Young Writers Society

The camps were empty tonight. The storm was closing in on Atlanta, but here, it was barely a drizzle.

Everyone crowded around the drill camp, waiting for news on the city inside the Perimeter. The air had a cooling pinch to it that gave way to small clouds of breath in the crowd. Their chests rose and fell like a wave, all barely making a noise, waiting for word on those left inside the Perimeter.

The microphone on the stage whined with feedback, and then all was calm.

“Welcome to Fort Sundersale, everyone, first and foremost. It’s not much, but it’s all we have for now. Secondly, I know you all are anxious for information on news inside the Perimeter. I’m going to be the bearer of bad news here and say that we do not have the information you want. What goes on inside the Perimeter is not under my jurisdiction anymore, as the chief of police.

“The Military has taken over the jurisdiction of the city. Atlanta is under Martial Law. Anything inside the Perimeter is on immediate lockdown.” The officer looked down, “I’m so sorry.”

“What about my mom?” A teenager asked from the crowd.

“And my brother?”

“My fiance is in there! They can’t possibly lock it down like that!”

“Look, people!” The officer shouted, and the microphone whined once more. “I’m not in charge of this, and I’m just as mad as you are. My daughter is in there, and now my city is under Martial Law.”

“Isn’t there anything we can do to help?”

“As of right now, if any of us were to enter the Perimeter of Atlanta, we could be shot on sight.” The officer sighed as thunder cracked in the background. “It’s a warzone in there.”



Three months ago, the Central for Disease Control, or the CDC, launched their flagship nano-biozene into the waters near Atlanta, Georgia, called VAD-11. This biozene was supposed to implement a heightened healing of illnesses and injuries, and sturdy bones and muscles for future ones.

However, it hit a snag, in the way of a side effect many has nicknamed the Harbinger Syndrome. A small amount of the people in Atlanta got the ability to manipulate certain objects and elements. At first, it was thought to be a disease, but it was something much more serious than that. It was a Revolution.

A month after the Harbinger Syndrome was discovered, the Perimeter, otherwise called Interstate 285, was closed down and a thick concrete wall was put in place to keep people out and the Harbingers in.

Bringing up to present day, there are two groups of Harbingers, the Colustrum, a group of Harbingers who would rather see humanity fall before their iron grasp before they become allies, and The False Enforcers, who would rather see peace before destruction. They are at odds with another, after a split between a larger group of most of the Harbingers in Atlanta, these two groups have extremely different ideas on what to do after they get out, if they get out. But there’s one thing they both agree on: They must get to the CDC to stop the spread of VAD-11. But will they get there? That’s up to you.



Things work a little differently in Atlanta where this is set in. First of all, feel free to use landmarks if you want to research them, but for the most part, Atlanta will be free for you to make up, seeing as it’s so immense.

Not only that, but everything your character does, and I do mean everything, will affect Atlanta in some shape or form. This is not only a warzone, but a spotlight for the world. If you want to be accepted back into society, then you must keep in mind that you are considered the bad guys, the villians, of this situation.

Good luck out there, Harbinger.

Also, to begin in the storybook, I will ask you to post two different timelines. The Past, which will be two months before The Present. The Past should be italicized whenever you write it. The reason for this is to provide some backstory to your character and Atlanta itself. If you have any other questions, don’t be afraid to ask in the DT or just wait until I have posted the intro post.



1. Sarah Palmer - Aquestioning
2. Tracy Enser - Nutty
3. Maryanna Bevin - Noelle
4. Valkyrie Dirix - Auxiira
5. Dr. Alina Roberts - ShadowVyper
6. Seth Knight - Avalon
7. Carla Deacon - Deanie
8. Abbey Mayfield - megsug
9. Allison Levesque - Carina
10. Will Kiryutoui - Laure
11. Elissa Evans - Elinor Brynn
12. Scott Parker - Lumi
13. Jennifer Maydez - Wolfare1
14. Same Lennox - Craz
15. Aura Blasé - timmyjake
Character Template:


Being a Harbinger, you have the natural ability to manipulate certain elements. There’s a list below, but if you want something else, then message me.

Very important: I don’t expect your character to be amazing at what they do. In fact, they shouldn’t be, to prevent god-modding.

Ice - Whenever water freezes, it harnesses small air pockets which, when combined with the the frozen water, it allows for wonderful opportunities. Note, this is not water in its liquid state. Once your ice starts melting, you will not be able to control it, so keep that in mind. Ice is the most stable power, but has the disadvantage of you not being able to control it once it starts melting a lot. Use this to your advantage whenever you’re fighting, as Ice is not the most effective power in battling.

Smoke - Fire is destruction, but smoke is obliteration. Only for the fiery at heart, this dark manipulation ability will take second-hand smoking to a whole new level. Note, this is not fire, and can be attained through other means. Smoke is a fragile power, but it is the easiest to control in waves of enemies.

Vines - Vines are interesting creatures. Sneaky, deceitful, and cunning, these will gladly help you in your conquest of Atlanta. Note, only vines will be helpful to you. Other plants might not be as nice to you if you try to control them. Vines are stealthy, but effective and lethal. You are not a full-on fighter. Be careful with this ability. Vines do have a mind of their own, especially when you intrude in on it.

Concrete - Seemingly powerful and immensely vast, concrete is a wonderful power if you’re into smashing and suffocation. Note, any concrete that has been created by a non-Harbinger, you cannot manipulate it. Concrete is effective in battling, but hard to control, and if you mess up, then the consequences can be extreme. Both Concrete and Ice can be made out of materials in the air, making it particularly easy to use the ability.

Neon - Unique and fragile, this power is quite unstable at best but provides immense potential. Neon is all around us, but, break the balance, and you can end up at the peril of your own manipulation. Note, not all neon sources are neon. Each color is a different element, and will give you different effects, so be wary. Neon is extremely destructive in battle, but can be spotty in the best of times.

Blood - Perhaps the most frightening of all the powers in all of the Harbingers, this power gives you the ability to manipulate the blood of just about anything that has blood, with different effects. Bloodshed is your ally. Note, this power is extremely unstable, and if there’s no blood around for you to use, then you might end up using your own blood. Great in battle after some blood has been shed. You are a beast in fighting, but be careful, it’s hard to tell friend and foe in terms of blood.

Pheromones - Pheromones are quiet weapons. Subtly changing the mood if a room or attracting a horde of insects, they're more useful than would be expected. You have to be careful though. Pheromones are reliant on your mood. If you don't have a firm grip on your power, it may turn on you or grow out of your control. You also have to give them time to work. The effect isn't immediate. Pheromones are best controlled by calm people.

(Brought to you by megsug.)

Lightning - You are the weather. You change as the clouds do. And so do your power. Volatile during thunderstorms, you charge your power like a battery. Expending it all, however, and you start using your body as fuel, and let's just say, that's not a pretty picture. Water is not your ally in general, and try to keep clear of non-conductive things. If you keep these things in mind, your power is limited only by your imagination.

(Brought to you by Avalon.)



This will start on June 1st.

Sarah Palmer

~~~~~~~Past~

I grabbed my suitcase and opened up the small umbrella. John was next to me, pulling up his sleeves to check the time. "We have five minutes before they close the gates. Lila, let's go!"

"Yeah, I'm right behind you guys. Let's get going." Lila grabbed her bag, shooing us outside as she put her gray hair in a ponytail. She held onto my left arm.

Atlanta looked dreary tonight, its skies heavy with rain clouds. I pulled up the umbrella and opened it. Looking at his watch again, "Four minutes, we need to hurry up."

"I don't think we'll make it, John," I whispered in his ear.

"We'll make it, don't worry." He grabbed my arm and pushed me along.

The Perimeter loomed over us as we got closer. Two weeks ago, whenever it was found that Harbingers existed in the city, the Perimeter was hastily built to keep them in. Today was the last day for evacuations. As we approached the Perimeter, my heart rose to my chest.

"John, what if they find out that I'm a Harbinger?"

"Don't even think about it. You won't," he looked at me, and for a moment, I felt reassured. He no longer felt like my roommate, he was more than that. He was the one who was going to get us through this. I squeezed his hand, and he smiled at me slowly.

"Halt!" Two officers stepped out from behind the corner of a small gas station, called "Kum 'n' Go." Lila, stepped in front of us, their guns raised, a slight humming stilling everything else. The rain faltered to a slight drizzle.

"Hello, kind gentlemen. We're here to leave Atlanta. I hope the gate's not closed yet." She smiled, but she squeezed my arm, and she was shaking all over. Lila, in all her age, always knew how to calm a situation.

"The gates closed two days ago. You're late. You're stuck in here, lady." John inhaled quietly.

I whispered in his ear, "if we get to the gate, I can blast through it."

"No, that'll just make it worse, and get us killed." He moved next to Lila. "Look, everything's closed here. Lila here, she's not going to live much longer in these conditions. We just want to leave, and she was sick for a long while. We'll be out of your hair and you can get this 'Harbinger' deal done with."

The guards looked at each other ruefully. The older one, clearly the commanding officer, took a step forward. "Look, that's not how we work around here. The gates only open from the outside, and there's no way we're opening up for every late family who ignored our call for evacuations."

"Look, Lila's sick. She won't last lon-" Lila swatted him silent.

"It's true, I'm sick. But, if you won't let us through, you only have yourself and God to live with." She smiled at them, and then turned to us. "Let's go home. We'll get through this."

"Wait." the captain walked up to us, laying his hand on Lila's shoulder. "Lila, is it? Well, Lila. Here, there ain't no god. This is a war-zone, and you better get used to that." He pulled her to the side and kicked her down to the ground.

"Hey!" John shouted, and he ran over to her side. I closed my umbrella and ran to the officer, raising the stick over my head. The officer side-stepped me and butted me with his weapon.

"This is not the life you are used to living in, people. It's obvious that you can't deal with this, so we'll end your suffering for you." Lila groaned, and John put his backpack under her head.

"You aren't soldiers. You are monsters. I thought you were supposed to serve the people, not injure them and belittle them."

"Everyone in here aren't considered people anymore. You're all considered Harbingers to society, and since Atlanta is under martial law, we can do what ever we want to you." He emphasized this by pointing the gun at John's head.

"People will hear about what you're about to do. This'll reach the public in no time."

"What the public doesn't know won't hurt them. Even if they find out, it won't be in your favor." I saw the other officer raise his weapons at Lila and pulled the trigger.

"No!" The rifle recoiled slightly, and the ring of the shot sounded through the street. Lila gasped once, and let out another, long breath, before staying silent. Suddenly, the whole world slowed down.

I saw John stand up and turn to the officer. All sound left my ears. It was like watching one of those old films that would only have music playing and nothing else, and the actors would mouth the words and text would appear after every conversation.

You want proof of a Harbinger? You got it, I thought. As John dealt with the officer, I looked to the other soldier. The ground around me shook with my anger and outstretched my hand and focused on him.

Time suddenly sped back up and the ground underneath him shifted. Darkness filled my vision, as my concrete sprouted up underneath him, capturing him in a coffin of death.

"You die!" I screamed, and the concrete collapsed in on itself.

"No, Sarah, don't do it!" John shouted, but it was too late. The officer knocked him to the ground.

"A Harbinger, trying to leave this place? Is that the reason you were so late?" He aimed his rifle on John and pulled the trigger. "No matter now. You should have just stayed in your little hobbit hole, lady." He pulled out a radio, "Calling reinforcements, I've found one."

Standing, I looked at Lila and John's lifeless bodies. Clenching my fists, I turned to the officer, "You're going to need those reinforcements, Captain," I whispered.

~~~~~~~Present~

This is Atlanta now. A warzone. A battlefield. My home. Well, mine and fifteen others. It's been like this for two months now. It's a surprise no one has died yet. Yet.

We live in the middle levels of a parking garage now. Barricaded ourselves in for now, and the roof has been transformed into a lush garden by our vine experts. The plants are a bit tempermental for now, but Judas says they'll give up soon and let us harvest their foodstuffs.

I'm Sarah Palmer, the leader of this group. Well, more like a family now. We've been together through so much that there's not much that can separate us. It's us against the world, Seth always says.

"We're not allowed in this world anymore, Sarah. They shut us out, so they need to be taught a lesson." Seth said as we first started working on the gardens two weeks ago. "It's time to get out of this place. I don't think we can stay here for much longer."

But that was then, and times have changed. Perhaps this place no longer suits our needs. Perhaps we do need to move on. The military has been moving out of this area, and into the southern parts of Atlanta, for some unknown reason.

I sighed as my mind wandered again. It always does that whenever I get a good view of Atlanta.

"Yo, Sarah? You mind talking?" Valkyrie idled next to me.

"Sure Valkyrie. Is there anything you need?"

She laughed gruffly and pulled out a cigarette, "Need? Maybe some more cigarettes, but other than that, nope."

"Cigarettes are becoming scarce as the military plows through Atlanta. I'm afraid you'll have to start savoring those killers."

She gave me a glare, "This harmless little thing is the least of my worries out here."

"But it's still a worry."

"Okay, mom." She took a long puff of the lean white cigarette. "Anyway, I wanted to talk to you about leaving this area. There's been a lot of talk on the encoder radio. Scott has been hoarding over that thing ever since we found it in that Bugatti. There's been word of a 'cleansing' of the northern area."

"Cleansing? Any idea of what that means?" I leaned on the guardrail and furrowed my brows.

"I know as much as you do. My guessing is nothing cheerful. Scott would most likely know more, but good luck getting him pried off of the radio." She turned to leave, but stopped. She stared at me with a knowingly smirk. prying the cigarette from her fingers very slowly. "Being the leader of this team is hard, and I can only know a small portion of what you do. These people are a wild bunch, you know." Crushing what remained of the cigarette, a puff of smoke clouded the air around her. "You never know what drama even the closest of people can draw at the worst of times." And with that, she left.

What did she mean by that? She's always been a mysterious person. I decided to think about that later and focused on what she said about the encoder radio.

Looking around, I realized I was dangerously close to the roof. I could see parts of the angered plants sprouting from the roof of the seventh floor. Backing up, I suddenly saw that I was being surrounded by these plants. Slowly but surely, they had slithered their way from the garden to snap at my heels. "Well, this is great."

"Don't worry, Sarah. They're not going to hurt you. I'm talking to them." A voice floated my way.

"Who was that?"

"Mmm, Maryanna." A collection of vines suddenly burst into activity as Maryanna made herself visible to me, her bright red hair in sudden contrast to the green plants. She wasn't even looking in my direction, and I could tell she wasn't entirely focused on me, but she had saved me from a particularly nasty situation that I wasn't in the mood to be in.

"Thank you, Maryanna. Do you know where Scott is, perchance?"

There was a pause and Maryanna looked down. "Two floors down, with the sweet little Tracy bothering him in his work. Yes, the vines are quite interested in what they have to say." Looking back up, I could tell our conversation had ended.

"You're great help, Maryanna. I have other things to do, but I'll talk to you later, okay?" I got no response, which was fine with me. Most of my conversations with her ended awkwardly. Sometimes, I have a hard time thinking that she's all the way there and not lost in her own world with her plants. However, this conversation wasn't as awkward as our earlier attempts, which means something.

Our space in the parking garage consisted of our garden on the eighth and highest floor, our living quarters on the sixth through four floors, and car barricades on most of the seventh and third floors. We've only had one attack on the garage, and it was just a small scouting party a couple of weeks ago, but it sent shivers of anxiety through the group, and I couldn't blame them. So, I had the barricades below our area extended and thickened. I also did some destruction with my concrete to make it look like the third floor had caved in on the second one.

Walking down to the fifth floor, I nodded salutations to the people I saw, but not really paying them any attention. What Valkyrie said got me thinking. I know everyone here, but the only one I know well is Seth, and even he's been distancing himself from me ever since that first night two months ago. How do I know these people could secretly be planning to kill me or report me to military so they would do who knows what to me. I glanced around at the others while I walked, looking at each and every single one of them. Sure, some of them had that aura around them that screamed, "I hate the world, don't talk to me," but that most certainly wasn't directed to anyone in the group, was it? It couldn't be. I just don't see anyone of these people betraying me. We've gone so far, no matter what happens to us, I can't see them being the cause of it.

Alina strode up next to me and matched my pace, "Well, I'm feeling ready to take on the day. I haven't had a shower in who knows how long, and thanks to you, I was able to take one. I must admit, the technology you used was quite advanced from what's used in Atlanta before all this happened." She looked at me and poked more after awhile. "What's with that face, Sarah? Why are you so down lately?"

I chuckled a bit. "Just thinking, Alina. It's been a hectic past couple of days, and possibly even more hectic next couple of days."

"I hear ya, what with the raid mission and all."

"With what?" I turned to her incredulously, but she was looking at Seth, who was motioning for her to come over to him.

"Gonna talk later, Sarah." She sent me a quick smile and left me with more questions in my head than before she talked to me. I growled, today's not right. First things first, I need to get to Scott, and figure out everything he's been getting from that radio.

~~~~~~~Past~

"I'm gonna need those reinforcements ASAP, Linda," the captain said as he backed away from me onto the barren street. The Perimeter to my left and my things two my right, I growled at him and the ground rumbled alongside me.

"Captain, would you say you're scared right now? Would you say I'm in a position to overpower you right now?"

He said nothing but aimed his gun at me and fired three quick bursts. I roared and a large concrete pillar sprouted to life in front of me, taking the brunt of the bullets. Outstretching my hand, I pushed the concrete pillar, slowly inching it closer to the Captain as he backed up more. He was running out of room to escape, but I wasn't letting him to even think of escaping. Two more pillars erupted on either side of him, forcing him in one direction.

"Captain, are you feeling frightened right now? Are you scared, Captain!"

"Just let me be, Harbinger!" He tried to sound brave, but it failed as his voice squeaked and softened at the end of the sentence.

"My name isn't Harbinger, and neither were those you killed back there! They had names, and lives, and you just felt like you could take them away with the pull of a trigger. How's that fair? How is that fair, Captain?"

Before he could respond, a large large blared on behind me. "Release him, or we will shoot!"

Turning around slowly, I counted five others, two in a truck and the other three closing in on the sides. Clenching my fists, I growled and the pillars inched ever closer to the Captain.

"You don't know what you're doing. You do this, and you will be considered a murderer!" A somewhat familiar voice shouted from behind the floodlight pointed at me. So, a sixth person.

"I'm considered one no matter what I do. What will I do, release him? And then what? You'll take me in and kill me no matter what."

"You have it wrong, Sarah. We're the good guys."

The voice sounded so familiar, like a song where the melody was stuck in my head, but I could never remember the lyrics. I tried to see past the light, but it was proving to be nothing.

Tightening my fists, I whispered, "Yeah, no. I saw what you did to me friends. I'm not letting me be the same case."

I screeched and raised my hands into the air. Lightning crackled in the sky and rain began pouring down.

The pillars collided on each other.

~~~~~~~Present~

Reaching the fifth floor, I heard Tracy's voice in the air.

"-I had a phone whenever I was a kid, and it had this one app on it where you could encode messages and decode them back into a different language. It was fun back then, but it could be extremely helpful now!"

Well, someone was in a good mood. I tried to soften my face as I walked up to the two. Scott was huddled on a small stool next to a folding table, where the radio and two notebooks lay. One was open, and the other closed. He was busy writing something in the open notebook at the moment.

Tracy was laying on a mat next to him, belly-down, kicking her right leg with her left one absentmindedly as she went on and on about the various apps on her phone. Scott didn't seem to mind her, she didn't even phase him as he was writing. He was probably ignoring her quite well.

"Scott, Tracy. How are things." I tried to smile as I walked up to them, but I got a little more than a slight smirk. Tracy looked at me first.

"Oh, hi Sarah. I took a hot bath this morning. A hot one, could you believe it! The first one in, like forever. All thanks to you." She smiled at me warmly and tackled me into a hug, and that almost made me forget all the horrible things that have happened to me the past few weeks. She had that quality about her. Whenever she was in a good mood, she tried her hardest to make it contagious on others. She was humming slightly as she laid back down, and I couldn't help but smiling.

"That's great, Tracy. Scott, how about you?"

"Hmm?" He raised his head slightly, but his eyes were still focused on his writing.

"Scott. How are you?"

"Oh, I'm good, "he replied absentmindedly as he drew a circle and split into into four different parts with an x.

"What are you working on, Scott? Is that part of the encoding matrix?"

He glanced up at me once, and then twice. "Oh, I'm so sorry, Sarah. Yeah, I'm working on this matrix for the latest encryption. It's so fascinating, each matrix is different, but they all have qualities like the one previously. Getting to those qualities is the hard part, though. It's never the same thing, and this one has to involve the Perimeter somehow. It's quite like my days trying to program this one video game..." he looked up and blushed a little, "I'm sorry. It's just, this has been the only interesting thing I've seen since Atlanta got ruined, and it's my first challenge in a long while. Without a calculator, this is proving most worthwhile."

I sat down next to him. "Scott, Valkyrie said something about a 'Cleansing.' She told me to come to you to find this thing out. I'm not exactly sure what it could possibly mean, but it's most likely not something helpful."

He frowned, and opened the other notebook, flipping through the pages. "Well, that was my most recent decryption. It doesn't say anything specifically on what the Cleansing does, but it says where it's going to happen...

"Ah here it is. 'The Cleansing will be processed in the Northern Districts and its constraints will not be limited to Atlanta.'" He glanced up at me, pushing his glasses back up.

Tracy rolled off her mat and jumped up to her feet. "I'm going to go find something to do. Bye, guys!"

"Bye, Tracy." I muttered, deep in thought. Scott said nothing. I shook my head in frustration. "I can't think of anything that might be remotely good about that message. We're in the north side of the Perimeter. That may explain why the military is moving south." I rubbed my temples, trying to fight back the oncoming migraine. "Thank you, Scott. Is there anything else you think I should know?"

He flipped through the other pages of the notebook. "Well, the rest of these are fairly simple messages. It's definitely not the military that's sending these signals."

"Why is that?"

"Well, there are signals about patrol routes and ration depots. That would be normal, except for the fact that there's the mention of how to get in undetected and steal the food or kill the patrols." He closed the book and turned to me. "Sarah, I think we should consider the prospect of a larger group to the south of us."

I nodded silently. "That could be a very strong and realistic prospect. Thanks, Scott. I'm going to regroup with the others to tell of this information. You're welcome to join us."

He shook his head, "I've got work to do."

I stood up. "Hey," I said, and he turned to look at me, "thanks."

He smiled shyly and returned to his work.

~~~~~~~Past~

Covering my right and left flanks with what was left of the concrete, I formed spheres of the rock substance and shot them at the guys trying to attack me from the sides. The truck started firing at me, but I formed a wall to take the force of the fire. One guy found a way inside my walls and pulled out a small handgun in one hand and a dagger in the other.

Sidestepping his knife as he lunged, I form one of my own from concrete and stabbed him in the neck. The wall crumbled as lightning struck down on the street. The force knocked me off my feet and I fell in the midst of my concrete ruins.

Struggling to get up from the shock, I heard fighting in the background. The two soldiers on the truck had gotten off and were now a few yards away from the truck, fighting a figure just out of the floodlight, which was now focused on the fight. I could now see the man behind the light and the gun on the truck, and my lungs seized up.

"Bryan! What are you doing here?" I gasped.

He turned to me, and I could suddenly see my little brother again. That annoying little brat who stuck with me on everything I did. Through thick and thin, rough and even more rough, he stood by my side. And here he is now, on the other end of the barrel.

I could hardly move. Ever since I left to help with Dad at his job, Bryan and I stopped talking. He refused to see me off, but to think that he actually joined the very force that was intent on killing me and all like me?

"Sarah, I'm trying to help you!" He shouted as he shot at the mysterious man. I growled.

"Trying to help me, how? By shooting at me?" I outstretched my hand, and a wall sprouted up in between the fight and the bullets, blocking them all with impunity.

"You're, you're one of them?" He looked dumbfounded.

"Who do you think was doing all the tricks with concrete?" I stood up slowly. "Bryan, get out of here and go home. Leave."

"You don't under-"

"Leave!" I gathered up what energy I had left and forced the ground under the truck to rise and fall. Bryan looked at me with sad eyes, but I didn't care anymore. I felt betrayed. Betrayed by my own brother.

The truck skidded out of the street and no doubt off to one of the numerous army camps. My shoulders sagged from pure exhaustion, and my mind felt the same. If my brother was out here trying to kill me, what was my mom doing? Who was she rooting for?

"Why did you let that truck get away? Now the whole battalion's going to be after us," someone said behind me. I couldn't move. I didn't care anymore. My energy was gone. My willpower was gone. "Hey, did you hear me?" I couldn't stand anymore, and my legs buckled out from underneath me.

~~~~~~~Present~

Today had given me so much to think about. In one moment, the settlement we had tried so hard to make may very well be on its last legs. The thought of moving back into the unknown was frankly, scary to me. I remembered the last time I was out alone in Atlanta, and let's just say it was not pretty sight.

Walking back up to the sixth floor, I looked around. "Excuse me, can I get your attention, everyone?"

Tracy ran up to me. "Sarah, you got to come and solve this. Seth and Abbey are this close to fighting each other." I frowned as she took me by the arm and led me to a small corner of the sixth floor.

I could hear Abbey's voice above everyone else's "Oh yes, Seth. I've been hearing about your plans with this group. It's even been said that you're the reason we don't have enough food rations to last us through the week, just so people would follow you. What do you have to say to that?"

"Abbey, I am not trying to sabotage this settlement. Why would I threaten my own chance of survival with some stupid plot?"

"Yeah? You don't realize, do you Seth? You ignorant, little fool. I've seen your conversations with the others. You're wanting to split this group up for your own stupid reasons!" I felt something soft yet strong brush against my leg and I looked down to see a gray wolf, teeth bared, moving in on Seth.

"That's ridiculous. i was merely collaborating with others on military tactics against our enemy out there." He pointed to the outside of the parking garage. "I am not your enemy, Abbey. They are. And you would be an idiot to think differently. What are you trying to prove here, anyway?"

Abbey's power radiated off of her like a thick musk. I knew it was making things worse, but there wasn't much I could do to stop it. "I'm here to keep you in line, Seth. I know you, more than most, and I know how much damage you can do to others. I plan to keep that from happening to my family."

"They're my family as well."

"Enough of this. You are done here." She turned the wolves on Seth, and his hands erupted in a crackle of electricity.

"Stop this!" I shouted over the jeers of the crowd. Clenching my fist, A thick wall of concrete rose up between the two, and everyone simmered down quickly. "We're all a family here, and it should stay that way. Now, what has started this."

"Well, leader." Valkyrie sneered, "there's been some rebellion in your ranks. Nows your time to lead, so," she motioned lazily, "lead."

"Seth here has been plotting behind your back. He was planning on sending a group to an army camp to raid it of all of its supplies, and kill anyone who gets in their way."

"We are running out of food, and that garden isn't much for food at the moment. This was a plausible situation." Seth shrugged.

"But to keep it-"

I held up my hand to Abbey, "thank you for defending me, Abbey, but this is not your fight to fight. Pick your battles."

She sighed, and all of her emotion disappeared from her face, as if she was trying to cover it up. "I'm only trying to defend my family."

I nodded, and turned to Seth. "Why didn't you tell me about this."

"Well, you have a lot on you shoulders at the moment, and I didn't th-"

"No, why didn't you tell me Seth? Was it maybe, that you didn't think I would agree with what you are implying. We are not the aggressors. We do not kill just out of spite. Weren't you the one who told me this, not over three months ago?"

He looked at me with a blank expression on his face, "it was a plausible idea, and still is, although the window in which we can do it is closing fast. If we do this, then we must do it now."

"Don't you understand, Seth? This is not the right thing to do. If we go on the aggressive, then the world will confirm what they have already been thinking, that we're the bad guys."

"If they think we're the villains, then why should we call them liars. We should take this city back, and the time to do it is now." That got a couple of claps from the audience around us.

"You don't understand what you're implying here, Seth. You're going to start something that you can't finish. You may think you're invincible, but you're not. You may think you can outmatch everyone, but you don't know everything there is to know."

He walked past me. "Look, I'm going, whether you like it or not. And others are going with me. You can't stop us, but you can come with us."

I shook my head. "You guys don't know what you're doing."

"I think I do more than you." He turned to the rest of the people, "For those of you who I've talked to before, the offer is still up. Come with me." And, one by one, they left down the bottom.

~~~~~~~Past~

I awoke shaking in a small cafe.

"Hey, shh. I thought you would be in a coma for how long you slept. How are you feeling, Sarah?"

"My head is pounding, but other than that, I'm fine." I lurched to my feet. "Where am I?"

"You're in a cafe called CrossPress. This is the only sanctuary for Harbingers in the northern part of Atlanta."

"Seth?" I looked at him, and he smiled softly.

"Yeah. Small world, huh? Welcome home, Sarah."

Seth Knight - Past and Present Tense

Present

There comes a time in a man's life when he has to make some hard decisions, and I made mine. Those who followed me were people that made that same tough decision. As I walked leading those to the close by military camp, they somehow had supplies to keep their men fed and those supplies could help us survive. I hated Abbery, she blew things up that she shouldn't have to. I wasn't looking to kill anyone, and I would prefer zero casualties. But if push came to shove, I had no choice in the matter.

As I walked I absorbed electricity from street lamps as I passed; the cloak of darkness might give us an advantage into getting the supplies. I constantly looked over how I would get the supplies, we would be going into a camp from a nearby park their would be patrols that would have to be distracted while others got the supplies. Even now as I walked I was determined to be the distraction and risk no body else in this matter, if I died, only Sarah would miss me.

Past

"Sarah!" I hadn't seen her in all the time I been in the military.

I moved quicker than I knew I could I had to save Sarah from them. I mastered a few things about my new found abilities one was shooting lightning, a bolt of lightning shot straight forward and hit one of the men in armor. One of the truck's is driving away and I'm just by Sarah as it does unable for me to do anything.

"Why did you let that truck get away? Now the whole battalion's going to be after us!" I said.

Sarah seemingly didn't hear me, "Hey, did you hear me?" I asked.

But Sarah falls to her knee's and suddenly I knew she was out of it like a light. I shot a few more bolts of lightning at nearby soldiers before scooping Sarah up and making a dash away from the scene. I had to find somewhere safe, and I knew exactly where it was a place I passed on my way here to the gates.

CrossPress Cafe

Present

Our arrival at the camp was greeted by bright lights and movement despite the late hours they hadn't called for lights out yet. I could see into the camp somewhat but in my mind I had been in a camp before so I knew a general layout of the camp though I couldn't be entirely sure my knowledge was accurate. But I did have a game plan on how to get those supplies, I turned back to the others.

"This isn't going to be easy, but it is possible. First off Alina, Judas, and Sam, you three are going to go around the camp and destroy the generators that are keeping this place lit with lights. Alina you will have to shut them down one by one, Judas and Sam will protect you in case any guards comes along. They will look like boxes on wheels with camouflage to try and hide them. Scott, Valkyrie, and Elissa, you three go around around separately from the first group. Everyone else is to stay put and wait, once the lights are out or one or both groups are discovered we will move them."

I turn my back to them only to suddenly remember one last rule I should put in place and immediately turn back to them.

One last thing, kill only when it's absolute necessary, and trust me I will know weather you are killing for fun and don't think I've found out. Because then, the consequences will be painful" I said, but to prove a point I hold my fist up and slowly uncurl my fingers with electricity radiating in my hand.

Aura Blasé

************************Past******************************

The street exploded, concrete sidewalk and asphalt showering civilians like dangerous confetti, knocking them to the ground, and in serious cases, crushing them beneath the rocks’ weight.

People shouted in fear, and pain. Rifles cracked as camouflaged jackets shouldered their weapons. Blood splattered the broken stones and torn cheeks of people as they huddled beneath anything that would protect them.

“Stop the Harbinger!”

The voice echoed through the crowd, being carried on by every soldier who could hear the lieutenant’s sharp voice. Men and women—even children—were forced down the ground by gunpoint, while they were searched. For what, nobody knew.

Aura huddled beneath a chunk of concrete, already stained by the blood of another. Their lifeless body lay beside him, cold hands still clutching the stone tightly.

“They will bring us down, no matter the cost to others,” Aura whispered quietly.

He touched the girl’s lifeless cheek. Still warm. She had died mere moments before. He took a few strands of her hair and pulled it around until it framed her face. Gently reached up and closed her eyes. Wiped away the drops of blood that slowly rolled down her temple.

Licking his lips, he looked up. They were still searching the crowd. More gunfire.
They were looking for him. Well, he wasn’t going to listen or watch while other people were destroyed for what he was.

“I am right here.” Aura stood up, and faced the soldiers. “Now what are you going to do? Kill all of these people anyway?”

“Harbinger, you will surrender to us or we will shoot you down.” The lieutenant’s voice was resolute, but there was a faint waver in his voice. He was frightened.

“If I surrender, you will just kill me anyway!”

Before they could react, before they could even think, Aura focused on the soldiers and envisioned the entire scene, only changed. Concrete walls shooting straight up, dividing the groups of soldiers, crushing them together. Spires of concrete lining the ground like upside-down icicles, waiting for the unsuspecting soldier.

And then he let it go.

************************Present*****************************

Aura watched them pass by. Many of them—all Harbingers. Many people were affected like he was. Powers of concrete, lightning and smoke. He could see the smoke stains on one of their jackets. Concrete dust on pant legs. Like him, they had all been in war.

They talked. Chattering like friends do, exchanging conversation easily. He almost stepped up to talk to them, almost took a step forward to say something—even if it was something stupid, merely to say something to an actual person.

Those few friends he had before the evacuation had been removed from Atlantis, and then there were those who had died—some of them shot by scattered gunfire as the soldiers trained their weapons on him.

All of them were gone. Turned to ashes. Destroyed by those damn soldiers, those cowards who called themselves defenders of the peace.

Aura wanted to line them up and shoot each of them through the heart with concrete spikes of his own making, watching them die. Just as he had watched his friends die.
He considered following the rest of the Harbingers, if only to see what was going on. Sure, one of them had already explained the circumstances to him. The girl who shared his unique power—Concrete. What was her name? Oh, yes. Sarah

At least they were friendly, these Harbingers. Otherwise, he would have left them behind him and just continued onward, keeping to himself and hoping for the best. He may have anyway, save for that he wanted to live. He wanted to survive. He wanted to live so that he would see those soldiers die.

And there was only one way to do it. Stay with the rest of the Harbingers.

************************Past********************************

Concrete rained down, surged up, and slammed together— the grinding, smashing noise building up until even those who weren’t under the concrete’s vicious onslaught stopped to hold their ears.

Aura watched, unaffected.

“You want death? You want death!”

He shouted, and more concrete—this time monstrous boulders weighing several tons apiece—fell from the sky, forming from the nothingness into their vast shapes. Swirling in the air as they plummeted down to the ground, edges glinting from the sun’s vibrant glow.

“Harbinger, put your hands in the air where I can see them!” An authoritative voice rang out from behind, startling Aura.

Aura turned around to see a lone soldier gripping his AR-15 with a determined expression. Medallions covered his chest. Scars covered his face.

“My hands aren’t what you need to keep an eye on,” Aura said.

“Put them up no—“

A long chunk of concrete the size of a car slammed full tilt into the earth, crushing the soldier beneath its weight as it sank beneath the asphalt.

**********************Present**************************

“What’s your name?”

“Y-y-you talking t-to me?” Aura turned to face the speaker. A girl with curly red hair. A mischievous expression on her face.

“No duh. Who else would I be talking to here? You are the only one left behind,” she said.

“Oh.”

“So why are you hanging in the back? You are part of us, part of the group… You are a Harbinger, so why not come up and talk to us? I promise that none of us will kill you or anything, although we have been on our toes recently. A lot has been happening.” She smiled, but Aura could tell that it was a forced expression. No one was feeling very happy about the current circumstances in Atlanta.

“I d-don’t really talk well with people.”

She touched him on the arm. Softly. “You are talking fine with me, though. Come on! Maybe we aren’t as bad as you envisioned.”

“I don’t know. M-maybe I should just hang back here. Y-you know, s-see everything from a d-distance.”

“No, you should come up with the rest of the group. We are going up a floor for some planning right now. You should come. We could always use guys like you, who actually listen instead of blabbermouth the entire time.” She winked and walked away, gesturing to Aura to follow her.

**********************Past***********************

A hand touched Aura on the shoulder. A shard of concrete instantly grew in his hand and he poised to strike. But he saw that it was a girl’s hand, and the hand was weaponless. He knelt down to be on her level, where she crouched to avoid being seen.

Her face was smudged from who knew what. Blood, dirt, concrete dust—everything from the battle. But her eye took all of his attention. They were urgent, insistent, and a beautiful blue.

“We have to get out of here. You have to get out of here. Enough death has been dealt out today,” she said.

“W-w-ho are you?” Aura asked. His burst of self-confidence that had surged to the forefront during the battle was now gone, replaced with the nervousness.

“I am a Harbinger—just like you. Except I was taking things a little less… conspicuously than you were. Honestly, if you don’t want to get killed, why draw so much attention to yourself?”

“B-because they killed her.” Aura’s voice seethed anger. “T-they killed that girl, trying to k-k-kill me.”

“So you try to kill them all, thinking that will fix things? More will come.” She brushed her hair out of her face, pushing the stubborn strands behind her ear.

“I don’t really care if more will come. Those who killed here today will suffer,” Aura said.

Gunfire rang out from the street—just ahead. An explosion followed, probably from a grenade. Aura put his hands on his knees, preparing to stand.

She pulled him down again. “Let’s get out of here. Please?”

He shook his head. “No. I have to finish them off.”

She frowned. “And get killed yourself?”

He shrugged. “Maybe. Probably not. At least I will have killed them.”

She looked at the ground. “Will you come with me, then? I need someone to look after me.”

He looked at her in disbelief. “You are a Harbinger. You said so yourself. Harbingers don’t need protection from others.”

She smiled. “It was worth a try, anyway.”

She continued talking in urgent whispers. “I have heard that there is going to be a meeting of some sort, or at least that some Harbingers are going to be there. A special café in the city. Maybe we could go there, find out what we could do as a team. I don’t know. At least discover the scene?”

Aura sighed. “Fine. Take me there, and you may want to hurry. More soldiers are coming, and I would hate to postpone our meeting.”

Judas Wright

Judas was only half listening to Seth's instruction, preferring try to play with the vines that were starting to snake their way up his leg. They always got antsy when he ignored them for too long. Giant babies. He only raised his head when he heard his name called and got the pleasure of receiving Seth's threat at the conclusion of his little speech.

"A bit dramatic," he whispered to Allison standing next to him.

She just smirked and rolled her eyes before breaking off to her own group. Judas grinned at her back before leaving to find his own partners. He clapped Seth on the shoulder as he passed him and they both went to meet Alina where she was waiting for them. Carefully they started their way around the building towards the soft hum of the generators. The vines whipped excitedly around Judas as he walked, eventually lifting him from the ground and into a gentle glide. His smile widened as he tried to calm them, but his quiet shushes only succeded in riling them up more. Forget what Seth said. He'd kill if he felt like it. Besides, who was he to deny his vines a nice watering of blood? How else were they going to grow up to be big and strong?

Past

Judas let out a whooping laugh as he sprinted through the twisting alleyways, pursued by three soldiers. The vines covered his back, deflecting bullets and grabbing at the guards when they got too close. His night was going fine until he got discovered raiding one of their of their camps, but the officials quickly learned not to test their luck when their comrades got too brave and ended up either being slammed into the ground or thrown away like litter.

Judas looked back and made eye contact with the guard running in front of his partners. Immediately after, one of the vines whipped out and grabbed the man by the leg and hoisted him into the air. The other two fell back quickly and aiming their guns as steadily as possible with their shaking hands, but didn't dare shoot. Judas skidded to a stop and casually brushed the dust off his clothes before approaching the men. When the guy in the air wouldn't stop screaming, a vine wrapped around his mouth. After a quick inspection of the uniform, he figured his captive was the leader of the group that pursued him and his eyes widened in amusement.

"Alright, that's enough, son," the braver one shouted. "Put him down and we can all walk away from this."

Judas shrugged and laced his fingers behind his head.

"You heard him, boy. Put the nice man down."

Judas could almost swear he saw the vine nod before slamming the soldier into the concrete. While the other two were distracted by the muffled screams of their commander, Judas ran forward, allowing two other vines grab the soldiers by the neck and take them into the air. As he watched the officers's struggle for freedom, fingertips tinted green from the fight, his fingers gently traced the smooth, raised scar around his neck. He remembered his own fingers scratching away at the vine's skin, the feeling of hopelessness as he realized he was trying to hurt a plant, and the smile slowly dropped from his face.

He knew it was stupid. He and the vines had an understanding now. The incident happened so long ago, when he was scared and unprepared, but things had gotten better. After all, they did decide to let him go.

Three hard thumps echoed in the alley as the bodies fell back to earth, but Judas had already started his slow trek back home. He was exhausted.

"Alright, come on, boy. Time to go. I need a drink."

After the sound of shuffling and a loud series of cracks and snaps, the vines returned to his side. One of them gently stroked his cheek before they all went away. Judas touched the now damp area of skin, and his fingers came away red.

Present

They hadn't even made it to the generators before the first kill had been made. It was as if the vines were attracting attention to the trio on purpose, flailing around erratically, thumping the walls and ground. Judas had given up completely on trying to calm them. They'd been stuck inside that building for a long time, growing produce as if they were farmers. He couldn't blame them for wanting to stretch a little. After the two guards on patrol had been quietly ended, they died down a little. The biggest tendril, Judas liked to think of it as the leader, wrapped itself loosely around Judas' neck and he stroked the smooth skin.

Sam and Alina eyed the smaller tendrils that were snaking lazily through the grass. When Judas caught the look in their eyes he narrowed his own.

"Problem?"

Sam sighed and shook his head.

"Nah, dude."

Alina just turned away.

Past

Judas flattened himself against the wall as the armored truck finally rolled to a stop. He'd been planning this attack for days. That truck had enough supplies to last him for a long while. His heart beat louder in his ears the more he thought about what would be inside. He'd been waiting in this spot for a few hours. There had been two guards waiting for the truck to arrive once he'd got on sight. He took care of them easily. Thinking back, it was strange that they'd send so little man power with people like him roaming free, but he wasn't going to complain.

The driver turned off the car and got out. He reached for his radio but couldn't get a word out before Judas was shoving a thorn up underneath his chin. The vines stretched around the car and pulled the passenger from his seat, ending his life with a quick snap of the neck. Judas laughed loudly and jumped into the air, fist pumping.

"Hell fucking yeah!"

He was shaking as he rifled through the driver's clothes, looking for the key. His face hurt from the giant grin spread across his lips, but he couldn't help the glee bubbling up from his mouth. He was just about to open the truck, the greatest present ever, when a low clouds of smoke gathered around his ankles. The vines reacted violently to the pollution. They whipped around angrily, lashed at the smoke, and curled tightly around Judas' legs and arms. He petted them reassuringly as he scanned the night for the source.

She came out of the shadows.

"Sorry, honey, but this truck is mine."

Present

Finally they found the generators. Alina approached the first in the line and got to work. Judas and Sam examined the area around them. No doubt the men inside were going to start noticing that their guards hadn't returned yet. Time was ticking.

"Let them come," Judas whispered, mostly to the vine still curled around his neck. He readied two thorns in his hands and clutched them eagerly.

"Let them come..."

Abbey Mayfield

Past

I roamed the city, trying to stay in the shadows because not because I didn't want to be seen but because I didn't want the world to notice me and try to interact. The world was a little too much at times. Too many sounds and textures and smells.

Especially smells. Humans were at such a disadvantage. I had never realized the delicacy of a scent. The power it held.

I rattled the pill bottled I'd lifted from my brother's bag before... well... He would probably think he just left them behind anyways. There were only a few left, and then I'd have to find another source. I had stopped for a few days. The pheromones, which I still wasn't really used to, were blurry suggestions of ideas. I went still as a bee flew around me. Adusting some the pheromones, I smiled as it landed on my arm. We had a conversation of feelings and instincts. It was more beautiful than talking.

Present

I rattled my brother's pill bottle. One bounced around

I was a little desperate now. I hadn't had a good sense of the pheromones since about two weeks ago, and that was brought on by a jolt of adrenaline just when I needed it. I hated not having it in focus. I had become used to it as a sixth sense that helped me see secret messages everyone unknowingly left.

I didn't know where I would find more Adderall, but I needed clarity now. I popped the bottle open and swallowed the pill dry before I could question it. It would take a while to work. I moved to try and mingle with the group. I'd found it a little challenging to connect with several of them. The constant buzz of unfocused pheromones made it hard to break through sometimes, and I wasn't here to make friends anyway. I was here to stay safe until I could find a way to get to my brother. After that, I would be gone.

I walked up to Allison and a few others with a small smile on my face.

Allison was talking to the group in a whisper that was easily heard, "You know he's the reason for this food shortage. He's trying to tear us apart."

I glanced around. Some were nodding, others were skeptical. I asked softly, "Who are we talking about?"

Allison grinned at me. "Seth. All he is is trouble."

I frowned. I always felt something off about him... The Adderall was starting to come to work, the messages all around me were gradually becoming clear. I raised an eyebrow. "You really think so?"

Past

I would have to find someone soon. I was hungry, and food was getting hard to find. I felt the pill bottle in my pocket and rubbed the hump it created thoughtfully. I couldn't waste my pills anymore.

I thought I saw someone who seemed to know where they were going. Most of the time I hid from people walking around. It seemed like an unnecessary risk, especially if they had the ability to crush me with a building, but things weren't going well alone, and I needed to find some friends that could help me survive for a while. Whoever this was was heading somewhere. As far as I could tell with the imperfect sense of pheromones, she resembled ants following a trail left by one of its counterparts.

I jogged to catch up to her, taking no precautions to hide myself. "Hey!" I finally shouted when she didn't seem to notice. I held up my hands when she whirled around. "Do you have a group?" I asked softly.

Present

What Allison had said and implied had stuck with me as I made my way through the parking garage. It made me angry to think about. I'd put my trust in him, followed him.

Not for much longer. If I had to leave, I would.

I glanced up as I heard someone else walking. Speak of the devil, there he was.

"You're looking serious there, Abbey." His smile was warm. The pheromone messages were rife with deception. How hadn't I noticed before?

I made sure my face didn't give me away. "Just processing a few things I learned." I could feel emotions bumping too close to the surface. I needed to be carefully.

"Things that will benefit everyone, I hope."

Shrugging coldly, I looked up to meet his gaze. "I'll be making the best decisions for me."

His eyebrows rose. "We're not really in a position to be so selfish, are we?"

I wondered if I was imagining the note of condescension as I hissed, "You're one to talk aren't you?" I sent signals out, practically without meaning to. My anger would spread, and I didn't care.

He crossed his arms, his voice calm. "Excuse me?"

"Oh yes, Seth. I've been hearing about your plans with this group. It's even been said that you're the reason we don't have enough food rations to last us through the week, just so people would follow you. What do you have to say to that?" I reached out, seeing what was out there that could be affected easily. I'd found the simpler the organism, the easier they were to lead.

"Abbey, I am not trying to sabotage this settlement. Why would I threaten my own chance of survival with some stupid plot?"

"Yeah? You don't realize, do you Seth? You ignorant, little fool. I've seen your conversations with the others. You're wanting to split this group up for your own stupid reasons!" It took some doing to find the right incentive, but eventually they came. I knew it would cost me later, but I was past logic. It didn't take much.

"That's ridiculous. I was merely collaborating with others on military tactics against our enemy out there. I am not your enemy, Abbey. They are. And you would be an idiot to think differently. What are you trying to prove here, anyway?"

I glared at him, smiling as the wolves joined us. "I'm here to keep you in line, Seth. I know you, more than most, and I know how much damage you can do to others. I plan to keep that from happening to my family."

"They're my family as well."

"Enough of this. You are done here." I changed the pheromone slightly to make them agressive and heard the electricty spring to life on his hands. I wondered if it was as thrilling to ride lightening as the phrase made it sound.

"Stop this!"

I jerked away as a concrete wall separated us.

"We're all a family here, and it should stay that way. Now, what has started this."

"Well, leader." Valkyrie sneered, "there's been some rebellion in your ranks. Now's your time to lead, so," she motioned lazily, "lead."

"Seth here has been plotting behind your back. He was planning on sending a group to an army camp to raid it of all of its supplies, and kill anyone who gets in their way," I added hotly, trying to communicate my thanks and apologies to the wolves. I had distracted them from a hunt.

"We are running out of food, and that garden isn't much for food at the moment. This was a plausible situation." Seth shrugged.

I frowned. They weren't going to buy it, were they? "But to keep it-"

"Thank you for defending me, Abbey, but this is not your fight to fight. Pick your battles."

I drew back, sulking a bit, and made an effort to calm myself down. "I'm only trying to defend my family." Sarah's acceptance washed over me, dousing what remained of the fire smouldering within. The rest of the conversation for me was a blur of pheromones. When I didn't have to communicate in a way other humans would understand, I would rather observe the conversation through my sixth sense.

...There was something off though about Sarah's... My eyebrows rose, and I waded through those markers of frustration, anger, and fear to pin point it. That wasn't what I... double checked. It definitely was.

Oh Sarah.

"For those of you who I've talked to before, the offer is still up. Come with me."

I forced myself to pay attention to the men and women filing past, crossing my arms and holding the gaze of everyone that passed if they dared look at me.

Traitors. All of them.

When everyone who was going to leave had gone, I watched Sarah slide to the floor. She looked so tired. Who could blame her?

I walked to her slowly, wondering what to say, if she knew. "Erm... Sarah?" I murmured awkwardly, shifting from foot to foot.

"Yes, Abbey?" she replied softly.

I crouched down to her level and spoke so that no one left around could hear us. "First, I want to apologize for that. It got out of hand." I already felt a little foggy from calling the wolves. "And uh-"

"Don't worry too much. We'll work everything out somehow." She gave me a half smile.

I choked out a laugh that lived a short life. "I'm glad you said that because..." I cleared my throat, desperately trying to think of a way to break it to her easily. Except there wasn't really a way. "You're pregnant, Sarah," I whispered.

Her jaw tightened and she stifled a gasp. Turning to me, she whispered, "are you sure?"

I nodded slowly. "I can smell it on you."

She chuckled softly. "Help me up, please. You and I need to talk somewhere a little more private."

Past

"Sasha!" I yelled desparately. "Get into the back room!

Sasha wheeled her chair towards the door. "It's no use Cee, they're going to come for us anyway. It's not like we've been discrete.

I whipped my head round, my curls bouncing as I whirled to face the door. It burst open, men marching in. They grabbed my arm and started dragging out the room. My mouth opened and let out a blood curling scream.

“Let me go! Get off me!” I tried to push against the man who had his hand clamped firmly around my upper arm, but it was to no avail. I glance over his shoulder and saw Sasha being manhandled out of her wheel chair and dragged after me. “She can’t walk! Don’t do that!”

I saw the tears as they dripped from her face for a moment before the men blocked my view.

“Carla! Carla!” was all I could hear of my sisters pleading cries.

Downstairs the destruction was obvious. My beautiful paintings had been punched through, thrown on the ground, trod on – anything that would break them. The cashier was on the floor and coins littered the ground. I felt tears well up in my own eyes. My life’s work was ruined.

They threw me onto the hard ground outside, spitting at my ankles and muttering things like “filthy Harbinger.” When I raised my eyes I could see Sasha laying a little way off from me, unable to stand and reach me due to her disability. I tried to stand up, to go to her, but was pushed back down by another officer. He had a grin on his face and a gun aimed at my head.

“Don’t move,” he said. “You’re turn will come in line.”

And it would. Beside me were more people, whether Harbingers or not I didn’t know, but probably they were. Guns were held to their heads as well. A gun went off to the side of me, and that was when I knew what they were doing.

They were going to kill us.

My eyes snapped to Sasha, with panic streaked across her lost face on the ground. Her eyes met mine and all I could see was the shine of her tears and the plea of me to do something. Anything.

That was when the anger built up. I turned my head and focused my eyes on the officer in front of me.

“Looking forwards to seeing the colour of blood?” I asked, my voice like ice.

“I bet yours will spill ever so nicely,” he smiled.

“We’ll see.” He looked at me in confusion, and I relished in that look. Then his eyes exploded, and his fingertips too as the blood smashed through, punching holes through his skin and pouring onto the ground as if it longed to be there. I smiled before standing and turning around.

“Who’s next?”

Present

It was easy enough to blend in here. I did everything on the sixth floor, often just sitting at the back of the room, watching the other people as they chatted amongst themselves. There was usually someone else who hung back as well, although I hadn’t ever approached them. Instead I’d usually pull out my easel and canvas, and paint in the corner. It was relaxing to paint, put my mind at ease.

I always painted what I saw. I don’t just mean people, but the powers and the way they acted showed much more about a person than their appearance. Sarah walked into the room. We had only talked a few times but I knew her well enough, and she was a good, calm person. I wondered how many of the other people were like that too. I knew I wasn’t.

But no one knew what I had done here.

As she started talking I vaguely listened, but mostly focused on adding her to my painting. I started to paint a tall thin lamppost. Yes, she was always still and calm and strong. Nothing would knock someone like that down.

The conversation was interesting. It looked like people were questioning her leadership. Something about Seth and some sort of unrest. I started to pay attention – this could be interesting. We were going to have to choose, whether to go with Sarah or head off with Seth. It wasn’t so much about why Seth was going anymore, but in mind eye’s more about splitting this strung together family in half.

I started to paint Seth in, making a firm house with strong bricks. Ah, nothing was going to knock him down either. These people were strong in their ways. But once the house was completed, it was sorta boring. I switched to finishing Sarah by adding a lamp on the top of the post. Yes, she had a brain on her shoulders, and using the paints I added a light that was thin but shone down on a large patch of ground. She would shine through and make us the best we could be, a family at least. I decided then, that I was going to stay.

Past

My head spun in circles as I focused on a new target and watched the blood explode from their heart, or mouth or thighs, wherever I wanted. And they all looked so shocked! The blood flooded the ground, pooling at my ankles and wetting the edge of my frayed jeans.

“Carla! Cee! Stop!”

“WHAT?” I snapped, whipping around to look at my sister. She was bent over the body of the officer who had dragged her outside.

“What on earth are you doing?” she cried, her eyes wild.

“What am I doing? Saving you of course. Why are you holding him? He was going to kill you!”

“That doesn’t mean you should do all this!” Sasha swept her hand over the dead bodies of the officers. I could see Harbingers running wild, dying, fighting or running away. It was chaos.

That was when my anger flared up against her. Before me her eyes rolled upwards and flew outwards, the blood squirting from the empty sockets. Blood spurted from her stomach, then her arms, and legs until her whole body was twitching and convulsing as it emptied of everything.

“No!” I roared, throwing myself at her. But it was too late. Far too late. I had killed her. “Carla…”

I stood up, shaking. I ran blindly, my sisters blood dripping from my hands. My body was moving without my mind controlling it, my legs ounding on the pavement as I simply ran. Who cared where I was going? I was a monster. What had I done?

It was then that I crashed into someone else, sending me to the ground. I looked up from my position on the floor as whoever it was cried out.

"What do you want?" he said, sprawled on the ground as well. "I ain't got no food."

He struggled to stand, gritting his teeth as he did so. As he shifted his leather jacket pulled back and my eyes fell on his torn shirt, slowly seeping with blood.

Maryanna

Present
Danger. Danger all around.

"Yeah, I know." I sighed and looked out over Atlanta. I could remember a time when life was normal. Okay, maybe not normal, but at least not like this.

People died; a lot of people. How'd I end up being one of the lucky ones left alive? Why was I cursed with this? I saw my friends, my family die. The memories were more than I could bare.

Better off dead. Better off dead.

I had had enough. I screamed in frustration and lashed out against the vines. They were always talking to me, whispering in my ear. Usually it was something useful, like earlier when Sarah asked me where Scott was. Not really what you'd call top secret information, but at least the vines knew where he was even though I didn't.

The vines didn't seem to appreciate my sudden outburst. They fought back. One slammed into my face, creating a large scratch across it. I raised a hand to my cheek and it came away sticky, very sticky. They injury was worse than any the vines had given me before. I had to go see Jennifer, she'd know what to do and how to patch up the wound. I had no idea how bad it really was. Those thorns could be quite sharp.

I got up and started wandering down to the lower floors. I'd find Jennifer eventually. She always found a little pocket somewhere to hang out.


Past
I looked around the corner of the building. My eyes locked on the gates that have long since closed. There was no way I could get out without the help of my vines, which means I'd have to be extra careful. But how could I do it? There were too many soldiers. They seemed to be patrolling every square inch of this place.

I measured up the gate. It was fairly tall and the material looked quite thick. Nothing my vines couldn't scale though. The question was, could I do it without getting caught?

Just when I was about to make my move, a girl ran across the street in front of me. Her brown hair was wild and untamed as it flew out behind her. I wondered who she could be. She had to be like me; she had to be a Harbinger. Why else would she still be here?

Sure enough, not long after she'd disappeared around another building, a group of soldiers rushed by.

"Harbinger," I murmured. "Definitely a Harbinger." Taking a deep breath, I stepped out from behind the building. A soldier saw me, but before he could call any of his friends, a vine wrapped around him, squeezing the life out of him.

Without looking back to see his limp body hit the ground, I ran in the direction of the girl I'd seen. Was it suicide? Maybe. But I had to help her.


Present
I wandered around each floor of the garage searching for Jennifer. There were other Harbingers I ran into along the way. We shared a few words before I moved on. Most of those words were "Hi" and "How are you?". Not the most stimulating of conversations.

I was down to the third floor by this point and still there was no sign of Jennifer. She'd always been good at hiding, not being seen. But this was taking it to the extreme. I really needed her. The blood had started spilling out from underneath my hand and was running down my cheek onto my neck. Much longer now and I might get woozy from the loss of blood. I wasn't medically inclined by any means, so I really had no idea.

One level down. Right corner. The vines are there.

I roll my eyes. "It would've been nice to have known that a while ago," I hiss at the vine closest to me. A Harbinger gives me a strange look. I stick my tongue out at him. They can think I'm crazy, that's fine. After all, I'm not crazy. If anyone's crazy it's the vines.

I make my way down to the second level like the vines told me. Someday soon I'm just going to stop listening to them. See what they think of that.

Sure enough, there she was.

Jennifer looks exactly like she did that first day we met. Except her hair was much neater. Guess that's what happens when you aren't constantly running away from soldiers.

"Jen," I call out to her. She turns at the sounds of my voice. Her eyes widen when she sees me.

"What happened to you?"

I motion to the vines that were taking up most of our area. "These guys were annoying me again. So I hit 'em. Turns out they hit back." Despite the situation, Jennifer laughed at my pathetic joke. She turned and took out a small box, one I hadn't noticed before. It must've been well hidden.

She opened it to reveal a first aid set. There were bandages, small pieces of cloth, and tape, along with many other things. I lower my hand to reveal the cut. The air feels cool against the cut.

"Is it bad?" I asked as Jennifer set to work.

"Not terribly," she responded. "Just don't bother it while it's healing."

I nod and keep quiet. The vines curl around my ankles as Jennifer patches me up. Sometimes they really got on my nerves. Maybe I wanted some time without them. I just haven't figured out how to control that part of them yet.


Past
I followed the soldiers around the building and down the street. For a second I panicked, thinking I had lost them. But then I saw one straggling behind and I knew I was on the right path.

The chase seemed to go on throughout all of the city. Then finally I caught up with them. I had to dig my heels into the ground to stop myself, otherwise I would've run right into the group.

Jennifer was pinned with her back against a wall. There was nowhere for her to go. She was stuck. My mind raced. How could I get her out? There had to be some way.

"Give up, Harbinger," one of the soldiers shouted, pointing his gun at the girl. "There's no place for you to go. Give up now and we might not kill you."

I shook my head. Did they really think she was going to believe them? I could see the rest of the soldiers reaching for their weapons, no doubt to back up the one in the lead. She had to do something; she just had to.

Use us. Set us free.

"As if," I murmur. There I go again, talking to plants that barely exist. "You'll get me in trouble."

Are you gonna leave that girl to die? This may be the only way to save her.

The plants were right. I couldn't just let this girl die. Especially not while I stood around and watched. So I rushed forward into the crowd.

I was crazy, seriously crazy. There I was, running into a group of soldiers with loaded weapons, all to save some girl I've never met before.

The first soldier I came across didn't notice what happened until it was too late. My vines pierced him, then dropped his dead body on the ground. The same happened to the next soldier and the next. It wasn't until then that the other soldiers realized what was going on.

I knew I couldn't possibly kill them all. There were too many of them, and I didn't have it in me. I had to get away.

As if reading my mind, the vines collected themselves, piled up and carried me high above the soldiers to where the girl was. I had a shaky landing, but I ended up beside her.

"What are you doing?" she asked me.

"Trying to get us out of here." I looked at the crowd of soldiers before us. "I'm Maryanna. What's your name?"

"Jennifer."

"Well hold on, Jennifer." I grabbed her arm before she could react. The vines carried us up and over again to safety behind the soldiers. "Now run!"

We both took off down the street as fast as we could, as far away from the soldiers as possible. I snuck a few looks behind me to see what Jennifer was up to. I shouldn't have been surprised by what I saw. She was a Harbinger after all. But I couldn't help but stare. I watched as the soldiers dodged thorns that seemed to come out of nowhere; when in reality they were coming from her.

The first few soldiers couldn't react fast enough. I grimaced a bit as I watched them get impaled in the chest with thorns. I'd never imagine thorns to be so lethal. But Jennifer was proving me wrong. Not only did her thorns kill the first couple soldiers, but they also slowed down the rest.

"Maryanna, look ahead won't you!" Jennifer snapped. I snapped out of it and turned back to see where we exactly we were going. It was a good thing I looked at that moment. They were coming up on a building on the corner of a street.

Another Harbinger. Behind the building.

I didn't hesitate. The vines hadn't been wrong yet.

"Hey," I shouted, hoping that Jennifer could hear me. "See that building up there? Make a sharp turn at it. There's someone else in there."

"How do you know?" she shouted back. I almost told her about the vines, but I wasn't sure she'd understand. Everyone else I've told thought I was crazy.

"Do you wanna live or not? Trust me."

Jennifer gave me a look, but didn't say anything. We were coming up fast. When we finally reached the building, we made a sharp turn and burst in through the door. It was empty, quite a contrast from what we'd just experienced outside. But there was no time to compare the two. They had to find the other Harbinger and get out of there before the soldiers got to them.

Sure enough, there on the second floor was a rather tall boy. He turned to face them as they entered the room. His eyes were wide in fear.

"Come with us." I said, taking a nervous look behind me. The soldiers weren't stupid. I had no doubt in my mind that they were in the building now. They'd find us eventually and attack before we had time to escape.

A sudden idea popped into my mind. There was a way we could escape and be rid of the soldiers forever. But they have to be in the building first.

"Who are you guys?" the boy asked, his voice shaking. He probably though we were there to turn him in.

"Harbingers, like you," I replied. "We're heading to safety. Come with us." The boy hesitated. But as soon as he heard noises coming from the floor below them, he agreed.

"But how do we get out?" Jennifer asked. "The soldiers have caught up. We're trapped."

"No we're not," I responded, grinning. "We're gonna go out the window." The two of them looked at me like I was crazy. I hurried to the window and forced the vines out. Surprisingly, they listened to my command and stuck to the side of the building reaching all the way down to the ground. I let Jennifer go first, then forced Will out the window. He didn't seem too keen about scaling down the side of the wall, but he did it anyway.

By the time I dropped onto the ground below, a soldier was at the window. He stuck his head out and pointed at us, shouting something back to the others. I wasted no time. I forced the vines to the window, running into the soldier in the process. The vines attached themselves to the side of the building and covered up the window. They slithered across and covered the other window as well.

"The door," I whispered. "Don't forget the door." I hoped that they would listen. When I gave the vines orders, it was never absolute. I was hoping though, that they would feel the same urgency that I felt. If that door didn't get covered up, the soldiers were going to just pile back out and get after us again.

We waited for five minutes, five painstaking minutes, hiding out behind the building. I counted the seconds myself just to make sure. I didn't want to take any chances. If the soldiers were going to come out and attack, they would've done it by then. Carefully, I stepped around the corner and looked down the street. There was no one in sight so I motioned for the others to come out. But the second they did, someone rammed into me and knocked me to the ground. I heard the bullet and felt it rush passed above me. I turned my head just enough to see the boy stand and stare down the soldier I hadn't seen.

"No," I cried out. "You'll die!" I pushed myself up off the ground and joined Jennifer a few feet away. It had to have been the boy who had saved me from that bullet, and now he was stepping up to die. Nobel, yet stupid.

But he seemed to know a lot more than I did. He stood tall and strong, facing the soldier. He didn't move at all, making me nervous. If he didn't do something soon, he would be gone, and I wouldn't be able to deal with that.

Soon it was quite apparent that he had no plans of dying. I watched as the soldier shook slightly. He looked down at his stomach as a pool of blood soaked through his uniform. Not long after that, he collapsed in a heap on the ground, the blood pouring out of his body onto the street.

The boy turned and walked back to where we were. "Can we go now? More will come you know."

I gawked at him. "That's some power you've got. What's your name?"

"Will. Now let's get out of here."


Present
It seemed to take a while before Jennifer had my face all patched up. Although I wasn't surprised, the thorns could be pretty rough.

"There you go," she said finally, stepping back. "Now keep those things in line, will you?" She grinned and went to pack up her box.

I reached up to feel the bandage covering my skin. It was rough under my touch and the cut stung as I pushed a bit too hard. I winced in pain, I'd have to get used to it. I wouldn't get better if I kept poking at it.

"You still need help with those vines?" I asked, my voice nearly a whisper. I saw Jennifer stiffen. It was something she had trusted me with months ago. She told me that she was struggling to keep her powers in check. So I'd been teaching her, tutoring if you will. I'm still working on getting my powers under control as well, but she's a bit more behind than I am. We're learning from each other.

"Yeah," she admits in a small voice. "Meet me back here later today, okay?" And with that she disappeared again, shrinking off into the shadows. I shake my head and start my trip back up the floors. Guess I'll go back and try to avoid making the vines mad again.

The Past

"Hey, Elissa." Izzy looked like she hadn't slept in days. She wore no makeup, was dressed sloppily and her hair was clumsily pulled back in a matted ponytail. Elissa couldn't looked much better herself, especially she had sustained much worse injuries and was still out of school. Elissa considered shutting the door, but there was a little part of her that wanted to go back to the way things were before the accident, to when nothing in the world could come between her and her best friend. But three without a word, a visit. Izzy had her own recovering to do, but that hadn't excused the failure to initiate any communication or respond to Elissa's attempts to communicate with her. Izzy had been the one who was driving, and Elissa was the one who'd taken the brunt of the impact. She'd been out of the hospital for a week but practically in house arrest. She was starting to get so lonely.

"Come in," Elissa said curtly. She led Izzy to the couch in their living room, and they both sat down.

"I haven't been sleeping much," Izzy said.

"Why didn't you return my calls? Do you know how lonely I've been?" Elissa tried to keep her voice calm, but the truth was that she'd been more than lonely. Strange things had been happening. Throughout her life she'd always had a mysterious relationship with the cold, how if she wanted it to snow it always seemed to happened, how she never seemed to be too warm in the summertime, but ever since the accident she'd been thinking about it more and more. A week ago, she'd made ice appear out of the palm of her hand. Just like that. And yesterday she'd made icicles appear on her ceiling. She tried and tried to convince herself it was a dream, but with the passing minutes the memory stayed as real as ever. She didn't know what was wrong or why these things were happening.

"I guess I just didn't know how to say what I wanted to say."

Her friend's words grew blurrier with the second. About how it wasn't her fault, how Elissa should have never asked her to drive her home, how they were both alive and soon would be better. There was no apology.

She'd went into her room and cried her eyes out. In the palm of her hand she created a shard of ice and it shattered a vase on top of her dresser.

That night she left. She packed a bag of clothes and a sleeping bag and did not look back. Time passed and Elissa began to lose track of the days and where she was. Because she did not pack any food she began to steal it. She fell in to a routine; walk as far as she can, take the side roads so no one would find her, and when it got dark she would make camp and try to make ice. Each day it grew easier and she grew stronger.

Some time later, she came across a ruined city. She figured she was far enough to stop there for a little while. She was tired, hungry, and probably a sore sight (she dared not look in the mirror). So she set up camp, thinking it would be easier to find food.

That was when her eye caught a light coming from inside a building. There were people. A sign said CrossPress Cafe. Whether these people would be hostile or not, she didn't know. But she had to take her chance.

Present

Walking with the others proved to be uncomfortable. While Val was the one who had found her and led her to the others, essentially saving her life, ever since then Elissa had been ignored, underestimated, always assigned to the most menial of tasks. Before departing, she'd been pulled aside and told to stand in the back and guard. As if locating and dealing with generators was so difficult.

For a second there Elissa had thought that she would be accepted by these people, that working for them would bring her life a sense of order that was so long missing. Whatever. No one had to like her as long as she had a roof over her head and food in her stomach.

They walked for quite a while. It was hot and desolate, and the others were deep in conversation. Elissa watched closely around her in case anyone were to attack at a given moment. They were in the ruins of a war zone, after all. Part of her worried that she would be in no state to fend off an attack. But she deeply wished to prove herself and her abilities that she'd spent so long making better.

Valkyrie Dirix


I clutched Sam's hand as we left our house. Mom and Allan had disappeared a couple of nights ago, before the final call. I had told them to. They couldn't stay here because of us. I glanced down at Sam. His eyes were red-rimmed and shadows rimmed them, but he glared along the street. I shifted our small backpack so it rested better before reassuring him.
"Hey, buster. We're going to be fine. I'll take care of you, and then we'll find the oldies, 'kay?" I ruffled the tips of his hair which peeked out from under his beanie as he nodded. "Come on. We haven't got much time."

I hurried us through the streets, making turns every time I saw someone at the end of a road. When the Perimeter started to loom, I slowed down. We joined a small group of people, trailing just behind them. Seeming panicked wasn't a good idea. We were only three blocks away from the wall when soldiers came into sight. They were too close for us to avoid.

One of them stepped in front of us.
"Where are you going?" I could feel Sam's hand trembling in my own and squeezed it reassuringly.
"To the gates. We want to leave," the person at the front of the group answered for all of us. It wasn't hard to do. Everyone wanted to leave.
"You can't. They're closed." He held his gun across his body, finger on the trigger, ready to fire if he needed.
"Closed?" I felt the anxiety in the group rocket, the people in front of us shifting and muttering.
"Yes, closed. Yesterday. So you'd better all leave. Go back to wherever you you were and don't try to leave again." The other soldiers in his patrol came closer, half-forming a wall. The muttering became louder, and a man took an angry step towards the soldiers. One whipped out a pistol and let out a warning shot. A shocked silence followed. I could tell a few people were sizing up the soldiers, but they were well armed, and even if there were other Harbringers in the small group, I didn't think we could take them. The soldiers just kept on staring us down until people started to leave.

I felt the air around my hand cool and crackle, and glanced down at Sam. His trembling had stilled, and he was focused on the soldiers. I quickly crouched down next to him.
"Sam. Sam, you can't." I hissed, moving around so that I was staring into his eyes. "They won't let us go." Ice started to gather in his palm, and I slapped it out, but not before a soldier noticed.
"Harbinger!" Not stopping to think, I scooped up my little brother and started running. After a few steps, a shot hit the tarmac, smoking. Grabbing the smoke, I tossed it a little, catching in some sparks, then threw it back towards them. It hit one of them, and their clothes caught. I suddenly tripped on something and let go of Sam. As I scrambled back to my feet, yanking him up by his hand, I saw people watching from the sidelines. The soldiers kept on coming.



I almost felt guilty for pushing Sarah to confront Abbey and Seth. Almost. But then I needed a break from the forgivness that Sarah wanted to give to the people trying to kill us. Trying to capture us. Taking a break from playing with my smoke after telling Sarah to lead, I listened in to what Seth was saying, pretty sure it could be important - a turning point in this little group.

"If they think we're the villains, then why should we call them liars. We should take this city back, and the time to do it is now." Some people started clapping and I sighed. How much melodrama was I meant to add to?

"You don't understand what you're implying here, Seth. You're going to start something that you can't finish. You may think you're invincible, but you're not. You may think you can outmatch everyone, but you don't know everything there is to know." I had to wonder whether she did. She certainly was full of it. It was okay for her, for everyone else. The people here didn't have anyone left to fight for - they had either been shot or left. But I had Sam, and I would go through hell to get him back with me.

He walked past Sarah, starting to leave. "Look, I'm going, whether you like it or not. And others are going with me. You can't stop us, but you can come with us."

"You guys don't know what you're doing." I snorted as I pushed away from the wall I was leaning against, drawing a few glances, but most people were busy drinking in the drama.

"I think I do more than you." He glnaced back, making eye contact with me, and the others I knew he had had his eyes on. "For those of you who I've talked to before, the offer is still up. Come with me." I weaved through the crowd and followed him downstairs, ready to make a start on getting my brother back.



Sam was running. And I had taken out a cigarette and lit it, my hands shaking so hard it took thtee tries. There were other ways of getting smoke, but for me, this was the easiest. Tanking in a deep draw, I exhaled, the smoke pluming around me, sparking. "Monsters, monsters. You're the monsters." I muttered to a tune. I blew, sending a gale of smoke and sparks towards them. Apparently they didn't think we were enough of a threat to ask for back up, but they were about to regret it. Burns pockmarked their clothes and their bare skin. Some of their clothes caught, and a few dropped. Behind me, I heard Sam screaming my name, and span around.

A soldier had him pinned down in an armlock, still holding on despite the ice crusting on his hands, another smacked him on the back of his head. He went limp, and was hauled off into an army van that had suddenly appeared. A boot rammed into the base of my spine, and I crumpled to the ground, a low scream dying in my throat. Bile soared up into my throat from the pain, and I groaned. A bullet grazed my cheek, hitting the concrete next to my face.

"Check it's dead!" Someone called as boots thundered past. I was turned over, and made a move to lunge at the person, but was knocked back down by a blow to my temple.
"All clear, sir!" The words swirled through my head as I blacked out, unsure why the person had helped me.



Send all the people who don't like to talk together. What an amazing idea, I thought sourly as I stood next to Scott and Elissa, tapping my foot as I waited for the lights to be shut off. My smoke was pooled around our ankles, dense enough that I could only just see my feet. It was how I liked it.

I thought back to Seth's threat. It depended on what he considered 'killing for fun'. I really didn't mind if a couple of military people died whilst we were at it, and well, if they had died of smoke inhalation, then it wasn't completely my fault, was it? I grinned slightly, catching a spark and twirling it through my fingers.

The low sound of electricity cut off, and everything went out. As exclamations and yells filled the air, we started forwards. I pulled up my smoke around us, so that all anyone would really see was a three-human-sized cloud moving through the camp. I still kept it thin enough for us to see out of. I smirked as a soldier got too close and went down, mouth smoking.



I woke up with a banging headache in the middle of the street. My backpack was miraculously on the ground a couple of hundred metres away, and I staggered over to it, swinging it over my back and turning to call for Sam before it hit me like a bullet train. They had taken him. They had taken my baby brother, and they were probably hurting him. White hot rage flooded through my veins, but a roll of nausea stopped me from grabbing all the smoke I could.

After a few minutes breathing heavily, I calmed down, and reasoned with myself. I needed a plan. I couldn't just barge in and take him back. They'd be expecting that. They'd be ready for Harbinger attacks. I needed people to help, as much as I hated it. Groaning and setting my shoulders straight, I started limping through the streets, ignoring the sounds of fights until I came to close, then changing direction. My ungodly headache wasn't making life easy, but as long as I didn't move too much, I was fine. I snorted. I was a mess.

I passed a street where concrete jutted everywhere and stopped. Harbinger work. Military cars and bodies littered the ground. Who came off worse? Probably the military. I smiled slightly. This was the type of people who's help I needed. Glancing around,I saw someone dart into a building a few blocks down, and started towards there. Once I reached it, I stuck my head around the door cautiously, before stepping inside. I passed over threatening stares, meeting them with an equally hostile glare. An intimidating man with piercing green eyes met my questioning stare. I held the door in one hand, ready to bolt if need be. I saw vines creeping around the edge of the room, everything shifting. I grabbed some of the smoke that had now seemed to paint the skies outside and pooled it in my palm, pushing down the spiking headache and a wave of dizziness, getting ready for whatever was going to happen when I noticed a figure in the corner.

"Elissa?"

Allison Levesque

xxxPAST

Atlanta was chaos.
People were everywhere, screaming and running as soldiers shot them down. Watching from afar, it can be noted that most of the victims weren't even Harbingers to begin with. They were innocent people, doomed to die because there were powerful people living in the city.

Powerful people like her.
Smoke curled up in the palm of Allison's hand as it slowly drifted up from behind the guard. It was a sweet, innocent thing at first, like a hazy cloud or the musty smell of toasted bread. Then, with the lazy pull of her fingers, it erupted up into the guard's nostrils and into his system until it filled his lungs. In seconds the guy was wheezing for air only to be drowned in smoke as it continued to fill him up, and in a few more seconds he was dead, his body a light blue color with his brilliant eyes still wide open in shock.

"Oh, honey," she said, brushing the dirt off his handsome deceased face. "If only you'd offered me a drink. I would have thought about introducing myself."

xxxPRESENT

Allison tapped her fingers on the wall she was leaning against, waiting for Sarah to turn the corner. She and a handful of other Harbingers have been stuck in this hellhole they call a safe haven for a long time now. Everyone, thought mostly the vine people, even maintained a goddamn garden to keep them alive. Even crazy Tarzan-man Judas had to stand up straight and take the damn job. Seriously, the vegetables they were raising tasted like cardboard.

She wasn't sure if she could do this anymore. Besides, she had to speak to Sarah about—

"Yo, Sarah? You mind talking?"

Damn it!
Allison peeked around the corner and saw Sarah and Valkyrie—that brat—speaking to one another. Valkyrie didn't like her, and she had no idea why. Like, what the hell did she ever do to her, besides insult her smoke abilities and general bitchy self?

She stuck around for the conversation some more, but then sneaked away in the shadows before anyone could see her. Well, there goes her plan to talk to Sarah, their oh-so-beloved leader. But maybe she didn't need to talk to her.

"Hey, hey, have you heard?" Allison asked a group of Harbingers nearby that she forgot the names of. (Seriously, so many people and so many names, and most of them are quiet little mice that creep around the walls. People should start wearing nametags or something.) "Seth is trying to revolutionize this place."
"What? What do you mean?"
"Take a look around. We're not trying to grow food for no reason. We have a food shortage, for heaven's sake. And we also can't stay here forever, we all know that. But..." She paused for special effect. "Some of us are stronger than others, and he's trying to take advantage of that." Abbey wandered over to the group, but Allison only took it as a growing audience. "You know he's the reason for this food shortage. He's trying to tear us apart."

"Who are we talking about?" Abbey asked.
Allison grinned in triumph. "Seth. All he is is trouble."
"You really think so?" she asked softly.
"No, honey. I know so."

"Allison!" Tracy called out in glee, to which Allison only had to time to think, Shit. Shit shit shit she's coming.

Oof! She tackled her, and despite Tracy being just a kid, Allison had to take a step back to regain her balance. The other people around her smirked and walked away. "Allison, the worst thing happened today!"
"Here we go," she grumbled back.
"My 3G stopped working!"
"That's greeeat, Tracy," Allison said blandly as she tried to pry her iron grip away from her.
"What?! No, it isn't! I think it's because the phone bill isn't paid? Can we do that now? I mean, how am I going to survive without Facebook or Twitter or YWS?!"
"I don't know, but maybe it can start by letting go of—"
"But at least the phone still works, right? Even though it's kinda useless now. Though the internet has always been kinda iffy. Like most of the time it's super super slow, so maybe this isn't even a big deal. Like it's just—"
"Hey, hey, look at that."
"Where? Who? What?"
"Over there, see that guy? You should go bother him."
"Hmm...okay!" Finally—god freaking damn that girl had a tight grip—Tracy let go of her and skipped over to the guy that was around her age, though maybe a little older. "See you later, Alli!"

Allison mocked her adolescent high-pitched goodbye in her head, when someone spoke from behind. "You are just wonderful with kids."
She whirled around and rolled her eyes. "Yeah? And you are just wonderful with stalking people."
Sam emerged from the shadows and smirked. "No, really. That girl might as well be your beloved sister."
"Shut the hell up."

Suddenly there was a loud commotion and crowd behind them, and Allison could not believe what she was seeing and hearing. Abbey, to whom moments ago Allison was talking to, was up against Seth, snarling and yelling and accusing. Seriously... No way. Abbey was going against him? Was this the same Abbey that asked to join her group before they found the cafe? Moreover, the plan completely backfired. Allison wanted to spread the rumors—which seemed half true anyways—so people could could get worried and want to take minor action. Minor action to get out of this horrid place, not a major full on fight!

Okay what. Suddenly people were divided. Everyone had to pick Sarah's side or Seth's side; there was no gray area. It seemed like people were walking past her and toward Seth, and Judas gave her a look that said, Well? Aren't you going to join? But she didn't want to join either side. Tracy was there, clutching on her baggy clothes, and Sarah had a stony expression as Abbey's thoughts were evident in her glare You were the reason I even started this thing, she seemed to hiss. Don't betray me.

"Would you like me to escort you?" Sam asked, even imitating a royal bow.
Allison rolled her eyes. "Don't count on it," she said, turning around to follow Seth.

xxxPAST

Allison hungrily eyed the plain, smelly, promising truck—not man, though it fits the description—impatiently hiding behind a conveniently-placed smashed car. She was running low on supplies, and with the obvious logo on the truck that screamed food and resources that seemed so utterly out of place in this chaotic city, she wasn't exactly going to let this one roll under her radar.

A guard marches by, and seeing his confused face amused the hell out of her.
"Where did my people go? There were right here, and now they're gone." Oh, she can see these thoughts so plain in his face. "Oh well, probably went to kill the devil Harbingers."

Allison made a swirling gesture with her hand, and in one lazy motion, she flicked her hand over to the guard. Smoke—which was very translucent to the point where it was nearly invisible, which she learned to manipulate if she concentrated and took her time—slithered up in the air, making its way to the guard. For hours and annoying hours she had been waiting patiently behind the debris, taking the guards out in a silent but deadly tactic. It was a great exercise in refining her long-distance tactic of turning her smoke into a gassy form, but it was so gross. With this much concentration and the Atlanta sun beaming down on her, she sweat up a sweat storm that could even repulse baboons.

She grit her teeth and wiped her forehead, staring intently as the gassy smoke attacked the guard, forcing its way into his nose and lungs until the guy toppled over blue in the face. Clouds of black smoke appeared under the guard's body, and slowly, the cloud levitated the carcass as it floated it over to her.

Luckily the guards have been standing around in places where they can see the truck, but not so close that anyone can see them. Except Allison, of course. So, for hours, she had been killing these guards as they keep appearing like ducks, and to not give her cover away, she had to not only kill them silently, but get rid of the body too.

This whole secret assassin-like job was so overrated and lame considering that a goddamn massacre was happening outside of this cute little spot, but she needed supplies, and winning this truck would be like winning the apocalyptic lottery. She had to to do what she had to do, including dragging the dead guard over to a nearby closet, stuffing him in with the other guards she killed as she choked over the flies and rotten smell. Irritated that he wouldn't fit, she slammed the door, got the guy's arm stuck on it, kicked it back in, then slammed it shut again. "I freaking hate this job," Allison mumbled to herself.

Then...it happened.

She was just slinking back to her cover spot, but then she sees this complete dipshit on the truck claiming it as his.
No. Hell. No.
She did not sweat up a goddamn river for nothing!

With impatience seeping into her concentration, she sneaked up against the back of the truck to be out of the dipshit's field of view, then swirled in some smoke around his ankles. Immediately it singed something—was that vines? A fellow Harbinger? Nonetheless, with one extravagant push, smoke lifted her up on the truck until she was standing directly behind him.

"Sorry, honey," she said, staring at the tentacle-like vines around the guy's—hey, he was kinda cute—ankles that seem to hiss out in pain from the polluted smoke she conjured, "but this truck is mine."

Whoosh! Allison pushed out a rolling smoke bomb, hurling him backwards at the end of the truck as he goes through a coughing fit. "What the hell?!" he yelled out in between coughs as smoke surrounded them.

Immediately vines come out of nowhere and seem to rocket towards Allison with a suffocation wish, and a split second later she created a barrier of smoke around her. The vines touch the smoke and seem to fizzle and wilt away, but they just keep coming like the never-ending guards that she had to take out herself as this idiot steals her precious ARGHH HE WAS SO GOING DOWN.

Allison hurled more smoke with such an intensity that it wilted most of the vines nearby, and in one quick move, the roles were reversed: Allison was dumping smoke and more smoke as crazy Tarzan guy placed a thick vine barrier around him. This lasted for a minute, and it was leaving Allison to near exhaustion, but still she pushed until—whooosh!—a vine lashed out and hungrily wrapped itself around her neck.

She was one step ahead of him. Allison lifted her finger oh-so-slightly as she sipped for air, and smoke began to make its way up his nose. It wasn't enough to kill him or render him unconscious, but it was certainly enough to make him cough.

And so they stayed there for a whole minute, staring daggers at each other with the same burning thought in their minds: We are both threatening each other, but we don't have enough energy to kill each other.
Finally, the guy loosened his vines, and simultaneously Allison cut off her smoke.

"Truce," he said after a small coughing fit.
"Fine," Allison grumbled. "But the truck is still mine."
"What! I just said—"
"Shut up!" she hissed. "Look what your big mouth did. They're coming."

Guards shouted out orders, and they began to circle the truck. Right away Allison and Tarzan guy went-back-to-back, eyeing what they're up against.

"You're not too tired yet, are you, sweetie?" she asked, counting up the number of guards. One, two, three...ten...
Vines licked his legs, itching to battle some more. "I was just warming up."

xxxPRESENT

Allison smirked and rolled her eyes at Seth's instructions, because honestly, this was a war-zone. Killing was pretty damn inevitable, especially in a place like this. Groups started to separate as they obediently followed their new leader—who's not bad, 'cause he's pretty charming, in and out—then bumped into Sam as he started to walk off with Judas.
"Sorry, your royal highness," he mocked.
"Eat shit." She walked away towards everyone else.

"Allison," Seth called calmly, "where do you think you are going?"
"Who, me?" she called innocently. "Oh, ha ha, very funny, sweets. You were only kidding when you said everyone—meaning me—wait right here to, you know, do completely nothing."
He gave her a a blank look that said I don't joke all over it.

She looked at him in disbelief, then looked at the others walking away, then back at him. "You want me to wait? ...You know what, whatever. I'm going to join them anyways. Sorry, love. A girl has to do what she has to do."

Surprisingly, Seth didn't seem to object as she jogged over towards Sam and Judas's group. In fact, she was kind of curious. Why did he want her to wait around? Ah well, whatever. It was going to be boring and lame anyways.
Where did they go, anyways? Allison turned a corner and then another, but she seemed to get even more lost by the second.

Guard! She hid back against the wall then conjured enough gassy smoke to knock him out, though not enough kill him, just because Seth said so...even though it would be so much more convenient to kill him.
Eventually a thud of a body hitting the ground was heard, and it was her cue to sneak on.

CONFIDENTIAL, the sign on the room ahead of her said.

This was so not going by overlooked.

xxxPAST

"All we do is fight," Allison said, kicking a can. "Doesn't that bore you?"
"I don't know what you're talking about. It's like the damn apocalypse," Judas replied, though she still likes to call him Tarzan time-to-time.
"I know, but I've always thought the apocalypse would be, I don't know, exciting?"
He looked away from the peach he was eating and gave her a long look. "You're crazy."
"Hey, is that the last peach? What the hell, I didn't even eat one, and they're my supplies! Give me that!"
"Get away from me!"

"Wait!" Allison called. "Look at that." Someone seemed to fall from the sky, painfully hit some protruding car garage, then dropped down back to the street level. "C'mon, let's go," she said eagerly, already on the move. "Let's do something fun and exciting besides killing people."
"No," Judas said bluntly, but she was already too far away to hear. He paused for a long time, waiting for her to come back. She didn't. "Damn it, Allison," he grumbled, jumping out to follow her.

They were close enough to see a girl dragging another guy away. Vines crawled up against Judas's skin ready to fight, but Allison slapped them away. "Stop that. I think they're Harbingers too."
"So? Let's kill them off."
"You can't just kill one of our kind!"
"Why not? You almost killed me. They're a threat, and they just want our food that we left out wide open back there."

Allison glared at him, then rolled her eyes and moved on without him, sneaking up behind some debris as she peeked over. She was positive that they must be Harbingers, and the way she was dragging him was almost like she was trying to protect him...and she was heading towards a closed-off building. Could it be some sort of haven? Or was she just—

"Hey!"

Allison whirled around at the unfamiliar voice behind her, and she was just about to throw smoke bombs—damn it, Judas was right about threats—but it was just a woman around her age who seemed totally innocent. She threw up her hands as if to show that she wasn't trying to hurt her. "Do you have a group?" she asked so softly that Allison could barely hear her.

Threat his ass. She seemed like she couldn't even hurt a fly.
"Yeah," Allison replied, "me and Judas over there." She gestured and glanced back at him, and he stood around with a look on his face that said I hate you all over.

"Oh, okay," the woman said softly. "Can...I join?"
"Uhhh..."
"I mean, I've just been alone all this time, and it's safer if we travel in a group, and—"
"Yeah, yeah, alright, honey," Allison interrupted."What's your name?"
"Abbey."
"Well, Abbey. Let's follow the gross blood trail from the guy the lady is dragging over there. I think they're onto something."

Abbey blindly agreed in what must be desperation—oh, she was lucky Allison wasn't like Judas who thinks everyone is a threat—as they followed the trail and approach a building with a half-lit neon sign reading CrossPoint Cafe.

xxxPRESENT

Allison took out a bobby-pin that was holding up her hair—ugh, now her bangs are in her way!—and used it to lock-pick the door. After a minute, the door clicked, and voila, the door to delicious secrets was open.

She stepped in and closed the door, and immediately she started to rifle through the paper work. Controversial combat tactics, extraterrestrial info, even the Loch Ness Monster. "Wow, who cares about this stuff," she mused as she went through folder after folder.

Bingo. The Harbinger file. She pulled it out and started to go through the papers, which was random and jumbled all over the place, or it was stuff she already knew or didn't care about.

A few moments later, she picked up another paper, and her eyes widened.

"Oh my."

Dr. Alina Roberts

Present

Sarah was stalking through the hallway, looking rather suspicious of everyone and everything. I shrugged it off. Leaders needed to be suspicious, I guessed. I was happily not in charge... at least not in title. I walked up to her, matching her pace, "Well, I'm feeling ready to take on the day."

She didn't answer. I frowned a bit, trying to figure out something that might bait her into a conversation. I didn't like people brooding, if that person wasn't me. Besides, if I could make people talk, I could casually gather information that they might let slip. "I haven't had a shower in who knows how long, and thanks to you, I was able to take one. I must admit, the technology you used was quite advanced from what was used in Atlanta before all this happened."

I nearly sighed when she kept walking, unresponsive. I almost wondered if she even knew I was there, talking to her. Her grim face didn't say she did. "What's with that face, Sarah? Why are you so down lately?"

She tried a smile, but it came across rather weak. "Just thinking, Alina. It's been a hectic past couple of days, and possibly even more hectic next couple of days."

"I hear ya, what with the raid mission and all," I answered, commiserating, hoping she'd open up and give me more details.

"With what?" She turned toward me. I realized I said something I shouldn't have. I quickly turned away, looking for anything else that could draw my-- and hopefully her-- attention away from my slip of the tongue. If she didn't know about the plan, I certainly didn't want to be the person to tell her.

I saw Seth. Worse yet, Seth saw me, and was motioning me over to him. I cursed mentally. I really didn't want to end up in a fight between the two of them, but it looked like I was quickly heading that way.

"Gonna talk later, Sarah," I risked a quick smile, and quickly took my leave before she could order me to stay. Sighing, I walked up to Seth, hoping he didn't want me to get any information, or give any information, or generally do anything except maybe go on some nice mission far away from everyone and everything.
~ ~ ~




I wasn't sure how I felt about this Harbringer's Syndrome. It didn't seem reasonable. It sounded more like some scandal, designed by the government, to take the public eye off of something more important, which I also didn't care enough to look into.

But, then, if there was something going on, then there had to be a scientific explanation behind it. There was some mutant gene, or parasite, or something affecting normal human behavior. I intended to figure out what it was.

I pulled on my gloves, purposefully making them snap. It didn't seem to matter how old I got-- I still enjoyed making a new pair of rubber gloves snap as I pulled them on. I walked over to the small gas chamber and pulled the large, freshly euthanized, rat out. I threw it down on my dissection table, and carefully picked up a scapel.

I slid the razor sharp blade into the rat's abdomen, just below the ribcage, and made a long incision along it's underside, just deep enough to break the flesh, but not puncture any organs. I needed those.

I carefully began removing the organs, one by one, cutting some of them open and passing them to my coworker to swab and put on a slide. I was fortunate in the coworker I had. Having to be around any person was unfortunate, but at least I got a mousy young grad student who seemed fairly terrified of me, and kept her mouth shut.

"Dr. Roberts!"

Usually.

I started at the sudden shout, my hand slipping from where I was cutting a bit of fat away from the spinal column... the scalpel burying itself somewhere inside my left thumb. I cursed under my breath, pulling the blade free of my flesh with a bit of difficulty, before turning toward her. "What?"

"Oh, I'm sorry," she whispered, eyes wide. "Did you cut yourself?"

I looked down at my hand. It was a fairly deep cut. Blood was already dripping out of my thumb quickly, falling on top of the rat, mingling with it's blood. I cursed under my breath again, moving my hand. I couldn't have my own blood polluting my research.

"What do you want?" I repeated, clenching my hand, thumb inside, wishing it would stop bleeding. Hoping she wasn't in one of those moods that would make her chatter all day. They were infrequent, but they happened.

"Uh, I was just...nothing." She ducked into the supply room.

I sighed and looked at my hand. Both hands. I wouldn't be able clean my cut out with my hands in this state-- wearing gloves covered in rat blood and fur. I glared at my clenched fist, "Stop bleeding."

I felt a surge. I glared harder, clenching my fist tighter, "Stop bleeding."

I stared in wonder as the blood flow stopped. That didn't just happen. I slowly, tentatively opened my hand. Even more slowly I removed my rubber gloves, still staring at my hand. It's a mere coincidence that my hand stopped bleeding. Nothing more. My assistant came out of the supply room with an arm full of first aid supplies, chattering once more. "I got the bandages, peroxide, some cotton swabs, and a bit of-- uh oh, it's not bleeding. That's not good."

"It's not," I agreed.

"Uh, you'd probably better make that bleed again. You don't want it to get infected. The blood washes away the bacteria from the cuts and--" she trailed off at my glare. "Right, you're the doctorate...you already know."

I nodded once. I did already know; but was glad to hear about my lecture about her not lecturing her doctorate sponsor stuck with her. Grad students. I honestly preferred undergrads. Most undergrads weren't as cocky as grad students-- they still realized that they didn't know anything about science. Grad students thought they had a pretty good understanding of biology. I knew from experience. Once you hit doctoral studies you realized you still don't know anything about the universe.

I focused on my hand, and, slowly, removed the mental barriers I had up, holding back the blood. It started flowing out of my finger again. Coincidence. I insisted mentally, as I wrapped my other hand around my thumb and squeezed it. It's illogical to believe that I could tell my thumb to stop bleeding and it would obey.

I walked over to the sink and subjected myself to her twittering about it being good that I got it bleeding again, rolling my eyes as I realized that she was indeed in one of her talkative days. There was nothing to do but endure them or find a way to send her away; no lecture, or nasty job, or anything else would make her shut up. Grad students.

She did a good job of cleaning the cut out, thoroughly scrubbing the wound with the disinfectants. I tried to listen to what she was talking about-- some paper she read about some protein-- but a voice in my head that started out soft was quickly growing into a shouting. It took me a moment to realize what it was talking about.

I felt a ball of fire, barely the size of a quarter, travelling up my arm. Invaders. Invaders! Stop the invaders. Death, rat blood, pathogen. Out. Invaders! I stopped the ball of fire from going any higher in my arm, with some difficulty, making my thumb bleed worse. The rest of my blood was angry. At least, I thought it was. The voices were hard to understand-- a thousand small voices whispering to me angrily, all at once, like the Ring whispered to Frodo.

I closed my eyes tightly, wishing the whispering would stop, suddenly sympathizing with the poor Hobbit. The voices were terrible. I focused on the patch of bad-blood that was so enraging the rest of my blood, and forced it out the cut in my thumb. As soon as I got the patch of bad-blood out, the voices calmed.

"...Dr. Roberts?" I opened my eyes to find my intern standing just out of arm's reach, looking at me tentatively. I realized I wasn't breathing, and took a deep breath, and another, until I was panting for air. I was thoroughly coated in sweat, my brow so covered it was nearly running into my eyes. I blinked, surprised. I hadn't realized I was sweating.

"What?" I swallowed hard, looking at her.

"I... brought the bandaid."

I need a lot more than a bandaid. "Okay." I held my hand out, focusing on slowing the bleeding. As soon as the bandage was in place, I stopped the blood flow entirely, still glaring at my hand.

"Are you...okay?" My intern's voice was barely higher than a whisper.

I looked up at her. "I'm fine... it's just a little cut."

"I know... but you seem..."

I lifted an eyebrow, daring her to call me insane, which is how I felt. I was going insane, and I wasn't sure why. The only solution I had was Harbringer's Syndrome, and I wasn't sure if this counted as a symptom of that. If it did, I was in a world of trouble.

"In pain."

"It's mostly... psychological," I tried to reassure her that I was fine. "I was just... thinking... to hard."

She nodded, "Oh, okay, then, I'll just... go... and..." She slipped away, going into the supply room. I wasn't sure how well she bought my excuse. She knew I'd been known not to eat all day when I was thinking before-- but even I couldn't remember a time in my past where my thoughts had broke me out into a full sweat. Oh well. I had more important things to worry about than the intern.

I pushed myself up off a stool and walked back over to my rat. As soon as I neared it, the whispering returned in my ear-- thousands of little voices, each trying to be heard-- and got louder the nearer I got. I couldn't tell what any of them were saying. I shook my head, trying to clear it. Rat blood. Poison. Bad. Dirty. Pathogen. "Go away," I whispered under my breath. The voices didn't leave.

I picked up the tray and swiftly walked to the hazardous waste can. I dumped the entire rat into the bag, and let metal lid fall shut. The whispers were instantly quieted, but I could still hear them. I looked down at the bloody tray in front of me, and located the source. "You."

I walked over to the sink, but didn't turn the water on. Instead I focused on the blood-- focused on making it move to the edge of the tray, then drip off into the sink.

"...Oh my God."

I started at the voice, and found my intern staring at me with wide eyes, mouth gaping open. She dropped the thing she was holding, still staring at me.

"It's not what it looks like."

"You're one of them."

"No, that's what it looks like. I--"

"HARBRINGER!" She shouted.

"No, shh, be quiet," I said urgently, starting toward her.

She ran the other way, ducking toward the door to the hall, still shouting. "Harbringer! There's a harbringer in here! Help! Harbringer!"

"Shut up," I snarled, following her. "Even if I am, then this is good. We can study me."

"HARBRINGER!" She ran into the hall.

"Non-scientist," I muttered under my breath. A real scientist would be thrilled to have a willing subject to run tests on-- not be out in the hall shouting that her sponser was a monster. I stumbled forward, the whispering coming back as I passed a half-dissected frog, making me dizzy. I couldn't handle the voices, and her shouting, and my thoughts all at once.

"Shut up!" I grabbed her arm and jerked her backward.

"She's hurting me! Help! Harbringer!"

I regretted ever allowing her into my lab. I looked up and saw two soldiers running toward me. I let go of her. "I'm not."

"She is! I saw her--"

"Oh, shut it," I snarled, before turning toward the guards, quickly coming toward me, trying to explain. "The poor girl's a bit delusional... She just saw her first-- no, don't touch me. Stop!"

They each grabbed one of my arms. I struggled against their grasp, but their hands were like iron vices around my biceps. I tossed my head, knowing that if I was going to get away, it had to be now. The soldiers had a habit of shooting first and asking questions later. If they got me outside, there would be no opportunity to make a break for it.

The voices focused, drawing my attention to the heart-area of the guard to my right. No blood, no pump. Take blood. Take it. Take it! TAKE IT! I gasped at the voices, shaking my head, trying to get free of their control-- but obeyed them. I carefully tried to slow the blood flowing into his heart, figuring that if I slowed the bloodflow it'd take away his ability to push me around.

Suddenly my powers lurched, and all the blood drained from his chest. He made a strange grunting noise, clutching his chest, and fell to the ground. I stared at him, eyes wide, desperately trying to release my control. I didn't want to kill anyone.

The guard still holding my arm looked startled and yanked me backward, off balance. His heart. Blood. Take it. Take it! "No!" I shouted, mostly toward the voices, but partially toward the guard. I focused on his head, and let the blood drain from it. He instantly stopped jerking, swayed for a moment, and collapsed.

I swallowed hard as I released my grasp on his blood, looking between the two of them, wondering if they'd recover.

"HARBRINGER!" I whirled around on the intern.

"This is your fault!" I snarled as I punched her, just as hard as I could, in the face. She fell against the wall, then slid down it, sobbing. If it hadn't been for her shouting, I never would've killed anyone.

I wet my lips. There was more shouting. I had to get out of here.

I ran down the hall, toward the stairs. I slid to a stop as guards appeared before me. I whirled around, and saw more guards spilling into the other end of the hall-- the only two exits. Without a moment's hesitation I bolted into the lab and slammed the door shut behind me, before grabbing a chair and forcing it under the doorhandle. For a brief moment I contemplated setting fire to the lab. My intern damn sure didn't deserve to get it.

I shook myself as the guards shook the door. I didn't have time to think about right or wrong, or leaving a blazing trail in my wake-- all I needed to be thinking about now was running, and outsmarting the guards. I ran to the window and looked down. Way down. There was a soft canopy for the shop below her. Muttering curses under her breath, she climbed out the window and lowered herself down, until she was dangling by her fingertips. She looked down again. Bad idea. She closed her eyes tightly, forcing herself to focus on her breathing-- control it. Slow it. Then she released her grip.

Like something out of a movie, she fell to the canopy, landed, rolled... then the scene was suddenly ruined, a prop malfunction-- and she found herself dangling upside down off the edge, foot caught in a rip in the top of the tent. "F*cking really?" She muttered under her breath, dizzy, as she lifted herself up with her ab muscles until she could use her hands to release her foot. She misjudged how much weight her leg was bearing. As soon as it was free, she continued her fall, head first, into the crates below. Definitely not out of a movie. Muttering more curses she forced herself to her feet and ran into the damp alley in front of her.


~

Present

I'd found a little corner in the garage, just dark enough that no one ever bothered venturing there-- my little piece of sweet solitude. I sat down and hugged my knees close to my chest. I didn't like remembering the day my powers revealed themselves. Didn't like remembering any of it-- my childhood damn sure wasn't something I wanted to relive. My life since becoming a Harbringer wasn't the happiest. The only truly happy part of my life had been those few precious years between finishing school and losing my life.

Past


I stumbled through the inner, deserted city. I had no idea where I was going. All I knew was that I had to keep going. If I stopped now, it would likely to be to curl up in some gutter and die. I pressed my left arm close to my body, trying to stop the throbbing. I'd stopped the blood from gushing out of the bullet wound, but it didn't stop the pain any. I was tempted to just release my grasp-- let my blood go rushing out, into said gutter. It certainly would make my life easier... well, make me not have to face it.

I'd seen a Harbringer-- some concrete something, bring a building down on some people. I didn't care if he was safe or not. He was a freak, like me, and I was going to follow him. Either he'd lead me to safety or kill me-- either was fine in my eyes.

I heard someone running up behind me. I didn't care. I didn't care if it was someone running up with a knife. I didn't care to see the death-stroke coming. Didn't care, as long as it wasn't a soldier. I'd killed far too many of them to let one of them take me now. If I died-- hopefully soon-- it would either be by the hand of another freak, or by nature. I narrowed my eyes as the steps got nearer, figuring I'd have to turn sooner or later to be sure it wasn't a soldier.

"Hey!"

God help me, I'll kill you if you're a damned soldier. I whirled around on the voice angrily, ready for a fight. Instead of a soldier I found a girl standing in the middle of the road, staring at me, looking about as dejected and exhausted as I felt. She held her hands up, showing me that they were empty-- or that she meant no harm-- either way it didn't really matter. I didn't need to hold my hands in any particular way to stop someone's heart. I just stared at her icily, lifting an eyebrow.

"Do you have a group?" She asked gently.

I swallowed hard, lifting my chin, trying to look as uninviting as possible-- even though an ally would be a good idea. Instead of answering I decided to be a brat. "Do you?"

She shakes her head. "That's why I'm asking. I'm dead if I stay alone."

Aren't we all? I thought bitterly. We were dead whether we were alone or not. I sighed, frustrated, "I don't have a group and I don't know that I'm safe to be around...they do what they want to."

I didn't realize until I said it how schizophrenic I probably sounded. 'They do what they want to,' referring to the many voices I heard in my head. I was a lunatic. I looked at her, waiting to see her reaction.

She frowned, backing away a step. "Um... But you do have people you stay with? That's the they?"

I nearly laughed. Instead I just gave her a mirthless smirk. "Let's go with that... I'm following one of the freaks now. He looks like he's got some place to be." I jerked my head up the alley, "I've been chasing him for a while now, hoping that whoever he stays with will let me stay. We-- I-- no, we should be getting close... you want to see where he's going?" I was already getting used to referring to myself as "we", and I didn't like it.

Hesitating, she studied me carefully. "Alright. Let's go."

I smiled, briefly. It was disgusting how relieved I was to have another human near again-- one that didn't try to kill me every time I accidentally stepped into view. At least, she hadn't tried to kill me yet. I resumed my stony glare as we started after the boy once more. "So... what are you?"

She chuckles. "Pheromones. You?"

I felt my eyebrows go up, carefully not looking at her. I expected her to mis-interpret my question and give me her name. I might like this girl after all, if she actually heard what I was saying to her. "...Blood."

We walked in silence for several steps, a question nagging at my mind, begging me to ask. Before I could make the question go away, it came out my mouth. "Do your pheromones talk?"

She raised an eyebrow. "No talking. They leave messages, but they don't actually communicate..." She was quiet for an awkward moment. "Erm... Does your blood?"

"Talk? Sure," I scoffed. "Getting them to shut up is the trick."

Right as I said that, I accidentally stepped too near to her, and the voices whispering at the edge of my consciousness got louder. "Harbringer... Harbringer...mutant blood. Infected. Dirty." I closed my eyes, focusing on the voices, stepping away from her. Oh, shut it. I know she's a Harbringer. I opened my eyes and found her staring at me. "Well... it's not exactly my fault." I slouched and glared at the ground.

Pity was evident in her face. "I understand," she murmured. "I... see pheromones. I see things that no one else sees. It's not our fault."

For once in my life, I actually believed that someone actually did understand-- not just say that they did, in hopes to relate. I swallowed hard, with a nod. "Well... who are you, then?"

"My name is Abbey Mayfield."

I nodded. "Abbey... I'm... Alina Roberts." It wasn't often that I introduced myself as 'Alina' rather than 'Doctor Alina' or just 'Doctor' before my last name. I'd worked hard for the right to call myself by that title... not that any of it mattered any more. Nothing mattered. "It might be nice to meet you, under other circumstances."

She smiled tightly. "To be honest, it's nice to see someone now."

I smiled despite myself, looking down. How much truth was in that statement. "Means I won't have to be talking to you idiots anymore." The blood murmured angrily at me. I decidedly turned my attention away from it, determined to control my blood more than it could control me. Maybe there was something to care about left after all.





I'd, reluctantly, rejoined the group just in time to see the end of the argument between our fearless leaders. Seth turned toward us. "For those of you who I've talked to before, the offer is still up. Come with me."

I hesitated. I hadn't intended the split to happen in this way, at all. I intended us to slip away, silently, in the middle of the night-- to fix everything and come back heros. I didn't expect to look like a deserter. Swallowing hard I straightened my spine and followed Seth out the door, others following close behind us. It wasn't like I hadn't walked... fell... away from harder situations before.

~

"This isn't going to be easy, but it is possible. First off Alina, Judas, and Sam, you three are going to go around the camp and destroy the generators that are keeping this place lit with lights." I glanced at Judas and Sam, wondering if I was in charge because he'd called my name first... I looked at Seth again when I heard my name. "Alina you will have to shut them down one by one, Judas and Sam will protect you in case any guards comes along. They will look like boxes on wheels with camouflage to try and hide them."

I didn't hear the rest of what he said. I was stuck on the part about him saying that I would need to shut them down. I didn't know the first thing about generators. I was a biologist, not some engineer.

"One last thing, kill only when it's absolutely necessary." Yes, Dad. I nearly sighed. "And trust me, I will know whether you are killing for fun, and don't think I won't find out. Because then... the consequences will be painful." He uncurled his fist, letting electricity spark across his hand.

I rolled my eyes as I turned away from him. No one's scared of you, Seth. We've all got powers too. Just because mine aren't sparkly don't make them any less dangerous. I figured now wasn't the time to be arguing. I glanced at the others in my group, and we started away without a word.

After wandering around for a while, Judas and Sam getting rid of a few guards we ran into (with a bit of sluggishness I caused in the guards' reaction time, unknown to anyone but me), we finally found the generators. I swallowed, glancing at the others, wondering if they knew I had no idea what I was doing. I squared my shoulders, pretending that I wasn't totally winging it, and approached the first in the line-- acutely aware that I was running out of time already.

I opened the panel, and stared at the wires inside. Damn...damn... damn... I'm not a f*cking engineer... I don't suppose you all could be any help, mm? I slowly, carefully, released the hold I had on the voices constantly to make them shut up, carefully listening as the whispers grew to voices that were trying to talk over each other. Stop that. I ordered them. One at a time.

"Don't know... don't know... not blood." They answered. I rolled my eyes. I already knew that the control box wasn't blood. I just hoped my blood might be of more use than shouting at the pathogens in blood around me.

I carefully put my hands on the wires, my eyes tracing them, trying to find their ends-- their sources-- their purposes.

"We're running out of time..." Someone murmured behind me.

"I know..." I muttered, not making much progress. I clenched a stick in my hands tightly, stopping circulation to my hands as I wedged the stick into the middle of a ball of wires. I wasn't sure how much my powers would do against electrocution... I yanked the wires free, many of them snapping with the force of my lever. I quickly let go, and watched as the lights went out in our area. "...Stupid one to start with." I sighed, in the dark, and moved to the next one.

|Past

We were surrounded.

"You got it wrong! W-We aren't one of them! Please!" Carine pleaded, her voice hysterical. I stayed silent.

"You have to understand!" She continued. "Please! Don't shoot us!"

"Please! Please, oh God, please, let us go!"

"Please!"

"Shut up!" There was no singular figure, only a contorting black mass of uniformed animals, hiding under the pretense of darkness created by the blindng floodlights that pinned the two of us to the shabby, broken parking lot. I couldn't even make out the guns that would ultimately be the making of our demise, but I knew they were there by common sense and by the lightheadness I felt.

Carine fell to her knees, sobbing, and I knew that snot was flowing freely from her nose. It wasn't unusual to me anymore to see her like this, except the only difference was that she would rather cut herself than do it in a crowd. I did not move from my spot. I ducked my head a little more so the edge of my hood blocked my eyes from the light.

I sensed her twist back to look at me, but still did not turn toward her to give her a reassuring smile; the smile that she had been riding on since we met, the one that told her it would all be okay. But it wouldn't be, not anymore. I was done.

"Say something!" She screamed at me. I didn't. I stood still, my hood low, my lips in a straight line. "Say something, you bastard... You promised..." She was no longer facing me, and was slowly wilting into a fetal position.

"Please, we just want some food and we'll go away... Please..." She moaned.

"I said shut up!" The tenebrous circle recoiled, and I heard its silent roar before it struck.

I jerked with an alarming suddeness and a light flew from my body, unnatural and flushed with colors. It swirled, suspended in the air, and expanded with a shwuck. But I wasn't fast enough. I never was.

My eyes were ahead of me, narrowing with the heavy strain of pulling off such a large feat. The light was spread thin, veins of color pulsing as it was struck with bullets, which clinked down to the cement like pennies. I didn't have to look, because I had heard it. The thud, then the sound similar to the crinkling of a thick potato chip bag, and the unmistakable whisper as blood sprayed out behind her and she deflated down to the dirty ground.

I hadn't been fast enough. Again.


|Present

Carla often thought that I was a good guy, deep down. She didn't say it but she was never good at hiding things like that. She figured that if I tried I could be better than I was. She felt that she could fix me. Her and Carine both.

But in the end, the hollow feeling in my stomach had made my decision.

I suspiciously eyed Alina work on the generator before her, squatting on her knees and squinting inside the monster's mechanisms, feigning competence of what she was doing. As I watched she reached in with a branch that I don't remember her finding and twisted it around the wires until they were taut and yanked backwards, ripping them free with an audible hiss of electricity. As she stood I turned away and pretended that I had been looking for guards instead as the surrounding lights studdered out, leaving them in a blanket of darkness.

"Okay, there's one more... somewhere over there I think." Alina said, her voice a sigh. She dusted the gravel off of her knees - I wasn't sure why she bothered - and began to stride off with an air of superiority, as if she wasn't surrounded in an enemy camp. Judas and I glanced at each other breifly, both our eyebrows cocked, before following her and leaving the third generator they had ruined behind.

I was growing increasingly edgy. As they had worked on the previous two there had been guards at nearly every corner, but now the camp seemed deserted, not a rustle or a stomp of a boot to alert them of an oncoming assult. It seemed like a good sign, but I wasn't so sure.

Still, they slunk around as before, darting between buildings and ducking beneath carts of supplies to remain hidden. It was a slow way to move around, but much safer. They headed towards the final corner of light as if they were moths attracted to the unnatural sustaining of the sun, still no signs of guards.

Like the previous three, the generator was camoflauged, hidden inside a small plain warehouse near the center of the four complexes inside the camp. They ducked inside, Judas and I propping the door open to keep watch. I glanced back as I heard the loud clanging of the metal panel that was once connected to the generator scutter to the ground, disgarded.

"Y'know, I think the point of being quiet is to not draw attention to ourselves," I commented, watching her peer into the generator once again.

"Then shut up and be quiet." She quipped back, her eyes still forcused on the wires. Judas snorted and I gave an irritated glare to her back, folding my arms and turning back towards the door. Still no soldiers.

I heard the telltale noise of Alina jabbing her stick into the machine, and I didn't have to look back to know that she was being much more casual with her actions than before. As the process droned on and her frustration became apparent, Judas said, "You're going to blow all of us up if you keep-"

With a high pitched yelp Alina jerked back, the generator emitting a whine, and then it burst into flames.


|Past

The sound outside of the protective bubble was muffled. My eyes darted back and forth, caught by the bursts of purple and blues as the bullets stuck over and over again. They probably couldn't see it, but the bubble was weakening, slowly inching back to me. I could see the veiny tendrils, nearly transparent, that connected the bubble to my palms. They pulsed yellow, occasionally dipping to a burnt orange.

I breathed out one, two, three times, and then held the air in my lungs. Exhaling through my teeth I shot the bubble outwards, throwing the energy I held in all directions. In a wave it rushed over the soldiers, paralizing their weapons for the split second I needed, the colors dissipating to a deep blue as it rolled over them. I tensed my legs, using every possible cell in my body, and leaped high into the air.

There was one terrible moment where it seemed that I had finally ran out and that in a few seconds I would be shot down, but then the colors swirled to life around me, rocketing me into the air and throwing me forward like a rag doll. I spread my arms, struggling for control as I barely turned in time to protect my face as I smacked into a brick building. I tumbled through the air, my scattered mind reflecting on the jagged bright lines that zipped around me like irritated knats.

I leveled as I found a clear strip of sky, pushing all of my energy into fleeing the scene left behind me. My vision tunnelled and my breath came heavy. I shouldn't have been surprised when the lights clicked out and I was dropping out of the sky as quick as I had shot up, my limbs flailing and stuggling to grip something tangible as the ground raced underneath me.

I yelled and twisted so my back was to the ground and my arms were over my head. I cried out as I smacked into the cement parking lot, lightning shooting up and down my shoulder, my skin peeling back and my palms and side becoming slick with blood. I came skittering to a stop, bouncing off of the ground like a pebble would skip over water.

"Ugh... Goddammit..." I continued swearing, slowly twitching the muscles in my body. When I moved to my shoulder, I let out a short bark of pain, and tentively touched it before jerking my hand back. I must've broken something.

My left side was a mess of skin and blood, but luckily most of it was on the surface and not very deep. My jacket, an expensive leather one that was probably a waste of money to get at the time, had saved most of me. I had paid for it with the intention to eventually get a bike to ride with it, well knowing that I probably wasn't going to ever get enough for one anyways. It was a stupid endulgence that had just saved my life.

I haltingly stood and nearly fell from weak knees. I gripped my arm and glanced around, catching sight of a door that hopefully lead down to street level. I limped towards it, sucking on the blood from my cut lip when my teeth had tore through them at impact.


|Present

Alina scrambled away, the flames becoming more violent. Judas swore, quickly backing away from the warehouse. "Come on!" I shouted, running over and heaving Alina to her feet. She stumbled and then quickly regained her senses, not pausing to flee. I ran behind her, ignoring the painful cries of my shoulder as I moved.

The noise built as the flames escelated, light shining through the cracks in the poorly constructed wooden walls. Judas's vines were rioting, snapping around him in panic and zipping amongst the floors and walls of other buildings to escape the flames.

The surrounding lights suddenly flashed painfully bright, making me flinch. They flickered and spasmed, like strobe lights, causing the chaos to seem more dramatic. My speed increased as the others pulled ahead, desperate to get away from the blazing onslaught.

I threw myself to the ground, grunting in pain as my shoulder labored to support my wieght, and ducked behind a stack of crates. Judas and Alina were already there, peering around the boxes to watch the warehouse catch fire.

The sound was deafening when the generator finally gave in. Contorting flames shot outwards as if pushed away by an unseen force, the wood of the building buckling and then submitting to gravity and collapsing to the ground, a black mass of smoke barreling out. Bits and fragements of metal and splinters shot out and showered the asphalt with little clinking sounds. The lightbulbs in the lampposts exploded, and the three of them were thrown into almost darkness, except for the burning building, which casted long spindly shadows to everything near.

They sat huddled behind the crates, solemnly watching more of the structure of the warehouse collapse with a hiss. My shoulder throbbed painfully, but I ignored it. The smell of burning wood and machinery burned my nostrils, and beside him Alina coughed. Judas's vines had retreated behind the crates with him, and curled around him aprehensively, occasionally jerking, as if they could smell it too.

"Hol-y-shit." Judas said. It was the fewest words I had ever heard him say, but it was by far best way to describe it. Beside me, Alina nodded, her mouth slightly open.

The explosion had deafened my hearing, and the continue roar of the fire blocked all other sounds near me. So it took a while for me to discern one rythme from another, and even longer to recognize the hurried stomping of many, many heavy boots rushing towards the flames.

"Guys," I said, catching thier attention, "I think we have company."

The others paused, cocking their heads to listen, and then bobbing their heads up towards the direction they were coming from. I watched as Judas's vines snapped with excitement, craving the blood of soldiers, and my wariness of them grew.

"We can't fight them." I said.

"Why not? We're Harbringers, we can take 'em." Judas replied, turning towards me with a dangerous glint in his eyes, rolling his shoulders. My expression darkened, but I didn't reply.

"Seth said not to kill if we can avoid it." Alina snapped, somehow managing to look down on Judas, even though couched he was still much taller than she was. There was obvious protest in his eyes, his vines still eagerly swinging around him, feeding off of his anger. The soldiers were nearing, and their numbers seemed to increase the closer they came. Obviously considering this, Judas finally relented, if not grudgingly.

They moved quickly away from the scene, heading towards the walls of the camp.


|Past

I could hear the raucous beeping of horns and the talk of city people as they passed me, speaking abruptly in a harsh and arrogant tone into those little phones that stuck inside thier ear. I could taste the repugnance of asphalt and exhaust and I could feel it as it clogged my throat, little claws scampering up and down my windpipe. I could smell the hint of fried food on my clothes mixing with the odor of body sweat. It was all there. But Atlanta was unnervingly empty, and only scattered newspapers kept me company as I staggered down the middle of the street.

I squeezed my eyes shut as the pain smarted, and my feet momentarily caught underneath me. Just as I was righting myself something careened into me and I landed on my left side. I screamed with my lips pressed tightly together, clutching my hands, immediately shouldering off of my injured side. I breathed heavily and propped myself on my elbow, looking to see what contraption had slammed into me.

It was a girl, sprawled out comically, her hair a wild bush sprinkled with debris. When she grunted to stand, I saw the slick oily mess that covered her forarms and sprinkled her t-shirt, and my first thought was that it was my blood. But I couldn't be bleeding that much, right?

"What do you want?" I growled, feigning ferocity. Inside, I was a torrent of paranoia, like a wild animal caught between a solid wall and something much bigger than I was. "I ain't got food."

She was already up, her hand on her back as she rubbed it. Her eyes fell down, and I realized that my jacket was pulled back, revealing the mess of skin and ripped shirt. I quickly jerked the lip of my jacket to cover it, attempting to stand once again, fear telling me to run.

"I don't want any trouble. Just go mind your own business or I'll-" It would have sounded much more threatening if I hadn't nearly fallen again, interrupting my warning and sending pain running through my arm as it skimmed the rough blacktop.

"You look like you could use some help, you know. Can I take a look at it?" She said, stepping forward and extending her blood soaked hands towards me.

"No! No no, no, no, no, no..." I flinched away from her touch. She didn't seem to realize my concern and advanced further, and as I stumbled once again away from her she caught my upper arm and squeezed. I screamed and then clenched my jaw together, a humorless laugh escaping my lips that was more air than sound.

"See? Jeez, what'd you do, fall from the sky?" She said, lowering me to the ground. I decided to ignore that comment and how unnervingly on the dot it was.

"What's your name?" she asked, obviously distracting me as she poked at the hanging skin.

"N-Name's Sam. Sam Lennox." I almost never stuttered, but I did then, under the mercy of a stranger.

"Well, Sam, I don't know what to do here exactly..." She trailed off as her eyes focused on the wound. I looked down and watched as the cut closed up, the hanging flaps of skin falling away, the blood building up where there were cuts and hardening, forming scabs. She stared at the scabs as if she had no clue how they had gotten there.

"W-What did you do? What did you do to me?" My voice was rising, and I reminded myself that someone not so friendly as this girl could come along. I searched the girl's face, but she was just as puzzled as I was.

"I-I don't know. I must've..." She trailed off again. Then she suddenly seemed to shake herself, blinking, and then raised her head and glanced around.

"Here... Let's get inside somewhere." She helped me stand and I leaned heavily on her as we shuffled towards the line of buildings, glancing in one of the stores' windows and stepping inside when it appeared to be vacant. The stuffy air carried the faint wiff of coffee and pastries, both of which I was sure were already gone. She helped me down to the floor, and we both froze as something fell and crashed in the back room. She looked down at me and slowly put her finger to her lips.

Jennifer Maydez

~Past

Carefully pulling the door closed behind me, I sprinted across the street, trying to shove those painful moments from my mind. Guilt gnawed at me, and I knew then that I shouldn't have left her, but I did. My mother would die out here in this chaotic world, whether I tried to help her or not. It was probably for the best that she died in her sleep.

As I ran down an alleyway, I realized that I had nowhere to go. I was alone now, and really, she was the only company I had had left. Shaking my head, I ignored the loneliness tugging at me. The only way I'd survive out here was if I could depend on myself and my powers. Speaking of which, I thought, I should probably get to controlling those.

Reaching the end of the alleyway, I slowed to a stop. Even though it broke off in two different directions on each side of me, I stared ahead at the ivy covered wall in front of me. The vines covered the entire length of the building, spreading out more as they reach closer to the bottom. My throat tightened just looking at them all.

Extending my arm out to touch one, I held my breath slightly, attempting to brace myself. As soon as I brushed against one, I cringed, fighting the urge to pull away. A giant wave of despair washed over me, radiating from the vine itself. Slowly, I continued running my hand along the wall, enduring the different emotions that came to me from them.

They all just ignored me, going along with their lives like I wasn't even there. My heart pounded, worrying about what could happen. Anything really. Not that is matters, since if something went wrong, then I wouldn't have the burden of surviving.

Please, I thought, hoping they'll hear me, Would you assist me in climbing this wall? I could feel something tighten around my arm, but I ignored it, trying not to be more nervous than I already was. Moving forward a little, I could feel rage and hate emitting from them. I even saw one bunch together slightly, probably a sign that I should-

Instantly, I pulled my arm back, barely avoiding a strike from a particularly thorny vine. Jumping further back to avoid any further attacks, I sighed and pulled my hands to my face. I didn't think it would be this hard being a Harbringer. Though, most others didn't have to deal with control living creatures, which could resist instructions.

"If I can't learn, I'll certainly die out here without protection," I muttered, all the optimism leaving me. Another vine slithered over my shoulder, but I wasn't worried. The only emotion coming off it was sympathy, and besides, it was always there, coiled around my arm most of the time. There were two others as well, and they usually just did the same, staying curled up around a limb.

Soon, an image of a rose pushed its way into my mind. For a moment, I was extremely confused, not understanding its purpose. Were they trying to convey empathy? No, it wouldn't seem like them to do that. My focus turned to the stem, and I noticed the thorns seemed more pronounced. Oh, that's right. I still could create thorns from thin air.

Though, I doubt that would help much, I thought to them, I would think most of the soldiers would wear some kind of armor, so what damage could some thorns do? Nonetheless, it was still some kind of protection. I wasn't sure what else to do, since I wasn't feeling up to trying again with the vines on the wall.

Another vine coiled around my leg tightened, trying to pull me towards one exit to my left. Usually I didn't understand their reasons, but this time I was fed up. Relax will you, I scold them. Something was wrong, since I could feel anxiety radiating from them. It tugged again, trying desperately to pull me away.

I whirled around, hoping it's not what I thought it would be. It was. In front of me stood at least four soldiers, all armed and probably ready to kill me. Maybe they hadn't seen the little episode with the vines, but then again, why would someone like me be all alone out here? Especially in front of a wall covered in something that just happened to be an element a Harbringer could control. I was screwed.



~Present

Laying my head back against the wall, I tried to block out the rest of the world. It was quite obvious of the tension that was building around here, and I just waited for that moment to come and for everything to snap. Though, there wasn't much I could do, since, after all, I doubt many people even acknowledged my existence here.

I sighed, watching my three vines sprawled out on the floor. Their contentment seemed so obvious that I didn't even have to be touching them to know how they felt, and I almost envied them. It must have been so easy for them, barely having to even pull their own weight. Sighing again, I pulled my hands to my face, attempting to ignore the hateful thoughts.

"Jen," I heard a voice, and I instantly turned my head towards the entrance. There stood Maryanna, her hand covering something on her face. Oh goodness, was that blood?

"What happened to you?" I asked quietly, pretty sure of the answer I was about to get.

"These guys were annoying me again," she joked, lazily motioning to the vines covering her, "So I hit 'em. Turns out they hit back." I couldn't help but laugh at her attempt at humor, especially since there was a large gash on the side of her face. Carefully, I lifted up a shiny first-aid kit I had decided to keep with me from a hole right beside where I sat.

Pulling myself to my feet, I open up the box and walk over to her. As I scanned the contents of the kit, I quickly picked a few items which I thought could help. Hesitantly, she lowered her hand, exposing the wound.

"Is it bad?" she asked quietly. The thorns on the vines seemed to have made a clean cut, so it didn't look like it needed any stitches.

"Not terribly," I assured her, "Just don't bother it while it's healing." Setting down the box, I dampened a little cloth and pressed it against the wound, watching her wince slightly. It felt nice to be helping out again, even if it was just a little. Maybe I shouldn’t stay to the shadows as often.



~Past

I wasn't sure if they were there to hunt me down, but I knew they would kill me even if I wasn't a Harbringer. Without thinking, I darted off to my left. They would definitely be coming after me soon, since I bolted before they could even say a word. Where would I go though? I barely knew the layout of Atlanta's main streets, so trying to navigate would be even more difficult.

Adrenaline pulsed through me, making me run faster than I ever knew I could. Everything around me was a blur, and I was surprised I was even able to make a few sharp turns. Occasionally, I'd hear a gunshot from behind me, barely whizzing past me as I dodged into another alleyway.

I did my best to avoid main roads, since I was afraid of meeting up with someone else, Harbringer or not. After a while, I realized I was running towards the edge of the Perimeter, and the wall would be coming up soon. I knew I couldn't keep this up much longer, but I had to try. My side was hurting and my legs were growing tired, since of course I wasn't in very good shape.

While I was distracted with my thoughts, a vine tightened around my arm and pulled me towards the right, forcing me into a side wall. Do you three want me to die? They could be so frustrating sometimes. However, I did notice a small gap that I could probably fit through, but just barely.

Sighing, I didn't bother to look back and see how far away the soldiers were and squeezed right into the gap. It was much longer than I anticipated, and I couldn't move very fast. Trying to be hopeful, I scrambled to get to the end, using the knowledge that if I wasn't fast enough, they would shoot me dead in an instant.

My knees continually scrapped against the rough bricks, and I knew I would be a scabbed up after this, but I didn't care. If it worked, I'd probably be in the clear. Shouting could be heard from behind me, and right as I pulled myself out, another gun went off. Triumph flooded through me, since I knew it would definitely slow them down.

Though every part of me screamed to sit down and rest, I pressed on. I couldn't stay in one spot, since I doubted they would give up that easily. Still, I walked at a leisurely pace, hoping I wouldn't have to break out into a sprint anytime soon. Pride radiated off of the vines.

Rolling my eyes, I thought to them, Sure, you were right for once, but I'm still not happy how risky that was. It probably didn't matter to them. The end result is what counts and it seemed that the result was I got away and everything's alright, right?

The bliss didn't stay very long, since as I turned another corner, a large group of soldiers were there, what looked to me like they were just standing around. I could've sworn they were waiting for me. Cursing under my breath, I took off again when one looked up and shouted at me. This just wasn't my day.



~Present

While I worked I hummed a tune to myself, not entirely sure where it was from. It took much longer than I had hoped. That was probably because I continually got distracted from what I was supposed to be doing, though I wouldn't let Maryanna know that. Occasionally a vine would coil around my ankle and their emotions would drift into my mind.

Usually when I tried to will it away, it would squeeze tighter and sometimes even prick me with a thorn. Whether it was intentional or not, I couldn't tell. Becoming frustrated, I would pretend to pick out another item from the set, and pull the vine off me. As stubborn as vines are, it would usually come back, distracting me all the same. Eventually, I just tried to ignore it.

Finally finishing, I step backed and grinned, "There you go. Now keep those things in line, will you?" Balling up the cloth in my hands, I went to collect all the random items scattered about, no thanks to my 'wonder' vine friends. Out of the corner of my eye, I noticed that she was poking at the bandage on her face and I held back a laugh.

"You still need help with those vines?" she whispered. I froze, nearly dropping a container in my hands. My first reaction was to lie and tell her that I knew what I was doing. She couldn't have seen the pathetic display with the vines earlier, could she? Sighing, I decided against it. She was my friend and I had trusted her with this secret, thinking she could help me, and here the offer was.

"Yeah," I admitted quietly, hoping nobody else was around, "Meet me back here later today, okay?" Picking up the small box, I walked farther into the shadows, wishing I could actually disappear. For some reason, I felt I had something to prove to her, ever since she saved me before.

The shuffling of the vines as they slithered after me was apparent, and I winced at how loud it was. That was another way people could track me down, so I stopped and allowed them to climb into the respective places on me. Why can't all vines be like you three? I thought, Loyal, ready and willing to listen to me. I sighed. Life wouldn't be life if it didn't have its challenges.



~Past

"Give up, Harbinger," a soldier from the group in front of me shouted, raising his gun, "There's no place for you to go. Give up now and we might not kill you." My back was pressed against a wall, since I had foolishly ran into a dead end, trying to ignore my vines' advice to stay away from this area.

My heart pounds loudly. I was stuck. There was no way I was giving myself up, because I knew these soldiers had absolutely no intention of letting go an easy target, but what else could I do? The other soldiers started shuffling around reaching for their weapons. If they were going to shoot me, they should just do it already!

Suddenly, a random red haired girl charged right into the group, vines swinging wildly everywhere. Before I could even blink, two soldiers were dead. The rest surrounded her, and I thought for sure she would dead then, but she had other ideas. Vines surrounding her coiled up and sprung into the air, carrying her with them.

I was shocked, and asked, "What are you doing?"

"Trying to get us out of here," she replied simply, "I'm Maryanna. What's your name?"

"Jennifer," I roll my eyes, adding in my head, because now is definitely the time for proper introductions.

"Well hold on, Jennifer." She grabbed my arm as her vines lifted us up into the air, going over the soldiers' heads again. A part of me admired her, but another part had a strong dislike of her. I could've gotten myself out of that, I thought.

"Now run!" she yelled. Just like the previous two times, I flew down the street in a full on sprint. The picture of the rose pushed its way into my mind again, and I was in such a panic, I didn't question it. Whirling around to face the soldiers chasing us, I raised up my arms, concentrating hard to summon the thorns.

As they appeared, they were hurled at the soldiers, catching many of them off guard. I guess after chasing me for so long they didn't expect me to actually fight. The first few dropped dead, but after a few seconds or so, they were able to deflect them.

Nonetheless, the attempt wasn't in vain, and I turned back around to see Maryanna gaping at me. "Maryanna, look ahead won't you!" She shook her head and turned to run again. I ginned to myself, Hopefully she won't be able to tell the weakness in my ability. She probably thinks I'm just as powerful as she is.

I heard Seth's familiar, somewhat gravely voice raise as my conscious overtook my subconscious. "She is sick. She will not be moving until I say she can. Whatever you need this room for, postpone it. Her life is more important than some task needed."

"Seth, I understand you care for her, but you don't know how this system wo-" my hearing slipped as dreams slithered their way into my conscious.

I gasped as air flew around my me. The Envoy had arrived in the Northern parts of Atlanta. People rushed past me, pushing my still form out of the way to escape the horrors of the military. They weren't civilians. They were like me. Special. Harbingers.

"No, come back." I whispered softly. "We can fight them, all of us." The other Harbingers ignored me as they ran past. "We can fight them, together!" I grabbed one man in his mid to late forties, "help me fight them. We can do this."

"Don't you understand?" His eyes went from blue to red, "That's what they want. They want you to fight them."

Suddenly, the Harbingers stopped running altogether. The background flared in a haze of burning orange and two tanks rolled over the horizon, firing a flurry of missiles into a near building. The skyscraper shook from the explosion, as the base of it erupted in a blue fireball. The Harbingers around me rose their right hands and clenched them in a fist.

More buildings fell under the might of the tanks. Footsoldiers marched along the streets, mowing down the Harbingers. Still they rose their fists, even until they fell to the gunfire.

I turned back to the man, and pulled him aside. "We need to stop this! They'll ruin Atlanta."

He turned to me, eyes black and bleeding slowly. "Atlanta's ruined already. It's been ruined. Forever. They're just making it public."

The ground shook as the sky darkened. Concrete walls sprouted up all around me and lightning stuck down from the skies. Planes and helicopters flew from the dark clouds and crashed into the ground. Harbinger by Harbinger fell to the horrors of the Envoy.

The man to my side fell as five rounds pierced his chest and two in his head. One by one, the Harbingers beside me fell as the Envoy closed in.

Atlanta is gone. Atlanta is gone. Atlanta is... gone. I thought as the Envoy closed in around. Intense pain shot through my body as two bullets hit me. I feel to my knees as the army closed around me.

A splitting scream rang through my ears. A moment later, Seth was by my side almost instantly, his eyes red from the lack of sleep.

"Sarah, wake up. Sarah, come on, it's just a dream!" He shook me gently, and I groaned. "Sarah, you alright?"

I nodded carefully, but the pain from the exertion shocked me down my spine, and I drifted off to a dreamless slumber.




Abbey helped me through the fifth floor to her quarters. Everyone was a little shocked that Seth had left, but I was shocked, and a little hurt, that people had followed his thinking. Her quarters, along with most of the quarters in the fifth and sixth floor, had a small hole that Aura and I had cut out using our powers.

I let go of Abbey's arm and walked to the window, watching the small silhouettes of Seth and his group sneaking along the broken down cars of the street. I saw Valkryie, Sam, Scott, Allison, Alina, and Judas. Six people, blindlessly following Seth, who honestly, I didn't know if I could trust him anymore.

"Our group, half the size, just like that." I shook my head slightly. "And, now I find out I'm pregnant. Are you sure, Abbey?"

"Whenever someone's pregnant, you can tell. Pheromone -wise, you are definitely different, it just took we awhile to understand it, and I've never been by you for long enough."

"All in one day. In one day, my life is turned upside down. Instead of focusing on this group, I have to make sure this child inside of me survives." My arms shook as I fought back the tears that were forcing their way out of my eyes. "There's only one other person I know who was pregnant as a Harbinger."

Abbey walked up to me. "Sarah, what are you trying to say?"

My jaw set and I forced back the tears. "We're going back to CrossPress."

"No, remember why we left CrossPress?"

"We left because of Seth. Seth's gone, along with half of the group. We're going back to CrossPress to Vayne. She'll help." I turned to Abbey. "This is our secret for now. Get everyone together and tell them to pack up. We're leaving this place. I'm going to talk to Tracey. She might know something that will affect all of us."



"Sarah. Sarah, you need to eat. Sarah, please. It's been three days."

Chills spread down my spine and I gasped awake. Pain burst awake as I moved muscles that weren't used to being moved in awhile. "Oh, God. I feel like I've been running a marathon for a day straight."

Seth was beside my side, his hands grasping my arm. "You've been out for three, almost four days here."

"Where-where's here?" I sat up groggily, holding my back carefully. My skull started pounding, its pain shooting from my temples down into my neck.

"CrossPress Cafe. Well, less of a cafe and more of a mall-slash-safehouse for us Harbingers." He picked up a food tray and handed it to me. "Food. You need to eat. I've been able to get water in you, but you haven't had anything to eat since we got here." It was a small bowl of refried beans gone luke warm. "I would warm it up some more, but I'm afraid I'm all out of electricity to do it, and there's very little power here."

"All out of electricity? What does that mean?"

"My powers are a little different from yours, Sarah. I control electricity and lightning. But, with that huge amount of power comes a price. I have a storage of electricity. I haven't refilled it since I saved you. I'm running out, and I don't have enough to heat up a bowl of beans. Pretty sad, huh?"

I laughed, which came out as a hoarse groan. "You didn't save me! I had it handled."

He laughed softly, "sure you did. You get refreshed, I'm gonna go talk to Jessica, the girl who runs this place."

I nodded as he walked out. My throat was raw, so getting down the beans was much harder than I thought. It tasted stale, like it was in a dent can for too long. But, it was more than what I had in weeks, and it tasted like paradise, or at least as close as you can get in an apocalypse.

I was in a video store, in the back of the place. It was a small, infirmary style room with sheets for walls. I heard no one else around me, but I could hear distant commotion.

I was still in my clothes from before my fight, and my briefcase was missing. I rose from the makeshift bed and tried to fix my hair.

"Sarah? Is that you?" Allison ran up and embraced me.

"Allison! Wow, I cannot believe you would be here of all places. It's been what, ten-"

"Ten years, yep. My sophmore year, you and I were working on fixing that old radio for science class."

"Fun times, fun times." I shook my head softly. "So, what exactly is this place? I don't really remember why we stopped talking."

"We just went our separate ways." Allison sighed. "And this, this is CrossPress. Well, the entrance is CrossPress, this here is more like a half-destroyed outlet mall. It's a safe haven for Harbingers." She held out her hand. "Smoke."

"What?"

"Smoke, my power's smoke. What's your power?"

"Oh, um concrete. Have you seen Seth?" I rubbed my neck. I was tired, sore, and my stomach was still empty, even after that can of beans. "How long have I been here?"

"Well, the last people to arrive was about two days ago, so I'd say at least two days."

I groaned. "So, I've been asleep for two days."

"Four, and I've counted every minute of it." A woman in her mid fifties strode up beside Allison. "Hello, miss Levesque. Would you mind giving Sarah and me some time alone?" Allison sighed and rolled her eyes, but she acknowledged the command anyway. Jessica smiled slightly, but her eyes had no happy feelings in them. "Man, you are a famous person around here. Caused up quite a stir in that little show you and your boyfriend did. Caused the Envoy to enter this district."

She gestured me down the stairs, where we sat in a fast food bench, her facing me. My head turned from a dull throb to a persistent ache. She just stared at me, and my intense stare matched her as much as I could. Finally, after awhile, she smiled softly, and it was actually genuine. "You've got steel in you yet. My name's Jessica, Jessica Sanders."

"First off, I don't know you. Second off, I don't have a boyfriend." I gritted my teeth, cursing her in my mind, but saying nothing else.

"Well, he must be your personal stalker and guardian angel, then. He saved you from the squad that attacked you."

"You mean Seth?" I scoffed, "Seth was an old friend, but he's nothing more than that. And I'll tell you the same thing I told him, I didn't need his saving."

Jessica shook her head sadly. "I guess he didn't tell you." She held out her hand to shush me before I said anything. "He told me everything, not even ten minutes ago, after he reported to me that you had regained consciousness. After you lost consciousness, your brother called for back-up, and not any kind of back-up. He called for the Envoy, a specialized and highly advanced military branch that the public doesn't know about. They were in the Southern Districts of Atlanta, and stayed there... until you and your savior attracted them to the Northern area."

That's a lot of information to soak in, right when I have a migraine. I rubbed my temples absentmindedly. "So, Seth actually did save my life."

"Yes, and probably ruined all of ours. The Envoy is an incredibly strong force, and if we're to live through the warzone that Atlanta, then we needed the Envoy to stay to the South. Now, it's only a matter of time before they find us, and kill us all, in their brutal and bloody fashion." She leaned back and pulled out a piece of paper, rolled into a scroll-like fashion.

"What's this?" I asked, picking it up apprehensively.

"It's battle plans. A lot of them. In fact, almost ten thousand of them." Jessica whispered.

"And why are you showing it to me?" I asked suspiciously, setting the parchment back down on the plastic table.

"No matter what Seth did to save you, you still fought with fury in your manipulation over concrete. Not one I see very often. These war plans aren't just from our enemies. It's for us as well."

"You mean Harbingers? We're not soldiers."

She frowned at me suddenly, "Sarah, do you honeslty mean to say that you are ignorant enough to say that we aren't soldiers in a warzone like this?" She picked up the papers and stuffed them back in her jacket. "We either fight, die, or something worse. We. Become. Soldiers. Or. We. Die."

"Why are you telling me this? I never wanted to be a soldier. My brother is in the army, for christ's sake, I'm not going to fight him-"

"Your brother is the one who called on the Envoy. Your brother is the one who may have doomed us all. He deserves to die."

I stood up abruptly, knocking my chair over. "You do not speak about my brother like that. He deserves none of this."

Jessica stood up, not exactly reaching my height, but there was fire in her eyes to make up for it. "Your brother tried to kill you, and Seth fought for almost two hours to save your life." Veins in her neck pulsed with ferocity as she shook her head. "You don't know how much that sickens me, seeing you defend foul people like that. No matter how long you lived with him, he isn't your brother anymore, he is the enemy!"

I bunched my fists and the ground trembled slightly. "You stop talking about my brother like that. He is a great man-"

"He is a traitor. No doubt he is a Harbinger as well, it runs in the family." She noticed my hands, and smiled slyly. "Do you want to hurt me with your powers? Go ahead. Just know that doing so won't solve anything. It won't help you, it won't help your brother, and it definitely won't help me. But you know what can help us both out? Learning how to use your ability effectively and knowing how to use it at any times, and," she gestured to my fists, "not when you're just angry."

My anger left me, and I slumped a bit. "what if I don't want you to teach me."

"I'm afraid that's not up to you. I just wanted to know how much you can learn and how much you want to learn."

"So, you were just testing me?" I ask incredulously. "Did you make all of that up."

She laughed dryly, "No, I wish. All of what I said, the good and the bad, are true. Which is why you must learn what I, and the rest of the people here at CrossPress, am going to teach you. Seth, you can come out now."

Seth ran up to me and embraced me in a hug. "It's nice you to see you up and walking again." I pushed him away softly. "What?"

"You didn't tell me that my brother did all of that."

"No, he left that for me to tell you. Say what you want about me behind my back, I will tell you the truth, no matter how brutal it may be." She looked at Seth and I could feel his muscles clench, like he was ready for a fight. "No matter our differences, we agreed that you had to be taught to control your ability. And your exhaustion as well."

"Wait, you agreed to this without my consent?" I glared at Seth. "Why?"

"It was either you learn how to use and control your abilities, or you died. Not that hard of a choice, if it was up to me."

"Okay, I'm tired of asking questions. Fill me in on everything that happened from the time I passed out. This 'secrets' stuff about me is getting tiring fast. So, fill me in, on everything. And when I say everything, I mean all of it."

Seth shrugged. "Not much, I sat by your side the time you-"

"No, before that. How much did you fight while I was passed out?"

"Oh, I wouldn't say he 'fought' anyone. It was more like watching tactical genocide."

Seth quieted her with a gesture. "Sarah, I promise I'll tell you this all today. But, first thing's first, I have things to do. So do you. So, farewell for now. Find where you're going to live and just get refreshed." He nodded to me, glared at Jessica, and left.

Jessica cleared her throat. "Quite a personality. His body's a keeper, though."

"You're crazy, Jessica."



The garage was quiet. Everyone was busy packing up the things they needed or just sat around, looking lost. We lost half of our family. They deserve a little break. Then I remembered Scott's conversation with me earlier. If we stay here any longer, we may not have time to mourn people leaving.

Tracey was sitting next to Scott's usual area, her backpack sitting next to her. She looked a little lost, but when she saw me, tried to smile softly. "Hey, Sarah. I hear we're leaving this place." It wasn't a question, but I decided to answer it anyway.

"Yeah. But, there's a reason for it, I promise."

"What's that reason?" She looked up at me and her right eyebrow raised.

"I don't know yet." I sighed. "But, I was wondering if you could help me out figuring out the answer to that."

"What could I help with?" She picked up her bacpack.

"You've been spending a lot of time with Scott, right?" She nodded, "Well, he was busy decoding something extremely important whenever he left with Seth. Do you know if he finished with it?"

She walked over to Scott's normal spot. "Well, he left all of his stuff here. I can try to help with figuring it out if he didn't finish it. I know he finished with the matrix or whatever it's called, so all it takes is finishing the last part of it." She opened his notebook to the last page he wrote on, examining it and comparing it to the open notebook on the table to her left. "Mmm, yeah he still has half of it left to decode. It'll take me about an hour to finish it, but I should be able to. He did the hard stuff." She looked up at me and smiled. "Do you think he's coming back?"

I sighed a bit. "I don't know. It's hard to tell. He's following Seth's lead, all of them are, so I wouldn't know. Seth hasn't really been that trustworthy lately."

"Seth has good intentions, I'm sure. If not, then you wouldn't have stayed by his side that long, right?"

I smiled. The younger viewpoints usually are right about basically everything, in their naive way. "Don't you ever grow up, Tracy. We need you just the way you are."

She laughed slightly, "Uh huh. It's going to take me awhile to get this translated, and even longer if you bother me."

"I can take a hint, you know, I'm not that old." I pushed her slightly.

"You're like, stone age old." She pushed me back and pointed upstairs, "Now shoo." I smiled tiredly and obeyed her commands. She seemed like she was getting older by the minute. I wished she didn't have to grow up in something like this. Her life will never be the same, even if we do make it out of this hellhole that is Atlanta now. There I go again, thinking things too deep than I would like to be thinking.

Walking up to the next floor of the parking garage, I saw the rest of what's left of my group either sitting together or finishing their packing.

Carla looked up at me and nodded silently. She was sitting closest to me by herself. I can understand why she would, knowing her power. The power of blood, not something I would like to have.

Will, Jennifer, and Maryanna were sitting quietly together. Will didn't seem interested in anything that was going on, but he seemed to keep an eye on me. Jennifer and Maryanna were chatting, each with a few vines coiled around them.

Aura was still packing his belongings, but he looked upset. Abbey was leaning on one of the makeshift walls Aura and I made. She looked at me with sadness and guilt. I sent her a glare, I'm not dead or inept, so quit looking at me like that. She seemed to get the gist from my pheromones and cleared her throat, trying her hardest to look away.

I rubbed my eyes softly and cleared my throat. The subtle conversations halted, and everyone turned their full attention to me, except Abbey, who I guess was still feeling the backlash of my pheromones. I sent a wave of happy emotions her way, and her stress lines weakened. "As you know from Abbey, I've asked us all to pack up to leave this place that we've called home for a long time. As you also know, we lost about half of the group earlier this night. Honestly, I don't know if they're coming back." I sighed and fought back the tears that were surging their way to my eyes.

Walking over to Carla, I placed my hand on her shoulder gently. She recoiled, but I whispered, "It's alright, Carla. I can take a beating. You won't hurt me, I know you won't." She nodded reluctantly, but I could feel her shaking softly.

"Look, everyone. There's something coming to northern Atlanta, and I don't want to be here when it does. I know that I don't know most of you as well as I should, but that's going to change. If we're to survive this, we're going to need friendship and trust."

Aura spoke up, "W-w-why are we leaving this place? This is o-our home." He gasped a little, and covered his mouth. "I-i'm sorry."

"Aura. Aura," I walked over to him. "It's okay to voice your concerns. I don't want to leave this place anyway, but if we stay, then there's a good chance we won't live to see the next year." I turned to the others. "Now, I know some of the things we all have been through, but this... this is a clean slate. I'm here to make sure we get through this. So, what do you say?"

Abbey was the first to speak. "Sarah, I'm with you to the end, whenever that may be. You haven't lead us astray yet, so I see no reason to put my faith into another person."

Carla spoke next, "Sarah, you're strong. I don't know what I could do if I were in your position. There's a reason why I didn't go with Seth. We'll manage this together. All of us," she looked over to Maryanna, Jennifer, and Will. Will nodded silently, but his expression stayed the same.

Maryanna stood up suddenly, "We need to train. We need to learn how to control our powers before they control us." She exchanged glances with Jennifer before continuing. "I know that this is our home, but we need to... to prepare to fight."

I nodded, "You're right. We need to prepare to fight. So," I sighed and glanced at Abbey, "that's why we're going back to CrossPress." Everyone started shouting, but I held up a hand. "Where we'll go from there, I don't know, but we can't stay here."

Abbey cleared her throat, catching my attention. She gave me a look, and I knew what she was wanting me to do. I closed my eyes and cleared my mind. You can do this, Sarah. "So, if we're trying to stay honest here, I have to say something." My heart was caught in my throat, and I had to catch my breath. Why are you so nervous about telling others something you only found out less than an hour ago yourself? I sighed and continued, "There's another reason why we're going to CrossPress, and trust me, I would not go back to that place if it wasn't for this. I need to talk to Vayne. She can help me out."

"Help you out with what, she didn't do very much at CrossPress except complain about everything and blame it on her being... pregnant." Maryanna stopped.

I nodded slowly. "I'm pregnant, and she's the only one I know with a baby Harbinger."

...TBC