TOPITY TOPITY TOP!!!!

Sorry I've been away so long! @ A Curious Dragon: I'd say we can go ahead and allow them to be in an advanced mathmatics class. This is the future, so who's to say kids can be intellectually ahead? Plus, Jessica and Siobhan are supposed to be the nerdier, more brainiac type. So I think it's okay.

Jessica ~

"We can't stay here long. Gather whatever you need and we need to get going," Kevin said urgently.

My eyes scanned the room. It was far smaller than the doctor's office, and definitely not made for comfort or a long term stay. The book case took the majority of the back wall, with bins stacked against the opposite. They were labeled according to the supplies they contained. We began rummaging through them.

"Sleeping bags, random articles of clothing, matches, lanterns, pots, a spider..."

"A what?" Tristy demanded, looking up from the bin she was searching through. 

"A gridiron. Something used to cook fish, meat, vegetables, and other types of food on over a fire," I said. "Some of the larger, harder to obtain things we need are here. We can make do with this if we can find some food."

"Good, bag it and let's go," Kevin said. At the bottom, I found a box of more gadgets and types of hardware and technology, along with some tools. I stuffed them away as well.

Suddenly the bookcase swings open, and we all freeze, our breath caught in our throats. But it isn't a soldier that steps through. A tall, black haired boy stumbles through. His eyes are wide and frightened, and he is pale and thin. He collapsed onto the floor.

"What, who?" For once Juliette has nothing to say.

"It's evident he's not a soldier," Julien said, bending down, "so he must be one of us, escaped from the compound."

"We can't leave him!" Tristy said emphatically. Kevin bent down and liften him up, placing him on his back. I could hear soldiers at the end of the hall. 

"Let's move, now," Kevin said. Ebony led the way toward a small doorway with no door that led down yet another tunnel. Kevin went next, followed by Juliette, Tristy, Cailan, and finally me.

The tunnel stretched and winded, making it difficult to navigate. Finally it emptied back out into the woods. It was night, but the moon was full, casting patches of light through the tree tops.

"Keep going," I hissed. I couldn't hear them, but I had no doubt the soldiers weren't far behind. 

"Well we don't know which way," Ebony demanded, rolling her eyes. 

"That way!" I said emphatically, pointing left. "There's the Big Dipper, and there's the Northern Star. I believe the doctor's office is on the opposite side of this cliff, and from there the cave was west."

Nobody bothered to argue with my explanation, and I prayed I was correct. We moved at a steady pace for near an hour. My lungs felt like they were about to melt. Suddenly a steady humming filled the air.

"What is that?" Juliette demanded, assuming a defensive position.

We unanimously formed a circle, back to back. The humming grew louder, coming from all directions. The closer they got, the tenser we became, till suddenly...

"Seedpods?" I said, startled as they appeared in the clearing. They hover for a moment, then land.

TOP!

DON'T LET THIS DIE!!!!!!!!!

THIS RP SHALL NOT DIE!!!!!!!!

Finn~

I wake up on a sleeping bag in the middle of a small room. I look up at a dark blonde kid and sit up.

"Who are you?" I ask. There are six people behind him. Were those, perhaps, the six that escaped? They all seemed to be looking around for things. The blonde kid seemed to be the only one who noticed me.

"Who are you?" He snaps back at me.

"I'm Finn Pepper. Again, who are you?" I replied.

"Julien. Now, what are you doing here?" He asked again.

"Er- I don't really know. I was chased out of the complex, then I stumbled upon you guys.." I start, but Julien cuts me off.

"You mean didn't purposely escape?" Julien demanded.

"Well a little bit of both. The guards didn't mean to chase me out. My parents just kinda had a bad history with the government. It just all happened really fast. Um, weren't there six of you, y'know, trying to escape?" I said.

"Oh yeah, this is Kevin. He didn't escape the same time we did," sais Julien, pointing to a tall kid who appears to be Kevin.

"Hmm?" said Kevin, hearing his name. "Oh it looks like he's awake. His name his Finn? Ok, Finn, before we get going, Kevin says, pulling out a knife. "You're tracker."

- Aryan

The gates slam behind me as they let me into freedom, or what they promise is freedom. This is really just a new jail, a new cage, to hold me inwards. They call them the complexes, and everyone lives here. But they do not see they are prisoners. But I do. I have experienced something like his before, but in the life before this, we were confined to the city of bronze, the city of the plague. Now all that these people have is what they make: entirely artificial, formed from vials of chemicals in their labs. They have never felt the thrill of a hunt, the taste of fresh game. They have never felt true fear, nor love, as it seems. Filling their heads with math and science, they have lost all reason, all courage, all passion. I am led to my room in the heart of the complex, and as the door slams shut, I know I can never go back. 

~Siobhan~

Six days.

I spend the morning on classes as usual, skipping breakfast due to sleeping late after last night's fiasco. I really do try to concentrate on Physics, but somehow a discussion about the standard model of the universe just doesn't interest me as much as six missing people and six days until reallocation or death. I can infer from the notices plastered on everything from net feeds to dinner trays that a night of searching the complex has turned up nothing on Jessica and the rest. Good for them, I say. The afternoon is spent on homework, net feeds -- and another alarm and search exactly like the one last night, except that it's for someone called F. Pepper. 

Dinner turns up my second surprise of the day. I grab an interactive tray, punch in my personal code, and receive direction to get "1 large bowl Chicken Noodle Soup, 1 medium bowl Vanilla Yogurt with Cranberry Granola, 1 glass Water (Unflavored), 1 glass Orange Juice, 1 small bowl Chocolate Pudding." It's not the meal that is surprising, though, as much as who I'm eating it with. Looking around for a table, I spot a girl about my age who I swear I've never seen before. The complex is a big place, but if she's in my grade, then why has she never been in any of my classes? Intrigued, I go to investigate. Upon closer inspection she appears to be glowering at her salmon, spinach, milk, and blueberry pie as if she expects them to tremble in fear and run off her tray screaming. She has dark brown hair, messily cut with a few highlights, and her face has the most scars I've ever seen on any one person in my life. No, on any five people put together. I guess we lead a sheltered life, here in the complex, but where has she been to get that many scars?

I sip my soup in silence for a few moments, watching the new girl out of the corner of my eye. Suddenly, she whips around to face me and demands in a hoarse-sounding voice, "Well? What do you want?" I am caught completely off guard. "Oh! Um...uh...my name's Siobhan, nice to meet you," I stammer like a total idiot. She snorts derisively and turns back to her food, muttering something that sounds suspiciously like "brainless and spineless, every one of them." Who is she talking about? The answer hits me in a whirlwind of logic: she must have lived outside of the complex for quite a while to get that many scars. Then she came here for some reason, maybe even against her will. Now, looking around at everyone inside the complex, she's commenting on just how weak and pampered we are. Suddenly I feel like an utter wimp, especially compared to this scarred survivor from the outside. It's within my rights to feel offended -- and I do, a little -- but not to presume that the mumbled insult wasn't completely true.

Umm, I really need someone like Bookbug or Zach or BHR to post because nobody has continued the story from my last comment yet.

In general, the complex isn't the worst place I've ever been. But only just barely. A girl name Sobihan introduces herself to me, and reluctantly, I reply back. She seems quite intelligent, as most of the people here do. Yet none of them seem to notice that they're being brainwashed? I'm sure I must look like a scarred war hero to this girl. In this clean place that shines like crystal from every corner, I am nothing but a piece of coal , a remnant of the dull bronze of my city. I do not belong here, and they know it. The people I that run this place have taken extra precaution to make me fit in, to ensure I don't talk about anything that they have banned. Anything that smacks of rebellion. They are giving me a scar treatment tomorrow, to erase my blemishes . But even that won't be enough to erase my soul. What is going on here?

I'm kind of lost, actually. I'm not sure what those seedpods yet, and all this new stuff just makes me have a headache. So could someone please summarize what just happened? Thanks, and sorry if I'm such a pain!