190 Left Alone

"What is an Esper ability?..."

…

Well, I think that the system called them Esper abilities, but I can assume that not everybody understands the term.

"I mean the superpowers that some people got a couple weeks ago."

"Yeah!! At the blackout right?

"Exactly, the source of the superpowers is the same that provoked the blackout."

"Really? I thought that a nuclear plant exploded or something like that."

"No, it was a comet."

"a comet exploded?"

"No, the comet was the source of the blackout and the powers…"

I thought that this was already common knowledge after all the story already was out there… but now that I think about it this guy is continuously ignored by everyone.

"Stan… how did you end here?"

"I asked for a couple vacations days at work, the first day the blackout happened, I thought that I was unlucky, but since I had to do some repairs on the apartment and paint it, I used my time on that thinking that it was something temporary. Some days later when I was out of beer, I decided to leave the house and go to the supermarket. It was empty and no one was there to ask. I walked for a while looking for another place to buy and ended in the first place that I found with a queue. It was Green Shelter, and they started to talk about someone giving out food."

"So you found a queue and they feed you?"

This guy is lucky… what would have happened if he roamed to a dangerous place? He might have ended in the blood pool by mistake.

"No I didn't have points or something like that, and for some reason, they didn't take my credits either… with the blackout, the bank accounts were frozen or something like that… I had to talk with Stephan Harting, and he told me that to live there I had to work. Since I already worked as a guard I told him that I had to think about it, I mean I had to be sure if leaving my job was worth it. he didn't seem to mind it as he was busy at the time."

"Wait at that time you didn't notice?"

"I discovered that the clothing store was closed a little later. So without that many options left I took that job…"

"You used to work as a guard on a clothing store?"

"Yep, I'm gonna tell you don't think that it was easy until you see it on the black weekend, those girls are crazy… anyway, I told him that when the power comes back, he had to pay me with real money though… he gave me a weird look and told me that it was going to be discussed later and that someone was going to call me for a staff meeting or something like that."

"Wait you never got informed about all this?"

"About what?... Wait don't tell me that I miss the meeting again? Those memos keep disappearing men!!!"

"…"

This is just … sad.

I did my best to explain him the situation, the guy was kind of an idiot, so I had moments where it was complicated to tell what happened, and I didn't plan to talk about the theories we developed about the source of our powers.

"So… we are in an "Overpowered" meets "After The End" kind of world?"

Overpowered is a mobile game that has been popular in the last years, in there your character commands a group of superheroes into saving the world from destruction.

After the end was a movie about ten years old, after a nuclear war the human race was almost extinct, the story follows a group of survivors in a little town.

"Something like that."

"So we are the protagonist?"

…

"Sure…"

"So what are our superpowers?"

"… I just told you, you can't be targeted by abilities."

"Right… and what does it means?"

"That people can't use their abilities on you from far away."

"is that why you were trying to kick my ass? And here I thought you were mad about what I said of Rose."

"Both… I got mad, and when I used an ability on you, it didn't work."

"What can you do with your power?"

It was clear that he didn't want me to attack him again, so he changed the topic. Even if the question seemed to be simple I didn't know how to answer, my time control is known, so there is no harm telling that to him, but how do I explain the whistle?

"I have some degree of time control."

"So that's how you healed me?"

"Yes."

"What are we doing here?"

There was no use on hiding all of it… he was going to stay here anyway, and now I was quite curious about the limits of his power. He was only going to get more annoying with the time if I don't tell him and there was no harm to it anyway.

"Did you see the beast that attacked?"

"Yes, we repelled them, you came for that?"

"You can say that one of the reasons is that. The number of beast attacking will grow, and I don't want the people on Green Shelter to get tired too soon. I'm also using this chance to test something."

"Is that whistle?"

"Yes, but I can't give you too many details."

"Ok, no problem, to be honest, there are a lot of things that I get now, I wish I didn't miss the staff meeting, I would have known this if I didn't miss them…So what now you already tried your whistle and it worked fine right? should we go back?"

I had no idea how much time was going to take for the next wave to appear, but I couldn't leave. I wonder what would happen if I go take a look at the situation, I should be able to escape without any problems.

'Dante, I want to take a look at what is happening at the swamp.'

'Don't you want me to go with you? It would be safer.'

'I prefer if you stay here, I want you in Green Shelter Range, so I know what is happening there, but I want you to be ready in the next wave of the swamp beast appears.'

'Ok, I'll go over there to take a nap…'

"You can go back if you want, I'll go a little deeper, I need to know what is happening in the swamp."

"Let's go…"

"You know that is dangerous right?"

"For you, I'm immune!!!"

"You get that if one of the poisonous snakes bites you, you're done right?"

"But you said that that they can't use abilities on me!"

"Biting and poisoning you is not a special ability, I could punch you without a problem right?"

"Right… well, they will most likely not attack me unless I do something to them first, so it's more dangerous for you."

I'm not sure if his ability is a blessing or a curse…

"You can come if you want just don't provoke them or make any loud noises."

"Ok, but first please can you tell me one last thing?"

After all, I told him he probably is filled with questions.

"Okay, what… doubts you have."

"Tell me Hayley's romantic situation."

… I feel like someone just took advantage of me to get information entirely unrelated, but I already told him that I was gonna do it and it would be weird if I ignore him now.

Should I lie to him and tell she has a boyfriend so he doesn't bother her?

But now that I think of it…I actually don't know… we ended our relationship a year ago, it wouldn't be weird if she met and dated someone even if it's nothing official. I know that I went on a couple of dates too during this time. With the situation, it would be weird for her to tell me.

'She isn't seeing anyone~.'

'Really?'

'Yep~ She… already has someone she is interested in~.'

I should tell him that then… it's not like I oppose Hayley finding someone… but it can't be Stan, Hayley deserves a lot better.

"To be honest,, I haven't talked with her about it… as far as I know, she doesn't have a boyfriend right now. But I think she has her eyes on someone."

"Everybody knows that I just wanted to confirm it."

"Wait… what?"

"Everybody knows that she is already interested in someone, some people think that they are together I wanted to confirm if it was like that or not… this direction right?"

And then he started walking… he must feel nice being the one ignoring someone for once.