Running

Escape

TW: Mild Panic Attack, Cursing, Mention of death

Run. That's my only focus right now. Well, that and get away from the group of men chasing me. I skid around the corner and decide that I've gotten far enough ahead of them to use my wings. I propell myself off the floor and kick my legs a little at the sensation of not touching the ground. I haven't willingly done it in a while.

I hear their footsteps slow when I pick up off the ground.
"Shit!" One of the men yells.

I yelp, being nearly hit by a dart aiming for any part of my skin that's exposed. So, my neck, arms and feet.
It's time to pick up the pace. Come on, Virgil. Don't fuck this up. You probably won't get a chance like this again, and you made a promise.

I intend to keep it.

After a while of mindless flying, I feel my wings start to get tired. I exhale, planting both feet on the floor. My land is a bit shaky, since I haven't properly flown for weeks. I end up heading into an alleyway when I feel tired. I have just escaped from the most high-security lab in the country. I curl up with my wings wrapping around me for warmth. I'm wearing a short-sleeved white shirt with black jeans. I don't like the white. It completely ruins my emo aesthetic.

Before I know it, I'm fast asleep. Let's hope I dream about good things.

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I stir, starting to wake up when I realise I'm really comfortable. There's a matress hugging my frail body. Am I back at the lab? No. The beds aren't this comfy. I open my eyes slightly and see two people in the room with me. They both have glasses, one looking more serious. The more peppy looking one seems to notice I've woken up, and when I notice that he notices me, I start to panic. My breath gets shaky and I look at him, tears pooling in my eyes.

"Shushush, it's okay. We aren't gonna hurt you, kiddo." He says, reaching his arm towards me. I flinch backwards towards the wall, he notices and recoils his hand. The other boy looks up from his notebook and raises an eyebrow.

"I believe that he's experiencing a mild panic attack, Patton. If I were you, I'd let him calm down before attempting to make conversation." He just nods subtly.

After about five minutes, my breathing returns to normal. The interlectual boy shuts his notebook and looks to me.
"What is your name and how old are you?" I'm hesitant to reply, but I do anyway.
"Virgil. I'm sixteen."
"Mm. And how long ago was it that you escaped from the Oakspen Testing Facility? We found you last night." I raise my eyebrow, wondering how he knows, when the other boy chimes in.
"We, uh, we could tell by what you were wearing, kiddo." I nod, only now noticing that I'm wearing different clothes. An oversized black hoodie with light gray tracksuit bottoms.
"Yesterday, then." I reply.
"Okay.." He said, spinning on his chair to his laptop that I've only just noticed is there. "They'll still be looking for you on high alert, then."

"Can you, uh, explain who you are and stuff?" I ask. "I did just wake up in a stranger's bedroom, after all."
The boy chuckles under his breath at my comment. "My name is Logan Berry, I have telekenetic abilities and enhanced intelligance."
"Ooh! And I'm Patton! I have shapeshifting ablilities, but it uses a lot of energy. There are five of us here, apart from you, and we all have powers! We're kind hiding from the government, and we found you on a walk, so now you're hiding from the government with us!" He says, very quickly.

I consider what they said for a moment, before nodding.
"Thanks."

I hop off from the bed and stretch my wings wide out, both Patton and Logan's eyes widen considerabely.
"Sorry." I say.
"No, no. No need to apologise. It's rather fascinating."

"Let's go downstairs, so you can meet the others!" We head down the staircase, this looks like a pretty normal house. When I'm at the bottom of the stairs, I'm lead into a lounge with three people sitting on sofas.

The first person I see is wearing a yellow denim jacket and a black beanie. He has a lip peircing and one half of his face has what appear to be snake scales. The eye on that side also looks similar to a snake's. There's a boy sitting by him, with very dark brown hair, wearing just a short-sleeved dark green tee with black jeans. He's holding a mug of something, looks like green tea. The third has dark red hair, like blood. He has a similar face to the boy in green, and I can tell that they are related. Probably brothers. When they notice me, they all have different reactions. The yellow boy has a wide grin spread accross his face, putting his phone onto the table and standing up to greet me. The green boy spits out his drink back into the cup and then smiles slightly at me. He looks to his brother who just scoffed. I raise my eyebrow.

"What's wrong with you, Princey?" I say. He seems taken aback. He looks towards the two glasses-wearing boys. "Pat, Lo. Can I speak to you?" He says through gritted teeth. Meanwhile, the other two boys are saying hello to me. "Sup. I'm Janus."
"Remus. Cool wings."
"Thanks." I reply.
"That idiot in red over there is my twin brother, Roman."

"I just don't think he should be here. All of us apart from Janus have powers that aren't visible, and he is going to make us very obvious to the public! With his massive demon wings, or, whatever he is." Roman half-yells. I raise an eyebrow and cross my arms.

"Well, Roman. If we have to vote someone out, let's put it to that. All in favour that Roman gets kicked out of the house, raise your hand." Janus says. Me, him and Remus all raise our hands, smirking.
"No- that's- no!" Roman protests.
"That's democracy for you, bro. We expect your bags packed by dawn." He says, laughing.
"Very funny. But seriously, he can't stay. I'm sure he was just fine at the lab." I look down at my shoes, feeling awkward.

"Roman. The descision has been made, stop whining about it. If we don't take him in, he will easily be taken back to OTF and probably killed during some sadistic test. Deal with it, as the kids say." Logan says, looking confident in what he said. Remus sighs.
"Good try, buddy."         

Roman huffs, sitting back down on the couch with his arms crossed.
"We have a spare room, cmon!" Patton says. I follow him up the stairs, curling my wings in so that they don't touch the wall.
"Virgil, can you, at all hide your wings in any way?" Logan asks.
"I, uh, not really. I can fold them in quite far so that it looks kind of normal with an oversized hoodie, but after about ten minutes it gets really uncomfortable, so I don't tend to do that much."
"I see. Alright, well, you don't really have anything to unpack, so you can just 'chill out' for a bit. I'm going to go grocery shopping later, do you want anything?"
"Uh, not really, no, thanks though.

"Hm. Okay. I'm going to give you a rather small dinner because it seems as if you hadn't been eating properly at the labrotory, and it will take a while to ease you back into a normal diet."
"Alright. Bye Logan."
"Goodbye."

Patton smiles to me. "Tell me if you need anything, k?"
"Sure thing, Patton."

And with that, I'm alone again.

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The next chapter should be published within 48 hours! (It's currently 2:54 am, BST on June 11th 2020)

Bye lovely readers!

1372 words