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."

She nodded. "Okay then, I guess that's where we're headed!"

"I can teleport us there," Wyne offered. Katrina shook her head, remembering how everything turned out last time he teleported everyone to the city on their second day there.

"No, it's fine," she said, turning down his offer. "You've done more than enough already."

"But-"

"No buts," she declared sternly. "I don't want to get separated again, and nor do I want you to pass out." Wyne looked like he wanted to argue, but he closed his gaping mouth and continued walking along with the rest of the group.

Katrina hung back to where David and Stefan were chatting, wanting to get to know them better.

"Hello," David called out in a thick Korean accent.

"Hi, David," she replied politely. David turned away from her and back to Stefan, saying something to him.

"He wants to tell you that you were courageous, standing up to Dean and Derrick like that," Stefan translated.

"You very brave," David agreed. "Me no brave."

"I'm sure you're very brave too," Katrina replied kindly, patting him gently on the shoulder.

David beamed at her. "You think?"

"Yeah."

At that moment, a nearby coyote howled. Katrina shivered, wincing at the noise.

"Let's stop for the night," she declared, glancing at the setting sun. "It's getting late anyways."

Everyone expressed their agreement. Katrina plopped down under a tree where she took watch for the night. In the early morning, Amari stirred and sat down next to Katrina.

"You should rest," Katrina said. "It'll be a long day tomorrow, exploring that spot in the city."

"I couldn't sleep," she replied. "Besides, I'm hungry. You think we should hunt?"

"Hunt?" Katrina asked, the idea foreign to her.

"Yeah, hunt. I used to hunt for food all the time back in Africa," Amari said. "And all of us are starving. Dean hoards all the food and some of us haven't eaten in days."

Katrina nodded, thinking it through. "Do you have any weapons, though?"

"Not any physical ones," Amari replied. "Dean took all of them away. But we do have your illusions."

"So you're saying that I should use my illusions the same way as how I used them to kill Derrick?" she asked. Katrina winced as she remembered that Derrick's blood, whether she liked it or not, would be on her hands forevermore.

"Yeah, I mean if you want to."

Katrina hesitated. On one hand, she had no desire to kill, and on the other, her stomach was growling, and she knew that the others were starving, too.

"Well, okay then, but I'm not sure if I can do it again. I killed Derrick on accident," Katrina reluctantly said.

Amari calmly nodded. "I can hear a deer sleeping nearby. Come."

Amari quietly stood up, silently sneaking through the grass. Katrina, though more gracefully than most, still rustled the grass loudly.

By the time Katrina caught a glimpse of the deer, it had already woken up, on alert. Its ears pricked upwards and it sniffed the air. Katrina cursed as she realized that they were sneaking up to it downwind. Amari must've realized it too, as she muttered something about rusty hunting skills before leading them upwind. As they got closer, the deer tensed up, getting ready to leap away.

"Now!" Amari hissed. Katrina concentrated and tried going into the deer's perspective. It took her a couple of tries, but she managed to get in.

When she was in the deer's perspective, Katrina realized that she had inherited the deer's senses. She could smell herself faintly and hear the grass rustling where they were. She felt the deer move its legs, starting to run. Katrina immediately felt her heart quicken along with the deer's. She felt for the sensation of a beating heart in the deer and quickly shut it down.

Katrina felt her heart, her own heart, not the deer's, slow. She started panicking, remembering Ted's words to her about clairvoyants going crazy after experiencing death.

Katrina pushed down harshly on the deer's heart, making it jerk to a stop. She felt each of the deer's vitals die and felt the deer stumble and collapse. Suddenly, Katrina was pushed out of the deer's perspective roughly.

Katrina panted, trying to calm her rapidly beating heart. The feeling of death had overwhelmed her. She remembered with clarity how the deer's heart had stopped, how it had collapsed, how it had died.

"Never... again," Katrina managed to gasp out. "I... am never...going to kill... again."

"You okay?" Amari asked, concerned. "You look pale."

"Don't worry about me," she replied. "Go get the deer. And keep in mind that I am never going to go hunting again."

Amari nodded and ran to get the deer. She came back, dragging the lifeless body of the deer behind her.

"Come on, let's go back," she said, helping Katrina up. They slowly walked back to everyone else, who were starting to wake up.

"What's that?" Ted asked. "Is that a deer?"

"We went hunting," Amari replied curtly. "Help us with this, would you?" Alisha came over and lifted the deer up with her telekinesis, relieving Amari of her load.

"Wyne, could you see if you can get any firewood?" Katrina asked. "I don't think the deer will keep for long, so we might as well eat it now." Wyne agreed and teleported away, coming back a few moments later with an armful of wood.

"Thanks," she said. "Everyone else," Katrina called out, raising her voice, "see if you guys can gut and skin the deer."

"We don't have any knives though," Stefan replied. "How are we supposed to gut and skin it?"

Katrina picked up a sharp rock from the ground. "I guess we just have to make do with this." Stefan nodded and instructed the others to find more rocks. By midday, the deer was cooking on a large bonfire.

Katrina sliced off part of the venison and offered it to Celia, who looked gaunt and about to pass out. Celia shook her head and waved the piece away.

"Aren't you hungry?" Katrina asked.

"Yeah, but I'm a vegetarian," Celia replied. "I don't eat meat."

"You don't say," Katrina muttered, wondering if there were fruit growing nearby. Back at the mall, they had found plant seeds and had grown their own food, so Celia's vegetarian diet had not been a problem. Now, Katrina realized that they would need to take Celia's dietary restrictions into consideration.

Katrina walked over where Wyne was picking at his piece of venison. "Can you see if there are any edible plants or berries nearby?" she asked. "Celia's a vegetarian."

"I saw a couple of blackberry bushes nearby," Wyne replied. "I can go there and get some if you want."

"I'll go with you," Katrina volunteered, not wanting to stay with the rest of the solemn group any longer. Everyone was slowly eating their food, eyes downturned. The only sound was the crackling of fire.

Katrina quickly snatched one of the baskets that Amari had been weaving before heading to Wyne and teleporting to the blackberries. The two silently picked the berries, avoiding getting scratched by all the thorns.

"When do you think the scientists will decide the Experiment is over?" Katrina uttered, breaking the silence.

"Probably when we're all dead," Wyne sighed, wincing as a thorn pricked his finger. "I mean, if they stop the Experiment before we all die, what would they do with us?"

"Good point," Katrina replied. The rest of the time was spent in silence. When they each had picked enough, they teleported back and handed the basket to Celia, who gratefully gobbled the berries up.

"If everyone's done eating, then we should continue walking," Katrina called out when Celia had cleared the basket. Everyone agreed and they headed towards the city once more. Not long later, they managed to get far away enough from the farm that they reached the hardened lava. Katrina hesitantly stepped on the black rock, before continuing forwards into the bleak, black, landscape.

"I can teleport all of us there," Wyne said, walking alongside Katrina. When he saw her starting to protest, he quickly added, "It's not that far. The closer the place I want to teleport to and the more familiar I am with it, the easier it is to teleport."

Katrina thought it through before nodding. "Okay, but only if you're sure that you can do it."

"I can do it," he confirmed.

"Take me first then," Katrina reluctantly said, "and make Ted go last." She told her plan to the rest of the group. Everyone agreed, and Wyne immediately teleported her to the city.

The patch of undestroyed city was barren and small. It was only the size of about two football fields. Around it were black lava and destroyed building, making the pristine place look like a piece of history.

Katrina immediately went to the line of shops, looking for food and weapons. She found a gardening store that supplies seeds, which would be good for Celia's vegetarian diet, as well as a restaurant. The restaurant had no food inside but supplied her with a hefty amount of kitchen knives. By the time Wyne had teleported everyone to the city, Katrina had scoped out everything, including the apartment building.

"What should we do?" Stefan asked Katrina.

"I suppose find a stable water source and start growing these plants," she replied, holding up the seed packets that she had found. "Celia, Stefan, David, and Alisha, can you guys plant these? Ted, Wyne, Amari, and I will find a stable water source." Everyone nodded.

"The ocean is near here," Amari observed. "I can hear the waves."

"Great! Now all we need to do is filter the water," Katrina replied.

"Easier said than done," Wyne grumbled. "How in the world are we supposed to know how to filter the water?"

"Easy," Ted said. "What have you been doing when you were a runaway? Drinking from water fountains?"

"Well, yeah, I mean, what else are you supposed to do?"

"Collect rainwater from puddles and filter them when you don't have access to water fountains," Katrina replied. Ted grinned at her as memories of how she and Ted had taught themselves how to filter water flooded back.

"There's a waterproof tarp in the clothing store and a bucket in the general store," Katrina said. "There's also an inflatable pool there."

"I'll go get them," Wyne volunteered, and in a minute, came back holding the camouflage green tarp and the white plastic bucket, lugging the blue pool on his back.

"What are you going to do with these?" Amari asked. "Especially with that pool?"

"You'll see," Katrina replied. With that, the four of them set off for the ocean, setting their supplies on the sand when they reached the shore. Ted immediately started blowing up the small inflatable pool while Katrina gathered up some driftwood.

After Ted had finished blowing the pool up, Katrina filled it with some water and placed the bucket in the middle. She covered the entire pool with the tarp, making sure that the edges were sealed. After putting a couple of pieces of driftwood on top of the tarp where the bucket was so that the tarp was suspended just above the bucket, she stepped back.

"Done," she declared, looking at their work.

"Um, what is that supposed to do?" Wyne asked.

"When the water evaporates, it'll go into the bucket," Ted explained, "leaving us with a bunch of salt in the pool and a bucket full of distilled water."

"Will that actually work?"

"Yeah, if it's hot enough," Katrina replied, glancing at the sun. "I heard people used to do this back in the early 21st century, and the average global temperature is a lot higher nowadays."

"Not by much though," Amari said. "Only by a couple of degrees."

"Well, if it worked a hundred years ago, it'll work now. Let's go see how the others are doing," Katrina suggested. They walked back to the city, where everyone else were running around.

"What's happening?" Katrina asked Celia, pulling her aside. "Did you guys finish planting?"

Celia rolled her eyes. "We finished long ago. Apparently, David's intangibility allows him to turn the seeds intangible too and stick them into the ground without having us dig a hole. Now Alisha is trying to see if she can grab David using her telekinesis."

Katrina looked where Alisha was running towards David, who looked transparent. She was using her telekinesis to try to move David, but he just passes through any of the objects Alisha touches him with.

"I wonder what happens if David turn tangible when the rock is in his body," Amari pondered as Alisha moved a rock in and out of his body.

"David says the rock would be stuck in his body," Stefan replied after asking him, "so Alisha is being careful."

"Doesn't look like she's being careful," Amari scoffed as Alisha tried to pick him up using her telekinesis. Suddenly, both Celia and Amari stiffened.

"What?" Wyne asked nervously as they both peered towards the sky.

"Danger is coming," Celia said.

"A lot of rain," Amari agreed. "I can smell it. And," she added, tilting her ear towards the sky, "there's a lot of wind."

"A hurricane's coming," Celia whispered.

...

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