Chapter 17

I left the room to collect myself. Not because I was sad, I needed to contain my frustration so I didn't go off on my friends. Ryder followed me which irked my last nerve. I wanted to be alone but apparently I have to have an eye on me all the time.

"I'm not going to kill anyone Ryder, you don't need to watch me all the time," I said as I leaned against the wall of the hallway. My back was turned to him.

"Carla, tha-that's not why I'm out here," he stumbled over his words.

I turned my head and looked at him, he was now sitting on the floor.

"Believe it or not I'm out here because I care about you and wanted to see if you were okay," Ryder snarkily remarked as he straightened his legs out.

"Well sorry for assuming everyone's afraid of me because I went psycho mode on everyone," I said as I rolled my eyes and turned towards him.

"Who's afraid of you?" Ryder asked.

"Everyone."

"I'm not afraid of you," Ryder insisted.

"You're not afraid that my eyes are going to cloud up and I'm going to blow your head off with a fire blast?"

"I feel uneasy around you when you're angry, but I'm like that with all of you. I know if I stand between any of you and whatever you're trying to get at then I'll get punched or a broken wrist," he explained as he pointed to his bruised face with his casted arm.

"Oh," I said as I crouched next to him and gently touched his cheek. When I removed my head his face was healed. I grabbed his cast and used my powers to cut it in half.

He rubbed his wrist and then looked up at me, I was back where I was leaning against the wall.

"Thanks."

I nodded and the hallway fell quiet.

"Do you want me to send Carter out here?" Ryder asked.

I looked over at him, utterly confused on why he would asked that.

"Why would I want you to send Carter in here?"

"Just- you know what, nevermind."

"No tell me."

"Its just you like him and you'd probably be more comfortable talking to him," he explained.

Ummmm.

"Why would I be more comfortable talking to him?"

"Because you like eachother and he's your best friend," Ryder explained.

"How long have you known this?" I asked.

"Shortly after he disappeared," Ryder answered, "You walked into the middle of nowhere looking for him. You knew all of them were taken by Valerie but you were scared for Carter."

"I was looking for anyone."

I was really started to get angry with Ryder calling the favouritism card. I loved all my friends like they were family.

"And if Nathan were to drop dead, would you save him the way you saved Carter?" Ryder asked.

"Absolutely," I answered.

"Then why didn't you do that with Cleo?"

I grabbed his wrist and dragged him into the room, I had a broken his wrist in the process and he was screaming in pain. I legitimately thrown him into his seat and kicked my into the wall.

I slammed my hand onto the table, "Valerie is just as powerful as I am if we do not act fast then she will surely destroy us."

"Carla are you-" Nathan started.

"Paige I need you to fly up and scope out the area, radio in if you see anything but don't engage in a fight."

"Carla-" Ryder started.

I slammed my fist back on the table and it went straight through like a hot knife and butter. "Shut your mouth. You're lucky I didn't drop kick you the way Carter did."

Everyone had slight terror plastered on their faces.

"Carter I need you on standby if Paige or I sees movement," I ordered in a calm voice to avoid sounding aggressive.

"What are you going to be doing?" Nathan asked.

"I'm going to be using Kate's power and have Hannah on my back and we're going to be ground unit. I'm going to copy the power onto Madelyn and Kathy they will be doing the same thing."

"What about me?" Nathan asked.

"I need you on coms to keep all our radios and trackers in check so we know where everyone is. Use the monitor that Joey used to scan what was wrong with me to keep everyone on maps."

"What about me?" Liam asked.

"You and Axel are going to be infantry, he's going to be your shield."

"What?" Axel exclaimed in shock.

"You're going to have force field powers," I assured him with a light laugh, "Guns are in the pantry in the kitchen."

"Yummy snack," Carter laughed.

His joke cracked everyone else up.

"What about me?" Sarah asked.

"I need you to help Nathan run everything from homebase," I explained.

"I don't get a cool power?" Sarah asked in a half defeated tone.

"No, I'm giving you ice powers to protect homebase," I explained.

"When did you touch Penelope?" Nathan confusedly asked.

"When I got Will's power, they were playing a board game," I explained.

"Why dont you have them help?" Hannah asked.

"Because Will is seven and Penelope is eleven," I explained.

"What about Kate?" Hannah asked.

"Also eleven," I answered.

"Why haven't we met them?" Sarah asked.

"Because we've either been dealing with Carla's excessive emotional outbursts or people dying or kidnappings or all three at the same time," Ryder snapped as he slammed his good hand on the table, "We never get to have down time anymore because we're always dealing with something."

"Ryder sit down," I growled.

"What are you going to do Carla?" He tested, "huh, are you gonna break my arm, oh wait you already did that."

"That's enough Ryder," Carter demanded.

"No, everyone needs to open their eyes and look at what's going on infront of them," Ryder yelled, "She's just going to explode again, hurt someone, maybe even kill twenty soldiers. Hold up she already did that too."

Carter looked at me, I couldn't tell if it was because he didnt know that happened or if he was waiting for me to respond.

He looked back at Ryder, "I said that's enough.

"You're only defending her because you like her," Ryder spat, "Have fun with your murderer."

It was slow motion. I had used speed to slow time enough for me to calm myself before I killed him. I wanted to give him a piece of my mind but I didnt want to create more enemies. I stopped using the speed and sat quietly.

"Ryder, leave her alone," Sarah defended. It was something that I never saw coming. She was turning on her own blood to defend someone that she's known for two weeks.

Ryder gave her a look and she instantly sunk into her seat.

I stood up and then Ryder stood as if he was going to square up to me.

Sarah grabbed his arm but he shook her off.

"Everyone sit down," Paige demanded as she slammed the table.

The room started to rattle causing the roof to drop some dusted stone. Hannah and Madelyn looked up. Kathy and Sarah were staring intensely at Ryder. Nathan and Carter were staring directly at me, and Hannah was looking back and forth between me and Ryder. Carter looked like he was as frustrated as me.

"I guess killing Cleo gave you a thirst for blood."

Chaos erupted when those words came out of his mouth. Kathy and Madelyn were trying to hold Ryder back and failing miserably as Carter and Liam had a hold on either one of my arms.

The building started to shake and a loud rumbling noise erupted from the floor. Nathan and Hannah were getting Axel and Sarah out of the way. Paige ran over to help Madelyn and Kathy.

It was no use, he knocked their grip out and pretty much sprinted for me. He landed a hard punch to the side of my face. I used the speed again to contain myself. Carter had caught on and matched my speed so that he could talk to me. He let go of my wrist and looked at my face.

"Carla," he started.

"Yeah," I asked semi confused, very disoriented, and furious.

"Drag him through the mud... hard."

This was the first time I was encouraged to beat the snot out of someone and I waisted no time getting of Liam's grasp. I gave Ryder the hardest right hook I've never thrown and the force of the punch launched him onto the floor, out cold.

I slapped my hands together as if I was dusting off my hands. I turned to Carter who gave me a slight smile and then Liam who looked extremely worried.

"He punched a girl," I said with a shrug.

I walked over to Ryder and lightly touched his forehead which woke him up. I stood up and offered him a hand up. He took it and I helped him stand to his feet.

"Are you done?" I asked.

"Ugh my head," he complained.

"That's what I thought."

Carter got in Ryder's face and shoved him so his back was against the wall, "Listen, I'm not going to tell you this twice. If I ever catch you laying a hand on a female ever again I will be the one coming after you, and I won't stop as quickly as Carla does. And I definitely won't be healing you afterward. Understood?"

Ryder nodded and Carter backed off.

"If you healed me then why do I have a headache," Ryder asked as he rubbed his head.

"I shattered your skull, the only reason I healed you was because you would've died if I didn't and I wouldn't do that to Sarah, Axel, and Sage." I explained.

His face went from curiosity to dumbfounded.

I rolled my eyes and walked out of the room. Carter followed behind me.

"Carla, hey Carla wait up," Carter called out. I stopped and turned to face him.

"Yeah?"

"You're bleeding," he concerningly said.

"Oh," I said as I touched where Ryder punched me and then looked to see blood on my fingers.

Carter pulled a cloth from his pocket and used it to wipe the blood. I touched my finger to the area and healed it.

"I'm glad you didn't land one of those skull smashers on me when we were brawling,"

"I didn't even land a punch so technically not a fight," I laughed.

Carter shrugged his shoulders with a smile. I turned on my heel and wandered to the front doorway and walked out. The blistering sun hit my skin after I pushed the door open causing me to squint in order to keep my sight.

I blinked a few times to help my eyes adjust to the sunlight before regaining my vision. I walked in the direction of the cabin, making sure not to trip over my own feet. I was rubbing my knuckles together to try and calm myself. I wasn't showing my feelings on the outside but on the inside I felt like trash. I made a hard left into the woods beside the cabin and started wandering. I just needed some time alone.

Some time turned into a few hours, and no doubt I probably had people looking for me. I sighed loudly and punched a tree to my right.

"Ugh," I angrily said as I laced my hair in my fingers and fell to the ground.

They probably were looking for me because they were scared of what I could do, not because they care.

I growled slightly as I pulled myself off the ground and continued walking into the woods. The forest opened up onto a nice beach. The sun was going down so I decided to make a little house to block the wind. It was only tall enough for me to stand up straight and it had enough room for a place to sleep. I curled up onto the soft sand and as quickly as I had gotten there, I had fallen asleep.