“I’m so sick of fish,” Ruddy said. He glared at the largemouth bass Teri had lured ashore for them to eat. “How about a squirrel or a rabbit or something like that?”

  “Rabbits are more like people,” Teri said. “Their minds are more familiar than fish. It’s harder to feel them die.”

  Ruddy opened his mouth, closed it, then stuffed another bite of fish in. “Sorry,” he said between mouthfuls. “You’ve saved our asses getting us food every day. I’m just bored with not doing anything.”

  “We’ve been doing plenty. I’ve been recovering. You’ve learned how to clean fish and cook them. And you’ve gotten lots of practice using your powers.”

  “Some of them anyway,” he said. “But it’s not like I’m practicing anything useful like fighting.”

  “At least you’re learning what you can do,” she said. “Plus, isn’t it nice out here?”

  “Yeah,” he said. “But … you know, it’s the same birds and the same trees and the same lake every day. I wish we had a TV, or a computer game or something.”

  Ruddy heard a familiar series of clicks.

  Oh my god. Predator! There was an assault rifle lying on the ground next to him. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands. He’d played hours of video games with rifles just like it, but he’d never held one for real.

  “Please tell me you’re the one doing this,” Ruddy said. “I don’t think I’m ready for a real Predator.”

  A bolt from the Predator’s plasma caster exploded next to him. His skin turned silver and shrapnel bounced off. He could feel it pinging against him. He turned to look at Teri, but she wasn’t there.

  Better take cover, her voice said in his head. I’m not going to miss on purpose every time.

  “Holy crap!” Ruddy stood there, mouth open.

  The next bolt exploded into his chest. He staggered back.

  “Ow, shit. Wait, that really hurt!”

  No, I just made you think it did. If this is too much, just say the word.

  “No. This is awesome!”

  “Man, I’m exhausted,” Ruddy said.

  He was lying on his back on the porch, hands clasped behind his head. His clothes were soaked in sweat. Over the course of the day, he’d discovered he could do more than just transform his skin. Since their game took place in the real world with an overlay of illusion, Ruddy hadn’t just imagined jumping and climbing through trees, he’d actually been doing it. He was able to jump higher and run faster than a normal person, but only if he had some sort of incentive—like a Predator chasing him.

  “Mmm.” Teri was half-dozing in a chair on the porch. “I don’t think we’ve even scratched the surface of what you can do. You’re still operating on pure instinct. Imagine what you’ll be able to do when you have control.”

  “What about you?” Ruddy said. “When did you learn how to do all this stuff?”

  “Right after the Event,” Teri said. She sat up and rubbed her eyes. “I was sitting in my room and my dad came in. I used to pretend I was invisible and that he couldn’t see me. This time it worked. He stood there and yelled my name like I wasn’t even there. I got scared and let him see me. To him, it was like I appeared out of nowhere.”

  The narrative has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the infringement.

  “How did he react? Was he afraid of you?”

  Teri’s eyes lost focus. “No. He was never afraid of me. He … got really angry. If I’d known what I was capable of, I might have done something terrible. But instead, I disappeared again.”

  “He’s the one who gave you all those scars, isn’t he?”

  “I know how curious you are, but please don’t ask me about that.”

  “OK. I’m sorry. Um … what about school? You’re really smart. Were you an honor student?”

  “I took an IQ test when I was a kid, but my dad wouldn’t let me go to the gifted school. He pulled me out of school altogether in the fifth grade. He said he was going to homeschool me but he never bothered. I learned from the Internet, mostly. I posed as an adult and talked to a lot of professors and researchers online, pretended I was one of them. My plan was to come clean with my identity when I turned eighteen and convince someone to help me into a great school like MIT, even though I had no formal education.”

  “So you’re like Valentine Wiggin!”

  “Um. Yes, sort of. Except I don’t have any brothers.”

  “You’re an only child like me?”

  “No,” she said. “I had a sister.”

  Had, he thought. Good job, Ruddy. Poor girl. No wonder she doesn’t like to talk about her family.

  Then he remembered she could read his thoughts and he blushed. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this tired in my life,” he said. “And hungry. Are you hungry?”

  “Starving,” Teri said.

  Ruddy handed Teri her cane and followed her into the kitchen. He fried up the filets he’d prepared earlier and watched as she scarfed down half a dozen.

  “I don’t see how someone so little could eat so much,” he said.

  “My powers make me hungry. It makes sense, thermodynamically, although nothing else about these powers does.”

  “You look exhausted,” he said. Her eyes were bloodshot. He put his hand on her forehead and frowned. “I think we did too much today. You’re running a fever again.”

  “Yeah,” she slurred. “I don’t feel so good. I better get some sleep. Maybe we can cut down on the games tomorrow.”

  “You should have said something.”

  “It didn’t hit me until now,” she said. “The food made me sleepy. Maybe I’ll take a little nap.”

  “It’s almost bedtime anyway. Tomorrow, you get the day off from entertaining me.” He picked her up; she seemed smaller than before. He’d had so much fun all day it hadn’t even crossed his mind it might be tiring for her.

  Idiot, he told himself. You have to think about these things.

  Once she was in bed, he settled his own aching muscles onto the couch. Despite his exhaustion, he tossed and turned for hours before he fell asleep.

  Glass shattered. Ruddy bolted upright. The sun blinded him as the curtains fell. A familiar wolf-like creature hurtled across the room toward him.

  For a moment he thought he was still dreaming. He didn’t even have time to blink before it crashed into him and knocked him to the floor. Foul-smelling drool clung to his face as teeth screeched across his metallic skin.

  He got his hands around its throat and threw it as hard as he could. It bounced off the wall next to Teri’s bed. As it fell, it changed into a spider-like creature and skittered towards him. He yelled.

  Teri was awake now. She scrambled for the back of the bed, holding her bandaged side and screaming. Her skin was pale and blotchy, and she was shivering.

  Ruddy snarled and leapt at the thing, breaking its charge. He couldn’t get a grip on it, so he grabbed one of its legs and twisted. The creature rotated with him, its body shape changing so it was always facing him. Two of its legs wrapped around him and some sort of web-like material shot from its abdomen. His arms were pinned to his sides.

  No fair! he thought.

  Two enormous mandibles clamped onto either side of his face, holding his head in place while its legs rotated his body in the opposite direction. It was like twisting the stem off a grape.

  Ruddy!

  It’s okay, he said. I have this under control. Pain shot through him as his neck twisted farther around.

  “No,” Teri whispered. “Please, no more.” A force brushed the edge of Ruddy’s mind. The spider froze, then went limp on top of him. He scrambled out, still tangled up in the sticky substance.

  “Is it dead?” he asked.

  She shook her head and sobbed.

  “Oh, no.” Ruddy stumbled toward her, his arms still pinned down. “Don’t cry. It’s going to be okay. I’m not hurt.” He made the edges of his arms sharp and cut the spider webs.

  “I don’t know why I didn’t think of that during the fight,” he muttered. “Some superhero I am.”

  Once he got free, Ruddy took a step toward the unconscious thing.

  “No!” Teri said. “There’s no time. We have to go.”

  “I should finish it while it’s …”

  “If you attack it, it might wake up. It has friends. They’re coming. We have to get out of here. Now.” Her voice was trembling. “I’m sick, Ruddy. I can’t fight anymore.”

  Ruddy hesitated, then ran into the kitchen. He tossed everything into a bag and threw it over his shoulder. By the time he was done, Teri had grabbed her cane and was limping out the door.

  As soon as they were in the car, he peeled out of the dirt lot and sped down the driveway. “Which way do I go?” he asked.

  But Teri was out cold in the passenger seat. He drove on, taking turns at random.