"Dad! Zack's reading my thoughts again!"
"Zack, you know better," Jim chides.
Before Zack can reply, he falls backward to the ground after he smacks into solid air. "OW! Not funny! That hurt!"
Olivia smirks at him as she ducks into the car.
The car is quiet on the drive to the stadium; Olivia has her headphones on, and Zack is staring out the window. "Son, you okay?" Jim asks. He smiles. "I know all this attention lately might be a little embarrassing, but it'll be over quick. Just run out there, wave, throw the first pitch, and run back."
Zack nods.
"Heard from Amy?"
"Nope."
Jim frowns. "Give her some time."
They arrive at the stadium. A security guard leads them through the home team's locker room and up to the dugout. Zack is surprised to see that Amy and her father are waiting for them. The mayor is there as well, and he gives Zack a two-fisted handshake while thanking him for his heroism.
"Ladies and gentlemen," the PA announcer booms, "please give your applause for our Mayor and our hometown heroes!"
The crowd applauds as Amy and Zack follow the mayor out to the mound. The mayor is giving a speech praising the first responders who arrived at the fire when Zack suddenly turns pale.
Amy notices. "Are you okay?" she whispers.
Zack tries to answer, but can't seem to find his voice. He stumbles, and Amy grabs his arm, preventing him from falling. "What's wrong?" she whispers.
He's in agony, but unable to make sense of it. After a moment, the pain vanishes as quickly as it came. He locks eyes with Amy and nods, and she lets him go. He climbs the mound and the mayor hands him the ball. He lobs a pitch to the catcher, not too bad but not good enough to make the team, and the crowd cheers.
"Are you sure you're okay?" Amy asks as they take their seats in the front row.
"I'm not sure," Zack says. "For some reason, I feel scared, desperate, and I can sense pain, but it's not mine."
Amy looks confused.
The kids sit in silence for the first three innings while their fathers talk. Then an ECC notification pops up on their phones. The crowd groans and murmurs as everyone reads the message:
EFFECTIVE IMMEDIATELY. For your security and safety, Port Jervis, NY, and Millrift, PA, will be enforcing a strict curfew—starting at 9:00 pm today to 5:00 am on Monday.
"Guess we'll be eating at home tonight," Jim says.
Later, they're walking through the crowd to the parking lot when Zack suddenly falls to one knee, overwhelmed by sensations not his own. He can hear his Dad and sister calling his name, asking him what's wrong, but once again he's unable to respond. He feels the same rush of agony from earlier. What's happening to me? he wonders.
Just like before, the pain vanishes as quickly as it came. His Dad and Olivia pull him to his feet. "What's happening, son?" Jim asks, concerned.
"I don't know," Zack says. "But something's wrong with me. I can feel someone else.
"Someone else's pain."
Chapter 10
Eva takes short, gasping breaths. Her exhausted legs struggle to push her on through the bamboo forest. Wary of drones, she repeatedly glances up at the night sky. Her clothes are torn, her body covered with scratches, bruises, and mud. And to think she'd just settled into a new life... but she should have known better. It was never meant to last.
She stops at a riverbank to catch her breath. Sensing that the pursuing UNSTF agents are closing in, she jumps into the nearly frozen water. Step by step, she painfully makes her way across the slippery riverbed, crossing at an acute angle in hopes of throwing off pursuit a little.
She loses her footing at one point, and her ankle gets caught between some rocks. A sharp jolt of pain shoots up her leg. She suppresses a grunt, ducks down into the freezing water, and frees herself by prying a rock from the mud. When she rises from the water, she's confronted by the glare of flashlights. Bending low, undaunted, she continues across the river as pandemonium erupts behind her. When she reaches the opposite riverbank, she looks back and witnesses a scene of utter chaos.
Agents in full black exoskeleton armor are firing their laser pistols at a near-invisible blur that is knocking them down one by one — it's Frazid, her Isarian protector. Frazid is massive, fast, and nearly seven feet tall. Eva watches as he grabs agents and smashes their bodies hard against trees or the ground, dismembering some on impact. More agents pour into the forest. Eva suspects they want to capture Frazid alive, and although he will surely kill many agents before he's subdued, eventually he'll succumb to their numbers and force — unless he kills himself first.
Though she hates to think it, that might be for the best.
Three agents are approaching the riverbank. Eza staggers to her feet and summons her healing powers to direct a wave of energy into her throbbing ankle. Fully healed, she darts back into the forest with the agents in pursuit.
When she emerges from the forest, her face has been bloodied by bamboo branches and the sun is beginning to rise. Stretching out before her is the edge of a cliff, steep but not quite vertical. Alarmed, she stops and looks for an escape route. The agents are just seconds behind her. Eva opens her hands and starts drawing on her remaining inner energy. As her body grows stronger, it begins to emit a faint nimbus of blue light.
The agents are now in full view. "Stand down!" one shouts. "We will shoot! STAND DOWN!"
"Leave me alone!" Eva shouts. She discharges a ray of energy into the ground by her feet that propels her over the cliff. For a second or two, she feels frozen in time; then
