A foot falls in a narrow space between two people. I am gone before they begin to register my presence. Instincts are driving me forward through this crowded place. I let myself succumb to the impulses. It is propelling me forward with ease. Through the sea of people my feet find purchase.

He follows right behind me. Nearly every foot fall is copied. He might be trying to stop me or he is driven by the same impulse. Frankly I am just happy he isn't doing that thing that makes me unable to move.

Again I hear the noise. It’s so close. I stop to examine the area. Everyone was scurrying away from these three men. They are the only ones walking.

The one in the center was huge. Several times my size. If I lift my arm above my head I don't think I could reach his chin. He has a lady over his shoulder. She is making the noise that calls to me. Relentlessly she squirms and pounds on the man. It doesn't seem to affect him at all. She needs help. I know this deep down.

My companion is behind me. He seems to be waiting for something. Maybe he is trying to stop the big one like he stopped me. His arm reaches for me, but as it is about to come into contact I move away. Causing him to stumble into a small group of people. With him out of the way I step into the path of the three men.

Shouldn’t I be breathing harder? The thought envelopes me. I look off momentarily unaware of the group approaching me. I can sense they stopped and are looking at me with expectant faces. Wondering what I was doing.

“Who the fuck is this guy and why is he blocking my path”.

This startles me back to the situation. I start moving towards them. Gesturing to the lady trying to indicate that I want the big guy to put her down.

“You got some balls. This is my floor. Everything and every person on it is mine to do with as I please”.

He isn't doing what I want. Instead he is patting the lady with his large hand. Making her struggle harder. Quickly moving towards the large man in the center. Intended to hit him so he would drop the lady. Right before I make contact he hits me with enough force that makes me fly back. Far back. Far enough I was aware of the flying. I smacked against this thing that came out of the floor and went to the ceiling. The impact produced a loud thud and cracking noises from inside of me.

Face down on the ground breath labors in my chest, my skull rings and vision blurs. I attempt to move my arms and legs. They tremble, not responding. My companion moves me into a sitting position. Our eyes make contact. With a sharp inhale of breath, memory bursts into my mind. This has happened before. I was in my car. No there is more before that.

***************************************************************************

It is dark while driving home from work. Pulling into my parking space after another boring day. Suddenly a brilliant beam of light came out of the sky. A light coming out of the sky isn’t something you see everyday. People emerge from their homes and cars to stare at it. All transfixed. Eventually I notice small dark dots appear in the center.

The dots grow bigger and bigger. Their forms start to reveal themselves. They have arms and legs. Which by itself is strange, but what really blows me and everyone around me away are the fucking wings!

If I was a religious man “rapture” would be the first thing on my mind. Fortunately religion is not my cup of tea. So naturally “rapture” is what I think of. Me and I am sure everyone else. I want to scream or cry out. However, it just seems a bit unnecessary since so many are already doing that.

They stop a couple of dozen feet off the ground. Looking all righteous and intimidating. Unlike stories of angels wearing white cloth, a halo over their heads and bearing flaming swords. They had fancy high tech armor with weird looking guns that might be straight out of a cartoon or comic. A few of them bore non flaming melee weapons but they aren't using them.

Pure unadulterated shock is keeping me frozen in place. If this is the end of days. I'm totally going to hell.

The angels swoop down, grabbing people and throwing them into the light. Not in any way even remotely gently. When the thrown people are inside the light, they fly upwards into the sky.

The shock stillness dissipates but is replaced with hysteria. Hiding is a universal thought. In their homes, trash cans, cars, bushes…. We scatter in every useless direction. Nowhere is safe. One angel lifts a truck like a childs toy. Another fires their funky weapon and disintegrates the front of a building. If they want you they get you.

I still have yet to move. The chaos unfolding around me is distracting me from being terrified. That is until I notice one of the angels is on the ground near me. Angels in stories are often left genderless. Are these angels the same? Do they have a gender pronoun I should be using? Funny what runs through your mind when all you should be thinking of is RUN!

He, or she, or whatever is looking right at me. Then starts walking towards me. The armor looks even more high tech then I initially thought.

“Hey laser lips, your momma was a snowblower!”

leaping at him annnnnd he grabs me by the throat. I grip his arm to keep this thing from throwing me. Out of the corner of my eye I see a knife at its hip. Nearly within reach. The angel lowers me a bit as a precursor to throwing me. I grab the knife and right as it throws me. I drive it home in its guts.

I am still thrown, just not into the light. It sucks. I land hard on the windshield of my car. The lower half of my body is tingling and that can’t be a good sign. At least I killed one…. Nope.

The angel grabs the knife from its abdomen. At best I only hurt it for a second. Chances are I pissed it off more than actually hurting this thing. It walks towards me like it did before. I expect and kind of hope it is going to just kill me out right.

This is not my day for being right. It grabs me again this time by the shoulders. Keeping me from being able to use my arms. It just lobs me into the light. I can’t move at all except for my eyes. My body being tugged upwards. As I ascend I see that the suburbs, the city, and the surrounding areas are all covered in other beams of light.

That is it.

***************************************************************************

“Bloody hell” I whimper, banging my head lightly against the pillar.. My body is broken. Down for the count and I don't know what that big mother fucker has in mind. I doubt it's anything good.

“Why aren’t you healing, idiot?” Mac's advice is so profound. I glare at him because he isn’t wrong. I am hurt and need to take care of that first. Drawing the heat energy from all around me, storing it, and shaping it to use it to power the healing. The damage is extensive. I do my best to focus on the critical areas. I don't need to be completely healed. Just functional.

Once done, I stand up. I stretch my neck back and forth. Continuing with my arms, shoulders, back and legs. Double checking to make sure I am successful. There is no popping sound. There should have been popping sounds.

My friend Mac. Yes he is my friend is staring at me confused. I start walking back to the threesome. Mac stays where he is. For a moment I ponder my success rate in fighting so far. It isn’t good. If I don't try to help others then what is the point in living.

“Hey goliath look who's back” the guy to the left of the big one spoke up.

The statement struck me as pure cliché idiocy. Ya he is big and ok Goliath is classically a name for a big creature. Utter lack of effort in nicknaming.

“Fry him”. Gurgles so called Goliath.

Free me? Why would he tell someone to free me? That doesn't make a lick of sense. I seem to be as free as everyone else right? I mean I have these metal bits on my body. Some sort of implants I guessed. Everyone has them. Wait they don't have implants.

As I ponder this the little guy raises his hands towards me, palms open. The air starts to heat up around me. Hotter and hotter. Nodding with a tight smile I realized it wasn’t ‘free me’ but ‘fry me’. This took a bit too long. Instead of getting away I brace myself.

Light emits from his hands. In response my arms to cover my eyes. Right before waves of intense heat hit me. It didn't throw me back but the force of the heat keeps me mobile. Burning and cracking under the onslaught.

The pain of the heat flooded me with more memories. Memories of being outside during the day. How the sun would burn me even on cloudy days. How all but the dimmest lights would hurt my eyes and cause pressure in my head. It was a lifetime of memories of being in heated bright light pain coming at me at once. But also with friends around large fires. Staying up till the sunrise. Checking on food in the oven. A whole lot of unpleasant memories mixed with some special good ones.

The light fades and my body slumps down onto my knees. I can barely keep from falling over entirely. I am looking down. My eyes are the only thing not burnt to a crisp. Well my clothes aren’t. That's strange. Everything else is burnt black on the outside. When I try to move the hardened burnt flesh cracks. Only tiny droplets of blood ooze out.

“How the hell is he still alive?” I heard the big guy say. “I thought I told you to fry him”. He grabs the little guy with the heat hands and pushes him in my direction.

“I blasted him pretty hard. I guess he just wants to suffer more before dying”. The little guy laughs nervously. He raises his hands again. I have to heal and get out of the way.

Wait! I am very lucky and very dumb.

I don’t try to move or protect myself. Not that there is much choice in the matter. This time I am ready. As the temperature rises I pull as much of the heat energy from the attack as possible. The light was projecting from his hands and with it more heat.

It flowed over me and through me. This time it didn’t hurt. My plan was working. Redirecting the heat to heal. It didn't feel hot at all. A crazed laughter escaped my lips.

The light faded again.

“No no no that isn't possible” The little guy flinched backwards when he saw I was perfectly fine.

I stood up slowly. Raised my hand to my mouth and coughed. lifting my finger weakly in the little guy's direction. Motioning to wait one sec. Scanning the floor I find a bottle with some water in it. The owner of the bottle and everyone in the area must have scurried off quickly. The trio is to unnerved by my revival to do anything.

“Sorry about that I was a bit parched. Something seems to be caught in my throat.” A coughing fit erupts with some black phlegm.

“Ah it seems my throat was caught in my throat.” Quickly finishing the bottle before the shock wore off. I could see Mac. He was shaking his head in disapproval of my clever pun. Sycophant.

With trepidation he begins to try and blast me again. He must be a one trick pony. It is a good trick but the last attack only helped me. What could he possibly think a third was going to accomplish?

I didn’t give him a chance to find out. In a couple of quick steps I was in front of him and my fist made contact with his gut. He went down without any more fight.

The big guy that will go nameless starts to speak. “I guess if you want something done ri”.

Interrupting him. “Oh for fuck sakes. Just how many clichés do you plan on using here”.

He threw the lady at his friend. “Hold her this wont wont take long. I am gonna to rip his fucking heart out”!

Standing there with my arms crossed tapping my feet. He talks more but I ignore him and pretend to check my no existing watch. The monologuing continues, so make mock talking motions with hand puppets.

Left hand: “I’m so big and tough you should respect me”

Right hand: “Sassy comeback”

Left hand: “You’ll pay for that”

Right hand: “I’m so scared now that you said i'll pay for this”

Left hand: “Haha another victory where I don't have to show I am actually just a big dumb weak moron”

“Are we going to do this or what” dropping my hands.

This must have sent him over the edge in anger. The next thing I know he is coming at me. Maybe I should have been a bit more diplomatic. Over eight feet and at least 500 lbs of pure muscle was angrily heading my way.

Fortunately he is slow and dumb. His entire body telegraphs attacks. I easily dodged the first. As well as the second and third. He tries to grab hold of me as well but I slip away from that. Not letting my success booster my ego. My senses tell me that if any of those landed I would be finished. On the other hand my untouched body made him angry and confused him greatly.

I take the opportunity to hit him back. It was like hitting a steel wall. If steel was encased in solid diamonds, Backstepping to reevaluate the situation and shake my hand. Crap it hurt to hit him. Sooner or later he's going to land a hit. At this point he may be so pissed off it might kill me before I can heal.

Pondering retreat due to my incredible dumbness of picking a fight with a mountain. This left me distracted enough for him to grab me and lifting me to his eye level.

“You dumb little punch. My skin is invulnerable.

That is a really poor choice of words on his part. The human body is funny. Doesn't matter how big, strong or invulnerable you are. If you get hit in the right place at the right time and it is gonna screw you up. I kick him as hard as I can in the armpit.

He drops me and clenches his shoulder. As quick as I could I moved behind him and kicked the back of his knee. His leg gave out and he dropped.

Now his body is at a more manageable height. Before when I was trapped in the room I focused the kinetic energy of my punch. As I punched the door I was starting to focus the kinetic force into a single spot. Repeating this style of punch

outward at a small point of impact. I repeated this punch to his kidneys.

He bellows loudly. The pain of the strike blocking out external input. He doesn't notice me moving in front of him. I get into a fighting stance rocking my body on my toes. Gathering up some kinetic force. When his pain starts to subside I kick. All the energy I built up funnels to my foot. Then it releases on the tip of his jaw.

Big body means big head, and that means big mouth. Quite literally a big mouth. That is gapping open right now. What was it he said he was going to do to me?

I grab his jaw and pull his mouth open wide. Before he could begin to stop me I shoved my hand in and down his throat. Probing deeper and deeper. His slimy esophagus was fighting back and he gags. It is then that I felt the thud thud thud beating.

Tearing at it with my nails the best I can. I got through his throat and worked on cutting his aorta with my nails. It wasn’t going well. He grabs me but I squeeze his heart before he can squeeze the life out of me. His body seizes. Grasping the heart tight I place my feet on his shoulders.

Tug tug tug with my arms, back, and legs. I feel flesh tearing. Relaxing my grip to pinch on the heart instead of grasping it in a fist, my hand came out surprisingly easy with the big guy's heart. He fell over onto his back gargling and spewing blood. I lean down to show him his own heart.

“KALI MAAA, KALI MAAA”. He might be a bit too distracted to fully grasp my awesome reference. Or ya know dead.

My arm is covered in his blood and everyone was watching the events unfold. I guess it would be bad to keep holding the heart. So I placed it back on his body gently as if I was giving it back to him, and tap it lightly as if I was apologizing to the organ. Then use his shirt to wipe the blood off my arm.

I stand back up expecting to have to fight the third guy, but his is gone. The lady they held is standing there watching me. So I head over to her..

“Please don't hurt me”

Obviously terrified that I did this just to take the big guys prize.

“I will not hurt you. As far as I am concerned you are free to go”. She seems to relax a bit.

“Then thank you so much for what you did”.

“No no thank you”. I bowed.

Mac walks up to me. “Do you know the way back” I asked him.

“Ya just follow me”. We walk side by side in silence. This floor was a lot bigger than I thought. On our way back the people scurry out of the way like they did for the bad guys. I try not to think about it since I was even more tired than before. More than a few times I stumble. Mac ends up half carrying me the rest of the way.

When we get back I see Cindy. The woman I almost raped. Shame fills me and I can’t bring myself to look at her for more than a brief second.

“Dimitri, we need to talk” Mac says.

“I know but I can barely keep my eyes open”. He nods and guides me to the wall. I rest my body against it and pass out.