Blaze and Ariat's Character City

Sam smiled, arms folded across her chest, and turned to Carter when Mason agreed with her splitting up of the two groups. "At least someone likes my ideas," she said with a smirk. She really just didn't trust Carter to go along with Mason. Mason's partner looked pretty tough and Sam didn't like Carter's odds against both of them. He was a good fighter. Scrappy and willing to do whatever he had to to win. But she knew she'd be an idiot if she really thought Mason and Zero were as inexperienced as the people Carter normally picked fights with. Chase seemed to think the same thing, meeting her gaze with a small nod. She wasn't quite sure what the nod was - unless it was just approval - but that didn't surprise her. Chase and Arlo always seemed to understand each other, even if she and Carter occasionally struggled to figure out what was going through the twins minds, though it was usually the same thing.

Carter watched as Ava and Jace went to go join the squad that was hanging back. The girl would be tough, but the boy didn't seem to be in much of a shape to fight. Hopefully, if it came to that, he'd slow the others down because they had to protect them. He glanced at Chase, his partner in this, and pushed the thought out of his mind. Chase was at his most powerful when Arlo was with him. The twins fed off of each other and energized each other. Splitting them up wasn't a good idea.

"Sam-" he began to warn her about that, but she cut him off with a hand. He rolled his eyes, almost wishing her father hadn't made them partners. At first, he had been happy. They had to be with each other often and she was literally his other half. Unfortunately that also meant she had just as much power over him as he had over her. He did feel a lot more complete, calm even, with her around. He'd felt empty when he thought she died and he knew that was due to whatever her father had done to them.

"It's done, Carter," Sam said with a shake of her head. "You and Chase are here. Arlo and I are going into the city," she said. There was no room for argument and she made that obvious with her tone. "Look, I may have been missing for the past who knows how long, but we both know that I'm still what this group needs." And when she stopped talking, Carter found that he couldn't answer. She was right. She did all the social stuff. All the diplomatic stuff. She worked the people and got them what they needed. Carter was the enforcer.

Sam pulled the other boys in for a hug as Arlo stood a few feet away. "Keep each other safe," she instructed them. She hated to leave so soon after coming back to her boys, but she let go. Chase didn't mind the hug. Chase loved hugs. Carter was glaring at her, though she knew she'd only be in trouble if he'd suddenly developed he power to kill people with a look. Well, it sure looked like that's what he was going for.

"Come on, Arlo," she said, following after Mason and Zero. Arlo silently walked behind her, glancing back at his brother. It felt weird to leave, but Chase was right. If they could split up the other group and learn about them, that would give them an advantage.

"So," Arlo said, looking between their two companions. He wasn't quite sure what to ask at first. Everyone would still be too guarded to actually answer deep questions, but he figured he'd have to make the first move.

He cleared his threat and got Sam's attention, nodding towards Mason. He'd seen him checking her out and that was Sam's specialty. She'd be able to deal with Mason easier than Arlo would and Zero hadn't seemed to have any interest in the girl. She understood all of this and moved to walk next to Mason. "So, Mason, what's your take on all this so far?" she kept her tone casual, though her eyes were on him. She was watching his eyes, his body language. It was all stuff she'd learned when dealing with people and she knew it'd come in handy.

Arlo rolled his eyes as he watched her interact with Mason. He then turned to Zero, hands in his pockets. "Mason's your leader?" he asked, clearing his throat a bit. He didn't talk this much normally. Chase was the talker. "Yeah, Carter is technically our leader, but he's an idiot. So Sam kinda balances him out," he said, leaving out the whole thing of them abandoning Sam because they thought she'd died in the fire. Apparently she hadn't and now here she was, back where she belonged.

Chase watched his brother and friend leave with the strangers and he didn't like it one bit. The strangers couldn't easily overpower Sam and Arlo. They were both decent fighters with decent powers, but who knew what trucks they might have up their sleeves? He shook his head, his eyes darkening as he spoke to his brother. Hey, be careful. I don't like splitting up.

He was answered moments later. You be careful. You and Carter are outnumbered. Just say something if you need me and Sam and I will be right there.

Glancing at Ash and Zeke, Chase fought the urge to smile at his brother's overprotectiveness. Instead he just answered with a silent. Got it. He then turned back to the others just in time to catch Ash's question.

He glanced at Carter and raised an eyebrow but was quickly waved off with a careless hand. It was Carter's way of saying he didn't care. The talking was all up to Chase at this point. Carter didn't want to socialize. And he knew he couldn't without snapping at the other two which would either cause a fight or make him look like the jerk. Sam would be mad at him again. Chase nodded.

"Um, well, we've known each other for a couple years," he began, trying to be careful. He didn't want to betray that they weren't fully human, but he did want to find out if this was Oasis. "Arlo and I had just moved into town and we met Sam and Carter. They were friends," he said simply. That wasn't very far from the truth. They had just moved in after the twins had caused an accident at their old school. Sam and Carter had just made their escape from Hudson Labs and cornered the twins. Carter had threatened them with a knife to hide the two and a beautiful friendship was born. They found out what everyone was and then talked about Oasis. Arlo and Chase believed the rumors were true. So did Sam. Carter didn't, but he tagged along because he knew it was better than being caught by Sam's dad.

"What about you guys?" he asked, glancing at Zeke. The other boy looked a bit odd with the colored hair and eyes, but Chase wasn't about to question it. He'd gotten used to odd eyes with Carter and his icy blue ones and he figured dyed hair couldn't be any weird than twins with weird mind powers. Chase glanced at Ava and Jace and was tempted to have a little fun and mess with the two, but something told him Ava might end up killing him.

And he didn't think Carter would save him.

Even if they fought and were constantly arguing, Sam considered Carter and the twins her closest friends. Well, Maya and Quinn could be included, but she was starting to doubt they'd return. If they did, she would definitely hug them. And she had wanted Mason to see that. Yes, they fought, but they liked each other. They had an unbreakable bond from relying on each other to survive. Even Carter needed the other three. He just didn't like to admit it. She gazed up at the large city as they approached it before nodding at Mason's answer. Her eyes went back to him for only a second when she didn't see anything suspicious. Either he wasn't hiding anything or he was good at his body language.

Sam nodded. "Well, I mean, somehow, it has to be real. It can't be a dream or anything if we're all experiencing it." Plus the twins, likely due to their powers, never mixed up reality with dreams or hallucinations or anything. They'd both been a bit freaked out, so she could only assume it was reality. She frowned a bit. "My take?" she repeated his question just like he had done to her and paused. "Well, I almost agree. Everything tells me this is real." At least, the twins' reaction told her it was real. "But logically...." She paused, unsure of how much to admit. She glanced at Arlo, but found him not paying much attention to her. He was talking to Chase as he spoke with Zero. "Well, I think we might be dead." It was the truth. That would trick the twins into believing that it was reality, right? It would be their new reality. "I mean, I got trapped in a fire a few months ago. I remember the smoke choking me and the flames closing in. I told the others to leave and they didn't want to, but they ended up going to save themselves. And then I woke up here." Maybe that's what happened. Carter and the twins had died on their journey and Maya and Quinn were the only survivors.

When he asked where she was from, she shrugged. She opened her mouth to respond, but had a better idea than telling him where they were really from. She glanced at Arlo again. "Oasis. We, uh, we've been doing some work for them out in the real world. So it's been a while since we've been back home," she said, the lie forming easily as she spoke. She shrugged a bit. "Have you ever been to Oasis?" If he had been, he could tell them where Oasis was. It was their goal and had been since the twins had brought the idea up to her and Carter when Carter had threatened them. It had actually been kind of funny. Chase distracted Carter and Arlo had used his mind to pull the knife from the smaller boy's hands. Carter had freaked out.

Arlo nodded a bit. "Who really calls the shots then?" he glanced at Sam. Partly because she was their leader and partly because he knew she'd be working on Mason and getting information from him. If someone else was the leader, maybe she should change her target. Of course, if he just liked to think he was the leader, then maybe Sam would feed his ego and break him down that way. Unfortunately she dealt with guys like that whenever they had something she wanted and it usually consisted of pretending she was impressed by their smooth talking or stupid flirting and then giving them what they wanted. Sam was like a sister to him and he didn't want to see her use those same methods to get what she wanted from Mason. Hopefully she had just misread him and he was actually a very polite and respectful dude. Hopefully they'd be forced to work together and actually establish a shaky friendship. Those were both better alternatives to Sam doing her normal thing.

He nodded at Zero's words. "Carter can be good. He's smart and he has the most street sense out of all of us. He knows how people work and he doesn't back down from a challenge. But he's also an impulsive idiot that's gotten us into trouble too many times. Sam balances him out and they make a good team." Sam was in charge. That became obvious when they lost her. Maya and Arlo had stepped into to replace her. They didn't do as well as Sam had. Then Maya and Quinn went missing and it was up to Arlo to balance out Carter. He sucked at it. That's why he was more than happy to let Sam take her spot back. He perked up a bit at her question about Oasis, but didn't question Zero about it. He'd let Mason answer that one. "How long you guys been working together?"

Chase shrugged. When he heard that Ash was obviously sharing more of her story than he had, he looked at Carter. "Yeah, it was nice. Even if Carter threatened to kill us." Carter's eyes widened and he took a few steps to be at Chase's side. "Arlo talked back to him and Sam practically had to pull him off to keep him from killing him," he laughed a bit. "Then they introduced us to their other friends. They, uh, didn't have families and Arlo and I just kinda ran away with them."

"I had a family," Carter hissed, looking more angry than he had at Mason. If it had been anyone but Carter, there would probably be tears. Carter didn't cry. His blue eyes were trained on Chase, filled with anger.

Chase took a step backwards and raised his hands up in defense. "Look, Carter, you did. And you probably still do somewhere, but do you really want to show your mom who you are today?" he asked. He was referring both to the hardened criminal jerk as well as Carter's new powers.

"You just shut up, Chase. Nobody likes you," he growled, stalking off in a random direction.

Chase watched him go before turning to Ash. "Okay, now can you guys please not kill me?" he asked, his lips twitching into a smile to show that he was making a joke. He was the only one in his group that would joke at a time like this, but he wanted to show them that he didn't mean any harm. He wanted to befriend them. Or, at least have them at allies.

He shook his head and then glanced at Zeke when he spoke. "What's with him?" he asked, referencing his voice and how it seemed to hurt him to speak. "I mean, I would ask him, but it doesn't sound like talking is very easy for him," he pointed out, nodding at Zeke.

While that was going on, he spoke to Arlo. Don't freak out and come back, but Carter left. I brought up his mom and he got mad. Like I said, stick with Mason and Zero, just know that Carter wandered off and so we're both kind of on our own right now.

Arlo clearly wasn't happy and the emotion showed even when he spoke in Chase's mind. Just be closer. If anyone seems to be opening up, befriend them. Chase glanced at Ash. She'd definitely spoken more than the rest of them, but Chase was already planning to work with her.

He listened to the rest of the story with a nod. "So it sounds like your story is a bit more interesting than mine," he said with a laugh. Well, he knew Carter, Sam, Maya, and Quinn were most interesting than him and Arlo, but he didn't need to tell Ash that.

Sam had no doubt that this was reality. Not only because of the twins, but because that's all she'd ever faced. It was reality that she realized her father was evil. It was reality when he caught her helping Carter, Maya, and Quinn escape. It was reality when he turned and did his magic on his own daughter. And everything since then had been reality. The actual escape, meeting the twins, the quest for Oasis, the fire... she was still hung up on the fire, on the fact that she'd died. At least, her friends thought she was dead and so had she.

"How do you know we aren't dead?" Sam asked. There was no aggression in her voice. She was purely curious. Everything in her said she was dead. She remembered the heat of the flames. It was so different than Carter. These flames killed. Carter's did too, but not her. She was immune to his flames. When he got too worked up, she was the only one that could touch him and calm him. The flames were uncomfortable, even painful, but the flames themselves couldn't kill her. These flames were natural and completely different. She remembered the smoke choking her. She couldn't breathe. The pain. And then everything was black. She was sure she was dead. "Realm? Portal? Answer? What?" Sam asked, giving him a confused glance. Yeah, Mason must be from a very different world than she was. "Where do you come from?" she asked. When he asked if she had a pulse, Sam hesitated. She hadn't checked. Why should she? "Like a zombie?" she asked, making a face. Quinn had lost control once and brought someone back from the dead, turning them into a zombie. Carter had quickly killed the zombie again and Quinn only healed small wounds since then. But she pressed her fingers to her neck to check for a pulse. She then checked her wrist and thought she'd felt something, but she wasn't sure. "You check," she said, stopping her walking and turning to Mason because Ariat isn't sure if she should have a pulse or not so Mason/Blaze can choose.

Sam nodded when she heard Mason's questions about her world. "Yeah.... um, America. 2017. Have you never heard of it?" she asked. Mason was clearly not from America, and she was beginning to wonder if he was either from some alternate universe or a whole other planet. "We, uh, for the most part, grew up in the normal world. But Oasis.... it's a rumor... we don't know if it even exists and I was hoping you guys had been from there. In fact, I was thinking that this is Oasis," she said, gesturing around them. She paused. "You aren't human," she commented. "And that's what Oasis is for. It's for people that aren't normal..."

Sam frowned when Mason said there no one in there. "How do you know that? I mean, there could be people hidden deep inside. Or creatures that want to kill us," she pointed out. She stopped and looked at him. "Do you want to go in alone or return and grab the rest of our people?" she asked. She planned to let Mason make the decision. After all, of the group banded together, they'd be coleaders and she had to get used to sharing control with someone besides Carter.

Arlo just raised his eyebrows at Zero's accusation. "Look, man. I'm not trying anything. Yeah, I'll take any advantage you might give me, but it looks like we'll be working together," he said, nodding at Sam. "She's trying to work with Mason. And I don't blame her. We're all in a strange world and there's safety in numbers." He stayed calm as he spoke to Zero. He gave no hint that he had learned Carter had left, leaving Chase horribly outnumbered.

Arlo nodded. "I say we just agree that obviously you and your guys know that you're doing. No stranger to killing and fighting, I would guess. Well, it's the same for us. I say we just accept it. We both know what we're doing and it wouldn't be an easy victory for any of us. All it would do is weaken both groups. No benefit from it." Arlo paused, looking up at the great city.

City looks abandoned. Not sure if there's anyone in there, but it's definitely nothing like home. he told Chase. Sam turned to look at him and he nodded. He was passing everything on to Chase. Satisfied, she turned back to Mason.

Chase noticed as Zeke moved his arm in front of Ash. He didn't blame the other dude. Carter... Well, he was normally harmless. When he did want to hurt someone, he was far from harmless. Of course, he hadn't had to deal with a dangerous Carter in a while. He shook his head. "Well, things should be more pleasant now that he's gone," he said, shaking his head. He gave Ash and Zeke a smile.

Chase laughed at Ash's response. "Thanks. I mean, I'm more used to fighting without a weapon anyway." He shook his head. "But thanks for not killing me. I kinda like being alive." He knew he really shouldn't be joking around right now, but he was finally alone. He didn't have Arlo or Carter yelling at him for having a little fun. And Ash seemed to be responding well to it. Friends had to be good in this place, didn't they?

Chase shrugged. "More interesting than mine. Arlo is the only one that did anything vaguely interesting out of the two of us. He's actually the one that agreed to travel with Carter. Recruited him to go find Oasis. I just came along because, well, he's my brother. And, uh, we can't be apart for too long." They did physically weaken when they were separated. Of course, it happened slowly and they were still close enough to be considered together as long as they could talk to one another.

Chase winced when Ash showed him the scar. "Ah, that sounds painful, man," he said, speaking to Zeke this time. "And you didn't die? Huh." He paused and gave Zeke a smile. "Sounds like you're pretty dang tough. Not someone I wanna mess with," he said. As always, his brown eyes were sparkling.

He started to think he was maybe becoming friends with Ash, at least. If he could get on Zeke's good side as well... well, that was a good start.

(I'm sorry this is terrible and short)

(just let me know whenever you wanna do it and I'll throw Quinn and Maya in there. Cause we can have them on their own for however long we want before throwing them in with their groups)

Sam heard Mason's comment about being called Death and assumed it was just some stupid nickname. If anything, he was probably just a trained killer. Just like Carter had claimed to be before Sam learned he was just an idiot with anger problems that knew how to fight. Though she was still convinced Mason wasn't fully human. None of her friends were. Maybe that's why they were all here. They weren't normal. "What kind of world? A normal world," she said with a frown. "A world where people are human and the dead stay dead." She was thrown off by everything, but she kept a steady expression. She appeared almost emotionless, though it was only to hide the fear and confusion she was experiencing. She listened to his explanation with a slight frown. Zombies were real? "Angels and demons?" she asked. "We have those... Well, sort of. In fiction. Or religion. I mean, you don't see random angels and demons walking down the street." Sam had never been much of a religious person due to her father's strict science only household, but she still knew enough to know that angels and demons should only exist in stories. Fiction stories. Movies. Urban legends. Religion. Not in real life. She found herself holding her breath as Mason took her hand to find her pulse.

He talked so casually, but how? How could being dead be so easy? She took Mason's hand, feeling for his pulse, and dropped it when she felt the boy's pulse. "I'm dead," she repeated, glancing back at Arlo. "I mean, I thought I died, but I figured we were all dead at this point," she said with a frown. "Wait, so does that mean I'm an angel?" She asked. "Or a demon?" That actually sounded pretty cool. "Or is there a way to become one?" she asked. "I mean, if I'm dead anyway... You said the reanimated corpses are angels and demons..."

"Mors Ubre?" Sam asked. "So America really does end up destroyed." Of course she was used to those stupid 'end of the world' claims that popped up every few years. Obviously the world hadn't actually ended if Mason lived in the ruins of America. "Oasis is a rumor. We don't even know if it's real. It's supposed to be a haven for special people." And she left it at that. All four of them were special. They were in danger in the real world and Oasis was the one place they were supposed to be safe.

"Okay, but how human is that?" she asked. "I don't think any of us are 100% human." She didn't outright admit what was special about them, but she had basically admitted that her and her friends were different.

"And you feel energy? Like normally? That's definitely not normal human stuff," she pointed out when he explained why he thought the city was empty. "Whatever. We can figure out each other's secrets later," she said, brushing it off like it was no big deal. She was practically happy to share, as long as Mason shared his secrets too. "But I agree," she said, following him into the city.

Arlo was just watching everything with wide eyes. "You're dead?" he asked, his heart breaking as he watched Sam move, looking so similar to how she had before they lost her.

She didn't even look at him. "Apparently I am. Don't tell Carter or Chase." Carter would feel even worse about himself because he had left her to die and Chase... well, Chase had never been very good at dealing with death. "Plus, that means Maya and Quinn might return anyway," she pointed out.

Arlo shrugged as he entered the city behind her and Mason. He'd given up on trying to talk to Zero.

Of course, Carter had taught all his friends how to fight. He'd been in plenty of good old fashioned fistfights. You couldnt always rely on weapons. Of course, the four of them also had powers to aid them. Carter normally had his knife on him, but who really needed a knife when he could just burn somebody? And Chase was assuming their powers worked since he could still talk to Arlo. He just assumed everyone else in here knew how to fight without weapons. What if that's what this was? A fight to the death? Well, he wasn't going to attack anyone yet.

"I have no idea," Chase said in response to Ash's question. It was the truth. Yes, he knew it had something to do with their powers and how they were connected, but he had no idea why they were born that way. "We get sick when we're apart for too long. Really weak too. We haven't been apart since we were like ten," he said, looking into the direction his brother had disappeared too." Carter would probably tell him to stop talking but Carter wasn't here. He looked at Ash. Maybe they weren't human either. "Can we, uh, talk alone?" he asked, mostly looking towards Ava and Jace. He wasn't sure if they could hear the pair but he was definitely more concerned about them than Zeke.

Zeke's claim about dying made Chase even more sure that they weren't human. "How are you here then?" he asked. He looked between Zeke and Ash. If they were immortal... we'll, that would definitely not be good. He thought about Sam. Could she have really died? What if they were all dead. Maybe when he, Arlo, and Carter had fallen asleep, one of their enemies had finally caught up with them and killed them all in their sleep. The rebought made him feel sick.

Chase shook his head at Ash's question. "Those are all fictional creatures," he said, but he began to wonder if maybe something was off. "Wait, are you guys from America? From earth?" he asked. He paused. "I guess this isn't Oasis then." Fighting back his fear, he went back to Ash's question. "No," he said, hesitating before adding the next part. "Most people are normal, though some are a bit... odd." He didn't want to be the one that blew their secret, but if eh got Ash to admit that they weren't human...

"I think we should talk in private," he said again. It'd be easier to get her to admit it and then he'd feel more comfortable admitting it as well. "Still where your friends can see us because I'm sure none of you totally trust me yet..."

***

"Maya?" Quinn frowned, blinking his eyes open. He reached out for the girl that normally fell asleep beside him. He felt the absence of her warm body and frowned. They weren't a couple anymore, but they'd almost acted like one since they got separated from the rest of the group. Sleeping together provided warmth and safety and they were the only one the other hand. With no way to contact their friends, they'd been surprised they'd survived on their own so long.

"Maya!" Quinn called again, sitting up. He was asleep in the woods, though he could see an open meadow not too far away. Maya rushed back into the woods, signaling for him to be quiet.

"What's going on?" Quinn asked, climbing to his feet. They'd been in Chicago last night, hadn't they? Quinn had scammed a dude out of his car thanks to a few tricks Carter had taught him. He was pretty certain that he and Maya had taken it somewhere quiet and fell asleep. Why were they in the woods now?

Maya shook her head. "I'm not sure, but I saw two other people asleep," she said. She took Quinn by the hand, signaled for him to be quiet, and led him to the smaller clearing deeper in the woods where she had spotted the other two.

Quinn pulled away from Maya and approached the nearest person, shaking her shoulder. "Hey?" he asked quietly. He looked over to see Maya reaching for the gun she kept on her. She had never used it, but she was clearly worried about Quinn. When she found it missing, her green eyes widened and she shook her head. Quinn needed to get away from them.

Sam nodded. "Well, I mean there's stories about ghosts haunting places. But, yeah... For the most part, dead people are forever dead. Never coming back." She glanced at Arlo with the last sentence. He still looked as if he couldn't believe Sam was dead. He'd be back to his normal self soon. Hopefully. He had always been better at dealing with death than Chase, but apparently he didn't know how to react when he saw someone he was sure was dead, thoughts she was alive, found out she was dead, and then hung out with her. She nodded seriously at Mason's question. "Yeah. Well, I wouldn't say normal." Arlo's eyes widened, not sure if telling Mason what they were would be a good idea. "Some people are really weird. But humans. Yeah. We got a lotta humans."

Sam nodded. "So, I'm just a zombie. Well, a zombie that can talk and think and doesn't eat brains? Good, cause I'm not sure anyone here has any..." It was a joke, but not a very good one. "What does that mean for when we get out of here? If we get out of here? Will I go back to being dead or will I get a second chance?" She looked at Arlo again, but his face betrayed nothing.

Sam nodded. "We, uh, definitely had our problems but it wasn't horrible," she said with a shrug. Well, it was pretty darn good for normal humans. Being hunted for what they were put a bit of a damper on Sam's life back there. "But yours sounds a lot more interesting." Interesting was a fairly neutral world. It could be good or bad.

Sam nodded. "Well, we should make sure it isn't gonna kill us and then maybe leave a message in the meadow for any new arrivals and we can move into the city? It has to be better than the the meadow..." Sam pointed out. Who knew what the night would be like?

Arlo frowned at Mason's comment about death. "Were from two very different places," he commented, glancing at Sam. He scooted closer to her, glaring at Mason. "Where we come from, death is bad. Death is the end. You'll never see that person again. And it's even harder when they have a painful death..." he looked over at Sam. Being caught in a fire was supposed to be painful, wasn't it? He just shook his head at Mason's description of Sam. It was her, just in a dead body. It wasn't right. Wasn't natural.

Arlo looked over in surprise when Zero spoke out against Mason. He gave the other boy a half smile before looking back at Mason. Zero must've lost someone too. Mason couldn't have a reaction like that to death if he'd never lost someone. He still looked at Sam as if he were unable to believe she was back. Besides Chase, she was his best friend. And she was a close second. Even above Carter. Sam was just more likable.

Sam nodded at Zero's words. It was clear none of them were normal, so was this really out of the ordinary? "I think you might be right." She frowned slightly at the comment about it being due to their world's leaders. "Maybe your leader, but I don't know who would pick us to come. So I don't think it was our worlds leader or we wouldn't be here." She frowned. "The only one that would send us here specifically is my father but he has no belief in magic. Unless this all has some scientific explanation, there's no way he did it."

Arlo tensed up at the mention of Dr. Hudson. He was a bad man. A scary man. And he knew Sam still held a grudge at him for ruining her life and Carter's life and Maya's life and Quinn's life. Unlike the twins, those four were born normal.

"Don't worry, man. I'm smart enough to see that I'm outnumbered." He reminded Zeke. Of course, that didn't necessarily help Ash. He knew that hurting or killing her would be met with his own demise at the hands of her friends, but would they be quick enough to save Ash? He wasn't sure and he had no plans to find out.

He followed Ash away from the group, staying silent until they were far enough away to speak. Chase nodded at Ash's explanation. "Life and death..." he repeated before pausing. "Does hat mean you're all dead?" he asked, crossing his own arms over his chest and looking down at Ash. He glanced at Zeke occasionally to make sure the other boy wasn't preparing to attack him.

Chase nodded. "I've never heard of that. So you guys are definitely from far into the future." He sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. "Well, I think we need to establish some trust here and I'll be the first to go out on a limb and admit everything. Carter would surely kill me if he was here and I don't think Sam and Arlo will be pleased, but we need to have trust to work together and I hope you'll trust me enough to tell me what you all are."

He paused and spotted a flower a few feet away. He concentrated on it and watched as it floated into the air and came to a stop so it was floating right in front of Ash's face. "We all... well... Most of them were born normal. Carter, Sam, Quinn, Maya... They're artificial. They were born normal until Sam's dad went crazy. Gave hem all powers. Arlo and I, we were born with it. That's why we can't be apart. We have some sort of mental link, and other cool mind powers." He nodded at the flower floating in between them. It dipped slightly as he broke concentration, but then he got it right at face level for Ash.

***

Quinn's eyes widened when the strangers woke up. He glanced at Maya. His friend was pale as she hugged a tree and stared at the two girls. He waved his hand at Maya and she finally left the safety of the tree to stand beside Quinn.

Quinn approached the girls with Maya a step behind them and offered a hand to help them up. He clearly wasn't as guarded as the rest of his group. "Hey," he started, watching them. "I'm, uh, my name is Quinn. That's Maya." He nodded at her.

"Do you guys know where we are?" Maya asked suddenly. Her voice shook, betraying her fear, but she didn't care at this point. "I swear we fell asleep in the middle of Chicago last night..."

"Not the middle," Quinn corrected. He frowned.

Maya shook her head. Not the time to argue about geography. She looked at the two strangers. "We just need to know where we are and how to get home."

Sam nodded. "Are ghosts like..." she puse and tried to figure out the best way to word her question. "Like, are they real? I mean some people believe in them in my world and some don't. Do all people in your world believe in them? Are they like proven real? Normal?" she asked. Sam shook her head. "Our humans are pretty normal for the most part," she said, looking over at Arlo for his input on the issue.

Arlo just gave a shrug. "You're the one that talked about people being weird. You're the one that has to explain it," he said. Sam raised an eyebrow, and Arlo just chuckled. "Hey, you might've died, but not you're alive again. Chase is the one that gives into you, not me," he pointed out. He was a lot tougher than Chase, which kind of concerned him about his twin being left alone with the others. You good? he asked, his eyes darkening for a moment as he shared the thought with his brother.

Sam rolled her eyes at Arlo and turned back to Mason. "Well, most people really are normal besides a couple people that do weird things. But, um, I'm not sure about any supernatural or fantasy creatures, but some people have powers. Some are natural and some are artificial, but that's definitely not a norm. In fact, having powers makes you an instant enemy of like everyone."

Sam nodded. "We don't have zombies, but they're huge in fiction. And people like the idea of a zombie apocalypse for some odd reason," she said with a frown. "Immortal," she repeated, glancing at Arlo. The only time she'd seen anything similar to immortal was when Quinn brought that dude back to life. It was not good. Carter killed the zombie like version of him and Quinn was knocked out for a few days straight she to the amount of power it had taken.

Sam nodded. "Well, we know entering the city doesn't kill us, so we should probably eat everyone," she agreed. She turned around, glancing at Zero and Arlo before heading black in the direction of the meadow.

"Yeah!" Arlo agreed, his eyes lighting up. He hated being away from Chase, even if this wasn't bad enough to affect them negatively. "I wanna make sure Chase didn't screw anything up."

"Carter's the one we need to worry about," Sam pointed out with a laugh. "He's probably trying to pick a fight while Chase is holding him off," she pointed out. Yeah, she didn't trust Chase or Carter alone, but she trusted them together. They balanced each other out, just not as well as Sam balanced Carter our.

Sam frowned. "I'm sure we can figure it out, but our first priority should definitely be getting through the night. Do we want to go into the city and find a building to spend the night, or the meadow?" she asked.

Chase nodded with a slight frown. "Well, we were alive... I don't know if maybe we al had to die to wake up here, but o hope not..." he said with a frown before thinking about Sam. "If you guys were dead... Well, Sam, the girl, we thought she died because we left her in a burning building and when she appeared today I thought maybe she escaped the building... Maybe she was dead after all." He didn't like to think about that and knew Carter would like it even less. "And our other friends - Quinn and Maya. They disappeared one night and we don't know what to think. I just hope they appear here too."

Chase watched her react to the flower. At least she was weird too, just like him. Otherwise he would've expected her to run away screaming. But they were freaks too. They were like him, maybe even weirder. He found himself smiling as he plucked the flower out of the air and smelled it.

He nodded. "Rare, as far as I can tell. But we also keep it secret. I mean, were on the run from the government because they know about people like us. We're on the run from Sam's dad because he created most of us and wants us back... Plus people don't like it when something isn't normal. We're not normal." He frowned as he received Arlo's message.

Fine is all he responded with, his eyes turning darker for only a second. He nodded. "We don't know why, but Arlo and I were born with our powers. The others were given theirs by Sam's dad. And that's why we can't be apart. We have some kind of link and it makes us physically sick and weak to be apart for too long. And we can talk. In our heads. I've been taking to Arlo since they left for the city," he admitted.

***

Quinn smiled when Rose took his hand. He let go once she was up and glanced at Maya. He didn't push with Zia, not wanting to scare her off. That's as Carter's job. Quinn and Maya were actually a very unintimidating pair on their own. They'd actually done quite well without Carter and Arlo and even Sam scaring people off.

"Nice to meet you guys," Quinn said, running a hand through his hair. He glanced over at Maya again, waiting for her to speak up. He didn't want to be the only vocal one here and he knew she was perfectly capable of speaking.

"You've never heard of Chicago?" Maya asked with a frown. "Are you american? It's a huge city in Illinois..." she said with a shake of her head. Well, maybe they were British. Or Australian. Or something. She didn't really care at this point. She was just weirded out by this thing. At the tree comment, she shared a weird look with Quinn. "Where do you com from that trees glow?" she asked. Some mushrooms glowed, at least that's what she heard in biology class, but she'd never heard of glowing trees.

Quinn just sighed and ignored the weird comments the girl made. "I agree. We should check it out. But we should stick together. Safety in numbers, right?" he asked, his muscles tensing slightly as he heard a notice. He shook his head and adjusted his glasses.

"Um, let's head south?" he suggested. Except he wasn't really sure where south was...

(Should the meadow become dangerous at night to drive them into the city? Plus that could be when the is portal opens to let people into the world and some creature keeps them from escaping?)