EarthMelder
By: Joyel Puryear

Chapter 1 – The Meeting

It had been a very trying year for Leo. He spent a great deal of time dealing with personal issues. Throughout his 18 years of life he had never found a girlfriend that he really enjoyed being around. That, coupled with a variety of financial problems, he had a very rough life. He was just now starting to think that his fate may change.

It was a beautiful Saturday afternoon, and his entire family was having a large gathering at his cousin's house. His cousin was one of his best friends, and his name was Donnie. They hung out together all the time and knew almost everything about each other. They had a long relationship and had been through a lot of troubling times in both of their families due to money problems in the past. They found a way to work through all of the issues as they arose and had formed a great friendship in the process.

Leo recently had noticed a girl sitting at the bench across the driveway at a neighbor’s house. Leo went to his cousin and asked, “Donnie...that girl over there, who is she?” His cousin looked across the yard at the girl and responded, “Oh, her. That's Myra. She is strange. She isn't related to us at all; she just sometimes goes to my neighbor's house and talks to her. Then she'll sit on the bench for hours, she always seems to disappear before I ever get around to going over and talking to her. I have spoken with her a few times though.”

Leo thought a minute and asked Donnie, “Can you introduce her to me. I really want to talk to her.” Donnie responded, “Sure let's go. I will try. Although keep in mind I barely know her myself. I only spoke to her one or two times and it was only very briefly.” Donnie led Leo over to where the girl was sitting. She looked up shyly and threw her black hair back behind her shoulders as she looked up at Leo. Donnie began speaking, “Myra, this is Leo, Leo this is Myra. Leo really wanted to meet you. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go to the bathroom.” Within seconds Donnie was running back towards his house and you could hear him letting off a giggle as he ran...this must have been some sort of setup for Leo.

Leo approached the girl and sat down slowly. “So, I hear you come around here pretty often?” Leo waited a minute and the girl didn't respond. As Leo looked into her eyes he could see a glimpse of red, as if her eyes were on fire. He could not discern the natural color there. He waited a minute and talked again, “Ummm...so your names Myra. How are you lately?” Another few minutes went by and she said nothing. She occasionally would look over in his direction, but would not say a word.

After a few minutes of total silence, Leo was becoming very uncomfortable. He got a little frustrated and got ready to get up and head back towards his cousins house. Before he could go Myra said, “Wait. Don't go yet. Sit down here beside me. Look over there in the clouds. That one looks like a dragon.” Leo was stunned...he had tried to speak with the girl for almost 20 minutes with no response. He finally got a response only when he tried to leave. He wasn't sure whether he wanted to sit down or not, reluctantly he slowly set down.

Leo waited a few minutes and spoke, “Your right it does.” There was a period there that set in total silence that seemed almost as if an eternity went by. Both of them watched the clouds for nearly a half hour without saying a word. Occasionally they would glance over at each other and smile, but within minutes they were back to staring at the clouds. Somehow Leo felt inside that he had known her for many years, but knew that wasn't possible. He had never seen this girl before, and could not describe how he was feeling.

After a while went by, Leo's Cousin came to him and said, “Leo…me, your parents, and some of the family are headed out to eat. Do you want to come?” Leo thought for a minute and responded, “Not now Donnie, but thanks. Tell my parents I will meet them there in a few minutes.” Donnie left. Leo watched as quite a few family members piled into a mini-van and headed towards the nearest place to eat.

After they left, Leo looked to his left...and suddenly Myra was gone. He had no idea where. He got up and started looking around the house. After looking around his neighbor’s house and finding nothing, he headed towards his cousins house. He found her staring at that same cloud from the other side of his cousin’s house. He asked her, “What do you think the cloud looks like now?” She paused for a minute and responded, “It still looks like a dragon, just...prettier from over here.”

They set silently...smiling towards the sky. They would glance over at one another every few minutes and make eye contact. That moment seemed like an eternity...Leo could not explain it but he felt as if he had known this Myra forever. There was something about her that stunned him, and he was unable to think clearly around her. He was thinking of how to get her address or phone number. He wanted to spend a great deal of more time with her and learn as much about her as he could, this was the only thing occupying his mind and it was taking him over almost like an obsession.

Leo's thoughts got shattered in an instant. He broke back into reality with the trembling of an earthquake. Leo had never known earthquakes to happen anywhere near their area. Suddenly tree's starting to crack and the ground starting shaking violently. Suddenly something started happening to Myra, something Leo had never seen before.

Myra started glowing with a dark red color all over her body. Within a few minutes the flesh from her very bones started melting away revealing all of the outer structure of blood and tissue, even peering through to some of the organs. She violently fell forward to the ground and her blood vessels seemed to come alive from her body and hook into the ground. She screamed violently and the blood started pouring into the earth as the remainder of her body continued to glow a dark red hue.

She stayed on the ground a few minutes. No words, no moving, no nothing. Within seconds, almost instantly, the earthquake that was shattering the land came to a sudden halt. There was no more shaking, no more cracking, no more noise. Leo was stunned. He could not speak. He tried to call her name but nothing came out. He wanted to run and scream, but he was devastated at what just happened, not only the act of seeing something so super-natural but the fact it was a girl he was most assuredly starting to fall in love with.

Hundreds of scenarios started racing through his mind as he tried to identify what just happened...was he going insane, was he in some kind of bad dream, was he imagining everything. He sat there a minute and slowly started stumbling towards her. Suddenly the blood vessels detached themselves from the ground and hooked back into her body. Slowly she stood up. Leo wanted to scream.

Here in front of him was the girl Myra who he had been speaking with for a few hours. All of the skin from her body was missing and she just participated in the most horrible thing he had ever seen. He had no idea what was going on. Suddenly a new film of skin and the same clothing she was wearing started forming around her body where the flesh and bones were. Within minutes, she had been fully restored to the person he saw earlier. Her eyes were pulsating red for a few short minutes and then went back to the same haze they had previously.

He looked deep into her eyes. He could see tears welling up deep within her soul...she spoke, “I... didn't want you to see me like that...I have to leave, never see me again, never look for me again.” She ran faster and faster away towards the woods. Leo tried to chase after her, he saw the pain in her heart, saw the tears flying from her face as she ran. He didn't know what to make of what happened to her back there, he didn't even know if it was real, but he didn't want to lose her for anything.

He couldn't catch her. No matter how fast he ran, she was always ahead. After a minute she vanished...almost as if into thin air. He stood there, gasping for breath. Wondering what all just happened and trying to make an ounce of sense out of what happened in the last 10 minutes. He was blank, mindless and totally oblivious to everything that was happening around him.

After taking a few minutes to catch his breath, he decided to head back to his cousins house. He would not tell anyone about this, and he would spend a few hours trying to make sense of all that happened and make sure he wasn't losing his mind. He talked with himself awhile trying to discern what had happened. After about an hour he realized that he did not imagine anything. The girl was there, he had his cousin to back that part up. The earthquake happened, he saw something about it on the news, and apparently something mysterious stopped the earthquake in mid-force which also explained the strange event that happened when they were together.

After all of his reviewing of the situation it looked like everything happened exactly as he remembered. He had no idea how to respond. The only thing he could think about was Myra. He wanted to find her, he wanted to console her, and he wanted to find out the truth and try to learn what all was going on with her. He wanted more than anything else to somehow help her. He didn't know what help he could be but that was his only concern now, his only goal.

His first action was to try to find out everything he could about her. He went to his cousin Donnie later that afternoon, after they returned from dinner. He went to Donnie and said, “Listen Donnie. We have been really close for a long time, I have saved your butt many times, and you owe me one. I need to know everything you know about the girl, Myra. Please, tell me every single detail that you can remember. From the time you have met her until now. Every time you have seen her, every detail you know about her, where she seems to come from, where she goes to, how often and what times she's at your neighbors, and everything else.”

Donnie looked at Leo strangely, but nodded his head and began to speak, “I don't know what the big deal is Leo. She's just a girl. I will tell you what I know though, although it's very little. Her name is Myra. She's somewhere between the age of seventeen and twenty one, but I am not exactly sure on the exact age. She's extremely shy. The first four times I tried to talk to her she didn't say anything at all, even didn't respond to stuff I said or questions I asked. After about the fifth time, she finally talked to me with three words, something about loving the clouds.”

Donnie gave off this strange grin and continued, “As you can tell she's a strange catch. Anyway, that's about all I really know. I also know she talks to the neighbor a lot, you could probably ask her. She seems to come from the woods every time. Now that I think back that's where she heads when she is done, down that side road and always seems to take a turn right into the woods down there. Makes you wonder if she's a ghost.” Donnie chuckled to himself as he walked off.

Donnie didn't understand the situation, and Leo didn't want to sound stupid by trying to explain it. All that mattered to Leo was that he had some of the information he needed. The next step was to talk to the neighbor, and ask her what she knew about the girl if anything. So Leo headed next door and went up and rang the doorbell. It took a few minutes for her to get to the door because she was very elderly. When she answered the door Leo said, “Hi Ms. Patterson. Do you mind if I come in.” The old lady smiled and opened the door.

Leo went inside and set down on the couch, and started what was going to hopefully be an informative conversation about Myra. He started off by talking with Ms. Patterson first, “There is a girl that comes by here a lot. Her name is Myra. She apparently lives in the area. I spoke with her for a few hours earlier, and I really like her. I was wondering what all, if anything, you could tell me about her, including perhaps where she lives.”

Ms. Patterson grinned, and started to tell Leo what she knew, “Well dear...I know quite a bit about the young lady and most of it I don't care to talk about. I will tell you what I think she might want you to know though. Her name is Myra, and she's 18. She lives near the woods. I am not telling you anything else about her home. She is a smart young girl, and really likes the clouds. She is very nice, and you need to be nice to her when you speak to her. She comes by very often for cookies and conversation. Generally she sits on my porch for sometimes hours at a time to watch the clouds, before she goes back home. That's all I am really going to talk about dear.”

Leo thought a minute and spoke, “Please Ms. Patterson. You know a lot more than you’re letting on and it's urgent. Listen, something happened yesterday and I think she got severely hurt. She fell and possibly broke her leg; she wouldn't listen when I tried to take her to a doctor so she headed back home. I wasn't able to catch her in time. All I want to do is check and make sure she's going to be alright. Please Ms. Patterson, tell me what you know?”

Ms. Patterson hesitated, and finally began to speak, “Listen boy. I will tell you what you want. But if that young girl asks who told you tell her that you found out yourself. I don't want her to not trust me. Apparently she's not entirely normal and has a special gift that most young girls don't have. I really don't know what it is, something about being able to stop earthquakes. I don't believe her boy. She just told me that as a tall tale. She has a great personality so I was letting her get away with fibbing to me. She also told me she lived in the woods. That’s where I also see her go. My main guess is that she lives on the other side, but I am not entirely sure. She probably lives on the other side of the woods in one of the houses, so it's unlikely you'll be able to find her down there.”

Ms. Patterson sipped on her tea and continues, “The reason I didn't want to tell you is she seemed frightened when she talked about her home, and she never really tells me. She said she lived alone in the woods, but I think those are also tall tales. I let her tell her stories, she is a good conversationalist and I enjoy talking with her. That's about all I can say. She doesn't really even come by that often. She's only been here maybe four times in the last month. That was the first time she even started coming, so she's been here five times total including today.”

Leo told Ms. Patterson “Thanks for what you told me. That will help a lot. I am going to try to find her and see if I can help her leg, or at least find someone who can help it.” Leo felt bad about lying but that was the only way he could get the information he needed, he had to try to find her and the woods seemed to be the only lead as to where she might live, even then he had a strange feeling and didn't want to go there at night and it was already dark. He decided to rest up. He wanted to try searching the woods and that area the next day to see if he could find any trace of her. He would also go through the woods and out the other side to see if she lived in any of the other houses in the surrounding area.

Leo was staying with his cousin for the week, so he would be staying at his house during the night. He really was looking forward to the next morning; he had this deep feeling that he would find something either inside the woods or on the other side. He was hoping to find something that would lead him closer to meeting Myra again.

He had a rough sleep. He kept having dreams of the horrific images of what he saw happen with Myra. He couldn't get the images out of his head. He woke up multiple times sweating horribly, and having nightmare after nightmare. Finally morning came and he had gotten very little sleep, his first thought was to head into the woods to see if he could find the girl, or perhaps even a trace of her. It had been a very long night, but somehow he made it through.

He got some coffee, and spent a few minutes getting waked up and trying to shake off the bad night he had. He was determined to find out what was going on with Myra. He got himself prepared and headed for the woods to see what he could find out. His cousin’s house was directly across the street from a side-road. The woods Leo was looking for was located at the very end of that street. Leo headed down the road and started walking towards the woods he wanted to investigate.

After a few minutes he was standing at the outskirts of the woods. He reviewed the area to see if he saw anything. There was nothing to be seen. He sighed, and started heading into the woods. His immediate goal was to just go through one end and out the other and find out what was on the other side. He really doubted if he would find her inside the woods themselves. He was halfway through the woods when he heard a strange but low-toned whirring sound.

At first listen it sounded like a buzzing saw blade, but when he got closer he was able to discern the sound of electricity sparking from a nearby electrical system. The first thought that went through his head, was why an electrical circuit would be setup in the middle of the woods, especially hooked to a tree for that matter. He noticed that the circuit seemed to have a strange electrical short of some kind. After he focused his thoughts again to the surrounding area he noticed an area layered out in the woods around the electrical outlet.

In the immediate vicinity he was able to spot some strange seat that looked like an old beat up chair. He also saw a small area set aside for drinks, and another part setup for some clothes. He started looking out further in the area and he suddenly started noticing other things in the area. The trees were somehow starting to turn into walls. Every time he turned to look in another direction more tree area in other parts had formed into walls. Before Leo had a chance to even think the whole area around him started turning white. And his vision began to turn blurry. Within seconds he was totally unconscious.

Chapter 2 – The Girl

“Myra, it's time for you to use your powers again.” said the Professor. “I really don't want to; every time I do something deteriorates inside of me. I am already going to die a long time before any normal girls, why do you keep making me use that horrible gift you made me have.” The professor sat back in his chair and thought for a minute, “Listen Myra, I know it's hard. You’re not human in the first place. I did not give you that gift; I created you with the gift. You’re my daughter and I love you, but I also love this world. I promise...once you have fulfilled your purpose I will create something to make you completely normal. I have been working on that for quite some time.”

Myra frowned, and she knew that the professor was telling her the truth. She had a very rough life for the past three years. At that time the scientist, who was also her father, revealed to her a horrible secret. Since she had been born her genetics had been altered to give her a gift that can be used to stop earthquakes while they start. The genetic trait also had a negative effect, when she used it she felt incredibly and ungodly pain from the affects, and in turn it shaved a bit off of her lifespan because it was eating away at her very life force each time.

She had lived with this horrible fate now for over three years. The original reason the Professor did this to his daughter in the womb, was for the purpose of stopping, what he considered, a horrible force that was hell bent on destroying or controlling the entire world. The Professor thought he was the only person who had the knowledge and truth enough about the situation to save the planet from submitting to what he considered an evil force.

He had his reasons; there was a group of rogue scientists who broke from NASA many years ago. Their goal had been to make everyone in the world regret not listening to their advice long ago. They had developed an amazing new technology that could create or stop earthquakes at will. It consists of a large map. When someone messed with the map in a certain area it caused an earthquake to happen in that general area. On the reverse side, the map could change components and had a system built which could detect current active earthquakes. When a human handled the map in that area, it would shut down the earthquake at its core by halting the movement of all tectonic plates in the area.

America and other nations as a whole scoffed at the idea, thinking it was dangerous to mess around with the natural structure of the world. Myra's father was on that team of scientists. When their invention had been turned down and they were ordered to discard it, they rebelled and formed an external organization devoted to nurturing the new technology. Myra's father joined for a while. Many years went by and the organization changed its focus due to harboring hatred for NASA and the skeptical world. After a while they moved the good side of the technology altogether, and removed the ability to stop earthquakes.

As the years passed they started nurturing the technology towards a darker purposes, trying to perfect its destructive power and radius into all other countries and other areas of the world. When this started to happen, Myra's father saw something was terribly wrong. Shortly after these types of events started manifesting within the organization, he took his knowledge of the system they had built and left. He left alone for many years outside of the technological world.

After a few more years went by he met a woman and got into a relationship. Shortly thereafter he heard from an old co-working from the organization that he had known well before he left. When he met with the scientist, he learned a great deal of new things. The organization had been getting worse. They were not far from releasing their brand new modified form of the weapon to the public and try to make a stand for world domination. On top of all of that they had many other offshoot research projects stemmed from various different topics.

They were starting to mess with genetic and large amounts of human bio-modifications. They recently started experimenting on regular humans in horrible and inhumane ways. However the organization was never caught. They had two parts of their facility, the upper part which catered to normal science, and the lower part where they performed all their experiments that they did not want the public to learn about. On top of this, they had gathered a great deal of fame in the past few years. They had released the cures for quite a few natural ailments as well as performed a lot of tasks related to public safety and giving back to the community.

They were trying to position themselves in a manner that would allow them to have a great deal of fame, while trying to control the world through other means without ever revealing who they were. The co-worker also told him, that he had been targeted by the organization. They branded him as a traitor and had already been trying to find him and kill him for years. The organization also realized that he was the only one who had the knowledge to even come close to countering some of the things they had done.

The Professor thanked his co-worker after they spoke and he began to go into a deep depression which lasted for months. The depression was followed by a goal, to stop the scientists from what he should have stopped them from long ago. He knew that their primary weapon would be the map. The last he checked, the map had the other systems removed. It could no longer stop earthquakes.

He was recently getting ready to have a kid. His wife was already pregnant, and had roughly six months until it was time for her to conceive. He decided that he would have to do something that would hide his attempts at stopping them until the time was right. When his wife was asleep he did something to her womb. What he did would be considered abominable in all civilized standards of society. He created a biochemical mutation. He shot it into the womb of his wife, while she slept. When his wife awoke 20 minutes later due to the pain, he acted as if he was asleep.

Many months later, the baby was born. All things seemed normal, but after a few years the child started showing strange symptoms, he could not lie to his wife any longer. She was horrified at what he told her and showed her. She left him that day. She took all of her things and left for another state, trying to leave everything behind her, and he was left all alone with this little girl who had this strange and dangerous gift.

Now in present day, she was devastated at what he had done to her. Her entire life had been nothing but a tool for him to fight the earthquakes that were happening in order to give him time to come against the weapon with something stronger. That was all she was used for. Deep down inside the Professor felt badly about what, he felt, he had to do. However, he was willing to risk anything, even his own daughter, to stop these scientists from what they were trying to do. Just within the past year they had started utilizing the earthquakes, and had been meeting with the rulers of the various countries under disguise. They were trying to take over practically the entire world with this terrible new power.

Now she finally had ran into someone she liked a lot and her gift automatically took over at the wrong time devastating his entire opinion of her and horrifying him in the process, or so she thought... Little did she realize that he was doing everything he could to get to her and find out more about her?

“I still can't believe you did this to me, you even made me lose my mom…” said Myra, a stream of tears rolled down her face, as she ran into the back room crying. Professor tilted his head down with a concerned look, and slowly turned back to his desk to continue working. To the untrained observer they would have not notice the small tear falling down the face of the Professor as he turned around.

Myra went into her room to cry. She had been alone for so long, and was turning seventeen, and she had never received so much as a present her entire life. Not to mention, her life force had been draining greatly in the past year, ever since the scientists starting activating the earthquakes. Every earthquake that went by, and there was one almost every month or two at the least, made her feel more and more drained. She thought to herself, that there has to be a way out of the nightmare she had been living in.

After a few minutes her father called for her. With a heavy heart she got up and headed for the office. The professor had been mapping out the earthquakes for almost a week now, and new when they were going to happen almost down to the second. This earthquake was going to be a tremor based off the one that had happened when she was speaking to Leo. She went into the room with the Professor, and shortly thereafter the earthquake started.

Her body again, began to follow the same gruesome technique which was used before. A great pain surged through her entire body, as she fell to her knees. Within a few seconds the skin off the front part of her body turned entirely to blood as the skinned dripped off, she slipped onto the ground and made a connection with the earth. After the tendrils within her body stopped the quake at its source, she stood up, with blood dripping from every orifice; she slowly started to regrow the skin. After the process was complete, she again fell to her knees and could barely catch her breath and collect herself.

She had no idea what to say to the Professor, that time it was really close to ending the life force she had inside. Every time she was required to use that ability it drained more of her. Her only regret was that before she died, she might never get a chance to see Leo again and explain the situation, and exactly what she was.

She left the room without saying a word, and returned to her bedroom. She wasn't sure what to do next, she was almost certain after a few more times of having to use her abilities she would be completely destroyed. If she was still alive there would be barely enough left to be worth living, as her thoughts drifted off she heard a strange sound outside her door.

Chapter 3 – The Reunion

After a few minutes passed she ignored the sound. She thought perhaps it was an animal, or her father passing the door. A few minutes went by and she heard it again. She started to get up and head towards the door when something that was unexpected suddenly happened. A loud popping sound and the door blew open. She screamed, and suddenly four armed men entered the room and pointed their guns towards her.

She had never been in any type of violent situation, and instinctively she froze on the spot. One of the guards hit her in the face with the blunt of his rifle and she immediately went unconscious. She woke in a strange room surrounded by spirals of light in all directions. She was strapped to a machine and surrounded by men who looked like scientists. She knew they were not the main scientists her father use to work with, because they were not wearing the same emblem. Perhaps they were a different organization, or perhaps they were an offshoot department of the much larger organization of scientists.

The first scientist came to her on the first day, and asked her what her name was. She could tell that he already knew, but was just testing her for honesty. “My name is Myra, what do you want?” The scientist smiled and responded, “It is good to see you have a flavor of honesty about you. You are going to need that in the coming months if you’re ever going to leave this facility alive.”

The scientist turned and walked away. One of the guards came shortly thereafter and removed her from the machine she was strapped too. Within a few minutes she found herself within a cell. Time passed slowly for her. She knew that the professor would come for her, given time. She just didn't know how long it would take. She also knew these scientists were part of the organization and were going to start asking her questions about the Professor, and his efforts to stop them.

The next day she found herself again hooked up to the machine. The scientist that spoke with her the first day returned, and began speaking, “Well Myra. It is good to see you doing well. Yesterday went by smoothly with your preliminary question. Let us see if you are still as open minded as before. First thing I want to know is, how you are related to the professor. How did he create someone with gifts such as yours? The only human alive that is able to stop our earthquakes as they are formed.” Myra remained silent. She was angry at what the professor had done to her, but she didn't want to jeopardize his plans either.

After a minute of silence the scientist smiled, “Well I was hoping this would be easy.” Suddenly he flipped a switch and several thousand volts of electricity surged through Myra's body sending her spiraling into a whirlwind of pain. Within a few minutes he released the switch and she hung there, strapped to the machine barely conscious. “That, my dear was just the first round of electricity. This machine was designed to make sure we get the truth out of whomever we want the truth from.”

The scientist set back in his chair and smiled. He began to speak, “First off this machine is equipped with electricity. If that doesn't work, then it can also let off pure energy. If you are particularly hard headed then we have two experimental control modules as well, one for fire and one for ice.” Myra answered, “Please don't do this. I never asked to be in this position, and I never asked to be working for the Professor. He's my father. I don't want to ruin his trust. I hate him for what he did to me, but I won't tell you his secrets.”

The scientist flipped the switch. This time the electricity burnt through her body for a full 5 minutes until she was reeling on the edges of insanity. “I will ask you one more time.” said the scientist, “How did the professor give you your abilities. Were you born with it, were you kidnapped by him, how did he meet you and how did he give you those abilities. If he altered you chemically, then what formulas did he use?”

With tears running down her face, she remained silent. This process went on for nearly three hours. Every time a question was answered in silence, the scientist answered with a few thousand volts of electricity. These horrible events carried on for days. It got to the point where the scientists were afraid they would be unable to crack her. After a few days they even stopped giving her food and water, and started letting her rot away.

She continued on her quest of silence and refused to give up the professor's secrets. A full three months went by. At the time she was living off steam. She had lost nearly 50 pounds, and was all but dead. Every night she lay in her cell crying herself to sleep from all the torment she had to deal with during the day.

One night she heard a strange sound out of her cell. It sounded like screaming and hacking sounds. Within a few minutes she saw...him. It was the boy that she had seen quite a while back at the house. The boy she thought she had freaked out with her transformation. He was wielding an incredibly sharp curved blade and a pistol at his side. He was much more built. She didn't understand how he could have changed so much, it had been several months since they last saw each other, but he changed drastically in that time.

She looked up and weakly said, “How did you find me, where did you learn to fight.” After seeing her, he fell to his knees at her cell and began crying, “I wish I could have gotten here sooner. I knew they were doing horrible things to you but I did not have the strength...It's a long story, one that will have to wait until we get to a safe place.” He sliced open the locks on her cell and carried her on his back. They headed towards the back exit, where a motorcycle was waiting that Leo had planted for their escape. He loaded her on the motorcycle and sped away.

Within minutes he could hear the sounds of engines catching up to them, and gunfire in the distance. He had already planned for this. Down the road about half a mile, he released a poison gas trap he had planted. The gas filled the air behind him, and within minutes all of the vehicles following him had been stopped with deadly force of the gas. He smiled under his helmet as he pushed back the tears.

A few minutes later they reached a secluded area of land that Leo had set aside. He already had food prepared, and fed Myra all that she could eat to try and help her restore some strength. “It was horrible Leo. I can't believe they were so cruel for scientists.” Leo tried to hold back his anger, and began to speak, “Listen Myra, I have a lot to tell you. Enjoy your meal and please, just listen to me for a while. First off, what happened...it did not scare me. I was worried about you. I followed you into the woods and ran into a clearing. I was teleported into your fathers, the professor, lab by some strange”

Leo continued, “The Professor told me about the teleportation system that he had created. He also told me, that you used it regularly to go back to my area to try and live a somewhat normal life. He told me he had forbidden you to use it, but you continued anyway. He told me all about you. Then he told me you were kidnapped from your room, and he wanted me to save you. I was trained by the Professor as best I could to fight. He taught me how to use these few weapons, and how to defend myself.”

Leo paused for a minute and tears started to flow, “The entire time I was training I knew what was happening to you. The Professor had something hooked into your clothes which allowed for audio/visual feedback on his end. He could see what was happening to you, as could I. There was nothing I could do until I had trained enough to be able to breach the facility. We scoped out the place and planned the attack as well as we could before I entered. If nothing else, please forgive me for leaving you there so long, I tried to get there as fast as I could.”

Leo was swallowed up by a fury of emotions He set down for a minute to collect himself. He could see tears running down Myra's cheeks. What happened to her in that laboratory had changed her, possibly even altered her personality forever. He gripped his fists and kicked the side of the motorcycle and spoke, “I swear Myra. I will avenge you. Those bastards won't get away with what they did to you. Let's go back to your father. I have talked to him. I swear Myra when this is over he will change you back to normal, I told him if he does not I will cut him down myself.”

They both set in silence awhile. Myra had undergone quite a bit in the past months. They just rested and spoke amongst themselves. They tried to gather their wits about them, and prepare for the trip back to the Professors laboratory. It was roughly 25 miles from their current location, and Leo knew that the organizations men would be around looking for them.

They rested well that night under the sun. Their camp was just 300 feet off the main road, but was protected by cloaking technology that was developed by the Professor for this very purpose. Early the next morning they awoke and Leo spoke, “Myra, you look much better. Now that you have had your first good night rest in months and a really good meal you are starting to look a little healthier. I swear to you, I will take care of you from now on. I will never let another bad thing happen to you if I can help it. Myra...I think I loved you since the moment I saw you out there. I knew you were the right person for me, and by all the power in my heart I will make the professor turn you to normal after this is all over.”

For the first time in a while, Myra cracked a smile. They loaded their stuff and themselves into the motorcycle and headed for the Professors Laboratory. They made it there with surprisingly few issues. Leo knew that they would not try to capture Myra again because they knew she would not talk. If they ever came again it would be for blood. Within about half an hour they arrived at their destination.

They went inside and the professor came running up, “I am glad you are finally back home Myra. I had no idea they had taken you from your room that night, and before I found out it was way too late. I don't have any trained fighters on my staff, so luckily for me this boy came around. We were able to whip him into shape and send him after you.” Myra began crying and responded, “I hate you. You care about nothing but yourself and your stupid goals. You didn't even care about all the stuff that happened to me these last few months. You’re not even worthy of calling yourself my father.” Myra could not control herself. The tears came pouring through like a gateway, as she ran back to her room.

The scenario was almost as if Deja Vu, before she was kidnapped. Leo went to the room and stood outside the door with his weapons in hand. He stood just outside of her view, but to where he could protect her from anything and everything. He had told his parents that he would be gone awhile. He called them after he found out where he was when he was teleported from the forest. He told his parents he was going on a vacation and he would not return for a few months. He had been burned with an obsession over Myra he had never known before. A love stronger than words could describe and he would protect her from anything, even if it cost him his very life.

Myra lay in her bed for a while. After a minute she realized that Leo was outside her door, just out of site. “Well come in silly.” she said with a giggle. He slowly turned the corner and set down on the bed with his eyes towards the floor. She softly spoke, “Listen, Leo. Thank you for everything. I was so afraid you hated me after that. I am really sorry I caused you all this trouble.” Leo responded, “I love you. I will do anything for you. I just wish you had not of ran from me that day. Yes I was stunned by what happened, but I wasn't going to hate you for something you are, or something you can't control. You should have trusted me more than that, even though I know we just met.”

Leo and Myra hugged, a strong hug, and for the first time they felt like they really belonged together. They felt as if they were closer than any two human beings had ever been before. Within hours they were both asleep. They had both had a very rough day, and were happy now to have each other, no matter what difficulties the future might bring.

The next day Leo spoke to the professor privately, “Listen after all that has happened to her, I am taking her away from here for a while. I know about your plans, but the scientists are not going to be doing anything major in a week. They have been developing this stuff for years, so I think we have time. I am taking her in town for a while, probably around a week. We are going to bunk up in a hotel. I want to show her some of the sights and sounds. This has been my hometown for years. I really want to spend some more time with her and get to know her more.”

The Professor tensed and spoke, “I can't let you do that Leo.” Leo responded, “Listen professor. I like you. I know you love your daughter, even after all you have done. But I am taking her for a vacation. All you do lately is use her for her abilities. I am taking her away for a while. If you try to get in my way, I will kill you just like I killed all of the guards that belonged at the organization. I have set my mind on this, and I won't change it, even if it means your life. I am not running off with her permanently. I just want to take her away from this situation, even if it is only for a week.” The Professor nodded, “I understand. You have ONE week. If your one day over a week I will have you hunted down, and at the very least put in jail for kidnapping. I still have legal authority over her; she is my daughter after all. You have one week from tomorrow. I want her back by the following Monday.”

After a minute or two they had a full-fledged agreement, and Leo went to get Myra. “Myra, I have talked with the professor. I know we have to eventually deal with the scientists if we are ever going to get you back to normal. However using threats and intimidation I worked out a deal with the Professor. I am taking you away from all of this for a week. Away from your powers, the stress from your father, and the organization. I am taking you into town where they have no authority, and giving you a week on the town. We are bunking up in a local hotel under a different name so we can just spend time together for a week.”

Myra opened the biggest smiled he had ever seen on a person. She ran to him and gave him the biggest hug he ever had in his life. They spent that entire week to its fullest. They went to various places, and spent a ton of time together. They were learning more about eat other and getting closer and closer each day. They went out to eat, went to the zoo, to the circus, and spent quite times by the water in thought wrenching conversations. Slowly and happily the week went by until it finally reached that Monday.

Myra had a talk with Leo, “Listen Leo. This has been the best time I have had in my entire life. On top of that I love you. I don't want to go back to that lifestyle and those horrors anymore.” Leo spoke, “Listen Myra. I know how you feel but all hope is not lost. I have worked these details out with the Professor. If I don't take you back I will go to jail. However, there is hope. The professor has a plan. He wants me and you involved. He said if this plan works it will spell the end of the organization permanently. Not to mention he promised you to make you a normal girl after that. Just go with me. Help me make these plans a reality, and I swear I will make sure you are made normal again.”

Leo paused, “And just in case I will make the Professor tell me the names of some of the contacts he mentioned. He told me, that he knew a few people who could return you to normal in case if something happens to him.” They both nodded and headed back to the Professor's laboratory.

They went in and spoke with the professor. The professor spoke, “I am glad you are back when I requested. Let's get to work. The sooner we finish these plans, the sooner I can turn my daughter to normal.”

Chapter 4 – The Plan

The Professor began to speak, “Let us begin. Myra, you have the power to stop earthquakes. Leo, I have trained you as much as I can with the resources available to me in how to fight and how to defend yourself. Within my entire presence you are the only two people that are capable of anything beyond normal scientific work. So I have developed a plan that will hopefully let us take apart the Organization with very little effort, without requiring us to have that much manpower or firepower.”

The Profession continued talking, “The first thing we are going to do is a little kidnapping mission. Leo, you fight much better with her around. So I am going to send her with you, just watch her carefully. Using the motorcycle I provided you are going to go back to the facility you removed her from, and capture their lead scientist. He lives on the edge of their facility. So if you come to the facility to the back, you should be able to sneak into his room, incapacitate him, and bring him back here without even setting off the alarms.”

Leo continued to listen as the Professor continued speaking, “So that is what we are going to do. Myra, you are not a trained fighter...however I have taught up all I know about espionage. You should be able to sneak past his defenses very easily and quickly, just try not to set off the alarms.” Myra nodded, and with that they headed off towards the facility after grabbing the supplies they needed for their mission.

They waited until late at night. They used the cover of darkness to reach their destination. Within hours they were right at the window of the scientist undetected, although the facility had almost tripled its security since he was last there. He whispered quietly to Myra, “Listen. We are here. I need you to try and open that window from this side. If you can do it without triggering the alarm or getting his presence then this will be easy. I am either going to sneak in so I can inject him with sleeping poison, or improvise depending on what he is doing.”

Myra slowly opened the window, and no-one heard. She was able to bypass the alarm sensors in the wall and open it without any detection. Leo looked through the window and saw that the scientist was in his room. Although he had fallen asleep inside his chair instead of in the bed, which would make it easier to wake him up. Leo turned to Myra and said, “Listen. This is going to get rough. Go ahead and get on the motorcycle and get ready to go. I am going to get him and bring him out. We are going to put him in the side car and take him back quickly, so be ready and have your gear on.”

Leo pulled out 3 grenades. He had a smoke grenade, a flash bang, and a concussion grenade. Each one of these had been engineered to detonate almost silently. They could be heard within the general vicinity, but the sound would be so low as to not wake anyone in the closest rooms. Leo threw in the smoke grenade first. The light sound of it going off woke the scientist, who tried to bolt for the door. Leo threw in the flash bang afterwards right in front of the door, which forced the scientist to tumble to the floor blind. Leo followed it up with a concussion grenade which knocked the daze scientist out immediately.

Leo cleared the window, and was starting to drag the scientist out the window. A security guard had heard some noises and was heading into the room. When Leo saw him, he threw a dagger at his throat. The security guard jumped to the floor, but Leo had already sent a second dagger towards the floor when he saw the motion. This dagger dug straight into the neck of the security guard, killing him instantly. Leo dragged the guard inside, and closed the door. He grabbed the scientist, pulled him out the window, and loaded him into the motorcycle. They quickly left after that.

On the way back to the Professor's lab, Myra was crying. Leo asked her what was wrong, and she responded, “This was the scientist that had treated me so badly when I was in his facility.” Leo's eyes glazed over with anger, “I promise he will pay for this after the Professor is done with him. I will make sure I get my turn.”

They dropped the scientist off with the Professor. Within a few hours, the Professor had gotten all the information he needed. The Professor approached Leo and spoke, “OK. I have the layout and configuration of that facility. I know all security inlets, and outlets. I know the location of the main map, and 3 other locations of duplicated versions of the technology as well (backup copies they made for emergencies). I need a few days to analyze all of this information, and afterwards we'll develop a few plans to get this entire thing dealt with. In the meantime, Leo, the scientist is in containment. Do with him as you see fit, although try to leave him alive. When we get all of our plans done, and get ready to turn them over to the FBI, I will need him as proof.” Leo grinned satanically and headed towards the back room.

Myra had heard everything, and saw Leo leave the room. She didn't want to hurt anyone. She almost stopped him, but she was treated so badly that she wanted some revenge. The room was quite for hours. Leo returned from the room. His blades were covered in blood. He walked over and set down. Then he said, “Myra you have been avenged. I left him alive, but barely. Professor, if you want this scientist to live, I advise you to get him heavy medical attention...right away.” When the Professor had the scientist evaluated, it was horrific. The scientist’s testicles and 2 fingers had been removed. He had been sliced up and down all over his body.

This entire series of events, were never repeated between Myra and Leo. Leo had so much pent of rage from what was done to Myra. He had to have a way to release that pent anger. She felt some semblance of closure from what had been done to her, but she would always be haunted by not stopping Leo before that happened. The Scientist was treated. He was minus his testicles and 2 fingers, but he had healed up otherwise. He required over 2000 stitches throughout his whole body, and was in the Professor's intensive care wards for 3 weeks. Leo cried that night. He cried for hours while he held Myra. He didn't cry because of what he had done, he cried because of what had happened to her.

Regardless of all that had happened. They took a few weeks, and they started getting over it. The Professor finally called them to his office; he had finished organizing all the data he had gained from the scientist. “OK guys. Here is what we are going to do. I have all the info. I have created a virus that is going to destroy their internal databases across all networks. They have one database copy on a PDA system that is at the third facility. So in total they have various copies across their network (my virus can deal with all of those) and then they have one on the PDA which we are going to steal. That will deal with all of their data.”

The Professor took a sip of some coffee, and continued talking, “So they also have 3 physical copies of their earthquake map prototype. Those 3 we are going to destroy. That is all we have to do. Besides that, it will cripple their organization, and the FBI can finish them. So here is what is going to happen. I am going to spend a small fortune hiring mercenaries. I am sending 3 teams in. Each team is going to their respective base. They are going to retrieve the 3 prototypes, and then bring back all the data collection then the police are going to help me finish off the rest of their forces. I have already spoken with the police chief and given him a rundown of the situation. I am meeting with him after we are done with our business.”

Myra and Leo hung around for a few weeks. Within that time the Professor infected their systems with the virus, stole the PDA, and acquired all copies of the prototype. All of their facilities were then turned over to the police, and the entire organization was taken down and all evidence taken into police custody. The only issue left to deal with, was the owner of the organization. It took the Professor two weeks to torture the information out of the scientist. He even let Leo deal with him a few times, and finally he revealed the name and location of the chief researcher, who also happened to be a Vietnam veteran. The professor did not have the funds needed to hire more mercenaries to take him out. Not to mention, the police would not be able to touch him now. All of the things they had taken into evidence did not have what they needed to convict him of anything. As far as they would be considered, he was totally clean.

The professor called Leo and Myra and began to speak, “Listen this is almost over. We have all the prototypes and data, and all 3 facilities were raided by police. The entire organization has been taken down. The only one left is the leader. He has no ties to the organization, so the police cannot become involved. We need to be able to take him out. I have the location of the facility. So, we are going to raid it, just the three of us. Apparently all of these funds have been poured into this project. It's just him, and a few guards. So we are going to go, and deal with him, personally, just the three of us.”

Chapter 5 – The Ending

Myra, Professor, and Leo spent about a week getting ready for combat. They had gotten together 1 car, they were going to use for the trip. Leo was going to deal with the guards. Myra was going to bypass security. Professor wanted to be there, so he could interrogate the lead scientist before he was killed. They had no choice. They were either going to have to find something to incriminate him in the entire conspiracy, or kill him. They had no other options.

Once their car was ready, they had it loaded with everything they needed. Leo had his standard curved blade, and two pistols. Myra brought along all she would need to bypass the security, including her data pad. They arrived at his mansion in due time. Leo went in first. The scientist leader already knew they were coming. He had guards stationed. Leo had a firefight with the first 2-3 guards that were stationed outside. None of them lasted. After wards Myra was able to open the main gate, and load up viruses into their network from the road in order to bypass all their security (camera's, turrets, and everything else). After wards they drove through the gate and parked near the front door of the mansion.

Leo went to the front door and shot holes into the locked, and kicked the door open. He went inside, and searched most of the mansion while the Professor and Myra stayed outside. He found nothing. He came back out of the mansion to give the news to the Professor. When he got back out, the Professor was half dead. He was lying in front of the mansion in a pool of his own blood, and Myra was gone. The professor spoke with his last breath, “Leo...I couldn't save her. The lead scientist took her in his car. He could not have gotten far. The formula needed to save her and make her normal is under my desk. Please, save her. “With that, the professor died. His last breath was spent trying to share the information that would return his daughter to normal.

Leo was enraged. He was in the car and after the lead scientist within seconds. He came up on him like lightning in an angry rage. Leo blew out both of his back tires, which brought the lead scientist to a screeching halt. Leo jumped out of the car and was on top of the scientist within minutes. Before he realized what was happening he was pounding his fists into the face of the lead scientists over and over again. Within 30 minutes he had beaten most of the skin off the scientists face. Then he suddenly hit reality, when he realized that he didn't see Myra anywhere near the crash site.

He checked the car, no Myra. He checked the surrounding area, no Myra. He checked some of the path back along the road, no Myra. He began getting scared. He started screaming for her, begging for her to answer. There was no answer. He fell to the ground on his knees, his eyes staring into the clouds as he began screaming her name and crying out but not getting an answer. He fell down, unconscious. He lay in the dirt, crying. With nothing to live for, nothing to hope for...he drew his pistol. He put it to his head and was about to pull the trigger, suddenly he heard a muffled cry. He listened closely and went to investigate. He heard her in the trunk. He slashed the trunk open, and she was there in the trunk, dying from lack of oxygen. She had been stabbed two times and was almost out of breath.

He screamed and cried at the same time. He pulled her into the front and drove to the hospital. She was hospitalized for 2-3 days, but she made it. The wounds inflicted by the lead scientist didn't kill her, they just hurt her badly. She was OK. When she was feeling a little better he started to speak to her, “I am sorry Myra. The professor is dead. However, I have a vial in my pocket that will make you normal. I got it from his desk yesterday while you were sleeping and recovering. Let me put it into you, let me finally make you normal.” She nodded weakly.

Leo injected the medicine into her veins. She started to spasm. A few minutes later she almost went into cardiac arrest. He skin started to dry and fall off, and underneath was the same thing that happens when she stops an earthquake. After that, the skin started re-growing rapidly. It was full, and back again within minutes. It was real skin, not the artificial skin that was replaceable. This was real skin, skin that would last for the rest of her life, and that would never fall off again. Her lifespan and been returned to her, and she would be able to finally live a somewhat normal life.

It was a few weeks before she had fully recovered from the lack of oxygen, and the stab wounds. When she had fully recovered, Leo took her away. He took her back to his family. He had been gone for many months longer than what he had said. They had opened a police report two months ago and thought he went missing. He explained that someone was out for their life, and they got detained in the legal system. There was no way he could tell them what all had happened these past few months.

Within a year Leo and Myra were married. She was pregnant with his first baby. They had a wonderful relationship. Since then Myra was able to reconnect with her mom. She was able to form a strong solid relationship with her, and her mother knew everything that had happened. She also learned how her ex-husband (the professor) was able to change her back to normal. They had a wonderful life together. Myra and Leo lived happily ever after, and had a wonderful life together.