Nolan was different from Kate and Adam in one way or another. Even before everything had happened he was already alone. Adam and Kate weren't, at least not completely.

  He quite literally didn't have anyone. His parents died in a fire when he was eleven. With no relatives he was left with no choice but to stay in an orphanage. However, even that didn't turn out well for him. Aside from that fact, no family wanted to adopt him. He also caused troubles, a lot of them.

  So he was left there alone for over five years. No one adopted him; he couldn't even make his own friends.

  He starts fights and constantly steals things that weren't his.

  Despite several warnings none of it seems to get in his skin. He just kept doing things as he pleased.

  For the entirety of those five years nothing had changed.

  Until that night had come, at least.

  The night when everything had changed.

  It was a cold night just like every other one. A boy sat at the remains of a broken wall, admiring the night sky and unbothered by the cold breeze of wind.

  He was at one of the older buildings of the orphanage. It was only meant to undergo renovation, but the orphanage was so full of children, they couldn’t afford it. Now the place was merely a ruin, grass overgrown and various rocks and pieces of walls lay scattered by the ground.

  Nolan liked it here.

  It had become his favorite place in the orphanage ever since he discovered it. The staff of course prohibited them from going near it saying it was dangerous. Nolan couldn’t care less it wasn’t the first time he broke the rules and even if someone made a tally of it. This wouldn’t even be his biggest one.

  What mattered to him was he found a place for him that was quiet and peaceful but more importantly where he could be alone.

  He didn’t like people; they all just seemed to annoy him. Which might be the reason no one adopted him.

  Because he didn’t want to.

  He sighed as he stared up at the night sky that was riddled with stars.

  Then he saw something strange.

  A shooting star.

  Of course, that itself wasn’t strange, he had already seen one before. This wasn’t new to him.

  What was new to him was that it was green.

  He slightly gapped his mouth in the sight, just as he thought that was it. Multiple green streaks of light had painted the night sky.

  Nolan had stood up in amazement.

  Then he heard rustling of leaves and grass just in front of him.

  Suddenly, a strong wave of wind almost sent him backwards. His head started to hurt, and he fell on his knees. Something felt wrong, his whole body was burning up. He screamed and pulled his hair out in pain. Just right by his side he saw a shattered glass that gave him a vague reflection of himself.

  One of his eyes had turned green and, in his face, lay a small patch of grey crusted skin.

  He then noticed this hand changed its skin to the same grey color.

  Nolan used every bit of strength he could muster to try and stand to return to the orphanage.

  He kept one hand towards his forehead as he barely moved towards the main building.

  He was about to return to the main building when he heard growls. Not animal kind, he thought of it as something he never heard of. He peeked in the bushes and saw creatures, green spikes and grey skin. He was shaken in horror, he immediately crouched, his hand shaking uncontrollably. The grey skin seemed to crawl further.

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  He wasn’t that afraid of the appearance of the monsters, instead he was more frightened in the realization he was turning into one.

  Nolan’s head pounded more almost as if it was splitting in half. Then he heard something strange.

  It was a cry.

  It was barely audible, but he recognized it. He tried to search for the source, and looking around he found a small pink stroller.

  Nolan sneaked his way towards it. Thankfully, none of the creature seemed to notice him.

  When he arrived at the stroller, he saw an infant in white clothes and a pink head band. Nolan stared at the young and immediately thought.

  I need to protect her.

  In that moment the pain in his head suddenly eased and the greys skin seemed to stop expanding over his arms.

  Nolan didn’t bother thinking why he just immediately took the infant, who was still crying. He rushed to hide somewhere; he didn’t exactly know where, he only decided that it must be as far as possible from those monsters.

  That was the first time Nolan heard Beth cry.

  Now was the last.

  Time seemed to move slowly. Nolan was suddenly back in the yard watching Beth scream in pain as her assailant squeezed her head and punctured her eyes with the creature’s sharp claw.

  Blood dripped from her eyes. Kiel urgently tried to load another arrow to his bow, but his hands had failed him, shaking nervously. Just when he had an arrow ready and he was about to aim the monster skull suddenly erupted, dark blood splashed all over the place. A spear had gone through the grey’s skull cleanly.

  The headless creature had fallen on the ground along with Beth.

  Kiel saw them fall out of the modular house and immediately jump down. He almost broke his legs from the impact but he ignored it and headed straight towards Beth while almost pulling his leg.

  Before he could even reach her someone had pulled him out of the way, almost throwing him out to the side.

  It was Nolan.

  He hurriedly got on his knees and checked Beth for a pulse.

  “No…”

  He said in almost a whisper.

  “No no…NO”

  He then slowly stood up and turned towards Kiel.

  “WHAT DID YOU DO?”

  Kiel felt anger swelling from Nolan. His hand shook, he tried to step back.

  “It…wa-was an accident” Kiel said with a stutter.

  “She-asked if he could try the gun I said that would attract the greys but-”

  “Liar”

  Nolan didn't shout, he simply said it but for some reason Kiel felt it more frightening.

  Nolan stepped closer. Frightened, Kiel fell on his back trying to maintain some distance. His efforts were unfortunately in vain as Nolan managed to quickly grab him through his shirt.

  He lifted him up by gripping his neck. Kiel struggled, dropping the bow and arrows from his hand.

  “STOP IT” said Adam as he quickly approached Nolan.

  Frankly, he didn't know what he could do. Nolan was stronger than him and right now he didn't even have a gun.

  He didn't want to hurt Nolan but he also wanted to keep him away from Kiel. So he did what he could and used what he had.

  As he approached Nolan he aimed at his arm. He swung his blade vertically but before the blade could travel the arc, Nolan had gripped his wrist with his free hand stopping the blade from reaching him.

  Nolan then kicked Adam in the stomach, sending him reeling backwards. He looked at Kiel and decided to throw him in the same direction.

  A small cloud of dust climbed upwards as both Kiel and Adam hit the ground.

  “You want to join? I shouldn't have trusted you” said Nolan slowly moving towards them

  “We were fine…” his voice was filled with remorse more than anger.

  “but you had to take that away”

  Almost in that instant the remorse was gone and it was only anger.

  Adam stared at Nolan as he took his step closer and closer. For a blink of an eye he thought he saw both of Nolan's eyes turn green. But when he looked again he saw that only one of them was.

  Adam didn't know what to do. He and Kiel were slowly moving away from Nolan but he was moving closer at a faster pace.

  He then saw black metal object lying not far from them.

  Adam moved slowly until he was able to reach his pistol with one of his hands. He didn't know how it got there nor did he care.

  He immediately aimed it towards Nolan who had stopped his movements.

  “Don't move! I'll shoot” said Adam, but his shaking hand must have shown his confidence or the lack of thereof.

  Nolan first looked serious but then chuckled.

  “What? you'll shoot me? Do it” he said as he continued to move forward.

  Surprisingly, Adam fired three shots, two which hit Nolan by the shoulder. Just like Kate when they first met him he also instinctively tried not to aim a fatal shot.

  Not fatal shots proved itself to be not enough as it only angered Nolan more.

  He charged faster and managed to grab Kiel’s leg. With what seemed little effort he held the boy upside down.

  It looked like he was about to throw Kiel away but before he could, another gun had been fired, this time hitting Nolan to the left side of his forehead. He had fallen to his knees and dropped the boy.

  Kiel then looked at Adam and realized that it wasn't him who fired the shot. When they looked for the direction where the fire hand came from they saw Kate who just retrieved her rifle and shot Nolan in the head.

  Kate got closer to the two asking if they were fine. Adam simply nodded but Kiel didn't respond. His eyes simply moved from Beth’s lifeless body and Nolan who had a small hole in his forehead where his blood was dripping slowly.

  “We should take the panels from the car” suggested Adam who was catching his breath still staring at Nolan's body.

  Kate nodded. However, before anyone could even retrieve the panels they noticed a movement. Adam turned around and realized the greys all around them were recovering

  Kate clearly noticed it as well.

  “We don’t have enough time for that we need to leave”

  Adam stood for a moment, unsure of what to do. He moved his hands to his pocket and found the key for the car. His eyes then moved towards Nolan and then it met Kate’s.

  He just simply nodded and pulled Kiel towards the gate of the yard. The boy was still staring at Both Nolan and Beth then.

  “Kiel” called Kate.

  No response.

  “Kiel” Kate called once more, this time Kiel turned around and looked at Kate.

  “We had to leave”

  Kiel took one more look before he returned his stare towards Kate and nodded. The three of them then immediately headed to the car. After they arrived Kate stored their bags and other items in the trunk. As usual Adam took the driver’s seat and Kiel sat in the back seat.

  With all three in the car, they headed towards the island’s causeway.

  The journey was quiet, awkwardly so. The ride was more than an hour and yet no one spoke. Even Kiel, who was excited to see the island, didn’t ask many questions, only one.

  It was sometime past the middle of the ride when he did.

  “What would happen to Nolan?”

  Adam and Kate stared at each other unsure of what they should say. After a short moment it was Kate who answered.

  “Greys usually don’t die despite receiving a blow but not us” she paused

  “We would die from that”

  Kiel didn’t reply, he just thought about it.

  But he wasn't like us

  …

  Back in the yard The Greys had started to rise, one of them noticed Nolan on his knees and decided to inspect closer. The creature’s face was only a few inches away from Nolan. It tilted its head trying to see if he was alive. However, when Nolan didn’t move the creature slowly lost its interest. The monster was about to leave when Nolan’s grey thick hands gripped its neck.

  The creature struggled from the grasp as Nolan slowly turned his head, opening his eyes. Staring directly at the monster.

  He wasn’t sure but he thought that there was “fear” in its green eyes.

  He smirked at the thought and proceeded to snap the grey’s neck.