The Saviors (accepting!)

Als

Every sense is alert as I walk along, Rufi and the lion at my heels. The lion looks alert too. His round black ears swivel around his head, and his leathery black nose twitches as he takes in some scent I can't even imagine. Lion is a cat, mutated to three times the normal size. His claws have become so long that they curl into the earth with every step; it gives him a rather slow, shuffling walk. He turns his large green eyes to stare adoringly into mine. He has fallen strong under my spell and I have quickly grown fond of him. If only his enchantment with me would last more than a few hours, so that he would stay with me like Rufi does.
Suddenly I hear a twig snap. All three of us freeze, looking wildly around. My heart starts racing. I know there are people in this area, and I also know they are dangerous. There is no way I want to run into either.
Rufi starts creeping towards a bush, stilt-like legs stiff. The lion turns also, baring his teeth and hissing. Both of them stand in front of me with bodies taut as a rubber band. I relax slightly, but keep my own self tensed to run.
Then this... Thing, this creature leaps at my face. I have no time to see anything except a purple and tan blur. Lion leaps straight up, catching the mutant animal in mid air. They both crash to the ground. Lion's unearthly yowls are almost drowned out by my scream. The animal is flipped over on its belly and Rufi darts in to tear at its throat. It screams and goes limp.
I sink to the ground, wrapping my arms around my waist and shivering. I swallow hard, fighting back tears, and look up. Rufi looks fine, but the Lion is breathing hard. Three neon purple things are sticking out of his face like extra whiskers. Frowning, I look down at the thing. It is torn to shreds, but it looks like it was at one point a porcupine-like mammal. A fresh wave of tears threaten me. I have seen a lot of dead animals with porcupine quills in their faces; I think the porcupines may have mutated to become poisonous.
"Come here, strong one," I murmur and the Lion stumbles toward me. His eyes are bright with pain. I slide my hand along his glossy neck. Rufi barges in between us, pushing my arm out of the way and leaning down to lick the Lion's head. The poor cat is probably going to die before his enthrallment with me even wears off.
I stand up, stomach lurching as I remember all the noise we made. If any people heard me scream, I would be in huge trouble.

Arianna

I watch Slavo lay on a rock, claiming he is storing up power. I think he is just being lazy. Our base camp needed to be packed up so we could move easily. I am on my knees packing up the box of food. The heat will spoil it all if I do not get it packed up. The hot air burns my skin. I grab a hair band and pull my hair out of my face. It is so hot, but the sun is not is the sky. It is never in the sky. All the pollution clouds the atmosphere where no sun light can get through, but it is so hot. I stand up and brush the dirt off my hands. I lean down to pick up the box. When I am about to lift, I hear scream in the distance. It is the opposite direction of the saviors camp, so it is not one of them. I turn to Slavo, to see he is already sitting up. I smile and we break into a run.

I close my eyes as I run. Slavo is calling out directions so I do not run into a tree of fall. “Right.” he calls. I move and sprint. In my mind I see a girl I have never crossed my whole time on Earth. “What does she look like.” He asks.

“Skinny and short. She needs a bath. Nothing to hard to take out.” I say smiling. I run faster to catch up with Slavo.

“Darn, I was hoping for a little fun.” He says laughing.

“I do not know. There was something different about her.” I say.

Will

I shied away nervously as Blaine stalked toward Ava and Kam. He had been out of sorts ever since Kam arrived, but this was scary. "He is not one of us, Ava! Can't you see that?!" he yelled.

"Guys, calm down," I said, standing up. "This is exactly what Slavo wants. He's smart; he knows we'll be easier to kill if we're not united."

"Well, what do you want to do?" Jocelyn asked. "Should we kill Slavo, or shouldn't we?"

"Well..." I hedged, trying to get a few moments to think. "Our primary goal is to clean up the planet and then get out as fast as possible, and we can't do that if we're dead. So I think the question we should be asking is whether Slavo will catch up to us if we keep running. Would it be better for our safety to get rid of the mutants right away so they won't try to kill us anymore, or to avoid them entirely? And I think the only one here who can really answer that is Kam." I turned toward Kam and Ava, who were sitting on a boulder. "Kam, what do you think?"

Name: Unknown.

Gender: Male.

Age: Looks anywhere from 15-20.

Description: He's taken to all fours in the manner of some sort of tiger, and his hazel eyes seem to glow because of the mutation. His hair is brown, though that could just be because he's forgotten normal people (and animals) are supposed to bathe. He's actually long and lanky, so he's a bit intimidating when in full view, which is rare. There's a wildness about him that would put most people off, if they ever got close. His clothing was shredded long ago—he didn’t specifically remove it; it just never occurred to him to bother with it, so the forest and the animals he’s tussled with did their work.

Personality: A master of seclusion, he’s rarely seen unless he wants to be. Some have felt his presence before—that was a slip-up, a careless mistake. Normally he stays as far away from humans as he can. It would take something drastic for him to venture anywhere near either camp. Fiercely predatory, yet lacking the oomph to capture large prey, his diet is still that of an omnivore, though the only live things he’ll eat are fish and rodent-size creatures. If treated gently and cautiously, his former self might emerge. Take caution, however: his only reason for leaving large prey alone is that he doesn’t want the trouble. He has no problem holding his own against big cats and wolf-type creatures—he just prefers to run.

Power: Limited communications with animals, limited morphing abilities. The latter tends to be painful.

Weakness/Strengths: Bright lights, open spaces, loss of mental capacity to reason.

Short Bio: All he knows is that there were bad people who did painful things to him, and he ran away. What really happened was that he was the oldest child of a large family. Their parents were not in the picture (the why is open to interpretation), so he was the sole caregiver. One day, someone told him that if he were to agree to the experimentation, not only would he receive a large sum of money, his family would be well taken care of. He agreed, obviously. What he didn’t know was that although the scientists did take care of his family, they also went to work on convincing them to follow his path.

Weapon:

Other: Up for love, but only if treated right. Any sudden moves and he'll be gone, perhaps for good. The girl who influences animals is a possibility, but it has to be gradual.

Jocelyn

Ava stared at me, stunned. I know we shouldn’t kill Slavo. It’s not right. But right now, it seems that it’s the only thing we can do.
“All this time we have been running, trying not to make contact with those two. We out number them, we can take them out. Can't we?” Ava’s voice was shaky.
Before I could respond, Blaine comes out of nowhere, shouting at Ava. I’ve never saw him like this. I thought they were close friends. Why is he so mad?

Kam and Blaine were staring at each other. Ava looked at me and Will and shook her head. I shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t know what was going on. What was Blaine’s problem? Why is he acting like this? I don’t know. All I know is that I need to talk to Ava about what I overheard Skye saying. And at this rate, I’m not going to get to. I also need to talk to Blaine and see what his problem is. Ava hasn’t done anything to him, has she? Before I could come in to say something, Ava leaves. It looks like I’ll be talking to Blaine first. Yippee.

“Blaine… Can I talk to you. Privately?”
“Sure, whatever.”
We walk over to a polluted lake.
“Why are you so mad? What has Ava done to you?”
“It’s nothing. You wouldn’t understand anyway.”
“I know you don’t trust me, but I know how to keep secrets.” As I was saying this, he bent down and waved his hand through the water, immediately purifying it.
“ You really want to know? She’s in love with that mutant called Kam. That’s what she did.”
“But why would you be mad about this? It’s her choice.”
“Okay. So maybe I like her. Do you understand now?”
“Aw. That’s so sweet!”
“Yeah, whatever. She’d never like me. She’s too busy falling for Kam.” He started to walk back over to the others.
“Wait! You need to go apologize to her!”
“Why should I?”
“Because. She doesn’t understand why you’re so mad, remember.”
“Oh. Right.” And as he said this, he started to walk forward in her direction.”

Blaine

I run back to base camp to grab a bottle of water for Ava. I fill it up with the clean water. I run in the direction Ava went and try to find her. The forest is her favorite place to hide. I follow foot prints to a huge tree. I walk around the tree a all of the sudden get trampled to the ground. I can feel the hand on my back and can tell it was Ava. I flip her on to her back and pin her arms to the ground. “ It is just me.” I say standing up. I grab her arm and pull her up. “ If you were a little heavier you could have taken someone out.” I handed her the water bottle. She opened it and started to drink it slowly. “Look I am really sorry for the way I acted. I just do not trust Kam. I am sorry. I just do not want you to get hurt.” I say. Her eyes are wide. They are so beautiful. She is so beautiful.

“Blaine, Kam is not going to hurt me. I promise you that. Look I may not be as strong as the rest of them, but I have good judgment.” She says. “You want some water.” She says holding out the bottle of water.

“No I am fine. We should so back to base camp.” I say. “We need to stay together.” I said walk along side of Ava as we head back to base camp.

Ava

I sit up in the trees. I do not want to be seen by anyone. So many questions run through my head. Why is Blaine acting like this, why is everyone so protective and how mad did I make Skye. My thoughts are interrupted by a branch snapping. I see a person walk under the tree I am in. I adjust myself to attack. I move without noise and I lunge forward onto the persons back, taking them to the ground. The person flips me over and pins my arms to the ground. “It is just me. You know if you were heaver, you could have really hurt me.” he says loosing his grip and standing up. He hands me a bottle of water. Thank God. “I am really sorry for the way I acted. I just want you to be safe.” he says. I stand up off the ground.

“Blaine I know you do not trust him, but I do. I know he is not going to hurt me. I may not be the biggest and strongest here, but I have good judgment.” I say. “You want some water.” I ask. He shakes his head.

“We should be getting back.”He says walking off. We walk back to base camp. Will is standing up talking to the group about Salvo. I resume my place next to Kam. Just the sight of Kam makes me happy. I feel safe when I am with him. Will is talking about running or hiding, or killing him. “Won't Salvo just follow us?” Blaine asks the group.

Will

"Won't Slavo just follow us?" Blaine asked.

"Yeah, he will," I said. "But if we can outrun him, then it doesn't make sense to risk our lives going after him. I'm just trying to work out whatever's safest for us."

I sat down again as the others thought about my proposal. I really didn't like our situation--no one could agree with each other, and there was no clear leader to make a decision. I didn't feel like I could just take charge, but if someone didn't step up soon, we'd be sitting ducks for Slavo.

"Guys, we have to make a decision soon," I urged. "Slavo already knows where we are, and I don't know what he's waiting for..." I looked around at the group and shrugged, hoping someone else would have answers.

Spoiler

I need something big for Skye to do... she's kinda useless right now. Ps: she desperately needs someone to be nice to her... for once : P

Skye

With everything going on at once, it was hard to keep my mind focused on where everyone was splitting off to and keeping my emotions in check. None of them needed to know where my thoughts had snuck off to. Seeing as there wasn't really anything for me to do other than watch everyone argue over what to do with Kam and whether or not they should really trust Ava's decisions, I was stuck with these thoughts. It seemed like Ava had turned into something special, someone everyone wanted to protect and fall in love with.

The jealousy burned inside me. I knew it was wrong to feel like that towards her, she was sweet, and innocent. Ava was special. There was no denying that I wanted to protect her, too. All of my emotions were coming from one problem--a problem that no one would understand.

None of our lives had been perfect, we had all been raised in the labs. I wasn't jealous of her life so much as I was jealous of the way everyone treated her like she was some leader, a goddess that was going to save everyone. I was the one protecting them, keeping them alive, but no one noticed that. Everyone seemed to have some grudge against me, either for arguing with Ava, or for some other, personal reason I couldn't understand. It upset me more than the others thought it did.

But I had a job to do. So I swallowed my emotions and kept up my poker face. I knew I had problems, I knew I needed someone to talk to, but that could wait until later. I had a bigger problem to deal with than my mixed emotions and jumbled up thoughts. I'd put it out of my mind until everyone was safe and the world was saved.

Will

When no one answered me, I threw my hands up and walked off along the perimeter of the clearing, trying to get my thoughts together. What were we doing? Why were we just sitting here? Isabelle would have killed them all...

I shook my head, blinking back tears. Thoughts of Isabelle would just distract me, and that was the last thing I needed. I walked faster, arms crossed, trying to focus on the ground below me.

I was so focused on the ground that I bumped into someone. "Sorry," I said immediately.

"S'okay," she said, turning away from me. It was Skye. Her face was passive, blank--too blank.

"Skye, you okay?" I asked.

Skye

"Skye, you ok?" Will asked. I turned away from him and sighed, willing myself to be stronger, to hold back the tears that unexpectedly threatened to spill over. It was so unlike me. When I turned back to him, I managed a small smile.

"Is it that obvious?" I asked bitterly, wishing he hadn't noticed me--wishing I could just control myself. I hadn't planned on saying anything, I was just going to keep my mouth shut. It wasn't anyone else's business. But even as I thought this, I found myself telling him anyway. "Everyone keeps treating me like an outsider, like I'm not one of them. I'm everyone's protection, I'm here to keep them safe, but it seems all I can do is make everyone upset with me. Even Ava hates me, and she's like a sister to me. No one understands that, I don't hate her, we just argue a lot. And now everyone's treating her like a hero, but I haven't really seen her do anything special except draw the attention of two guys. Yea, I'm kind of jealous, but I can't tell her that because I don't want to hurt her. It's so not like me to even feel like this and I'm not used to it. I shouldn't even be telling you this."

I said it all in a rush and when I finished, I took a deep breath and controlled my shaking. I was exasperated with myself; why had I even said anything? Especially to Will--I mean, I'm sure he's a good listener and a great friend, but I didn't want to admit it to myself that I needed someone to talk to. I was independent, I'd always been that way. So why did I feel lonely and left out all of a sudden? Why did I feel the need to reach out to someone for support--why did I want someone to support me?

Will

I stayed silent for a few seconds, a little shocked. Skye hadn't seemed like the type to spill all that at once. She must have been really upset.

"That's a really good point," I remarked. "About the attention thing. Hmm..." And it was. Ava had led us to Kam, but that was about it, besides doing her normal job. I had a theory--well, Isabelle had a theory--that in a situation like ours, your personality had a huge effect on how others saw you. I was quiet, so I tended to get trod on a little. Skye was stubborn and determined, so she was avoided. And Ava was friendly and personable, so people were drawn to her. But that didn't excuse anyone. We all needed Skye, whether we knew it or not.

I snapped my fingers. "That's it!" I exclaimed. "You're the protector! This is off-topic, but...what would you do? Would you run from Slavo, or fight him? I think you're really the only one with the expertise to make that decision."