"Me?" I said,
shocked. "Why would anyone want me?"
The woman's smile
broadened and she tapped my forehead with the syringe. "You're
more valuable than you think. Now enough talk." One of the men
brutishly yanked on my arm and extended it. I started screaming
again, struggling with all I had, tears distorting my vision. "This
won't hurt a bit," the woman said.
"Get away!" I
squeaked. It was hopeless. Waiting for the pin prick I closed my
eyes, thinking of my mom, dad and Matt, but it never came. I opened
my eyes. The woman's arm was held back, by a boy, maybe three or
four years older than me and he looked mad, which I think is an
understatement. "I knew you'd come," the woman said.
"Drop
it," he snarled. She listened and dropped the syringe onto the
carpet. As soon as it did the woman whipped around and punched the
boy. He stumbled back into the wall and shook his head. The woman
continued to advance and pinned him against it.
"Do it!" she
shouted. One of the men reached for the syringe, bringing his arm
dangerously close to my face. Seeing the chance, I bit down as hard
as I could. He cursed and one of the others hit me. Suddenly the
woman screamed as she flew across the room. I didn't know who this
kid was, but I knew for a fact that he was here to help. He advanced
on the other men, punching and kicking. I never thought that he could
stand a chance against all of them, but he was holding his own. After
he attacked the last man that held me down, he grabbed me by the arm
and pulled me up.
"Come on," he said hastily. We made a break
for the door but we were intercepted by another man.
"You're
not getting past me," he said. Then something very strange started
to happen to the man's face it became disfigured as if were
changing. It was like something out of a horror movie. The man
transformed into a huge wolf, with fur, claws, fangs, and tail. He
snapped his jaws and snarled.
"Stay behind me," the boy said.
"Get up stairs! Go!"
"But we'll be trapped?"
"We're
dead here! NOW GO!" I obeyed and sprinted back up stairs and hid in
the one of the rooms. It used to be my brothers. I heard crashing and
screaming and also the sound of things being ripped apart. My parents
are going to kill me. I looked around for something to use as a
weapon. Searching the room, I found a baseball bat. It looked sturdy
enough, with my weapon in hand I waited. Footsteps were approaching
quickly, I screamed and ran out bat raised. Not looking I brought it
down, but it was stopped.
"What are you trying to do?" the
boy asked me as I opened my eyes. He looked a little roughed up but
okay. He lowered the bat in my hands. "Come on," he said again
taking me by the hand. We walked to my room, which was already in
shambles and hurried toward the window.
"I already tried, it
won't budge," I said tensely.
"Uh huh," the boy said "No
biggie." He thrust his fist through the glass. "You first." I
looked at him wide eyed. "Hurry, time's a wastin'." Plucking
up my courage I maneuvered through the shattered window onto the
roof, bat in hand.
"Now what?" I asked as he crawled out.
Sucking on his lower lip, the boy surveyed the area and looked for a
way down.
"Okay," he said, picking me up with little effort.
"Hold on tight." Before I could protest, he threw himself off the
roof taking me with him. I closed my eyes; maybe I should have taken
my chances with the werewolves. I heard the boy grunt as we hit the
ground. I opened my eyes again.
"I'm okay," I muttered.
He
put me down. "Of course." The boy crouched there on the ground; a
fall like that probably broke both of his legs or worse.
"Get
them!" the woman screamed from the door way. Suddenly a white van
from down the street came to life. The head lights turned on and the
engine roared as it barreled towards us. The boy took my hand and…and
he was running? The van screeched to a halt a few feet away and two
creatures that resembled dogs bolted out and followed behind us. I
screamed as I saw them and the dogs roared in response. We were
heading for small wood we had in the neighborhood. I swung my bat and
beat on the closest dog creature. It intelligently grabbed my bat in
its teeth and yanked it from my grip, which also caused me to fall
and me taking the boy with me. The dogs were on us fast snarling and
snapping at us.
"Don't let them bite you!" he said, lashing
out, knocking one of the dogs unconscious. The other attacked him and
the boy swiftly kicked it. Then we were on our feet again and I was
beginning to get a little winded. The boy steered me in front of him.
"Don't stop! Whatever you do, don't stop!" Suddenly, he cried
out in pain. I looked over my shoulder in horror as I saw one of the
ugly dogs he had kicked, on top of him biting his shoulder. Next the
boy screamed and grabbed the dog by the scruff of the neck and
slammed it on the ground. Then we were off again, running until we
were well out of the neighborhood, deep in the woods. The boy stopped
and slumped against a tree holding his shoulder. "That's enough
running, I think," he said. Wiped out I sat on the ground, my feet
ached and so did my head. I still couldn't believe this was
happening to me. It was like a strange teen novel. The boy sunk to
the ground.
"Are you going to be okay?" I asked.
The boy
looked at his wound. "Dunno, but you're safe and that's what
counts."
I crawled closer to him "You saved me, why?"
"Don't act so surprised … I'm your brother, it's my
job."…..
"WE LOST THEM!" one
of the male Erasers said, as the group searched the area around the
house and across the street.
"Lee Ann will kill us for this,"
the female said casually, her face grim. She tossed her cell phone to
the male that spoke before. "Call our people, so we can clean up
this little fiasco."
"SCARLET!" one of the other Erasers
shouted as he approached out of breath.
"What is it?"
"We
found something…come and see." Scarlet rolled her eyes "This
better be good." The two of them arrived at the edge of the woods
where two Howlers lay dead their necks broken.
"I've seen
dead Howlers before," she said impatiently.
"No," the
Eraser said pointing to a substance on the ground. It was dark and
shiny. Scarlet knelt down and dipped two fingers in it and sniffed.
"Blood," she muttered with a smile, licking her fingers and
letting the taste linger. "And it's still fresh."
"Whose
is it?" the Eraser asked.
"It's his…a recombinants blood
is unmistakable compared to a humans. If one of these bit him,"
Scarlet gestured at the Howlers. "Then they won't get far." She
turned to her comrades and said "Boys! transform…the hunt is
still on." ….
AHHH! THAT WAS SO CLOSE! I was almost
too late to save her. I looked calm but my heart was pounding from
the thought of nearly losing my sister to a bunch of Erasers. Every
time I thought about… how close it was, I couldn't help but
shutter. I soothed my nerves by looking at her, she was
there...tangible, safe, with only a few scratches and bruises.
"My
brother? What do you mean?" Ana asked.
"What I said…Ana
it's me, Seth." She backed away a little and shook her head.
"No
you're not, My brother died in a car accident when I was ten." Oh
come on! That was the story my parents came up with?
"A car
accident?"
Ana nodded. "That's right."
"I can't
believe it….So they didn't tell you. I figured. Mom and Dad are
good liars." Ana frowned" How dare you say that about my parents.
You don't even know them."
"Well they are," I said
flatly. "I never died in a car accident. I was taken away by—."
I stopped myself…what am I doing? She would never believe what
happened to me? To logical ears it sounded to far fetched. "Did you
ever see his body?" I asked.
"That's none of your
business."
"Did you or did you not?" I asked through my
teeth.
"No, my parents told me that the accident happened on a
bridge, he was tossed from the car and fell into the water below.
They never found his body." I sighed this was going to be harder
than I thought. Usually you would think that to make a revelation
like this it would be easy. But what I had gone through was nothing
short of a fantasy for some people.
"Do you think that I could
have survived that fall?" I asked.
"I don't know, I was a
little kid, why are you claiming to be someone who is dead," Ana
said her voice trembling.
"I'm not pretending," I said.
Ana got to her feet and dusted off her rump. "I thank you for
saving me, but there is something knocked loose in that head of
yours."
I got my feet quickly wincing at the bite in my
shoulder. "Come back here! There is no where you can hide…they
will never stop hunting you!... Ana!" She didn't turn around. Out
of desperation I shouted. "Pogo!"
She stopped and turned
around slowly. "Pogo? How do you know about him?"
"He used
to be my cat," I said. "We used to …fight over him…I would
say that he was mine and you would say that he was yours. When mom
had enough of us fighting, she would say that he was OUR cat. His
full name was Ogopogo; we called him Pogo for short. " Ana walked
toward me, squinting her eyes and stopped two feet away.
"Take
off the shades." She said. I lowered them and she gasped but didn't
back away. She stared at me for a long time and then her face
softened. "Do you see?" I grinned.
"No, I don't see. But
I do understand that you are the only one that can protect me from
theses things. So I'll stick with you." My heart sank for a
moment, it kind of sucks when your own family doesn't believe you.
But at least she was going to stay with me.
A blood curdling howl
split the night.
"There are more of those dogs?" she said.
I
nodded. "They're called Howlers. We need to move, we're not
safe here." We dashed off into the night….
The night was
surprisingly cool…well what can you expect it's the north. I was
hurt that Ana didn't believe my claim to be her brother. But I
think I would have reacted the same way. We needed to get out of
these woods and head south. Once we made contact with Bree, I knew we
would be safe, but right now we needed to avoid capture tonight. My
lungs inhaled the cold air and the bite mark on my shoulder throbbed
with the pumping action of my right arm. I looked over my shoulder
and saw nothing, but I knew better than to stop. Suddenly an Eraser,
fully transformed lunged out from the shadows and tackled Ana. She
screamed as they both barreled into the ground. I ran and grabbed
handfuls of the Eraser's fur and pulled.
"Get off of her,"
I snarled. The Eraser turned and swiped at me with his claws. "Ana,
get out of here!" I heard her scream again… as more Eraser began
to crawl out of the wood work and form a circle around us, snarling.
Some walked upright while others were on all fours. The leader,
Scarlet, made a commanding bark and they all stopped.
Standing up
right she said, "You know they say that you're smart. But I've
faced rabbits with more cunning than you."
"The night is
still young," I said, keeping Ana close to me.
"Don't be
stupid, I've heard you're tough, but not even you can fight us
all and with a screaming girl to boot."
"You know nothing
about me, you presumptuous wench. The only way you were able to track
us was through the blood I left behind." The Erasers snickered at
their leader. Scarlet snapped at her underlings and smiled at me.
"Yes…how are you feeling by the way? A little queasy…weak in
the knees perhaps? I hear Howler bites are exceptionally painful once
the bacteria in their saliva starts to multiply and infect your
system…." As she spoke I did feel a little queasy, but they would
learn that one bite from a Howler won't bring me down…I wouldn't
let it. I shifted my feet and felt something long and hard, a stick.
My brain started ticking. "You know, you Erasers talk way too
much." I quickly jammed foot under the stick and tossed it up and
then hurled it at the first Eraser to lunge. Ana ferociously kicked
another one that had grabbed her leg. Before they could close in, I
charged another Eraser and knocked him down, while pulling Ana behind
me. The chase was on again and the Erasers were close behind. This
reminded me too much of the time I had rescued Roc; good thing they
didn't have guns. "We need to get to town," I said my breathing
becoming labored
. "Follow me, these woods bring us a major
road, that goes into town," Ana replied. I let her take the lead
and followed. We made it to the road with pack on our heels. Suddenly
a bright light shined in our eyes, it was a truck and it was coming
fast. Ana and I barely made it across the road as the truck crashed
into the Erasers. The sound of twisted metal, breaking bone and
choked screams filled the night. Ana and I continued to bolt towards
town, the dim glow of the town gradually approached. Once we were in
the city limits, I sprinted in front Ana and ran behind a building.
"What are we doing here?" Ana asked. "Shouldn't we go to
the police?" I sank to the ground, my shoulder was on fire, I
clenched my teeth and shook my head. "That….. won't work, we
don't want to draw attention to ourselves. Those Eraser may be
gone, but there are more out there."
" Erasers? Is that what
they are called?"
"Yeah"
Ana sat next to me. "I
forgot to ask … what your name was."
" I thought I
told…oh…My friends call me, PC."
She made a face at the
sound of my name. "PC? That's a little odd."
" I know,"
I said irritated. "Liste,n we need to find a place to rest up and
then leave town by dawn."
"Leave? Where would we go? You said
they would never stop hunting me."
"We're going south, I
have a friend there and she will keep you safe. Trust me; I've been
in the business of hiding a lot longer than you have."
"Okay…
what about your wound? We need to get that treated. Fortunately
there's a pharmacy down the street. I can—."
"No…I
can't risk you being seen. I won't be able to protect you."
"Listen you won't be able to protect me at all if you're
sick. Besides those creatures are road kill now. Stay put I'll be
right back."
"Ana, wait a minute, whatever you do, don't
get alcohol to pour on the wound, get iodine." I said. She nodded
and disappeared around the corner. Ana had a point; I wasn't doing
her any favors by suffering like this. The minutes crawled by, and
with every second I worried. Who knew how many of the School's
cronies were lurking around town. Soon Ana's silhouette appeared
again. "They didn't have any iodine. But I did manage to get some
bandages, water, and Neosporin." She said.
"That's fine…at
least it will help a little," I said, removing my shirt, just
enough so that she could get to the wound. After treating it the best
she could, Ana wrapped it in bandages.
"We could stay at my
friend's house tonight," Ana said getting rid of the evidence.
I
shook my head. "No, bad idea."
"Right, we don't want
anyone else to get involved. How about the park?"
"Park?"
"Yeah there is one off of Main Street."
"Prefect;
let's—go," I said, getting to my feet. I trudged behind Ana as
we made are way to the park, keeping a sharp eye for anything unusual
that moved. I felt a little better, but I knew that I would need to
get that iodine and soon. I silently thanked Chase for that valuable
bit of information.
The park was big and seemed like a good place
to hide. I inspected the trees and found one that was high enough and
easy to climb. Ana finally settled in among the branches. "You
know…I never thought…something like this would happen to me,"
Ana said nodding off.
"I don't think anyone does," I said
softly. I stayed up as long as I could. My mouth was dry and I energy
was gone. It was reassuring to know that we weren't being hunted
for the time being. I began to think of our next move, we had a long
way to go. I watched Ana sleep peacefully, until sleep took me….
I squinted in the light
of the rising sun. My back was stiff from leaning against the tree I
had selected and my mouth felt like it had been stuff with chalk. Ana
was still sleeping soundly. I stretched as best as I could and rubbed
my eyes.
"We need to get moving," I muttered and started
shaking Ana gently.
I didn't dream about anything for the first time in a while. I felt someone gently shaking me and I instantly thought that I was back home in my room. Boy band posters plastered across the walls, my stereo turned up full blast, computer humming in the background and me lying on my bed with a soft pillow and clean sheets…heaven. As I woke and opened my eyes everything in my mental picture disappeared and reality snapped into focus. What happened last night was not a horror movie …it was real, just as real as the boy with red eyes that sat opposite of me. So much for high school and my life for that matter. PC was talking to me, but I wasn't listening. How did he get those eyes?
"Ana,
are you listening?" I asked. She looked at me lost in thought and I
saw a hint of sadness in her eyes. I bet she expected everything to
be a dream. She was Alice, who only dreamt that she stumbled down
into the rabbit hole. Only for Ana, the rabbit hole was real, whether
she would remain in Wonderland with me…it was still too early to
tell. The threat was still too large as of now, but in the future who
knows.
"What?" she finally said stupidly. I shook my head.
"Come on, we're leaving," I said, with one jump, I bounded
to ground and landed.
"Leaving?" Ana said as she cautiously
climbed down. "What about breakfast?"
"Huh? Breakfast? What
for?"
"Well…it's usually what NORMAL people do in the
morning."
"Right…We'll get it on our way out. Come on, I
need to procure a new shirt," I said eye the blood that had stained
my old one. I took a few steps forward and stopped to let my eyes
focus. It was that DARN bite…What kind of pharmacy doesn't carry
iodine. It isn't commonly used in households, but it is a powerful
disinfectant. I had no doubt that the School had something to do with
this…after all doesn't it seem all to coincidental that they ran
out the night Ana was to be captured? Ana clumsily stumbled out of
the tree.
"PC? How are you able to jump from high places and
not get hurt? Because I am a FREAK!...no, can't say that. Ana
wasn't ready to see what I really looked like and hopefully I would
never have to show her. It would do her know good to see that
…although I think she probably would believe me if I did, either
that or scream hysterically.
I looked up at the branch I had
jumped from and shrugged. "It's not that high."
"Not that
high? That is at least and eight to ten foot fall."
"Don't
loose sleep over I,t Ana, I'm just made of tougher stuff than you,
come on."….
I was sitting in Jeb's office behind
his desk in a small chair over to the right, documenting another
meeting. The tension was high in the room. Jeb scowled at Chase from
behind his desk, finger's laced. Chase look haggard, he had
definitely seen better days and right now he was in the boiling pot.
He had a black eye, a few scratches and bruises and he was hand
cuffed, not the proper way to handle the Chief of Security. But he
was in BIG trouble.
"Chase, you are the head of security,"
Jeb said. "How is it that PC and Storm were able to escape without
your knowledge. Better yet, how was PC able to gain access to a
restricted area without meeting any resistance?"
"I'm not
sure how…the electricity was out; the cameras have no record of how
he got in or how he got…oh god." Jeb raised an eye brow. "Oh!
I'm such an IDIOT!" Chase howled angrily. "I gave PC access…but
it was only temporary."
"You what? When was this?"
"The
day before the storm outage, sir. PC some how imprinted Buddy and
sicked him on Kane."
Jeb turned to me. "Is that correct?"
"Yes, Buddy didn't hurt me...just licked me all over."
"I
gave, PC the key card," Chase said, agonizing over his terrible
mistake.
Jeb sighed "So you played right into his hands."
"I'm SO sorry, sir," Chase said with all the sincerity he
could muster.
"I'm sure you are. Take him to his holding
cell," Jeb commanded, then two Jawz that flanked Chase. They
grunted and escorted him out.
Jeb turned to me. "Kane, I want
you to schedule Chase's "decommissioning" as soon as possible."
I choked. "What? Why? He said he was sorry."
Jeb looked
indifferent. "I understand Kane, but what Chase did, though
unintentional, is a security risk. Chiefs of Security should not make
friends with our Collectors. It takes a great deal of money to cover
up these mistakes and I am trying to keep costs down. I'm sorry, my
dear…but Chase has to go."
After getting a new blood
free shirt, Ana and I made our way to a Bojangles for breakfast on
the go.
"Tell her what you want," I said to Ana as I shuffled
through my pockets picking out a suitable credit card. After Ana
ordered I did as well and the cashier gave me the total. I handed her
a credit card that I got from a man known as Ron Glasson. She swiped
it and once the transaction came through, we were golden. I tried not
to use the cards that I had stolen too much, because I was preying
off of people's hard earned money.
After getting the food, we
headed out of town, eating as we walked.
"PC? How did you get a
credit card?"
"Um…"
"You stole it didn't you."
"I prefer to call it borrowing. But in any case, I had to eat…I
didn't want to use my own because they could track me that way."
"Whose they? The Erasers?"
"Not just them, the people
that give the orders."
"Who?"
"People like your
parents…they only care about themselves and don't mean well at
all." "Stop it!" Ana dropped her bag of food. "I'm not
eating it…it's stolen."
"Ana, this is no time to be a
problem child." She crossed her arms in front of her chest. Grrr.
She's being difficult. Suddenly, a car was approaching down the
road from where we had come. I grabbed Ana and forced her behind me.
But there was something familiar about the car…it was a blue pick
up truck. I stuck out my thumb and it slowed down.
"Hey there!
Long time no see!" the driver said cheerfully. "Did you get where
you were goin'?"
"Yes I did," I said looking back at Ana.
"But I'm headed in a different direction now." "Where you
headed?"
"South."
"Well you're in luck; I'm
heading down to Georgia."
"That's perfect."
"Well
hop in." the man said with a smile.
I moved to the bed of the
truck. "Come on, Ana."
"PC, what are you doing?"
"What
am I doing? You mean what are WE doing …because you're coming
too."
"No I'm not," she protested.
"Ana, either
come with me or stay here and get picked up by Erasers… it's up
to you." She stood there rooted to the ground for a minute, then
rolled her eyes and got in. She sat in the corner and scowled at me.
Ignoring her, I slapped the side of the truck. "Let's go."…..
Tick…Tick …Tick…the
clock ticked away as I sat there idling at my desk. My palms were
sweaty and I fought back tears as I checked the schedule, in a large
daily planner. I can't believe I was having this much
trouble…finding a suitable time for an Erasers extermination. It
had never bothered me before, most Erasers around here were
psychotic, bloodthirsty and empty-headed. Chase was different,
though…he was probably one of the more decent Erasers, but even he
had his blood-thirsty moments. I clicked my pen…what a chore…I
couldn't bring myself to do this. The only other thing would be to
try and get Chase out or somehow fake his death. My mind went through
various scenarios. I didn't like Chase much but I didn't wish him
to die either. I didn't know what to do. As I sat there, I thought
about that day in the mess hall. Had PC really planned all of that?
From the conversation we had to the lick attack by Buddy. If he had,
he was worse than his parents. Manipulating people to suit his own
needs…I bet he never thought that his little game would get people
killed. The more I thought about it, the more I began to hate
him…that girl was right about PC he was selfish to the core and to
think I had saved his life that day made me cringe. I should have let
her take him out, but that would mean facing the wrath of Jeb and
PC's parents. Sighing softly, I laid my head on my desk. After a
moment, I got up from my desk and turned off the lamp. I couldn't
do this tonight. I would do it tomorrow. After locking up the office,
I walked to my room. As I walked a large black shape tugged at the
corner of my vision. I jumped as I saw Rafmire leaning against the
wall.
"Oh…it's just you," I said, putting my hand on my
chest. "You scared me, Raf."
"Sorry," he said shortly.
Raf had been very busy lately. He no longer stayed in his room all
the time. Now he was always with Erasers, if he was being trained by
them, I didn't know.
"You're up late," he said "Work?"
"Yeah…Jeb has just given my orders to schedule an
extermination for Chase," I said.
"Chase? The happy Eraser?"
"Yes."
"That's pretty sad…when?"
"Excuse
me?"
"When is he going to be gone?"
"I haven't
decided. I'm going to do it tomorrow."
"That's a shame…"
he said patting me on the shoulder as he passed. Then Raf did
something unexpected, he leaned forward and whispered into my ear.
"If you need help getting him out, come talk to me." Then he
walked off down the hall before I could say anything……
I
devoured a hamburger that I had in my possession. We had driven close
to eight hours as Ana and I made our way down the east coast. The
driver of the blue truck made a quick stop at a burger joint and
there I bought as much food as I could without it being suspicious.
Now, the truck hummed along, down a long highway that was a straight
shot from Maine to Florida. Ana sat in the same corner of the truck
that she had when we got picked up. Her arms wrapped around her knees
and she had the same scowl on her face. After eating, I sat the rest
of the bag down. I had a whole other meal in it, just in case Ana
decided to quit being stubborn and eat. She hadn't eaten since we
left and I was getting a little concerned, she didn't look too
good.
"Ana, are you planning to scowl at me the remainder of
this trip?" I asked. She glared at me and said nothing. "You know
what! I'm sick of this…" I slid a bag of chips to her and she
smashed them with her fist. "Look, if you don't eat, you're not
going to be able to run away from any Erasers." Her eyes widened at
the word. "That's right, Eraser." Ana fingered the package of
chips, but slid them back to me. I sighed and shook my head. She
reminded me to much of my younger self.
"Ana, say something to
me…anything."
"I don't like you," she said with
clenched teeth.
"Why because I steal to eat?"
"No."
"Because I—."
"No."
"Then what is it?"
"I
NOT JUST YOU!" she snapped. "I don't like you, I don't like
this freakin' truck, I don't like the fact that I'll never be
able to go home, see my friends or my boyfriend ever! I'll never go
to college! And most of all, I'll never be normal!" She screamed
and pounded her fists on the metallic floor of the truck. I moved
over to her, and she started beating on me, her face beet red and
tears rushing down her cheeks. I wrapped my arms around her and held
her close and she continued to hammer into me until her fists slowly
stopped and she just leaned against me, crying, her sobs muffled by
my shirt.
"Shhhh…It's okay," I muttered.
"Nooo…It'll
never be…o-o-okay," she croaked.
"It'll be okay…you'll
see." I reached over and grabbed the bag of food. "Now." I
said. "How about something to eat, huh?" I pulled out a burger
and waved in front of her, her eyes hungrily watching it. Ana reached
for it and I put it in her hands. She took a bite and chewed slowly.
"I still don't like you," she sniffled, taking a larger
bite.
I smiled, "I know, Ana…I know…"……………..
