Chapter 2 - Pain

The next to be saved would not have been much of a shock; if there were people still alive. James was only 17 but already six foot two and had muscle that most grown men would have been jealous of. But he never took advantage of this against his former pupils; but then he never helped them. He was a simple bystander, who watched and wondered that if he did something, would it make any difference. He soon found out; he was going to make a big difference.

He did not wake like Luke; because he never really slept. James was walking down the street when they fired, when the world burned brighter than a bonfire. He felt it. Felt the pain course though every part of his body, every atom in his body trying to break free and burn. However it was not just physical pain that he felt, he could hear in his head the dyeing screams of the world. Even though everything died within a few millisecond, to Luke it felt like an age has begun and ended in the blink of an eye. In sense it had.

Many say it was his strength that saved Luke and while yes he was as stronger as an Ox or even a giant! But no, that was not what saved him. What saved him were his emotions. His ability to feel what everyone yet no one else felt. He had felt the pain of the earth, as well as its hope as he saw the sleeping boy and hope filtered through the pain. He heard the thoughts of the people, many thinking of other people in their very last moments. So with it he felt compassion.

For several hours he wondered thought the streets aimlessly, looking for anyone or more someone. For the first time in his life he felt the need for compassion, for someone other than himself to share his thoughts, his feelings. Slowly he stopped walking, stumbled and fell to the ground. Unmoving he laid there, not thinking, not feeling, void to the world.

He stayed like this, in a sort of trance, nearly as dead as everyone else-then he heard it. The scream that ran thought the core of the world; you shot up, eyes scanning the area around him. James could feel the pain that was being filtered around the very air around him. The world shook around him as his vision became blurred; tears welled in his eyes, though it was of hope, someone else survived. Someone else... someone else...

This keep going thought his mind; hope filled the pain, the air no longer felt full of pain. He turned his head and ran; ran faster than any human ever had- because what he was running for wasn't pride, achievement or enjoyment, but hope. Hope lit the way in front of him, showed him the streets he needed to take, some sixth sense at the back of his mind. He would keep running for seventeen hours before he finally stopped; he stopped at...