Paradox

Chapter 8: Kane County, Utah

Clint had fallen asleep around midnight and woke at noon. That was 12 hours. Something made the seat belt pull uncomfortably against his neck. He looked out the window and knew they were more than 12 hours away from Memphis. The terrain was dry. Desert and canyon. There were trees on the ridges. They were at least in New Mexico. He shifted a little and got a better view. Good enough to see that the truck was 30 feet in the air. He shuffled back from the window, clutching his seatbelt. The ground gradually got closer until it was being set down front first. Dallas popped up on the other side, panicked. Clint clicked the seatbelt out, and bolted out of the truck. He stumbled into the dirt, barely catching himself.

“Clint, stop,” Dallas yelled. He ran around the truck, “I’m sorry. I won’t do it again.”

The blond just sat on the ground staring up at Dallas. He held his hands up just like when they first met. The dots connected in his brain. 

“That’s how you saved me,” it wasn’t a question, but Dallas still nodded. Clint brought his legs up underneath him, “how?”

Dallas sat across from him, “I don’t know. I passed out yesterday, when I woke up no one was around and I had these abilities.”

“So you can what? Fly, and you have super strength.”

“Yeah, and I can’t cut myself. I don’t know how much that is though. I didn’t think that was normal so I kept it to myself.”

“It’s definitely not normal,” Clint looked at Dallas for a long time before getting up and going closer. He reached out but stopped, “can I?”

Dallas nodded. Clint took his hand and started examining his arm. Nothing stood out. His skin wasn’t hard, or rough. He moved Dallas forward looking at his back. No wings. 

“Can you fly for me?”

Dallas had a surprised smile on his face before getting up and flying a foot off the ground. He hovered. There was no wind pushing around him, nothing to hold him up. Clint had no words. He couldn’t think of an explanation. 

“This is amazing,” Clint grabbed his hand, but Dallas pulled his hands to his chest in fist. “What’s wrong?”

“I can’t touch you,” Dallas looked away, “I don’t want to hurt you.” He tried not to touch anything. It surprised him that he hadn’t destroyed the steering wheel while he was driving. 

“I don’t want you to hurt me either, but what do you plan on doing? Submitting yourself to never touch anyone again?”

“Maybe. I don’t know. I haven’t really thought that far ahead.”

“I have. You’ll hurt more than you’ll help anyone. If you were going to hurt me, it would have already happened,” Clint reached for him again. He took the calloused hand into his and looked it over. Then he pulled him with him. He was still hovering. Dallas stared at their hands, barely breathing. His brow furrowed, refraining even the slightest twitch.

Clint let go, “how long were you flying?”

“Since somewhere in Oklahoma.”

“And where are we now?”

“I think Utah. That was the last state sign I saw.”

“So we need to find a city sign, and a map. I’m not familiar with this area,” Clint headed back to the truck.

“It’s out of gas.” 

Clint stopped, and looked around. There wasn’t another car for miles. “Can you not fly us?” he asked.

“I could. I think.” Dallas landed on the ground. He lifted the back of the truck. The metal creaked as he pulled it off the ground. 

Clint saw the issue. There was a fine tremor running through Dallas’s arm. The older set the truck back down. He looked down at his hands, and rolled his shoulder to try again.

“There’s no need to strain yourself. We can figure something else out,” Clint suggested, then smiled, “if you can’t carry the truck maybe you can carry something lighter.”

“What would I… no. You can’t be thinking that.”

“That depends on what you’re thinking.”

“I’m not flying with you. I could drop you, or crash.”

“You’ve done it before,” Clint chuckled, “come on, please. It’ll be the fastest way to get to a town. Then we can find another car.”

Dallas sighed, this kid may be the death of me, “okay. Fine. I have bags in the back.

Clint looked for the bags, trying to calm his jitters. He found two backpacks and brought them back to Dallas. 

“Give me one,” Dallas directed. He put the bag on his front, “we can do this piggyback style.” 

Clint practically jumped on Dallas. He moved until he was comfortable. His arms wrapped around his neck while Dallas held Clint’s legs at his sides. 

“Just hold on tight, and tell me if it’s too much, okay?”

“I got it.”

Dallas lifted into the air. The arms around his neck tightened. They were flying. Clint craned his neck around to look out at the landscape. 

“I’ve never seen anything like this,” Clint leaned back, smiling into the wind. Throwing his hands in the air. 

Dallas tightened his grip slightly, “you’re going to fall if you keep that up.”

“No I won’t. You wouldn’t drop me. Even if you did, I know you’d catch me.”

“You would trust me with your life?”

“Just don’t tell my parents.”

The two flew through the sky. The wind pushing them along. Clint whooped, laughing. A few buildings came into view on a ridge side. Over the top they spotted a city. Fifteen minutes later they landed on the city limits. There was a big sign reading ‘Kanab’. Clint hopped off Dallas back. He ran off down one of the streets. Dallas couldn’t keep up. A flash of blond popped in and out of a few shops before returning to him with a map in hand. It was spread out as Clint skimmed over it.

“We’re actually pretty close to Las Vegas. It should take a few hours tops,” Clint said, “let’s find a car, and get out of here.”

“We’re going to steal someone's car?”

“It’s not doing them much good here, is it?”

“I guess not.” 

Dallas looked at the cars that had crashed into various buildings. It would be hard to find one that worked well enough. He stretched his arms above his head. There was an ache at the base of his skull. It was steadily growing harder to ignore.

“I found keys,” Clint called out down the block. 

He headed in that direction. Halfway to Clint, a gust of wind from behind pushed him to the ground. Windows shattered in the buildings. Followed by the earth rumbling, setting off car alarms. Dallas got to his feet, looking back. Ginormous rock pillars grew from the ground. Slowly building a wall around the town.

“Dallas,” Clint shouted, “come on.”

He hurried to the car. Clint threw him the keys to the little SUV he’d found. They got in and tore through the streets.

Dallas checked his mirrors, “where do I need to go?”

“West.”

“Left or right.”

“Right.”

They whipped around the curve. Gushes of air shoved the car back and forth. Dallas had to stop the car. They clipped a truck, sending the car into a spin. It came to a stop in the middle of the street. 

“Get out of the car,” Dallas demanded, practically ripping the door out of its hinges.

Clint struggled to grab his bag.

“Clint!”

He pulled it out, falling to the asphalt. He had a second to see boulders raining down, before Dallas wrapped himself around him. The rocks crumbled on impact. Clint made himself smaller. 

There was a growl in his ear. Dallas disappeared the next second. Clint picked himself up, and watched the sky. There were multiple people flying across the expanse. A woman riding on waves of water, two men standing on stone pillars, and a man tussling with Dallas on a rooftop. The water woman sliced through one of the pillars the other men were standing on. Throwing the man into the air until another stone pillar caught him. 

Clint ran. The clashes of the powered people echoed off the buildings. He wouldn’t make it out of there before the city was demolished. Then he was picked up off the ground. Dallas pulled him closer, then the two were thrown through a wall. The house they intruded shook. Dallas didn’t waste time. He grabbed Clint again, and flew out. They went faster than they had earlier. Clint couldn’t open his eyes, but he heard angry screams and felt mist on his face. 

Dallas held Clint to his chest. They hovered just beside the wall going up. He ignored the clanks of his wrestling opponent. The giant’s skin turned to metal. His fists hit him like bullets. Dallas didn’t look back. They peaked over the man-made wall, the blinding sun waiting. He hung in the air before falling back to the earth on the other side.

“Where to?” Dallas panted. He looked around confirming no one had followed them.

“Need to find the I-15. It’ll take us to Vegas.”

“I’ll find it.”

“Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Don’t worry.”