“Where y’all been?” Tristan exclaimed from the roof of the house.

“Where we been? Homie look around us! This where we been!” Darnell shouted back.

“Oh yeah, sorry ‘bout that. I didn’t know there were that many.”

"Um.. hello!?" Michael yelled at both of them, "what is this!?" Michael waved his arms around the mysterious barrier surrounding them.

"Oh... yeah... that." Tristan giggled, "I'll explain it somewhere safer. For now-”

“Get outta dodge.” Darnell finished.

“Yep.”

Alicia looked around and the monsters who had been burning were slowly dropping to the ground. Darnell readied his spear, examining their surroundings. There were only five left now. He turned around to observe Alicia. She was panting, but her grip on her spear didn’t yield. Alicia eyed the monsters still beating on the barrier protecting them. Darnell turned to Michael, he stood frozen like a statue. Vanessa was… Darnell didn’t see her. He spun around in search of her. “I know she’s not that short.” he said to himself. That was when Darnell realized there had been a tugging on his leg for a while now. Darnell looked down, and he found her. She was curled in a ball on the ground, one hand grabbing Darnell’s pants and the other covering her head. Darnell put his hand on her head. Vanessa raised her head, opening her eyes for the first time since they’d regrouped. Darnell whispered, “I’ll get us out of this… but first, can you let go of my leg?”

“Michael.” Darnell suddenly called out.

“What do you need?” Michael answered.

“On a scale of one to ten, how well would you say you can swing a monkey wrench?”

“Uh-”

“You better say ten.”

Michael recoiled a bit, then stated, “Ten?”

“Excellent!” Darnell smiled wide and patted Michael’s shoulder with more than enough force. Darnell offered up his wrench to Michael, “You’re the new wrench swinger.”

“Alright…” Michael slowly reached up and took the wrench into his hands. He held the wrench that was stained with the blood of an innumerable amount of victims. “Alright…” he mumbled to himself again.

“Tristan!” Darnell shouted up to Tristan.

“You got somethin’?”

“E’yup!” Darnell exclaimed and pointed to his right, where the three who had been chasing Michael were, “Are you able to turn off this barrier whenever you want to?”

“I guess so yeah,” Tristan answered.

“Then jump down over there. Get those three’s attention. As soon as they turn around, open this thing.” Darnell pointed to Michael, “Michael. The moment the barrier is gone, smack ‘em upside they head with the wrench.” He pointed at Alicia. “Alicia. We’re gonna kill those two as fast as possible, then help them, aight?”

Alicia nodded.

“Alright then.” Darnell walked over to the edge of the barrier next to Alicia, “Ready when you are Tristan.”

As soon as Darnell finished his sentence, the sound of footsteps could be heard from the roof. Darnell smiled knowing that Tristan hadn’t even wasted a single moment. If anyone respected and trusted Darnell’s ideas, it was Tristan, and his immediate action reassured Darnell of this. Almost a moment later, Darnell could hear the slam of Tristan’s feet hitting the ground.

In unison, Darnell and Tristan shouted, “Let’s go!”

The effulgence of the barrier faded away before everyone’s eyes. As it faded, the monster directly in front of Darnell gave one last swing. Its fist swung fully through the air with no interference at all. Its entire body swung forward unexpectedly. Without time to react, Darnell’s spear plunged completely through the underside of its jaw into its skull. Its arms hung down while a fountain of blood spurted from underneath. Its accomplice, just to the right, eyed Darnell as he sent the other monster flying. Then the second one’s body folded over as Alicia’s spear thrusted into its abdomen. Its body fell over to the ground without resistance.

Michael’s hands hardened around the wrench like stone. He gazed into the bloodshot eyes of the closest enemy as it clawed the barrier. His attention was torn away for only a moment to catch a glimpse of Tristan dropping behind the beasts. All of them turned around nearly instantly. Michael now faced their exposed backs. These things. What they had done to him earlier… the memory returned. And with the memory, his rage returned as well. His clutch on the wrench tightened even more. He could feel his heart burning. Was it anger? Anxiety? A mix of both. But all Michael wanted to feel was…

Michael heard the shouts of Darnell and Tristan on both sides of him. It was barely visible, but once the barrier lifted, Michael could tell. The monster in front began to take a step towards Tristan but Michael denied anything further. He brought the wrench far above his head then slammed the wrench directly on the back of the monster’s skull. It made a satisfying DINK as its body plummeted down. The other two continued to rush at Tristan, but Michael paid them no mind. Michael stepped closer to the body of his victim. Its hands pressed into the ground, attempting to pick itself back up. Then WHAM! Another blow directly in the same spot. Its body fell once again as blood flew out of its skull. Michael screamed as he drove another attack of rage into it. Its body flinched from the impact, then nothing else. Michael’s burning didn’t cease. His wrench hand rose again without him even realizing. Michael had the wrench high above his head, then it suddenly jerked. To Michael’s right, Darnell zoomed past him in a blur. Michael looked up to see Darnell with the wrench in his hand now.

A couple feet ahead, Tristan secured himself in another barrier as the last two monsters attacked it. Darnell drove his spear in the nape of the right one’s neck. Its body immediately went limp as Darnell used the spear to toss it to the side. Before the last one could even react, Darnell swung the wrench into its left temple. As it scrambled to recover, Darnell jumped up and stomped on its face. He had its head pinned down beneath his right sneaker. It attempted to claw and scratch its way out, but to no avail. Darnell dropped the wrench, then held the spear in both hands. He pointed the blade downward, then, for the final time, plunged his spear into its chest. Its clawing slowed down until eventually going motionless.

Everyone stood in silence after the final enemy had been slain. The silence was only broken by their heavy breaths. Darnell walked over to Vanessa, blood on his shoes, pants, shirt, and face. He reached his hand down to her. Vanessa readily took it and Darnell raised her up. Darnell looked around to everyone else, “Alright we’re done.”

Tristan walked over to them then motioned to the door, “Let’s head inside then.”

The four made their way over the heaps of dead bodies into the house. Darnell made sure he was the last one inside. Alicia stared at the front door as Darnell closed it. Watching that door close was like watching a clock tick to the end of class. With a click, the door shut. That was it. It was over. Her spear dropped from her hands without her realizing it. Her hands felt tight and sore. She tried to loosen them by flexing and stretching her fingers. She couldn’t tell if it was working or not. But every time she opened and closed, there was reaffirmation that it was still sore. Darnell walked past her as he spoke to Tristan, “So that’s how you lasted this long on your own.”

Alicia looked up, Tristan’s house was nearly dark except for the rooms that were illuminated by the sunlight. Tristan spoke, “Well, not on my own.”

Tristan led them down the dim hallway, around the corner, and into a bedroom. The door to the bedroom was completely torn down. As the group walked past the ruined entrance, they all came face-to-face with a set of three young girls holding each other in the farthest corner. Everyone’s faces were stricken with surprise.

Tristan gestured out towards the girls, “Everyone, meet my sisters.”

“You have sisters!?” Alicia pushed past Tristan and bolted for the girls.

Alicia kneeled down next to them. She took her dirty hands and awkwardly failed to wipe the dirt and sweat from her face. She smiled brightly at them with eyes of wonder. If not for the blood stains all over her clothes, she wouldn’t have looked like a complete maniac.

As Alicia got a better look at them, she noticed their resemblance to Tristan. Dark hair, warm skin, and dark brown eyes.

“I knew you had siblings, but not three little sisters.” Darnell stated with his arms crossed.

“None of you ever really asked.” Tristan responded.

“Um,” Michael suddenly spoke up, “I think what’s more important is the fact that Tristan has literal superpowers!” Michael flailed his arms at Tristan.

“Oh yeah!” Alicia turned away from the sisters and ran up to Tristan. She exclaimed, “How could you-” she punched Tristan in the arm who responded with a light wail as she continued, “keep that a secret!”

Tristan rubbed his arm, “I didn’t. This is new to me too!”

“How did you do it?” Darnell inquired.

“I dunno. One moment, all of those… things… were charging at us. Then I just felt my body do it on its own. I didn’t even realize I was doing it until a moment after.”

“Well how about that?” Michael snarked, “When your house gets broken into, you get a superpower, but when I-” His voice weakened as he spoke. Tears welled in Michael’s eyes.

Darnell and Alicia looked at Michael with sympathy. Michael tried to refocus his emotions to anger, but it was no use. He sniffled, trying to pull his emotions back. His arms swung in frustration, then he turned around and walked out of the room. For a moment there was silence.

Tristan finally spoke, “What’s up with him?”

Darnell simply shook his head with his hand waving his neck. Tristan understood.

Suddenly, a soft voice came from behind Tristan, “Tristan, is it over now?”

The four friends turned to Tristan’s shortest sister, who had approached him from behind. Her eyes pleaded unforgivingly for a “yes.” When they heard her question, all of their chests began to ache. To Darnell, Alicia and Vanessa, the girl looked about 10 or 11. Darnell squeezed his eyes shut. Alicia looked to Tristan, hoping he’d have an answer that wouldn’t be a lie or crush her.

Tristan kneeled down and hugged his sister. He whispered to her, “For now, we need to get somewhere safer.”

“Yeah, much safer.” added Darnell. “We should speak outside. Vanessa?” he turned towards the completely silent lurker, “Could you stay in here with them?”

Vanessa nodded.

Darnell, Alicia and Tristan made their way down to the other side of the house. They walked past Michael, who found comfort lying on the floor in the living room.

Once the three made sure they wouldn’t be heard by the others, Tristan began, “So what’s the plan?”

“Daycare.” Darnell responded bluntly.

“Daycare?” Alicia asked.

“The daycare?” echoed Tristan.

They were both dumbfounded.

“Yep,” Darnell said, “Makayla and Raj are there. Once we group up with them, we’ll be decent in manpower.”

“Makayla does bring a lot of power…” Tristan muttered.

“Or at least, that was the plan.” Darnell paused, “I didn’t anticipate you to have three siblings.”

“Hmm.” Tristan grunted.

“Then again, I also didn’t expect you to have a literal superpower. Like… like that’s different.” Darnell began to get more excited, “Oh my God! You have a superpower! How did I not process that ‘til now!?”

“I know right!” Tristan began cheering with him. He flexed his arms and hands at the sky, “AAHH!” he shouted.

“Dude! The way you came in yellin ‘SHIELD!’ though! That was cold!” Darnell dapped up Tristan as Tristan blushed.

“I was just doin my thang, you know me! Ahaha!” Tristan pretended to dust himself off.

“Nah you got that! You got that!”

“Guys!” Alicia interrupted their hype train.

“Oh... yeah…” Darnell grunted, the two of them cleared their throats. Darnell returned to his senses, “The original plan was, we join forces, then venture forth to the daycare.”

“Venture forth?” Alicia echoed skeptically.

Darnell continued, “But we’ll have too many people now. I can make up for Michael and Vanessa, but… I ain’t tryna say nothin’ bout ‘em-”

“No, I get it.” Tristan said, “Plus, we lack sufficient equipment.”

The two pondered for a moment, their hands on their chins.

Darnell suddenly spoke, “I know where we can gear up.”

“Where?” Tristan asked.

“Ryan’s at the gym, right? There’s plenty of stuff at the gym.” Darnell brought up.

“True.”

“And, Alicia and I can manage on our own.” Darnell asserted.

Alicia looked up to Darnell, feeling accomplished for all of her effort.

“So Alicia and I will move to the gym by ourselves. Without Michael and Vanessa, we’ll be able to hustle way more.”

“So…” Tristan went.

“You’re taking them with you.”

“Dang it.”

“I mean, with the right words, they’ll put in work. But you’ll have to move carefully anyway.”

“And I have my power. If Michael and Vanessa can actually help, it could work.”

“So we got it figured out?” Alicia chanted, “This sounds like a plan to me!”

“Glad you’re on board,” Darnell chuckled, “Let’s go tell the rest.”

Darnell motioned for them to follow as he exited the room. All three of them came out to Vanessa sitting in a circle with Tristan’s sisters in the living room. Michael still laid on the floor. As soon as the three revealed themselves, everything in the room came to a halt. Everyone turned to Darnell, Tristan and Alicia in unison, anticipating an explanation.

Darnell looked at all five of them, then spoke, “Who’s ready for a field trip!?”