Future

Chapter 3: Safety?

"You alright, Sparkly? You look a little green," Kail asked, shifting the unconscious Pipe in his arms.

"Y-yeah, fine," I stammered. After the terrifying encounter with the robot, we had to sneak through streets filled with killer soldiers to a safehouse. According to Kail, constant patrols were not unusual. It was policy that anyone with colored hair was to be taken into custody. I wondered if this truly was a war, then where the colored hair side was stationed. Were they just scattered randomly in hiding places all over the globe, or were there certain countries that let the colored hairs run their war operations from there, and the team I had found myself with were on a mission in enemy territory or something? I hadn't had time to voice these concerns to Kail, as only brief amounts of necessary speech were allowed while we traversed the dangerous streets. The concentration of soldiers per street was better once we were farther away from the prison, to places where the soldiers weren't on high alert, but still completely horrifying. I had accidentally scuffed my foot on a pebble, and a nearby soldier had whipped around, blasting his gun at me. Thankfully, Kail had whisked me out of the way before I could be seen, leaving the soldier thinking he'd just vaporized some poor mouse. Needless to say, these kinds of close encounters were not very good for my nerves.

The safehouse was actually really nice. I'd expected some run-down, abandoned hospital or circus or some other creepy set to a horror video game, but it turned out to be just an apartment. It was owned by some double-agents who let refugees come and go as they pleased, so long as they didn't use all the toilet paper. It was pretty ordinary looking, except for the random weapons strewn about, left behind by others who didn't need them. Like a take-a-book-leave-a-book library, only deadlier. They were in harsh contrast to the plush, furry carpeting, apple-green couches, paper lantern lighting, and pop art portraits on the walls.

Kail laid the still sleeping Pipe on the bed in the one bedroom, her requested energy drink and cheeseburger on the table beside her. We hadn't pulled in at a McDonalds or anything, (too busy avoiding killer soldiers) so I had no idea where Kail had got these things. It's like he pulled them out of thin air. Or his ass. Hmm, his great ass...

Holli yawned, "I think I'm gonna go to sleep with ol' Pipey. You boys will be okay alone, right?"

"Yeah," Kail nodded.

"We know the rules: No playing with matches, no using the oven, don't open the door for strangers..." I joked. Holli unraveled her ponytails and left her guns on the kitchen table in response. The door to the bedroom slammed shut behind her. Kail and I stood in awkward silence for a really long time, him fiddling with his gun at his hip and me hoping that he didn't shoot himself in the foot. Literally.

"Soo..." I broke the silence. "Any good books in the apocalypse/war?"

"Nah, they've all been censored, except for how-to-join-the-army and how-to-kill-children pamphlets," Kail answered with a snort.

"Nice," I shrugged. Back to silence. Shit. What do kids talk about these days?

"Remember anything yet?" Kail ventured.

"Nope," I sighed. "Know anything that could help?"

"Nope. Unless you want to try a good, old-fashioned whack to the back of the head," Kail suggested.

"Doesn't that make you remember less?" I asked.

"Well, it can't hurt to try!" Kail swung the butt of his gun threateningly. We looked at each other for a long moment, then burst out laughing. Finally! The silence had broken, hopefully for good! Kail had a nice laugh, warm and unrestrained, though incredibly loud.

"Quick question- where did that burger and drink come from?" I asked Kail. I was dying to know.

"We'll tell you when you're older," Kail joked.

"No! Really!" I laughed.

"Some of us can manipulate time, just a little tiny bit. Not enough that we'd create any paradoxes, though. Just enough that we can stop in for a second and grab someone's lunch off an unguarded table, then come back without appearing to be gone. It's pretty cool," Kail explained.

"Huh," I said.

"Yeah," He replied. Silence threatened to overwhelm us yet again, so I quickly thought of something to say.

"What do you guys do for fun nowadays?" I asked. I hopped up on the kitchen counter and swung my legs absently.

"Make out. Be glad we're not fearing for our lives. Make out," Kail shrugged.

I laughed awkwardly, "So you get a lot of girls, then?"

"Yeah, but it's more of who's there, not love or anything," Kail nonchalantly rolled up the sleeves of his orange jumpsuit. Damn. He had really nice arms. Nice everything, actually. I awkwardly laughed, again. "You remember getting any girls?" He raised an eyebrow. Shitshitshit.

"Not that I can remember," Go for it, Spark. Go for it, I urged myself, "I kinda think I play for the other team though."

"I could've told you that," Kail laughed.

"Really?"

"The skirt. And you keep staring at me." Shit, he had noticed. I laughed awkwardly. Kail was about to say something, when my hands started glowing again. Shit! Not now! I was about to press them to my head when Kail grabbed my hands. "Take me with you." I couldn't answer, the vision flooding my senses.

A small boy, a toddler really, sat in the center of a large room, empty except for him. Tears streamed down his face, his small shoulders shaking with cold. A woman in a pencil skirt strode into the room, high heels echoing in the silence.

"Mommy?" The little boy looked up. The woman regarded him with an ice cold glance.

"You're not my son. Stop saying that," She reprimanded him. "Now, you will tell me who sent you, or things are going to get very rough for you."

"I don't understand. Mommy, I'm cold-" The little boy started.

"I SAID STOP CALLING ME THAT!" The woman roared, kicking out with a heel. She struck the boy, sending him sprawling. She pressed down on his chest, snarling. "You tell me. Who sent you? ANSWER ME!" The little boy's eyes stared up at the ceiling blankly, before pooling with icy cold blue. He sat up stiffly, moving the woman's foot off his chest with no effort.

"C-caleb? Sweetie I'm sorry! I never meant..." The woman fell to her knees, scrambling backwards as the little boy stood. The shadows around him stretched taller and taller, and he answered in a voice that was not his own.

"LEAVE US. LEAVE US, AND ROT!" The boy roared. The doors on either side of the room clanged open, armed men flooding in. The woman grinned. She'd gotten what she wanted. Not one trace of remorse filled her face as her son, her own flesh and blood, was wrestled to the ground and taken to a dirty cell where he would remain indefinitely.

I jolted back to consciousness, my fingers squeezing Kail's arm like a viper. I gasped, looking into Kail's icy eyes.

"Holy shit! We have to save the poor kid! Oh my god-" I rambled until Kail cut me off. His head rested in his hands, leaving me unable to see his face.

"No, we don't. That wasn't the future. It was the past," Kail said.

"What? How do you know?" I asked. I already knew what he was going to say. That little boy's eyes had filled with the same cold rage I had seen in the other vision, when Kail slit the guard's throat with his pure willpower.

"That was me. I was that kid," His voice broke, he was trying so hard to keep the tears in.

"Oh," I said softly. I had endless questions, starting with are you possessed or something? but now was clearly not the time. I rubbed Kail's back reassuringly as he took deep breaths, trying to get himself back in check.

"Now you see. It's a war of monsters. No matter which side, you're fighting with and against monsters," A tear slid down his face. "We're all monsters."