Chapter 3 These Days

Leaving the past behind, Austin lives each day as it comes, not expecting much from the future

I wake up and look in the mirror. My long brown hair looks greasy and uninviting, not much different than the day before, week before, maybe even a month. I can't remember the last time I found a house with running water. I look towards the window. The rain from the day before had stopped. My flames didn't like being out in the rain. Now that i was closer to my full strength i decide to leave this town and go to the next. It had been a while since i had seen anyone from my group, and I should probably get back to headquarters. Hopefully the danger had returned to their home as well. 

I snap my fingers and lit a fire. I have no reason for doing this besides that it makes me feel safe. It helps me remember the old days when I could see Mom and Dad every day and not every couple of months. Of the days where I would actually want to see my brother or, being back in my cabin at the base only a few doors down from Tori. I hope she made it back safely. What would I do if something happened to her? But then i realize, nothing. I would do nothing, and this couldn't affect me. I was a warrior now, and I didn't have time for silly emotions like affection. 

I look at my watch and clicked the center button. My home screen hologram pops up. The new ILife 2207GS is the nicest thing I own. It has a red ring in the center and is black on the outsides. The center of it looks like a camera and when you touch it the hologram appears. From there you can choose all sorts of things like send text messages or make calls and even play games. I haven't had time to play any in years. The things were made for keeping in touch with others but ever since the government betrayed the people of our nation, they monitor the ILife's from the giant towers all around the world now. It seems like they put one up in almost every major city. Most of them work at great distances but the rule is, if you can't see a tower from 100 feet above sea level then they can't find your ILife. Since i can see one about 800 yards to my left, i'm not going to take any chances. I will just have to wait until I return to headquarters to see if Tori made it home alright.

I rummage through the drawers of the abandoned house i had slept in for the past couple nights. It used to make me sad, seeing left over pictures and other items from the family who used to live here but these days my war scarred brain just dismissed it. I fine a nice brown shirt that isn't too tarnished by dirt and pull it over my head. There is black marking on it that seems to be a pattern on the shirt. I have learned to be less picky of the free clothes i find. Either way the shirt might turn to ash by the time I'm back. I open the door and look out. I can't decided if I should fly or just walk. If I walk it will take hours but, if I fly I could be there in no time. It would probably be smart to walk. No, I'm too lazy I'm flying. Everyone should have went back to their bases by now, I had waited three days. 

I walk out and engulf my hands in flames. I point them down at the ground just like always and force the heat down my arms and into my palms. The force lifts me up a couple feet in there air. "Now time for my feet." I think to myself. I force the heat down my legs and into my feet. My shoes burst into flames. "Goddamnit thats the third pair this week!" I say out loud and realize that I'm yelling to myself "I need to talk to Otto about these." I think instead of say out loud. Otto was our artifacts specialist. He could create anything that could withstand a persons ability. When I first met him he gave me a whip which i could force heat into and catch on fire. Most of his stuff was amazing besides his "Fire-proof' shoes. 

I look up into the sky and blast off, going about 80 miles per hour. There was no reason to go too fast and waste all my Qi. Qi is essential to any Special. Basically it/s what energizes the user. The more Qi they have in their system the longer they can use their ability or the more powerful it can be. Most wielders know how to absorb Qi from the universe around them. Some abilities, mine is an example of this, can collect more Qi depending on the area around them. When the sun is out and the temperature is high I can absorb much more Qi than the average wielder around me. This also has the opposite of fact. Say someone could control water, then they would have a much harder time absorbing Qi while the temperature was high. People train in absorbing Qi. It takes practice to take in a lot at a time. If your body is not used to the amount of Qi you take in then you could pass out. It is just like a muscle, it needs to be worked out and not over used.  

I always think to myself when i fly. I like feeling the breeze around me. I feel so free, like the war that had drastically changed my life didn't exist. Instead of doing whatever my commander wishes of me i could have asked Tori out, we could have loved each other but now its only an unlikely wish. Why did it always come back to her? I can't be attached. I'm a war machine! I can't have feelings! Sometimes I think that maybe she's the reason why i keep going. She's the reason I'm able to stay sane in such awful times. 

A large flash goes off right in front of me, about 20 feet ahead. I move my right wrist away from my body and i quickly turn to my left. I knew flying wasn't a good idea. Now I'm spotted. Lets just hope there are not that many of them. I also need to remember that Headquarters is South. Where am i now? i went to the left so I'm heading east. I have to keep my mind straight or I'll never make it home. 

Another flash goes off very close to me. Instead of turning i just extinguish my flames and fall down. I get a look at the large lighting blade following me down to the ground. Hopefully I'm at least 5000 feet up. This is a strong lighting strike that came from the clouds above me. I'm not really sure if this Special has the ability to control the weather or just electrical powers. If he could make it rain on me i was done for. Right before i could finish my though another flash came and he had his hand around my neck.

 "You're unauthorized to be in this area. Why did you travel so far away from the nest? Rebel bird scum." I couldn't answer him because his hand was crushing my throat. It's not like i could have came up with a good come back anyways. If i live i will probably come up with some half a*s comment back in my cabin that I would have wished i could have said to him now. Instead i burst into flames. My entire body slowly lights up and then boom, I'm completely engulfed with flames. "AHHH YOU BURN MY HAND! Thats it rebel I'll kill you with this one shot!"

I stand in the air, my feet still on fire looking at him, getting ready for his next move. I realize that to him i must look pretty silly because now I'm only wearing my fire proof boxers, since i had just caught my entire body on fire. 

"Let's see what you got" I say with a smirk. I turn off my fire and drop down about a hundred feet and then light up again heading straight to the south. Now I'm not concerned about how much Qi I'm using up. I'll hit 1000 miles per hour if I can. I look over my shoulder and see him slowly gaining on me. He shoots electrical ropes out of his hands that attach to the stormy clouds above him. Surprisingly he does this fairly quickly. I point one of my hands towards him and shoot a fireball in his direction. It misses him and puts a clean hole in the cloud behind him. 

"That's it!" i think to myself. The plan is a little wild but, i didn't have enough Qi to fight this guy forever or the time to absorb more Qi. I surround myself with flames and blast them in all directions. The clouds above me completely disappear. He shoots his electrical strand up and it doesn't catch with anything. It doesn't make a connection, it just goes right back to his hands. I hear him snap and try and get another electrical rope out but it's no use. He starts to fall down to him imminent death. I watch as he falls straight down. The human inside of me almost feels bad for him but, the warrior inside of me realizes that it was necessary for my survival. Maybe in another life, a life without an untrustworthy government, we could have been friends.

I realize that he must have been the only one around, or else I would have been attacked again. I bring up the GPS on my ILife and look for Headquarters. Its about 30 miles to my left. I have moved quite a distance fighting the electric bender. My hands engulf in flames and i turn and go as fast as i can forward. After this long day i just want to get home. 

I land after about fifteen minutes and walk towards the gate. "Hey Austin glad you made it back! It's sad that so many people didn't return after this last mission" Mike said to me. He was the gate guard. He made sure that the governments agents never saw our head quarters. He had the power to turn himself and other objects around him invisible to the naked eye. He was a young man about 23 and had short black hair. Normally it was buzzed but he had let it grow out recently. I should probably get my hair trimmed too. It feels good to be back at base. 

"Yeah I'm learning to deal with the deaths of my comrades one at a time. It's hard when there are 20 at a time." I say looking down at the ground. "Help me out?" i look up at him and he works his magic. The entire base appears out of no where. I walk in the front door and walk down the halls, waving and starting random chit chat with whoever passes me in the hall ways. Not much has changed since the last time i was here. I have finally reached my cabin when i heard that voice, that perfect voice.

"Well look who's returned" Tori said to me. She sounded cruel but i knew she was kidding. I walk up to her and give her a hug. i look down at her beautiful blue eyes, the only thing that seems to never change since the war. 

"Its not safe here." I told her "I fought a government special about 30 miles from here." 

"Well there's a base about 50 miles to the west, we can move there in the morning." She said with a half smile on her face. "For now you should get some rest. Well move at dawn." Her face gets close to mine and she kisses me on the cheek. It feels warm and comforting all at the same time. I know why i love her, because she was safe. She could defend me from anything. I wish i can hold her all night long but instead, I go to my cabin and laid down in my bed. My mind drifts into slumber as I try to comprehend the thought of moving again. 

Author's Note

please read the other two chapters before this one! every time i get a review on a chapter i try to write another!

Reviews

[K.G]

hmmm, be nice to have an indication of how many years go by, oh an first thought when he turned into the human torch was like flame on!!!! XD, skips are good, but try to do it cleanly if u can, remember to pay attention to details that you do, and dont be afraid of adding details!!!!!!! :3 i think thats it . . .i think. . .

[K.G]

oh an do some research to see if its possible to do a lightning like spiderman XD an just nature research in general(example heat+water=humidity=if temputures are just right lighning storms XD)

[Alex]

haha yeah i kinda just added that for the hell of it i should look up more stuff tho and thanks! ill make sure to keep that in mind

[K.G]

hahah allright :3 and your wellcoem XD

[K.G]

oh but u can allways ,make it up and make is seem possible, its just my opinion to make it sound more realistic u know XD

[Calibaster]

I snap my fingers and LIGHT a fire. not lit. you do need to work on you're writing, but your organization is pretty good. just a few grammar errors, and ya' know, other stuff like that. but keep up the good work.

[Alex]

thank you! and yes i know i have a lot of grammatical errors such as that fire reference. i go back at random times and fix some things but I'm still bad at spotting them but i try and fix them when i see them! thanks tho!

[mandy]

kent and kg are giving you good advice,,,,i notice the same things they do.....jump to a new time and we have no indication of what happened in between,

[Alex]

yeah its just because he grew up really fast. someone mentions that in another comment

[Shep]

I found it fast paced and very good. I didn' t find anything wrong it seems he grew up fast so I am trying to figure out what the war is all about.. but so far I am enjoying a good read. Nicely done.

[Kent Smotherman]

The start of this chapter is quite a jump from the end of the second. That's not necessarily a problem for a chapter break, but I was confused for those first few lines since this was a very big jump.

Your strength is when you're writing a continuous scene. Just work on your transitions more.

[Alex]

ok thank you!

[Kadessa (Kaddy)]

wow i am loving it. a really good consept you have going.

[Alex]

Thank you! :)