose stop! Stop! What is it?! Stop screaming and tell me!” Summer states nervously, the goose bumps emerging on her pale white complexion.



Rose looks directly at Brian, and in a demanding tone states, “Run!”



All eyes stare at Brian and right behind him a large wave of water crashes through the hallway ready to claim victims. Everyone screams in panic and races to the only door there. Jamelet lifts Paige in her arms and Howie comes to help carry Paige in his arms.



“I got her! Just run!” Howie states as everyone filed in through the door.



Everyone heads down the stairs rapidly fearing the worst. Kevin, Nick and A.J. slam the large door shut behind them.



“Lock it! Lock it!” Nick screams out, A.J. nods his head and stares at the door hearing the clicking of the lock on the door.



“It’s ok, we’re fine. See.” A.J. states, his back turned to the group as he stares at the door in front of him to make sure it remained locked. He smiles and states at the frightened looked that passed Nick’s face.



“Yo, Nicky. We’re safe. What the hell are you freaked out by now?” A.J. whispers. Suddenly noticing how eerily quiet the large group had gotten, he turns around to see more than fifteen armed guards with rifles and pistols drawn at them at the bottom of the stairwell.



“Damn, that’s sucks.” A.J whispers in fright. He leans against the door and hears the pounding of the waves crashing behind the door.



One of the soldiers with a large rifle gun, points directly at A.J. The little red laser beam coming from the gun stops in the center of A.J.’s forehead. “Hey let see you guys escape this now.” The large built guard dressed in the black attire: Black blazer over a black sweater and black cargo pants cuffed in the ends in black combat boots. His chocolate complexion glitters brightly in the harsh yellow hallway light. His dark brown eyes stare at A.J. and snarls in his direction. “You didn’t think the game is over now did ya? I received special orders to kill every single one of you. And doctor Sanchez said to begin the execution with this woman.”



The soldier points to Jamelet as she cries out, “No! He can’t do this to me! I’m his daughter, he just can’t kill me!”



“He can if he wants to and you can’t stop it.” The large solider speaks out.



“Tony! How could you!” Dr. Natalie yells out. The solider smiles and winks at her.



“Better yet, I’ll kill you right after I kill this woman. You broke my heart and I’m about to break yours with this lead.” The solider states smiling, tapping the rifle in his right hand with his fingertips.



“I think you’re bluffing!” Kevin speaks up suddenly.



Tony laughs, “You think? Ok, we’ll see when I blow your little head off. Let’s see the fans go crazy for that.” Tony states with venomous in his voice.



Brian shakes his head and elbows Kevin in the side, “What are you trying to do, die fast?!” He whispers in Kevin’s ear. Kevin stares at Brian and Brian suddenly understood. Kevin has a plan and whatever that was, he knew he has to play along.



“You’re right! Look at him. I bet he never shot anything with that gun. I don’t even think he even knows to use it!” Brian teased, smiling his million dollar smile at Tony.



Tony growled and the look at the other soldiers ready to shoot on his command. “Hold your fire guys. I think they want to play some more. What do you think Roy?”



Roy, a muscular soldier standing next to Tony grins, “That’s what I’m thinking. They never get tired of playing, so I say we give it to them.”



Rose, Summer, Jamelet, Alison and Kimberly watch the soldiers in fear. Howie cradling Paige in his arms stands next to Kevin and Brian. While Nick and A.J. stand at the top of the staircase behind a grinning Ana.



Nick speaks up, “Hey I thought you were gonna ‘ice’ us? What are you waiting for? Just push the trigger and kill us already.”



Tony raises his finger and was about to give the signal to fire when suddenly a small laughter broke the thick tension in the stairwell. He sees an average height girl of about five feet seven inches with light braided blond hair down her shoulders stepping down the stairs. Her white complexion glitters innocently in her light blue ripped jeans and tight dark blue tank top. Her bluish green eyes sparkle with joy as she passes her hand down Tony’s face. Suddenly a look of horror crosses Ana’s face. She turns around to look at A.J. with confusion on her face. A.J grumbles and realizes that they lost the ability to control their powers now. A.J. was lucky to be able to use his powers on locking the door but after that he couldn’t do anything else.



“What’s wrong Ana? Can’t seem to figure out why you haven’t frozen me yet?” Tony teased, his low voice penetrating in the hallway.



Ana glares at Tony and spits in his face. Tony wipes away the wet saliva and laughs. “Dr. Sanchez wasn’t gonna let you walk around with the wonderful power of yours knowing you’ll do damage. This entire stairwell is covered in insulin and is a magnetic force pulling all your wonderful gifts away from you. So since Dr. Sanchez wants the thrill of diminishing all of you, we’ll just take you there.” And with that raises his fingers and the hallway is filled with the clattering of bullets spraying. One struck Nick on the shoulder, another strikes Brian on the leg. Kevin ducks down and is struck in the hand with a bullet. Jamelet, Summer, Alison, Rose, Kimberly, Natalie and Ana get hit with the a bullet each on their chest. They all fall on the floor and pass out in a deep sleep and Howie holding Paige stands in the corner of the top of the stairs watching Nick, Brian and Kevin pass out from the tranquilizer.



A.J. stands next to Howie and takes a deep sigh, “This is gonna suck big time.” Then a bullet strikes him on the chest and he passes out, collapsing on the floor. Tony laughs and points the rifle at Howie.



“Ok, ok, that’s it for now.” Tony states to his fellow comrades to stop shooting. Going up the stairs, he stops and stares at Howie. Tony smiling, looks at Howie in disgust. “You know it’s really sad that you thought you could go against and escape from this company. Haven’t you thought that the doc is watching you. Come now, I thought you were smart now. Join your friends. All that running around is making you tired, let’s catch up on some sleep now ok?” Tony whispers manically, pointing the tip of the rifle into Howie’s chest and pushes the trigger back. The bullet hits Howie’s chest and he suddenly fells extremely tired. There was no pain, the bullet wasn’t real, it was a plastic dart tranquilizer. He fights to keep his eyes open and feels the weight of Paige removed from his arms. His vision blurs and before he closes them, he sees Tony laughing and pointing.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

A/N: Hey everyone I got a chance to write another chapter to this story! hehe. I hope you all enjoy it and don’t’ forget to drop a review when done! It seems Dr. Sanchez captured everyone, can they all escape without dying along the way? Read on and find out!



“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste~**



**~Chapter Twenty- In His Hands~**



She opens her blue eyes and gazes painfully at the white ceiling above her. Her vision is blurred and unfocused and a terrible migraine was beginning to pound in her temples. Rose tries to lift her hands but her feet are cuffed and chained to the sides of a table she’s lying on. She notices she’s lying on a cold metal table and she gazes around the room to see her group and the others chained in a similar way. “Guys.” She mutters softly hoping to get an answer. No response was heard of course and Rose sighs. A blond strand of her hair lies gently on her face and annoyed: she tries to blow the strand away from her face unsuccessfully.



“Rose.” Kimberly whispers softly.



Rose turns over to her side and cries out in pain as the cuffs cut into her delicate white skin. “Hey girl glad to see you awake. You remembered what happened to us? The last thing I saw was Tony and Roy pointing their weapons in our direction.”



Kimberly moans in pain, her dark brown hair tumbles down her shoulders and the red highlights glitter in the bright white office light. “We got shot, I think.” She states, her dark brown eyes clouded in pain. The amber rings in her eyes dim softly at Rose’s direction.



Some shuffling and movements is heard across the room near Kimberly’s side. Kevin sits up only to be chained to the metal table: his arms on either side are cuffed as well as his feet. “God I feel like crap.” Kevin grumbled, his deep voice vibrating the room. He looks around dizzily, his green orbs absorbing the area. “The doctor has something planned. He wouldn’t have gone through all this unless he got a treatment for us. How you all doing?”



Rose and Kimberly grumble and responds at the same time, “Bad.”



Kevin nods his head, “Same here.”



Brian and Alison wake up and sit up both wincing and crying out in pain.



Alison scrolls her eyes around the bright white room, the harsh lights glare down from above in the room.



“What is this place?” Brian whispers, running his fingers through dirty blond locks.



“This is the experimentation rooms. I heard of this place. This is where all the dirty illegal things happen here.” Alison whispers, her chocolate eyes staring around the large room. At the corner of the room, a large metal machine with many assorted buttons and levels stood out, on the side of the machine stood a small rickety metal table with sharp instruments, such as needles and knives aligned in a row.



Summer gulps, now fully awake and with a shaking finger points to the table. “Oh God, What the hell is your father planning? He’s not gonna kill us right? I can’t believe this. I should have stood out of all this. I could have avoided what’s about to happen to us.” Her green eyes shot open with fear as she gazes at the others who are still sleeping. “I, I can’t be here!” She cries out in alarm.



“Relax, he can’t kill us, I won’t allow it!” Jamelet states, the cuffs clinking against the side of the table where her hands are cuffed.



Howie sighs and sits up, his sleepy eyes staring around the room in confusion.



“Oh man, this isn’t gonna end good.” Howie whispers, his dark brown eyes examine the room.



“Thanks a lot D! That’s what we need, a great encouragement from you! Really! I can see how much you wanna get out of here, the excitement is just running through you!” A.J. states, gazing at Howie, he responds sarcastically.



Dr. Natalie wakes up and stares around the room awaken by the noise. Sitting up, her mouth drops open as she stares around the test room. “Oh no, no, no. We’re in serious danger now. He got us! God only knows what he has plans to do for us…”



Suddenly Dr. Natalie is cut off by a loud grumbling coming from Ana. “This is too much, I’m gonna freeze this place completely. Sanchez is pissing me off!” She states, her bluish green eyes staring angrily around the room to the others.



“I think I’m agreeing with Ana here. I think I can set fire to this place if I have enough strength.” Nick mutters, sitting up on the table.



Ana smiles, giggling, she winks at Nick and gives him a thumbs up sign. Nick grins back and turns to hear Howie grumble something.



“The way I see it, you guys might as well get a room together.” Howie grumbles, glaring at Ana and moaning out in agony at the pain running down his arm.



“Hmmm, do you smell that?” Brian states softly.



The others shake their heads in confusion, “Yo, Rok, what the heck are you smelling, what’s up with you?” A.J. asks.



“I would have thought for sure you smelled the jealously in this room.” Brian states smiling. Snickering is heard through out the room.



Howie rolls his eyes and mutters, “Whatever.”



Suddenly the front metal door slides open allowing entrance for the doctor and many of his soldiers along with Tony, Roy and Riley, the young guard.



Smiling, Dr. Sanchez brown eyes glitter with glee, “Well welcome everyone! I’m so glad you’re all awake. See I have a special treatment for all of you! I guess you had your fun playing tag in the building but play’s time over now. Tag, you’re it!” He growls, tapping Jamelet’s shoulder.



She shudders and stares at him in shock, “How could you! What you’re doing is illegal! If you think you can use innocents human lives for sick testing, you’re wrong, very wrong!”



Dr. Sanchez smacks her across her left cheek roughly. Her head turns to the side, the red marking of the man’s hand imprinted on her cheek. “Don’t ever question me! You should have known better than to help experiment 1a and 1b leave. You didn’t think you could get away with it right!”



Paige screams out, “NO! Oh God no! You’re sick, you know that! You won’t get away with this!” Her blue grey eyes open in fright. Her blond hair topples down on her shoulders as she gulps watching the doctor laugh.



Dr. Sanchez stares around the room with a hint of happiness on his face, “Shh, it’s my turn to play now. Since you so joyfully accepted to speak up against me, I’ll go for you for next.”



Ana growled, “You leave her alone! Why don’t you come and play with me? I’ve been waiting for quite a while for you to join in this little charade!”



He smiles, running his fingers through his brown hair. Waving his finger at Ana, he remarks, “Oh my Ana. You always did have something to say, I like that about you. Always protecting the younger test subjects. Believe me Ana, stop it! I mean who will help you now? It’s too late, you can’t run and you surely can’t hide. You’re now in my hands and you’re all caught.” The doctor states angrily. As he’s stating this, he rolls the metal table with the sharp instruments over to Jamelet.



“Now let’s begin, shall we?” The doctor states lifting a needle and examining it. He taps the glass tube on the large needle and smiles. He reaches over and grabs Jamelet’s arm, ripping the lab coat off her. “Stay still and we can get this done quick.”



Screams were in the room and Kevin shouts out, “Give me the shot first! Leave her for last. She’s your daughter for God’s sake!”



The doctor laughs and smiles at his direction. “Oh my boy I prefer my way. She goes first then the doctor over here.” He points over to Natalie.



“You’re a sick man!” Nick shouts out. His blue eyes blazing towards the doctor’s direction.



Tony and Roy laugh pointing their rifles at Nick’s head. “Hey, these are filled with real bullets, wanna try them out!” Roars Tony.



Nick gulps and stares helplessly at the doctor and Jamelet. Sanchez rolls up Jamelet’s green peasant top sleeve and smiles. “K my child, this will sting and then after a few minutes will begin to burn. But don’t worry, you won’t feel anything after words. I can promise you that.”



“What the hell is in the needle?” Cries out Dr. Natalie, her brown eyes wide open in fear.



“Oh, well it’s my little treatment I’ve been working on for the past few weeks. It’s seems I found an answer to the disease that was once lurking my other daughter’s body. So see sweetie, I’m helping you, not killing you. I’ll do the killing later after she’s all well.” The doctor growls, his eyes glittering dangerously at Natalie’s direction.



Brian, Howie and A.J. all hold their breaths waiting for what will happen. Dr. Sanchez giggles, “You know what’s so funny. I was beginning to like you all and then you had to go and mess that up. Tsk, tsk, really it’s a shame.” He lowers the needle into Jamelet’s arm as she screams out.



Suddenly the doctor drops the needle in surprise. The needle clatters on the tiles as the doctor’s mouth drops open. He collapses on the floor dead and all eyes stare at Riley. The six feet two inch young solider: holds a silencer in his hands. His chocolate skin shimmers in the bright white light of the room. His all black attire made him stand out of the white room.



“You killed him!” Roy shouts shooting at Riley.



Jamelet gulps and closes her eyes, the tears straining to fall.



Ana shouts out, “It’s too late for him! Jamelet, he was up to no good! He was gonna kill you! Riley saved your life.”



The young built and muscular soldier ducks down and begins shooting back at Roy. His unruly mess of short black curls lies hidden beneath his black cap. Soon Tony begins shooting with his rifle, the bullets gazing pass the innocent bystanders on the metal tables.



“We’re in a cross fire! We got to get out now, before it’s too late.” Howie shouts breaking free from the iron chains. Kevin, Brian, A.J. and Nick do the same and free Jamelet and Dr. Natalie from the chains.



Brian cries out in pain as a bullet slams into his left arm. “AWww, Awwwww! Oh God that hurts!” Whimpers Brian in pain as the silver bullet crashes into his soft flesh. After a few minutes, everyone is out of the chains and all make a run for the nearest door. The large metal door couldn’t be open from the inside since no one knew the code to unlock it.



“Wait! Where are you all going? The fun has just started! Tony states, grinning widely: fingering the trigger of his black rifle. “I mean the boss is out so now I get to do what I always wanted! You know what they say when the cat’s away, the mice will play.” Tony states, his dark complexion shining from the bright lights in the room. “I’ll just finish what Sanchez had planned this whole time. He was planning on injecting you all with acid.”



At that the girls gasp. “Acid?” Alison whispers, her brown eyes moist with tears. Dr. Natalie hold onto Paige and Jamelet and Summer nurses Brian’s arm.



“Yeah, acid! He was gonna let all of you burn from the inside out. I think that’s a great idea, I’ve always wanted to see people die first hand from the effects of it. It’s horrific and delightful all at the same time.” Tony states, his brown eyes staring at the men of the group. “You know I never did like your music, so this’ll be like payback for that.”



The five men stare at Tony with anger and suddenly his giant frame begins to shake uncontrollably. “Wh, wh, what’s going on?” Tony shouts in between his tremors. Roy raises his pistol and shoots at Kevin. The bullet races at Kevin and crashes into the wall missing its expected target.



“Damn!” Roy shouts out, his small frame shudders a bit. Holding the pistol tightly in his hands, he points and tries his luck again. This time the bullet hits the wall behind the group.



“Looks like you’re nervous Roy! What’s up with that?” Riley states, pushing his pistol towards Roy’s temple. “You can’t seem to hit the target right! Do I have to show you?!” He states growling.



Roy mumbles and raises his dark brown eyes at the Riley. “You wouldn’t have the guts to do it!”



“Try me!” Riley states. Riley pushes the tip of the gun more deeper into Roy’s temple.



Roy snarls, his brown complexion begins to sweat in fear. “Don’t push it boy!” Roy states.



Tony cries out and crashes to the floor, blood seeping out of from his neck due from Riley’s silencer. Suddenly smoke begins filling the room and everyone cries out in surprise. Tony’s crimson liquid spreads out across the white tiles, staining it.



“The smoke! The smoke it’s back again!” One of the soldiers screams out. “You know what happened the other time the smoke was out!” Another soldier screams out. All begin running to another door way where the door couldn’t be open. “NOOOO!!” The soldiers begins shouting, banging on another door.



“Brian!” Jamelet whispers, “Hey listen to me, did you have anything to do with this?”



Brian shakes his head, “I can’t, my powers are dormant in this room and you know it. That must just be regular smoke.” He whispers, looking at his bandaged arm in pain.



“OK, so now what?!” Summer states nervously her back against the white wall.



Kevin shrugs his shoulders, “I guess we wait and find another way out.”



“Dude there’s no other way out!” Nick shouts, his face full of apprehension.



“Actually there is! Follow me!” Riley’s voice shouts out suddenly surprising them, Roy escaped and runs with the other soldiers to another doorway .



“NO, you work for them! I ain’t following you!” Ana shouts out defensively, clutching her hands into fists on her side .



Riley pleads with them as the other soldiers ran around in the back looking for a way out unaware of Riley’s presence.



“Trust me, Sanchez trusted me the most and showed me all the secret areas and entries in this institution. So come, I saved one of you already, what more do you want me to do?”



Dr. Natalie sighs, her dark brown eyes flutter, “Fine, I mean do we really have a choice. You guys, look around us. We either stay here and die or leave this inferno and do something with our lives.”



Jamelet smiles, “Alright, well Riley lead the way. But remember if we find you suspicious I suggest you watch your back.”



Riley smiles and gives her a soldier’s salute, “Yes Ma’am, I understand completely. You can kill me if you think I’m up to no good!” He states helping carry the weak Paige in his arms through the thick white smoke.



A.J. sighs and shakes his head, staring at Howie he mutters, “I don’t know D. who to trust anymore.”



Howie shrugs his shoulders and pats A.J.’s left shoulder, “Well buddy let’s hope this guy doesn’t try to get us killed.” And with that the large group of six men and eight women jump down to hidden trap door to an underground lair.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

A/N: Yeah, *rounds of applause fills the room up* Oh thank you thank you all for coming here and reading this next chapter! I’m coming up with crazy ideas and this story is far from over, believe me! Oh in case for those who don’t know I put another in this site called “A Hero’s Heart” You guys gotta check that out, our Boys are firemen and what I woulnd’t mind getting saved from those guys, hehe. Enough of this, on to the story! Enjoy and until later bye!



“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste~**



**~Chapter Twenty-one: Missing



A light switch blares out beneath the dim underground hallway, Riley turns around to see the group behind him. To a point he was glad the organization was getting destroyed yet something in him felt that once he gets out of here, where will he go? His father belongs to this organization and his family had moved away to the islands. He wouldn’t know what to do or where to go. But he didn’t need to think about that now, he had people depending on him for their safety.



“Riley are you going to be ok?” A young woman with blond locks down her shoulders and piercing green eyes asks him.



“Yeah, just fine. Don’t worry, the other soldiers have no idea where we at now. We’re safe. Also there’s a room down the end of this hallway. Dr. Natalie you can do your research and find an answer to what’s wrong with the guys here.” Riley states, his soft chocolate eyes gazing at them.



A.J. nods his head and stares above at the small opening of the room where they were a few minutes before. “Riley, why are you helping us? I mean you could be leading us to our death and we’re stupid enough to trust you.” He states, bit of anger in his voice.



“I found out about true meaning of this company. I want out just like you do. We’re both in the same boat and I don’t wanna be involved with this company’s plot.” Riley says quietly gazes at everyone’s faces and shuffles Paige’s weight in his arms. “Besides don’t you wanna get out here!”



Nick grumbles and Kevin holds onto Brian gently.



“Well lets go, I would like to see my wife as soon as possible.” Kevin states, his bright green eyes gleaming from the bright white light bulb in the narrow hallway.



Riley grins, his light chocolate complexion glittering in light sweat. “Come on it’s this way.”



Alison sighs and yawns, leaning her head on Nick’s arm. Her brown straight hair topples down her shoulders and her brown eyes clouded with drowsiness. Nick smiles and pats Alison’s head gently. Rose giggles and grabs Nick’s left hand and pulls him towards Riley and the others.



Rose’s blue eyes glitter with mischievous, “You know once we get out of here, I’m thinking if you need any help backstage or looking for some help with putting on costumes, I’ll gladly help.” Her smile widens at Nick’s surprise expression.



Nick smiles, “I wouldn’t mind, call me when you turn eighteen.”



A.J. playfully pushes Summer, a mischievous grin on his tan complexion.



Summer laughs and runs to the open doorway Riley enters. Howie and Ana look around the hallway as Jamelet and Kimberly reach the open doorway.



Dr. Natalie reaches the room and runs over to an open lap top. “I can find it, but it’ll take some time. How long do we have till we have to run out of here.” Her dark straight long brown lies gently pass her shoulders and her light tan complexion glitters in the light. She clicks on the lap top and begins uploading some information. Sliding a disk in the cd drive, she waits for the valid info to update. “It’s gonna be about an half and hour till the data I need can be provided. The doctor from what I heard found a solution to the “gifts” he gave these kids. There’s a medication that help them control their powers and be socially safe to live with everyone else. But of course, knowing what Dr. Sanchez could have done with medicine is another story.”



Jamelet sighs and runs her fingers through her dark brown locks. “Wait, the medication! I saw a couple of small colored glass tubes marked with the label ‘Positive Results’ on it. There was different liquids that all were marked with a code- Like one tube filled with red liquid has a label of ‘Rizado Effect.” Nick I think that one is yours.”



Kevin interrupts, “Whoa, wait where did you see the tubes at?” He asks quietly sitting and examining the small room. There was a forest green carpet covering the entire small room and two small curved glass windows on the side of the room are dressed in royal blue curtains tied to the side, hanging on the side of the wall besides the window. The only furniture in the room was a couple of fold out metal chairs, a thick big mahagony table with a lap top on it and small refrigerator in the corner of the room. One rickety wooden shelf aligned the left wall with dust covered thick textbooks of various subjects on it.



Jamelet grimaces, “Back in the room. I didn’t realize the significance of it until now. I’m so sorry, I didn’t know.”



A.J. growls and rushes over to the closed door, “Well Jamelet why don’t you be a sweet heart and get it for us?” He states angrily, he lowers his brown eyes to her and points to the door, “Well go, the longer you take, the longer we’ll be here.”



Jamelet stands up and scoffs, “Excuse me? Why should I risk my neck to save your scrawny cocky self? I just saw my father die and here you are screaming at me about saving you! Tell me why should I bother?” She states, rolling her eyes and clutching her fists to the side.



Summer stands in the middle of the two angry Latin people and raises her arms in the air, “Chill out both of you! We can’t be fighting against one other, remember we are all in this together!”



“I’m sorry, you’re right, what the hell am I thinking?” A.J. states eyeing the Jamelet.



Jamelet whispers, “Yeah, I’m sorry. I’ll get the medicine. It should have the cure.”



Suddenly Dr. Natalie shouts, “I found it! I found it! Thanks you, thank you little computer! Oh man this is great, you guys listen to this.” The young doctor states, reading the info on the computer screen excitedly.



C- orporation of



A- bsurd



P- ersonality



P- roblem



A- ssociation





File Experiment 1A:

Five females diagnosed with healthy bodies, were given

An elude substance: Girl 1- given rujura, stops disease.

Negative results lie in mental readings.

Girl 2- given karax, stops disease.

Negative results lie in earth control.

Girl 3- given kamonegi, stops disease.

Negative results lie in wind control

Girl 4- given zenigame, stops disease.

Negative results lie in ability of water.

Girl 5- given rapurasu, stops disease.

Negative results lie in ice control.



Results in total, a failure. No cure was found and test subjects are found to be a danger to Buffalo New York. �“subjects held in Washington D.C. till further notice.





File Experiment 1B:

Five males diagnosed with healthy bodies, were given

A substantially different formula called Crystalline with defects altered.

Boy 1: Given rizado, health improves

Negative results: Hot substances and burning can occur from the body.

Boy 2: Given erebu, health improves.

Negative results: Electrical currents found in the body.

Boy 3: Given fodin, health improves.

Negative results lie in mind control, telekinesis ability.

Boy 4: Given 2xmr, health improves greatly.

Negative results lie in mental ability increases and red burning forming lasers begin.

Boy 5: Given 1QZY, health greatly increases.

Negative results: MOST DANGEROUS. NEEDS TO GET CAPTURED. EXPERIMENT CAN ENDANGER LIVES AROUND HIM. CAN KILL WITH ONE TOUCH.



Results in total, a complete success. A cure is possible now and test subjects need to get located. Test subjects found to be a possible danger if not found by 2004. Powers will lose control after that lapse of time and they will be a danger to society. **Note the five patients can not be found as of yet. Last found as a group together in Orlando, Florida.**



Answers to Curing negative results are now found below.

Boy 1 can be cured with the medication Aqua24, green substances can

cool down the fire and defeat Crystalline. Must be injected through the wrist.

Boy 2 can be cured with Acid12, purple substance can burn electrical

Currents found in body. Must be injected through neck.

Boy3 can be cured with Gebain2 injected through back of the head and will disrupt power.

Boy 4 can be cured with Mystil4, black liquid will cool and distort power.

Must be injected in left arm on the vein. Will stop power.

Boy 5 can be cured with Nystan2, clear liquid will defect gift and destroy it.

Powers will be stopped. Must be injected through the top of the hand.



Gasps were heard in the room, “Oh man this is it! There’s a cure for such a thing. Oh thank God!” Dr. Natalie states, breaking into a smile. Cheers were heard in the room as the guys give each other a hug and a slaps a high five to one another. Kimberly forces a smile and stares at the floor sadly. She walks over the corner of the room and slides down the wall, pulling her legs to her chest. Her dark brown eyes with amber rings glitter with tears in it.



Rose walks over to her and sadly sits next to her on the floor. “I feel the same way. I mean they found an answer for the guys, but there isn’t something out there to help us. I wanna be happy for them but I can’t. It’s not fair. We’re failures, that’s all we are to the company.” She whispers, her blue eyes wet with tears. Rose and Kimberly sat and watch as the guys and Dr. Natalie laugh with joy over what was found.



Alison sighs and moving away from Brian, she walks over to where Rose and Kimberly are. “Can I ask you guys something?” She asks Rose and Kimberly. The girls nod their head and wait for Alison’s question. “Well why isn’t there a cure for us? Why did the company find a cure for the Boys but forgot about us? Shouldn’t they have found one for us too?” She states sadly, a lone tear trailing down her white complexion. Her yellow thin strapped shirt was colored with her sad tears as she rubs her hands on her dark blue denim. Her medium dark straight brown hair is tied in a bun as she fiddled with it.



Ana answers her question suddenly appearing in front of the girls. “Ali, there was never a cure for us. Don’t you see? The company only wanted what was successful and bring them profit and we’re not the ones. We’re the doom ones. Don’t be sad, I’ve known it all along. Don’t be surprised that this happened. I know I’m not.” Ana states, her voice stiff as if she was fighting to remain strong for the other girls. Her bluish green eyes held unshed tears and her blond braided hair lies gently on her shoulders.



“That can’t be true! It just can’t be!” Alison cries out.



“The truth hurts.” Ana whispers bluntly as she eyes the guys, Riley, the doctor and Jamelet who were all eagerly discussing how to get the medication in their hands.



“I don’t wanna help them any more.” Paige whispers in agony as she lies on her back in critical pain.



‘Why not?” Rose asks, passing her hands over her flowered peasant shirt and jean skirt.



“There’s no help for us. I’m better off here. I can get the help I need.” Paige whispers, her blue grey eyes staring numbly at the white ceiling. She runs her fingers over her black tank top with a blue dragon on it and dark blue denim. Her blond hair topples over her shoulders, the orange tips glittering in the light.



“Can you move?” Ana asks, bending down eyeing Paige in concern.



Paige shakes her head, “No! I can’t feel my back. It hurts! I can’t move!” She cries out.



Ana and Rose gently try to get Paige to sit up as Alison walks to the door and opens it to see the dimly lit hallway they were walking in. She sees something glittering and realizes it’s her silver bracelet. She didn’t realize it had fallen off, but then again with everything that happens she was surprise to have found it. She steps out the room and quickly reaches her bracelet. She picks it and smiles, clasping the jewelry on her wrist. Then suddenly she feels someone grabs her from behind and a gloved hand covers her mouth. Alison struggles against the strong hold but failed. The gloved hand has a napkin with a drug in it, she inhales the intoxicating smell and feels herself get weak. She passes out in the strangers hand and is carried away.

~*~



A.J. and Nick laugh and suddenly Brian realizes someone is missing. “Hey you guys, where’s Alison?” He states gazing around the room.



Ana scoffs, “Oh like you care?”



Brian feels the hatred the girls felt and he understood. He knew they felt upset and hurt all at the same time. He knew they should be happy but couldn’t because they themselves are still living in the nightmare. “God, I’m sorry. I knew this looks bad for you, but Dr. Natalie is searching for a way to heal your gifts as well. She has an idea, don’t give up!”



Paige grumbles in pain and Rose eyes around the room. “Hey has anyone seen Ali?”



“I think I saw her at the door, I’m not sure it she went out. Said she saw her bracelet and went to get it. She should be back be now.” Howie states, opening the door.



Brian knew something went terribly wrong. “You guys!” He states, clutching his chest, his heart racing, “Something’s up. I can feel it.”



Nick stands next to Brian with concern, “You ok though?”



Brian nods and points, “Do you see her?” Howie sticks his head out the doorway and shakes his head.



“Oh no! She’s got caught!” Jamelet states pushing Howie out the way. Summer peeks out the door alongside her.



A.J. closes his eyes and screams out, “They have her! I saw it just now. I saw a vision. She’s caught! They got her!”



Nick gulps, ‘Well that’s great, just nice, exactly what we needed.” He states angrily.



“Well we gotta find Ali now!” Ana states, cold wisps appearing after each word, “Or I’ll be misbehaving.” She grins, the cold mist rising from her hands and arms. The cold chill ran in the room as she raises her hands in the air.



Howie gives Riley a terrified look, “She’s serious you guys. Just send one small group and the rest stay here.”



Riley loads up his pistol and grabs a couple of rifles. “Ok, let’s go then.” And then leaves the room followed behind by Howie, A.J., Brian, Nick and Kevin. The battle just begins and it won’t get any easier.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is A Terrible Thing Too Waste~**Unknown



**~Chapter Twenty-two-Lost and Found~**



Kevin sighs heavily and scrolls his green eyes across a wall. “Nothing, I don’t see anything.” He mutters over to Riley who’s holding a flashlight down the dark hallway.



Riley stares down the dusty pathway and points the dimming flashlight down it.



Brian coughs and gazes his blue orbs down the wall. “Hmmm… hey Riley you have any idea where one would take somebody who’s trespassing?”



Riley smiles, “Ah, see now you’re thinking! We usually bring them to Dr. Sanchez and then transfer them to the upper level floors, it can vary. Sometimes we put the trespassers on the fifth floor or down below in the lower basement levels.”



Nick interrupts, stepping between the two men, “Wait, this could take forever, I say we split up, three of us find Alison and the other three out for the medicine. Personally, I just wanna get the hell out of here and we’re spending too much yapping.”



A.J. laughs and pats Nick on the shoulder, “That’s right buddy, you tell them.”



Howie smiles, “Ok fine. Two groups it is.”



Riley shakes his head, “No, that’s not a good idea! I’m the only one here who knows the way around through security and I take risks letting you guys run around. You realize at this point you got your powers but the minute you reach the upper levels it will disappear for the time being. Then you’re helpless.” His brown eyes open wide in apprehension.



“Not the way I see it.” Brian states, shifting the rifle in his hands.



“Look, come on, we loaded with weapons and we’re pissed off. Besides I wanna get them back for that remark they made about our music.” A.J. smirks as he clicks and twists the upper part of the gun: snapping the bullets in place.



Riley laughs and begins walking down the hallway, “I’m telling you guys, splitting up is a bad idea. Look what happened the last time you guys attempted that splitting up move.”



Howie sighs, “Well we gotta do this fast. Look, I say me, Brian and Nick head out to get the medications and you, A.J. and Kevin find Alison. Deal?”



Riley passes his light chocolate fingers through his unruly black curls. Licking his lips softly, he lets out a sigh. “Man, I’ll regret doing this but we’re on a time limit. Howie, I’ll tell you where to go, listen carefully, I’m only telling you this once. Ok?”



Howie nods his head as Riley pulls out a marker and starts drawing a map on the dirty white wall.

~*~



“Look, I’m just saying I should have been there. None of this would have happened and we could have gotten away with everything. Now Dr. Sanchez is dead and Riley is off helping those fools.” The aggravated solider states slamming his pistol down hard on the rickety table top.



Roy sighs and stares at his friend who is still grumbling and complaining about the plan. “Calm down Damien. We’ll figure out something. We know this entire facility by heart. Those guys couldn’t find their way out of here even if they wanted too. You know everywhere outside is armed. We’re set. Chill out.” Roy states calmly, running his fingers down the side of his black cargo pants.



Damien stares back hard at Roy, his blue eyes gleaming in pure hatred. “I ain’t down with this whole letting the enemy have some fun. What if they’re smarter than they look? What if Riley gets them out and they escape. Then what? Huh? Tell me!”



Roy purses his lips and lets out a long deep breath. “We’ll make sure we won’t let that happen now, will we?”



The solider leans on the desk top facing Roy, he tugs on his all black attire matching similarly as Roy’s. “That’s a lot bull talking coming from you. Fine, since you so insist on this working out.” Damien states with sarcasm dripping in his voice. “Sanchez death wasn’t part of the plan and you know it.” He growls angrily.



Roy smiles, “Not at all, but it’s a lot easier, hell Riley is making our plan come out better. What a laugh, our enemy helped us out. I never did like that kid. I knew he was trouble from the beginning. Always quick to object, never wanting to follow orders. Always the rebellious type. Well Riley has another thing coming at him. He doesn’t know what he’s doing. Only following what he thinks is right.” Roy states sneering.



Damien laughs, his light pale complexion glittering in the bright light. Running his fingers through his short blond locks, he stands at a height of six feet two inches. He was a bit rugged looking in a sort of attractive way. Roy’s eyes lit up at he begins laughing. “Hey Damien, now that I’m looking at you in this light, did anyone ever tell you that you look like the blond kid in that group.”



Damien’s icy blue eyes glared out at Roy, “Yes, most unfortunately.” He states annoyed at Roy’s assumption.



Laughing, Roy suddenly had an idea, “This is great, I just thought of something.” Roy states, pushing a tiny red button on the wall near the desk. The wall spreads apart to reveal a large flat screen television showing a fuzzy picture of what looked like seven women in a room. No sound was heard except the buzzing sound of a bad focus on the camera screen.



Damien stares at the flat screen and shrugs his shoulders, “So, what’s your plan?”



Roy smiles, “You’ll see.” He states casually.

~*~



Summer sighs and places her head on a plush blue velvet pillow on the small sofa in the room. Sleeping was a difficult process, she wanted to sleep away the problems, hoping that when she wakes up she’ll be dreaming and none of this had happened. That when she opens her eyes, she’ll be in her bedroom and it was all just a nightmare. Her green eyes snaps open and she mutters a low profanity. “Aw, man this real. I hoping I was imagining everything.”



“Sorry, this is true.” Mutters Dr. Natalie, passing her fingers through her long brown hair. She stares at her painted nails and sighs sadly. “Jamelet, what do you think is our chances of getting out of here?”



Jamelet turns to face the young doctor and mutters, “One out of hundred. We’re lucky we got this far. I’m thinking the company is letting us wear out until we give up.”



Paige groans out in pain suddenly and Natalie rushes over giving the young girl a message on her spine. “K, sweetie this is gonna hurt, but it’ll help you relax ok.” Natalie whispers to Paige.



Paige nods and stares at Jamelet with sad blue grey eyes. Her blond locks topple around her shoulders, the orange tint ends gleaming in the light. She runs her fingers down her black tank top with a blue dragon on it and dark blue denims.



Jamelet tries smiling and nods her head, “We’ll get out of here for you.”



Rose mutters, “I should go with the guys, I could use my powers. Let me and Ana go.” She tugs on light pink flowered peasant top and run her fingers through her knee length jean skirt. Her blue eyes grew big in excitement as she taps her beige sandals impatiently on the forest green carpet. Her blond strands are tied up in very loose bun, locks topple gently on her shoulders from the bun.



Ana giggles, “Come on Jamelet, let me and Rose play. I say it’s time we showed those soldiers who’s really the boss.” Her bluish green eyes twinkle with mischievous as she stands in her tight dark blue tank top and light blue jeans torn on the knees. Her blond hair now tied in a loose low ponytail.



Jamelet stares out the window to see a large twenty feet gate, yards away surrounding the facility outside. “Even if we manage to leave the building, then we have that gate.”



Summer pats Jamelet’s shoulder and gazes out the window. “It’s so weird how out there is so calm, there’s a completely different life. A world of its own fearing other things.”



“It’s a different world in here.” Jamelet states, her medium light brown eyes twinkle in the light.



“And this world functions by different rules.” Dr. Natalie states, her light tan complexion glittering in the light.



Kimberly grumbles lying beside a hurt Paige on a black furry sofa all the while as Rose slips out the room. No one noted that Rose left the room or noticed when Rose opened the door and quietly left.

~*~



Once out the door, Rose stares at the dark hallway. Not being able to see anything, she stretches out her hand in the hallway. She reaches the end of the mile long pathway and feels for something, anything to take a hold of. Realizing it was a ladder her hand brushes up against, she grips the cold metal stairs in her hands and begins climbing up. She slides open the same trap door that earlier had saved her and the others. She climbs up in the laboratory room and she sees Dr. Sanchez’s corpse on the black tiles along side the dead corpse of what once was Tony. The room cleared out and no one except the dead bodies greeted her in the room. She walks over to the front metal door of the room and opens it only to be greeted by a mouth of a pistol.



“Hey there sweetie, where’d ya come from?” A soldier states, his brown eyes glittering. Rose backs up into the room and gulps. The broad all black attire dressed man stares roughly at her.



Rose knew she was trapped; there was no smoke to lose focus this time around so Rose walked close to the closed trapped door. Suddenly she opens her mouth and lets out a death defying scream, the glass windows in the room shatters and splitting the shards of glass panes crashing to the floor. The soldier screams out as his ear drums blow out, blood starts leaking out of his ears and trails down the side of his face. After what seemed like thirty seconds of the loud echoing of her screaming, Rose stops and watches the solider cupping his ears and covering it in agony. He seems in pain and is screaming on his knees. She stares at him and smiles, “Can I knock you off your feet?” She whispers.



The solider stares at her, confused from where he’s at on the floor. Suddenly she spreads her arms aside from her and a large grumbling starts, wisps of air start growing forming what seems like a small hurricane from the floor. The tiny whirling wind begins growing until it reaches the ceiling. Rose’s blue eyes are glowing a blazing blue and suddenly the soldier realized what was happening. Since he lost his hearing, now all he sees is the cold wind coming at him. He knew that as fast as that wind is coming at him, he’ll be torn apart and he stares at the wind too frozen in shock to move. Then the wind surrounds him, capturing him in its cold embrace. He screams as the wind cuts into his flesh and rips it off. Pieces of flesh and limbs are strewn across the room and the bright crimson liquid splashes on the black tiles. Rose brings her arms down and the hurricane vanishes like hence it started. “Nothing to it.” Rose whispers and makes her way back to the door.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is A Terrible Thing to Waste~**



**~Chapter Twenty-three- No Real Cure~**



The thick door swings open and Riley, leads the way into a deserted darkened room. He scans quickly through the black darkness to find anything that could give away their presence. The yellow orb of light form the flashlight searches the dusty wooden planks of the floor.



“What do you see?” A.J. whispers, holding his breath, hoping that doesn’t give them away.



Riley shakes his head and whispers, “Darkness.”



Kevin smirks and pats A.J. on the shoulder, “Be quiet, we can get in trouble cause of you.”



Riley politely shushes them and then continues walking into the obscurity. “This is the first place one would take a trespasser, but I think they already rushed her to the upper levels. This room is empty, nothing in here but a few broken wooden chairs and an empty glass vile.”



Kevin looks around the room and noticed a odd smell coming from on the vents in the room. “Do you smell that?”



A.J. gave Kevin a disgusted look and mumbles, “Man that’s Kev. There’s a time and place for everything and this is not one of them.”



Kevin sucked his teeth, “No retard smell. Don’t it smell like some gas in coming in here.”



Riley suddenly stops and faces Kevin. He strains to see the form of what looked like the form Kevin standing in front of him. “You’re right! Damn! The room is getting is filled with poison, we gotta get the hell out of here!” And with that races to the front of the dark room. Riley’s flashlight begins to blur and blink and a few seconds later turns off.



A.J. lets out a low profanity and stares around at the dark room. The only light was coming from the moon which is shining through the dusty cracked circular glass windows all about seven feet above them. The room seems huge judging by how many windows surrounded it. About five windows covered one side and five more on the other along with three of the windows in the center on white cemented wall.



Riley reaches the door knob and turns it only to find it locked from the inside. “Oh man, we’re in trouble. The security has reached its limits. It seems somebody programmed the computer to do a lock down. It looks like we’re stuck in this room now.”



“What about that smell?” Whispers A.J. nervously, brushing his fingers through his black hair.



“Try not to inhale it.” Riley calmly states.



A.J. sucks his teeth, “Oh yeah, it’s that easy, what the hell you want me to do? Stop breathing?”



“J calm down, don’t freak out. Listen to Riley we’ll get off out here, I know we can!” Kevin states, his voice though sounded unsure.



Riley sits on the floor and gazes around the room, “You think we can reach those windows. I just thought of something. Let’s grab some of those broken pieces of the chair and throw it at the windows.”



Kevin nods his head and blindly searches the floor until his hand feels the thick wooden leg piece of the chair. “J, come help. Don’t just sulk.”



A.J. grumbles, blindly kneels down and crawls on his knees, he reaches Kevin. Riley smiles and does the same.



‘K, this is the deal, We got limited pieces of this chair. If we break the windows, we can get some air before the gas gets to us.” Riley states. The moonlight cascades down on Kevin, A.J and Riley.



“Fine, how the hell are we getting out of here? There’s the windows and that door. I’m thinking we could break open that door and get out. The windows we can’t reach, it’s too far up.” A.J. whispers, his voice cracking in fear.



“Aight, nice, let’s do that.” Kevin states rushing over to the door, “At the count of three we bum rush the door. K ready?”



The other two men nod, blindly standing up and rushing towards the door as Kevin says three. The door is slammed with the bodies and makes a cracking noise.



“Nice, we’re getting it! I think two more times and we can break this down.” Riley whispers excitedly.



The gas begins getting thicker and A.J. begins coughing terribly.



“J, come one, we’re almost out of here, try not to breath it in!” Kevin shouts out nervously.



Riley touches AJ.’s shoulder , he can feel A.J.’s body tremble as he begins coughing hard.



Kevin almost in panic races over to his friend, both down on their knees, they crawl to the locked door. Riley and Kevin continue slamming the door as A.J. painfully coughs. Suddenly the door breaks open and crashes to the ground loudly. Standing in front of them armed, are two soldiers pointing their rifles at the guys. “Freeze! Don’t move! Under the orders of Roy, we shoot if you move!” One of the masked men states roughly.



Kevin stares at the soldiers and feels his eyes beginning to burn. Out of his eyes shoots out the two dark red lasers. It strikes the men on their flesh and burns through their skin as they scream out in pure agony. Smoke and burning flesh infiltrates in the room. The smell so nauseating that A.J. begins gagging.



Another soldier appears down a hallway and begins shooting. With one look, A.J. stares at the masked man eyes. Suddenly the soldier drops his weapons and begins screaming in horror as he covers his ears. The soldier dressed in all black crashes on knees and begins shaking terribly. Crimson blood begins to drip down the soldier’s ear and staining the floor. The soldier screams out one last time and falls face down on the ground, his masked soaked in blood. The pistol floats in the air as new bullets are placed in by an invisible hand. Riley watches the scene in shock as Kevin stares at A.J.



“Wow! You blew the guy’s brain out!” Shrieks Kevin in dismay.



A.J. stands up with the help of Riley and smiles. “Yup the looks of it. Looks my power did come in useful.” A.J. says happily.



Kevin narrows his eyes and wipes his finger above upper lip. “You’re bleeding, you’re nose is bleeding.” Kevin whispers, looking at A.J.



Chocolate eyes pierce at Kevin, “I’m fine! I guess my body is still adjusting to the powers.” A.J. whispers and brushes past Kevin down a new hallway.



Kevin watches A.J. walk down the deserted hallway who is wiping away streaks of blood that is trailing from his nose. Kevin jumps in fright as Riley places his hand on his shoulder.



“Calm down Kevin. Something’s up with him. I say we keep a watch on him and tell him to hold his head up, he’s leaving behind a trail with his blood, we gotta go the either way now.” Riley says softly as A.J. reaches the end the hallway.



A.J. throws his arms in the air in frustration, “Well are we going or what? Come on, time is of the essence.” A.J. whispers loudly, tapping his black boots impatiently on the grey tiles.



Kevin looks at Riley and Riley in response shrugs his shoulders.



“We’re going down this way.” Riley states.



“Put your head, so you won’t leave behind a trail.” Kevin whispers softly.



A.J. glares at him, “Oh I’m sorry if my injured nose is messing things up!” He says angrily, firing a daring glance at Kevin. His voice full of anger and sarcasm as he walks back to the two guys.



Riley hands A.J. a tissue and pats him on the arm. ‘Don’t get mad. We’re working as a team, you gotta calm down. You shouldn’t be bleeding from your nose after using your powers, I’m thinking the virus in you body is acting up with something else.”



“Oh so now it’s a virus! That’s great, real great!” A.J. grumbles as Kevin places a tissue over the bleeding nostril.



Riley bits his lower lip as Kevin sighs. “Looks like it’s gonna be long night.” Riley whispers, leading the guys down the other hallway. They start walking and step over the three corpses on the ground never looking back to see the spilt blood from A.J. bubbling and burning a tiny hole in the ground.

~*~



The door crashes to the floor as Howie, Brian and Nick enter the empty laboratory room.



“I don’t wanna be here.” Grumbles Brian, fear evident as he speaks.



“Rok, it’ll be fine. We just gotta get the medications and join the girls quickly.” Howie says softly looking around the room.



“The camera!” Nick shouts as Brian shoots the small black box tucked in the corner of the ceiling. The bullets shatters the box and it falls down in broken pieces.



“Nice shot, B! Direct hit! You sure you never handled a gun before?” Howie says smiling. Brian shakes his head and manages a grin.



“Nope, Kevin never took me deer hunting, so this is first time I used a gun.” Brian says getting a laugh from Howie and Nick. Brian, Nick and Howie adjust the strap over their shoulder that’s holding the magnums.



The peaceful moment was broken suddenly when the walls in the laboratory room begin shaking. A large iron wall emerges from the ceiling and blocks the front exit and only door in the laboratory room.



“AW, hell no! We getting out of this place!” Shouts an aggravated Nick as his eyes lit up to a fiery blue.



“Easy now Nick, don’t use it until later. It’s not important now. Let’s just the medicine and head out!” Brian states as he tries to calm down Nick.



Nick stares at his friend and whispers a quiet no and with that a trail of fire shoots out from his hand, hitting the iron door. “Give it a few, it’ll burn.”



“Are you sure we’re in the right room? I mean, shouldn’t we have seen the bodies of the doctor and that soldier?” Howie questions, his soft brown eyes examining the room.



Brian nods his head, “AW man, we’re in the wrong room, I knew I should have went with Riley.”



Howie glares at Brian, “That’s foul man. You saw the stupid map too, you should have been paying attention to it!” Howie snaps at Brian.



Brian surprised at Howie’s sudden outburst, smiles. “This is getting to you too huh? You never get mad this quick.”



Howie sighs and nods his head, “I guess so. Either that or I’m hanging around Nick too much.”



Nick looks at them and grumbles, “I ain’t got no anger problem. I just snap every once in a while. It’s not a big deal.”



Brian rolls his eyes and holds back the laughter that was bubbling inside him, “Ok, ok. You’re right Nick, sorry. D didn’t mean anything by it, right Howie?”



Howie rolls his eyes and runs to a large metal shelf where tubes of different colored liquids are in. “Hey you guys, look! We found the medication. Let’s take this back to the doctor and get the heck out here.” Brian and Nick nod and race over the metal shelf. They saw rows upon rows of different solutions in tubes.



“Oh, this is real smart, some of the tubes don’t have label on it.” Mumbles Howie.



Nick smiles and accidentally not noticing his moves, he tips over a cart filled with colored tubes which splashed on Howie’s caramel tan hands.



“NICK! You’re a freakin’ clutz! This crap is on my skin!” Shouts Howie in panic.



“Oh man, I didn’t mean it, I wasn’t watching where I was moving.” Nick states suddenly feeling nervous over the red concoction that landed on his friend.



Brian finds a napkin and help wipes the red liquid off Howie’s skin. “Nick, do you know what that tube contained?” Brian whispers calmly, not wanting to frighten Nick.



“No, I’ll check now. It doesn’t say anything, no label on it.” Nick states, his voice close to stuttering when he’s scared.



“Ok, don’t worry about it for now. Let’s get the chemical off Howie and hope that nothing will happen.” Brian calmly says yet inside he was screaming in pure horror. What if that liquid kills him? What if it’s acid? Come on Brian don’t think that way, Howie needs you, Nick needs. Calm down I can do this.’ Brian thinks to himself smiling at Howie and patting Nick’s shoulder.



Nick leads Howe to a sink to help wash off reminisce of the liquid as Brian quickly searches the cabinets and drawers for the medications. After a few minutes of wander less searching, Brian found what he was looking for. Hidden in a glass case, capped tightly in five different tubes, the labels stated what he wanted. A small glass tube filled with blue liquid has the label Aqua24. The dark purple one next to it is labeled Acid12. Following that tube was one filled with yellow liquid labeled Gebain2. A black liquid tube next to that one is labeled Mystil 4 and the last one in clear liquid the tube is labeled Nystan2.



“K, we got the stuff, let’s hope D don’t get sick from that junk.” Nick whispers nervously. He stops and notices the big grin on Brian’s face and sees the colored tubes inside a tiny glass case in Brian’s hand.



“Oh man you found it!” Howie joyfully shouts and runs to see the glass tubes. Nick stands next to them and laughs. All three hug and laugh.



“We’re gonna be ok you guys!” Brian shouts gleefully.



Suddenly a hissing sound erupts from the walls as a thick green smoke emerges from the wall. Nick lets out a small profanity and watches the green smoke creep over to their direction. “Uh, guys, maybe we should leave now!” He shouts running to the door which is locked from the inside. The iron wall had burned down enough for the door to be reached but it was of no use. The door was locked and they were trapped.



Howie scans his eyes over the thick smoke and starts banging on the walls in desperation. “We have to get out here!” He shouts. Brian backs away from the oncoming smoke and reaches for a knife off an operating table. He begins to stab the wall hoping to get some way for escaping but that was of no use. The walls weren’t hollow and the three men stand there feeling helpless. Howie feels his body burn up with the electrical currents of his gift. His eyes begin glowing a bright red and a voltage shoots out. The electrical energy strikes a hole in the wall enabling them access to an exit. They quickly file through the large gaping hole in the wall and escape the smoky room.



“That was a close call.” Brian says as Nick, the last one climbs out of the hole in the wall. They all nod and walk away with the hissing smoke left to wander in the room. Brian holds the glass case and walks away believing everything is going to be ok. But no one turned back around to see the live electrical currents from Howie’s gifts glow a bright fiery red and melting the room.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is a Terrible Thing to Waste~**



**~Chapter Twenty-four: Impossible Freedom~**



The thick oak door opens and in steps Damien grumbling all the while. He looks at Roy angrily and passes his light pale fingers through his blond spikes. “I’ll kill you for doing this. I can’t possibly believe you think this little plan of yours will work.”



Roy laughs at the sight of his companion and fingers the heavy magnum in his hands. “You look identical to him now. There’s no way they can identify you. We even got the tattoos on right.” Roy states with a smile across his brown colored face. He gazes at the outfit Damien is wearing: a blue wife beater and dark blue jeans. “Trust me, they won’t have a clue.”



Damien rolls his icy blue eyes and places a box cutter in his socks. “I’m just saying if they even look at me the wrong way, I’ll kill them on the spot.”



Roy raises his hands in the air, “Ok, ok. But for now, let’s move on with the plan.” He states eagerly, his brown eyes glittering in delight.



Damien lowers his eyes angrily, “Oh, you enjoying this ain’t you?”



Roy laughs loudly, “Oh yeah, big time.” And pushes Damien softly out the door. Roy smiles at his ingenious plan and rubs his hands together. ‘Oh yeah this will work, this is the perfect plan.’ He thinks to himself.

~*~



“Is it just me or is someone missing?” Summer says softly gazing around the room to see, Kimberly and Paige lying on a sofa and Dr. Natalie tending to Paige’s back.



Jamelet sits down and gazes at Summer, “Where’s Rose?”



Ana giggles and looks up from the black loveseat she’s sprawled on. “I think I saw her last when she walked out the door.”



Jamelet stares at Ana in shock, “She left! And you said nothing! When were you gonna tell us this?”



Ana shrugs her shoulders, “Don’t know, figured it wasn’t important enough to mention.”



Summer cries out, “Not important enough! What! Are you insane? What if she’s dead somewhere? I can’t believe you didn’t stop her or told us when it happened!” Summer runs her fingers through her blond locks nervously and starts trembling in fear. “Oh god what am I doing here? I shouldn’t have sign up for this job. I knew I shouldn’t have taken this. What was I thinking?”



“Well it’s too late for you to think of this now. You’re in it as much as everyone one of us here are.” Ana whispers, her bluish green eyes scrolling the beige wall beside her.



Kimberly forces a smile and walks over to the front door with Jamelet. “So now what? The guys are looking for Alison and Rose is missing. I say we all stick together and find Rose. She could be in danger and the guys don’t know about her disappearance.”



Jamelet sighs softly, “No. We wait till the others come back before looking for Rose. If I know Rose, she’s a smart cookie. She can survive this place and maybe help us get out.”



Kimberly shakes her head, “I don’t know. I mean what if she leaves and doesn’t come back for us.”



“Lucky her then.” Ana says rolling her eyes in no interest.



Jamelet gulps, “Don’t think that way! We can get out of here, you’ll see.”



“And if we don’t?” Kimberly whispers softly, her dark brown eyes darkening in fear, the amber rings in her eyes twinkle dully.



“Then we die trying.” Dr. Natalie states, her chocolate eyes lower to the forest green rug in the room.

~*~



The desolate hallway echoes the footsteps of the three men. Riley stares around the dimly lit hallway, the grey walls now changed to the pure white as they traveled further up into the upper levels. Riley turns back around to see Kevin and A.J., who both seem to be consumed in a private conversation. “Hey can I know what’s happening? Fill me in.” Riley says, his brown eyes glittering in delight.



“It’s nothing, we were talking about how our lives will be after we get out of here. I don’t think it’ll ever the same again. I wanna see my fiancé and my family. I wanna go back on stage and perform. Sing like we all did before we got in this mess, before when all that mattered was putting a smile on a fan’s face when you sing a song. But now after all we’ve experienced here, it’ll be strange to act as nothing ever happened.” A.J. whispers sadly, his dark brown eyes staring at the grey dirty tiles.



“Hey, hey, come on! What’s with all the being sad? Come on cheer up! We’re on our way to the upper lever where Alison should be in. We’ll get her and get the hell out of here.” Riley smiles as he pats A.J.’s shoulder for comfort. Kevin who is now in the front of the two men stops suddenly at a strange sound.



“Shh… you guys hear that?” Kevin whispers, his emerald eyes scanning a wooden thick oak door at the end of the hallway.



A.J. stops and listens to a small whining coming from a room a few feet down from them. A.J. gazes at a small camera hanging from the ceiling and decides now it’s not the best time to go shoot it and create noise.



Riley silently moves along the wall professionally as he had been trained. Reaching the door a couple of feet down, he pulls out his magnum and clutches it to his chest. Placing his finger over his mouth to tell the others to remain quiet, he turns the rusty doorknob. The door creaks open and inside the room is a grey fold up chair with Alison sitting on it. Riley before entering knew something is wrong with this picture. Alison is tied with rope on her feet and hands which is wrapped around the back of the chair. The dim lighting in the room made it difficult to fully see the condition of the young girl.



“Is she ok?” Whispers A.J.



Riley shrugs and motions for them to remain quiet. He didn’t know if it was his intuition telling him this, but something is not right with the young girl before him. He flips on his flashlight and stares around the room. “Clear, it’s alright, come get her out.” He says as he walks around the perimeter of the room armed with the magnum ready to shoot.



A.J. and Kevin rush over and cut loose Alison from the ropes that enchained her to the chair. “She’s seems like she’s knocked out. I’m afraid when she wakes up she can have a concussion.” Kevin whispers with concern.



“That’s the least of our worries now.” Riley says as he cautiously stares and studies the room out carefully with his eyes.



“Ok, we got her, let’s go!” A.J. states as he cradles Alison in his arms.



“Not so fast.” Riley states as he points his magnum at Kevin. “You should have listened to your friend A.J. over there about who to trust. He was right about me. I’m doing this for me, not to save your sorry selves. I was never intended to help you out. I brought you here in this room for a reason and it’s too late for her. The girl is as good as died. Too bad too, her powers would have been great if only she survived.”



Kevin froze at the harshness penetrating from Riley’s voice and he hears A.J. let out a low profanity. Kevin’s mouths drops open at the sudden attitude change from Riley. He knew Riley was pulling an act for the cameras in the room and he had play along if he was to fool the ones watching what’s happening from the camera. “So, you gonna kill us? Is this the plan. To get rid of us once and for all. Cause I could have sworn you were just as determined to destroy this company as we are.”



Riley smirks, “Maybe or maybe I fooled you to believing that was my original intentions. Sorry I have to say bye to such a nice company. Really it was sweet knowing both of you guys. I’m sure you would have had great success in the music business after you left here, but a group with three members can only go so far.” As he states this, he raises his magnum and points it at Kevin’s head.



Kevin gulps, knowing Riley’s plan was going too far now. Riley never stated to actually look like they were gonna shoot each other. Kevin stands there frozen in shock as A.J. gazes at Kevin with a smirk on his face. Something about the look A.J. gave him told Kevin a different story. This is an act, it has to be, but as he stares at the head of the magnum Kevin was beginning to have doubts.



“A.J. how could you?!” Kevin cries out suddenly. ‘This couldn’t be! This isn’t how the plan should be going?’ He thinks to himself as his breathing is getting difficult.



“Sorry buddy, nice knowing ya.” A.J. states manically, shrugging his shoulders and walking out the room with Alison is his arms. Kevin can feel his heart banging against his chest and his palms getting sweaty. ‘Was this all an act? Was someone around, that Riley is acting this convincing?’ Kevin couldn’t tell and the lighting in the room was too bad to decode Riley’s actions.



Suddenly Riley shoots and he pushes Kevin onto the floor. Kevin turns to see the bullet hit a masked soldier behind him. The gun the soldier was holding crashes onto the floor as the dark clothes man collapses dead on the black tiles. Kevin lying on his back, turns to see Riley lying on top of him. “Thanks man. I guess you can get off me now.” Kevin whispers as he holds back a small laughter.



“You’re right, I wouldn’t want to mess with your wife or your wild fans. Lucky the media didn’t get a hold of this.” Riley says smiling, helping Kevin back on his feet.



A.J. peaks in the doorway and smiles, “I fooled you didn’t I Kev.?



Kevin nods his head and rubs his fingers down the sides of his black jeans and pulls on his white t-shirt. “Hell ya! I thought I was gonna die! Thanks to Riley, I get to live another day.”



“No problem buddy, you would have done the same for me too.” Riley says laughing, his chocolate eyes glittering in glee.



Kevin sighs and chuckles, “I don’t know about that!” And they all laugh and left out the room.

~*~



A.J. turns around to see a running Nick coming towards their direction. “You guys, oh man, thank God I found ya!”



Kevin states at Nick, “Hold up I thought you with the other guys. Where’s Brian and D?”



Nick rolls his blue eyes and sighs, “Uh, see what had happened was as I was walking down a hallway and when I turn around the guys went down a hallway and I couldn’t tell where to go. I walked down this hallway and I just saw you guys.”



A.J. tries to hold back his laughter, “Hold up, Nick. What you’re saying is you got lost.”



“I ain’t lost. I just couldn’t find the others and decided to walk down here. I never said I got lost.” Nick states stuttering, blushing as his embarrassment rose. Tying to brush off his embarrassment, he changes the topic. “Oh you found Ali. Great, let’s get the hell out of here.”



“Wait, what about Brian and Howie?” Riley states, looking at Nick.



Nick shrugs his shoulder, “Uh, see this is the part where you were suppose to listen and understand that I don’t know where they’re at?”



“You mean where they are Nick” Kevin corrected the younger member.



“That’s what I said Kev.” Nick states, his blue eyes gazing at the young girl. He can feel his cheeks burning red as he hears the guys chuckling.



“Whatever man, we wasting time.” Riley says smiling at Nick. “Let’s get back to the girls.”

~*~



Kimberly opens the door for the fourth time that day hoping to see the guys with Alison, but nothing. She sighs and leans on the open doorframe.



“Give them a few. I’m sure they’ll be here. If not oh well, it was worth a shot.” Ana states, her bluish green eyes twinkle in delight.



“Why do you always have to be so negative Ana? They’ll be ok. In fact I hear footsteps coming right now.” Kimberly states, staring down the dark hallway.



Ana sighs and walks back in the room, “Whatever man, I’m just telling ya the truth. Believe what ya wanna believe.” Ana mutters bitterly.



Kimberly shakes her head and gazes down the hallway. Nick runs into the room frantically suddenly. “Nick, hey where the others?”



Nick shakes his head, “I don’t know, it was weird. I went to tie my sneaker and when I was stood up, the guys disappeared. I ran down the both the hallways and figured they came back here. They’re here right? Yo, Rok where you at?” Nick shouts as he steps in the room.



Jamelet and Dr. Natalie run out the small room to the doorway to see Nick. “They’re not with you? What? They’re not here.” Jamelet states, she narrows her eyes. Something is up, but somehow she couldn’t tell.



Nick looks around confused and runs his fingers down his blue wife beater and dark blue denim. “This is great, real great, the time we actually got the medicine and we lost each other. I should go out and get them.” He states heading back out the door. He twirls around as a hard grip on his wrist stops him from leaving.



“I think you should wait here. I’m tired of everyone being spread out and getting lost. I wanna leave quickly and this is taking too long. You said you found the medicine right?” Jamelet states, her light brown eyes watching a fidgeting Nick.



“Yup, Riley drew a map down there on the wall and we split up in two groups. Rok and D were in my group and Riley took Kevin and A.J. to get Alison.” Nick states, his blue eyes tired and hurting.



“You used your powers didn’t you?” Dr. Natalie states: interrupting the conversation.



“Had too, some iron door was trying to trap us, I thought I could burn it down but it was no use. The front door to the lab was locked from the outside.” Nick mutters as he collapses on a black sofa for himself. “So thanks to D, we got out with a hole in the wall.”



“So you got lost then right?” Ana states holding in laughter.



Nick rolls his eyes and shakes his head, “I didn’t get lost, I just lost them. Besides I knew how to get back here without them right?”



“Since when can you find anyplace on your own?” Howie interrupts suddenly as he and Brian enters the room followed behind by an eager Kimberly.



“So Nick, how did you find this place?” Summer states curiously, staring at how uncomfortable Nick was getting.



He simply shrugs, “Hey I pay attention at times. Wait, You guys are teasing me aren’t you?” Nick states catching onto the giggling in the room. “That’s real foul you guys. Just cuz I’m the youngest member don’t mean I don’t know where to go.”



Howie smirks, “Kaos, did that make any sense what you just said?”



Nick snorts, “It did to me man.”



“Maybe in your own little world Nick.” Brian says holding back laughter.



Paige groans and manages a small giggle from the funny conversation.



“Well let’s get started, now you guys did remember to bring the needles right?” Dr. Natalie states as she takes the five tubes out and lays them on the table.



“Uhhh.. hmm.. I didn’t think about that.” Nick grumbles.



Brian groans, “Oh man, see I knew we were missing something.”



“I blame that green gas that was spilling in the room for the forgetfulness.” Mutters Howie.



“Nick you were suppose to take the needles on the medical table before we ran out.” Brian asks.



“Ugh! Damn the gas! Ya should have reminded me. I’m sorry I was too busy freaking out when I saw the gas coming at us!” Nick replies sarcastically.



Jamelet sighs and shakes her head, “Today is just not my day.” She grumbles as she sits watching the three men bicker about whose responsibility it was to grab the needles.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~A mind is a terrible thing to waste~**



**~Chapter Twenty-five- Seek and One Finds



He places his palms down on the smooth mahogany table and stifles a yawn. His dark brown eyes scroll across the small flat screen in front of him in the office. “Come on Damien, you fooled them already, just find out if they got the goods.” He mutters quietly to himself as he watches Damien passing off as one the youngest in experiment 1B. He watches his companion playfully talk and joke around, fooling the people around him. Roy smiles as he sees Damien walk down a hallway followed by the eight women. Roy chuckles, “You’re good Dami, real good. Have those people fooled good, you even got the guys in the group confused. Man when I get in contact with you later you gotta get like the Academy Award for your performance.” Roy smiles and rubs his dark brown hands across his face as he fights of the nagging sleep that is trying to succumb to him. He drags his hand across the desk and touches the small metal pistol. His fingers trace over the trigger as he feels the smile on his face spreading. “Soon, sweetie, me and you will be have some fun with those guys. I’m trying to make this plan work. When it’s just right you’ll do the magic.” He whispers and kisses the side of his favorite pistol in his hand.

~*~



He gazes at the group he’s with. He managed to fool them and the guys truly believed he’s that annoying kid. He wondered if Roy was watching this on camera, he hopes so cause he was close to snapping and killing off the group. They manage to irate him in so many different ways it was unimaginable. He was tempted many times to pick up the small pistol tucked in the hidden pockets of his dark blue denims and just shoot. Shoot to shut them up and shoot just to stop them from thinking of leaving. But according to goody too shoes Roy, there was plan that was to be followed if they were to absolutely win. He suddenly gulps as one the guys asked him a question about his family. “Huh, can you repeat that? I wasn’t paying attention.”



“Just like Nick, always spacing off. I said do you think your brother is in danger after we leave this place?” The man with the dark hair and chocolate eyes state.



Damien gulps and thinks, ‘Ugh, God he has a brother?! Roy didn’t tell me! What the hell do I say?’ Damien smiles and shrugs his shoulders, “I ain’t worried about him. He’s a big boy, he can care for himself.”



The dark haired man intakes a sharp breathe of air, “Nick, haven’t you thought of the possibility that this company might have our personal records and our families could be in danger because of this?”



Damien sighs and fakes a weak cry, he slumps to the floor on his knees and mutters out in a painful voice. “Oh God, we’re so screwed aren’t we?”



The same dark haired man mutters, “No we’re not. Let’s go, we gotta meet the others.”



Damien bats his blue eyes and sniffs back the fake tears that could fall over if he wanted to fool them that he was crying. ‘Great, you suckers are about to get destroyed by your member.’ Damien thinks to himself as the others look on sadly and smile to help Nick feel better. He stands up and follows the group down the hallway. He turns around and smiles at the camera overhead in the corner of the room, knowing Roy must truly be proud of this.

~*~



Kevin hands the unconscious Alison to A.J., “Take her, I can’t feel my arms.”



Riley laughs, ‘That poor girl looks like she couldn’t weigh no more than a few light hundred pounds.”



Kevin snorted, “Sure, why don’t you carry her down this mile long hallway and tell me if she still feels light.”



A.J. laughs and shifts his arms as he holds onto Alison who for their long journey back to the hidden room where the women are waiting is out cold. It concerned him to know that no matter what, she hasn’t woken up and no real sign of her being well was seen except the small beating of her heart and her short breaths. “You guys, what’s wrong with Ali?”



Riley stops and sighs, “Don’t really know. It could be a variety of things for all I know. That’s why we gotta meet the girls now. They’re waiting for us down the hallway near the beginning where the trap doors are at.” He gazes his brown eyes at the blonde one in the group who is offering to help carry Alison. “Yo, Carter you said you came from down that hallway right?”



Nick didn’t seem to be listening as he talks to A.J. “Carter you listening?” Riley asks.



Kevin flicks Nick at the back of his head, “Hey Riley’s calling you, didn’t you hear him?” He asks inspecting the confused look on Nick’s face. “It looks like you didn’t recognize your own name there for a second.” Kevin states smirking as A.J. chuckles softly to himself.



“I blame that bleach that he’s using, it finally reached his brain.” A.J. says cracking a smile from his joke.



Nick flips his finger at A.J. and eyes Riley, “What is it?”



“Where did you came from? Down this hallway right?” Riley asks pointing down the wide hallway.



Nick nods, “Yeah, a feet down was the medical lab.”



“So I’m guessing you guys found the stuff right?” Kevin asks flicking off small lint that embedded his green tank top.



“Uh, yeah, why?” Nick asks nervously, his blue eyes darted back and forth between Riley and Kevin.



“I was just curious that’s all.” Riley states, his brown eyes big and searching the area around him.



“Oh ok, I guess we’ll head out then right?” Nick states smiling.



“Right.” Riley says following behind A.J. as Kevin trails behind. Riley gazes at Nick hoping to see if everything was ok with him. He just seemed so preoccupied lately and that was bothering Riley.

~*~



Kimberly holds onto the flashlight and crashes into Ana. “Oh sorry, I didn’t see you.”



She hears Ana suck her teeth and mutter sarcastically, “Sure that’s why it’s called the dark and we’re using flashlights.”



“Nice girls, be good. Remember we’re a team. We are gonna break down this window and jump down, it’s only a couple inches down from the ground.” Jamelet’s voice states through the darkness.



Dr. Natalie gazes around the pure blackness of the hallway with her flashlight and sees Rose running down the dark hallway. There were no lights in this particular hallway and the group decided it would be the best form of escape they have. After waiting the group had decided to leave the room and find a way of escape. They figured they can get in contact with the others who weren’t with them through a walkie talkie. After fighting to decide about what the best options there where, Jamelet remembered a way for their escape. This hallway was left deserted and was never fully fixed hence the many large broken pieces of sharp wood that imbedded from the grey tiles and white dirty walls. Only one window stood at the end of the narrow hallway and Jamelet knew this would be the best place to escape since no cameras were place here since the renovation.



“Rose!” Dr. Natalie says surprised and relieved at the same time. “Oh thank goodness you made it here. I thought you were caught or even worse dead.”

Rose smiles and shakes her head, “You know I came back for you guys, I could never forget you.”



At this statement, Ana pretends to gag, “Kill me why don’t ya? I’m sure you felt bad and didn’t have the guts to leave. Either that or you were just afraid of getting caught.”



Summer interrupts, “Shut up both of you! Damn what is your problem? You’ve been pissy since the beginning and I’m just about had it with you two.”



Ana rolls her bluish green eyes, “I’m ever so sorry Miss Summer. I guess I’m cranky, I ain’t eat since last night, that’s all.” She states emphasizing the words Miss Summer slowly.



Summer sighs, “Well good cause I wasn’t gonna break up the fight between you and Rose. I have better things to do.”



At that the group laughs and Howie jumps in. “Hey maybe we can send Rose back to the medical lab and get the needles.”



“Why me? Send blondie over there, he ain’t doing nothing but standing there.” Rose states, tossing her slightly layered blond locks over her shoulders.



“Why don’t you come with me?” Nick replies, his blue eyes glittering in glee as Rose’s mouths drops open.



“Well I just got back so you go by yourself.” Rose states feeling flushed from the presence the man was having on her.



Smoothly Nick replies, “I’ll go, but I’ll be so lonely. I wish I had someone who can keep me company. I mean who will help me out in case something happens? If you don’t go who will?”



“Please go, if I hear anymore of Nick’s slick talk I’ll vomit everything I had from this morning all over you’re pretty little shirt.” Ana states annoyed, tugging roughly on her tight dark blue tank top.



Kimberly giggles, her dark brown eyes glitter, the amber rings twinkling from the moonlight that enters through the one lone window in the hallway. “Looks like someone knows how to bribe people.”



Brian laughs, “Man, he’s been doing it since we first met him, he’s a pro at it.” His bright blue eyes twinkle in glee.



Howie yawns and leans on the dusty window sending up an array of clouded dust up in the air. After coughing and a couple of sneezes, everyone glared at Howie as he innocently responds, “Oops, my back.”



Ana smiles and walks near Howie, “It’s ok, I’ll kindly watch your back anytime.”



Jamelet clears her throat and watches as Nick and Rose laugh as they head out the hallway to get the needles needed to inject the saving solutions. Dr. Natalie pulls out a walkie talkie and tries to get in contact with the remaining three people who were missing. “Raven soldier you there?” She speaks into the walkie talkie as crackling and static responded back. She sighs and shakes her head, “No use, can’t reach them, their someplace where the frequency is really bad.”



“Great, this is perfect. My back is broken, we’re in a dusty dirty hallway away from human contact and we have our lives in danger from psychos running this facility. This is just sweet. And the fun part is we’re still missing people.” Paige mutters as Brian holds onto her immobile body. Her blonde locks tumble, the ends of her hair a glorious orange tinted.



“Smile Paige, we’re about to get out of here.” Brian whispers, smiling at her.



“Ok, Let’s go.” Jamelet states suddenly breaking the silence that just befallen the group.



Summer smiles, “Alright.” Her eyes shines brightly reflecting the gold specks that sheered through the green of her eyes. She ties up her blond locks in a messy bun and along with Howie and Ana push the window. Nothing happened, the window was locked shut somehow.



“Guess we’ll do it the all fashion way then. You guys move away from the window. It’s about to break.” Jamelet states, a naughty grin appearing on her peach complexion. Her light brown eyes glitter in glee as she picks up a conglomerate rough edged rock. The rock was a bit bigger than her palm as she grips it her hands.



“Question, real quick Jamelet. I’m just curious, if you throw that rock won’t the soldiers outside hear it and start shooting at us?” Howie asks as Ana giggles along with Kimberly.



“Actually no, this area is the abandoned part, the soldiers are spread out in the front and side. We’re in the back of this building where no is watching. Since all this is broken and excavated part due for renovation, the noise is the least of our problems.” Summer responds instead, “See, I did research before joining this hellhole.” She states, grinning at Jamelet.



“Ok, so lets get the heck out of here! What are we waiting for?” Brian states. As Ana, Summer, Howie, Kimberly and Jamelet break the glass with their feet.



Summer stares down the ground outside and smiles, the cool breeze touches her face as she leans out the edge of the window smiling. After clearing away all the sharp pieces of the glass, the group files out the window one by one. Summer goes out first, followed by Kimberly, Howie, Paige, Brian, Natalie, Ana and lastly Jamelet. They all step outside, the darkness surrounds them. The only lights were coming from the street poles and lights.



Howie and Brian laugh softly giving each other a high five. “This is it! We’re out of here!” Howie says, the freedom evading his body like possession.



“I can honestly say, I have never been more thrilled to be outside now more than ever.” Brian says as Howie jumps around holding onto a giggling Paige in his arms.



Ana grins, “So now what, should I freeze the soldiers out there?”



“No, not yet. You’re powers are rejuvenating still.” Dr. Natalie states as she gazes her dark brown eyes over the tall institution she had dedicated her life to in work.



“I wanna see this baby burn.” Summer mutters as Nick and Rose jump out the window joining them.



“Well maybe I can make that work.” Nick states, his eyes beginning to glow.



“Stop, not yet! We’re still missing people Nick!” Kimberly states.



“We’ll wait for as long as we can, but if they aren’t here in ten minutes, we don’t have a choice, we’ll have to get out of here without them.” Jamelet states as she gazes at the menacing iron building that stands erected at an incredible height of fifty feet. The white bricked stainless steel building stood out imposing silent fear in each of their hearts as they wait for the remaining members to arrive.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

A/N: Yup, this is the next chapter you’re staring at! Aren’t you excited? Hehe. Read on and enjoy! Don’t forget to leave a review behind! *grins*



“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste~**



**~Chapter Twenty-Six- Mistaken Identity~**



Brian and Howie stand outside the looming building watching Nick and Rose sneak into an opening that seemed like an attic.



“You guys why did you come back?” Dr. Natalie states, eying the blond man suspiciously.



Nick gulps and smiles, “Oh we have go through here. Cause where we came from is locked. Somehow a door in there was locked from the outside, so we couldn’t get in.” He tries gulping yet his heart was hammering. He believes Natalie knew something but assumed she wouldn’t say until the time is right. He snaps out of his thoughts when Rose tugs on his arm.



“Come let’s go! We have about a couple of minutes before we leave this place!” Rose whispers loudly, her blue eyes shining in fear. Nick nods his head and races behind Rose down some stairs that lead back into the building.



“You got eight minutes guys! Hurry!” Jamelet states as Summer paces back and forth frantically. “What? What is it?” Jamelet asks, her dark medium brown locks tumble pass her shoulders and blow softly in the cool breeze.



Summer gazes at Jamelet with concern on her face. “I’m not leaving until Riley, A.J. and Kevin get here. I can’t leave knowing they can be in danger.” Her green eyes clouded with worry as she runs her fingers down her short blonde locks.



Jamelet sighs, “Fine. Natalie will keep trying to contact them but we can’t stand around this area, the soldiers might walk back here if they hear too much noise.” She states as Summer smiles softly mouthing a small “Thank you.”

~*~



A.J. yawns as Riley tries again to get in contact with the others in the other group. Riley sighs and frustrated, throws the walkie talkie down on the grey tiles.



“Oh this is nice. We’re lost and our leader can’t seem to find the way out. In fact this is the way I always dreamed of getting lost: with Kevin, the horny child Nick and a leader without a clue.” A.J. mutters under his breath but loud enough for the others to hear.



Kevin pushes A.J. playfully, “Watch your mouth shorty!” he states, standing over A.J. glaring at him.



“Hey take that back, I ain’t a child!” Nick states grinning silly as Riley laughs.



“Ok, ok guys, look I think I’m getting through with the walkie talkie, shut up and let me listen.” Riley states as he can hear some crackling and voices through the walkie talkie. “Doctor, can you hear me?” He asks waiting impatiently as the other three men lean in closer to hear.



“Yes clearly, where are you?” Natalie’s voice is heard. Kevin laughs as A.J. and Nick give each other a high five and clap.



“Listen I’m back in the room, where are you guys?” Riley asks, his brown eyes scanning the royal blue curtains in front of him as he runs his fingers through his black unruly curls.



“Outside.” She responds back as her group yells happily.



“Outside!? And you’re still alive? How can that be?” Riley asks as he drums his light chocolate fingers on a desk top.



“We headed out the back way, where the renovations will take place. It’s the construction site but it’s the only way out without getting seen.” Natalie’s voice seeped through the walkie talkie.



“Great! Well we’ll see ya in a few minutes then k.” Riley states as he places his pistol into a small pocket in his black cargo pants. “Alrighty guys you heard the doctor, let’s go!” He says staring at three happy men. He races down the hallway taken previously by the first group and leads the way out the building.

~*~



Rose steps into the long hallway where they had walked so many times to find their way out. “If we take this way, the building is already heavy guarded and we’ll be seen.”



“And if we take this way, we’ll get spotted and shot.” Nick states, his blue eyes gloomy. “Let’s go down the fastest way, I don’t have time for this.”



Rose stares at Nick suspiciously as Nick’s voice seemed to have changed. In fact it seemed that Nick was acting very strangely and she knew she couldn’t be the only one noticing the changes. Feeling the sudden nerve to trust her instincts, she realized she couldn’t be safe with this man beside her. Something was telling her that he wasn’t as safe as he looked. “Nick, you know what, how about you go down that hallway and I take the other.” She figured if she could get away from him, she’ll be safe.



“No more splitting up, let’s go down the left side and we’ll get there quick, I think I know the best way.” Nick states, his stormy blue gaze at her.



Rose gulps nervously, “How would you know the best way, you’re lucky you can find your way around here without getting lost.” She jokes, smiling, hoping he’ll play along.



She gazes at his eyes only to see pure hatred imbedded in the clouds of blue. He mutters a loud profanity and grabs her by her blonde locks, “I say you do it my way or you’ll be my shield when we leave the place.”



Rose gulps as the chills in her body run down her body. “Who are you? What the hell do you want from me?” She screams at him, her voice cracking, suddenly feeling terrified.



Nick sighs and knew he cover was blown, “Fine. Don’t worry about who I am, your little blond boyfriend isn’t with me. But if I had the chance I would have blown his boy band brains out.” Damien seethes, his blue eyes glowing in rage.



Rose stands there and knew she was in trouble. She presses her back against the dingy white walls of the hallway and figured if she didn’t run, her death would come closer than she thought. Tugging on her pink flowered peasant top and jean skirt, she looks at the man she thought was helping her out.



Damien pulls out a pistol and is loaded with guns strapped beneath his clothes. He pushes the pistol end at Rose’s forehead and smiles. “Sorry this is as close you’ll ever get to that Nick. But hey to make it up to you, I knew you wanted to know what it’s like to kiss him, well just pretend it’s him.” Damien states as he leans down and kisses her check and makes his way to her mouth. Rose stands there in pure terror as Damien roughly presses his sour lips on her soft lips. She tries pushing him away but he was a lot stronger than he looked. Frustrated and crying out she bites his lower lip hard as he pulls away and slaps her across her face. “You little bit…”



“How dare you!?” She interrupts trying hard to keep her voice down as two armed soldiers pass near by them. “Now I know why no one is coming here. I saw the soldiers looking at us and they did nothing. I knew something was up when they didn’t shoot like they were trained on the spot.” Rose voice quivers as she watches Damien laugh softly.



“Looks like you’re little plan of escaping won’t be happening now will it? I’m sure your so called friends left already. Rose, they don’t care about you, they’ll leave you here and see you dead then to ever save you. Sweetie you should have known no one here is good for trust.” Damien whispers, his short spikes glittering in the dim yellow light.



She couldn’t use her powers yet, it wasn’t refueled yet since the last time and she felt too weak to do anything to this man.



“Actually she does have friends and I would never leave her behind.” A familiar voice says. Damien turns around to see a pistol in his face. “It’s loaded, wanna see?” Nick states to Damien as he fingers the weapon in his hand.



“Kid put the weapon down, you might hurt yourself with it.” Damien whispers playfully, laughing at Nick. Nick gulps and pushes the trigger to hear a pop sound as a bullet shoots out and crashes into Damien’s forehead. Damien stands there, staring eerily at Nick before a small trail of blood leaks from the small bullet hole in the center of his forehead. Damien collapses on the floor dead as Nick drops the gun and shakes in terror. “Oh God, I killed him!, I killed him! No! What was I thinking?” He shouts terrified at his actions.



“It’s ok, thank you! You saved my life. He was gonna kill me if you didn’t do that.” Rose states as relief flooded her system. “Nick it’s gonna be ok, look forget the needles for now, let’s get out.”



Nick bites his lower lip and follows Rose out through a cellar area. Nick stares back to where Damien’s body is lying and Nick feels his mouth drop open. There was no body there. Damien had left. Gulping and feeling an immediate chill and goose bumps arising on his pale complexion, he goes up the steps to join the others outside.

~*~



A.J. and Kevin jump out the window as Riley follows along.



“Wait where is Nick?” Kevin asks looking back up the window.



“He was right behind me, He must have went down the wrong hallway.” Riley states as he sees the other group and smiles.



A.J. turns around in time to see Nick step out of the building on the side where the soldiers are and watches as bullets bombarded his friend’s body.



“NOOOO!!! STOP! NICK!” A.J. screams as Nick collapses dead on the ground, blood spattered all over the place as the crimson liquid leaks out like rushing water, staining the green grass. Riley holds onto A.J. who was ready to run off and try to save his friend but it was too late.



“A.J.! It’s too late! We can’t do anything but save ourselves!” Riley states as he watches the dead corpse of Nick surrounded by soldiers all loaded with weapons.



Tears spring into Brian’s eyes as he witness the act, “Nick, I’m so sorry.” He whispers as his heart breaks in pain.



“Sorry for what? Dude I’m right here, why are you sad?” Nick states, standing next to him with Rose.



Brian shakes his head, “No! You can’t be here, you’re dead! I saw you get shot! Your body is over there!” He points as his voice quivers in confusion and fright.



“No, that’s not me! He was trying to pass off as me!” Nick states, feeling nervous. He knew Damien wasn’t dead when he shot him. It was a blank bullet which he fired and hence didn’t do any effect on Damien. That’s why Damien wasn’t afraid when Nick shot the gun. Now the problem was to prove who he truly is.



He sees Riley rushing over and in pure shock sees Nick standing there. Suddenly an idea rushed into Riley’s head, “You little…” Riley whispers angrily and left the sentence incomplete as he tackles Nick on the ground. Nick screams out in shock and terrified, tries to push a violent Riley off him.



He looks at Rose from the ground, hoping she can help him but she herself was too in shock to say a word. Brian shakes in terror as Howie screams out, “Who is he? He looks like Nick!” Kevin glares at Nick and watches as Riley pulls out a small hand gun and places it on Nick’s temple.



“You thought you were gonna get away. I’m sure Roy put you up to this. Well are you happy? One of them died! Are you happy? You destroyed their lives, I wonder how you’ll sleep that is if I let you live tonight!” Riley’s voice shouts in Nick’s face.



Nick tries talking but Riley clasped his hand around Nick’s neck. Nick was in trouble and Rose was the only one who knows his real identity. He just hopes she can say anything before Riley does the mistake of killing him. Nick stands there as Summer, A.J. with Alison in his arms, Jamelet, Paige, Natalie, Ana, Kimberly, Brian, Howie and Kevin watch what Riley would do next. Nick closes his eyes and did the only thing he can do at that point, he prayed and looks at Brian hoping maybe he can help him, if not then it’s too late for him.

~**~

**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is a terrible thing to waste~**



**~Chapter Twenty Seven- On The Run~**



Roy glares at the TV screen as he races to the large window, showing Damien his partner dead on the ground. “Damn,” He whistles, shaking his head sadly at the dead corpse. “Man, Damien what happened? You fool. You should have came up here instead of leaving through the front. Moron. You forgot you were dressed like that kid. Well, rest buddy. I guess you weren’t man enough to handle this. It’s up to me now.” Roy states, his light brown hands grab the small pistol. “Well baby, it’s time for the plan, all you gotta do is hit them good. Make them scream in pain as they choke on their blood.” He whispers to his small pistol. He puts it away in one of the many different pockets located on his black cargo pants. He walks back to the desk and pushes a tiny red button found hidden on the side of the mahogany desk. Smiling, the red alarms are set off and begin to blink and twirl. The soldiers knew the warning and begin racing out the building armed and ready. Roy looks out the window before leaving his office and realizes Damien wouldn’t have left if the experiments were still indoors. “They’ve escaped!” He mutters angrily as he fixes the bullet proof vest on him. The loud alarms ring in his ears, bringing him to pure ecstasy. Laughing, his brown eyes scan the room as he gathers up more arsenal and heads out the room. Placing the bullets in place, he smiles and heads out the room, closing the thick mahogany door behind him. “They can’t run from the government, I know where they live!” He whispers manically laughing and heads down the hallway stairs to an exit.

~*~



“We don’t have time for this!” Summer screams as she covers her arms from the loud ringing alarms that are now set off.



“The alarms are off! They know!! We can’t be here! Let’s go!” Natalie yells over the loud alarm. Her dark brown hair blows in the wind loosely as she clutches the colorful vials in her white lab pocket. Her light tan complexion glowed in the soft moonlight that shimmered down on them tonight.



Riley stares at Nick on the ground and stands up still pointing the pistol at him. “Say anything and I’ll kill you now Damien!”



Nick cowered on his knees and raises his hands in the air. He tried talking but his voice choked up. He was in pure terror and his voice wasn’t cooperating with him.



Brian looked at him in pity and hatred, “How can you let an innocent live die? How could you?” Brian screamed in rage and backslaps Nick across his left face.



Nick held back tears that sprang in his eyes and shakes his head. His throat felt raw and dry and his voice seemed to have left. That hurt to hear that from his friend.



Riley runs his fingers through his unruly black curls and sighs, “Should we take him with us? We could let the soldiers loose on him to see him scream in pain.”



Nick’s blue eyes raised fear and horror as he chokes out, “Please, stop! It’s me! Don’t hurt me! Please I can prove it to you!”



Riley shakes his head and feeling no pity for the blonde man, he mutters, “We ain’t got no time for his jokes, lets cuff him and take him with us. Maybe he can provide us with some vital info.”



Kevin nods his head and pulls out a pair a handcuffs to put it on Nick’s wrist.



“Hurry, oh God they see us!” Kimberly yells in horror, her dark brown eyes alighted brightly with the amber rings in it. Her dark brown hair fluttered in the cool night, the red highlights toppling over her shoulders.



A.J. looks back to see over ten soldiers spotting and pointing at the group. They start running towards A.J.’s direction. He mutters a low profanity and races off into the woods followed by Brian, Howie with Paige in his arms, Jamelet, Summer, Rose, Kevin holding Nick by the arm with Natalie on the other side and Riley pointing his gun at Nick and holding the comatose Alison in his other arm.



Bullets chatter the night air as it pierces and strikes the trees. Yelling was heard coming from the soldiers as they shoot at the group, bullets gazing over Rose’s and Kimberly head. Shouts of orders were given from the soldiers as guns fired away.



“Watch out!” Jamelet shouts as she grabs Kimberly and pulls her out of the stray bullet’s path. The forest was thick and difficult to get through. Tons of trees surrounded the group as they race though the dark forest. The trees block any light from entering and A.J. stopped short in the run stalling the others.



“What! What is it?” Howie asks in alarm.



“Where’s the exit out of here?” A.J. asks as he turns down another array of trees.



“Dude just go straight!” Nick shouts suddenly as Riley pushes his pistol in Nick’s temple.



“Didn’t I tell you if you spoke you’ll get shot!” Riley growls, fingering the trigger.



Nick stares at Riley, “I can’t believe this, look I can show you, dig in my jean pockets, my wallet should be there!”



Riley smirks, “Oh yeah. Like I’ll fall for that Damien! I ain’t stupid! Now move this is a warning, the next time I’ll shoot!” He growls eyeing the blonde man in front of him.



Nick stares at Riley, “Do you want me to set fire on the building? We’re not that far away, I think I can hit it from here.” His blue eyes beginning to glow a bright blue as he stares at the estranged CAPPA building a few feet away from him.



Riley pulls Nick’s arm suddenly, “Move! Your talking is wasting time!” He states, pulling out a small magnum from his black vest and putting away the pistol in his vest.



Nick gulps nodding his head and runs off following the rest of the group.



“Ana! It’s time! Go!” Jamelet states, giving Ana orders. Ana smiles and laughs as she stands in front of the forest waiting the oncoming soldiers.



A.J. and Summer gaze over the complete darkness they’re surrounded in and crash into Howie.



“It’s too dark, it’s gonna get dangerous if we move further into this forest!” Summer shouts to the group. Her short blonde tresses are tied in a ponytail as her green eyes try to adjust to the darkness.



Riley nods his head, “What do you think would be the best motive? We’re already in the forest . Let’s just go and find the end.”



“How? We can’t see!” Paige states in Howie’s arm.



“I have an idea!” Howie states as he gently places Paige on her feet. “Can you walk alright?”



Paige nods her head, “Yeah, Natalie managed to help my back a lot. I can make it.” Her blonde tresses hung down her shoulders over her black tank top with the drawing a blue dragon on it.



Howie smiles, “K good. Everyone get behind me!”



The group crowds behind Howie, each crashing and stumbling over one other as they gather behind him. Howie’s eyes lit up, shooting out a ray of light from his eyes. Some dry leaves burned as a shot of lightening strikes a tree setting it on fire. The forest alit brightly as the tree’s leaves burned under the tiny flames. Another set of lightening strikes the tree across from it as it lights up as well. The exit was a few feet away as an open deserted highway loomed before them.

~*~



During this time Ana rushes to the front of the forest while about ten armed soldiers came at her. One masked man points his gun and snarling he states, “Get the hell out of my way!”



Ana laughs and bats her bluish green eyes at the man. “Well that’s a mean way of getting people out your way now ain’t it?” She states smiling. Another masked man begins shooting, the bullets gazing her body. Glaring at them, she raises her hands in front for her. The cold mist in her body raises as she blows out with her lips a poof of cold air.



The soldiers murmur and back away knowing full well the power of this experiment. “She’s the ice chick!” One of the masked soldiers states, pointing his rifle at her.



One running solider comes at her and he drops on his knees screaming holding his head in his hands. He was freezing from the inside out as he screams out in pure pain. The other soldiers watch in terror as the man freezing had his abdomen iced and burst open, spilling out the frozen organs onto the green grass. The cold icy red crimson liquid splashes on the grass.



“Oh man!! Did you see that?” One of them shouted, screaming in fear. “What the hell is wrong with her?” he shouted as he started firing at her. Ana laughed as she stretches her hand out, a spray of ice started rising on the soldier’s leg as he tries to shoot at her. She ducks and moves out of the oncoming bullets way as she continues to let the ice climb the man’s leg. The other soldiers scatter in fear and run back to the building while Ana laughs watching the soldier freeze in her ice. She smiles and turns back to go into the forest but notices Nick standing there beside her.



Ana glares at him and brushes past him. “You came too late. I already disperse of them.” She states, watching Nick mesmerize in terror at the results of the two frozen dead solider.



Nick smiles, “I came to finish up, I think you might wanna stick around for this.” His blue eyes glow a bright cloudy blue as he stares at the tall CAPPA institution. Ana sits down cross-legged on the grass besides Nick who stands ready to let the flames out. Suddenly fire shoots out and engulfs the building. Another shot of fire slams on the side of the building slowly burning through the raw metal. Nick continues letting fire shoot out of him until he felt the entire facility was burning peacefully. Few screams were heard a mist the crackling of the fire. He hears giggling coming from Ana. Turning, he looks down at the happy young woman. “What’s so funny?”



Ana smiles, tugging on her tight blue tank top and light blue jeans torn on the knees. “You forgot to bring the marshmallows. I didn’t know we were gonna be camping out.” She states enjoying the sight of the prison that held her from life and society. The building that held her captive for so many years is now turning into melted metal and that brought joy to her.



“Come on, let’s go. The company set out helicopters and more soldiers are loose on the ground. We have to meet up with the others now before we get lost.” Nick states, eyeing the burning building.



“Ashes to ashes.” Ana states walking away with Nick leading the way.



“Dust to dust you little wench!” Roy growled hiding a few feet away from them with some other armed soldiers ready to shoot.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind is a terrible thing to waste~**



**~Chapter Twenty-eight- Running Out of Time~**



Nick and Ana race to the end of the forest alighted brightly from Howie’s electrical lights. The moonlight splashes around them as they push aside the last branches to meet the others out on a deserted road. Many large street poles alighted the road all down the pavement. No cars passed in this area since it was secluded from the public. Nick sighs happily as he sees Brian and the others.



Suddenly Brian raises his pistol at Nick, his arm shaking nervously as he holds the gun. “Damien, we told you not to move.” He says quietly, eyeing Nick from the corner of his eye.



Nick’s blue eyes clouded in fear, “Huh? No, wait. Didn’t you see me burn that building down? Come on, you know I have the fire ability, why are ya bugging?” He states calmly trying his best to not show his pure terror in him.



A.J. shakes his head, “B, put the gun down. It’s Nick, come on. B, listen to me.”



Riley sighs and runs his fingers through his black unruly curls, “He’s right Brian. It’s Nick. Drop that gun. You don’t need it.”



Brian licks his licks nervously, “No! You all saw Nick die, this guy can’t be him!”



Kevin grabs Brian’s arm and snatches the gun away, “Listen Brian, relax. Don’t do this. We have to get out of here, they’re after us.” He whispers, his emerald eyes glittering in fear.



Brian nods his head and looks at Nick curiously. Nick smirked and begins singing his part of “I Want It That Way”.



Brian smiled, “It is you. You always mess up after that line!”



Nick smiles and laughed, “Ha ha, whatever man. Rok, real funny dude.”



Howie smiles and pats Nick on the shoulder, “Hey Riley, are we set with the weapons?’ He ask, his brown eyes glittering in the golden street lights.



Riley nods his head, he checks his arsenal and smiles, “I’m all loaded.” He states, his brown eyes glittering in glee. “Listen guys, knowing Roy, he has soldiers on land and in the air looking for us. We have to get a move on and our best bet would be to stay in the forest, they can’t see us from there and if they shoot it’ll be hard for them to spot us.”



Paige walks softly over to Kevin and points behind her showing an army of soldiers about a mile off. “They’re coming!” She whispers in fright, her blue grey eyes open wide. Her blonde locks blow softly in the breeze as her white complexion glowed golden from the street lights. She passes her hands down her dark blue denims and tugs on her black tank top with a blue dragon on it. Her eyes begin to glow as the yelling of the soldiers come closer to them. Riley stares and starts giving orders to run in the forest.



“Wait!” Brian shouts. “We can’t outrun them. I saw a couple of motorcycles back at the driveway. Send me and A.J. over there.”



Jamelet smiles, “He’s right! It’s not that far away, here take these keys and take Paige and Natalie with you. We’ll need a lot of motorcycles, it’s thirteen of us and the most is two per vehicle.” Her light brown eyes overjoyed. “Wait!” She shouts as Brian and his group head off, “Be careful.”



Brian smiles, “No problem!” and him, Paige, A.J., Kevin and Natalie run off to the burning building.



Summer gulps, “Send them back there to the soldiers and fire! Are you insane?” She shouts at Jamelet, her green eyes blazing in rage. Her short blonde locks blowing in the wind softly over her shoulders, caresses her body illuminating her beauty and anger.



“Calm down Summer!” Jamelet growls, “They can do it, their well equipped with weapons and powers.”



Summer blinks and notices the others staring at them. Riley, Nick, Rose, Kimberly, Ana, Howie and Alison who is still sleeping in Howie’s arms walk into the forest.



“Their leaving us, we should go.” Jamelet whispers.



Summer tired of all the hidden secrets, suddenly grabs Jamelet by the arm. “Tell me the truth Jamelet! Will the Boys get cured? Or is it just another joke for them? Cause I don’t find this enjoyable running in the middle of no where on the verge of getting killed. Will that medicine heal them?!”



Jamelet stares hard at Summer, her light brown eyes penetrating into Summer’s emerald ones. “It’s been researched, obviously it’ll work.”



Somehow that answer didn’t satisfy her and she wanted more. She wanted the truth, the whole story and now was as good as any to get the answer.



Jamelet sighs and runs behind Riley and the others to keep up as Summer narrows her eyes. She didn’t know who to trust anymore. Too many lives are at stake and confusion blurred her thinking. Gazing at the dark heavens above her, she sighs knowing if they can get out of this place that peace will follow and she can live her life normal again. Then again that was maybe just wishful thinking on her behalf, normal is absurd to do after working in CAPPA.



Summer trudges behind Riley as she stares at the soil and dust fluttering in the air with each of the group’s step.



“Ok,” Riley’s voice breaks the silence. “This is the deal. We’ll wait for the others here. Stay alert, I see Roy and some of his soldiers on their way in the helicopter. The soldiers are closer to us than we think so we got be ready for them.” Riley states, taking out of his black cargo pants some lighters and matches.



Rose smiles at Jamelet and sees the colored glass vials in Jamelet’s white lab pocket. “I think they can be ok right?” Rose whispers to her, her blue eyes glittering in the night.



“We’ll see. It hasn’t been fully tested but it should work.” Jamelet responds her eyes staring around the group in the darkness.



Riley pulls out a pistol and a magnum and gets them ready to fire. “They’re here!” He shouts abruptly as he points up in the dark black sky. The loud flapping sound of the helicopters flying overhead catches all their attention.



Kimberly gasps, “Oh man, can they see us?” She whispers in fright, her dark brown eyes twinkling in fear, the amber rings radiating from her.



“No, they can’t. We’re safe for now. The others should be coming shortly.” Riley states as he reaches for a grenade hanging from his belt.



“Let’s hope so.” Ana states as she cuddles next to Howie who gives her a weird look.



“Dude I’m cold, calm down.” Ana states, her bluish green eyes gazing at Howie’s tan face.



Kimberly giggles as the group settles down and sits next to each other waiting for the others to arrive with the vehicles.

~*~



The driveway was about a two feet below from the burning building and they had a limited time before the building will collapse. Kevin stares around the vacant pavement and runs first to the open driveway. Brian stays behind the group guarding the others in case someone appears.



A masked black dressed solider creeps in the darkness ready to shoot at Natalie’s direction when suddenly he feels someone choking the air out of him. The soldier gazes around and struggles from the grip but realizes no one grabbed him. In fact it seemed like some invisible grip held his throat squeezing out the last bit of oxygen left in his weakening body. As he crashes on the ground before taking his last breathe, he sees Brian one of the members of experiment 1B, staring at him in pure hatred.



As Kevin leads the way down the small bumpy hill of the parking lot, Natalie guides them over to about 5 motorcycles parked in the corner.



“Over there you guys. These keys will unlock them, we have to hurry though, the soldiers are all over the place.” Dr. Natalie shouts over the roaring of the one of motor cycles A.J. manages to turn on.



They quickly unlock all five motorcycles and each board one. Before heading off, A.J. shouts to the others over the motor of the motorcycles, “You guys there’s thirteen of us but only five of these babies. How are the other three gonna get on?”



Kevin sighs, “I’m gonna take that truck over there, and we board the motorcycles on it. It’ll be better!” He says as he rushes over to the driver’s side of the truck. No key. He thinks to himself as he stares at the lock on the closed truck door. Staring at the lock, he feels the burning sensation of the small lasers crashing into the truck. He make a small burn in the lock and open the door. Hopping in, he smiles thinking his power did come in for something useful. He boards the creepy black trunk with the letters scrolled CAPPA across the side of the truck. This truck was the same one he and the guys were brought in to CAPPA and what he would believe would have to be hell on earth.



He hears Paige giggling as she hops in the passenger’s side door. “You can’t drive this car without a key you know that right?” Paige asks, her golden locks toppling on her shoulders playfully.



Kevin lets a small laugh, “Actually Paige where there’s a will there’s a way. And I got an idea.” He says smiling, his emerald eyes glittering in the trunk. “A.J. come over here and drive this thing.” He says loudly over to the tattooed man riding a motorcycle up in the back off the truck.



Paige stares at him with her blue grey eyes strangely as she lets the sudden thought of Kevin’s idea sink in. A.J. runs over to the driver’s side concerned. “What, can’t you drive it?” He asks confused, his chocolate eyes stare at Kevin. He failed to conceive the idea that there isn’t a key to turn on the truck.



Kevin hops out as Natalie and Brian pull two more motorcycles up in the back of the truck. A.J. boards the truck and slams the door, “Ok, he expects him to move this thing with my mind?” He asks looking at Paige with a puzzled expression.



Paige smiles, “You can do it, give your powers a try. It’s our only chance.”



A.J. nods and waits for Kevin, Brian and Dr. Natalie to get on the back of the truck with the rest of the motorcycles.



“We’ll have to do with the five motorcycles. There are no other vehicles left here.” Brian shouts, his blue eyes small and squinted against the harsh bright florescent light in the parking lot. The smell of fire lingers in the air as the ceiling of the parking lot begins cracking from under the pressure.



“A.J. Drive!! NOW! The upper level is crashing down!” Kevin screams from the back of the truck.



A.J. feels his heart patter roughly against his chest as he stares at the ignition of the truck. His power has to work, his friends depended on him. Suddenly the roar of the motor comes to existence, giving life to the truck. Happy sighs were heard in the back of truck as they cheered. Paige giggles and pats A.J. on the shoulder. “See I knew you could do it. Just drive now!” Paige states excitedly.



A.J. smiles and places his hands on the wheel, pulling out of the parking lot as bullets pierce the side of truck coming from soldiers running in the lot. A.J. turns his head back for a quick second to make sure Kevin, Brian and Natalie are ok. They were jumping around in joy as the parking lot begins to cave in. A.J. pulls out of the building as the institution comes crashing down, pieces of rumble and metal tumble towards their direction but misses them as A.J. does a sharp turn into the highway where the others are waiting for them nearby in the forest.



As A.J. drives he hears the patter of the bullets coming from the air hitting his side of the truck window. He mutters a low profanity as he drives down the highway.



“They’re above us in helicopters. We gotta reach the others now! I’ll stay here and see if I can get two of the other girls in the truck so the others can fit in the motorcycles.” Paige states, her eyes scanning the forest as they drive pass it.



“Pull up over here, I see them!” She states smiling as one bullet crashes down on her side of the window.



Nick looks up and nudges a sleepy Riley, “They’re here! Come one, let’s go!” He states as he and the others race over to the truck. The sky lights up with helicopters in the air and the sky erupted with the loud piercing of bullets crashing onto the ground.



“This is the deal” A.J. states and continues, “I need two more woman in the truck, the others are taking the motorcycles. Two on each, there’s only five motorcycles.”



Riley smiles, “Nice job Alex, well done boy. Looks like we get to see some freedom after all.” He says proudly and gives him a high five. He runs to the back of the truck and hops on a motorcycle with Natalie on it.



Jamelet runs to the back and boards a motorcycle with Kevin on it. Kimberly boards one with Brian while the comatose Alison is placed in the car with Summer in it. Paige crams in the corner allowing room for Summer to get situated.



Nick runs to one motorcycle and boards it with Rose while the last motorcycle is boarded by Howie with Ana. A.J. sticks his head out the truck window, “When I tell ya it’s good, ride off the truck and head for cover!” The others nod as the truck starts and heads out into the isolated highway where soldiers are surrounding the premises.



A.J. gulps as Summer gives him an encouraging look. “We’ll make it, we didn’t come this far to give up.” Summer whispers giving A.J. a small peck on his tan complexion cheek. He smiles and drives down the highway with a bit more hope and confident.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

A/N: Yup that’s right this is the next chapter you guys are staring back at. Smile! I thought of all of you guys and wanted to write this chapter up for you all to enjoy. Sadly the next chapter is the last chapter for this story. *sighs* I know, I know. You guys liked this story so much but we have to end this eventually. So don’t be sad, you got one more chapter till it’s over! Don’t forget to drop a review and enjoy!



“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is A Terrible thing to waste~**



**~Chapter Twenty-nine- A Fight for Freedom~**



A.J. peers out the truck window to see more than five large helicopters coming in his direction. “Damn, how we gonna escape this?” He mutters softly over the loud pattering of bullets, soldiers running and the flapping of the helicopters.



Summer smiles gently and her green eyes shine in the moonlight, “Don’t worry about this, we’re almost there, just drive a few miles down and we’re out of here!” She states happily, her blond locks toss over her shoulders gently as Paige giggles.



“There’s too many of the soldiers around here!” Paige yelps as a bullet crashes into the front van window. Screaming in fear she fidgets with the handle ready to leap out. Her blond locks are tied in a ponytail, the edges of her hair tinted in orange.



“Paige please calm down, I need you to be ok, your gonna lose control of your powers if you keep it up!” Summer shouts over the rumbling of the truck.



“Too many bullets, get the guys out!” A.J. shouts with panic and concern in his voice. His chocolate eyes glazed in fear as he stares at the side window staring at the ten on motorcycles at the back of the truck.



Paige continues to fiddle with the door handle as Summer pulls Paige’s hand away. “Stop it, you could fall out like that.”



Paige in nervousness flings open the door as she topples out and rolls on the concrete road.



“Paige!” Summer screams out as the trunk continues moving forward. “Stop the truck! Paige fell!”



A.J. shakes his head, “I can’t there’s too many soldiers running on the side of the truck. I stop and we’re all dead!” A.J. shouts as more bullets crash on to the side of the truck. “Tell them to go!”



Summer gulps as she sticks her head out to see Paige standing up surrounded by soldiers.



“Paige!” Rose and Kimberly shout as they see her getting circled by armed masked black dressed soldiers.



Suddenly as the ten looked on, they see the armed soldiers collapse on the floor as a river of water comes shooting out of their mouths.



“What the hell is that?!” Nick shouts as he watches the soldiers die.



“She drowned them!” Kimberly states, her dark brown eyes with amber rings begin to glow, “And I’m about to give them some of my medicine!” She giggles as her dark brown eyes glowed brightly in the night. She turns to face more soldiers this time in army jeeps. The armed soldiers beginning to shoot as Kimberly stares at them.



“I’m going back to get Paige, can you stay here on the back of the truck till I get her back.” Riley states to Dr. Natalie as he backs off the truck. Riley’s light chocolate complexion shines brightly in the streetlights as small drops of his sweat roll down his face.



She nods her head as Riley throws her a small pistol. Her light tan complexion glittered in the night lights. She catches the weapon in her hands as Riley shouts, “Just in case” And drives back to get Paige.

~*~



Kevin shouts “Let’s get off the truck now!” His motorcycle rolls off the back of the truck onto the slick pavement and the others do the same.



Jamelet flings her arms on Kevin’s shoulder as she stares around in fear. Kevin smiles and shouts to Jamelet, “Listen to me, you have to drive this thing, while I stop the soldiers.”



Jamelet shakes her head no rapidly, her light brown eyes glittering in fear, “No way! I can’t drive this thing! I don’t even have a license yet!” Her peach complexion glittered in fear, “You’re kidding me right?!” She shouts over the bumpy road, her dark medium brown locks tumble around her shoulders as the wind presses on them.



“No, now move! We’re switching places.” Kevin shouts, his green eyes sparkling in the moonlight and street lamps. His black spikes blended with the darkness of the night.



Kevin stops the motorcycle and they both switch places, this time Kevin sits with his back against Jamelet so he can see the soldiers coming at them. Kevin looks up at a helicopter and feels the red lasers burning in his eyelids. The lasers shoot out and strike the front of the helicopter causing it to explode in the air. Screaming was heard as the erupting explosion shakes the ground. Jamelet laughs in fear as she tries to steer the vehicle to the best of her ability.

~*~



Ana’s laughter erupts as the group continues driving following A.J. in the truck. She clutches onto Howie as they too switch places, leaving Howie sitting behind her with his back against hers. “Ana, I hope you can drive this thing.” He whispers, his short wavy brown locks blow gently in the wind. Ana giggles as she grips the bars and steers the motorcycle steadily. His tan complexion glowed brightly in the golden street lights.Hois





Ana smiles and turns to face his back, whispering she giggles, “Well if I haven’t failed that driver’s test before hand this would be legal for me now wouldn’t it?”



Howie plastered a frightened look across his face as Ana laughs, her bluish green eyes twinkling in delight as her light blond locks flutter down her broad shoulders. “You’re kidding right?” He asks nervously as she grips the bars and drives the motorcycle down the lane.



Ana nods her head and blows him a kiss, “Baby would I lie to you?”



Howie gulps, “I wouldn’t what to know.” And he smiles at her before staring at the oncoming helicopters that were shooting at them. Bullets crash next to their feet as Howie stares up at the helicopters. Large sparks of electricity shoots out of the helicopter, suddenly one of the helicopters stop in mid air and falls down towards the ground rapidly. Howie laughs as the helicopter crashes on the ground, sending tremors in the pavement.



A.J. sticks his head out the window, laughing in joy as clapping is heard from the others.



“Nice! Way a go D! That was hot!” Summer shouts from out the black truck’s window as the others laugh.

~*~



Riley drives up and grabs Paige in the backseat, “Girl you lucky you got those powers. Are you ok? By the way, I must say nice killing.”



Paige giggles, her blonde locks blowing in the wind. “Thanks, it’s not a big deal really.” She whispers holding onto Riley’s broad shoulders as he pulls away from the lane and races to catch up with the others. His black unruly curls blows gently in the cool breeze.



Paige looks back to see army tanks and jeeps riding up to them. One masked armed soldier points a rifle at Paige’s direction as he shoots. The bullets miss and strike the front wheel of Nick’s motorcycle.

~*~



Nick feels the motorcycle slip his grip as he crashes on the ground, the motorcycle slides away from him as Rose tumbles on the hard pavement. The motorcycle is on its side, the front wheel spinning rapidly.



“Rose! You ok?” Nick shouts over the roaring of the bullets as he lands on his back.



Rose gazes dizzily at him and nods her head as she drags her knees and crawls over to him. A small trail of crimson blood dribbles from her lower lip. “Yeah, I’m just peachy Nicky boy.” She croaks out sarcastically, her voice a bit shaky.



Nick runs his fingers over his blond spikes as the he looks at the rest of group fighting off soldiers from all different areas. His blue eyes blink brightly as he turns to see four army tanks pull up near by him.



“They’re gonna kill us!” Rose stutters in pure horror as fifteen soldiers hop off the tank and walk towards them shooting.



Nick gulps and tells Rose to calm down, staring at the soldiers, he feels his inside burning as a rage of fire blast out of his hand. The fire ball crashes into the army tank and the tank explodes sending a spray of soldiers out of the way.



Rose laughs as the wind picks up immensely. What felt like an invisible storm of hurricane crashes onto the soldiers tearing them apart. Five more soldiers ran towards Nick angrily shooting and missing all the way. Nick’s blue eyes cloud suddenly as sparks of small fire balls land on the ground encircling the soldiers.



One masked soldier cries out, “What the hell is he doing to us?”



“He’s surrounding us with the fire! We’re burning!” Another masked solider cries out as the flames gather in a circle begins to spin around them enveloping them.



The flames begin to eat through the suits of the soldiers as the cries of pain filled screams fill the air.



Rose laughs and claps as the flames die down revealing five scorched burnt bodies. “Wow, was it hot for you as it was for me?” She asks giggling.



Nick wipes his palm across his sweaty forehead and sighs. “It was extremely hot for me!” he smirks in her direction as they board the motorcycle and drive off to catch up with the others.

~*~



Kimberly turns around to see the screaming soldiers burnt and crumble to the ground. She grips onto Brian’s shoulder as Brian whispers to her. “Kim, you drive while I take the back and watch out for us, ok?”



Kimberly nods her head as Brian stops and switches places with her. Seating in the front, she grips the bars and sighs, her dark brown hair glitters in the moonlight reflecting her red highlights from the golden street lamps. Her light tan complexion skin glitters beautifully in the natural light. Brian stares at the running soldiers as Kimberly pulls away in the motorcycle. Brian stares at the soldiers and they collapse dead on the floor. Kimberly turns around to see the masked black attired soldiers gag and fall on the ground dead.



Kimberly shivers at the thought of having such an incredible power and concentrates on the driving. Suddenly an army pulls up in front of Kimberly and starts shooting at them. Brian topples off the motorcycle as a bullet strikes him on his arm. “Brian!”



“Keep driving! I’ll be ok!” He shouts back as some soldiers drop dead when they near him.



Kimberly stops the motorcycle as the ricocheting bullets thunder beside her. A bullet grazes pass her arm, making a small cut. She growls and stares at the army tank as the ground begins to shake beneath the tank. The soldiers crash onto the ground and try to stand up. A large bubble in captures one soldier as he screams loudly. The bubble pops and upon that the soldier begins to physically melt in the black attire. Pieces of melted flesh slide off the bone as the crimson blood boils and bubbles on the ground. The soldier crashes on the ground dead as the others scream and shoot wildly at Kimberly’s direction.



Brian smiles and watches as Kimberly stares hard at the other remaining soldiers. Suddenly the ground where the soldiers are standing on begins to bubble and spread apart, revealing what looked like lava emerging from the ground beneath. The smoldering orange thick lava swallows the soldiers and burns through them entirely. Brian sucked his teeth and backs away from Kimberly. “Wow, I don’t ever what to piss you off!”



Kimberly smiles and giggles, “Lucky I like you. All will be forgiven if you sing to me.”



Brian smiles and passes his pale hands through his sandy blonde hair, “Ok, remind me later. I owe you.”



Kimberly giggles and gives him a thumbs up, “No problem, I’ll remember!” And with that both board the motorcycle making their way to the end of the lane.

~*~



Summer stares at Alison who is still asleep. “Hey did you see that? They’re all gone!” A.J. states suddenly interrupting the silence in the truck.



Summer smiles and nods her head, “Yeah, looks like the soldiers are still coming and I think I see a tank coming up next to us.” She states nervously as a masked soldier pulls out a rifle facing her direction. The point of the rifle breaks the side window when the soldier breaks the window with the gun. “Uh, A.J. there’s, there’s a guy with gun pointing at me!”



A.J. looks and shakes his head, “I got this covered, take the driver’s seat and move over! I’ll take care of this guy.”



Summer climbs over Alison as A.J. slides beneath her. He pushes Alison over next to him, his body against the window as he stares at the rifle facing him. Summer grins and grabs the wheel, pushing her feet on the pedal. She can feel the freedom so close to her. Soon she’ll be out of this place and get away from all the horror.



A.J. stares at the guy and the army tank, he smiles and leans his head out the truck window in the passenger’s side. “Tell me how high you can fly?” Then with that, the army tank rolls over on its side and crashes over the edge of a nearby small cliff. The tank rolls off the cliff and disappears in the darkness. “Hey you guys didn’t tell me how high you flew?” He grumbles playfully as Summer smirks, one eye on A.J. “We’re almost there Summer!”



Summer smiles and winks at him, “Did that hurt to flip that tank over?”



A.J. pouts jokily, “It hurt my head. But I’ll deal I guess.”



Summer smiles as she glances on the side mirror to see the other five motorcycles behind her. She feels her heart patter as her fingers grip the wheel. Just two more steps and they’re over the army line, out of the institution and away from the government. Summer drives over the white painted line and passes the wooden sign that states: “You’re now leaving CAPPA station of Washington D.C.”



A.J. hollers in joy as Summer burst out laughing, full of joy. She can hear the others in the motorcycles pull up next to her cheering and screaming, until out of the shadows, Roy steps out with a grenade in his hands and a whole army of soldiers behind him ready to shoot on command.



“Maybe you shouldn’t count your chickens before they hatch!” Roy states, his brown complexion glittering in the moonlight in his black attire. Roy smiles and stares at the thirteen people. “You guys cause me enough hell. It ends now!” And with that flings a grenade into the trucks side broken window where A.J. is sitting.



Nick sighs and stands dizzily knowing he couldn’t use his powers. He looks around and notices the same thing with all the others in the experiment and shakes his head.



Suddenly a loud scream was heard from Alison as she wakes up. Her straight brown hair topples over her shoulders as her brown eyes open wide in distress. The screams shake the ground, air and everything in it. And everyone stares at her in shock.

~**~



**~TO BE CONTINUED…~**

“Troubling Gifts”



**~A Mind Is A Terrible Thing To Waste~**



**~Chapter Thirty- Walking Away From The Pain~**



Her screams ring out into the still darkness as bullets remain frozen in mid air. She sits up to see A.J. frozen in fear, his big chocolate eyes covered in pure trepidation. He was still just like everyone else who stood frozen in time. Alison gulps and runs her fingers through her medium dark brown hair, which remained in a small bun. She gazes down at her yellow thin strapped shirt and sighs. She rubs her pale snowy fingers over her dark denim covered knees and looks at the frozen scenery before her. Her eyes stop at Roy who was the kidnapper, she remembered his threats and how he was close to shooting and killing her if it weren’t for the minor distractions the experiments were making trying to break free from the institution. She was thankful she woke up from the frightful drug that she had inhaled when one of the soldiers kidnapped her. She feels the goose bumps rising on her arms as she crawls painfully over to the driver’s seat and gets out the truck. She turns back to see a grenade sitting besides A.J. and quickly she grabs it and flings it back to where Roy was standing. The grenade makes a clinking noise as it rolls pass Roy’s feet. She smiles as time resumes and everyone shouts and ducks for cover.



Alison could hear A.J. screaming for help as he panicked in the truck believing the grenade was beside him.



“We’re gonna die, it’s too late!” Kimberly shouts sadly, her dark brown eyes glittering in misery as she and Rose back away from the shooting Roy and soldiers. Jamelet and Ana duck besides the truck avoiding the flying bullets that crash into the ground. Dr. Natalie backs away near Alison as Riley begins shooting back; every once in a while pulling out another loaded pistol. Alison gulps and watches the disarray before her. No one paid mind that she was awake and doing well because of the bullets that set off distractions. Brian runs past Alison ducking for cover until he stops and sees her, a big smile spreads on his face. He joins her and takes cover beside her.



“You’re awake! God you don’t know how happy I am to see you’re ok!” Brian whispers as a bullet swipes pass them, grazing Alison’s shoulder.



“I’m fine, I was drugged that’s all. I guess a lot happen since I was taken.” Her bright eyes glitter in joy, “We’re out of the building and are about to cross the boundary. Over that line and we’ll be ok. Even the government will help us get out of here.”



Suddenly coughing was heard as Nick and Rose creeps up besides them, their backs against the truck as bullets came flying towards their direction.



Summer watches A.J. jump out the truck and tackle her on the ground as a bullet came at her. Her green eyes stare up at him in surprise and she smiles. “Thanks!”



A.J. chuckles, “No problem girl, I got you covered.”



Roy laughs and smiles knowing full well that he won. He turns to see his army loaded with artillery. There was no way the experiments can leave and he would make sure of that. He was determined to follow through with Dr. Sanchez’s plan, even though the man died still there was some form of respect that Roy carried when he remembered how the doctor took him under his wing. His brown eyes twinkle in glee as he holds his firing magnum in his soft brown hands. He laughs and takes a nice cold breath of air in. A small beeping sounded near by him through all the shooting and shouting. His eyes gaze at the dark cement ground to see a blinking grenade centimeters away from his feet. It’s too late now, the grenade has been activated and he’s in its path. He’s swallowed by the loud earth shattering explosion as he feels his lungs take in the last breath of air he’ll ever take in his life. The thunderous sound vibrates through his body as it pulls his limbs away from his living body. The raging fire sprays onto his flesh immediately. The large consuming fire eats away at his skin as the last thing he hears before closing his eyes is rejoicing from the experiments. They won and he was surprised he failed. It was his first time he ever failed and he hated the feeling. And with that he is welcomed into the silent dark void of death that consumes him.



Suddenly as Kevin, Howie and Paige take cover in the back of the truck: a deafening, ringing, exploding sound breaks out in the night. The grenade went off and they all watch as the grenade blows up all the soldiers, taking lives along with it. The soft crackling is heard as the ground shakes softly from the passing explosion. Wisps of smoke and splintered flesh odors rises into the night air as the dead broken bodies of what once was soldiers lie deposited on the ground.



Kevin sighs and steps out of the back of the truck followed by Howie and Paige.



“It’s over.” Howie whispers softly as the soft small flames burn through a burnt cloth of a dead corpse. His short brown locks blow softly in the wind, as his tan complexion glowed in the golden street lights.



Kevin smiles, his emerald eyes reflecting happiness. “We’re free, we can go home now.” Kevin states quickly as he runs his fingers through his black spikes.



A.J. gets up from the ground and helps Summer get on her feet. A.J. smiles and grabs Summer’s hand playfully and they both run to cross the boundary line screaming in joy. “YESSS!! Thank God almighty we’re free at last!” A.J. shouts, jumping in joy.



Summer smiles when she sees Jamelet and Ana walking over to join them over the line.



“We did it!” Ana states, her bluish green eyes open wide in excitement. She smiles as the wind blows gently on her light blonde locks in a braid.



Jamelet gazes down the end of the deserted road to see the remains of what once was the institution of hell. A compound of torture that ended tonight and for that she smiles. Her peach complexion glowed in the golden street lights and she takes a deep breath. “I can’t believe it!”



“I can’t believe I lived through this and still have my sanity.” Responds Nick as he and Rose move away from the truck to walk across the boundary line to join the others.



Rose gazes to see Kimberly smiling and laughing as she leaps over the line. Her dark brown hair seemed to glow tonight with her red highlights shimmering in the essence of the street lights. Kimberly runs her light tan hands over her black halter top and dark blue jeans. Giggling, Kimberly points over to where Brian is at to see a healthy and wide awaken Alison walking towards their direction. Rose smiles, her blond locks flapping in the wind as she rubs her blue eyes with her soft white hands. “Am I seeing things? Is Ali really ok?” Rose states excitedly running to give Alison a huge hug.



Kevin, Howie and Paige all run over the boundary line to embrace Alison with a hug. Then everyone else joined in the hug.



“Oh group hug! How cute!” Natalie states, her straight dark brown hair blows over her light tan face as she licks her dark powder lips. She throws her arms over the large group and laughs as they were all safe from harm. No more evil, no more fear for them. They were ok and she liked that.



Suddenly Nick asks about the vaccinations. Natalie smiles and pulls out of her lab pocket five different colored vials. “I didn’t forget Nick, don’t worry.”



“But we didn’t find a needle for that. How can you inject the medication to us without it?” Questions Nick curiously as Riley smiles and pulls out a small needle from his pocket.



“See, I’m always prepared.” Riley states, his brown eyes glitter in the yellow street light. His light chocolate hands grips a small needle and hands it to Natalie who places the first tube: a blue colored vial on the needle.



Natalie brushes some of brown locks aside as she smiles at Nick, “Well looks like you’ll be first contender Nick.”



Nick gulps as Natalie lifts Nick’s right wrist close to her. She injects the medicine and pierces Nick’s wrist. The blue liquid disappears from the tube as it gets transferred into Nick’s wrist. “There, all done.”



Nick shakes his head in confusion, “That’s it? I can’t start fires anymore?”



Natalie nods her head as she places a purple fluid vial on the needle. “Yup just like that. I mean give it a few hours or so, but your powers will be drained. The rizado liquid will be destroyed in your system. No more crystalline liquid for you Nick.”



Nick smiles and watches as Howie turns his back on Natalie who injects the needle into the back of Howie’s neck. The purple substance drains into his flesh as Howie grimaces in slight pain.



“Sorry, I’m trying to be as gentle as I can.” Dr. Natalie states softly as she pulls the needle away from the man. “Who’s next?”



A.J. gulps and smiles at Summer, “Me, I’ll go. Let’s get this over with.”



Natalie smiles and takes the empty purple vial and places a yellow vial on the needle. “Ok, this one is gonna hurt.”



A.J. takes a deep breath and closes his eyes, he feels Summer grabs his right hand and squeezes it softly for comfort. Natalie injects the needle into the small back of A.J.’s head as A.J. yelps quietly in pain. “Sorry Alex.” Natalie whispers as the yellow substance drains into the skin of A.J.



Natalie takes the needle out and switches it to black colored vial. “Ok, Kevin your turn. You’re ok?” She asks to Kevin who held a concerned look on his face.



Kevin quickly nods and gulps as he reveals his arms to her. Natalie walks over to his left arm and injects Mystil 4 into his arm. Kevin watches as the tube empties out and the black liquid enters his body through the tiny piercing in his arm.



Natalie draws the needle out and switches to the last vial: the clear Nystan 2. She smiles at Brian as he walks over to her.



“Before you do this, are you sure this will work?” Brian asks nervously as Natalie lifts his right hand up near the needle.



“Yeah, you saw it yourself on the computer. This is your way home to a normal life. You do want that don’t you?” Natalie asks quietly at Brian.



He nods his head, “Of course I do. I want to be able to wake up and stare into my wife’s eyes and know it’s ok that I won’t harm her in any way just by looking at her.”



Natalie smiles and injects the needle into his hand, the clear liquid drains into his hand and she pulls away the needle.



“Well do you feel any different?” Ana asks, her bluish green eyes examining all five men before her.



“I don’t know, am I supposed to feel any different?” Nick asks and smiles, winking at Rose.



Kimberly sighs, her dark brown hair blowing in the breeze. “So I guess this is it. I mean you guys are heading back home to be stars again.”



Nick laughs, “You know since I came here I completely forget about the fact that I’m supposedly famous. It’ll be weird to go back to my life after what I experienced here.”



“Same here boy. I have no idea what I’m gonna tell my fiancé about this.” A.J. whispers as rubs the back of his head painfully.



“Tell her what I’m gonna say to my wife, that I bang my head real hard and was in a dream state reality.” Kevin says smirking.



A.J. rolls his eyes and asks Jamelet where the nearest airport is around here. Jamelet explains and points down a long deserted highway.



“I guess it’s time to say bye.” Brian whispers gently. “We have a long way home and a lot of explaining to do.”



Kimberly giggles, “Wait, you promised at the end of all this that you’ll sing to me!”



Brian nods and laughs, “And I never break a promise.” And with that sings a short melody for her. Kimberly smiles as he autographs her hand with a pen Jamelet was carrying.



Riley laughs and waves bye, giving the guys a handshake, “Hey now that I know you guys, I’m gonna buy your music!”



At that statement everyone laughs.



The guys hug the women and thank Alison so much for her rescuing. “You know if it wasn’t for you, I don’t think we would have made it out of here.” Howie states, hugging Alison.



Alison smiles and giggles. “I did only what I thought would help. In all honesty I was just scared and screamed. I didn’t think it would do anything.”



“Well it did and thanks!” A.J. states: smiling. “Hey Summer I won’t forget you. I’ll e-mail you later. I promise.” He states crossing his chest with his fingers.



Summer giggles and waves bye as the five men start walking away from them. With their backs turn they raise their hands and wave bye. Then laughing they all turn back to them and blow a kiss. “Thank you for everything!”



Natalie smiles, “No problem, we were in this together.”



And with this the five men walk away singing all ready and happy to get their life back.



Jamelet smiles and faces Natalie. The other five girls were talking excitedly about what they will do now as Summer watches the men disappear down the road. Riley puts away his guns and checks his watch.



“You didn’t tell them did you?” Jamelet asks Natalie.



Natalie bites her lower lip and shakes her head, “No, I didn’t. I didn’t have the heart to tell them.”



“Didn’t have the heart to tell them what?” Summer asks abruptly.



“Nothing.” Jamelet states calmly.



Summer narrows her eyes, “Nothing sounds a lot more like something. Now tell me.” She grumbles.



Natalie gulps and shakes her head as she nibbles on her lip. “Well see the whole medicine thing was just a hoax. You can’t heal what’s naturally there. There is no cure for them and their not in real danger. Those weren’t the men in the experiment1B. What they have is a gift and they’re ok. We just gave them a placebo. They’ll be fine. Sanchez set this up assuming it was them. But he was wrong.”



“So what you’re telling me is they still have those powers?” Summer asks incredulously.



Jamelet and Natalie both nod their heads and watch as the shadows of the five men disappear down the road out of their sight.



Ana laughs, “Oh yeah, their shows will be quite interesting to see now.”



Riley whistles, “Wow, what a gift. They have talent in more than one way.”



Rose and Kimberly shake their heads and sighs, “Man, I hope the guys won’t get mad when they find out they still have those, how should I say? Troubling gifts.” Rose states.



Paige giggles as they begin their journey down the highway to the same airport, “Well at least we can say we met the Backstreet Boys.”



Jamelet smiles and laughs, “Yeah, you’re right about.”



“See one good thing did come out of this. We’re free and I touched Howie!” Ana squeals. The eight women head over to the airport to get on with their lives as they walk away all laughing.



Riley laughs and pulls out his cell phone, he’s going home and he couldn’t wait.



The five girls smile knowing they can live the way they did before the government entered their lives.



Jamelet and Natalie sigh knowing they couldn’t wait to get back to their families and go home.



Summer smirks and tucks away A.J.’s e-mail address in her pocket. She knows she’ll be using that as soon as she gets home.



**~THE END~**