A/N: I'm so sorry for the delay you guys, I realize its been like 4 years since my last update. I got an email yesterday about how a member, alexb98, had not only favorited and followed my story, but also myself. I then saw how this story actually had 7 favorites, 5 follows, and 11 reviews, and thought about how I was letting both myself and you guys down by not at least attempting to continue. And thanks to everyone who took the time to do that. It really did mean a lot to me. Anyways, on with the story. If you have the time and desire, please let me know what you think of this. I love hearing the different viewpoints
Kevin stared after the slim, retreating form of Gwen. She may have just nearly killed him, but he felt a blossoming in his stomach, almost as if the seeds of hope he had tried for so long to nourish were finally beginning to grow. A hybrid as powerful as her had to be able to get him out of this hellhole. He was tired of this place. Tired of hearing the echoes of pain throughout the night, as having super hearing combined with his oath to secrecy quickly became a weary load. When his thoughts inevitably turned to escape once again, it was Allan who interrupted his thoughts.
"Yo Kev, I call dibs on that one. She may look sweet, but she's a real feisty one. Definitely not bad to look at either! Nothing else to do in this hole anyways." Allen finished with a smirk.
Kevin stared at his friend, eying him down. Allan may have been the closest thing he had to a friend here but his arrogance was a pretty major flaw. Allan was the son of a Pyronite, so his skin always looked flushed a slight red and just standing near him was like being near a furnace. Kevin had long ago leaned, after multitudes of singed clothing and hair, not to make Allan angry.
"Sure bro. She's all yours." Kevin said a bit reluctantly. He may not know this anodite very well, but he intended to change that. At this they both headed down to their cells before curfew was called, trying to ignore the new and growing tension between them.
The Next Day
The next morning my doors unlocked precisely at 8:00, and I hurried down to the cafeteria. As I crossed through the metal doors I had to stop and take in the new surroundings. Straight off, I noticed that there appeared to be some sort of division in the mess hall. Most of the tables sat in a normal formation evenly placed across the spacious room, but there was a distinct exception of a six tables placed at the center; those were slightly raised and blocked off to the general prison population. I saw Kevin and the rest of the group I'd been training with in that special section. They were all in the same blue jumpsuit as my own, but I quickly noted that the normal attire for everyone else was actually orange. Suddenly the guard closest to me interrupted my musings.
"Move along Prisoner E," he said grimly "You'll be placed with the rest of the E section at the center. Get a move on, you're holding up the entryway."
"Uh, I'm sorry, mister." I stammered. I mentally smacked myself at how weak and pathetic I sounded. But this guard was well over six feet, and like Nolaku he had an uncanny resemblance to a giant fish. Unlike Nolaku, this Guard didn't seem friendly at all. There was a harsh tint to his dark eyes.
"You will refer to me as Creulon or Guard, anodite. Now move, or I will enjoy watching you face the consequences of insubordination." The malicious smirk on his face left no doubt to the truth in that statement. I shuddered internally and decided to try and stay away from that horrible alien guard.
I quickly made my way to the beginning of the food line, towards the back. The girl in front of me turned around and smiled then held out her hand. I shook it while noticing that she wore an orange suit that contrasted to my blue, like the majority of the prisoners that shuffled around me.
"Hey there, chica. My name's Isabelle. You can call me Isa. How's the first day going? I know things can be pretty rough at first." Isa said all this with a smile but there was a glimmer of understanding in her dark eyes. Her dark hair tumbled in uncontrollable curls around her, but the diamond-like sheen that surrounded her skin and literally made her sparkle betrayed her alien heritage.
I had to smile back at the first person who'd truly tried to help me out since I'd been stolen away to this horrid place. "My name is Gwen. I'm going all right, I guess. It was really bad last night but I'm about the best I can be under the circumstances.. I am really worried about my parents though. I've been too frightened so far to ask any of the guards-Do we ever get to see them? And why are we here? Where is here? I didn't even do anything wrong! I don't deserve to be in this place, this ghastly prison.." I was becoming increasingly more hysterical until Isa put her arm around me and gently tried to hush me. We had reached the end of the line undeterred by my ramblings, and the prisoners around us were looking at me with looks ranging from pity to annoyance.
"Calm down girl. First of all, you should know none of us here really deserve to be here. The warden gets paid by some Alien Council to keep us under control, to keep earth "as safe as possible". The way we get treated is crap, but most of us can understand why this place is necessary. Once you turn at 18 and are deemed acceptable to rejoin society, they let us go. And your parents will be notified that you're safe, but they'll have no idea where you are. Danger of discovery and all that junk. Now calm down and head over with the rest of the E's, okay? I don't want the any of the guards locking you in solitary for disruption of peace." Isa grabbed her tray and walked away from me, giving me a reassuring smile as she sashayed to a table full of orange-clad prisoners.
I glanced down and noticed that my tray had become full beyond my notice. I thanked the strange looking pink alien lunch lady, and turned towards what I had dubbed the blue section.
I was instantly greeted by Allan as I walked up the couple of steps to reach this special E platform. The six tables each fit around six people each. The table with Allan, Kevin, and the other trainees from yesterday was the only one with an empty space.
"Hey Gwen, how's it going hot stuff? I saw you talking with that reg; it looked like things were getting pretty heated." Allan wore the same look I had seen on many of the jocks at my old school. It was a look that said he was better than everyone else and was just waiting for me to realize how great he was. I could literally feel my annoyance level rising.
"Yeah I was talking to her, what's the big deal? Her name is Isa. What is a reg? Are you trying to insult her?" My voice was getting heated at this perceived insult to my new friend. Allan's eyes widened slightly and he raised his hands in mock submission.
"Calm down sweetheart! A reg is what we call the regular prisoners; you know the ones with the orange jumpsuits? They call us eno's, we call them reg's. That's the way it's always been. It was weird seeing you talk to a reg because we never really talk to them. Kind of like alien segregation, I guess. Now will you take a chill pill? Come sit down with the group."
I followed him to the table and was greeted by the people who would become my team.
"Hey Gwen!" The twins Anne and Beth spoke in unison, which I was starting to realize was the norm.
"Greetings." The monotonous voice of Belle greeted me from beneath her dark hair, as she hadn't even bothered to raise her head. Some people just weren't early risers, but I had a feeling this was more to do with Belle's antisocial nature than anything.
"Sup." Kevin's hello was the shortest, but he added a half smile that made me want to quirk my lips in return, and I gladly sat next to him.
"So you guys, I've taught Gwennie all about our little alien hierarchy here. Anything else we wanna add before we head to our next lesson?" Allan began.
"Watch you're back," Anne began, "And we'll try and watch it too." Beth finished. "That's what teams do." They completed their advice together.
"Each of these tables is a team of sorts." Kevin explained "Ours is the Zeta team. Sixth down the row, lucky us."
"At least there hasn't been a fade here for a while." Belle spoke up monotonously.
"Yeah, we'd need to be higher ranked for that. Our team isn't near powerful enough for that." Allen added. I had just about of enough of the obscure phrases by then.
"Uh, guys? Care to explain anything you just mentioned? Like what's a fade? Why do we need to be powerful?"
Kevin was the one to once again explain the mysterious ways of my new home. "Sorry Gwen, sometimes we talk without remembering how little you know yet. A fade is when an eno basically passes out. It can get pretty bad, most get taken to the medical wing. Sometimes your body can shut down all but the necessary functions for a couple of days. Nobody knows why it happens, but it usually happens to a member of the team that performs best at the Trial. Trials happen at the end of every week, and determine how powerful and cohesive your team is. The warden says he uses it to" measure our control" and such, but ultimately it's just a test of powers used to decide the team that wins, and they get privileges for the rest of the week. Gwen, welcome to Team Zeta, the group that never wins the Trial." Kevin finished with a wink that showcased how unbothered he was about this fact. But when Gwen looked at the rest of the team, especially Allan, she noticed the disgruntled look on their faces. Apparently these privileges were really worth it. Looking at the group that had welcomed her in so readily, Gwen decided to try her absolute best to win this perplexing "Trial" for her group.
"All this is is fine and dandy, but we really need to get to our first lesson or the teach will give us another detention. You're gonna love what's coming up next Gwen, you're going to learn about your heritage and how to begin to control your powers." Kevin leaned in for his final words, whispering them so low that nobody but our group had a hope of hearing them. "Then we can truly begin to work on our escape."
The thought of learning how to manipulate these cursedly strong powers combined with the hope of seeing my parents again put a smile on my face. So when Kevin held out his hand I graciously took it, heading with these new friends towards my unknown future.
