A/N: Special thanks to my most faithful readers who always vote and/or comment ! Hope you guys enjoy! And don't forget to vote and comment or I'll steal all your candy!

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One day, I woke up early to a beautifully peaceful morning. The gentle sunshine lovingly caressed my face and a light breeze stole into the room, playfully nudging me awake. I smiled and sat up in my sleeping bag, which had been one of the first few things I'd stolen. Hugging my knees close to my chest, I lazily looked around the room, feeling relaxed and well rested.

Gradually, I crept out, feeling the thick, soft carpet under my feet. It was a pretty recent addition and it made the place feel so much more homely. I swept my gaze across the room, taking in every part of the lovely home I, Ryan and Shyrene had made for ourselves.

We'd only occupied the two back rooms on the top floor of the house. They were the safest and pretty much hidden from the outside world because of the dense, tall trees in the backyard. It was actually a very nice house and had obviously belonged to people who had been quite well off. 

I wonder what happened to this place.

It wasn't the first time the thought had occurred to me, but I never dwelt on it too long. It didn't affect me and, in all honesty, wasn't particularly concerning either. It wasn't like I could do anything anyway.

"Are you up already?"

I turned around to see Ryan who was sitting up and rubbing sleep from his eyes. A few feet away from him, Shyrene stirred in her own sleeping bag, her thermos of hot milk by her side. I grinned as he joined me at the window and leaned outside, taking in the lush green, untouched by whatever unfortunate fate had befallen the house.

"Why are you so happy today?" he asked, with a smile of his own, finally taking his head out of the window to turn towards me.

"Nothing." I answered, relishing the feeling of the cool breeze on my face. "It' such a perfect day, I just couldn't help feeling pleased. And, well, I was thinking of what all we've been through, the three of us, and how we've manage to make ourselves this little home."

His eyes softened, but just as he was about to reply, another voice interrupted us, "You're right." said Shyrene, joining us at the window with a mug of warm milk. I hadn't noticed when she'd gotten up.

"Before you guys got here, I was mostly living on chips and water. If I hadn't thought to bring those when I first ran away from my house, I might've been searching for food in trashcans." Her eyes clouded over for a minute as she mused. 

I felt my heart melt. I'd thought I had it rough, but both of my friends had been through so much more than me that it made my own trials feel insignificant. But both of them insisted that I'd been through worse mental trauma as neither of them had had to watch a friend commit suicide. My heart squeezed at the thought of Chloe. Even now, the ache hadn't lessened in the least. My eyes still grew moist whenever that particular memory came to mind and my soul still cried in pain. 

Forcibly pulling myself out of that particular train of thought, I reverted my focus to the present. "Hey, it's no use thinking of the past. It's not like we can change it." I nudged Shyrene. 

"Yeah, speaking of which, are you ready for another raid?" Ryan grinned cheekily at us and we couldn't help laughing at how easily he'd changed the subject.

Later, as we were preparing for the raid, I wondered how long it would all last. We couldn't live like this forever. For one thing, the stores wouldn't last long. Nearly everyone had deserted the city and moved to some child-free government base in god-knows-where. 

Well, I guess we'll just keep moving from city to city.

I put on my shoes and grabbed my bag. A thrill ran down my spine and a smirk made its way across my lips. I loved this.

***

Stealing through shrubberies and hedges, still standing loyal to the almost deserted city, found us in front of a little shop that seemed almost on the verge of closing. I felt the corners of my mouth quirk up as Shyrene walked up to shop, making sure to stay hidden. She twirled her fingers and pointed at the shop and we nodded back at her. Ryan placed his hand on my shoulder and pointed towards the back door.

Quiet as mice, we snuck into the shop next door, one we had ransacked about a month ago. The interior looked dark and gloomy and smelt musty. The few rays of sunshine that had managed to poke in through the spaces in the blinds did nothing to help the general atmosphere of the place. The whole store was so empty that our breath seemed to echo around us.

We quickly made our way towards the back door and, once we were outside, stole around the back of our targeted store. Easily unlocking a window using my powers, I climbed in through it and Ryan followed. The shopkeeper had his back to us, but even at this angle, I could tell he was rather disoriented.

Shyrene must be doing well.

Quickly and noiselessly, we levitated what we needed into our bags. We didn't really like stealing, but every time we felt bad about it, we remembered that all these people were the ones who had done this to us.

 Besides, we never took many things, always choosing the near-expired stuff that was usually placed in some bag to be discarded. Sometimes the food we took was actually expired, but if it had been only up to a week or two since its expiry date, it tasted just fine.  All the non-eatable items were taken from abandoned stores like the one next door.

 Perhaps we did it only to keep our conscience clean, but we never truly robbed anyone. Well, except hospitals. We never felt guilty about that. They had, after all, killed or at least tried to kill children like us.

My reverie was broken by a can of juice, nearly costing me my nose. I quickly levitated it into my bag along with a few more items. Satisfied, I motioned to Ryan and we climbed out of the window with the bags hoisted on our shoulders. We retraced our steps to get Shyrene and soon, the three of us were stealing back to the house, trying our hardest not to smile.

The second we entered the house and closed the gate, we rushed upstairs and collapsed on the floor in our rooms, laughing so hard we lost our voices! 

After a moment, I recovered and sat up. We did have to unpack the bags after all. As we uncovered item after item, the three of us couldn't help but squeal with excitement at our stock.

We'd barely managed to get halfway through one bag, when I suddenly stopped. The hair on the back of my neck prickled and my stomach did a weird somersault. 

"Did you hear that?" I asked Shyrene. She stopped and listened, straining her ears. 

"Nope, nothing. What am I supposed to be hearing?"

"It's... nothing. I'm probably imagining it." I waved her off, but I couldn't stop feeling that someone or something was watching us. I tried to will the uncomfortable thought away, not wanting to explore that particular train of thought.

It's nothing, Ellys. You're just being paranoid. As usual.

I continued unpacking the bags, trying to ignore the fact that my stomach seemed to have developed a new talent for ballet dancing.

 Suddenly, I heard another sound. This time, it was unmistakable and clear. I looked at my friends for confirmation. They were staring back at me, eyes wide and scared. Their faces told me all I needed to know and I whirled around towards the door, my body effortlessly adopting a defensive stance. 

A flurry of footsteps sounded next and, before we knew it, about a dozen or so people entered the room. They were all armed and had their guns pointed straight at us. I felt my legs go wobbly. They all looked like they meant business and something told me it wouldn't be discussed over tea.     

One man started edging closer to us and I suddenly sprung into action. Focusing on him with all my might, I used my mind to lift him up and dropped him. Before he could even crash down to the floor, the rest of the strange men and women pointed their guns at us and started firing. One woman clutched at her head and I knew Shyrene was behind it. I made some of the shots turn back, but it was extremely difficult to focus on so  many unpredictable and infuriatingly tiny targets.

I noticed that they weren't firing bullets, but tranquilizers. The knowledge that I wasn't going to die seemed to do something to me. My movements turned bolder and stronger and I made sure that not one of the little buggers found their target. Meanwhile, Ryan was doing an excellent job, tossing the intruders into the air like pancakes and making them crash face first on the floor. 

Busy deflecting the tranquilizers, I failed to notice when a woman tackled me to the ground. She delivered a hard blow to my head and, for a disconcerting moment, the world tilted. But that was all the time she needed and, before I could make sense of anything, she plunged an injection into the side of my neck and immediately sprung up. My vision turned blurry as I tried and failed to stand.

 Ryan, noticing what was happening, turned pale and opened his mouth to yell. But my mind was too fuzzy to make sense of what he was saying. 

No! This cannot be happening!

I shook my head hard and glared at the woman. I  wished she'd just go away and leave us alone. To my astonishment, she locked her gaze with me,  almost as if she was in a trance, she lowering her gun and dropped it on the floor. 

Everyone else seemed to be oblivious to what was happening . She slowly put a hand into her pocket and, as if in slow motion, drew out a small pistol. Instinctively, I knew this wasn't the tranquillizer-gun they'd been using on us, but the real thing. I watched in horror, my blood rapidly turning to ice as she slowly brought it up the the side of her forehead.

NO!

The scream inside my own head was deafening and left my ears ringing. Somehow, as if the she had heard me, the woman stopped abruptly, her finger a mere inch away from the trigger.

It was then that people finally noticed the terrifying events taking place in their midst. The woman remained motionless, her eyes still glazed and her gaze fixated upon my face. A horror-struck look appeared to be tattooed on her face .I felt as though I was turning to stone. All my senses seemed slow, cloudy and sluggish.

Vaguely, I heard someone scream and saw a figure lunge towards me, but it was as if I was watching everything through a blurry lens. 

This time, I made no move to resist when they tackled me to the floor, even as I felt another jab at my neck. Everyone else probably thought I'd used telekinesis to force the lady's body to move against her will . I was the only one who knew that the truth was far more terrifying.

The world went black around me but this time, I didn't try to fight it. Gratefully, I allowed darkness to take over my world.

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Hope you guys liked this chapter! It's a lovely long one, isn't it? BTW, what do you think of Ryan? Tell me in the comments!

Also, my book is FINALLY an hour long! You know, I may increase the number of chapters or perhaps turn this into a series cuz I don't wanna rush the story and end up ruining it.