So here Cullen was, sitting on a rooftop, acting as a scout. He was supposed to signal them if anything looked suspicious, and they would abort the mission.
To him, everything about this was suspicious. There were so many questions that didn't have answers, like who that guy was selling the pills to and why he would risk his life for it.
But if anyone could figure it out, it was Cullen. Darron had strength, Charlotte had kindness, but Cullen had the intuition. Being so average, he had to have something out for himself. He wasn't tall or short, or handsome or ugly. His simple brownish hair and black eyes blended in with everyone else. People often overlooked him like they did others, but Cullen never made that mistake.
The only reason they decided to do this was the thought of being millionaires. They could buy a real house, go to restaurants, watch TV, and live without worrying. Cullen had grown up in an orphanage until he ran away when he was 12. They said his birth parents just dropped him off without saying a word. He had been with Darron, Arbor, and Charlotte for the last five years; they were his family.
'It'll only be a few minutes until he gets here... I need to be ready.'
He never imagined a great future for himself... actually, he didn't think about the future at all. There's no hope for a thieving rat like Cullen in this world, nor is there any hope for anyone who wasn't Gifted. Humanity is on its last continent, and it's only a matter of time before the Abominations take over everything... but he would be happy to live normally, just for a little while.
But... there was one thing Cullen couldn't get out of his head. One question that stood out.
'How the hell did they not notice briefcases of their most valuable item go missing? It might be possible to steal one or two... but that many of them? It doesn't make any sense.'
He was trying to make sense of all this, and then it hit him like a truck. His eyes widened, and horror spread across his face. The whole world seemed to stop for a second when he realized what was happening, but there was no time to think. He took out his cell phone and tried to call Darron to warn him, but after what seemed like an eternity of waiting, there was no answer.
He sprinted to get inside the building, then jumped down the stairwell as fast as he could.
'There's not enough time, damn it... we have to get away. They're all going to die if I don't warn them! Faster... faster... run faster!'
Arthur had a decent job and made a good amount of money. There was no need for him to steal those pills, yet he had. He risked his life to get them; no sane person would do that. Not unless their life depended on it.
Arbor saw a single container of stage five pills and assumed that the whole case was full of them, but he was wrong. The question was, why would he go through all that trouble for a single container?
The answer was there the whole time.
'Arthur isn't selling the pills to anyone... he's using them. He must have been using stage four pills, but when those stopped working, he started stealing the stage five ones. It means that…'
It meant that he was at risk of turning into an Abomination at any moment. And what better time for The Devil to choose someone than when they're helplessly getting robbed?
If Cullen didn't stop them, everyone on that street would die.
Finally reaching the building's exit, he burst through the door and exposed himself to the cool air. Outside, he saw Arthur kneeling on the ground, surrounded by Darron and Charlotte, who had opened the briefcase and emptied it on the street.
"Where the hell are the pills? We know you've been stealing them, so if you just lead us to your stash, we'll be on our way."
Darron's voice boomed down the street, occupied by a crowd of bystanders.
"P-Please believe me… I don't have more. I used the ones I took already."
Arthur's voice started to sound shaky.
"God… why are you doing this? Did my boss send you? I'm so sorry, but please don't turn me in."
Cullen finally caught up to Darron and placed a hand on his shoulder. Even though they were close, he was still shouting at him.
"Hurry up, we have to go! Abort the mission; we need to run now!"
Darron's eyes widened as he understood the situation. A cold gust of wind suddenly hit them, making the uneasy atmosphere even more frightening. Cullen looked back at Arthur, who was staring at an empty spot on the sidewalk.
"Arthur, don't!"
It was too late.
Arthur had reached his hand out, covered in tears streaming down his face. No one could see what he was trying to touch, but they didn't have to. Some people started to run, and others just stood there in shock. It was dead silent; the only noise on that street was Arthur whimpering.
Suddenly, an awful cracking sound startled Cullen. Then, it was followed by more, and shrieks filled the city. Arthur's body started to shake, and his bones were breaking apart and reforming.
The young man began to look increasingly inhuman. He had grown about one meter taller, his arms drooped down and almost doubled in length, and the claws at the end seemed as sharp as knives. The face still looked a little human, despite the fact that he had lost all his hair and his eyes were missing.
"RUN!"
Darron's frantic scream snapped Cullen out of his shock. He sprinted down the street, following Darron and Char and controlling his urge to look back at Arthur. Ahead of them, Arbor stood in disbelief on the sidewalk with his mouth agape.
Before he could say anything, a horrible scraping sound pierced his eardrums. Looking back, Arthur slowly started walking towards them, dragging his claws against the pavement and tearing it apart.
Its walk got faster and more inhuman until it was speeding at them with no intent of stopping.
'What the hell? It's ignoring everyone else! Can Abominations hold grudges?'
It suddenly screamed at them, saliva gushing from its open jaw with countless layers of teeth.
"SHIT!"
Darron pushed Arbor forward as they continued to run away from their deaths.
'Are we all going to die because of this mistake? Shit... It's way too fast for us to outrun. What can we do?'
Pulling him out of his thoughts, he heard Char shout:
"Over here! We can hide in there!"
Cullen looked to see Char standing next to the Grand Library, a massive building that stores humanity's history before The God and The Devil arrived.
It held many physical books while also providing access to an online database that stored countless copies of old history. It would be a shame if Arthur damaged any of it, but Cullen felt their lives mattered more.
They entered the building and were greeted by blaring alarms and red lights. Many people had already evacuated or were leaving now, with dread painted on all their faces.
'Not that the Abomination wants to kill them anyway; it just hates us.'
"We should split up and hide. Since the alarm went off, a Gifted should be here soon. Just wait until the Abomination is dead, then we will meet back home."
Cullen didn't hate Darron's idea, but he was opposed to splitting up. However, they had already run off to different places before he could speak.
Great...
Cullen found a random room to enter, pushed the door open, and saw countless desks with computers on them. Although nobody was in there, many belongings were left behind as they evacuated the place.
Running away is a good way to escape an Abomination, but hiding was a better option in their case. There's no point in concealing themselves in a crowd when the Abomination's sole purpose was to get its revenge on them.
He began to shut the door behind him, but just as it closed, he heard the Library's entrance burst open, sending pieces of wood flying across the room.
Arthur was in the Grand Library with them.
***
Five minutes later, Cullen was still hiding under a desk. He didn't know when he could leave, but the occasional crashes he heard convinced him to stay put for now.
'Abominations aren't all the same. Some can be relatively easy for the military to take out, while others require multiple Gifted to stand a chance against it. Class-D Abominations are the weakest and have no special powers besides strength and speed. Everything above Class-D has superhuman abilities that can threaten all of humanity. We can only hope that Arthur isn't Class-C or above…'
Cullen remembered reading somewhere that the average response time for a Gifted to show up was four minutes. He couldn't tell precisely how long it had been, but it was undoubtedly more than that.
Still, the fact that the siren and lights hadn't stopped made Cullen cautious to make a move.
'Since Gifted have all kinds of extraordinary powers, I imagine that they also have superhuman means of transportation. And the fact that the alarm went off must mean that they know what's happening. Could Arthur already be dead? I haven't heard anything for a while, so it's possible that he was killed.'
After making up his mind, Cullen got up and approached the door he had come in from. He grabbed the handle, and a wave of doubt came over him.
What if one of them, or all of them, were dead?
Since they were criminals, they had to escape before the police came or be detained. On top of that, they were the only family he had. As a lawbreaking orphan, Cullen would have nowhere to go.
That's why it didn't matter if they were dead. If Arthur killed them, he would have no problem suffering the same fate. But if they were out there, still fighting, he would put his life on the line, too.
He pushed the door open and stepped out, not giving himself the chance to reconsider.
However, his sudden determination was short-lived when he saw the scene in front of him.