Only Human

Joshua tugged at his scarf, moving down to a squatting position. The dirt blew around his ankles, picked up by a fierce breeze. His boots were scuffed and a dried bit of mud skated across his foot. He picked up a small stone, rolling it around in his fingers. It was cold and smooth.
       "They've been here," he said roughly.
       "How do you know?" asked Lucien, bending down to inspect the stone himself. It looked ordinary enough, but sensitive fingers could sense extraordinary things.
       "It's been under their shoes. Half a dozen or so."
       "A small group then?"
       "I think so," said Joshua, tossing the stone and straightening up.
       Everyone stood for a moment, contemplating. Lucien's people were resting under some trees, but Joshua and the other Heightens were up ahead with him. He needed their special talents.
       "I can hear the echoes of their footsteps. It's faint, but there," Noah said, a pair of shades concealing his eyes.
       "They're close then!" Lucien gasped, straining his own ears for the trace of humanity.
       "We could catch up with them by this evening," Noah told him, with Joshua nodding in agreement.
       A slow deep intake of breath summoned everyone's attention.
       "They're very tired," said Shannon, nostrils wide and casting his gaze over Lucien's group.
       Their faces shined with sweat and their supplies were diminishing. They'd fallen in a heap under the trees, unable to escape the heat. There was no shade because there was no sun, but the muggy air was stifling.
       "Hm," murmured Harriet, also eyeing the group. She could see each bead of sweat from this distance, the smears of dirt on their clothes and the dust particles in their hair. She ran a hand through her own tresses. "They're knackered, Lucien."
       The leader was visibly disappointed, eager to catch up with the new group. He needed to expand! Humanity was far and few between, couldn't his people understand that? He grit his teeth, crunching grains of dirt, but eventually sighed in defeat.
       "Alright, we'll make camp in the woods."
       "I can smell water. There's a stream nearby, maybe a mile or so," said Shannon.
       "Noah, can you hear it?" Harriet asked.
       The blind man nodded.
       "Then you two will lead the way."
       "Since when were you in command?" Lucien said gruffly.
       Harriet turned, eyebrow raised. "You can find the water, can you?"
       Of course he couldn't, not with his mere mortal senses. Lucien rolled his eyes. A snicker went up. That was Kat, a Heighten with incredibly acute taste buds.
       "Alright, we'll leave in ten. Give them a minute," Lucien said, waving at the collapsed heap of people.


When everyone set off, Shannon's girlfriend Gabby joined his side. She was hunched under the weight of her rucksack, sliding her fingers through Shannon’s.
       "I wish I could sit in your meetings," she said.
       "They're not very exciting," he told her. That was a lie and she knew it. Tracking people was always exciting.
       "I wanna be a Heighten. Tell me again how you got your powers?"
       "They're not powers," he corrected. "And you don't get them, you're born with them."
       Gabby smirked. Getting it wrong was how she got Shannon to explain things to her. He couldn't bear leaving a mistake unseen to.
       "And they're not all fun and games either," he continued. "Sometimes you see things you don't wanna see. You hear bad things. And being able to smell shit a mile off isn't the best power in the world. I'd rather fly or turn invisible."
       "I'd love to fly!"
       "Yeah? Where would you go?"
       "Uh..." Gabby paused for thought, looking at the ground as she trudged on. "I don't think I'd go anywhere in particular. I'd just fly around instead of walking. Then my legs wouldn't get so tired!"
       Shannon laughed. "But your wings would get tired."
       Gabby thought about that too, then raised a finger. "Ah! I wouldn't have wings."
       "Then how would you fly?"
       "I'd just be able to," she shrugged.
       "That's impossible."
       "And a flying person isn't? It'd be amazing if I could fly, how I'd do it is irrelevant at that point."
       "Okay," he chuckled, squeezing her hand fondly.


The land was dry with coarse grasses, mountains gathering on the horizon. Evening was approaching as the light grew dimmer and small creatures emerged from the ground, in turn drawing out the birds of prey.
       Noah paused, causing the whole group to bump to a halt. He'd been leading with Shannon, as arranged. Tuning out the sounds of the wilderness, he listened intently, and everyone held their breath. They couldn't distract him.
       "They're nearby," he whispered.
       "Where?" Lucien said, scanning their surroundings. The land was open and clear, save for a patch of woodland to their far left and some large rocks dotting the area.
       "I don't know. But they're close... very close."
       Suddenly, without warning, gunfire ripped through the air. Everyone screamed and fell to their knees, some small enough to hide behind their rucksacks. It tore Noah's ear drums. He felt someone grab him. It was Shannon, he dragged him and Gabby behind a rock for cover.
       "Stop!” Lucien shouted, watching a dozen of his people running away. But no one was injured. “Stop!”
       They were firing at the sky, a scare tactic. Lucien whipped around, trying to find the source of such fear-mongering.
       Finally the gunfire ceased.
“Not the friendliest of hellos,” Shannon whispered.
Harriet called out, "who's there?"
       "Who are you?" a voice demanded. It was gruff like Joshua's, but tinged with hatred. "You've been following us!"
       "You're right, we have," Harriet replied, playing the diplomatic card.
       "Now listen here, you little fuckwit!" Lucien roared, storming around in a circle, seeking out the gunmen.
       "Hey!" Harriet snapped, spinning him by the shoulder. "Shut your mouth."
       Lucien stood aghast, but before he could object, Joshua had a hand to his mouth. Harriet sighed and started to pace again, her palms open.
       "Hello?" she called. Of course she knew the gunmen hadn't gone anywhere.
       "Turn your asses back around and no one gets hurt!"
       "How did you know we were following you?" she asked.
       "We have our own Heighten," one replied, this one sounding reedier.
       "You do?" she said, mouth dropping open. Her Heighten companions frowned in confusion. There were five senses. Five Heightens. How could there be another?
       "We do."
       "How?" Harriet asked.
       She didn't get an answer, just a bullet to the leg.


Everyone screamed again, a chorus of chaos and terror. Joshua strode forwards, scooping Harriet into his arms.
       "Okay, we're leaving!" Lucien shouted.
       But masked figures revealed themselves. From around rocks, they appeared one by one like shadows. They didn't venture any further, just stood there passively, guns relaxed. No shooting, no chaos. They were letting the dust settle.
       Harriet was tearing off her jacket, stripping off material for makeshift bandages. Joshua pressed the wound to stem the flow, bloodying his fingers, feeling the adrenaline, knowing the hormones in her body, the sugar levels... unimportant information he couldn’t help but receive.
       "You're not going anywhere," a gunman said.
       "But a moment ago--" Kat began.
       "Quiet!" one shouted, leering with the barrel of their gun.
       The masked men approached, herding the group like cattle. Harriet had scarcely wrapped up her wound when she felt herself being hauled to her feet. She hissed in pain, nearly falling down. When she felt herself being picked up, she went to protest, but found it was Joshua again.
       "What're we gonna do?" she whispered to him, her head resting on his shoulder. Defeated.
       "We'll figure something out."


Turns out, the people Lucien had been wanting for his own weren't so keen on a union. The foreign group was camped in the patch of woodland and while they were fewer in numbers, their weaponry was impressive. The gunmen pushed and shoved Lucien's group along, guiding them to an area where five trees stood, the vegetation between them cleared. Barbed wire fenced the clearing; a makeshift enclosure. The foreigners eyed Lucien's group as they came in, suspicious eyes glowing in the firelight as they cooked. The smell of meat wafted through the camp, making Shannon uneasy, not hungry.
       The leader of the group soon emerged, a man called Wyatt. The biggest gunman was whispering to him, his words muffled by the mask.
       "So what do you strangers want with us?" Wyatt asked, muscled arms crossed over each other.
       "How did you know? You can't be a Heighten," Harriet asked, her tone sharper than earlier. Her bandages were soaked through but she couldn't tend to them. Lucien's group was crammed into the small clearing. There wasn't even room to lie down.
       "Ah, but I am truly unique," Wyatt told her, raising his chin to the sky. "I can sense a presence, I know when I'm being followed."
       "How can you?"
       "Can you smell them?" Shannon added, thinking it the only logical explanation.
       "No, it goes beyond physical ability. I just... know," said Wyatt.
       "Bullshit. Now let us go!" Harriet seethed.
       "Don't be so rude, when we've been so hospitable," he sighed.
       "Please, just free us and we'll be on our way," Joshua said. All of Lucien’s people nodded vigorously, eyes wide and pleading.
       But to the group's astonishment, Wyatt simply turned, muttered something to the big gunman and walked away. There was uproar.
       "Come back!" Lucien shouted. "What’re you gonna do?”
       "Give it a rest. It looks like we'll be spending the night here," Shannon said.
       Several voices were speaking at once.
       "What'll we do?"
       "I'm scared!"
       "What'll happen to us?"
       They were asking their leader now.
       "Everyone," Lucien soothed. "I'm sure we'll be fine. These people can't be so savage to do any harm."
       "Have you not seen Harriet?" one woman cried.
       "That was to scare us."
       "They're doing a good job," Kat said.
       "Don't worry, we'll get through this! They're just teaching us a lesson for tracking them. They'll keep us here overnight and release us in the morning. Just try and rest."
       The group quietened but nerves didn't settle. They were like insects, still but wings buzzing furiously. The Heightens were equally stirred.
       "What was he on about, just knowing when he was being followed?" Harriet asked, wincing in pain.
       "He must have a sixth sense," Noah said.
       "Impossible," she scoffed, with Shannon clicking his tongue in agreement.
       "How else would he have known?"
       "Maybe he had spies," Kat said.
       "No, one of us would’ve sensed them somehow, some when.”
       "But the sixth sense doesn't exist! It's just a myth. There have been numerous claims of a sixth sense; seeing ghosts, sensing sickness before symptoms. It's all bullshit," Harriet said, tightening her bandages angrily.
       "Not this time," Noah told them. "This man... he is a Heighten."
       "How can we be so sure?"


That night, the gunmen guarding Lucien's people eventually went to sleep, their guns resting in their laps.
       "Are you sure about this?" Joshua asked Kat, his gaze leveled with hers.
       "We gotta make sure," she said.
       Joshua nodded and the rest exchanged anxious looks.
       "Here, if things turn messy," Shannon said, placing a blade in his twin's hand.
       "Don't worry, I'll be sure to scream," she smirked, pocketing it.
       Kat rose to her feet, tip-toeing through the crowd of people. Their breaths were steady but they weren't asleep. She could see their eyes were open, darting about in the darkness nervously, anticipating an attack. Why else were they being kept?
       The barbed wire proved more challenging to manoeuvre. Kat had to skirt around to its weak point. Here, the wire slid lower on the tree. She held it gently by her finger tips, tugging it down until she could step over. A guard was asleep nearby, the barrel of his gun facing Kat. All it took was a half-assed aim and squeeze of the trigger.
       But Kat was silent. When out of the 'prison', she moved towards Wyatt's shelter, an old tent. The fire was dying out and gentle snores and snuffles filled the air. A man rolled over and Kat nearly stood on his hand. She sucked the air between her teeth, the fragility of the situation intensifying.
       Wyatt's tent was half-closed. She touched the zip, feeling it between her thumb and forefinger.
       But before she knew it, it was undoing itself! She gasped, her other hand instinctively going for the blade in her pocket.
       "You," Wyatt growled. He undid the entrance just enough to be able to duck out, and Kat stood back, nearly stumbling into the fire.
       "Don't do anything rash, I was just making sure," she whispered, letting the blade slip back into her pocket, unseen.
       Wyatt frowned, puzzled.
       "I was making sure you were what you said you were," she told him. "We all had to be sure."
       "What does it matter to you?"
       "We've never met another Heighten.” Kat’s demeanour was cool and honest, which took Wyatt by surprise. He visibly relaxed, but his eyes narrowed suspiciously.
       "How did you get out?"
       "That doesn't matter, I'm going back now," she said, starting to creep away.
       But without warning, he seized her wrist and steered her towards his tent.
       "You can stay in here,” he growled.
Kat’s heart sped up, terror washing over her. She went for her blade again but suddenly, she was shoved through the entrance. She tripped on herself and landed on the ground.
“I'll guard you myself. I'm not having anyone else escaping. And if you try anything again, I'll kill you myself,” Wyatt said, ready to seal the tent.
       Kat huffed, annoyed at herself for fearing the worst. She quickly brought herself to her feet. "Haven't you ever thought that we could be helpful to you?"
       "Invite my stalkers for tea? I’d rather not,” he sneered.
       "Look, we have amazing abilities. Lucien's a good leader and our people are strong. We could join up!”
       "I'm too tired for this," he sighed, the zip going down.
       “Wait,” she said. "Humanity could have a future with us!" Her hands scrambled at the zip, trying to stop the flap closing, but her efforts went unrewarded, save for a pinched finger.
       Kat was left standing in the dark, sucking on it. Wyatt’s silhouette remained on the tent, before disappearing entirely.
They hadn’t planned for negotiations but Kat still felt like she failed. Left to reflect on her own actions, she sat down on the ground and pressed her knuckles to her cheeks. She wasn't sure if it was smart or stupid. Wyatt's people were mean, carrying guns and running around in masks, but it didn't seem right to separate the Heightens. They should be with Wyatt. Or should Wyatt be with them? How would Lucien feel if he was made redundant? He wouldn't submit to Wyatt's authority, surely. Would Wyatt submit to his?


Somehow, at some point, Kat fell asleep. When she woke up, it was like waking up to an ordinary day. Sunlight bathed the tent in a soft glow. She could hear movement and chatter outside, the clutter of cooking utensils and children playing. But they weren’t her people.
       Kat jumped to her feet, reality alarming her. She unzipped the tent and stepped out to a gasping reception. Numerous guns swung in her direction.
       “Calm down, everyone,” Wyatt said, coming over from where Kat’s group were being held. Why did he go over there? Were they okay?
At least the guns lowered.
       “Take me back to them,” she told Wyatt, firm but standing neutrally. The strangers stared up at her, pausing in their breakfast preparations.
       “Of course, come along,” he said, his friendliness contrived. He even reached out for her, making her hesitant. “Come on, they’ll be eager to see you. What’re Heightens without their fifth member, hm?”
       Kat complied, allowing his arm to come around her shoulder. She was small in his grasp and was aware how easily she could reach for her knife again. One move and that blade could sink into his side. One move.
       She didn’t contemplate Wyatt’s words like she should’ve, because when they reached the makeshift ‘prison’, nearly everyone was gone.
       “What?” she managed.
       “I took your advice. We’re joining groups after all, though we only want worthy members you see.”
       “Where’s Lucien? Where is everybody?”
       “We sent them on their way,” Wyatt told her, lifting her over the barbed wire and pushing her into Shannon’s arms.
       “Fuck you,” he spat, seething with rage and hugging his sister close.
       “We have amazing abilities,” Wyatt said, mimicking Kat’s words. “It’s only right that we’re together. Forget about that Lucien and his people. They were weak and we're stronger without them. Stronger together."
       The Heightens exchanged anxious looks and Kat slumped against her brother, feeling the weight of hopelessness.
       “You can’t keep us here,” said Joshua, standing up to face their captor.
       “I will keep you forever,” Wyatt declared. “And with you, I’ll rule the plains.”