Super Glitches 3: Stranded

World War Three

I ducked between two warring hoodies and laughed. I stumbled on for a few feet before collapsing onto the ground and crying with laughter, doubled over and shaking. A smoke canister landed by my head and I used shadows to hurl it away and smash someone's skull in with it.

"Shaade!" Georgina yelled. "Stop being an idiot and show yourself!"

"It's World War Three!" I shouted back. "At least let me kill a few people first!"

"Don't you freaking dare!"

"Watch me!" I dived between someone's legs and stabbed upwards. They screamed and I shot some shadows at their chest. The young man tripped over and started crying, sobbing out his blood onto the floor. I was ecstastic; my shadows could roam free!

"Move it," I growled, grinning. The dying teenager whimpered and looked up at me with fear filled eyes. He shuffled backwards, holding one hand to his chest. I waited for a few more seconds before piercing him with the shadows and throwing him against a tree.

"That was my brother!" a voice cried. I spun on my heel, smiling cruelly, eyes darker than the blackest coal. 

"Oh was it?" I replied, walking over to the trembling child slowly. "Well, I'm sorry. What's your name?"

"Rod," he whispered, barely loud enough for me to hear. "And you're the one who murdered Jimmy, ain't ya?"

"Murdered?" I barked out a laugh. "I was merely showing him what would happen if you meddled with a demon."

"You're a demon?" the teenager squeaked. I rolled my eyes and turned my teeth into fangs. He started sobbing violently, shaking and shivering. 

"I'm not a demon," I said. "I'm... hmm... I'm me, I suppose. Sure I'm a demon but I'm also god of shadows. My name's Shaade, just in case you were wondering."

"Why... why are you telling me all this?" Rod mumbled. I shrugged.

"I haven't been able to talk to many people," I said sadly. "My brain was re-programmed, see. So now if I look at my friends directly then I end up murdering them."

"But the real you is still there," Rod argued. "You haven't killed me but I saw you laughing back there. You just need to sit down and have a little chat, fella."

"Maybe," I said quietly. "And you know how you said that I haven't killed you?"

"Yeah."

"Well, now I have." I speared him on the end of a lance of shadows, tossing his limp body aside as if it were litter. My heart was cold and I felt it crack. The ice surrounding my being was melting under a peculiar heat but hot and cold? Well, think about what happens when you pour hot water over a frozen windscreen. It cracks. 

"Shaade," Georgina growled. "Stop killing people."

"Please," Sophie added. She tilted her head and started listening to animal conversations (the shadows told me that - I didn't turn to look). "By the way, that boy you threw into a tree? He's not dead."

"He is now," Rebecca said guiltily. "I think I just set fire to him by accident."

"Becca," Georgina wailed. "Well done, idiot."

"Don't call me an idiot," Rebecca shot back. "Idiot."

"Don't start fighting again," Sophie moaned as Georgina opened her mouth to angrily retort. "Otherwise I'm swapping you two for Emmi."

"Please don't!"

"If you swap me for Emmi then Shaade, you've got my permission to murder Sophie." 

"Oh shush," I laughed. "Look at you three. Squabbling like siblings. And I suppose, with only the four of us having powers in all of the world-"

"Five," Rebecca interrupted. "Emmi has the power to control Pokemon."

"Oh. Well, that was an accident then," I frowned. "I think I gave her powers when I gave her that Eevee. Where is she?"

"She's looking after Doctor Dufus," Georgina said. "Y'know, that scientist who gave us these powers."

"Talking of powers, what can you guys actually do?" I asked. "I know that you can stop time, George, but that's it. Sophie I suppose can talk to animals..."

"Actually, I can only understand them," Sophie pointed out. "They don't know what I'm saying but I know every word of their conversations."

"Oh okay. Well, Rebecca? What can you do? And George, what's your glitch?"

"I can control the four main elements," Rebecca said. "Fire, water, earth and air but I can't use only one. Always two at a time. Slightly annoying if you're trying to put out a fire and you keep re-lighting it."

"Aha. George?"

"I'm not sure," Georgina frowned, confused. "Oh wait! I remember now! Doctor Dufus said that the more I use the time stopping the more likely it is I'll rip a hole in the universe."

"And you only remember that now?! How much have you used it?!" I cried in panic, whirling around and grabbing her by the shoulders, almost on autopilot. She gasped and the world slowed down.

My eyes turned black, my veins turned grey and showed clearly through my paper-thin skin, my hair went ashen grey and my outfit took on a new shade; black. My teeth protruded over my lips, becoming razor-sharp vampire fangs. Shadows whipped around my legs and turned into a mini-tornado, covering the entire battle. All I could see - well, all that my mind could register - were two golden eyes, terrified and staring directly at me, almost into my soul. Just outside of my vision I spotted a quivering hand being raised, holding a silver stopwatch.

"What are you doing?" the non-demon me whispered. 

"There are lots of things you can do with a stopwatch," Georgina replied with a sad smile. Then she pressed the button and the world exploded.