[ WP ] You are thrown into a hunger games like situation , only this time everyone has superpowers . Your power however ? The power to cook minute noodles in under a minute .

`` Do you know why they're called minute noodles?'' Bib was taking one of his guns apart, slapping piece after piece down on the tarp in front of him. An orange blaze flickered in his eyes, a bright gleam that made him look almost inhumanly determined. 
 
 `` Not rea...'' I tried to answer. 
 
 `` Because people are sloppy!'' He rubbed the barrel of his gun with a small yellow cloth as he leaned over to blow onto the flames. Sitting back up, he shook his head side to side and suddenly jerked it up towards me, his black eyes looking straight into mine. `` Inexcusable!'' 
 
 He spoke with a certain theatrical quality to his words, not quite screaming but definitely projecting himself. `` Sloppy, sloppy, sloppy.'' Even in the darkness of night, I could see his fingertips and knuckles were red and raw as they grabbed at piece after piece of his gun, disassembling, reassembling... over and over. 
 
 `` I'm not really sure what that has to do with anythi...'' 
 
 `` It's basic science. One calorie is enough to heat...'' his voice trailed off to himself as he started clicking the various parts of the gun back together. 
 
 `` Yeah, I get it man. But seriously, we're kind of the underdogs here. When I joined up with you I was *really* hoping you had some kind of... you know... actual power. I mean, the best I can do is maybe splash some water on them, maybe they'll catch hypothermia if they do n't rip me in half first with super-strength or telekinesis.'' 
 
 `` One whole minute to cook noodles. Pathetic. Is it really that hard?'' He was staring intently at the pit fire now, watching the skin of our fish turn from silver to brown. Having finished cleaning his gun for the 3rd time now, he quickly holstered it and pulled the fish from the fire. After the first couple nights, I realized his cleaning was n't just a compulsion, it was his cooking timer. 
 
 As I put the fish up to my lips I could already feel it's warmth. One good thing about the games is it really makes you appreciate the small things. A warm fire, fresh food, laughter. 
 
 Wait, who's laughter was that? It sounded like it came from Bib, but I've never heard him laugh before. 
 
 `` Shit!'' 
 
 Bib was already aware of it, and quickly rolled from his tarp and away from the fire, just as the ground beneath him exploded into a torrent of dust. A woman was coughing as the dust settled. 
 
 `` Shit, Zack. How do you miss a punch?'' 
 
 The dust began to settle just as I saw two figures step forward, illuminated by our fire. The first was male, taller than both of us, with fists as thick as a normal person's thighs. The second was a woman, about my age and height, who stood with her arms crossed over her chest, as if she did n't even expect to have to get her hands dirty. 
 
 `` Gee, Sarah, how *did* I miss? How did they see us, huh? Was n't that your job?'' Zack yelled over his shoulder at his female companion. 
 
 `` I was in their occipital lobe, not their temporal. It's because you laughed, idiot! They could still hear you.'' Suddenly her eyes focused on me, and I could see a wicked half-smile peel over her face as she looked me up and down. `` Whatever, it's the public school kids. Just crush them and see what crud they managed to salvage.'' 
 
 `` Sloppy!'' Bib yelled. `` I told you, people are sloppy!'' I could see he was pulling a small box of bullets from his pocket. He was smiling, and his eyes still shimmered with determination as he pulled a fistful of bullets out and shoved it in his pocket. 
 
 `` Yo, Bib, that ai n't' gon na work. Not on this dude.'' I raised my hands up towards the girl and started working my magic. With any luck, they overlooked our portfolios and did n't know how useless we both were. 
 
 I could see the gleam of sweat starting to appear on her skin, just as she lifted a finger to her forehead and groaned, `` Oh, right. That's what she does. Gross. You take her, I do n't want to get all sweaty.'' 
 
 The wall of muscle that was her partner held up his fists like a boxer and started walking towards me. I looked back to the girl but she was already gone. Shit. 
 
 `` Bib!'' I yelled to my side. `` Let's book it, we ca n't take these g...'' 
 
 BO-BOOM! BA-BOOM! 
 
 I looked over just in time to see the flash from Bib's pistols. Zack recoiled as a bullet bounced off his temple, at the same time I heard his partner yelp in pain. The thud came first, and then slowly, she reappeared on the ground beside him, kneeling down on her knees, her face in the dirt as she held her shoulder, screaming. 
 
 Zack immediately turned towards Bib, who was now rushing to take off his shirt. He held a gun in his teeth, but holstered the other one. 
 
 `` Yo! Do your thing!'' Bib yelled to me as he threw his shirt beside the fire. 
 
 `` On you?'' I yelped. 
 
 `` On both of us, go, go!'' 
 
 I turned and raised one hand to each of them. Zack closed in on Bib, just as he managed to roll to the side and fire a couple useless shots at Zack's back. I saw one pop back towards the direction of Zach's grounded partner, but it missed by a meter, at least. She was still writhing in pain, but it looked like the adrenaline was kicking in; she was pushing herself up, trying to get back on her feet. 
 
 Bib scrambled on all fours towards the fire, the sheen of sweat was starting to grow thick on him, and Zack's shirt was starting to grow dark around the pits and chest. 
 
 I saw Bib reach into his pocket and pull out the bullet he had stashed from earlier. He winked towards me as he shoved it in his mouth. Zack caught his arm from behind, but the sweat made him lose his grip. Bib turned towards him, and amazingly enough, charged right at him. With all his weight, he threw himself into Zack's chest, which did nothing at all to him. 
 
 As if he were a child, Zack squeezed Bib's arms to his chest with his monstrous hands and lifted him into the air, laughing. 
 
 `` What did you think you were going to do, public school boy? Knock me down.'' Zack mocked. 
 
 `` Howme-schoowed,'' Bib corrected him with a mouth full of bullets. With that he leaned into Zack and kissed him open-mouth. 
 
 Immediately, Zack's grip on my sweaty partner loosened up, and Bib kicked him in the groin before he had the chance to react, leaping off of him and back towards the fire. The wall of meat fell to his knees, coughing, bullets dripping out of his mouth as he wheezed for air. Bib booted hot coals from the fire into the shirt he left on the ground. Grabbing it by the sleeves, he quickly whipped it up just as the flames caught in the center, and shoved it into Zack's open, wheezing mouth. 
 
 The erupting bullets were like a bag of popcorn tossed into a vat of lava. Wet, globby pops came from Zach's mouth as sparkles of hot coals shot out into the dark air in front of his face, ripping apart Bib's shirt which rocketed out like confetti. After a few moments of his head jerking side to side, his entire body collapsed, heavy enough to make our fire jump. He lay on the ground, convulsing as the dirt beneath him grew into a murky, red mud. 
 
 `` People just do n't care to learn how to cook things the right way,'' Bib announced as he turned from the corpse back towards me and smiled. His eyes started to roll up in his head, and he fell down his hands and knees. 
 
 I tried to rush over to him, but felt my legs give way as my body fell forward. My vision nearly went dark as I spun into the ground, the impact knocking the wind out of me. 
 
 `` Fuck you,'' I heard the psychic girl snarl at us, as I turned my head to look at her. Her eyes bloodshot, her body hunched over as if she was ready to vomit, I could see blood pooling on her tongue, as if she bit herself. One arm hung loosely in front of her, but she held the other up to her forehead and I could see blood dripping as she dug into it with her nails. `` I'll melt your brains, you plebians.'' 
 
 She glared at Bib, and both their faces started shaking with painful spasms. With a groan she broke from the trance and began vomiting into the dirt. 
 
 `` What...'' she croaked before another pulse of sickness ripped out of her mouth. `` What the hell are you. What... what did you just do?'' 
 
 He grinned as he got back on his feet and walked over to her. Kneeling down in front of her, he laughed and announced, in his usual theatrical voice, `` You think you're all that! But here you are, bleeding out in the dirt.'' He placed his hand on her head and asked, `` You want to know why?'' 
 
 `` Wh... what?'' she gasped, drool now running down her chin. 
 
 He shook her head side to side playfully with his hand. She moaned with nausea. `` Because you're sloppy. You should have read up on me before you started this fight. Do n't you know what my power is?'' 
 
 `` Yeah, you... can cook minute-noodles in under a minute.'' She struggled to look up at him. `` What the hell kind of power is that?'' 
 
 `` You're half-right!'' he announced. `` If only we had a trophy for that.'' 
 
 Tapping his temple with a finger, Bib leaned in and said, `` I'm like you. Except I'm not as sloppy. I target the medulla, not the entire brain. It controls breathing, heart rate. That's why I can cook someone's noodle in just a few seconds.'' 
 
 With that, she began panting, and then gritted her teeth, groaning as she slowly lowered her face back into the dirt, and then stopped moving altogether. Almost instantly, my own nausea had passed and I could feel my body again. 
 
 Bib walked back and dusted off his tarp before lying it neatly on the ground and pulling out the first of his guns. Piece by piece, he laid it out on the tarp, consumed with the ritual. 
 
 `` This really the time?'' I asked. `` What about the bodies?'' 
 
 `` Three minutes,'' he responded. 
 
 `` What?'' 
 
 `` You read the files,'' he said. `` The blood-tracker and her partner are camped three minutes away. Should n't take them much longer than that to find the corpses and come snooping around.''
