Sienna readied herself for another attack, signalling her friends to carry on while she had the guy distracted then froze when instead of charging her again he instead gave another bellow and shattered glass and broken masonry rose off the ground and flew at the four of them. Sienna threw up her hand in what should have been a futile warding gesture and the pain that had been building in her head exploded before fading to nothing. In the same instant the flying masonry stopped short, disintegrated and fell to the floor in a fine dust.
"What the fuck!" Sienna usually tried not to swear because it upset her parents but right now it seemed appropriate. She didn't have time to puzzle over it however because their assailant rushed at them again. Sienna didn't even think about she just threw out an arm and imagine him being thrown away from them. It made no sense but somehow she knew it would work. A wave of energy passed out of her and struck the man He cried out and flew back into the wall with a sickening crunch. He hit the ground unconscious, at least Sienna hoped he was unconscious and not worse. After a moment she saw his chest rising and falling and sighed with relief. She steeled herself and turned to look at her friends.
Lucy was still struggling to breathe and seemed unaware of what had happened but as Sienna had feared Charlotte and Wendy were staring at her with scared and bewildered expressions. Sienna imagined her face looked much the same.
"H-how did you do that? Charlotte asked. "What are you?"
Sienna wouldn't have minded knowing the answer to that herself but right now she was concerned about the fact that Lucy seemed to have passed out.
"We need to get Lucy to help then we can worry about that," she said.
Wendy stared at her for a moment before nodding but Charlotte just continued staring at her with big, frightened eyes and didn't look like she was going to move until she got an answer.
"Look, Char, I'm as baffled and scared as you are!" she snapped after a moment. "I don't know what's going on but I do know Lucy needs help now and this can wait so get bloody moving!" As she snapped at Charlotte she felt something click inside her head and her friend seemed jolted backwards. Charlotte's eyes went blank for a moment and she nodded.
"You're right," she said and began pushing the chair again.
Sienna's stomach roiled guiltily as she led them all the last few hundred meters to where the mist finally petered out completely. She didn't know how she'd made Charlotte start moving but she knew she had just like she'd thrown that man into the wall She really wanted time to pull herself together and figure things out but Lucy was more important right now so she pushed it aside. They rounded another bend and Sienna sighed in relief as they found a police cordon with ambulances and fire engines just beyond them. Several paramedics came running and took Lucy off their hands as a policeman pointed the rest of them towards a portacabin.
"Go and get decontaminated girls," he said. "Then you can join your friend. We don't know what this agent is yet but we have established that it's not a nerve or biological agent, so we don't think it's any sort of attack. Must have come from the meteorite. Whatever it is it seems harmless except to people who have a reaction like your friend so I don't think we'll need to hold you long."
"Thanks!" Sienna said as the three of them headed to the portacabin where hair samples and skin swabs were taken before they were wold to shower thoroughly. When they emerged their clothes were gone, replaced by coveralls.
"You'll get them back," one of the technicians promised. "But we need to test and decontaminate them first. For now let’s get you to the hospital to join your friend."She hustled them outside and into a waiting police car, which just as promised took them to the hospital.
"We don't think anything criminal has happened," the policewoman who was escorting them to Lucy said. "But if that changes we'll need a statement so I'll have to take your addresses, and with the mobile network currently overloaded we'll be able to reassure your parents you're--" She broke off as the very noticeable sound of gunfire came from the direction of the town centre. "Now that certainly is criminal." She hurried them a few steps to a curtained cubicle. "Your friend is in here. I'd better go and find out what's happening now." She hurried off leaving them in a cubicle with :Lucy who was still unconscious and on Oxygen but whose breathing seemed far easier now.
In the corner of the cubicle was a television which someone had set to the news. Sienna wasn't surprised to see that everything centered on Castleham and what had happened there. Given that the reporter was standing outside the Star Centre among the dust and ruin but with no sign of the magenta fog and with ambulances visible behind her Sienna gathered that the cordon had been listed at some point while they were showering or travelling here which meant the other casualties would be here soon.
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