The Clinic

Max sat in his cell thinking. His cell was simply a metallic cube in which he lived. A toilet stood in one corner, and a bed in another. Several toys were strewn across the floor. A small TV sat on a table in on corner. Max sat on a chair and was leaning it against a wall. Opposite him was a door, with no handle. A small window in it allowed the guards to check on him ever so often. Max had brown hair and was 13 years old. He wore a white pajama-like robe. He had lived his whole life in this small cramped cube and he wanted out. He knew that he was in a government clinic for “gifted” children in the middle of nowhere.

Max was “gifted”. Since birth he had been a telepathic. He could speak in other people’s minds and he could usually read their minds as well. Hence his nickname, “Mental Max”. No one had actually told him this, but the guards the patrolled his cell had named him thus. And Max had read their minds. He quite liked his name. For 10 years he had plotted his escape, at first as a joke, but as he grew older more and more seriously. Yet he thought it impossible. His power was useful, but it wasn’t much help when trying to break through a steel door. But now he had a ray of hope. He had read the minds of the guards, and it seemed that another child like him had been held in the clinic. A child called Jessie. Jessie had escaped only a day before from the clinic using his telekinetic powers.

Max wished that he had some kind of useful power that he could use to escape, like the heroes in the comic books that he had in his cell. Max also knew that there were at least two other children in the clinic. The guards had not known what their gifts were, all they knew was that the children were special. Max also knew that if he tried to escape, he would attempt to free the other children, whom he thought of as “gifted ones”. Yet he still hadn’t thought of a plan to escape. He was deep in thought when suddenly, he felt something new. His gift allowed him to feel the presence of anyone within a radius of roughly 20 meters. He knew the presences of the two guards, Bill and Jerry, and some of the scientists that occasionally ran test upon him. But a new presence had entered his psychic field. One that he had never encountered before. One that was wholly different from the guards of even the scientists. The presence of a child.

Timmy whimpered. Two guards were dragging him down a hallway in a strange place. Timmy had a blindfold around his eyes. The last thing he had remembered was going to sleep in his house. He had awoken several hours later in the back of a van wearing the white robe he now wore. He had assumed it was a bad dream and had fallen asleep once more. He had awoken only moments before. These strange men had kidnapped him! The two guards stood before a metal door and one entered a code into a keyboard. The door opened. He was shoved inside. One of the guards said “Don’t try escaping. The walls are 20 meters thick and you would only get stuck.” and then the door was slammed shut.

Timmy ripped off his blindfold and looked around and saw that the cube that was his room only contained a bed, a chair and a toilet. He started crying as he sat on the bed. His life had been fine until a month ago, on his seventh birthday, he had developed a special gift. He was able to move from one place to another, providing he could see this place, in an instant. His gift was known as teleportation. He could, in the blink of an eye, disappear and appear wherever he wanted. Well, he did have a limit. It had a radius of about 1 kilometer. He could suddenly appear anywhere in a radius of kilometer, providing he could see where he was going. If he couldn’t see, there was a big chance that he would appear within a wall or a rock. This wasn’t a risk he could take. He did not know what would happened if he appeared inside something, and he did not want to know either. He had, at first, assumed that his gift wasn’t unique, it was just something he was good at, and others weren’t. So he showed his parents. Now he was all alone in a cold metal cube. The guards had told him that he was in a room with 20 meter thick walls. That would mean that escaping would require extreme guesswork. And Timmy was afraid. Very, very afraid.

Suddenly a voice sounded in his mind. “Don’t be afraid.” Timmy shouted out loud and said “Who’s there?” He looked around fearfully, and checked under the bed. There was no one in this room. The voice came again. “Let me introduce myself. I am Max. I have the gift of telepathy. I can talk with my mind. I can also read minds. Don’t be afraid, Timmy.” “How do you know my name?” Timmy said aloud. “I told you, I can read minds. And don’t speak aloud. Speak in your mind and I will be able to hear you.” Max said. “Ok.” Timmy thought. “Are you a ghost?” He then asked. He received the mental equivalent of a laugh. “No, I’m a person, like you.” Max said. “Like me? Can you appear wherever you want?” Timmy thought back quizzically. “No. Is that your gift? Teleportation” “Yes. But I thought you could read my mind?” Timmy thought. “I can only read what you are thinking at the moment. Not what you know.” Max said. “I don’t like this place. Can you help me get back to my mum and dad?” Timmy thought. “I don’t know yet. But first tell me of your gift. Or rather, think of it.” Max said. “Ok.” Timmy said (he thought it). Timmy then thought of all the times he had teleported, the fun he had had before he had been taken here. “Excellent!” Max almost shouted. “Does this mean you’re my friend?” “I would be honoured.”

“We can use your gift to escape! Quick, teleport into my room!” Max said, excited. Timmy frowned. “But I need to be able to see your room. And what about the cameras? The bad men will see me leave. Then they will come and get me. Besides, my room is surrounded by 20 meters of wall. I could get stuck. I think I will stay here.” Above the door in both boys rooms hung a camera, slowly moving from side to side. “The guards were lying. My room is right next to yours. I will tell you exactly where to teleport, and we simply have to destroy the cameras.” Max said. “Ok.” Timmy said and turned towards his camera. A smile played across his face. He teleported up to the camera. He appeared in mid air in front of the camera and he grabbed hold of it. His weight ripped it out of the wall and both of them tumbled to the floor. As he landed the air was knocked out of him. “Are you ok?” Max asked. “Yes.” Timmy replied. “Good. I have an idea. When the guards come in and have a look what’s wrong with the camera, you teleport past them and lock the door on them.” Timmy smiled. “They weren’t nice to me. I’m gonna do it.” He said.

And, seconds later, the two guards, Bill and Jerry, stormed in. Jerry ran up to Timmy. “What did you do to the camera!” He shouted at the small child. Suddenly Timmy wasn’t there. Jerry spun around just in time to see the door shut on him and Bill. “DAMNIT!” He shouted and ran towards the door, banging on it with his fists. But it was useless. The cells were sound-proof. And now that the camera was out as well, Bill and Jerry were trapped inside. Their walky-talky with which they communicated with the other guards lay useless on the table in their guard room. They were trapped. Meanwhile, Max gave Timmy directions to his cell.

Soon, Timmy was peering through the glass at Max, who sat on his bed. “There’s still a camera in my room!” Max warned. Timmy nodded and watched. “I will smash it, and then you will release me.” He said. Max innocently picked up a play block he used to play with as a child, and suddenly, he turned and pegged it at the camera. The block hit the camera squarely and it cracked the lens. “The code for the door is: 628547.” Max said. “I always read the guards mind when they opened my door.” Timmy punched in the number and the door swung open. Max rushed out. “Thank you!” He said and hugged the smaller Timmy. “We’d better get out of here. Central Security will notice the broken cameras and they will send someone over once they realize that the guards haven’t returned.”

“Hang on.” Timmy dashed into the room and grabbed a few blocks. “They might be useful for smashing some more cameras.” He said. Max shrugged. “Follow me. I know the way out. I read the guards minds a lot. But I don’t know any other places. They weren’t allowed everywhere.” Timmy nodded and they both went down the corridor. As they walked, Max told Timmy about himself, and how he had grown up inside the cell. “I watch a lot of TV, and what these people here are doing is not right. We have to escape and get help.” There was a silence after that, until Timmy asked “Are we the only ones with special powers? Are there other kids here too?” Max slapped his forehead. “I forgot about them! I think that there are another two kids somewhere in here! We gotta rescue them!” He said. Timmy nodded. “I can’t feel any presences. The coast is clear!” And so they went on.

In another cell not too far off another small boy slept on his bed. He was tiny. He had dark hair and was wearing a white robe. He was approximately 8 years old. At the age of 4 the government had taken him from his family and stuck him in this cell. They had run tests on him. Soon the boy had learnt to hate his cell, the guards, and everyone in the clinic. The boy’s name was John. His special ability was very, very special. And it was very, very powerful. John could create, and direct electricity. In other words, he could light light-bulbs by touching them and he could throw small lightning bolts. He could also manipulate anything run by electricity and control it. Therefore he was also the greatest computer hacker known to man. And he had never even touched a computer.

John was also very violent. The guards had learnt not to enter the room unless he was asleep. But John had become fed up with the whole place. And he had planned an escape. He was very, very smart. Unlike Max, who had simply taken the opportunity, John had planned it very carefully. Attached to John’s arm was a small heart monitor. It was installed so that the guards could determine whenever John was asleep so they could open the doors and take him to the labs or so that they could give him food. John had long ago manipulated the machine. He heard the footsteps of the guard outside and he readied himself. The guard opened the door and stepped into the room. Right into a trap. The heart monitor on John’s arm had been manipulated so that now the guard had thought him asleep.

The camera had even shown so, also manipulated. As the man stepped into the room, John leapt up and sent a lightning bolt flying. It caught the guard completely unaware. Ever since the heart rate monitor had been installed, the guard had been perfectly safe, and he had only had to enter the room alone instead of with three or four comrades armed with dart rifles. This had been a mistake. As another precaution, the guard had worn a fully rubber body suit. Any normal lightning bolt would have been halted before it could reach the guard’s sensitive skin. But John had foreseen this. Unfortunately for the guard, the suit didn’t cover the soles of the shoes. So the drinking water that John had spilled near the entrance of the door (he had erased the footage from the camera) was the perfect conductor. And so the lightning bolt flew at the puddle of water below the guard, rather than at him. The effect was instantaneous.

The guard shouted and was bodily hurled backwards into the wall. It had been a powerful blast. There he slumped down, unconscious. John silently got up and walked out of the room, casually stepping onto the puddle, the electricity not affecting him. This was another of his special powers. He could absorb any amount of electricity. All of this was, of course, wiped from the camera. John managed to push the guard back into the cell and he locked the door upon him easily enough. Unfortunately, he had never been able to manipulate the door lock, for it was completely encased in rubber. And so John set down the hallway. Rubber suits were only worn in John’s room, so any guards he met would be very, very sorry they had ever decided to work at the clinic.

At that precise moment Max and Timmy were walking down another white corridor. Max stopped. “I can feel someone up ahead. We should go slowly.” They walked on and came to an intersection. One way branched off to the left and the other way continued down the corridor. They looked down the left corridor and saw that there was a door in the middle. Max put his hand on the corner wall and said “There is a guard behind this wall.” He closed his eyes and then said “He is watching the cameras.” Then he opened his eyes. He seemed worried. “There is a camera pointed at each of the pathways. There is no way through without being seen.” Timmy looked up at Max and asked “What do we do now? We can’t go back, can we?” Max closed his eyes once more and then he pointed towards the path that branched off from the corridor. “That way leads nowhere. We must continue along this corridor.” Max said after extracting the knowledge from the guard.

“But there are cameras there.” Timmy said fearfully. Tears welled up in his eyes and he said “I just wanna go home.” Max patted him on the head. “I have an idea.” He said. “We shall create a diversion.” Timmy looked up at his new friend. “What’s a diversion?” “Never mind.” Max said. He grabbed the play blocks Timmy had brought with. Then, he threw them all into the dead end corridor with the door. “What are you doing! The guard will see them!” Timmy said, his eyes wide. “We can only hope.” Max said and he then grabbed Timmy and ducked back around the corner and waited. The noise of a door opening soon came and then Max grabbed Timmy and ran whilst the guard was gazing at the blocks outside his door.

When they reached the end he waited for a moment and then sighed in relief. Max’s plan had worked. He had distracted the guard long enough for them to slip past the cameras. “We had better go.” Max said. “The guard might look around the area.” Timmy nodded. “How do you know that we can escape? There are so many guards…” Max shrugged. “I heard that another kid already escaped from here. So it isn’t impossible.” Timmy said nothing and so they plodded on.

Peter the guard walked down another of the white corridors of the clinic carrying a tray of food. He was going to feed one of the gifted ones. He stopped at one of the many doors. He pulled some red goggles down onto his eyes and then he typed in the code for the door and it hissed open. In one hand he held a taser, and in the other the tray. “If you try and escape you’ll dearly regret it.” He said to thin air and he activated the taser threateningly. It crackled with energy for a moment, then subsided. To the naked eye, the room seemed empty except for a bed, a toilet and a chair. But through the heat sensing goggles he wore, Peter saw otherwise. Through the goggles Peter was able to see a humanoid red blob sitting on the bed looking exactly at him. Peter kept his eye on the red blob and then placed the food tray on the floor. Then he backed out of the room and shut the door and locked it. The fourth gifted child in the clinic was the room’s inhabitant.

This one was different from the others. She was a girl. Her name was Christina and she was sixteen years old. She had long brown hair and was rather tall for her age. She had a pleasant face and was skinny. Five years ago she was captured by the government and taken to the remote clinic. She missed her parents and her little brother. Her “gift” was that she could create a special field which bent light. In other words, she could create a field of invisibility around herself. Only special heat detecting goggles could pierce her shield. At the moment she sat invisible upon the bed pondering an escape route. After a few minutes she grabbed the food tray and carried it back to her bed. Through the camera, a security guard watched the tray of food float through the air and hover above the bed. What the guard didn’t see was how John snuck up behind him and grabbed him by the neck, sending several thousand volts coursing down his body.

John smiled wickedly and then his smile faded. He leaned over the guard’s desk and stared hard at the screen with the hovering food tray. This awakened old memories from his childhood. John turned away from the screen. Those memories where painful. But he now knew what he must do. Before he left he put his hand upon the computer camera console and suddenly the keyboard sparked and all screens turned off. It would be a long time before they were operated again. He exited the guard’s chamber and was surprised to see several play blocks lying on the floor. He passed these and wandered down the corridor. After a few minutes of watching he came to a split path. Again, the path led forwards and it branched off to the left. John took the left. He walked down the new corridor and at the end he was delighted to see a thick door with a keypad built into the door. It looked exactly like his cell. He smiled to himself and put his palm on the pad.

Max and Timmy rounded a corner and found themselves in a dead end. A door stood at the end of the corridor. Suddenly Timmy turned to Max. “You said there were scientists here. Where are they?” Max shrugged. “Sometimes they led me blindfolded to the labs. Every time I went down some stairs. The scientists are probably down one level.” He then placed his hand upon the door and said “There is no one behind it.” Max then opened the door. He didn’t go in as it was the janitor’s closet. Max closed the door and said “We have to backtrack.” And so they went back to the last junction and turned in. Suddenly Max’s eyes widened and he stood still. Timmy looked up at him and said “What is it?” Max looked down at his friend and said “I think I just found another child.” He then quickened his pace down the corridor.

Jake the security guard walked down the corridor whistling a tune. Apparently two guards hadn’t reported for a while and he was sent to see what the problem was. Most likely it was a radio malfunction. As he passed one of the freaks rooms he heard banging on the door. He glanced through the glass window and was surprised to see the two security guards, Bill and Jerry, trapped in the room. He quickly unlocked the door. “What the hell happened here?” he asked, alarmed.

The boss of the clinic sat on his desk and read a piece of paper. He was an ex-general and had been promoted to head of the top secret government research lab. A knock came on the door. “Come in.” He said. He was in his fifties and he looked it. His hair was grey and his face was set in a permanent scowl. A guard came into General Collin Wentworth’s office and said “Sir, some problems have arisen.” The general didn’t look up from his paper and said “Deal with it, I’m busy.” “Um, sir this is important.” Collin Wentworth looked up and growled. “What is it.” He snarled. The guard said “Two of the gifted children have escaped their cells.” The general’s eyes narrowed. “What you tell me next had better be good news. The escaped ones had better not be John or Christina or there’ll be hell to pay.” The guard then said “Sir, we are in luck. Max and Timmy have escaped. Oh and sir, a few minutes ago one of the guards said something about play blocks in the hall. It may be related to the freaks.”

The boss considered for a moment. “Sweep the building. Put extra guards around the remaining freak cells. The other mutants might try and free them or something. Also, radio all security guards. If any don’t respond immediately investigate.” The guard nodded. “Yes sir. It will be done.” And he turned and left. Collin sighed and lent back on his chair. They had already lost one kid this week. If they lost any more Collin’s career would suffer drastically.

Christina looked up at a slight noise outside of her cell. Suddenly, an electric spark jumped from the cell door and it opened. A little boy came in. “Sis?” Little John asked. Christina didn’t move. It was too good to be true. “Sis? Are you there?” Suddenly the air before John shimmered. Christina stood there. “Brother.” She said and hugged him. She began to cry.

Just around the corner, Max stood still once more. Timmy tugged at his sleeve. “What is it now?” He said. Max said “It’s strange. Now I can sense another child. It just appeared out of thin air. It’s really weird.”

Christina hugged her brother and sobbed. John frowned. “What’s wrong sis? We’re together now.” Christina then shook him and said. “What happened to you? Why are you here? Last time I saw you was when you were three.” John sat on the floor. “Just a year after you left the government came for me too. It seems that I too am gifted.” To demonstrate his point he let lighting crackle between his hands. His sister stared. “We have to get out of here.” She finally said. “Before someone comes.” Just as she said that two figures appeared in the doorway.

Max peered into the cell and saw one teenaged girl and another tiny boy. Both wore white robes. The girl shrieked and pushed the boy behind her. “Don’t be afraid.” Timmy said. Then he teleported right in front of her. She shrieked and leapt back. “We’re special too.” He said. Max smiled and mentally said “It’s true. And I believe that you two are the remaining gifted ones.” The girl cowered back but the little boy pushed ahead. “Who are you?” he asked. “I’m Max. I’m a telepath.” He gestured to Timmy. “And this is Timmy. He can teleport. All of us are called gifted ones. The government is holding us imprisoned in this clinic. We want to help you.” The girl stood up and said “How do we know we can trust you.” Max shrugged and said “We can’t. Except for one thing. We recently escaped ourselves. You, on the other hand, have just been freed. How do you think that we came here so fast if we were traitors? And if we did know about you, why didn’t we send highly trained guards with dart guns?”

The boy shrugged and said “I guess we can trust you.” The girl then stepped forward. “I’m Christina. I can create an invisibility shield around myself.” And suddenly, she disappeared. And to Max’s immense surprise he couldn’t mentally detect her in the room at all. She suddenly appeared next to him. “It seems that your shield doesn’t only prevent people from seeing you. I can’t mentally see you either.” Christina frowned. “Don’t go reading my mind now.” She said. The boy beside her then said “I am John and I can manipulate electricity.” He then sent a lightning bolt into the camera, smashing it to bits. “Christina is my sister. I haven’t seen her for five years.” John continued. Timmy nodded. “Come on, let’s get out of here.”

Max raised his hand. “Wait a minute. We need to know more about your powers. Everyone will tell everything about their gifts. I have telepathy. I can speak mentally to other people and they can talk back to me by saying something in their head. I can detect other people in a radius of about 20 meters. I can read minds.” Christina then asked: “Can you hurt people. I mean mentally? Like could you attack someone?” Max shook his head. “I don’t think so. I’m afraid to try. I might hurt other people and myself.” He said. Timmy then said “I can teleport which means I can appear somewhere else instantly. But I have to be able to see where I am teleporting otherwise I might appear in a wall. I can teleport about 1 kilometers away.”

John then began. “I can control electricity. I can throw it around and disable people.” He grinned maliciously and said “I can also manipulate anything electronic. That is how I entered this room.” “I can create a sort of field which renders all things within it invisible.” Christina then said. Max asked “Can you conceal more than one person at a time. I mean could you conceal all of us?” Christina shook her head. “I can hide myself for hours on end. I can conceal another person at the same time for about ten minutes and two people for a minute or two. If I tried to conceal all of us, I wouldn’t manage for more than a few seconds.” Max nodded. “That might come in handy. Now, how can we escape? We need a plan.”

Christina, as the oldest, took charge. “Max, the guards must have been thinking of the escape route sometime. Can you lead us out?” Max shrugged. “I can try, but since it all looks the same it will be difficult. I only saw the way out once or twice. But I would recognize some landmarks.” “Max, you will try and lead us out. Tell us if you meet any people. John and Timmy you stay back while I will scout around if there are guards.” John scowled. “I can help.” He said. Christina shook her head. “It’s too dangerous.” She pushed him back. “Let’s go.” And so they went.

Meanwhile, the door to a security guard’s room burst open. A man dressed entirely in black with a helmet on stepped into the room brandishing a nasty looking rifle. On the floor lay a guard, seemingly unconscious. All the camera screens were blank. The soldier stepped towards the keyboard and pressed a few buttons. The screen remained blank. “One guard out cold.” He said into the microphone that was built into his helmet. “Some kind of technical interference with the cameras.” Then he stepped out of the room and he crept further down the corridor. The stakes had risen.

Wentworth sat on his desk, thinking. Suddenly his walky-talky crackled. “John’s cell is empty! I repeat John’s cell is empty. We have a crisis on our hands!” Collin slammed his fist on the desk. Things were getting worse. He grabbed the radio. “Find that kid! Wear the rubber armour if you have to! Just get him!” He shouted into the microphone. Then he added. “Place two guards at the entrance. Order them to shoot anyone or anything trying to escape. Not with darts. Real bullets. We can’t allow any to escape.” Then he sat back on his chair and groaned. This was not turning out to be a good day.

Max stopped walking. “I feel someone up ahead. They are approaching slowly.” Christina instantly ran ahead, her shield enveloping around her. She went down the corridor and turned a corner when suddenly her eyes widened. A black clad soldier stood in front of her menacingly creeping forwards with his rifle in his hand. But it wasn’t just the single soldier in front of her. Five other soldiers crept down the corridor with their rifles aimed at the space in front of their comrade. For a terrifying moment Christina thought she was going to be shot. Then she realized that the soldiers were simply aiming at anything that might appear before their comrade. “MAX!” She thought frantically. No response. He must have just realized that another five people had just appeared in his mind. She had to do something quickly before the soldiers rounded the corner. Suddenly something caught her eye. Strapped to each soldier’s belt were two grenades. One was green and the other blue. Upon it stood the word: Gas. Suddenly a devious idea came into her head. She carefully approached the five soldiers behind the first and pulled one of the blue grenade pins. The soldier hadn’t noticed. She then ran down the corridor as fast as she could. The first soldier spun around as he heard the footsteps. Suddenly he spotted the grenade pin on the floor where Christina had left it. His eyes widened and he sprang backwards just as the grenade went off.

This grenade wasn’t normal grenade. It was designed to incapacitate an opponent, but leave them relatively unharmed. The soldiers were replaceable. The children weren’t. The sleeping gas enveloped the five soldiers and they dropped to the floor moments later. The remaining soldier dashed around the corner and stopped dead. Three children stood there, stunned. He raised his rifle… when suddenly something invisible tackled him to the floor. Christina may not have been big, but she had surprised the soldier. “RUN!” She shouted and disentangled herself from the soldier. Timmy, John and Max turned around and fled. Christina kicked the soldier in the head and ran after them. The soldier shouted something into his intercom and then ran off in pursuit. John dodged around a corner and down a passageway they hadn’t gone down yet. “I...don’t…know… where…. we’re… going!” Max puffed as he ran. “Who cares!” Christina shouted as she suddenly appeared beside him. They rounded a corner and suddenly a dart thudded into the wall where Max’s head had been only a millisecond before. Two big double doors where at the end of the corridor. They dashed towards them. Timmy burst through the doors just as Max shouted “Wait!” They all charged into the room, the door flapping on its hinges. Staring at them were 6 black soldiers.

Two seconds later they grabbed their rifles. They appeared to be strapping on some kind of rubber armour. All the children stood still. Suddenly John raised his arms and shouted. Two huge blasts of lightning struck the group of soldiers with an explosion of electricity. The soldiers were thrown around like you or I might throw around a doll. The three in the middle lay scorched on the floor, unmoving. They had died before they hit the floor. The remaining three had been thrown into various walls, incapacitating them instantly. All were unconscious. Suddenly the double doors burst open and the soldier from before instantly fired his rifle. A silver dart struck John in the neck and he slumped to the floor. Timmy gave a shout and disappeared. He reappeared an instant later. Above the soldier. Then, gravity kicked in. Before the soldier could shoot once more Timmy kicked him in the head with more force than most adults could. The soldier struck the floor and his nose broke. Timmy landed with a thud on the floor. Max helped him up. He was slightly hurt, but the soldier on the floor had definitely come out of the deal worse than the boy.

Christina grabbed John and held him in her arms. He was unconscious. She pulled the dart from his neck and looked at Max. “Is it poison?” She asked with wide eyes. Max shook his head. “They need us alive. We’re far too important.” A fierce glint entered Max’s eye. “We will carry John with us.” He then grabbed one of the rifles. “We don’t know how to reload so I we will only have one shot.” Christina sat on the floor. “They must have gotten word of John’s escape. They were putting on rubber armour to block his lightning bolts. We must assume that they will come again. We had better get going.” So they wandered down the corridors once more, slightly shaken, numbering one less in their team. As they passed the gassed guards, Timmy grabbed one of the green grenades and put it in his pocket.

“Get every able man out there! I want those kids!” The boss shouted into his radio. Things weren’t going well. Suddenly his chief of security, Wayne Powell came into his office. Wayne looked stressed. Strapped to his belt was the same radio that stood upon Collin’s desk. “Sir, another freak has escaped. Her cell was found empty. Also, we have no words from the Alpha or Beta teams.” Wayne said. Wentworth stared deep into his eyes. “We can only assume that they have been wiped out.” The boss said. “But sir, they are just children. How can they wipe out two teams?” The chief of security asked. Collin Wentworth banged his fist on the table. “Those aren’t normal children! Those are inhuman freaks! Send in every man you’ve got!” He said. “Even the scientists?” Wentworth shook his head. “They must continue the research. Make sure they are safe. Move them to a safe area.”

They came to a door. It was made of very thick steel. On the sides there was glass. Max ran forward to it. “This is the door that leads downstairs!” He grabbed the handle. It didn’t turn. “It’s locked!” he shouted in dismay. “What do we do now?” Christina said and she rested her brother on the floor. “If John were awake he could open the door.” She said to Max. “We can’t wait that long! It probably only opens from the other side!” “Well how do we get there?” Christina asked timidly. “I don’t know!” Max shouted. He was obviously frustrated. “We can’t just magic ourselves over.” Then he stopped talking. He turned to Timmy. So did Christina. She smiled. “Maybe we can.” Timmy stood up and peered through the glass. Then, he was gone. He appeared on the other side of the glass. Suddenly, the door opened. Timmy rushed back towards them. “It’s dark down there.” He said and grabbed hold of Max’s leg. “Don’t worry.” Christina walked down into the darkness. “Come on!” Max patted Timmy on the head. “Come on, let’s go.” Timmy shivered and then he let go of Max’s leg. “Ok.” He said. And they turned back towards the darkness. Timmy shrank back. He was afraid.

Max grabbed Timmy’s hand and led him into the darkness. “Christina?” Max asked. No reply. “Christina!” He shouted. Still no reply. He walked down the dark stairs a bit but there was no sign of her. Except for a piece of torn robe resting on one of the steps. “Where’s Christina?” Timmy said. This was bad. Very bad. “I don’t know.” Max said. “But I’m going to find her.” Then he stepped into the darkness with a rifle in one hand and Timmy’s hand in the other.

Wentworth’s Radio crackled. “We have captured two of the freaks! I repeat. We have two freaks in our custody.” Collin grabbed the radio. “Which ones!” He shouted. “We have John and Christina in our custody sir. The boy is unconscious. We found them at the base of the lab stairs.” “Did you find the others?” The boss shouted over the intercom. “No sir, we didn’t. We simply grabbed them in the darkness.” “Well check again. I think the freaks banded together.” “Ok boss.” came the reply. Then Collin Wentworth’s office was silent.

Max sat in the dimly lit corridor at the bottom of the stairs. He concentrated harder than he had ever concentrated before. He had to find Christina and John. For he knew that he could not leave without them. Timmy sat next to him, silent. Max felt the boundaries of his mental power. He could only detect several presences about 20 meters away from him. They moved out of the radius and then back in. They seemed busy. But Max knew that to find Christina and John he would have to stretch the boundaries as far as he could. Max sat unmoving concentrating as hard as he could upon the space just outside of his mental field. At first nothing happened. Then, slowly, the field began to grow. It grew only a little, but then it stopped. But the field did not retract once it was moved. It stayed there, slightly larger than before. Max tried again. Around his field, darkness reigned. Max combated this darkness. He forced it out of his mind. He sat there for several minutes slightly extending his field until, after five minutes, the field had grown by about a meter. It wasn’t much, but it was better than nothing.

Suddenly a new mind entered his field. It was heading straight towards them. But Max was slow to recover. He was drained after extending his mental field. Before he could react a soldier burst out from behind the corner. He raised his weapon and said “Don’t move.” Fortunately, the darkness concealed the black gun that Max held in his lap. He squeezed the trigger and a tiny dart flew straight into the soldier’s arm. He swore and dropped like a stone. In seconds he was unconscious. The darts were obviously powerful. Max cast the gun aside and stood up. “We had better move.” Timmy said and tugged on Max’s sleeve. “We need to find some kind of safe place.” He said. “Before more guards come.” And then he started forwards, into the darkness that was the laboratory. It wasn’t dark for long. Several lamps illuminated the walls, casting eerie shadows. The walls were now grey. Everything seemed a lot creepier.

They ran down a corridor and came to a door. “It’s empty.” Max said and entered the room. They found themselves in a small office with a desk and several pieces of paper. Max sat on the floor and began once more to meditate. He kept pushing his boundaries and soon they had extended by two meters. Max kept pushing the darkness away and he felt weaker every time he did it. Suddenly, he weakened, and the darkness overcame him. He shouted and clutched his temples and he fell to the floor screaming. He writhed for a moment and then lay still. Timmy shook him. “Max?” He said. There was no reply. “Max!” He shook the older boy violently to no avail. Suddenly the door was wrenched open and a beam of light was trained upon him. “Well what have we here?” Said the blackly clad soldier who entered the room with five other soldiers.

Collin Wentworth’s Radio crackled once more. “We have captured all the escaped freaks! They were hiding in an office in the labs. We are bringing them to the others.” The boss smiled. He grabbed the radio and spoke into it. “I will come down and see them.” Wentworth smiled and got out of his chair. He would lecture the insolent pups for trying to escape.

Timmy went quietly. He marched down the hallway surrounded by six soldiers. One carried Max, who was still comatose, over his soldier. He knew that he could escape, but he had no idea where to go. So he simply walked down the hallway. He was marched into a large, well lit room. In the middle surrounded by another six soldiers were Christina and John. John was unconscious, the dart still taking its toll. “If anyone moves they will be shot.” One of the soldiers said. Max was deposited on the ground beside Christina, who whimpered. Suddenly the door banged open and everyone looked at it. In strolled an old man. General Collin Wentworth himself. He looked at the pathetic children and laughed. He approached Christina and slapped her across the cheek. “That’s for trying to escape.” He raised his hand again and suddenly, unexpectedly, Timmy said “Don’t touch her.” The general turned towards the little boy and said “You will speak when you are spoken too, freak!” “Goodbye.” Timmy then said and he suddenly disappeared. The general seemed stunned. Then he reacted. “Find him!” He shouted. This wasn’t too hard. Timmy stood at the door and waved at the general. He then dashed off into the corridor.

The general and all but one man raced after the run away kid. The remaining man had his gun aimed directly at Christina’s head. Meanwhile Timmy dashed into a large room and ran into the center. The soldiers followed and instantly surrounded him. The general entered the room last. “That was stupid, you little freak. You should have run when you had the chance.” Timmy shook his head. “First of all I’m not a freak.” He held his fists in front of him like a boxer. “And secondly, I just wanted to get you away from my friends.” Collin Wentworth raised an eyebrow and said “What?” Then Timmy opened his fist and revealed the grenade he had pinched from a soldier. The green one. “No one move.” He said and grabbed the pin with his other hand. The general took a step back. Timmy pulled the pin. “I said no movement!” Then he threw the grenade at the only exit of the room, the door. It bounced off and landed a few meters away from the door effectively sealing all soldiers in the room. Timmy smiled and instantly teleported out of the room. He walked down the corridor as the grenade exploded. A shower of plaster littered the hall and smoke billowed out. All of its inhabitants were either dead or wounded. The general included.

As the explosion sounded the soldier who guarded Christina looked behind him. This was all she needed. Christina grabbed the gun and slammed it straight into the soldier’s jaw. He fell backwards, dazed. Then Christina swung the gun like a bat and it connected with the side of the soldier’s head with an audible CRACK! Needless to say the soldier didn’t wake up till the kids were long gone. A few seconds later Timmy appeared in the room. He quickly looked around but he saw the soldier unconscious. Christina picked up the gun and said “What happened?” Timmy shrugged and said “I blew them up.” Then he bent over and picked up the two grenades strapped to the soldier’s belt. One green and one blue. “Now what?” Timmy asked. Christina shrugged and gestured to Max. “What happened to him?” Timmy shrugged. “I don’t know. He was meditating and suddenly he blacked out. It’s weird.” Christina put the rifle down on a large trolley and said “How are we gonna carry both of them?” Then she looked at the trolley. And smiled.

In the destroyed room, General Collin Wentworth lay on the floor. His comrades were all either dead or wounded. He had managed to barricade himself behind a wooden table in the corner, but a large wooden splinter now was lodged in his side. He was very weak. He managed to unclip his radio from his belt. “All…. Units to….. labs.” Then he coughed and dropped the radio.

An odd group trudged through the grey dimly lit corridors of the top secret government clinic. Christina pushed a large trolley with an unconscious Max lying on top, Timmy trudged beside her and her little brother was curled up on the smaller tray beneath Max’s. The rifle was lying on top of Max. John was stirring and Christina figured that the dart’s drug was finally wearing off. They had gotten so far. And they weren’t going to quit. Timmy grabbed Christina’s arm. “Can you hear that?” Christina stopped. A faint tapping was heard. “Footsteps!” She pushed the trolley into a nearby room and waited. “Come closer!” She whispered to Timmy and they crouched next to the trolley in an empty room. Outside of the room a beam of light passed through a broken pane of glass that was perched on top of the room. One of the soldiers opened the door. He shone the light across the dark room. He didn’t see them. Christina stood perfectly still. A bead of sweat ran down her forehead as she struggled to maintain the invisible shield that concealed all four of them and the trolley. The guard passed his beam over them once more, then he turned and left. Christina let out a sigh of relief as she let her shield down. She felt extremely weakened. “Let’s go.” She said and they went onwards.

Suddenly Max awoke with a start. He shouted and fell off the trolley. Christina jumped and picked up the rifle that had fallen off and she put it back onto the trolley. Max picked himself up. He looked around and saw the trolley and Christina. “What happened?” he said. “You were asleep. We don’t know what happened to you.” Christina said. Max looked around and said “I was enveloped by the darkness.” Christina raised her eyebrows but said nothing. Max continued. “I fought back and forced it back. My powers… they have increased! They’ve almost doubled! It seems my battle with the darkness strengthened me.” Christina kept her eyebrows raised and said nothing. It was John however who did. He reached over to the wall and placed his hand upon a light switch. “Trust in Max.” He gasped and there was a flash of light. Then came darkness. Every single electronic object that was connected to the building was turned off. Lights, computers, everything. Everything was plunged into darkness. John fell back onto the trolley with a sigh and he fell limp once more. It seemed that the strain of using his powers was too much for him to handle.

“What now?” Christina said quietly. “Timmy hugged Max’s leg. “I’m scared.” Christina put her arms out in front of her. “Max?” What should we do?” There was no reply. “Max?” She said. But Max wasn’t listening. He was in a world of his own. In his mind, he saw the corridor they were in. Everything was watery grey. The walls were shimmering with an odd grey light. But he could see. Here, light meant nothing. He turned and saw his three companions. Their minds were flaming yellow, constantly moving. He was seeing everything completely different. He turned back to the wall and saw that he could look through it. He looked into the distance and found that the further away he looked, the darker everything became. The exit path shone brightly in his mind. The security guard’s exit path was like a beacon. Max had just discovered a new part of his mental powers. He wondered what else he could do. He turned back to Christina and Timmy and said “Hold hands and follow me.” “How?” Christina said sarcastically. She waved her arms around trying to find Timmy. Max grabbed Christina’s hand and put it into Timmy’s. Then he grabbed Timmy’s. “Let’s go!” Max said and began walking. Leading them through the darkness. Christina grabbed the trolley with her free hand and pulled it after her.

In the darkness of the building, chaos reigned. The remaining soldiers dashed about in the darkness, wondering what the hell was going on. They shouted over their radios for their general. They never got an answer. The second in charge, Wayne Powel, who had not been eliminated by the grenade blast shouted orders. “All units to the entrance! All electricity within the building has been turned off!” One of the remaining soldiers said “But we heard the general say that we should head for the labs.” The second in command shouted over the radio “That was before the lights went out! And those little freaks almost wiped out all but three teams! Now, all teams to the entrance! Use the torches!” The two six man teams and the chief of security instantly headed to the entrance. They knew the way and they had torches, so they arrived there much earlier than the “freaks”.

As the four children finally neared the end of their goal Max stood still. “We’re close.” He said and then he continued. They turned around a corner and suddenly at the end of the corridor was light. Christina shouted and the three children ran down the hallway with the trolley in tow. They reached two big glass double doors and a reception desk. Max pushed the door open and the children burst into sunlight. Then suddenly, Max stopped dead. In front of them, looking down the barrels of their rifles, stood the remaining 13 soldiers of the building. Wayne Powel lowered his rifle smugly and gave the order to fire. The children hadn’t a chance.

A barrage of darts flew directly at them. Max took the brunt of it. Three darts immediately plunged into his neck. Another two struck Timmy and he immediately crumpled. Five harmlessly struck the trolley. The remaining two whizzed through the air that Christina had previously occupied. But she wasn’t there anymore. As soon as she had seen the guards, she had shielded herself. She had dashed away from the trolley and now stood alone against the building wall. The last yellow rays of sunlight struck the wall and she was momentarily blinded. She was alone. Completely alone. All the other children were gone. Then she saw something from the corner of her eye. A lone figure still stood beside the trolley. Max. He simply stood there, unmoving. Seconds after the darts had struck him, he had been unconscious. But Max’s mind refused to give up. It refused to die. What remained was a primitive wild mind, one that ignored all pain and fatigue. To it, the three darts embedded in its neck meant nothing. Max’s mind knew it would soon shut down, for it couldn’t survive long without its main host. In most ways, Max was asleep.

Another dart struck him in his chest. Max looked down at the dart and his wild mind realized it was under attack. And it reacted in the only way it knew. By counter-attacking. Max let out a cry and suddenly the remainder of his mind struck out at anything that lived. Every single mind within a radius of about a kilometer instantly crumbled. All the soldiers dropped to their knees, clutching their temples. Wayne Powel lay twitching in the dirt. Every single scientist or secretary within the clinic was instantly rendered unconscious. All bugs or birds simply fell asleep. Nothing was spared. Not even Max. He simply dropped onto the trolley. So furious was the mental blast that any creatures within 20 kilometers instantly developed a blinding head ache. Anything within a 50 kilometer radius felt a moment of sharp pain because of the mind-blast. Nothing remained unscathed. Except for one person.

Christina looked in amazement as all of the soldiers and Max instantly fell to the floor as Max released the entire power of his mind. She watched in amazement as a bird fell out of the sky and crashed into the building wall. She instantly guessed the answer. Max had somehow blasted everyone with his mental power. But she wondered why she was spared if even the animals were affected. Then it hit her. Her invisible shield. She remembered how Max hadn’t been able to sense her thoughts through her shield. Suddenly she realized what Max had done. He had just opened up an escape path. Christina instantly set to work.

A white van drove down the lonely highway. The sky was darkening as the sun went down. Inside the van, its driver struggled to operate the vehicle. She had only once driven before, on a tractor on her grandfather’s farm. But that hadn’t stopped her. In the back of the van were several weapons and provisions, and three unconscious children. For a moment Christina pondered the events of the day. She realized that without the powers of each of the children, all would have failed. It was quite a remarkable coincidence that both John and Max had escaped on the same day, and it was only through pure luck that they had escaped. Christina gazed at the sky and wondered if someone had been guiding them the whole time. Maybe they had received their powers for a reason. The van raised up a dust cloud as it drove down the road. They had escaped the clinic.