Young Writers Society

Z

Z looked around the area trying to hide his confusion and... Despair. He didn’t want to admit it but he really couldn’t see why X pointed them here. To this area... and this plane.

He knew that plane’s were pretty rare now. In this part of the world but it wasn’t like the agency to not have a helicopter around. Especially for a mission this big.

Turning away from the group he glanced back at his handset and the last message from X.

This is the spot. I know it may not seem like it at the moment but... well, everything will be revealed in time.

He shook his head and turned back to the group. Winters was examining the wires on the ground and a few other looked on but most of the faces of the group were laced with confusion.

And if he didn’t know any better then he probably would’ve been standing there with the rest of them wondering what the hell their leader had been thinking.

But I do know better. I hope... X has never led me wrong before. Why’d he start now?

He sighed. “Alright, well this is where we are going to have to set up camp until we can get this thing running.” He glanced over his shoulder at a small area that was clear of the electrical wires.

“Well... over there anyway,” he thought for a second, staring into their bewildered faces and wondered what he could say that might make them feel better. “We’ll leave as soon as we...we can get over there and get everything organised.”

A few minutes later everyone began setting up camp.

Z tilted his head towards the sky and ran an agitated hand through his hair. He’d been more shaken by the gang then a lot of people. Mostly because it was something he hadn’t been expecting. And there had been nothing he could’ve done. Because he wasn’t prepared...

He shook his head again and walked over to the slowly forming camp. Then he went to find Q. To check up on her. He’d always had the tendency to do that. Ever since they were younger. Or since he’d known her anyway.

But also because he needed someone to talk to about everything. More than he’d admit.

Q

Q sat in the hammock as she felt it sink a little farther beneath her.

"Hey," She heard a familiar voice say his hands brushing her back as he sat. She knew it was Z even before she looked back. Q turned to face him and smiled at his presents. She felt super lonely at the moment, and it wasn't because of the Jeydon drama.

"Whats up?" Q asked Z pulling her hair over her shoulder.

"Nothin' much." Z replied.

"Any news with camp?"

"Nope, everything's back to normal."

Q nodded and said. "Can we talk about something that doesn't include camp Or this mission for maybe 2 minutes?"

"I would love that." Z said a look of relief spreading across his face. Q smiled and leaned her head into his shoulder.

"Why did your parents let X take you?" Q asked crossing her legs.

Z took a big breath and said "Same as your parents, the didn't have a choice."

Q nodded and sighed. "I wonder what our family's are doing right now."

She felt Z tense under her and he sighed. "Hopefully not anything as crazy as what we're doing."

Q nodded and sat up and whispered. "I'm sure they're fine."

He nodded and leaned back against the tree as Q did the same. She started todrift off as she heard a scream coming from the camp.

Ayumi

Ayumi clenched and unclenched her fist. The cloth bandage on her arm stretched to allow muscle movement. Fortunately the bleeding from the gunshot wound had subsided quickly and obviously nothing important had been hit by the small bullet. Her arm had lost some strength, though. In the uproar of Mr Winters' ingenious plot, everybody had forgotten that she had been shot. She thanked him silently.

The camp was silent except for the touch of the wind in the grass and hushed conversation. The aftereffects of the attack lingered and festered. Z and Q were resting together. Ash and Mr Winters were tinkering around with the ruined plane. Their relationship had continued to flourish amid the destruction on the island. Ayumi wondered if they were also romantically involved. Then she shook the feeling off. Of course not. It was just that the whole camp seemed to be so emotionally charged at the moment, with a thousand intricate attachments forming between the journeyers. It influenced the way everybody thought about each other.

There was a scream. Not the usual kind. This scream was one in which resided the original instinct of fear, the terror of caves and bears and blood, of fire and stone and lightning.
Ayumi leapt to her feet with a hiss, already backing away from the perceived threat, eyes wide and staring. She was not ready for another fight — not now, with only half an arm and a head still throbbing with the force of impact.
Z was instantly on the scene with an automatic weapon, courtesy of their attackers. Ayumi watched his face lose all colour. His grip on the gun tightened. Q was beside him with her own weapon in hand. She stopped and stared, devoid of all strength. Then the cry echoed through the camp.

"Mutants!"
"Run!" somebody screamed.
"No — stay where you are! There's no hope if we scatter!" Z hollered. He backed into the camp with his gun blazing. Bullets consumed, he discarded the empty weapon and drew two semi-automatic handguns, discharging as many bullets as he could before reloading. Q copied his movements.
Ayumi drew her daggers from a side-pocket in her pack and stuck her Beretta into the front pocket of Ash's hoodie, safety off.
"Get back!"
Jeydon jumped over her and delivered a spinning kick to the first advancing mutant. These were fast ones. And judging by even Z's expression, there were a lot of them.

Jeydon

Jumping over Ayumi, I kicked a mutant in the face and it flew back. "There is way to many." I say to myself. I take my gun from my pocket and start shooting them one by one. I came to one of them and it looked like my old friend Rick. "Rick!" I scream in total oblivion that they were human eating mutants. The mutant turns to face me, "Well he knows his name." I say. Rick comes after me and I had no choice but to shoot him.

After all this was over I fell to the ground in tears, Rick was my best friend, from childhood until now. Everyone was to busy chattering and freaking out to notice. Thankfully.

I got up and went to stand by Alison, she was talking to Z about something I had no clue, I wasn't even listening. A few minutes later, I passed out.

I woke up, and everyone was looking at me like I was some freak. "You mutant!!!" I scream and jump up, I pull out my gun and cock it.

"Dude, it's me Gabriel."

"No! You mutant!"

Running behind a tree the mutant went and I ran to kill it, everyone was running after me.

"Jeydon!! Calm your ass down! It is Gabriel!" Ayumi said to me. That is when I snapped out of it and was just staring into space.

Looking at Gabriel, I apologize and just walk off.

Gabriel

I went over to Jaydon to see if he was okay. Kneeling down I checked his pulse. "What happened?" Everyone shrugged and looked down at us worried. He was starting to stir, "Jay..?" I whispered, but e didn't hear me. He stated to panic, he reached for his guy and put it to my head, Woah, he's going crazy... I put my hands up. Would he shoot?

"You mutant!" Jaydon screamed in my face.

"Dude, it's me Gabriel." I yelled, the veins in my neck were throbbing.

"No! You mutant!" he screamed again. Pointing the gun directly at my chest. Something happened and he ran behind a tree, What the hell is up?

"Jeydon!! Calm your ass down! It is Gabriel!" Ayumi said to him. He did this weird thing with his hands and just turned back into Jaydon.

He walked up to me and apologised, and left before I could respond. I ran a hand through my hair. Regina ran up to me, "Gabriel! Are you okay?" She put her hands on my chest. I was breathing pretty heavey, I mean, Jay could of shot me, he could of killed me, yeah, it may not have hurt, but I still would of died. "Gab...?" She frowned.

"Yeah... Fine." I pushed her arms down and glanced at Ayumi, she was looking over at some trees. I rolled my eyes, "Just a little shaken up."

"Oh, you would be. Did you need anything." She asked. I shook my head.

"No, I'm fine..." I said rubbing my face. She nods and looks down. I sigh, I was probably a little harsh the other day. "Urm," I scratch the back of my head, she was still standing pretty close to me.

Q


While the others were acting like idiots, Q and Z were seriously kicking some ass. Q slice them in half while Z fought along side her. She held her long hunters knife out in front of her in a sideways position. She kicked and jabbed her way though the mutants till the recruits finally stopped staring off into space and helped. Mr. Winters had cabbage on his side so he got even more help than just his giant robotic suit. Q jumped over Z to land straight on a mutant and jab it though the top if its head.

"Help!" She heard from Alison. Q ran over know Z and Mr. Winters would be okay. She saw alison trying to fight off maybe 30 mutants on her own. Q instantly started slicing though the crowd of mutants. Surprisingly, Q and Alison worked well together, though they both knew they would never tell anyone else that. Once there was maybe 5 mutants left at that cite, Q left Alison to finish it off. She started to run back to Q as she felt a bullet cut though her left leg. She looked in the direction it came to see Jeyson holding a gun, a stunned look on his face.

"Q!" Z screamed looking over. He ran over to the bloody mess that was Q and checked if she was okay.
M
"I'll be okay," she said slurring a bit already. She knew she needed to stay strong for her group. But she also knew that the bullet went straight pt though and needed to be amputated. She didn't tell anyone that though.

Q put her knife up again and limped towards a mutant becoming almost to dizzy to stand. She stabbed it but felt her self falling, but then strong arms around her waist. Z carried Q to the hammock where so Mr. Winters came to a saw in his hand. Then everything went black.

Jeydon

I had to walk away. I almost hurt one of my friends.. what is wrong with me? I ask myself. I seen Q walking up to me and I was sure as hell surprised.

"What are you doing here." I ask her.

"I'm checking on you. You might have hurt me, as much as I'd rather deny it, but at the end of the day, I'm still your friend." she says.

"Well, I didn't mean to hurt you. This stuff happens a lot to me, I just don't feel like explaining." I reply.

"Are you going to be okay?" she asks.

I smile and look into her eyes, "Of course. There are things about me none of yall would understand." I say then walk off.

She rolls her eyes and turns to head back to the group.

Regina

I stood there, probably a little to close then Gabriel wanted. I was just checking to see if he was okay. "Are you sure your okay?" I ask. "I'm fine." he replies.

"Look there are things about Jeydon you need to know." I tell him. "I dated him 3 years so I would know stuff like this."

He sits down on the ground and I sit in front of him a little further than I was standing.

"Well, Jeydon has this thing. Where if he sees something that majorly affects him, he blacks out for at least 10 minutes, that, what happened there, was the shortest that I know of."

"How did this happen to him?" Gabriel asks. I shrug because in all honesty, we all don't know, not even his family. He looks over to me and apologizes for being a little rude the other day. "It's fine. I guess I deserved it." I reply.

We both stand up and I gently touch his face, just standing there. He stared at me in surprise. Before I thought I might kiss him, I put my hand down and walked away.

He is so amazing. I say to myself while walking away.

Ayumi

I would be mere minutes before the rot set in. Ayumi had to make a decision, and do so quickly. She held the scrape up to the light. It had hints of metallic blue at the edges — the first sign of the mutant virus. And it would be spreading. She stumbled into the bushes and crashed down on the undergrowth, thoughts already blurring. She would not become one of them. Not a mutant. The staring, slavering, mindless monstrosities that pursued any form of living nourishment. She pulled out her Beretta, thrust the barrel into her mouth and pulled the trigger. Nothing happened. She ejected the magazine and turned it upside-down. It was empty. Hands shaking uncontrollably, she spilled her precious cartridges over the ground. She managed to maintain a grip on one and slotted it into the empty magazine. She snapped it back into place with the heel of her hand, clicked off safety and racked the slide. Tick, tap, click, snap. A pause. Each sound had its own rhythm. Then she placed the barrel in her mouth.

"Ayumi!"
It was Z, and he was coming closer. Ayumi struggled to force a finger into the upside-down trigger guard.
"What the hell are you doing?"
Z struck the gun from her hands in a powerful punch and grabbed her by the neck of her hoodie, dragging her into the open. Ayumi's last hopes vanished.
"What is going on here?" Jeydon strode over with a cocky look on his face.
"She just tried to kill herself," Z hissed, pacing around Ayumi. "And she's shaking like a leaf. I think I know..."
He hooked Ayumi's arm with a foot and pulled it gingerly away from her body. The metallic glint of the infection was laid bare for all to see.
"Mutant."
Z whipped out his handgun with lightning speed and sighted down at Ayumi's head.
"What are you doing?" Gabriel shouted.
"Killing the mutant in our midst." Z racked the slide with a sharp snap.
"You can't kill her!"
"I've got to, damn it!" Z shouted. "She's a bloody mutant! There's nothing else to do!" He shifted his grip on the handgun several times. The tendons in his arms stood out like copper cables. An ugly snarl bedecked his face. But still he did not shoot.
"There has to be another way!"
"Like what?" Z turned on him. "Let her loose into the wild? Leave her to die in agonising, slow pain? I've seen enough of that sort of thing throughout my life. Q's just lost her bloody leg to mutants!"
Ayumi stirred on the ground.
"Poison..." she murmured.
"What?" Z looked down at her.
"Bring me my poison, aho..."
"Jeydon, get the poison," Z snapped, keeping his eyes on Ayumi.
"But—"
"Get the bloody poison."

Jeydon disappeared and returned a few seconds later with Ayumi's poison vials. He put them down beside her and sprung back as she snatched them with the strength of the dying. She opened the vial of batrachotoxin and poured the life-taking poison over the wound.
"To the dead and the living," she whispered, holding up the vial as if in a toast.

"She's going to die," Z said blandly.
"She won't," Gabriel replied with utmost conviction.
Then the poison engaged with the deadly virus in her veins, and all was lost to Ayumi.

Where two raging fires meet together,
They do consume the thing that feeds their fury.
Though little fire grows great with little wind,
Yet extreme gusts will blow out fire and all.
— William Shakespeare, The Taming of the Shrew

Jeydon

I sat down by Ayumi holding her in my arms. "No. I know you hated my guts, but you don't deserve this!" I say. She didn't move a muscle but her eyes were still open just staring at me. She grabbed my arm and I had to push it back. "She is still becoming a mutant!!!" Z yelled.

"She will be okay. I Promise." I tell them. I hope this works. I tell myself. I open a vial of green anti poison and open Ayumi's mouth to pour it in. I only had one bottle. "This was my dads, before he got killed by mutants, it protects you against turning full on mutant. I only had this little bit left." I tell everyone.

"Before I came here, I got bit by one." I showed them my arm and they all jumped back in fear. "This stuff helped cure it but leaving this weird ass thing on my arm." I looked at Ayumi. Her eyes were normal again and her body had tremendous color. She got up like magic.

"Uhh, thanks Jeydon.." she says. "Your not that bad after all." she says again.

Q


Q woke in a haze in the same hammock Z left her in. She looked over at the crowd to see Jeydon holding Ayumi. Q moaned and looked down to where the bullet had sliced though her. She didn't see it though, all she saw was metal.

Crap, Winter's amputated me! Q thought as she started to panic.

"Z!" She said still drowsy. Z head whipped in her direction and he came running over to her. "What's going on?"

"You got your leg shoot at by mutants and you needed to be amputated." Z said kneeling net to her hammock. "Your okay though, and over there, Jeydon just saved Ayumi from a mutation."

Q nodded and swung her right normal leg over the hammock. "Um how do I work this thing?"

"It should come naturally," Mr. Winters said. He tightened the strap around Q's leg and she stood. She walked around a bit trying to get used to it. It felt awkward and new, Which it was, so she knew it would take time to finally become fully aware of it. Z watched carefully, being the overprotective best friend he was. She picked up her knife and shoved it into her boot.

"So are the mutants gone?" Q asked looking around the cite.

"I think," Z said looking around with her. She picked up her bow off the ground just in case and watched the scene.

"I'll scout it out," Q said starting to keep her balance while walking.

"I'm coming with you," Z said following her. She sighed and kept walking slowly gaining balance as she went. Q had circled the camp at least 2 times and there were no mutants in sight. She smiled and walked back up the hill telling them the all clear. She sat on a log and rolled up her pant leg to finally look at this thing a bit closer.

Mr. Winters

It seemed like trouble was coming from every direction after the mutant attack. First Q's leg was shot, leaving her in need of an amputation, then Ayumi gets herself mutated and tries to commit suicide. All Winters wanted to do was tinker with the plane, after all, he always wanted to fly, or more likely crash a plane. But nope, chaos and drama is all he got. Worst of all, he wasn't even the cause of any of it!
Will my work ever be done here?

He noticed that Q seemed to be a bit troubled by her new leg, so he figured it was only right for him to try to ease her worries. He knew how it felt to have to readjust to a new limb, and even after the countless fingers he had replaced, it never got any easier.
"Hey," he started, crouching in front of Q's log, "try not to worry too much about the leg. Prosthetics aren't that bad once you get used to them. Heck just look at me! If it weren't for this suit, I'd probably be a walking prosthetic." Q seemed genuinely comforted by Winters' concern, and he actually felt kind of nice about helping her. "Now don't take that as an excuse to lose any more limbs. Being a borderline robot is my thing." With a gentle pat on the shoulder, Winters stood up, making his way to check on Ayumi. Her poison could be nasty, and she was probably gonna need a lot of help staying alive.
There are always those nanomedics a made, he pondered as he walked, I really hope she doesn't need those. They'll keep her alive through just about anything, but there's no way of getting them back, and even I don't want those things swimming around in my blood!
"Hey, anything I can do to help her out?"

Ayumi

Ayumi got up, feeling the fire of the poisons in her veins fizzle out. She found that she had been in the arms of none other than Jeydon. Of all persons to be indebted to...
"Uh, thanks Jeydon.." she muttered. "You're not that bad after all."
She marched past him with straight legs and without making eye contact.

"Are you all right?" he asked, trotting after her.
"Fine," she snapped through a stiff jaw. Her head ached acutely and she had difficulty seeing, but the metallic sheen to her arm had died down.
"Lucky I had that antidote," he said cheerfully.
Ayumi's patience petered out and she turned on him with a fierce glare.
"I don't need your help surviving," she hissed. "I would have been fine, but you had to interfere, didn't you? I was handling the situation by myself. Don't you dare expect any gratitude from me! Nani mo! Nothing!"
She stalked off but stumbled in her stride and Jeydon caught her arm. She whipped it out of his grasp.
"Leave me alone!"
Before he could answer, she bolted off into the long grass and disappeared from his view. Once she was certain that he could not see her, she allowed herself to crash to her knees and bring up the entire contents of her stomach. She coughed and retched for several minutes, her eyes watering in response to her burning throat.

"Hey, anything I can do to help out?"
Ayumi wiped her mouth quickly before squinting into the sunlight and recognising the unmistakable silhouette of Mr Winters.
"Nothing," she growled. "I'm going to be fine."
She stood and moved away from the spot, but her dizziness overtook her and she fell down into the grass again. Her vision blackened, but she refused to lose command of her senses.
"You need help," Mr Winters murmured.
"No I don't!" Ayumi yelled wildly, trying to right herself. "Don't touch me — I don't want your help!"
"You have at least a eighty micrograms of pure dart frog poison in your bloodstream."
"The lethal dose is at a hundred," Ayumi snapped, rolling over and coming into a crouch. The bruised grass made her skin itch, but it had a pleasant fragrance. This time she stood slowly to avoid the flash of dizziness that accompanied sudden postural changes.
"Where's Q?" Ayumi asked suddenly. "I didn't see her after the battle."
Mr Winters paused, as if contemplating the wisdom of imparting news to a person suffering from a toxic hangover.
"She is over there," he said slowly, jerking his head in the general direction of the camp.
Ayumi started to move off, then stopped.
"If you want to do something useful, get me my handgun, would you? I have a feeling Z might have it."
She was not up to an encounter with the agent after he had nearly shot her.

Ayumi found Q sitting on a log, deep in thought. She tottered over and sat down heavily opposite the agent.
"What's up," she asked inflectionlessly.
"Hmm?" Q looked up. "Oh, it's you. I — wait, don't you know? I..."
She pointed down at her leg helplessly. Ayumi followed her finger. What had once been warm flesh was replaced by a shining replica. Steel plates, aerodynamically rounded and sculpted, covered a simple, sturdy frame. Q flexed the foot — there were no toes, but the front area of the foot connected with a sliding joint to the rest of the prosthetic, allowing a full range of motion.
"You... lost it?"
"Where were you after the battle?" Q asked quizzically.
"Um... busy..." Ayumi tried to avoid eye contact.
"It's very good," Q said. "I hardly even feel it." She stamped the foot experimentally.
"Kuso!"
"What?"
"You nearly cut my foot off!" Ayumi lifted the leg of Q's trousers.
"You can't be serious..."
A thin, rounded blade extended from the steel foot. Ayumi tested the tip with a finger and swore softly. A drop of blood welled on her skin.
"Now that's what I call a weapon! I wonder if there are any other little surprises lurking in there," Q grinned, standing and swinging her leg around.
"I'm keeping away from you," Ayumi laughed. She felt her stomach start to churn again and moved away into the safety of the bushes, where nobody but herself could witness the agony of the poison leaving her bloodstream.

Regina

"Wow. Jeydon, actually healed Ayumi." I say to myself. I seen Ayumi storm off really angry and Jeydon followed after her. I decided to go talk to Ayumi myself. I waited until Q and Mr. Winters left her. "Hey Ayumi." I say. "Hey." she said. "So I don't mean to pry, but what do you have against Jeydon that you hate so much?" I ask. "Just the sight of him pisses me off. I can't exactly explain it. He get's all these girls to believe all his little lies so he can trap them and hurt them. I won't ever let a guy do that--" I interupted her abruptly.

"No, you have it all wrong Ayumi. He doesn't suck them in. You know if he likes you as more than a friend. It shows. He isn't one to hide how he feels. Just because you tell someone their beautiful don't mean you want to date them." I walk off but turn real quick. "I might be mean and crazy, but I don't judge a book by it's cover. I'm sorry." I turn back and skip off.

I walk until I'm back with the group. "Hey Jeydon." I say. "Hi." he replies. I decide to take a risk. "Listen, I know we have had a past, but, I'm ready to officially put that behind me and start over. Just friends." I say. He smiles and shakes my hand. "Good. Please don't be medaling in my drama anymore." he says again.

I nod and smile. The beginning of a new friendship. I think to myself.