America was in a state of panic. All citizens jump at the slightest noise or the smallest dot in the sky. We have constant drills of ducking and covering at random moments of the day to ready ourselves for if a bomb dropped—though I don't see how it would work. I guess it's just for reassurance and to not have screaming citizens blocking the street or if the bomb was small, the ducking will cover them from shattered glass or rubble. But that seemed unlikely and we would be dead either way.

The two countries were at a standoff. Tensions were ocean-thick as we waited for the other nation to make a move, daring to try something. The two countries sent threats to the other. America claims that both countries would wipe each other out. I didn't tell anyone, but I believe that Russia could destroy us before we even destroy half of their country since Russia has more and larger bombs than us.

I didn't worry much for Russia dropping their bombs since Russia, if they did, would probably start near the west coast because the wind current will push the radiation inwards to kill more people.

I was sitting at my seat in the back corner of the room. My eyes trailed to the clock on the wall. Only about a minute more until school ended and I could go home for the weekend. The second-hand turned slowly, stretching the day longer than it should have. Right on the clock, the bell shrieked and everybody started loud banter. I, myself, didn't question that the bell sounded different than usual.

I was collecting my school supplies, jamming them into my battered backpack. The room was being evacuated by the time I swung on the bag. The bell was still ringing… That's when I knew something was wrong.

I barely had enough time to look outside the window to the large plane that was flying straight towards my school. It dropped a massive bomb and I was frozen, staring as it neared then hit the ground. I could hear it clink and crack from where I stood but nothing happened. Everything was calm. The bomb just sat there. Something was wrong with the bomb and, for a second, I thought that it wasn't going to detonate and everything was going to be alright. Then, I saw the smallest spark-the smallest flash of light- in the bomb and screamed, "Get down!"

I hit the floor, curling up in a ball and covering my neck as the window shattered and massive heat that felt hotter than lava washed over me. It felt like my body was on fire as I floated in the giant hydrogen ball we call a sun—like my skin was peeling off in large chunks.

There were screams around me and cries. I think I screamed myself. My throat, lips and mouth were parched and my lungs burned. There were quite a few painful spots on my body were I was bleeding. Something cold touched my cheek and it sizzled, burning me. I was crying but, for the first time ever, crying hurt.

I somehow managed to pry open my eyes and wished that I hadn't. My eyes tingled as I glanced at the wall that was almost rubble. The window was blown in, spread out in small shards around me. The floor creaked and I knew I had to move. I didn't know when the building will collapse.

My body complained, refusing to move but my fear was like adrenaline. My arms under me were red, blistering. Blood dripped on the floor as I stared down, moving to my knees and then to my feet, almost falling back over. I touched my face only to pull back with wet hands. Blood poured from my nose, ears, and eyes like they had their own little river. My legs were like gelatin, wobbling like there was an earthquake with each step. My stomach lurched and turned as I headed towards the door that was blow open, wanting to vomit at the bodies that were burnt and unrecognizable, crushed by rubble with fire slowly consuming them.

I continued to step forward, the weight of the world on my shoulders and gravity pushing me down, inviting me to the floor. Pebbles of the ceiling fell near me, and without control, my head whipped towards it, hurting me even more. I made it out of the classroom to the hallway that was even more horrific than my classroom. There was more fallen rubble, more electrical wires, more bodies, more glass, and more blood. Each body unrecognizable. What made it even scarier was that some of them were still alive, crying and yelling out for help or for someone to just end them right there.

I continued forward, somehow getting through alright. My neck felt like it was about to crack by how many times my head whipped around for the smallest thing. It was like my senses were out of control but I passed that for being in shock.

I felt about dead by the time I saw the entrance of the school. The first step I took out in the sunlight, I felt like screaming again. The sunlight hurt. It burned me. My vision blurred. I wanted to retreat back in the building but I fell over and everything went dark.

o-o-o

I inhaled deeply, trying to grasp air that wouldn't quite fill my lungs. My eyes flung open wide. Everything hurt. I tried to glance around, heart stopping at what I saw. I was levitating over the ground, about one and a half of me up. That wasn't even the worse part. When I looked at my body, I was scattered and glowing a misty gold. The particles of my body were like a visible gas that was spread apart in a mass. I moved my hands in front of my vision and saw them form and separate every second. When they formed, I tried to touch my hands together but they would instantly scatter.

I couldn't think straight to figure out what was happening or how to prevent this because I couldn't breathe correctly. I was terrified.

After several moments of freaking out, I calmed down to a stressed-out level. I thought I was going to disappear but I didn't. I sucked in a heavy breath but I couldn't find any explanation on what happened to me. But as soon as I calmed down, the particles started to form back together until I was whole and solid again. My body fell from its floating position and onto the ground harshly. I groaned as I sat up, touching my whole body to make sure that my particles stay in the same place. I looked at my body with interest in what happened and saw that my clothes were scorched and had many holes singed into it but my skin showed no signs of any distress.

Once that was secure, I finally took a look around me. I instantly recognized the park that was near my house. No one was there. In fact, no one was even on the streets. I looked around more and saw smoke emitting into the atmosphere. What the hell was happening? I couldn't remember what happened. I started to walk back to my house to see if anyone was there and to maybe get some answers.

I rubbed my tingling skin through the hot streets. Everything about me felt weird.

I stood outside my house. From what I could see through the window, everyone was inside. Soda was sitting on the couch, head in his hands like he was distressed. In fact, everyone inside was. I made my way to the door and opened it, cringing at the loud screech from the hinges. All attention turned towards me and, for the longest second, everything was silent. Then everything turned to uproar after all of their faces morphed into surprise and shock.

"P-Ponyboy!" my brother, Soda, exclaimed, rushing towards me but it was in slow motion. He almost looked like he was standing still. When he wrapped his hands around me, everything went back to normal. He pulled me in a tight hug. When he pulled away, I saw that his face was brimming with joy.

"Damn, the kid's alive," Steve said, crossing his arms and leaning against the wall. Even though we both dislike each other, he looked relieved.

I frowned at his words. "What do you mean? Why wouldn't I be alive?" Again, everything went silent. They looked at each other, knowing something that I didn't. "What is going on?"

"You don't remember?" Darry asked.

"Remember what?"

"The bomb. You were in it. There was a fault in the bomb so only the school and some of the surrounding homes are gone. You were in it. Everyone caught was supposed to be dead."

Memories shoved its way back into my head. Fire and unbearable heat. My skin was peeling and pink; my legs were jelly. I stumbled through the wires that hung from the ceiling, sprinkling electricity. Iron bent like it was made from rubber. My vision was sketchy, like I was skipping some parts my memory. While I was walking, a chunk fell on top of me. A sharp piece of metal fell down, melting itself through my hand. I screamed as my nose filled with a more intense smell of burning flesh.

I pushed myself from the ground, knocking off the rubble and using my other hand to pull out the iron, ignoring the scorching pain and steam.

I continued to walk through the dead, burnt-up bodies. My stomach turned and I had to swallow down the vomit that creeped up my throat. I shut my eyes tightly before opening them again.

Everything was back to normal. My vision rimmed with darkness but I blinked it away. I looked at my body but there was still no signs of any injury. Something told me that there would be trouble if I blacked out now.

"Are you alright?" Soda asked, eyeing me in concern.

I shook my head. "I remembered everything."

"Do you need to sit or lie down?"

"I'm fine," I lied. I really needed answers. "So… no one's alive?"

"No. Steve, Johnnycakes, and I were lucky to not be there today," Two-Bit said.

"How am I alive?"

"Who knows? All that matters is that you're still alive," Soda said.

"You should get some rest. You don't look so hot. We are taking you to the hospital to check you out tomorrow," Darry said.

"No, no. No hospital. I'm fine."

"You have to go."

"No, I don't!" I pushed myself away from them on some strange impulse.

"What's the matter with you? Why can't you go get a check-up?"

"I don't know why!" I swallowed my saliva. "Just… Just leave me alone for right now, alright? If anything happens, we'll go."

Darry didn't look at all pleased but he nodded. "If anything happens…" he warned.

The last part of the day went by in a blur. I cleaned myself and wanted to see what was on TV but I was too tired to hold up my eyelids.

o-o-o

I was woken up the next morning by a feeling of falling and a dipping of the stomach. My eyes flew open. I threw the covers off, pushed myself off of the bed and grabbed the hand that was reaching for me and twisted it enough for it to hurt but not damage.

"Whoa there," Two-Bit warned, looking at me incredulously.

"Two-Bit… What are you doing?" I asked, careful not to wake up Sodapop. "Were you trying to scare me?"

"Of course not."

I gave him a yeah-right-you-liar look. "Right…"

Two-Bit looked at my hand which was still gripping tightly onto his. "Can you let go now?"

"Oh, sorry." I retracted my hand. Two-Bit laughed before walking out of the room. Soda woke up soon after and left to go to work. I would have gone to school but evidently, there was no school to go to. I don't know if I should be happy or sad about that. Happy because the school is gone or sad because everyone's dead.

I was lying in bed, thinking everything through. I stared at my hands, moving them forward and trying my best to block memories of the explosion. I turned my hands over and examined it before turning it again. I moved and flexed my fingers around in a weird, creepy way and almost drawn back when it started to have a golden aura. But the glow calmed me, comforted me and warmed me in a way that I couldn't explain. I continued to move my fingers, playing with the glow that changed shape with each movement until it formed a shaky ball of gold that balanced on the top of my fingers.

In seconds, unfortunately, the ball spiraled out of control and flung of, unraveling to my desk, hitting a book, causing it to glow in the mist like my hand. I pulled back my hand, pulling the book out of its place. My hands shook. I huffed. My hand felt heavy, like a thousand bricks were placed upon it. I dropped my hand and the book fell down on the surface. My hand and the book stopped glowing and I was left beat. It was only the morning and I could take another long rest.

I was too psyched to rest though. I had just moved an object without even touching it. Whatever the nuclear explosion did to me, it did wonders. Well, at least, so far. I have no idea what the consequences would be, if there are any. The radiation must have messed with my molecular formula in a way that they didn't lock together into a solidified form but instead gave my brain full power over the molecules.

I flexed my fingers on my arm again, making the same ball and flung it at the book. It took me a couple of tries to hit the book and each try was exhausting. I tried to pick it up again but it only went up a centimeter or two before my arm gave way.

"Yeah, I'm done," I murmured to myself before crashing back on the bed, falling into another deep slumber.

o-o-o

I based Ponyboy's new abilities off of the Scarlet Witch but there is going to be a tweak to it. This is for the love of the new Marvel movie, Civil War.

I had started a sequel to Swap Kiss and posted a chapter but deleted it due to lack of readers. What do you guys think? Should I re-upload it and deal with two stories at a time or what?

Disclaimer: I do not own The Outsiders