The Outsiders

Jay's house was closest. So, we basically sprinted to her house, throwing a ton of people out of the way. I really hated to do it, but I ripped a hole all the way up both sides of the dress. Hey, even I have problems wearing dresses and running. Hell if I know how anyone got me in a dress, anyway.

We slammed open the door, and ran upstairs. Jay yelled to her mom that they just had to do some stuff. That was always okay with her,because her mom was awesome. Never really needed much of a reason; in fact, I don't know if I can think of any other adults who would wash blood-splattered clothing without question.

Six minutes later, I was in more manageable jeans and a shirt. Hey, why waste Hot Topic stuff when you can dress stupid? If that even makes any sense. But that doesn't mean it wasn't an ATL shirt. Jay? Oh, she was fine in combat boots and skinny jeans.

The Outsiders met in the graveyard, which was typical for us. I know it sounds stereotypical, but this particular grave had a lot of meaning to us. It was the grave of the former leader, Shiro. Believe me, he was probably the most hyperactive, bubbly goth on the face of the earth, not counting Jay.

"Okay, where the hell is Zane?" I almost snapped, still irritable about the whole missing half the meetings thing.

"Here." someone flicked me in the back of the head.

"Try that again and see what happens." I growled. Still, I hadn't gotten used to his ability to slip through my barriers without alerting me. It was really beginning to get annoying. I mean, Jes listening to every single word I talk to Tavia or Jay in private was bad enough.

"Sure." Zane said disbelievingly, smirk flickering on his face.

"Jes, you take the second sector. Tavia third, Jay fourth. Zane, you go to fifth." I said, glaring, "I'll take first."

"What, just so you can be the big protector of the school? Come on." Jes said sarcastically.

"Just go." my patience was wearing thin. This was the night of the Awakening. If we didn't get out there now, something bad would probably happen in the next three seconds. They all shot off in different directions,leaving slight afterimages.

"Please dont let anything happen." I whispered to the gravestone, and raced off to the first sector.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I skidded to a stop at the entrance to the gym doors. I looked in, seeing almost half of the people gone, leaving their dates confused. I had always known that about a third of the students were Them, but this... those numbers had multiplied by about two since last night. What had happened?

"Hey! What happened?" I waved Mariah over.

"I don't know. Everyone just suddenly stopped dancing and stuff as soon as you left, and left." she said.

I skipped the whole interrogation. Usually if one person was one of Them, their parents were, too. Damn this made it hard. I did my check-over, backhanding anyone who got in my way. After the first half-hour, I already looked like an axe murderer. Not that anyone saw me. With Them, we try mostly to subdue rather than kill. But we're forced into it sometimes, and that's when things get really messy. Jes likes just ripping them apart; barely restrains himself even when 'subduing'. Tavia uses illusions to make 'em pass out. Jay pressure points them. I don't know what Zane does.

I was walking around under a streetlamp, looking around for any more. Seemed like I'd scared most of them off. Or Jes's weird wolf-call. I don't know.

"Done?" Zane asked.

"Yeah. You?"

"Yep." his response was casual enough, but his shoulders were squared, jaw stiff. Plus, the way he distributed his weight was odd...never mind. I guess I was still on full-combat are they lethal/nonlethal mode.

"Yeah. You can leave now."

"Not in the mood to."

THe inside of my brain went cold, but I didn't break my stride. Zane was becoming more and more....alien. It was like I didn't even know him anymore. Someone else.

"They were just giving me a bit of trouble for a while." He said.

"Joy."

"How about you?"

"Four dead." I said. I don't like killing if I can help it. But to be an Outsider, you needed to be pretty in shape. It was sometimes hard not to accidentally kick or punch anyone too hard and kill them. Those four were on purpose.

Do you know that if you try to kill someone, they try to kill you back? Believe me, I get attacked far too often to count.

"None."

A slight static crackle raced down my spine.

"You're good at knocking people out?"

"Nope."

"Am I gonna get any more than single-word syllables?"

"No."

"You're impossible." I hissed, and began walking ahead. I fell backwards a bit before regaining my balance.

"Let go." I said lowly to Zane. He didn't relax the death grip on my wrist.

"Did you see how beautiful the moon was tonight?" he said randomly, dragging me back to stand next to him. By now, I was majorly pissed. I glanced upwards, and caught a glimpse of the white-turquoise moon. I loved the moon, but it was also one of the lifelines for Them. So annoying.

"You like the moon, right?"

"Yeah."

"So do I. More of a moonlight-type."

Okay. With that, he'd just spilled his guts to me. I began to bring my elbow towards his stomach. Without the momentum, it was pretty easy to stop, though.

"Just because I'm one of Them doesn't mean that I can't be part of the Outsiders, right?" Zane's voice was dripping sarcasm; he was actually enjoying this.

"No!" I snapped.

"Mmhm. Blame me for being one of Them. And yet, a sanguine like yourself doesn't feel one bit guilty."

Seminarian. A human who drinks blood.