The Begining

Chapter Two: Brought Together




5 Years Previous

"Onça you have to go. We can't protect you anymore. There are people like you out there, find them and you'll be safe. Don't trust anyone else, many people would want to hurt you." Her father glanced behind at the sound of splintering wood downstairs.
"Run Onça," Her mother continued. "Run and stay safe. We will always love you." And with that she was handed a satchel and shown an open window on the top floor, asking her to make use of an ability she had always been taught to hide.
She glanced back as she stood in the garden, having jumped. That would be that last time she would see her parents; as they stood together at the window, tight in each other's arms, as she ran from the house she had always lived in, and as the violent protestors broke down the door to 'arrest' the freak they had found living in their neighbourhood. She ran that day, not knowing where she would go or what she would do. Only that she was seeking out others like her. Others she knew only as - the ferals.

Present Day

Onça stepped to one side as a young teenaged girl sprinted past her. She had barely taken another step when six men followed, all wearing dark clothes and looking menacing. She would have kept walking without a second thought if it hadn't have been for two words muttered by the trailing man.
"Damn Freaks." He said. She could feel the adrenaline burn through every inch of her body as she span on her heel to follow them. For once she didn't cover her eyes to hide the change in their appearance. This was the closest she had come to finding another like her and she wasn't planning on missing it now.
When she had caught up with the goons they had cornered the girl in an alleyway and were slowly closing in on her - pushing her up against the far wall. Catching the girl's eye she winked and held a finger up to her mouth. The girl responded with a brief nod and turned her attention back to the dark clad attackers.
Coming within arms reach of the outermost attacker, Onça flipped him to the floor, making sure he landed with enough of a thud to turn all the heads. There was a moment's silence as they took in their colleague on the floor and the diminutive woman stood over his immobile body. Smiling, she stepped over him, allowing her eyes to flicker into their feral form as she did.
"It's another one. The leading man called out. "We're up for promotion if we take them both back, boys." The men's looks of trepidation turned to eager leers.
Five minutes later there were five more bodies on the floor and she turned to the young girl to offer her a place to stay.
What she didn't expect was the large piece of metal piping she held in her hands, albeit a little shakily.
"Who are you and what do you want with me?" She asked. A strong voice only betrayed by the tremors in her hands.


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~Just Days Before~
Chrissy heard the bell ring. That only meant one thing. Time to go home. A place she really didn't want to go. She waited for all the Kids to get on their busses and walked out of the Girls washroom into her classroom where the teacher was just putting her things away to go home. The teacher lookd up. "Im just going to get my things and go, have a good night." Chrissy said Putting her books into her black backpack. Chrissy pulled her coat off the back of her chair and put it on before swinging the backpack over her shoulder. "Bye" She said to the teacher as she left the room. Knowing it might be a very long time before she would ever see the classroom or any of the people in it again. She walked out the front doors and down the country road in the cold rainy weather to the end of her long driveway. She walked through the back gate and let her dog off the chain and into the house through the back door. She knew the dog wasn't supposed to be in the house. The dog was probably the only one who didn't hate her at her house. Chrissy let the dog in every day after school and they would stay in Chrissy's room until Chrissy heard her dad's car pull in. Then she would let the dog out and do her homework until dinner when she ran downstairs ate quickly then it was back to the computer. This night was different. No, tonight she wouldn't be eating dinner with them. She followed the dog up the stairs to her room at the end of the hallway and grabbed a bigger backpack. She started Piling things into it, notes, pictures, money, bank cards, cloths, cd player, cd's computer disks and some food. She didn't talk or say anything just packed things into her backpack. She took a snapshot of her dog who was sitting on the carpet watching her. Chrissy smiled at Vicky (the black and white border collie) and patted her on the head as she put the picture in her backpack. Chrissy looked at her clock radio.
4:00. her dad would be home in half an hour. She sat down at her computer desk and put every important file into her mail storage and deleted everything else. She shut of the computer, zipped up her coat and walked down the stairs with Vicky following close behind. She walked out the backdoor, chained Vicky up again and scratched her behind the ears one last time. Chrissy went out the Gate and walked down the road towards the city.


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"Who are you and what do you want with me?" She asked.
"Hey! I'm here to help you. Just put the pole down and we'll talk OK?"
"Who are you and what to you want with me?" She repeated, a little slower.
"OK, I'm Onça. I'm like you." Onça flashed feral eyes and smiled as the girl's eyes responded in kind. "I've been looking for other people like you, like us."
Onça flinched as the new feral hefted the pole and took a swing, realising only as it contacted with the guy who had just risen again, that she wasn't the one it was aimed at.
"What do you say we get out of here?" She offered.
"Sure."
---
Chrissy looked around at the room she had been lead into as Onça made a drink. The room was bare save for a mattress in one corner, a sink and table in the other and the sofa she was sat on. Onça sat down beside her, handing her a cup of coffee.
"So, tell me about yourself. I'm curious. Do we have the same 'freaky' powers? Do you know how you got like you are?"
Chrissy takes a sip of the coffee and then looks down at the floor.
"Yeah, only freaky is putting it lightly. I first found out I was different when I was 6. An older kid at my school was picking on my friend and I just stepped in and lashed out on him." Chrissy looks up at Onça. "Of course, after that I didn't have any friends. Everyone thought of me as a freak. Ever since I have been trying to figure it out. I have no idea what it is or how it works. My parents didn't care about me...they wanted to put my in a hospital, so about a week ago I finally got up the courage to leave it all behind. Since I left home, I've been running from people I don't even know and Sleeping.... wherever I can.
"What about you? What's your story?"
"Well, I left home about five years ago looking for other ferals, looking for answers about what we are, why we're like this. I managed to get some training in the martial arts to keep myself safe and now I'm a teacher in Karate and Ju-jitsu. I made enough money to set up this place, bare though it is. And that's my life in a nut-shell."
"What are you going to do now?"
"I suppose I keep looking I guess. I expected to find I don't know what I expected to find. Some kind of group maybe, someone with answers."
"Sorry to disappoint."
"No way. One thing I am going to do is offer you a job."
"A job?"
"Yeah, I'm planning on firing the guy I work with at the moment, he's an imbecile. I figure with your 'skills' you'd be pretty easy to train up to take his place. You could stay here if you need a place. What do you say?"
Chrissy smiles. "Cool, but... what about those guys that were chasing us? Do you think they will be back? Then what will we do?"
"Honestly, I don't know. I guess we cross that bridge when we come to it. But one thing I do know. We'll cross it together."