Chapter 20

A New World Order:

The soldiers stood frozen in confusion. Dust sent a wave of energy out from his body, allowing it to roll like a controlled wave over the weapons. In front of him, bullets of different calibers turned to dust before the guns that fired them did the same. If the soldiers refused to back down, he would do the same to them, but one after another, they lifted their hands up into the air.

“Dust… Todd,” Josie urgently called from behind him.

He turned and saw Daciana lying in Josie’s arms before he saw Sammy’s shattered expression. Sprinting over to her, he fell to his knees. His heart pounded. Rebecca had said that what he had seen could be changed.

“Sammy,” he said as he lifted his hands and touched Todd.

“No,” she whimpered, holding Todd closer to her and rocking him back and forth. “No! I can’t…. Dust…. I can’t…. I… Help me,” she gasped.

“Let me see,” Dust gently but firmly instructed. “Give him to me, Sammy. Let me see if I can do anything.”

“Please. God, please. I can’t…. Oh, God, I can’t…,” Sammy choked.

Dust gently pried Sammy’s arms away from Todd. The front of the young boy’s jacket was blood-soaked. At his touch, the jacket turned to dust and disappeared. He saw where the bullet had entered Todd’s chest.

Reaching down, his fingers trembled as he felt for a pulse. There was a small, uneven beat, barely perceptible to his touch. He passed his hand over the wound. He closed his eyes, willing the knowledge, the power, something, anything to help him fix this. Todd couldn’t die. There had been too much death, too much sorrow already. He had promised! He had promised that he would take care of them—that he would protect them.

“No!” he shouted, tilting his head back and staring up at the sky. “No! You gave us the power! You gave us the knowledge! Help us! Please, help me understand! Help me know how to fix this!”

He shook as he leaned over Todd’s body. He could hear the little boy’s heartbeat getting fainter. Closing his eyes, he took a ragged breath.

Please…. Give me the power to fix this, he silently pleaded.

He ran his shaking hands down the sides of his jacket and felt warmth. Shoving his hand into his pocket, he pulled out the glowing green crystals. The stones heated in his palm, and a new vision came to him.

In a distant world, the stones were used for healing. The vision of the ethereal figures gently applying the gems to a wound filled his mind. They had saved him, changed him and thousands, if not millions, of others on the planet.

Opening his eyes, he looked down at Todd again. Sammy had twisted around and was bending over to pick him up again. He reached out and stopped her.

“Leave us,” she choked out in a ravaged voice. “Let us go.”

“Never,” he replied.

“He’s gone. I have nothing left,” Sammy wailed, her eyes filling with tears. “I have nothing… nothing….”

“He’s not gone yet. Please, let me…. I promised,” he said.

Dust moved his hand over the wound in Todd’s chest and released the crystals. They floated over the wound before dissolving into delicate green dust. The microscopic particles from another world fell into the wound. Spider-web shaped lines of green spread through Todd’s body as the particles swept through his bloodstream.

Dust moved around and held Sammy when she gasped and reached for her brother. He pulled her close as they watched a light green glow fill the little boy’s body. As the glow began to fade, they could see Todd’s chest rising and falling in a steadier rhythm.

Sammy’s loud sob tore through him when Todd opened his eyes and blinked up at the sky before he turned his head and looked at her with a puzzled frown. He slowly pushed up into a sitting position and blinked again. Looking down, he ran his hands over his tattered shirt before looking at Sammy again.

“What happened to my jacket?” he asked.

Sammy choked out a laugh, leaned forward, and wrapped her arms around her brother. Drawing him into her arms, she buried her face against his shaggy hair. She shook with joy, her relief, and her sobs.

“This isn’t over,” General Troyfield said, his hand steady as he aimed his firearm. “You are monsters.”

Dust rose to his feet, and stepped in front of Sammy and Todd. Troyfield’s gun rose to center on his chest.

“We are not monsters. We are the future. If our world is going to survive, we all need to work together,” Dust quietly insisted.

“The only world there will be is the one where people like you are hunted down and eliminated,” General Troyfield vowed.

Dust looked at the General. “We’ve all lost someone, General. More killing will not bring back the ones you have lost, my parents, Josie’s, Sammy and Todd’s, or the rest of your families,” he replied in a louder voice, looking at the soldiers. “This is a new world. We are all a part of it.”

He became quiet on the last sentence. His hand rose when he sensed the General’s finger tightening on the trigger. The gun dissolved to dust, raining down all over the General’s shiny black boots.

“You are no longer in charge, General Troyfield,” Dust said.

“You can’t relieve me. I am this compound. I am Asylum. I will do my duty to protect the human race from those who have been changed,” Troyfield insisted, backing away from Dust and looking at the soldiers around him. “We will kill every one of these monsters. I will….”

Troyfield’s voice gurgled and faded. Dust started forward, but it was too late. He watched as a cloud of emotion flashed through Daciana’s eyes before they turned hard. She lifted her chin and stared back at him from behind the General’s body. Protruding from Troyfield’s chest was the harpoon he had ordered a soldier to fire at her. Her eyes once again reflected her pain, grief, and resolve.

“I agree with the General. I think the monsters need to be eliminated. I’ve started with this one,” Daciana stated before pushing the man’s body away from her. She swayed for a moment before her attention moved to Todd. She smiled at the little boy. “Take better care of him, Dust, or I promise I will come after you,” she ordered, locking eyes with him.

Dust returned Daciana’s intense gaze and nodded. “I will. You don’t have to go,” he said.

Daciana’s expression softened. “I have questions of my own that need answers. This new world is full of monsters, Dust. Someone needs to make sure they know their place,” she murmured before she faded out.

“You aren’t one of them now, Daciana,” Dust replied, knowing that she couldn’t hear him.

He looked up at the sky. In the distance, he could see the green fog rising up over the mountains and could hear the crack of lightning. As much as he would have liked to stay, Daciana was right. This was a new world and there were a lot of lost people out there who needed help. Perhaps that was why he’d been given these powers. He didn’t know. There was still a lot that he had to learn.

He turned when he heard vehicles approaching. His aunt, uncle, and the others from the outer city had arrived. A new world order would be created—one city at a time.