Free Battle of the ULTRAs by Matt Blake Page B

them.
    The rain lashed down. The waves beneath us were strong and tall. It was pitch black other than the unnatural light we created between us. There was me, Orion, Vortex, Stone, Roadrunner and Ember. We’d made our way out of Saint’s tower.
    Well. Stone had almost fallen.
    “Why’s it always me who gets the heroic near-death moments?” Stone shouted.
    Vortex giggled. “Better that way than the actual death moments.”
    Stone scratched at a missing chunk of rock on his arm. “Damn. Not so sure about that anymore.”
    I heard the rest of the Resistance bickering, but I wasn’t really listening. I just stared back in the direction we’d come from, into the storm.
    “So where to now we’ve got no home?” Ember asked.
    “There’s bound to be some other uninhabited islands,” Vortex said. “Or we could just use Stone as an island.”
    “I heard that.”
    “I hoped you would.”
    “Kyle?”
    I looked to my right. Orion, Roadrunner, and Ember were hovering there beside me. Each of them looked concerned.
    “What’s going on in your head, man?” Ember asked.
    I looked back into the storm. “I just… Saint. He’s right there in his tower.”
    Orion sighed. “We’ve discussed this.”
    “We’ve proven we can fight what he throws at us.”
    “We don’t know for sure he’s thrown everything at us,” Orion said.
    “But just knowing he’s still in there, in that tower. We were so close. I was… I was so close. And I just ran away.”
    “You flew away because if you hadn’t, you’d have died in there.”
    “I wouldn’t have died.”
    “We’re fighting a war,” Orion said. “And no wars were ever won by rash, haphazard decisions. We don’t go flying into a tower without knowing what we’re getting into. You saw what they had planned yourself with those humans. Who knows what other secrets they’ve got waiting inside?”
    I looked down at the sea. I knew Orion had a point. “I just… I just can’t keep on running while the ULTRA responsible for my family’s death is still in there ruling—”
    “Kid, he didn’t just kill your damned family,” Stone shouted.
    “I meant… I meant our families.”
    “No you didn’t,” Orion said.
    His words surprised me. “Of course I did.”
    “You didn’t, Kyle. And that’s where the problem lies. I don’t believe you are fighting this battle for us. I don’t believe you’re fighting this battle for anyone but yourself.”
    “That’s rubbish.”
    “Every decision you make, you make it in your own self-interest. You go rushing after Saint in the Battle for Manchester. You hold Stone under the water just because you think he’s possessed by someone close to Saint.”
    “I’ve told you, I didn’t mean that.”
    “And you’re going to rush into near-certain death, all because you’re so hell-bent and vengeful. Well, I’m sorry, Kyle, but we aren’t going to be by your side to do that. Not without a plan.”
    I watched as Orion drifted away from me and I couldn’t believe what I was seeing.
    “Stone? Roadrunner? Ember? Vortex? Surely you aren’t gonna just give up too?”
    There was sadness in Vortex’s eyes. “I’m sorry,” she said, drifting away with Orion. “But I’m with Orion. We can’t risk everything when we have no idea how to truly weaken the enemy we’re facing.”
    “Ember? Roadrunner? You’re in this with me too, right?”
    Ember shook his head and drifted back, so too did Roadrunner. “I’m sorry, man. There’s just been too much loss as it is. Can’t risk anyone else.”
    I looked at Stone, totally defeated. I knew he wouldn’t be with me right away. “What happened,” I said. “Back at the waterfall. It was wrong. But I only did it because—”
    “Come back to us when you actually give a damn about us, kid,” Stone said. “Get the hell over yourself. There’s a war to fight.”
    He floated backward, joining Vortex, Ember, Roadrunner, and Orion.
    I stared up at them, a knot in my stomach. I felt