Hide and Seek
Chapter 1: The Start of the End
A scramble of dirt, unseen and barely heard.
For a long moment, nothing could be seen but a haze of sawdust, and gently drifting particles of dirt and leaves as they settled in the aftermath. The girl's body lay in the midst of circle of towering trees, her black locks in disarray. Then her eyes snapped opened. She inhaled loudly, as if she had just burst from the surface of deep water.
For a long minute, she was conscious of nothing but aching bone-tiredness. The hammering fall had drained every ounce of energy from her body. Feebly, she tried to raise herself off the ground; but her arms trembled from the surprise of her arrival and betrayed her, and she slumped back, her cheek in the dirt.
Where am I? What's going on? How did I get here? I'm supposed to be…
Those questions ran through her mind crazily, bustling like a crowded street. She stared at the forest floor, disorientated.
The girl got up from the ground unsteadily and inhaled deeply, breathing gradually. She rolled her head back, eyes closed softly, and then she opened them again, bursting into the new world.
She has landed in a thick jungle, surrounded by countless tall, smooth trunks of trees. The sun cut through the canopy of flat oval leaves in broken bursts, dazzling her for a second and then disappearing. High overhead, fist-sized fruit hung in groups of three within their leafy pods, triplets of juicy purple ripening in the scorching sun.
Sweat ran from her hairline down her forehead and neck. She blinked it away, squinting as a salty bead stung her eyes, then ran her hand through her black hair. Wait-!
She remembered that she looked different. She gazed down at her hand to realise that they were now decorated with sharp black claws, real claws. On her right arm was a metallic object that clung firmly around her arm. It seemed to be shielded with a lid, but she didn't want to fondle with it just yet. She observed her body. She wore the same blue camouflaged pants as she remembered. They were still ripped at one knee-cap, stained with dirt. Her boots were caked with dried chunks of soil. What surprised her was her t-shirt. She was still wearing her black sleeve-less shirt, and a large circular rip was in the centre of her shirt as if someone had stabbed her, yet her stomach was untouched. She frowned. It doesn't make sense. The last thing she remembered was…
A long black wire swung under her face and she jolted back, then she felt foolish to realise it was her. Her hair has transformed. For years, she had long straight brunette hair. Now, her hair was the darkest black, like raven down, and was wore in several long locks, held in some sort of wrought-golden bangles, and they clipped around her hair. It seemed to look like some sort of futuristic dreadlocks.
That worried her. It was as if she was someone else, or something completely different.
Well, she had bigger problems than her appearance. She was the same person as she last remembered. She remembered her name, age, date of birth, everything! She just didn't know where she was. Or why she was here…
Circling around, sliding past the narrow, willowy waists of the trees, she trod lightly through the forest, planning her journey of leaving this jungle.
Then, she heard a low hiss and a rumble. Her breathing stilled to almost nothing. She looked around frantically, but the forest was as calm and sunny as it had ever been. So why could she sense something dangerous?
Then she felt someone standing behind her. She inhaled sharply-
"Stop right there!" came a voice from behind her. The girl frowned; hearing a sharp click of a gun and as she slowly looked over her shoulder to see another creature.
It was another girl about twenty-one years old, standing behind her with a long rifle trembling in her arms, pointing directly at her. The stranger had small, pretty features, and wide turquoise eyes heavily shaded with some sort of purple eye-shadow. Piercings dangled from her ears on both sides, her lips heavily glossed with pink grease-like substances. Her hair a bright pink shade, short and tangled, as if she hasn't brushed it in days. But she knew it was common of young girls to back-comb their hair to give it more 'fluff'. She always thought it was stupid. From the way this pink-haired girl looked, in her dark-blue jeans and flimsy white shirt, she knew she had no idea what she was doing. She was inexperienced with guns. The girl was no criminal. She had never committed an offence against anyone, so she certainly knew it wasn't the police. Her golden eyes cruelly fixed onto the rifle and then back to the new stranger. She took a step towards the girl, but she screamed and shook the rifle. "Don't come any closer!" Her voice was dense with a northern accent. "I know how to use this thing!"
"Not really," The girl spoke finally, her voice a deep, cold tone. "You have no idea."
"How dare yea' say that to me, dude!" The pink-haired girl fumed. She aimed the gun at her. "I'll shoot."
"You can't. The gun's locked."
The pink-haired girl blinked, confused.
"The gun has a lock?" She stuttered, looking at the gun. The girl watched her search the gun and instantly got bored. She shook her head, rolling her eyes and began to walk away, not really bothered with her anymore. Seeing her stalking off, the pink-hair girl looked up. "W-Wait! Where are yea' going?"
The girl stopped. After a few seconds, she glanced over her shoulder.
"Home." Came the reply. The pink-haired girl blinked, utterly confused with the stranger. From the look of her sharp, golden eyes, she wasn't human. Her lips twisted in a wry smile.
"Oh, sorry sister!" The pink-haired girl hissed sarcastically, ending her sentence with a snort of laughter. The girl ignored her. "B-But how?" The pink-haired girl jogged towards her, following her. The girl didn't turn back.
"I don't know, but I'm leaving this dump." She muttered, her legs brushing past wildly brunches of leaves as they weaved in and out of the trees.
"H-How…" The pink-haired girl muttered, shifting the heavy gun from side-to-side. "How did yea' get here in the first place?"
The girl stopped, her head bowed suddenly and shook.
"I'm unsure…I only remember some things…"
"Yea' fell out of the sky too, didn't yea'?" The pink-haired girl persisted, from where she lounging against the tree trunk.
"Yes."
"God, yea' don't talk much, do yea'?" She beamed cynically.
The dark-haired girl glared up at the spoilt young woman before her. Her life and the pink-haired girl's life were certainly different, she knew that for sure. From what she can see, she had everything. Daddy's little girl. Thinks that the world was her on. Obviously the type of girl she hated.
The dark girl turned away, glaring hotly at the branches.
"I don't talk to strangers," She muttered. "I don't trust anyone…not anymore…"
"Excuse me sister-!"
"I'm not your sister, alright?" The dark girl snapped angrily. "You're the fucking idiot who can't even work out that gun!" She pointed at the rifle.
"Well, I don't think I should trust yea' anyway myself!" The pink-haired girl hissed. "Yea' have an unusual eye colour, and your hair is fucked-up. Yea' even got strange device of your arm!"
"Well, all of this is news to me too, you know," The dark girl replied lowly. "My appearance is different. I used to have dark brown hair, and my eyes were blue." The pink-haired girl lapsed in silence. "For some fucked-up reason, I'm thrown into this fucking jungle with a new appearance!" The dark girl snarled under her breath and looked away, her eyes scanning across the never-ending landscapes of forestry. They said nothing for a long while, and then finally the pink-haired girl spoke.
"Well, if we're gonna have to work together, my name is Abbey-Lee," The dark girl turned to her. "What's your name?"
The dark girl stared at her numbly, wondering whether she should tell the stranger her name. One thing for sure, she didn't want to team up with her. It'll just drive her mental. And she wasn't in the right frame of mind to put up with a childish spoilt brat like herself. She opened her mouth to snap a sharp comment back, but a yell cut them off.
The dark girl and Abbey looked up to see a tall man behind bamboo floristry, his hair short, prickly and ginger; his narrow eyes gazed at the girls. They realised he was a prisoner, wearing bright orange overalls that seemed to blend in with his hair. His dark eyes snapped to and fro to the girls and in his hand was a knife. Abbey looked terrified, but the dark-haired girl was unmoved.
"Alright! What's the fucking game?" He growled, his eyes demented.
"What game?" Abbey cried out.
"I woke up here, and you two bitches are here!" The ginger male snarled, pointing his knife at them. "What's going on?"
"Stop acting like an arse!" Abbey snapped, pointing her still-locked gun at the stranger. "Who are you?"
"The name's Adam…"
"Listen Adam, we're stuck here too. Just like you. We're confused. Just like you." The dark-haired girl replied lowly. "Let me guess…you fell down here?"
His eyes widened, surprised and nodded once, slowly lowering his knife down. He blinked a few times and then swallowed hard; his large Adam's apple shuddered in his throat.
"Y-Yes…"
"The same happened to us…" Her golden-eyes hardened and Adam stared at her outlandish eyes.
"So we're not the only ones…" Another voice called out. Adam, Abbey and the dark-haired girl turned around to the source of the voice. They were surprised to see two more figures emerging through the dark-green bushes, wearing mechanic overalls. One man was tall, his hair short and mousy-brown while his companion was small, stubby, his hair dark and his eyes watery-blue. Adam grinned.
"Great, more asses,"
The dark-haired girl groaned and stepped towards the two men.
"Forget him-Did you guys fall here too?"
"Yes," Said a smaller man, his voice a deep bass tone. He was wearing oil-stained overalls in the shade of dark-blue. He leaned close, his eyes squinting as he observed her irises closely. "What the fuck has happened to your eyes?"
"None of your business!"
"They're wicked, man," The taller man piped up, amazed too. His overalls were a hard green-blue colour, also painted with oil. Abbey frowned and stepped forward. The two men turned to her.
"Who are yea'?" Abbey demanded, her voice trying to portray toughness and failed. The taller man snickered.
"Your gun is locked," He smirked. Abbey punched his arm feebly.
"S-Shut up! What are yea' names?" Abbey stuttered, as if she was having trouble taking the comment in.
"Oliver," The taller male replied, smirking mockingly at her. All eyes turned to the stubby male and he beamed a cocky smirk.
"I'm Jack." The smaller male offered in a thick voice.
"Hello Jack. Hello Oliver," Abbey greeted.
The dark girl nodded once, taking in all of the strangers' names. The huddle of lost people stood closely together, gazing around the atmosphere. They stood in the sun-dappled ground under the canopy of the trees.
"So, now what do we do?" Jack murmured at a length. No one answered him. They were just as clueless as he was.
"I just don't understand why we're here…" Oliver said thickly.
"I think we were chosen…" All eyes adverted to the dark-haired girl. Her head was hung, gazing down at her feet. Then she looked up at the sky again, as if she could see through the branches of the trees, seeing the flat oval leaves of the trees and the spiky green-and-red shivers of the vegetation in the trees.
"Chosen…?" Oliver repeated. The dark-girl nodded gravely.
"Everyone, what was the last thing you remembered? Before landing here?"
Silently, everyone exchanged glances, hoping someone would speak up first.
"Well, all I can remember was that I was living with my mum and dad. We had this big argument, and all I asked for was some money ." Abbey spoke loudly, as if she admitted something she was proud of.
"How much?" Jack grinned, curious. Abbey frowned.
"That's none of your business. Besides, it was only enough to buy this sweet car! A pink Jaguar!"
"That would have cost you a couple of grand." Oliver said. "Is it the new one?"
"Why yes."
"That's bullshit." The dark-haired girl hissed. She turned to Abbey suddenly and pointed at her. "Why the hell do you have a gun then? Why would you need a gun?" Abbey stared at her, and found it hard to speak at first. But the dark girl spoke for her. "You remember that Alien invasion, right?"
Everyone stalled in silences. So, they weren't dreaming. That terrifying night when those Aliens invaded Cotrico City. That was the last thing they remembered.
"Fine…fine…"Abbey groaned. "I fainted during the invasion at my place."
"I…umm…I was in death-row when the invasion happened." Adam murmured darkly. "That's all I can remember."
"We were hiding in our Car Workshop." Jack mentioned, indicating him and Oliver with his hand. "Something crushed the car we were working on, and the lights blew up. Then we saw nothing but darkness. The next moment we were stuck here!"
"That's true," Oliver supported.
"What about you?" Adam hissed, pointing his knife at the dark girl. "Who are you? You never mentioned your name."
"I'm called Rina, Larina Schwarzenegger." The dark girl replied slowly.
"Larina Schwarzenegger? What kind of a name is that? Italian?" Adam smirked.
"Romanian. And part Austrian-American." Rina replied.
Abbey grinned.
"Wow. Is Arnold Schwarzenegger your dad?" No reply. Rina seemed too busy looking for an escape route. Again, Abbey thought of another quick joke. "Hey, Romanian's where Transylvania is, isn't it? Know any vampires?"
"No," Rina muttered. "Do you?"
"No sense of humour." Abbey sighed under her breath and Rina caught it.
"I'm perfectly sorry that I don't have a sense of humour, but I have my life to think about rather than joking around," A slow hiss escaped Rina's lips. Abbey glanced at her in surprise. For the first time, Abbey noticed the weird yellowish colour of Rina's eyes and she shivered. A chill blast seemed to have hit the back of her neck. She glanced around the jungle. Strange. The jungle was as hot as ever.
"So, how did you get here Rina?" Jack asked, suddenly curious that Rina had unusual features. They looked inhuman.
"The last thing that I remember…" Rina paused, then she carried on. "The last thing that I remember was that I died…"
Everyone's eyes widened in horror. She died? How could that work? Why was she here now, breathing and standing? It didn't make any sense.
In the silent midst, a soft bleeping noise emitted. It was coming from the strange device that clung onto Rina's right arm. She looked at it and blinked, unsure what it was doing.
"What's with the new watch?" Oliver asked. Rina shrugged.
"I don't know…it was here on my arm when I landed. But I have never seen it before…" Slowly, she placed a black claw on a small grey button and the lid flipped upwards, startling Rina. Abbey, Adam, Oliver and Jack huddled over her to see what it was. There was a combination of buttons, holding strange symbols, similar to the parachutes. There was a thick line that ran across the bottom of the device. Curiously, Rina placed her claw on it and scrapped it from one side to another. That made the bleeping stopped. They said nothing for a while, until Abbey spun around and glared at Rina.
"You're something else, aren't yea'?" She snapped.
Rina calmly closed the case down and turned her golden eyes onto Abbey. Her eyes hardened.
"Maybe…but it's fucking better than being human…" She hissed. She turned on her heels and stalked off into the forest. "Let's go…if you want to find a way out of here…"
Wordlessly, Oliver rubbed the back of his neck and turned to Jack. He shrugged and began to follow Rina. Oliver followed after him. Adam and Abbey exchanged glances and then they soon followed them.
They didn't realise that a pair of unseen eyes were watching them the whole time.