A searing fire of agony burned in her chest. She saw the towering figure of a Dark-Shade over her, lunging in for the final blow, until, suddenly, she hears screaming and others join the scene. The towering figure disappears and a battle breaks out, she sits helpless, only able to watch and wait…
The scientist at S.S.G.M. had been looking for children with “special” abilities, and they were lucky to come across these desperate parents who wanted to get rid of them. Each had a “special” child, two being siblings. It was perfect. They took them in and started their work. They were given numbers instead of names, the oldest called 1 and the youngest 5. Kept in the top secret facility they became a family, always together. But soon they grew tired of being locked away, tested on because of their powers. Using what they knew of their powers they escaped, running away. Little did they know that they would have to always be on the lookout for the “Dark-Shades” as they called them.
4 YEARS LATER
The vision came to Hammer, or 2. They were walking through the woods, gathering firewood when it happened. She dropped her stack of timber as the world faded to black and a scene appeared before her. She was watching a person, male by the looks of it, stumble into their forest. He was holding his side, which was caked with blood. He looked up, and she saw fear in his eyes.  But just as quickly as it came, the vision left, leaving her back with her worried friends.  She looked to Wood, the eldest, and nodded, giving her permission to read her mind. Wood gasped, left speechless and stared at Hammer sharing a mamihlapinatapai look.
“Well?” said Dog, who about a year younger than 15 year old Hammer. “What happened?”
Hammer could barely say it. “Someone… someone is coming!” She watched as everyone sat, thinking of this.
“Let’s get ready for company.” said Wood. Everyone acquiesced and they climbed into their houses that were in the zenith of the trees around them. All they could do was wait for the stranger to come.
About twenty minutes later Hammer heard a twig snap about thirty feet away from where she sat waiting. Not long after the guy she saw in her vision stumble into the clearing. He looked in even worse condition than in her vision. He was taller than Hammer with dark brown hair. His eyes were so dark you could barely see his pupils. His hair was matted and he was extremely pale.  Then he collapsed.
They all watched as the stranger opened his eyes. “Who are you people?” He scrambled backward until he was against the far wall.
“You could start by saying thank you, we are being quite gratuitous.” said Death.
“For what?” He looked at his side where the arrow had disappeared and clean bandages had taken its place. “Oh. Thanks.”
“Death, be alacrity.” Wood said in a disapproving tone. Hammer walked out of the room. The others stared after her, including the stranger. They sat in awkward silence for a while.
“What’s her name? The girl who just left.” said the stranger with awe-struck look on his face.
“Her name’s Hammer, well that’s what we call her. Her real name is Melody.” Tomato said. “She’s my sister.”
“So, why do you call her Hammer? She doesn’t look like a hammer to me.”
“When we first escaped from the research facility we grew up in I was eight years old and I couldn’t say anyone’s name. So, I gave everyone nicknames. This is Wood because she always talks about the forest and trees. Her real name is Faye.” She said pointing to 1, the oldest girl. She was the tallest of the girls with thin blonde hair and blue eyes. “And this is Dog because her favorite animal is a dog and when she was younger she used to bark at the Dark Shades. Her real name is Nicks.” This time she pointed to 3. Dog was slightly shorter than Hammer with thin light brown hair and matching eyes. “Death. Don’t ask why.” She pointed at 4, who was the shortest with thick black hair and brown eyes. “Her real name is Willow.” “And I’m Tomato or Lydia. Tomato because my face gets really red sometimes, and they make fun of me for it.” The youngest, Tomato, was slightly taller than Death with lighter brown hair than Dog’s but with blonde streaks and green eyes that matched her sister’s.
“Oh. Well, why is she called Hammer?”
“She often has fits of rage and wanders off to go punch something.” Wood said before Tomato could answer.
He stood up. He held out his hand for Wood to shake. “I’m Lucas.”
“So, Lucas,” Wood said, “how’d you end up with an arrow in your side?”
“I escaped from a scientific facility. When I escaped an alarm went off and as I dashed through the door, a large man with sunglasses on shot me with a crossbow. What about you? Why were they testing on you?”
Wood sighed and said, “Because we all have special powers. I can read minds, which is how I know you think we are all crazy, Hammer can see the future, Dog can control minds, Death can create objects with her mind, and Tomato can move objects with her mind. Any more questions?”
“Just one.” He said all the sudden smiling.”You got any food? I’m starving.”
“What would you like?” Death said grinning in return, she always liked showing off.
“Hmm… how about some hot chicken noodle soup and a bunch of crackers?” Death closed her eyes for a second and the next thing he knew there was a bowl of soup in her hands and crackers on a plate on the table next to him. He was stunned. “This girl is amazing! I can’t believe she just made a bowl of chicken noodle soup in her hands!” he thought.
“Strange huh?” Wood said reading his mind.
“That’s not why I’m here. I’m here to warn you I heard some of the guys in sunglasses say that they knew where you were and that they were coming to ‘clean up their mistake’ as they put it.” He paused to take a couple sips of soup. “You need to leave. I happen to know a safe place for you to hide.” Everyone froze at what Lucas had said. Hammer came bursting through the door.
“They’re coming.” They all bolted out the door dragging Lucas along, scrambled down the tree and suddenly stopped. A helicopter was hovering over them.
“The safe place is in that direction.” Lucas said pointing North toward a gigantic mountain. They ran half the distance in one day making it a third of the way up the mountain before setting up camp in a clearing with tents and supplies Death made. They were all tired.
“I’ll take watch.” Hammer said yawning. It was something she had always done and because of her gift no one argued.
The others climbed into their tents and fell asleep. Around about midnight Lucas climbed out of his tent and climbed the tree Hammer was sitting in. She looked down at him but said nothing as he settled in right next to her on the branch.
“You don’t talk much do you?” he asked desperately wanting to know more about her.
“I guess you could say that. You however, don’t seem to shut up.” He just looked at her smiling. She found herself looking into his eyes trying to find his pupils that seemed almost nonexistent. She cleared her throat and looked away. “So,” she said desperately trying to distract herself from the way he looked now that he wasn’t pale and impaled with an arrow. “What’s your gift? Why was S.S.G.M testing on you?” She looked at him again, and the lost look on his face made her want to hug him or comfort him in some way.
“I don’t know. Whatever it is it must not be very special if I’ve never used it.” When he turned and saw her looking at her with an expression that almost looked pitying, “If her face even showed emotion” he thought. “Why are you so shut down all the time?” he asked before he could stop himself. Ever since he saw her scramble down that tree she was watching him approach from and run over to help him he’d never seen even a speck of emotion on her face.
“I don’t know.” She looked stunned.
“Finally emotion.” He couldn’t help but feel he was getting somewhere with her. “Yes you do. You just don’t trust anyone enough to tell them what’s wrong.” He looked at her expecting to see the same look of shock on her face but it wasn’t there. Instead it was a look of disbelief and almost like a longing to get something of her chest. “Well? Want to tell me or are we going to sit here and pretend like there’s not something you want to say?”
“Why should I trust you?”
“Because deep down you know you can” he said quietly. She stared at him. She hated it when boys were right.
“Fine. I don’t like showing emotion because my parents taught me that ‘emotion is a weakness built into human nature that one must overcome in order to get further in life.’ Happy now?” She looked distant now as though remembering something from the past. He sat quietly thinking about what she said until her attention returned to him.
“Well that’s stupid.” She looked as if he had slapped her so he hurriedly added, “Emotions are how humans explain what they’re thinking when it’s too hard to say.” Hammer looked at him. “Hammer I just want to know what you’re thinking. I think all of us would like that. Including you.” She looked at the boy. She couldn’t believe he was her age; he seemed so much older just now.
She studied his softened features, neat dark brown hair, and dark eyes one more time before saying “This is getting to dramatic for me. I’m going to get more fire wood.” She turned. “Oh and call me Melody.” Then she walked away before he could say anything else. She picked up a few sticks and then gave up, sitting up against a tree trying to sort out her confused feelings.
Lucas slammed his fist into the trunk of the tree they were just sitting in, wincing only slightly, with the pain. He was mad at himself for letting her go when he should have said something to make her stay. Then maybe he wouldn’t be standing here alone replaying their conversation in his head. He stayed up until she came back with the firewood and then when she made no attempt at conversation he went to bed.
The next day they started the trek up the mountain. They paused for water breaks and for lunch but other than that walked all day in silence. Just as sunset came they reached the top of the mountain. It looked like more of a bunker than a safe-house. They walked up to the metal door and Lucas wrenched it open. It groaned in response. Each kid in there had their own special powers.
Not long after they set up Hammer fell to the ground limply landing on one of the makeshift beds. She fell into darkness as a scene lay out before her.
“The Dark Shades are coming.” She later announced to her group of friends.
“Then let’s go. We have to leave.” Wood chided in everyone met this statement with high levels of enthusiasm. But Hammer stayed quiet. She knew she couldn’t just run away.
“I’m not going.” she said. Everyone stared at her as if she were an alien from outer space. “I can’t go. If we run that’s all we’ll ever do again is run!” Once again she was met with the same stare.
“Don’t be an idiot!” Wood said in a stressed tone. “You’re coming with us.” She reached for Hammer’s arm as the others walked out the metal door. Hammer jerked her arm away. “Please come on. We have to go, we have no choice.”
“I’m not going.”
“Suit yourself.” Wood turned and walked out the still open door. A couple of minutes later Hammer walked out to meet her destiny. Almost immediately after she stepped out the door she heard a “whoosh” and then there was a sharp searing pain in her chest. Just like the vision. She looked around. There emerging out of the trees came at least two dozen Dark Shades. Her friends were nowhere to be found.
She fought till she couldn’t fight any more. She had pulled the arrow out of her chest and was now landing punch after punch, blow after blow. She had the advantage. She saw what would happen before it did so she was always one step ahead of them. However her right arm was useless and she was losing blood fast. Finally a Dark Shade landed a blow on her wounded chest. She collapsed. She saw the towering figure of a Dark-Shade over her, lunging in for the final blow just like the vision, until; she hears the screaming and others join the scene just like she knew would happen. Then the world went black.
When the rest of the Dark Shades were taken care of Wood, Dog, Death, Tomato, and Lucas rushed over to Hammer’s limp body. They all stood around her. Lucas felt for a pulse. “It’s fading.” They looked around looking for anything that would help save their friends life. There was nothing. They watched helplessly as their friend, their sister, struggled to hold on to life. They watched as Lucas kneeled next to Hammer. “Please, please Melody come on this is nothing. Please don’t leave me. You’ll be okay. You’re going to be okay.” There were tears in his eyes and his voice broke. “I don’t care if you don’t show emotion or if I can’t read your thoughts easily. I need you.” Suddenly a bright light burst from his hands and they got really warm. The arrow flew out of her chest and the wound started closing up before their eyes.
“Guess your talent is healing.” Hammer’s weak voice broke through his surprise. He chuckled quietly and cradled her head in his arms after a half an hour she was as good as new she stood up with Lucas helping her and laced her fingers through his. “I need you too.” She whispered so only he could hear.
The friends rejoiced and set off to find a new home. This time they knew just how important each and every one of them was to each other. And just like that they were free from fear and they never had to run again.