The Special People

Chapter 16

The man got to his feet, looking a little dazed, just as several SWAT team officers ran up into the temple. He jumped up onto the platform behind the throne, reached out around the throne with his arms, and transformed them into snakes, stretching them forth and striking officer after officer with such speed they didn’t know what or where to shoot at.

When Kristen saw this, she knew who they were dealing with. Her shocked expression was visible to Wilson from behind, and he grabbed her and pulled her back into the room.

“Kristen, what hap—“

“Isaac ,” she interrupted. “He’s real.”

“What are you talking about?” asked Kyle.

“I believe it,” Wilson said to him. “We need to get out of here right now!”

Before they could leave, the two men from the entrance hall came into the room. The taller man saw the .357 still in Kristen’s hand and asked in a whisper, “Was that you that hit him?”

She nodded.

“Nice shot. I’m Dutch, this is Edmonds. You all need to follow us and stay low.”

They followed Dutch out of the room. The entrance hall looked like a war zone; bullets were flying everywhere, and debris rained down from the ceiling. The temple was crumbing around them. Isaac was no longer behind the throne but leaping around to their right, dodging bullets while taking out his attackers one by one.

Dutch tried to guide the class around to the left, but Isaac spotted them. He threw the body of an officer he had just killed into an unstable pillar. The body hit it with such force it began to fall toward them. Wilson saw that several students were about to be crushed. He leaped at them and was able to knock four of them to safety, including Kora and Lisa, but he was unable to save them all; two students were crushed under the weight of the stone, and two more were injured.

Wilson rolled to his feet and held out a hand to Kora. “Are you okay?” he asked, helping her up.

“Yeah, I think so,” she said. She looked up and saw the ceiling cracking above Wilson’s head. “Look out!” she screamed.

He looked up and saw a broken piece of the stone ceiling falling toward him. He jumped back and tripped over one of the students he had just saved. He twisted around as he stumbled backward and put his arm out to catch himself, knocking over a rope divider and landing with his hand against the oracle stone. The instant his skin made contact, a bolt of lightning shot up through his arm and out his back; it traveled from Wilson into Kora, then into Kristen, then into Kyle, exiting out his chest and upward, through the ceiling and into the sky.

All the fighting in the room stopped briefly as everyone’s attention, including Isaac ’s, was brought to the lightning bolt. Wilson, Kora, Kristen, and Kyle were all crouched to the floor panting, looking weak and stunned. Isaac abandoned his attack on the officers and advanced toward Wilson.

Dutch moved to stand between him and the four on the floor. He aimed his rifle and opened fire again. Isaac dodged every bullet until the click of an empty magazine brought the shooting to a stop. Dutch turned toward Lieutenant Edmonds who was lying on the ground.

“Edmonds, get up! Get the rest of them to safety!” Dutch yelled, and then he turned and ran at Isaac , pulling out a knife. He was the same height as Isaac and much more muscular, but it was clear that Isaac was stronger. He grabbed Dutch by the wrists as he tried to thrust the knife downward. Isaac forced his arms above his head and head-butted Dutch in the face and then kicked him square in the chest. Dutch stumbled backward, still holding the knife. He came at Isaac again, slashing through the air. Isaac ducked and dodged the swipes then punched Dutch in the gut. Dutch swiped again, and Isaac grabbed his arm, twisted it around, and forced him to drop the knife. Dutch came down and landed a crushing blow on Isaac ’s shoulder with his elbow, knocking the wind out of him for a second.

As Isaac ’s attention was focused on Dutch, Edmonds herded a small group of students toward the entrance. One of the four remaining officers was there, frantically gesturing with his hands for them to come. Once everyone had made it out, Edmonds went back in to help the teachers and injured students. The other three officers followed him. They found that several students had been killed by stray bullets and falling debris. The officers quickly helped the injured students out to the rest of the group. Edmonds pulled Kristen to her feet; she could barely stand on her own, and she swayed dizzily, so he threw her arm around his neck. With the other arm, he helped Kyle up, who was nearly as weak and dizzy as Kristen. He half carried, half dragged them as they stumbled through the debris of the half-destroyed room. He turned to see Lisa limping toward them, supporting Kora.

Dutch was putting up quite the fight. He held his own as they traded blows back and forth until Isaac saw the students escaping out of the corner of his eye. He hissed angrily, knocked Dutch backward with a vicious kick, and then leaped at the escaping students, following them outside. Unarmed and panicking, Isaac dispatched them in rapid succession but not before a few made it to the vehicles and drove off. Dr. Ramsey tried to get the students in his group to a van, but Isaac cut them off, and they were forced to retreat back inside the temple. They sprinted across the throne room toward Edmonds.

Dutch moved back toward Wilson and helped him to his feet. He looked back at the entrance. It was clear they wouldn’t be making it out that way. He turned toward Edmonds and the others.

“We have no choice,” said Dutch. “This way! Come on!”

He led them around the throne, past a rope barrier, and down the corridor to the left.

Kristen looked around. “There’s no way out through here.”

Dr. Ramsey hurried to the front of the group. “It’s too dangerous this way!” he said, panting.

“Would you rather go back?” said Dutch.

“Fine,” said Dr. Ramsey. “Follow me. Watch where your step.”

He led them through a maze of corridors that seemed to go deep underground. They moved along the corridors as quickly as they could. Anytime they came to a booby trap, Dr. Ramsey told them exactly where to step to avoid setting it off. Deeper and deeper they went into the temple.

“I think I’m okay to walk on my own,” said Kyle after a few minutes.

“You sure?” asked Edmonds. “That was quite a hit you took up there.”

“Yeah, I’m good,” said Kyle.

“Me too,” said Kristen.

Edmonds let them go gratefully, wiping sweat off his face.

“You guys okay?” Kristen asked Wilson and Kora.

“Yeah,” said Wilson.

“Still a little dizzy, but I’m good,” said Kora.

“Where are we going?” asked Kyle.

“We’re almost about as deep as we can go,” said Dr. Ramsey. “But if we keep following this corridor, it will start to loop around back toward the entrance. I figure Isaac will have followed after us. Since we can’t go through him, I thought we might be able to go around him.”

Dr. Ramsey stopped suddenly as they passed by a room to the right. “This wasn’t here before.” He walked into the room.

“Careful, Doctor,” said Kristen.

“What do you mean this wasn’t here before?” asked Edmonds.

“This was a solid wall with no indication there might be something behind it. Whatever room this is, Isaac didn’t want visitors to find it,” said Kristen. “Doctor, I really don’t think we should go in there.”

Dr. Ramsey looked around the room. There was what appeared to be a stone bed against the wall. “I think this was where he slept.”

Against the opposite wall, there was what looked like a small wishing well; as he approached it, he could see a glowing green liquid in the bottom of the basin. His eyes widened with excitement.

“Doctor, we need to move now!” demanded Kristen from the doorway.

“Do you realize what that is? I have to get a sample!”

“This is not the time! I don’t know these corridors as well as you. We need you to lead us.”

“Okay,” he conceded regretfully. “Follow me.”

The corridor came to a bend.

“We should be on our way back to the entrance now,” he said.

“How can you be sure he’s following us?” asked Lisa.

“I’m not.”

He turned to make his way down a corridor to the right but suddenly stopped.

“Dr. Ramsey?” said Kristen.

She walked closer, enough to see his face frozen in terror. Just then, his body rose into the air, and he was thrown back against the wall; he fell in a heap, claw marks across his chest bleeding freely. Isaac stepped out from around the corner, face lit up by the string of lights lining the corridors. He looked around and made eye contact with Wilson.

Wilson was frozen in shock. He could not believe what he was seeing. In every detail, Isaac ’s face was identical to his own.

The two men stared at each other for a moment. The similarities were uncanny. No one moved or said anything as the group tried to take in the scene. Isaac and Wilson had the same green eyes, the same angular nose, the same high forehead and prominent brow line, the same cheek bones, the same mouth, the same slight cleft in the chin, and the same hair color. They were exactly the same height, and although Isaac was a little more muscular, it was obvious they carried their weight in the same way. They even had the same stance, each poised and ready for a fight, rolled forward slightly on their toes as if anticipating a leap or sprint to evade an attack.