Chapter Text
His shoulders hurt. That was the only thought running through Kyle’s head as he wound his arm back, readying himself to try again. Ignoring the biting soreness in his muscles, he tried to concentrate on channeling his energy, compressing it into air as he aimed a concentrated blast toward the ground. It hit the pavement with a barely audible crack, and his heart sank. He didn’t even have to look at the dent to know that was his worst attempt of the night.
Frustration bubbled up inside of him as he jogged over to his bag, only for him to stumble over a dent on the floor. He cursed under his breath. The ground of the parking lot had become a minefield of cracks and crevices, to the point where there wasn’t an inch of concrete that wasn’t uneven in some way. Kyle squinted at the pavement, trying to find the impact his latest attempt had made. No luck. Even if he had found the dent, it was probably just as unimpressive as the others, caving in the concrete by an inch or two, max. With a groan, he slumped to the ground, exhausted. Two months of nonstop practice, and all he had to show for it was a bumpy pavement in an abandoned lot.
Wiping the sweat from his forehead, he pulled out his phone and switched it on. 2:13 a.m.
He frowned. Was it already this late? Maybe it was time to quit for tonight and head back to the dorms. He glanced back at the pockmarked pavement, littered with underwhelming craters. Or maybe he should stay and practice a little longer. He would be half asleep in his 9am lecture tomorrow either way. Just when he had made up his mind, his screen turned off. He tried clicking the power button. No response. Great. Now he had no choice but to go back. Call it divine intervention.
The sky stretched above him, a blanket of pitch black, and the soft chirping of crickets permeated his otherwise silent surroundings. It made for a nice ambience as he blindly picked his way through the wooded area back toward campus. With no other viable source of light or communication, Kyle relied on his night vision and the subtle shifts in air resistance around him to navigate his way along the dirt path. As he walked, he became acutely aware of an irregular rustling in the trees nearby. He slowed, shoulders tensing as he strained to hear the sound.
The noises stopped abruptly. His ears were met with nothing but silence and the soft swishing of leaves. He waited another beat, before continuing to stumble his way back to campus. Probably just deer, he told himself.
The rustling started again the moment he started walking. He tried to ignore it, to just focus on not getting lost on the twisting path, but it was becoming harder and harder to convince himself that the noises were from cute woodland creatures. He didn’t know if it was his imagination, or if it sounded like the rustling was getting closer.
A twig snapped somewhere behind him. He whipped his head back but couldn’t make out anything but the vague silhouettes of the underbrush. As he turned around, he began to get the unsettling feeling that he wasn’t alone. That something, no, someone, was following him. He could feel invisible eyes boring into his back, and footsteps that didn’t quite coincide with his own echoed behind him. He sent a gentle pulse of air behind him, and his heart dropped when it reflected the presence of something bigger than himself there.
Crap. He must have attracted the attention of some creepy stranger. Panic rising, he picked up his pace. Sending bursts of air to map the terrain took too much time. Now he was relying purely on muscle memory and night vision to find his way back.
His gamble seemed to work. The footsteps slowly faded behind him and his muscles relaxed, just a little. He barely managed to stop and catch his breath when he heard the footsteps approaching again, the pace quicker and unsteadier than before. Kyle froze in disbelief. Was the creep still following him?
Feet stubbornly glued to the ground, he tried not to panic as his fight or flight instinct kicked in. He had two choices: stay and face the stalker, or make a run for it and maybe survive. It didn’t take a genius to pick the right answer.
Just as he was about to bolt, a shadowy figure broke away from the tree line; It stumbled towards him, its silhouette tall and ominous. Panic exploded inside him. Adrenaline coursing through his veins, Kyle clenched his palm, compressing the air around him. With a forceful thrust of his arm, he unleashed a wave of air at the shadow.
The sonic boom tore through the silence with an ear splitting crack, throwing both him and his pursuer backwards in a burst of energy. The violence of the impact sent a shockwave rippling outward, engulfing everything in its vicinity in a cloud of dust and debris.
Kyle’s ears rang and he opened his eyes, the shapes around him blurring and swimming as he struggled to process what just happened. He let himself collapse fully on the ground, waiting for the high pitched ringing to stop. Gradually, his vision adjusted to the hazy environment, and he sat upright.
Dread pooled in his chest as he slowly recognized the figure sprawled just meters away.
Stan.
His best friend who had been missing for months stared at him with wide eyes. He froze. Before he could even open his mouth to explain, Stan promptly passed out.
Kyle paled. He really fucked up this time.