"I cant believe you got in the car with him! You don't even know him", I scream furiously at her, making her flinch. Did I really scare her so much?
"He said he knew you", she says in a small voice. "If an old man said he knew the president, would you get in the car with him?" I screech. "No...",she whispers. She suddenly becomes very interested in her shoes, not taking her eyes off them, shiny with tears.
"Then why would you-",I start to say, but Liam cut me off rudely.
"She asked me if I was a W.C. and I'm sure she meant werecat and not Wrestle Champion so I said yeah. I said my name was Liam and she started asking allot of questions. Speaking of which, why did you tell her?", he asks coolly. I glare at him.
"She's my best friend. What was I supposed to do? I couldn't lie to her! I did in the beginning but I cant keep it up", I confess. It's the strait out truth. I'm full of confessions tonight. "Okay. I get it. But you cant let Vrent know about this. I don't know what he would do", Liam warns. "Where are you taking us?", I sigh. Liam smiles with a thoughtful look in his eyes.
"Where?", I ask more threatenfuly. "Clove is going to a hotel and your going to go scouting with me", he says thoughtfully. "No! This was OUR girls night out. And you just snatched us from a club!", I say. "Don't yell! I have excellent hearing too. Your going to make me deaf. And you are going to help me. You own me this. For finding you on the side of the road, for giving you water, for taking you to the Pride, for warning you about the Hunters, and for getting you away from that guy", Liam says. Oh HELL no. He did NOT just play that card on me. No matter what, I wont go scouting with him. Not tonight. "Fine", I agree. Hey, what can I say? I respect owes.
Liam drives us to a hotel for Clove. We get her a room and he gives her the money for her to pay the hotel. Afterwards, Liam drives me and him to the place where we are supposed to be scouting.
"Are we watching out for Hunters and werewolves, or are we making sure Hunters don't mess with a younger werecat? ",I ask Liam as he parks his car in a ditch. "We're watching a kid. She's the only kid we ever have to watch. Your the newest member to the Pride since I joined. This girl is almost 13,so we'll only have to keep watching her for a little while longer", he explains.
I nod my head in understanding. We get out of the car. I watch as Liam puts the key back in the wheel. "Come on", he says.
We walk through the forest pretty much all the way to the other side, and stop. A road is in front of us, a house on either side. We are in a neighborhood. The kind where every single home looks the same inside and out. With no trees, shrubs, or ponds. Just perfect little flower beds. I like to call them Cookie-Cutter houses. Don't ask me why we went through the woods when there is a freaking road right in front of us. Liam is the leader of our little partnership, and i shall follow. We walk to a large mulberry tree with really thick limbs, climb to the first branch, and sit side-by-side each other.
"So what exactly are we supposed to do?", I ask him after a couple of boring minutes. "Watch the house. Duh ",he says sarcastically.
"Oh...well you wana play a game? Its called the Alphabet Game", I ask him. He looks about to refuse but changes his mind. "What a stupid name. But fine. How do you play?", he asks with no interest. "We just have to have a conversation and every first word's first letter has to be in alphabetical order. And whoever messes up first,losses. You go first",i say cheerily.
"Apples are good", he says blandly.
"Bananas are better".
"Can we start a different subject that's not boring?"
"Defiantly".
"Eventually, will you leave the Pride?", he asks.
"For right now, no".
"Good, I like having company".
"How come you didn't ever partner with anyone else?".
"I didn't want to have to share the quiet time".
I cant think of anything else to say so i decide to go random.
"Jokers are weird". Liam looks at me surprised but catches on.
"Kangaroos jump high".
"Liam likes this game?"
"Maybe".
"Now I don't feel like I'm forcing you to play anymore". Before, I felt like he didn't want to play.
"Okay, well this tree is hurting my butt". I giggle at his joke.
"Please don't complain".
"Quit telling me what to do".
"Really, scouting isn't fun".
"You get used to it", he slips.
"I win", I say with a smug smile. "What? Oh, dang it", he says. I liked playing that game with him. Even though it lasted like five minutes.
"You know you still have that makeup and nice clothes on. And your sitting in a TREE", Liam teases. I look down at myself. I'm still wearing my black strapless shirt, shorts, and converses. "So?", I ask indignantly. "No reason. You look pretty though", he says. Im glad he cant see me blush scarlet in the dark. Well…actually he can. Damn.
"Thank you", I whisper, embarrassed. Whoa. Was Liam this close before? I wonder. And I notice him getting closer to my face... Then WHAM! Somehow mine and Liam's lips are together.
I pull back and look at him, surprised and somewhat worried. I see rejection in his eyes; he thinks I don't want to kiss him. Oh, how wrong he is. I feel guilty. I close my eyes and kiss him, slow and steady. Like a heartbeat. His lips are warm and soft. Not what you would expect of a boy that lives in a cave.
My hands tangle in his dark hair. He kisses me back, but not with the same gentleness that I'm using. He seems sort of urgent, demanding. I can say that I enjoy this. Us moving our lips together, only parting them for milliseconds. He starts to kiss me quicker, causing me to take short, ragged breaths. I wrap my arms around Liam's neck; he puts his hands on my waist,gently pulling me closer. There's not an inch of air between us. I wish I know why all of a sudden he decided to kiss me. But I'm surely not holding back. Why should I? He's hot, nice, sweet, funny. And I actually have started getting feelings for him. So why not?
He slides his tongue over my bottom lip. I let him deepen our kisses. Both mine and his tongue battle for dominance. I laugh a little, grossed out by our mixed drool.
"What?", Liam murmurs against my lips, smiling. "There's drool on your chin", I giggle. He quickly brushes it away. Amazing that we can have a conversation and kiss at the same time. I start to straddle his waist, trying to get a better angle, but something is thrown on me.
My eyes fly open to see an itchy, black net thrown over me and Liam. He tries to throw it off of us, but something is holding it down. I glance at the ground and see about ten people handling the net we are in. They are holding the ends of it. A truck's lights are focused on them, giving them and eerie look. They tug on it roughly and we come tumbling to the ground.
Ouch.
I twist and squirm to get free but hands hold me down.
"Stop! Please. Why are you doing this?", I scream. These people defiantly aren't Hunters, but what would they want with two kids making out in a freaking tree? I only have one idea of what they would want. The people pick me up and throw my into a white van. I thought most kidnappers had black vans, right? I see Liam being in thrown next to me. "What's going on?" I ask him.
He looks panicky. "I don't know. Maybe they are Hunters, maybe they are just random people", he says. "Random people who kidnap?" I squeak. Smoke starts to blur my vision. I cough and cover my mouth, but id does no use. It smells sickly sweet. Like sweet and sour sauce. A strange comparison. I start getting drowsy, and I realize what the smoke is. Sleeping gas. Or something related it , because sleeping gas doesn't have a color to it. "Wha...?" Liam falls asleep, with me right after him.
"Wake up. Come on. Wake up!", a man yells in my strong ears. Damn him. He probably broke my eardrum. I slowly open my eyes groggily. Everything looks blurry for a sec but then everything clears. I'm laying on a cold, metal tabletop. The kind you see in a doctor's office.
A doctor's office?
Bright light cause me to squint. I wish the lights are off. There is bleeping and a low vibration in the chill air. I get goosebumps. Liam is awake on a steel table next to me, too. He frowns at me. I struggle to sit up, but I something is stopping me. I look at my arms. Black, velcro straps restrain me. Same with my legs and torso. Two men are standing over me, staring at me with beady anxious eyes, clipboards in their hands.
Then it all comes back to me. The kissing, the net, the gas... I start pulling on the straps keeping me down. I hear the rapid beeping of my heartbeat on a machine. "Let me go!", I scream. I kick my feet and bang my head against the table, seeing stars. "Now don't do that. That's bad", one of the men command. "Don't talk to me like I'm a child!", I snap at him.
The man's face lights up in fury. Liam is shaking his head. Before I can decipher what he means, a stinging pain hits my right cheek. I chock on the air I was about to breath in. The guy just slapped me! How dare he. Who does he think he is? "Where are we?", I ask meekly, tears stinging my hurt cheek. "Home", the other man says. This guy's a complete idiot. I decide to call them Thing 1 and Thing 2. I take a long look around the room. The walls, ceiling, and floor are pure white. There are no windows. Rectangular machines are stacked up neatly against the walls. "Its okay, Star. We'll get out of here", Liam whispers soothingly. I hear the beep of a machine slow down, my heartbeat slowing down. It amazes me that Liam has this much effect over me. After only, what, three days? Four?
What do these people want? They sort of look like doctors. Maybe we are in a hospital. I start wondering if me and Liam did more than just kiss up in that tree... But I don't remember doing anything more. And they wouldn't be treating us like this if that was the case. I doubt these guys are doctors. They have a menacing stare that could kill. No doctor I know is as mean as them either.
A door suddenly opens and a woman steps in. She's wearing an all black business suit, high heels, and her hair is up in a tight bun. She's has this cold, steel feeling to her. I almost laugh when fright crosses Thing 1 and Thing 2's faces.
"Where did you find these two?", the woman asks in a dry voice.
"We found them up in a tree. They were...how should i put this?", Thing 1 asks Thing 2. "Kissing passionately, Mrs. Grace ",he says mockingly.
"Oh, really? We have two lovers? How sweet ",Mrs. Grace sneers. "What can they do?"
They look down at their clipboards. "We have been following the male ever since we saw him change his shape into a big cat, four weeks ago. And we spotted him walking around the forest with the female. We figured she was human until we watched her change into a big cat too ",Thing 2 explains.
"The male is a spotted leopard, and the female is a snow leopard ",Thing 1 informs.
Great. Just great. I was being watched and I didn't even realize it. What does that say about me? That I ignore my surroundings, that's what it says.
"Shape shifters, you say? This is the girl that we created three weeks ago! And I remember this male now. We let them go, to see how they would adapt. My other Facility created these. We created others, but these two are the only ones you've seen? ",she asks. They nod their heads. "Then they have probably died. Get ready to erase their memories. And when you are done, place them in the glass rooms", orders Mrs. Grace. "Erase our memories? You cant do that! Its got to be illegal ",Liam yells.
"We have done it before, young man. Don't you think a tiger changed you into what you are now? Don't you think it was a tiger that bit you? Well it wasn't. We took your real memories and replaced them with that. The true thing that happened to you, is that we added feline DNA to your system",she sneers. "We changed you from the inside out. We even gave you extra strength, something that cats don't possess. Everything about you is advanced now. All of your senses, besides touch. But we gave you both different cat DNA and genes, so you are two different type of leopards. You two were the last ones we made, and the main ones. Leopard blood is the most successful. That's why the other cats we have created died. You two are special. After a year I was going to send out people to get you, but it doesn't matter if your a little early. Have fun not remembering where you came from".
She struts out of the room. I listen as the clicking of her shoes grow quieter and quieter.
Thing 1 and Thing 2 suddenly start pushing mine and Liam's tables out the door. The hallway looks exactly like a hospital. EVERYTHING is white. The ceiling has black speckles on each perfectly shaped square. I focus on one and watch it go by. I do it again, and again, and again.
Until we stop at a bright, neon red door that read 'CAUTION. DO NOT ALLOW UNSUPERVISED CHILDREN ENTER HERE. WILL RESULT IN MEMORY LOSS'. I see someone coming and let out a breath that I didn't know I was holding. Then I see that he wasn't coming to stop Thing 1 and Thing 2. He was just walking by.
My memories will come back I try to convince myself. But i know better.
They push us into the room and I look around. A huge, black machine stands alone against a wall. It looks sort of like a MRI. It is a huge rectangle with four openings. Four screens are right next to the openings.
"Lets put 'em in", Thing 2 says. Thing 1 and 2 easily slide our tables into two of the openings. The only thing I can see is black. But if i lift my head up as high as I can, I can see the light from outside the machine. I give up and rest my head back on the hard table. I'm never getting out of here. Me and Liam are going to be stuck here forever.
What do they want with us? Are they going to let us go again, but this time with no memory. How much of mine will they take? So much that I wont even know how to talk or walk? I certainly hope that isn't so. That would be killing us. That would be just like leaving a baby outside for the night. I start when I hear the machine turn on. It roars, all the parts working. Lines of tiny, blue lights spot the circular wall around me. I struggle one last time, but I still feel weak from the gas.
Suddenly, a gut wrenching pain enters my head. I scream out loud, hurting my own ears. Not even a dinosaur could roar as loud as I am screaming now. I squeeze my eyes tight, tears streaming down my face like rain. I have never felt this kind of pain in my life. Not even when I broke my collar bone while canoeing in rapids with Clove and some other friends. No, this is far worse. It feels like someone is splitting my head in half from the inside with a chainsaw. Though the pain is more mental than physical, because I don't see or smell and blood. I hear Liam screaming in pain on the other side. I start crying. This pain is unbearable. Torture. Far worse than death.
Then...darkness overcomes me.
