"I can help you escape the area, but I doubt anything I could do could help you with the pain and guilt of taking a life." Justin jumped down beside her. "That's something you'll have to figure out on your own. I can tell you a story though. I remember the first time I killed a Blade. I was trying to leave the island with my parents and got caught. I guess they detected my powers. The bridge was built on the edge of a cliff, and when I got angry and tried to throw him into the water. He instead landed too close and hit the rocks at the bottom of the cliff. It was the last time I saw my parents, and all I can really remember of them in that moment was their horror that I had used my powers to kill someone. I ran away, believing that they hated me. It wasn't until I met another Outcast that took care of me that I found someone else who cared about me." --- Philip pored some of the liquid in the bottle over the wound, then handed the bottle to the wounded man. "For the pain." he said, then threaded a needle and put on latex gloves. As he stitched up the wound, he asked the man, "so, I take it you're the one that caused the explosion?"

> John looked up at Ice and nodded. He didn't know what the explosion could be but he thought it might be important. He slung his bag over his shoulder and headed up the stairs and out of Ice's house. Once he was oriented he figured that the explosion had come from the forest. He chewed his lip as he waited for Ice. He had a feeling that things were about to change in Redbridge. "I was worried you were going to say that," she mutters. He runs up the stairs and she follows closely behind. As much as she doesn't want to, she needs to stay in a group so that the Blades don't take her on alone.

"Well at least you found someone who cares for you...." Midnight said softly looking at the boy closely. She could sense a corpse ready to pop up to help her if she gets attacked. Then she said "Unless you want to wake up with dead people, I should stay here" as she looked at the place she grew up at.

"Well, I can't say I'm a fan of zombie movies," said Justin, "But as long as they don't attack me or smell too bad, I'm willing to put up with them while you learn to control your powers better."

Midnight snickered "Controlling them is like trying to ride a bull. And zombies always smell bad. They are DEAD." She said crossing her arms chuckling then she felt kind of guilty for acting like the way she was "I'm sorry for how I'm acting." She said softly.

> Midnight snickered "Controlling them is like trying to ride a bull. And zombies always smell bad. They are DEAD." She said crossing her arms chuckling then she felt kind of guilty for acting like the way she was "I'm sorry for how I'm acting." She said softly. "Maybe they can be trained, then?" he asked. "As for the smell, I know where to get some air fresheners." He listened to her apology. "It's understandable. Killing someone is traumatic. Losing control of your powers is frightening, as are zombies. The fact that you experienced all three at the same time makes me wonder how you're holding it together as well as you are. I know I didn't when I killed that guy at the bridge. I lost it and went on a bloody rampage that night. Got a lot of people killed, including several Outcasts."

Midnight let out a short laugh "I-I'm sorry I just had to let out a laugh. One. Getting air fresheners wont make a difference of the smell. They will probably leave something like a arm or their smell will stay. Trust me, I know it might happen." She twirled her amulet in her hands now watching it glow. "And for the wondering, it's kind of a secret" she chuckles.

"Yes" Oliver said. He took a large gulp of the drink which would eventually numb down the insane pain he was feeling. He watched as he stitched up his arm. "I had to. Oh and before you close that up," he said as he used his telekinesis to remove the bullet from his arm. "There" Cerys was gonna faint. She'd seen blood and stuff before but never an injury like this up close. Her gaze moved back and forth from the newcomer, Oliver and the girl.

The camp of Ronan, Jack and Violet had finally calmed down. Violet had listened to Jack's words, only half-awake in essence, but still able to catch all of them and their meanings. Ronan was still wide awake when the explosion went off and watched as Jack scrambled to his feet and gathered his supplies, before heading off in the direction of the noise. As it went off, Violet jumped from her half-asleep stage. "W-What was that?" She mumbled in a slightly panicked voice, rubbing her eyes and looking around the camp, now suffering from the state of being second-winded. "Nothin' darlin', don't worry about it. Go back to sleep." "Where's Jack?" She was sitting up now. Through the fire, she could see Ronan, sitting up against the same tree with his arms crossed. There was a moment of silence, "He ain't here. I'm sure he'll be back." He closed his eyes for a brief moment and already knew what was going to happen. When he opened his eyes against, she was already standing up and stretching. Ronan sighed for a moment, wishing he was a bit more harsh on the kid. It was something like this that would get them killed eventually. Instead of lecturing her over being careless, he stood up and stretched as well as he followed Violet in the direction that Jack had gone. "Jack!" Violet called into the woods, "Wait up!"

Shade chuckled as he watched Aki start to blow up, and decided he'd had enough fun for the moment. "Well, it's been your pleasure to meet, but I'm afriad I must be going now. I do have hunger to fight." Shade quickly replied before he *Stepped*, appearing a short ways away from his previous position: out of sight of where he once was. *Well that wasn't rude at *allllll*.* **Yeah man, ya left em jus' like dat? Cold hearted Robot all the way still!** (I have better things to do right now). With that, Shade started out back into the forest, hoping he *wouldn't* run into anyone this time. *....The bastard tempted Fate.* **Dumbass.** (*Sigh*....).

John starts off towards the forest, looking back every few minutes to make sure Ice is still there. Once they reached the forest John started to move a bit slower, trying to minimize the sound that he created every time he stepped on a dead leaf. Eventually, they reached the site of the explosion. "Shit," John muttered. There were dead Blades scattered around and one tree had been blown up. "Looks like there's an Outcast running around with an affinity for pyrotechnics."

Lily bit her lip. With the addition of a knew guy, it was made more obvious that they were obviously not Blades. They didn't seem like Blades . . . but . . . "You're stilla not trust worthy!" piped in Dae, reading the rest of her thoughts. Just as Pip approached them and readied his sword, Lily raised a and to stop him. She handed Bob over to him and he stopped glowing. Walking forward, her small troupe followed her. "I . . . will trust you . . . but, if you try anything," she said, trying her best to sound intimidating, like the many Blades she had met before; the best she could manage was to look like she was on the verge of crying. At least she tried.

"Sweetheart I'm not going to hurt you" Oliver said. He winced in pain as his arm was being stiched up. "How long have you been out here?" He asked

> Midnight let out a short laugh "I-I'm sorry I just had to let out a laugh. One. Getting air fresheners wont make a difference of the smell. They will probably leave something like a arm or their smell will stay. Trust me, I know it might happen." She twirled her amulet in her hands now watching it glow. "And for the wondering, it's kind of a secret" she chuckles. "A secret way to keep it together when everything starts to fall apart? That'd be nice to know. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to, though." He waited a few seconds. "I'm Justin by the way." He held out his hand, but just then a Coyote walked towards them, getting too close for comfort because it was difficult to see in what little moonlight there was. Justin stood up. "Sorry about this." he said, holding his hands to the side so the beast wouldn't think he's a threat. "I was hoping to wait until tomorrow, but it looks like your training starts tonight." He held up his hand and pale blue rings of energy shot out of it, throwing the Coyote into a tree and snapping its neck. He pulled a Kabar Knife he'd gotten from the same Blade his armor had com from and held it out to her, handle first. With the other hand he pulled a granola bar out of his pocket. "You choose. Either I start you survival training by teaching you to properly skin an animal while we discuss how some death is necessary for survival and some isn't, and then I cook it for our supper, or you show me that your zombies don't have to hurt people by raising a pet for yourself, and we eat granola for supper." --- "Yeah, sorry." said Philip, "It's been so long sense I dealt with a bullet wound that I forgot to get the pieces out." He stitched a few threads, then tied it off and started wrapping the wound with a clean cloth. "So, telekinesis and you blow stuff up? Interesting." he said. "I'm Philip, by the way. So, how many martyrs did you make for the people of the world to hate our kind over the deaths of?" When he was done wrapping the wound, he pulled off his gloves and pulled a tuperware containers from his bag. "Peanuts?" he said, offering it to everyone there. "I also have carrots and dog jerky if you want them."

He took a few peanuts. "Thanks" he said. "Can we not right now please?" He said as he looked at Cerys and the other girl. He ate the peanuts and ran his fingers over his wound.

Midnight looked at him then at the two objects in his hands "The poor thing never had a chance, you know? Now its spirit is trying to bite your leg off. Which is very entertaining" She said simply as she watched the poor Coyote try to bite Justin's leg off. "And I can summon any corpse that's close. And as you should know, death is everywhere. So I have no choice but to pick the first option." She sighed grabbing the knife's handle and gazed at it. Then she looked back at him "And I'm Midnight by the way"

Lily gingerly reached out for a jerky, before snatching it up greedily. Pip and the rest hadn't gone hunting yet, so she was hungry. She spoke with her mouth full. "I've been in this forest for a few days now," said Lily. "Lots of Blades passing through lately." Pip took his place next to Lily's side, and stared at Oliver intently. Meanwhile, Dae was hovering on Lily's other side, pointing Bob at Philip.

Oliver couldn't help but laugh. That had to be the cutest threatening teddy bear ever. "Yup, they're picking up the pace. Haven't seen this much of them around for a while now" he said. "We should head back to the cave" Cerys said. "We can cook the food"

Lily's head perked up. "Oh, we can do that! Bob can cook food inste - ista - imme . . . um . . ." said Lily, struggling to find the right word, but was sadly limited to her 10-year-old under-educated vocabulary. Really, most of her knowledge cam from reading secondhand books that she swiped. In the end she just gave up. "Bob can cook food really really fast." Bob the toaster looked mighty proud for a thing without face . . . or a body.

> He took a few peanuts. "Thanks" he said. "Can we not right now please?" He said as he looked at Cerys and the other girl. He ate the peanuts and ran his fingers over his wound. "Yeah" said Philip, as he pulled out additional containers of food. When he heard the little girl mention the Blades patrols, and the other girl mentioned she hadn't seen this many Blades in a while. "From what I gather from their website, they just got a new Commanding Office. He's trying to make a name for himself by, in his words, 'defeating the terrorist menace.' I was actually out here tonight to make fools out of them and put the video on the internet. It's hard to be a hero when everyone's laughing at you." --- Justin threw a rope over the branch he was standing on earlier and and hoisted the carcass. "You'll need to slit the skin on its belly and pull out the guts." He pulled out a folding shovel from his bag. "I'll dig a pit to bury them in so we don't attract more Coyotes." As he dug he asked her, "So you see ghosts too, huh? Does that mean you'll be haunted by all of the dead Blades on the island too?"