I'm sorry I take forever to write these, I get so distracted. Plus my friend Pandora (writerwong) was making me help her with her story. Great story, it's called Bloody Luck. If you like the Night World series, or just vampires in general check it out. R&R ^^
Cara stared first at the dark sky, only a little light shown through the strange, black clouds. Then she focused on the tall buildings and random people wandering around aimlessly. She noticed men, and women walking around the borders of the large city. Once in awhile a few cars would speed through the street, sending people scattering. They would disappear into alleys, or buildings.
"Get up!" A man grabbed her arm firmly, and pulled her to her feet. "Before I send the Screamers on you." Cara's eyes widen, and her face lost all color. This made the man grin, tightening his grip as he pulled her. She stumbled on after him, gazing in awe at the dark buildings. Everyone she saw seemed... depressed, and empty. No one talked to each other, they just wandered around staring blanking at were like ghosts, with no purpose but to be there.
All the edifices were towering above Cara, just waiting to swallow her up. They were all packed together, they seemed almost endless. They seemed to disappear into the dark sky, and blend in with it. Everything here was dark, and eerie, like a goth's dream world.
"What have you done to them?" She asked in horror, as she wonder what else the Division has done to the people. She thought their experiments on humans were horrible, but now this was a new level of torture. Cara was suddenly pulled into what was the biggest building she'd seen yet. She didn't see much till she was dragged into a different room, where a woman was waiting for her.
"A Pusher, huh?" She brushed a long, blond strand of hair behind her ear. "I'm Jessica, I'm also a Pusher," she held out her hand to Cara. But Cara only scowled at the wall to her left, not acknowledging anything that Jessica had to say. A man appeared behind her, grabbing Cara's hair and pulled it harshly, so she was forced to look at Jessica. "That's better," muttered Jessica as she smirked grimly.
"What do you want with me?" Cara finally spat back, looking Jessica straight in the eyes. She hoped maybe the woman would just leave her, realizing it was a mistake to mess with her. But as usual her hopes never came true.
"Nothing really, just to use you as a weapon for the American army," Jessica answered. She easily entered Cara's mind, removing old memories, and making false ones. The last thing Cara remembered was a sharp pain in her shoulder, and passing out.
She woke up in a small room, covered only by a thin blanket. She let out a sigh of relief when she realized she wasn't wearing one of those hideous gowns that hospitals make you wear. She quickly glanced around the room, sitting up as she did. It was plain, and empty except for the bed. There were no handles on the door, only a slot were a card went in to open the door. At the bottom of the door was another slot where they slid food in.
Cara slipped of the bed, then got onto her hands and knees. She looked under the bed, grabbing her shoes, and putting them on. Her head ached, it hurt when she tried to think real hard on her past. All she remembered was that she lived in a small town just a little ways from here, but how she got in this room she wasn't sure. For a week she remained in the tiny cell, till one day a huge man walked in. He was like a linebacker of a NFL football team, he could have easily tore Cara to pieces.
"Come with me," he said in a deep voice, grabbing her with a firm grip. She gulped, not daring to ask him where he was taking her, or why she was here in the first place. He dragged her through the town to a large building, strangely everyone didn't seem so depressed anymore. She knew she was turning into one of them, but what she could do to stop that?
He lead her into a room, leaving a key in her hand, then quickly left. Everything she owned from her apartment back home was here, though she didn't realize it. She locked the door behind her, then looked around curiously.
"Hey," someone came up from behind Cara, and Cara yelped loudly. She spun on her heel to face a teenager. She let out a sigh of relief, and said softly,
"You scared the crap out of me, don't do that again, please." The girl just laughed, she noticed that she had perfect, white teeth. Her hair was dark brown, wavy, slightly frizzy, and untidy. Brown freckles covered her nose, and cheeks. Her nails were painted black, she wore a black sweater, and blue jeans.
"I'm Maddie," she managed to say after she was done laughing. "We're roomates." She yawned, looked at her nails as if she were already bored of Cara. She told Maddie her name also, then Maddie walked away, curiously Cara followed her. She lead Cara into a dark room, the walls were painted black, and dark purple, and covered in Maddie's drawings. Quite a few of her drawings had wings, which were done expertly.
"Wow," Cara said as she picked up a pile of drawings on a black desk. "These are amazing. You drew all of them?"
"Of course I drew them all!" Maddie shouted at Cara, rolling her eyes. Obviously Division had made her as stupid as everyone else around this place. "Now shoo before your stupidity spreads to me, too." She flung herself onto the bed, scowling at Cara.
"At least I'm not emo," Cara said, ignoring Maddie's request. She picked up a drawing with a mailman screaming as bugs crawled up is arm from an envelope that said 'To: Santa' on the back. She chuckled softly, then showed it to Maddie and asked, "what's with this drawing?" Maddie sighed,
"that was for a friend back home. That was so long ago, I never really got around to it till Division sent me here."
"Back home? But this is home, isn't it? I mean, this really isn't home to me yet, home is in the little town just outside of this city."
"That's where everyone's 'home' is. But I remembered, unlike everyone else around this place. Ever heard of a place called Earth?" Maddie took out a picture from under her pillow, in the picture stood her and another girl the same age as her. They were both smiling up from the photo, in an odd place. In the background was a glowing orb in blue sky, which somehow seemed familiar.
"I..." Cara shook her head quickly, it hurt to think about this place called Earth. So she changed the subject, "what is your power?"
"I'm a Mover, and a Bender of fire." Maddie held out her hand, palm facing upward. Suddenly a ball of fire began floating over her hand, lighting up the room. She closed her hand into a fist, and the fire disappeared. "Think, Cara, please just think. Concentrate on remembering Earth. The Division has put false memories into your head, but you have to overcome those memories like I did."
"Goodnight," Cara muttered quietly to Maddie. She had heard enough about this "Earth" for a lifetime, but maybe… just maybe it was true. She shook her head furiously, thinking to herself, don't let that freak put those kind of thoughts in your head. But, it wouldn't hurt…. To just think about it and see whether she was actually telling the truth, right?
She laid down on her bed, squeezing her eyes shut and concentrated on anything she knew about Earth. Pain shot through her head, it was almost unbearable. Suddenly she remembered her encounter with the Screamer. She could feel a horrible headache coming on because of it. Cara thought harder, and harder, then slowly things began to come back to her. She disposed of the false memories, but soon she feel into a deep sleep.
After that she stayed in her room for nearly a week, only coming out to use the bathroom and to eat. On the seventh day she walked out of the room, took a shower, and changed into different clothes.
"Finally decided to come out of your hole, huh? For good? Or are you going to go back and avoid me as much as possible?" Maddie questioned, mockingly.
Cara glared at Maddie, "Shut up. I've been trying to do as you asked me. I… thought for a long, very long time. It's all come back to me. I don't live here, but at a large apartment in St. Paul. I work at Broadway Pizza, and I've been resisting the Division for years," she paused to take some Tylenol. "And, I've decided to help you on your little rescue mission."
"How did you?" Maddie questioned, but then decided to add, "and it's not little either! Getting every innocent person out of here is definitely not little!"
"I'm a Pusher, I can see into your mind, smart one. Ever thought of that? Don't give me that look! I was just trying to figure out whether this whole Earth thing was true, okay? And I happened to stumble upon your plan." She shrugged like it was no big deal. Maddie glared at her,
"How could you think this is no big deal! We're talking about rescuing every single person from this place!" Maddie folded her arms across her chest, and sighed. "Get outside, find someone doing something they shouldn't be and turn them in. The Division is wondering where you've been, and what've you been doing. I told them you were terribly sick with the flu," she snickered, "that sent them packing." Cara rolled her eyes, then grabbed a fleece sweater and pulled it on.
"Well, I'm off. It's been loads of fun, wish I could stay, but I have to go run off on that mission of yours." Cara headed out the door, saluting Maddie as she left, then muttered, "what a freak." She ran a hand through her hair, wondering if anyone besides Maddie even misbehaved. She nervously pulled out a strand of her hair, and played with it. What if they get into her head, they would brainwash her again, or worse… kill her! Cara swallowed loudly, glancing at the dark sky as she stepped outside. It was hard to get used to the fact that only a little light shown through the unusual, pure black clouds.
"Please, this place, it isn't real. Help me get to Earth, help!" A man shouted to the ghost people, he grabbed onto a woman, and she scowled at him, then shook him off. "You'll help me, won't you? Please, please!" The man grasped Cara's arm firmly.
"Of course," she said back in a kind voice. Where was the Division? She shrugged away the question, focusing on the problem before her. She truly would regrett turning in the poor man, but it was one sacrifice for the lives of everyone else in this place. Cara grabbed his arm gently, and smiled reassuringly. She murmured many things about Earth into his ear as she headed towards what she was guessing was the Division head quarters in this world. In Maddie's mind she ended up here quite often, and they tortured her almost to death. Now she realized she had been here once before, when they had changed her memories.
Cara shuddered at the thoughts of Maddie being tortured, gulping loudly as she stared up at the huge building. She was risking everything, walking in the head quarters of the enemy could jepordice the entire plan. She could have herself, and Maddie murdered just by walking in this place. Cara swallowed her fear, ignoring all the warning signs, and with a deep breath opened the door, then went inside with the man.