I had been a scared 12 year old, with nowhere to go, only able to see black and white, thousands of A.S.H chasing me. Everytime I turned, my freaky blue and green eyes would meet with my mother’s. Her memory. It stayed in me everywhere I went. I would weep myself to sleep, bleed until my tears mixed with the thick liquid. I was running. It was hard to run when the night looked like day. And now… I’m still running. They still hadn’t gotten me. 50% of the Enhanced, gone. I had stayed away, lost in the woods, surviving only on what I killed. I trained myself, to kill. In my mind it was only to kill, or be killed. I sharpened a little knife out of wood, sharp shards of glass embedded in the bark. That was my first knife. As I progressed, getting better at killing, my knives grew sharper, more dangerous. I killed whatever came my way, squirrels, rabbits, birds. By the time I turned 13, everyday of my life was bloody and gory… but filling. It was the only way I survived. Destroying the compassion in me for animals, brutally killing them.. This was a brink away from killing humans. I knew that if I was hungry enough… the blade would cut through their hearts. And made into a meal. I was desperate. Day after day I ran from their searching beams of light, night after night I crouched low on the forest floor, blending into the black of night.

I had left with a pill my mother gave me with shaking hands.

“If they ever even get close to catching you, eat this.”

Poison. A pill that killed you if you ate it. I hung it around my neck, in my necklace, contemplating if anything they could do to me was worse than this. Exhaustion, famine, thirst.

I lived that way, for half a year, escaping from A.S.H. Slowly watching my life seep away. Until, that is, they found me.

“Becca! Get over here!” A voice rang out, and I turned, panicking. I crouched low into the grass, my hands armed with shards of glass. As I ran my mind over what I would do if they attacked… I realised. My head jerked up, my gaze falling onto the clearing a few feet away from where I hid. My knife. A girl walked into the clearing, her hands clasped around a dagger. Her long hair was tied up in two buns on either side of her head, I perceiving it to be black.

“What is it, Ava?” Another girl --- Becca, narrowed her eyes hauntingly, hair tied up in a neat ponytail. Her face displayed a jagged scar across her chin. Her accent was strong American.

Ava stood, her eyes scanning the clearing quickly. “Someone’s been here.” She held up my knife, and Becca took it from her.

“Who?”

Ava silenced her with a motion. “I don’t know, Bec. Get the boys over here.” Becca scowled, but ran in the other direction.

Ava straightened. “H-hello?” I crouched lower, unable to go forward.

“Are you an Enhanced?” My blood froze. She knew what I was. Could she be…. Like me? I crawled forward, careful to make no sound… The wind blew, and the sound… travelled to her.

“Hello?” She turned, and came face to face with a dirty, muddied girl.

I growled. “Who are you and what do you want?” I stepped forward. “Are you one of them? A.S.H?”

She yelped in surprise and held out her forearm, revealing the exact tattoo on my own arm. “I-I’m an Enhanced!”

I paused. “You are?”

She nods, slowly. “Yes. Are you?” I nod back, flashing the tattoo.

“T-then… you’re one of us. C’mon.” Ava held out her hand, and I took it.

“I’m sorry it took us so long. We were looking for you.” She smiled. “Looks like we finally found you.”

***

“Y-you were searching for me?” Incredulous, my eyes widened.

She laughed. “Not you, particularly. We’ve been searching for all the Enhanced we can find. How long have you been living alone?”

I scowled. “A year.”

Her eyes got big. “A… year? How did you stay away from them for so long??”

I looked away. “I stayed here, running from them. Everyday.”

Ava stared at me. “Wow.”

We walked in silence for a while, my mind whirring. “A-ava, where are we going?”

“To meet the rest. They’re at a hideout I found.” Ava fiddled with the necklace that hung on an old string.

“Who’re the rest?”

“Oh, Becca, Arsh, Jaxen and Castor. They’re great. You’ll love them.”

“Who… started all this?”

Ava cocked her head. “Oh, searching for the Enhanced? We kinda call ourselves the Pack. Castor and Jaxen started it. Jaxen’s the Alpha, Castor’s Alpha when Jax isn’t around… Or in other words, our Bravo.”

She giggled.

“Castor and Jax came from the same village when they were claimed. They ran away before the Terrorization could begin. Large genocide in their village after they left… but they were long gone. They found Becca in a school, trying to get all the kindergarteners to calm down. Before long, the kinders were gone and Becca was all tears, trying to fight back against A.S.H. Castor and Jax came in at the right time, grabbing her and running… But Becca wouldn’t go. She ran back into the school to find Arsh. They found me… In my house. The Genocide was supposed to be the next day, and they’d informed us already, saying that it was a physical test. Obviously they’d see which were the best and kill us… And I knew I would die. They locked me in my room, and I was… doomed. But Jax climbed up my window and broke me out of there. I owe my life to him.”

Ava looked up, her head lost in memories.

“That’s the story… Here we are. Becks! She’s one of us!” Becca stood at the entrance of the hideout, her mouth agape.

“Oh… Hey. Welcome I guess.” Becca sniffed and turned, walking back into the hideout.

Ava patted my back. “Ignore her. She’s like that sometimes.”

I nodded. Just as I was about the step in after her, a voice called out. “Ava? Did you get the water?”

Her eyes lit up as she turned to a boy with an insanely crisp British accent. “Jax! No, I didn’t. I brought us a new-” She didn’t get her sentence out, as the boy crashed his lips on hers.

She laughed and pulled away. “Stop it. This is…”

I grinned. “Kallisto. Nice to meet you, Jax. Your girlfriend is a lovely companion.”

Ava slapped my arm. “Kallisto!” Jax laughed. “Nice to meet you too, mate. Looks like I’ve got competition.”

Ava groaned. He laughed even louder and scooped her up, bridal style.

“Kallisto, make yourself at home. Catch you around!” Ava giggled the whole way, slapping him upside the head.

“Get a room!” A voice behind me called out jokingly.

I smiled, turning the other way, to come face to face with a British boy. “Castor Powell, at your service, m’lady.” I rolled my eyes, laughing. He was cocky.

He nodded, winking at me. “Catch you later. Lovely to make your acquaintance.”

He ran off, leaving me grinning at his little speech.

A nervous voice coughed from behind me, and I turned to meet an African kid, his eyes flitting.

“H-have you seen Jax?”

I smile politely. “Yes, he went that way, he’s with Ava. Why?”

Beads of sweat trickled down the side of his face as his expression turned fearful.

“They’re here!”