Freaks

Iris is a young woman who is trying to survive in a world where those with dangerous powers are "put down" by the High Council of Magic and Preternaturals in order to mainain a harmless appearance to the US government. Even though Iris stays in the shadows, she is no where close to being in the dark. She has been trying to keeping tabs on the HCMP. However after meeting John, a young man from one of the few groups of those that resist the HCMP's authority, she can no longer hide from the council, she must run.




Chapter 1
         “I can’t believe this!” I said loudly as I stomped through the packed parking lot. I awkwardly shifted the box of my belongings to my left hip as my free hand fumbled through my purse in search of my keys. “Fired... Fired!” I shouted. Actually, I felt much better after my little outburst in the office after they fired me. I chuckled to myself as I replayed the scene in my head, it really was quite comical. The look on Frank’s face, it was completely priceless. I had wanted to tell my boss off for the whole month that I had worked there, he was such a scumbag. Even though I wasn’t really angry, it was still fun to continue my tantrum all the way to my car. Especially when I knew that I still had an audience. I know that all those office snobs had their noses practically smooshed against the windows of Bailey Pharmaceuticals, watching me because their lives were just so boring.
         I gave up for the moment on finding my keys, and continued towards my car. It was an ugly blue 1990 Chevy Lumina. The front passenger door had sometime in its poor existence been replaced with a burgundy one. I really couldn’t complain though because it had been very cheap and it got me from point A to point B. It sure did stand out from most of the cars that were in the lot though...
         Footsteps clapped on the asphalt as someone came running into the parking lot. I mused that Frank was running towards me to beg me to stay. Sometimes I just crack myself up... However the footsteps had come from the street so that was very unlikely. Not that it was likely in the first place. Dirt bag.
         I glanced over my shoulder just in time to see a young man in a business suit come to an abrupt stop and duck down behind a Hummer. Great... This situation just screamed trouble. I should just keep walking to my car and leave. I kept the street in view as I walked slowly to my car. Sure enough three thug-like guys ran by not even glancing at the parking lot. Idiots. They were clearly hired muscle for someone and not very good ones either. They would be back soon though.
         Business boy seemed to have the same idea because as soon as they were out of sight he began to creep around the lot from car to car trying the handles. Instead of running the fool was trying to steal a car! I watched him out of the corner of my eye as I set my box down on the hood of my car. Damn me and my conscious, but I couldn’t just let him get caught... With a sigh I turned towards him and said, “The entire staff here is made up of paranoid assholes. You won’t find a single unlocked vehicle in this entire lot.” The boy just froze where he was and stared at me. Well now that I had done my good deed for the day I could go home. I turned back to my car and set my purse down with a thunk on the hood beside my box. I began rummaging through my purse in search of my illusive keys. I heard footsteps approaching me and was just about to turn around when my hand finally snagged my keys. They were at the very bottom, of course. I pulled them free from the junk in my purse and had just let out a small noise of accomplishment when I felt a gun press into my back.
         “Don’t move or I will shoot you. Now hand your keys over.” A young male voice said nervously.
I let out a small laugh as I slung my purse over my shoulder. Slowly I slipped out from between the man and the car and opened my driver side door.
         “Wha... What are you doing!? I said not to move or I will shoot you!” Business boy exclaimed as he grabbed my left wrist.
         “No, no you won’t.” I said with a smile, “If that were true then you would have already. Plus you’re probably out of bullets. Otherwise you wouldn’t have been running.” He stood there looking at me incredulously as I wrenched my wrist away from him and slid into my car. “Be a sweetheart and grab my box before you get in.”
         “What?” he asked, his eyebrows scrunching slightly in confusion.
         “Those three thugs that were chasing you are back. I don’t think that they have seen you yet so you had better hurry if you want a ride!”
         He turned slightly and when he caught sight of the men exclaimed, “Shit!” After sliding my box under his left arm, he lunged toward the rear driver side door. Business boy was in the back seat in a flash and as he slammed the door shut I turned the ignition and the car roared to life. Tires squealing, I peeled out of the parking lot, threw my left hand out the window and gave the office snobs the finger.
#
         I had just gotten on the interstate when I looked into my rearview mirror. “You can sit up now. No one is following us.” I said as I choked back a chuckle. It’s not every day that you see a young man in a suit curled up uncomfortably in the back seat of your car. He slowly sat up and looked around.
         “Why are you helping me?” he asked as he turned to look out the rear window. Obviously he wasn’t taking my word for it that we weren’t being followed.
         “I don’t know... It just seemed like the thing to do... Plus I have nothing to lose, Frank fired me.” I said matter of factly.
         “Who is Frank?” business boy asked, looking confused as he turned back towards me.
         “The manager of the office worked for and the man who fired me because I wouldn’t sleep with him.” I exclaimed happily.
         “What!” Business boy seemed clearly confused and I was only too happy to enlighten him.
         “Well that is at least what I told the whole office when he fired me...It probably had more to do with the information they almost caught me copying. Like I said earlier, they are paranoid.”
         “Why are you telling me all of this?” he asked as he went back to looking out the rear window.
         I pursed my lips and then replied, “Well to be honest I’m pretty hoped up on adrenalin when I get excited I tend to talk way too much, or so I’ve been told...Sooo, why were those guys chasing you.” I waited for a reply but quickly realized that I wasn’t going to get one. “Okay... Well my name is Iris, what is your?”
         “John.” he said after a long pause.
         My skin began to tingle as John put off even more energy than he had been. The energy that flowed through me ached for a taste of this energy. He was a pyro and a strong one at that. The more anxious or excited he got, the more energy he put off, and the harder it was for me to keep myself in check. I will not feed off his energy, I scolded myself. This was one of the reasons that I stayed away from other ‘freaks’ like me, the temptation was just too great and the power it gave me was worse than a drug.
         “John, you need to calm down before you accidently set this car on fire.” I said, trying to calm myself down as well.
         “How did you know...Never mind, we’ve got bigger problems. Three black sedan coming up on us fast.” He said turning away from the rear window and facing me, his eyes full of fear. It wasn’t hard to recognize the cars he had spotted and judging by the fact that they were weaving in and out of traffic and quickly approaching us, I had to agree with him. We had problems.
 






Chapter 2
         “You might want to put your seatbelt on.” I said right as I pushed the gas pedal down as far as it would go. The Lumina gave a bit of hesitation before it began to accelerate. I knew that my old car would never be able to outrun the new looking sedans that were following us, but lucky for us this wasn’t my first car chase.
         The sedans caught up with us in a matter of seconds. Two of them were in the left hand lane trying to overtake my car, while the other one stayed in my lane right on my ass. There was an exit coming up and it didn’t take a genius to figure out that they were going to try to force me to take it. I jerked the Lumina over into the left lane clipping the front corner of one of the sedans, causing both our vehicles to nearly lose control.
         My poor car could not go any faster and my foot was starting to go numb from pressing so hard on the pedal. The sedans stayed in the lanes that they had been in, but the one on the right was pulling up beside me. The driver motioned for me to pull over. I shook my head no and his response back was to pull a gun up into view. “Crap!” I exclaimed and I hit the break. The sedan on the left flew up ahead of me and the one behind me almost ran into my bumper. The sedan behind that one was not quite as lucky. It slammed into the back of the first one and then stayed there. They looked like they were stuck together and now I had some room to play with, perfect.
         “John, reach under my seat. There is a gun and it is loaded. I hope that your shot is good cause I need you to take out the driver.”
         Gun in hand John hung out the window and immediately jumped back in when a barrage of bullets were sent our way, courtesy of our intended target.
         “Crap! Come on John, if you don’t shoot them then we are as good as dead!” I exclaimed. I looked over see that the sedan in the right lane had dropped back and was once again right beside us. The driver looked like he was aiming his gun at our front tire. Crap, crap, crap. Suddenly I heard my good ole gun go off and quickly glanced in the rearview mirror to see the two conjoined sedans spinning out of control behind us. Without hesitation I took a sudden left turn through the gap in the median and merged into the traffic. I watched the sedan speed off the opposite direction. It wouldn’t take them very long to find the next gap in the median and then catch up with me, so I took the first exit and decided to stick with country roads the rest of the way home.