Project Alpha

Ch. 10 - Running Circles

**Unrelated, but Phil Coulson is such a mood.

POV: our favorite cinnamon roll  <3

The wind rustled the leaves as I ran by. Normally, it wouldn't have bugged me that much, but when your currently sprinting away from an evil organization who wants to make you murder your future family, it's pretty annoying. It sounded like footsteps coming after me, to do nothing but ruthlessly murder a part of me.

The chilly air was only getting colder and colder from here. Who knows what the temperature will be tonight, so I should probably look for shelter- away from Hydra's grasp. What I should be looking for, is Bucky and my mother. I didn't even know her name, but I was eager to find her and see my best friend again.

I tried to think back to the mission I went on previously; attacking the Avengers. Screwed that one up, didn't I? Fortunately, I did get to see the people I'm locating. Unfortunately, most of the mission details and what happened are things I can't remember anymore. Meanie must've wiped it clean before I rendered him unconscious.

He had it coming.

Absorbed in my thoughts, I didn't even notice the sound of the now-distant alarms stopping. Why did they stop? Maybe something or someone knew I was going to try and escape? Was... A HYDRA agent capable of mind reading? I suppose it's also possible that I wasn't the one who set off the alarm...

Based on the counting I did in my head, I had been running full speed for approximately nineteen minutes. I didn't know how fast I was actually going, but I was at least a few miles away from the base.

The sun was setting now, painting the sky in all sorts of pastel colors. It looked peaceful, calming, and free; like me. Stars were now littering the vast purple horizon in small white speckles.

Based on the amount of stars I could see, I assumed I was pretty far away from civilization. Either that or this was a rural part of who knows where. Any second now I would come across some old farmhouse with a large corn field. Not sure if that would be a good or bad thing.

I wonder what Bucky was thinking right now. Probably with those other people- the Avengers- thinking about me, maybe even those other kids. I didn't know became of Wanda and Pietro; I hope their okay, deep down I know they're good people who've just been forced into bad things. Maybe the Avengers and I can help them too, like they will for me.

That is, assuming I ever find them.

"Do you even know how to set that up, Douglas?" My enhanced hearing picked up a voice from my right. I froze and listened for more.

"Well, yeah. Of course I know how to set up a tent, Gwen!" Another voice, this time male, sounded like he really didn't know what he was doing.

"Sure about that?" A third voice teased whom I assumed was Douglas. All three of these mystery people sounded pretty young, maybe around my age bracket.

"Shut up, Lev!" They continued laughing and joking around and I edged closer to where I hear them. Peering around the trunk of a rather large tree, I spot three teenagers. One was failing to put up a tent- probably Douglas. The girl, Gwen, was setting up what looked like a campfire. The final person was sitting back in a folding chair drinking a can of soda, relaxing while his friends do the hard work.

"Lev, get off your ass and help me!" Douglas whined and Lev groaned.

"Eh... I don't know. That seems like a lot of work and you've got it covered."
Douglas glared at him. Lev shrugged and sighed before draining his drink. "Fine."

With everyone distracted with their backs to me, I snuck out and ran towards a basket. My nose told me that their was food, so I grabbed the handle and an extra tent.

"Hey!" I froze.

"Did you guys hear that?" Damn it, I guess I wasn't being that stealthy. I ducked behind a huge rock. I wasn't completely sure it covered my head though.

"You're probably going senile, Doug." Gwen snickered and went back to starting a fire with some matches.

Douglas frowned and pivoted to face Lev, "I think there's a bear!" Lev's face paled and he started shaking.

"Y'all are chickens."

"I'm telling you, there's something out there!"

"Bawk, bawk!" Gwen flapped her arms widely like a giant bird. It was pretty amusing, I'll admit. I could've stuck around to see it, but I didn't. I hightailed to the cover of trees and ran.

The air stung my cheek. I had tried to wipe away the blood, but I think it dried up. Would the smell attract a bear? Maybe camping wasn't such a great idea. Still, it'll work and I'll take anything I can get.

I continued running into the trees before finally finding a suitable spot. I didn't bother setting up the tent, but instead I used it as an oversized sleeping bag. Setting it up beneath a bush gave me a bit of cover, which I was grateful for. I was also extremely thankful for the food I got, as I was pretty hungry. It was tempting, but I only nibbled on a saltine cracker.

I don't like this chapter but whatever. I'm kinda of loosing interest, seeing as I'm working on something else (it's not published at the moment). Don't worry though, I will finish this because I'm that type of person.

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