8 Chapter 7

"This wasnt about peace."

"Never was Carla," Valerie scoffed.

A million thoughts rushed through my head. Carter was gone. Liam and Kathy were guarding our people. Nathan, Paige, and Madelyn are missing. I'm alone. I'm alone with four people in the house. Four humans. I glared at Valerie who's green eyes started to glow a mild yellow color. Was she superhuman?

A hot laser beam shot out of Valerie's eyes and right through me. I grew the rock that I was messing with into a shield and blocked the beam while my body closed back up. I slammed the rock shield into her and her people open fired. It was twenty-one people verses one. I grabbed the gun from my pocket and started firing at her people. Luckily, while Lucy taught me Spanish, she also taught me how to fire pretty accurately. I threw the rock shield at Valerie and rolled to the side while she shot a laser at it.

I jumped infront of her and placed my hand on her forehead. She went limp and hit the floor. Her people stopped shooting as they saw their leader drop. I felt my eyes start to burn as I angrily glared at her people. Before I knew it, there was a hot laser beam shooting out of my eyes and disabling the enemies.

The beam stopped and I fell to my hands and knees on the ground.

Murderer.

I shook my head of my thoughts and then placed my forehead on the dirt beneath me. The word circled my brain over and over. I didn't know any of those people. For all I knew they could've just been ordered by Valerie to be like that.

"Are you satisfied now?" A hoarse voice said before coughing.

I lifted my head to see Valerie sitting up and staring over at me, "You killed innocent people. Are you satisfied?"

"Shut up," I growled.

"What do people call that?"

"Shut. Up." I demanded. I had no energy to fight back with anything but my words.

"Murderer," My stomach churned at her words. Most of me wanted to cry but the little sliver that didnt, wanted me to kill her for pushing buttons.

Don't kill her.

I broke down in tears.

"Quite the leader," Valerie scoffed, "Can't even handle a little blood."

I continued to sob in the dirt.

A heard her footsteps slowly walk away in the direction she came. They stopped a few feet away.

"You're pathetic," she hissed.

"I know," I said between gasps for air.

The footsteps got farther and farther away until I couldn't hear them anymore.

I laid in the dirt for at least a half hour before my radio started to go off.

"Carla?" Kathy's voice called from the radio, "Anyone?"

I slowly sat up and pulled the radio from my waistband.

"Yeah?" I asked in a blank and sniffly voice.

"Is everything clear?" Kathy asked.

"Yeah, everything's fine now," I answered.

I put the radio back on my waistband and wiped the dirt from my face. I sighed and then stood up. Valerie was nowhere in sight.

I walked over to the twenty who were laying on the dirt beneath where they were standing. I sighed and walked a few feet to my left where there were some trees and I used my powers to make a long trench that would be able to hold all of them without them touching. I walked over to the closest person and carried them to the trench where I laid them on the rightmost part. I turned and my heart jumped out of my chest when I was face to face with the older brother from the house.

"I'm helping whether you like it or not so don't argue," He demanded. He had a stern facial expression that screamed that he was worried. He probably thought I was going to kill him.

I few people later we locked eye contact for a few seconds. "I never got your name," I mentioned.

"Ryder," he answered before glancing over at the trench and back at me, "You're not a murderer."

I let out a nervous laugh. "Really? How many more people do I have to kill before you change that insane statement?" I shakily said as I gestured at the ditch, "That's twenty, that classifies me as a serial killer."

"You're not a murderer though," Ryder stated. He moved closer to me and wrapped his fingers around my necklace. He ran his fingers over it as he examined it. "If you were a murderer than you wouldn't have broken down in tears."

I pulled the cross from his hands and tucked it under my shirt, "I cried because I'm not a psycho."

"Not a murderer either," Ryder added.

I took a step back. "Did you come out just so you can give me a pep talk?"

"Not just anyone breaks down after defending themselves and five strangers," Ryder said as he shrugged his shoulders.

I scrunched my lips and then walked over to pick up another person. Ryder grabbed my arm and stopped me. "Self defense is not murder."

"Killing something is murder, when you set standards on what is considered murder and what isn't is when you yourself can be considered crazy."

"Who are you quoting?"

I froze at his words. My eyes started to whell up with tears.

"Someone I indirectly murdered," I sighed as I pulled away from him and picked up another person.

"And who would that be?" Ryder asked as he followed me carrying another person.

"An old friend," I said as I gently set to body down in the trench, "She was full of love and dreams of this place. She always talked about wanting to see snow."

"What happened," Ryder asked.

"Someone shot at me and Cleo was behind me. I hadn't ever been shot at before or I wouldn't have let her stand behind me," I sighed. At this point tears were steadily streaming down my face, "It was my fault for not doing anything to stop it."

"Hm," Ryder responded.

"What?"

"Its just that you're blaming yourself for someone else pulling the trigger," Ryder explained.

I stopped and glared at him.

"What?" He asked.

"Leave me to my own thoughts please."

"Don't do this to yourself," Ryder sympathetically said as he gestured his hand towards me.

"Just let me fight my own demons."

Ryder rolled his eyes and started to walk back to the house.

"Where are you going?" I called out.

Ryder dramatically turned around. "You don't get it," he started walking back towards me, "You're asking to be left alone in your own sadness."

"Bu-"

"You're asking to fight your demons alone."

"Tha-"

"And you're pushing away everyone because of it."

"I'm trying not to burden everyone with my problems," I protested.

Ryder was just a few feet from me, his body language screamed anger.

"I don't even know your name but I feel like I know you already. The only thing you've ever done to me is be rude and push me away, and yet I'm still standing here." He gestured to the open field we had to walk through to get here, "You are focusing on the wrong thing right now."

A few tears ran down my face. "And what is the right thing to focus on right now?" I angrily snapped.

"Where are your friends?" Ryder snapped back.

I looked up at him, his face went from irritated to absolute fear. My body language went from depressed to surprised and then anger.

Ryder's eyes got real big as I looked back and forth slowly between him and the field.

"Hey," he whispered in a calming manner, "we need to think of a game plan."

I had frozen, engulfed in anger. I let Valerie leave eith my friends.

"If they're dead," I muttered. I looked over at Ryder who still seemed terrified, "Then you'll consider me a murderer."