Psych Investigation Episodes: Episode 1 (A Young Adult Scifi / Fantasy) (48 page)

Melissa felt the agony in her heart. She felt
the tears that were begging for release, but she ignored all of it.
With the three murderous Psychs standing a few feet in front of
her, the situation had become kill or be killed.

“
Sarah,” Melissa called back over
her shoulder, “get yourself together, girl. Without you we’re as
good as dead.”

Sarah was devastated, her face contorted in
misery. A grimace replaced her usual smile. “I can’t feel him. Oh,
Melissa, I can’t feel him.”

Melissa tried to show sympathy. She wanted to
comfort Sarah. But if Paro had in fact died, then the loss would be
great to them all—it would be something they’d never recover from.
Yet, Melissa was not ready to join him. It was for this reason that
she felt a growing annoyance towards the sobbing
Telepath.

“
You’re about to not feel any of
us
, either!” Melissa snapped. “Are you
trying
to
get us killed?”

Sarah peered up at her, and Melissa immediately
regretted her sharp tone. She could see in Sarah’s eyes that her
words had stung. Sarah opened her mouth to speak but instead shook
her head and took a breath.

She wiped her eyes with her sleeve and nodded.
“You’re right. I’m sorry, Melissa, everyone.”

Sarah walked away from Kazou and Michael and
came to stand with Melissa and Jack. She didn’t stop when she
reached the two of them. She continued to walk and Michael shouted
after her.

There was a large hole in the floor from where
the two humongous Kinetic forces had collided, leading to what
seemed like a maintenance tunnel below. Sarah walked carefully
around it, pausing to glance at the destruction. She shook her
head—it was the same reaction Melissa had when she’d first glimpsed
the destruction.

What is Sarah doing?
Melissa
wondered.

Melissa tried to grab Sarah and pull her back.
Jack surprised her and tugged at her own arm. “No, Melissa. Let her
go.”

“
But Jack,” she protested. Jack was
not one to make demands of anyone, yet he seemed intent on allowing
Sarah to walk right up to the three Psychs. None of the three
appeared alarmed by her approach. If anything, they seemed amused
as she stood before them.

Sarah was in her mid-twenties, but Melissa
wondered if emotionally she was the youngest on the team. Despite
being almost a decade younger than Sarah, Melissa was the one
protective of Sarah, usually acting the role of bigger sister.
Sarah tried to hide it, but everyone on the team knew she held a
deep self-loathing and a complete lack of confidence. She was a
beautiful woman, but if asked, she’d say she was hideous. Sarah was
brilliant, but she thought herself an idiot.

When Melissa had first joined the team, Sarah
had been the first person she’d connected with. She was kind beyond
what most people were capable of, and never tried to be anything
but helpful. Sarah hated confrontation, and she was tolerant of
everyone. When Melissa was new and still struggling to come to
grips with her life as a member of the Investigative team, Sarah
guided her through it every step of the way.

Sarah did not have the frame of mind to
confront people like Requiem or Ruin, so Melissa didn’t understand
what could’ve possessed her to approach them. The possibility of
violence usually terrified her.

“
My name is Sarah Blighter,” she
said in greeting to the three of them.

Requiem stepped forward and ran a hand over
Sarah’s face, causing Michael to leap forward. Kazou grabbed
Michael and held him in place. Melissa was tempted to charge in as
well.

You’ve got to be kidding me
.
Just
what in God’s name is Sarah trying to do?

“
Darling, you’re like me, aren’t
you?” Requiem asked. “You can do some of what I can,
yes?”

Sarah neither flinched nor moved while Requiem
ran her smooth fingers across her face and along her lips and chin.
Melissa held her breath as she watched the exchange. She was
curious to understand Sarah’s motives.

“
I’m not like you at all,” Sarah
said. “But we are both Telepaths, yes.”

Requiem removed her hand and shrugged. “When
you walked over here, Darling, you were staring at me and only me.
Why me? What is it that you want?”

“
If we let things continue in the
direction they’ve been heading, then more of us will die. And …
it’s crazy when you really think about it, you know? Because when
the smoke clears, all that’s left is the memory of the people we
care about. Why do we have to do this to each other? It hurts me,
don’t you get it? To see people die, to see them close their eyes
and never wake up—I hate all of it. So, you asked me what I want,
right? Well, I want you three to just give up. Please, just give up
and end this. I don’t want to kill any of you, and I don’t want to
see you die, either. Why can’t we just stop this?”

Sarah paused for a moment. Her features
darkened and her breathing slowed. “You killed someone today,
someone I really cared about. He was a person that believed in
helping people, people like you, actually, and not just for the
sake of saving others, but even to save you from your own selves.
It’s for his sake that I don’t want to see you three end up in the
ground. So please, I’m begging you, just surrender and let’s
finally put an end to all of this pointless killing.”

Melissa felt a newfound sense of appreciation
for Sarah. Even now, the Telepath only wanted what was best for
everyone. Sarah didn’t show any trace of fear while she defiantly
peered into the eyes of the three people that wanted her
dead.

Requiem’s expression didn’t change, except that
now her eyes held a small glimmer of interest. “And why, Darling,
would we just give up? Why, when we could simply kill the last of
you and be on our way?”

Sarah breathed a sigh. “There’s more here that
you don’t know. Let me tell you a little something about the way
that things work and then maybe you’ll understand. You see, people
like me and the ones standing behind me, we believe that when
someone does something wrong, they need to be stopped. We go after
them and we do just that. But there are others like us, and they
exist for the people that we
can’t
stop. Now, these men and
women I’m talking about—they won’t speak to you the way we do
because they don’t want you to surrender.”

Sarah paused for a moment then continued,
“Their only job is to kill you and everyone like you. And with the
scene you’ve caused here, they’re sure to be on their way as we
speak. Now look, I know you’re probably thinking to yourselves,
‘We’ll just kill them too.’ Well, there are many, many more like
them, and if you don’t turn yourselves in then for the rest of your
lives you will be hunted with no chance of ever negotiating
surrender. I know the three of you think you’re powerful, but trust
me—there are people out there who could kill you with a single
thought. They
will
find you, and whether the people that
hunt you are powerful or weak, whether they are tall or short, or
even old or young. They will all have one thing in common—they
hunger, they
lust
to see you die.”

Andy’s knees crumpled beneath him upon hearing
this, while Ruin’s usual grin turned into a mask of outrage. “She’s
lying!” Ruin said.

Requiem, keeping her eyes on Sarah, spoke to
her brother behind her. “No,” she whispered. “Don’t you remember
that ridiculous woman back at the Harris-boy’s house? She said
something about killing us.”

Sarah nodded. “Yes, those are the people I’m
referring to. There are many of them around the world, and no place
you go will ever be safe from them.”

Requiem appeared to think for a moment before
nodding her head. “I will make you a deal, Darling. Give us the
Harris-boy and allow us our freedom, and I give you my word that
none of us will ever kill again. Does that seem fair?”

Ruin glared at his sister. “Requiem, are you
nuts? Don’t go making promises without—”

“
Silence, you fool!”
Requiem hissed. “Did you not hear what this goat-like woman has
said to us? It’s this or a lifetime of nonsense.”

Sarah’s face took on a saddened look. “I don’t
have the power to give you your freedom, or to give you Jack. Tell
me, why do you want him so badly anyway?”

Requiem’s maddened expression softened for just
a moment while she shot a passing glance at Jack, causing Melissa
to feel an unexpected, burning anger.

“
Because,” Requiem answered, “he has
taken something from me that I want back.” She pointed to Jack. “He
has taken my eyes and I want to know why.”

Melissa heard Jack shift on his feet, and she
turned to look at him. He peeled his eyes back in surprise, then
followed it soon after with a look of disgust.

“
Nah-uh!” he said. “I didn’t take
anyone’s eyes. That’s like, gross. Besides, I’ve never even been to
med school.”

Requiem tilted back her head and laughed wildly
into the air. “Oh, Harris-boy, Darling, you are a funny
one!”

Sarah waited for her to finish her laughing fit
before continuing to speak. “What do you mean he’s taken your
eyes?”

Requiem opened her mouth to answer but stopped
as she glanced over at Jack, who stomped his foot into the ground
and wore a very stubborn look.

“
Who cares what she means, Sarah?
She’s obviously lying. I never took away anyone’s eyeball—that’s
the weirdest and grossest thing anyone’s ever accused me of. And
one time, someone accused me of eating a peanut butter and lettuce
sandwich—also not true! She’s trying to get me into trouble, just
like Melissa when she farted on the way over here and pointed a
finger—”

Melissa dove at him, closing his annoying mouth
shut. “You don’t know what you’re talking about, Jack!” she yelled
at him.

As far as Melissa could tell, Jack didn’t even
realize that she was covering his mouth, as he was continuing to
ramble, the vibrations tickling her palm.

“
UUmmmph, ummumzm, sumpzmz
ummp
.”

“
So you’re saying it’s either a
lifetime of imprisonment or death?” Andy asked. He stood back to
his feet, and his face held a twisted combination of relentless
fury and pained sadness.

“
I don’t know for sure what the
punishment will be, but I can promise you that you won’t be killed.
Can’t you see I’m only trying to help you?”

“
Help us?” Ruin whispered.
“Help
us!”
he screamed.

Ruin walked forward to join his sister, and for
the first time that Melissa had seen, he entirely lost his casual,
carefree look. Instead, he wore a visage of lunacy, of a terrifying
madness. His sister’s paled in comparison to the growing mania
spreading across his face. His lips peeled back, his eyebrows rose,
and his nose curled as his entire body trembled. His hands began to
shake too. Since the night she’d first seen him in the park with
Jack, Melissa knew there was a deep darkness to him, one not
displayed as openly as his sister’s. But never would she have
expected this. No, this was beyond anything she could
imagine.

“Help us!”
he screamed in something that was halfway between a laugh and
a cry.
“You want to help us? Where were you
when …?”
He stopped speaking and his eyes filled with a
lustful hatred.

Sarah gasped as she was lifted into the air.
“Sister, show me her heart—now!”

Melissa, as well as the rest of the team,
didn’t need to hear any more than that. They charged forward.
Melissa and Kazou leaped over the wide gap where the floor had been
destroyed, while Michael and Jack dashed around it.

“
Melissa!” Kazou shouted, running
beside her. “Attack the Kinetic to kill. Take no
chances!”

Melissa didn’t need to be told—she was ready.
Feelings, emotions, consequences, these were all things that could
be dealt with later. For now, there was only Ruin and the woman he
was trying to kill. Kazou and Melissa were the first to reach the
lanky Kinetic. As one, they threw their powerful fists down towards
him, an attack that would kill any Psych, no matter how
powerful.

Melissa attacked from the left, Kazou from the
right. Sarah let out another gasp as she was dropped to the floor,
released from whatever Kinetic binds held her. Ruin leaped
backward, a maneuver that barely saved his life. The two
Reinforcers of Paro’s team brought their full strength down on the
spot he’d occupied just a second before, crashing into the floor
and breaking completely through it.

Andy and Requiem were quick to assist their
“brother.” Andy shouted something that Melissa couldn’t make out,
and Kazou clutched at his face. “Sarah!” he screamed. A spot on his
forehead, just below his vicious scar, turned red, and small plumes
of smoke drifted out of it.

Sarah pushed herself off the floor and extended
a hand to Kazou as if trying to grab him. Immediately, the smoke
vanished, only to reappear about a foot away from the large
Japanese man, which struggled to break through Sarah’s
shielding.

“
Melissa, duck!” called Michael.
Melissa dropped to the ground just in time to avoid a two-hundred
pound vending machine soaring overhead, aimed to kill the now
frenzied Ruin. He did not try to avoid it. Instead, he made his
typical gesture of chopping air, and the machine fell to the
ground. It shattered, spilling out snacks and change. Bags of
potato chips as well as Hershey and Snicker bars rolled along the
floor while the sound of a thousand dropped quarters echoed in the
destroyed terminal.