Young Writers Society

Xia
I couldn't help but smile at the image of Leroy holding the little girl tenderly. I started to walk next to him and smiled at the little girl.
"What's your name, dear?" I whispered as softly as I could.
The girl looked at me with big hollow eyes and didn't reply at all.

Drustan:

I moved closer to Storm. Although she was a little weird sometimes I still knew she was a person inside...

"Are you sure?"

Aaron

I thought is was nice Xia was trying to talk to the girl. I smiled at her, and leaned down so I my face was level with the girl's. "It's okay, honey, we're gonna get you out of here. We're not going to hurt you."

Storm:
"Are you sure?" Drustan asked.
I turned to face him. "No, I'm not sure," I said.
He looked a bit surprised at the tears in my eyes. It is unusual that I would be crying. I guess I must seem really strange to everyone else.
It's time to forget the past. We're getting out.
"What's wrong?" he said.
"When I was five, I was wandering the streets." I began my tale, and with every word, I left behind another piece of my mask.
(OOC: This is the point where Rain becomes more normal. In case that was unclear. I'll just stop talking before I really look like an idiot.)

(OOC: Didn't you mean Storm, not Rain?)

Drustan:

As I listened to Storm tell her story I started to feel a little closer to her. At the first sad part I gently brushed a flyaway strand of hair behind her ear, then left my hand on her shoulder for the rest of her tale.

Storm:
Drustan listened. For the first time, I told someone my story, and he listened.
I took a deep breath. "I hid behind a mask to hide the past. I thought I couldn't deal with it, so I became, well, who I was. But I think it's time to just forget it."
It felt better than amazing to not be hiding anymore. Everything seemed happier and brighter. I had stopped crying a while ago.
I smiled. Not because I had thought of something clever to help us escape, not because of a drug. Because I was truly happy for the first time in a long time.

Drustan:

Once Storm had finished her story I stepped closer and gave her a gentle hug, feeling my arms wrap around her warm, slim body.

"I'm sorry," I whispered in her ear.

Judd Snow:

Aaron and Xia were trying to coax the little girl into speaking, asking her name. But she wouldn't answer them. Sighing Judd reached out and swept her hair away from her neck, baring a tattoo that resembled a barcode. Beneath it were a sequence of numbers and the words Talia Rose.

"There you go. Her name's Talia." Judd murmured absently. His gaze drifted down the hall. The ghosts of memories ran around him. The children he had spent his early childhood with and befriended. Alex, Jake, Carter, Sarah, Molly, Elizabeth. They had all dissapeared one by one until Judd was the only one left.

The startled looks Aaron and Xia gave him snapped Judd out of his reverie. "Do all the kids in this place have tattoos like that?" Xia whispered. They were all extremely conscious of the fact that a scientist or guard could appear in the hallway at any time."

Judd shrugged as he answered in the affirmative. "Yeah, the kids have a tendency to wander around. So it helps the scientists tell them apart. They can know which ones are the trouble makers, and which are generaly well behaved. I used my powers to burn mine off a few years ago."

*All I got, can we get attacked soon or something? And I hope no one minds me naming the kid.*

Xia
I stared at the tattoo in the little girls neck and bit on my lip. I knew that they didn't treat their test subjects right, but that they used barcodes on children as if they were nothing but objects was somethin new for me.
I felt like punching something very hard but instead I lifted up my arm and stroked the girl over her hair.
"Poor thing." I mumbled softly while giving Judd a quick look. He had gone through the same...

My mouth tasted sour just seeing from a distance the tatoo on Talia's neck. It reminded me of something I'd heard in school forever ago, about how the Nazi's did something similar to the Jews with tatoo markings, way before GloboCorp or any of this trouble started. I was surprised I'd even remembered anything from history class, it seems so long ago, but I guess the short unit on Nazi's had left an impression on me.
I look over to my left to see that Drustan has stepped off to the side to hug a crying Storm. Wow, one minute that girl's jumping all around, and blowing up on me for bandaging Drustan's arm. Next minute she's crying all over him. But then again it's been a rough day for all of us. I think about stepping over to try to assist in comforting Storm so we can all move along, but my thoughts are interupted by that familiar drum of rubber soled footsteps.
"Guys!" I whisper. We look around for somewhere to hide, but there's nowhere. And now it's too late. They surround us, all with guns. Talia gives a small cry, but other than that, no one moves or makes a sound.

Aaron

"Guys," Vi whispered. I looked up, directly into the barrel of a gun. Slowly, I turned my head, taking in the prison of guns surrounding us. My heart beat quickened, and fear rose up in the back of my throat. I forced it back down.

(OOC: I think we should start the fight when more people are on)

Xia
I was just about to say something to Aaron when I saw we were pointed at with guns.
Not good...Not good at all.
I grabbed the arm of the one who was standing next to me and quickly turned around. More guns, more guards. I cleared my troath and let go of Leroy's arm after a few seconds.
"Good evening, gentlemen."
At the same moment that those words left my mouth I realized how stupid it probably sounded.

Drustan:

I turned away from Storm as I heard voices from behind us.

Suddenly, a gun was at my back, "Don't move." Said a gruff voice.

I turned my head slightly to my right and saw Storm was in the same position, I tried to say sorry with my eyes. This whole thing was probably my fault...

*As an aside Judd holds the highest record for attempted escapes both in the nursery and in the genetic engineering wing. He just doesn't know the meaning of the words give up.*

Judd Snow:

"Talk about a bad case of dejavu." Judd thought in irritation. "How many times did I get cornered in these halls trying to escape as a kid? You'd think I would've learned better by now." This scene was disturbingly like all too many incidents in his childhood.

Turning around Judd made sure none of the guards could get at Talia from behind. Thanks to their positions Aaron, Xia, and Leroy had protected the little girl from the front and sides. He whispered to them in a low voice. "Guys listen to me. No matter what make sure Talia gets away. You all saw what they did to Drustan when they caught him. There's no way a normal child could survive that."

Aaron growled in outrage as he whispered back. "They do that to children who try to run too? That's heartless."

Judd snorted as he prepared to lash out with his powers. "Yeah, it is. And I've got the scars to prove it."

*Word of warning to all other participants I'm planning to have Judd cut the power in the hallway. The emergency lights should kick in pretty fast but you should probably have your characters hit the deck.*

(OOC: Hey, sylverdawn, you don't mind if I write that little bit, do you?"

Leroy Jenkins

And, suddenly, we found ourselves surrounded by guards. I made sure I had a good grip on the little girl and tried to stash my rifle behind my back. One of the guards stared at me and realized I was holding a fairly powerful weapon. He reached for my arm.

"Relinquish that weapon!"

At that exact moment, I saw a bright flash of lightning in my peripheral vision. Must've been Judd taking out the lights, because it was black moments later. I felt the guard's hand lingering on my upper arm. I through my rifle up and caught in my right hand, whirling around simultaneously and throwing the crook of my elbow around his neck. Soon after, the harsh sodium backup lights flickered on. Everyone but Judd and myself had hit the floor. The guard tried to wriggle out of my arm, but I applied pressure to his neck, slowly choking him. He coughed and spluttered. One of the others stepped forward.

"Alright, listen up, if you drop your arms and come with us, we'll go easy on you."

I looked over to Judd and nodded ever so slightly, and he nodded in response. There were 6 guards, including the one I had in a choke hold. Without looking back at her, I began to speak to Talia.

"Talia, grab onto my backpack straps as tight as you can, okay?"

I felt her nodding silently. Next I looked to Judd.

"On 3. 3!"

He fired to quick pulses of electricity into two guards, sending them flying backwards. I fired a few quick pulses from my rifle, grazing the other two. I released the one I had my hand around. He crumpled to the ground. In the momentary confusion, I grabbed someone's hand and pulled them up off of the floor.

"Come on! We gotta get out of here!"

The group struggled to its feet and began taking off down the hall.