Meanwhile, June and Claudius peeked into what looked to be the barracks. The creepy terrorist creatures laid still in bunk beds lined against the walls. Their bodies were ‘sleeping’ in positions as stiff as the bunk beds probably felt. June saw another door inside of the barracks. Alongside the door was a glass window showing the inside of a small office. Sure enough, she could see a safe sitting on the desk. It was obvious what the simulation was trying to say. June nodded at Claudius.

  “Looks like they sleep here. There’s a shit ton of them, too.”

  “A blessing to be sure.” Claudius smiled. “We can simply sneak by, minimizing the need for bloodshed on both sides.”

  “Sneaking, huh?” June said. “Why don’t we just crush ‘em instead?”

  Claudius frowned before speaking.

  “Sister June, these men are armed, yes? We may be enhanced by these nanomachines, but bullets will still bring us to our knees if they are sufficient in number.”

  “Yeah, yeah. I guess. I just don’t like the idea of hiding and sneaking and all that.”

  “Pride is important, but also dangerous. Like medicine, it must be measured in the correct dosage.” Claudius mused.

  “Huh? You a fuckin’ sage or something?”

  “Do you really think so?” A glimmer of hope flashed in the single eye June could see from Claudius.

  “Forget I asked. We’ll sneak in.”

  “Wonderful, but before that, allow me to increase our chances of success.”

  Claudius held his hand out, and a ball of flesh appeared from nothing. June did her best not to get nauseous.

  “Stem cells,” Claudius whispered, seemingly to himself. “The primordial ooze of life. It forms any and every component of the body. What a Blessing, to birth a Brother of such potential!”

  The ball of flesh formed Claudius’ ‘Brother’ who was shot to death minutes earlier. It was still the gangly farce of a human being as it was before. It stood with an even worse posture than Claudius. Its overgrown arms rest on the ground, while its eyes rolled up to the ceiling.

  “Why him? Aren’t we sneaking, Church Boy? He ain’t exactly a fucking ninja.”

  “So I was the Church Boy. . .”

  “You heard me.”

  “I. . . Well, Dear Brother isn’t going to be sneaking at all, nor a distraction. Please look at the floor of the barracks room specifically.”

  June looked down and grimaced. The barracks room floor was a crappy job of decrepit wood. Even with someone like June, it would creak under any kind of weight. Would it have been better to have Alex with me, instead of Claudius? Fuck it, too late now.

  “What’s your point?”

  “I’ll have Dear Brother assist us by giving us a padded pathway to dampen the noise.”

  Oh no.

  Before she could even speak, June watched as all of Brother’s skin fell off. It was like watching loose cheese fall off a pizza slice. June turned her head as the skin began to move like a slug, lining itself against the floor of the barracks room.

  “Fuckin’. . . fuck.” June gagged.

  “There. Now we merely crawl across the path to the door.”

  “And if it’s locked?” June said, while trying to recover.

  “I will do something similar to pick the lock.” Claudius smiled.

  June looked up to the ceiling, as if Instructor Hill was watching from above, which he probably was. Are you guys seeing this bullshit?

  “Let’s get this over with.” June waited for Claudius to enter. Claudius didn’t move. Instead, he gestured to the door.

  “Sister June, you should move first. With your Blessing, couldn’t you also raise our chances of success? I’ll be your eyes.”

  Chills spread through June’s body. Crawling would take minutes to make it to the door. She’d have to use her Blessing that entire time? Remember June, She thought. For Papa.

  “I hate this shit.” June fell to her knees and slowly placed herself down on the ‘pathway.’ The creaking was muted, and so was June’s relief at the fact. She was too busy with the sensation of crawling on literal human skin.

  “Sister June, are you ready?”

  “Fuck no, but we’re going anyways.”

  June held her breath as if to submerge herself in the ocean, and closed her eyes.

  “Full Body Amplification Blessing’s like Dr. Krovopuskov and yours are rare.” Instructor Hill had told her. “And conditions for its activation can be taxing to say the least. Closing your eyes isn’t a terrible condition. You simply need allies you can trust.”

  No way in hell does she trust the creep Claudius, or the dumbass Isaac, and especially not the aloof Alex. But in this situation, what else can she do? And so she let the world go dark. The muted creaking became nonexistent. She didn’t just have super strength, she had super whatever-she-wanted as long as she closed her eyes. Super stealth was no different.

  Now if only she wasn’t afraid of the dark. Dozens of armed terrorists were sleeping nearby, seconds away from riddling her with bullets. How did it feel to get shot, to die? The darkness brought every other sense to new and terrible heights. The still air, the stale smell, and the grossness of Brother’s skin began to overwhelm June. She was crawling in darkness for only a few seconds, and she already felt like she couldn’t breathe.

  Stolen story; please report.

  Claudius began to speak.

  “Are you afraid of the dark, Sister June?”

  A colder chill pierced her heart.

  “No.”

  “I see. A little to the left, you are going off the path.”

  June tried to recalibrate without closing her eyes.

  “Shut up, you’re going to get us caught.” June whispered.

  Claudius seemed to oblige for a moment, but started again.

  “The Myriadic Church’s core teaching is that Blessings are our purpose, and that we are to take comfort and meaning in our purpose.”

  “Stop.”

  “I think,” Claudius continued. “That your Blessing adheres to our teaching like any other. You are afraid of the dark.”

  “I’m not.” June’s temper began to bubble up with her fear and her embarrassment. With her eyes closed, nothing could stop June from focusing on Claudius’ voice, his words.

  How true they were.

  What the hell does this wacko know about me?

  “And yet, your Blessing makes you stronger when all you have is darkness. Can’t you see, Sister? This is something you cannot remain blind to. The Myriad seeks to make you whole.”

  June stomped to her feet and shouted.

  “I said stop!”

  Her eyes opened to the sound of a siren going off. The blaring was just about as loud as her amplified voice. She opened her eyes to look at the shocked Claudius and the barracks room, which was now lit in flashing red emergency lights.

  “Uh, shit. Was that me or. . .?”

  In perfect sync, the guards jumped from their bunks, reaching for guns on the sides of their bunks. Claudius waved a hand, and the skin disappeared into wherever it came from. As he formed another ball of flesh, he uttered a prayer June couldn’t hear under the sound of the alarm.

  “A suboptimal situation! I suggest that you use your Blessing and bulldoze the wall of the office, and supply an equal amount of force to the safe as well! Me and my Dear Brother will do our best to buy you time!”

  June agreed not with words, but with action. She started running towards the office, and shut her eyes. With the sound of Brother’s roaring and a chorus of gunfire, she added to the cacophony by busting through the wall. The building shook as a hole was effortlessly punched through its foundation.

  It was human instinct to not want to run into a wall, and June couldn’t remember using her Blessing this way. The feeling of her shoulder impacting the wall was a dull sensation. It should have been the agony of a broken bone, but instead it was like a strong flick to the forehead.

  June opened her eyes and had to cough away the hanging dust. She remembered that with her eyes open, she was a normal girl. A single bullet to her vitals will probably take a tiny girl like her out, nanomachines be damned. She turned to see Claudius and his Brother, back to back. He used his Brother as a shield and a weapon, sending jabs and kicks through Brother’s openings to nearby enemies while the long limbs of his monstrous clone swung wildly, destroying bunk beds and terrorists alike.

  Claudius was comforted by his Blessing, grossness aside. Must be nice, June thought as she approached the safe.

  It looked like it was made of decent material. June closed her eyes as he reached underneath it. She lifted it up with no effort, as expected. Her brain screamed at her not to break her hand against metal, but June ignored it. She didn’t need to wind her punch backwards. She placed her free hand to its side, and one-inch punched straight through it.

  She felt around, and pulled her hand back with the keycard in her grip.

  “Got it! Let’s go!”

  “Very well! Keep your eyes open.” Claudius shouted.

  “Wait, why—?”

  One of Brother’s arms elongated, quickly wrapping itself around June’s waist.

  “What the fuuuuuuck!” June was flung into Brother’s embrace with Claudius. Flesh and skin grew over them, wrapping them up in a protective womb of bone and meat. It felt as if they were rolling fast, like they were stuck inside a tire, descending a steep hill.

  “I hate this, I hate this!”

  “I find it quite soothing, personally.”

  The gunfire was still ringing, but not a single bullet pierced through Brother’s body. Claudius groaned, his teeth clenched.

  “I was prepared for this, but it still pains me to have my twin bear such a painful burden over and over. Ah, this is our stop. Prepare to begin a lengthy sprint. Shall we return to our original meeting spot, or perhaps head for the cells?”

  “If the alarm was from them, they’re probably hauling ass too. We go for the cells and pray they live long enough to catch up!’

  With a sickening squelch, Brother ejected them out, and Claudius shapeshifted his monster twin into a wall of flesh, trapping the remaining terrorists in the barracks. June managed to land on her feet, and the two made their mad dash down the hallway.

  “The plan failed, but we used our Blessings well, did we not?” Claudius asked.

  We are to take meaning and purpose in our Blessings, huh? June wondered.

  “Whatever you say, Church Boy.”

  “Fancy meeting you two here!” Isaac shouted.

  It was no surprise that the duo with super-speed had beat them to the elevator first. Alex and Isaac were crouched behind a manifestation of Alex’s blessing: a five foot growth of square metal, sprouting from the ground. Down the hall, the terrorist things were laying suppressing fire as they slowly pushed towards the team. June and Claudius quickly joined them behind cover.

  “Ballsaac!” June yelled. “You set off the alarm, didn’t you!”

  “What?” Isaac held a small pistol in his hands, and began fumbling it at June’s accusation. He managed to catch it, and exhaled shakily.

  “It could have been anybody, man!”

  “You little shit!”

  “Who the heck is little?” Isaac smirked.

  “Who the hell is little?” June growled.

  “Here’s the keycard you ordered.” Alex said, waving the laminated card in an attempt to bring the two back on topic.

  “We successfully acquired ours as well.” Claudius responded as he summoned his Brother as a wall of bone and flesh supported by thick tendon, creating cover on both sides.

  “Then let’s go!” June snatched the keycard from Alex’s hand, eliciting an unenthused grunt from the pretty boy.

  “Yo, June wait! They’re about to finish reloading!” Isaac screamed.

  “Fuck that!”

  She tossed the other keycard to Claudius. In a slick motion fueled by adrenaline, the two scanned their cards simultaneously. The elevator slid open like a well-oiled machine, unfitting for a supposedly abandoned building.

  “Now, let’s—”

  “Move!” Isaac’s voice cut out at the end of his single word of alarm, as the blur of his Blessing covered him. A hail of gunshots rang out as well, adding to June’s confusion. She suddenly found herself on the floor of the all-white elevator. It seemed that the blur had covered her as well. Alex and Claudius dove into the elevator. With a shaking hand, Claudius jabbed a button on the inside of the elevator. Alex scrambled to press a button as well, most likely to close the elevator as quickly as possible.

  “These things always take too long!”

  Isaac was still slumped over her small body. June struggled to get up.

  “Get off!” June managed to slide herself from under Isaac and prop herself up to sit against the wall.

  Then she looked down and saw the blood on her clothes. June’s jaw dropped, and she closed her eyes to quickly turn Isaac on his back. Her eyes opened to see blood pooling on Isaac’s sides. As the other two boys realized what happened, June remained still. Alex’s eyes were wide, while Claudius’ eyes narrowed.

  “Man. . . I meant it when I said they were done reloading.” Isaac blinked slowly. “But we made it so. . . why’s everyone look so freaked? I ain’t that. . .”

  Isaac finally looked down to see his wound, then back up to the others.

  “Oh. This kinda hurts.”