Freedom's Wings

Chapter 1:

Her head hit the wall hard. A blurry form above her yelled unintelligibly. Why? Why is he yelling at me? Have I done something wrong? She thought. Matted brown hair shielded her grubby face.

"Are you even listening moron? Anything in there? No? That's what I thought!" he spat at her. She studied the hems of his jeans. Her vision focused, and then clouded again.

Her heavy eyelids started to slide down; so tired, so hungry, for so long. Did it matter that he yelled at her? Could she just stay here in this calm? All the pain would be gone if she just gave in… The thoughts in her head started slithering together, when he backhanded her.

A terrible blood curdling shriek ripped from her mouth. How dare he?! Suddenly her eyes opened wide. With a strong sure swipe, her claw-like nails raked the side of his face. Blood gushed and fell to the ground. A terrible pleasure welled in her chest from seeing his pain and fear. Maybe the grime under her nails would infect his wounds. This bully deserved pain. She would waste no time in giving it to him.

"You little snake!" he screamed. His large meaty hand went to seize her arm, but it was too late. All the pent up anger, fear, and madness erupted inside. Before anyone could blink she had the cruel boy on the ground writhing and screaming in pain. The strength she possessed shocked the hall into silence. Then the shouting resumed. The girl on the ground was deaf to it. A rushing noise filled her ears. The jaw marks on his shoulder started to swell from her hard bite. The way his skin so easily broke when she ripped at it fascinated her. She dug in, relishing in his screams.

One thought went through the deranged girl's head: kill. She was kicking and clawing. Other students screamed. "I'm getting a teacher!" one girl yelled hysterically. This just goes to show how serious the situation was. All the students at Jackson Middle had a mutual hatred of the teachers.

"Let go! I said let go you insolent wretch!" yelled a gruff female voice. All the energy in her drained away, however, her anger didn't. With a mighty tug, the woman wrenched the feral girl off the boy. The enraged girl shot venomous looks at anyone who even twitched. A low cackle filled her throat. Students shot her disturbed looks.

"Get that demon away from me!" he yelled wildly. Another teacher came and told him to calm down in a low voice. One of his shoes slipped off. It landed in front of the girl's hands. She couldn't resist chucking it at his bloody face. A deranged laugh followed the thud the boot made when it collided with his fat forehead. He wore a shocked expression.

"It's alright Bryce. Come on. We need to get those scratches cleaned up." She murmured just loud enough for the girl to hear.

"They're probably already infected." whispered a friend of Bryce. The savage girl turned to look at him snarling. He backed away with a nervous shudder. She then looked at Bryce again, and smirked at his weakness. She had gone through much worse than a few scratches.

Coach Marsh, the woman holding the girl, looked at her and said, "Kate, you've done it now." The gray haired woman had a grim look on her face along with…pity?

Kate didn't care. She didn't care that the other students at Jackson Middle despised her. She didn't care that her hair was knotted and tangled. She didn't care that she hadn't changed her clothes in weeks. She didn't even care that her wrist was bleeding freely. It wasn't like anyone else cared so why should she? She doubted the Coach would even care if she dropped dead at her feet.

The coach marched her through the group of muttering students. Coach Marsh snapped at a few to go back to work, but no one bothered to heed her. She even went so far as to shove a few away from her. All that did was raise the volume of muttering.

Kate's feet hurt. They always hurt her now that her shoes were gone. A young girl in a back alley she had met only a few days previous needed them more than she. The little girl had been crying. Kate couldn't take care of her. There wasn't enough food for one person, much less two. So she had given the girl her shoes, the only thing she could live without. She started to regret her choice. The cold, hard tile made her ankles sore not to mention filthy. Even though Kate's entire body had been covered in a layer of filth for months now, she had still managed to keep her feet clean.

"You stupid girl. You should've just let me handle him." Coach Marsh accused her. All Kate did to respond was hiss and spit on her shoes. This earned her a kick in the shins. Kate didn't even whimper. Like Coach Marsh would have cared. The woman hated everyone. Rumor was she had tabs on all the students she hated just so she could threaten them. No one doubted it.

Kate knew where she was headed; the Principal's office. With a venomous glare, the coach roughly pushed her into the sterile room. White walls, pale carpet, and a dead cactus filled the small dingy room. Kate still wasn't sure how he had killed the cactus. In the middle was a handsome oak desk partnered with an ugly swivel chair. Principal Blair had spent every penny the school had on his desk. The man in the chair had nothing to boast about his looks either; in Kate's opinion at least.

The Principal didn't even look at her as she plopped down in a chair. His tall, obese body seemed to fill the room; the way his thinning hair caught the light made Kate gag. The light revealed globs of greasy hair gel plastered to the roots. There were coffee stains on his shirt and on his pale yellow tie. Kate grimaced at the ruined yellow. Yellow was her favorite color and she hated to see it spoiled.

She tucked her feet into the padded chair to try and warm them. The room was cold. Everything was cold. Even the furniture seemed to look at her coldly. Kate stared at the fresh drops of blood that landed on the pale carpet; her legacy written in blood. How fitting.

"Well Ms. Smithton, you've done it again." He drawled lazily, "First you steal food, then you steal other students' clothes from their gym lockers, and now you've attacked a student with no provocation. The lightest punishment available is expulsion. You will be al-"he was cut off a Kate's growl of anger. "Would you like to try and explain?" he sneered at her, finally looking up. His large pale eyes dared her to speak. Kate loved dares and she rose to the occasion.

"Yes your highness," she simpered. She smiled inwardly at his furious look. "If the school didn't want food stolen, it shouldn't have left it lying out like that. Those clothes were mine, and I was taking them back. Stacy is so fat; she couldn't have fit into my pants thank you very much. Bryce did provoke me, idiot! He shoved me against the wall and I almost blacked out! He's not going to die because I nicked him!" she screeched. She decided to omit the part about him back handing her. He would have looked at her smugly.

"I don't like you attitude young lady. Stacy did own those pants. You stole them. You did not "nick" him. Your disgusting nails left three inch long gashes on his face, arms, and legs. Heaven knows the shots he will have to have now. His family has been through enough without you adding onto to it!"

Kate scoffed. "What exactly did he tell you about his family? Did he mention that his mother is the daughter of a millionaire? Did he mention he gets three square meals a day while others starve? Did he even let on at the fact that he has servants ready to serve him at his beck and call? No. That's what I thought." She said haughtily. He looked completely shocked.

"No he didn't. How do you know that?" he asked.

"I have my sources." In truth, she had seen him enter a large beautiful mansion with his mother. They had arrived in a gorgeous blue Ferrari. Kate had been there that night to look through his trash. Rich people always threw away perfectly good food and never even thought about it.

"Whatever. You may be allowed to finish the school year since two months remain. After that you need to find a new school." He dismissed her from his office. She didn't move. A thousand comebacks came to mind, but only one would do. She called him something that made his face turn purple with fury.

"Get out!" he shouted. She left his office with a smirk.

"Congrats Kate. Now what?" she muttered tiredly. School had been the only place she knew of that would steadily give her a meal. Now, she didn't even have that. This was the only public school in the city.

With nothing to do, Kate looked around tiredly. Her teachers wouldn't miss her. She might as well sleep.

A small bathroom across the hall gave her an idea. She could close and lock the door, and sleep.

Before going in, she checked the halls. No one insight. Good. She closed the door and the lock clicked into place.


A faint jangling noise reached her ears. "Go away." She murmured. The noise persisted. Kate's heart sped up slightly but she forced herself to calm down. She hid in a stall, not wanting to be discovered.

The door creaked open. "Here you are Ma'am." said a low gruff voice. The light from the hall slid into the small bathroom. The bulbs above the sinks flipped on. One burnt out, giving Kate enough time to hide in the stall further without anyone noticing. She heard an exasperated sigh.

"Thanks." Coach Marsh said, equally gruff. Kate's heart sped up even more. Shuffling footsteps entered the stall next to her. She waited with bated breath for five minutes. Eventually the toilet flushed and the Coach shuffled out. Kate let out a sigh of relief and checked her watch. It was five after four. She'd been asleep for three hours. Not bad. Maybe the diner on Fourth St. would still be open. They normally gave leftovers to anyone who asked.

She cautiously poked her head out of the door. Immediately she pulled her head back in again. Three people stood ten feet away. The Coach and Principal Blair had their backs to her, but the tall black stranger didn't. Was he from child services? Was he going to take her jail, or worse, an orphanage?!

Curiosity and fear fought each other in Kate's head. Like always, curiosity won. Only her eyes peeked around the corner. She studied him quickly.

He stood with authority. Dark wrap around shades covered his eyes, hiding a long scar similar to the ones Bryce would have. His head was bald; it reflected the light from the lamps. He wore black pants, shirt, vest, jacket, shoes, and gloves with finger holes. The clothes didn't seem like they were meant for fashion. A slight bulge on his hip made her suspicious. Could it be a gun? Kate didn't like guns. For a moment she thought he had seen her, but he couldn't have…right? It must have just been a trick of the light.

Her only options were to both leave the cover of the bathroom and hope they didn't see her, which was very unlikely, or wait it out. Kate decided to wait it out.

It was too uncomfortable to hide in the stall again. She needed a new hiding place. Big, wide pipes were suspended from the ceiling. She could get up there if she climbed. With strong hands she silently clambered up onto the pipes dangling from the ceiling. It was warm up here. She wished she could sleep again, but if she fell, she would most likely break her neck and be discovered. She needed balance to stay up here.

The voices of the three adults wafted into the bathroom and to Kate's strained ears. Even though she tried to understand what they were saying, it was too garbled to be of any use. She waited…and waited…and waited…..

Did they have nothing better than stand there for an hour and talk? Apparently not.

A few words made it to her ears. "Yes she did…I don't know…how soon? Yes…that's not right…oh…" nothing made sense to her.

After another hour of mindless talking came and went; she searched the inside of her shabby coat for something entertaining. During the weeks of living on the street, she had stumbled across a lump of rags. It was a man actually; an old dying man. He had looked at her with pity when he saw her sunken cheeks, scared eyes, and shivering body. "Here, take it. Go on now." he had said in his cracked voice. Winter had already half way gone, and snow had covered the ground in a thick blanket. The coat smelled like dew and earth. He had been barely breathing when she had left. Her skinny legs had taken her to her hide out. A small sheltered area between two city buildings. The inside of the coat was filled with pockets. Most empty, but one held thirty dollars. Kate had also found a bag of rice, a watch, necklace, glove, needle and thread, matches, and switchblade. After the discovery of the switchblade, she had practiced stabbing at targets. Now, she had to wear the coat, because without it, vulnerability crept into her mind.

Since she had acquired the coat, a few more things filled its endless pockets. Rocks, feathers, pencils, and seeds filled a good quarter. She reached into her coat and pulled out vibrant rocks and silky feathers. Her eyes studied all their imperfections. The feathers were tucked away and Kate read the scrawled messages she had written during the times she had been starving. She shifted onto her side, but instantly raised herself up again. A lump had been digging into her shoulder. Her hand felt for a pocket in the shoulder but found none. She carefully slipped the coat off and studied the shoulder.

A bulge in the top caught her eye. Just glancing over the area you would think in was a fold. On closer inspection, a noticeable change in stitching was found. She felt the area. Kate reluctantly tore the shoulder a bit. She would have to sew it back later.

She groped around until she felt a cold object. Very carefully she held it up to the light. It was a USB, an expensive one too. Silver and shiny it glittered with a cold criticalness. A black eagle in the corner seemed oddly familiar. Her brows creased in concentration, but nothing came to mind.

Kate was so caught up in her thoughts that she only just noticed her coat sliding off the pipe. In a flash she grabbed the coat. Unfortunately the damage was done. A rock fell out of a pocket and time seemed to slow down. Her eyes followed it as it neared the ground. The growing dread in her stomach ignited a primal urge to bolt. She suppressed it. It clattered to the floor and a piece chipped off. The talking ceased. Heavy foot falls neared the door way.

Kate inched to where the pipe met the wall, concealed in shadow. Please, please, leave. From the vantage point, she saw a long shadow. It was the man. He grunted and picked up the rock. Even though she couldn't see his face, he was studying the walls, floor, and ceiling.

"What was it?" asked the Principal.

"Nothing." murmured the man. Then they left. Why hadn't he shown them the rock?

Kate slumped against the wall, relieved. Slowly, her heart slowed down. The only thing keeping her awake was the knowledge that three adults were nearby. This made her anxious. She didn't know why. Kate's disregard for adults was what had kept her from giving in to all the hunger and fear. Adults were the reason for her suffering. If that man had never- no she couldn't think about it. The only good it would do would be to giver herself another panic attack. She didn't need that now.

After another half hour of waiting, the voices were gone. She fell to the floor and landed catlike. Kate winced when something small dug into the pads on her toe. She took a piece of her rock out from under her foot and tossed it away. Gingerly she padded out into the hall and dashed to the school doors. Even though school had been out for hours, the doors wouldn't be locked until midnight.

In her haste to leave, she never spotted the tall dark figure in the shadows, watching.

"Hey. Missing anything?" he asked her. Kate whipped around ready to fight, and stared at the man. He made a show of taking the rock out of his pocket. When his jacket shifted with his movements, she glimpsed a gun and two knives. Why would he need all those weapons, just to go into a school? This was getting really strange. Kate didn't need to get in over her head right now.

"Sliding the walls to the floor rising, but never speak to the silence leaving it dying. I wonder what that means." He read from the rock with a pointed look at her. She returned it. Normally she would be outraged that he had her stuff, but he intimidated her. He tossed the word covered rock way out to the left. A normal person would have no hope of catching it. With astonishing reflexes, she snatched it out of the air and hurriedly stuffed it into a pocket; her eyes never leaving the man.

"Good catch. What's your name?" he asked. He didn't even seem fazed by what she had done which stunned her.

"Only if you tell me yours." Kate murmured. He smirked. With the dark shades covering his eyes, she couldn't tell what he was thinking. Eyes are important when judging a threat. She had learned that the hard way.

"I have a friend who would say the same thing. You two would either be best friends or the greatest enemies. My name's Nick." Nick said. Was he lying? Might she believe him? He talked so casually to her. The best liars could talk casually. He seemed as if he lied a lot. No, she decided.

She hesitated. Should she give a stranger her name? "Jennifer." She made up. He knew she was lying. His posture changed immediately. At first it was a casual stance, but now, it was…hostile? No, not hostile, annoyed. So she ran.

Only a city rat would know all the twists, alleys, and courtyards Knoxville City had to offer. That's what Kate was. A city rat. The only thing she could do was run, but to where? The only safe places she could think of were her home, the library, or the city park. She decided on the library. There she could check out what was on the USB.

It took twenty minutes, but she made it. Her hands on her knees, she huffed out the breath in her lungs and sucked in fresh city air. Well, it was fresh for the city.

The library she was at was very nice. There were two libraries in the whole city. She had chosen this one because it was close and she had gotten in a spot of trouble with the head librarian at the other one. She had stolen most of the food in the staff room…and a couple of books. People would be astounded at how much a book sold for on the black market.

When she had her breath back, she entered the library. A raised desk with a kind faced lady barred anyone access.

"Hi young lady, how may I… help you?" when the young lady saw Kate her smile faltered and a disgusted look flashed across her face. Even kind people disliked the homeless. The librarian quickly plastered on a smile again.

"Can I please use a computer?" Kate asked innocently. A little trick to getting what she wanted was she made her voice slightly higher, forced her eyes to go a little bigger, and relaxed her shoulders. These seemingly insignificant tricks would soften a person's outlook on anything.

"Twenty minutes." She said curtly and handed Kate a card. When she snatched her hand back, the woman quickly applied hand sanitizer to her hands and arms. Kate raised an eyebrow at her.

She watched the woman grimace at a speck of dirt on her wrist. Kate dropped the act. "Afraid of a little dirt?" she said sarcastically.

Ms. Germophobic glared daggers at her and quickly typed something on her computer. She then gave a sickly sweet smile, and said, "Fifteen minutes my dear." Kate scowled back. The woman turned to look back at her computer. Kate reached into her nearest pocket and chucked a wad of dirt, hair, and paper behind the smug woman. Ms. Germophobic never noticed. Kate smirked.

She arrived in the computer room. A handful of other people sat looking at different sites on computers. Most of the individuals looked college age or older. Kate was by far the dirtiest and youngest in the area. This attracted curious looks. Each time someone met her eyes, Kate gave a murderous look, something she picked up from a homeless man who had taken her food. She sat in the corner and entered the card into a slot in the computer. It hummed to life. Kate took no time in entering the USB and opening up the first file.

The USB contained data files flashing by along with dates and times. Questions she didn't comprehend appeared. Completely bewildered, she put her default answer: yes. Finally the screen went blank and a message appeared: Access Granted. Access to what? She clicked OK. A page titled "SHIELD Project: Urgent" caught her eye. It was a detailed list of a serum. It listed ingredients, side effects, the end product, and potential subjects. Glucose was the first ingredient. Other components were listed, but she couldn't pronounce any of them. The side effects ranged from headaches to death. No surprise. The end product sounded weird. It sounded like it was describing a human with animal abilities? No way was that possible. Then she saw the potential subjects. There was only one. Kate Smithton.


I'm back! I've been gone so long and i'm so sorry! My story is back up and running! Please forgive me for everything! Please Comment, Fave, and Follow!