www. youtube .com/ watch?v=uuRSMXEZyUg&feature=related


Of course, it started to rain. It felt like an omen.

I silently cursed myself for not grabbing a jacket. The rain left me shivering and drenched, but I trekked through it to the hospital, that, though in walking distance, was a pretty long walk.

I released a sigh of relief when I reached the hospital. Of course, at this hour, only family was allowed in, which meant I had to take a different route. The hospital was relatively small, only about two stories high. The bottom floor was where Simon was, in Room 14.

I guess the rain would help after all.

Carefully hidden in the blackness, I scanned each window for Simon. It was a vulnerable position, as anyone driving down the road would surely see me, but I'd doubt that anyone would do anything about it.

Hmm. I felt a pang of sadness. Well, not sadness, but rather…shame. I looked through these windows for one specific person, over-looking the patients in the beds, hooked up to numerous wires. What were they suffering? Those I overlook, may be the life of some other person. Just how many people had I overlooked in my lifetime?

Too many.

I took a deep breath, and focused on what I was supposed to be doing. Right now, stopping the Geckos was more important then any of their lives, which, though sickening, is true.

Eurkea! Simon. I found him-he looked awake, restless even. He didn't even notice me.

Damn. There's someone else in there with him-another patient; an old, balding guy that looked extremely frail.

Double damn; (where the hell did that come from?) the window's locked.

Ok, decision time. Either knock on the window, and risk the old dude waking up, but get Simon to open it, or pick the lock and risk any alarm system they have (which they probably have) going off.

I'll knock on the window. Maybe the old dude's down under.

So, I knocked, and of course Simon noticed, but the old guy bolted awake. Shit.

I jumped out of the way, moving with carefully honed reflexes. Simon walked over to the window, and opened up, after giving the old man a cautious glance. He was asleep again.

"What the hell?" he muttered softly.

"I'm climbing in through the window of a hospital." I explained, pulling myself through the narrow window. "Shh. You'll wake the old dude."

"His name's Bob." Something about that was kind of funny; I think it was the way he said it. I chuckled slightly.

"Original name…" I slipped a glance in 'Bob's' direction. He looked sound asleep.

"So, why'd you trek through the rain?" he raised an eyebrow. "Miss me?"

"I wanted to apologize for earlier." I whispered. He raised an eyebrow. "Yes, I can be impulsive. Sue me."

"What is there to say your sorry for?" he beckoned me to sit down on the small hospital bed.

"I was kind of a bitch earlier. I mean, you saved my life…" Shit, am I blushing? "And I was just unfair. I thought you were jealous of Lane…but then I realized that there's nothing for you to be jealous over. You didn't know anything about him or our past…" I looked at my feet, knowing it would make me seem vulnerable, but that's how I felt at that moment. "And, Simon…I do care about you." I put my hand on his knee, feeling a smile on my face.

A surge of heat went through me as he placed his hand on my cheek, and turned me to face him.

And then we just…kissed.

Shockingly, he didn't try to grope me or take off my shirt. He just kissed me.

Aww. Sweet.

"Hey! HEY!" Bob yelled. "What are you kids doin'? I'm not sitting in a hospital to watch two kids make out! Nurse! NURSE!"

"Shit!" I cursed, quickly leaping up and striking out at his temples. He immediately fell limp.

"Holy shit…" Simon cursed, eyes wide with astonishment. "You have to teach me how to do that."

"When you get out of this damn hospital, I'll teach you everything I know." I said while flexing my fingers. "The sooner the better…" My eyes shot to the phone, and an idea creeped into my mind. "Uno segundo," I told Simon as I picked up the phone.

I called the hotel, and had them patch me through to Lane's room. "Hey, Lane, when are we leaving the city? I'm gonna try to get Simon out, and I want him to be no where to be found by the time they start looking."

"We were gonna leave at six, but we can leave a bit earlier…four ok? I don't want a sleep-depraved pilot…"

"Perfect. See ya soon." I slammed the phone door, and locked it. If they need to, they can call a locksmith or something in the morning, and opened the window. "Let's get out of here." I commanded.

"Good. I'm sick of this place."

So we climbed out the window, and ran down the street out of the sight of the hospital. It was still pouring rain, and Simon looked extremely uncomfortable in the hospital garb.

"Please tell me there's clothes at the hotel."

"You can borrow some of Lane's clothes. Come on-we should stick to the side streets." I knew it might not have been the best idea to go down alleys in the middle of the night in a city, but I could probably kill anyone that even threatens us and make it look like self-defense.

Once we reached the hotel door, we met our first real obstacle. The man standing at the desk.

"I'll distract him, you slip in and get into the elevator." I told him.

"How are you going to distract him?"

"You'll see…" I walked up to the front desk, currently aware that, though I had a lack of makeup, I was soaking wet-you could practically see through my shirt. Plus, he looked barely over 18. This should be easy.

He looks like the type to like a ditsy blond. This will be extremely easy.

"Does it always rain so, like, quickly here?" I asked in my best bubblegum, silently cringing at it. I knew that even though he seems like a total pervert, I couldn't keep him attention completely focused on me. I had to get his guard down.

"Yeah, it does, best when the sun comes out, it's beautiful. It's sort of like you." He said with a leer. I gave a fake giggle.

"You're so sweet! It makes me almost regret this." I struck out at his temple, and he collapsed. New record-knock someone out the same way twice in one day. People wonder why I love my work. "Almost." Simon ran over, and I expected him to be shocked, but I think I've already shocked him beyond shocking anymore. He expects it out of me now.

"Let's go." I said, racing to the elevator, and rapidly pressing the buttons, holding my breath as we went up. If anyone saw Simon in a hospital garb, they'd know something was up, and I'd have to either knock them out of risk them calling the police. I've already knocked out two people, and I shouldn't draw more attention to myself.

I knocked on my door softly, and Lane opened it with a relieved sigh.

"Good. You're here. You might want to see this." He turned the TV on.

"Another conveniently timed News Report?" I asked sarcastically. "What's it about?"

"Listen." I threw Simon some clothes, and sat down in front of the TV.

"The police have gotten a report about a group of people that are believed to be terrorists. The concerned proprietor of a business that called in says 'they are trying to harm their business.' Even though their names have not been discovered, police have pictures of all five suspects." And there on the TV, was the pictures of me, Lane, Ace, Gavin, and Simon.

"Guess we should get out of the city pretty quickly." I smirked. "The helicopter will probably draw too much attention. Besides, if this just came out now, no one will really be looking. We should get on a plane, and go."

"You're right. We'll head back to the 'States, and then we'll plan there." He agreed. Ace and Gavin walked in at that moment.

"You see the news?" Ace asked. Lane nodded.

"We need to get out of the city as soon as we can. Pack your bags." He commanded.

"Please tell me we have money." Ace pleaded.

"Aydan has plenty. Don't worry-we won't need to steal this time." Lane chuckled.

"Do I even want to know what you've been doing before this?" I asked.

"No. You really don't."

We moved like lightning as we packed, and we walked to the airport. We couldn't spare any more money on taxi fares.

"Good news and bad news." Gavin said. "There's a flight straight to the US, and it's departing at 6 in the morning. We can wait until then-it's about 3 right now. Bad news it…well, passports."

"Damn. I forgot about those." I cursed. "I know a guy that can make fake ones, but by the time he gets them, the police will have informed everyone-especially the airports-about us. However, the same guy can smuggle us out of the country, too. And he owes me."

"Good. Get in touch with him, and see how early he can get us out of here." Lane commanded. "We should get out of this hotel, though. It's not safe here anymore."

"Good idea." Ace nodded.

"Pack lightly, and take only what you can carry-everything else, leave, as long as it doesn't give the police any leads."

"Won't they just use fingerprints?" Simon asked.

"For you, they will. But for us, we're not even in the government's system-we came here illegally, and we're still illegal. They have no records on us, and we change our names often. You, however…they'll know who you are." I explained.

"Maybe we can say he's a hostage." Lane suggested. I restrained a laugh.

"No, then we'll have both the police swarming us, and hired forces from his father on us. If he could afford to hire me to protect him, then he can afford to hire more people to kill me."

"I say we burn everything." Simon suggested.

"That's impossible-we've touched everything in this room." Gavin sighed. "Unless…we burn down the hotel?"

"No." Ace hissed. "There's too many people in here. Someone'll call 911 when they see the fire. Besides, the people in here haven't done anything wrong. They're innocents."

"Yeah. And we don't need to break too many laws." Gavin shrugged.

"Then why don't we just leave?" Lane suggested. "They're already after us; they can't be more after us."

"You're right, but it goes against everything I've been trained to do." I sighed. It was at that moment, I realized that this mission, quest, journey…thing…might take my life. And for once, I was not ok with that. Before, death seemed like nothing to be because I had little to live for. Is it not the same now?

It better be. I'll force myself to make it be the same as before.

"We need to leave. Now." I commanded while rushing to pack. The thoughts of death gnawing at my mind pushed me along faster.

I finished first, carrying a small bag that contained very few items. I decided that I could buy a hairbrush, toothbrush, and all the other stuff when we were back in the US; I brought only money, a guns, a few knives, First Aid stuff and pain killers. If we get in a fight, I don't want us limping around with broken legs or bleeding out.

"What? Not taking necessities?" Lane asked.

"I can buy new ones when we get to the US." I explained, laying back on the bed.

"You have plenty of room, Aydan." He sighed. "Go ahead and take it. It's not like you're smuggling Simon through that bag." I chuckled at that. "And besides, it can be used as evidence against us."

"Then we throw it away." I shrugged. "I'm not that materialistic."

"I forgot how annoying you can be." He laughed, sitting down next me, sliding his arm around my waist. "I promise, when we get to the US, I'll buy you $100 perfume, and you are never leaving it behind."

"Can you really imagine me wearing perfume?" I asked. I never made an effort to 'smell good.' I mean, I didn't let myself smell bad, expect in those moments when I'm killing people and I drenched and sweat and blood and can't help it, but I always wear deodorant (unscented) and wash myself. I still never smelled 'good' per se, as I found it rather useless, considering that my career includes killing, and it's kind of hard to kill a man and still smell like roses.

"I'll force you to." He smirked.

"Just try it." I threatened.

"Oh, I plan to use force on you on more then just perfume." After ignoring the little ripple of excitement, I decided that we needed to get going.

I gathered everyone together, telling them they had 30 seconds left, and if they weren't ready, they'd be left behind. Downstairs, the man was still passed out-shockingly. I mean, we were only up there for about five minutes, but still…

It struck me as we were leaving that in a movie or a book, we would have gotten captured by police or worse. It's true-in entertainment, that would make a much better story. However, I was glad that we got away scot-free.

We were to meet our 'friend' just outside the city, which, thankfully, we got to. The plane was decent-sized-big enough of all us, but there was little breathing room. It wasn't a passenger plane-it was small and cramped and shook often.

I didn't feel safe until we landed in the US, on one of pristine Maine beaches. We found a little town close to it. If was off-season-right in the middle of Fall, but that would make it better; less people to worry about.

It seemed to be a vacation town, so there was a nice motel that had plenty of room for us. Of course, people wondered why we were there and where the hell we came from (I contemplated telling them we're mer-people that grew legs) but that's the glory of the US-you can say 'none of your damn business!' and they would have to leave you alone.

The motel room, covered with oceanic decorations, was large and roomy, and even smelled of the sea. I had only been to Maine on a few occasions, but there was a certain…calm to it that most of the world had lost.

We decided that we would stay there for a few days, and continue our pursuit of the 'Geckos' which would probably prove difficult, but we plotted for a while, and the plan was set right in front of us.

It was all so simple. The path was laid, and it was all ready. I was ready.

Until I was faced with the reality and horror of social life.