I was sitting in the living room, watching a cartoon on the television. The radiation from the explosion still made the days unbearably hot and no one wanted to go outside. Darry was in his armchair, reading today's newspaper and Soda was getting ready to go to work. Everyone else was just lounging around and lazily watching the television.

Darry all of a sudden sucked in a deep breath and muttered something under his breath.

"What happened?" Steve asked, raising an eyebrow.

"America declared war with Russia because of the bomb that they dropped."

Everything became silent. I didn't know what to think. A part of me wanted to just pass it on, knowing that the end of the war will come but another part of me was terrified. There will not be a winner unless there was something or someone with unnatural abilities but that was again an impossible feat. Who, from the mutated people, would be dumb enough to risk showing their powers? But, however this all ends, I will protect the gang, even if it does mean revealing my secret.

Anyways, I wasn't allowed to actually leave the house—at least not alone because of the threat. Of course, none of us could handle being locked up until the war ends. Dally, Johnny, and I walked to Buck's party one day. The house was practically rumbling with blasting music and yells. Every room was lit up and occasionally would darken from a shadow that crosses across it or stands in front. It's funny how people could act so carefree at a time like this or maybe they drank until every problem was forgotten.

We strolled right in. I cringed at the smell of sweat mixed with alcohol and smoke. Dally went straight to get drunk, leaving Johnny and I alone. I wasn't allowed to drink yet so I was there, watching everyone with Johnny. At some points, we played a game of pool or tried to escape some advances of some drunk, horny teens and adults. Of course, we were getting pretty bored and tired so we headed back to see what Dally was up to.

Dally was leaning against the wall over a nicely dressed girl. Her face was caked with makeup and her black hair was neatly done in a way that looked expensive to even do. Her dark blue eyes pierced through Dally, arms crossed and hips pushed to one side to indicate how annoyed she was. She looked familiar.

"Listen, if you don't leave me alone, I am going to stomp these heels into your eyes. So, won't you be kind and beat it? I'm only asking you once."

Dally whistled, chuckling. "You have a bite. That will help when we are alone together."

"Yeah, I can use my teeth to bite off your puny, little, fucking dick and shove it in your ass so that you can go fuck yourself."

I didn't hear all of the conversation because of the loud music, all I heard was the girl shouting threats and calling to some friends who were too drunk to comprehend her needs. She was absolutely screaming, sort of stomping her feet on the ground like a child. Dally said something again and got all in her face.

I remembered her now. She was one of those 'popular' girls in school that was rumored to have gone all the way with a number of guys. She was a total selfish, bitch from anybody's perspective. The only way she pretty much towers over everyone is because of her "daddy's money" and making everyone afraid of her. I once saw her kick a Soc where the sun doesn't shine because he didn't do what she asked. She must have been absent when the explosion happened… or she was a survivor.

The next thing I knew, she grabbed Dally's leather jacket tightly, he knuckles turning white and eyes becoming fiery—literally. Her fingertips that were by her side had small, dancing candle-like flames. Dally's coat was lit on fire. It only took a second for Dally to realize what was happening. He separated from the girl quickly and started to pat the flames away but they only got larger. The chatter turned to screams as people surrounded him, watching Dally attempt to beat the coat away. One guy tried to bring water over but there were too many people to get through. The girl had her eyes trained on him, a creepy smirk on her lips. Dally tried to remove the jacket but the girl flexed her hand and the fire grew even larger and hotter wherever his hand was. It was her doing.

I walked over to her, grabbing her arm, jolting her attention to me. Her arm was hot, burning my hand. The smell of my burning flesh filled my nostrils. I winced at the pain but didn't let go. "Stop this!" I ordered, eyes glowing gold. She looked at me with shock and ripped her arm from my grip. The fire on Dally died down, leaving only burns and smoke, but he looked as fine as anyone would be after going through what he did. The girl looked at my exposed hand and watched it heal like nothing had happened. We held eye contact before she spun around and disappeared in the crowd.

I glanced at Johnny who was by Dally's side before following her outside. As soon as I stepped one foot outside, a wave of heat hit me. I barely had enough time to jump out of the way as a beam of fire hit where I stood a second ago.

"You…You were in that explosion too, I reckon?" her voice asked as she stepped in front of me, both arms engulfed in flames. She didn't leave any time to answer before she grabbed me. Flames surrounded me. It was warm at first before it started to hurt. My clothes caught on fire and my skin boiled. Panicking, I through my arms forward, a blast of gold hitting her straight in the chest and knocking her onto the asphalt harshly.

"Why are you doing this?" I asked as the fire died down from her lack of concentration. My wounds healed.

She shot another spray of fire at me, hitting a trashcan which exploded in flames. "What else am I supposed to do? Ever since I got these fucking abilities, I can no longer touch anyone without them burning. I have nothing now. I used to live the life and now I am left with shambles. My parents are dead, my friends are dead and my money is gone. The only thing I got out of this is the power to take back what I want and I want you to get out of my way!" She sent a spiral of fire at me, encircling me. I choked for breath as oxygen started to leave the area and sank to my knees. The space around me slowly shrunk. My skin was broiling and turning a dark red.

I couldn't take it any longer—if I stayed any longer, I would be killed—and surrounded my body with my power and hit the fire. The fire glowed brighter. It hurt to move but I forced the fire upwards, above my head and gasped for breath, watching my body glow gold as it healed itself. I sucked in a sharp breath as I started to lose control of the fire and tried to dispel it. Accidently, I sent it forward towards the girl who squeaked in surprise and sent out a wall of fire that clashed into the fire I let go of. Fire flew everywhere, hitting Buck's place. The house quickly caught aflame and screams emitted from inside. People tried to escape but the girl shot fire to stop them from any escape.

I turned my back away from her and shot my powers at the flames, trying to slow down the spread. It worked but I had to get rid of the fire before the building collapses. I started to move my arms in a circular motion around my head, arms shaking from the force. The fire started to follow the streams of gold towards me, removing from the house. I changed my motion so that I was making a circle in front of me. The fire started to make a towering column. It was hot beyond belief but it was better than being surrounded.

"Aren't you going to help?" I asked. The girl only threw more fire to the building and started to walk away without a word. From the corner of my eyes, I saw her light a person on fire and taking his wallet before dispelling the flame, leaving a burnt-up corpse.

The fire and smoke has been removed from the house after a moment that felt like ages. I sent the flames into the air, scattering the molecules so that it was no more.

The door slammed open and everyone rushed outside to look at the house, surprised that it wasn't on fire anymore. Dally and Johnny got out, finally to examine everything. Their bodies were smudged with soot. I was ecstatic that no one was given major injuries and was glad that Dally was tuff, tuffer than anyone I knew.

I sat on the asphalt, breathing hard; feeling faint. I calmed myself before I could lose control of my particles. Everything was close—too close for comfort. I didn't want that to happen again, but I knew it would.

o-o-o

I was walking with Johnny one day, coming back from watching a flick. I don't really like watching flicks with other people but it was that or not going at all.

"Is everything okay?" Johnny all of a sudden blurted out, breaking the silence.

"What?" I asked, confused on why he had brought it up. A part of me was nervous that he was catching on but I had hid everything quite well.

"You seem different and distant lately."

"There has been a lot on my plate lately."

"What is it?"

I shook my head. "I just… can't talk about it right now. I haven't figured it out yet."

We continued to walk until we saw a lump on the ground. We loped closer to it. Through the darkness of night, we could just make out who it was: Two-Bit. We couldn't see much detail on what happened. My first thought was that he passed out, drunk and didn't make it home so I lightly kicked him. "Hey, Two-Bit, wake up." I said but he didn't. I leaned down closer to him, trying to focus on him. A car drove by, headlights lighting us for a second but enough time to see cuts and bruises and shards of glass around Two-Bit.

"Two-Bit?" I started to panic. "What do we do?"

Johnny didn't know what to do either. "We have to get help."

"We can't just leave him here. You go get some help and I'll watch his body. I'll try to bring his body closer to the open."

Johnny looked unsure but still ran as fast as he could in the direction of my house. When everything was clear, I used my powers to pick him up and carry him down the road. Using my powers was starting to get way too easy.

I looked back at two-Bit worriedly. He was barely breathing before. I wanted to get home faster for him but I didn't want to risk my secret being exposed.

I was about a mile from my house when I saw the silhouette of a figure. It stopped its walk and I could feel their eyes on me before they started running towards me. I was sort of frozen and dropped Two-Bit, hoping that he didn't see me, though I knew he did. Whoops.

"Hey, is he okay?" I heard. The guy was about my age but taller. From what I could tell, he had dirty blond hair and light green eyes. If I stared hard enough, I could make out freckles. He raised his hands, and touched Two-Bit's chest. I stared at him tensely. A pulse of light came from his hand before all of the bruises and cuts started to heal. "There, he should be fine now." The guy had a strong Tennessee accent. I'm guessing he is some new guy in Tulsa who got caught up in this mess. He coughed, blood spatting out of his mouth into his hand.

The guy stood up and stared at me, a huge smile on his lips. He sort of had this crazed look to him, like he was on something. He probably was though. He looked sick and was about to throw up. He continued to smile though. "I've never met another person like me. Have you met others?"

"Yeah," I was still kind of awkward of everything.

"Do you want help carrying him? He should be awake soon. I'm guessing that you haven't told anyone of your powers yet so you wouldn't want any chance of exposing your secret."

Man, he talks a lot. But I agreed on his help and grabbed Two-Bit's arm as he grabbed his ankles. He was still heavy even though both of us were carrying him. The guy was an endless, hyper track but he helped keep my mind off of things.

We were only a street away from my house. My arms felt like jelly from carrying Two-Bit. I lowered him for a quick break and the guy lowered him too. I bet the gang would already be looking for us. I really should have stayed in my place until they came instead of move. But Two-Bit was fine and they will come back so I shouldn't be worried…but Two-Bit was supposed to be hurt.

I groaned, hitting my head with my hand. They are going to see that Two-Bit was fine and I had carried him all the way back home. Sometimes I just don't think through these problems.

"What's wrong?" the guy asked.

"How am I going to explain Two-Bit to them?" I asked. He stared at me, just realizing my conundrum.

"You'll figure something out I bet."

"You don't know that. Is there any way you could reverse what you did so that I can treat him regularly?"

He shook his head. "Sorry. I could only heal someone. I would love to reverse it sometimes and get rid of some of my illness."

"Why can't you heal yourself?"

"I can't. I could only heal others at the price of me. But it's worth it if it means helping someone, right?"

The door to one of my neighbor's houses opened and a little kid walked through the door, paying us no attention. "I got the garbage!" the kid shouted with a small bag of trash. He skipped to the trashcan with a big smile on his face, happy that he could help his family out with his innocent youth. Though, being a clumsy kid, he tripped and some trash fell out of the bag, rolling into the street. "Whoops!" He ran out into the street without looking. A car swerved around a corner, way faster than the speed limit. It zigzagged down the road, probably filled with intoxicated people. No one saw the kid. I could only watch in horror as the car rammed into the kid, the child hitting the front window before flying off, unconscious and head bashed in. The car sped off without anyone realizing it.

I stared at the kid's lifeless body. The guy that healed Two-Bit rushed forward, screaming. He kneeled down, cradling the child. His eyes were wide and so were mine. I couldn't save him. The kid had to be dead. I could have saved him. I had the chance. I saw the car coming. The guy was yelling and I could see that he was trying to heal the boy. I ran up behind him to see nothing was working.

"He's…He's dead…" I couldn't believe that death could just come out of nowhere, even if I had experienced it with my parents. It still seemed impossible.

The guy continued to try to heal him but with no avail. He started to wheeze and cough the more he used his power. I only stared, wanting to force him away from the dead child. He wasn't going to heal. No one could bring back the dead.

Flood was falling from his eyes and nose and mouth and his skin was a milky white. His fingers became boney, like his life was being sucked right out of him.

"Man, come on. He's dead… He's dead. You can't do anything." I pleaded, unable to look at the tragic scene.

"No! He doesn't deserve this fate. No one deserves horrible fate. I could save him!"

A blast, stronger than he ever let out before shot from his hand and into the child's chest.

"You're going to die if you keep this up!"

"So what?" he snapped.

I didn't know why he was still trying to save this boy. I began to question myself, watching him. Would I have tried to save the boy in his shoes? Would I even save people that I don't even know? What would happen if one of the gang was in this situation? Would I give my life to save them? What would happen if I told the gang of my powers? I had no doubt that they would keep the secret and accept me but at what cost? Would it be better off for them if I didn't tell them? Would it help protect them or be their death? What should I do?

I stared helplessly as the boy's eyes fluttered open, all wounds gone. The guy who helped save everyone fell, body limp and skin hugging his skeleton.

These powers are the reason why everyone was getting hurt and I couldn't do anything about it.

o-o-o

These characters where created by DoitsuQueen. Thank you so much for submitting these characters. I hope I created them in how you envisioned them.

Thank you to everyone who submitted characters. I will try to put them all in while continuing with the story-line.

Replies:

Cookieswafflesandfandic—Haha, yeah. I actually just realized I didn't have Ponyboy apologize but I don't know if he would in the book. Maybe. I mean, how many people would apologize if they were really excited?

Dorianimeyaoilover—Name's aren't important for characters that are only there for a really short time, in my opinion. Yeah, they actually take some part of the future, I plan but their part would be so small and it would be a bit more realistic if there were more survivors, even if it was just a few.

PercyboyCade- Thank you for submitting a character. :)