Dallas wasn't an ordinary boy. No, not because he was named after a county in Texas, it was far from it. See, he'd grown up in a crate most of his life, he was a mutant. He had been genetically modified with the genes of a Galapagos tortoise and a chimpanzee, he was about 20 but looked nothing over 12, he was the most active and wild of the two.

His sister, Alice has been with him since the day they were 'born'. She was spliced with the genes of a hare and a fox, she was the fast, sly were test tube children and they were acting as a family with no-one else around to help their 'father' left them in the Lab they grew up in, Dallas had been constantly guarding his sister; receiving his share of cuts and bruises. The pair were inseparable, even when being taught to fight, they were both together. They were eachothers' supports

Brodie lived with his two best and only friends, Nadia and Hilary, who he wouldn't dare see leave him. He loved these girls like nobody else and he had a fierce dislike of everyone who had done wrong to them. He kept the title of Guardian no matter what. He wanted those two alive and his claws gave a persuasive advantage, he was fast, agile and strong. And the claws, they're because he's part leopard. Nadia was a beautiful girl, at the age of 14, she was another test tube baby and she had a little festive dash of starfish and humming bird, so she was major fast and could regenerate limbs and body parts, that was kind of creepy...

Hilary was the quiet one, at the age of 19, she was the mature one, the responsible one. She loved being alone, drawing what she saw, an exceptional artist and the sketches lined the walls of her cluttered room, she favored the shadows. Her somewhat freaky ability is being able to scale buildings with her weird claws and suction caps, she was a 'squat', as Nadia often commented, a squid and a cat

Hamish and Hallie were almost like a couple but if you took a closer look, they were more like brother and sister. Hamish is part Kea and chameleon, he bears 15 foot wings, he's fast, easily hidden and quite a likable person but what he hopes is what might never happen. Hallie is an athletic girl, she has amazing sensory abilities, she's part wolf and part stallion. Graceful, silk movements was all she made. A beautiful girl for the best genes. She had a troubled past. She was the only child that wasn't bred from a tube, she was conceived normally but taken away and experimented on until it all worked out. If she had stayed there at the lab, she would be dead, her nightmares were filled with the nights at the lab, stabbed with needles, cut with all sorts of instruments which the lab assistants called 'Tools of Torture'. Her escape from the lab was a help to her sanity. The walls, stained with blood were becoming a common sight each week, blood stained one day, blinding white the next.

Hamish broke from an almost impossible sleep, sweat pouring like the tears he saw so often from Hallie's deep Hazelnut eyes.
He instantly felt like he needed to go somewhere.
No idea why, no idea how, just go. He staggered out to the kitchen and half enjoyed a somewhat early breakfast and saw the clock. "Shit... 4 AM again?' He sighed warily. 'Again Hamish? What's up this time?' Came a smooth voice, Hallie sat at the edge of the hallway, eyes trying to adjust to the light. 'We're going away, it's not safe anymore, I saw it in a dream, I want to leave...' Said Hamish with an unmistakable quiver in his voice. Hallie came and hugged him, not knowing what was going on within him. He was almost alone in this world, he had heard of the other successful recombinant life forms other than themselves but he didn't believe it, it was like he'd been lied to all of his life.

'Alice! Wake up!' Shouted Dallas, 'We're going to New York, that's gonna be awesome!'
Alice slowly crept out of bed and cursed her brother for being an early riser. As she stumbled through the mountains of clothes she called home, she made her way to the kitchen, and made some chicken sandwiches. 'I had a dream in my sleep,' Dallas explained 'We need to go to New York for some sort of meeting. There's going to be more of us there, I mean the mutant kids, like us!'
Those words were all she needed, she instantly agreed and packed a bag of food for the trip.

'Merrrhhh, Mitchell? Why are you up so early?' Grumbled a sleep deprived Shane. 'I-I-I don't know, all I know is that I want to go to New York' replied Mitchell, staring blankly at the pitch black horizon, scanning for any life at all with his gift. He was able to see in the darkest conditions due to his owl DNA. 'That's insane! New York is a ghost town! No-one has lived there in about 4 years, it's radiation levels are over the top!' Argued Shane, with limited emotion. 'That doesn't matter to me! I could find more kids like me!' replied Mitchell, 'I still don't want you going. You're going to stay with me!' was the answer Mitchell didn't expect. Mitchell Leaped at Shane, knocking him flat. 'I don't care what you say about it, I'm going whether you like it or not'. With Hamish flying, Hallie was sprinting her way to New York, her trust solely in Hamish. She looked up to see an oversize eagle, her best, no, her only friend. Their relation to each other was almost chain tight, the two were like twins.

Brodie had lugged his two sister like friends all the way to New York like all the other mutants had been told to. Hilary had been hesitant at first, but still left with everyone. She didn't like it. They had hit land, the air stale of musty flesh, like someone had cut open a million carcasses and left them to rot, a bad smell no one could replicate ever. 'Why are we here Brodie?' Asked a forever hungry Nadia, starved from a 5 hour journey from Colorado. 'I wasn't told why, I just knew it was right some how, I really don't know,' replied an equally famished Brodie. At the same time, Hallie spotted the three and signed up to Hamish that they had company, so he zoomed ahead with a fire in his eyes.

The pavement cracked as Hamish landed in front of them. The three instantly jumped, readying themselves. 'I will ask you once and once only; Why did you bring me here?' Through gritted teeth spoke Hamish. The girls were startled as Brodie stood up. 'I was about to ask you the same question ,' as he lunged at him, knocking the wind from him, Brodie instantly drew his claws, sharp like a cheetah's claws, and went for the final strike but his target had gone, literally disappeared, only to receive a flying kick to the head as Hallie grabbed him, spinning him around, receiving a great roundhouse to the face, knocking him clean out, with the other girls watching, ready to jump at the sight of movement. Nadia leapt at Hallie but was shortly stopped by a young, primate looking creature, Dallas, while Alice had Hilary pinned down. Confusion flooded over Hamish's face as he asked 'What the fuck just happened?, I knock out some clawed guy, I'm just about to fight these two chicks and you guys swoop in and save them from a can of ass whoopin'. A concerned Alice looks up and replies 'My brother was told in some sort of dream to come to New York. What about you two? Are you mutants like us?'

It wasn't long before everyone's differences were sorted out. Apparently, Brodie was spliced with a cheetah, explaining the extreme speed and force, not to mention the claws o.o everyone else arrived, even a guy named nick, who is pretty much like a science experiment. He was designed to be ' ' for Alice, but she didn't want him, not one bit. He was the outsider, the sneak, spliced with mouse DNA and bat genes. He was blind but was able to see through echolocation. He was always the one who always got harassed by any one else he was around. Now, the only people who respected nick were Hallie and Hamish, they didn't care who he was, they needed another set of hands wherever possible and Shane just gave them the creeps. 'Guys, I'm not going to be much use to you all, I'm going to go find a torch around here' as Shane strode off.

The being who brought them to New York, the infamous 'Slaend'rr Man' as German mythology called him-her-it. No-one knew but no-one cared, it was too dangerous, no-one survived an encounter. All it took to be captured by this Slender man (translated to english) was to stare at it, for a time so short that it's faceless being trances you, leaving you useless letting it go for the kill. It wanted these children, for trophies. These weren't ordinary circumstances, the children were worth all effort put into this challenge.

'I get the feeling we're being watched' whispered Mitchell, hoping whatever it was that was staring at them didn't hear him. 'Don't be stupid Mitch, we're the only ones here' replied a rather loud Dallas. Mitchell suddenly stopped and looked at Hallie, and motioned everyone else to stop. 'Do you hear that Hallie?' She nodded and they both led the group, walking to a block of units not far from their starting position.
Alice sped over to the first floor of the apartments, scouting ahead of the group, finding a pile of bodies laying in complete silence, as the tentacles raised from the ground, reaching for her leg when Mitchell raised his rifle and shot the tentacle off of Alice. She screamed but no-one stirred. Out of the corner of his eyes, Hamish saw a figure frantically flailing at him, he turned and jump kicked the figure, to find a supposedly 'dead' body. Before they had entered the building, Mitch and Hamish had checked out an abandoned arms shop, finding abundances of handgun and rifle amunition, obviously there had been survivors. Just one thing remained now, may not have realised it at the time, but he had shot into a gas pipe, flooding the whole block with a gas deadly combined with flames and the other human remains equaled a bad reaction if a flame were to be struck.

Holy shit Alice are you ok?' Stuttered a shocked and somewhat terrified Nick. 'I-I'm fine thanks but I -I don't need to hear it from you,' stuttered Alice. They kept going until they came across a door slightly ajar. Hamish signed everyone to stop as he crept forward, pistol at the ready. He kicked the door open and scouted the room. Nothing but a desk in the centre of the dark, dank room. Hamish and Mitchell both felt as if something was wrong in the room and Mitchell shot the desk just in case it was rigged to blow or something. Mitchell walked in and opened the draw up, to find a mobile phone lying on the drawer bottom. It had one message.

'You have one chance. Only two of you will survive, the rest of you will perish in this wasteland. I am coming for you, I will have nothing but your lives as trophies'

'What. The. Fuck. What's that supposed to mean?!' Shouted Hamish, angry but all the more frightened. Hallie spoke up for once 'I think we should split up, if this thing is looking for us, we have better chances of survival in two groups. Alice, Brodie, Nadia, Hilary and Shane in one group and Hamish, Mitch, Nick and Alice in my group' and so they set out in New York. Alice ran back inside l, muttering something about forgetting her bag or something. several minutes later, the unit complex, went up in a violent eruption of flames.
Out of the wreckage, only charred remains of bodies long deceased were found. Dallas collapsed and broke down. Tears rolled and left trails down Dallas' face as he let out faint sobs. Hallie was speechless. Both teams helped remove the rubble but still no sign of Alice. 'Dallas, I'm sorry to say this but, I'm afraid your sister is dead, no-one could of escaped that explosion in time' Nadia said to a heart broken Dallas. More tears, everyone had lost a part of themselves. As group one walked on, Hallie piped up and said 'I don't know what I'm seeing but is that a girl up ahead of us?' Hamish looked up, saw the doll-like figure and instantly drew his wings, 15 feet of feather and muscle. The doll swayed in the wind, wait- what wind? Mitchell dove at Hamish as a series of creatures swooped down. Nick got in the way and was taken, probably not to be seen again. 'Oh god, another one of us gone' Dallas muttered, everyone directing their attention back to the doll, who had moved several metres since the attack. 'Either that thing is alive or we're being played again, but Hamish, I don't suggest getting any closer' but the doll had actually spoken, it called for him, and stepped closer, Mitchell stepped forward. 'Who or what are you! Answer or I shoot!' Shouted Mitchell, freaking out. The figure said 'Don't you recognise me? I'm your worst nightmare, your best friend. She drew her wings. A small sob left Hamish as he said 'A-Angel? Is it really you? I thought you were dead, I thought they killed you, back at the lab?' He had tears welling up in his eyes as a weak smile made way on to his face.

Vol. 1 end