Fallen Identity

I learned the names of the three other 'good guys'. Cameal was short and looked to be 14 but was 16. He had golden brown hair and a nice tan. Elijah was pale blonde and pale white, kind of like Kage but he had a kind face and was a bit more muscular. Gabriel was african american with black hair. Raz had dark brown hair and was definitely the most good looking out of all of them. They all had the same eye color though. It was a mix of gold and purple which sounds weird but it was really quite pretty.
"So, Carter? What brings you to these Chicago streets?" Cameal asked. He was a jokester, I could tell. I'm guessing by his size, he needs something to make him seem more manly, I guess.
"Oh, you know, trouble with the family." The adoptive family that is. I tried to sound whatever about it and I guess I pulled it off because they all shrugged as if it was natural. They led me through what felt like a million different alleys and buildings. They came to a brick wall on the side of a building and Raz tapped on it 5 times. Some machine was triggered and it slid open to reveal an elevator. Raz guestured for me to step inside and then once everyone else was inside, Raz pushed a weird button with a symbol on it. It looked like an upside down wing.
When the doors finally slid open, the first thing I saw was a huge room with a bunch of equipment in it. The equipment consisted of weapons mostly. Lots of weapons that you see in movies about fantasy. There was computers set up with images of the city on them. I'm guessing there were security cameras up all over the city.
"Come on Carter. We'll show you to your room," Raz said and started walking down a narrow hallway. I caught up with him and said, "So, what is this place?"
"This is the safezone," Elijah chimed in. Apparantly, everyone wanted to follow me to my new crib. Do guys say that? And are guys usually this friendly with eachother? Huh, well these aren't ordinary guys. They're like ninjas or something.
"Safezone? From those other guys?" I asked. Hopefully they knew who I meant by 'those other guys'. We reached a door at the end of a hallway and Raz opened it up. Inside was a bed, closet, dresser, tv and even a door to a private bathroom. It was like a hotel room except without the cheesy decorations and wallpaper.
"Well, here you go. Just get yourself settled in and then come back to the first room you were in. We'll tell you everything then," Raz said then left the room. Cameal, Gabriel and Elijah followed him and closed the door on the way out. I noticed they're was no lock on the door. Well I'm just going to have to change clothes in the bathroom in case anyone lets themselves in. I heard guys have no sense of privacy. I slipped my backpack off and opened the pockets to see if anything else was missing besides my money and sighed with relief when everything was there. I set my backpack on the bed and went into the bathroom to look in the mirror. I noticed the bruises on my face from when Mr. Berings hit me.
I slid off the jacket I was wearing and almost screamed when I saw my arms. They were all black and dented in from where Jackal gripped me. They stung and ached as well. I put my jacket back on and made my way back to the main room. I saw there were three other guys standing in the room arguing with Raz. Cameal, Gabriel, and Elijah were standing off to the side, not wanting to get into the arguement.
I stood there like an idiot when I realized I was standing like a girl and immediately slouched. I only hoped no one noticed. Raz looked to me and pretty much said with his eyes that he wanted me to come over.
"So, tell them what happened today," Raz demanded.
"Uh well I was walking down the street when these three guys started following me. They looked pretty weird and I accidentally went down an alley where they stopped me. The big one held me in what felt like a death grip and the leader, Kage, said they were going to eat me. Not to mention they had weird eye colors," I explained to the three guys standing.
"Hmm, I still don't see why you brought him here Raz," one guy said. He had black hair and a slight tan. He had the same violet eyes but kinda reminded you of what girls would call 'tall, dark, and handsome'.
"You of all people should know how Kage is, Micah. He will want to finish what he started. It's like a game to him," Raz said in a strained voice. You could tell the anger was clear on his face. Micah's face dropped and there was a hint of sadness in his eyes.
"Fine, the kid can stay. But we have to make sure he doesn't go around telling anybody about anything," Micah said after a moment. They were still going to come after me? I hadn't done anything! And I am not a kid. I have been thinking a lot about my 'look'. Obviously if I kept the look I have now, people might suspect something. Pictures of me would go up all over the televison and maybe on those postcards that have those "Have you seen these people?" ads on them. I was thinking I could dress like one of those emo kids so that way I'd wear the black eyeliner and dye my hair black so no one would even suspect me or maybe I could pretend I was gay and bleach my hair or something.
I didn't realize I was lost in my own head when I felt someone nudge my shoulder. I jumped slightly. I didn't want to be touched, especially by any boys. Though these guys seemed nice enough, it still made me feel weird. I looked up to see Raz with his hands up in surrender.
"Sorry dude. Didn't mean to scare you," Raz chuckled. Okay good, guys still said dude. This was very important knowledge.
"I wasn't scared, you just surprised me is all," I defended myself.
"Sure," he said, drawing it out to make it sound like two syllables instead of one. "Well, we were gonna go out to eat. Wondering if you wanted to come."
"Uh, sure," I replied a little too quickly but Raz didn't seem to notice.
"Okay then, let's go," he said, then straightened up and walked over to where the elevator was.
"Where did everyone else go?" I asked as I noticed that the room was empty.
"They already went up to get a table," Raz said stolidly. Hmm, made me wonder where we were going to eat tonight.
"Were getting pizza, in case you were wondering," Raz said, out of the blue. That's it! They're mind readers! Well, no that's just stupid. They were definitely something more.
When the elevator reached the top and Raz and I got out, the first thing I noticed was a picture of me on a television with 'MISSING' in bug letters underneath.
"I, uh, actually had some stuff I needed to get, so I'll catch up with you all later," I said quickly to Raz, trying my hardest to block his view of the television screen.
"Um, are you sure you'll be alright by yourself?" No, but I gotta do something about my look or you'll figure out I'm really a girl.
"I'm sure. I'll only be gone for half an hour, maybe an hour tops," I replied then ran off before he could disagree. I pushed my way past people and ran into a small market and asked the cashier where the closest hairdresser was. Surprisingly, there was one just up the street.
I ran and kept my head down so no one would notice me since my picture was still on all of the television screens. I heard whispers from passing people:
"Oh that poor little girl.."
".. I hope they find her soon.."
"..hey that kid looks like kind of like her.."
This only made me run faster. People don't really like it when you run in these big cities so of course I was getting yelled at which is no fun. I finally made it to the hairdresser and forgot I had no money with me.
"Shit!" I shouted.
"Now, young man, there is no reason for language like that in my beauty salon," an african american woman who looked to be in her late 40s said. She had a kind face and was a bit overweight but not enough to call her unattractive.
"Um, sorry miss," I apologized.
"Now, what do you need hun?" she asked me.
"Well I kind of wanted to get my hair dyed but by the time I got here, I forgot I had no money on me," I explained.
"Hmm, well it looks like you just ran a marathon to get here so I'll give you a quick dye for free. You have such a pretty hair color though," she said, "Well what color would you like?"
"Really? That'd be so great. Uh, I want black actually." I gave her a warm smile then realized that that might just be too girly and turned it into a sort of guyish grin.
"What? No highlights?" she asked.
"Oh, I just thought that was more expensive and since you were already giving me the dye for free an-" she cut me off.
"Ok how about I surprise you? Just go sit in the chair in front of that sink and close your eyes," she instructed.
I did as she was told and felt her tip my head back and the cool ruch of water flow through my hair. After what felt like an hour, she started to blow dry my hair finally. When she was finally done, she told me to look in the mirror. I didn't recognize myself at all anymore. I saw a guy with black hair and blue highlights wearing baggy clothes that didn't seem to match the hair at all.
"Oh, this is perfect. Thanks," I said as I turned around to look at the woman.
"Anytime. And remember to watch that potty mouth," she smiled. I would definitely be recommending her to people. It was the least I could do.
By the time I got to the safezone, nobody was back yet. I had the whole place to myself and all I did was fall asleep.

I woke up at dawn and looked around. I was confused for a few seconds at where I was and then it hit me. The attack and rescue. Dyeing my hair. I got up and changed clothes and slipped the black hat on my head. I made my way over to the main room to see what everyone was doing.
"Dude! You dyed your hair! I almost didn't recognize you!" Cameal exclaimed. That got everyone's attention and now they were all looking at me. I still hadn't gotton the names of the two other guys who were with Micah. Everyone was still looking at me for an explanation.
"Umm, I 've been wanting to get it dyed for a while. Now seemed like a good time," I lied. They all just seemed to take it as whatever, then went about they're business. I felt like one of those kids who lies to their parents and when their parents belives the lie, they give off this big sigh of relief. Giving off a sigh of relief is what I've been feeling like doing ever since I stepped off that train and entered freedom.