"Okay so first enter into a power stance," I said, demonstrating my own at the same time.

"Okay…" said Blain, getting into an identical power stance, "And this has to be done to make it work?"

"I don't know," I said, "I just know this is what I've done both times. Okay, now close your fists and put them to your waist."

Blain did as I asked. I waited a moment for some jogging teenagers to pass us, then said, "Now you need to think of a time in your life when you wanted to become stronger. For me I used to wish to become stronger for my birthday wishes; I thought about that before I tapped into the coiled state. I'll demonstrate."

I focused, took a deep breath, and then made my wish: I wish to become stronger, I wish to become stronger, I wish to become stronger.

Blain narrowed his eyes as if wondering if I were playing some prank on him. Then, moments later, I felt the sudden tightening all over my body again. It came on strong enough this time to make my whole body tremble as if I had been electrocuted.

"You alright?" said Blain, putting a hand to my shoulder.

"Y-yeah," I said, "It's kind of uncomfortable when it first starts."

I started jogging on the spot to stay above the restless urge to keep moving that riddled my entire body.

"Now you go," I said.

Blain copied what I did. He looked much more the part of someone who had trained their body well enough to unlock a greater inner potential. I found myself smirking because of how fun this all was. In less than a few days I had gone from bored sitting on a sofa late at night watching movies about people thrust into extraordinary situations; and here I was now living one out myself. It also felt good to be able to teach someone else how to do something for a change; especially someone as driven as Blain.

After a few moments of concentration Blain relaxed and stood up.

"Nah," he said, "It ain't working."

"Hold on," I said, "Give it a second."

"I don't feel any-"

Blain's words were cut off by a sudden jolt which spread across his body. I couldn't see a visible difference to his muscles, but I could tell he was experiencing the same kind of coiling as me. His eyes widened with awe and then he started jogging on the spot.

"Woah!" he said, before letting out a loud chuckle, "Yes! I can feel it! I've felt this before!"

Blain's mood soured for a moment as he recollected the last time he felt this coiled up state. I wondered if he had felt it in Lintern's Gym (thus avoiding looking sunburnt) or much earlier when he had put his boxing competitor in the hospital. I hoped one day Blain would tell me about what had happened; it seemed like an interesting story to be told.

"Let's go," said Blain.

He set off and I hurried to keep pace with him. This time Blain maintained a steady lead on me as we moved at a running pace around the exercise area. Neither of us showed any sign of tiring after the first lap, or the second.

"How–does it—feel?" I said, struggling to get the words out between sucking lungfuls of air in and out quickly.

"Like cheating," said Blain, "But it is what it is!"

He pushed himself harder, increasing the distance between us. At his flat out running pace compared to mine in the coiled state I had no hope of keeping up with him. Although this power, whatever it was, that allowed me to enter into the coiled state made it so I could, in a sense, cheat my way into competing with the likes of Blain; if he also tapped into the same power, then his cheating was far greater than mine; or so it seemed.

Blain pushed so far ahead of me that he was on the other side of the exercise area after two more laps. I knew that if I wanted to keep up with him I would need to push this coiled state even harder. I was breathing heavily and sweating and I knew sooner or later I would need to kick off my plimsolls in order to run even faster with more mobility; but the idea of going even deeper into the coiled state scared me. What if I broke my body doing it? What if I tightened my muscles up to a point where they tore apart? That was a common enough thing to happen in anime, and cartoons; pushing past limits. The usual phrase that got said was, 'Using this technique will shorten my lifespan, but I have to go all out, just this once!'

Did I want to risk pushing my body like that? Did I want to risk having a shorter lifespan? I continued running, enjoying the way the still air in the exercise room cooled against my sweaty face and rippled against my overalls as I maintained my speed. My mind was oddly clear despite how hard and fast my body was being pushed. In a way my thoughts were much clearer and more succinct in the coiled state compared to my usual mode of thinking. It was as if the cobwebs had been cleared out of my mind and I was on some kind of drug; something to help me focus and maintain a steady flow-state of thought.

Your recovery is superhuman, I thought to myself. I thought back to how quickly I had recovered after the treadmill torment at Lintern's Gym; how Abigail had told me my body should have died under all the stress it had been under. It occurred to me then that maybe I healed faster when asleep, because that had made a huge difference, potentially, to my recovery. The other side of things was that I had already ran for eight hours straight, though it hadn't felt like it, throughout the previous night. I hadn't felt particularly exhausted or in pain; which meant my body wasn't, as far as I could tell, being damaged by the strain I was putting it under. I had been thirsty, and hungry, and the idea of going to bed was nice, but none of it felt like something I was compelled to do. If my body felt compelled to do anything it was to get running again as soon as possible.

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

I decided it was worth the risk to push my body even harder into the coiled state. I wanted to see how far I could take it. Would it feel even better than it already did? A euphoric glow had taken hold of my body (amid the discomfort of the coiled state that was always there); if I pushed myself even harder would that euphoria increase as well? There was only one way to find out.

Stronger, I thought, I wish to become even stronger!

After a delay of several seconds I felt my body give into the request. This time I couldn't just feel the extra tightening all over my body, I could feel muscles across my body expanding.

Thunk! Thunk! Thunk!

I could almost hear the sound of each muscle expanding and tightening immediately after. It was as if, in a matter of seconds, my body had undergone a physical fitness transformation that would take a year of dedicated exercise to achieve. It felt absolutely incredible.

I thought I had been running before; now I was running. My speed picked up and I ran full tilt, my legs a blur beneath me. I felt like I could catch up to a sprinting leopard and snatch it off the ground; I was moving that fast.

Slap, slap, slap, slap, slap!

My plimsolls were long gone. My bare feet slapped the floor as my coiled state body propelled me forward. This wasn't just a breeze at my back this time, it was a full on tornado. I felt like I was playing one of those arcade games where you ride a motorbike and have to lean left or right whilst steering; having to work with the momentum to stay on track.

The other teenagers in the exercise room became blurs; lost to my periphery. I spotted Blain up ahead - I had closed the distance between us - and soon matched his running speed and moved beyond it. Blain pushed himself harder to keep up with me; we kept side-by-side together, taking a hard left when it came up ahead as if we were Tron Light Cycles.

I was breathing so quickly the joy and laughter; the euphoria of what I was experiencing, could hardly escape my mouth; but the excitement must have been clear to see on my face. Blain was all concentration and sweat as he did his best to keep up with me. Sorry, I thought, you're going to have to do what I've done to keep up.

Understandably Blain didn't seem eager to tap into a deeper coiled state like I had. This was my third time experiencing it (having done so intentionally), whereas this was his first time doing so intentionally (and not unintentionally like the times he had tapped into the coiled state before).

I began to pull ahead, feeling like a cartoon character whose legs were a circular blur; the rooster outrunning the coyote. I managed to pull so far ahead of Blain that he was on the other side of the exercise area, way, way off.

Avoiding the teenagers initially had been a bit troublesome, since they were moving so slow. Now however the exercise area had cleared up, I realised, because the other teenagers had moved off to the side, or had stopped the activity they were doing in the center of the exercise area, in order to watch what Blain and I were doing. Don't stop for too long, I thought, I'm sure a good deal of you are in here because your Meter's are orange.

A familiar voice boomed from the exercise room speakers.

"Burgess O'Bannon and Blain Penniman, cease running and speak with the Pied Piper officers at the exercise area entrance."

It was Abigail's voice.

I kept running. It wasn't that I didn't want to slow down and do as I was told. Instead it was as if the request had been like a barely remembered dream; first coming in strong, but then, after a few moments, it might as well have not been said.

"Cease running or you will be tranquilised," said Abigail's voice, "Final warning."

Really? I thought, Isn't that a bit extreme just because we're running? Guess I better slow down.

The thing was, I didn't slow down. I thought about doing it; I imagined myself stopping and doing as I was told; much in the same way someone can imagine going about their morning routine before work or school only to realise they're still in bed dreaming the whole thing.

Stop running now, I thought to myself; how many times had I thought this? Ten? Twenty? How much time was it that passed since I started running? I looked around for Blain; he had stopped running at some point and was standing alongside the Pied Piper officers by the exercise area entrance.

I reached Blain and the Pied Piper officers; the latter of whom were wielding machine guns; which, on closer inspection as I stopped and ran on the spot at a frantic pace, I could see they had smaller handguns with longer muzzles which were most likely tranquiliser guns.

"Stop running," said one of the Pied Piper officers; he was a middle aged man with blonde hair. He had the tranquiliser handgun pointed at me.

"Okay!" I said, breathlessly.

I wanted to stop. I really did. But I couldn't. Looking around some more I could see the exercise area had been cleared out; it was only the officers and Blain remaining inside. Ah crap, I thought, he's going to shoot me.

"Final warning," said the officer, "Stop. Now."

"I can't!" I said, my voice breaking from the effort to speak.

I couldn't. I really couldn't. I could hardly think about stopping my body from running let alone actually do it.

The Pied Piper officer shot me in the stomach with his tranquiliser gun. It stung something fierce for a moment before a numbness spread throughout my gut then throughout the rest of my body. This was bad news; as numb as my body was getting the coiled up state I was in wasn't relenting. What if I passed out whilst my body remained in this state? Would it tear itself apart?

"No stop!" I said, my thoughts becoming depressed and drowsy, "I can stop, please!"

The Pied Piper officer shot me again. This sped up the already fast acting numbness spreading throughout my body. I knew I had mere moments to undo the coiled state before I passed out.

With an insane amount of mental effort I planted my feet down, forced a power stance, and started to scream as if every bone in my body had been broken.

Power down! Power down! I thought, over and over again. My body relented, my muscles losing the coiled tightness all over.

I didn't remember losing consciousness.