South to Freedom

South to Freedom

By E. M. Areson

South to freedom. Who would have thought anyone would ever say that? Noah wondered, he’d never had any real trouble over his dark-colored skin, he had bigger issues, but he knew his ancestors had.

“Noah, you gonna’ come?” Emma asked.

Noah, are you coming, he translated to himself. “Yes.”

Jacob smiled, “Got ev’thang you need from Wa’mart?”

“Yeah,” Noah was so out of his element.

“I think you’re catching on,” Ethan said punching Noah’s shoulder. Unlike Emma and Jacob, Ethan had been outside of Texas before making it a little easier for Noah to understand him.

Emma and Jacob took the cart and went to pay since neither Ethan or Noah were legally alive. Of course, a legal document filed away somewhere did little to stop your pulse. Then again with A.P.P.S. or the Agency for Protecting Personal Security, on their tails, they could never be too careful.

Ethan, Jacob, and Emma were siblings and out of the three Emma was the only non-Freak. Though Freak was a loose term that could be applied to anyone with unusual ability. Due to what they called ‘a stupid decision’ the two brothers had accidentally got the ability to make anything room temperature. They couldn’t make it a degree higher or lower to save their lives, it simply had to be room temperature. Mostly useless, and Noah figured it had to get annoying.

They left Walmart and got in the old school bus Emma had parked outside. The bus was rusty with peeling paint that looked more at home at a dump then on the road. They had about five thousand dollars worth of supplies for the safe house pilled in most of the bus leaving only the first couple rows to sit in. Walmart had not been the only store they'd visited.

Once they were down the road with Emma asked, “So Noah, what’s your thang?”

“Well, if I try and walk anywhere other than about a block away I’m always twenty minutes away.” He began to play with his fingernails.

“I understand you Freaks don’t exactly understand yourselves all the time but you gotta explain better than that,” Emma looked over her shoulder at him.

“Emma you’re driven’ you can’t look back here!” Jacob yelled at her.

“Yeah, yeah. You say it ev’ry time. I know what I’m doin’ Jacob.” Emma did turn back the right way though.

“Well, umm.” Noah took a breath. “Let's say the school was two blocks away. It would take me twenty minutes to walk there. Now let's say I used to live in Washington state; Washington D.C. is only twenty minutes away if I try and walk. But it only works if I’m actively thinking about where I want to go. So I can randomly walk around town, and get to the school in under twenty minutes. Or if I’m not paying attention I’ll simply walk down the highway for twenty minutes and not get to D.C. or anywhere even close. Get it?”

Emma shrugged, “I suppose so.”

“What’s this safe house like? Does it have a name?” Noah bit his tongue, not too hard but hard enough to feel it.

“No, I didn’t think any did,” Ethan said curiously.

Noah shrugged.

After a minute Ethan said, “We’re almost out of town. Can I ask you somethin’?”

Noah nodded.

“My contact said you’d been at the central safe house. Why’d you leave? They say it’s the best place for a Freak in North America.” Ethan set sideways in his seat and his other siblings seemed to be paying just as much attention.

“Aviator and I didn’t get along.”

Jacob swore and Emma scolded him. “I didn’t think anyone met Aviator.”

“I did. He’s not as reclusive as all that. He just doesn’t leave the central safe house that often.”

“Does he really have wings?” Emma asked, “I heard he’s mighty good lookin’ for a Freak.”

Noah sighed, “I guess so. About the looks thing. He does have wings though, they’re pretty big too. I’ve seen his carry a grown man into the air to make ceiling repairs. My Crystal, my girlfriend, she…” Suddenly the life died out of his voice. “Well, she’d always said being part of a Freak Family had to be something.”

They all recognized what that meant. “Oh, I’m so sorry, Noah. Their anythin’ I can do?” Emma asked.

“No.”

“Do you mind if I ask what happened?” She looked back at him.

“Emma!” Jacob yelled.

“Oh, you shut up.” Emma turned back around to drive.

“She was a fighter. Trying to help Freaks in A.P.P.S. custody. We had a lead in a new location. I was in charge of transporting everyone there and back, my powers can work on anyone touching me. I was outside the building the whole time but apparently there were more guards then we’d been told. She got seventeen Freaks out but…” Noah’s voice cracked. “They shot her, nine times. Once in the head, twice in the arm, once in the leg and five times in the chest. They pulled her out but we couldn’t get her help fast enough.”

They set in silence for a minute before Noah continued. “I tried staying. I figured I was bound to die soon. I mean a short life is a staple of being a Freak, but since I was the one who had to get everybody home no one let me near danger. Finally, I couldn’t take being there anymore. I’m done being the getaway car. At least for a while. I’m planning on going back in a couple months, I just need a break.”
“Good luck,” Emma said as she stopped the but is what appeared to be nowhere.

“Is this it?”

Jason nodded and stood, “Yeah, I’ll take you to the door, supplies go in a different way.”
“Okay, see you,” Noah, waved as he got off the bus. He didn’t look back, he didn’t need to. He trusted Texas was safe enough.

“Over here.” Jason waved Noah over to a hidden door in the ground, like a cellar door. “Let’s go.”

Noah smiled a little to himself, getting away from the central safe house will be a good break after all.

The next day a siren in the underground safe house went off. It was a raid, the location had been compromised. The small group of A.P.P.S. officers hadn’t realized how many Freaks were in that compound. When the Freaks sorted through the bodies to bury their friends before they relocated, Emily found Noah. He’d been shot several times. On his grave marker she wrote, ‘Here lays Noah, he might have been from Washington state. He loved a Freak named Crystal, and now they are together.’

Photo By: Dylan Collette