The Fox

*Dahlia*

I opened my eyes slowly and I saw everyone looking at Alasdair, who was slumped against the wall.

I licked my dry lips. "Is he okay?" I croaked.

Every one's head, including Alasdair's, turned to me. I was laying on the wooden floor, and as soon as I tried to prop myself up, I regretted it. My arm muscles were almost useless. They were completely numb.

Everyone came to my side, crouching down all around me. "Dahlia! You're awake!" Lydia made it sound like a miracle.

I smiled weakly. "Yeah, I suppose I am." I looked at Kricket, who was looking a little bit better than the last time I saw her. "Are you okay?"

She smiled. "Yes." She took my hand. "You saved me, Dahlia. You saved me, and Griff, and everyone else who would've fallen prey to that lion if you hadn't had the courage to kill it."

"I have no use for cowardice." I rasped. "No one else did either."

They all looked at each other. "How are you feeling?" Griff asked.

I frowned. "I can't feel my arms or my legs. I'm pretty much useless right now."

"We found all kinds of supplies," said Flea, "But they won't last us for two weeks."

I looked past Griff and Kricket to see a few backpacks full of supplies. "I don't trust it." I said. "Why would he help us survive if he wanted to kill us?"

"Because if we die of starvation then he won't be able to have any of his fun." Casey replied, a bitter note in her voice.

"Besides," said Lydia, "All of the food is packaged and hasn't been open or tampered with."

I nodded. I looked at my hands and tried to flex them but it wouldn't work. "I hate feeling so helpless."

"Don't we all." said Flea.

Just then, the cell phone rang.

Griff-

Griff hovered absently in front of the door. Everyone was exhausted and irritable. All he wanted to do was find a way out. He thought a lot about his mother, and even his step father. His mother was probably half crazy by now and his step father... well he was probably counting his blessings.

Griff felt a hand on his arm and turned to see Kricket. God she was beautiful. He thought that if they got out alive he would ask her out. They would get out alive. He half smiled at her in an attempt to be comforting. She seemed equally adamant that they would all survive.

Then Dahlia woke up. Everyone rushed around her, but Griff hovered back a bit. He still wanted to keep one eye on that door. There was a rush of conversation and debate about the food. Then the cell phone buzzed. He pulled the device from his jean pocket and put it on speaker.

Lydia

Once again the Fox had called them.

"Very impressive," their captor smirked through the speaker, "I fully expected at least one of you to have perished. Oh well, there's always next time."

"What do you want from us!?" Griff shouted probably a little louder than he'd expected.

"A challenge," the Fox replied, "Hopefully one that will keep me entertained long enough. So on to our next hurdle. This one I like to call hide-and-seek. The object is to find my button that shuts off a bomb inside one of your friends here... Lydia?"

The group looked over to Lydia who was holding a half-eaten biscuit out of her bag.

"That biscuit in your hand contained a few microscopic bombs eager to destroy your entire digestive system, and eventually cause you to die of internal bleeding."

Lydia shrunk to the floor, her eyes growing red. She opened her mouth to speak but couldn't bring herself to do so. The faces of Lydia's acquaintances grew distorted as she began to sob.

How could I have been too stupid to realize that meeting Sarah at the north hall was a trap? If I would've just thought about it, and realized that she was in class... Dang, I'm so stupid. Eating the food he gave us... That was even more stupid. God, why is this happening to me?

"Lydia," Casey approached her, "don't worry. We'll find the button, I promise."

"It's ok--" Griff started but was cut of when the room went black.

Casey

Lydia sobbed even harder when the lights went out. "I don't want to die, I don't want to die, I don't want to die," she said over and over.

Casey grabbed up the bag that had be near her and started rummaging through it, hoping to find a flashlight or something. No one was going to die, they were smarter than this. She wouldn't allow it.

"Oh God, I don't want to die," Lydia continued.

"We'll find it, Lydia, just stay calm," Kricket tried to comfort her.

Finally Casey's hand brushed something metallic. A flashlight maybe? She clamped her hands down over it, only to find it wasn't a flashlight.

"Gah!" she shouted, pulling her hand out of the bag. Something warm dripped down her hand. She couldn't see it, but she knew it was blood. "This is not the time," she muttered.

Ignoring the pain of the cut, and the possibilities of how bad it could be, she went back to searching the bag. Finally, she found what she was looking for.

"Aha!" Casey said as she clicked on the flashlight. "Let's find that button!"

((Er, if I could find a way to insert myself, could I join this? I understand completely if the answer is no.))

(Just for argument's sake... Flea (Hero) hasn't been posting at all... maybe Buggy would want to take over? Just a suggestion )

Buggy: Sure you can join! If you want to take over Flea/Dan who was Hero's character then you can. Or, if you preferred you could create an entirely new character and we could work them in.

How I propose doing this...
The new character was taken at the same time as the others (though no postings of that would exist, it would have just happened) and placed in a different part of the factory. The Fox could warn us of others in the factory in some sort of peril and we could come find you.

Either way, if you joined, I would really prefer a male character as there are more females currently. But it's not the end of the world if you really want a girl.

((Cool, I've got a male character I can tailor to work in this setting. ))

Kricket

"Just stay calm, Lydia," I said, patting her hand gently. Her back hitched with her sobs and occasionally she'd say between gasps of breath, "I d-d-don't want to d-duh-hie!"

"What's this button supposed to look like anyway?" Griff asked.

"I dunno. He didn't say," Casey shrugged.

The flashlight's beam searched the room slowly, lighting up every inch of every wall.

"I can't see any kind of button," Casey said. Lydia sobbed harder.

"C'mon there's gotta be something here!" Dalia insisted.

"Check the books," I suggested. Griff immediately began pulling the books off the shelf, flipping through the pages frantically.

"There's nothing in here either!"

A loud crash outside made us all jump.

"What was that?" I said, my voice dropping to a whisper. "Is it another thing that will kill us?"

"I don't know," Griff answered. We all waited with baited breath.

*If you want to jump in, there you go Buggy! If not, just tell me and I'll edit it.*

Go ahead and post your profile, Buggy, and you can be the crash if you want.

Name: Oliver Edinburgh
Age: Just turned 18
Appearance: Brown hair and eyes, charming smile (and he's often smiling). Lanky, would stand at about 6 feet if he wasn't in a wheelchair. Wearing a dorky looking sweater and khakis.
Personality: He's fairly laid back, kind, and pretty smart. Very determined, doesn't get angry easily. Resourceful. Likes fish and has an aquarium.
Strengths: He can get along with pretty much anyone, keeps his head in a crisis, and is always willing to do whatever is required of him. Very unselfish. Good upper-body strength.
Weaknesses: He's a paraplegic, so he can't walk. When he does get angry, he's really good at needling people and it may take a bit to snap him out of it.
History: He's been paralyzed from the waist down for about a year. He's fairly used to it by now.
Other: Open to love

Oliver

Everything was dark.

Then suddenly it wasn't. The sack was gone from his head. "All right, what's going on?" he asked, turning his head from side. Agh, headache. Right, he'd been hit from behind. He made to rub the throbbing lump on his scalp, but his hand wouldn't move.

"You've got to be KIDDING me," he sighed, looking down at his wrists. They'd been duct-taped to the armrests on his wheelchair. He rocked back and forth with the effort to free himself. Unfortunately this didn't end well.

CRASH! "Ow..." He'd knocked himself over onto his side, chair and all. Now he was REALLY screwed.

There was the noise of footsteps approaching. A door he hadn't noticed swung open. "Who's there?" he asked as bravely as he could.

Oliver! *flashes back to the Asylum*

Casey

"I'm going to see what that was," Casey declared, striding across the room towards the door.

Griff grabbed her before she could make it, though. "Are you crazy? It could be a trap!"

Casey pushed him away. "Or it could be something helpful!" she exclaimed. "Remember, this guy wants to play with us. We're a game to him. We haven't been here an entire day, no one is dying yet."

She continued to the door, pausing before opening it. "Keep looking for the button," she said, tossing the flashlight to Griff. She opened the door and dissapeared into the darkness.

"Who's there?" a shaky voice asked.

Casey paused. Another person was out there. Could the Fox have brought another group in and put them somewhere else in this place? Or could this be the Fox himself.

"Is someone there?" the voice asked again. It didn't sound like the Fox had over the phone and the intercom.

"Who are you?" Casey asked into the darkness, feeling her way towards the sound of the voice.

"Who are you?"

"I believe I asked you first."

"I'm Oliver Edinburgh, now who are you? Are you the one who brought me here?"

Casey moved closer to the voice, she was nearly on top of it. "My name's Casey, and no I didn't bring you here. Someone who calls himself 'the Fox' did." Suddenly, her foot hit something and she toppled forward. "Woah!" she shouted as she rolled over something large and hit the concrete floor.

(Yes, it is Oliver! But without body-switching powers. I find he makes the transition from super-powered freak to regular human well)

Oliver

"Seriously? 'The Fox'? What kind of stupid- ack! Watch it!" Oliver winced as someone fell over him.

"What the...?" The girl felt around in the dark. "What did I trip over?"

"My wheelchair."

"Oh."

"Could you help me up? I was trying to get my wrists loose and fell over."

"Sure, sorry, I-I didn't hurt you did I?" Oliver sighed with relief as she pulled him right way up again.

"Nah, I'm fine. Help me out of this, would you?"

Casey

Casey easily freed Oliver's hands. She was sure he wasn't in touch with the Fox. Well, she could never be positive, but something told her this guy was safe.

"Come on, the others are just ahead," Casey said, starting back the way she thought she came.

"Others?"

"Yeah, Griff, Kricket, Lydia, Dahlia, Alasdair, and Flea," Casey explained. "The Fox brought us all here too."

A few minutes later, they managed to make it back to the room. Unfortunately things had not improved since Casey had left.

"Don't yell at me!" Griff shouted. "I don't see anyone else finding the button!"

"We don't have a lot of time!" Dahlia countered. "We have to hurry!"

Lydia was in hysterics and she could hear Kricket trying to calm her down. Casey sighed and grabbed the flashlight away from Griff. "Everyone needs to shut it and keep looking," she cut in.

She turned the flashlight on Oliver, getting a good look at him. "This is Oliver, by the way, the Fox brought him here too."

"Hey," Oliver said, awkwardly waving his hand.

"Why would the Fox put him somewhere else?" Flea asked. "Can we trust him?"

Casey sighed and shook her head. She figured there would be problems. She didn't want to deal with that though, they had more important things to do.

"I'm pretty sure I can be trusted," Oliver offered. He then seemed to notice Lydia's blubbering in the next moment. "What's wrong?"

"The Fox put miniscule bombs in our food, Lydia over there ate it," Casey explained. "We need to find a button to deactivate them before they kill her."

*I was thinking...perhaps the button is on Oliver's wheelchair?*