After spending a couple of minutes analyzing the new quest his system had just shown him, Ace concluded that it could have been an error or perhaps one of those quests triggered by him using his abilities or falling into some specific circumstance. As much as he wanted to check out his options, there were more important things he had to deal with. For starters, he had to handle his sister, who was a little upset with him for reasons only known to her, and help his friend Sky learn how to activate her Gift. To top it off, there was still a high chance that the Hunters would notice him and Sky and try to forcefully capture them.
"I'm so happy to see you, Ace," Sky weakly hugged him, her other hand remaining on her injured side. Even though her wounds healed much faster than normal, she was still a bit sore and weakened. "I was afraid you'd never see me again."
"I had to find you, Sky," he replied, checking to make sure no other Hunters were running their way. "It's not like I had a choice, and besides, you're my friend. I'd never leave you behind."
*Ahem!*
Cherry abruptly scoffed, looking at the whole situation like it was some bad script written by a tacky nineteen-year-old wannabe writer. "What the heck's going on, Ace? Who's the chick?"
"Forgive me. Sky, this is my sister, Cherry. Cherry, this is Sky. She's a Gifted person, although she doesn't know how to control it."
"And I'm Chris, by the way," Chris added awkwardly, though he had a slight idea of who Sky was.
"Listen, I have a feeling that something bad is about to happen, guys," Ace added with concern. "Just last night, before we came here, I saw what appeared to be one of those Granian spaceships heading this way before the storm hit."
"What?" Chris gasped weirdly. "How sure are you? I mean, it could have been something else, right?"
"No, I'm definitely positive. We have to get moving, Cherry," he said, glaring at his sister. The four teens knew damn well that Grim was after them, and given Ace's suspicions, they knew they had to leave if they wanted to avoid being captured.
"Let's get a move on now. We can get a good head start before—"
"No, that won't work," Chris interrupted. "First of all, none of us have gotten any adequate amount of sleep. Secondly, she's still injured. With those injuries, she'll slow us down. Third, I think all the Hunters here are after you now, Ace. Besides, how are we going to get out of here? It's not like they'll let everyone out so they can—"
The loud sound of thick, heavy doors opening interrupted Chris in the middle of his speech. Turned out the storm had finally passed, and the citizens of this once-abandoned town were finally allowed to return to their homes to clean up and resume their normal everyday lives.
"See that?" Cherry smirked. "We don't have to struggle with getting out now, do we, Chris?" Without even letting him respond, Cherry, Ace, and Sky blended into the crowd and quickly made their way out onto the open ground level. The warm, rising sun beamed on their faces as the smell of dry desert air hit their nostrils. Looking at the state of the city, it was safe to say that not much damage was caused. The worst thing that happened was broken windows, scratched pieces of property, and broken walls and buildings that couldn't withstand the strong winds.
As for the remainder of the city, sand dunes covered almost every entrance and window. About three inches of sand were gathered everywhere, making it difficult for them to navigate through.
"Look, I don't think it's such a good idea to—" Chris tried stating his opinion, but the other three were just ignoring him.
"Chris, trust me. We have to leave. If you want to stay behind, that's fine with me, but the three of us have to get out of here."
"Hear me out, please," he pleaded, urging them to move to a more secluded area. The four teens stood in an alleyway and waited for Chris to get on with what he had to say. "Hear me out. If we run, the aliens will just lay waste to this town and continue following us. And besides, do you actually think we can outrun them? If what Ace said is true, then there is no way we can outrun them. I mean, these aliens zapped you two here; they probably have a machine that'll track you or something like that."
"What are you saying?"
"Words," Chris replied. He remained quiet for a few seconds before summarizing his point. "Look, the best option is for us to stay hidden. Now I know that sounds nuts, but if we do, the aliens will assume we already escaped, so they'll be on a wild goose chase. Think about it. Doesn't that sound clever?"
"He does have a point, Ace," Sky added in a soft voice, while resting on the floor. For a Gifted student, healing wounds at an incredibly fast rate required proper rest and a good amount of food, none of which any of them had had in days.
Upon learning this, Ace decided that they'd hide out and wait for the Granians to pass by the city and hopefully gamble that they'd leave on a wild pursuit. "Fine. I'll go along with your plan, but I need you to stay here with these two while I go get us something to eat, alright?"
"I'm coming with you," Cherry insisted and refused to take no for an answer. Chris agreed to stay behind and was told to take Sky to the skyscraper he was in the previous night while Ace and Cherry snuck around, looking for ways to get food for themselves.
"Follow me," Cherry whispered. "I can smell a blood bank not too far away from here. There's also a butcher not too far from here. We can get something for Chris and your school buddy."
"No," Ace sternly spoke. "I can sense your massive lust for blood, Cherry. When this is done, you and I have to have a talk about this blood mutant gene we both have. There's a lot I have to tell you."
"I've tried other food, man," she argued. "Blood's the only thing that works. As much as I loathe consuming it, it's not like I have another alternative."
"There is, actually," Ace smirked, remembering that blood mutants could also survive on raw, fresh meat. "You follow me. We have to be quick and discreet about this. Let's go."