The Last Hero (Book 1): Ultra (9 page)

T
he following day
, I couldn’t help walking through school with a spring in my step.

It started when we were in history class. The sun shone brightly through the window, making it warm and stuffy inside. The smell of sweat from my fellow students was strong. It was usually a smell that made me feel ill. A smell combined with the hunger as lunchtime approached that tipped me over the threshold into nauseousness.

But not today.

I heard the three girls chatting about him first. The “mystery hero” who rescued a woman at a cashpoint last night. I heard one of the girls—Kayla Welsh, a pretty and moderately popular blonde—giggling. I heard a couple of the others say the guy looked “hot.”

One of the ones saying the guy was hot? No other than Ellicia.

And now I was outside, walking past the field with Damon. He was saying things to me. Going on about some video game or other. But I wasn’t really taking it in. I wasn’t really listening. I was just thinking about Ellicia and whether she meant what she said about me. Of course, nobody
knew
it was me. Fortunately, the hood blocked my face, and I’d been wearing pretty neutral clothing—natural for me. I’d also been moving pretty quick. Mainly, though, I was surprised just how human I’d seemed in that footage. I was worried I’d be exposed as an ULTRA all night.

But there was nothing to indicate it was me. Nothing.

At least, it didn’t seem that way.

“Besides, I really like the donut place,” Damon muttered, halfway through a bagel. “Don’t see why they have to go closing it. Whaddya think? Kyle? Are you even listening?”

I wasn’t. I found myself stopping. Standing and staring over at the field. Mike Beacon and his friends were playing football there. It looked a very private, exclusive affair, cool kids only. A few pretty girls were watching, and Mike was giving them that look he always did.

“Kyle? Umm.. you having nasty flashbacks or something, man? ’Cause the game’s all done with now. You’re not fake-shitting yourself anymore. Come on, let’s get outta here.”

But I didn’t want to. I felt the anger building up inside. The anger I’d felt towards Mike when he’d mocked the footage of me in the midst of a gunman attack. The anger I’d felt when he mocked me for the shit incident, and the anger I’d felt for all the bullying over the last few years.

I felt the tingling up the back of my neck and an urge built within.

Could I?

It was dangerous. It was reckless. But…

“Hold this,” I said.

I handed my rucksack to Damon and ran across the yard towards the field. I didn’t even think about what I was doing. If I took a moment to think, I knew I’d probably legitimately shit myself.

“Kyle!” Damon shouted. “You got a death wish or something? You take a knock to the head?”

“Something like that,” I muttered under my breath.

But nothing was stopping me. I kept on running in the direction of the field, in the direction of Mike Beacon’s football game.

I saw a few of the players glance around at me as I approached. A few of the girls watching the game pointed and laughed. Mike Beacon hadn’t seen me, though. He was running around with the ball in his hands, trying to get someone to catch him, but they just couldn’t.

Eventually, he threw the ball. Not quite in my direction, but close enough for what I was about to do next.

I felt the anger inside me.

Felt the tingling fill my body.

And I hurtled towards the ball.

In a split second, I felt the ball land in my hands. I suddenly became aware of myself—Kyle, not the ULTRA Kyle—and I asked the same question in my mind that Mike Beacon asked when he finally turned and saw me holding onto the ball.

“What the hell you think you’re doin’, squirt?”

I stood there and felt my legs begin to shake. Mike stared intently into my eyes. He’d looked at me that way so many times before, and when he had, it was always when he was preparing to do something to torment me, to intimidate me.

But that wasn’t happening again. I wasn’t allowing it to happen again.

“You want the ball?”

Mike narrowed his eyes some more. I could feel the whispers surrounding me, the warmth of the sun burning my skin.

“Unless you want me to come get it,” Mike said.

I saw a few smiles then. And I knew what Mike friends thought. I was just gonna give in. I was gonna give the ball back. They saw me for who I really was.

Only they didn’t know who I
really
was. Not anymore.

I swallowed a lump in my throat and I held the ball tighter. “Come on then,” I said. “Come get it.”

I heard some whoops. Saw some claps. Mike Beacon smiled, but I could see his cheeks were red.

“Suit yourself, kiddo,” he said.

He started to walk in my direction. Towering above me. Muscles twice my size.

I waited for Mike to step within a meter of me before I held the ball out.

Mike reached out for it.

Had his hands centimeters, millimeters, from grabbing it.

And I pulled the ball back and ran around the back of him.

I saw a few wide eyes as Mike tumbled forward. A few uncertain laughs. My heart pounded. By the side of the field, I could see Damon looking on, open mouthed.

“Come on,” I said. “Thought you told me you wanted it?”

Mike turned around and I saw his face was completely red. There was no joy there, not anymore. “Don’t test me, dick.”

He lunged towards me.

I jumped up. Felt that tingling in my mind and jumped right over Mike.

I landed behind him.

Mike fell face flat into the grass.

I heard the laughter then and knew I couldn’t take my powers much further. I’d just about got away with what I’d used without it looking too obvious. I had to give up. At least Mike wouldn’t bother me now I’d shown him up.

I dropped the ball. “Here. All yours. Not my sport anyway.”

I turned around and started to walk, feeling on cloud nine, on top of the world. I swore the pretty girls at the side of the field were even watching me.

When I felt the sharp pain in my left kidney, I realized they weren’t looking at me at all.

Mike punched me to the ground. He knocked the wind right out of my body. I hit the grass with force. Because it was so warm, it was like hitting solid ground.

Mike turned me around. His eyes were bloodshot. “Don’t you turn your back on me,” he said. “Don’t you dare turn your back on me, you little shit. Just ’cause you got caught up in a gunman attack, you think you’re a hard-ass all of a sudden. Just ’cause you lost your sister all those years ago, you think you’re above me. Just ’cause you’ve been through somethin’ I haven’t, you think I should fall in line.”

When he mentioned my sister, in that split second as his fist hurtled towards my face, I wanted to keep my calm. I didn’t want to use my powers again.

But the mention of my sister was enough to make me angry.

I stopped his fist. Twisted his wrist around. I pushed him back and sat atop him, flipping over his strong body with forces I was still amazed to have.

I focused on his neck. Tightened my grip, not using my hands but my mind. Tighter, tighter. And as I held Mike down, I could hear a few laughs at first. And then I could hear a few shouts. Voices right beside me. People saying something was happening to him.

All I could do was look down into the eyes of my tormentor as his face turned red.

Then purple.

Then blue.

And as I looked into his eyes, I knew that I was the one causing him this pain. I knew I was the one choking him.

And I didn’t feel bad. I didn’t feel anything.

I just felt angry at him.

I saw a tear roll down Mike’s cheek. Heard someone by Mike’s side asking if he was okay. And as I saw the tears, as much as I wanted to hold on with my mind’s grip, I let go.

I let go and heard Mike wheeze for breath. Heard him splutter.

I stepped away from him, shaking. Stepped away as some more people from the school ran towards him. And as I stared at Mike Beacon choking, I understood the danger of what I’d done.

I’d used my powers. I’d used my powers to cover up the fact I was a wuss.

But I was still a wuss. Underneath, I was clearly still a wuss, because I was using my powers—not my own strength—to get one over someone who’d made a few jibes at me over my life.

I turned around. Walked away. I knew right then I had to be careful. Much more careful.

If it wasn’t already too late.

H
e watched
Kyle Peters closely from the other side of the field.

He saw the chaos. Saw the panic. Heard Mike Beacon coughing up his lungs.

But more than anything, more than anyone, he saw Kyle Peters.

At first, he wondered if he was the only one. But then he’d seen the footage last night, and he swore he recognized the shape of that hooded figure who saved the woman at the ATM. He’d always been good at recognizing people from their bodies just as well as their faces. But since discovering his powers, those abilities had tuned even more.

He wasn’t totally certain if he was right. But he had a feeling. First, the gunman attack at the stadium. Then the events at the ATM. Now, this.

He couldn’t be absolutely certain, but he’d be watching Kyle Peters very closely.

He thought he was the last one left.

Now, he knew he wasn’t.

Now, he knew he didn’t have to be alone. Never again.

He felt the tingling spread across his body and he forced his invisibility a little longer before disappearing out of the school grounds.

Kyle Peters was worth keeping a close eye on.

But for now, he had more important work to do.

“
I
mean
, seriously man. I don’t know what the hell got into you. But whatever got into you… Let it get into you again.”

I sat at Avi’s house playing video games, which had pretty much become a ritual on Wednesday evenings. My eyes stung with tiredness—the discoveries and whirlwind of the last week or so finally building up. My ears rang with the laughter of Damon, with the echoes of his voice telling Avi all about what happened with Mike Beacon on the football field earlier that day. So many people had come up to me, told me I’d done a good job standing up to Beacon—even his friends.

But I could smell the pizza Avi’s mom was cooking downstairs and it brought a sour taste to my mouth, as delicious as it no doubt would be. I felt nervy. Constantly on edge. Even though I should’ve been on top of the world, I was on edge.

“Shouldn’t gloat about it,” I said. “Mike was in… He was in a pretty bad way when I left.”

“Ah, screw him. That was his asthma. His own fault for getting so big on humiliating you if you ask me.”

I nodded. Sipped back some Coke, which had gone flat. I had to agree with Damon in public, but deep down I knew it wasn’t true. I’d caused that “asthma attack”. What happened to Mike Beacon was on me.

And it was that look in Mike’s eyes—that human look of fear—that convinced me I had to hide my powers. I couldn’t embrace them. Not even if I wanted to.

And I kind of really wanted to.

“Anyway, balls of steel,” Avi said. “How’s the chick?”

I frowned. “The chick.”

“Yeah, you know. The chick. The one you been fawning over for like thirty years.”

“Bit of an exaggeration.”

“Only slightly.”

I couldn’t really argue with Avi on that front.

“So go on. Damon tells me you two’ve been hitting it off real good lately.”

“He has, has he?” I glared at Damon. I wished Ellicia and I
had
been hitting it off. I mean, I wouldn’t know if we had. Had we? We’d spoken a couple more times lately than we used to. But hitting it off? That was probably taking things a bit too far.

“Don’t mind me,” I said. “How about you and your girl?”

Avi shrugged. “Oh, Miri. Yeah, we’re not together anymore.”

“Sorry to hear that.”

“It’s cool. I’m hooking up with someone else now.”

I almost spat my Coke out. “You… You don’t speak to a girl in your entire life and all of a sudden you’re seeing two in the space of a week?”

“It’s that book,” Avi said. “Told you it was gold.”

“Yeah. Right.”

“4.6 stars. Don’t knock it ’til you’ve read it, bro.”

I thought about what Avi had said about us “hitting it off.” Honestly, there had been a few signs between Ellicia and me lately. There’d been the disappointment when I said I wasn’t going to the party. And then when I mentioned I might be going, after all, it was as if she was looking for someone to ask her. Looking for someone to invite her along.

I thought about what happened with Mike Beacon on the field. That wasn’t me, Kyle Peters. That was my powers. That wasn’t me being strong. That was me using a weapon, just like any bully using a weapon.

The real person who needed to be strong? Me.

And I couldn’t think of a better way to show just how strong I was getting.

I pulled out my phone as the sounds of the video games rumbled in the background. I opened up Facebook. Tapped on Ellicia—something I’d admittedly done in my more private moments. I hovered over the message screen. Wondered what I was doing. But maybe the best thing would be to not wonder at all. Maybe the best thing would be to just exit it. Just leave it. Just…

Hey :)

I felt my stomach turn to mush. The whole room around me disappeared into nothing.

Ellicia had messaged me.

She’d said “hey” to me.

Hey and a damned smiley!

I held a nervous finger over the message area. I thought about asking Avi for girl advice, but then I remembered I wasn’t completely insane.

Just follow your feelings. That’s what I’d heard was the right thing to do. Just do what I felt was right.

I typed in “Hi.”

It looked too square. Too formal.

So I went for: “Hellloooooo!”

Felt like an idiot seconds later. Deleted it.

In the end, I closed my eyes. Thought about what I really wanted to say. Deep down, underneath all my fears, I thought about what words came most natural to me. I’d been through hell the last few days. This was nothing compared to being held up by a gunman.

Right?

I felt my phone buzz before I had the chance to respond.

Going to the party after all. Hopefully see you there. X

When I saw that kiss at the end, I couldn’t help a cheeky laugh sneaking out.

Avi and Damon looked around. Avi’s eyes narrowed. “The hell kind of laugh was that?”

I lowered my phone. Felt my body fill with the most joy it’d filled with since God knows when. “Looks like I’m going to the party after all,” I said.