"it's gonna be okay"

~1~

It had been two months since the power outage. The streets were littered with bodies and wreckage. And not a person in sight. 

Zak was lonely.

He hadn't gone out in a while, due to the potential raiders and thieves who might kill him for supplies.

More importantly, Zak longed to see the face and hear the voice of someone new.

For all he knew, all his friends were dead. But it wasn't like he could check cause all the cell towers were down and there was no service.

He knew little of their actual situation, though.

Right after the power surge, people began to vanish, just out of plain sight. 

And none of the survivors had an explanation for the sudden disappearances.

So Zak was alone.

Alone and afraid.

And was kind of craving instant ramen.

Which reminded him- food supplies were starting to get a little low.

So Zak decided to go to the nearby 7-Eleven and try to find something in the already picked over store.

He got on his shoes and grabbed a sweatshirt. Then snapped his fingers and a small kitchen knife appeared in his hand.

Oh, yeah, Zak was suddenly able to conjure things that he saw. Like if your bag of chips was too far away? Snap of a finger and boom, it's right there. Granted there were limitations to it, like he couldn't conjure things he didn't know where they existed, like the instant ramen, but if he did, poof! It was there.

Zak also learned that he could store things in what was like a void of nothingness, and pluck it out later.

All of this started after the power went out. It was the strangest thing and Zak had no clue how it happened. And he wasn't the only one with these strange new abilities.

A few weeks ago, Zak had been in his kitchen searching for batteries, when he heard a scream and glass shattering. He ran outside to see what the commotion was and saw down the street, a young girl with what looked like tendrils of darkness seeping out of her.

He went back inside, not wanting to deal with that.

Anyways, Zak was halfway to the convenience store, when he heard soft footsteps behind him. Tensing, he clenched his fist, ready to reach into the void and grab the heaviest object around when-

Something went whizzing past his ear and Zak whirled around to see a tall girl collapse on the ground. When he looked to see where the arrow was fired from, he caught a glimpse of caramel colored hair and a black hood on the roof.

"AH! Watch it, dude! I'm sorry, I'm sorry!" he cried, backing away.

But then, Zak found himself being literally lifted into the air by some unseen force. He immediately started to scream.

"Dude what the fuck?? What's all this for? Put me dOwn!!" cried Zak, voice cracking at the end.

He was dropped very unceremoniously on the rooftop, where he was greeted by a couple of arrows floating dangerously close to his face.

"Um, excuse me, look I just wanted some Cup of Noodles, I was gonna leave right after," he stuttered, "I'm not looking for a fight, seriously, I'm just craving instant ramen."

Suddenly, the projectiles dropped to the floor and the mysterious person emerged from behind a radiator. He had a crossbow in his hand and a quiver of arrows attached to a belt loop.

"Sorry about that," he said, lowering his hood. The stranger had light brown hair and piercing green eyes. "You can never be too careful."

"I'm not even going to ask about what just happened. Honestly, everything is messed up."

The stranger nodded.

"I'm Darryl. We should probably get inside, there'll be more of them later."

Zak had no clue what to think. He'd just been almost killed then saved by some guy who dropped him on the roof of a 7-Eleven.

The brunette, sorry, Darryl, slung his crossbow across his back, and started to climb down a nearby ladder that must have led into the store.

"Hold on, what? Look, man I-"

Darryl poked his head out of the chute.

"Are you coming? I'll answer your questions inside."

Dumbfounded, Zak followed him down the ladder, into the 7-Eleven.

Inside, it's contents were sparse, but neatly organized on the shelves. 

"So, do you have a name?" Darryl asked, resting the weapon against the counter.

"Zak."

"Oh, it's nice to meet you, Zak."

He was confused why this random stranger was trusting him. Especially considering everything that was going on around them.

"What was that whole thing on the roof?" he asked, quizzically.

"Telekinesis- or so I think. I can move stuff with my mind."

"Oh, cool."

"You?"

"I dunno, I guess if I know the location of an object I can conjure it."

"Wow, that's pretty useful. Like if there's someone trying to get you, you can just drop a car on them or something!"

He absentmindedly snapped his fingers, grabbing one of Darryl's arrows off the ground, examining it's pointed tip.

Huh.

He hadn't thought of that.

Zak plopped himself on the countertop, placing the arrow back down with the rest of them.

He hesitated before asking, "Hey, can I stay here with you? It's gotten kind of lonely and you're the first person I've seen for weeks. Maybe we can team up, split resources, watch each other's backs or something like that?"

Darryl's expression quickly turned from serious to that of utter excitement."I mean, sure, why not?"

His eyes lit up, lips quirking up into a smile, as he responded, "Of course!"

"Darryl. Nice to meet you."

And for the first time in a month, Zak smiled back.

a/n: hey, thanks for deciding to read this book, hope you enjoy :)))