The Altered.

Chapter XVIII.

Everybody leapt to their feet. Fear replaced the laid-back ambiance that had taken place in the room just seconds ago.

"What was that?" Luca whispered. He lingered nervously behind as all of the older teens raced for the door without answering his question. The only way they could figure it out was by seeing for themselves.

Eira slammed her hand against the small electronic pad that would typically unlock the door, but she seemed to remember with haste that the lack of electricity would mean it wouldn't function. She grabbed the lock instead and tried to figure out how it worked. In the end, she just yanked at it and it easily slid open with a small click. She yanked the door open so forcefully it was almost wrenched from its hinges.

"Watch it," muttered Miles, brushing past her to get a view of what was happening in the hallway.

Two boys were in the hall. One had to be relatively the same age as Miles and his group, but the other boy in the hall was obviously Altered. If his age didn't give that away, the fact that he was violently trying to attack the Unaltered boy definitely did. Both of them must have been students. Miles gathered this by judging how positively rich they looked and coming to the conclusion that they belonged here.

The scene unfolded rapidly. The Altered had no weapons, but his knuckles were abraded and his hands were clenched into fists. He was driving the younger boy into the corner of the hall, throwing aggressive punches that weren't countered very well by the Unaltered target. Before Miles could wonder why his own group had heard crashing noises from inside, the Altered boy hurled the Unaltered boy across the wall, sounding the same loud noise that Miles and his group had obviously heard.

"Hey!" cried Lia, and immediately looked like she regretted it when the Altered boy glanced over his shoulder at her. The Unaltered boy looked disoriented and pained, even more so when his attacker dropped him and he was left to crumple wordlessly to the floor. He clutched his hands to his face.

Lia, panicking, backed away. "Stop that!" she yelled at the Altered boy, sounding much less confident this time. She found herself stumbling back into Miles and Eira. Miles moved back out of the way and Aaron grabbed Eira's arm, pulling her back too. Lia immediately ducked inside, all courage drained from her posture.

Before anything else could happen, there was a sudden shove from behind Miles who again moved immediately, and then Luca was there. It took a few heartbeats for Miles to realise that Luca was holding something, hefting it high like he was brandishing a weapon.

That weapon was, in fact, a frying pan.

It seemed to Miles like an extraordinarily stupid idea for a weapon, and he was convinced this would be Luca's end right here until Luca swung the pan directly for the Altered's head. Miles heard rather than saw the pan make impact, and then there was a thud that indicated somebody had fallen.

Miles looked back at the scene; the Altered boy lay, unmoving, on the ground. He didn't so much as twitch to indicate that he was still conscious.

One second passed. Two.

"Holy shit," breathed Lia, and then she threw her arms around Luca and squeezed him so tight she lifted him off the ground. "I can't believe you just did that! "

Luca had to drop the frypan to accept Lia's embrace, which he wriggled and squirmed to get free of. "Did I kill him?"

Miles pushed through the doorway, crouching dangerously close to the Altered boy. "No," Miles said, hearing the relief in his own voice when he noticed that the Altered was still breathing, "he's just unconscious."

Across the hall, Aaron had knelt down beside the fallen Unaltered boy, who was starting to regain his composure now. "You two must be students, right?"

The Unaltered woozily propped himself up against the wall, and then he nodded. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry. I've never seen him like that. He's never done that -"