I don’t remember waking up. Everyone is here, though. In my room. But it’s bigger, much bigger. It feels more like a void than a room. I slowly sit up, and try to figure out what’s happening. Xia fends off six different men, all having a weapon. Blood is everywhere. Lucas has three of them on himself, and he seems to be on the brink of death. My expression twists into one of pure horror.

  Remi’s on the ground already, and her eyes hold no life. Just like…

  Oh my god.

  Tears fill my eyes as I look to my right. Heki. It’s undeniably him, I know it. But he’s so different. His arm is replaced with a metal one, and in his eye sockets is an endless void. One that holds many secrets.

  ‘Join us, Tomi,’ Heki’s voice echoes off the walls, blending in seamlessly with the screams and grunts surrounding me.

  ‘They’ll find you eventually. Why not surrender now?’

  My hands go to my hair, tugging at the strands. I let out a bloodcurdling scream.

  Heki reaches out for my shoulder, before I sit up with a start.

  Remi. It’s just Remi. She has my shoulder. Not… whatever the hell that was. That creature was not Heki. Not Heki.

  My clothes are soaked in what feels like sweat.

  ‘Holy shit, Tomi–are you okay?!’ Remi exclaims, shaking my shoulder in her grasp.

  I hyperventilate for a few more seconds. I turn to look at Remi. She’s the same. Not dead. Her eyes actually have life. Hazel, round, and soft. A soft breath leaves me.

  I suddenly snatch her up without warning and wrap her in the tightest hug I can possibly muster. She taps my back with urgency.

  ‘Can’t breathe–let go–’ She taps it faster.

  I reluctantly loosen my grip, but never in my life could I let go. Not for now.

  ‘My god… what happened?’ Remi whispers between breaths. I must’ve really squeezed her to death.

  I simply shake my head. I can’t talk about it right now. I need to make sure everyone is okay. Well, maybe I don’t care about Lucas as much.

  That’s sick. That’s not good, Tomi. Get a grip.

  ‘Is everyone okay?’ I look directly into Remi’s eyes.

  ‘Uh, yeah. Of course.’

  ‘Are you sure?’ I shake her.

  ‘Woah. Yes, I’m sure. What happened?’ She repeats.

  ‘Nightmare,’ I say curtly.

  ‘Must’ve been bad,’ Remi rubs my back in soothing circles, and I continue to cling to her.

  I’m just glad she isn’t dead. I can’t lose someone as important as him again. I feel around in the dim light for my phone, and eventually lay my hand on the metal rectangle. I check the time. 10AM!?

  Wow. I slept in really bad.

  I fully let go of Remi, although with reluctance.

  ‘And everyone else is okay, right?’ I can’t help but ask again, ‘even Lucas?’

  ‘Even Lucas,’ Remi affirms, and shakes my shoulder a bit. That seems to snap me out of it, at least I think it does.

  ‘What all have I missed toda–’ I’m cut off by a siren blaring through the room. My hands shoot to my ears. Remi winces.

  ‘What the hell–’ I strain, pulling my knees up to my chest.

  ‘No idea. I’m going to go check it out,’ she starts to get up from the bed. I pull her back down with a firm tug.

  ‘Absolutely not. What if there’s an intruder out there? Coming for me? I’m not risking you getting kidnapped, Remi,’ I lecture her, poking her between every other word.

  ‘I’ll be fine, plus…’ Remi’s voice trails off, until she pulls something from her bag. A pistol, from what I see in the lack of light. I seriously need to turn the head light on.

  I groan, before rising from the bed and turning on the light. My eyes didn’t deceive me. Remi Bannerman, the sweet, innocent, most loving girl I’ve ever seen, now owns a gun.

  ‘You’re kidding,’ I start, voice raising ever so slightly, ‘did Xia give that to you? Do you even know how to use it?’ I ramble, hands flying everywhere all at once. This is not something I had ever expected.

  ‘Of course. It’s actually sorta simple,’ Remi shrugs.

  Before I have any time to get a word in over the blare of the alarm, Remi’s out the door.

  Goddamnit!

  I look to the ceiling, the white, bare ceiling. Above that, somewhere, is a deity. Maybe more than one. At least one of them should deign to answer my call. At least one. Tears prick my eyes as I clap my hands together. I bow my head, eyes shutting tight. Three tears fall: one from the left, two from the right.

  Whoever is listening out there, whether you be from the Greeks, the Norse, the Egyptians, or even one of the Monotheistic gods. Hear my plea. I can’t lose another person so dear to me. Not again. Please, keep her safe.

  I finish my prayer, more like my plea, and glance towards the door. I could go out there. The alarm has stopped, after all. Maybe the threat has been taken care of?

  I spoke too soon.

  A bloodcurdling scream echoes onto the door. I bolt up and out of the bed immediately, eyes blown wide. Who was that?

  I don’t recognize it, but it definitely sounded feminine. Before the rational side of my brain has time to convince me otherwise, I’m out the door.

  Outside my room, the lights have gone completely dark. I can hear grunting, and metal beating into flesh, though. There should be a light switch about three feet to the right of my door. I just have to find it…

  I feel around for a lump in the wall. There. I push the light, and my eyes are bombarded with the fluorescent lights.

  Red. It’s everywhere. My blood runs cold. Who’s blood is this? I clench my fists, in case of an attacker. I start to walk, then run through the hallways. The first person I see is Xia. She’s taking on three men, all of which are screaming something about “handing her over”. I immediately assume they’re talking about me. I pull up the hood of my black hoodie and attempt to sneak past them. The closer I get to them, the faster my heart pumps. My body tingles. If my heart doesn’t slow down, I could faint.

  I somehow manage to sneak past them. Thank god. This is almost similar to my nightmare in a way. Further down the hallway, five men. Someone seems to be in the middle of them, but I can’t quite see who it is.

  Lucas.

  I walk on the balls of my feet to remain quiet. I spot a tuft of brown hair flying above the men, followed by the rest of his body. Holy shit. He’s completely okay, if anything, he’s kicking their asses.

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  Lucas’ foot flies into one man’s face, knocking him out instantly. The sickening crack from that man’s face makes me wince involuntarily. Damn. Two of the men spot me. Shit. Shit shit shit–

  ‘Wait–is that the girl?’ The first man murmurs to the other. The other’s eyes widen as he looks over me.

  ‘Could be. Boss-man said she’s Japanese, looks a lot like that other guy…’ he lunges for me.

  I let out a high pitched yelp. I didn’t even know I was capable of that frequency. I turn the other way, ready to bolt. The other men completely ignore Lucas now. They’ve found their target, I believe.

  And that’s unfortunately me.

  “Now, this is only a theory, but it’s said that to activate that gene, the person must have something that makes them completely snap. The way that the VEA has been able to do that so far is through brutal torture.”

  Lucas’ words flash through my head. These men. They likely work for the VEA. They’re coming for me. To torture me. To ruin my life.

  Just like they did to Heki.

  I spin around in an instant. The two in the front suddenly seem a lot more hesitant. I must look pretty deranged, eh?

  I charge at them instead.

  ‘Oh shit–’ the first man immediately grabs my head and slams me down. I let out a scream of pain. My hair!

  My face hits the concrete floor, and it hits it hard. My wrists are forcefully tugged behind my back.

  ‘Come on, sweetheart, don’t make this too hard,’ the one restraining me whispers in my ear.

  No. Hell no. I tug against him even harder than I was before. I am not letting this happen to me.

  As I tug, the grip he has on my wrists loosens. Am I actually getting free? It is loosening at a very quick rate though.

  As I free myself, I realize exactly why that grip was loosened so fast.

  Lucas had strangled the guy to the point of unconsciousness. The other four have met the same fate already. He offers his hand to me, and after a few seconds of consideration, and mild pouting, I take it. I guess I must swallow my pride for now, since he saved my ass. No matter how much I hate him.

  ‘Are you okay?’ Lucas asks, glancing behind me in horror.

  ‘I’m okay, yeah,’ I follow his gaze. Xia is struggling like hell against those guys.

  I have to help her. I start to move, before Lucas grabs both of my arms and locks them in place.

  'Absolutely not. She’ll be fine, just watch,’ Lucas whispers.

  Xia suddenly leaps back and takes out a syringe. She jabs it directly into her neck, causing both of us spectators to visibly wince. That looks like it hurts.

  The second the syringe is jabbed, a green glow spreads through her in a lightning shaped pattern, until what I can only imagine as all of her veins glowing that unnatural green.

  ‘Liquid vistite,’ Lucas elaborates quickly, gesturing to the glow.

  I can feel the energy from here. It's strong. Strong enough to where Xia is taking the guys down effortlessly. I can't help but whistle.

  ‘How did you get vistite in liquid form? Isn't it similar to light?’ I raise an eyebrow as the last man goes down. Holy shit.

  The glow fades, and Xia simply dusts her hands off like nothing happened.

  ‘Not really. It's similar to light in a way that it can be given in radiation, but it's a gas of sorts,’ Lucas shrugs and lets me go.

  ‘Hm. Okay,’ I nod.

  Another scream. It could only be two people. It's lower pitched, so I think it could be Finn.

  Dear god, I hope he's alright.

  I speedwalk down the hallway, and Lucas catches up to me.

  ‘I know I can’t stop you, but you seriously think you can fight anybody without a weapon?’ he crosses his arms, ‘you’re probably 110 pounds soaking wet. You couldn’t do shit. Here,’ he throws me two brass knuckles.

  Sweet! I was thinking about these!

  I slide my fingers into the metal holes. It’s cold, yes, but a warm feeling spreads through me. I believe the feeling is called freedom.

  I fake a few punches, just to get a feel for them. The metal is heavy on my hand. Well, of course it is, it’s metal after all. I guess I have to go kick ass now.

  A grin spreads across my face as I continue through the hallways. That grin quickly fades. Another cry bounces off the walls. I stop for a moment, just listening. Where did it echo from? More grunting. I’m able to pinpoint the location now.

  Those fuckers have no idea what’s coming for them.

  Near the training room, with the nasty punching bags, I spot the culprit of the cries. Finn has somehow managed to almost shatter a perpetrator’s arm. The shoulder just hangs there, like jello. It wobbles around as the man tries, and fails, to fight back.

  Holy. Fucking. Shit.

  I’m starting to get a little warm watching this…

  A wild, nearly animalistic look sparks in Finn’s eyes. What the hell could’ve caused this–

  Oh.

  My hand shakes as it covers my mouth.

  No. No no no no no.

  Every organ in my body wrings themselves out. Like damn sponges. This cannot be happening.

  Just like the nightmare.

  No no no no–

  I’m at her side in an instant, and I collapse to meet her eyes. They still have a twinkle of life, but it flickers.

  ‘Remi, no. Please…’ my voice shatters as I take her hand. I scan the rest of her body to find the injuries.

  I make sure Finn isn’t looking, and I pull up her shirt. Three bullet holes through her stomach. Oh my god.

  Tears fall from my eyes like bombs, exploding onto my shirt.

  I tear off a piece of my own shirt and push it to the wounds. It probably won’t stop the bleeding, but it’s worth a shot.

  ‘I tried… they took my gun and shot me with it…’ tears fall from Remi’s eyes as well. Red. I wipe a couple from her eyes, watching the red stain my fingers.

  ‘Did you get a few of them?’ My hand tightens around hers.

  ‘Mhm… Xia would be proud, I think,’ her eyes unfocus, and refocus back on me.

  ‘She would be. One hundred percent,’ I nod firmly.

  She winces, a soft whimper leaving her lips. Her time is almost up, I can feel it. As much as it pains me, she must have a few last wishes.

  ‘Any last–’ I can’t get the next word out. My soul can’t seem to fathom that she’s going.

  ‘Of course. Come here…’ Remi rasps out. I lean closer.

  ‘Yes? Anything.’ I promise.

  ‘Meet me up in heaven, okay?’ I can hardly make out what she’s saying. It takes me a few seconds to process.

  …

  ‘Okay,’ I nod once more. I can’t see anymore, with all of this damn water in my eyes.

  Her hand starts to drop in temperature. Oh no.

  I remain there for what feels like eternity. Until her hand is cold. Like the metal on my knuckles.

  I slowly turn to Finn, who has just finished utterly mutilating that man.

  ‘She’s…’ I can’t even finish my sentence before a cry leaves my lips. It destroys my throat instantly, and reverberates off of the walls.

  She has to still be alive. No. She can’t leave me like this.

  ‘Remi, come on, come back, please,’ I bang gently on her heart. CPR won’t save her, though.

  Tears glisten Finn’s eyes. The ice is slowly melting as he collapses across from me.

  ‘I didn’t know her for very long, but I know that she didn’t deserve this,’ he gestures to her body in sheer anger. An anger I’d never expect from a puppy boy like him.

  Wait. Lucas was right. Finn is a puppy boy.

  My thoughts focus back onto the anguish once Remi comes back into my sight.

  ‘Remi, come on, wake up!’ My voice is hoarse. That doesn’t stop me, though.

  ‘Wake up!’ I screech. More running behind me. At this point, I don’t care if they take me. If they end up killing me, it beats having to live in a world without Remi.

  I might not be able to follow Remi’s last wish. After what I’m going to do, there will be no place in heaven, nor hell for me.

  Every being is going to have to come together to find a place to hold me.

  I stand, although with a wobble. I take the gun from the man’s broken wrist, and start walking. Everything is tinted maroon.

  I point the gun at a random man, looking like he’s lost. I pull the trigger. With a bang, the bullet goes right through his eye, and he falls to the ground in an instant. As I walk past him, I jam my foot right into his chest, causing blood to spill from his already blue-ing lips.

  Another one down. I shoot this one in the heart. I kneel in front of him, and gently reach in and grab his eyeball, giving it a firm tug. Wow. The iris is similar to Finn’s. Pretty. A shame I have to pop it though. I squeeze it until it pops like a water balloon.

  Five men on me in an instant. Three tackle me down, while the others yank the gun out of my hands. The one that holds the gun stares at me in pure horror. I give him the nastiest glare I’ve given in my lifetime.

  ‘Hell no. We need’a knock her out–’ One of the men mutters, while another chops my neck. It fails.

  ‘Aim a little lower, maybe then you can be useful for once in your life,’ I retort, tone cold as liquid nitrogen.

  ‘Bitch,’ the man starts, before another one cuts him off.

  ‘Just shut up and knock her out. We’ll deal with her accordingly once we get back to base.’

  ‘Ugh. Fine…’

  That’s the last thing I hear before my vision darkens.

  I swear, Remi, you’ll find a way to come back. Whether that be in spirit or in body. I will make it happen. I don’t care if it’s impossible.

  I swear it.