A.J

John Clayte stands at the end of the dark hallway. I can see slightly dried tear lines on his cheeks and his eyes are watery and red. He wears the same clothes I left him in.
the hallway is dark and narrow, black brick walls only five feet separated from eachother. There are openings in the wall that are blocked by rusty iron bars. Inside them I cannot see because of the dark gloom in side them, like prison cells. Blood stains spot the brownish-maroon floor. Dirt is found in some piles and spread out on the floor. Rat carcasses infest the floor, and even some larger bones.
"Suzie??" John calls into the dark. "A.J??" His tone is scared and confused. He looks around as if he thinks he might find me right next to him, and I wish I could be. I don't know where he is, but I wanna get him out of there.
I realize I am in a dream, unable to comfort or call to him to help him escape or something.
voices sound behind me at the end of the hallway. Two men, two raspy and greedy voices.
"He is young enough that he is innocent," One of the men say to the other as they walk down the hall.
"So you are saying we recruit the young boy?' The other says, a more deep and manly sound then the other. This guy's voice is very imposing and deep, and there is a certain omniscity about it.
"Yes..." The other says. "We can teach him to see things, and teach him from his youth to be very powerful, just like you did to me,"
"What if he already is taught his ways?"
"We can reteach him, tell him he was wrong and that this is right, pretend to save him,"
"If that would work he could find quite a place in the clan," The deeper man says. "He could be a very useful asset, and you know how I see potential in everyone. My time comes rather soon my apprentice, and keep in mind after I pass you must find an apprentice of your own,"
They pass through the point of where I am seeing stuff and their bodies match their voices. The one with the less deep voice is a man with a buzzed head of hair a tint of brown. He seems to be  He is wearing some sort of black robe.

the other man is much much broader. This guy is extremely thick, kinda built like me but an adult version and taller and even thicker. He Is dark skinned and bald. He is even taller than the guy next to him, which makes him humongous, at a towering 7' 3" or so. If I had too guess his weight he could probably scale 390 pounds or something close to that. Big boy.
a sudden holler sounds from one of the cells, very horrid swears and curses projected at the two men walking by. Hands reach out between the bars and or the two men, who casually continue their way down the hall. The people in the cells are not adults, but kids. Was John put in a juvenile detention center or something? The only thing is the condition of the place. This mess can't be legal.
"What do you guys want with me??" John stammers and cowers. "A.J will beat you up if you touch me!"
The words don't seem to faze them, for they continue towards John. When the reach him they don't do the expected.
Instead of grabbing him punching or shoving or any of the sort the bigger man bends his knees and squats to the floor, letting his elbows rest on his knees.
     "Yer, your sc-scary," John stammers.
"What is your name?" The large man says to my brother. I can see that he is trying to be friendly and not intimidating, and it seems to work, I can tell he has done this before.
John relaxes slightly, but still his muscles remain tense. "John," His little high-pitched voice squeaks.
"Where do you come from Little John?" The big man asks.
"Tooele," John answers
"Not too far from here..." The man mumbles sinisterly. I wish I could tell John to run, to get out of there because these guys have a definite aura of wickedness, and John is blind against it. He could feel it there for a second, but then it was gone. "Were you there alone?"
"No, I was with my brother A.J and Suzie and a couple other people," John responds. He is revealing our hideout, which is not something I want. Most of all having it revealed to these two guys, who no doubt hold some power.
"Do you know where you were, like more specifically in Tooele John?"
"We called it The Stead, it was like a abandoned storage place. That's what A.J said,"
"And A.J is your brother right?"
"Yeah,"
"What does he look like?" The big black man questions. He is obviously trying to probe John about me. We are being searched for by these unknown people.
"He is like 8 feet tall and 2000 pounds, he looks like me and if you get him angry he puts on his scary face," John answers. I can't help but snicker at the comment, and both the men laugh too.
"Thank you John," The black man says, a smile running through his face slowly, "I think we can be good friends, you and I,"
John does not copy the smile, but asks, "Mister, who are you? "
The big man stands up and grabs hold of John's hand in a generous manner. "The Leader,"
The three turn the corner of the hallway and fade out of sight as my while vision does the same.
I seem to be falling down a floor, because gravity gently pulls me down through the ground and into a large room, dimly lit by a few lights at the ceiling.
girls lay on the ground without space in the room. Many of them are half-naked, and unconscious.
A door opens from the right side of the room, which is covered by bars. A large man walks in, holding the arm of someone familiar.
Suzie, Suzie follows him in, seeming dizzy and nauseous. She wears just a T-shirt, covered with grime, dirt, and seemingly blood. The man presses a button and the bars lift slowly, he throws Suzie in the pile of girls, and she obliges. The rest of the girls are too oblivious to realize they can escape.
She lays there, and closes her eyes.

>>>

The sun shines through my slightly cracked door, letting a vertical beam of light blind my closed eyes. There are no sounds outside except for a little tink-tink, probably Jamaal outside. He is always the first one up out of all of us here. I sit up on my bed and palm my face, then wipe it of my sweat. I throw my sheets off and stand, a little too fast because I get lightheaded.
I look around my room, at all the pictures on maps hung up on the wall. Maps of Lance's group's routes around the U.S and pictures of my Stead family, and a couple of my real biological family. Stuff like half eaten cliff bars and prices of scrap metal I am tinkering with are cluttered on my desk.
I head out into the Stead yard, which is empty except for Jamaal by the fire pit. We don't usually use it too much during the summer because they can get pretty hot, but we find use for it in winter.
"Good morning," Jamaal greets me. "Are you doing okay?"
" I don't know," I say. I want to hope that they had to run somewhere and are safe, and that my nightmare was just a fake dream. "I do not think so,"
"A.J they're OK, they are somewhere out there probably making their way back by now, that's my belief," Jamaal tried to loosen things up, but I know what's going on.
"No they aren't Jamaal," I tell Jamaal.
"And what makes you say that? Logic isn't always the answer," Jamaal asks me.
"I had a dream last night, it was about John and Suzie," I say.
he leans forward and tells me to talk about it.
"They are in some sort of prison, but like what you would think. True wickedness shrouds this place, and I wouldn't be surprised if it was in the dungeon of a castle, it's literally like all dark and dirty like that," I explain. "Suzie is in imprisonment, and they seem to have a plan with my brother,"
"Who? And what?" Jamaal investigates.
"Guys at the prison, one said he was the leader. They both were wicked and powerful, and they were talking about raising John and converting him somehow,"
"Convert him?"
"They say he is young enough that no matter what he has been taught it can be relearned differently,"
"That's bad,"
"And the worst part is that those guys know where we are, and seem to want us for some reason,"
Jamaal grimaces. He knows how important it is for us to be hidden. We've used all of our hideouts, and I can't find anymore, not unless we move far away... "Do you know who these people are?"
"Agents of evil, other than that I have no idea," I say. "They also seem to be in Tooele,"
"How do you know?" Jamaal asks.
"They said they were close by, and that it shouldn't be hard to find us," I say.
"Well what are we gonna do?" Jamaal asks me.
"I think we need to get out of here Jamaal," I tell him.
"How soon do you think they'll be here?" Jamaal questions.
"It matters how much they need us for whatever they're doing," I say, "they could have had us by now if they really wanted to, so the best thing to do is get out ASAP,"
"Like right now or should we get our stuff?" He says.
"Go get the food and anything that could give them a clue of us, leave nothing,"
"I'll get the others up," Jamaal bursts away in a sudden motion of speed, yelling for the others. I rush my way to the food storage, grabbing a bag and start shoving cans and boxes in the duffle.
"What the hell is going on?!" I hear Jack yell.
" Jack we need to leave!" Jamaal yells back at him.
"What's happening?!" He asks.
"They're coming!" Jamaal yells.
"Who? Tell me what's going on!?" Jack hollers, annoyed.
"Jack just pack up your damn stuff already! Quick!" I yell at him. He yells back at me and then shuts up.
I pick up the pile of large bags that I made and head outside. I drop them outside and head for my room to pack that up.
Jamaal starts to yell at Stan, who likes to refuse to wake up when he is tired.
I step into my room, and start having a hard time with deciding what to take and leave. I have many possessions, well more like supplies which I tinker with for inventions.
"A.J we have a problem with Stan!" Jamaal yells. I walk out to his unit and past Jack, who has several chuck-full duffle bags.
"Lighten up we on the run,", I tell him
" What?" Jack grumps. "I still don't even know what is going on."
I walk past him toward Jamaal and sleepy-stan, ignoring Jack. I walk into the door, and see Jamaal smacking Stan, and yelling in his ear.
"WAKE UP YOU BAG OF POOP!" he screams right into Stan's ear. He flinches slightly, but remains to be pretending to sleep.
I grab his shirt and lift his 130 pound body off the bed, about a little less than half of my weight. He stays limp still trying to pull of his fake sleep.
I walk just outside his unit and throw him onto his butt in the dust. As I let him go he finally opens his eyes and starts to flail his arms, and yelps. He lands right on his tailbone, and dust puffs up around him as he lands.
"Wake your sorry ass up and start packing your stuff, we are on the run," I sternly say at him.
"Well tell me what the hell is going on first A.J!" Stan says rubbing his butt bone with an uneased face.
"Fifteen minutes and we leave, whoever can't get packed up quick enough will have to find us," I yell to the whole Stead.
Stan grunts because I ignore him and walk back to packing my stuff.

>>>

I close the gate to the Stead, locking it. I left a an iPod and speaker on with us talking so whoever is looking for us will still think we are in there, and try to barge through. They will have some challenges when they do because I also left the high-grade security system on.
"Let's go," I say and start walking away from our home. The others follow me down the lonely street.
We walk aways and since our extreme physical exertion the other day we find ourselves a little stronger than before. We still have to rest after a mile and a half or so because of the weight we carry.
We sit down at a little pavilion in the middle of a park we are cutting through. It provides shade and a place to rest for now.
"You never told me what is going on," Jack says to me. "It would be nice to know why the heck we so suddenly left,"
"Yeah that would be nice to know," Stan chimes in on Jack's side.
"We are being hunted," I simply say.
"By who?" Stan asks.
"The cops found us?" Jack assumes.
"No, they couldn't be the police," I tell them. "They were too like, evil. They seemed to be more knowing than them too sometimes cops can be naive toward us,"
"Well do you have any idea who they are?" Jack questions.
"No, I only saw three people but they have more, I know it." I tell.
"You saw?" Jack asks.
"In my dream," I nod.
"So that's how you know?" Stan says
"Yes," I say.
Jamaal, who has been quiet this whole time, says, "Now you guys know, A.J what do we do now?"
"I think the best thing to do is to talk to Lance about it. If anyone knows anything it'll be him," I say. "They shouldn't be too far away since they just left yesterday,"
"You sure you want to see him after you tried to psychotically kill him?", Stan asks me.
"Just because you are scared of him doesn't mean I am Stan," I tell Stan, who gets terrified of Lance's power, even though he might not openly admit it. "Plus he likes apologies,"
I pull out a map from my main backpack and spread it out one of the pavilion tables. It is a map of the entire U.S, showing a thin red line moving in kind of a zig-zaggy circle stretching from one coast to the other. Lance put notes to the side telling where he approximately should be at specific times and how fast they move. I use these to figure out where they are.
"If they left Tooele yesterday, they should be in like West Valley," I inquire. "If we leave now and move fast we can catch them at American Fork,"
"I though you said we couldn't go back down in those parts anymore," Stan asks.
"We can do it," I say. "Hopefully I think we actually have a slim chance of getting caught,"
"So they like come through here and go up and what?" Jack asks me.
"They come here from the west and go up into The Valley and make their way down Utah," I explain.
"Ok I get it," Jack says
"So we need to leave now guys," I announce. I stand up and start walking, my signature leading style.
I don't look back because I know they will follow me. Every time they do.

<<<

"You can not retaliate and retaliate Andrew!" My mom Clarice yells at me with a stern voice.
"Ma he called me fat!" I yell back at her. My voice is light and high, a little kid's, my younger version.
"Haven't you learned you get in trouble in you right back Andrew?" She yells at me, the same kind of scream that brings to mind horrible memories of nights containing heated arguments.
"I learned that a long time ago but you think I care?" I ask my mom. "What am I supposed to do I can't let him kill me ma!"
"Kill you?" She says "Andrew Jackson Clayte this is crazy talk he would not kill you, he would maybe just smack you around a bit and then he would get it trouble and you wouldn't!"
"He says he goin' to ma," I explain "I'm very scared, cuz I know he a thief and a killa but not a liar ma,"
"Well the school will get 'em in heaps of trouble, so your safe by the rules!" My ma hollers.

"And let him get what he wants?" I say.
"Why do you use this tone of voice with me Andrew?" My mom yells, rage starting to boil finally. She gets mad when she becomes tired.
"Why avenge someone when you can still save them?" I point out.
She grunts. "Andrew you are a dumb child, and I don't have dumb children IMMA TEACH YOU TONIGHT!" Her voice raises to another level. She grabs my arm and pushes me into the wall.
She draws back a fist and lays it on my face hard. My face flares up with pain and my hands move to block her, she smacks them away. She hits me a couple more times and tears start to roll down my face. My butt slides down the two walls and I curl up into a ball grabbing my head.
my mom pulls back for a second, also sobbing.
"You are just like your dad," She cries. She has done this many times before. "Always trying to reason things out like that will make things all better!"
As she backs up I make a run for my room. I keep low and actually makes some distance before I feel the hand on the back of my collar. She throws me against the wall and throws another fist right into my temple.
My vision flashes white and I fall, dizzy. I don't feel the other hits but I can tell they come, slight thuds in the corner of my mind.
I scream for her to stop, begging. She does, and pulls away. Her tears have stopped but her cheeks still glisten. She snorts, and John starts crying in the other room.
my ma leaves me and goes into John's room. I stay in the corner, crying. John's crying sounds down, I can tell my mom has soothed him. I hate her.
I lose consciousness in that corner.
I wake up a few hours later, the lamp turned off and the house very dark. My body is sore and bruised. I stand up stiffly, and walk into my mom's room very sneakily.
She is snoring, so if is safe. I open one of her drawers very slowly and rummage through it. I grab her wallet and take all the money in it. She'll need a lot less since we'll be gone.
I creep into John's room, and up to his crib. I grab him, taking him and keeping him swaddled in his blankets. On my way out I grab a backpack. I fill it with snacks and other stuff we will use like his bottle and baby food.
I tiptoe out of the room, out through the door. The Night is pretty cold, the low temperature biting my arms, legs and face where my clothes do not cover. I readjust John's blankets to make sure he is warm.
I start running, the 2 AM Compton air blowing against my face. It is more like a jog because of all the weight I am carrying, counting my heavy body weight.
In a minute I am out of breath, and have to rest. I keep a watchful eye out for anything suspicious, because in the next few minutes I might be taken, jumped, or even murdered, John along with me.
I hide next to a bush on the side of a house, looking at the street in front of me. I remain very quiet, as to not attract any attention.
the night is light up by a cool blue light, along with the streetlights making it a bright morning. The houses are all dark, except for one. In that house the blinds are down but a yellow light shines through them, an occasional laughter from within.

As soon as I settle down and my movement stops, Little John burst into tears, echoing of the driveways and crap.
"Shush!" I loudly whisper into John's ear, wishing him to stop.
"Aye listen," A very faint voice from the lighted house across the street says. Luckily that's when I can calm John down. The voices continue.
"I heard it too Bone," another voice said within the house. My body freezes, listening to the voices and plotting about what to do. "Sounded like a baby or somethin',"
the door of the house opens, and three dark-skinned men walk out. One is a tall with very wide shoulders and a massive chest. The second is short and scrawny, the last short but built around the upper body. I can see a gun strapped to the side of the scrawny one.
"Who there?" The biggest one yells. I can run, but then I risk the chance of getting shot, or they could get in the car and chase me down, getting me for sure.
I could hide, but the longer I wait the closer they get.
The guy could not pull his gun out fast enough to shoot me accurately, so I make my decision.
In an explosive movement I stand up and make toward the fence behind me hastily. I stick my foot in one of the holes and slowly climb up it with one arm, using the other to hold John.
"Aye I saw someone over there!" One of them yell.
"Why the hell are you in my neighborhood boy!?" The big man bellows to me. "We got action tonight!!"
I hop over the fence and race across the yard to come to another fence. I hop it, and then a loud gunshot sounds. I jump, almost dropping John, but luckily I quickly recover and run up the street.
"Go to the car!"one of them yell.
shit. I repeat over and over again in my head. My feet's cadence quicken, and my energy heightens as sheer true adrenaline fills me.
the squeak of drifting tires and a roaring energy is behind me. I cut into the side of a house and dive through the windows, landing on a bed. Someone sits up from it. She opens her mouth to scream, but I close it.
" SSHHHH, SSH SHS SHUSH," I put my finger to my mouth, trying to quiet her. I set John down on the bed.
Bright wide hazel eyes stare at me, scared half to death. Her dark brownish-maroon hair is pulled back into a pony tail.
"Do not be scared, I am not bad guy," I say to her. The three thug's tires screech again and go somewhere else looking for me. "I was being chased by bad guys I had to do it. I am sorry,"
The girl stays shocked, unable to say anything. I grab her arms and shake her, wondering if she is still alive.
"What's your name?" I ask.
"Suzie," she gasps.
" I'm Andrew Jackson Clayte," I say, holding my hand out for her to shake it. She stays shocked, and doesn't shake my hand. I clasp it into a fist and awkwardly pull it away.
"Why are you in my house???" Suzie asks.
"I was being chased by a group of men, and I was about to get caught by them. They were going to hurt me I had no other choice," I explain.
"Are you here to take me?" She asks, fear in her eyes.
"Take you where?" I ask.
"Away from my mommy?" She tells me like I am supposed to know what she means.
"Ummm,"
"Mommy told me strangers will take me away and hurt me are you gonna do that?"
"Why?"
" I don't know,"
"Well I'm like your age, so I don't think I can do that,"
"Okay that's good,"
"Yeah," I say, and then a short period of silence takes place.
"Well why were you out and about so late?" Suzie asks me.
" I had to run away from my mom. I had to do it right then because she has a babysitter come at four A.M till nine P.M, and I can't take her anymore," I explain.
"Oohh," Suzie says. "Well do you want to sleep here for the night?"
My eyes light up, "Oh ya, that a good idea," I say.
"You have bad grammar John," Suzie tells me.
"What you mean?" I ask her.
"We will fix it," She says. She gets off her bed and lays down her two blankets on the floor next to her bed. She climbs back in and dozes off. I do the same...

>>>

"Your mom," Stan asks me. "Do you ever miss her? I mean you remember her, unlike all of us,"
"I haven't really thought about her. The last time I saw her was," I tell Stan. "Actually the last I saw of her was her fist pounding into my face,"
"Man," Stan says. "That is not a sweet last memory,"
"Nope," I confirm.
"I thought moms were caring and loving," Stan sighs.
"They are, in fact my mom was a lot of the time, it was just getting too hard for her," I explain.
"Do you ever feel bad?" He questions me. "Like that you left her?"
"Sometimes, but it seems I would not get anywhere if I stayed,"
"That doesn't seem a little selfish on your part to you? I mean she worked like three jobs and only had you and John but now she doesn't,"
"Yeah you dick!" Jack calls me out. I ignore him.
"Yeah, I'll admit I feel bad sometimes," I say. "I even thought about going back once,"
" Why didn't you?"
"Because I have you guys," I say, "Well I have Suzie, plus it would not be safe enough,"
"She could just go with you and we would go with Lance,"
"She wouldn't be able to go back there without getting near her mom either,"
"You guys could go back,"
"Stan you freaking," I mutter " And put both our parents in danger? Stan you can't do that stuff,"
"What monsters don't go to everyone?" Stan asks.
Everyone breaks out in laughter. Jack pipes up insulting Stan and telling him that he should not be so stupid.
"Monsters are only attracted to demigods Stan," I explain. "That is why we don't have a normal life,"
"Oh," Stan murmurs. "I thought life just sucked that much for everyone,"