Mexico Countryside - 23 , September, 1990

Sonia was in her truck with her husband moving supplies to the village, she had packed the entire truck with food, clean water and medicine, things that they would need for the next few months, her most precious cargo was s cooled set of polio vaccines for the town doctor and medical supplies for the elderly. She drove with care for all the time she was in there. The road was not in the best condition since governmental focus had changed in the last years, however some things seemed to remain absurdly similar.

The truck slowly arrived at Santa Clara del Sol as Sonia and Petro park it close to the church, the priest was an old man with an attitude but no o ne could say he did not care about Santa Clara and its people, Sonia locked the truck in place with Pablo and left outside as Padre Marello approached “You are late!” he approached with his balding head and his small limp.

“Good afternoon to you, Padre, we are late yes, but you know how these things work, lots of cops around jthe streets, things have been happening a lot lately with the heroes and new villains going around, there is a bit of chaos” she shook her hand, already walking to start unloading the truck.

Petro rushed to put the boxes down with her, she smiled, the priest sighed. “Excuses are not good on the house of god , missy” he lookd at her.

“Then how about you start helping unload, man of god” Sonia was indeed annoyed at his attitude, regardless they all started to unload as the priest did some complaining about his knee and his back, she did let the heavier things for the younger ones of course but was better than listening to a lecture from Marello.

A few other people joined in to unload everything, as they were unloading everything Sonia got up on the truck front and grabbed the cooled box with the vaccines, she looks at everyone “I will deliver these to the clinic” she said calmly and walked down the small road.

“Dona Amora!” Sonia was really happy to see Amora, an old lady there in her 70s now seemed to be examining a boy that was laying there, Amora smiled and waved to her “A second, sweetie”

She finished examining the boy, he had several growths on his skin that seemed to be strange, Amora was collecting a few samples of it, she smiled after that and placed the thing on a microscope before turning to the boy “You may go Juan, I will keep you informed” as the boy smiled “Thank you miss Amora, bless you” he said before walking out to play football with his friends.

After that Amora turned to Sonia to give her a tight hug, “Welcome home, sweetie, you seemed to be away for a good time now”

“Getting all the resources did take some time, we had to improvise during one of the moments because the money would not be enough for all the supplies, and then we had to argue with the government to send the vaccines through us” remembering of all that process brough a sigh to her, Amora seemed to agree with the feeling at least.

“You are home now at least! Have you talked to your sister already?”

“No, not yet, just a question, Juan is a meta? like the ones that are appearing around here?”

Amora had to nod “Well it seems yes... These new times are trying, at first we thought to be skin cancer which would be a big problem to bring treatment but soon the scales started to form, then I tested for maybe some mutation and asked a friend to see if it was a disease.”

They walk towards the freezer of the clinic to carefully place all the vaccines there, Amora locked the freezer and looks at Sonia once more with a smile “It was not, I was collecting a sample just to be sure, but, as it grows it really seems Juan is Meta”

“I see. Is that a problem with the others?” she looks just outsie

“Not so much for now, I do fear it might cause some ostracism but Juan is hardly the first meta on the town. And will not be the last if things continue as they are” Sonia knew that about 600 of the people on the village were meta at that point. She did not know what to think.

“Are the numbers... growing?”

“yes, hija, it doesnt seem to be dangerous to people but last year there were 58, this year there are 62 people on town with the condition, we dont know how long it can escalate, it is not contagious at least”

“I have to wonder if it would be so bad if everyone here became a meta?” waved

“Dios mio, I would have to relearn all the medicine from scratch, I am old you know ? Do you want me to die working?”

“At least would prevent the Priest from giving more work to people, he could do it himself?” with a laugh Sonia lens on the wall while she sits on a broken chair, looking about the clinic was not very big, just a couple of stretchers, one doctor with Amora and one nurse, the rest was all helping around.

Amora shook her head with a small smile “we should not speak of a priest like that, hija”

“The priest is a drunk who complains too much” she rebuked

“And he works for us in the way of Jesus, especially in such trying times around these parts. ”

“Yeah, of course, I do not hate him, but he does get in my nerves” Sonia leaned in, closing her eyes, she was indeed tired

“Be careful with resentment too hija, it is a path of glowing rocks directly to hell”

Sonia gave a laugh “of course miss Amora” she rolls her eyes “Well, not like much happens around these parts anyway, so bad mouthing someone is not that bad” she grinned

“You don't seem to like whhen I do it to your husband”

“Because he is my husband” she opens her eyes “but I should get tsome sleep before I pass out on some stretcher around here”

Santa Clara del Sol - 25 , September, 1990

Petro wakes up Sonia that evening “Something happened to Maria ” he seemed worried.

Their house there was a brick and mortar house, their room was quite nice she thought to herself, they were able to use the money from the travels to grab a few nice things, she got up naked and dressed herself still waking up “Which Maria?”

“Dona Maria, from the store, they are calling people to the meeting hall”

The meeting hall was also the party hall and sometimes the storage area, was just to the side of the church, was built and painted, had a big roof as well, was one of the few places on the village that had a functioning air conditioning system which seemed to drag people there in especially hot days. It was a big space with a few columns in the middle, had several chairs spread and a small elevated area that was used as a stage sometimes.

The mayor, Monseñor Luis approached, the place was packed, perhaps the whole town was there, the mayor looks at everyone and grabs the microphone.

“Hello everyone, many of you might be wandering what is going on” he seemed a bit nervous “This morning they found Dona Maria tied to her farm horse... the horse was wandering aimlessly” there were gasps of horror and worry “She is well and Amora says she will do a full recovery but... We sent someone to check the farm”

There was a tension in the air there, no one dared to speak, one could hear the air freezing, the expression on the Monseñor face was enough to make Sonia blood go cold.

“Her husband was dead. Her son was also dead and her daughter was missing, her horses had been killed except for one and the crops had rotten” he seemed to be shaking

There was a uproar, people were afraid, people were angry, the mayor tried to calm everyone down, Sonia however was in a daze, she knew her, Maria, her husband, she played with the kids, her expression dropped and she could feel her stomach churn. She was sitting up and fell before Petro could hold her there.

The mayor finally was able to grab something “We do not know what happened, we tried calling the city to send a patrol and they said it would take a week... At least. ” he shook his hands on the air, Sonia knew that was to clear his nerves.

“alright...” he said now “So, we dont know, it is not time for panic! Could be a cartel, we all knew that Mister Carlos had his name in a few of them, we will gather for the funeral and all the stuff as well.” he seemed nervous not believing his own words.

The tension would grow, people would comment and people would be afraid, on the next day anothe person would disappear, he was trying to get his son to a hospital on the city, no one heard from him again.

Santa Clara del Sol - 27 , September, 1990

People were armed on the streets, people had been fortifying their homes the best way possible, another disappearence had happened, Sonia was at the church that day, a special mass for the souls of those who disappeared, no signs of the patrols and now communications were going out as well. Morello was praying for Jesus and god blessing for Saint Maria to look after them, Sonia had her eyes closed praying for Saint Maria there heavily. The priest prayed for peace.

Just after the Mass, war came there.

Sonia was getting up and thinking of everything, Petro held her tight there in worry, he was also worried, that is when shooting started just outside. People screamed.

“close the doors!” screamed Morello as people rushed to close and bar the doors, Petro looked out “I will check the bell tower, there could be ways I could help!” he said , she held him “no please... I dont like this”

He looks at her “I will be right back” and he moved to the back of the church to check what was going on. Time passed slowly as every excruciating minute felt like hours, Sonia looked around and felt a strange anxiety there, something she did not feel usually, except when things were about to go bad.

And they did end terribly, soon there was a scuffle outside, shots had been fired and a couple of bullets passed through the old church doors, hitting one of the girls in the arm, Sonia rushed to hold her with Amora. And then the door bursts violently, several men and women, all of them were visibly meta, all of them had hate in their eyes. She trembled as they passed there.

Morello rushed ahead “Please, I beg of you, we are a poor community, we have nothing to offer, take what you want but let the people live! This is the house of god, please by Jesus, by Maria... spare the peo-” and there was a scream as the priest was pierced by the hand of the man that was ahead of the group

“You dare to tell us what to do , old man” there was a grin in his face, Sonia looked in horror that she could not hide, her hand was trembling and she had to hold a hand on her mouth not to scream. A woman, one of the older ones, screamed.

“PADRE MORELLO!” and she was shot down as she tried to approach the corpse of the priest. Everyone else was frozen, unsure of what to do, there was an air of horror there and fear. People moved trying to comprehend and process what was going on. There the leader looked at his men.

“Divide the women and the men, divide the humans and meta! Go!” The men started to obey the orders and followed with anger and violence, pushing people, kicking them, one of them , a tall very strong man grabbed Sonia by her arm and pushed her out, Sonia still was trying to help Dona Olinda, she was pushed out of the 50 year old bleeding woman and dragged as she struggled into a corner of the church, others were moving the benches around , tossing them to open space. She was dragged with all the women in there, all the men were dragged around as well , then they were divided into the obvious meta in another corner also men and women.

They were all keeping them, soon they brought more people over from the village, separating them the way they could see, Sonia saw one of the meta girls to her side, were they only looking for the very obvious meta people? What was happening, soon more and more people enter the church, Sonia saw her husband on the other side.

Looking to her left she saw Amora praying heavily on her rosary, Adelia was holding her child and asking for Maria protection, Lucia was trying to comfort people there, on the other side of the church she saw her husband trying to keep the people calm, he was looking at the others.

Sonia sat down worried until soon all of the village was there, she noted a lot of people were missing, her heart sank with that. Gulping with her throat dry to think of what could have happened. Once everyone was there their leader moved to the cross and smiled. He started speaking.

“You must be scared, you should, but not by what we are doing, these are simply growing pains of this new world!” he went towards the cross as there were a few gasps and he started floating, he raised his hand and the cross started to shake and break from the holds on the wall, it floats and then the cross, floating in the air is slammed in the ground

She shakes down with that, her eyes could not look away in the same way of a trainwreck, that man smiled, Morello blood still dripping from his hands, he continues “Your god is an old senile god, WE ARE YOUR NEW GODS!” with a movement of his hands the grunts started rounding people.

Someone grabbed Adelia and forced her child off her, she cried out loud and was kicked there, Maria was dragged out, someone grabs at her “ARE YOU A POWER ONE?!” She could barely resist, Petro was screaming at them from the other side as they started looking for any metas it seemed, the man forced her into a wall “ANSWER ME!”.

She had barely time to react “No... I am not!” and she then is pushed back towards another group there. Soon they had grabbed everyone with powers there, placing them separately again. The men then grabbed the others and held them strongly into their places, they started going through the meta ones, Sonia saw as they were grabbing the more defiant ones and moving them outside. Then they came to her group.

“What do you do?” The man had a gun to her, she was trembling

“I.. I am... I am a Supp-”

Amora interrupted her “she is a nurse! she is my nurse with Marcia!” , she could only look at her as the man nodded and pushed her with Amora and a few others, then she noticed, she was being grouped with others, there were different groups, she saw the two teachers of the city being grouped into the other group, soon... they were lead outside.

“What is going on?” whispered to Amora

Amora lowered her gaze “I saved your life, hija, I understood what they were doing... The useless ones...” she looks at the ones being guided out, there were screams.

The leader got up on the table and smiled “WELCOME TO YOUR NEW LIFE! THOSE WHO ARE WORTHY ARE SAVED!”

Sonia eyes dropped, she wanted to cry. She did not see her husband anymore.