Children of a Lesser God

Although they had been looking for a story to boost their ratings, they never expected to end up face to face with an infected. And more startling than that was that this infected was obviously very strong. For a moment, they both froze in their tracks wondering just what Laz was planning to do.

Seeing this, Laz just smiled and didn't do anything. Instead, he turned his head away and went back to eating his beef jerky as though he didn't have a care in the world. Due to his actions, the internal fight of both the handsome guy and attractive girl waged war in their heads.

They were truly afraid. The news, the reports, everything they had heard up until this point was indicating that people like Laz were violent sociopaths who's mood could turn on a dime and would kill you without blinking.

And yet this person in front of them seemed almost... peaceful.

In the end, the temptation that Laz offered outweighed their fear and instead of running, they walked back over to him, albeit slowly.

"You seem to be scared of me?" Laz asked, still amused.

"Well. There are a disturbing number of stories that have come out about your ki... about people with the same affliction you have," the man replied, changing his wording at the last minute.

"Yeah. I mean... there is more than on example of how normal people have been attacked and killed in horrible ways," the girl added while moving a bit behind her partner.

To this, Laz could only sigh.

"You're right of course. Although I have a hard time believe every story I have seen about us attacking normal people, I can't ignore the fact that there have been more than one who ended up drowning in their own power and losing their sense of self. There was even an incident in the past where I personally killed one of 'my kind' after he had kidnapped and raped a girl. So I can only say that yes. There are infected who are nothing short of pure evil," Laz finished up his thought, nodding his head and agreed with them.

"You're not going to defend them?" The girl asked.

"Why would I? I mean, should I?" Laz asked in all seriousness.

"But they...."

"They are they and I am me. Even before these things came to pass... tell me... did evil exist in the world? Humans have been killing each other since the dawn of time. Sure, they try to pass it off as killing with reason, be it in war or to save someone else. But the end result is still the same. There has always been a dark streak in the hearts of humans. Some can hide it better, others get gloried legacy's of documentaries and podcasts about their endeavors to kill their fellow man. The higher the body count, the longer you will be remembered."

"That's... well... You have a point," The attractive man said after the female couldn't respond back.

"So there are good and bad ones of you?" The man then asked.

"Good and bad? There are good people and there are bad people. That's something that will never change," Laz answered.

"Then why do you hide your face if you're a good guy?" The female asked, not totally believe him.

"Who would believe me even if I told them that?" Laz turned the question back on her as understanding dawned on her.

"So. Moving on. What are you doing and what do you hope to achieve?" The handsome guy thought that maybe they were making Laz angry and that getting him on to other things might be a good idea. As such, he figured he would ask what was on everyone's minds.

"Killing off some bugs before skipping town.".

"Skipping town?''

"Yeah. As long as I am alive, I am a threat and they will come to kill me. Therefore, it's best to be on my way sooner rather than later," Laz stated as a matter of fact. Even though he was speaking about himself as though he was a criminal, he barely showed any emotion about that fact.

"You don't seem like a bad guy..." The attractive female responded as though trying to encourage him.

"Well. That doesn't really matter, does it? It's ok though. For many of us, we have accepted this fact. Besides, what would we do about it anyway?" Laz asked back without a hint of anger.

"Can't you protest? Or contact someone?"

"The entire government, the country and even other countries all over the world have said the same thing, we are a danger to ourselves and others. And they aren't really wrong either you know. For many of us, our abilities are under control. When given enough time from when we awaken until we actually have to use them, there isn't a problem. The problem comes about when either the change is so dramatic that it can't be controlled or if a person is placed under enough stress that they loose control. Or if they use their abilities to do bad things. There is that too." Laz said, shocking the two interviewers.

"So... your saying...?"

"I'm saying that yeah, a newly awakened person can be a danger. But, that doesn't mean that we are dangerous. An angry teenager with a weapon and a chip on his or her shoulder can be a danger, that doesn't mean that every kid does out and does something they will regret for the rest of their lives." Laz's face looked a little sad as he said this, remembering what it was like to have your biggest worry be fitting in at school.

The ones interviewing him didn't know what to say back, at least until they check their stream.

"Holy shit..." the handsome guy said, looking at his phone.

"What?" His pretty counterpart asked.

"Hang on." Pulling out his tablet, he loaded up the stream and showed his co-host what he was talking about. Currently, they had over ten million people watching them with the numbers going up like crazy. The chat was flooded with questions and comments that flew by as soon as they came up so it was impossible to even see what it said.

"We are number one currently and the viewer count just keeps going up!!!" The handsome guy stated, clearly excited.

"Change the chat donations to make it so that questions will stay up long enough to ask," the pretty girl suggested.

"I'm on it."

"Sorry about this. Are you able to stay to answer some of our viewers questions?" She asked, trying her best to put on a begging puppy face.

"Sure," Laz said with a half smile. He hadn't felt anything change and as opposed to running around blind, at least he was doing something by spreading some positive PR. Or so he hoped.

"Alright done. Alright friend, our first question comes to us via BigBoneBreaker and he or she has paid one grand to ask, 'Have you ever killed a person?' Well, I'm not sure why they would think this was worth the money and yes, we did make the cost high so that we could get only those with serious questions, but anyway..." This kind of question could be considered rude, so the handsome man was trying to be frank with Laz and tell him that they made the price to ask a question pretty high just so that they wouldn't get stupid questions, but here it was anyway.

"The answer to your question is yes, I have killed regular people," Laz said, surprising both his interviewers. They kind of got the impression that Laz was a righteous type of person due to him spending all this time hunting the cockroach like creatures and because he showed them no hostility what so ever.

But him saying that he had killed normal people wasn't something they considered before.

"I've also killed infected and chosen before as well. I'm not one to discriminate. If someone is out to kill me, I sometimes have no choice but to kill them first," Laz added.

"Uh... Well...."

"Um... ok?"

Neither of them seemed to know how to respond to this.

"You're wondering if something is wrong with me hmm?"

"What? No..."

"It's ok. Honestly, I had never even been hunting before. The first time I killed something, it was a an infected. Dude had seriously lost his shit. He had taken a girl hostage and was torturing her, on camera, and getting people to pay to watch it. It was messed up. And I was stuck in a situation where it was either kill or be killed. I wasn't going to die to that piece of human garbage who wasn't even that strong. But it seemed that way at the time. He seemed strong, not because I was weak, but because I was afraid. The second time I killed something, it was this massive, tree like demon beast. Thing scared the crap out of me and almost killed me. But behind me was someone I had to protect no matter how scared I was. After that, lots of things happened. But the one that sticks in my mind the most involved this girl. I won't get into the mushy stuff... but once again, I was scared. I was afraid to act reckless. More than that, she was strong herself so I didn't feel as much of a need to protect her. I had been in situations like that before and everything came out ok," Laz said, the wetness of his eyes hidden behind the mask. He couldn't help but take a moment to collect himself.

"What happened?" The attractive girl managed to asked after a while of silence.

"She died. In my arms. And there was nothing I could do to bring her back. There was no miracle cure, no special ability. Nothing. She was dead and I had to live with that. And before you ask, she was also an infected. And the one that killed her was an infected. We're not some giant group rising up and joining together to take over the world. We are just scared, lonely people who wake up one day and realize that our lives are suddenly over. And we are scared because of it. As it currently stands, once you become like us, your suddenly a wanted criminal. If we want to survive, then we need fight to achieve that. There is no other way and there is no turning back."

Laz's last words seemed to be directed at the audience more than the two interviewers. It was the first time he actually focused on the camera as thought his words were finally worth everyone paying attention to.

"I've never thought of it that way..." The handsome male admitted.

"It is what it is. So what other questions are popping up?" Laz asked.

"Oh... OH? Ok. Let's see. This person asks, what are your abilities? You still look human?" The pretty one asked.

"My abilities? Well... first off. Just to be clear, that's a normally rude question that only friends will ask about. You abilities are your survival method so most of the time, you would never speak of it since you don't know who is out to kill you. But for me?" Laz raised his hand and summoned a tiny black flame.

"I can use this to start a fire, maybe cook some food or light a few candles? It's got this blackish hue to it so it doesn't produce much light," Laz said, making a joke.

"And yet here we sit on top of a burned out husk of a creature..." The male commented.

"Yeah. Got to control the flame on this thing or else my dinner gets a little extra crispy," Laz continued to joke, showing that he wasn't being serious.

"But I saw you. And we've seen some of the videos of you around town. You can punch right through these things..." the female pointed out.

"Ah. You caught me. I like to work out regularly and eat a healthy diet. Plenty of protein."

"Ok everyone. Ask a question that doesn't pertain to his secrets, otherwise we are going to get stuck listening to these... um.... ok jokes," the handsome male said into the camera.

"I didn't think it was that bad..." Laz pouted.

"It was. But not everyone can be funny..." The female tried to comfort Laz thinking he didn't know how to act on camera.

"Ok. Now this one. It says, 'What should you do if you suddenly wake up... uh... different?' Well that's not being very clear, is it?"

"It's ok," Laz stopped him from moving on and looked straight into the streaming cam.

"I know what your trying to ask. And as soon as I am done telling you this, your life will never be the same. And for that, I am so very sorry. You're asking if you suddenly wake up different? Well, I don't know how it is for those chosen pricks and yes, I say that because I've yet to meet one that isn't a self absorbed bastard, but moving on. You will know, be it a dream, a vision or even some weird mutation. You will know you are one of us. So right now, get any money you've got and get the hell out of there. Bring along a backpack full of clothes and high calorie foods and some water in a refillable container but leave every digital device you have at home. It's not worth it for them to track you. Don't bother with medications, your body won't need them anymore. Got a car? Sweet. Steal someone else's and leave them your keys. And keep switching cars as often as possible. Or take a bus or even a train. But don't stop running. At least for a little while. Eventually, things will calm down as they go after others. Once you've gotten off the grid, my only advice for you is to trust your instincts. Other than that, you're on you own. Now move. And don't stop moving. Cause they have probably already located your address. Good luck."

The two interviews looked at Laz as he got up from his spot after his long, little speech. Whatever they expected this interview to be, none of this was it.

"And that's it for me. I would suggest you two end the stream here, get back to your house and shut off all electronics like you weren't home. Because there is a large group of military on their way and they won't like that you did any of this. Luckily for you, they probably won't have a lot or time to go door to door looking for you, but I would suggest laying low and praying to whatever god you believe in that they don't figure out who you are." As Laz finished saying what he was saying, both the male and females faces turned white as they understood what he was trying to say. For them, this might have been a once in a lifetime opportunity. But they never considered the cost of their actions.

"The Last thing I'm going to say to everyone is this is who we are. Also, the gods are waking up and this world is changing. You'll either have to adapt to the times or be wiped away in the coming flood. I wish you all a very fond fare well!"

And with those last words, Laz practically disappeared, leaving his two interviews shocked and surprised.

But they quickly took his advice, stopped the stream and ran.

It didn't take more than ten minutes before several tanks and troop transports arrived at the charred carcass of the cockroach like creature, along with several very pissed off government agents.