"I'm not going."
"Gray, please. It's really important that you meet these people."
"No."
Dylan sighed. Gray was speeding down the corridors of ECLIPSE, not really looking where she was going. Dylan jogged to keep up with her, but still she had a head start.
"Why not?"
"I don't know them?" Gray spat, turning a corner. She began to pick up her pace, but was stopped by Dylan who jumped in front of her. His towering frame blocked her from running away. Not knowing where to look, she moved her eyes to the floor, not looking up at the boy.
"It's scary, I know. But they're really nice people, and you need to do this Gray." Dylan explained. Gray didn't budge. She stayed glued to the ground, her eyes never moving from her blanket which she held tightly in her hands. Dylan slowly got to his knees, kneeling down in front of the girl so that she was forced to look at him. "Please, Gray. For me. Do it for me."
Gray sighed, picked at her blanket, before mumbling a quick "Fine."
---
Gray and Dylan were the last ones to enter the meeting room. When she stepped inside, the room immediatley fell silent. Sat around thetable before her, were 7 people, and 1 robot.
A cyborg, as Dylan had described.
Harriet stood behind the table, next to an electronic board. She smiled quickly at Gray, before gesturing for her to take a seat next to a girl with short wavy brown hair, and deep brown eyes. She quickly sat down, not looking up at the boy across from her, who stared at her carefully. She wrapped the blanket she was holding around her arms,and shivered as she felt all eyes staring at her.
"Thank you all for attending, glad you could be here." Harriet started off, glancing to the people around the room. "As you all know, you people have been chosen to represent ECLIPSE in the saving of the human race from extinction, from an air – born virus named 'Greyhound Disease' or, 'Schizo-Syndrome' as the world is calling it. There is a cure, however we are unable to supply this whilst Boggs, the creator, is on the move. This is where you guys come in," Harriet paused, gesturing to the people around the table.
"We need a team of people who can cope in extreme environments and handle difficult situations calmly. You were our final 9."
The people at the table looked each at other in curiosity. One girl, with dark skin, a peircing that passed through both of her nostrils, half shaven hair with thick, dreadlocks tied in a bun and light brown eyes, snarled at Gray, as if she was some kind of animal. Gray gripped the sheets surrounding her, and looked away, back down at the table.
"So what's the plan?" The boy across from her asked. Harriet turned to him and smiled.
"The plan is to get you trained. Learn how to use a gun, hand-to-handcombat, how to control your powers. Then from there, it's a waiting game." Harriet replied, flipping through some papers. "Of course, Boggs has his own plans."
"Likewhat?"
Harriet paused, before glancing at Gray. "Perhaps, Miss Annora can tell us over dinner. After all, she does know him best."
---
Gray ran from the room, with Dylan right behind her.
"Why would she say that?!" Gray shouted. "I don't know what Boggs' plans are, so how the hell am I going to tell them that?!"
"Okay, Gray, just relax." Dylan called, grabbing her arm and pulling herto a stop. "We have no idea what his plans are. We have no idea what he has, who he has, and what he thinks like. But, you do." Dylan paused, turning her so that they could walk to the canteen together. "We need you to tell us everything you know about Boggs. From that, we can estimate his plans, and then make an assumption on what he wants to do."
"Assumption? We can't do that. He's unpredictable." Gray scoffed. Dylan opened the canteen door for her and she stepped inside, not bothering to wait for Dylan.
"Unless we send someone in, which we can't do as it's too dangerous, then we can only guess." The two bickered quietly whilst sitting at the table. Harriet had decided to put a few tables together to create one long one, so that the whole, 'team', could sit together. Gray sat next to a tall boy with dark skin, short black hair, and, like Harriet, had large, browneyes. Across from him, sat the girl who had snarled at Gray earlier.
"Who are these people?" Gray whispered to Dylan, as she scanned the young people at the table.
Dylan nodded to the girl Gray sat next to earlier. She had dark green eyes, pale skin and lots of piercings in her ear. She sat, lips slightly pouted, staring at the plate of salad that sat in front of her. "That's Kira. She's from Russia, born into a supernatural family. Her mother and grandmother were claimed to be witches, but it surprised the whole family when Kira was born one."
"What, a witch?" Gray asked, surprised.
"Yep. Telepathic abilities that are nearly impossible to understand. She'sa hazard to society, so that's why she lives here."
"What about the guy next to her?"
The boy, who had slightly tanned skin, curly black hair and glazed over eyes, sat with a helper beside him. She would occasionally speak to him, sometimes he would nod, other times he would shake his head or not say anything to him at all, and when he would nod, the helper scraped some of the pasta from the plate and fed him.
"Isaac's blind. That's his new helper, Anna. He can't really do much for himself, unfortunately, so she has to feed him, lay out his clothes. Obviously he can dress himself, but feeding himself is quite difficult. His power is amazing though." Dylan paused, beforeclosing the book he was reading and placing it in his bag. "A shape-shifter. He can turn into this alien-like creature, with enhanced senses and superstrength. He isn't blind then."
Before Gray could ask about the other people, the table had fallen silent, and the girl who had snarled at Gray piped up, a Canadian accent falling from her lips.
"So, who's the newbie?" She spat, eyeing Gray whilst she stabbed her pasta with her fork.
Gray's heart dropped. She looked at Dylan, who was glaring the girl, shaking his head. "Oh, so I see you've got your boyfriend to protect you? How cute."
"He's not my boyfriend." Gray spat, gripping the knife under the table. The girl laughed, shaking her head.
"My mistake. It just seems that the newbie has all the VIP access, am I right?" She said, looking round at the table. "I've never seen you before, in briefing and such. What hole did you crawl out from?"
"Zandra. Shut it." Dylan spoke up, shaking his head at the girl.
"Why should I? I've read about you, Gray. Seen some photos, read somearticles. 22 percent is quite a lot for the average human being, but I guess none of us here are normal, are we?" She chuckled, whilst the room remained silent; tense for what the mad girl might say next."How did it feel, being opened up, your organs being poked at with a stick?"
"Zandra. Stop."
"And then, of course, you were tortured to hell, weren't you?Drowned, electrocuted. What else? Wonder what poor, Mr and Mrs Annora were thinking back home." Zandra taunted, watching in ejoyment as Gray gripped the knife tighter and tighter.
"Alright, that's it-"
Before anyone could stop her, Gray screamed and flung the knife at Zandra, who dodged it flawlessly. Gray jumped from her seat, and pounced on the girl, grabbing Zandra by the hair and pulling, ripping a few clumps from her head. Zandra, who was taken back by the mad girl, screamed in agony, by throwing a heavy punch to Gray's jaw. Gray grabbed Zandra's bun of drealocks in both hands, sat on her chest and pinned her arms to the floor. Zandra screamed several times, her legs kicking out in hopes to try and rid the mad girl of her chest, but Gray had already begun to slam Zandra's head against the tiles, the loud thud echoing around the room.
People were already at their feets; Dylan had got Gray by the waist and was trying to rip the girl from Zandra, whilst the others, apart from the boy who sat next to Gray and a few of the surrounding staff, stood and watched in horror.
Dylan finally managed to rip Gray from Zandra's body, her legs kicking and her arms hitting Dylan hopelessly, whilst her screams filled the hall. No matter what Dylan said to her, nothing would calm her down. Tears stained her cheeks, and blood from her nose and lower lip covered her hands. Stood in the corner was Harriet, who watched as Dylan dragged Gray from the room.
---
PHOTO: Zandra
