Charged (Electric) Read online

  Feeling excited and kind of naughty, I text back okay, and get dressed again. I pull on jeans and a hooded sweatshirt, and stuff a pillow under my blanket. I punch it a few times, in an attempt to make it look more realistic. Satisfied, I creep quietly out of my bedroom, into the hallway, and down the stairs. I slip my key off of the hook and cringe at the small squeak the back door makes when I open it. Once it’s closed and locked, I allow myself a small sigh of relief. This sneaking out thing sure is exhilarating.

  Mason is waiting for me beneath the tree that separates our yards. He greets me with a kiss. When we’re done he presses his forehead against mine. “Hi, again.”

  “Hi, again.” I can’t help the smile on my lips. “This is exciting.” I whisper.

  He repositions us so his arms are still wrapped around me, but I’m now far enough away for him to see my whole face. He gazes down at me, quizzically. “Have you never done this before?”

  I’m glad it’s dark out, it covers my blush. “Um, no.”

  He looks taken aback momentarily. “Now I feel like a bad influence.”

  “Well, don’t.” I hold his gaze. “I’ve never really had a good reason to before.” I’m surprised his smile doesn’t light up the whole backyard. “Are you up for a field trip of sorts?” I ask.

  “Lead the way.” He releases all of me except my hand, as I begin to lead him through backyards quietly.

  I take him to our childhood stomping ground. The small park has long since been forgotten by everyone, except those of us who used to play here every day. Two of the four swings still hang, but they’re next to each other, so I drag him over to them and sit down on one. He sits next to me.

  The tingling under my skin hasn’t gone away since the…incident. Rather, I’ve gotten used to it. I haven’t even allowed myself to think of my possible mental breakdown the night I got home from the hospital, but I have steered clear of electrical outlets, no easy feat in this day and age. I would be more than happy to continue on as though nothing is wrong. But as I release Mason’s hand so he can sit on the swing next to me, I reach to grab both chains of my own swing to steady myself. In the darkness, the glow between the metal and my hands is hard to miss. I drop them quickly, but not quick enough and I glance next to me to find Mason gaping at me, open-mouthed.

  I half grimace, half smile at him. “Were your hands just glowing, Kat?” He sputters.

  “Yeah,” I bite my lip and look away. I hope this doesn’t change anything between us. “After…when I got home from the hospital, I thought I was crazy. But I guess if you can see it too, then I’m not, right?” I look back at him, hopeful.

  He’s not freaking out, or running away, which I take as a good sign. When he smiles, I feel my body relax. “It’s kind of cool actually. You really thought you were going crazy?”

  I tell him the story of the weird shimmer and the oddness of the electrical outlet. His eyebrows shoot way up, but to his credit he doesn’t laugh. When I’m done he looks kind of excited. “Have you tried anything else?” He asks.

  I shrug. “Not yet. I wasn’t even sure that it was real. I’ve kind of just been trying to ignore it.”

  He turns his swing towards me. “Try something now, anything.” He encourages.

  I roll my eyes, but stand up making sure Mason is a few feet behind me. I don’t know if I can do anything, but if I can I certainly don’t want hurt him. I hold my hands apart in front of me, palms facing the other, and again I can see the light forming. I focus, and push out all of that nervous energy I’ve had bottled up for days, visualizing it between them. I’m rewarded (and frankly quite shocked,) to see the light grow into a sphere of electric energy.

  “Can you throw it?” Mason asks behind me, startling me and causing the sphere to shrink momentarily before ballooning back to its previous size. I take a deep breath, then throw the sphere in front of me.

  The old teeter-totter had seen better days. So when my sphere of energy hit it and instantly obliterated it, I was only a little surprised. But the aftershock from the electrical explosion, almost like when you see an atomic bomb explosion in a movie, that did surprise me. Mason grabs me quickly from behind, pulling me away. “Kat, are you alright?”

  I do a quick check. “I think so. That was…interesting.”

  “That was freaking awesome.” Mason exclaims. “Can you do it again?”

  I hear a dog barking not too far away. “Maybe we better not.” I say quietly. “That was kind of loud.”

  Mason looks at me. “Okay,” He nods and grabs my hand again. “Let’s get out of here.”

  Now that the adrenaline is waning and the shock of what I just did has sunk in, I’m kind of freaking out. “Has this ever happened to anyone before?” I ask.

  Mason shakes his head. “Not that I’ve ever heard of.”

  “Me either.” I lead us back through the yards without even thinking about it from years of practice. “Do I go back to the hospital?” My stomach turns just thinking about it.

  Mason stops short, using my hand to whip me towards him. “No!” He says much too loudly.

  “Shhh!” I remind him.

  “Sorry,” he runs his free hand through his hair. “But you’ve seen the movies, they’ll lock you up and turn you into some freaky science experiment.”

  I consider this. Mason really looks worried. I definitely don’t want to become a science experiment. I shudder, my mind drifting to those freaky nanobots. “Yeah,” I agree. “I won’t tell anyone else, except for Brie.”

  “Agreed,” he pulls me to him. “You still feel the same.” Nuzzling his nose against mine, he kisses me sweetly. “Mmmm, and you still taste the same.” My knees almost give out. “But I’m a little worried about you. Maybe we should get you home, so you can go to sleep.”

  This time it’s me that answers a little too loudly. “No!” I catch myself. “I’ve been having a hard time getting to sleep, since…” My voice trails off.

  Mason and I end up staying up until we can no longer deny the impending sunrise, lying in a secluded corner of my backyard, gazing at the sky. Grudgingly, we part, which is just silly because in a couple hours we’ll be going to school together.

  After having some time to think it over, I’m still completely freaked out by my shocking new talent. But I feel better, having Mason know, and more than anything, knowing that I’m not losing my mind. Of course, the alternative is not any more comforting than insanity, but I still prefer it.

  I text Brie as soon as I think she’s up. I need to spill the beans to her, too, or she’ll be really pissed at me for holding out on her. Not telling Brie doesn’t even occur to me. Brie would never tell any of my secrets, and while glowing and throwing zappy spheres is not my typical type of secret, I know it will still be safe.

  When Mason and I meet up with her she is about to explode with curiosity. Best friend or not, I know in this case that it’s something that she has to see first-hand to believe. She demands that we forfeit first period and let her into the loop. I have no qualms missing gym, and Mason just shrugs, so we let her lead us back to her house. Her mom has already left for the day.

  “Okay,” Brie huffs. “Now, spill.”

  I jump into the story yet again, walking into Brie’s kitchen for the first demonstration. Standing next to the outlet by her back door, and warning them to stand back, I raise my hand towards the outlet and approach it. Almost a foot away from it, I feel the tingling sensation jump from my palm, and then the current is visible.

  Both Brie and Mason are doing their best goldfish impressions, frozen otherwise in blatant shock. I lower my hand, the energy disappearing from sight, and I feel what my body has absorbed. I turn to them both. “We should probably go outside for part two.” Not waiting for a response, I go out the back door, sitting on the steps of the porch until I hear the door open behind me.

  “There’s more?” Brie asks, quietly.

  I nod. Mason sits next to me, throwing an arm over my shoulder. I can’t hel
p but feel a little self-conscious. “I’m a total freak, right?”

  Mason says no at the same time Brie says yes. They both stop talking, and maybe I’m slightly hysterical, but I find it so funny that I begin laughing, hard. Within a few seconds they are laughing with me.

  When we recover, both of them seem to be regarding me normally again. Brie looks at me, smirking. “So, c’mon already, I still want to see.”

  I glance at Mason. We still don’t know how volatile the sphere can be. “Maybe we should go back to that playground?”

  In agreement, we leave our bags and weave through the backyards again to the old park. Brie stops in front of the old, now obliterated teeter-totter. “What the heck happened to this thing?” She asks and as I blush, her eyes widen. “Get out.”

  Instructing her and Mason to stand behind me in the trees, I look for my next target. I see the old slide, complete with holes. It looks dangerous, so I guess it’s almost a public service to demolish it…at least that’s what I tell myself as I hold my palms out in front of me again, facing the other.

  Again I push the energy out, visualizing it. I throw the glowing sphere in my hands at the slide, but this time I’m prepared for the aftershock of it, and I duck down to one knee, placing a steadying hand on the ground. The effect is the same as last time.

  “Holy crap!” Brie exclaims. But her eyes are dancing. “Kat, that’s amazing!”

  I smile. “It is kind of cool, isn’t it?”

  “I told you.” Mason says. “I wonder, can you make it less intense, like change the power of it so it’s not quite so potent?”

  I shrug, but give it a try. I try sending a small sphere at a small leftover piece of the slide. It coats the metal in an eerie glow before it dissipates. I play around for a few more minutes, but then a quick glance at my phone tells me that we should be on our way.

  Chapter Five

  Back at Brie’s we grab our bags. We still have a few minutes, and perhaps out of habit, she flicks on the TV while we wait. The screen catches all of our attention:

  “…at this rate, the numbers are staggering. Within just a few days the entire eastern seaboard will be affected, unless we figure out how to stop them.”

  Another reporter’s voice cuts in, “The issue with that, Jim, is that at the rate people are falling to this, all of the scientists with the knowledge to fix them will be overtaken, before they have a chance.”

  The screen changes from the debating reporters to a news studio. “If you are just joining us, we are reporting live, up to the minute coverage of the nanobot invasion. Early this morning, Michael Roberts, the man with the first successfully regenerated limb through nanotechnology, was found in his room, deceased. Upon discovery, police were called on the scene. It didn’t take long for people to notice things changing.

  “In the beginning, four out of six people exposed to Michael’s body began exhibiting symptoms of a fever and a rash. Within thirty minute, the numbers had risen to sixty. Approximately twenty minutes after the onset of symptoms, those affected have lost consciousness. When they awaken, they no longer appear human. Their emotions are gone, their movements calculated. Dr. Julian Ford explains.”

  Dr. Ford appears uncomfortable on the screen, in his own small box in the corner. I assume he is being shot on location in his lab at BioNano. His voice is shaky as he begins. “Thank you.” He clears his throat. “The onset of symptoms is the indicator that these rogue nanobots have infected a body. They appear like that of a virus, because the nanobots are infecting a body as a foreign entity and the body is trying to fight it off.” His voice grows somber. “Upon exposure, there’s no hope of containment and currently, though we are hard at work, we do not have the ability to stop them. They appear to be taking control of those they have infected. At this time, we don’t know what intentions they have, if any. Please, remain indoors if possible, but remember that exposure does not stop with people. These nanobots work on a molecular level. Everything they come in contact with, people, animals, buildings, even water can become a carrier.”

  It’s the noise outside that breaks our trance with the television. Mason moves towards the window. “You guys should see this.”

  Brie and I move to the window. It’s pandemonium outside. The roads are jammed, drivers seem to be laying on their horns. People are running past each other on the sidewalks. Scared, I turn from the window and grab my phone. I try calling my mom, but it beeps at me, saying there’s no service. I frown and try Brie’s house phone. It’s dead, too.

  I see Mason with his phone in his hand. He shakes his head. Brie rummages through her backpack and pulls hers out. I can tell by her frustrated expression that it’s not working either. My mind is racing. I want to find my mom, and I’m sure Brie does too, and Mason his parents. It doesn’t seem safe to separate. We need to stay together.

  I take my backpack and dump it out on Brie’s kitchen table. I pluck a few things out of the pile, and rummage through Brie’s kitchen. I find matches, an LED flashlight, and a can opener, throwing them in my backpack. “We have to go.” I tell Mason and Brie. “We can try to find our parents, but once we do, we can’t stay here. BioNano is less than an hour east of here. If these things are spreading, we need to go west as quickly as possible, and judging by the traffic outside, we better go on foot.”

  The contents of their bags have joined mine. My mind is still racing. “Brie, pack a change of clothes, and anything else you think you might need, but make sure you can carry it. We’ll leave a note for your mom to stay put. We can go check my house and Mason’s and then come back.”

  “What if nobody’s there?” Brie looks terrified.

  “We can go look for them.” Mason suggests.

  I bite my lip. “I think we should take everything on an individualized basis right now. And I really don’t think we should assume anything.” I pull some water out of the fridge, two bottles for each of us, and toss Mason and Brie their bottles. “We should hurry.” A scream out front confirms this.

  Brie takes off to her room. I throw a couple cans of food into my bag and Mason’s. When I stop, I break down. Mason holds me as I lose it for a minute. “What if they’re not there, Mason? What do we do?”

  He sighs. “I don’t know. I think your right. It seems crazy out there, we’ll have to take it as it comes.”

  I nod, slightly mollified that I’m not the only one who doesn’t know what to do. Before I can freak out anymore, Brie is back and ready to go. She’s changed into more suitable walking clothes. “Got everything?”

  She nods, “Oh, the note!” Quickly, she jots down a note to her mom leaving it in plain view on the counter.

  We make sure the house is locked up tight before we stand by the back door. The back yards appear empty, but we can still hear the panic on the streets out front. Locking the back door behind us, we creep through the backyards without incident, until we reach the street we have to cross, in order to get to the next set of yards.

  I’m not surprised to see it’s as chaotic as Brie’s street. Everyone is hysterical, and trying to get out of town at once, with no regard for anyone’s safety. “We have to get across, try to stay together and not to draw attention to ourselves. The last thing we need are people catching onto our plan and tearing through the yards after us.” I whisper.

  I take another look, and Mason pulls me back quickly, as a car comes flying down the sidewalk. It misses me by inches. Seconds later, it crashes into a telephone pole, and the front of the car catches fire, smoke billowing from it a few feet away. I figure this is about as good a chance as we’re going to get. “Go!” I yell, and take off weaving through the mess of cars and people, hoping Brie and Mason are behind me.

  When I round the corner behind the house across the street, I stop, resting my hands on my thighs, trying to catch my breath. To my relief, Mason and Brie appear next to me almost instantly, mirroring my actions.

  “That was like an obstacle course.” Mason says.

 
“Really,” Brie agrees, taking big gulps of air.

  I want to wait to catch our breath more, but another explosion from the road tells me it’s time to move again. “C’mon.”

  My house is empty when we get there. I change quickly, throw some clothes and some more supplies in my bag, and leave my own note for my mom. We find Mason’s house empty too. It’s discouraging, and we take a minute to figure out our next move.

  “Let’s go up to the attic.” Mason suggests. “We can at least have a better view of what’s going on outside.”

  It’s a good thing we did, but my heart falls as I look towards the downtown area, the place where all of our parents work. It looks like a war zone, completely impassable. My heart breaks, thinking of my mom. She’s working at the hospital. If people came in, infected, there would be no hope for her. Staring at the smoke and throngs of people running, I know we can’t go there, can’t look for our parents. Brie starts to cry, and Mason’s cheeks are wet. None of us have to say anything, we all know.

  I’m the one to break the silence. “We have to go.” My voice is numb.

  Brie nods. Mason tears his gaze from the window. “I have some camping stuff, in the garage, should I grab that, too?”

  “That’s a good idea. We’ll grab some more food and water. Do you have a map by any chance?”

  He directs me to a bookcase and I grab a map of northern New England. Turning to go, something metal catches my eye. I pick up an antique compass, holding it flat in my palm to see if it still works. It does, so I shove it in my pocket.

  I take the map and lay it across Mason’s dining room table. The three of us stand over it, trying to plot the best way out of town. Once we decide on a course, we strap on our packs and make sure Mason’s house is locked up as tightly as mine and Brie’s.

  Like bad deja-vu, we all stand huddled by Mason’s back door, peeking out, just like we had to at my house and Brie’s before. Though our luck has run out with the backyards, other people have taken to fleeing through them, too. At least they’re leaving the houses alone. I stare nostalgically at my house, not knowing if I’ll ever see it again.