( Alex POV)

I was almost done for the night. Sometime after twelve a.m. I dropped Amber in the front door of what I thought was the hospital. There was a sign for a doctor but it looked like someone's house and it had a sliding door. I knocked on the door; a man opened the sliding door to look at us. He was a middle aged man, looked like my father if his face was a frown and he had a bald head and glasses. This man wore a brown sweater with a white reindeer on it (a little too early for Christmas) and wore blue jeans.

" Kid, do you have any idea what time it is?" The man said. He seemed to be going through a REM (rapid eye moving) cycle I interrupted. " My clinic is closed. Go home."

" Please, you have to help me," I begged hoping my cute child eyes could convince him to let me inside. " My friend is injured and she needs medical attention."

" What happened?" He asked me. " She looks like she hasn't eaten in days. And she looks pale."

" She's my sister," I lied quickly trying to convince him we needed help. " We lost our parents and haven't eaten in days. Can you please help us?"

" No."

" But you're a doctor—"

" I am a doctor. Doctors do not work for free. If you want our help you have to pay for it. Without money I cannot work. You and your sister leave."

" Please!" I stopped the doctor from closing the door on me. I grabbed his collar and cried over his shirt. " Please, please, please!"
" Alright, you can come on in," he finally said.

No adult can ignore the suffering of a young child. Ironically, no one cares if a little boy or girl dies before their first birthday. From those dilapidated buildings that look like they came from San Francisco I walked into this doctor's house. His house looked like it needed a cleaning lady. There were papers all over the floors. He had so many books, he must be very smart. The only picture of someone else was a little blond boy.

" Take her clothes off," the man said.

" What?" I asked.

" I need to look at her entire body to make sure she isn't infected. This isn't something romantic, it's a routine checkup."

" No."

" You asked for my help and I'm giving it to you. I need to see all her body to do the checkup."

" I'm not looking."

He ripped Amber's clothes off. He was enticed by her underage body, a prick as well as a doctor. I believed he could still heal Amber, but I didn't want any part in how he was treating her, so I escaped into the next room.

I opened a window. It was freezing cold outside. It wasn't the weather I remembered. Sure it was cold, but I remember feeling very toasty outside. All that heat could have been just been more hobos using trash bins for their fires. The reason I opened the window was to take a smoke. I know what some of you think, I am too young to be smoking and it will destroy my lungs one day, but I find that are taking a smoke my lungs feel better.

Can this doctor really help Amber? Will she have any brain damage when she wakes up? Why do I care so much about her? She has been nothing but mean to me since the day I met her. She ran away when her friends were taken away. Dad told me it was better for a kid to be a coward than a hero, but I think anyone can be a hero no matter how small.

" Who do you work for?!" A voice yelled in the other room. I recognized that voice immediately as Amber's.

I left the window startled by that loud noise and ran as fast as I could to see what the commotion was about. When I got there I saw Amber, who was fully awake and standing up, choking the doctor. She was fully clothed by the way so the doctor didn't do anything bad yet. But less on that and more as to why she was choking the doctor!

" I don't work for anyone!" The doctor cried with Amber still choking him.

Amber head-butted the doctor with her strong head. Blood spattered out his nose and on Amber's forehead. She continued to head-butt him holding his neck with her arm. She kept head-butting him even when he fell down and his facial bones looked broken. I tried to stop her...

" If you come any closer...I'll carry you both to hell!" She shouted sounding like a completely different person.

What happened to the girl I met at the homeless kid sight? Sure that girl was a thief who only carried about herself but she wasn't a murderer like this one. I hardly recognized Amber when she was done...his face red from his insides showing and not a hint of skin left...looked at me licking her hands and wiping the blood off like sugar.

" What are you standing around for? You're burning daylight."

" It's still dark out," I said, not knowing why I said it to begin with.

" Hmf. I guess we'll have to work in moonlight."

" On what?"

" Taking all the medicine in this old man's home, his money, and anything we can pawn than we'll burn down this home."

Amber was pushing me around. She was pushing me around like one of her dolls. I couldn't take anymore of it. I ran at her and punched that selfish, no feelings, heartless girl in her face. I punched her so hard she fell back and fell into that doctor's table. I instantly wanted to apologize. I felt terrible, but it didn't make me feel good when she got close to me and punched me in my face. She was surprisingly strong despite her petite stature.

We started fighting like boxers. I got close to punch her and she punched me. It was wrong and it was totally uncalled for, but it felt surprisingly good when I hit her. Her face was strong like iron. It explains why when she did that head-butt it hurt the doctor so much. I wasn't exactly thrilled about hitting a girl. She was poor and not well...why did I hit her.

" Stop!" I yelled. I stopped fighting but she roundhouse me so hard I felt like my gums were bleeding into my tooth. She looked like she wanted to hit me again, but I flinched. " We have to stop fighting. Stealing is going to get us arrested."

" Look around you!" She yelled. " We are already going to prison!"

" Maybe we won't. Think about it. This doctor is obviously out cold. He'll wake up and mistake all this as a bad hangover. But if we steal anything he'll call the cops on us and they'll dust our prints. We could be arrested."

" We are children. They won't arrest us. They'll send us to an orphanage because we don't have any parents."

" We don't have to go to an orphanage. If we stay together and don't steal anything there's a chance we can get out of here unharmed. I just want you to know partnering with you is something I normally would not do."

" You're not exactly my first choice for a homeless buddy but sure we can stay together."

(Amber's) POV

This kid thinks I was the damsel in distress. He thinks that lunatic got me and I was going to die without his help. He has no idea what really happened in that fight. I saw him try to save me, and like the anticlimactic reality, I saw him get shot in the chest. That bullet should have killed him. I saw lots of orphans get shot and none of them survive a bullet like that.

After that lunatic told the kid he was going to spare his life he stabbed him with his knife. Right through his shoulder. It may have been the fear that made him miss the perfect strike.

That lunatic is still alive and will probably not be forgiving about what this kid has done.

Like it or not I was stuck with him. He already found me once who says he won't find me again. Look at him. He's like a scared little kid who wants to find his mommy. It's so hard to leave him alone. You just want to carry him like a baby and tickle him. I remember how he uses a knife as his weapon. As long as I stay far away from him he can't stab me with that knife.

" Where are we going?" He asked when we passed a building with the sign 'closed' over the door.

" Home," I replied. That's what I said, but I didn't know if I still had a home. I know I have dogs, I don't know if they are still alive, but if they are still alive they're probably wondering where their buddy is.

" Amber," he said with a choked voice. " That guy just ate a moldy sandwich! We are not going to eat that, are we?"

" Luckily for you that will never happen. I know all the places where we can good grub."

I didn't tell him I was stealing from restaurants. I'll tell him I bought them with my own money, which I won't. If he finds out about what I'm doing I'll say I took them from terrible people and I felt bad afterwards. He's a kid. Kid's fall for every sob story they hear. He even thinks I'm the same age as him. I'm nine and he's seven. I'm faster than him and wiser than him; and the police can't
even catch me.

Here we were, the rundown building no one lives in but me. I had to go into the room first without Alex. No I wasn't making him sleep outside the door. Someone had to talk to Roger and Wolf to make sure they know Alex isn't a threat. After that joker showed up, and the multitudes of people who want me dead I wouldn't be surprised if a seven year old made them nervous. The room boomed with dog barks.

" Bark! Bark!"

Wolf and Roger ran towards me ready to bite my face off my jaw, but realized it was me. They stopped barking and started licking me. Poor poaches. They must have been worried.

" I'm okay," I laughed knowing they wouldn't stop licking me until I gave them a treat. " Here's your treats." I ran out of dog treats to give them, and so the only thing I could give them was a Roulex I stole from that doctor. It looked like it was made of real gold...but anything that costs $15.99 couldn't be made of actual gold. The funny thing is even though it was cheap I would have kept it anyways.

" You can come right in now." Alex slowly pushed open the door. The fool. Everyone knows dogs can react to even the slightest sound—know when a person sneaks in through the door—and he was giving Wolf and Roger time to stop chewing.

" Roger, no!" I shouted pointing my finger at him.

Wolf never listened to me the same way as Roger. I had to put two hands on him and squeeze his neck. That always calmed him down. Alex entered with no problems from my dogs.

" Welcome to my paradise."

He didn't think my home was a paradise. And who could blame him? This was absolutely and positively the worst place to live. I mean that from experience. I've lived in toilet stalls, behind dumpsters, in the sewers, and in pet stores but this was the worse one of them all. Do I transition to another home. I probably would if Roger and Wolf didn't like to live here.

" It's nice," Alex aid. He didn't sound like it was B.S. " I never stayed in a home before. I always slept in an RV."

" Well this is no RV. There's no couch that turns into a bed, no friendly country people outside, and there's absolutely no moving. This building is over dealer's and pimps. I advise you don't use the toilet here."

" Why?" I forgot to tell him not to step in one bathroom. I stopped him before he got too close.

" The last person who lived here died in the bathroom...on his toilet."

Have I told him enough of things? Have I told him too many? I didn't tell him anything about Wolf and Roger and how he would never be able to warm up to them.

" There's no futons. Half of the food in the fridge have rat poison, and if you hear voices ignore them. The police will show up in that room at twelve. Get some sleep."

( Alex POV)

Sad to say this was the nicest place I ever slept in. It felt like I was staying in a real home and not an RV park. But I badly wanted to smoke. I needed to discard my filthy habit to be a saint in front of Amber. What she doesn't know is the younger you are when you try an addictive substance the higher the addiction will be. If it was alcohol it could even kill me. Now I'm just rambling on. Am sure I have time to go into the roof and take a quick smoke.

Ask me how Amber was sleeping? Think of it this way. She has no bed or futons but isn't sleeping on the floor. She was sleeping on five baseball bats made of metal and snoring because of a septum that needed surgery. Her dog's Wolf and Roger, the names she called them, were sleeping together. Wolf on top of Roger like he was his bed. I tried walking out slow and quiet trying not to make any sound. If you thought that worked, you were wrong. I cut my foot on something sharp. The blood trickled slightly from my foot because my white blood cells became sticky and healed the cut. Something like this would take hours to heal, but it healed in ten seconds. It was amazing and scary.

I went outside to the roof. I was warm and hot from the cigarette in my mouth. It was surprisingly nice out here. Every time I think of night I think of waiting outside your door in the freezing cold. It kind of reminds me of the night I lost my father running through the woods. This is what's been happening: I find a new town, run away from being kidnapped, accidentally kill a fat albino, run into a murdering psychopath, an am now living with someone who doesn't care about me.

" What are you doing up here?" I was discovered! Amber was on the roof and staring at me smoking. She must be angry. " I'm not angry with you," she said as if she could read my mind. " I'm jut asking what you are doing up here."

" I'm just cooling my head. Also, it's a great place to think."

" You can't sleep at night, can you? What kind of nocturnal animal are you trying to be?"

" I wouldn't call myself that? I just find it hard to sleep knowing tomorrow someone might shot me again. I should be in the hospital."

" You can forget about trying to find treatment in the hospital. All the doctors here would rather play golf than help their patients. The police would rather take bribes than stop any dirt bag on the streets. The firefighters will steal your insurance instead of saving your house."

" Maybe there's one good person in this city who will stop this evil and make a good example of this city."

" What do you think I'm doing for this city? I'm taking extra steps to make sure those undeserving, greedy men keep what they need but give to the people who need more. I'm not Robin Hood. I keep twenty percent of the things I steal."

" Do you have family or friends?"

" If you mean family; bunch of uncaring and greedy adults who only marry for money and keep you for the child support, and friends; unhygienic ninety-nine percenter's who hit you for what you have, then yeah, I have those."

" Why do you keep doing that?"

" Doing what?"

" Make everything I say a depressing matter. I want you to say something nice to me."

" I'm going to have to say...no. Since we are both up, and there's only three jobs here that allow seen and nine year olds to have jobs, we will take turns going to sleep."

Every time she said something I wanted to cry. Sometimes there was a particular way to speak to someone.

What could go wrong with following a girl around town trying to find money? A lot of things can happen. She can tell you asking people for money wouldn't work because no one gives kids money. They pay for their meals and toys that's all. Remember the stories where kids are orphans, they lost their parents, and they take you in making you feel like you have a home there? Besides how I want to watch those movies again it would be nice for it to really happen.

We were by the sea. No one was looking at us. Amber was using gloves to go through the fish guts and bird crap to find some money.

" How are we suppose to find any money here?" I asked holding a plastic bag with fish chum on it.

" We wash them and we use a spatula to rub off all the mold. Now get back to searching."

For two long hungry isolated hours we looked for money. All we found was ten dollars. You don't want to know what disgusting things I had touch so I could get this money. In the end it was only enough to buy two cups of coffee.

" Aren't you a little young to be alone?" The woman at the counter asked Amber.

" Aren't you a little old to still be working here?"

Amber was so mean to that lady that she cried and ran out of the store. I would be mortified if I said I didn't know how she felt. We were kicked out of that coffee shop and had to go to a new one. My dad said I am too young for coffee. He says coffee is a drug that will keep me up all night and can have terrible effects on my body. Staying up all night without any kind of sleep was one side effect he never wanted me to have.

Amber worked for money and now she was conning for it. There were cars rushing everywhere in the road. One care almost rammed into another car if that car didn't have his left side open to pull away, otherwise the car would kill him. Amber's plan was for me to walk when the light turns green but fake some kind of unexpected incident like a heart attack or something. The plan was for me to stay in the street faking an accident until a car stopped to check on me. They would open their doors, leaving them unlock so Amber could sneak in and steal all their valuables. I did what she said and it was absolutely evil. We were just robbing poor working adults who were on their way to feed their families. My acting was bad but I followed everything she said until the police took us in.

" A little young to be scamming people on the road, aren't we?" The investigator said looking at us like common criminals.

" How old are you?" Amber said turning a bad situation into a worse situation. " Too young to dress up as a police officer. Don't you have an essay to finish?"

" This is a warning. The next time we catch you stealing, you're going to spend Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Years with other troubled kids like you."

All day. We spent ten hours outside doing the things homeless people did for money. We looked in trash cans, waited at AMV's for people to drop money, clothes stores looking for money, and even looked in the cracks on side walks for money. At the end of the day all we had was eleven-fifty. I say this whole day was long, hard, and made me miss being in that RV with my family. Amber wasn't done with me. She bought two hot dogs and dragged me to the roof of our hotel. We sat down on the ledge watching the sun still up and seagulls who flew to this town by mistake flying away.

" I love this town," she said taking a bite of her hot dog. " We have a love and hate relationship. I love the beauty of this town in the morning and I hate the ugliness of it at night. I can get a disease while walking in this town at night. It's always cold winds and hot showers. It is searing my teeth out with its bitterness."

" Yeah. It sounds like an awful place to be born in," I said. " You must hate being born here like the rest of these people."

" Speak for yourself. I wasn't born in this town. I escaped here. I was born in New York City."

" Really?"

" What, I don't speak with a one hundred percent American accent?"

" It's not that. I hope you can forgive me for saying that."

" Too late for that."

" But how did you end up here."

" There's a train in this town believe it or not. People leave money around and no one asks why a kid wants to take a train; they are longer than planes and more expensive. The only things people like about them are the refreshments. I had the advantage. People don't think I'm smart enough to survive, but I never needed help."

" Do you have any idea what you've done?"

" Let's see...I became a runaway. Running is a matter of speaking. I'm more like a rider. Here's one life lesson, marriage doesn't always mean love. As I told you my mother only married my father because he was rich. Mother gave him sex to keep his mind away from her nefarious scheme. I was born as part of her plan for extra money. After my dad lost the divorce case and I was to never see him again I spent my five years to seven years being raised by my awful mother and her four idiot brothers. There was my uncle Frank who was a con artist. My Uncle Jacob who told me the best meat is alligator meat and we went to the swamp every day to kill one. My uncle Furry..."

" Wait, wait, wait, wait. You have a uncle named Furry?"

" Yeah, why?"

" Doesn't that come off as a little, I don't know, weird?"

" Yes. People liked to call Furry Micro because of a very small scar on his right hand you'd have to be under a microscope to see. He got it in his office. He's a con man too and he may or may not be a gangster. And there's my Uncle George...he's responsible for all my nightmares. My four uncles made me feel like I have the worse life even though we are rich. It seems money can't help my problems. However my mom never had trouble taking money from my hard working father. I finally escaped from prison..."

" Prison?"

" My house. I escaped from prison and went to my father's house. He moved on with another family. It was bye-bye Amber, don't bother giving me a cookie. You...You Alex...Are going to be with me forever and ever. And that is so sad I wish I drown myself in the Pierre."

" Amber, it's good to talk to you. But you didn't get to hear about my story. I don't know what I am. Grandpa calls me a Diclonius. He said the reason they didn't kill me at birth was my ears were normal. Often my family liked to travel. We lived in an RV. I've been around most of America and Japan. I have brothers and my grandpa following me with my mom and dad. But my family was kidnapped and I think my dad is dead. You know, I thought he would be the last one to get kidnaped. Almost, but it was me who was kidnapped. I have never stolen anything in my life until I came to this town. You're turning me into some kind of kleptomaniac. I can't go t the police and I don't have anywhere to run. It feels like I'm a mole stuck in the ground. I also have this tick where I can't speak very loud. What should I do?"

" Go to a therapist and tell them that because I don't care. You're just another one of my dogs I keep around."

Amber was never going to change. She made me miss being in the toy store with those other kids more and more. I didn't see those kids anymore. I guess the police finally helped them get to an orphanage. Lucky.

( No One's POV)

In the biggest hotel in this town there was an underground lab where chemicals were kept in barrels, goons with guns walked around, and a person who really gave the meaning to "mad scientist" worked. He had an egg shaped bald head with hair everywhere but the spike in his head. He wore small glasses and had two very buck teeth a beaver would be envious of. He wore a white lab coat with a black tie. And he wore plastic red gloves over his hands. He was in a control room which was a glass tube around his body with a vinyl record playing his favorite music.

We travel through the bloodstream.

It's possible we are an egg

We go hunting for your blood

We ate a dead face

Bring back the...

The professor was working on an experiment. The first test he nailed one hundred fish on the wall outside his glass case. In just a few moments all those fishes would turn into fish guts.

" A Diclonius is born with four invisible arms. More show up if that Diclonius has been experimented on. We all know the Diclonius grow up to be a violent race, but do people possess a pheromone that controls their desire to kill?"

The professor pressed a red button on his control panel. In just a moment the doors where the fish were pinned to the wall opened and someone walked out. She was naked, one black eye, cuts over her body, and one bump over her head. Her hair was dark pink and covered her red eyes that looked crimson and fell to her throat. She looked human, but one ear on her right side looked like an elf-esque gray tumor.