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The Nephilim were on the earth in those days--and also afterward--when the sons of God went to the daughters of humans and had children by them. They were the Heroes of old, men of renown.

Genesis 6:4 (N I V)

May 31st, 2020.

Felicity Fisher waited for the school bus with her Mother in the family car. They enjoyed the air conditioning and avoided the North Carolina heat. The car parked near the bus stop at the end of the street that overlooked a four-lane highway. Today was the last day of school, and Felicity was happy to finish her second year of high school.

Both were slim with long brown hair. Karol wore a business skirt and jacket despite working from home. Felicity wore jeans and a loose tee shirt. She had her father's deep brown eyes that gave her a darker look than her Mother's blue.

"This is your last free summer," Karol said.

"Is it?" Felicity said.

"Next summer is your church mission. Then senior year you'll get a job. When you turn eighteen, I'll throw you out of the house," Karol said.

"You and Dad have threatened to throw me out for years," Felicity said.

"Threatened?" Karol said.

"I could live on the streets and play in a jazz band," Felicity said.

"What about college?" Karol said.

"Accounting. It's been good for you and Dad. I could still do weekends in a band," Felicity said. Karol glanced at the rearview mirror.

"Here's Colby," Karol said.

A second girl opened the back door. Shorter and much heavier with thick legs, Colby had curves compared to Felicity, the bean pole.

"Hey, Colby," Felicity said.

"Morning Flick. Hello Ms. Fisher," Colby said. The two had been friends in middle school. Colby had become a second daughter to the Fishers that could come and go from the house.

"Last day of school," Karol said.

"I want this day over," Felicity said.

"Got a list of chores for you," Karol said.

"Great," Felicity said and leaned back into the seat. A sports car raced past in a blur; white smoke rolled from the tires, leaving a black streak on the road. They watched it pass.

"What was that?" Felicity said with a lean forward. She saw the school bus turn the corner of the street.

"Someone's impatient, like you. Here's the bus," Karol said.

Felicity and Colby stepped out into the heat to walk to the stop. Another screech of tires had them pause. The sports car came back with a raw growl of the engine from behind the bus. Felicity and Colby moved closer to the road to stop at the edge of the berm. They leaned out to look past the bus. The sports car swerved into the far lane to get around. It slammed off the far guard rail to flip into the air. The sports car passed the two girls by inches. It tore a gouge into the median and threw dirt on their shoes.

A pickup truck with police lights and sirens screamed up the road. As the pickup slowed, a man jumped out of the truck bed and skidded to a stop. He walked like a titan, over six four and with a mass of muscles. Approaching the wreckage, he waved to the girls to move back. The tactical vest he wore had the letters P.A.H.A.

The door of the wrecked car flung off into the street. Traffic backed up, and more police cars arrived. A man with lean, corded muscles climbed out of the wreck. The two men looked at each other for a moment. Karol broke the pause.

"Girls! Get back in the car!" Karol said.

The two men closed the distance in a blink. Felicity didn't know what to do. The first punches hit with the crack of gunshots. She felt a rush of adrenaline. Then a headache popped behind her eyes and as sudden went away. Felicity's vision cleared. Colby had run to the car and turned around to get Felicity.

The punches were too fast for the eye to follow, with thunderclaps as the air warped around each blow. Felicity felt the shock of the hits move in the air. The two men traded punches with little effect on each other.

This only happened on television, Felicity thought.

The lean man threw a wild swing; his fist clipped the wrecked car to rip a chunk off. The big man's hand snapped out to grab the piece of steel and fiberglass. He missed. It slammed into Felicity's forehead.

Felicity woke to see the fire department, her Mother, Colby, and the P.A.H.A. man. They all stared down at her on the ground. She tried to get up, but the paramedics held her down. Karol threw her arms around Felicity, but the paramedics separated the two women. She felt a wave of exhaustion, and sweat started running down her skin.

"What happened?" Felicity said. Accidents didn't happen to her. Accidents happened to other people. But she was on the ground looking up.

"This should have killed you," The man said. He had the chunk of the car in his hand.

"Your heads not even scratched," Colby said.

Felicity touched her forehead. No blood, no bruise. The medics rolled Felicity onto a backboard and strapped her. The man from the P.A.H.A. pulled a business card from his wallet and wrote an address on the back. He placed a hand on Karol's shoulder, handing her the card.

"If the Doctors clear her, take Felicity to this clinic. The P.A.H.A. will cover the expense. Ask for a D.N.A. test," He said.

Karol turned pale. The card said Rudolph M. Powers. Piedmont Atlantic Hero Association.

Felicity heard her Mother say, "D.N.A. test?" as the Ambulance doors closed.

They spent that afternoon in the Emergency Room at Carolinas Trauma Center. It had been standing room only in the lobby. The medics rushed Felicity to a room. Karol waited. John Fisher arrived an hour later as the nurse brought Karol to the room.

Karol and John found Felicity sitting up with a Doctor. "We've found nothing wrong with Felicity," the Doctor said.

"How can that be? That piece of that car is the size of a softball," Karol said.

"She has no damage." He brought an x-ray of her skull on the room's display. "Solid. No dents. I've ordered blood work and the D.N.A. test. That will give you a better idea of what happened," the Doctor said.

"What D.N.A. test? Whats wrong with me?" Felicity said.

"Nothing is wrong," John said. "Thank you Doctor."

A half-hour later, the lab technician arrived. She set Felicity up to take blood. The needle touched her skin with a sharp pain and bent without a mark. Two more tries at a blood draw bent the needle on the girl's arm. A new technician came down to try again. Again, the needles turned against her skin. Felicity could feel the pain of the jab, but nothing could get through to her vein. Finally, after five attempts, an older male nurse with a special needle kit came to Felicity's room.

"One last try," the nurse said. His grip on her elbow was like a vice. Her skin broke as the needle slipped into the vein. The pain was slow and sharp. He filled a dozen vials.

By three o clock, the Fishers were out the door. The discharge instructions referred Felicity to the Advanced Human Clinic. The same place written on the back of the card. Felicity had a sore arm and no answers. It had felt like a waste of time.

John Fisher drove his wife and daughter home. Felicity stretched in the back seat with relief being off the medical cart.

"All this over a stolen car," John said.

"That's it, a car?" Felicity said.

"The car is what Rudy was chasing," John said.

"You say that like you know him," Felicity said.

"He was still with the wreck when I got home. We talked," John said.

"Don't worry about it. We can take the rest of today off and start fresh tomorrow," Karol said.

"Fine with me," Felicity said.

"How about we get pizza?" John said.

"With pineapple," Felicity said.

"Pineapple? Karol, how did we raise such a child?" John said.

After school, Colby stopped by to find out what had happened at the hospital. Felicity heard her Mother make excuses and, for the first time, sent Colby away. Felicity let it pass. She could see Colby any time and her Mom looked exhausted over the ordeal.

Before dinner, Felicity became hungry. A deep gnawing hunger she had never felt before. Not lightheaded from low blood sugar, but a drive for food. She sat down to a Hawaiian pizza with extra pineapples. Before she knew it, she had eaten two pizzas. John and Karol let it pass as nerves and ordered another delivery.

That night, Felicity at the refrigerator door scraped ice cream from a quart tub. Egg cartons and bread bags lay in the trash. A box of stick butter was empty. A used frying pan and plates lay in the sink. Her Mother walked into the kitchen to see that the week's food was gone.

"What are you doing?" Karol said.

"I'm hungry," Felicity said between spoonfuls.

Karol took Felicity to the bathroom scale.

"How much did you weigh last time?" Karol said.

"Hundred and five, two weeks ago," Felicity said.

The scale showed a hundred and forty five. Heavier than her slender body should have or could have ever been.

"This is impossible you didn't eat forty pounds of food," Karol said as she looked at the scale.

Felicity had always been thin. But she had grown taller in the last year and had become gaunt compared to her Mother. She had never seemed to put on weight or fill out. They ate the same food until yesterday.

"I went through a skinny phase in high school and had a short bout of eating, but not like this," Karol said.

"What's wrong with me? I'm still hungry. It's like I didn't eat today," Felicity said.

"I'll call the doctor in the morning," Karol said.

The next morning the Advanced Clinic called the Fishers. They suggested coming in now to have Felicity seen.

An hour later, Felicity and her Mother found themselves at the Advanced Human Clinic. The clinic was a sterile government building north of the city. The lobby had a few patients. A girl younger than Felicity wore a blindfold. The parents held her hand. They didn't smile or make eye contact with anyone in the clinic. A glow under the blindfold flickered every few minutes. The second patient, a man with a bucket, waited in the next chair.

"We're next," he said to the bucket.

The third patient was one of the beast folk, a canine-human. He had a human nose but it was dark and wet. Bandages wrapped both ears to sharp points.

He had his ears cropped? Felicity thought.

The nurse called the Fishers back to the consultation room. They waited again. Doctor Wert, an older woman in a white lab coat, entered the room.

"Hello," Wert said and moved to sit behind the desk.

"The D.N.A. test results show Felicity has Advanced D.N.A.," Wert said.

"How did that happen?" Karol said. The fatigue of yesterday had set lines deep in her face.

"You and the father have recessive Advanced D.N.A. that manifested in Felicity. Changes happen around puberty. The accident triggered a surge of adrenaline, and Felicity's body responded. How are her grades?" Wert said.

"Straight ‘A’ student," Karol said.

"High academic performance is normal for Advanced Humans," Wert said.

"What kind of abilities will she have?" Karol said.

"She's a Baseline Advanced Human. She can develop strength, speed, and invulnerability," Wert said.

"How strong am I going to get?" Felicity said.

Karol waved her to be quiet.

"What about medical complications?" Karol said.

"But Mom, this is cool," Felicity said.

"Hush," Karol said.

"Baseline abilities come from cellular density. If you have too much density, it can leed to difficulties," Wert said.

"Like getting jabbed six times for blood?" Felicity said.

"Yes. The Baselines call it hardening," Wert said.

"What about cancer or disease?" Karol said.

"As cancer goes, she'd have Super cancer attacking a Super body. It has the same risks as normal humans," Wert said.

"Her weight. When will it stop going up?" Karol said.

"Depends on her genetic potential. We have a new test in the pipeline for Baselines that should be out soon. Female Baselines are rare. I'd guess Felicity could grow to weigh three hundred to four hundred pounds," Wert said.

"Four hundred pounds?" Karol said.

"How fat am I going to get?" Felicity said.

"Your metabolism is speeding up. You'll get thinner unless we increase your diet. You'd need to build muscle," Wert said.

"How much more food?" Karol said. Felicity had eaten five days of food in two days.

"Baselines can eat fifteen thousand to twenty-five thousand calories a day," Wert said.

"A week's worth of food?" Karol said.

"Felicity's undernourished. I would guess since her cycle started. You need to eat." Wert said. They talked for an hour.

When Wert finished, she stood from her chair to show them out.

"Things will get fast at this point. The next appointment is with general surgery for your appendix if the scalpel can cut you. Read the papers my secretary will give you. There is also a list of other procedures and appointments," Wert said.

The drive home was quiet as Felicity read over the appointments and procedures. She had a stack of forms to fill out from the State and a pamphlet from Children's Services, 'Superpowers and You.'

"What does emancipated mean?" Felicity said as she read the pamphlet.

"You're an adult," Karol said.

"But I'm sixteen," Felicity said.

"Eight months ago," Karol said.

"It says I'm not to tell anyone about my Superpowers," Felicity said.

"Advanced children disappear. Your head is full of xylophones and drums. You don't watch the news. Let's be thankful we found out before anyone else," Karol said.

"I missed the last day of school and didn't go to church this week. What do I tell Colby?" Felicity said.

Karol slowed the car and pulled off into a side street to park on the berm.

"Nothing. We tell Colby, the school, the church, nothing. We have an appointment with Advanced Children Services tomorrow,“Karol said.

“But…” Felicity said. Karol held up her hand and gave her daughter a stern look.

“When I was your age, I went to school with kids with Superpowers. The media hounded those children. The other kids adored them. Over time the adoration became boredom, it became fear. We don't talk about Superpowers," Karol said.

"I thought this would be cool," Felicity said.

"This is a family problem. All three of us have the D.N.A. And cool will be your first thought at the gynecologist on Thursday," Karol said.

"Gynecologist?" Felicity said.

"Do you have a boyfriend?" Karol said.

"No," Felicity said.

"You're going for a hymenectomy. The same as your appendix and tonsils," Karol said.

"Now or never…Will that hurt?" Felicity said.

"No idea. Not the way God intended," Karol said.

"Are we really talking about this?" Felicity said.

"You may not like it, but you're an adult now. Hope the Doctor warms his hands," Karol said.

"His?" Felicity said.

Karol smiled. Felicity leaned into the car seat.

"My summer is over," Felicity said.

"You still have a future. But not the one we planned." Karol said.