Chapter 4: Shattered Connection

A girl standing near the entrance to the subway beside me. She must have been around my age, beautiful brown hair and a posture like that of royalty, a tourist perhaps? She did not run away, instead she stood there standing and staring in disbelief at my brothers ghastly form.

“HEY! You! What are you doing? Y-You shouldn’t be here! RUN!” I shouted at the peak of my lungs trying to get her attention. For a split second It appeared she clenched her fist as if readying to fight. She let go of her suitcase and stepped back slowly.

Riz noticed the girls movements suddenly and without hesitation began to move. He ran at an outrageous speed rocketing towards the young girl. She stood there frozen however she did not seem fearful. But scared or not, I could not let Riz attack her.

I leaped from where I was hiding in the direction of the stranger. “RUN! RUN! PLEASE RUN!” I yelled and yelled but she did not move. My legs moving faster and faster. Why was I so eager to save this person? 

Will I make it in time?

Riz took one large pounce at her, pulling his arms back with claws ready to slash. I got to the girl a moment before Riz and managed to tackle her out of the way. His claws missing us both. The shockwave from the force of his swing cut through the air destroying the building in front of him. 

As the structure collapsed I used the moment to try and get his attention, crawled to his feet and held his leg tight. I looked up at the monsters face and wondered if my eyes were deceiving me. Riz was crying, tears down his face, his left eye briefly returned back to normal. I looked in shock, his eye was empty, sad and alone. He was in pain. I felt as if he was telling me to run. I broke down in tears as his face morphed back in to it’s monstrous state. 

With a huge swing he kicked the air to shake me off of him, the kick so strong I could no longer hold on and I was flung backwards in to the building he cut earlier. I could no longer see straight, in a daze and bleeding from my head I tried to gather the energy to move again but I couldn’t. All I could do was raise my right arm, as if reaching out to a hand I could no longer hold. 

Riz took a thunderous step towards the girl and opened his jaws. He snarled and raised her towards his mouth, she kicked and screamed but it was no use. This was the end.

“Riz! Stop! Brother…please. Somebody help” I said to myself as I faded in and out of consciousness. I wished for a miracle. I felt a strong pain course through my raised arm. The skin tearing the same way it did to Riz. I was in disbelief but I had no time to question my own situation. Riz was seconds from murdering the girl.

Suddenly my hand began to shake and change shape, something different to my brothers transformation, my fingers morphing in to something almost demonic, reptilian type scales and a hole at the centre of my palm. The scales spread roughly halfway up my forearm before a rippling sensation entangled itself around my wrist. It seemed the transformation was complete and without a second to spare a large beam shot itself out of the hole in my palm destroying what was in front of me, almost as if in response to my hopes. A corner of a large building besides the now burnt down bank got taken out, and something else. My brother. An empty space where my brother’s left arm and heart once were. I gathered my senses and quickly realised what I’d done, I got up and limped towards Riz using all of the energy I could muster, his body now laying on the ground spewing blood at the entrances to his large gaping wounds. 

“I did this, I hurt you Riz, I’m so sorry” I said as I tried to stop his bleeding, my bare hands covering the wounds stopping nothing but my sanity.

“Please don’t die, Riz? Please! I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened” tears pouring down my cheeks on to my brothers almost lifeless face. His body was returning to normal as he layed there in my lap. 

“H-Hey Xavier… thanks for stopping me… I didn’t want to hurt… you… the girl” he struggled to get words out, coughing up blood, it landing on my face. 

“I… I’m sorry… X-Xavier, I guess we can’t get ice cream now, can we?” he drew his last breath in my hands. What had I done? It’s all my fault.

“NOOOOO!” I let out a cry so loud it shocked through my body and echoed the street around me. As I held my brothers lifeless corpse my vision began to fade. Last thing I saw was the strangers face as I fell to the ground. Who was she? Why didn’t she run? As I fell unconscious one thought flooded my mind.

Why us?