4 Chapter 4

Luke blinked as he looked at the world around him, his head still locked in a sense of shock. A pounding headache knocked against him, and small bruises and cuts plagued his body, continuously aching. The warm water of the pool made all of his clothes damp, embracing him like a lover embraces a long lost partner.

In the background, screams and gunshots continued to echo out. Loud, animalistic roars also sounded, as if lions or some type of fierce beasts had escaped from a zoo, and were going on a rampage.

From Lauren dying right in front of him, to the huge explosion that knocked him down, to waking up to a feeling of drowning, to yet another explosion, an overwhelming feeling of disorientation swept over Luke, crashing down upon him.

The day had started just like any other day. In fact, it had been a day brimming with hope. He hadn't figured out a lot of things, but he still was looking forward to the future. He was so close to achieving some of his biggest goals in life, graduating from college, getting a high paying job, hopefully finding a wife and raising a family. Even adopting and helping out at the orphanage he grew up in, giving back to those that gave him everything.

And now everything seemed like it was falling apart.

As he blinked, his vision blurring, he wanted nothing more than to vanish, to disappear, to get away from this chaos and abnormality. He hated this, he hated everything about this. An irrational hatred swept across his mind as he began to tremble, shivering uncontrollably.

The world around Luke began to distort.

Strange blue lines appeared, bending in the air in random directions. Hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of these strange lines appeared in his vision, leading off into random directions.

Luke's hand trembled as he raised it, and touched one of these brief lines.

He looked up, just as his hand rested on this pale blue line, his eyes full of desperation, sadness, and anger.

The last thing he saw was his best friend, Kyle, reaching out his hand towards him with concern in his eyes.

And then Luke vanished.

— — -

"Luke? Luke are you alright?" Kyle knelt down next to the pool, looking at his stunned best friend. Luke's face was a sickly color, as if he was feeling unwell. The damage from the fight as well as the shock from everything seemed like it had taken a toll on him.

He reached out with his right hand, attempting to drag Luke up and help him recover.

Luke looked up at Kyle, a strange, desperate look in his eyes, as he reached his hand out.

And then, without a word, Luke's body shimmered for the briefest instant before disappearing completely from Kyle's vision. A small clapping sound rang out as air and water rushed in to fill the space Luke had been standing at.

"What?!" Kyle stood up, blinking furiously. He looked at the spot where Luke had been standing, and then spun around, looking around the backyard.

"Luke?! Luke! Where are you?!" His heart dropped, worry filling him as he scrambled about, looking everywhere.

"LUKE?!" He yelled out loud, his eyes searching.

He was met with no response. Only the sounds of screaming and fighting in the background, and the occasional gunshot. He rubbed at his temples, frustration overwhelming him.

"Fuck. FUCK!" Kyle picked up one of the scraps of the fence that had been destroyed, throwing it to the side brutally, watching it collapse into a few other pieces. His hands trembled for a brief moment as he struggled to regain control of his feelings.

"Fuck. I'm sorry, Luke." He took several deep breaths, his eyes once more turning cool. He folded his hands together and took one last glance around before walking into the house, his mind racing as he tried to figure out what to do.

He felt at his back pocket, pulling out his phone. He frowned and then sighed with frustration as he looked at it. The front screen was cracked, and badly, leaving nothing visible. He clicked it, noting that it still powered on. He would need to carefully remove and replace the screen if he wanted to use this phone again.

The back portion of the house was partially destroyed, the shockwaves from the explosions damaging a large portion of it. Kyle climbed through the rubble, however, hearing discussion going on inside.

"What the hell is happening, oh my god."

"Did you call the police? I can't get through."

"My phone was still working but isn't anymore! I managed to get through to my sister! I couldn't get through to the police either."

"Was there a terrorist attack?"

A deluge of voices swept over Kyle as he moved into the home. He was greeted with two dozen nervous looking college students, half of them covered in cuts or bruises. They were clustered into two groups, talking aloud.

As he entered, they all turned to look at him, some of them stepping backwards in fear. Kyle held his hands up in an unassuming pose.

"Do you guys have any idea what's happening?" His voice was calm as he spoke, no trace of his earlier anger or frustration. He winced as he spoke, the adrenaline from the previous fight wearing off. He could distinctly feel the injury on his nose. It didn't feel all the way broken, but it was still sore.

None of those inside responded for a few seconds as they exchanged glances. Most of them shook their heads, and went back to talking.

Kyle shrugged and moved past them, walking towards the first room he had entered. He found it deserted, with several strewn beer bottles or bags of chops lying about.

What he needed right now was information.

The TV in the background was still running. He walked up to it, quickly changing the channel until he found one running a news station. It was the local TV news channel.

"-…Yes I'm getting reports now that the Forbin Supermax facility just to the north has gone into lockdown. Our field agents have also reported wide swathes of chaos and panic sweeping the city, where dangerous outbreaks have occurred, though of what exactly we currently aren't sure. We urge all civilians to please remain calm, and return to your homes until the police can settle things."

A man in a black suit was currently talking to the camera, sitting at a large blue news desk. Behind him was a large screen with the logo of the news station, FN News, running in the background.

A tagline at the bottom of the screen still talked about the three waves of headaches.

As Kyle watched the news, several of the students in the other room filed in, watching the report with him. They all looked at it quietly, pensively.

The man on the screen began to repeat himself, offering up no new information as he urged people to remain calm. Kyle walked up and switched channels, going to the national news channels.

They offered much of the same thing, giving out information about the dangerous outbreaks and urging people to remain calm.

He was in the middle of switching the channel when, abruptly, the tv shut off, as did everything that required energy in the home.

"Damn. Power's out." Darkness swooped in as the night spread its dreary wings. Thankfully, it was a full moon outside, and the stars were bright, so visibility wasn't a major issue. Moonlight drifted in through several of the front windows.

That didn't stop several of the students from screaming, though, and panicking together in a group.

Kyle saw this and, for a split second, felt an urge to group together. However, his more calculating side immediately rejected this idea, and left the house without even asking anyone else's names.

He walked out into the night, looking up and down the neighborhood street. A rare moment of calm had embraced the night, screams and yelling fading to just a faint murmur, the gunshots vanishing. In the distance, he saw several dim red glows lighting up the night. Fires of some sort.

He saw several figures moving about in the night, some running to cars, others milling in front of homes. Most people seemed to have fled inside from the sidewalks, scared off by the gunshots and screams in the background. For right now, the street was peaceful. Faintly, he heard a few speakers still blaring out music, only now remembering there was supposed to be a large scale college party going on right here.

He quickly began to think.

"Okay. I need to contact my parents. I need to find Luke. I need to get somewhere safe and find out what is going on." His mind raced ahead of him as he planned.

"I seemed to have gained some type of superpower. Other people seem to be gaining a type of power too, but not everyone." He muttered, considering the people inside the house. None of them seemed to exhibit any sort of strange power. It was possible they were hiding it or hadn't awakened it. He needed more information.

"Not everyone seems to be able to handle their power. That man with the cracked red orbs was crazy, killing and attacking randomly. The man who's spikes killed Lauren unleashed them in a moment of rage, and not entirely in control." He held up his hands, looking at them. A white sheen of light embraced Kyle once more as he mentally activated his power, feeling the layer of dim, semitransparent light cover him.

"I don't seem to have any issues with mine." He took a moment as he rubbed his temples.

"None of this makes any sense. The laws of physics are absolutely being broken in disgusting ways here. I am clearly missing several pieces of this puzzle." He sighed, putting that off to the side. His mind wavered for a brief second as panic and fear tried to rush in before he crushed those feelings with an iron grip, ruthlessly suppressing them.

"Luke's vanished, I can't use my phone and if things continue to spiral this way, mobile phones themselves will probably become inoperable. Right now I need to prepare for the worst." His focus clear, Kyle left the front porch and began jogging down the street, moving towards where he had parked his car. He had parked quite a distance away from the house due to the crowded party. All the closer spots had been taken.

As he ran down the street, turning a corner, he heard a large, bestial snarl from up ahead. This was followed by several yells, and a loud, swishing noise.

This part of the neighborhood was like the other parts. Large, white, green or blue houses with small grass yards decorated each side of the street. A large number of cars were parked on both sides of the street as well, cramping the road. A few stray trees could be seen in some yards, a picturesque neighborhood.

Kyle ducked down as he turned the corner, leaning against a large yellow house as he looked out at the scene before him, shocked once more.

A group of four guys and two girls were standing nearby, hiding behind several parked cars. Even in the dark, Kyle could make out their fear-filled expressions as they froze, making no movements against the cars they hid behind.

Meanwhile, in the center of the street, the wreckage of several smashed cars was strewn about, scattered on the ground.

Standing in the midst of that wreckage was a massive, twelve and a half feet tall, brown skinned deer. A huge pair of brown antlers gleamed as its abnormally large muscles bulged. Blood dripped out of the huge deer's mouth as it snarled again, giving off a bestial, crazed aura.

Standing just a few meters away from that deer was a person dressed in a pair of baggy brown cargo shorts and a green t-shirt. From the back all Kyle could make out was his short blonde hair.

Floating above the man was a white, glowing blade that gleamed silently in the night. The man gestured at the blade of light as the massive, monstrous deer let out another bestial roar, and charged forward.

"Die monster!"

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