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 was still screaming when her body re-materialized from the floating specks of light. She dropped the curling iron and patted herself down, making sure all body parts were intact. When she looked up, Max was in front of her. Both hands rested behind his head as he paced. It didn't take long for her to realize why he was agitated.
They were no longer inside Gifted Books. In fact, they were no longer in Eden City.
"That son of a bitch!" Max said. "That stupid, unbelievable, son of a buttmunching bitch! It wasn't a 3D printer. It was a damn particle transporter."
Red rock, red asphalt, red sand—red everything—surrounded them. Tayla looked behind her. The high rising walls of Eden City stood faint in the distance, rippling with the lines of heat radiating off the asphalt. Lights from the buildings and hovering cars in the air barely registered through the red haze of the horizon. It was like a painting rising from the ground. She turned back to Max who continued to pace and curse, kicking any poor rock that got in his way.
Two buildings rose in the distance, both closer than Eden City but still impossibly far and faded with the red haze. In school she heard many stories of the lands outside the sheltered walls of Eden City, walls that also encased the suburbs she called home. They were stories told of scorched earth, war torn wastelands of nothing, and air so unbearable no life could sustain itself. Tayla touched her chest, feeling the rise of her lungs with every breath. Air wasn't heavy. It wasn't searing her lungs or blistering her skin. It was as pure and fine as the air supposedly filtered by the walls built through the mercy of the PC's.
"Where are we?" Tayla asked.
"We're in the dead lands." Max turned to face the two buildings. Both hands curled against his hips.
There was no wind, no noise, no clouds—there was only the unrelenting sun barreling down against their skin. Tayla removed her backpack, pulling her sweater over her head to stuff it inside. Even that did little to ease the heat pulsating against her flesh. She grabbed the curling iron and stuffed it into the front pocket of her backpack before throwing it back over her shoulders. Sweat already clung her thin shirt to her back. Max pulled off his own hoodie and shook on the sleeveless shirt underneath as if using it to fan himself.
"You can stuff it in my backpack if you want."
He shook his head and tied the hoodie around his waist. His lips bounced in a halfhearted smile when he glanced to her. "Our safest bet is to go to those buildings that way and get our barrings. If I had to guess, I'd say we're in the dead lands south of Eden City and one of these buildings should be a restaurant."
"Why would Nicron send us here?"
"Because he's a dick." He jammed his hands in his jeans pockets and walked toward the buildings.
"Ugh! Why is it so hot?"
"Because the sun is a dick."
Tayla chuckled and jogged after him. "Okay, I know you're going to call me stupid—"
