Aileen Tracey's Story

Hawke

Hawke relaxed only slightly as Dray nodded, getting rid of the giant's blood that smeared the dragon's snout.He'd been about to take off running again when he found himself on Dray's back. He pointed out clear pathways as the dragon ran, his own ears catching even the faintest of the guards' voices. As they got closer to the door, he became confused; the guard he had talked to earlier was headed toward them from another hall. He could hear the footsteps, too heavy for any of the mutants this way, but not quite so heavy as the other guards'. With him were at least two others, these mutants. He tapped on one of Dray's scales.

"Someone's coming. I think it's Guard Barrow. He's got others with him, not guards. Think he might be helping?" It seemed stupid to him for one of the guards, one of the two kinds of people here mutants desperately wanted to get away from, to be helping. Perhaps this was that mysterious "Oh Lord's" work once more. Or more likely mere coincidence.... Without waiting for the Dragon to answer, He called out, as quietly as he could while still being heard.

"'Hoy, Barrow!"


Aileen

"There we go... See? Good as new." Aileen smiled at the little girl she'd stumbled upon. The sweet kid had tripped and scraped her knee, not enough to bleed although a thin layer of skin had been shredded away and her jeans had ripped. That hadn't mattered to the girl though; she'd wailed like it was the end of the world. Aileen had taken her to a bench and gave it a quick "cleaning" with her bottle of water, making quick and easy work of the minor cut. She glanced around and found a woman hurrying toward them: the girl's mother.With a smile, she pointed her out to the girl, who took off running like nothing had happened. As they left, she retied her hair and picked up her bag. She was supposed to help out at a clinic today; if it weren't for her ability, she'd be in school like she'd first planned. But even the safest hospitals and med schools were dangerous. She had to tread carefully, couldn't reveal herself out right. That'd be too great a risk, she'd be too easy to find that way. With a longing sigh, she kept walking. You'll find a way to help soon. Grandmother did, you just have to be patient. She and Grandfather told you everything you needed to know. Why they did it so close to death, I don't know. Maybe to protect me...? If so... From what? She didn't understand what was so dangerous about using her ability, about helping people with it. It was just good she also knew "normal" methods....

She was so lost in thought, she smacked right into a pole.

Hawke

Hawke stepped back with a snarl of his own, fear jolting through his malnourished frame. "F-Fine then! Let it g-get infect-ted, dumb c-cat!" He spat, half in the growls of Kisa's other form so the words were badly garbled. He used a couple strips to rebind his own wounds, wrapped the rest around one arm, and listened carefully to the woods changing. It wasn't the tranquil, lazy place now. Now, it was dangerous. They were coming. At least, a few were... With a glance back and a few frantic calls to the hidden animals to either help or keep well away, he took off at the rear of the group as fast as his wounds would allow. The panic and determination that shot through him ripped pain away. He had no doubt begun bleeding again, but he had only one thing on his mind: Get his Pack safe. Even the thought that they weren't truly his Pack, that they were just some ragtag group, didn't cross his mind.

In a similar, although more controlled panic, The Alpha pushed ahead in a few long strides, looking directly at Bast with almost human eyes. He gave an odd sigh of a growl, his ears flicking toward the thinner parts of the woods. He'd been there a long time, had watched the "Hunters"; there were fewer traps this way because of its openness, and if he had understood Brother Twolegs correctly they wanted to get into the territory of the Fishing Twolegs. The thought made his lip curl, but he understood. Thought the Female and the Brother were clever. Get rid of the scent, lose the trail, like running in the rain. His loyalty, however, only went so far as the edge of his home. He sniffed at the faintest stinking scent of fish and salt, looked at the Female again, and howled. In a single, long note, he conveyed a rendezvous to the rest of his Pack.

They had to hurry. Hawke understood that, and the Alpha's call. Before long they'd reach the edge of the territory, where they'd be on their own. How much further past that the water came, he didn't know. "They have to leave once we reach the far end of the clearing," he called, watching the two guards half run, half stumble through the brush. "He won't put his pack in more danger, and their territory ends there!" Luck be with us all, He added pleadingly.

Aileen

Ai rubbed her head, flopping into her favorite chair. She'd had a pounding headache all day from her crash, and the meds she took didn't help. She was growly all through her classes, instead of her usual, cheery self. She'd also been hard to understand, her annoyance bringing out her thick accents. She wasn't sure which they heard this time. Perhaps a mix of several...

Sometimes, not being able to heal yourself just sucked.

Aileen

Ai groaned softly, glaring at her cellphone to see who was calling her. She was tired, her headache was still screaming. What did Eric want? She lifted the phone to her ear with a frustrated huff on the third ring.

"Hello, Aileen?" She sighed; this wasn't a normal call. Something about it. Annoyance left her immediately, having gotten no small few calls that started almost the same way: Her first name, and a too calm voice. He was doing his damnedest not to let fear or confusion be obvious. So, either someone had a gun to his head, or--more likely--there was at least one person in his warehouse who needed help and wouldn't go to a hospital. Or couldn't.

With a sigh, she rubbed her eyes and started collecting her essentials; she found it easier to have some basic supplies with her, just in case. Mostly for herself; her gift took up a lot of energy, and that meant food and sleep were a must after. Couple sandwiches and containers of stew would work, at least well enough. Her sleeping bag, although she doubted she'd need it. She'd always known Eric to be hospitable. Bandages, some painkillers in pill form, several little jars of a home remedy to relieve pain also. Not everyone took pills well. As she packed, she remembered to actually talk to Eric.

"How many, how bad, and how quickly do I need to get there? This is your seaside phone, right?" Those were the primary questions. With those, she'd have the general idea of how badly she was needed--and what else to pack.

Hawke

"What the--"
Hawke jerked forward, putting himself between Edur and the newcomer. His eyes darkened a little, a faint glimmer of the self he put into the Games shining through. "She is no different from you, got that? Nor are any of us. Even one word slips about it, to anyone. Bast and Barrow won't have the chance to shoot you. You won't make it three steps, and there isn't a person alive who'll find you." He licked his lips and gave a smile that was more a baring of slightly sharpened teeth. Then he calmed slightly, reaching a hand back to Edur and brushing her arm. "That healer is on the way, am I correct?" Blood trickled fresh down his side, the sickeningly slow flow also moving down his thigh. His vision became nonexistent again, and he felt himself falling forward, unable to get his limbs working.

Aileen

Ai snapped the phone shut, going slightly pale.Three? Three, and a lot of blood. She'd been planning on coming alone, she usually did. But for someone to tell her she needed to sent every hair on her neck on end. She shook her head. This was no different. Some patients were simply dangerous; it was like a wounded, cornered animal. Tread with caution. She gathered a few extra rolls of bandages. If they were as bad as she gathered, she wouldn't be able to fully heal them all in one sitting. Step one. Get there. You have ten minutes, Aileen Tracey. Step two: make sure they don't die.

Edur gave a soft smile at Olek's words, but she couldn't help but gaze in disbelief at all the blood that surrounded him. It was so much and already the thick puddle had made its way to her crouched body, staining her white fur red. Slightly fearful at just how bad of a condition most of them were she glanced at the man who was friends with the healer. He's eyes were full of disbelief and the reason why came to Edur as Hawke launched forward to block her path from the man.

After speaking to him in a anger she'd normally see in the games Hawke turned to give her a slightly calmer look. He spoke, although his words were lost to Edur's ears as she stared at his face. Just seconds later he collapsed and Edur trusted her arms out to catch him. She managed to stop him from falling to the ground but his frame was still too bulky for Edur. She's wobbled for a moment before toppling over, and managed to move mid fall so Hawke would land on her instead of the wooden floor.

She let out a grunt as the sudden heavy weight was on her, though it was more out of shock then pain. One thing was sure, Hawke was much bigger then Edur. She struggled to sit up and after a moment manged to sit with Hawke leaning on her shoulder. Her eyes went to the man practically begging for the healer to come soon. At this rate they would lose Hawke, Olek and Kisa.

As Chris sat there he found himself constantly switching from watching the door to looking at his injured companions. Olek's injuries were more far more serious than he had originally thought and he looked on as Olek sat in an ever widening pool of his own blood with a mixture of surprise and concern. His concern only grew as Hawke angrily confronted the new man and then started to fall over. He watched the door even more closely than he had before, desperately hoping that this healer would walk on through any second now.

He quickly snapped back to reality, when Kisa began to thrash around widely. Almost immediately he jumped down from the box he was comfortably sitting on and looked back at Dray, the concern and worry painfully obvious on his face. As Dray began holding down her shoulders his concerned expression was quickly replaced with one of calm readiness. Dray looked over towards him and spoke almost in a growl."Get over here. Hold her head still.”He gave an immediate nod and quickly made his way over to Kisa's thrashing form and placed his hands on her head, making sure to keep her head completely still. This was not good, if things kept getting worse Kisa and the others might not make it. However he absolutely refused to think that there was even a slight chance of that happening, and he kept thinking over and over that help would soon arrive.

Aileen

Aileen moved as quickly as her heavy bag would allow, from the nearest parking lot to Eric's warehouse. It had taken a little less than ten minutes; traffic had been merciful this time. Seeing the door still closed, she kicked the heavy thing hard with the heel of her boot. "Eric!! Eric, it's me!" She called out, shaking from the pain she sensed within. If he didn't hurry and open the door, or someone else, she was likely to force it down herself. Or hurt herself trying.

She didn't bother looking at whoever opened the door. Immediately she sprinted to the three worst injured and set to her prep work. With or without help, she wasn't sure, she got the bodies of the three as close together as possible before sitting beside the girl. She ran a gentle hand through her hair worriedly, her thumb brushing her forehead. "You've all been through a lot today, hm...? I'm going to fix as much of this as I can, okay? Just bear with me.... What's going to happen might feel very close to how you got the injuries... Just please... Try to just let me work...." She had no clue if they could hear her, but she felt they needed to know the "problem" with her gift. She didn't have the ability to block pain like her grandmother had....

With a brief touch as she had with the girl, she made sure the two males were laying flat. Closing her eyes, she focused her gift on the offending wounds.

Kisa

Kisa felt the hands grab her, restrain her. She was cornered, trapped, injured and in pain. Her blood roared, asking, no, shouting for her to change shape. She threw up blood.

"She's coming out of it." The male voice stated, and his voice was followed by a pressure on her left side, behind her front leg. "You goddamned bastard, you actually did it." The female voice, this time more shocked then angry like the first time. "Do you think her reason for surviving was because of her sudden and unexpected change?" "Maybe... Most likely... She does have the pacemaker to keep her hearts working during the change. I need to run another test to make sure..." "No you won't." "I have to-" "No! My breeding program is MORE important than finding out how she survived hibernation!!"

PAIN IN HER CHEST.

Thump... Thump.... Thump...

A new sound, a voice, female. Kisa couldn't comprehend the words filling the air, and found new hands touching her. A growling rage bubbled up, and she regained enough control of her body to force herself to change. A scream left her human lips and... She clawed at the ground, feeling the burning in her chest spread into a wildfire, but this time the burn signaled relief as her human skin was replaced with that of a jaguar's pelt.

Tha thump, Tha thump, Tha thump, Tha thump... Her hearts took off in a race, and she slumped, limp as a doll now. Her spotted chest rising and falling with each breath.

Just when she thought the pain was over, she felt a different pain flare up. This time, instead of it radiating from her chest, it came from her leg. It was painful, and... Bearable after what she just endured. Well, that and she had a high threshold for pain. And so she went through with it with only a small growl of discomfort to the healing.

Wait, what's this? Kisa blinked open her sapphire eyes to feel a weight on her back, as if something were trying to hold her down. Unsure if the healing was done or not, she looked at her leg and found that only a puckered scar remained, a slash of pink skin cutting through fur. Finding that her wound was gone, she pulled away from the healer. She was weak, and tired, but she was... happy at not being a crippled jaguar.

Now, to find out whose on my back... Kisa slipped out from under the weight and found a human, Dray. Miffed and annoyed with him for being on her back, she decided payback would come in the form of him being her toy for the moment. She dropped beside him and in a kittenish manor, nuzzled her large head against his a chest, a throaty growl coming from her chest. Then wrapped her front legs around him, and moved onto her back so he was on top of her, in her grasp like a favored toy. She rolled again, and let Dray loose before turning on Chris.

However, this time her playfulness showed its dangerous qualities as she stood on her hind legs and pushed him to the floor. She sniffed his face, her whiskers moving over his cheekbones, and... she nipped his bicep with no hesitation, no restraint. She lunged away, and went back to nuzzling Dray. She ignored everyone else, not caring about what the normal human male might think about her in her jaguar form.

Olek

Olek struggled, refusing to groan or otherwise show his pain to anyone. His eyelid continued fluttering for what felt like forever. He mumbled words for a few moments, but quickly realized he hadn't spoken loud enough. "Max I-" Olek whispered right before his mind slipped away. His eye closed, but his chest was still rising with every breath. Olek didn't appear to be home though. He rested on the creaking wooden floor for what seemed like an eternity.

Maybe this is a good thing. A voice mused in Olek's head. Afterall, monsters like Olek deserved a painful death. His breathing sopped for only a few moments before it resumed again, even in his unconscious state he refused to give in. The blood continued to seep out of the make shift bandages on his chest. There was so much blood. Too much blood. It seeped through the floor boards, and dripped into the darkness below. Slowly Olek grew ready to concede, he did his job. He didn't do it very well, but he got them to safety, and that would have to do.

As Olek drifted away one last thought rang in his mind over and over like a drumbeat. The scrap of paper in his pocket. Anger started to course through his veins like liquid fire. He felt rage boiling to the surface all throughout his body. He wasn't going to give in. There were people that had to die at Olek's hand. If Olek himself died before he could complete his gruesome task, then that would be an insult to her memory.

His eyelid opened wide as the pain slammed into his chest. Olek shouted in surprise, but quickly stifled it as he got control of himself. His back arched off of the ground as he felt the muscles in his chest writhing and knitting back together. His grunts of pain quickly subsided when the bleeding stopped. He tiredly looked around to see Kisa off of the ground, and moving. Olek's head fell back to the floor accompanies by a sigh of relief. He lifted a weak arm to feel his own chest. His hand came back damp with blood that was soaked into the clothes, but the wound had stopped bleeding for the most part. It was hard to tell, but Olek had somehow gotten fixed up more or less. Slowly the gears started turning once more in Olek's brain.

Still clutching his chest, he struggled to get into a sitting position. Still breathing heavily, he settled for that. Olek had lost too much blood to risk moving around too much. He glanced at dock worker, and then to the strange young woman with red hair and green eyes. He calmly looked at the both of them. Olek wondered how long he had been out, he had been moved across the warehouse ever so slightly, and he was somehow alive. He shook his head and stopped trying to piece it together. "I don't know how you did it, but thank you for saving them." He winced as another wave of pain hit his chest.

"You're a good man. You deserve to know what you're getting into." Olek breathed out, still in pain but hiding it well. He went to rub the cut on his arm to realize it had sealed up completely. He looked up at the woman with red hair with an eyebrow raised. He wasn't even sure if she was responsible, but it was safe to say that she was. Don't press the issue, we all have secrets. He squelched a few questions that were about to pass his lips, before he started speaking to the dock worker and the doctor.

"You both deserve to know. We're being chased by some bad people. Terrible people. They have no morals and unlimited resources. They have the power to rip your lives apart." Olek paused, waiting for his words to sink in slowly.

"I say this out of concern, but if you have anything to lose, anything at all. It would be best to walk away while you still can." Olek spoke in a sincere tone. They were dangerous to be around, ticking time bombs ready to explode. He calmly breathed out again and sighed.

"The name's Olek by the way." He said as he nodded gratefully to the pair of strangers. His eyes finally drifted over Bast, and lingered there for only a handful of seconds. His gaze softened. It had been a very long time since he completely trusted someone.

When the woman brust through the door Edur's grip tightened around Hawke. She knew this woman was the healer but that didn't mean she had to trust her. She went to Kisa first and sure enough the wounds she had healed. This caused Edur's eyes to widen in awe and her gripped lessened. The woman took Hawke from her arms and laid him on the ground. Edur watched her work in a daze.

Soon enough all the injuries were healed and it begin to look as things were getting slightly better. Edur looked around to each person and stopped to giggle at Kisa who was cuddling into Dray's side. Chris was on the ground rubbing his chest and Edur smiled in sympathy at him.

Now she turned to Olek who was up and looked much much better. He was sitting up now and speaking to the man and the healer in a tone of authority. Edur was unable to contain her joy of seeing the man up and breathing and she shot over to him. She dropped to her knees and wrapped her short arms around his neck.

Hawke

Hawke groaned weakly, barely having time to register a woman's words before numbness became intense pain. Sparks flew through the black fog he was stuck in, dragging him back into consciousness so quickly he couldn't figure out where he was. His hands regained movement the fastest. His left arm snapped up as he cried out, closing around something soft. A neck. Still unable to see, but only feel his wounds healing, or... reversing, really. That's what it felt like to him. His wounds were going in reverse. The throat in his palm moved slowly, tensely. Fear. Surprise. Then they went as limp as possible, considering he had a grip on them and they were neck muscles. Calm.

Aileen

Ai squeaked as the younger male grabbed her by the throat, as startled by her presence as she was by his reaction. Relax... She thought to herself, forcing herself to calm down. "It's okay.... You're safe here. Let go. Whatever you've been through, it's over now. You lost a lot of blood before I got here, you shouldn't be moving so quickly..." After several moments his grip loosened and she coaxed him into laying back down. Now that she could focus on something other than her work, she watched the girl--err...cat. Sometime during the session, she'd gone from being a young girl to being a large jaguar. She leaped about playfully, but with a ferocity that was only slightly reigned in toward her friends. She had to smile, even with her disbelief: she had seen reactions like this before. Animals--and kids-- that were so happy they weren't hurt anymore that they had to play now.

It was only then she turned her head toward the older man. Of the three, his wounds had been the most extensive, and as she'd tired, seemed to be the least healed. That being said, all three were in considerably better shape.

"I don't know how you did it, but thank you for saving them." The man's voice was strained as he sat up, talking to Eric for a moment. This was a warrior. Someone used to keeping a brave face, hiding pain until it was absolutely necessary he show it. "You both deserve to know. We're being chased by some bad people. Terrible people. They have no morals and unlimited resources. They have the power to rip your lives apart. I say this out of concern, but if you have anything to lose, anything at all. It would be best to walk away while you still can. The name's Olek by the way."

Tracey fought the urge to smack the man upside the head by clenching her fist before opening it to point at him with her whole hand. "Hello Olek. I am Aileen Tracey. It's both quite kind of you to be concerned, and terribly stupid. If I had any intention of not being involved, you and the rest of the injured would be dead, right? It's not in me to let people die, get that in your head right now." She sighed, reigning in her temper and with it the comes-and-goes Irish accent. "These people you're talking about, they made these people who and what they are, to an extent, right? My grandmother was a healer for a similar place, my grandfather guarded them. They retired just as the treatment of those they looked after became horrid. You already know I'm not...normal. I'm like them, sort of. Skipped a generation." She trembled as she spoke, a secret she had only told Eric until now. "I'm just as scared and full of disgust toward them as you and the others are. If they found me.... Well, I think what they've been through is a pretty damn clear indication of what might happen..."

She shook her head to fight tears and pulled a roll of bandages from her bag. [b]"I'm sorry I couldn't finish with my gift..." She muttered almost sleepily as she got the man wrapped up. "I've never healed more than one at a time before, and never three at once with such extensive injuries... There we go, that should do it until the last of it heals. Um... Hey," She turned her attention to the red haired boy, "Come here, let me see your hands." She held up the roll of bandages to clear up her point.

Olek

Olek was slightly taken aback by Aileen's interpretation of his words. He opened his mouth once to clarify what he had said before, but quickly thought better of it. He was too tired to trade an extensive amount of words with anyone. The woman patched him up for good measure to cover up the wounds. "I'm sorry I couldn't finish with my gift..." Aileen said in an apologetic manner. Olek looked away when she wrapped the bandages around his torso. "You saved them, that's all that matters." Olek offered his words and another grateful look to pass before his eye locked onto the door once more. His eye never moved from the entrance. He was ready to pull himself over the crate he was resting against to get to his rifle if anything out of the ordinary happened.

He breathed a sigh of relief and kept his mouth shut, plotting every move ahead. He was in a weakened state, moving would be risky. If he wasn't at one hundred percent, defending the others would be very difficult. He figured with the help of the dock worker, they could charter a boat soon. If they pulled enough strings, Olek felt as if they could get to a small port somewhere relatively unhampered. His thoughts were interrupted when Edur rapidly approached. She dropped to her knees and hugged him. His eye widened ever so slightly, and his body quickly tensed up.

His surprised facade quickly wore off in but a matter of moments. He softly patted Edur on the back with one hand. Olek wasn't really the hugging type, but it still warmed Olek's non existent heart. He breathed out slowly, noticing his bruised ribs no longer pained him. Noting this, he spoke in a tired voice, still offering reassurances to Edur. "See? Good as new." Keeping morale up was important. Freedom, along with not being dead were both huge bonuses. They needed a plan though, perhaps Olek could get in touch with another government for protection in exchange for information, but that was too risky. His former employers had agents everywhere.

He looked around to the others, his eye calmly shifted from person to person. He had no plan, he should've thought things through. Betting on a ship out of the country wouldn't solve the problem. He needed to find a permanent safe haven for the group. Olek would sleep on it. He would have to, he was simply too worn down to come up with a sufficient plan.


His mind wandered to what Aileen had said to him before. "I'm just as scared and full of disgust toward them as you and the others are." Olek wasn't certain of much at the moment. He glanced down at Edur one last time, giving her a grateful look before his gaze shifted to one of the blacked out windows. Olek was going to tear apart every thing that his employers held dear to them. Eye for an eye. They took everything from him after years of obedient servitude. Olek didn't fear his former employers, no. It was quite the opposite. A resounding thought filled Olek's mind. They will fear me.

After lying on the hardwood floor for a few moments he quickly recovered from the shock of Kisa's aggressive playfulness, then sat up and looked over at the others. He caught Edur send him a smile and in return gave her a sheepish grin, he repositioned his body to better hide his swaying tail from view. He chuckled slightly when he saw Edur's sheer joy, as she clung onto Olek. He stood up and walked towards Olek and the others, barely able to contain his own joy at the sight of all the seriously injured were feeling better.

When he reached the others he looked towards Olek and Hawke and sent them a rather excited smile, glad to see them alright and then sent the red haired healer and the dock worker and sent them a gracious nod, then sat down not to far from Olek and Edur. He watched the red haired healer for a moment as she spoke but didn't pay much attention to her words as his mind began to wander. He couldn't stop thinking about what would happen next. The injured may be healed but everyone was still tired and he wasn't sure if they would soon be on the move again or if they would stay here for a bit longer. Either way he wore an excited expression, no matter what they did next they were free.

Olek

Once Edur removed herself from Olek, he calmly reached over to where he dropped his sidearm, and picked it back up again. The grip of his weapon felt comforting in his hand. Aileen seemed to know the gist of what was going on. He didn't think a few guns would spook her. After all a bear sized jaguar had just sniffed her face. Olek almost chuckled at that. He thought he was going to have problems with Kisa, but she was proving to have more human emotions than he originally thought. It was easy to become twisted from the tortures that most of the group had been through. Kisa approached Olek, briefly examining him as she made her way to a more secluded part of the warehouse. He calmly gave her an approving nod as she walked past him.

Most of the group had earned his respect at this point. Olek was true to his word, he was willing to address the groups trust issues involving himself and Bast. They seemed to be way more relaxed than before. Chris and Edur didn't exactly distrust Olek and Bast. Olek glanced over at Chris and Edur, both were hovering close by. Olek wagered that the two younger members of their group approved of his presence. Welcoming it even. He glanced over at Hawke, he was battle hardened much like Olek was. He was willing to kill for the group, Olek respected Hawke, but was still unsure if he had Hawke's full and complete trust. Dray was quiet; proving to be very difficult to get a read on. Olek knew that Bast was with him 100 percent, she seemed to be very distraught at his previous state. Olek believed that he had won over Kisa's trust with his quick actions involving the bear trap. Aileen would be easy to trust, and so would Eric by extension. They had no complications when it came to trust. He gave a sigh of relief, and quickly ceased his analysis of his fellow escapees.

Once Edur curled up next to Olek, he figured it was time to collect his rifle, which he had so crudely hidden before. He slowly pulled himself up onto the crate he had been resting on. He grunted slightly, trying to be as gentle as possible. He reached behind the crate and pulled the rifle onto his lap. He felt drained, but they would have to move soon. Putting more distance inbetween them and the facility would prove to be very wise. They would also need food. Three of them had lost a great deal of blood. A good meal would be necessary if they wanted to keep on the move. He reloaded his rifle, but kept the safety on.

He glanced over at Dray when Aileen made her rounds. She was a healer alright. That was for certain. Olek calmly scanned the room again. Constantly watching over the group. Olek caught Edur shoot up out of her relaxed position, clearly tense. His grip around his rifled tightened for a few moments until she slowly rested on the floor once more. He looked around for what felt like minutes, but was likely only seconds. Olek spoke up after an eerie silence set in.

"We need to move soon, we can rest for a few minutes, but I think it would be best if we put as much distance between us and the facility." Olek offered a course of action, hoping that this would spark discussion of their next course of action.

Hawke listened carefully, the majority of his attention on Olek and the newcomers. He'd been so focused on trying to keep conscious now that his wounds had healed enough for his body to relax, he was startled out of his half trance by Kisa's sudden show of affection. The garbled comment she gave after took him a moment or two for him to decipher, and he smiled faintly. The healer-woman.... Aileen Tracey, she'd called herself-- she didn't really seem phased by the fact a very large wild cat had just sniffed her like the "something new" she was. Perhaps that was a healer thing....

He sat up as Edur tensed. There was something off about the air. It only lasted a moment or two, but he'd sensed it also. He nodded, growled as his head swam from the movement. "I agree with Barrow. Moving further would be best. Finding a shower, or taking a dip in the ocean wouldn't hurt either. We don't know what escaped, what stayed, or what's been caught. Any of those categories might have followed us. The escaped might be hungry and feral. Or looking for a way to ensure they stay out--at the cost of others. What stayed are likely loyal, at least in part, to the facility. and the caught may be forced to track us down. I can't speak for Bast or Barrow, but the last time I was in a city I was small. Cities change fast. The rest of us are on unknown territory. We don't know or understand the area, just like when they'd rearrange the Arena." He hated having to compare this heavenly situation, being outside and in the unknown, to the Games he despised. But that was as close as he could get for the others. "We haven't eaten since before the games--most of us anyway. We need to move. And we all need food and sleep."

He all but jumped out of his skin as Aileen piped up, smoothing something from a jar onto Dray's hands and wrapping them as she spoke. "For a while, at least, you could stay near me. My grandparents left me most of the land their house is on. It isn't much compared to most, but a house big enough to be an extra-small clinic and plenty of outbuildings and woods around it-- you could hide there safely. People don't come see me often, and without Gran Evie and Gandpa, it's quiet... At least until you found a better spot. Hell, now that I know there are more people like me... I could make the house a haven.... like it was for me...." She seemed sad for a moment, the glimpse hidden as she rummaged through her bag. She brought out a few canisters, and several squares wrapped in plastic. He licked his lips, remembering fondly and exactly what a good sandwich looked like. "Most of this is for me,", she smiled, setting a bit to the side for herself, "But I'm willing to share. Won't be much, with so many people, but it'll be a start, right?" Without waiting for an answer, and in true healer nature, she began divvying up the food.