Branded

001

Branded. Burned. Broken. A few of the many names we are called. All of us abandoned by our families, thought of like we're monsters.

My name is Cam. I have dark chestnut, wavy hair that goes down to the middle of my back to form small ringlets at the end. My natural -slightly pale- skin contrasts with my forest eyes that hold gold and ocean blue flecks. Also, I am branded. A triquetra was burned onto the top of my bicep when I was five.

The branded are a group of people, mainly children, whose ancestors were affected by radioactivity and had been past down through the generations. Ten towns were affected, sadly only people living in a five mile distance got affected. No one to this day knows what caused it. It affected each family differently, and they all had to evacuate the area, at that time they didn't know the side effects. It affected everyone differently, I for one am a witch, though I only use my powers of it is necessary. We all have our limits.

I met my friend, Austin, a week after being abandoned, we've been joint at the hip. We swore to each other, at only ten years old, that we would take in anyone else who was branded. So since that day we explore the streets carefully, scouting out people with the mark on their bicep. I try to be like a motherly figure as most people we find are three and older, the rest who are thirteen to fifteen, we found when we started. Most people over sixteen fall in love with a non-branded and get surgery to rid of the radioactivity. Sometimes it's seeps through to their eggs or sperm and creates a radioactive child. I don't know why they don't just give us the surgery young or kill us. I guess it's fun for them, the hunt. We hide in the 5 miles of tainted town, everyone is banned to go there except: Doctors, Hunters, Police, and Kiers. The Kiers is a fake name for the killers. The government wouldn't want an out roar when people find out that the branded children are being killed in the middle of the street and left to rot.

Austin and I found our other friend Mira the day we made our agreement. She's the same age as us and was thrown out at the age of three while Austin and I were thrown out at five and six. She has short, straight, midnight black hair and is what people would consider butch. Her light, cool toned skin made her teal eyes stand out behind her thick eyelashes. She prefers to think logically, seen as though she's the smart one of us three.

Austin has ash blond locks of wavy hair and sage green eyes. His skin is light yet slightly more tanned than Mira's. He is well built and has a lot of stamina. He's quick on his feet but often thinks with his body before his brain or heart.

My name is Cam well, Camira but I don't like my full name. It was given to me by my blood parents and I didn't want to change it too much, just enough to show that they do not control my life. I have a couple of freckles that dot around my face, but they are not very noticeable. I think with my mind and body. In this world you have no room to think with your heart, you have to think strategically.

We live in a run down group of houses with some being set up for training and others for markets. The ugly, decaying houses are a great cover and we have to be careful when traveling from one to another. There is at least one captain of the houses that keep their household under control. Each household had different roles, my household are the searchers, they look for people who are branded and bring them to us. Austin, Mira and I are in charge of it all, we rescued them all and created our community. We treat everyone equal.

"We are family. Family protects family. Family never leaves another behind. Family is not just blood and family is power."