A/N: Ah yet another chapter, how time flies… Yeah, right. Okay, this is a bit Dawson's Creekish and I apologise. I just had to get the whole friendship thing in with Dalton. The little dude is gonna kind of be like the friend factor in this. Erin has to have more than one friend. It'll make it more interesting. *snooty voice* on with the show!
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Chapter fifteen: Watch Your Back
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Man: Welcome to Cape Haven
Max: …Where the men are men and the tourists are afraid
-Max and a man (Haven)
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'Somebody else round everyone else
You're watching your back like
You can't relax'
-Avril Lavigne (Complicated)
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When Erin woke up she didn't know where she was. Because she'd had this feeling everyday since she'd arrived in Seattle, she shrugged it off and sat up on the couch, trying to get her bearings. The burning fire in front of her meant that someone had had to sneak around her to keep it lit. Sighing, she stretched and pushed her guilty feelings away. She'd had no choice but to lie to them. Maybe, if she ever found a way home, she'd be able to tell them the truth before she left? Maybe they wouldn't hate her? Erin stood up and straightened her appearance. As she looked around her she remembered what had happened after she'd left with Dalton.
*Flashback*
"Do I make you nervous?" Erin asked the boy as he showed her around the streets of TC. He'd already showed her around the garage. So far, he'd hardly spoken a word to her.
Dalton immediately stiffened "No."
"Then why don't you talk much?" Erin watched as he shrugged and ran a hand through his messy blonde hair.
"It's the way I was raised."
"Oh" Erin looked carelessly around her "I thought you were scared of me."
Dalton stopped now, a look of confusion on his face. "Why would I be scared of you? I'm not scared of you!"
Erin stared back calmly and his features softened "It's just….strange. I've never been around one of you before."
"An Ordinary?" Erin raised her eyebrows "but you've been around Cindy and Sketchy and" she pulled a face "Logan, right?"
"Yeah. I mean an Ordinary my age." Dalton started walking again.
"I'm older than you. I'm 18. You're what? 14?" Erin smirked and waved to a couple of X6 girls openly staring at her from a doorway.
"Yeah. I mean closer to my age "Dalton glanced at the girls as they walked past them.
"Oh" Erin didn't know what else to say and they walked in silence for a few more minutes.
"Don't you hate us?" Dalton spoke in a quiet voice, so quiet that Erin almost didn't catch it. "Aren't you scared of what we are? What we can do?"
Erin shook her head and answered truthfully "Hell no! I have no reason to hate you and I have no reason to be scared of you. You've done nothing to me and it's not your fault you were created to be soldiers. And from what I've heard, you guys can do some pretty cool stuff." Erin grinned at Dalton's smile but stopped when his smile slipped.
"Then why does everyone else hate us?"
Erin thought for a moment. She was in the role of playing big sister again. She was good at that.
"People fear what they don't understand, and they fear change. I'm sure you've heard Max say this but it's true. It was the same when Black American's were given rights and when people were told that the planet wasn't the centre of the universe and the world wasn't flat. There's gonna be people out there who think like me but most of 'em need a push in the right direction." She looked at him steadily "If Max has anything to do with it- it will happen. Now," she gave him another grin and a wink "what's it like to make you first Ordinary friend?"
Dalton grinned back.
*End Flashback*
Smiling, she grabbed her board and left in search of the X6. She found him on the ground floor talking to another X6 boy. When the boy saw her skating towards them, he muttered something to Dalton and walked away. Erin stopped in front of Dalton and gave him a high-five like she'd taught him the day before.
"What did I do?" she watched the X6 boy join a group of X6s. Erin gave Dalton a horrified look. "Do I have couch hair?" She immediately began to run her fingers through her hair.
The joke was lost on Dalton. "No, he just doesn't' like Ordinaries."
Erin shrugged "His loss. You doin' anything today?" They began to walk, Erin carrying her skateboard.
"I'm gonna help with the clean up and then I was gonna go see Gem and the baby." Dalton stuck his hands in his pockets as they walked around aimlessly. "Why?"
Erin shrugged again "I was wondering if you wanted me to teach you to board. I've got nothin' to do."
"Why don't you go home?" an angry voice caused Erin and Dalton to turn.
The group of X6s stood glaring at her a few feet away. It was the boy that had been speaking to Dalton earlier that was stood with his arms folded.
Erin forced herself to remain clam despite the fact that these teenagers had been trained to kill. But then, so had Dalton. If she showed fear, she'd be as bad as the mob outside.
"I can't" Erin tightened her grip on her board and stared back.
"You don't belong here" the boy took a step forward "you shouldn't think that you can just walk in here and become one of us. You'll never be one of us."
"Leave it Jez" Dalton stepped slightly in front of Erin "she's done nothing wrong."
"She's here isn't she?" Jez narrowed his eyes "and she shouldn't be."
"I don't want to be" Erin glared back "but I have no choice. Or haven't you heard yet? White's after me."
"She also saved some of our own" Alec appeared from behind a pillar and Erin subconsciously relaxed. "She got 8 of Max's family in here yesterday."
The X6s including Dalton immediately straightened and stared straight ahead. Erin just watched as Alec glared angrily at the group of kids.
"Erin is here and stays here as long as Max and I say she can. She is under our protection. The attitude you have towards Ordinaries is wrong. If you ever want to live free, you shouldn't try to scare them. Understood?"
"YES SIR!" all the transgenics barked simultaneously.
"Dismissed!" Alec turned his back on the group and turned to Dalton and Erin.
"Dalton, go help Mole with the clean up."
The message was clear. Dalton was being dismissed.
With a quick glance at Erin he was gone.
Erin turned to thank Alec but stopped when she saw that his glare was now turned on her.
"What? What did I do wrong?"
"You should've stayed on the 6th floor" Alec replied through gritted teeth "it's unsafe for you to be down here now they know you're an Ordinary."
"What am I meant to do? Just sit on my arse twiddling my thumbs?" Erin looked at him in surprise, "Cindy and Sketchy are okay but not me?"
"Cindy and Sketchy were here when we made a stand- you weren't. From now on, when you go anywhere, you need at least one person with you."
Alec watched as Erin's face became blank. She was as good at that as he was.
"I get it. It's because you don't trust me. I risk my ass getting the stuff you guys needed and I saved Zack and the others but that's not enough. Fine. I'll go sit upstairs and rot."
She turned away and stalked off calmly towards the stairwell.
Alec stared after her "Why do all the women I meet have bad tempers?"
Next chapter: It's All Good…
Erin stared in total horror at the most horrendous sight she'd ever witnessed. It was disgusting, totally wrong and should never be seen by the eyes of anything living on the planet. Erin wouldn't even wish this sight on her worst enemy…
Alec's face mirrored her own as he stared "I'm gonna puke…"
A/N: Tramps-like-us: Dude, quit it with the Sketchy stuff okay? He will be in the story but not as a main character. Well, maybe he will…. I don't know! *evil grin* Remember that horrible visual I told you about at college. The one that made you go green? Witness the preview of the next chapter.
