SIX MONTHS AGO
DUSTIN ZOFCHAK – PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
Dustin walked down the hallways of Trinity High School. He then spotted a friend of his at her locker. He walked up to her and leaned against a neighboring locker.
"What's up, Jess?"
Jessica turned and smiled. "Hey, how are you?"
"I asked first." Dustin said grinning.
"That's true. You did. Well, to answer your question. Nothing. Just the usual. Now answer mine."
"The same actually. Nothing new."
"The school year is almost over. What do you have planned for the summer?"
"Leaving town. Maybe go to Cancun or somewhere in Europe. What about you?"
"Well, I…"
Dustin was cut off by someone grabbing him and slamming him against the lockers. It was Jessica's boyfriend Gage.
"What right do you have to talk to my girl?" Gage demanded.
"Uh let's see here…uh it could be that Jess and I are friends and friends do talk to one another."
Gage slammed him against the lockers again. "Don't get smart with me."
"Gage, stop it now. He's a friend."
"Shut up, Jessica. He's hitting on you and no one hits on my girl."
"Well then maybe I won't be your girl anymore." She said.
"What? You're breaking up with me?" He asked.
"Didn't you hear her the first time? Or do you need a hearing aid you dumb bastard."
Gage slammed him again. Dustin was getting furious by the second.
"Do that again and you won't be able to do anything ever again." Dustin said with fury in his eyes.
Naturally, Gage did it again and this time Dustin grabbed his wrist and twisted it in a way that it shouldn't be twisted. Gage stumbled back and held his wrist. He then used his other hand to throw a punch at Dustin but Dustin ducked below it and punched Gage in the chest. There was an unexpected flash of light when Dustin's fist made contact with Gage's chest. Gage fell back and his chest was smoking. Dustin, along with everyone else looked very surprised at what just happened.
ALEX MERRIELL – ATHENS, OHIO
Alex sprinted down the streets of Athens. It was raining very hard and no end was in sight of this very harsh storm that had been going on since yesterday. A friend had called him to help her find her dog. The dog had run away during the storm and was no where to be found. He didn't even have a car because his mom was at work and his brother had just recently moved up to Columbus taking the second car with him. He was just out of luck. He had only been out of his house for a few minutes and he was already drenched. He had no idea where this dog could be and he figured that he'd be out here for hours. He turned the corner and saw his friend Maggie standing there.
"Anything?" She asked.
Alex shook his head.
"Damn it. We're never gonna find him at this rate." She said.
At that moment, they heard barking and Maggie's eyes lit up.
"That's him." She said running the direction of the noise.
The two of them ran through a mall parking lot to the back of the building to find a small Scottish Terrier on the other side of a fence. Construction workers had to carve out part of a hill to build the mall and the area behind the mall looked very unstable.
"There you are." Maggie said.
They both climbed over the chain link fence and Maggie scooped up the small dog.
"This little thing can be such a big problem sometimes." Alex said.
Then suddenly the two of them heard a slight rumble. They looked up the hill to see it collapsing in on itself and causing a landside. Maggie tossed the dog over the fence and tried to climb over it. Alex came to help. Maggie was able to get over the fence but Alex still had to get over it and had to run away from the landslide. It would be trying to out run a car.
Shit, I won't make it out in time.
Alex put up his hands in a futile attempt to block it. After a few moments, Alex realized that he wasn't being tossed around and covered in mud. He slowly lowered his hands and looked at the mud. It had stopped in mid motion. He looked around totally confused. He looked to Maggie who also shared his confusion.
"This is messed up." Alex said.
He got over the fence and just as the two got out of harm's way, the mud continued and slammed into the old mall destroying most of it.
"That's really messed up." Maggie said.
LIZ DOWLER – LANCASTER, OHIO
Liz Dowler drove through Lancaster with tears in her eyes and blood covering her lip. The storm didn't help matters. It was bad enough that her tears kept her from seeing clearly let alone the rain hitting her fogged up windshield. It didn't matter though; she was headed to her grandfather's house because it was closer and she knew she could talk to him about anything. She couldn't tell her parents about anything because somehow they'd turn it around and make seem like it was her fault.
After a few minutes she was at her grandfather's house. She walked and her grandfather was there to greet her. He had his usual smile on his face and gave her a hug. He did notice that something was wrong.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
She looked up at him with her teary eyes and he noticed the blood on her lip.
"What happened at school? Did you get into a fight?"
Liz hesitated as she stepped away from him. "It's just this girl there. She thinks she's great at everything and just because I made the cheerleading squad and she didn't, she decided to jump me."
"The next time it happens, I want you to stand your ground."
At that moment, he touched the top of her head and there was a bright flash of light for a brief instant.
KIYO IZUMI – ODESSA, TEXAS
Kiyo lied strapped to a gurney. He slowly opened his eyes to see a man wearing horn rimmed glasses standing over him and a dark man behind him. He moved eyes around to see if he could figure out where he was. He had no idea.
"Where am I?"
"Don't worry about it. Just relax" Noah said.
"Did you know that the body is about 65 percent water?" Kiyo said as he moved his fingers into a certain position.
Mr. Bennet didn't do anything except smile. Kiyo's eyes widened.
"We're aware of your abilities, Mr. Izumi. My friend here is special too and won't allow you to use your abilities."
Kiyo struggled hard to get out of his restraints. In the process he ended up causing the water in a nearby glass, shoot up into the air and hit the Haitian. Bennet raised his eyebrows and nodded his head.
"Impressive. You're pretty far along." He turned to the Haitian. "Go deep." He said before walking away.
"Hey, hey. What the hell do you think you're doing? Get your hands off me."
NICK MATHIAS – LINCOLN, NEBRASKA
Nick stood in his father's body shop waiting for a car to pull in. Business had been slow all day and he was bored out of his mind. His father had left to grab food and left him in charge. Not that there was a lot to be in charge of. Then finally after awhile a black Honda Civic pulled into his garage.
"Bout time I get a customer."
Chris McGrath stepped out of his car and walked up to Nick.
"My muffler popped off a few miles back and I need it to be put back on."
"I can do that." He said kneeling down to inspect the rear of the car.
Chris handed him the muffler before stepping outside. Nick, not looking, reached for his welder but it was just out of arms reach. He tried to reach for it without moving. Then suddenly the welder flew from its position and into his hand. Nick was somewhat surprised.
What in the…?
BLAINE STORK – KISSIMMEE, FLORIDA
Blaine worked under the hot sun trying to figure out how to put his mailbox back together. Somebody had decided it was a great idea to go around and play mailbox baseball. Although he did it when he was younger but now it was just annoying. He had all the pieces sprawled out on the ground. He stood there looking at the pieces trying to figure out which piece went where.
"This'd be easier if I could go and buy one but nooooo mom wants me to put this one back together. This sucks." He clapped his hands finally deciding to take on the feat. "Time to get to work."
His hands touched two of the pieces of the metal mailbox and then in a burst of smoke, the mailbox was no longer broken. He really didn't react to what had just happened. He just looked from side to side and then at it with a very confused look on his face and he just tapped his knee with his right index finger.
"Well, I guess that beats going out and buying a new one." He said.
DUSTIN ZOFCHAK – PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA
Dustin stood in the Principal's office getting the lecture of his life. The Principal was accusing him of assaulting Gage with a lighter. Dustin knew better.
"What do you have to say for yourself? I've called the cops and they're coming here to question you if not take you to jail for assault."
"Ok, so let me get this straight. You think I burned that bastard with some magical lighter that I apparently posses and you've called the cops because I assaulted somebody? Give me a break. You guys are unbelievable. This doesn't make a bit of god damn sense. You guys refuse to expel the inbred white trash kids who are constantly fighting over which sister is pregnant with their 'kid' but you go after the kid with the good grades that doesn't do anything wrong. What is wrong with this picture? Hell, you didn't even know my name until this little mishap. You want to get rid of me because Gage is the son of some damn realtor slash lawyer. Get off your damn knees and do what's right for a change."
"Watch your mouth."
"Mister…"
"That's Doctor to you."
"Ok, 'Doctor Wallis'." He said with his fingers in quotations. "You are missing the point."
"No you are. You are expelled."
"What?" Dustin said slamming his hands on the desk. "You can't do that. Are you that stupid?"
The Principal looked at his desk. It was severely cracked where Dustin had slammed his hands. Dustin noticed it too.
"What in the hell?"
"Get out of here."
"Fine, whatever. Stay on your knees for all I care." Dustin said slamming the door which broke when it slammed shut.
Dustin walked out of the building looking at his hands. "What am I?"
ALEX MERRIELL – ATHENS, OHIO
Alex walked into his house after walking Maggie home. He was soaking wet from the storm. His mom had just hung up the phone as soon as he walked into the room. She looked a bit distraught. Alex looked at his mother quizzically.
"What is it, mom?"
"Your Aunt Heidi just got into a car accident."
"Is she all right?"
"She's paralyzed from the waist down."
"What about Uncle Nathan?"
"He's fine. He was thrown from the car and wasn't hurt at all."
TONIA FIORE – MIDLAND, TEXAS
Tone sat in the Burnt Toast Diner reading a book. This book had special meaning behind it. She found it in a bookstore by chance. It taught people how to change an object's shape by running your hand down it or binding a person just by moving your hands in a certain formation. Tone found it very interesting and just had to buy it. She was able to bind her neighbor with an invisible force just because he was bothering her. He had turned his back and she made the necessary hand movements and the next thing he knows is he's on the ground and unable to move. No matter how interesting this book was, it was giving her a headache to just constantly go over its contents. She leaned back in her chair and stared straight ahead. Then without warning a Japanese guy appeared a few booths down from her facing her direction. He appeared with his eyes closed tightly and then when he opened them he looked satisfied. One of the waitresses, Charlie Andrews came over to him.
"My name is Hiro Nakamura. I'm here to save your life."
Tone's eyebrow lifted. She noticed Charlie looked confused as well. Then Charlie was called over to the counter to blowout her birthday candles. She watched Hiro follow her like he knew her for sometime.
"Maybe I'm not the only special one here. Maybe there are others like me. Maybe we're the future."
