Welcome to Gaia! ::

Waking up again was hell. I was in agony. Clearly my sensory processors were completely acting up, going haywire in the… I wanted to punch myself, already thinking like I was a robot, not a person. I may have been made of metal, but I was a person, with feelings, and deserved to be treated so. Voices swirled around me, but I wasn’t deciphering the words. It was all meaningless noise, adding to the storm of distractions spinning through my brain. I forced my eyes open, immediately regretting it. I was strapped to another table, this time practically standing. People were swarming around me, faceless scientists. Most of my skin had been pulled back or removed, and roughly three different people were modifying different parts of me. It was terrifying.
“Systems are spiking, power is increasing beyond recommended!” A voice rang out, a woman’s voice. One of them, standing near me, let out a string of curse words. A zap ran through me, making me jerk, and the scientists touching me jumped back, obviously affected by the shock as well.
“Something’s wrong! System should be inactive!” One man yelled, panicking. I was overcome with rage. Sparks were flying from my chest, and I wrenched forward with as much strength as I could muster. The metal clamps snapped with ease. I didn’t take the time to be surprised however, as I focused on getting out of there. A huge glass door spanned the other side of the room. Well, that was easy. I practically leaped across the entire space, shocked scientists barely having time to duck out of the way. I punched through the glass, high pitched alarms adding to the typhoon of noise surrounding me. I clapped my hands over my ears as I ran, rocketing down hallway after hallway. I had no clue where I was going, but I was determined to keep moving. More dead ends blocked my path than valid directions, and I was quickly getting frustrated. That was when I felt the pinch. It was a lot like what I imagined getting hit with a tranquilizer dart would feel like. There was the pinch, and I simply stopped moving. I couldn’t control my body at all. A moment later, I fell to the ground, my ‘muscles’ malfunctioning. I saw the pin in my arm, which did in fact look a lot like a dart, but sleeker, and completely unmarked. I could practically see electricity running from it down my circuits…
I momentarily forgot that, wondering at how easily I was now accepting what I was. My whole life had unraveled in twenty minutes, and here I was thinking of myself as a giant computer like I’d always known… Of course, in the situation I was in, I didn’t have much time for that thought to linger. I was caught.
Having fallen to the ground, I could only see the floor and wall in front of me. The sirens continued in the background, but seemed distant. A lone set of footsteps echoed through the hall around me. Soon enough, the person’s feet came into view. Unlike all the scientists I seen, this person was dressed casually. A long pair of jeans draped over a pair of fiery red sneakers that had stopped right in front of my face. A hand on my side, and I was flipped over, staring towards the ceiling. If I could’ve moved, my mouth would’ve dropped. In front of me was a girl, probably sixteen or seventeen. She had long, straight blond hair, riddled with red streaks, matching her bright red hoodie. She had violet eyes, narrowed into a glare to match her scowl perfectly. A sleek gun rested on her shoulder, blue lights running up and down it. Though I’d never seen it before, I knew exactly what it was. They called it the Shocker, and it was basically a hyped up tazer, capable of completely paralyzing the toughest of robots, and fatal to most humans. Knowing that, I really wanted to cringe. She seemed to analyze me for a moment, and then a childish grin broke out on her face. She pulled a walkie-talkie from her back pocket, and pressed the button.
“Daddy, I caught the broken toy.” She exclaimed, clearly pleased with herself. She rocked back on her heels a moment, before the walkie-talkie crackled with a response. I twitched involuntarily, the electric pulsing from the dart causing the unexpected reaction. The girl jumped back, bringing the gun to point at me. Once she saw it was a false alarm however, she giggled. It was clear that she was mentally disturbed, and I momentarily felt sorry for her. Then she spoke. “You’ve been a naughty toy. We have to fix you, then everything will be good again. Everyone will get to play!” She was smiling, and I could tell she really did only see me as a toy. Any further interaction was interrupted by the sound of running feet. She glanced down the hall, her grin getting bigger, if possible. Into view came yet another person, this one a young man in a rather military-like uniform. It was black, and consisted of a plain shirt, a vest, and pants tucked into a large pair of boots. The uniform was obviously altered a little to resist any damage robots could do, as I could see the extra support, and I knew exactly how it was made, just another one of those things that they’d put in my head. I’d have to remember to thank them later. The expression on his face was actually rather annoyed, which made me want to laugh. His hair was dark, matching his eyes, and was cropped into a flat top. He appeared to me to be the type of soldier that didn’t take orders well, and preferred doing things his own way. Then again, appearances can be deceiving.
“Elle, I’d prefer it if you didn’t stand so close. Get behind me please.” He stated, his words clipped and tense. I got the impression he didn’t like her much, which was supported by the evil look on her face. Barely a minute later I could hear a group of people pretty much marching down the hall. As expected, Dr. Shaeffer was the first to come into view. He looked smug almost, but there was an underlying trouble that leaked through his eyes. There was a group of scientists behind him, and a few soldiers, acting as a guard. These were obviously the important people, and I was clearly a threat, which made me really want to smile. One of the older scientists stepped forward, an analytical look on his face. After a few moments, he grunted, nodded, and turned to face the others. Dr. Shaeffer seemed pleased.
“Well, Hargess, do you know what’s malfunctioned?” He asked, his voice rather respectful. So maybe he wasn’t the head honcho. Either that, or he knew the people to suck up to.
“I believe it was a merging of systems. The artificial intelligence developed itself beyond what we imagined, and as self-preservation, bonded with the robotic systems, in an attempt to assure her survival. A side-effect, I believe, is that we are unable to wipe her memory for reset. Of course, that’s all theory… but considering the experience I’ve had with the programming, I’m positive that I’m right.” Dr. Hargess rambled, rather slowly, and I could practically see the younger scientists bubbling with impatience as the explanation went on. I really, desperately wanted to get up and punch them all in the faces. I wasn’t some kind of specimen! I was a person. I had feelings, I had opinions. So maybe they were the ones who created them, and me. But parents do the same when it comes to their kids. Dr. Shaeffer seemed to mull over the information for a moment, then looked to the soldier who’d arrived first.
“Sergeant Bates, transport this robot to holding cell three, then you are being assigned to perimeter defense for a few days, until a replacement is chosen.” I was surprised to hear that Dr. Shaeffer was also involved in the military aspect of the company, but clearly he wanted to be in complete control, so I shouldn’t have felt that way.
“Yes sir.” The sergeant stated, going to attention and saluting the doctor. Elle giggled, then skipped away down the hall, a bright spot of red in the blandness of the place. Dr. Shaeffer, his posse of scientists, and their guard soon followed (walking, not skipping,) which left me with Mr. Bates. He seemed to regard me warily for a moment, but not for any longer. I could feel the energy of the dart ebbing through me, and it was weakening. Just thinking about it, I knew that in only a few minutes I’d be able to move again. I was itching for that moment. Of course, that inching was quenched as the man put a slim pair of metal cuffs around my ankles, and I knew what they were. With humans, shackles are enough to keep a prisoner from attaining the ability to run away. Of course, with the power behind robots, it isn’t quite so simple. But, all it takes is a little research, and you can counter a robots ability to fight back. The cuffs generated their own power, much like I did, but their purpose was much different. Small electricity pulses assured that it never malfunctioned; waiting like starving mutts for the opportunity they needed to act. The pulses would gather, and as soon as their prisoner tried to move too quickly, they would pounce, coursing thousands of volts of electricity through it, paralyzing the unfortunate robot, and bringing unimaginable pain to those with senses. He wasn’t even giving me the chance to run. Likewise, he forced me up, propping me against the wall as he secured my arms behind my back with similar cuffs. Barely a minute after that, I could move again. It began with a few errant twitches, the remnants of electricity slow to wear off. My sensory reactors were tingling, much like pins and needles. Of course, as I fully regained movement, I fell to the floor, as being propped against the wall wasn’t exactly comfortable. I immediately did the only thing I could without being re-paralyzed. I spoke. And I was done being the weak little girl.
“Let me go.” I spat, my eyes narrowed into a glare that my friends used to call bone-chilling. I was always good at scaring people. Bates just smiled grimly.
“No can do. Mr. Shaeffer wants you contained, you are to be contained.” He replied, grabbing my left arm at the elbow and pulling me to my feet with surprising strength.
“So what, you get to go sit out on the perimeter? Get a lot of intruders? I’m guessing not. Is perimeter duty like the bathroom duty in convenience stores?” I replied, knowing full well that perimeter defense was a dreaded assignment at the company. Again, I’d have to thank them for all the information they gave me. Not to mention I was pretty much subconsciously hacking the company files as I spoke. As much as I dreaded being a robot, I couldn’t deny its helpfulness.
“I’ve got my orders, I follow them. Now follow yours and shut up.” He replied. It was clear that I’d gotten to him. I smiled as his file opened in my head. First thing I was hitting, his retired military father.
“That what daddy taught you?” I mocked, using an almost babyish voice. He glanced at me without turning his head.
“Got into the files already? You’re better than most. If you ask me, this whole robot business is nonsense. Still…” He seemed to reconsider speaking to me, and for the next few steps his mouth was shut in a hard line, until of course I spoke again.
“Of course, you know all about this place. Seven years working here, fresh out of high school. So what did you think you were getting into when you came? Think you would get to shoot a few guns, learn to fight without actually having to go war? Is that it? Didn’t want to follow daddy’s footsteps, but you wanted to make him proud. Pathetic.” I started off calm, but ended up spitting the last word out at him. I was losing my temper. I took a few breaths, attempting to calm down, knowing full well that I’d be able to think more rationally if I wasn’t so heated. He was clearly fighting his temper also. I choked back a laugh. “So much for military bearing.” I murmured, just loud enough for him to hear me. He reaction was some heavy breathing, and it was clear he was attempting to keep his cool. I decided to take a different tactic. “I’m a person you know. How can you put up with the imprisonment of innocents? You’re supposed to fight for the good…” I forced tears to my eyes, a practice I’d perfected, a brilliant advantage when in arguments, or when trying to torment someone. He seemed uncertain for a moment.
“You’re a robot. All of your feelings are artificial. You aren’t a person.” He replied in a gruff voice, and it was too obvious he wasn’t only speaking to me, he was reassuring himself.
“Just because my feelings were made by someone else doesn’t mean I don’t feel them.” I shot back, real tears forming. I was half considering trying to turn off my emotions, to embrace the true robot that I was. But I couldn’t. I was too hung up on being human. We walked in silence, until he pulled me to a stop in front of a heavy, but slim steel door. His grip on my arm lightened for a moment, as he pulled on a chain around his neck, revealing a security pass, which he scanned on a small screen aside the door. Almost immediately heavy clanking could be heard, as the gears and mechanisms in the door shifted and moved, pulling the door open. There was no way I was breaking out of that room. Not to mention, as the door opened, it revealed the space inside. The room was tiny, barely enough to be called a closet. It was practical. Anyone contained inside wouldn’t be able to get enough power or momentum behind their attempts to escape, even if they tried. It was a hopeless situation for me, I knew, and I couldn’t help but slump slightly in defeat. I could practically feel Sergeant Bates smirking behind me, as he pushed me into the cell. As the door slid shut behind me, I turned, a single tear streaking down my face, for one last glance at my current captor. He seemed startled at my look as the door clicked, a final thump echoing around me, making my hopes sink even lower. I slumped against the wall, sinking to the floor and finally ending up with my knees pulled against my chest, my chin resting on them. I forced back the chest-wracking sobs that threatened to spill through, determined to maintain at least part of my dignity. However, silent tears did run down my face, and I refused to look down at my body, as there were still many missing pieces of flesh, and many slices revealing my metal innards. They did too good a job of making me human, and I momentarily cursed them. But I did love life, and even if it was fake, the feeling of being human. I fell asleep pondering such inner contradictions.

I jolted awake as the door slid open once more, the clanging of the cogs and parts ringing in my ears. I was automatically in defense mode. I’d barely even noticed when Bates had removed my hand cuffs, I’d subconsciously curled up. Now I was ready to fight, though I still couldn’t run. My hands were clenched in fists in front of me, as I was in a defensive stance. However, I immediately gave that up when I saw the four Shockers aimed at me. I immediately lowered my arms, deciding not to risk getting shot. I knew they wouldn’t hesitate. Dr. Shaeffer was with them, his ever-present smug grin really making me want to hit him. I carefully checked my breathing, the only thing keeping my temper from flaring up. Then the thought struck me.

“Do I have to breathe to survive?” I asked, too curious to, for a moment, be defiant. I was genuinely wondering, and Shaeffer saw that. The smugness of his grin faded a little, and it was then that I could tell he was really passionate about the work he was doing, not only the money. We began walking, well, I was sort of being dragged, as he began to answer.

“Technically, you don’t normally. But we installed a system, that unless turned off, makes you breath. It’s an artificial effect, of course, and if you were to stop breathing, nothing would happen to you but the pain a normal human goes through when they can’t breathe, which, I must say, is rather painful.”

I took in the information silently, reminding myself not to purposely stop breathing. A range of other questions burst to mind, making me realize how little I knew about my own systems. All the data I had access to, and practically none of it was about myself. An old habit, I titled my head to the side as I pondered this fact.

“Why don’t I know anything about myself? I mean, I have all this knowledge about security and, well, most everything that I’d ever want to know, but I don’t know anything about my own systems.” My question was met with the empty echoes of our footsteps bouncing down the halls ahead of us. After a moment, I got my answer.

“You will soon.” For a second there, I thought I could detect a little feeling behind his words. Regret, maybe? But I only had to look at him to banish that thought. His eyes were cold, and his cruel smugness was clearly expressed on his face. I fought back the tears the seemed to press against the back of my eyes with minds of their own. I hated being so emotional. What was the point in making me so human anyway? The answer came to me immediately.

Project P.H. The project to create the perfect human, that isn’t human. Everyone dreams of a perfect kid, friend, coworker, lover. They were trying to make it. Part of this was creating something, me, as close to human as possible, to tell what they should, shouldn’t, could, couldn’t remove as part of it. They never planned to keep me around for long, they had a set idea in their minds, they just wanted to make sure it’d work. It was then that my hopes really plummeted. This was all planned. My shoulders probably slumped a little lower, my head was hung and I stared morosely at the floor. Our convoy stopped, and I heard the small tapping of a code being inputted to a wall panel, which opened the door in front of us with a soft swish. I was pushed in, the guards done with being gentle with me. I would’ve fought back, had I still cared, but I was wallowing in a deep pit of despair, though I knew that soon I wouldn’t feel it, wouldn’t have reason to, probably wouldn’t be able to. That just made me feel even worse. I was unresponsive as they strapped me against a straight board, my feet barely touching the ground, gravity pressing my arms against the cuffs holding me still. The men moving around me were faceless, blurs as I paid no attention. Their voices barely broke through my reverie.

“Sir, information upload being performed primary, system reset can be duo purpose.” This voice was very logical, void of emotion. I also got the impression that he was an overseer, and wouldn’t actually be working on me. There was a small click, probably a light turning on. That was the moment I decided to take a look around me.

The room was pretty crowded, close to twenty various people doing their various jobs. Most of the people were in the stereotypical long white lab coats, with clear goggles perched on their heads. I didn’t have much time to observe my surroundings, though, as there was a sharp pain behind my ears, which caused me to jump, straining against the restraints. My eyes went wide, and I was desperately trying to move. There was an increasing pain coursing through my mind. It felt like it was jamming itself into every nook and cranny of my brain, the pain making my eyes bulge, and my muscles strain. I fought back the urge to scream, determined not to let them see my suffering. My vision blurred out as streams of information dashed through my head, leaving my eyesight a mass of black text. It was soon over, however, and I fell back against the board, panting heavily, my head spinning. I was still responding as a human would. My head hung, hair shielding my face from view. That’s probably why the next events were missed by me.

There was a loud bang, the sound of the door, being blasted through. Alarms went off, the people around me were scrambling for cover, or to fight, and I was stuck, exhausted to the point that I could not support myself whatsoever. I had no clue how to change my systems, let the robot part of me rule, make me rely less on human needs. My eyes slid shut, and I nearly succumbed to unconsciousness. But just before I could, I felt a hand on my shoulder. I lifted my head weakly, my normal reserves of energy sapped, probably from the intense information download I’d just gone through. My mind was spinning with information I wasn’t even beginning to process. Standing in front of me, a concerned look on his face, was a boy, probably a little older than I was supposed to be, with shaggy blonde hair, and blue eyes. He was ragged, his clothes torn and dirty. Not overly dirty, like he hadn’t had a bath in months, but more of a nature dirty, like he spent a lot of time outside, in the rough.

“Come on, don’t pass out on me now.” He was saying, his voice soft and comforting. It just made me want to sleep, my low reserves of power sinking lower. Damn my human qualities. He didn’t give up though. He pushed my head up, forced me to stare at him. “You’re going to stay awake. You’re going to get yourself out of here.” He said, rather forcefully, like he was commanding it of me.

“How?” I asked, my voice no higher than a whisper, a raspy whisper. He grinned mischievously and tore the cuffs off of my wrists. Yes, tore.

“I’m going to help you.” He slung one of my arms over his shoulder, and was half supporting me as we stumbled towards the doorway. Several other people, looking as raggedy as he did, we scattered around the room, fighting whoever put up a fight, and destroying a lot of equipment. I could feel energy rising up in me, the raw information being stored in my mind, the short-out it’d caused receding, my power growing back up. Soon, the two of us were running through the facility, our goal: freedom. I didn’t take the time to ask him anything, though I wouldn’t have been able to if I’d wanted to, due to my harsh breathing. Despite the fact that it was growing more painful to take in air, I remembered that it didn’t affect me at all, so I pushed on. The boy next to be seemed fine.

He led me through various winding hallways with a scary knowledge of where he was going. I realized that I had no clue as to whether or not I could trust him, but wherever he was taking me had to be better than the institute I was being held prisoner in.

It wasn’t long before a large door appeared ahead of us. Unlike the rest I’d seen, this one was glass, just glass. Like the glass doors they put at the entrance to supermarkets. This one slid open and everything. Except you could tell it was thick, and alarmed. Faint red lines crossed the entire doorway, and I knew that they were motion-sensitive lasers, designed to sear through anything that crossed them, without first inputting the correct code. Of course, I also knew that code. I chuckled dryly, knowing they were probably regretting all the information they’d provided me with. And that was before the latest upload. I pushed ahead of the boy slightly, pressing buttons on the small, indescript wall panel beside the hulking doorway. In less than ten seconds, the door was sliding open, the faint red lines turning green. Before the guard on the other side of the doors had even enough time to turn and see who was leaving, the boy, my savior (I hoped) had knocked him out cold, with a precise hit to the neck. I turned back towards the doorway, ready to input the code to rearm the systems, which allowed me to see the group of people following us. It was the scruffy gang of humans who’d been wreaking havoc in the lab. Not far behind them were a few soldiers, bearing normal weapons. I figured they’d been given the order not to kill, though I knew several of them probably weren’t handling that well. I shuddered, knowing the bloodthirtiness that many of them harbored. As the first group of people crossed the doorway, I was already punching in the code, the doors sliding shut as the last one ran through. The soldiers had slowed down, realising that I’d been closing the doors. I waved at them through the glass, unable to resist the smug smile that came to my face. Several fired at the door, but the glass refused to give way to the bullets.

“We’re not safe yet.” The boy told me, grabbing my hand and pulling me away from the door, making me realise we were still inside. The stranger seemed to notice my confusion. “That was the entrance to the high-security labs, where they do the more dangerous work, the labs that noone knows about. We’re almost out.” He stated, dragging me towards the front of our group. It was clear that he was leading the way, he knew where he was going. Again, I took notice of how much he knew. How did he know… It was clear to me he was a robot. That, or a freakishly strong human. I subconciously flicked through all the files I could find in my head. Nothing. I fought back the settling of unease that threatened to seep through my stomach, and focused on moving. Anything to get away. We ran up several sets of stairs, as I got used to the burning in my lungs, and soon burst into a large hall, daylight filling it. The ceiling was made of thousands of glass panels, the walls and floors were a cool marble-like material. The doors straight ahead of us were, for another change, wood. Double doors, stretching up to make an arch, much like bank doors, when the bank was set in an older building. It wasn’t these that we headed for, however. The boy pulled me to the right, revealing a long, narrow hallway, that ended in a door, with a ‘cargo bay’ sign above the door. He glanced at me, another smile on his face, this one showing pure adrenaline. He was having a great time with this, I could tell. I took another look at him, and the people behind us. They were all dirty, though not disgustingly so. It mostly appeared to be dust, like they’d come from the wild west or something. There was always dirt clinging to people’s clothes in wild west movies. Most of them had long hair, uncut and shaggy, framing darkened skin, either by race or a lot of time in the sun. But I noticed they all seemed one of two things. Cheerful, or determined. I wasn’t exactly under the impression that they saw this as a game, but under the impression that they were relaxing a little, now that we were closer to getting out. I compared their appearances to my own. I was in a simple blue T-shirt, dark jeans, and the canvas high-top shoes that I wore practically every day. My hair was straight, a deep red, and always had a shine to it. I knew that my face was harboring an expression of worry and exhaustion, though my friends always told me that no matter my mood, my pale green eyes always sparkled. Add to that pale skin, and I was definately recognizable as a sort of… outsider in the group. To anyone walking by who cared, that is, not that there were any. We saw noone as we ran down the hall, probably sounding like a herd of elephants.

Just before we ran face first into the cargo doors, they swung outwards, revealing two large vans. Like the people surrounding me, the vans seemed a little worse for wear, but I could’ve cared less. I was free. Or at least, I was out of the institute. But my silent musings over the people helping me had led me to the conclusion they were good, that they weren’t going to hurt me. Of course, I could’ve been wrong, but I didn’t care at the time. We had barely piled into the two vans (there were roughly fourteen of us all together) before we were off, the tires squealing on the pavement, the force of moving forward pushing me back against the seat. The boy was next to me, and he chuckled, which quickly grew into a full blown laugh, which most of those in the van with us joined. I was too exhausted. I focused on breathing properly, the searing pain disappearing rather quickly, as I got air circulating. However, I couldn’t help but smile.

My head was bent, my arms were resting on my knees, and I was trying not to collapse. The adrenaline-like boost that had kept me going so far was running down, and the grogginess following it wasn’t all the great. But it led me to notice by skin. The slits and missing chunks that’d been there before were gone, I was normal again, well, mostly. Light pink scars lined most of me. I pushed it to the back of my mind, not wanting to know how it’d happened. I lifted my head, glanced around me for a moment, then looked to the boy next to, who was contently resting his head against the back of his seat, his eyes closed. I didn’t bother leaving him be.

“Who are you? All of you?” I asked, my voice still rather quiet, but ringing with curiosity. He opened a single eye, looked at me, then closed it again, a grin spreading across his face.

“I go by Ian Smith. And we,” one arm waved, gesturing to everyone else, “go by ‘The Birds.’ Not the most original or creative name, I know, but it suits us. We’re all people who’ve left our homes, like a baby bird when it takes flight from its nest.” He explained, tucking his hands behind his head as he got comfortable.

“Then why did you save me from that place?” I asked, my head tilting, though he couldn’t see. Old habits die hard, I suppose. His grin grew, becoming more of a smirk.

“You haven’t figured it out yet?” He asked. I saw it as a rhetorical question. At no answer, he continued. “I’m the same as you.” He sat up, his eyes open, his face more serious. He seemed cautious about his movements. I didn’t know it then, but learned later that he was being sure that he didn’t scare me away. My eyes were wide as he used his fingers the pierce the skin on the back of his left hand, and pull it back. Surely enough, revealed was a metal skeleton, far more complex than the average humans. My breathing hitched, and I swear my pulse increased. He quickly began speaking, as he let the skin fall back into place. “I was one of the first. They weren’t satisfied. But my personality wasn’t one of submission. I broke out, found The Birds, and have been living with them since. We’re a family. I have an inside source, found out about you, and knew I had to get you out of there. That leads here.” His eyes were searching mine, an almost desperate look in them. He was seeking consolation that he’d done the right thing. I let a small smile come to my face.

“Well Ian Smith, and all of you,” I let my gaze wander to the faces of each of the humans surrounding me. “I owe you all my life, and for saving me, I can’t thank you enough.”

“Eh, don’t worry about it.” A woman behind me said, brushing off the thanks, though as I turned to look at her I saw that she was appreciative of the thanks. “You don’t deserve what they’d do to you in there, we just happened to be the ones to get you out. But that doesn’t mean you’re safe. They’re going to be looking for you. And if they catch you again, you’ll wish we’d never been there in the first place.” She’d gone solemn as she spoke, her eyes hardening with a practiced detachment. My smile had also disappeared.

“Now Tina, what’d you go and worry her for?” Ian’s voice was slightly condescending, but his good-naturedness was showing through. He then directed his words at me. “Don’t you worry about what Tina’s said, they aren’t going to find you. You’ll be fine.” The van screeched to a halt, and Tina slid the door open. I moved to get out, but Ian stopped me. “We all live in different places, to avoid the authorities taking down our entire family. We support each other when needed, but other than that, we support ourselves.” I sat back down, whilst Tina and two men looking a few years older than I got out of the van. There were two more similar stops, which left our van empty, besides the driver, who’s seat was cut off from ours, and Ian and I. After roughly twenty minutes from the last stop, our van slowed, and finally, stopped for good, the power turning off. Ian opened the door and let me get out first, following me. Out of the front of the van came our driver, another boy. I got the impression that he was roughly eighteen. He was tall, with shaggy black hair. Unlike the others I’d seen, he was pale, like me. Adding to the contrast between his hair and his skin were two bright blue eyes, almost electric blue. He walked over to us, and stuck out his hand for me to shake.

“The name’s Ryan Walker, nice to meet’ya.” He said, a southern drawl tinting his voice. I smiled, shaking his hand.

“Rae Link, pleasure to meet you, I’m sure.” I couldn’t help but smile. I was free!