When Diana ran through the door, Astrid had divided the list of freaks in her address book into two. They had almost done three but then realised no one would come if Caine had been the one calling them. Instead Caine was allowed to watch some more TV in his chair. He pretended he was fine with that but Astrid could see he was bored and kept glancing around for something else to do. If he hadn't been so hurt she was sure he would have started to run around the room by now. But it was his own fault for running off like that. Astrid looked up and wondered if they should try and explain to him why that was so stupid. But maybe later, right now they had tasks.
So far Quinn was definitely coming. They hadn't told him much, just that something serious was going down that involved the FAYZ and that they needed help. No one was sure they wanted to be caught but a few people came anyway because they were curious. Edilio and Roger were heading to their apartment before they hung up the phone. Dekka had immediately jumped forward to help and get away from her home for a few days. Even years after the FAYZ she was eager to step forward and help Sam once more.
They had called Bug but his dad had hung up before they even had a chance to talk to him. Astrid had already called him before and so now he knew her voice and was not pleased with her. They tried the farm girl called Emily who actually seemed willing to come, though no one knew her well enough to guess why. She claimed it would take a day or two, but that she would be there. Then they tried Jill. She was unsure but then her older brother Derek took the phone, he sounded generally sorry as he turned them down and hung up. Then there was Sinder who - as everyone had known - had spent some time in a psychiatric ward after the FAYZ ended and had only recently come out. Astrid didn't push for her to come but after a long silence she whispered that she could come, but there was no promise that she would stay.
Then they wanted to call a few normals as well. Cookie was actually the first person to show up. He beamed at Astrid and the first words out for his mouth were; "Is Lana here?"
Astrid glanced at Sam nervously. None of them could stand to ask Lana to come. Eventually they probably would but not until very last. Cookie accepted this and took a seat in silence. They had hid Caine back in Diana's bedroom. This would give them a chance to actually explain him to everyone else before they all tried to attack him.
John downright refused. No explanation. Anna and Emma agreed to come. And so did one other boy who had been one of Edilio's soldiers. Everyone else turned them down or they couldn't get in contact to actually ask them. They were still making calls when Diana came back, however it did seem to slowly be growing hopeless. A few people did seem generally interested but they lived too far away and had no way to get to them.
When Diana burst through the door, Cookie sat with Anna, Emma and Quinn on the small sofa Sam and Astrid had moved back into the main room. They needed lighter furniture. Cookie looked ridiculously cheerful as he nibbled biscuits Sam had handed out. The twins stayed cuddled together, Emma shooting Anna looks as if to blame her for being here. And Quinn seemed eager to help and soon began to make phone calls of his own.
"What the..." Diana blinked, staring at them.
"Diana!" Cookie beamed. "Good to see you again!"
"What is he doing here?!" Diana snapped. Then saw the twins. "What are they doing here?!"
"Calm down!" Sam snapped, hanging up his cellphone and tying in a new number from his list. "We're getting everyone we can to come. We need help."
"We need to talk right now!" Diana shrieked. She dropped one bag and held the other carefully at arms length.
"What? What's wrong, Diana?" Astrid asked. Then someone picked up on the other line. "Hello? Manuela? It's Astrid. I-" She sighed as she heard the dial tone.
"Not joking!" Diana screamed. Everyone in the room jumped.
Astrid and Sam glanced at one another. Then slowly they set their phones down and marked their next caller. The two smiled at their guests before they followed Diana into her room where Caine was chewing on a chicken bone they had gotten him earlier and flicking through a magazine he had found on the side. He looked up, surprised, as the three of them crammed into the room.
"What's up?" Sam asked, Diana, shutting the door behind him.
Diana carefully set her bag down on the bed, moving like it was a bomb that could go off at any second.
"Thank God. I need to change now." Caine grumbled. He reached into the bag and pulled out the white vest, unravelling it.
"STOP!" Diana screamed. She moved to stop him but it was too late.
The lizard fell down onto the mattress and bounced slightly. Sam and Astrid both blinked down at the creature, unmoving and unaffected but both Diana and Caine shouted in fear and threw themselves down onto the floor.
"What are you doing?" Sam blinked.
"Is that..." Astrid blinked.
"It's the fire starter!" Diana snapped where she was hiding down on the end of the bed on her hands and knees. She slowly crouched up and stared at the lizard on the mattress but it's mouth was shut firmly. It could prise it open slightly but it didn't breath any fire. Instead it scrambled around, trying to pull free of the string around it's mouth by running in circles.
"But it's not starting fire." Sam stated.
"Oh really?" Diana snapped. "You could have fooled me! It's because I tied it's mouth shut, idiots!"
"Ow... Can... Diana... Get me up..." Caine complained.
Diana ran around the bed where Caine was lying, clutching his side and resisted the urge to curl into a ball. Slowly he was pulled back to his feet but instead leaned against the wall rather than sitting on the bed. He didn't want to be anywhere near that creature.
Astrid stepped forward and gently grabbed the lizard's tail, lifting it up into the air as she looked at it. It struggled, switching in her grip and slashing out with it's hands but it was unable to really defend herself. Even so Sam felt the need to step up beside Astrid and protect her in case it had any tricks. The lizard turned to glare at Astrid but she just stared it down until it seemed to sigh and actually give up fighting her. Slowly Astrid glanced around before she went over and grabbed one of Diana's hair bands.
"If this is what you say, best be safe." She explained as she tied the lizard up in a dozen hair bands and hair clips to keep it's legs from moving.
"How did you catch this thing?" Sam asked, stepping up to frown at it close up and make out the details of it's face. He could have sworn the lizard was pulling it's lips up like a frustrated human.
"Long story." Diana sighed. "Now why are these people in that room?"
"Long story." Astrid and Sam chimed with grins.
"How can you stand living with them?" Caine suddenly demanded. "I've only been here a few hours and I've nearly thrown up a dozen times."
There was a knock on the main door and then they heard Quinn calling; "Roger and Edilio are here!"
"Long story short," Sam said in a rush. "We're gathering everyone we can to help stop these crazy animal mutants. We just saw a report where a Prarie Dog with Duck's power sinking buildings and killing people."
"Long story short?" Diana repeated. "A couple of blonde morons were annoying me and I saved one of their lives by stepping on the things head."
"Okay then." Sam nodded with a hint of a grin. "Caine, stay here. Astrid, you and I continue to make the last few calls and Diana, can you slowly take the others aside and explain everything to them?" She raised her eyebrows angrily. "What?"
"I don't even know the full story! And I'm not a people person. Tell you what, Sam. I'll stay and keep Caine company." Diana snorted.
"Deal." Caine grinned.
Astrid had already given up. Diana was old Diana whenever Caine was around and that made it very hard for them to talk.
They had advised anyone that was coming that they might be staying the day, maybe even the night if possible. So far anyone willing to come had not objected to staying the night and had even brought over night bags. In the end they had everyone that was willing. Cookie, Quinn, Edilio, Roger, Anna, Emma, Emily, Sinder, Dekka, and a old soldier named Kevin Mice. Out of all the people they called it seemed so little but they were happy even a few people were coming.
"Right, Dekka, Emily and Sinder won't be here until later tonight because they live a lot longer away." Astrid explained. "But Kevin should be here soon."
"Right. When Kevin's here we'll explain everything we know to you guys." Sam began. "Then we can explain it to the girls later when they get here."
"Care to give us a hint?" Emma demanded.
Emma looked almost exactly like Anna. Same hair colour, face shape, size, weight and even right down to the eyebrow shape. The only difference was that while Anna had a blank face and smiled when someone she knew looked at her and still tried to smile when someone she didn't know glanced her way, Emma just out right glared at them. She clearly didn't want to be there. Anna must have nagged her. Anna probably wouldn't have come if she didn't know about Caine.
"It's about... That strange animal we saw on the TV. The one that was collapsing the buildings in New York." Astrid explained. "Did anyone see it?"
"No." They all chanted.
"Well... I'll wait until Kevin gets here." Astrid said, nodding her head.
They didn't seem happy and the next half an hour was an awkward silence with only the television on as Quinn had began to turn to the music channel. Anna and Emma seemed to be arguing quietly while Cookie was happily oblivious and Roger and Edilio had moved to sit on the single chair together in silence.
Kevin knocked loudly on the door, much like as if he was trying to kick the door down altogether. Astrid opened it with a smile but received a scowl in return.
Through out all the major fights they had in the FAYZ, Kevin had been in the background. Not out of the fights completely but never in the thick of it. He was small, someone said he had been born premature and that he just never caught up with everyone around him. He had bright blonde hair that had been long before, during and after the FAYZ with dark blue eyes, tanned and slightly skinny looking but with a round chubby face. He scowled at Astrid and marched into the room, immediately walking over to sit down on one of the garden chairs they had set up in the corner. He seemed to be wearing some kind of football outfit but Astrid wasn't sure since she didn't know the name of any teams.
"Okay so... I guess I best explain." Astrid mumbled, she had been dreading this part.
"Yeah." Emma demanded.
Astrid took a deep breath, swallowed, standing in front of them all and began to talk.
It took her almost an hour to get it all out in the open. That was due to her stumbling as she picked what to explain and what to leave out, and stalling and being interrupted by the people in front of her. Sam stood by her side the whole time, giving her support but not actually saying anything or joining in. She told them about the cat that had killed Abana, the lizard that had attacked Diana but she had somehow caught it and the Prarie Dog on the TV had the same powers as Duck and was obviously causing the buildings to collapse.
The one thing she did not tell them was that Caine was back and in the room just behind their heads. She needed to know who they could trust before she told them something as big as that. At the moment, if she was honest, it was because she didn't trust Emma or Kevin. Even Roger might be unsure because many people blamed Caine for deaths of friends and family. Astrid couldn't be sure Roger wouldn't blame Caine for Justin's death.
But it seemed like just the animals was enough to start an argument between them.
"You cannot be serious!" Emma snapped.
"Mutant animals?" Kevin sneered. "This isn't the FAYZ anymore!"
"I know that!" Astrid snapped.
"Clearly you don't!" Emma said standing. "Anna, let's go home."
Anna blinked, staring up at Emma before she looked over at Astrid and Sam. She had not believed in the fire lizard but by the sounds of it, there was more than one and Sam and Astrid had both seen at least two of these animals in person. She didn't really believe Astrid but she did believe Sam! But then it didn't make any sense. And she didn't want to get into an argument with her sister. But she wasn't going to be pushed around, either.
"I guess we'll be going." Anna shrugged but she scowled at Emma. "And stop bossing me around."
"Anna, please." Astrid begged. "You know I'm not crazy. Sam saw these creature too!"
Anna hesitated. She honestly did wish she could stay but even if she did believe what they were saying, what was she supposed to do about it? Her and Emma had left the FAYZ wall long before they had a chance to develope any strengths or talents with weapons. What were they supposed to do? They didn't have any survival instincts or any mutant powers either. All in all they were pretty useless...
"Sorry, Astrid." Anna shrugged. "I just... Don't get what I can do."
"You can help!" Astrid stressed.
"No. I can't." Anna shrugged. She glanced where Emma was waiting patient and gave Astrid a small smile. "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone about you know who."
"Who?" Emma demanded.
Anna shrugged with a smirk and headed for the door, Emma hurrying after her to demand to know who she was talking about. The others watched in silence before they looked at Astrid expectantly. She waited but no one else left the room or argued any further, though Kevin hadn't stopped scowling up at her.
"Anyone else who doesn't want to help can leave." Astrid suggested calmly.
No one moved.
"How are we supposed to help?" Roger asked. "I mean I want to. And I trust both of you but we're not warriors and mutants anymore."
"But we're not kids anymore, either." Sam pointed out.
"We stopped being kids years ago, dude." Quinn laughed.
"Why don't we just leave this to the police?" Cookie suggested. "I mean, we're back in the real world now. We should be leaving this to authorities and living our lives."
Sam glanced at Astrid. That was actually the thing he had been expecting her to say the minute anything weird started happening. Instead she was the first to jump forward and deal with the issue alone. Maybe Ripley ruined her faith in the cops.
"They don't know about this stuff. They have never dealt with it before." Astrid explained. "And if they knew they'd probably try and control the animals or steal their powers. I'm sure we've all seen the attempt and recreating the FAYZ."
Shared looks showed it all. Disgust. Horror. Confusion. Fear. And even contempt.
"Astrid's right." Kevin said. Astrid had to do a double take there. She could have sworn Kevin had not only not believed her ten seconds ago but that he was purposely hating and disagreeing with her on everything she told them. His tune changed rather quickly. He saw her look of disbelief. "Well you are. I mean I don't really believe there are random mutant animals about, but the pigs are useless and stupid. All they'll do is pick on us! And probably screw the whole thing up afterwards anyway. We might as well handle this ourselves."
"Uh, yeah, right." Astrid nodded. She looked back at the others. "You know the story. We need to know who's in."
Cookie, Edilio and Quinn's hands shot into the air. Roger hesitated but then followed the three of them after a quick glance at Edilio. Kevin was even slower but after a few minutes had passed with Astrid turning and staring at him he raised his hand almost stubbornly.
"Okay." Astrid said. "Now I need you all to raise your hand, left hand."
Everyone stared at her. Edilio slowly raised his followed by Roger. Then Quinn, Cookie and, once again a few minutes later, Kevin.
"And repeat after me." Astrid said, raising her own hand to copy them. "I swear, under the oath of God and in the name of my family; that anything said here, is not spread anywhere else." They chanted after her. "I swear not to tell anyone what I see or hear." Again they all copied her. "Okay. Now we can show you all something else to do with the story and we ask you not to overreact."
Everyone frowned at her.
"Caine is alive." Sam said when Astrid looked at him for help. She looked alarmed but he just shrugged. "What? How do you gently say that?"
"Caine?! Like Caine Soren?! The psychopathic mutant freaky moof!" Kevin roared, jumping to his feet.
"HEY!" Came a shout that made them all jump. "I resent that! Mutant, maybe! Freaky, okay! Moof, yes! But Drake was the psychopathic! I was a visionary!"
Every head turned to the door. It was still closed but they knew the voice had clearly come from that room. Kevin looked from the door and glanced over at Astrid who was blushing now and ducked her head, sighing. This was not going as planned. She stepped forward and tried to gain some control over the situation but Kevin was already marching towards Diana's door.
"Wait a second!" Sam called, hurrying to catch up.
Kevin threw open the door only for it to slam closed again. Diana leaned against the wooden frame and scowled at Caine who was snickering on the bed.
"What the hell is going on here?" Kevin snapped.
"I will explain when you sit down." Astrid said with a scowl.
"Yeah, Kev." Edilio said with a frown. "Come and take a seat and let them finish explaining."
Kevin frowned but found it hard to argue with Edilio. He had basically been his leader throughout the FAYZ.
So he sulked passed Sam and slouched down in his seat, glaring ahead at Astrid like it was her fault this was happening. As soon as he was settled Sam went and stood by his side like a personal body guard.
"So what is the deal with all this?" Edilio frowned. "Caine? As in Caine, Caine?"
"Caine, Caine." Sam nodded.
"How?" Roger whispered.
Astrid started again to explain the whole story as to how she had stumbled across Caine while in the park. She didn't mention Anna's name but she did vaguely say a girl helped her with him, bringing him back to their apartment. Then she was able to tell them how Caine had witnessed the lizard along and the cat when it had attacked him at Abana's. While she was at it, she quickly ran them over on their theory that the higher the level of power the more human you were, which was why Caine was here and human and why Bette and Fire starter were animals.
The door to Diana's bedroom opened and the two of them stood there listening in. Caine leaned against the door frame, pretending he was being casually but really it was because his head was leaving him dizzy. After long stares everyone's eyes eventually found their way back to Astrid and Sam at the front again.
"Why didn't you tell all of us this to begin with?" Roger frowned. "Anna and Emma would have believed if you had."
"Because I honestly didn't trust Emma. She didn't want to be here and if I'm honest then you could all get a lot of money and praise by turning Caine in." Astrid explained. "But I'm counting on your honesty and promise that you won't. In other words I'm trusting all of you."
Kevin suddenly laughed. "That why Albert ain't here?"
Even Astrid could join in with a smile for that comment. They didn't hate Albert, he had saved a lot of their lives by getting them working, but that still didn't make him a friend to any of them. At least not after he had abandoned them all after the Plague and then been parading around in front of the cameras with a smug smile ever since the walls came down.
"Pretty much." Sam nodded with a grin.
"Okay then." Edilio nodded. "So, you want our help. I'm fine with that. But what are we supposed to do?"
"From what we have figured out. Or guessed. The creatures are killed in the same way they were killed in the FAYZ." Astrid explained.
"So we have to kill them the way they died?" Quinn frowned.
"We think so. We hit the Bette cat over the head and she died." Astrid nodded.
"The only problem is certain people were not killed as naturally as that." Sam grumbled. "The lizard girl who we assume was the fire starter was killed with my light. And so was Brianna... And Duck was crushed along with the Gaiaphage."
"So how are we supposed to kill them?" Edilio blinked.
"Maybe a variation of how they died?" Astrid guessed.
"This is sounding a lot more complicated..." Cookie mumbled.
"What about non-dangerous powers?" Kevin blinked. "I mean... Like... Orsay. She died. But all she could do was see into our dreams."
Astrid and Sam shared a look. "We're not completely sure. But Bette's power was pretty far off. We think maybe that the powers have grown because all Bette could do was make light but the cat her could make it burn and make it bigger. It's a lot more dangerous."
"I'm not sure about this." Roger said, suddenly sounding nervous. Roger wasn't a soldier. He was a parent type figure.
"We need soldiers." Sam explained. "To fight and kill these things, but we also need people with brains to help us find these things."
Roger seemed to calm slightly after that. He could do that. He could help research these things and find them and what they were and how to kill them.
"So... Who's in?" Sam asked.
Every hand in the room rose into the air. And this time with no hesitations.
26) I need a name for Fire Starter, even if it's just to call her something! Any ideas?
27) Have any of you met Michael Grant?
Also, since a lot of you people are guessing the Sekhmet is Jack, I'm going to let you in and tell you that it isn't him. You need to remember two things. A) there was a dog who could shoot light beams. And B) their powers have definitely evolved to much more dangerous.
No more clues. You will be finding out soon the truth. I'd also like to say the theory that they have come up with isn't reliable...
