Two
“The whole world is on fire,” Mikaela said under her breath, slumping into the cushions on the couch.
“The wild fires? There’s still smoke all over the campus.” Drake asked as he closed the front door, then jumped over the back of the couch and landed bumpily beside her. “Fucked up, right? Or did you mean Iago getting smoked?”
“I meant-“
“It’s no fair playing basketball with you,” Iago said from the door, dripping with sweat. “You never get tired. It’s like trying to outrun a cheetah.”
“Cheetahs are sprinters, dude; I was a distance runner. And if anything, I’ve lost a step since my ability set in.”
“Hot as balls,” Iago said, ignoring him, sticking his head in the freezer.
“Can’t you control temperature?” Tucker asked, stomping down the stairs. He walked through the kitchen and hit Iago with the fridge door as he procured a water.
“It’s not the same, especially not controlling something as finicky as body temperature. Or maybe it doesn’t work like that… I don’t know. I can freeze myself, but I still feel the same temp.”
“Could all of you just shut up for fifteen seconds?” Mikaela snapped.
“Uhhhhhhhhhh,” Tucker said, stopping mid-step.
“I don’t think that counts as shutting up,” Iago whispered to him.
Mikaela rolled her eyes, and turned the volume up on the television. “taking you to our reporter on the ground, but first we should stress that this is live footage of an active and brutal murder scene, where it appears that every tribal member of the Grand Badger reservation has been slain. The tribe is famous for it’s saturation of members with so-called Breed abilities. Police are combing the area for leads and any information about suspects, but at this time we can say that the footage is graphic and disturbing, and should not be viewed by children of all ages.” Mikaela turned off the TV as soon as the first bloodied image flashed on the screen. “Christ,” Tucker whispered. “That was Ben’s tribe.”