3 Chapter 3

"LAUREN! LAUREN STAY WITH ME!" Luke's voice trembled as he held Lauren up, his hands shaking. She couldn't rest all the way on the ground due to the spikes that had pierced her chest.

"Hu…huh…." Lauren let out a few gasps before shaking briefly, and then falling still. Blood rapidly pooled out of her lips, and her body relaxed downward, no longer breathing.

A second explosion nearby shook the air once again, this time much closer, only a few houses down. More gunshots rang out in the distance.

Kyle watched all of this while feeling oddly detached. Most of the students in the backyard had already fled inside or off the deck area. Bright lights began to flash in the distance, and the sounds of sirens started blaring in the background. Someone had damaged or broken the music system, for the country music ringing out was oddly distorted. Everything felt surreal.

Luke knelt on the floor of the dance area, his eyes red as he looked at Lauren's body.

"She's dead…" Luke whispered, his voice filled with quiet shock.

April, Lauren's friend, had long since fled, as had the attacker. By the time Kyle came to, his mind overcoming the mental surprise, only he and Luke were left in the backyard.

"Luke I…" He began, walking up to his friend.

*BOOM*

Just as he was starting to talk, an enormous explosion blasted out next to them. The shockwaves slammed into Kyle, knocking him into Luke, and throwing both of them down on the hard wooden deck.

His face slammed into the floor, knocking him dizzy. He felt blood start to gush from his nose as he scrambled on the ground, trying to get steady.

The left side of the backyard was completely devastated. The wooden fence that ran all around the backyard was completely demolished, small sparks and embers smoldering. Scraps of wood shrapnel, dirt, and shattered glass from the house behind them pelted the ground, starting to rain down as the billowing smoke from the explosion settled.

From the area of the explosion that had just happened, a gaunt figure emerged. A man with short brown hair, shirtless and wearing scraps of jeans that were badly burnt and torn walked through the smoky ground. His eyes were dim and clouded with an insane light as he looked around the backyard, his hands trembling. He stood roughly the same height as Kyle, at six feet exactly.

The air around the man's hands trembled as he glared at them.

"I didn't touch her… I didn't touch her… I DIDN'T TOUCH HER!" He muttered, his voice alternating pitches. A red light slowly began to form in the palm of the man's right hand. A cracked red orb began to appear in the air just a few inches above his hand.

"His mind is broken." Kyle's eyes were cool and calm as he forced himself to stand, ignoring his injured nose. His heart pounded as he finished stumbling to his feet, his eyes darting around the backyard.

Luke lay on the ground groaning. Lauren's body had been knocked away, and lay still several meters behind them, a small pool of blood spreading out. Discarded beer bottles, plates of food, spikes of wood, and trash littered the yard, the impact from the explosion scattering debris and garbage everywhere.

His eyes landed on the pool.

"I DID NOT TOUCH HER!" The crazed man growled out loud and then winded his arm back, beginning to throw the cracked red orb.

"Damn." Kyle didn't have enough time.

The pool was just a few meters away.

Kyle lurched down and half picked up, half slammed into Luke's body. He then hurled the confused Luke into the direction of the pool, falling backwards as he did so. It was much harder to throw a human that he realized, he noticed instantly, barely having the strength to actually hurl Luke away.

*Splash*

Luke fell into the pool, becoming submerged. He gurgled as he fell into the water, just now recovering his sense of his surroundings.

At the same time, Kyle fell backwards on the ground, staring at the cracked red orb that was about to land, just a half meter away from him.

If he had chosen to run directly to the pool, he would have been able to save himself. But by doing so, he would have left Luke to die. There was no way he could pick Luke up and at the same time run to the pool, not in the limited time frame he had.

He simply did not have enough time.

The world around Kyle felt as if it was flowing in slow motion as that small, cracked red orb began to collide with the ground. Bright red beams of light began to quiver in the air as it hit, blinding him.

"Am I really going to die here?" Kyle thought, closing his eyes. A rush of emotions overwhelmed him in a split second. Irritation, frustration, loss, fear, worry, anger, and finally acceptance. It seemed he would never get to answer the questions he had. About how this all was even possible, about what the hell was going on, why this all started.

That pale red orb collided with the ground and exploded. Rippling red force waves blasted into the backyard once more, throwing up a cloud of dust, smoke, and what was left of the wooden deck beneath Kyle's feet.

An instant before this happened, when Kyle's felt his head abruptly grow warm. An overwhelming feeling of comfortableness overtook him as the red orb exploded, as if a warm blanket was being drawn across his body, covering him safely.

A very thin, semi-transparent layer of white light covered Kyle just before the orb exploded.

*BOOOOOOM*

The sound of the explosion was deafening, sending shockwaves across the backyard. The wooden deck exploded, as did the back portion of the house. The windows of the house that had survived the first explosion shattered at this closer, second explosion, sending shards of glass into the home.

Luke, under the cover of the submerged water, dodged the majority of the blast. Any shockwaves that spread were greatly mitigated by the pool, protecting him. He resurfaced a few seconds after the explosion, gasping for breath.

The gaunt figure continued to mutter insanely, taking notice of Luke who was splashing in the pool and blearily eyeing his surroundings, trying to understand what was happening.

"I did not-" The gaunt figure paused, and then turned to look back at the spot where the previous red orb had exploded, his eyes confused even in the midst of his insanity.

The smoke cleared.

Revealing a perfectly unharmed figure of Kyle. Even his dark blue jeans and long sleeved white shirt remained untouched and unmarred, save for the dirt and marks he had picked up earlier when he fell to the ground.

Kyle stared back at the gaunt figure, and then at his hands, looking at the glowing, transparent white layer of… something that covered him.

"I… absorbed the impact of that explosion?" Kyle felt an innate connection to this white layer of energy that covered him. Within that white layer, he felt a boiling ball of energy. He had absorbed all parts of the explosion that would have harmed him, perfectly transferring it into this white layer that surrounded him.

As he looked at his arms in awe, he realized a second thing.

Not only had he absorbed the impact, he could also release the impact he had absorbed. Somehow, he instinctively knew this. He flexed his hand, feeling an inherent power resting. He had gained some type of superpower.

"Wha-what?! How did you survive?!" The gaunt man looked at Kyle suspiciously, before starting to yell once more.

"I already told you I DID NOT TOUCH HER!" He raised both his arms threateningly, a red aura once more starting to form, this time one in each hand. A bit of drool dripped down the gaunt man's face, his eyes mad.

Kyle's eyes narrowed. Immediately he launched himself forward, running towards the gaunt man. As he did so, he felt the white layer stay with him, a protective shield. His feet quickly covered the distance between them, crossing the devastated backyard in seconds. His lungs pounded as he sprinted, his adrenaline rushing.

"No… NO! DIE! DIE! DIE!" The gaunt man screamed at Kyle as he saw him charge, throwing two red orbs at Kyle.

Kyle raised his hands in front of his face instinctively.

A split second later, the red orbs directly collided with his arms and chest, detonating.

*BOOOOOOOOM*

Both red orbs exploded at the same instant, sending out an extremely powerful shockwave. Luke, sitting around twenty meters away in the pool, was saved from the brunt of it, thanks to the distance and the fact that he was still in the pool. However, he was still forced to cover his ears, yelling in pain as the explosion shook the air.

The gaunt man was also knocked backwards, the explosion sending him flying due to the proximity. He landed amid the ruins of the backyard fence, random dirt and trash raining down all around.

Blood dripped out of the shocked eyes and ears of the gaunt man. He had set the two explosions far too close to where he had been standing. The shockwaves from the explosions alone had destroyed his brain, instantly killing him. It seemed his power only offered him offensive strength, and nothing defensive.

Smoke and dirt formed a small plume in the air, covered the spot where Kyle had been.

Just a second after the impact, however, a figure emerged from the plume of smoke.

Kyle, once more. Completely unharmed.

This time smiling, coldly.

Inside his mind, he was calmly analyzing the situation and the power he had gained.

The white layer of energy completely protected him from the explosion of the two orbs. As it did so, however, Kyle felt a certain strain on his body, as if the white layer wouldn't be able to withstand the impact of anything too much stronger. The feeling of reaching close to the maximum amount of weight one could lift.

It was still fine to carry such an amount, but if one went much higher, it would become dangerous.

The white layer around him protected him from not only the explosion itself, but also the shockwaves, including ones that would normally destroy his hearing. Further, the energy layer wasn't just around him, but also the clothes he wore, and anything he was touching.

Mentally, Kyle was able to feel the stored energy those impacts had left behind.

The impacts of these three explosions were all added together, meaning an extremely large amount of force was stored.

Kyle flexed his hand again, wanting to test how he would release this force. However, he held off on it.

Part of the instinctive knowledge he gained told him that if he wanted to release the energy he had absorbed, he could only release all of it at once. The explosive force from the three explosions he had suffered through was considerable, and he decided he would save the release for now.

He released the white layer of energy covering him, watching the transparent light fade away. His body felt a certain amount of resistance when he covered himself in the white layer. He could leave it on for a while, but it would gradually become more and more straining. It would be better to only activate it when he needed it, or felt unsafe.

The energy from the explosions remained stored, somewhere within him. He couldn't quite explain how it felt, but he knew that the combined impacts were still available for him to release, anytime he wanted.

He turned to look at the dead body of the gaunt man. He shivered slightly as he stared at the unmoving corpse, a sudden feeling of his own mortality and frailty covering him. His eyes turned cold, however, as determination filled him.

He pushed aside the raw feeling of shock at seeing someone die right in front of him. He also pushed aside a sick feeling that started to rise in his stomach at the thought of his hand in causing the gaunt man's death. He would deal with those feelings later.

He took a deep breath, wincing as he felt at his nose. It wasn't broken, but it was still bleeding a bit. The rest of his body still felt comfortable and at ease, the white layer of energy still covering him.

He then turned around, and began jogging towards the pool, calling out,

"Luke? Luke are you alright?"