Tommy resembled a demon. He changed, physically, right in front of our eyes. His fingers were now replaced by claws, the forearms two times bigger and the nonhuman fangs on display 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 strength 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 have come out of my chest at any second. I calculated the distance between Tommy and I while still playing with the lightning within 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 understand me?”

Allaya didn’t answer, so I gave her a quick check. She had her eyes closed and her face was as calm as her breathing. I knew what that meant, so my focus went only to Tommy.

“Mmm. I think you’re a keeper, too. My friend Harry – he pointed to the other beast – likes skinny bitches with long hair.”

“Does he? And do you keep him around for more than just licking your shoes?” I said with my big mouth. I never know when to shut up.

Harry seemed to be offended by that and he started heading towards me with a violent growl. He was too fast to be stopped and I would have probably been dead if Allaya wouldn’t have stepped in, 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 didn’t manage to scrounge up any curiosity either.

Some things needed 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, down 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 caught us by the throat and lifted us up. We tried to kick him, but he didn’t budge at all. We were flies to him. Toys, which he enjoyed playing with. He started with Allaya who was struggling to breathe while her face slowly 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 Allaya along with him. My eyes saw what was unfolding, yet my mind couldn’t process it. I acted, knowing in the back of my mind that another moment of hesitation would have let Allaya die. That alone almost took the wind out of my sails.

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, free from his clutch 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.” Allaya gasped for air. “Take me to Bill. Is he still alive?”

“He’s barely breathing. His face is inflated and the wounds are still bleeding.” 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 stole a glance at Elise, who was sitting next to Ria. She was pale, with fresh 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 went outside to clear my mind. I desperately needed fresh air. It was the middle of the summer. 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. At least this is what I hopped. It explodes when I’m angry. Or even when I’m 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 wanted nothing more than to rescue everyone. How much would she sacrifice herself for the good of this world? The thought that she might die made me realize how much she started to actually mean to me, even if we didn’t spend so much time together. My family was gone and I needed someone in my life.

“How is Bill?” I asked Allaya, after I came back inside.

“I’m almost done healing his lungs, but I can’t do much for the ribs. It’s harder to remodel the bones than the organs. I haven’t found out how yet.”

“Good. It means he’ll survive.”

“Yes. It’s the only thing that matters in the end.”

“And the hole in the roof.” Elliot added.

“What ho… What the fuck? Who did that?”

“Geez, I don’t know. Is there another white-haired 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 fix the hole with some tarp and burry the corpses in the backyard. Bounding time, I guess.

***

I woke up late, as my body was still drained from the recurrent training I had been having with Bill, for the past few weeks. Familiar voices sounded 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. There was another list for the dead.

Also, the president forbade everyone to leave the cities and promised us protection and food. Thieves already broke into houses from the newly constructed district. The police caught the thieves that were lacking any 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.

Even so, in those peaceful weeks, I recovered all of my memories. “Day Zero” – this is how they call it – was exactly the nightmare I had that day. The irony of the confusion I experienced 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 placed the cat on the table.

“Thank you, El. Uh… could you please take the cat off the table?”

“Oh, come on, Mia. Look at her, she’s adorable.” Allaya said.

“She’s ugly. And staring at me. Please put her down.”

That was the moment the cat chose to jump in front of me and scratch at my hand. I yelped, sliding the chair back and ready to fry that little demon.

“Mia, no!” Elise screamed.

“Scratch for a scratch, Whitey?” the cat said.

…

“Ria?!”