Ruined City

Lillia had been washed away in a tidal wave and landed heavily. But it wasn't her head that she grabbed, but her neck. It felt like she was choking, and there was a smell of smoke. The buzzing got even worse, and she screamed. Silva's screams resonated and mixed with my own.

It felt like she was in that cycle forever. Then. Lilia heard whispering.

"Vance, her power is expanding. It's going to become an issue," Sonia stated. "How much? I believe it will be risky if we stay any longer." A pause. "Yes, big enough to destroy the entire Base… No, I can't get close enough to kill her. No, I've already tried that. Nothing is getting through." Another pause. "Leave the girl be?" She laughed. "I  agree. We can use this….. Don't worry. The original plan is still in place." Sonia's voice floated away like the wind.

When everything came back into focus, Lilia breathed heavily, trying to get her heartbeat back under control. "I need to hurry. Now, where am I?"

Looking around, she seemed to be in a collapsed building. Lilia could hear a lot of fighting in the distance—lots of guns and vehicles. But at least Lilia recognized where she was. "The Ruined City?" she asked, Looking around. Either Terran or Heather."

"I can't reach…." A voice spoke to the right.

Lilia moved to follow and found Heather on the ground in a pile of rubble, reaching out toward the street. "Heather, are you all right."

Heather tensed but relaxed. "Lillia, huh? Heather would be pleased. Through Telepathy, right?"

Heather, wasn't she Heather? Lilia was confused but realized, "You're the other Heather, without a sniper rifle. That's new."

It was unheard of, actually.

"It's over there!" She pointed to somewhere on the street. "Why not be useful and go get it for me."

"Sorry, can't, not really here."

Heather huffed. "Useless."

The other Heather was as cold as ever. "Why not get it yourself." She looked banged but otherwise okay.

"Can't! Too tired." Heather slumped.

Lilia nodded. "Yeah, a nap would be nice." Then her thoughts whirled. "Wait! How long were you awake?" Lilia asked.

 "Ever since you disappeared," Heather stated. "Too bad that Conner kid is coming, and I have no energy. He's going to kill us."

 "If it's energy…."

 "Not that kind of energy." Heather rolled her eyes. "Mentally. She needs to wake up."

Lilia sighed. No wonder Lilia had never seen the other Heather up for that long. The mental burden alone must be tremendous. Lilia reached out into Heather's mind and quickly pulled back. It felt like she ran into a wall of images. When Heather and Terran were children, crying, shifting to a knife, then blood. The feeling behind it was heart-crushing. "Her past? She's hiding." Lilia didn't know a lot about their past, but she knew that was why both still had difficulty coping.

The other Heather didn't say anything; she just turned her head. Lilia sighed. She didn't know what to do despite everything. Lilia knew her mom and sister loved her, so she had no experience with trauma like that. Unfortunately, she couldn't say the same for the rest of her Links.

But Heather also had Terran.

Lilia reached out again, but she was ready when the wall came. This time, she stood there. This time, she allowed it and pushed through. "This time, it's not going to work!" Lilia called out. "So stop hiding."

She heard steps scurrying in the distance.

"Here." Lilia brought up her other self, who was with Terran. With Lilia's help, he was already tearing up the park. "He's still fighting, and he's not the only one. Everyone is fighting. We want to survive. Why aren't you?"

When Lilia received silence, she asked, "What about the other Heather? She's drained. She's not going to last long." Nothing.

Still silence, nothing seemed to break her out of that loop. "This isn't working." Lilia knew motivational speeches weren't her strong suit and felt she wasted her time.

"I may have an idea," Terran interrupted.

Lilia closed her eyes and listened to what Terran whispered to Lilia's other self. "If nothing works, tell Heather this…. "

"Terran told me if you don't snap out of it, then..." Lilia breathed in. "You can call him 'little bro,' and he won't complain," Lilia added. "For a week."

There was interest but no bite yet. Lilia couldn't believe this, of all things, was working. "Two weeks…? Okay, a month, and you can tear apart the sled as much as you want."

There was a wave of gleefulness, and Lilia felt her energy finally getting pulled away.

Sometimes, I really can't understand how Heather's mind works.

***

Conner was pissed. He had that bitch cornered, and then she did those weirdly quick movements. So now he was back to square one.

Pain shot up his leg. He looked down and found that blood was soaking into his pants. "Greet, my stitches popped. I hate that woman." Cursing Sonia's name, throwing him out of the Tree like that. Now, that was messed up. "If I don't kill someone soon…." Suddenly, Conner spotted his target reaching for something, and his eyes gleamed. "Perfect." He walked over to Heather. "Are you done running?"

Heather looked up and replied cheekily. "Oh, hiya." Her sniper rifle flew into her hands, but it instantly changed into a bow as her fingers wrapped around the handle.

Conner's eyes widened, bringing his gun up, but Heather had already aimed her arrow and fired, tearing not only him but the building and the surrounding area into pieces.

***

Tunnel Base

Lilia found herself in a dungeon-like area, with cells lined up on each side. There were Zombies dead on the ground, and she could see Shadow in the corner, hiding in one of the cells. He looked like he was cut to pieces, but what worried Lilia the most was the manic look in his eyes.

 "Shadow," Lilia called out. She moved cautiously. In this state, she didn't know what he'd do. Reaching out slowly…

His light grey eyes stared right at her. "Lilia, you're not supposed to be here."

It figured that Shadow would be the one person who could see her. "Shadow …!"

"He'll see you!" Shadow reached out. He was looking at something in the far corner.

Lilia followed his gaze, but she turned back, confused. "See who?"

"He's over there," Shadow pointed in the same area he was looking. "A guy with white hair… that clicking sound, you can't hear that?" His got fixed. "I'll kill him, I swear, I'll kill him." He growled, showing teeth.

Lilia was alarmed. There were quite a few killed zombies, but she couldn't see anyone else, although there was probably someone at one point. Lilia certainly didn't think that the Zombies made those cuts. The wounds looked too neat.

"Let me see?" She reached out, and it felt like she stepped into an overlap. But she could still see how she perceived her surroundings. He saw the same dungeon, but there were moving Zombies all over the place, and a white-haired-looking youth was just sitting there. Waiting.

Suddenly, something whirled and hit the wall behind her, then bounced off to hit another. Shadow exploded into action as one of his knives that rounded boomerang sliced his back. It also appeared from her perspective. "What the hell." Shadow stepped on one of the Zombies before going for the kill…. Then everything reset to the way it was. "Shadow's trapped in an illusion?" But could an illusion be strong enough to manifest wounds? Or maybe Shadow was the one who willed them into existence.

"Where are we anyway?" Lilia asked.

"We're in an underground base of some kind," Shadow responded. "I'm on a mission to save Stella and Rachel. Andres should be with them."

At least he is responding to me. So that's a good sign.

Didn't Sonia say anything about the Base being destroyed using Lilia's uncontrolled powers? It might not be the same place, but Lilia shouldn't risk it. "Shadow, I think you should…." But the sequence started up again. "No! No! No! Shadow, stop!" Lilia cried out, but he didn't listen and kept repeating the same actions.

"I need to kill him!"

"Shadow, listen to me! Can you smell anything?" Maybe if he used his empath abilities, he'd realize no one was there.

"All I could smell is death," Shadow denied.

 "Damnit," Lilia cursed. Stop!" She tried to grab his shoulder, but her hand just went through. "Damnit," she cursed again. That was when Shadow's Phantoms came out from nowhere and dragged her away.

"Hay, let go! Shadow, you need to stop!"

"Don't let her escape," Shadow ordered as he rushed toward his goal

Lilia struggled but still realized something. If they could touch me…

Lilia swung one Phantom into the other and kicked free, flipping onto the third Phantom. She returned to her feet and ran toward Shadow, knowing they were right on her heels. So she slashed with her claws, which gave her enough time to step in front of Shadow as his knife was about to stab down.

And Shadow stopped inches away from Lilia's chest.

Oh, thank God! If Shadow hadn't stopped in time, and Shadow believed it, would her death become a reality, like his wounds? It's a good thing Lilia would never find out.

"There's a burn on your neck." He stated.    

Lilia's fingers went to her throat, and she felt a burn bubbling up. Something to worry about later: "Never mind that. Listen to me. Shadow your job right now, isn't this guy." She pointed to the imaginary person behind her. "Your mission is to save Rachel and Stella. That's all you should be thinking about."

"But…" Shadow's gaze glazed over.

"This guy isn't important. What is important is getting everyone out as soon as possible. Do you understand me?"

"Get out of the way, Lee." Shadow's voice went low. "He needs to die."

Lilia looked up at Shadow and pleaded, "Please, Shadow. You're the only one who could save them."

 "The only one?" Shadow's gaze was wavering.

 "If you stay here, your mission will fail, and everyone will die." Then added, "Do you want that?"

"No, I don't," Shadow stated.

"Then don't let this guy interfere with your mission," Lilia said.

"Fine." Shadow agreed. "But when we meet again. He is dead."

Lilia was mentally dancing at this point. "I won't expect anything less." Li

As soon as Lilia gave Shadow her power, his wounds healed instead. His Phantasm gathered around him, whispering and telling him where to go. Then Shadow stepped forward into the shadows.

Through the shadows, he travelled faster than he had ever travelled before, and when he reached his destination, he didn't stop.

Andre's eyes widened. "No, not this again." But it was already too late, as he absorbed everyone in his path. Someone extra? No matter. If it was someone who needed to die, then so be it. He raced to the open air.

When he felt Lee leave him, he whispered. "Don't die. If you do, I'll come after you."