Stars Of Our Lives

Well, There Goes My Life

All four heads immediately whipped towards me.

"There!"

I turned back, bolting towards the road once again. Several shots rang in my ears, making me duck my head as I ran. Then a whizzing sound popped in my ear, and pain burst across my shoulder.

The force behind the bullet shoved me to my knees, hot blood spilling down my shoulder. My mouth opened to scream, but nothing came out. So I forced my backpack off my shoulders and tossed it aside the trail. Somewhere Krel would be able to find it. Then I kept running.

I tried holding a hand over the wound, blood seeping into my sleeve. The pain was only growing, white hot and throbbing on the very edge of my shoulder. It's just a bullet scrape, I heard Mama say, the day she'd taken me to the infirmary at the base. They hurt, they bleed, but they don't kill you.

I could do this.

My feet had barely hit the pavement of the road when the sound started. It was quiet at first, just a weird buzzing that made me crane my neck back to see what it was. Then it exploded. And so did my cranium.

Underneath all the pain, I knew it was static. But the second it hit my ears, it was like taking a flaming knife to the brain. None of the migraines before were anything close to what this felt like. Like someone had a hold of my brain and was squeezing and scratching and stirring until there was nothing left in the world but pain.

I wilted like a daisy on the pavement, gripping my head and wishing I could bury it beneath the asphalt to escape the sound.

"Amazing isn't it?"

The sound cut off, leaving a horrible ache behind.

"They call it White Noise. Only you freaks can hear it. Ain't that just incredible?"

It was like swimming in tar to raise my head. Blood was dripping from my nose. My ears too.

"I hope you enjoyed the woods," The woman laughed. "'Cause you ain't ever seeing them again."

The ache in my heart was so strong it was almost nauseating. I would never see Krel again. I would never see Mama and Papa. Zadra. Varvatos -

No. Not Varvatos. I never wanted to see him again.

The woman rounded me, yanking me onto my knees as she cuffed my hands behind my back. "You got any friends in those woods?"

I opened my mouth to say no, but something stopped me. Of course I would say no. They were probably expecting it. So what weren't they expecting?

"You . . ." I panted. "You . . . killed her."

I felt the woman stop. "Oh that was your friend there? What a shame." Her tone was light, sharp. Like this was all a joke and she knew she was the one telling it.

"Too bad you'll never see her again," The woman kicked the nine millimeter away from me, cuffing my ankles together. "But don't worry. You'll make plenty of friends at camp."

My mouth went dry. I could feel myself begin to tremble. But I forced my upper lip stiff. I wasn't going to cry in front of these monsters. I wasn't giving them that.

"Come on, hon," The woman gripped a fistful of my hair, dragging me forward. "We don't have all day."

I cried and writhed against the grinding pavement, my scalp screaming at me by the time we'd reached a truck parked by the side of the road. It wasn't a pickup, like ours had been. It was like a delivery truck, or a moving van. The inside of the back was lined with two benches, each seat having a restraint.