Anomalous

14-KC

"Who was that?" Leila asks shakily, looking at me.

I don't answer, I only stare wide-eyed at the trunk.

I grab my crossbow from where it rests at my feet, and jump out of the car. Leila follows me to the trunk.

We stare at each other for a moment, before I yank the trunk open.

Inside is a girl a little older than us, with long wavy black hair and a nose ring.

"Out," I tell her, trying to be intimidating.

At this moment, Nox and Gray walk over to see what's happening, which results in everyone walking over to see what's happening.

With wide eyes, the girl clambers out of the trunk. Standing, I notice that she's only about two inches taller than Leila, which means I'm still taller than her.

Ha.

I straighten up to my full height (5'11 if you were wondering), again, trying to be intimidating.

"Who are you, and when did you sneak in?" Leila asks her.

"Uh, I'm KC, nice to meet you. I was a part of OHAR, I snuck in there," She says, giving an awkward little wave.

Upon hearing that, everyone stiffens and points their weapons at her.

"No, you don't understand! I was a part of OHAR, not anymore. My friend made me join, even though I definitely did not want to. I set the fire to help you guys escape. I just happened to escape with you," KC explains.

"How do we know that you're not just a spy, here to gather information for OHAR?" Nox asks suspiciously.

"Well, the reason I did not want to join OHAR in the first place is cuz I'm anomalous, like you guys. Because my friend kinda talked me up to OHAR, they let me skip the newbie briefing, which includes a scan for abnormalities," She explains, "Look, I'll prove it."

She gently takes Leila's shears, which makes everyone a little uneasy, since we still don't really trust her.

However, she stabs the shears into her own arm. Instead of them puncturing her skin, they don't even make a mark. "Nothing gets through my skin. Not knives, teeth, bullets, even fire. That's how I set it without getting burned." KC smiles a little. "Believe me now?"

"Yeah we do. You can stay with us," Leila says, smiling warmly at KC.

Nox, however, squints suspiciously at her, clearly not believing her yet.

Leila gently pulls his head down to her height, and whispers something in his ear. Whatever it was calms him down, and he reluctantly loosens up.

"So, KC, this is where we live. If you have no where to go, you're welcome to live with us, I'll show you where the rooms are," Leila says, guiding KC through the lobby.

"Yeah, actually, that'd be great. When you join OHAR, they make you sell your house and car so you don't have any ties to the outside world," She says, gladly following Leila.

I tag along, and we take the elevator up.

"And if you need them, we have clothes and toiletries," Leila adds as the elevator doors open.

"Oh, thanks!" KC says.

"What room will she stay in?" I ask.

"Hmm, how about the example room we used for your mom? It's the closest room to our side of the hall," Leila suggests, and quickly shows her the room. She then leads KC to the room on the third floor with the extra stuff.