Chapter One: Red

A deep breath. A rustle. A flash in the trees. The race was on. Two blurs whiped by, leaving nothing but a wind behind them. Feet pounded on the soft grass, and others found themselves following after them, though not as fast. One trailed behind the followers. A boy about the age of ten, was trying desperately to follow. But he suddenly lost them. The blurs were gone, and so was his hope.

Red hadn't been expecting much, but he had wanted to figure out why all those kids were following the two others. The two in the lead seemed happy and healthy, stronger and more fit than he. He had been living in the forest with the others for as long as he could remember. What didn't fit together, at least to him, was why they were much more athletic. Or why they were built so much more hardily than he was. He tried just as hard, he worked just as long, but here he was, trying to keep up.

But he couldn't. He just didn't have it in him.

"Hey, kid," A voice breathed in his ear.

"Gosh!" Red jumped in the air, spinning around to see who was behind him. It was Elliott, the only person he could truly trust, though he didn't even want to trust the bright red-haired boy. "Don't scare me," Red thrust his fist into the air threateningly, but Elliott didn't take it that way. Dejectedly, he let the fist drop as quickly as possible.

"Kid, don't think you scare me I ain't got nothin' to be scared of when it's just you and me," He was a sturdy-built, olive-toned young boy just like all the others. He wasn't exactly a twelve-year-old six-pack, but he was close to it. Elliott looked Red up and down just like every other day that the kids went running. "If anything, you should be scared of me." He raised his own fist, giving Red a harsh glare.