Search and Rescue

Family

Ch. 9: Family

~~The Group~~

Bo, Raven, Katherine, and Rose sat on one side of the table. Across from them sat Lucy, Ryan, Harry, Jason, and Cainen. Benedict sat at the head of the table--between Bo and Lucy--he had his head down on the table. Everyone's eyes were red and their cheeks stained with.

"Are we gonna talk about what happened?" Lucy asked playing with the edge of her white shirt.

"What is there to talk about? Hazen is dead, we're alive. We need to escape." Raven got quieter as she spoke.

"Way to be heartless, Raven." Bo muttered.

"Well, we need to survive or else we're going to end up like Hazen."

"Fifteen minutes." Harry said.

"What?" Raven gave Harry a quizzical look.

"We have fifteen minutes until lunch ends and we have to go back to our rooms."

Raven nodded.

There were five other tables in the cafeteria all with different ages and genders of "people". Some of them didn't look human, they had scales, fangs, extremely long fingernails, and anything else you could think about. At each door stood two men, they were the guards.

"It's going to be hard to escape," Ryan said breaking the silence.

"Yeah it is. This place has retina scans, it's impossible to hack into those." Cainen said poking the mystery meat on his tray.

"We've done it before, we can do it again." Raven declared.

All of the sudden red lights started flashing, and a siren screeched through out through the building.

"Sounds like someone beat us to it," Ryan laughed with his charismatic smile.

~~Hazen~~

I ran down the hall, dodging guards, tables, doctors, and some weird looking people. I had escaped after they put me in an unlocked room after their failed attempt to kill me. It came in handy to be immortal. More people crowded into hallway. I looked behind me and saw Norcom pushing his way to me. So, I ran into the crowd and tried to blend in. I had my head down, I ended up running into someone and we both tumbled to the ground. I saw a familiar head of black, curly hair.

"Benedict! Is that you?!" I cried crawling over to him.

"Hazen? But...you were!" Benedict's face was pale white. His gray eyes were red and puffy, his cheeks tear-stained.

I grabbed his hand and pulled him up. " I'll explain everything later. We have to find the others." I looked behind and tried to see Norcom--sadly I didn't. That can't be good, he could be anywhere.

"They were right in front of me," Benedict said pulling me forward with him.

I kept my attention behind us looking for Norcom.

"Ryan! Hey, Ryan! Come here!" I heard Benedict yelling. I looked ahead and saw Ryan making his way toward us. Ryan was looking at Benedict, then he noticed me.

Ryan frowned and furrowed his eyebrows. "Hazen? Is that really you?" he asked poking my arm.

"Yeah, it's really me. Where is everybody else at?" I asked impatiently.

Ryan smiled, "Nice to see you too. Everybody's headed back to their assigned rooms because somebody.....escaped. That would be you wouldn't it?"

I grinned, "Guilty as charged."

I felt a huge hand on my right shoulder. I look from Ryan to Benedict and they both had terrified looks on their faces. I slowly turned around and was greeted by a buffed out chest. I craned my neck up and saw Norcom's ugly face.

Norcom grabbed me, Benedict, then Ryan and he started walking down the hall. Even with the three of us struggling we couldn't get away. Norcom walked us down stairs into what I presume is the basement-- it was dark, wet, and cold. He threw each of us into our own little rooms.

The room was made of cement, no window, water puddles on the floor, rats scurrying, bones clumped in corners, a horrible smell, and some dries blood in the middle. I turned around and faces the metal door, there was a loud clicking sound--I was locked in.

"Hazen, Benedict, are you two alright?" I heard Ryan yelled from my left.

"I'm fine." I called back.

"Me too." Benedict answered from across the hall.

"So, we're going to be here for awhile. Hazen, you promised an explanation about how you're not...you know....dead." Benedict said.

I began pacing the room, wondering how to begin a conversation like this. I walked back over to the metal door, I put my hands and forehead on the cool metal, my mouth was where the opening was so they could clearly hear me.

"They told me that I was immortal. I can't die. Technically, I die then I come back to life gasping for air."

Silence. Crap! Now the guys are too freaked out to say anything.

"That's awesome!" Ryan exclaims, I can't see him but I know he's smiling.

"Wow! Seriously? That's pretty cool." Benedict awed.

I opened my mouth to speak but was stopped by someone stomping down the stairs. I watch the staircase waiting to see who it was.

The person stepped down the last step, it was a woman--possibly in her late 30's to early 40's-- she had chestnut brown hair, hazel eyes, she wore a whit button down shirt an gray dress pants. She clicked her way over to me in her white high heeled shoes.

"I hate this freaking place. Too many children--like yourself," she said flipping her hair over her shoulder.

"Who are you?" I asked.

My name is Tara. I know who you all are, Hazen, Ryan, and Benedict," she pointed at each of us as she said our names. "I know everything g about you three and your other friends."

"Yet, we know nothing about you." I stated.

"You know my name. But I'll feed your curiosity. I'm twenty-eight years old, I'm not married, no children. I have two siblings-" she began.

"That's not what I want to hear." I cut her off.

Tara slowly walked up and down the damp and dark hallway. Her hands clasped behind her. "Electricity, I can "shoot" electricity --as you would call it--out of my body."

"You were not supposed to talk to them." A voice came from the unlit stairwell.

"Sorry, Daddy. I just couldn't help it, she is my sister you know."

"I know." A tall figure stepped out of the shadows. The man was my father.