Day 8: First Awakened

During the break, Kam sent a message to Sally:
“Wait for me in the infirmary.”

Sally didn’t manage to reply.
She was being beaten by her bullies.

“Do you like skipping classes, huh?”
“What’s wrong, are you scared of us or what?”
“I’ll only say this once… I’ll never leave you alone.”
“Especially knowing that a poor bastard wants to be happy and live peacefully.”
“I’ll make your beauty fade more and more… just like we’ve been doing.”

The bullies left.

Sally, trying to hold back her tears, leaned against the wall and managed to stand with difficulty.
Then, she checked her phone.
Only then did she read Kam’s message.

In the infirmary, Kam panicked when she saw her arrive.
She began treating her wounds with trembling hands.

“Sally… what did they do to you?” she asked, her voice breaking.

Without waiting for an answer, she sat her down to treat her.
She dampened a gauze pad and carefully cleaned the blood and dirt from her face. Every touch made Sally flinch, but Kam was gentle, almost trembling.

“It seems the teachers aren’t taking my complaints seriously,” she said as she continued cleaning the wounds. “Today I’ll talk to my parents about the possibility of transferring us to another school.”

She paused for a second.

“Because, at this rate… someone is going to end up dead sooner or later.”

She took Sally’s hands.
“And I don’t want it to be us.”

Sally’s expression was blank, but tears kept falling.

“Now you know why I wasn’t coming to class,” she murmured. “I only came because you asked me to.”
“I’m scared… scared of coming… of being beaten… insulted…”

Kam didn’t let her continue. She hugged her tightly.

“I don’t want you to go through this hell alone. I want to help you,” she said, crying. “To me… you’re like a sister.”

Sally felt the honesty in every word. She held onto her.

A commotion in the hallway interrupted the moment.
Kam went out to see what was happening and asked a boy who was running past.

“In the news… they’re saying a soldier went crazy,” he replied.

Sally heard him from the bed.
She grabbed her phone.
The group chat was temporarily closed.

Her expression changed abruptly.

“What…? Why the hell did they close the group? What happened while I wasn’t active?”

“Sally, come here,” Kam called.

Sally approached quickly.

On the phone, the news showed a video:
A soldier engulfed in flames.
He used the fire as weapons.
Gunshots didn’t affect him.
The police officers were falling one by one, consumed by the heat.
The soldier advanced without stopping, surrounded by a glow that mixed with the energy emanating from his body.
He had an overwhelming advantage.
The officers screamed as their bodies gave in to the extreme temperature.

Suddenly, the video cut.
A massive explosion filled the screen.
Right before the explosion, something could be heard—something he was trying to say.

Everyone was confused.

Then, Sally heard a scream that didn’t come from the video.

“SAVE YOURSELVES!”

She felt dizzy.

“Kam… did you hear that?”
“Hear what?”
“A scream… someone screamed.”
“I didn’t hear anything,” Kam replied, confused.

Sally tightened her grip on her phone.

“What was he trying to warn us about…? Why was he using his energy like that…?”

There was no time to think.

A notification arrived instantly.
The group had been reopened.

It was a post from the creator:
“It’s time for us to introduce ourselves.”