Skye [cont.]

Esai stood in line at the airport. He was so tired. So tired, and so angry. He hated going to the airport. They had a massive energy force-field subduing all powers to prevent any kind of terrorism, but it took it’s toll on the people’s energy. Every flight was full of knocked out passengers. There were no pilots, all planes were remote controlled from the Air Force Base, so any drama on flight was nearly impossible.

The attendant sat behind the glass barrier, eyes blank from the day’s monotony. Her name tag said “Angel” and her attire said ‘I don’t give a shit, give me an excuse to quit.’

The robo-tendants were apparently out of service.

“Where to,” she asked without the proper inflection.
“Seattle, WA,” he responded, placing his chin awkwardly on the scanner.

Her brows furrowed in question but she said nothing while scanning eye for identification.

“Just.. trying to get a change of scenery,” he answered.

The attendant scoffed at him.

“Did you forget what country you are living in? This is corporate America. Every state looks exactly the same.”

She paused her work and looked up at him, “If you want to escape, you should go to Brazil. I’ll come with you.”

Esai was taken aback by her bold self-invitation. He hadn’t thought about leaving the country, he wasn’t sure how he felt about that. He wasn’t sure how he felt about having a stranger tag along either.

On second glance, Esai thought, she was kind of pretty. Her face was a bit awkward. He scratched at his unshaven face and winced. He was no where near presentable.

“Well?” she asked, eyes widening in impatience.
“Ok,” he answered.

Her face lit up in a massive grin. She clacked her decorated fingernails at the touch screen and printed two tickets out.

“Hold onto this for me,” she said, handing him the paperwork. “My name is Angel, I’ll meet you by the Sub & Grub meal cart at Gate 29 in 10 minutes. Don’t leave without me.”

Esai looked at the massive line behind him, and the clear lack of staff or robo-support. He kind of wanted to stay and watch the ensuing fight but hunger got the best of him. He walked down the hall quickly and quietly, searching for Sub & Grub.

Brazil, he thought, that country hadn’t been in the news for decades. He wondered what their state was, if they had a sudden rise in powerful people too. Esai remembered when the Rise happened. The church said people with powers had made a pact with Satan and were to be exorcised. Citizens filled the churches waiting for their cleansing, but when the exorcisms didn’t work, churches were upturned and burned. Some priests were murdered. Some killed themselves, leaving long notes about Christ forsaking us all and how this was purgatory. When the remaining church leaders found they had powers also, they thought they became gods. The tragic end they came to was quick and efficient. There were no more churches.

Esai was only four years old, but he vividly remembered the riots. He remembered the explosions and the earthquakes and the lightening storms. He remembered the when The Dagger shot razor sharp blast of light-waves at the throats of every priest that tried to calm the people. Esai remembered his father’s head falling off his shoulders and rolling behind the pulpit.

“There you are!”
Esai jumped, waking from his memory.
“Sorry, I didn’t mean to startle you. We should get going, we board in 10 minutes.”
The attendant took the lead and walked quickly through the corridors.
“So what’s good about Brazil?” he asked, trying to keep up without outright jogging.
“Nothing at all,” she replied. “Which is exactly why we’re going.”
“I don’t understand.”
“Don’t worry about it. You’ll thank me when we get there.”
“Did you just quit your job back there?”
“Yuup.”

Part 3:

A blast of oxygen was sprayed in bursts the passengers faces to wake them. Esai woke with a sneeze. The windows rolled down, revealing a bright sunlit runway and what was supposedly an airport, except it looked like the aftereffects of a tornado and earthquake combined. He looked around at the neighboring seats wondering who else could possibly want to come here.

To his surprise, the flight ship was full of politicians, doctors, celebrities, and journalists. He looked at Angel. She smiled at him.

“Alcohol, crack, that’s yesterday’s drug. Today we have philanthropy. They’re all going to go to destroyed villages to give the impoverished expired drugs and stale food. They’re going to break families apart by ‘adopting’ one of their kids. They’re going to do this to justify all the horrible crimes they know they will continue to do. This is how they make amends.”

The doors of the plane finally opened, and the passengers shuffled through. He felt the force field holding back his powers physically lift off of his spirit. He took in a deep breath, letting the hot dry air fill him to the brim.

The pilot and flight attendants were tossing luggage onto the bare runway and were preparing to leave. Esai and Angel walked into the airport and saw that it was completely shut down. There were no staff, everyone was left to fend for himself. Arguments were starting to brew between celebrities and politicians.

“Let’s get out of here,” Angel said. They dragged their luggage and walked to the first mud-house they saw. Angel knocked on the door.

“What are you doing?” Esai exclaimed.
“Aren’t you hungry?” she asked.
“Yea but we cant just go to a random house and ask them for food!”
“Why not?”

The thin aluminum door opened, a short chubby lady peered out. She asked a question in another language. Angel responded. They went back and forth. And the lady opened the door letting them in.

It was a small round hut with a gravel floor and a single bed against one side. There were two small children sleeping on top of the covers.

“We can’t stay here,” Esai muttered.
“Just for now,” she assured him.

This was a bad idea, thought Esai. He decided to head back home but he wasn’t sure how to call the plane back. He could track down a celebrity and see how they were planning on getting back.

“You’re not going anywhere,” Angel said, “And when it’s time to leave, I can teleport us back. Don’t worry about it.”

Esai’s eyes widened. He HATED mind-readers.

“I’m taking a walk.” He said and walked outside. It was still noon and the sun beat down hard. Esai didn’t want to admit it, but he wasn’t sure if he could handle the environment. There was no coffee, no high speed Internet, no Burger King. No cabs, no GPS, no running toilets. Most importantly, there was no English.

Esai’s powers were minimal. He could push a thought into a person’s head. He could become invisible. He could run very fast. But that was about it. It worked when he needed to be evasive but it was horrible for survival. His friend Viktor could extract water from anything. He’d never die of dehydration. Dierdre could bring electricity anywhere. Pitbull was everything his name represented. He would never go hungry. All Esai could do was turn invisible. Which was fine if he wanted to steal but he didn’t care for it.

A loud agonizing moan drifted through the air. Esai halted. The moan came again, louder, longer. It sounded like it came from a child. Esai followed the sound, walking westward. He came to an 8 ft high aluminum gate. He grabbed the top and lifted himself to peer over it. It looked like any other yard, with nothing but dirt and trash surrounding another mud-hut. He didn’t see anyone on the other side. The moan came again from below him. A little girl was leaning against the other side of the fence, arms wrapped around her stomach.

Esai jumped over the fence and knelt beside her.

She looked at him and started crying louder, shaking her head. It looked like she wanted to back away, but she couldn’t move.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” he said, “What happened?”

The girl’s cries went hoarse. She couldn’t be more than 6 years old.

He tried using his thought power to relay his concern. Her mind was not hard to break through.

“It’s ok,” he managed to convey, “Tell me what happened so I can help you.”

She quieted, and adjusted her skirts to show the pool of blood growing beneath her. She pointed at him. She said something in Portuguese and started crying again.

He could try to read her mind, but he hated doing that. It was the utmost violation of privacy and there must be laws made for it. But he compromised in this situation.
He put both of his hands on her head and closed his eyes.

He felt her fear being subdued by his presence. He felt her pain. He saw flickering images of the events but it was clear she did not want to revisit them.

He pushed the thought into her mind. “Tell me what happened.”

He immediately saw it. He saw that journalist that was sitting in the back of the plane. The one with the Dick Tracy hat. He had raped her.

Esai grew angry. How was he supposed to deal with this? The journalist needed to be shot. This girl needed medical care. Where was her family? How was he going to get to a hospital? Was there a hospital around here? Where was her family?

He picked up the girl and walked into the mud house, there was no one home. He ran, as fast as he could, back to Angel and the little old lady. They’d take care of her. He’d take care of the journalist.