TO START A REVOLUTION:
THE ADVENTURES OF AUBURN ROSE
BOOK 2
BY LILY BOOKMARKS
CHAPTER 1
My black heels clicked loudly as I ran down the back alleys of 5th avenue in New York City. My cloak had been drenched in rain, but it still fluttered in the wind. My red hair was plastered messily across my face, but it didn't matter. Something was following me, I was certain of it. Something orange. It would appear to be human at first, but if it got too close, it would sprout oversized fists and try to crush you. I had encountered this being many times before. I knew what it was capable of.
You might be wondering who I am right about now. My name is Auburn Rose. I'm 16 right now. I should've been an ordinary girl, but that all changed when I was 10. Apparently, some big explosion scattered these tiny little robots called Nanites all across the globe. Ever since then I've had … powers. Telekinesis, the ability to warp from place to place, a spiny tail, and the ability to grow tiger claws. As soon as my family found out about this, they disowned me, and sent me to a cruel orphanage. I managed to escape on the first night, and ever since then, I've been wandering the streets of New York City, trying to find a place to call home.
Something darted out in front of me, making me pause. I listened intently for any sign of the creature. I heard breathing. I jumped up a nearby ladder, just in time to see the creature grab at the place I was just standing. It paused for a minute, and then stuck its finger in its ear, as if radioing for backup. I wasted no time and escaped.
The rain had finally stopped, to my relief. I looked out onto the city from my rooftop hovel. The moon was large and full, just the way I liked it. I gazed out onto the network of buildings that served as my roads. Up here, nothing could get me. At least that's what I thought.
"Hello, Auburn" said a cold voice from behind me. I had learned to not trust voices. I leaped up from my spot, and saw a figure, too shrouded in shadows to make out colors.
"What do you want? And make it snappy, you're on my turf." I said. The figure chuckled lightly. "I think we both know what I want. I want your Nanites."
The figure stepped from the shadows. I was shocked to find out it wasn't the creature. It wore a big brass gauntlet, which was just as bad. I could tell I couldn't fight him. Not alone, at least. That's when I got an idea.
"Artemis!" I called out. The person chuckled again. " No one can save you now, Auburn."
And that's when Artemis tackled the brute.
CHAPTER 2
Okay, let me explain something. Artemis is my best friend. He's also a guy. Yeah, yeah, laugh it up. He's the only person who understood and stuck by me, mainly because he was affected by the explosion too. He can phase in and out of the visible spectrum, and can levitate. He's also pretty good with a bow and arrow. I met him here in New York, at Central Park to be percise. He took me in, sheltered me, and gave me something I never had, love. But back to the present.
I spawned my claws and tail, but before I could react, an orange blur swept across the roof, taking the figure with it. I rushed to the side of the building. The man and the creature were facing off 13 feet below me. I had no time for pity, so Artemis and I ran for the hills, so to speak.
Block after block we ran, too scared to look back. New York was full of gangs that hated us, so that didn't help. We were about to make it to the Brooklyn exit, when I spotted two white flags. I ground my heels to a stop, as I reckognised the symbol. Three fuscia hearts connected by three aqua ribbons.
The Striker gang's insigna.
"Well, well. Look at what we have here. Two lovers out on a midnight stroll." said a voice so cold it could freeze ice. A slim adult figure shot down from the roof of the Brooklyn bridge, landing gracefully on the pavement. Emily Striker. "Scram. You know very well that this bridge is Striker turf."
I wasted no time conversing. I looked over at Artemis, and nodded. He seemed to understand. I grabbed him over the shoulders, squeezed my eyes shut, and imagined the other side of the bridge. When I opened my eyes, we were on the other side of the bridge. I breathed out a sigh of relief. The thing about teleportation is that you have to be percise. Leave out a single detail, and you're in the wrong place.
I heard shouting from the other side. We both bolted down the road. We had almost cleared the city, when multiple people of varying height and build materialized in front of us. More of the Striker gang. We were completely surrounded. Artemis couldn't fly us out of here, and my teleportation only worked short distance.
There was no way out.
CHAPTER 3
" I honestly, truly didn't think you would fall for that." said a warm but sinister voice behind me. I whipped around, and saw a young teen making her way to the front. She was dressed in eccentric 1800's clothing, and had blond hair so pale it was on the verge of being silver. Her eyes were an evil shade of red, which reflected her demonic persona.
Mackenzie "GlaDOS" Striker, leader of her family gang.
"If I had known you two would let yourselves get caught this easily, I would've just dangled a turkey on a string from the building." she continued. Little known fact, Mackenzie hates me for seemingly no reason. Ever since I moved in with Artemis, hit teams would periodically try to kill me.
I glanced around, looking for any way out, while Mackenzie rambled on about something about being the past president of the being alive club. I was about to give up, when I heard something thumping on the pavement. Bodies were flying left and right. When the source entered the inner circle, I was shocked by who I saw.
The creature, with its oversized fists, broke through the barrier and positioned itself between us and Mackenzie. " Fool, you don't know what you're dealing with. Stand aside, or be anhialated."
"I would say the same to you, miss." said the creature. Mackenzie turned an awful shade of red. Apparently, she was used to being feared.
"FOOL! PREPARE TO BE TERMINATED!" she screamed, and leaped towards the creature, shooting bullets out of her fingertips. The creature retracted its fists, to my horror, but instead, its hands formed into plate- like entities. Every shot she fired was blocked. When she realized her attacks were useless, a look of disbelief and horror crossed her face. She slammed face first into the shield, and fell unconsious. The creature's shield disapeared, and it placed its now human hand on Mackenzie's forehead. Blue angular lines spread on contact, then disapeared after a few seconds.
" She should be fine after a while." The creature said, as it turned towards me. What I saw was nothing like I had imagined. This was a regular guy standing in front of me, not some horrible twisted beast. He was kinda cute, too. But I still didn't trust him.
"Who's next?" the creature asked to the general crowd. As the rest of the gang scattered, so did we.
CHAPTER 4
Our best bet was to head west, towards Hollywood. Hollywood was full of creeps and weirdos who would understand our ways. The only problem was that the nearest bus depot was back in the city, where the creature was. But we didn't have much of a choice.
As we backtracked into the city, I felt safe knowing that there was no Striker gang telling us where we can't go.
We boarded a bus heading west, and started our journey.
3 days later
"Auburn, are you sure this train is heading west?" Artemis asked, over the roar of the train. "Of course. This is the Transcontinental railroad, it has to go west." I answered, as we pulled into the train station. We stepped off the train, and into the fresh californian air.
Unfortunately, we couldn't enjoy this for long. We had to get jobs, and avoid the creature's tracking system. As we headed into Hollywood, I looked for a place to stay. That's when I spotted it: a purple house that had been abandoned for years. The windows were boarded up, and there were creepy lawn gnomes with their paint chipped off. No one would dare bother us if they didn't know we lived here.
The only problem was that the couch only pulled out into one bed. We flipped a coin to see who would get the bed first. As if the comedy factor was out to get us, the coin landed on its edge. Let's just say, that it was a very awkward night for me.
The next day, I went out to the back alleys to scrounge for food. As I was digging in a trash bin, something hit me painfully hard on the back of my head. I turned around, and saw two kids, a boy and a girl, both about nine years old, wielding homemade slingshots. The boy had a ravenous look in his eyes.
"Hey! Get out of our trash can!" the boy shouted, like he was trying to sound tough. I blinked. I knew what kids were capable of. Back in New York, someone from the children's division of the Striker gang almost dislocated my shoulder once. I couldn't afford to be the slightest bit arrogant. I grabbed a newspaper and used it as a shield as I ran all the way home.
I looked at the paper. It had today's date on it. I dared to peek inside, and found what I was looking for.
Job listings!
CHAPTER 5
"Can you cook?" I asked Artemis.
"Nope." he said.
"Can you drive?"
"Nope."
"Can you speak Swedish?"
"Nej."( Translation: Nope.)
We were running out of options. Then I saw it. "Look! "Looking for someone with no experience to serve as a background character in the movie 'Cupcake Attack'.This is perfect! We can get paid for doing nothing!"
"Are you two 18?" asked the casting director. " Umm, does it count if we've been both 8 and 10?" Artemis asked. I thought about giving myself a facepalm, because I thought that Hollywood didn't do it that way. The casting director heaved an exasperated sigh. "I suppose so. Step into the makeup booth."
"Please relax, look into the red dot, and pout." a robotic voice instructed. I did so. Something, I assume it was makeup, assaulted my face. When I stepped out, I looked in the mirror provided. My face glittered with artificial luster. I looked over as Artemis emerged, much to my surprise, wearing the same lipstick and eye shadow as I was. I couldn't help but crack a grin as I removed the more feminine makeup with a nearby sponge. We were then escorted into a warehouse full of clothes and asked to pick an outfit.
We both broke off in different directions. I chose a lovely teal school uniform with a plaid skirt and black tie. I carried the outfit back to the entrance, where Artemis was waiting with his outfit, a white suit with a black tie.
It was very bright on the set, but not as bright as the light I was about to see.
CHAPTER 6
"And, action!" shouted the director, as the clapperboard slapped down. We both took off running. Supposedly, there was a giant wave of frosting from a giant mutant cupcake hurtling down Time Square in pursuit of human flesh. But since it was to be done with CG, we only had to pretend to run. While the main characters would escape the "Frosting", extra characters like us would get swallowed up by it and never be seen again. It wasn't the best way to go, but it was way better than zombies.
I felt my cable yank me into the air, and I started screaming. All part of the acting. On the green screen, I had been snatched up by the frosting's pseudopod and pulled into the mass. But my cable pulled me too far too fast, and I slammed into the wall. Everything went white for an instant, and I blacked out.
" I can't believe they only paid us 200 dollars for that." I said, fingering at the bandages around my head. "Stop complaining. At least we got paid." Artemis said.
We were sitting at the table in the house kitchen, reading a new newspaper I had fished out of a trash can, along with our breakfast.
"How about this? "Looking for two applicants who are willing to risk their lives to help test vaccines. Will pay large amount of money."
"Hmm, sounds fishy; and dangerous." I said. I did not like needles.
"What choice do we have? We need this job." he said. "Besides, we either get stuck full of needles, or we spend the day sticking our hands in boxes of snakes and cockroaches, followed by eating questionably safe substances. Do you see what I'm getting at here?"
"Being on Fear Factor doesn't seem that bad. If we're lucky, we might only have to walk on broken glass. It's essentially the same thing."
He sighed. "Fear Factor it is, then. But if I get sick, it's on your consience."
"Deal."
CHAPTER 7
" Tonight on Fear Factor" the announcer shouted into his microphone. " One contestant must fish a key out of a box of Madagascar hissing cockroaches and unlock their partner who is trapped inside. Then, both must walk across broken glass to their table, and mix and drink a durian smoothie; to share. Whichever team completes the challenge first wins the grand prize of 10,000 dollars. The losers get a concellation prize of 500 dollars."
I was the one in the box of roaches. To be honest, I was fine with this. Back in New York, when times got tough, I would skewer roaches on my claws and roast them over an open fire. (They taste like chicken, in case you were wondering.) However, I wasn't so calm about the durians. Those things looked like giant burrs on steroids. I hadn't even heard of durians before, much less eaten one. With all those spikes to protect it, I figured it was a poisonous... whatever it was.
The starting bell rang. Artemis dashed barefoot across the broken glass walkway, grimacing all the way. I was relieved when he got to the platform and brushed the glass off his feet. Without the slightest hesitation, he plunged his hands into the swarm of cockroaches. Several of the insects hissed in agitation as he searched blindly for the key. Although he found the key in minutes, it felt like hours were passing by.
When the box opened, I shot up and started across the glass, trying to ignore the agonizing pain ravaging my feet and some roaches still clinging to my skin. Artemis was right behind me.
When I got to the table, a strong odor of gym socks nearly knocked me off my feet. Another defense mechanism from the durians. Trying to ignore the smell, I played hot potato with the prickly plant and slammed the two fruits into the blender. Artemis slammed down the lid, but before I could hit the button, the bell rang again. I looked over, and saw the other team jumping up and down, with pale yellow liquid running down their shirts. We had lost.
And that's when everything went black.
CHAPTER 8
When I woke up, I was in a whole different universe, or at least in a different room. When I tried to move, I couldn't. I looked down, and discovered I was tied down with ropes. I had once heard that 10 seconds of observation could save your life, so I looked around. I was in a white room with a big window on the side. Someone, wait, two someones were looking through the window and talking. I recognized one of them , the creature, immediately, but I didn't recognize the other one, a woman in a white lab coat. The room must have been soundproof, because I could see them talking, but I couldn't hear them.
Suddenly, the surface I was tied to moved. A panel removed itself from the wall, and the table moved into the space. I found myself inside a large room with a bunch of horrible creatures of varying shapes and sizes. The ropes let me loose, and the panel closed behind me. My eyes immediately focused on one particular individual.
She had the build of a lion, sickly green skin, black arms, hair, legs, and paws, a striped torso of blood red and black, a spiny spade tail like mine, and three aqua spikes down her back. She had a sad look on her face as she averted her eyes.
"Hey, what's wrong?" I asked her, hoping she could speak English.
She turned her head. "I'm uncurable; And by the looks of it, so are you."
I looked at her strangely. "What do you mean?"
" I mean that you can't revert to your previous form. If Rex can't cure you, and I can't cure you, you'll end up like me; sitting in this cold, damp cell with nothing to look forward to but the day that Providence can find a definite cure for Evos."
I had a "derp" moment. "Why do I want to be cured?"
She looked at me in disbelief. "Don't you want to have a normal life again?"
"Normal life? This is my normal life."
She smiled. "I think this could be the start of a wonderful friendship. My name is Miyuki Striker."
"Auburn Rose."
END OF BOOK 2