Children of the Night

With everyone looking down at Devin in the chair, he suddenly felt about three feet tall. They all looked so menacing , and possibly blood-hungry. The scariest one was the tall, lanky man, who seemed to be able to control him with his voice. Devin guessed he was the leader of the crew. If he had such an ability to control, what if he was keeping the rest of his friends here against their will? Maybe Devin would be his next victim, wearing all black and hanging around an abandoned smokestack, waiting to pull in another confused kid.

Everyone except the scary one either sat down, or walked off to do their own thing after a few minutes of giving him the stare-down. The man finally broke the eerie silence.

"Where did you come from?"

Devin didn't even know how to respond. He sat there in silence. He could tell the scary man was starting to grow impatient. The scary man pulled out a pair of black leather gloves from his back pocket and started putting them on. He leaned in close to Devin and slammed his hands down on the sides of the chair.

"I will make you talk..."

The short guy with the cigarette was within close enough range to hear the intimidation.

"Stop, Chris, you're scaring him."

The scary guy (Chris, apparently) turned to face the short one.

"He might be a mole, Rick. Why don't you go set something on fire?"

Rick took a drag of his cigarette.

"Does he look like a fucking nark, Chris?"

"A nark for what?" Devin squeaked out, "are you going to kill me?"

Chris turned back to Devin angrily and got down in his face again.

"Quit fucking talking or I'll rip your tongue out." He thought about what he just said. "You're already dead. We can't kill you. Or hurt you. But I can make sure everyone you love suffers a slow and painful death!"

Devin had never been more afraid in his life, with Chris's arms pinning him down (trying to, anyway), and his blackened pupils boring into the young ghost's soul.

The short man, Rick, must have been over the show Chris was putting on. He flicked his cigarette to the ground and walked over to join the two, sitting on the burnt tree stump. Chris backed up from Devin, and crossed his arms, not feeling intimidating anymore.

"I didn't mean to scare you like that... it's just..." he seemed to stammer, unable to think of the right words. The scariness had worn off. His eyes looked normal again. If anything, there was a hint of fear in them. Not fear right then, but the kind of fear that keeps you awake at night.

A black cat trotted out from behind the smokestack. Devin saw it out of the corner of his eye, and chuckled to himself.

How fitting...

Chris and Rick looked back to whatever Devin was looking at. They saw the cat, and seemed to not care. It must have been another addition to their gang. Or whatever they were.

Devin really wanted to pet it. He couldn't see the small creature that well, but he could tell that there was something wrong with it. The eyes, maybe...

He couldn't put his tongue on it.

"So," Rick pulled his attention back to the matter of discussion (interrogation?), "Do you remember anything at all about how you got here? How did you cross paths with Ryan?" He had a really calm and nonchalant voice that made Devin's nerves die down some.

His tongue felt heavy in his mouth, even though his body was apparently just an apparition now. "I just woke up, and everything was foggy. Then... Ryan... was throwing things, but he wasn't... he wasn't touching anything... was he throwing them with his mind?"

"Yes."

Devin was starting to feel more crazy by the second, but more confident at the same time.

"The long haired guy... he can draw things... and pull them off the page."

Rick grinned. "That's Angelo. Yes. Next question."

"You," Devin looked over at Chris, who just kept looking at that cat. "You can control people. I don't know how, but you can. That Allie girl can run fast. Super speed." He felt really dumb saying super speed but how else could he word it?

"Good, good." Ricky encouraged, giving him a 'keep going' motion.

"I don't know what the guy with the shaved head can do. Or you. Rick. What can you do?"

"I'll show you if you promise to never fucking call me Rick again. It's Ricky. And I supply the fire."

"Sorry", Devin wasn't actually sorry, "and so? Anyone can make fire."

Ricky took out a cigarette from his pocket, and lifted his finger up to it. As if it were a Zippo, a small flame rose up from the tip.

"What about the other guy?"

"His name is Josh, but call him Balz." the fuck kind of a name is that? "And we don't actually know..."

"What??" This was the thing that took Devin by surprise the most. He shifted around in his chair, feeling more comfortable. "Why is he here? Is he somebody's brother or something?"

"Here's the deal. Chris thought you were a mole, because we have some people after us. Scientists. People who made us the way we are." He took a long drag from his cigarette, and stared off into the distance, possibly trying to figure out how to explain everything. This was obviously a touchy subject for him to talk about, especially with someone that just popped up out of nowhere.

"So why do you trust me?" Devin asked.

"Because you're a fucking ghost", Chris spat.

He could tell that Chris was a good guy, once you got to know him.

"Anyway," Ricky said, ready to continue the story, "the group of us... escaped... from their lab. It was a team effort. And it wasn't easy. But we got..." he looked down at the ground, probably trying to push back painful memories coming up. "...we were tested on like lab rats. And long story short, they're looking for us. Have been for a while. But they can't seem to sniff us out here. We watch each other's backs. If the time comes, we'll fight."

Devin didn't really know what to make of it all.

"I don't have anywhere to go."

"No shit. You were wandering around the place like a lost lamb. You can stay with us. It might get dangerous, but it's not like you can get hurt or anything." It was the first thing Chris said that made Devin feel welcomed.

"Is this Earth?" He asked, standing up to stretch his limbs.

"No," Chris said, "this is Hell."