Shifters [Discontinued]

Chapter 4

"Where are we going bro?"

"Somewhere awesome."

"Where's that then?"

"Not too far."

"Why won't you tell me?"

"Because I want it to be a surprise, Tobi."

...

It was almost pitch black outside, the only light available coming from the shimmering, silvery moon. Simon and Josh stood alert just on the edges of the wood, the latter keeping close to the blond, who's eyes were better than his in the darkness.

They had nothing but the clothes they were wearing and Simon carried a simple multi-tool, the one most people in the hideout possessed. Shifters weren't ones for hoarding possessions and most owned very little however the two needed to travel extra light that night if they were going to get far enough away.

Rustlings a few feet to their left had both of them tensing as the shadowed figure appeared on the edge of the wood next to them.

"Who's that?" Simon queried, leaning forward, trying to get his eyes to adjust on the new person.

"It's me," the voice replied ambiguously, stepping further out of the bushes and scanning the area for himself.

"JJ?" Simon asked, even though he was almost certain it wasn't. The voice wasn't right, and the silhouette seemed a lot smaller than the other teen.

"No," the figure said, stepping cautiously towards Simon and glancing around again before leaning close. "Vik," he whispered as Josh stepped up to examine the new person also. Simon had insisted they only tell a few people of their plans in order to minimise the risk of them getting caught, but this kid, who appeared to have his arm wrapped up in a splint, hadn't been one of them.

 Everything was soon explained though as Vik continued to whisper: "JJ told me you were leaving the hideout tonight." And even as he said that more rustlings were heard around them as more Shifters joined them on the edge of the woods. Trust JJ not to be able to keep his mouth shut. "If it's true, I'd like to come along," Vik requested eagerly.

"We'd like to come along too," a girl's voice echoed out in the darkness as she stood with two other teens.

"I don't really like the look of things," a older man said, turning his head side to side nervously.

More continued to arrive, including a few children. Josh couldn't see Simon's face properly but he could guess that his friend wasn't overly happy with the amount who had turned up. A lot of them they didn't know well either. He kind of knew Vik, a young Labourer teen who was something of a protege amongst his peers, but as for the others, he couldn't even see half of them. However this was what he wanted all along, for them all to escape.

"We must get everyone!" he insisted. Whatever type of danger that was coming, it wasn't going to spare any survivors.

"That Nate fella followed us down the path," a more familiar voice spoke up as JJ finally made an appearance with another shorter boy.  "It could be the Protectors have been put on extra guard tonight," he informed Simon.

That wasn't good news. None of them were fighters and if they came up against a group of Protectors, Simon didn't rate their chances highly. "Then the sooner we're off the better," he pointed out, putting a hand on Josh's shoulder, knowing that his friend wouldn't be happy with that decision. They couldn't wait any longer though, otherwise they might miss their chance altogether.

Leading the group - now over twenty strong - away from the woodlands, Simon took them towards the open fields, unaware that they were indeed being watched carefully.