The tender morning birdsong flowed through the cracks of the windows. The first morning rays found their way onto Joseph’s face, waking him up a little earlier than he wanted. He groaned in annoyance and exhaustion as he rolled over on the makeshift bed in the living room. After a few minutes, he got up to notice Sig wasn’t in the room.

  After a quick search of the house, he found no one else; the group was nowhere to be found. As he felt worry and anxiety fill him, he tried his best to remain calm as he hurried over to the front door, expecting to see them outside. Instead, as he opened the door, the sight and smell instantly caused him to gag.

  He saw not only his friends ripped apart at the front door, but his own parents as well. It was more of a pile of ground meat and body parts, with their severed heads on top. Blood pooled under it all and dripped off the porch's sides. He stumbled back and fell with a scream for help, for anyone to save him.

  Instead, Sig’s voice snapped him out of his state, seeing himself back on his bed with Sig sitting up on the couch. “Dude, if you’re getting night terrors, then I’m not excited for when mine come.” He smiled warmly, hoping the lighthearted nature would melt away whatever Joseph saw in his nightmare—hoping to remind him that they were all in this together. “If you need to talk to anyone, we’ll listen.”

  Joseph took a moment to collect himself, looking around the place and at Sig to ground himself. “That was way too real. I-I saw you guys and my parents mutilated at my feet.” He took a deep breath. “I might just take it easy today, maybe all that effort wasn’t the best idea.”

  Sig gave him a soft slap on his back. “Do whatever you need, man. To be honest, I was surprised you still came to train after finding out about your parents.”

  Joseph awkwardly smiled and looked down. “I felt I had to avenge them, to justify their deaths somehow. I realize now I don’t have to rush that. My parents wouldn’t want to see me like this.” He said, wiping away a single tear.

  “You’re right. Just worry about yourself, man, and if you need help with that, just let us know.” Sig smiled, then thought for a moment. “James said something about visiting Johnson today if you feel up for that?”

  Joseph thought it over, then nodded firmly. “We got to see what kind of shenanigans he’s been up to there.” He chuckles. “That invisible thing he has would probably help the nurses a lot.”

  Hunter and James walked in during their conversation. Hunter was wide awake, and James still looked like he was wrestling his soul from the clutches of sleep. Still exhausted from the training day before, he continued into the kitchen.

  Hunter walked over to the other two, “Yeah, I was thinking of asking if we should visit him. It’s a little bit of a walk, but maybe the roads should be a little clearer now. I could ask James to drive us.”

  “After yesterday, I wouldn’t mind a ride,” Joseph stated flatly.

  James walked back in from the kitchen. “I guess I could. I’m not in the mood for that kind of walk either.” He chuckled and sat down, placing his cup on the table.

  Hunter smiled and clapped his hands together, “Alright, we’ll head out in an hour or two, whenever James is ready.” He teasingly rubbed James’s head, who chased away Hunter’s hand in response.

  “It doesn't take that long to wake up.”

  Sig stopped himself from laughing out loud. “Sure, whatever you say, night owl.”

  James only responded with a roll of his eyes and a smirk, quickly finishing his coffee while everyone else began to get ready to leave.

  The drive itself went a lot smoother than anyone expected. What they saw, however, lowered their faith in humanity. As they passed stores and shops, they noticed the actual state of their society. Most places had signs of destruction or robbery. Most places that were once open were now closed until further notice. Traffic density increased rapidly as they neared the hospital. It seemed everyone had their own reasons to be there.

  Every hospital in the nation was near full capacity, and theirs was no different. What seemed like hundreds of people had all shown up to check on their loved ones after the collapse.

  “Hey, why don’t you all hop out and head in while I find a spot to park? I’ll catch up later.” James says as he finally and slowly pulls into the parking garage. Letting them out and waving them off as he drives deeper into the garage.

  James found a spot near the top and began to make his way back to his group. He didn’t need to go far, as once he entered the hospital, he saw the long line and his friends just getting near the front. He hurried up to them, “I expected you guys to be in his room already.”

  “Yeah, we did too. The line is so slow. They have all these security checks now.” Sig complained; their conversation drowned out the other person in line near the entrance, who was complaining about James cutting in line. His voice slowly grew louder as he realized no one was listening. As he loudly complained, security began to grow an interest in him.

  As James waited for the background checks and other security measures, he noticed the heckler and tried his best to ignore him. The heckler seemed to have enough and stormed over to them, enough to cause the wind to stir up papers and static to crackle through the air. Before he could even take three steps, the security member snuck up behind him and handcuffed him. As the cuffs snapped closed, the raw power instantly stopped before it could escalate any further.

  The rest of the group was focused on getting the visitor passes, but James was now focused on this scene and the strange new logo on the Security uniform. His mind searched until it stopped on the news broadcast he watched with everyone. The logo was everywhere during the interview, a circle containing a sword and a set of handcuffs.

  He quickly pulled the group out of their conversation to pay attention to their surroundings. “Hey, so, the peacekeepers… They are here in our small town already.” His voice was soaked in anxiety.

  Sig just scoffed and looked at the situation behind them. “We can deal with them if we have to. Not smart to start something right now.”

  James rolled his eyes, lowering his voice so only his group could hear him. “I wasn’t talking about starting something; I wanted us to be aware, don’t use even a hint of any powers.” He mentioned the last part more to the group as a whole than just to Sig, as his power was still unknown to him. “Also, if anyone saw it, those cuffs stopped his power outburst. They already have a way to stop our powers.” He said in a hushed panic.

  The rest of the team stood in stunned silence for a moment, with Hunter being the most worried out of all of them. “It hasn’t even been a week! How do they already have that kind of technology?” Hunter exclaimed in pure disbelief,

  Joseph rolled his eyes, “Lots of Money and Government backing. Like how all corrupt organizations do.” He couldn’t believe he had to explain that. “I wouldn’t be surprised if they knew about this ahead of time.”

  Hunter groaned in response. “How would anyone know about this ahead of time? It’s not like it was advertised.”

  Sig gave them each a sturdy thump on the back of their heads. “Knock it off, you two, we don’t need any unwanted attention. We are just here to see Johnson for a while and leave.” He glared at both of them. “Just play it cool, and we’ll be home in no time.”

  Trying to talk about other topics made the line feel even slower. The anxiety crawled up their backs as they waited and tried to act normal.

  In less than an hour, the group successfully acquired their visitor passes and found Johnson’s room on the third floor. With the door being opened already, they slowly made their way into the room. Hunter was the first to speak.

  “How’s the staff treating you? Hopefully not too bad with everything going on.” He sat down with James on one side of the room while Sig and Joseph stayed standing.

  Johnson, who only smiled warmly when they entered, shrugged in response to Hunter’s question. “Can’t complain, they have been swamped though, and I rarely ever see someone else in here. Luckily, my Servant has been a great help to them.” His face never left a neutral expression. “He’s actually out transporting some stuff right now.” He sighed heavily.

  Sig looked over Johnson, “How long have you been using this servant thing to help here?”

  “A few hours yesterday and today, it’s no more exhausting than if I got up and did it myself.” Johnson’s deadpan tone was starting to get to everyone. They were used to a more chipper, cheerier Johnson.

  “Yeah, but you seem overworked or something, man. You need to take it easy while recovering.” Sig crossed his arms as he spoke, trying to get across the seriousness of the situation.

  “This is what happens to me when I use it for longer than an hour. I slowly lose all care or feelings. I think the servant is actually my soul, and without it I’m just a husk.” He sighed heavily, “It’s not horrible though, A small price to pay to help save lives.” He forced a smile, hoping to prove to everyone he was fine.

  Hunter walked over to his bedside. “Okay, we will trust you, Johnson, but please, you can’t help others if you end up needing help yourself. Take plenty of breaks.”

  Johnson reached out a hand and placed it on Hunter’s shoulder softly. “Thanks, Hunter, I’ll be fine here. You guys go back out and catch up to my level.” He waved a hand in front of him to send them off.

  Sig sighed and moved forward to place his hands on the bottom end of the bed. “We came to hang, we aren’t going anywhere that easily.” He gave a mock glare at Johnson, who sighed and admitted defeat.

  “Let me just call back my servant, once he’s done with what he’s doing, that is.” He lay back after finishing his sentence and closed his eyes. “Let me focus for a bit.”

  After about five minutes of quiet waiting, Johnson finally sat back up, rubbing his face as if he had just woken up from a longer-than-expected nap. “Alright, we can’t do too much in a hospital room, so what was the plan?”

  Before he even finished his sentence, Sig was already setting up a gaming console and quickly finding a way to connect it to the TV.

  “I don’t remember you packing that.” James realized.

  “Almost forgot it, grabbed it at the last minute.”

  “I didn’t think that was even possible,” Johnson said in disbelief; his eyes locked on the working game.

  “Working as Hospital security for a couple of years had its perks.” Sig tossed a controller onto Johnson’s lap.

  After a few hours of everyone rotating turns and talking, their visitor time came to an end. Sig got to packing up the console while everyone gathered their belongings.

  Johnson called over James, “I should be getting released tomorrow morning. I could use a ride.” He gave James a cheeky smirk.

  “I gotcha, man, just give me a call when you’re ready tomorrow and I’ll swing by.” James fist-bumped him goodbye.

  They managed to navigate the crowded halls and return their passes. James kept an eye on any Peacekeeper forces hanging around and running theories through his head on how they are this advanced.

  The air grew lighter as they approached James’ car; they could breathe freely again.

  “They were ready for this. How do they already have stuff like that?” Joseph complained in the back seat.

  James thought it over for a moment. “It has to do with that lead she has. I bet that story was real, and somehow she has intel from then. Could’ve been passed down?”

  Sig shrugged, “That seems impossible to keep something going that long without it leaking out. It’s still possible, just... far-fetched, ya’know?”

  Hunter looked at the two as they talked before jumping in. “We have to research them more. And really anything else dealing with these powers. I could be the dedicated one for it, but anyone could help.”

  Sig leaned forward. “I don’t know how I haven’t thought of that yet. Granted, it’s only been a couple of days, but I bet the internet is swarming with info.”

  “Maybe some tutorials on how to use these powers. I bet some people are training more than us!” Joseph replied.

  “After that session, we had I don’t know about that. We were drained pretty quickly. I don’t know how much more in one sitting someone else could do.” James felt the need to point that out. He wasn’t as worn out as Joseph was from it, but he knew it was from the emotional exhaustion he had faced.

  “Well, I feel ready to keep exploring my powers,” Joseph replied, “Johnson even told us we need to catch up.” He smirked.

  James sighed in defeat. “Fine, we’ll stop by the house and pick up the laptop so Hunter can research while we train.”

  The rest of the group agreed, and after a short drive, they parked in the lot for the nearby campgrounds.

  Birdsong filled the trees as they walked, signaling their safety to the clearing. A squirrel ran across the forest floor, stopping to look up at Sig, then quickly ran up his body. Sig froze up, trying not to hurt it. “Oh, hello.” His words caused the rest of the group to turn in shock, only to realize no one was there. “It’s just a squirrel, we're good.”

  “You’ve been the animal whisperer lately, man. How are you getting so lucky with the wildlife?” James joked.

  “Maybe my power is to control animals or something.” Sig smiled happily.

  Shortly into the walk, the squirrel hopped off onto a tree and vanished into the leaves. Sig held up a hand to the branches and cried out, “Chippy! Don't Go!”

  "You named it already?" Joseph said with snort

  "Of course I name all my animal friends."

  Once they finally made it to the clearing, Hunter set up his phone’s hotspot. He sat on a log to the side, away from everyone, even though his power should keep him safe. “If I find anything, I’ll shout it out.”

  James nodded and resumed his flight training, instantly picking up where he had left off. He slowly flew in circles and figure eights before picking up speed.

  Joseph had some trouble continuing where he had left off. He felt like his understanding had slipped slightly since last time, still managing to teleport around the clearing after a few minutes of thought and focus. He quickly noticed that his teleport was using less energy from him, doing the same amount as last time without getting as tired. He still felt the ache deep in his body.

  Sig still had no luck with any animal-related powers. He even went so far as to risk his phone for any electrical power.

  Hunter had little luck finding proper intel on powers, only finding posts about the aftermath and the destruction. His eyes locked on the screen as he flipped through different sites and blogs. After a couple of hours, he sighed loudly. “I haven’t found anything, and this laptop is low on power. I’ll continue this once we get home.”

  Joseph quickly ran over to Hunter. “Wait, could I try something with it?”

  Hunter chuckled. “If you break it, you buy me a new one.”

  “Deal!” He sat down and held the laptop. He focused on what was in the laptop and tried to figure out how to charge it, until he felt a connection to something inside.

  “W-wait, I think I got something.” He tried to find a way to interact with it until he imagined reaching into the laptop to touch whatever this connection was.

  The second he made contact, electricity shot up his arm. Flowing into and around his body. The action startled Joseph, and the sudden fear caused the electricity to quickly arc off towards the only two things nearby that it could, the laptop and Hunter.

  The bolt of electricity arcs to him so quickly that he couldn’t even react. However, his power automatically absorbed the electricity's energy. Hunter only felt the power quickly fill him to the max in an instant before an explosion rocked the clearing. Joseph was sent flying back and skidded across the ground. Sig happened to be in the right spot to run and jump to catch Joseph to prevent any further injury.

  James screamed out, “Hunter!” Unconsciously flying straight over to Hunter, lying on the ground in seconds.

  Upon hearing James’ voice, Hunter slowly sat up, looking himself over to find he was completely unharmed. “I’m fine, James, thanks for the worry, but go check on Joseph.”

  James took a moment before nodding. “If you’re sure. I won’t be far.” He quickly went over to help Sig tend to Joseph.

  Sig laid Joseph onto the ground as he started to stir awake. “W-What happened?”

  “Hunter probably knows more, but there was an explosion, and you suddenly were over here. You’re lucky I caught you; otherwise, a tree could’ve.” Sig said, his sentence ended with a sigh of relief.

  Joseph slowly checked his limbs and began to move to sit up. “Okay, nothing feels broken. Just a little woozy and cut up.”

  Sig and James help check him over. “Yeah, it seems the explosion didn’t harm you?” James points out. “No burns or charred clothing.”

  “I think it was the electricity around me. Maybe it absorbed most of the damage.” Joseph thought over exactly what could have happened. Hoping he had a second power. “I’m going to rest after that, though.”

  James snickered softly. “I don’t blame you, dude, you almost died.”

  Hunter continued to lie down where he was, staring up into the sky and holding back tears. How could a power that was supposed to protect his friends just hurt them without warning like that? He felt he was a ticking time bomb, and as he lay there, his spiral grew worse. His eyes shut tight as he tried to understand this horrible joke pulled on him. Then, suddenly, the sun was blocked out as James stood in front of Hunter.

  “Looks like we have a lot of training for you in the future,” James said, his lighthearted tone trying to make light of the situation. “Joseph’s going to be fine, Hunter. It just scuffed him up a little bit. It’s not like that was intentional from anyone.”

  Hunter sighed and accepted James’ help to stand up. “Once I’m trained up, I feel better. However, I don’t think I can be near you guys until that happens. I can’t just be an explosive barrel in the middle of our group. In safer places, sure, but not in combat or in public. I’ll probably stay home mostly aside from training. I can still help a lot through my research on this phenomenon.”

  James took a step back in shock. The words stung through his heart; he knew they weren’t said out of malice, but from a guardian willing to do anything to save their loved ones. He nodded in response, “Just stay safe when we aren’t around. I trust you to know what's best for the team.”

  Hunter’s face showed determination, hiding the self-doubt he still feels. “I’m sure there’s a way to control those explosions. I have to find some way to release it before I hit that point.”

  Sig and Joseph finally make their way over in time to add to the conversation. Sig’s the first to speak, “Maybe you can shoot beams and rays from your fingertips.” He stuck a pose with his hand outstretched. Looking a little sad, nothing happened. “I bet you’ll have better luck than I at it.”

  “You’ll have to find some way to charge up slowly then. My powers charge you way too fast. Maybe we could find someone who would be willing to help us.”

  Hunter thought for a moment. “Well, maybe I can also absorb kinetic energy? Someone try punching me.” He stated firmly. Sig agreed and put half power into his punch, aiming at Hunter’s shoulder, not actually trying to injure him. His punch collided, and Hunter winced in pain, hopping around in small circles as he clutched his arm. “Nope, I felt all of that.”

  “I’m sorry, Hunter! I didn’t mean for it to hurt that bad.”

  “It really doesn’t, I’m just a bitch with pain. Never liked it, never will. I had to test for science.” Hunter tried his best to chuckle through the pain.

  While everyone was distracted by the conversation, James was ten feet away from the group. His eyes were closed, and his hand was held out and palm up. His fingers curled slightly as if holding onto a baseball, until a flame started in his palm. He could almost see it through his closed eyes, and he focused on that. He was trying to find a way to control it, or at least make it grow. He felt his heart race with excitement as his connection to this flame grew stronger by the second. “Guys, I think I can help charge Hunter,” he said, turning around to show off the loop pattern he was making with the flames. “This is way too easy for me.” He smirked, testing it out by juggling the flame between his hands.

  Hunter, upon realizing what James was doing, yelled out, “I said no fire, James! Put it out.” He demanded.

  James’ eyes shot open in surprise as he quickly snuffed out the flames. “I forgot, I just thought since the fire attack from that one guy didn’t overcharge you, it would be a good start.”

  Sig gave Hunter a nudge with his elbow. “He has a point, and he seemed pretty in control of the flames. However, I rule out playing with fire or showing off with it. Only use it to help us. We don’t even need to use it as an attack. I don’t see why Hunter couldn’t just absorb its energy from your hand.”

  Hunter wanted to retaliate, but, as Sig went on, he found himself agreeing with him more and more. “I can’t argue with that logic. Just please be careful with it, James.”

  James smiled and rubbed the back of his head nervously. “Yeah, playing with the fire wasn’t the smartest idea I’ve had.” He cleared his throat and held out both hands cupped together. Hoping this hand position would give him the best control over the fire. He focused intensely on the center of his hands, forcing small embers to appear that quickly engulfed into a flame. He was right about the extra control; the flame was almost twice as big now. The flames reached nearly a foot above his hands. “Whoa, a little bigger than I expected. I can easily control it, though. Whenever you are ready, Hunter.”

  Hunter held his own hands out towards the flames. He immediately could feel a connection to his being through it. Focusing on that connection, he pulled it into his soul. He let out a startled noise at the power coursing through his veins. “I think that was the perfect amount. I feel like I could run a marathon!” he exclaimed in excitement.

  Without a need to be reminded, he quickly set aside his excitement to focus on a way to get rid of this energy. He took a deep breath and let it out slowly, accidentally releasing the energy with it. His exhale became a shockwave as the air from his lungs mixed with his stored energy. The shockwave flew across the clearing and into the trees, taking various debris and rocks with it. The trees shook so violently that some of their healthy branches broke off completely. “I didn’t mean to do that!” Hunter shouted in shock.

  The rest of the group just cheered out loud. Congratulating him on his progress and hoping to encourage him that he’s not a threat to the team. Even though each member of the group had their own anxieties and worries, Hunter smiled warmly at his friends. Feeling hopeful for the future, but with this being a complete accident, he still had a long way to go before he found a way to release the energy safely.