Chapter 1

My name is Red. I can't give you my last name. It's too dangerous. If they find me... if they find any of us... it would mean the end of everything we know and love. Everything you know and love. Everything anyone on earth knows and loves.

I'm writing this down because someone has to know. Someone besides the five of us, that is. Maybe if we get the word out... maybe someone will be able to help–to take over the fight if we ever die, or worse, get captured.

I suppose the best place to start is the beginning. How long ago was that? It feels like years. In reality, though, it's only been a few days. It's insane how much can change in so little time. Back then... back before everything turned on its head and life as we knew it ended... back before the concept of living a single moment without fear became an impossibility... back then, we were normal kids, living with normal kid concerns, like how were doing in school, or if we looked cool.

Normal. Interesting, just how fragile that concept can be.

On that fateful day, or, I suppose I should say night, given that the sky was already dark, I was at the arcade in the local mall. For the same reason I can't tell you my last name, or where I live, or what school I go to, or anything that could help them trace us, I can't tell you anything specific about the mall. It was a mall, like any other mall. It had an arcade. It had stores. It had a food court. I trust you can fill in the rest of the details to get a mental image.

I'd met up with another kid, Silver, earlier that day, and we'd decided to hang out. We were friends at the time. Not best friends, but good friends nonetheless. If I had to pick my closest friend at the time, it might have been him. It also might not have. Either way, that doesn't really matter now. If he wasn't my best friend then, he is now. I suppose it has to do with trust. Trust... it used to be so easy back then. Now...

I'm getting ahead of myself again. Suffice it to say, Silver and I ended up hanging out the arcade that night, playing games and talking and laughing at jokes like any other normal kids. Though he was three years younger than me, Silver was very mature–far more so than other kids his age. When I talked with him, it was like talking to someone at least as old as me, if not older. Sure, someone older than me who constantly made dumb jokes, and was forever on the wrong side of the Zubat-Man VS Spinarak-Man argument, but older nonetheless. And boy could the guy play video games. It was like he had trained his whole life for the things. The only reason he couldn't stay there playing all night, besides his mom's set curfew, was because we decided to use our limited number of quarters on a two player game, which I promptly caused us to lose within ten minutes each time we played.

So, once we'd used up all our gaming funds, and after Silver had drilled into my head roughly nineteen times that the next time we played, I needed to remember that there would be an ambushing wave of enemies from the right and that I had be ready to stop it, we headed out of the arcade and toward the mall exit.

On the way out, we ran into Green, or, rather, he seemingly deliberately walked into our path. I was half suspicious that he'd been watching us from the moment we left the arcade. I didn't know Green all too well. I'd seen him every now and then in the halls at school, and noticed how his clothes didn't ever fit right and he never seemed to brush his long, spiky hair. Either he didn't care, or he didn't have the means to fix it. I was vaguely aware that he didn't have a very good home life–that his parents were out of the picture, that his grandfather had died a few months ago, that his uncle didn't really care–but I'd never really sat down with him to talk about the details. I'd helped him out a few weeks ago by getting his backpack from some other kids who'd stolen it. I guess he'd decided that made us friends, because he approached us with a grin.

"Hey guys," he said. "What's up?"

Silver shrugged. "Not a lot. We just lost our last few quarters at the arcade because someone..." he stressed the word while jabbing his thumb in my direction so that there was no ambiguity. "...has the memory of a blind and deaf Feebas, so we're headed home."

Green nodded. "Oh, okay." He paused, debating if he wanted to say something more. Eventually, he decided that he did. "Uh... my uncle's house is near your guys'. Do you mind if I tag along?"

I raised an eyebrow at Silver and he shrugged. I supposed it couldn't hurt. After all, we knew the guy, and it wasn't like something insane was going to happen that would change our lives forever on that walk home. Right. "Sure," I said. "Why not?"

Immediately Green's face lit up. "Cool! Let's go!"

We got a bit further toward the exit when we ran into two other people we knew, Blue and Yellow.

I'd known both of them for a while. Blue was in most of my classes, and Yellow was her best friend despite being two years younger, so I talked with both of them sometimes.

I'd be amiss if I said that Blue wasn't very attractive. She's tall, athletic, has a pretty face, and wields the fashion sense of a supermodel, or so I've been told (I have no experience in the field myself, so personally I can't tell). She has long, brown hair and sea blue eyes that other guys can't stop staring at. Most guys our age would kill for just one date with her. I don't think of her in that way, though, mostly because we've known each other for so long, and because she doesn't seem like the type to take kindly to guys flirting with her.

Yellow is Blue's opposite in nearly everything, making it a touch ironic that they've been best friends for so long. She's short, more so than most kids her age, and doesn't have the same sort of physical presence as Blue, seeming almost frail in comparison, especially when comparing Blue's easy confidence to her shyness. But there's a strength to her that I can't exactly explain. It's a sort of... sense of grounding, I suppose. Like she knows herself and has a firm anchor on things. She doesn't have Blue's sense of fashion, I've been told. On numerous occasions Blue has told her that she dresses like a guy, and that if she just grew her hair out (she keeps it short, never longer than just below her ears, and fairly messy, claiming that she doesn't have time to brush it or maintain anything longer) and took her fashion advice she'd look good. I don't see Blue's point. I think Yellow is pretty, and I think her haircut is cute.

They were heading toward the exit as well, apparently having come from a clothing shop where Blue had once again tried to coerce Yellow into buying a dress.

"You have to own at least one," she insisted as they approached us. "Every girl has to own at least one dress."

Yellow glanced down at her hoodie, which was old and slightly too large and had mud and grass stains near the cuffs from yard work. She shrugged. "Why?"

Blue mouthed the word silently, incredulously, but then had to stop arguing to talk with us. "Oh, hi boys." She shot Yellow a look that clearly said, 'We'll finish this discussion later,' and then gave us a dazzling, pearly white smile.

"Hey," I said. I heard Silver mutter something like, "Hello, my goddess." I ignored him and smiled at Yellow, who grinned back. "You headed home too?"

Blue nodded. "Yep. It's getting pretty late. We were actually thinking about cutting through that old abandoned construction site to shave some time."

I raised an eyebrow. I knew what construction site she was talking about. My parents had explicitly forbidden me from going through there for any reason. I was pretty sure most reasonable parents had forbidden their kids from going through there for any reason. I knew for certain that Blue's mom had–she'd told me as much a few days earlier. It couldn't be that dangerous, though, could it? It was probably just adults being paranoid, as usual. Still, I couldn't just say nothing to the suggestion. "That could be pretty dangerous, especially this late," I warned. "We should probably come with you, just in case."

Blue narrowed her eyes. I'd obviously struck a nerve that I definitely hadn't planned on hitting. "Oh, and I suppose you think we can't handle anything on our own. You think we need you to come with us because you're some big strong maaaan–"

"Actually," Yellow interrupted. "I know you're not afraid, Blue, but I am. I've heard some scary stuff about that construction site, and I'd be less afraid if they came with us."

And that dissolved the tension. That was all it took. Yellow has a way of resolving arguments like that. She seems to always know what to say to defuse the situation.

So the five of us, five normal, average kids, with normal, average concerns, and normal, average lives left the mall and headed towards the old abandoned construction site.