'Grey slate... Grey slate... Grey slate...'
From his continuous lucid dreaming attempts, Nolan's go to method for concentration was picturing a blank grey slate in his mind. It rarely worked, but it was the best thing he could think of to try and figure out how to use [Sound Magic] properly. Given there was only one day until to the disaster, he didn't have many options.
Sean and Nolan had agreed to meet up one hour before the disaster, just when the changeling system stated it would release details of the [Dog Eat Dog World]. Nolan would also need a good rest, so that left him with about 12 hours from when he finished his conversation with Sean. Nolan continued his meditation.
***
'Why isn't anything happening?'
Nolan had been concentrating for 4 hours to try and grasp his power. He quickly realized wind was not his ally in concentration and had moved to his room to meditate. After that he was only interrupted by his dad freaking out over the news and his mom coming home from work early. But even still, he failed to notice something different in his body that wasn't there before, besides his enhanced hearing.
He had tried blocking out all the sounds at first, and then focused on a singular sound, but nothing seemed to work. Nolan pulled up the ability window again.
'All sound is produce by waves…'
Before Nolan could have an epiphany, the doorbell rang.
Nolan stumbled out of his position and put on some pants. He went downstairs and met his parents and a police officer on the front porch.
"We've come with an advisory to leave with the upcoming "disaster" that may appear."
Unsurprisingly, the Northatlantic government did not take the precedent of a possible disaster very seriously, despite the video evidence of people gaining powers. The media was not seriously considering the appearance of a disaster, as the new powers people had been granted were so weak and minor, that they could even be blown off as magic tricks. People in power never took things like this seriously, unless it affected them.
What initiated the government to issue warnings was a mysterious series of deaths in the southern Joined Fruit free trade zone, where people spontaneously exploded.
"Of course, the choice is up to you."
The officer stared at the family for a moment. He sighed, and then tipped his hat and left.
"Are we really not leaving?"
"I still have work, and we spent too much on eating out this month already. That water bill isn't gonna pay itself."
"Your father is right. Plus if it was as serious as people said it was, the government would've evacuated us."
Nolan shrugged. His mom was always overly trusting.
'My parents are very stupid.'
Of course, Nolan wanted his parents to get to safety, but neither of his parents had work until 11 and 12 Even so, he didn't account for anything else such as the range of the disaster, but Nolan was so caught up in his excitement, he didn't even consider this at all.
'Well I have other ways.'
Nolan rushed to his room to meditate.
'What was I missing before? When I used to try to meditate to build Ki I always felt like there was these white dots that I could see when I closed my eyes. I always thought it was just my mind's attempt of a placebo, but maybe…"
Nolan shook his head and continued to meditate. focused on the officer leaving the house. The policeman had walked a little across the street, just in the range Nolan could hear. It was hard to concentrate with the amount of cars leaving the neighborhood due to the disaster, but for some reason, Nolan could single out the officers footsteps.
The officer walked in a subtle cadence, with a stroll that sounded almost laidback. His shoes walking in a controlled pace, like the pace of a heartbeat. There was a slight clack when he stepped.
'His sole must be falling off.'
Then there it was. A shivering sensation overcame Nolan's body. Something he had never felt before. There was a small ripple emitted from the officers foot.
What was an oddity for Nolan, was that this did not feel like a new sense, but something that was always there. In that moment of contemplation, the ripple disappeared.
'Damn it!'
Nolan opened his eyes and looked around the room. He had gotten a grasp of his power, even if it was just for a fraction of a second, so now he had to prepare. One of Nolan's hobbies had been camping, so he was fairly prepared for a survival situation. Before he could pack, his mother opened the door.
"Do you have something you need to tell me?"
"What? No, mom, and please knock next time."
"Excuse me? This is my house, I'll open this door however I want."
Nolan glared at her, then shook his head.
'Man I can't believe I got angry about that. First world problems…'
His mother interrupted his thoughts.
"I came up here because you didn't argue at all when we said we weren't leaving."
Nolan thought for a moment.
"If I'm putting my life in your hands, I'll let you find out how responsible you're being."
His mother gasped.
"You little shit! Where did you get that audacity. I do everything for you and you say I'm not being responsible!?!"
She was about to smack him, but stopped and then gave Nolan a stern look before leaving. Nolan disregarded all thoughts and began packing.
There were several necessities he would need like a sleeping bag and portable stove, but he also brought a few more non-conventional items like the pair of binoculars he got for Christmas and weighted training vest and butterfly knife, both of which he had never bothered to use. Finally he got a survival book, he bought for fun and packed it in his bag before stuffing it under his bed, so his parents wouldn't see it.
'Oh! This too!'
Nolan took his bag back out and shoved in a couple of hair ties, before sliding it back under the bed.
By the time Nolan was done he had a little time before going to bed and did some light exercise, involving push-ups, stretching, and using his parents treadmill. After he finished, he took a shower and headed to bed.
Nolan really did try to sleep. Everything was loud. So so loud. Nolan hadn't felt this annoyed by noise pollution since his least favorite band held a concert in a national park. Instead of sleeping, he tossed and turned all night, trying to at least rest his eyes.
At 5:00 an alarm went off. The clock only rang for half a second before being slammed so hard it almost went through the bedside table.
Nolan jumped up, eyes as red as the new moon. Forgetting to brush his dishelved hair, he threw on his clothes and ran outside to the local Bollar General down the street, getting last minute supplies for his journey.
'Charcoal…and then some dwinkies!'
Nolan loved dwinkies.
'Hopefully I can get some more when this is all over!'
Nolan left the store and bolted back home before his parents woke up. On the way back he noticed around 40% of his neighborhood was not in their houses. Most had likely traveled during the night to avoid traffic. He continued sprinting on the way home, sweating buckets just so he didn't catch his dad waking up at 6:30.
When Nolan got back to his house, he went back to his bed, trying to get back up to go meet Sean at 8:30. Maybe it was from sprinting Nolan had from the general store trip, but Nolan could not process what he was hearing. He layed down on his bed. His watch read "6:02."
'The disaster will start at 10:00, and I gotta see Sean af 8:30. I got at least two hours. I'll just take a quick nap…'
Suddenly realizing he had finished preparing, his head was all clear. Nolan, not realizing his thoughts fell into a sleep. A deep sleep…
***
In his sleep, Nolan thought he heard someone's voice.
[Seeds]
Nolan woke up to the sound of what seemed like a strong gust of dust coming from another corner of the house. Nolan looked at his watch.
11:13
"Shit!"
He checked his phone to what appeared to be several missed messages from Sean, but for whatever reason, the messages had stopped sending after 8:22. He then looked at the top of the screen.
"No service either! Are you fucking kidding me!"
With service gone, he had lost contact with his sister too, to know if anything had happened to her.
Momentarily pausing his anger, Nolan opened the changeling system. All of his character information remained the same. The disaster map screen had also stayed the same, but now there was a more in depth map of the 5 boroughs of New York. It seemed like he could only see the population center closest to him.
Nolan looked at the other tab with the name of the disaster.
[First Disaster: Dog Eat Dog World]
[1:03:33 Elapsed]
On the screen he notices a smaller text under the disaster name.
[Disaster Description: The destruction of self.]
"How helpful. How fucking helpful!"
Realizing that no one was listening, Nolan began spouting several curses he didn't even know existed. He could never curse when his parents were home, so he felt it as a refreshing way to blow off steam. Then Nolan picked up his pillow, punched it and horribly missed trying to slam it into the bed, causing him to miserably stub his finger on his bedside table.
'Ouch!'
Nolan's face suddenly went pale. The 17 year old child stopped his fit of rage and then realized how loud he was being without knowing the situation. He could not hear anyone in the house, but he wanted to scout it just to be safe. A deep fear began sprouting in Nolan.
Electricity was still on, but all sense of internet connection was seemingly gone. Nolan scowered through his house, door by door, finding nothing. The more he searched the more worried he became.
Finally Nolan had searched the whole house, finding no one, not even his parents.
"D- did they leave me?"
Nolan shook his head and smacked his face.
'Theres no way! They probably were forcibly removed by some policeman or something when the disaster actually happened.'
'…'
'Then why didn't they take me?'
By now, Nolan's initial excitement of having superpowers had worn off. A storm began to well up in his hazel eyes, but Nolan pushed it down to keep his composure. Then he changed his mind.
'Just 5 minutes.'
He went over to his bed and silently freaked out. Exactly after 5 minutes he stood up and walked out of his room. Then Nolan looked back at the empty bedroom of his parents.
After more consideration, Nolan thought it was plausible his parents were trying to take him but got forced out by officers or the military. Of course, Nolan didn't know what the extent of the disaster would be, but he had a pretty good idea of how chaotic it would be.
Then he looked at himself in shame.
"I guess I got my permission…"
With his words eating at him, Nolan headed downstairs to the front door. Although he was deeply distressed by his parents disappearance, he had been good at managing stress since his grandma died. She had actually taught him the 5 minute crying method, which he first used after she passed.
Nolan stopped and stared at the door. He knew that whatever fate awaited him, he has wished for it. Before he opened it, Nolan heard an croaking sound outside. He paused, and the croaking slowly turned into a fierce growl. As Nolan tiptoed to the window, the growl became a scream and then there was the noise of several car horns going off, as if something was bouncing off of them.
Nolan reached the window. Wiping it clear from condensation, a shiver ran down his spines. Goosebumps formed on his sunburned arms. He watched as the bloody humanoid creature jumped from one to car to the next on all fours, to make as much noise as possible. The being stopped for a second to adjust its blue collar.
Nolan then realized what the disaster hint had meant.
'Dog Eat Dog World…the destruction of self.'
He paused in his thoughts.
'Cannibalism.'
The newborn changeling looked at the incarnation of his wish.
'Zombies.'