Max woke up with a start. He sat up so quickly that his covers flew off. "Ah!" he shouted.
Max looked around frantically… he was back in his room? What had happened? Max gripped his head, trying to remember. For some reason, he wasn't really sure what had happened. His memories were fuzzy. He could remember Enyo's brother? A gun? Had it been a dream? He looked at the time, it was 7 in the morning.
His mom was awake and he ran down the stairs. "Mom!" he shouted.
"Yes?" she asked. She gave him a look.
"What happened?" he asked.
She glared at him and stomped towards him, spatula in hand, "WHAT WERE YOU THINKING? HOW COULD MY PRECIOUS BABY GO DRINKING? YOU'RE STILL A MINOR! DRINKING IS ILLEGAL! ALSO PUT ON SOME CLOTHES!"
Max looked down and was suddenly aware that he was only in his underwear. Then he processed what his mother had said, "I was drinking?"
She glared at him, "DO YOU KNOW HOW WORRIED I WAS? I THOUGHT MAYBE YOU GOT BLOWN UP BY THAT STUPID BOMB IN THE PARKING LOT! AND SKIPPING SCHOOL? I TAUGHT YOU BETTER THAN THIS!"
Max frowned, "Something got blown up?"
His mom pointed to the TV, "Yesterday, a parking lot in the city was blown up…"
Max frowned, had yesterday's events really happened then? Had he really been kidnapped and put in a building that had blown up minutes later? He was so confused. Maybe he should go see Enyo.
"GET OUT OF MY HOUSE!" his mom threw the spatula at him and he ran.
Max nodded. When he was finally ready for school he walked the house. His mother was still mad at him so he decided to walk. He rang on the doorbell of Enyo's house. No one answered. He rang it again, "Enyo?" he called.
The door swung open and an unfamiliar face greeted him. First, he saw the red eyes. "Can I help you?" asked the man.
"Umm…" said Max, this man felt familiar, "I'm Max, Enyo's classmate, is she ready?"
The man smiled, "I'm Asclepius, her brother, and Enyo's sick today so she won't be going to school today."
"Oh," said Max, "Well I hope she feels better…"
"Bye!" Asclepius slammed the door.
Max walked out. Had last night's events really happened? Was Enyo dead? He tried to think. He remembered her doubling over in pain. Did that really happen? Also, that man claimed to be Enyo's brother. But didn't Enyo's brother have dark hair and skin and a half-scarred face? Max couldn't stop thinking.
...
Everything was dark. Her body wouldn't move. She couldn't open her eyes or speak. And, when she could, she saw a bright light, then it was darkness again.
She hid in a fallen tree trunk, not daring to make a sound. The air was heavy with the smell of blood and gunpowder. BANG! Someone screamed and she gasped. It was short but someone heard it. "There!" someone pointed to the trunk where she was hiding.
CRASH! A foot stomped through the wood, less than two inches away from her face. "Ahhhh!" she screamed.
"See?" said an unfamiliar voice, "Told you someone was in there."
"Yeah, yeah," said another. A masked face popped into view from one side of the opening of the trunk, "Come on out girlie!"
She crawled away from it. A hand grabbed her from behind and pulled her out. She squirmed and screamed, trying to get away. Finally, the pair of hands dropped her hard on the floor. "It's just a child…" someone said.
She looked up and saw a group of people around her. Bodies littered the floor and trees were full of bullet holes. The people wore masks and bandanas around their faces. They were dressed in black and camouflage. They were holding guns. "How old are you?" one of them asked.
"I'm four…" she said, "Please don't kill me…"
"Don't worry," said one of them. This one was female, "The boss likes collecting kids like you."
Enyo woke up with a startled gasp. Her eyes flew open and she found herself sleeping on the couch in her house. Her body felt weak. "Take everything you want, turn memories into nothing, don't care about feelings…" someone was singing.
She turned her head and saw someone cooking. "Morning Enyo!" said a familiar voice.
"Asclepius?" she groaned.
"Yep!" said Asclepius, "Good afternoon."
Enyo sat up with a grunt of pain, a sharp pain in her head, "How long have I been out?"
Asclepius walked over and sat down on the couch by her feet. He sighed, "Oh! You've been out for 500 years! Oh no! The world has ended and we're the only one left."
Enyo glared at him. "About a day-ish"
Enyo nodded, "Is Max okay?"
"Yes."
"Thanks for healing me," said Enyo as she jumped off the couch and started stretching.
"Wow wow, what do you think you're doing?" asked Asclepius, "You need rest."
"My body is already regenerating! Thanks to your healing, most of the poison should be out in a few minutes." Enyo started jogging in place then stopped and gagged, "give me a sec?"
She ran to the bathroom and threw up. When she came out Asclepius was glaring at her.
Asclepius sighed, "You really need to be more careful."
Enyo shrugged, "I'm not dead."
Asclepius whacked her on the back of her head and she stopped. "WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU!" shouted Asclepius, "DO YOU NOT VALUE YOUR LIFE? YOU CAN FINALLY LIVE AS A NORMAL HIGH SCHOOLER AND YOU END UP ALMOST GETTING YOUR FRIEND KILLED! TRY TO BE MORE CAREFUL!"
Enyo looked at him in surprise. "Sit down," ordered Asclepius. He walked over to the kitchen and returned with a plate of fried rice.
"Eat," he said and handed her a spoon.
Enyo sighed and started digging in. Asclepius could be such a dad sometimes…
…
Something cold splashed on his face and Hemlock woke up with a start. "AH!" he screamed.
"Shut up," said a familiar voice.
"Atlas?" he asked. His voice was raspy.
"He's awake, sir," said Atlas.
Hemlock sat up and almost passed out. Father sat in front of him, his arms crossed and looking as annoyed as ever. Hemlock looked away until Father spoke, "What were you thinking?"
"I-"
"YOU DESTROYED PROPERTY! DISOBEYED DIRECT ORDERS, KIDNAPPED CIVILIANS, CAUSED DEATHS, STOLE MY GRENADE, WHY?"
Hemlock gulped. "Answer the question," said Atlas.
"Enyo."
Father sighed, "You could have just told me and I'd have let you deal with it."
"Really?" asked Atlas surprised and Father glared at him for interrupting.
"I would have, but since Hemlock and Anaya disobeyed orders… you know the consequence."
Atlas smiled and cracked his knuckles. "Wait!" shouted Hemlock as guards came in and started dragging him out of bed. They handcuffed him. "Wait!"
Father sighed, "He's been out for a week so give him an extra week of punishment okay?"
Atlas nodded, "Let's go boys."
"NO-!" his shout was cut off.
Father smiled, "Ready for a flight? Let's go visit Cynthia and this sleeping beauty, Noa Lin."