Chapter six

The others looked embarrassed, even Mist looked away. They’d effectively kidnapped me in the dead of night and brought me to an old abandoned slaughterhouse.
“Look, the fact of the matter is; there are people out there like us who are being hunted down and killed. The mutation stays in children as well so even babies are being murdered in their beds. We have to stick together, we’ll survive better as a community” Mist said, tapping her finger on the table with each with each full stop.
“We’re just trying to get as many of us together in one place without anyone knowing, that’s why we took you in the middle of the night” Trapper interrupted “Didn’t want anyone to see. It was just Mist to begin with; then she found me and Bud. We searched around, found Stitch and then found you. We’ve been randomly searching for people really; you and Stitch are the only ones we’ve managed to get.”
It was Stitch’s turn now “Mist keeps an eye on them most the time since she’s the hardest to keep track of. We’re hoping that word will spread among the mutated people and they’ll start searching us out. We still need to find more people though, and those that won’t come with us will probably help others who want to come here.”
“It’ll start getting harder, what with-“ Mist began before Trapper snapped in.
“Mist he does not need to learn about that yet!” Trapper fumed, snapping his fingers at Mist suddenly. Immediately he looked like he wished he hadn’t said it, his face turned white and he looked at the floor as he adjusted his glasses “No need to give him nightmares.”

I wanted to ask more but I got the feeling that the interview was over, I wouldn’t get anything else out of these guys. I stood up, made a strange half hearted wave goodbye and decided to go find Ebony before it got too dark to see her. I walked out of the kitchen, up the stairs and out the door into the courtyard surrounding the slaughterhouse. I could almost see the smell of old raw meat hovering over the building, but there was another smell permeating through the dark musk. I followed it to find Bud, gazing solemnly in the direction of the setting sun. The vines and leaves of her hair and clothes were all pointing towards the splashes of purple and pink across the sky as they tried to catch the last rays of the day. Her rooted feet weren’t in the ground though; they were just shuffling lightly across the open soil as if getting ready to move soon.
“Hello Bud” I said, not expecting an answer “Have you seen my cat?” Her head turned to me slowly, a smile across a wooden lips. One brown arm rose, pointing towards the shed doors where the car was parked; the vines hanging from the hand were pointing at the shed as well which seemed odd. With a nod and a smile of thanks I walked towards the shed. I grimaced as I got closer, burying my nose under my jumper collar again to try and muffle the dead meat stench. I got a few meters inside, just past the Chevy when I spotted Ebony curled up on some spare hay chewing on something that I prayed she had fished out of my food bag. In an old abandoned slaughterhouse the other prospects were almost too disgusting to think about; my brain decided to try and have a go anyway. I hated this smell, I hated this place! Maybe I should try and leave, they wouldn’t force me to stay... I shook my head, no need to think like that. I should stay here for at least a few more days. I sighed and clapped my hands to get Ebony’s attention and nodded towards the door. Understanding she gulped down what ever had been in her mouth and trotted to my side, nuzzling her heavy black furred head against my hip. I pulled at my jumper, clothes were very restricting but I didn’t want to take my top off in front of everyone.

I stroked her head gently as I walked back over to my current accommodations, opening the door into the main room to find Mist and Bud sitting in there; Bud was surprisingly fast for a wooden girl, I hadn’t even seen her cross he grounds to the hut.
“Another day another hunt” Mist sighed, rubbing her forehead. They were staring at the old TV set, it showed the evening news and the announcer was half way through a news item.
“-government still appears to neither support nor disapprove of this behaviour. Fires are breaking out every day as people hunt for those changed by the accident; those who aren’t caught and attacked by mobs in the street are burnt out of their houses.” The news girl looked at her papers “Let’s not forget those attacks of some of the more dangerous changed people.” Pictures flashed up of some of the larger attacks, of people injured from the time the telekinetic lost control and began to pull things towards her like a massive magnet, the deranged fire thrower... I noticed they hadn’t shown any pictures of mutated people being hurt yet. The news girl began talking again “I appears that the person who lived at the burned house escaped before the building fully ignited, a camera phone captured the image of something fleeing from the scene” now the blurry film clip started up, showing something vaguely human running away from the flames “They are thought to be frightened and possibly dangerous so we urge the public not to approach suspicious looking persons.”
“We’ve got to go” Trapper said from the kitchen door. He was wiping his hat free of imaginary dust “They’re out there alone and there’s probably groups out there searching for them. If we don’t find them they could be dead by morning.”
“Tim to earn your worth lizard man, it’s a good thing you rested up well” Mist said, getting up as well and giving me a mental note to think up a name for myself very quickly. I grabbed my hat quickly and stuffed it on; I wanted to hide my appearance.

I moved out the way as the rest dashed out into the courtyard, the creaking of Stitch’s threads and Bud’s limbs adding to the cacophony of noise including the strange hiss of air I’d heard before. They weren’t exactly the stealthiest of groups. I looked down at Ebony and shrugged, she turned back into a kitten and I picked her up, holding her as he ran. The car was out and running as I took a running jump and rolled slightly as I landed on the metal of the back. Well, rolling was an exaggeration; I got half way and one of my spikes stuck me to the floor. I pulled myself free and saw Bud putting a hand over her mouth as she silently giggled. I lay Ebony down, staring at my feet out of embarrassment and she slowly trotted over to Bud and curled up at her feet. Bud’s vine snaked out and stroked her small kitten form slowly, dragging a purr out from the small black feline.

I didn’t know how long we were driving, it was getting dark now and I could only tell the distance from occasional sign that we flashed past and the bumps in the road. We began to move through bigger residential areas, and that’s when Bud and probably the ones in the car began to pull on their own disguises. Bud’s hair was knotted up under a cap and she pulled on a large jacket. I could see why now, as we began to slow I saw the faint glow in the distance of the burning building and the sight of crowds light by the unseen flames.

Disclaimer: .... *drools* If ANYONE steals from Lavalamp studios or me I will make them type this all out TWELVE TIMES! *smashes pirates*
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Ebony and Ivory chapter seven is now finished. I wonder how long until I've finished this book...