I groaned as I gradually regained consciousness. Buzzing pain drilled into the sides of my head. My eyes felt like they were getting pressed into my skull. Take the headache of staying up all night studying and then taking three final exams in a row, multiply that pain by five, or maybe even ten times. It was so bad I just wanted to chop my head off.

First thought: How long was I unconscious?

Second thought: Lucky no one tried to kill me while I was out.

Flickering yellow light from an old bulb above greeted me as I tried to open my eyes. “Shit, that’s bright,” I said, my parched throat making my voice sound like I had sandpaper for vocal cords. I immediately closed my eyes again; the lights weren’t blindingly bright, but they made my head and eyes hurt.

Waiting for my eyes to rest, I tried to feel around to have a clue where I was but my body was too numb and weak to move and would barely follow my thoughts. It reminded me of the time I stupidly forced myself to do a heavy leg workout day after millennia of not going to the gym and I couldn’t feel my legs the next day, only this time, it was my entire body that was sore and out of commission.

Healing power, yoo-hoo, where are you?

I was partially lying down, my arms and legs splayed out on a smooth but hard surface, most likely a dirty tiled floor based on what I could touch with a feeble movement of my fingers. My head was slumped against the wall, bent downwards at a sharp angle, my chin almost touching my chest. This awkward position with my neck strained didn’t help alleviate my headache at all. Did I pass out sitting with my back on the wall and then slid down to the floor?

Trying my utmost to ignore the pain, I struggled to roll my body to the right to change my position. I managed to turn my torso and slide my head completely down to the floor, ending up lying on my side, my head on my outstretched arm. Still uncomfortable but so much better than my earlier position. My breathing was ragged, the pain overwhelming. I didn’t want to try to move anymore.

There must be a limit to my healing. Was it a finite power that would recharge over time?

I hoped it would.

I had been through so much I wouldn’t be surprised if I momentarily ran out of healing power.

Let’s see…

Surviving the fire and explosion, which presumably came from the two BID agents self-destructing, while I was going back—was ‘devolving’ the correct term? —to my transformed human form, the body called ‘Blanchette’ by Deen, so that I could fit in the tunnel that was collapsing.

Digging out of the caved-in tunnel in my original body, my strength waning, healing barely doing anything. I still had no idea why I got kicked out of the transformation. I couldn’t remember taking the face off; I was fixated on crawling out of there in one piece.

And when I was finally able to extract myself out of the debris into a relatively stable corridor, I ran into two asshats that attacked me. They were probably working for the 2Ms. Fortunately, they were only weakass normal humans, no enhancers or augs. One had a gun though. Shot me a few times, that piece of shit. I pummeled them both to a pulp and didn’t stop even after they were dead because I was in such a foul mood.

After the rush of adrenaline and my anger abated, I fainted from exhaustion.

Just so much…

I tried opening my eyes again, blinking a few times to adjust to the light. My sight was still cloudy as if I was underwater. I couldn’t muster enough concentration to focus on something. I did notice two forms on the floor.

The two dead guys.

I thought I was able to move further away before falling unconscious.

Served them right, what I did to them. Those fucks. Recalling that they shot me, my face contorted in rage, my fists balled, and pain raced up my body when I did so, making me wince.

I can’t do shit in this state.

I decided to stay still for a few minutes…or was it an hour…?

Drifting in and out of consciousness, I couldn’t tell how much time had passed. Everything was a haze.

There were moments I wasn’t even sure if I was dreaming.

Like, right now, there was an eyeball on the floor, about a foot from my face, staring at me. It wasn’t there before; I obviously would’ve noticed it. This has got to be a dream, right? Or did an eyeball roll out of the head of one of the guys I killed earlier? I chuckled at the thought of an eyeball popping out of its socket while I was pounding the head flat, like a pea squeezed out of a pod. Even a tiny bit of laughter made my abdomen hurt, but the soreness of my body was more tolerable now.

“Hey there, buddy,” I whispered. “Are you the left eye or the right eye?” I snickered again, holding in my stomach with an arm to lessen the pain. I had no idea why I thought it was damn funny.

Mesmerizing blue iris, abyssal dark pupil, thin pinkish veins crawling over the white of the eye. The eyeball was larger than a human’s, about as big as a tennis ball. It twitched then rolled on the floor over to the bodies of the guys I killed. I could’ve sworn it was checking the bodies, stopping at one and then the other.

Then it rolled back to me.

Soooo…

…this might not be a dream.

Spidery legs sprouted from underneath the eye, elevating it a couple of inches above the ground. It gave me one more look-over, rocking back on forth on its legs, before scampering off, turning left into the path where I came from. The caved-in dead-end was further on.

Noise echoed down the quiet corridor, opposite the direction the eyeball went. I shifted my head off my arm so I could press my ear on the floor. The tiles were cold and dusty. I wrinkled my nose to stave off a sneeze. Holding my breath, I focused on the vibrations on the floor.

Footsteps? Clinking of the hard soles of shoes on the tiles and something softer. People talking. Coming nearer.

This isn’t a fucking dream!

“There’s someone here,” a female voice said in a loud voice.

Someone replied to her, but I couldn’t hear it clearly.

Two…maybe three persons based on the voices and footsteps. From the bits and pieces of their conversation, I could make out that they were arguing whether to come to me or not.

Shit, what do I do?

I forced myself up. My arms shook, struggling to support my upper body.

Transform? I held up my hand, examining the crystals on my palm. I was hesitant summoning the Blanchette face. I wasn’t even sure I could do it. I didn’t know why I was forced out of my transformation earlier. Possibly because I was too weak. It would be disadvantageous if I transformed now only for it to fail. I should assess the danger first.

And if I transformed, I might not be able to control the urge to start eating people that attack me. Then I'd certainly turn into my giant beast mode and there was no Deen around here to snap me back to sanity.

But I just couldn't do nothing. There was no place to hide. Those people knew I was here, anyway. They were getting near the intersection of tunnels up ahead.

The gun! Where was it? I rubbed my eyes before scanning the room. I recalled I kicked it away after I knocked out the guy holding it.

There! I forced myself to crawl over to get it. Next, I half-knelt in that part of the corridor with the gun held close to me. It was heavy and cold in my hand. Just point and pull the trigger? Did I need to cock the gun or something? I fumbled over it. How do I cock a gun? Those guys immediately shot me with it, so I also should be able to—

“Excuse me, miss!” the female voice said. She stayed behind the left path of the intersection. “Don’t be afraid. We’re here to help.”

I tensed up and raised my weapon. There was scratching on the ground beside me. It was the eyeball again. I pointed the gun at it and it ran away. I pointed the gun back down the tunnel.

A hand appeared out of the corner waving a pink handkerchief like a surrender flag. “Can you please put the gun down? We’re friends. We also escaped from the underground arena.”

I lowered the gun and slowly stood up, my left hand on the wall for support. “Okay, I’m not going to shoot,” I said, hoping they'd understand my scratchy voice. If they were the Adumbrae clients of the 2Ms, shooting them wouldn’t do much unless I land a superb headshot.

A brunette woman appeared. A mask covered her face, just like the masks given out at the club. She wore a black sleeveless crop top with matching high-waisted fitting dress pants. An oversized coat was over her shoulders. It was in men’s style so someone must've given it to her. Even if her clothes were powdered with dust and grime, they were obviously very expensive. She was barefoot, her high-heeled sandals dangling by their straps from her fingers.

I held up my hand over my face. Although I lowered my gun, I was prepared to summon the Blanchette face and put it on if needed.

Misunderstanding my actions, she said, “Oh, you don’t need to be afraid about your identity.” She removed her mask revealing a conventionally beautiful face with friendly features. I would say she was in her early twenties, somewhat close to my age. “I’m Vanessa Minnows. Minnows as in the mayor. I’m his niece.”

“You didn’t need to tell her your actual name,” said a man still behind the wall.

I instantly raised my gun again.

“Don’t shoot!” Vanessa held up her hands. To the guy hiding out of sight, she said, “Just let me deal with this, I’ll say when it’s clear.” She faced me again. “Sorry, I know this is pretty confusing for you. We’re on the same side. And you look like you’re hurt pretty bad, it’s best if you rest and take it slow.”

I checked myself. She was right. The playsuit I’ve bought specifically for this mission that took a chunk out of my savings was not only sprinkled with soil and dried blood but also had tears all over that made it borderline immodest were it not for me looking like I’d been rolling in dirt—which I actually did. Who knows, some guys might go for this look.

However, I was relieved that in between the tears on the fabric, I could see that my wounds had healed, flesh and skin restored. Including the bullet wounds. There was no more trace that I fought and killed these two dudes. I doubted if Vanessa and her friends would appreciate I killed people working for the 2Ms.

I let my hands fall to my side, giving a shrug of resignation. But I maintained a tight grip on the gun.

“I’m walking forward now,” Vanessa said. She slowly approached me with her hands up, offering her hand when she was close enough. “Again, I’m Vanessa. You don’t need to tell me your name.”

Right hand. Shit. I transferred the gun to my left hand. A firm handshake or should I try to hide the crystals on my palm? I accepted her hand, deciding to go for a light grip, cupping my hand to keep the crystals away from touching her palm. “I'm not hiding my name. I'm Rachel Clifford,” I said, using the first random name that came to mind. "Nice to meet you, I guess?"

“Nice to meet you too, Rachel. Er, is something wrong?”

My eyes widened because I noticed something that could clue them in that I killed the two dudes. The bloodstains on my knuckles! There were even splotches of blood on my arm. “Uh, nothing’s wrong,” I said. Thinking quickly, I tightened my grip on her hand.

“Ah! what’s that?”

I pulled back and hid both of my hands behind my back. “Uh, nothing,” I said while trying to discreetly wipe the back of my hands and arms on the back of my outfit. “That’s the crystals…on my hand. Uh…my power. Sort of. Sorry.”

Vanessa’s face lit up. “See, we’re on the same side. I’m going to introduce you to my friends now, okay?”

“Sure.”

“We’re alright here!”

Two guys revealed themselves.

One of them removed his mask. He wasn't exactly good looking but he had a very self-assured aura. I estimate him to be ten or so years older than me. I didn’t want to go for guys with that huge an age gap. But I assumed he was a gentlemanly type. From the design of his pants, I could tell he must’ve been the one that gave the coat to Vanessa to cover herself. “You can call me Dominic,” he said.

The other guy didn’t remove his masquerade mask but the uncovered lower half of his face showed a graying short beard with neatly trimmed sides. His clothes were torn as if they were worn by someone several times larger than the intended size. That could mean his powers had something to do with transformation, becoming larger. I marked him as the dangerous one. “I’m not going to give her my name,” he said in a gruff voice.

“Hmph,” Vanessa said. “Whatever, just call him…Rob.”

"Rob?"

"Yes, you're Rob now. You don't get to choose an alias."

Rob groaned in annoyance.

“Hello,” I said. My eyes quickly darted between the three of them, examining them from head to toe. I intentionally made it obvious that I was suspicious of them. Whether they were friends or foes trying to fool me, they’d exert effort to lessen my distrust which I could use to my advantage.

Dominic knelt beside one of the dead bodies to check it. “What happened here, Rachel?”

“Looks like the handiwork of the snake,” assessed Rob.

I nodded, sure, let’s go with that, vaguely remembering a huge serpent-like mutant back in the arena. “I was just running aimlessly around, trying to escape from the BID agents. I ran into those guys. The snake came. We tried to escape in this corridor but that explosion caused a cave-in that blocked our path.”

“I checked,” Vanessa said, “the tunnel up ahead collapsed.”

“We had nowhere to go. I-I didn’t…I didn’t know what to do,” I said, feigning a voice on the verge of tears.

They stared at each other.

“I used my power.” I showed them the crystals on my right hand while continuing to wipe my left hand behind my back. “I formed a crystal shell around myself and hugged the wall. It had difficulty moving in this space so it pinned those two guys with its body and punched them with those numerous freaky hands…I watched as it killed them…it…it kept on pounding their heads even after they already died.” Adding dramatic effect, I glanced at the dead bodies and then turned away, pretending I was about to vomit.

“That’s the snake bastard alright,” Rob said. “Creepy fucking thing with those dozens of arms like a centipede. Why are we even calling it a snake?”

“Let her finish her story,” said Dominic. “Please continue, Ms. Rachel.”

“After it killed them it went for me. I didn’t know how long… it kept on punching my crystal shell…then slamming with its body. It was strong enough to break portions of the shell. The parts of the crystal that are destroyed disappear so I have to remake them. It didn’t stop…for a long time…I was so tired of remaking the crystal shell. I don’t think I can make more without a good rest. It probably got bored and just left.”

Vanessa approached me and put her coat, or rather Dominic’s coat, on my shoulders. I was getting Deen levels of friendliness vibes from her. “I did spot the snake in this general area with my eyes,” she said.

Oh, shit! Really? I was super lucky it didn’t come to me then. “Is that eyeball yours?” I noticed it skittering in between Vanessa’s feet.

“This is my power.” She scooped up the eyeball. A hole opened in her arm, the skin parting like an eyelid revealing a hollow socket. The eyeball crawled in, retracting its legs as it snugly fit inside the opening. The hole closed, Vanessa’s skin smoothening as if there was no hole at all. “My left arm contains several of these eyes…familiars, if I can call them that.”

“Woah.” I stepped back in surprise. Several eyelids opened from her hand up to her shoulder. Most of them housed eyeballs of varying sizes, looking here and there. But there were a few empty sockets. Those were probably the ones out scouting.

“While my right is the home of my mouth familiars.” Vanessa presented her right arm. Mouths filled with rows of teeth opened, chattering incoherently. Some of them laughed. Vanessa shivered and tensed her right arm to close the mouths. “I haven’t used the mouths at all. They creep me out."

Rob tutted in disapproval. “Essa, dear. I know you’re trying to show you’re trustworthy, but you didn’t have to show your right arm as well.”

“She told me her powers, so it’s only fair I reveal mine. And it’s good to establish trust if we’re going to help each other on the way up.”

“Speaking of going up,” said Dominic, “we should get going now.”

“Right. The snake might come back here. Or worse, BID agents.”

Dominic said, “Rachel, do you need help walking? I can give you a piggyback ride if you still feel weak.”

“Um, I can manage—”

“No!” Vanessa interjected. “I can help Rachel walk. Giving her a ride is too much, Dominic.”

“Too much what?”

“Never mind. Go on ahead, lead the way.” Vanessa went up beside me. “Just put your arm around my shoulder, I can support you.”

I had no doubt she could with us having super strength and all that. “Can I go to your other side?”

“What? Why?” She noticed me looking warily at her right arm. “Ah, of course. Just stay still.” She transferred to my right and helped me walk. “They don’t bite unless I wake them though.”

“You okay there, girls?” Rob said. “Let’s hurry up.”

“Where are we headed to?” I asked.

Dominic pointed up. “Out of here.”

“Isn’t it better if we just stay here below? BID agents and cops would be up there.”

“They'll go down here eventually once they find a way,” Rob said. “And we’ll be like trapped rats in that case.”

“Don’t worry, Rachel,” Vanessa said. “Rob knows the way up. He has prepared an escape plan for a situation like this.”

Rob looked over his shoulder. “Count yourself lucky that Essa wanted to help you. Don’t slow us down now.”

Lucky?

I was lucky as fuck meeting you guys.

I can’t say the same for you though.