In The Midst Of Chaos

0.1 When They Met

'Huff.'

'Huff.'

'Huff.'

'Huff'

Four young men stood in a semicircle in front of two young women, breathing heavily.

Sweat mixed with blood trickled down their pale faces. They could not afford to take their attention off the monster that struggled to get out of the trap they made.

They were exhausted, as they ran through the forest for hours, only taking small breaks in between, as the relentless monster chased.

They were at their wits' end as the monster was stronger and faster than them, not to mention it was persistent.

This was their only choice now. They had to fight. But with two of the members of the group having non-combatant abilities, not to mention, one of the girls lay unconscious in the other's arms.

Things weren't looking good for them. Blood trickled down one of the young men's noses. His legs shook as he forced himself to keep upright.

He used the last of his earth ability to trap the monster's legs. He turned the ground around the monster's feet into quick sand before solidifying it.

However, due to him being exhausted and lacking the skills to properly use his ability, he could only sink the zombie to its ankles.

"You have one shot!" He muttered to the others. He didn't have to say that. They all knew it. That was the only chance. If they couldn't kill it before it broke free, then they were all dead.

The other three young men nodded heavily, putting everything into this final attack. They activated their abilities. Ice, steel, and fire.

Each young man controlled their respective ability to the best they could and launched it, aiming for the zombie's head.

'It's fine,' they thought as the attacks were hurled towards the zombie. 'Our attacks will reach!'

It was just a level two zombie, nothing to fear, a bunch of level ones like them could kill it. That is what they thought collectively.

But it wasn't a level-two zombie. They had no way of knowing that this was level three. Far above their rank. This zombie wasn't only strong and fast. It had an ability to!

The five of them watched in horror as the zombie blocked the attacks with an invisible shield.

That's when they knew they weren't going to make it out of the dense forest alive. After everything they had been through, after all the precious people they lost, this was how it ended.

"This is better," one of the young men laughed in a self-deprecating manner. "Better to die at the hands of this monster than those others."

Everyone knew which monster he referred to. The monsters that caused all their suffering in the first place.

"I hope I turn into a high-ranking zombie. Maybe I'd cross their paths and eat them," another sighed in resolution.

No one spoke after that as they watched as the zombie broke free of the restraints with a roar.

"Found it!" A young boy's voice grabbed their attention. Everyone quickly turned, forgetting the zombie as they watched in horror as two kids walked out of some bushes to the side. A young boy and girl. The sudden appearance of these children sent them into an immense panic.

"Run!" The girl who held the unconscious shouted at the children. But the children ignored her and walked out in the open and stopped a few meters away from them.

"It's strong," the boy remarked, while the girl glanced at the young adults with an expressionless face.

"What the f**k are you doing? Run!" a young man shouted at the children. He stumbled as he tried to move towards them.

"It's okay, it can't move right now." The boy pointed his finger at the zombie. Taken back at his response, they turned toward the zombie.

To their utter surprise, the zombie was frozen mid-run, not making a sound as its eyes darted around quickly. A few seconds later, they watched the frozen zombie in fascination. It turned into ashes before their very eyes. It turned into ashes! Did these children kill a level-three zombie? How is that even possible unless somebody else was here?

Quickly, they turned back to see the boy catching the girl in his arms. His nose was bleeding, and the girl fainted, blood trickling down her nose. Evidence of the overuse of their powers.

"You-" how to begin? Where to even ask? Should they even ask?

They watched as the boy weakly sat on the ground with the girl in his arms while breathing heavily.

"Five minutes, that's how long I can give you to rest." The boy looked at the six battered individuals in front of him. "It's not safe in the forest, so I hope you'll follow me."

"Justin, this is...." The young woman couldn't help but call out to her brother, while Justin stood there confused. But that soon turned into wariness. It was impossible that these two children were alone, especially considering they were ability users.

How should he approach them, he wondered. But as he looked at the children, he couldn't help but have a feeling something was strange.

The boy was guarded. It looked as if he was relaxed, but the tight hold he had on the girl suggested otherwise. Justin pursed his lips and made up his mind.

"Stay here, I'll talk to him." Justin told the others as he made his way to the children. The closer he got, the more rigid the boy became. Making Justin certain of his guess, these children were probably more wary of them than they were of them.

'If he was so wary, why save them to begin with?' Justin wondered in his mind.

Justin stopped his train of thought as he stood still a few feet away from the children. Without a care in the world, Justin sat down on the muddy ground.

"My name is Justin. What are your names?" Justin introduced himself softly to the boy.

"I'm Jacob, this is Ariella." The boy, Jacob, introduced himself and the girl. "But you can call me Jake."

Justin pursed his lips, the last comment sent him into thought. 'This child is trying to seem harmless, but he is guarded. I just don't understand.'

"Well then, Jake, mind telling me where your mom and dad are?" Justin smiled at Jacob and asked.

"I'm just as wary of you as you are of me, but don't you think it's stupid to ask me that question knowing my mom and dad could be dead?" Jacob laughed. Justin and Jacob's eyes met when Jacob continued talking. "You're asking the wrong question."

'Clearly, this child knows we are both wary of each other.' Justin thought to himself before continuing the conversation with Jacob.

"Oh, am I now?" Justin narrowed his eyes at the boy. "Okay, fine, why did you save us?"

"Surely one of you can drive, right?" Jacob answered with a question of his own. Making Justin speechless.

"You want a driver? Do you know how dangerous that is? We could be bad people, kid." Justin frowned in disapproval.

"You can't defeat a level three zombie, but we can. So I think we are strong enough to protect ourselves." Jacob answered nonchalantly and Justin felt like cursing at this silly child.

"I am an adult, I am easily stronger than you. Physically, that is," Justin pointed out.

"Then stand up," Jacob taunted. "All of you stand up!"

The others, of course, were listening to the conversation happening between Justin and Jacob. So they indeed try to stand up as the child requested.

"What the...." a young man exclaimed. He really did try to stand like the boy said but couldn't. He couldn't even turn his head. "That boy...."

Justin heard the shout of his friend and wanted to look back to see what was happening, but couldn't move no matter how hard he focused, he couldn't turn or even twitch, so he could face forward and stare at the child in front of him. His heart almost stopped as he watched the boy stand with the girl in his arms.

"You're merely level one. Trust me when I say we can protect ourselves." Jacob said to them before releasing his power. "Forget the five minutes. I'm leaving now. Are you coming?"

Jacob turned and began to slowly walk away with Ariella in his arms. With his ability, it made it easy for him to carry her.

"Justin?" Justin turned when he heard his sister calling out to him. Realizing the others were also looking at him, waiting for him to make a decision.

He folded his lips and closed his eyes. With a deep slow breath, he decided.

"Let's follow them." Justin told the others. Justin knew this could be a trap but something inside of him told him that this was the right thing to do.

"Are you sure?" his sister asked warily.

"We won't last very long in this forest. So let's follow." Justin turned and moved his heavy body in the direction Jacob left in.

"Justin....." his sister glanced at the others, helpless they could only follow Justin.

One thing was apparent, if a weak level one zombie appeared right now as they were, the zombie wouldn't have a hard time killing them off. Thus, without much of a choice, as they could never trace their steps backwards, they followed the children.

Not knowing that this very decision would change the course of their lives forever.

Though distrustful towards the two children, they could only follow in blind faith and trust that everything would work out.