Sleeping Beauty

Jack frowned, tapping his flashlight anxiously against his leg. The government idiots upstairs were planning on bombarding the children with Gamma 13 radiation come morning, and he couldn’t let that happen. Almost thirty years ago, they had done the very same thing to him and his teammates, and he’d lost his older brother over that. He didn’t want any of these kids, still so innocent, to turn evil and turn on each other.

They deserved better than that.

Turning back to face the hallway, he rolled his eyes. Here he was, trying to get them to hurry, and Tucker was still stumbling around half in his pyjamas, Summer was slumped against her wall yawning, and Cindy alone was bouncing around energetically. She was wearing something pink. And fuzzy. Good lord. Where was Dylan, though?

Heading towards the teen’s bubble like cubicle room, he leaned in the doorway. And sighed.

Dylan had tumbled backwards onto his bed, probably the moment he’d left. Sprawled across his blankets, limbs akimbo, he was breathing heavily, eyes closed.

“Up!” Jack called again, flashing the light inside and across the teen’s face. He didn’t move. “Come on, oh gorgeous one, get your ass up and moving!”

“He’s too tired to wake up,” Cindy informed him primly.

“Uh-huh,” Jack sighed.

“Mm-hmm.” Cindy grinned.

“Well, guess we’re going to do this the old fashioned way,” Jack shrugged, entering the room. Looping his arms under the boy’s torso, he hauled him up and tossed him, like a sack of grain, over his shoulder. Shifting him a little so he could carry him that way, Jack headed out into the hallway, steadying his load.

Strangely enough, Dylan slept on.

Apparently he really had been tired. What the heck had the kid been doing yesterday to get this exhausted?

“And we’re off,” Jack nodded, and led the other three towards the secret entrance he and his friends used to have to their little alcove. He just had to get them out, and then they could worry about they were going to do later.

Like possibly, getting Dylan some clothes. He probably wasn’t going to be impressed when he woke up and discovered they’d escaped and he was still in his boxers.

Go back to Zoom.

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