Hawthorne

It had been a day since Jessica and Cole fought the Skorpion Cryptid. Since then, the talk between the two of them had decreased even more. As a matter of fact, it was Cole who was doing most of the talking now. However, he’d only ask Jessica if she needed any water, and most of the time she’d either nod or shake her head rather than speak. Still, with their water amount being limited, it was only a matter of time before they ran out.

“Well, we’re outta water.” Cole announced as he shook the canteen while holding it upside down. “We’re gonna have to walk through the night to get to the next town.” he added. Then, he reached into his pocket and pulled the map out. He’d been marking where he believed they were and his eyes showed his distaste. “Ah, damn it. The next town is Hawthorne. That place sucks.” he groaned.

“Why?” Jessica asked.

“Well… I’ve been there a few times. It’s a town full of Deviants. You’d think that’d be a good thing, but they’re all pieces of shit. They steal, kill, whatever. Nobody cares really. That’s why I don’t go there. We just better be careful.” Cole explained.

“Okay.” Jessica replied before walking past Cole. He stared at her for a moment. He noticed that she hadn’t been like she normally was. Her happy attitude seemed to vanish the same night they killed the Skorpion. He knew it was because of the talk they had. Jessica stopped and turned to him. “Are you coming?” she called in a somewhat impatient tone. Cole didn’t want to upset her anymore, so he decided to leave it. He folded the map before putting it back in his pocket and catching up with Jessica.

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In the late hours of the night, Cole and Jessica finally reached Hawthorne. It wasn’t what Jessica expected in the least. The sands of the desert had actually faded away a few miles back and the place looked like an actual city except most of the buildings were covered in vines and ivy. The streets were torn up and the buildings were all broken, yet some still reached far up into the sky. Despite being well past midnight, people were still walking through the streets.

“Wow…” Jessica spoke in awe as she looked around at the scenery, her gloom now gone.

“What?” Cole questioned.

“I just get surprised whenever I see cities that still look kinda like cities.” she answered as she stopped and stood in place.

“Don’t get used to it. We’re getting water and then we leave.” Cole responded as he walked past her.

“W-Wait! Don’t you think we should stay here for the night? I mean, we need to rest.” she tried. Cole stopped and turned to her in front of an alleyway.

“Look. This ain’t the type of place you wanna-” Cole started until they heard a loud grunt coming from the alley. Cole turned just in time to catch a pipe that was flying toward him. He saw a little girl sitting in the alley with a piece of bread tucked close to her, wearing dark and dirty clothes with a mess of blonde hair on her head, yet deep, brown eyes that were glaring at him. “You motherfucker-” he began as he prepared to throw the pipe back.

“Don’t!” Jessica intervened, holding his right wrist back. Cole looked at her with some anger still in his eyes. “Let’s just go. I don’t think we need any problems.” she reasoned. Cole looked from Jessica back to the girl who was still scowling at him. Cole broke free from her grip and started walking away as he dropped the rod. Jessica smiled at the girl only to be met with a snarl in response. With that, Jessica rushed toward Cole, hugging onto his right arm and causing him to look at her with a mixture of annoyance and confusion. Still, Cole continued down the road with her at his side.

As they went down the street, Cole’s eyes were sharp and narrow as he looked for any potential threats, but Jessica had her usual smile on her face as she gazed straight ahead. Then, she noticed a group of people all gathered around a man with a long, white-beard and a dirty, black, trench coat. He left his jacket open to his bare chest and blue jeans. In addition to that, the man had no footwear of any kind. However, he was holding a sign above his head that had“The Light Shall Come!!” written in black marker.

“It’s coming!! We are the superior gifts of God!! The Light is upon us!!” he cried out, causing the crowd around him to scream as a form of agreement with his words.

“Wh-What are they doing?” Jessica asked.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s just a bunch of dumbfucks trying to argue that we’re better than humans since we have powers. Whether it’s humans who think they’re better or Deviants, it’s all the same stupid shit at this point.” Cole commented. Jessica’s eyes shifted from Cole back to the rally as she looked at them in a sort of horror. They just kept screaming like maniacs as the old man continued to claim their title as the master race.

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A few minutes later, they reached a tavern that had a jagged structure, its wall only going up a few feet on the left and raising to a story’s height on the right. In addition, most of its roof was missing, with the exception of a rigid piece spiking from the right to the middle of the building. Cole opened the door for Jessica and she stepped in. Cole followed and was immediately ran into by a drunken man with long brown hair and dark green beanie on. Without a second thought, Cole grabbed him by the back of his jacket and threw him through the wooden door. People stopped and looked at Cole before they went back to their business. Without looking at Jessica, who was staring at him in a lost sort of surprise, Cole walked past her and sat down at the counter on the other side of the room.

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“Sorry about the door.” he apologized to the man behind the counter.

“Don’t worry about it. I’m surprised the damn thing was around that long anyways. I’m waitin’ for the roof to go next.” the bartender replied as he finished drying a shot glass. After he said that, a piece of the roof chipped off and smashed through a table underneath it. Cole looked from the table to the bartender, his eyebrows raising for a quick second since he could see what the bartender meant.

“I’ll take a shot.” Cole ordered. Then, Jessica sat down next to him. “My friend here’ll just have some water.” he added. The man nodded and set the same glass he just cleaned in front of Cole. He filled it up with liquor and Cole drank it before the man could even reach for Jessica’s glass.

“You drink?” Jessica inquired as the bartender held his finger over Jessica’s glass and sent a small stream of water into it.

“Learned it from my father. He was the best at it, I’ll give’im that.” Cole answered as the man filled his glass again. By now, Jessica was drinking her water and was almost finished with it. “That’s his sweat so ya know.” Cole informed before pounding his shot back. Jessica gagged and covered her mouth as she set the glass down on the counter. “I’m kidding.” he added with a slight smile.

“That was not funny!” Jessica declared. Still, Cole was smiling until three guys came up to them. One of them, a man in a long, brown coat, placed himself in between their seats, blocking Cole from the woman he was escorting while the other two closed her in against the counter. That one had shoulder-length, brown hair and brown eyes. The one behind Jessica was bald with beady, black eyes. He wore a simple tank top with blue jeans and brown boots. Finally, the one on Jessica’s right had blonde hair that spiked into a mohawk. He wore a pair of black sunglasses with piercing in his lips, a black t-shirt and purple pants. “Can I help you?” Jessica asked.

“Actually, you can.” the man with brown hair stated. “Why don’t you, uh, come with us?” he tried as he put his hand on Jessica’s head. Cole looked from the men to the bartender, who took a bottle off of the shelf and gestured at Cole to take it. With that, Cole held the bottle and took a drink from it as a black ring quickly ran from its neck down. “We’re gonna have a good-” he started until the same bottle Cole had smashed against the side of his head. All three of them took a step back as Cole got in front of Jessica, scowling and snarling at all of them as he prepared to fight.

“I’d like to go with them.” Jessica’s flat voice claimed from behind him. Cole’s confusion clearly came over his face before he looked over his right shoulder at her. “I want to go with them.” she added in a monotone voice with a dull expression on her face. Then, she made her way past Cole and to the arm of the man with brown, shaggy hair. That same one grinned at Cole before the whole group turned and left with Jessica. They made it out the door and around the corner as Cole watched him. That was when he noticed it. 'She changed the second he touched her… That's gotta be Telepathy!’ Cole realized. After he pieced it together, Cole immediately chased after them.

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In a nearby alley, the men had Jessica against a wall as she stared blankly in front of her.

“You’re very pretty.” the leader, the dark-haired man complimented. With no reaction, Jessica watched as the shadow of a building morphed behind her. Slowly, quietly, Cole prowled his way from the shade to them. Once he was behind the leader, his dark, right claw ran through the man’s stomach. Cole threw him across the alley before his two accomplices tried to help. First, Cole kicked the blond man back. With the small amount of time he’d created, he slashed the bald man across his chest, causing him to spin while staggering back. In an attempt to retaliate, the hairless man used his right arm to shoot a blast of fire at Cole, who easily side-stepped and dodged it. Continuing his attack, Cole lunged forward and grabbed the man by his wrist before using his free, left hand to slice his arm off. Then, he turned and whipped the arm down the alleyway and right into the blond man’s face. Turning his assault back to the Flame Deviant, Cole’s right claws ripped the man from his left shoulder to the right side of his ribcage. Following that, Cole dragged his left claws up his victim’s stomach and out his chest before shoving him toward the wall on Cole’s right. The Deviant unwillingly stumbled back toward Cole only to be stabbed through his chest by Cole’s right hand. Cole lifted the man up while turning and tossed him into his leader, who was trying to get to Cole at that time.

Next up, Cole set his ferocious sights on the person with the mohawk. Immediately, the thug formed a spear of ice in his right hand and went to knock the left side of Cole’s head. With ease, Cole leaned back and dodged it. To keep his prey from swinging the ice back around, Cole held the man’s arm in place with his left hand. Then, he dug his claws into the man’s left shoulder, keeping that arm from being of use either. Next, Cole ran his right claws down the man’s face and then sent his left set across that same area. The man dropped his rod of ice, but Cole caught it with his left hand and drove it through his stomach. Without mercy. Cole kicked him off the rod before blasting him out the other end of the alleyway.

Now, there was only one person left to deal with. That was the man with long, brown hair, and he was sitting against the same wall Cole emerged from. Without saying a word, Cole stood him up and pinned him against the wall. Then, he plunged his claws into the man’s chest.

“I’ll kill you… I swear to God… I’ll kill you…” he threatened as he gazed at Cole.

“I tried dying once. Didn’t take to it.” Cole growled. After that, the leader started to merge with the shadow he was against. His eyes widened and his mouth opened as he tried to scream, but nothing came out. Cole was sure to make the process slow as an extra punishment for the things he’d done, the things he was planning to do. A few moments later, it was just Cole, Jessica, and a few mangled bodies. Jessica held her head as she blinked back into reality.

“Cole…? What happened…? What am I doing here…?” she asked. Cole turned to her. ‘Jessica’s always so innocent. She’s almost always bright and cheerful. She isn’t like me. She actually has some happiness to her. I admire that. I wanna protect that. I wanna protect her.’ he thought to himself.

“Nothing. You had a couple of drinks and these guys tried to start some trouble. I’m surprised you sobered up so quick.” Cole lied.

“I drank?” Jessica questioned.

“I was as surprised as you are. Now, let’s go find a place to sleep. We gotta get moving again.” Cole answered, trying to change the subject again. Jessica nodded and walked with him out of the alley.

“Why’d you let me drink?” she inquired.

“I kinda peer pressured you into it. I’m sorry.” he added as they walked together.

“You jerk!” Jessica spoke as she gave a weak jab to his right shoulder.

“Ah, you’re fine. You burned your buzz off pretty quick, so don’t worry about it.” Cole claimed, trying to play it off with a shrug. Jessica grumbled and folded her arms as she started pouting. In response to her reaction, Cole started laughing, slightly in amusement, but more-so in relief that he’d managed to keep the truth from her. That was all that he cared about.