The Poten [The Imperium War: Book One]

Chapter One

Mauralie

My breath caught in my throat as I heard the footsteps. Why did they always have to find me right as I sat down to rest?

Hoisting my pack on my back, I straightened and headed to the window of the abandoned building. The floor creaked beneath my feet and I grumbled at it. Surely they would know where I was by now which only left me about a minute to disappear. Not literally, of course. Only some people can do that, like my old friend, Carre.

She was pretty talented with her power, that is, until they caught her. I assumed she's dead, that or locked in one of the prisons somewhere.

Honestly, I did know most of what happened to those who were caught. We were thrown in a prison of sorts to contain us. Now, I have been to several of the prisons, but they weren't anything special. I mean, I managed to escape out of each and every one of them, so how good could they really be?

Climbing through the broken window and doing my best to avoid the broken glass, I pushed off and landed on the ground with a thud, two stories down. Pain shot through my legs and I almost lost my balance before I heard a shout. I threw my brown hair that was pulled into a braid over my shoulder and took off again.

The game was afoot.

Now, it wasn't really a game, but after having been running from these guys for several years, I tried to keep everything light. Otherwise my life just seemed to be dark and depressing. Here I was, being hunted by people who hated my kind, and I had really never done anything to them.

It was about two years ago that my powers developed and I realized that I was a Poten. Someone with a genetically developed ability. I guess you could say mutant... but I didn't really like that name.

At first, I hadn't been able to control my power at all, but now I was much better at it. However, I couldn't use it on those who hunted me, because they had special tools to block it. They seemed to have all the tricks.

Shealtiel

We broke down the door and went inside, guns leveled. We took a look around, and were disappointed at not seeing anyone. She must have jumped out of one of those windows. I and two others ran to a few of the windows to take a look.

"There she is!" One of them yelled.

We all went to the window to see. He pointed to the figure running into the woods that bordered the town where we were. We all dashed back out the door, and ran outside to the woods where she was. One of The Potens.

They were a dangerous bunch. With powers, sometimes beyond human imagination. We sprinted after her, intent on capturing her and putting her in restrainment along with all the others. We could see her ahead, running for her life through the trees.

"There! Get her!" I called to my companions.

One of them got out a tranquilizer gun, and aimed it at the fleeing figure. He shot once, and missed, then shot again. It hit her in the shoulder, and she stumbled a few more steps before dropping to the ground. We caught up to where she was lying, unconscious on the ground.

"Good work boys." I said to the two men with me. "This is the third time she's gotten out. She's a fighter."

They laughed. "We can handle fighters," one of them said. There was more laughter.

"Search her. Make sure she doesn't have any dangerous weapons on her person. I'll go get the truck." And with that, I turned and started jogging back the way we had come to retrieve the vehicle we used for transporting Potens to the facilities where we contained them. I drove back to where we had caught her and found my men waiting for me.

"What did you find?" I asked them as we loaded her in the truck.

"Nothing out of the usual," The one who had spoken earlier said, "except for these." He showed me a bottle half full of pills. I took them from him and turned them in my hand, curious to know why a Poten had such an item.