The trip was spent hurdled inside together like cattle. If you didn't know the person next to you then you knew them now. Alex was scrunched up against the side wall of the truck with Brian on her other side. They had been traveling for a good ten minutes when Alex knew she had to get out.
"Brian, we need to get out." Alex whispered to her friend. Brian shoke his head and looked at her with wistful eyes. He didn't want her to try anything. He too wanted to get out, but he didn't exactly know how hostile these people really were if they tried to break out. Brian knew she wanted to get to Gabe.
Alex through all the questioning thoughts of Brian had made her way to the back of the truck without stepping on too many people. By now many students began to steer to see what she was planning. Alex could hear Brian shouting at her to not do something stupid as he too tried to make his way towards her. Everyone in the truck by now were standing, waiting in exisle.
"Everyone, listen to me. I don't know about you but I want to get out of here, so I'm going to get out of here." shouted Alex. The whole truck erupted in shouts of encouragement, but many were questionable on how we were going to get out.
"And exactly how are you going to get out?" questioned some girl in the back. Everyone moved aside to make way for the voice that carried it's way from the back. Alex immediately recognized the owner. She was the head cheerleader for their school. She had to admit it was surprise, she wasn't expecting Ms. Prefect to be a mutant. And from the way she carried herself and how she stared at everyone else, she didn't want to be a mutant.
"What exactly are you doing here, Kitty?" growled Alex through gritted teeth. She knew so many people who would love to have a hit list with her on it. She didn't blame them. Kitty was always walking around as if she was supurer to everyone else. Anything she wanted, she got. Including your boyfriends, if they were cute she went for them.
"Nice to see you too. I happen to be a mutant, if you haven't guessed already." snapped Kitty. She sent Brian a flirtaous smile while futtering her eyelashes. She had always had a thing for Brian but he knew her more than she thought and stayed away. She swayed her hips through the crowd stopping abruptly in front of Alex. "Listen I don't know what your power is but what makes you so sure you can get us out."
Alex ignored Kitty's encorement and continued with her plan. She decided that she would melt the locks off her doors then everyone would be able to get out. If they were lucky, the truck would hear the noise or stop at a light, and stop so they wouldn't have to jump while the truck was moving.
Kitty was still babblering when Alex turned back around. "Kitty, will you shut it already!" shouted Alex. She signalled for the rest of the truck to be quiet. Slowly she lowered her hand upon the lock and began her work. Within a few minutes the lock was hot enough to fall right off. And as luck would have it, the truck had just stopped for a light. Immediately Alex pushed open the doors and leaped from the truck, while everyone else followed suit. Before anyone knew it the streets were filled with angry fueled mutants and determined police personal trying to round everyone up. Alex prayed a majority would get away.
The long walk home from their current location was slow and agonizing. Alex was able to excape with Brian with her, but some were not so lucky. It seemed that the police were able to get a hold on just about every mutant that tried to escape. A few were extremely lucky, including Brian and herself.
It came to the point when they finally reached the block at which their houses rested on. Altogether they walked about five miles to get where they were, but at extreme price. Their feet ached and Alex was beginning to have troubles with her walking. Her feet were swelled from the strain, and she was now leaning on Brian for support. Him on the other hand was walking fine, due to the fact that he had football practice just about everyday and was used to so much walking and exercise.
"Brian, look. We're here." whispered Alex. The site both were gazing upon was like witnessing a war went on in her very neighborhood. The doors of homes were fling open letting every possible thing unlimited access within. Furniture lay torn and tattered on the streets. Children's toys lay broken and left forgotten on front lawns. Then the windows were all shattered, leaving broken, jagged pieces on the ground as though marking graves.
The sun had now seeped behind the hills leaving behind a ghostly silence. It reminded Alex of an old horrer film, where the town lay abandoned allowing the ghosts of the deceased to take over. Apparently from the odd silence, Alex and Brian got the hint that nobody was around.
Alex untangled Brian's arms from around her waist, and began to race forward towards her house. She thought nothing, breathed nothing, just wanted to reach her home. The constant thud of shoes behind her signalled Brian was following her. Alex's feet hit the sidewalk with such force it hurt, but she didn't give up and soon up ahead loomed her house.
Alex halted in front of her house. The door swung back and forth, swaying to the rhythm of the breeze. The wind blew her hair around her face, shielding her from the possibilities. 'Brace yourself. You are not prepared for what you are about to see. Run away, run far away. Run, Run, Run' The voices in the back the back of her head were warning her not to go inside her house, but she needed too. If not, she would never know what happened she would never have any closure.
Before Brian could make a grab for her, she rushed forward and burst through her front door. "Mom!Dad!" she shouted continuesly while she dodged and jumped over fallen objects aiming for the stairs to her parents bedroom. She had thought she reached her goal upon reaching the top of the stairs, but she slipped and fell.
"Brian, I slipped in something. But I don't know what it is, it's too dark." whimpered Alex. She had banged her head up against the railing as she fell. As of now, things were swirling about and Alex was trying to get a firm grip on reality.
Brian slowly made his up the stairs, carefully examining each step to see what she slipped in. It wasn't till about the thrid to the last step that he found something. Bending down he dripped his fingers into what she assumed was a liquid of some sort. Brian let out a sigh and concentrated his gaze on the wall until Alex plead with him enough. "Alex, it's blood."
Alex didn't even let Brian finish before she raced off to her parents room. Upon reaching the open door, she let out a scream. Brian raced forward and embraced her. Alex stay rocking in Brian's arms as she cried. Brian saw the bloody mess, and wished he could get sick, but he needed to be strong for Alex. She had just seen the slain bodies of her parents, which with further examination Brian determined that they were shot. Brian had made Alex wait outside while he searched the rest of the house for her brother. He found good and bad news. The good news was, he wasn't inside the house, but the bad news was, he wasn't there. He was missing.
Alex sat under the branches of the old oak tree nestled in her yard. Why, she thought. What would make someone so mad to want to shot her parents? She automatically kept on wiping her hands on her pants wanting to rid the filth from her hands. She felt filthy. She had just seen her parents slaughtered on their bedroom floor. Nothing would wash those images from her mind, not even every shower in the world.
Leaves blew across the street, sweeping trash along with them. Life seemed to stop in that moment. Movements slowed to a small walk. No human made up the neighborhood, except for Brian and herself. Alex knew what she had to do, she just didn't know how to go about it.
Swift movement from the side of the house caught her attention. Standing up she slowly made her way towards the location of the movement. Just then, Brian came bounding out of the house, looking distort.
"Alex! Gabe's not here!" shouted Gabe as he approached Alex.
Alex looked stunned. Somehow she knew this was true, and she had been making a plan inside her head the whole time. Her brother meant everything to her. Now that her parents were gone she was going to have to take full care of her brother.
"Do you have any idea where he went?Any clues?" replied Alex.
"They took your brother too." Alex and Brian turned abruptly to find the source of the voice. In the corner Alex thought she saw something stood a tall figure draped in black. By the look of the figure, it was a male. A very attractive and muscular male. He stepped out from under the shadows revealing a solid silhouette.
"What do you mean they took him too? And who are you?" questioned Alex. She kept eye contact with him the whole time to make sure he wouldn't lie and actually knew what happened here. Her eyes locked on his for the longest time. His eyes, she thought, they're black with red pupils.
"The swat teams and truck drivers drove off with everyone in this neighborhood. I couldn't help them." replied the strange man. By now Brian had made to stand in front of Alex again. He didn't know who this guy was and he wasn't taking chances.
"Wait hold a minute!" shouted Alex. She shoved her way in front of Brian and walked towards the man she still didn't know the name of, shouting at hime. "Let me get this straight, you were here the whole time and you didn't get anyone out! And if you didn't notice my parents were shot! They're dead! You know, no longer existing! Why didn't you do anything!?" Alex continued to yell. Noncohertent to anyone, Alex realized that she was taking out all her anger on him. He probably didn't deserve it, but she needed to get all her mixed emotions out or she would surely lose her mind.
"Whoa, I think maybe you have way too much confidence to yell at me." exclaimed the man. Alex could tell he was losing his patience. Especially since they didn't even know each other. " I did everything I could! But when you're outnumbered 60 to 1, it becomes a little difficult to save anyone! And as for your parents," He had calmed down now, for what he was about to tell her. "they were trying to fight off some military men from taking your little brother when one of them shot your parents. They took your brother. Look, I'm really sorry I couldn't do anything."
Alex stood agasped at the man's explaination of days events. She covered her ears with her hands and began to pace. She didn't want to hear anymore. She continously murmurred words to herself, while she closed her and wished. Wished that she could take back the day and would be able to change the outcome. If she did maybe her parents would be alive and her brother would be here.
"Alex, come on, pull it together." said Brian. He had tried to stop Alex from pacing, and was now trying to pry Alex's hands away from her ears and talk sense into her.
"What, she is crazy?" questioned the young man.
"BOY, ARE YOU COCKY!" shouted Alex back at him. "I DON'T SEE YOUR PARENTS DEAD AND YOUR BROTHER MISSING! BUT IF THEY WERE, I'M SURE YOU'DE BE AS COOL AS A CALM, WOULDN'T YOU!" Alex began to calm down after she had shouted out at him, but still the tears she just realized were falling, continued to pour out.
Brian tried to steer Alex over to the front porch to sit, but she refused. "No, I can't cry! I need to go get my brother." she said. She quickly wiped her tears away with the sleeves of her shirt and turned her attention towards the man again. She could tell she hit a sore spot when she shouted at him, because he looked guilty.
"What's your name?"
The man looked up, and stared at the girl in front of him. He had to admit she was strong. Through all that happened to her, she still tried to keep it together. "My name's Remy, but my friends call me Gambit."
"So, Gambit you were here, right? So you saw them load the people into the trucks, right?"
"Yes." said Gambit, but by now he was beginning to question this girls motives. She was angry and upsett, she could do anything.
"So, you know where they're going? Am I right?" smirked Alex
"Perhaps. What are you planning?" questioned Gambit.
"I plan to go rescue my brother." replied Alex as she made her way inside her house. Both boys looked at Alex like she was crazy as they followed her inside. Each tripping and stepping over fallen objects while Brian yelled at Alex.
"Alex, Gambit's right. You are crazy! You don't know where they're going, they could be anywhere by now. And they probably have hundreds of people guarding that place. Do you not see the problem by now? A hundred soldiers complete with ammo verses two teenagers complete with sticks of gum!!" shouted Brian as he tripped over a chair and landed on the floor with a thud. Gambit helped him to his feet.
Alex let out a sigh and placed her hand to her head. All of this was beginning to give her headache and what was even more irritating was the fact that Brian wasn't helping. "Oh, Brian, you're such a baby. Come on, you're the star of the football team, pull it together. You are going with me." replied Alex as she packed a backpack with a few extra clothes and hygiene essentials. Gambit stood in the doorway enjoying watching them fight.
"What are you smiling about, Gambit? You're going with us. You're going to show us the way there, because I know you know the way there and you're going to help save my brother." smirked Alex as turned around and faced the boys. "See Brian, now it's hundreds of soldiers verses three teenagers."
Gambit and Brian stood speechless. She had just ordered them to come with her and gathered a plan in less than an half hour. It looked like neither of them had the choice to back out of this situation.
"Hold up. I don't even know you guys." said Gambit. He though he had a point. Who would want to travel with a stranger on their trip, but apparently he was wrong when she answered him as she slipped on her backpack and left the room.
"Well, that's the thing Gambit. If we do this together we'll all become friends." Alex just then had strapped on her cocky attitude, and apparently it was working. No way was she going to let them off the hook so fast. Gambit knew where they were taking them and Brian was her best friend. He had an obligation to hold to.
All three traveling companions stood outside on her lawn on the brink of their journey. "Well, where are we going and how long is it going to take us to get there?" asked Alex.
Gambit began to calculate the distance and how long it would take them to get there. "Well since we don't have motor transportation, it'll take us about three days to get there walking." replied Gambit. Brian looked shocked by this information. He had walked more than a mile at the most, now three days worth of walking.
"Why don't we just hot wire a car?" asked Brian. Alex just looked at him like he had just said the most stupid thing possible. If he could not tell already, all the cars in the neighborhood had either been set on fire or destroyed.
"Brian, do you see any cars? If you do, they're too badly beat up." said Alex
"Yeah, they won't even start. The swat made sure that no one would be able to follow." Gambit added.
"Okay, anyway. Where are they taking them?" asked Alex once more.
"Charleston," replied Gambit. Alex gave him a questioning look before turning her attention towards the road ahead.
"Well, I guess we better get going."