The thing launched itself off the wall and into the centre of the hall, its claws scraping across the polished wooden floor, its red eyes fixed on me. Jess, Dee, Travis and I stood rooted to the spot as the creature’s eyes narrowed and teeth bared.

“What…what is that?” Jess stammered.

Dee shook his head in disbelief. I squinted at the creature, dumbfounded. Travis gawped, his mouth wide open, looking even more moronic than usual.

To the right of us, students, parents and teachers were crowded at the doors, staring as the thing considered its next move. Some of them had pulled out their smartphones and were filming the creature, shaking their heads and marvelling at this mutated monstrosity.

Its eyes were still focused on me as it took a slow step forward.

None of us had any idea what to do.

In the end, Travis reacted first.

“Get out of my way!” he shouted, turning to face me.

I was standing between Travis and the door. Instead of stepping around me, Travis shoved me to one side, taking me by surprise and pushing me off balance. He barged his way through the crowd as I hit the floor awkwardly with a startled profanity. The creature grunted, arched its back as it saw me fall, as if getting ready to pounce on fallen prey. Jess and Dee grabbed my arms, hoisting me backup as I scrambled to my feet.

The thing stalked towards me, growling softly.

“RUN!” someone screamed. Which was the sensible decision we all should have taken several minutes earlier.

We ran.

Jess, Dee and I were the last people through the double doors. The crowd scattered in front of us, screaming. I’m sure I heard Travis doing most of the screaming, even though he was far away by then.

We slammed the doors shut as the creature picked up its pace. It hit the wooden doors with a loud thud. It hit them again, hurling itself at them once more, twice more, and a third time.

The three of us stood a few paces away as the doors shuddered under the monster’s assault.

It occurred to me there was a good chance we were all going to die. If that was the case, there was something really important I had to get off my chest. Something I’d been holding back on saying for months.

“Jess,” I stated, as the door started to splinter, “I hate to tell you this, but your boyfriend is a dick.”

“Not that this is the time, but...” Jess said, and she showed me her phone.

The screen displayed the message she’d sent right after Travis had given her his ‘me or them’ ultimatum.

The message simply read: You’re dumped.

“Nice,” I grinned.

“We should really get out of here,” said Dee after another angry thud from the buckling doors.

“Yeaaaah,” I said, “Let’s do that.”

We turned and raced down the corridor. Behind us, the double doors smashed open as the creature burst through. It hurled itself with such force that it bounced off the corridor wall opposite, momentarily stunning it before it resumed its chased after us.

“Is it my imagination, or is that thing after you, Ethan?” Jess gasped as we pelted down a short flight of stairs.

“It sort of looks that way,” I gasped as we swerved around a corner.

A classroom door swung open. Forrest appeared and waved at us.

“In here!” he shouted

We ran inside and Forrest closed the door. It was the first time I’d ever felt glad to see him.

“What is that thing?” he asked.

“No idea.”

My mind was working fast, adrenaline and fear pumping through my system. The classroom door wouldn’t hold the thing and I could feel the power inside me. Burning, making me stronger, faster.

If anyone had a chance of stopping the creature, it was me.

I figured out that whatever this was, it had to be connected to my supernatural strength. It was tracking me for some reason, and that was putting my friends - and Forrest - in danger.

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I had to do something. I was the only one that could.

Before the others could react, I opened the door and snapped off the elongated U-shaped handle on the classroom side. It came off in one quick wrench. No problem for my super strengthened arms.

“What are you doing?” Jess asked.

Dee was a step ahead of her and realised what I was up to.

“Ethan, no!” he shouted, launching himself towards me.

He was too slow.

I stepped back into the corridor and closed the door behind me, ignoring the horrified expressions on the trio’s faces. Without the door handle, they wouldn’t be able to get out. In the meantime, I could draw the monstrosity away.

I wasn’t trying to be a hero. I was just looking out for my friends.

*

After the Maxwell incident, I spent a few weeks testing out my abnormal strength - or trying to, at any rate. I didn’t have much success. I lifted weights in the gym and discovered that I was as strong as your average teenager, not more.

The dark fire activated when I was angry or scared. It seemed to feed off negative emotions. Rage, jealousy, fear, hatred. Whenever I felt any of these, my strength started to power up.

I tested this in a few different ways. I’ve always had a fear of heights, so one afternoon I snuck up onto the school roof and stood as close to the edge as I dared. There it was – the fire, activated by the fear I felt. It wasn’t as strong as that day with Maxwell, where righteous anger had been the trigger, but it was still there. Lately, seeing Jess and Travis together had caused it to course through my veins, as if it wanted me to act.

My body didn’t physically change when the fire kicked in. There was no visible muscle growth. I was just stronger, faster. I spent months searching the internet for stories of anything similar, but I came up with nothing useful. A few anecdotes about mums suddenly gaining enough strength to lift a up car their kid was trapped under, that kind of thing. Nothing verified.

I noticed something else around the same time: my body healed faster than normal. Scrapes and bruises would vanish within an hour, with no trace left behind. I tried cutting myself and the cut closed up within minutes. I only did that once. I feel pain the same as everyone else.

I never got much further than that. I kept everything hidden from Dee and Jess and didn’t talk to Mum or Joe about it, either. Honestly, I hoped that it was a growing phase. It was just hormones, I told myself. Part of growing up or whatever.

For a while, I even fooled myself into believing that, and whenever I felt the dark fire rising up inside me, I ignored it and pushed it back down.

*

I stood in the corridor, facing the snarling beast, feeling stronger than I ever had.

I was terrified, but the fear was fuelling my powers. I didn’t know if it was enough to fight the thing. I’d never been in any real fights and had no self-defence training. I didn’t even know how to throw a punch other than what I’d seen in action movies and games, and I didn’t think they were reliable guides.

Then again, I was fairly sure no martial art had any moves for the creature facing me.

The thing tore towards me and leapt into the air. It was more panic and luck that caused me to slip backwards as I lashed out with the only move I could think of. I slapped it across its huge wet snout. I was thinking of sharks, for some reason.

The thing twisted with my slap and flew to the left of me, yelping like a startled puppy. It skidded to a halt, its claws tearing at the linoleum floor. It glared at me, huffing and snorting.

If it hadn’t been after me before, it was now.

Suddenly, my decision to face the thing felt beyond stupid.

I turned and ran, fast. Like Usain Bolt fast. My souped-up leg muscles pounded the floor back towards the hall. I swerved left as the thing leapt at me from behind, intent on bringing me to ground. It missed me by a few inches, span back round and continued its pursuit, leaping along the ceiling, walls and floor. It chased me back into the empty assembly hall across the room. My heart pounded and legs pumped. The vampire style cape I’d borrowed from Mum was flapping around my arms. I ripped it off and threw it behind me, straight into the monster’s face. It smacked the cloak away with one of its paws, carried on after me.

Thirty metres down the next corridor was a side door into a small, tarmacked playground. I decided I’d have a better chance of getting away from the thing in the open air.

Climb a tree! My panicked mind screamed, or jump into a lake or something!

I pelted down the corridor, reached the door and turned the handle.

The door was locked. Only the main entrance had been opened for the party, which was on the other side of the rapidly approaching, snarling monstrosity.

I stepped back and launched myself at the door, shoulder barging it with everything I had.

The door flew off its hinges, and I barrelled down the small set of steps.

I ran straight into two men dressed in military-style grey camouflage uniforms, complete with night vision goggles and oversized guns.

The men, who’d been advancing up the steps, leapt aside as I charged between them. The creature was hot on my heels and ignored the two soldiers. I glanced around wildly to see a dozen more of the military clad men spread out around the playground. To my left, on the playing field, two large black helicopters had landed.

Where the hell did these guys come from? I wondered.

They all turned, some pointing their strange guns in my direction, some at the creature.

A blonde woman in a smart, dark blue suit stood in the middle of the playing ground. Even though I only had seconds to take the scene in, it was obvious that she was in charge. There was something in her poise, the way she held her arms behind her back, the sharp cut of her short hair that all added up to her being the undisputed boss.

The momentum from bursting through the door kept me moving forwards and within three quick steps I’d almost reached the suited woman.

She stood still as I raced towards her, a mixture of curiosity and bemusement on her face as she regarded me. Everything was happening too fast for anyone to fully react. The soldiers were confused and taken by surprise.

Not her, though. There was no fear in her expression, no sense that the situation was anything other than perfectly in hand and under her control. She didn’t move, not because there was no time to react, but because she simply didn't want to.

I glanced back to see the creature at the bottom of the steps and realised it was about to launch itself at me. I was going full pelt and couldn’t change direction. The woman was still not budging. I did the only thing I could as I reached her; I pushed her out of the way and to safety as the monster came crashing down on top of me.

I hit the pavement as the creature’s claws hit my back, knocking the wind out of me.

And that was the first time I met Victoria Pryce.

I’m not saying I saved her life exactly, but it was pretty damn close.