Run

Planning

I woke up to the ring of my phone. I climbed out of bed and grabbed my coat which was sitting on the small chair next to the bed. My hand groped around in the pockets and picked up the phone. I flipped it open.

"Hello?" I said hoarsely.

"Hello sunshine." Sam said. I smiled a little.

"Hello. Are you here yet?" I asked.

"Let's just say you have four people outside your hotel room and are waiting patiently for you to get your pants on and get out here." Sam said. I frowned. How'd he know I didn't have pants on?

"Alright. Hold on." I said. I flipped the phone shut and pulled my faded jeans on that were lying in a pile of the floor. I walked past Riley and nudged him.

I was about to speak when he sat straight up. "Okay just hold on." He got up out of the bed and hurried into the bathroom. I walked towards the door and opened it as Riley locked himself in the bathroom.

Sam smiled as he looked at my hair. "Not a comment." I said. He raised his hands up in defense. "Come on in." I told Sam, Eve, Meredith, and Tobey. Tobey nodded and edged past Sam who stood in front of me without moving. I moved so the others could get in. I assumed Sam wanted to talk to me.

The others made their selves comfortable in our room and Sam smiled at me still without moving. I turned towards the others. "Riley will be out soon." I told them. "I'll be right with you."

I shut the door as I stepped into the hall with Sam. "What do you want?" I asked looking down both empty ends of the hall.

He shrugged. "I wanted to discuss something with you." His hair wasn't messy anymore and he wore a formal jacket over a white t-shirt.

"Where did you change?" I asked him.

Sam sighed his soft sigh. "Don't worry. We still have four hundred dollars."

"But," I said, "you could have afforded the first class tickets. There were other seats."

He gave me a little smile. "Alyssa, don't tell me that you paired yourself up with Hunter and Riley just because you felt like it. I'm not stupid. Bonding is important."

I curled my lip. "And how would you know?"

He frowned. "That's what I wanted to talk to you about."

I thought about it for a moment. "Bria?" He nodded. "I thought you had it settled."

Sam nodded. "I know. You know what? Just forget about this conversation and lets focus on our plan to save ourselves."

I nodded. "Sam, you do realize that once we get that formula we might be able to reverse it and make it able to get rid of our powers without side effects."

Sam gave me a stare. "I know."

I took the key out of my jeans pocket and slipped it through the slot on the door. The door swung open and Sam and I walked in. Riley was sitting on the bed next to Tobey conversing about some sport. Riley was fully dressed now. Eve and Meredith, or Brittany, were sitting on either chair on each side of the room. Hunter came through the little door that combined our rooms. I stood in front of everyone as Sam sat down next to Riley and Tobey.

"Alright," I said, "here is what we are going to do today."

Riley sighed and looked at the ground. "Don't worry, Riley Ackers." Tobey said nudging him. Tobey was a silly old man. I was certain his body was still young on the inside.

"Anyway," I started again, "Riley will help us with communication by reading my thoughts and sending them to all of your brains. That way the company people won't be able to know our plans. I am almost certain they can't read our minds too."

"Great, so I am the tool." Riley said.

I ignored him. "You'll follow me through the factory and whenever you need to tell us something, us referring to Riley and me, nudge Riley and he'll send the message to me. Use your powers only when we get to the bottom of the factory. The top half is actual working humans. We don't want to do anything to them. Unless they turn on us first."

"So what about the vile?" Eve asked.

"We find it together. No one touches it until I do. In fact, no one will touch it besides me. I have no idea what your capabilities are but, I am certain I can hold onto it without killing the human population." I said.

Tobey and Meredith nodded. "So is that it then?" Sam asked me.

"Yes. I have weapons for Tobey, Sam, and Eve." I said. "And anyone else who feels the need for them." I said looking at Riley. He smiled knowing that I was thinking that he wouldn't be able to do it alone.

"Don't you have something to ask Meredith?" Hunter asked. I knew he would be the one to bring it up.

"Right." I looked at Meredith. "I need to know if I should call you Meredith."

She sighed. "What? That's my name isn't it?"

I folded my arms. "I don't know. Is it? Brittany."

Everyone looked at her. "Why?"

"I just need to know what to call you. I personally like Brittany better." I said.

"Fine. Call me Brittany. Why doesn't everyone call me Brittany." She said looking at everyone. "I'm sorry." She said looking at the ground.

I walked across the room to her and knelt down to look at her face. "I don't need to know why you changed it. I just would prefer to call you by your real name."

She sighed and looked up. "Yes, Brittany's my name." Her face perked up a little. I think she was happy to release her secret.

I walked back to the bed and stood next to Riley and Sam. "Now that that's settled." I said folding my arms again. "Tobey, Eve, and Brittany, you can leave and we'll call you when we'll go. Right now you can get ready in whatever you like. Just, don't drink or anything or I'll kill you."

"She's not kidding." Riley said. I frowned at him.

The stood up and headed for the door. I looked at Eve's pocket and noticed a phone.

"I'll call you on Eve's cell phone." I said to them as they left.

Sam stood up and looked at me. His glare was cold and hard.

"When do you want me to use my animal senses?" He asked. Sam's blue eyes started turning brownish.

I cleared my throat. "When we get there."

Hunter came over to me from his hiding spot in the corner. "What are we still doing here? Why did you let them leave?"

I sighed. "I don't like wearing the same clothes two days in a row. That's why." I walked towards the bathroom.

"So we're shopping?" He asked. I nodded.

I closed the bathroom door as I entered it. I heard Riley's soft sigh.

"Women." He said. I grinned.