As the rush of kids filing out of the school began to slow to a crawl Ashley sighed. Number Four was nowhere in sight and she was beginning to question her assumption. "Maybe I was wrong. But if he's not going to school, what's he doing?"
Number Six stood up from the windowsill and stretched as she racked her brain for her next move, but something pulled her back to the window, and within a few seconds she'd spot a familiar face. Her heart skipped a beat as she ducked down. It was him, for the first time she had finally laid eyes on another Loric.
Ashley would quickly grab her bag from off a nearby table and make her way towards the library's back exit - instantly going invisible before opening the door.
Keeping pace with Number Four and his friend Ashley would walk only a few yards off to their side, but when the two stopped inside a grocery store she wouldn't follow them inside. Despite the heavy clouds the little town was buzzing with activity, and Ashley would have to wait a few minutes before she felt alone enough to reveal herself, seemingly out of thin air, in an alleyway next to the store. As she waited there Number Six pulled out her Samsung Galaxy Note and began to browse the net, and soon afterwards a voice would address her out of the blue.
"Uh, you waiting on someone or what?" A kid in an apron asked, as he threw a trash bag into a nearby dumpster. Ashley cursed herself in her head for being so careless and letting someone sneak up on her, but she managed to force a small smile onto her face and mutter a quick "no" before walking out from the alley.
As she shoved her phone in her pocket she'd noticed the supermarket door opening and quickly went invisible. Sure enough it was Number Four and the kid walking with him.
"How many fucking people does he live with?" she thought to herself as she noticed the amount of food they were carrying.
The two would eventually come to a stop a ways from the supermarket, and Ashley would back up until she was behind the body of a massive oak tree and reveal herself. Her invisibility was draining, and while it was a slow drain that wasn't easily depleted she still felt a relief from briefly revealing herself behind the tree as she listened to the two boys talk.
""Sam..., leave the bags with me and go home. Someone is watching us....." was all she needed to hear to go invisible again and quickly climb a few branches up into the tree - disturbing a few birds in the process.
"Shit!" she thought to herself, as she glimpsed the boy who she now assumed was Sam walking away.
Watching as Number Four entered his house Ashley paid close attention to the dog with him, who seemed to be much more keen on her presence than Number Four himself.
"A Chimera..." she whispered aloud, suddenly curious to know if Number Four was aware of what exactly his companion could turn into. Her thoughts were quickly interrupted by the two coming back outside and hoping into a car. Ashley jumped down from the tree in anticipation of him taking off, but at the speed in which he took off there was no way she could keep up with him, so as the car turned the corner off the dirt road Ashley would reveal herself and sigh.
"Where is he in such a rush to anyways!" she spat while kicking the dirt with her black combat boots.
Frustrated Ashley would flounce down on the house's front step, rest her elbows on her knees and her chin in her hand.
Hoping he'd only be gone for a short while she decided to sit and wait, but after 20 minutes or so she'd stand up and stretch - determined to track down his car.
Ashley had walked only a few yards down the dirt road before she felt eyes on her back and came to a stop. Call it a sixth sense but she knew she was being focused on, she could feel it.
"What do you want?" she called out without turning around. There would be several seconds of silence before a voice finally responded to her.
"Well this is quite unexpected, two for the price of one - as they say here right?."
Her heart sunk as she realized who she was talking to, and as she slowly turned around she came face to face with three Mogs - one holding the boy she knew as Sam by the back of his collar.
Instead of showing fear though a cocky smile formed on her face as she narrowed her eyes at the Mog who was clearly the leader of the bunch.
"Number Six, is it? Yes, Number Six, you easily gave yourself away."
He spoke in an awkwardly accented English as he pointed to the marks on her leg, which were clearly visible thanks to the black short jumpsuit she was wearing underneath a thin jean jacket.
"Well I figured you idiots might need a little help tracking me down, so why not show some leg?"
The cheesy grins on the Mogs faces dropped instantly after being called idiots, and the apparent leader of the pack took a couple steps towards her - pointing backwards towards Sam. "This boy here, you want him to live yes? Then you should consider helping us, for your death is inevitable but his doesn't have to be."
The threat fell on deaf ears. Ashley knew they couldn't kill her, and she'd be damned if they'd take her without a fight.
"You wish big boy."
Immediately after she spoke Number Six went invisible and pulled a small dagger out of her pocket. Within seconds she was behind the leader of the three of Mogs and stabbed him in his gut. She knew the weak blade she had wouldn't kill him but it was enough to cause him to drop his weapon, which she quickly picked up. In what felt like an eternity but was actually mere seconds, Ashley went invisible again, ran up to the Mog holding Sam by the collar and revealed herself just to shoot him in the head - instantly turning him to dust.
"Come on, run!" she yelled to the boy as she grabbed his hand and pulled him behind a tree, giving the Mog she stabbed enough time to limp back to his feet. He was hurt, but the other one quickly made his way towards the tree and began firing. One of the bolts of energy from his gun brushed Ashley's bare thigh and caused her to bite down on her lip a bit before again going invisible. However, due to her energy draining, this time her invisibility wasn't full proof, there were cracks that gave away her position and the Mog was again able to aim at her, but before he could fire she'd reveal herself and fire directly at his chest - knocking him back into the ground.
With both the remaining Mogs injured Number Six quickly turned to Sam and told him to follow her, and off into the woods both would go. She could tell the Mogs were following them for a short while, but as they continued through trees she sensed them eventually pulling back - likely to regroup.
After running for several minutes the two finally broke through the woods and into the back parking-lot of a local restaurant that looked vaguely familiar.
"Come on, my car isn't far from here."
In the hour or so since school had let out it had gotten markedly gloomier out, and even though it wasn't evening yet a few street lights had popped on from the heavy cloud cover, including the one directly beside her Chevelle - which was a much welcomed sight.
Ashley threw her backpack into the back seat before flouncing down into the driver seat and shutting her door. Once Sam closed the passenger's door she'd start up the car and just sit there for a moment, going over what had just happened in her head.
"So uh, are you Number Six, or Five?" Sam suddenly spoke up, seemingly as excited as he was nervous. "I-I don't know how this number things work but-"
Annoyed with his rambling, Ashley cut Sam off and completely ignored his question. "Where is Number Four?"
"Uh, I don't know but-"
"Don't you have a phone? Call him! And tell him to meet you by the Welcome sign, say it's an emergency and that's it."
It was about a ten minute drive to the Welcome to Paradise road sign, which was surrounded by a prairie on both sides. Like she had assumed the road leading into and out of town was completely empty, so after shutting her cars engine off she'd step out onto the road.
The temperature had dropped several degrees but to her the cool breeze felt nice against her legs, and as she looked down at her thigh she was surprised to see that the wound there had healed quite a bit already - appearing more as a red bruise than an open wound. Regeneration was a somewhat new legacy for her so she was still taken a back by how quickly she healed in comparison to others.
"Stay by the car" she'd blurt out to Sam, before wandering off into the tall grass.
Once several yards or so away from the car she'd pull out her phone and take a picture of the field in front of her. She had always hated the idea of traveling around, but she couldn't help but enjoy seeing new places, and over the last year she had begun to take pictures of indistinguishable locations, and despite the darkening skies the prairie just outside of Paradise still made for a pretty shot.
After several minutes of hearing nothing but the breeze Ashley would hear a car approaching them and turn to see who it was. Through the thick tall grass she'd spot a car that appeared similar to the car Number Four had left his house in, and as it came to a stop behind her and Sam walked over to it pointing in her direction, Ashley would stand - stone faced.