2

Friends of Humanity

It wasn't long before Mark was at the building on the poster, would they really be able to help him? He didn't have to go, he could still walk away. No, he needed help, he was alone with no-where to go. No-where except here.

The doors were open and there were lights on inside. Mark saw a clock on the wall in the entrance; it was nearly 11 o'clock, what timing. There were arrows pointing to one of the rooms off of the main corridor, the door was open.

Mark walked slowly in. There were a few people sat on chairs that all looked towards the front. That was odd, don't these sorts of things have chairs in a circle…oh well. The usher at the door was a short smiley woman with rosy cheeks, a bob cut and small eyes behind big square glasses. She was wearing a thick woollen jumper, completely green. She must have been boiling.

"Ooh!" she said in a squeaky voice that reminded him of his old teacher Mrs. Saunders. "Your just in time, the doors were about to shut. Do make yourself at home as best you can, there will be refreshments later." So much for the whole 'we never shut our doors'.

Mark took a seat near the back, right on the aisle. After a moments pause there were footsteps from behind Mark. The doors clanged shut behind the sound of the person who had just come in. he could swear he heard another clang from the direction of the doors but he couldn't be sure because the usher let out an almighty sneeze.

There was a rush of air as a tall figure walked past Mark, heading towards the front. They wore a particularly unstylish beret that slanted slightly from its resting place on the figures head. They wore some camo jeans and a blue fleece. The man began to speak as he walked down towards the front, his voice strikingly familiar. Mark knew what was happening before it actually began. He rose from his seat as the words from the figure reached his ears.

"Don't try to run; we have at least one gun on each of you!"

There was a gasp as the stranger reached the front and spun around on the spot. His jumper had a horrible emblem on it that struck fear in Mark's heart. Above the emblem were the initials F.O.H. It was the Friends of Humanity. A great statue was revealed at the front of the room which showed a man standing on a pile of deformed bodies. The man was his Father, and he wasn't at all surprised. From the moment he had recognised his voice he knew this meeting was not to help. His dad would never want to help.

All this he could live with…well for the time being he could. What really winded him was the accomplice moving towards his father. The face that had just connected with his a few moments ago, Jake was a member of the Friends of Humanity.

"You all know why you are here yes?"

Mark called annoyingly towards his dad. "No, sorry dad, could you remind me."

He had clearly shocked his father by being there. He looked up at him with shock and then the expression melted as though it was never there. Jake looked just as shocked, but Mark didn't want to look at him, and he made a point of making him see this.

"Please…do you really think I'd have a freak like you for a son?" said Mark's father. He paused to let that string of conversation fade away before continuing. "Yes, you are all here, because you are vermin, scum, and lower life! You filthy shits think you can take this planet?"

"Were from this planet you prat!" Mark shouted, the other mutants looking at him, some like he was crazy, and some like he was the bravest thing they had ever seen.

"You are skanky, dirty, fuckers and you all need to be punished, just for living, breathing our air!"

One of the other mutants joined in with Mark. "You call this living? Every day we are hunted and beaten like…"

"Like the filth that you are!"

"Tell me dad? Are you going to kill us today? If so… what are you going to tell Mum when I never come home?"

"YOU ARE NO SON OF MINE!!!" he roared, the sheer force of the sound knocked Mark off his feet, several others sat straight back down after having stood to support the boy.

This reaction presented Mark with a plan, if he could only get close enough. He unscrewed the top of his bottle lid, hoping no-one would see. Concentrating as hard as he could, he pulled out a small slither of liquid. He pushed the water against his skin, and forcing it into a point he cut open a small gash in his wrist, enough to let the blood flow, but not enough to kill him. Then he dropped the water, but slid the bottle into his pocket, leaving the lid off.

"This blood!" he began, spinning slowly so everyone could see "This blood runs through both our veins! The same blood!" while Mark span, he managed to count all of the F.O.H. members in the room, 17 members, 14 of them with weapons. "We are the same" he continued, now moving towards his father, looking him in the eye, unflinchingly. "Whether you like it or not!"

One of the armed men hesitated, his gun trained on Mark. "Uh…Sir? What do you want me to do?"

"Leave this troublemaker for me. MEN, GET THE OTHERS, NO DEATHS, WE NEED TO INTERROGATE THEM FIRST!!!" He signalled as the soldiers all moved in on the other helpless mutants, well they weren't exactly helpless, they had their powers.

"Everyone, use your powers to win!" called Mark as he moved closer to his father, drawing out all of the water in his bottle. He formed it into a light blue whip and swung at his father. All around them the mutants were doing their best to fight the oncoming threat.

Marks dad flipped out a small knife and lunged at his son. Spreading the water out he created a small shield that deflected the blow. The had holding the knife was knocked back, but then the other span round in a fist, hitting Mark square in the chest, hurling him back.

Mark looked around; he needed something more substantial to fight with. He looked over to the refreshments table and found a jug of orange juice waiting to be controlled. He pulled it out of its container and added it to his small collection of water. Then he noticed a large tank of water for serving drinks from. Concentrating as hard as he could, he made the tankard explode, causing the liquid inside to rush towards him.

With his dad advancing on him, Mark hurled a great wave of water at his face, knocking him off his feet.

"BRING IT IN! THE…SENTINEL" he spluttered.

Two of the Friends of Humanity ran to a side door and began to pull it open. Mark span to look and saw Jake helping open the door. The room beyond was dark, except for two bright yellow lights shining out, two eyes.

There was a blast of red that shot out from the room that nearly hit Mark, it flew past him, burning his face, and hit a fellow mutant behind him. Summoning all his strength and concentration, he started relentlessly hitting the form in the darkness. Another blast flew at Mark, and it would have hit him in the face if he hadn't dived out of the way.

The body started to move out of the room and into the light. It was a robot! Mark had seen these things on the news, but the ones he saw were much bigger, this one was small and thin and looked like a woman! She walked menacingly towards Mark. He used the water to hit the door and knock it open.

"Get out of here! NOW!" he shouted to the others. Then he went back to attacking it with everything he had. It got closer and closer to him, nothing hurting it, nothing even getting through. It lunged at him and grabbed his neck, lifting him off the floor.

"You fool! You cannot kill it! Sooner or later, you'll run out of energy!" jeered his father from the sidelines.

Mark lifted his legs and kicked at the plastic form, knocking himself away from the robotic attacker. It leaped at him, forcing him to dodge, barely missing. The sentinel then rebounded on the wall, staying low. Mark managed to leap above its speeding body. It stood up and grabbed his arms from behind and span, hurling him into a collection of chairs.

Marks dad spoke as the robotic woman advanced.

"Idiot, what did you really hope to accomplish? This was just one location for catching mutant scum, there will be another! We will end your kind! And what of you?" the sentinel began to charge her hand blaster "You have lost everything"

Mark evaluated the situation, he could roll out of the way of the blast, but where to? The door was covered by F.O.H. members so he couldn't escape that way. He saw a pistol that had been dropped by one of the fighting enemies. This was the only way.

The sentinel shot and Mark dodged. He grabbed the pistol mid-roll and stood, aiming. He squeezed the trigger and let a bullet speed towards one of the sentinel's eyes. She jumped back in shock and clawed at the hole in her circuitry. Mark summoned his water and used it to pull the statue at the front of the room over. It seemed to fall so slowly, but it landed on the robot with a satisfying crunch. There were sparks as the head of the beast fell from its neck and rolled over to Mark's feet.

"No… I haven't…"

There was a sudden warmth of breath on his neck as someone spoke.

"Sorry bout this" Jake whispered.

The warmth was followed by a sudden cold as his face was covered by a funky smelling cloth. Everything went dark and then there was a vast and enveloping silence that swallowed him.