Collin (2/2)

Continuation of part 1.

    After a few weeks of having his ability, Collin had made a mistake. It wasn't that he had been careless, just that he hadn't been careful enough. Someone had seen him use his ability, when he had thought that he was alone. This person quickly told a few friends online about what he had seen, even sharing a picture he had taken of Collin, who appeared to be standing on air a foot above the ground. It didn't take very long for people high up to take notice of the posts. Within days, Collin had twenty government agents standing outside his house, armed and ready to fight this unknown threat to the nation. They didn't know that he was just a scared boy. Somehow, although his house was surrounded, Collin had managed to slip onto the roof of the house, and from there, using his ability, he walked across air to the roof of his neighbor's house. Before he could get away, he was seen, and from there the chase had started.
    Thirty minutes after being spotted on the roof, the agents were searching in classrooms and bathrooms for the boy hiding among the gym vents. Collin feared that he couldn't hold himself up much longer. The adrenaline high that had kept him from collapsing earlier was wearing off and his hold on the field beneath him was weakening. This quickly became the least of his concerns, though, as an agent who had entered into the gym looked up and saw him. The man yelled for help and started shooting at Collin. Collin didn't know what was being fired at him, but they didn't seem to be bullets. The government agency that sent these men to acquire Collin surely wanted him brought in alive, so he guessed that they might be something like drugged darts. Regardless, Collin avoided the projectiles the best he could, maneuvering his 'flying carpet' along the ceiling of the gym, trying to hide behind the large vent tubing. Collin could take little more of this, so he got himself close to a grate along the side of a tube, yanked off the grate, and climbed inside.
    The vents were not made to support someone of Collin's weight, and creaked underneath him, though they were wide enough for Collin to comfortably fit inside. The men below him yelled and made plans as Collin crawled along the length of the pipe, occasionally turning. When he had attended the middle school, he had spent hours in the gym listening to boring people speak about drugs or internet safety during school assemblies. During these meetings, in his boredom, he had counted the bricks making up one wall of the gym and memorized the layout of the air vents in the ceiling. Now, climbing through the vents, he found this mental map of the ceiling very helpful, much more so than the information that had been given during the lectures. After turning twice, to the left and then to the right, the tubing turned straight up, leading to a large air conditioner situated on the roof of the school. The tired boy climbed straight up inside the vent, pushing his back against one side of the vent and trying to pull himself up with his hands and feet along the opposite side. He used his ability to make handholds and footholds, creating small stationary fields that he could grab ahold of. Just a few yards up, he reached the air conditioner on the roof. Using what strength he had left, he pushed through the machinery and grating, bursting out through the side of the far from new machine and climbed out onto the roof of the school.
    As he tumbled onto the roof, several men were just then reaching the roof through the staircase that led up to it. Collin would have no respite. He picked himself up again and started to run again, with the men right behind him. There was only so far he go, stuck on the roof of the building. The men backed him up against the side of the building, with their weapons trained on him. One had flanked to the left, and was ready to come in with handcuffs as soon as Collin surrendered. Collin didn't know what they had in store for him, but he would rather die than find out. Collin mouthed a quick prayer and took a deep breath, and then stepped backwards off the roof of the building.
    Collin had no plan. He though he might be able to place a field beneath him as he fell. He might tumble off it and fall to the ground unharmed. As he fell, though, he found himself disoriented and confused. He didn't know up from down and couldn't save himself if he tried. Whether he survived or was injured was not in his hands.
    Just before Collin hit the ground, he felt himself lifted slightly, as if something had grabbed ahold of him and was now setting him lightly on the ground. He ended up lying on the pavement on his back, entirely unharmed. Collin didn't understand what had happened, but couldn't take the time now to ponder it. He stood up and started to run again, as he had been doing for the past forty minutes. A teenage boy stood in front of him, his hands trained on Collin as if he had used the Force to move him. In a way, the boy had. This boy seemed to know what was going on. Collin wondered if he was working with the agents.
    "It's okay." the strange boy said. "I'm here to help you."
    "Who are you?" Collin asked.
    The stranger lifted himself briefly off the ground and then back down, demonstrating his own ability. "I'm like you. I have a gift."
    Collin looked quickly back at the school. The men were coming.
    "Come on." The boy grabbed Collin's hand and pulled him forward. "We need to get out of here."
    Collin hesitated but followed the boy. He had few other choices.
    Collin would be on the run now, hiding from his pursuers. It may be a long time before he could return home. However, he at least now knew that he wasn't alone. There were others out there like him, others who had been hidden, who had abilities like him. He had allies. He wasn't alone.