Chapter 2: Chapter Two

The next morning Ana was sore, groggy, and in a sour mood, which wouldn't really stand out amongst her peers.

She roughly grabbed her blaring cellphone, snoozing the alarm, slamming the device on the table, only becoming concerned about breakage after she felt the table rumble. Ana at up, realizing she had fallen asleep on her couch, her tv still on, and her laptop was thankfully plugged in.

She took a risk and took a quick look at the news to see if there had been any updates since Zalic's sighting in Salisbury, but was both offput and relived to see that there was nothing, and continued to get ready for the day.

Ana got off the community bus and walked towards her college, her school ID in hand. Ana's college was a ginormous brown brick building with multiple chimneys, dozens of white windows, and a black shingled roof. Ana checked the time on her smartphone as she walked onto the large grass courtyard, sighing in relief when she saw she had twenty more minutes until she had to get to class.

She sent a message to her best friend on campus, Tiffany Jerome; who was studying nursing, that she was on campus. Tiffany was two times as boisterous and outgoing as Ana was, which most of their peers found to be exhausting. Even Ana wondered how she was able to stay in such high spirits with such a difficult major.

"HELLO HELLOO!"

Ana looked at the familiar voice calling her with a smile. Speak of the devil, she thought. She jogged towards her fellow brunette, who was dressed in an outfit most would expect of an art student.

"I tried to call you last night!" Tiffany exclaimed. Ana's eyebrows furrowed and she looked at her phone, scrolling through her call catalogs. "What time?" Ana asked as she scrolled. Tiffany hummed. "It was like twelve thirty or something." She said offhandedly. "Huh?!" Ana exclaimed as she looked back up at her. Tiffany gave her a blank stare, chewing her bubble gum loudly.

"Yeah." She said at last, "Some seniors managed to get into that nightclub downtown everybody's been talking about." She gave Ana a self-satisfied smirk. "Aaand, I managed to bag one of the guys who could get in." She winked. "Bag?" Ana questioned her eyebrow raised playfully, "With no n?" Tiffany scoffed and gave Ana a light punch on the shoulder as the two started walking towards the school entrance.

"Have more faith in me than that," Tiffany said, a hand on her chest, "We have the same class and he said I looked like fun and that I could bring a friend. Which. Is. Why. I. Was. Calling, Yoouuu." Tiffany poked Ana's arm with every word of her second sentence. Ana swatted her hand away, rolling her eyes.

"In case you forgot you harpy," Tiffany let out a mock gasp at the name, "I have work on weekdays, and if we aren't able to get a replacement for my co-waitress it'll be weekends too." Ana said gloomily as they walked along a line of well-maintained trees, conveniently leaving out that she wouldn't have been too keen to go out after reading the news report or after hearing the segments last night. Ana didn't talk about those with Tiffany anymore, she always repeated the same fears and theories over and over again, and while Ana knew Tiffany was always there for her; she couldn't help but feeling she was a bit worn out from hearing about Zalic's every move.

"Wow," Tiffany said in a mock sadness voice, "Workplace drama seems so boring, glad I don't have to worry about that yet." Ana rolled her eyes. "You'll be too distracted for workplace drama once you start working, I'm sure hospitals take up all your time and attention." "Oh not true!" Tiffany exclaimed, making Ana give her a skeptical look. "Haven't you ever watched any of those hospital drama shows?! I watched ten within the past two months to fully level my expectations."

Ana shook her head, chuckling at her friends' antics.

The two entered the school building, walking along the large open hallways, passing groggy students and tired professors, most of which greeted them in hushed tones and winces. Ana supposed there were a lot more people at the club than se thought. Ana glanced absentmindedly at the posters and announcements on the wall, vaguely aware of a research program going on in another department that she wanted to take part in.

"Still," Tiffany said, shaking Ana out of her thoughts, "You really need to get out there more, I'm like, your only friend. Not that I'm not flattered by that or anything, it's just you're way too extroverted to only have one friend. That's like, the rule." Ana huffed. "I have other friends." She said quietly, gripping the straps on her backpack tightly.

"Work friends don't count." Tiffany said flatly.

"They so do!" Ana exclaimed. Tiffany shook her head. "You guys don't even go out together, you only see each other at the diner and that's it, you need a real college experience Ana, we're graduating in two years and you've only been to like, five parties. That's rookie numbers." "I'll have you know I was the life of those parties, and I do go places outside of work with my co-workers! Just two weeks ago Stephanie and I went bowling, then some time before that I went to the color festival with Mike, and Tony and I are constantly hanging out together! Well, he calls whenever he goes to the grocery store and asks if I wanna tag along, and he gives me rides home from work but I'm counting it!" Ana huffed at her friend.

Tiffany didn't look impressed. "Right, also why didn't you tell me you went to the color festival?! I was dying to go but I couldn't catch a ride and there was no way in hell I was taking a bus after my assignment on the cleanliness and common communicable illnesses in crowded public places. No way, no how." Tiffany shuddered as she used her arms to emphasize her point, getting a few curious looks from onlookers.

"Don't you have a car?" Ana asked as they passed a large glass trophy case.

Tiffany sighed. "The one day I finally decide to bring it in for an oil change is the day there was a huge festival going on." She huffed again, crossing her arms over her chest. "There's no way you didn't know what day it was happening." Ana scoffed. Tiffany gave her a dirty look. "Despite my desire to be attending nearly every public event, I am still a college student who has a hectic schedule."

"Oh man, you would've loved it, Mike wasn't a fan of a majority of it because he hates crowds, but Tony joined us later and we managed to catch some of the rides. Ooh! And the snacks were awesome, there was like, this extra-large churro that had like this thick layer of cinnamon sugar and this chocolate sauce made out of like ten different types of chocolate. It sounds kinda gross on paper but man was it awesome-" Ana stopped her rambling at the dry look on Tiffany's face. "Eheh, we can go to the next one, I'll be sure to call you." Ana chuckled nervously.

A soft but loud tune echoed throughout the schools' hallways which meant there was ten minutes until classes started.

"Although one thing you managed to get more experience than me in is dating." Tiffany said after a few seconds of silence. Ana blew out a long breath, Tiffany loved to tease her over her dating history. "You could date if you wanted, it's not like there aren't dozens of people who would line up just to hold your books and walk you to class." Ana scoffed, rolling her eyes. "Oh don't be ridiculous, this isn't high school." Tiffany roller her eyes back, then with a smirk, she added; "But you're not wrong." She pulled a large purple and blue ombre water bottle out of her bag and began to drink what smelled suspiciously like high-sugar fruit tea Tiffany swore she would stop drinking from it.

Ana tucked a stray strand of hair behind her ear. "I don't know why you're bringing that up aside from trying to humiliate me, I'm not even dating or even interested in anyone right now." A cough and spluttering sound made Ana pick her gaze up from off of the floor and stare wide eyed at her friend who was choking on her drink.

"What?! Are you okay?" Ana asked reaching out to pat her friend on the back.

After Tiffany had calmed down from her coughing fit, she slapped Ana's hand away. "You almost killed me with your lies!" She exclaimed, getting the attention of the students now filing into their respective classrooms. "What are you talking about?!" Ana yelled back. "Not interested in anyone?!" Tiffany scoffed. "So you think I'm blind and stupid?!"

Ana took a step back, completely confused.

Tiffany put an accusatory finger in Ana's face. "You're trying to tell me, me, your best friend, that you are NOT interested in anybody when I've seen you make more goo-goo eyes and practically sigh in- in- swooning-ness?" Tiffany shook her head, "Whatever-! Over fucking Tony in just one evening at the diner than I've seen you make in any of your past relationships! And you dated like three people when the whole 'bad boy' thing was popular!" Tiffany concluded, throwing her hands in the air.

"We don't talk about who I dated during the bad boy era!" Ana hissed, getting a few laughs and chortles from curious onlookers. Tiffany put her hands on her hips, eyebrow raised, foot tapping in irritation.

Ana sighed exasperatedly, head darting from side to side to find a way out of this situation, but knowing her best friend, there wasn't one, so Ana resorted to playing dumb. "I don't know what you're talking about! Tony and I are just friends! Colleagues! Coworkers! There is absolutely nothing between us!" Ana hissed quietly. Tiffany rolled her eyes. "Right, and my chastity ring still means something."

Another soft chime echoed throughout the hall, signaling that there was only five minutes left until class. Ana paled slightly as she realized she was nowhere near her classroom, and despite her annoyance Tiffany must've realized the same as she pointed a finger at Ana.

"We are not done talking about this." She growled, then quickly skipped away to her classroom.

"Oh yes we are." Ana grumbled, darting to the hallway that was left of her and began dashing down the hallway, despite the calls of reprimand by professors and a few hall monitors.

Ana and Tiffany met later, and luckily Tiffany was too engrossed in her notes to remember the conversation that transpired between them earlier. "Don't think this is over just because I have a pop quiz later." Tiffany said without looking up from he textbook.

Never mind.

Tiffany and Ana were walking down the vast campus hallway, passing a few familiar faces and professors as they made their way down to the mess hall, chatting all the while.

"-And there's no real known reason why it happens but it's not dangerous, isn't that so weird?" Tiffany asked her textbook more than Ana as they approached the lunch line. "Yeah, uhuh.." Ana trailed off, not exactly in the mood to hear about random deformities and whatnot that appeared on the body with no threat to the host or explanation.

Tiffany quickly stuffed her books in her sling bag, taking a tray and scooting closer to Ana in the lunch line.

"Alright, what's wrong?" Tiffany asked. Ana made a point to look only at the variety of food in front of her, particularly eyeing a Salisbury steak. "What ever do you mean?" Tiffany sighed. "You know you're an awful liar." Tiffany deadpanned. Ana's face fell slightly as she set the steak and mashed potatoes on her tray.

"Oh come on, I know this isn't about the semi-permanent bug bites I was just talking about, I know you've gone over wayyyy grosser stuff in your classes."

Ana chewed on her bottom lip as she scooped a dollop of gravy onto her potatoes. She heard Tiffany sigh as she walked over to get a drink and find their usual table outside.

The outdoor seating area was big, there were dozens of tables scattered around the large grass covered field, as well as an area that was covered by a large awning, where Ana was currently sitting, and the ground was concrete as opposed to grass.

Ana was in the middle of sending a message to Stephanie, who had sent her a picture of her spilled lunch, when Tiffany set her tray down on the table and gave Ana a stern look.

"It's Zalic isn't it." She said blankly.

Ana roughly cut a piece of her steak and quickly shoved it in her mouth, drawing out her chews to ignore Tiffany's gaze.

Tiffany raised her eyebrow. "I saw the news last night. I tried to call you but again…"

Ana stared down at her food. "I don't feel like talking about it." She said at last. "I don't… I don't want to talk about it. I've panicked enough about her to you.." Tiffany gave her a concerned look. "Listen Ana, you can talk to me, even if it's the same thing over and over again, you can tell me." She gave Ana a weak smile and punched her shoulder lightly. "We're friends! And besides I complain to you every time I get a hangover even though it's my own fault."

Ana snorted as she picked up a spoonful of mashed potatoes.

"I just hate that I'm so afraid of her…" Ana said furrowing her eyebrows at her food.

"I mean, it's a completely rational fear…" Tiffany trailed off. Ana looked up at her. "A woman with not only super powers but also the ability to give other people super powers and get them to do her bidding is absolutely a thing to worry about, even if she wasn't a massive dictator wannabe."

"It's weird to think that we just, go about our daily lives while all of this is happening." Ana said after a few minutes of silence.

"Well, I mean, people were panicked at first, locking themselves up inside and stocking up for an apocalypse, shutting down their businesses, everybody thought they were going to be the next kidnapping victim." Tiffany looked at Ana with a gentle expression. "It's completely fine to have that bit of fear, and there was nothing wrong with you panicking when it happened. There's still people now who are still in that early 'end of the world' mentality, but after a while the general public realized they couldn't keep hiding in fear, that they had to go back to their normal lives eventually…"

Ana continued to stare blankly at her meal.

Tiffany lightly nudged her arm. "But I think deep down a lot of people are still afraid, and that's alright."

The two went back to their food in silence, Ana deep in thought about what Tiffany said. There wasn't really anyone who opposed Zalic, even the authorities could only do so much against a group of over powered super villains; there was talk of the government trying to create super heroes to combat them, but those plans were rarely ever carried out. And the ones that did were quickly wiped up before anyone could really learn their name.

Ana shuddered.

Sure, Zalic was sedated now, but who knew what she was up to? Who's to say she wasn't in the process of creating some kind of super weapon to use at will? Tiffany nudged Ana and told her that their lunch break had ended, still shooting concerned glances at her friend.

Nobody knew what the future held, and the future to Ana, while unknown, was terrifying...

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