The Saviors

4

It was a pretty calm nine months. I pretty much did the same thing every day. And they (Isador and the scientists, known to my friends as the brainacs) still couldn't figure out what my gift was.

Peter and I became great friends. I met Juno's older brother, Isaac, who was a morpher, but I never met Elizabella or Ava, two of the others that Peter had mentioned.

One cool December morning, Peter and I were strolling around the lake. He seemed distracted, which was unlike him. He kept his black bow in hand, and his quiver was slung on his back. I had discovered I was handy with a knife, and kept one in a sheath on my belt.

"What's on your mind, Julius?" Peter asked abruptly.

I shrugged. "I thought you'd know that."

He grinned lightly. "My gift is very special. Isador uses me as a pawn, almost. I can't wait until -"

His sentence got cut off by a shouting coming from the buildings. It was Ethan. He was motioning for something, but his voice got cut off by a hand being thrown over his mouth. He was pulled back into a dark patch.

Peter looked alarmed, and I sensed what it meant. "Let's go, Julius. Now!"

He started sprinting off towards the creek. I followed him. As we entered the forest, he started to disappear in the trees.

"Peter!" I yelled.

"Keep up, Julius! Don't let them grab you!"

I dodged the trees. I jumped over a rock, following my ear. A person came up next to me, also sprinting. I saw her red hair flail up behind her as she ran.

"Juno?" I called over the roar of the wind.

"Just shut up and run, idiot!" she shouted back.

As we reached the creek, I stopped, seeing Peter standing still ahead. I put my hands behind my head to help me breathe easier.

"You caught up, Juno?" Peter asked.

"'Course I did. You didn't think you'd leave without me, did you, Peter?" she pushed her hair out of her eyes. "I wonder if Bella and Isaac made it. And Ethan, poor Ethan."

Peter put his hand on her shoulder. "They'll be fine. We'll find them."

Juno sat down to keep her breathing under control. She brought her knees to her chest. I noticed she'd changed outfits since we last met. She now wore tight denim jeans and black combat boots. She had a loose black tee shirt on that was tucked into her jeans. She also wore a white belt. She sat up enough to tie back her red hair.

"Maybe we should stay here for the night," I suggested. "It's getting late, and colder -"

Peter interrupted me, shaking his head. "It's too dangerous. We're simply too close to the TGO. We need to move farther west... fast."

"We can't keep running, we'll drain out energy," Juno pointed out. "The only way we can get farther away faster is by car, train, or plane..."

"We don't have any money, Juno. We'd have to steal a car."

I may have put on a little bit of a mad grin, because Peter looked over at me strangely. "No, Julius."

I raised my eyebrows.

"Actually, Peter, it would be the simplest way," Juno countered.

Peter sighed.

"It's okay, we'll do it simply. We'll even fill up the gas again before we return it," Juno insisted.

He snorted. "Yeah, like we're going to return it. This is you we're talking about."

We all laughed. We all then froze as a clear clomp-clomp of a horse's shoes rang clearly throughout the forest. I looked over at Peter, and he nodded.