Hunted

Ch. 5

Looking into people's minds was easy. Sky had done it a hundreds of times. On teachers, school mates, even her parents. She was skilled in finding just what she needed in people's brains, plans, thoughts, memories. She could read peoples thoughts without them even knowing it. Sure some of them seemed a little confused as she entered their minds but they dismissed the feeling instantly. Sky had never met any mental resistance. Which was why she was eager to dive into the strange girl's mind. 

Ara sat across the fire. Her green eyes locked on the flames. Sky glanced over at Bay, who nodded. Encouraging her to find out what was in the stranger's mind. Sky focused and in a second she felt herself prying into Ara's consciousness. She felt the girl mentally stiffen and suddenly walls were baring her way. Sky was confused she had never been stopped before, she probed deeper but only encountered solid unbreakable walls in Ara's mind. Then a memory slipped out and Sky caught it, and lived it as if she were Ara.

She was in a dark hall, she was running down a dark hall toward a metal door with a key pad next to it. Her bare feet slapped against the cold tile floor. She was wearing some thin shift, like in hospitals. She reached the door and glanced back, nothing. With a flurry of movement she punched in the key code and the bolt on the door drew back. With a sigh she pushed the door open and stepped out into the night. Flood lights illuminated some sort of compound surrounded by a barbed wire fence. She crept along among the shadows. But stopped suddenly, a guard stood sentry just beyond the building she was using as cover. She felt a rush of several emotions, the strongest being anger or hate. She was no longer a thin girl but a powerful black horse cantering toward the guard. One strike to the head felled him. The horse shrank back into the girl who crouched by the guard. Something told her he was dead. But she didn't even pause before she striped him of the knife at his belt. Then she left him, heading toward the fence. She was so close, just one more guard stood along the fence, looking out. A feral animal desire to be free drove her forward as she leaped onto the guard. One swift motion and she had cut the man's throat, the warm blood rushed over her hands.....

Sky felt a sharp stab of pain deep in her consciousness. Ara's eyes had flicked up to meet Sky's over the fire. Sky recoiled in pain and horror. She screamed and tears flooded her eyes. The bloodied image of a knife blade was seared into her mind, the same knife that Ara now wore at her side. Bay was asking her something but Sky couldn't hear her. All she could hear was the quiet gasp as the second guard died.

"She killed them, she killed them..." Sky managed to say in a quavering voice. Then it was all to much she bolted to the back of the barn and flung herself on the mound of hay there. Bay and Erica came and sat beside her until she could talk.

Finally Bay asked. "What did you see?" Sky shrank away but managed to gasp. "She's a shapeshifter, but she's not like us......she killed two men." Sky let out another fit of crying.

Erica gently quieted her by asking "What is her power." Sky thought back over the glimpse of memory even though she loathed it. "I don't know... but she is very dangerous."  Sky whimpered.

Bay stood leaving her shaken friend in Erica's arms. She walked purposely over to the fire. She opened her mouth to speak but Ara's voice broke the silence first. "No need to tell me. I know you have powers and from the way that pony is sticking to you all I assume you are all equine shapeshifters." Bay looked surprised. "Yes...yes we are. I control storms, Nate, lightning, and Erica and sky are water and mind powers. Now you know ours tell us your power." Bay demanded.

Ara still didn't look up from the flames as she spoke "I'm afraid I can't do that. Not yet anyway. You see trust is the easiest way to get yourself killed. So I can't tell you."

"Why?!" Bay demanded, she had lived her life in a very well to do family she wasn't used to taking 'no' as an answer from a rough looking girl. Ara's head snapped up as she stood in one swift movement. "Because they are hunting me! And they will hunt you if they find you!" She said almost in a snarl. Her eyes livid with an emerald light. Bay took a step back. 

"What? No one is hunting us. All four of us have lived in the nearby city for most of our lives. No one has ever found out our secret." Nate said.  Ara and Bay turned to him, forgetting he was there.

Ara sat back down. "You're welcome." Ara said with a huff. Bay rolled her eyes. Sky and Erica had joined the fire again. Sky's eyes were still watery from her side Erica spoke up.

"For what?" she asked with a frown. Ara leaned back. "I didn't know there were any others like me. And neither did the scientists. They are the ones hunting me..." She paused and looked around. "us" she corrected. "Sure the scientists had a few teams out searching for new shifters, but their main force and all their energy was focused on hunting down and capturing me. They were too busy gallivanting after a Fresian horse across several countries to put much effort into finding more like me." Ara said evenly.

"How long have you've been running?" Nate asked. Ara frowned as she thought, "Seven years." The others looked at her in shocked silence.

"Were is your family?"Bay asked."Dead ,gone, who cares? I was in the foster system before they found us." Ara said with a shrug. "You said 'us'" Erica pointed out. "Ah well my little brother was with me at the time." Ara said hurriedly. "Where is he now?" Sky asked with a sniffle. Ara met her gaze, Sky quickly looked away. "He's dead."

An moment of hushed silence as the rain drummed on the barn roof. "Now then, I suggest you all get some rest, because tomorrow we have to get up early and get out of here." Ara continued she held up a finger to silence the questions."You are now being hunted by the E.S.R.D, Earth's Scientific Research Division. They are the ones who capture things they don't understand then experiment with them in labs. Things like you and me. I'm not going to answer any more questions. Good night." Ara turned back to the fire, she yawned and then stretched out on the ground. Her eyes closed in sleep. But she didn't sleep of course, no, she watched the others through slitted eyes. One by one they followed her example and found a place to sleep. Only once they were all fast asleep and the fire had died down did Ara dare to sleep. And even then it was only for a few hours at a time. 

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So sorry for such a long delay in updating this. Thank you to everyone who is still reading. Please bare with my horrendous grammar mistakes.