Burning Slow

Why is it always a zombie apocalypse?

February 27, 2290; 01:12 am

Ember glared at nothing- she was actually glaring at her lifespan but to Rocco and the others, she was glaring at nothing.

"Em, are you okay?"

It had been three days since they were told about Grace and Faith. Three days since Ember passed out. Three days since she refused to talk to anyone but Nathan or her Dad. But it had been over a month since she last saw the date that she would die. Although the date is different. Last she saw it, the month and date were the same but the years was 2306.

She coughed, willing herself to stop thinking about that. "What time is it?"

"Ten something in the a.m. Why?" Astraea answered, not missing a beat.

"And it's November 21, right?" Everybody nodded at her, a little shocked that she decided to speak with them now.

"A new movie is going to be premiering today. Let's watch it." She started to get up from her bed, ushering everyone out of her room.

"Thought we were going to watch it?" Nick stared down at Ember as she was pushing him and the others out. His voice shook a bit as he spoke 'cause he was still wary of Ember, considering that she hadn't talked to them in three days.

"I have to change first, idiot." He let out a sigh of relief at her answer. "I can't change with all of you in my room." She explained, closing her door when all of them were out.

She breathed out an exhausted sigh before walking over to her large closet, opening it with so much force, it wasn't impossible for the doors to be detached from its hinges. Fortunately, it didn't.

She grabbed the lipstick case she found on her bed three days ago from the top shelf. She hesitated a bit, playing with the case before sighing once again.

She walked back to her bed, fiddling with the case before deciding to open it, number and letter floating out of it. She placed it on the floor before sitting on her bed.

"Grace, you piece of s**t, you better not let me die." She muttered, staring- more like glaring- at the address that Grace left for her, written in big bold letters.

#23 Oakland Street, Portaveno

Grace never told Nathan that the two of them made the plans concrete and a hundred percent fool proof, even each step they took were carefully planned out to make sure that everything would play out exactly as they planned. And the lipstick case and this address aren't part of that plan, neither was Ember remembering who Faith is.

The day that Grace found out about Ember's power, the child that Mother Nature carefully picked out of thousand of children born in 2209, she knew then and there that Ember would be the girl that she would confide in. Just as her legacy foretold, she was to save the Earth, only nobody knew who or what she was going to save it from.

Daughter Nature.

The name was horrible in all ways possible but... Well, it was horrible. Ember often found herself asking which i***t came up with that legend that she had to be stuck with a stupid name like Daughter Nature. The first thought that she had upon hearing her legend was that it was complete and utter bullshit. She never got over how stupid her name was when they could have easily called her Nature's Daughter. She knew for sure that whoever cane up with the stupid name had something against Mother Nature or just nature in general.

Having met Astraea and the others, she was overly jealous by the names they had in their legends.

Astraea; Lady of the Stars

Grace; Green Goddess

Nick; Dust Floater

Nathan; Elemental Fury

Kenneth; Pure Creation

James; Sun Incarnate

Jacob; Lurker

Rocco; Universe Defier

And hers? Daughter Nature

Their names sounded so original and completely unconnected to who they really were but Daughter Nature? Seriously?

I swear, when I find out who the f**k thought of that name, I will-

Her thoughts were cut short by a knock on her door.

She cleared her throat. "Who is it?"

"It's Rocco, may I come in?" It was evident in his voice how nervous he was to try to talk to her.

It was silent on Ember's side. She hadn't talked to Rocco since the 31st. It wasn't that hard to not talk to him considering that she was unconscious until three days ago.

She felt guilt course through her entire body. While she was unconscious, Rocco had been by her side, worried off his ass, just like Astraea was of Nick. She didn't even need to hear from her dad to know that. She had felt and heard him the whole time she was unconscious. She also knew that if Rocco was the unconscious one between the two of them, she would be worried off her ass too. Despite turning down the man, she couldn't stop the rage of emotions she felt at the sight of him.

But being with him wasn't part of the plan.

Falling in love and considering to be with the green eyed boy was never part of the plan.

She wasn't even able to get an ounce of sleep the night they kissed, an overwhelming feeling of jealousy kept her up the whole time.

Jealous of Grace and Nate as their relationship had been worked out.

She was never the type to have believed in love but that glimmer of something that she saw in her best friend's eyes the day they first met Grace, she knew that she had to somehow include that in the plan. Just as James had said, Nathan is a sly boy. She knew her best friend more than anyone, she knew he would pull something and Grace would fall for it. To make the plan fool-proof, she had to work out every single detail, consider any and all possibilities.

Ironic how she forgot to consider herself and her green eyed boy.

"Ember?" She was, once again, snapped out of her thoughts.

"Not yet, Rocco. If this is about that night... Not yet, please." She had to force her voice not to c***k nor sound vulnerable.

A disappointed sigh was heard from the other side of the door. "I understand." He spoke before walking back down the stairs.

Ember sighed again, swiping the lipstick case off the floor and putting it back on the top shelf of her closet. She got changed into a pink shirt before she met up with everyone again in the living room.

"So what movie?" Kenneth asked.

"Not sure but I think it's something about zombies." Ember squeezed herself between James and the arm of the couch, a holographic remote floating up beside her.

"This isn't going to be another f****d up movie that our generation made, right?" Nathan asked.

"Future Nathan actually forced me to watch this only I fell asleep fifteen minutes into the movie but it seemed pretty good." She shrugged.

She turned on the movie and flipped through a couple of channels before settling on one.

"What do you two have against our generation?" Alex gestured to Astraea and Nathan. "You both, in a not so subtle manner, have insulted the music and movies that we have."

Nathan dramatically gasped. "I only asked if this was going to be a f****d up movie."

"You said another and don't even get me started on the previous movies that we watched. You always went on and on about the story line and kept asking question after question.

"Well, it is true that our generation only manages to f**k up things." Ember shrugged.

"I, one hundred percent, agree with that statement." Astraea second.

"I can't believe I forgot that you're an even bigger non- believer." Alex groaned at Ember.

Kenneth, Jacob, James, and Nick simply sat back and watched the argument play out.

"Alex, you're the oldest in the room at the moment," Astraea sighed, ignoring the movie that had started to play. "You should know better than us that we're a f****d up generation, you can't even deny it. Mother Nature is trying to destroy humans? No surprise there and she's even trying to kill Ember here, Daughter Nature-" Ember suppressed a scowl at the name- "the girl that she chose to save the Earth."

"I'm not even denying that we're a f****d up generation." Alex crossed his arms, facing the TV. "But I don't shove it into other people's faces."

"It need to be shoved into our faces." The three deadpanned.

"As much as I love watching the four of you argue," Jacob acted like he was disappointed, "I would like to watch this movie about zombies."

"We're experiencing a pre-apocalypse event right now, I don't even know why they're premiering a movie about a zombie apocalypse. I mean, why is it always a zombie apocalypse? I bet nobody even thought of us experiencing an apocalypse because of Mother Nature." Nick ranted.

"Zombie apocalypse movies are cool." Kenneth argued.

"But it's already common and cliche and why shoot a zombie when they're already dead? And it makes absolutely no sense why it would die again." Astraea placed a hand over Nick's, not even bothering to suppress her laughter.

"We get it, Nick. You can shut up now."

"Nick is right though." James whispered to Ember as she dimmed the lights for a theatric vibe.

"I fully agree." She whispered back, glancing at Rocco who hasn't said a word the whole time.

*****

"If Grace left an address and things, what would we do?" Ember asked everybody as they ate some of Greyson's famous tonkatsu ramen for dinner that he had been cooking since yesterday.

"This is a hypothetical scenario, yeah?" Nathan stared at her from across the table as he blew on his ramen.

"Duh." She rolled her eyes at her best friend. Times like these helped that she could easily lie to save her life, or in this case, Grace's life.

"If Grace did that then we would immediately go to that address assuming that this isn't a trap?" Jacob spoke, ignoring the silent argument that Ember and Nathan were having.

Ember glared at Nathan for a few more seconds before looking over at Jacob who was currently slurping down his noodles. "It's not a trap."

"Then yeah." He swallowed before continuing. "We should immediately go to that address." He looked at the others for confirmation. Nick, Nathan and Alex nodded at him immediately but the rest were still hesitant.

"That's good." She muttered to herself, swirling the noodles around with her chopsticks. "By the way, how did you guys know about my second power?" Greyson already told her that him and Alex told the others but she wanted to know how much they knew.

"Second power?" Jacob's brows drew together, the meat that he had successfully picked up after a couple of attempts fell back in the bowl at his pause, some soup splashing out as he silently cursed the existence of slippery metal chopsticks.

"If you do it, you might die." Nick recited the words that slipped from Grace's mouth that day. "You told me you'll explain." He stared at Ember's eyes while confusion swirled in his.

"Die? What? Somebody might have died?" Rocco snapped out of the trance he was in.

Ember sighed, pushing away her ramen, no longer having the appetite to finish it all.

"What do you guys know?" She asked, referring to Astraea and the others.

"We know that you have two powers and the other one is controlling nature, kinda like Nathan's power but different- stronger." Kenneth said.

"We know that Grace knows about that power." Rocco glanced at Nathan when he mentioned Grace.

"And we know that every time you use that power, you consume your time- subtract from your life." Astraea finished.

James perked up, realization dawned on his face. "So that's why you never told us what your legend is about or what you do in general."

-

"Can I go with you guys? Please??" Ember begged just as everybody, excluding her, was heading out the door.

"Ember, I told you to rest." Grace reminded.

"But I want to join you guys." She pouted.

"With that wound? Sure, let's go." Alex deadpanned.

Ember replied with a glare. "Idiot."

"How about we tell each other our legends before we leave?" Rocco suggested, feeling sorry for Ember that she doesn't get to spend as much time with the others.

"I see no problem with that." Nathan nodded.

Astraea sighed, heading back to the couch. "Let's get started then."

Everybody walked back to the couch, not seeing Ember's face-splitting smile.

"Since, you were the one who suggested this, you start." Jacob looked at Rocco, his eyes gleaming with curiosity.

"Alright, then." He cleared his throat. "You guys obviously already know that I'm the necromancer. My legend is that I supposedly bring back an army of blood thirsty beasts to take over the world."

"Well, that's s**t. That's totally not going to happen." Jacob said.

"Totally." Rocco nodded, leaning bac on the couch. "So who's next?" And in a not so subtle way, his eyes drifted over to Nick.

"Mine's stupid so there's no need to hear mine." He raised his hands in the air, shaking his head sideways.

"Even so, we've agreed on this." Everybody leaned forward on their seats, narrowing their eyes at Nick, pressuring him to tell his legend.

Nick tried to ignore the stares but a couple of minutes passed and he gave in. "Alright, fine! Stop looking at me!"

They're narrowed eyes turned into smiles as they leaned back in their seats, gesturing for Nick to go on.

"So they call me Dust Floater, yeah? That's 'cause every time we teleport, we turn into dusts; my legend comes from that. The people who made my legend said that every time I teleport, an item near me turns into dust too and they said that it's possible that I also make people turn into dust." He acted nonchalant but Astraea saw right through it. Nick knows this, he shot her a look that said not to make it obvious and she quietly nodded.

"I have a question though." Nick nodded for her to continue. "The first time I teleported was when you took me here and I distinctly remember that you and I teleported to a hospital to grab the thing that Grace needed, so that's the second time. Why didn't I feel the excruciating pain that time?"

"That's easy, it's 'cause of the distance. The farther we travel, the more you feel sick. We didn't travel far that time so you didn't feel sick." Everybody nodded, their mouths formed into o's.

"What about you, Kenneth? Your legend?"

Kenneth smiled awkwardly, rubbing his left arm. "Mine is too heavy to place on a teenager's shoulders. With my power of creation, they said that I can create a new world if this one i destroyed."

"Shit." Grace exclaimed. "That'll kill you."

"I know. My legend is too f*****g heavy for me or any of us to carry."

"The people who thought up your legend probably have absolutely no care for our lives." Everybody nodded at Rocco's statement.

"Anyways, I want to hear yours, James."

"Mine is pretty simple. To save us some time, I'll just tell you guys that my legend and Jacob's is pretty much similar. I harness the power of the sun which makes me able to control all forms of light. My legend said that when the sun explodes, I can gather its energy and create a new sun 'cause we can't live without it."

"The difference between mine and James' legend is that I can control the dark and blend into it which is why I'm called the lurker. My legend said that I will lose control of my power and envelope the Earth in eternal darkness."

"Hold up, how are those two pretty much similar?" Ember exclaimed.

"Is it not?" James looked confused.

"No!" Everybody yelled, even Greyson who was in the kitchen.

"Whoops?" He chuckled.

"Astraea, your turn." Grace rolled her eyes at James.

"Mine is similar to Jacob. to be honest. I lose control of my power and the Earth gets sucked into another dimension, an unfamiliar one. Pretty simple." She shrugged. "How 'bout you, Grace?"

"Mine is actually pretty weird. It said that I would revive a wrong person and help with the end of the world. Depsite that, they still called me the Green Goddess so it kind of contradicts with my legend."

"Yeah, weird." Ember agreed. "Is that everyone? Rocco's done, so is James and Jacob, Kenneth too, and Astraea and Grace. Yup, that's everyone." She smiled, ignoring her best friend who sat beside her.

"That's harsh. Even for you." He muttered loud enough for her to hear.

"Oh, right. You're still here." Nathan's hand flew up to his chest, feigning hurt. "I'm kidding, by the way. I already know yours, but they don't so go ahead."

Nathan beamed, clearing his throat. "So my legend is that I fail to control the elements and they turn against me and slowly destroy the Earth."

"It's weird though. Our legends come from normal people so how could they make that? And all of it ends in the end of the world or the end of something."

"Probably made up, we don't know." Astraea shrugged. "And you haven't told us your legend yet."

Ember gasped aloud. "I forgot to do the thing. You guys should go and I'll tell you later." She dashed up the stairs, not giving them a chance to react.

-

"Yeah. I don't have a legend about time 'cause it's not my main power. The truth is, I only have one power. My ability to see time is sort of like a curse. It reminds me that every time I use that power, I lose time."

"How much time?" Rocco asked.

She glanced up at the ceiling, heaving a deep sigh as tears pricked the corners of her eyes. "If I'm lucky, I only lose months but most times, I lose years."

"Oh my god." Astraea gasped. "Can you see it now?"

"February 27, 2290 now. The year used to be 2306."

"Sixteen years..."

Ember removed her gaze from the ceiling, looking at Nick and Jacob who had their eyes bulging out of their sockets. She had grown tired of the atmosphere- she giggled then looked at Astraea and James who both nodded at her, their frowns shifting into devious smirks.

As if on cue, the two raised their hands and smacked Nick and Jacob at the back of their heads. The unexpected action causing them to hit their heads on the table. At least, that's what they wanted to happen. Instead of on the table, their heads landed in their bowl of ramen.

"Hey!" The two exclaimed, droplets of soup flinging everywhere, the whole group laughing at them.

The two were grumbling while wiping themselves with a napkin.

"Alright, alright so what do you guys don't get?" Ember asked after they all managed to stop laughing.

"A brief recap should do." Astraea suggested to which Ember nodded at.

"Okay, so my real power is nature, the seeing time thing is just an added ability. When I was bleeding out, Grace sensed my power and she had been looking after me since then. I told her that every time I use my power, I lose a couple of years or months of my lifespan. She stops me from any and every situation that I had to use my power which is why she protested when I suggested to teach Nathan to feel the earth and that time in Greenland-" she took a deep breath, humming- "I think that's it. Is that it?"

"Yup, that's it." Nathan confirmed as she had also known about Ember's power since they were kids.

"That's not it!" Kenneth exclaimed, startling everyone.

"Isn't that it? What did she miss?" Rocco asked.

"She didn't tell us her legend." Everybody's mouths formed into o's once again.

"It's pretty obvious, you guys. And I'm pretty sure Astraea already mentioned this earlier. My legend is that Mother Nature chose me to save the Earth from something, only we didn't know that we would save the Earth from herself."

"Speaking of legends," James said, "when we were talking about our legends, I remember Astraea saying that the first time she teleported was when you took her here." Nick and Astraea looked at him with furrowed brows, their facial expressions screaming 'where are you going with this?'

"I'm saying that the whole time you two dated, those whole five years, you never teleported?" He was waving his arms in the air by now.

"Yup." Astraea answered with a smile.

"Why?" Everybody dramatically questioned.

"She insisted that we walk or use transpo to get to places." Nick answered this time, his arm draping over Astraea's shoulders as she ate their ramen along with the rest of them, except for him, Jacob and Ember.

"Again, why?" Kenneth asked.

"The answer is simple. He gets too lazy which is why I forbid him to teleport when we're together."

"That makes sense." All of them thought.

"Well, that's all cleared up. You guys can clean up around here and I'll be at my room." She left them with a smile, all of them oblivious to what would happen five hours from now.