AWAKEN

{6}

I awoke to cold hands shaking my shoulders. "Get up Omega, initiation time." A woman's voice said slyly. I opened my eyes to slits, slightly startled. It was dark, to dark to make out her face, but I could see her form looming over me. "Get up!" She said again. I stood up and saw that Evelyn's bed was empty. The lady walked out of the tent, and I followed.

As soon is I took a step outside the tent I ran into a large figure. It was a grown man with broad shoulders, he had his palms open with beams of blinding golden light adorning the dark. Around me there were ten people in total, 5 of which were Anya, Evelyn, Grayson, Summer, and James. They were all in their pajamas, the sisters in grey tanks and thin sweatpants, the boys in grey t-shirts and sweat pants, and Evelyn and I in our grey t-shirts and thin sweatpants. The other 5 people were looming and bulky, they were their training uniforms, three men and two women. The men were silent, and the women couldn't have been younger than 40. Finally, the lady that awoke me, spoke.

"So, you've been in camp for a few days now, and its about time you've been welcomed properly." The last word she slurred out and woke me up properly. "A few others have invited you to play a game. I suggest you don't turn it down."

"Do we have a choice?" Grayson asked. Evelyn was a little too close, grasping his hand, he stood protectively. The men and women snickered.

"We've decided to let you all have the upper hand, so to speak, we'll have a team of five, you have your team of six. We call downstream, oh and remember to keep it in plain sight." A man with dark hair and eyes tossed a glowing neon green cloth of a handkerchief to James. The grownups began to jog down the river.

"Wait! What are we playing?" Anya yelled after them.

The woman looked back, her smile flashing against the moonlight. "Capture the flag, only a bit more, well, dangerous." The last word she said almost sounded like a growl, and I immediately knew she was a shape shifter. To what animal, I didn't know, but it was terrifying all the same.

I turned back to the others and we exchanged glances, and our minds seemed to finally work as a team. As one we ran upstream, I'm not sure for how long. Evelyn tripped once in the dark but Grayson steadied her, not slowing his pace. When we reached a shallow place in the river we crossed to the other side. With every splash I winced, knowing the older military men and women could hear us if they were nearby.

Finally we stopped, panting. Summer was the first to recover. She grabbed the flag from Grayson, who attempted to react but was too slow. Summer jumped at the lowest limb of a tree beside her, pulling herself up with the cloth in her mouth. After climbing obnoxiously high, she tied the cloth to a bare limb, then scrambled back down.

The place she'd picked was perfect, I was able to see it from where I stood without trying, but it certainly wasn't easy to reach, the branches that high only capable of holding someone of small weight.

"What now?" James inquired.

"Now" Anya stood up board strait. "We split up. Summer, you climb that tree there, keep watch. Grayson, Evelyn, come with me to find the other flag. And, James and Charlie stay here to guard."

Nobody questioned, but we all followed blindly. I watched as the three took off through the trees, hearing summer practically fly up the tree opposite of the flagged one. James shifted behind me and I looked up to Summer. She sat on a branch, almost invisible, and winked at me. No doubt she'd had a conversation with her sister about my feelings, otherwise I wouldn't be the one with James, alone.

"So" I heard him say. I turned to face him, he stood looking at me, his eyes deep and all of a sudden I was lost in them, until he looked down. "Um, so I think I owe you an apology. What you do isn't my business."

"No, don't apologize, I shouldn't have been so rude, you were only trying to keep the generals from finding out." I offered a smile, and my hand. He looked shocked for a second after taking it and I was afraid I did exactly that. "Sorry I didn't mean to-"

"No, its not that. I-I, uh, never mind. It's stupid." He shook his head and let out a laugh, looking down again. I tried to make him meet my gaze.

"What?" He looked at me with intensity, his eyes burning with certainty.

"I just thought, you know, your date on your arm, well, Grayson's the only other guy in our group, but him and Evelyn also have the same date. I just, you know, wondered-"

"Stop stuttering James, let me see your arm." He swallowed painfully, hesitantly holding out his arm. I rolled up his sleeve and gasped. His arm was blank.

In our world, a blank arm meant one thing, early death. The Seers usually turn a child with no date over to the government for, well, I'm not sure. That explains why he's where he is. I've never seen somebody without a date before, nor have I ever wanted to. My lungs filled with pity and air as I regained my breathe, quickly unrolling his sleeve. I wiped my hands against my pants, as if I could wipe this from my memory.

"So, um, we should watch for-" I turned my head towards the open trees, refusing to meet his face until I felt his hand guide my chin back. Slowly, my eyes traveled to his.

"Charlie, don't." I closed my eyes as he closed his, waiting to be engulfed in him.

But it never came.

"They're here!" Summer yelled. I jerked back from James, getting into my newly learned fighting stance. Sure enough, the same dark haired, dark eyed man from earlier came breaking through the brush, behind him a leopard pounced onto James, who I didn't have time to worry about before the man punched me in the jaw. I yelped and fell to the ground, dizzy.

Barely holding on to consciousness, I swept he mans legs out from under him. His body landed with a thud, but I underestimated how long it would take for him to recover. By the time I was on my feet he struck me again in the stomach, which, once again, caused me to fall down. Struggling to breathe, I realized that this fight was physically unfair. Good thing I had a few tricks up my sleeve.

As soon as he was sure I wasn't getting back up he took off towards the leopard, whom I'm guessing was the shape shifter. She was rolling around on the ground beneath James's stare, obviously in pain. I quickly latched onto the passing mans foot and released my energy into him. His shoe was set aflame, burning his pants leg, which he didn't seem to notice.

The man's power, I finally concluded, was his skin. He couldn't be harmed on the outside, his flesh like steel. Quickly, I stood up and jumped onto his back, clawing at his face from behind trying to find his mouth. If I could send sparks inside of him he could feel that, though I'm not sure how this will end.

He seemed to figure out what I was attempting to do, and struggled at my death grip, one arm latched around his throat, the other hand trying to open his jaw. His left hand disapeared from the equation, only to come back with something that gleamed as the light from the moon hit it. It wasn't until I felt the jab at my throat squeezing arm did I know it was a pocket knife.

I screamed, my arm burning, and weakening, but not enough. The man stabbed yet again, causing me to fall off of him onto the ground. Still piercing the air with cries, I looked up to see him coming back for one more blow to the head, no doubt to knock me out. As he punched I rolled to my right, causing him to miss. I took the moment of confusion to grab the knife from his other hand with my good one, my bleeding arm hugging my midriff. I tossed the knife away and reached up to poke him in the eye. He cried out in pain and I reached my hand in his mouth, sparking him with whatever energy I had left.

When I was done the man laid unconscious on the ground. I struggled to my feet and saw the silent lady slumped against Summers tree upside down, and the leopard woman had changed back. She looked at us and walked off, knowing she was outmatched, but not before giving James a look of terror. Anya and Grayson waltzed through the trees, hooting and hollering, carrying Evelyn on their shoulders, who waved the opposing side's flag in the air. She wore a wide smile, and summer used her power to lower herself to the forest floor. She ran over and jumped up in down with excitement. I tried to stand, but failed, teetering backwards. James saw this and caught me, looking down at my bloody shirt.

"Guys, Charlie." He called them over. Slowly he laid me down on my back. My vision blurring, I felt his hand sweep the hair off of my face. "Stay with me Chars." He whispered. But I was already gone.