As Louis began explaining, Isaac walked to his room and into the bathroom. Grabbing a tank top, jeans, and a towel from the closet, and proceeded to shower. Through out the shower, Isaac was thinking about how his migraines were gone. He'd been plagued with them for years, but it made him realize that one the rare days he didn't have a migraine, did he subconsciously control someone to relieve the pressure? Those days were rare and few, but a blessing when the pain subsided. Now the pain was no longer a problem, and he was aware he could control people, and see what they see.
Isaac stepped out and dried himself off, threw on his clothes and wiped the fog off the mirror.
There was some chatter, and a gradual silence. He didn't hear Louis or Ryan talking. No doors opening or closing, and the T.V. was still off.

Now is a good time to try out something.

Isaac looked deep into the mirror, breathed in, exhaled, and stared into his reflection's eyes. His vision began to shift like he was looking underwater, and then he saw a dimly lit room. Looking through eyes that were looking at Louis, slowly talking then slumping his head forward.

Isaac blinked back into his own head, "Shit."
He walked out quickly into the living room, "Ryan-" Isaac let out a massive yawn, "Why is-" Another yawn, "Dude-" and Isaac fell to the floor fast asleep.

Ryan stood perfectly still as his eyes shifted from Issac's collapsed body, to Lou, sound asleep in the recliner. He was thriving with energy, and his mind was racing even faster now, his heart was slamming into his chest like a hammer, so fast it felt like it was humming. He lifted his beer up to the light and inspected it closely.

Maybe there's something in the beer. Could be a side affect from the gas leak. Maybe they breathed something enough in to make them all sick. But I'm not sick. I feel Fine. I feel great! Dude you totally did this. Well that's terrible! AND AWESOME!

He couldn't shut his brain off, and the thoughts were coming so fast he could barely pick one out from the others. He had to slow down if he was going to figure out a solution. Slow down.

Ryan thought back to school, and how everyone seemed to liven up as he relaxed. How the hell am I supposed to relax NOW?

He leaned over to try and shake Lou awake again, but he just lay there, his long deep breaths filling his chest. Ryan was struck with an idea. Fresh air works wonders.

Trying to calm himself, Ryan intentionally walked as casually as he could over to the window, and slid it open. He noticed a fire escape on the other side, a good thing to have with Lou around and climbed through the window with his beer and sat on the hard steel grate. He took a deep breath in, and a long swig of his beer and waited. He tried not to think about anything, just stared out at the city and watched the lights as his heart rate began to slow to a normal pace, and his thoughts almost dissipated.

Louis's dreams were filled with smoke and fire as he watched everything around him explode, a brilliant bonfire devouring the city. Next to him, a long line of graves spanned as far as he could see. He watched as a figure in the distance threw topsoil back into the earth. A closer inspection revealed that Louis had been watching himself fill the graves with a spade dull from use. As Louis went to himself, a figure materializes from the smoke and stood calmly before him. The man had a sinister expression; a sly grin cracked across his face as he spread his arms out, basking in the chaos around him.

"Look around, Louis. This is the path you are on. The end of the world. Just you, all alone, digging a grave for every person murdered by your curse. Unless you let me help you." The apparition dissipated, then reformed closer to Louis. "I can teach you to use this curse and transform it into a tremendous gift, even a blessing."

Louis backed away. The being's cold voice a dark contrast to the fire around them. "Who... what are you?" The man reached out and grabbed him, his hand hot and burning. He pulled in close; his breath smelled of sulfur.

"You have given me a name. I am Curse. I am the source of your bad luck. I want to be your blessing, your gift, your power. Now, Louis, wake up!"

Louis sprang up. Issac's place. He was still sitting in the recliner. A cold sweat clung to his skin. I'm never drinking again.

Isaac slowly came to, and lifted himself up off the floor. He looked up to see Louis jolting up and the window wide open.
"I guess I was more tired then I thought?" He asked, not necessarily asking anyone, just to the open so that someone would answer.

He rubbed his forehead and stuck his head out the window to see Ryan sitting on the fire escape, looking sluggish.
"Hey, I'm about to make food. Close the window when you come back in, a storm is coming."

Isaac patted Louis on the shoulder as he made his way to the kitchen and grabbed a handful of ingredients out of the fridge.
Hope no one's allergic to anything, I mean, well, it'd be better than everything else going on

Simple burgers, nothing too extraordinaire, but ones that have gotten plenty of praise from dates and friends, so why not. As Isaac chopped and mix everything he needed, the fractals began to fade into his view, but were more refined. Instead of the smokey frames that seemed to cloud more than what he could actually see through them, it was more like a shard of glass with a border separating the different views. One blink, and he was looking over the ocean holding someone's hand. Isaac finished the patties and tossed them on the stove, while placing a small pot of oil on the stove next to it. Another blink, and he was staring at a computer screen with thousands of characters splattered in green text. Isaac grabbed a few plates and tossed the toppings and condiments onto the small island next to the stove, while tossing french fries into the oil. One more blink, and they were having a drink in a bar, and the last was staring towards the city, leaning against a metal rail.

And he blinked back to his view, and placed the finished burgers and fries to the side. He could see through numerous eyes, and still control his own actions. He can control numerous others, and his own actions.

What are the chances that three strangers meet within the span of a day or two, meet under odd circumstances, and the oddest of things happen.

Thunder began to roll over head.
Isaac shrugged and sighed, "Food's ready. If you want."

Ryan sighed with relief when he heard Issac's voice through the window. At least he was starting to grasp some form of control over this ability. An ability that was becoming harder and harder for him to deny. He stood up and dusted himself off from the rust on the fire escape, then climbed through the window.

Shutting the window and shaking off the cold, Ryan breathed in the scent of Issac's dinner. It was a blissful smell. Simply the thought of a warm meal was the most comforting idea after the day he'd been through, and he couldn't help but feel like he needed to here.

"Smells good." He said, looking over Issac's shoulder at the burgers he'd prepared. "Thank you."

He receded out of the kitchen to allow his friends to make their plates first, the least he could do after they had saved his life. He looked back and forth between Issac and Lou. He was unable to explain it to even himself, but something told him he was right where he needed to be. Whatever came next, he knew that somehow the three of them would get through it together.

He just needed to find a way to discuss his own predicament over dinner. But would they even believe him? Would they be angry that he had clumsily allowed his ability to affect them? He debated in his head while Issac and Lou prepared their plates, but was worried about getting lost in though again. The last time he let his thoughts run wild, his friends passed out.

"Lou I...." he started, but as he spoke his friends both looked at him, and now he'd lingered so long between sentences he didn't know how to put it. He stopped trying to think and finally just blurted it out. "I think I'm like you....."

Louis nearly dropped his burger. "You can blow stuff up, too?!" Louis's amazement and excitement was met back with blank stares. "Or... or not that..."
There were a few vacant moments filled with an awkward cough or occasional sniffle.

"You mean you think you have abilities?" Isaac was the first to break the tension at the table. Ryan nodded, his mouth too full to respond. The silence returned.

"Huh," Louis wondered aloud, simply wanting to fill the void. "What are the odds? Two people meet on the same day they realize they have gifts?"

"Three."

Ryan and Louis' eyes were directed at Isaac.

"Three people. The same day. Different gifts." Isaac said leaning back in his chair, gently stroking the table in a circular motion.

"That could explain a thing or two." Louis began as he slowly nodded his head, and Isaac pushed his plate forward.

"This morning at the boardwalk, and all of those people standing still. Probably me. The girl standing still, despite the-" Isaac looked at Louis, then to Ryan, "... in the warehouse. I know that was me."

Ryan stared at Isaac as Louis shuffled lightly in his seat, "However, the most interesting thing is that whether I concentrate or not, I can see things. Like, it can be anything, or anyone, but it's not my sight."

"So you can see through other people's eyes?" Louis asked

"I think so, like, my own sight kinda splits into a web, but I can still see what I'm doing perfectly fine. I just see, or know, what the person is doing. That how I stopped the girl from attacking me."

"A girl atta-"

"BUT," Isaac cut Ryan off "It's what she did that's the interesting part. I was getting ready to try to fight, I'm not the best, but I'll try. And as she was a little quicker in her pace, I focused on her, and then I saw what she was seeing, which was me in a fighting stance. It's bizarre, I know."

Isaac breathed in deep, "But I saw myself, and I knew I couldn't take them both, but then she clothes-lined him. Flat on his back."
He shifted in his chair a bit, "It's not a coincidence for someone I didn't know, and she didn't know me. Whatever I can do, it has to do with people."

Isaac's eyes grew wide and then glanced at Louis, "Hey, I wanna try something." He said as he scooted his chair back and walked behind Louis.

"The hell?" Louis spurted

"Don't worry, I don't think it hurts." Isaac took a deep and almost instantly, his vision turned into the fractals and he began to see what Louis saw. Quick glances around the room, Isaac's eyes never left the back of Louis' head.

"Stop looking at my stuff on my shelves, you already knocked them over!" Isaac laughed

Without saying a word, Isaac lifted his hand, and lightly twitched his index finger. Louis' left arm fully extended outward, then relaxed. He twitched his pinky finger and Louis' right arm twisted to the point where it was noticeably not under Louis' own control.
Isaac blinked and was back in his own vision, Louis' body relaxed.

"I'm so sorry, I won't do it again." Isaac sincerely spoke as he ran his hands through his hair, half surprised with himself.

Ryan sat in amazement at the explanation at his friends abilities. The more he thought about it, the more his ability seemed somewhat...useless. He almost didn't want to discuss it since his seemed so feeble in comparison to making things explode or controlling people. But as Lou and Issac finished their explanations, Ryan realized they were both staring at him, waiting to hear some grand ability.

"Well....uh...I think i might be able to.....sorta....make people sleep?" He said, fiddling awkwardly with his hands, though it sounded more like a question than a declaration.

The others were quiet as he said it, then again, Ryan didn't give them much time to speak before recanting, "I don't know it may just have been coincidence, i mean its only happened like....three times....since this morning so maybe I'm just being dumb." Ryan picked up his beer and started drinking hoping someone would speak before he put it back down. He felt like the three of them were small children in a clubhouse, pretending they could be superheroes. Yeah....but what kid would think up a super power that made people drowsy?

"Sleep." Isaac looked slightly bewildered, despite the fact he just controlled Louis with a finger twitch, "You make people sleepy."

Isaac walked over to the table of empty plates and sat, leaning back and tapping his fingers on the table, "That explains why Louis was asleep and why I just passed out. I mean, it could be useful."

He glanced towards Ryan, "IF you can control it and make certain people sleep. Like target drowsiness."

"I mean, the three of us for sure have potential," Isaac's mind was racing at this point, "Sleep, control, and explosions."

"Hey now" Louis spoke out

"Sorry, let me reiterate," Isaac looked at Louis in the eyes, "You. Go. Boom. NOW imagine if we actually practiced and you could control your ability!"

Isaac grew a grin from ear to ear, "We could do so much more than what our lives are now. I mean, hell, Ryan could do good at a hospital that deals with insomniacs. You could be prime for construction demolition. I could be good for - well, something with people."

"However," Isaac began to rescind, "We need to be careful. Obviously."

He looked at Louis with a worried twinge, then back to Ryan with with a slight frown.
"Maybe we shouldn't go out and about with crazed abilities. We need to control it first. Whatever we have. Whatever we can do. This is bigger than us. All of us."

Isaac put his hands in his lap, "Guys, I think we may be bonded for a while."

Louis didn't sleep that night. Or the night after. It was a full three days before he finally found a restful sleep, his dreams once again filled with smoke and fire. The three of them sat around the apartment for as long as they could stand it, ordering pizza and having an Uber bring them groceries. It wasn't long before they couldn't stand it, or afford it. They played around with the idea of training. Their arguments about it always came back to the destructive nature of Louis's power. Eventually, they agreed to leave everything behind and head for a more open area.

Ryan preferred to drive his bike, lest he ride in the with the others and put the driver to sleep. Louis rode with Isaac in his mid sized truck. It had been an hour of drive time when Louis demanded they pull over at an outdoor super center.

Ryan swung around and flew into the parking lot, "bathroom break?" Louis shook his head. He stuck his hands in his pocket and shifted on his feet.

"Listen, we don't know how long we'll be out here and we're low on funds. It may not be the best way to start this training session but if we're going to make it out here, we're going to need to liberate a few things."

"Liberate. Ok, I get it." Isaac sighed, "I know I've been overbearing."

Isaac walked towards the super center, the dramatic scenery change from the towering skyscrapers to the barren outskirts of the city.

"We all gotta control our abilities. So let's just start."

Isaac focused for a split second and his vision split into a few fractals, allowing his view to see through Louis' and Ryan's eyes. Both looking at Isaac for a bit, then looking at their surroundings.

"I see what you guys see."

Another fractal began to form, this time, it was far more blue. Isaac pointed his head down to get a sense of direction, and the fractal showed an overhead view of the super center. A birds eye view watching over the entire area.

"GUYS. Is there a bird flying above?" He asked with his head pointing straight to the pavement.
"I see the entire roof of the store, the cars. A rabbit in the brus- oh, nope. Not gonna watch the bird eat. Ok." Isaac blinked out.

Isaac could see through people and animal eyes. He had practiced watching through eyes while isolating the three in his apartment, just before bed or when the others were asleep. He had previously seen the few people on the boardwalk near his apartment, watching the sunset through stranger's eyes, or deep diving into the ocean in a scuba suit, but this was a new level.

Wonder if I could control animals too

Controlling people, even a little bit, required a fair bit of concentration. However, it was becoming easier and easier to use his ability. Controlling Louis days prior took barely enough, but now blinking into different views was as simple as a blink. His power was somewhat easy to practice with, but he wanted bigger. He knew he could expand to multiple views, but he wanted to test out his ability to control. Isaac wanted more.

"Well, you guys start. Not many people are here."

Ryan was unsure where to begin. His ability seemed to be a little more focused on specific targets, and there was only the three of them at the edge of the parking lot. It wouldn't be right for him to use his ability on Issac or Lou, especially when he was still learning to control it.

He heard a short honk in the distance, someone locking their car in the lot before going in to shop. He saw the headlights flash once, which showed him what vehicle it had come from, and a young woman in a pink sweater throwing her purse over her shoulder as she walked toward the shopping center.

Well that would just be mean. he told himself.

As he watched though a man walked toward her, an acoustic guitar across his back. He looked her up and down as he approached, the woman unaware as she stared at her cellphone while she walked. Just as the two passed each other the man turned and pinched her ass, and muttered something Ryan couldn't hear from this distance. The woman shook her head in disgust and and flipped him off, then marched toward the shopping center while the man laughed.

Sorry Guitar.

The man continued walking backwards toward his vehicle, admiring the woman's rear end. Ryan directed his focus on him, trying to recreate the feeling he had at school. He imagined the man collapsing, and tried to bend reality to his will.

Before the man could turn back around there was a loud crash as he fell on top of his guitar and onto the pavement, leaving the guitar in pieces. The man lay still in the parking lot, sound asleep.

He probably couldn't play anyway.

Louis sighed. This was a turning point for them. Perhaps this is the path that Curse had referred to and Louis was foolishly following it. It was too late now. They needed this and they had no money.

Alright, my turn. Louis walked to the front door and lowered his head. This was the important part. Lou dropped his hands to his side. He channeled his power as much as he could, as much as he had learned how, and released the energy. A thick smog billowed from his palms, black clouds enveloped the entry way. Louis focused again and grabbed at the wisps with his mind, pushing the haze further into the building.

"The smoke is moving towards the cameras. Ryan, sleep the security; Isaac, we need an insider to bring the gear to us."

Isaac grinned devilishly, "With pleasure."
Isaac leaned up against the wall, next to Louis. He blinked a few times, like switching channels on a tv, he transferred view to view. One was writing a check for a fair amount, another was bagging items, and another cruising around a small aisle with outdoors equipment.

Let's start here

Isaac barely had to think about grabbing items off the shelf before the person he was, for what Isaac could think of as that of a parasite in a host, was grabbing some tent gear, spikes, a lantern, and then realized he couldn't carry it all. Isaac's instinctive actions were being acted out by the host. The man gently placed all the items in a pile on the shelf, and swiftly walked around the aisle and grabbing the nearest shopping cart while another customer had their back turned, and then proceeded back into the outdoor gear. Without missing a beat, the man grabbed the pile of gear and placed it in the cart.

"Do we need a tent?" Isaac asked
"More than likely" Louis replied
"Ok, well, what about..." Isaac began to list of equipment after equipment, Louis nodded or shook his head lightly as to not break concentration. With the cart nearly full of various gear, toiletries, and some clothes, the host moved into the food section and began grabbing bulk after bulk of various non-perishable food and bottles of water.

The host pushed the cart steadily towards the door, but stopped.

Can't make this too obvious

The host reached into his back pocket and retrieved his wallet, only to see a few crumpled ten dollar bills. Yet while inspecting the wallet, Isaac noticed a shiny card. A debit card. Despite being in the middle of nowhere, a little stroke of luck.

Isaac led the host to the cashier, and as he inserted his card into the chip reader, it asked for a pin number.
Ah hell

"Do you take credit through debit?" Isaac spoke aloud
"Do you t-take cred-d-dit through d-debit?" The host stuttered aloud

"No sir, only debit with debit." The cashier said through a mouth full of chewing gum.

"Shit." Isaac muttered
"What?" Louis quietly asked
"I don't know this guy's pin num-" Isaac was cut off as he saw the host type in four various digits.

Transaction approved.

I didn't tell him to- I don't even know-

"Well, alright." Isaac whispered
"What?" Louis asked somewhat annoyed
"He put the code in by himself."

A man exited the building entrance, coming through a slight fog designed to obscure any camera that could see their faces. The man brought them a cart chocked full of what appeared to be a jump start for a hardcore camper. Louis looked at the receipt. Glad I'm not that guy. Have fun explaining this to the bank. They wheeled the cart and loaded their ill-gotten supplies into the back of Isaac's truck. "Let's go!"

Ryan peeled off on his bike as Isaac and Louis followed in suit in the truck. The feeling he had was exhilarating. The excitement made his fingers quake; Louis felt like they could get away with anything they wanted. They drove for a few hours before cutting off the beaten path and taking a winding road to the vast empty desert. Eventually, Ryan's bike bogged down in the sand and he refused to drive it any further or leave it.

In a rare moment of ingenuity, Louis pulled out one of their new tarps and set it on the ground behind the truck. Then, he rolled Ryan's bike onto the tarp and gently laid it down. "If we go slow enough, it should be alright." Right?"

Ryan sighed, "It'll still be pretty bad but I've got to replace the plastics from the crash anyways. Just, watch out for rocks?" He groaned. In any other circumstance this would be unacceptable, but they needed to keep moving and he wasn't leaving His bike behind.

Sorry Grace, he thought as he climbed into the truck, It won't be anything I can't fix.

He watched as the truck pulled his bike along the sand, leaving plumes of dust as it trudged along. He settled into his seat and started a mental checklist of motorcycle parts and conversions. If this is the way they're going to be living, Grace was going to need a few changes.

"So where exactly are we going?" He asked, leaning forward between the front seats.

Louis watched the desert hills aimlessly as they traveled. It would be much drier here than they were used to it being by the sea but they needed an area clear of bystanders to train. It was Ryan that broke the tense silence in the truck. "So where exactly are we going?"

Louis stirred in his seat. He had apparently begun to nod off again, "We're just trying to find the perfect spot to lay low right now. Get some more practice in and figure out our next step." Louis turned to look behind them. "Not to mention, we need to decide if it's smart to keep me around now that there's a manhunt going on."

"We'll keep you around," Isaac reassured, "I won't lie, it's mostly to make sure we all have an alibi."

A couple of cop cars drove past the trio towards the city, "If something goes down, we gotta make sure we get our stories straight."
Isaac looked back towards the cops, one car in particular began slowing down. He blinked once and saw a birds eye view of the cop car from a vulture circling above a carcass. He blinked again and saw the interior of the cop car, hands frozen above a small keyboard and terminal on the dashboard.

"That truck, looks familiar eh?"
"No idea, I just wanna go home."
"Huh, something doesn't feel right about it."

"Shit, we need to get off the highway." Isaac began to slightly speed up and turn onto a dirt road hidden by brush and began driving into a random desert field.

"Whoa, where are we going?"
"Those cops, they're trying to track us. I don't think it matters a whole lot at the moment where we go." Isaac blinked back into the cops view.

"Nothing's pulling up, stupid computer's slow as shit."
"You got the license plate?"
"Yea, we'll do it at the station."

Isaac noticed the cop scribble the license on a piece of paper, a small cup of what smelled like coffee, a lonely cigarette, and the tiniest scratch on a wire connected to the computer, exposing a small slit of copper and a metallic wire. Isaac spoke through the cop.

"Mind if I bum the last one?"
"What? You don't smoke."
Isaac's eyes grew wide, he knew he couldn't say that he wanted to try or something similar because it would throw caution to the other cop. He began to think, and a thought, an unknown voice began recalling a woman criticizing and drunkenly patronizing a male voice.
Alcohol. Impotence. Lust. Sadness.
"I just need something to take the edge off, Bev is off the wagon again and she-"
The other cop raised his hand "Dylan, you gotta leave her. She's literally toxic. And a massive bitch."
The cop known as Dylan chuckled, "Yeah, I know."
The other cop grabbed a lighter from his pocket and lit the cigarette as Dylan rolled the window down. The piece of paper caught wind and flew out the window.
Isaac forced Dylan to smoke, drag after drag, then later tossing the butt out the window. The city limits sign passing by.
The computer was next.
"Y'know, I got the tests back. I have a good count of, um, soldiers." Isaac spoke through Dylan. How do I know any of this?
"Oh yea?" The other cop chuckled "Told ya so, it was her all along. She's blaming you for literally everything, even her cheating on you because she thinks you can't pop out a tyke."
Isaac made Dylan grab the cup for a drink.
"Dude, my coffee." The other cop seemed annoyed
"What? I'm thirsty." Isaac hated to do this, but had to fake a sneeze or something. As he began, the other cop drove into a pothole, making Isaac force Dylan to drop the coffee forward and onto the exposed wire, short-circuiting the computer, and blacking out.
"Are you kidding me? You made me spill the- Shit, the computers dead."
"Me? The hell are you talking about!"

Isaac blinked out mid argument. "Done."
"Wait, what are you talking about?" Ryan asked

Isaac eventually coasted to a stop. Empty desert. The thin outline of the city skyline in the distance, the highway miles away. He drove aimlessly into unmarked desert, a few trees spotted around.
He parked underneath a tree, "This could be good to have a makeshift cover. We should be good here, for now."

He saw a police spotlight sweeping over the ground next to the bridge he was under. Whatever. Same shit as always. It's not illegal to be homeless. They could fuck right the hell off.

This had been Noah's "home" for quite a while, going on about three years now, he guessed. He was pretty well set up, for a street rat. He had "acquired" quite a few amenities and pleasantries in his time under the bridge. He had a mirror, a bed, a recliner. He'd pinched a propane stove and never lacked in canned goods, as they weren't necessarily difficult to come by. He even had one of those tiny battery operated televisions like in all those greasy restaurant kitchens in Queens, some fat "chef" in a wife-beater watching the game. Named...Lou, or something like that. In fact, he had been in a kitchen like that here in the city well over a few times, as "Fat Louie" shouting Italian obscenities at the whatever-the-fuck-ball game on his tiny TV set left the kitchen in prime condition for some surprisingly choice ingredients to be liberated. Then, of course, later he took the TV.

Of course, such a lavish set-up brought quite a lot of unwanted attention from other street rats, so he had to defend it quite viciously. He'd stabbed a man's hands together and sent him on his sniveling way. Broke a mans jaw with a can of chili. Then ate the chili. He'd carved out a name for himself in the underground as "the Wolf". He'd had to, to keep his home. Noah was a generally nice guy, but he could be damned mean if he needed to, which was often. Then, there was the gift, which helped.

Noah perused some of his spices and canned foods, wondering what to fix up that night. He could crack open some chicken noodle and throw in some thyme, paprika, maybe a little--

"Hey!"

A flashlight. A cop.

A real shitty situation.

"Hands up," said Porky the Pig, waving a gun around like he actually had the balls (or the cause) to use it on some rat under a fucking bridge. Noah covered his face quickly with a scarf.

"Fuck you," he spat, turning to run...and face another jackass with a flashlight. And another. They rushed him all at once, slamming him to the ground, hard. He kept his hands moving so they had trouble cuffing him.

"The fuck am I under arrest for?!"

A flashlight to the back of his head sent stars spinning.

Ohhh, no. Fuck that. He smiled to himself. Alright, three little pigs. Meet the Wolf.

He clenched his fists, and tightened all of his muscles. Took in one deep breath, and forcefully exhaled it as all three cops went flying, one hitting the ground, another Noah's mirror, and, alas, one destroying his tiny television set. All three were out cold.

"Bastards. Now I have to fucking move."

He began to walk off, spitting on one of the officers, stopping himself to load up some of his canned goods and stove, a few utensils and a small soup pot in an old backpack he'd held onto since high school.

"AND find a new fucking TV."

He kicked him in the head and shuffled off.

The sun was scorching above, staring directly down upon the runaways. Sweat beaded in the creases of Louis's face as he struggled with putting a tent together. Not long after beginning, he gave in to his frustrations. "Ugh, this is stupid."

"Did you read the instructions?" Issac's sarcastic voice swept across the sands from where he was happily sitting in the shade of his constructed tent. The gloating only made Louis's frustration grow from simmering to searing.

"Okay, could you just, okay?" Louis was frantically gesturing at the tent when he realized what was about to happen. A force entered his skull, something akin to a headache. Not what I meant.

"I know," Isaac's voice crossed the sands again, calmly, perhaps absentmindedly, answering Louis's thought. "But this is easier." Louis watched as his hands calmly and efficiently constructed the tent. Once the tent was finished, the weight inside Louis's head vanished, leaving him slightly weary.

"Next time, not without explicit invitation, okay?"

The rest of the time was passed with idle jokes and thw occasional training session as they set up their new homes. They stretched a tarp out from the tree and staked it into the sand for another area of shade away from their tents. They dug a fire pit and tapped the tree. By the end of the day, Louis and Isaac sat underneath the tree exhausted; Ryan was busying himself lamenting over his bike. It wasn't long until Louis began nodding off.

Louis's REM was spent in fire with Curse parading him around the destroyed world of the future. Despite the context of the dream, Louis slept the deepest he had since he walked out of the hospital. He woke slowly, fighting desperately to climb out of his dream. The sun wasn't quite above the horizon yet; streaks of color blanketed the sky and Louis found himself once again appreciating the beauty of the world. He sat up straight and stretched. He had apparently fallen asleep against the tree instead of in his tent, his chilled bones ached as he roused. Louis pondered for a moment if Ryan had caused the sleep or if it had come by naturally. He guessed he wouldn't know. He cursed his past self for not digging a latrine like he was supposed to do, now having to dig it whilst desperately needing to use it. He dug the trench, soaked its walls, and zipped himself back up. He observed himself as he walked back. His clothes were ratty and unfit for camping. "Hey, uh, did we happen to... um, steal any clothes?"