A petite, slim figure in a white suit and mask appeared on the screen and presented themselves as a “Communication Class PeaceKeeper” before starting their speech about how “the kids were the future” and how “they need the tools to build it” and how they “will provide them”. But the orphans were still in 8th grade, they couldn’t take part in the program, so they didn’t pay much attention to the ad.

The old man kept complaining to his wife, who listened in silence while nodding and sipping coffee.

“This used to be an actual country! We had pride, we were the best, but now we’re nothing but a husk, and they want to keep us that way, submissive and obedient. They took our weapons away so we couldn’t fight back against those ‘enforcers’. This used to be a free country where people could speak their minds! But now you can get fined over a stupid bumper sticker!”

“I feel sorry for that woman, she didn’t have anyone around to tell her she didn’t need to sit and listen to a fossil,” said Spice.

“Back in my day this, back in my day that, just shut the fuck up! We came here to eat, not to hear your cry for attention!” David snapped, getting up from his seat and pointing at the man.

“David, leave him alone...”

“Who do you think you are to talk like that to me, you $%#$?!” the man replied, also getting up from his seat. 

Adam closed his eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them up as a forced-closed-mouth smile appeared on his face.

“Hey, miss! Can we get our food to go?” Adam asked while David and the old man yelled at each other.

“Yeah kid, just a moment.” Said the tired waitress.

The teens exited the restaurant and Adam guided the other orphan to an alleyway and up the fire emergency stairs of a tall apartment building. They sat on the building’s roof and began eating what was left of their pancakes.

“Hey, Spice.”

“I read you loud and clear!” She got out of Adam’s head and flew to the cars parked near the diner.

A few moments passed, and an old-looking car’s engine roared, and it sped down the street as the old man from before came out of the diner yelling with his hands on his head.

The car drove by the diner three times before taking flight and exploding in mid-air.

The teens cheered as the flaming metal scraps rained down on the empty street, and the man fell to his knees.

“Ah, get fucked!” David yelled.

Adam looked towards the sound of sirens.

“Come on, let’s roll,” he said with a satisfied smile on his face “Oh, and don’t pick fights with old people, they’re fragile and might have a heart attack and die because of the nerves, and then you’ll get prosecuted for manslaughter, ok?”

“Ok...”

As they walked towards the orphanage, Adam tried to not think about the two guys he kicked into insanity. He never thought his kick was powerful enough to cause brain damage. He already had kicked his fair share of people in the head, but they always ended up with a headache at worst as far as he knew... Maybe it was because they were pumping nose sugar? Yeah, that plus the kick must have made their brains go haywire... Well, at least they were alive... so it wasn’t like he had any blood on his hands or anything... Right?

Two nurses, carrying trays of hospital food, and two security guards stepped into an elevator and stepped out on the second underground level of the Elenore Reed Memorial Hospital.

The first half of the floor was filled with quarantine rooms, and the other half was filled with isolation padded chambers usually reserved for criminally insane patients or patients who tended to harm themselves.

“God, I hate coming here… the whole place just reeks of bad vibes,” said the youngest of the two nurses.

“Yeah, but someone has to feed those two so… It’s a pity, you know? Those two were barely nineteen, and their brains already expired…” commented the more experienced nurse.

“That’s what drugs do to you,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“I don’t think the drugs are the sole culprit here though. Each of their skulls had a small crater on their side and cracks all over them, they were a strong bump away from having their brains spill out. I honestly don’t know what’s more surprising in this whole thing, that we managed to fix their skulls or that they woke up just a few hours later instead of sleeping for at least a whole day.”

“Wait, the crater thing was true? I thought the others were just exaggerating, does that mean that the other guy’s knee really turned to dust?”

“Yeah, they’re already making a new knee-cap for-- Good Lord!” exclaimed her colleague, taking a step back.

“What’s wrong-- Holly shit…” the other nurse stopped in her tracks, along with the two guards, and examined the scene.

Two of the isolation rooms’ metal doors had been busted open, someone had carved eyes and sharp teeth into the corridor’s walls, and all the lights had been broken leaving some of them flickering or hanging from the ceiling.

Both guards reached for their guns and turned the safety off.

“Well…” said the older nurse.

“I think we should get out of there…” said the other nurse looking at the door that had been busted open from the inside.

The two guards nodded, and the group tiptoed its way back to the elevator safely. The hospital followed the protocol and called PBF, and half an hour later its agents came back to the surface, bringing with them both patients, sedated, bound, muzzled, and ready to be transported to one of the PBF’s mental health facilities.

Before leaving they made sure everyone present knew that what happened couldn’t make it out of the hospital “for the sake of the families and the patient themselves” and reassured them that they would send a team to fix the damage soon. All staff followed suit and tried to go on about their day as best as they could, ignoring the creepy atmosphere that filled the hospital.