"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…"……………..