Page 102 of The Not So Super Hero
“Better yet, bring them up here first.Don’t you think that’s a great idea, Zane?”Antoine held the phone out as if he expected him to answer.“I’ll bring every single one up here and you can watch.”
Tears stained Zane’s cheeks.He gripped the fabric of Antoine’s pants, whispering desperately, “I can’t choose.Please, Dad.Please, I’m sorry, I won’t do it again.I promise!”
“I don’t believe you,” Antoine ruffled Zane’s hair, an action that was nowhere near affectionate.“You’ve been bad and now you need to be punished.”
Zane’s cries escalated.
“Come on.Be the hero.Save the day.”
“He chooses me!”Isaiah’s voice was like an icy blade piercing Zane’s skin.
He and Antoine looked to Isaiah, finding the boy standing on trembling legs.His eyes were bloodshot, tears rolling down his cheeks when he repeated in a voice that broke with each word, “He will kill me.”
Zane couldn’t breathe.
“Ah, a real hero willing to lay down his life to save others.Bravo!”Antoine clapped.Kicking Zane’s hand away, he approached Isaiah.He stood behind the boy, pressing his hands to his shoulders like a proud father.“Did you hear him?You better hurry.We wouldn’t want little Natalia and Nate to die because of your indecisions.”
Zane couldn’t move.The world caved around him, growing darker until all he could see were Isaiah’s golden eyes staring back at me.
But he promised.He promised Isaiah wouldn’t die there.Isaiah believed in him.He believed in their plan.Zane couldn’t do it.Every fiber of his being screamed, but Isaiah had made up his mind.He launched himself at Zane, sending a foot into the boys’ gut.The hit stunned him, allowing Isaiah to do it again before Zane finally retreated.He cast Isaiah a confused stare, but the boy ran at him, shaking fists raised for a fight and tears in his eyes.
Zane dodged, refusing to do anything to Isaiah while Antoine spoke in the background, “Tick tock, Zane.”
Isaiah couldn’t stop crying.He swayed like a drunk, but kept moving.Zane didn’t know what to do.He wracked his brain but found no answer.Everything happened too quickly.His gaze glanced at the clock on the wall, watching the hand move, knowing that Natalia and Nate were getting closer and closer.A plan.He had to come up with something.There had to be another way.He couldn’t do it.What could he do?
“Tick tock.Tick tock,” Antoine taunted.
Panic set in because Zane knew the moment the elevator doors opened, Nate and Natalia would be dead.After them, more would follow all because of him.It was his fault.Everything was his fault.All their deaths would be on his hands.Antoine would slaughter every kid at Raiffel.They were replaceable.
Zane made his decision.He jumped at Isaiah, pushing the boy to the ground.With one swift movement, he slammed Isaiah’s head into the floor.Blood seeped from the open gash in his head.His watery eyes peered up at Zane’s trembling expression.Isaiah released a low groan, followed by a few words that shook Zane to the core; “I believe in you.”
With a choked cry, Zane closed his eyes and raised his shaking fist.He hesitated, tears rolling down his cheeks before he whimpered,I’m sorry.
Zane punched Isaiah with everything he had.Antoine didn’t give them weapons.He wanted to make sure Zane learned his lesson.He wanted Zane to feel it, Isaiah’s fear when he scratched helplessly at Zane’s arms that never once let up.He wanted him to hear Isaiah’s whimpers and soft pleads while the life slowly left his body.Hearing Zane repeat “I’m sorry” over and over after each hit, Antoine knew the boy was more than broken.Zane kept punching even after Isaiah stopped moving.When he finally opened his eyes, Isaiah’s lifeless stare met him.
Those golden eyes, once so bright, had become dull.Zane would never forget them, or his trembling hands stained red.He knew no matter how much he tried to scrub it off, it would never go away.The only words echoing in Zane’s mind were what Isaiah said the night before,I don’t want to die here.
His guilt was consuming.Zane became a husk of what he once was.He didn’t eat.He didn’t speak.He barely slept.That hope, that determination once a burning fire within him, was nothing but ash.When the time came that there was finally a chance to escape two weeks after Isaiah’s passing, Zane didn’t take it.He didn’t move.
Raiffel was under attack.The children within that could fight battled for their lives alongside the officers who made it inside.Chaos erupted.The very walls shook.Zane didn’t so much as move.He laid in bed, curled beneath the blankets even when screams overtook the lab.People died outside his door and he did nothing.
“What are you doing?”Natalia screamed when she and Nate found him.She ripped the blankets off him.“Zane, come on.We have to go!”
Zane didn’t respond.Nate stood beside his sister with a disappointed scowl.
“How can you just lie there?”Nate asked, shaking Zane, then he kicked the side of the bed.“Damn it, help us!Our friends are dying!”
Gunshots and screams filtered through the building like a record stuck on repeat.
“Isaiah,” It physically hurt Zane to hear his name, and it hurt Nate to say it.“Isaiah believed in you to get us out.He trusted you.He knew if anyone could help us it was you and now the time is here.Please, don’t let his death be in vain!”
Nothing.Zane couldn’t do it.His very soul cried out that he didn’t deserve to leave.If Raiffel was destroyed, he hoped he would go along with it.Let Raiffel burn with him inside.He deserved that fate, and he didn’t expect others to understand.
“You fucking coward!”Nate hollered, storming out of the room.“Stay here and rot!”
Natalia flinched, looking to Zane for a reaction that he never gave.She pressed her hand to his shoulder.There were no words, or maybe she had too many.In the end, she left too.The Zane they knew was long gone.He left the moment Isaiah did.
CHAPTER 30
