A pale, skinny man- the same one as before- appeared in front of us as we whipped around in dismay. His bleached face contorted into a psychotic grin, and he clasped his hands together in front of him with a glint in his eye. "How are we feeling? Recovered from the serum yet? I know it can be an exhilarating moment, achieving your true potential and all."

"Agonizing is a better word," Rhiannon muttered, staring him right in the eyes.

He seemed to not have noticed her before, and his eyes widened as he took a bit of a double-take. "Now this... this I had not planned. You do realize you're free to go home now, yes? You already completed your final tasks."

"Because of you, I don't have a home to go home to."

"Hmm. That is... unfortunate. But also, very interesting!" He took his camera out and went to take a picture of Rhiannon, his medium-length black hair swaying in the wind. Rhiannon grabbed his wrist with a death glare and a loud buzzing sound filled the air. All of our hairs went up as the man's bare skin electrocuted Rhiannon. The girl slumped to the ground as we looked between him and her in dismay. The man looked a little surprised at first and then seemed to remember something. Clearing his throat and brushing invisible specks of dust off of his clothes, he said, "I wouldn't touch me if I were you. Or do anything to me, really. Resistance is futile, as they say."

"What the hell did you just do to Rhiannon?" Parker demanded. For the first time, we all stood at a united front. Facing the smug man, we confronted him with glares all around.

Except for Dakota.

That little rodent dared to bring this up now? His ridiculous grudge? "Get over yourself Dakota," I warned. "Attacking you was never personal. Rhiannon's already apologized and clearly," I gestured to the body slumped on the ground, "she's already paid the price for it."

"Oh, so you could just get over someone trying to murder you?" The greasy man looked intrigued now and pulled out a notepad as if taking notes on our conversation.

"Umm, absolutely," I answered. "Especially when getting over it depended on whether or not we lived to see tomorrow." Unapologetically staring the boy right in the eye, I took a step forward. "Get in line, Dakota. Or we're leaving you behind."

Seeing him shake with rage, I thought he was going to lunge at me, and I slid my feet into a fighting stance. Instead, he fell into line beside us and turned his anger toward our tormentor.

"Oh, please," he giggled. "You did see what just happened to your friend, didn't you? Attacking me didn't exactly go well for her. You might want to hear me out instead."

I looked over at Dakota, Delilah, and Parker, and we seemed to make the same decision at the same time: back off. He looked much too pleased as we lowered our hands and settled into some form of a defensive stance. The four of us hadn't forgotten about our abilities, but we only wanted to use those as a last resort. Considering the side effects we'd seen, it'd be better to not use them as a crutch in a fight. We'd end up taking ourselves out before getting anywhere close.

"Now," the man grinned, clasping his hands together in front of him, "where were we? Ah, yes. You probably have a lot of questions for me, don't you? About why you were chosen? Perhaps you'd like to know what your goal is?" At a unanimous nod from the four of us, he grinned wider. "Unfortunately, I can only answer some of your questions, as the experiment requires. Ask what you will of me. I will answer what I can."

"Umm." I studied the man carefully. Was this some kind of trick? He didn't seem like he had any sort of ulterior motive, but then again, what sane person would inject teenagers with drugs and give them insane powers against their will? "Why were we chosen?"

"I can't answer that."

"What's our goal?"

"I can't answer that."

We stared at the man, baffled. Dakota, frustrated, walked up to the man and stared right into his soul. "So you can't answer the questions that you suggested we ask?"

"Nope," he responded. "I'd also like to remind you of what happened last time someone attempted to touch me." He gestured to the ground where Rhiannon lay as if we'd forgotten that she was unconscious. When Dakota hesitantly took a step back, he grinned devilishly and relaxed his shoulders, which had noticeably tensed up when the boy had neared him. "Anyway, time's up. You had one minute to ask me questions and that time is officially gone."

"What?" Delilah shouted. "But you didn't tell us we were on a time limit!"

"No, I didn't. Excellent observation." The man cleared his throat and continued. "Anyway, your first real test is commencing now. Prepare to fight!"

"Prepare... to fight?" Parker repeated, staring at the scientist as if he had grown a second head. But the man vanished right before our eyes, leaving no more than a small, rectangular, black box in his wake.

Exchanging confused looks, the four of us carefully approached the object. As we approached, the top popped off of it and it began twisting and warping, growing larger and larger. We scrambled backward as a teenage boy appeared in front of us. His eyes temporarily glowed a fiery red as he fully formed and then faded to a pale brown. Dark skin illuminated by the sun, he could have been a very intimidating figure, with his jet black buzzcut and piercing eyes. And yet, he sat there quivering in fear. "Please no. No no no no," the boy shouted, scrunching his once-intimidating eyes shut and covering as much of his body as possible.

I exchanged confused looks with those around me. Were we supposed to fight this terrified male? Scanning the area around me, I found that there were no other people around other than us and the guy in front of us. "Hello?" I asked carefully.

The boy seemed to sink even further into his turtle pose. "Please no," he repeated. A loud buzzing sound rang through the air as a tight black bracelet on his wrist vibrated and shook. He flew out of his turtle pose and into an attack stance. "I'm so sorry," he whispered, squeezing his eyes shut as he shakily pulled a silver knife from his back pocket.

As it glinted in the sunlight, I gulped nervously. Adrenaline flooded my veins and I backed up slowly, my heart thumping in my chest. "You don't need to do this," I told him as I felt my back press against the wall of the mausoleum. He continued to approach, controlled by nothing other than his own fear. "Please. You don't need to do this. I can tell you don't want to."

"I don't. But I have to." Before he could take another step, he was punched square in the side of his head by none other than Dakota. With his super strength, I expected the boy to immediately be on the ground. But the weirdest thing occurred: with a stomach-twisting squelch, his face caved inwards. Dakota's hand sprang backward and he was sent flying across the landscape into a tree, crashing and slumping to the ground. The boy's face slowly moved back into its regular position. I found myself covering my mouth with one hand to keep myself from vomiting at the unnatural sight. When I felt like I wouldn't spill my guts at any given moment, I glanced up at the boy once more to find him towering over me, knife in hand. Quickly rolling out of the way as his hand came down toward me, I managed to narrowly miss a knife to the chest, his blade stabbing into the soft grass beneath us. He struggled to take it out, and I took advantage, diving into him from the side. This time, his body did not stretch as it had before, and I sent both of us flying in the opposite direction. I reached around the boy's neck to attempt to get him into a chokehold, but he managed to wriggle out of the way with a kick to my nose. I gasped in pain and wiped at my nostril, finding blood where I had wiped. Eyes watering, I stood shakily to see Parker clutching the boy's blade uncertainly as the boy slowly approached him. Delilah was a few feet behind him, her eyes fixed on the knife in Parker's hand. I could tell the same thought was running through our heads: was he planning on using it?

Watching the pair circle each other, neither certain whether they wanted to hurt the other, it felt like time was creeping on at the slowest pace I'd ever seen. Carefully, I approached the boy with the buzzcut, being careful to make my footsteps as light as possible. After all, there might've been a way to knock him out so we didn't have to use the knife on him. A weapon needed to be our last resort. Before I was close enough to attempt to incapacitate the boy, Parker tucked the knife into his pocket and began to move his hands in an odd pattern. Water exploded from our backpack of stuff and began weaving its way around the buzzcut boy's head, surrounding his mouth and nose almost like some sort of mask. The boy's eyes managed to grow even more terrified and he clutched at the water in a futile attempt to get it out of the way. Parker's eyes flashed green as he continued to clench the liquid around the boy's face, stopping his breathing entirely. I watched in terror, frozen where I stood, as his attempts for air slowly grew weaker and weaker, and he finally slumped to the ground. As soon as he hit the floor Parker released the water, looking slightly surprised at his actions but also flooded with adrenaline and ready to get moving. "Grab Dakota," he yelled over to me. "Delilah and I will get Rhiannon."

Oh my. I forced myself to scramble over to the teenager, blood still dripping from my aching nose. Attempting to heave his large figure onto my back, I strained and pushed, but he wasn't budging. "A little help," I called. A drop of blood splattered onto my hand, a sharp red contrast to my pale skin. For a second I worried that my nose might be broken, but I stopped those thoughts as soon as they appeared. At least I wasn't lying dead on the ground with a knife in my chest.

"We have our hands full, Carson," Parker called from where he and Delilah were carrying Rhiannon by her hands and feet, but he seemed to get an idea. Laying the girl on the ground gently, he worked with his hands again, grabbing water from our items and dumping it ungracefully onto Dakota's face.

The boy immediately spluttered and groaned, visibly wincing as he lifted his soaked head off of the tree bark. "Huh?"

"Get up. We have to go before he wakes up."

Realization lit up the teen's eyes as he looked past me to where the boy with the buzzcut was ungracefully spread on the ground. "Oh my."

"Yeah," I responded distractedly, looking around me in paranoia. "We need to get moving."

Dakota stood shakily and leaned on me for support as we limped away from the graveyard.  I looked behind me as we left at the body lying on the grass and found myself having to look away. I hoped he would wake up.

"Where to next?" I asked Parker. He seemed to jump a little as I asked him.

"I think we need to sit down for a little while somewhere." Nodding in agreement, I stepped over a tree root and onto a wide dirt road. To my left was more dirt path and to my right was... more dirt path. I didn't recall which way we had come from, and if you add that to how I most likely had a broken nose and was still a little bit high on adrenaline levels, I could not for the life of me decide which way to go. I didn't even know what the experiment guy wanted us to do next. As far as I knew, we could head the wrong way and waste precious time to get to our next location.

"Let's go... that way." I pointed to my left uncertainly.

With a nod from Parker and Delilah, we were on our way. Our pace was painstakingly slow. Between Dakota practically making me walk for him and having to carry a still-unconscious Rhiannon, we weren't making ground very effectively. The sun was well past its highest point, and a glance at my watch (which now had a long crack through the face due to my scuffle with the man that attempted to kill me) revealed that it was around 4:15 PM. Not good. We needed to use every moment of daylight to travel away from our recent battlefield, but we were exhausted and didn't have very much daylight left. I needed to decide whether we wanted to continue at all.

"Delilah." She looked up in surprise, sweat glistening on her forehead. "How much longer do you think you can carry Rhiannon?"

The girl opened her mouth, but then she hesitated. "Honestly?" I nodded. "I don't think I'm going to be able to carry her much longer. I could if I didn't have our stuff on my back, but I genuinely believe that my arms are going to give out and drop her."

She spoke very genuinely, and I appreciated the honesty more than... well, a lot of things. "Okay. We can stop and make a small campsite for now. If we feel up to walking a bit more after we've rested for half an hour or so, we can."

The three of us got to work while Dakota sat with Rhiannon against the trunk of a pine. Thankfully, there wasn't too much to do. I gathered twigs and branches while Dakota unpacked our belongings. Delilah gathered stones and cleared a small area of leaves and debris for the fire. When I returned we managed to start a small blaze using the kindling I had collected, and the three of us sat on our sleeping bags around the fire in silence.

Time ticked away faster than usual, but I found myself no longer caring. The adrenaline had all but faded and I was left with an aching body and a blood-crusted, swollen nose. Also, I was hungry. When I stood to grab a granola bar from our pile of items to calm my grumbling stomach, I found Rhiannon stirring and immediately dropped the granola to jog over to the girl as she groaned loudly and rubbed her eyes.

"How are you feeling?" I asked her.

"Not great." Her voice was scratchy and it sounded as though it pained her to speak. "My entire arm is numb. I think that might be for the best, though." I followed her gaze down to her wrist where there was a bright red, blistering handprint. My wrist stung at the sight of it. Meeting Rhiannon's eyes again, she gave me a half-smile. "Not the worst I've been through. Electrocution won't keep me down."

"I thought that's what happened. Did that freak do experiments on himself?"

"No. And don't ask about the alternatives; the truth is far worse than anything you can imagine." After another look at her face, I took her word for it, but only because she was so exhausted. When she wasn't feeling the effects of her electrocution I would ask her again.

It wasn't just Rhiannon who was beaten and battered. Those around her- me included- weren't looking our bests either. Even Delilah was starting to lose her natural glow. We didn't just need rest; we needed food, a shower, and to stop getting randomly attacked and "tested". It didn't seem likely that any of those wishes would come true any time soon, however. And for whatever reason, I felt responsible for making sure that they eventually became reality.

"We're gonna hunker down here for the night," I announced to the silent individuals around me. My solemn voice echoed far too much in the quieting forest, and I winced. Looking back at Rhiannon, I whispered, "Get some rest. You look like shit."

She grimaced, her almost-black eyes glistening in pain. "Thanks. I know."