The banging on our apartment door wakes me from my slumber. I stay silent and listen, the person bangs their fist against the door once more, "Alisha? I know you're in there, you need to leave right now." A small, feminine voice whispers loudly through the door. I climb out of bed, careful not to disturb my sleeping sister, and cross silently to the door. I peak out the door, and then open it. Bea stands in the corridor, rocking worriedly on her feet.

"It's 4am, what do you mean we need to leave?" She pushes past me without answering and I close the door. "Bea? What's happened?" She sets large empty bags on the dining room table.

"You know I have sources all over, your mom is dead so now the Council is coming for Neviah, right now."

"That wasn't the deal!" I scoff. Our mom sacrificed herself for nothing. I begin filling a pack with whatever food we have and the other with our belongings.

"Yeah well you know how the council is with their deals, you need to go, now, take Neviah and go to the countryside."

"What?! We'll never survive out there, the guards won't even go out there."

"Exactly why it's your best bet, Jonah won't let another safehouse be put at risk, so this is your only option." I shake my head in disbelief, it's nothing but a wasteland out there.

I lightly shake Neviah awake. She immediately sits upright, knowing exactly what is about to happen. She doesn't say a word as she grabs her clothes and goes to change in the bathroom. This will probably be the last time we sleep in an actual building, for a while anyways.

"I packed a tent and blankets in one of the bags, I'll get you as close to the East Border as possible, but you're on your own from there."

I slip the food backpack onto Neviah's small shoulders and double check our belongings. I quickly add the packet of crayons and paper to my bag before flinging it over my shoulders. It's not too heavy despite everything in it.

The glass from our apartment window crashes to the ground. The room begins to fill with white smoke and I feel Bea grab Neviah and I, now we're in an alleyway. We shiver with the sudden change of temperature.

"Here, these will get you out the border if they don't look too closely at them." Bea presses papers into the palm of my hand, authorization for us to leave from the Council.

"Thank you Bea." I let a smile tug at the edges of my mouth.

"Goodluck." Was the last thing she said to me before we separated.

We stayed in the shadows until we reached the border checkpoint. The hunters would realize very quickly that we had taken off and come searching so we needed out right now. I handed the guard our papers and explained that we had no plans on coming back.

"It's complicated, okay? Now are you going to sit there and stare at me like an idiot, or let me and my sister through?" I say, gripping Neviah's wrist a little too tight. The skyscrapers above cast a warm glow on us as we try to get past border security. As more time passes, my anxiety rises, we could get surrounded by Hunters at any moment.

"You're sure? Once you're out there, you can't get back in." He doesn't understand, I'd rather we take our chances in the countryside than find out what The Council wants with us. The officer finally nods to the nearby booth and the gate noisily slides open. I hear people behind us shout for us to stop but we don't. I only pick up my pace slightly as the Hunters can't leave city limits without special permission.

The warmth and brightness of the city is replaced with an icy breeze that warrants me to zip my coat up. I no longer hear the rumbling of trucks and instead the empty silence takes over as we venture further into the plains.

After a while of walking, the sun begins to rise over the horizon. In the light I realize how screwed we are. There isn't a single building out here, hell, there isn't even a hill in sight. The Council was right when they said The Four destroyed everything outside of the cities. The only directions we have is to go northeast, which I keep us on track with a compass I stole from a rich old lady on the train.

"Do you know where we're going?" Neviah asks calmly. Every once in a while, she'll yawn. She probably didn't get much sleep last night.

"Uh do you?" I respond, knowing very well she knows exactly where we are going to end up.

"I'm not supposed to tell you, remember?" She says solemnly. I roll my eyes, what's the use in powers if you can't even use them to help.

"Anyways, Jonah used to tell stories of an old town in the countryside, where people with powers lived peacefully." Hopefully it actually exists, because otherwise we're Parasite food.

We take a small break when the sun reaches its peak and sit down on the dead grass. I hand Neviah a granola bar and eat one myself, I don't want to risk lighting a fire unless I have to. I set the crayons and paper near Neviah, silently hoping she'll color a vision. Instead, I earn a dirty look from the small child. I shrug my shoulders and stuff them back into the backpack. After we finish, we stand up and dust ourselves off to resume walking.

I'm not overly worried about Hunters coming after us, but I check behind us every once in a while. By the time the sun begins to set, my feet and shoulders are throbbing. I set the bag down and pull the small tent out. It pops into shape instantly and I set it on the ground. Next I push stakes into the ground on the corners as I read somewhere that it's very windy out here. I climb inside and lay down blankets and set the bags off to the side.

"Ali..." I hear Neviah say outside before she collapses to the ground. I sigh and back out of the tent. Her small body lay motionless in the dirt. I scoop the child up and bring her inside. I zip the tent up as the sun disappears.

This has happened countless times before, but her visions are getting worse. When her abnormality first manifested, it was fun to

Feeling around in the dark, I manage to cover Neviah up and get under the covers myself. Knowing her, Neviah likely won't wake until morning. It's quite warm between the two of us, which is nice after walking in the cold all day. I lift my sister's head and put my arm underneath as a pillow and tuck my other arm under my own head. It only takes a moment for me to drift to sleep.

"Take me instead, leave my daughter alone." I could hear mom talking to the men outside the closet. A tiny Neviah slept in my arms and I pleaded she wouldn't wake. "I can defeat Alexander, but The Council needs to promise me they won't touch my kids." The door slammed shut and the apartment went silent.

I jump awake. The sun is rising, causing shadows to dance in the tent as I slip my boots on. Wanting to let Neviah sleep as long as possible, I discreetly crawl out of the tent. I can see my breath in the cold morning air as I look around. There's nothing but dirt and fried grass as far as the eye can see. I come to the conclusion that we should take a break from walking as grey rain clouds begin to form above. I walk around the tent and check the stakes in the ground, they are all intact and staying firmly in the ground.

The rain pours down as pass time inside the tent. I end up convincing Neviah to color as boredom takes over.

She hands over her finished picture for me to look. There are three black stick figures with angry faces in the center, dark grey clouds cover the top of the paper with yellow lightning coming from them. "Crap," I whisper. "This happens tonight then?" I ask, knowing she won't tell me. I set the drawing on top of the others, toppled skyscrapers drawn with grey crayon poke out the side of the stack.

"How much longer do we have to walk?" She asks.

"I don't know, it can't be that far if Jonah was there," I attempt to reassure her.

"Jonah can teleport Alisha," Neviah says pointedly. I shrug my shoulders in response. I wish I could teleport, it would make this trip so much easier.

The rain pours on all day, I begin to wonder if water will leak in after puddling outside. This thought appears right next to my plan to survive the parasites tonight. I've watched full grown adults get the life sucked out of them by these things; how am I, a sixteen year old, and Neviah, an eight year old, supposed to escape?

No one quite knows how the Parasites came into existence. Some theories include a failed experiment from XP, or side effects from the destruction of the world. They have their own cities, hundreds in fact, where they reside. The Cities have cleared a large enough distance to keep them away from us, but otherwise they let them be. The Parasite's brain capacity is limited to keeping themselves alive and fed. So reasoning with these things is out of the question. You're probably wondering what exactly they feed on? Blood. Their long fangs pierce the victim's skin and they literally suck the life out of them. The person dies from blood loss.

Every once in a while, Neviah spaces out, her soft brown eyes dilate as she mentally leaves the tent. I sit patiently until she returns, expecting to have to take care of her, but she only winces and continues whatever she was doing. There must not be many big events coming. I remember one vision put her out for two days, and it never even came true. I offer to braid her hair. So while she composes a girl with bright red hair and shelves full of vibrant colors, I fold large strands of her long brown hair over each other until I run out and secure the two braids with rubber bands.

As dusk falls, my anxiety rises. The rain still goes strong outside, now adding thunder and lightning, I can't stop turning my head to listen more intently. I've spent all day planning, and yet I have no plan. I made sure everything was packed to go earlier and we munch on another granola bar. That's when I hear it. A quiet, high pitch, hissing. The look I give Neviah is all she needs to shove her feet into her boots, I do the same. I grab the large pack before helping Neviah shrug into hers. Her ghastly expression causes me to be much more fearful of what we will find once we're outside. Just because we see the things doesn't mean they kill us, I tell myself over and over as I unzip the tent.

We burst out of the tent as fast as possible, raindrops instantly soaking our hair. I focus on only two things, keeping a grip on Neviah's wrist and running. I try my best to ignore the soreness in my legs as it grows to a constant throb. Feet stomp behind us. The hissing grows louder. They're gaining on us. A coarse hand wraps itself around my arm, pulling the both of us backward. I hit the mud and the world spins a bit. It takes a moment to realize I'm not holding onto Neviah anymore. I push myself to my feet and squint in the dark and rain. Lightning strikes, illuminating three figures surrounding my sister.

"Leave her alone!" I scream, pulling at one's arm. When he whips around however, I discover these things are not men at all. The parasite resembles a corpse that has been decomposing for years. His irises are almost white and his skin like snow. The humanity in his eyes is as dead as the rest of him. There's not a hint of emotion as he picks me up by the throat.

The world goes silent, except for the thumping of my quickening pulse in my ears. I think Neviah screams my name in the background. The parasite's hand emits a soft red glow as he pulls the blood from my veins. My hands have become sore, I don't know why though. The dark world goes blurry. I don't think his hand is supposed to be orange... now a more intense red... he's on fire now... I drop to the ground in a coughing fit, oxygen forces itself back into my lungs and the blood isn't being forced from my veins anymore. My hearing returns in time to hear the thing scream from pain and suddenly it ceases. I glance upward, I'm still trying to catch my breath. Only two parasites remain, all that's left of the other is ash in the mud. I manage to get to my feet. The things stare at me with terror in their eyes before taking off quickly into the night.

"N-Neviah?" My voice comes out desperate and raspy. Her small hands find mine.

"They were going to kill you!" She begins to cry. I pull her into a hug and assure her I'm okay. The rain begins to slow at last, but not the darkness, or the cold. We're both shivering by the time the rain is completely gone. I can barely see a few feet in front of me and the tent isn't within those few feet. The familiar weight of my pack is gone now as well. It must have fallen off in the fight. I'm grateful to find Neviah's smaller bag stayed put through the night.

I decide it's better to try to find our tent and my bag in the dark and drag Neviah along. I feel around in the dark with my feet, hoping to find the tent. It'd be nice to have the pack as well, but it's not essential for us to have blankets and coloring things right now. After a few moments my foot kicks the sleek fabric of the tent. I mentally fist pump myself and begin peeling my soaked and muddy clothes off.

I lay everything on top of the tent and help Neviah out of her's, informing her that we'll get sick if we don't get dry soon. The only articles spared from the rain were my sport's bra and underwear and Neviah's undershirt and shorts. We step out of our boots and into the tent at last. We shiver in silence for a bit, until our body heats warm us up. It's not as warm as if we had the blankets but we'll survive the night.

We're forced to spend another day in the same spot as our clothes dry in the bright sun. I peak outside and spot my pack in the distance though, I sprint and scoop it up. Everything inside managed to stay dry in the insulated bag. We wrap ourselves in the blankets and lay back down to rest more. My body still aches from whatever the parasite did to me, I could sleep for days if my mind didn't keep waking me up. After a while we give up and stare at the roof.

"Can you tell me another story about mom?" Neviah asks hesitantly.

"Okay... well, once, she let me stay home from school and she took the both of us to this abandoned place, she called it a shopping mall. We spent the entire day playing in it, and then she helped us to the roof, which she had to break a door to get to, and we watched the sunset. It was beautiful, we were above most buildings in Persefoni, so we could see so much. You fell asleep and Jonah took us home to avoid the patrols after curfew." Neviah always asks about mom when she misses her. She doesn't remember much of her between half of her life being visions and only being three when she died.

It puzzles me how someone can miss someone they didn't know. But then again, I miss my dad and he died right after I was born. But Neviah also never asks about her dad, which is good, he was awful. He's the one that ratted us out to the Council and got our mother killed.

"I know my father got us in this mess, Ali," she says suddenly, as if she read my mind.

"You've seen this moment before, haven't you." I roll my eyes, trying to mask my surprise.

"My first vision was him telling the council," Neviah says emotionlessly. "I told mom but I was too late, that's how mom knew they were coming." I have always suspected something like that happened. I feel bad that Neviah's only memory of mom is telling her her boyfriend is about to get us killed, or worse, sent to XP.

When the sun sets again, we slowly fall into a restless sleep, having spent no energy today.

My eyelids crack at the break of dawn out of instinct. It's quiet outside besides the breeze that bounces off the tent. I can tell Neviah's also awake so I sit up and begin packing everything. I climb outside and shake the dry dirt off of our clothes before putting mine on. Neviah makes her way out and puts hers on as well. I manage to get the tent back into a tiny ball and shove it into my bag. I check my compass and we continue northeast.

The sun slowly glides across the sky as we walk all day. The dead grass eventually turns to sand. We begin to sweat in our thick coats and many layers. I drape our coats over my arm because I know we'll need them again, I wish I could drop them in the sand. Large rocks protrude from the sand as we walk, and I realize we're in the Deadzone.

The Deadzone is where the first Abnormals attacked. It was called many names when the place was standing, though the most commonly used was New York. My teachers say New York was a state, that before the arrival of the Abnormals, everyone lived in states. They also mention that the countryside was once the most beautiful place on earth, which is pretty hard to believe when I'm not staring at ancient paintings of it. It's crazy how four homicidal people with powers were able to destroy the majority of earth in just a few moments.

I drape my long sleeve shirt over my arm as well, not able to bear the heat. By the time the sun sets, we are well into the zone and dripping with sweat. I wish Neviah would just give me a hint of what is going to happen. I'm only trying to protect her, and I could do that better if Neviah didn't keep her visions from me.

"What is going to happen?" I turn and stop in front of her. Usually I don't even try prying information from the child, she can be awfully stubborn. Sure enough, she rolls her eyes and continues walking. Stupid eight year old attitude. "Come on, what harm could it do?"

"Mom told me not to, it increases the chances of me getting hurt during them." She keeps walking, I don't get the hint this time. I wipe the sweat from my forehead and walk backwards beside her.

"You'll be alive though! Tell me what is going to happen!" I nag, growing more annoyed.

"They really hurt Ali." I ignore her and continue.

"One vision. I don't even know what they're like, you never tell me anything about them, other than how much they hurt sometimes."

"But mom said-" She starts.

"Mom is dead! And she's never coming back! Just give it up!" I shout. I instantly regret my words as tears well up in the girl's eyes. "Neviah, I-"

"Oh yeah? You know why she's dead? You. You blabbed to my father about my powers. You ruined any chance I had at a normal life because you didn't want my father to think you were boring," Neviah fires back and then turns away and speeds ahead of me. I freeze. The kid knows a lot more than I thought she did.

That night I'm only asleep for a few moments before I hear feet shuffling outside our tent. There's no hissing like before however, so they have to be human feet. I slip my arm out from under Neviah's head and unzip the tent. Off to the right a fire crackles and four people sit in the sand around it. Their bodies are covered head to toe in ragged cloth, only their eyes visible.

"Hello?" I say as calm as I can. My heart is thumping in my chest as I move closer.

"They're here to help Ali." Neviah passes me and accepts a bottle of water from one of them. They don't speak a word to us, yet Neviah trusts them.

We sit around the fire until the sun peaks over the edge of the horizon. I try to come up with any and every explanation to this situation. Why aren't they talking? Are there more of them? Are they going to take us somewhere? Suddenly they stand up and stomp the fire out. One pulls a compass out and I manage to see that we're going east. I barely have time to pull my pack onto my back as they walk quickly. I'm handed water when I catch up again and I hesitantly drink from the metal bottle. My eyes get droopy. I try to focus on picking one foot up and placing it in front of me, but then the world goes black.