“I'm hungry, when is mommy gonna be back Arthur,” my sister said shivering cold next to me.

“She should be back any minute, ok Ellie just hang on,” I said while fixing her dirty jacket. suddenly heard raindrops outside the tent. 

“Stay here ok,” I said to Ellie as I unzipped our tent. I walked out of the tent which was under a bridge to see if was going to start raining hard.

“Hey, what did I say about getting out of the tent.” I heard a voice approach me from behind 

She had long damaged blond hair and blue eyes. We all shared the same hair and eye color except for Ellie who had brown hair and eyes.

“Sorry Mom,” I said following her inside the small tent. We all sat down inside on the cold ground with only a few blankets. She took a big piece of bread piece of bread and gave Ellie and me big portions of it while giving herself the smaller piece. I also noticed her jacket was more torn than usual and she had a lot of bruises on her. 

“Mom please…”

“Enough Arthur, eat your food,” she said savoring her small piece of bread. We used to have a hard time getting food months ago but now we have something to eat every day and have a few euros a day. But, every time I see her, she's bruised and in pain. 

“Mom I'm fast and strong I could easily just steal something for…”

“What did I tell you about stealing, If you ever steal anything, everything I do every day will be in vain. Your job is to protect Ellie, That is your job. Do you understand?” She said in a stern voice.

“Yes, I understand,” I mumbled upset.

Ever since that day in 2030 a small portion of people got powers and destroyed cities nothing has been the same. Over 40% of the human population lives in poverty with probably trillions of euros worth of damage done to places around the world and with 5 million confirmed deaths, the world is changing. 

We all ate our bread silently and then cuddled up together with Ellie in the middle trying to keep each other warm in the cold night.

“Good night,” she said closing her eyes

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

“Good night,” Ellie said

“Night,” I said closing my eyes

In the middle of the night, I was awoken by the sounds of the tent rustling and a zipping sound. I saw my mom sneaking out and pretending I was asleep. Once she zipped the tent closed and I heard her walk away, I quietly got up unzipped the tent and snuck out. As I was about to zip the tent back up I looked at Ellie still sleeping and hesitated a bit remembering what my mom told me my job was. But I needed to know what my mom was dealing with. I zipped up the tent and came out from under the bridge to see where she was headed. I saw her walking towards the small town and I hid in the forest and followed her as she walked on the side of the street. Once she reached the small town which was surrounded by the forest she walked past a few shops and knocked on a small pub that seemed to be closed. She was far away and I couldn't hear what she was saying but the door opened and a man greeted her inside and looked around before closing the door. I quickly ran out from the trees and quietly snuck up to the pub to see what was going on and looked through one of the windows and was able to hear what they were saying. 

“Please I need more money You've been giving me less and less each time. I can hardly afford enough food for my kids,” she begged the man who seemed to care less as he lit his cigarette. 

“Everyone is low on money… plus I found another woman who is a lot better. All you do is cry and complain,” he said 

“No please I need the money I can do better,” she said on her knees crawling towards him and grabbing onto his pants.

“Get off me” he pushed her off  “This pub opens in an hour and my wife should be home any minute. I'm not about to have another incident in 2031” 

“Please,” she got back on her knees and grabbed onto his shoes

I saw the man pull a gun out from the back of his pants and point it at her head.

“If you don't get off me in the next 3 seconds you won't be alive to provide for your family.” 

“Please I've asked everyone in this town and no one is willing to help.” 

“3…” he said putting the gun against her head.

My eyes widened and I ran as fast as I could to the front of the pub and busted through the door which seemed to be already cracked open. 

“Wait!” I said breathing heavily surprising the man and pointed his gun at me.

“NO!” my mom yelled while grabbing onto the man's gun trying to stop him. Suddenly I heard a shot happen and my mom froze and then slowly collapsed on the ground. 

“Mom!” I yelled in panic.

“Look what you made me do kid. She would have been the only one to die had you not come” he said pushing her limp body off of himself. A pool of blood formed around her and I could hear her struggling to breathe.

“It hurts me too kid but I can't have you spreading rumors. Plus no one will even care about your death” he said pointing his gun back at me.

I braced myself, tightened every muscle in my body, and closed my eyes preparing to be shot.

“Bang”

I heard a shot but I didn't feel anything. I opened my eyes to see a spinning bullet an inch away from my eye. I stepped back in confusion and felt like I bumped into a wall behind me. I looked back confused to see a person looking down at me wearing a black mask.

“I'll take things from here kid,” he said in a distorted voice. He walked around me and grabbed the bullet that was still floating and flicked it to the side like a pebble. He wore all black and also wore a black mask that seemed to be what was changing his voice. The only part of him you could see was his black hair that was slicked back.

“Who are you!? Step back!” The owner of the pub said, terrified, pointing his gun at the man clad in black who was unfazed by his words and continued to walk towards him. The man screamed and shot every bullet he had at the man in black and each bullet stopped in front of him then dropped to the ground. As the man in black got closer to the terrified man he started to slide back as if he was being pushed back by a hurricane of force but there was no wind. The man was pushed against the wall screaming in pain while the man in black took each step closer the wall began to crack and before things got too brutal I closed my eyes. All I heard was screaming and the sound of cracking and crunching until he went silent and I opened my eyes to see his body caved in on itself. Then the broken body fell to the ground blood spilling out from every part of him. The man in black just turned around as if nothing happened and checked on my mom. Is he one of those mutants? Is this what they are capable of? He picked up my mom and carried her towards the exit. 

“Follow me”