A/N - The movie with Drew Barrymore based on the Stephen King novel impressed me, and the first scenes I saw were where Charley went mad and incinerated the agents because they threatened her and her father. But I always wondered what happened to her afterwards - I know there was a TV movie 'Firestarter: Rekindled', but this is my version.

Happy Christmas.

Please let me know what you think.

Firestarter - Life on the Run.

Charley bit the top of her pen as she sat through the lecture, her eyes flicking over to the clock on the wall. There were only another ten minutes of the lecture on English literature, and she was famished.

She let out an involuntary little yelp when she felt something poke into her side.

The lecturer turned his head and glared in her direction. "Is there a problem, Miss Warner?"

Charley winced, glowering at the bitch next to her while she tried really hard to maintain her composure while frustrated with Monica's stupidity; it would have been Monica who'd poked her, for some reason beyond Charley's comprehension the bitch just would not stop playing these pathetic childish games. "No, just cramp," she excused, playing the bigger woman, but most importantly to give herself the time needed to calm down. She might have gained better control over her powers when she had the means - that time the Shop had gotten Rainbird to capture her and her father, and she'd been free to use her pyro-kinetic abilities properly for the first time in her life, before that final showdown with Rainbird in that damn barn before she'd fulfilled her father's dying wish to destroy the Shop's white house by setting everything on fire and burning it all to the ground, but her pyro-kinetic abilities were still volatile and prone to working whenever she was upset or agitated.

The last thing she wanted was to burn Monica to death. She had no doubt in her mind the Shop had been restored after she'd destroyed the house, and it was likely they were still continuing with their experiments to turn young people into weapons for a new age, but not learning from their mistakes in the process and repeating what they'd done to her parents.

If they found her…

She put a stop on those thoughts instantly, and the lecturer spoke again, "Yes, well, not long before this lecture is over, and then you can all feel free to stretch your legs."

Charley smiled, mentally relieved the lecturer wasn't going to make a major drama out of this. But she remembered Monica, knew the other girl was going to keep on pestering her for some stupid reason Charley really didn't care about.

"Bitch."

Charley closed her eyes, mentally counting down the days before she could leave the college and move on. She had only adopted her current identity because she'd wanted an education and to give her some idea of what she wanted to do with her life, while at the same time giving her the means of staying still and seeing if there were signs of the Shop.

"Stupid, ugly bitch."

God, is this the best she can do? It's no wonder she's so pathetic. Everyone calls her a bully, but she's just pathetic. Charley thought to herself, sparing the other girl a pitying look mixed with contempt; Monica was unimaginably pathetic, did she really think she was having an effect? She just rolled her eyes and turned away dismissively, knowing the other girl would not like that.

Charley had faced down a professional assassin, been forced to go on the run and having to keep on the move following that mess when her mother died. She had been experimented on, forced to burn cinderblocks and woodchips, blocks of ice, and she'd been shot at with simple handguns and machine guns, and she'd killed people until they were cremated skeletons when they tried to attack her.

And now she had an immature bitch on her back. It was madness. Monica was barely a threat.

Finally, when the lecture ended, Charley gathered her things and left the room. She needed to get out of there before she lost control, and since the day they'd first meet, Monica had gone out of her way to cause problems for her, and her control was wearing thin. If the Shop found out where she was…

Charley put a stopper on those thoughts, she had no idea what they were doing nowadays but she was willing to bet they were planning on finding her still for their sick plans, even if she didn't know what their long-term plans were, and they weren't going to let her go.

X

Charley stared at the pizza oven, seeing the dough beginning to darken as the flames licked around it. Fire and she had a peculiar relationship. Fire had become her greatest defence and her greatest loathing, and she had come to admire it once she had worked out there was no way she could ever cure herself of her powers. She had gotten the job months ago as a means of paying for her rent, going towards her fees….and providing her with a nice little supply of cash in case she needed to leave in a hurry, and she needed to go somewhere else.

As boxing the pizza and putting in a fresh one, Charley continued with her shift until the end of the night. After saying goodbye to her workmates, and saying no to their offers of a night out (the last time she'd done that had been an experience she didn't like to think of; it involved a fire which very nearly burnt down a whole block because someone had tried to rape her; after that, she had sworn never again, the risk was too great), she walked back to her apartment she was renting out from the college.

Pulling up her hood, Charley walked back, looking over her shoulder while she fingered the aerosol of mace she was carrying in her pocket; it wasn't as effective as what she could do when given the chance, but no-one in their right mind would ever want a face full of mace, still, she was prepared to set anyone alight if she needed to, but that was something she'd rather not do.

She hated this.

She hated having to hide who she was. She hated having to keep moving on, unable to forge real ties with the people around her. She was tired of running from one city or town to another, having to stay in one place for a certain amount of time while trying to keep her abilities under wraps, always moving as soon as she'd revealed them.

But most of all, she hated how the Shop would never leave her alone. She hated how they had not only destroyed the lives of her parents, they had likely done it to others. Charley's heart went out to those people, wondering if they'd had children of their own and if the Shop had hunted them down like animals the way they'd hunted her…

"So, you're finally back?"

Charley stopped, turning around in alarm at the sound of the voice. In her panic, she expected to find Shop agents waiting for her, dressed in smart suits like the ones she'd seen in the past, cars waiting like it was a scene out of a movie, and her overwhelming fear made the air heat up.

"What the fuck is that?" The voice said, snapping Charley out of her terrified thoughts, and she quickly calmed down when she saw it was Monica; the usually arrogant girl was looking spooked about the sudden and unexpected rise in heat.

"What do you want, Monica?" Charley asked, hoping to keep the topic light the girl would forget what happened and not spread it around since it wouldn't take much for someone in the Shop to put two and two together and realise where she was…

It seemed to work. Charley had learnt never to underestimate people ever since discovering the lengths Rainbird had taken to gain her trust, and it cost her dad her life. She had sworn to never let it happen again. She had no idea if Monica had just filed away what had happened, but she hoped the petty girl didn't cause problems for her later.

But the brunette was angry with her for some reason Charley was tired, and not particularly interested in knowing either way, but for her, it was a matter of importance.

Monica stormed over to Charley, invading the blonde's personal space. "Stay away from Adam," she hissed.

"Adam? Oh, that's why you're constantly in my face, is it?" Adam was Monica's boyfriend, although only in her head. Adam couldn't stand Monica as far as Charley knew. To her, Adam was just a nice guy, good at sports but he was smarter than the average jock, but she could understand Monica being this vindictive. The guy had, for reasons unknown to her, taken a shine to Charley, and while she didn't exactly return his affections she liked him anyway.

God, its no wonder she hates me so much; she's jealous, seeing things that aren't there, but could I persuade her its all in her head? Maybe not, Charley conceded, but she needed to try before something happened.

"Look, Monica, I'm not interested in Adam-," she tried.

"The hell you're not!" Monica slapped Charley right in her face. Stunned by the impact, the blonde staggered back.

"Don't do that, please!" Charley said, already feeling the tell-tale signs of her powers building. Oh no, not now, please. Not now I'm so close to finishing college-!

"Don't tell me what to d-!" Monica's eyes widened, and she suddenly fell to the ground.

Charley looked down at the body of the girl who'd made her life hellish at college recently and she quickly made a quick examination of the other girl's body before she found a dart sticking out of her neck.

Oh no, she thought, remembering how that dart had stuck in her own throat when the Shop had caught up with her and father…

She looked up and found herself staring at the face of a man she dimly remembered.

"Hello, Charley," he said, his voice hard but slick with the kind of self-assured arrogance she'd come to recognise over the years. But, there was something about the voice she recognised. She had met dozens of Shop agents over the years, although not many had survived encounters with her ever since she had begun fighting back which started on the night her only remaining family had died, she did know this man…

Charley didn't dare move while she stared at him, wondering what she could do about this, although she could see her time here had come to an end.

"How did you find me?" She didn't expect him to answer, and she was right.

"You don't expect me to answer that, do you?" He scoffed.

"Why won't you leave me alone?" She whispered. "You've taken everything away from me, and you still want more-!"

The air heated up again, jumping upwards a few degrees in a flash. The heat made the man stagger back, and he waved his gun threateningly at her.

"Don't do that-!" He warned.

"Why shouldn't I? I've got nothing to lose have I, but you know something; my dad died because of my mistakes, he died because I trusted a man with his own agenda," Charley slowly rose to her feet, letting go of the barriers she'd placed around her pyro-kinetic abilities. She knew she would have to be careful, and quick; with how CCTV technology had become more and more prominent in society to allow the government to know the whereabouts and comings and goings of people, it wouldn't take too long for the Shop to realise what she looked like now.

She quickly looked around at her surroundings, and she found herself staring at a number of parked cars lined alongside the pavement. She focused on them, and they exploded in a burst of flames, sending debris everywhere.

The explosions took the Shop agent by surprise, but Charley focused her powers on him, much like she had done to the agents who'd cornered her on the farm and later on at the white house. The agent screamed in agony and panic as his clothes caught alight, but she didn't stop until his entire body had gone up like a Roman candle. Charley closed her eyes and stared down at the body of Monica. The girl was still knocked out from whatever drug the agent had given her.

Charley's first instinct was to move her, but since she had revealed her powers in a big way she would have to leave quickly, and there was no time for her to deal with the girl properly. But she could move her somewhere safer….

X

Eight Months Later…

Charley looked down with relief as she studied her exam results; it might have taken her much longer than she'd have wanted to get results like this, but she was thankful she had gotten it. She had gone to college not only to get some form of higher education but to also take the opportunity to work like others and actually partially forget about how she was being hunted by the Shop.

When the agent had confronted her, Charley had needed to hurry and take Monica far from where she'd been shot with the dart. She'd dragged the brunette a good distance away before she used her abilities to set the street alight, using the opportunity to get to her apartment and collect her possessions, setting the place alight, and causing as much damage as she could in other parts of the city before she had left to cover her tracks. Charley had travelled around for a long time afterwards, using a host of different identities while she was certain the Shop were investigating the blaze from behind the scenes.

The police had already made their conclusions, but the Shop had realised she was behind it.

She had hidden for months before she had resurfaced again, applying for a few courses at a college and it began again.

Now she needed to think of what she needed to do now.