The Center: Tester - Part 13

By Blackout

Supreme Editor: Zip

Ok to show my thanks to Zip for editing I decided for this chapter to name Zip the supreme editor. Treat Zip like the supreme editor with thanks and applause! I have started writing part 14 and hope to have it up sooner or later. Like with other projects I need to get done. P.s. I am really hoping to get another Elemental Awakening up soon!

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Let’s rewind the clocks a little…..

Meanwhile, where is Mattie?
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As the headache continued, I felt the presence of the cell. The very cement began to creak and break.

“YAAAAAHHHHH!”

Through the great exertion, I noticed a crack in the wall. Then the whole room started to shake.

‘RUUUMMMBBBBLLLLEE!!!!’

With the intense shaking the crack got bigger and bigger and eventually the whole room came apart. The cement the cell was made of had been broken into smaller pieces. All at once the room was an utter mess. Somehow I had caused a quake. I could feel the earth. All the dirt and sediments were ringing around me. I could feel the strength and resistance of dirt. I even had some sense of the fundamental elements of stone within the metal. Although knowing what I did know, I could figure that metal would be hard if not next to impossible to reshape due to what little fundamental stone and other elements laid within it.

‘Pant!’ ‘Pant!’

Falling to my knees I began taking deep breaths. Although I felt a lot better now, the pain had subsided after I stopped, but it still took a ton out of me.

“Damn, is using your power always this exhausting!”

“No! It does use energy but my telekinesis did not make me fall down. Maybe your power is too strong that it takes a lot out of you.”

“Yeah, I guess you’re right. To be honest this is all way too much for me to handle right now. I think my brain has shut down.”

“Hahaha! Sure Mattie. Well since you opened an escape route let’s get out of here. We can talk about everything else later”

The cell had crumbled into pieces and light was filtering into the cell from the ceiling. It appeared as if this cell was inside some bigger building. Other cells were next to ours in a row. Some of them in ruins more than others now. The whole facility building we were in looked enormous. I had no idea where the heck I was.

We crawled out of the ruins and made our way out. I could already hear footsteps pounding behind us. I was feeling much better now. We decided to make a break for it. Amber and I started to run down the hall. Soon we came to a staircase and guess what we found waiting for us there. That’s right a bunch of armed soldiers.

“Men, fire! We need to knock them out!” One of the soldiers ordered.

‘Boom’ ‘Boom’ ‘Boom’

The projectiles came at us. Just when they were about to hit us it seemed as if time stopped. There, frozen in the air, were the capsule like darts intended to knock us out. It appeared as if they had just frozen in time while flying in midair.

“Whoa Mattie check it out! My telekinesis rules!”

“What? You froze them?”

“Yep! Now take this you villainous scum! I am the defender of truth and justice!”

Amber sent the injectors back at the soldiers, hitting each of them. As the darts hit, they all toppled over.

“Did you really have to add a superhero monologue? Don’t you know what type of situation we are in right now?”

“Yeah, I do. But can’t I lighten the mood of this situation. Getting too tense can’t be good.”

“Fine… sure.”

Looking around on the staircase I saw a sign reading; Basement Level 8: Prisoner Confinement.

“Well Amber, it appears as if we are eight floors underground.”

“Damn can’t you use your earth power to get us out of here?”

“No way. It put too much of a drain on me just using it to escape our cell. I doubt I could use it to escape up eight floors.”

“True I guess we have no choice but to continue forward.”

Climbing the stairs was tiring, but I guess we were lucky to not run into any more soldiers. Still, I could hear people from downstairs. We came to Level Seven. According to the sign it appeared as though Level Seven was the Research department. Strangely enough it appeared deserted as though everyone had fled or been evacuated. I was still unsure why we had not encountered more troops. For some reason it appeared only a few had been focused on us. Running through the Research Center I saw tables with straps and other scientific looking machinery in different rooms. It started to get hotter as we ran through that floor.

“Hey Mattie! What’s with that fire ahead of us?”

“Holy Shit! What on earth is going on here?”

Right in front of us, in a few of the rooms, was a fire of massive proportion. It looked like it was done on purpose. I started to feel really hot; it was making me sweat a lot which is really uncomfortable with boobs.

“Amber, there is nothing else to do, but just run through this hall. We will not be able to make it much further if this fire spreads into the hallways.”

“I agree. We will have to run though the hall as fast as possible. It’s just way too hot now.”

We sprinted as fast as we could through the hall. Once we got through we made it to the next staircase. Right now, everything that was going on here was really strange. Running up the staircase it seemed as though this whole place was falling apart. Cracks appeared all over the place in the concrete. It was all so weird.

On Level Six, a sign told me that we had reached the infirmary. Fortune was with me though as the staircase to the next level was right next to the staircase we just exited from.

“HELP ME! SOMEONE ANYONE PLEASE!”

“Huh Mattie did you hear that. There is a girl down here screaming for help.”

“I recognize that voice, she is Megan Brown. She healed my hand.”

“Yeah but she is with the enemy. Should we save her?”

“Yes we should. It’s the right thing to do.”

Amber and I ran toward Megan’s Voice. We eventually found her, trapped under an examination table. The table had somehow fallen over on her. The room she was in was on fire. The fire was practically on her, burning her. Her whole body was quickly becoming consumed. I saw her crying in pain screaming for help.

“Please help me!” She was crying hysterically.

Damn this was going to be a pain. I quickly grabbed a fire extinguisher outside in the hall. Charging in, I sprayed the extinguisher all over the fire. Putting out as much as I could as fast as I could.

“Amber lift the table with you telekinesis, to set her free!”

“Sure I hear you.”

I watched as the table lifted a little. Ambers face was strained. Apparently lifting this big exam table was putting a huge strain on her. I would have to do the rest. I got to Megan, grabbed her hands and pulled her out from under the table and into the hallway.

“Dang, you are practically burned to a crisp” said Amber.

“Thanks..” ‘gasp’ “for saving me! The earthquake was horrible!”

Megan put her hands on her body and started to heal herself. Some of her body began to heal but it looked like it was way too much. Megan collapsed to the floor, unconscious.

“When she said earthquake, you don’t think she was referring to me, do you?”

“Most likely I would say yes. I am guessing your power affected quite a large area.”

“Maybe! I felt like I was about to die after that quake I seemed to cause. Anyway it looks like we are going to have to carry her,” I said.

“Yep, I will get her. I should be able to support her a little more with my power.”

Making our way back, we headed up the staircase. Level Five was the security floor it seemed. There were camera monitors in some rooms on this floor. But this floor was empty as well. So we just made our way further up onto the next staircase. Getting to Level Four was actual a major relief. This floor was more normal as it was a residence floor. I am guessing that people stayed here. As we were walking through, I heard distinct laughter. It was as if someone was talking in my head.

“Well now… Look who escaped.”

I looked around but saw nobody. What was going on?

“And what’s this? You even helped that useless Megan. HAHAHAHA! You confused? Scared? You were doomed ever since you met me at the restaurant!”

Walking out in front of me was the pale skinned girl with white hair that Ryan and I had been confronted by at the restaurant, before all this shit went down.

“Damn you bitch! What have you done to Ryan?”

“Now, now! No need for such foul language. You should be able to meet with your Ryan shortly. Hahahaha!”

“Damn you! Who are you people anyway?”

“That’s none of business. Let’s just say you’re an important investment.”

I had enough of her. I wanted to beat this girl half to death. So I began to charge in with all my strength. But for some reason I could not move. It was like my body did not follow what my mind told it to do. This was getting really scary now.

“You are probably wondering why you can’t move twerp! It’s because I am a dominator, a superior being among the emergents. From the very beginning you stood no chance against me.”

“What the heck is a dominator?”

“It means I can control you, I am dominating your brain. You will serve as the perfect bait out there. I should probably tell you there is a big fight going outside right now, and you are about to serve as a soldier on our side.”

“Wait! Do you honestly think I would just stand here and let this happen” said Amber.

“Of course not, but my associate is more than enough to stop you. Isn’t that right Frosty?”

Out of one of the rooms walked the other thug that attacked me and Ryan. He was grinning evilly from ear to ear.

“This looks like so much fun. I think I will join in.”

“Don you honestly think you’re able to beat me?!” Amber declared.

“Hahaha! He does not have to. I already am dominating your mind, also. But I have no use for you two, so I am leaving Frosty here as guard.”

The Frosty guy walked up to Amber and Megan with a gleeful smile.

“First we freeze the hands. Then we freeze the feet.” As he said this he began to actually freeze Amber’s and Megan’s hands and feet. It was a horrible sight to see.

“AHHHHH! Stop that! Are you trying to freeze us to death?” Amber said. Megan shivered and began to look even paler now. This whole situation did not look good. We had to find a way out of this as quickly as possible.

“Now ladies, I suggest you don’t attempt anything or else I will freeze you both completely!” He gave a wicked grin.

“Now let’s get going, you little twerp!” The albino girl demanded.

I could not control my body I took step after step up the stairs. The whole experience was terrifying. Imagine being a puppet, but you have your brain and you know everything that is happening. No matter how hard you tried to fight it mentally you could not win. You’re a prisoner in your own body. In a way it could be worse than being paralyzed, because at the very least no one else could control your body and make you do what you did not want to. I had become a prisoner to myself and I seemed unable to escape this nightmare ride.

We finally got to the top after walking up the rest of the floors. This whole experience felt like a millennium had gone by. Damn why did all this crazy shit have to go down. I was probably not sane anymore. Yes that had to be it. Ryan’s death had affected me so much that I had gone mentally insane. This was all a figment of my imagination. A farce, any moment now I would wake up from this nightmare of hell. There would be no powers, no organizations after me, and who knows maybe Ryan would come back for me. He had always been there for me so why shouldn’t he come to my aid now when I needed him the most.

I hated this nightmare this torture from hell. Every step I took against my will, I told myself was hell. Every step I took, I told myself this was only a nightmare. But deep down inside I knew the truth. The truth was all this crazy shit was real. There really were powers. This witch behind me really was controlling me somehow. But worst of all, that veil of reality I wanted to rip away the most, kept ringing in my head. Ryan was dead and there was nothing that was going to bring him back.

“Are you ready bait? Hahaha!”

If I could control my own body I would have hit that witch and throw her to the ground.

“Hahaha! I will take your silence as a yes then!”

We walked up the final stairwell. At the top of this staircase was a door. I was made to open this door. The light flooded inside as soon as the door was open.

So their base was completely underground. That would make it impossible to find even with satellite. The bright sun hurt my eyes. Unfortunately because I had no control over my body I could not really close them. I guess being underground for the past few days had done a real number on me.

Outside I saw a striking scene. There was a fight going on between two different groups of troops. The troops in black who had kidnapped me and the soldiers in the typical army camouflage. They were firing at one another. Then, there were other teens with powers, fighting all around me. The place was in utter chaos.

“Ok twerp, its time you turn the tables in our favor now. Time we use that power of yours!” My tormentor said.

I felt the pain again from using my power. I made the earth begin to shake again but only in the area with a large concentration of what appeared to be my enemy’s enemies. I heard screams of pain and shouting as the very ground they were standing on gave way.

I was in so much pain now. Using my powers just seemed to be too much of a burden I was dying but I could not stop using my power. I was being forced to by that white witch and her dominator power. I coughed up a lot of blood, in an instant. I could not hold on much longer. If I kept using my power I was pretty sure I was going to die.

“Hahaha! Are you having fun, you twerp?!”

Great! So she even had to be nasty as she was killing me. Well isn’t that wonderful, I thought sarcastically.

Many eyes on the battlefield turned toward me, to see the source of the earthquakes probably. It would not be long now until they shot at me and ended my torture. In a way, death would be peaceful. I would be able to escape from this torture, and best of all I would be able to join Ryan.

Just when I was about to totally give up hope in life I heard a voice call out to me from somewhere. Someone was calling my name frantically.

“Mattie! Mattie!”

I looked around. It seemed as though a divine being had called out to me. There in front of me was this beautiful girl with long brown hair. She was dazzling and beautiful and she was calling my name for some reason.

That’s when reality hit again. Wait a minute… This girl was actually calling out my name. Yet I had no idea who she was. I had never seen this girl before in my life. Yet somehow she knew me, as she was smiling with the biggest and most beautiful smile I had ever seen in my life. She was crying with happiness as she shouted my name over and over again attempting to make her way over to me. I was really confused now.

Who the heck was this girl? Who was this beautiful angel?