Journey in the Aftermath

Chapter 4: A Hole Lot of Friends

This chapter is told by the POV of Antonio

It's been about two and a half weeks since the smoke attack. Me and my group of people have been wandering around looking for others that have survived. I have taken the leadership role after we decided we needed one. In my group, there is me, Kelly, Milton, Madeline, and Oliver. Mike didn't make it. In the smoke that we got caught in, he just melted away. Nothing left.

We have come to the conclusion that everyone that has lived through the smoke did so by having special abilities. During the smoke attack, we were running and Kelly tripped over a fallen tree branch and hovered over the ground. In the last two weeks she has discovered that she can manipulate the air around her, letting her fly and do other various things although she barely has control over it. Yesterday she sneezed and sent me through the air. Still hurts.

Oliver on the other hand has gotten his power almost completely down. He only discovered it a few days ago after we were attacked by a group of hungry dogs. He saw a dog about to attack Milton from behind and he took a step forward and was instantly between them. He has spent the days after nonstop trying out his powers to teleport over and over again. He discovered he has a limit of about five yards at a time and can only teleport a few times every hour or else he tires out.

"HELP!!!!" A voice screams out halting my thoughts. We take off running towards the plea. We break out of the woods into a rocky clearing. There are two boys about our age standing over a pit

"Stop screaming!" one yells at whoever is in the pit. The other one turns and sees us running towards them. I lean down while running and scrape my hands into the rocky ground covering them in a super hard layer of condense rock. I smash it into the boys face sending him to the ground hard before he has time to attack us first

"Ok, first off, my skin is impenetrable, but nice try" he says wiping chunks of rock from his face and standing up "and second, we aren't going to hurt you guys unless we have to. We are just trying to get our friend out of the hole"

"Oh.. My bad.." I say releasing my tension on the layer of rock on my hands letting it crumble away "I just thought you were going to hurt her, sorry" I extend my hand toward the boy "I'm Antonio"

"I'm Forest" he says shaking my hand "So Antonio, you mind giving us a hand?"

"Yeah no problem, stand back for a second" I put my hands on the ground and focus really hard. The ground at the bottom of the pit begins to come loose. I lift the ground up out of the pit and set it off to the side. The girl hops off and walks over to us

"Thank you, I'm Bailey. You've met Forest, and this is Levi" she says pointing to the other boy

"So very nice to meet you, hot stuff. I'm Milton" Milton says trying to be slick

"Hot stuff? The only hot around here is the gas that fills your empty head" Bailey says shutting him down

"Get back, moron" Madeline says shoving him out of the way "Hi there. I'm Madeline, this here is Antonio, there is the meathead Milton, Oliver is there in the back, and that's Kelly, Antonio's girlfriend"

"So very nice to meet you all" she says smiling at us. I approach Forest again

"Those two don't happen to have any special abilities like your super skin do they?" I ask trying to prove my theory about only specials surviving

"Oh yes, sorry, that should've been part of the introduction. Well I have indestructible skin, Levi can absorb and become any material he touches, and Bailey can transform into animals, but only if she is touching them" he explains "What about your group?"

"Well, there is my earth thing, Kelly can manipulate air, Madeline is the cold hearted ice queen-"

"Hey!" Madeline blurts out in protest

"Kidding, kidding. She can freeze stuff including the air, Oliver can teleport but there is a cap to how far and often, and your girl Bailey there wasn't far off with her hot air comment about Milton, he can shoot and control fire" I explain back to our new friend

"You know, if you are ok with it, would you mind us tagging along with you guys?" Levi pipes up from behind Forest

"Levi! We are fine on our own. We don't need to bother these people" Forest snaps at Levi

"Woah, hey, it's fine. It wouldn't be a bother. There are some seriously messed up things out there, we could definitely use your help. So what do you say?" I ask trying to ease the tension. We really could use their help. I see Forest think it over and open his mouth to talk

"We will join you" Bailey says putting her hand on Forest's shoulder. He looks over at her and she gives him pleading eyes. I can tell that the three of them have been through alot

"Alright. Yes. But I'm just going to make this clear now. In my eyes, these two come before your people. I will protect them no matter what" He says boldly making his point. I nod in understanding then flash him a warm smile

"Welcome to the team, guys"