Three brothers ran through the field to the cover of the trees beyond. Their father’s words still echoed in their minds even as they heard the explosion behind them.

“Don’t look back. And whatever you do stay together.”

When they reached the woods they kept going. None of them looked back. Three special boys with very different gifts. And their father had taken the time to nurture each one. But would it be enough?

The youngest one, Timmy, finally tripped over a root. As the fastest he’d led the way. But even he had tired.

Seth, the middle child, stopped to help him up. His eyes roved the trees but even his special sight revealed no one but their eldest brother.

Frankie had been holding up the rear. As the eldest he was the strongest and best trained. But when he closed his eyes to listen. He heard no one.

Timmy sniffed the air. “There will be rain soon. Should we head to town?”

“No, they’ll find us if we do.” Frankie said.

“Then what do we do?” Seth asked. “You saw what they did to Dad. Do you really think we can go up against them?”

“But Dad always said we were special.” Timmy said.

“We are.” Frankie ruffled his youngest brother’s hair. “And we can beat them. We know this forest better than anyone.”

“Even if we do, they’ll only send more.” Seth leaned against a tree. “I’m tired of running.”

A twig snapped catching Frankie’s attention. They were coming from the house. Timmy sniffed the air in that direction. And Seth’s eyes narrowed.

“I smell 8.” Timmy said.

Seth shook his head. “9. Two are twins.”

Frankie nodded to Seth. “You go east. I’ll take the west. Timmy you draw them in.”

The brothers split up. With Timmy heading straight toward the assailants. By this point they’d already split into groups of three. The first group stopped as Timmy came into their line of sight.

They aimed their guns at the boy. But they were reluctant to shoot. After all he was just a kid. And the youngest at that. Surely he’d be easier to apprehend out of the three.

“Just come with us quietly, kid.” One said behind a camouflage painted mask.

The other two quickly circled him. But Timmy didn’t even glance at them. Nor did he even respond. He simply relied on the training his Dad provided him and took a big breath.

One of the men made to grab him. But Timmy let out a yell so loud that it shattered their masks. They were still reeling as Timmy increased the power of his scream. The resulting sound wave knocked them back. One hit a tree with such force it knocked the wind out of him. The other two recovered quickly and fired.

But Timmy’s never ending scream caused several shockwaves, knocking the bullets off course. One even hit the assailant behind him.

Seeing that their bullets weren’t affective the two remaining men tried running at the kid. But it was like trying to run against gale force winds. They ended up losing more ground than they gained.

Finally Timmy ran out of breath. And seeing their chance the men ran forward again. Timmy sucked in another breath as they got closer. And then kept sucking in air right as they reached him. The man who got there first grabbed the kid meaning to use the taser. But the gun fell out of his hand as he clutched his throat. He gasped but no air would come.

Timmy watched as both men fell to the ground, both of them gasping for air. One even tried to crawl away from him to search for any air the kid hadn’t swallowed down. But it was hopeless. Within a few minutes all three were dead. Timmy stopped sucking in air and held it in his lungs. He could go quite awhile like that. Without wasting another moment he went in search of his brothers.

Frankie had heard Timmy’s scream and was glad he’d gotten far enough away. With his sensitive ears it would’ve taken time to recover from the frequency his youngest brother emitted. As it was he could hear the three men tracking him in the brush. And he knew it was only a matter of time before they found him.

One passed by close enough to touch his foot. But Frankie kept still as they converged under the tree he was hiding in. They were speaking in another language though they’d spoken English just moments before. That told him that even if they made it past the border that they’d likely keep hunting them. He kept listening hoping his rudimentary French would help him decipher their whispers.

But a bird flitted through the branches, causing one of them to look up. Bullets fill the air. But the boy managed to disappear amongst the shrapnel. The men paused and were met with an unnatural silence. One spoke to ask a question, but no one could hear him. In fact they couldn’t even hear themselves. They heard nothing but a ringing in their ears.

Once they began to panic, Frankie made his move. He jumped from the tree he’d sought refuge in and landed on one of them. While he was the strongest out of the boys it was nothing compared to a grown man’s strength. He was quickly thrown off. But he was able to roll behind a tree before they shot at him again.

Really they were making things worse for themselves. The more noise they made, the less they would hear. It suited Frankie fine as he used the lengthening shadows to circle behind the men. Then he raised the gun he’d grabbed from the man’s shoulder holster. The idiot still hadn’t noticed.

The gun was big in his hands. And he struggled to pull the trigger. By the time the other two noticed their fallen companion he’d already disappeared into the brush. The remaining two stood back to back taking random shots into the trees. All of them focused in the wrong direction.

Frankie took out a second one, his hands aching from handling the unfamiliar gun. But his aim was true. And the last one was left turning in circles. He shouted. But no one could hear him. Frankie had made sure of that. Another bullet felled him.

The boy grunted and tossed the gun away. One of his fingers was bleeding from the recoil. But not badly enough to worry him. He let the sound filter back in naturally. And pinpointed his brothers.

Seth was in the cave they often trained in. And he’d left clear tracks leading to it. It wasn’t long before the last three men entered. It was pitch black so they turned on their night vision goggles. But they were in Seth’s domain now. So after a few minutes the goggles stopped working. Or more accurately their eyes did.

One cursed. “My batteries died.”

“Mine too.” The twins chorused.

“Where’s the entrance?” The leader asked looking around. He bumped into a wall and cursed.

Seth chose that moment to make loud footsteps. The three of them walked towards the noise. Often bumping into walls or each other.

“Come out kid.” The leader said. “Come out or we’ll be forced to shoot.”

Seth took off running. And the three pursued him. Not knowing that he was leading them deeper into the tunnels. Gradually they broke off from each other as echoing footsteps confused them.

The leader paused to take out his flashlight. “Enough of your games boy, show yourself.”

But he cursed again when the flashlight didn’t turn on. Or he thought it didn’t. In reality he startled a group of bats that flew away from the beam of light. The man stumbled away only to be met with air instead of ground. He fell to his death off a ledge.

Seth jumped down to the body and took the two combat knives from him. Then he went to find one of the twins. To his surprise the once separated twins had found each other again. They seemed to work together more efficiently so they probably wouldn’t walk off a ledge.

The boy took pains to quietly crawl up to an overhang. Steadying his nerves, he threw the first knife. One twin went down clutching his neck. While the other angrily sprayed bullets as he turned in a quick circles.

Seth had ducked just in time. But he’d given up the element of surprise. And the guy had him pinned with the automatic rifle. He wouldn’t be able to get a window to throw the knife.

Suddenly it went quiet and he heard the man reload. Seth took that chance to throw the other knife. But he hit the bottom of the mask instead of the exposed neck.

“Gotcha.” The remaining twin rose his rifle in the general area and sprayed it with bullets. He was quickly destroying the overhang and what little cover Seth had left.

But a scream knocked the man back. Timmy had made it into the tunnels. But he’d used most of his air aiding his speed in getting there. So his scream was short lived. Though he had enough energy to dodge the spray of bullets.

The man paused his shooting and listened to see if he shot anyone one. Nothing but silence and a ringing in his ears. He tried shouting but no sound came. Not even his own breathing.

Frankie helped Seth down using the echolocation he’d perfected over the years. Timmy joined them using his sense of smell. Frankie tapped a morse coded plan on both boys hands. They nodded.

Timmy ran toward the entrance of the cave causing the man to shoot again. His hearing was back so he followed the boy’s footsteps. His sight returned as he grew closer to the entrance and he raised his gun at Timmy.

But Timmy let out a scream in a frequency even higher than before. The man tried shooting. But no bullets were getting past that sound wave. And the scream just kept getting louder. He clutched his ears but the sound drilled into his skull.

Finally Timmy ran out of breath. The man ran at the boy in a rage. But the setting sun was so bright. Brighter than it had any right to be. It was so blinding he somehow ran into a wall. He stumbled back, dizzy. But he managed to see the other two boys behind him. Though his vision was too fuzzy to see the knife before it hurtled into his neck.

The three boys all took a breath. Their attackers were now all dead. But so was their father.

“What do we do now?” Timmy asked.

Seth looked around at a lose for words. He looked like he was about to cry. Seeing this Timmy began to tear up as well.

Frankie gathered them both into a hug. “Don’t worry, Mom will fix this.”

The other two froze. But it was Timmy who spoke. “But she’s so scary.”

“Exactly.” Frankie looked up at the darkening sky. “Dad sent a signal to her before they broke into the house. She’ll be here soon.”

The other boys shivered. But Frankie knew that whoever was behind this had far more to fear. She was the origin of their powers. And she was much stronger than all the brothers combined.