It's okay, everyone, it's okay—calm down. I'm not dead or anything, it's okay. Calm yourselves. I know I've been gone for a while, and I am sorry. Part of it has been due to writer's block but most of it has been due to some health issues I've been having. I won't go into big details (if you want to know and care enough to know you can PM me and I'll share my story there, but not here on an open plain), but I will tell you that, not only did they leave me wiped and not wanting to do anything beyond what I had to do, but I was actually in the hospital for a few days. Oh, yeah. It was a treat. '-_- But I'm on medication now and doing better. I'm not perfect yet, but I'm doing much better, and at this point that's all I can ask for. Hopefully my desire to write starts coming back now too.

So here's the next chapter. It's been sitting on my computer for a while and I've been tinkering with it here and there from time to time whenever I felt an urge and now it's done. There is some action here, and there will be even more in the next chapter. If I don't kill myself while I'm writing that one because… you'll find out at the end here. I can't believe I'm doing this to myself. Why am I doing this to myself?! *sighs* I'm not gonna sleep for a week…. This is gonna frag me up so bad—my psyche will hate me!

Guest—Guess you'll have to read and see. He's still in primarily Nevada, by the way, looking for her.

I do not own Transformers or anything in relation. I only own Hunter, the Hybrid race, and any other character that you may not recognize.

"Let me out! Let me out of here now! Let me out! And I will run! I will run. I will run…" Hidden Citizens; Let Me Out

21

ΩMagno DividentemΩ

(The Great Escape)

Steel's electric blue eyes were permanently welded to the doors of the dining room, the food on his plate all but forgotten and growing cold. His gaze briefly traveled to the chair across from him where Hunter was supposed to be. But she wasn't there. Supper had started a little over half-an-hour ago and she hadn't come down yet! And the young man knew it had nothing to do with being unable to find something acceptable to wear. Either Luna had wounded the girl to the point she was yet laid up or Hunter simply refused to come down and join them. Neither was good. And both would grant the sixteen-year-old another and far worse beating.

"Steel!" The sudden bark of his name caused the nineteen-year-old to turn his attention to his grandfather. "Don't let your food go to waste, son," Ray said as gracefully as he could through a partial-mouthful of food. He cleaned his lips with his fancy, cloth napkin. "It's meant to be eaten, not sit on your plate and look pretty. So, eat."

Steel looked down at his food. It did look delicious, like always, but he was too busy wondering and worrying about which of the reasons Hunter wasn't joining them and what would happen to her because of it that he couldn't find it in himself to eat even a bite. His appetite just wasn't there.

"Listen to your grandsire, Steel," Luna ordered after a moment when he still hadn't touched his plate.

"I guess I'm just not very hungry," the blond admitted. He looked hopefully at his grandmother. "Maybe I should take this up to Hunter so that she can…"

"Out of the question," Luna dismissed his idea right off the bat. She kept her eyes on her plate as she cut off another bite of meat, even as she addressed her grandson. "Huntress has made her decision and she will have to live by it. If she doesn't eat with the family she doesn't eat at all."

"But, Grandmother, it's only her first day back."

"She knows the rules."

"But couldn't we make an exception just this once? She's been through so much the last 24 hours and I'm certain she's hungry and would love something to eat."

"Then let her go hungry. She will learn from this and behave appropriately next time."

The corner of Steel's mouth twisted in skepticism of that statement. He highly doubted that. Hunter was the single most pigheaded Hybrid he'd ever met, male or female, adult or adolescent. If she decided not to join them once, she would most definitely make the same decision again and again either out of spite or principle. Steel had never been able to tell which. "But…"

"Steel Nova Prescott!" Luna snapped. Her gaze was on him now and her raspberry eyes almost seemed to be aglow with fury. "You dare to question my authority again?!"

"No, Grandmother! But I…"

"Do I need to teach you another lesson for talking back to your grandcreator, boy?!" Ray roared from his end of the table. He looked ready to rise and drag the young man out of there at a moment's notice.

Despite the fact he was as big as he grandfather and just as stronger—stronger because of his magical abilities—Steel shrunk into his chair, fear in his eyes. Phantom pains wracked his body. He could still hear the whip whistling through the air just before it cracked down across his back and bit into his flesh. Not to mention the sound and sensation of fists and feet. "No, Grandfather," he assured the older man, voice small and meek. One beating was more than enough for one day. Or the rest of this life.

"Then hush and eat!" Ray demanded, stabbing his knife in the direction of Steel's plate.

The young Hybrid turned back to his food and slowly began forcing himself to eat at least part of his meal. A silence came back over the room that only Steel could feel the tension in. Or maybe that was just his anxiety, because as he shoveled fruits, vegetables, bread, and meat into his mouth the nineteen-year-old decided that he couldn't and wouldn't let his cousin go hungry, no matter what the rules were. While he ate, Steel devised a plan to get a plate of food into Hunter's room without being caught.

Something that was both a growl and gurgle rumbled up from Hunter's middle as she lay splayed out atop her bed, staring up at the mural on the ceiling above her. She reached down and rubbed her stomach. She was hungry. She hadn't had anything to eat since the breakfast Optimus had made her eat the morning before she'd been kidnapped, and even that had been very meager as she hadn't been all that hungry then. But she wouldn't go down to supper. No. She refused to eat alongside that witch and her tyrant of a husband that so laughably referred to themselves as her grandparents. Maybe in theory they were: they shared blood, genetics—Hunter's pyrokinesis even came from her grandmother—but they weren't her grandparents. Not truly. The sixteen-year-old didn't claim them—never would. Maybe she had at one time. Briefly. But never again. They were worse than monsters—especially Luna.

The sorceress loved no one and nothing. Except power; that was all she had ever truly cared for. Sometimes Hunter was hard-pressed to believe that there was any kind of love for anything in her grandmother at all, because didn't you have to have a soul to love? From her perspective Luna didn't have one. Oh, Steel would probably tell her off and explain to her that their grandmother just had a different way of expressing her love and that she really wasn't as bad once you got to know her and started following her rules.

Steel. He was the only thing good in this place; the only thing worth saving. Tainted as he was—and he was most definitely tainted—Hunter could still sense good in her cousin. It was shrouded, but it was definitely there to be brought to the surface again. He was redeemable. If only she could find some way to bring him back to the light….

"Room service!"

Hunter bolted up with a sharp, startled gasp. "Damnit, Steel!" she barked, her spark-beat settling back to normal. "Enough with the jump-scare crap, seriously! Ugh!" She flopped back down, covering her face with her hands. "Primus, I figured you would've outgrown that shtick by now."

Laughing, Steel came over and sat down on the edge of the bed across from her. "Not when it comes to you," he commented with a shake of his head. "You're too much fun to scare, Phoenix."

"Ha, ha." That's when a delicious scent wafted across Hunter's nostrils. She sniffed intently, her stomach growling more excitedly. The girl quickly sat up. "I smell food," she stated, eagerly looking at Steel, her gaze falling to a covered, silver platter in his lap. She licked her lips.

Steel held out the plate. "Grandmother wanted to let you go hungry," he explained as he cousin quickly snatched the food away and uncovered it. He couldn't help but smile at the excited gleam in her eyes as she inhaled deeply of the aroma of her meal before purposefully digging in. "But I refuse to let you go hungry as long as you're here, so I decided to sneak up a plate for you. Besides, I know you're much more agreeable and manageable when you have food in you."

"Are you saying I'm like the people on the Snickers commercials when I'm hungry?"

"… The who on the what now?"

"Wow. You really need to catch up with the pop culture references, Stormcrow. You've missed a lot being in space for five years."

"You don't say."

Hunter shot him a cheeky, crooked smile. "This is really good," she commented, motioning to the food. "The food in the Lunation was, like, one of the only good things about the cult. The chefs here are awesome—I'll have to give 'em that."

Steel chuckled. "What were the other good things?" he inquired.

"Ally," Hunter answered, shoveling some more food into her mouth. "And you." She gave her cousin a genuine smile.

Steel returned it, as well as reached out to affectionately ruffle her hair. "Well, I'll leave you to enjoy your supper," he declared. "Grandmother will become suspicious of my whereabouts, and that's the last thing I need right now."

That's when Hunter realized, for the first time, that her cousin's attire wasn't the same as before. Different shirt, different pants, no vest, shirt tucked loosely and not crisp and neatly like he usually had it. "She sicked Ray on ya, didn't she?"

Steel froze mid-rise, becoming very quiet for a moment. "I deserved it," he finally stated.

"That's what she wants you to believe."

"I believe it, because it's true."

"Oh, really? You believe that just barely making slight inquisitions of what Luna wants or says deserves a beating?"

"I questioned her authority."

"To the barest minimum. At most that should've earned you a verbal scolding, not a beating. The only reason you had the beating was because this is Luna we're talking about—she's an evil, sadistic witch. Literally."

Steel whirled around to face his cousin, anger in his eyes. "Stop defaming our grandmother!" he snapped. "Honestly, Huntress, why must you always speak negatively against her?"

"Why do you always defend her?" Hunter shot back. "You're not stupid, Steel—you have to realize just how twisted Luna and this cult are. Even if it's just a feeling!"

"Stop talking like that!"

Hunter stared at her seething, red-faced cousin in some alarm. For a long moment she quiet before shaking her head and softly murmuring, "You're deep in Stockholm aren't you?"

"Shut up!" Steel roared, causing his cousin to flinch. "Just shut up! I am perfectly fine!"

"Oh, yeah, that's evident."

"I'm serious, Hunter! I'm not suffering from Stockholm Syndrome or mind control or brainwashing or whatever, all right?! What I think about Grandmother and the Lunation, what I say about them, are true! I'm not coached to say them, they weren't planted in my mind against my will, I'm not saying them because I'm afraid of what will happen if I don't, I'm saying them because they're true."

"Just believing something's true doesn't necessarily mean it is, Steel."

"Stop it! Stop twisting words around! Stop trying to confuse me!"

Hunter snagged onto that. Confusing him? She was confusing him with what she was saying? "Why am I confusing you, Steel?" she asked, unable to help the small smirk that curled a corner of her mouth. Maybe she was finally starting to break through all that conditioning of Luna's!

Steel fell silent, unable to find any words to explain why. Or at least, unable to find any words that didn't seem to confirm Hunter's deluded claims that his thoughts weren't his own—that he was indeed mind controlled. For the briefest of moment's, the nineteen-year-old's faith in his Grandmother and her cause, in everything he'd been taught for most of his life, wavered. What if Hunter was right? What if his Grandmother wasn't who he thought? What if she was evil? And everything she'd built… no. No! That was crazy! He couldn't think like that. He shouldn't think like that. He wouldn't think like that! Hunter was wrong. She'd been poisoned against the Lunation since she'd left by Greasy Coggs and the Hybrid Counsel. She didn't really know what she was talking about. Scoffing derisively, the young man shook his head and drew himself up to full height, looking down at his younger cousin with a scolding gaze as though she were a misbehaving child. This only made her glare at him. "You're wrong, Hunter," he rumbled, puffing out his chest a bit as he tried to control his temper. "You're deluded and wrong. And if you know what's good for you, you'll come to realize it and submit to the Mistress."

"Fat. Chance."

"Ha. I'm not surprised. You've always been too stubborn for your own good. Because you're my cousin, I warn you: if you continue to refuse submission—as I'm sure you will—Grandmother will tire of your childishness and force you into it. By any means necessary."

"She can try, but it won't do her much good."

"It's a warning, heed it."

"Right. Sure."

Steel rolled his eyes. "I'm out of here," he rumbled, walking away. "Enjoy the rest of your meal." There wasn't a hint of friendliness in his tone. "I'll be back for the plate later." With that he teleported away.

For a long time Hunter sat and stared at the spot he'd teleported from. Then, temper suddenly shooting sky high, she picked up her plate of food and chucked it in that direction. "Rraahh!" The tray flew across the room and struck the wall. The containment field rippled.

Throwing herself down on the bed, the sixteen-year-old buried her face into the blankets and let out an enraged scream as she pounded her fists and feet against the mattress again and again. Great! Just great! She'd pissed off Steel, driven him away, and Primus only knew if she'd ever be able to get him back. He was her one chance of getting out of this room—she'd never be able to escape otherwise! Even with the doors wide open and unguarded she wouldn't be able to leave because of that damn containment spell! Her cousin was her one ally here and she'd just lost him! "Way to go, Huntress!" the child thought to herself. "Way to frickin' go! What are you gonna do now, huh?" The redhead didn't know, but she knew she'd have to think of something. She couldn't stay in this room. She couldn't wait around for help to come and rescue her. Even knowing she'd been abducted, her team and the Hybrid Counsel still had no idea by whom and thus no idea of where she was. And even if they did manage to figure it out, it wouldn't be for quite a while.

Hunter couldn't wait that long. Neither could anyone else. She didn't know exactly what Luna wanted her for, but whatever it was the teen knew it definitely wasn't sunshine, kittens, and rainbows. For everyone's sakes as well as her own, the girl had to get out of here. But how? Her one chance of escaping had just turned her back on her again, and it was all her fault! Her temper tantrum over, Hunter cursed herself out under her breath, rolled over onto her back, and stared at the ceiling. Time to re-strategize. Hopefully if she thought of something else she didn't end up sabotaging that plan too….

The Next Morning;

It was still dark outside. Everyone on the compound was still asleep. That's what Steel was counting on. After his argument with his cousin, the nineteen-year-old hadn't wanted to go back and face her again, so he'd made the risky decision of waiting until he was sure she was asleep and everyone else was asleep to go back to her room to retrieve the platter and silverware. As long as he got it all back into the kitchen, washed, and put away before anyone else got up, he was home free. His grandmother would never know he'd taken food to Hunter and he wouldn't be punished for it.

Quietly teleporting into Hunter's room, the young man froze and quickly glanced over at the large canopy bed. He breathed a sigh of relief. Hunter was tucked in, sound asleep, completely unaware of his presence. Good. The last thing he needed right now was to have another argument. Now where was that plate? It took a moment for Steel to spot it, and when he finally did he couldn't help but be annoyed. "Wow," he remarked at a snide whisper, throwing shade Hunter's way. "Really? Throwing your food against the wall—very mature, Hunter." He waved his hand. The spilt and scattered food and over turned platter all disappeared in a cloud of smoke before reappearing in his hands in an orderly fashion. Steel sighed heavily. "Time to head to the kitchen and get this taken care of." He began to teleport away, but right as he was about to disappear, he was suddenly tackled. Unfortunately he couldn't stop himself from teleporting out of the room, and both he and Hunter reappeared in the kitchen, Hunter's arms around his neck in a sleeper hold. Steel choked and gagged and struggled to get away, but his cousin held him fast and finally he passed out and went limp in her hold.

Hunter let him go and gently lowered him to lie on the kitchen floor, not wanting him to just drop like a dead weight. He deserved more respect than that. She lovingly smoothed Steel's bangs out of his face, gazing at him sorrowfully. "Sorry, Stormcrow," she whispered. With that the girl jumped back up on her feet and quickly made her way through the dimly lit kitchen, down the passage way, and up the stairs to the above-ground floors. She was almost up the first flight when the servant door to the first floor opened and a senior novice Court Acolyte came through it. The woman jumped back, gasped, and likely would have screamed, if Hunter hadn't hyper-sped up the last few steps and slammed a hand over the Acolyte's mouth and pressed her against the wall. The redhead held a finger to her lips. "Shh…." Then she reached around behind the woman's head, found a grip, and quickly snapped her neck. The Acolyte went limp and began to fall to the floor, but Hunter caught the body before it hit and gently lowered it to the floor. Then she looked the corpse over. A disguise would definitely make this escape easier….

"We were definitely not the same size," Hunter muttered. She tried to adjust the Acolyte uniform so that it would both be as comfortable and as normal looking and in keeping with the other appearance of the senior novice's outfits as possible. It wasn't easy to do. And in the end, the outcome was far from a success, but the sixteen-year-old just hoped hiding her face and falling in line with all the other senior novices until she could find a moment to break away was enough to keep the attention off her. With a sigh, the young Hybrid cracked open the closet door she'd moved the body to in order to change and peeked out. She found the coast clear. Hunter carefully slipped out into the hall and, after checking once more to see if anybody was coming down the hall, folded her hands together and began to purposefully stride down the hall. She kept her head lowered so the Acolyte's hood would hide her face. Time to find the exit and get out of here.

Easier said than done. The layout of this mansion was not like the one Hunter had stayed at when she'd been with the cult years earlier. It seemed to be much more expansive and maze-like. The teen was beginning to wonder if that was purposeful. Everything about this place was a cell: her containment-spelled room, this labyrinth of a mansion, the force-field that protected this estate and kept it balmy and ideal weather-wise when it was located in the middle of a godforsaken, snow-driven mountain range. She had yet to figure out how to get by that last obstacle once she finally reached it. To be honest, beyond tackling Steel right as he was about to teleport, Hunter had no plan here—she just knew she needed to get out. She had to.

"Hey, you!"

A sudden voice startled Hunter and she froze mid-stride before turning to see who'd spoken: it was a female Field Acolyte! Despite her better judgment, she started to panic. She was caught! She was done for! There was no way she was making her escape now! "Yes?" she asked, somehow managing to keep her hysteria internalized and hidden.

"What are you doing in this wing at this hour?" the Field Acolyte demanded.

Hunter internally breathed a sigh of relief. She wasn't found out yet! Thanks Primus! "What do you mean?" she questioned, affecting her voice with a nasally accent.

"Don't give me that!" the Acolyte snapped, shaking her head. "You're a senior novice—you know that, unless otherwise notified, your place is below floors and out of sight until the Mistress and family have eaten. You should be down stairs helping to make the breakfast!

"Wow," Hunter thought to herself. "Luna really does treat her Acolytes like scrap, huh? Her fear tactics must work pretty well to keep them in line."

"Hey!" the woman barked. "Are you listening? What are you doing up here instead of down below?"

For what seemed an eternity to her own ears, Hunter was silent, trying to come up with a valid answer that wouldn't get her caught. When she could think of nothing, but knew she had to say something, she finally shrugged and settled with, "Watching the sun rise?"

The Acolyte was quiet for a moment. "Wait…."

Too close. Without warning, Hunter unsheathed a set of razors and lunged forward, stabbing the woman clean through the throat and shoving her into the darkness of an alcove. She held her pinned against the wall there, waiting as the woman slipped away. The teen never removed her blades from the Acolyte's throat, for fear she might still possess some capability of screaming.

Finally the woman's eyes went glassy and she gasped her last.

Withdrawing her razors, Hunter dragged the corpse further back into the shadows. This woman looked to be closer to her size. Plus, she had always found the Field Acolyte uniform rather kickass.

"That's more like it," Hunter sighed, shifting around in her new uniform. Despite the fact of armor and corsets, these Field Acolyte uniforms were actually surprisingly comfortable. The teen made a few most last minute adjustments and checks of the armor, then she pulled on the cowl adjusted the goggles over her eyes, and stepped back out into the hallway. Now where to go?

As she was trying to decide that, a group of other Field Acolytes came around the corner at her. "Hey!" one of them called, drawing Hunter's attention.

"Huh? What?" For a moment Hunter panicked. Had they seen her? Had she been caught?

"Hey, Parallax," the Acolyte repeated, "come on. Don't want to miss morning briefing again, do ya?" They all walked past her, apparently expecting her to fall in line with them and go wherever they were going.

And not having any idea of where to go, as well as not wanting to get caught, Hunter did just that. Maybe they'd inadvertently show her a way out. She just hoped she could stay hidden until she got the chance to take it.

The group traveled upwards through the mansion, climbing staircase after staircase, higher and higher. Finally, on the very top floor, they came to a large room where most, if not all, of the Field Acolytes were gathered. They began to file into groups.

Hunter glanced cautiously around, not feeling comfortable at all with this. There were too many followers here! If something went wrong and she was found out her odds of getting out of here were slim at best, and she really didn't want to be thrown back into that prison cell of a room. Unless Luna decided to downgrade her to an actual cell on the detention block. Which wasn't farfetched. Especially if she believed it would teach Hunter a lesson.

Quiet chatter went on amongst the Field Acolytes for several minutes until the two Acolytes standing at the corners of a raised platform at the front of the room suddenly snapped to attention. "Attention!" they barked. Everyone else in the room dropped their conversations and went stalk still and straight as a board, facing the front of the room. Hunter followed their lead.

A door at the front of the room opened and Dusk entered. Acknowledging no one, she turned and marched over to the platform, scaled it, then turned towards the Field Acolytes. Only then did she allow her eyes to fall on them. For a moment or two she was silent, simply looking over the squads, taking note of their armor and stance, soaking in the details. "At ease," she finally ordered. "All right, everyone, here's the deal: from here on out, everything is going to be different. Security is going to be beefed up around here, particularly on the third floor of the west wing. There should be no less than four guards on the Fuser's bedroom door at all times. If one of you needs a piss break, you make sure you call in a backup for the time you're away. If anyone enters that room, I want two of you with them. That includes the Mistress. I don't need to remind you the opinion the Fuser possesses of our Mistress, and the girl will not hesitate to strike out against her should she be given half a chance.

"In addition to that everyone needs to be on high alert, not just whoever is in the west wing. I know that she is young, but do not—I repeat, do not—underestimate the Fuser. She is strong, she is fast, she is smart, and she will be looking for every chance to escape; she will not hesitate to take you down in order to achieve that goal should the situation present itself. And with her memories back she knows more about what she's capable of now. Be aware, be alert, and do not be afraid to cross the line, because I guarantee you she won't be. Remember, this is the Fuser: you kill her once and she'll rise again—it doesn't matter." That's when Dusk's wandering, inspecting eyes suddenly stopped and focused in on one Acolyte. She became quiet.

As you can probably surmise, the Hybrid Dusk's gaze had fallen on was none other than our dear Hunter herself. And even as she managed to remain in line with the other Acolytes, unmoving and alert, the young Hybrid started to panic. "She's staring at me!" Hunter's internal voice screamed. "Why is she staring at me? Does she know? She can't possibly know, can she? How could she?!" How the teen managed to retain her composure was a miracle.

Finally Dusk spoke up. "Parallax," she called, "come to the front, please."

The group of Acolytes Hunter was standing with all stepped to opposing sides and parted ways, creating a lane for her to travel up to the front of the room. The teen glanced this way and that before setting her eyes on Dusk, wondering what was going on. Dusk had called her "Parallax", but did that mean Dusk believed she really was Parallax? Or was Dusk suspicious and just playing along until her suspicions were confirmed? For a moment Hunter was considering turning around and streaking out of the room to get away before she was found out and caught. If she did she might be able to get to the force field before anyone caught her, maybe even get it open and escape the grounds. But then they would know for sure who she was. If there was still a chance Dusk didn't know who she was and she could manage to play along convincingly she'd have a better chance of escaping and get even farther away from all of this. Finally, making the decision to stand her ground and play along, Hunter stepped out and marched up the lane of Acolytes towards the front of the room. She stopped before Dusk and stood at attention.

"You were sick yesterday," Dusk stated, face unreadable. "Correct?"

Trying to bring Parallax's voice to the front of her memory, Hunter did her best to imitate it. "Yes, Ma'am," she answered. Not the greatest impression, but if Parallax had been sick the day before, maybe that's what a different sounding voice could be attributed to. Hopefully.

"I hope you're feeling better today."

"I am, Ma'am. Thank you for your concern, Ma'am." Hunter's skin crawled as the two Acolytes standing at the corners of the platform moved over and stood behind her on either side, facing Dusk as well. She had a bad feeling about this….

"Parallax, I realize that you were sick yesterday, but that is no excuse for you to not be up on the information from the briefing yesterday."

"No, Ma'am, it's not, Ma'am."

"Good, I'm glad you agree. Now, that being the case, can you tell me what the color of the day was yesterday?"

For a long time Hunter was silent, mostly because she was freaking out. She was caught. Dusk was on to her—there was no two ways about it now. The teen glanced around. Surrounded—absolutely surrounded; not many chances of slipping out of here without bumping in to someone that would try to hold her back.

"Parallax!"

Hunter quickly turned her attention back to Dusk's impatient face. Evidently she wasn't completely sold on the idea of the teenager being behind the mask yet, as she was trying to give her a chance to play up the charade. Hunter decided to take that chance. Odds of guessing the correct color of yesterday were miniscule at best, but at least it might buy her a little time to come up with some sort of plan to get out of here. And, Primus willing, she could always get lucky. It was hardly likely, but still. "Um… mauve?" Luna had always had a thing for the purple/pink/off-red spectrum of the color gradient, so mauve wasn't a terrible bet.

Dusk's gaze darkened. Before Hunter realized what was happening, the cowl and goggles were being ripped off her head and she was unmasked before the entire fleet of Field Acolytes. A gasp went through the crowd. "Seize her!" Dusk shouted, pointing at the girl. "Now!"

Hunter glared. Not this time. And definitely not without a fight! Igniting her fists, Hunter slammed them together to form a flashbang in order to try and disorient everyone else in the room. Then she spun around and began running. She had to get out of here: out of this hall, out of this building, out of this estate—just out! The teen barreled out of the room, simply crashing through the doors and taking them completely off the hinges. Panting, she quickly glanced around, searching for an exit. Stairs would take too long; the girl needed to get out of the building now. Looking to her right, Hunter spotted a large, stained glass window at the end of the hall. That was it. That was her way out. It'd probably be quite a drop on the other side with a painful landing, but that wasn't something to worry about right now. Besides, she'd dealt with long drops before. Maybe not always successfully, but at least this time she wouldn't be pulverized and skewered by a bounty hunter before having to fall Primus-knew how far.

Lunging into a sprint, the redhead bounded down the hall, drawing closer and closer to the window until finally she jumped. "Hup!" Glass shattered. Metal broke and gave way. In more than a few places did the sharp edges of both glass and metal framing cut through some of the less armored areas of Hunter's Field Acolyte uniform. Having instinctively covered her face, Hunter uncrossed her arms and let her gaze travel down to the ground. Which was a long ways down. And was also a stone courtyard. With stairs. "Slag!" This wasn't going to be nice at all. Trying to make the landing as graceful and least painful as possible, Hunter moved into a position where she would be ready to tuck and roll when she finally hit the ground. It didn't work that well. Mostly because the soles of the boots the teen was wearing were much thicker and taller than she was used to, and she didn't have much experience in "clod hoppers". Needless to say, when Hunter landed, instead of gracefully tucking and rolling, her ankles gave out from the boots, rolled separate ways, and she went crashing and rolling across the cobblestones and down the steps. "Ack! Ugh! Uh! Oof!"

When she finally stopped tumbling, Hunter pushed herself up onto her knees with a grunt. She shook her head, trying to clear out the daze, and then she was up on her feet again, stumbling at first as she still tried to find her bearings and then racing off once more. The force-field! She had to get to the control room and open the force-field enough so she could get through! As if that wouldn't have been difficult enough before she'd been caught and went on the run!

The redhead's plans quickly began to change and Field Acolytes popped up around her. They first appeared on the right and left, hemming her in from the sides and closing in on the gap behind her to keep her from going back as well as driving her onward into the Acolytes that showed up in front. Hunter's eyes narrowed as she watched them start to perform a spell—probably another spell to contain her somehow. Well, not this time! Suddenly stopping, Hunter pivoted around and spat out a line of fire, forming a half-ring barrier between herself and most of the Acolytes. That would hold them off for a little bit—long enough for her to deal with the obstacle in her way. Then she turned towards those standing in her way. Taking a deep, the sixteen-year-old released an ear-shattering, earth quaking sonic scream.

The Acolytes quickly stopped performing their spell and clamped their hands over their masked ears, crying out in agony as the noise wreaked havoc on their sensitive ears. As if that wasn't enough to contend with, the earth beneath their feet shook and broke and parted and rolled from the force of the scream as well. They were all left trying to regain their footing or get out of the way.

That was when Hunter crouched down and, with a sonic boom, rocketed past them towards the force-field, swerving just before she hit it and following the curve around the estate. She had to get to the control room. No way was she about to give up on even the smallest possible chance of getting out of here! Keeping her gaze turned inward towards the estate, the teen kept an eye out for the building that would house the controls for the shield as well as everything else electrically related for the estate—she'd know it when she saw it…. There! That was it, just positioned on the far side of the cemetery. She was almost there!

"Whoa-oh!" Hunter's feet were suddenly ripped out from underneath of her as her legs suddenly snapped together as stiff and straight as a tree trunk. A hex! She'd been hexed! Hitting the ground, the redhead went skidding for a ways, gouging a nasty scar into her grandmother's pretty, lush, green grounds. Then she rolled for a bit. And then she was skidding again and taking out several headstones in her wake. "Oof! Ugh! Ahh! Uh! Agh! Mmph!" Hunter slammed into the side of the mausoleum at the center of the cemetery, causing half of it to tumble down around her. She kicked a large section of the roof away and sat up. "Ptoo! Puh! Ugh!" She spat the dirt and grass out of her mouth and tried to wipe to away as much of the remaining grime as she could. "Blech!"

All at once the ground shook and rumbled and there was a horrible cracking sound. Glowing, magenta veins suddenly crisscrossed the grounds of the entire estate, spreading out from the manor itself. And then they disappeared.

Hunter furrowed her brows. That was her grandmother's magic—there was absolutely no mistaking it. Likely Luna had found out about her escape attempt and how now just cast some spell to try and prevent her from getting any further. "What spell though?" the teen asked herself. "I don't remember anything like that from the last time." Granted, Hunter acknowledged the fact that she hardly knew every spell and curse her grandmother had up her sleeve, but still.

That's when something touched Hunter's shoulder, and slowly closed around it with a rusty squeak. This occurrence was accompanied by a noise that sounded like a mix of a wheeze, a raspy growl, and Epps whenever he tried to hock up a deep-seated loogie.

The sixteen-year-old froze, a terrible chill running through her body. Wait a second. She was sitting in the middle of the cult's graveyard, her grandmother had just cast a spell and had evidently channeled it through the ground, and now something had just grabbed her. Not to mention that Primus-awful sound! The clues came together. Hunter gulped, "Dear, God, please no…" because it was then that she remembered, with great horror, that her age old grandmother had been worshiped by the humans—was probably still worshiped by some—as a goddess of death (among other things). And "living death" was included in that category….

Confession #47

I know I've stated in the past that I don't do zombies. And I don't. Hardly even a little bit. I hate them. I'm terrified of them. And I know that's stupid and pathetic, but I can't help it and I really can't seem to control it either. It's my thing. I wish it wasn't, but it is. So why the frag am I doing zombies? ... Evidently I'm a psychological-masochist? I really don't fucking know, beyond reawakening the dead being an ability of Luna's. All I know is that what I'm sick with won't kill me... but writing this probably will. Over and over and over and over and over and over again...