Even once they were out of the backstage area and into the open air Avi still had no control over his primal need to get as far away as possible from that woman. "Avi," Kevin called after him. No response, he just carried on moving, head down, shoulders hunched, no looking back. "Avi stop," Kevin tried again. "Avi!" His pleas had no impact. There was simply no reasoning with the younger boy.

Past the empty tents and through the deserted fields, the two carried on at a brisk marching pace, Avi determined to find some other civilisation as soon as possible and Kevin anxious to just figure out what the hell had gotten into his friend.

There were a number of cars parked up in another field, presumably owned by the audience members, and the temptation to hot-wire one of them was very tempting for Avi, but then again he didn't really want the cops and a bunch of freaks on their tail, so he decided taking the legal escape route and walking or using public transport was their best option. However that was easier said than done when they were apparently in the middle of nowhere.

Following the tire tracks made in the ground and using his sharp eyes, he was able to find a way through the darkness to a nearby road. Actually the narrow strip or crumbling tarmac could barely pass for a road but it was a route leading somewhere. That was all that mattered. There was a sloping valley on one side and in the distance Avi thought he could maybe make out a few dots of lights. They could very well be their own town. Whatever, it was something other than the middle of nowhere.

Down the road he set off, the foreign entity inside him still having overall control of his actions. He didn't mind as much now though. Earlier, when it been encouraging him to fight Mitch he had been scared, intimidated by it even, but now it was almost like a comfort to know there was some very angry and strong force within him.

"Please stop." Kevin had started up his pleas again and this time there was a small break through. It seemed the further Avi got away from the circus the more he was able to calm down and return to his normal self. Jogging up to him, Kevin reached out and managed to grab his arm. "Take a breather," he instructed and Avi finally halted in his march, turning to face the other boy in the middle of the road.

It was pitch black out here and Avi's eyes had to adjust to use the light from the moon in order to make out Kevin's facial features. Thankfully it was a fairly cloudless night although the dense row of trees on one side of the road didn't really help with the lighting. He doubted the other boy could see anything at all and suddenly felt bad for running off ahead in the dark. Kevin wasn't angry though, more concerned for his sanity right now. Managing to feel his way to both of Avi's shoulders, Kevin queried again: "Tell me what's going on."

Taking a few deep breaths himself Avi looked his friend in the eyes, wanting to show his earnestness even though Kevin couldn't actually see his own irises. "That woman...she was...there was something off about her."

He saw the dark of Kevin's eyebrows dip into a frown. "Off? What, like rotten egg off?"

"I'm not joking around Kevin," Avi growled. He didn't like the fact that the boy didn't seem to understand how serious he was being. Okay, maybe what he was saying was slightly crazy, but the whole day in general had been one crazy fucking mess, this shouldn't be anything new.

The older boy huffed, Avi felt his hair move from the air. "Clearly."

Alright that's enough with the chit chat. "C'mon," he urged, taking Kevin by the elbow this time in order to lead him. "We've gotta get going. Lilac eyes isn't going to be unaware of our absence for too long. They might already be after us."

Kevin shuffled along clumsily behind him, following for the time being, albeit a lot slower than Avi would have preferred. "Why do I feel like we're the bad guys here?" he asked.

"Well it's them against us, isn't it?" Avi shot back. For him there was always a sure enemy, someone who had it out for him, be it foster carers, social workers or dumb bosses, and right now it was those lot; the ones who could read minds, saw off limbs and become half snake.

"No, not really dude." Kevin on the other hand felt the exact opposite, just like always. He always assumed everybody was good until proven otherwise. And even then he says they're just misunderstood. "We can't just run off, we don't even know where we are," he tried to reason.

"So we just walk 'til we find a bus stop or something," Avi told him. "Anyone asks, just say you've got a skin condition or something," he muttered about Kevin's wooden appearance. And when they found the nearest town they could head to a clothing store and by him clothes so he was almost completely hidden. And then they could find some qualified scientist or surgeon who could make him look normal again. Yeah, they'd work something out. Act first, think later, that was the mantra Avi had always abided by and so far he was still alive so he decided it worked well enough.

"What skin condition? Treebarkitis?" Kevin was clearly not on the same wavelength as him.

"You're not taking me seriously."

"Sorry but you need to give me some more answers dude. I didn't just sign a contract committing me to a life at the circus only to run off the same day. I'm not about to walk back out into a world that isn't going to look upon my new form kindly."

Always a stickler for the rules. Avi huffed as he was ground to halt by Kevin planting his feet firmly on the spot. It seemed he was going to have to do a bit more talking before they could get moving. "I...I get these feelings...or smells," he began, not really knowing how to describe what he had experienced. "I can smell stuff from people and it...like you," he pointed at Kevin. "You smell a certain way, and so does Scott and so did everyone in that tent."

There was a pause. "Interesting..." Kevin said slowly. Really? That's all you have to say? Avi could already hear Kevin's brain working overtime to try and figure out the science behind Avi's ability and knew that they could be stuck here forever if he gave him time to mull it over. Kevin was the exact opposite to him on that front; he could spend so long thinking something through, that it became to late to actually act. That's why he needed Avi with him, to keep reminding him the world didn't pause just because he was.

He gave Kevin's shoulder a shake to make sure he was still paying attention. "And that woman, who did that zombie bird trick, she was," Avi shivered, "I just know she was bad." He sighed once more. "I'm sorry, I can't explain it. I just knew."

"Alright," Kevin replied after another pause. "Alright that's a start. But Avi we– Are you listening to me Avi?"

No. He had been but then he'd felt it, a feeling inside his head, a kind of tingling sensation. He could feel something or someone reach out to him, like they were trying to connect. No matter how friendly they were Avi just saw it as an invasion of privacy and knew who the culprit was instantly.

"Fuck off Scott!" he shouted into the darkness.

"What?" Kevin exclaimed, astounded.

"He knows," Avi simply said.

Staggering around and shaking his head every now and then, he could feel the boy's presence swirling around in his mind, like an inquisitive dog, sniffing about in places it had no right being. He covered his ears with his hands, as if that were going to do any good. "Get out of my fucking head Scott!" he yelled. Surprisingly, after a few seconds he felt the feeling vanish, leaving behind only a vague warmth in the back of his head. Well at least some people know when to listen.

He didn't need to be able to see Kevin clearly to know that he had an amused expression on his face, as he pondered: "The boy's probably wondering where his charges ran off to."

"And I'm not giving him a chance to find out."

"Running's not the answer Avi." Here he goes again. "If you think this woman's bad then we should let the others know. Who knows, maybe they're in danger."

Avi scoffed at that. Those lot in danger? Those lot were the danger, no matter how much they tried to include Avi and Kevin with them, they definitely didn't belong in that little insane group. They were just two guys straight out of the system. Their future was meant to be laid out for them already; a minimal paying job, followed by having kids at a young age, followed by those kids ending up in the system also because he was such a bad parent was Avi's future.

And Kevin...Kevin was supposed to be the guy who was going to beat the system. He was going to get a great job with that talented mind of his, and get married and raise a wonderful family, do the living for the both of them. He wasn't supposed to be turned into whatever the fuck he was and get trapped in some freak show. Avi reminded his friend of this. "Didn't you just watch the same show as me? They're all freaks Kevin."

The longer they were in the dark, the greater his eyes were able to adjust and by now he could make out the other boy quite clearly when he was stood directly in front of him, and his face was one of doubt. "Yeah," he drawled, "you sure looked creeped out when Kirstie showed up." You little...He had just been caught up in the emotion of the show. He could graciously admit the show was amazing, like nothing he'd ever seen or probably will see ever again, and she was definitely his favourite act. But she was not a reason to stay and get involved in the madness.

Oblivious to the glare being sent his way, Kevin tutted and continued: "And in case you've forgotten, it's not them and us...it's just us. We're like them. We're different Avi. This whole sensing someone's bad is proof of that."

We are not like them. Again, Kevin was always far too trusting of strangers. True, a lot of the people he had met today were perfectly charming and welcoming individuals, people who would fit in fine in a normal society if it weren't for the way they looked. Out of the three they had spent the most time with, he could happily say that he wouldn't lose sleep over never seeing, thinking or hearing of snake boy again. Scott was sweet enough if a little out of it at times, he couldn't begin to understand the extent of his abilities but the blond boy was harmless enough. And Kirstie was...no, don't think about her. She's nobody, you've known her a day. She means nothing to you. She's just some pretty girl...with wings.

"We need those guys to help us Avi," Kevin tried to persuade him. "And we owe them for saving us earlier. We can't just run off with no explanation, we don't even know what the consequence is for running off!"

Avi rolled his eyes at his friend's concerns. "It was just a scare tactic," he argued. It wasn't like they'd signed in blood or anything.

"Even so, my conscience won't let me leave just like this." Avi wondered what it was like having a conscience bigger than yourself. If he had one like Kevin's he was sure it would have weighed him down by now.

He started backing away, turning his back on his friend. "I'm not going back Kevin," he said firmly. "You go if you wanna but I've made my choice." And with that he began walking down the dark road once more.

"Avi," Kevin still continued to pester him and he finally lost it.

"I do what I want!" he snarled, kicking angrily at the loose stones on the floor, stubbornly refusing to turn back. Kevin's inability to understand what was going on here was getting on his nerves. "I do what's best for me and I'm trying to do what's best for you! I'm trying–"

He was cut off abruptly when he felt a large gust of air and heard the sound of two bodies colliding, hard. Well he was still standing so that meant...

"Kevin?" He span around to find his friend gone. Even though it was pitch black and easy to lose sight of people a few feet away he could sense that the older boy was no longer near him. "Kevin!" There was no reply, just the sound of the trees swaying slightly in the gentle breeze. Then, he heard the snapping of a branch and the shaking over leaves, and spun around just in time to see a dark shape hurtling towards him.

At that moment he had flashbacks to earlier that week - or really day in his mind - of that ominous moon in the sky. He really hand't been having the best of luck lately. He tensed his body ready for whatever opponent was headed towards him, although he thoroughly expected to be coming off worse in this fight.

But no one messed with his Kevin, no matter how annoyed he was with the older boy. Not on his watch. Bring it on you fucker.