Step.
Breath.
Step.
Breathing hurt. Walking hurt. It was... I couldn't think. Months now. Nothing had been able to touch me since I gained these powers. Now, everything hurt. My arm was still hanging limp at my side. The other hurt to move, but I could move it, at least.
I had stood before what was supposed to be my house for a long time, the only sounds that of rainfall and sirens.
The sirens meant something, I knew, but what? When I tried to focus on it, the knowledge slipped free like sand sliding between your fingers.
Another step.
The streets were empty. It was late. Or early? Dark enough that I couldn't be sure which it was. Early morning. Late night. Did it matter?
Step.
I had gone home. The phone. And then ... ?
Pain.
A shudder wracked my frame and I pressed my usable hand against a nearby wall to steady myself. When the tremors passed, I drew in a deep breath, feeling like a weight was pressing on my chest.
Despite the dark, there were still street lights and I used the illumination provided to look around. Where was I? None of the buildings looked familiar and I had not seen anyone since I came to. Had something happened?
I pushed away from the wall and kept going forward in the awkward shuffle that had compromised my walking so far. There had to be someone nearby. It was like Brockton Bay had become a ghost town.
The sirens did not get any quieter as I walked and the rain appeared to be growing stronger. My clothing was soaked through and I wondered what this meant. Something that I should be remembering. Something important.
I finally came to a stop at an overlook that laid out part of the city and the bay. The lights of the city at night laid out everything in a brilliant map and slowly, I turned to look at the bay.
And the water that was rising. A wave?
It was. And it was headed straight for the city.
The daze that had filled my thoughts was ripped away. The house, exploding around me. Pain. Then nothing. After that, rain and sirens.
Rain.
Leviathan.
I felt cold in a way that had nothing to do with the rain as I thought of the explosions around me. Why had that happened? Coil?
Coil.
I stood there, watching that wave grow closer, wondering what I was going to do, as the rain grew heavier around me.