Author's Note: I want to thank everyone for reading! Please enjoy my chapter! Suggestions/comments/constructive criticism is all welcome!

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The loud bang of the gun repeated itself three times and, although one bullet sailed past the over-sized ferocious bunny look-a-likes, the monster in the middle flew back off its feet and into the river behind it. I could see blood spouting from a hole in its upper-right chest, but I couldn’t see the other hole as it slowly floated down the river and thrashed in pain.

The other two grotesque monsters spared no looks back for the one that had been shot. The only sign that they’d been aggravated by the sight was the ferocious growl they let loose before they simultaneously leapt at high speed towards Kualin.

Kualin once again opened fire and the one in front went tumbling backwards into the rubbery ground which made it bounce repeatedly before it came to a stop. This one had multiple holes in its body from which blood flowed freely onto the grass. The other monster had been right behind the first and it must’ve sensed the great danger that the gun represented. Its body vibrated at a higher frequency and it suddenly disappeared. I could barely see it moving in erratic sideways bounces, but it kept the distance between us and it constant for some reason.

Kualin shot at the creature multiple times only to miss and, before I could shout at him to stop, he ran out of bullets. The monster noticed the threat had vanished and, with a loud growl, once more bounded straight towards Kualin. When it was less than a couple yards away, it bared razor sharp teeth and made the final jump and opened its mouth wide to crush Kualin’s throat. Kualin’s eyes closed and his hands covered his face in terror as he waited for the inevitable—but it never came.

A large muscular fist reinforced by black brass knuckles blasted past Kualin’s head and smashed against the monster’s face in its headlong charge.

All I could catch was a look of utter surprise and confusion pass through the monster’s eyes before it was thrown back onto its back and bounced across the ground until it reached the edge of the river where its only discernible movements were a shallow breath and high pitched whimpers.

I already knew who had thrown the punch, but I couldn’t believe he had handled that monster rabbit as easily as he had. Everyone in the group turned towards Akito who had his right hand on Kualin’s back to prevent him from falling and his left was outstretched over Kualin’s left shoulder. His left fist’s black brass knuckles had blood on them and it dripped off the metal down onto his hands. Once he realized the monster could no longer fight, he took his knuckles off and put them both in his front pocket.

“Bro, that was so badass!” Kualin yelled and turned his attention back onto the rabbit monster Akito had blown away.

“Just be thankful I didn’t have to put my hands on you!”

He turned back towards Akito and said, “Hell yeah! That’s what I’m talking about. Give me some!” He held his fist out and Akito hesitantly bumped it with his bloodied fist.

All the girls had moved to stand behind Milik and myself during the confrontation and we slowly lowered our weapons in relief. I turned back to look at the girls, but they had all their attention on the two immobile monsters.

A pool of blood was now gathered underneath it and I assumed it was dead. The one Akito had blasted back was still on the ground as it whimpered in pain. I was about to walk over there and end its life with my machete until I saw a white shape flit between the space left between Kualin and Akito as they walked over towards us.

“Move!” I yelled out to them.

They only had a moment to register what I’d said, but they both dove opposite ways and a white blur rocketed past them, claws outstretched, and heading towards me.

‘Shit.’ I forced my machete out in front of me and hoped for the best as yellow eyes filled with hunger and rage penetrated my own.

‘Oh, screw that. It’s moving too fast for me to try and stab it and make it out uninjured.’ I pulled the machete back and over my shoulder trying to gauge the moment it would appear right in front of me.

My brain went into overdrive and a slight wind picked up around me. I could feel and see more about my surroundings than I ever could before. I felt the speed of the monster as it moved towards me. I felt the muscles of the monster work in harmony to move faster and faster as it aimed to kill me. I saw the wind in front of me fluctuating back and forth—completely free. I felt the wind caress my body with its soothing touch and then my machete swung down at empty space in front of me with as much power as I could muster.

It looked as if I had swung too early and that the machete would pass through nothing but air.

All of a sudden the monster appeared right in front of me and my machete’s blade was right against the side of its neck.

‘Woah,’ was all I could think as I watched my blade pass through skin, muscle, and bone into the neck of the monster.

The rabbit monster’s direction changed due to my machete, which was currently embedded halfway in its neck, and it tumbled past my left side and onto the ground in a tangle of limbs and blood. I heard gurgling and coughing noises coming from the monster and was surprised that it was still alive.

I started to walk towards the one I’d just cut. I felt the wind around me die down and the soothing touch I’d momentarily felt as the monster charged at me slowly disappeared. Everything I’d felt and seen in that moment before life and death left me and it took a moment for me to get used to my normal senses.

‘Was that my elemental affinity? I haven’t awoken yet…but that wind was incredible. I could feel everything.’ I shrugged off the questions I had and knelt next to the raggedly breathing rabbit monster. I was repulsed by the sight, but remembered that it could’ve been me dead on the ground—and they would’ve eaten me.

It was at this moment that I thought of food. Then I thought of the granola bars in my bag and how I was in need of some of those granola bars. Or maybe even something tastier—like meat. I looked at the rabbit in a new light for a few seconds and then shook my head at the thoughts in my head.

‘This thing looks like a rabbit on steroids and it was insane. I could catch some sort of disease fucking around with this thing.’ I grabbed the hand of my machete and tugged hard to free it from the neck of the monster.

The blade was covered in blood and smelled rancid. I didn’t want this to last long so I grabbed the handle of my machete in both hands and plunged it into the chest of the monster where I assumed the heart would be. Its figure was humanoid so it wasn’t too hard to figure that out.

The noise of the monster abruptly died as my blade entered its body and I quickly pulled it out and looked away from the monster to avoid the sight of what I’d done.

‘I need to get more comfortable with killing things,’ I decided and looked up at the sky to further contemplate how to kill without any remorse.

“Alex, everything okay?” Jessica called out from the group and I realized that, to them, it looked like I had just decided to stare at the sky next to the corpse of the monster.

I hastily pulled myself to my feet and nodded to the group behind me. “I’m fine.”

“Hey, guys!” Kualin called out as he surveyed the rabbit monster Akito had punched away. Akito stood next to him and looked to be in the middle of inconspicuously praising his own handiwork.

“What do we do with it?” Pixie asked us all.

“Kill it obviously. We don’t know if it’s safe to eat and not to mention it just tried to kill us.” I said as I walked over there with the rest of the group.

“I know we kill it, but what do we do with them?” She spoke out again with a hint of sadness.

I looked at her blankly. “Pixie, are you suggesting we should bury them?”

Kyra shook her head and answered for Pixie. “No, but we shouldn’t just leave them here. There might be others and if they know we’re out here, then we could be caught off-guard by more of them. I agree with Pixie. We can just toss them in the river or something. They’ll float away from us.”

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

“But don’t you think they have more of a chance of seeing the dead bodies floating down the river, rather than in this one spot?” Jessica said and gestured at the length of the river from the way we’d come from.

“I’m taking into account that maybe these animals can smell blood!” Kyra shouted and her box braids flung around in a rush as she turned to look at Jessica with anger in her eyes.

“Alright, alright. You both have good points. Everyone just calm down.” I said as I stepped in between Kyra and Jessica. Kyra was glaring daggers at me, but I wasn’t intimidated in the slightest—just confused because the situation wasn’t anything to get so upset over.

“We’ll toss the bodies. Milik, come help me with this one.” I pointed over to the one I had killed with my machete. I looked over at Kualin and Akito. “Can you guys get the other two? They’re closer to the river.”

They nodded and we got to work. A minute later the bodies were dumped. I washed my machete in the river next to Akito who cleaned his black brass knuckles. After we finished, we’d begun to walk along the river like we were before the attack. It was quiet because of Kyra’s outburst earlier and I could feel the tension in the air.

“Guys…” Although no one said anything in response, I felt everyone’s attention had turned towards me. “I know we’re in a tight situation, but we need to work together to make it through. Teamwork makes the dream work. My dream is to make it through the tower alive with all of you and protect our planet.” My parents’ and younger siblings’ faces passed through my mind and I continued to talk.

“But…we’re just not going to make it if we’re ever at each other’s throats like we just were.” I looked at Kyra and her emerald green eyes struggled to meet my gray.

“I don’t want us to die…” I softly finished.

“I don’t want to die either! I’m just scared! You saw those things! They would have killed us if they could. I’ve never had anything come at me with the intent to kill!” I was at a loss for what to say. Kyra seemed like she was near the breaking point, but Milik rushed to her side and clasped one of her hands between one of her own.

“Kyra…” Milik spoke with a confidence I hadn’t heard in his voice before now. Kyra seemed surprised too and she turned her head up from the ground to look at Milik. I must have missed something because Kyra gasped in surprise and instantly calmed down. Milik and Kyra looked at each other for a couple seconds before I coughed to get their attention. It was getting a little awkward.

“Kyra, are you okay now?” I asked with concern in my voice. Milik had let go of her hand and moved away a couple steps.

“I’m fine. Sorry. I haven’t really been myself since we got here. I’m not a mean person. Really.” She said in a sober voice. Then she turned to look at Jessica, but this time with tranquil eyes.

“I’m sorry about earlier, Jessica. I was just freaking out.” She said it in a sincere voice and Jessica was in shock at the abrupt apology.

Jessica smiled warmly at Kyra. “It’s fine. I’m not mad. Apology accepted.”

Izzy was off to my side and I heard her whisper to Akito who stood next to her, “It’s like keeping up with the Kardashians.” She rolled her eyes good-naturedly with a smile on her face.

I grinned at what she said and looked at the rest of my group.

‘I’m so glad there’s no assholes on my team.’ I thanked God for my good fortune.

“So we should probably walk for a while longer and set up camp somewhere. It’s almost completely dark.” I suggested to the group.

………………..

After we walked for another half hour, we decided it was time to rest and set up camp. It wasn’t very cold out next to the river which surprised me, but I’d already stopped trying to make sense of the second floor. A slight breeze passed through the area and the temperature felt comfortable. Not too hot or too cold.

I had thrown my pack onto the ground ready to get some sleep and was about to untie my sleeping bag and grab some granola bars and water, but—

“So who’s keeping watch first?” Izzy asked. She was laid out on her back and looked up at the night sky filled with stars.

“Keep watch—” I sputtered as I looked at my comfy sleeping bag.

“Ummm I’ll go first…I’m not very tired yet.” Pixie had raised her hand and had a guilty look on her face as if we’d jump on her for not being sleepy.

“Ughhhh I’ll go first too. I slept most of the day anyways. Also, let’s practice that meditation thing tomorrow. It’s been a rough day.” I reluctantly let go of my sleeping bag, but still fished around in my pack for a granola bar and water bottle. Everyone else opened up an MRE and waited for it to heat up. I felt like dying every time I declined an offer from my group members to share a part of their MRE with me, but I somehow made it through.

After we all ate, Pixie and I sat down next to a nearby tree while the others laid out blankets from their packs to lie on.

Soon it was quiet and I roamed around all sides of where we’d stopped to sleep with my eyes. Over to the forest, to the hills, along both sides of the river—we were alone. Pixie and I sat about fifteen yards away from our group as they peacefully slept under our watch.

“Alex?” Pixie whispered so as not to wake anyone up.

“What’s up, Pixie?” I whispered back with a smile.

“I’m glad I’m in this group. You, Akito, and Kualin were so strong earlier…and it seemed like Milik knew exactly what to do with Kyra too.” I smiled brighter.

“Yeah, we’ve got a really good group. You’re strong too, Pixie.” She looked away, a faint blush spread across her cheeks.

“What do you mean? I haven’t done anything,” She asked me with downcast eyes.

I put my hand on her shoulder and spoke more seriously. “Not yet…but you didn’t change like Kyra did. Not that she’s weak, but you have a good mentality in this situation…and if we can use our powers, you’ll become extremely strong. You were like a…ninety-two, right?” She nodded at my words.

A look of happiness flitted across her face only to be replaced by disappointment. “It’s just a number though, Alex. None of us even know how to use our element stuff yet.”

“It’s our potential. If you want to be strong, then you just have to put in the work. And about not knowing how to use our powers…I’m sure every single group is in that same position! Besides…well, I haven’t told any of the others yet…but I think I used my elemental affinity earlier.” She looked up at me in astonishment.

“It wasn’t anything really special!” I whispered loudly. “It was just…I felt it.” She looked at me confused.

“Felt what, Alex?” She curiously asked me/

I lifted my hand to feel a cool breeze race through hand as it passed and smiled. “The wind. I felt the wind, Pixie.”

Now she just looked even more confused. “You felt the wind? I can feel the wind all the time.”

I shook my head. “No, no. I know…but this was something completely different. It was like, I could feel everything around me through the wind. It’s how I was able to land a hit directly on the monster’s neck from earlier. It was amazing, Pixie.” I twisted my hand around in mid-air and tried to grab at the wind, but it eluded my grasp.

“The power is there Pixie and I don’t think it’ll be too difficult at all for us to use them. At least, the basic stuff for our powers anyways…and if what I felt earlier was just the basic stuff…I can only imagine how strong we can all become.”

‘Or how strong the other groups could be,’ I kept this thought to myself and, before I knew it, a couple hours had passed as Pixie and I watched the night sky and talked about the second floor and what we’d encountered so far.

At some point, Akito had woken up and told us that he’d pick someone else to wake up and that we should get some sleep, so I went back to my pack, unrolled my sleeping bag and conked out in less than a minute.