Chapter 4 - Acting normal

"Huh?! Why though?! You don't even know what happens to you when you touch that thing! and For all we know, my dad could be dead, so what's the point of trying!" John put his hand in front of her face to cut her off.

"First, there is still a chance that he is alive. You saw that message, under 300 people made it out alive, plus he has a weapon, so there is still a chance. Secondly, I do know what happens when you touch a fracture." he pulled up his pants to reveal the blood-stained t-shirt wrapped around his leg. Kate put her hand on her mouth like she was going to be sick. John knew she hated blood so he covered it up quickly.

"What… What happened to your leg?" she asked while covering her mouth.

"Well, I was walking home when the buzzing started, and right after it stopped, one of those fractures appeared underneath me and, well, I'll tell you the rest later. Right now, you need to tell me where that fracture is so I can save your dad." he started to walk out of his yard when kate said,

"Why do you even want to save my dad? there shouldn't be a reason for you to do so, and what has happened to your leg, I just don't understand. Why would you want to go back in a fracture, even though people have died in them." she said with a confused face, but John turned around and said bluntly.

"It's because I'm bored. Just look behind you, I live in a shit shack. I can only afford to live in this place because of my family and my shit job. I just don't see my future getting better anytime soon. But now something strange is happening to the world, and so many more exciting things have happened even though it hasn't been one full day! I know I sound crazy, but I would rather risk my life saving your dad in a strange and dangerous fracture, instead of living like this for the rest of my life... I guess you can say that I just wanted something more in this world, even if it's something bad or good." Kate looked at him with shock, He has never talked about himself before. John continued,

"Alright, let's get moving now, the more time we waste the higher the chance your father could be killed." John signaled her to show him the way, Kate was silent as led. They ran for quite a while, her house was a lot further from work than Johns. When they arrived, they turned on the street to see one of the fractures that were surrounded by 4 policemen. They could see people packing boxes in the houses around them, they are probably going to leave because of what the world notification said, then John noticed something,

"Something isn't right, what is with everyone? Why do they seem so calm like everything is normal?" John asked.

"What do you mean?" Kate was confused.

"Don't you think people are taking this too lightly? Shouldn't they be panicking about this? Even for me when my leg was injured, I acted like it wasn't that big of a deal and went about my day like it was normal." John asked, trying to think of an answer.

"You're right, when my dad got taken into that thing, I was sad and wanted to chase after him, but instead I went about my day like I normally do." Kate and John ponder for a bit, but then this thought left their mind like it was unimportant and went to something else.

"Ah, right! What are we going to do about the police, they will stop us if we try to get too close." Kate switched the topic. John also forgot what they were just thinking about.

"Let me think for a bit… Wait, did you just say us? There is no use, I'm the only one who's going to go throw that thing to save your dad. Besides, you don't even have a weapon." John was not going to let her come with him. Well, she definitely wasn't going to take that.

"What do you mean I can't go! He is MY dad, so I have to go! Also, I do have a weapon." she pulled out a taser from her pocket. John looked at her for a moment and then said,

"Well then, I guess I'll have to improvise… ha!" John kicked the back of her legs making her fall to the ground, he pulled up his hood covering his face and began to run for the portal.

"Ow! What the hell did you do that for?!" She got back up and started to run after him, but it was too late, John was too fast for her to catch up. He was already considered fast before his stats increased, but now he is 1.5x faster than before and his speed is similar to a trained athlete.

"Hay! Stop right there!" The police were alerted to Kate shouting and saw John running for the portal and tried to block him, but he was too fast. One of them got close and almost grabbed him but he ducked in time to avoid it. When he got close to the fracture, one of the police officers pulled out a taser gun and shot him in the back.

"Arrrg!" the two metal rods stuck in his skin and electrocuted him. To his surprise, the rods didn't stick in him as much as he thought, although it still gave him a lot of high voltage, he could still move if he could bear the pain.

"Come on… just… a little… more!" He inched his way closer step by step while tremendous pain was felt in his entire body.

"How is this possible?" The police were in total shock, no one can stand this long while being tasered. Kate, who was running towards the portal also stopped, she was utterly shocked, so were the people who came out to see what the commotion was. Everyone just stood still and watched as he got closer to the portal. Only after he touched it and disappeared did they come back to their senses, and all of them only had one question in their head,

"How?" but strangely, this thought left their mind like it wasn't important.