Chapter 29

Out of the entire training session, only one Eraser was killed and that was the one I killed, the rest had either serious burns from the pyrokinetic or they were out cold from other injuries. All the avian kids survived, although one had serious bite marks on their shoulder, a bit close to the neck but they would survive. We were all dismissed after the lesson, those with injuries being carried out to the infirmary. But I had other plans.

We had waited until nightfall, when most of the people were going to sleep and there were fewer people around for us to bump into. As we had decided earlier, we were escaping at sunset, well it was well after sunset; it was full dark. I crept out of my room and walked down the corridor until I was outside of Laura's room where I tapped the door twice and continued on to Dean's room, repeating the same action on his door. Both were awake and waiting and soon we were ready to get moving. I had packed all I needed from my room in a small backpack I had adjusted for my wings. It was uncomfortable but bearable to use. It contained some food clothing and some cash incase we needed it, I suspected we would.

The hallway was empty, but according to my watch a guard would be coming to do his rounds in about five minutes. We had five minutes to get out of here. Dean led the way down corridor after corridor, knowing where to go to the entrance to the escape route he had prepared for everyone else to escape by. I stayed alert, watching what to do and what not do, letting the visions pass through me, but in a background noise sort of way, trying to stay quite and unnoticed.

Dean led us to the laundry room and then out back to where the laundry was collected and washed, dried and folded. I saw where he was leading us, to the laundry chute that was used to dump torn and useless clothing. That was the escape route. I was beginning to think it was too easy and as usual I was right. A vision flashed before me and I grabbed Dean to stop him. Erasers were waiting around the corner of the hallway where the chute was located. I relayed this to Dean so he could understand the change of plan. It was already too late to turn back; I could sense the Eraser that had moved in behind us, they knew we were here. I could only see one thing to do, but wasn't sure I could do it. After all my new powers were fairly new. I grabbed both Dean and Laura and began to focus on wrapping the darkness around us, covering us in a blanket so that it would protect us and keep us concealed from the Erasers. We slowly moved down the corridor, keeping out breathing steady and low so the Erasers wouldn't pick up on it. We reached the hallway and I swear we passed an Eraser so close that I'm surprised he didn't smell us, let alone hear our breathing. I could have counted the hairs on his nose. They were fully morphed and waiting, but they were oblivious to what was passing them right now.

After a few agonizing minutes that felt like hours, we were at the chute, but how to open it without the Eraser hearing? Answer, we couldn't, so we'd have to do this fast. All of us tucked out wings in close to our bodies and prepared to go down the chute, once outside we would flare our wings and I would lead them to the cave. Dean didn't open the chute slowly and carefully, we jammed it open fast so the Erasers would be caught off guard. I ordered Laura to go first followed by Dean. The first Eraser were already realizing what was going on, but by then I was already halfway down the chute. An Eraser tried to follow us, but got stuck in the chute, snapping and snarling at us as it lost it's prey.

We hit the open air and I spread my wings, soaking in the feeling of flying. It was wonderful, beautiful and I could lose myself for day in the sensation of having the wind ruffle my feathers, flowing through them and I flapped my wings up and down in a steady rhythm to stay airborne. But tonight I was too preoccupied by our escape I didn't pay attention to it. Flying at an average pace to space ourselves, we arrived at the cave a little after midnight. I swooped in and landed on the cave floor, Dean and Laura following. Now was the chore of finding the chips they could have put in us.

I sat down and focused on the parts in my past of where there was a blank spot since arriving there. I watched those parts of my life get filled in, and then saw the injection into my arm, just before the wrist, where they had stuck it in. I snapped out of the vision and looked closely at my arm, seeing a faint mark where the tracker had gone in. I looked closely and Laura and Dean's wrist to notice they had the same marks, although faded a bit from being there longer. I pointed it out to Dean and Laura and they agreed we needed to remove them.

"But how to do remove them without harming ourselves too much?" Dean asked me, "I mean we'd be passing to close to major veins and arteries in the wrist to risk it."

"But Laura can take care of that," I replied, looking at her, "Can't you Laura?"

"Yeah," She replied, "I can. How did you know?"

"During the fight yesterday I saw you get scratched at least once," I replied, "but when I checked a moment later, you had no wounds, so I guessed, you can heal people, well at least yourself. Think you can heal us?"

"I can try," She replied uncertainly, "I don't know if I can or not. I've never tried it on anyone else."

"All we can do is try," Dean replied, "Who's with me?"

We all agreed to give it a go, if Laura couldn't heal us, at least we'd die free, not stuck in that nightmare of a place where we were forced to fight just to survive…

Chapter 30

The darkness whispers to me in my sleep. Sounds like I'm going insane. Maybe I am, but ever since that fight in the training room yesterday, I've heard whispers, faintly at first, but now they are stronger. It's like I can sense the darkness, can communicate with it, heck I was having dreams where I was looking out through the darkness, like I was part of it.

We had finally figured out how to remove the trackers implanted in our wrist. It was risky enough with them being implanted in our wrist, let alone me using my new found ability to cut them out. None of us had bothered backing any knifes or guns or any weapons come to think of it, so I had to use my new and unstable power. I don't even want to think about what could have happened. I used a very sharp knife made of the darkness and cut them out, Laura healed us. It turns out she could, although it took some practice the first time, I have the scar on my wrist to prove it. Hey we might heal fast, but I had to dig deep and no-one was willing to go first.

It was just before sunrise and I was sitting in the cave entrance. I couldn't sleep, not with all the whispers, so I sat and tried to figure out a way I could block them out without hindering my abilities. So far I had nothing but a major headache. I sensed movement in the cave and turned around to see Dean had awoken. Laura was still asleep, the healing seemed to take a bit out of her, and so I had let her sleep. Dean came up and sat beside me. We sat there as the sun rose and the darkness of our cave was partially illuminated by the light. There was a small rock outcrop that was curved up in front of the cave that hid the entrance from those not looking closely. After a while Dean spoke.

"What are we going to do now?" He asked.

"I don't know," I replied, "This is a first for me. I suppose there is only one thing to do. Find Keira and protect her from the Erasers. They want her back because she has something they fear. Maybe we can use that to our advantage, make them leave us alone."

"What about Laura?" he asked, "I knew here before she disappeared. She always used her head, hardly any emotion showed through. Sure she felt pain, hunger and thirst, but that's about all I can tell you. She used to be kind once, before they got to her."

"You care for her, don't you?" I asked, "You care for her more than a friend, but you're afraid to tell her how you feel. I'll give you a tip though, if you do decide to tell her, not right now. She's an emotional wreck, the conditioning they gave her made her block out her emotions for years, she's just beginning to feel them again, getting used to them. Let her adjust."

"You care for her too?" Dean asked me, "As in more than a friend?"

"Possibly," I replied truthfully, "My life has been a mess the past week or so. My sister died, my mother works as a whitecoat alongside my father, who I though was dead for three years. Not to mention my brother is now an Eraser who I'm not sure can remember me. My emotions are probably in the same state as Laura's, I just don't think about it that much. I'll let you know when I figure the answer out. You might have some friendly competition."

"It'd be too easy if we got thing we wanted," Dean said, "It's fun to fight for something or someone you like, shows you are worthy of having that something or someone. I just hope we don't fight each other and it ends up ruining our friendship."

"Oh I doubt that," I replied smiling, "I just got a tip from the future. I don't know who wins, but it won't ruin our friendship. But let's agree on something, no using our powers to win her over. Make it a fair fight and let her decide if she like one of us or neither of us."

"Agreed," Dean replied.

We sat on the cave floor by the entrance for a while. I leaned my back against the wall so I could see both inside and outside. Laura lay asleep wings wrapped around her, her face shrouded by her golden hair, but still just visible behind it. I knew she liked to but on a big brave face, although it cost her to do so, but there was all the emotional confusion she was going through, I could see it whenever I saw her eyes. She was always acting so strong so people wouldn't notice the frail, confused girl, the kind girl she used to be before everything happened. I think it was the glimpse I had of that girl in her now that sealed the deal. I think I had fallen for her, perhaps even when I first met her. I gave up my old life for her. Yep I have definitely fallen for her, and have fallen very hard.