Evolution

Chapter 12 - The Plunge

The pool water was freezing as my body slammed through its surface. I took a big chance by hopping off that balcony unsure of what was below. This time however, I got lucky enough to be greeted by a freezing pool and not the deadly cement. The impact stung my back causing me to grunt and breath in water. Automatically, my lungs rejected it and I coughed it back out into the pool. The chlorine burned my eyes as I frantically regained my composure. I needed to get out of here.

Suppressing the urge to breath I began to kick my feet propelling myself of to the surface. I sucked in the refreshing air as soon as my face broke the surface of the crystal blue water. Wiping the water from my eyes I looked around for my escape route. In front of me, an elderly couple gasped and pointed in my direction shaken up my near suicidal dive off the balcony. I could hear the murmurs of the people around me thinking I was some suicidal maniac, but I pushed it out and focused on the task at hand, escape.

I quickly surveyed the area around me. Surrounding the deck of the pool was a high white fence that separated the hotel from the outside world. I swam over to the edge of the pool and tossed myself onto the deck wincing as by body was still stinging from the impact with the pool. I rose up to my feet and rushed over to the fence, easily throwing my body over it and landing on my feet on the other side. I was now on the sidewalk of a busy intersection, traffic flowing steadily in each direction. Across the street was a large park filled with people that overlapped a baseball field. Behind the field, I could see what seemed to be an extensive walking trail that stretched far into the distance weaving in and out of the brush of trees. Perfect, I thought to myself.

After taking in a sharp breath and saying my prayers I ran out into the busy intersection making my way towards the park. Multiple cars slammed on breaks while smacking angrily at their horns. Ignoring it, and thanking my lucky stars I hadn’t hit yet, I kept running forward towards my destination, the walking trail. After a couple more near deadly collisions with the speeding cars I had finally made it across the street and made a beeline for the brush of the trees. Looking back over my shoulder I could see a two men in a black suits chasing after me. Fortunately, they had a much harder time getting across the street than I did. No way they were going to catch me, I was much too fast for them.

Making my way to the trail I hid in the biggest bush I could find waiting for the agents to give up following me. A minute or two passed before they had made their way to the trail, stopping to look around. I could hear them muttering about how I couldn’t have gotten too far away, not that fast anyhow. They knew I had to be somewhere close hiding. In the end, they decided to split up and search the bushes. I felt bad for the one who had the pleasure of finding me. As planned, they broke apart and began to scour the bushes.

On the third bush or so, one of them slowly made their way over to the one I was in, clutching their gun the entire time. He slowly parted the bush with his hand and I jumped out at him thrusting my hands forward and sending him catapulting into a nearby tree. After hear the commotion, the other man whipped around in my direction and prepared to aim his gun my way. Swiftly, I snatched the gun from his hand and tossed it to the side. With his partner down for the count it was just one on one, and I liked my odds. I ran towards him as fast as my legs would allow as he prepared for combat. Surprising him, I used my telekinetic powers to lift him up off the ground allowing me to tackle him down almost effortlessly. Clenching my teeth I let out all my anger and frustration upon his face with fist after fist. It wasn’t until I began to see blood pool from his face that I finally stopped the assault and made my way back over to his partner who was just beginning to get up. He was on his hands and knees crawling his way back over to his gun.

“You tell Odaire if he even thinks of touching my family I’ll kill him myself!” I snarled before kicking him upside the head. The blow wasn’t hard kill him or anything, but enough to knock him out and prove my point. With that, I began to walk away before remember the little piece of my paper in my pocket. I marched back over to the agent and snatched his phone before walking over his limp body and heading in the opposite direction. When I was sure I was out of ear range I pulled the paper with Autumn’s number out my pocket and dialed it. It ringed a couple of times before she picked up.

“Hello?” She answered. She barely got the word out before I quickly explained everything that had happened after they left.

“Oh my god, I’m so sorry. Where are you? We’ll come get you right now!” She said into the phone. I could hear the sound of car keys jingling already. After explaining my location to her, we said our goodbyes and I hung up the phone.

“Evolutionaries are the best!” I cheered to myself. Afterwards, I tossed the phone to the ground and smashed it into a million pieces. I wasn’t taking any chances. Confident the agents wouldn’t come looking for me again after they beat down they received, I just continued to walk the trail. Autumn said they’d be waiting on the other side of the park in about twenty minutes. If I walked slow enough, I’d arrive to the other side right when they did.

Slowly trudging through the park my mind began to drift back to the moments I spent with my family before Scorpio barged in. The guilt was already getting to me as I felt horrible for how I talked to them. I denied them as my parents and refused to even believed they cared for my well-being. All the anger I had towards them faded away and was replaced with a longing for their embraced. That was quite possibly the last time I’d see them and if it was, it would haunt me forever. This was all my fault. They spent years protecting me and when they needed me the most I froze up. None of this would have happened if I just minded my own business when it came to the whole Jeremy thing. Now he was in a coma, my family was gone leaving me with nothing but guilt and regrets. And now I had managed drag even more people into my mess.

I sighed as I reached the end of the trail and made my way into the parking lot. Autumn, Lauren, and Travis were already waiting in the parking lot but this time in a shiny red Nissan Altima. The car glistened in the sunlight as I approached it glumly. When I got into the car, I found myself sitting next a blonde headed girl with frizzy, curly hair, that hung just below her shoulders. She wore a big smiled and waved at me as I closed the car door.

“Hey, I’m Kenzie!” She said cheerfully, her hair and head bobbing as she spoke.

“Hi, I’m Tyler.” I replied looking down at the cup of coffee she had in her hands. No wonder she was so bouncy. Who drinks coffee in the summer time anyways?

After a series of sympathetic apologies from everyone in the car, we spent the rest of the drive in much appreciated silence. I just didn’t want to talk about it anymore, I already felt bad enough.

I didn’t even know I had fell asleep until I felt Kenzie nudge my shoulder. “We’re here!” she cheered. I glanced out the window to the large house that stood before me.

“You guys stay here?” I asked in disbelief. I wondered how could they afford such an expensive house when they didn’t even have jobs.

“I’ll explain when we get inside.” Autumn said presumably reading my mind. I was slightly irked that she did. I guess since I was never around anyone else like me it was a bit strange knowing that there could someone else up in my mind besides me.

When I got out the car I yawned, letting out a deep breath before following everyone else into the house. It was just as nice on the inside as it was on the house. The shining white marble floors of the entrance gave way to the plush carpet of the living room. The color scheme was very calming and modern as the house was filled with various shades of browns that complemented each other perfectly.

“Ah, you must be Tyler,” A middle aged man greeted stepping out in the middle of the hallways. He had come in from the kitchen. “Nice to meet you. My names Aiden Price” He finished holding out his hand for me to shake. I reach out and shake his hand firmly while replying.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Price.” I state politely. He chuckles at bit.

“Please, just call me Aiden. The whole mister thing makes me feel old” he joked. I laughed a bit and nodded as he ushered me into the living room where everyone else had sat down. I sat next to Kenzie as Autumn began to talk.

“So, I guess you have a bunch of questions like how do we all know each other and what we’re doing here.” She said with a smile. I just nod and she continues. “It all started a few years ago...”

A/N: Hope you liked it, and thanks to everyone who has been voting and commenting on each chapter, it means a bunch!! Don't forget to VOTE and COMMENT on this one too!!