[IC] ᴀᴘᴏᴛʜᴇᴏsɪs: __ɢᴇɴᴇsɪs

[Grim Fandango]

2:03 PM, somewhere in rural North California

It had been perhaps five minutes since Cole came to, and he was still incredibly disorientated. Blood dripped from the side of his head from a newly formed gash down on to his neck. His shirt, covered in both dry and fresh blood, was held tightly in his hand. He stumbled a little as he walked, dizzied by the crash that had taken place a short time ago. This whole situation was such a fucked up blur to him - first, he had been imprisoned against his will by an unknown organization, and then he had ended up in the wreckage of a burning train that had somehow been blown off it's tracks. There were a good fifteen carriages on the train, and it looked like each probably housed two cells such as the one Cole had been kept in. Several had been bust open by the crash, but many simply burned, meaning whatever - or whoever, was inside, was gone now.

Cole was one of the lucky ones, it seemed - he had tried finding and helping whoever was in the cell beside him, but they were already gone. He could see a few others who had crawled out of the wreckage, but he had not tried approaching them, instead edging closely towards a nearby small stream. He stumbled down on to his knees by the side of the stream and pulled his bloodied shirt over his head before cupping some of the water in his hands and splashing it in to his face. He exhaled and rolled over on to his back, his rib aching from the crash - most likely broken. "Fuck..." He cursed, grasping his ribcage and biting his lip in pain.

He closed his eyes and maintained his look of pain.

Ten minutes prior...

Cole twitched, sitting semi-comfortably against the cold wall of the metal container with his shirt taken off in his hands. It'd been almost two days since he awoke in this box without any sort of explanation for why he was in there, the only piece of information he could find was the word 'ᴀᴘᴏᴛʜᴇᴏsɪs' beveled in to one of the walls. It wasn't his first time locked in a cell, but it was the first time he was locked in a cell for no apparent reason, and by people other than the police. Some sort of drug cartel he'd accidentally crossed, perhaps? The government? He wasn't really sure. But either way, he'd given up pacing the floor and shouting at the guards - which he'd been doing almost nonstop for two days. He had concluded that the cells were soundproofed anyway, as he never heard footsteps or any other kind of notion of guards approaching before his food and water were pushed in to the cell every now and then. Another conclusion he had came to fairly early on was that he was on a train, the rattling of the rails being constant other than a short period the day before.

On the up side, he hadn't had any more glitchy visions. They had started to become somewhat of a problem in recent times, but ever since he was thrown in to the cell, he had not experienced anything out of the ordinary. He tried not to focus on it, though, because the more he let it play on his mind, the more paranoid he would become and he'd probably end up losing his shit, like he had shortly after he woke up in the container. His knuckles were bloodied, some of the dry blood spattered on the shirt in his hands - a result of Cole hitting the door after the hundredth time of calling out for some kind of response. But nothing ever came. So he just waited it out.

Cole tapped his foot on the ground, incredibly uncomfortable with the uncertainty of his situation. It was not normal. This was not normal. You don't see this shit on the news. This was some government conspiracy shit. He shivered even thinking about what could be going on, tilting his head back and grimacing, his jaw tightly closed and his fists clenched. Cole did not have the correct temperament to be sitting in a box with no control, and if it wasn't for his growing exhaustion he would still be banging on the walls.

Oddly, whoever had imprisoned Cole had not took much from him. They had removed his mobile, but his wallet remained and he still wore the clothing that he had two nights previous. Without any way to pass the time, Cole would just sit and look at his sparsely filled wallet.

"Maybe it doesn't matter if this is it." He soliloquized, knowing that nobody else was there to judge him speaking to himself, rambling more out of frustration than insanity. He had very little left going for him - he was broke, he'd lost most of his friends, and worst of all, he hadn't spoken to his grandparents in months. He merely sighed and peered at the photo of his grandfather and grandmother that was tucked neatly in to the corner of his wallet. "I'm sorry."

"I didn't mean to let you down..." He breathed under his own breath, trying somehow to direct his thoughts to his grandparents - who, for all he knew, he would never see again. "I just wish I-."

The next twenty seconds were hard to piece together. First the lights in Cole's container flickered out and a bellowing screech of metal could be heard somewhere further along the tracks. Before he had any time to react, Cole felt gravity working against him as he pushed hard against the metal wall and raised several feet. The sound of the tracks stopped, Cole felt time slow. Whatever had been stopping his visions was now rendered useless, and he could feel the flow of time change. His breathing calmed despite the circumstances and he turned his head, his eye-line returning to the word on wall for his final seconds before blacking out...

ᴀᴘᴏᴛʜᴇᴏsɪs

[twave]

To say that Sarah was pissed would be an understatement. For once she'd been minding her own business, not bothering anybody when she got nabbed. Or at least that's what she assumed anyway. The exact circumstances that lead her to be in this train car were unclear. But she was pretty sure she hadn't been punching someone's face in or running from the cops. There was only a vague memory of being hauled around by a couple suits and then waking up here. The sensation of train movement was a familiar one. She'd freighthopped a few times so she knew right away that wherever she was going was probably a good distance. You don't put stuff on a train if it's just going across town.

That said this was more like a prison on wheels. Being locked up wasn't unfamiliar but this was like a suped up juvi you'd find in a comic book. Full metal walls, extra solid door, no windows, and fed through a slot. Initially the girl had almost laughed until she nearly broke her hand attempting to throw a solid punch at the door. Her strength and resilience had vanished. Clearly whoever had her locked up they knew what they were doing and what they were up against. This did scare her since it meant that her captors were in a league of their own. But that fear ended up masked behind anger and frustration. After making a whole lot of noise and banging on the walls either no one could hear or they didn't care.

Eventually giving into the present circumstance the teenager just found herself trying to keep herself entertained whilst fuming. Not a lot to do trapped in a metal box other that wait and twiddle one's thumbs. Plotting to take advantage of the next opportunity to maul one of the guards was the best solace she had for the moment. Her wish was soon to be answered, though not in a way she expected.

Sarah had been laying down when the lights flickered. It was just enough for her to open her eyes before the horrendous sound of groaning and squealing metal filled her ears. A train wreck was deadly under most circumstances to all onboard and the rude awakening caused a moment of panic as her body was tossed around. Thankfully whatever mechanism that had been inhibiting her powers was down. Becoming another dangerous flying object the car she was in landed on one end and crumpled like a can.

Being physically unharmed, well mostly, Sarah was still in a daze. What the hell just happened? It took a solid two minutes before she got her wits about her and pried herself loose from the twisted wreckage. The scene before her looked like what you would expect, but nothing ever prepares you for. There wasn't any time to stand around in shock and awe though. Whoever's train this was were likely to learn of what happened and come rummaging through there. Spotting a stream she groaned lightly from her sore body. Aside from the discomfort though she was fine and walked away from the carnage like she hadn't just been in it.

Arriving at the stream she looked around. Not one for geography or knowing the kind of plant life on any area it was hard to make out where she was. It was hilly with lots of trees. The middle of nowhere basically. This is great. Wilderness survival was not her thing. Whilst piecing together what to do she noticed that others were making their way down to the stream as well. Though from what she could tell they were a lot worse for wear than she was. None of them appeared to be dressed in any kind of uniform like some of the dead guards or appeared armed. Feeling rather confident she didn't make much on an effort to hide. If one of them wanted to make trouble she should be able to overpower them by their injuries alone.

[Lemons]

Tori shivered spasmodically, flicking her lighter uselessly for the umpteenth time since she'd been awoken. She hadn't the faintest idea what was happening. She'd gone to bed, ready to sleep and go to school to next day. Everything had been utterly, splendidly normal, at least as far as normal had ever gone for Tori. Then...a strange in-between blur, not quite awake, not quite asleep. Some kind of light. The familiar feeling of a lighter's flickwheel under her thumb, the hypnotic glow of leaping flames. Pain. Dully gleaming metal, the agonizing sensation of seizing muscles, and blackness. Then light, then darkness again. Sterile fluorescents, the thump of being carried like a sack of potatoes over someone's shoulder. A seemingly-neverending series of broken images blitzing through her skull. Then wakefulness, and above all, cold.

Wherever she was--some kind of train car, she thought--it had seemingly neutralized any of her exceptional talents. Normally this wouldn't be all too frustrating to Tori. She didn't actually use them all that much under normal circumstances, though if she ever got out of whatever this was, that might change. However, she'd not counted on one thing: her body heat. That feverish heat that consumed so many of her calories and gave her so much energy had fled, leaving her running three degrees lower. Not that much, one might think. Three degrees is nothing. Not so; she was beset with a feeling of through-and-through frigidity, shivering into soreness and numbed into barely being able to think. She flicked the lighter again, cupping her hands around the flame and desperately trying to absorb the warmth into her, but to no avail; the cold remained.

At first, she'd thought that the food they gave her would be insufficient; indeed not. Her caloric intake had gone down to match anybody else's, leaving her feeling bloated and unpleasant whenever she ate. She'd barely touched her food, and she could feel it; her stomach had shrunken even further past it's usual state. The food had been stacked meticulously in one corner of her cell. Obsessively arranging and perfecting the organization of the pyramid had been her only activity for the past two days. Beyond that, she'd huddled against one of the cold metal walls, desperately trying to generate some of her old heat and failing utterly. Her eyes bored into the word on the wall opposite her: Apotheosis. She knew that word, but her addled mind couldn't seem to retrieve it from her limp brain.

"So...cold..." she mumbled mindlessly, rendered nearly incomprehensible through her chattering teeth.

Then the lights died, and for a moment, Tori relaxed. I'm dead, aren't I? Took them long enough. The cold stillness pervaded.

Then, in a sudden flash of light behind her eyes, the heat rushed back, and she surged back to life. Her mind raced. Her body suffused with the renewed flow of blood, and for the brief instant before the bone-rattling crunching of metal on metal smashing itself into tin cans, she grinned, clenching her fists and fingering the lighter.

She was totally unprepared for the sound, and for the gravity. She felt the oddest sensation of weightlessness, and in the utter blackness, she once again wondered if this was what it was like to be dead, before the wall rushed sideways to meet her and she ragdolled across her cell, feeling a deep, crunching pain in her right leg. Her teeth clenched together as her lips pulled back into a soundless snarl. If I'm lucky, she thought grimly, that isn't broken. She didn't really have a whole lot of time to think about it before the train car cannoned into a solid object, dashing her against the floor and exploding an array of brilliant colors behind her eyes. She spat blood, and the cell opened up, a huge rift to the outside world appearing next to her.

She tried to stand, but her hurt leg fell out from under her. It probably wasn't broken, didn't hurt enough to be, but it was still plenty painful, and she ended up falling to the ground and settling for a weak crawl out into the broad light of day. Fire swelled up into the gap where spilled fuel had ignited, and she calmed the raging blaze with a weak wave of her hand, sending it shuddering into the ground as she emerged into the sun.

She tried to stand again, and this time, she managed to struggle to her feet. Though she limped heavily, it was still faster and infinitely less degrading than crawling, so she bit her way past the pain and grunted as she felt a half-dozen other minor pains across her body. The worst of them was a slash across her left arm where a jagged shard of metal had bit into it as she crawled out, and though it wasn't bleeding enough to worry about killing her, she still grimaced. I should really get that cleaned up and bandaged.

Casting her eyes about, she set her sights on a stream, and began limping towards it. Before too long, she caught some movement out of the corner of her eye, and saw a girl about her age, maybe a little younger, walking towards the same stream, stride easy, seemingly without any pain. Angling slightly away from her, Tori continued limping. I have no idea who you are, and you better not come any closer, she thought, frowning angrily as she flicked her lighter. I've had enough trouble today.

[Treue]

Taylor was a nervous wreck, not having slept for the entire time since his captivity. He didn't understand what was happening to him, or why. First the incident in his class, and now being held prisoner on a train since the day after. Thinking about it was getting him nowhere fast, as whenever he tried to call upon that force again he was unable to bring it out. Because of this he wasn't even able to actually figure out what exactly it was that he had done.

"I guess it doesn't really matter right now..." he spoke to himself, not having anyone else to converse with. "I wonder what they're planning. Am I the only one, or are there others? And why couldn't I have been given a change of clothes or something..." Taylor sighed as he tugged at his sweat soaked blue tee shirt under his zip up red plaid hoodie. "Ugh, this is so gross... If I ever get out, I'm going to kiss the first washing machine I see."

It didn't take long after those words until a terrible squeeling beseeched Taylor's ears. He could feel the train's momentum shifting and knew something bad was about to happen. In a few seconds everything had gone horribly wrong. The train had been derailed, its carts separating, and apparently whatever had been preventing Taylor from accessing his new ability had been disabled. He screamed as he became airborne, and out of instinct his power activated, much in a similar way to how it first manifested itself.

Inadvertently, Taylor had absorbed all the kinetic energy withing ten feet of himself from the train car, halting it mid-air. As immediately as this happened, the energy released itself in a kinetic explosion, decimating his metal crate along with the train cart around it. Anyone else in the cart with him would be quite shaken up by this, though their own crate would shield them from the brunt of the blast, and likely be broken open as well. Once he realized he was floating however, Taylor simply fell seven feet to the ground, as he knew not how to control this ability yet. He landed with a hard thud on his right side, wincing in pain. "Yeah... That's gonna hurt later, I can feel it."

Slowly coming to a stand, Taylor rubbed his ribs on his right side, trying to ease the discomfort he felt. Looking around, he noticed others stepping out of the debris of the train. From what he could tell, the all seemed to be prisoners like him. "Probably a bit awful to say, but I'm glad I wasn't the only one." Seeing some people walking down toward a nearby stream, Taylor decided to do the same. He began a light jog down a hill toward the stream, though swiftly tripped over a root sticking up from the ground, sending himself into a tumble down the hill. Taylor came to a stop flat on his face in the grass next to the stream, his entire body now sore from the events which had unfolded.

"Fuck..." the voice spoke next to Taylor. When he looked over, then was another man next to him, lying on his back. Taylor put on the best smile he could muster, which admittedly was a very weak one, and gave his response.

"Rough day, huh?"

[Leotamer]

Alex had been in two prisons.

The first prison was made of metal. It was metal bars, metal walls, and metal doors. It was moving.

The second prison was his on mind. When he was not eating or sleeping, he was balled up in a corner. He would mutter to himself, "Something is preventing me to using my power. This seems intentional. So either they know something may power can do that I don't, or there is others. Though, it appears they want us alive, but death might be preferable to what they want to do to me. They don't seem to care about our comfort, like we are just animals."

Though, one thing particularly caught his interest. He could see a single word on the wall from his cell, "Apotheosis". He had never heard the word before, but it sounded Latin. He thought out loud, "-Osis, that means a disease right. Are we sick? I don't think we heading to a hospital though."

When the train derailed, he had a split second to throw his arms up to protect his head, though that was not enough to stop him going unconscious. He woke up shortly after, bruised and slightly bloody, but he was pretty sure none of his bones broke. He had seen another person in the train with him, but he was already gone by time he woke up.

As the fog of just waking up began to lift, a thought came to mind, "Run." It was a primal emotion filled by adrenaline. He weakly stumbled away from the train until reaching a stream, at which he let him collapse to the ground. "I just need a minute." he said, weakly trying to assure himself.

[Vec]

^{Mention: @Lemons}

It is true what they say, that in the split seconds between life and death, one experiences their whole lives flashing before their eyes. From childhood to teenage years and then to present time, those few precious seconds really have a deep impact on a person's perception of reality and life.

Is this the end? Have I done everything I've wanted to do? I guess this is some twisted form of luck? No? But there was nothing I could do to change the outcome...

...is this the end?

Surprisingly, I found myself in this strange, almost limbo-like sensation, not quite floating as much as briefly levitating, inside the damaged car flying up in the air following its crashing onto the car in front of it. In this split second of weightlessness, I experienced a very strange sensation. Gone were the voices constantly disturbing my thoughts and inhibiting my actions; gone was that foul, detestable impulsion to listen to the constant ramblings of someone I knew, deep down, was not who I truly was. For one small, fleeting moment, I felt liberated.

However, what goes up ultimately must come down. Why? Because gravity, that's why.

---

There was a slight movement among the remnants of broken metal, smoke, and embers of the crashed train car. The occasional sound of rolling rubble was the only thing breaking the silence that had enveloped the scene of destruction. The familiar feeling of impulsiveness had returned, much to Kyle's dismay, along with a pounding headache to boot. Those were the only two things Kyle could feel as he regained consciousness. Then, he started snickering.

Truly, the situation seemed so utterly absurd to him, that he could not help but laugh. "Finding out that I'm even more of a freak than I thought was a surprise, but manageable nonetheless", thought Kyle with an amused look on his face. "In come these MIB-looking ass BITCHES with their tranquilizer guns and SHIT; I mean damn dude, did you really have to do that? What do I look like, a fucking moose or something?" Very quickly, however, amusement turned into full-blown anger, both towards the people that put him into this precarious situation as well as himself for putting down his guard and letting himself be caught in this mess.

"But how could I know? These fuckers seemed like they knew I had the power even before I did, to be able to get me so soon after its first activation. I mean for Christ's sake, give me a break!"

Kyle mumbled to himself as he tried to stand up, but soon realized he had lost all feeling in his left arm. With much struggle, he managed to crawl his way out of the destroyed train car, found a piece of metal jutting out of the ground, probably a part of one of the walls of the car, and propped himself on it before standing up.

He wiped the grime off his face and looked at his surroundings for the very first time. "Well, that's one less thing on my to-do list before I die, be in a fucking train crash. Great, just great..."

As he scanned the scene, he realized he was not the only one that had survived the crash. He saw three others, two dudes sitting near a creek some distance away from ground zero and a punk-looking girl that was walking towards them. With a heavy sigh, Kyle held his left arm tight and started walking hurriedly towards the creek as well.

Before too long, however, he caught movement with the corner of his eyes, and when he turned to see what it was, he saw a girl, limping her way towards the creek, but evidently steering clear of the rest of the group. Kyle felt a strong urge to just leave her to do her thing, but after some consideration, he decided to see if she needed any help. Who knew when those suited bastards returned to round up what was left of the survivors. At that time, even if he wanted, he wouldn't be able to help. With heavy steps, he walked towards her, and once he was close enough to be heard, he called out to her.

"Hey, why not come over to where the others are gathering?"

[twave]

Sarah and Alex

Location - Stream Bank

After watching several survivors stumble their way over to the stream, Sarah wondered how many actually survived. Perhaps being in those cars actually managed to save their lives. Either way a couple seemed to collapse once they made it to the waters edge. Who are all these people and why were they all being transported in what was essentially a mobile prison? Some of them looked rough around the edges but most seemed pretty average.

A good example was a blonde guy, probably a year or two older that Sarah herself. If he were actually standing straight he would be a whole head taller. From the looks of it Sarah might be the short one of the bunch. Not that she minded that. It was one thing that made people underestimate her. Back on track though the boy collapsed presumably to rest. Ordinarily this would be around the point that she would just wander off and leave everyone to fend for themselves. But here she was outside her element. It's one thing to survive in the city and another to be out in the wilderness.

Grumbling to herself she wandered over to Alex and did her best to nudge him with her foot. "Hey, you still alive?" She knelt down on her haunches and waited impatiently for an answer.

Alex looked over at the stranger, and if he had saw her on the street his first thought would be get away, however this is not the time to particular about who to befriend. He paused for a moment before replying, "Oh, yeah. Just a bit bruised. So.." he paused, wondering if he should bring up the whole thing about powers. "Yeah, I am fine. You?" he said, trying to change the subject.

Glancing over Alex's injuries she shrugged lightly and raised her arms from her sides. "Doing a whole lot better than you are." Smirking slightly she leaned closer before glaring down at Alex. You wouldn't happen to know why everyone was on that train do you?" She put her left hand down flat against his chest rather roughly.

Alex gently tried to move her hand to the side and starting to sit up on one knee. He glanced both ways and started to speak quietly, "I have a theory, but I am not sure if everyone should know this. You seem like you won't panic." he said before pausing a moment, "Um, I seen this word, 'Apotheosis' on the wall. I think it might be a disease. I found that I could do things.. things people shouldn't be able to do, or maybe it just in my head. I think about a person, and then they start doing better."

Allowing the hand to be moved Sarah watched as the blonde sat up. Since he was whispering that told that he didn't want what was going to be said spread around. For a moment her hopes of getting a solid answer were up. But what she got was rather vague, at least to her. She got that he believed that he may have some special ability but the explanation didn't really clear anything up. Her expression conveyed that whatever he was saying sounded a bit crazy. "Huh?"

He sighed, and thought he should of guessed it would sound crazy. He raised his voice back to normal and said, "Maybe I just hit my head harder than I thought, but maybe it will just be easier to show you." he said, rooting around in the dirt before finding a rock, and presenting it to her. "Throw this." he said, while focusing on her and letting an invisible cloud of energy to wash over her as he thought about her upper body strength.

What exactly was this kid getting at. Clearly he didn't know what she was capable of which was somewhat relieving. Though she wasn't entirely keen on showing her power just yet. But she was curious so rather than calling him crazy she took the stone and stood back up. Glancing around she made sure no one else was watching. Before throwing though she pointed down at Alex. "You keep quiet about this or you'll end up like this rock." Drawing back she aimed at the wreckage and threw it like a baseball. Now she could have thrown such a small object pretty hard already but the stone might as well have been fired from a gun because it closed the distance in the blink on an eye and exploded into dust.

Taken aback by the sudden increase in her own strength Sarah's eyes opened wide. She glanced at her hand for a moment and then back at the train. She mouthed a few words before turning back to Alex. "Okay...alright. I think I get you now." She offered a hand to help him up. If he had some special ability then they were probably on board for the same reason. Plus someone that can boost her like that would be good to have around in a pinch.

He took her hand and stood up, trying to shake off the dust from his clothes. As he thought, the other people on the train must had some thing special about them, she must already be super-strong. Though, that was her holding back, what could she do alone when she actually tried, much less boosted by his power. He allowed the fog of energy to return to him.

"I stopped using my power on you. It can drain me fairly quickly if I am not careful, and we might need it. If those people are willing to kidnap us once, they will probably try again, and I am not sure if they want us alive, or need us alive. I think everyone on that train had some type of... power. I am not one for groups, but I think we need to stick together unless you also happen to be bullet-proof." he said, gesturing with his head towards other people along the creak.

"Hmm..." Turning around and looking at the other survivors Sarah mulled over the idea. The more of them stuck together could be helpful depending on what they could do. That is if they could get along with one another. A girl a little earlier gave her a look that told her she wanted to be left alone. "It would help our odds. Who do you think we should talk to first?" Alex seemed like a more trusting soul than she was. To her the others seemed like potential trouble in the making.

@Leotamer

[NuttsnBolts]

Ｅ Ｐ Ｐ Ｉ Ｅ

_{Location: Rural North California}

◆ ◆ ◆

Eppie tumbled through the thick shrubbery, thrown from the sudden explosion and twisting wreckage of the train that had previously contained her. Her small body bounced across the ground like a limp ragdoll as it impacted every few meters before landing in a long, grazing slide; a slide that was abruptly stopped by that of a fallen tree. She instantly gasped for air as her chest pounded into the dried wood, crushing into her unsuspecting lungs. Eppie froze as she laid in the forest, hugging a dead tree, performing a series of empty gulps that would hopefully fill her lungs with a balloon worth of much needed oxygen.

It would take some time for the girl to recompose herself, time that left her dazed and on the verge of passing out for Eppie could feel a deep, searing pain gradually flow through her body. She could feel it from her abdomen—something foreign, and invasive. Slowly coming to the realisation her breath quickened from one extreme to the next, her own mind taking in the series of chronological events. It was time to uncover this mysterious pain, to face the fear that was in the back of her mind..

With both hands firmly against the log the girl pushed her body away—slowly, carefully, hesitantly. She didn't want to tear open her insides, didn't want to cause any more harm to her bruised and battered body. As she gazed down the teen could see a short, yet rather pointy, branch leaving the side of her stomach; a red stain left dripping from the tip of the timber skewer.

"Oh-God! Fuck-this, fuck! Egh," incomprehensible babble.

A wound? Yes.
Deep? No.
Painful? Extremely.
Eppie crumbled to the ground as her body was released from the Chinese Finger Trap of branches. She was now... free. The prison, the walls of steel, the empty silence that had begun to haunt her as she travelled to the undisclosed location—all of it was gone in an instant, but she wasn't alone.

The soft sounds of human speech made its way into her ears, teenage voices and young adults. Eppie looked up and surveyed the landscape, peering through the mess of metal and fire. With one hand pressed against her side and the other to the ground she pushed her body upright, onto her knees, and eventually her feet. She proceeded with a staggering walk, baby footsteps, as she approached the vocal individuals.

"Are these... the survivors..." she whispered as she reached the group and fell to her knees. Patches of blood stained her clothes but she was alive, and she had survived.

[dreamingflowers]

Malena

---

"Malena....sweetheart...."

The voice did not manage to stir the young woman. She by some miracle had survived the terrible train crash. It almost looked like she was sleeping, were it not for the nasty purple bruise on her left cheek and the odd angle of her sprawled out limbs. At a dangerous proximity to her, were multiple burning cabins and whatever else had remained after the crash. The voice attempted again, if the girl didn´t move soon she wouldn´t live after all.

"Come on dear, wake up"
Still nothing. The wind played with her hair, moving a strand across her face. It felt as if someone was caressing her cheek. The warm sun was shining down on her, something she hadn't felt for days. Where was she.....? Eyes still closed she was slowly regaining consciousness. It wasn't happening fast enough, the wreckage hissed and stirred dangerously. All it needed was a spark and the whole thing would go up in a sea of flames.

"MALENA!"
Her eyes shot wide open, only to be blinded by the bright light of the sun. She squinted and shielded her eyes. Her heart was beating a million miles an hour. That voice, it was so clear, the familiarity startled her. Now fully conscious she became aware of her aching body. Every inch of her hurt, like someone had kicked her down the stairs, pulled her back up and pushed her down again. She tried to prop herself upright with her hands but a sharp stinging pain in her left wrist forced her to sit up without using her left hand. It took a worrisome amount of effort to do so. She brushed away the gravel that dug painfully into her skin. The smell of something burning was overwhelming. She had to get out of here.

Malena slowly tried to stand up, winching whenever she moved in the wrong way, her body still adjusting to the trauma of the crash. It didn't make much of a difference if she was conscious of her movements, because there really wasn't any part of her body that didn't hurt. Her head won out though, with a dark purple bruise on her cheek, she suspected she hit her head the hardest. After she managed to get up she took a few deep breaths. She was starting to feel dizzy and slightly nauseous.

The young woman began to move away from the crash site, not really paying attention to where she was going. The identity of the people who had kidnapped her and the danger of the situation should have been the subject of her thoughts, instead was this hauntingly familiar voice, one Malena believed had woken her up. At a safe distance from the site Malena turned around, her eyes searching the wreckage, and in particular the place where she had ended up afterwards. A look of disappointment crossed her face and she smiled sadly, what was she expecting anyway?

She wrapped her arms around her battered body, hugging herself, feeling tears well up in her eyes. For a few moments Malena pretended to see what she had thought, she had wanted to see.

"Thanks Mom..." She whispered under her breath, chills running down her arms.

Malena walked farther away from the burning train wreck towards a small stream. Her heart made a small jump for joy finding there were more survivors gathering down there. If she had been in better shape she would have checked to see if anyone needed help but the dizziness wasn't going away so she began to worry if she might have suffered a concussion. With considerable effort she managed to reach the stream. Even though the situation was pretty bad, the natural beauty of the environment managed to contain the lurking feelings of panic at the back of her mind.

She held up the skirt of her embroidered maxi dress, so she wouldn't trip and fall into the stream. When she was close enough to the water she took of her gloves and rolled up the sleeves of her denim jacket, not realizing she might be exposing her non existent dermatitis. Leaning forward she suddenly felt something wet and warm trickling down her nose. Little flecks of red stained the running water below her and her hand shot up to her nose in an automatic reflex. Her mind was racing trying to remember the causes of nosebleeds, because she feared it had something to do with her bumping her head. She sat back and held her nose, trying to stay calm. From what she could remember hed trauma didn't cause nosebleeds.

After it subsided Malena washed away the blood on her hands, a still slightly worried look on her face. She sat on her knees, lost on what to do next. If any of the people who had abducted her and the others survived they might come looking for more survivors. Malena had no idea what they wanted from her, or even who they were. She had deducted it was connected to her ability and that they were taking her someplace far away, but somehow she doubted it was to help her. All she really wanted was to call her family, they were all she had been thinking about for the past two days. They were probably worried sick, she knew they were, knowing her brothers they would be interrogating her friends right about now, which in spite of everything that had just transpired brought a small smile to her face.

Malena could hear two people talking within earshot and she turned to see who they were. They sounded like two guys, but as they were both laying flat on the ground she wasn't one hundred percent sure. One of them seemed to be doing most of the talking and she instinctively wondered why the other guy wasn't talking back. Maybe he was badly injured? She'd made it out pretty well, considering what had happened, maybe not all of them were so lucky. As a nurse in training it was near impossible for her to stay away and frankly she didn't want to. Obviously it could be dangerous but her inner drive to help won out. She carefully made her way over to the pair, her sandals making a crunching sound on the pebbles that covered most of the ground near the stream.

"Hey are you guys okay?" She asked, concern evident in her voice.

One of the guys lay on his stomach. He was the smaller one of the two, dressed in red hoodie, she couldn't tell if he had any serious injuries to his upper body, it being covered and all. The other guy looked way worse for wear. She took in his condition. He was definitely in pain, anyone could tell that by looking at his face. There was a nasty gash on the side of his head, that was bleeding badly. If he was as hurt as he looked, losing blood would only make it worse. They needed to put pressure on that wound right away. Malena kneeled down beside the two men, while at the same time trying to come up with some kind of makeshift bandage, or at least something to put on that cut.

She bit her lip, tucking a lock of hair behind her ear, her glove touching the side of her face. It was really the only fabric she had on hand, or at least one she could use right away. It was cleaner than ripping up her dress, which had seen better days.

"We should put some pressure on that" She offered gently.

@Grim fandango
@Treue

[6slyboy6]

The metal walls of the container echoed in silence. Thobias sat in the corner, his hand resting on his knee, his back leaning against the steel. He eyed the near-invisible door on the other side of the container, sealed airtight and it's outlines barely distingushable from the rest of the walls. The small slit on the bottom of the door remained closed no matter how much he focused on it. He sighed, and turned his attention to one of the MREs next to him. He wasn't sure why they would give him pre-packaged food instead of using the slit on the door, but he had his guesses. The floor shook a for a second and the dim light on the roof flickered for a second. Then it all went back to normal, the silence enveloping the air. His own breathing and his heart beating were the only sounds audiable. He sighed an turned to one of the meals net to him, packed up in a neat order.

He opened the zipper on the top and the package started to heat up it's contents. Maybe this wasn't so bad after all. He's been tying to run away for so long but the luxury always kept him home. Whoever abducted him will make sure that he doesn't have that need at least. They made one hell of a job at making him think so far. 2 days in this enclosed space and you start to go insane. First you lose your sense of time, and your sleep cycle goes out the window. Then you begin to feel the need of socialising, and you start to talk to yourself like some kind of a nutjob. Soon your thoughts are filled with ideas about your suicide, but the room offers little help with it. He tried bashing his head against the wall once, but he ended up passing out and woke up with a headache a few hours later. Or he tought.

Time wasn't exactly he could measure. They took everything from him after he was captured, apart from his clothes. Thobias looked down at his arm where his watch used to be, and sighed as gave up on trying to find any comfort in the cell. He started to dig in the MRE but he kept his eyes on the door. If only someone opened the slit on the bottom he could blink out. He refrained from using the ability in hopes of his captors releasing him, thinking he has no powers, but the plan hasn't yielded any results. Maybe if he kept doing this for a few more days...or hours. His head was filled with chaotic images and sounds in a cacophony and he wasn't sure how long he could endure this imprisonement for much longer. He has slept 4 times since he woke up intially, and he guessed that it was his fourth day in the cell. He did the quick math, but he didn't know where they could be taking him with a train insisde the States that would take over 4 days.

But whoever captured him had a good idea about his powers. He could only remember the initial impact on the back of his headm abd then hitting the ground. Then everything went black and he woke up here. Which means that him hiding his ability may not be the best course of action. He gulped down the last of the meal, and then cramped the plastic foil into a small ball. Maybe it was time to test his abilities and try to escape.

Tobias threw the ball towards the door, and then tried to blink forward to catch it. He expected to catch the ball on the other side of the room, but he found himself falling on his face in surprise. He blinked no more than 10 centimeters, a distance he could've bested by walking. The surprise of not being where he imagined it toom him off guard, and he lost his balance. As he lied on the floor, thinking about what his little experiment entails regarding his future, he began to laugh. It was just a small giggle to begin with, but as he pondered about what comes after he is released, it slowly turned into a maniac laughter. Thought the soundproof material didn't let any sound out, his own laughter echoed in the room for minutes after he passed out of exhaustion.

? minutes later

The container shook violently, and Thobias was awoken from his slumber. He looked the cell, his vision still blurry after the rest. The lamp that was supposed to be always turned on had stopped working and darkness encroached the room. At first he thought that he died, and a calm feeling filled his entire body and thobias closed his eyes. Then a second shake abruptly opened his eyes, and he found himself on the side on the surface that was the wall at one point. Then all things went to hell, and he was thrown around the room violently, his body hitting each and every metal surface multiple times. Thobias could feel his bones cracking under the forces that controlled him at the moment, and he prayed to them to stop. He started to count his broken ribs to pass these painful seconds until the container would eventually stop. "Don't give up on me now. I still need you after this."

Then it slowly stopped, and Thobias found himself hitting the floor of the cell one more time, and it seemed like this time it would stay the floor for a longer time.

24. He counted to 24 broken ribs, which meant that virtually every rib in his bode broke after this violent ride. A warm light eneterd the cell from somewhere, and Tobias had to cover his eyes with his hands and let his pupils adjust to the sudden luminosity. It is weird how your eyes adjust to dim lights so quickly inside dark rooms, but then fail to eliminate the brightness for so long. "Fuuuuck. My head hurts like hell....ugh!" He wasn't sure if he was dead or alive, but the pain opted in the favor of the later option. He looked around the metal container that once used to be a cell, but was nothing more than a heavely warped piece of steel after the crash. A warm orange light shone into the room from a hole on the side of the container.

As Tobias looked out, he had to reconsider his previous decision about pain and afterlife. Maybe you really feel like shit once you get to hell. Because the burning landscape, crashed train carts and burning people sured looked like what Tobias imagined as Hell. A few survivors were escaping the wreck towards a small valley of sorts, maybe a stream from what he could see. The smokescreen thinned by the second, and his lungs started to fill up with the sour substance. He coughed lightly, and covered his nose with his shirt as fast as he could to protect his lungs. Maybe it was jsut a cough now, but he'll surely suffocate if he stays here any longer.

He reached out with his hands to try and fit through the small hole, but he ended up cutting himself on the sharp steel without getting any closer to escaping. "Shit. Just my luck." He looked around the room to try and find anything, but he couldn't see anything apart from a few MRE packs that survived the crash. "These will come in handy." He rooled up the bottom of his shirt, and then ripped it off. He carefully packed the MREs into it, and then wrapped it up to make a basic package that he can carry around. He saw this trick whilst he was smuggling cocaine through a crowded place in a club. It wasn't temporary but it could do the job. Then he stopped the taught right there before progressing any further than the present. "Right. Focus. We need to get out of here, ASAP."

If he wasn't locked up for the last 2 days he might have never started talking to himself, but at the moment, it helped him focus on the situation. And escape was priority. He feeled around the edges of the container but he didn't feel any surface he could grab and peel the steel with. Not like he could, but the idea comforted him. But then it struck him: his power is literal fucking teleportation. "Try and stop me now motherfuckers!" He reached out of the hole as much as he could, and then focused on the thought of blinking as he closed his eyes.

A slight buzzing feel ran through his skin, and then he felt dirt below his boots. Tobias opened his eyes, and almost threw his rations away in his statisfaction with himself. "That's right, Thobias Thane is on the run again! Wohooo!"

He began running towards the direction he saw the other survivors heading when he looked out the hole. He was hoping to find more people like him, teens and adults with abilities who were locked up just like him. A few minutes ago he wasn't sure if he was alone or not, but the large amount of containers was a telltale sign of multiple prisoners. Thobias crossed his fingers, and hoped that he could find people with abilities helpful at escpaing and surviving rather than ones that serve utility purposes.

And indeed, the sight of the stream and about half a dozen of suriviors near its shore welcomed him after he passed an incline. He murmured a small thanks to god and then shortened his trip to the water with a blink. He fell to his knees the instant he arrived at the water, and started to drink from the ice cool water like a maniac. He didn't realize how parched he was before seeing the water, but he probably lost a lot of water back at the train from all that smoke and heat from the fires. As he drank, he felt his broken ribs torturing him from the inside as he gulped down the water.

After he quelled his thirst from the water of the stream, Thobias stood up and looked around. A few people scattered around the place, most of them drinking alone. He wanted to make friends with all those he could, and then get the hell outta here as fast as possible. Naturally he turned to the number one resource people need when they are stripped of all the luxuries that civilisation offers: sustenance. "Hey guys! I've saved a few MREs from the train! Come here if you need some food!" He shouted as loud as he could with his broken ribs and waved his hand for good measures, and hoped that he catched the attention of everyone. He was sure that once they come to get the meal, his addictive personality will do the rest.

[redbaron1234]

Eli

---

Eli sat in his cell, quietly trying to avoid thinking of where the train was going. The rattling of the rails was just mind numbing, and it didn't take a genius to realize that wherever he was going was bad. It was hard to keep track of time in here, the only real way he could do so was to count the meals he was given. By his count, it was just over two days since he woke up in here. Of course that didn't account for however long he was out after a bag was thrown over his head and he was drugged. He sighed, putting his glasses back on after habitually cleaning them for what had to be the hundredth time. He pulled out a cigarette from his back pocket, bent and dog eared as it was, and took a long sniff of it. "Just a single match would make this so much easier."

The lights flickered out, the screech of metal on metal catching his attention. He didn't have time to react before his cell lurched and slammed him against the wall. Tumbling over and over in the metal box, it was all he could do to keep his head tucked in. He swore. He yelped in pain. He moaned as his cell came to a stop, the hatch busted open and letting light in. By some miracle his glasses only suffered a lens crack in all that.

"Ugghh..." Eli struggled to get up, feeling sunlight on his skin for the first time in days. Realizing that he was free, he crawled towards the opening, pulling him through with a grunt. The cell had landed on its side, so he had to climb through the opening, pushing the door out of the way. He tumbled onto the ground, his entire left side aching all over again. Already he could feel a cluster of angry bruises forming. His left shoulder hurt too much to move. After sitting up, he saw his left arm hanging uselessly. He could open and close his hand, but trying to lift it was out of the question. "Damnit, I hope it's not broken."

He grabbed onto a handle on his cell and pulled himself up. "Oh wow." Now he really appreciated what it meant to call a failing project a train wreck. He leaned on his cell as he took his bearings. It took him a few moments of looking around the wreckage before he saw movement. The few people he saw weren't dressed like any guard he'd seen. They were all as battered looking as he was, more or less. He didn't want to think of how many were stuck in their own cells, too injured to move or worse. Those that were walking were heading down towards a stream. Seeing nothing better to do, he headed down the slope, holding his arm and limping. He passed the few groups of people and plopped down on a rock next to the stream before trying to work his shirt off, only for the pain to stop him.

"Hey guys! I've saved a few MREs from the train! Come here if you need some food!"

@6slyboy6

The ring of free food caught his attention. He stood back up and walked over to the man passing out the food. He didn't make to take some just yet, but he asked him the question that had been on his mind since he woke up in the cell. "Hey, you know what's going on?" He wasn't sure why he thought this guy would know any more than he did, but food man seemed to be taking some initiative.

[Grim Fandango]

Cole remained lying on his back. As soon as he noticed others approach him, he flinched a little, but didn't react. His first instinct was to get up and defend himself, but then the person who arrived happened to tumble down on to their chest - so Cole felt, almost immediately, much less at risk. Instead he sighed and leaned his head back down on to the dirt, placing a hand on his wounded chest and exhaling tightly.

The guy who'd just tumbled in to sight looked over to Cole and smiled weakly - which Cole saw in the corner of his eye, but didn't return. He just simply remained in his position and maintained his painful grimace. "Rough day, huh?" The newcomer spoke. Cole shot him a fairly unimpressed look. "Had better." he responded under his breath, unenthused, before turning his focus away. He wasn't interested in small talk. He was fairly sure this person wasn't his captor, but as far as Cole was concerned, nobody here was to be trusted.

"Hey, are you guys okay?" another voice called out - a feminine one. The owner of the voice soon came in to eyeshot, a young woman who looked down at the two on the bank of the stream, an expression of worry on her face. Before Cole had a chance to respond - something he had no intention of doing anyway, the girl knelt down and moved towards Cole. "We should put some pressure on that." The girl said, reaching out for Cole gently. Cole's instant response, of course, was to recoil away for a moment, but he was too fatigued to put up a fight and slowly returned to his original position and nodded softly, uttering a deadpan "Thank you." in response.

He closed his eyes and let her apply pressure to his wound, remaining silent. He was grateful for the gesture but, in the back of his mind, he knew as soon as he was able to travel he would be leaving. And he planned to do so alone.

[twave]

With yet more people making their way out of the train Sarah took a look back at the wreckage. One of the others called out having food, which admittedly was a good grab. However there was likely to be more of that. Plus on reflection she had seen some decent looking gear on the guards. Some people might have qualms looting off a dead body, but to Sarah that just meant an easier time. Turning back to Alex she motioned with her thumb to Tobias. "The hipster has the right idea. There's probably more we can grab from the wreckage, so long as it isn't on fire anyway." She started off toward the twisted mess. "I won't be long. Someone's bound to be by for us if they went through this much trouble."

It was easy to tell the direction the train had been heading as the debris and destruction coned out in the same direction. Most of the stuff was scrap strewn about. Sarah focused more on the cars and guards. For the cars she briefly checked inside what was left of each one. Unsurprisingly most of the contents were no longer held inside but it was worth looking it over anyway. Thankfully her strength helped breaking into things which sped up the process. There seemed to be an inexplicable lack of useful things from the crash. She found a fire extinguisher and a small medical bag with some things she recognized and other stuff she didn't. Despite the train being high tech there didn't seem to be much in the way of mobile devices that they could take. Stuff on the bodies was more assorted and not worth taking. All the guards had black bulletproof vests which Sarah pulled off of them. No one had any wallet or ID but there was a half used pack of smokes, a lighter (naturally), a pen and notepad.

There wasn't a whole lot more which Sarah assumed meant that they weren't meant to be on the train for a very long time or just hadn't been restocked. Whatever the case she broke off pieces of metal piping from the remains of the train. Stuffing the loose items in the bag she put the extinguisher, vests, and pipes under her other arm and headed back over to Alex with her measly haul. "Not a lot there actually. Mostly random crap." Dumping the things under her arm she patted the medical bag. "Did find this though. I don't really need this, but maybe it'll win me some points with the others." She pocketed the cigarettes and lighter. She didn't really smoke but they tended to have value on the streets even if minor. She may not be in the city but old habits die hard. She looked at the others but she didn't know them or what they could do yet but she'd rather be on their good side and be owed one.

@Leotamer

[Treue]

Taylor
Malena
Cole

Taylor closed his eyes for a few seconds after the man next to him responded, then put his palms to the ground and began to push himself up. As he was doing so, a woman came up to the two of them, asking how this man was before beginning to treat his wounds. "You have medical knowledge? That should come in handy out here. " Taylor attempted another smile, this time more convincing as he wasn't in as much pain from falling now. "Nice to meet you both of you by the way, even if it could have been on better terms. You can call me Taylor if you want. I'd shake your hands, but now probably isn't the time for pleasantries like that, is it?" Noticing as he attempted to stand that his ribs were still giving him pain, Taylor decided it would be best simply change into a sitting position for now, in order to relax his body.

At the mention of shaking hands the hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She kept her eyes fixed on the wound,making sure she was applying the right amount of pressure. He was probably already in enough pain. Medical knowledge....?
Malena wasn't sure now would be the best time to divulge she was only a junior nursing student. She glanced at Taylor, a slightly unsure smile on her face.
"I know the basics...."
"Nice to meet you to Taylor, I'm Malena"
She watched him trying to stand up, noticing he had trouble doing so. He was probably more banged up than she'd first thought. There was something about Taylor she couldn't quite put her finger on. Not one for invasive staring she returned her attention to the other guy. He'd muttered a thank you, but other than that he hadn't said much. If she was in his position she wouldn't be up for small talk either. Malena kept quiet, occassionally looking around at the other survivors, while checking now and again if the bleeding was coming to a stop.

As the bleeding began to recede, Cole clenched his teeth and pushed his hand in to the ground, pulling himself up in to a painful half-sitting, half-leaning position, with his hand propping him up at an angle and his chest a little contorted from his earlier injuries. He took a moment to peer at the other two, as well as a handfull of others who had slowly gathered at their location in the time that Malena had attended to his head wound. One particularly loud individual announced that he had food. Cole was uninterested, sure that the others would flock in that location. He couldn't eat when he was focusing. He was too busy figuring out how he would get out of here. He didn't feel safe surrounded by people he didn't even know. "Cole," he responded, much more clearly and directly than he had spoken previously, introducing himself to the two others, yet seemingly distracted as he scanned the wider group. "Thanks for the help." He said again, a little sheepishly this time, reluctant to appear at all at a disadvantage, but still genuinely grateful for the assistance.

Malena glanced over her shoulder, hearing someone call out he had food he was willing to share. She wasn't hungry in the famished kind of way but she also didn't know how long she would be stuck in this place. Before the crash she'd stuffed her purse with any food that could keep for a couple of days, eating just half of the meals she was offered by her kidnappers. But she wasn't running around yelling she'd had the foresight to do that. She had just been hoping for a kind of miracle, maybe this had been it. Who knows what they were planning with everyone anyway?
She pulled back from Cole, putting her now mostly red glove in the pocket of her jacket, making sure to keep her hands to herself.
"Don't worry about it...." She mentioned in reply to him thanking her. There was really no need, she would have done it for anyone.
Malena nodded at the guy calling out to the survivors.
"I wouldn't do that if I were him, you don't even know the people you've stranded with."
She wasn't trying to make him sound dumb or anything like that, but they were essentially all strangers.

Cole smirked at Malena's word of warning. "You don't know me," He adjusted his position slightly, evidently uncomfortable. "You still helped." He tilted his head back, the small smirk on his face remaining for a few seconds. "How do you know I'm safe to trust?" Cole asked frankly.

"How do we know anyone is? We can't, at least not this early. All we can do is try our best to prove we are, and even that may not be enough for some people." Taylor looked slightly disappointed that some could be so untrusting, but understood that in a situation like this those who had escaped couldn't be too careful. "In any case, we were all taken for some reason, and I think I might know why... You see, the day before I woke up in that cell I... Well it might be easier to show you. Maybe."

Malena brushed her hair over her shoulder, not really knowing what to say. Cole was right ,though he didn't have to be so blunt about it. She was grateful Taylor answered the question for her, basically saving her from what would have been an undoubtedly akward conversation. She listened to Taylor's explanation and to why he believed they were all taken hostage, frowning slightly as he prepared to give them some kind of demonstration. What was he going to do...?

Taylor outstretched his arm in front of him, hand raised at a ninety degree angle from his arm with his palm aimed toward the stream. He focused intently on the face of his palm, not knowing exactly how to call upon the power he had used twice now. With a slightly embarrassed face, he turned back to look at the others. "I'm pretty new to this, so I don't know if I'll be able t-" A slight boom could be heard reverberating through the air as a blast of kinetic energy launched from his hand, displacing the air around it and disrupting the surface of the water, causing a significant splash. "Well, that was what I was talking about. I think, maybe, we might all have some kind of... thing like this."

Malena jumped up from the ground like it was on fire, almost tripping when she took a few steps back. She yelled without even realizing it, her usually statue like expression now all wide eyed and shocked. Instictively she wrapped her arms around herself, like they could protect her from whatever Taylor had just done. Despite all of that and she cursed herself for thinking it, she was glad to know she wasn't the only freak on the face of the earth. Maybe everyone here had some freak medical condition. Cole, on the other hand, remained perfectly still - but his expression changed. His sceptical, almost amused gaze fell and a frown replaced it as Taylor demonstrated his ability. To him, this was not a good thing. This confirmed that these people that had taken him knew about his 'gift.' He was a target. He was on some list. He didn't like it at all. But he didn't speak up about it.

Seeing as one woman was attempting to treat one of the injured, Sarah decided to bring over the med bag she found. Walking casually she wasn't particularly scared of any of them at this point. Clearly the youngest of the group she was deceptively small given her strength. She couldn't say if any of them had seen her up to that point though. A loud boom made her jump slightly and she saw the water splash from something. Unsure exactly what the cause was it was likely a safe bet to assume it was an ability of the one pointing their hand at the water. Alright, might want to make note of that one. Approaching the three she dropped the bag next to Cole, who's attention snapped up to her, returning a quick and grateful nod.

Taylor noticed the woman walking toward them and gave a nod in her direction before returning his attention to the two he had been conversing with. As she set a bag down, Taylor spoke up again. "Sorry if I scared either of you, I just figured it would be easier than trying to explain what I barely know about. Anyway, that's my theory on why we were taken. I might be wrong, but I doubt it was a coincidence that they got me after my whole class witnessed that." He looked around at the rest of the survivors that had gathered along the stream, counting their number. "If that's the reason, there sure are a good number of us, assuming they're all here for the same reason. Probably more that didn't make it out, too."

Cole twitched a little after Taylor mentioned the fact he'd publicly displayed his ability. Cole hadn't. There was no way any normal person could have known. But he supposed that normal people don't tend to kidnap dozens of strangers in a huge metal train. He sighed and dismissed his worries for the time being, noting that they were still only a stone's throw away from the wreckage - and perhaps still in danger.

""I'd love to stay and chat..." Cole huffed as he gradually pulled himself up to his feet, his left hand holding his chest as he did so. ""But I don't really feel like sticking around this place." He scoffed and turned away, looking around and seeing a thick woodland, perhaps 100 meters away. He dug his hand in to the med-kit that Sarah had offered out and took his fair share before looking away. "Really - such a pleasure to meet you all," he said half-heartedly as he began to walk in the direction of the woods.

"Yeah, that sounds like a good plan," Taylor said as he began to stand as well, "I think I'll follow you, if you don't​ mind Cole. Probably best to have more than one person if someone does come for us." With that he looked back to Malena, giving her another smile. "It was nice meeting you, maybe we'll meet again if neither of us end up dead. See ya later." After he finished, Taylor started his way after Cole, jogging at a brisk pace.

Considering it for a moment, and turning to wait for Taylor to catch up, Cole just nodded. "Just don't slow me down."

"Wouldn't dream of it, I wanna get out of here too. Let's go." The two of them then began making their way toward the treeline and away from the rest of the survivors, looking to make some progress in getting as far away from the possible search area as they could.

[Lemons]

Tori & Kyle

---

Tori narrowed her eyes at the man as he approached, her lips pulling back into a pained snarl. He was nearly as scruffy-looking as she was, but she could tell he was strong, and definitely not to taken lightly. Her right hand was applying pressure on the gash in her left arm, and in the unoccupied hand, her lighter was constantly flicking, sparks showering from it in a near-constant cascade. Her voice, when she spoke, was a low growl. It was largely a painful, angry warning, but tucked beneath it where she couldn’t stifle was a definite note of fear:

"Turn around. I do not want to deal with you or them right now. I’m getting the fuck out of here." With that, she continued on her limping path to the stream, wondering for a moment which article of clothing would be best to use as a bandage for her arm.

Kyle was caught off guard momentarily by the girl's sudden outburst, enough so that he just stood there for a couple of seconds, his brain still processing her words. It was then that his ears picked up on the commotion near the stream. When he turned around to see what the other survivors were up to, he realized that quite a few had actually made it out alive, considering the sheer brutality of the accident.

Kyle's eyes darted from person to person, briefly analyzing them. It was only when he noticed one of the survivors, a brunette that seemed to be around his age, that had knelt down beside one of the guys sitting next to the steam and was apparently tending to the wound on his head.

Kyle clicked his tongue in amazement. "Well I'll be damned, there was actually a medic among those abducted, and she managed to survive! Seems like God didn't take a shit on us after all".

Tori stopped nearly mid-limp at hearing the man's exclamation. Her face contorted in an expression torn somewhere in between relief and frustration, and for a moment, she debated whether or not she wanted to turn around and face him. After a second, though, her pragmatism won out and she sighed, painfully shifting on her good right leg to face him, face set in a stonelike lack of expression. She began limping back towards him, raising her voice to be heard over the small distance:

"I heard the word medic."

Kyle's ears prickled once more, now, however, it was to the sound of a voice coming from behind him. He half-turned around, keeping most of his body facing towards the creek but leaving his head to face towards the girl. He looked at her for a moment, sizing her up, before a sneer crept up his face.

"Well," he said and pointed towards the brunette. "She seems like she knows a thing or two about wounds, seeing from the way she patched up that guy's head".

As much as her stubbornness hated her going back towards the people she'd done her best to rather painfully distance herself from, her arm was still bleeding pretty heavily and no matter how much pressure or how effective of a bandage she applied, it wasn't going to be better than the treatment that someone who actually knew what they were doing could give. As she drew up to him, she debated giving her name, before deciding that if it was of interest to him, she'd have to get his first. She occasionally flicked her lighter, more as an anxious tic than anything else.

Kyle looked as the girl silently walked towards him, noting the deadpan expression she wore on her face. He genuinely felt like laughing at that moment; she really looked like one of his friends from way back, when he was still with the orphanage. His friend used to wear the same expressionless face when she was feeling especially stubborn, and Kyle always felt like teasing her for that. One of the few memorable things about that damned place. Alas, those days were long gone now...

Tori cocked her head at him for a second, eyebrow quirked slightly as he stared off into space. "Maybe there's something on the fifth dimension I'm missing," she muttered, walking past him, "wouldn't be the strangest thing to happen today."

Whatever. It wasn't her concern what he did. She was just interested in the coveted medical treatment that the brunette off in the distance could provide to stop her from bleeding herself dry from the damn arm. She glanced back at him before grumbling, continuing her limp which was, by the way, really starting to wince as the pain in her kneecap grew worse. "Not my problem."

Kyle remained oblivious to both the girl's words and movements as she walked past him, absorbed as he was in his little road down memory lane. When he came to, the girl had walked almost half the distance between him and the place where the rest of the survivors gathered. Without anything to say, Kyle merely sighed to himself before following after her. Soon enough, he had caught up with the girl; what with her leg injury, she couldn't exactly be called a fast walker or anything.

Biting back an angry snap to the man, Tori opted instead for grinding her teeth together and glaring as spine-chillingly as possible. The effect was somewhat lost by the fact that he was several years older than her and didn't seem to much care for any of her none-too-subtle signals of "leave me alone." After a moment, she sighed and dropped the glare. Then, like the angelic call of the Pearly Gates themselves, she heard a voice on the wind, calling out to her in whatever suitably overdramatic metaphor one so chooses:

"Hey guys! I've saved a few MREs from the train! Come here if you need some food!"

6slyboy6

Only then did Tori realize just how hungry she was. She glared to the side again. "Look, I don't know why you're following me, but as long as you're going in this direction too, I might as well try to not make another enemy. I have enough of those already." In lieu of attempting a handshake, she inclined her head, glare slackening off into neutrality, her stomach cramping, the days without food beginning to take their toll on her. She accelerated as much as she could with her limp, her salivary glands igniting. "Tori Frejsdottir. I won't say it's a pleasure because let's both be honest, it isn't, but...hello."

"Heh, this girl's funny..." Kyle thought, a non-committal expression on his face as he watched her having a mini temper tantrum. One thing was for sure, however. The moment the word "food" left that guy's mouth, both Kyle and she shared the same glorious expression. In all honesty, Kyle wasn't much of a foodie himself, but after the crash, his body practically screamed 'FOOOOOOOOOD' in order to repair itself, and Kyle assumed was the same for everyone there. "Let's just hope there's enough for everyone", he thought.

"The name's Kyle Jensen", he replied with a weak smile. "And yeah, this shithole really doesn't seem like the best place for first introductions, does it now?"

A wan grin, so vague it was barely there, crept across Tori's face. "Well, there's a time and a place. And the best time and place is always the worst time and place."

With that bit of pithy wisdom, she finally limped just ahead of Kyle into the rendezvous spot, beginning to feel slightly lightheaded. She hadn't thought that the wound in her arm was that serious, but it just wasn't stopping. "This isn't going to go well, is it," she muttered.

[dreamingflowers]

Malena

---

Malena watched Cole and Taylor leave together.
"Be safe...." She mumbled quietly.
Looking out at the stream with a solemn expression, she sighed deeply. What was going to happen to her now? To everyone. It was time to be alone with her thoughts for a while, sort things out. On her way back to the bank she picked up the medical kit one of the survivors dropped off. That would be useful later, she just needed to gather her wits, regain her composure, before helping anyone else.

When she reached the water she wasn't really sure what to do, so she settled for washing out the glove she used to treat Cole's cut. It proved to be exactly the mind numbing task she was looking for, it gave her hands something to do and her traumatized mind something to focus on. The blood was tough to rinse out, it didn't come out completely. She felt dirty too, not having had a change of clothes or a proper shower in two days. Her eyes turned towards the stream, trying to judge the depth. The water was clear but probably also pretty cold. She weighed her options. She didn't know where she was or where she was going to go. This stream could be the last water source she would see in a while.

Malena considered it again, trying to put aside her modesty and convince herself. Really she shouldn't make such a big deal out of this. She had just survived a horrible crash, nearly dying because of it. The water would do her good, even if it was cold. She bit her lip, still reluctant but started to take off her jacket regardless. She slipped out of her maxi dress with ease, leaving just her underwear. Putting one foot into the stream, she immediately regretted her decision. It was freezing cold. She walked a little further, arms wrapped around herself, shivering like crazy, teeth clattering. The water came up a little above her knees, the stream was pretty shallow. The best way would be to just sink in completely but that would be way too cold, she just wanted to get in and out quickly. She pulled up her hair into a bun and started to cup some of the water, washing herself, trying to ignore her thoughts of being watched.

After a couple of minutes she got out, cheeks flushed but feeling surprisingly good. She used the skirt of her dress to dry herself off and put her clothes back on. Still shivering lightly she let down her hair, kneeling beside her bag, the medical kit sitting right next to it. Alright so let's see what we got here. She passed the items through her hands, thinking back on her lessons. At college they had covered the basic med kit and how to use many of the standard items that came with it. A couple of things were missing and she remembered Cole rummaging through it before he and Taylor went into the woods. Painkillers, a couple of gauze dressings and a roll of bandages. She was relieved to know Cole had taken stuff he could use. There was enough left to make it useful.

Her thoughts went back to those guys. Taylor had this androgynous look about him, which made her wonder, doubt a little bit. He wasn't very masculine but he definitely gave her a male vibe, for the lack of a better word. Cole on the other hand had the bad guy routine down to a T.

She packed up the medical kit, focusing on the present. Malena wanted to be useful, if she stayed alone with her thoughts she would eventually drive herself crazy. Up ahead a group was forming around the guy who salvaged some food from the trainwreck.If anyone needed medical attention she would find them there. She slung her purse over her shoulder and held the medical kit in her arms, the bright red would let the other survivors know she could help them get patched up.

Malena walked over to the group, but stayed at the edge, feeling a little apprehensive, sizing up everyone in view. Most of them seemed to be around her age, maybe a year or two younger, it was hard to say. One of the guys was handing out MRE packs, he had this upbeat attitude which considering their circumstances was pretty amazing. Gathered around him were a couple more people. A blonde guy wearing glasses, a tall guy with dark slightly messy hair and some scruff on his face. Next to him was a girl with unevenly chopped blonde hair. She was holding her arm and looked like she could pass out any minute, her face contorted in a painful expression, she tried really hard to hide. Malena could see the blood seeping through her clothes, dripping onto the ground. It tied her stomach into worried knots.

I'll just go over and ask if she wants my help. Malena thought, adjusting her grip on the medical kit.

"Everyone okay over here?"

@Lemons
@Vec
@redbaron1234

[twave]

Watching Cole and Taylor wander off into the woods Sarah rolled her eyes. "Wow, he's worse than I am. Wonder how long he'll survive in the woods with his injuries." Shrugging, two more invalids made their way toward Malena. One of them had a pretty nasty gash in their side. "Hm, well have fun with this one. I've done my share as far as I'm concerned." Before anyone could get a response in edgewise Sarah headed away. There was still the guys offering food like he was selling something.

Admittedly the sound of food was pretty alluring. However she'd gone hungry before and wouldn't let her guard down too much just for a handout. Sadly she couldn't just take it without potentially learning the hard way what this guy might be able to do. Better to know what she's up against than to go in swinging. On the way she picked up the stuff from the wreckage and gestured to Alex to follow. Making her way over to Tobias, Sarah pointed to the small pile of MRE pouches. "May I? The calories contained in one of those might not last as long as someone normally her size. Her increased strength came with a drawback for its use in the energy department.

By this point Sarah was pretty sure that they were close to overstaying their welcome. While her physical body hadn't taken much in the way of injury she still had been knocked out and wasn't entirely sure for how long. It was probably ten... maybe fifteen minutes since she came too and someone had taken all the stuff already. "On second thought, hang on to that. We need to leave." She said to herself before raising her voice. "We need to get out of here soon guys! Someone's still out there even if not their friends probably aren't far behind. And I don't feel like having a chat with them!"

@6slyboy6@dreamingflowers@Lemons@Leotamer

[Leotamer]

Alex stumbled up to Sarah, and thought to himself if he should trust what they found on the train, but decided to keep that to himself. If there was trackers in the food, they would already have it in their bodies. He looked back at the train and muttered, How does that material work. It seemed to be disabled when the car crashed, but why. Does it need electricity to work and the crash cut the power? Or does it need to fully enclose a person to function."

"I think that would be wise." he said softly to Sarah. He looked around at the group and on a normal day, have of these people would scare him, however today, they had a common foe. If he was back at his mansion, he would probably avoid Sarah at all cost. He never did appreciate the luxuries his money afforded him until now.

@t2wave

[6slyboy6]

@t2wave@Leotamer@dreamingflowers@Lemons

"Sure thing Missy, take one! You'll need the energy to escape." Tobias handed one of the MREs to Sarah. He wasn't sure how to adress the people around here, and he honestly didn't care as they did their job of surviving. He may not yet need them, but unless he makes friends he won't get far. the confidence of this girl seemed astonishing to Tobias, seeing someone even more confident than himself. He never doubted that this behaviur was born from distress, but it didn't matter as long as it forged them together.

As the woman from before started shouting to get the party members to come together, Tobias nodded in silence. He knew who was the person that he needs to look out for, a girl who he can lead the rest of these people with. He was already tired from all the shouting, and he didn't want to interrupt her, so instead he pulled closer to the woman, and continued his "free food" advertisement after she finished. They couldn't really stay here much longer, but their cahnces of survival were low without gathering as many mutants as possible.

He looked at all the stranglers on the sides, too scared to approach or perhaps not hungry. But probably the first. Seeing how they didn't approach after numerous shouts about the free food, Tobias packed the rest of the MREs back into his primitive bag. They weren't gonna last long, with it, but it is a valued treasures if they ever run short on supplies. He was suddenly startled by a new girl arriving out of the smoke filled air, carrying a medical bag on her side. Tobias didn't quite catch what she said, but the sight of a medic made him painfully realize that his ribs were practically hanging on his muscles.

"Hey Doc, got some painkillers? I don't want to be a downer, but I'm pretty sure I broke most of my ribs." Tobias quickly tapped his chest over, and memorising where it hurt when he touched it. "Okay make that just a few, but I still need some kinda medication. I don't think I can walk too far with such a pain in my chest." Suddenly, the urge to cough took over his chest, and his whole body bent forward, shaking with every breath. He tried to keep himself from coughing, but there was no way he could resist such a painful urge with so much smoke around. So when he finally let in, the coughing that came out of him was loud and sounded just as painful as it was for Tobias. A few drops of blood shined on his palm that he kept in front of his mouth whilst he was coughing. Terrifying. He never had to endure such things back at the city. Maybe this trip wasn't going to be so emotionally uplifting as he tought. He looked up at the doc, his eyes hiding his panic and fear. "Or maybe you have something stronger?"

[Lemons]

Tori

Tori only managed to stagger up to the brunette holding the medical kit that was walking towards her after someone else had already started talking to said medic. Her head was swimming, and she was having trouble even limping right, let alone walking. Some detached part of her knew that it was a very, very bad thing, and that despite first appearances, she'd probably hit a vein or something and was, in all likelihood, going to die of blood loss, or have to manually cauterize the wound. In her haste to not die horribly, she'd stripped away the tanktop and wrapped it around the slash, shivering in her leather coat. Her teeth chattered, and she was reminded vividly of the cold of the train car cell. She looked down at her hand. It was ghostly white, anaemic in its pallor, and she clenched it as hard as she could, gritting her teeth as though in denial of the crimson fluid seeping from it. The tanktop wasn't really doing much.

"Nah, not okay," she gasped out as soon as she was close enough to the much older girl, "could use a hand over here. I'm going to go ahead and assume this is more important than whatever this guy's deal is," she said, pointing a thumb at food boy. "No hard feelings," she added to him as an afterthought.

"So yeah," she gasped out, "I could use a really fuckin' big plaster."

With that, she slid off the makeshift bandage, peeling it off with blood sluicing away from it. She still didn't know how deep it went, but it probably would've been a good idea to clean it in the stream.

"I could cauterize it," she grunted, flicking her lighter and swaying dizzily from side to side, "but I'd really not do that if I don't have to to live. Shit hurts."

Past her tough exterior, her eyes betrayed a series of emotions and sensations: pain, confusion, anger, fear, all mixing together into a rising storm of panic that was becoming increasingly difficult for her to clamp down on. She was rapidly becoming more disoriented, and she was pretty sure she was starting to hallucinate. At this point, she wasn't sure whether or not she was crying, but she fervently hoped that she wasn't. It wasn't very good for her image.

@dreamingflowers