YA – Alex's Writing Corner

Chapter 6: The life of people in the zone

Whiteman took Adaru back to his apartment. When they got to their floor, they were received by a jubilant Faith who ran to hug Adaru.

“Don’t do that ever again!” she scolded him.

“I’ll try,” Adaru said.

“Do you need me to escort you inside?” Whiteman said.

“No, that’s OK,” Adaru said remembering his mom was still laying drunk in the middle of the room.

Adaru and Faith got inside just when people were getting out of their apartments to see Tico and his men being carried inside a black van.

They were cheering and clapping the arrest. Adaru still resented that minutes before some of them were throwing him to the wolves.

“They just care about themselves,” he thought to himself.

He went to the bedroom that had no bed and he just fell asleep on the corner.

He woke up being shaken by Faith. She was nervous, and for a moment, Adaru forgot he was in the zone.

“What?” he said.

“The man with the funny hat is here,” she said.

That woke Adaru completely. He rose and got outside the room to see his mom suffering from a hangover, and using the kitchen counter to keep her balanced. Adaru saw Bellingham at the entranced and he remembered he had to go to his audition.

“It seems that you are not ready to go,” Bellingham said.

“I will be in five minutes,” Adaru said.

“It doesn’t matter. We have to go now,” he said, signaling that Faith and her mom were also coming with him. Adaru was too tired to complain.

There were people outside the building. He could hear they were chatting about what happened last night.

“I heard it was a boy, but a man must have beaten that Tico guy. No way that a kid survived the attack of that monster,” a woman said.

“I heard it was the police that came and saved the day,” someone else said.

“That’s the kid! He’s the one who fought Tico!” a neighbor said when he saw Adaru and his family getting on the black government car.

The neighborhood got in a frenzy wanting to see Adaru. Faith and Adaru jumped inside the car and then pulled their clueless mother in.

When Bellingham got in the front seat, he turned toward them. He was having a hard time containing his smile.

“You clearly caused a commotion yesterday, mister Sepien. Your attitude against authority has clearly not changed when you moved to the zone,” he said.

“So what is going to happen?” Adaru asked.

“Normally, we would ask you some questions and do an audition similar to the ones we do on Evolution Day to measure the strength of your ability. However, you are a special case,” Bellingham said.

Faith tugged Adaru’s arm. She pointed again to the crystal building that was getting closer and taller. Adaru hugged Faith as a way to protect her.

Luckily, they were not going to that building, but to the one next to it. It was a smaller, squarer and brown building that had the words “Federal Inner Migration Office” on the front. The limousine got into the parking garage. The family got out and they were escorted to the elevator that took them to the third floor.

“Your family can remain here until you finished your audition,” Bellingham said pointing to the chairs in the hallway.

Adaru was taken to a white room with a bed in the center. He was told to strip and they gave him a tunic to wear. He had to wait for half an hour for a doctor to analyze him by looking inside his mouth, ears and into his eyes. He was put on the bed and a machine lighted a green beam that covered Adaru’s body, from his forehead to his toes.

The doctor went away and Adaru had to wait like another hour for him to return and then hear he had no toxic substances or radiation emanating from him. He only had some sprains in his legs and arms but Adaru was no threat to other people. The doctor then bandaged his ankles and elbows, and told him to rest.

He was then escorted to a gray room that had one chair in the middle of the room and three other chairs in front of it. He was told to sit.

Bellingham and other men entered the room, with two of them sitting next to Bellingham and the other four standing behind them. Adaru only recognized the man with a boot-shaped nose standing behind Bellingham.

“So let the record be clear on this Friday Oct. 5 we are present for the audition of Adaru Sepien, fifteen, whose abilities are at this time, believe to be of physical type, but specialty and level are unknowns,” Bellingham said to what Adaru thought it was a microphone.

“Mister Sepien, do you swear to tell the truth knowing that any falsehood would be considered a criminal felony?” Bellingham said.

“I- I do,” Adaru said.

“Then tell us. What is your ability?”

Adaru didn’t know what to answer. The truth is that he had no ability.

“I am more agile than others,” Adaru said. It wasn’t a lie, technically.

“Yes, you have shown proficiency on past auditions that measured agility but you did not pass the criteria,” Bellingham said. “Have you shown any other abilities not considered normal on a boy like you?”

“Uh, no,” Adaru said and he regretted not lying. They were definitely going to test Faith if Adaru didn’t convince them he had an ability.

“Are you sure?” Bellingham said.

“Well, weird things have happened around me,” he said, again, not technically lying.

“Then, how do you explain this?” Bellingham said when he pushed a button. A panel on a wall moved to show a screen. Then, a video image appeared. Adaru didn’t know what he was seeing until he recognized his apartment building. It was footage of what had happened last night. It was from a camera that must have been in the building next to his apartment. He could see himself on the left side of the screen, giving his back to the camera. He could also see Tico’s face. Adaru had to see again how Tico created a blast that smashed the car and garbage container that were next to Adaru.

“Could you tell us how you survived that blast?” Bellingham said.

“No I cannot,” Adaru said, more embarrassed than he should have.

The image then changed to another camera. That must have been from Adaru’s building because he was now right of the screen. It was the moment he attacked Tico with a lighter. Bellingham paused when Tico’s shirt caught fire.

“How did you produce that fire?”

“I had spread alcohol to Tico first,” Adaru said. Some of them gave a small laugh.

“Alcohol does not produce a fire of that intensity. It is very unlikely,” Bellingham said. “Remember that you are under oath.”

“I swear, I don’t know how it happened,” Adaru said. He then remembered that Faith was also there, looking at the fight. Did the camera catch her on tape?

Adaru felt his pulse beat faster. The man with the boot-shaped nose got closer to Bellingham and spoke to him softly on his hear.

“Are you nervous?” Bellingham asked Adaru.

“A little.”

“Well, so far we are very little information on you. But we do know is that you have done a service to the government by capturing Tico Szalinski,” Bellingham said.

And with that, he smiled and Adaru was shocked when the rest of the men applauded him.

“We also saw how you escape from the black market,” Bellingham said. The screen changed again and Adaru recognized the warehouse because he saw himself on top of it when it was collapsing. Another video showed the moment Adaru was caught by Tico’s henchman on the street and then how he was punched by the man with the red vest.

“We don’t know what kind of ability you have, but we know you have talent,” Bellingham said. “That’s why I proposed to give you a temporary visa to the zone for one year and classify you as ‘Physical,’” Bellingham said. “Do we have a disagreement?”

Bellingham turned to the two men beside him. They were quiet but both were staring and smiling at Adaru.

“Then, Mr. Sepien, you are now a legal citizen of Alpha Zone One.”

Adaru was surprised that it was that easy.

“This is it?” he said.

“Well, we are also need to mention that by helping on the capture of a criminal living in the zone, you are also receiving a $20,000 reward.”

This was Adaru’s best day ever.

He got out of the room with a big smile. He hugged Faith and he was in so a happy mood that he didn’t care when his mother yelled loudly after hearing the news.

Faith was smiling, but Adaru could tell she was not happy.

The Sepien family was told to go to another office. In here, they had their pictures taken again. A man asked for Adaru to show his right arm. The man put him a red bracelet on his wrist.

“This is your identification bracelet that shows what kind of ability you have and proves that you can live in the zone,” the man said. “It is hygienic and cannot be taken out. If it’s damage for some reason, you must come to this office for replacement.”

Adaru saw his bracelet closer. It had engraved letters on the back that read “Agility.”

“Bracelets are divided in colors to show what ability the user has. Each bracelet has engraved the specialty of the individual,” the man said. “In your case, that is agility.”

“Bracelets also show a roman number from one to five, which described the level of proficiency and strength of that ability with five being the strongest. Your level is unknown,” the man said.

The man then went to his mother and put a black bracelet on her.

“This bracelet is to show that you do not have an ability but you are legally allowed to live in the zone,” the man said. He then did the same thing with Faith.

Adaru then was taken to the second floor which had the zone’s bank. They transferred the little money they had from their account in New Haven. They were also given the reward money, which was the best news Adaru’s mom had heard in a long time.

There was also an office that was related to the schools in the zone. Adaru was enrolled at the high school and he received a tablet where he would download his electronic books when he enrolled. The question was where to put Faith.

There was one school that catered to students without an ability. The lady at the desk also told them Faith could be home schooled and they could give her a tablet for Faith to do all her course work at home. Adaru told Faith she should pick that. He thought that was the best option for her to remain hidden.

It was a very long day for the family. They used the money they had to buy furniture like the beds and a TV. Everything was shipped to their apartment, which was finally looking like a home, even though it was a very cramped home.

When they turned on the television, Faith complained there were only two channels.

“What are we supposed to watch? There aren’t any cable shows or cartoons,” she said.

She was certainly in a bad mood all day because she didn’t care about what was on television before. Adaru was eager to try to climb the buildings because he had seen that was actually encouraged, so he wanted to leave the apartment as soon as possible.

First, they needed to buy clothes and Faith just got grumpier. She refused to buy new items. Her mother forced her to buy a couple of new outfits, so she had clothes for a couple of weeks. They returned to their now home with bags of clothes on both hands. Then, their mother left to search for some alcohol, which Adaru believed if someone would find it in the zone, it would be her. Now, Adaru decided to talk to Faith.

She was looking at the window. She had a solemn face that made her look older. For some reason, that made Adaru uncomfortable.

“What’s wrong?” he asked.

“We are still in the zone. I am now enrolled in school and you and mom actually want to live here.”

“No, I don’t.”

“You were happy that you passed your audition.”

“I was happy that I passed and that they would not have to test you,” he said. “I was also happy that we got a lot of money.”

“You almost died yesterday. Are you sure you won’t have to face other people like those guys?”

“They were criminals.”

“What about the boy who started the fire at our old house? He wasn’t a criminal.”

“That was an accident.”

“And we are in a city where every single person can hurt us by accident.”

“You are exaggerating,” Adaru said getting closer. “If you so want us out of here, we will get out.”

“That’s the thing. I don’t think we should get out. I think I am like the boy,” Faith said looking at him. “At least here I can’t hurt normal people.”

“Do you make fire?”

“No. I think I am more dangerous.”

“You are not that dangerous.”

“Yes. I know I made that earthquake happen. I don’t know how, but I am afraid I can do worse.”

“No you cannot,” Adaru said while hugging her. “You are a sweet child who will not do anything to harm anyone else. And I will find a way to get ourselves out.”

He didn’t leave her that evening until they went to bed. The next day, Faith was still nervous about getting out. Adaru told her she could stay while he went for a walk. Their mother had not woken up even though it was almost 10 in the morning.

If they were spending a few days in the zone, Adaru wanted to see the most as he could. And he saw cameras in almost every corner. The only places he didn’t see them where in the corners of the black market, but he could see cables sprouting from walls and lamp posts.

The streets were clean of people that evening, but Adaru could see a lot of burned trees and dented cars. He found a nice alley where he could practice some climbing. He stretched and did some chin ups. He noticed the ledges were smoother and there were more places where he could hold on to compared to buildings in New Haven. He saw why when he reached the roof. There were many people like him, who were climbing and jumping from roof to roof for fun.

He climbed on walls and then he jumped on roofs of different apartment complexes that were next to one another. He saw more people on higher ceilings and in windows frames looking at the city. They all waved to him like they knew him. He never waved back.

He didn’t even smile at them.

He had to wait for a crowded roof to get empty before he jumped. He didn’t want to embarrass himself just in case he missed. Even though if he did, he would probably fell to the alley and kill himself.

In some roofs, there were zip-lines that help people go to different parts of the zone. He saw three before he decided to line up to experience one of them.

“Why so many people?” Adaru asked to the young man who was in front of him.

“Because they are fun, faster than a bus and they make us feel like a super hero,” the man said with a grin.

When it was his turn, the young man screamed a big “yahoo” that Adaru could hear until the man disappeared when the zip line made turn, next to a tall building.

With less embarrassment and more curiosity, Adaru put on a harness that was tied to the line. He then grabbed a handle bar and jumped. He felt the wind hitting his face. It was exhilarating seeing the buildings coming closer to him but the line moving just before hitting them.

The ride took several minutes. There were minutes of speed and strain to Adaru’s shoulders and arms.

He screamed every second and he loved it just the same. He saw the floor getting closer and closer. He landed downtown the zone with a big smile.

It was the commercial area and he hoped to see more people using their abilities, but everyone was acting normal. There was a big park and businesses that looked like gyms or gave the clients a chance to use their ability. Adaru wanted to get in but he needed to pay a membership. Also, one employee told him they only accepted level 3s and higher and because Adaru’s bracelet didn’t have a level, he couldn’t apply for membership.

Adaru was disappointed to see people use their abilities for menial tasks. In one restaurant, he saw a man looking at his plate. The knife and fork lifted from the table and cut a piece of black steak. The steak then floated until it reached his open mouth.

He entered a library where he got a map of the zone. He found the bridge to New Haven and then got on a bus that took him there in about an hour.

For the first time, Adaru was on the other side of the bridge. New Haven had smaller buildings, but it still looked beautiful when the last rays of the sun gave it a dark orange glow. Adaru walked by the fence, hoping it led it to the entrance to the bridge.

When he got there, he saw a military jeep and several soldiers patrolling the area.

“Excuse me sir,” Adaru said to one of the soldiers. “How can someone leave the zone?”

“But why do you want to leave?” he said with a smile.

“I just moved into the zone and I miss my friends,” Adaru said, which was true. He was thinking of Jade and his other friends but getting Faith out was his priority. “I was wondering what I can do to see them again.”

“I understand what you are going through. That happened to me when I just moved in as well some years ago. Unfortunately, you need to apply for a special visa and we don’t give it to minors like you,” he said.

“How long does it take if my mother applies for one?”

“That depends. At least a couple of months you can get a permit to visit New Haven for a day,” the man said.

Adaru gave thanks to the soldier for his time and turned to start his journey back to the apartment and tell Faith the bad news.

It was at that moment an alarm was set off and officers ran toward the gap dividing the zone and the city. When a helicopter flew overhead, Adaru’s curiousness got the better of him. He ran up to the nearest building. He found a ledge and he lifted himself up, ignoring the pain that he still had.

There was a big beam of light from the helicopter that helped Adaru see two figures running toward New Haven. He heard gunshots, and one of the figures fell. The other gave up and kneeled with his hands up. The helicopter never left him out of the light.

He was trapped.

They all were.

Chapter 5: The Unexpected Test

Faith wanted him to reconsider. She didn’t want him to leave that night in a city they didn’t know.

“I will be fine, don’t worry,” Adaru said. “This is to help me for tomorrow.”

He left an hour later, after he made sure his mom was already knocked up by possibly the last bottle she would be able to drink in a while.

He went back to the store and asked how he could reach Smith or Red. The cashier told him to take the bus 27 Blue at the corner. He also warned him that it was dangerous to go there at that time.

It was already getting dark when the bus arrived and Adaru got inside.

“Where to?” the driver said.

“To Red and Smith.”

Adaru sat and he tried to enjoy seeing the zone in the night. The life and joy of the zone were gone and now it was filled with shadows that disappeared on the corners. There were only less than a dozen of people riding the bus, but in a few minutes, Adaru was the only one remaining.

It only took 15 minutes for Adaru to reach Red Street. He felt relieved that it was close to his new apartment.

“Be safe kid,” the driver told him when he got out.

Adaru walked the street, hoping to find the warehouse. Instead, he heard noises from a hallway. He followed and was surprised to find the famous black market his dad told stories about.

It was on a narrow street between empty buildings. It covered almost two blocks. People were walking on the street instead of the sidewalk because the sidewalks were for the merchandise.

The merchants were on old rugs and were all smiles trying to show their boxes of illegal products.

Vendors didn’t scream or attempted to attract customers. They had to be cautious, so they waited for the clients to come to them. The clients perused the merchandise quickly. His father used to say that if people lingered, a sale was about to be made.

The merchandise was equipment, junk food and even bootlegged movies and some magazines. Adaru was looking for something that was given more in secret. And it was also more dangerous.

He didn’t know where to go, so he started asking merchants if he knew where Lizzy was. Some of them told him to get away, others cursed at him. Finally, one pointed toward a young man who was all alone.

The young man was on the middle of the street, looking at all the vendors on the sides. Adaru saw he was trembling.

Soon, a second man approached him and talked to him.

Adaru saw the man smiled and nodded his head eagerly. The two men started walking into the alley, away from the market. Adaru walked behind them.

He kept his distance when the pair walked to the back of a green warehouse. He heard someone knocking some trash cans behind him, so he hurried inside the warehouse. When turning a corner, he was pulled by an arm and pushed to the wall. Adaru only felt the force of the pull. A strong arm lifted him several feet off the ground.

“Who are you? Why are you following us?” a man said.

Adaru saw his captor. He was a dark skinned man with furious eyes.

“I just came for some pills,” Adaru said. “I’m looking for Lizzy.”

“That’s it? Show me your arms!” the man demanded.

Adaru rolled his sleeves and lifted his arms.

The man laughed when he saw no bracelet.

“How the hell did you manage to get all this way?” he said while he put Adaru down. “I’m impressed. You must be really desperate.”

Adaru fell to his knees and coughed. The man patted him on his back, trying to comfort him, but Adaru felt like cinder blocks were hitting him.

“Come, come,” the man said while he lifted him up. “This is where all the good stuff is.”

Adaru could see the pair he was following. The customer seemed more nervous now. The man he had come with smiled and said everything was OK.

The four of them turned into a second alley filled with trash cans. They turned another corner and were behind the warehouse. Adaru felt trapped by the wall right of him. It was shorter than the warehouse, but not by much. He ought for an exit behind the men, but he only saw a large garbage container near the wall. He couldn’t get back or go forward.

Adaru saw the entrance and there were two men with rifles. He looked around to see people in the ground, some of them were convulsing, and others were unconscious.

“What happened to them?” Adaru asked.

“They just took some of our product,” said the man trying to reassure him. “This is obviously your first time. So don’t worry. This is just temporary.”

Three men were lining up to a man who had a bag. Behind him, there were more men with guns. One by one, they gave him money or other things. The last one gave him his cell phone.

“Hey Lizzy! We have two more customers!”

The dealer saw Adaru and let his tongue out when Adaru got closer to him. It was a lizard’s tongue that could go to the bottom of his neck.

Adaru couldn’t hide his disgust.

“Never seen one like me, boy?” he said to Adaru while getting closer to him. “Don’t worry, you may get a tongue like mine if you take one of these pills. “

He whipped his tongue to Adaru so fast he only saw it when it hit him on his shoulder. It didn’t hurt, but Adaru was still suffering from the pain of the pinch earlier, so he fell once again.

The men laughed. The dark-skinned man lifted Adaru from the floor meanwhile the dealer offered him a pill.

“The first pill is on the house. Just ingest it right now,” he said.

Adaru looked at the red and blue pill.

“What ability am I getting?” Adaru asked to nobody in particular.

“The only thing we can imitate with the pills is an animal-based ability. We can make you as agile as a monkey or as strong as an ox,” the strong man with the intense eyes said behind Adaru.

“How long will it last?” Adaru asked.

“It depends on the person but it will be enough for you to pass any government hearing within the week. It’s better to do it sooner rather than later. Also, our new formula is undetectable.”

Adaru looked to his left and saw a woman laying face up. She was drooling but she didn’t seem to care. She had vacant eyes, and for a moment, Adaru remembered her mother who he was sure was now in a similar position back at the apartment with Faith.

Would he become someone like his mother if he took the pill? Adaru thought.

“No,” Adaru said.

“What did you say boy?” the lizard-tongue man said with surprise.

“I said no, thank you,” Adaru repeated pushing the dealer’s hand away.

The men laughed, but now in a different manner. Adaru felt he was in danger now.

The dark-skinned man got behind him and grabbed his shirt.

“You’re telling me you came all this way to not take a free pill?” he said. “I’m hurt.”

He tossed Adaru to the wall closest to the alley where they had come from. Adaru raised his head, and for one moment, he thought he heard more people coming into the alley.

“We are not done with you boy,” Lizzy said. He then turned to the nervous customer who came before Adaru.

“Are you a first customer also? Don’t worry. We are only rough to those who disrespect us,” he said while taking out his tongue.

The man smiled, but he kept trembling.

He took a pill and he looked directly to the man.

“I think I will say no as well,” he said.

“It looks like we have a copycat here,” Lizzy said.

“No,” he said. “You have a rival.”

With that, he hit the chin of the lizard man so hard that Adaru could not see where he landed.

“You should have had wings,” the nervous man said laughing.

The dark-skinned man didn’t wait. He hit the man hard. The man flew almost to the other side of the backyard, hitting the large garbage container. The man stood up and was not scared, even though he was being surrounded.

“Who are you?” the dark-skinned man asked, angry and nervous.

“I work for Tico. You guys are getting into our territory,” the nervous man said. “Bad move.”

“Bad move for you,” the dark-skinned man said. He whistled and the other men started approaching the rival. “You are surrounded.”

“That’s how I like it,” he said.

He grabbed the garbage container with his two arms and hit three men with it. The dark skinned man evaded the hit and ran toward him. They collided and embraced going through the wall, making a big hole. Adaru heard their grunting and fighting on the other side.

Adaru stood up, at the same time men came from all sides of the warehouse shooting and cussing. He had been forgotten, so without thinking, Adaru hugged the wall and tried making himself smaller.

He saw two men fall and some of the clients fleeing. Some of them were not lucky and fell victim to the shots.

“Tico is here! Tico is here!” someone yelled scared.

Then, Adaru felt it before he heard it.

A wave pushed Adaru to the wall that was three feet away. He heard a loud explosion after it.

“It’s Tico! Everyone run!” he heard.

Adaru saw men running toward the warehouse to escape, not paying attention to him.

Adaru crawled, trying to recover his energy. He raised his head, just to see a tall man entering the alley. Adaru could see he had blond hair, strong shoulders and he was wearing a vest that showed the muscles on his arms.

He had to be Tico.

Fear made Adaru stand up. He ran to the wall, jumped and bounced from it to grab the edge of the warehouse’s roof. Adaru ignored the pain on his arms and shoulders. He lifted himself up and he rolled to his back. He took some breaths before standing and running again.

He only took some steps when he heard another explosion. He turned just in time to see part of the warehouse collapsing. Adaru ran until the end of the warehouse to jump, and land on the floor.

Adaru couldn’t stand up; his entire body was claiming rest. The wall surrounding the warehouse had collapsed and there was rubble everywhere.

“Look for survivors,” he heard.

Adaru opened his eyes. He managed to see the shapes of Tico’s men looking into the rubble.

“I found someone!”

Adaru wanted his body to jump and run, but it was not listening. He looked around to see where the men were. No one was near him. They were picking up another man several feet away. When Tico got near him, he grabbed him by his neck.

“Who is your supplier?” he said.

The man choked. Adaru’s sight was improving and he could see Tico clearly grabbing Lizzy by the neck.

“I know you are getting your drugs from outside the zone. You are clever. It’s a different formula, so tell me, who is your supplier?” Tico said again.

Adaru stood up. If he was silent, he could probably get away.

Tonight wasn’t his day because the lizard-tongue man saw him.

“He knows. That boy knows,” he said.

“What boy?”

“The one behind you.”

Tico turned.

“Get him!” he yelled.

Two of his men leaped and in seconds, they got to a pile of rubble near Adaru. They were so close that Adaru could see their smiles. He thought that if they were able to leap that far, then he had no opportunity of escaping.

“Now come with us,” one of the two said.

They walked on top of the rubble, but the rocks moved below their feet.

“Wh-?” the second man said when two men emerged from the pile making them fall, confused.

They were the dark-skinned man and the nervous man who were still throwing punches and wrestling each other.

“Hey, be careful,” said the first man. But it was too late. He had fallen behind one of them. The nervous man stepped back and stepped on the first man’s leg. Adaru heard his bone cracked before he heard the man yelling in pain.

It was that yell that woke Adaru’s body.

He ran to the street and turned a corner. The streets were getting crowded by people who heard the bangs and were curious to know what had happened. Adaru ran the opposite way when he felt an arm grabbing his shoulder.

He turned to see the second man who could leap very far away grinning at him. They were separated when a big muscled man wearing a red shirt came between them. It was just for a second, but Adaru saw the muscled man’s wallet hanging from his back pocket.

Quickly, he grabbed the wallet and threw it to his pursuer.

“Hey sir! That man is stealing your wallet!” Adaru yelled.

The man turned and put his hand on his back pocket. After not feeling the wallet and seeing the man with a wallet on his hands, he yelled angrily “You thief!”

“No, wa-“the pursuer tried to say but was interrupted with a big smack to his face.

Adaru ran through the street, quickly becoming crowded, hoping to hide. He turned and saw a man on top of the building next to the warehouse pointing at him and yelling.

Adaru ran even though his legs and chest were hurting. Fear made him run. When he fell, the fear made him stand up again and keep on running.

He didn’t stop when he saw the bus. He didn’t stop when he turned the corner and saw the building where his family now called home. He didn’t stop when he got up all the stairs and he reached the door of his new apartment.

He only stopped when Faith opened the door and he collapsed at the entrance.

“What happened?” she asked.

“This town is more dangerous than I thought,” he said, relieved that he got home safely. “I really don’t think we are going to survive here a week.”

“Well, did you get what you were going to get?”

“No, and it is a good thing. We just have to survive tomorrow and say the jump was a big fluke,” Adaru said. “ Don’t do anything that make them pay attention to you.”

“I’ll try,” Faith said while Adaru stood up.

He decided to calm himself and not scare Faith more than she already was. He ignored the noise of cars passing by the building, but he couldn’t ignore them when they started parking near it.

He could hear murmur from neighbors and then he could hear the voices of the men who were in the parking lot.

The panic came back to him when he heard one voice.

“WE KNOW YOU ARE HERE BOY! WE FOLLOWED YOU FROM THE MARKET!” the voice said.

“IF YOU KNOW WHAT IS GOOD FOR YOU, YOU MUST COME DOWN NOW!”

Adaru’s eyes got wide. He ducked behind the door, like it was the best place to hide.

“What’s going on Adaru?” Faith asked. “They are not coming for you, right?”

But she only needed to see his face to know that was wishful thinking.

“TO EVERYBODY ELSE, YOU WILL NOT INTERFERE AND YOU WILL NOT CALL THE POLICE OR SAY ANYTHING. WE WILL KNOW IF YOU DO AND WE WILL COME BACK!” the voice continued. “TICO ONLY WANTS THE BOY WE SAW RUNNING INSIDE THIS BUILDING”

Adaru peeked at the window to see if there were people on the hallways, but they were empty. Everybody must know who Tico was and feared him.

“YOU BETTER COME OUT OR WE WILL GO IN! AND IT WILL BE YOUR FAULT IF ANYONE GETS HURT. YOU DON’T WANT SOMEONE YOU CARE ABOUT GETTING HURT, DO YOU?”

And then panic, erupted. Neighbors started yelling from their rooms. Adaru couldn’t see them, but he guessed they were also hiding behind their walls.

“Please! Get out! We have two small children here!” someone said.

“Why did you have to make Tico mad?” someone else said. “Get out and be done with it.”

Adaru realized that he was dead. Tico wouldn’t let him live and he didn’t need a lot of effort to do it. He was now scared that Faith could get hurt.

“I have to get down,” he told Faith.

“No,” she said grabbing his arm. “You cannot!”

“They will hurt you if I don’t,” Adaru said.

“I don’t care,” she said.

“I have to,” he said while getting up and opening the door.

“At least, take something that you can use,” she said.

“Like what?”

Faith went to a room on the corner and came back with Adaru’s lunchbox.

“There must be something here we can use,” she said.

There were only papers and money. She emptied the box on the floor and then, they heard a metallic sound.

It was a silver lighter that their dad must have used for smoking. Adaru grabbed it and he then saw his mother, still laying face down in the middle of the room with the bottle on her hand. He grabbed the bottle.

He only had the bottle and a lighter against someone who made buildings crumble.

“I don’t think I can do anything with this,” he said with desperation.

“GET OUT NOW! WE ARE COMING IN.”

Adaru cursed.

“I have to go,” he said. “If something happens, just lay low so the man with the mustache and hat doesn’t notices you.”

“I don’t want you to go!” Faith said and Adaru could see tears coming out. “I won’t let you get hurt!”

“I’m sorry,” he said while he got out. He couldn’t dare to see her. In his mind, he had failed to protect her. He got to the corner where he could see three cars with about a dozen of men waiting for him. He could distinguish Tico from that height.

“I am here!” he yelled. “I am coming out!”

He heard them jeering and even some clapping. His plan was to get to the elevator, but a man appeared from the edge.

“We don’t like waiting,” the man said. Adaru could see he was the one who was hit by the strong man with the red jacket. His nose was swollen, and bleeding, and he had a dark eye. His smile was missing all but five teeth.

He grabbed Adaru and they fell to the bottom floor. He let go of Adaru who couldn’t remain standing like him. He hit his shoulder and face because he couldn’t use his hands to protect him from the fall. He had the bottle on his right hand, and the lighter on the left.

“So this is the kid who was causing too much trouble?” he heard.

Adaru stood up to face the strong blond man from the warehouse.

“Still, you got my respect,” he said with a crispy voice. “Like a tiger respects the ant before it steps on it.”

Adaru could see it like it was happening on slow motion. Tico extended his arms so wide Adaru could see his armpits. Tico then clapped.

Adaru heard a loud BOOM and a second later, he was pushed so hard he hit the ground face up several feet away. His head started buzzing and he felt pain on his back and chest.

He stood up. A car that was next to him had been damaged like it was hit by a trailer. The windows behind him were broken and a trash container had a big dent, like if it was hit by a bull.

But Adaru was standing; something that Tico was not used to seeing.

Even his gang was surprised.

“He is still standing?” someone said. “He must have strength level 3!”

“He wasn’t that strong back on the market. He must be a sensorial.”

“Shut up,” Tico said, annoyed. “I must have missed. Nobody could stand up from my blasts like he did. “

Tico was about to clap again. Without thinking, Adaru threw the bottle at him. The gesture surprised even Tico, who stopped his motion to protect his face from the improvised attack, breaking it with his arms. Tico cursed when he smelled the alcohol on him. Adaru ran toward him as fast as he could. Tico was clearly angrier now, so he also ran to met Adaru halfway.

Adaru jumped to the garbage container and jumped again to fell on top of Tico, who caught him with his two arms and a big smile on his face.

“Got you,” he said while he raised him higher. He was going to smash Adaru to the pavement. Adaru opened his left hand to turn on the lighter. When he felt he was going down, he let go of it and he could see the flame hitting Tico’s right shoulder.

Tico let him go when his shirt caught fire.

Adaru fell hard on his back again and he rolled to get away from Tico. It was a smart choice because on his panic, Tico tried to put out the flames by hitting his body. When he did, he caused another BOOM.

Adaru had covered his face to protect himself from the blast. When he looked, he saw Tico had fallen to his back.

The flames had gotten bigger, which was something Adaru couldn’t believe it should happen. Tico’s men had rushed to cover him and make the flames disappear.

“Run Adaru!” he heard. He looked up to see Faith looking at him.

“You are not going anywhere,” one of Tico’s men said.

It was then than the street was filled with blue and red lights and the sounds of sirens. The men cursed and they lifted Tico up to escape, but the patrol cars had arrived.

“Zone police!” Adaru heard.

The lights blinded Adaru, but he could see a woman jumping over the cars and faced two men. She kicked one on the groin and she punched the second on the neck. A third tried to hit her but she grabbed his arm and twisted it. Adaru yelled to warn her about two men behind her, but it was not needed. One of the cars belonging to the gang flew towards them and knocked them out. Adaru could see a man grabbing a second car with his hands over his head. He threw it to a small group who appeared were about to attack him and made them scatter. Adaru could now see the man was Custos and the woman was his partner, agent Whiteman.

Tico didn’t have any fire on him anymore. He clapped again, but Whiteman got out of the way. The three men she had subdued flew away by the blast. Custos raised his arms to protect himself but the blast only made him take two steps back. He then ran toward Tico, who was about to clap again, but Custos hit him straight to the chest.

Tico flew back and fell. He didn’t stand up.

Custos ran to check on Adaru, who was now really happy to see him. Custos asked if he was hurt, but Adaru said he had been worse.

“Do you know what you just did?” Custos said. “You have faced the biggest criminal in the zone and you are still standing!”

“So, what does that mean?” Adaru said.

“It means that I think you are not going to need an audition,” Custos said. “This has earned you a place in the zone!”

Chapter 4: Discovered

After the fear and excitement of escaping from a fiery death, Adaru embraced the chaos of medics and police surrounding him, asking questions and taking care of his injuries. His ankles were only twisted, but the medics took him to the hospital just as a safety measure.

Adaru was exhausted, so he fell asleep just minutes of touching the hospital bed. When he woke up, Faith and his mother were in the room.

Faith was smiling when she saw him. His mother didn’t dare to look him. At least, Adaru got some enjoyment in seeing her embarrassed.

“Where were you?”

“I just went out. It was just for a couple of minutes,” she said, still looking away.

“You went to the bar, don’t lie.”

“That’s not true. I just went for a walk, and then I couldn’t come back.”

“It must have been a very long walk,” Adaru said turning away.

“I am your mother. You can’t treat me like this!” she said.

Adaru didn’t want to answer that. He was too tired to start an argument and nothing would have changed at the end.

“Talk to me,” his mother said.

“I’m tired,” he said.

But he couldn’t rest. Just five minutes later, he had two visitors and Adaru was surprised that he recognized one of them.

He was Horatio Bellingham who was joined by a tall, slim man with black hair and a nose shaped like a boot.

“Good morning,” Bellingham said taking off his bowler hat. “I hope I am not intruding.”

“I know you,” Adaru said, with his voice betraying his nervousness.

“And I know you,” Bellingham said with a smile. “The young lad who showed disrespect to the main judge during his audition by giving him a fright, therefore, he became a hit and a media darling. I also remember your other auditions”, he said while moving a chair and sitting down in front of him.

“They were good, but as we both know, not that good.”

“How can we help you?” his mother said with some excitement.

“Well, we hope for you to help us fill some holes of what happened yesterday,” Bellingham said.

“You see, agents from the Department of Inner Migration went to your address to do a local audition for a young man that showed promise. Unfortunately, it appears the young man’s ability to control fire was not enough since his apartment was the spot where the sinister started.”

“What happened to them?” Adaru said to Bellingham.

“They died,” Bellingham said without emotion. “I wished we had arrived to the family earlier, but it was bad timing that the kid’s ability started during Evolution Day weekend.”

“But even though it was a horrible loss of a great potential, my agents came back saying they saw a remarkable feat of physical ability. They saw a young man making an impossible jump while carrying someone on his back.”

“It wasn’t that impossible. You know I am not that good,” Adaru said.

“I remember,” Bellingham said. “Still, it was an impossible jump. If someone had done that at their audition, that person would certainly have passed the test.”

“Passed? You mean he would be able to live in the zone?” Adaru’s mother said.

Bellingham saw her for the first time.

“You must be their mother, Rachel Sepien right?” Bellingham said. “Your husband’s name is Joseph?”

That brought fear to Adaru and to Rachel as well. They looked at each other, wondering if they will be punished by his crimes.

“We know that Joseph was a big-time smuggler. I know people in New Haven don’t consider that a big crime, but getting in and out from the zone is a national security issue,” Bellingham said. “Still, your relationship with him does bring some red flags for us. We first need to know is, how did you accomplish that jump?”

“I don’t know how to answer that. I just did,” Adaru said.

“Are you sure? Because that jump merits a second audition. You may be accepted into the zone,” Bellingham said.

Adaru turned to see Faith. She was trying to avoid looking at Bellingham by looking down. He saw the nervousness by how she was biting her lip. She glimpsed at him and her eyes were wide.

“I think it was just a lucky jump,” Adaru said.

“It was not. My agent saw that you, apparently, made a jump while in the air,” Bellingham said.

“That’s impossible,” Adaru said, even though he remembered the force he felt. It was at the same time that Faith yelled.

“Then, if it wasn’t you, perhaps another made you do it,” Bellingham said.

He then turned to see Faith, who was still trying to avoid looking at him.

“Who are you, little girl?” Bellingham said to her.

Faith was quiet.

“Darling, the man asked you a question,” her mom said. “Don’t be rude and also looked at him.”

“My name is Faith sir,” she said, looking at him.

“Incredible, green eyes and red hair. That’s something you don’t see in a family of brown eyes and dark hair,” the man with a boot-shaped nose said.

“Yes, she was blessed by being unique,” Rachel Sepien said. “Nobody believed me that she had dark hair when she was a baby. I swear she changed her color of her eyes and hair when she was two.”

“Interesting,” Bellingham said. “So perhaps you could have helped your brother made that jump.”

Adaru got into the conversation again by almost shouting. “I made the jump, it was all me.”

“Really? Then why haven’t we seen those same skills during your auditions?”

“I don’t know. I didn’t think I could have done it until yesterday.”

“That’s seems plausible,” Bellingham said. “Physical-based abilities are harder to gauge because some of them are based on adrenaline. No matter, we can give you another shot to see if you should live in the zone.”

Adaru had to ignore that his mother was making little jumps of excitement and smiling broadly.

“I don’t think I want to live in the zone,” Adaru said.

“Well, you won’t if you don’t pass, but you must if you do,” Bellingham said. “It’s the law and you saw why yesterday. We have the zone so people with an ability cannot hurt the normal folk.”

“Yeah, but I can’t kill people by jumping very far.”

“That is why we have auditions, to see the magnitude of your ability. And frankly, you don’t have a say on this since we know you and your sister survived a fire you were not supposed to. So one of you has an ability,” Bellingham said again.”You can leave the hospital this afternoon. We will have a transport waiting for you to take you to the zone. I assume you have lost everything on the fire?”

“Yes,” Rachel said.

“It’s unfortunate, but it simplifies the moving process. If you passed, you will be given some help like housing and clothing,” Bellingham said.

And with that, he and the other man left the room with an excited Rachel, a nervous Adaru and a fearful Faith.

“Oh my god! We are going to live in the zone!” Rachel said. She hugged Faith and gave a kiss to Adaru before she left, almost jumping with glee.

Her son and daughter were not that excited.

“What are we going to do?” Faith said while getting near Adaru.

“I don’t know. We can only hope they see I don’t pass the audition and let us go,” he said.

“But what if they then do tests on me? What if they found out about my dreams?”

“I don’t think they can do that,” Adaru said.

“Are you sure?” Faith said.

Adaru wasn’t sure. He thought his only option was to make them pay attention to him instead of Faith.

“If I passed the audition, they will not experiment on you,” he said. “They only need one of us.”

“How can you fool them?”

“I don’t know yet. I just know I must,” he said. “That’s why I am your big brother.”

“You are the best big brother ever,” Faith said while getting on bed and hugging him. He hugged her back.

Adaru thought about his father. He needed his cunning to fool the freak with the bowling hat. Adaru only knew he had to protect Faith from them. She may be one of them, but she won’t belong to them, he thought.

He was released from the hospital that day. He was upset he could not see Jade one last time. She must have been worried when he didn’t show up to class that day. He was thinking why she didn’t visit him at the hospital when the family was picked up by a small bus outside the hospital.

Only their mother was eager to get on the bus. She had grabbed some bags of clothes from the local Red Cross. Then, they went to cross the bridge and into the zone. This trip was less amusing for Adaru than the trip he did on Evolution Day.

At the end of the gate, they got off and entered an office they had their pictures and fingerprints taken. The room was almost empty, so the process went very fast. They were told they would have an escort for the second leg of the trip.

Adaru could not hide his surprise very well. Their escort was the two police officers he met on Evolution Day.

“Welcome back.” Custos said to Adaru. “Ready for the tour?”

“My name is Candace Whiteman, and he is Nate Custos,” the woman said to Adaru’s mom. “Please come this way.”

She opened the door for a black car. Adaru entered first, then Faith and then their mother. The two police officers got in front. They drove and let the Sepien family discover a part of the zone they have never seen before.

The buildings were taller and Adaru thought they were shining when the sun hit them. Their glasses were transparent and reflected the people outside. The streets were alive with people walking, but the most interesting thing for him was the streets.

There was traffic like in New Haven, but this was a different kind of traffic. The streets were filled, but not only of cars but also of people running.

Adaru looked up and saw people jumping from roofs to roofs, like they were chasing each other. There were others who were flying. There were so many of them that there were even traffic lights floating in the sky to regulate traffic.

When the police car turned a corner to evade road work, Adaru could see there were two men and there was no machinery. Adaru saw one man punching the road to get rid of gravel. The other man grabbed it and threw it to a large container at the side.

At a traffic light, a man wearing a tight suit and a helmet stood next to the car and waved to Custos.

“Hello Jeremy, having a nice run?” he said.

“Yes I am, officer. I hope you have a nice day,” the man said.

“Remember to run below forty,” Custos said.

“Always,” he said at the same time the traffic light turned green and he ran so fast Adaru lost sight of him before the car started moving.

Adaru could not contain a laugh when he saw an old man lifting his parked car and put it between parked vehicles. Apparently, he had not enough space to maneuver for parallel parking.

He felt Faith giving him a tug on his sleeve. She told him to look up. When he did, he saw a very tall crystal building in the center of the zone. Adaru wanted to ask her if that was the same building of her dream, but he didn’t have to mutter the words. She just nodded.

The family was taken away from the downtown area and into a neighborhood area, not very different from their home at New Haven. The streets were cleaner, and the building looked that they were recently built. They parked in front of a big red square building that had a big parking lot.

“Here are your keys. Your apartment is in the fourth floor, room C,” agent Whiteman said. “Here are some vouchers you can use to purchase groceries at the store that is two blocks that way.”

Adaru’s mom nodded and then she told them to follow them to the room. There was an elevator, which was the first thing different from their old home.

Their apartment was one big room with a door going to the restroom and another on the opposite side leading to a bedroom. The kitchen was in the corner next to the entrance. It had only a big window between the stove and the door. It was smaller than their old apartment, but their mother wasn’t complaining.

“We did it! We are in the zone! Things will get better. We just need to give time to time,” she said trying to cheer up Faith and Adaru.

“It’s too small,” Adaru said.

“It’s homely,” his mother said. “Come, lets’ go buy something to eat.”

The store was underwhelming. It was only a one-floor white building that had “STORE” painted in red letters on the side. Inside, it was almost empty.

While his mother went to talk to the cashier, Adaru walked through almost empty shelves that occasionally had two products like lettuce or apples together. Three things on an aisle were the most he saw. There were fewer varieties of cereal and canned goods than Adaru used to see in New Haven

“Why do you mean there is no beer here?! What am I supposed to drink?!” he heard his mother say.

“Miss, we are not allowed to sell any alcoholic beverages,” the cashier said.

“You don’t even have chocolates here!”

“They are bad for you. We try to sell things that are good for you,” the cashier said.

“So what am I supposed to drink to have fun?”

“We have a wide variety of organic milk for you.”

Adaru and Faith had to hide their smiles. They had not seen their mother this mad before and they may finally see her more sober. Perhaps living in the zone would not be all bad, Adaru thought.

They managed to find a loaf of bread, a dozen of eggs, pasta and some fruit.

Her mother kept cursing all the way back to the house. When they got to the lobby, there were three people already waiting for the elevator, so Adaru decided to take the stairs instead. He wanted to be alone and focus on his problems. Adaru couldn’t find a way to convince Bellingham he had an ability when he had rejected him less than a week ago.

While walking up the stairs, a man with a pony tail was coming down, so Adaru went to the right side and grabbed the handrail.

“Where’s your bracelet?” the man said.

Adaru couldn’t get a word out due to his surprise. He only looked at his hand and had to take some minutes to remember he was supposed to have a bracelet to be considered resident of the zone.

“I…” he started to say.

“You are doing your audition?” the man said. “Are you up for it?”

Adaru didn’t want to talk to a complete stranger so he tried to ignore him.

“Hold on buddy. I want to help you,” the man said. “There are some pills that can help you fool the judges if you are not confident of your own skills.”

That caught Adaru’s attention. The man noticed.

“Just have to go to Smith Avenue and Red Street. There’s a warehouse at that corner. Ask for Lizzy,” the man said.

And with that, he left. Adaru got to the apartment and he was surprised that his mother had opened a bottle of whiskey and was already drinking.

“Where did you get that?” Adaru asked.

“I brought it from the city. Thank god I learned something from your father. I wouldn’t be able to celebrate properly without this,” her mother said.

“We really need to get a couch. At least there’s this bed,” she said while laying face up to a mattress that was in the bedroom.

“It was nice while it lasted,” Faith said to Adaru.

“Yeah. I am going out,” he said to her.

“Where?”

“I think I know how to pass the audition. Don’t wait up.”

Chapter 3: The impossible escape

Because of the Humanists’ protest and their failure at the auditions, Adaru’s mother decided that they were not going to the zone the next day. Adaru was relieved after hearing this.

In the morning, he turned on the television. As he expected, the news were all about the small earthquake. The reporter on the TV was saying how New Haven was not known for tremors, so this one caught everyone by surprise, especially when the center was far away from any known faults.

He knocked in Faith’s room to know if she was awake. She was and he entered to see her looking outside from her window.

“How did you sleep?” Adaru asked.

“I had a nightmare again,” she said.

“I’m sorry. I didn’t hear you this time,” Adaru said.

“I didn’t scream because I am getting used to them. I know screaming won’t help anymore.”

“You know they are only dreams, right?” Adaru said.

“They are not dreams. They feel different. They feel just like the dream I had with the girl who was hit by a car,” Faith said.

“That was a coincidence,” Adaru said, trying to convince her and himself.

“I didn’t know it at the time, but I had a dream with the mustache guy. The man you jumped over at your hearing,” Faith said turning toward him. “I dreamt he came for me.”

“For what?”

“To take me to the zone. He wanted me to live in the zone.”

“That’s a good thing. Mom would be thrilled.”

“But I don’t want to go,” she said, “I’m scared to go.”

“I know what you mean. New city, and all different kind of people,” he said.

“Do you want to live in the zone?” Faith asked.

Adaru was going to say no. He would be uncomfortable with all the freaks. Also, they would still live in constant fear of being found out and that they will be visited by police officers like the ones Adaru met the day before.

“I think it would not be as great as people say it will be,” he said.

“I don’t want live there, because I was there in my nightmares,” Faith said. “If we go, something bad will happen.”

“What will happen?”

“I don’t know. I dreamt I was in a white room on top of a building that looked like a crystal. I could see outside the building and everything was white but it starts getting dark. There’s darkness everywhere, and I am afraid. Somebody wants to hurt me, and I think there’s a man inside the darkness, but I cannot see him,” Faith said.

“How do you know it will happen if we are in the zone?”

“I was wearing those bracelets people in the zone wear, but it was white” Faith said. “I don’t even know how I became like this!”

Adaru had heard a lot of stories of how people first showed their abilities. One day, they were normal and the other they were destroying their houses when they couldn’t control their strength. There is a story his mom used to tell about a neighbor who could control the water. Everybody found out he had an ability when, in a sunny day, water started to pour from inside his house. In a very short time, it flooded the entire street, carrying cars and people away.

Adaru was nervous that his sister was starting to get an ability like that.

He decided to stay inside his home those two days. In part to keep an eye on Faith, but Adaru was also fearful that the police from the zone were looking for them in New Haven.

On Monday, he had no choice but to get out to school.

On recess, he was talking with Joe and Nathan about their experiences in the Zone. Unlike Adaru, they wanted to go back.

Joe was still excited about how he floated for a couple of minutes. Nathan was telling him about a young girl who lifted him, a bench and a horse with her two arms.

Then, Nathan shifted the conversation to talk about Jade.

“Looks like something happen between you two during Evolution Day,” Nathan said.

“We just hanged out together,” Adaru said trying to be cool.

“Well, I guess I have to warn you. I heard Lester has set his eyes on her,” Nathan said seriously.

“He has a girlfriend already,” Adaru said.

“I heard he broke up with her,” Nathan said. “I heard he wants Jade. He is interested in her because of her hair.”

“Who likes someone because of her hair?” Joe said.

“I guess someone like Lester. Of all the girlfriends I know he has had, none of them had Jade’s hair,” Nathan responded.

Adaru couldn’t blame Lester in liking Jade’s light blonde hair. He was concerned by the news, however. Lester was the class president and the hero of the debate team. Everybody liked him. You could ask any girl and they will tell you, he was the best looking student at the school.

But Adaru knew Jade did not like Lester. She had not told him that exactly, but she wasn’t the kind of girl who goes for appearances, Adaru thought.

“I also heard Mitch didn’t come to class today,” Nathan said.

“Mitch has skipped classes before, even since elementary school,” Joe said.

“Not this time. I heard he is purchasing M-pills so he can live in the zone,” Nathan said grimly.

“He is purchasing abilities? But that’s dangerous, and strictly illegal,” Joe said nervously.

“Thank you, captain obvious. We all attended the classes given by the police. Still, Mitch always wanted to live there,” Nathan said.

“Almost everyone wants to live there,” Adaru said.

At that time, music started on the school’s speaker system.

“Apparently somebody wants to entertain us with music,” Nathan said.

“Or is just the end of recess,” Adaru said.

When classes ended, he saw Jade at the entrance of the school. Lester was there too. He wanted to talk to her, but he was surrounded by Jade’s friends. Adaru decided to take Jade away from the entrance.

She smiled at him, and he got nervous. If Lester was actually trying to get her, he had to strike first.

“I was wondering if you are doing anything tomorrow?” he asked.

“I have a birthday party tomorrow,” she said.

Adaru felt disappointed, but he couldn’t give up.

“What about the day after that?”

Jade smiled.

“Why do you want to do something? We just went together to Evolution Day.”

“It wasn’t just us. I wanted to take you to the movies. Besides, I need to make up that I left you alone with your parents on the way back,” Adaru said.

“Joe and Nathan were also with me.”

“So sorry about that.”

Jade laughed and for a moment, Adaru thought everything was brighter.

“I am busy all this week. Today, I have basketball practice,” she said. “Do you want to come and eat something afterwards?”

Adaru couldn’t hide his glee.

“Of course. I’ll see you then!”

The smile never left Adaru’s face. He couldn’t hide it from Faith when they met after school, who seemed worried because she had never seen him that happy before. When he told her he had a date with Jade, she raised an eyebrow.

“Does she know it’s a date?” Faith said.

“Yeah, of course.”

“Did you tell her you were going on a date?”

“Not exactly.”

“Then it’s not a date. She is just hanging out with you.”

“Still, it’s time we are spending together,” Adaru said.

“That’s true.”

The siblings walked in silence. When they arrived at their apartment building, they were surprised that there was a large crowd at the entrance. Faith grabbed Adaru’s hand and he thought that she was afraid.

“It’s not the Humanists. They are our neighbors. Let’s see what is going on,” he said, trying to calm her down.

When they got closer, they could hear the laughter and clapping. There were minor fireworks, but it didn’t sound like fireworks.

“Oh my, how lucky you are! Didn’t you have an audition?” someone said.

“We didn’t know he had an ability until this morning,” a woman said.

Adaru got the front to see a young boy, probably younger than Faith, making smalls balls of fire from his hands. Everyone was mesmerized by the perfect, round and beautiful orange spheres of flames that he was creating. He threw two to the skies and they exploded, forming red fireworks.

Everybody clapped. They were clearly excited even though most of them should have seen a similar spectacle just that weekend.

“So when are you going to live in the zone?” a man said. Adaru could hear the hint of jealousy in his voice.

“I called them this morning. They told me to not take him to school since someone can come today. They didn’t tell me a time,” the mother said.

“Classic government people. They think we have all the time in their world to just wait for them whenever they feel like it,” a man said.

“As long as they pay for our food and rent, I will wait for them all week,” the mother said again and everyone laughed.

Adaru was curious to know what more the boy could do, but he felt Faith pulling him away.

“We need to go now,” she said.

They climbed the stairs and when they were at their floor Adaru asked what was wrong.

“The people of the zone are coming. They are coming for me,” she said.

“No they are not,” Adaru said. “They are only coming to see that boy. Not you.”

“I know I have an ability. I know they will find out,” Faith said, now more in a panic.

“Your dreams are just that, dreams,” Adaru said grabbing her by the shoulders, but he also doubted that. “Just relax.”

Faith hugged Adaru, hiding her face on his chest. Adaru thought she was about to cry.

“You are really that scared to go in the zone?” Adaru asked while combing her hair with his fingers.

“Yes. I think someone wants me there.”

“Who?”

“I don’t know. Just a bad man, a man made of darkness,” Faith said.

“There’s no man made of darkness,” Adaru said.

“Like there is no boy who can make fire?” Faith said raising his head so she could see Adaru’s eyes.

“That’s different.”

The rest of the afternoon, the siblings didn’t talk. Their mother arrived some time later and went to her room. Adaru remembered that Jade got out of practice at 5 p.m., just little more than an hour away. It was an eternity.

He walked to the closet of his room. He opened it and picked a shirt that he thought would look nice on him. His eyes lingered on a box at the corner. He grabbed the yellow lunchbox and he opened it to see the folded papers and the crisp one hundred bills.

“What’s that?” Faith said at the entrance. Adaru tried to hide it but it was too late. He better came clean to his sister.

“Things that our father left us,” Adaru said.

“Can I see it?”

“I honestly prefer you didn’t. They are just things you should not know about dad,” Adaru said.

“Just tell me, is that box important for you?”

“Very.”

Adaru heard the door closed. He went to his room and started opening the folded papers. Two were birthday cards from his dad. Another one was a receipt from the very first time he helped his dad at his work. Of course, by doing that, Adaru was breaking many federal laws. But at that time, he was just so happy to be with his dad on an adventure.

Then he saw what he was afraid of remembering. Adaru saw the blue pin with an H engraved at the bottom of the box. He looked at it with shame. Before, it was just a pin that made Adaru curious to know more about his father’s past. Now, it was shameful because of what happened to Faith and him on that Evolution Day.

The pin was proof that his father once belonged to The Humanists. His father was always telling them about all the work they were doing to save the world from freaks and also how he fooled them every single day he got into the zone with contraband and then came back with money and equipment to sell in New Haven’s black market.

Adaru was proud of his father, and he agreed with some of his beliefs. He also knew he loved Faith, and he could not deny she was one of the freaks.

The people who threw tomatoes and eggs to him and Faith seemed normal, so it was possible that Adaru’s father could had been in that crowd. He could have been in that crowd.

He always remained behind when the family went to the Alpha Zone on past Evolution Days. He said he didn’t want to meet a disgruntled customer. When they came back, he was never at home. Sometimes, he never returned until days or weeks later.

Adaru thought it was like eight months ago that he said he needed to do something for a friend. He never came back. His mom answered a phone call that made her say obscenities. She had already finished six beers and it was only early afternoon.

She said that their father was not coming back for a long time.

“The stupid allowed himself to be caught,” she said.

She didn’t say what he did. Faith only knew her father was in prison. Now, Adaru didn’t want her to know he used to belong to the same group that threw her a tomato. A group that would hate Faith if they knew she had an ability.

“Dad, would you hate Faith too?” Adaru thought. “Do I have to hate her too?”

Adaru remembered a day he had came back with dirty clothes, scratches and blood coming out from his nose and mouth. He had gotten in a fight with someone over his poor clothes. His father gave him a light tap on his head with his knuckles.

“Stupid boy, what matters is what is inside your head, not your clothes” he said to him.

Adaru grabbed two bills of ten and put everything back in the lunch box and then back into the closet. He got out for his appointment with Jade at the school. He was nervous, so he did some flips on the streets and jumped on top of walls as a way to vent his nervousness.

When he got to the school, there was still music blasting from the speakers. Jade was waiting for him outside.

“Am I late?” Adaru asked nervously.

“No. Practice ended early,” she said not looking at him. She looked like she had something on her mind.

“”So do you want to eat something?” Adaru asked.

“Huh?” Jade said, looking at him. “Oh, yeah. “

He tried starting a conversation with Jade, but she was distracted. He asked what she was thinking.

“Nothing,” she said.

They went to a food stand and ordered two hamburgers. Adaru asked for one with double cheese.

“I really love cheese,” he said to Jade while paying for the meal and trying to make conversation.

It was then than a fire truck zoomed past them, and then an ambulance and two police cars.

“What’s going on?” Jade asked.

“It appears there is a fire nearby,” another customer said.

Adaru looked to the corner when the patrols turned. He then looked at the sky and saw smoke engulfing several buildings. The smoke came from the block where he lived.

He then became very afraid. He needed to go back. He looked at Jade’s eyes. She knew what he was thinking.

“Go,” she said.

Adaru ran and didn’t stop until he reached his home street. He turned a corner to see his apartment complex on fire. Neighbors were outside, some screaming and others crying.

“What happened?” he asked.

“We don’t know. Suddenly all of the first and second floors got engulfed in flames. We had to get to the other side of the building to escape,” a man said.

“Have you seen my sister or my mother?” he asked. The man said no.

Adaru ran to the front of the building. He could only see the last floor and the firemen were scrambling to get their hoses working. Adaru could only see one big stream of water disappearing in the smoke.

He screamed for Faith, hoping that she could hear him and yell back. He saw neighbors but nobody could tell him if Faith had made it outside.

“I saw your mom leave before the fire started,” a woman said. “Maybe she went with her?”

Adaru’s wanted to believe that, but he knew she was at a bar getting drunk.

That meant that Faith was still inside.

“Someone bring the ladder! There are people trapped in the upper floors!” a fireman shouted.

Adaru ran to the fire truck that had a big steel ladder. He was stopped by a bulky fireman who was already sweating.

“My sister is trapped in the third floor! Please save her!” he screamed.

“We can’t go to the third floor right now,” the fireman said. “Are you sure she is there?”

“I left her there,” Adaru said.

“But are you sure? We can’t get in the second floor or third.”

Panic filled Adaru. He knew Faith was there but he realized that the firemen would not go searching for her. He saw that the truck started to move the metallic ladder.

“Go back!” the fireman said. Adaru nodded and he turned. He looked back to make sure the fireman had returned to fight the fire. When he had gone away, Adaru ran to get up the ladder truck.

“Hey! Stop!” he heard.

He climbed up the truck and then the ladder as fast as he could. When he got to the top, it was a couple of feet away from the fourth floor railing. He jumped and reached it. He pulled himself to the other side and came face to face with a neighbor.

“Are you here to save me?” he asked.

“No, but if you wait they can take you down,” Adaru said.

Adaru stood up and ran to the stairs to get down. The smoke was thick and he started coughing when he got to his floor. He counted the doors until he reach the fourth and opened it to get inside his apartment.

He felt the heat from the flames downstairs. He didn’t have enough time.

“Faith!” he yelled.

Silence.

“Faith!” he yelled again.

And silence responded again. She may had left or escaped already.

Or she may be unconscious somewhere inside.

He started going to her room. He yelled for her name a third time.

“Here!” he heard from his own room.

He turned and walked to his room. He yelled for her and found Faith at the side of the bed. She was holding his lunch box.

“What are you doing?” he asked.

“I was going out when the fire started but I remember you had left your special box. I tried to save it but the smoke got too thick,” she said.

“Stupid. It wasn’t that important,” Adaru said. “Now, come on. We have to get out.”

He grabbed her hand and led her outside. They both coughed when they arrived at the hallway. He could see the flames coming from the floor below. He grabbed Faith and ran to the stairs. They climbed to the upper floor to get to the ladder, but they couldn’t find it or the man who was there.

“Help!” Adaru yelled, but the smoke didn’t let him see to the street.

He had never let go of Faith’s hand. He quickly pulled her near him to go the fifth and last floor. At the edge, he could see the ladder that was getting away from the building, carrying two people on it.

“Wait!” he yelled. They saw him but the truck had already started to get away from them.

Adaru held Faith tightly but then the floor shook. Adaru stepped back before part of the floor collapsed. The smoke was now covering the entire building.

“We can’t get near the building! Need to find other way!” a fireman shouted.

Adaru and Faith got to the roof after climbing the remaining of the stairs. The two of them were on an island of smoke and fire with nowhere else to go.

Adaru tried to sign the firemen that they were up in the roof, but he wasn’t sure if they could see him. He thought he could jump to another building, but the closest one was seven feet away.

He saw the building and it was lower than his complex by two levels. He measured the distance and he felt he could reach the building, but only by himself. He doubted he had the strength to jump that distance with Faith on his back.

“What can we do?” she said.

“How far can you jump?” Adaru said.

“Not very far,” she said. “I’m scared.”

“Me too but I have an idea,” Adaru said. “Get on my back.”

Faith gave the lunchbox to Adaru. She got behind Adaru and put her arms around his neck.

“Hold on tight. I am going to jump to get to the other building,” Adaru said.

“Can you make it?” Faith said nervously.

“It is a long shot,” he said.

“You will make it,” Faith said, still afraid.

Adaru ran as fast as he could. Faith’s body was slowing him down, and his legs had become heavy. Still, he ran. When he got the edge, he jumped. He felt the air hitting his face when he started falling. He saw the roof of the other building getting away from his reach.

He wasn’t going to make it.

“Reach it!” Faith yelled.

Adaru felt a strong gust hitting his back. He felt it was pushing him and lifted him enough to land on the roof. Upon landing, Adaru’s ankles twisted. Faith and he rolled. Faith got up but Adaru was in so much pain he couldn’t stand up.

But he smiled when he saw Faith looking down on him with those bright eyes and a big smile.

Chapter 1: The Nightmares

She felt the fear crept into her again. She knew she was dreaming. She knew it wasn’t real, but she was still afraid.

The dream started differently than other nights. She saw a girl with a blue backpack lying face-down on the bloody street. Then, she saw his brother talking with Jade. He was nervous and she was smiling with a pony tail. She was asking him to go together to Alpha Zone One on Evolution Day. He coyly said yes.

That was when the dream changed, like somebody changed a channel.

She saw herself inside the highest floor of a building. The building had to be made of material similar to crystal, because she could see outside. The sun was slowly getting down the horizon. She could still see the city, but she didn’t recognize where she was. She tried to move, but something was detaining her. She looked down and saw a white chain holding her from the left wrist to the floor. It was heavy and she couldn’t move. She screamed but nobody was there. She knew what it was coming, and true enough, darkness emerged from the horizon.

It was different almost every night. In some nights, there were explosions destroying the city. In others, she saw people disappear into nothingness, but the darkness was the most common version of her nightmare. A dark blanket emerged and covered all the buildings. It grew and grew so tall that it reached the tower she was in. It transformed into a wall, covering the windows so she couldn’t see anything anymore. Then, it broke the glass, but instead of swallowing her like it did the city, it surrounded her like if it was making the room smaller.

Her breathing was hard. Then, she heard it again.

The laughter.

It was a cruel laughter. She focused in one point of the darkness and then she saw them again. She saw the eyes with a different color, one hazelnut and the other brown. She also saw the broad but uneven smile. The darkness was looking and smiling at her.

Suddenly, shadows emerged. They formed arms. They were dark arms, and they were coming at her.

That’s when she screamed.

Adaru heard the screams from his sister’s room. He stood up groggily. He almost fell when he tripped on his tennis shoes.

The screams were getting louder. Adaru got angrier at his mom. She was either too drunk to hear or she didn’t care.

Or she might even not be at home, spending the night somewhere Adaru didn’t want to think about.

He entered Faith’s room and saw her moving in her sleep from one side of the bed to the other. He held her by the shoulders and told her to wake up.

“Faith, it’s a dream. It’s only a dream,” Adaru told her softly. She got calmer and hugged Adaru when she woke up. Adaru touched her long red hair, passing his fingers through it. He was trying to get her back to sleep, but instead, she opened her eyes.

Adaru could see her green eyes, those beautiful green eyes that only she had in the family. Adaru remembered she used to have the same brown eyes and dark hair like him when she was a baby.

She was barely twelve, only three years younger than him but she always seemed fragile and she was not getting enough sleep. Neither was he. This was the fourth time in a week that Adaru came to her bed to comfort her from the nightmares.

“Hi tomato head,” Adaru said. “Same dream?”

“Yes,” she said. “I was in a middle of a city and then everything got dark. Then, someone was inside the darkness. He was laughing and trying to get me.”

“Hush. It was only a dream,” Adaru said.

“It was very real,” she said.

“No, it wasn’t. Could you feel like someone was grabbing you as I am doing right now?” Adaru said while hugging her tightly.

“No,” she said.

“This is real. Dreams are like what happens in the movies.”

“I know that!’ she said.

“Good. Get angrier instead of being afraid,” Adaru thought.

“Will you always be here to wake me from these dreams?” Faith said.

“I will never leave you,” Adaru said.

They both fell asleep.

The bed was too small for Adaru. In a couple of hours, he awoke with tightness on his back and shoulders. Faith had turned away from him and was deeply asleep. The faint light at the window told Adaru that dawn was approaching. Adaru decided to rise and get ready for school.

He went to the kitchen where dirty dishes from last week still filled the sink. Adaru killed two flies with an old comic book he grabbed from the floor. He opened the fridge to get the milk.

There was none.

He took his mother’s purse but couldn’t find any money or food stamps.

He grabbed some slices of bread and put a slice bologna on top of each one, placed them inside a plastic seal and grabbed two cans of juice.

He picked up a heap of dirty clothes from his room and chose the shirt that smelled the least. After taking a shower and getting dressed, he took out the trash and came back to the apartment, to carefully wake Faith.

“It’s time to go to school,” he told her.

“Five more minutes.”

“No. Get up now,” he ordered.

When she was bathing, Adaru knocked on the door of his mother’s room. She didn’t answer, but Adaru could hear her snoring.

“Well, at least she’s alive,” Adaru thought bitterly.

He grabbed Faith’s uniform from the dryer. He was ironing the blouse when Faith got out of the bathroom covered by a towel.

“Is there something to eat?”

“No, but I will give you money to buy some cereal at the school,” Adaru said. “Go watch some TV while I finish.”

Adaru could hear the TV from the next room. The anchors were talking about the preparations for Evolution Day. Adaru hated that day. It was just a reminder that he had been left behind by just being a normal fifteen-year-old boy and instead, weirdness and abominations were praised. He went to the room and gave her the uniform.

“Are we going to Alpha Zone One tomorrow?” Faith asked.

“Yes, we are. Mom has not given up,” he said without disguising his disgust.

“You can still make it. You are very agile. You were the best at your gym class,” she said after he left the room to let her change.

“Yeah, but I am not as good as the people who live in the zone. I saw an 80-year-old man doing more flips than I was able to do.”

“Mom says life would be better if we had an ability,” Faith said. Adaru heard the zipper of her jumper being pulled. “Is that true?”

“No. Just remember what dad used to say,” Adaru said. She got out of her room with her backpack on her shoulder.

“What matters the most is what is inside your head,” Faith said with a smile.

“Exactly.”

The siblings got out from their apartment. It was a very windy day. They lived at the third level of a 5-floor apartment complex in one of the poorest neighborhoods of the city. They had to get down stairs and small hallways to get out on the streets. Adaru looked down at her sister. He smiled and she returned it with her own. People say they had the same smile. It was the smile that proved they were related.

“I had more dreams last night,” she said.

“More nightmares?”

“No, I dreamed that Jade asked you out.”

Adaru felt his face turned red. Jade had been their friend for years but he had been attracted to her for some months now.

“You are joking,” he said nervously.

“Nope. She was in the hallway of the school. She was wearing a ponytail and was asking you if you wanted to go to Alpha Zone One for Evolution Day with her,” Faith said.

“Cut it out.”

“She did. But it may not come true since I told you, right?” Faith said. “Mommy said that if you told your dreams, they won’t come true.”

“Then why did you tell me?”

“Because I also dreamed that a girl with a blue backpack got hit by a car,” Faith said timidly.

“Did you know the girl?”

“No.”

The siblings crossed the streets that were filled with cars and vendors. They were just two of hundreds of students on that Thursday morning. The neighborhood was congested at this time because there were one high school and two middle schools on a three-block radius. It was not odd to hear insults from parents that were late and the multiple crashes caused by drivers who had not enough coffee to be fully awake.

Adaru dropped Jade near her middle school. He gave her some food coupons that he had hidden from her mother so she could buy breakfast. She also gave her one of the sandwiches and a juice can.

“See you later,” he told her.

“Could you do me a favor?” she asked timidly.

“Anything.”

“When Jade asks you out, please say no,” she said looking down. “I don’t want to be in the Zone without you.”

Adaru smiled. Since he knew it was impossible that Jade was going to ask him out, he said he would do that.

When Adaru got to his school at the other side of the block, he said hello to his friends, Joe and Nathan. They were excitedly talking how they were going to visit the Alpha Zone, which was a tradition for all people living in New Haven.

“I so want to see people flying. They say the sky is filled with people who can fly!” Joe said.

“I can finally enjoy the day since my parents have given up on me showing an ability,” Nathan said. “They have finally agreed that I was a normal boy. I think they are disappointed.”

He and Joe laughed at the joke. But Adaru knew they were also disappointed, because everyone wants to have an ability. Sometimes he felt he was the only one who wanted to be stay normal.

“So are you going to be part of the auditions?” Nathan asked Adaru.

“Yes, my mom enrolled me at the agility test. She has not given up yet,” Adaru said.

“Well, you are a good gymnast. Are you still practicing?”

Adaru didn’t respond. He got away from them and he then started doing some cartwheels. When he finished, they were clapping.

“Showing off to us, who are just mere mortals?” a female voice said.

Adaru turned to see Jade smiling at him. Her smile always made him nervous. She had her long blonde hair loose so Faith’s dream was wrong.

Adaru didn’t know if he was relieved or disappointed.

“So this means you have an audition tomorrow?” she asked Adaru.

“Yes. Mom is not giving up on living in the zone,” he said again.

“Well, I actually wanted to talk to you about tomorrow,” Jade said. Adaru started to get nervous.

Then, the wind started to pick up. It was too strong that Jade’s hair was blocking her face. That’s when the bell for first period rang.

“Oh, I’ll tell you later,” Jade said.

Adaru’s first class was History. It was his favorite subject and that day, the teacher was focusing on the Second Mexican American War that happened a year before the North American Republic was created.

“When people started waking up with the ability to heat things without fire, it didn’t matter how technological advanced your country was,” the teacher said. “You could have one regiment’s worth of firepower in one person. Not only that, there were people in Mexico that could grow fields of crops in one week, so it didn’t matter if you had the best agricultural practices as well.

“What mattered at that time was having the biggest population of people with abilities that you could have. That’s why countries started making treaties with its neighbors to increase population in one big swoop. Asia had the greatest advantage with India and China quickly forming with other countries. That’s why the Asia Empire is the strongest block in the world.”

The teacher signaled a global map in front of class with all the countries. He pushed a keyboard on his computer and the countries changed colors representing the five blocks the world was divided.

“Some annexations were peaceful because they were made through decades of interdependence, migration and treaties. Of course, there were ideological wars because not all the people wanted to shed its national identity. Mexico was one of those countries that at the time, it didn’t know what block it should join. It had two options: the republic or the South American Confederation.”

Adaru was looking at his electronic book. There was a picture of the Battle of El Paso that showed a street filled with rubble. Adaru read it was one of the most devastating battles in the war on United States territory with deaths reaching in the thousands.

Adaru looked at another page and saw a photograph of the Mexican President shaking hands with the American President. The Canadian Prime Minister was smiling behind them.

“So this conflict was one of the biggest wars at the time, but when it was over, the North American Republic was created with the three countries in a fragile alliance,” the teacher said.

“So for homework, I want you to read the next chapter. Next time we will discuss the how and why Europe decided to isolate itself from the rest of the world,” the teacher said just when the bell rang.

Adaru’s next two classes were boring. He didn’t pay attention to them. He was mostly concerned what Jade was about to tell him.

At lunch time, Adaru was surprised to see Jade at the bottom of the stairs.

Her hair was now in a pony tail.

“Hi Adaru. I don’t have much time,” she said smiling. “I just wanted to know, are you going to have some time to spend on the zone tomorrow?”

“Yes, I am,” he said nervously.

“Great! Do you want to come with me before your audition?” she asked.

“The two of us?” Adaru said now more nervous.

“Yes and with my parents. I have also invited Joe, Nathan and some of my friends,” she said.

Adaru didn’t know what to say except a low “yes.”

“Great. I’ll pick you up at 10. See you later,” she said smiling.

Adaru almost jumped when someone patted his back.

It was Lester, the class president.

“It looks like someone has a date tomorrow,” he said.

“No, we are going as a group,” he said while getting away. For some reason, he disliked Lester even though he was the most popular kid of the freshman class.

“Hey, I just wanted to congratulate you,” he said with a grin. “But I don’t think you guys are a couple yet, are you?”

That made Adaru blush.

“We are just friends,” he said and Lester smiled.

“Well, see you then.”

When he saw his back, he remembered the promise he had made to his sister. He tried telling Jade he couldn’t go, but he couldn’t find her for the rest of the lunch hour.

In reality, Adaru wanted to go with Jade. He hoped Faith would understand.

The teachers were leaving extra homework since they were going to have a Holiday the next day. All the students complained since they claimed Evolution Day was a three-day affair. They will not have time to do their homework, they said.

At the end of the day, he walked to the school to pick up Faith, but the human and car traffic delayed him. It was worst than other days at that time of the day.

The day became grimly with gray clouds and constant winds. Faith was already waiting for him at the entrance. She was quiet.

“Are you OK?” Adaru asked.

“You said yes, didn’t you?”

“How do you know?” Adaru asked incredulously.

“Whatever,” she said and started walking away. She stopped and it was at that time an ambulance was heard from the other side of the school. People were walking toward a spot where cars had stopped moving.

“What happened?” a woman said to a couple who was walking from that spot.

“A girl was hit by a car. It was very serious,” the man said.

“Oh my god. Is she badly hurt?” the first woman asked again.

“I don’t know. I only saw her backpack on the street,” said the man.

Adaru then remembered the other part of Faith’s dream.

“Excuse me,” he said to the man. “Do you know what color was it?”

“Well, that’s not important, but I think it was blue,” the man said somewhat annoyed.

Adaru turned to talk to Faith, but she had not stopped and was very far from him. He ran to catch up to her, but she didn’t want to talk.

He thought she was really mad at him, but in reality, she was only thinking of her dream, the uneven smile and the eyes of different colors.