The boy before me was normal enough to look at, but the fear in his blue eyes was something only Leo and myself could related to.
"H-hey..." I said awkwardly, losing confidence in my ability to smoothly explain everything
He looked behind me, seeing Leo where I'd left him.
"You were at the hospital..." the boy spoke softly. Then he looked at me and said "I know you. You sometimes hang out with me and the others in he art classroom."
I did remember him, though not in the details that would make it easier to connect with him. He was one of the more talented art students, but he didn't speak much. He seemed shut within himself most of the time.
"I'm Kim" I introduced myself properly and extended my hand to him.
He took it and I helped him to his feet.
"When did they let in real clothes?" Leo asked behind me, his arms folded defensively.
"Not long after you left. The doctors took down the quarantine after you took off. I was waiting with the others for my parents to pick me up. Did something happen to me? 'cause I have no clue where I am or how I got here.
Our conversation was interrupted by a loud, angry scream in our minds. The volume was enough to have me covering my ears and biting back the tears that wanted to fall. Glowing drops fell from the boys shut eyes, and Leo groaned and leaned against the remains of the observation room. His shadow even appeared to be in pain.
'My children! What are you doing to them?!' Mother screamed.
Then silence returned and the three of us spent several minutes recovering.
"Mother..." the boy said, as if in a daze.
"She's the enemy who has been using us as her puppets to get some kind of revenge." I stated, not sure how else to put it.
"Revenge on what? Or who?"
"Humans" Leo answered him.
I looked back at him fighting to keep a calm face, then looked at the boy. He looked horrified at the very idea of fighting against humans, then he looked at his feet, where the pool of blood was staining the white floor. He stepped back,pausing just before the doorway, and turned to look at the remains of the entrance.
"I-I did that? Did I hurt someone?" He started to panic.
I stepped in front of him, between him and the splintered wall, and I grabbed his shoulders. We were almost the same height, him being slightly taller than me.
I forced him to meet my eyes and told him "You did nothing. She controlled your body like a doll in a dollhouse. You are innocent of anything you've gone through."
He looked from me to Leo, and back.
"What happened?"
His question felt like a punch in the gut, without a proper response to be found.
I held up my hands for him to see "Mother did this, she did all of this to all of us. She wanted weapons for her sick war. She started that war not even an hour ago. And it was bad. You're better off not remembering how it began. Just trust me on that. It's bad outside, but it's going to get better. We're going to make it better."
He nodded blankly, and I knew he had his doubts. Anybody would be insecure hearing that some kind of war had begun, but I needed him to know that he was safe with me. Leo had been easier to work with, because he felt a connection with me, this boy only knew me as the girl who got along with his friends.
"R-right...I'm Ryan" he tried to smile though the light fluid still dropped from his cheeks.
I felt Leo's eyes on me, but I couldn't do much more than giving him a reassuring smile.
"Leo, you can go through my dad's closet. He may not have much your style, but he isn't...wasn't much bigger than you. Unless you like hospital clothes" I tried teasing, hoping to lighten the mood.
He smirked "anything is better than these rags."
he walked bast me and Ryan and I called "There's a set of stairs in the hallway, next to the kitchen. It's the second room on the right."
Ryan looked toward him as he left "He seemed different in school."
I considered giving a snarky remark, just to add some human to the situation, but I figured it was best to just leave things be.
"this kind of thing can change anyone" I smiled and extended my hand to him. "We can't really stay here right now, but welcome to my home."
"What happened to your parents?" He asked as we walked.
"My dad...he died, by one of Mothers pet monsters. I'm not sure about my mom, she disappeared into the crowd."
"Monsters? Wait, what about my parents? They were on their way to pick me up. What happened to them?"
I paused to look at him "I honestly can't be sure. We passed a few people on the streets as we came back here, but they all ran away from us when they actually saw how we looked."
He looked at my arms and then to the doorway that Leo had walked through.
"We're still human, right?"
"Of course" I stated boldly, hoping my words could convince him.
We walked down the stairs, the path feeling hollow and each step creaking with new wear and tear done from the destruction of the doorway. I couldn't really complain when the results had taught me what I needed to know about how to handle the others. as well as myself. The wound had healed faster than it had earlier, which told me that I would have to create a larger wound in the future, if I wanted the crystals to be large enough to break skin. It was my guess that I'd only succeeded because Ryan had already been in a weakened state.
In the kitchen, the box still sat on the table. The darkness almost impossible to see in. My fingers moved over the marble, my feet barely raising off of the ground to avoid tripping.
"Here" Ryan stepped in front of me an, in an instant, the room filled with light. A small globe of light hovered over the table, a few feet away from the ceiling, making even the smallest shadow shine like it was directly in sunlight.
"Do you need it so bright in here?" Leo groaned as he walked around the corner.
He wore a pair of black pants that hung too loose around his waist, a belt holding them in place. He had my dad's favorite white shirt that he kept put up for special occasions. Tears stung my eyes, but I didn't have the liberty of begging him to change. I'd given him free reign, and my dad wasn't ever going to return anyway.
I turned away, hoping the flash of pain wasn't seen by Leo or Ryan. I grabbed the box, pulling it to the edge of the table and looking back inside. It wasn't as if I didn't already know what was inside, maybe I just needed some reassurance to strengthen my resolve. The papers were a mess, which I quickly cleaned up.
"What are those?" Ryan asked, his face a cross between anxious and curious.
I knew he didn't talk much in school, but this wasn't a school situation. He was clearly smart enough to catch onto the danger and the need for securing our lives. But that didn't make him feel like anything other than human. And humans felt anxiety in all kinds of situations.
"It's my medicine. It makes me the cure" I smiled as if I felt better than I actually did. "I need to take it everyday so that I can keep mother from controlling us."
Leo stood at the entrance of the kitchen, his eyes hooded in a way that almost sent a chill through me. I couldn't read what it was he was feeling, but having seen him already lose control, I feared having him fight anyone. He didn't seem fazed at the idea of killing anyone with his power, despite showing remorse at those who had died.
I closed the box and picked it up. Under normal circumstances, it would have felt heavy. But a combination of my will and my new strength, it barely felt like anything more than a Tupperware box. I left the kitchen, where Leo and Ryan stayed and climbed the stairs to my room. The glass was still on my floor, and the cold followed me the entire way. I knew my room like the back of my hand, and yet it felt so unfamiliar. I ignored the urge to collapse on my bed as if it were any other day, and I moved to my closet. I wasn't all that concerned with clothes and looking fashionable anymore, instead reaching for a backpack that I hadn't used in years. It was from my pink phase, per my moms interest.
I opened the bag and dumped the remains of old school notebooks onto my bed, and fit the box into the bag. It wasn't exactly a perfect fit, but I only needed it to be firmly in place.
Back in the kitchen, Leo and his shadow were having a stare-down with Ryan. Light and dark clearly weren't fitting together very well.
"Guys, we need to figure out what we can eat" I stated, snapping their attention back to me.
"I refuse to eat any people" Leo grumbled.
Ryan's eyes widened "When did we ever think of eating people. I mean, honestly, we're not cannibals."
I shuddered, knowing I had to explain things to hum, and not really wanting to.
"That's what Mother has her monsters doing. Eating people. She said we're not human anymore. But I say that we are human, and, you're right, we are not cannibals." I assured him, recognizing the pale green in his skin as he realized what I had said.
"I...I..."
"You are not one of her monsters." I stopped him.
"What are we going to eat?" Leo asked, seemingly oblivious of what was going on around him.
I wanted to slap him, to say something that would make him wake up and see the picture. Yes, I'd been the one to bring up food, but that seemed to be all he was worried about. He appeared as lifeless as a shadow.
"Well" I thought "If we can't eat regular food, and we won't eat humans, what about meat?"
"Won't cooked meat make us sick as well? I mean, it is technically regular, human food." Ryan asked, catching on rather fast.
Ryan seemed to be more talkative than he was in school, he seemed brighter and strangely relaxed, maybe he felt a connection with me and Leo. If he felt he could trust us, then it was natural that he wouldn't worry about putting up his wall of silence.
"We could try it raw" I suggested, already dreading the possibilities.
"Yuck! Why raw? That just sounds disgusting." Leo spat.
"Would you rather eat human flesh?" I glared.
He looked taken aback by the attitude I hadn't meant to use. It simply annoyed me, the way he was acting. I hoped that it was just the affect of being under Mothers control, but I doubted it. He was acting colder than I could ever act.
He looked down, almost looking hurt and I looked back at the bag on the table.
"So, raw meat? Are you sure it will work?" Ryan broke the silence.
I was grateful for the change of focus.
"I honestly can't be sure of anything at this point. All I can do is assume and hope for the best."
I watched him, then looked at Leo. It seemed like the world ending had affected more than the earth itself. It was affecting all of us who were still alive. I feared how low the number of survivors was falling. We had to end the chaos before we became the last humans alive, or, rather the monsters under Mothers control.
The silence felt more terrifying than the sound of the screams, so I had to end. I willed my feet to move, and I walked over to the freezer. Mom hadn't pulled out any meat to thaw, for obvious reasons, and we needed to eat something. Hunger had finally returned, and it was torture on my stomach.
In the freezer, there were sealed packages of ground beef, a few steaks, and a single package of chicken. I pulled out the beef and closed the door, hoping that the food would still be good until we managed to kill Mother and return to our normal lives.
"That looks too much like brains." Ryan grimaced.
I laughed softly, thinking of how I had said the same thing when I was younger.
"Yeah, but it's not. It's your average ground beef. It's probably better when it's cooked, if we could only eat it."
I set the package on the table and put the extra 6 in my backpack, on top of the box. I though of how I'd forced the water to thaw earlier, and I placed my hand over the meat. The cold pulled away from the meat and coursing into me. It felt like the cold was filling me, and I was scared of what would happen if I did that too much. Would I change with the cold inside of me? I didn't have time to think of it.
"Whoa, when did you learn to do that?" Ryan stared in awe.
"Earlier today, about an hour after I woke up."
I tore the package open and watched the meat as if it were alive.
Leo stepped forward and dug his fingers into the meat, pulling a large chunk away. He didn't hesitate, taking a bite into it, and I waited to see if he had a reaction like with the sandwich. He chewed for several seconds, then swallowed.
"Hmm..." he paused "Not bad, kinda squishy, but it tastes fine. Not like your top of the line meat, but still good.
I let out a breath I hadn't realized I was holding. Ryan reached out and grabbed a small piece, his fingers trembling slightly. I followed his lead and grabbed a piece for myself. I bit into it, feeling what Leo had spoken of. It was similar to chewing gum, the way I felt each squish, before the meat froze in my mouth. I forced the lump of meat down my throat, and started tasting the residue. He was right, it was actually pretty good, which I had seriously doubted before.
"You're right, this is actually really good" Ryan smiled, the first genuine smile he'd given since he was released from being a puppet.
I felt peace fill me, looking at each of the boys in front of me, like we weren't soldiers, but normal friends. I hoped we could stay this way when everything was taken care of.
"So, we know what we can eat now. We'll need to get more in a couple days, but that can easily be taken care of at any grocery store." I softened my face. "We'll make it through this."
Ryan smiled brightly, the glow of the orb of light growing slightly brighter.
"What's the plan?" Leo asked, biting into another chunk of beef.
"I'm still figuring out the details, but we can't currently take out Mother on our own. The three of us won't be enough. So we need to find some of the others, and cure them as well. When we have a few more of the others, if not all of the others, we can track Mother down, and we'll kill her. She's the leader of all of this, and, I have ope that her death will make the monsters disappear.