Rosie Delaney's Story

Rosie walked forward, her hair a midnight black. She was almost in the small town, where the regular humans would be. She was about to pull up her hooded cloak when she remmbered a quote from Oscar Wilde. "Be yourself; everyone else is already taken," she whispered, and left her hood down. She walked through the crowds of humans, trying to look as inconspicious as she could. She noticed a girl with alot of scratches and bruises enter a shop, and was immediately curious.

She walked towards the shop and was about to enter it when the girl came out again, with a new outfit and scratches patched up. "Oh! Sorry, uh...I was just..." Rosie turned red at the same time her hair did, embarrassment flooding her. She gave herself a facepalm as she saw the hair change colour. "Shit," she muttered, quickly pulling up her hood. Now she really didn't know what to say. How would the girl react?

"No worries..." Haley said, her voice trailed off at the end as the girls hair changed color right in front of her eyes. She wasn't sure if it had really happened or not at first, but stranger things had happened in the past. "Did your hair just," she paused, "change colors?" The girl might have come from the lab, but there was no guarantee, and she didn't want to just go blabbing her past to strangers on the street.

She saw her reflection in the mirror and realized she was still covered in band-aids. Without really thinking Haley started picking them off one by one and folding them up. She wasn't sure if it was the result of a specific experiment, or if it happened over time recovering from the experiments, but her immune system seemed to work twice as fast as everyone elses. The cuts and bruises were all gone and all the physical evidence of her struggle to escape was gone. Shit, she thought as she realized the girl was still standing there and had seen it all. Maybe she won't realize.

Haley thought she heard her name somewhere in the distance. The voice sounded familiar, but she couldn't quite place it. The possibility of being recognized should have been enough to have her back on the run in under a fraction of a second, but it had been her real chosen name. None of the scientist used her chosen name, they just referred to her by her experiment number, 1142A. She looked around as casually as she could, not wanting to bring the girls attention to another escapee, if there even was one.

Luna! Haley recognized her immediately. She had met plenty of the other experiments at the lab, but most of them weren't very successful. The other "normal-ish" ones always stayed in her mind. She nodded as imperceptibly as she good and turned back to the girl in front of her.

Rosie bit her lip. "Uh..um..yes?" she said. The girl started pulling off her band aids, and Rosie noted that all her cuts and ruises were already gone. Hmm, perhaps she was from the lab too? It was a small chance, but the possiblilty gave her a tiny bit of hope. Perhaps she wouldn't be alone. Just then, a differentgirl called out the other girls name. "Is that... Hannah, Haner, Haley, yeah, Haley!" Haley, Rosie thought. So that's her name.

"That's a neat trick," Haley said. She had a feeling this girl had come from the lab but she wasn't sure how to ask. It's not like you can just walk up to someone on the street and say Hi there, were you raised in a lab and experimented on by crazy scientists your whole life too? She smiled, "I'm Haley."

Haley saw a girl run into an alley. Syn? She thought. Syn was a bird-kid too. She thought it was a little strange that all of the escapees had wound up in the same town at the same time, but she wasn't ready to question it just yet.

That's when she saw the van. Crap, they're here already? She thought. She wasn't sure if it was one of the lab vans or just a random person who had made a very unfortunate choice in cars, but she wasn't about to wait and find out. "I uh," she started, but she didn't know how to explain it to the girl standing in front of her. Maybe if she were a more trusting person she would have taken a leap of faith and assumed the girl was from the lab, but she wasn't. She didn't trust people at all. "I have to go." She said and ducked down into an ally.

Haley turned into the ally, it was a dead end. Before leaving the little store, she had cut slits in the back of her shirt just big enough for her wings to fit through. Thank God she thought. She was just about to open her wings and leap into the air when Rosie ducked into the ally behind her. She has to be an escapee too she thought. Who else would take off at a dead sprint at the sight of an average looking black van? Taking to the sky seemed like the best option, but she couldn't just leave another escapee to the ground.

"Do you have a plan?" She asked turning back to Rosie.

Haley was relieved when Syn walked into the ally, finally a familiar face. "Hey Syn!" She said with a smile. "What's going on with the van out there?" She asked, "my plan was just to stay out of sight, I feel like if I fight it they'll know where I am and send more, but if they don't see me they just might let me be, you know?" She had hoped for that to be the plan but the sound of gunfire in the streets confirmed that staying out of sight wouldn't be an option.

Haley caught the keys and just looked at them for a minute. "I don't know how to drive." She said. When you're born and raised in a lab, there are certain skills you never get a chance to learn. Not to mention the idea of being in such a small enclosed space made her nervous. She couldn't just spread her wings and fly away from the inside of a van. "Wait, where are you going?" She asked as Dark walked away.

Something changed in Dark that made Haley uneasy. It might have been a shift in his stance or a small change in his expression, she couldn't really tell what it was but she didn't like it. "You're leaving?" She asked with as little emotion as she could. Clutching the keys a little tighter in her hand she looked up at dark, directly into what she hoped were his eyes, although she couldn't tell through the dark sunglasses. "Don't you think we should stick together, you know, work as a team?" she asked. Sure it might be easier to lay low by himself, but it would be easier to survive as a team.

Haley kept her eyes locked with Dark's as he took off his sunglasses. She didn't really know much about him other than what he had said in the past 15 minutes or so. The most important thing she remembered him saying was "I need to get back to my job, murder" Murder? Sure, just about everyone in the lab has killed someone at some point in their life, but she wouldn't exactly call it a job.

She had the keys clutched tightly in her hands, wings at the ready, when Kato stepped between them. Haley thought about pushing him aside, but every guy she had ever met had that protective mindset about them. Every guy except Dark that is. She stepped back and let Kato take control.

It was a solid crew and everyone had some sort of a useful skill, unlike some of the failed experiments she had seen back at the lab. Dark started to walk away but he turned around and agreed to stay with the pack. His fighting skills would come in handy next time the lab's goons came calling for them. Everyone started heading to the van when Syn asked Haley if she was coming. "Yeah, definitely" She said walking back towards the car. Everyone started getting in the back seat so she took shotgun. Partially because no one else had, but mostly because it had it's own door and a window that could open if she needed to get out fast.

"Where to?" She asked.

Luna whatched the whole thing unfold from the fire escape above the others. Dark scared Luna a ton. So it was an amazing sight to watch the others stand up against him. Soon the gang headed to the van and Luna was not about to be left behind. She jumped down from her spot on the railing, landing on the ground and regretting jumping. Luna didn't really get hurt but landing was a problem that she needed to work on. Yeah, she was a cat but when your locked in a small room, there isn't much to climb or jump off. Luna ran over to the van and climbed in the back. She didn't think about how odd it was to the bystanders outside that a group of teens (who just killed/ran from some scientists with guns) were making a getaway in a stolen van. What she was thinking about was she hoped the others didn't mind her sudden apearance. Really, she just wanted to get far from that ghetto.

Luna was amazed at what Syn had just done. From her spot in the back seat she saw the van go up in a blazing infirno as it had gotten to close for Luna's comfort. When Syn had returned to the van, Luna saw she was in pain. Mabye not much, but she wasn't about to let that get in the way. "Are you ok?" she asked. She ducked her head a little in case Syn made a lunge for her. How horrible, you might think, but it really was a reflex from being swung at in the labs.

Luna was greatful for Kato giving her the items but she wondered why. She had her own backpack and food so why? She wasnt about to argue though. She placed the water in her bag but opened the chips. "Thanks".

Luna saw the whole thing and was even more terrified by Dark. And she thought Haley was going on a suicide mission when she jumped out to confront Dark. "Be careful" she sqeacked. Dark was one person she couldnt understand. Why did he enjoy killing so much?

"No worries," Haley said, actually smiling this time. She shifted one of her wings ever so slightly and was immediately propelled up into the air. The surge of wind under her wings felt amazing, but she knew she had to get back to the van. As gently and as gracefully as she could, Haley landed on the roof of the van and pulled her wings in. It wasn't until then that she realized how careless she had been about hiding the fact that she was from the lab, but there weren't too many other cars around so maybe no one had noticed. She swung down through the window into her seat and took a big gulp of the water Kato had given her. "Where are we going anyways?" She asked.

She hoped Dark realized that jumping up onto the roof of the van would make everyone even more uneasy about his return, but it was too late to tell him.

"Sure, i'm fine with that". Luna was somewhat uneasy about Dark just coming right back in but when he pulled out one of his knifes, she didn't dare say a word. Instead she took a sip of water.

"Sounds good, what's there?" Haley asked. She had spent the majority of her time out of the lab in the mountains and the woods. The first town she went to was the one where she met up with the rest of the gang. She preferred flying, but it didn't really seem like an option so she sat back in her seat and watched as the world flew by out the window.

She could tell Kato was uneasy about her fragile bond with Dark, and walked a little closer to him once Dark was out of earshot. She put a hand on his shoulder and put her mouth right next to Kato's ear. "We're a team," she whispered so no one else could hear, "and Dark's never going to trust us if we don't put any trust in him." Haley looked right into Kato's eyes for a moment then backed up and smiled, "see you all tonight" she said. With that Haley ran straight for the woods. The job could wait, she needed to clear her head first. Once under the cover of the woods she snapped her wings out and took to the skies. The town was lovely from so high up. There was a little town square with some shops and houses, and a couple farms scattered around the outside. A farm would be a nice place to work.

She circled the town one more time before landing in the woods just outside the farm. A boy who looked no older than she did drove down the dirt road in am old beat up blue truck. He slowed down when he saw her walking along the edge of the woods and leaned out the window. "You headin' in to the farm? I could give you a ride if you want" He said, motioning for her to get in. The last thing Haley wanted was to get back in a car, especially with a complete stranger, but he might be the best way to get a job. "My names Tyler," the boy said as she climbed up into the passenger's seat, "I bet you're new here."

When Kato said that to her, Luna felt happy. She even smiled for the first time in a while. "Thanks Kato" she said softly. This gave her curage and she jumped out of the van and started to walk off. "See you all tonight" she called back over her shoulder.

Luna had started walking in a different direction than the others. She was just miandering, looking at shop windows and houses when she spotted a kid. He was sitting on a stump in an abandoned playground crying. Luna began walking over to him even before she new what she was going to say, if anything at all. "Why are you crying?" She asked politly. Theboy looked up. "Nothing" he stuttered, wipeing tears from his face. "It couldnt be nothing if you are crying" she said imedietly. He sniffled and looked up. "Some boys have been picking on me" he behan. "I told them to stop but they wouldnt, and now they pick on anyome close to me!" He said rather terrifyingly. "All my so called friends have ran away!" At this he began crying agian. "Tell you what" Luna started. "Ill be your friend, how does that sound?" She knew this was alotto hopefor, knowingshe'll be leaving tonight but still it made her angry and sad that this kid had no frinds. "You would?!?!!" He saidin alarm. "Definently" i said back witha smile. "Well... come with me!" He grabbed my arm amd we went running down the road.