"We don't know."

I tried to read her face, but she was like a stone. Impassive and cold. However, I wasn't about to believe that for a second. She had offered answers, and I was going to get them.

I took a step towards her, but stopped as the man lifted his rifle towards me in a clear warning.

"You're lying," I spat out, trying to keep my voice calm and steady. But it was difficult when I really wanted to yell and demand for her to tell me what I wanted to know.

"No, I'm not. We didn't take your kids, Mister Williams."

No, that couldn't be true. They had to have them.

"Then who did?" I forced out, past the growing lump in my throat. It matched perfectly with the knot of dread in my stomach.

"Like I said before, we don't know for sure," she answered patiently. Her whole demeanor was too calm and it was starting to get on my nerves.

My fists clenched at my sides. "Tell me what you know."

"That information is classified at the moment." Classified? Those were my kids!

I shook my head furiously, my fists tightening even more. "It can't be. Those are my kids! You have to tell me what you know!" I was shouting now, but I couldn't help it. The panic was setting in.

"I am trying to be patient, but I will just leave if you refuse to cooperate," the woman tapped a pen impatiently on the folder.

"Cooperate?" I was astonished, "You guys kidnap me, kill my wife, and you expect me to cooperate? Are you kidding?" This was unbelievable. How could they expect me to do whatever it is that they wanted when they were treating me like this?

"We didn't kill your wife, Mister Williams," she said quietly.

I hesitated. "What?"

"I said, we didn't kill your wife. Are you even listening to me? We didn't take your children, and we didn't kill your wife. But we saved you from the people who did. We aren't the bad guys here, Mister Williams. We are trying to help," she explained, keeping her tone exactly the same.

That was a lie. It had to be. There was no other explanation except that they were trying to manipulate me. They wanted me to cooperate with them and do what they wanted. But I wasn't about to let them do that.

Then I smelled it again: smoke. It was happening again. There was smoke rising up from my hands. Not beneath my hands, from my freaking hands!

I lifted them up in wonder, not knowing how I was doing this. They didn't hurt or even feel strange in the slightest. In fact, they felt completely normal and that was perhaps the most frightening thing of all. This... whatever was happening... didn't seem strange to my body at all. Sure, it was confusing for me to see, but my body was handling it like this was the normal me.

Lifting my eyes up to the woman, I saw her startled expression, and the guard's too. But I felt the power, and I acted.

I don't know how I did it, but some instinct from deep inside me commanded that I attack her. And I was quite pleased to listen to it.

Darting towards her, I grabbed her hair and threw her to the side, hearing as she hit the wall and cried out. But I ignored her and went straight for the guard who was more dangerous. If I could just take him out, then I would have a chance.

He lifted his gun in a panic, but I was faster and reached him first. I slammed my fist into his face, and watched as a burst of flames erupted from it and spread like a virus to the man's face.

Instantly, he dropped the gun and clutched at his face, shrieking loudly. The flames ate at the flesh and I took a step back, mesmerized by it. I couldn't stop watching as the flames devoured the skin almost greedily.

I had done that. I had shot flames from my hand again. It wasn't just a dream, or a strange hallucination. I had a special power. I wasn't... normal.

Before I could do anything else with that realization, I felt something prick my arm. I glanced down at it, to see a needle being pulled out.

That was the last thing I saw before it all faded to black.

[]

"...think it will work?"

"I don't know..."

The voices faded in and out, like someone kept muting the sound and turning it back on. But as I slowly came to, feeling heavy and tired, I remembered what had happened. I tried to clear my head, or move even slightly, but nothing would work. I couldn't even open my eyes.

"...he's waking up."

"Yes, give him another dose of... and wait a bit to see..."

"...yes, doctor."

Then, just like that, the voices faded away and were gone. I slipped back into an uneasy dream state, unable to pull myself from it.

[]

When I came to once again, I had a major headache. But I did my best to ignore it and noticed that I was now in a different room. I was once again restrained to a bed. My shirt was still gone, and now I had several tubes that ran down my body and disappeared beneath the white blanket that was pulled up to my waist. When I moved slightly, a tingling sensation ran up my spine, almost identical to the feeling that you got when your foot or arm was asleep. But surprisingly, I was much more comfortable than I had expected to be. There was even a pillow behind my head. And despite the strange tubes and restraints, I felt the most relaxed that I had been this entire time.

Having somewhat adjusted to my conditions, I surveyed the room I was in. To start with, it was a lot different from the first two rooms I had been in. First of all, it was much larger than both of the rooms combined, and it needed to be. The fluorescent lights above the long, rectangular room illuminated something I was not expecting to see.

There was quite the collection of beds just like mine, arranged in a line all the way down the room. Beside each bed was a machine of sorts, with wires running up and down it, and I noticed a clipboard at the end of each bed.

But what surprised me the most, was to see all the other people in the beds, unconscious, covered in wires, and restrained down just like me.

Duh, duh, duh! Another plot twist! Yay! But I'm sure you aren't very surprised... I do love my plot twists! :) Seriously, they are very entertaining for me to write. And I find it sometimes hard to finish a chapter without adding a plot twist. Weird...

Anyways, I would love any feedback you can give me on how I'm doing :) It is all greatly appreciated!

Till next time!

Ithildae