Rufus was busy humming and smiling and tying shoe laces together. Suddenly, sirens started blaring. He dropped the shoes when Georgie came scurrying into the room.
"What do you think that means?" Georgie yelled, pointing at the flashing light in the ceiling.
Rufus only shrugged. There wasn't much sense trying to carry on a conversation over the ear piercing noise. He signaled for Georgie to follow him. They moved together through the door into the gym and study, the last place they had seen Kate.
There was a strange man in front of Kate. Both boys gasped when the stranger threw a round house punch at Kate connecting with her face.
"Oh, my God!" Georgie was so scared he was physically shaking.
Without hesitation, Rufus stormed in the stranger's direction. The man was hovering over Kate's body. She was spread out on the floor. She wasn't moving.
Rufus threw up both hands, sparks flying. The stranger spun around, the lightening missing him completely. Rufus did not stop to figure out how the man knew he was there, but continued to shoot sparks as he moved forward. The man dodged the danger again and again. It was like he was reading Rufus' mind and knew the same instant that Rufus did what he was going to do.
Georgie ran up beside Rufus. Rufus threw his arm out to stop Georgie just short of striking distance from the man. Rufus waited, rocking on the balls of his feet. It was apparent to him that the stranger did not have any physical powers or powers of strength. He suspected the man was a Precog like Anne. How this helped them, Rufus he didn't know. Relief flooded his body when Kate moaned.
Suddenly, the alarm stopped blaring. The silence was as jarring as the sirens had been.
The stranger glanced toward the exterior door.
"Is that blood?" Georgie's whisper was like a scream in the sudden vacuum. His stomach turned, he thought he was going to puke. Rufus ignored him, never taking his eyes off the stranger.
In the darkness of the tunnel, Ethan pulled Anne into his arms.
She tried to explain her vision about the blood, the massacre, the people, but her words came out jumbled. Her nose dripped. She started to shake.
"Lucy, please, come over here!" Ethan had no idea what had set Anne off. He awkwardly patted her back.
"What happened?" Ethan released his grip on Anne as Lucy gently turned her around. Lucy took Anne's hands in hers and calmly, her voice low, spoke to Anne. "Take a deep breath. Good, now release it. Again. In. Out. Again. Good, now what's my name?"
"Lucy." A whisper.
"Good. Where are we?"
"Sweden."
"Awesome." Lucy softly rubbed Anne's hands. "Can you tell us what you saw?"
Anne opened her mouth to answer, but a sob came out instead of the words she meant to say. Ethan hovered protectively over her. Rudy ignored them, frantically pacing non-stop.
The Hive was eerily quiet. Kate tried to get up. "Bradley, what are you doing?" Bradley Jones stopped her with a booted foot on her chest, but didn't turn toward Kate when she spoke. He lived in the same pod as the twins, Rudy and Kate. He knew well their close connections, but also their lack of physical powers. Bradley kept his attention focused on the person he considered the greatest threat: Rufus. He knew he didn't have a lot of time. The guard would be looking in every pod for him.
"Hey, dude, why not let her up?"
Bradley didn't answer, he fixed Rufus with a dead eyed stare.
Rufus didn't look away from the man threatening Kate when he spoke. "Hey, Georgie, remember last Tuesday?
Georgie was too scared to answer.
"Rudy was pretty pissed at the stunt you pulled on me. " Rufus tried to get Georgie to focus.
"Uh, yeah, sure." Georgie sounded confused. "Oh, yeah, right."
Finally, Georgie was getting on board. The man across from them frowned at their conversation. He was distracted, obviously not picking up any signals from them. The man's eyes kept shifting toward the exterior door. Rufus could hear shouting and the sound of heavy boots outside.
Good, Rufus smiled. Might as well give the guy something else to think about.
"Georgie, remember what Rudy said? You weren't to do that again because you could hurt someone." "Oh, yeah, okay." A ball hit the floor in front of Rufus. Then another, and another. Soon balls were flying around the room. Then books became airborne. Dozens of them. Pages fluttered overhead like strange birds. The volumes started dropping to the floor. Pencils stabbed the air. Chairs shuffled about.
Suddenly, Kate reared up and bit Bradley in the calf...hard! He screamed just as the exterior door blew inward. Rufus finished off the attack striking his target with rapid, white, searing bolts of lightning designed to incapacitate.
Kate rolled, dodging Bradley's limp, unconscious body as it fell to the floor.
Rufus laid a gentle hand on Georgie's arm. "Good job, buddy. You can stop now." They ducked and dodged as books, balls and pencils dropped from overhead.
Georgie looked surprised and relieved. "Did I do okay?"
"You were amazing!" Kate walked around Bradley's unconscious body, her gait a little unsteady. "Thank you." She kept her hand on the swelling on her cheek.
Georgie glowed at their approval.
Kate and Georgie watched as The Guard entered. Rufus never took his eyes off of Bradley Jones. There were at least 10 Guard, in full battle gear, all heavily armed. Behind them, almost timidly followed Len Green. He smiled at Rufus, Kate and Georgie. "We'll take it from here. Thanks." Kate shivered.
Anne sat staring at the cold, cranberry coloured walls of the iron mine. She had no tears left. Her mind had gone blessedly blank. Ethan sat on the damp ground, his arm across Anne's shoulder.
Lucy had finished tending to the miners. Rudy was damp and disheveled.
They had no clue why Kate hadn't brought them home to the Hive.