Sorry for the delay in updates! I've been quite busy this week, and I haven't been home a lot.

Disclaimer- Because Michael Grant writes fan fiction about his own book. Yeah, totally.

This is such a bad idea, running a Human Crew meeting when I'm barely human myself. I tried to get out of it, but Lance talked me into going. Handsome Lance. Tall Lance. Athletic Lance. Lance was probably the only person who could talk me into doing this. I'm definitely going to regret this later.

Luckily, my power isn't one you would guess. I should be thankful that my power isn't anything like turning my hair purple when I feel rage, or growing 50 feet every four seconds. Tying shoelaces with your mind isn't exactly a one you'd notice or expect.

I heard the other members of the Human Crew before I saw them. Turk was yapping on about how great I am and how all freaks must die, as usual. Most of the time I tolerate his ramblings, but I dread to think what he'd say if he found out that his beloved leader was a freak himself.

"Hey look, Zil's here." Lisa groaned, rolling her eyes. Sometimes I wondered why she was even in the Human Crew when all she did was moan. A few weeks ago, she even considered stopping it all.

"We would have been here sooner, but he was busy tying his shoelaces." Lance smirked. That should have soothed me, usually the sound of his voice did, but I couldn't help but wonder if he genuinely thought I was tying shoelaces or whether he was just covering for me.

"Tying shoelaces? Really, Zil?" Lisa said dryly. Some girlfriend she was.

"Yeah…" I bit my lip, unsure of what to say. How was I supposed to tell them that I'm a freak?

"So are we going to start this meeting or what?"

"Yeah, start the meeting!" Turk proclaimed, punching the air with his fist. His enthusiasm scared me a bit. Well, at least somebody enjoyed these meetings.

"Yes, let's start this meeting of the mighty Human Crew!" I paused, waiting for any reaction from the small amount of people before me. There was none, except a large applause from Turk. I don't think the groan from Lisa counted. "So, the plan to burn down the town didn't go quite as we'd planned."

"You can say that again!" Yelled a voice. I wasn't sure who said it, though it was probably Lisa.

"As I was saying, it didn't go as we'd planned. Instead of causing terror and panic, Sam and his freaks managed to stop it. " I omitted to mention that Sam wasn't even there. "Not only that, but they seemed to have forgotten about it and carry on as normal!"

"I think we all know that," came the voice again

"Who keeps interrupting me?" I questioned angrily.

"Yeah, don't interrupt Zil!" Turk enthused.

I waited for an answer, but nobody owned up. I didn't think anybody would. They know that I'm not like Drake or Caine, I wouldn't throw them into a wall or whip them to get them to own up or to punish them for wronging me.

"Thank you, Turk. As I was saying, the freaks fare to act like us normals don't exist! They treat us as if we are just invisible to them! Well I have news for them, normals are still the majority here. We outnumber the freaks by a long shot, so how come we are the ones getting ignored?" I said passionately. My mini speech, despite the fact it wasn't even finished, attracted many responses from the people there.

"It's 'cause they have powers, they think they can do whatever they want!"

"They think they're all that just because they have powers. But really, they're just mutant freaks of nature! They shouldn't even exist!"

"They think having powers means you're all high and mighty and automatically better than us normals when really they're just abnormal freaks!"

"It should be us ruling them, not the other way around! Why should us normal folk be treated like dirt by some grotesque mutations?"

Their responses made me wonder what gruesome punishment would await me if my secret became uncovered. Would they chase after me until I was cornered so they can hit me with their aluminium baseball bats? Would they try and push me off the cliff? Or perhaps hang me in the church with the whole town pulling on the rope like we tried to do to Hunter? I dread to think.

Not only that, but what would the other freaks think? I was Zil, Leader of the Human Crew, not hiding my hatred for freaks. I constantly proclaimed that it should be normals ruling Perdido Beach and that the freaks were lowly scum and should be tossed aside, like gum on the bottom of your shoe. Everybody with eyes could see that I had a loathing for the freaks. But of course, now that I am a freak I'd have to join them. Would they let me? I doubt they'd even believe me, think I'm just fooling around, mocking them. If they did believe me, they'd just laugh in my face at my useless power and say how ironic it is for the number one freak despiser has became one.

I bring myself to answer, despite the terror their answers brought to me. "You're right, all of you. It should be normals ruling, not the freaks! We have been around for way longer, so why should we give in to the intruders who flaunt their abilities and expect us to love and worship them? No, we shouldn't. We need to fight for what is right! And what better way to do so by taking down Sam!" I rage, punching the air with my fist. If this were any other day I'd have felt pleased with my performance. But this isn't any other day, this is the day I became a freak. Here I am, talking about taking down Sam when I'm secretly one of his kind.

Again, I was applauded for my words and the crowd were eager to join in my ramblings.

"Yeah, those worthless freaks just think they can do whatever they want and expect us to clean up afterwards!"

"They do nothing but show off their powers, especially that Brianna girl, expecting us to call her the Breeze like she's some sort of superhero. Real superheroes are modest about their powers and don't show off like a spoiled brat!"

"They're vulgar! Despicable! Worthless!"

"They expect us to do everything while they do nothing and look cool!"

I don't think that now would be a good time to tell them my secret. I also don't mention that the freaks don't sit around and do nothing, they've saved us on many occasions.

No.

What's happening to me?

Am I starting to agree with the freaks?

Oh no.

I'm turning into one of them.

I've actually forgotten who's on the Human Crew, aside from Zil, Lisa, Lance and Turk. I know that Hank died, and I think Antoine did too, but I've had a mind blank and forgotten if there was any more. I don't have my own copy of LIES so I can't check! That's why not many names have been mentioned.

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