The sun was rising when they arrived in the sprawling town they would now call home. Thora hated forcing her parents to move again but they understood, they knew it was for their safety. After finding rooms at the local hotel, they had somewhere to stay while they got themselves settled.
The rooms were cosy and Thora was grateful to have her own as she flopped on the bed. She rubbed at her forehead, wondering when her life would get back to normal. How had it gotten so complicated? She somehow managed to find herself in one crazy predicament after another, usually connected to the last stupid incident. If Thora believed in fate, she might just question whether someone was purposely setting these events into motion.
But she was more realistic than that, this was just bad luck in an already crappy world. She would just have to keep her head down and push on, find a new job and hope it all didn't catch up with her. She sighed and rolled over to switch on the TV for an all night binge. The room had every channel she could want and soon she was knee deep in some sitcom that kept her mind occupied.
Around midnight she felt herself getting peckish and knew her parents had the snacks in their room. She opened the door and popped her head out, alert for anyone that might have followed them. Nobody was around, she stepped out to creep into her parents room when a hand clamped over her mouth. Thora struggled and kicked, but the hand only tightened and began dragging her back into her room. Someone kicked the door closed and leaned over her.
"Please don't scream, I'm here to help you." The deep, male voice rasped.
Thora kept struggling, she tried to bite the hand over her mouth and the man shook her.
"Woah, chill out. Thora, I am here to help. Look, I'm going to let you go and step away. If you want to run you can but just know that the people you're running from are closer than you think."
Thora stopped moving, her heart began to race as she felt the hand slip away from her mouth. If this man wanted to hurt her, he could have already. She turned slowly to face him; he looked close to the same age and at least a foot taller, he had short, sandy blonde hair and dark scruff covered his sharp jaw. His jeans were dirty and his t-shirt was ripped, he looked like he'd been in a fight.
"Who are you? And how do you know so much about my situation?"
The man chuckled, deep and throaty, "You wouldn't believe me if I told you, but I know a lot more than that. I know why it's happening and how we can stop it."
Thora's brow creased, "But, how do you know?"
The man hesitated, looking towards the window.
"Who are you?" Thora repeated.
"Name's Killian, I'm... a friend, of sorts. I can try to explain but not here, it's not safe."
Thora shook her head, "I'm not leaving my parents if someone knows we're he-"
"It's not your parents they can find, it's you."
"I don't understand."
The man, Killian, looked apologetic and a little impatient.
"I'm really sorry, I wish I could be delicate but she said you'd appreciate action over words."
He grabbed Thora's arm and pulled her over to the dresser, Thora struggled but he was too strong. He pulled a knife from his boot and Thora yelped.
"NO! Hell no! Help!"
Killian glared at Thora, "Watch." His deadly tone silenced Thora.
Her heart was pounding in her ears, she watched as he brought the knife down to the bat tattoo she had on the pad of her palm.
"This will hurt, brace yourself."
Thora winced when the knife pierced her skin, but he wasn't done. He pushed his fingers down on the wound, Thora tried not to pass out and stared in morbid curiosity. Blood seeped down the dresser, she was sure she'd bleed out before he made his point. Then something strange happened, the ink of the tattoo began to leak out of the wound. It congealed on the dresser but it didn't look like ink anymore, it was almost metallic looking.
Thora couldn't stop staring at the foreign substance that had just exited her body. She barely registered Killian reaching into his pocket to retrieve a tube. He squeezed its contents onto Thora's wound and she instantly felt relief from pain that hadn't even processed in her mind yet. Thora sighed, while Killian wrapped her hand in a bandage.
"What is that?"
Killian finished with her hand and gently set it against her stomach.
"It's tracking gel, that's how they've been able to cause trouble wherever you went. That's how they keep finding you."
"Who is they? Why is someone causing trouble for me?" Thora squeezed her hand to her chest, fighting back frustrated tears. "And how do you know about it all?"
Killian smiled softly, "I should have known you'd always been like this, she knew."
"Who is she? Can you stop talking in riddles?"
Killian opened his mouth to answer when a knock sounded at the door. Thora's heart stopped, Killian brought a finger to his lips and pulled her towards the bathroom. He pushed the door shut quietly.
"Close your eyes," he whispered to Thora.
She frowned, about to question it when a crashing sound shook the bathroom. Thora closed her eyes tight and suddenly Killian's arms were around her. Thora felt butterflies, like going up in a lift, it barely lasted a second and she opened her eyes again. Thora was floored, instead of being in the bathroom she was now standing at the edge of town. Killian was already unlocking a car parked nearby, as if he knew.
"What just happened? How did we get out of there?"
Killian opened the passenger door and gestured, "Like I said, I'll tell you everything but we need to put more distance between us and them."
Thora didn't want to leave her parents but she was the target, this was the only way she could keep them safe now. She jumped in the car and watched Killian get in.
He pulled a phone-like device from his pocket.
"I have her, we're on our way." He spoke to seemingly no-one.
"Good, you didn't drug her, did you?" Another voice answered, clearly amused by his own question.
"No, she can hear you quite clearly," Thora interrupted.
"Woah, she sounds so young."
His cryptic response made Killian chuckle.
"Have it ready." Was all he said before putting the device down.
"Okay, will you please, just tell me what's going on. I'm tired of this."
Thora was done with being kept in the dark.
Killian's gaze softened, "Alright, this is going to be a lot to handle. To put it bluntly, I'm part of a team from the future and we're here to stop you becoming a weapon."
