Meredith D., 9th Grade
A Soft Crunch
A soft crunch of leaves and a whispered sound, too soft for Adelaide to tell what it said, woke her up from where she slept lightly on the forest floor. Slowly sitting up so as to not make a sound, Adelaide turned her head towards the source of the noise, peering through the gloomy pre-dawn light. She heard it again, the hesitant footsteps and the soft, whispered, “sorry.” Tracking the slow progression of the figure through the trees, she takes in its appearance, mentally assessing who and what this person was.
It was clear to Adelaide that the person was shy, and likely a girl, from the way she gripped and clung to her long hair while staring at the ground by her lightly tripping, almost dancing, feet. As the girl slowly came nearer, Adelaide noticed that she was wearing a torn, dirty, and paper-thin gown. Like the ones from the Facility. The place where they took children from their homes and did horrible things to them.
Shaking her head to try and rid it of such awful thoughts, Adelaide quickly assesses the options. Either this girl had been sent out to find her, or she had also somehow escaped and hidden—though how, Adelaide had no idea; the girl was so loud when she walked. Watching the girl move another few paces, Adelaide decides she can’t be much of a threat. Standing up, she realizes the poor girl has no shoes, but her feet are unhurt. “That’s curious,” Adelaide thinks, silently padding through the forest, suddenly extremely thankful for the dirty sneakers she had found by the river when she first escaped.
“Who’s there?” she calls to the girl, acting as though she hadn’t actually been tracking her every move. Obviously startled, the girl jumps and stares at Adelaide with wide, frightened eyes. “It’s okay; I’m not going to hurt you,” Adelaide intones, reaching out her hands—palms up—to show she means no harm.
The girl glances around nervously, as though looking for ambushers. The girl flinches horribly, her whole body drawing in on itself, right before Adelaide hears a crashing sound and a short girl with fiery red hair stumbles out of the bushes, her hair and clothes catching on brambles.
“Hello,” the new girl says cheerily, straightening out her shirt as she walks closer. The small, bare-foot girl takes a few steps back, as though scared the red-head was going to hurt her. “Who are you?”
“I’m Adelaide,” Adelaide says cautiously, also taking a step back and placing herself between the two. “Who are you?”
“Shea! Do you know where we are?” the cheery girl said, seemingly oblivious to the cringing girl behind Adelaide.
“We’re in the woods. Not too far from the Facility.” Adelaide said, still wary and walking further back.
“The facility? What’s that?” Shea said, stepping closer. Though Adelaide noticed her eyes flashed a red and orange glow, much like that of an explosion, at the mention of the Facility. “Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you,” she adds, looking over Adelaide’s shoulder to the frightened girl behind her.
The girl takes another couple steps back, wincing and whispering “sorry” again.
“Why are you saying sorry?” Adelaide asks, looking at her in confusion. “You haven’t even done anything.” When the girl just looks even more scared, pulling on her hair even harder, Adelaide shakes her head. “Never mind. What’s your name anyways?”
The frightened girl just looks confused and shakes her head slightly. “Come on. You must have a name. What people call you?” Shea says, also looking confused at the girl’s non-answer.
The poor girl just shakes her head again, confusion etched all over it. “She clearly doesn't know what we're talking about. Let's just give her a name,” Adelaide says, putting her hands on her hips and looking at Shea.
“What about Misty? Because it's all misty out today,” Shea says, looking fairly pleased with herself for having come up with it.
“Whatever,” Adelaide says a bit off-handedly, reaching her hand out and grabbing the hand the newly dubbed Misty didn't have wrapped in her air. “We need to move. Somewhere with more cover. They'll find us out here in the open,” she adds, walking in the oppposite direction of her previous hideout. It wasn't safe to stay in one place for more than a couple hours, not with the danger of the scientists looking for them.
Misty stumbles along, trying to keep up with Adelaide’s fast pace, wincing almost the entire time and whispering sorry as they tiptoed through the underbrush. As they neared a small creek, Shea pointed out, a bit loudly for Adelaide's taste, that someone had left some clothes by the bank. “We should take them for you, Misty,” she insisted, snapping her fingers once or twice to grab the girl's attention. “You must be cold in that....thing,” she adds, gesturing to the then and ratty gown she was wearing. A small and nervous nod is enough to send Shea crashing through the brush and splashing across the stream.
“Careful!” Adelaide says, immediately looking to the skies, “Be quiet! They'll find us.”
“It's okay. I don't get cold,” Shea smiles, splashing back with the clothes in hand, steam curling up around her to the sound of sizzling water. Almost as if to prove a point, Misty shivers violently at that moment, showing that even if Shea didn't get cold, she certainly did.
When Shea tries to force Misty into the clothes, jeans and a soft red t-shirt, Adelaide interrupts, noting how exposed they were where they were. Immediately, Misty takes a quick glance around and starts carefully picking her way towards a thick wall of vines and thorns, walking straight through, almost as though they were nothing, the vines falling back in place behind her, as though never touched.
Quickly following, Shea and Adelaide find that the wall of plants is quite thick and impassable. Looking at each other in confusion, they hear Misty's quiet voice. “Please let them through. They helped me. They don't mean to hurt you.”
Soon after, a softly wavering hole in the midst of the vegetation appears and Adelaide pushes through, nearly tripping when she comes out the other side into a small hut-like copse, where Misty is sitting on a fallen over log, the ground completely dry and perfect for staying a night. When Shea pushes through, also tripping but falling on her face, the vines close up behind her, making it impossible to get through again. Standing up and brushing off, she picks up the clothes she had got for Misty again and starts trying to force them on her.
“Come on! They'll keep you warm.” she keeps insisting when suddenly a large group of vines comes apart from the wall, wrapping around her wrists and pulling away her away from Misty, thorns digging into her skin. Her eyes flash with a fiery orange red as she tries to pull away.
“No!” Misty cries softly, looking petulantly at the wall of vegetation. “Leave her alone!” Instantly, the plants let Shea go and she stumbles forwards, rubbing her wrists and looking upset, her eyes still burning.
Adelaide looks at Misty questioningly, assuming that the scientists at the Facility had indeed experimented with the young girl. Though she can't think why they would give anyone power over plants; the scientists were all about improving them for war. Herself, for example. She had been taken promptly after birth and given power over air. She could create a large gale without noticing if she wasn't careful; it had take several years for her to learn how to control her powers before escaping.
“We should make sure she's not cut or bleeding before we give her her clothes, anyways,” she intones softly, moving closer to Misty and indicating for her to lay down on the ground. When she hesitates, Adelaide rolls her eyes; Misty's behaviour reminded her a lot of her brother Chandler. He too had always been reluctant to listen to anyone; it was why the scientists had killed him. Biting back simultaneous tears and a small grin, Adelaide crouches next to Misty and gently takes her foot, watching her eyes for a reaction before looking for the expected cuts and gashes from walking around barefoot.
But there were none. Misty's feet were as perfect as though she had just been born. Except for a lot of dirt and grime, there was nothing wrong with her physical health. Glancing at her legs and arms, Adelaide noticed it was the same all over her body; it was extraordinary. Even with her advanced survival skills, Adelaide still managed to get small cuts and bruises all over her body and suspected the same goes for Shea. But Misty was perfect. As though nothing bad had ever happened to her.
“Okay....she's fine,” she declares, standing up again. “You can help her with the clothes.” Shea is instantly at Misty's side, forcing the slightly-too-large shirt over her head and accidentally ripping off the thin gown she had been wearing.
As Shea was wrestling with Misty's pants, Adelaide heard the crunch of leaves outside their little copse and immediately hushed them. Gently parting the plants, she glanced outside and saw a very familiar face. “Nathan!” she cried out softly, grabbing the boy's attention. He freezes and rapidly brings his head around to face the sound of his name.
“Adelaide!” he cried, seeing her familiar face and rushing over. “How'd you get in there?”
“We have a plant-whisperer,” she grins, gently parting the curtain of thorns to let him through after checking to make sure Misty had gotten her pants on. “Shea, Misty, this is Nathan. We were at the Facility at the same time.” At the mention of the Facility, Shea's eyes turn the burning red again and Nathan takes a step back.
“Hey,” Nathan says shorty after Shea's eyes turn back to their usual brown and she stares at him quizzically. “Addie, I found Chandler. He's not dead.”
“What?” she says promptly, whirling to face her old friend, disbelief sketched across her feet.
“Chandler. Is. Not. Dead.” Nathan says slowly, mentally bracing for the onslaught of emotion and hugs from Adelaide.
“Well then we have to help him!” she cries, grabbing Nathan's shoulders and looking deep into his eyes to make sure he isn't lying. When she sees he isn't, she immediately heads for the wall of plants, but pulls back when they grow thorns.
“Tomorrow,” Misty whispers, looking up at them with big, doleful eyes. “Dark,” she whispers, curling onto her side and closing her eyes to rest.
“In the morning then,” Adelaide says softly, shoulders slumping. Nathan gives her a quick hug before they lay next to each other in corner opposite Misty and Shea, who had curled around her new friend, instantly falling asleep as darkness surrounded the small group.
~~As soon as the pale tendrils of pre-dawn sunlight filtered into their little haven, Adelaide woke up, eyes snapping open and sitting up slowly, Nathan blinking awake beside her. Standing up and brushing each other off of leaves and dirt, Adelaide ran a hand through her shoulder-length hair and gently nudged Shea and Misty awake. Shea sat up immediately and glared at the source of disturbance, her eyes burning orange again. Upon noticing it was just Adelaide, she clamed down and her shoulders slumped slightly as her eyes turned brown again and she rubbed the sleep out of them. Misty was slower to wake up, blinking softly and rubbing her eyes again and again before being able to even sit up.
“Come on. I don't want to just leave you here. We're going back in for Chandler.” she whispers, helping pull Misty to her feet while Shea talks at Nathan. Nodding, Misty stumbles to the edge of their clearing and lays a hand on the vines.
“Thank you. We're leaving now,” she whispers; Adelaide can only hear it because of her advanced sense of hearing that comes from being alone and on the run. Instantly, the vines fall back into a much more natural formation, crawling over the ground and the dead tree.
Adelaide grins at Nathan's look of astonishement and leads the way out. Looking at the sunset through the thick trees, she turns to the right and starts walking, silently padding through the undergrowth. Nathan walks beside her, equally silent, while Misty and Shea crunch along behind them, Shea running her mouth and Misty tugging on her hair again.
~~After two days of walking south, a building looms up through the trees, a small dirt road leading up to it. Nathan quietly takes Adelaide's hand and holds a finger to his lips, pulling her along to a large drainage pipe sticking out over a large stream. “Through here,” he whispers,also excited at the prospect of getting his friend Chandler back. So excited, in fact, that he fails to notice Shea's eyes burning with a barely contained fire at just the sight of the Facility.
Sneaking back in was easy, especially when Adelaide could turn any door knob or handle by just thinking of the strong wind turning the handle. Nathan also helped where he could, destracting guards with sudden pipeline failures, causing large puddles to form and them to be called away from where the small group was advancing, Misty and Shea more hindering than helping in the swift and silent rescue.
“Chandler!” Adelaide gasps upon seeing the cage her twin brother was locked in, beaten and battered but very much alive. At the sound of his name, Chandler slowly rose his eyes to look up at them, the dull grey orbs coming to life when he saw who it was.
“Addie!” he cried hoarsely, his throat dry from the lack of water they were giving them.
“I told you I'd get help,” Nathan said softly, smiling slightly at the two siblings, his two best friends. “Now we have to hurry; what's the security like around here?”
“Not much that I can tell, Nate,” Chandler smiles softly at Nathan, sitting up finally, though still hunched over in the tiny cage he was laying in.
“Good,” Adelaide says, undoing the lock on his cage and opening it up before throwing her arms gingerly around her brother and helping him up. “I thought you were dead,” she murmured in his ear, closing her eyes to keep back tears.
“I did too,” he muttered, gripping his sister tight and ignoring his screaming muscles.
Nathan alone noticed the distant and half-dead look in Misty's eyes that had been there since they had entered the drainage pipe to enter the Facility. He also noticed the way Shea's eyes had lit up, glowing more than burning with the bright red-orange color.
“Uh, Addie...” he started when a scientist walked into the room, stopping dead upon seeing four escapees in the middle of his private lab to work with his private specimen.
As soon as Shea and Addie had turned their heads towards the sound of his dropped clipboard, Shea started trembling, almost as though with rage. She was shaking violently, her eyes glowing brighter and brighter as her very skin turned red and grew hot, prompting Misty to take several stumbling, zombie-like steps away. Adelaide quickly turned to cover Chandler and Nathan grabbed Misty, shielding her with his own body. Shea screamed some kind of name and then--
A soft crunch of leaves and a whispered sound, too soft for Adelaide to tell what it said, woke her up from where she slept lightly on the forest floor. Slowly sitting up so as to not make a sound, Adelaide turned her head towards the source of the noise, peering through the gloomy pre-dawn light. She heard it again, the hesitant footsteps and the soft, whispered, “sorry.” Tracking the slow progression of the figure through the trees, she takes in its appearance, mentally assessing who and what this person was.
It was clear to Adelaide that the person was shy, and likely a girl, from the way she gripped and clung to her long hair while staring at the ground by her lightly tripping, almost dancing, feet. As the girl slowly came nearer, Adelaide noticed that she was wearing a torn, dirty, and paper-thin gown. Like the ones from the Facility. The place where they took children from their homes and did horrible things to them.
Shaking her head to try and rid it of such awful thoughts, Adelaide quickly assesses the options. Either this girl had been sent out to find her, or she had also somehow escaped and hidden—though how, Adelaide had no idea; the girl was so loud when she walked. Watching the girl move another few paces, Adelaide decides she can’t be much of a threat. Standing up, she realizes the poor girl has no shoes, but her feet are unhurt. “That’s curious,” Adelaide thinks, silently padding through the forest, suddenly extremely thankful for the dirty sneakers she had found by the river when she first escaped.
“Who’s there?” she calls to the girl, acting as though she hadn’t actually been tracking her every move. Obviously startled, the girl jumps and stares at Adelaide with wide, frightened eyes. “It’s okay; I’m not going to hurt you,” Adelaide intones, reaching out her hands—palms up—to show she means no harm.
The girl glances around nervously, as though looking for ambushers. The girl flinches horribly, her whole body drawing in on itself, right before Adelaide hears a crashing sound and a short girl with fiery red hair stumbles out of the bushes, her hair and clothes catching on brambles.
“Hello,” the new girl says cheerily, straightening out her shirt as she walks closer. The small, bare-foot girl takes a few steps back, as though scared the red-head was going to hurt her. “Who are you?”
“I’m Adelaide,” Adelaide says cautiously, also taking a step back and placing herself between the two. “Who are you?”
“Shea! Do you know where we are?” the cheery girl said, seemingly oblivious to the cringing girl behind Adelaide.
“We’re in the woods. Not too far from the Facility.” Adelaide said, still wary and walking further back.
“The facility? What’s that?” Shea said, stepping closer. Though Adelaide noticed her eyes flashed a red and orange glow, much like that of an explosion, at the mention of the Facility. “Don’t be afraid. I’m not going to hurt you,” she adds, looking over Adelaide’s shoulder to the frightened girl behind her.
The girl takes another couple steps back, wincing and whispering “sorry” again.
“Why are you saying sorry?” Adelaide asks, looking at her in confusion. “You haven’t even done anything.” When the girl just looks even more scared, pulling on her hair even harder, Adelaide shakes her head. “Never mind. What’s your name anyways?”
The frightened girl just looks confused and shakes her head slightly. “Come on. You must have a name. What people call you?” Shea says, also looking confused at the girl’s non-answer.
The poor girl just shakes her head again, confusion etched all over it. “She clearly doesn't know what we're talking about. Let's just give her a name,” Adelaide says, putting her hands on her hips and looking at Shea.
“What about Misty? Because it's all misty out today,” Shea says, looking fairly pleased with herself for having come up with it.
“Whatever,” Adelaide says a bit off-handedly, reaching her hand out and grabbing the hand the newly dubbed Misty didn't have wrapped in her air. “We need to move. Somewhere with more cover. They'll find us out here in the open,” she adds, walking in the oppposite direction of her previous hideout. It wasn't safe to stay in one place for more than a couple hours, not with the danger of the scientists looking for them.
Misty stumbles along, trying to keep up with Adelaide’s fast pace, wincing almost the entire time and whispering sorry as they tiptoed through the underbrush. As they neared a small creek, Shea pointed out, a bit loudly for Adelaide's taste, that someone had left some clothes by the bank. “We should take them for you, Misty,” she insisted, snapping her fingers once or twice to grab the girl's attention. “You must be cold in that....thing,” she adds, gesturing to the then and ratty gown she was wearing. A small and nervous nod is enough to send Shea crashing through the brush and splashing across the stream.
“Careful!” Adelaide says, immediately looking to the skies, “Be quiet! They'll find us.”
“It's okay. I don't get cold,” Shea smiles, splashing back with the clothes in hand, steam curling up around her to the sound of sizzling water. Almost as if to prove a point, Misty shivers violently at that moment, showing that even if Shea didn't get cold, she certainly did.
When Shea tries to force Misty into the clothes, jeans and a soft red t-shirt, Adelaide interrupts, noting how exposed they were where they were. Immediately, Misty takes a quick glance around and starts carefully picking her way towards a thick wall of vines and thorns, walking straight through, almost as though they were nothing, the vines falling back in place behind her, as though never touched.
Quickly following, Shea and Adelaide find that the wall of plants is quite thick and impassable. Looking at each other in confusion, they hear Misty's quiet voice. “Please let them through. They helped me. They don't mean to hurt you.”
Soon after, a softly wavering hole in the midst of the vegetation appears and Adelaide pushes through, nearly tripping when she comes out the other side into a small hut-like copse, where Misty is sitting on a fallen over log, the ground completely dry and perfect for staying a night. When Shea pushes through, also tripping but falling on her face, the vines close up behind her, making it impossible to get through again. Standing up and brushing off, she picks up the clothes she had got for Misty again and starts trying to force them on her.
“Come on! They'll keep you warm.” she keeps insisting when suddenly a large group of vines comes apart from the wall, wrapping around her wrists and pulling away her away from Misty, thorns digging into her skin. Her eyes flash with a fiery orange red as she tries to pull away.
“No!” Misty cries softly, looking petulantly at the wall of vegetation. “Leave her alone!” Instantly, the plants let Shea go and she stumbles forwards, rubbing her wrists and looking upset, her eyes still burning.
Adelaide looks at Misty questioningly, assuming that the scientists at the Facility had indeed experimented with the young girl. Though she can't think why they would give anyone power over plants; the scientists were all about improving them for war. Herself, for example. She had been taken promptly after birth and given power over air. She could create a large gale without noticing if she wasn't careful; it had take several years for her to learn how to control her powers before escaping.
“We should make sure she's not cut or bleeding before we give her her clothes, anyways,” she intones softly, moving closer to Misty and indicating for her to lay down on the ground. When she hesitates, Adelaide rolls her eyes; Misty's behaviour reminded her a lot of her brother Chandler. He too had always been reluctant to listen to anyone; it was why the scientists had killed him. Biting back simultaneous tears and a small grin, Adelaide crouches next to Misty and gently takes her foot, watching her eyes for a reaction before looking for the expected cuts and gashes from walking around barefoot.
But there were none. Misty's feet were as perfect as though she had just been born. Except for a lot of dirt and grime, there was nothing wrong with her physical health. Glancing at her legs and arms, Adelaide noticed it was the same all over her body; it was extraordinary. Even with her advanced survival skills, Adelaide still managed to get small cuts and bruises all over her body and suspected the same goes for Shea. But Misty was perfect. As though nothing bad had ever happened to her.
“Okay....she's fine,” she declares, standing up again. “You can help her with the clothes.” Shea is instantly at Misty's side, forcing the slightly-too-large shirt over her head and accidentally ripping off the thin gown she had been wearing.
As Shea was wrestling with Misty's pants, Adelaide heard the crunch of leaves outside their little copse and immediately hushed them. Gently parting the plants, she glanced outside and saw a very familiar face. “Nathan!” she cried out softly, grabbing the boy's attention. He freezes and rapidly brings his head around to face the sound of his name.
“Adelaide!” he cried, seeing her familiar face and rushing over. “How'd you get in there?”
“We have a plant-whisperer,” she grins, gently parting the curtain of thorns to let him through after checking to make sure Misty had gotten her pants on. “Shea, Misty, this is Nathan. We were at the Facility at the same time.” At the mention of the Facility, Shea's eyes turn the burning red again and Nathan takes a step back.
“Hey,” Nathan says shorty after Shea's eyes turn back to their usual brown and she stares at him quizzically. “Addie, I found Chandler. He's not dead.”
“What?” she says promptly, whirling to face her old friend, disbelief sketched across her feet.
“Chandler. Is. Not. Dead.” Nathan says slowly, mentally bracing for the onslaught of emotion and hugs from Adelaide.
“Well then we have to help him!” she cries, grabbing Nathan's shoulders and looking deep into his eyes to make sure he isn't lying. When she sees he isn't, she immediately heads for the wall of plants, but pulls back when they grow thorns.
“Tomorrow,” Misty whispers, looking up at them with big, doleful eyes. “Dark,” she whispers, curling onto her side and closing her eyes to rest.
“In the morning then,” Adelaide says softly, shoulders slumping. Nathan gives her a quick hug before they lay next to each other in corner opposite Misty and Shea, who had curled around her new friend, instantly falling asleep as darkness surrounded the small group.
~~As soon as the pale tendrils of pre-dawn sunlight filtered into their little haven, Adelaide woke up, eyes snapping open and sitting up slowly, Nathan blinking awake beside her. Standing up and brushing each other off of leaves and dirt, Adelaide ran a hand through her shoulder-length hair and gently nudged Shea and Misty awake. Shea sat up immediately and glared at the source of disturbance, her eyes burning orange again. Upon noticing it was just Adelaide, she clamed down and her shoulders slumped slightly as her eyes turned brown again and she rubbed the sleep out of them. Misty was slower to wake up, blinking softly and rubbing her eyes again and again before being able to even sit up.
“Come on. I don't want to just leave you here. We're going back in for Chandler.” she whispers, helping pull Misty to her feet while Shea talks at Nathan. Nodding, Misty stumbles to the edge of their clearing and lays a hand on the vines.
“Thank you. We're leaving now,” she whispers; Adelaide can only hear it because of her advanced sense of hearing that comes from being alone and on the run. Instantly, the vines fall back into a much more natural formation, crawling over the ground and the dead tree.
Adelaide grins at Nathan's look of astonishement and leads the way out. Looking at the sunset through the thick trees, she turns to the right and starts walking, silently padding through the undergrowth. Nathan walks beside her, equally silent, while Misty and Shea crunch along behind them, Shea running her mouth and Misty tugging on her hair again.
~~After two days of walking south, a building looms up through the trees, a small dirt road leading up to it. Nathan quietly takes Adelaide's hand and holds a finger to his lips, pulling her along to a large drainage pipe sticking out over a large stream. “Through here,” he whispers,also excited at the prospect of getting his friend Chandler back. So excited, in fact, that he fails to notice Shea's eyes burning with a barely contained fire at just the sight of the Facility.
Sneaking back in was easy, especially when Adelaide could turn any door knob or handle by just thinking of the strong wind turning the handle. Nathan also helped where he could, destracting guards with sudden pipeline failures, causing large puddles to form and them to be called away from where the small group was advancing, Misty and Shea more hindering than helping in the swift and silent rescue.
“Chandler!” Adelaide gasps upon seeing the cage her twin brother was locked in, beaten and battered but very much alive. At the sound of his name, Chandler slowly rose his eyes to look up at them, the dull grey orbs coming to life when he saw who it was.
“Addie!” he cried hoarsely, his throat dry from the lack of water they were giving them.
“I told you I'd get help,” Nathan said softly, smiling slightly at the two siblings, his two best friends. “Now we have to hurry; what's the security like around here?”
“Not much that I can tell, Nate,” Chandler smiles softly at Nathan, sitting up finally, though still hunched over in the tiny cage he was laying in.
“Good,” Adelaide says, undoing the lock on his cage and opening it up before throwing her arms gingerly around her brother and helping him up. “I thought you were dead,” she murmured in his ear, closing her eyes to keep back tears.
“I did too,” he muttered, gripping his sister tight and ignoring his screaming muscles.
Nathan alone noticed the distant and half-dead look in Misty's eyes that had been there since they had entered the drainage pipe to enter the Facility. He also noticed the way Shea's eyes had lit up, glowing more than burning with the bright red-orange color.
“Uh, Addie...” he started when a scientist walked into the room, stopping dead upon seeing four escapees in the middle of his private lab to work with his private specimen.
As soon as Shea and Addie had turned their heads towards the sound of his dropped clipboard, Shea started trembling, almost as though with rage. She was shaking violently, her eyes glowing brighter and brighter as her very skin turned red and grew hot, prompting Misty to take several stumbling, zombie-like steps away. Adelaide quickly turned to cover Chandler and Nathan grabbed Misty, shielding her with his own body. Shea screamed some kind of name and then--