Marked

by Penelope Scott

  She turned several corners so that she was heading away from the hole. When she was sure she had lost them she started walking slowly, changing her direction and taking the long way back to the Hole so she wouldn't risk running into them again. The walk was pleasant and her feelings were silent so she just enjoyed the sunlight, still high on adrenaline. Her hands twitched with the excitement of it and she felt like laughing in triumph. So she did…

  She was nearly halfway back to the Hole when she heard someone shouting at her. "Hey!" There was no feeling so she turned and saw Lys running to catch up to her. "That was…some stunt…you pulled…there…" He gasped between breaths. Echo smiled and nodded, having already caught her breath from the excursion.

  "Where…are you going?" He asked faintly, falling into step next to her.

  "Well, I lost sight of you so I was going to go back to the Hole to wait for you."

  He smiled and shoved the basket into her hands and he leaned over and took a few final deep breaths. "You're pretty smart, kid."

  "Hey, I'm not a kid." She bristled. "I'm sixteen."

  "Well I'm nineteen." He countered, punching her shoulder playfully. She laughed and asked, "So where to now?"

  "Back to the Hole I guess. Irvine's beer can-" He stopped short and all the colour drained from his face. Echo could feel it too, screaming louder than she'd ever felt it before.

  RUN! RUN! THEY'RE RIGHT ON TOP OF YOU!

  Chapter Four

  ~*Hunters*~

  "How the hell did they find us so quickly?" Echo gasped while running next to Lys. "They came onto us in like, four seconds flat!"

  "I don't know," Lys answered, "And right now I don't really care." He was leading the way through the streets, making as many sharp turns as possible to throw the Hunters off their trail. But the feeling persisted and so they couldn't stop. They were heading away from the Hole again, to keep the Hunters away from the others.

  "I've never felt it so loud before." Echo admitted as she and Lys stumbled down a set of cement stairs and into a subway station. The walls and floors were littered with graffiti and the maps and ticket booths were so old they looked as if they were falling apart. Lys climbed over the gates with Echo close behind, and they could hear the objective shouts from behind them. But they couldn't stop. Not while the feelings were screaming.

  FASTER!

  With heaving chests they knocked a commuting businessman aside and slipped onto the train. They got odd stares from the other passengers but neither paid any attention to it. "This way," Lys called to her, heading to the front of the train. Echo followed without question.

  "Damned kids!" An old man shouted when Echo accidentally knocked the newspaper he was holding onto the dirty subway floor. The papers scattered into pieces but several people nearby bent down to help him collect them while shooting dirty looks at the two teens.

  FASTER! FASTER!

  As they passed into the next car there was a shriek and a flurry of papers. Echo looked back just long enough to catch a glimpse of the top of a man's head. Her heart nearly stopped. Not even when the Hunters had slaughtered her family had she seen them so close. Maybe because she had never looked back before. The sight terrified her so she quickly looked back ahead and followed Lys to the front of the train.

  "What do we do when we reach the end?" Echo gasped.

  "I dunno!" Lys growled. "We get off, I guess."

  "But…"

  "Echo! Not now. We'll deal with it when we get there!"

  Echo bit her lip, feeling chastised and continued following Lys. He was an expert at weaving through crowded places and Echo was having a hard time keeping up with him. They had reached the second to last car. The only thing that lay ahead of them was the operations car where the driver was.

  "Damn," Lys cursed when he reached the locked door. The Hunters were just entering the car behind him. They had twenty seconds at best. What did the Hunters do with the Chosen they caught? Echo really, really didn't want to know.

  Lys was peering out the window, his lean frame taught and tense with fear and stress. "There's a platform coming up." He said. "We need to get off as soon as we break the tunnel and not a second before, understand?"

  Echo nodded numbly.

  "Help me force these doors open." He moved over to the sliding subways doors and forced his fingers into the crack. Echo moved in beside him and copied his movements. They pulled on the doors with all their strength but they wouldn't budge.

  "Harder!" Lys screamed.

  OPEN THEM!

  There was a crash behind him and Echo saw another flash of the Hunter's blond head, this time also catching a glimpse of the snarl on his face. And behind him a second man, this one with dark skin and hair and an equally nasty face. The adrenaline started pumping furiously through her body and with a sudden rush of energy she put everything she had into opening the doors. Finally they budged and then slid open easily. Now they were facing a wall of concrete and metal whirring past them at a hundred miles an hour, or at least it seemed that way. Echo's fingers curled around the support bar on the train and stared at the wall before her. 'Just one wrong step and you'll lose your nose or worse.'

  "The platform is coming up. Jump when I tell you to. Try to roll when you hit the ground." Lys was saying, but Echo could barely hear him over the terrified protests of her own mind. The lights of the platform were approaching rapidly and the train started to slow. Somehow it scared her even more than when it was speeding. Jump? Jump out of a speeding train? She didn't think she could do it. Surely Lys wasn't serious. They only had to wait a few seconds more until the train stopped. The doors behind them were sliding open. They didn't have a few seconds. The Hunters were coming.

  "Go now!" Lys screamed. She hesitated for a half a second; he must have known she would because he'd barely gotten the words out before he slammed his palm into her back and sent her tumbling out. After that there was nothing to do but try and break her fall. She put her hands out in front of her and caught herself, rolling a bit to absorb the impact. Lys was close behind her and he rolled even faster than she did and practically fell on her. Neither of them cared. The Hunters were already getting off the train a few feet down. "Get up!" Lys grabbed Echo's hand and yanked her to her feet. They stumbled towards the exit, nearly tripping on the cement steps that led back up to the street.

  They found themselves in the business part of the city, surrounded high-rise office buildings and lots of construction that was being rushed now that the warm weather starting to wane. They frantically searched for a place where they could lose them. "We should try…" Lys started but was suddenly cut off when a large hand grabbed him from behind and jerked him back. Echo screamed when she saw the blond Hunter from the train. She stopped in her flight, unsure of what to do. There weren't many people on the streets, save for a homeless man sleeping in a doorway.

  "Echo! Run!" Lys managed to scream as he struggled against the Hunter's grip. Echo paused a moment to shot a concerned look at her friend. "Run!" He screamed again. Echo didn't need any more encouragement. She turned and ran as fast as her legs would carry her, unconsciously heading towards a new high-rise that was being built.

  The building was nearly done, with the entire outwards frame and windows in place. Since it was Sunday the construction had been paused so Echo knew it would be easy to get in. Surely there would be a place to hide in there.

  She thought she heard a howl of pain from behind her but she couldn't tell if it was from Lys or the Hunter. She knew better than to look back. She burst through the doors of the building, previously broken open by kids or homeless. The first thing she did was search for the stairs.

  Run! Run! Run! Run! Run!

  Her stomach was doing flips in her body and her heart was pounding so hard against her chest it was actually started to hurt. She wheezed painfully, trying to suck in air as she stormed up the stairs. The walls were recently painted, and they still smelled strongly of paint which made her head swim.

 
; Somehow she managed to keep from stumbling but the Hunter behind her was catching up. Somewhere around the twelfth floor she saw an elevator used by people working on windows high up hanging outside. Without even thinking she ran to it, slid open the window and climbed out. She quickly figured out the controls and started to go down, but quickly realized that the other Hunter was down there, waiting for her. Where was Lys? She didn't have time to think about that, about what the Hunters could have done to her friend. She pushed 'up' instead and prayed that she would be able to find a way back down.

  She went up to nearly the top, at least thirty stories above ground, with the fierce wind whipping at her hair. She stopped and tried to force the window in front of her back open. But then it slid open as if by its own accord and a large black hand shot out and tried to grab at her leg. Screaming, she backed away and looked on in terror as the Hunter started to climb out onto the platform. How the hell had he gotten up there so fast? It occurred to her that he must have found another elevator. Cursing she looked for an escape but could see none short of jumping off and plummeting to her death. She inched away from the Hunter, hoping that she would be able to fight her way back into the building ahead of the Hunter.

  He was just pulling his shoulders through the window when she heard a crash and then the Hunter grunted and fell forward, blood stream form the back of his head. Echo didn't know what to think. Then the body of the Hunter was pulled back and Lys peeked his head through the window.

  "Lys!" Echo cheered, "How did you get away?"

  Lys smiled and offered her his hand to help her back in. She took it gratefully and jumped down beside him. "It took some work but I managed to clobber that Hunter who grabbed me." He explained. "Let's go before they send more."

  "Wait! There's another one at the bottom."

  "Yeah I know. Bastard wouldn't stay down. Don't worry though, Irvine took care of him."

  "Irvine! How did he get down here?"

  Lys shrugged, "I guess he stole a car or something. He followed the 'feelings' to us. He's always saving my ass. You have no idea how much I owe him."

  Echo managed a weak smile as she followed Lys to the indoor elevator and they went down to meet with Irvine.

  "What took you kids so long?" He complained, leaning against a red Cadillac. Neither of them bothered to ask where he'd gotten it. "I don't know how but I convinced Maddox to wait with the others while I came to get you. We'd better hurry or they'll move on without us."

  Lys nodded and got in the car with Echo close behind. "So are we leaving then?" Echo asked as they started down the road.

  Lys nodded, "They probably felt it too. When the feelings get this loud we know it's time to move on. It's kept us alive thus far."

  "Where are we going?"

  "Who knows," Lys shrugged.

  "Maddox wants to move inland." Irvine said. "Inland and south. Remus agrees so I guess that's where we're going."

  "Remus and Maddox practically run this group, even though Irvine and I were the first. I guess Maddox is just a natural leader. And Remus is the resident genius so Maddox likes to take his opinion into consideration." Lys was explaining.

  Echo just nodded and slumped against the cool tan leather seats. She began to think of how different her life had suddenly become. It was going to take some getting used to.

  Chapter Five

  ~*Move*~

  The others had already moved out of the Hole and were waiting in the agreed spot. Every time they moved, Lys explained, they came up with an agreed meeting spot when they felt the need to leave again. That way if they weren't together when the feelings came, and they usually weren't, they would be able to regroup and no one would be left behind.

  Irvine drove like a maniac, swerving through traffic. Lys sat in the front, leaning against the seat as if he were lounging back at the Hole. Echo, however, clutched at the tan leather seats as if her life depended on it. Irvine swerved around a corner and she slid to the other side of the seat.

  Echo sighed. She'd only known these people for less than two days and already she was leaving town with them. Any normal person wouldn't even trust them enough to enter their homes yet. Too bad neither Echo nor her situation was normal.

  They weren't driving long before Irvine pulled into the parking lot of the large library in the middle of downtown. "This is the meeting place?" she asked, looking up at the tall building.

  "Yeah. Why?" Irvine responded.

  "I don't know. I guess I just thought we'd be meeting somewhere a little less public."

  "The more people the easier it is to blend in." Lys explained. "Come on, we don't want to keep them waiting."

  Echo nodded and climbed over the side of the convertible, not bothering with the door. She ran after Lys, who was already walking around the building to the back parking lot. Irvine was close behind her. "So how are we going to get…" She stopped in mid-sentence when Lys ran up to an old, beat-up van and knocked the Final Fantasy victory music on the side door. It slid open and Ro stood inside. She stepped aside and let them in.

  "What took you so long?" Maddox complained. "We were going to leave without you."

  "No you weren't," Irvine replied with a smirk. "Let's just get going while they're still quiet." Echo knew he meant the feelings about the Hunters. Maddox agreed quickly and they all piled into the van.

  The old full-sized van only had two seats: the driver's seat and the passenger seat, which were occupied by Maddox and Lydia. The rest of them had to sit on the floor in the back, on an old orange shag carpet. "Where did this van come from?" Echo asked as she sat down against the wall beside Ro.

  "It's Maddox's" the other girl replied. "Apparently he's had it since the seventies." Echo looked around the ugly van and grimaced. "Apparently." She agreed. Ro giggled softly. Thena looked up from her sister's side and asked, "Are we moving again, Ro? I don't wanna go. I liked it here."

  "I know," Ro sighed, "But if we don't leave soon they'll catch us."

  "Where are we going?"

  Ro frowned and looked at Maddox. "Where to, Maddox?" She called.

  "South," He answered.

  "How do you plan on getting across the border?" Ro asked casually. "We don't all have proof of citizenship on us you know."

  "Do we have to cross the border?" Shy complained. "Can't we just go west or something?"

  "We have to go south." Remus snapped, taking a moment to look up from his computer and glare at her. "Haven't you been paying attention to the dreams?" Shy glared at the man but didn't say anything more. Her brother sighed and shifted so that he was lying down next to her, his hands propped behind his head. He closed his eyes and looked as if he was trying to block out the arguing and nonsensical chatting that never seemed to stop. Echo figured it was an acquired skill, because when she tried to lie down and nap after such an exhausting day she couldn't seem to tune out the noise.

  Echo didn't even bother to wonder how Maddox managed to keep his van, or how the Hunters hadn't tracked him down through his license plates. She figured such trivial details were easily taken care of. They could always steal plates or the like. She lay on the floor, feeling the van moving steadily over the road, occasionally being jostled when they went over a bump or dip in the road. She was disturbed only once when Maddox asked her which was the best to get to the border at Niagara Falls. She wondered if it was wise to cross the border at such a busy place, but kept her opinions to herself and rattled off the route.

  After a while the chatter slowed down until only Lydia, Irvine, and Maddox were still talking amongst themselves. Athena and Ro had fallen asleep some time ago and Shy and Bold were slumped against the back wall in deep sleep. Night had fallen and the roads were empty, and no one else seemed to wake up when they reached the border. Echo was lying silently in the back, pretending to be asleep when Maddox pulled over and piled a bunch of empty boxes beside her, blocking the view to the back.

  Crossing the border was easier than expected. At night when the tourist rush end
ed there were only a few college kids at the booths, doing half-assed jobs of checking the cars. "Welcome to…" The boy at the both stopped a moment to yawn "The United States of (yawn) America. Citizenship?"

  "Canadian," Maddox said gruffly.

  "You too, Miss?" He asked, pointing a flashlight at Lydia. The pregnant woman smiled and nodded. "She's my daughter." Maddox said easily. "We're going to stay with her Aunt in Virginia so she can help her raise the baby. That no-good boyfriend of hers…"

  "Dad…" Lydia cut him off in a warning tone. "Please, he doesn't need to hear this. He has work to do."

  Echo was impressed with their acting; even she had been convinced for a moment there. She watched as the boy yawned again, nodded, and waved them through. It was that easy, and even Echo smiled at how lax the security at the border was. Things were crazy for a while after 9/11, but now they were slacking off again.

  "Not bad guys," She heard Irvine chuckle from somewhere across the van. It was hard to see in the dark exactly where he was. He knocked over the boxes easily, and one of them landed on Echo's head. She pushed it away and settled back down onto the floor and finally fell asleep.

  *

  The city was barren; completely abandoned. Buildings were gutted, their debris littering the streets. Cars were abandoned on the roads, their doors still hanging open. Somewhere in the distance she heard a woman screaming. It was the only sound she could hear over the pounding of her own heart. What was going on?

  She walked slowly, picking her way over the crumbling buildings. A sudden blast of thunder filled her ears and lightening flashed in the darkened sky, causing her to jump. She looked around frantically for the others but there was no one. Where could they all have gone?

  The woman's screaming was cut of abruptly. Echo spun around, the feelings were suddenly acting up again. Her chest constricted and she fell to the ground, gasping for breath. Above her there was a roaring sound, like an airplane, getting louder and louder. She looked up and saw a rocket streaming towards the city, white smoke trailing behind it, a stark contrast to the grey sky.