The scream of a child was different than that of an adult, at least to me it was. It had a stronger effect. I hit the already cracked door with all my strength and was partly surprised when it flew out of the doorway to hit the opposite wall of the hallway. Then I was out the door glancing up and down the hallway. I had no idea where the scream came from but I figured it was from where ever there was trouble.
I spotted a green twisted farther down the hallway, it appeared a bit charred but moved fine. Perhaps it was the lone survivor from my black lightning, or it ran into something else, no idea.
Another scream confirmed that the child was in the same direction as the green twisted.
"Hide." I ordered Grace and her family then took off down the hallway. Was it irresponsible? Probably, but I couldn't ignore a scared child in need. Before I had moved a few feet I had already charged and released a bolt of black lightning at the green twisted. It hit the twisted in the side sending it flying into the wall.
I rounded a corner to see what was going on only to stop in my tracks fear overwhelming me.
Down the hall was a pair of men, one older maybe mid forties or so, one in his late teens. Both were standing in front of a pair of children hunched over beside the wall crying.
The two men were bracing a door trying to keep it closed. Through the small glass window of the door I could see that there was a crowd of twisted on the other side of the door. However while that would be enough to cause most people's blood to freeze, it just caused me to pause. I had already proven how effective my black lightning was on a group of twisted. While I was a bit tired it wasn't so bad that I couldn't wipe out that crowd of twisted.
What caused me to be afraid was what I saw at the back of the crowd of twisted. Behind the crowd of at least a dozen twisted stood a woman in a disheveled doctors uniform. She stood watching the twisted attacking the door calmly. What was frightening about her was her dark purple skin and completely black eyes.
It was odd, but despite the fact that she was the most dangerous of all the twisted I had seen so far I couldn't help but admit that the her purple skin and black hair looked rather attractive on her despite the eyes. It was a brief thought that was highly inappropriate at the time, and in retrospect said a lot about my priorities.
I thought to myself for a moment trying to decide the best course of action. While the purple skin and black eyes were the only things that seemed to have changed with this female, I remembered Calidia's words, with each increase of tier the twisted would gain great strength and intelligence. A battle with the purple was a bad idea. I was far from being comfortable with my abilities and their use. Sniping from a distance or from behind cover seemed cowardly but it was effective.
Yet the appearance of the purple had given me an idea, though I had no idea how crazy it was. I moved closer to the door then with a thought I created a small space tunnel to a new storage space, it wasn't very large but it would be big enough for what I wanted to do. With a thought I set the opening beneath the purple twisted.
She seemed to sense my actions and tried to dodge to the side but I shifted the opening from the floor to the air beside her where she was heading. Her own momentum carried her into the entrance of the space tunnel.
I was covered in sweat from the effort as I closed the space tunnel locking her into the space.
I could feel a strain and realized that three separate spaces no matter their size was pushing my limit. I wasn't sure how that worked, I wasn't anywhere near the limit of space I could use after reaching two stars in space, yet I was feeling the strain.
With the loss of the purple leader the other twisted paused for a second giving the two men a chance to better brace the doors and step away. Then a blue in the group took charge and the rush against the door resumed. Even with the braces I didn't think the door would last long.
My opportunity came when the window to the door shattered. I sent a powerful bolt of black lightning through the window into the group of twisted.
My actions finally drew the attention of the two men and children.
"We need to go!" I told them, "Is there anyone else here?"
The older man shook his head. "No, everyone else already evacuated or are…." he started then stopped his face looking sad.
"Let's go." I told him firmly.
The older man nodded then grabbed the two children who turned out to be a pair of twin brothers who looked to be around six or seven years old. The teen followed closely behind the old man.
Reassured that they were coming I turned to head back to the room I found Grace in, only to find Grace and her family standing a few feet behind me watching me closely.
I glared at them for a moment, I had told them to hide. If there had been other twisted I wouldn't have been able to protect them.
However I noticed that there had been other twisted, two in fact, both were laying on the ground with blood flowing from their necks as their heads laid several feet to the side. Wind was circling around Grace's hands, obviously she was a quick study.
The anger left me as I realized she must have noticed the other twisted and saved me from ambush.
I looked away from her to the wall then concentrated on my bond with the other girls. With another push of my space ability I opened a space tunnel back to the hospital.
I heard the gasps of surprise as the tunnel formed then I gestured for them to go through first.
The old man and his people went through in a hurry. Grace's family followed a moment later leaving me alone with Grace for a second.
"Thanks for the help." I told her when she just watched me for a moment without going through the space tunnel.
Grace smiled at me then moved quickly to my side then hugged me tightly. I hadn't realized that she was nearly an entire head shorter than I was.
I frowned down at her unsure of why she was doing this here and now.
"It is you I can feel." she murmured into my chest. Then she looked into my eyes, I noticed the tears streaming down her face. "Thank you." she told me seriously. "You pulled me out of the dark, I can never thank you enough."
I smiled down at her. "You're welcome, but let's talk more where it's safe." I told her.
Grace shook her head. "It is faint but I can sense the others over there." she told me. Then her hands grabbed my head and pulled me down for a kiss. I lost myself in the kiss for a moment before we were roughly pulled apart. I was startled to find Megan and Karen on this side of the space tunnel glaring at the pair of us.
Grace gave them an impish grin then scurried through the space tunnel.
"That one is going to be a hand full." Karen noted.
I nodded though I was sure we were thinking about different parts of her. Then again as it was Karen I could be wrong.
"Come on lover boy. The general is waiting for you." Megan told me.
I nodded then was surprised when Megan pushed her way into my arms and stole a kiss from me before taking off through the space tunnel herself.
Did none of my girls understand that flirting in a location that was probably about to be overrun by twisted was a bad idea?
"Come on." Karen called from the entrance of the space tunnel.
I nodded and followed her through before closing the space tunnel behind me.
The old man with the teen and kids had already been led away while Grace's family and Grace stood off to the side of the room.
Calidia was staring at Grace with great interest. I wondered if she could sense Grace's silver mana core.
Derek stood in the room watching me coming through with another man by his side. The new man was old, at least in his sixties, thin and wearing a lab coat and clothes that looked a size too big for him.
"Daryl welcome back." Derek said in greeting though I was sure he seemed a bit irritated. "This is Doctor Welshin he and his team will be taking the twisted off your hands.
I nodded. I was really tired now, that much use of my black lightning and space ability took more out of me than I was expecting.
"Nice to meet you." I replied as I pulled a energy bar out of my space and began to eat it hungrily then gestured for them to lead the way.
Derek didn't seem pleased with my actions, but Jessica and Jamie burst out in laughter causing their uncle to sigh.
Derek and Doctor Welshin led me out of the break room and to the elevator then hit the button for the first floor.
"We will be leaving this site in a few hours." Derek told me.
I looked at him confused.
"I chose this location before the zoo became an issue, and for the facilities it offered for Jamie. Now that she is healed and the zoo is becoming a problem we are going to move to a different location." Derek told me.
"It would be best to choose a location outside of the city." I told him. "The next wave will make things much worse."
Derek nodded. "I will consider it." Derek replied.
I nodded but I didn't get a sense that he was going to listen to me. I wondered if I should move everyone back to the house in Fountain Hills. We had a few twisted encounters out there but it would still be safer than in the middle of the city.