As he opened the door of the bar, Tristan realized that the air felt strange.

It was like it was heavy. It made his skin tingle. People yelling aside, he knew that something wasn’t right. It felt like the effect of the watch, but magnified. Something inside of him just knew that another time stop was happening nearby.

He and Bridget ran up the bar steps and onto the crowded sidewalk. Everyone seemed to looking at the same thing. Cars lined the road, all at a complete stop, abandoned by their drivers. Thick smoke bellowed from inside of them, like something had gone haywire and exploded.

There were people yelling, telling everyone to back away in case any of the cars started burning, but it didn’t seem to stop the bulk of people from standing around like they were watching a train crash. Tristan understood how they felt. He felt a deer in the headlights.

Bridget, on the other and, didn’t hesitate all. She turned to a young couple next to them spoke to them. “Hey, what’s going on?”

“All the cars… just like, stopped,” the woman replied, gripping the man’s arm.

“What’s with the smoke?”

“I think the radios… exploded or something,” the man answered this time. “No one’s phone’s working either.” He held up his cellphone. The screen was covered in at least a hundred cracks.

Tristan immediately reached into his pocket and pulled out his phone. It was out of service, but was otherwise in perfect condition. Why hadn’t it been affected? It didn’t seem like anyone in the bar had noticed anything either. Was it because it was underground?

“Do you think it’s a terrorist attack?” the woman clutched the man’s arm even tighter. “Like, an EMP or something?”

“Nah,” Bridget crossed her arms.

“Uhh…” the woman tilted her head. “Then what is this?”

“Don’t worry about it,” Bridget sighed. “Just get out of downtown as quickly as possible.” With that, she grabbed Tristan by the arm and they started through the crowd.

“Do you know what’s going on?” Tristan stammered, almost tripping as he bumped into people.

“No idea,” Bridget glanced back at him for a moment. “Though if I had to guess, my money would be on that lightning girl from the café.”

That made sense. That girl was capable of destroying anything electronic. He knew it firsthand. After all, his cellphone had been one of the casualties.

As they pushed out of the crowd and the street came back into view, he saw that the line of smoking cars hadn’t ended. How much of the city was experiencing this? Was it just this block? Downtown? The whole city? Did the girl really have that much power?

He began to think that it might be something else entirely, but he didn’t have time to ponder it for long. As they turned the corner, his mind went blank.

It was complete chaos. A throng of screaming people stampeding in their direction. Everyone was so panicked, they would trample them if they didn’t run.

“Bridget!” Tristan shouted, trying to turn on his heel. However, Bridget’s hand didn’t budge from his wrist. He couldn’t move an inch. He braced for impact.

The crowd enveloped them like a tsunami, and people crashed into them as they ran by. It felt like he could be sucked under their feet at any second, but Bridget still held on tight. She didn’t even budge.

When they made it through the bulk of the crowd, Tristan finally saw what they were running from. Just down the street, there were dozens of shadowy figures. He felt like throwing up. Right away, he knew they were the same as the ones the met in the Faucher house.

Fortunately, they weren’t headed towards them. Instead, their target seemed to be a building. They climbed up the outside like spiders, their movements violent and unnatural. He followed them up with his eyes until they reached the top.

Bridget pulled him a little farther down the street before finally letting go of his wrist. “Looks like your girlfriend’s up there,” she said with a clear lack of urgency in her voice.

He squinted. It was way too high for him to see any features, but he was sure there were three people floating in the sky. One of them had long blue hair. There was no doubt in his mind about who it was. It had to be Yune.

“Hey,” Bridget’s voice snapped him out of his stupor. “Any idea what she’s doing here?”

“I… have no idea,” Tristan mumbled.

The last of the dark figures made it to the top of the building, standing along the edges of the roof. Were they on Yune’s side? Were they her enemies?

He didn’t have to wait long to find out. Something exploded, sending a shadow flying off the building and into another one. It was fast, but he was sure the attack had come from Yune’s side. Another round of detonations went off as fire, water, and bolts of lightning shot through the sky.

“Holy shit,” Tristan yelled. The people that were still around ran for cover as chunks of concrete rained down. A piece landed on a car next to him, and he immediately understood how much danger he was in. Forget catching a murderer, this was magical warfare.

It took him a moment to realize that the chunk of concrete wasn’t the only thing that fell. Two red eyes stared at him from the top of the car, sludge dripping from a mouth full of fangs. He was face to face with one of them.

Bridget’s fist slammed into the monster, sending it through the air until it smashed into the side of the building.

“Keep your eyes open, dumbass,” she said.

Before he could answer, the monster was running back at her. It swiped with one of its claws, but she took a step back, narrowly dodging it. She punched it on the top of its head, and its momentum send it straight into the pavement, which cracked on impact. She lifted one knee high, and brought her foot down hard, smashing its head into mush.

“I’m going up there,” Bridget said, her eyes fixated on the battle above them. “You gonna be okay?”

“Y-yeah,” Tristan stuttered.

“Cool,” Bridget said. She turned back at him and gave him a smile.

Just as she turned to him, his eyes caught something. The body of the dark, headless figure on the ground bulged like a balloon.

The scene from the house flashed in his mind. Nicolas’s scream echoed in his ears. The image of Rose dead in front of him. The smell of blood. He was helpless. He knew it more than anyone.

So why were his legs moving, and why were they moving toward the monster?

He didn’t have time to stop himself. No, that wasn’t right. He didn’t want to stop. He wasn’t suicidal. In fact, dying was more terrifying to him than anything else he could imagine. It was something else.

He was just tired of being useless.

He went right past Bridget, using both of his arms in a bear hug around the bulb forming on the creature. Maybe if he squeezed it hard enough, he would stop it from expanding any further.

The creature’s skin was wet and icy. Just having it come in contact with his own burned, but he didn’t let that faze him. He put all of his strength into his embrace, clenching down hard.

By no means was he strong, but the bubble couldn’t break his locked arms. The top of the bubble swelled until it pushed up against his face. It was disgusting. The smell alone was making him feel nauseous.

And then the bubble popped, erupting into a gust of cold air and black blood.

Was that it? He almost expected the monster to come out, but there was nothing else inside. Had he stopped it from healing itself?

“Are you…” he turned back to Bridget, his body shaking like a leaf. “Are you okay?” The entire sequence probably lasted less than two seconds, but it had felt like minutes to him. He was still in disbelief.

“Uhh,” Bridget looked him up and down. “Are you?”

He looked down at himself. He was covered in the black gunk, but he supposed that wasn’t anything new. He probably got even more of it on him when they were at that house.

“Did I really just do that?” Tristan asked, almost laughing.

“Looks like you finished it off,” Bridget replied. “I thought zombie rules might apply to them, but I guess they can still regenerate or something.”

“Aren’t ‘zombie rules’ really just… ‘everything rules’?” Tristan said in between breaths. “I can’t really think of many things that can survive having their head smashed like that.”

“I didn’t make up the term, so shut it,” Bridget, her voice laced with annoyance. “And I didn’t think I’d ever have to say this, but I owe you one.”

“Owe… me one?”

“You just killed that thing, didn’t you?” Bridget moaned. “You had my back. Thanks.”

Tristan let the words sink in. “I… guess I did.”

Another explosion detonated above them. She looked back up in the sky, and he did the same.

Sure enough, the battle was still in full force. Two fireballs met, and the subsequent boom rang out so loud that it felt like his eardrums would burst.

“Alright,” Bridget turned back to him. “I’m heading up there.”

“Okay,” Tristen nodded.

“Oh, and that’s the last time I say thank you, got it?” Bridget cracked her knuckles. “And I don’t want to hear you saying thanks either. KPW members don’t thank each other.”

“KPW members?” Tristan narrowed his eyes.

“Yeah.”

“Uh, you realize that I don’t have any powers, right?”

“You don’t have to,” Bridget turned away from him. “It’s knowing that we’re weak and still trying that makes us strong, remember?” With that, she took off, going straight for the building. She punched through the front entrance, and disappeared inside.

Tristan took a deep breath. He didn’t have time to stand around here. As much as he wanted to do something to help Yune, he knew she could take care of herself. Bridget could too.

He looked down at his wrist. He had somewhere else to be.

He suspected it before, but now that the feeling in the air was stronger, he was sure. Someone had used a watch, and they were close.

Without another look, he left the building behind him as he ran down the street. It took less than a minute before he spotted the crowds of unmoving people. There were still people around, but he didn’t care anymore. If what that couple said was right, there was no chance of him being caught on camera. He ran right into the affected area.

His ears popped, and everything went quiet. Looking around, the frozen area was actually much smaller than he anticipated. It was a smaller effect than the time he pressed the 3 on his watch. However, it felt so much more intense, he wondered if some had used the highest setting.

Of course, that was all just speculation. He needed to focus. Assuming the watch user wasn’t in the crowd, there was really only one place for them to be. The only building inside the radius was the convention center.

Whatever was happening inside of it, he hoped he wasn’t too late. He didn’t want to find another body lying at his feet.

Tristan ran through the open double doors and into the main lobby. The crowd inside stretched back from a stage set up in the front. He had completely forgotten that Sadie’s event was today. It didn’t look like Sadie was on stage.

“Hey!” a girl’s voice cut through the air, making him jump. It was coming from further inside the crowd.

“Liliana!” a man yelled. “Get the fuck out of here!”

Someone was in trouble, and he wasn’t going to wait around until he understood the situation. He broke into a sprint toward where he heard the voices.

“Set down your weapon and I’ll let him live,” it was a different man’s voice this time. How many people were here? How had so many people with watches ended up in the same place?

“Don’t you dare drop that thing,” the first man screamed. “Find Pietro… Then get out of here.”

He kept running, and the scene revealed itself as he came into a clearing. A man pinning another on the ground. A young girl standing nearby with a weapon in her hand. There was no time to think. He lunged.

Hopefully, he was tackling the right person.

He slammed into the man with everything he had, knocking him off of the other one. The man landed on his stomach, with Tristan on top of him. Tristan’s heart dropped when finally noticed the gleaming object in the man’s hand. A knife.

Tristan put his full weight on the man, digging his nails into the hand holding the weapon. “Oh my god,” he cried. “A… little help.”

Was this the killer? Was the killer the other man? Did these people even have something to do with the other attacks?

The man was struggling violently now, and Tristan could tell that he wouldn’t be able to hold on much longer.

Was he a hero, or had he just made the biggest mistake of his life?

Knowing his luck, it was probably the latter.