Nox watched Ava run down the hallway like her life depended on it. Which it probably did. The dog thing was right behind her, snapping at her heels every few steps.
He could have just gone back to hunting monsters on his own, but honestly, this was way more entertaining. Watching someone who had spent years ignoring his suffering now scramble for her life felt pretty good. Not good enough to actually help her, but good enough to follow and see what happened.
He kept his distance, moving quietly from classroom to classroom. The hallways were a mess anyway, so it was easy to stay hidden behind overturned lockers and piles of debris.
"Help me!" she screamed as she ran past a group of classrooms. "Please, someone help me!"
A couple of doors were still closed, probably with people hiding inside. None of them opened. Smart choice, really. Why risk your neck for someone else when those things were running around?
Nox almost laughed. Now she knew what it felt like to ask for help and get nothing back. The irony was pretty perfect.
The dog was gaining on her. It was one of the smaller ones, but still bigger than any normal dog. Its mouth was open and drooling, and those oversized teeth looked ready to tear into something soft.
Ava turned another corner and Nox heard her footsteps slow down. He quickened his pace and peered around the corner to see what was happening.
She had run straight into a dead end. The hallway ended at a wall where they were doing construction work before all this started. There were plastic sheets hanging down and tools scattered everywhere, but no way out.
She spun around just as the dog thing rounded the corner behind her. She was trapped between the wall and the monster, breathing hard and looking around desperately for an escape that wasn't there.
"Stay back," she said to the creature, like it could understand her. "Just stay back."
The dog tilted its head at her voice, then started moving forward slowly. It knew she had nowhere to go now. It could take its time.
Nox settled in to watch the show. This was about to get interesting.
Ava backed up until she hit the wall. The plastic construction sheets rustled behind her as she pressed against them. The monster was maybe ten feet away now, still approaching at that slow, confident pace.
"Please," she whispered. "Please, I don't want to die like this."
The creature stopped playing around and lunged at her.
That was when something weird happened.
She threw her hands up in front of her face, and suddenly there was this red glow around her. Not just a little glow either. Her whole body was surrounded by this red aura that pulsed like a heartbeat.
"What the hell?" Nox muttered under his breath.
The dog was still in mid-air when Ava thrust her hands forward. A stream of red fire shot out from her palms and hit the creature dead center. The thing didn't even have time to howl before it was completely engulfed in flames.
The fire wasn't normal fire either. It burned way too hot and way too fast. Within seconds, the monster was nothing but ash on the floor.
She stared at her hands like she couldn't believe what had just happened. The red aura around her flickered a few times and then disappeared.
"Did I just do that?" she said out loud. "What the fuck did I just do?"
Nox stepped out from behind his hiding spot, whistling low. "Well, well. Looks like I'm not the only one who got some upgrades."
Ava spun around when she heard his voice. Her face went through about five different expressions in two seconds. Surprise, anger, relief, and then back to anger.
She marched over to him with her fists clenched. "You fucking asshole. You followed me this whole time and didn't help?"
"Pretty much, yeah." He was still looking at the pile of ash where the monster used to be. "That was some impressive by the way. Where did that come from?"
"Don't you dare change the subject." She stopped right in front of him, close enough that he could see how pissed off she was. "I could have died back there and you just watched like it was some kind of show."
"It was a show," he said. "A pretty good one too. Better than anything on TV."
She looked like she wanted to hit him. "Are you completely psychotic? What is wrong with you?"
"Lots of things, probably." He shrugged. "But right now I'm more interested in how you just shot fire out of your hands. Did you get one of those blue screen things too?"
She blinked at him. "Blue screen things? What are you talking about?"
"The system messages. The stats and skills and all that game stuff." He studied her face. "You really don't know what I'm talking about, do you?"
"I have no idea what you're saying." She held up her hands and stared at them again. "I was about to die and then this happened. I don't know how or why."
He frowned. That was interesting. He had gotten his system right before the earthquake, but maybe other people were getting theirs at different times. Or maybe they were getting different versions.
"So you just manifested fire powers out of nowhere?" he asked.
"I guess so." She looked confused and scared. "This is all so fucked up. First those monsters show up, then the school gets destroyed, and now I'm shooting fire like some kind of superhero. None of this makes sense."
"Welcome to the new world," he said. "Where nothing makes sense and everything wants to kill you."
"And you're enjoying this," she said. It wasn't a question.
"Hell yes, I'm enjoying this." He grinned at her. "For the first time in my life, I'm not the weakest person in the room. I can actually fight back instead of just taking whatever shit people throw at me."
"So your solution is to become a monster yourself?"
"My solution is to survive and have some fun while I'm doing it." He gestured at the ash pile. "Besides, you just killed something too. How did that feel?"
She opened her mouth to argue, then closed it. He could see her thinking about it.
"It felt good," she admitted quietly. "It felt really good to not be helpless."
"There you go." He nodded. "Now you're starting to get it."
"But that doesn't mean I have to be an asshole about it," she said. "I'm not going to leave people to die just because I have powers now."
"Your choice." He started walking back down the hallway. "But don't expect everyone else to be as noble as you are. This world is going to chew up people like you and spit them out."
"Where are you going?" she called after him.
"Back to hunting." He didn't bother looking back. "Try not to burn the school down while you're playing with your new toy."
"Hey, wait for me you jerk!"
He could hear her following him, but he didn't slow down. Having another powered person around might be useful, but he wasn't about to start being nice just because she could shoot fire. She would have to prove herself first.
And based on what he had just seen, that might actually be interesting to watch.