Chapter 3: Contagioness

Contagioness is taking a test for a promotion!

Contagioness

                “Blaine!” I called with a tinge of high pitched fear. The foliage around me was a plethora of bushes, sequoias, and deciduous trees. The trees faded into the dark, dry air and my only company was an orchestra of crickets and the breezy rustle of leaves.

                “Blaine! Where are you? I’m here to rescue you!” A slight sob choked my throat. My powers were of no use here. In this forest I was merely a girl looking for her lost boyfriend. Why'd he have to get lost on that camping trip? And his friends didn't even try hard to look for him!

                Pain shredded my leg from the inside as I tumbled to the ground.

                “Shhhii- taki mushrooms!” I cursed, turning on my back to hold my leg to my chest. My knee rested against my chin. I felt my now wet calf and discovered I had a rather large cut about the length of my thumb. It didn’t seem deep or too bloody. Feeling as though this night was progressively getting worse, I stood and shook dirt from my clothes and curly, tangled blond hair.

                A light bobbed in the distance, turning this way and that and I heard a faint, “Blaine!” Sunny D had also been given this mission. It was meant to be a contest between him and me. If I found Blaine first, I would be considered for specialization as a hero. If Sunny D found him first - well, he had already been promoted about as much as he could for the moment, but he was not the type to take competitions lightly. His reward would be bragging rights, and I knew I could count on him using them to their full potential. It was hard to believe we had once been friends.

                I scolded myself for thinking about promotions and bragging rights at a time like this. My poor boyfriend was out there, alone and helpless… sort of. I mean, he was a grown man. But there were bears and poisonous berries and Blaine had neither super powers nor knowledge of what is safe to eat.

                “Blaine!” I called again, my concern growing by the second.

                I looked at Sunny D’s distant yet bright glow. This was not fair; he had light and I didn’t. Realizing there were many dry sticks lying about I thought I’d go native and make fire with friction to compete with him. I grabbed a larger stick, maybe five inches in diameter, and a smaller one. Placing the larger one in between my feet after sitting, I proceeded to put one end of the smaller stick against the larger one and held the other end in between my hands, rubbing back and forth and twirling the stick.

                Smoke seemed to drift up off the point where the two sticks met but nothing caught on fire. Noting the glow behind me and the sound of leaves and twigs cracking underfoot, I knew Sunny D was approaching me.

                “Having a little trouble, Contagioness? Wow, that’s sad. Here, allow me to help you,” he said, grabbing the sticks I was working on and concentrating his power in his hands.

                “Hey, this is my test! I’ll not have you get me failed by ‘helping’ me,” I stated jerking the sticks back toward me just as they caught on fire. “Oh snap!” I cried, flinging the stick away from me and into the dry underbrush. California doesn’t really get a lot of rain.

                “What the heck is wrong with you! This isn’t just about the test, it’s about finding your boyfriend! Don’t look a gift horse in its mouth!” Sunny D glowed brighter.

                “I wouldn’t, except weren’t the Trojans defeated by their gift horse? And oh my God, look!” I pointed to where the sticks had landed. The underbrush was completely on fire and spreading. “Put it out! You’re my senior officer; you’re supposed to regulate this mission!”

                “I start fires, I don’t put them out! You’re the one who flung it into the underbrush so you do it!” His voice was rising in pitch.

                “I’m going to call the cover up squad. Squidink is on it and should be able to take care of this,” I said while pulling out my phone.

                “You do that, now we need to run!” He grabbed my arm and yanked me away, running in a direction perpendicular to the fire.

I managed to successfully contact Squidink and he was to be here as soon as possible with his teammates. As much as we got along, I could tell that this time I was really testing the limits on our friendship. He loves nature and I just caught it on fire.

A deer bounded past us and I hoped Blaine was escaping as nicely as the deer. I could feel the heat from the fire against my back and knew it was a definite possibility we wouldn’t make it out. Tripping and stumbling, Sunny and I progressed through the forest but every time we glanced back the fire seemed to be closer, bigger, hotter. My eyes were watering and nose running, but I didn’t realize I was crying until the sob forced its way out of my chest. I blamed the smoke.

If I never saw Blaine again from either one of us dying it would be unbearable. I remembered my last memory of him. It had been a lovely day for a picnic.

We were sitting atop a blanket in the city park, staring into each other’s eyes while taking bites from our sandwiches. An idea had occurred to me, stemming from my experimentation on animals.

“Hey, do you want to see my newest virus? Perfectly harmless, I assure you,” I asked, eying him hopefully. He was never really okay with my experiments, especially when I’d demonstrated on a rabbit the one that makes you laugh so hard you suffocate. That even curdled my stomach. I’d never known rabbits could scream. We almost didn’t make it out of the resulting fight.

“I guess it would be okay, as long as the animal isn’t harmed,” he confirmed.

“Don’t worry, don’t worry, it’ll be fine,” I reassured him before turning my gaze to a nearby tree. As per usual when I was concentrating on using my powers, a grid appeared in my mind’s eye. “Karflooza to K3!” I ordered and watched as an owl that had previously been sleeping half fell out of the tree, flapping its wings. It jerked and twitched on the ground before hooting Beethoven’s Fifth in perfect pitch and rhythm.

“I’ll admit that that’s pretty cool, Nessa. But it seems a little out of sorts, is it okay?” Blaine asked, eying the bird as it struggled to regain its balance and fly away.

“It’s fine, fine, don’t worry about it! It’ll just be a little unsteady for a few moments.” I gazed at Blaine, he gazed back at me…

The fire was really close now and my voice was starting to give out from calling Blaine’s name. Somewhere along the way, Sunny and I had been separated. I’d tripped and rolled down a slight hill to the left while Sunny kept running, so I just got up and ran in the direction I’d been aimed.

The heat seemed to fade and I felt a sudden coolness wash over my skin, soaking my clothes and washing my tears and snot away. Squidink had arrived, carried in the arms of Cherub, the League’s busty beauty, as they flew through the air. He dropped down beside me, frowning as water seeped from his pores into a large mass he used to put out the fire near us. He started to jog, spreading the water thinner and thinner, forcing it to remain liquid and not steam, and smothered the fire as far as he could reach.

In a few minutes the fire was out. Squidink let the water go and it steamed up into the trees. Looking at the destruction caused I felt- Oh! I saw Sunny’s glow and despite my aching muscles I ran toward it. He might’ve come across Blaine at some point.

“Sunny! Did you find Blaine anywhere?” I yelled, hoping he was alright. Upon my approach he turned around and I saw him carrying something fireman style. “Blaine! Is that Blaine? It has to be him!”

“Yes, Nessa, it’s Blaine,” he said, lowering my boyfriend to the ground. “Don’t worry, he’ll be fine. He passed out from a combination of smoke and running into a tree.”

“Oh my poor Blaine,” I sighed, stroking his hair.

“Nessa,” a stern voice started. I looked up to see Squidink glaring down at me. “You’ve failed this mission. Not only was it Sunny D who found Blaine, but you caught the forest on fire! When we get back, it’s the isolation room for you!”

“Hey, that’s not fair, Sunny D has equal blame in this! He started the fire in the first place!” I glared at Sunny.

“Fine, Sunny, you’re in isolation too and don’t even protest!”

Sunny skulked the whole way home.

Author's Note

Any review is a great review! So I'm not really sure about copyright laws, but Sunny D's name belongs to the company that makes Sunny D.

Reviews

[StarNinja]

This was a pretty good chapter. Not much to say except that the transition from present scene to memory scene was a bit wonky which made it seem forced. Other than that this one was pretty solid. I do have one major gripe actually. Sunny D? Is that really his super hero name? Isn't there, like, copyright laws you have to worry about there? Also, what is Blaine even doing out there in the woods? Did he volunteer to be the prize for this mission? Did he just get lost on his own and S.H.O.V.E.L. assigned the mission to see what Nessa was capable of? I'm confused.........

[SomeTypeOfArtist]

I just read the last three chapters, and they're very good! For one thing, your grammar and punctuation are almost perfect, you should definitely be proud of that! You also have a great voice in the narration. It's witty, light, and flows VERY nicely. I also love how you change the perspective of the narrator in each chapter. My only real issue is that it's a little confusing to keep track of the characters; we still don't really know who they are and what exactly they're doing. Subtly is really nice, and you do it well, but don't be afraid to give a tiny bit more of explanation, kind of like how you did in the middle of the second chapter. I'm really looking forward to reading future chapters!

[Tamelia Jade]

So good, as always. So amazingly imaginative and descriptive. I love the fact that the superpowers aren't normal superpowers and you've made them so unique. I also like the penalty aspect you sort of have going on, it makes it really interesting. I love superpower stories and yours is really different and very captivating. So, keep up the good work :) Can't wait for the rest!