The burning in my leg is what woke me up. I cracked my eyes open and was momentarily blinded from the brightness of the sun. My eyes cleared after a few seconds and I looked around.
I was laying under a tree in what appeared to be a park. I didn't remember exactly how I had gotten there, only that it had something to do with the red and puckered circular scar on my calf. The third one to appear there.
Before I had time to examine it further I heard the sound of footsteps drawing closer and closer to me. I glanced up into the face of Renee, her eyebrows were raised and her knife was drawn and ready.
"Rough night?" she asked.
"Number Three's dead," I replied.
She glanced down at the newest addition to my scars and nodded. She helped me stand up and we started walking towards the road.
"Did anyone else see what happened?" she questioned.
I glanced up at her, imagining Daniel's horrified look in my mind, and knew she would understand what had happened. She gave me another nod and I could see the worry etched on her face.
Her old 63 Chevy truck with faded red paint was parked on the side of the road and I gave it a tender pat before I slid onto the leather seat. Renee got in on the drivers side and started the engine, it roared to life and soon we were hurtling down the street towards the house we had been renting for the past three months.
I looked out the window as the houses and people passed by, knowing what was coming and dreading it. I could feel Renee's eyes on me as she turned into our driveway and I quickly jumped out of the truck before she could start asking questions.
I walked through the screen door and down the hallway, straight into my room. I sat on my bed and glanced around, we had only been here in Arizona for three months but I was beginning to feel like I belonged somewhere. On the wall behind my bed I had stuck up pictures of Alissa and me, a certificate for academic excellence from school, and other mementos related to my life here.
I heard Renee before I saw her, when she entered my room she went straight for the wall and began ripping things off. I sat silently, knowing I could do nothing to stop her and knowing that our time in this place was up.
"I told you not to keep this stuff, it just slows us down," Renee muttered as she took everything that had any relation to my life here and tossed it into the flames she had going in the fireplace.
She threw our Arizona license plates into the fire as well and I could see through the window that they had been replaced by Washington state plates. Apparently Renee had already chosen the place we were moving on to without consulting me.
"Alright Marie let's go," she called into the house.
I got up off of my bed, glanced around my room one more time and walked out the door, closing it gently behind me. Renee already had all of our stuff in the bed of her old Chevy and was waiting impatiently for me to take my place next to her. I opened the door and slid in, settling myself on the leather seats and watching another life roll away through the rear view mirror.
This is the part I hate the most, the running. But it's the only thing in my life that's real, the rest is a lie. Even Renee. People think she's my mother, she's not. She's a warrior from my planet assigned to keep me alive. I don't remember my mother, all she left for me was some kind of box, Renee said she'll pass it on to me when the time is right.
I got my first scar when I was nine years old, near the border of Mexico. It woke me from my sleep, it was the first sign that the Mogadorians had found us here on Earth. The second scar came when I was twelve. I was in Colorado in the middle of a spelling bee, as soon as I felt it I knew Number Two was dead. Last night I got my third scar.
I was just a kid when the Mogadorians invaded my planet, Lorien. Nine of us children escaped, we were gifted, meant to protect our people when we grew up. We never got the chance, everyone was killed. We are the last of our kind, three of us are gone, dead. They are hunting us down one by one in order. I know I'm next, I am Number Four.
...
We pulled up in front of a seedy motel, somewhere near the border of Washington. Renee went to the desk to book us a room for the night and the man at the desk leered at her as he handed her our room key. I rolled my eyes and followed her into the ramshackle room. I tossed my backpack on the nearest bed and immediately went into the bathroom to begin the process of dyeing my hair from it's current blond to a mahogany brown. Renee was insistent on changing my appearance every time we had to move locations.
As I applied the foul smelling dye on my hair I could hear Renee in the background talking to my former school.
"Yes, that's right, Marie won't be in for the rest of the semester. Yes, thank you. Have a nice day."
She hung up the phone and walked over towards me.
"Your new I.D.," she handed me a new license, "And this time you stay out of sight, no school, no teams, nothing."
I looked at the card that held my new identity, "Isabella Swan." I glanced at her retreating form and spoke up, "This time was different," she looked back at me. "I didn't just get a scar. I saw Number Three, I felt the knife, I felt him die. I can tell we all did, the others."
Renee looked at me closely and said, "We should get moving, the Mogadorians could have already picked up our scent. We're going to Forks, I have business to take care of."
...
It was pouring rain and gloomy when we pulled into the little town of Forks. On our way here I had googled the average weather and apparently it rained 211 out of 365 days here, a far cry from the heat and sun of Arizona.
We drove through the one streetlight in the town of Forks, and continued to the outskirts. Renee pulled up in front of an old white house and hopped out to throw the for sale sign on the ground. We made our way up the winding driveway and hurried inside to escape the heavy rain.
I opened the door and was met with a flurry of dust, the inside of this house was as gloomy as the weather. I climbed up the rickety stairs and into what I assumed would be my new bedroom. There was a hole on one of the walls and I could see Renee curiously peeking in. I rolled my eyes and turned my back to her.
She eventually meandered into my room and tried to make small talk while glancing out the window at the rain. I cut her off mid-sentence, "Next time I get to pick the place."
She cringed a little and muttered a little, "Yeah."
I sighed and flopped back onto my bed, staring at the cracks and crevices in my ceiling and wondered how long we would have here before we had to move on to the next place.
