Reflex froze. The thing with the amber eyes froze as well.

It was on a branch, pressed against the trunk. It wasn't moving, but it was on all fours. The shadows covered it, draping over it like a blanket. She couldn't see anything on it but the eyes.

But Reflex knew that orange amber color that filled its eyes. It was the same that Erasers' had, the burning gold amber that showed they were either transformed or close to it. And here she was, stuck in a tree with an Eraser who could see her. She briefly considered inching backward to jump out of the tree, but the Eraser could leap down in a second and be upon her without a second's hesitation.

A soft growl spread throughout the trees, very deep. Reflex flinched, staring back at the amber eyes. She knew from her first fight in the Arena that staring into some animal's eyes meant they took it as a challenge. She wasn't going down without a fight.

But it was then that she noticed the pupils.

They weren't the round black things that Erasers had, ones that took up most of their eye. Instead, these were thin, like cuts across the eyes. Slitted pupils.

She had slitted pupils.

The shape was still frozen, but Reflex angled her head ever so slightly to catch more light to let her see through the shadows. And then she saw the clothing, dirty and muddy as it was, it still had the blinding white color she knew well.

The shape across of her was a mutant.

Hesitantly, claws fully unsheathing and digging into the tree and ears flicking every which way, Reflex steadied herself both mentally and physically. Then she started to crawl out of the shadows on her branch. The light hit her like a literal weight, the new feeling strange and unnatural.

She couldn't go very far, the branch she was on not very thick or long, but it was enough. The light bullied its way through the leaves to hit her head and let her caracal features to be seen. Licking her lips with her sandpaper tongue, she let her ears extend up from where they had been close to flattened across her skull. They waved slightly in the wind, identifying her as something definitely not Eraser or whitecoat. And then she waited.

There was a pause that seemed to drag on for hours, her eyes narrowing when the shape didn't move. Her hind legs tensed, ready to jump to the ground, when the owner of the amber eyes slowly came into the light. It moved slowly, as if testing its weight against the branch. Its eyes never strayed from her face.

It was a mutant, she could tell that almost immediately. And it was something hadn't ever seen up close; another cat mutant, like her. It that had escaped into the trees like her and, looking closer, she could see claw marks ripped into the bark of the tree that it was perched on.

It was a boy as well, which she glossed over quickly before returning to what she could see of his face.

Tan fur, much lighter and thicker than her own, covered his face, with small black spots around the edges of his face. His fur was slightly thicker than her fur, almost fluffy, but she could see that there was less overall. Her fur covered every square inch of her, and she knew that that was because she had so much caracal DNA in her. This mutant didn't seem to have nearly as much as 11%.

The eyes were surrounded by thick black lines that circled around his eyelashes before stretching out to part of his face. And then she saw his ears; giant, pointy things that poked out from his shaggy brown hair. They were shorter than hers but no less amazing. Cat ears!

She hissed softly across the gap between them, cat ears twitching on her head. Her instincts were going wild inside of her, crazed by the sight of someone like her. He nodded slowly, hissing back at her. His hiss was a bit lower than hers, but they both understood what it meant. He had the same fangs as she did, though they didn't appear to show when his mouth was closed, unlike hers.

"I go by Ace." His voice was rough from disuse, but it had the slight undertone rumbling that was in hers. One ear flicking back, he settled on his haunches. A crack echoed from his neck when he rolled it.

"Animal?" She asked, claws slowly pulling back into her paws. The wood between them was twisted and mangled, covered in deep marks that were as deep as an inch. She mirrored his motion and went to the more comfortable position.

Ace cocked his head to one side, ears twitching softly. Then his eyes widened and he nodded. "Serval," he said back. "You?"

"Caracal. I go by Reflex." She eyed up Ace's branch, which was only a few feet away from hers. It was thick, but covered in the same claw marks that were on her own. Watching Ace's hands, she could see the barest hint of claws poking out from beneath the light dusting of fur on them.

He nodded, but they were both staring rather awkwardly at each other. Reflex ducked her head, staring at the ground below them. She couldn't stay in the trees forward; the Erasers' would come back and she couldn't trick them twice by being in a tree. Her smell - and Ace's would send them shooting right up onto their branch to kill them.

Her back legs tensed, eyes boring into the ground. She straightened slightly, putting her feet beneath her. Then, with a deep breath, she jumped off the branch and onto the ground.

The impact sent waves of shock shooting up her legs, but she stuck her arms out and kept her balance. Her feet had sunk a half an inch into the softer dirt, and she pulled them out, the pads on her feet twinged.

A thump echoed next to her and she yelped, claws extending. She spun around to face whatever had happened.

It was Ace, staring at her almost sheepishly. He too had jumped down from the tree, landing a bit too close for comfort next to her.

"What are you doing?" She whispered to him, the forest seeming much more alive and deadly when she was on the ground. Her ears were flicking wildly, and she couldn't make them stop if she wanted to.

Ace bit his lip softly, fangs pressing into the surface but not breaking it. "I want to come with you," he offered up. Reflex cocked her head in confusion. He continued, ears pressing lower and lower to his head.

"Neither of us have any experience in the wild. We both won't make it very long; we'll either be killed by Erasers or die of starvation or something."

Reflex nodded, understanding it even if she didn't want to. It was a worrying thought; make it out of the School only to die by not being able to survive out of there.

"But if we work together, we'll make it longer. One of us can hunt while the other defends, and then we can survive, even if only for a little longer." As he spoke, Ace's shoulders hunched in slightly on himself, but his amber eyes were still staring up at her, full of determination. "I don't want to die unless I can't do anything about it."

Reflex couldn't do much but stare at the impressive speech she had just been given. It had been something he must have just thought up, but it filled her with hope, and she couldn't ever turn him away after that.

"Let's go then, Ace."She said softly, offering him a hand. He took after a second, both of their pads hitting each other. She smiled at him through a mouth of fangs.

Ace turned, looking over the ground. His ears were up and he was sniffing the air, searching for the Erasers. It was then that Reflex noticed he was missing something.

"Where's your tail?" She asked, head tilting to one side. Her own short tail flicked around to her front, swishing by her hip. Ace sighed unhappily, straightening up to face her.

"I'm only 6% Serval," he explained. "That wasn't enough for a tail."

Reflex bowed her head slightly, tilting it away. She joined in his search for the Erasers' footprints, back tingling. Her tail was part of her; she couldn't imagine not having one.

It wasn't that hard to tell which way the Erasers' had gone; their giant pawprints and indents of claws were marked deeply into the ground. Jumbled among them were the lighter prints of mutants, some embedded with claw points of scale marks or even webbed feet. She turned to one side, going into the forest and away from the tamed path. The Erasers' hadn't gone this way, so if they moved quickly they could be gone before they came back.

"Reflex?" A soft voice startled her, jerking her into full wariness. Her fur bristled and her tail shot out, fangs bared. Reflex hissed loudly, ears jerking from side to side to try and find out what had spoken. Ace tightened next to her, ears pinned back and claws extended.

A black shape was positioned up on a tree off to one side, clinging a way up the trunk. It was inching down, placing one foot below the other. Reflex felt her muscles tense for every inch the shape lowered itself.

Then the glimpse of blonde curly hair caught her vision, and soon the blinding white clothing of mutants. It was scuffed and dirty around the edges, but still noticeable. Not an Eraser. She relaxed, but only minutely.

It was then that the blue and yellow spots etched onto the mutant's skin came to light that she cocked her head, confused.

"Neon?" She asked softly, inching out farther on her branch to catch another sight of the poisonous mutant.

The girl's black eyes widened, and she tucked herself closer to the tree. Reflex could see her fingers and toes pressed to the surface of the bark, but she wasn't falling. She had attached herself to the tree without claws. Reflex cocked her head, staring intently at the girl's hands.

Neon nodded slowly, inching further down the tree, coming to rest only a foot or so above the ground. She was tucked incredibly close to bark as if she was trying to mold herself to it.

Ace had jumped back, startled, when Neon had spoken and come into the light. He was leaning over to her tree, face turned towards hers. His nose twitched rapidly.

Suddenly his mouth drew up in a wince, and he moved slightly back. Eyes scrunched and closed, he asked her "Poisonous?"

Neon nodded again, though he couldn't see her. "Yes." Her eyes were averted and down to the side, but her posture was alert and her head flicked in each direction every few seconds.

Ace sucked in a hissed breath, but he shook himself roughly, letting the light fur dusted over his body puff out. He looked both directions, but nothing else seemed to catch his attention.

Reflex hissed, in the same manner she had to Ace, head turned towards Neon. Slowly she padded forward, claws slightly returning to her paws.

Neon stuck to the shadows of her tree, but she didn't move away. Her black eyes flicked over Reflex, before she pushed suddenly off the tree and came to meet the ground. She scanned the area around her, but there was nothing that leapt out at her.

"I'd like to join you too." She said quietly. Her attention was fixed on Ace, eyes partially closed as if she could still hear his speech. "I'm very good at defending."

She held up one arm, bringing the pale splotches over her body to better light. Reflex nodded, a slight memory of being paralyzed flitting to the surface of her mind.

Yes, she was all too aware of how good Neon was at defending.

"So we're together?" Ace asked suddenly. "Two cats and one poisonous mutant?" He grinned at them, fangs peeking out through his lips. "I wonder how this is going to turn out."

Reflex couldn't help but smile.


And here is the next chapter! Here are three of the five to six characters that will be in the main group. These are the only three that have been set in stone, but the rest are still up to you!

Quick note; if you really like another character that someone else made, you can vote for the character! I will take those OCs more seriously, so that's always a good idea!

Please review!

Frost OUT!