The scavenger scrabbled through the debris, searching for anything, anything to take away the pain. Grasping at yet another rock, she tossed it away with a snarl, only to find a torn, yet somewhat-legible stack of weeklies beneath.

Clutching at her stomach, she wrested a copy loose and began to read. Just for a moment, a distraction from the hunger, from the pain.

Out of the Sea

by John Irving

The white-grey smoke holds notes of apples and earth, shot through with bursts of clean-scented rain. As the auburn-haired woman opens the door, the murmur of hushed words sputters to silence, leaving the crackle of the fireplace and a faint klk-klk in the distance as the only noise. The place is nearly packed full of tan faces, a mass of questions, suspicion, and confusion staring in response to the intrusion. Wading through the sea of flesh, it doesn't take long to find the center of focus, and through the body has waned, the eyes remain the same.

She gives a weak smile and asks, "What's on the menu, doc?"

Elisabeth "Betty" Blum is the defacto "mother" of the Native American Akomish tribe, and as she speaks, the survivors of the "Salmon Bay Massacre" lean in, as if they are yearning for yet another tale passed down from their ancestors. But this story is anything but.

On Oct. 26, 2011, the city of Seattle and its surrounding suburbs were decimated by an attack from an unknown giant; the giant (nicknamed "The Beast" by survivors due to its initial appearance in the city's Elliot Bay) proceeded to rampage across the city, crushing building and person alike under its' foot, even going so far as to throw the Space Needle at the suburb of Bellevue, resulting in the deaths of over 95 percent of its populace and the demolition of Jude's Hands, Inc. and OctoCorp headquarters. What many overlooked, however, is the trail the "Beast" has left in its' wake, or rather, the start of the trail.

A day after the Desecration of Seattle, the Akomish settlement not 5 miles away was struck with tragedy as the Beast made landfall on the location. As she recounts the events leading up to the Massacre, Blum's face holds a look of ironic despondency; she questions if this was some kind of "divine penance" for the actions committed by her people in the Battle of Seattle. As if the blood that stained her "devil" forefathers that day were painted on her skin, she covers her face, and breaks down.

"'Where is he?' I remember saying that," she lets out between sobs. "Where is Del

The jagged edge of the paper's end startled her, and as she rose to her feet, discarding the scrap of old history, she wondered,

Who.

Is.

"Del"?

Author's Note: So, today is the last day of "Akomish Days", the festival that Delsin was missing at the start of Second Son, and I wanted to do something a little... special.

A bit of a personal insight for you guys: the inFAMOUS series, particularly Second Son, was part of what made me into who I am today. When I started writing "coNTROL" all those years ago, I discovered a passion for writing, and with that passion taken to heart, I went into college studying Mass Communication. Thus, I wanted to do a little "featurette" article in this to commemorate both where I was, and where I am.

Thanks for reading,

Yosef