Somewhere along the line, they had lost sight of the dirt road. Their steps hadn't faltered however and they had forged on, guided by what little light the stars provided.
By the time she had realized they were off the road, they were too lost to find it again and she dreaded doubling back, in case there were units in pursuit. She knew there were, as no one in their right mind would allow monsters like her to roam free.
Survive.
Eyes glued to the dark mass ahead that she supposed was a mountain range, they continued on, never glancing back. Anywhere was fine as long as it was away from that place. From the cold cell and the colder manacles. Far away from despair and captivity.
Her breathing was wheezy, her calves burned and one look at the boy told her he wasn't faring any better. He was dragging his feet and panting hard, moving a lot slower than they had been earlier.
She glanced up at the starry sky, then at the horizon, the darkness refusing to give her any indication of what time it might be. She knew they had been walking for a while now, but couldn't be certain how long. Two hours? Three? Or was it just wishful thinking on her part and had it been less than one?
Regardless, she decided it was time for a break.
"Stop," she said, still unsettled by the coarseness of her voice.
The boy did as he was told, turning a questioning gaze to her. She indicated a rock nearby with a jerk of her head and understanding colored his features.
They sat down at the base of it, resting their backs against the cool surface. She noted that the cold seemed to bother him as little as it did her.
Bony fingers reached up to the pouch attached around his chest, fumbling with the zipper. He spread out their meager rations in front of them, a certain reverence to his gestures.
She greedily eyed the chocolate-covered raisins as the boy traced a hesitant finger over the waffle. His face was downcast and his expression hidden from her, but there was no mistaking the longing in the hesitant gesture. The raisins could wait.
"Open it," she kept her voice low but startled him nonetheless.
He turned to look at her with wide, hopeful eyes as her words sunk in. She encouraged him with a grimace-smile, prompting him to open the packaging. He tore the waffle into equal halves, handing her one with an unsure expression.
She stared at it, wondering how to go about holding it. If her ability worked on doors, walls, and people, there was no doubt that it would destroy food as well. The loud rumble of her stomach interrupted her thoughts.
Curling her fingers into fists, she awkwardly clasped her share between her phalanges, thrilled when it remained intact. She brought it to her lips, taking a tentative bite.
Her eyes closed in delight as the sweet taste filled her mouth. She couldn't remember the last time she had eaten something so incredible. In fact, she didn't think she had ever tasted anything quite as delicious.
It was over all too soon, leaving her to wistfully lick the back of her fingers. She wanted more! She noticed the boy hungrily staring at the rest of their food, his thoughts a mirror of her own.
They couldn't eat it now, however, as they were in the middle of nowhere with rations they could ill afford to eat in one go. The boy glanced her way when he heard her sigh, his face crumpling as he realized that they wouldn't be eating anymore.
He tucked the rest of their food away, taking a small sip from the water bottle before handing it to her. She held it the same way she had held the waffle, careful not to spill any of the precious liquid. This time again, they had to limit themselves to a couple of small sips.
Filled with energy, she decided they could continue their trek and stood, the boy imitating her. She instinctively braced her hand on the rock behind her, only to stumble when it disappeared. The boy cast her a worried glance when she snarled angrily at her lapse in attention.
These were the kinds of mistakes she could no longer make, lest she kill someone innocent - like her companion. Clenching both hands into fists, she took off in the direction of the mountain range, aches and worries forgotten in the face of her anger.
* * * * *
It was past midnight when Brad's companions left camp, a mere half hour after they had returned. His people might have been unruly in general, but when it came to missions, they were disciplined, powerful and effective, so he had no doubt they would see their current assignment through.
That did not mean he felt no guilt at sending them back out so soon, without allowing them to rest properly. He had considered joining them but had been shot down by Wake, informing him that they could manage on their own.
Besides, Brad wasn't just the leader of their ragtag group anymore; he was now in charge of a whole camp with over fifty individuals in need of protection and stability. He couldn't disappear in the middle of the night for who knew how long.
So he stood on the porch of his cabin, watching them hurriedly pack. Wake handed out firearms and carefully divided ammunition while Noelani tossed each of them a small backpack filled with essentials. They drove off in pairs, Blaise sending him a mock salute from inside his Jeep.
When silence settled over the camp again, Brad turned the lights off and locked the cabin behind him, heading over to a smaller one not far from his own. It was a compact, wooden building that stood out from the rest because of the blaring lights inside - Gale preferred working in brightly lit spaces.
Brad didn't bother knocking before entering, knowing full well that if Gale had wanted privacy, he would've locked his door. The sudden brightness blinded him and he had to blink a couple of times to adjust to it.
Much like his own cabin, this one only had a single room. Unlike his, however, it was stripped of everything Gale deemed unnecessary - which in his case meant that aside for the camping bed shoved in the far corner of the room, there were only computers and numerous tangled wires.
Gale sat on a rolling chair in the middle of the cabin, surrounded by screens - some of which sat on plain tables while others were mounted on the walls.
"Sup, Boss," he said.
Brad stopped beside one of the main screens to take a look at what was displayed on it. The redhead was pushing his chair from one to the next one, fingers swiping, tapping, drumming on screen after screen.
A lonely keyboard sat on the table next to Brad, completely overlooked in the flurry of motions. Gale didn't technically need a keyboard to work, as a simple graze of his fingertips sufficed to make any piece of technology obey him, but he liked using it to show off since no one came close to typing as fast as he did.
The Technopath flicked his eyes to one of the screens above his head and snapped his fingers, changing the display from a dimly lit corridor to a bright one.
"What do you have?" Brad finally asked.
Gale rolled his chair over to the screen next to him and turned it to allow Brad to get a better look. There were two side by side files on display.
The picture on the right one was grainy and showed an emaciated young woman with pasty skin, pale lips that might have been full in other circumstances and a small nose that seemed to have been broken at some point, only to be carelessly reset. Her wide gray eyes were as lifeless as the curtain of white hair limply framing her angular jaw.
The second picture was that of a child, with buzzed, light blonde hair, thin eyebrows that were barely visible against his pallid skin, sunken cheeks, and colorless lips. A pair of slim, sea-foam eyes were dully staring at the camera.
A quick read of the rest of the file informed them of their gender, date of birth and age (the girl was twenty-three and the boy twelve), the date they were collected and processed, as well as a description of their abilities.
The girl's was listed as "disintegration" and explained how everything she touched crumbled to dust and that she had no control over it - a piece of information that surprised neither men, for Obsidians were never given an opportunity to familiarize themselves with their powers before they were taken. The boy's ability, however, was blacked out. Brad shot Gale a questioning gaze.
"You can't bypass it?"
"No. Magentas are top secret, so they probably only have his complete file on paper," he said with a shake of his head. "Precaution against superior individuals like me, I guess."
Brad turned his attention back to the files, taking note of how neither contained the names of the inmates: the girl was referred to as subject O-008, while the boy was labeled M-004. He took another look at their arrival date to Bocholt, his eyebrows furrowing. The boy had spent half his life in the facility, whereas the girl...
"She's been in there for thirteen years," Gale whispered beside him, almost as if he had read his thoughts.
Brad glanced at his companion, whose expression was carefully neutral, the downward curl of his lips the only indication of his disapproval.
Brad's ability allowed him to read people not by their expressions, but by their innermost feelings and Gale's emotions were in a turmoil. There was shock, pity, horror and even a hint of fear, but above all, there was anger.
Fiery anger at the blatant abuse of children who had never asked to be born with abilities, much less with ones they had no control over. Boiling rage against a society that didn't understand them and had no wish to do so, focusing their time, energy and money in capturing and locking them away instead.
Much like the rest of their group, Gale held a grudge against the CS and regular people in general, for (arguably) good reasons, but now was not the time to be overwhelmed.
"Gale," Brad called out to him, waiting for the man's forest green eyes to meet his before speaking again. "Relax."
The redhead held his stare, the flurry of negative emotions slowly seeping out of him, leaving only grim determination behind.
"Still feels rape-y, no matter how many times you do it," Gale said with a coy smile, his answer eliciting a wry huff.
"Stay focused," Brad said, eyes running over the many screens. "Where were they last seen and do we know where they were headed?"
Gale glanced at the screen above his right shoulder, the image changing with each snap of his fingers. He stopped when the camera feed settled on the main entrance of the facility and made a circular motion with his index finger, fast-forwarding the footage. He tapped the air once to return it to its regular speed when the inmates started pouring out of the building.
The pair watched as the string of escapees trickled to a stop. Two figures slowly exited the facility, easily recognizable thanks to the girl's waist-length white hair, both freezing at the sight of an SUV pulling up not far from them.
Camera feed Gale rushed past without paying them any mind and hopped inside the vehicle. The young inmates started down the same path once they were sure the coast was clear.
"You saw them," Brad said.
Gale sheepishly scratched the back of his head, avoiding his eyes.
"Yeah, maybe. There might've been a white-haired chick... I don't know, man. There were dozens of us running around, guards at every turn and then this naked snake-babe showed up and..."
Brad sighed, raising a hand to stop his rambling. Trust Gale to lose sight of everything at the sight of a naked woman.
"Hand me a comm," he said, eyeing the map of the facility's surrounding.
Gale dropped a small earpiece in his hand that he immediately put in. It was a communication device of the Technopath's own making, powerful enough to function over long distances and for extended periods of time.
"Titan speaking. Freakshow come in." Brad said, staring at the map.
"Ifrit and Will-o'-wisp here." Blaise's deep voice rumbled in his ear.
"Raijû, present," Noelani answered.
"Strigoi." Wake acquiesced.
"Pegasus and Cockatrice, awaiting instructions," Diana said in her soft voice.
"Eros is live," Gale piped up from beside him.
There was a snort, followed by Noelani's mocking voice. "Nice try, Gremlin."
"What, so D gets to be a flying horse but I can't be the god of sex?" the redhead retorted indignantly.
A derisive chuckle filled their ears. "Because you totally have what it takes to be Eros."
"Enough," Brad's voice boomed, interrupting whatever comeback the Technopath was working up to. "Status report."
"On our way to the target destination," Blaise answered.
"Raijû and Strigoi, on our way to the rendezvous point with Pegasus and Cockatrice," Noelani added, her tone serious.
"Ten-four. I want hourly updates," Brad said as he straightened.
Gale was back to rolling his chair from screen to screen, his fingers a blur as he swiped, tapped and snapped.
"Got this covered, Boss. You should take some rest," he said.
Brad shot him an incredulous look.
"I'm staying," he answered, grabbing a folding chair from beside the door.
Gale snapped his fingers once, the screen to Brad's right changing to show the image of his comrades in their vehicles, allowing him to keep an eye on both the unit and the area map.
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So, the resistance group has a name and its members have code names inspired by their respective abilities. Care to venture a guess as to what those abilities might be?
Please drop a comment or a vote if you're liking the story so far.