The Broken, The Beaten, and The Damned

Okay, um...I got this idea for a story so I am putting here. It is kinda a mix of King, and 1984 (the book not the year). I hope you all enjoy it...I am putting it here for now, but I will move it where it goes later.
*WARNINGS*
Swearing
Death (by cruel and unsusal means)
Suicide (kinda later on)
Um...probably little to no smut...cause this is me guys...

I will put more warnings as I think of them...anywho...enjoy.

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Frank walked quickly down a crowded sidewalk next to a shivering Bob, heading to their shared apartment. Bob was complaining under his breath the whole time as they walked up the street, pulling his thick coats tighter around him in the chilling night air. Frank rolled his eyes and let loose a small white sigh as Bob puffed along wearing two huge coats and still shivering.
“It’s not that cold Bryar,” Frank muttered.
“Easy for you to say,” Bob hiss back at him.
It was really and truly easy for Frank to say it, especially considering who he was. Or maybe what was the way to say it better, not that Bob was really any different.
They quickly made their way to the apartment building and toward the staircase, the elevator never really wanting to work properly.
They first met her on the stairs, a girl about their age going down in a hurry a small fuzzy dog at her feet and the hood from her hooded sweatshirt covering her head. She nearly knocked Frank over and when he hollered after her to watch her step she hardly skipped a beat. Frank turned about face to find Bob staring after her with a puzzled look on his face.
“You ok Bryar,” Frank asked as he shoved past Bob. Frank’s touch seemed to bring him out of his daze and he slowly began to follow again. When they entered the apartment Frank and Bob both let out a collective sigh. Another day survived…another victory won it seemed. When Bob had finally taken his coats and gloves off, working out numb fingers, he reached for a jar off the top of the refrigerator and handed it to Frank.
“Come on Frank would ya? It’s freezing in here!”
Frank let out a soft sigh as he opened the jar and touched the bottom of it with his left pointer finger. Immediately a small fire started, covering the bottom and warming the hand holding the jar. He handed it back to Bob, who had replaced his gloves and carefully set the jar in his hands.
“Thanks bud…owe ya.”
Frank just grunted, sinking into a chair and trying to drift off, thinking about the next day already and how they would have to elude capture once more. It was becoming increasingly difficult to be able to tell friend from foe now a day. He had even heard of their kind turning against each other, though the idea was crazy. Still…stranger things have happened, he and Bob were both a testament to that phrase. At times Frank still could not believe their luck, being part of the outsiders, the freaks, the scum of the earth the…whatever you called them. He used to hate himself for it, but what was the point anymore.
By now though, he was well aquatinted with what he was. Getting use to Bob’s constant whisper in his ear as they walked to work or the store of who on the streets were what they were, sometimes even their skill, got a little alarming…he never thought he would be bothered when Bob stopped mentioning them. At first he thought Bob was keeping it to himself for once, but now he knew that they were all disappearing one by one. Hunted off the streets, in their homes, in their jobs, and in their sleep and never heard from again. The government made statements about it on the news, making it sound like they had just gone on a jolly freak holiday, or maybe were getting studied at their free will by ‘top scientists’…and though the scientist part was probably true people like Frank and Bob…they knew the truth…and they needed to get out.
As he was running all these things through his head in a light doze, a rapid hammering on the door startled him awake. He quickly leapt up, hissing for Bob to snuff the fire and hide the evidence.
Frank threw a cautious look over his shoulder at Bob before opening the door. Seeing that the fire was at least missing from sight, he opened the door.
“Geez Frankie, you look like the canary that swallowed the cat,” it was Adam Lazzara, friend and landlord (not to mention sometimes savior). Frank let out a small sigh and stepped away to let Adam pass through.
“Don’t you mean cat that swallowed the canary,” Bob muttered, taking the fire from its hiding place and sitting back down with it.
Adam shrugged, “I found Frank’s look to be a bit more painful, but whatever. I have come for your blood test.”
Bob frowned from his seat, “weren’t those just a week or two ago?”
The city, and soon to be others, had instated a monthly blood test for all residence, to be performed by a neutral party (landlord, neighbor, city official, whatever). If the test came back positive you were sent to the city to have more testing done to make sure, and after that…who knew.
Adam shrugged as he took out two bottles with needles on the end from his jacket pocket, “they are moving them up, hoping to catch more. Just more work if you ask me.”
Adam handed one to Frank and another to Bob, they both looked at Adam in horror.
“Adam, we aren’t prepared yet…can’t it wait a day,” Frank was angry at the fact that their friend didn’t warn them any better than this. Usually they were able to get blood from a drunk passed out on the street, or perhaps someone else, but the blood was only fresh for a day so there was no way to stock up.
“Nope, can’t. But I’ll tell ya what, give me your blood and I will switch it with someone else’s in the building. That will cover you till next time.”
Frank sighed, “are you sure that’s wise? Won’t you get innocent people in trouble?”
“We are not guilty Frank,” Bob growled under his breath as he stuck himself with the needle. Bob was a big advocate for the freedom of their kind…he just didn’t seem to have a leg to stand on at times to be able to advocate anything.
“I-I know Bob…but it still won’t be right.”
“What they would do to us isn’t right either,” Bob said flatly as he handed Adam his blood vial.
“Come on Frank, I ain’t got all day ya know,” Adam said with a sly smile, “I mean…you trust me right?”
Frank sighed, he hated having to trust anyone with a secret this big. He carefully stuck himself with the needle and allowed the blood to fill it, then handed it to Adam.
“Thank ya thank ya!” Adam said, putting the bottles away, labeling them with the names of the radical couple down the hall. Frank smiled a little despite himself, they had a large sign in their window supporting Proposition #41, ‘the extreme detainment and/or extermination of any and all mutants’.
“Get what they deserve, eh boys,” Adam said with a smile, heading for the door.
“Adam,” Bob called before he reached the exit, “who is the new girl?”
Adam turned a smile on his face.
“Why Bryar? Interested?”
Bob snorted, “no, just curious…where did she come from?”
Adam shrugged, “didn’t say and I won’t ask. She is a little creepy, her and that dog. It wouldn’t let me get to close. I’d stay away Bryar, unless you wanna get hurt. Looks like a biter ya know, and I don’t mean the dog.”
Adam then tipped Frank a wink and hopped out the door.

OOOH at first I thought kinda Harry Potterish , then OOOH Xmen...
But HOW did I Know just from that ONE LINE...

“Geez Frankie, you look like the canary that swallowed the cat,”

that it was gunna be Adam..?

Oh...um...to clarafy...this in not a slash...it was just influenced by one with a good story, and not really any slashing...

I hope someone besides Lis reads this soon...=(
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The night followed as it always did. Bob cooking, (surprising since it was Frank providing the fire) and afterwards the two of them falling asleep in front of the television on separate couches. Frank was always the first one up, his couch the one facing the window. After stretches and a meager breakfast were shared between them, they headed out again for the day. As they trooped sleepily down the stairs they were met by the girl again, this time entering the building. Frank was about to have a few words with her about nearly knocking him down the stairs, when Bob took him by the shoulder and shoved him ahead and out the door just as the girl’s mutt clambered inside the building after her.
“What’s the big idea,” Frank yelled after Bob as he started down the street ahead of Frank. Bob simply shrugged, as if that answered every question Frank could possibly have.
“Fuck that Bryar! Get back here!”
Frank ran him down, planning on getting an answer, but Bob evaded him by hopping on the closest bus, giving Frank only seconds to get on before it left. By the time Frank finally caught up with him he tried for a calm approach.
“So…are you going to tell me what that was about? With the girl, not me.”
Bob sent him an evil look and refused to talk to him for hours. With a normal person that would mean something, but since Bob was quiet to start it made little difference.
By the time the two of them headed home from work, they were lucky to get jobs in the same neighborhood, they were beat, nearly to tired to notice the strange cars parked outside their apartment building. It was Bob who stopped Frank from entering, putting his arm out to block his path. The two of them looked at the cars, two large expensive black ones that no one in this neighborhood could ever dream of affording. Most everyone in the city walked anyway. Not to mention, they had seen some like them before.
“Guess they are already getting those two from upstairs huh,” Frank muttered, stepping past Bob.
“Yeah,” Bob grunted, “they are getting faster.”
When they both were inside they heard a commotion coming down the stairs. Before long three large men came down the stairs carrying a struggling Janet Collins. She was kicking and screaming the whole way down.
“Do you know who I AM! This is a mistake…its not me…I swear it!”
The three men looked particularly as though they didn’t care. The one leading the way down the stairs seemed to be growing impatient.
“That’s enough out of you miss. Don’t cause more trouble than you are worth.”
“But you are WRONG,” she screeched as they took her past where Frank and Bob were standing at the foot of the stairs. When she saw them, her eyes grew frenzied, “it’s them…you want them…I bet they are those freaks…it’s not me!
“I said quiet or maybe an accident will happen to you like it did happened to your husband.”
Just then two men walked down the stairs carrying the lifeless form of Brad Collins. Frank wasn’t sure if we was dead, or just knocked out. Bob probably could tell, he always could, but did it really matter? As they left the building Frank turned to see Bob’s reaction, but his eyes were looking elsewhere. When Frank followed his gaze he saw that the girl was near the top of the stairs with her dog, watching the event unfold with large black eyes. When she caught Frank and Bob’s stare though she ran back into her room in a flash.
“Weirdo,” Frank muttered as he walked up the stairs ahead of Bob. When they reached their room on the top floor they saw Adam sitting outside their door with a huge grin.
“That’s one way to get rid of annoying neighbors,” he said moving away from the door as Bob unlocked it and the three of them stepped inside.
“What all are they going to do to them anyway,” Frank asked as he started another small fire in the jar without being asked and set it in the middle of the coffee table.
Adam shrugged, “I dunno. I stopped watching the news, to depressing. I mean…did you know they are calling in the whole Supreme Court to be tested now because some are not voting how the head of it want them to? It’s getting crazy man.”
Bob looked off into the blank space around the fire, looking thoughtful. Frank wondered what he was thinking about, probably trying to see how the two of them would get out of this mess, out of this place. Frank and Bob had started traveling together when they were younger, not quite ready to face anything alone, and certainly not anything this huge. Frank had only been fifteen when he and Bob, classmates and neighbors since they were born practically, were forced to get out taking with them what clothes were on their backs. That had been going on about nine years ago, and now things were worse. Much worse because now a days they could pick you up off the street, screaming and crying…even children for the love of God, and no one would do anything to stop them. ‘Humans’ were afraid of their kind’s power, and the ‘Mutants’ (that’s what everyone else called them so why not join in) didn’t want to get captured while attempting a rescue that was sure to fail. Everyday ‘their’ scientists were working out new ways to extract things from them, to capture them, manipulate them.
“Hey…you guys there? I ain’t visiting for my health ya know!”
Frank looked over at Adam, a frown on his face. It was Adam who had taken them in this time. He had been a friend of theirs from the old neighborhood who had happened to inherit his parent’s apartment building. A stroke of luck for him, since homes were becoming harder to find in this kinda society. It was also lucky for them, because he was probably the only person in town who would protect what they were. Still…sometimes Frank got the feeling that Adam wouldn’t do it for free for too much longer.
“What are you here for Adam?”
“Well…a pat on the back…maybe a thank you. I dunno, I mean…I do keep saving your butts.”
Frank sighed, “yeah man…and we are grateful, but there isn’t much we can do as a thanks. We can barely leave the house to get money to pay rent.”
Adam sighed and stretched, “I know how hard this is…but you know it won’t be fun for me either if you two get caught here.”
“When are you testing next,” Bob asked suddenly.
Adam shrugged, “I guess same time next week. Why?”
“Cause I don’t want to watch what I saw today again. That should never happen. Not to them, not to us, not to anyone.”
Adam nodded, standing up, “well…whatever. I’ll try and catch you two later when you are more fun.”
Adam then tossed his hand in a wave as he left.
That night passed as the one before had, except with more silence. Neither one of them had seen it happen to someone…not in real life…not in front of them. When it’s right there….its so much more real.

Gosh...this is JJ shushing good?
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Weeks passed slowly. The blood tests every Wednesday and passing the strange girl on the stairs twice everyday had become normal. Seeing her pale round face with bright black eyes and the fuzzy dog at her feet. Also Bob’s constant bouts of thoughtful silence became normal. Frank was lucky that he learned to speak in ‘Bob Grunt’ at an early age or else he’d be screwed. One grunt ‘no’, two grunts ‘yes’, and everything else meant ‘get out of my way’. The silences were common a lot though they happened nearly every time he was thinking about them moving again. Frank dreaded it this time, every time it seemed that they were nearly captured, though that could just be Frank’s overactive imagination. Still, Frank hoped that they could stay a little longer, but when it came right down to it…Frank was getting scared too.
The final straw for the two of them came with a bang on an afternoon about a month after seeing the girl the first time. It was a Sunday evening and Frank and Bob were coming home from the store, buying what essentials they could afford; bread, toilet paper, and assorted small cheep foods. As the two of them walked up the sidewalk toward their complex they noticed another of the cars outside the building. Fear took hold of Frank’s heart in a vice like grip as he stood stalk still.
“Bob…are…are they for us?”
Frank looked back at Bob, and for the first time in weeks Bob’s eyes were alight and alert with what was happening.
“Bob…is it them?”
Bob’s mouth worked soundlessly for a moment before he took off toward their building.
“Bob…stop,” Frank knew he was causing a scene…it didn’t matter now, not anymore.
Frank took off after Bob, hearing what sounded like ‘taker’ thrown over Bob’s shoulder as they ran in the door.
Once inside they saw two tall men, one a bit older than the other with a badge reading ‘Clark’ and the other ‘Barnes’. ‘Clark’ was cornering the girl from up the stairs. The girl’s dog was at her feet, growling at the two men before its master.
“Please,” the girl whispered, “I don’t want to have to do this…”
“Then don’t sweetheart. Just come with us, you know you don’t belong here,” ‘Clark’ said, stepping closer. He was obviously the one in charge here.
The girl stepped back again, not seeing Bob and Frank behind the men.
“I am warning you…just turn back. Say I was gone…”
“You know we can’t dear,” the older man nearly had her cornered, his hand reaching out to touch her shoulder when it stopped in mid air. The man looked surprised, looking between her and his hand.
“I warned you…both of you,” the girl said in a mournful voice, “just…just remember that.”
As she spoke she stepped past the older man, he was seemingly motionless, putting herself between the two men. The younger man had his gun drawn in a shaking hand, pointed at her head. She cast a look at him over her shoulder, her gaze was now much more calm and measured.
“It’s to hot to handle, why not drop it?”
‘Barnes’ dropped the gun, his eyes glazing over slightly in a mixture of pain and whatever the girl was doing to him, large red boils forming on his burnt hands. The girl then turned her attention to the older man, still standing stock-still.
“I asked you…told you to leave me alone…”
“Let me go you freak,” the man screamed through grit teeth.
The girl’s face twisted into a grim smile, “I am sorry…but it has to be this way…”
Her face contorted in thought for a moment before saying, with a sick smile, “burn.”
At first nothing happened, then the man started howling in pain as his skin began to blacken and boil. Within moments the man’s skin began to crack and stream and his eyes burst and white eggy substance began to ooze down his cheeks like tears. The mesmerized ‘Barnes’ just stared silently as his partner burned from the inside out, not seeming to be able to look away. She walked over to him, pressing her lips to his ear so he could hear her over his partner’s screams of panic. By the time the older man had fallen to the ground, silent forever more, the younger one was nodding his eyes still foggy.
“Now go,” she whispered stepping away from him and trying not to step in the ashes that were once the agent ‘Clark’. ‘Barnes’ took several uncertain steps before breaking into a run, leaving the car behind. It was at this point that the girl finally noticed Bob and Frank standing there. She took two clumsy steps toward them, trying to keep her feet.
“I…I didn’t wan…”
The girl didn’t even last long enough to finish her thought as she collapsed to the ground. Bob rushed over to her, but Frank stayed were he was, afraid to touch her.
“Frank, help me here. We need to get her upstairs.”
“W-what is she?”
Bob looked over at him, an angry light in his eyes, “what do you mean ‘what is she’? She is the same as us.”
Frank shook his head, “look. I dunno about you Bob, but I can’t just…just DO that.”
“Do what? You can light fires, what makes you so different?”
Frank looked around, panicked.
“Watch it Bryar, someone could hear you. Do you want them to come after us like they did her?”
“No, but it also wouldn’t be fair for us to leave her here to be caught while she is passed out, now would it?”
Frank wanted to scream…to run away and not have to deal with what was happening. He hated having to run…to hide. And with her, now it was gonna happen sooner.
Bob let out a gruff sigh, “please, just help me get her upstairs then and we will talk there.”
Frank nodded with a sigh, taking her legs as Bob picked her up under her arms and the two of them carefully carried her up the stairs and toward their room.

When the boys had her upstairs they laid her on Frank’s couch and sat themselves on Bob’s couch, watching her. Bob watched her with a keen eye, watching to make sure nothing was wrong. Bob had known nearly first off that she was like them, but it had been so long since he had seen anyone he thought he could be imagining it. He looked over at Frank, who seemed to be between scared stiff and utterly pissed. Bob didn’t understand why, after all seeing someone like them again was good. It meant they were no longer alone out here.
“How long did you know,” Frank asked in a gruff voice, his eyes clouded with emotion.
Bob shrugged, “nearly from the start. I thought she could be strong too…but not like this.”
“Is she gonna die,” the question was asked with a touch of hopefulness.
“No, she just over used herself. I guess…I guess she can manipulate your mind or something.”
Frank just sat his head in his hands, pulling at his hair a bit, “why us. We have been lying low for so long. Why now?”
“Look…it’s not her fault. Someone turned her in, I think you need to concentrate on that fact before you go blaming her on our bad fortune.”
“If she is doing that all the time no wonder someone caught her. I mean…what if someone saw her…us downstairs?”
Bob shook his head, “no worry there. It was only us six there.”
Frank was silent for a moment while his brain caught up, “Six! What do you mean six, there is only five of us! The two of those creeps, the two of us and her, right?”
Bob shook his head and pointed at the ground in front of the couch near the girl’s feet. Lying there on the floor was the girl’s small dog, sleeping like nothing had happened at all.
“Great…the mutt too…”
Bob frowned, “I hope you don’t act like this when she wakes up,” he muttered. He then stood up and toasted some bread, coming back with a plate of buttered toast and a small jar of jelly. Bob was trying to offer the dog a piece of jellied toast when the girl jumped out of sleep, sitting strait up on the couch.
Bob and Frank both jumped mile high, nearly knocking the couch they were on over. When all the legs of their couch met back with the ground with a thump the girl jumped, turning to face them. Bob felt a static feeling in his brain, like a million voices talking over each other at once all pulling him in a different direction.
“W-who are you,” the girl asked, eyes looking from one to the other in quick succession.
“We…we saw you downstairs. We saved you when you passed out. Calm down, we don’t wanna hurt you.” Bob knew they needed her calm, if not she would just react and then it would be all over of them. She was much stronger than he had thought previously. Still, at his words the buzzing in his head lessened and she seemed to calm down some.
“S-sorry…I-I was still on guard. I didn’t mean to hurt you,” the girl looked down, her eyes wide and afraid as she looked both of them over. “What…what are you gonna do with me?”
Bob laughed a little, “nothing. I swear, we don’t want anything to do with those guys who were after you either. Right Frank?”
Frank snorted, “yeah…whatever.”
The girl cocked her head to the side, not quite understanding what they meant.
“Look…um…I’m Bob, and this here is Frank. We…we are like you are,” Bob had never tried to talk to another one like them…not like this anyway. The girl’s eyes brightened at those words, a small smile on her face.
“Oh…OH…you mean…you mean you can do it too?”
Bob nodded, “yeah…I mean not the same thing…but yeah. Frank has fire and I…”
“Wait! Bryar…how…how do you know she isn’t working for them?”
“Them,” she asked with confusion.
“Don’t play dumb! How do we know you are not one of those guys like us that turn in other ‘mutants’.”
“Why would I do that? Those places are awful,” the girl’s skin had blanched slightly at the mention of the places their kind was sent.
“Yeah…like you’d know.”
At this the girl’s face reddened a bit, “and why not!”
“Cause if you did you’d still be there…that or dead.”
She turned away from Bob, for the first time noticing her dog and grabbing her up, muttering its name ‘Punk’ in it’s ear soothingly.
Bob gave Frank a gruff look as he moved closer to her, “look, he is just stressed. Can we start over? I’m Bob, this here is my friend Frank, the giant ass hole, and you are?”
The girl looked Bob over with a keen eye before letting out a small sigh, “I’m Alexis, and this here is Punk. They are handy ya know…dogs are…someone taught me. They can’t tell a mutant from a normal guy…but they know when someone wants to cause you harm and that’s what counts on the outside.”
Frank scoffed, ripping into a piece of the toast. Bob, on the other hand, seemed interested.
“Were…were you really in one of those places?”
Alexis nodded, clutching the dog a bit closer. Bob was about to press further, wanting to know how she got out and everything, but just then a knock cane to the door. Frank froze, as did Alexis but her dog leapt out of her arms and began barking at the door viciously.
Bob stood up calmly, trying to concentrate on who was outside their door. Before he got halfway to the door he looked over his shoulder at Frank.
“Adam,” Bob muttered as he opened the door.
When the door was opened a grinning Adam walked in and started talking right away.
“Oh man…did you catch them taking her? I mean…there is this huge pile of ash. Is it like her or did she do that? I gotta say though…I am glad to see her…go…”
Adam grew silent, for once, as he looked over at the couch and spied Alexis sitting there.
“Oh…they…she got away…good for her…”
Bob frowned at him, looking over at Frank who was wearing a shocked look. Adam then grabbed his arm, “Bob…buddy…I gotta speak with ya.”
Bob allowed himself to be drug outside, Frank following out with them. Once outside Bob crossed his arms in front of his chest.
“Adam,” he hissed, “did you call them on her?”
Adam looked guilty for a moment before running his hands through his hair and letting out a rough breath of air.
“Look…I…I just didn’t want her here. I mean…did you see what she must have done to that guy downstairs? She is a…a…”
“What,” Bob barked, “a freak like us?”
Adam glared at him, “it isn’t like that Bob…I mean. You guys…you are tamed. You know how to be good with it…”
“Tamed,” this time it was Frank yelling, “like what…a dog…we are people Adam!”
Adam’s mouth quirked into a grim smile, “no you are not! You aren’t people anymore…your DNA is different. You…are just freaks. I let you two live here cause I knew you before hand but…but I will not be a farm to you and your kind!”
Adam’s words cut Frank and Bob, “glad to know how you finally feel,” Bob muttered, going back inside the apartment. Frank’s emotions were going haywire. He pointed a flaming finger at Adam, “I swear Lazzara. You better keep quiet about us. Got it!”
Adam looked scared of Frank for the first time in his life, but Frank felt no shame. He turned and walked into the apartment with a slam of the door. When he looked around he saw Bob talking with Alexis, his eyes blazing.
Frank moved quickly toward them looking at Bob, “look. We gotta get outta here.”
“Alexis is coming too,” Bob said softly.
Frank sighed, still not convinced that she was really for them, not yet. He turned toward her.
“Give me a reason…a reason to believe you.”
“Frank,” Bob growled, “can’t you just…”
“I have proof…if you want it…I have a lot of it but…but I can show you only part of it here. Then we can leave, yes?”
Both the men nodded, “good,” she said softly as she prepared to share her proof.

This is a short-ish one.
-------
Alexis took a deep breath as she scooted to the edge of the couch, seeming to be collecting herself for what she was about to do. Frank was growing a bit alarmed at the thought of what her proof could be.
“Are…are you ready?”
Bob and Frank exchange slightly worried glances look before both nodding.
“Okay then,” she said as she rolled up the sleeve of her hooded sweater. When that was done she held out her pale arm to them, showing the underside of it. Frank and Bob both gasped in horror at the sight that graced her soft flesh. Across the underside of her arm a series of numbers that were crudely carved right into her skin. She looked down at it and blushed slightly as if she had forgotten how it had looked.
“They…when they um…get you they have to classify you. I mean…I guess that’s what this is. It kinda sucks cause now I have to wear long sleeves. I kinda think if anyone saw my mark they might know where I am from.”
She pointed to the seven numbers going from her wrist to her elbow, “I am not sure what these mean. I think it has to do with how strong you are. The looked at it a lot when they moved me from lab to lab.”
Bob moved closer, running his fingers over the raised bits of flesh.
“How did they…”
“Do it? I guess with a hot branding iron, like cattle. For inspections they knock you out so you can’t use your power or gift or whatever. So while you are out they tag you.”
Alexis then shoved her sleeve back down and brushed her fingers through her hair, “so um…when do we get out of here?”
Bob sent Frank a look, seeing if he was finally satisfied. Frank just gave a curt nod and it seemed that all doubts were over for the time being.
Bob turned to Alexis, “now I think. Just…sit tight and we will be out of here soon.”
“But…but I gotta get my stuff.”
“Look,” Frank said, “the mutts treats and stuff can wait. This is serious!”
Alexis sent him a heated look and Frank was reminded once again of how strong she was.
“Look, just go pack your things and get back here fast,” Bob said as he stood and walked toward the unused bedroom.
Alexis gave a small nod and headed for the door, noticing the dark scorch marks Frank had left on the door. When she had gone Frank and Bob started to run around the apartment, grabbing as much as they could and sticking it in their traveling packs. This was something they had done a lot, but still it never seemed that they would have gotten use to it like this. Before long Alexis had come back in with a saddlebag and collapsed against the door, sinking to the floor and looking tired already. Frank threw her a passing glance as he wrapped the ‘fire jar’ in paper and put it in his pack.
“What’s up? Back already?”
She looked up from where she had buried her head in her arms and he saw the raw fear on her face.
“Wh-what happened?”
“They…they are down there. I thought I had time…how long was I out?”
“I dunno…maybe twenty minuets. Are they really there?”
Alexis nodded tears glazing her eyes, “and I think your friend is with them.”
Frank grabbed Bob by the arm as he passed, but Bob shrugged away, his eyes far away again.
“We gotta move…use the fire escape,” Bob grunted as he zipped his pack and headed for the window. Frank took Alexis by the hand and helped her to stand as the two of them, along with Punk, headed out the window and down the fire escape. When they reached the solid ground of the alley outside the apartment building they could all see that about four of the big black cars were outside the building. Alexis backed away from the entrance of the alley and toward the gated backside of it. Frank and Bob watched as she slipped through the space between the door of the gate, along with Punk and waited on the other side for the two boys.
“We should head this way,” she said softly, “this is where I go everyday. No one really goes back here and we will be less likely to be caught.”
That was the convincing Frank and Bob needed before they worked themselves through the opening. Once on the other side they found themselves in the wooded area behind the apartment building, full of close knit trees and tall probing grass. They followed Alexis toward a small thicket nearby where she had found an old work shed to set up a small camp.
“No one comes back here anymore so we are pretty safe. We just need to hope that they won’t try to track us this way.”
Frank had never been this nervous, he looked at Bob who seemed satisfied with the place that they were being forced to stay in for the time. Alexis went to the corner of the shed and lit a small candle and walked it over to where the three of them could sit comfortably in a circle. They sat that way for a quiet minuet, reflecting in their near escape when Bob spoke up.
“So, um…how did you escape?”

Alexis gave him a curious look, “well…I don’t really think it will help. I mean, if we get caught, I doubt they’d let it happen again. I mean…they probably have better security. A group that big would never be able to do it again.”
Frank frowned, “group? I thought just you escaped?”
Alexis shook her head, “it wasn’t my idea to. My cellmate had the idea I…we…” she sighed, running thin shaking fingers through her dark brown hair. “Look…I am not really a great speaker. I mean…you are kinda taught to shut up and do what they say when you go to those places. Just…just…I dunno. I guess I should start from the beginning or something, right?”
Both men gave a small nod of agreement, but not before shooting one another wary looks, so she would start her story.
“Well I um…I started getting my ‘skill’ or whatever at a young age. I dunno when, but my parents really noticed it when I was about eight or so. It was small stuff that made them realize it. Ya know, they would tell me no about something and the next thing they knew it seemed like a great idea for me to have Christmas a month early or whatever I’d asked for. At first they were…alarmed I guess, but they accepted what I was and did everything they could to save me from what was already becoming a freighting circumstance with the mutant testing facilities. I was told to be careful not to mention what I could do to anyone and never to use my ‘gift’ outside the home, or ever if I could help it. I tried to train myself not to use it, but it was always tough cause when you really want something you kinda automatically push the idea a little further than you should. It’s like human nature…and that’s really what my power is, just a really good power of suggestion over people.”
Alexis looked over at both of the boys, who seemed to be in the very least interested in what she was saying. She looked over at Punk as the dog nosed around the little shed, looking for mice probably. She took a deep breath before talking again. She had never told everything to anyone before, the closest she had come was to Pat…and that was over two years before.
“It wasn’t until I was ten that they caught me. Well, caught isn’t really the word, more like ambushed me. I was on a field trip with my class when they pulled the bus over. Two big men walked on the bus and talked to the driver, they might have even given her money, I don’t know. Then they called my name, said I was to come with them because my mother had gotten ill and like a child I believed them. Once outside and the bus had pulled away I felt a tiny pinprick in my arm and went out like I light. I have never seen anyone from my family or my old life since.
“When I came to I was in a holding cell with what seemed like about twenty others like me. I had never known that there were others like me before, my parents had kept it secret incase I wanted to join some revolution or whatever at an older age I guess. Who knows…maybe they thought that they would hurt me if other mutants found me. They watched the news a lot…that never helps a panic. It was odd to see the others like me in there, all of them older than I was and all terribly upset. I don’t know how long I was in the holding room, I think it was about two days. After that they processed me, tagged me, and moved me to the children’s facility.
“I dunno how the laws are now, but um…back then the legislature had a law passed so that children mutants could not be tested on. So, um, until I was eighteen I was stuck in this small cramped place full of a lot of angry and scared children. It was terrifying at times to be in that place, I mean…just because they couldn’t test on us didn’t mean that they wanted us to live. Like when I first got there I was in a bunk with about five other girls and one of them who was about four years older than me had this fire power, like you Frank, and a bad temper. She kept lighting the room on fire on purpose so she could try to get out. It nearly worked when she did it in the middle of the night too…but she also seriously injured nearly everyone in the room. After that we had every room fire proofed and she was sent away. I heard that they put her in a highly flammable room with iron on the walls so that even if she tried once she would end up roasting herself before anyone could get to her.”
Frank shuddered a bit, remembering when he was still trying his ‘gift’ out that he would accidentally light the sheets on fire in his sleep. He wondered whatever happened to that girl…
“The day I turned eighteen they sent me away to a high security facility for testing. As soon as I was there, not even an hour, they started testing. I had been given warm up tests for a few months before my move so I knew what to expect…and before I was always able to refuse to do them. They would ask me to get someone to sit down or dance or sleep, but I never wanted to use my ‘gift’ for their amusement. Maybe I thought they would let me go, I dunno, but when I was in the adult facility they had ways of making you do what they asked. When I refused to they would not feed me, they would stick me with needles, or they would place me in solitary. It took me a month of this everyday to crack, and after that I would only do what they asked if it wouldn’t hurt anyone. Harmless or childish things like to sing a certain song, or to do a hand stand. They would take blood samples about every few weeks, to monitor how strong I am, after a while though I got tired of it so I would have them forget, or label someone else’s blood as mine. When they discovered what was happening the head guys made it so that if any personnel went near me they had a metal helmet with a lead coating so I couldn’t get into their brains or whatever.”
Alexis sighed, stroking Punk who had just come to sit in her lap about ten minuets prior.
“I…I mean we escaped when I had been in the facility for a little over a year. I had been put in a small two-bed cell with a boy who had the power to control electricity, so we had an old fashion lock, a lead door, and near constant monitoring. He was about three years older than I was and, when he learned what I could do, he seemed overjoyed. He started talking to me about this group outside the facility that helped what we were. It was mainly our kind, but humans owned a few of the safe houses too. He taught me a lot about how to be safe on the outside, as if he knew that we would be out someday.”
“Ya know…if I were you I wouldn’t take advice on how not to get caught from a guy who was…ya know…caught.” Frank said, laying on his side in the circle by the candle his head propped on his hand.
“I know…and I didn’t at first. But he was real smart and…and he only got caught cause he was helping to transport a few younger kids across the city to another safe house since the one they were at was full. They never made it, but he was the only one captured. He was able to buy enough time for the kids to get away.”
Frank rolled his eyes, wondering slightly if this guy was really as great as he had acted to the obviously naïve girl.
“Go on,” Bob said, giving Frank glare for interrupting her.
“How we escaped was pretty much a fluke. We always watched for someone to walk by our cell with no helmet on. They were pretty good about keeping them on near our cell, but on evening we caught a young one. When I saw he had no helmet on and I motioned to Pat. He immediately shot out light, bathing us in dark. I watched from our small window as the boy took two or three puzzled steps towards our room and unlocked the door. When he opened the door I think I just blanked his mind like I did the boy this afternoon. It never really lasted long…but long enough for us to get out and lock him in. After he did that it all turned kinda hazy. I remember bits and pieces, Pat unlocked all the doors on our floor and mutants started running wild. They were panicked, a lot had never dreamed of escape, others didn’t want a life on the run, but all of them left their cells when they opened.
“In the hustle I lost Pat for maybe about ten minuets and when he came back he had both our folders. He looked like he wanted to tell me something, but that’s when the shots rang out. We all ran for our lives, some of us getting hit by the bullets as they whizzed past. In the rampage I lost time…and Pat. When I found myself outside I just started running and never looked back. That was about two years ago. I guess I was lucky it took them that long to find me.”
“Well…we got away this time. I am sure you will be safe now,” Bob said, patting her shoulder to comfort her. She shrugged it away, “it doesn’t matter how far or long we run if we can never find peace.”
“Well, find one of those safe houses then,” Frank said, looking absentmindedly for a blanket to sleep with.
“I’ve been trying. Pat said that if I even needed help to look for Lena to help me, but he never said a city. I’ve been looking in every phone book and I think…I think I know where to look next but…”
She sighed, Bob threw Frank a look that he refused to acknowledge.
“Look…Alexis, we will go with you if you want. I mean, its not like Adam didn’t spill his guts to those guys anyway.”
Alexis had a hopeful look on her face that made Frank groan aloud.
“How do you even know if this place will be the right one?”
Alexis smiled a little and took a piece of paper from her bag and handed it to Frank. Frank looked at it, puzzled, before passing it to Bob who read it out loud.
“Al,
Getting closer
Address is 148 Avenue F.
Pat”