Chapter 2 - Gemstone

"What is this, and how did she get here?"

The masculine supervisor stood firmly on his feet as he scolded his subordinates, concern was visible on his face about the fact that a little girl was able to penetrate their very first line of defense from the outside world.

And although the girl was heavily wounded, it still did not change the fact that she came from the other side of the border while still being alive.

No supermen or any other species from outside the fiery walls had done this before.

"Just how did she survive walking across that flaming hell of a border barefooted!?"

The two men straightened their bodies and gave a salute to the supervisor, after which the chubbier man stated his explanation while shaking, "We really don't understand how she got here sir, one of the teachers just alerted us to check if her senses were right- that someone was in the woods and was looking at her. That was all, Sir."

The supervisor nodded and said, "Well then, go check the area and see if this girl has company."

Relieved, the two men ran as fast as they could to get away from the supervisor, afraid that they might get a scolding for he was a famous hot-headed superman in this area.

The supervisor then flew to a new location with Gem still in his hands. He brought her near the fiery borders and took a moment to examine the state of the little girl whose body was as light as a stick in his hold.

Gem did not bother trying to explain or be friendly with the man, his way of holding her was enough for Gem to realize that she needed to get out of his hold instantly or else her new life would end even before it started.

To the supervisor, Gem's way of looking at him resembled a wild dog, the skin on her face compressing on her nose as she growled at him.

"You don't belong here, do you?" he asked, his grip on her nape tightening as hard as steel.

Gem swayed her feet that were suspended from the ground. She had a hard time struggling out of his hold because of her short weak arms that were not enough to inflict any influence on his arm.

'How do I break free from his hold?' 

While Gem was brainstorming, the man brought her closer to the border and started asking her questions.

"Why don't you have a little chat with me? Tell me where you came from," he started.

His tone was not hostile or friendly, just enough to intimidate the little girl a little bit but she did not respond.

Annoyed, the man shook Gem from his hold.

"Did you walk through this?" he extended her even further to the flames that the border was spitting from the bubbling lava underneath it.

Gem started to feel the sweat on her forehead as the flames of the border were less than a meter already in front of her. All she could see was fire and the heat was too much for her burnt skin and her body that was already on the verge of dehydration from all that running.

'I don't want to go back there!' she shouted in her mind but she kept her mouth shut.

The man retreated from the border and threw Gem to the grassy meadow.

Not long after, he followed after her and caught her again in his dithering arm.

Gem struggled even more to get out of his hold that was now even squeezing her neck.

While trying to prevent the man's big hand from completely squashing her neck using her hands, an idea popped into her mind.

One that fruited from her fidgeting feet.

"If you won't answer in the count of three, I will crush your vocal cords completely. How are you still alive? ANSWER ME!"

Gem did not need to answer him to get out of his hold anymore for her plan was foul-proof.

Or so she thought…

Exerting all her strength, Gem tried to use the force in her hands to maneuver her lower body for a backflip, hitting the back of her head to the man's hand that then caused his grip to loosen.

A smirk escaped Gem's lips as she landed her feet on the man's muscular arm.

But as she was about to launch herself from his arm to the air like a frog, the man was fast to react and caught her in the neck again, now using his other arm.

An amused laugh was heard from behind Gem who had now lost all hope for her life, her limbs hanging in the air lifelessly like a shirt in a clothesline, waiting to be dried from either sunlight or air. But in Gem's case, it was her ridiculously fragile body that was on the man's mercy that she had to think about. 'Am I going to die soon? I haven't even experienced life at this point. What's the point of crossing that fiery border if we'll die by the hands of the people on the other side anyway?'

'I underestimated this man. In fact, we all misunderstood that the people here will blindly take us in. They're just like the monsters in the wastelands. In the end, living in this world is useless.'

Gem closed her eyes, finally accepting the fact that she had no chance of escaping from this guy.

Slowly, she started feeling all sorts of pain that she ignored earlier while desperately trying to fight for her life. Starting from her feet that were now being tickled by the gush of wind that was blowing loudly, a tear escaped her eye when she realized how burnt and sore it was from all that running. Little bits of debris that she unknowingly stepped on, Gem took one last deep breath of the fresh air that felt new to her to calm herself down. Actually, the air was new to her. She had been so used to the air that was full of chemicals that she was almost able to taste the sweet scent of the grass beneath her.

If only life was as easy as breathing.

As she finished exhaling all the air in her lungs, Gem thought that she was ready to die.

But on Gem's heart, there was a fire that was still burning, figuratively and literally.

She opened her eyes, panicking to get the burning thing away from her chest using her arms who had now come back to life.

It was her gemstone necklace, secretly giving her instructions on how to escape from the man completely.

Gem thought that it was her idea, using her necklace- a broken crystal shard that was as big as a grown man's thumb, dull on the inside but sharp on the outside- to strike the man in one of his eyes.

If only she could get an angle where she can easily strike this in one of his eyes…

The man was amused by the actions of the little girl in his hand, but he was far too concerned about his 'duty' to this country that he could not let a rare incident like this go without getting to the bottom of it.

He was planning to kill her if she attempted another escape for his patience was really short, but her actions told him otherwise.

'This girl looks ready to die.' he concluded in his mind, letting his guard down and opening his gadget secretly.

Gem noticed the man was not talking for quite a long time now.

'What is he waiting for? If he stays still like this for more than thirty seconds my plan could actually work!'

Life started to fill Gem's body again as she observed the situation, realizing that the man was distracted, she moved slowly to rip the cheap string off her necklace which was only made of straw, making her job easier.

Now that the sharp crystal stone was in her hand, Gem tilted her head cautiously, looking for a chance to strike him.

She thought of the different scenarios that could happen with this plan, looking for loopholes where her chances of escaping would go downhill.

Thankfully, there were only a few moves that only a dumb person would do in this situation, which she still took note of.

The plan was; to find a perfect timing where the man would have the least time to react, prick his arm so she could be released, and use his arm as leverage to turn her body around, just enough for her short arms to reach his eye.

This was Gem's last shot of escaping because the supervisor's comrades were already on their way to their location after sending the message to them using his hidden gadget.

Gem did not notice this distraction because the Supervisor was so subtle in typing with his eye. But the distraction that signaled Gem's plan to start was the loud ring of the bells, coming from the city which indicated the end of their working hours.

This caught the man's attention, momentarily looking behind to check.

Gem took this as her chance to win against him, she squealed and pricked his forearm as fast as she could, loosening the guy's hold on her which she followed with a swift kick in the air using her left foot, creating a momentum that enabled her to turn around and reach for his left eyeball with the crystal on her left arm, thrusting it in with no sympathy while focusing her strength on her hold to his arm which she used as a leverage to make this all possible.

Blood started gushing out of the man's eye, covering Gem's crystal and hand with its sticky red substance.

The man saw Gem's faint smile right before his other eye got covered in red liquid.

Landing on all fours, Gem quickly took this opportunity to run towards the opposite direction of where she came from, afraid to be caught by the other guys there.

She was holding the gemstone tightly in her hands with a smirk on her face as she ran through the meadow at full speed.

'My feet might have been hurt pretty badly but this is no reason to slack off and call it a day!'

'I will have a new life no matter what!'

Soon enough, shadows began flocking in Gem's position, she looked up and saw a swarm of superhumans. Some minding their own business and some watching her and the injured man run.

Behind her, was the man who had now recovered from his loss, his patience completely gone as he sprinted to catch her, swearing to kill her immediately.

This overwhelming situation caused Gem to trip on her own, the soul of her body felt like leaving already.

'I knew it. There's no way I can escape this.' she thought while her body rolled downhill, losing all the strength that she thought she had upon escaping that man. But now there's more of him, what could a mere child do in this situation rather than accept her fate already?

The supervisor lifted himself to the air and estimated a point to where he could catch her fall and land on her with all might. Upon finding that point, he wasted no time and exerted all his force to his supposed landing on her.

But the girl instinctively held on to the grassy dirt before her, a loud thud followed after her but failed to crush her due to the decreased speed of her spin.

The man had miscalculated, more like he assumed that Gem would not grab on to her life, landing on nothing but the ground, the man was more furious now than ever.

And unlike Gem, this man had more strength in him.

He approached her with heavy footsteps, his eye was still bleeding but he did not seem to mind. The frown on his face was enough to discourage Gem to fight. In a swift move, Gem was brought in the air again by his arm, aching to squeeze her neck with all his might.

"You brat." he thundered with a deep voice as his hands curled even tighter.

But just before he could finish her off, a stream of light blinded his remaining eye, including everybody else that was watching.

Unable to see, feel, or even hear anything but a deafening silence, the man unwillingly let go of her and strangely fell weak on the floor...

As Gem's necklace started sucking all of his powers away from him.