Derrick glanced at the vibrating pebbles on the ground before he met Sam’s rock-hard gaze; he nodded determinedly.
In Derrick’s eyes, Sam saw an invigorating resolution mirroring his own. Though they hadn’t known each other for long, a friendship forged in chaos topped all other.
“Hell yes,” Derrick said with a smile, “It’s time to kick some monster butt.”
Sam matched his smile.
“A-Are you crazy?” Aisha interrupted, “What if it’s a worm? Or something even worse!? No!” She shook her head in panic, “Going back there is suicide. L-Let’s just run instead, okay? Please?” Aisha looked at Derrick for confirmation.
And to Aisha’s credit, Derrick hesitated before shaking his head with a sigh.
“No,” Derrick looked into Aisha’s eyes and explained, “Sam’s right. If we want to survive in this hellscape, we have to learn how to fight these things.”
“Y-You,” Sam watched as Aisha switched her focus between the both of them, “You’re both crazy, like actually crazy!”
Another scream erupted from the crowd and Sam stop dallying.
“Let’s do this,” He looked at Derrick before turning to leave.
“Follow the crowd Aisha,” Sam heard Derrick say, “We’ll find you afterwards, I promise!”
Sam suppressed a groan as yet another person hit him with their elbow. Going against the panicking crowd was harder than he’d thought. But fortunately, Derrick’s large frame worked as a deterrent.
As he pushed his way forward, Sam could not help but notice that the crowd was running towards the bridge, “Didn’t they see it was broken?” He thought to himself.
When he and Derrick finally managed to exit the crowd, Sam’s presumption was proven correct.
Two bipedal monsters similar to the one they’d found in the cafeteria were tearing through the crowd. Unlike the worms, these creatures didn’t seem to care about eating their prey. No, it was clear to Sam that these disgusting creatures only cared about one thing: killing.
Sam arrived just in time to witness one of the creatures lunge at a child. His eyes widened as time seemed to grind to a halt. For a second, Sam remembered when he’d accidently locked eyes with one of the corpses in the cafeteria.
A mixture of fear, horror, and rage coursed through his veins. The emotions tore through him until it was everything he felt. With a bolstered will, Sam released a terrifying shout as he focused on the ground beneath the monster.
And to Sam’s astonishment, his halo synchronized effortlessly with his will. In a flash, a stalagmite made of stone pierced into the creature’s abdomen.
“D-Dude,” Sam barely heard Derrick stutter, “That was-“
Unfortunately, before Sam could hear the rest of Derrick’s statement, he collapsed into unconsciousness.
…
Unconscious and dizzy, a semi-lucid Sam observed his shuddering halo. Unlike before, the halo didn’t exude power and brilliance, instead, it looked drained and fragile. When he tried to focus on it, dream Sam winced in pain; it felt like he’d pulled a muscle he didn’t even know he had.
Yet, before he could do anything else, the darkness receded.
…
“-definitely saw it!”
“Are you nuts, magic isn’t real!?”
“Neither are fucking monsters!”
“Stop screaming! You’re scaring the children!”
“I’m telling ya’! The boy knows something!”
“Don’t come any closer!” Derrick snarled, “I won’t warn you again.”
Sam woke up feeling the mother of all headaches. And as someone who would sporadically suffer migraines, that actually meant something.
“Urgh,” Sam groaned as the halo inside him made itself known, “Fuck me.” He muttered.
“Well,” Derrick’s voice sounded relieved, “Good morning to you too, man.”
The noise quieted as Sam opened his eyes. Naturally, the first thing he noticed was the crowd of people surrounding him.
“Where… are we?” Sam asked in-between his pounding headache, “What… happened?”
Derrick sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair.
“Where on the bridge,” Derrick said before quickly noticing Sam’s frown, “I know, it isn’t ideal, but you’ll understand soon.”
“Well,” Sam wrinkled his nose, “Out with it then, what happened?”
Surprisingly, a dark-haired man answered.
“After you killed one of the monsters with your… magic,” The man hesitated, “The rest of us ganged up on the last one.”
“But they weren’t the only ones…” Derrick interjected, “After we killed two, four more appeared.”
Sam’s face paled at the news.
“So, we retreated to the bridge and barricaded ourselves in with some abandoned cars.” Derrick sighed, “I don’t know why, and I won’t question it, but the monsters stopped pursuing us after we stepped onto the bridge. But they are still there, lurking in the alleyways.”
“That explains the absence of screams…” Sam thought as he rubbed his temples. He definitely had to learn how to properly use his halo before the next fight began.
“So?” The dark-haired man from before spoke up again, “The stone spear. Are you going to tell us how you did it or not?”
Sam noted could feel the crowd’s focus on him.
“Do I pretend like I don’t know what he’s talking about?” Sam hesitated. As far as he knew, they didn’t any real proof that he was able to use magic. So, if he denied it vehemently, he would most likely get away with it, “The question is… do I want that?”
A part of him feared what they would do if he told them the truth. Would they inform the authorities? Would he be experimented on?
“That is if there’s even any authorities left to begin with…”
Stolen novel; please report.
Sam glanced at Derrick who frowned openly at the dark-haired man.
“But Derrick also has a halo…” Sam honestly didn’t know what the right course of action was. Should he lie or tell the truth?
Ultimately, Sam decided it was better not to lie if he could avoid it, “And who knows? There might even be more magic-users among them.”
They clearly needed all the help they could get if they were to survive until morning.
The fact that he was literally contemplating whether to reveal the fact that he possessed magic or not didn’t cease to astound him. It was mindboggling to think that just this morning, he’d been worried sick about his upcoming thesis submission.
That was the whole reason why he was at the university library on a Saturday to begin with!
“I…” Sam didn’t know how to explain it, “Do you remember the world break?” Sam quickly corrected himself when he noticed several faces in the crowd frowning in confusion, “I mean, when the world suddenly imploded and became a bunch of intangible sounds and intense feelings?”
This time, multiple heads in the crowd nodded.
“Yeah, so, after the world break, I had this… ehm,” Sam wasn’t some public speaker and fumbled a bit over his words, “halo inside my head.”
“What’d you say?” Someone from the crowd asked.
“A halo?”
“Like the light phenomenon?”
“What do you mean, in your head?”
“Quiet!” Derrick interjected when he noticed Sam’s awkwardness, “Let the man finish!”
When the crowd stopped making noise, Sam coughed gently, “Yes, so as I was saying, I had — or have, I guess — this halo in my head and when I activate it, I can ehm…” Sam noticed Derrick’s intense gaze and remembered the conversation they’d had outside the university library, “E-Earthbend.”
“Earthbend?” Someone asked.
“You mean, like in Avatar?”
“What’s Avatar?”
“Are you saying you’re an Earthbender?”
“That’s enough!” Derrick raised his voice, and no one seemed willing to oppose him, “I can confirm what Sam’s saying, the halo is real,” Derrick grinned as he continued, “I have one too.”
“You do?”
“You’re kidding, right? This must be some kind of joke.”
“Wait, what? How?”
“Yeah, I think I got mine when I fought against one of those monsters earlier,” Derrick gestured towards the city, “I’m an Airbender, by the way.” Derrick announced with a puffed-out chest.
“Then prove it,” The unknown man who’d started the interrogation finally spoke up again, “If you’re benders, magicians, or whatever, then prove it; show us some magic!”
The crowd agreed.
Derrick grinned a toothy grin which quickly crumbled when he saw the look on Sam’s face.
Sam shook his head, “I can’t,” He admitted truthfully, “My magic’s spent.”
The dark-haired man frowned as he looked between Sam and Derrick.
“I-I,” Derrick scratched his head awkwardly, “I haven’t figured it out yet…”
The dark-haired man wrinkled his nose in suspicion.
Sam was about to ask what his problem was when the dark-haired man suddenly snorted, “Whatever, if you don’t wanna tell us, then don’t.” He said before leaving.
“What’s up with people not believing me?!” Sam questioned in bewilderment.
Though a few others departed together with the dark-haired man, he clearly didn’t represent the rest of the inquisitive crowd.
“Is it true, do you really have magic?”
“Why do you call it earthbending?”
“Don’t mind that grouch, I saw it when that stone spear stabbed into that monster, you totally saved that boy, you know?! Come to think of it, I think they’re still around here somewhere, just hang tight for a bit!”
After chatting with the crowd for a bit and affirming the fact that he did actually have magic, Sam eventually agreed to show them later on. Sam also had to endure the profound gratitude the mother of the boy he’d saved showered him with.
…
“Thank you by the way,” Sam said as he sat down in a vacant minivan together with Derrick and Aisha. Where the owner of the car was, they didn’t bother to think about.
“For what?” Derrick smiled.
“You know what,” Sam muttered before sighing, “You were the one who carried me here, weren’t you?”
Derrick’s smile widened as he jokingly showed off his muscles, “You guessed it, but man, you really gotta’ get some more meat on those bones, you weighed like nothing.”
Sam’s cheeks reddened a little, “I know, I just haven’t gone to the gym in a while…”
Not since his high-school crush broke up with him, actually. But Sam didn’t think there was any reason to overshare that bit.
“So,” Aisha said, “How does it feel to be a hero?”
Sam shook his head, “I don’t know, I don’t really feel like one.” He thought about Uri and the students who’d died when the first worm appeared. Could he have done anything to save them?
And the students who died in the cafeteria. If he hadn’t spent five hours spinning his halo, could he have saved them?
It felt like he could’ve.
Naturally, the mood in the minivan immediately took a damper after his words.
“Okay, that’s enough sulking around,” Derrick finally clapped his hands, “I don’t know about you two, but I’m fucking ravenous.”
Derrick took out the two backpack’s they’d filled with food earlier and Aisha’s eyes widened when she saw the contents.
“So much-!” Derrick silenced his friend with a hand, “Don’t be so loud, people could be listening.” Derrick gestured at people on the outside and Aisha’s eyes widened as she nodded in realization.
As Sam stared at his backpack filled with food, he contemplated whether it was ok to hoard it or not.
“There are children out there…” He recalled before sighing. Though similar to the conundrum he’d experienced on the platform, this time, he didn’t have it in him to be selfish.
“And it doesn’t seem like I’ll meet up with my family anytime soon anyway…”
Sam proceeded to empty half the backpack on the seat next to him.
“Oh, fuck,” Derrick sighed as he noticed Sam’s actions, “I knew it was too good to be true…” Derrick groaned as he followed Sam’s lead.
…
After discussing the distribution of their inventory with his companions, Sam agreed to keep two chicken-sandwiches to himself. Meaning, after factoring in the three of them, and excluding the two Sam and Derrick had already nibbled on, they had four chicken-sandwiches, some soda cans, a bunch of chocolate bars and candy to spare.
“It doesn’t feel like it’s enough…” Sam muttered to himself.
“No,” Derrick agreed with a sigh, “But it beats nothing at all.”
Aisha remained uncharacteristically silent throughout the whole distribution.
Sam dreaded what they had to do next.
…
“Not at all, you’re welcome,” Sam said with an awkward smile.
“Still, thank you so much!” The middle-aged woman smiled gratefully as she unwrapped the sandwich and handed it to her child: a boy who couldn’t be older than eight.
“This sucks,” Sam thought as he noticed the uncomprehending look on the boy’s face as his mother urged him to eat.
With that, he’d finally run out of excess food to distribute.
However, there were still many more mouths to feed. Sam sighed, which was something he’d been doing a lot of lately.
As Sam turned around to head back to the minivan, two adult men walked up to him.
“The dark-haired man and his buddy…” Sam noted silently.
“Hey lad, we heard you were divvying up food,” The dark-haired man smiled an irritating grin as he looked at the boy eating his sandwich, “We came to collect our portion.”
“Sorry,” Sam faked a smile, “The food was for the children; and besides, I just ran out.”
“Oh come on, you must hav-“ The dark-haired man’s friend pressed on before he got interrupted.
“Hey guys!” Derrick jogged over with a friendly-but-also-not-so-friendly smile, “What’s up? Is there a problem here?”
The dark-haired man frowned, “We were just explaining to your friend here that-“
“Explaining what?” Derrick interrupted curtly.
The dark-haired man’s frown worsened as he stared unflinchingly at Derrick.
“Shhh, it’s okay hon, you’re okay-“ Sam heard the mom behind him comfort her child who — at a glance — was clearly feeling uncomfortable with the situation.
“I…” Sam decided to defuse the conflict, “I think that’s enough, isn’t it?” He looked squarely at the two men, “We don’t have any more food to give, if you’re still feeling hungry, you’ll have to ask someone else.”
The dark-haired man snorted before he suddenly looked like he had a brilliant idea, “Sure, why not?” He turned towards the mother-child duo, “Hey, you don’t happen to have some food, do ya’?”
“Dude,” Derrick took a large step forward, “That’s not cool, man.”
Even Sam felt his halo twitch at the blatant disrespect.
“What?” The dark-haired man exclaimed in faux surprise, “So, now we can’t even ask people for food?”
“Isn’t that what you said I should do?” The dark-haired man locked eyes with Sam, “Well, come on now, isn’t it?!”
His voice was loud enough to attract attention.
“Nate,” Even the dark-haired man’s friend looked uncomfortable and tried to intervene, “It’s just a kid, leave it.”
“No!” The dark-haired man, or Nate, frowned, “This kid claims he killed one of those monsters with magic, fucking magic Charles, if he’s so fucking strong, I want to see it!”
When the child behind him began crying, Sam finally had enough.
“Fine,” Sam said, “You want to see magic? Here!”
Focusing on the ground beneath him, Sam concentrated on his halo and willed the earth to shift.
And it did, albeit only slightly. Yet, despite the tiny scale, it still left Sam feeling drained afterwards.
Regrettably, it wasn’t enough to make Nate fall, but at least he stumbled awkwardly.
“You!” Nate exclaimed with a rage so fiery that Sam unconsciously took a step backwards.
“Stop it!” Someone from the crowd exclaimed.
“Yeah, leave the kid alone!” Another person added.
“There are monsters out here, now’s not the time to squabble!” A third one agreed.
When Nate realized the amount of unwanted attention he’d accrued, he reluctantly backed off.
“Fine,” Nate spit, “Have it your way.” He said before swaggering away.
At least Nate’s friend, Charles, had enough decency to give an apologetic nod to the mother before he scrambled to join his friend.
…