Tariq stepped out of the RV and let the door fall shut behind him, giving the kids some space. He focused outward, extending his senses. There were no other heartbeats nearby — which meant the two bodies lying in the dirt were the winners of whatever fight had taken place here.
Standing outside, he listened.
“Do you think he’s nice?” the little boy asked quietly.
“I don’t know…” the little girl replied. “Maybe?”
Tariq’s stomach rumbled.
Now’s the time to experiment.
He walked over to one of the destroyed RVs and placed a hand against its side. The metal decayed instantly beneath his palm, flaking away... but he didn't feel himself absorb anything. I thought so... Iron was the most stable thing in the universe, it wasn't going to give him any type of energy.
As he stepped back, his aura flickered.
Tariq froze and stared at himself, waiting. Nothing happened again.
Frowning, he turned back toward the RV — and heard shallow, uneven breathing.
The door creaked open. The kids began stepping down, the girl helping the boy with careful hands. They both looked sickly and gaunt. The girl wore pants far too small and a faded pink T-shirt; the boy had on blue shorts and a black shirt. Neither of them wore shoes.
Her brown hair was matted and tangled, her face smeared with dirt. Beneath it, Tariq could see pale skin and blue eyes. The boy was the same, except his head was completely shaven. Bruises covered both of their arms.
This wasn’t just because the world had changed.
These kids had been trafficked.
Tariq’s blood boiled. He glanced toward the two corpses lying nearby.
Were they responsible?
The boy suddenly broke into a violent coughing fit and collapsed to his knees.
“Daniel!” the girl shouted, dropping beside him and patting his back.
Tariq moved quickly but stopped a few feet away, forcing himself not to crowd them. “What’s wrong?” he asked.
The girl flinched, eyes snapping up to him before darting back to the ground. “H-he’s sick, sir…” she mumbled.
Tariq crouched down to their level. Neither of them would look him in the eye.
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“Hey,” he said gently. “You’re free. You can look at me. I’m not going to hurt you.”
They nodded — but still refused.
Baby steps.
“What happened here?” Tariq asked.
They glanced at each other before returning their gazes to the dirt. “I-I don’t know,” the girl said. “We were inside our hole for days… when we fell asleep and woke up, we heard screaming and—” She shuddered.
They weren’t going to make it back to campus like this. Hell, he wasn’t sure they’d make it out of here at all.
“What’s your name?” he asked.
“E-Emily.”
“Hello, Emily. I’m Tariq. It’s nice to meet you.” He smiled. “I have a condition where I can’t touch things without breaking them. Watch.”
He stood and placed a hand against the RV they’d come from. It decayed instantly.
Their reactions were different.
Daniel’s eyes widened with awe and curiosity. Emily’s narrowed with skepticism.
Tariq chuckled softly. Their dynamic was already obvious.
“So right now I need you two to—”
He stopped.
Something shimmered in the air around them. It was brief — almost imperceptible — but he knew he’d seen it.
Tariq stepped closer. Both kids flinched and raised their arms defensively.
“Hey—no, sorry,” he said quickly. “I didn’t mean to scare you. Just… let me look at you for a second.”
Emily suddenly stood and started pulling at her shirt.
“NO!” Tariq shouted.
She froze, staring at him in shock. “W-why…?”
Anger surged through him again, hot and sharp, but he forced it down. “Just… don’t move, okay?”
She nodded, trembling.
There it was again — a faint, translucent field surrounding both of them.
Tariq picked up a small rock and gently tossed it underhand toward Emily. It struck the invisible barrier and dropped harmlessly to the ground.
“…Wow,” he breathed. “You two really are special, aren’t you?”
Daniel snapped his head up, eyes suddenly bright. “Special? What do you—” He broke into another coughing fit.
“Daniel, stop,” Emily said quickly, rubbing his back. “You can’t talk loud like that.”
Tariq straightened. He wasn’t sure which of them was generating the field, but that could wait.
“Okay,” he said. “Do you two have any other clothes? Shoes?”
“N-no, sir,” Emily whispered.
Tariq sighed. “Alright. Emily, you’re going to help find clothes in the other RVs. I’ll make sure each one is safe before you go in.”
She hesitated, biting her lip, then nodded.
He pointed to a nearby picnic table. “Before that, can you help Daniel over there? Daniel, can you wait while we look?”
Daniel nodded weakly.
Once they were seated, Tariq returned to the RV they’d been trapped in. The anger inside him needed somewhere to go.
He squatted, slid his hands beneath the RV, and clenched his jaw.
These will be their first steps forward.
With a strained grunt, he lifted — and hurled the RV aside. It crashed in the distance.
Emily and Daniel gasped.
Tariq stared at his hands, stunned. He knew he’d gotten stronger — but not this strong.
He walked back to them. “Do either of you have any complaints about what I just did?”
They shook their heads without looking up.
“Good. Then listen carefully.”
He remembered a story his dad once told him — back when he was a cop. Eighteen trafficked children. Years of therapy. One thing mattered most.
“There are new rules now,” Tariq said. “Break them if you want, but I don’t recommend it.”
They nodded.
“First: you speak your mind. I don’t care if it’s good or bad.”
They tensed.
“Second: you stay clothed unless it’s bath time. No undressing for strangers. Ever.”
Emily’s jaw tightened. Daniel’s hands shook.
“And last — this one matters most. Look at me.”
They did.
Tariq smiled, hands on his hips. “From now on, you’re free.”
Emily sniffled.
“If you want to laugh, laugh. If you want to cry, cry. If you want to scream at me, you can.”
Daniel shook his head, eyes wet.
“From this point forward,” Tariq said, “you control your own lives.”
