Project Family: New Life

No Breaks

When Deborah had gotten the kids through the hidden entrance, the kids stood together. They watched as Deborah went back through again, wondering why it was taking them both so long to come through. Samantha looked at the others and then noticed that Benjamin was having trouble walking and standing. She runs over to his side and helps him to stand. Even though supporting his weight is a bit painful, she is willing to do it to help her fellow 'brother'.

"Thank you for the help, but I think due to your pain, lean me up against a tree, and then sit down yourself.", Samantha blinks in subtle shock and looks into Benjamin's tired ocean-blue eyes. She nods slowly, confused as to how he knew she was in pain, then guides him over to the biggest tree in the area and helps him lean against the tree. She then walks over to Woodland, who is carefully sitting on the ground holding Bailey in his arms and takes Bailey from him into her arms. Woodland then stands and runs over to Benjamin, landing just a few inches away from the boy. Benjamin looks at Woodland and starts chatting with him. Samantha watches and knows what she wants to do. She walks over and passes Bailey into Benjamin's arms, causing him to tighten up a bit but he relaxes quickly. Samantha then walks away and wonders for about a minute until she finds a large open area. She walks the perimeter and finds that it is very well hidden and covered by trees and bushes. As she completes her lap, she approaches the center again, takes one look around, and nods her head. This is the perfect place for her to make them a house to stay and live in together, as a family. Samantha stands on the outskirts and looks inward to the center of the space, she closes her eyes, focuses on her energy, and allows her power to flow from her.

            Benjamin had been wondering where Samantha had gone, so as carefully as he can, he stands and walks in the same direction she went. He brings Bailey and Woodland with him, easily following Samantha's path, based only on her smell. They push back a branch and all stop dead in their tracks. In front of them is a large whirlpool of purple magic, spinning, like some kind of magic tornado. They step closer and can feel the magic's pull on the wind and air around them. Benjamin, seeing Woodland struggling, stands in front of him, allowing all the wind to blow against him and not the small boy. Benjamin looks around, trying to find the source of the magic, his left has nothing, in front is the magic, and behind him is nothing. However, when he looks to his right, he finds Samantha, floating up off the ground, the purple magic flowing out of her hands, straight into the magic tornado. He's never seen anything like this and is a little afraid of what might be happening. He tries to move closer but then the wind starts to die down, and the magic starts to absorb back into Samantha's body. He watches as her body is lifted higher and then starts falling. He rushes to her and catches the top half of her body, as he is holding Bailey in his other, arm. Benjamin does the best he can to keep himself, Samantha, and Bailey, up, but he weakens and lays Samantha down on the ground and collapses himself. Woodland runs over and takes Bailey, carefully, out of Benjamin's arm, and cradles her. Benjamin has just enough energy to look and see what the magic did to the area in front of them. He is surprised to see a whole cabin that has appeared in the area. As Woodland sits down with the baby, and the tweens lay on the ground, bushes rustle behind them. They all stay stiff, hoping it's not Syntec, but are all happy to see Matthew and Deborah come out of the bushes, just as surprised by the large cabin too. Deborah runs over to Samantha and Benjamin, trying to ask questions, but they are too tired to respond.

"I saw it Mama", Deborah looks to her side to see Woodland standing next to her, trying to get her attention.

"Okay Woodland, what did you see? And what happened to them?"

"Sammy was floating, an' Benji went to save her when she fell. She had pwetty pwuple magic around her and the house.", Deborah blinked, taking a moment to process Woodland's kid speech but then remembered Samantha's ability to shift and bend reality to her will. Samantha made the cabin and used whatever energy she had left to do it. Deborah stands back up and runs over to Matthew, explaining everything to him quickly. As soon as she can see that he understands, she sends him to pick up Woodland and Bailey, and head inside the house and finds someplace to put them. Matthew does so and Deborah runs back to the tweens. She flips them both, so they are lying flat on their backs. Deborah starts to examine the two to see what their injuries are and if they are getting worse. After checking Benjamin's body and deciding that his injuries are starting to become infected, she checks over Samantha's body. She looks over her body and can't find anything obvious on the front of her body, she decides she needs to flip over Samantha to be on her stomach. After flipping her over, Deborah starts looking over her back and doesn't seem to find anything, that was until she ran her hand over the spine and noticed Samantha flinch at the movement. Deborah pulls her hand back and watches Samantha's body relax again. As much as she doesn't want to hurt Samantha, she moves her hand back again and lifts her shirt so she can see what is causing her pain. Samantha flinches and whimpers as Deborah does this. It pains Deborah, but she knows she has to do this for Samantha's well-being. Deborah looks over Samantha's back and finds the root of her pain. There is a small dart lodged in her back. The dart seems to be a vial dart, meaning it was filled with fluid, but now that fluid is inside Samantha's body...

            Matthew comes back outside from the house and finds Deborah attempting to lift Samantha's body off the ground. Matthew runs over and takes Samantha out of Deborah's arms and allows her to pick up Benjamin instead. Deborah does so. However, she is saddened at how light Benjamin is in her arms. She brings him into the house, having Matthew follow behind her. Deborah doesn't have time to take notice of the fully furnished house as she runs to find a place to lay Benjamin down on a bed. She turns the corner and finds a room with two beds and lays Benjamin down on one and Matthew lays Samantha down on the other one. Deborah and Matthew work together to get the tweens situated, making sure they are both comfortable and not in too much pain.

"All right, Matt. Ben's wounds are becoming infected, and I don't know what was in it, but Samantha was shot in the back with a dart that is meant to hold fluid.", Matthew snaps out of his usual daze and just had enough time to process enough of what Deborah had said.

"Umm, okay wait, Sam was injected with some kind of Syntec liquid, and Benjamin has physical injuries that are infected. Am I understanding that correctly?", Deborah gets a little nervous by the realization of this, but she slowly nods.

"Yes, that's right."

"Okay, so what are we going to do about this? We don't know what has happened to Sam if she has been injected with something dangerous or draining!", Deborah flinches softly at Matthew's raised tone but can understand why he would be nervous, or angry.

"You're right. However, I do have an idea that will help them both. But I can't do it alone. So, either we take the two youngest with us, we leave them here with Sam and Ben, or we get some kind of outside help.", Matthew thinks over the options he has been given and thinks through them carefully.