Phantom Prologue:

A crisp, autumnal breeze blew through the air, with a hint of chemicals mixed in with it. The laboratory I could see glowing in the distance was almost definitely the cause. I grimaced, knowing what was taking place there. The few trees that were scattered around provide good cover, and are called Summer Round-leaves, broad-trunked and tall deciduous trees with red-gold leaves. Summer Round-leaves are only native to this very area, as they were made in that no-so-far-away lab. What was I doing there, on privatized land, I hear you ask. Well, that's a story for another day isn't it. Let's finish this one first, eh? It only took me a couple of minutes to reach the lab, and I was easily close enough to see the insignia painted onto the lab's white, metallic wall. Phoenix Industries, or as I call them, Phoenix Genetics. The all-to-familiar smell of blood and drugs filled my nostrils once more, and I stood still against the wall, taking a quick look around of this specific compound. It was pretty basic compared to most of the urban ones, only a handful of guards and an almost square lab, this is way below their usual standards. Sneaking past the few guards there were, I find the door. Obviously it's locked, so what do I do. I knock. I knocked on the door of a lab in private land. Thee door opens, to reveal a lab coat wearing scientist, who was shakily holding a pistol.

"H-H-Hello?" The man stutters, his eyes flicking around. "C-Come out. I'm a-armed." He threatens with a voice full of fear. I roll my eyes, and walk out from behind the door. The man's eyes widen when he sees me, as if he'd seen a ghost. Oh, I've got it!

"Boo, I'm a mother fucking ghost!" I say, and the scientist's eyes widen even further, and he then collapsed. "Huh? That was easier than expected." I say as I grab the pistol out of his hand. I push open a door, to find many vials of many precious substances, and I grin maniacally. "And what would these be?" I ask myself as I walk over to check the labeled vials. "Rerid, Caplan, Axin, Lecelin." I read out loud, but my blood freezes when I reach the final vial. It is labeled 'Cobanis'. "OK, time to leave now." I tell myself, and walk swiftly back to where I had entered. I clutch the vial in my hand, fleeing from the lab that I had, get used to it, just robbed. I turn to look back at the lab, a smirk on my face, and then I turn around once again, and begin to sprint away from the cliff side laboratory.

Phoenix Industries Profiling:

Name: Classified

Gender: Female

Height: 5 Feet, 7 Inches

Eye Colour: Hazel

Hair Colour: Chocolate Brown

Blood Type: O- (O Negative)

Designation: Epsilon Sigma

Containment Facility: Classified

Type: Classified

Signed,

The Chairman of Phoenix Industries

 

2: Chapter I: The Baited One

Phantom:

Character POV: CLASSIFIED

Pain. Pure, intense, empty pain. My normally calm self is now angry with the entire world. The entire world, except them. That is what I feel right now. But how it got to this stage? Well then, you don't even know half of it.

Character POV: PHANTOM

I was crouched low behind the bushes and the shrubbery, hiding myself from view. Where am I, I hear you ask? Outside one of Phoenix Industries main labs, in Northbeach. And where is Northbeach, in the country of Newheath. Why am I there, well, isn't that a long story that I'll get onto at a later date? Anyways, Phoenix Lab, Northbeach, Newheath, and me. And what am I gonna do? Well, I am going to rob, I am going to destroy. But most of all, I am going to hinder their research. I've not told you why I'm gonna do this, and I will, later. Well, that depends if I ever get the time to do so. So, as I was saying, I'm there to hinder their research. They can't be stopped, I've figured that out already. Phoenix Industries are persistent, extremely persistent. No matter how hard I try, no matter how hard I knock them down, they will always get back up. And they will always keep fighting, and researching, and experimenting. So why do this, you ask, why do it if I'm doomed to fail? Well, I do it because if I can slow them down long enough, I can expose their little secret, and I can show the world their true colours. But, let's get back to the raid, eh? I look at the lab curiously, scanning it carefully. Well, not literally scanning it, but you get what I mean. I move forwards to take a closer look, completely focused on what was in front of me, not what was behind me. And behind me, I hear a crunch and a few small grumbles., so I dive for a different piece of cover.

"Stupid patrols and their stupid, stupid fucking paths." The guard muttered to himself absently, following his designated patrol path. 'Huh? Well that is going to be a problem. I thought to myself, noting the guards movement patterns. I then began to follow this guard, slowly making my way towards the lab. It took me a few minutes to get close to the lab, I had passed the guard about a minute ago too. I take a quick look around me, and I'm alone, no guards in sight. I walk slowly and carefully up to the door, and give it a light push. To my, and maybe ever your, surprise, the door swung calmly open. I cock my head slightly, but I go inside anyways, not listening to any of my instincts that were screaming. 'Run! If you value your life, then run!'. Yeah, I went against those instincts. When I was inside, I was going to have to be extremely careful. Checking my back twice every ten seconds, crouching down so low I was almost crawling, and hiding behind everything and anything I could. I take peek around a corner, and see a pair of guards talking with, what looked like a superior.

"You think that it'll work?" Guard One asked the superior. Guard Two chuckled and shook his head.

"Honestly, I think that anyone they test it on is royally fucked. Not one of those kids have came out with a shred of sanity left." Guard Two replied to Guard One.

"I don't think you should speak of the serum like that Corporal. We wouldn't like to see you in those testing rooms, would we?" Superior informed Guard Two.

"No sir, of course not sir." Guard Two responded, before curtly nodding and walking away. Guard One and Superior began to converse with each other, and they were barely audible. I moved closer, and instantly regretted my decision.

"You think she'll take the bait?" Guard One questioned curiously, and Superior smiled slightly, and it was a horrid, terrifyingly grim smile

"Yes. Yes, I do think so." He said calmly before reaching into his pocket. "And, in fact, I do believe she already has." Superior said as he pulled out a small, concealable pistol from his jacket, and begins to fire in my direction. I duck further into the cover, shielding my head with my arms before I hear the click of an empty magazine, and then I hear it clatter to the floor, now a useless paperweight.

"Ah crap." I mutter, before I turn back towards the entrance. The alarms blaring, and the emergency lights flashing, I rush out of the door. Throwing any of my remaining caution to the wind, I sprint away from the lab. But I had several guards in tow, behind me. Around twenty of them, and they were all armed to the teeth. Also, not going unnoticed, the Northbeach Police Department helicopter that was hovering above me wasn't a good sign. Well, neither are the armed-to-the-teeth guards, but, well you know. I soon enter a dense forest, it's thick trunks and large leaves providing more than enough cover for me, but also more for them too. I stop behind a tree, but the rest is short-lived as I hear the crack of a gunshot, and see the trunk of a tree near me splinter and crack, covering me in shards of bark. "OK, get a move on." I tell myself, before running again. I find myself skidding to a halt when I reach the edge of a crevasse, and take a glance over my shoulder to see the guards behind me, but I had managed to lose the helicopter in the trees. "You know what." I say to myself, a grin on my face. "Fuck it!" I shout, before jumping.

3: Chapter II: Dreams

Phantom:

Chapter I Recap:

"Not one of those kids have came out with a shred of sanity left." Guard Two replied to Guard One.

"You think she'll take the bait?" Guard One asked Superior.

"I do believe she already has." Superior replied, pulling out a pistol.

"You know what? Fuck it." I say before I jumped into the crevasse.

Character POV: PHANTOM

I tucked myself into a roll as I hit the bottom of the crevasse, and I expertly took to my feet instantaneously after. I smirked as I looked upwards, seeing the guards peeing over the edge curiously, searching for me. One notices me, and pulls out his rifle and aims at me, but another guard pushes the weapon down, turns and then heads back the way they came. I see the guard with the rifle mutter something, completely and utterly inaudible from down in the crevasse, and he follows the rest of the group. As I turn away, I realise that the only ways up are either: To climb up; or to follow the crevasse until I find a easier way up.

"Oh great." I spoke under my breath, before running along the crevasse wall, hoping to find some sort of slope, or something like that, so that I could get out. After a few minutes, it was beginning to get dark, and I was running out of stamina for the third, or maybe fourth, or maybe even fifth, time. I slowly bring myself to a stop, and lean on the wall, breathing heavily. "Why. Do I. Always. Do. These. Just. Before. Night?" I say between huffs of breath, still leaning. I take a quick look around, still hoping to notice a slope of some sorts, but I see nothing. "I should probably bring something to sleep on next time I do this." I tell myself before I sit down on the dry, grassy floor. I lay back, and look up at stars with a smile on my face, and I feel my eyelids becoming heavier by the second. "I really hope there won't have to be a next time." I say hopefully, before falling into a deep sleep.

(Start Dream)

Character POV: PHANTOM

I sat up, and I feel confusion almost instantly. I'm in a cell, and sitting by me is a boy who looks about my age. I'm sweating, and I soon recognize where I am. I'm in my cell, well, at the moment I'm sharing it. I know the boy, his name was Adam. He was kind, caring and smart, he was also talkative and almost always optimistic. He always said we'd find a way out. That we'd all get out of it all right. I hear a clank, and the cell door slides open. I know what's happening, I've had this nightmare for years, pretty much everyday in fact. I see two guards walk through the door, and they grab Adam by the arms. I see the fear in his face as they drag him away, the happiness and optimism stolen from him in one fell swoop. I knew, and I still do know, where they took him. I knew why they took him. And I knew I was powerless to stop it. And it was from that day on that I planned my route, from that day on I planned my escape. I never saw him again after that, he never returned. But I can easily guess how he turned out, and he probably turned out just like the others. No one ever came out intact, they all pretty much came out as if they were dead. They were plagued with eternal fear, pain, and the distrust of others. But it didn't take long for the ones who were taken, to not come back at all. And that's what happened to him, he never came out. He never returned to the cell, and for a couple of months, I was broken. I wouldn't talk to anyone, heck, I would barely acknowledge them. But in the cell, when the only entertainment you're given is a pencil and a piece of paper, I just used those to plan, and plan, and plan. I planned for months on end, and I was scared that I would be take before I could have the chance to escape. But that didn't happen. I escaped, and I have been on the run from them for around two years, never ceasing in my efforts to stop them. The scene then began to change, and now I had no idea of what was going on. I was now in what looked like an apartment complex that looked like it had been abandoned for years. Ivy was taking over most of the building's walls, on both the inside and the outside, and any furniture was strewn across the room. I look around the room, and head towards the door, trying to open it, but failing to. I push and pull, but the door remains still. I punch the extremely stubborn door in frustration. Then, to my surprise, the door falls to the ground, no longer having any hinges. I walk out and turn, only to find, the one and the only, my cell mate Adam standing there. My eyes widen, and I step back slightly with surprise. I open my mouth to speak, but no words come out. I stand rooted to the spot, unable to move. Adam reaches into one of his pockets, pulls out a pistol and aims at me.

"I do believe she already has." He says in a voice which wasn't his own, and he pulls the trigger.

(End Dream)

Character POV: PHANTOM

I instantly sit up, my hands shielding my face from the bullet which never existed. I push myself off of the floor, and almost instantly after, I brush the dirt off of my hands. I feel a droplet of sweat fall off of my head, hitting the mossy ground with a light 'plop'ing sound. I then wipe my forehead on my sleeve, and quickly look all around me. And, quite obviously, I'm still alone in the crevasse. With a large, heavy sigh, I start to walk along the edge of the crevasse, knowing I had a whole day to do this.

Character POV: PHANTOM

After spending another day in this godforsaken crevasse, I find an easy way up, an tree that fallen into a higher part of the crevasse. After a couple of minutes of running and climbing, I reach the base of the tree. I slowly climb up the almost-completely-vertical tree, and after another few minutes, I get to the top. I feel a drop of water fall onto my head, obviously coming off of a leaf on a tree.

"Oh really?" I groan as I feel another drop, this time on my shoulder. Suddenly, there is a downpour, and I'm running for cover. The storm only lasts about ten minutes, but that's long enough for me to be soaked to the skin. "I really should prepare better next time." I remind myself as I pull out a small bottle of water. I take in a small mouthful of water, and I then look around, what now seems to be a rainforest rather than your average forest. After what seemed like days of walking through the forest, searching for the edge of it's endlessness, I find an old, overgrown wooden house. I instinctively run towards it, and I burst through the door. I begin to search the house, practically turning it inside out trying to find food. "Note to self: Bring some food next time." I mutter to myself before I give up and throw myself on the table that I was next to. Then, I feel something cold being pressed against the back of my head.

"I want to know what you're doing here." I hear a male voice tell me, and I gulp fearfully. "I want you to tell me exactly what you are doing in my home, and maybe, just maybe, I won't blow your brains out." The voice informs me, and I turn around to face it, with my hands above my head in surrender.

4: Chapter III: A Sharpe Mind

Phantom:

Chapter II Recap:

I've had this nightmare for years.

Adam reaches into one of his pockets.

"I want to know what you're doing here." A male voice said.

Character POV: PHANTOM

"I want you to tell me exactly what you are doing in my home, and maybe, just maybe, I won't blow your brains out." The voice informs me, and I turn around with my hands above my head. When I turn, I see a boy who looks around eightteen years old. He has dark brown, almost black, mid-length hair and sparkling green eyes that are narrowed with curiosity. His face holds a look of anger, and I realize that he still has a gun aiming at my face. "I'll ask you one more time, what are you doing in my home?" He growls at me, his face unchanging. I look around the room nervously, before taking a deep breath and sighing.

"Do... Do you want the easy answer, or the one that'll take you a few days to digest?" I reply, and he frowns at me before shaking his head.

"Just get on with it." He tells me as he lowered his gun. I take another deep breath.

"I'm a runaway." I tell him, it's not far from the truth. In fact, it's blatantly the same thing. "I... I ran away about three years ago, when I was fourteen. And I wasn't exactly a normal kid." I inform him, still just sidestepping around the truth. "Let's just say we were adopted. I knew around six or seven different kids personally. And I was devastated when my oldest, best friend Adam was... Uh... Readopted somewhere else." I half-lie to him. Sure, I was devastated, but he was certainly not 'readopted'.

"And what's your name?" He asks me, and my eyes widen. I'd never really gone by a real name. I've not really had anyone to talk to since I escaped. Adam used to call me Ep, because of my designation, Epsilon Sigma. His designation was Epsilon Beta, but all of us called him Adam. He chose it himself, he overheard two guards talking to each other. One was, obviously, called Adam, and that's were his name came from.

"Uh...I'm Ep." I tell him, before mentally slapping myself. I look down at the floor, before looking up at him again. "Um... Yeah, Ep. My name's Ep." I say again, more to convince myself rather than him. He looks at me curiously, before smiling slightly, almost unnoticeably.

"Ep? That's an interesting name." He replies calmly, and he takes a seat on a chair. "Go on." He then tells me, and I smile lightly.

"Yes. Uh... Where was I? Ah, right. So after he was taken, it took me few years before I decided to run away. And I've been on the run ever since. They've tried to catch me." I say, still just avoiding the complete truth. "But they haven't caught me yet, and they hopefully never will." I say, finishing off my not-so-truthful story.

"But you still haven't told me why you're here." He replies calmly, a small grin on his face. "And I didn't need your life's story." He jokes, the grin now more noticeable.

"Oh... Um, they almost found me. Almost found me." I inform him, now feeling bad for all of the lies I had told him. "So I ran. And they followed. But I lost them in the forest. And then, after two days, I found this place. I hoped it would have food, but there wasn't any." I tell him, and then instantly become confused. "Where is your food then?" I asked him, and he smirks as he shrugs off a backpack.

"It's in here. And it's fresh too." He says as he pulls out a chunk of meat.

"Uh... What is that?" I question, looking at it curiously.

"Venison. From deer native to this very forest. They're strange looking, all white except their reddish-orange tails. Their hide sells pretty well. The tail is what you'd sell for the most, don't ask me what they use it for though, I've got no idea." He tells me as he pulls out one of the deer's tail, and it's the brightest red you'll ever see. "This." He says, pointing to the tail he was holding. "This tail is from one of the eldest deer I've seen. The older they get, the redder their tails get too. This one would be around fifty, maybe even sixty years old. A herd's eldest members are probably around this age too, maybe even older." He informs me proudly, a large smile on his face.

"That's... Um... Cool." I say unconvincingly, and he chuckles. "What's your name?" I ask him, and he smiles grimly at me. And story that this smile brought was not a nice one.

"My name's Ethan Sharpe." He tells me, a sad look on his face as he stood up. "And have I got a story to tell you, Ep." He says, the grim smile unchanged.

Character POV: PHANTOM

He took me to the living room, and sat down on a small sofa, patting the seat next to him. I take my seat, the soft leather of the sofa feeling much better than the wood of the chair.

"So." I say, looking at him carefully. What did you wanna tell me?" I asked him, and he smiles at me with one of his, already, notorious grim smiles.

"I want to tell about my family." He tells me, a sad look in his eyes. "I want to tell you about my mother, my sister and..." He stops, grimaces, and looks away. "My father." He finishes, a hint of anger in voice, only made noticeable to me by him clenching one of his fists. "This story starts around twenty three years ago, when my Mum and Dad got married. But it doesn't get interesting yet. It's in two years my sister, Evalee, was born. And five years after that, I was born. Eva was amazing, almost a spitting image of our Dad. Raven hair, emerald green eyes. She looked exactly like him. But that didn't mean that she loved him. When she was old enough to hold a good conversation, they were arguing, they never got along. And after it started getting constant, he'd..." Ethan trailed off, looking sadly at the floor. "He'd beat her. And it was then he would reveal his dark side, and he wouldn't stop showing it." I open my mouth to speak, but shut it again. " And when I was six, he pulled out a gun. But not on her, not on Evalee. But he aimed at our Mum. I was only six years old, I was to young to know what was happening, but Eva. That good ol', eleven year old Eva, she knew. She tried to wrestle the gun from his grip, but a eleven year old child is no match for a thirty seven year old man. He threw her off him, rendering her unconscious. And he then fired two shots into our Mum's chest, and another through his own skull. He'd gone insane, and he killed the woman he had loved so dearly without a second thought. I stood and watched with terror as Eva lay on the floor, clutching her side, and my mother sat on a chair, blood spilling from her wounds. But Eva had instantly stirred, got up, and looked around the room, only to see her father lying dead on the floor with blood pouring out of his head, and her mother holding her chest. She ran over to our Mum, comforting her in her last moments. And she walked over to me, and held me close to her, and she swore that no one like him would ever get to us again. And that's when we stopped going to the large town nearby, and we started trading with the nearby villages. They taught Eva how to hunt and skin animals, and in return, she sold them half of what she managed to get. She then taught me, always focused on getting it done right, but when it was done wrong, she wouldn't beat me, she'd show me it again, she'd show my how to do it right. And it wasn't long before ten year old me and fifteen year old Eva were getting as much as few hundred week." Ethan informed me. "And at the age of nineteen, she bought a house in the city, and asked me if I wanted to come to. But I denied that, and I said I wanted to stay with Mum. So she gave me her address, and she gave me her rifle." He told me, showing me the hunting rifle he had used to hold me at gunpoint. "And I've lived alone ever since." He finished, placing the rifle down again, his eyes glimmering with tears.

"I... I-I'm so sorry." I comfort him, but he shakes his head slowly.

"No, don't be. It's not your fault, I've come to cope with it over the years." He says, smiling sadly. "It's getting late." He says, instantly changing the subject. "We should probably get some sleep." He tells me, before his eyes widen.

"What is it?" I asked him, but he shakes his head.

"No. No, it's fine, I'll take the floor, you have the bed." He tells me, and points at a door down the corridor. "That room down there has got the duvet and sheet in it. I haven't had time to change them today because of hunting and... Well, you I guess." He tells me, before opening a door to his left.

"What about you? Don't you want... Um... Don't you want a duvet to sleep on?" I ask him, and he shakes his head slowly.

"I'll be fine Ep." He feels me, and he walks through the door.

 

5: Chapter IV: Visitors

Phantom:

Chapter III Recap:

"Do you want the easy answer?"

"I'm a runaway."

"Uh... My name's Ep."

"He fired two shots into her chest, and then one through his own skull."

Character POV: PHANTOM

I lugged the duvet and sheet out from the storage cupboard and along the corridor, slowly dragging it to the bedroom where I would be sleeping. I pull them into the room, and I see Ethan lying on the floor, resting his head on his hands.

"Hey Ep." He greets me calmly with a smile on his face, startling me with the use of my 'name'. I snap out of my insanely short daze, and smile back at him. I drag them over to the bed, before I'm hit with realization.

"Uh..." I say, looking from the bed to the sheet, and back to the bed again. "Yeah... How do I do this?" I ask him, and I can hear the confusion in my voice. He looks at me, and then chuckles, grabbing the sheet from my hands. He straightened the sheet out and put it over the bed gently, walking around the sides and tugging the corners and sides over the mattress' edges. I watched him carefully, taking in his technique. I know, well I hope, that I'll be using it for awhile before going back to stopping Phoenix once again. Once he was finished he picked up the duvet, and placed on top of the sheet-covered bed, spreading it over the entire object. It's actually kind of amazing how quickly and professionally he does it. After this, he gestured to it with a wave of his hand, and I tentatively placed a hand onto it, slightly creasing the duvet.

"Go on then." He says pushing me forwards, causing me to fall flat onto the bed. He laughs at me, and I roll over to see him... Or not see him. I sit up, only to then feel something soft hit the back of my head, and I then throw myself off of the bed, and turn to face where the item had come from. When I do turn, and I see Ethan holding his pillow, and there is another behind where I had been sitting moments earlier.

"What are you doing? I question exasperatedly, walking back over to the bed since I had gone a good three feet after I had jumped away. He look at me with narrowed eyes.

"Even you must know what a pillow-fight is?" He asks me, faking a gasp and pointing at me. I shake my head, as I actually have no idea as to what he's talking about, but then notice how he phrased it.

"Wait. What do you mean, 'even I must now'?" I reply angrily, taking a step closer to him. "And I thought we were trying to sleep." I finish, and he shrugs. "You know, for someone who's lived on their own for so long with only deer, trees and a gun for company, you're surprisingly childish." I tell him, and he shrugs again.

"I guess I can be a tiny bit overzealous when I meet a new person. You, for example." He replies calmly, taking a seat on the floor. I think back to when I first met him, which was only a couple of hours ago.

"You put a gun to the back of my head." I answer blandly, crossing my arms. He says nothing for a few seconds before speaking up.

"You broke into my house, it was fair play." He said, and he copied my stance, but he donned a smirk. "Well. That and you're the first person to appear in my house who: one, I don't know who they are; and two, weren't invited by me when I went to sell what I managed to hunt at one of the nearby villages." He ended, his face still holding a small smirk.

"I'm just gonna get some sleep. G'night." I say, laying down on the bed. I hear him chuckle, and then a few minutes later, snore. It only takes me a couple more minutes to fall into a deep sleep myself.

Character POV: PHANTOM

When I awoke, I saw a hastily written note lying by the doorway. Rubbing my eyes from tiredness, I twist myself to get out of bed, and stretch my legs as I do so. Striding over to the note, I pick it up, scanning the lines of writing. For a note, there was a lot of writing. I rubbed my eyes once more, and could now read what was written on the note.​

To Ep:
I have two regular hunting times, one from the summer sunrise of 7:00 AM for an average of three and a half hours, and a mid-afternoon hunt, which I caught you on as I returned, from 2:30 PM for an average of two hours. So expect me back at 10:30 AM, latest 11:00 AM.
-Ethan-

I nodded to myself as I read his hand-scrawled note, taking in the information. But, after finishing reading said note, realisation dawns on me. I don't have anything to check the time. I don't have a watch as I've never needed one, I've been running. I guess, I've never had the time to check the time. I hear myself snort unconsciously from the irony of the sentence I had just said in my head. Because of this, I decide to take a quick look around the house, checking out the wooden building. It wasn't exactly large. Well, it was easily the largest house I've ever stayed in, even for only one night, as it's the first I've stayed in. Unless you count a cell as a home, then it's the second. It didn't take long for me to have fully explored the house, and the fact it only had the ground floor meant I didn't have to climb stairs. Stairs are pretty much the bane of my existence, as they're an abomination to climb, which doesn't help for a child on the run, and if you trip on them, you're pretty much fucked. But my train of thought crashes to a halt when I notice a clock hanging on the wall in front of me.

"Ah good." I say to myself, walking over to it. I peer at the clock, and find myself completely unable to understand what it says. "Uh... How do you do this?" I mutter to myself, pulling away from the clock slightly. "Why is one of the... One of the... Sticks... Branches... Arms? Longer than the other?" I say, and I find myself feeling utterly defeated by the fact I don't even know how to use a clock. "What does it mean?" I say and I place my hands on the wooden table. "And how did I not notice it when I came in here yesterday?" I ask myself confusedly, pulling out one of the chairs and sitting on it. "The... Arms, are on a nine and an eleven? So that means... I don't know." I say throwing my hands in the air, giving up.

Character POV: PHANTOM

After what has seemed like hours, I hear the door of the house creak open. I breathe a sigh of relief as I listen to it creak closed again.

"Hello!" I hear Ethan call from the entrance, and I shoot to the door. I start to smile as I turn the corner to greet him, but my face falls when I see his left hand wrapped in some cloth, which was staining red near the centre. He smiles grimly at me as I dash over to him, looking over his hand with dismay, and I almost thought I hear a small chuckle come from him as I do so.

"What happened?" I ask him, and even I can hear the worry in my voice. He smiles slightly at me again, and he walks into the dining room. "What happened?" I question him again as he sits down.

"It was just a stag, nothing major." He says, chuckling. "I'll be fine, there's really no need for the worry. This has happened to me many times before, I can handle the pain." He tells me, but the grimace he has as I pull of the bandage tells me otherwise.

"I'm not so sure about that 'handling the pain' part." I reply, and throw the old bandages into his semi-filled bin. "Where do you keep the spares?" I ask him, and he points to his backpack on the table. I then open it, pull out the spare bandages and re-wrap his left hand.

"You know, you didn't have to do that, those bandages could have lasted at least five more hours before needing to be changed." He jokes as I finish wrapping the hand, a small smirk had now replaced the grimace. I just glare at him, but I can feel the smile creeping it's way onto my face too.

"I was only trying to be kind." I reply, huffing, crossing my arms and turning away with mock anger. I hear Ethan burst into laughter at that, and I turn around, now with a huge grin on my face. I feel myself begin to join in with his laughter, and it takes us a good thirty seconds to stop.

"Come on, let's get this meat cooking, we can talk over lunch." He tells me, standing up and pushing his chair under the table. "And you just need to try fire-grilled venison." He says, and awaiting smile on his face. "Because my God, it's good." He finishes, and hurriedly heads towards the kitchen.

Character POV: PHANTOM

Ethan told me that it usually takes him around half of an hour to cook the venison, but with one hand it could take him longer. In the end, it took him about forty minutes, not much longer than he said he could with both of his hands, but I just put that down to him being modest. When he came into the dining room with plastic plates, which they alone surprised me, and the plates were covered in strips of venison, thinly sliced and placed neatly on the plates.

"Do you always expect company, because it looks like you've practised this." I comments after swallowing a mouthful of venison. Ethan laughs, then shrugs.

"I don't know. Guess I was always about how it looks. I mean, you've gotta eat, you don't want it to look disgusting do you?" He replies, ending with a large piece of venison. We eat for almost thirty minutes, chatting the whole way through, having a laugh. When we finish, Ethan takes the plates to, as he said it, throw in the sink for later. When he returns from the kitchen, he's looking over his hand, a small grimace back on his face. But he instantly notices my worried look, and he smiles at me.

"It's fine, I guess I just aggravated the wound by moving it, but it's nothing major." He informs be convincingly, and I just nod with agreement.

"Yeah," I say, still nodding my head slightly. "You're right, you don't need any more help." I reply, and he punches my shoulder lightly. I see him open his mouth to speak, but he's almost instantly cut off by a loud 'rap rap rap' on the door. I can see the creases in his brow from his confusion.

"Another unexpected visitor, what're the odds?" I hear him mutter to himself as he headed to the door. I could feel my instincts screaming at me, going 'They found you! Phoenix found you and there's no escape!' If they were other physical people, I would've have punched them. God I wish I could shut them up, but they can be very helpful. I can hear Ethan's voice starting to rise as he is seemingly getting angrier with the person, or people, who are at the door.

"You're not coming in 'til you tell me who you are!" I hear him shout from the house's entrance, but I can't hear any response from the distance, so I head over to the door. When I get there I see...

"I hate you instincts... I really, really do." I mutter to myself as I see two Phoenix guards at the door, their weapons appeared to be only a small side-arm. I haven't even been here one whole day, and they've already found me. "The crafty bastards." I mutter quietly, watching them from around the hallway corner.

"We want to ask if you've seen a teenage girl, approximately five foot seven, with chocolate brown hair and hazel eyes." They ask him, and, to my delight, he shakes his head.

"I've not seen anyone else in this forest for at least three years." He says, an I realize that he has just said how long he had lived alone, he hadn't even told me that information.

"Well, tell us if you see anything." They say before heading off, and Ethan slams the door shut, hiding the two Phoenix members.

"You know them?" He asks, and I poke my head out, revealing myself.

"Uh... Yeah." I reply nervously, and he looks at me.

"And they're the guys you're running from?" He questions me, and I nod. "And I guess they're not the only ones?" He says, and I nod again. Ethan sighs, and walks away, and I can't help but feel that they're not done with Ethan yet.

6: Chapter V: Village Visit

Phantom:

Chapter IV Recap:

"You broke into my house, it was fair play."

His left hand wrapped in some cloth.

"Another unexpected visitor, what're the odds?"

Character POV: PHANTOM

I watch Ethan as he walks away from me, and I can't keep the grim thought out of my head that they would come back. They're persistent, and him denying it didn't help that either. I still haven't told Ethan the full truth, and I know that I should of, but I won't. I'm too scared that he'll send me away, that after finding a home, I'll lose it. Which I probably will, now that they've found me. Being as persistent as they are, they'll probably break in next time. They don't care about laws, if they even count out here in the woods, that is.

"Hey Ep!" I hear Ethan call for me, and I look up from the floor. "Are you coming to the village, I'm going to sell some of the things I gathered there." He tells me. A small smile on my face, I call back to him.

"Yeah. Sure thing." I reply, and I feel myself grin. He walks back over to me, and towards the door.

"Come on then." He says, pushing me forwards towards the door slightly. "Let's go." I open the door, and the sunlight pours through once again.

Character POV: PHANTOM

When we reach the village, I see that it is just a small amount of brick houses clumped together in an even smaller area, many of them connected to others with poorly built hallways. It's probably just due to it being around midday, but the town centre was bustling with life and activity as the villagers rushed around, several stalls set up that were either selling and buying items, or maybe both. I see Ethan relax, walking through as if he had lived there, not just visited everyday, or an amount close to that. The sky at this time of day was a bright, brilliant blue with almost no clouds. The shadows had disappeared as the sun was directly over head, swathing us in heat.

"Hey Ep, you OK?" Ethan asks me, and I snap out of my daze and nod.

"Yeah. Yep, I'm just fine. I'm just admiring the sights of the place." I tell him, and he nods with understanding. Well, it was probably nice-looking compared to other, I was more enjoying the fact of being able to walk through a village. Rather than running through the wilderness while being chased by Phoenix.

"Yeah, it is a really nice looking village isn't it." He says, a small smile now on his face, a friendly and at-home smile.

"Nicest looking one that I've ever seen." I reply, and I remember that it's the only one that I've seen.

"It's the nicest one in the area, that's why I come here often." He tells me, and I nod with a smile.

"I can see that." I say, and we stop at one of the stalls. The stall's owner places something underneath the stall. He's a small man, with fairly tanned skin and a thin, black moustache. He, and everyone else around here, seemed to have dark brown, very nearly black hair.

"Ethan, my friend! What can I do for you today, I assume you've got some of that venison, huh?" He greets Ethan, speaking in accent I don't recognize. I guess it's the native accent. he then turns to look at me. "And who's this, she is not from around here. Her skin, too fair. Her hair, too light." He speaks, looking over me. Ethan extends his arm and pushes me back slightly.

"Look, I know there's that kind of trade around, but that's not what she's here for." He replies, and I look at him with a brow raised.

"Well, then let me introduce myself. Fernando Macellaio, dealer of the finest venison in town. Supplied by good ol' Ethan here." He tells me, bowing.

"Ep." I reply bluntly, telling another person my 'name'. He now looks at me with a odd look. Noticing this, Ethan takes the professionally wrapped venison and places it on the table.

"Your venison, Fernando." He says, and Macellaio looks over to him and smiles thankfully, placing the venison under the stall.

"Thank you, my dear boy. If it weren't for you, I would've gone out of business long ago." He says, his smile not wavering. "Normal price, I assume?" He asks, and receives a nod from Ethan. "Good, good." He says, handing over a small pouch. Ethan takes the pouch and puts it into the backpack. He nods over his shoulder, and points to another stall.

"We're going there next." Ethan tells me, and I nod quickly.

"Ciao Ethan!" Macellaio calls as we head over to the other stall.

"He was... Strange." I say, and Ethan chuckles, and points to the other stall again.

"If you think that. Wait 'til you meet him." He says, and I see the next stall manned by a dark-skinned man. We reach the stall, and I see that on the table is a large bowl, presumably a mortar due to the pestle lying on it's side.

"Ngikhonzeleni umngane wami. Ngithemba nenza kahle namuhla?" The man says in a strange language, and Ethan smiles.
"Greetings my friend. I hope you are doing well today?"

"Yebo, ngiyabonga Siphokazi." Ethan replies, speaking the other language as if he had spoken it his entire life. I look at Ethan in confusion as he speaks the strange dialect.
"Yes, thank you Siphokazi."

"Okuhle. Ingabe unayo ngemisila inyamazane?" The man says, and Ethan nods. I give up trying to question what he is saying, and let him get on with it.
"Good. Do you have the deer tails?"

"Yebo, mina ukukwenza Siphokazi" Ethan answers, and the man, who I had worked out to be called Siphokazi, smiled.
"Yes, I do Siphokazi."

"Okuhle, okuhle." Siphokazi replied, the smile not fading. Ethan pulls out two light orange tails, and the one he had shown me yesterday, bright red.
"Good, good."

"Kungakanani lezi?" Ethan asks him about the tails, and Siphokazi creases his brow.
"How much for these?"

"Isiyonke? Tukids amabili egolide, tukids eziyisikhombisa esiliva, namakhora angamashumi amabili nanye tukids bronze." The tells us, and Ethan grins.
"In total? Two gold tukids, seven silver tukids, and twenty-one bronze tukids."

"OK. Just about ready." He mutters to himself, and hands over the deer tails, and Siphokazi gives him another pouch. Ethan puts that in the back pack, and then nods at me to tell me we can go. We head away, and the Siphokazi waves us goodbye. Even though it had only been at most half an hour, it felt like it had been two hours.

"Good. I'm getting a little bored." I say to him as we walk away from the stall. Ethan smiles slightly.

"Bored huh? Well, come on then!" He says, and begins to run off, and I hear his laugh being carried by the wind. I grin to myself, and I dash after him.

Character POV: PHANTOM

We follow a path back into the forest, and it twists and turns around the trees as if it were made when someone was dancing. Ethan maneuvered it perfectly, jogging along it with ease whilst he avoided the trees that seemed to have grown after the path was made. I, however, nearly stopped because of a tree at least fifty times, my either of arms would hit one of the trees' thin trunks every time we took a corner or a slight turn to avoid a tree that was in the way. The trees around the path all seemed to be one species, which is probably why it was made there, as the trunks were extremely thin and easy to walk past. All of a sudden, I see the edge of the forest. We must be going the wrong way, wasn't he meant to be taking back to the house? Ethan doesn't stop, or turn around, he heads on out of the forest. I follow him, and see him standing still on the edge of a cliff.

"Huh?" I say, and Ethan turns around to look at me. He grins and sits down on the grass, patting the ground next to him. I can see that this is and indication to sit down, and I do. I reach him, and see that we're on a overhand, overlooking at least a dozen waterfalls, which then go into a lake. I feel my mouth drop, and I'm lost for words at the sight. "Wow." Is all I can muster as I look at the beautiful sight before me.

"This was a common picnic spot that we had both before and after my father... Well, you know." He says, a small smile on his face as he stares at large, seemingly bottomless, deep blue lake.

"Why are you telling me this?" I say, causing Ethan to look back at me.

"What?" He says in reply, confused as to what I was trying to ask.

"Everything." I say, laying back onto the grass, speaking in a noticeably exasperated tone. "You tell me about your family, and your life. You tell me everything. Why? We've not known each other for one day, so why?" I ask him, and I hear him sigh as he lays back next to me.

"I tell you... I tell you because we share experiences. We both lost people we loved, we've both been on our own for years. Three years, to be precise." He replies sadly, and it makes me feel as if I shouldn't have touched on the sensitive subject again.

"But that's just it!" I shout at him, and I know that I'm getting angry with him for no good reason. "That's all you know about me!" I exclaim, now standing up. Ethan looks at me strangely, with a raised eyebrow.

"What do you mean, Ep?" He asks, and I feel as if I'm about to explode.

"That!" I say, pointing at him. "That's exactly what I mean." This causes Ethan to give me another, even stranger look.

"I don't understand, Ep." He says, and now I do explode.

"Because you wouldn't be able to! A boy who lived in a forest all his life. You won't understand!" I scream at him, and I feel tears welling up in my eyes.

"The let me unde-" He starts to speak, but I cut him off.

"No! Don't give me that 'Let me understand' crap! I don't want any of that! I don't want any!" I say, and I feel a tear drop off of my cheek, and another. Tears I didn't even realise that I had let out.

"Then tell me!" He shouts in response, his calm demeanor now gone. "Tell me Ep." He says, still using my 'name'. I feel myself calming down, or it was just the fact I was now starting to lose my voice from all of the shouting I had done.

"Don't call me that." I say quietly, staring at the ground.

"But Ep?" He says, and I look up at him.

"That's not my name." I say louder, and let more tears flow down my face now. "I don't even know my name." I mumble, but Ethan obviously didn't hear that last part.

"Then what is your name?" He asks me, and I shake my head.

"I... I-I don't know." I whimper, sitting down on the floor and curling into a ball. I feel him place a comforting hand on my shoulder, which causes me to look up at him sadly. "You can't know me. I barely know me myself." I whisper to him, my throat now raw from shouting at him.

"That's a lie." He tells me, and look up at him confusedly. "No one can know you better than yourself." He says, and I shake my head at him.

"No. What you said is a lie. They know me better than I do." I say, but I can see he doesn't understand what I said.

"They? Who's they?" He says, and I laugh hoarsely, now wishing I hadn't shouted at him. As now I can barely speak, and I have to tell him the true story.

"I lied, you know." I say quietly, preserving what seems to be little voice I have left before I pass out from throat pain. "I lied about myself. I don't come from an orphanage. My best friend wasn't readopted. I come from a lab somewhere in pretty much the middle of nowhere." I say, ending with a cough. He shakes his head and lifts me to my feet.

"Come on, let's get back to the house. We'll talk about this in the morning." He tells me, and I nod.

Character POV: PHANTOM

It doesn't take us long to reach Ethan's house, and I instantly go to the bedroom, throwing myself onto the bed. Ethan followed me a few minutes later, with a small bowl full of soup.

"This should help to ease your throat." He told me, handing me taking a spoon out and handing it to me.

"Thanks." I manage to say before my throat goes dry, and I end up coughing and spluttering before I have even taken a sip of the soup. I swallow a mouthful of the soup within a few spoons before I speak up. "What's the time?" I ask him, and he dashes down the hallway.

"Around a quarter to seven." He tells me, and I feel my eyes widen with shock.

"That late?" I question, and he nods.

"You'd be surprised how fast time flies when you're only concentrating on a path going through the forest. It is an hours worth walk to the village, as we left at 11:30, and got there at least 12:20, and spent around half an hour. And then it is a five hour walk to the cliff from the village, but we jogged. So it probably took at least three hours. And then it's another three hour jog back to the house. That leaves us at 6:50, so I was around five minutes off." He tells me, and I let out a quiet chuckle.

"I didn't need to know all the little details, Ethan. I only needed to know the time." I reply, and he grins at me.

"Be quiet you. You're without a voice at the moment." He says, the grin now spreading to me to. I go to speak up, but he stops me. "Just eat the soup and then sleep." He tells me, and I nod in consent. "We'll talk in the morning, OK E-" He stops before finishing the sentence. "We'll talk in the morning, OK." He finishes, without what he had been going to say before, which I assume was my name. He stays until I finish my soup, and when I hand to bowl and spoon back to him, he takes it out, leaving me to sleep.

(Start Dream)

Character POV: PHANTOM

I'm already standing up in this dream. And I don't recognise where I am. It looks like a Phoenix lab, but it seems to... Empty. The room I'm in doesn't have any equipment to suggest it's a testing room, nor a bed to show it's cell. It's also a open room, no tables or chairs. Just a large open room, with a large sign labeled 'Zeta Laboratory'. That confuses me, I've never been to a place called Zeta Lab. But, before I could get my head around it, the scene changed. I was now inside a large, brick house. It certainly wasn't one of the village house, it was much too large. I hear a small, childish laugh, and someone says.

"Again, again." A girl's voice says joyfully, and I hear another laugh, a little deeper, but still childlike. Then another voice speaks out of the blue, probably replying to the other.

"OK, but not much more." A boy, probably just as old or a little older than the girl, says with a light chuckle. I hear a fit of giggles before the scene changes once again. I'm now in a field that looks as if it goes on forever. The lush green grass that covered the ground didn't fail to hide any mud from view, and there is no sight of trees anywhere across the horizon.

"You know?" I hear a voice say from my right, and I turn to see a ginger boy, with bright blue eyes looking back at me. "I've always wondered why this happened. And to this day I don't know." He says, and I look at him with curiosity. "I've met many other people, but only like this. Not ever actually met them, but I've talked to them." He tells me, but I just give him a confused look. "What's your designation?" He asks me, and I my eyes widen from shock at his question.

"W-What?" I hear myself utter for the first time in the dream, and the boy laughs for a brief moment.

"Don't do that. You know exactly what I mean." He replies, and small, sad smile on his face.

"Uh... Epsilon Sigma." I tell him, and he nods slowly.

"I'm Zeta Alpha." He says, and then the world fades to black around me, leaving me with only an image of him implanted into my thoughts.

(End Dream)

Character POV: PHANTOM

I sit up instantly as I awake, and look to my right, only to see no one. I sigh, and get out of bed, and see the sunlight pouring through the window and onto the floor. I walk over to Ethan, who's sleeping soundly on the floor and nudge his side.

"Wake up, you sleepy arse." I say as I start to nudge him, hard, with my foot. I pretty much kicked him, jolting him awake.

"Hey! Stop!" He says, jumping away from me, and I burst out laughing. "Come on, let's get some breakfast before I go hunting." He huffs before leaving the room, and leaving me clutching my stomach as I laugh.

7: Chapter VI: Absconding

Phantom:

Chapter V Recap:

"Why are you telling me this?"

"That's all you know about me!"

"I don't even know my name."

"We'll talk about this in the morning."

Character POV: PHANTOM

I walked out of the room, a smile on my face as I did so. When Ethan saw me enter the dining room, he both smiled and scowled at me. I just laugh at this reaction and take a seat.

"I'll get breakfast E-." He stops again, and I know why.

"Ethan." I say, looking down at my feet. "Don't take what I said yesterday to heart. Please, just call me Ep." I tell him, and I see him smile.

"Of course, Ep." He says before heading into the kitchen. I let my thoughts wander as I wait for Ethan to return from the kitchen, carrying the venison freshly prepared on the plates.

"Ethan Sharpe, open up!" I hear a deep voice call from the door, and my eyes widen. 'Get Ethan and run. Get out of here, now' My instincts told me, and I ran into the kitchen. I see Ethan and open my mouth to speak, but he stops me.

"Ep?" He asks me confusedly, but I shake my head.

"No time." I say, grabbing his arm and dragging him away. "We've gotta move. Right now." I tell him, and he gives me a confused look.

"Why? What's wrong?" He asks, and I stare at him wide-eyed.

"Did you not hear them?" I reply, and he shakes him head. "They're here, Ethan." I tell him, and he looks me in the eyes, and then he nods.

"OK." He says, and saddened smile on his face. "Yes, I guess we better go. There's a back entrance this way." He tells me, running ahead and then straight out of a door. When he leaves, I take off into a full-blown sprint, running away from his house as fast as I could. I look over my shoulder, and see Ethan not far behind me, slowly but surely catching me up. I look back ahead of me, only to see a puff of dust come out of a tree trunk.

"Man, don't they have the best aiming." I mutter to myself sarcastically, not slowly down. I see Ethan next to me now, and he looks at me.

"These aren't your normal orphanage guys!" He shouts across to me, and I shake my head.

"Nope!" I answer, as I hear a bullet whistle past my ear. "No, they're not!" I exclaim, ducking slightly from the shot. I notice very little of the trees blurring past me, and whenever I slightly hit one, the adrenaline kept me going without the slightest hint of pain.

"Who are they then?" He calls out to me, and I sigh quietly before speaking up.

"I don't think you would know them!" I say, and I see him do something similar to a shrug.

"I don't think I'd care if I knew them. I just want to know who's chasing me!" He replies, and can deliver no argument to that. The bullets that had been either able to see or hear had started become less and less frequent, so I started to calm down slightly. I jump over a fallen log and see Ethan do the same before answering him.

"They're a group called Phoenix Industries, and I escaped one of their labs when I was fourteen." I tell him, looking over my shoulder, and I could no longer see the Phoenix soldiers. "They've been dabbling in genetics for years with a serum they call Cobanis." I say, now down to a slow jog. Ethan walks over next to me, and stops me by placing a hand on my shoulder.

"Ep." He says, one of his signature grim smiles on his face. "When you told me who you were, you lied. Why?" He asks, and I sigh before responding.

"I... I lied because I didn't trust you. I guess I was following the 'Don't trust someone you just met' rule." I reply, and a saddened look appeared on his face.

"OK. Continue." He says, and we walk on. I look around at the trees, their lush green leaves and pale whitish-grey, thin trunks looking unnaturally at me as if they were actually sentient.

"Uh... Oh, they were using Cobanis. But last time I saw it, it just made the victim go insane. But I wouldn't think that it still does, they've most likely improved on it." I disclosed to him, and I saw him scrunch his brow with thought.

"So, where are we going now?" He asks me, and I grin to myself.

"We're going to the city of Northbeach." I say positively, a large smile on my face.

Character POV: PHANTOM

It was a surprisingly short journey to get to the city, which was bustling with the early-morning vibe. I didn't like to go to cities too often, as then they could try to figure out where I would go next. But I haven't been to one recently, and I've been missing noise you hear in them.

"You know. I haven't been to a city in a long time." Ethan says, looking around the place. I smile at his reaction.

"Neither have I." I reply, looking around the cityscape. It had towering skyscrapers and large roads with many cars driving slowly down them. "Wow, this place is amazing." I mutter to myself, and wide grin spread across my face. "Let's go find the city square!" I exclaim, running ahead. I barely hear Ethan say something that wasn't even understandable before he ran to catch up with me.

"Have you come here before?" He asks me, and I shake my head vigorously in response.

"No." I say excitedly, my grin not faltering. "But there's a first time for everything." I declare happily, almost running along the path whilst I admired the sights. Ethan sighs behind, placing a hand on my shoulder, slowing me down.

"Calm down, would you." He advises me, and I take a long, deep breath.

"OK. I'm calm." I say, standing tall beside him. He smiles and chuckles to himself quietly. Ethan then pulls a small, worn piece of paper out of his pocket, looking at it intently.

"Hey. Now that we're here, could we go look for my sister?" He asks me nervously, and I look at him with curiosity.

Character POV: PHANTOM

We walked past many people while we looked for where his sister, Evalee, lived. While we passed a small group of people, I overheard an interesting conversation.

"Hey man. You heard about that Phantom chick?" I heard them ask, which caused the small crowd to murmur.

"Yeah. I heard she goes through the walls and shit." Another said, and I had to conceal a snort of laughter.

"Nah man, that's complete bull. There ain't no way she can go through walls." The first replied, and I very nearly laughed at them. Ethan looked at me in confusion, but I didn't speak up.

"You OK?" He asks me, and I nod slightly. I jerk my head at them, and his eyes widen in understanding. "Oh. Oh, their talking about... OK." He says, and his brain processing the information. I listen to them again.

"Apparently she's some sort of escaped prisoner, or something." A third, new voice tells. But I don't here anything else that they have to say as they turn a corner, down into an alley way.

"So." Ethan says awkwardly, looking at them as they disappear. "They were talking about you?" He questions me, and I nod. I see his eyes widen when he looks at me. "Can you really go through walls?" He inquires, and I burst into a short fit laughter.

"No. Of course not." I laugh at the nonsensical comment, and he chuckles.

"Well, just going by what I've heard." He replies, but he stops moving suddenly. "OK." He says, looking at a house in front of him. "We're here." He informs me, and I look at the three-story tall building.