When I woke, Markus was nowhere to be found. I assumed he left already, and so I got ready for school.
Not even eating breakfast, I opened the front door and stepped outside. The air was polluted as it usually was. After all, without the constant burning of Pathogens, they would just heal and strike again.
I didn't take much time to think about how Markus found out where I lived, but I assumed he may have known for a while.
On my way to the school, I kept stepping on garbage. I keep trying to forget how trashy this town is... everyone pretty much wears clothing that is dirty and filled with holes.
***
I arrived at school and saw Markus at the entrance, talking with Kayla. For a while, we talked all together, but soon Kayla decided to go to class early, just to finish her project on time. I finally decided to ask Markus how he knew where my house was.
"I simply followed you home." He whispered into my ear before smiling widely and stepping backward. I was kind of frozen in place. A little bit disturbed.
He spoke up quickly. "I'm kidding! I was walking past anyway, so I just stopped by!" He said, yet a part of me didn't believe that.
The bell rang and we headed to class right away. I didn't turn to look at him. Not even a second time.
***
Class was normal, other than my watch vibrating everytime a random student passed by me. I sighed and turned the watch off, as to not cause a distraction. The student who passed by me had always worn their hoodie, so it was uncommon that I made eye contact with them. His name was Kai.
After class, I began exiting only to be tugged on by Kai lightly. I turned my head with a "huh?" and he began asking a question.
"Could you help me with something quickly? I just wanted to see how our answers compared on the assignment for tomorrow." He said, quietly hiding behind his hood. I agreed and when he looked over my paper, he obviously had some wrong answers, but didn't change them. He did however copy one thing down onto a sticky note. It was my name.
Before I could question him, he thanked me and ran out of the room. I was baffled and sighed, knowing there was no way to get an answer out of him anyway. I, too, left the room, heading to my locker to grab my stuff for my next class. My watch vibrated and turned back on, flashing a red light.
"Pathogen detected, beware."
This notice made chills run down my spine. I looked around quickly, but there was nobody near me. I wanted to look into the holes of other people's lockers, but I didn't want to get caught like that, and so I left the area quickly running to my next class.
***
"Pathogens can not only turn their bones into weapons, but can shoot them like bullets. The bone will spin in their finger. It will pop out of the skin above the finger and float for a moment before shooting toward it's target. However, some Pathogens with a higher IQ have dripped some of their blood onto their bone bullets to infect the person they are shooting. Does anyone here want to be a Hunter?" Mr. Riley said, looking around the room for future Pathogen Hunters.
For some reason I, I couldn't bring myself to raise my hand. I instead raised my hand for collecting needed materials outside, which still involved the Pathogens.
***
Class ended and I was bummed out that I hadn't raised my hand. I'd have to wait until next semester to try out combat with the Pathogens as a real job. My thoughts continued to spiral until I bumped into Jax, who instantly raised his fist and punched me across my face, sending me to the floor with a red cheek and a bloody nose.
My anger was increasing slowly and I knew I had to calm myself before I could no longer control myself. Markus came from nowhere with Kayla, they seemed to be talking and they both blocked me from Jax.
Jax's two friends took on Kayla and Markus, as he stood still watching them. I knew I had to do something and so before I knew it, my bones in my finger were twisting and it was painful. The skin was tearing and two bone pieces flew out of my fingers and into Jax's friend's legs. They fell to their knees, attempting to pull the bone out of their leg.
Jax had witnessed it all. I hid my finger while it healed, hoping he hadn't actually seen it. His mouth was open in surprise and he ran off. I knew I was going to be hunted by the government now... taken away... killed on a stage.
Kayla pulled me to my feet and Markus was questioning what just happened. We ran outside and kept running until we were safely underneath a bridge. I was panicking as Kayla explained the situation of my abilities to Markus.
"Well... it makes sense, you father was a Pathogen... what are we going to do?" He asked, sweating lightly.
"We wait." Kayla said, smiling. I turned my head and look at her in disbelief. "Wait?! What for?! They'll find us!"
Kayla opened her palm and inside was my old finger bones that I had accidentally shot at Jax's friends. They were turning red and decomposing very quickly.
"So you snatched them off of the bullies? But how?" Markus asked, very interested in learning. Kayla said what I expected her to say, which was, "sometimes stealing and pickpocketing is needed."
I was worried they would question us, but with no evidence other than a leg wound, they may just think that Jax is lying.
We returned to the school and sat at a bench as a Pathogen Hunter escorted Jax outside.
"I'm telling you! That prick can shoot his bones!" Jax argued as the Pathogen Hunter sighed and shook his head. "I'm certain no Pathogens got in here. You are just making stuff up now and if you report to us and we have to waste time, I will have to report you to President Imode." The Pathogen Hunter walked away and Jax kept cursing at him.
***
We waited for a small bit and Kayla wanted to go outside of the fence.
"Isn't it going to get dark soon?" Markus asked, looking up at the sky. "Well yeah, but I forgot that I planned to go and collect some berries to use for cooking and selling. Some people would pay extra for some blueberries right now." Kayla said, acting as though money was raining on her.
"I suppose, but we have to be quick." I remarked as I stood up and began toward the broken part of the fence. We moved the baracade of objects and headed outside.
We had been searching for quite a while before Kayla finally found some berries. Markus and I sat around waiting for her to collect them. "Don't people question how she got 'em?" Markus asked, seemingly confused.
"Nope. It's illegal to go out here, but we do it anyway. People won't question where their tasty berries come from. If Kayla were to get arrested, that's the end of the berry supply."
Markus had seemed to understand and we all headed back, not seeing a single Pathogen along the way. Not a living one at least. There was a pile of dead Pathogens next to a tree, their bodies were charred. Some were in their True Forms, and some were in their Human Forms.
"Disgusting smell..." I complained. Markus and Kayla pinched their noses as we continued onward. We arrived at the fence and instantly my watch vibrated violently.
"Curfew has arrived. Please return to your homes and hurry." I looked at the time in confusion. Curfew was supposed to be in two hours from now. Markus picked up on this confusion as he checked his watch and made a quick point.
"The only times they do that is when someone is missing, dead, or a emergency has occurred like a fire or tornado." I was hoping that it was just a small fire.
***
We all returned to our homes and we could hear Pathogen Hunters running down the streets multiple at a time. They were holding scanners, and anyone who was outside was being scanned. Eventually someone came into my home and scared the hell out of me as they scanned me and left.
I thought for sure I was going to die right then and there... maybe I'm just more human than Pathogen?
Disregarding any unimportant thoughts, I texted Kayla, but she didn't respond for a couple minutes, to which she called me.
"Those Hunter people just came into my house and scanned me! That was terrifying! Have you been scanned!? Are you okay?!" She said, full of panic. "Yeah, no alarms went off so I'm good. It scared me too-" I stopped to think before continuing.
"They wouldn't send Pathogen Hunters around to look for a Pathogen for a fire or a missing person... so that means... someone... died?" I concluded, to which Kayla just gasped lightly and sighed.
"Let's just hope not." She replied, but that was pretty much impossible. We were all going to have to be worried.