GENEsis-Book One: Found

Chapter One: The Way Home

                                                                                                Scratch

The mutter of voices. The heavy trundling of the subway car. The people. All of this was familiar, but for some reason, the scene and crowds of the subway station always made the back of my neck prickle.  I gripped my sister's hand tighter and listened for our stop to be announced over the speakers. A man glanced over at me, and my free hand instinctively flew up to my olive green beanie, checking that it was securely set on my head. 

"Scratch?" My sister's young voice piped. I looked down at the petite twelve-year-old.

"Yeah?"

"Our stop's next."

I smiled. That was Freeze for you. Always on the lookout. I tugged her bandanna farther down her head, over the mess of wild brown hair wreathing her face. 

"Thanks, kid." Freeze batted my hand away, but I could see the humor sparkling in her golden eyes. 

I know what your thinking. 'Scratch? Freeze? What's with the crazy nicknames?' Well, they aren't nicknames. Those are the names we'd been born with. I don't know how I knew that was my name, Freeze and I just...knew somehow. An instinct, like breathing or blinking. We just knew those kinds of things. The subway train lurched to a stop and Freeze and I departed from the throng of people in the train and began making our way through the mob milling around the station. Freeze squeezed my hand tighter and pressed closer to me. I ran my thumb along her palm and picked up my pace, my gut twisting with unease as the crowd became thicker. We scampered quickly through the station, casting nervous glances at the patrons of the subway rushing by. Catching trains, buying tickets, or waiting for whoever was coming down the line on the next train. Hundreds of other human beings, and not one of them seemed to give a crap about two homeless kids. All the better for us, I guess. Our lives would get a lot harder than it already was if people started trying to help.  Freeze tugged at the sleeve of my hoodie. I had almost missed the tunnel. The opening was closed with a heavy metal hatch, turned red-orange by all the rust clinging to it. The hinges let out a terrible screeching squeak as I opened the trapdoor. Dusting residue rust off on my jeans, I nodded for Freeze to go first. She climbed down the metal ladder, which was just as old and rusty as the hatch above it, and the darkness of the caverns below swallowed her descending form. I paused before following her, checking to see if anyone was watching before clambering down the ladder, and pulling the hatch closed behind me.

"Freeze? You still down there?" I called, jumping from the last rung of the ladder and onto the damp concrete below. The disused passages had been long forgotten, and the lights had long since gone out, plunging the entire  place into pitch darkness. But it was quiet, and more importantly, hidden. 

"I'm here." Freeze replied, her voice echoing through the tunnel. I glanced around until I spotted the outline of her slim figure. she must have taken her bandanna off as well, because I could also see the shadow of her pointed cat's ears. We'll get to that in a little bit. I removed my hat as well, allowing my own ears to stand straight. I twitched them until I regained feeling in them. The white fur seemed to glow in the blackness.

"C'mon." I bade Freeze. "Let's get home."