I'm really, really sorry. I was on vacation and then had to take a bunch of tests and didn't have any time to post. Wow, I love how this RP is going. I was wondering if it would be okay if I joined. I know it's sort of late but I hope you guys are okay with that. I'm going to try writing as a boy because Julien seems to be surrounded by girls and might need some support. ;)

Name: Cailan Banning 

Age: 15 

Appearance: Curly brown hair, light skin, big blue eyes, medium height, not in great shape but starved looking when he meets the others 

Personality: Friendly but with a hot temper. And he has a really bad sense of direction.

Cailan - 

I wake up with leaves and dirt stuck to my cheek and a loud grumbling in my stomach. I don't know how many days I've been here in this forest but I have clearly taken a wrong turn. My plan was to go after my parents after they disappeared without much more than a note, explaining how they had been transfered to a new complex and were too upset to tell me the news to my face. It makes me feel horrible everytime I think about it. It isn't my parents being gone that bothers me but the fact that they didn't say goodbye. However, I guess I shouldn't have expected much, seeing that we had never gotten along. In my rage I made a spontaneous decision to find them, yet this idea has clearly gone all wrong. Now I am lying on a forest floor, dirty and hungry, without any sense of where I am. 

I get up and walk in a random direction and after about ten minutes I reach a stream. Right next to it are some kids with wet hair, as if they just took a bath. All of them have their backs turned toward me. Should I say something? 

"Hey." I call over to them. They all spin around. They are all around my age, four (?) girls and one boy. 

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" The boy asks suspiciously. 

"I should ask you the same. Do you have food?" I reply without answering his question. I don't trust him. Yet. 

"Maybe we do. Maybe we don't." He crosses his arms over his chest. 

I eye the stream, wondering if I can jump over it without getting my feet wet. I guess I'll have to try. I take a leap and miss the bank. My shoes are filled with water, my pants soaked. I climb up onto the bank, embarassed. 

@ Elizabeth: Sure! I'm cool with you joining! I was wondering if you'd be returning any time soon. Glad you like the RP!

Jessica ~

Every nerve in my body was on high alert as we raced back towards the river bank. When we got there, Juliette, Tristy, and Ebony stood together, back to back in a triangle.

"What's wrong?" Julien panted, holding the gun at the ready, glancing around.

"There, there was something there!" Tristy gasped, pointing toward the tree line on the opposite bank.

I stared intently, looking for any sign of something or someone, but the woods just turned into a green blur. Curse my vision. The wind rustled the tree tops, though I could hear nothing else.

After several tense moments, our muscles began to relax. We finally sat down on the bank edge, an unspoken fear of splitting up again tying us to this spot.

"Hey," a voice says, startling all of us. We spun around. A boy with curly brown hair and light skin, not much taller than me stood a ways back on the opposite bank.

"Who are you? What are you doing here?" Julien demanded suspiciously. 

"I should ask you the same. Do you have food?" the boy said evenly, his eyes searching the group.

"Maybe we do. Maybe we don't," Julien replied, folding his arms in a defensive position. 

Not bothering to answer, the boy eyes the stream, and attempts to jump it. He comes up short, moving up onto the bank with an embarrassed expression. Julien is instantly on his feet, hands in fists.

I watch the boy steadily approach, and try to read his body language. He wasn't dressed like a guard, and didn't look any older than Julien. He didn't approach with any open hostility, only the same cautiousness as Julien. 

"Look," he said, raising his hands in a surrender position. "I'm not here to hurt you guys, I'm not here to fight. I just need some food if you've got any."

Julien studied him a moment longer, before replying, "Well unfortunately you're out of luck. We were just looking for food."

A tense silence followed this.

"Jessica," I said, deciding to break the ice. "That's Julien, Tristy, Juliette, and Ebony. I'm going to assume you came from the compound as well."

"Cailan," he said once the introductions were over.

"Well what are we going to do about food?" Ebony demanded, not bothering with any more pleasantries.. "I heard a gun shot, did you kill anything?"

Julien shook his head. "But it was only a squirrel anyway. We'll try to find something else."

"You can join us," I said simply. "We'll all share what we find. It's not like any of us can survive very well on our own."

I heard a snort come from Juliette and Ebony in unison.

"Maybe," Cailan said non-commitedly.

"All right, fine," Julien said, pulling out the gun again. "We'll meet back here at noon as originally planned." And with that, he led the way back into the woods.

Tristy~

I couldn't believe it. Another person was joining us. As we all looked around for some berry bushes or something, I talked to Cailan. "I'm Tristy," I said. "We all met up kind of by accident, but that's okay, because I always say, the more the merrier. Some people think I talk too much. Do you think I talk too much?"

Cailan looked down at me. "Maybe," he said, shrugging.

We found a blackberry bush and collecting the ripe berries. I got the empty container that had my food from my backpack, and we put all the berries in there. As we walked some more, Juliette said, "I wonder if that stream has any fish."

"But Julien and Jessica are hunting for animals," I said uneasliy.

Juliette sighed. "You don't have to watch, Tristy," she said. "Plus, we're not making much progress here anyway."

So we walked back to the stream and Juliette got down on her knees, looking for fish. "I see some," she said. "I need something to catch them with."

"I can weave you a net," said Cailan. He got to work, picking up vines, and weaving them together skillfully. "That's so cool!" I exclaimed. "Can you teach me how to do that?"

Cailan smiled. He handed the net to Juliette. I turned around and walked away from the stream. I couldn't bear to watch animals getting killed. I climbed a tree and sat on a branch, my legs dangling down. I looked up at the sky. I was pretty sure it was noon.

Sure enough, Jessica and Julien showed up. They walked right under my tree. "Hi, guys!" I yelled. They both looked up.

"What the heck are you doing, Tristy?" asked Julien.

"Cailan wove a net, and now they're fishing in the stream. I decided to wait here."

Julien went to join them, but Jessica climbed up the tree and sat with me. For a minute, we both just sat there, saying nothing. Finally, I couldn't take the silence anymore.

"Did you guys catch anything?" I asked.

She shook her head. "Nope."

"Jessica! Tristy! Come on!"

We both climbed down and walked over to the others. Julien was holding five big fish by their tails. I felt slightly queasy.

We all walked back towards our cave.

Juliette--

We were walking back to the cave. I was near the back and Cailan was tagging along. More people. Should I be nice? I want to. I do, but I also want to be alone. And I really don't need them. They need to understand that.

"Hi. You're Juliette, right?" asked a voice behind me. I waited until he caught up to me, then I talked to Cailan.

"Yes. The one these people probably consider the mean one who doesn't want friends," I said, with a sigh.

"Don't you want any friends? I mean, we're all we got for now."

"It's complicated," I said with a huff, walking away from him.

"What's so complicated about being friends? Are you friends with anyone?" he said walking up to me.

I turned around and walked in front of him. "I do want friends and I do have them. I just have a lot in my mind right now," I said.

"Well, can't you just start making them? Friends clear people's minds. They do with me," he said sternly.

"It takes awhile for me to become friends with someone. Wait for me to change if you must." I turned on my heel and walked forward.

"Gosh, just trying to make friends," I heard Cailan say behind me.

I went to the front of the group.

"So, you talked to the new guy," a voice said next to me. I turned and saw Julian. Great. Another person to talk to me. Especially a boy, who does not understand girls as much as they say.

"Yup. A little bit of an argument in my part."

"Argument, really? What is with you and being so... So...."

"So what? Mean? Friendless? Cold? Lonely? Defensive? Heartless? Unhelpful? Broken? Without a family. Or a dead brother never to come again!" I fell to my knees and sobbed. I couldn't take it. Thinking about how cold I've been and how so many wouldn't approve.

"Gosh, I didn't mean it like that! Are you okay?" He dropped down next to me, everyone else dropping down too. Except Ebony.

"I've been through a lot of troubles in my life! It's hard. So hard," I whispered.

"Think of the positive!" Tristy said.

"How?" I pulled myself up and ran to the cave, everyone far behind me. Why am I such a drama queen sometimes? Gosh, will I ever change? Or is this just life changing quickly?

I ran into the cave, grabbing my bag and going into a corner in the far back. I pulled out my music player and played metal music. I grabbed my book and flipped through it, finding the large pull-out picture. The book was Peter Pan, and the picture was of the Darlings flying with Peter towards Neverland. It's an old book, but I always thought of Neverland when I wanted to get away.

I wiped a tear and held the book up, hugging it.

I pulled my earbud out for a second, sensing someone.

"Hello?" I whispered.

"Hello, Juilette," said an unfamiliar voice. I felt something on my neck, a hand, and I screamed. 

Sorry if you hate Juilette! SHE SHALL CHANGE. 

Does anyone else want to write in their POV? I really don't want this to die!

- Julien -

I opened my mouth to reply, but I was interrupted by a shrill scream coming from the back of the cave. From Juliette.

I turned so fast my neck cracked. Juliette was in a half crouch, looking terrified. Her earbuds had fallen out of her ears and dangled at her throat.

A man I had never seen before held her tightly, one hand at her neck, the other twisting her arms behind her back.

My first thought was that he was another guard, from the complex. But that couldn't be. They had all been covered totally in black gear, but this man was dressed in a torn T-shirt and ratty jeans. He had dark blonde hair, messily chopped off at the the base of his neck, and a cruel, hard-edged face. Before I could say a single thing, or even move, he yanked Julitte's hands up behind her back, examining her wrists carefully, before pulling something out of his pocket. I saw a flash of metal. Juliette screamed again, but this scream was different, low and ragged. I saw blood dripping from her wrist. Grimacing, the man threw something against the ground. He released Juliette and she fell against the cave wall, limp with shock.

"You guys," he said, pointing at us. "Do I need to do you too?"

I risked a quick glance at the others. They looked just as terrified and confused as I felt. Tristy looked like she might try running.

The man held up the small pocketknife in his right hand, Juliette's blood glinting on the tip. "Come on. If I do we'd best hurry."

I backed away a couple of steps. "What do you mean? What did you do to Juliette?"

"I cut out her tracker," he said exasperatedly. "If you guys don't come over here I'll have to---"

"Tracker?" said Jessica.

"Don't tell me you tried to escape without---"

"We're being tracked?" said Tristy, looking appalled.

The man's brow was furrowed. He looked at all of us in turn. "Didn't you know?"

"No," I said, my heart still thumping painfully hard. "But back up, who are you and why do you need our trackers?"

"I need your trackers," he said, looking pained, "so that we can't be followed."

"By who?"

He threw his hands up. "Just give me your wrists and I'll explain later. The longer we hang out here chatting the more likely it is that---"

But he was interrupted by another animalistic screech from Juliette, who still sat on the floor, cradling her wrist. Suddenly she was on her feet, wide-eyed and breathing in jagged bursts. "Kevin?"

---

So yeah, I do have an idea of where I intended this to go, but I'm going to avoid writing more so I don't own the entire plot.

For those of you who don't remember, Kevin is Juliette's (supposedly) dead older brother.

Oops. I meant Ebony as the one to walk up and get the tracker taken out first. I mixed up their personalities.   

Tristy~

I was so happy for Juliette. She found her big brother. It sounded like some kind of happy ending. But then Kevin started saying something about the governemtn putting trackers in our wrists. Then Ebony stepped up and said she wanted the tracker out.

"Wait!" I said.

Everyone turned towards me. "Why would the government do that?" I said. "They've never done anything bad to me before."

Kevin frowned. "I still don't know why the government is so intent on keeping us in that complex. But I aim to find out."

He took out his knife and held Ebony's writs. I turned away and sat on a rock, my face buried in my hands. I didn't want to hear the screams.

Sure enough, Ebony's agonizing shrieks filled the cave. I gritted my teeth and put my fingers in my ears. Julien and Jessica went next, after some hesitancy. Cailan took a while to be convinved.

"Your turn." I turned around. Kevin was standing there, waiting for me. All the others were on the floor, holding their wrists. Bandages were wrapped around. My stomach lurched at the sight of the blood. I slowly walked forward. Kevin took hold of my wrist. He picked up his knife. At the sight of it, my breath came in short rasps.

"You okay?" asked Kevin. "You don't sound too good."

I shook my head. "Just get it over with."

I closed my eyes. The instant the knife made contact with my wrist, I loud out a bloodcurling shriek. After about half a minute, it was over. The pain in my wrist pulsed up my arm. Kevin wrapped a bandage around my arm. "There," he said. I sat down on the floor so I wouldn't pass out.

As Kevin fixed his supplies in his bag, I broke into hysterics. I just started bawling like a two-year-old. Jessica crawled over. "What's wrong?" she said. "It doesn't hurt that bad."

"No, no," I blubbered. "It's just...I can't handle all this. Government trying to hurt us, trackers in our arms, running away from home. All my life, I've thoiught that life is just one big happy story, with no problems." I sniffed.

Julien crawled over. "Well, it's not, Tristy," he said. "If you want, we can bring you back to the complex."

"No, no," I shook my head. "My mom wants me to leave. They took my dad. I don't know where he is. They'll probably take my mom, too."

Julien layed a hand on my shoulder. "Why don't you get some sleep," he said. "It's been a long day. When the food is ready,we'll wake you up."

I wordlessly walked over to my pack and got out my blanket. I spread it on the floor, and fell asleep.

Sorry y'all it's taken me so long to write. I'm still schooling over the summer, plus I'm drafting a novel for Camp NaNoWriMo, so I'm just really busy.

Jessica ~

I managed not scream as Kevin cut the tracker out. I don't know why trackers hadn't hit me before. It made perfect sense. They'd done a good job hiding the fact we all had trackers, though. After everything I'd studied about the compound, not once was there even a hint of trackers.

I was fiddling with my tablet again when I glanced over at Tristy who was pretty much in hysterics.

"What's wrong?" I asked. "It doesn't hurt that bad." As soon as I said it, I knew it sounded kind of blunt and heartless. Then again, I'd never been a people person. I had no idea how to show sympathy. Facts, technology, books, knowledge. That's what I was better at.

Julien came over and took over comforting Tristy. I went back to my tablet, spending over half an hour attempting to get a signal. Finally, I growled in frustration.

If I could just get some supplies, some wire and pliers and stuff, I could easily get a signal, and more. 

Then it hit me.

"Wait, you said an old doctors office?" I asked, looking over at Kevin. He looked up at me startled.

"Um, yeah, I guess that's what it was. Why?" 

"Well," I started, my mind running at a hundred miles an hour, "if there was a doctor's office, who's to say there aren't other buildings? I mean, we always thought there was just the compound. But evidently, there was a life before that. Who's to say we can't find these other places? Get suplies, equipment. If I could the right materials, I could get this working." I waved the tablet in front of them.

"I've looked somewhat," Kevin said. "But not really extsensively. Any time I thought I got close, I'd find the area inhabited by soldiers."

"Then that's a good sign," I said grinning for the first time, though I was sure I looked more like the chesire cat. "It means we're onto something."

**********************************************************************

So again, just throwing something out there, giving us purpose. But y'all can throw this out if you like.

- Julien -

"You know, I'm not surprised," I said.

Everyone turned to me. "What do you mean?" asked Tristy, her eyes wide with that irrepressible curiosity.

"All of this. The trackers. The shootings." I spread my hands as if to gesture to our entire world. "People don't think about it. But . . . I mean, why do the doors lock? Why do we employ guards?" I threw my hands into the air. "Why, for heaven's sake, are there so many complexes?"

"You think the other complexes have something to do with the secret?" said Cailan, looking scandalized.

I backtracked quickly. "I mean, maybe. I'm not saying they definitely do or . . . or anything . . ."

They were all staring at me. Kevin looked thoughtful. Tristy looked scared. Juliette looked angry.

"What do you know, Julien?" asked Jessica quietly.

"Nothing," I said. I could tell I hadn't convinced any of them. "Okay, look, I don't know anything. This is all guesswork."

I waited for someone to say something. There was silence. I kept talking.

"Okay, why aren't we allowed to send messages to our family? Why aren't we allowed visits? But think about it. Why do they take people away?"

"Because they broke the laws," said Jessica promptly.

"Or because they're a hindrance to society," added Cailan. Everyone looked at him. He shrugged. "The poor, the weak, the elderly."

The elderly. I thought of my grandparents and felt a dull ache in my chest. I had never been that close to them, but it hurt to think of what might have become of them.

"And," I said, "we have a prison. But only some people go to it; why is that?"

"What are you saying, Julien?" asked Juliette cautiously.

I shrugged. "Just . . . maybe the government wants those people out of the way. Maybe they want to separate them from the rest of society. But . . . I'm also saying, maybe there aren't even other complexes."

"Then what . . . what happens to the people?" asked Tristy, looking horrified.

I didn't say anything. I stared at the ground as hard as I could.

"It can't be true," said Ebony logically. "They recruit hundreds of people to be guards, what are they doing if they're not guarding our complex?"

"He could be right," said Kevin, looking at me with mingled hurt, fear, and wonder in his eyes. "I've seen all these guards out here, I'm not sure what they're doing. But I haven't seen a single complex, in all my time away. And---" he swallowed. "They shot me, didn't they? They tried to kill me. I found out too much. And if they really don't care, who's to say they'd stop at . . . at old ladies, or little kids?"

Tristy started to cry. I wanted so badly to help her, but I didn't know how.

"They took my parents," she sobbed. "And you're saying they're . . . they're---"

"Don't say it," said Juliette sharply, and Tristy didn't finish.

"We've got to do something about this," said Jessica, and she turned to Kevin. "Where did you say that doctor's office was?"

---

I feel like either you guys are going to disagree with that post or else be really confused by it. Possibly both. We don't have to keep it if we don't want to.

I just thought, you know, long-lost family member found, friends made, friends lost, tears shed, WHY DON'T WE DO THIS TOO.