Mason

"I just have a feeling this is the one."

I sat up, from leaning against the window, to a voice near the car. The parking garage was barely lit, but I could make out two figures standing behind our car oblivious to us. The tinted windows and dim room probably did not help them. The rest of my family continued to snooze as I watched them, hoping they would continue on. They did not.

"You have a feeling? We don't have time for feelings, if we get caught-"

"Yeah, yeah. I know they are depending on us. Just stand back and get ready to grab things."

Shit! I reached over the seat and woke both my parents then Reese. The back door opened with a faint click, despite being locked, and the four of us stared at the two adults. All six of us like deer in headlights.

"Hey," a male said sheepishly. Both adults were covered head to toe in black even wearing black ski masks. However, one thing was definitely noticeable was the large curled horns atop his head which sadly could not be hidden very well. The other figure did not stick around and was already booking it away from the car, the male closely behind them.

I was already out the door following after them, the weird push and pull was back again urging me to go after them. The hushed yells from my parents were calling for me to come back but I could not. Something was telling me to follow the two strangers that tried to steal our stuff. The cold air hit my face and I shivered despite the jacket and pants I wore. The moon could not be seen through the dark smog clouds and I stood blinking looking and hearing for any movement from outside the parking garage.

Two moving red dots were running up ahead and it was like I was now seeing with heat vision. A weird fuzzy sensation coated my eyes but it was not enough to make my eyes water or burn, instead of worrying, I took off after them hoping it would go away. The dots turned into a corner and I followed their movements, however there was nothing there. The red dots were gone as I twisted around. A soft cloth hit my face and a cloud of dust engulfed my airways and eyes. Coughing, I waved the dust away and stepped back out onto the road, blinking my eyes to see light welcome me. The car door opened.

"What were you thinking?" my mother scolded me as she dragged me back to the safety of the car. Reese nearly yanked me to my designated seat with a scowl, clearly mad about being interrupted from her sleep. Father just glanced back at me, but the distance and darkness made it difficult to know what he was truly expressing.

I wrung my hands together and shut my eyes tightly as they still felt fuzzy and slightly burned from whatever was thrown at me in the alleyway. A hard tap hit my shoulder and Reese shook her hands in front of her face, waiting for my answer. "One of them was like us. I thought... I thought maybe if I catched them, one of them would help us. I wasn't thinking."

With my head hung, I watched as my parents glanced at each other before my father turned the car around. A soft hand brushed my face, dust spilling from my brown hair and my mom patted my cheek. "I know all of this is unknown to you both," she had twisted around the front seat to speak to us both, the streetlights illuminating her hair. "But, your father and I will figure this out. No more running off and no more secrets, okay? Families trust each other."

Reese huffed once our mother turned back to the front. Even with the pair of eyes focused on the side of my head, I lay my head against the cool glass and closed my eyes.

"I need your help, I didn't know where else to go," a deep, gravely voice rang out in the darkness.

My eyes searched the surrounding area until a single overhanging doctor's light stood alone, an operating table glaring bright. Slowly, with each step, a metallic smell filled my nostrils and I covered my nose. Fresh blood littered and smeared the table, but it was the colorful feathers that stuck to the blood that caught my eye the most. Reaching out, I picked one up and twirled the single feather in between my fingertips.

"She told me you can help."

"Who?" It was him again, but his eyes were no longer silts but still retained the elliptical shape. A chill hit my spine as his eyes bore into my face. He can't see me. It's just a dream.

"My mother, her angelic presence graced me in my sleep. She had been dead for several years, but she knew I was having trouble and came down to tell me to come to you." The small child was held tightly against the man, who shook her to remain silent despite the tears. "She has been cursed by the Devil himself. I'll pay whatever I can if you turn her back to normal."

He pulled a wing from behind her back, the same iridescent color as the feather in my hand. The tip of the feather is stained with blood. The feather floated down as my knees wobbled at the sight of the little girl. He killed her. The blood on the table, the wings being cut up, and the lizard man holding the knife above her was everything Reese had drawn all those years ago. The little girl was here alive, but for how long? The bodies that Reese had seen. I stumbled back, trying to grip the table but the scene blurred again and I fell backwards. Down. Down. Down.

My hand gripped the car door as my head fell from the window. Reese stood on the other side, holding the car door open for me. Her eyes searched my face, but it was her face that seemed just as pale and weary as mine did. "Bathroom break."

I tried following after her, wishing to speak about what I exactly just saw but she was already gone once I finished slipping on my shoes. A hand gripped my shoulder and my heart skipped a beat but settled once my father nodded to me. "After we pass by the border, do you think you can take over for a couple of hours?"

"Yes, of course."

He smiled in appreciation before heading to pump more gas into the car.

"Reese, we need to talk about... the dreams," I whispered to her after our bathroom break. Her head whirled around, her face close and I watched her eyes inspect my face. "I wasn't lying to you all those years ago when I said I saw the lizard man." Whatever she was searching for, she did not say. Instead, her head looked away before nodding. "I saw the girl with wings, the one from your drawing where-"

Don't.

I shut my mouth but kept my eyes on her half-profile face. Her eyes were scrunched up almost in concentration but her fingers were like daggers as they gripped the fabric of her softball's team sweatshirt. Her body pushed off the front of the car and strolled to the other side of the car quickly. She was backing away from the conversation like she always did.

"Sunja," I hissed and used my height advantage to grab a hold of her arm, that normally would have been out of reach for someone with short arms like Reese.

Let. Go.

She was not even looking at me, but the order washed over me and my fingers loosened despite my willpower to disobey. Her ability to just order what she wanted, and forcing me to do it was like breaking all sibling hierarchy. I wanted to order her to stay, to talk to me about this because there was no one else that knew what was truly going on. My fingers pulled away and back to my sides, just as the spell washed away.

"I don't want to talk about it." With you or even myself.

Her face just barely looked at me while her hand rested on the car door. Then her eyes widened but not at me but over my shoulder. Turning, I saw nothing of danger. No police, no angry mob, and no murderous killer. The gas station was empty except for a black car filling up on gas and few cars that were parked in the street. Turning to look back at her, Reese stepped around me before looking up at me. "That kid. I saw him."

The kid, in question, stood next to a minivan. His dino backpack swung across his shoulders as he waited for his guardian. It seemed a little early for the kid to be awake but his attitude and backpack more likely meant a road trip to a family member's house or a trip somewhere. I turned to Reese. "What about him? He looks like you when Mom said we get to go to Grandma Anne's."

Reese's face only panicked more as she searched the street corners. The little voice of hers repeating the word van over in my head. The white van taking form in my head, that I could clearly see it tumbling down the road. TSAC written on the side.

They are going to take him. Tasers. Pain. Reese's legs stumbled forward before her knees hit the ground.

My body heaved and I sucked in a breath. It was happening again. Reese needed to snap out of it. Gritting my teeth, I yelled, "TSAC is here! Reese, get up!" Our parents moved into motion, opening the car doors and I pulled away towards the car. Our father knelt down, grabbing her and it was like a switch had been flipped. The pain disappeared and I saw him, faltering in his steps but moving nonetheless.

Glancing back to the small boy, who was just across the street, I saw no resistance or suffering. A mother stood on the porch, waving at the young boy while one of the men in uniform carried him in his arms. The small boy waved goodbye as they took him in the van. This was not the image I saw a couple of days ago with handcuffs and sticks and people swarming the scene. I shivered at the exchange before following inside the car.

Reese curled herself into a ball, her eyes blank as they stared ahead. From our father's figure he did not appear tense or in pain meaning that whatever she had seen had now passed. I wanted to understand what she was seeing, why it caused such a dramatic reaction for her but not me, however, unless she talked to me, I could not do anything. Why did she need to be so stubborn?!

Father pulled the car out, while my parents ignored the two TSAC vans and police car. Luckily neither paid any attention to us as they exchanged conversation with the mother and kid. Turning around in the seat, I took notice that the small boy's reptilian tail gave one of the TSAC men in uniform a handshake, the little boy giggling at the exchange. Reese's dream made my stomach turn and burn. Would he be the next kid laying mutilated in the trash? My eyes went to the mother, did she know?

A black compact car followed us right out from the gas station and I turned back around in my seat to avoid looking suspicious. It did not take long for a flash of lights to emerge from behind the car, but my parents remained still as the lights followed the black car instead of ours. My father detoured off the route to hopefully avoid them, but the compact car followed with.

"There's a store front just up ahead, we could turn around up there," my mother suggested, taking a glance at the tinted car, who continued to drive.

My father sped up, but the black car beside us had a similar idea and pressed on the gas. It wove between our car and another car, the police doing the same. The tense exchange settled my nerves, knowing that we were out of harm's way. Reese napped oblivious to the whole exchange as my mother slowly turned up the music.

"Shit!"

My seatbelt constricted to my body. Tires squealed against the pavement, in a desperation to turn the car. My body slammed against the side door and the window glass littering my lap. I could hear voices yelling but straining to hear only increased the ringing. The aggressive struggling next to me, was Reese trying to undo her seatbelt, the buckle not unclipping. Squinting my eyes to stop the headache that was likely going to form into a bruise, I attempted to help her.

Hands grabbed my waist, hoisting me out of the car and I flared my arms, using the knowledge my father had instilled in us at a young age to push the attack away. Reese's eyes widened at me before twisting as the other door opened on her side. I could hear a voice near my ear but it was not until I looked at him did I stop. He was not angry, more panicked as he looked over my shoulder then back at me, his hands on my shoulder shaking me as I read his lips.

Head. Store. Inside. I. "... Cover up and take your mother and sister with you. Go!" He gave a firm push as he started pulling a bag from the back. "I'll be right behind you."

I wasted no time heading to my mother, who was still struggling to undo the seatbelt. Reese had a few tears in her eyes, trying to tug the seatbelt into making it loosen so she could crawl out but it only made it tighter.

"Knife, Kwan!" my mother held out her hand to him. My father started patting himself down, attempting to find his pocket knife, before tossing it to her.

"I need everyone to back away from the scene, rogue mutants are being handled," an officer's microphone blared through the air.

A firm hand grasped my sleeved arm. "Is everything alright? You civilians need to get out of here, it isn't safe," an officer informed me, her eyes glanced back before focusing on us. "Here, let me help."

My mother, half-way sawing the seatbelt, stood to cover Reese who held unbreaking eye contact with the officer. "I almost got it, we are fine!" she told her.

My father stood behind me and motioned for me to go: an order and not a request. The bags were being transferred to me as the officer pulled out a knife and cleanly cut the seatbelt despite my mother's protest.

My feet took me away from them but I could still hear the officer call out, "Please head to the medics to treat her wound." My face was already looking away as I watched another officer come to them, guiding them to the medics. Sneaking through the other families that stood on the sidelines, I hid among the crowd and watched for any sign of my family to make their way over. I was not going to leave without them, even if my father would scold me for it.

Commotion from opposite sides of the scene drew in gasps and fear. A wall of fire erupted from the side that held the mutants. A car flew in the air, through the wall of fire and towards the officers and TSAC. There, I saw the man with goat horns pull his hands apart and in motion, the car did the same, splitting down the middle, nearly knocking down the officers. My head snapped back to my family as I heard them cry out in anger. Reese's beanie was gone, the line of blood on her face was smeared as she was held against one of the TSAC officers. Unexpectedly, the knife in my mother's hand took a stab at the officer's arm that pulled her away from both my father and my sister. I pushed through the crowd, my feet dodging the few police officers that tried to keep me back from the scene.

It was rebellious and stupid and so very careless to be running back into danger. With TSAC so close, staring at my movements as I rushed towards the fugitives, I knew I was so fucked up. However, I could not just stand and watch them be taken away. Reese was right that we were still just kids, kids that were reckless and still learning who we were, and definitely not ready to be tasked with stopping this outbreak. But with our parents next to us, everything felt less terrifying. Maybe that is why I ran to them. I would not know what to do if I was left alone, I needed them. I tugged the officer away from my mother, holding her close. Reese attempted to kick and elbow punch her officer as well, but the officer was more prepared for her attacks then my sudden appearance.

"Car!"

Someone shouted, as the car barreled through the scene, clearing the path clean from the active war site and towards us. Some of the bystanders had time to limp away or take shelter, others, like me, did not. The red truck bulldozed a few people over, more likely killing them in the process, but when it collided with me, I waited to be flung to the ground dead. The warmth of the engine stung my cheeks, the metal hitting my torso was smooth as it bent around me and when I opened my eyes, I could see the other side. The man with goat horns stood momentarily still watching us before running. I wobbled unsteadily as the car flipped over me before cashing a few meters away. Breath entered my lungs again and I inspected myself wondering if I truly did die. I didn't.

"Take the ones you have, we'll get the other three."

Reese was shoved into the back of the van, her arms stretching out for us before the doors slammed shut. The other officers surrounded us.

"The blue one!"

It was the voice again. The man with goat horns was rushing towards the blue compact car, another in tow. It was a small opening but I was sure we could make it.

"Mom! Dad! The blue car!" I followed after the others from the night before, the car starting just as I reached the doors. I hopped inside as the two adults whipped their heads around. My eyes focused on the TSAC van driving off, a police car blocking the path now. A few officers decided to switch from non-violent weapons to now lethal weapons. My parents got in and slammed the door shut. "Go! Go!"

"Get the fuck out of my car," the woman with a black beanie and a pixie cut snarled, her ocean colored eyes held a dangerous storm in them.

The man next to her shook her arm, "Now's not the time!" A bullet grazed the car and the sound of the tire popping caused the woman to launch the car forward. Even with a flat tire, she managed to pick up speed, nearly hitting the officers in the process. From my view, it is hard to say if she was trying to hit them on purpose or not.

My father leaned forward to tell the driver, "That TSAC van has our daughter, follow it."

"Get out if you want an Uber," her voice was low and the grip on the steering wheel tightened at his command. The rim of the car wheel kicked up sparks and I watched as her hand flicked outwards. The sparks on the road ignited into a roaring flame, I could not help but gawk at it. The car swerved to a side, the sparks turning into fire, and soon we found ourselves behind a store front. Quiet and waiting as the sirens came and went. The woman was the first to step out, everyone else followed suit.

"Where are you going? TSAC just took my daughter," my father said, stepping out and calling out to her as she strolled off leaving the car.

The woman stopped before turning around and laughed, "I'm sorry, do we look like a rescue team to you?" Her face turned grim and she pointed at the three of us. "The only reason you're here is because you got in my vehicle - even though I specifically yelled at you all to get out - and I didn't want to get captured so I drove us away from danger. You're welcome!"

"What she means to say is we don't save people," The man stepped in front of the woman. He smiled sheepishly as he pushed her back but she just stood behind him, her blue eyes like ice piercing us over his shoulder. Unlike hers, his eyes were earthy and warm just like his smile. "We just go out, steal food and go back into hiding. The people that go with us know we are at risk of getting captured, it's just how it goes."

"'How it goes? How it goes?!'" my mother repeated back at him. His face turned red from his cream-colored skin and he shoved his hands in his pockets. Her face was hard and scolding. "You people have seriously given up?! You're just going to stay back and let them take them to do who knows what?!"

"Us people have been dealing with this for a lot longer than you have." The woman prowled out from behind him. The man put his hand out like a barrier, which was the only thing that separated us from her. "You don't have a single fucking idea what its like, your people have no right to tell us what to do or how we should feel."

"I think it's best we go." The man gently stirred her around from us, the look in her eyes was one to kill. His blond curls bounced when he turned his head for a final word, "For what it's worth, I'm sorry they took her."

My parents and I did not say a word, as they walked away. A gentle tug on my arm pulled me away from the sight of the pair. Their words were still sour but strangely hopeful.

Then it was true. The academy and the contract. If they've dealt with this longer, surely together they can figure out how to rescue the others.

Pulling away from my family, I called out, "Wait, I may know where they are being held!"