Chapter 3Now, who's ready for some novel action?Here's chapters 3-5 of my book Flame: Flying Sparks, the first book of my Flame trilogy. I used NaNoWriMo's Young Writers Program to write EXACTLY the first three-fifths of this book. Literally, I finished part III of V on the last day and didn't start part IV until the day after it ended. Here's the link for more info: What is NaNoWriMo? And here is the link to my NaNo profile: My NaNoWriMo Now let's get down to business. ONWARD WITH THE EXCERPT! My favorite line may have something to do with guacamole in chapter four. Oh, and just as a warning, you won't survive the cuteness, sadness, ect. when you reach chapter five... "I'm not a creep, so you can trust me..." Really Katie? Sorry, never mind me. Just wallowing in my protagonist's amazingness.
I checked my digital clock. 12:19am. Past midnight. Time to go.
I slipped my light grey and red sweatshirt over my head and grabbed my backpack.
Now or never.
I quietly crept down the stairs and placed my note carefully in the most strategic, obvious place where I knew Mom would find it: the coffee pot. Then I sneaked towards the front door. I reached for the handle.
No, I should probably take the back door.
So I tip-toed to the back door and took a deep breath. I looked around, this would be the last time I saw my home. I let that thought sink in. Wow.
I bit my lip and stepped out into the darkness, completely unsure of what was ahead.
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About 2 hours later, I stumbled through the night, exhausted from lack of sleep. Luckily, Mirror Falls was a small town. I had brought a map with me (yes, an actual paper map. I couldn’t risk an electronic device, I could be tracked.) and I did the math, and at the rate I’m going, it’d be another 15 minutes before I was out of the town. I needed to keep going north after that for a few miles, to make sure I was far enough away. So I had essentially another hour ahead of me before I could stop. This was going to be a long night.
-------------------------------------------
I stopped and began looking for a place to sleep at about 3:30am. I looked up, and spotted not one cloud on the horizon. It was a safe bet to assume it wasn’t going to rain too soon. I eventually found a spot under tree cover and built a bed of leaves. I checked my watch. 4:00am. I got out my pillow and sleeping bag and fell fast asleep.
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Well, apparently I didn’t hide myself well enough, because, sure enough, somebody found me.
I awoke to a blinding light in my face. Was I in Heaven? No. I was more scared that I’d ever been in my entire life.
“Look, she’s awake,” I heard a gruff voice say.
“Thought she’d never wake up,” said another. “Didn’t even have to waste any sedatives on this one.”
The first voice grunted.
“Sleepy medicine.” Voice #2 clarified.
“Where am I? Who are you? What do you want from me?” I demanded.
“Whoa, take it easy there, princess.” said Voice #2.
“I asked a question.”
My sight and mind began to clear, and I realized promptly that I was, in fact, strapped into a rather uncomfortable chair. Really? How could I have been so stupid?
“You’re in a government science lab in Jersey. I’m a guard, and the third question,” he replied, “is not one I know the answer to.”
I could see them both now. They were both very, er, muscular, but you could see who was the brains here.
My mind started formulating useless plans of escape immediately. I suddenly felt a pang in my stomach. I could’ve gone back before, but now I had no choice.
“I really don’t know why you’re here,” the guard continued. “As far as I can see, you’re just a normal kid run away from home. I’d help ya if I could, but I was told at guard that you were ‘highly dangerous’. What’s the word they used, Bert?”
“Mutant,” Bert bellowed. “Ernie, I don’t think we’re supposed to-what’s the word?- ‘converse’ with the prisoner.”
Oh. My. Goodness. Their names were Bert and Ernie. Despite my horror, I giggled a bit under my breath.
“What was that?”
“Nothing,” I squeaked.
Our discussion was interrupted by the “grand entrance” of another man.
“GUARDS! You were specifically told NOT to converse with the prisoner!” he exploded with a thick British accent.
“Yes, sir,” Ernie and Bert gulped.
Then he turned his attention to me.
“Hello, ma’am. I apologize for these idiotic guards. I hope you’re feeling comfortable.” the man said mockingly.
“If your idea of comfortable is being strapped in a hard chair with no idea where you are and who everyone else is, then I really don’t want to see uncomfortable.”
“Ah,” he said. “We got a feisty one here.” He grabbed my chin. “Full of spitfire and vinegar, eh?” he chuckled.
I jerked my head away.
“You really want to see the spitfire?” I growled
He clucked his tongue. “Don’t worry, that fiery spirit will be extinguished before long.”
“Oh, it’s more than my spirit that can burn you.”
“Then bring it.”
Chapter 4
I honestly didn’t mean to burn down a top-secret government lab facility. It just happened that way.
After the man left, I was fuming. Who was he really and who did he think he was? Then, I realized that I was literally letting off smoke. I realized, with a slight smile, that although these people knew I was a mutant with powers, they didn’t know what my powers actually were. My comments to the strange man may have tipped him off a bit, but I could pretty safely assume that he wasn’t sure and that not everyone else knew. Maybe, just maybe, if I could find a way out of this cell…
I tried to figure out a way to get out of the chair. The straps were stainless steel, and my flame would never get hot enough to melt it without anyone noticing. There were no windows to smash and escape through even if I could get out of the chair. It all seemed useless. But then, I found the obvious answer.
“Ernie? Do you think you could let me go to use the restroom? Please? It’s an emergency!”
Yeah, yeah, I know. Embarrassing but totally necessary. This might actually work.
Ernie grunted, because you never know when you might get caught “conversing with the prisoner”.
“Ernie, be nice,” Bert grumbled. “She’s only a kid.”
“Bert, don’t ya recall what happened last time we conversed with the prisoner?”
“Well, you’ll be the one who has to clean it up, Ernie.”
I sighed and slouched. The chair was getting increasingly hotter, and even though it didn’t bother me, the guards were beginning to take notice.
“Gee, Bert. Is it me or is it bakin’ in here?”
“Nope. I feel it too.”
I suddenly found a new plan.
“Ohhhhh…” I moaned. “My powers are overloading!”
I sent a blast of fire at the steel wall.
“If I can’t release them, I think I’ll literally explode!”
Bert and Ernie looked at each other and gulped. Immediately, a window appeared in the wall in front of me. It didn’t lead outside, but instead, behind it was a crowd of transfixed people in lab coats.
“GUARDS, EVACUATE IMMEDIATELY.” an earsplitting voice boomed through the speakers.
Bert and Ernie didn’t hesitate. They bolted through a door that materialized then disappeared again.
The steel straps then pricked me, taking a blood sample. After a few agonizing minutes, they finally released me. I fell to the ground, panting and coughing in pain. They seemed to think they had defeated me, but I stood back up. This is what he had been talking about.
In a split second and a flash of light, I crumpled to the floor in pain once again. My vision blurred and faded into darkness.
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I woke up in the same room, this time I wasn’t strapped down. I sat up and groaned.
Oh, my head. The pain strangely faded. I looked down at my hands. The wounds on my wrists were healed, with permanent scars in their place. What happened? How long had I been out that my wounds were already healed?
“Welcome back.” The voice over the intercom said. “You’ve been out for three hours.”
Three hours? That was impossible. Unless- no. That only happened in my comic books. In my comic books, having powers is a good thing. In real life, with great power came great problems. For example, my current situation. Yes, a “healing factor” was definitely out of the question.
I stood up. “You can never break me.”
The voice chuckled. “Have a plan of escape, do you? They all did at one point, until their spirits were broken.”
Wait, they? There were others like me? I had always thought I was alone.
“Yes,” I replied. “A plan you cannot even fathom. You really don’t know what my powers are, do you?” I crossed my arms and narrowed my eyes.
“Oh well, since you’re ignorant, I might as well tell you.” I was on a roll. “I have incredible super intelligence, a healing factor, and I can melt your steel lab here into an insignificant puddle.”
This was only a half-truth. I was fairly smart. I mean, I was the top of the class and, when it came to mind games, I almost always won; the healing factor thing I wasn’t sure about, but it was a supportive fantasy: my fire could never get that hot, but I could set his clothes on fire.
And, in reality, I only had about 12 percent of a plan right then.
Hey, it’s better than 11 percent.
“You’re bluffing.”
“I am, now, am I? Are you willing to risk it?”
“That depends. Are you?”
I didn’t answer his question. “You’re already falling for my game.” I began to pace. “I have friends, friends you would not believe. Friends who could turn your mind,” I paused for dramatic effect. “To guacamole.”
I began to run out of lines, so I start quoting random things.
“One cannot simply capture me.” I said defiantly. “There is a fire in my soul that does not sleep.”
“You have no way to fight us.”
“The same goes for you. An ant has no chance fighting a boot.”
“And what’s so special about you?”
“Nothing. I’m just a kid from Pennsylvania.”
“We are the master here. You must obey us.”
“There’s only one Master, sir,” I smirked. “And I’m pretty sure he doesn’t dress like that.”
With a bright flash, they electrocuted me again. I was temporarily blind with pain. I looked up and saw the window. I grimaced, but then smiled and began to pick myself up. “I really don’t like you.”
I screamed as they did it again.
“The feeling is mutual.” he replied coldly.
Then, I saw my chance. Hit him while he thought I was weak. I gathered up my strength and broke the window. I didn’t even know I was that strong, but I guess that and the cold glass being super-heated was what did it. The window shattered into a billion pieces.
I jumped out, grabbed my backpack, and raced through the door.
I zipped down the hall, punching and burning anyone who dared try oppose me.
Eventually, alarm blaring, I came to a dead end. With nothing else to do, I blasted a hole in the wall.
The next thing I knew, I was watching the steel lab melt into an insignificant puddle.
I fell to my knees and began to weep bitterly.
Now, I truly was a monster.
Chapter 5
On my way out of the lab, I had grabbed my backpack. Before anyone could notice I was wearing a hospital gown, I headed into a thick forest and changed. Funny thing, my clothes were all still in there. Almost as if they knew I would get out…
Honestly, I didn’t think I could. I just wanted to know that I’d tried.
I decided to head for New York. I knew it would only take a few days on foot and I could easily blend in. I could probably get some kind of job, stay low, be unnoticed, so on and so forth.
My train of thought was interrupted by my growling stomach. I realized I hadn’t eaten in two days. I came to the conclusion that it would be dark soon, and I could grab something cheap then.
For now I had to keep my hood up, my head down, and just keep walking.
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I learned fast that life on the streets was harder than I realized. I had mastered my intimidation stare in the past few hours. And good thing I did, too. Otherwise, I probably would’ve been attacked several times by now.
It was just now sinking in, the gravity of what I had done. I’d probably just killed more innocent people. Where were Bert and Ernie? The other scientists who didn’t realize what they were doing? I even felt guilty for the strange man who had harassed me. I mean, he might have been a terrible one, but he was still a human being.
What was the word they used for me? “Mutant”. What did that even mean? What was relevant about it? There were others out there like me? By now, I was just as strong, if not stronger, than before. Could I have a healing factor? I had only ever seen that in my comic books, but, then again, most people only see people with powers in comic books.
The word “mutant” sent shivers down my spine. The term was used as a hateful reference to a specific super-powered race in one of my favorite comic book series. It’s been going for quite a while now- The X-Men. Sadly, there was no real Professor X here to take me in.
I realized I had protein bars in my backpack. I pulled out a chocolate peanut butter and inhaled the thing as I walked.
I looked over my shoulder and saw a boy being attacked. Well, I was already a fugitive. It couldn’t hurt to help someone out. I had my black belt from when I had taken karate before Dad died. I had usually won sparring matches, and I’d already experienced my share of street fights in the last 5 hours.
I turned around and went back to help the boy, who looked to be about 7 or 8.
I sneaked up behind one of the two attackers and elbowed him in the back.
“Why don’t pick on someone your own size?” I shouted. “Attacking small children is for cowards!”
They turned their attention to me, and after I kneed the other man in the solar plexus, they ran off and left us be.
“And attacking me,” I whispered under my breath. “Is for idiots. No offense. You‘re not the first.”
I turned to the boy. “Are you lost?”
He nodded his head.
“Well, I’m Katie and I’m not a creep, so you can trust me.” I extended my hand to him. “I want to help you, I’m lost, too. Only I don’t have the option of going home. I don‘t want anyone else to feel that.” I smiled. “To prove I’m not a creep, I only ask your first name. It doesn’t even have to be your real name. Just something I can call you.”
“Ummmm… Tommy.”
“Okay, Tommy. How about we find a phone so we can call your mom?”
“I don’t have a mom.” he replied. He looked up at me, tears in his eyes. “She died last year. She‘s in heaven now”
I stopped in my tracks. I crouched down to his level.
“Hey, it’s okay,” I said, beginning to choke up. “I lost my daddy two years ago. I was very close to him. He’s in heaven, too.”
We began walking again.
“Why can’t you go home?” he asked innocently.
“Because, well, because…” I paused. Then it hit me. He was eight, and hopefully trustworthy, and nobody would believe him otherwise.
“Because I’m a superhero.”
His brown eyes widened.
“Really? I won’t tell anybody!” He gasped. “Can I be your sidekick?”
“Sorry, buddy,” I laughed. “Technically, I’m not in a position for a sidekick right now. You see,” I explained. “People are afraid of what they don’t understand. They don’t understand my powers, and so now bad people are trying to get me. I could never live with myself if they got you.”
“Oh,” he said, disappointed.
“I’ll think about it, and once I’m ready, I’ll give you a call.” I winked. “Now let’s call your dad.”
“No,” he shook his head sadly. “Daddy was so upset about Mommy that he sent me to live with my grandma.”
“My Mom was really sad about my dad, too. They loved each other so much that life just wasn’t the same without the other.” I said. “But listen closely. Jesus has them both safe in heaven, and we’ll see them again. Just keep faith, and whenever you feel all is lost, Jesus is still right here.” I poked his chest, hoping my little speech had empowered him as much as it had me.
“Now,” I said, changing the subject. “Do you know your grandma’s phone number?”
We came to the local police station. “Go.” I whispered.
He ran up to the station, then turned around. Like a ghost, his companion had disappeared. Tommy gasped.
“An angel.”
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