Alright, so after my blog deleted it the first time and my flash drive got washed...here's my third story. Sorry to Jason and Ashley who needed it earlier. If there are typo's it's because I didn't feel like completely re-typing it so my OCR software might not have recognized everything. Enjoy!
Escape
"Bethie?" came the small quiet question.. ••••
"Bethie?" the voice said a little louder.
"It's okay Damian, I'm right here." I replied.
"Bethie, I'm scared. They're coming, aren't they?"
"Now Damian, you know that they can't find us here." I reply trying to calm his fears.
"But Bethie they're still out there! I can feel them!" His voice now sounds frantic and panicky.
"Damian listen to me, they're not going to hurt us anymore. You're safe as long as I'm around." A
begin to sing him a lullaby I learned from mother a long time ago. "Nothing's gonna harm you.
Not while I'm around. Nothing's gonna harm you, no sir, not while I'm around."
As I sing I rub Damian's soft blonde head and about the "they" that Damian was referring
to. Ever since mother and father died it's been harder and harder to calm Damian's fears. Maybe
I'd better start from the beginning.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
About a year ago the Crypton's came to Earth. They started destroying our cities not
caring who they hurt in the process. Damian and I managed to escape but our parents were killed
Since then we've been hiding everywhere we can. Running from place to place, sleeping in alleys.
We recently joined up with a group of kids about our age and in the same situation. We've all
bonded together to become one big family but we still worry about the Cryptons.
Damian has always been attuned to other people's feelings, but more so recently. It's almost as if he can read your thoughts. It gets to be downright creepy sometimes. It's almost as if he knows what you're feeling even when you don't.
"Beth." A quiet call pulls me from my thoughts. It's Brite, he's the oldest (though not by much)
next to me and he's considered the leader of the group. He motions towards the door of the
abandoned building where we're sleeping. We quietly creep out making sure not to wake anyoner
"We need to quickly and quietly get everyone out of here." Brite says urgently.
"Why?" I ask not understanding why I should wake everyone up and move them.
"Don't argue, it just need to be done as quickly as possible."
I nod and turn around to do what he asks. He grabs me by me elbow and turns me around quickly.
"By the way, you sounded great in there when you were singing to Damian."
I try to reply but he pushes me towards the door. We gather the group and sleepily creep away.
Once we're out of earshot from the others I turn to Brite.
"Why did I just wake everyone us and pull them from their beds?" I demand.
"Look for yourself." He says pointing back at our building.
With horrified eyes I see Crypton robots pulling the building apart brick by brick. Slowly, I turn
around and trudge after the group.
We stop around dawn near the edge of The Central. The Central is what's left of the US after the earthquake of 2023. Half of the US sank beneath the ocean. The waves are crashing against the sea as I rack my brain trying to think of what we're going to do next. I pull Brite aside "Now what?" I ask. "There's the edge of The Central. You can see the waves clearly from here. Where are we going to go?" My voice sounds shrill and frantic.
"Bethany listen to me. You've got to calm down!" Brite grabs me by the arms and shakes me.
"We either go North or South but whichever we do we've go to do it fast."
Slowly, I look around at the hopeful faces surrounding us. They're all waiting for directions. Ready to follow where ever we lead. 1 slowly brush my dark brown hair out of my eyes and turn to follow Brite.
Suddenly, we hear a noise. It's not anything we can identify. It doesn't even sound
human. Whatever it is is getting closer and closer by the second. I look over at Brite and am
greeted with a terrified expression.
"RUN!!" He screams, taking off like a rocket.
We all scatter in different directions. I grab on to Damian and run for the nearest cover.
The noise comes closer. I pull Damian into a box by the side of a building. The noise keeps
getting closer and closer. It sounds like it's right on top of us. Suddenly, it's as if I can't breathe.
I hold tight to Damian as everything goes black.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Bethie!" comes the urgent voice.
"Bethie, Bethie wake up! Please? You've got to wake up before they come back!"
I slowly open my eyes and at first I think we're back in the abandoned building and
Damian is having one of his bad feelings again. The groups of cowering children and the bars on
one side of the room convince me otherwise.
I stand up to and shake my head to clear my thoughts. Glancing around I see that there are no guards. 'We must be in some kind of concentration camp.' I think to myself. As if reading my thoughts Damian slips his small hand into mine. Quickly, I scan the crowd searching for Brite, he isn't here.
"Damian quick, tell me what happened!" I urge.
"I...I don't know." He admits. "Everything went black and I woke up here." I nod and start looking around for a way out. There has to be one, it's our only chance. "Bethany Ann and Damian Lee Capris, please step up to the bars, we will now escort you to your parents." A voice from the speaker on the wall shakes me from my search. I grab Damian and walk up to the bars. 'Are our parents really here?' I wonder. From the look on Damian's face I can tell he's thinking the same thing.
A robot guard lifts the bars with a click and we follow him down a passage way. The complex is dark and extensive. We walk for awhile before coming to a dark blue door with a strange emblem. The robot inserts a key and we proceed through the door. As soon as it shuts a bright light fills the room.
Shading my eyes I scan the room. Two figures sit at a table with a robot guard. As we get closer I recognize them to be our parents. "MOM! DAD!" Damian shouts.
He begins to run to them but then stops and clutches my hand. They are and they aren't our parents. Both Damian and I can tell something is wrong.
"Bethany Ann, what's come over you? It's only us. We aren't going to hurt Darnian." Mother
says gently.
I walk over to the chairs indicated, not willing to release Damian. Looking coolly over the table I
say, "Hello Mother, Father." I nod to each in turn being more calm than I really feel.
"Why Bethany I don't know what's wrong with you. We're still your parents. The Cryptons have
just made us better." Father says calmly.
"What do you mean better?" I ask accusingly.
"Why they've taken away those futile feelings of ours."
"Taken away your feelings? But why?" I ask confused.
"Why to better us. To help us make rational decisions. Your brother and you had us worried sick
before the operation. Then we realized that you'd be found soon enough." Mother states as
though reciting something.
"LEAVE US ALONE! We want our real parents back." I cry running to the door and pounding on
it.
The guard lifts the doors and leads us back to the cell. Damian doesn't say a word the
whole way there. I can tell he's upset. Once inside I bitterly start to weep. Something I hadn't
done since I thought my parents were dead.
"Bethany." A voice whispers.
I look up searching for the source.
"Bethany." It comes urgently again. I realize it's coming from the vent. Crawling over 1 make
sure that no one is watching me.
"Who's there?" I whisper.
"It's me Brite," The voice says. " Quickygather everyone together into groups of five. We're
getting out of here."
I do what he asks sorting the little one5 together quickly and then return to the vent.
"Stand back!" He says.
I do so and he pops the vent cover off revealing a passage way.
"Quickly, lead the first group in here and then close the vent after us. I'll be back for the rest of
the groups." He says.
I do as he says and before long only Damian and T are left. We step inside the vent and
place the cover back on. There's barely room to turn around inside.
"How'd you find us?" I ask Brite.
"Easy," He says. " I followed you. Those robot guards are so dumb."
"Where are we going?" I ask,
"To a ship that's unguarded. Maybe we can find some help somewhere out there." He replies hopefully.
"I saw our parents." I say quietly. "Only, they aren't our parents anymore. They've changed them."
"I know," Brite replies. "I was in the vent listening the whole time. Bethany I'm sorry." "It's okay. I think it was better thinking that they were dead." I bitterly reply. Brite opens his mouth as if to say something but stops, he motions for us to follow him.
We turn a corner and Brite drops through a hole in the shaft. We do the same and find ourselves on top of a vessel. Jumping quickly inside we find some unoccupied seats and prepare to take off. Brite finds the controls and moves us forward. "Brite, where do you think you're going?" I ask. "There's a wall in front of us!"
"Through it." He says stubbornly.
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
I brace myself preparing for the worst, but there's no impact.
"What happened?" I ask
"It's just like I thought....there wasn't really a wall there just a hologram to make us believe that
there was." He replies with the confidence of someone who really didn't know it all along.
"But we made it!" I say.
"Not quite yet, 3 Crypton vessels are after us." Brite replies quickly.
The ship shakes as it is fired at.
"I'm activating the hyperdrive." Brite says. "Hold on!"
He pushes the necessary buttons and the ship lurches through the blue portal that has just
appeared."Here we go!" Brite says. "We'll find help if it's the last thing we do."
I look at him carefully. "I hope you're right." I reply.
