Role Players Forum Role Play between Jeffrey and ..

Tectonic Observation and Terra Engineering Management Laboratories (DBA TOTEM Labs) was a shadow company that ran out of the pockets of slush funds from various branches of the American government. On its board were several members of congress, two acting military generals and the top advisory assistant for the Vice President. * * The purpose of this laboratory was to research the possibility of creating man-made earthquakes and the feasibility of their use as a weapon. Throughout the process of their research, some scientists found that certain animals and even humans were more open to feel the natural movements of the Earth. Further study revealed that very few humans (less than one tenth of one percent) had the inherent ability to slightly modify these movements. Genetic scientists were brought on board and testing began on breeding and genetically enhancing the abilities of the subjects or 'patients' to further study the plausibility of creating a different kind of super-soldier: One that could be covertly planted behind enemy lines and used; if the soldier survived the event, it would be brought back, debriefed and "decommissioned". * * The TOTEM programs had been running for decades with little-to-no success until a viable batch had been successfully created. The most-capable of the group was a female and was dubbed 'Shiloh' after the geneticist's beagle. From the start, Shiloh had registered off the charts on all abilities she was engineered to produce, miles ahead of the rest of the batch which were also labeled massive successes. The drawback to Shiloh was that in addition to having the desired traits, she was also the most human of the group. The others in the batch were mere robots, simply doing as they were told and requiring little, if any, human interaction. Shiloh was inquisitive, startlingly bright and required constant interaction with every human she came into contact with. * * As she matured into adulthood, TOTEM kept a tighter watch over Shiloh specifically. Being the most advanced of her batch she was also the most potentially dangerous. If she was ever made aware of her abilities, it would set TOTEM Labs back almost entirely to square one. Extra measures were also set into place recently to ensure Shiloh would not be able to escape. In the event she did get out from under TOTEM's watch, the potential for catastrophic events were immeasurably high.

Shiloh Moore. Patient # 001. That was what the plaque outside her door said. She wasn’t the first, but she was the best. The most important. And in ways, she’d heard it said, the most dangerous. She had the abilities they were after, and they’d kept her locked up and hushed like a secret. They never told anyone what she could do, and they wouldn’t. At least not until they could duplicate it. They’d use her and figure her out and then when they’d drained her, they’d be rid of her. Right now, Shiloh was looking out the window, and she was thinking. Always thinking, always…Her cerulean eyes stared out, looking at the vast nothingness that surrounded her. Woods, forest, mountains. She was alone, they were alone. She was a ‘patient’ in a corporate lab. Not government, not yet. Patient was a better phrase than experiment. She said her name aloud, wondering, whispering it. Was that really her name? Did her family really die? Did she even have one, or did they grow her, and she awoke as a patient at the age of twelve? She thought of all the years she could remember at the place, further back than twelve then. She had asked her age yesterday, and they told her twenty. Birthdays weren’t celebrated so there was no need for her to keep track. But they didn’t know that letting her think was the worst they could do. She was beyond smart, or so they said. So while she slept she dreamed of escape and when she was awake and silent, she was plotting it. Tomorrow, tomorrow she would run. She wouldn’t be their experiment any longer. She slept.


The following day.


She stayed silent, waiting for them to see her, waiting for them to open the door. She heard the click of the lock disengage and then heard the softer sound of their padded shoes walking toward her. They checked her vitals, and she pretended sleep. “Why is she wearing clothing under her blanket? Who is responsible for this?” Someone had asked. As soon as they moved to her other side, she sat upright, her left hand throwing the blanket off of her lower body so she could swing her legs out while her right hand ripped the needles from the back of her hand, and the crease in her elbow. It hurt, but she was focused on other things. Her feet hit the ground and she forced herself to find the strength it took to run to the door. Someone grabbed her by the arm and she picked up the sterilized tray that held different utensils, swinging it hard to connect with her attackers head. He released her, dazed. She made it out the door, running. She knew they’d be chasing her, and she took the turns of the hallway with reckless speed, sliding across the floor. She could hear them coming, always following, and turned to look as she ran. They were behind her, maybe twenty feet or so. She turned around in time to slam into a glass door. Pulling it apart she made it through, and finally into the stairwell, and eventually, out a back door into the rainy day that was outside.


“Find her, get her, bring her back!” she could hear the more important ones screaming as security chased her. Her lungs burned with the effort of the run, and she didn’t stop, she couldn’t. Gasping, Shiloh saw the wide drainage and irrigation ditch, and launched herself into it, scraping her elbow at some point. The foul water entered her lungs and she came up gasping, retching, and reaching for the other side. She made it out, shivering a little and dripping wet, looking at her pursuers behind her for a minute before scrambling up and onto the other side. Facing a large chain link fence, she knew she couldn’t climb over it, so she found a weak spot and shimmied under it, groaning when the points gouged her skin, bringing forth blood. She barely made it through before their hands had hold of her, then she was into the thick woods and mountains that kept the building secluded. She kept running until she couldn’t anymore. Until her lungs felt as if they were ablaze and her legs were numb from the wet and cold. She collapsed, tired, hungry and lost…She knew a few things for sure. She knew they’d never stop, and she knew they’d send someone after her, and soon. She crawled a few paces before collapsing. It took everything she had to pull herself up, camouflaging herself as well as she could before pain and weakness making her curl up on her side and pass out.

Standing in the carnage of Shilo's room, the director of the lab was staring impassively at Army General Garrison storming about and shouting so loudly that his face was almost as red as some of the medals on his chest. "How are you going to bring her back?" General Garrison finally demanded. "General, I assure you that the situation is well in hand. I have hired a, shall we say, 'consultant' to assist with our little problem." Director Role said as soothingly as he could. "You hired a consultant?" General Garrison boomed. "Are you insane?" Director Role held up his hands, placatingly. "General Garrison, I have been informed by many that Red Seven is, in fact, the best at what he does and he has given us his personal guarantee that he will retreive the package and return it without incident." General Garrison had never liked Role. First and foremost, the man looked nothing at all like a scientist. Role was nearly seven-feet tall and massively built. He had very short, jet-black hair and eyes so dark brown that his entire eye looked black. His voice was also so deep that General Garrison was sure that the man must have a set the size of oranges. The thing that bothered the General almost as much was the fact that Role was always smiling and never reacted to anything. The General reached up and slapped Role in the face, catching the scientist momentarily off guard. "You hired a hitman to catch a human earthquake machine? What is wrong with you?" The room suddenly went deathly quiet at the sound of a bic lighter clicking shut. "I also specialize in recovery, General." A man of indeterminable age and uncertain ethnicity was  wearing an expertly tailored blood-red suit and matching sunglasses. He took a very long drag of a black cigarette and lowered his sunglasses, revealing a pair of unsettling crystal blue eyes. "I'll get the package and bring it back in one piece, don't you worry you're pretty little head about it." He exhaled a plume of blue smoke in the General's face, pushed his glasses back up his nose and disappeared out of the room without making a sound. Red Seven followed the tracks left by Shiloh throughout the facility. He followed her trail outside and down to the drainage and irrigation ditch. Seven beckoned a lab tech to him. "Is that what I think it is?" The tech nodded and went back about her duties. Seven scanned the area and found a bridge, of sorts, across the aqueduct two clicks to the south. He found the area where Shiloh emerged from the ditch and resumed tracking her. There was a weak spot at the bottom of the chain-link fence and Seven could see where Shiloh had to struggle to free herself from one of the guards. Seven looked up at the fence and then extended his left arm, fingers spread out, palm down. Something slid down his arm into his hand and when he raised his arm, a three-foot blade unfolded. Two quick slices and a triangle section of fence fell cleanly into the woods before him. He touched the bluetooth in his ear as he walked through the hole. When his call was answered, he merely said: "There's a hole in your fence. You might want to fix that."

Shiloh woke with a scream. She cupped her hands over her mouth to stifle it, but if they’d found someone to find her, then chances are they would have heard it. She could only pray that wasn’t the case. She could feel things moving, like the earth itself was shifting under her hands. But she also could feel other things, it felt like tapping, but rhythmic. Like walking…no, she shook her head. She was being paranoid. Shiloh knew she needed food and warmth. She needed shelter of sorts, and she needed to keep moving. Crawling to her feet, she pulled at her sleeves, tugging them all the way down. It was cool out. She was still shivering and her fingers were numb. Food or fire? She stumbled, and her dark hair tumbled around her face and shoulders in strings. She moved carefully, trying not to leave tracks or disturb anything. If she moved a branch, she noted its exact location beforehand and made sure it was put exactly back where it should be. Every now and then, she had to stop, leaning against a tree for support. What she didn’t realize was the piece of hair that snagged the bark when she moved again. Stumbling, falling, she finally stopped, listening. She could feel a tapping in the earth. She didn’t know what it was, but she knew without warmth, she’d freeze. She’d make a fire, warm up and then set a false trail for her tracker friend.

Shiloh gathered some dried branches and tried to make a fire. It was hard going. She’d never had to do it without the help of matches before. She closed her eyes, and prayed, willing it to work, when miraculously, it did. A spark caught the dry kindling, and she fanned the little thing until she saw flames. Only then did she lay it in the branches and get real fire. Sitting close by, she reveled in the warmth. She’d probably die out here, but better to die free than to be poked and prodded and tested. She hated it all. She didn’t want any part of what they were doing to her. Tears came for the first time, and she didn’t even try to stop them. Logically, Shiloh knew she was setting herself up to get caught. Fire creates heat, but also smoke. She was sending a clear message to whoever was looking for her. But she needed warmth, or she’d never make it. finally, after an hour she stomped out the blaze using dirt and her shoe. Then she set her false trail, and headed in the opposite direction. She traveled for hours, watching daylight fade into twilight. She needed sleep. There were rocks ahead, and she found one of them moved for her, which, considering its size was rather impressive. She crawled in, and was thankful that unless they looked in between each rock, she doubted her tracker would see her. She could only pray they hadn’t sent one of the deadly ones, the only ones she ever feared. There was one in particular, she’d seen only once from the window in her door. He had terrified her more than anything ever had. If he was who they sent, she didn’t have a tracker, she had a bonafied hunter. She also wouldn’t have a chance. “Please, not that one. Anything but HIM.” She said, as tiredness took over, causing her to curl up in her almost cave and try to sleep. She’d have to find food in the morning. Somehow.

Seven carefully surveyed the area. He found tracks left by the techs that tried to follow his quarry. They were disorganized and trampled most of the clearing on the other side of the fence. It took some time, but he eventually found the tracks made by his prey. A smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth as he followed the tracks.   He knew that this particular quarry had a special skill set. One that could make tracking her extraordinarily difficult. Also, if she learned to control her skills, tracking her could prove to be deadly in addition to being impossible.  Seven noticed something that bothered him about a quarter of a mile into the hunt. The tracks were getting especially long. Within a few yards, the tracks spread out to twenty paces of space between prints. It wasn't that the ground was too hard to keep prints, far from it in fact, closer inspection of the terrain showed that the ground was moving with each step she took. Seven's smirk dropped from his stony face and was replaced with a frown. 'Damn...'   Seven sprinted along the trail until he came upon a spot where it appeared that she made an impromptu camp. Seven crouched and inhaled her scent deeply. Seven stood and looked up at the sky. She'd be nearly freezing by now and would either need shelter or make a fire. He looked to the East and saw smoke. He took off running at full speed towards where the smoke was coming from.   Seven kept a look out for a trail. She was getting better at hiding her tracks whether she was aware of it or not. As Seven got closer to the source of the fire, which he figured by now had been extinguished judging by the ashy quality the scent on the wind, it occured to him that his prey might be able to sense him coming. He switched from his chasing run to his stalking run, which consisted of shorter strides and only running on the balls of his feet. It made the chase more ardurous, but it was silent and the vibrations were minimized as much as he was able.   Seven arrived at the clearing where the flames had been stomped out. His frowned deepened and he removed his glasses to pinch the bridge of his nose. He tapped his bluetooth.   "She's getting better at being whatever it is you created her to be. I don't think she realizes it yet, but it's only a matter of time."   The response in his ear was so great that he flinched. "General, you would do well to remember with whom you are speaking. Treating me like that is no way to motivate me to find your little lost puppy. Director Role, my price just doubled." He disconnected the call and took in the scene.   That's when he saw the tracks. He followed them relentlessly until he came to a dead end. 'Clever girl.' He thought to himself. He back-tracked until he found a new foot print heading in a new direction and took off. Judging by what he knew of his quarry, Seven worked under the assumption that she would be more concerned about putting as much distance as she was able and less concerned about leaving multiple trails.   It was well-past midnight when the night-vision feature of his glasses picked up the scratches on the earth where boulder had been disturbed. Seven switched to the infrared setting and saw a faint heat signature coming from inside the rocks.   Seven was ultimately disappointed. This was entirely too easy. He would have to make this more interesting for him to be satisfied with the hunt. Seven left some rations in the clearing in front of the boulders and perched himself in a tree seventy yards away. Then, he waited.   Seven's smirk had returned. 'Now, it gets interesting.'

Shiloh woke and stretched sorely. She’d made it through the night. And her little shelter had protected her from most of the elements, surprisingly even most of the cold. She pulled herself out of a hole and wriggled free. In the clearing, not far, a bag lay, as if discarded. So someone had been looking for her…She stood slowly, every bit of her on edge. Had she been paying attention she might have noticed the ground rumbling softly beneath her feet, ready for her to command it. But she was entirely focused on the food, and the possibility of it being a trap. She grabbed a thin branch from the ground and held it in front of her, the tip of the branch skimming across the ground. It would set off any kind of trap before she got hit by it. It was slow going, but she finally made it to the pack and grabbed it. She knelt and opened it. Inside was bread, cheese, water, dried meat and some kind of cake…and not just a little either. There was enough to keep her going if she played it right.

She felt something new in the ground…water. She missed that last night. She could bathe…She followed the feeling, stopping occasionally and touching the ground. She reached a clump of trees, Birch? Good, she could brush her teeth too. Joy overtook her momentarily, and she ran to a flat rock, setting her food bag down and then falling to her knees smiling. She did it. Even though they were hunting her, she was free. She was living on her own. No needles, no tests, no one forcing her to do things…A tear made its way down her cheek, and she wiped it away. She was free, she was never, NEVER going back. They’d bring a corpse back first. Food or cleanliness? She laid the food on her rock to warm in the morning sunlight, and stripped nude, washing her clothes carefully in the clear water and then setting them on the stone as well once she deemed them clean. Walking to a tree, she pulled off part of the bark and rinsed it briefly in the water before proceeding to chew it. Birch tasted like spearmint and the bark was good for cleaning teeth. She’d read it somewhere. The sunlight felt good on her skin and she finally dove into the deeper part of the water, cleaning herself with a soapstone out of the many she had found along the riverside. It was amazing what people never knew was out there, but nature seemed to be providing for her. Like the very woods wanted her to be free.

She caught her reflection in the water and smiled. They said she was beautiful. She never knew what that meant, but she was pleased with herself. Clear, deep blue eyes that seemed too large, and stared out through a frame of thick, dark lashes. She had fair skin, which would tan soon enough, and a pretty smile. She wrung her hair out and it fell in dark waves down her shoulders and her slender frame to her mid-back. She’d known she was thin, they kept her that way. As she grew curves had developed, and so had her breasts. She didn’t see what everyone was so impressed with. They were just a part of her flesh. The men said the letter C often, around her, and she’d heard them mention something about her a*s. She looked behind her at it. Again, she saw nothing to be impressed about. Finally the ravenous growl in her stomach pulled her from the water. She’d been right about the stone and the breeze drying her clothes. She’d also been in the water far too long. She pulled on the still slightly damp clothes, and sat before her meal, trying not to devour it all. She ate until she was full but drank carefully. This might be the only purified water for who knows how long.

 She had just finished packing, including more of the birch bark, when she heard a branch fall. Her head snapped up and she looked into the trees, an almost huntress lethality taking over from some unknown part of her brain. Not far away, across the water, a few more yards, but there? In the trees, up a bit. She saw it. A flash of red as someone moved. She let out a small scream. One of THEM? Wasn’t that a bit much to send after her? Without thought she grabbed the pack and started running, past her rocks, she kept going, weaving and changing directions so as to try and confuse him. She was terrified. One of the red. Oh God. They never stopped, they never failed, they never…she couldn’t think about that now. She was trying to put as much distance between them as possible. She knew only one thing for certain. He was too close, he was going to catch her. But he would have to catch her while she was running, and then Red or no Red, once he grabbed her, he’d better prepare for the fight of his life. Shiloh tried to call to mind all the combat training she learned as she moved. She made the mistake of turning to look behind her when she tripped. The branch snagged her foot and twisted it, bringing her hard to the ground. She picked herself up, limping through the pain, keep moving, just keep going…She willed herself forward, and she could feel him coming. Not long now. She limped along as fast as she could while he closed on her. She knew he was, she could feel it.

Shiloh sat, breathing hard, sweating a little. Not from heat, but from strain. She looked at her foot, and willed it to heal. The pain vanished, but she knew it was only numb, not better. She was better with cuts and scrapes, and they knew it, much to her painful expense. Looking around, she closed her eyes, feeling the earth, taking it in. She sat that way for a few moments, then opened her eyes. When she looked again, her foot seemed better. She took a tentative step. It felt fine. Another, still no pain. Okay.


She wondered where she was. She also wondered how fast she got there. There was enough space to run between the trees, and for a moment, she couldn’t hear the Red’s footsteps. He was either behind her, or watching. In any case, she stood, and took a few steps back, until her back was against a tree. “I want to try something.” She said to herself, and took a breath. She’d been running to survive, but now, she wanted to see how fast she could go. When she was ready, she took another, deeper breath, and then shot off, darting in a line. She could feel the power working in her legs, and through concentration, she noted the ground moving for her, as well as flying by her. The fastest human in the world can only run twenty four miles an hour, she calculated, and based on that she could tell she was flying far past that. Fifty miles an hour, maybe? Maybe more? The ground raced by her in a blur. She could still see though, see clearly. The ground flattened and softened, shifting as she turned. Caught up, she tried willing it up even though there was no hill. It worked. The ground rose, as she ran. Shock overtook her and she turned sharply, coming back down with the earth. She circled back to where she was at to start with, the pain in her ankle coming back strongly enough to take her down. She fell and tumble rolled into the base of the tree with her side, hitting it with enough force to knock the air from her lungs. Dazed, and terrified, she sat up quickly, clutching her ankle. “Holy s**t, holy s**t…” She repeated, calculating quickly.

If the fastest human could only go twenty four miles an hour, then based on skeletal structure and muscle and tendon placement in the human leg, twenty six point seven five miles per hour should have been enough to pretty much rip her leg off. She panicked as the information processed both in her head and aloud. “What am I…what am I…oh god, oh god what have they done to me? What were they going to do? No, never never, never going back. Got to run, shouldn’t have come back, got to go…” she went to stand but her ankle wouldn’t allow it. It was hurt again and she was drained of any will. She pulled herself along by her hands and good knee, crawling on the ground. “Never going back, don’t want to be hurt, no no no…pull, come on…” She urged herself, but she could hear something again, feel it in the ground, but coming from above, a stalking…She promised herself death before the Red took her back, she just hoped it wasn’t HIM. Not THAT red. Shiloh didn’t want to die at his hands. She would before he took her back, but had she a preference, she’d take any of the others. Finally she lay, gathering strength, waiting for him to find her. Maybe it was fate their worlds collide. Maybe their lives stories were always to be entwined. She lay, exhausted, hurting, and still reaching for the ground, to pull herself along when unconsciousness took her.  She was spent. She was alone. She was as a sitting duck, in the open. What she didn’t know was that even in unconsciousness she radiated her will through a little circle of earth around her, and it warmed slightly, shifting, ready to defend her if the need came. Of course if the need came, she would have to focus, have to concentrate to find the will to call it up, but for now, it sat silently, ready for her. Her hunter had better be ready to fight.

As Seven continued on his hunt, the infrared spectrum picked up a huge heat source. Seven stopped and considered it. It was much too large for a bear, so it had to be her. The fact that she was able to warm the ground to that degree was unsettling to say the least, but Seven decided that the best course of action would be to resume at a walking cadence to that of a casual hiker. He knew she was aware that she was being followed, but guessed that if she sensed his approach, that she would hesitate just in case it was another innocent.

Shiloh raised a tentative hand to his ear, splitting her focus between retrieving the little thing attached to his ear and making sure his arms stayed restrained. She took it, fitting the thing effortlessly into her ear and pressing the delicate button. A voice came on and she listened, barely breathing. Finally she spoke. “You…will never, have me. You will never again use me, or hurt me.” She listened to someone talking, and responded with a quiet, grave little voice. “Just like you trained number two? No, no, I would rather DIE than be your experiment again!” Shiloh looked at her hunter, staring deeply into his icy blue eyes. She ripped the Bluetooth off her ear and tossed it to the ground at his feet, She raised the sword, and looked at him contemplatively. “I don’t know what to do with you.” She said. “The easiest choice is, of course, to kill you. To allow my earth to swallow you up and crush you under the pressure I can force on you. To forget you and keep running. But,” She paused, “I never fancied myself a murderer. Yet I can’t let you go either. I thank you for the food, and for allowing me rest.” She started walking around him, sword in hand. “This is a beautiful weapon. I hope you will forgive me for the disrespect. And to steal a line from a movie, I also hope you understand, I hold you in the highest regard.” She raised the sword and brought the handle down hard, on his head, knocking him out.

“Now there’s the matter of what to do with you.” She slowly released her grips on him, gently lowering him to the ground with more carefulness than he may have had with her. “Maybe I’ll just leave you to your own devices then?” She mused to herself. Looking through his things carefully, she removed his glasses and tried them on. They were slightly oversized, but suddenly the whole world mapped itself out for her. There was an old, hardly used cabin not far. Maybe a few miles or so away? Given her current state she couldn’t leave him that close to herself, and so she called upon her earth one more time, to carry them both northwest, until she found a good place to put him. Neither the animals or the weather could get to him. She had nothing against him personally, but she knew this would outrage him. He’d have to actually track her now, or go home empty handed. Either was fine. She kept only a hunting knife, even returning his sword to him. She didn’t take anything else, even giving him his provisions bag back. She was a lot of things maybe, but a thief wouldn’t be one of them. Then she left.

By the time she reached the cabin, she found it abandoned, but not without hope. There was a garden in the back, the river to her east and rocks behind her, secluding her. She took a breath, and pushed the door open. It was a quaint little two bedroom number. She could be happy here. She could survive here. Setting her knife down, she set to straightening up the house, which looked as abandoned as one could look, although it still had furniture. It just might be a good life. She caught fish and picked several things from the ground to cook it with. She dined on steamed fish and potatoes that night. It wasn’t horrible, but there was room for improvement. She had time, she would learn. Yes, she thought, I could maybe be happy here. Then she locked the doors and windows of the little cabin and went to bed, exhausted, and for some reason, worried about her tracker, and the anger she was sure would follow his waking.

Seven woke up to a ringing in his ears and a copper taste in his mouth. He had bit his tongue when she struck him on the back of the head with his own sword. His eyes finally opened and he took in his surroundings. The first thing he noticed was that his glasses were missing. He sat up much faster than he should have and promptly vomited on the floor of the cave he found himself in. He found his glasses. They had been badly damaged in transit and, to add insult to injury, he had thrown up on the fractured shards of the lenses. "Well there went that..." He grumped as he shoved the broken frames back in the inside pocket of his jacket. He picked up his sword and it retracted neatly back into his sleeve. He went to the mouth of the cave and eventually was able to move the large rock enough so he could get out. Before he sat to take inventory, he looked back at the cave and supposed he should thank Shiloh for leaving him in a shelter from the elements and wildlife. Inventory complete, Seven realized that she had only taken his hunting knife. He smiled, knowing that he was going to enjoy getting it back. He replaced his pack on his back and put his jacket back on. He looked around the valley, trying to decide where to start. He was more certain than not that Shiloh would stay in the woods. Easier to hide from her pursuers, she was comfortable with her control of the terrain and the likelihood of running into and harming an innocent were remote. 'She would want to be near water. 'Now, where the hell is that river?'   He found the river and stared hiking towards it; after his last encounter with Shiloh, he wasn't in a terrible rush to find her again. It was just over three miles from where he was to the closest point of the river. He planned to swim upstream until he found her. All things considered, Seven figured it was really the only way he could get within a hundred yards from her without her knowing about it. When he reached the river bank, he stripped down to his Under Armor compression boxer briefs, placed his suit and shoes in his water-proof pack and submerged himself in the icy water. The cold immediately assaulted him and he could feel his strength draining, but he pressed on. Slowly, his muscles warmed with exertion and his body acclimated to the harsh conditions. He swam upstream, against the lazy current, stopping every few minutes to survey the area. He was looking for unnatural rock groupings, earthen huts, fresh-looking caves, anything that someone with Shiloh's abilities could produce to create shelter.   What he was not expecting, however, was the cabin twenty yards from the bank. Even without his glasses, it was impossible to miss. It was easily twenty degrees warmer here and the radiant beauty of the immediate area screamed her presence. Seven glided over to the bank and crawled out of he water like a spider on his hands and the balls of his feet, making as little noise as possible and minimizing vibrations. It took him nearly 10 minutes of muscle-burning agony to traverse the distance from the bank to the side of the house. Ever so slowly, he stood and peered through the dusty window. Shiloh was curled in a ball on the bed. Testing her awareness, he lobbed a stone he pulled from the river bed into the clearing in front of the cabin. In the late hour, the sudden sound seemed to boom of he serene quiet. Shiloh didn't even flinch. Seven smiled at the sheer exhaustion that took its toll on her. Seven crept around to the front door and tested the handle. He wasn't sure whether the fact that the door was locked surprised him more than the fact that the door had a lock at all. Still, he made short work of the lock and let himself into the room as quiet as a shadow. The moonlight shone through the window he first spied her. Now, on this side of the window, he saw that Shiloh was completely nude. Blood rushed through his veins in response to her supreme beauty. He was certain the jack-hammering of his heart or the roar of blood as it filled his manhood would wake her.   He wanted her. He needed her. TOTEM Labs be damned. Shiloh was his, he earned it! "Wake up, little one." He said in his normal speaking voice, startling her so fiercely that the earth to the left of the garden ripped itself apart. "You have something that belongs to me."

Shiloh was in the lab, she was back, with the needles, with the dreams. Doctors were monitoring her, making her do things against her will, and if she fought there were harsh reactions. She thrashed in her restraints, fighting this time, too terrified to stay still. She turned, trying to find freedom in any way possible. Then a calm, normal voice broke through from one of the Doctors. “Wake up, little one.” She started awake with a scream, sitting up in shock and gasping. The voice spoke again as she came to the realization that she was awake. “You have something that belongs to me.” She looked in the corner, her eyes focusing as she reached for the shirt at the end of her bed. Her hand dropped in shock before she touched her clothing. “It can’t be…I left you, I covered everything…”
She grabbed her shirt and pulled it swiftly over her head, covering herself from his eyes. She leapt forward, grabbing the knife off the bedstand and landing smoothly on her feet. She knew that look. It terrified her. Another man had hurt her that way before. It brought her back, her arms restrained, when he slid over her, playing with her breasts, gagging her so she couldn’t scream, touching her slit over and over, making her writhe in pleasure she didn’t want as the tears fell. “You’re mine, pretty thing.” He’d said. He hadn’t gone into her, there wasn’t time that day, but that was when she decided to run. Now she was looking at her hunter, and she knew then what he wanted, and vowed never to let him have it.
Looking for escape, she knew if she could only get outside, she could get away from him. He was between her and the door, but not the window. She took a defensive stance, her muscles moving fluidly beneath her pale skin. She’d miss clothing, but she could find more, or do without. She just needed to get past him. “You won’t have me, hunter.” She said, gripping her knife and trying to regain enough will to summon up her earth. Sadly, she was still drained fairly thoroughly. Still, she could fight. She trained in all manners and disciplines of combat, including hand to hand. Making the first move, She threw the knife at his head, watching as he ducked to avoid it. that was her moment, she jumped off the bed, rolling herself under his legs and coming up behind him. She grabbed the knife and ran for the front door, all her hopes laying in him not expecting her assault. She feared what he would do if he got his hands on her. No man has been inside, she’d keep it that way if it was her last act.

Seven uncoiled his body and struck like a viper as Shiloh managed to get behind him. He wrapped his arms around her tiny waist and lifted her above his head in a suplex and slammed her upper body and the back of her head against the floor. He let go, immediately rolled to one knee and fired a blow dart that landed dead-center of her jugular vein. Shiloh’s hand clamped on the dart and she pulled it free as she stumbled to her feet. Numbness was spreading through her body quickly and she immediately fell back to the floor.   “What have you done to me?” She shrieked.   Seven bent down and gently lifted her body from the floor and placed her on her bed. Then he surprised Shiloh by covering her naked body with the comforter. “Relax, Shiloh; it was just a paralytic, my own design actually. You’ll feel better soon, I promise. For now, however, you’ll really only be able to move your head and neck. I’m starving! Are you hungry at all?”   “Go to hell!”   Seven smiled at her spirit. “Well that’s not very friendly.” He had opened his pack and was going through his provisions. He was absently chewing on some dried beef as he worked with some vials from a small, black zip-case.   Against her better judgment, Shiloh’s need for human interaction overwhelmed her and she asked, “What are you doing?” As an afterthought, she added: “If you try to take me back, I won’t think twice about killing you.”   Seven raised a syringe, expelled any air bubbles, crossed the room and sat on the bed next to her. “As you can see,” he indicated the bulge in his shorts, “I have a very strong desire for you.” He stuck the needle into her neck and injected the serum. “You don’t have to worry about me brining you back to them. I plan on keeping you all for myself.” He stood up and returned the needle and syringe to its case and closed his pack. “I would sooner destroy a stained-glass window, than a beauty like you,” he smiled genuinely at her, quoting the same movie back to her that she did during thier last encounter. “The serum I just injected into you is a natural concoction that will help you… shall we say, see things my way.”   Seven removed his compression shorts, revealing his thick, veiny member. Shiloh’s eyes were glued to it as it bobbed with each step he took closer to her. He pulled the comforter off of her voluptuous body and took her delicate hand in his. Shiloh suddenly realized that she could move again. She knew she should run. She knew she should fight. Her body, however had other ideas and she found herself growing hotter and there was also a certain, special warmth coming from her slit. She looked at her hunter. Seven was totally under a spell of his own. She noticed a light shining in his eyes. After a few moments, she realized that it was her own radiant glow reflecting in his sky-blue eyes. Seven lowered his head to hers and he kissed her passionately. His hands slid down her sides and cupped the firm cheeks of her a*s. A moment later, he lifted Shiloh easily off of the floor. Shiloh’s legs instinctively wrapped themselves around his waist as he lowered her onto his steely shaft. Her desire was so great that the pleasure of his intrusion almost completely masked the discomfort of her hymen giving way to his length and girth. After a glorious eternity, she finally bottomed out on his manhood.

Shiloh bit Seven’s neck when he penetrated her, muffling her cry as she held his skin in her teeth. He growled, and kept lowering her down. For a moment the absence of pain was all she could feel, and then he started thrusting. She let him go for a moment, as she was feeling both bewildered and scared. She knew, rationally that she wasn’t enjoying what he was doing. It was the serum working within her, and she knew she could fight through that. She brought her hands up to wrap around the back of his neck, and then, wrapped around him as she was, she pulled back as hard as she could. He lost balance and fell, but rolled on top of her and kept going. She swung up, hitting him, and he hit her back, without even losing his pace. Jerking her hips to the side, she knew the move would hurt him, but she didn’t know for how long. He groaned and pulled out and Shiloh darted for the window, there was no way to make it to the door, throwing it open and crawling out. He followed her, catching her before she could get to her feet. Throwing her down, he forced himself back into her right there in the dirt. She could feel him enjoying this more than he should.

She bucked her hips up, meeting his thrusts, feeding the need he’d forced on her. In between that, she could feel other things, subtle things, the ground shifting beneath them, moving and growing, turbulence to match what they was doing. She had to stop, or she’d rip a hole open right underneath them. Then, as she thought about it, that might work to her advantage. She wrapped her legs back around him, and placed a hand over his chest, feeling for a response. She let him take control, thrusting into her and bringing her closer and closer to a feeling she couldn’t describe. She moved with him, holding him when he pulled her close, or lying flat when he pushed her down. She could feel the murmurs of the earth as he increased his pace, drawing her ever closer to the edge. Finally she felt something explode inside her and every muscle she had was suddenly doing its own thing. She had lost control of her body in an orgasm that had her writhing. Finally she surrendered her mind to the feeling, and braced herself.
She wasn’t expecting the flood of feelings that rocked her to her core, making her lose focus. She felt the earth rip open, with a thunderous crack that shook the ground, causing her to tremble as it split itself in half. There was a brief moment right before, when she smiled at seven, who had heard the noise and scrambled to get off of her. It was too late. They were both swallowed. The only difference was that she could call on her resources to catch her. Seven wasn’t entirely so lucky. She saw him hit a little ledge and stay there. She looked across at him. He couldn’t jump it, especially not if he had been hurt. He didn’t look it, but she couldn’t tell. She knew she was sore from the fall. Wiping her eyes, and the dirt off some of her naked body, she looked around at her handy work. She had no idea how far down the crack was, but it wasn’t horribly long, fifteen feet maybe, and almost as wide. She’d effectively made a sink hole. It wasn’t what she was going for, but it did the job, and kept him away from her. She laid back, smiling as the rest of the drug burned through her. “Well hunter, what shall you do now? With nowhere to go and no way to get there?” She asked, forcing control of the feelings that made her want him. They would pass.

Shiloh moaned in pleasure as he thrust into her again, hurting her, and not caring. One of the rocks from the wall of earth that she was pressed against was cutting into her, digging deeper into her flesh with every thrust. She didn’t care, she couldn’t be bothered to at the moment. When his hands found her neck, she stiffened a little. She wasn’t afraid of death, but she was afraid of how long he could draw it out. Reds weren’t exactly known for mercy. “Any more tricks like that and I will be forced to end you, earth-mover. Now what do you say we enjoy ourselves in the moonlight? By the river would be nice, don’t you think?” She was at a loss for words, battling the desire to give into the feeling that caused the ground to split, fighting for all she was worth. If she came again, she knew she’d drop them both into the black bottom of that hole. So instead she focused on him. On figuring him out. Was this his prize? Maybe they told him to be brutal, to break her? Well good luck there. She survived the labs, she could survive him. She felt him f*****g her, and she decided blocking the desires coursing through her would never work, so she reverted to something else. She acknowledge her feelings then redirected them. This, at least, was manageable.

He slammed into her hard enough to leave deep bruises, and she felt the sharp stone lodge itself deeper into her, just under the ribs. It was loose in the earth, and she knew when she moved, it would come away with her. He was nearing his end, the violent thrusts bringing him to orgasm, and she screamed out, from the pain, the pleasure, from fear of what she could do if she succumbed to the feelings running like fire through her veins. “It’s not a trick!” He came hard, pushing all his weight against her. The rock reached further in, almost all the way embedded now, and the sharp pain reached her lungs. He must have heard her ragged breath, because Shiloh felt the weight relax, and she felt him pull out of her. She was weak, and moved slowly, falling to her knees, one hand covering her injury as she leaned over herself. “What did you say?” The red asked, and Shiloh coughed, wincing. “I…it’s not a trick. I didn’t know what happened until the ground split. If I would have…whatever it was, then we could both be dead. I saved your life, Red.” She looked up at him, a little blood staining her lips as she spoke. “Do you want to know why they really want me? It’s not because of the earth moving.” She forced herself to sit up, revealing her injury, but refusing to look him in the eyes as she pulled him down to his knees in front of her.


She thought she heard him say something, but she was focusing on the rock. “Please don’t attempt to stop or jostle me. I can’t lose focus.” She pulled the thing out of her in one attempt, and the blood flowed swiftly as she covered the wound with her hand, and closed her eyes, her face pinched white with pain and covered with a light sheen of sweat. After a moment she exhaled with a sharp little mew of pain and then fell back, laying half propped up against the side of the wall of dirt. When her hand fell away, it was covered in blood, but there was nothing gushing from the wound. Tenderly, she wiped the spot with a clean hand, until he could see. There was a bright pink scar from new skin, the wound though, was healed. Weakly, she spoke, eyes closed from the weakness and effort. “Now do you see? Imagine what they could do…” And she fell into sleep, praying for death before he chose to use her again. And a bath.

“They…turned on you? Defected?” Shiloh sounded incredulous. She’d never heard of that happening before. Her eyes narrowed. This was definitely not good. She weighed the options carefully in her head. She could take him with her…she almost felt obligated to. Then again, she wanted to be free. She wanted to be on her own, and having him with her would ruin that. D****t. Finally she sighed. She calculated a few days at least before the next lowest ranking red found them. She could leave that conversation for a minute. He was heading out the door when she stopped him, tripping over herself and causing the already loose tie in her hair to fall out, leaving it to tumble around her face and fall down her shoulders in splendidly dark waves. Her once innocent eyes burned with intensity as she looked into his cold, icy ones. “Thank you….for cleaning me up, for taking care of me. I’m sorry it was such a mess, but the rock wasn’t exactly my idea.” He smirked a little, and she was thankful she learned sarcasm, as he was less threatening when he smiled.

“Nor was it mine, little one. How long have you been able to do that?” he asked, the smile fading as he nodded in the direction of her latest scar. Shiloh looked away. “I tried to kill myself when I was thirteen. I was sick of everything, the drugs they gave me, the rigorous programs, everything…There was another, he was smart too, too smart they said. He led a rebellion. They…he never came back. I was so afraid, I snuck a knife away after dinner. I cut myself so deep I passed out. When I woke up, they knew.” Shiloh rubbed her arms, and watched as Seven nodded, turning to leave. She had to know. “Did you see anything different about me, you know, when you were washing me?” He shook his head, and she visibly relaxed. “Okay…um…right.” She backed up slowly, finally turning and darting into the cottage without a word. From inside she watched him leave, and then faced the wall, hitting her head in frustration. She’d never been at a loss for words around anyone, why should he be different? Still, she could feel her arousal when she looked at him.

“Oh don’t be stupid Shi, he’s the enemy here.” She chided herself. Still, he took care of her, he fed her…no, he was the enemy, he couldn’t be trusted. Confusion overwhelmed her. He hurt her, but beyond the pain she liked it. She liked having him over her, domineering her, his hands around her throat, that thing up inside her, forcing her to bend to his will as his teeth tore at her neck in passion. Her fingers slid down and she touched herself, almost woozy with the feelings of pleasure that invaded her belly. She walked to the bed, laying down and pushing her pants down to her knees. Slipping her hand down under her underwear, she rubbed her fingers softly against her nub, pressing and feeling herself. Her breasts swelled in her bra while her erect n*****s pushed out against it. She thought of him grabbing her, holding her so tight she bruised. She didn’t bring herself to full orgasm, as the ground trembling beneath her made her realize what she was doing. Irritated, she pulled her clothes back on, and sat with her legs tucked up around her, thinking of him.

Could he have been lying? She pulled her shirt up, moving into the sunlight. The scars were there, she could still feel them all, and she could see them, but just barely. Hundreds, maybe more…all stabbings and cut marks. Experimenting on her, pushing her to heal herself or die trying. Anger swelled in her. If the red was determined to stay with her, she damn sure had the right to know why. He was coming back when she walked out to meet him, the ground rising slightly behind her. “Why are you staying? Why aren’t you trying to take me back to them? Do you think you can just come with me? What do you want with me?” The questions poured out of her, and she forced calm. Stepping back, she awaited his response.

Seven was secretly pleased when Shiloh came out to meet him. Then the questions came and the good feeling faded. "Before I answer your questions, you may want to consider moving. While I was out, I encountered Five along with one of the Blues. Apparently, they took it personally when I returned Six's pack with his heart in it. Some people just can't take a joke, you know?" Shiloh looked at him, a mixture of anger and incomprehension. He experienced a sensation he hadn't had since he was a child: he was nervous. It bothered him how much she affected his emotions. Her hair was dancing even though there wasn't enough wind to blow through it. Her glow had come back and was even more powerful than he ever remembered seeing it, too. "Look, they know we're here. Reds are masters in all contract skills. Blues are simple assassins. Since TOTEM is now sending them out together, it's only a matter of time before the General gets his way and we're dealing with the armed forces instead of just, what was it that Director Role called us? Consultants." Seven offered Shiloh a blue suit that looked like it had been tailored for her. "I thought you might like a change of clothes." Shiloh took the immaculate suit, inspecting it. It hummed with energy. She took it inside the cabin and laid it on the bed. Seven had followed her in and she turned to him. "I want answers, Hunter." She pushed him with the unassuming strength of the earth and he tumbled twently feet through the wall of the cabin and into the middle of the clearing. The earth rose up to envelope him and pressed down on him hard enough to put him in obvious discomfort, despite all of his extensive training. "If you want to live, don't lie to me. I'll know." Shiloh turned and sauntered a few feet away and turned to sit on a chair that wasn't there. As Seven was about to say something, the ground rose up to meet her and formed a very regal-looking throne. "You bathed me and then told me you didn't notice anything different about me. Why did you lie?" "Scars are personal things." He grunted. "I have many similar scars, we could compare them if you'd like." The earth backed off of him slightly, and he found it easier to breathe. "Thank you for that." "Thank you for not lying to me." She tried to hide a smirk, but she knew he'd seen it. "What is your name, Hunter?" "I've been called many things in my time. 'Hunter' is, by far the kindest one. That can be my name if it suits you." The earth closed in on him again. "That's *not* what I aksed you, is it?" "Caleb." he gasped. The earth relaxed its grip once again and he took a deep breath of relief. "Caleb, why are you staying? Why aren't you trying to take me back to TOTEM?" Caleb hesitated and immediately the earth closed around him again. "Because I love you!" He gasped. "You love me?" Shiloh couldn't believe what she heard, though she knew he was telling the truth. "How can you possibly expect me to believe that?" Caleb's face had turned scarlet red from the exertion of not breaking under the pressure. "I don't expect anything from you..." he rasped, stars flashing before his eyes. The ground suddenly spit him out and he landed in a weary heap before her throne. Shiloh leaned down and asked venomously, "Do you think you can just come with me?" Caleb raised his upper body, but didn't meet her gaze. For the first time in years, he could not find the courage. "I will follow you anywhere you wish to go. You have proven over and over again that you do not need me when you have your strength, but what happens while you're recouperating?" He rose to his knees and finally found the strength to look into her eyes. "I can live with the knowledge that you will never love me, but I could never live withuout you. If you truly do not want me with you," he took his newly acquired sunglasses off and placed them on the right arm of her earthen throne, "then please kill me now."

Shiloh looked down at him, and stood in a fluid motion. He was shaky from the force she put on him, and rightly so. That amount of pressure was supposed to hurt. She’d lost almost all of her will the second that he said he loved her. He was on his knees in front of her, and as she watched, he offered her his sword, ready to die at her wishes. She took it, laying it aside and lifting his head with her hand as she knelt. Her voice was lost somewhere within the beating of her heart against her ribs, and it came out low, soft as a whisper. She looked down, then into his eyes. “I feel safe around you, even though I shouldn’t. I get this feeling, that radiates from my heart all the way through me, and I can’t describe it, when your near me. I feel nauseas, like my stomach is…fluttering?” She struggled to explain herself, using her hands now. “It’s like…d****t!” she exclaimed, and in her frustration impaled a tree with a boulder from the nearby river. Seven restrained a laugh, but couldn’t keep a smile from his lips.


“I…I…think about how you hurt me, how you touched me, about what you did to me; And I wonder why you hurt me, if it’s supposed to be like that, hard…and angry. But I also think about how I like the way your hand fit around my neck, and the way it felt like we fit…like a puzzle piece, fitting together with another one. I think about the way you first put your lips on mine…so soft, so sweet. I…I want to touch you. And I want you to touch me.” When Shiloh looked up, there was a new kind of fire in Caleb’s eyes, something that was melting the ice she always saw there. She reached forward without warning, pushing her body against his in a way that pushed them back onto the ground, which rose to cradle them softly as she kissed him. His hands rose, wrapping around her, one at her back and one in her long, earth scented hair. She felt electricity coursing through her, and she parted her lips to receive his tongue. Then she chanced opening her eyes, and saw a flash of blue behind him.


Shiloh broke the kiss, leaning back so she straddled Seven, who saw the urgency in her eyes and started to rise. “No, don’t!” she said, pushing him down with a hand just in time for him to miss a bullet that went through Shiloh’s hair, skirting her head. She glared while opening the ground under the blue man’s feet. It swallowed him whole and the ground closed back harshly, cutting off the scream as his bones broke from the force she exerted. She fell onto Seven’s chest, panting a little. “I think we should move after all…” She said, fighting the feeling of weakness that always accompanied using her gifts. “We?” Caleb asked. “I don’t know if it’s love, what I just described, but it has to be. I’ve read about It in books and I think it’s the same. It feels so much stronger…but look, we DO need to move.” She said, helping him up and leading him inside.
She looked at her new suit and smiled. She started to take her clothes off and felt his eyes on her. Slowly, deliberately, she turned to him, pulling her shirt over her head and letting it fall from her fingertips, watching his eyes as she moved, pulling her hair up with a hair band. He came to her slowly, and she took his hand, tracing it over her scars gently. It was time to trust him. He couldn’t hurt her worse than he already had. If they hadn’t already felt the need to run, She would’ve suggested they move to the bed. But, necessity won out and so she changed, and they packed. Once that was accomplished, they left the cabin. Eventually they’d have to form a plan, but for now, getting away seemed most important.