Three reviews from chapter one! Woot!

So, yeah, I was hoping on doing a chapter a week, and it was going pretty good with these first two. However, my new class just started for college this week and is rather demanding. I'm really wanting to give it beyond my all since this is a retake. Hopefully I'll have more of an idea on the updates when the class ends (at the end of the month) and if next months classes aren't as hectic…Which I doubt since this school sucks out your soul…hmmm…sleeeeeep…

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"Damn, did I ever luck out…" Ellie muttered through her coke. She had just finished her meal at a Golden Coral she was directed to. She usually protested against going to one of these when she was still with her parents, saying the selection was pitiful and the food was vial. But this had been the best food she had had since she left home a little over three days ago. It was crowded, but it worked since this one was cheap, and a buffet would ensure a lasting full stomach. She even bought a large pair of gloves to help hide her hands, tucking the empty fifth finger out of sight.

The woman from the park was the kids' babysitter, as well as a mutant herself, which surprised Ellie. The childs' family was a mutant friendly one that hired her as a babysitter to help her through college. When she heard Ellies' story she gave her a good chunk of money, saying that she would not have a sister sleeping in a tree when the days were getting colder. She said that Ellie would have been welcome to stay with her for a while if she wasn't so difficult to hide. Her roommate was anti-mutant.

Ellie left the buffet with a full belly and a pocket full of cash. This would make things a little easier. She had very little money when she started, walking to wherever her feet would take her. Some begging outside of a Wal-Mart got her enough to hitch a ride on a bus. Unfortunately, her sense of direction was so off, that she wound up taking a bus that headed back south, farther south than where she used to live. So, the rest of her money was spent on the ride back north, which landed her in Miami. With this new money though, she might be able to get a cab to take her to at least the boarder of Alabama or Georgia.

Now, however, she wanted a place for the night so she could at least shower and wash her clothes. She hoped she didn't smell too bad. And in the privacy of a hotel room, she could finally let her tail out. It was rather uncomfortable to have it wrapped around one leg for almost three days strait. She was sure there would be plenty of kinks to work out of it.

She was told that a real cheap motel sat a good ways off from where she was, but as long as she got to sleep in a warm, dry bed, she wouldn't complain about another mile or so of a walk. She just hoped that she got there before night set in. She didn't know this town and really didn't want to know how it became during the darker hours.

Unfortunately, she was unable to arrive at the motel before dark set in. A car wreck had forced her to take another rout. She could have cut through a few yards to save a good chunk of time, but she rather not have to risk being seen by the owners.

Sirens cried in the background, lifting her uneasiness of the silence slightly. She held her hands together tightly inside her hoodie pocket, trying to keep from shivering.

Four blocks.

Her ears heard muffled sounds from the inside of the hood, the wind helping to distort it further.

Three blocks.

She could hear faint broken shouts.

Two blocks.

Were the sirens getting louder?

A body suddenly ran smack into her from around the corner, causing both to topple to the ground. In her daze, she failed to notice that her hood fell off her head as the person shouted at her. She was pretty sure they were blaming the fall on her.

The thudding of feet brought her back to reality as the person stood and took off. The sirens must have been just around the corner, for her ears where ringing with their wails. Bright lights blinded her as large shadows quickly made their way toward her.

She was suddenly pulled roughly to her feet from her forearm and dragged with the runners, away from the red and blue lights.

Ellie didn't fully comprehend what was happening until another police car halted in front of them, allowing the ones behind to catch up. Her sore arm was released as its holder moved closer to the group ahead of them. She counted four people in the light, who took defensive stances.

She just stood there, dumbfounded. She had a slight indication of what was going on, but her brain didn't seem to want to comprehend it. She had been pulled into the middle of a chase, the cops probably thinking that she was with these people.

Guns were being cocked as shouts of 'don't move' and such were shouted. She jumped as her captor bumped her arm from behind.

"You get the front. I get the back. Got it?"

"Got what? I'm not-!" She was suddenly shoved forward, heading strait into the line of fire. What little reflexes she had saved her neck as she hopped to the side and scampered off to a darker spot. The gunfire, however, followed her.

She was terrified. The only thing she could think of doing was getting them to stop shooting; at least at her.

She continued to move about, from car top to car top, just missing the bullets. She lunged at one officer, feet first, slamming him into the concrete. She winced slightly as she felt a few of his bones break from under her weight.

Her expression extended to a painful cringe as several rounds were logged into her back. She ducked and scurried under a car, hoping beyond hope that they would not pursue.

Her ears were ringing with the sound of gunfire and shouts as she curled into a tight ball, her body shaking uncontrollably. She was scared and in pain, her clothes becoming warm with her trickling blood.

She didn't notice it when the guns stopped, or when voices were arguing with one another, let alone when they stopped. Nor did she notice the car above her moving.

I'm not here. I'm with my family. I'm not hurt, just sore from where my brother tackled me from behind during-

She felt herself being lifted, her eyes seeing nothing but blurs. She cried out in agony as the wounds in her back were slammed into a brick wall, her head making hard contact as well.

"The fuck you thinking?! I gave you a fuckin' order and you bale under a fuckin' car! Quit'cher damn cryin'!"

Ellie sniffled, trying to see past the tears she didn't know she was making and hair that was starting to stick to her face. A rather short man held her above the ground by the front of her hoodie. She couldn't really make anything else out other than a long mass of dark wild hair in the streetlight.

She chocked slightly trying to spew out an answer, only to have a surprisingly smooth hand push her short brown hair away from her face. "The fu- Who the hell are you?! Where the hell's Glitch?!"

Ellie was dropped to the ground as the man turned to the others, "He fuckin' run off before I said ta' go, cops know where we are, an' now he's fuckin' gone! Schmitt!" He grabbed one of the three, pulling him down to his shorter height. "You an' him close, what the hell's in his head?!"

As Ellie sat stalk still on the ground watching the verbal quarrel, she couldn't help but wonder: where were the cops? Her eyes chanced a glance around the pavement, praying that there was at least one still left to help. She suddenly noticed a particular smell, like burning meat or smoldering flesh. She turned her head to make better since of the now deserted area when the shorter man roughly pulled her to her feet.

"Where Glitch at?"

"Wh-who?" She was slammed against the wall again.

"Don't fuck with me, bitch! Where's Glitch?! He turns a corner and you there in his place! Where is'e!"

She sucked in a painful breath as her back throbbed. "I don't know any Glitch! Honest! Someone ran into me and we fell over! He ran off before I could do anything!"

The gangster eyed her watery face with a rather menacing sneer before letting her drop to her feet. Still keeping a firm grip on her with one hand, he turned to look back at where the police were. Ellies' eyes followed, air hitching in her throat at the sight.

Now that she was able to see over a car that was blocking her view she could clearly see the officers' bodies had been blackened, their faces melted. Their uniforms had been charcoaled and torn with little whiffs of smoke rising from them. Now she knew where the smell was coming from. But how did it happen? Unless… She glanced back at the man holding her. He seemed to be the leader and was the one who gave her an 'order.' Was he a mutant as well?

He was saying something to the others, two of them now walking up with a body draped between them. This one didn't have the smoky smell, nor seemed to have any burns anywhere.

The two tore off his uniform top and turned him so she could see his back clearly. There was heavy bruising along the rib cage and lower part of the neck; his spine seemed to be a little too flimsy for what would be considered natural for a man his size. What caught her eye were the six small punctures along his back.

"This da' guy she stomped, Inferno," one of the carriers started. "Spine's all messed up. Dude's limper then a friggin' ragdoll!"

'Inferno' felt around the dead mans' punctures, sticking his finger in one to see its depth. His finger sunk in pretty far considering the man had been wearing a bulletproof vest.

She suddenly felt sick.

He turned back to her; only his head was down, looking toward the bottom of her baggy pants. She didn't move, too much in shock upon seeing the man she killed. He pulled a pant leg up, exposing a large, clawed foot.

Inferno stood strait, his dark eyes staring at her face, then shifting to the side of her head. He moved her hair to the side to look at her goated ears. He snarled when he saw that she had started to cry again.

"Jonesi, Carter. You two dig through the cops shit and bring back anythin' 'at's lethal lookin'. Schmitt, you comin' back with us."

Ellie didn't hear this, though. She was still trying to wrap her mind around the officer who she had crushed and killed. Killed. The only thing she had ever killed was an opponent in a video game. But this wasn't a code and digital pixels; this was a living, breathing human being who had a life. He had a background, a history, maybe even a family. And she took it from him in a split second.

Oh Lord…

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Inferno sat in a chair across from his bed in his apartment room taking long drags from his cigarette. Ellie lied on his bed, completely zoned out. She had been in her stupefied state ever since they had left the scene several hours ago. Her back wounds had been cleaned and dressed, though the holes were still bleeding a little.

He wasn't in a hurry to snap her out of it. Better to have her mind mull through on its own time rather than have her go into hysterics over somebody that she killed was how he saw it.

Crushed. She had crushed the guy. Yeah, she looked large with her oversized clothes, but even if she really was that size, she shouldn't have been able to kill him. That was his initial thought until he saw her feet. Things were fucking huge. And as if the feet themselves weren't enough, the talons that jutted out from her toes were sugar coating.

He didn't really have a reason for taking her with him, other than she was a mutant. Inferno had respect for his fellow mutant, and this chick, no matter how much of a pansy she portrayed herself to be, was family in a sense. It was also for a more personal reason…

A bang at the door caused him to be pulled out of his thoughts. He found Carter shifting his weight on the balcony.

"'Ey, boss. She up yet?"

Inferno stepped out, closing the door behind him. "Nah', she still out'a it. How 'bout you? Anythin' on Glitch?"

"Not a fuckin' thing, man. I've asked everyone. He nowhere, man." He watched as Inferno started to chew on his cigarette butt, a sign he recognized as bitter thoughts crossing the mind. "You think he blew out?"

"No clue. Damnit, I don't wanna' think'e did! He been nothin' but loyal since I brought'im on.

"You know you were neva' good at pickin' the right people for us, man. I usually gotta' do'at."

"You weren't here when Glitch showed up. I wasn' gonna' let'im in 'til you got back, but…" Inferno crushed his cigarette between glowing red fingers as he looked out over the darkened town.

"He's a mutant. Like you." Carter finished for him. "Boss, I've known you ever since Mikey brought me under his wing. I been by you every day after he got killed, followin' every order an' standin' for you when anyone started talkin' shit 'bout you, man. When I met Glitch, I didn' like'm. Hoenstly, I still don't; dude's shifty. But when I saw ya' with'im; I ain't ev'a seen you so comfortable around some one, even me. An' while I love ya' like a brother, I know there be somethin's only mutants can discuss between them own kind. An' you needed it, even if the discussions were only beatin' the shit outt'a each otha', cause you couldn' do 'at with any of us 'normies'. You'd melt our faces off!"

This got a barked laugh from Inferno. "Fuck yeah! None ya'll's asses be standin' a chance 'ginst me!"

His smile faded quickly, though. "Sill. Makes me nervous if Glitch out there when I now questionin' where his loyalties lie."

"Wha' he gonna' do? He a hacker. He taps fuckin' phones an' computers."

"'At's what makes nervous-" A loud thump from inside Infernos' apartment caused the two to cease their conversation. "Sound like someone's up. I'll see ya' later."

Ellie cursed lightly as she held her foot. She had been waiting for Inferno to leave for a while, now. She had been in her vegetative state for a good while, mulling over the mans death. It was still eating at her. But she knew she couldn't sulk over something that had already past, especially in a place that she had no recollection of being brought to.

She didn't really remember anything after seeing the officers' body, save for waking up in a shabby apartment room with the smell of cigarette smoke choking her. She didn't really notice her back pain until she decided to move when Inferno left. It greatly restricted movement.

She cursed lightly under her breath at the metal bed leg she had banged her toe on. She was going to try and find a way out before any of the gang members came into the room. But, there was so much clutter on the floor and the room was so dark she couldn't make out anything. She hoped no one was around to hear the racket she was making.

Her hope was shattered quite quickly as the door opened to Inferno standing over her.

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The ending seems rushed to me. Does the ending seem rushed to you?

Ahh, yes. Yet again, I leave you with a taste. This is quite fun!