Daniel James Howell

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"She attacked me, she was going to kill me."

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THE MINUTE I WOKE UP, I WAS IN A VAN WITH MY ARMS TIED. It took a few seconds for my vision to clear before I saw two giddy faces, and a pissed off one. The back of the van made so that the passengers would face each other. I couldn't see the unknown driver because there was a thin wall dividing us.

"Troye wake up the other one." One of the boys with mint green hair yelled at the grumpy one. I looked to my left and saw Phil slowly awake. 

"Did I do drugs again?" He asked, and I looked at him in confusion. He's done drugs? I shook my head and thought of the bigger picture.

"Where the fuck are we? Untie us." I yelled pulling on the ropes and stomping my feet. Phil rolled his eyes and let his shoulders sag. The girl looked at him in confusion, but then her face turned to one in realization.

"Calm down or I'll put you back to sleep." The grumpy one, Troye, snapped. I sighed and decided to ignore him and focus on the other two.

"I'm Tyler." The guy with mint green hair cheered. "This is Zoë." He introduced the girl with the ends of her hair blond. She waved with a smile.

"You kidnapped us." I snapped coldly and Troye smirked.

"If we didn't you'd be killed." Troye responded with a carefree smirk.

"What?" I asked, I looked towards Phil who just looked like he knew everything already. He woke up after me though.

"We'll explain when we get to the camp. I see you've already been ambushed." Zoë commented, pointing to my neck and I nodded.

"Yeah it was Margret-I mean-" I stopped myself but Tyler snickered.

"They sent that cheap robot after him. How funny." Tyler laughed again. Zoë only smiled, and Phil groaned.

"Robot?" I questioned.

"Margret Anne is a government controlled robot. Not a real person." Zoë explained.

"What? No, she wasn't." I say trying to think of a rebuttal. "When I threw the cup at her she felt pain." I denied. The smile and messed up makeup did look a bit fake but a robot? Tyler giggled again.

"You hit her head?" Zoë asked me and I nodded confirming her suspicion. "You momentarily hit her data chip, you could have turned her off if you hit hard enough." She said and I thought back to when I hit her with the textbook. Did she turn off?

"Why are you so calm?" I asked Phil, he turned over to me with wide eyes.

"Uh...my head hurts. I-I can't think straight." He excused himself and Zoë furrowed her eyebrows. She looked a bit hesitant as she turned her gaze back to Phil. I looked towards Troye and saw he rolled his eyes at Phil and scoffed.

"I might have messed up the control, who cares?" Troye said to Zoë and Tyler. Tyler waved it off and focused on me while Zoë sat confused.

"So...what's your name o-mighty powerful man?" Tyler asked, I frowned. Was he teasing me for the fact I had no powers? How did he find out?

"I don't have time for teasing. I had enough of that." I spat, sending him a look of hate. He looked confused and so did everyone else.

"You mean...people teased you?" He asked.

"Are you stupid?" I questioned, was he being sarcastic?

"No...that's just bizarre. Why would kids tease you? You're-" Tyler began explains but Zoë stopped him.

"He probably doesn't know. Maybe that's why we found out so late." She explained and I furrowed my eyebrows looking towards Phil. He looked at me with a bit a fear and admiration but quickly took the look off his face once I focused on him. I turned away from him, why was he acting so weird?

"How old are you?" Tyler questioned, Troye looked out window and away from me. Maybe he just wanted to avoid the whole situation.

"Nineteen." I broke myself from my thoughts.

"You've never had a friend?" He pestered me.

"How do you know that?" I sadly asked, how much did he know? No one could have told him, he could have stalked me or maybe he could read minds. I wouldn't be surprised, it seems like someone is reading minds here.

"Elizabeth will explain when we get to camp." Tyler reassured me but I couldn't sit still.

"Elizabeth?"

"Our leader, I suppose." Zoë answered for Tyler. I sighed, looking down at the floor and seeing my bag under Troye's feet.  I wished I could grab my brother's beanie to put on. My ears were getting awfully cold. I thought back to what was going on at my house.

Was my mother worrying that I wasn't home? Of course she is, she thinks I'm a weakling who can't defend myself. She was right because here I am, kidnapped by some strangers who know everything about me. Maybe if I had powers I could have defended myself and got home. However, nothing works in my favor, I'm just a failure in everything I do. There's nothing special about me.

"We're here." Tyler cheered.

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