Free Apex by Adam Moon Page B

him once and for all, now that he was distracted.
    Jack’s vision magnified as he focused on the general’s face. It was like he was standing an inch from his nose with blinders on. He could see every blemish and pore and nothing else. He felt like he could smell the man. This was going to be good.
    Everyone turned on Jack, but he barely noticed. The air around him crackled with menace. The general’s eyes went wide with terror. Jack was about to do the unthinkable.
    When Melanie put a hand on his shoulder and whispered, “Don’t do it,” he realized he had been just seconds from intentionally killing a fellow human being. That would’ve made him no better than the general. It was one thing for them to defend themselves but it was something altogether different to go on the offensive and attack a defenseless man, no matter how much he deserved it.
    His focus dimmed, returning to normal. He was breathing heavily and his hands were shaking. Then the pain in his thigh returned and he had no choice but to take a seat on the ground to take a closer look. The fabric of the costume was torn but there was no puncture wound.
    Molly and Dan ran over to them. Molly looked furious. Her muscles were bulging with veins. Dan’s hands and forearms were glowing.
    Melanie said calmly, “They stopped shooting at us. Something happened. I think they got called off.”
    Dan said, “The doctor’s dead. They attacked me and my wife in our own home. They’re all going to die today.”
    The air crackled as Dan’s hands sucked the moisture out of it. Black smoke trailed behind him as he took a step forward.
    Molly stared into his eyes and said, “We aren’t killers, sweetheart. Let’s not be so hasty.”
    Dan’s face softened and his hands dropped to his sides, singing the fabric of his suit. Then his hands returned to normal as he regained control over his powers.

    News
     
    The general pleaded with them. “Please stand down. We have more urgent matters to deal with.”
    Dan yelled back, “Like what?”
    The general asked, “Do you have a TV in that house?”
    “Of course.”
    “We all need to watch it. If what was just reported to me wasn’t some kind of twisted hoax, then we’re under attack from an unknown foe.”
    The general and his depleted force of five men came out with their weapons over their heads as a sort of half-assed attempt at a truce. Jack could’ve teleported all six of the bastards into a volcano but he had a feeling the general was telling the truth. His face was wrinkled with worry and it wasn’t a ruse to get them to let down their defenses. Whatever had just happened had altered the general on a deeply fundamental level. Instead of operating in attack mode, he was defensive and frightened.
    The teenagers made sure to keep their powers at the ready just in case , as the soldiers all filed into the farmhouse behind Dan and Molly.
    The threat of violence still hung in the air but it was only coming from Jack and his friends. When the soldiers had been ordered to stand down, they obeyed. Their ferocity was left behind and their determination evaporated away instantly. For the time being, the soldiers were at their mercy, but only because they’d allowed it to happen.
    When Dan turned on the TV, a gruesome and unfamiliar image shone on it. The White House was destroyed. There were a few fires burning within and thick smoke was rising out of the rubble. Then a picture of the Washington Monument appeared, but it was sliced in two. The uppermost part was in pieces at the base. There were several dissected bodies strewn across the lawn, the grass was dark with blood.
    Then a grainy shot showed on the screen. At the top of the screen it said: Dallas, Texas . The video was taken with a cell-phone camera or a really outdated camcorder but that didn’t take anything away from the menace it portrayed.
    It showed a tall cylindrical device standing upright. It was held up like a tripod by three thin metal legs. The