Three updates in one day! I'm so proud of myself.
What happens next scares five years off my life.
The black kid my friend is carrying groans, and suddenly becomes animated. Simultaneously, the bushes spring to life with more than a dozen wolves of every shape and color -- they look like half-wolf half-dog creatures, all different breeds. The one thing they have in common is their size; taller than a Great Dane, shoulders easily reaching the middle of my ribcage.
The six of us scatter, diving out of their way, but the stampede halts just short of my dark-haired companion. The black boy he is carrying wriggles out of his grip and drops to the ground, steadying himself on one of the nearby wolves, a gray husky-looking one. As my dark-haired friend backs away cautiously, the other boy straightens up, looks directly into the eyes of the nearest wolf, and grins.
I should have known.
The teeth betray him -- I know too well what those bone-daggers can do to a person's flesh.
"Erasers!" I shout, already turning towards the field. We have no choice but to fly -- or at least make an attempt.
"Wait!" he shouts, starting after us. "We're on the same side!"
I'm not about to fall for that, but he doesn't give me the chance. Before we can move more than two feet, the rest of the wolves circle us, cutting off our path. The trees are too close together to take off, so we'll have to fight. I grit my teeth and deposit my passenger at my back, protecting him as best I can -- he's in no condition to stand, let alone take on these monsters. Out of the corner of my eyes, I see the rest of my companions do the same.
The black boy watches us carefully. He's at least as tall as me, and probably older -- sixteen, maybe. Dark brown eyes move slowly over me, then the rest of my friends. There is a long pause in which nobody moves.
At long last, his tense posture relaxes. He makes a gesture at the wolves, who back away from us, leaving our way unblocked. I hesitate -- would they really let us go?
"My name is Romeo," the boy says slowly. "We're not going to hurt you, but we could certainly use your help."
My eyes narrow. Can we trust him?
More footsteps through the trees make my decision for me.
"This way. I know a place in the mountains -- it's a long way, but it's safe." With that, Romeo swings a leg up and over the gray wolf, hopping smoothly onto it's back. As soon as he's still, the wolf takes off, through the trees and out into the clearing ahead.
I glance at my troops. The dark-haired boy nods, starts after the wolves. He knows we have no choice. His dark-skinned sister pauses, knowing she can't fly with her cargo. That problem solves itself when the two cats leap out of her arms, and follow the wolves with antelope-like bounds. I wonder how many breeds were crossed to make them. The blond boy with a broken leg limps over to me; he'll be fine to fly, but will need help with takeoff. The six-year old girl cradling her parrot is fine; the weight won't be too much for her. My brown-haired girl hefts the child in her arms -- I don't know how long she can fly with the extra weight, but I know she won't put her down.
I grimace. Now that we're mostly all fit to fly, I throw my passenger onto my back and lead the way into the field. The five of us running take off, and once we're in the air I drop the boy with a broken leg. He falls a few feet, then unfurls his wings and catches the high-altitude breeze, swooping up to fly close beside the rest of us.
Far below, I can see the wolves moving through the vast meadow. Up ahead, the forest begins again, thicker than before. Even with my eagle-eye (which in this case is probably literal) I don't know that I'll be able to track them.
Looking back, I can see smoke rising from the castle we've left, and several figures are still swooping around above it. From this distance, I can't tell if it's more fliers like us or the guards, but we clearly aren't headed that way. I sigh and motion to the rest of my companions. I lead the way again in a shallow dive towards the wolves, who are now entering the forest. I hope that by skimming the treetops, we'll be able to follow their paths.
As if in answer to my predicament, the gray wolf carrying Romeo leaps up through the bank of trees, completely clearing the dark expanse of tall firs, and then falls back down, disappearing into the cover of pine needles. I blink. Another wolf jumps up, a few meters ahead of the last, this one a russet color. I blink again, wondering what in the world are they doing...
Then it hits me over the head and I feel stupid for not noticing it at first. The wolves are marking their trail every hundred feet or so, allowing us to follow their course without scraping our bellies on the treetops. I motion back up to the rest of my friends. We rise with a gust of wind, above the cloudline so that we won't be as easily spotted by guards.
Looking forward, I see the range of mountains that Romeo must have been talking about. It's a long way off, and I don't know if we can make it there without stopping for a break. I look back at my crew to take stock of our injuries.
The second youngest, with a broken leg, is flying steady but looking pale. As far as I can see, he's not bleeding externally, which is good. A black eye and several bruises play testimony to his being stepped on repeatedly, and I can bet on him having at least one broken rib. I wince, hoping he'll be able to hang in there until we get time to clean him up properly.
The dark-haired boy sports a cut on his cheek, but his eyes are alert. I'm sure he has other bruises -- all of us do -- but he looks to be in good shape.
Our youngest, with blonde hair, is covered in dust and dirt, looking very scared but very strong because of it. Her parrot is still unmoving, but it's feathers are smooth and it appears undamaged. She manages a small smile when she catches me watching her.
My 'sister' is staring at the ground intently, probably looking for her cat friends. She's silent as ever, but I see no injuries, which is good.
Last, I check on the brown-haired girl and her passenger. Both are looking alright, but the green-skinned girl has a nasty bruise on her forehead that is probably why she's unconscious. Her carrier has a bleeding lip and blood on the knees of her jeans. Aside from that, they're all okay.
My own injuries are minor. I can count at least four bruised ribs, a twisted ankle and a shallow cut on my neck. I'll be fine. My only worries are for the rest of our group, and what awaits us at Romeo's 'place'. I know we'll be surrounded by Erasers, but from what I saw at the castle, they'll share our sentiments.
I guess now would be the time for intros. As I mentioned before, I don't have a name. I'm one of several clones of a specific person, and my whole life I've only been referred to as 'I-2'. The rest of us have similar names -- my dark-skinned sister is 'N-5', the brown-haired girl is 'M-3', the boy with a broken leg is 'G-10' my dark-haired friend is 'F-4', and our little one is 'A-9'. We don't know what the letters or numbers mean, but I did meet somebody who looked exactly like my sister while we were in the castle. Her name was 'N-4'. I never got to speak with her, and I don't know what her name meant, who she was, or why she looked like my sister.
She was one of the first terminated.
The six of us -- not including passengers -- have been together most of our lives. We grew up in the same facility, sometimes in the same cages. We've come to trust each other more than anyone else. I'm the strongest, the most assertive, so I'm kind of the unofficial 'leader'. We stuck together in the castle, relying on each other for safety and companionship.
Some of the others weren't so lucky.
At the castle, I saw a lot of mutants. Some were like us, intelligent, coherent -- they stuck together in groups, watching each other's backs. Others seemed detached, mindless. They wandered around like zombies or drones, pacing without a course. Some of the latter were the latest versions of Erasers -- these were the ones that have served as guards for most of our lives, rather than the older versions we were currently tailing. The new ones can walk on two feet and can change their appearances from human to wolf-man. They're intelligent and cruel, the perfect weapons for keeping us in check.
But when the robots started working, the scientists didn't need them anymore, so they threw the Erasers away, just like the rest of the 'failed experiments'. Everyone at the castle -- who was in their right mind -- felt dejected, furious, lost. They'd been cast out by their creators, tossed into the trash like that was where they belonged. As if they weren't sentient human beings, as if they didn't matter.
The Erasers quickly learned what it was like to be on the same level as those they'd been tormenting for years.
Now that all of us were out, I'm praying that they'll have learned some compassion, that they'll help us out and not throw us right back to where we've just escaped from. We'll have to trust them, and they'll have to trust us.
This is not going to be easy.
I HAVE A CONCERT TOMORROW. I'M GOING TO BED.