Throughout the world, Power Uppers are the hottest drug on the market. A single pill allows any Normie to obtain the power of a Super. The drawback? They're also highly addicting and the cause of most financial ruin.
Tayla wants nothing to do with s...
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Tayla leaned against the bookcase in the basement of Gifted Books, holding Max's head in her lap. Max had stayed conscious enough to make it to the basement, stopping to puke in a trashcan. Now he slept in her lap, shuddering every few seconds. She stroked a hand against his buzzed hair. Softness tickled her palm with every glide. Her other hand held the bottle of Downers she'd found in his pocket. Ceiling lights glinted of the shining yellow plastic when she twisted it in front of her face.
While she didn't want to continue living in the unknown human skin she disguised herself as, she also wasn't sure she wanted to take the Downer. The Chameleon Uppers had paralyzed her. Movements weren't her own––they belonged to Max and his ability to control her. Even speaking was difficult for her, each word rolled through her mind before becoming an audible slur. What if the Downer did the same? Max was out for who knew how long, they had broken into Gifted Books and were lucky there wasn't an alarm system. That fact surprised Tayla when Max was able to open the door without a single alert ringing out. She assumed his power also disconnected the alarms.
She sighed and lowered the pills, looking to Max. A faint, bluish white tint coated his skin, darkening at the scars crisscrossing his body. Shadows swallowed his puffing eyes. With every shudder of his body, his arms and legs jerked like a dying animal. Tayla feared that's exactly what he was.
A dying animal.
At the time it didn't seem like a big deal or else she'd have made Danika turn around, but Tayla cursed leaving her phone sitting on the kitchen counter. It wasn't that she had any clue who she'd call, but at least she would have a lifeline to someone, anyone. How many Kimbers or Remys could there be in Eden City? Surly she would've been able to find the number for one of them.
Instead, she sat on the cold ground, hidden behind a single massive bookcase inside of a bookstore she'd broken into. Tayla snorted. This was what her life had become. A fugitive on the run for a crime she didn't know she'd committed, breaking and entering into buildings for some glimpse of warmth or in search of a legend.
Max jerked in her lap, his arms twisting outward. Tayla curled an arm around him, pulling his hands closer to his chest. They continued to thrash until his body stilled to an endless shudder. Sweat drenched his skin despite it being frigid to the touch. She dragged her fingers along the scars bolting through his face. They were rough, bumpy, and she knew they should've disgusted her. Not for the horrible disfiguration they caused his face, but the horror Max must've endured for them to be created.
She hated his brothers. They were pigs. No. Pigs were too good for them. They weren't even the excrement pigs released. Max's brothers were far worse than anything she had words for.
"T-take the d-downer," Max said.
Tayla smiled when Max looked up at her, still shuddering. The shadows made the green of his eyes standout amongst the darkness. It was as if they'd changed color under the force of his power.
