Super Freak

Four hours had passed since the motley crew of six had entered the party, full of people ranging from the ages of fourteen to twenty-seven. By now Zara had counted fifty people in total, and still more were showing up—or maybe she was just counting a few people twice. Not many people at this party were familiar to her and there were so many fumes in the air Zara was starting to feel a bit overwhelmed and lightheaded by all of it.

Usually Zara didn't stay at any party for very long, and this party was no exception. She had danced and flirted and had fun for four hours straight, and that was enough for her for now. Besides that, she had spent the whole day out on the waves, surfing and swimming with Akeem, and now she was almost exhausted.

At the moment she was busy searching for Akeem throughout the Hollywood mansion this party was hosted at, and was quickly becoming irritated with the illusive twenty-three-year-old. To keep her temper in check she sung along with the heavy music that was blasting so hard and loud the entire house trembled with the bass.

"Around the world nations waited, for some wise word from their leading light. You know it's only madmen who listen to fools. Is this the end? —The millions cried, clutching their riches as they died. Those who survive must weather the storm…"

For the umpteenth time in those four hours, someone offered Zara a drink, which she immediately declined. To accept a drink from some random person—especially at a party like this one—was the stupidest thing someone could do, Zara privately pondered as she shook her head and pushed past the twentysomething guy that was offering the red plastic cup to her.

However, this guy was persistent and the declining trick didn't work as well on him as it did on the others that had offered Zara things. He grabbed her right forearm gruffly and pulled Zara back to him into a rough backward embrace while he forced the plastic cup to her pouted pink lips and growled in her ear, "Drink up. C'mon, you'll like it."

Panicking, Zara pressed her lips firmly shut and struggled against her bonds, which was the man's muscular right arm that was now securely holding her around her lean stomach, while her eyes darted around for help. Iron Maiden's "Total Eclipse" droned loudly on and Zara's silent resistance went unnoticed as everyone at the party was by now too buzzed for their eyes to focus or too drunk to be aware. There was only one that she knew wouldn't be drinking or doing drugs this night at this party, but to her misfortune Akeem was nowhere in sight at the moment.

Not exactly thinking of her actions as frightened instincts overwhelmed her thoughts, Zara twisted in the man's arms and pushed her hand forward, slender fingers spread and palm-up, right into her captor's face. Next thing she knew a burning sensation like no other exploded throughout her hand, like hot water had just been poured into her heart and was now pounding through her veins that lead through her left arm. A brilliant pink almost white light momentarily blinded her while a chilling baritone scream deafened her as Zara stumbled away from the twentysomething male that had been holding her an instant ago.

Now Zara was really scared. Had she just… killed someone?

Terrified of the possibilities, Zara staggered in the opposite direction of her supposed-homicide, while brightly colored stars and dots danced in front of her eyes, no matter how many times she blinked to try to wash them away. The burning sensation had yet to leave her, except now instead of it just running through her left arm her entire body was tingling. Meanwhile that baritone scream of anguish echoed through her ears, filling her with more dread and panic.

Someone seized her left bicep suddenly, but instantly released it as though they too had been burned, and let out a hiss of pain that made Zara pause. "Ouch—What the hell? Zara? What the frick just happened?"

Turning and blinking furiously, Zara could just make out Akeem through the haze of stars and dots.

"Get me out of here!" She almost shrieked but managed to stifle it into a loud whisper.

The hazy Akeem nodded in agreement and reached for her arm again, but then paused and his eyes grew wide. "Your skin… I can't touch you. It really burns—I can feel the heat from here. Are you all right to walk on your own? I have to get you to a hospital—or at least to the car so I can come back for your teeny-bopper buds."

Zara blinked a few more times and the stars and dots finally faded and she was able to see a bit more clearly, so she nodded and started more quickly towards the nearest exit with Akeem following close at her behind. As though sensing the heat emitting from the panicked teen, the crowd separating Zara from the door quickly parted for her as she passed.

Finally the pair made it outside and went straight to Putter, but paused just beside the Firebird and stood on the lawn, observing Zara more closely while she lifted her left hand to examine carefully. Akeem's eyes grew even wider as his jaw dropped partially and he pointed at his younger friend.

"Christ, Zara! You… You're friggin' glowing!"

"This isn't the time for compliments!" She snapped at his remark.

"It isn't a compliment—I mean it would be," he interrupted himself then remembered how serious the situation was. "I meant you're actually glowing. Bizarre-like! Look at you! Holy crickets! Were you wearing those wings before? How'd you do that—it looks like they sprouted right out of your shirt! Did you glue 'em on?"

"What wings?" Zara was swiftly becoming annoyed as she reached around the hand she had been scrutinizing a second ago. "If you're joking around, Keemy, I swear to Golly God—" yet the threat trailed off of her lips as she felt the tissue paper-thin substance her friend had mentioned.

The substance's texture was odd, thinner than paper, but not flimsy… When Zara was only seven, her brother had caught a passing dragonfly on their walk home from school and shown it to her while it stayed stock-still on the palm of his hand. The insect's translucent wings that looked as though rainbows were trapped within them had fascinated her, and she had touched the mesmerizing wings that were so fragile they had almost broken at her delicate tap yet didn't even twitch when the light autumn's breeze billowed past.

Stark fear enveloped Zara at this point. Before it had been panic she was about to be forced to do something she didn't want to do, and then dread when she thought she had killed someone… Now she was becoming something she didn't want to become, something she couldn't stop or avoid. She was already called strange because of how she dressed and because of her usually carefree attitude… but now she was really a freak. She had seen something on the television recently about freaks sort of like her, called mutants. Was she becoming one of them? Had she just become a mutant?

"Whoa," Akeem summed up her thoughts in a word, and then recovered himself and his brotherly instincts. "All right, you get in the car and stay put while I go round up Lynn, Anna, Andy and Ricky. I don't know what's up with the wings or the sparkly deal, but I'm taking you to a hospital. Feels like you've got a gnarly fever, too."

Zara didn't need to be told twice. The instant the first command was out of her elder friend's mouth her left hand was already on the Firebird's door handle and the car door was partially open.

Thunder rumbled overhead through the now fully cloudy dark violet sky as Akeem turned and jogged off back towards the large Hollywood manor they had come from while she slid into Putter's passenger's side seat, and Zara had a peculiar thought that the sky was laughing at the irony of her situation. After all, as her brother had once said: What do you call a freak that's already known as a freak?

"Super freak," she muttered to herself, a goofy smile coming to her lips as the memory of Corbin occurred to her.

Twelve minutes later Akeem arrived back with four dazed-looking teenagers. At a glance Zara knew all four of her friends were in some form of a buzzed stupor—From exactly what abused substance, she didn't know. Only Andrew seemed a little less dazed than the three others, and smirked in a silly way at Zara as she stood out of the car to push forward her seat so her four cohorts could get in the backseat of the Firebird.

"Hm," he purred. "Sparkly Zara…"

"Zara sparkly," Ricardo echoed, giggling.

"How you do that?" Andrew continued in a drunken slur.

"Zara, you a bruja?" Ricardo asked, suddenly intrigued and stepping closer to his friend.

With nose wrinkled in disgust at the offensive scent radiating off of the boy, Zara stepped away from the group of four and signaled for them to get in the car. "No, you're just hallucinating right now—A side-effect from the drugs. Get in."

"Why should I?" Ricardo said, striking a defiant stance and glancing at Andrew for support but only receiving a feeble smirk from the latter as Andy followed his twin sister and Lynn into Putter's backseat. Scowling in his defeat, Ricky slumped into the backseat after Andrew, and kicked the back of Zara's seat as the chair slid back into place and the freak-cum-mutant got in the car and shut the door after herself. "Stupid hallucination bruja," he muttered darkly just as Akeem got in on the driver's side and started up Putter's grumbling engine.

Meanwhile, Akeem and Zara exchanged glances and a silent understanding went between the two. Whatever was happening to Zara wasn't normal, and a hospital couldn't solve this problem without doing a lot of medical tests on her that she just wasn't willing to go through right now. What was worse; a hospital might even think she were some alien and bring the government into this, and Zara really rather figure out herself whether she were an alien or not before other people went about discovering something that earth-shattering about her history. As far as Zara knew she was human, but she had read spectacular stories—most fiction—about things like this happening, and she wasn't about to get dissected before she knew some things first-hand.

They would drop off her friends at Lynn's house then head back to Akeem's apartment where Zara could try sleeping away her recently developed abnormalities. If that didn't work, they would spend tomorrow figuring out what had happened and what she had become, and perhaps whom they could contact for information relating to this…change.

-

Author's Comment: Thank you for reviewing Oceanbang, Rio's Lover, and Supergirlhv. Your votes of support and confidence mean a lot to me. I appreciate all of the encouragement.

Next Chapter: Sleep doesn't cure problems, only fevers.

Disclaimer: I own nothing but this plot and all Original Characters. All brand names are copyrighted to the companies that manufacture them. Still have a problem? Let me know so I can remove this story.