Lily Burnham
I could tell that there were four of us, including myself. At first I thought I was going to be done away with by the men who captured me, but they knocked me out, and didn't really touch me. The next thing I know, I woke up in the arms of a boy, about eighteen or so. He had brown hair with lighter brown streaked into it. He reminded me of one of those scene kids, with his blink-182 band shirt and his tight black skinny jeans. He had deep brown eyes that seemed endless, and his skin was slightly pale.
I threw myself from his arms to my feet, only to stumble and fall to my knees. "Wh-where are we?"
A girl who seemed my age, seventeen, stepped up. She had platinum blond, lower back length hair, with a rare shade of green eyes. Her eyes seemed the change colors, grey, blue, yellow. She had pale flesh, and she had more curves than the average girl. There was a grim look on her face as she pulled me to my feet. "Welcome to New York City, United States. May 14th, 3015." 3015? There was no way we were over a thousand years in the future. It just wasn't possible.
I flat out laughed at her. "What have you been smoking?"
Her look quickly became icy as she dropped my hand. "Believe it or not. But I hope you're ready when they come for you." Her voice was smooth, she looked like she had been here a while, but who could tell?
How long had I been here? I glanced the girl. She was wearing a red shirt that swooped low, it took me a second to realize she was wearing a dolled up version of a band shirt. KISS, it said, with the band members designed onto the shirt. She wore black jeans that contained several holes in them, but she walked away next to the guy she had originally been standing next to.
He had long brown hair, and eyes the color of amber. His face was angular, compared to her heart-shaped face. His skin was tanned, like he spent a lot of his time in the sun. He was wearing jeans and a white hoodie, as far as I could tell. He seemed to be another eighteen-year-old, but there didn't seem to be anything abnormal about him. We all looked like we were from the same time . . . so I was starting to think this was some sick and twisted joke.
"What's your name?" I asked, my voice soft.
"Luella de Ariete." she said, her voice picking up a slight Latin or Italian accent.
Somewhere, in the back of my mind, I could almost feel the metallic click. That name was strangely familiar. "You're that drummer girl from North Carolina that went missing without a trace. Your family has been all over the news worried sick about you."
A look of sadness seized her features momentarily. "You think I can help that? I didn't run away, I was kidnapped, just like you were, girl."
"My name is Lily Burnham." I said quietly, shrinking back as Luella circled me, examining me.
She gave a laugh, almost as if she were disgusted with someone, or herself. "Lily, the meaning of beauty, innocence, and purity. They're going to taint you, Lily. You won't be the same after this" was all she said before slinking back into her corner with the guy.
"Vous ne devriez pas être si dur sur elle, little sparrow." said the boy. You shouldn't be so harsh on her, little sparrow. It really freaked me out that I understood his French. I never spoke French. I spoke Italian.
Although Luella seemed to be Italian or Spanish as well, she appeared to also be able to speak French. She replied to him in a hushed voice.
I returned to the boy whose arms I awoke in. "What's your name?"
He flashed me a smile before stating, "Alexander Gaskarth, but I'd rather you called me Alex."
"Hey, Alex. I suppose you've already heard, I'm Lily." I said as I sat down next to him against the wall. "Do you really think we're in the . . . you know, future?"
"Well, I was kidnapped, went through some teleporter thing, and I ended up here. I got knocked out and I woke up knowing a mess of different languages. Danske, český, française, Deutsch, elliniká, russkiĭ, on and on. I know all of those, and it's strange."
Russian . . . I had always wanted to learn Russian. When I tried, it rolled off my tongue easily, fluently, perfectly. "Do you know why we're here?"
He replied in the same silky Russian. "No, all we know it's for some entertainment."
"Entertainment? Oh, dear god. What could that be . . . ?" My pulse picked up at the thought.
"It can't be that bad, I highly doubt that. Surely, even in a thousand years, that's still illegal. No, I think the government has us, or something of the sort." He replied, looking at me curiously.
"Yeah . . . but you can never be too sure, right?"
"Hey, sweetheart," I glanced up to see Luella talking to me, in English now.
"Yeah . . . ?" I asked.
"So far, what I think this place is for a show."
"What do you mean, a show?" I knotted my eyebrows together in thought.
"Like a reality show. They're going to use time travel, like how they got us here. We're going to be competing to kill as many of the historical figures that were assassinated through out history. We're going to become, in a sense, the assassins. That's why they programmed so many languages into us. We're going to need them to get allies for some of the missions, or, you know, blend in. Take into note you're going to need to fight, and they're going give us armor and attire for each setting."
"We're going to be killing people?" I stared at her incredulously.
"Yeah, this is why you, miss Lily, are going to lose your innocence. Understand? There's no way around it. I don't remember the prize, or anything like that. Or what happens to the losers, the team with the least amount of kills."
My head spun as she spoke. Killing? What was this, some twisted version of a video game? I felt like I wanted to throw up. If we were going to be sent back in time, how was I supposed to be able to wield a sword? A bow? Any weapon?
Alex put a hand on my shoulder, snapping me out of thought. I came to a realization. Alex was going to be my partner. This guy was going to be my partner as we traveled the world, and ages, killing people. Alexander, defender of men.
My eyes went back to Luella, and the boy. Luella was German for warrior or famous warrior. The boy, his name was Hunter, and well, you can imagine what that meant. Alex didn't seem like he would have much trouble going against them . . . if he had a better partner, that was.
How could these crazy people believe that me, Lily, an apparent "beauty" be strong enough to go against these guys? There was no way. I gave Alex an apologetic look. I felt so bad for the chance of me making him lose.
I didn't get much more time to think before a door in the wall that was practically invisible opened. Men in suits poured into the room, grabbing us and dragging us off to a training room.
As I looked at all of the weapons in the room, I had a feeling that Luella had been telling the truth.