Freaks

ROW’S POV:

“Shadow, sit down!” Stretch says.

Shadow sticks his tongue out at her, laughing, before jogging down to the end of the train to where Chill is. Stretch’s arm shoots out, elongating in the air, and they grab the back of their boyfriend’s shirt before dragging him back to his seat.

Soar, who is sitting by me, sighs, spinning her dagger on the seat. We’re on yet another train ride to go fight rebels for the government. The thirteen of us on the train have different gifts, like Stretch. They can stretch any part of them, even their long brown hair. They have light skin and are taller than most of us.

Shadow can control darkness, and use it to travel to different places sometimes. He has dark skin and frizzy black hair.

Chill can control water and ice, and has pale skin, and long white hair in it’s usual braid down his back.

Soar can fly, though she doesn’t like to often. She has dark blue hair and light skin. Her eyes are a pretty goldish color, with gray specks. Oh, and she’s my girlfriend.

My name is Row. Well, technically it’s Grow, but everyone calls me Row instead. I can control earth and plants. I have light brown skin, and frizzy green hair. I’m short for nineteen, which is about the age everyone on this train.

The government collected all the people with gifts a couple years ago, and now they send us out to fight battles for them against rebels. We usually fight in the woods, which is where the train is going now. There are hardly ever any casualties, and if someone gets hurt, Heal can fix them up easily. His powers make it so he can heal someone just by touching them. He has blond hair and tan skin. He’s well built, though he doesn’t like to fight much. He’s sitting on the other end of the train with his boyfriend, Con.

Con can conjure-conjure is his full name- different things, which is helpful in a fight. If he overuses his gift, though, it’ll knock him out for a while. He had curly brown hair and light skin, and is taller than Stretch. Heal is very protective of him, the same way Soar is protective of me.

“We’re almost there!” Shift shouts.

They can shapeshift, and the look they usually keep is light skin and messy black hair.

The train slows, and Soar squeezes my hand, silently telling me she loves me. None of us like going to fight. But it’s really the only thing we’re good for anymore. The rest of the world thinks we’re freaks.

“Everyone ready?” Van asks from the front of the train. They’re the oldest, and their gift is invisibility. They’re a little shorter than Con, and have straight blond hair, and pale skin.

We all nod. We have to be ready, whether we want to be or not.

xXx

“Is everyone here?” Van calls.

I hold my hand over a cut on my arm. This was one of our worst fights. Heal is patching people up, and I’m leaning against the side of the train.

“Shock, Ace and Soar aren’t here yet.” Lift says. He has super strength, and has dark hair and light skin dotted with freckles. He’s lean, but muscular.

I frown. Where is Soar? I saw her last fighting a rebel, and they were going deeper into the woods. But Soar can handle herself. She always shows up.

“I see them!” Shadow calls, pointing to the cluster of trees. 

Shock has Ace in his arms and he’s running towards us. Shock’s gift is electricity, and he has spiky purple hair and light skin.

“Heal, help him.” He says, placing Ace down as Heal rushes over.

He’s unconscious, and Heal presses his hands on Ace’s chest. Ace’s has super speed, and has fiery red hair and light, freckled skin. His nickname is Race, but we all call him Ace.

“What happened?” He asks.

“I don’t know, he was running and one of the rebels shot something at him, and he just collapsed.”

“His heartbeat is normal,” Heal mumbles, his hands moving quickly. “It should be way faster than ours, but it’s not.”

“What do we do?” Shock asks. 

“We need to get his heart to speed up.” He says. “I don’t know how, though…”

“What if I shocked him? Would that work?”

Heal nods slowly. “I think so...try it.”

“What if I hurt him?”

“Just try it. Please.”

He nods, moving his hands to Ace’s chest. After a second, I hear a crackle of electricity, and Ace jerks, his eyes flying open. He gasps, chest heaving. Shock sighs in relief as Heal starts checking on him.

He’s okay.

But...where’s Soar?

xXx

“Van, we can’t leave!” I say. “Soar isn’t back yet, what if-”

“Row, we have to go back.” They say gently. “Soar knows how to get back.”

“No, she’s not back, what if she’s hurt? We need to look for her, Van. She’s still out there.”

“We can’t right now.” They say. “I’m sorry, Row.”

I scowl as they usher us all on the train to go back to our home. Before I go on, I kneel, pressing my hands to the ground. I close my eyes, and try to see if I can sense Soar anywhere near us.

Nothing.

But this is Soar. She can fly. She might not be on the ground. She’s out there. I know she is. She’ll find us.

Reluctantly, I get on the train. I look out the window at the trees, hoping to catch a glimpse of her blue hair. Heal is treating Ace on the other side of the train, and Shock hasn’t left his side.

“Row,” Blaze says, smiling at me. He’s Chill’s boyfriend, and his gift is controlling fire. He has messy blond hair and tan skin. “She’ll show up. Don’t worry.”

I nod, curling up in the seat, my eyes looking outside. Of course she’ll show up.

xXx

“Where is she, Van?” I yell. “It’s been two weeks!”

They sigh, leaning against the wall. “I don’t know, Row. The Boss said he’s been looking, but they haven’t found anything.”

“The Boss doesn’t even care! She’s out there, why haven’t they found her?”

“Row,” They say gently. “I think you need to consider that maybe Soar is-”

“She’s not dead, Van.” I snap.

I storm off to the courtyard, the guards letting me through the doors. I sit on the ground at the corner of the gate. Everything here is made so we can’t escape. Our gifts still work, but we can’t attack anyone, and we can use our gifts to travel outside of the gate. My gift is a little stronger, though, since I can control the earth anywhere.

I just want Soar back. She’s not dead. She can’t be. She can’t be dead.

I press my hands into the ground, and it rumbles as I make a tall, thick tree grow, surrounding me so I’m inside of the hollow trunk. I haven’t let myself cry, but now I do. I just want Soar.

NO ONE’S POV:

For two months, Row stays inside the tree. Everyone’s worried about her, because they can’t get anywhere close to it. The roots lash out at anyone who tries, and no one can see her.

They haven’t found Soar because she got separated from the group. Some of the rebels managed to take her, but she fought them off. By that time, she was in a different part of the woods, and the train was gone. But she’s trying to get back. She’s trying for Row. Her leg is probably broken, and she’s cut and bruised, but she’s trying.

SOAR’S POV:

“Let me in!” I shout, pounding on the door of the place we call home. Where are all the guards?

I’m hovering over the ground so I don’t have to walk on my leg. I bandaged it the best I could, but I’m not a medic.

The door finally opens, and I scowl at the guard. “About time.”

“How are you still alive?” He asks, lowering the gun he had aimed at my face.

I ignore him, and fly down the hallway. The other guards look at me in surprise, but I just roll my eyes at them.

When I get to the room all of us with gifts share, I push the door open.

“Soar?” Shadow exclaims. Everyone else turns to look at me.

Shadow runs towards me, but I mutter, “Don’t you dare touch me,” and he slows.

Heal ignores that though, and pulls me over to my bed to check my injuries. Heal usually acts like he doesn’t care about anything, but when someone’s hurt, he does his job.

“Stop,” I snap, scanning everyone. “Where’s Row?”

They all give each other looks. Con sighs.

“When we couldn’t find you...she kind of…”

“Where is she?” I demand.

“In the courtyard.” He says.

I start to stand, but Heal stops me. “You need medical attention, Soar.”

“I survived two months, I can survive another five minutes.” I snap, pushing him off me.

I fly ahead of them to the courtyard, and push past the guards by the door. There’s a new tree in one corner, and I stop in front of it as Shadow slows behind me. The grass around the tree is dead, and most of the plants are shriveled up. The tree doesn’t look so great, either, and the branches dangle dangerously, like they’ll fall at any second.

“Is she in the tree?” I ask.

He nods. “Heal said she’s still alive, but we don’t know how she’s doing in there.”

“Why haven’t you gotten her out?”

“We can’t go near it. The roots attack anyone who tries”

I scoff, and move forward. A thick root shoots out at me, but I grab the edge of it, and it goes limp in my hand. I surge forward, and place my hand on the center of the tree.

“Row?” I call. “Are you in there?”

No answer. The leaves rustle from the wind above me, but it’s silent otherwise.

“Row? It’s Soar. Can you come out here for me? I really want to see you.”

Still nothing.

“Row? Baby, please? I’m back. I’m here. Please, Row.”

Nothing.

I sigh, dropping my hand. But then there’s a rumbling noise, and the bark splits in half. I can see her now.

Her eyes are red from crying, and there’s dirt and leaves in her hair. She falls in my arms as the tree closes again, sobbing into my shirt.

“Baby,” I breathe, pulling her to me.

“I love you so much.” She mumbles, her arms tight around me. “I wanted to look for you, but they wouldn’t let me, I missed you so much.”

“I know. I love you, too.” I tell her, gently lowering us to the ground.

She pulls away, looking over my face. “You’re hurt.”

“I know.” I say, kissing her softly. “I’ll be fine. But you need to eat something. Shadow said you’ve been in there for two months?”

“Two months? I thought it was only a couple hours.”

I shake my head. “Let’s go inside.”

I fly us to the door, but glance back at the tree. Flowers started growing around it, and the grass looks greener already. The tree looks healthier, and small flowers are blooming from the branches.

I smile, and go inside.

The characters I used in this one might be used in future stories. I'm sorry for all the time skips in this. Hope you liked it. =)