Waking up in the theatre, at the top of the hill in the middle of the town, was not what I expected. The theatre was a large round building without a roof, used as a stage for the plays the city often had. They hauled me all the way up here for what? Then as I looked up from where I was lying I cringed. There was a laser pointed right at me, and it was warming up to fire. Watching, and waiting for the inevitable to happen, I stared hopeless, as I prepared for my fate to be sealed. all of the sudden I could hear a heated conversation, but it was too far away to hear. Even as I strained to listen, the laser above me began to power down, whatever had been talked about during that conversation must have been serious, I love you whoever turned that off! But then I heard a cracking noise, like someone’s head just fell on the hard rocky floor of the theatre, and the laser began to power up again. What the heck just happened? But as soon as the laser was primed and ready to fire, it did, and left no mercy for me as I once again plummeted into total darkness for the second time that night.
I awoke to something splashing on my face. I opened my eyes to see that the world had left some mercy for me, it was raining! I slowly sat up and looked down at my drenched clothes. Why the heck are they black? - I thought. I had been wearing blue PJ pants and a plain grey t-shirt. But as i looked around me again, I noticed that none of the scientists who had been working the machine were lying around on the floor, not even in the middle, it appeared that they had been blasted to the surrounding walls by the impact of something large.
As I continued looking around the theatre I noticed that one of the scientists  was coming to, and I readied myself. As he sat up groggily and glared at me I backed up against the nearest wall. but he slowly stood up, having the appearance of showing violence . He Walked over with a pistol in his hand, I stretched out my hand in front of my face, shielding me from the bullet I thought was to come.
But it never came, slowly I opened my eyes to see dark residue floating in the air. The man in the white coat was lying in a heap a few feet away from me, and I grabbed the gun away from him before he woke up. But I realized very soon that he would not.
I think I killed a man.

I woke up to the sound of someone screaming. Who would scream at this hour unless they just woke up from a nightmare? I immediately suspected my little brother, and I tiptoed out of my room and down the hall. But as I got closer to Mike’s room, the screaming stopped abruptly, and I slowly opened the door. Mike was sound asleep on his bed, his body curled around a blue stuffed animal he had gotten years 5 years ago when he was 7. At the time no one had known what it was, but being weird as Mike was, he took a shine to the thing right away.
Since it wasn’t my brother, maybe it was my mom. She does scream really loud when she wakes up from a nightmare. But as I was walking down the hall I heard another sound, I looked out the window and saw a bright flash. Stumbling back from the window and hitting my back on the opposite wall, I rubbed at my blinded eyes. Once I could see again I cautiously peered out the window again, went back to my room and pulled on a white t-shirt and grabbed my grey sweatshirt, zipped it up, and headed out the front door.
As I grabbed my bike from the garage I made way up the street towards the theatre. Once I reached the bottom I dumped my bike behind a nearby bush and bolted up the nearest back-stage entrance.

As i sat scared and shivering against the hardwood floor of the stage, I noticed half heartedly that a trap door was opening in the center, and i backed up even farther into the space between the curtain and the wall. Trying to become as small as I could I wrapped my arms around my knees and buried my face in the resulting space. A long time ago I had given up all hope of survival, and gone to hide in the corner, now it wasn’t such a good idea as the hatch was only 12 feet away from my hiding spot. As the hatch thunked on the wood, I cringed and closed my eyes, squeezing even farther into the corner. just kill me already, end it! I can’t stand this anymore.

As I heaved the wooden slab over onto the ground, I peered into the darkness. In the corner of the stage sat a hunched figure, huddling behind the curtains in a weak attempt to hide. I pulled myself out of the hole, and stood beside the space.
“Just kill me already, get it overwith.”
Came a feeble whisper from in the corner.
“Why would I kill you? I just thought someone up here needed help.”
“Stay away from me! Go away before its too late! Somethings happening to me and I don’t know what, but you should be afraid of me. Just stay away ok?”

All of a sudden the stranger’s voice sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite place it. Then he stepped into the moonlight and knelt on the ground.
“Alex, right? Why would I hurt you, what did they do?”
He said in a soft voice. Great, now of all people my crush, Nick Germier, had to be here? Could it not have been someone else?- I looked miserable as it was.
“Nick just save yourself and go away. Even better, tell no one to come here for another hour, that will give me enough time to get away from this place and disappear.” I said in a sarcastic tone.
“I’m not leaving you, can you just come out already before whatever did this to you come back?”
As if on cue a woman in a white coat leaped up onto the stage and was on the verge of sticking a needle into Nick’s arm when I put out my arm and concentrated. A flash of complete darkness flowed through the air striking the needle and its contents to the stage floor, shattering into a million shards and scattering a strange yellow liquid everywhere. I quickly stood from my position and stormed over to the stunned woman. I put myself between her and the bewildered Nick, and I placed my left hand on her chest. Only then with the touch did she react.
“Please! Don’t do this, it wasn’t supposed to happen this way, the laser backfired and sent everyone flying and no one could get up in time to shut off the laser before it malfunctioned. And..” She rambled.
She feebly lowered her hand away from Nick’s shoulder and looked me square in the eye.
“I didn’t mean to do this, if they just would have listened to me.”
“But they didn’t .“ I said and with that I closed my eyes and concentrated on the maniacal face I believed to be behind all this. A loud sound erupted, and a tingling sensation spread from the tips of my fingers all the way across my body. I heard a scream and then the sound of something soft falling, like snow.
I opened my scrunched up eyes when I felt a hand on my shoulder. I looked at the ground and a pile of dark powder awaited my gaze. A light wind blew across the stage at that moment and blew away all evidence that she had ever existed. I couldn’t help it, I turned into Nick’s shoulder and cried for all it was worth.
I just killed a woman.

I looked over at Nick, As I’d cried he had lead me over to the edge of the stage and sat me down. His shirt was soaked with my tears and I had apologised, yet he had refused and said it was fine.
“Nick, what exactly did I say to you when you came out of the trap door? I think I was just so scared I might have said something I’ll regret.”

“Well, you said, ‘Don’t kill me’ and, ‘Go away’. You also said I should be
afraid of you and that you needed to disappear. ”

As he quoted me he made “air” quotes with his hands.
“I didn’t think I’d said the part about killing me, I WAS thinking it in my head though.” I replied as my eyes grew wide.

“What did they do to you though, to make you afraid of everyone?” “You won’t tell me will you?” he added.

“No, I won’t, I don’t think I will ever tell anyone. But I can tell you one thing, it scared me so bad, I just wanted to die.”

I layed back on the stage so I could see the stars, will my life ever be the same again? But maybe it could, I thought, as Nick layed next to me and pointed out different constellations.
“Did you actually pay attention when we went to those astronomy things when we were little? I know I did, but as soon as I left all of the wonder slipped out of my head and took with it all the things we learned.”

“I never did pay attention in those classes, it just intrigued me so much that I spent time after class looking it up. On weekends thats why I never go to parties or anything, I’m always at a club someone created called Constellation Storytellers.”

“Has anyone ever mentioned that that name is ridiculously stupid? You should ask to change it.”

“You know what?” Nick asked.

“What?”
“We have to find some way to explain this to our families. Are they really going to believe this? And you won’t even tell ME what happened to you, what would possibly convince them you’re ok? And,”

I was too tired to listen any longer to what Nick had to say, no matter how interesting. I finally dozed off when he asked the last question, “And how are you going to keep your powers a secret?”
I swear I answered him, but maybe I just dreamt it.

When I finally stopped rambling on for long enough to realize she had fallen asleep I gazed down at her. What were they going to do with her? I had already called the ambulance, and they were on their way. That wasn’t what worried me the most though, how would she react when she woke up in the hospital? Alex stirred in her sleep and curled into a tighter ball. Earlier in the night I had decided to pull off my grey sweatshirt and drape it over her, but it wasn’t enough to keep her warm, she still shivered with cold. So as the ambulance pulled up the back entrance I sat Alex up and hugged her to my chest to keep her warm as I carried her to them, it was going to be a long night.

Finally Alex had been settled into a room in the East wing of the hospital, an IV stand, and the blanket was pulled up to the neck of her hospital gown. I’d called her family but all that I had heard on the other end was static. We eventually got Alex onto a gurney, and wheeled her down the hall to the X-ray room. As they turned on the machine a pulse of purple and black shot out of Alex and into the machine.

The doctors jumped back in fear as the pulse rocketed towards them, one got knocked over, while the other two fell on top of the gurney they had used to wheel Alex here. The pulse hadn’t been directed at me though because I knew even in the state Alex was in, she could still hear what was going on, and she did not like it. I calmly walked over to the machine and pulled Alex out of it, sitting on the edge I held her in my lap and whispered into her ear.

The three doctors stared at me in amazement as the pulse steadily coming out of Alex began to dwindle. Finally all evidence it had even been there were gone, except for a few dark wisps here and there. I gently laid her back onto the gurney and began pushing it towards the door. As I did I called over my shoulder to the nearest doctor.
“Where is the nearest X-ray room, I fear this one may be out of condition for a while.”
The doctor weakly replied,
“Down the hall and to your  left, take the elevator up a level, and then go into the first door on your right. It should be in there. I’ll also send in more capable doctors to assist you.”
“Thank you. And I would rather much have you help me, as I see have had already been in the correct circumstances to understand the danger.”
And at that I waltzed out the door to begin my search for the second X-ray room.

When I opened the door to the X-ray room Alex stirred on the gurney, rolling over until she fell off onto the floor.
“Fat lot of good you are!” she said. “When I told you to keep it a secret I didn’t mean tell the whole world! What were you thinking?”

“ Well I guess you’re awake and ready ms. defend the crap out of yourself. ‘What were you thinking?’” I said in a mocking tone.
She looks up at me as if I broke her soul. A single tear falls from her face then more. I kneel on the ground and look her in the eyes. Before I can even apologize she explodes with emotion and clings to my chest. I don’t really understand what I said, or didn’t say, but I hug her close to me anyways. The door creaks open and three doctors walk in, this only makes Alex cry harder. I hold her closer to my chest as the doctors motion for me to place her on the table. I pull her away from me long enough to look at her face as the tears stream down it.
“Not yet.” I say. “She’s not ready yet. Maybe tomorrow?”
They don’t answer.
“How about tomorrow?”
Still nothing.
I leave Alex sitting on the floor and wave my hand in front of the first doctors face. As I do his face cracks in half, then a yellow light seeps through it. The two halves of his face split apart and fall onto the floor beside his new body. I looked around the room to see the other two doctors doing the same thing. Then I realized also the yellow light protruding from the doctors remains wasn’t the only light in the room. A dark combination of purple and black pulsating throughout the room. I turned around to find Alex’s eyes glowing, and her hands spread out as she stood in the center of the room. I slowly walked over to her as her light grew.
“Alex?”

But what I  said changed nothing,she stretched out her arm and the wave appeared to be coming out of the tips of her fingers. One minute later a ball began to form in front of her fingers, and when she flicked her hand the ball flew towards my chest and everything went black.

I could see everything that was going on around me, but I could do nothing about it, I couldn’t even move. I watched in horror as I created a shadow ball and sent it
flying at Nick. But as soon as his body sunk to the floor I could move again, and I
ran to him.
I knelt on the floor next to his body, is he breathing?- I thought. I checked his pulse, he was breathing, but I knew it would be a while before he woke up. Maybe since I didn’t kill Nick, that means that I didn’t kill that scientist!
I looked down at the body that lay across my lap. What had come over me? I didn’t have much time to think about that though, because the creatures were coming closer, as if they wanted to take his feeble life from my arms. Their hunched forms stopped in mid stride and seemed to be contemplating something, as they did I stood up and left Nick on the ground. But before I could do anything to retaliate against the barrage of monsters a mist-like spray flew through the air towards my face.
I woke up in a dark, damp place, the surface underneath me was hard, like stone, and I heard ragged breathing coming from somewhere nearby. As my eyes adjusted to the dark I saw four figures standing around me, as if to keep me in somehow. I held out my hand and imagined a light, soon a dark orb appeared where i had imagined it. My new light allowed me to see into the faces of my captors, and soon I wished I hadn’t. The three monsters from earlier stood around me in their doctor outfits, that was surprising enough. But what I saw before me stunned me out of talking for a solid hour afterwards. My grandfather stood before me in a cleanly polished navy blue suit, the cane he usually had no where to be seen.
As the group transferred me through the different underground areas I couldn’t help but gawk at it all. This place is so amazing!
As my voice slowly returned I began to ask questions.
“What is this place? How long have you known about it? Who are those creatures in the strange doctor suits? Do you know why I have These powers? Are you evil and on their side? Where is your cane?”
But eventually Grandpa stopped my barrage of questions by standing in front of me and answering with a question of his own.
“Why would I be evil? And these aren’t creatures, they’re people.”
I looked around the space we were in, I didn’t see anyone else except us. My grandpa and I were the only people in the room, I mean the only other living BEINGS in the room were the creatures, he couldn’t possibly mean them, could he?
“Yes I am afraid I do mean them. They were an awful mistake, and I dearly hope it doesn’t happen again”
“You mean YOU created these things? YOU did this to people? To your own species?”
The true grandfather had finally been revealed. After all those summers I spent camping at his house when I was little, the many times I had gone for a family reunion, or Christmas, I had never expected this man to be my grandfather.
“What about that time you saved that kitten from drowning? Or when you saved my stuffed Fruffy the Snail from the trash? Was that all an act? Please don’t tell me it wasn’t you, because it was, wasn’t it?” I was shaking now, crying, the rage inside me building to a dangerous level. But my emotion kept building, at the moment I thought it might boil over, grandpa tried to calm me down.
He walked over to me and wrapped his arms around me.
“I did those things because it was my duty, my job. I had to do this to you also because you signed the paperwork.”
“What paperwork? I never signed anything.” I wailed.

“You did, but you won’t remember it until a minute before you die. That’s how we programmed you. We reset your brain so you wouldn’t remember what you did or where you were, your parents don’t even know you did it. But I am dreadfully sorry about THEM. I didn’t know that the calculations were wrong, I was just trying to fulfill their dreams of becoming superhuman.”

but I never let him finish. Even though his arms were blocking me from using my hands, that didn’t mean I couldn’t hit him where it hurt. I kneed upwards, and grandpa let go of me, falling to the ground and whimpering as he did so. The “doctors” didn’t know what to do, they nodded at each other, and ran towards a hallway opening. I had no care for them, I turned and summoned all my strength. I tried something I had never done before, I made a wall!
“Alexandria…” a hoarse whisper came from the floor.
I ignored him as I turned and ran after the creatures down the hallway. But as I turned the corner I noticed that at every turn they would wait for me, then continue on. Do they want me to follow them? I slowed down to a puppy trot, then I rounded the next corner. I was so happy I cried. There, in the room in front of me, in a room with glass walls, on a table of cold steel, lay Nick, beat, battered, but alive. Only when my tears subsided and I wiped the back of my hand across my eyes did I realize I wasn’t alone in the corridor leading to the glass room.
“You led me here on purpose didn’t you?” I asked.
All three of them nodded.
“Thank you. I’m sorry for what they did to you, but I swear I can make it better, just tell me what to do.”
Another hour later three people stand beside me. Not used-to-be people in people suits, but REAL people. Having been restored to their natural forms they thanked me and went their own ways. Before they did though they gave Nick and I a tour of the Underground facility. the fastest way to heal Nick, and a liquid they said “If you drink it, you will be free of your powers forever.” were also given to us. When I refused to take it, a young woman pressed the vial of blue liquid into my hands anyway, and told me to use it if the time came. I said I would, and wished them a happy trip on the way home.
“How are we going to explain this?” nick asked me later.
“I don’t know.” I answered honestly.
“But I do know one thing.” I said as I snickered.
“What’s that?” Nick pried with a questioning look on his face.
“After going through this together, I don’t think anyone can separate us again without having to put up a fight.” and in a deeper voice I continued, “Eh, comrade?”
Nick and I both burst out laughing, but you couldn’t hear anything in the empty halls, we were laughing too hard.

Alex helps me up the stairs to my house. It only took an entire 3 days to find out where we were, then the rest of that week to get home. I fumble to grab the doorknob but Alex pushes open the door for me. The sight before me makes me collapse to the ground despite Alex’s attempt at supporting my weight. The used-to-be lush blue carpet is now slashed to bits. That isn’t what scares me the most though. The blue carpet has been stained red, and in the middle of the mess my little brother Mike lays there unmoving. Alex runs over to him and kneels over his body checking for a pulse. I can tell she finds one, but it must be small, because she starts performing mouth to mouth with his withered form.
After a few minutes of this treatment his barely breathing form stops moving entirely, it seems her efforts were worthless. Until he sits up quickly enough that Alex has no time to react,their heads smack together as Mike screams in agony. But Alex looks to fazed to notice. Instead she leans forward and hugs Mike for a moment, then gets up and sprints out the door. Mike looks out the door dazedly as the sun comes up.
“Mike? Buddy?” the childish nickname was the first thing that popped into my head, I have no idea why.
“Nickolas?” Mike rasps.
He crawls over to me and seats himself on my thighs. We both know that he’s much too big to do that anymore, although he used to do it all the time when he was little. I wrapped my arms around him as he cried, wow!- my shirt needs to be washed.
Then the phone rings. Mike jumps out of my lap and screams at the top of his lungs, while I stand up to comfort him I contemplate answering the phone.
It could be the person(s) that is responsible for the murder of my family, but then it could be someone who can help. I looked at the number on the screen, it gave me the number, not a name, which meant it was an unknown caller.
I cautiously walked over to the phone and picked it up out of the cradle.
“Hello?” I said weakly.
The only response was crying over the phone. Who could this be? Who would call me on the phone at 3:45 a.m?
“Nick…” a weak voice said from the other end of the line.
“their all gone, dead. What do we do? Nick? Answer me- this is Alex.”
Then she cried until she said something I couldn’t hear, then she said,
“I’m coming Nick, I called 911 they’re coming for your brother. I think he might have had an something happen to him that was so traumatic he may never recover, I saw it in his eyes. I know the days that follow are going to be hard for you, but I can help you through it, ok?- as long as you help me through mine, and one more thing, Nick I-”
At that point the phone beeped and cut her off. Gosh! What is wrong with my phone? I reached out to unplug the phone from the wall, I wrapped my hand around the cord and pulled. As soon as the plug head hit the floor an ominous voice filled the room.
“I’m coming for you Nick. I going to get you and your pretty girl too. Your brothers going to die, Nick. I will give him the proper care he needs if you listen to every word I say. If you want the safety and well-being of your brother, kill the girl. She is a danger to you and everyone else, if you don’t I WILL find out. It will be the end of you, AND your brother.” and in a sweeter voice it said, “Toodaloo, until next time Nickolas.”
Then a barely audible click resounded through the quiet room, and the lights went out.
A scream echoed throughout the room, and Nick felt around for a light switch. By the time he found it, his brother was gone, and Nick found himself looking at a cryptic message written quickly on the grey wallpaper of his living room.
KILL HER
I stared at the message for a minute until I realized it was dripping down the walls. The message was clear to me, kill HER, or they kill HIM. And to prove they would go through with it, they had made a point to cut deep into Mike’s skin and use his blood to write on the wall.
As I stood up fully  I walked down the hall and into my parents bedroom. The scene that lay before me was too horrible to look at, I turned methodically and walked out of their room and into mine. I opened the closet door and pulled on a fresh change of clothes. I didn’t know when I would be able to get clean clothes again, I had to start my mission,I had to kill HER.
I couldn’t sacrifice my own blood for someone I hardly knew, I’d only known her for a little over a year. At least I won’t feel too much guilt for killing her, right?

When I ran out the door of Nick’s house, I felt HORRIBLE. But I just had to know if my family was alright. When I arrived at my house though, the scene was only better in two ways, there was no one there, and the house wasn’t ruined, it only showed sign of a little struggle.
As soon as I combed through the whole house I packed a backpack of fresh clothes and food, who knows when I would be able to get another free supply?
When I called Nick I broke down, the first thing he probably heard was me crying for a moment or two. Then I set out to Nick’s house, if he answered the phone, he must still be there.
As I jogged down the block I stopped at the sidewalk leading to Nick’s house, it looked like it always had on the outside, but on the inside I knew it was a nightmare for him. Instead of possibly freaking him out by ringing the doorbell, I poked my tearstained face through the window. What I saw made me cringe, a note on the wall said:
Kill Her
I spoke into the window before I left the space.
“I’m coming in Nick.” I said in a sad voice.
At this his figure hung his head and ran around the house trying to find something to clean the wall with. Once he finds something, he begins furiously scrubbing the wall with it. When I opened the front door, he put on a calm face and turned around to look at me. He held the dark cloth in his hand and when I asked him a question he cringed again.
“What did that say? Obviously you washed part of it off because it just says kill and-”
In the middle of speaking I realized Mike was missing.
“Oh my gosh! Where’s Mike?”
Nick looks down at his hands.
“They took him. They turned off the lights and they took him. By the time I found the lights he was gone.”
He looks at me straight in the eyes but he isn’t crying. Is he not crying because he’s already done that too often, and has no tears left?
but I realize that he does because his eyes widen and he tackles me to the ground as  something comes shooting through the broken window.
I squirm out from under Nick and scramble my feet. It’s like in the movies when someone saves your life, you feel obligated to save theirs. I knew I didn’t have much energy left, but I created a dark force field around the grenade until the gas stopped coming. Then I let the force field fall and chucked the grenade down into Nick’s basement. I look down at the floor and see Nick sitting there staring at the wall and talking to himself.
“You ok Nick?” I ask.
“Hmm?” he says detachedly.
“Oh, yeah I guess I’m fine, You?”
“Yeah I’m fine Nick. But you seem really detached lately, like you’re hiding something. Are you sure you’re alright?”
“Perfectly fine.” he replied. “Can we get going now, we have to be gone by daybreak. Because we have to find a safe place to sleep of course.”
It seemed to me that he was really trying to convince me to follow his plan, which it didn’t take much prying to because at this point, a scrap of a plan was something at least. I walked with Nick out the front door and left behind all of the bad memories, I would need all the strength I could get for later. As we continued down the road we were confronted by one of my neighbors.
“Where have you been? Your parents are looking for you everywhere! I’ll have to call them. Where are you going anyways, you’re all covered in dark stuff. What is that anyways?”
As she pulled out her phone she asked us where we were going. Nick and I looked at each other and nodded. When she glanced back over at us I landed a roundhouse kick to her cell phone and knocked it to the ground, the battery falling out as it did so.
“What are you kids doing? You have no right-”
She was abruptly cut off by a hit to the pressure point in her shoulder.
“When did you learn to do all those tricks?” Nick asked.
“When I was in third grade my mom insisted that I take a self defense class, you know, so I could defend myself. I guess it came in handy.”
“We better get going before she wakes up, or people see what we did.” Nick said.
We began to jog at a leisurely pace until we hit the edge of the woods near my house. Once we were inside the thick foliage I dropped my backpack and pulled out two granola bars. Handing one to Nick and keeping the other for myself I zipped the bag back up and picked it back up, slinging it over my back as I did so. We continued further in until we hit the a little pond I used to swim in when I was little.
“well,” I said. “we could walk to the right and end up a mile outside of the town. Or we could go left and we would end up near the hill in the center of town. Where do you want to go?”
“Logically they would expect us to leave town right away, so they would begin looking around the city limits. I know it sound dangerous but I think it’s in our best interests if we stay in town for a few days, then leave when the search has died down. Sound good to you?” he asked.
“Ok with me.” I replied as I began walking left.
As he caught up to me I paused and said, “I forgot to go before we left, I’ll just go over here so…”
“Yeah, I got it.” he said as his face flushed.
I began walking in the direction of the pond. Once I filled my water bottle up in the pond I began jogging back in the general direction I saw Nick go when he thought I wasn’t looking. The whole “bathroom” thing was hoax, I just wanted to have some alone time to think. Nick was definitely up to something, I could see he was hiding something from me everytime we talk. As I walked back to the clearing I spotted something moving clumsily up ahead a few trees. I cautiously walked closer, as I took the first step I saw it fall to the ground. I threw all cautious thoughts out the window and sprinted forward.
When I reached the edge of the clearing I hesitated for a moment then burst through.
A little girl lay in the middle of three trees, bleeding to death, clutching her wounded side. She looked familiar, but I couldn’t put my finger on why. She slowly sat up clenching her teeth all the while.
“He- it was- Nic-”
She gagged on the blood that started
flowing down her chin. i walked over to her slowly and knelt next to her. I rubbed her back until her breathing began to slow. Then I laid her gently on the ground and began to sing to her. she couldn’t have been any older than me, and with her black hair blowing across her face devoid of expression I remembered her last words. What had she been trying so desperately been trying to tell me?
I stood up and felt something stir in my chest. I knew her, I was sure now, but I had no way to know her name until I remembered. Walking slowly to where Nick had told me to meet him I contemplated what to tell him. but by the look on his face he already knew, tears streamed down his face has he rocked back and forth trying to calm himself down.

I took a gun from my house before I left. I can’t believe it!- I finally killed her, I thought in my head. But the guilt was too much to take, and they still hadn’t given Mike back to me. I sat on the rock in the middle of the clearing, rocking back and forth to calm myself down. What would Alex think when she got back? But I didn’t have to think about it that long because at that moment she burst through the clearing a look of utter rage displayed on her face. “I’m had to. I couldn’t let myself leave Mike to die. I had to do something and they gave me an outlet. I-”
“Just shut it.” Alex interrupted. “I don’t want to hear a word you have to say about anything. You killed a LITTLE GIRL, how does saving your brother justify for what you did? Do you even know if they’ll keep up on their side of the deal, did you ever think about that?”
At that moment she stalked over to the rock I was sitting on and slapped my face. She threw her hands up in the air and stormed off into the woods.
A minute later I heard a high pitched scream from the direction she had run and I ran after her.

As I stormed off into the woods enraged at the secret Nick had kept from me I realized he had been scared, and had only made the decision he had because of it. I calmed down and turned to walk back to the clearing with the rock when I saw a dark figure dash from behind one tree to another. I gasped in a breath before I could stop myself. Calm down, I thought. It’s probably just Nick trying to apologize somehow. But as the figure dashed closer and closer I realized the truth. I screamed as Mike ran straight up to me.
“ALEXXXX.” he hissed. “You have been VERY naughty.”
He lunged forward and grabbed my shirt. He used my shirt to pull me in his direction and when I came close enough he held a cloth up to my face. Forced into the oblivion I knew was to come I tried my best to escape but I failed inevitably. As my body drooped into Mike’s arms I thought I could vaguely see another figure that resembled an older Mike run towards us at full speed.

I turned over and felt something soft giveaway underneath my elbow. I slowly opened my eyes to see sunlight streaming through the trees. I sat up and saw Nick sitting there staring at me like I had just killed someone. Maybe I had, I had no way of knowing my head was too foggy. I peered past Nick to see a stream lazily flowing over the rocks that lay on the bottom.
“Nick,” I said groggily. “What happened the last thing I remember was…”
“It doesn’t matter, you ok?”
“I don’t have the slightest clue. But Mike?”
I had to throw him into the stream so that he couldn’t get to you, he should be somewhere in the middle of town by now. But now that he’s a certified hunting dog all he wants to do is kill you. So I had to drag you through the stream for a while so that he couldn’t catch your smell. I think it worked for the most part.”
That explains why I felt kind of wet when I woke up. Then I remembered.
“You killed her!” I whispered backing against a tree.
“If you're still mad about ME for killing her I understand.” he said smugly.
“But that gives you no reason to take it out on me, it wasn’t my fault after all.”
“What do mean it wasn’t your fault?” I asked questioningly.
“The words on the wall weren’t for me, they were a trigger to set Mike off. So when he screamed that was a signal to me that he had changed. At least thats what I think, but it wasn’t me.”
“Ok, well for now I guess I have to believe you for my sake.” I said as I looked into the woods.
All of a sudden Nick grabbed me by the shoulders and spun me around so I was standing behind him.
“Wha-”
But I didn’t have to ask, Mike stood there sopping wet, glaring at Nick with an icy stare.
“You put me in the river?” he asked innocently.
I stepped in front of Nick despite his protests and held my hand out to Mike. As he began to walk towards me I felt a tingling in my fingers, then a powerful blast shot out of my hand forcing me backwards into Nick.
“You hurt him!” Nick said as he sat up too look in Mike’s direction.
But what he saw made him laugh. I had suspended Mike in a bubble, and the only person who could hurt Mike, was Mike himself, and me if I decided to send a shockwave through the bubble.
I burst out laughing and Nick looked at me as if I’d gone mad.
“It’s nothing. I was just thinking to myself.”
I started to walk towards the bank of the river, then I began to follow it left.
“Where are you going?” Nick asked.
“No idea.” I replied. “It just feels right.”

Mike’s bubble follows us as we walk next to the river, Alex swats her hand in the bubbles direction and it comes closer.
“Do you think he might need out for a bit? To stretch his legs and other things?”
I don’t answer her, I’m too busy staring at her face. She looks so beautiful when she’s concerned.
“Nick? Are you paying attention?” she says as she shocks me out of my trance.
“Oh, yeah sorry. We probably should let him out, but we need to keep a close eye on him too.”
Alex smiles at me with delight as she sets the bubble down on the ground. She pulls it over to a nearby tree and wraps the bubble around the trunk, making the bubble bigger while encasing Mike inside. Mike tries to stand up. He’s wobbly at first, but he gets the hang of it eventually. While he walks weakly around the bubble Alex decides that she’ll keep the bubble attached to the ground, so that Mike can walk, but he still stays in the bubble.
As we walk farther down the bank I hear a small noise that startles me into a tree.
“Ugh! stupid tree!” It slips out of my mouth before I can stop myself.
I place my hand gently on Alex’s shoulder as not to startle her and pull her with me to the ground. As her knees touch the moist grass she pulls the bubble closer to the ground until Mike has to kneel.
“What?” alex whispers.
A put a finger to my lips and instruct her to push Mike farther to the ground. She does as I say, never once asking a question. The noise comes again, it sounds like large pieces of plastic hitting each other. It comes again, this time closer, and I lay on the ground. I army crawl to a tree in the direction I heard the noise, leaving Alex and Mike behind me.
“Be careful.” she whispers.
I peer around the trunk of the tree and see a giant spider-like thing walking slowly, yet loudly in our direction. Every time one of its legs touched the ground it would go back up another would come down and brush against the one leg it had just used. The sound that resonated from the legs hitting each other was the sound I had heard earlier. I turned around to tell Alex to retreat but my eyes widened in fear before I could say anything. The first spider had only been a distraction for what had been happening behind me.
Alex lay sprawled on the ground, and without her to control the bubble it popped making a loud noise that made my spider walk faster in our direction.
Mike stood and grinned at me maliciously.
“My big brothers afraid of meee? I never would have thought.” he said as he slung Alex over his shoulder like a ragdoll. A smaller spider clanged behind Mike and he took a brave step towards the beast. He snapped and the large creature sat on the ground while Mike mounted it. Mike snapped again and the body of the creature came back to life, lurching until it stood fully. Mike laughed maniacally and cried, “Catch me if you can! I’m the gingerbread man!” and with that the creature on which he sat turned and began to walk away from me.
Until now I had forgotten about the spider-like creature behind me, but now I turned around as I heard  it screech. I looked up into its blue eyes and backed up a step. Crap.  It opened its mouth again and a dark smoke poured out of it straight into my face. It feels wet, kind of moist, like…

I wake up in a cold damp place, my whole body aching for some reason. Then I remember. The spider had picked me up and my limbs had flopped like a fish out of water. The spray was supposed to knock me out I knew, but all it had done was floppidize my limbs. I acted as though I was asleep but secretly watched where I was being taken. When we arrived at our destination, I heard a loud creaking noise, and the claw let me go. For moments I was windmilling my arms through the air, and the next I landed on a hard surface. OUCH.
It took a few hours for the feeling in my limbs to come back, and while I waited I took a nice, long, nap. When I woke up I gingerly tried out my muscles to see if they worked. They did, and I looked around to see that I was sitting in a cage, and the cage was moving. Two thoughts crossed my mind, Crap, where am I? And where is Alex?
I stood but ended up falling back down as the cage jolted along. i crawled to the edge and saw a window at one end of the cage, around the window was a wall.
Crap, I’m in a spider. I attempted to to slide the window to one side. It didn’t budge. I tried the other direction and a small crack was created between the wall and the window. I peered into the darkness and tried to shove a small finger through the hole.
My finger appeared on the other side, and I wiggled it around trying to find something, anything at all. I felt a rectangular shape, and attempted to push it down. I succeeded, only to realize it was a stupid light switch. The lights came on and for a moment i was blinded, then my eyes adjusted to the new light and I peered into the crack. A small figure sat at the controls typing away commands and moving the toggle stick.
“Take me down to the ground or I open this window all the way.”
“Why should I be afraid of you? You’re just a kid.”
“Yeah, but after spending so much time with Alexandria I’ve picked up on a few things.”
I pried the window open all the way and forced my hand through the new gap. The man’s round face stared back at me with disgust.
“Kid, I don’t want to hurt you so let’s make a deal-”
I cut him off with a blast from my hand and sent him flying through the wall on the other side of the small room. Being around Alex has its advantages.
When Alex had blasted me with her powers the residue in the air had gotten soaked up in my pores. I had absorbed her energy and took it upon myself to figure out how to use it. I had, all you had to do was imagine what you wanted and it would appear. But since I only had some of Alex’s power I could only do some of her less complicated moves. It felt strange, the tingling, I’m sure it’s not just me but everyone who first experiences it.
I looked up to see the man I had talked to earlier smashed into the window he looked out of to pilot the spider. As I was on the verge of grabbing the man and pulling him back in a voice screamed in my head. I stumbled backwards, it sounds like-
Nick, help me now! I’m sending you directions, hurry!
Shocked at her new powers I tried to send a message back, but she didn’t respond. I’m going to need her help to get this. I thought. Then a map of the spider appeared in my mind, and I followed it out into the sunlight.
I climbed down the spiders leg and jumped down to the ground. The grass was soggy, and it made a  squelching sound as my feet trudged on. As soon as I became accustomed to the grounds sogginess I began to slosh at a faster pace until I was in a full out sprint. I hopped over a fallen tree and splashed onto the other side, getting my new jeans splattered with mud.
Ugh! this better be worth it! I thought.
Nick, it IS worth it. Don’t you dare think otherwise!
Ok, Ok, I got it Alex. But what are you looking for?
Shh! The link is still being tampered with Nick, don’t contact me again unless I contact you first, ok?
O-
NICK!
I sighed, why does she have to be so bossy?
I stood back up from my crouching position and felt something sharp prick the middle of my back. I turned around slowly to look up in horror at the eyes of a spider.
CRAP.
A tingling sensation spread all throughout my body like ants crawling under my skin. It felt strange but I knew what it meant. I imagined a sleek silver sword in my hands and felt its weight begin to materialize. I stared at its dark surface, then back at the glass window of the spider. I stared into the eyes of the man who sat in the pilots seat. I yelled over the metallic hum at him, “What are those called?”
I yelled pointing at the spider.
“M.A.D.”
“I’m not mad! You should be calling yourself that as you’re the one sitting in the body of a crazy machine.”
He smiled and lunged the spider towards me. I slid in the wet grass and held my blade up to the belly of the beast as I did. When I was out from under the spiders shadow I stood and viewed my handiwork as the blade turned to fine dust that cascaded through my fingers. The spider was completely split in half and the man who had been inside lay in the middle of the halves, groaning and rolling around.
“Man Abduction Device.” he rasped as he collapsed back onto the ground.
I cautiously walked over to him and poked his arm with a stick from the ground. His arm flopped to the side and I laid it back where it had been. I stood again and began sprinting in the direction of the facility Alex had shown me in my mind. The tall prairie grass I would have to run through etched into my mind.  As I reached the edge of the dry grass I gazed at the field while I thought of which way to go. As I gazed at the grass I realized something very unnerving. The wind was blowing away from my direction, but the grass was flowing my direction, creating a soft rustling sound as the dry strands rubbed together. I backed up from the edge of the grass as the wave grew closer, and the sound more intense. Suddenly something large and gray leaped at me from the tall grass knocking me to the ground.
Ugh...What is it now?
I looked up to see a spider pinning me to the ground, one of it’s claws extending towards my face.
Oh great, I thought. I put my hand on the metallic arm and willed it to explode. I saw a flash and imagined in relish the spider exploding and its metal shards flying everywhere. But one of the spiders arms swished towards my face slashing me across the right cheek.
What? Why isn’t it- Then I realized I had never felt the tingling,
Dang I’m out of juice!
I grabbed a handful  of weeds from the prairie and wiped them across my face. My blood stained the grass and when the spider was close enough I thrust the weeds onto the glass window and swiped it across the surface, staining the glass red. I watched in shock as the spider began to yell a stream of cuss words at me, stumbling around all the while. As I quietly backed away in the direction of the weeds the spider lashed out and I ducked just in time.
That’s it, I thought, I’m out of here.
I turned, dashed into the surrounding weeds, and continued on.

I could feel Mike pick me up and toss me over his shoulder. Then he hopped on top of a spider, and that was the last thing I saw, everything went black.
When I woke up I was secured to a table, and my head was throbbing relentlessly. I tried to sit up when a white coat walked in, but I couldn’t, my head was strapped to the cold table too. He walked over to me leisurely and said, “Talk to me, Alex.”
Why should I talk to you? And then I realized what he meant.
“I just talked to you, but in my head!” I exclaimed aloud.
“Yes, you did. You can do that now, just imagine the person’s face and try to mentally throw a message to them. But always remember that we can see what you do, we are always mentally linked with your mind.”
I looked around in wonder at where I lay.
“Can you please uncuff me now, my head hurts.” I said with an innocent smile.
As he walked over to me and clicked the cuffs open he stared at me surprisingly.
“What?” I asked.
“Oh it’s nothing.” he replied as he unlatched the cuffs.
I sat up dizzily and looked around the room. “Where am I?”
“You’re at the northern facility of four, and you’re here so that we could implant a connection in your brain-”
I cut him off before he could finish, “So that you can see, hear, basically know what I’m doing?”
“Yes,” he replied. “And one of the side affects of that is telepathy. Nice bonus, am I right?” he said, arching his grey eyebrows.
I suppose so. I thrust the thought into his mind.
Oh and as you probably know already, anyone you contact can respond to what you say as long as you are connected with them, as you will always be with me.
Is there anyway to unconnect a link consciously? I asked.
“There is,” he answered aloud. “But there is no way you can disconnect the link between us. I would have to do that. You can also send images and other things through the wavelength.”
Like this? I asked in my mind. I imagined the man’s mind, then a dark pulsing pinnacle, and imagined it going through his head. He stumbled back screaming in pain, and falling he began to writhe on the ground. I watched in surprise as the sound of feet pounded down the hall outside in my direction. The first to enter the room was blasted by a shadow ball from my fist. the second was surprised to get a punch in the face from the agonized professor. the third soldier realized his two comrades had fallen and backed out of the doorway whispering into the room, “Professor? Are you and the subject alright?”
Rage filled me. All I am to them is a subject?
I gently pushed my question into the professor’s head. Is that all you think of me, a subject?
No Alex. He answered back. You are one of our few great achievements and we believe you are very important.
Somehow being important to them made my rage build more, until the point it overflowed in an explosion of pure darkness. Suddenly and without warning I shot up into the air and my arms wrapped around my knees. The pressure kept building and building but I couldn’t release it, I didn’t know how. I just stay there, in the middle of the cold room, waiting for the moment my powers would release themselves. I watched afraid for my life as the soldiers stormed into the room. The professor tried his best to stop them but soon he was pushed to the ground enraging his headache even more. The soldiers pointed their weapons and fired. Two inches from hitting me they stopped and created ripples on my forcefield.
Wow, I don’t have to make a field myself, if I’m in enough danger I create one without trying! COOL! I thought to myself. But that leaves one problem…
The power was building in me to a dangerous level, and it was beginning to hurt.
Anything to take this agonizing pain away. I thought.
Just at that moment a figure’s shadow covered the doorway and all guns in the room pointed in the newcomers direction. I moved the shadow to the side so that I could see who stood there in the doorframe.
“Nick?” I asked in a strange voice.
“I see you’re doing well on your own.” He laughed.
I heard a multitude of guns cocking and creating various noises, then bullets flew through the air in Nick’s direction.
“Nick!” I screamed. and I thrust my hand his way. A shield formed around his hunched body just in time, the bullets hit the force field and bounced off. One of them must have had enough power behind its ricochet to hit a booted soldier in the foot.
He screamed in pain and I slowly lifted another pained arm toward him.
This is going to hurt. I told him.
I thrust a small pair of dark tweezers into his wound and pulled the bullet out. He cringed, keeping him from crying out.
My head hurt, and I clutched it with both hands trying to find some way to let the force inside me go.
“Alex, just grab my hand ok? Trust me.”
He held his hand up to me and I tried to reach it from where I was. My fingers entwined with his and a deafening blast pulsed through the room.
I opened my eyes and looked up to see Nick staring down at me.
“Hey.” he said kindly.
I replied weekly, “Hi.”
I sat up from the floor and surveyed the room.
Crap. I thought.
“I know.” Nick said aloud.
The walls of what had previously been a room lay in ruin, the clear night sky filled with stars. I gasped in a breath and put my head in my hands. A tear streamed down my dirty face and I looked at Nick. A deep cut lay across his cheek and I knew it would leave a scar.
But my mind wandered back to the present and I looked about in horror, the bodies of soldiers and white coats littered the ground limbs all askew.
Nick, what have  done? I sent the message to him in my mind, then crawled over to him and stayed. my eyelids became heavy and when I couldn’t hold them up any more I let them fall, the lights on my eyelids dancing back and forth.

Alex crawled over to me and lay her head softly against my chest. She fell asleep quickly and her head began to loll to the side. I layed down on the ground and gently brushed hair out of her face.
Wow, she’s really beautiful when she’s sleeping, I thought to myself.
“I heard that Nick.” Came the out loud response.
I blushed.
“Wow Nick, I didn’t think a jock like you could blush.”
“How are you doing that? You’re not even looking at me.”
“I don’t know, it’s just that I can educatedly guess what you’re doing. That and I accidently left the link between us open, so you accidently sent that message to me in my mind.”
She sat up and stared at me for a minute then said, “I’m going to leave the communication open just in case ok? So don’t embarrass yourself anymore.”
“Yeah okay.” I groaned. “And Alex,”
“Yeah?”
“What I said in your head, I mean it.”
But I’m pretty sure Alex didn’t hear my confession because she fell asleep, again. At least I’m pretty sure…

I woke up to the warm sun on my eyelids, opening my eyes I looked around.  Alex’s head still lay on my chest, and her breathing was slow. She must still be asleep. She slowly stretched , hitting me in the face and sat up.
”Sorry Nick.” she said shyly. “What happened to your face?”
“M.A.D. That’s what happened.”
“Wha-” She interrupted herself and then gazed into my eyes making me flinch.
A spider. I sent her the message in my head.
“Oh Nick!” the gasped, covering her mouth with her hands.
Her gasp made me realize how bad it must be. I fingered the mark from my cheekbone all the way to the bottom of my ear.
“It’s going to leave a scar. Alex, can you do anything to fix it?”
I don’t know Nick, I don’t know anything anymore. She said in my head.
She leaned into my chest and I wrapped my arms around her.
“Nick, how can we ever go back?”

Nick and I walked through the woods, the sun streaming through the canopy.
“You ready?” Nick asked.
Ready as I’ll ever be. I replied in his head.
I felt his hands intertwined with mine, and we walked through the edge of the woods. The next few hours were utter chaos, people swarming all over to see that we were okay. In the first two minutes we were found, Nick and I became separated. At first I could barely control myself. but then I eventually realized that I would put everyone in danger by doing so, the lab scene still etched into my mind.
A group of men in navy blue uniforms took me in a car to the police station for questioning, I refused to answer any of them. In fact, most of them I couldn’t.
“Who took you?”
“Where were you?”
I stared at the undecorated cream wall and didn’t respond.
“Alex, please, we know you were scared. But you’ve just got to answer a few questions or we can’t help you.” one officer said.
I rolled my eyes and hung my head, Just shut up already, I thought. And then everything went silent, I could no longer hear a word they were saying, yet I could tell that their mouths were moving. Wierd.
The blue uniforms shoved me back in the car and drove me to the hospital for a “Checkup”. Crap, how am I supposed to explain I am now a mutant, and a danger to everyone? I sighed, how am I supposed to get out of this one? I walked solemnly down the hallway to my assigned room. Opening the door I walked inside. There’s a closet! I flung the door open, just enough space inside for me. I walked over to the drawer by the hospital bed and yanked it open. Searching around for a key I found a small one with a keychain attached that read Closet. I disappeared into the dark room after locking the door from the outside.
An agonizing 10 minute wait later I could hear a startled cry through the wood door.
“Where is she?”
I could hear them running out the door, desperately, in search of me. A second later they came rushing back in with another person, I heard some banging around. My nose started to itch. No, not now! I desperately tried to block out the oncoming sneeze, but much too late. I. Sneezed.

I jumped into a strangers car. I turned to look into the back seat and I saw a waffle maker. I turned back to the front and yelled at the man.
“Take me to the hospital NOW!”
He stepped on the gas pedal and we shot off in the direction of the hospital.
Alex, you ok?
Nick… I heard her worried voice.
He pulled up in front of the hospital, and I tumbled out of the car. I
sprinted in through the open glass doors and to the reception desk.
“What room,” I panted, “Is Alexandria in?”
She stared stunned for a moment then recovered soon enough to tell me that she was in room 214. I turned away from the desk and dashed down the hallway and thrust open the door leading to room 214. Doctors swarmed the room, trying desperately to open what looked like a closet door. I stood by the bed and waited for Alex to respond to my calls.
Nick? I’m scared. If they find out-
They won’t, okay? Now just open the door so they can help you.
I walked over to the closet door. Doctors stared on in awe as the door easily swung open, and they all glanced around at each other.
One walked forward a step, “Aren’t you the other one who went missing?”
Some of the others began to glance around the room nervously.
“I am, what does that have to do with anything?”
“You were the only one who could open the door. How could you when we could not?”
“I called Alex with my cell phone and told her to unlock the door.”
I peered into the closet and looked inside, “Alex?”
A small figure leaped out from the bottom shelf and rushed at me, arms spread wide.
“Nick-” She whimpered.
“You have to listen to the doctors now okay?”
She nodded into my chest.
“Okay.” came the weak reply.
I watched on as the doctors escorted her to an X-Ray room, and laid her out on the table.
“Stay still.” one said.
She closed her eyes and for the first time in a while she took a deep breath.
Alex walked out of the room.
“That wasn’t so bad was it?”
NO. She replied in my head.
We walked down the hall to her assigned room and sat on the bed. She gently rested her head on my shoulder and asked, “Do you think-”
“I’m not sure.” I interrupted.
Just at that moment a short doctor solemnly walked in.
“Alex, we have a problem.” he said awkwardly.
“What would that be?”
I could feel Alex’s heart begin to beat faster.
“You’re DNA has been altered. Something else has been added that turned your DNA a dark color. There are also traces of a chip implanted in your brain. There might be something we can do-”
He was cut off by the sound of glass breaking, pieces skittering across the floor. I looked up at where the window should have been and a tall woman stood there, glaring at the Dr.
“You had to get in the way didn’t you Doctor?”
Alex stood and stared at the newcomer, completely oblivious that the woman was holding a gun.
Alex moved her hands until they were positioned in front of her, one hand over the other.
“Duck.” she said simply.
Her arms swooshed out to the side of her until they were completely straight on both sides. A dark wave spread throughout the room, but the Doctor and I ducked just in time. The woman, however, did not. The wave sent her sailing out the window, and as I rushed to see where she fell the disintegrated into fine dust and floated away.
“You, you,”
I’m fantastic I know. I heard in my head.
“No, you’re amazing!” he countered grinning.
Alex smiled, “You heard that?”
“Sure as heck I did. Glad no one else did though, they might not have reacted so well. Anyway, your test results need to become a secret for only me, can you agree with that?”
Yes.  Came a delighted cry from Alex.
“Good.” he said walking out of the room.
“See? I told you so.”
“I know you did Nick, I know you did.” and with that, she crossed to the side of the room I was on, and kissed me.

I can’t believe the Doctor responded so well! Finally I’ve found someone who can help me and won’t freak out. I thought as I walked into the orphanage with Nick.
“So this is where we’ll be staying, huh?” Nick asked.
“Yup.” I answered.
A group of kids rushed us and I almost fell over.
Maybe it won’t be so bad. I told Nick.
The only problem we have left is school.
Nick didn’t have time to answer, he was tackled by a small kid, and everyone decided to dog pile. Even me.