Social Outcasts

Depressing. Depression and agony. For a moment that was all i could feel. Of course then it was hate, hate for the whole human race and then their was love, love for those who i had loved, my people, my family. i wanted revenge but, not from anyone here, i looked at Danielle, she seemed to know what had happened as she was watching me intently. She looked afraid as if i would try to kill her any moment. I understood. I stood up and walked towards her.

"I do not hate you" I whispered once i was very near her.

I then walked away back to my Ballow and the newcomer.

"What is your name?" I asked.

"Sydney Grain" She replied wiping the tears in her eyes and reverting to her normal face.

Maddox


"Suppose we're exactly alike now" I whispered, hoping Ballow didn't hear me. It was horrible what humans did, no, what some humans did and thought. We weren't filth, we were just different. We're not killers as much as they are all the same, no one is the same. A few tears rolled down my face then as I thought about Lex, he was the cloest of my siblings to my age, he'd just turn twelve when he was killed. But, he'd been so smart, so comforting... I needed him now, to help me.

"Mads, you look tired. Maybe you should go lay down for awhile" Ballow said after a while, he was back to himself, only the slight wetness form the tears still staining his cheeks.

"What about you? What's your name?" I asked the boy.

"Zire." He answered.

"That's a cool name..." I said, suddenly getting really tired. I yawnded and Zire saw the tiredness on my face.

"You should probably get some rest." He said.

"Mhm." I said, yawning at the end. I went onto the grass. I yawned again and then went into a deep sleep.

When the girl had fallen asleep Zire glanced over at me. I'm sure my face still looked guilty. I don't care what Nokie or Zire said, it was my race that did that. I wanted to give them time to just calm down before they had to talk to me. I got out of the river without making eye contact with Zire or Ballow. I walked down stream a little ways, close enough where I could still see everyone, but just off the group a little, and laid down to try to get some sleep. It'd been a rough day.

Ballow

The sun rose and lit my eyelids causing me to stir. I had wrapped my arms protectivelt around Maddox as weslept, much as I had use to, to my little brother. A tear fell down my face as I thought that that wouldn't happen again at all.

The others began stirring and I watched them disinterested - really all I wanted was to go back to sleep, but Maddox stirred and I retracted my arms. Today was going to be a nice promising warm day, judging by the sun's warmth.

I smiled and sat up soaking in the warmth, my tail twitched and so did my ears. I turned my attention to someone getting up and stretching - it was Nokie.

He sprung up and I was reminded what a monkey man he really was. I couldn't help, but smile. Even though my family was gone and the treaty was broken - I had found a new family.

I glanced at Zire, Danielle and the new girl Sydney. Strange name - very weird for this place we lived. They were stirring as well and soon they also sat up like me enjoying the sun.

We all stood there staring at the sun and like plants blossoming in its warmth. It was an amazingly peaceful moment, a blissful nothingness that floated over us.

Extremely nice.

Then someone screamed.

(aww geez, who's going to be the screamer....eenie meenie miny mo...)

Nokie froze, his head cocking towards the sound. It was just off the group, a little closer to the desert then where he and most of the others had slept. He did a quick head count, who was missing?
Danielle.
Nokie was the first to react, bounding through the trees to see Danielle being bound hand and foot by a large human, wearing light armor. A camel stood nearby, evidently bored.
"Oi! What in the dark god's name doyya think yer doing?"
The human looked up and saw Nokie, closely fallowed by the others.
He looked over them all, decided that he was well and truely overpowered, and tossed Danielle, bound and screaming, over his Camel and bounded up after her. Nokie swore. "No yer bluddy well don't!" Taking a few steps, he bounded up onto the human's back, wrapping his small but powerful arms around his neck and throttling the human, tipping him to the ground. The camel hadn't moved, but stared at the scene in boredom, Danielle still flailing across its back.

Maddox

When I awoke that morning I found it to be warm and sunny and saw as everyone in the group were coming out of the trees to let their bodies soak in the sun. This, was something I didn't do because personally I hated the sun. Some would say that was the reason for me being pale, but actually I was born pale like this and it wasn't something that ran in my race, it was just me.

The screaming broke the silence then and the first to take real notice into this was Nokie, How did you not notice this before hand Maddox?![/b] Lex's voice rang through my head. [i]Maddox go and help! shouted Rain's voice, she'd been my youngest sister and the last of my family I'd seen alive.

I extracted my claws on both my hands and feet and my fangs probably grew longer and bigger too, I ran behind Nokie like this, catching up with him quickly. It was a man, many times bigger than me, he was on a camel and holding Danielle bound to the back hump. Nokie sprang at him first, knocking him off of the camel and scuffling with him on the ground.

Nokie was a good fighter but I knew he wasn't going to be able to last long, I jumped into the fight and ripped the man's armor, only managing to scractch it. What? I thought to myself.

**not a veyr good post but... oh well, 'tis all I got**

I woke up before everyone. I got up and stretched quietly, looking at everyone on the ground asleep. Ballow had his arms around Maddox protectively. I smiled. She looked so frail that it was almost comforting to see her being looked after.

I was staring up at the way the sun filtered through the leaves casting a green tint on everyone when I felt a giant calloused hand smother my mouth and smashed my nose down hard. I began to faintly smell blood. I tried to scream but I could barely even breathe. I squirmed trying to turn around to see who it was, but a strong arm the size of a tree branch wrapped around my torso holding my arms against my body. I glanced wildly around at the group, but no one even stirred. I heard a rough voice in my ear whisper "If you make a sound I'll snap your neck."

He picked me up with one arm and keeping a hand over my mouth he brgan to carry me through the forrest. We passed tree after tree, and I couldn't get my thoughts straight. He finally took his hand away from my mouth and I saw blood drip from my nose. I gasped in a couple breaths.

I had to decide whether or not to scream. If I waited much longer no one would be able to hear me and I figured I was pretty much doomed either way so I took in as deep of a breath as I could manage with his massive arms crushing me and let it out as loud as I could.

We stopped moving suddenly.

"That wasn't smart, Missy," he growled and dropped me to the ground with a swift kick to the ribs. I gasped for air, feeling the bruises on my ribs begin to form. He grabbed rope from off a camel standing near by and before I even got up enough strength to try to leave, he was tying me up with coarse rope that itched on my skin. I got a good look at his face. It was very round and lumpy. There were blemishes scattered around his face and it was blotchy. I cringed away from him, but he was rough and tied my hands and feet tight.

I heard people come into the clearing. Then the man picked me up and threw me onto the camel. I couldn't see from my angle, but I heard "oof!" and "argh!" everyone in a while. I hoped none of our group was getting hurt. I assumed it was them fighting him, anyway. I mean I'd heard someone who sounded a lot like Nokie, and that's a hard accent to reproduce.

The camel moved around, bumping my injuries. I saw some more blood drip onto its fur from my face. I hoped they hurried.

The man was struggling, and he was stronger then Nokie. Maddox kept trying to rip into his armor, to no effect. I can't hold on. Nokie realised.
Nokie let one hand let go, reaching behind him and grabbing the knife from its jiding placing in his belt. Without thinking, desperation taking control of his actions, he drove it straight into the man's eye. The man froze instantly, blood pouring up around the hilt and onto Nokie's hands. Nokie felt all the the blood drain out of his face.
"I killed 'im! I bluddy well killed 'im! I don' wanna be a murderer! He leaped back, staring at horror at his blood-soaked hands.
"Nokie..." Maddox took a step towards him, but Nokie bolted towards the trees and up into the canopy, tears streaming down his face.

There was a silence after the sound of the trees stopped moving from Nokie's escape. My eyes were watering up from pain. I hoped my nose wasn't broken, but I hadn't heard a crack, so I assumed it wasn't.

I thought about Nokie's words as a couple people helped me off the camel and untied me.

"I've never killed anyone, and if I can avoid it, I won't ever. Believe me or no', tha' is the truth."

I didn't look at the man on the ground as Maddox helped me limp back to the river where we'd slept, but I think someone recovered Nokie's knife. I'm not sure if he would even want it back.

No one spoke on the way back, at least not that I heard. It was a little difficult to tell, I was grunting like an ape, holding my ribs.

I noticed that Ballow kept his distance, too. I wondered if it was because my nose was bleeding. I wiped at it anxiously. I wasn't really in the mood to be eaten. Especially today... I'd had enough injuries for one day.

Maddox


I couldn't really keep Danielle leaned up against me as we walked back to the er... camp. But, somehow I managed to do it. Someone was going to need to go find Nokie, and soon, especially before it got dark. If a man with armor not even my claws could have cut was near us, then who knew what else was out there.

"Maddox, thank you" Danielle said after she set down on the riverbank, I guess she was rethinking about atleast me hating her. Of course, I did't hate her. I didn't hate anyone.

"You don't need to thank me, Danielle. Rule number one in survival, no one gets left behind" I told her and got up from the ground. I looked to the others but kept my gaze on Ballow. "I'm going to find Nokie" I told them and sprang up into the trees where I knew he'd be.

Nokie looked up as he heard someone climbing up his tree, his face blotchy from tears and his hands trembling. He couldn't get the blood off, no matter how hard he tried.
It was Maddox. Nokie shrunk back. "Leave me alone!"
"Nokie..."
"No! I don' deserve your sympathy! I'm a bluddy murderer now!" His voice cracked, and he covered his face with his hands. "I nev' wanted to kill anyone..."
"You did it because you had to." Maddox edged closer, unsure whether to offer a comforting pat on the shoulder.
"It don' matter! Don' you see? Now I'm jus' like them." He pointed vaguely in the direction of the others. "No longer am I just a good-natured rogue, I'm a killer. A murderer. An' I don' deserve your comfort!" He went to leap away, but Maddox grabbed his arm. "Nokie, you can't go out alone. You need us. Maybe we will need you. Just come down, please?"

Maddox



"Nokie, you're not just like them. Okay. You killed that man because he had Danielle and God knows what he was going to do with her!" I shouted and him, "Nokie you can't leave us, not now. We need you, what if something else happens?" I asked him, tears streaming down my face. "I can't loose anymore family, Nokie. Please, don't leave". I probably looked pathetic right now, more like a little girl than I ever had in my life, and I mean like a real human girl. The tears were coming down fast and I just stared at him.

Nokie blinked, and dropped his head slightly. Family. I haven't had any real family in years. "Okay. I'll come back."
Maddox looked relieved, and went to give him a hug, but Nokie leaned back. "Woah, I'll gladly give ya a hug, love, just lemme...go get cleaned up firs'."
Maddox smiled slightly, wiping her face. Nokie decided his tail was clean and patted her shoulder with that instead. "Don' cry, lass. No-one ain' ever cried f' ol' Nokie, before. I dunno what to do!"
This made Maddox laugh, and she pointed to the river. "We should get back down, now."
"Yeap. I'm just gonna go t' the river, okay? Then I'll be back."
He bounded out of the tree and went to the river, downstream to were the others were, and scrubbed at his hands, arms and front. As he worked he thought about what Maddox had said, and felt a little better.
Killer or not, for once in his life he was needed. He was worth something.

I examined the body after almost all of them had left, either after Nokie or because they were disgusted by the body.

I tried to bend a part of the armor but it was too hard. I smiled, the humans had developed yet another metal, strong enough to withstand a Neotacs strength. There was a letter hidden inside his Armour. I read it and re-read it. This was too bad to be true. I stood up and ran after the others, they had to know before hell broke lose.

The first people i met was Sydney and Danielle.

"We have a problem." I said and handed them the letter.

They red it like me and i knew that they got shock too as the first thing they said was "This cant be" in unison.

"It is and I'm guessing more of those 'camel people' are coming our way this instant. As we killed their general" I explained pointing to the to of the letter where the words 'Dear General' were clearly visible.

"We have to warn the others before they get captured" Said Danielle.

I think we have a bigger problem" i said pointing the bushes behind them where three other 'camel men' stood.

I positioned myself in a fighting position and so did Danielle and Sydney.