Chapter 2: Leader
"All clear. It's gone now."
Everyone crawled out of their hiding places with lingering fear. Some were still trembling and needed to be supported. The selfish ones scrambled to get out of the cabin in a rush. The timid ones, especially the girls, supported each other towards the door. There were a few who tried to act calm or tough as they walk outside. However, they could not hide the sweat patch on their backs.
Hazel watched all of them as she laid prone under the bench. She repositioned her eyeglass as her eyes wandered. She looked so calm and leisurely that it was hard to tell she just brushed with death. Her gaze shifted to the young man who pulled and shoved her under the bench. It was the same young man who called out to her on the deck a while ago.
He was helping the others out from their hiding places. He was either coaxing them the meek ones or roughly pulled out the stubborn ones. It was clear to see he was a leader type. Always a helping hand, neither too kind nor too rude.
Hazel let out a sigh as she dropped down at the bench she hid on. She wiped the sweat from her forehead. She noticed there was not a speck of dust on her. Looking around the cabin was clean not a single thing was out of place except for the humans scattered around.
"Clean freaks would love this place," She mumbled.
"Sorry about I was rough on you."
Hazel looked up to see the young man walking towards her then sat next to her. It was clear he was exhausted.
Hazel shook her head, "You needed to, right?"
She wiped the sweat from her neck. Not caring about her sloppy look, she waved her hand.
"I'm Hazel."
"I'm Roy but the others call me leader. You can choose whichever to call me."
He looked like he had done this a few times.
By now the others who were hiding had gradually started to go outside. Hazel's eyes scanned through the people walking towards the door. She noticed all the people here looked no older than 30 and no younger than 12. The young man sitting next to her seemed to be only a few years older than her. She had recently turned 22-year-old looking like an 18-year-old. Blame it on her height.
Roy became a bit awkward about her staring at him.
"You can go home now," he said in an assuring tone.
Hazel tilted her head as she asked, "How?"
Roy was going to answer before Hazel asked again, "But the same thing will happen tomorrow?"
Stunned by her words, he stared at her before chuckling, "You catch on pretty quick, kid. We don't know what time it'll happen tomorrow, but it will happen again. It will keep happening every day."
"Every day?" Hazel repeated with a frown but didn't ask anymore.
He nodded, seeing that she was silent. He helped her up then started to head outside. At the door, Hazel took one last look at the cabin that had now become empty. With all the people gone Hazel noted the interior is bigger than she thought at first. There were benches in rows. The windows made of glass gave a good view of the outside at the same time you could get a good view from outside. So, there was really not much use in hiding under the benches. But that might be a different perspective from the big bird creature. She turned her gaze outside and saw the others walking to the woods.
'Is the way out in the forest?' She pondered.
Hazel then turned to Roy. "How long has this been happening?"
Roy shrugged.
"We don't know," He looked up the trees, "I've been here for 21 days now."
"Only that long?!" She asked in surprise.
"It's already been that long," He corrected her. "I'm currently the longest survivor. The rest are only a few days here. You're the fifth person that arrived today."
"So, it's never a fixed amount?" She asked then started speaking out her thoughts. "How come news of this isn't spread? Why? Wait...there seem to be age criteria. Why am I here? Did I do something? Is this retribution or something?"
Roy listened in surprise to her chatter. He at first thought she was the quiet type. But what really surprised him was her speculations. He had his guesses and suspicions as well, but it took him quite a while.
The two climbed down the ladder with thoughts in their minds. Hazel paused as she looked at the landscape and realized the people going to the woods disappeared. Although surprised she didn't react much. By the time she had reached the ground, she and Roy were the only ones left.
Hazel turned to Roy.
"You said you were the leader," Hazel affirmed. She tried to keep her mind from thinking any more questions.
"That's right," Roy replied. He led the way to the woods. "My predecessor got…taken just two days after I arrived. Luckily, he was able to pass on her knowledge to me before it happened."
Hazel glanced at him as she implied, "You sound like you're about to do the same."
He shook his head. "I don't plan on dying. I still have a lot of things to do before that happens. Now go home."
He pushed her making her tumble a bit. When she had turned to face him, he vanished. What she saw was a familiar sight instead. Hazel looked left and right she unknowingly left that dangerous forest. She was dazed as she tried to grasp the current change of surroundings.
"This…this is the plaza," she muttered. She started combing her hair with her fingers as she grumbled, "Ugh…whatever."
"He didn't have to push me, you know," Hazel mumbled as she reached her hand on her back. Her shirt was still wet from sweat.
Hazel walked out of the plaza. The slight numbing pain on her knees reminded her that what she experienced in the forest was real. When she was pushed under the bench she landed on her knees. She sighed and decided to go home since it was already late in the afternoon.
By the time she got home, the sky had become dark, and dinner was about to start.
Exhausted, she dropped down to her usual spot on the table waiting for the rest of the family to gather on the table.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone