Chosen- Started.

Stanley


I wake up to find myself intensely dizzy. Where am I? There is something wrapped around my hand, possibly another person's hand? I squeeze it. Who is this? What's going on? The ringing in my ears is louder than ever. Boy, that's annoying. Someone should turn it off. For some reason, the thought crosses my mind that I'm an assassin. I don't know who I'm supposed to kill, though.

"Ugh, where am I?" I moan, opening my eyes slightly. Blurriness is basically all I can see.

The face of an angel hovers over me - if I'm dead I am going to be really ticked off. "You're in the infirmary, Stanley," says the angel, drying tears from her face. "And I'm here with you."

"Stanley, well ain't that grandly!" I croak, then start laughing uncontrollably. "Stanley rhymes with grandly! Get it?"

Bemused, the angel looks over at a woman sitting in a chair on the other side of the room. She isn't half bad-looking either. Two beautiful ladies? I don't know how I got here, but I'm liking it. I turn my head and see a third girl sitting up in - oh, that's actually a boy. Well, he can just go to sleep or something because he can't have either of these.

"He got a concussion when he hit his head on the tile," Other Woman says to the
Angel. "We've treated him already, and he should be right as rain in another hour or two. However, he is going to experience some delirium from the medications."

"You can just call me Foxy, my dears." I push myself up into a sitting position: the whole room tilts.

"Lie back down, Stanley." Other Woman pushes me back down. How rude.


"I'm breaking up with you," I snap. I can hear the boy laughing behind me.

"If you were a girl, I'd break up with you too." I roll over to glare at him. Just that effort makes my head swim. why are there two boys now? The ringing noise is back; someone must be holding an alarm at my ear. Wanting some peace, I throw my arm backward. Angel squeaks in surprise as it collides with her face.

"Who are you all, anyways?" I grunt, reaching up to rub my eyes. I draw my hand back - that hurts!

"You don't remember me?" Angel looks horrified.

"Amnesia is a common side effect of a concussion," Other Woman explains. "It will wear off soon."

"Amnesias aren't clothes," I snort. How could Other Woman even think that? Angel giggles. The ringing gets even louder than before.

"The less stimulation he recieves, the faster the concussion will wear off and the sooner he can get back to training." Other Woman guides Angel out of the room, shutting the lights off as the go. I frown. Why are all the babes leaving me?

I slump back against the pillows, scowling. Now I'm all alone, save for the boy sleeping in the corner.

It comes back to me gradually. The others' names come first. Ree is the one in the corner; Arcadia was the angel, and now she probably thinks I'm a nutcase; Other Woman was a nurse. What happened takes a lot longer to return to me. I begin to remember the Dharius beating Ree, the fight, me stabbing someone. Did I really stab Dharius? Then I remember that Dharius can heal himself and the guilt dissipates to be replaced with rage. Next time - and there surely is going to be a next time - I won't get distracted. Next time, I won't fall and bonk my stupid head. If Dharius messes with my teammates again, he's really going to get it.

The dizziness and the tinnitus fade. My vision clears, the double-vision ceasing. It's time for me to get out of here. Fingers still feeling thick, I fumble with the button to call the nurse in. Finally I manage to press it and she comes in almost instantly.

Fifteen minutes later I am back in the room, still rather woozy. My teammates all look up, or at least the girls do.

"How do you feel?" Vega calls.

I grunt. "Marvelous. Just marvelous." The floor dips dangerously under my feet and I have to close my eyes for a minute. Bleh. I open them again, searching for Nellie. There she is, propped up against the wall. I trudge over to her, weaving like a drunk, and haul her over my shoulder. My thoughts dart to Dharius, willing to attack Ree even though he was already injured. Better safe than sorry.

Spoiler

What if instead Leo climbs up and cuts the rope, causing something to happen to open the cabinet? That would be more realistic

Arcadia

The nurse escorts me out and I feel relieved, if not confused.

"We'll send him back in shortly," she says, ushering me into the room.

I go over to Ava, who looks worried.

"How are they?" she asks.

"Stanley's rather doped up on medicine and Ree's been stitched up," I tell her. "They should be okay."

She manages a weak smile. "That was scary," she admits.

"Tell me about it." An involuntary shiver runs down my spine. Very scary.

I see Dharius across the room and I give him a nasty look.

"Hopefully they will be okay when we leave for Arkyle. We're leaving in only a day or two."

"What?" I say, a little shocked. "Already?"

She nods, but just as she's about to speak she's cut off by a loud cry of, "Stanley!" from Vega. I turn my head to see him staggering in through the door, looking rough but better than before. I watch him sling his gun across his shoulder and I run over to him, stopping myself in time so I don't collide with him. I wrap my arms around his neck.

"Glad you're okay," I say, a blush creeping into my cheeks as I do.

Dharius

When I turn around and I'm about to go and solve the cabinet puzzle, Ava comes to me and starts talking, very mad:

"If you were going to kill me I am sure you would have done it by now.” Darn, I forgot she can read minds. “So if you can kill me, why haven't you?” On her back, I see Leo using his oddly strong abilities to break open the wall. Interesting. Back to Ava, I can't hurt her..., something I learned in the streets of Mexico is that hitting women is just being a jerk and a coward.

I'm going to talk with Ava... but then Stanley -the fox guy- gets in front of me and kicks my chest. What's his problem? I haven't even talked to him. Angered, and in self-defense I slam his stomach with my head, burying it hard. After a few moments, Stanley hits the ground hard, and then, before I notice, I'm already punching his face.

One hit. Two hits. Three hits. If I don't stop he's going to faint... but I can't even think, I just feel the adrenaline and the madness running through my body. When I'm about to land the fourth punch, suddenly the guy disappears and my fist encounters tile. Pain. I stand up, cursing, and find out that the dude has transformed into a fox.

Back to human form, he throws his fist to my face, but I easily watch it coming, stopping him. However, this guy is fast; he smacks my face two times and then jabs me on the shoulder. I counter. We both step back and then I release an uppercut and a kick after blocking an attack from him. Still on his feet.

Ready to finish him, I throw my head onto him, but then a horrible pain gets into me. Something has cut my throat. I scream, and then Stanley stabs me on the stomach. I can't move.

I feel all of my senses fade, but I can hear a lot of noise in the room..., some men take me and hold me by the arms. Using the few strength I have left, I try to release but they hold me tight, besides that there are approximately six men holding me.

They put me in a room, and I try to stay still so that my body heals. However, a cough attack starts and I begin to drown on my own blood. I can't breath. I can't be in an idle state... can't stay still with this cough... Furthermore, I can't heal. But a needle pinches my shoulder and my body starts to relax. The cough attack ceases and everything begins to get darker, and darker...

Ava

I see the men take Dharius away. He is not healing. I can tell he is trying to relax but it is not working. I see through the window of the door that he keeps bleeding. It is not stopping. I am about to enter but the guards hold me back. “Sorry you can not go in there.” One says. I look into his eyes.

“You are going to let me in.” I say and he opens the door. I walk in. I can tell by the thoughts in his head that he is hurting horribly. I want to help, but at the same time I don’t. I take a shot out of my pocket and look at it for a few seconds. I do not want to help him, but I do not want him to suffer. The kindness over rides my choice and I stab the needle into him. I see his body instantly relax. I walk out of the room and slam the door. He did not deserver that. He probably does not even deserve to be alive. Why did I just help him?

Ree

"Ree!" I jerked awake, startled. Arcadia was standing over me, grinning. "Ree, he's waking up!" I smiled, still a little disoriented.

"Ugh, where am I?" Stanley murmured, groaning.

"You're in the infirmary, Stanley," Arcadia told him, smiling. "And I'm here with you."

Suddenly Stanley started shouting nonsense and laughing. I half-sat up, staring. What on earth? He started looking around and gave me a weird look before turning back to a nurse, who had stood up.

"He got a concussion when he hit his head on the tile," she explained. "We've treated him already, and he should be right as rain in another hour or two. However, he is going to experience some delirium from the medications."

I relaxed; it wasn't brain damage or anything serious. Well, a concussion was serious, but at least he was going to be okay.

"You can just call me Foxy, my dears," Stanley said slyly, sitting up and tilting a little. I grinned.

"Lie back down, Stanley," the nurse said calmly.

"I'm breaking up with you," he snapped, and I couldn't help laughing a little. He glared at me and I tried to wipe the smile off of my face. "If you were a girl, I'd break up with you too." I just managed not to laugh again. "Who are you all, anyways?" he asked, turning around and managing to hit Arcadia in the face as he did.

Arcadia and the nurse ended up leaving, after the nurse had explained that Stanley just had amnesia and it would wear off. They turned the lights off as they went.

Stanley stopped talking, to my relief; that would have been exceedingly awkward. Instead of talking, I looked around through the dark for any glass to play with; I remembered being told I needed to exercise. There wasn't any, though, so I tried to go to sleep; sleep wouldn't come, though, as I started to think about the others. What was Ava doing? I didn't know why the thought struck me, but I felt like I needed to be around her. Maybe it was because she'd come over to help me with my wound, and stood up to Dharius with me. She wasn't exactly unattractive, either.

I groaned silently, closing my eyes. Now I had a crush. Great.

After a while, a nurse came in and helped Stanley out. I sat up, but they were gone before I could say anything. I pushed the button for a nurse. After a couple seconds, she entered. "Do you need something?"

"Can I go back to the others?" I asked. I started to stand, and winced again. "And for heaven's sake, can't you give me some sort of painkiller?"

"Of course." She left, and after a few moments returned with some pill whose origins I didn't know. I swallowed it without question; if it let me stand and walk, I'd take it. "You may experience mild side effects, but that should take care of the pain. Would you like to return to the testing?" I nodded, and we left. She led me hobbling back to the testing room.

Arcadia was hugging Stanley as I walked in. The others looked up and I smiled weakly, looking around.

"Where's Ava?" I asked, but she came back in almost as soon as I finished the question. I turned around, and my side hardly yelled at me at all. I smiled at her.

Spoiler

Another monster post. Sorry...

Ava

I walk out of the room and see Ree looking around the room. His eyes meet mine and he smiles. I walk over to him. “How are you feeling?” I asked him.

“Some pain, but nothing to bad.” He says. “The doctors gave me some pain killers. If they are anything like what they gave Stanley, I might start acting a little crazy.” He says.

I look over at Stanley. He looks really drunk. He is wobbling all over the place and his mind is full ‘interesting’ thoughts. I laugh a little. “Those must be some really strong pain killers.” I say.

“He has been acting pretty crazy.” He says. “Did I miss anything?” He asks.

“Well they got the cabinet open and it is some sort of pulley mechanism and we are going to the other planet in tomorrow or the next day.” I say.

Stanley



Out of nowhere, Miss Arcadia throws her arms around my bruised neck, nearly making me fall over. The room begins to look a bit fuzzy again.

"I'm glad you're okay," she says. Her voice sounds tinny, like a robot: apparently the medication hasn't worn off as much as I thought it did.

"Erm, thanks. Me too." I feel lightheaded again. As soon as she lets go of me, I sink to the floor and lean against the wall. Arcadia plops down next to me.

"You still tipsy?" The fact that I crack up at the word "Tipsy" answers her question.

Ree comes in the room, looking exhausted. Ava comes up and tells him something.

"Ree," I call, my voice cracking with the effort. "How ya doing?"

"Much better," he replies.

I grunt. Now the only person missing is Dharius. Despite the fact that I pretty much hate him, I can't help but feel concerned. Why would they take Dharius away if he can heal himself? Shouldn't he be better by now?

Arcadia shoves a bottle of water into my hands. I drink it gratefully.

"How come you're being so nice?" I ask when I've finished.

"Well, the scientists aren't exactly being helpful." She blushes. Miss Arcadia seems to blush a lot, I think.

"I thought the nurse was nice," I say. She was a wonderful nurse. Too bad I broke up with her.

Arcadia says something else but I kind of zone out again. Taking Nellie out from her uncomfortable position behind my shoulder, I prop her up on my knee. Dang, is she a nice gun. She's so slim and shiny, yet so powerful.

"I love you, Nellie!" I announce loudly. Everyone stops what they are doing and stares at me.

"Stanley, you're so... Interesting." Vega rolls her eyes and turns back to the cabinet: somebody must have cut through the rock while I was away. I let my head rest against the wall. Perhaps I should have stayed in the nice, warm infirmary and slept awhile longer.

Ava

Stanley takes his gun off his back and props it up on his knee. He strokes it and then says, “I love you Nellie!” at the top of his lungs. I cover my mouth to try to keep the laugh in.

“Stanley you are so… interesting.” Vega says. I am really glad she did not say what she was really thinking.

In Stanley’s mind he thinks about the nurse and how he broke up with her. I burst out laughing. “He broke up with the nurse?” I say through my laugh. I lay my head on Ree’s shoulder. After realizing that I was actually laying on his shoulder, I jerk my head back. “Sorry. I did not even realize I was doing that.” I say.

“It’s fine.” Ree say. I did not really want to take my head off his shoulder. It made me feel safe.

“So what happened with the nurse?” I ask.

“Those pills made him a little loopy. For some reason he thought the nurse was his girl friend and he broke up with her.” He shrugs. “He also thought I was a girl.” He said.

I let out a huge laugh and quickly cover my mouth. I hate the way I laugh. I look down at the floor. I keep embarrassing myself in front of Ree. Why do I care so much? I do not think I act this way, or feel this way about everyone. I think I like him. “Great, because all my relationships in the past have worked out so well.” I say in my head.

Alli
I could only stare in shock as the fight played out before me. I may have even screamed when Dharius got stabbed. Briefly, helping break them up crossed my mind, but it was quickly replaced by numbness as the doctors and guards quickly dragged everyone away.

Wolf boy managed to pull the rope that Dharius had eyed earlier. The wall of Earth crumbled in response and rocks rain down on me from above. I climb over the rubble and look into circular chamber. Hanging over an equally circular pit is a system of pulleys connected to a rope leading down into the darkness below.

I approach in wonder and give a forceful tug on the rope, causing pain to shoot down my arm and the rope to not even budge. Whatever's down there sure is heavy, even with the pulley system there to ease the load. I walk back out of the new chamber and head towards the nearest strong-looking person I can find, in hopes that the two of us could haul the thing up.

Spoiler

With this, I'm thinking that whatever's down there will need the strength of just about everyone to haul it up. Not just one or two super strong people.

Ree

"I love you, Nellie!" Stanley announced. Everyone turned and stared, and I barely managed to keep from laughing. I couldn't stop the grin that split my face, though.

"Stanley, you're so... interesting," Vega sighed.

Suddenly Ava cracked up. "He broke up with the nurse?" she laughed. Then, she laid her head on my shoulder. For just a second, we both froze; then she jerked her head back. "Sorry. I did not even realize I was doing that."

"It's fine," I said awkwardly. I wanted her to lay her head back down. That seemed creepy of me, but it had felt right.

"So what happened with the nurse?"

"Those pills made him a little loopy. For some reason he thought the nurse was his girlfriend and he broke up with her." I paused. "He also thought I was a girl."

Ava laughed again, and then clapped a hand over her mouth, blushing. Why did she do that? I liked her laugh. It made me feel happy. She made me feel happy. I watched her look at nothing in particular, thinking. She really was beautiful...

Spoiler

Is that good, Taylor?

Spoiler

Yes it is great.

Ava

He thinks I am beautiful. He likes me. I can not help but smile. I want to tell him, but what if he gets mad that I was reading his mind. That would not be good. My thoughts are interrupted when Dharius walks back into the room. I freeze for a second. Stanley and Ree are in here. What is going to happen? I am feeling the tenseness in the room. All eyes go on him as he walks back in. Ree takes a step forward about to walk over to him, but I grip his hand and pull him back. He looks down at our hands and smiles and so do I. His hand in mine feels so right. I do not want to let go.