V1-034

"In a few short minutes, I will release you all from this realm into your new world, where anything is possible if those of you without the viral immunity so wish." Niklaus's head bobbed up and down as he chuckled, sporting an annoying grin that made you want to punch him until it was gone.

"Those infected, I have given you the keys to success; however, it will take time and knowledge if you wish to become the top of the food chain."

"Unfortunately, there is only so much, as one man, I can do, so if you yield to those who are immune, that would be your choice."

"Now then, before I get you all out of here, I have one more thing to explain; upon leaving my Requiem Space, you will have approximately 5 minutes to find someplace comfortable because everyone on the planet will experience a reboot of sorts, in the form of an induced period of sleep."

"Those of you who have been granted access to your inner potential will have to learn how to control your newfound abilities, and as such, during the forced rest, you will experience a tutorial period, where things will be explained but do remember this; nothing is without cost, so tread carefully with the granted knowledge."

"As Sir Isaac Newton stated, there is an equal and opposite reaction for every action, so do bare that in mind before experimenting after the Reboot."

"To even the playing field and not paint an immediate target on those infected, I will be forcing EVERYONE, including those immune to the R-Virus, into my induced sleep, so don't think those of you who missed out due to biology have a free pass to start killing off my beloved chosen."

'Why does he make everything seem like a game?' Renton's voice echoed as if on a microphone into my head, causing me to frown.

'No clue, but at least we know the starting point. When we get out of here and back to Earth, we need to return to the house as soon as possible.'

'Although he can control people, I don't know if the same can be said for the planet or animals.' Ignoring the annoying prattling of the giant head as he continued monologuing about this "Reboot" of his, I responded.

'Hold on; you don't think that animals and such would be infected with the virus, too…do you?' Catching my chain of thought, Renton started panicking as every science fiction movie he had ever watched surfaced in his mind.

Nodding my head slowly, Renton and I fell back into silence as we turned to look at our Dad, who seemed lost in thought, then back up to the floating head. Luckily, while we had our short conversation, Niklaus seemed to have gotten through his boring speech filled with bias and insignificant details.

'I don't know, but I won't leave anything up to chance. If humans aren't the only things affected by the R-Virus, then we have a big problem, and we will need to figure out these so-called abilities quickly, or else we will end up in danger.'

Although I had been speaking to my brother, I was still half paying attention to what the psycho was saying, so I knew I hadn't missed anything important, like confirmation about animals or plants changing, hell the bastard didn't even talk about how long we would be unconscious.

"Anyway, I seem to be losing some of you thanks to my long-winded speech, so with everything said, I take my leave. Welcome to your new life; welcome to my vision for the new world. Welcome…to the Requiem."

With another loud trumpet fanfare, Niklaus began to laugh psychotically, as his massive head faded into obscurity.

With it, the Requiem space shifted like a washing machine before transforming into the same rainbow-colored blinding light which brought us here in the first place, and with that, we were dragged back into our bodies.

Feeling as if I had gotten the absolute shit kicked out of me...I woke up back on my street, lying on the ground and covered in dried blood.

"Ugh…what the *cough* fuck," beside me, I heard Renton's raspy voice as I became faintly aware of his movement.

"Come on, everyone back…*cough*…into the house; there is no time to waste." Before I could say anything, I felt a sudden pull on my arm, causing my eyes to flutter and regain focus as I looked up and saw the haggard face of my Dad while he pulled both Renton and me back to our feet.

Stumbling forward and almost faceplanting on the concrete, I caught myself from falling by grabbing onto the handrail for the stairs leading up to the apartment.

"Come on, we only have less than five minutes," pushing off the railing; I gripped the forearms of both my Dad and brother before guiding them toward the window we had initially left the house through.

With some strained effort, since none of us were in good shape, we made it back into the building before I started piling anything nearby in front of the window, forming a new barricade.

"All three of you look like shit, heh, COUGH, and here I was thinking it was just me." The moment I finished my task and turned around, I saw the weeping sight of Chase and Carleigh sitting beside a bloodied and seemingly beaten-to-hell Tristian, who had been moved to the couch.

Seeing the state of Tristian, I couldn't help but nod mentally before glancing at Chase and his mother, but when I did, my eyes widened, and my pupils constricted.

"Shit…" I muttered under my breath; as much as I would like to assume our physical state meant we weren't immune to the R-Virus, and were part of those obtaining abilities, I couldn't be sure.

Even if I was correct in my assumption, the fact that both Carleigh and Chase were spotless of blood and grime was a bad sign, indicating they were different from the rest of us.

Comparing our states, maybe it was Chase and Carleigh who were infected, and because of the immunity, Tristian, Renton, Dad, and Me were in such a state because our immune systems fought back against the R-virus.

Without hesitation and only pausing to look at Carleigh and the others, Dad quickly ran upstairs and, a minute later, returned with several pillows and blankets before splitting the stacks in half and throwing them at the stunned Renton and me.

"So…uh, Dean…is now a bad time to ask who is infected and whose immune…." Leaning over to me with his arms stuffed with pillows and blankets, Renton cautiously whispered not to draw attention to his statement.

"Ren, I know you're a fucking moron, but read the room for once," I said with a snort before laying everything on the ground and creating three makeshift beds on the floor.

"Hey! Fuck you!" Renton complained as he mimicked my actions, making three more nest-like beds as our Dad returned carrying a bunch of towels and rubbing alcohol.

"Less than three minutes, everyone; hurry up and clean yourselves of blood. I don't want to end up with dirty linens and no way to clean them since the power is out." Dad said as he tossed me a towel and bottle of rubbing alcohol from one of the many first-aid kits in the house.

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