The Hunted

[Chitun]

Thirty-five years.

Thirty-five years had passed since the government's marvelous idea of genetic modification. Thirty-five years of volunteers and victims taking experimental drugs that changed the very core of their being into something else. Thirty-five years of people driven mad by their changes, of mysterious deaths and genetic defects and sudden, unexplained disappearances. Thirty-five years since the Modification Program was dropped, locked, and sealed.

Twenty-two years since Isa Rune was born.

Sixteen years since Isa Rune discovered she could read the minds of strangers.

Fourteen years since the unexplained death of parents who'd explained to her why they kept moving from state to state, running from the Men in White for taking an experimental drug so long ago.

Four years since the discovery of a group of people with abilities like herself.

Three days since the revelation that the Men in White had a target list.

Two days since learning that the Men in White were targeting one of the more powerful individuals on that list.

One day until they put their plan into action.

Target lives at X Street in building XXXX. Takes the train to work daily. We'll need to evacuate the train station of as many civilians as possible and replace them with soldiers who'd be able to bring him down. Need to avoid as many witnesses and potential casualties as possible. This needs to be done quickly and quietly. Since the subject takes the train in the early morning, that will be the most opportune time to strike.

Isa blinked, rubbing hazel eyes and running a hand through dark, curly hair as she withdrew her mind from the official-looking man in front of her. "Tomorrow Morning, is that it?" She asked herself, voice low and covered by the louder roar of a subway train passing by.

Scowling at the man's back, the young woman casually pushed into the crowd around them, allowing the current of humanity to sweep her off in the direction of their target, a young man who'd shown up on the top of the government's target deck. "Lets, see, where is he?"

 

[Kade Synouske]

Liam had been living in New York since he graduated college last year. He got his degree and moved as far away from his family as he could. They knew something about him but they would never tell him and he had always hated that.

He woke up early in the morning, about eight-o’ clock, and trimmed his beard. He liked to have some remainder of a beard, but he didn’t like it to get mangy. He put on his blue oxford button down and a dark black tie. Liam pulled up his grey slacks and then he tied up his black dress shoes. He sighed as he looked at his watch, 8:15, and he had to be at work at nine.

Liam cooked up some eggs and sat down to eat them, the train would be coming at 8:30, so he took his time. When it was time he grabbed his briefcase and walked down to the train station. He couldn’t help but notice strange things lately. Men seemed to be following him, and everywhere he went he felt like someone was watching him.

He got down to the train and waited for the large cars to pull up. He held his daily ticket firm between his thumb and his pointer finger. Every time he examined it he thought of all the interesting places he wished the destination said. He’d always wanted to go up to Canada, maybe down to Washington D.C., or even to Boston. He just wanted to do something different.

 

[Chitun]

Target sighted. It was a stray thought, one that came to Isa unexpectedly. Stiffening, the young woman stiffened, wide, hazel eyes scanning the crowds around her for any sign of either the person who'd originated the thought or the target in question. "Shit" She hissed. There were too many people surrounding her to get an accurate reading.

Another thought flashed through her head, this one displaying little more than the image of a man. "Liam." She whispered, giving name to the face who, up until a day ago, had been little more than a name on a sheet of paper. The woman closed her eyes, willing the image of the stranger to grow stronger. "Blue button down, gray slacks, briefcase, bad beard." Hazel eyes opened. "Got it."

Where are you, you mangy bastard. She thought distractedly, gritting her teeth as she let her subconscious flow outwards. Her mind piggy-backed from one person to another, briefly looking through the eyes of a regular man and suddenly dipping into the mind of a soldier dressed as a civilian. Another oath escaped her mouth, unheard. They were already beginning to surround him!

Time to get him out of here. She thought, quickly making her way towards him. Briefly Isa caught sight of the back of his head, and taking a risk she called out to him. "Liam! Liam, is that you?" She waved to him, pushing through the strangers that surrounded him, the soldiers in hiding. "It is you, you sneaky dog! What, you think you can avoid me so easily?

 

[Kade Synouske]

As he was about to board the train some odd looking girl came running up to him calling out his name. He had never seen her or even met her before. He looked back towards the train and smiled. “Yes my name is Liam, but I am sorry I can’t seem to remember your name. Have we met before miss?” He asked as he boarded the train. “I’m sorry but I really can’t stay and talk, I’m going to be late. It was nice running into you whoever you are.” He picked out a seat and took out his phone.

Liam put his headphones in and searched through his music for something to listen to, but he couldn’t help but wonder who that girl was. She seemed familiar as if he’d imagined her up or dreamed of her. He looked through his phone wondering if he would make it in time. He felt his temper grown thin as he watched the clock, the train drivers always made the stops too long and he always seemed to wind up being late.

He felt his blood boiling and he bit his lip trying to think of calming things. He felt as if his body was shaking he was so mad. Soon he realized the ground around them was shaking and the lights began to flicker. He’d never felt an earthquake before, just tremors and things like that. Today the lights in the tunnel went out and the car stopped all the together as the earth shook around them. Liam was extremely scared, frustrated, and didn’t know what to do.

 

[Chitun]

You son of a bitch. Do I need to scream the words in your head? Isa wanted to shout at him, gritting her teeth behind a face of false sincerity as she watched him depart for the train. If it weren't for the fact that the two of them were surrounded by people on a government paycheck, she would have, too. Yet that most likely would have caused him to panic, and from what the target data of this guy said, his strength relied heavily on his emotions. And a terrakenetic, too! Him in a panic could send the whole train rattling apart into the earth!

Although given the current company he's sharing, I don't think that necessarily be a bad thing. Isa thought, eying the many people around her before pushing her way onto the train after Liam. "Damn me and my damned conscious." She muttered.

"Ma'am, I need to see a ticket before I can let you board." A soldier dressed in an official looking uniform stopped her.

"Of course, let me grab it for you." Smiling up at the man, Isa dug into the pockets of her cargo pants, coming out with an old fast food receipt. "Here." Gently, she put a bit of pressure on his mind, and the man took it, examined it, and handed the receipt back to her.

"Thank you, Ma'am."

Nodding distractedly, Isa pushed past him onto the train, a small part of her consciousness already scouting for Liam. He was easier to find now that she knew what to look for, and like a bloodhound the brunette let his thoughts lead her to him. How cute, he's thinking of me! She thought with a smirk. I should be blushing now, right? Isn't that what normal girls do when they find out a guy is thinking about them? For a moment the woman contemplated the thought, then banished it from her mind. She'd never been much of a 'normal girl'.

The train began to lurch forward in movement, and quickly Isa took a seat a short distance away from Liam. The man seemed to be distracted by something, and as more time passed, the more his thoughts seemed to revolve around the slow pace of the train and less of her. Yet it wasn't until the earthquake began that Isa knew things were starting to get very wrong.

As the lights went out and the train slowed to a stop, Isa forced herself up from her chair. She wasn't the only one. Several individuals were eying Liam eagerly, and the brunette was certain she saw a syringe in one man's hand. Stop! Her mind lashed out, and the nit of people, including Liam himself, froze.

"Fuck!" Isa bit out, before quickly darting to Liam and releasing her hold on his mind. "Liam, this is scary!" She cried. Liam, listen to me! "I'm afraid of the dark!" You need to calm down. "Please, hold me!" I need you to trust me. Your life may be in danger. She wrapped her arms around his waist, pressing against him. Please, I need you to play along for now. I'll explain everything, but we need to get to safety first!

 

[Kade Synouske]

Liam noticed her as the train began to shake, she had followed him. Who was she? He was confused and as the earthquake shook the train he wasn’t sure what to do. He heard things in his head that sounded like a female voice. Soon he made it out to sound like the voice of the girl who had been following him. She was crying out in fear, or so he thought. She was speaking about her fright yet in his head her heard so much more. She was telling him to trust her, and all he could think about was how she was doing this.

He held her to him, “Of course, don’t worry, I’m sure everything will be okay. I’ve been through quite a few smaller versions of these.” He muttered as he began to think hoping if she could speak to him she could hear him too. ‘Seriously who the fuck are you and how are you doing this? I need to get to work, so could you cut the shit. This earthquake, the mind shit. I must have forgotten to take my meds.’ Liam had a set of anxiety scripts that he was prescribed a couple years back when he started having major panic attacks when coincidentally tremors and small earthquakes occurred.

He looked at the people around him, the train had stopped now and it was still dark. Most of the train was still in the middle of the tunnel, and the conductor had started speaking over the loudspeaker. “There will be a short delay as we try to get the rail going again, these damned earthquakes have been putting us into frenzy lately, no worries everything seems to be just fine.” About two or three minutes later the lights came back on and she was still in his arms.

“Well the lights are on again, I’m going to get off here, this is my stop.” He said as the train began to pull into a station he didn’t truly recognize. He didn’t care, something didn’t feel right and he had to get away from her and the other people. Liam took off running and before long he noticed several men in suits chasing him down and he bit his lip trying to figure out where he was and where he could go.

 

[Chitun]

In his arms, Isa pressed her face against Liam's shirt, hiding the smirk that was fighting for dominance on her face. Be nice. She scolded. I may be the one who's voice you're hearing in your thoughts, however those earthquakes are all you. The woman pushed herself up enough to catch him with one hazel eye. My name is Isa Rune. Currently, I'm the only wall protecting you from a windowless, metal cell in some nameless government building. Do you see all these people around you? The woman turned her head, letting her eyes roam to the many individuals around them both.

They want you, because they believe you're a terrakenetic; a man who can manipulate the earth itself. Whether or not that's true or not has yet to be seen. However these quakes only seem to happen in specific areas around this train, so they just might be onto something. As the lights came on and the train began moving again, Isa pushed herself off Liam. It's my job to ensure that the people after you don't succeed in placing you in that metal cell and pump you with enough drugs to have you twitching like a damned research monkey.

As the train slowly pulled into the next station, the woman watched as Liam quickly departed. She also watched as several men exited the train as well, and Isa sighed to herself. "Well, at least he got it into his head that the train was a bad place to be today." She ran a hand through curly locks in aggravation. "Now to just ensure he doesn't get kidnapped along the way, stupid boy."

With a soft groan that came from a history of potential allies running away from her in fear, Isa rose to her feet and slipped off the train right as the doors were closing. "Looks like I'll be getting some PE in today. Lucky me." She muttered to herself, catching sight of the last man to exit the train before her setting off in a mad dash after her client. The woman jogged after him, letting a piece of her mind slip into his consciousness and looking through his eyes. And who knows, She thought vaguely to herself. I may yet get the chance to spill some blood.

 

[Kade Synouske]

Everything he heard in his head just started to confused him more, scaring him with every word. She said that he was responsible for the earthquakes, that he was something called 'terrakinetic'. He took out a cigarette and lit it before catching a taxi. He hoped in, rolled the window down, and let out a long drag. Liam sighed shaking his head, "It's not real. None of this is real." He kept repeating it until the cab driver asked him for the third time:

"Where to?" Liam sighed lightly and told him the only address he could think of. His ex girlfriend's flat on the upper west side of the city. Everything the girl, Isa, had said started taking affect on him. He saw the men with the suits, and he could feel the eyes on him even more. He began to suspect his cab driver.

Liam looked at the street signs to make sure that they were going to the right place. "She's made me paranoid. Some crazy girl has gotten in my head, do you know where I could seek mental help?" The cab rolled to a stop and he put his cash through the slot. He walked up the steps to the buzzer. He rang it several times before someone answered.

"Who is it?" A man's voice was heard, and all Liam could think about was if they had his ex. Not a logical assumption, but it took hold in Liam's mind rather quickly. His anger began to grow and things started to shake around him. "My name is Liam Carroway, and I think you need to leave."

 

[Chitun]

Thank the gods they were in such a big city. The crowds alone hid Isa from the men pursuing Liam, which was the reason she was so grateful. There was little doubt in her mind that if those men noticed her pursuit, they just might think her a more appealing target over the Mod running away from them. Why chase prey when it happily came running into your arms?

As if I'd go down that easy. The woman thought morbidly. I'll steal the minds of them and half the city before I let these bastards get the better of me. Yet the men in white never noticed her. Instead, like Isa, they slowed their pursuit as Liam darted to the streets, desperately hailing a cab. When one such vehicle approached, the men allowed the human traffic of New York to consume them, and Isa had to fight her way through the crowds to catch a glimpse of what cab came to his aid.

Quickly, her mind hopped off the minds of the many passer-bys and into what could only be Liam. She doubted the cab driver would be so panic-ridden and paranoid over a girl he'd supposedly met on a train. The thoughts were chaotic and confusing, and for a brief moment Isa lost herself in his mind, riding Liam's thoughts like the waves of an ocean. And then he was gone, out of range, and Isa was herself once more. Yet she did not come away empty handed. She had a name. She had an address.

"Time to catch me a cab!" The telepath chirped, only to pause, her eyes narrowing in thought. "But first to deal with the pesky mosquitoes." The woman shifted through the crowd and to the curb, waving her hand as she hailed a cabbie of her own. And as she did her mind reached out, touching those who showed an interest in 'Target X'. Gently, the woman traveled through their heads, fingers lightly grazing areas that suddenly grew red with a nonphysical infection. Somewhere behind her, a man suddenly fell to the ground screaming. Another was raving, howling in pain from a nonexistent fire. And while one man was suddenly stricken blind a taxi approached. As she entered it a man fell to his knees choking, convinced he was drowning in a lake.

The taxi pulled away, and after stating an address, Isa leaned back in her seat and smiled in bliss.

"I feel better now."

 

[Kade Synouske]

There was silence over the intercom, and the earth began to shake around him. He had no idea what was going on, but his anger was controlling him. He lifted his arms slowly and he noticed the cracks in pavement. A soft voice spoke to him to break the silence. "Liam, it's me. What are you doing here and what the hell is going on?" No one was there looking for him, and he was just losing his mind. "I don't know, but I need help. Do you have a moment?"

Liam waited as his anger dissapated, the earth retuning to rest. The door opened and he ran upstairs. He flung her door open and looked to see a man, presumably her fiancé. He had heard about him before, just never really pictured him. He was a little taller than Liam, and he had deep blue eyes that made Liam feel his green ones were dull and lackluster. Liam's dark hair was a mess by now and he looked unordinaroly crazy.

He signed lightly, "I'm sorry, I guess I didn't even put together the fact that you had a fiancé. Some girl told me that I was being followed. She didn't say it, but I heard it, like telepathy or something. I know, it's ridiculous, but that's why I'm asking for help. Put me in a mental place, I've got money saved up, I just need direction." Liam noticed her fiance's shaking hand and before he could move there were people coming out of the bathroom and through the windows.

"I'm sorry." Jen cried and fell to her knees, "they knew you were coming here, I couldn't stop them, he used..." and with that Liam snapped.

"Shut the fuck up! You lying cunt!" Liam lost control and before he blacked out her remembered the entire building tearing apart, several of the men in suits were impaled on the scraps of metal, blood covered his hands and clothes. He didn't remember much of anything else until he woke up.

 

[Chitun]

A tune went off in the back seat of the taxi, and it took a moment for Isa to realise it was her phone. The thing rang so rarely that oftentimes the woman forgot she had it on her. It wasn't like she used it or anything. Rummaging around in the black backpack she'd brought with her, the young woman finally managed to grab it. Removing it, the woman answered it without even bothering to look and see who was calling.

Only a certain amount of people knew her number, after all, and the only time they'd call was if it was business.

"Hello?"

"Isa, we just got some new intel." The person on the other line said. Isa's experience with phones was limited, and she had an easier time identifying the voices in her head than she did the voices on the phone. This one proved no different. "Be wary. It looks like our buddies have staked out the new kid's haunting grounds. Watch out f-"

Whatever else was said was lost as another quake rocked the surrounding area. Taken off guard, Isa yelped, dropping the phone, where it tumbled underneath her seat carelessly. The quake was strong enough to cause the taxi to scream to a halt, and around it, other vehicles sang their own tunes of chaos as the drivers inside fought to keep control of the wheel. Cars and trucks roared dangerously close by, and at times Isa could see the drivers within, panicked and scared and holding similar expressions to what Isa herself expected to wear on her face.

when the quake finally subsided, the telepath quickly searched around the floor for the phone. Upon grabbing it and bringing it back to her ear, all the woman heard was a dial tone. She pocketed it.

"Y-you can let me out here, Sir." She said shakily, hearing her own heart pounding violently within her chest. "I-I think I'll walk the rest of the way."

The driver, looking more than a little shook up himself, merely nodded. "Stay safe." He advised. "Don't be going near any of them skyscrapers."

Nodding, the woman paid the taxi before exiting the vehicle. Her legs felt like jelly after her scare, and it took her several minutes before her stumbles grew into a stronger walk. Thankfully she didn't have to go far. She was within a half-mile of the address now, and within a couple of minutes the apartment complex appeared.

The woman paled. the entire apartment building looked to have collapsed in on itself. Muttering a worried oath, Isa jogged to it. "Please don't tell me this is the place." She begged. Yet if any deities were listening, they ignored her. The address was the one she was searching for, and with the amount of rubble around Isa would be lucky to find a body, let alone a breathing man.

Yet still, she needed to try, and so gritting her teeth she allowed her mind to expand outwards, searching for another mind, conscious or not, with which to hop onto.

(Shoot, sorry for the huge post!)

 

[Kade Synouske]

(Never apologize for a long post lol)

When he woke up there was rubble all around him and screaming. He would never forget the amount of screaming that he woke up to. Children, women, and a lot of men groaning in pain and letting out terrified cries. Liam's eyes eyes began to water as he saw what had happened. How was he okay? What really happened? He was in too much shock to understand.

Soon he saw Jen among the destruction, covered in broken pieces of the building, she was barely breathing. He ran to her and scrapped away as much of the wreckage as he could. "Jen, are you okay?" She coughed up blood and looked at him with fear. She was able to raise a finger and she pointed to him. "Me? What did I do? I'm gonna get you out of here." He pulled her out trying his hardest not to hurt her further.

She was crying hysterically and her body was mangled. He needed to get her to the hospital and soon because if he didn't she would most likely die from internal bleeding. He dragged her to the curb and then laid her down. He searched for his phone and he called 911 in hopes of getting someone else to help him save some of these people.

Soon he had dragged out four or five people, and about three bodies; missing fingers and hands, feet and legs, some of them were even cut in half. He had never seen anything like this before in his life and it was drying him mad. Isa appeared in front of him, but he was too distraught to notice her at first.

When he came back a third or fourth time to drop off people he noticed her. "Isa, what the fuck happened? Help me...please.." He fell to his knees, his blood soaked clothes just dragging him down. Liam had never cried so much in his life, then again he'd never seen anything like it.

 

[Chitun]

She felt a familiar mind stir beneath the chaos and terror that so heavily filled the air, and Isa slowly made her way towards it, doing her best to ignore the many undercurrents beneath her. There were so many, buried deep beneath the rubble. Some confused and scared, awake and afraid of a death by burial. Others were nothing but a pain so fresh and so real that the woman's own body began to ache with their phantom pains. And then there were those who could feel nothing; little more than a high buzz in the back of her mind.

Yet Isa was nothing if not a master at ignoring others, and with a push their thoughts and fears grew as mute as their screams muffled beneath piles and piles of rubble.

The telepath found Liam near the bodies of several individuals who looked to have recieved the worst of the damage. Dark brows rose in surprise. It wasn't often she found a good samaritan in the same person who'd caused so much damage. Yet a look towards the group was grim. Many of them looked mutilated, maimed, or half-dead. Without medical treatment, it was hard to say how far Liam's deed of dragging them from an early grave would do. The woman shook her head, banishing whatever pity was rising in her gut in favor of focusing her attention on Liam.

Isa ran a hand through her hair. "Well isn't this a nice little clusterfuck we have here." She muttered beneath her breath, before looking the man straight in the eye. "What happened?" She parroted. "You happened, Liam." The woman snapped. "Were you not listening when I mentioned 'terrakenetic'? Or do you just think earthquakes like to follow you around like a lost puppy in responce to your emotions?" She was being hard on him, too hard, especially after an incident like a building collapsing, but damn it, she'd warned him! And it wasn't as though he hadn't scared the shit out of her either! She'd just come out of the incident with no physical damage.

The man's sudden breakdown wasn't helping matters either, and as Liam sobbed in front of her, Isa could hear sirens in the distance. The telepath looked off in the direction of the noise, yet she could see no evidence of any of the vehicles those sirens were attached too. Not yet. A grimace lined her face. Nothing good would be at the other end of those sirens. At least not for her. Or Liam.

The woman redirected her gaze at the weeping man and sighed. Great. Now she felt like an ass for jumping on a traumatized man's back. She felt the fire in her breast die, and grimly, the woman bowed to one knee. "We can't stay here any longer." She said softly, wrapping Liam's right arm around her shoulders. Somewhere on the other side of the road, a car honked, and Isa looked at it and nodded. "Come. It's time for us to leave. Once we're safe, I'll explain whatever you want to you."

With a grunt, the woman stood, dragging Liam to his feet. Carefully, baring in mind the man on her shoulder, Isa made her way out of the madness of destroyed lives and crushed bodies and headed to the car. It was time to go home.

 

[Kade Synouske]

(sorry if my post is short. Im on my phone.)

Liam looked to her when she practically spat the words at him. He had done it? He was still trying to comprehend everything she said on top of dealing with the idea that he had some power. A power? He was having a hard enough time with that concept. How did he end up with something like that? Let alone who would be crazy enough to believe in such things. Liam got up and looked at her again as if a part of him had died. His eyes had a slightly duller tint to them now.

His heart still went out to the girl he had almost killed, one he used to love. "I need to make sure she lives. I can't leave until I see her get help from the EMTs." Soon it didn't matter what he was saying. She was carrying him away anyway, and in the midst of all the chaos he didn't notice that he had gotten to her car. Before he could think to say or do anything else they were already driving off.

"I know you're an expert or something on all this shit, but I have no idea what's going on and I'm losing my mind. Answers, now not later." His tone was stronger than before and he wouldn't take no for an answer. She knew something about what or who he was and he had to know. All he knew was that he had some power and the angrier he got the more out of control it was. Liam turned to her center console and rummaged around through it. "Any cigarettes?" Liam didn't wait for her to answer and he rummaged through his pockets for his.

He rolled down the window and lit a smoke. "don't mind me. I'll be quick." He murmured his words as he took drag after drag. His mind was in shrivels, and he couldn't feel his body anymore. Liam stared at the quickly moving globs of pavement, blurry street signs, and when he turned to her all he could do was grin. It was a wry grin and he certainly wasn't happy, but something made him strangely amused.