‘And you are sure about this?’

‘I am, haven’t been able to sleep since. I’m constantly scared of being alone in my own home.’ Principal Liza said, her skin drained of any color and huge bags hanging under her eyes. Hair was shriveled mess and hands would barely stop trembling by just talking about it.

The man in the suit filled her teacup, having been very considerate so far. She only knew him as agent Smith, a obvious fake name but she didn’t question it, he did promise to help. He knew of this supernatural powers and offered to take care of it.

‘I’m so sorry this happened to you. As promised we’ll help you in any way we can.’

‘And I’ll never see this place again?’

‘A fresh new start, as promised. We’ll take care of everything.’

She nodded and sipped from the cup.

‘When is it ready?’

‘We can start tomorrow. Do you wanna tell the kids?’

‘Maybe I should..’ she sighted and switched in the microphone. Every single class stopped instantly as the school announcement signal sounded.

‘Attention everyone, its principal Liza speaking. Due to sudden circumstances I’m announcing my resignation as principal by tomorrow. This will not affect the students in any way and a replacement has already been picked. That will be all.’

The mic switched off and the students all turned and looked turned to each other in confusion. The teachers stood silent, asking themselves where this came from.

As for a certain group of five students, they knew exactly why. A strange wave of guilt ridden nausea washed over them, a chill went down their backs. This was their fault, it could only be them.

At break the group quickly gathered behind the gym, almost breaking out in cold sweat.

‘I told you guys! I told you we went to far!’ Samantha was worried. ‘What if she tells anyone? What if this leads back to us??’

Sam stayed quiet, looking down on the ground and barely able to move.

‘Ok..ok..ok ok ok ok...’ Scott paced back and forth, rubbing his face and not able to stand still for a second.

‘Ok, we may have taken it to far, I admit.’ Jacob then shushed everyone and they spotted the bicycle passing by.

‘This is to public, lets meet by the hideout after school.’

‘Deal.’ they all agreed and left, desperately trying to pretend nothing was wrong.

None of them had noticed the tiny, bird shaped camera just sitting in the tree nearby. The whole conversation was picked up, and played on a screen in a nearby van.

‘Well well, so our targets are a bunch of kids. This will be easy.’

‘Didn’t they take down a retriever?’

‘Ya, but they wont take down a strike force. Call HQ, tell them its time.’

*

Class was far more stressful now. They wanted nothing more than to hurry over to their little shack in the forest but school kept them trapped there. Trying to teach them mindless gibberish they wouldn’t even remember by next year!

But as to make it even far worse, another announcement came. The speakers sounded the signal and a strange voice spoke up.

‘Attention students. By order of the US government all citizens must report home now. Please leave the school in a calm and orderly fashion and go home immediately. Buses are waiting outside to help whoever has longer to travel.’

With even more confusion the students all got up and left. Even the teachers were stumped and barely said a word, just what was happening?

They could now not meet by the hideout as they agreed on and had to head home. Jacob texted them all to keep in touch that way, and so all of them sped off.

On the streets they saw the occasional armored truck rolling down the street, blasting the pre recorded message for everyone to head home and stay there until it was deemed safe.

Traffic very quickly increased as everyone hurried home, then ending pretty quickly, turning Blue Hills into a pseudo ghost town.

Cody arrived before his family, his parents and siblings all arrived one by one and everyone was equally confused. They switched on the TV but everything there was just normal programming.

The radios were normal, the internet news site were normal. It was only the military looking guys currently patrolling their streets that confirmed that something was not normal. Cody was terrified that word had somehow reached the government, they knew and now they came for him and his friends. What other reason could it be?

He almost jumped out of his skin when his phone vibrated. It was Samantha texting the group.

Samantha: Whats going on out there?

Jacob: I don’t know! Military are everywhere!

Scott: Stay quiet everyone, it can’t be us. Who would ever believe Liza? I mean, a ghost? Common!

Jacob: Then explain the tentacle robot that attacked us barely a week ago!’ 

Cody: We need to leave, we need to flee Blue Hills! Disappear somewhere!’

Samantha: What about our families?? We can’t just leave everyone behind!’

Then his door knocked, before glancing at the phone again he opened and his mom stood there, the most scared expression he had ever seen was etched on her face.

‘Cody..government agents are here. They wanna meet all of us downstairs.’

This was it, the moment of truth. He walked down with her, trying to stay as calm as possible. In the living room stood two guys dressed in white, full body overalls.

‘Ah good we’re all here! Ok everyone I’m Joe and this is my partner Emma. We’re from the department of health and is here just to take some quick blood tests. We recently detected a growing pandemic and we need to quickly locate whoever is infected.’

‘What kind of pandemic?’ Cody’s dad asked.

‘We call Sern, it enough to pose a public threat. So we’re just gonna get set up and test all you one by one.’

They were each asked to sit on a chair as they filled up a vial of blood each, putting them in a metal container and quickly leaving.

‘Thank you for your cooperation. Now plz stay inside until we give the green light.’

Then they left, the family still feeling very confused. Cody only hoped it was a virus outbreak. He quickly headed back upstairs and texted the others what happened.

Jacob: Me to.

Sam: Same here but I’m confused about something. Why isn’t the news saying anything about a pandemic?’ 

It was like a lightning bolt went off in his head, and suddenly the sun got slightly darker. His stomach churned and head felt light, what if they lied? What if they weren’t any pandemic and they would detect his powers??

The lockdown remained for the rest of the day, only around eleven did they give the all clear signal but it was late and everyone felt scared. No one went outside. The cars and soldiers disappeared but the air of unease stayed with the town.

*

The next day Cody said he wanted to check up on his friends but really was heading to the shack. His mom didn’t wanna let him at first but with the promise that he would go home soon he headed out.

Soon all five gathered at the shack, out of breath and trembling with nerves.

‘So they tested all of us?’

‘Ya, they probably know. Or at least they will soon.’

‘So what do we do?’

‘I don’t know...’

It felt hopeless, like they were running out of time and could do nothing about it.

Pretty quickly Samantha’s phone vibrated. ‘Its mom, she wants me back now.’

‘Not much we can do, so lets ju’ Scott stopped mid sentence when a machine like noise was heard outside.

‘What...was that?’

‘It kinda sounds like...oh no.’

‘What?’

‘No..body..move..’

The sound came back a little louder. Everyone froze in place, listening to getting louder, and louder. Then it stopped right above them, hovering above their shack. Then a voice spoke ‘Come out kids. Don’t worry, we’re friendly!’

‘Ok this is about us!! They figured it out!!’ Jacob shouted as the others shushed him.

‘They already know we’re here. We might as well just come out.’ Scott said, the other reluctantly agreed. They were most likely surrounded.

Outside was soldiers dressed in gray and black, carbon fiber looking armor surrounding them. They pointed large, advanced looking assault rifles at then, the eyes glowing blue and laser dots red.

‘Well done kids, now lets talk.’ one of the strangers said as she stepped out from behind a tree. Wearing similar armor but marked with red stripes on her shoulder pads, separating her from the rest.

‘What do you want?’

‘You kids have something very powerful, and very dangerous inside you. The meteor that struck down? It mutated your DNA in a unstable way, granting you superhuman abilities.’

‘We know this already!’

‘Then you also know how dangerous your new powers are. You lot almost got hurt when you blew up that old truck.’

‘You knew??’

‘We had a hunch, one that you just confirmed. Now lets not make this complicated.’ She raised her hand and the soldiers lowered their guns.

‘We got off on the wrong foot clearly. It may not seem that way but we do have your best interest at heart. Those powers could turn against you someday.’

‘What do mean?’

‘They’re dangerous! To you, to your loved ones. To everyone really.’

‘Then we’ll be careful.’ Scott answered her.

‘Ya, we got them under control!’ Jacob added on.

‘Do you? Did you have them under control when you blew up that car?’

‘Well..’

‘Did you have them under control when the quarry partly collapsed? Did you have them under control when that house on the beach was set aflame? Did you have them under control when you traumatized your principal?’

None of the kids had an answer for that, they merely glanced at each other, unsure of anything.

‘Look I’m not blaming you. You just got super powers, of course you wanna use them, I’d do the same if I was your age. But understand that they are so much more than you can imagine.

If you come with us, you can use them all you want, in a safe environment where no one has to get hurt.’

‘Oh ya? Why?’

‘Cause it keeps all of you, and everyone around you, safe.’

‘We don’t feel very safe right now.’ Samantha said, looking at the armed soldiers.

‘They’re just a safety precaution, no one wants this to get ugly.’

‘It already feels ugly. You lied about a pandemic didn’t you?’

The woman didn’t answer, only silently looking at them.

‘Can’t you please leave?’

‘I’m afraid I can’t. You kids are dangerous, its only a matter of time before one of you loose control.’

‘And you are supposed to be any better?’

‘We are! Imagine what you can do with that power, if you work for us. You can save lives, Fight natural disasters, take down crime syndicates and terrorists! You will all be heroes.’ the kids stood silent, looking at each other in confusion.

‘I understand that you need some time to process this. We’ll wait here tomorrow after school. Just give us your answer then.’ The soldiers then left a stunned group behind.

*

None of them could find any peace, not at home, nor at school. They felt watched, like they were just around every corner, in every tree, in every car and being every stranger walking down the street. They kept in close contact via text messages.

Cody: What do we do?

Scott: I don’t know. But I’m scared guys.

Sam: How do we know she’s telling the truth? I mean that first robot did attack us.

Samantha: He’s right, we can’t trust a word she says.

Cody: So we just ignore her? Just don’t go?

Scott: If we do that they might just show up at our houses.

Jacob: So we’re doomed no matter what we do?

No one answered that, the feeling of dread persisted in all of them. There was no running away from this. Their parents would be helpless, they were alone and surrounded.

They were watched, their families were watched. And these were trained soldiers with robots. Even with their powers could they actually have a single chance?

The painfully long day ended. All five got on their bikes and rode up the hill towards the lake beach, before turning to their shack. The soldiers were all there, waiting for them, the captain lady standing right by the door.

‘There you are! Welcome!’ she tried to act friendly, but it was obviously a act.

‘So have you made a decision?’ The group stood still, soldiers on all sides. This was it, all or nothing. Whatever happened here would change everything.

She extended her hand, inviting them. What were they going to do?

Did they fight? Run? Surrender and give up their entire lives to the US government? They didn’t dare to move a muscle. Almost ready to cry, Cody thought about his family. Picturing never seeing them again.

To everyone’s shock Jacob first stepped up, taking her hand.

‘You are smart indeed.’

‘Yes...I am.’ Jacob replied and then suddenly the woman screamed, her hand encased in ice. In a split second a blue light flashed around them and the soldiers where knocked back with incredible force. And Scott stood there, sparks flying wildly along his body.

‘We gotta check on our families! They could be in trouble!’ forgetting their bikes they ran, down to the beach only for armored truck to quickly roll up. The roaring sounds of large drones appeared over the tree tops along with more tentacle robots.

Soldiers rushed in from every direction, guns in hand. Samantha flared up, becoming as a walking flame. Cody transformed into his rock form, Scott lit up and body moved in a way that subtle ghostly images appeared and disappeared rabidly around him.

‘Seems like we got a fight on our hands.’ Cody said.

‘Ya, we’re outnumbered and outgunned...I feel sorry for them.’ Jacob almost seemed excited and scared at the same time.

Samantha unleashed a huge wave of fire, setting every house and several trees in sight on fire, soldiers scattering in panic. Scott shot off like a lighting bolt, jumping from drone to drone, tearing trough them like a knife trough butter. Cody charged towards one of the trucks. Their bullets merely bounced off him, like he didn’t even notice he was being shot at.

With an incredible force he smashed his body into the armored truck. The the side caved inward and the whole thing toppled over, landing onto its side.

One of the soldiers tried to strike Sam with a electric baton but it merely went trough him, like he tried to strike air. Glaring disapprovingly at him, Sam snapped the baton, phasing it trough the soldiers hand, and slamming it into his gut while he was confused. The shock sent the thug off his feet, crashing onto the sand and twitching wildly.

Jacob froze many of their legs and feet in place, stopping them from following as the group ran for the hillside. As more trucks drove upwards he covered the road in a layer of ice, stopping them and almost loosing complete control mid way.

Cody charged down first, Jacob keeping the ice from shattering. Cody glided down with his hands in front of him. His weight pushed down the truck slamming it into the next one, and then the third, forcing them all down the hill.

The rest followed, gliding down on their backs. Drones flying all around them. Jacob, Samantha and Scott fired their powers, freezing, burning and overloading them until they exploded. A rain of carnage and scrap metal rained down all around them. Once down at the bottom they ran onto the road, two more trucks coming in from left and right at the crossing. Samantha set a blanket of flames underneath one truck, the tires melted almost immediately and stopping its charge. Jacob raised a thick pillar of ice in front of the other one, to late to brake or turn it slammed into it. The ice shattered but truck stopped in its tracks.

Cody gripped the underside of the melted one and lifted, turning it onto its side.

The frozen one opened its doors and the soldiers were about to charge out before seeing Scott standing right there. Electricity shot out, shocking them before they could react. Then with his super speed the threw them out onto the road. The front doors opened, the drivers ran out, guns in hand to assist their comrades.

The co driver slipped and fell before he could even aim at the boy when ice suddenly appeared under his feet. The other one was hit by Sam’s electric baton from behind, sending him in the air and crashing onto the pile of his comrades.

‘Get in!’ the kids jumped in the back and closed the doors.

‘Wait, none of us knows how to drive this thing!’

‘We don’t have to!’ Sam then phased inside and began possessing the truck, driving off into town.

‘So what do we do?? These people are crazy and armed!’ Jacob said almost panicking.

‘I need to check on mom and dad.’ Cody said.

‘We can’t!’ Scott almost shouted.

‘What do you mean we can’t!?’

‘They’re after us! And what do you think will happen if we head home?? They will start shooting and our families will get killed!!’

A sudden, ice cold silence settled in. Time seemed to slow down and sounds deafened. Just like that, in the blink of an eye, their worlds just shattered. They couldn’t go home..

These soldiers, they wouldn’t stop hunting them. They would just keep coming until they were all taken.

The silence was broken like glass when a ring tone sounded, shattering it like glass. Samantha took out her phone and saw it was mom. Her hand trembled and she looked to her friends, eyes just starting to glisten.

No one spoke a word, their looks said all that needed to be said. They couldn’t go home, she could only say goodbye.

Barely controlling her shaking fingers and aching gut, she answered.

‘Sweetie? Sweetie are you alright??’

‘Mom..’

‘There’s another lockdown and I heard explosions in the distance! You gotta head home now!’

Samantha didn’t answer, starting to sniffle, the lump in her throat expanded.

‘Sweetie?? You hear me right??’

‘I love you mom...I love you so much.’ she began to weep, her heart breaking apart.

‘Sweetie whats wrong? Whats going on??’ her voice quickly grew more worried, afraid even.

‘I can’t go home!’

‘What do you mean??’

‘Its me...they’re after me!’

‘Who’s after you?? Whats going on??’

‘The comet...it changed me. And now the soldiers wants it! If I go home they’ll come after you to!’

‘Sweetie....I don’t know whats going but we can fix this! We can work trough together just, please come back!’

‘I’m sorry mom! I AM SO SORRY!’ Samantha broke apart, loosing any sense of control, hearing her mother beg on the other side to come back.

She handed the phone to Cody who hung up and, then crushed it before she could call again.

Samantha broke apart, her face in her hands, crying more than she thought possible. Cody hugged her, feeling the uncontrollable shaking.

They all felt it...this was it. Life as they knew it was over, all over a single meteor...

Sam turned and headed out of town, leaving Blue Hills forever.

*

‘So let me get this straight? A bunch of kids overpowered your entire strike force and got away?’

‘Kids with powers sir.’

‘I don’t care for excuses sergeant. We need to get a handle on the situation now that you basically blew our cover in front of the entire town. Keep everyone inside, we’re putting Blue Hills on quarantine.’

‘Yes sir.’

‘And also, I’m sending Charge to handle it.’

‘Charge? But sir..’

‘No buts sergeant I have my decision. If you can’t handle one group of brats then he will.’

‘...yes sir...’ the commander hung up, leaving her with a hollow feeling in her gut. Charge would most likely kill or maim them. He was more of an unstable weapon than a person.

‘Good news. Your hand is free of frostbite thanks to your armor, the others aren’t to lucky.’ the field medic said.

‘How many?’

‘About twenty injured, none dead. Still how a bunch of thirteen year old’s did this..’

‘It seems humans with successful transplants adapt to the shards quicker than the eggheads predicted.’

‘Seems so. Still they’re just kids so I hope Charge will remember that.’

‘I don’t think he’s capable of remembering that..’

*

They were passed the outskirts of Blue hill, on a road surrounded by pine trees. The crushed remains of their phones laid in a trashcan by a abandoned gas station where they stopped and rested. Still trying to grapple with the situation. No families, no money, and hunted by the government.

Scott appeared in a blue flash. ‘I delivered them, every last one.’

‘This sucks!’ Jacob hit the side of the armored truck. ‘They’re our families and we can’t go back to even say goodbye in person! A letter...a letter is all they get!’

No one had any follow up, he was right. But they knew it was for the best. The soldiers would do anything to get them, saying goodbye in person would jeopardize their safety.

‘Well...shall we just...keep driving?’

‘Ya...’ with hanging heads they got back in, Sam taking control and heading off.

They had no idea where to go, where could they go? Where could they hide?

The government had eyes and ears everywhere, and leaving the country was easier said than done. As they drove silently over the countryside the truck began to beep.

‘Whats that?’

‘They’re calling.’ Sam’s voice came trough the walls.

‘Probably to convince us to surrender. Just hang up.’

‘Wait...they’re sending a video.’

A screen lowered from the roof, between the back and driver seats. Switching on it showed a cell, with a glass door and a terrified family inside.

‘NO!!’ Jacob flew to his feet as he recognized them. It switched then to Cody’s family, and Samantha’s, Regina and Sam’s parents.

‘We have them under arrest for helping escaped criminals, that being you lot. If you don’t turn yourselves over...then we will lock them in a high secure prison so hidden, not even the CIA will know where it is. You have sixteen hours.’ the footage ended, leaving a chill in them.

‘They....they took them anyway...’

‘Dammit!!’ Cody flew up and grabbed Scott by collar ‘WE SHOULD HAVE GONE BACK FOR THEM!! WE COULD HAVE SAVED THEM! WE COULD HAVE PROTECTED THEM!!’

The truck stopped dead in its track as Samantha and Jacob tried to separate them.

‘I THOUGHT THEY WOULD FOLLOW US!’

‘YOU THOUGHT WRONG!! AND NOW THEY’RE TAKEN!! WE’RE NEVER GONNA SEE THEM AGAIN!!’ Cody pushed Scott, his back crashing against the drivers seat. He retaliated by pushing Cody with his enhanced speed, making land on his back, head smacking against the door. Samantha threw herself between them and lit up, a clock of flames encasing her for a second. ‘ENOUGH!! STOP THIS RIGHT NOW!’

Cody quickly got back up and kicked the doors open, storming out.

He put some distance between him and the truck before stopping right in the road, sniffling and crying, his back facing the truck.

It was all to much, what were they supposed to do now?

‘We can’t leave them.’ Jacob said. ‘There’s no way we’re leaving them like this.’

‘Ya...but what can we do? We’re just kids. And they have a well armed army!’ Scott said slinking back down.

‘But we have powers! And in case you didn’t notice, we kicked their asses at the beach!’ Samantha’s fire somehow returning. Part out of fear, part trying to keep together.

‘Lets just go in there and do it again! Kick them out of Blue Hills and rescue our families!’

‘They’ll be more prepared! They will probably have tanks and stuff!’

‘SO WE JUST LEAVE THEM?!’ Samantha yelled.

‘THE USA IS THE STRONGEST MILITARY ON EARTH! AND WE, ARE, KIDS!!’

‘But we aren’t normal kids.’ Sam phased back out.

‘We’re special. We know the town like the back of our hands and...and we can’t leave them. Not like this.’

‘But what can we possibly do? Against all of them?’

‘Just charging in is a bad idea. But I have an idea.’

‘You do?’

‘Ya, lets get Cody back in here, everyone needs to hear this.’