It seemed like waking up every morning was becoming much harder than the previous times, even more so with much of the sirens from the force vehicles bolting passed the apartment. Below the apartment was still quiet and empty, the alarm clock flashing "eight o'clock a.m.", about the time my uncle is supposed to be downstairs to open up the antique shop. Another day to try and at least make one hundred bucks or so for the day; enough to "pay up", and the rest to buy some groceries that we desperately need.

Rubbing my tired eyes, I had forced myself out of bed, only to flinch a little once my bare feet made contact with the cold wooden floor, though I then shoved the cold sensation away, and lazily went over to the bathroom inside the hall. As I came towards the entrance of the lid up bathroom, I noticed my oldest twin brother leaning forward over the sink; eyes piercing towards his reflection as he overlooked inside his mouth where his two fingers were at. His index finger circled around the back side of his left mouth, a low grunt escaped from his throat, as he then took his finger out to reveal saliva and blood all around. The sight of it made me cringe and tug at my boxers. I walked over to him, placing a gentle cold hand over his bare shoulder. He moved his gaze towards me, swallowing a bit as he made a face from tasting his own blood going down his throat.

"Bit myself again in my sleep" he began, "it's that stupid sharp back tooth that keeps biting that same area when I grind my teeth".

"I'd just put a warm wet paper-towel between it, if I were you. I'm pretty sure uncle Shin hasn't forgotten about the medicine".

"The money's going towards that stupid gang. You should know that already Ky".

Of course, the only excuse Judas would have every time I would mention this type of situation. The thought of the gang planted a disgusted expression over my pale face; the Purple Dragons were never a big threat to many citizens of New York before, though ever since a "new era" had begun back about three years ago, the gang had become more notorious than the last. With their new leader, the gang had become stronger and enough of a reason to call it a curfew at nine pm, though are practically the empire's enemy since the Purple Dragons are the ones stealing most of our hard-earned money from their own kind, along with causing such chaos around local areas in the city and around the border.

My body was slightly shoved by Judas, his mouth filled with water as he gargled for a second before spitting into the sink. "Better hurry up, we can't miss the bus this time".

"R-right—"I stuttered oddly, receiving a shuffle over my shaggy brown hair, before Judas then walked out to finish getting ready for school. Out of all other things, the Foot Empire still ordered for human children to go to school.

...

"Come on Ky, we're going to be late!" Judas yelled from the other side of the antique shop, passing by our uncle that was reading his daily newspaper behind the counter, as Judas then bolted out of the door to try and catch the bus that was already outside.

"I'm coming! I'm coming!" Almost losing my balance, I quickly reached to the side of the wall to grab my school bag, and was about to run towards the door before getting stopped by my uncle; his hand quickly tugging at the shoulder of my sweater, giving me a blank look before reaching over to grab my wrist, and lightly punched his small black metal cube over my wrist. A whispering hiss escaped me; my eyes looked up to my uncle with concern before placing a hand over the tiny dot that was forming just a small pinch of blood from the punch.

"There are at least twenty-dollars in that chip for groceries" uncle Shin began, his voice low and groggy. He then handed me a smaller black metal cube, and closed my hand over it, "after school, give this to Miss Helen around the block..."

"What for?"

"Miss Helen is becoming—sick, just give her the cube. Oh, and make sure Judas does not know about this." Uncle Shin then brought up his wrinkly old hand, and made a shooing gesture towards the door, "hurry now, before you miss the bus." With that, I nodded to him, and placed the cube into my pocket before then running out of the shop, and towards the area where the school bus was still at. Luckily, I was able to reach the bus while the other children were in line waiting to step inside the vehicle. Judas looked at me, a suspicious expression on his face as he turned to look forward.

"What took you?"

"Uncle Shin was just giving me money for groceries after school" I replied, not mentioning anything about the rest of the money for Miss Helen. The thought of her being sick made me pity her; poor woman, she's becoming so close to being evicted from her apartment, there was no telling as to how she'll be able to work if she's sick enough to worry uncle Shin. Hell, she could barely create any strength, after the Foot force had to take her daughter away for certain reasons. Judas, on the other hand, could care less if Miss Helen, or anyone else out of the family for the matter, was sick or not; he hated the fact that we weren't saving enough money for ourselves, since uncle Shin would always try and sneak some money into other people's pockets just to help them out. To his perspective, even the poor were like those deformed creatures, "those creatures were once poor, that's how it begins" he would say.

"Cover it up then" Judas responded, "Those strangers are like wild dogs, they can smell what they're looking for, and will try to steal your wrist".

Mentally noting that, I watched the three kids in front of Judas hop onto the bus, my gaze turning to the side to notice a limping woman in somewhat raggedy clothes, a brown tapestry draped over her head and body; her face not revealing. It seemed as if the strange woman knew that I was staring, as she turned her gaze towards me; our eyes locked onto each other as the hairs from the back of my neck rose up. Silence filled my head, I couldn't stop staring at her, noticing her shoulders suddenly relax as she brought up her left hand, and slowly waved at me. I waved back, eyes widening once I noticed something disturbing about her; her hand—there was no skin to be seen, nothing but some dry blood and pale brown scales. The woman noticed my change in expression, seeing how her disfigured hand was revealed as she quickly hid her hand into the tapestry, and turned her back on me to then limp away in silence; invisible to the rest of the citizens walking passed her. Jumping a bit from the quick honk by the bus driver, my mind came back into reality as I then made my legs move me into the bus to then sit next to my twin brother near the window. I stayed in silence, looking out the window once the bus started to move along the road. The vehicle was then passing by the limping woman, at that moment, I knew exactly the reason why uncle Shin had given me the cube as a secret—Miss Helen had become a mutant.