“They’re really all dead?” Gideon couldn’t believe what he was hearing. How could this have happened? The scouting team had told him it was safe to go, that there were no bandits in the area, and no thralls. But they had been wrong, and it had cost him the lives of four of his best men. Three of them had even had the gift, and losing those powers hurt everyone at Liberty Park, not just Gideon.

  “And you managed to escape, unharmed?” He inspected Aiden, looking him up and down as though he was lying. How could his experienced men be killed, but this child makes it back unharmed? It didn’t make sense. Aiden ad run all the way back, on his own, without encountering any more of the thralls. It didn’t make sense.

  “Look, I’ve told you everything I know. There were three main ones, and they had powers. Two of them are dead, but the other is still out there, and he’s the one that’s responsible for their deaths!” Aiden had been questioned and interrogated by Gideon ever since he had returned that afternoon. It was dark now, and the square was lit by two large bonfires. Aiden had a suspicion that Gideon didn’t believe his story, that he had somehow been the one to kill the rest of the group. But that didn’t make any sense. He was only a child, e had no reason to do that, nothing to gain.

  “Thralls haven’t been seen in that city in years! It’s the reason we live so openly now. Back when the collapse first happened, we had to hide in the shadows, but now, we can live more freely. If what you’re saying is true,” Gideon paused, thinking carefully about what his words would mean, “then everything we’ve built here is in danger."

  “It is true!” Aiden barked. He was tired of being interrogated now. He knew what he had seen, what he had been through, and he wasn’t going to let someone tell him it wasn’t real.

  “I know what it means, but I’m telling you, they’re out there. And it wasn’t just the three with powers. There were more, I don’t know how many but they were there.”

  Gideon turned his back to Aiden, and looked over at the bonfires. Sparks leapt from the flames, bouncing on to the large plastic mats that had been placed on the floor around them, to avoid the fire spreading. People were sat around them, chatting, laughing, living their lives. He hadn’t told them yet what had happened on the trip. As soon as Aiden had arrived back, he had pulled him to the side, and hadn’t let him speak a word of what had happened to anyone else – even his own mother. She was worried of course, and had demanded to know what was going on, but once Gideon had told her that Aiden was fine – physically at least – she seemed to calm down a bit. She hadn’t left though, and Gideon could see her watching the pair of them closely from next to one of the fires. Her eyes pierced into his soul, as though prying into his mind to find out what was really going on. Of course, she may have actually been doing that.

  She too had the gift. She was able to read people, sense their feelings and emotions. But was she able to read their minds as well? She had never made that particularly clear to Gideon, and the thought made him shiver. Maybe she did know exactly what was going on after all.

  Gideon turned back to face Aiden. “You don’t breathe a word of this to anyone, until I say so. People will panic if they hear it.”

  “You can’t be serious! People need to know what’s out there, they could be in danger!” Aiden couldn’t believe Gideon’s words. How could he be so callous? His mind flashed back to the Ice Manipulator. His cold, dead eyes glowing in the darkness. Aiden was sure he recognized him.

  It can’t be.

  But there were too many coincidences for it not to be.

  ‘Frostbite’.

  Frostbite was a member of The Alliance - the elite group of superheroes that used to protect the world, and were the main focus of many of Aiden’s comic books. Frostbite had the power to manipulate and create ice from nothing, as well as freezing existing bodies of liquid – as the figure had done in the mall, killing James and trapping Aiden using his blood. In the comics, he had short hair, as white as snow, and whenever he used his powers, ice began to spread from his fingertips. He remembered the figure in the mall, he had ice growing all up his arms, the skin underneath turned hard and black. Frostbite from a number of years using the power. Ironic.

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  It had to be him. But if that were the case, Aiden had just come up against one of his childhood heroes and survived. Only, he wasn’t a hero anymore. No hero could do something like that.

  “Please,” he said, bringing his mind back to the present, “We have to tell people what’s out there. They need to prepare themselves for an attack.”

  “No.” Gideon stood firm.

  “They knew we were coming! Do you think that attack was a coincidence? For Christ’s sake, all the birds in the fucking city were in that building!”

  “Enough!” Gideon barked the order at Aiden, catching him by surprise. “I have said what will happen, and that is the end of it.”

  Aiden rolled his eyes and got to his feet. He brushed shoulders with Gideon as he began to walk off.

  “I was wrong about you,” Gideon said, causing Aiden to stop and listen.

  “You aren’t ready. You’re still just a child.”

  ***

  Shadows moved through the trees, the sound of their hollow breathing mixing with the wind blowing through the leaves to create an unholy symphony.

  The boy’s tracks had been easy to follow. He clearly hadn’t spent any time covering them, and they had been able to follow his path through the city, past the smashed corpse of a once loyal follower, over the bridge, and into the woods. He had been running, that much was clear. Branches were broken, puddles were sprayed over nearby foliage, and there was the occasional sign that the boy had tripped and fallen on his way. He was afraid.

  Good… that just makes it more fun…

  ***

  “Don’t let him get to you, you know what he can be like,” Mary stirred a pot of stew that was resting over the fire as she spoke. The smell of beef wafted into the air as she stirred, filling the room and lending it it’s warmth.

  “He’s right though,” Aiden scoffed, “I am still a child. I couldn’t do anything to help; I just stood there and watched!”

  “There was nothing you could have done, dear,” Mary set the wooden spoon down on the side, moving over to the table to comfort her son, placing her arm around his shoulders and pulling him in close.

  “From what you’ve said, it’s just a miracle you made it back in one piece. I don’t know what I would’ve done if I had lost you too.” She looked at him. He had his head down, his shoulders slumped. In her eyes, she could still see the little boy in him, sulking when she had made him do chores around the house. He had always hated doing them, instead all he anted to do was read his comics, or listen to stories about the heroes of the old days. His father had always obliged, recalling great battles and struggles that they faced, and always overcame. Of course, he had made a lot of the stories up, but the boy didn’t need to know that. Mary recalled the look on his face when he heard them for the first time, and how his smile had never faded, even when hearing them for the hundredth. She used to watch him and Harry playing in the square, pretending they were locked in a great battle. Aiden was always the hero, always the victor, and his father was always happy to lose.

  When they lost him, Aiden had been inconsolable. He had become a shell of his former self, no longer wanting to play, despite Mary’s best efforts. She wasn’t the same, in her mind, she wasn’t as good. That wasn’t true, she knew that, but at the time it was all she could think. Even though Aiden admired all the characters in his books, Harry had been his one true hero. And he had been taken from them. Aiden had retreated back to his comics, reading them again and again, trying to lose himself in that world, to forget the pain he was feeling. Mary had tried to get him to open up and talk to her about it, but he never would.

  As the years passed, the pair had grown closer, but still Aiden had never opened up to her about his father. She wondered if he had ever gotten over the loss, or if he ever truly would. She knew she wouldn’t, so how could she expect him to?

  If only you were still here…

  “That’s what I can’t get my head around though,” Aiden’s words snapped Mary back to the present, ripping her away from the memories of her husband.

  “What?”

  “Why I’m still alive.” Aiden paused, considering his words and recalling the confrontation in the mall. He remembered how he had watched as the birds attacked his group. Yes, some had come for him, but not as many as the others, and not as savagely. Was it just because there were more of them? Could they sense they were stronger?

  “They had the chance to kill me, but they didn’t. It’s like they wanted me to watch what was happening to the others.” His mind flashed back to the dumpster. He had locked eyes with the creature, and it hadn’t attacked. Not instantly, anyway. In the mall, it had gone for the kill straight away, ripping into Mike and Oswald and tearing them apart. But not him. It knew he was there, it had seen him, looked into his eyes, and it had waited.

  “Oh my god…”

  Aiden shot to his feet, moving away from his mother and towards the door of their house. He had to get to Gideon, fast.

  He grabbed the handle of the door, and swung it open with force, stepping out onto the grass outside. Mary followed him to the door, and stood watching as he raced off. He moved quickly, running away from his home and towards the town square. He could see the glow of the bonfires above the shelters, still burning brightly.

  But it was too late. He could already hear the screams.