House of Cards

Tour Part II: Beginning of sorrows

Morning came, and our busy day just started. I had to wake up even early than the others since I am practicing my ability to see how much I can push it to some extent. Chris always wakes up after me and will always come and find me and strangely enough he would always be successful in finding me, on the ground almost unconscious.

‘Dang! Why do I always lose my consciousness during something like this?’ I asked myself as I feel my consciousness drifting away and from the corner of my eyes, I saw Chris running towards me with his usual worried expression. “Damn it Rain, did you do it again?!” he exclaimed as he shake me horrendously.

*WOBBLE!* *WOBBLE!* *WOBBLE!* *WOBBLE!* *WOBBLE!*

‘This somehow had worked recently but why is this ineffective now? He would always grab control of himself whenever I do this. I don’t really know why would Rain always do this knowing that he might lose his consciousness every time but this is getting out of hand, each time he does this, he ends up getting weaker and weaker.’ I thought to myself as I drag his almost unconscious body to somewhere more comfortable as I try to recall the first time I saw him on the same state.

I got him to rest for a little while to recover his strength so he could walk by himself without the help from someone because if he did get help, it would give a wrong impression to the staff.

After a while of resting I am finally able to walk on my own, though I am still a little dizzy, I need to force myself so that I would not miss out on the tour that only happens once a year and exclusively for the students of Olympus.

We got back just in time for breakfast with everyone asking where we had been so we just said some random things like checking out the surroundings and the scenery of dawn of this place.

We were done eating and then took our bath in turns and finished preparing everything right before the staff of the animal reserve arrived to pick us up and give us a tour of the place. We got so many activities waiting for us on the first place that we were guided to and everyone seems to have enjoyed it really well.

“Phew, that was really amazing! I can’t believe we spent almost the entire day just checking out a small portion of the animal reserve. Now I can tell why they said that this is a few days of touring.” One of the girls said as they look at the photos that they manage to grab while enjoying our time. “I really think this is exhausting. I feel like my eyes would just close down without even my permission.” Jake said as he leans on one of the girls shoulder.

“I swear I will definitely eat and sleep when we arrive.” Robert said with a very exhausted look in his face. Chris and I are equally exhausted as well, we get to enjoy going out with the entire class for the first time in our lives. When we arrived at camp, we then ready everything so that our night will go on smoothly. And when it was time to eat, we did not see Jake. “Where did that prick go? Jake?” one of our classmates said as he comes with us to find Jake. ‘Where did that guy go? He was just here a few moments ago.’ I thought as I try to remember where he went. “Hey guys, didn’t he told us that he will go pee at the forest? Chris said as we kept searching for Jake inside the facilities. “Eh? Did he really said that?”

Robert asked as he opens the door. Chris nodded his head as an answer. “Is that so? Man that really had us worried all of the sudden. You should have told us that sooner Chris.” One of our classmates said as he gets out of the door. “Come on, the food might go cold if we take any longer and don’t worry about Jake, he can just heat his food in an instant.” He invited as he held the door open for us.

Convinced that Jake was just taking a stroll like I usually do, we went back to where everyone was but there is a feeling in my chest that something is wrong with what is happening but I just hope that it’s nothing bad enough that it would endanger us. The group went back to the others with a smile their faces telling them that Jake might have just taken a stroll.

Little did they know that it was the start of something that will lead to a very dangerous situation later on the following days.

‘Where am I? Why is it pitch black? I can’t see anything.’ Jake told himself and then he heard a voice. “That’s enough for today, let him go and erase his memory from when he got here.” he heard a really deep voice then he suddenly felt something cold touches his head, hands, he can tell that someone is touching his head but when he come to, Jake found himself standing near the forest facing the facility that they are staying in.

“Huh? What am I doing here? Oh- maybe I just finished peeing. Let’s just go back, the other might get worried if I stay out for too long.” Jake told himself with a smile but the feeling of something was lingering in his head when he turned back to the forest. ‘I feel like there is something I forgot but I can’t get a hold of it properly.’

The following days, the same things happen over and over again. So me and the other guys are having a bad feeling about it and ended up following him through the forest but then he suddenly disappeared from our sights. All of us were alerted about what happened that we run to where he was just standing a few seconds ago as the others start to call his name.

“JAKE!! Where are you?!”

“This is bad, we need to inform the staff about this.” one of our classmates said as he immediately run back accompanied by the others while I, Chris, Robert and some others stayed behind and look for Jake but one of our classmates stopped us saying. “We should let the staff handle this, this might be something that kids like us are not qualified to handle.” Understanding the wisdom behind his suggestion, we agreed and just called out Jake’s name until the staff arrives.

“I have already informed Olympus, they are coming in here now.” The staff said as they take over from what we are doing. “Good job guys, you should let the adults deal with this.” one of our teachers said who volunteered to watch over us said with a smile in his face.

All of the staff went in the forest and search for Jake as we stand outside idly with our hearts almost bursting out of our chest in worry. A good thirty minutes in and the institute and other government offices connected to Olympus arrived and made us clear the premises, pushing as further back to where the girls are, who are equally worried about what is happening.

Knowing that everyone is scared the hell out of them right now, Robert stepped in and tried to comfort the girls, all is going well to his plan when all of the sudden a huge blast completely blew our minds out.

*BOOOOM!* *RUMBLE!* *RUMBLE!* *RUBMLE!*

We felt the ground shook under us but what shock us even more is that a huge cloud of flame appeared from the forest that the institute and the other government offices are gathered.

*BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!* *BUDUMP!*

We felt our heart race the moment we saw the cloud of flame burned everything that it touches, grass and leaves immediately got incinerated the instant the flame touches them, after coming back to our senses, a chilling thought came to our mind.

“That isn’t Jake’s work right?” one of the girls said with a horrified expression.

“No way- Jake wound not do such a thing.” Robert said with a broken tone. But they were wrong, they held to their fleeting hope, we held to our fleeting hope.

“I guess we all stand corrected.” One of the guys said as he points to the person walking out of the forest completely covered in flames, it was Jake. A huge shock blew us out of our senses as our widened eyes stare at the figure that was once a person who would not even dare to hurt a tiny animal with his special ability let alone people.

The staff and the institute and the other government offices told us to evacuate the area immediately. “Leave the area immediately, that kid had gone corrupted. We are going to contain him and we cannot do that if you kids are still here.” he said with a terrified expression but he still acted tough so that we should not get worried. We immediately left as he instructed as our teacher guided us to a safe place far away from where everything was happening.

“Was that really Jake? I can’t believe it-“ our other classmates were still doubting what we saw and then we suddenly heard of what seems to be gunshots and explosions accompanied by another blast that we heard earlier.

*BOOOM!*

And the ground shook yet again but this time it was really strong.

*RUBMLE!* *RUBMLE!* *RUBMLE!* *RUBMLE!* *RUBMLE!* *RUBMLE!* *RUBMLE!* *RUBMLE!*

The gunshots and explosions ceased and our teacher was scared out of his wits and the girls and the other guys are even more frighten of what is going to happen after this. So Chris and I volunteered to take a look at what is happening. “Hey man, you can’t be serious right?” one of the guys said with a completely frightened look in his face. “Of course not, teacher will accompany us.” Chris said with a convincing tone. Our teacher knew that that is the only way to know what is happening right now since we are so far off from the scene so he agreed. “But on one condition. If things get ugly, promise me that you guys run the hell out of there okay?”

We nodded our heads as we walk back with our teacher as the others tell us over and over again to be careful. But what we saw there was complete chaos, all the people that gathered here were all burned instantly that we can see that they did not even have the time to scream in pain and anguish. The sight of dead bodies burning almost made the three of us throw up as we felt our stomachs twist after seeing the sight.

And the center of the blast sat a person covered it flames staring right towards us, Jake or what seems to be our friend a few hours ago.