Feet hit the pavement; to any normal passerby they wouldn't have noticed anything out of the ordinary, just some girl with a head full of fire red hair running home, most likely. But each footfall rang loud in Terra's ears, she knew she was being followed; it was hard not to know when the same person showed up everywhere you did. She paused for a moment before realizing that she had run directly onto a busy street, easy enough to get lost in the crowds, hell, it was New York, which made everything so much easier.
"Stop!" Red hair whipped around to see a man dressed in full army garb running down the very alley way she had just emerged from, with a deep breath Terra gave a sharp whistling while hailing a taxi-cab. She was just glad that it was not rush hour, slipping into the dirty car she gave the driver sixty dollars, telling him to just go until the meter ran out and drop her off at that spot. He nodded, this wasn't the first case of a runaway he had seen, and he got them all the time, usually bad relationships and angry parents being the cause.
After thirty minutes in the cab he stopped, "Here, kid. It's as far as I will take you." She sighed, the noise barely detectable as she stood up from the car, she gave a false salute as she looked at where she had been dropped off at. 'Xavier's School for Gifted Youngsters' read a sign, Great I'm near a school where a bunch of preppy pains in my butt can laugh at me. She raised her eyebrows at her own thoughts before her eyes looked to a watch on her wrists. 9:01, the small amount of green light from her electronic watch bounced off her features, at almost nineteen she was certainly different than most girls her age in New York.
And being a mutant did not help that one bit. It did the exact opposite.
She had found her powers three years ago when she had taken a horse riding lesson and she had been on a bucking horse, it didn't help you not feel insane when you heard an animal's voice in your head. Taking a deep breath she tested the air around her, normally she could at least sense the animals around her, their voices echoing in her head. The closest thing she could hear was a crow from the other side of the street, who was staring at her to see if she had food. "No, sorry." She told him before turning to walk down the street.
She needed to keep moving, it was the only thing that could keep her away from the men who were after her. The sad thing was this was common for her, empty streets and worn out sneakers were her life, another sigh managed to escape telling everyone how sick of this life she really was. It was then that she first got the taste of how far her power could extend, it came in waves first.
Waves of fear, pain, and hate. Then came thoughts, broken and rough, No! You can't have me! Get off! Terra immediately recognized it was a horse, a stallion. She could sense the mental scars left from previous owners leaving him to be in fear of any and all humans, she was too focused on maintaining a mental connection with him. Focused on calming him through the link in their minds she didn't notice
the stallion jump the fence and come barreling around the corner with enough sped to put a barrel racer to shame, a student was perched on his back, obviously the source of his fear and he was running straight for the stationary Terra.
"Move!" Called the student she ripped the reins back with enough force to slow the horse slightly but still allowing him to buck wildly, but even then Terra only stepped forward with raised arms, trying to show the stallion that she meant no harm.
"Whoa, boy!" She took another step forward before looking up to the brunette on the horse, "Stop that! You're scaring him! Easy, boy!" She tried again while reaching for a mental connection, when she found it she heard his voice, strong and clear, Hoof-sister? You look like one of them… but your mind is animal. Is creature. She smiled and noticed that the young woman had stopped trying to control the horse as he finally came to a halt.
Terra nodded, "Be nice." She whispered low enough for an animal to hear but to a human, or at least a normal one it wouldn't be heard. She paused and took a deep breath before looking up to the rider, the woman's eyes were staring at Terra with shock and she realized how odd that must have looked to the woman, seeing someone talk to a horse without any fear of being killed by it's rampage.
"Damn it!" She yelled viciously before taking off, how could she be so stupid, she acted without thinking something that seemed to happen a lot with her but she wasn't going to admit she was a mutant no. She was going on the road again. To run some more. Get away from New York and all the people who hated her in this world, maybe she could head to Canada and then head for Alaska, live with wolves. That would be pretty cool, she admitted to herself but as she continued to run she heard the riders voice calling after her. Telling her to stop, but Terra wouldn't, no she couldn't.