Tanya flopped onto her sofa and reached for her phone and the remote. It was time to turn off her brain. The gentle hum of some news anchor discussing the politics of controlling military personnel filled the air, Tanya was barely listening. She glanced over at the hand, still on the table. It hadn’t stopped staring down at the mismatch-coloured nails yet. She’d have found it endearing if it wasn’t for the number of times the hand had made her redo nails. Being exhausted enough that her Dexterity was low hadn’t done good things for her nail painting skills.

  The bright lights of her phone felt like a dopamine trophy. There had been a couple points earlier taking breaks from the tattoo that she felt the urge to reach for it and scroll on various social media but she left it plugged in to use, since she wasn’t sure when power would start to be a concern. It had been a long time since she’d had a day that left her this drained. She supposed having 1 Vitality left would probably do that to a person.

  She opened social media now, pulling the chunky knit blanket onto her lap and curling up. There wasn’t much to see on there now with all the bans in place. No one had been taking the topic bans seriously, it wasn’t like anyone wanted to talk about anything but the apocalypse. So instead, to follow government advice, the different socials had been pushing old videos way more than new ones, leading to this uncanny scroll of fluff from before: ‘Come get ready with me’ and overly peppy makeup product reviews. Tanya usually sported large winged eyeliner or colourful eyeshadow, but she hadn’t even thought of makeup until this moment staring at this beautiful lady talking about this metallic blue eyeliner like it had changed her life.

  Her phone dinged over and over, merging into a cacophony of ringing that never ended. Tanya felt warmth spreading through her chest and she smiled.

  Her mother had sent her half a dozen pictures of Paul and her brother boarding the doors and windows to get out of the care home. There were a bunch more of her mum counting tins in the kitchen—she assumed taken by her brother—and then more of a group of them making a party out of the food they needed to eat up with all of the carers and family members and elderly people down a long table with party hats made of newspapers.

  It took her a moment to work out the narrative. They still had power but an error in the freezer room had left it starting to warm up and they were piling ice in an attempt to keep it all as long as they could whilst they got through it.

  Tanya: you wouldn’t believe the day i’ve had

  Mum has added Tommy to the group chat.

  She grinned.

  Mum: In a good way I hope

  Tanya: meet Assistant

  Tanya hopped up and took a photo of the hand on the table. The hand seemed very excited about it and she ended up with a range of poses including a peace sign, finger wagging, and her favourite which was from the start. The hand had hopped in the air once it realised what she was doing, she wasn’t sure in joy or surprise, but either way, the floating hand with fingers spread out was hilarious.

  Mum: What on earth is that?

  Tanya is that a new type of monster?

  You should report it.

  Wait, is that your design?

  Tanya, did you make this?

  Every time Tanya started typing a new message popped through and she couldn’t help but laugh. She closed her eyes for a second and focused on the feeling. With no clue when the signal would end, she wanted to enjoy this whilst she could. Technically she could Google it, read the latest BBC news reports where they guess wildly. But right now that felt like a waste of time, time that was better spent talking to her mum.

  Tanya: i actually saved someone today with my powers

  Tommy: woah how?

  what are your powers?

  also does that hand have painted nails?

  Tanya laughed.

  Mum: You know what the advice is Tan. We should be listening to the government.

  Tanya paused and stared at the message. She didn’t mean that, right? Racking her brain for the last conversation she had, she realised they hadn’t talked about powers last time at all. Her fingers flurried across the keyboard before she stopped herself.

  Tanya: youre shittin me right?

  Mum: Language.

  It’s safer that way, more certain.

  Tanya: nothins certain

  the worlds ending

  Tommy: this is what i’ve been saying mum

  Mum: And I’ve told you. Organisation is the difference between humanity and anarchy.

  Tanya: you’ve always told me to listen to my gut when someone’s telling me to do something i think is wrong

  i think this is wrong

  Tanya felt the ache pooling in her stomach. If her mum didn’t stop this, how could she protect her?

  Tanya clicked over to messages straight to Tommy.

  I can keep him safe. Maybe he can get her to listen.

  She started summarising the basics like the Attributes and the way to open his interface if he hadn’t already. Then she deleted it all and went back to basics.

  Tanya: do any of you have classes yet?

  Tommy: i don’t think so

  not that mum would say if she did

  one of the older ladies from upstairs does

  she says she can float but i didn’t see it

  Tanya assumed that Attributes could be increased even if you couldn’t see them, it wouldn’t make sense otherwise considering hers were varied and felt like they at least someone lined up with what she’d expect about herself. She didn’t exactly want to suggest he put himself in danger, but if that was the only way to get these classes then maybe Tommy was better off trying to craft a situation that got him a class he’d like—

  Tommy: mums coming

  one sec

  Tanya stared at the screen, watching him go offline. A few seconds passed. She was tempted to ask if he was okay but didn’t want his phone to buzz if that would mess things up.

  Tommy is online.

  Tanya grinned, typing again. She was midway through a message about how he could start training the Attributes when the message pinged through.

  Tommy: This is mum. I know what you’re doing Tanya. Please. I’ll take his phone if I need to.

  Tanya scoffed and flopped back onto the sofa, chucking her phone into the cushion next to her with a thump. She ran her fingers through her hair, feeling her knuckles catching on the knots. The anger was gone as soon as it came. She didn’t have the energy to do anything but simmer. Maybe there was something she could do to convince her mum that the powers were important, but she doubted it would be whilst she was this tired.

  She wasn’t even sure why she felt so sure that the powers would save them. At the start, it had been mostly curiosity, but also there was something about them that felt right, even when they almost killed her. She’d felt sure since The System helped her save that boy and she’d gotten the Holler at the Gods Achievement. If her mum could only speak to The System or help someone with the powers Tanya felt like she’d see it, but for now, anything she said rivalled the hours of news content her mum had probably been watching. She watched too much television at the best of times, but with the care home having televisions in every communal area all day every day, her mum must have been hearing every last anti-powers update.

  She relaxed her neck and it flopped to one side, her fringe covered one of her eyes, breath escaping her lips.

  The sky outside was grey with wispy clouds. She could just about see it above the chimneys on the tall buildings opposite.

  She moved back to her and her mum's chat.

  Tanya: do you have a class yet?

  Mum: We are done talking about this Tanya.

  Great.

  Tanya wracked her brain for how to give anything useful to Tommy without her mum realising.

  Her phone pinged, she expected it to be her mum again, or maybe Tommy, but the name that popped up was Maria.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

  She finally replied.

  Tanya sat up in her seat, holding the phone with both hands. Maria was one of the first people Tanya had reached out to the day before and although she’d replied saying she was safe, she’d only been part way back to Brighton when the lockdown reports had started, and with a monster sighted nearby, going a few miles had turned into a day-long adventure. So many people turned and ran further up the road that the cars were in a gridlock and Maria’s chair made it hard to get between them. That’s the last she’d heard from her.

  Maria: finally home! <3

  Tanya started calling her before she even read the message.

  “Are you safe?” Tanya asked, as soon as Maria picked up.

  “Thanks to you,” Maria replied, bright as ever.

  “What?” Tanya said. She thought about it more “Wait—what?”

  “Your tattoo, it saved me—I don’t know what I would have done without it. I know you won’t have meant to but thank you anyway.”

  It dawned on Tanya. In the rush of using her powers and the gang, she’d almost forgotten that early message. All of her previous tattoos came to life. She’d done most of the tattoos on Maria’s sleeve, almost all botanical plants.

  “The plants? Hold on, start from the beginnin’.”

  Maria giggled and Tanya heard the exhaustion and rasp in her voice behind it. So she wasn’t as okay as she was letting on then.

  “I was going down the M23 with my playlist playing—“

  Tanya smiled. “Songs to pretend I’m fine to?” She remembered Maria making that playlist back in high school when her grandma was taken ill.

  “Of course. I was going to ring you, but I wasn’t sure if that would put you in more danger so I put the playlist on instead. So halfway down the M23 it was completely gridlocked, some people were getting out of their cars and looking around and I honked them a few times.”

  “You—Maria López honked someone?” Tanya exclaimed.

  Maria clammed up. “Well I was stressed and I wanted to get home and—“

  Tanya’s old banger had died months ago and she’d realised she was better off renting the parking space than getting it fixed, it sat at the stone end of the little garden now, full of blankets and cushions. She’d last driven in it with Maria and after honking someone who’d cut her off, Maria had gasped and started lecturing Tanya about how it was just increasing tension on the road.

  Tanya fell into her thoughts, not hearing what Maria had said. “What?”

  Maria’s tone changed. Her voice was hollow. “Tanya, are you okay?”

  “Just knackered,” Tanya said. That was stupid, why hide it? She continued faster. “Well, an’ the rest of it. Go on, keep goin’.”

  There was a pause, Tanya listened to the sound of her breathing. She realised that she was lucky that her friend still could, so she focused on it.

  Maria’s safe.

  Maria spoke again and her energy was more like it had been.

  “So this man outside starts banging on my window and I’m like, oh gosh maybe Tanya was right, I don’t think I can handle an argument right now. But then I saw his face—he looked terrified—kept holding the finger up to his lips to shush me. I opened the window and he was telling me to be quiet in case it hears us. I had no idea what he was on about until he insisted I turn on my radio and don’t make much noise, then he took off.”

  “Oh no…” Tanya whispered. She was completely entranced by the story. Somehow hearing it told like their cafe bitching sessions made the whole thing feel a bit comfier. Not everything had changed.

  “Oh yes—the radio is talking about all sorts of powers and monsters and it was the serious breakfast show guy—“

  “The one that reads everything like a hostage situation?” Tanya added.

  “Yes—but his voice was shaking—”

  “No!” Tanya exclaimed.

  “Yes,” Maria said. Tanya could hear a real smile in her voice now, she smiled too.

  Maria paced, twirling the phone cord around her finger. Tanya could tell just by listening. She loved collecting old treasures and one of her favourites was a 1970s bright red rotary phone. Didn’t seem as crazy now, with Tanya keeping her mobile plugged in.

  Maria continued. “The guy was already gone by the time I’d heard a few lines, I was about to question him because it was far too cold to be April Fools. That’s when I saw it—one of those black monsters.”

  Tanya gasped.

  “I could only see it’s legs. It was on the other side of the motorway, crushing cars like they didn’t even exist. They were like a black goopy tree trunk with monkey feet. This guy hopped over my bonnet. I reclined my chair and unbuckled, hoping that if I could transfer to my chair in the back at least I could get out if I needed but I froze when I saw the guy. You won’t believe this—or I guess you will nowadays but—he was holding actual flames in his fist. It was like—like—I don’t even know.”

  Tanya could almost see it; the road she’d driven down so many times to see her family. She imagined it was the section with the trees on either side and, despite it very much not being the time, she felt an urge to turn the fiery fist into a tattoo.

  Maria’s voice petered out. “Um…yeah. I waited until the footsteps were far away and got into my chair. Everyone else was running to the embankment so I tried to follow, manoeuvring through the cars as fast as I could. Most people were squeezing in the small gaps or jumping over but I couldn’t. It was so far in the distance I thought I was safe.”

  “You don’t need to say if you don’t want,“ Tanya said.

  “No it…it’s okay. I didn’t see the monster die but I heard the people further down cheering.” She sped up. “The guy with fire got back before I could get out of the maze of cars.”

  Tanya imagined how that would feel, getting stuck in every path she tried. She’d seen Maria get stuck before, the way she turned her frustration into a polite smile. A memory smacked Tanya in the face, Maria stopping Tanya yelling at a man for parking his van across the bottom of the shopping centre ramp. It won’t change anything Tan, she’d said. Making them angry just makes me stuck in a different way.

  Maria gulped and Tanya was pulled back to the present.

  “That’s when one of them asked the question—were monsters the only thing that got people points?”

  “Oh no,” Tanya breathed. She hated where this was going.

  “He had these crazy eyes like he was on something strong. One of them…” her voice wavered. “He was saying stuff about how I wouldn’t make it anyway and that’s when my tattoos started itching really bad. One of them grabbed me but my first tattoo appeared—“

  “Deadly nightshade,” Tanya thought out loud.

  Maria’s breath hitched on the other end of the line. “You remember.”

  “Of course.”

  “I just…grabbed it and stuffed it in his mouth”

  They both paused as Tanya absorbed what she’d just said.

  Tanya couldn’t help herself, she burst out laughing.

  “What?” Maria asked, bewildered but laughing

  “I—I don’t know just—“ Tanya laughed harder. “You just stuffed me summoned tattoo plants in someone’s gob and—“

  “Killed them,” Maria finished. They paused and then both laughed even harder.

  “Blimey, I better update the warnings on me parlour's consent form.” Tanya wiped her eyes.

  “Think you need a new signing spot for this or could you add it onto the general liability bit,” Maria grinned.

  “A new section, definitely,” Tanya said

  “What was it—I waive and release to the fullest extent permitted by law—”

  “How do you even know that?!” Tanya wheezed.

  “Included but not limited to the tattoos trying to eat you—“ they fell into new peals of laughter, falling to pieces again every time one of them tried again.

  * * *

  “Me belly hurts from laughin’,” Tanya said. By this point, she was lying on the sofa with her phone on speaker on the cushion next to her head. She had the blanket haphazardly thrown on her and empty dishes on the floor by her feet.

  “Or the amount of pizza you scoffed down you intolerant fool!” Maria elongated ‘fool’ in a way that made Tanya smile.

  “Oi!” Tanya shot back. “If I didn’t eat it then it’d go to waste.” She imitated Mrs Eceer as best as she could. “With that much rubbish, you must be wasting food!”

  Maria snickered. “She still been annoying you?”

  “She told me off for being too loud—when I was savin’ someone’s life.” Tanya could almost hear Maria’s eye roll on the other end.

  “You saved someone’s life?!” Maria exclaimed.

  “So… it’s a long story—” Tanya started.

  * * *

  They fell into a comfortable silence.

  “Maybe we should sleep,” Maria postured.

  “Not ‘til you show me your Interface—wanna trade?” Tanya gasped. “You ain’t even told me what your class was called yet—no fair!”

  “Oooh, you’ll have to wait and see,” Maria teased.

  It took about as long as Tanya expected to explain how to make pacts to her video game oblivious friend. Maria had only ever played Stardew Valley and Minecraft, and even then all she wanted to do was garden.

  They both recited their pacts, allowing each other full and constant access to each other’s interfaces. Since seeing how much information she gave, Tanya would be far more careful giving it to people than she would have earlier, but with Maria, she just knew. She could trust this girl with her life.

  “Wow,” they both breathed.

  “This is so cool,” Tanya continued.

  “I have no idea what any of this means,” Maria added.

  Would you like to see this Interface with your settings?

  What’s different?

  The interface showed her the original version and she skimmed it. The smile spread through her lips the more she read. The Attributes were her favourite.

  * * *

  Attributes

  Hit: Very Good

  Dodge: Okay

  Life: Good

  Think: Eh

  Focus: Pretty Good

  * * *

  She turned it back to her settings.

  * * *

  Information

  Name: Maria Isabella López

  Number: 10,567,455

  Class: Occult Herbalist

  Level: 1

  * * *

  Occult Herbalist? Now that’s really fuckin’ cool.

  “Tell The System you want it with your settings,” Tanya said absent-mindedly, now skimming the new version. She didn’t get very far.

  “How do I do that?”

  Tanya pulled herself away from the Interface, attempting to explain The System to her friend. It was like showing her gran how to use Microsoft Teams.

  “So the more I use it, the better it all gets, like practising for a test?” Maria asked.

  “Yeah!” Tanya exclaimed. “Think of it like a mark, the higher and more stuff you got, the better.”

  “Right—“ Maria started.

  The line went dead.

  Tanya stared down at her phone. She pressed Maria’s name, trying to call her back. It didn’t work.

  She didn’t have any signal anymore—and her phone wasn’t charging.

  Shit. The electricity’s gone.