The three girls, Paola, Hilda and Cloudy sat in a room similar to the one Erin was held in. They had sat down on the floor and had begun to talk about the recent events that had led them here. “Well…If you ask me…”Cloudy said while playing with a lock of jet black hair, “I think this kids off his rocker…” “Why?” Hilda asked, staring at the ceiling watching the lights change from pink, to blue then purple. “Because…” Cloudy said while placing a hand over her forehead, “Because….because I think…becauseheisaverybad…” Paola snapped her head up towards the small vent in the room and then pushed herself up, jogging towards the door. She reached the door and frantically began to pound her fist on the door. “LET US OUT! PLEASE! SOMETHINGS WRONG HERE! CAN ANYONE HEAR ME?!” Hilda frowned and walked behind Paola and hissed into her ear, “What is your problem?” Paola turned on her heel and faced Hilda. “I think…” She took in a deep breath, “I think we are not here for research, and I think these people don’t mean to help us in anyway. I…I think…they want to kill us.” Hilda’s wide brown eyes stared at her friend in disbelief. “You…You’re not kidding…are you?” Paola shook her head. “No…I’m not” Hilda looked back towards Cloudy, “We need to get her out of here. We need to get out of here, fast.” Polly nodded and went towards Cloudy. Hilda pointed upward towards a vent, and the two opened it and helped a groggy Claudia into the vent, the two girls following afterwards.

As the three climbed into the vent, another was just waking up.

       Erin woke with a start. “WHA-“ she grimaced and placed a hand on her head. She slowly opened her eyes once again and realized that she was lying down on the floor,  glass and sheet-rock scattered around her. She stared up at the white walls around her. “…where…am I?” Erin sat up slowly and gasped, her hands flew towards her face, covering it from the blinding memories which came flooding back. White and red walls, contorted faces, limbs, screaming, glass, white, white, white. She was suddenly aware of a warm hand on her shoulder and she turned her body around to face the owner. She smiled as Blas knelt besides her. “Blas…” she said in sigh, “…what…happened to you?” Blas looked down at himself and pulled out yet another IV connected to him. “Aw nothing really…I was hooked up to some machine, tis all.” He said to her with a smile. Blas stood up and held out a hand towards her, “Need a lift?” Erin laughed and took his hand. “Thanks” She said while extending her own to reach his. Blas nodded and looked around the room. “We need to get out of here. Fast” She nodded as well and jumped to her feet. “Right”

          “CAT! CAT! CAT PLEASE WAKE UP! THIS ISN’T FUNNY ANYMORE! CAT!”

         Cat opened her eyes slowly and frowned, “Just…five more…minutes…” and she turned onto her side. “CAT!” Gina’s voice screamed at her, “GET UP NOW! WE HAVE TO LEAVE THIS PLACE!” Cat sat up, “Pacifist?...” Cat grimaced at the throbbing pain in her head. “What hap-” Cat doubled over in pain. Blurred visions of places and people swam before her eyes, “-What in the HELL was that?” Cat frowned and held her side. She swung her legs around and jumped off the table she had been strapped to. Gina got up from her chair that she had been sitting on and cursed at Cat. “You are a Class A Bastard! Do you know that!” Cat looked at Gina, “Hey…what’s going on, and why am I being cursed at for something that I don’t even REMEMBER!” Gina wiped her eyes ands sighed, “You had us scared…that’s all. And from what the guys had told me…I was scared for you. I don’t want to lose a friend at such a young age…that’s all.” Gina collapsed back into her chair and buried her face in her hands. Cat looked at the scene around her and walked over to Vince who was looking outside the doorway. “Vince,” she whispered, “What happened around here? What happened to all of us?” Vince sighed and pulled his cap from his back pocket and put it on, once again reminding Cat of how much he looked like a video game character. “Well,” he said looking at Marc while he paced around the room, “when you got subdued, and Gina was being…”he put his hand over his eyes, “…was being strapped down, Marc heard that the kid, Cervantes, wanted to get rid of us. He wanted to change history with our deaths.”

        Cat looked at her cousin with disbelief, “…change…history…?” Vince nodded and readjusted his cap, “Yeah. Apparently he’s tried before, and failed. So he came to the conclusion that he had to get to the root of the problem. Us.” Cat cursed under her breath. She looked towards Gina and Marc and sighed, “We have to get moving, that bastard will no doubt come to claim his prize, so we need to get out of here. Fast.” Marc came up behind them. “I agree. If we leave now, we can lower the risk of us being caught.” He knelt besides a fallen guard and pulled off the gun holster. Cat put a hand on his shoulder, “This isn’t a game you know…” He nodded and stood up, adjusting the guns around his shoulders. “You should know me better than that. Besides, “Marc said with a wave of his hand, “We are the Original Shadow Nine…That outta count for something.” Gina gave the three of them a sad smile. “Let’s get going guys.” She looked out the doorway and pulled her sandy brown hair into a ponytail. “Let’s go and find the others…and get back home.”

        And so Shadows flew across the hallways and walls, jumping from room to room. They had in a matter of hours abandoned their childhood and had jumped headfirst into the fire of reality.

Erin and Blas ran through the dimly lighted corridors.

Hilda, Polly and Cloudy were sneaking through the vents.

Cat, Gina, Marc and Vince ran in search of their friends.

        All of them just like everyone else alive were looking for something to believe in.