Jennifer Taylor slumped in the back seat of her large electric vehicle, parked outside the checkpoint, and scanned through the top-rated comments on her now viral video. It had been online for a few hours now, and her viewers were decidedly split into two camps.

  Skeptics believed the footage could not possibly be real, and were the vast majority. They insisted that she had collaborated with Blake to fake the video using a combination of camera tricks and AI. Some out right accused her of being a fraud who fabricated everything to gain viewers, while others claimed she was paid off by the government to participate in a psyop.

  The believers, on the other hand, defended the authenticity of the video vehemently. They not only trusted every word Blake spoke, but went to great lengths to show corroborating evidence. Most of the ‘Domers’ were laughed at and belittled by the skeptics, but the more Jennifer considered her experience, the more she found herself agreeing with them.

  “I think I screwed up,” she mumbled with a groan.

  “What’s that?” Bobby, her cameraman and assistant, rotated slightly in the driver’s seat while he scrolled through Tweeter on his tablet.

  “I said, I think I screwed up the interview.”

  “No way. The interview is on track to be the most watched video ever. How can you possibly be upset about that?” he asked in disbelief.

  Jennifer sighed and read him a comment attached to her video, “Obviously, this chick’s fifteen minutes of fame was up and she couldn’t handle it. The only thing that really surprises me about all this, is how obviously fake the video was. Does she seriously expect anyone to believe the bad CGI?”

  “How many times have I told you, Jennifer?” he asked rhetorically. “You’ve got to stop reading comments. They’re all trolls and incels.”

  “It’s the top-rated comment, Bobby. That means a LOT of people agree with him.”

  “Your fifteen minutes weren't up,” Bobby assured her. “If anything, it was the opposite. You tripled your initial audience within a year.”

  “Not that,” she rolled her eyes. “They think I faked the video. Almost everyone does.”

  “I mean, can you blame them? The stuff that kid can do,” he shook his head. “It’s unreal.”

  “It is, which is why I didn’t believe it.”

  Bobby frowned. “What do you mean?”

  “During the interview, I viewed the whole thing as some scam. I thought it was all smoke and mirrors.” Jennifer sighed and dropped her phone to the seat. “Now, I’m not so sure.”

  “You seriously thought he was tricking us? I thought that was just a play to get a rise out of him. Which, by the way, I almost pissed myself when you called his guide a manifesto. I thought he was gonna murder us right then and there. His eyes!” Bobby mimicked Blake’s reaction to her statement and chuckled.

  “How was I supposed to know he’d take offense to that? And yes, I thought it was all smoke and mirrors.”

  Bobby shook his head. “I’ve been looking at comments, too. Somebody found out how far we were from The Dome and timed how long it took for him to carry us to it. Did you know he carried both of us there at over fifty miles an hour?”

  Jennifer’s jaw dropped.

  “Then, even more unbelievable, he jumped at least fifteen feet into the air and teleported us to the top of the wall. I admit, at the time, I was kinda freaked out. But, I still knew, one hundred percent, the kid was the real deal. That’s just not possible to fake.”

  “Ugh,” she groaned and rubbed her temples. “Such a waste! I have so many questions, and there’s no way he’ll talk to me again. Not after the way I treated him. And now, we can’t even get footage of the fire tower because they blocked the whole area off!”

  “Holy shit!” Bobby blurted and lifted his tablet so she could see. “Check this out!”

  The device displayed drone video footage of the fire tower from above. Camo-colored temporary facilities surrounded it, as well as a host of military equipment and personnel as they guarded the area.

  Was he telling the truth about this as well? Shit, I really screwed up.

  Suddenly, she saw a flash from a hidden sniper’s rifle, and the drone began to spin widely out of control. A moment later, the video abruptly ended.

  “That’s badass!” Bobby exclaimed.

  This is awful. How do I fix this? How do I get back in?

  Jennifer placed her face in her hands while she thought through the problem. The video may have gone viral, but that was not necessarily a good thing. Her subscribers had already dropped by ten percent since the livestream, as most believed she faked the interview. If that were not bad enough, the Domers hated her as well. Her inane questions and obvious lack of belief in the face of overwhelming proof lowered their opinion of her.

  I need another interview. It’s the only way.

  She lifted her head. “Bobby, that site the document was on, did it have a way to contact Blake?”

  “Naw, he replied absently while he continued to scroll through his feed. “The site was pretty bare bones. I think they threw it up in a hurry.”

  Damn it.

  Jennifer sighed. “Can you think of any way to contact him? Maybe he’ll do another interview, this time remotely, since they won’t let anyone near The Dome now.”

  Bobby paused briefly before he carefully responded. “Judging from the look he gave you, I don’t think he’ll be willing to talk any time soon.”

  Figures. Wait! Didn’t he say his brother had a crush on me? He has to be a subscriber!

  Jennifer was about to ask another question when she was distracted by a large, black SUV. It sped past her on the road, drove directly up to the temporary gate, showed identification to the guards, and was promptly waved through.

  I wonder who’s in there.

  “Jennifer, you’ve got to see this!” Bobby again exclaimed from the front seat.

  She turned away from the window and focused on the tablet once more. A live stream from a Phoenix-based news channel filled the screen. The chyron showed the title, ‘Breaking: Suspect flees after releasing hostages!’. Meanwhile, video footage taken from a helicopter tracked Blake in close focus as he barreled across the countryside.

  What is he doing?

  The skinny teenager, still clad in his ridiculous medieval armor, also sported an oversized backpack and quiver. He had a large bow looped through his left arm, while he held a long spear sideways in his hands. Then, the video zoomed out and revealed his surroundings. Just a few hundred feet in front of him was a large road with heavy traffic.

  That’s highway two-sixty. Where’s he going?

  Blake turned north and cut through a corner parking lot at high speed. A moment later, he was on the sidewalk, which paralleled the main road the entire length, to Show Low.

  “Damn, that’s fast,” Bobby whispered in appreciation.

  Jennifer watched in disbelief as he passed by vehicular traffic. In the distance, through her window, she could hear the faint sound of a helicopter’s blades as it grew closer.

  “I think he’s just a couple miles away,” Bobby said. “You think he’s coming here?”

  She shrugged.

  Suddenly, Blake shot forward like a rocket and doubled his speed. The cameraman on the helicopter struggled to keep him in focus as he leapt over an entire intersection and passed cars like they were standing still.

  “Holy shit!” Bobby blurted.

  It’s not a trick. There’s no way this can be a trick.

  Jennifer watched in disbelief as Blake moved at what had to be over a hundred miles an hour along the highway. He continued at the ludicrous speed for about fifteen seconds, when he suddenly slowed to his previous pace.

  Meanwhile, the helicopter followed him north along the highway as he made his impressive but foolhardy escape.

  “I don’t think he’s coming here,” she told her cameraman. “He’s still headed north and the helicopter’s already past us.”

  You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

  “I think you’re right,” he agreed.

  They both continued to watch Blake’s flight as he suddenly teleported across the main road to the opposite side and rushed into the woods. The camera briefly lost visual, before it locked on to his position and followed.

  “How long do you think he can move like that?” Bobby asked.

  “I don’t know, but he doesn’t seem to be losing his tail. The real question is, can he keep it up long enough for the helicopter to run out of gas?”

  Bobby snorted. “I’d say there’s no way, but the kid’s bulletproof and faster than a speeding bullet already.”

  Jennifer rolled her eyes at the Uberman reference, but continued to watch Blake fail to evade his pursuit. After fifteen minutes, he reached the Show Low airport. Suddenly, Blake stopped and looked directly at the helicopter. He seemed to shake his head before he turned around and reversed course.

  I guess you do have limits.

  While Blake retraced his route, something disquieting occurred to Jennifer.

  What if it’s all true? Is the world really going to end?

  She felt a pit in her stomach grow as she considered the seriousness of the situation. If Blake could be believed, the world would end in two weeks. Billions of people would die, and life as she knew it would never be the same.

  Worse, the best hope for her survival was the teenager currently sprinting down the expressway, who had reason to despise her. His compound used the invading alien technology to protect all within from the monsters who would appear within weeks.

  I need to get mom and dad here.

  Jennifer had a tenuous relationship with her parents, yet still loved them, despite her resentment. Their disagreements began just after she graduated from high school. They insisted she attend university after graduation, and she vehemently disagreed. Jennifer thought college was useless, a scam. It took years to earn a degree, in which they taught things you could learn for yourself online. In the end, graduates were left with tens of thousands of debt, and poor prospects for employment.

  She had relentlessly argued the point with her parents until they had conceded their loss and kicked her out of their house. They informed her that if she were not going to attend university, then she needed to get a job and her own place.

  Over the next three years, she worked full time at a factory in Austin while she lived in a cheap apartment with her two roommates. Meanwhile, every spare chance she got, she practiced her real dream, journalism. For years, she posted reaction videos to social media as well as investigated corporate crimes.

  After three years, she had only a few followers and earned pennies, yet she refused to give up her dream. The few times she visited her parents, they insisted she give up her ‘experiment’ and focus on a real future. Eventually, she grew tired of their nagging and cut off all contact.

  Then, just a year before, one of her videos went viral. Suddenly, she had hundreds of thousands of followers. Her entire backlog of videos was perused, and she started making real money from ads. The second she received her first check from Self-tube, she quit her job and focused exclusively on her new profession.

  Jennifer scrolled through her phone until her mom’s contact appeared. Her thumb hovered over the picture of her mom as she hesitated. It had been over a year since she last spoke with her, and she was afraid of her mother’s potential reaction.

  She took a deep breath and was about to make the call, when Bobby finally spoke up. “Uh… Jennifer, I don’t think he’s going back to his compound. I think he’s coming here.

  Captain Jeremy Jackson reflexively cleaned his rifle in his temporary quarters near the fire tower, despite its near uselessness. He ran the bore brush and cotton patches, wetted with solvent, through the barrel, disregarding its pristine state.

  I still can’t believe none of the bullets hurt that kid. Not one!

  He turned the rifle over in contemplation. For the last twenty-four hours, he obsessed over his failed operation. Not only had they lost Renner to an Ursa attack, Esteves was as good as gone as well.

  There’s no way that psychopath lets him live, not after that attack.

  Suddenly, the flimsy door sprang open, and Lee rushed inside. “Hey, Cap, Esteves is back!”

  Huh?

  “That Blake kid let him go, along with all the other hostages.”

  Jeremy dropped his disassembled rifle and rushed to his feet. “Where is he?”

  Lee raised his hands. “Hold up, Cap. Esteves’ still in route. Scuttlebutt says he walked out almost an hour ago, but the FBI kept him detained. That FBI agent in charge was pissed, and raised hell, but Peters came through. CIA boss had to make some calls to the DoD, but she finally let him go.

  Thank God for that.

  “ETA?” Jeremy asked.

  “Any minute now,” Lee shrugged. “The Dome’s just a few miles away.”

  Jeremy groaned as they left the temporary habitat. “Not you, too. That’s such a stupid name.”

  “What else am I gonna call it? Anyway, Mister Peters wanted you to be there when he debriefed Esteves.”

  Jeremy nodded and slapped his subordinate on the back in thanks before he headed towards the command tent alone. The area surrounding the fire tower was far different from what it was weeks ago when he first arrived. It was now a well defended fort, with heavy munitions, sniper nests, sandbag walls, and plenty of temporary structures. The fire tower, at the edge of the camp, was visible at all times as it loomed above the camp.

  He nodded to a fellow soldier as he passed, and a few moments later stopped in front of the command tent. “Mister Peters wanted to see me,” he announced.

  “ID.” the guard on the left demanded.

  Jeremy rolled his eyes, yet complied. The guard made a show of examining the document before he opened the door and announced his presence. Inside, Scott Peters perched behind his desk and poured over a thick stack of printed pages. At Jeremy’s presence, he glanced up, “Good, you’re here early. Sit. What are your thoughts on Mister Summer’s so-called guide?”

  “Sir?”

  “You haven’t seen it?”

  Jeremy shook his head.

  “Then, in that case, after we debrief Esteves, I want you to go over it. We need to find out how much of this is bullshit, and how much is the real deal. I’ve been able to verify some of it as accurate, but there’s a lot here, and I want your opinion on it.”

  “Yes, sir.”

  Scott went back to perusing the guide, and momentarily ignored Jeremy’s presence.

  Captain Jackson suppressed a sigh and peered at the printouts.

  That stack’s huge. How can that psycho possibly know this much about the alien tech? Although, he does have that force field set up. How did he get that?

  A shout from the door guard broke him from his thoughts. “Sir, Sergeant Esteves is here.”

  “Let him in,” Scott ordered.

  When Jeremy saw his friend slip through the door, he couldn’t keep the grin off his face and rose quickly to greet him. “Son of a bitch! I can’t believe you got away from that psycho.”

  “Yeah, well, not all of us take a nap mid-op,” Esteves ragged. “Some of us take this stuff seriously, you know.”

  Jeremy rolled his eyes.

  “Did you follow procedure?” Mister Peters demanded.

  Still an asshole, I see.

  At the question, Esteves reflexively shifted to parade rest and answered the question. “Yes, Sir. Blake Summers and the SWAT team members are unaware of the fact that we have knowledge of the alien tech. I also refrained from using the interface while in captivity.”

  You should have at least messaged me once you got free.

  “How confident are you of that assessment?” Mister Peters asked.

  “Sir, from the way Blake Summers spoke, it was obvious. I believe if he knew I was in the Collective, he would have said something. As far as the SWAT team, I actively argued against Blake having special abilities. I insisted it was a trick.”

  The CIA man snorted. “Did it work?”

  “I don’t believe so, sir.”

  “Worth a shot. Did Mister Summers explain why he released the hostages?”

  “He didn’t say, sir.”

  “Hmm,” Scott Peters scratched his chin. “What level do you believe he is?”

  Esteves hesitated. “I’m not sure, sir. He used multiple magic like abilities and showed such strength and speed, I’m not even sure he’s human anymore. I shot him in the face with a fifty caliber bullet, and all it did was leave a bruise. Then, less than a day later, the bruise was almost gone. Sir, I’m not sure how we can fight something like that.”

  Neither am I.

  “I’ve…”

  Jeremy and the others flinched as gunshots suddenly deafened them. Scott Peters immediately reached for a radio and yelled into the mic, “Report! What’s the situation?”

  While they waited for a response, even more gunfire joined the first. Soon, he heard dozens of weapons discharge.

  What the hell is going on out there? Shit! My weapon’s still disassembled.

  A panicked voice finally replied on the radio. “Sir, Blake Summers has breached our walls. We are attempting to stop him, but he seems immune to small and large arms fire.”

  Oh shit, not again.

  “Where is he headed?” Scott yelled back over the gunfire.

  “He’s at the base of the fire tower, sir. He seems to be attacking it with a spear?!” The voice rose on the last word, as if he was not sure.

  Jeremy ignored proper procedure, he had to see. He turned and fled the tent until he could see the entire fire tower structure. Thousands of bullets rained down upon their target with no effect. Meanwhile, Blake Summers systematically demolished the base of the tower with his spear.

  Each swipe severed a support and the tower shuddered at the onslaught. Finally, the last support was cut, and it began to list to the side. In what appeared to be slow motion, the seventy-foot tall fire tower slowly began to lean and then fall.

  Holy shit!

  The fire tower slammed into the ground and crushed the temporary wall they had created. Dust obscured most of the scene, but Jeremy watched in slack-jawed amazement as Blake Summers leapt twenty feet into the air like an anime character where the tower once stood. Then, just when he thought the kid would descend, he suddenly appeared twenty feet higher, and an instant later, twenty feet higher once again.

  Then, he disappeared into the spatial distortion.

  What the hell just happened?