Greg, Stan, and Madison crept up behind another steel beam that had slammed against the ground. It had been five days already, or at least as far as Greg could tell as the light wasn't passing by. In the five days, Greg had learned the important things. Just because everything had gotten bigger didn't mean the supports could always hold the roof together, massive doors were impossible to move even if the handles could be reached or turned, and people were dicks.

They approached a group of thirty plus people stealthily to avoid being seen. This group had taken control of the food court sometime after the three of them left to try and fail to find an exit. And they weren't the only ones, a few dozen smaller groups of people had been taking over shops and otherwise as much as they could. This group happened to outdo the others as they had already started recruiting others into them with the promise of food and safety.

Greg was about to motion the other two forward while he would make a distraction for them when suddenly a distraction came out of nowhere for them.

A young woman suddenly darted across the broken tile floor that made up most of the food court open space, a creepy looking man chasing after her with a laugh. The men in the group Greg had been approaching suddenly got up from where they were sitting and let out a joyful holler before leaping up to join the chase.

Greg looked back at the other two and said,

"Stan, do your thing."

Stan nodded to Greg, and the next time he blinked Stan was gone. Greg turned back to look at the ten or so women that stayed behind as the men they were with left to chase the girl. Greg suddenly felt Madison tugging on his shirt. He turned around and saw her staring at him seriously.

"We have to help her," Madison whispered. Greg considered it for a moment, then nodded. He glanced back at the woman for a moment and told her,

"You start running and I'll pretend I'm chasing after you." Madison nodded and leapt to her feet a second later. Most groups wouldn't attack on sight, but people were getting desperate now, so running had become something of a staple in recent days.

Greg moved and started chasing after her just like the other men had. Casting a side glance at the woman guarding the storefront they were in he saw they were tense, but not coming after him. Good.

Madison followed the path the other men had taken, going into the kitchen of some fast food location in the place. It wasn't hard to find them, as they had her cornered underneath a batch of fryers that stood impossibly tall.

The two of them snuck behind what looked like a dropped spatula and watched what was going on. They were circled around her, moving in slowly just to taunt the girl as she desperately looked for a way out. The gestures they were making were… not so family friendly.

"I can make a distraction," Greg stated. "Maybe draw a few away, then you go in and-"

He was cut off when the girl suddenly erupted in light. It took a moment for Greg to make out what was happening, but in a few moments she had gone to being surrounded by men to attacking them with some weird tentacles made of light.

The men that had been chasing her scattered, getting struck by the tentacles as they ran. Most made it out, but a few were launched several dozen feet by the swinging tendrils, catching fire wherever they were hit.

Before he could stop her, Madison stepped out and started walking towards her slowly, her hands up in the air.

"Godamn it," Greg sighed, not moving from where he was.

"Hey," Madison called out. "It's okay, we're not going to hurt you."

Instantly, the tendrils flew towards her, but stopped just short of hitting her.

"Why?" the girl asked suspiciously.

"Because we're not assholes!" Madison said with a nervous laugh. "Look, we just want to get out of here, we can help each other. So just… stop using your power and we can, you know, talk about it or something."

The girl hesitated a moment, then dropped to her knees, the tendrils retreating back into her body.

"I knew I should have never come to this damn city." She stated. Greg careful got out from where he had been hiding and slowly walked over toward them. "Ever since I came here it's been nothing but trouble."

"Why would you want to come to this city anyway, the whole place is falling apart," Madison said lightly, moving to help her up. The girl wiped her sleeve across her mouth and laughed a little.

"I came looking for my father, he is sort of famous around here. Or at least, he soon will be if he isn't already."

"Really?" Greg asked skeptically. "Who's your father?"

The girl looked alarmed for a moment but calmed down once she saw Madison wasn't bothered by his presence. She took a deep breath and shook her head.

"He goes by a lot of names," she stated. "But you probably know him best as Max Clay."

---

Greg stoked the fire he had made out of a broken chair. They were in an old laser tag arena, made pitch black by the lack of electricity. It had become something of a base of operations for them, a place to sleep and store supplies whenever they went out scavenging. Over the last few days more and more people had been flocking to the groups, or tribes as Stan called them, that controlled the different fast food joints. There was another tribe in front of the main entrance, working every day trying to get it open without any luck.

Greg was pulled out of his thoughts when Madison suddenly sat down next to him.

He glanced at her. Stan and Zoe were asleep on opposite sides of the fire, so for now it was just them.

"I don't get you," Madison admitted, staring into the fire aimlessly. "You used to be this fat weirdo that everyone just laughed at. You were someone to attack when Taylor wasn't around. Then one day you changed. Like overnight you got in shape, you stopped annoying other people, you stopped trying to be cool, and now we're here. You're leading us, Greg, and it doesn't make any sense to me. How could someone like you be like this now?"

"Hmm," Greg thought silently, stoking the fire again with a long stick. After a minute he said, "I don't know. Maybe I just stopped caring."

"You stopped caring?" She asked dryly. "About what?"

"About people, in general, I guess. I mean, you and your friends were pointless. When I really stopped and looked at it was easy to see nothing in high school is really going to matter later in life, particularly your little cult you call friends. Video games though, those are always going to be great."

Madison paused for a moment, then snorted. "You are such an ass."

"Yeah, probably," Greg admitted. "But I've got my head on straight now, and I've to manage to help you and these two through this so far so I'd say I'm doing a decent job."

They fall silent for a while, watching the fire crackle and pop as it ate the wood. The high ceilings took care of most of the smoke, letting it funnel into air shafts where it could. Eventually, Madison spoke again, saying,

"God, were we really that bad?"

There was something in her tone that made Greg pause a moment. He cast her a sideways glance. She looked… shaken.

"How do you mean?" He asked slowly.

"I mean how terrible we were. Almost none of us were friends just for the sake of being friends. It was always about popularity, looking cute, being on top. And being on top meant punishing those on bottom, and rallying the other girls that wanted to be on top to help us do it. We did it to everyone, plus you and Taylor. But here," she gestured around them, "nothing matters. It's all bullshit. And I just- I just can't-" She stopped and held her head. After a second, she stood up and left without a word. He briefly considered going after her, but she probably wanted to be alone.

So he turned back to the fire and threw a few more stick on to it. Keeping it going until the others woke up.

---

Greg gasped as the crazed lunatic stabbed the carved stake into his shoulder. He brought out his own knife and attempted to jam it into her throat, but she was faster. She knocked it out of the way and tried to get closer to stab him again. Greg grit his teeth and dived to the side, rolling to his feet in the process. Stan and Zoe weren't anywhere to be found, probably still off trying to see if there was a way for them to open a door like he had asked them too. He silently cursed himself for not bringing at least one of them along.

The crazy lady ran at him again, but Greg darted behind a pile of enormous clothing that had fallen down and grabbed a handful of it. This time, when the lady charged he pulled out the large length of shirt and caught her in it. He ran around her once, letting her get tangled enough he felt he could run back a little.

He checked the wound in his shoulder. It was pretty deep, but he couldn't give it any attention yet. He still had to deal with the lady running right at him.

This time, he was ready. He got low and prepared to go in for a quick stab right into her chest went suddenly there was a loud clapping sound before a wave of energy slammed into the crazy lady and sent her flying.

Greg blinked in surprise once and looked around, only to find Madison standing still and looking more than a little shaken.

"Madison?" He asked slowly. "What was that?"

"...my power." She said quietly.

"When did you…?"

"I don't want to talk about it," she responded bitterly. She strode forward and grabbed Greg by the arm. "You're hurt," she stated. "Let's focus on getting that fixed."

"Maddy," Greg said seriously. "If something happened to you then-,"

"I said I don't want to talk about it Greg." Madison snapped. Then a lot quieter she said, "Why can't you just be the oblivious weirdo and make this easy on me?"

Greg raised an eyebrow and said, "Weird? Oh, I can do weird if that's what you really want."

"What do you mean?" Madison askedskeptically. Greg grinned.

---

"Alright darlings, who's ready to break out of this joint!" Greg shouted as flamboyantly as possible. Stan and Madison looked at each other for a moment.

"Did he hit his head really hard?" Stan asked, confused.

"I… I don't even know," Madison answered weakly. Zoe thought for a second, then giggled and said,

"I think I like it, it's very…." she searched for the word she needed.

"Fantastic?" Greg offered. "Sexy? Amazing? Inspiring?"

"Really really gay?" Stan offered.

"Show boaty," Zoe stated with a grin. "Anyone who can make a good show of things is doing it right."

"I'll keep that in mind," Greg said, dropping the act for a moment. "Wow, that is tiring to do."

"Well don't stop on our account," Zoe said in amusement. "It's fun to watch."

"If you insist darling, you know I can't resist putting on a good show."

Madison and Stan groaned simultaneously.

"Can we just try and get out of here?" Madison asked weakly. "It has been two weeks since I've gotten to use a real toilet and I'm just about done."

"Why, of course, we can," Greg said with a grin, resisting the urge to wince as he moved his injured shoulder a little too much. "We're just going fight out with through those dismal men blocking the main entrance."

"Easy," Stan said with a shrug. "I'll just walk on up ta them and hit 'em with my weird gravity hands stuff."

"You forget about us doofus?" Zoe asked. "We can't walk through the gravity field like you can. It'll probably be better if I just zap 'em with my tentacles."

"Mhmm, don't forget darlings that once we're outside the door the world can see you, and you don't want them all knowing your faces now do you?" They glanced at each other and shrugged. Greg rolled his eyes and dropped the act for a moment.

"But seriously, it'll be better if we don't expose your power just yet. Particularly if they all ever get out of this situation. Now Stan, because your teleport is based on the very idea no one is looking directly at you, you can use your power to jump around and hit people if worst comes to worst. But you two," he pointed at Madison and Zoe, "It's pretty obvious when you use your powers. So the three of us will try to sneak past while Stan creates some chaos if we get caught. You all got it?"

They each looked at each other and nodded. Stan though, rubbed the back of his head and shrugged before saying,

"You know? I get the feelin' that this ain't going to play out very well for us."

---

As it turned out, Stan was right. As soon as they got to the door they had to use Zoe's tendrils to cut a hole inside the door. Which meant he and Madison had to hold off the crazy people attempting to take the resources they had on them. Greg's knife, in particular, seemed to be of great importance to these people.

"Is this all it takes-" Madison paused to hit another person with the makeshift pole she was using. "-for people to go crazy? Two weeks?"

"I can almost believe it," Greg said through grit teeth and a man latched on to the wrist of the hand holding his knife. Greg reared back and punched the man square in the jaw. All those months of lifting heavy boxes seemed to have done him good because he went down in one hit.

He turned back around and saw a larger group of five women storming him. He braced himself to fight them off when suddenly Stan was behind them, knocking them to the ground. Greg nodded to him and double checked to make sure no one had gotten to Zoe yet. If Stan hadn't been doing his thing they probably would have been overrun by now.

"I got it!" Zoe shouted, standing up to reveal the massive hole metal through what used to be a thin glass door.

"Get going!" Greg said, already taking some steps back toward the new exit. Zoe didn't need telling twice before slipping out. Madison was right behind her, throwing her pole into the face of the man she had been fighting and ducking out. Stan, unsurprisingly, simply teleported to the other side when no one was looking. Leaving Greg to crawl through the hole last.

Someone grabbed on to his leg and stabbed him with something sharp as he tried to crawl through. He hissed and looked back, ready to stab them with his knife only to see one of Zoe's tendrils smack him in the face. It left a nasty burn mark.

Greg climbed the rest of the way through and ran a few dozen feet away from it. Already people were bottling up on the other side in an attempt to get out, spending more time fighting each other than actually leaving.

Greg turned back and observed their surroundings. In front of them was the entire parking lot between them and the edge of some strange bubble. And just like with the mall itself, the parking lot had grown. Several miles, by the look of it.

"What now?" Madison asked.

"We run," Greg answered, starting forward despite the wound to his leg. He's had worse. The others were quick to join him.

---

It was hard to tell when they should stop for sleep, as it was constantly daytime. But eventually, they got tired and had to stop. Several hours of walking had taken their toll. They ran into some other people, thankfully more calm and collected than the insane ones at the door. And after a fashion, they sort of traveled together. Neither really talk to the other, it was more like they were traveling next to each other, but each appreciated the fact neither outright attacked them.

They made camp underneath a pickup truck that had been high off the ground in the first place by the way it was raised, it's shadow almost producing a nighttime effect. Most people were attempting to sleep on the hard ground with whatever pillows or blankets they brought with them. Greg was leaning up against the rubber tire, not really feeling sleepy when Madison suddenly moved closer to him. For a long time, she didn't say anything. Just sat side by side with him. Then she asked,

"So is the weird acting gay thing going to become normal or…"

Greg snorted a little and shook his head with a smile. "I don't think so. Once we get out of here we'll probably go back to normal, as much as we can that is."

"Well," Madison began. "I was thinking, what happens if we can get out? What happens if we get to the end of the dome and we can't get through?"

"We'll just have to figure it out," Greg said steadily. Madison studied his face for a moment then shook her head before moving into a more snuggling position and closed her eyes with an odd smirk.

"You're really weird Greg Veder. It's… different."

"Glad you like it," he replied offhandedly.

"Still don't know when to shut up though."

"Well, I could always-"

"Greg, stop talking."

He did.

---

Kid Win was waiting for them on the other side as they stepped through the barrier. It was… a strange experience to say the least. But Greg was more than happy just to get out to be bothered by it.

"Woah," Kid Win said, taking a step back. "What the heck? How did you get out? What's going on in there?"

Greg looked around. People were gathering around the edges of the weird bubble that surrounded the mall. The PRT looked like it had just arrived and there seemed to be a general air of disorder running around. He didn't like it.

"How long?" Greg asked, surprisingly breathless, though he wasn't sure why. "How long were we in there?"

"I couple of hours," Kid Win said slowly, then it dawned him. "But, it wasn't a few hours for you, was it?"

Greg swallowed and shook his head silently, glancing back towards the others.

"Well, the PRT is going to want to look you all over, make sure you're okay. And hear what you have to say about what happened of course."

He paused and considered it a moment, almost complying instantly. But then he remembered that three of them were capes, and Stan was a member of the Workers. Going with the PRT wouldn't end while for any of them.

"No," Greg said with a shake of his head. "We just want to go home. We don't need medical treatment or anything."

"Uh, yes you do?" Kid Win said, unsure of himself. "All of you look pretty beat up and-"

"No," Greg said flatly. He turned back towards the others and gestured for them to follow him. "Come on guys, we can head to my house until this all gets sorted.

Greg stared up at a loss. Most of his house had been consumed by the Kaiser's blades from when he apparently threw a hissy fit. But they left just enough of his house intact for him to walk inside and see his mother and father impaled on them, not ten feet apart.

Greg looked back down and closed his eyes, squeezing his fists together. He was vaguely aware of the others saying things around him, but he wasn't listening. He was just… angry. Angry at all the capes in the city that let this happen. And he never wanted it to happen again.

Suddenly, he could feel strange sources from all around the city. Like a candle's light shining through the darkness a mile away. It was a subtle feeling, in the back of his mind. Experimentally, he latched onto one of these strange sources and immediately thoughts of technology filled his mind. Specifically, efficiency-based technology. He reached out again, not even letting go of the first source. The next light gave him some sort of vehicle-based knowledge. A third showed him one about making some objects turn into other objects. And there were more than a dozen sources. Each one based on a different technology of some kind.

"Greg?" Madison asked, shaking him. "Greg? Are you okay?"

He blinked and looked around. Zoe, Stan, and Madison were all looking at him. Greg swallowed and clenched a fist.

"I will be," he answered.