Rooke's Story

All was safe or at least for the moment. Alek hadn't gone far, she was still within hearing distance of her flock as she patrolled the outer perimeter of the house they were currently squatting in.
She listened as Puki and Rook moved around. Two up and most likely more to follow soon. Alek's currently visible tail flicked anxiously; they needed to leave soon. Moving was key to staying away from the School. With a sigh she silently trotted back, jumped onto a lower portion on the roof landing silently, and slid back in. Time to check on her family.
She moved like a shadow through the house. Most were still sleeping even if it was restless. Then she made her way to the kitchen where Puki and Rook were. She ruffled Rook's hair and then rubbed her cheeks to Puki's. "Everything alright?" She asked as her black, white, and orange tail gently swayed back and forth.
She debated making some food that they still had but decided to wait for everyone else wake up.

Tyson, who had gone out before first light for a night climb, sat quietly and motionless as he watched Alek and the house. From three quarters up a tree just far enough away to we he could see everything yet remain hidden. He climb back to the house and in through his open window. He quietly closed it behind him before letting out a quick sigh when he notice the noise in the kitchen. "Great. Everyone is up. Guess its time." he whispered to himself. Walking into the kitchen dressed in slightly dirty, sweaty green t-shirt and athletic short. "Morning all. Addy, you got to stop falling out off bed. We got enough problems without you getting hurt just getting out of bed." He said in a scolding tone. He really does love everyone but as the oldest guy he sees himself as the "father" of this family. And in keeping with that he will protect them even if it means they all hate him, at less they will be safe. The other thing is, the idea of her falling out of bed and getting hurt the same morning the erasers find them. Tyson has no issue with fighting till death to protect them but it would be better if they weren't hurt from something so stupidly childish as falling out off the bed. It doesn't help that his whole childhood he can remember was spent at the school so he never had such problems. "Puki, did you make sure they were mixed right? We need good healthy food and resources are very tight right now." Again just being the overly protective father. He then laid on the floor to start his morning sit-ups. "Hey birdboy. Mind giving me a hand and hold my feet?" It was an attempt at humor whether or not it was taken as such. He was also trying to connect with the boy the only way he knew how, exercise. looking over at Alek, "Why do you have to toy with the boy? He should be getting himself ready. You never know what's going to happen today. By the way, nice patrol this morning. I thought you had me a few times." He almost gave her a smile but he was careful not to. Besides, what he said about the boy was true, they already lost Alicia and will ALWAYS be hunted. Like with him, this life was no time for a fun childhood, it was time to train and prepare.

"You guys are no fun!" Addy teased, she loved teasing and being lighthearted with the others to make up for their current situation. She had always been one of the ones that never took anything too seriously, the others probably criticiszed her for it, but to her it was a coping mechanism. She never wanted to think about the possibility of anything going wrong so she just shoved it in the back of her mind. At the sound of Tyson's voice Addy turned to him, she had always been slightly afraid of him ever since she joined the group but she knew or more hoped that deep down inside he was a complete teddy bear. She flinched slightly at the scolding, she had never liked being in trouble before, "Sorry, I'll try to be more careful" she mumbled turning back towards the table.

She watched Rooke, Tyson, and Alek. She never herself had much felt like a fighter before, and just the thought of even having to fight terrified her. She sighed and turned back to face Puki who was still busying herself with the pancakes.

Without much room to move, Alek ended only doing some stretches, side planks, and finger push-ups. She didn't particularly feel like sweating more than she had too since she just changed into relatively clean clothes. Once finished, she looked to her flock and ordered, "Alright, Puki made breakfast everyone else set the table. We aren't a bunch of animals." She grinned with an animalistic glint in her eyes as her vulpine fangs gleamed mischievously at everyone. Within seconds of descending, her teeth retracted to their normal human bluntness. With grace only obtained by someone that had spend years perfecting, Alek moved to a nearby cabinet and started pulling plates to be passed off.

Addy turned to Alek and just the thought of food made her stomach rumble. She got up from the table and accepted the plates from Rooke, raising and eyebrow at his innocent smile, she gave him a small look which said, I'm watching you mister... and turned back to the table. She arranged the half of the plates that se was given neatly around the table and grabbed the forks from the drawer setting one next to each plate. She walked over to the refrigerator and opened it turning over her shoulder, "We have milk, orange juice, or if you're feeling like a Plain Jane we also have water" she said grabbing the carton of orange juice and setting it on the counter for herself.

Tyson jumps up after finishing his workout. "Funny fox. By who out foxed the fox?" He let slip a small playful yet cocky smile, which he quickly caught and went back to his normal emotionless expression. Turning to Rooke, "Nice workout thanks kid." He always did enjoy having some one help him even when he didn't need it and it was also nice having Alek workout with him. Tyson had always seen her as more of the Alpha then he was, and next to Alicia, there was no one better suited to be. Unfortunately that meant two things for him; first, he had to be careful of how familiar he got with her. Its the Alphas choose in what kind of relationship she has with who, till she says other wise, she is the Alpha period. Second that meant his priorities as far as protecting the family goes, Alek the Alpha, then Rooke the youngest, Addy the young, Synxa the middle and lastly Puki the eldest. Of course this could all change if the Alpha wished it. The other reason he has a problem connecting with everyone, why he is so careful of his emotions is the girls all remind him of his younger sister in some way. She would be so proud of Alek's leadership, Synxa attention to her looks, Rooke's playfulness, but most importantly his sister would have been all over Puki and Addy. Who knows, if it had been her who lived, maybe she could help Puki sleep and Addy not fall out of bed. That last thought stopped Tyson in his tracks as he was about to sit at the table. A small hurting smile came over him and half sat half fell into his seat. Sitting at the table, still with the hurting smile, he stared at his plate as if some one was staring back at him.

With a smile at how smoothly everything was going, Alek passed the last off to Rooke with a quick ruffle of his hair. She turned to observe the flow of the kitchen. Everyone, for the most part, appeared content and it was her job to keep it that way. Her mind moved through thoughts like a hummingbird's wings. In all honesty Alek doesn't know when she became the leader of her flock, it kind of just happened one day. She takes her job seriously, but it causes her to internally panic more times than she'd like to admit. She pushed her insecure feelings aside to think about the next move, what are they going to do? She knew they needed to move on, staying in one place was too dangerous, but to where? It wasn't like she had the world mapped out perfectly in her head. Hell she barely knew where they were. She'd figure out of this place had a computer/internet before freaking out anymore. Step one, she at least had that.
Pushing off the counter with cups in her hand, she squeezed Addy's shoulder as she passed. "I'll have water please." She requested from the girl taking drink orders. She placed the cups in the center of the table and then made her way to a seat. As Rooke asked, "Tyson, are you okay? Did you think about something sad?" Alek's hand gently but firmly cupped around the back of Tyson's neck and stroked it with her thumb. She didn't know why she was so touchy when it came to praises and reassuring gestures, it wasn't like foxes were known for it. She'll blame it on her human side (which is her dominant DNA). With a gently squeeze, she moved on to where she was going to sit and plopped down ready to eat.

Still lost in thought about how great his sister would have been for this group, he did not hear Rooke. It wasn't till Alek touch his neck that he start to come around again. Instinctively as she stroked the back of his neck, he lowered and tilted his head away like a cat or dog who wants you to keep petting them would. As he snaps out of his day dream he noticed that he had been out of it for a little while and that he had shown a sign of emotion, or in his mind weakness around the others. Returning to his normal emotionless expression, "Excuse me. Puki, the pancakes smell good. Please, eat up everyone. Its not every morning we get such a nice breakfast." And with that he stood, pushed in his chair, and walked out the door making sure to close it behind him. Through the window they could see him jump and swing around one of the porch post as he climbs to the roof. Once at the highest point of the roof Tyson sits down and to himself, "The whitecoats were right. You are weak, to show such weakness in front of the others like that. If you were still at the school they would have you put down or worse for that. Maybe it really would have been better if she were here instead of you. For that matter even he would be better then you. How is an Alpha going to have any need of some one who falls apart so easy. No get back down there and eat." but no matter how much he tried, he just could not force himself to go back to the table, to face them after being so weak in front of them. The thought of exiling himself crossed his mind. They would need everyone at their best and cant afford some one as weak as him. Beside as an exile he could better track any erasers who are following and either attack them or at less try to trick them into following him.

Addy rolled her eyes and Rooke's remark about the water, but it smiled as Alek politely asked for a glass. She quietly poured two glasses of water and her glass of orange juice tuning into the conversation about Tyson as she did. She frowned slightly as she listened to the obvious worry and discomfort in the room, the snake side coming out in her, as she could practically taste the emotion in the room. She caught her distracted self and quickly tipped the water up before overflowing the glass and making a huge mess. She grabbed the glasses and turned around just as Tyson left the room. She stood there awkwardly for a second and held out the glasses to Rooke and Alek, "Um, here's your waters" She said quietly, and quickly sat down ate the table.

"This does look delicious. You're the best, Puki." Alek grinned although her eyes watched Tyson leave and climb to the roof. She added extra pancakes to her plate, set aside to be packed for later. She knew Tyson would be hungry and probably say nothing, she wasn't stupid he was growing boy.
She ate silently most of her plate before an idea hatched in her head. She stood, opened the door, and called up. "Ty, be awesome and see if there's a computer in the house with internet. If there is look up large cities nearby. Thanks." She didn't give him time to answer before heading back inside and eating the rest of her meal. "Rooke, we'll look through the book on our way to our next destination. You can read to me to pass the time. After we're done here, we're cleaning up everything because we aren't slobs. Everyone got it?" She pointed her fork at each person around the table, then twirled it before stabbing another piece of pancake. She hummed as the fluffy pancake melted in her mouth. Cleaning up the house would give her time to think through her next moves once they found somewhere to go.

Tyson quickly pushed off and let himself slide down and over the edge of the roof. Were he reach back, grabbed the edge and let himself swing for a moment before dropping to the porch. He calmly walked back inside closing the door behind him and headed to the table. Once there grabbed Rooke water and pretended to drink some well giving him a playful wink. This of cource was his way of trying to be more "fun" and to mask his true feelings. After setting the glass back down in front of Rooke he grabbed Alek's water and walked toward the rest of the house to look for the computer. "Sure no problem miss fox boss lady. Oh and thanks for the drink... Addy." Now thinking he is trying to hard he continued to walk off take a drink from her glass. It wasn't long before he found a desktop in the back office/study area. Now came the real problem, how to logon, this one was password protected and the hint didn't really help. "Great! Found one! Give me some time to figure out the password though!" He shouted back towards the others. Tyson figured that he alone would never crack it, but if he had help or if the password was written down some were in the room it would be no problem. So he started carefully searching the room.

Because she was nearly an adult, Alek narrowed her eyes and playfully stuck out her tongue when Tyson stole her water. She could tell that he was trying a little too hard to interact with everyone, but she didn't mind. At least he was trying. Forking the last of her meal, she watched Rooke start the dishes. "Excellent breakfast Puki, you're the best." As she brought her plate to the counter, she ruffled Puki's hair. Before relinquishing her plate to the soapy water, Alek found a Tupperware container and placed the three pancakes she reserved for Tyson in it. "Thank you, Little Sparrow." She rubbed her cheek to his as she placed her plate in the water. "Addy and Synxa would you mind packing water and some food? Not a lot because we have to carry them, but enough just in case? Greatly appreciated." Her eyes tracked Rooke as he disappeared to the room he had slept in. "Unless one of you learned anything from Alicia about breaking into computers, then that takes priority. Puki, if you could think of some essentials we'll need, please start packing them. I'm going to help Tyson find the password. Thanks guys." She smiled before heading to the room Tyson had placed his things. After putting the Tupperware on top of his bag, she wandered passed the study, saying "I'll check the master bedroom."
The room wasn't large, but it was bigger than the other two bedrooms. It looked lived in, full of life. Tapping her finger on her arm, Alek decided on the tables next to the bed. There were a few books (she took one that sounded interesting), pills, tissues, and other random things in them but nothing that would give away a password. Unsatisfied with those, she made her way to the bureau. Unlike the side tables, this piece of furniture was scattered with things from photos and perfume, to jewelry and notes. After sifting through the notes (which were boring reminders) she started pilfering different pieces of jewelry; some to keep, others to pawn off. If it would fit in her pocket easily, there it went. She didn't take all of it, but enough to ensure a decent cash in.
Having enough gold, silver, and jewels in her pocket, she picked up a picture of the happy family. It was a young couple, probably a few years older than herself. They were so happy and carefree. Her eyes narrowed at the security the couple felt. Something she and her flock may never have. She had the urge to smash the perfect couple's picture to pieces but thought better of it. Instead she flicked it behind her and listened to it land on the bed. Whatever, that life seemed boring anyway running for your life was the way to go. Continuing on her mission, she started going through the drawers which yielded nothing but clothes. She moved through the room finding nothing about a password. Before heading to the study, Alek took some makeup for Synxa and then walked to where her flock mates were. "Bedroom yielded nothing in the password department, but they left some clothes behind and a few other things. Where haven't you checked?"

Addy dug into her pancakes the second she was sure everyone was fine. She savored every bite seeing to how she wasn't sure when she'd get to eat pancakes again. She watched Tyson as he came back and forth between the rooms, giggling slightly when he tried to steal Rooke's water and then moved on to Aleks. She let her eyes stray to the picture book that Alek had given Rooke smiling slightly as the memories flashed and danced across her thoughts. She couldn't imagine or even fathom loosing any of them, Alicia was difficult for her, but she knew it probably effected Alek the most out of all of them. She was too lost in her thoughts to even notice that she had finished her pancakes, she mumbled a small thank you to Puki for the delicious meal and another to Rooke as he took her plate to wash it.

"Sure thing" She replied to Alek as she got up from the table and opened the fridge grabbing a handful of waters and a couple of bottles of juice. With her arms full she carried them down the hall and out into her temporary room. She set the bottles on the bed and drug out her bag from under the bed, putting all of the bottles inside. She still had room to pack her small closet of clothes, her necessities, and a small charm bracelet that had become one of her most prized possessions. She careful placed it in one of the side pockets and zipped her bag up dragging it to the edge of the doorway. She went back in just to rummage through the room and settled on taking a small quilted blanket that she had found in the closet, she didn't think that they would miss it anyway.

She lugged her bag and quilt out to the front door of the house ready for when they were going to head off.

"Oh cleaver. A note hidden all but the corner of it under the monitor. Give me a second to logon." Tyson had decided to search around the computer desk again when he notice something sticking out from under the monitor. It didn't take him long to logon and pull up a map of the area. He looked at Alek then at Rooke then back at Alek, "Be right back." He got up and walked to the other room were his bag was. After rummaging through it for a moment he pulled out a small object and then rejoined Rooke and Alek in the computer room. He walked over to Rooke, "I got something for you. I was going to wait till you were older but I think now is as good of a time as any. I had a friend back at the school, a very close friend, who made this for me, but I want you to have it." He softly took Rooke's wrist and twisted it till his palm was up. Then he placed the object in Rooke's open hand, using the heel of his hand curled Rooke's fingers over the object. It was light, oddly shaped and felt slightly ruff. "My friend told me, that with this Bear totem I would have the strength and fearlessness of the bear. That it would proved the strength and power I need to get through anything. I want you to have it, so it may bring you strength and luck. Just promise that you will keep that with you at all times. And thanks kid. You mind if Alek and I had the room for a moment. I promise we will be out soon." He couldn't bring him self to tell Rooke that the rock, which half had a carving of a bear head and the other half left untouched, was made by his brother.

Alek chuckled when Rooke muttered to himself about the password being in an obvious spot. Truly, it was pretty obvious and how they didn't find it sooner was silly of them. She leaned and watched as Ty left to get something and Rooke's face change as he looked at the map and how large the world was. Sometimes she forgets that the world actually is large when all she's known is to run yet never run far enough. No matter where they went, it always seemed like the school was right behind them. Maybe the world wasn't as large as the maps made it appear to be.

As Ty walked back in, Alek's amber eyes shot up to him and watched as he gave the younger boy a carved rock. She strained a little to see what it was and gave a soft smile at the bear totem. It was well carved. She had a feeling someone perhaps more important to Ty than the flock had made it. They were all someone else once, thus she tried not to take the flock being placed second to heart. When Ty asked if Rooke could leave the room for a moment, Alek's left eyebrow quirked in questioning. Once the sparrow ran off after hugging the older boy she asked, "What's up, Ty?" She pushed off the door jam to stand in front of him, fingers hooked in her front pockets and head slightly cocked to the side.

Addy's eyes flicked up to Synxa as she heard her name. "You look amazing!" She exclaimed, smiling brightly, she had always thought Synxa's makeup was beautiful. She knew that most other girls her age started wearing and painting their faces, but she had never had the chance to try it out. "It always looks wonderful Synxa, you never have to worry!" she said cheerily.

When she heard her name being yelled by Rooke she stepped into the hallway and almost got bulldozed by him. His face was lit up with excitement, and in his hand he was holding a small bear totem necklace. "Wow, it's so cool!" She said, examining the necklace in his hands slightly running her fingers over the carved wood. She pulled away and touched her own charm bracelet, losing herself in her thoughts for a moment before jumping back to reality. "I knew he always had a soft spot for you" She said with a toothy grin poking him in the chest.

Tyson couldn't look Alek in the eyes as she stood there waiting for him to answer. How could he, with what he was about to say, who knows how she will react. He took a few steps back and started to nervously pace the room, just as nervously and with ever increasing difficulty, "What I'm about to say cant leave this room. I...we...me and Alicia...we had some secrets we were going to keep... but givin our situation..." He sighed "I'm not like the rest of you. I... I'm...I'm.." He gave a heavy sigh and closed his eyes as he said, "Alek. I'm an eraser..." He slowly opened his eyes and gave her a scared, shameful, worried look, "By that I mean, that's what they wanted me to be... Me and my brother. My real brother, my twin, the one who carved the bear I gave to Rooke." He fell to his knees like a man kneeling at the chopping block. "The day before we escaped... my family died. My beautiful, kind, innocent young sister, and my twin brother..." He then went quiet and closed his eyes like a man about to die.

Alek was pretty relaxed until the word eraser was spoke. Within seconds her body locked up and fur puffed out. The automatic response was beyond her control, she appeared bigger (thus the purpose of puffing out), her needle like fangs dropped, breathing slowled but became deeper, and her slitter pupils dilated to take in everything.

Although she was 100% ready to fight any threats her way, Alek had been taught to listen even when threatened. She listened as Tyson fell apart in front if her. Honesty she was not only annoyed but pissed off no one had given her a heads up early. She had been living with him for over a year! If anything, Alicia should have told her just in case something happened. Case in point, she was kidnapped and they were left on their own. Good going Alicia...

Taking a deep breath she forced herself to calm down. One of the few things positive about her wonderful time at the school, she did learn control. Had to really I'm her line of work (assassination and stealing). Getting control over herself, she dropped in front of Tyson after he had finished about the unfortunate events regarding his biological siblings.

She thought a moment before creeping closer and hooking her finger under his chin to make sure his eyes looked into hers. "It's a tragedy you had to go through that, I don't know how losing a sibling feels but I offer you my condolences. However, if I find out that you are secretly working for The School and are still an eraser I promise you I will eviscerate you. I will do anything to protect our flock even if it means killing you.

"That being said," Alek's eyes softened while she removed her finger from his chin and started carding them through his short hair. "You are still part of this flock, this weird yet wonderful family. I will stand by you and protect you just like everyone else. You were designed to be a killer, to hunt us down... that doesn't mean you have to. We were all in some way created to do so. Hell I'm supposed to be an assassin." She grinned, trying to ease some tension. "We're family, no matter what you were supposed to be. Free will is a wonderful and terrible privelage, keep being you." She gave him a tight hug before looking towards the door startled. Rooke ran by yelling something before taking to the air.

With a groan, Alek rubbed her forehead. "This flock sometimes. PUKI! Can you make sure Rooke doesn't get lost or introuble, please?" She looked back down at Tyson with a grin. "Don't worry anymore, you can tell the rest when you're ready or not at all. I'm here either way. Now," She stood up and offered a hand. "Let's find our next destination."

Tyson smiled as he listened to Alek explain how she would protect the flock no matter what and about how much she would support him. He took her hand and stood up. In a happy voice, which was rare for him, "Alek. You and the others are as much my family as my sister and brother ever were. Its the reason I am the way I am around all of you. Its the reason I acted the way I did this morning, you all remind me of them so much. I swear on my life I will do ANY... thing to protect you and the flock. Alek, you are my Alpha. Your will is my will, my life is yours. That's an other reason I am trying to connect with the others, because it is how you are. I promise to do as you say from this moment on, my Alpha. I will protect you and our family with my life. As far as the school goes... I want to see that place burn to the ground. And if you command it I will gladly do so. In the mean time, I will help you find our next destination." Turning to the computer which still had the map of the area up, he quickly search the area. He found a city, a small town and... a hunting camp. Tyson quickly pulled up a search of the hunting camp and city to find out if they would be ok. Turns out that the hunting camp belongs to a paramilitary group that don't take kindly to outsiders and the city just got all new security systems put in. "Alek, we got a problem... There is a group in the mountains not to far away and they don't like outsiders. I can only imagine what a group like that would do to us. And the only nearby city just got a security upgrade thanks to a generous donation from our favorite group. I think if we can keep a low profile we maybe ok but it will be hard to stay hidden or see danger coming... Speaking of which... were is Rooke going?"

He turned to the door, he hated people going off on their own, unless it was himself of course. Tyson hurried out the room heading for the front door. "Synxa, beautiful, can you keep an eye on Alek for me. Addy can you make sure every thing is ready to go by the front door? And Puki, your with me. We're going to get Rooke." he said this as he passed each of them and grabbed his bag on his way out the door. Once outside he swung he bag onto his back and leaped climbing up the nearest tree. He looked back to make sure Puki was following and was going to be able to keep pace.

Alpha. That was a strange word to be finally verbalized. Alek knew, to some degree, that Tyson had probably seen her as his leader (Alpha) after Alicia died. He, like everyone else in the flock, followed her with very little questioning involved. They followed her to this isolated, no one around for miles house. Seriously, they should have had some say. She understood that it was safe for the time being, but really they knew nothing about the area... which apparently had a hunter's camp right next door. Wonderful, the day keeps getting better.

With a sigh, she continued looking into the city and camp as Tyson went in search for their lost sparrow. She's going to have to give everyone the Buddy System talk. That'll be number seven on her list of things to do. "Shit." She muttered looking into everything known about the hunter's camp. Up side they were all humans. No genetically modified part animal part human hybrids or erasers. Always a plus. However, they were quite terrifying to read about. They didn't follow the government, they were radical, and they didn't give a shit about anyone but themselves. If you are trespassing, even if it was an accident, they appear to shoot first and ask questions later.

Leaning back in her chair while rubbing her eyes, Alek thought out a plan. They needed to get out of here. First, find Rooke and possibly save him. Could be easy if they didn't care about showing off their unique alterations to their genetic code. Which would make hiding from The School harder. Hopefully Rooke was fine and Tyson and Puki would get to him before the hunter's did. Not her immediate problem at the moment. She trusted her flock mates to either take care of the problem or call for help. Next, figure out what to do once everyone was together. They needed to stay under the radar once near and in the city. Slipping in was their best choice meaning they couldn't show any of their... gifts. She mentally noted to make sure to tell everyone not to show their wings, tails, ears, extreme climbing abilities, etc. Anything that a normal human couldn't do, they needed to hide. IF things went well and they found Rooke unharmed (she doubted that because the world didn't seem to favor them) she would send him, Tyson, Addy, and Puki to find somewhere to live while in the city. She and Synax would hit the underground, make friends with the runaways, transients, and homeless. They were always good people to know. They knew the city the best and in a pinch could probably help them escape or hide.

Memorizing every route between the house and the city, she shut down the computer and looked around one last time before heading downstairs to where Addy and Synax were. With her bag slung over her shoulders, she watched as the two younger girls moved around to finish packing. "I going to wait just outside the back door in case there's a call for help. If you need me for anything let me know. Thank you." She smiled and walked out the door, leaving it open for easy access.