Sweat and heat from Alik’s massive hand left a wet print on the black cell phone carelessly tossed into the center console after having had the most painful conversation with his mother ever. He sat hunched over, head in hands, trying to control his rage. Farrow watched him from the corner of her eye, trying to focus both on the road before them and the boy she loved who sat shaken to the core beside her.
The effort it was taking for Alik to contain himself wasn’t just painful to watch, vibrations started emanating from his growing frame biting at her skin. She didn’t dare take her eyes from him or the road to see how it was affecting anyone else in the back seats. Alik’s furrowed brow, tightly shut eyes and rapid, erratic breathing were further indications of the pain he was feeling.
“Alik?” Farrow started. Her voice strained against the psychic energy pulsing throughout the car. “Alik, we’ll find her. Please calm down. You’re,” she saw Alik rip his hands away from his face and stare violet-eyed straight ahead, “you’re losing control, Alik.”
“Dude, calm down,” Cole coaxed.
“Come on brother, breathe through it.” Creed’s mind was already ticking off contingency plans if Alik lost control right there in the vehicle.
Afraid anything she said would make matters worse, Sloan stayed silent, gritted her teeth tried to shield the dying coydog from the psychic vibrations.
Evan was the only one brave enough to reach out and put his hand on Alik’s growing shoulder. “We’ll figure this out together, Al.”
“Stop the car,” Alik growled between clenched teeth.
“What?”
“Pull over!” he barked, gripping the door handle with such heat and anguish it bent into an odd angle in his hand.
Farrow’s eyes widened at the sight of it as she yanked the steering wheel to the right and nearly stood on the brake.
Before the SUV even had time to stop completely, Alik was out the door. He threw his head back and roared. The others watched the physical manifestation of his rage as the world immediately surrounding the anguished soldier bent away from him as though an explosion burst from Alik.
His screams of heartache for his sister didn’t stop. The nearest tree was his next target. He grabbed it by the trunk with both massive hands. A series of loud ripping and snapping sounds poured through the door Alik had left wide-open.
“Oh, my God! What is he doing?” Cole pushed his door open but hesitated to jump out.
Everyone in the vehicle watched in awestruck amazement—everyone except Farrow, who had seen Alik’s evolved gift of rage once before.
She got out of the SUV at the first sound of a thick root being snapped. Creed jumped out after her, worried for her safety.
“It’s okay,” she mouthed more than spoke to Creed. Her short hair was tousled about as Alik’s energy vibrations continued to pulse through the air angrily.
Everything about Alik had changed in his rage. The black T-shirt he wore was popping at the seams. His black camo cargo pants were filled out, but it was his violet eyes nearly glowing in the evening light, that made his transformation astonishing.
Farrow stood, hands shoved deep in her pocket, unsure what to do to help ease Alik’s anguish, but instinctively knowing she needed to stay nearby.
Everyone watched as Alik yanked the ten-foot tree out of the ground and threw it like a sack of dog food.
He stood huffing for a full minute, still trying to calm himself down. Having spent some of his rage on the unlucky tree, he rolled his twitching shoulders to force calmness and turned around.
“I’m going back. I have to track her now, while the trail is fresh.”
Farrow watched the violet dim from his eyes, returning to his usually sharp blue. He was determined and she loved him for it.
“I don’t expect anyone to come with me. I only need to gather some gear then I’ll scrape up a car to continue…”
“Oh no, you’re not. You’re not leaving without me!” Farrow marched up to the huge metahuman, fists planted firmly on her slender hips.
“Or me,” Creed stepped up, a look of absolute determination on his face.
“She can’t be far. The sooner we get going, the better,” Evan said, jumping from the truck.
“The chopper was heading east when we last saw it,” Sloan offered. She moved to stand beside Evan.
“Oh, hell yes!” Cole blurted. His green eyes blazed with excitement.
“And the best thing for poor Maze would be to have Meg back.” Evan looked back into the truck to see Maze still passed out from pain and exhaustion.
“You’ll do this with me?” Alik asked the group. He pulled his shoulders back feeling pride in the people he considered family.
“All in!”
“Absolutely!”
“Brilliant idea!”
“Not gonna let you have all the fun.”
“Let’s get our girl.”
“Wait, now you realize this could be a suicide mission. We’re all already battle-worn and it might just take a miracle for me to track a helicopter,” Alik frowned, second-guessing himself.
“For the sake of the trees, Alik! We have to get your sister back for the sake of the trees!” Cole smirked and jumped back into the SUV.
Evan smiled at Cole and slugged Alik’s shoulder. “C’mon Alik. Let’s go give a miracle its chance to happen.”