Survival of the Fittest.

Screams

I sighed and sat down on the rock in the woods. Lira gave me gold jeans and a black t-shirt to wear today, the jeans shimmered in the light. "You look like a million bucks!" Lira appeared from around the corner down the path from where I was. I laughed and shook my head, remembering my dream and questioning myself if it was real or not. "What's up?" Her face suddenly got serious.

"Don't wanna talk about it." I looked at the ground and shook my head.

"Tell me," She bounced up and down, like a pouting toddler,"Giaaaa!"

"No, Lira." I glared at her.

"Why not?" She got closer to me, obviously doing her best at trying to comfort me.

"How would you like it if you had a dream that the only family member you know has been killed by two people you've grown up with!" I screamed at her, "I'm going to breakfast." I switched and ran past the dumbstruck girl.

Running down the hall, I heard Tori and Tom around the corning. I stopped and strained my ears to listen. "I'm not sure how well Gia is adjusting to Flint." Tori was talking, "He said she had a bad dream last night."

"How does that affect him?" I could hear Tom tapping the wall with his knuckles.

"She said his name, Tom, he said she sounded mad and sort of dead."

"How can she sound dead?" Tom laughed.

"I don't know, she's yours. Go find her and do something."

"Fine." I heard footsteps coming toward me. He was around the corner in about a second. "Gia, did you hear that?" I shifted and nodded. "Well, tell me." I shook my head, tears already running down my face. Tom stretched his arms wide and hugged me. Sob after sob, it just got worse.

"It was Caine," I gasped between sobs, "They killed him!"

"They?" Tom pulled back. I nodded.

"Keaton, too." Saying it out loud made it feel more real. Yes, it was a dream, but for how long?

"You know they didn't, Gia. Give Flint a chance before you make up these things." He shook his head, looking at me like I was a child.

"Assumptions? You know I have absolutely no control over my dreams." The volume of my voice was escalating  quickly.

"Calm down, Gia." Tom grabbed my arm and squeezed, "Go see your brother, I'll bring you breakfast." He nodded before walking toward the dining hall. I turned down the hall to go see Caine. I switched, people were less likely to talk to you when you were in feline form. I walked down the hall, realizing my paws were moving faster and faster to get to Caine.

I finally reached his classroom, I switched back and opened the door, "Hey, can I see-" I didn't even have time to finish before Caine rushed up and hugged me. I looked at his teacher, she nodded. I backed into the hall with my sibling in tow. I picked him up and hugged him for a few minutes. He just stayed in my arms and hugged back.

"You had another nightmare, didn't you?" He whispered, eyes big and innocent. I nodded, so did he. "Me too. These two lions were hunting me. I don't know who they were." He paused to look at me, "But I was only scared for a second." He looked proud. I was used to hearing things like this, we usually had tandem dreams.

"I just wanted to see you for a second, sweetheart, get back to class." I smiled and put him down. He ran to the door and opened it. Before he went in, he turned and waved. He disappeared behind the door. I stood in the hall for five minutes, just staring at the door. Now that I had seen Caine, the dream was starting to fade.

"Hey," and there goes my day, "Have you seen Tori?" Flint was walking up to me, he looked worried.

"No, why?" I started to feel sick.

"I heard they were taking more adults, last time I talked to her she said something about a list. It was one of the only times she said goodbye and hugged me." He looked at the floor and ran his hand through his dark brown hair.

"I just saw her about thirty minutes ago." As soon as the words left my mouth he looked relieved. Footsteps were pounding down the hall from behind me.

"Get down!" A male voice yelled. Flint grabbed my arm and pulled me into a door on the right side of the hall. I looked out the window on the door, Tom and Tori ran past us.

"Why are you taking us?" Tom yelled, he sounded tired. I held my breath. No. No. They weren't taking them. They couldn't. Three guards in bullet-proof vests ran past the doors, guns in their hands. I peeked my head out the door when I couldn't hear their steps from the room. I shifted and ran the way the had gone. I didn't have to check to see if Flint was following, I could hear his heart pounding.

"Get down." The man yelled again. "We will shoot." My body tensed and I stopped. The seconds seemed to drag out to years. "These are not tranquilizers." My heart broke, Flint jumped in front of me to keep me from running to Tom.

"Gia! If you care here this, take care of Caine!" Tom's voice rang through the halls.

"Flint. Take care of them." Tori's voice was quieter, like she had given up.

"Get on the ground!" The voice warned for the last time.

"Never." Tom's defiant voice was the last thing I heard before gun shots were fired. Flint dragged me into an empty room before we both switched back. Flint rapped his arms around me, I'm not sure if he was trying to comfort himself or me. I screamed into him and sobbed. The only parent figure I had ever had was just shot by the people who run the base I live at.

"I'm sorry." Flint whispered through his own tears, he had just lost his parent, too.

"Me, too."