400 FREAKIN' REVIEWS! WO O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O O ~!

Thanks to "i" for the big 4-0-0. You guys are amazing.

(A/N: I suppose you've been wondering what I've been up to. I'm writing... a book! Sure, it may be a crazy dream now, but still. I'm trying. And for that I commend myself in a trifle amount. So, for you guys, 'Cause you're awesome, you get to see chapter 1 so far. The title is to be...

The Forgotten

Chapter 1

I finally relaxed. The bow by my side was now lying idle. Sighing, Gabriel glared at the dead bodies on the concrete, their limbs twisted into grotesque shapes.

"Third time this week, Scarlett." He complained hatefully. I shifted my quiver which had been hastily slung over my back.

"I know." I said. None of us could figure out why the assailants kept attacking. We were the Forgotten, the shunned of society, carriers of the rare mutation that not even we understood. And therefore we resided outside the world city limits. The perky blond knife thrower, Penny, who had been content before, spoke out against my decision to keep fighting.

"You called for reinforcements from the World City, what – a month ago, maybe? We can't keep defending ourselves. Even you're almost out of arrows." She announced. I turned on her. As usual, Ash didn't speak. He stood so still that he was nothing but a shadow. I began to speak before Gabriel interrupted.

"Scar, you need to listen to us. We need to find the other Forgotten." He repeated for the millionth time in the last week. I sighed loudly.

"Okay! We will!" I shouted before storming off towards our rurally-centered log cabin. It's as if I just wasn't enough for them, anymore. They needed me. Why couldn't they see it? The gray drizzle that poured from the clouds began to soak my tangled brown hair. My skin had paled since the winter had set in, and it looked ghostly under the practically nonexistent light of day. My black-booted feet slopped against the mud. Silently, Ash approached me. His short golden brown hair was also dripping water. Still, my face was contorted into a scowl.

"Yeah, I know. Bad idea to keep fighting." I grumbled. Ash shoved his hands into his pockets. He was four or five inches taller than me, which is saying something. Then again, he was two years older. I was the baby of the group. I still didn't get why I lead most of the missions.

"No, actually I was going to suggest that they were being pretty stupid back there." Ash voiced. I nodded blankly, but the response brought a wash of thankfulness to my chest. There was nothing but worry these days, for the Forgotten. The four of us were all that remained of the once-numerous Cabin 009. Our cabin was on the brink of being in the woods, close enough to hunt in the wooded areas, but far enough to glimpse the light of the World City on a good day. Which this was not. Usually, I would force myself from my bed early to watch the city wake up, to watch the lights flicker on the electrified fence's top. The fence acted as a border, a safeguard preventing the Forgotten from sneaking into the City.

"They didn't get deported like….like you did." Ash finished. I winced. I had been eight years old at the time when my section of the City was being tested for the rogue gene that caused horrible mutations, from which the citizens needed protecting. I didn't remember my parents, only that I had two regular siblings. The officials had come to our house, demanding my surrender. Being a young person fearing what the officials could do, I followed them. I was sent to a Forgotten sanctuary, Cabin 009. I had lived there ever since. I thought of the Forgotten as my family. My companions were: Ash, tall and silent, Gabriel, loyal, and Penny's companionship. I didn't offer much to the group besides my archery skills. We each had quickly learned survival skills. We needed to know the skills to hunt, and feed ourselves. Ash jogged ahead of me and pried the slick door from its hinges, opening a gateway to our cabin. I walked in and rushed to my bunk, grabbing a change of clothes. My wet ones made me shiver, and the pants I worse clung to my legs like a soggy blanket. Ash returned to the door and called out for the others. Contented that they would return, I subjected myself to a steamy hot shower. I sang while I rinsed clean, making up enchanting tales of wonder. Abruptly, the door to the bathroom shook. I frowned. That only happened when the door was slammed. Maybe something was wrong. As quickly as the doubt appeared, it vanished and I dried myself. I donned fresh clothes and exited the now-steamy room. When I did, I gasped in horror. Gabriel was lying on his bed. Of course, nothing was wrong with that – but the fact that he was limp, and his eyes were squinted shut. He was covered in muck and water, like he fell outside.

"What…" I trailed off to keep myself from panicking. Ash and Penny were discussing something in urgent, quiet tones. They hadn't heard me yet. I saw them pause and Penny swallow. She spoke in a shaky, unsure tone.

"What if…..what if it's happening?" she said. I couldn't hold myself back.

"What? What if what is happening?" I asked. The pair turned to me. Embarrassed, I pretended to glance over Gabriel's way. I watched his chest rise, then fall. Good, he was still breathing.

"Oh, nothing." Penny dismissed. I crossed my arms over my chest. I felt a droplet of water slink down my back from my wet tendrils. On the bed, Ash shot daggers at me. I felt intrusive.

"What's wrong with Gabriel, then?" I demanded. Ash shrugged.

"He fell over and his head hit a rock."

I nodded knowingly. The terrain around the cabin was one big mud pot, full of rocks and slippery dunes of wet, sloppy dirt. I knew that they were lying, but no one was offering other explanations for the moment. Momentarily, Penny's green eyes narrowed. Ash's green ones, clearer than Penny's, communicated volumes with her. I plopped down on my bed. The springs creaked evilly under my weight. I yanked some covers over my head and closed my eyes. If they weren't willing to tell me, then I wouldn't ask.

I'd just have to figure it out myself….in the morning, that is.

Mornings in Cabin 009 were busy. We'd arise right before dawn. By we, I mean me and occasionally Ash or Gabriel. We'd watch the sunrise stain the thin nighttime clouds shades of brilliant orange, pink, and purple before spreading to skim milk thinness and skirting away with the rise of the sun. Every morning reminded me of the City, and I was homesick all the time. Then, I'd remind myself that this was my home now, with the other Forgotten. It was harder sometimes than other times to believe it.

I awoke to being shaken fervently. Personally, I don't recommend it. My eyes snapped open to see Penny, her blond hair tousled from sleep.

"More enemies!" She yelled, panicked. I hopped from my bed and grabbed my bow and quiver. Stringing an arrow, I dashed outside and did a scan for the attackers. Grass, trees, and…..there. A flicker of white slipped through my vision. I followed the white until it rested, only the tip of its head visible above a bush. I took a glace behind me.

"Where's Ash?" I whispered. Penny jerked her head to the left. I smiled. Ash was great at unseen movement. He was probably planning to drop on the enemy somewhere. I let go of my arrow, and a shriek of pain echoed back to me. The outburst was high, and squeaky. I lowered my bow.

"I think that our attacker is more of the harmless sort…" I speculated out loud. Penny huffed.

"No, they aren't! Have you not been paying attention these last few weeks?" she kept her eyes trained on the white spot. As I was about to reply, Ash walked out from the forest. I hadn't seen him go into the woods in the first place. Then again, anyone rarely did. In his arms was a peculiar shaped lump. No….not a lump, a little girl. Her curly black hair shined glossy, and her fingers were plump and scratched. Her bottom lip quivered, and I saw the source of her grief. From her arm sprouted a single metallic arrow. I frowned, sad for the little one. I shot her with my arrow when I thought she was an enemy. Her frilly white dress was dingy with dust. Ash carried her over to us. He looked at me accusingly. In my defense, I just studied the ground. A red ant tickled my feet. I flicked it off. The little girl let out a delicate whimper. Suddenly, I noticed the absence of Gabriel.

"Ash, take her inside." I affirmed his actions, and he vanished into the cabin. We had dealt with injuries like the little girl's before. Questions would have to come later.

"Gabriel is still out, Scarlett." Penny said. Worry prickled my mind.

"Is he stable?" I inquired. Penny nodded. Then I remembered our mystery girl. I jogged into the cabin's wood doorway without another word. Ash had tended the wound, and now the young girl sported stark white bandages wrapping around her bicep. My bloodstained arrow laid on the table nearby. I sighed.

"Is she going to be okay?" I asked Ash. He looked deep in concentration, his eyes troubled. But he turned to me. He ran a hand through his locks slowly.

"Yeah, she'll be alright," Ash said, now rubbing his hands together, "but something you might might wanna know."

I cocked my head to one side inquisitively. "What's that?"

"She's from the City, Scar. Only five or six. Says her name is Lydia."

I blinked twice. The City had impenetrable walls. How did she get out, and survive the trip here?

"And I found this around her neck."

Ash held out a shiny silver dog tag on a rusty chain. I read the plate of metal, cradling the cool necklace in my hand.

Radioactia

Camp 009

Gene-positive

I grimaced. We all had received these tags on our necks on our journeys here, but none of ours held names like hers. Ours had our real names on them. I dropped my voice to a low whisper.

"Do you think she has the abilities?"

Gene-positives, or the forgotten, were supposed to have the severe mutation that allowed us to have destructive abilities. None of us had observed any yet, unless you call Gabriel's ability to scarf four rabbits in one meal destructive. The combat skills that we had learned were by hard work, not natural skill. Ash shook his head.

"I don't know. But—" Ash was cut off by Lydia beginning to cry. I hummed a soothing tone, but Lydia seemed to be panicking. Her head swooped back and forth, examining her surroundings. Her brown curls swished from side to side. She screamed, and all of a sudden Ash and I were thrown backwards. I expected to hit a wall, but I was propelled farther and landed in the dirt outside, dazed. I shook my head. My arms were lined with angry red slices from debris. My head snapped up. Lydia was sobbing now, quietly. But where her scream had echoed was gone. Half of our cabin was destroyed, the walls laying beside me in pieces. I examined the rubble. Carefully, I stood to my feet and stared openmouthed at Lydia. She had just destroyed my home. That five year old girl had just blown the solid wood cabin to pieces.

From inside the house, Lydia looked troubled. Her cheek dimpled, and she laughed. I groaned and pulled myself up to a standing position. Ash did the same. Penny approached us from a hunting trip. She had been gone for a few minutes at most. She dropped her knives. Her long blond hair was matted in with thorns, and a long claw mark adorned her chin.

"Oh, my. What the heck happened here?" she demanded.

"Lydia, she….and then…." I stuttered. My mouth wasn't cooperating. I cursed in my head. Ash spoke for me, his voice still calm. But by the way he was acting; I guessed that he was shaken up, too.

"Lydia screamed, and half of our cabin…" Ash held out a hand, like Vana White or something. "Became this." Penny raised an eyebrow, doubt pock marking her features. All of a sudden, I was frustrated at her.

"You don't wanna believe us, fine! But it's true, as you can see!" I yelled, surprised by my tone. Penny looked wounded. She spoke slowly and chose her words carefully. She was now afraid of me. Greeeatt. Just what I needed: another person mad at me. If it isn't enough that we're stranded from society and forced to tough it out, but now I had made one of the few people that I knew fear me. Life is so retarded sometimes.

"H-how's Gabriel holding up?" she asked fearfully. I didn't know, but Ash looked uncomfortable. He shifted his weight from side to side. Of course, in a group of three people, this tends to get noticed.

"You might want to see this."

He jogged off into the remains of the cabin, hesitantly scooting around the bed where Lydia was relaxing, sipping some cool spring water from a cup. We'd have to worry about her later. Penny followed, knowingly muttering to herself. This was killing me. What in the world were they discussing behind my back? When we reached Gabriel's bed, he was awake. His blue eyes stared out at us and he was breathing deeply. I tightened my grip on my bow. No one had bothered to tell me that he had awoken. He wasn't wearing a shirt, and I wondered why. We needed to be prepared for attacks 24/7.

"I suppose you're going to show them?" Gabriel asked numbly. Ash nodded. Gabriel grunted and turned over. I didn't see anything unusual, just shoulder blades and tan skin and…..woah.

Feathers.

"Does it hurt?" probed Penny. She sounded concerned, and her black-polished nails skimmed the white fluff. Gabriel winced.

"A little."

A thousand protests and exclamations ran through my head. I parted my lips to speak, then Gabriel shuddered. He groaned like something was stabbing him. His muscles tensed. Alarmed, Ash bent over his friend.

From Gabriel's back, two long slices of feathers were pushing themselves into the air. Then, Gabriel relaxed. He let his body go limp. Now the wings were about two feet in length. They fluttered slightly as he slipped into an exhausted dream. From across the room, Lydia watched studiously.

"Is this what happened to her, only different?" I wondered aloud. Ash bit his lip, looking nervous. I stomped a foot on the ground.

"What? What is it? Obviously I'm not in the know, so tell me. What's going on?" I was very aware that I sounded like a toddler pitching a temper tantrum. Penny made sit down motions with her hands. There was nothing to sit on but the bed. So I sat.

"We know what the rogue gene causes." Penny said. My mocha brown eyes flitted from Ash to Penny. They weren't joking.

"Well, thanks for telling me!" I exclaimed, peeved. Ash waited until the precise moment to speak. His lower voice made us listen.

"We get…..kinda…superpowers." Under different circumstances, I would've laughed. Somehow, it wasn't funny now that we had a building-smasher five year old and one of my best friends writhing in agony as he grew wings. Soberly, I gripped the bed sheets tighter.

"It happens randomly for everyone. The Forgotten are too dangerous to keep around, so we go to Cabins. Some of the Forgotten…..they're evil, Scarlett. They'll kill you if they think your power is too dangerous to have or if they just don't like you. Penny and I already have our powers, and we've been able to sustain the attacks by using them."

My eyes widened. What were their powers? How….? As if reading my mind, Penny answered.

"I can direct sound waves. After I blow them backwards or make them….well, deaf.." Penny looked embarrassed. "Ash knocks them out. He….ah, materializes next to them."

Frankly, I was outraged that (1) They didn't tell me before and (2) I didn't have mine yet. My friends were Mary Sues. This was too horrible to bear.

"….but we do have limits, Scar. That's why we do need other reinforcements. We need Forgotten who've been training with their powers. After all, we're just children."

I grimaced at the term. It made me sound immature and young. But wait, when would Gabriel's wings grow in? Could we sustain another attempted massacre? A giggle cut into my thoughts. Lydia was laughing as she sang and made the cabin rumble with vibrations.

"Oh, and one more thing." Penny's hands kneaded together, like she was anticipating something. "I think that Lydia is my…..my sister."

"What?" I was overloaded. Overheating. How much more news did they expect thirteen year old Scarlett Atra to take in one day? Much, it seemed.

Penny studied the ground. "Her powers are really close to mine…." She trailed off absently. I held a hand to my forehead. Tiny fluorescent dots swirled over my eyes. Hammering pain knocked on my temples. I breathed in. "Hey Pen, I don't think that I'm feeling so—"

The spots grew in size until they felt like balloons coating my body. I tried to scream, but my voice wasn't working. A glass-thin wall of black shattered against me, and I fell unconscious from the pain.

I didn't know how long I was out. All I remember is the blackness, then stretched colors, like stained glass windows in a church. I blinked several times. The feeling underneath me was not hard, but soft and plush. I was on my bed. The wrecked side of the 009 building had been tarped over, and Ash was stilly and mutely watching both Gabriel and I. A coldness was pressed against my face, probably a wet rag. I sat up, and the world spun. My stomach flipped, and I fought for my insides to not come….well, outside.

"Oh, thank God." Penny breathed. Ash's expression didn't change. He regarded me with thought. But I didn't care what he was doing right now. I cared that me, strong leader Scarlett, had blacked out from a little bit of a pinch.

That was a wee bit of a blow to my pride there. And unlike my headache, it wouldn't heal in a day or so.

"What happened?" I murmured groggily. My head was spinning. Penny furrowed her eyebrows.

"You may be getting your powers." Ash voiced. Pain shot up my back, and I arched my spine and gripped the bed. It was like being stabbed over and over. When the hurt subsided, I exhaled and buried my nose in my pillow.

"No kidding." I growled. "How's Gabriel doing?" Penny pointed. His wings were about ten feet long now, blindingly white and almost finished growing. I wish that I could have his power, but I'd probably end up with something lame, like bubble fury or something to that effect.

"Hey Pen, what power do you think I'll get?" I managed. She shrugged.

"Maybe…..well, I don't know. It's impossible to tell. Where does it hurt?" she inquired. I pointed to the space of my back right below my shoulder blades. Penny frowned.

"You've got the start of feathers here, but they're brown and speckled."

A rush of excitement rippled through my veins. Wings! But then the pain started creeping up my spine. I squeezed my eyes shut, wishing I could disappear. I heard Penny scream.

"What? What is it?" I yelled frantically. Little Lydia cooed from her bed. Ash's stoic face went pale. I stood up, alarmed. Colors swam before me, but I steadied myself. Everyone seemed to relax, and Ash quickly resumed his watch over Gabriel.

"Everything okay…..?" I slowly ventured. Penny swallowed her apparent anxiety.

"Yeah, fine. Anyways, you should sleep." She rushed, pushing me onto my bed and tucking the warm blankets around my slim body. Before I could protest, another rack of pain tormented my body, and I curled up. Coherent thought escaped me.

Ever heard of horrible? Then you can imagine the World City. It was a combined civilization of all intelligent people. After the formation of its government and such, villains such as R.S. Tersende appeared, bringing with them incredible powers. The City officials rarely were able to catch them, but they eventually died off. Postmortem, others with the same rogue gene peppered the city, some as young as two years old. Rarely did their powers show, but the city was unmovable. The threat must be extinguished. In memory of those villains, the City elected to test every child born until no more Forgotten showed up. We earned the nickname because we were banished to the limits of the City, left to die in the wilderness. Forgotten, as you might word it. The test given to babies and teens was called the Tersende Test, and I was forced to take it. I remember the vague thoughts that crossed my mind when they took me away and shipped me here. It was almost too horrible to bear. But now that I knew the secrets…..

I awoke from my slumber. I rubbed the back of my neck, and peered through an open slit in my eyes. Ash was watching me, dark circles shading under his green eyes. I flopped forward, suddenly aware of heavy weights on my back. I craned my neck to see two enormous brown wings, speckled with coffee-brown mocha-like spots. I stretched one wing out. Pins and needles prickled the newfound muscles.

"Ow." I retorted, letting the wing lay useless on the bed again. Slowly, I looked over the darkness at Gabriel's bed. His wings were fully grown, and a very tired face stared at me.

"The pain is almost gone." He stated. I smiled. It was of little comfort to me as of yet.

"Cool." I responded. Then it hit me: he didn't know about my wings yet. He didn't know that the pain he felt wasn't felt alone.

Ash coughed awkwardly. "Penny's out hunting."

I raised an eyebrow. The clock read four minutes after midnight. "Really?"

"Yeah. She promised to make you squirrel soup when she got back."

I winced. That stuff was good and nutty with plump brown meat, but the texture was like that of snail slime. Then a thump on the roof called my attention. I froze, as did everyone in the cabin, even Lydia, who was on her way to sipping some milk from her sippy cup.

"Let me go check it out." Ash whispered. I couldn't protest. Right now, these wings were like feathered chains. I couldn't fight. Ash cracked a smile before scaring me. His form stretched, then dissipated into thin black smoke. Huh. I guess that's what Penny meant about the materializing. Another thump landed on the roof. I tensed. Maybe I should go check it out….

Thump-crash

Yup.