Chapter 5

Tommy resembled a demon. His hands were replaced with claws, the forearms were two times bigger and the nonhuman fangs no longer fit in his mouth. Bones were running through his back, perforating the skin and muscles until they turned into wings.

Bill tried to punch him, but something knocked him to the ground with such power that it took us a few seconds to understand what happened.

"Oh my God! Bill… Bill!" Allaya screamed in tears.

The other one looked like a fucking Chupacabra. He had a completely hairless body, with spines on the back, extremely long hind limbs and an oval head with a huge muzzle, complete with large red eyes.

It was a nightmare. I was so scared, but I had to do something. To try, at least.

"Allaya, do you still want to play with DNA?" I whispered over my shoulder, hoping she would understand.

The beasts turned to us, laughing and growling. My heart was beating so fast it could come out of my chest at any second. I calculated the distance between Tommy and I while still playing with the lightning withing my body.

"Allaya, take down the dog, I'll take the demon. You can do it. I trust you with all my heart, do you hear me?"

Allaya didn't answer so I checked her really quick. She had her eyes closed and her face was calm as was her breathing. I knew what that meant, so my focus was only on Tommy.

"Mhm…I think you're a keeper too. My friend Harry – he pointed to the other beast – likes skinny bitches with long hair."

"Does he do more than just lick your shoes?" I said with my big mouth; I never did manage to shut up.

Harry seemed to be offended and he was heading towards me with a violent growl. He was too fast to be stopped and I would probably be dead if Allaya wouldn't have stopped him in time.

Harry fell on the floor like a boulder and his body was twisted in an inhuman form. Well, more inhuman. He started to scratch at his face, ripping out his skin and growling. I didn't know what Allaya was doing to him, but I wasn't curious at all.

Some things need to remain unspoken.

"Harry…no, stop! Stop it!" Tommy tried to stop him, but Harry bit him so hard that it ripped a piece of his forearm to the bone. The demon started to scream and swear.

"Aahh! You fucking witches, I will break your miserable bodies in two!"

And in a second, he strangled and lifted us up. We tried to kick him, but he didn't budge at all. We were flies to him, who he enjoyed playing with. He started with Allaya who was struggling to breathe and her face turned red.

"No! Allaya! Please, please, don't kill her!"

I desperately started to kick him, punch him, bite his hands, but nothing worked. The electricity within my body made my muscles pulse, ready to be released. I was trying to find a way not to kill her in the process. My eyes were seeing what was happening, but my mind couldn't process it. I acted, knowing in the back of my mind that another moment of hesitation would have killed Allaya. This alone almost took the wind out of me.

I snapped. I let go of all hesitation, all restraint, all mercy. I grabbed his hand and released all my power inside him. I didn't care anymore for just putting him out, I wanted him to feel as much pain as Allaya did.

We dropped and he fell over us, dead and fried. I pushed him away, not losing sight of Allaya.

"Allaya, can you hear me? It's over."

"Mia, take me to Bill. Is he still alive?" Allaya started to cry.

"He is barely breathing. His face is inflated and the wounds still bleed." Elliot said while checking on Bill.

"I need to heal him, now! I can do it. I have to!"

I helped her stand up and while we headed to Bill, I took a glance to Elise, who was sitting next to Ria. She was pale with traces of tears on her face, but she nodded and smiled at me. After what happened, this girl won't be the same. I only hopped she will become strong enough to move on and stay alive in this chaos.

I left Allaya to take care of Bill and I went outside to clear my mind. I desperately needed fresh air. It was spring and the rain had stopped. Some people were staring worriedly at me and the house. I assured them everything was alright and they kept minding whatever business they might have had. My breath came to normal and I took a moment to have a minute with myself.

Then with my eyes closed, I told myself that I have superpowers and nowadays it's something normal. A power which is hard to control, but my mind started to recognize and acknowledge it as part of me. It explodes when I'm angry or too emotional. I knew then that the key of controlling my power is to control myself first. Well, it will be hard as fuck to control something that even my therapist failed to.

I was also thinking about Allaya, with her kind soul, who wants to rescue everyone. How much she would sacrifice herself for the good of this world. Only the thought that she might die, made me realize how much she started to mean to me. She really ranked up to family level.

"How is Bill?" I asked Allaya.

"I almost healed his lungs, but I can't do much for the ribs. It's harder to remodel the bones than the organs. I hadn't found out how yet."

"Good. It means he will survive."

"Yes. It's the only thing that matters so far."

"And the hole from the roof." Elliot added.

"What ho… What the fuck?! Who did that? Did I do it?"

"Geez, I don't know. Is there another white fox who raves and storms when she's angry?" Elliot said laughing, then Allaya joined him and all of a sudden, we all started to laugh.

It was so good to laugh and the tension faded away, eventually. We were so tired, but at least we survived another day. The twins helped me to fix the hole with some tarp and burry the corpses in the backyard.

*

I woke up late as my body was still weak from the training I had with Bill in the past few weeks. Familiar voices came from the kitchen along with a wonderful and tasty smell. Scrambled eggs and coffee.

A week ago, the authorities delivered mobile phones, food, water and coffee. It meant that the other countries kept their promises. They registered our names and phone numbers on a list to make it public. And there was another list for the dead people.

Also, the president forbade everyone to leave the cities and promised us protection and food. Thieves already broke into the houses from the district, which were almost finished. The police caught the thieves without powers. The other ones killed three policemen.

Who will defend us? How could they imprison the "gifted" people? The population started raising these kinds of questions and the President always had the same answer: "We have everything under control. You are safe." Nobody believed him. It was an eye for an eye type of justice out there.

Anyway, in those peaceful weeks, I recovered all of my memories. "The Day Zero" – this is how they call it – was exactly the nightmare I had that day. The irony of the confusion I had in real life, when the dream was so clear, made me even more bitter. Like I woke up in a circus and everybody was laughing at me.

I remembered that someone held my hand when the building collapsed and probably saved my life. It made me think about those eyes. I couldn't understand why I kept thinking about them. They were so intense and infinite. Like the sky.

"Mia, the breakfast is ready." Elise said as she put the cat on the table.

"Thank you, El. Aah…can you please put the cat down?"

"Oh, come on, Mia. Look at her, she's adorable." Allaya said.

"She's ugly and staring at me. Please put her down."

In that moment, the cat jumped in front of me and scratched my hand. I yelped, slamming the chair and ready to fry that little demon.

"Mia, no!" Elise screamed.

"Scratch for a scratch, Whitey?" the cat said.

…

"Ria?!"