The Rush

Altin felt by instinct that staying in the outer anomaly space would be a grave error if the anomaly shrank fully. There might be no exit! He decided to share his thoughts: "Guys, if we follow Julien's theory and drawing, then if the sphere shrinks and disappears, there will be no more exits. Anyone inside the anomaly past in its outer area in the darkness will be there forever."

Julien thought a second. He then sighed and said. "I think Altin's right. But, in the end, we still need to escape as soon as possible."

Henry was staying silent. He only exchanged a few hushed words with Emma and Riana, the two remaining members of his squad.

However, as the shooting stopped for a second, sergeant Aster shouted: "Unicorn squad! Find an alternative exit asap! We can't hold them much longer. We need to take our chance and leave before it's too late!"

Shooting returned with renewed intensity right after that.

Not wasting any time, Eléonore exclaimed: "Let's look at the map!"

Julien took out the police station map and laid it on the floor so that everyone could see.

Eléonore was the quickest to pinpoint an alternate exit. "There! There is an emergency exit here!" She said.

She pointed her finger at a door, barred "emergency" on the map, accessible from the open-space room they had crossed earlier.

"Looks good!" Atlin approved. Then, he turned to the lobby, where the fights continued. He shouted: "Sergeant Aster! There's an emergency exit in the open space further away! It's alongside the left-wing of the building!"

"I don't know where it is!" The sergeant replied. "Rico, you've been in the station! Know the way? "

"I know! Follow me!" Corporal Rico confirmed.

"Everyone pull back and follow Rico!" The sergeant ordered.

The alpha squad rushed out of their cover to reach the corner by which Altin, Julien, Eléonore, Paul, Henri, Emma, and Riana were hidden.

Immediately, they followed Rico, who led the way to the emergency door.

They quickly crossed the corridor that led to the open space.

Behind them, hurried footsteps sounded, but thanks to the cover of the darkness, the assailants seemed not to know where to go.

Unlike Altin and Paul's group, they had no one to cancel the darkness and provide lighting.

Their handicap provided the seconds the recon team needed to reach the open space.

However, as they crossed half of the open space, they reached the limits of the anomaly: in front of them laid a seemingly endless void that cut through half of the open space. It was as if an invisible barrier separated them from another dimension.

It was unexpected for the alpha team but not for the unicorn squad.

"We can't rely on our eyes! We need to find the anomaly exit using our senses!" Altin explained in a hurry. "I'll lead the way!"

"Everyone, hold the rope!!!!" Corporal Rico added.

Rico knew from experience how terrific it would be to be left alone in the darkness. Unlike the kids, he and the rest of the alpha squad could barely feel the force. Going out by themselves would be impossible.

The team dived deeper into the darkness, only pausing for a few seconds now and then. And in less than two minutes after, Altin yelled: "This is it! That's the spot!"

He dived first into the anomaly exit, and soon after, everyone followed.

Bright sunlight assaulted their eyes. Behind them, the vast black hole was still shrinking at a visible rate.

They were out of the limits of the anomaly but still in the middle of the open space.

Without stopping, they dropped the rope and ran to the exit, Corporal Rico leading the way.

Except for Henry, Emma, and Riana - the rest of the radio squad.

Henry said: "I'm sorry. We're staying here. We will be killed outside on sight, I know it. I've seen it. But we have a chance at being taken captive if we stay here unarmed and waiting. So that's our decision."

"Henry! You haven't seen the bodies upstairs... they... they killed everyone!" Altin recalled with disgust the horrible sight he had witnessed in the raided armory. He attempted to convince Henry: "They won't spare you, even if we're not with you!!!"

"You come with us! Now!" Sergeant Aster ordered.

Henry shook his head. "Good luck," Emma and Riana said.

It is evident to Eléonore that they would not be convinced. "Let's go," she said, "we can't wait here for too long! I... I think they must have a way to exit the anomaly since they entered!!!":

"Right..." Altin realized. Eléonore made sense. All this... could only mean that ability users were among them. They had to hurry.

Seeing no hope in rescuing the kids of the radio squads and hearing Eléonore, Sergeant Aster decided to press on: "Forget about the radio squad. Let's go!!!"

A moment later, they had rushed the exit door, which was only unlockable from the inside, and gave way to a small alley according to the map.

Now, they stood ready to leave.

"We can't last in this city and without support. So we need to make destroying the source of the jamming a priority so we can call for an evac. Before we entered the station, the radio team pinpointed the source as the middle school two kilometers north. We're going there. " Sergeant Aster asked.

"Two kilometers is a little far -- " Julien complained.

"No choice." Sergeant Aster interrupted. "We won't last long enough for rescue to arrive if we don't signal HQ."

"Don't worry, kiddo; we'll protect you." Corporal Rico reassured.

Altin clenched his jaw.

The assailants may not expect them to exit from a small alley, but they would undoubtedly be found sooner or later. And then, what would protect them from the bullets?

Wasn't there anything they could do with their power and the low-medium density of energy in the town?

He could disintegrate what was in front of him... it was his most potent power.

He'd need a shield, so...

The idea came to him immediately.

"I can stop the bullets," He said aloud for everyone to hear.

Sergeant Aster's attention turned to Altin; "how ?" he asked.

"By," Altin explained, "disintegrating any matter passing past a certain limit in front of me or around me. It'll be like an invisible shield."

"Altin, but it'll exhaust you, right?" Eléonore asked, worried and still reminiscent of when she had fallen out of the sky when Julien dispersed the thunder anomaly on top of the prototype diffuser [Chapter 28: The Diffuser].

"Right... let me try."

Altin took a few steps away and held his hands in front of him. Then, taking deep breaths, he said: "Throw something at me."

"I'll throw this," Paul said while staring at a pen dropped on the floor. He then gently raised it in the air and launched it towards Altin at moderate speed.

But as the pen reached about 50 cm in front of Altin, it seemed to disappear into thin air, producing light and heat as it faded away. As the molecular structure of the pen broke into atoms, the disintegration released binding energy.

"It worked," Altin remarked, smiling. "Now fire at me... Well, next to me. Be careful!!!"

Corporal Rico aimed his rifle at about 50cm of Altin's right shoulder. "Don't move," he warned.

He shot.

Immediately, the invisible "shield" in front of Altin flashed, and the bullet impact that everyone expected didn't happen.

Altin sighed in relief. "I think I'm good. I can probably hold the shield for a few minutes... "

"I can try something as well," Paul announced, "I think I can stop the bullets by applying adequate pushing powers on anything coming towards me."

Altin, Eléonore and Julien nodded. It made sense.

Altin and Paul switched places.

"Try firing next to me," Paul said.

Corporal Rico nodded. "You're ready ?" He asked.

"Ready," Paul confirmed.

Once again, Rico shot next to Paul's left shoulder.

The moment after, the bullet hit the wall behind Paul.

He swallowed. "Sorry, I didn't apply enough power. Do it again."

Rico fired once more.

This time, the bullet behaved as if it hit an invisible wall that sent it flying backward.

It fell on the ground not far from Paul.

The latter smiled. "It worked!" He declared.

"You kids are incredible." Corporal Rico applauded.

"Anything you can do, Eléonore, Julien?" Sergeant Aster asked.

Eléonore thought for a moment. She had applied the string force in several ways, included sound manipulation and gravity anchoring. She wondered if she could stop the bullets by anchoring them to gravity well before they reached her, but she quickly dismissed the idea: if gravity was enough to stop bullets, how could one shoot upward? Bullets were too fast relatively to the standard gravity acceleration of 9.8 m/s².

However, she could create traps. "I don't think I can stop bullets with what I know today, but I can create gravity traps, which would trap keep people anchored to the ground for a while. We can leave it one here as we exit the building; it could save us some time."

Sergeant Aster acquiesced. "That would be of great help," he said. "... Julien?"

The blond young man seemed conflicted; he could only say: "I'm sorry... I'm the least skilled among us. I'm only good at dispersing or diffusing the string force. I struggle to give it a particular direction or affinity."

"It's ok, Julien," Altin comforted, "that's plenty of power in today's world."

A shout interrupted their moment of respite. "FIND THEM!"

"Time to leave." Sergeant Aster said.

"I want us to run in line - Paul in front shielding us from forward bullets, Altin behind us shielding us from backward bullets. We take small streets only, except for the final road leading straight to the school. I've memorized the map, so I'll give the directions. Eléonore, you're last before Altin. Leave a trap whenever you can to slow down our opponents. Julien, stay in the middle.

So in the order: Paul, Me, Private Marlo, Julien, Private Bambi, Corporal Rico, Eléonore, Altin. Ready?"

Sergeant Aster looked at his team. Many were scared, but they couldn't be more ready.

"THREE!"

"TWO!"

"ONE!"

Sergeant Aster pushed the lever of the emergency exit.

It didn't budge one bit.

"Sh*t! It's blocked."

He kicked the door with no effect.

"Let me do it," Altin proposed. He came forward and put his hands on the lever and then had it corroded. "Should be fine now," Altin informed.

Sergeant Aster kicked the door again.

This time, it came wide open.

It was still cloudy outside, and they still had 3 hours of sunshine.

Without delaying, Paul rushed first out of the door using his wheelchair's autonomous motor, followed by Sergeant Rico.

The team moved in one synchronized column towards the end of the alleyway, not without looking for any assailant behind or in front of them.

Thankfully, there was no one in the alleyway. They quickly reached the end of the alley, turned left, found a new street leading away from the police station, now almost fully visible. The black hole anomaly had nearly dissipated.

They ran at jogging space: slow but steady and vigilant so that everybody stayed in line. At this speed, they would arrive at the school where the jamming originated in 10-15min.

They passed one street after another, and for a moment, they thought they'd successfully reach the school without meeting any danger, but two more turns, and they met a group of 4 armed men in a medium-wide street allowing cars to drive both ways.

The four-armed men started shooting.

Immediately, Paul and Altin did their very best to block and disintegrate the bullets, respectively, and the remnants of the alpha returned fire, bringing a moment of respite as the line of 7 rushed to make another turn.

Altin and Paul had ceased to be impacted by fear: the danger was so great that it had turned on their survival instincts.

They manned their "shield" out of instinct, barely glancing at their surrounding, moving in the direction that Sergeant Aster was giving.

Nobody in the line ever stopped: stopping in the open would risk everyone being surrounded and trapped again. But, of course, that couldn't happen until they reached the school and radioed Interoutes.

Having turned another corner, the team ran alongside a new wall, half crouched, in case bullets were fired in their direction.

The street was empty: if anyone lived here, then they were hiding.

They wasted no time in sighseeing and immediately ran toward the next street.

It was very tempting to break rank and seek cover, but Altin, Eléonore, Julien, and Paul courageously stayed calm and in position.

Sergeant Aster couldn't help but look back at the kids with pride .

It would be an honor to protect these brave recruits until the end.

Next, they passed in front of a school bus stop; the school wasn't far anymore.

Going straight without looking back, they ran till the end of the street.

The previous assailant's group had caught them up at that time.

Eléonore had laid a gravity trap that anchored the pursuers to the ground, but, they were still shooting bullets. So Altin was forced once more to shield the group from the bullets.

Altin couldn't jog as fast when he had to look back and channel the string force against the shots, and the column slowed down slightly.

Intense seconds passed before another turn came and brought them more time.

But as they turned, they realized another group was waiting for them - as if they knew they would pass this way.

It forced them to take a small street on the side.

The detour brought them time, but they could not avoid the pursuers firing at them from the back.

Without Paul and Altin's shields, there was little doubt that not all of them would have made it there.

More dangerous and frenetic rushes across the downtown went on.

As they became closer to the school, it became harder and harder to avoid the assailants.

However, a few minutes later, they turned one last time and arrived in front of a long road leading to the school.

The school was now in sight.

It was a middle and high school of medium size; the building was perhaps six floors high. On its roof, a high antenna stood and overlooked the whole city.

Eléonore, who had less to do than Altin and Paul, who were actively shielding them from danger, took a moment to confirm that the source of jamming came from the antenna. Someone was using it as a medium to interference with electromagnetic waves.

Julien, unfortunately, could only do his best to stay in the middle of the column and not hinder the rest of the team.

The school was perhaps only 500 meters away now, but running in this street would be the most dangerous part of this mad escape.

Several groups had caught up to them, and their back was open.

So were their side: already, more people were coming out of the intersections.

They would be attacked from all sides as they madly rushed to the cover of the school.

Their only hope.