Chapter 4: Ears To The Streets

Liam's Pov:

I've been hit twice in the last few days. Each one as mysterious as the last. But now I knew who I was dealing with. Now if I can only get tabs on her. Ned had tried but there was so much tape around her. Even her name wasn't available. It angered me. But it only made me more intrigued. She knows me or of me. She knows my identities, it was now just finding her motives. Unless? No that's not it. It couldn't be can it? I suppose anything is possible.

I walked into my home and I put down my briefcase. I walked through the dark and into my room. I turned on the light and looked over everything. I don't know why but something felt slightly off. But who can blame me?

I went to my bathroom and took a shower then I got dressed in a pair of sweats and went downstairs to make some dinner. Since I came home late my chef had already taken off so it was up to me to feed my body. While I was cooking I felt this sudden excitement take over me. She had a slamming body and her confidence was alluring. She's a mystery. If I ever got my hands on her I'd be willing to actually recruit her. But I'd need more. Something to bargain. But I'll do that when the time comes.

But besides her I'm hearing a lot of talk about the administration. They are looking for three experiments that have gone rampant. Monsters that can take the shape of a human. Or so the streets talk. But I'm not worried. I was untraceable. No one remotely dealing with those people would be able to find me. I've hidden myself to the point where my own identity was a big question mark to the world. I was always known by one of my many names and not my true identity. So to hear this was a bit alarming as well as interesting. But if it's one thing the streets don't lie. There is always a truth to the rumors that float around.

I grabbed a plate and fixed it up with what I made. As I was about to sit at the table I heard glass break and a cough. I was quick to throw a knife in the direction but as I looked up at the person I saw someone I thought would be harder to find. Turns out she came to me. She gasped for air and I watched her faint in front of me. Immediately going back to training I was planning to go in for the kill. But I saw something glowing underneath her wet shirt.

"Help!" She gasped.

"Help." I lifted up her black shirt and I clenched my fist. I haven't seen one of these in a long time. A termination tag. A ticking bomb. They updated it.

"Why should I help you?"

"I'll do anything. Just please Ugh!" She choked. Her eyes shined an acid green and I traced the contours of her suffering face.

"Anything?"

"Any-Huh! Thing." She gasped. I smirked and ripped the piece out of her chest without a warning. She took a large gasp of air. I leaned down towards her ear.

"I'll hold you to that." I smiled and watched as her eyes fluttered closed. I went over to my phone and dialed Ned and a few more people.

"Hello?" Ned answered.

"I need you and Kian over here."

"Liam I'm in the middle of something."

"This is crucial."

"How crucial?"

"Severe." Ned sighed and then groaned.

"Alright, we're on the way." I hung up and smiled down at her blue bleeding body. Isn't it funny how life works?

Ned came over in nothing short of an hour and Kian came in five minutes later. Another best friend of ours. We all stared at her in awe.

"How is it possible?" Kian asked.

"What's the damage?" I pressed.

"You ripped it out just in time. She'll be okay after I'm done." Kian and Ned were thoroughly stunned by her being one of those. One of us. But a part of me was just happy about the opportunity. Who would've thought?

"I mean I didn't even figure this would be the outcome. Why do you suppose she was gunning for you?"

"I'll have to ask her that but it's clear her motives have changed since her last hit." I spoke. She was the most developed one of us I have ever seen. Next to me. But that took years and years of inside jobs at the administration. She was the epitome of what we wanted to become. The best product that the administration has ever made in the last decade. She was valuable.

I watched Kian work his magic. If she responded well then where were the other two. Or matter of fact who were the other two? She has to know them or else why wouldn't I hear the word on the street. When Kian finished we all watched her for hours in anticipation. She was stabilized. Usually the process is immediate. But this time it was slow and unsteady. Probably because of how developed she was. Her body was acting like a human even though we aren't exactly human per say.

"This is going to take a while. You guys should get some rest." Kian said.

"I think Kian's right. Call me when she wakes up." Ned got up and walked out of the room.

"Liam-"

"Nope. I'm staying until she wakes up. She might be freaked out."

"I think you might want to leave her alone. Who knows how she'll act when she wakes up. We might trigger something." Kian said.

"Let you deal with her alone then? I don't think so." Even though Kian was capable, I still had my doubts when it came to her. There was an air of superiority coming off of her and newness. A young strength. She would be able to combat us quite easily. So to be alone with her wasn't a good idea.

"Still she might be more comfortable with less people around her." Kian points out.

"Just trust me." I told him.

Roi's Pov:

Everything was quiet and dark. It wasn't supposed to end up this way. We weren't supposed to be hunted like prey.

It was the day of the dinner and I had purposefully started a big fight with my father which allowed him to leak the biggest family secret. As predicted my sister didn't want to look at any one of us in the eye and Sykes had taken me and the kids away. He had men waiting outside of my door the minute he came over for dinner. The minute he found out about our independence forms. My sister who I still had a bit of hope for didn't even try to stop Sykes. She was confused. I understood that but if she actually cared for me she would've stopped the situation like Anna's sister who granted her the freedom Anna desired. Instead I was knocked out and brought to the facility and by the time I woke up I was strapped to the table and I already had a week of life left and so did the kids which I couldn't believe my eyes. The administration had really placed a tag on them. If it weren't for Anna and Lyle I wouldn't have been out and about and the kids wouldn't have gotten help.

Lyle and Anna helped me to move from my apartment and the minute that I got in the car was the minute I found out about the tag they still placed on Anna even with her sister's word of independence. Which let me know that the rules of the admin were botched. They were purely out for themselves and it didn't matter about the say of our siblings or parents. They were going to get rid of us anyways at some point.

For most of the week Anna, Lyle and I had spent at our temporary home trying to find the independent. It was crucial for us at this stage. We continued to hit up places and find information as fast as we could and the more we dug the deeper we fell. Eventually I had worked up the cash to get my kids de-tagged and even Anna, two days before their timers stopped. But in those two days Lyle and I had kept searching. Then we got a piece of vital information. Lyle wanted me to go get de-tagged first. But I wouldn't listen. Those hunters were closing in on me. On us and if I didn't get to the independent now none of us would have made it.

I drove to the address we had collected with all the hope in the world and by the time I got there I knew this might be it. I broke through his window and narrowly avoided a knife to the head. I fell to the floor and I looked up at the man who I've been hunting down for a long time. That's why he was one of my assignments. It was clear to me that I was being used to find him and if I was still a part of the administration he would've been dead and I wouldn't have known he was the independent we were looking for. They were trapping us. Getting rid of any chance we had of governing ourselves and leaving. If we had no other option we would have no choice but to succumb to our fates.

"Anything." I promised. Anything to wake up another day eventually. I don't know what else he said. But I do know the timer got down to the last second before he ripped it out of my chest and my world went dark.

It was cold here. It was peaceful here. It was like entering a goodnight's sleep when you know you went on a killing spree. My heart didn't beat and I felt no pain here. But the longer I was here the more I could feel my awareness coming back to me.

It started by feeling other presences. Then I slowly could locate those presences. Then I slowly felt the blood move through my body and the feeling returned to my skin. Whatever my body was on it was soft and comforting. I've never thought there could be something this soft. But then again I wasn't back in my apartment. Not long after that I started to hear. I heard their inquiries. I listened to their theories and for once I wanted to be able to speak.

The next thing I know I was sobbing. I felt the hot tears fall down my face and I heard the small cry in my throat and I knew that all I needed was to wake up from this dark nightmare. All I needed to do was move. Open my eyes. Something. But my body gave up and the voices in my ears had died down.

I took in a deep breath and I felt the warmth on my body and over my face. At first I twitched. I had never been so stiff in my life. Then I felt something shift besides me and it was like my body raised from the dead. I opened my eyes and hopped out of the bed. I felt alive. I can hear better, see better, smell better. I felt refreshed. I felt free. Now I just needed to go back home. I yawned and stretched my arms and legs.

"You're up." Someone spoke and I spun around and nearly toppled over due to being overwhelmed by my senses. "Good." I looked at him as he got out of bed steadily. I balled my fists as he slowly approached me. "Relax. You're in good hands." He said and I made a move to hit him and I did. It was a weak hit but I hit nonetheless. I felt my legs get wobbly and I toppled over. Not before this man caught me.

"Take a deep breath." I did as I was told and I can feel all of the nerves in my body settle down. Then came the headache.

"Woah." I voiced.

"Feeling good?"

"Mhm." I slowly stood up and moved away from him.

"Good." He was pretty tall. About Lyle's height. He had brown skin and thick black glasses. I studied him as he studied me with a slight smile and out of curiosity I leaned forward and listened to his chest.

"Um-"

"Shh!" His face was unrecognizable to me. He patted my head and I felt the energy run over my body calming me down further.

"You're not him."

"I'm not who?"

"The independent." I spoke and moved away once I felt calm.

"I can be."

"But you're not. At least not who I'm looking for?"

"Who are you looking for?" It took me a few moments to recall the information I read long ago probably.

"Oscar, Raymond, Henry, Frank, Terrel, James, Jamal…"

"Ah! You mean Liam." He chuckled. I nodded my head at him.

"You'll meet him soon."

"How soon? I have to get back. They shouldn't be without me."

"Who?" At this I got tense again. We had a plan to carry out and I had kids to look after.

"Take a seat." I slowly sat down.

"I'll see if he can meet you now." He left the room and locked the door and I waited like a good girl. It felt like forever before the man came back and this time with a taller individual and thank god it was a familiar face. He smirked at me.

"You've managed to outsmart me." He started and I can tell I wasn't going to like what he said.

Liam's Pov:

Gorgeous. Was the only word I had running through my mind. Her eyes appeared to be a yellow color in the sun and her brown skin looked fresh and smooth. Her heart was beating wildly out of her chest and the way she was comfortably sitting in front of me made me unaware of her actions or her words. I put a hand on her chin and I felt an electric pulse run through me. Now I had never felt that before with one of our kind. It usually took a while to figure out the connection between someone like us. Which only showed me how developed they had made her.

"What is it that you want?"

"I asked to leave." She said simply.

"Leave?"

"Leave. It's time to go back."

"Where?" I asked. She was quiet.

"Home." She stated strategically.

"What's your name?" I ask.

"Roi Collis." She said simply.

"What a peculiar name for a girl?"

"Liam is mail spelled backwards but I don't say anything." She shrugs. Kian gives a snort and smooths her hair down. Almost like a cat she lifts her head at his hand and then looks back at me. I watched her relax under his touch. Fascinating. She's reactive to the area and moods in a room. Anyone is but she is extremely so. Which makes me wonder how she can stay calm enough to deal with any chaotic situation.

"Don't bite the hands that feed you, beautiful." I told her and her back stiffened up.

"I'm going home." She said. She got up and I watched her look around before she located her clothes. Now clean and dry. She got dressed and took something out of her pocket.

"I owe you." She said and wrote something down using a piece of stationary. She gave it to me and then walked out of the room. I looked at the stationary and smiled. She left me a number and two addresses. One was labeled temporary and the other was labeled permanent. I shrugged and followed her out of the room.

"What are you thinking Liam?"

"She was literally half naked the whole time and then gets dressed as if it's nothing." I pointed out.

"Why do you care about that?"

"I don't know. She's intriguing don't you think?"

"She is I guess. But other than the fact she's one of us and she knew to come here says a lot."

"I'm going to give her a few days. Then I'd like to see this home of hers."

"Are you sure that's smart to do?"

"Trust me. She knows what's up." I smirked and left the room.