Two days had already gone by, and I was suffering like a virgin whore. I could barely walk after my training sessions, not to mention the sessions I had been having with Mary and that peg I found at the store. I had to down a cup of coffee every morning before taking a freezing shower to wake me up and then have another cup of coffee. However, the results were more than incredible. What before was an atlas stone to me was now a brick of milk, literally. My strength was increasing by the day. Lifting objects now felt like I was lifting their real weight instead of ten times that, and I was also getting better at controlling it. It was now a conscious reflex, an intentional thought. But the goal was for me to do what I wanted automatically. I wanted to get to the point where I would want a sandwich and my brain would just automate the process of moving every ingredient. I wanted to will things into what I wanted them to be. I wanted more.

  It was now the third day of training; we only had about eleven days left for the operation to begin. I was out in the town’s sports field with Plague. We practiced catching and tossing, where he would throw something heavy at me. I'd have to slow it down before it hit me and then throw it hard against one of the many targets we had set up. He was now about to throw a cinder block at me, which was so far the heaviest thing I had lifted. It was going to be difficult, but I was confident.

  I cleared my mind to focus better and readied myself for the toss. He swung back and threw the heavy brick towards me. I focused hard on slowing down, and it worked. Instead of smashing against my head, the cinder block hovered in the air, and I had picked my target and let it fly against a wooden crate. The crate got smashed, and I felt really good.

  “Good one, you’re going to beat your record every day at this rate.” He gave me a thumbs up.

  “I know right?, it’s great!”

  “But you shouldn’t be overdoing it so much.”

  “You’re the one who I had to give it all to; all, that’s what I’m doing.” I stopped for a second to bring myself a bottle of water. “Ayla, I think we should wrap it up for today.”

  “Sure, but could you do the force push thingy? We haven’t practiced that at all.”

  Ah yes, the almighty push I had unlocked after that cuckold Markus went poking around in my mind. I don’t really know how I did it. The push was different from my telekinesis, as it was more of a wave of energy that pushed things around. But it did come with its benefits. I took aim at a makeshift dummy we had made out of a chair and a pillow and sent a pulse of energy towards it. Like if it had been hit by an invisible wrecking ball, the chair toppled over and the pillow flew a couple meters.

  I looked over at Plague in search of appraisal but found him thinking.

  “Happy now?” I asked.

  “Just one last thing. I think that if you used that push instead of your telekinesis, you’d be able to launch things further. Try holding this ball in front of you in the air and give it a good push.”

  It was an idea. It could work, and if it did, it would be so much better. Not only did the push not tire me as much as lifting, but I could also get more force out of it. He was holding a tennis ball in his hand. I brought it to me and held it right in front of me. I focused and pushed it. The ball flew about three times further than normal. It was a major improvement. If I got better at aiming, I would definitely be able to deal some major damage with this. Plague was smiling like a psycho, and I was too.

  “Now that’s something.” He said.

  “Something? That was awesome!” I answered.

  “You are so full of surprises. I can't help but imagine how far you can go. And that push of yours has a lot of potential.”

  “I know, it’s great!”

  “I’m thinking that you’d be able to make a force field to protect yourself. Maybe you can even stop bullets with that.”

  “Maybe. Anyways, I have to go now. I promised Mary I’d take her someplace fancy here.” I started making my way through the field, but Plague followed me.

  “You seem very close to her. May I suggest something?”

  “Umm, ok?”

  I thought he was going to tell me something about my relationship or something like that.

  “If you’re going to the Golden Shell, make sure you try the truffle supreme; it is blissfully perfect.”

  “Thanks, we sure will.” I left in a bit of a speed walk. I had booked a table for two at the place Plague had said, which was also the only proper restaurant in the town. It was apparently quite fancy and expensive, but our job paid well and by the day because every day for someone in recon could be the last, plus we got special discounts. I don’t know how or where they got the food from, but they always had eggs, which was their specialty (duh, it's called the golden shell).

  The field was next to the pool; however, the pool was public property, unlike the field. My brother and Mary trained outside the town in a big urban setup the militia had made. It was right beside the town and apparently had a firing range, a CQB area, and a zone where they could practice their powers freely. They finished before me and usually headed home to shower and eat. I hadn’t gone there yet, but Plague said that at the end of the week he would prepare a little test for me to complete, and it would take place there. I don’t know whether wandering zeds were an issue or not, considering that the town was somewhat isolated from anywhere else but at the same time was a very big and juicy target for any stray zed. Hopefully not, though.

  But enough thinking about the far future; it was now time to think about the immediate future. I had found a nice dress the day before, and don’t ask where I got it from, but it's very nice. It was blue and slim around the waist and legs with three ruffles around the waist. I had washed it, and thanks to the scorching heat from the summer, it would be dry by the time I came back. I was skipping my way to the apartments, whistling like a little girl, when I spotted Tyrone outside my building. He looked really stressed and was looking for someone. He turned around and saw me in the distance; he waved at me, and I quickened my pace.

  “Yo, what’s good, Ayla?” He said in his usual accent.

  “Sup, Tyrone? What are you doing here?”

  “Shiii man, it’s your brother. He had an accident.” He said.

  Of course, two months in the wild is fine for him, but four days in here? About to need to cause something. I didn’t know what to feel back then. Sure, I was worried, but I was also disappointed.

  “Is it bad?” I asked.

  “Not much; he was out cold from getting hit on the head by one of Mary’s balls. He suffered a little concussion, but he should be fine for the mission.”

  “Mary’s balls? Is she trans now or something?”

  “Nah, it’s just that her weapons explode when shocked with electricity. We were practicing coordinated grenade tossing, but Donn missed a bolt of lightning, and the ball hit him square in the head.” Not my first guess; I would have expected the mistake to be Mary’s. My brother was probably trying to woo Sofia Briggs.

  “So how long until he is fine?”

  “Tomorrow probably. Do you want to go see him now?”

  “No. I’ve booked a table at the Golden Shell, and I’m not going to miss it no matter what. So if you’ll excuse me now, I’ve got to go. See ya!” I opened the door and took the lift up to my floor. The lock was open, and I simply trod into my apartment. Mary was also there. She was reading a book in the living room.

  “Hey bae, I heard you cracked my brother’s head.” I said.

  “No no, it was his fault. He missed; it’s on him.” She jumped to the defence with lightning speed. I was only messing with her; I didn’t expect this.

  “I know; I was just pulling your leg. Anyways, I’m going to take a shower now, and then we are going, ok?” I gave her a kiss on the forehead and left for the bathroom. I had to get all the sweat off of me, and I was even going to use an expensive perfume I scavenged some time ago from a very expensive shop. I took off my clothes, and I smelled them. Stinky wouldn’t be enough to describe them properly.

  I got in the shower, and without waiting for the water to warm up, I turned the showerhead on. After letting out a weird moan, I cleaned myself thoroughly and properly. I washed my hair and left it shiny clean. It was getting late; we had the table for half past nine, and it was quarter past when I got out of the shower and got dressed. The blue dress fit me like a glove, and I don’t mean to brag, but I was looking like perfection.

  Mary too had gotten dressed in her black dress; I still hadn’t asked her about it.

  “Looking sharp. I love the colour.” She said. “Shall we?”

  She held out her arm, and I put mine around hers.

  “We shall. You got the keys, right?”

  “Yeah, don’t worry.” She answered. We left the house and put the padlock on the door. She locked it, and we were ready to go.

  Nothing could go wrong now. It was just me and my girl. We took the lift, and whilst waiting for it to arrive, I decided to have a little smooch.

  “I love you so much. I’m so glad you’re mine.” I said in her ear as I pressed her to the inside of the lift.

  “I love you too, you naughty girl.” She had taken a liking to dirty talk, which I accepted openly.

  The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

  “Ooh, getting naughty now, aren’t we? I’ll show you just how bad I can really be later in bed.” I said. She kissed me again and smiled.

  “Ok, but you’re on top first, ok?” She said seductively in my ear.

  “Ooh, you read my mind.” I was about to do more to her, but the lift opened, and we found some random guy staring wide-eyed at us. I was still pressed on to Mary, and I was lifting her leg when we were caught.

  I cleared my throat, got off of Mary and took her hand, and quickly got out of there, saying a hurried ‘evening’ to the guy. We speed-walked outside.

  “We always get interrupted!” She said angrily.

  “I know, it’s like the world doesn’t want us to do our stuff!” I replied.

  “Yeah, we might as well just have a drone following us and videotaping us; it wouldn’t make much of a difference anyways.” We got out on the streets; everyone was now coming out of their homes to enjoy the cool night air, a welcome break from the scorching sun of daytime. The restaurant was located right in front of the town hall, which was at the intersection of the two main avenues. During the day the main square was home to street vendors, but during the night it turned into a sort of outdoor rave. We got to the restaurant at about twenty-five past, so we were a bit early, but it didn’t matter. There was a small queue to get served, and we stood in line, holding each other’s hand. We were then served.

  “Do you have a reservation?” Asked a lady in a tuxedo at the reception.

  “Yes,” I said.

  “Name?”

  “Ayla.” I answered. The girl looked through the list and nodded.

  “Table for two, follow me.” She said.

  The inside was decorated really fancily; it had golden and yellow accents, making it all seem extravagant. The main dining area had a big chandelier with mirrors arranged in odd positions, like every angle you saw it from was a different broken mirror. It also had a separate area upstairs that had enclosed and private tables. They were hugging the wall upstairs and were circular. Leather benches were the comfortable seats we had, and there was an egg-shaped lamp in the center of our table; it resembled an egg with its bottom slowly being detached, which was where a ray of light came through.

  Mary was in awe at everything around us. “Can we afford this?” She asked; she hadn’t even seen the menu.

  “Yeah, but this is a once-a-month type of place; I had to ask for an early pay to afford it.” I answered.

  She seemed worried. “You shouldn’t splash out like this.”

  I knew where she was going with this.

  “Mary, I want to feel rich if only for tonight. I’ve lived my life counting every cent I had; now that I have a stable and good income, I want to feel like I’ve made it in life.” I handed her a menu, and we began reading.

  “I can understand that. I also didn’t have the most money when I was little. My parents were neck deep in debt to the mafia and decided to end it all, so the debt carried on to me and my brother.” She was getting closer to crying.

  “How did you survive then?” I asked her.

  “The mafia decided to spare us under the condition that we serve them. We were house servants to them and more. We had to carry out drug deals and other stuff like that. That’s where I got the scar on my back from. We didn’t finish paying it in the end. When the infection struck, we were out to pass drugs to a dealer, but then the whole thing happened.” She was having trouble getting her words together.

  I held her hand over the table and rubbed it a bit. “Well now you don’t have to worry about that anymore.”

  She looked at me; she was frustrated. “No, but now I have to worry about so many other things. I have to worry about the mission.”

  “And you also need to worry about ordering your food.” I leaned over the table and rubbed her cheek; I lifted her head softly. “Don’t worry about any of that. I’ll keep you safe, I promise. I won’t let anything happen to you.” I smiled at her; she seemed to want to believe me. She nodded slowly, and we continued reading the menu. Plague was right; the truffle supreme sounded gorgeous. We both ordered that. Whilst waiting for the food, we sat together, and we simply talked about how our lives had been before the fall.

  “You know what I really miss?” She asked.

  “What?”

  “Watching ‘pup cop’ in the morning. I used to wake up half an hour earlier than I should have just because I didn’t want to miss any episodes.” She was talking about a series about canine police; I also watched it, and it was pretty good.

  “You watched that too? Did you watch Kitty Fierce Paws when you were little?” I asked her.

  “Yes, well, sort of. I didn’t mind watching it, but my brother was an absolute die-hard fan. He would move heaven and earth just to not miss the three o'clock special. It kind of grew on me.” She said she smiled, but her eyes were watery.

  “Me too, I used to drag my brother into watching it. I was probably an even harder fan than your brother; I had an almost addiction to it. You don’t know how obsessed I was with the series.”

  I could tell I had maybe hit a bit of a nerve with that; my bad.

  She seemed thoughtful for a bit. She stopped smiling. “Ayla, what would you give to have had the breakout not happen?” She asked me.

  It was a tough question, but I knew where I stood.

  “Nothing. I wouldn’t want to go back.” I said.

  Mary seemed really confused. “Why?”

  “Because I wouldn’t have you. What about you? Would you go back?”

  She opened and closed her mouth a couple times searching for words. “Sorry, but I would. I'd have my brother. Even though you’ve made me the happiest I’ve ever been, and I enjoy living like this with you, I can’t live without him.”

  “You don’t need to be sorry; I understand. I’m glad to know I make you happy.” I smiled at her, but she was staring at her lap; her face was expressionless. Discussing the past with her was always a very delicate procedure. I wanted to get her mind out of the thought of her brother. “Mary, did you ever have a boyfriend?” I asked her.

  “No, you?” She said.

  “I had a couple fuck buddies, but they were just that. I never felt any love for them, only for their dongs.” I said. She laughed a bit.

  “You really are something else. You’re so blunt!”

  “You know what is not blunt?” I closed my hand and waved it up and down a bit. She didn’t understand, so I opened my mouth wide and shook my hand in front of my mouth. Then she understood, and she laughed more. She had a sweet giggle, like a small child.

  “Jeez, you’re so... you!”

  “I should hope so.”

  She was giddy now. “But I did have a crush back then. I didn’t go to high school, as I was serving the mafia, so I had no real chance to meet any boys. However, there was one exception; his name was Tony. He was the son of one of the boss’s friends, and he was really involved in it all. He was kind of a bad guy, the sexy type. You know, black leather jacket, white tank top, greased hair. He was a couple years older than me, but I had a significant crush on him.” She said. I did not expect Mary to have been attracted to that type of guy. I was expecting her to be more into nerdy guys, not bad guys.

  “Really? You must have been a fan of Grease.”

  “I haven’t watched it.”

  “Really!?” I don’t know a single girl who hasn’t watched Grease; it’s almost a crime to not have watched it. “You don’t know what you’re missing out on. The hottest guys, and your type too.” At that point the waitress came with our food. It was everything I could have dreamed of. A soft and tender hamburger meat with two or three slightly fried egg yolks with pieces of black truffle and parmesan cheese sprinkled on top. The smell was something that belonged in heaven; the aroma was almost cry-worthy. MasterChef contestants dream about making this. It smelled and looked so good that I didn't want to eat it; I just wanted to marvel at its beauty. Mary was also as in love with the dish as I was. Her mouth was drooling, and her eyes shone bright with delight.

  “It’s enough to make a grown woman cry. It’s perfect.” She said. “I don't have words to describe it—simply perfect.”

  “Me too, me too. Shall we begin?” I asked.

  She nodded, and we both clinked our forks together before cutting a small piece of meat. I brought the steamy food to my nose to smell better; it was like nicotine to me. When I put it in my mouth, I couldn't help but moan in delight. The meat melted in your mouth, sending all the grease to explore every inch of my mouth. The flavour from the egg and truffle was indescribable. I was overwhelmed in a culinary experience the likes of which the world had never seen before.

  I looked over at Mary; she had her eyes closed, and I could see she was slowly moving the food in her mouth, savouring every moment of it. When she finally swallowed, she had the biggest smile I had seen her make.

  “This... is something else. Thank you so much, Ayla.” She said.

  “God, this thing is turning me on so much right now.” I said. I was getting increasingly horny from eating this. I was now halfway through, and I was almost crying from pleasure.

  “Me too,” she said.

  We continued eating until we both finished. It was sad that all things came to an end, especially good ones. Mary was pleased with herself; she had egg yolk around the edges of her mouth. She started humming a tune I couldn't identify.

  “What's that?” I asked.

  “It’s the song that’s playing; it’s from a Spanish guy.” She said. I listened, and sure enough, there was a song playing in the background.

  “I didn't know you knew Spanish songs.”

  “There are a lot of things you don't know about me. I'm actually not from here.” She continued humming.

  “And you waited until now to tell me?” I wasn't expecting that. Mary was the last person I expected not to be from here.

  “Yes, I waited because I hadn’t had the need to tell you yet. I’m actually Spanish. My parents moved here when I was seven; my brother, however, was born here. That’s how I recognized the song, because my father used to sing it in the car all the time. My mother would always get fake annoyed at him as he would always try to get her to sing too.” She was swirling the water in her glass slowly.

  “And what song is it?” I asked.

  "Mi gran noche," by Raphael. She said in a plain Spanish accent. It was strange hearing her speak a foreign language so perfectly.

  “Could you sing it for me?” I asked her.

  “...caminaré abrazado a mi amor, por las calles sin rumbo...” She sounded so good; her voice was like a lullaby. I didn't understand what she was saying, but I could feel it. I almost thought she was singing about me. She was swaying to the rhythm of the song.

  “Mary, that was beautiful.” I said. I saw her blush crimson red.

  “It’s nothing.”

  “No, it is something. You've got such a beautiful voice.” I placed my hand on her cheek; she leaned into it.

  “Thanks. You're the only one that has ever heard me sing like that. You really think it’s good?” She was speaking softly, calmly.

  “It’s more than good. You are more than good.” I got closer to her and kissed her on her forehead. I felt like I had to protect her then; I thought she was so fragile. I needed to do something, anything, as long as it was with her. I didn't know what was happening to me. I can't explain what I felt. Is this what love really feels like? If it is, then I never knew it could be this scary. I was terrified of the thought of losing her; it was stuck in the back of my mind. I felt the urge, the need, to do whatever it took to keep her. She looked so frail then.

  Then I felt her put her arms around me; she was squeezing me with her arms. “I love you, Ayla. I can't imagine my life without you now. Don't leave me, please!” She was crying. How could we have been thinking the same thing?

  “I'm never going to leave you; I promise you that.” I needed to get closer to her, even though we were already as physically close as possible. I needed to get closer to her. I had to be with her. Why do I feel this way? Why do I feel so afraid? What is so special about this girl that is making me go insane? What is happening to me?

  “Ayla, I think we should go. I need to tell you so many things, show you so many things...”

  “Me too, babe.” We needed to get back home to calm down from our emotional outbreak. We stayed huddled together until we saw the waiter, after which I gave him a hand signal to bring us the receipt. It was very expensive, around fifty euros for two dishes and a couple drinks of water, but it was so bloody worth it. The truffle supreme is the stuff of legends. We left after I left my money there, and we headed straight back home, but not before stopping to listen to the rave that was outside. They were playing ‘I Was Made for Loving You’ by Kiss. It was one of my favourite songs.

  The tune was drilled into my head; it was very catchy, and I didn't mind humming it from time to time. We got back to the apartment with me singing my heart out and Mary laughing. She also joined in on the song.

  “...And I can’t. I didn’t get enough of you, baby. Can you get enough of me?...” We shouted. We were messing around the place, having the time of our lives. After that, we decided to go to bed, but not to sleep.

  On my second day here, I had wandered to the pawn shop, which was stocked full thanks to all the previous inhabitants of the town leaving all their stuff behind. So there I was, looking aimlessly around when I found it. Sixteen centimetres of pink silicon with a strap. I immediately bought it, and I and Mary have been using it ever since.

  She was on top of me then; we had the lights on, as we both liked seeing each other during our special moments.

  She was moaning and gasping for air. “I love you so much, I love this, I love you, bitch!” She yelled. She writhed and squirmed before collapsing over me, panting and sweating. She was gasping for air.

  “You know, I think we should be more careful next time we go to the Golden Shell if we don’t want to break down in tears every time we go.” I said.

  Mary burst out laughing; it took a while for her to stop.