Olivia gazed at her computer, doing her best to focus on forwarding calls and responding to emails. But despite her efforts to stay busy, there was always a period where most people coming in the door knew where they were going, and no one called reception. Her coworkers were pretty much always on the phone, but Olivia always felt weird doing that with their desk being the center of attention of a large lobby. Besides, she could do non-work approved things on the computer – like shopping – and make it look like she was working when she really just didn’t have anything to do.

She opened up an email chain. Someone had been consistently emailing every month for the last year trying to sell cleaning products. Olivia responded the first few times, letting them know that they’re not interested along with all the businessy things one is supposed to say when rejecting a salesperson. Now she just deleted them. Half of her inbox was filled with salespeople. Then there was that other portion of people who were angry that the automotive batteries could not power a large house. Olivia had a pre-typed message reminding them that those batteries were for automotive use only with a link to a website where they could find a mechanic who would be able to install it.

Then the last few emails she actually had to make an effort to respond to were for appointments. Looked like Mr. Cooper had an appointment coming up with the general later this week and a follow-up appointment with the CEO. Then an appointment next week with the board of directors. He would never tell her what it was he was doing down there, but this sort of appointment scheduling made her think it was nearly done. Or at least getting to an approval stage where he could finally start to talk about it. Maybe she’d get to see why the man slept in the building most nights.

She opened a new tab in her browser, seeing a news article pop up in one of the suggested readings:

Altered-Humans: Good or Bad for us?

Olivia curled her fingers, resisting the urge to find the author’s email and tell them that it’s not as simple as that. No one asked to have their abilities given to them. Maybe some wanted them. Some were given horrifying abilities, but others were given practically harmless abilities. Other people just got a cough and moved on like it wasn’t even the same virus affecting them. Of course, some did die after contracting the virus. The news was still talking about the incident of the woman who went into a nuclear meltdown and obliterated a chunk of a hospital a month ago. Some bodies just couldn’t handle it. And it absolutely didn’t make things better for a journalist to take an entire group of people, some suffering and others just trying to live their lives, and categorize all of them as “good or bad.”

Maybe she cared more because she had been affected by it. And to her, it was the greatest thing ever. After the virus spread, she found that she was able to communicate with animals. Not verbally or telepathically. It was something else. But either way, they understood her, and she understood them. She could persuade them and interpret little body languages and sounds that she never knew were forms of communication before.

She got to pet a squirrel in Central Park, and her friend’s cat finally warmed up to her. It was the kind of thing a child dreamt of doing and grew up knowing that it was completely impossible. Then she was given this ability out of nowhere, and all of a sudden she was a menace to society for it.

She closed the tab, not even remembering why she opened it. She took deep breaths, stretching out and sighing. The lobby only had a few people hovering about, sipping their morning coffee. Olivia set her hands back down to check her emails before doing anything else. Lauren, to her left, was already on a personal call with her cell phone. Eli, to her right, was just kind of staring at the elevators.

What was he staring at?

She followed his eyes, and she saw it too.

Something up on the wall, like a Lovecraftian sausage. It writhed and moved around as if to nuzzle against the wall. It managed to be somewhat cute in a horrifying sort of way. But there was that pit in her stomach that told her that creature was not of this world. Perhaps… well… maybe she could talk to it. But there were so many people who would see. Would they know it’s an ability? They might fear she’s a telepath who can control their minds.

Only if necessary.

“What do we do?” Eli whispered.

“Just, don’t move. Or something,” Olivia responded. Lauren’s conversation suddenly became obnoxiously loud. Olive snapped her head toward Lauren and glared at her. Lauren was lost in her own world. “Lauren,” she whispered harshly.

Lauren faced her. “What?” she mouthed.

Olivia pointed her thumb at the wall.

Lauren’s pupils dilated, then she screeched and ducked under her desk. The beast moved its head in their direction and fell off the wall, crashing to the ground and breaking tiles as it did so. The whole security team turned to see it, all motion stopped aside from the conveyer belt pushing personal items through. Centipede-like legs popped out along its body, and it pushed itself up. The security guards finally seemed to snap out of their trance. They threw their hands up, yelling at the crowd to get away before turning back to face the creature.

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

The creature slowed, the tip-tapping of its spiked legs rhythmically decreasing like a dial being turned. She watched their faces turn from pink to pale as the creature turned to face them. Gunfire blistered the air in the lobby, and bullets made impacts on the creature, tearing straight through it. They fired again, and Olivia cupped her hands over her ears. The monster dropped over them.

The legs speared each guard, squelching and cracking upon impact. The sound echoed in the room as the screams hit a decrescendo. It brushed the bodies off of its legs as it crawled its way to Olivia.

Eli ducked under his desk, while Olivia stood, her hands balled into fists. What was she going to do, fight it? No. Her options were to talk to it, or get under her desk. She had a feeling that hiding was a bad idea.

She studied it as it made its way to her. “Hello,” she said. Her skin came alight, the way it always did when she talked to animals. “What are you?”

A slit formed in the front of its head, and it simply said, “We.”

“What?” She wasn’t just confused by the answer, but also by the fact that, for once, an animal talked back to her.

“We.”

She shook her head. “Can you please go back where you came from?”

“Not yet,” it said, raising its head up. The legs pushed it into what one may interpret as a standing position. It was at least 15 feet tall when it got to full height. Now was the time to run if there ever was one.

A door to her right burst open, and someone in a white metal suit came charging out of it. Was that… Jay? A beam of brilliant white light came shooting out of the helmet, and the beast took the hit, breaking more of the flooring as it fell. “Get out of here,” Jay said to the three of them. Some who had initially hidden from the creature got up and ran out of the building. Lauren hopped the desk, knocking over her computer monitor. Eli threw up in a trash can, but Olivia was just standing there.

What are you doing? Get out.

But one thing held her up. She could stop this with her ability. Lobby was empty. Eli wasn’t going to be coherent enough to understand if she was using an ability. And an empty feeling in the pit of her stomach was seeping into the rest of her.

But she couldn’t figure out Mr. Cooper. Was he using an ability or operating a machine meant to fight people like her? Because it could be either one and if it was the latter, using her ability was the last thing she wanted to do.

Then again… did he really seem like the kind of person who would do that? The kind of person who would design a machine around that purpose? She wasn’t sure what it all was, but she did know one thing. He wouldn’t report her even if he was against altered-humans. Olivia hopped her desk, feeling the impact of the hard floor in her knees. She stumbled forward into a run and came to a sliding stop between them.

Last time she didn’t use a command with this beast. This time she would.

As the creature got back up, she held her hands out, “Stop!” Her voice was a pitch higher than normal, but what mattered was the intention. Most of the time.

The beast stood tall. It shook its head as it hovered. “We don’t want to hurt you,” Mr. Cooper said. Then in a more hushed tone, “Ms. Warner, what are you doing?”

Olivia paused. A laugh escaped her mouth - just a brief burst. A laugh? That drew her attention to her trembling body and the ridiculousness of this. She was yelling at an eldritch centipede in front of one of the heads of the company.

The beast dropped to the ground again and the slit formed again, “We want the creator. Do not get in our way.”

With that, the creature changed form completely. It thinned out, elongating and growing more legs as it did so. Then it rushed for the wall so fast that Olivia was knocked off her feet, and it slithered its way into the air vents.

Olivia let out a few breaths. As her chest heaved, she felt those few weren’t enough. She gasped as her eyes met the bodies of the security guards, and her breath turned from a heave to a quiver. “Those… those poor people,” she said. “I could’ve stopped it.”

Mr. Cooper reached out a hand to help her up. As she took it to rise back up from the floor he asked again, “Ms. Warner, what was that?” He seemed emotionally detached from the situation, but her attention couldn’t be brought away from the guards. Not entirely anyway.

Olivia remained motionless. Almost as if her body was telling her that if she didn’t move he would stop seeing her. Excuses and thoughts ran through her mind. Maybe he was asking about the creature. Yeah. Start there, “Um… I don’t know. I thought you would know.”

“No, I mean stepping out between us. That was dangerous.”

She stood up. “I don’t think its goal is to hurt. I’m not sure. But I didn’t get the feeling that it was trying to hurt me.” She looked at his face for a second. It always amazed her that he always seemed so tired. But his eyes. The irises were changing colors before settling into their base brown.

Maybe.

Maybe he was an altered-human.

Jay’s face paled as she stared at him. “Are you an altered-human?” she asked.

“Was it the beam of light shooting out of my face that gave it away?” he responded, his voice wavering. He cleared his throat and chuckled before diverting his eye contact.

“Well, I thought it was the suit at first…” her voice trailed off. Then she realized it. He was terrified of her at this moment. She scanned the room and whispered, “I’m an altered-human too. I talk to animals. That’s why I stepped between you. I wasn’t being brave. I was stopping it.”

“Okay, first of all, that’s the definition of bravery,” His voice quivered still, but color returned to his face. He continued his response in the same whisper she used, “You have control over that thing?” She could have sworn he perked up, but it was hard to tell with the exo-suit on.

“Not to the same degree I normally do. Normally I can just tell an animal what to do, and it will do it. Sometimes, in the right scenarios, I can tell a human what to do. They don’t listen to the same degree, but for simple and harmless requests I can usually get a response. For this thing… I don’t know. I don’t know yet.”

“Well, Ms. Warner…”

“Please, just call me Olivia. Or Liv. Or something normal,” she said. “It’s weird. You’re the only person who calls me ‘Ms. Warner’.”

“Well, you’re the only person who calls me ‘Mr. Cooper’.” He shrugged. “If I’m calling you ‘Olivia,’ you’re calling me ‘Jay’. Sound good?”

She nodded and smiled, “Sounds good, Jay.”

“Now…” he looked around. “Now this gives me an idea. I’ll come to get you. First I need to scrub security tapes, which will take a while. Just hang out here.”

She gave him a nod. “Okay. I need to call an ambulance for the guards.”

“I’m sure the guy in the security office has already called them.