Unlikely Hero: Fall of the Demon Slayer

Part 4

I woke up, it was bright outside and the sun was almost all the way up in the sky. I almost slept till noon. I looked down at my phone, but nothing showed up. It was dead, guess that's what happens when you sleep in a tree with no way to charge it. I looked around, up and down the road, to make sure the coast was clear for me to go to Claire's house. There were a couple of Power Hunters patrolling the area, but nothing for me to be worried about. I flew down from the tree and walked over to her house. Her dad's car was in the driveway so I know she is home. I got to the door, raised my hand, and knocked on it. I could sense someone coming up to the door, they seemed worried. They had stopped at the door and I heard them slide the deadbolt open. The door opened and Claire's dad was standing there, he looked shook up about something. He looked around outside and then waved for me to come in. I walked inside. He looked at me and put a finger to his mouth as if he was telling me to be quiet. Something was surely up. He gestured for me to follow him upstairs. I nodded my head and walked up with him, we walked down a long hallway. There were pictures of his family all over the walls. In the middle of the hall was a picture of a man I had never met, he was in a soldiers uniform, his picture had dog tags hanging off the corner of them. There was small text on the picture that read "Beloved son. Brave soldier. Rest in Piece, John McWilliams." I was heart broken by that, but couldn't stop and stare for long. Claire's dad led me down the hall, we stopped outside a door at the end. He bent down to whisper to me.

"Can you keep a secret?"

I was confused, he could obviously tell. He slowly opened the door. As it opened I could sense four people in the room. All of them I recognized. The door opened more, I saw Claire's mom sitting beside a bed. He opened the door the rest of the way. I saw Claire sitting on the ground next to her mother. looked up and was shocked at what I saw. The two kids were laying in the bed sleeping. That explains why Claire's dad seemed so worried, he thought I might have been a Power Hunter looking for the kids. Claire looked up at me, she stood up and walked over to me. She gave me a hug and grabbed my hand. She walked me into the hallway.

"I know this is weird but they were at our front steps last night. They looked exhausted and beat up so we let them in. We helped them and then asked them where they had come from. They told us that they had escaped from the hospital because some bad men were after them. We asked why they were after them and then they showed us they had powers. I'm so confused about all of this and then we almost had a close call with one of those government guys." She said, her voice was trembling.

I pulled her in and hugged her.

"It's okay, I'm here to help. I was at the hospital when they escaped and I know the government guys that are after them. They call themselves Power Hunters and they tired to attack my house last night. I took mom to the airport so she wasn't caught up in all of this."

"Oh my god. How did they know where to find you?"

"While I was a the hospital they had attacked me. I was in human form in the beginning of the fight so they used the security cam footage to find out who I was." I told her.

She was even more stressed now. Claire's dad opened the door and waved for us to come into the room. I walked in and the kids were both sitting up in the bed. I walked over and kneeled down next to the bed.

"Hey, do you guys remember me? I'm the one who saved you from the woods yesterday."

I was trying to sound as non-threatening as possible, I don't want another incident like at the hospital where I was incapacitated by the little girl's scream. The boy blinked as if he was trying to get his eyes to focus. Then he got a small smile on his face.

"So you do remember me?" I asked.

He shook his head up and down.

"Why are the Power Hunters after you?" I asked. I wanted to get straight to the point.

His eyes slightly widened. He opened his mouth to say something, but hesitated.

"It's okay, I'm trying to help you. You can tell me what it is." I told him.

He seemed to loosen up after I said that.

"W...we have been running from them for three years. They are after us because of the power we have. We were captured by them about a month ago. They had ran experiments on us and other children that were there."

So there are more people like us, more kids with powers.

"How did you guys escape?"

He closed his eyes as if he was trying to think about it. Then his faced straightened and his eyes popped open like the thought just popped into his head.

"One of the scientists that were there had gathered up a bunch of the kids, including my sister and I, and drove us away. That was a few months ago. He had collected about ten other kids and dropped them off at places he thought they would be safe in across the country. We were the last ones left, while we were driving through the town a deer had jumped out in front of the car we were in. He had jerked the wheel and drove off the side of the road. A tree limb impaled him so we took off to the woods."

HIs eyes began to well up with tears. I could sense the grief filling up inside him. I put my hand on his shoulder to comfort him. Claire moved in and gave him a hug, she wrapped her arms around him and squeezed. I could sense that she was starting to get upset about this too. His sister sat up, I'm sure she was awake the whole time because she hugged him too. Everyone was in a group hug after that. It was sad thinking about what they had been through, all they had seen. It was enough to give me chills. They had experimented on kids. All because they had powers.

"Where is the place where they held you guys and the other kids?" I asked.

Everyone moved away from him so he could speak.

"I think it was over near San Diego, California. You might have to get it out of one of the Power Hunters though." He said wiping tears away from his eyes.

"Okay then, looks like I'm going hunting later."

I walked out into the hallway, Claire followed. Her parents stayed behind and looked over the kids. I walked downstairs with Claire. She looked extremely tired, she must have been up all night with the kids. I sat down on the couch in the living room and Claire sat down with me. She laid her had on my shoulder and gripped my arm. I leaned my head on hers. She closed her eyes and I felt her fall asleep. I pulled the pillow out from underneath me and l placed it on my lap. I moved her head onto the pillow, she curled up into a little ball next to me, I took my jacket off and laid it out over her so she stays warm. I felt myself starting to drift off to sleep as well. I closed my eyes and was asleep in moments.