SUNNYVALE

(63) NATURAL SELECTION 2.0

Julie runs as fast as she can, afraid that it might not be enough.

She was hearing voices, as shadows were floating after her, obviously out for blood. And each turn of every street, she would come across someone who is supposed to be dead. Trying to keep her legs active, she would just sometimes scream, before running away somewhere else - and this seemed to be an inevitable loop.

Ever since she's been possessed by Kelley, she would see horrors such as those - but only in her bad dreams. Right now, the scenes seemed a little bit too real and palpable to actually be dreams. 

The voices would increase more and more:

Julie... There is no way out... Our new master is rising... And there will be no one left... You'll be the first one to die...

Trying her best not to listen to those voices, Julie keeps on running, until she stumbles on the sidewalk, feeling her ankle do a loud crack, bringing the tears on her eyes because of the pain. She looks down at her ankle, and suddenly feels nauseous: she has stepped onto a small hole, which caused her foot to be stuck, before her bone would come out. 

"HELP!" she yells, desperate, as the shadows were coming closer.

When they finally are there, Julie immediately recognises the person - or at least, a former person rationally speaking - and gasps.

Alex Morgan is standing in front of her, looking down at her, more real than ever. The only thing that had changed was the colour of her eyes, that went from blue to red.

Julie stops breathing for a moment. 

"The weak die first" Alex concedes, a cruel smile on her lips. 

As her eyes seem to be glowing in the broad daylight, she opens her mouth, and fire seems to be bursting out of it - or at least, Julie assumes it is from the burning sensation she now feels on her whole body. This unbearable pain makes her scream louder than she ever has screamed, as she would feel her skin detach itself from her body.

Until a flutter of wing would be the only sound coming through her ears. 

When the sensation stops - but not the pain, because the damages were done - Julie opens her eyes and watches in awe as a beautiful creature with wide, white wings was flying over her, and immediately grabbed Alex by the throat, taking her up in the air with her. When the angel looks down in order to make sure Julie was 'okay' (despite the circumstances), the blonde immediately recognises the dark-haired with intense green eyes she talked to the other day and who seemed very familiar. 

Smirking in contentment, Ingrid then tightens her grip on Alex's neck, before the latter could not breathe anymore. She then throws her with such force against another building's door, as her body falls heavily on the ground. 

Then, her ghost form leaves her body, that seemed to be lost a second time. The ghost would then stare at the angel with such anger that Ingrid had no other choice but to put her hand forward, from which a giant ice spike comes out and plants itself on the ghost, that explodes immediately. The voice had stopped, and the shadows were running away, knowing very well that the angel was too powerful. 

Ingrid then immediately gets on the ground next to Julie, one of her arm supporting the blonde who was wining in pain, and her left hand immediately reaching for her ankle. As Julie screams in pain, she watches as her bone puts itself back into its righteous place, and the wound would close itself up - same for the many burns all over her body. Once the pain entirely got away, Julie just sits down.

Her and Ingrid's face were very close from each other, as the blonde whispers:

"You saved m-my life..."

Getting lost into Julie's eyes for a moment, Ingrid awkwardly coughs and helps her up, getting away from the girl. 

As she is about to respond something sassy (as always), she freezes, her eyes stuck on something behind Julie. 

When the blonde turns around, she immediately realises it isn't something, but rather someone, who seems deeply disturbed. 

"Shit" Ingrid breathes out, knowing that she broke holy rules about the use of angels' powers on Earth.

In front of them, the witness in question is breathless.

"What the actual fuck" Emily Sonnett slowly lets out, stunned. 

***

"¡Esto es absurdo! ¿Desde cuándo tú, Ingrid, la estudiante modelo, haces algo tan estúpido e irreflexivo?" Mapi exclaims, angry like she's rarely been before. (English: This is absurd! Since when would you, Ingrid the model student, do something so stupid and thoughtless?) 

"What, was I just supposed to let her die and do nothing?" Ingrid responds, very irritated.

"¡No pensé que fueras tan estúpido! Ahora deberías rezar para que el Consejo no se entere de esta evidente falta de criterio, porque podrías ser expulsado para siempre." (English: I didn't think you were that stupid! Now you better pray that the Council doesn't find out about this obvious lack of judgment, because you could be banned forever.)

Ingrid's eyes seem to be throwing daggers at Mapi, as she says:

"You should know better than anyone that I had to save her - you would've done the same! So stop pretending you're some kind of saint and leave me the fuck alone!" 

With that said, her wings come out of her body, as she takes off immediately, leaving Mapi so angry that she'd punch a wall, that would now have a hole on it. Crystal and Sam exchange a look, as Christen doesn't move, in shock. 

Crystal sighs.

"What Council were you talking about?" Christen asks, raising her eyebrows.

Mapi rolls her eyes, talking to everyone when she explains:

"Celestials are ruled by God's laws, and those who don't follow them are set to appear before the Council, that then decide of our fate. And Ingrid just broke one of the most important one: never use your powers in front of a human being."

"How's Sonnett by the way?" Crystal asks, confused.

"Tierna is with her now, filling her in..." Sam announces.

Mapi shakes her head, truly annoyed. 

"Esto es genial. Esto es simplemente GENIAL. Ahora tenemos que salvar a Shelina de una muerte inminente, traer a Abby del infierno y ahora lidiar con un humano despistado que parece tan perdido como el resto. Increíble." (English: This is great. This is just GREAT. We now gotta save Shelina from an imminent death, bring Abby back from Hell and now deal with a clueless human that seems as lost as the rest of you. Amazing.) 

And she was right: they were clueless...