'I've found a new place, yeah, I'm coming down fast.'
Caine was leaning against the smooth metallic surface of the car. The sun down on his skin making it glint in a way that was almost alien and a slight breeze ruffled through his long dark hair. In a way he looked almost regal and then he lifted his thumb to his mouth and chewed on the edge of the skin, ruining the effect instantly. Diana turned away.
'Does she have a power?' He asked the small group, eyes darting to each one of them in turn.
A band of nervous misfits, unsure of what was really going on, turned away when his gaze landed on them. Only Drake stared back defiantly with a dark glare on his otherwise handsome face. Caine watched him carefully, making a note to keep an eye on the boy. Beside him Diana let out a rush of air and ran a hand through her glossy hair.
'I didn't pick up on anything.' She commented. 'She ran because of him,' her head jerked at Drake and he sneered, 'I don't think she even knows what the fucks happened here.'
Everyone had gone. Lilly couldn't get her head around it. How had it happened? Why? She chewed on the inside of her lip as she walked, an old habit, and tried to pay attention to what Astrid was talking about but it was hard when everywhere she looked were the lost and sad faces of children. Astrid had sort of taken her in. Her clothes had been changed for leggings and a t-shirt and her torn fingernail had been cleaned and bandaged up. They had all ignored the bruising around her wrists. Lilly ignored the looks and tipped her chin into the air. She felt fresh, new, ready for anything.
'-we're trying to organise things,' Astrid was saying, gesturing to the groups around her, 'like, we need some sort of system to keep things going, you know?' She pushed her blonde hair back off of her face and not for the first time did Lilly look at her enviably. It was pathetic to be jealous of the older girl with everything going on but she couldn't help it. Astrid was the kind of girl who wasn't just pretty, she was beautiful, naturally. 'What's happening up at Coates?' Astrid asked tentatively.
Lilly clenched her jaw. They had asked her this over and over when she first arrived. Astrid and Sam, trying to get any information out of her. Of course the same thing had happened; adults gone, children unsure of what to do. But Lilly hadn't told them about the concrete blocks, the screams, the guns. Should she? She didn't know. She wished she could have stayed hidden and seen more of what Caine was planning but fear had overtaken her.
Of course it had seemed odd and slightly terrifying that she had emerged from the undergrowth with a shirt covered in blood and dirt but she had easily spun a tale about falling over and cutting herself on some thorns. It wasn't a complete lie. She didn't know why she couldn't tell them about Drake. Why was she protecting him?
'Nothing.' She finally answered. 'Well, only what I've told you, the same as this really.' She gestured to the groups of children milling about.
He had let her run. Let her have a taste of freedom, Drake thought, before he would take it all away. He smirked as he ran his fingers over the barrel of the gun. In the back of the car he was jolted around by Panda's unsure driving but it didn't really bother him. He had bigger things on his mind. They were still playing the game, this just happened to be a small interval. Soon it would be game over.
In and out of consciousness she drifted. A noise or a bang would bring her back with a start but it was half-hearted. Her body was giving up. Her mind leaving her. It was all too much.
It had gone on too long.
She was dying. Death was knocking quietly.
She welcomed it.
