"This will totally work." Said Ryan, you may remember him from earlier.
"Of course it will," answered his best friend Wi, a tall blonde fourteen year old.
"Uh, it's a toaster, we were going to use that for breakfast." I complained after walking in on these two boys early in the morning.
Wi was something extraordinary. He claimed he was an experiment like the rest of us, but he never truly did anything supernatural. It was the ordinary things he did that made him special. Like now for instance. He and Ryan had somehow rewired the toaster to work three times as fast. Before six A.M.
"How do you even know what to do?" Ryan had asked him.
"I heard it somewhere." Wi had shrugged. Something told me he was holding back information, but I honestly didn't care.
"Okay then, give me two slices of toast with jam and cinnamon." I ordered drowsily.
"Someone's gonna have a sugar rush." A new voice said, entering the small kitchen.
I glanced over wearily to see one of our newer recruits. Her name was Poppy, she had been rescued from the Lab a few day ago with her brother Raphael. Along with Tyler, a shady kid named Ritchie, and an older teen who insisted everyone call him Gecko.
Raphael had been sick with a fever and an infected cut from trying to dig through the rubble of the Lab when we found him. He had been in our urgent care the last few days and Poppy had not been happy about it.
"I need a jump start to my day." I replied, using the same excuse I always did for the ridiculous amount of sugar my body needed to function.
Yet I still managed to stay skinny as a bean pole. Being the product of bio experimentation is hard on everyone's diet (Will, I'm talking about you) honestly I think I must be some part insect, like a butterfly or something.
She shrugged half-heartedly. "Suit yourself."
Wi suddenly stiffened, cocking his head to one side like he was listening to something. Then without warning, he walked out of the room, and came back carrying an umbrella.
"Is anyone going out today? It's going to rain." He commented, placing it on the counter.
I frowned and glanced out the window, there were a few clouds but I seriously doubt it would rain. Especially according to the thermometer hanging outside, it was already eighty degrees fahrenheit at seven in the morning.
"How do you know?" I asked him, wondering about his sources.
Wi shrugged again. "I heard it somewhere. Also the traffic on the ninety one highway is all backed up."
I shook my head, mystified, then took my plate and found a good place to sit down.
After breakfast, I decided I did want to go out. The sun was shining through the partial cloud cover. Coming from wherever the previous school had been, this was pretty sunny.
Until a few clouds drifted across the sky. It wasn't long before raindrops started to splatter against the ground. The soft noise mixed with the hustle bustle of cars leaving work. Beeps and roars, the occasional thunder rolled across the air like threatening war drums.
What do you know? Wi was right. The weather is so messed up in SoCal. I should have brought an umbrella.
I walked around the perimeter of the School in the rain. I didn't mind, it wasn't very cold. It only varied in strength, one second it poured over me like little bits of stinging rock, the next it was as soft as mist.
It was during one of the roaring moments I was attacked.
Something flew out of the darkness and hit me in the head.
I cried out as the pain lanced up through my skull. I stumbled back onto the pavement, swinging wildly around trying to catch sight of my attacker.
I saw him.
It was a figure dressed in black clothes that seemed to melt right into the background. His outline seemed blurry but I could make out a glint of steel in his hand. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion, I probably had a concussion that explained the throbbing pain in my forehead.
The figure launched himself at me once more. Pinning me against the ground and revealed the shiny metal object to be a syringe. He wanted my blood.
I did the only natural thing. I turned invisible. When a person disappears right out from beneath you they first they do is relax thier stance, sometimes they even move. But there is always a reaction I can use to my advantage.
I kicked upward but it felt like hitting a steel wall. I move that normally would send a person flying across the room merely knocked my attacker over. Why was he so hard to move? That wasn't natural. I took that small time window to roll out from under him, scuffing my skin.
I bounced onto my feet, breathing hard. Thankful for the training I had received for the past eleven years.
The figure stood up, facing me again. Raindrops pattered against our bodies.
Then I felt a sharp pain in my neck and to my horror found that a smart metal dart had embedded itself in my skin.
The world slid sideways. I didn't even feel the pain when my head hit the ground.
With my vision fading in and out of focus, the man walked up and took a small sample of my blood. Then he whispered into my ear as the effects of the drug started to wear off.
"It was nice doing business with you."
My eyes widened as I realized it was a young woman's voice.
She jumped away, already on the next rooftop by the time I struggled to my feet. The fight had been so intense, yet, I admired her. Not many people know how to take me down.
Only she had taken a sample of my blood with her.
*
*
*
I stumbled inside soaking wet, dizzy, and discovered I had a large cut on my forehead.
Nick, or Gecko, was the only one in the main hall. He didn't panic when he saw me, but I could tell he was worried.
"Are you okay?" He asked, his eyebrow flying to the top of his head.
"No, I need to speak with my uncle." I winced.
"Your uncle?"
"Principal Wales." I spat, forgetting he was new.
"Oh, right, he's in his study last I heard. Do you need a towel or something?"
"I'll be fine." I replied through clenched teeth, already leaving him behind.
My head was throbbing more now, I imagine this what Will feels like when he's having one of his head aches.
I found his study easy enough an he could tell something was wrong as soon as I stepped through the door frame.
"Oh Justin you're soaking wet! And you have a nasty cut blimey! Here sit down, I'll get you a plaster and some warm tea, honestly I don't know how you manage to get yourself into these messes!"
After changing clothes, bandaging my forehead, and being wrapped up in a blanket like the fifteen year-old marshmallow I am, he made me explain everything. I did with as much detail as I could muster. The girl had worked with so much skills it seemed she had my moves planned out and a way to counter them before I could say duck. Not to mention she had my blood sample.
"There's only one reason why a random person would attack you and lave only with a vial of your blood." He started.
"What reason is that?"
"She's a bounty hunter most likely, hired by the Lab. Must have been why my security system didn't go off- wait a second...."
He paused and glanced at his computer screen. Then he leaned back and rubbed his chin thoughtfully.
"My security tapes have been completely wiped, from the moment you stepped outside, to the point when you walked back into the house."
"Well, she knows what she's doing then." I sighed.
What would she do with my blood?