1x02: Experiments: As Jeff, Dane, and Karsen try to get a hold on their new powers, Chase comes out of coma and the group have to deal with a haunted construction site that is about to claim some new victims.
***
Keven Skinner, a red-headed man in his late 20's, drove his car up to a closed gate and waited, tapping his fingers to the beat of the music playing over his radio.
A security guard walked forward and leaned down. Keven rolled his window down, removing his thick sunglasses, and showed his Site ID Badge. "Late again, Keven? The boss is going to skin your hide."
Keven grunted. "Tell me about it. Damn power outage last night knocked my alarm clock out."
The security guard looked back, then leaned down into Keven's window again. "You better get on in there and get to work before the boss even realizes you're late."
Keven thanked the guard and rolled his window up. The guard opened the gate, allowing Keven to drive on in. He drove down a bumpy dirt road for a minute until he reached a construction zone, filled with three in-progress apartment buildings. He parked his car next to the other dozen and got out, grabbing his hard hat and box of tools from the back seat.
He started walking over the dried mud toward one of the buildings when a voice shouted out, "Mr. Skinner!" Keven stopped and shut his eyes, silently swearing. He opened them and turned around to face his overweight boss.
"Mr. Tucker, how are you today?" Keven asked, trying to 'play it cool'.
Mr. Tucker just glared at him. "Knock off the pleasant ****. Your shift started two hours ago! You're late, again!"
"Sorry sir, my alarm clock restarted last night when the power went out," Keven apologized.
"And I caught my wife in bed with another man...my brother actually...and yet I still managed to drag my fat and sorry ass to work in the mornings," Mr. Tucker bellowed. "If you want to keep this job, stay out of slumber land in the mornings. We're behind schedule as it is. I can't afford to have my men constantly showing up late for work on top of that."
"Sorry, sir, won't happen again."
"Better as hell not, or you'll be looking for work in your sleep too."
Keven continued on his way to one of the in-progress buildings, silently mimicking his boss. As he approached his work zone, some of the other workers looked at him. "Man, Mr. Tucker is such a prick," he vented to them. "It's not my fault the power went out last night. What was I supposed to do? Stay up all night?"
The other workers briefly glanced at him, but didn't say anything in return. Keven sighed, realizing he should have known better then to try to make conversation, and he climbed up a scaffolding to start work on placing in some windows from the outside. Also on the scaffolding were other window installers, as well as insulators and painters.
"Hey."
Keven turned to see another worker nearby that was trying to catch his attention. "Hey," he returned.
"My name's Ian. This is my second day here and I was wondering why no one talks while they work here. I've been doing construction for years and this is the only one where everyone is silent."
"Everyone's spooked," Keven explained.
"Over what?" Ian asked.
"You haven't heard yet? This area's haunted."
"Oh please..." The last thing Ian needed to believe in were evil spirits.
"Seriously," Keven said with a serious face to show he was far from joking. "Night security has been reporting weird noises and occurrences for weeks, and...and there's been a few unexplained deaths. Everyone just wants to get their work done and go home to their families."
Ian still wasn't quite ready to believe. "They never told me of any deaths when I was hired on."
Keven sighed. "We're behind schedule and they can't afford to loose any more people. But check over your first pay stub and you'll see an increase in the hazard pay."
"Still, there's a reasonable explanation. Ghosts are just silly," Ian stated. That got him a few dirty looks from nearby workers and Ian decided to just shut up and get back to his job.
"Hey, I agree," Keven whispered to Ian. "But try telling them that." Keven motioned toward all the workers around them, that were staying perfectly quiet. Ian half-smiled.
***
That night, after darkness fell, Mr. Tucker waved to the last departing worker. Mr. Tucker turned to the night security guard and said, "I'll be out shortly, just going to do my end-of-shift rounds."
"Sure thing, Mr. Tucker," The guard nodded. Mr. Tucker turned around and headed back toward the apartment buildings and walked inside the first one.
The inside was still a work in progress, with plastic sheets hanging everywhere, and exposed boards of wood, with sawdust littering the floor. Mr. Tucker walked through the building, shining a flash light around. There was already dim light however, from some recently-installed lights, the wires in the wall exposed haphazardly.
He suddenly heard the sound of footsteps stepping on the plastic sheets that also covered the floor, and he walked quickly around the corner to where he heard the noise and shined his light around, but couldn't see anyone.
"Hello?" he called out, but was met with no answer. "Work's over for the day. Come on, time to clock out." Still no answer. He turned to leave the room, but jumped slightly when a nearby light bulb exploded all of a sudden.
What the hell...? Then another bulb exploded, followed by another one. Soon, the entire area was covered in darkness except for Mr. Tucker's flashlight.
"Who's there?" he asked out loud. He walked cautiously across the floor, careful not to step on any of the broken glass. He reached the far side of the room when he suddenly heard a small whirring noise from nearby.
He walked around the corner into another room and shined his light around. The beam fell upon a nail gun that was left plugged in, resting on a work table.
Damn incompetent workers, always leaving their **** on, he thought nastily, realizing now that it was probably just that thing causing fuses to blow, which resulted in the lights exploding.
He took a step toward it to shut it off, but instantly stopped and took a step back as the device lifted up into the air, all on its own. Mr. Tucker opened his mouth to shout for help, but before he had the chance, the nail gun fired a nail all on its own.
The nail soared through the air and embedded deep into Mr. Tucker's arm. He dropped the flashlight and screamed in pain, however his screams were ended as a dozen more nails flew out toward him, one of them heading directly for his neck.
***
Inside the giant grocery store of Sobeys, Jeff and Jenna pushed a cart through the busy store, picking groceries for their apartment, a soft 80's rock tune playing softly over the speakers. They should have known better then to go shopping over lunch time when the store was at its busiest, but when Jenna had a craving for something specific, then that was that.
"I think this is enough stuff to last us the next month," Jenna said, looking in the cart. They had only came out to grab a few things, but half an hour later the found themselves still in the store, their few things having turned into a cart-full.
"Yeah, I think so to," Jeff agreed. "It's going to put a small dent in my wallet." They chuckled and then decided to end their shopping and bring the cart to the tills.
Jeff pointed to the till that Karsen was working on, quickly scanning items through to lower his line-up. ""Let's go through Karsen's till."
Jenna agreed, so they began unloading their stuff on it as soon as the line was short enough. Once the customer in front of them was done and walked away, Jeff hit himself in the head.
"****, I forgot the Super Deluxe Gator Burgers. Could you run and get a pack, please?"
Jenna sighed at Jeff's forgetfulness. "I asked you earlier if you got them."
"I must have not heard you."
Jenna shook her head. "I swear, I'm going to have to get you a hearing aid for Christmas." As she turned and walked back across the store, Karsen started ringing the groceries through.
"That was smooth," Karsen smiled.
Jeff shrugged. He had to get Jenna out of earshot so he could talk to Karsen about some private stuff. "So, I'm thinking we should all meet somewhere privately to start trying to learn how to use these...gifts. Somewhere where we won't draw attention to ourselves."
"I've been thinking about that ever since Vanessa's party last week," Karsen admitted. "All I can come up with though is the old baseball diamond at the edge of town."
Dane walked over to the till in his Sobeys uniform, and started bagging the groceries. He cautiously looked around before saying, "You guys talking about the plan?" Jeff and Karsen nodded slightly. "My dad, he works a lot of construction but he's off work right now cause of this one area he was working on, it was shut down a while ago. Something to do with people refusing to work cause the think it was haunted. I'm not sure of all the details, dad doesn't like to talk about it, but point is, it's empty and pretty much in the middle of nowhere."
"Sounds good to me," Karsen stated.
"Me too," Jeff agreed. "Ok, we can meet there this evening, let's say an hour after you guys get off work." Before Karsen and Dane could confirm the time, Jenna returned with the box of gator burgers and put them on the till with the other groceries.
"Hey Dane, how's work going so far?" Jenna asked, assuming that they had been chatting about work.
"Busy as hell," Dane sighed. "Which is unusual for this time of year, but it looks like things are starting to slow down now that the noon rush is almost over."
"That'll be $215," Karsen informed them. "I assume you'll be splitting the cost?" Once Jenna confirmed that was correct, Karsen took Jenna's money, giving her some change back, and then took Jeff's. He printed off their receipt and handed it to them.
"Have a good shift," Jeff said to them as he and Jenna started walking away with their cart of bagged groceries. "I'll meet up with you guys later." Karsen nodded and Jeff and Jenna left them behind as they pushed the cart toward the exit doors.
"Have you called a cab yet?" Jeff asked Jenna.
Jenna nodded. "Yeah, while I was getting the burgers."
Before they got through the automatic doors, they opened and Sonum strolled into the store with her parents. "I'll meet up with you guys in a few," she told them and then hung back while they continued on. She changed directions, walking over to Jeff and Jenna, smiling at them.
"Hey there," she says to Jeff with a huge smile.
Jeff, unable to stop himself from smiling back at her, returned the greeting. "Hey there, yourself."
Jenna wrapped her arms around Sonum and gave her a huge hug. "How've you been doing? We haven't really heard from you since that one night at Vanessa's party."
Jenna let go of Sonum and took a step back as Sonum brushed a curl of hair out of her eyes and behind her ears. "I've been good, actually. My parents won't let me out of their sight for long though, once they heard what happened." Sonum laughed, but quickly turned serious again. "And Jeff, I just want to say thanks again. What you did that night, it was so brave and selfish, I owe you so much."
Jeff just shrugged modestly. "You don't owe me anything. You're my friend and you were in trouble. I would have done it for anyone."
"But you did it for me, and I really appreciate that." Sonum moved in and hugged Jeff tightly. She pulled away from him and moved that same strand of hair behind her ear again. "I better go catch up with my parents."
"Alright," Jenna said. "Take care." Sonum left and as Jeff and Jenna resumed their walk outside, Jenna smirked at Jeff. "I bet you'll be thinking of that hug all day, won't you?"
Jeff didn't even have to reply. The smile on his face said it all.
***
That evening, Jeff, Karsen, and Dane made their way across grassy field toward the abandoned construction area. They climb the fence with little difficulty and jumped down onto the other side.
"Before we start this," Dane said, deciding now was a good time to inform them of the information he got a hold of earlier. "I should mention that when I went home after work, my dad told me that this site has a new foreman now. Apparently that's what they were waiting on, and production is rumored to be starting at any time over the next few days."
"Then I guess we should use this time wisely and we better figure out how to get a handle on things by that point," Jeff stated.
They moved out to pretty much the middle of the empty area, away from the buildings-in-progress, but also far enough away from the gate and road so that they wouldn't be spotted by any passers-by.
So how do we start this?" Karsen asked, looking from Dane to Jeff. "It feels a bit awkward."
Jeff was the first to speak with his plan, "Well we know basically, what we can do, we just don't know how we can do it. We need to figure out how to control these abilities so nothing happens around other people by accident. I don't even know where to start with myself though."
Dane stepped in and said, "Your ability seems to be tied into your blood. Try cutting yourself and have yourself bleed."
Jeff nervously laughed. "Ok, now that's just a little bit insane. My ability is the ability to attempt suicide?"
"I don't mean that bad of a cut," Dane explained. "Just a little thing. Look, I'll go first if you're not ready for that." Dane closed his eyes and concentrated hard, focusing on what happened that night in the alley. After a minute with no results, he opened his eyes again. "Ok, well this may take awhile."
For the next two hours, Dane kept trying to transform, with no luck, and Karsen kept trying to change states as well, with about as much luck as Dane. Jeff spent his time standing away from the others and contemplating over whether or not to cut himself, pacing back and forth and holding a sharp rock over his outstretched arm, bringing it to his skin, then moving it away again as he second-guessed himself. Once the sun started to go down, the trio re-grouped and stood around, staring at each other.
"Well that was a big fat waste of time," Karsen sighed.
"It's dark out now. No point in continuing," Jeff stated, his voice dripping with disappointment. "We'll pick it back up again tomorrow."
"We all work tomorrow," Dane reminded him.
"I'm the last one off," Jeff stated. "So I'll just meet you two over here right after I get off work."
"Alright, that sounds good."
"Good for another waste of time, but whatever," Karsen said. "I'll show up anyway."
They started heading back toward the fence when Dane yelps and suddenly disappeared from view.
"Dane?" Jeff called out. He looked back when he heard Karsen shout.
"Jeff, down there!"
Jeff looked toward a very deep hole in the ground and his eyes widened. "Holy ****..."
Jeff and Karsen rushed to the hole and peered down it. "Do you see him?" Jeff asked Karsen.
"It's too dark, I can't see anything..."
"Dane!" Jeff shouted, cutting Karsen off. There was no answer.
"Maybe he's hurt," Karsen suggested. "Maybe he's unconscious and can't hear us." Suddenly in the dark, something snaked up the side of the hole, and slithered over the top of it.
Jeff and Karsen quickly stepped back and under the starlight, could see that it was a trail of slushie material. It instantly started changing into a human shape as it rose up, and within seconds, Dane was standing before them.
"Holy ****," Dane said in total wonder. "I did it..."
Karsen and Jeff were just as wide-eyed. "How..." Karsen stammered. "How did you...?"
Something clicked in Jeff's head. "I think by reflex. Same thing happened back in the ally that night. Our abilities manifested only by reflex. Same thing happened just now with Dane. Folks, we're on the verge of figuring this out, I can feel it." Jeff patted them both on the back as they continued their walk back to the fence.
***
Later that night, after Karsen had gone home and washed up, he met his girlfriend Amber for a nice expensive date of Chinese food at Center Dining. Karsen sat across the table from his glamoured-up girlfriend, both eating a nice, expensive supper with soft ambient music playing in the background of the restaurant.
Amber swallowed her current mouthful and asked Karsen, "So how was your day? What did you do?"
Karsen munched quickly so he could answer, "Just worked then hung out with the guys."
"What guys?" Amber asked.
"Jeff and Dane," Karsen replied with his mouth full.
"You and Jeff are sure hanging out a lot these days."
"Yeah, well we shared a traumatic experience. I don't know, we feel closer to each other now then just co-workers." Karsen then decided to see if that was ok with Amber. He knew her and Jeff had been friends long before he and Jeff had been. "Is that a problem?"
"No, no," Amber replied almost too quickly. "It's great. It'll be nice to have all my friends being friends with each other."
They sat in silence while they both took a few more mouthfuls of food. Suddenly Karsen looked up at Amber, but then looked past her. "Hey, is that Sonum?"
Amber turned in her seat to see Sonum, dressed up very nicely, sitting at a romantic candle-lit table with a guy. "I wonder who that guy she's with is," Amber thought out loud.
"I have no idea, I can't really tell from here," Karsen admitted. "I wonder if Jeff knows about this."
Amber suddenly turned back to Karsen. "What difference does it make?"
"Jeff's pretty much in love with Sonum," Karsen brought Amber up to speed. "If he finds out about this, he'll be heartbroken."
"So?" Amber asked, still waiting for Karsen to give a good answer to her question. "That's his problem to deal with. Sonum can date who she wants to."
"I'm just looking out for his feelings is all," Karsen explained. "What's the problem?"
Amber glanced back at Sonum and the guy. "Nothing," she whispered. Then she turned back to Karsen and smiled. "There's no problem. How's your meal?"
***
Jeff was in the kitchen of his apartment, frying up some supper in the frying pan. Jenna walked through the kitchen, putting earrings on as she made her way to the porch.
"Alright, I'm heading out to the movies with Adam now. I'll be back late," Jenna informed Jeff.
"Sure thing," Jeff replied. "Let me know how the movie is."
"Will do." Jenna slipped on her shoes and jacket and left. The second the door closed, Jeff turned the stove off and moved the frying pan to another burner so the food in it wouldn't burn. He grabbed a large knife from the knife block and walked quickly down the hall toward the bathroom.
He flips on the light and closed the door behind him, just in case Jenna happened to return for some reason. When he turned back around, he stared at himself in the mirror. He breathed in slowly, and then exhaled heavily.
Ok, you can do this. Just one little cut, he told himself. You can't practice with your abilities without first cutting yourself. One small little cut is all that's needed. You can do this...
Jeff looked down as he brought the knife to his arm and pressed down. He paused, just before the skin could break, and held the knife there, suddenly getting cold feet and arguing with himself in his head as to if he should do it or not.
With a scream of frustration, he threw the knife angrily into the sink and stormed out of the room, giving into his fear and not cutting himself.
***
Dane laid under his race car in his cold concrete garage, working on the underside of the vehicle, covered in dirt and grease. After a couple hours of him working under there, he finally crawled out and walked over to the toolbox, rummaging through it. After not finding the tool he needed, he hit the side of the toolbox hard, and closed his eyes as he forced himself to breathe calmly.
"Hey sport." Dane whipped around and saw his dad standing in the doorway at the top of the stairs.
"Hey dad."
His father walked down the stairs and across the basement, approaching Dane. "I just want to apologize to you."
"For what?" Dane asked, confused. He couldn't remember his dad doing anything that made him angry recently.
His father sighed sadly. "If it wasn't for me getting laid off, we'd have more money to buy proper tools for you."
"Dad, don't worry about it," Dane said, trying to cheer him up. He understood that his father blamed himself for a lot of things wrong in the family, and Dane hated that. "I know you're doing the best you can. You're a great father and I'm proud to be your son."
The phone started to ring from inside the house, interrupting further conversation. "I'll be right back," Dane's father said. "I have to get that." He rushed up the stairs and disappeared back into the house to answer the phone.
As Dane turned to go back to work, he found that he couldn't move his legs. He glanced down to see them starting to turn into slushie material. He let out a loud gasp, and his legs instantly returned to normal.
Dane pondered for a second, thinking over how he had done that. He swung his arm out, having it turn into a slushie state, followed by his shoulder. Dane made a wide smile, happy at finally having his powers figured out. Suddenly his entire body melted into a slushie puddle.
That puddle zoomed across the room, and then reformed into Dane on the far side. Before he could even finish forming his smile, he disintegrated again, and once again moved to a different part of the room before returning to normal yet again. He forced himself to do all he could to contain his overwhelming joy and not to scream in excitement as his father walked back in the room, just narrowly missing the display Dane had put on.
"Well I have some good news, son," his father stated with a smile on his face that rivaled the one Dane had just seconds before. "That was Head Office for the construction company I work for. I get to start work again in two days."
If it was possible for Dane to smile any wider, he did. "That's great news, dad! I'm so happy for you."
"I better go call your mother and tell her the news." Dane kept the smile on until his dad disappeared back into the house again. Then the smile turned to a look of worry as he wondered where he and the others could practice with their powers once construction resumed.
***
After visiting hours ended in the hospital, Chase's family remained gathered around his unconscious body, joined by Dr. Lee and a couple of nurses. There was also another family sharing the same room, a curtain separating the two families. The other family had two teenagers, sipping on their slushies which were bought in another nearby town before arriving. They looked down sadly at their unconscious family member.
Chase's family paid no attention to them however, as they were in horrible turmoil with their recent decision. Everyone's faces were stained with tears and permanent grief.
The father glared at Doctor Lee and solemnly nodded and choked on his words. "Do it. Pull the plug."
"I'm so sorry for your loss," Dr. Lee said sincerely, almost breaking up himself. He knew it had been a hard decision for the family, but after several months of no response, he knew they couldn't afford to keep their son on life support any longer.
With great regret, Dr. Lee began flipping the switches off on the life support machine, and finally he reached down and unplugged Chase from it. The very second that he was disconnected however, his eyes instantly snapped open and he gasped for air. The machine started to overload for unknown reason and sparks began to fly.
In a split second, before the sparks could even hit the floor, the slushie material had all exited the cups from the two teenagers. They formed various shapes – mostly little small ball-like bullet-shapes and long sliver-like shapes - and they flew all over the room.
Within seconds, everyone was dead, their bodies crumpled onto the floor. The slushie material all flew toward Chase and came to a rest on his body. It formed back together again as it wormed all over his body until it converged into one liquid-like mass and slithered into his mouth and down his throat.
Chase was a bit dazed and was left in a state of shock, having no idea what had just happened. He looked around to see everyone dead, and while he didn't know quite what happened, he knew it had something to do with him.
"My God...what have I done?" he asked out loud in utter horror. Upon receiving no answer, he quickly jumped out of bed and changed out of his hospital clothes and into regular clothes.
He rushed from the room and took in a deep breath of fresh air once he was outside of the hospital, and walking down the dark empty streets.
***
The next morning, Jenna and Vanessa sat next to a window in McDonald's, eating breakfast together as bright warm light shined in on them. They were in the middle of a conversation when Vanessa stopped in mid-speech, her eyes widening.
"Jenna...look." Jenna looked out the window where Vanessa was pointing and her eyes widened as well. "Is that Chase?" Vanessa asked.
Chase walked by the window, hands in his jacket pockets, looking at the ground as he walked.
"Oh my land, it is!" Jenna shouted. They instantly ran outside, forgetting all about their unfinished meals.
Once outside, they rushed to catch up with Chase before he got too far ahead. "Chase! Hey Chase!" Jenna called out.
Chase stopped and turned around, surprised to see them. "Jenna, Vanessa...hey..."
"You're out of the hospital!" Jenna exclaimed. "That's great news! When did you even wake up?"
"I recovered a few days ago," Chase lied. "The hospital let me out last night."
"We didn't even hear about you waking up," Vanessa stated.
"Yeah, my parents kept it on the downlow," Chase explained with another lie. He was still uncertain about what had happened the night before, and he didn't want to give anything away that he had anything to do with it. "They didn't want a circus in there. But I have to get going/ I'm on my way to Sobeys right now to see when I can start work."
Jenna hugged Chase tightly. "We're so happy to see you're well. Everyone at work will be so excited. Come on, we'll walk with you there."
Chase smiled. "Sure, that sounds great. You can bring me up to speed on all things Sobeys-related." The three walked together, talking and laughing as they made their way to Sobeys.
***
Jeff, Karsen, and Dane were all having their lunch break together in the Sobeys staff room. They were alone in the room, free to talk about whatever they wanted.
"So guys, this will have to be our last day at the construction site," Dane was explaining to them about his dad, as lunch break was the first time the three had really been alone all day. "My dad goes back to work there tomorrow. We're going to have to find a new 'playground' for our experiments."
"Have you guys had any more luck with developing your abilities?" he asked, looking from one to the other as he bit into his sandwich. "Cause I tried on my own for a bit last night before bed, but I had no luck."
"Yeah, I haven't either," Jeff admitted while he munched on his lunch.
Dane grinned widely, surprising the others with his answer. "I have. I think I've gotten a petty good control over it now. I practiced in my garage last night and I controlled it pretty easily. Look, I'll show you."
Dane pushed his seat back and stood up. The second before he was about to prove to them that he had control over his powers, the door opened and Shale stormed in, looking pissed off.
"You three, what are you all doing up here?" she asked quickly, her voice dripping with impatience.
"Having lunch..." Karsen said softly as if it were obvious.
"You know better then that," Shale stated in a harsh voice. "One person from each department has lunch at a time. Maybe two if it's not busy and we're behind in lunch breaks, but it's packed down there and it seems all my Till staff is up here! I need two of you downstairs, now!"
Jeff and Karsen packed their food back up and slid their packs into the fridge, allowing Dane to finish his lunch. Saying bye to their friend, Jeff and Karsen left the lunch room with Shale following at a quick pace.
She marched them down the upstairs hallway and then downstairs to the Main Floor. As she marched them back to the tills, which only a couple were opened, and both had long line-ups at them, Jenna and Vanessa stepped in their way.
"So we have a surprise," Vanessa stated with a huge smile.
"Vanessa, this isn't the time," Shale said quickly, trying to get her staff back to work. "We're really busy here."
Vanessa and Jenna moved out of the way, showing Chase standing there behind them, leaving Shale, Jeff, and Karsen shocked.
"Hey," Chase greeted sheepishly.
Shale blinked and then shook her head. "Karsen, Jeff, back to work now. Chase, come on upstairs and let's have a chat." As Chase followed Shale back up the stairs, Jeff and Karsen made their way to the busy tills.
"Did you know he was out of the hospital?" Karsen asked Jeff.
"I didn't even know he was awake," Jeff said. "Last I heard, his parents were going to pull the plug."
"Yeah, me too," Karsen agreed, They separated as they reached the tills so Karsen could open up a new till and lower the line-ups, and Jeff could go bag for the till with the biggest order going through.
They stayed busy serving customers for the next couple of hours, with Jeff running from till-to-till, outside to gather carts, and to the bathrooms to clean them. He was so busy, that he just wasn't in the mood to deal with rude stuck-up customers, which is why he warned his supervisor of that when he was asked to go deal with one. By the time the customer walked away with a smug look on her old wrinkly face, Jeff was fuming mad.
"Man, she was a ****, hey?" Karsha, the cashier next to Jeff stated.
Jeff didn't even reply, he was still so mad at having to deal with such an impossible person. Instead he slammed his palm down onto the metal till to release some of his anger, however he slammed it down right next to the edge and accidentally nicked himself on it. Jeff reeled his hand back out of pain and winced.
"Are you alright?" Karsha asked him. Before Jeff could cover his hand, a drop of pink 'blood' fell and hit the till. Thankfully it was only a very small drop, and while it started growing into a pink fuzzy material, not unlike that of some kind of pink mold, it stopped after only a centimeter, remaining off Karsha's radar.
"Uh...yeah, yeah I'm fine," Jeff stammered over his response as he watched the pink fuzz grow slightly. "Just going to go wash the cut." Jeff covered the wound with his other hand, rushed across the store to the public washrooms and locked the door behind himself once he reached the men's.
He let the wound bleed freely and a small part of the floor burned slightly as a couple tiny fireballs hit it and burned out, followed by a purple substance that acted like rubber.
As the various flavors of slushie dripped out, Jeff closed his eyes, concentrating on controlling it. A brown-colored slushie drop hits against the floor next and acted like a bullet and ricocheted around the room, forcing Jeff to duck and cover his head before the yellow substance healed over the wound.
Jeff sighed heavily with disappointment as he just missed his window of opportunity to master his power. With a disheartened attitude, Jeff unlocked the door and stepped out, just as Shale and Chase walked by.
"Oh, hi Jeff," Shale greeted, now much calmer that the store isn't as busy.
"Hey," Jeff greeted back. The entire time standing there, Jeff and Chase didn't take their eyes off each other, both with the same quizzical look as the other, both wondering if the other person also had new powers from the accident.
"Going to the Cash Office?" Jeff asked.
Shale nodded. "Yeah, I'm going to get Chase his employee number back so he can start work as soon as tomorrow."
"That's great news," Jeff said without much emotion.
"Sure is," Chase said, also with about the same amount of emotion. Finally Jeff turned and headed back to work, while Shale and Chase headed toward the Cash Office. Chase turned his head back to look at Jeff as he walked around the corner.
***
After work ended that day, Karsen met up with Amber at her place and the two decided to go to the mall. They were making their way through the mall parking lot, approaching the building and holding hands gently, when Jeff and Dane ran over to them.
"Dude, where have you been?" Dane asked as they approached. "You never showed and you haven't been answering your cell. We were just running to your place now when just saw you."
Karsen slapped his head. "**** guys, sorry, I forgot. And my cell's dead so it's at home, recharging."
"Forgot what?" Amber asked, turning to face Karsen, biting her lower lip.
Karsen stumbled over what he had to say, fearing for his safety. "Um, I actually, kind of, had plans with them, and I forgot."
Amber shrugged. "Oh, well there'll be other times you can hang out with them, so its no big deal."
"Actually..." Karsen said slowly. "This is kind of important."
"Well so am I, aren't I?" Amber asked, her temper flaring.
"Yeah, you are," Karsen said quickly, covering his tracks. "But I mean, I went out with you last night, and hey, we can do something later on tonight, when I'm done."
Amber just gave up, letting go of Karsen's hand and started wlaking away. "Whatever, do what you friggin' want."
"Amber! Please don't be mad!" Amber ignored Karsen as she disappeared into the mall. Karsen turned to Jeff and Dane. "Come on guys, let's go do this."
***
Fifteen minutes later, the trio walked across a grassy field toward the fence of the construction area.
"So did you guys hear that Chase is out of the hospital?" Dane asked them.
"Yeah," Jeff replied. "We saw him earlier."
"I wonder if he has any powers like we do. He was involved in the same accident," Dane stated.
"He does," Jeff answered in a matter-of-fact tone.
"He told you?"
"No, but I had a run in with him earlier." Jeff quickly explained to Dane and Karsen about the look that he and Chase had shared earlier.
"We should call him up and get him to meet us here," Karsen suggested.
"Good idea." Dane took out his cell and dialed Chase's number.
***
Amber browsed by herself in a clothes store in the mall. She looked over a shirt on a hanger before putting the shirt back on the rack. She turned to look at some pants, but walked almost right into Sonum, which caught both girls by surprise.
"Sonum..." Amber greeted a bit too awkwardly. "Hey..."
"Hey...Amber, right?" Sonum asked. "Karsen's girlfriend?"
"Yeah, that's me."
Sonum glanced around. "You here by yourself?"
Amber got a bit of a depressed look on her face, but quickly tried to cover it up. "Yeah, I am. Needed some alone time away from everyone."
Sonum smiled, understanding. "Oh man, I know what that's like."
"Yeah, speaking of that, me and Karsen saw you at Center Dining with some guy."
Sonum looked at the floor, then back up at Amber. "Yeah, my friend Ashley, it's her brother. I just started seeing him. That was our first date."
"Does Jeff know about him?" Amber asked, almost too quickly.
Sonum shook her head. "Not yet. Not really anyone knows yet. It never really became official until today."
After a pause in the conversation where nobody spoke, Amber said, "Jeff really likes you, you know. A lot."
Sonum forced herself to smile. "I know he does."
"What do you think of him?" Amber asked, then added on. "I'm just being nosey now."
Sonum shrugged. "We're just good friends, that's all. I don't have any feelings for him beyond that." Despite what Sonum said, her eyes betrayed her, and Amber picked up on it.
"Sonum, is that really the truth, or is that what you're just telling everyone?" Amber pushed.
Sonum sighed as she looked at the floor. She looked up, her eyes giving away that she had a secret she wanted to tell. She started to open her mouth.
"Sonum!"
Sonum shut her mouth and her facial expression completely changed as she turned to her friend across the store. "I'm on my way, Ashley." Sonum turned back to Amber. "I have to go, but it was nice talking to you."
Before Amber could even so much as say bye, Sonum rushed to Ashley and the two girls left the store, laughing at something. Amber sighed and turned to leave as well, but bumped right into someone.
"I'm sorry," she quickly apologized and started to move around the figure.
"That's ok, love."
Amber knew that voice and looked up, shocked. She stared at her ex-boyfriend. "Scott? My god, I haven't seen you in forever!"
"Since the week after we broke up," Scott reminded her.
Amber thought about how long it had really been. "Wow, its been a long time."
"Are you here with friends?" Scott asked, glancing around the store.
"No," Amber replied. "I'm going at it Lone Ranger-style today." Amber and Scott chuckled. Truthfully, Amber was just happy to have someone to talk to that would pay attention to her.
"Well I'm by myself too. Care to combine our shopping-solo lives together to form a shopping-duet?"
Amber hesitated as she thought about Karsen, but upon remembering that he was the one that ditched her, she smiled and brushed hair out of her eyes. "Definitely."
The two left the store together, quickly catching up on missed times.
***
Chase arrived just outside the construction site, peddling on his bike. "So what's up, guys? Why'd you want me to meet you all here?" he asked as he climbed off his bike.
"Ever since the accident at the factory, we've all developed...unnatur al abilities," Jeff explained.
Chase wasn't sure he was ready to tell them everything yet, so tried to shrug things off and act like he didn't know what they were talking about. "What do you mean?" he asked as he looked from Jeff, to Dane, to Karsen.
"Chase, don't play us like fools," Jeff sighed, not really wanting to waste the time to beat around the bush while they only had limited time at the site. "You know exactly what we're talking about."
Chase felt torn on whether to tell them or not, but before he could decide, Dane spoke up, patting him on the back. "Hey, it's nothing to be scared of. We all have our own powers. We're experimenting on trying to get them under control."
Chase continued to look from one to the other, deciding to tell them, but hearing a little voice in his head, telling him to be careful and not to tell them everything. "I...I don't think experimenting with mine is a good idea."
"What can you do?" Jeff asked, anxious to find out.
"I don't really feel..."
Karsen cut the unsure Chase off in mid-sentence. "Come on, Chase. Dane's right, there's no reason to be nervous. Nobody else knows about our abilities, so your secret is safe with us."
Chase sighed, giving in a bit more. "I need a slushie nearby."
Dane grew a giant smile. "I've got that covered." Seeing as how Dane was the most in-tune so far, he transformed into his slushie state and formed into a pile of slushie on the ground, which temporarily shocked Chase and he took a few nervous steps away.
Chase took a breath and gathered himself together, stepping back up. He closed his eyes and concentrated hard, but, but nothing happened. He opened his eyes, and then closed them again, this time squeezing them shut as hard as he could. He opened his eyes again, frustrated and red-faced.
"It's ok," Jeff assured him. "So far Dane is the only one with any real control over his powers. It seems though that they happen by instinct until you can get control of them." Jeff let Chase sink that information in, before continuing. "Dane, I want you to rush Chase."
"Um, can he even hear you?" Chase asked, nodding at the slushie pile that was once Dane. He's answered by the slushie pile thinning out into a little river. It rushed Chase at top speed, lifting off the ground at the last second to aim for his chest. Upon reflex, Chase stepped back as he screamed out of fear and raised his hands. Dane’s slushie form flew back away from Chase and landed several feet away, splattering everywhere.
The various drops and bits all rushed each other and formed together as Dane morphed back into his human form.
"Holy ****, that was a phenomenal feeling..." Dane trailed off. "I had no control over myself for a bit there."
Jeff stood wide-eyed. "That was a really good job, Chase."
"He's here for two minutes and he's further then I am. Great..." Karsen sighed, which got a chuckle from everyone.
"Um, that's not all I can do," Chase timidly spoke up again. "I can also control the slushie material and mold it, and harden it at will."
Dane whistled, impressed. Jeff clapped his hands together. "Well, let's get this training session underway then so you can figure out how to do all that just by willpower. Come on."
They followed Jeff and climbed the fence to get onto the other side, walking to their previous day's practice area. For the next couple of hours, the four of them trained hard.
Jeff finally gathered the courage to cut himself on a sharp rock and upon multiple tries and hard concentration, managed to control what kind of slushie material came out of his wound. Chase picked up on his powers pretty quickly, and while Karsen still had some trouble, he managed to get the basics of it down. Dane just has fun playing with his powers, having already mastered them.
After the hours of practicing, they met together again in a circle.
"This day has been a great success," Jeff smiled at how far they had all come. "I'm proud of everyone."
"We better leave," Dane suggested. "People will start showing up soon to prepare the site for tomorrow's day of work."
"Alright," Jeff agreed. "We'll stay in touch and figure out a new training area later."
"Sounds good," Chase also agreed. "This has been a lot of fun. I'm glad you guys talked me into this."
They said their good-byes to Chase, who hopped on his bike after they climbed back over the fence, and took off while the other three walked off together.