14 Chapter 13

Carter's POV

I woke back up on the same couch, the blonde guy and a similar looking brown haired guy sat in chairs infront of me. The blonde one instantly picked up the radio when he saw I was awake. Without thinking I swung my leg around and kicked him in the face, causing him to fall off his chair onto the ground, then punched the other one. Both were knocked out cold. My powers weren't quite all the way back: I couldn't move fast for very long. I grabbed the red lightweight sweatshirt that the blonde guy was wearing and put it on. I flipped the hood up and grabbed the gun off the table. I looked at my reflection in the microwave door and adjusted my hair so it was in my eyes. It was still dark outside so I hoped that Kathy, Nathan, and Liam would think I was the blonde guy. I turned around so I could walk out the front door; Nathan was on the bottom step of the staircase looking at me.

He grabbed the radio from his waistband and turned the volume all the way up. His defeated face showed that he wasn't telling on me. He flipped the switch and all that came out were screams for help.

"Is that out there?" I asked as I pointed at the door.

"Wait for it," Nathan blankly stated. His defeated voice and defeated look made me realize that something was really wrong.

A few seconds passed before a voice came over the radio again. "We're sorry for whatever we did," a frantic and terrified voice shouted into the radio, "Please pick up, please help us, a girl who is on fire is burning down the city."

I snatched the radio from the hand of the blonde guy and turned it on. I spoke loud and clear so she'd hear me, "Listen to me carefully, you need to shoot a flare into the sky. It is dark and we cant navigate our way there if we have no idea where you are."

"I'm looking for one now," She responded quickly, "Why is she attacking? We didn't harm her."

"What is your name?" I asked into the radio.

"Jasmine," she answered.

"Okay Jasmine are you one of the people in charge?" I asked.

"No,"

"Okay well just so you know, your leader kidnapped four of the flaming girl's people, beat them close to death, and killed one of them. Your leader still has one of our friends," I explained.

The radio fell silent.

"Are you there?" I asked.

She wasn't talking to me but she had pressed the on button for talking. I heard a door shut and the sound of flames crackling. "Hey!" She yelled, "Valerie is in that building, your friend is probably in there too!"

For the first time since I "died" we heard Carla's voice, "Thank you, take as much people as you can round up that way." Her voice was deeper and honestly terrifying. I walked out onto the porch to look for a flare. Suddenly dead ahead of me I saw a little red light sling into the air and explode. I got my feet moving as fast as possible in the direction of the flare. I needed to get to Carla before she got to Valerie, because if I didn't then someone would die. I arrived to the city only five minutes after the flare was launched. A group of over a hundred people were walking in the direction of our camp. I passed them and ran towards the inner city, following the fire trail that Carla left behind her.

I started walking normal speed down a road. The fire had disappeared and I had no idea where else to look. Just then, Valerie's still very alive body was flung from a doorway, across the street and into a car parked on the opposite side of the street.

Valerie groaned in pain and got back up. No human would still be alive.

Valerie used an identical concussive blast to Madelyn's to launch Carla into the building. Carla fire blasted Valerie and Valerie retaliated by using what I assumed was a metal controlling power to bury Carla under a deadly amount of steel.

I was frozen in fear for Carla, but also in curiosity of how Valerie got powers. A rumble of a car came from behind me but I paid no attention to it until it was directly behind me. A blonde guy the brown haired guy, Liam, Nathan, and Kathy all jumped out of the doors and stood there in shock at the scene.

A loud growl erupted from the steel and a large wolf erupted from the pile. It was white and gray. When I say huge I mean that the top of my head was up to it's back.

"When did Carla copy Kate's powers?" Kathy exclaimed. Her hands were on either side of her head further emphasizing her confusion.

Valerie shifted into a wolf, hers was slightly smaller than Carla's and was dark brown.

"What the-?" Liam muttered.

"When did she get powers?" Nathan asked.

"Not sure," The blonde guy said.

"What are you going to do?" Nathan asked. I turned my head to see everyone was staring at me and realized the question was for me.

My attention jerked back to the two wolves fighting as I heard the crack of a bone. My head shot back to the wolves to see that the white wolf was relentlessly going after the other one.

"I can't talk to her like this," I admitted.

"She's still Carla down under the wolf," Kathy explained.

A howl followed by a whimper had interrupted our conversation. The black wolf, still under the white one, started to size down back into a human. The white wolf turned back into Carla. I rushed into action and stood between Valerie who was writhing in pain and Carla.

It was at that moment that I was able to get a good look at her condition. Her eyes were clouded by white, it caused her normal ocean blue eyes to look like a really light, almost white, blue. She was covered in blood, some was hers, some I assumed was Valerie's speaking how bloody she was. Carla had a split sectioning her ear, and a chunk missing out of her left arm. I noticed that her hands and arms were shaking which set me on edge a little.

"Carla," I started, I gently and slowly outreached my arm to her. I noticed her face was tear stained, she was still crying but her face showed no emotion whatsoever. I suddenly understood what Kathy was saying by 'She's moving but nobody's home inside."

Her eyes softened slightly but she still had a blank expression.

"This isn't you," I added, "You're not a murderer."

Her eyes went back to their normal color for a second and then back to the clouded mess.

I was right, this wasn't her, she was under attack. Something was keeping her from being her again.

She swung a fist at me and I caught it.

"Stop-"

The white in her eyes looked like they had sparks in them. Oh crap.

She speed punched me and this time I barely caught it. Speed punches mixed with super strength were a lot stronger than my punches and it was hard to keep up. She never landed a punch and I never swung at her. I was blocking punches for five minutes before I said enough was enough and grabbed both her wrists.

"Stop. Now," I said in a deep and demanding voice. A sharp pain pierced where my neck meets my shoulder and I turned around to see what it was. Valerie was stumbling backwards towards the car holding a bloodly knife in her hand.

"I was trying to save you," I growled and then looked back at Carla. She blinked hard and her eyes were back to normal. Her facial features instantly softened to a concerned look and she dove to catch me before I fell. I was too weak for my body to rapid heal.

I was dying... again.

"You're gonna be okay," she whispered. Her eyes were still crying but she actually had facial expressions now. She looked absolutely devastated.

"You know I did the same thing when I thought you died," I said. I had never told her what went on when she was in a coma; nobody had.

"What do you mean?" She whispered through tears.

"Liam had to hold me down for at least an hour. Nathan took over chest compressions on you so that I didn't flip out,"

Her face was both surprised and sad now. It was a weird combination but I guess it matched the situation. Her facial expression suddenly lightened, her tears weren't flowing as hard.

"I love you," she whispered.

She put her hands on either shoulder and her hands started to glow yellow. A warm sensation started to grow on my neck, Carla's face started to go pale and then she fell out of my view. I sat up and ran my hand over my neck. My speed was back, and my neck was healed. I couldnt hear anything as I turned to see my best friend laying lifeless on the ground.

Liam grabbed me by my arm and pulled me away while Nathan, Kathy, and Madelyn rushed over to Carla.

Nathan started chest compressions and Madelyn checked her pulse. Kathy was holding her hand and crying. "She saved me. She-she saved me," I cried. It was the only thing that was coming out of my mouth over and over again.