Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) (39 page)

Cemmera snarled and bit her lip. Oddly, two of
the men behind her gave each other worried, acknowledging looks,
almost as if they’d expected Alana to respond the way she had. One
was a muscular, middle-aged man, also around Alana’s age. The other
was a short and stocky man, appearing to be of Spanish
descent.

“
You’ll be happy to know, Mrs.
Harris, that we do not have a kill-order. We are just going to take
him and ask him some questions.”

Alana grinned. “You are, are you? I’m sorry,
which department did you say you were from again?”

Cemmera slammed her fist down on the table and
stood up, pointing a threatening finger at her. “Do not make a fool
out of me, Mrs. Harris. I have an abundance of evidence linking
your son to a series of murders.”

Alana pretended to be captivated by her words,
and with obvious mockery, she nodded like a child listening to a
fairytale. “Whoa, that sounds awful. You should go and tell that to
an Investigative team right away!”

The woman trembled with what was obviously
rage. In two quick strides, she crossed the distance from the table
to the stove where Alana was making tea and came to stand nose to
nose with her.

“
You’re going to learn I don’t like
to be mocked, Mrs. Harris. Now, I tried to be civil, I really did.
So here’s how this is going to work. You can either
A,
lead me to Jack,
B,
sit here and do nothing, or
C,
you can run away screaming and flailing your arms. I
will accept any of these options, but get in my way, and I will
turn you into something that can slide down a sewer grate. Do we
have an understanding, tramp?”

Well,
Alana
thought,
no one can say I didn’t at least try to
keep my cool.

Alana kept her cheerful smile on her face and
even paused to pour herself a small cup of tea, sipping at it with
delighted ease. It was underneath this appearance of nonchalance
that burned inside her a fiery pit of rage so massive that even the
surface of the sun could not compare to the heat of it.

“
You know, Mrs. Cemmera, umm,
Wilson—was it? Before you go and retrieve my son, I was wondering,
do you know anything about me? His mother?”

Cemmera scoffed at her. “I know you’re some
kind of lowly Psych, probably worse trash than the Carebears you
seem to revere so much.”

“
Did you know that I used to go by
another name? Besides Mrs. Harris, that is. It was a name I heard
the most when I was asking someone a question.”

Cemmera crossed her arms and laughed. “I
suppose you’re going to tell me something that will impress me?
Please, then, by all means, what oh what did they call
you?”

Alana’s grin became wider, almost maniacal.
“They used to look at me and say, ‘
As you command, General
Harris
.’”

Cemmera wasn’t given enough time to let Alana’s
words dawn on her. She got as far as raising a single eyebrow
before Alana grabbed at her with a tremendous Kinetic force,
lifting her into the air and sending her crashing through the
kitchen window. For a moment, all that could be heard was the sound
of the glass shattering, followed by the sound of a crash outside
as the woman landed on—and probably broke—most of Alana’s flowering
pots. From beyond the window came a scream of agony and
rage.

For almost ten full seconds, the four men
looked at each other with their mouths hanging open before snapping
out of their disbelief and surrounding her. Alana knew then that
she was probably going to die.

She understood right away that the real
problem, the nail in her coffin, was going to be the Reinforcer. As
soon as the four men snapped to attention and launched their
assault, Alana realized just how messed up of a situation she was
in.

To call it dire would be an understatement—it
was catastrophic. For one, the two Telekinetics were already after
her with what could only be called a fanatic desperation as they
attempted to grab, push, or otherwise cripple her. Alana had to
draw on every last bit of power she could, down to the smallest
drop, just to fight off their grabs. If a single one made contact,
it was over.

This led to the second problem, the Telepath.
The short and stocky man disrupted her. His head was face down,
looking at the kitchen table. He was seated, his entire
concentration bent on breaking hers. She could do nothing to stop
him, because to divert even a single moment of attention from
fighting off the two Kinetic’s grabs would spell out instant death.
She was doing everything she could just to hold them
off.

It was for these reasons that the Reinforcer
was the icing on the cake, but there was nothing she could do about
him. To make matters worse, Alana could already hear the groans
from outside the window as the Cemmera-woman recovered. She would
be rejoining the fight soon.

Alana ripped open her topmost cabinet drawer
and grabbed the sharpest knife she could find. Her chances of
survival were almost zero, but there was still one possible way she
could make it out alive. It was close to impossible, yet Alana
wouldn’t die without at least trying.

She needed to kill the Telepath—it was as
simple as that. If she could stick the knife in his throat, she
could handle the other three. Alana was a powerful woman, counted
at one point among the greatest of her affinity. She was almost as
good as her husband.

She lived Telekinesis, she breathed
Telekinesis, and it was more to her than just her
affinity—telekinesis was her life. It wasn’t her power that had
once caused her to be considered among the best. There had been
Kinetics far more powerful than she, who’d never made it to the
rank of Captain, let alone team-leader. Power could only bring you
so far. Even a Psych with a fraction of another’s power could
emerge the victor in a fight, if the power was well
used.

Much like the way a locked door can be opened
if you have the proper key, or a gigantic knot can be undone by
simply tugging at the proper string, there were always
vulnerabilities in the affinities, and there was always
technique
. Alana wasn’t the strongest, but she was the
embodiment of skill. Even with the Path weakening her to such a
large extent, she could still brush aside the grabbing attempts
made by the two Telekinetics, regardless of their overwhelming
force. It was almost a matter of pride with Alana. No Telekinetic,
especially not ones that were Op. team animals, would bring this
gal down.

The Reinforcer rushed her, trying to decapitate
her with a down-handed swing. She leaped to the side, rolling on
the white-tiled kitchen floor. The man’s fist exploded through the
sink, ripping all the way through to the cabinet underneath,
spraying water and debris in every direction. The odds were so
stacked against her that it was almost comical.

She charged forward, knife-end pointed
downward, ready to kill the Telepath. The Reinforcer was faster, as
she expected he would be. He jumped off the back of his heels and
tried to tackle her. Alana kicked out her legs and threw herself to
the ground as the man flew just an inch over her head. He landed on
his stomach, and in an instant was back on his feet, only now he
was in front of her. He knew what she had intended—it was obvious.
He wasn’t going to let her get to his Path.

Time was running out. It had only been a few
seconds, yet it in another few the Cemmera-woman would return.
Whatever affinity Cemmera was, it would be too much for Alana to
handle. In fact, what she was already facing was too much for her
to handle.

“
Nice try,” the Reinforcer said.
“But you’re not going near our Path.”

He charged at her again, and this time Alana
had nowhere to run—he was just too fast. If he collided with her,
she would die. It would be like getting hit in the chest by a
speeding bus. She had no choice. She had to divert all of her power
towards stopping the large man.

The two Kinetics looked confused for a moment
as they no doubt felt her resistance fade. Taking advantage of
their momentary surprise, Alana poured her rage into the
Reinforcer, throwing her Kinetic energies at him. Alana flung him
in the opposite direction at an even faster speed than he was
charging at her with. The Reinforcer was sent soaring just overhead
of the concentrating Path. He crashed through the wall behind him
and landed with a groan on the living room floor. Dust and paint
chips were scattered on impact as Alana watched her house get
destroyed. The home, however, was the very least of her concerns at
the moment.

The Kinetics grinned. Now that they had an
opening, they were able to grab at her. Alana cried out as she
found herself slammed to the floor with a thud, only to be picked
up yet again and tossed around like a child, skimming along the
counter-tops, knocking plates, napkin-holders, and glass cups to
the ground, breaking just about everything in her
kitchen.

The pain was intense, and she struggled to once
again regain control. They threw her all around the room. Each
intense collision weakened her, causing her to shout out in pain.
She screamed as she desperately tried to regain her focus and fight
off the two. It wasn’t easy, and the Kinetics managed to toss her
two more times before she was once again able to reassert her
dominance. She landed on her back against the hard, tiled-floor.
The attacks had stopped, but they had done their damage.

“
Damn you all.” She coughed, and
trickles of blood fell out of her mouth, landing on the floor
beside her.

The Reinforcer was back on his feet. Alana
didn’t know if she was crazy or simply dazed from the beating she’d
received, but when the Reinforcer returned to the room, he didn’t
use the door, choosing instead to enter back through the wall she’d
sent him crashing through. This caused Alana to burst out
laughing.

In what was Alana’s biggest surprise of the
night, each one of the men began laughing along with
her.

“
It is kind of funny,” the
Reinforcer said, covered in dust. “But hey, at least you get to die
smiling, Mrs. Harris. I think everyone should know the name of the
man who killed them. My name is Neil, and it was nice meeting
you.”

Alana was still lying on the ground and
struggling to keep the Kinetics off her. As the man towered over
her with his left hand gripped into a fist, Alana knew it was going
to be the last thing she’d ever see.

“
What’s everyone laughing about? Can
I get in on the joke too?” asked a voice.

The man, Neil, turned his head to face the
voice. He only faced it for a moment, though, because an instant
later his head snapped in the opposite direction. With a crackling,
crunching sound a fist collided with his jaw, sending him soaring
with a
bang
into another set of cabinets next to the sink,
rendering more of Alana’s kitchen destroyed and useless.

“
They say when two of us fight, one
of us dies. I’ve never killed a man, so I guess you’re going to be
my first.”

Alana couldn’t believe what she was seeing.
Melissa, with a look of tremendous fury, hovered over Alana with
her arm still extended from where she’d decked Neil.

“
Melissa, why did you come down
here? It’s dangerous. You could die.”

“
Because,” she said. “If I let his
mom die, Jack will never forgive me. I can’t live with
that.”

The two Kinetics gaped at the girl who’d just
sent their Reinforcer scrambling face first into kitchen furniture.
It was just the opportunity Alana had been waiting for. It was
finally her chance to fight back. She was exhausted, badly injured,
and at the very least had a few broken ribs, if not other
bones.

Telekinetics could only move what they were
able to see. Lying down, Alana tilted her head as far back as it
would go, almost until it hurt. In the corner of her eyes, she
spotted it—the two utensil drawers left of the now broken sink,
which was shooting up water like a fire hydrant.

The two drawers sprang open, and in an
overwhelming display of Alana’s fullest, unhindered power, every
last knife, fork, and even spoon zipped across the room, flying at
tremendous speed towards the Telepath.

Melissa stood frozen in terror as almost thirty
knives threatened to skewer her. Alana coughed a victorious laugh,
and the knives changed direction in mid-air. They swerved and flew
above Melissa’s head without causing the girl any harm. The
Telepath only had time to look up in confusion, as he was turned
into a human dartboard, pierced from head to toe by knives, forks,
and the reverse end of spoons. His death was instant.

Cemmera burst into the room, wearing a broken
flowering pot as a hat. She looked like an enraged demon out of
hell. Alana didn’t think she’d ever seen anger on someone quite
like Cemmera was wearing at that moment.

Her hands were shaking. Her tongue hung from
her mouth. She craned her neck sideways and moaned.

“
Kill you … gonna kill you all …
Gonna make it hurt!”

Alana was too exhausted to even respond. She
had done her best, and now she had to trust that Paro would arrive
on time. She laughed at the foolish-looking woman with the
flower-pot-hat before she passed out. She prayed that when … if she
woke up again, all would be fine.