Words go here' Thought communication.

"Words still go here!" Spoken communication

( NOTE! The chapters that are in rotating first person are the second half of the story! They will continue on in the same order as they are first written- Lauren, Jaimee, Alyssa, Ian, Jacob, Rhett, and last but most definitely not least- Sara. This is how it will be until others are found and or added to the group. :) Thanks!)

Rhett's Chapter- Not a journal, but all thoughts are included. :)

I'm smiling even though this is a load of bullshit- I mean come on! We're helping the people who tried to kill us, and we have to clean up our mess! They're still out cold, and Jacob won't let us leave them to die. I don't know where his sudden streak of goodness and glory came from, but I'm figuring its to further his own agenda.

I don't think its fair that we have to help the enemy, but I've learned from experience- more than anyone in this group- that sometimes swallowing your pride is the best thing to do, and sometimes the only way to make things right.

Especially me. Back home, when we were in class and I had gone too far and pissed off the teacher, I knew when to apologize and shut up. Sometimes, sacrificing your feelings is for the best of everyone, and it was an especially effective when I made a fool of myself for laughs. I was going to be in for a lot of that today, in order to cheer everyone up.

I can understand that everyone is pissed off and in pain, but this... This is ridiculous! Lauren is fuming- everyone knows she has a temper even though she's generally a sunny person. I don't the large bruise flowering across her cheek is helping either, though. And damn, Jaimee and Alyssa are all cut up from that weird lady's fingers. Those inches were freakishly long! The rest of us, not including Sara are okay, but we're not exactly happy about our situation. We need to hurry up or we're going to get caught by officials for the morning breakfast rush. Ian, who hasn't even left Alyssa's side once, insists that we need to make everything look as normal as possible as quickly as possible so we can get further away before they come to look for us. He's a little wacky since the attack- he's flinching like crazy, but what can you do.

Me? Well I'm prettu ho-hum about everything. I'm not really bothered by the hectic stuff, but more the complications it causes. Everyone else is pretty mad- but what about me? I'm the 'happy-person';'the joker'; why don't I get to be mad about anything? I don't want to be mad, but I don't want everyone to expect me to be happy when I'm not! Now that's bullshit!

I turn away from Jaimee to watch Sara as she follows Lauren and Jaimees' instructions and tucks food packets into the workers pockets, and even into their shirts. I turn on my ear clips, not caring what I'm listening to as I watch her. It's ingenious really- we're staging it to look as though the two workers had gotten into a fight over the food. It doesn't have to work all the way, but enough to give us time to make a getaway. Lauren even suggested making them scratch each other so there would be physical evidence. None of us had gotten any of our blood on anything except our skin, and our fingerprints were hidden away by our suits, as was our hair. We were good, and now they were destined to go to jail. I knew it was wrong, but it was for the greater good- you can't win everything with morals.

The song roaring in my ears isn't good, and it isn't bad- in fact it's not even a song. I'm listening to static- it's the closest thing I have to silence. Ever since I've gotten these ears and special senses, they've been getting stronger and stronger to the point of insanity. I haven't had a single moment of complete silence in is the closest thing I have, but if you listen to that too long, you'll go crazy.

My hair, I've noticed, is getting too long. I watch Sara out of the corner of my eyes, my hair hanging over them and obscuring my view. I wonder absently as we finish up if I could get her to cut it for me. Does she even know how- would she do that for me? I guess I'll have to figure out later.

Finally! Yes, this is it- we are done! We're packing up to go when suddenly Jaimee squeals happily.

Jaimee holds up a little creature crawling over her hand, only to show us it's not a creature! It looks to be a little robot, and she's practically glowing at the thought of having a little pet.

"Ian! Look! Can you check this and see if there are any bugs or anything? You're the tech-head!" She smiles as she tosses it to her friend, and Ian catches it with one hand, his other still hovering next to Alyssa's. It was a weird sort of thing they were doing- holding hands without even touching. We know something is going on between them- everyone does! Everyone excepts them, they're so clueless! They don't even know they're doing it.

Ian tosses back the little mechanical animal," Nah. They're like kid toys, and they come with little weapons to keep them from getting hurt. I'm guessing they're kind of like baby versions of that dog back there. They grow into animals, and even grow fake fur and hair, and artificial blood. You'd never know they weren't real until you took it apart. I'm guessing we broke the dog when we snapped it's neck- stopped the electric flow."

"So were the people still real?" I asked, catching the 'toy' Jaimee tossed to me.

"Yeah, they were, but they're pets aren't. I'm thinking they're to protect the kids when the parents aren't here. This is free camp, you know. Wow, they're technology is a lot further than I thought. We don't even have these, but they aren't exactly high-technology. We just don't need them." Shrugged Ian, and Lauren and Alyssa squealed.

"We want one!" They dart over to the bin in the corner where Jaimee had gotten hers, and quickly begin to paw through them, reading the tags attached by accepts her pet that I hand back to her, and she giggles as it clambers up her arm, tickling her.

Lauren smiles, picking up one of the immobilized robots that looks like a mix of a pig and a bird, and everyone laughs. Sara giggles childishly, and then holds up a small robot, dropping it with a squeal. Eww! Gross she got a rat! I jog over and start to dig through the humongous bin myself, figuring- 'Hey, what the heck. I want one too!'

After so long I settle on a puppy that has cling ability, and another one that I grabbed at random. They'll need to be able to stick to us and hang on when we are on our hoverboards. Jaimee's pet is a little girly thing that looks a little bit like a spider because of its legs, but the rest of it is a cutesy kitten body. The legs aren't even scary looking, but I still think it's creepy. She got another one, and Lauren and Sara got two as well. Ian stuffed a bunch into his bag, figuring we could use them for these kinds of missions rather than get into skirmishes like we did this time. Jacob- go figure- got a kitty-lion and a wolf-pup. He's such a tool- ugh.

No matter, though- I don't care. We're getting out of this place! All I need is fresh air, and my mood should clear up straight away.


The windis nearly blowly my favorite of my two pets off my back, but he hangs tight anyway. His metal limbs wrap around the crook of my shoulder, and fuse together to keep him safe, and I smile. I haven't known the little robot for long, but I've grown attatched already. Damn little thing even has a personality!

Sara laughs are the cute expression my bot makes, and I scowl at her, thought it's with no real infliction. I don't mean it, I'm happy again now that we've left that awful place. The fresh air is nice, and it helps to calm me. I feel free as a bird.

The sky is still dark, thankfully, and it's still very late- or early if you put it technically. And yes, we don't stop. We've all pulled on our goggles, and are carrying on to our next destination. Alyssa leads us with new determination,and she seems happy to be free, too. I don't know if it was the near-death experience, but she seems... powerful a way that no one but Ian seems to understand.

Sara's communication skills have improved significantly, and she chatters away with the rest of the girls all the time- thankfully on a seperate channel. We are lucky ot have such free-form communication and not sucky skintennas. In a way, we are better in some areas that Specials. We have progressed from Perfects in some areas, and fallen back in others, but I don't mind. no one does, as long as we can be ourselves and not be forced into anything.

There is a small alcove in the side of the mountain we're approaching- I can hear the vacancy and echo of the wind. It's a pretty good size, and I send a thought to Sara asking her if she thought it was about time to turn in. Alyssa was the only one to protest- she wants us to cross the geyser pass before daylight, but then she realized that it wasn't a good idea. The sun is rising, and it would obscure our view. Jacob pointed out that we' d better do it in total daylight or total dark, and that getting sleep would make it easier. Alyssa gives in, stating that heading to The Gray- what kind of name is that anyway?- can wait. It's some kind of free city, sort of the like the town we were just in but way bigger. It's the size of one of the ancient states that long ago were abolished. It's got at least a two hundred mile radius of just city, and that's not even counting suburbs.

'Wont' that be fun!' Lauren thinks sarcastically.

'Yeah!' Laughs Alyssa, not catching the sarcasam.

'I was being sarcastic, hon.' Lauren rose a brow. She only said hon when she was ticked off, and I 'm guessing she's just grumpy.

'Chill, Lauren. Let's just get some sleep, and then everything will look better.' Cuts in Sara before I can offer my similar opinion. Lauren nods, apologizes sheepishly to Alyssa who shrugs and just smiles. The past twenty-four hours have been hectic, but I'm glad that this isn't drawn out and painful. No one needs that.

I don't know when we'll ge yther, but something big is going to happen. I don't know how or why but it will change us, and I can feel it. Good or bad- when it does happen- it will change us forever.

Author Alert- Yay! Fast chapter! :D Hoped you liked it! Reviews amaze me! Sara next, and then we start all over! :D

Lauren/Mellokai

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