It is the year 2510. This year marks the one-hundredth year anniversary of our supremacy. One-hundred years is equivalent to 3,500 experiments to uphold our concord of the Vulterrki-Human Alliance Treaty. We have given our gifts to these select few youths, of which we choose upon our own desire, but they have all squandered their powers, ultimately leading to their untimely terminations. All 3,500 of them. The adolescence of the world, from the ages from fourteen to nineteen; any type, anywhere. If you are chosen, it is considered an honor. You are fulfilling the human’s zenith of dreams: harnessing the capability of extraordinary and superhuman powers, bestowed by our intelligence for we are not human.

We are the Vulterrki, although no human life form chooses to call us our preferred name. They make use of the more negative linguistics: Outsiders, the clever, Vultures, and, the ever so cliché, Aliens. But within our eyes, we are not the aliens. We are not these “Vultures” who prey on a weak and discombobulated, pathetic species—we are not the aliens. These human life forms are. For all of our capacity to learn beyond the prowess of a human being could ever dream of, we have yet to fully understand them. Their capacity for suffering. Their capacity for this unflagging bravery, or rather unprecedented behavior. Or most of all, their capacity of this strange emotion of what they call “love.” We do not know of such behavior or feelings. And we have studied them intensely over the eons, for we have been a part of their existence for as long as they have been; sending, members of our own to walk among them, without them knowing the slightest. So oblivious. These creatures are quite naive.

We know of what they consider aliens. The ionic green Martian with bulbous black eyes and long, spindly hands, with the carnivorous ability to devour brains and possess their bodies; or so that is what the once Hollywood would lead them to believe. But we are nothing of the sort. We take to mimicry; we are whatever we see. We have taken the form of these humans, but only the most alluring of their features, and bodies; and our colonizing truly began three hundred years ago, then little by little, we continued to arrive, and invade them: silently. It is our manifest destiny to control them; for we have watched their maleficent ways, and know very well that they cannot govern themselves. These humans are corrupt. We have seen their wars. We have fought alongside of them. We know of their bloodshed, and their folly.

Thus, we have intervened on their behalf, their betterment. In exchange for our utopian supremacy and blessing their youth with our gifts, they would have to submit themselves wholly without dissent under our regime, or we would obliterate them all in a manner of a blink of an eye. Naturally, they agreed. And as a reminder of dominion in giving their select children, our Children, each year we choose thirty-five youths from across the world to take part in what we observe for mere entertainment, these Experiments; raise them from infantry to adolescence in the time frame of six months and, then escort them to the Drop Zones, where we literally drop them, and in human terms: “let them have at it.”

Oh, it’s such fun! Such fun, indeed. Seeing our Children immerse themselves in marvelous conflict. Currently, we have chosen the Drop Zones to mainly consist of where this United States once reigned. The once city that is now a ruinous relic of its gambling glory that will be this year’s Drop Zone: is TCFKALV. The City Formerly Known As Las Vegas. There will be five youths to a Unit. They will fight to the death. Whoever is left standing, wins with their life, and may choose to leave Earth or have permanent revered residence within Vulterra.

The ultimate purpose of this Experiment is to perceive that if a truly omnipotent being, one that is a hybrid of both human and Vulterrki can be achieved. But all of them have been failures. Not one of the 3,500 has succeeded. We are hoping this year’s assemblage prove us wrong.

That is all.
…

Wind carrying the dust and ancient smells of another life lingers within this dark place: a place that has not been tread by humans for over three-hundred years. There’s a slight, eerie humming in the hazy air, as if anticipating something unwanted, but inevitable.

The surface of the thick glass is smudged, and there are weathered, crusted splotches splattered here and there: it could either be dried paint, or blood. Behind the glass, looming in the shadows are sets of outdated flat screen TVs radiating the forlorn sense disuse and abandonment, much like city consumed in rubble, and ruin beyond. These TVs haven’t been turned on in what would be centuries. And suddenly, there is electrical static, and without warning a blue light flashes, and they all flicker on.

She watched as the television flickered back to black, ending the rather interesting introduction publicized for the whole Las Vegas area to see. At least, The City Formerly Know As Las Vegas. Now it wasn‘t anything more than a ruined wasteland of rust and iron, neon signs and faded billboards. Giant broadcasting screens loomed over the city sidewalks and town squares. They were a remnant of what the city used to be; a slave to entertainment and wealth, always eager to flaunt what it had in front of the overwhelmed faces of its tourists. Though still in tact, they were dusty and battered; remaining only for the purpose as the Vulterrkis’ broadcasting tool. Serving that purpose only for a day like today; the day when Llidith first found herself standing at the Drop Zone. Though it wasn't unexpected. For the short few months of her lifetime it was all she had been prepared for. The only thing she knew. The fact that she was intended to participate in these sick games of the Vulterrki had been drilled into her brain since birth. They were to test if she was this supreme being they had been striving to achieve throughout the centuries. A being that would be the link between their race and the humans. One created in a lab and treated with care. Specifically raised and nurtured for the sole purpose of being tortured and treated like a guinea pig. To be deemed insufficient, like all the others, and exterminated, just as they had been. Would she be what they were searching for? No. There was very little chance of that. Since her creation the odds were against her. If these extraterrestrial beings were so supreme, why couldn’t they have given her a voice? Why was she born a mute? She continued to stare, unmoving, at the TV screen. In her mind, she was weighing the chances of her survival through these certain rigorous days.

If you don’t have the animalistic survival skills bestowed upon you at birth, you are considered a failure and are therefore terminated. If you don’t have a respect for authority, and show disrespect, contempt, or irrelevancy toward the Vulterrki, who are the Law, you are considered a failure and are therefore terminated. If you do not cherish and make use of the gifts which the Vulterrki have given to you, and which are considered to be an honor, you are considered a failure and are therefore terminated. And if your brain cannot process the inhumane fact that the way of life in the Drop Zone is either kill or be killed, you are considered a failure and are therefore terminated...

"What are you doing?" She signed as she turned to Sie, who was sitting on the floor behind her, fiddling with the tiny gun in his hands. At least he could understand her. It seemed he had an intellect above the average human's. It was his gift. Picking up and comprehending things such as sign language came naturally to him. Too bad he lacked what is better known as common sense. "Are you stupid?" She continued, placing her hand to her forehead and making a "V" with her fingers. "Don't mess with that..." The petite brunette swiftly crossed the room and snatched it away from him. He looked up at her, angry.

"I grabbed it from underneath the mattress earlier. Guess somebody simply forgot about it or just had to leave in a hurry…. And chill, it’s not loaded or anything— I think.”

With a sigh, she observed the object in her hands. Although the Vulterkki proclaimed they were all gung-ho for non-violence, Llidith was all too well acquainted with a gun. Simple euthanasia was the preferred means of extermination among the alien race, but that doesn’t mean that an occasional shot wasn’t fired when the worst came to worst. Not to mention the numerous documentaries she had watched about the human kind and warfare. It was one of the Vulterrkis’ favorite scare tactics; that if they did not conform to their rules and government that they were to meet such a fate. Just as Sie had suspected, the cylinder of the gun was revealed to be void of bullets. She snapped the compartment close again and, with a roll of her eyes, handed it back to the boy. “Fine,” she told him.

After all, if they were able to acquire bullets it might prove to be useful. Something told her they would need it. Only a few members of her unit possessed powers or skills that could be used on the offensive. Llidith and Sie were two of the ones who did not meet this standard. Mica and Alaina would probably prove to be the more adept of the five when it came to combat. Though, maybe this tiny team would surprise her. Heck, maybe she’d even surprise herself.

Chapter 01 to be continued…

From up here you could see everything, even the neon sign that erratically somehow still blinked the cursive words of: Viva Las Vegas.

They were now all that was left alive within this city, but not for long…

From here, Mica took in the cityscape of the once vividly multi-colored, now grimy, gritty, dust-covered skeleton of the once entertainment capitol of the world. Now it still claimed that electric title, but only the details differed. And they were the details. These Vulterrki’s statistics. If anyone saw through their brazen lies, it was Mica. But he had said nothing; he would continue to say nothing. It wasn’t like they had a choice in the matter. And he enjoyed living, much better than their alternative. It was a wonder they hadn’t yet monitored their inner thoughts, when they defined so much of their lives. Their purpose. Which Mica sometimes still had difficulty figuring out.

And was this their purpose? All they had been trained for had been to live this fleeting moment. In other words, in Mica’s words: to kill, ruthlessly, without heart. But what would these Vultures know of heart, since they had nothing of the sort. To them death had no emotion. To them death was merely the termination of being. To humans still, it was everything else.

He already knew that he was in their favor, as they considered him within the top trainees. He excelled without fail with all of their physical exercises, far better than any other, due to his superhuman strength; but he had never taken pride in himself for that—to him, it was just the luck of the draw. His “gift.” They had considered him above the rest, and treated him so. Because of his healthy condition, muscular frame, and unwavering determination to accomplish tasks with unmatched superiority. And his looks. His charm with the female trainees. The odds proved better, but still, in this place: it was heavy in the air, lingered too long in the cloaking shadows, stunk like something trashed, spoiled: hopelessness. Reality. Wanting to get the hell out, and no longer be submissive to their suffocating control…But this was life…Now…Escape was only an illusion. A dream. Like the life before…

Mica closed his eyes, and the annoying voices pierced his thoughts as he remembered in abbreviated phrases…

Each Unit has been ‘dropped’ and will begin in seven different locations separated by an equal distance throughout TCFKALV…The time limit will be exactly three weeks…If there is no one standing victorious team at that allotted time all trainees will be terminated…But not to fear trainees, you have not been abandoned completely…There are a multitude of working restrooms throughout the city, and refurbished food vendors, but fair warning…These vendors will prove to be extremely difficult to find, but once you do, you will find their supplies quite helpful…Moreover…Take note Trainees…There are select marked Safe Zones throughout the city, only five, as they are rare where any of your power capabilities will be neutralized, and in those areas killing is forbade, but a word of caution once you visit a Safe Zone, you can never reenter it…

Lastly, there are hidden throughout the city specialized weapons that you will find quite useful to your disposal, but these items are well disclosed along with the pieces of what we cannot tell you…They are stored in individual cubes, that together form a mechanism greater than all others…That is all…Good luck…And may you succeed!

Mica’s bright green eyes flittered open and he narrowed them, his brow furrowing.

“Good luck,” he scoffed lowly to himself. He sighed, feeling remiss, and felt his blonde hair being rustled by the dust-carrying wind, slightly stinging his eyes and skin. He felt the wondering eyes of Alaina and Joyce flood over him, and he swallowed, still staring straight ahead, not smiling, not frowning. Just staring.

“You have been sitting on that beam forever,” he heard Alaina’s mild voice from away. He had known her for what? Six "years," as a trainee. But the years in the Vulterrki's methods...Are strange...You live what feels like like a natural seventeen years of living as Mica did, but it is only somehow six months?...Insane. They said it was the Time Warps they had mastered...But anyways, he knew her well enough by now. Gorgeous in every way. Tall. Fair skin. Nice chest. Big, beautiful bright blue eyes. Eyes you could get lost in…And that rich, black hair of hers…But she was a firecracker that Alaina. So damn feisty, and always had something to say, a fight to pick, even with a toothbrush. She was a black rose, a black rose with thorns. Mica could have any girl, well that’s what she had labeled him; that type, and for that reason alone, she said bluntly, “You’ll never have me.” Like they could actually have relationships anyways. He remembered what he had responded with:

“Well, it wouldn’t have worked out anyways…”

“Are you ever going to come down?” she went on, and Mica could see her out of the corner of his eye. “What if someone sees…I’m not—”

“Alaina,” Mica murmured.

“What?”

“Shut up.”

“WHAT!?” she bellowed. “No one tells me to shut up—”

“Do you hear that?” Mica turned to her with a look of dead seriousness etched in his flawless features, his smoldering, deep set eyes.

“Hear what—Joyce’s singing?—Joyce shut up!” Alaina hollered, casting her voice to the girl with the shock of silvery blonde, curly hair, who was wandering along the roof beyond, singing to herself. She looked up, blatantly offended. “Hey!” she called out. “I wasn’t bothering anyone—”

“Well I beg to differ—”

“Be quiet, the both of you, shh!” Mica said, hushing them.

“Don’t shush me!” Alaina hissed, but was waved down by Mica; she rolled her icy blue eyes, darkly muttering.

Joyce had moved herself closer, and watched Mica intensely, who was now surveying the land below his precarious perch on the outstretching iron beam of the forsaken hotel that they had been dropped upon. And that had been what? Only a few minutes ago?…Hesitantly, she asked, “What is it?”

And Mica pointed. “Look, down below…Something’s moving.”

“What?” Alaina spoke, suddenly interested and they both rushed to see what Mica had spotted, and after witnessing, they all shared the same look of disbelief.

Joyce’s eyes startled, widen. “Lil! Sie!”

Mica nodded furtively. “We’ve got to warn them before it’s too late.”

Chapter 01: TERMINATED

Sie laid on his back, staring up at the motel room’s dirty and yellowing ceiling. The box spring mattress wasn’t the most comfortable, but it had been a long day. Even though it was only barely beginning. He would have dozed off for a nap if Lil hadn’t been pacing, a worried looked on her face, as she patrolled around the front of the door like a soldier on the nightshift.

“Don’t worry about them,” he told her, referring to the rest of their group, who had headed up to the roof to scout and survey the area. “I’m sure they’ll be fine. They can take care of themselves.”

“But they aren’t supposed to take care of themselves,” he could see her signing out of the corner of his eyes, a slightly aggravated look on her face as she did so. “We’re a team… and they’ve been up there for a while.”

He sat up with a sigh, the bed creaking underneath him. If she was so worried, what was she standing around here for? There was no prolonging the inevitable. She’d have to step outside into the rust and dust incrusted world known as TCFKALV eventually. He could tell she was going to hole herself up in the motel for as long as possible. Until someone pushed her out.

“Come on, let’s go check on them,” he said, after crossing the room and patting her shoulder reassuringly. With her behind him, he reached for the door, rolling his eyes. Great, so much for relaxing a little while. What awaited them was sure to be an utter hell. He’d rather just not deal with that mess. But, like before, it was inevitable. Still, as soon as he opened the door he came to an abrupt stop, his eyes fixated on the sea of silver that flooded the streets in front of him. He could feel Llidith hovering beside his shoulder now, pushing it down and trying to get a peek at whatever was causing him distress. He could hear her suck in a breath, shocked. It took no words to describe it. There probably weren’t any. Hundred. Thousands of tiny beings scurried down the streets and sidewalks of LA. Their tiny robotic legs made chinking noises as they crawled out from the gutters and cracks in the basements of the surrounding buildings like roaches and vermin. Spiders? Scorpions? What were these things? They were some sort of droids, he could concur that as he stood dumbfounded in the doorway, while Llidith tugged on his sleeve in vain. Finally, she snapped and sent the palm of her hand flying into the back of his head. It collided with a quick pop and he spun around, shocked. Taking the opportunity, she shoved him out of the way and slammed the door shut, looking exasperated. “That hurt!” He whined to her, as he rubbed a hand through his dark brown hair.

“You deserved it,” she told him. He could only shrug to that.

Click. Click. Click. The tiny mechanical sound could be heard from somewhere. On a hunch, maybe intuition, Sie stepped forward and jerked Lil out of the way, revealing the small droid, a spider, that had crept its way past them and perched itself onto the door. Beep. Beep. Its head turned, scanning its surroundings. A bright red light rested under what appeared to be a lens of some sort that looked like one large eye. Sie braced his feet, readying himself to send a kick at the tiny creature that would shatter it into the woodwork. But Lil rushed over to stop him before he had a chance. The droid, sensing the hostility, hopped down onto the floor, skittering across the carpet until it reached the vent. Somehow, it managed to squeeze between the cracks, its limbs and body seeming to flatten in on itself.

Sie gave Lil a disapproving glare. “What if it wasn’t harmful? You would have killed it for nothing.” She defended herself.

“What if it was!” Sie threw his hands in the air. He wasn’t going to even try to explain just how stupid that was on her part. Kill it? It wasn’t even alive! It was a robot…

Llidith walked over to the window and pulled the curtain back. The spiders were still continuing their little march down the street, spreading out in all different directions and infiltrating the city. What were they doing exactly? What was their purpose? She bit her bottom lip.

“They seem like spy droids,” Sie told her. “I don’t think they’re dangerous… but maybe we should go check on the others…”

“How?” She asked. The only way up to the roof was a metal stairwell, outside at the side of the building.

Sie grinned. “Well do you trust me?”

“No.”

“Oh well,” he sighed. “The only way you’re going to get up there without going outside is with my help.”

“…Fine. What?”

“Alright,” he walked over and took her hand, dragging her over to the television. “I haven’t tried this outside of the training center. Don’t let go of my hand. If you do you’ll burn to a crisp. Capisce?”

She nodded and he reached a hand towards the cable behind the set, channeling all of his energy into his finger tips. He could feel his fingers molding with the current, phasing through the cable’s protective covering and his atoms getting swept away. Then, as soon as he had picked up on the flow, his whole body was pulled into the wiring. It felt like every cell of his skin, every part of his being, was moving a thousand miles a minute. They probably were. It was like his body had been dissected into a million molecules, ready to be put back together again at the end of the journey. But the time spent inside that dark cable was short, it didn’t take long before he sensed they were traveling above the roof and it was time to leave the electric stream. Inside his head he counted to three and, just as quickly as they found themselves there, they were dropping from the cable that stretched over the motel, like lightening falling from the sky in a flurry of sparks. He tried to land on his feet, but for some reason his legs felt feeble, much like Jello. Instead, he took a tumble to the ground and rolled onto his back. Llidith landed, in almost the same manner, beside him.

“Hel…hello,” he mumbled, as his eyes met Mica, Alaina, and Joyce, who were crowded not too far from their landing spot. “You three look like you’re okay …”

They, Mica, Alaina, and Joyce, had been discussing what exactly these massive waves of scurrying metallic droids below were, when Lil and Sie suddenly burst in appearance across from them. It was almost as if on cue. Their eyes lit upon them, at the rounded face of the gangly teenage boy with the small-framed girl whose distant face was framed with reddish brown hair. They heard Sie mumble an awkward hello, scratching his unkempt brown curly hair.

Mica took the first step forward, and as they approached them, he outstretched a hand to Sie. He glanced up to Mica, blinking his almond-shaped green eyes hesitantly, but he smiled accepting Mica’s hand, and was brought to his feet in a single sweep. Sie had to remind himself that Mica’s ability was superhuman strength.

“Yeah, we’re just fine,” Mica answered, and saw that Sie was assisting Lil upright, dusting themselves off; Lil’s hazel eyes lingered on Mica for no longer than a few seconds before flitting elsewhere, something despondent in her look. “I’m glad you both are…We were about to warn you, but…It seems that whatever those things are…Violent isn’t one of them…”

“Yeah,” Sie agreed, nodding, looking beyond Mica, and the other two girls, who were eying them, curious. “We came across one of them ‘spider’ droids downstairs…The rest of the hotel is vacant; we’re the only ones here, as I figured, but anyways that droid seems relatively harmless—”

At this, Lil stifled a hiccup of what sounded like laughter; Mica’s brow furrowed, and Alaina and Joyce looked at each other clueless, but ignoring this, Sie went on:

“Like I said they seem to pose no threat to us…My guess is they’re some type of navigating spy droid, designed to simply monitor…I guess to make sure we don’t do anything…Outside of the Vulterrki’s code of what is deemed appropriate.” Sie silenced, as Mica seemed to process all of this at once, biting his lip.

He inclined his head, and said, “Yeah, you’re probably right…But still I wonder exactly what they are…I mean everything the Vulterrki seem to do, always has some type of catch; but maybe they are just here to monitor as you said; let’s hope that’s true.”

“Yeah, let’s hope,” Alaina murmured, smirking. “The last thing I would want is one of those bug droids crawling over my head at night, while I’m sleeping…”

Joyce seemed to recoil to this, wincing. “Jeez, thanks a lot Alaina; Now that’s all I’m going to be thinking about…Nightmares, I tell you…Nightmares!”

Alaina paid no attention to Joyce, who had given her a look of dead pan in response, and continued: “Anyways, what are we going to do? We need a plan of attack…We can’t stay here forever…And I have a feeling that if we somehow choose to do just that, the Vulterrki will find means of making sure we keep a move on: never staying in one place for long…”

“I think you’re right Alaina,” Mica said.

“Of course, I’m right,” she snapped. “I mean whatever we think of, it has to be dead-on smart—one wrong move, and we’re goners.”

“Well, aren’t you the optimist,” Joyce chimed. “If it was left up to me—”

“If it was left up to you, Joyce, we’d all die!”

“—HEY!”

“Will you two, give it a rest!” Mica shouted over them, agitated. “I’ll be making the decisions on what we’re going to do…If anyone else objects?” He looked around to their passive faces; they all knew that Mica was the one who was most apt in leadership, so there would be no “objection,” and they all nodded. “Good…But I decide first, that before we make any decision on what to do, it has to be unanimous amongst all of us, agreed?”

The group nodded once more. “So…What to do first…Do we want to first put as much distance as we can between us and the other groups? Look for a food vendor?...Maybe, a base?”

“I vote for a food vendor,” Joyce said. “Food is numero uno, if we want to survive more than week.”

“True,” Mica noted, raising his brow.

“But without a base to call our own, we’ll be sitting ducks,” Alaina countered, weighing the odds.

“Also very true,” he said; Mica turned to Sie, and asked, “What do you think?”

“Well, I think we should first try to cover as much land as possible, in search for a base…Then maybe perhaps send a couple of us out in search for a food vendor…?”

This seemed to please everyone, as there was nothing said, and Mica nodded. “Good, then that’s what we’ll do—” As he went on explaining, in greater detail, he saw that Lil was conversing with Sie using her hands, as if expressing something important.

When Mica had finished, Sie spoke up, “Lil just told me something that I also think is necessary, but—I don’t know—” Mica, Alaina, and Joyce all stared at Lil who was signing something to mainly Sie, but could make nothing of it, and she was signing it vigourously.

“What is it?” Mica said.

“Well, she says, she’ll be fine,” Sie said.

“Well alright, but what exactly is it?” Mica urged.

“Oh, yeah, sorry,” Sie said, his eyes widening. “Since, well, Lil can fly, she’s offered to go take an overview of the city, in help of finding a decent base; and because she has precognition, she’ll be able to find us again…Seeing us going somewhere, and will be able to get to us then.”

“That sounds perfect,” Mica said, making a motion with his hands. “Is everyone in favor of this?”

They all shared looks of approval, some nodding, and then Mica clapped his hands. “Alright, that’s what we’ll do then…"

“There’s one thing, I think that should be mentioned,” Sie brought up, cautiously.

“Yeah?”

“It’s about our suits,” he said, staring down to the uniform gray jumpsuit they all wore, which was designed to endure rigorous wear, perspiration, and impact, while still somehow managing to be breathable, and strangely comfortable. “Well, not the suits exactly, but our wrist bands.” He was talking about the silver circlets surrounding all of their wrists on their right arms.

“What about it?” Mica asked; the others shared similar questioning looks.

“Well, after looking at it for awhile,” he said, “I’ve noticed that it does not displays a grid map of the entire city, but also the number of surviving trainees…If you press the red button there…But the problem is, it no longer shows thirty-five…It’s now thirty-one…”

For a moment no one said anything, hardly even breathed. Mica blinked. “So this means…That four have already died…This fast…But how?”

“I really don’t know,” Sie answered, appearing truthful, but concerned. “My best guess is that one of the trainees…Um, took out the rest of his group…But the reasons of that are beyond me…”

“Wow,” Alaina murmured, shocked. “You’re right.” She was glancing down at the bright red numbers flashing from her wrist band.

This had taken them all by complete surprise, and with the undeniable numbers blinking, there was no arguing. The cold reality of it all seemed to suck the vitality straight from the air around them; even Joyce seemed depressed.

“Well let’s just hope, if that’s true, Sie,” Mica said, sullenly, “we don’t run into that guy, anytime soon…Now to get off this damn motel roof…?”

They all looked around, and Mica suddenly noticed Joyce was nowhere to be seen; and then they all heard her voice, being projected loudly. “Hey guys! The stairs are over here.” They saw her standing over on the other side of the building, waving enthusiastically. Before Mica headed with Alaina, he saw that Sie and Lil were privately conversing, and she finally turned away from him, making her way to the edge of the hotel. She gave one last look back—a look that spoke words she couldn’t, something disconnected, but emotional, before leaping off and taking to the cloudy sky above.

“Come on, Mica,” he heard Alaina call for him, before he turned around, following her with Sie joining in from behind, an evident look of worry in his eyes. But Mica said nothing to this, as they crossed the motel roof together for the last time.

Something just didn’t feel right. A sense of dread and worry fluttered around in Lil’s stomach, beating it against its walls like stones and heavily dropping to the bottom, weighing her down in her flight. How depressing. Flying was something she always enjoyed, the one thing that gave her a sense of freedom when she was at the training center. Now that she was out of that prison like facility, she felt even more caged. Limited. Below her, the streets were strewn with the remnants of possibility. The possibility to become famous, to seek fortune, to climb your way up the social ladder. It used to be a dirty sinful city, so she heard. Sin City, it had been called. That sin of greed and hunger has been washed away with time and destruction, the only thing those who walk Vegas’ streets hunger for now is the chance to survive. They’ve fallen to make room for another kind of greed, another kind of hunger, something dirtier. A hunger for blood. She closed her eyes and let the wind wisp pass her face. Yes, if she did this it all faded away for a moment. She could forget where she was, forget that she ever had a purpose in the world. She was just a bird, navigating its way home. Like she had one. Her brown hair trailed behind her like cape. It was as if she was some sort of superhero. She chuckled silently. Ha, her? A hero?

It’s funny the thought even crossed her mind. At the training center she had always been an underdog. It was a hard place to stand out. Sometimes you didn’t even want to. Social skills weren’t mandatory and popularity among the trainees wasn’t necessarily a priority. The only times they had to socialize at all was during their morning warm-ups, which took place outside in an area surrounded by tall and thick concrete walls, enwrapped in barbed wire, and during strength exercises, where the trainees participated in one on one combat to test their physical abilities. Occasionally she would pass another trainee on her way in or out of the lab and medical centers, where they did blood work or hooked her up to machines to test her brain’s functionalities.

Because of her flight capabilities, Lil hadn’t even been permitted to participate in the outdoor activities like morning warm-ups. Instead, Lil and those like her were taken to a large enclosed structure, much like a giant aviary. The walls were made of concrete, though the dome at the top consisted of mainly plexiglass. The feeling of the warmth of the sunlight on her skin was enough to recharge Llidith for a days flight. She’d fly to the top of the dome, press her hands against the glass, and look out at the forest beyond the facility, knowing she wasn’t strong enough to break through it… so that she could feel the brush of the green leaves against her fingertips. None of them were… Though she still felt the most hopeless. All the others still possessed something which she did not. She wasn’t the hero. She’d never be.

A noise to her left startled her and her eyes snapped open. How could she have been so stupid? Forgetting your purpose and losing your focus in this sick game would only lead to one thing, not freedom: your own demise. A small bird of prey flew to her left, keeping up with her effortlessly. She had always swooped through the sky with top speed, leaving anything and everything in her wake. This creature was fast.

That can’t be a falcon. She thought to herself. It’s jet black. But, as if only to prove her wrong, it called out yet again. Its voice echoed through the air, piercing and serious, like a warning. There was no mistaking its haughtiness, something Lil had always associated with the swift predator. It was certainly a falcon. Was it yet another thing sent to test them? Some kind of specially developed creature like the droids? Or was it just a freak of nature, like Lil herself? It flew level with her eyes and she saw that it was staring at her. The bird was accessing everything about the girl, his new rival for the skies. Then, it quickly made a bank to the left, and something deep inside her gut, where all the rocks and stones rested, was telling her to follow it. She angled her body to the side and sped up after it, but the bird was smart. She was surprised it hadn’t yet turned on her, ready to bombard her with its talons. It banked yet again, swooping in an arch underneath her, and dived straight towards the ground.

Excellent. She couldn’t help but feel a rush of excitement pass through her. Flying was invigorating enough, but nothing could beat a freefall. She tucked her body in, until her head was facing the ground, and kicked her legs out towards the sky, propelling herself like a missile towards the earth. Her arms were outstretched behind her, providing her with the most efficient and streamline figure. She had to crease her eyes slightly, or they’d feel like they were going to peel right out of their sockets. Below her was a giant slab of asphalt, snuggled cozily between two buildings as a parking lot. It was a decent landing spot, though the hard ground would be a little stressing to her legs. But she was built to withstand it. The falcon seemed to have the same idea, but, just as soon as they were nearing the ground, it made another swoop to the left and curved its way into the framework of an unfinished metal structure. After spinning herself upright, Lil came to an abrupt stop, hovering above the ground and watching as it flew away. There was no use in following it anymore. It’s not like that would accomplish anything… and she had work to do. She lowered herself down gingerly and landed firmly with both feet. This would be as good a place as any to start her search. While she was passing over it she saw some promising locations, though she hadn’t been paying much attention. The others were looking for a base as well… so she could afford to explore a little.

She pulled her arms across her chest and stretched her muscles out as she walked, her eyes curiously scanning her surroundings. The droids that had been scattering around the city just moments before were nowhere to be found. They were probably hiding, as Lil saw that one do at the motel, out of sight. Hm? Beside the building the falcon disappeared into and what looked like a liquor store was an alleyway. There was a bright yellow car parked in the back of it, wedged behind a rusty dumpster. That was strange. What had happened to all of the other cars? Why was this one still here? It raised a hint of apprehension in Lil, but she wasn’t going to let that stop her from investigating it. The alley was dark and foreboding. She didn’t like the dark much. It wasn’t because of any tales of the boogieman, ghosts, and goblins, which fed a child’s imagination and caused them to carve monsters out of nothing more than shadows. Llidith never had any stories like that to listen to. The fear of the dark was a natural, animalistic instinct. Unless you were made to prowl the nights, one was best safe and secure in their burrow, fearing those things which prowled the nights. That’s just the way things worked.

When she reached the car, she noticed the door was already slightly ajar. Rustling came from the interior and she took a hesitant step back. From a distance, she reached a hand and creaked it open more. A large rat scrambled from the floorboards and onto the ground beside her. With a squeak, it ran towards the sidewalk and disappeared around the corner. Lil smiled. Well, it was good to see something was thriving in the city. Now, the car. Ugh, papers and old food rappers littered the floor of it. The upholstery was tearing, brown in places where the interior of the seats were exposed, and it smelled like mold and animal urine. In the backseat were magazines of an… indecent sort. Though the guys would probably worship her for bringing them back to base, she preferred not to. So she didn’t. They never had to know. Below the passenger’s seat, she noticed the corner of what looked like a box poking out. Hesitantly, she climbed over the trash and grime in the driver’s seat to pull it out. On the side there was a number.

She recalled Sie saying something about it at the motel, when he first found his gun… so it caught her interest. She pulled it closer to her and opened the lid. Inside there were three packets of bullets. Lil felt her heart quicken. She almost wanted to slam the box shut and forget she ever found it. When Sie first found that gun… she wanted to snatch it out of his hands and chuck it out the window… But she didn’t. She swallowed and reached for the packets. Their suits consisted of deep pocketed zippers. She unzipped one of them and stuffed two of the packets into it, then unzipped the other for the third packet. As she was zipping it back, something new crept over her. The feeling of being watched. She turned her head back to the sidewalk from which she had came… but there was nothing there. Maybe she was just being paranoid. What had happened back on the roof had shaken her up just as much as the others. Maybe even more so. The thing with the watch, that is. Someone was out there. Someone who seemed to have a heads up on all the rest. Someone who had already tasted blood.

Blood. Llidith gasped as images began to flood through her mind and across her eyes. It was as if she was being transported to another world, though a translucent and fragmented one where time seemed to pass at warp speed. She saw the rest of her team, Sie, Mica, Alaina, and Joyce. They were exploring a building, a dark concrete one… A building? No… this was more open. It was like a parking garage. But someone else was there. She saw supplies. A headquarters of some sort. She heard screaming, Joyce’s she believed. A gun… not like Sie’s. It was larger… A shotgun… pointed straight in between Mica’s eyes. Then it all went blank, flickering out like that television screen from the morning. Her breathing quickened, but it felt like her heart had stopped. She needed to get back to them and fast. It was too early in the game for her to lose them. She couldn’t lose them. Searching time was over. She took back to the skies without another thought.

They had been travelling for what felt like hours, or at least to Joyce who had kept to herself since being lashed at by Alaina on the roof of the near-dilapidated motel that was now somewhere miles in the distance, left behind. And furthermore, the numbers. It probably bothered her more than any other of her teammates. But then again, death had always troubled her. It was the one thing she could barely deal with. The chilling reality of it. And now, it didn’t even seem real. It clogged up her usually sunny and bright thoughts like a persistent, drowning raincloud soaking her with a twinge of discomfort, and uncertainty at every shadow-infested corner they came across.

The fear. It was tearing at her. Beginning to crawl up her skin, and had taken her mind captive, sucking her completely in—but she couldn’t have this; it was illogical. In this world, the rust-and-dust world they now were forced to kill within, she would have to become someone else, when that moment hung before her like ominous, deadly thin thread, attached to her sanity. If that snapped, then she would be a goner for sure. Maybe, Alaina had been right. If things were left up to her, they would all end up dead.

And for that reason alone, she was glad Mica was here.

She had to do all within her power not to think about that moment. The moment when life or death would weigh before her. When she would be forced to…to…She couldn’t even bring herself to even think of that terrible word. She wasn’t even sure if she was capable of doing it; she had only faked the ability of succeeding in that stretch at the Training Facility. But she didn’t want to die herself; so she would have to, but it would go against all she believed within—so she would have to become someone else in those fleeting seconds. Mechanical. Cold. Impassive. Inhumane. All that the Vulterrki were. She would have to become one of them to kill, and when she thought about it, perhaps that was the big picture type of goal they had for them all. To be forced to leave all they knew of humanity, in exchange for all that these Vulterrki were in essence. She desperately hoped she was wrong, more than anything.

Absorbed in her own swirling thoughts, she hadn’t truly been paying attention to her surroundings—which she figured was pretty idiotic, considering the circumstances, and when she blinked she saw that they were now traversing an oddly desolate, less constructed area of the city, ruinous mounds of dirt and litter sprawling monstrously along the banks of the cracked, and scraggily-overgrown roads, like ancient pyramids of a lost civilization. There wasn’t much cover, and detection would be too easy in these parts. Hence, their quickened movement, she supposed.

Above, the smog-overspread sky blotted out the late afternoon sun, and hung over the cityscape like a directionless, aged map, something you could lose yourself within if you weren’t careful. She sighed, feeling her legs already begin to cramp-up, and mouth becoming dry, lips arid due to the lack of water, and the intensity of the heat sweltering within this place; causing their hair to dampen and foreheads to become beaded with sweat and grime. Ick. She thought, and rubbed the back of her hand against her face, wiping in vain.

She heard someone else moan quietly, was it Alaina? Who cared, if it was her anyways. Why did she always have a bone to pick with her? What had she ever done to her to be treated this way? Joyce endeavored to think back to the time she had known Alaina during their Training Facility years, which hadn’t been long, only like three or four…And she was coming up with nothing. Maybe, that was the way she treated everyone. And why was she wasting her thoughts on that? Guess it was better than alternatives…

Without the slightest warning, an ear-splitting explosion resounded within the air, and there was a blinding, crimson flash. Joyce screamed, and she heard Mica’s sudden shout, and when the light faded, they were all still standing unscathed, but breath-taken.

“What the hell was that?” Alaina blurted.

“I have no idea,” Mica muttered. “Is everyone okay though?” And everyone nodded, including Joyce, who was standing outside of their group, more to herself.

“It sounded like it came from this direction,” Sie said, from his stance ahead, and Mica turned toward him.

“And we want to continue travelling in that direction?” Alaina cried.

“Why not?” Mica said.

“You’re insane—”

“Listen, there’s voices!—” It was Sie who had shouted that, steps away, near one of the mountainous mounds.

There was an abrupt, high-pitched scream! And something strongly sickening clutched at Joyce’s stomach and heart, twisting mercilessly. It sounded like it had been a girl, and now there was another voice echoing, from somewhere up ahead, blocked by the crowding sight of withered, boarded-up restaurant buildings.

“Let’s hurry, this way,” Mica encouraged, and they all followed without hesitation.

“Whoa!” they heard Sie say aloud, and Mica questioned him:

“What is it?”

Sie was staring down at his wrist in disbelief. “The numbers just went down one; I think whoever it was just screamed…Was the one who was killed…”

Mica shook his head; why did he feel so distressed? This was the whole point of the game…To kill or be killed...But how could they all just immediately decide to do just that...Kill? As if they weren’t human…? Didn’t even have consciences? They were lined up against the brick wall of an old, Italian eatery, its over-hanging sign barely still legible, the neon-lit pizza discolored and rusted. Mica narrowed his eyes, staring about the corner, and to them again.

“Everyone stay here, I’m going to go check this out…alone. Understood?”

They all nodded slowly, and Joyce swallowed, the fear rising in her throat again, like an unavoidable lump. Leaving them in the wavering shadow of the alley between the buildings, Mica stepped out into the open and what he saw left him absolutely speechless; for a moment, he couldn’t even find himself to be able to breathe. For in the distance laid a mangled form of what looked like one of the trainees, but was burned beyond recognition, a conflagration of flames consuming the crumpled corpse, the other figure laid sprawled out against the ground, steeped in blood. In that moment, he saw the figure turn its head, agonizingly, and attempt to scream what sounded like help, but came out more as a strained gurgle. This trainee was still alive…And there was no one else to be seen…The assailant, whoever it had been had long since disappeared.

Mica knew then what he had to do; there was no turning back now.


Chapter 02: TERMINATED

Chapter 03

Escaping. Devouring. Dark. Dangerous to inhale. Like tendrils of some dying monster—a monster that thrives within this forsaken place—thrashing, flailing one last time, before it’s inevitable demise: the smoke. It stole what little pure sunlight there was within this place. And with its burning, irritating pall, enveloping the air, it laid heavy with the last breaths of the trainee, who Mica was approaching, his heart hammering, caught in his throat.

Mica had no intention of finishing this trainee off; in fact, that was the last worry on his mind. What he desired, was far beyond that—he wanted to know of what happened here; and, if he could save this trainee by transmitting his healing capabilities, so be it. But as this trainee became clearer in view, Mica saw that any hope of saving him hung by a thin thread. There was no time for hesitation. It was do. Or don’t.

The fractured and ruinous rubble crunched, and pebbles scattered beneath the soles of his durably shoed feet, as he enclosed upon him. Frayed, yellowed old papers, flyers blew rampant in the slight wind, and ancient glass bottles clinked as they rolled against the asphalt. Mica instantly felt the wave of the heat from the languishing fire warm his skin, and the stomach-turning stench of charred flesh roiled with the fleeing smoke—all that would ever escape this dreaded, dump of a city. Mica winced as he looked down onto the face of this trainee—he had seen him in the Training Facility every once in awhile, but never had the chance to actually talk to him, or even ask him his name….And now…The last conversation this trainee would have would be with Mica…Irony played all as fools in the end.

Mica took a quick evaluation of this one’s wounds: which were copious in amount, and hard to even look at for long. His dark, shorn hair was thickly matted with spurting blood, where his head had been awfully bashed-in, and the blood trickled along his brow, seeping around his tightly clenched eyes, and staining his dirt, and ash lathered face. Along the right side of his jaw a crude gushing deep laceration existed, pulsing blood profusely down his chin, his neck, and covering his tattered suit, where beneath his bruised and bloody chest painfully still swelled. Mica noticed his dirty, scratched hands were tautly balled in fists, as if to alleviate the excruciating torture of the pain he was experiencing. Suddenly, he realized something was very wrong—he couldn’t see the rest of this trainee’s body. The expanse of some type of heavy furniture, also burned beyond any inclination of what exactly it had been, crushed upon this boy’s lower half of his body. Damn. You really got yourself in a fix. Mica thought.

Suddenly, a thought shot through his mind like a bullet. What if whoever had did this was still here…And was watching him? Was he putting not only himself, but the rest of his team in danger, by helping out this trainee? He was their leader, and these responsibilities of their welfare rested solely on him…But in this case, it was a price, he had to pay. It was as if, something beyond himself was driving his motions to assist…As if it were somehow fate…

Mica’s breathing quickened, and he carefully saw that the injured boy was attempting to stare at him, finally recognizing someone was there—to hopefully save him. His mouth quivered, and Mica saw shimmering tears begin to roll down his face, smudging the grime. “P—Plea—Plea—” the boy began, spluttering, but Mica forestalled him:

“Don’t talk—just yet…Save your strength,” he said kindly. “Hang on, and I’ll have whatever the hell this off you in a sec…”

Whatever this was, must have blown onto him during that explosion…Mica inspected the giant piece of blackened debris, deciding on where to exactly lift it. Settling on removing it from beneath, Mica squatted, and when he touched the rubble, he realized how hot it still was, radiating the warmth from the prior explosion, and he grimaced, his brow furrowing; and, with a grunt, and single uplifting motion, the debris seemed to release a strange groan, before rattling, and being suddenly tossed like a flying discos into a nearby building. The collision was gratingly loud, as the debris clambered against the wall, shattering windows, before collapsing and smashing into the earth bellow, dispersing the ruins into thousands of incinerated shards.

Immediately relieved, the boy relinquished a great sigh, and Mica fell to his knees, leaning over him. The boy looked up to him, his eyes widened, as if unable to comprehend the kindness that had just been shown to him, of why Mica wanted to help him so, and the tears continued to stream from his blurry blue eyes.

Mica couldn’t help, but also feel emotional staring down to the pathetic shape this boy was in—the death that loomed so near for him; any color of life within his face was draining intensely. Mica saw his lips quiver again, and the boy released a violent cough, surging up blood from his mouth, and frothing over his lips with a gunk of saliva.

“Th—thank you…Who—are—are you?”

“My name’s Mica,” he said, a smile curling his rosy lips. “And…what’s yours?”

“It’s—it’s Davi…Why—why did you do this? S-save me?”

“I—Well,” Mica stammered to find an appropriate answer. “Well, I thought I’d do what I can—You see…I have the ability to heal, and heal myself quickly, and I thought I could help if you—”

But Davi shook his head refutably, whimpering in pain. “No…No…I deserve death…After what I—I—” He screamed, grinding his teeth together, and tearing his fingers into the compact asphalt, and then balling them into fists again, pounding the earth.

“No—You don’t! No one deserves death,” Mica tried to talk sense in him, but it seemed Davi was beyond any sort of reason, at this point. “Just tell me what happened…Try…Just try…”

“I—I was forced—forced,” Davi blurted, cringing, “to—to k-k-kill M-m-Mellie…HE MADE ME! I didn’t want to—she—she was my teammate…I liked her a lot…But he MADE ME! HE WAS IN MY HEAD! TELLING ME WHAT TO DO! SHIT! SHIT! SHIT!”

“—Calm…Calm down…” Mica attempted at comforting, but to no apparent use. “Who was in your head…? Who?”

“I—I don’t know his name...He was controlling my thoughts…He appeared out of nowhere…We—we were supposed to be looking for a place to find f-food…And then…It happened…All of—all of a sudden…I’m so…Sorry…Sorry…Mellie…Mellie I didn’t mean to…I DIDN’T MEAN TO! I—I—I—” He wailed, in absolute hysterics now.

“Listen, if he was controlling your mind then it wasn’t your fault,” Mica said forcibly. “It was him, who killed her…Not you.”

Davi nodded, his chest still collapsing at an alarming rate, as he struggled to breathe.

Mica seemed to be making slight progress, but seeing as how frail and pale Davi looked, there wasn’t much time left. Whatever he was going to do, he had to do it fast. Without asking, Mica pressed his hands firmly against Davi’s chest and thought the word heal. Over. And over. And over. Until a bright blue halo of light erupted from his hands, and it was then Mica began to see all of the egregious wounds recede, close in upon themselves, and bind, the skin melding and becoming once again new and unscathed. He was still filthy, and covered in stains of his blood, but now unharmed. But when Davi opened his eyes, there was still that lifeless weakness present, and Mica swallowed, his heart dropping…Had he been too late?

“Can—can you try to describe what he looked like? Him? Who did this?”

When Davi talked though, it was far better coherent, but still weighed down with exhaustion: “Yes…He was tall…like you…But had black hair…And his eyes…It was like they pierced straight through you…So dark…It was like when you stared into them…There was nothing…No emotion…No heart…Just emptiness…And I remember his…His smile…When he forced to finally use my powers against Melody…He was so powerful…I just…I just…Wish I could have done something…”

Mica sighed. “Did you catch his name?”

Davi shook his head again. “No…But I did…see his number…”

“His number?” Mica questioned.

He nodded, pointing to the circlet about his neck, baring the imprinted bold number from one to thirty-five…Davi’s was eleven; Mica’s was number one; Lil two, Sie three; Joyce four, and Alaina five. It was supposedly how the Vulterrki would keep tabs on who was alive, and those who were dead. “But what was strange about it,” he went on, “that it wasn’t one of numbers…It was zero.”

“Zero? You sure about this?”

“Yes, absolutely positive,” Davi said. Mica grimaced; there was no dishonesty in the boy’s eyes—he was telling the truth. Why was his number zero? That didn’t bode well at all.

“Do you know where he went—after?”

Davi responded with a no, explaining that he had vanished after leaving him to die. “But…I don’t think I’ll make it…Thank you for trying…Mica, but I—I—” He paused, as his eyes suddenly lit up, thinking of something. “Listen to me…After I’m d-dead…Take my number necklace…And go to my group’s base…It’s not far from here…Just keep going straight, and take two lefts…Then you’re there…It’s a parking deck…Tell them everything that happened; that you tried to save me…They’ll understand, and hopefully they’ll help you. Be your allies…Because I want him destroyed…Can you do that for me?”

Mica nodded. “I will make it my personal mission. You can count on that.”

“Thank—thank you so much…I’m glad that you were here to talk to me,” Davi said, his eyes welling, giving Mica’s hand one last squeeze before letting go. “At least Mel and I can be together now…”

“Wait, what?” Mica said, astonished, as Davi released a pained sigh, before reclining his head, his eyes drooping shut. He took in a final breath, and then breathed no more. It was as if a wrecking ball had smashed itself straight into Mica’s chest; he couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t think. His own lip quivered, and his face broke into a tormented frown…He had been too late…He clutched at Davi’s body, the blood staining against his arms, and he shook him.

“Come on…You’re not dead…You’re not dead…Wake up…Come on wake up…SHIT!” Mica fell back, feeling the tears sting his eyes, and he muttered:

“Goodbye Davi…”

When he looked up, he was surprised to find his eyes met Alaina’s, who was also crying, along with Joyce, and Sie who stood in the background sullen-faced. How long had they been standing there? Enough to hear their last conversation? The pain bore itself way into Mica’s throat and he cussed loudly, slamming his fists against the ground. “DAMMIT!! DAMMIT!” he cried, enraged, and then broke down shaking with sorrow, sobbing.

“Mica, Mica,” he heard Alaina speak softly, and felt her gentle touch against his back. “Look at me!” She clamped her hands about his face, pulling him up to meet her eye to eye. He swallowed painfully, his eyes blurry. “You did all you could,” she urged, her brow crumpled. “There was nothing else you could do…”
Mica nodded slowly, but still seemed heartbroken. “But I—I healed him! I HEALED HIM Alaina!”

“Some wounds go too deep, Mica,” she explained, tenderly. “Come let’s get you up—Sie help me…”

Mica felt the lift of both of their arms, as they picked him from the ground, and he leaned upon them. He blinked, seeing Joyce bent over removing the number necklace from Davi; so they had been there long enough. Mica sighed, defeated. There was no point in staying around here anymore, or asking them what they had heard. It was obvious now. “Alright, let’s go look for their base…and get the hell out of here.”

“Agreed,” Sie said, and they all nodded, before embarking to find this parking deck together, leaving the dead behind. The fire was no longer alive. The smoke had defused. But darkness was imminent upon the horizon. It was coming.

It was coming.

The falling, evening light glared in the dust-smeared faces of the dark windows staring down upon them, as they crossed a pitted, filth-littered alleyway. Silence hung in the air like dead weight, dragging the morale to a new, unprecedented low. No one had said anything much, after what had happened back there: they all saw how it had shattered Mica not to be able to save Davi; they could still it in his eyes, the desolateness: the aching; he had done all he could, and still it hadn’t been enough. He was still pretty shaken up, even if he didn’t want to show it…It had been a sizeable blow to his ego…

Alaina lingered somewhere in the middle of their moving group, as everyone followed Mica; she had occasionally glanced at Joyce—who personally reciprocated not the slightest of returning looks. In fact, it was like she was pretending as if she no longer existed. Why the heck was she letting this get to her, of all things? Alaina the rough and tough. The Alaina who didn’t need anybody, and would refuse to be told exactly what to do…Was it karma? Maybe Melody and Davi’s deaths had taken their toll on all of them, especially Joyce who appeared even more pallid, and somber than usual…

Maybe it was these sudden deaths that brought upon the reality of their situation. They couldn’t pretend any longer…What if bad came to worse, and Joyce ended up…She couldn’t even think the word. What if this…Whatever this terrible feeling between them was never resolved because of it. That sent shivers down her spine, and she quickly shook herself out of it. She needed to focus on something else. A distraction. She glanced toward Sie.

Sie had been the only one who attempted at conversation, and they were pretty much all lame jokes, to the point Alaina had nearly snapped, and told him to shut up, but what else could they do? He was only trying to brighten the mood, which was as black as her hair she had to admit.

“Come on, Alaina,” he had badgered her. “Smile…We can’t go through this thing so depressed; we’ll ending up becoming suicidal!—”

“—Sie,” Mica had interrupted, not even looking back, “just knock it off.”

He had rolled his eyes, casting them on the ground, muttering darkly to himself about an infinite lack of humor, and something else Alaina couldn’t quite catch. But maybe he had a point…If only two deaths brought them this down…Would they become suicidal in the end? Alaina, didn’t want to think about that, so, another distraction.

The heat had diminished with the daylight, and the windy air now was cool, and blew against them as they traveled, tangling Alaina’s dark rope of hair. She brushed a few dangling strands out of her eyes that had been bothering her, and took in their scenery. They had surprisingly covered a considerable amount of ground over the day; she predicted at least three-quarters of a mile. And the strain she was being to feel in her legs, proved it. But they still had a way’s to go, or so she thought.

They had stopped. Mica was standing closest to the edge of the corner of the intersection they had found themselves at, surrounding by towering relics of intimidating buildings, deteriorated, multi-colored signs, and cluttering waste on the cracked cement, and filling the gutters. The pedestrian light looming over Mica screened a permanently empty black, dead.

The light was dimming swiftly, leaving lingering long shadows along the black, pitted road, and spreading into the buildings before them; even their shadows touched the pavement a distance beyond. Above the stars were just beginning to peek from the overspreading, omni-present clouds, twinkling their unreachable light from so far away. Alaina released an exasperated sigh.

“Where is this place? Are we near?” she asked.

She saw Mica nod slowly. “It’s straight ahead,” he answered. “We better move along; I don’t think staying here, out in the open too long is a good idea…”

“Yeah, that sounds like a plan to me,” Joyce said. “The sooner we find cover, the better.”

“Yep,” he agreed, glancing around curiously. “Just be on your guard…I have a feeling we won’t be alone, for long; alright, let’s go.”

Alaina stared directly before them, and saw it. The parking deck. It melded from the eerie mixture of twilight and darkness like a slumbering, sprawling beast. Monstrous. Dangerous. Reeking of uncertainty. Who knows what they would there, she thought. Whatever it would be, she got the idea, it wouldn’t be exactly friendly.

As everyone began to move, Alaina took a step forward, and recoiled slightly at the sound of an odd crunch. Gasping a little, at the fear she may have stepped on bones, she found it was quite the opposite, but creepy nonetheless. Staring up at here, with only one recognizable blue eye was a battered, bruised toy baby doll. Lost. Most likely dropped by the little girl who once owned it in the chaotic turmoil of this city’s once evacuation, forgotten. There were blotches of something running down its soiled face that made it appear as if it was crying. What made Alaina’s stomach drop was that the longer she stared she saw what the dried, smudged splotches actually were. Blood.

“Alaina,” she heard Mica call for her.

“Coming,” she muttered, and frantically looked elsewhere, following them as they hurried to cross the road in the thickening night.


“So, do they pose a threat? What are their powers?”

The female’s curious voice had come from beside of where Gyle stood upon the top tier of the parking deck, overlooking the dark stretch of ground below. They had been watching this group of five—the first Unit they had seen, since being Dropped, for some time. Wondering. Waiting. Watching. Intently.

Takoda who had gone to scout the scope of the city as a falcon was nowhere to be seen, and Gyle could tell Suzette had become slightly worried, but more, impatient. The other two, Davi, and Melody had yet to return. That had been a few hours ago. Their absence though, did not affect Gyle much anyhow; it just meant more sustenance and supplies for them, which they had conveniently already found at the top of the deck, where they had been Dropped, in the form of their first PC: Provision Case. It had housed a number of useful items from a set of binoculars that were also designed to see within dark, that he utilized now, bottles of water, random packets of food; a map, fresh articles of clothes, a Fire Igniter, even a shotgun, and accompanying ammo. They had considered themselves very lucky.

All of that though, was kept hidden away on the third floor of the seven-story building that they had decided to make their fort for the time being.

Gyle narrowed his eyes, concentrating. Purging out his ability, drawing in data. Calculating. He smirked. “Hardly, Suze,” he murmured. “The only one who could be problematic is the bigger one, having super-strength; he seems to be their leader…”

“Ah,” she said, contemplating to herself silently.

“So do we kill them now?” he asked, wonderingly.

She shook her head in disapproval, and pursed her lips, her eyes lurid in the dark. “No,” she spoke quietly, a deviant smile growing up her full lips. “We draw them in like a spider would its prey, then when they least expect it…”

“Inject the venom,” Gyle finished for her, sharing the same devious grin. “I like your way of thinking.”

“That’s why I’m the leader, Guy,” she said, sneering. “Now, we just wait.”


Alaina didn’t like the feel of this, one bit. She could tell the others; particularly Joyce shared the same thoughts, as they crossed in the darkness of the looming parking garage. Faint blue light from the flickering, Orb Radiators stationed along the road to provide illumination for the dead city, pooled into the vaulted entryway, casting strange, sinuous shadows.

Venturing further into the mouth of the parking deck, Alaina’s eyes sweep along the cracked crevices, and gutted cement where stagnant, smelling water pooled. There was the sloshing of water, as their feet moved quickly. Alaina’s eyes narrowed, as her eyes perked, picking up on the sounds. A din of squeaking. There was a sudden scampering, tiny elongated shadows fleeing as they journeyed deeper into the first floor, the noises echoing in the hazy distance.

She flared her nose in disgust. This confirmed her suspicion. Rats. Yuck. But where there was rats…There was food somewhere close by.

“Did you hear that?” Sie whispered, blinking, fixing his eyes just beyond Alaina.

Alaina’s brow furrowed. “Hear what? That was…rats, I think,” she muttered.

“No—it was something else—”

“Shh!” Mica cautioned, extending hand, turned back to them, indicating for them stop. They all stood there motionless except for the eyes darting, taking in the strange silence. “Listen.”

An unexpected gust of wind blew through the darkened chamber, rustling Alaina’s hair, and sending chills down her body, but that wasn’t the cause alone. She suddenly got the icy feeling of being watched; anxiety swelling up in her insides. Shit, this wasn’t good, she thought to herself. She swallowed looking toward Joyce who stood diagonal from her, worried painted in her drawn, terrified expression, and then to Mica whose eyes bore into the enveloping dark like eyes of an alert owl.

Right then, there was a break in the dark, a glimpse motion—a sound of scuffling. “Did you see that?” Sie hissed. “Something just moved in the shadows—”

“Hang on,” Alaina spoke quietly, looking down at her hands. “I got this.” She was holding her hands fingers spread wide beginning to feel the warm, tingling sensation bubble within the veins running beneath her skin. In a brilliant flash of blue light, a spark of lighning ignited and was constrained by her hands, before she threw her head up and aimed the volt to the overhanging, dark light fixtures, hoping it would work. There was a burning sizzle of light as the jolt of lightning defused in spidery, shocking webs, and the glass panels shook, stinging the air with an eerie moan. And silent, they all waited.

Astonishingly enough, after a few painstaking moments the light panel that had been struck flickered extraordinarily on, but then the surrounding fixtures began to emit a dim, radiating glow, revealing their true surroundings, which made Alaina gasp, and her eyes fling wide open.

They were surrounded.


There were so many. At least thirty experiments. Enclosed around them forming a complete circle. They were trapped. There was no. Way. Out.

Where had they all come from and so fast? Alaina’s eyes widened, as she suddenly saw, when there was loud, shocking sound of a gun being cocked.

“Don’t move or you die,” someone said; Alaina recognized it came from behind where Mica stood. It was a girl’s voice. Sharp, and deadly. Whoever it was meant every word that was said. But what surprised Alaina were the experiments surrounding, as she concentrated on all of their faces, she saw they all were the same. Chiseled. Pale. A thin nose. Burning, narrow dark eyes. Pallid blonde hair that swept along his forehead, furrowed eyebrows, and this ghostly face sour with smugness. Alaina realized, he was staring directly at her intently, undressing her with his eyes. She had the impulse to throw up in her mouth a little; she shot him a dirty look.

“And that goes for any one of you,” the boy who had duplicated himself added haughtily, resounding in an eerie chorus.

An immediate frown creased Alaina’s lips, and she looked to Mica, who had his eyes narrowed, conveying no sense of fear whatsoever. In fact, if there was any emotion piercing through, it was fearlessness. She could feel her heart begin to pound faster, begin to throb inside her head: these two just gave off bad vibes to her—maybe they did mean to kill. But where was the other? The girl who had spoken? Alaina’s eyes searched for her, and the girl emerged, holding the gleaming silver shotgun aimed at Mica, circling him; her intense dark eyes did not leave him.

She stood nearly the same height as Mica, and Mica was tall. Alaina was already jealous of her figure. Slim, tone, and absolutely gorgeous. Silky black hair curled about her angled face, focused intently upon him. Her eyes told no lies. In them, a fire burned. Murder, perhaps. On the edge of a knife. The air dripped with intensity. It was hard to even breathe.

“Who are you?—Why are you here?” She bulleted him with questions, prompting immediate answers. “Answer me now!” she shouted, fiercely. “Or, I’ll shoot!”

“That won’t be necessary,” Mica insisted his teeth bared, eyes not deviating from her either. “We haven’t come here to mean any of you any harm, or take anything you have—we’re only here because of Davi, and my name is Mica.

"That's Alaina," he went on pointing to her, "and Joyce, and...Sie." He looked back to Suze.

“Davi?” the chorus of the blonde kid echoed. “How did you know him?—Suze, I bet one of them killed him and—”

“No! We didn’t!” Mica managed to shout in, and the girl named Suze holding the gun furrowed her brow in consternation.

“Let him speak,” Suze spoke quietly, cast her eyes onto all of them, burning with intensity. “How did you know him? Where did you meet him? Is he still alive? With Melody?”

Mica’s eyes fell, he sighed, and there was an instant air of grief, as all of them appeared solemn-faced. Suze already translated this as bad news. “He’s dead,” Mica explained, softly. “Both him and the girl—We came across him as we were searching for our own fort; they were attacked.”

“Attacked?” Suze questioned, inquiringly, a brow raised.

“Yes, attacked,” Mica affirmed, nodding slightly, his eyes appearing drained, but truthful. “By who I don’t know—All Davi could tell me was that he saw his number was zero, and he was tall, and had dark hair. Apparently, whoever it is extremely powerful, and control minds: he had Davi kill Melody, which was already dead by the time we got there.

“I tried to save Davi,” Mica went on, solemnly, “but I was already too late…Before Davi died he told me about you all, about this place, that you would be our allies…But as for such a warm welcome we received, I’m not quite sure.”

Suze studied him, valuing his words closely, remaining deadly silent, keeping her finger curled tightly around the trigger. Inches from pulling it and shooting him. Could she so readily believe him, this story? She did not even know him, none of them. He could be lying as easily as he could be telling the truth; but there was something in his eyes, an earnestness that dispelled any sort of mistruth. “Joyce,” Mica spoke firmly, “show them his necklace.”

She nodded quickly, and said, “I have it here, somewhere…” Her voice trailed, and she rummaged for the necklace, unzipping, and pulling it from a pocket, the necklace glittering in the dim light. Suze grimaced at its sight, released a high sigh, and lowered her gun. “Fine,” she muttered. “So your story is true…They are dead then…” She looked to her companion, who still surrounded them all, and said nonchalantly, “Guy, you can reform now…They are telling the truth.”

Guy narrowed his eyes, a glare that had aversion to Suze’s decision written all over it, Alaina could clearly tell; but he did as he was told. In a strange blur, the thirty-something Guys had remerged into a singular sour-faced, ghostly-skinned boy, or at least Alaina’s eyes. His silence boiled into the atmosphere, it was poisonous. His lip curled, and drew near to Suze, speaking, “I can’t believe you’re allying—”

At that moment, a spiraling shape darted into parking garage through the massive crack in the wall nearby, from the outside. The black silhouette of bird swiftly transformed into that of a tall, shadowed boy. As he stepped closer, Alaina saw how striking he was: high, sweeping cheekbones, soft tan skin, and eyes like burning coals, with a face framed by a long dark sheet of hair that was windswept. At the sight of the newcomers, his face was lit with confusion.

“Nice of you to join us Koda,” Guy spoke, somewhat arrogantly.

Koda only smirked, and ignored Guy’s statement staring directly at Suze, who returned the look. “Did you find anything?” she questioned.

Tight-lipped, he shook his head in disapproval. “No,” he said quietly. “Nothing…Everything’s abandoned…But I did find something else…”

“What?”

“Another experiment, a girl,” he answered, and Mica’s eyes flung open: it could only be Lil. His heart began to pound quickly. “She’s following me, for some reason…I figured she was only scouting the area like I was—she can fly, whoever she is…She should be here any moment now.”

“You said she could fly right?” Mica said.

Koda inclined his head. “Yes. Dark, short hair, small.”

“Yeah, that’s Lil.”

“How do you know her?” Suze asked him.

“She’s part of our Unit,” Mica answered. “She went out searching for a base.”

“Oh,” Suze said. “Looks like we had similar plans, since Koda here can fly as well…But as a bird.”

“Not to be rude,” Koda interceded, “but who are you all?”

Suze pursed her lips for a moment, before answering. “They’re our allies,” she said. Standing behind her, Guy looked outraged; Koda scrunched his brow over the situation, and Suze explain to him that Mica had tried to save Davi, and because of that, she said they could trust them. The confusion lessened in Koda’s features, once she had finished, also telling Koda their names.

“So—” Koda had began, but was instantly cut off by a distressed outcry. Sie’s head was the first to turn toward the voice, his eyes widening, realizing who it was. Lil.

Through the chasm of the long busted, bar-like window, she flew into the parking garage, landing quickly onto her feet. Her hair was blown astray, her appearance frazzled, and her enlarged eyes watery, as if she could cry, taking the entire scene: Suze’s lowered gun, Mica staring at her wonderingly, along with Sie, Alaina, and everyone else. Lil looked suddenly overwhelmed, her face drained of all color as she began to gasp for air; her legs buckled, and she collapsed onto the cement knowing no more.

Sie shouted out her name, and without a second thought plunged through the crowd, straight for her. Suze slid immediately out of the way, as Sie bent himself over her, grabbing her shoulders, shaking her, screaming her name over and over drowning out any other sound, penetrated with absolute, abrupt fear.

Breemee is still alive and well...

ehem...

her post is a work in progress right now though... but coming soon!

He could hear her mumbling about something as he patted a damp cloth to her forehead. Luckily, the water pipes that ran to the parking complex had not yet been cut off. The cloth was found in a first aid kit, secured by the team’s new “allies.” Sie glanced over his shoulder. He could see Joyce and Alaina conversing about something, which was odd because normally they didn’t get along in the least bit. The four of them were on the third level; the others had their base secured on the second. They weren’t yet comfortable with sleeping in such close proximity to them. Allies or not, they were all playing the same game.

That’s when Mica suggested setting up a base on the third floor. The height advantage would give them a better view of the surroundings anyways. Although there was a disagreement amongst those who wanted to keep their distance for the time being and those who wanted to keep the allies in sight and on their side, both Mica and even the other team’s leader, Suze, reached the conclusion that setting bases on separate levels would be best. Then, Suze pulled Mica to the side to discuss some… leader-like things and everyone else was hesitantly swept up the concrete staircase. Sie would have gone up there anyways though. He had other things to take care of.

The sleeping bag that Suze had given Lil to rest on rustled a little and stirred him from his revere. He looked down, where he was still holding the cloth to her forehead, and noticed her eyes opening slightly. Then, with a sudden burst of energy, she tried to sit up, resisting against his hand. “Hey,” he told her, trying to keep her calm, “don’t try to sit up. You hit your head earlier.” Still, that didn’t stop her from trying to get away. Sie pressed on her shoulders, keeping her down. She wasn’t completely analyzing the situation because of the shock. Her tiny figure flapped around like a bird caught in some fishing wire. She just knew that something was wrong and that she was scared. Sie could tell it just by looking into her wide and panicked green eyes. Slowly, she began to get the picture. She was probably tired as well. She lay back down, giving up and breathing heavily. Sie put the damp cloth across her forehead again. She closed her eyes for a moment, inhaling and exhaling, before opening them back up. They shifted around her surroundings, looking for something.

“Mica is okay,” Sie told her, knowing that the situation with Suze earlier was what had rattled her. “He’s speaking with that girl… They’re on our team now Lil.”

Lil’s eyes creased and a look of obvious confusion, then defiance crossed her face. Sie couldn’t help but grin a little. “Yeah, you’re not the only one that’s not too keen on the idea… But maybe it will be good for the team.”

“And what if it gets us killed?” Lil finally lifted her hand to sign, “voicing” her opinion.

Sie shrugged, to Lil’s annoyance. He could tell she was tired of that already. That “whatever” attitude. “That won’t happen.”

She bit her bottom lip, thinking, then lifted her hands to sign yet again. “I saw a vision,” she told him, “about what had happened earlier. It was when I was out scouting. All I saw was a gun and blood. I thought something had happened to you guys… The entire flight back I was in a panic, thinking about what would happen if I lost everyone this early on. Not about just how alone I would be, but how tragic that would be… Just the training to get here was so much work… To have it all end that soon would be unbearable…” It seemed like she wanted to tell him more, but she crossed her hands back over her stomach. By the droopy look in her eyes it was obvious that she was tired. If she had anything else to say, she’d just have to tell him tomorrow.

“I know what you mean,” he told her, smiling sadly. “But we’re all okay now, so for the time being don’t worry and just go to sleep.”

She nodded and mouthed a tiny OK. Then she closed her eyes, and whether she was actually asleep or not, Sie couldn’t really tell. He put his hands on his knees and pushed himself up off of the ground, then headed towards Alaina and Joyce, who were a few feet away speaking in whispers. As he suspected, the topic of interest was their new companions. Questions about their powers, questions about their loyalty, those all arose.

“What I want to know,” Alaina mumbled, and crossed her arms over her chest, “is how they managed to find so many supplies so fast. Don’t you think it’s weird that they just so happened to be dropped right on top of one of the game’s goldmines? That’s too lucky if you ask me…”

“Well they’re on our side now,” Joyce voiced, trying to correct Alaina’s “mistake,” “so it’s good since we can share.”

Alaina scoffed and glared at her. “Are you really that naïve?” She drew the words out, hoping the meaning would sink in. From the look on Joyce’s face, Sie could conclude that she was highly offended by Alaina’s tone, but the reason behind it just flew over her head like a cloud on a rainy day. It was there and then swoosh! it was gone. But Joyce did have a point. If the allies could truly be trusted then it would be a great advantage. If they could truly be trusted, then that means they’d have one less team trying to kill them.

But, maybe he was the only one thinking about how this game had to end. If they could truly be trusted, then the outcome of it all wasn’t going to be pretty. The betrayal had to start somewhere and he was going to make sure his team wasn’t the one to reap the consequences… It would be a while before that time came, though. As he had told Lil, they were safe now— might as well sleep whilst they had the chance.


The sunlight brought Lil awake to a new day and a headache. The pain was almost unbearable, jabbing at her body like a thousand needles. Though, this pain wasn’t new. At the center it occurred almost on a weekly basis, daily even, from either accident or exhaustion. Everyone had to learn to push through it. That was also a part of the training.

She sat up slowly, wincing. She rubbed a hand across the back of her head. Joyce was still asleep and rested a few feet away from her, curled up on the concrete. Lil was the only one supplied with bedding to sleep on due to her accident, but she felt a little guilty for it. She giggled a little as she saw Joyce’s mouth was moving, murmuring something in some kind of dream. Only Joyce could still dream in a place like this.

After stretching out her arms and legs, which were still a little stiff, she looked around for the others. As she had thought, they were already downstairs discussing the day’s plans. Mica was talking to the allies, getting down to business as usual. Sie was standing not too far away from them, fiddling with his watch, seemingly absentminded. Alaina watched over everyone with thoughtful eyes. They rested on Mica as he was talking with Suze, lingering there for a moment, then back to Sie.

“Will you stop that,” she finally snapped, startling Lil who was quietly observing the group. The girl stormed over to Sie, the beeping from his fiddling had obviously been getting on her last nerves. “You’re going to mess it up if you keep on pressing buttons.”

“I don’t really think that’s possible,” he said, matter-of-factly as he stared at her with a stoic face. “But if there were other features to the watch, don’t you think it would be best that we figured them out?”

Alaina huffed, not really able to argue with his logic. Maybe, Lil thought, she just needed something to take her mind off of things.

Suze, Mica, and the other two boys who Lil didn’t know the names of, all stopped talking to stare at them for a moment. Lil could have sworn she saw Suze roll her eyes, but her face was quickly masked by a friendly grin. Joyce finally joined the group and walked to stand behind Lil.

“So what’s the plan?” The merry blonde asked, and Lil wondered how she could be so cheerful even in the morning.

“We’re going to split up into groups,” Suze answered, and Lil’s heart began to beat a little faster, remembering just how “well” that went the other day. “We still need to find food. It would also be best to scout the area for other teams. There’s also the matter of finding other supplies… and these parts we’re supposed to be finding. Keep your eyes out for those too, but that’s not a priority at the moment.”

Lil blinked, surprised at the authority the girl seemed to speak with, demanding everyone’s attention. She continued to listen, drawn to every word she said. Lil didn’t like her one bit. She felt that if this girl wanted to, she could easily weasel her way through any situation. Could easily use her looks or strong presence to get whatever she wanted to. But Lil didn’t trust her; she didn’t trust any of these “allies.” They had tried to kill her friends. They weren’t good people. The basis of Mica’s decision, that it would be good for the team, wasn’t good enough for her. If he was going to be that forgiving and trusting about things, then he had no right to be the leader. But he was the leader… that’s what she had to keep telling herself as she listened to Suze speak. He needed to defend his title from this girl. Or else she could walk all over them with a snap of her fingers.

“… Guy, Joyce, and Lil,” Suze droned on, and Lil shook herself from her thoughts, “you will be in a group. Takoda, Alaina, and Sie, you will be in the other group. Mica and I will stay here to watch base.”

“Don’t you think we should pick our own groups?” Alaina retorted, and Lil couldn’t help but notice the narrowing of her eyes as she looked at Suze.

But Mica simply said, “We decided it based on your powers and what you’d be able to attribute if worst came to worst. Takoda and Lil can both fly and provide an aerial view if needed. From what Suze has told me, Guy is a good tactical thinker, so is Sie. You and Joyce both can handle yourselves well on the offensive… So I don’t see a problem with the groups that have been chosen for you.”

Alaina then closed her mouth and nodded, looking almost dejected.

Attempting to break whatever tension was filling the room; Suze clapped and rubbed her hands together. “So, you should probably get going. We want to get a head start before anyone else does…”

“Right,” Sie said, he hadn’t looked up from his watch during the whole conversation but now he finally lifted his eyes to look at Mica. “Number count is still the same. Seems there were no casualties over night.”

“Glad you could make that deduction Sherlock,” Alaina mumbled, still pouting over something.

“Let’s just hope,” Mica said, “there won’t be any this morning”

After grabbing whatever supplies they needed, a couple of things like bandages and stuff that could easily be carried in their pockets, everyone cautiously headed outside. Lil’s nerves were killing her; an ambush out of nowhere would have just pushed her over the edge. But it seemed like the coast was clear.

“Are you okay,” Lil could hear Sie speak from behind her and turned around.

She nodded. “Yeah I feel better. Oh! By the way…” She unzipped her pockets and pulled a case of bullets out of one. Sie’s eyes looked surprised and he held his hands out to get them. Then she took out the second and third pack and stacked them one on top of the other until he had the pile cradled in his arms. “I found them yesterday,” she said, before he had a chance to ask. “Seems they’re the kind your gun uses… if my memory serves me correctly.”

Sie nodded, looking down at them in contemplation. “Yeah, this seems right…,” he said. He turned to Takoda and Alaina. “Hold on a second and let me go put these away,” he said to them, before turning and jogging back into the darkness of the building.

“Where exactly did you find those?” Guy asked curiously, an arch in his brow.

“I didn’t steal them from you if that’s what you mean,” Lil signed to him, but it seemed like he didn’t comprehend a word of it. She sighed. If Sie wasn’t in her group this was going to be a problem. How was she supposed to communicate with people who didn’t technically speak her language?

It wasn’t long before Sie rejoined everyone on the ground. Tucked down in his suit, Lil could see where Sie had hidden the gun at his hip. She rolled her eyes. He really hasn’t even practiced shooting a gun. Hopefully he remembered to put the safety lock on until he needed it… Ugh, this was going to make her worry, because she hated guns. She hated them with a passion.

“We’ll search for the food,” Guy told Takoda. “Your group should keep your eye out for the other teams and supplies.”

Takoda nodded and Lil frowned. She didn’t like how this other team seemed to be making all the plans, but she wasn’t going to say anything… Even if she did they wouldn’t really get it.

After a few parting words, the six each turned and headed their separate ways, leaving Lil with a feeling of unrest that couldn’t be shaken.

Chapter 03: TERMINATED

Chapter 4....Coming Soon! :) *Whenever I get the time to actually sit down and write* lol

Although it's been a year since we have made this thread, and Wordspeak has moved on to work on some of his other writing, I think I might pick this up and rewrite it as my own (with Wordspeaks permission, of course) and I'll probably post it on the writing thread :D... Once I get around to it.