HERO

3 / The Argument

Thomas stood for a moment, allowing his eyes to adjust to the light. Though the day was overcast, with drizzle tickling the air to promise a forthcoming downpour, the contrast between blindfold and muted daylight was enough to make him blink and shield his eyes.

He looked around for the dog, but it was gone, its getaway swift and silent. He expected as much. The hound's arrival, once he'd solved the cryptic clue, something that was never his strong point, was equally as surprising. It had almost materialised out of nowhere and Thomas would have been forgiven for thinking it had abilities. Everyone knew, though, the plague hadn't touched the animal kingdom. It was solely a human curse.

Or gift, depending on your point of view. To the ten year old boy, with so many expectations to live up to, it wasn't a gift he had yet to have been bestowed. It was a curse he was waiting to be afflicted with.

Either way, the blindfold blocker was also gone.

Able to see clearly, he turned towards home, or rather almost in that direction. He was young, but he was aware.

Sirens echoed in the distance, raising an alarm that no one listened to anymore. The police were impotent and, even though technology had done its best to keep up with the now universal spread of powers, they were still only a token force. They remained active to give the semblance of order, yet were powerless, even with their own powers, to prevent chaos.

He wiped his face to clear away the rain drops clinging to the dirt clinging to his face. Streaks appeared like tears on his cheeks, but he seldom cried anymore. It achieved nothing. He discovered that on the occasions his lack of a mother moved him. He'd constructed walls around those emotions that he told himself could not be surmounted. The thoughts were trapped within. That's where they would stay.

He crossed the street quickly. He'd heard an argument going on around a corner and arguments tended to end badly. A dead body could quite easily be the result of an altercation escalating too quickly. Thomas was no stranger to death, but he preferred to avoid it where possible.

He was half way across, avoiding the inevitable potholes. Roads were in general disrepair after the Outbreak, though civil works were still carried out. Powers, though some would disagree, could not provide for everything. The one he was on was in a better state than many, but was in need of repair. Many wanted things to stay as normal as possible. The problem was, no one knew what normal was anymore. Was it normal to run faster than a train? To fly? To affect the weather?

The term 'normal' had to be redefined.

The voices raised in anger grew louder. Closer. He froze with indecision, wanting neither to be caught in any crossfire or to be a reason for them to change their focus from each other to him.

"You shoulda fucking got me when you had the chance! My two year old's got more in her pinky than you've got in that big fucking head! You'll pay!"

"Bring it on! Send your two year old to fight me cos you're too shit scared."

"You couldn't fight a two year old."

"I can fight you though, bastard."

"You shoulda stayed away."

"You shunta come home early!"

"You fucker."

"Didn't need to kill her though."

"Fuck you. That was you!"

"Not what the witnesses will say."

He saw them, then. For the big words they were throwing at each other, they didn't match up to the promise of their threats. Two men, one tall and gangly and the other shorter with an odd, pear shaped body that was reflected in the shape of his head, making him look like a misshapen hourglass. Thomas had seen them before, together. They'd been friends, or at the very least acquaintances. He'd kept his distance, as he did from everyone he didn't know.

Stranded in the suddenly vast expanse of asphalt, Thomas knew he had to move. They'd not seen him yet, but it was only a matter of time. Of course, they could simply ignore him, with greater matters pressing on their attentions. He'd rather not take that chance.

"Maybe I should send you the way of my wife, then you can be together, seeing as that's what you were after."

"She was fun, that was all. I ain't gonna miss her."

"You fucking..."

The sentence wasn't finished. The short one grabbed the glasses he wore and threw them to the ground. He opened his eyes wide, staring at the other. A stare that held much more than simply an anger filled look. Over the space of only a few scattered heartbeats, the glow increased. The taller man's fury as quickly turned to mirth and, as twin beams of intense light shot forth, he brought up his hands, blocking them. They bounced off, slamming into the road at Thomas's feet, turning the surface into a bubbling liquid. The boy stumbled back, protecting his prize but not looking away from the pair.

The beams flickered and disappeared as the man blinked and the other took his chance. The hand that had deflected the pseudo-lasers reached up and took hold of the opponent's face, the palm covering the mouth with the fingers pinching the nose. There was a soft slurping sound and the tall man's body stretched upwards and round, circling the other, elongating and winding. It moved with the grace and threat of a snake and was hypnotic to watch. The shorter of the pair reached up to try and pull the hand away from his mouth, but the fingers, too, had stretched, going up and over his cheeks and ears to meet behind his head.

The tall man looked far from human. Everything about him had become long, as if his image had been printed onto a balloon that was being pulled too far past its breaking point. He was wrapping himself around the body, quickly obscuring it entirely.

Thomas could see bulges from within, as the trapped man tried to fight against his bindings. It was a futile struggle and one that soon subsided.

The extended head, its features unrecognisable, turned towards the boy. It wavered on the light wind before shrinking to reform, looking somehow hideous on the end of the still lengthened torso.

"What you looking at, ya li'l' shit?"

Thomas could finally move, the spell broken. He took a couple of steps backwards, then turned and fled. The man's voice chased after, snapping at his heels.

"Say anything and I'll 'ave ya!"

Thomas knew there was no one to tell. No one to care. Fights and murders were commonplace. Even the police didn't usually bother.

"Maybe I'll 'ave you anyway..."

The voice was hushed and sounded right next to Thomas's ear. He glanced to the side and squealed when he saw the grinning visage of the man on a neck that had no place reaching the lengths it had.

The laughter followed him for a short way, but he refused to look. He ran, wishing he had super speed or was able to fly. Anything other than just his legs.