Chapter Three: In the Village

Instinctively keeping my eyes closed when I woke, I felt around for my shades, and put them on. Opening my eyes, I noticed that some time during the night, Chloe had snuggled up to me for extra warmth. Her face was pressed tightly against my shoulder, and I shook her gently, "Hey. Wake up."

Chloe stirred and her eyes opened, looking up at me. She realised how close she was, and moved away a little, "Sorry."

The fire had died during the night and only a pile of ashes now sat in the middle of our hollow. Jacqueline and Chris were nowhere to be seen. They must have been outside somewhere. I got to my feet, stretching my arms and legs to get rid of the stiffness that had set in, and ventured outside the hollow. They were standing a few yards away, examining a plant of some kind.

"Hey," I said. "What are you doing?"

"Looking for food," Jacqueline said. There must be edible plants here somewhere."

I glanced to my right as Chloe appeared at my side, rubbing her eyes, asking, "Why didn't you wake us?"

"We were going to, but you looked so cosy together," Chris grinned suggestively.

Chloe blushed, "Shut up."

"Do either of you know anything about plants?" Jacqueline asked. "We need to find something to eat."

"Here's an idea," said Chris. "Chloe, why don't you use your power to lure some animal towards us, then we can eat that?"

It had been an innocent suggestion, and he certainly wasn't expecting the shove in the chest he got from Chloe.

"How dare you?!" she shrieked. "Do you think I'm going to use my power to gain an animal's trust, just so you can kill it? What kind of a person are you?!"

Chris didn't take kindly to being shoved about. He shoved her back, a lot harder, and she stumbled and fell on to the ground.

"Want to start something, do you?" he demanded, stepping forward with his fists clenched.

I moved in front of him, "Leave her alone."

"Or what? You'll shoot laser beams out of your eyes at me?"

"I said: leave her alone. If you're looking for a fight, pick on somebody your own age, size and sex."

"Like you, you mean?"

"Chris…"

"Shove it!"

He threw a punch, and I tried to duck to avoid it. It never came. I straightened to see Chris' fist still thrust out towards me, hanging motionless in mid-air. Off to the side, I could see Jacqueline, her arm outstretched, using her power to hold his fist in place.

"That's enough, both of you," she said. "We're in a bad enough situation without the two of you trying to show who's the hard man. We have to work together if we're going to have any chance. Agreed?"

"Agreed," I said.

Chris shrugged, "Whatever."

"All right, then let's keep going," said Jacqueline. "After a while we'll stop and look for food again. There must be some berries or fungi we can eat."

She relaxed, and Chris' arm was released from her telepathy. He let it drop back to his side, glared at me, then turned away and began walking. I helped Chloe to her feet, and we followed Jacqueline and Chris on the route we hoped would lead to higher ground. When the others were sufficiently far ahead, Chloe fell into step beside me, and gave me a shy glance.

"I just want to say thanks," she said. "For sticking up for me like that."

"No problem."

"I know I shouldn't have lost my temper. I just get so mad when people talk about killing animals. Animals are intelligent creatures with feelings and emotions. I – I just can't stand people who want to kill them. It's murder."

I didn't say anything. I had no qualms about eating meat, but I didn't want to tell her that in case she was offended. I could understand her viewpoint, but I didn't feel strongly enough about it to actually change my diet.

A little later, we had a slice of luck. Growing in the shade of a large pine tree, we discovered a crop of wild strawberries. Chris and Jacqueline picked the ones that looked the ripest, and there were enough for us to have a handful each. We felt better after eating them, and set on our way with renewed vigour.

"You know," Jacqueline said, an hour or so later, when we were walking in the shade provided by a dense canopy of overhanging trees. "I think we're definitely heading uphill. These last few minutes have been much harder walking."

"Or we could just be getting tired out," said Chris. "I play football regularly with my friends, so I'm in pretty good physical shape, if I say so myself. I don't know about the rest of you."

"I hate long walks," Chloe panted, getting her breath back. "I just don't have the stamina."

"I don't really get a huge amount of exercise, but I reckon I'm fit enough," I said. "I agree with Jacqueline; I think we are moving uphill."

"I hope we get to the top soon," said Chloe.

"I don't. We need to get as high as possible. The higher up we get, the further I can see once we get there."

It took three more hours to reach the summit, and by the time we got there even Jacqueline was beginning to tire. When we finally emerged from the trees on to the top of the hill, Chloe gratefully sank down on to the rock floor to rest her exhausted body. Chris, unwilling to show any signs of weakness or fatigue, casually leaned against a rock. Jacqueline looked as calm and imperturbable as always, and said to me, "What can you see?"

I had an uninhibited view of the surrounding land in all directions, and I moved around in a slow circle, changing my focus from near to far alternately, passing my eyes over every inch of countryside that lay before us.

"There's a river over that way," I said, pointing east. "I think it's the same one I spotted from the van."

"We could do worse than head for the river," Chris said. "It might lead us to a town."

"Ah! Wait!" I exclaimed. "Yeah, I can see a village!"

"Really? Where?"

I pointed north, "That way. About three miles."

"How big is it?"

"Dunno. It's got a few houses, and there's a general store. We can buy food and stuff, and find out exactly where we are. Maybe there's even transport we can use to get home."

"All right," said Jacqueline. "Let's go."

We were all still tired, but all of us felt encouraged by the news, and for a while we forgot how weary we were. Walking downhill was also a lot easier, and it didn't seem like all that long before we were standing at the crest of a very small hill overlooking the village.

"How does it look?" Jacqueline asked me.

I squinted over the few hundred yards that separated us from the small community, and shrugged, "Looks just like a normal village. There's a few people in the street, mostly children. I don't see any reason why we shouldn't go down there."

"Good. OK, let's – "

"Uh-oh, wait a minute! What's this?" I said.

"What can you see?"

I frowned, "There's a set of newspapers on a stand outside the general store."

"And?" Chris asked impatiently.

"And – um – we're on the front page."

"What?!"

"There's pictures of each of us. Wait, I'll try and read the article. Here goes:

A nation-wide search has begun for the four missing teenagers who disappeared from their school in Edinburgh early yesterday afternoon. Jacqueline Cartier, Neil Rosiçky, Chris Garcia and Chloe Scott (all pictured above) have been positively identified as mutants, and are believed to have fled from home to escape the implications of the new Mutant Registration Act. Though it is unknown exactly what mutations they possess, there is no doubt that they are dangerous. Already they are believed to be responsible for at least three murders. If you think you have seen them, do NOT approach them. Instead notify your nearest police officer."

"But we haven't murdered anybody!" Chloe protested.

"Of course we haven't. It's just typical newspaper mutant-hating propaganda," Chris spat.

"I don't understand."

"I'll try to explain," said Jacqueline. "They're trying to track us down, but we're only children. To avoid appearing like child-hunting monsters, they have to try and make out that we're the monsters. Hence the murder allegation and the emphasis on us being mutants."

"But it's a total lie!" Chloe exclaimed. "They can't print lies in the newspaper!"

"They haven't lied. All they've said is that we're believed to have committed murder. It's carefully worded."

"So what do we do now?" Chris demanded. "We can't go down into the village with our faces all over the front page of the papers!"

"I don't see that we have any other choice," Jacqueline said. "We have to find out where we are. We have to buy food. Incidentally, who's got money?"

I felt in my pocket, "I've got a few pounds."

Chris shrugged, "Nothing. I'm from the slums, remember. We don't have any money."

"I've got about fifty pence," Chloe said.

"I've got ten pounds," said Jacqueline. "That should be enough to buy food for a couple of days. We just have to find a way to get down there without being identified."

I had an idea, "Can't you use your mind power to make people think they're seeing somebody different?"

"Or if somebody does identify us, use your power to make them forget about it," Chris added.

"I could," said Jacqueline. "But only once or twice. I've only got a small amount of power I can use at once, remember."

"Neil, how recent are the photographs?" asked Chris. "Any chance we might not be recognised from them?"

I stared towards the village once more and focused on the general store, then on the newspapers in front of it.

"Well, my picture must be a few years old, because I'm not wearing my sun-glasses in it," I said. "Gosh, I can't be any older than eight. My eyes looked normal back then. They must have found the most recent picture they could without my glasses."

"What about the rest of us?" he asked restlessly.

"Yours looks just like you. Jacqueline – mmm, well – you might get away with it. Chloe's looks just like her as well."

"All right, we'll have to find some sort of disguise," said Chris. "Hey, lend me your shades. That ought to hide my eyes; maybe people won't recognise me."

"I can't take them off."

"Huh? Why not?"

"Because the sun hurts my eyes."

"It can't be that bad."

"Try to imagine burning oil being poured over the inside of your skull."

He raised an eyebrow, "That bad, huh?"

"Yes. Forget about the shades."

He sighed, and fell silent. For a while nobody said anything, each of us trying to think of a way round the problem. Eventually Chris said, "To hell with it. Let's just take the risk and go down there anyway. We can't keep running forever."

"I think that's the only option," Jacqueline agreed. "Let's do it."

We walked down the side of the hill and approached the village, feeling apprehensive. The general store, where we hoped we'd be able to buy food, was at the far end of the single street that made up the community. We walked past a few houses, small but neat-looking, with well-tended gardens in front. A child, maybe three years old, was sitting at the side of the road, and gazed up at us curiously as we passed. There were a couple of other people on the street as well, but thankfully they passed us without a second glance. We reached the shop without anyone raising the alarm.

"So far, so good," said Jacqueline. "Let's go in."

Inside the shop, a middle-aged woman stood behind a counter with a cash register, looking bored. Two small boys, twins, were playing with toy cars on the floor near her. The store appeared to have a small amount of stock, but it was enough to buy the essentials we needed. The woman looked up as we entered, and gave us a shrewd shopkeeper's once-over. Unfortunately, she recognised us from the newspapers.

"You're – you're those mutants from the paper!" she gasped. "Danny, Tommy, get in the back! Now!"

"So much for being inconspicuous," Chris muttered.

The two little boys looked up, annoyed at their play being interrupted, but obediently went into the back of the building through the door behind the counter. The woman opened the cash register and said in a trembling voice, "You can take the money! You can take anything you want! Just don't hurt me or my children!"

"We don't want to hurt anybody," said Jacqueline. "We're not what you think."

"The – the papers say you – you've murdered people! That you're mutants!"

"It's not true. We are mutants, but we've done nothing wrong."

"Wh-what are you doing here?"

"We need to buy food. Please, don't be afraid. We're not going to hurt you."

"But you're mutants!"

Jacqueline shrugged, "That's the way we were born. We're on the run because people want to take our freedom away. Please, trust us."

The woman seemed to calm down a little, and said, "Well…I suppose you are only children. You can't be all that bad. What do you want to buy?"

Jacqueline picked a few essentials: bread, milk, fruit, cheese, (Chloe wouldn't allow her to buy meat) and paid the nervous woman for our purchases. We left the shop and stood in the street outside.

"Ah well, that went OK," Chris said. "You forgot to ask her where we are, though."

"No, I didn't," said Jacqueline. "I read her thoughts. I also had to use my telepathy to calm her down a bit; she was in danger of having a heart attack."

"So where are we?"

"The village is called Forest Green – imaginative, I know – and we're in the Highlands. A good two hundred miles away from Edinburgh, at least."

Chloe gasped, "How are we going to get home?"

"There's a larger town a few miles up the road, with a bus terminal and a train station," Jacqueline said.

"Uh-uh. We can't use public transport," Chris argued. "The train's station one of the first places they'll have guarded if somebody's on the run."

"Well, we can't walk back to Edinburgh," I said.

Chloe started sobbing, "I just wanna go home! I wanna see my mum and dad again!"

I put my arm around her and she cried into my shoulder. Jacqueline looked thoughtful, then said, "I can only think of one thing we can do."

"What?"
"Well, doesn't this whole thing strike you as strange? First of all we're grabbed from school. Then we find out we're being framed for murder and there's a nation-wide search to bring us in. Doesn't that seem a little bit over the top just to catch four young mutants who don't want to be registered?"

"There's an understatement if I ever heard one," said Chris. "I thought it was just because people are mutant-hating bigots, but I guess you're right."

"So what's your thought?" I asked of Jacqueline.

"Somebody must want us specifically, for some reason," she said. "I don't know who, and I can't begin to imagine how we're going to find out. But if we can find out who it is, and why they want us, we might be able to clear our names and find a way home. Even if we did find a way home now, we'd be picked up instantly for these non-existent murders."

"I told you we'd be arrested on made-up charges as soon as they found out we were mutants," Chris said. "But I agree. Something's behind all this. We've got to find out what it is. Neil, Chloe, are you with us?"

"I am," I said. "You do realise we're on our own, though? We can't trust anybody except each other. We don't even know any other mutants who might be willing to help us."

Chloe wiped her tears on the sleeve of my jacket, which she was still wearing, "I agree with your plan. I'm scared and upset and I don't think it'll work, but there's nothing else we can do."

"All right," said Jacqueline. "Let's get out of here before somebody else recognises us, and try to make some plans."

She led us back the way we had come, down the main street and towards the small hill outside the village. Chloe was still crying, and looked terrified. She clutched my hand and refused to let go.

"Will you look after me?" she whispered.

"Yes. I will."

We followed Chris and Jacqueline out of the town, and I wondered what was going to happen to us. Somebody, out there somewhere, had set their sights on us. We didn't know why, and we didn't know when they'd strike next. We were on our own with nothing but our mutant powers to protect us. Did we have any hope at all?