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Part  One

-For Alison-

Her face was illuminated blue by the ipod she held loosely in her hand.  It was pitch black other than that small bit of light.  Her eyes were half closed as she stared at the bright blue light shining out from between her fingers.  She focused intently on the loud, banging and screaming coming from the earphones.  She was trying to forget the day.  Her other hand clutched a scruffy, old, patched and fraying bag.  The limp bag held nothing of really any value to her; just a shirt, a few small books and a few other random things.  She was not even close to sleep, though she wished she was.  She had come too close today.  She knew that.  She would have to be much more careful from now on.  Her mind was wide-awake from stress and what was left of the adrenalin running through her.  She didn't like this kind of music.  This loud, hard rock, useless, head banging stuff.  When she didn't have to look in lost and founds to go shopping for non-necessities, she had used to listen to classic music.  Beautiful, orchestrated, symphonies of soul piercing sound; dozens of instruments all working simultaneously to make a masterpiece of music.  Something that would be heard by some of the greatest minds, and cherished for centuries.  But for now, this loud utterly useless noise was doing its job: taking her mind off of her day.  It definitely did take all thoughts from her mind.

She was in the bed of a truck with a thick metal top overhead.  There were many strange and random things in there.  Lots of tools, nails, a few old falling apart cardboard boxes, and even a couple of animal horns in the corner.  She vaguely wondered what state she was in now.  She had snuck in here when the owner had been in a little diner off the main road.  She knew she was lucky to have found a ride out here in the middle of nowhere.  And she also knew the risk of doing it.  But she knew she had no other choice.  She glanced down at her watch to find that it was seven-thirty.  Close to twilight; she would be able to leave the truck soon.  Huh, she thought to herself, I should be in Nevada by now…  She stretched as best she could in these conditions, and then sighed.  She finally closed her eyes for a few seconds and relaxed her whole body.  She was uncomfortably slumped in the far corner of the bed with her arms ready to push her into a crouching attack position if necessary.  But now she let down her precautions and let her body recover for the few seconds she thought she could spare.

Suddenly the truck started to slow down.  Her eyes flashed open and she jumped into the attack position she had been planning for worst case scenario, though not an entirely unlikely one.  She didn't move an inch.  After a few seconds of listening intently, she slowly reached up to her ears and pulled out the earphones.  The car slowly came to a stop.  She waited.  For what, she wasn't sure.  She tried desperately to hear a sound…  Anything.  Maybe footsteps coming to the back of the truck.  A 'gun' being cocked.  Or, of course the worst, nothing at all.  But luckily that wasn't the case.  She heard a door open, a groan, feet hitting the earth, and hasty footsteps going toward the woods.  After a few seconds she heard the feet stop, a zipper, and then the soft hiss of what could only be urine hitting leaves.  And another groan.  She breathed out.  If the conditions weren't quite so stressful she might have smiled.  She relaxed a little but was still vigilant.  After what seemed a long time she heard the zipper again, and the footsteps hurrying back, but the reason for the hurrying now was surely the cold winter air.  After the door had closed and the car had started again, she relaxed again.  This time she relaxed fully every muscle in her body.  She closed her eyes and sighed slowly out.  Her back slumped and she slid a little down the wall so she was crunched into a very compact position.
She didn't know how long she had her eyes closed, nor could she remember the last time she had rested, let alone slept.  All she knew was that suddenly she was awake again, and there was no rumble of an engine beneath her.  Her eyes snapped open and what she saw made the blood drain completely from her face in less than the second it took for the reaction it made to happen.  There was a ravaged animal like face less than a foot from hers.  In that same second, the hand belonging to the animal face wrapped tightly around her neck.  She didn't have time to suck in a breath before the inch thick fingers were wrapped all the way around her neck.  Automatically, her hands grasped uselessly around the wrist that was slowly, but not slow enough for her, depriving her of air.  She knew it was pretty much useless, but she honestly couldn't think of any other course of action any better.  The mouth of the animal-face mutated into an inhuman snarl as the steel grip of his hand tightened unbelievably more.  She tried to suck in a breath but she might as well have done nothing at all.  The hand suddenly yanked her forward and the ipod and bag fell forgotten to the floor.  She felt like a miniature rag doll in the hands of this half-giant, and that was pushing it.  She hadn't thought of her surroundings before; she had had her hands full with just the giant.  She didn't want to waste her time thinking of what an idiot she was to let her get in this situation.  She couldn't help but think of all the mistakes she had made recently.  She supposed that the close call this morning had been more serious than she had immediately thought.  Shit…  She thought, feeling stupid.

The giant had dragged her out of the bed and was now yanking her into the crisp cold air and onto the ground.  She clawed at the hands but there was no difference.  His lips turned upward into a small smile as he noticed her attempts.  She suddenly noticed what other threats surrounded her; there were three others standing, ready to fight, and there was one medium sized one crouching down on the ground next to a very round figure that she recognized a second later as the driver of the truck.  Her toes were just off the ground.  He pulled his arm in closer and looked at her with a satisfied expression.  She couldn't help her lip snarling upward into a silent growl.  His small smile widened, and he lifted her higher.  The others had smiles on their faces too, but their bodies were still poised for attack.  She wasn't afraid, just annoyed.  Her thoughts weren't on the situation she was in now, but rather the repercussions of what this would mean for her later.  She hadn't had a good fight in a while…  So she was a little out of shape…  She hated changing, but it was apparent she had no choice.  Not that she was in any hurry to.
"Hello, sweetie."  One of the men on her right said condescendingly.  "Don't you worry your pretty little head about trying to get out of this."
Her growl turned into an evil smile.  He smiled wider.  She still wasn't nearly worried.  One of the others, one of the smaller ones, shot a sideways glance at the one who had spoken with a slightly worried expression on his face.  Although after a few seconds, she began to worry about him crushing her windpipe before she had a chance to change.
"C'mon man," The one who was gripping her neck said without an ounce of worry.  "Let's get on with this."  He now looked excited.  The first one that had spoken reached into his pocket and pulled out a syringe.  He was looking intently at her face, waiting for a reaction.  Uncertainty suddenly polluted her arrogant expression.  The one holding the syringe looked sickly satisfied.  He pulled off the cover slowly, savoring the moment.  She struggled pointlessly harder against the giants hands.  She didn't know what was in that syringe, and she didn't care to find out.  She didn't think it was anything to worry about, but she couldn't be sure.  Who knew if they had miraculously come up with something that took away her only defense?  She suddenly stopped her halfhearted struggle, closed her eyes, and let her hands drop to her sides.  They hung, swaying slightly back and forth as her mind emptied, and she forgot for the moment about the lack of air.  Suddenly the leaves on the trees began shuddering and a strong gust of wind whipped her hair into her eyes.

She was on the point of changing, when she heard a deep and soft growl near them.  Her eyes snapped open and she looked around for the owner of the core-rumbling growl.  All the heads were already turned towards the woods with fear on their faces for the first time.  She couldn't see clearly around one of them, but she suddenly realized that she couldn't stand much longer without air.  Her head was already starting to spin, and her lips felt extra heavy.  A throat cleared and the giant holding her turned towards the noise so that her back was facing the stranger.
"Excuse me, but I do believe that belongs to me." Said a low and pleasant voice.  It was the type of voice that you heard on the radio, but a hundred times better.  She began to feel herself slipping into unconsciousness.  There was a scoff, and then it all happened.  The one crouching jumped to his feet, the other two jumped forward towards the pleasant voice that had spoken, and the one holding the syringe leaped forward and jammed the syringe roughly into her shoulder.  The giant one dropped her to the ground and leaped forward to where the pleasant voice was too.  She gasped, but only half because of the release of pressure on her windpipe.  She couldn't move.  She fell into a heap on the ground and didn't move.  It felt like fire coursing through her veins, debilitating her…  She was completely consumed by the pain.  It was like nothing she had ever felt.  She couldn't hear, see, or sense anything…  She suddenly wished she were dead.  She didn't want to live anymore.  She didn't care about the consequences; she just wanted the pain to end.  She gasped in and out over and over again.  Her eyes were wide but unseeing…

All of her attackers were now fighting the one who had cleared his throat.  She just wanted it all to end.  The pain was getting worse.  Above her, quite a fight was happening.  Each of them took turns punching, kicking, and doing everything else they could think of to gain supremacy.  The other being attacked simply dodged each attack with ease.  He moved at unbelievable speeds, moving almost even too fast to see.  He kept his hands resting easily behind him the whole while.  After a few minutes of him simply avoiding their attacks, they all were the equivalent of breathless with effort, and were beginning to give up, each blow getting more and more half-hearted.  Their expressions were of utter incredulity.  After they had all given up and were standing with fearful doubt filled expressions on their faces, he looked from one to the next until he had looked at each of them.  He suddenly pulled his hands out from behind his back faster than lightning and either punched or kicked each of them.  They were all unconscious before they hit the ground.  He simply stood over them with his hands deep in his pockets, surveying them with little interest.  He slowly stepped forward and walked over one of the legs standing in between him and the girl that was now hardly able to breathe.  He walked slowly and deliberately over to where she lay.  He slowed as he got within a few feet from her and stared dispassionately down at her still figure.  His hands slid unconsciously out from his pockets as he slid into a crouching position.  His eyes swept her in badly disguised interest.  Her eyes were wide with fear and pain as they stared still unseeing into the midnight blue sky.  His eyes were filled with unmistakable hatred as he looked deeply into hers.

There was a soft noise behind him and he looked calmly around towards it.  Another burlier and strangely dressed one was standing half crouching over the figures of the incapacitated attackers.  He grunted.  He was older than the other by many years.  He looked to be in his sixties, whereas the other who was now slowly standing up from his inspection of the girl looked no older than eighteen or nineteen.  The younger one was tall for his age and muscular in a subtle way.  He had a strong face.  He was extremely pale, just like the girl at his feet, with dark, almost black, brownish red hair that fell into his almond shaped eyes.  His bright eyes were a bright and clear emerald green colour that were in strange contrast with his light skin and dark hair.  He was stunning looking.  Even for one of his kind.  But his features were now etched with anger, and just an ounce of pain.  He was bad at hiding his emotions.  He was still staring intently at the older one.  The older one finally looked up at the younger one with a light expression on his wise face.  The older one had a bushy light brown beard flecked with grey and crinkly black eyes.  He was slightly round in the middle but somehow gave the impression of being more agile than his appearance put off. He walked over to stand beside the younger one with a slight limp.
"Hm."  He grunted again.  He made the noise into a word.  The younger one just stared at his face, waiting.  The older one finally looked up to face the younger one with a well-disguised amused expression.  His face only read a look of soft focus.
"She won't be a problem now.  They gave her what we feared they would."  The younger one scowled.  "Alright.  I feared they would." He rolled his eyes subtly.  "Well, then.  This should be pretty easy.  Be careful with her.  Take her to the car, but make sure she's still strapped in; we don't know how long this stuff will last."  They both looked down at her still figure.
"I…"  The younger one struggled.  For the first time, the look of pain was obvious on his young face.  He also looked confused and torn.  The older one just looked patiently at his face while he stared down at the girl.
"… I don't know if I can do this."  He finally said quietly.  The older one's face now took on some of the sadness the younger one felt.  He put his hand lightly and comfortingly on the shoulder of the younger one.
"It'll work.  It'll all be okay."  The younger one didn't look comforted.

~             ~             ~

She blinked.  She couldn't see much.  Not that she needed light to see perfectly.  There just wasn't much to see.  Her pain had subsided some, but it was still almost completely debilitating.  She could breath almost evenly, she could blink, and she could move her head a little.  Every small move she made hurt like it had in the beginning, so she kept it to a minimum.  She couldn't really have moved even if she wanted to.  From what little she could tell, she was on her back.  Her ankles were tightly wrapped in what was definite half-inch steel.  As were her wrists.  Her fingers were naturally curled into fists.  She could also feel those same half-inch bands across her body in two feet increments holding her sternly in place.  She felt unmistakably like she was in a tomb.  In the beginning, she had struggled despite the pain against the binds, but had found it futile.  What with the pain and the thick steel, it was impossible.  If she changed…  Her thoughts immediately jumped to that as they always did when she was in trouble.  But when she had tried to empty her mind again, it had taken her minutes just to get to point of changing when a surge of unbelievable excruciating pain, a hundred times worse than even the pain in the beginning, had filled every single inch of her body.  She had had a right to fear that little syringe that had been filled with her specific kind of kryptonite.  She could now see the dangers of what she had let happen to her.  Granted, she was still a child in their terms, but she had always been so careful…   She had never been much of a doomsayer, but now… she honestly couldn't see herself getting out of this alive.  Alive! Ha!  She laughed hysterically to herself.  After wincing with the surge of pain that rippled through her for a few minutes, she thought deeply.  It had been so many years… since she had felt that utterly unique feeling of being alive.

She sighed.  She knew what she was.  And she knew that she wouldn't go back, even if there was a way, she wouldn't.  She liked what she was.  Most of the time, anyway…  She wasn't really scared.  Not exactly.  She tried to pin down the exact emotion until she realized that she was just simply sad.  Sad for lots of things…  But she had made all that up.  She had paid her dues.  A few tears slid down her cheek.  She was happy that she hadn't lost that particular basic ability when she had been turned.  It kept her feeling at least partly alive.  From what she could tell, she was in the back of a sort of truck.  One that looked as though it too was lined with thick steal, only this steal was about five or six inches.  Then something in her mind clicked and she realized exactly where she was: a captor.  She suppressed a shudder.  Of course she hadn't recognized it before; she had (thankfully) never seen the inside of a captor.  But now she surely did.  It was hard not to.  In these days, captors lined the streets as often as cars did.  Cars nowadays were quite rare after that attack on those three children and that one baby that had been left alone in that car… They had upped the regulations on what was allowed for cars.  Though in her opinion the term 'car' was a bit of an understatement.  She personally thought that 'tank' better suited them.  Well, I guess that's it… She paused.  This is it?!  Goddamn it…

She breathed carefully and deeply in.  She hated that after all she had survived a little arrogance would be the one thing to defeat her.  One moment of negligence and everything comes crashing to an end.  Well, if staying alive is that hard and takes that much effort, than maybe it is better if I just die!  Its too hard.  It's not worth it.  She would find a way to get them to have no other choice than to kill her.  She wouldn't be a Guinea Pig in their futile attempts at finding a 'cure'.  She would brake away.  She would try to run.  They would have no choice but to shoot her with those horrible things they call 'guns'.

The day they had come up with the special bullets filled with something none of them really knew exactly what it was, they had come out of their underground hiding holes, they had marched down the street and taken back their towns, cities, and counties.  It was theirs again.  The others were a dying species now.  It had become their turn to hide in the dirtiest corners of the earth.  Just then, when she was finally coming to terms with her fate, the car began to slow and came to a smooth stop.  She wasn't scared at all anymore.  She was ready to face whatever death fate had in store for her.  I mean, it wasn't the first time she had had to face her own death, and she was betting with the way life had gone for her so far, it wouldn't be the last… but even If it was; she still wasn't scared...

Her head was facing the front of the truck, so when the doors opened she couldn't see who it was that was going to be the one to end her existence.  Despite the pain, her muscles were tensed, ready to break away at the first chance she had.  Suddenly, a face appeared.  But it wasn't the one she expected.  She gasped involuntarily.  She ignored the pain that followed. She knew the snarling face above her.  She knew those perfect features, now twisted in lines of hatred and defiance.  Emotion filled her as she took in this face that she unmistakably knew.  She remembered that face.  Of course she remembered it…  But the memory was somehow foggy; like remembering a dream once dreamt a very long time ago.  That wasn't the only reason she had gasped in surprise; she had been expecting a couple of special suited humans, armed, and ready to kill.  The other reason was because of the syringe in his hand, ready.  He had paused because of her reaction, but now he sank to his knees as he looked down at his hands and quickly pulled off the protective cap covering the tip, but her eyes never left his face.  She realized that he was quite small.  Not exactly short for someone his age, and not overly built.  Skinny, lean, and completely solid.  He was dressed in a thin, light gray sweater and jeans.  He didn't look back down at her.  There was another grunt, this time sounding like a question.  The younger one looked out the back of the truck towards the noise.  After a second, the one above her nodded slightly.  She then heard a noise and heard that another one was climbing up into the truck, this one a little less agile.  After another few seconds, another face appeared above her, this one she did not recognize but she did know that it was not human.  It was too pale, too inhumanly perfect, but not as pale as the younger ones.  He had a more reassuring expression on his face.  He looked naturally kind, as though his many years had softened him, instead of roughening him.  Not that he looked weak, quite the contrary; he looked like someone that you wouldn't want to cross in the slightest.  Not someone to get on your bad side.

She wasn't being as careful, and her expression showed it; there was surprise, astonishment, and just a trace of fear clear on it.  He grunted again.  He seemed to do that a lot.  He put his gruff hand to his mouth and appeared to be thinking.  Then he leaned down on his knees and bent closer.  Their faces were now inches apart.  He was inspecting her closely, looking at her very carefully.  Her brow furrowed in indignation.  What was wrong with her?  She ignored the pain that followed.  But apparently she didn't ignore it as well as she had thought; their eyes narrowed with (in the case of the older one) sympathy.  The others in suspicion.  She wanted to ask who they were, but she didn't think she could speak yet.  But the older one beat her to it.
"Now look here…"  He had a stern but kind voice.  "We aren't gonna harm ya.  But we need you to behave.  Ya understand?"  She hadn't been expecting their kind to be doing experiments, but she supposed she knew that it was only time until they wanted to be back in control enough to start experimenting themselves.

Her eyes filled with defiance.  They noticed.  The younger ones face turned cold and, if it was possible, even more hatred filled.  She still couldn't seem to look away from it.  The older one looked somewhat disappointed.  After a few seconds of staring sadly at her face he stood up and turned but not before she saw the small nod he made to the younger one.  Without a seconds thought, he bent down and plunged the syringe into her arm.  It felt like a tickle after all the pain she'd experienced recently.  But she wasn't in the slightest expecting the result of the bright green liquid being pushed into her vein.  It felt warm; it reached into every single little corner of her body, quickly erasing every trace of pain that was there.  As it reached her head, her mind seemed to uncloud and she was able to think much clearer; she had had no idea how much that poison had affected her.

She gasped again, but this time with relief.  She blinked a couple times and then was breathing in and out without any pain at all.  He stared at her with worry.  But it was obvious that it was not for her.  She couldn't see where the old man had gone, but she heard careful breathing somewhere not too far away.  She looked around interestingly after she was back to normal.  She was just debating about asking her questions, when the older ones voice sounded somewhere, low and guarded.
"Careful now."
She understood now.  They were waiting for her to change.  So they did know what she was…  She wasn't expecting that.  She had to give them some credit.  She was becoming nervous because they were.  She wasn't planning on changing; they weren't doing her any harm so far, not to mention if she did change in this position she would only injure herself, so therefore she didn't have a reason to really… yet.

The young one was staring at her with a defensive expression on his face.  She just simply stared back up at him.
"You remember me?"  He suddenly asked brusquely, his eyes flashing.  So he had noticed and recognized her subtle expression change.  She found that she couldn't speak.  Her lungs weren't working.  She could just stare dreadfully up at him.  He leaned down onto his knees, his snarling face just inches from her.  Her breathing stopped altogether.  His anger turned to disgust.
"It's scared.  We won't get anything out of it."  He paused.  "Are you sure we got the right one?"  There wasn't uncertainty in his voice.  He was taunting her.  He turned away from her to look up at the older one.  She still couldn't see him, but even if she could have, she wouldn't have been able to tear her eyes away from the young one.  But he started to walk away and jump out of the truck in a swift leap.  She heard another grunt, this time a combination of annoyance and sadness, then the sound of him getting into the truck a little slower than before.  His face appeared once again above her, this time with unmistakable sympathy.  It was only then that she realized that her cheeks glistened with tears.  She choked down a breath and closed her eyes.  The memory of where she knew that face from suddenly flashed into her mind.

The terrible memory was horribly vivid with sickening details.  She remembered everything.  She always remembered everything…  Like a constant in her head, the horror of that one night was forever burned into her memory, never to leave her.  She was so sorry.  She had no idea that he had made it.  No idea that he might have been out there, this whole time…

The older man seemed to know exactly what she was thinking.  He also seemed to know everything that she did.  He had slid down onto the floor and was now leaning against the side of the truck near her head.  She couldn't seem to stop the tears from pooling up and spilling over.  She was holding in a sob, but didn't know how much longer she could.  She wished he would go away. Leave her alone to her pathetic self-loathing. He sighed.
"I'm sorry.  For lots a things.  He never forgot, but he never forgave either.  He's, in many ways, just as messed up as when you left him that night.  But not for the reasons you have to feel sorry for.  No, no…  He's just a messed up one.  Just like the rest of us; we're all messed up to some degree.  Aren't we?"  He paused.  He had talked softly and slowly, deliberately.  She knew he wasn't looking at her.  She had never felt more horrible.  In every single way.  Despite the antidote to the poison, there were still slight aches left all over that made every muscle tingle unpleasantly.  Suddenly he put a hand gently on her shoulder.  She hardly even noticed.  Maybe it was simply that she wished it very much to be so but she couldn't help thinking that maybe he didn't mean her any harm; maybe he understood.  Maybe he really didn't want to hurt her, experiment on her, push her to her limits.  There was just something about him that was so comforting; she could see him somewhere, being a leader, being a comforter.  Being there, encouragingly, for a group.  The sob somehow found its way out.

~             ~             ~

He had sat there for what seemed like an hour with his hand resting gently, reassuringly, on her shoulder.  She had cried for a long time.  Slowly her loud, uncontrollable sobs turned into slow, deep, and even breathing.  The tears still hadn't stopped though.  He didn't leave her side or take his hand off her shoulder.  He just simply sat quietly waiting for her to stop.  Finally, the last tear slowly slid down her dry tear stained cheeks.  They sat in silence for a while after that.  Finally she sniffed quietly.  She looked hesitantly over to see his wise face at ease, with just a hint of hidden worry.  He wasn't looking at her, but she knew that he had been watching her carefully.  She was good at reading emotions.  She wouldn't have lasted long if she hadn't learned that skill.
"I'm so sorry."  She breathed.  He looked over at her with a different look on his face.  Even she couldn't place it.  He just patted her shoulder a little.  He nodded.
"I'm sorry."  She repeated, closing her eyes; this time the last word cracked into nothingness.
"I can see that.  I can."  He said smiling.  He paused.
"Do you know what you are?"  His curiosity got the better of him.  She could tell that he had been dying to know the answer to this for a long time, and that he immediately regretted asking.  He looked down and closed his lips.  For the first time, she smiled a little.  It cracked the dried tears left on her cheeks.
"Yes.  I do."  She said gently and quietly.  He looked up, surprised that she had spoken.
"I didn't always though."  She said softly, looking away, lost in thought.  He leaned forward.
"What does it feel like? To change?  To be able to feel both?  All that power…"  He looked like a little child, begging to know the answers.  She smiled wider.
"I really don't have anything to compare it with.  When I was born, all I knew was their way."  She gulped.  But he didn't look deterred at all, so she went on.  "I know what it feels like.  To be one of them."  She didn't say "us", because she didn't put herself into either category.  She really didn't belong anywhere.  "It never felt right to me though.  But when we were all attacked…  I was so young; I didn't fight back.  And they didn't have the heart to kill me.  But they honestly didn't know what to do with me.  I wasn't very…"  She paused, looking up at his fascinated eyes.  "… easy to deal with."  She finally said.  She remembered vividly the memories of her, in a cage, snarling and snapping at the group of concerned and fearing Luxavelia, trying to injure them all fatally.  She could remember the feeling, the emotions of being one of them.  But she couldn't understand why or how she had.  The memories of that life had always felt so much like dreams to her.  A wall was there between the life she had lived, and the life she lived now.
"So they took it to a vote.  After I had injured one of them.  Some voted to have me killed, some to set me loose, back to the others, and then one Luxavelia came up with an idea.  One that many thought was too risky, but others preferred to setting me loose, or killing me."  Comprehension had dawned on his face when she had told him that one of the Luxavelia had come up with an idea.
"And so it worked?"  He asked eagerly.  She looked down.
"Sort of.  I almost died.  They said afterward that I had stopped breathing many times.  It's not right for one of them to be turned."  She looked at his face. He looked concerned.  For what, she didn't know, but she doubted it was for her.
"But somehow you survived, right?  Do you know why?"
"Yes, I did."  She whispered, staring off into space.  "And no.  They didn't know and I certainly didn't know.  Right after, I ran from them.  It was only a few months later that I came back and they explained.  They had theories, of course.  But nothing for sure."  She closed her eyes, remembering running.  "They've tried it again.  They had tried it before, of course.  A couple of times.  But none of the others survived."  He didn't look surprised, but disappointed.  "I suppose you wouldn't have heard, would you."  She thought of how it was on the other side of the world that all that had happened, and how that had been her starting point of her very long journey.
"Why didn't you stay with them?  Did they not want you to stay?"  He asked.
"No.  They didn't not want me to stay.  I just had to leave."  She paused, thinking.  It was quite easy to talk to him.  Too easy.  She just realized how much she had told him.  He noticed her change.  He grunted again, back to his reserved wise old man statute again.
"Now look here…"  He reached into the pocket of his jeans jacket and pulled out a syringe.  Another one.  She gasped involuntarily again.  "Relax.  Geez…"  He said quickly, rolling his eyes and holding up a hand.  She didn't, she held her breath and tensed her muscled, only half aware of how good it felt to be able to again.
"Now look, this here is something that will take away your ability to change.  The bad thing is that it feels like a bitch."  He laughed bitterly and without humor.  She swallowed.  "Not exactly as bad as what you felt earlier, but definitely not much better.  I don't want to have to give it to ya, seeing as it takes that ability away forever."  Her eyes snapped back up to his face.  He stared back down debating.  She could see that he didn't want to, perhaps for other reasons than were obvious.  Like being able to watch it.
"But now, I'm willing to try."  He didn't have to explain, she understood what he meant.  "If we're careful.  And you do what I say."  He already had a smile on his lips.  She was beginning to understand what she was to them.  Their captive. They did want to experiment on her.  Just maybe not in such gruesome ways as the humans would.  She wasn't too happy with that.  She looked down with a little frown on her face.  He held the syringe up threateningly, waving it slightly.
"Besides, after that crap they gave you, you should be feeling pretty non-attackive."  He smiled.  She couldn't help her lips twisting upward a little at the word he had made up.  "C'mon.  Let's get the hell outa here."  He smiled as he stood up.  He walked towards the back of the truck and then turned a little.  "I'll let you out when I close the doors, and then I'll go find that crazy kid," He suddenly looked around as if expecting to see him emerge.  "Then we'll get out of here.  Okay?"  He sounded like he wanted a response so she tried one of his grunting things.  He laughed a sharp bark- a laugh that made her smile a little.
"I kinda like you, kid.  You might just be alright."  He turned to look at her.  He jumped down and then closed the doors.  She heard a grinding noise and suddenly the strapped binding her into place started to move off her.  She didn't move.  The grinding stopped and so did the moving steel.  She stayed still, feeling a little cold and almost unprotected.  She closed her eyes and sighed.  After about what felt like about fifteen minutes, she heard a couple of voicing getting louder as they must have been walking towards the truck.  She only then realized that she still hadn't moved.  She feared that since the younger one had returned, he might change the mind of the older one to lock her up again, or worse.  Her mind immediately sprang to that syringe held in the large weatherworn hands minutes ago.  She suddenly slid off the strange little platform that had previously held her in place and crawled into a far corner away from the doors.  She wrapped her arms around her legs and put her chin on her knees.  She was deep in thought.

She didn't know exactly what they wanted with her, but she could bet that after all the trouble that they went through to get her, it couldn't be too good.  Her mind immediately jumped to tables with steal binds like the ones in the captor… more syringes filled with bright florescent liquids… and cold hard, expressionless faces looking down at her dispassionately while she writhed on a cold table. She suppressed a shudder.

Her thoughts turned to how they had found her.  It mustn't have been easy.  She wasn't a very easy person to find…  She supposed her slipup this morning must have been the reason.  She internally cursed herself again and sighed.

Not for the first time, her mind slipped into thoughts of why her… why had she been the only one to survive?  She didn't want it.. she hadn't asked for it.  She didn't mind who she was really, just the fact that everyone else did.  She stared out into the black space in front of her.  She wished she knew what she wanted.  I guess just fitting in would be good… if I had a side I belonged to it all would be bearable.  Her mind suddenly jumped to humans.  She hadn't ever really given them much thought.  Now that they were the dominant species she supposed she should, it was just hard to think too much on them when she felt so little connected with them.  They really aren't all that bad.  She thought somewhat irrationally to herself.  They were the only species that didn't have any animosity towards her personally.  They wouldn't hate her any more than they hated either of the other species; she was just simply an anomaly.  She knew of course that they would want to experiment on her, to test her.  But she had dealt with that fact her whole existence.