Chapter 1

Lindsey escapes from the compound, running into a violent and strange man along the way.

I woke with a start, my eyes wide, a cold sweat breaking out over my entire body.  I looked around the small room I was locked in, the white blank walls all too familiar.  Wiping my face, I let out a breathy sigh, collapsing back down onto the squeaking bed, the screechy sound falling upon deaf ears.  How many times can someone have the same nightmare?  I turned over to my side, staring blankly at the room, insanity slowing chipping away at my brain.

The floor was concrete, the walls a rusty metal that used to be white.  The room had no windows, making it more stuffy and small than it already was.  To think this is what I’ve been calling home for the past twelve years was close to being unbelievable.  Why should I be put in such conditions just because I can control water?  

The room was freezing, and the sheets on the bed barely covered my body and were thinner than a sheet of paper.  Once a day if I was lucky I would get a meal, if you can even call it that, served through some small slot in the door that was locked most of the time.  I could have made  a never ending list as to why this place was horrendous, but the kicker was the single fact I haven’t left this building in all the years i’ve been here.  The sky was nothing more than a distant memory.  

I slowly got out of my ‘bed’, a shiver traveling up my spine as my bare feet hit the stone cold floor.  Standing up, I straightened my white nightgown, examining the large and fraying rip on the side before looking up.  There was nothing else to do here except count the days spent and stare at the walls.  How entertaining that was.

I sat down on the floor, pushing aside the goosebumps it caused to form on my legs..  The sound of a light buzzing caused me to look up at the small lightbulb that was swinging on it’s rusted chain.  Strange.  I took in a deep breath, and sure enough I was met with stale, dusty air.  Suddenly the light began to flicker, making me rub my eyes, second guessing my own vision.  

Staring back at the light, I saw it was bright as ever, no sign of any problems with the electricity.  Leaning back on my arms, I began to relax, until a faint flutter made me freeze.  I searched the room for what was causing this persistent noise until my eyes landed on a small moth about the size of my finger circling the light bulb.  My eyes widened as I blinked a few times, thinking this too was an illusion. Nothing living got in or out of the compound unless they wanted it to, and even if a small moth got into the compound, which yes, is fairly easy to imagine, what are the chances that out of all of the rooms in this entire building, it just so happens to enter mine?

Sitting up slowly, I began to stand up and reach towards the small creature, my skin as pale as its white body.  The second my finger was about to touch its powdery wings, a low rumbling noise erupted from the ground. I froze in place, eyes wide from the sudden burst of sound.  The light flickered again as the ground shook, so slow at first I thought I was imagining it, until it suddenly began to increase in power and speed, causing me to stumble over as my hand grasped for the pole of my bunk bed, the rotting metal slicing my hand.

Sure enough the floor cracked as the shaking got so bad that my knees buckled beneath me, the hard floor sending a jolt throughout my frail body.  A sudden bursting noise caused me to yelp as the floor cracked from beneath my own body, making patterns throughout the floor as cold water began to fill the room until it covered my legs.  Hopping onto the bed to get out of the water, I grabbed onto my thin pillow and pulled it to my chest.  Outside my door there were loud shouts and screams, gunfire blazing.  All I could think was, ‘What was happening?’

A rebellion seemed like the most probable answer to my mind then, but the thought of actually being able to escape our cells caused me to brush off the idea.  The sound of people running down the hall caused me to suddenly sit up.  The ground’s shaking was less severe, allowing me to stumble over to the door and press my ear to it.

“I think that’s all of them.” A voice said.

“Are you sure?” Another voice questioned, this one deeper than the first.

“Sure as I’ll ever be.” They sighed as I heard them move and run down the hall and out of the building.

“Wait!” I shouted, my voice no louder than a crackly airy whine from not using it in so long.  Gritting my teeth I banged on the door, my hands curled in tight fists.  I suddenly quit throwing a fit as I felt the door get warm.  Maybe I had imagined this too.  Slowly I put both of my hands on the surface of the metal, and sure enough it was warm to the touch, and progressively getting warmer, and with it the room.  I quickly pulled away from the door as it began to burn my hands, the room making me sweat.  The water itself was getting to the point it was like a lukewarm bath.  “No...no...no, no, no!” I muttered as smoke began to fill the room from the cracks in the wall.  

All I could do was watch as the black mass began to fill my room and stalk towards me like darkness itself.  I got onto the ground so the water now touched my chest and banged on the door.  The smoke got lower and lower until it enveloped me in its warm embrace and filled my lungs, causing me to cough and clutch my stomach, the soot burning my nose and throat.  Flames squirmed their way in through the cracks, the bright red and orange fire illuminating the cell in a warm light.  Collapsing further into the water I looked around desperately.  Is this how I die?  Seventeen years old in a small room burnt to a crisp with water right beneath my fingertips?

I put my hand to the water and focused, imagining the clear liquid rising.  I continued to do so until I was glaring at the water and my hand shook, a headache threatening to form.  Just as I was about to give up and accept my fate, the water moved.  It continued to do so at a very small rate, so little you could barely notice, but as hope washed over me the water began to rise faster as I, too, rose up with it until it was around my waist.  The fire in the room got consumed by the water as it let out a hiss before going out, sending more grey smoke out to mix with the preexisting black.  

I quickly ducked under the water and paused at the feeling of it engulfing my form completely.  The new pressure that surrounded me was oddly comforting, and without effort or thinking I swam swiftly to the door which was partially melted from the flames.  Wedging my fingers into the gaps on either side of the door, I began to pull as hard as I could, putting my feet on the wall for leverage.  No avail.  Panic ran through me as my lungs ran out of air and were begging for breath.  I clawed at my throat, knowing the air above was as good as nothing.  Without thinking I sucked in the liquid, and was ready to hack my lungs out when I realized nothing happened.  If anything it was refreshing.  I quickly snapped out of my confusion to continue pulling on the door, my nails breaking from the pressure as small amounts of blood filled the water.  

With a burst the door suddenly let out a screech and began to fall forwards, causing me to quickly kick back away from the door before it crushed me.  This was it.  My chance for freedom.  Now all I had to do is get out of the compound, a lot easier said than done.

Swimming out of the room, I poked my head out of the surface to see where I was, breathing air in during the process, irritating my throat more.  Ignoring the pain I began to head to the exit, the air locked doors shut.  They had to be unlocked, how else would everyone else have gotten out?

I used all of my strength to pull myself to the door before I focused on the two large metal slabs. I raised my hands slowly, forcing the water to move forward, carrying my body with it.   It began to build up over the doors, pushing forwards.  A loud screech filled the air and the doors cracked open, the water rushing out from beneath me and spitting me out onto the pavement outside.  

I rolled myself over to stare at the sky.  The pain that rushed through my body was nothing compared to the happiness that built up inside of me as I stared at the stars above, the fresh air tingling my lungs as it rolled through me like a tidal wave.  A laugh escaped my lips, cracking them as blood trickled down my chin.  It hurt, but I was free.   Free.  I could now know that I wouldn’t be stuck in a claustrophobic room until I die.  

I was about to get up when a rough and large hand grabbed me by the collar of my dress and lifted me up with ease, turning me to face them.  I hung limply and let him throw me around, knowing already from experience that I would be too weak to do much damage.  When I was finally able to see his face I saw that it was a man in a leather jacket that was torn to shreds and burnt, not an officer, but not a prisoner neither.

He was tall, maybe six foot?  Now that I had seen him I began to wonder how I didn’t know he was behind me in the first place, his presence was a large one.  His brown eyes were blank and emotionless, but you could see the faint twitch in his jaw from him clenching it shut.  He examined me and I thought he was going to set me down when his hand on my dress heated up and began to burn my flesh, a gasp escaping my lips as I struggled against the iron grip.  A Deviant.  

“You.” He growled, his grip tightening.  “What on Earth were you thinking?  Putting on a stupid show like that?”  He spat as I continued to look at him, eyes wide.  His men looked at him before slowly backing away from the two of us, as if this was a regular event.  They were a lot of them, every one of them wearing dark leather outfits instead of the thin nightgown the prisoners were stuck wearing, similar to my attacker.  “You've given away our location to every single compound out there, by sending gray smoke in the air, which, sorry to shock you, is a bit more obvious than black smoke at night.  Not to mention the entire city got hit by a random flood.”  He said as he dropped me, my weak legs threatening to buckle from under me.  His voice was flat and gravelly, scratching against my skull.

I ignored the unpleasant feeling, and shoved it to the side.  I already knew I was in in a bad situation,  I just needed to figure out how to get out of it.

“You nearly killed me.” I stated, keeping my sentence short to not strain by voice.  

“Kill you?  We saved you.” He said, anger and disbelief in his voice as I continued to stare at him, noticing the pair of scars on his face and a deep wound on his neck.  Great, high pain tolerance too?  

“Well you need to work on your first impressions then.  Setting fire to a building with no warning and then choking someone doesn’t exactly scream liberation to me.”  I said, the words automatically leaving my mouth without a thought.  I regretted saying them as the man’s eyes narrowed.  I waited for just a second for him to let his guard down.  It didn’t happen.  Instead he lunged to grab my wrist with my number tattooed on it causing me to stumble backwards, barely missing his hand.

I didn’t waste a second and ran as fast as possible into the surrounding woods and shrubbery, ignoring the feeling of sharp rocks and twigs cutting open my feet, pushing branches out of my way as I went downhill.