Hundreds of years ago, a meteorite struck Earth. Then half of the human population stopped aging. Now, the normal humans are revolting and hunting the "survivors." They're called the hunters, and they won't stop until every survivor is dead. My name is Daniel , and I am a survivor with my twin brother Cassius, his best friend Easton, and his younger sister Alena. So far we have survived the hunters, but the danger is increasing more everyday.
Today is the 312th annual anniversary of the meteor crash, and Cassius, Easton, Alena and I are all gathered in the basement together, gazing at the videos of our family members. Aunts, uncles, grandparents, and parents. Alena is already crying, and Cassius and I both have some tears in our eyes. Easton, however, is trying to be brave, and I can easily see that he is fighting back tears. As we watch, we can see our previous selves, no scars, no bloody gashes, just plain, simple us. Cassius and I were both 14 when the meteor struck, and we still have the same bodies. Easton was around 15, but he looks at least 16. Alena is a cute, not so innocent version of her old 10 year old self. We all have several scars around our bodies, but most injuries are healed. Over the many, many years, we have tanned, and experimented with several other forms of changing our appearance, but we try to stay as close to our old selves. It is sort of like a connection to our old lives, no matter how long ago we had them.
We get to the last video in the stack. It is the video of our families at a barbeque just a few weeks before the "Crash." I can easily designate each of us. Halfway through, Easton starts to let his tears roll through, obviously not being able to hold back such strong emotions. I stop the video, and just gaze at my mother face, her perfect smile, long brown hair, green eyes, and the happy look on her face. I wish I could go back to those days with my parents, back when life was so easy compared to our current one. My eyes shift to my father's lively grin, with his eyes hidden by a pair of sunglasses he was wearing for the sunny day. I let the video play on, and can't take my eyes off of our smiles, back when we thought nothing could go wrong.
I remember the panic we had when we first spotted the meteor. Authorities told us that it would just fly past, but no one believed it. We were all rushing to get supplies, food, water, forms of warmth and shelter, anything we could get that might come in handy. I remember how we had an entire dresser filled with batteries. After the crash, and our parents had both passed, Cassius and I had taken their bodies to where our old back yard had been, and we buried them. That's when we first heard Alena's screams. Cassius and I rushed to their house, and found Easton's parent's dead like ours, and Alena screaming for her mom and dad to come back, not to leave her. We found Easton huddled on his bed, practically traumatized from his parent's death. Cassius had me leave to take care of Alena, while he talked with Easton. During that time, I saw a side of Cassius that I had never seen before; he was completely focused on Easton. He didn't care about anything but his friend. I was in awe of how dedicated he was. It took him at least 20 years to get Easton "up and running" again.
Once the videos are done, I go back to the room that Cassius and I share, and just relax, trying to pull myself together. Soon after Cassius comes in.
"Hey Cash." I say. Cash is my nickname for him. Cash doesn't respond.
“Cash?" I ask.
"Have you ever thought about if the crash hadn't happened, and we didn't become practically immortal, that we would be dead now from old age? Instead, we are still 13, and completely un-ordinary." I contemplate this for a second and I realize one thing.
“We could have had families of our own, with kids and a wife and stuff." Cash looks away.
"What's wrong Cash?" I ask.
"Nothing. I just, uhh. Well, I just miss mom and dad." This obviously isn't why he is upset, but I am already walking on thin ice, so I decide to leave him alone.
I return to the basement where Easton and Alena remain. They both look up when I enter. Alena's eyes are bright red and puffy. She has been crying. Easton has one solitary tear running down his face. He glares at me. He and I have never really gotten along. I'm careful and more willing to help others. In my opinion, he is rambunctious, and doesn't care about anyone but himself and Alena.
"What do you want?" He asks, obnoxiously.
"Leave him alone." Alena says softly. I just smirk at Easton, and turn to walk away. Easton jumps towards me, landing his fist with my ribs. I can feel a couple of them bruise, and I crumble to the floor. Easton just stands over my body laughing, and mocking me.
"Oh, did that hurt?!" He exclaims.
"God, you are so weak." This gives me a surge of energy, and I slowly stand up, and prepare myself for a fight. Alena stand by the wall, screaming for us to stop, and to leave each other alone.
"It's a little late for that." Easton says. I lunge for him, my right arm out. It connects with his jaw.
"Mother-!!" I yell, stopping myself before I finish the phrase. My hand is throbbing.
"Damn!" Easton takes advantage of this, and kicks my legs out from under me, then pins me. My legs are still free though, so I kick them up, knocking him off of me. I stand up and kick his side several times before he is able to stand again. He and I both land several more hits before Cash comes down into the basement. He immediately drags me away from Easton, and leads me upstairs into our room.
"What the hell is wrong with you?!" He yells.
“The guy's a complete jerk." I say, wiping blood from my now broken nose.
"That’s crap!" He spits. Then he walks through and slams the door. I sit on the bed for a minute, wiping blood from my face, then I stand up, and change my shirt. Then I leave the room, and go to the bathroom to clean up. I run the water and wash my face. Once all the blood is off of my face, I go out to the kitchen, where Cash is sitting, massaging his temples.
"Look-" I start to say,
"Forget I said anything." He says. He begins to stand, but I put my hand on his shoulder, and push him back down.
"Why are you friends with that jerk anyways?" I ask, "He shouldn't even be here. He doesn't care about anyone but himself and Alena!"
"Danny" he says.
"No! I don't get it!"
"It happened, alright?! Mom, dad, all your friends, almost all of mine! They are gone!" he exclaims, veins popping from his neck.
"That's crap!" I reply "Why do you get a friend during this?! Every one of my friends aged, and died except for Andrew, and you weren’t willing to let him stay with us! Everyone else all went to college, had families, and I was stuck at home, kept away from everyone! It isn't freaking fair!"
"Life’s not fair!” He yells, standing from his seat.
"I have had plenty of time to figure that out!" I say. "But why is it that you got to have Easton and Alena?! How can you even enjoy living with him!" I’m about to say something when I catch a glance of Alena in the hallway, and stop myself before I say anything else. Tears stream down her face. She may be over 320 years old, but she can still get her feelings hurt quickly.
"Alena!" I say. She just turns and walks away. The message is clear: "Don't talk to me." I curse at myself for being so stupidly oblivious. Cash glares at me one more time, then walks after Alena. That's when I first see Easton, casually standing against the wall, looking at me like a teacher looks at their new students at the beginning of a year. He just shakes his head, and follows Cash and Alena, so I am left alone.
Anger and regret fill me and blur my vision, and I sit down onto the chair next to me, and close my eyes. I think about when my father took me to the zoo, for a father- son trip, and how we watched the birds flying around the cages. I loved to watch how they would land and fly again, then land and fly again. Then when we started to leave, my dad took me to the gift shop to get a stuffed bird. This memory helps me clear my mind, and I feel relaxed again. I open my eyes, and scream at what I see. Everything in front of me is frozen, the entire counter and cabinet, and the floor is coated in a layer of blue ice. Cash and Alena are both standing in the hallway.
"What-" Cash begins to say.
"I have no idea." I say.
"Oh my." Alena says. I look over at her, but can’t see her.
"Alena?" I say..
"Right here." She responds. I scan the room, but don’t see anything.
"Where?" I say again, beginning to get frustrated.
"Right in front of you!" she yells. This time, I feel her breath, so I believe her. I scan the area that the voice was from, but still don’t see anything. I reach out, worried, and touch something squishy and rough.
"Alena?" I say, but just barely, because I am in shock.
"That’s my shoulder." She says, then she begins to scream and I jump back, falling over a chair. Alena reappears again, still screaming. A bowl falls to the ground behind me. I spin around, and see another bowl in the air. It falls too, shattering. I stand up, rushing away from the remains of the bowls. We all look around, expecting to see someone standing there, moving the bowls, but no one is there, just the four of us, scattered around the room, scared. Easton points towards the bowl, shock on his face. The pieces of a bowl lift up, and hover. I catch on quickly, and look at Easton.
"Easton," I say. He looks at me, his face scrunched in thought. When he sees my face, his muscles release from being scrunched, and a look of pure shock crosses his face. He starts to sway. Knowing what's happening, I run to him, and get there in time to catch him as he falls, unconscious. I set him down slowly, and turn to look at the others. They are both staring at us, confused.
"He did that," I say. "He lifted the bowls, and the pieces." They just gaze at me like I am insane. I put one of Easton's arms over my shoulder, and lift him up. I start to drag him upstairs to his room. Once I get there, I slowly place him onto the bed, and lift his legs onto it. Then I turn on the T.V. It turns onto the news. I look at Easton again.
"Really?" I say, "You watch the news?" I turn to the T.V. again, and switch it to the next channel. News again. Next. News again. Something is up. Instead of switching the channel this time I watch. After a minute, I yell downstairs.
"Turn on the T.V!"
"Now isn't the time for a football game!" Cash replies.
"Trust me! You need to see this!"
"What channel?" Cash asks.
"Any of them!" I respond. At this, he shuts up, and I hear the T.V. turn on. The message is the same as mine. The reporters are saying the same thing,
"Just a few minutes ago, people all over the world started developing- Really? Is this a joke?" my reporter says. The station tells her something through her earpiece that immediately gets her going again.
"People all around the world are developing, um, abilities. These people are suspected to be the immortal survivors from the crash of a meteor 312 years ago to this day. Authorities suspect that this is another effect of the meteor strike. The-" I turn off the T.V. and turn around. Easton is conscious again, and watching the T.V. with great intent. His face changes to a grin.
"That explains a lot." He says. I don't say anything.
"You know-" He starts to say, but right as he starts, a bullet flies into the room, shattering the window glass. Easton and I roll off of the bed, using the frame as cover. Bullets are flying past us, and I can hear them breaking glass downstairs too.
"Cash!" I yell.
"Get to the spot!" He responds, taking the words right out of my mouth.
"Go!" Easton yells, and I run to the hallway, which is now covered in glass. I start to go down the stairs when I remember the few things that I need to bring with us. I turn around, and run past Easton up the stairs.
"Danny-!"
"Keep going! I'll be right behind you!" I watch him turn and continue running, then run up to my room. I rush to the closet, keeping my head down. I throw open the doors, and grab a bag. I shove as many clothes as I can into it, then move to the dresser, and grab the several guns we own. Then I run across the hall to Alena's room, and get her some clothes, and her gun and bow, along with her numerous arrows. Finally I go back to Easton's room, shoving his clothes into the little remaining room in the bag. As I pull the last shirt from the drawer, I come across a large rectangular box, made of leather. Not bothering to look inside, I shove it into the bag, along with his two guns, and three knives. Not bothering to zip up the bag all the way, I sling it over my shoulder, and run down the stairs. A bullet hits me in the back of my left shoulder as I go down the stairs.
"S***!" I yell, sucking in air. I swallow the pain, and continue down the stairs. I come to the sliding doors, and crash through them. I am panting, and every breath hurts. I run across the slim back yard, and into the thick, lush forest. I follow the already created tracks from the others. As I run, I drag the bag behind me, to cover the tracks as well as I can. After about 40 yards, I come to a T in the path, and see tracks heading both ways. Good, they already started to make misleading paths. I turn left, and continue dragging the bag. After around three minutes, a blur appears ahead of me, and I assume that it is just me succumbing to the pain, but then the blur appears next to me. I stop running, and the blur passes me. It comes to a stop, and reveals the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. The blur reappears, and comes next to me again. Then, the dazzling girl is back. Her face is relaxed, with a small bead of sweat crossing her forehead. Then she grabs the bag off my shoulder and the blur appears, speeding ahead of me. Within a minute, the blur is back, with the same girl. She picks me up, disregarding my complaints, and resistance to it, and then I am speeding through the forest, my face being peeled back from the force. I look beside me, and I see the girl, her face still relaxed, with a few tiny scrapes on her face from tree branches. Then I realize something.
"Your-"
"A blur? Yea, I know." She says, her face being carried away by the wind. Her eyes connect with mine, and her mouth opens. In the half- second that she takes her eyes off of the path, we get off course, and we slam into a large tree branch. Our bodies flying in separate directions. I land at least twenty feet from her, the air knocked out of me. My shoulder is crying in pain, and I roll onto my stomach, laying my head on a small bed of grass. As I lift my head to see the girl, the back of my shirt is grabbed, and I am lifted into the air. I turn my head in time to see a man wearing a face mask, before he slugs me in the face, and I faint.
When my eyes open again, it is nighttime, and I am tied to the trunk of a tree, right next to the girl who is still unconscious. Two men talk to each other around 10 yards away. There is a line of men and women in black clothes on our left, covering the tree line. I kick the girl next to me. She doesn't respond. I kick her again, and again, but she never wakes up. Once I give up on that, I remember the bag of clothes and weapons, and my eyes spring open in alarm. Suddenly I am the size of mouse. My eyes must be deceiving me. I even see little whiskers branching from my face. I look over at the girl again, but come face to face with an ankle. I jump back, and feel off balance, suddenly I am on my hands and knees, but instead of my hands and knees, it is my hands and feet. My discovery dawns on me, and I look at the girl again. I have to look up almost completely vertically to see her face. A strand of her light brown hair has fallen over her face, and her lips are dry and cracked. Her nose is bleeding, and he hair has gotten greasy from sweat. She is tall, and skinny, in a very attractive way. She looks around 13 years old. Just looking at her perfect face leaves me speechless.
"Wow." I say, but it comes out as a squeak, and I am brought back to reality. I look at my legs again, the back ones are bent in a L shape, covered in hair. No, no hair, but fur. I yell, but it also comes out as a squeak. The girl’s eyes begin to flutter open, and the first thing she sees is me, and she screams. The two men both turn to look at her, and I am able to see their faces clearly. One man is tall, and has a scar covering his left cheek, and has short black hair, with green eyes, and a menacing, thin mouth. The other man is short with long, brown hair, which covers one of his eyes. The other is black, and his mouth is big, like two slices of ripe watermelon. Both of their faces make it obvious that the don’t care about the girl, but once they see that I am gone, their faces change to a look of alarm.
"He’s a shifter!" He says, pulling a gun from his waistband. I feel my eyes widen in fear, and I rush behind the tree, but I am still not used to the whole four legs thing. Once I finally get there, I look up at the girl again. The shorter man is holding the gun up to her chin.
"Where’s your friend?" He asks. The girl doesn’t say anything, but she spits into his eye. The man slaps her, and pushes the gun against her temple.
"Don’t try any of that s*** with me girl! I know you’re an immortal, and your friend too!I Listen up immortal! Wherever the hell you are, you better get out here, or I’ll shoot your girlfriend’s head off.” I run as fast, yet, clumsily walk to her feet, and squeak as loudly as I can. The man looks down and spots me. He leans over and grabs me by the tail. It hurts like my gun shot all over again. As soon as he has his eyes on me, the girl turns into a blur and gets out of her few restraints. She goes to the line of men and woman, and takes them all out in a matter of seconds. Then, she goes to the taller man, and pins him to the ground. The shorter man spins and immediately swings me up and holds me by my neck. In half a second, I’m returned to human form. He pushes the gun against my temple , and puts my arm behind me, threatening to dislocate my shoulder. It hurts more than it should because of the gunshot wound, but it is bearable. The girl grabs the other man’s gun from his waistband, and holds it against his temple.
"You know, It isn’t that big of a loss if my friend dies." She says.
"Hey!" I yell. she just looks at me.
"You’ve got over 100 billion of us, I can recruit anyone. You, however, well, it must be pretty hard to find people who want to kill people brutally for satisfaction," She continues. His grip loosens me, and the gun moves away from my temple. The girl keeps talking.
"You obviously don’t get it. Even if you kill him, there are too many of us. You don’t stand a chance."
"Well, let’s test that theory." I can hear a click from the gun as he begins to press the trigger. The next thing I know, I’m being tackled in the stomach by the girl . We land in a bush behind a tree. The man opens fire all around me, bullets, bark, and dirt land all around us. She picks me up again, and this time I don’t complain.We speed through the trees, taking several turns to ensure that we evade the men. I can hear his curses for a while.
"Dammit!-" "S***!" and many more ludicrous words. We continue to run and finally she drop me onto a hill edge. I roll down the side, and land against a tree trunk., my spine popping in several places. I slowly make my way to my feet, and spot an above ground cave nearby. I run to it, and dive inside. My head lands against something soft and I turn to see the scraped up, sleeping face of Cash. The blur glides into the cave, and the girl appears, slowing to a walk.
"Thanks for the help, asshole," the girl spat. My face turns red with embarrassment and I look at my scraped up feet. "So, who are you guys and do you have any weapons?" At this, Cash’s eyes flutter open. He stands up and tries to rub the sleep out of his eyes.
"Umm who is this?" He asks. "Good question," I say "Who are you?"
"Weapons first." She demands.
"We left them at the house when we got ambushed." Alena says. I decide not say anything about the bag.
"Bullshit" she answers."You guys are survivors aren’t you?" We all nod. "You’ve got to have some kind of weapon. You know about the hunters. There is no way that you would have gone on without any type of weapon."
"Yea, well we didn’t really have a chance to grab anything when they were shooting us up and down." Easton says, eying my shoulder. He begins to walk over to me.
"Then I’ll go find them." She says, her eyes lighting up for a chance of adventure.
"Don’t bother." I say. "By now, they’ve probably completely torn the place apart, there wouldn’t be anything useful left."
"Ok, well if all the useful stuff was in your house., then what was in that bag of yours?" She asks. My face flushes with blood.
"What bag?" Alena asks.
"It’s nothing." I say quickly.
"Ooh, so it is something valuable. The girl says. I don’t know what to do. Should I tell her, and risk losing all of our stuff? Or do I not tell her and risk never getting it back? Finally, I decide that either way, we have something to lose, and if we trust her, maybe we’ll get an ally.
"Fine." I say. "The bag had weapons and clothes in it. I went back for it after we were shot at. That’s why I was away from everyone else when you found me." She looks around at us, and I see her relaxed face again, with her beautiful hazel eyes, her perfectly places brown hair, and the few freckles scattered around her face. She is absolutely gorgeous. I really hope that this girl can't magically read pulses cause mine just flew through the roof. I catch myself with my mouth hanging open. I snap out of it, and look around, Cash and Easton are both grinning at me, Alena is watching the girl, and the girl is looking around the cave.
"I’ll make a deal with you." I say. "You bring us the bag, and you can have two of the guns. Deal?" She thinks about it for a minute, and finally says,"No deal." I am shocked, and she just looks at me obnoxiously.
"Alright, then what do you want?" I say.
"I have been hunted for over a year. I want into your group. You know, safety in numbers She says.
"No." I say immediately. "You are too unreliable.
"Fine." she flips her hair and she gets ready to run.
"Wait," I say. "Give me a minute." I gesture for Cash to come over, and he does. "What do you think?" I ask.
"She could be really helpful, and we do need the extra man, or person-power." states Cash.
I sigh, and turn towards Eaton and Alena. I raise my eyebrows, and they both nod their heads. Then, I turn towards the girl again.
"All right, you’re in." I say. She turns into a blur, and speeds away.
"Perfect." I say. "Now she knows where we are, and that we are-" Before I can finish, the blur returns to the cave, and the girl reappears with our bag. She drops it at my feet, and sticks out her hand.
"The names Brianna." She says
"I’m Daniel, but you can call me danny. This is Cassius, Easton, and Alena. "I gesture to them as I call them out. Cash stands up, and reaches for her hand. "
"You can call me Cash." He says. I reach down for the bag and get out the guns. I cont fourteen in total, plus Alena’s bow with 15 arrows, and Easton’s three knives.
"You got a shotgun?" Brianna asks.
"Of course." Easton says, standing up. He walks to the pile, and pulls a shotgun. Double barreled, with a small box of ammo. Brianna takes it.
"Sweet," She smiled. "That s*** shooter is mine." I toss Alena her bow, along with two pistols, and a box of ammo. Then I hand Easton a small machine gun, which he takes without a word. Then he grabs a pistol and two of his knives. Cash and I have always been kind of gun - shy, so we wait until lsat to take our guns. We both take three pistols. Then Cash takes the other small machine gun, and I take the other the knife. Then Brianna takes the last pistol. Once we have each gotten our guns, I hand out our clothes. Alena offers some of her clothes to Brianna. They look like they might fit. Brianna looks similar to Alena’s size. Then The bag is empty except for Easton’s black rectangular, leather box. I hand it to him, and he snatches it fast.
"What’s that?" I ask him
"A box." He says.
"No s*** sherlock." I respond. He just smirks, and turns away.. I decide not to worry about it, and sit next to Cash.
"Hey, I know we are in trouble, but we really should talk about what happened back in the kitchen." I say to him.
"All right." He replies.
"Ok, so we know that I can make things freeze and change my shape, Alena can turn invisible, Easton move things with his mind., and you, well you can’t do anything yet." I say. "That sounded less crazy in my head. " Cash has been gripping his gun tightly, and it is obvious when his knuckles begin to turn white, that I have hit a soft spot. I try to take his grip off of the gun, but it is unbreachable. Finally, he lets go, and the gun drops to the floor, or at least what is left of it. The handle is crushed where Cash was holding it. He looks at it, open mouthed, and starts to grin.
"Now that’s a power." Brianna says, watching us from the side of the cave. Cash grins, and picks the gun up again. He examines it closely, intrigued. It isn’t until right then that the exhaustion gets to me, and I succumb to it. I immediately lie down, using a jacket as a pillow, and as soon as I lie down, my eyes close and I fall asleep. When I wake up, everyone is still asleep, and the sun isn’t up. I must have only slept for a few hours.I get up, and walk out of the cave, where the night air can really hit me. It is a windy night, with the scent of pine trees on the air. I can also hear several owls in the distance. I hear a noise behind me, and spin around, coming face to face with Brianna. She stares at me, sort of examining me, making sure that I am worth being around,
"Hey loser" She says to me, grinning.
"What’s up crazy?" I reply, grinning with her. She blurs behind me, and before I can spin, she elbows me in the back, laughing. Then she runs around me in circles. I get dizzy within a few seconds, and start to sway back and forth. Then, to stop her, I trip her., and she flies into the air, landing next to a tree. I fall down next to her, laughing, and soon she catches on. We are sitting there laughing for at least five minutes. Then, I roll over and look at her, with her perfect complexion. She is still laughing, her stomach shaking up and down rapidly as she laughs hysterically. It is unstoppable, we lay there for a few more minutes, and then look at the stars. Then we just watch the stars twinkle in the sky. After a second, I stand up again, and walk back inside. I look back as Brianna, still lying on the ground. watching the stars. She is obviously amazing, but I can’t do anything about it. I am hopeless. I just go back inside the cave, and lay down again, covering myself with another jacket.
Sun warms my head and my back as it creeps into the opening of the cave. I open my eyes and scream. The cave floor next to me is covered in blood. I've never had a very strong stomach, so I stand and run out of the cave before I throw up on everything. My head spins and sit down hard. Alena comes over and rubs my back to try and comfort me.
"You were delusional last night. Why didnt you tell us you had gotten shot? We may be able to heal faster than regular humans, but the bullet was too deep." Alena continues to rub my back as she explains. "I heard talking late last night, and you were wandering around outside the cave with Brianna. When you came back in you were breathing hard and you were swaying. I got Easton up and he healed the wound before you passed out from the lack of blood." My head feels worse taking in all the information. I feel a rush of wind behind me and smell burned rubber.
"The bullet went all the way through your shoulder. You're really lucky. It hurts like hell to take one out." I spin around and I am greeted by the scratched up face of Brianna.
"How do you know?" I ask her.
"I've been in a lot of complicated situations." She says, smiling. She turns and walks away, her brown hair swaying back and forth as she walks. Cash walks over next to me, his hands tucked inside of his jean pockets.
"Smooth." He says sarcastically.
"Shut up." I say. We stand there for a minute, then I walk away to the spot where I slept. My clothes are mixed up with my guns. I start to sort out the clothes. Three days worth, maximum.
By Alena’s “birthday” three weeks later we’ve settled into a new cave surrounded by even more lush forest, and a stream nearby. We are all extremely run down from narrow escapes from the hunters, and now more than ever, we are in desperate need of new supplies.
“We need more clothes.” I say. Everyone looks over at me.
“As much as I hate to admit it, he’s right.” Easton says. I look at him. He has taken his shirt off. I look away. He walks over to me, dropping his dirty shirt next to me.
"Let's just rob a store. I can get in and out fast enough before anyone even knows what happened" I blink at Brianna's answer.
"We are not going to rob a store!" I exclaim. "That would be a crime! just because the world has been screwed up does not mean that we are going to go around stealing stuff.”
“In case you haven’t noticed, it isn’t just the world that is screwed up. We aren’t too hot either.” Easton says. “Besides, you heard her, it’s not like she’ll be caught.”
“What if they have a camera? They could easily catch her. Or they could follow her back here!” I say.
“You really think that they are going to be able to see me on some pathetic security camera?” Brianna sneered
“It’s possible! They could easily just slow it down.” I reply.
“What if Alena went with her?” Easton says. “Maybe she can turn other people invisible too.”
“Are you suggesting sending a little girl into a highly populated area to steal? Are you an idiot!?” I exclaim.
“Yea. I am suggesting that I don't think you should call me names, Danny.” My feet started to lift off the ground and Alena shrieks. My head bumps against something hard and I look up. My scream joined Alena’s as I came face to face with the cave ceiling. Cash is yelling at Easton to put me down but he obviously isn’t listening. His hands were outstretched and his open palms were aimed right at my chest. Streams of sweat ran down his face and his shirtless upper body and his eyes took my breath away. I had never seen someone look so hateful, especially not at me.
“Stop this right now! I dont want to hurt you but I will if you don't let him down. Easton listen to me!” Alena’s voice is high with anger. She goes to throw a punch at his side but before she lands contact she is flown across the cave and is slammed into the wall.
“Alena!” Cash shouts. He rushes over to the wall. Easton snaps out of his trance and realizes what he had just done. As he breaks concentration, the invisible hold on me disappears and the floor rushes up at me. Before I become a human pancake I smell burnt rubber and feel arms around my chest. I fly sideways and through the opening of the cave. Brianna and I land hard in a patch of moss and I feel a few ribs crack. She continues to roll till she hits a tree with a grunt. I get up and despite the fact that my head is spinning in circles, I run over to Brianna. Blood has already pooled around the base of the tree and is staining her grey shirt.
“Brianna?” I ask cautiously. I get no response. “Brianna?” I ask again. Still no response. I grab her shoulder and as I pull her over, I see a large pool of blood where her stomach used to be. Looking at her shirt, I see a hole in her shirt stained with blood, and underneath, a gash with a large piece of wood embedded in it. Her eyes are closed, and her face is already slightly paler than before. I slowly pick her up, and carry her back to the cave. Everyone but Easton is already standing. They all gather around and help me as I carry Brianna into the cave. Carefully, we put her down next to her jacket, and examine the gash. It is really deep, with small splinters of wood scattered around it. The skin around it is a faint red, but past that, it’s pale.
“Now what are we going to do?” Alena rhetorically asks.
“What do you mean?” I reply.
“Well, if any of us got injured, Brianna would just zip into town and get some medicine, but now we have no way of getting any.”
“Why don’t we just go into town?” Cash asks.
“That is a no. The hunters probably have the entire place covered. If we put a foot in town, they would have us surrounded.” I reply. We all look at Brianna, and her blood covered shirt. The floor around her is already coated in blood, soaked all the way through her jacket. I go over to her, and begin to pull her jacket from under her. I take it outside to the woods, and to the stream a few yards away. I dip int in the water, and let the cool water rush over it, washing blood from it. The stream of blood is continuous and only stops after my hand is numb from the water. The jacket is soaked all the way through. I scan the area for a branch to hang it on, and my eyes settle on the spot where Brianna landed. The ground is still completely drenched with her blood. My eyes spot a branch a few feet above the ground, and I put the jacket on it. The dripping water releases some of the blood from the ground, and it flows through the blades of glass and fallen leaves from the Autumn trees. I walk back inside of the cave. Everyone is scattered around. Alena is mopping up some of the blood around Brianna with one of her shirts, Cash is examining his guns, and Easton is sitting in the back of the cave, watching the cave floor. I walk over to Alena and Brianna, and look at the gash again.
“We should get the wood out.” She says, peeling away the shirt a little more to get a good look at the cut.
“Huh?” I ask.
“The pieces of wood.” She says. “We should take them out.”
“Oh, right. Yea.” She rips away some of the shirt, exposing some more of her stomach.
“Stay here, I am going to go get some water.” She stands up and walks away. I look at Brianna’s face, and think about the time when she and I climbed one of the trees, and sat watching the stars. She had fake fallen and scared the life out of me, and I had pulled her in so close I could practically feel her heartbeat in her forehead. Then, I had slowly leaned over and kissed her. Just for a moment, but it was the most amazing moment of my life. I open my eyes and see the cave side in front of me frozen , and Brianna’s hair is frosted over.
Alena returns to the cave, with a large leaf bowl filled with water. When she is close enough, she pours the water into one of the wooden bowls that Easton and cash made together. When it is full, she dips her hands into it to wash them off, then she hands it to me and gestures for me to do the same. I dip my hands into the familiar cold water. Alena pulls the end of her sleeves up above her elbows. I do the same. She is taking deep breaths, and I can actually see her muscles relaxing. Easton and Cash have both gotten quite, catching on to the fact that we are doing something delicate. After about a minute of deep breathing, Alena reaches down and grabs the largest piece of wood from the cut. Slowly, she removes it. Underneath it are several small pieces of wood. She drops the piece of wood into a bowl of water. Then, I reach in for the next largest, and so on, and so on, until all that is left are several small pieces. She is able to get three out of five, but the others seem to deep to get. To be sure, I put my hand in the wound again, and I am able to just barely touch one of the pieces of wood. I try to get my fingers around it, but I don't want to hurt Brianna anymore. I feel a breath on the back of my neck, and I spin around, coming face to face with Easton. His eyes showing that he is anguished.
"Yes?" I ask
"I want to help." He states.
"Look, I get it, but it is a delicate process, and if anything else goes wrong, we could hurt her even more, and she won't survive. We don't even know if she will survive now."
"I'm sorry, ok? Can't you realize that? I can't control my power! I wish this hadn't happened, but I can't do anything! God you are frustrating!" He says. I spring up, throwing my blood stained hands towards his throat, but he steps to the side, and I collide with the wall. I quickly recover, and lunge at him again, but this time, I am anticipating his dodge, and I manage to hit him below the ribs. He falls, with the air knocked out of him. As he is gasping for air, I sit on his chest, and hold his arms with my legs.
"I'm frustrating?!" I spit. "You have always been completely infuriating! In one day you have managed to almost kill me, slam Alena against a wall, and fatally injure Briana! Not to mention that you aren't any help to any of us, and you hurt people every chance you get!" He manages to catch his breath, and he thrusts his hips upward, pushing me off of him. He then steps on my hands, and leans over so his face is right next to mine.
"Fine! If I'm really not any help to you, then I'll just leave!" He walks away, and grabs the duffel bag that I brought. Quickly, he shoves his few clothes and weapons into the bag, zips it up, and begins to walk away. Before he leaves the cave, Cash runs over and grabs his shoulder. Easton shakes him off, but Cash still pursues him. Cash walks in front of Easton and grabs his forearm, then pulls him out of view. Alena watches the whole thing from next to Brianna. I walk over to her and can hear the faint voices of Easton and Cash as the two talk. Alena looks at me, confused. Then her eyes narrow in anger, and she stands and walks away. I sit next to Brianna, and look at her wound. My feeling finally start to kick in as the shock fades away. A cold fills my body and my heart feels like lead. The anger sets in and I jerk my fingers to her neck and desperately try to find a pulse. Nothing. I press my head against her cold chest and all I can here is a sick, dead silence.
"Please. No more death." I say, and I am greeted by silence and the hot tears that burn down my face as my shoulders shake in silent sobs. Easton and Cash come back into the cave just as the sun sets. They look at me and then Brianna's body and turn their backs. I lay down on my back and give up, letting my sobs echo back and forth between that cave walls. The sun sets just outside the entrance to our hide out and while others might marvel at the sight I am sickened by it. The blood red light fingers itself into every crack and chip in the cave floor. It covers Brianna's corpse and yanks out my heart for round two of long, racking sobs. The tears finally stop and my raw eyes close as the red turns to black.
Easton walks over and places a hand onto my shoulder and squeezes his hand. It almost crushes my shoulder, and I pull away.
"Sorry, I didnt mean- well you know." He says, stuttering
"It's fine." I murmur.
"You know he didn't mean for any of this to happen."
"Ya I know." I stand, and put my hands on his shoulders, he does the same, and we put our foreheads together. "I'm really sorry," I continue, "About the fight we had back at the house."
"Dude, that was almost a month ago, everyone is over it." We pull away, and I grin at him one more time, then I walk over to Easton.
"Hey." I say. He just turns farther away so I can't see him at all. "I know you didn't mean to do this."
"You don't know me." He murmurs.
"Well, after over 312 years of living together, I got a pretty decent idea." I can see his cheek muscles lift in a smile, but it vanishes quickly. He turns around and I can see his eyes are sparkling with tears, but they are already beginning to dissipate.
"I wish I could help." He says.
"Right now, there really isn't anything that any of us can do." I say, my spirits dropping even lower as I admit the truth. "It isn't likely that, at this point, we can do anything at all to help her." I drop my head, and kick around the dust with my toes. I look up again, and see Easton sitting there, with his eyes down, looking at his feet. I start to say something, but decide that it is better not to, and I walk back over to Cash, who has now been joined by Alena. They are both looking at Brianna, and her now, almost white face. When I sit down, they look over. I just nod at them, and look at Brianna with them.

***

I am woken in the middle of the night by a flock of geese flying over the cave. No one else has been disturbed by them.  It is actually a stroke of luck that the geese passed overhead, I had been in the middle of a nightmare. In it, Brianna had died, and Danny turned into a bloodthirsty wolf, and tore me limb from limb. Everything felt real, I swear that I felt it every time that a piece of my flesh was ripped off of me.
I am soaked in sweat, so I go outside to cool off. As I walk, I look at Brianna. He face is a ghostly white in the moonlight. Before I leave the cave, I kneel down next to her, and watch her sweaty, anguished face. Her expression just adds to my guilt, and I burry my head in between my arms. They come to rest on Brianna's hip. I think back to the way that she just showed up with Danny after we got attacked, and how she was always ready to fight and defend us. It makes me sick that I caused her this much pain after how much she helped us.
"Brianna, just make it through this. It is too soon for you to die. We all still need you. Danny still needs you. Our group is lost without you, and-" Suddenly, a surge of fiery pain rushes down my arm and through my fingers. It hurts like hell, and I pull away. My arm is smoking, but I don't have any injuries, not even some singed arm hairs. All the heat just seems to have gone away.  I give up on my useless ramble, and walk back to my spot in the cave. Closing my eyes, I don't notice the faint glowing coming from Brianna's body.
"Easton!" I hear someone yell. "Easton!" Assuming that the hunters have found us, I fling my eyes open, and start to grab my stuff, but before I get very far, Danny yells at me again.
"Easton! Get over here!." I spin around to find everyone crowded around Brianna, who is sitting up, and looking much better. I walk over to them, and see that where her cut used to be, there is just a rip in her shirt, and her regular, tanned skin.
"What-?" I begin.
“No clue.” Danny says. Brianna’s smile disappears as soon as she sees me. I turn and walk back to where I was sleeping. My jacket is still there, wrinkled and worn down, oddly representing how I feel. Cash comes over next to me, and sits down.
“She isn’t really mad at you.” He says.
“Ya, well she should be.” I reply.
“Oh get over yourself. “He says with a grin. I look over to him, and I smile with him, then we laugh a little, and he stands up to walk over back to the rest of the group.  I follow him, and look at Brianna again. She gazes back at me, expressionless. Then, her thin lips spread into a smile, and a feeling of relief passes over me. I smile back, and sit next to Danny.
“Danny, look, I’m sor-” He cuts me off, and looks at me, with a large smirk on his face. His eyes have tears of joy in them. The her bursts out laughing, and he looks back at Brianna, interlocking her hand with his. I feel like I was just emancipated, and my eyes water. I stand, and walk outside, looking at the nature that seems to have a new glow to it, just like Brianna.
My smile goes away when I spot the small black hump on the hill. It looks like a crumpled animal. Not willing to investigate, I decide to try out my telekinesis again. I focus on the hump, and imagine it lifting into the air. Nothing happens. I try harder, pushing my head forward, and squinting my eyes. I tune out any other sounds and block out my surroundings.  Still nothing happens, and I am about to give up, but I see it slightly twitch, and I become filled with hope, but I don’t have time to enjoy it before the shot. Time seems to slow down, and I can almost see the bullet as it flies directly at my chest. Instinct causes me to jump to the right, towards the bushes. Of course, I am not fast to completely avoid the bullet, but instead of it hitting me directly in the heart, it hits me in the collarbone. I feel the bone shatter, bringing the bullet to a stop inside of my shoulder. The shock and pain makes my vision blurry, but I keep myself awake. I can hear hundreds of thousands of bullets being fired, and my friends all running and screaming. By the sounds of things, they are in complete chaos. A leaf crumples next to me, and I pour what little energy I have into turning my head towards it. Alena appears on her stomach, on top of the leaf.
“Easton-”
“You- gasp- need to- wheeze- go.” She places her hand on my shoulder, where blood is seeping through my shirt, and staining the dirt and grass around me. I put my hand over hers, and squeeze it. Her eyes are already tearing up, and she pulls her hand away, leaving mine on my sopping shirt. She puts her hand on my face, and leans down, kissing my forehead. Then, as quickly as she appeared, she is gone, and the leaf where she used to lay is just there, crumpled and crushed, like my spirits.