It took about half an hour for the emergency services to show up. Police, Ambulances, the Fire Brigade. They didn’t arrive with their sirens blazing and most of them had their emergency lights switched off as well. Wherever we were, Section 13 didn’t want additional attention brought to the base. All that the standard emergency services were told was that there’d been a terrorist attack on an important military base. Everything else was ‘a matter of national security.’

The firefighters did their best to tackle the blaze, but by the time they arrived there was no way they could salvage the command centre. The nine storey building burned until there was nothing except a blackened shell where the most sophisticated snooping system in Britain had once stood. Any ordinance that had been in the armoury had already exploded. In the end all that the firefighters could do was let the buildings burn themselves out and make sure everyone left alive was safely out of the way.

I was taken to sit with the group of techies and office staff who were huddled well away from any of the burning buildings. They were shell-shocked by the events of the night. Someone found a blanket and wrapped it around my shoulders. A couple of soldiers glanced at me with sympathy. I’d been the only civilian on-site at the time of the attack. I was an oddity, a kid who shouldn’t even have been there.

Someone tried to talk to me, but I was in a daze, only vaguely aware that preparations were being made to send me home. Two police officers were pointed in my direction. One of them asked if I needed anything. I tried to focus, but my thoughts were muddy.

I was going home was the main thing.

Home. Jess. Dee. Mum.

“My phone,” I mumbled, “My keys. My wallet.”

All three items had been taken from me back at the school. One of the police officers asked around but all my stuff had been in central command when it blew.

“Sorry, lad,” the police officer said, “I’m afraid you’re out of luck.”

I gave a short, humourless laugh. Of course my phone, wallet and keys had been blown up. Anything else would have been contrary to the way the rest of the night had gone.

“We’re ready to get you home,” the police officer said, “Do you want us to call anyone first?”

“My mum. Could you call my mum and tell her everything is okay?”

“I can do you one better than that,” the police officer said.

She tapped the number I gave her into her mobile phone. It rang once before Mum picked it up. She must have been clutching her phone in her hand all night, waiting for a call.

“Mrs Hall? This is Officer Lancaster. I’m with the local police. We have your son, and he’s perfectly safe. We’ll be driving him home shortly. No, I can assure you he’s fine and not in any trouble at all. Yes, Mrs Hall, I promise you. He’s right here. I’m passing the phone over to him now.”

Officer Lancaster handed me her phone.

“Mum?” I said.

“Ethan,” my mum’s voice came back, “Are you there?”

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“Yes, Mum, it’s me. I’m here. I’m okay.”

I felt a knot in my throat. The sound of Mum’s voice caused tears to form at the edge of my eyes.

“I’m sorry Mum, I know you must have been worried.”

“Ethan, I don’t care where you’ve been or what happened. I love you and I’m just glad you’re alright.”

“I love you too,” I said. The tears at the edge of my eyes weren’t going away.

“Jess and Dee have been here all night, love. Do you want to talk to them?”

“No,” I said, “No, just tell them I’ll see them soon.”

I couldn’t handle the barrage of questions that my two best friends were likely to throw at me. Once they’d been sent on their way by Section 13, they’d gone straight to my house. They’d waited all night, keeping Mum company, trying to calm all of their fears.

“Tell them everything is okay,” I said. “I’m okay. Everything is okay.”

Mum paused on the other end of the phone. She could hear the break in my voice as I repeated the hollow phrase.

“Are you sure you’re okay?” Mum asked.

“I’m...” I started, but I couldn’t lie any more.

I absolutely wasn’t okay by any definition of the word. The sob I was trying to hold back threatened to spill out, and I knew if I started crying that’s just make Mum worry even more.

“I’ll see you soon,” I choked.

I handed the phone back to the police officer and burst into tears. I couldn’t help it. Great, heaving sobs leapt from my throat and tears streamed down my face. I kept trying to wipe them away with my sleeve, but they wouldn’t stop coming. Every time I had it under control, another horrific image from that long, terrifying night came to mind and set me off again.

Officer Lancaster put her arm around me and guided me towards the squad car. Still sobbing, doing my best to hide it from the men and women all around me, I climbed into the back of the vehicle. I gave out my address through the sobs, furiously wiping away the tears.

“You’re okay, son,” the officer said, trying to soothe me.

Officer Lancaster turned the engine on, and we pulled away from Section 13’s devastated base.

I think something broke in me that night as those tears fell from my eyes.

Something broke in me that never really got fixed again. Because, despite everything that happened afterwards, that was the last time I cried.

I didn’t even cry at her funeral, four weeks later.

*

I didn’t sleep on the three-hour drive back to Stroud. As exhausted as I was, my mind and body were still too wired. After the tears had stopped, I sat in silence looking out of the window as dawn broke across the English countryside.

I tried to process everything that had happened, tried to make sense out of it, but I couldn’t.

Everything that had occurred - the monster showing up out of nowhere to attack me, Victoria Pryce, Section 13, the attack on their base, my powers - it all looked like a disconnected series of events. None of it made any sense, and none of it had given me any answers about what I was.

As I said earlier, though, everything was connected. Every last detail. It would just be a while before I saw how all the pieces fitted together.

The further we got from Section 13’s burning base, the calmer I felt.

It was eight in the morning by the time we pulled into the driveway of Mum’s semi-detached house. Mum opened the front door before we’d even parked, Dee and Jess right behind her. I felt like a war-weary soldier coming back from the front line after years of fighting.

Mum gave me a huge hug. I hugged her back.

“Hey, losers,” I smiled at Jess and Dee. It was a weak smile, but it was a smile nonetheless.

“Hey,” they said.

I held my hand up, “No questions. Not right now. I just want to sleep for a week.”

To everyone’s credit, they all nodded. I realised they must be wiped out too. Jess and Dee headed back to their respective homes, saying they’d come round tomorrow. Or today. We were all tired and confused by that point.

“Yeah, what day is it anyway?”

“Saturday,” Jess said, “I think.”

Something was niggling at the back of my head. Saturday. Not a school day, so that was a small mercy. Something else.

Dammit, I was supposed to be working at the garage today.

“Mum, can you call Joe and tell him I’m too sick to work or something?”

“Of course, love,” Mum said.

I headed up to my room and stumbled to the bed. I didn’t have enough energy to get undressed, just crawled under the duvet. As soon as my head hit the pillow I was out.

I slept for ten hours straight and if I had any dreams, I don’t recall them.