The Z-B Virus

a few minutes of running, I suggested that we stop for a rest. I looked around, when we did stop, and a thought hit me like a train: I have never seen the outside world. I turned to Jim and said, “You wouldn’t happen to be able to pick up any nearby emotions, other than ours, would you?”
Jim closed his eyes and took a few deep breaths.
“I feel… massive amounts of fear, anxiety, and… attraction,” Jim smiled, “I found them.”
“Where are they?” I asked.
“Follow me.”
Jim set off at a jog. Eventually we saw the outline of a large city. Then we saw we started sprinting. It took us another ten minutes, of running like normal people, to get to the city limits sign, which read Welcome to the city of Topeka, Kansas. And it took an additional five minutes for Jim to figure out exactly which building to go to and lead us there.
We stopped outside of a large building (they called it a mall). One of the said, “I’m not surprised.”
We all laughed at that. Jim proceeded to tell us that the ladies and their bodyguard were getting hungry and had stopped for something to eat on the inside of the mall. We walked inside and when we were fifteen feet in, we saw a group of military-style backpacks. I could also hear the girls talking. I couldn’t make out what they were saying but, from the tone of their voices, they were nervous. Finally, we saw the girls, Ms. Jenny, and the buff guy, that volunteered to guard them, walk back to their table. Immediately, I heard Carrie’s voice.
“There they are.” She told the others.
They all started to get up to meet us but we were there in a matter of seconds. When the guys and I got over to the rest of the gang, I saw Shelby sitting down looking at me. I went over to her and sat down. Shelby never took her eyes off of me.
“Hi,” I said.
“Hi. Look I’m sorry about…”
I cut her off by doing exactly what she had done to me. I lost track of time, but we must have been kissing for a few minutes because we stopped when someone cleared their throat. When we pulled away, I realized everyone was staring at us and smiling. Thankfully, Ms. Jenny relieved the pressure by saying, “Okay, umm, boys why don’t you go find a nice hotel for us to stay in. Ladies, come with me to the bank so that I can withdraw some money. Oh, and boys, please take the bags with you. Thank you.”
Ms. Jenny turned to the buff guy, that had went with the girls and Ms. Jenny when they left Area 56.1, and said, “John, in about an hour, if we’re not back ask Carrie if we’re okay.”
John nodded and politely said, “Yes ma’am.”
As Ms. Jenny and the girls walked away, I turned to John and asked, “You can read minds too?”
“Nah,” he replied, “I can only talk to people in their minds. And they can talk back by thinking sentences.”
“That is pretty cool.”
“Yeah it is. But personally, I think seeing a vision of important, life changing stuff is better.”
I started to blush.
“Well thanks. No one has ever complimented me before.”
“You’re welcome. I do have one question: can you turn on the visions or does it happen randomly?”
“So far it happens randomly; I guess I could try to use it manually.”
I asked, “What should I try to see?”
Jim spoke up this time, “Why don’t you try to see your new girlfriend?”
Everybody laughed when my face went red with embarrassment.
“Okay, I guess I could give it a try.”
They stopped laughing when I said that. I closed my eyes and concentrated on Shelby’s face. It took a good twenty seconds, and the darkness behind my eyelids slowly became brighter. Then, slowly but surely, shapes began to form. At first it was fuzzy; I could only see basic shapes and forms.
The next thing to appear was colors. Everything was slowly colored in, after that the details came in. It was like looking into a microscope while adjusting the clarity of the image. When I finally had perfect a perfect picture of Ms. Jenny and the girls, I realized that I had no sound.
The memory of my first kiss with Shelby came forth, and then I could hear muffled voices. It was kind of like there was a door between me and the girls, I could hear them but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. Then the memory of my second kiss popped into my mind, out of nowhere, and everything I saw and everything I heard sharpened up. I could hear everything and see everything as if I was there with them.
They were in a building with the words American National Bank on the wall, and they were standing in a line. Then, it was like it was out of a movie, two guys ran in with guns and duffel bags. The two guys shot the three guards before they could look to see who had walked in. The guards dropped to the floor, lifeless. Someone screamed and I lost my vision in a flash of darkness. I opened my eyes and quickly explained what I saw.
“John, tell Ms. Jenny we’re on our way, then tell her about me using my vision.” I said.
John nodded and walked a few steps away. While he did that, I helped the other guys get on backpacks and duffel bags of guns, all the while, giving instructions.
“When we get there, don’t go right in, go to the alley next to the bank and hide the bags. Then we’ll go in, but without guns. Because we’ll probably look suspicious, as if we are with the robbers. Does everyone understand?” I asked.
There were nods all around. Then John came back over and said, “Okay, they know.”
“Alright, that’s good. Let’s hit the speed boys.”
Everything slowed down as I finished my sentence, and then we started running. It took a few minutes for us to get there, but to other people we took only a few seconds. We went into the alley and hid the bags behind a Dumpster. When they were all hidden from sight, we stepped back and I asked, “Are you guys ready?”
Everyone nodded, by now everything was moving at normal speed. The guys and I jogged around to the front of the bank and we quietly opened the doors and we snuck inside. I saw one of the robbers yelling at the people at the windows, telling them to fill his duffel bags with money. The other robber was collecting cell phones from everyone, and telling them to put them in his pillow case. I looked to my comrades and motioned for them to spread out. They must have understood, because they all went in different directions. I looked back at the man collecting cell phones, he had reached Ms. Jenny.
I crouched down and moved in closer and hid behind a column.
“Put your cell phone in the bag lady.” The robber ordered.
Ms. Jenny was brave enough to tell him, “I don’t have one.”
Lucky for me this managed to keep him occupied long enough for me to step out from behind my column. The only person who saw me was Carrie, who was exactly the person I wanted to talk to. I pointed to her and then tapped my head. I felt a buzzing but no voice so I assumed that Carrie was listening. I thought to her, I need you to tell the others to not scream, cough when they know. After I finished I hid behind the column again.
The guy collecting phones started to get loud with Ms. Jenny, telling her to hand over her phone. I heard a cough and I creped out from behind my hiding spot and I ran silently at the guy. I covered his mouth with my hand so he couldn’t shout for help, at the same time I also grabbed his gun hand. I broke his trigger finger before the guy could fire his gun, squirming the entire time, trying to break my grip, but to no success.
Just as I had predicted, the robber dropped his gun and attempted to scream in pain. The girl with purple hair caught the man’s gun before it could hit the floor.
“Thank you,” I whispered.
The guy I was holding had apparently gotten over the pain of his broken finger, because he tried to squirm even more. So with my free hand, the one that had broken the guy’s finger, I grabbed the man’s hand that had the broken finger and I squeezed his whole hand as hard as I possibly could. In doing so, I crushed every bone, in the hand, to dust. I did not expect the robber to pass out from excessive pain.
I took him over to behind the column I was hiding behind and hid the unconscious man. I looked to all of my comrades and then pointed to the remaining robber, who was still waiting for the money, and I made a slicing motion across my throat. As I turned away, I heard them run up and start beating up the robber. I looked to Ms. Jenny and the girls and asked, “Do you want to wait until the police get here or do you want to leave now?”
Ms. Jenny thought for a second and asked, “Do the other boys know where to meet us?”
“I can tell them,” I responded.
I turned to tell the guys to meet us at the mall, but I saw them coming over, dragging the unconscious robber with them.
“Where do you want him?” one of the guys asked.
I pointed to the robber’s accomplice. When the robber was on top of his accomplice, I said, “Let’s get out of here.”
***