The Experiment

Chapter X

Right before Julian had killed Katrina, she had run away and created a fake illusion in her place. Katrina watched from the side as Julian stabbed her illusion.

Katrina sneaked towards him as he wiped the blade of his sword clean, and with a quick, efficient punch to the chin, she easily knocked him out.

As Julian passed out, a couple of people who were previously frozen stumbled forwards. Katrina glanced towards the battlefield and quickly shut everyone into separate boxes.

"No more fighting," she said quietly, but her voice carried across the battlefield. "Stay here with Dean or leave with me. Your choice." Without further ado, Katrina left the scene, seven people trailing behind her.

"Okay everyone, if you're injured, raise your hand, and I'll come around and heal you," Katrina heard Blythe say as they walked away.

"Where are we going?" Ted asked as he went healed everyone in their group.

Katrina hesitated; she hadn't thought ahead that far. "I don't know. Perhaps there are places in the city that haven't been destroyed by the lava?"

"Maybe," Ted replied uncertainly. "we should ask Wyne to scout ahead." Katrina nodded in agreement.

"Hey, Wyne," she called out. "Can you go to the city and see if there are any habitable places?" Wyne bobbed his head and immediately teleported away.

"What do we do in the meanwhile?" Alisha asked Katrina.

"I guess we just try to get away from the other group," she replied. "I mean, what else are we supposed to do?"

The group started heading towards the city as Katrina did a head count. Besides Ted, Wyne, Alisha, and Celia, Katrina didn't recognize the three other people. One of them, she learned, was an African girl named Amari Mensah. Katrina learned the hard way that Amari's power was superhuman senses.

"My name's Amari," she had called out when Katrina quietly asked Ted what her name was. Katrina had jumped, surprised that she could hear her from so far away. Amari told her that she could hear everyone talking back at the farm and could even hear Wyne scouting out the city.

"That's useful," Katrina commented. "You would make a great spy!"

Amari's dark skin blushed as she flipped her dreadlocks out of her face. "Thanks." Amari told Katrina that the two other boys in their group were named David Kim and Stefan Bush. Katrina glanced over her shoulder to where the two boys were talking rapidly in Korean.

David was a small Korean guy with a bowl cut. Stefan couldn't be more different from him. Stefan was wearing a dirty plaid button up t-shirt and baggy pants, with a gold chain around his neck. He was tall for his age and, Katrina noticed with a shiver, had tattoos mirroring the ones that were on Derrick's arms.

"Don't worry about Stefan," Amari told her as she noticed Katrina glance uneasily at him. "He's a good guy. Just a lot to get used to, that's all."

"What's his power?" Katrina asked.

"He has omnilingualism," Amari replied, "quite useful considering that David can barely speak any English."

Katrina nodded. "What about David?"

"Intangibility."

Suddenly, Wyne teleported in front of them. "There's a small spot in the city near the ocean that hasn't been destroyed yet," he said excitedly. "It's really small, about the size of Dean's village, but it should be good enough for the eight of us."

Katrina clapped her hands together. "Great! Do you know what buildings are in that part of the city?"

"There're mostly stores, but there is also one apartment building."