Feel Like a Monster {Kim x Joan}

[Rae]

CHARACTERS

• Name: Marie Vance Corrin
• Age: 26

• Gender: Female

• Appearance: She has long and dark (basically black) hair and grey, almost silver, eyes (that pierce into your soul, hehe). Her eyes used to be brown, but the experiments have since changed their color. She stands at about 5'6" with a lean, slightly muscled build. She has a rather young face for her age, giving off the appearance of being much younger than she really is. If given the choice, she would wear practical t-shirts, a windbreaker or a hoodie, jeans, and good running shoes/tactical boots. So, basically, survival clothing 101. xD

• Personality: She's quiet or loud-mouthed depending on her mood and who she's with. She has a keen sense of her surroundings and is quicker to notice the finer details before others. Generally, Marie avoids showing any sort of emotion and hasn't cried since she was about 12. When angry, she is less inclined to "explode" and more inclined to glower and plot the best way to end your life. She doesn't trust anyone and only follows Alexander because two is better than one, for now. She is self-preserving above all else and would leave her companion behind without a second thought if need be (at least, that's what she tells herself).

• Ability: She can control electricity and is only limited by whether the electricity is present. If she were in the middle of nowhere, all she would need is the electric current from a storm--though this is much more difficult to control and use effectively. Her ability in previous years has been rather hinged on emotion, but she has since gained considerable control over it. In fact, they were about ready to sell her off as the "completed and tested product." Unknown to herself and the scientists, she also has a minor healing ability that works slowly and is rather limited. It cannot heal major injuries, such as a stab or bullet to the heart, but it could dispose of life-threatening disease or (in the most recent case) recover from a heart attack if combined with defibrillation.

• Philosophy: "My only priority is my own survival; there's not room for anything else."

• Fears: Scalpels, needles, hospitals/labs, Aztec Corp, her abilities, dying, getting re-captured, etc etc.

• Biography: She remembers nothing of her brief former life. Born to a woman on death row, Aztec Corp swooped in before DHS could get a hold of her, and no one truly cared. Aztec was not to be trifled with, and they had their hands in the pockets of the US government anyways. As an infant, they started the tests immediately, but she wouldn't develop her ability until she was about ten years old. Shortly after development, her brown eyes turned silver, and they relished in such an obvious biological change. They did their tests, forced her to undergo military-like training to learn both control and precision, and tried to make her even better. After years and years, she had just one last test before being sold to the highest bidder. The test was meant to be harmless; it would raise her blood pressure and heart rate, they would record their findings, and she'd be ready for packing and shipping--so to speak. Things didn't go as planned, and she ended up having a heart attack. They did everything they could, but it seemed her own ability prevented any attempts at resuscitation. Declared dead, they zipped her up in a bag and prepared her body for cremation. Several hours later, she woke up gasping and disoriented, barely managing to take out the lone scientist in the room. She was more than surprised to meet up with her cellmate as she ran through the halls, and they managed to escape together. Since then, her main priority has been to stay free and stay alive, and Alexander just happens to be along for the ride.

• Name: Alexander Darnell

• Age: 27

• Gender: Male

• Appearance: He's around 5'11" with a tall, muscular build, tanned skin, short, spiky black hair, and very dark brown, almost black eyes. If he had his choice of clothing, he would dress in tank tops or t-shirts, loose hoodies, jeans, and the best running shoes or boots he can find with his limited resources.

• Personality: Rash, reckless, slightly overprotective. He is dedicated to preserving his own life and the lives of the very, very few people he cares about, though he still doesn't know what would happen if he had to choose between his own life and somebody he cared about. At this point, if we're completely honest, he would probably preserve his own life. He is impulsive and quick to make decisions. He is hot-tempered, but when he really gets angry, he gets quiet and cold and honestly kind of scary.

• Ability: Resistance to drugs, the ability to manipulate vibrations and cause quakes. He can lose control fairly easily when triggered by strong emotion.

• Philosophy: I take care of me and my own, and all else is secondary.

• Fears: The lab people, suffocation, mild claustrophobia, his abilities, people with guns and other weapons, being left for dead by someone he trusts...the list goes on.

• Biography: He was born to a woman convicted of murder and raised in the lab. His ability didn't really develop until he was about fifteen, which was fortunate for him because Aztec Corp was about ready to write him off as a failure. He was still sort of a slow learner, though. Before he had Marie as a cellmate, his cellmate was a motherly young woman with pyrokinetic abilities. She was sold off to the British government, however, and as a result, he was very hesitant to get close to Marie at all. Nevertheless, he was beginning to form a friendship with her around the time of the escape. He knew that the scientists were whispering about his slow progress and was scared for his life. When he woke up in the middle of an experiment designed to increase his control, he knew he had to get out. He took out one scientist and the other ran for the phone. As he was trying to find a way out of the building, he had a gun pointed at his chest, and he realized for the first time the lengths the company was willing to go to to keep him. He was able to take out the gunman, his powers doing exactly what he wanted for the first time in a while. He was nearly at the exit when he spotted Marie and grabbed her hand instinctively. Now that he and Marie are out, he's focused on finding a way for them both to stay safe and alive, and to keep his abilities under control. Crossing the company is the last thing on his mind at this point.

SETTING
They have just escaped from their hellish prison and are desperately trying to put as much distance between themselves and the lab that had held them captive for so long. With no resources except for their abilities and the clothes on their backs, it will be a long and hard trek indeed.​

 

[Rae]

Marie's lungs ached as her feet pounded on pine leaves and dead branches. She had been running for what felt like an eternity, her hand squeezed tight in Alexander's. They had been like that the whole time, too wrapped up in their efforts to escape to really notice. Besides, they kept up with each other well enough. Finally noticing, however, she let go of his hand and kept running, arms pumping at her sides. The sun had been halfpast its highest point when they'd escaped; now it was setting. Vibrant oranges, reds, and pinks shone out at them. She might have stopped to admire it were her life not in danger. Not that she'd ever learned to appreciate beauty; all she could ever remember were those litholeum tiles and the smell of iron and bleach.

She kept running, her bare feet already sore with blisters and cuts from the pine needles. She didn't know what was worse; her lungs or her feet. It wasn't until she finally tripped and fell to the ground that her body caved to its exhaustion. She couldn't do it anymore; the effects of adrenaline had long since worn off. Her entire body burned from the exertion, and she silently wondered if she had escaped just to run herself to actual death. She shook her head, her mind still racing at the fact that she was alive. She remembered her heart beating so fast it hurt. She had felt it everywhere, down to her toes. And then it stopped...no, she stopped. Everything stopped for her in that moment, and there was just a brief moment in time--faster than a blink of an eye--that she knew she was about to die. And then she was dead.

Yet here she was, alive and gasping for air as she crawled over to a tree trunk. She glanced at her companion, her fellow escapee, who had stopped with her. Every instinct told her to leave him behind, that she couldn't afford to worry about anyone but herself. But where would she go? Where would either of them go? Aztec was everywhere; you didn't have to live in the outside world to know that much. She looked at him, knowing that her hair was wild and her face blotchy. Like she cared, anyways.

"What do we do now?" she asked, as if Alex would know the answer. Like hell he knew. Like hell either of them knew. She had always thought about escaping that damn lab and now here she was, all convoluted plans out the window--so to speak. She didn't even know where she was. She knew they were somewhere in America; she had managed to find out that much after twenty-six years. Everything else was a mystery. If they could find out where they were, however, then they could figure out where to go. I guess that's one thing to be thankful to those scientists for, she thought. They at least taught us a thing or two about geography.

 

[Joan]

Alexander had honestly been about to collapse when Marie fell over. He slowed to a halt, gasping for breath and dropping to his knees. He clutched a stitch in his left side as he sucked in deeply, trying to regain his breath. He still wasn't sure how they had managed to get so far, but he guessed that the efforts of Aztec to keep their subjects fit and well-trained probably had something to do with it.

As he breathed in, he felt his mind flashing back to when his eyes had opened and he had seen the scientists standing over him with needles full of liquid. One of them had been saying something about his lack of control when he woke up and added that "If this doesn't work, we're going to have to write it off as a loss." Of course he had panicked and fought his way loose: what else could he have done? Waited for them to fail? He remembered that one of them had jabbed his shoulder with a needle as he fought his way loose, and he realized numbly that what had to be some kind of knockout drug had had no effect at all. That or it had been one of the drugs they planned to use to increase his control, but why would anybody use that on somebody trying to escape?

He heard Marie's question as if from a long distance away and looked up, taking slow, deep breaths. He considered the question, turning it over in his mind. "What do we do now?" he echoed, thoughtfully, still slightly out of breath. "Well, we obviously can't run any more right now." He frowned slightly, his eyebrows drawing together as he realized that he had no clue how much distance they had put between themselves and the lab. He couldn't even remember how long they had run for. He glanced around them and realized for the first time that the sun was setting. His eyes widened in shock when he realized the implications that held about how long they had run.

"How did we manage that?" he murmured as he looked in the direction of the setting sun. Then he remembered the matter at hand. "I say we hide and rest up for a few hours or so. We can't run any further without some rest, but once we're rested up we should get moving again. It'll hopefully be easier to stay hidden after dark, and the sooner we get out of these woods, the sooner we'll be able to figure out where to go next. Not to mention the fact that we need to get as far away as possible anyway."

 

[Rae]

Marie nodded, moving slowly towards an outcropping of a tree, using it to prop herself up into a sitting position. She didn't want to look at the state of her feet, but she knew there were needles and God-knows-what else stabbing its way through her skin. She worked quickly with the dying light, biting her lip as she pulled out one thorn after another. They looked better than she had hoped despite the bloody scratches--whether that was a good or bad sign, she wasn't sure. In the very least, there were no early signs of infection. Ripping off a swatch of cloth from her baggy and stained t-shirt, she bound the soles of her feet quickly.

She glanced at Alex, her eyes fixing on the slightest of red on his left side. "You're bleeding," she remarked bluntly, though she couldn't see a tear in his shirt. As she said the words, the last of the light seemed to disappear behind the horizon, leaving them with nothing but a crescent moon and stars. It was more than enough, but the chill surrounding them was too obvious to ignore. Building a fire, however, would be far too risky. She shivered as the wind picked up, cursing her own weakness. Why couldn't she be a cyro? They were never bothered by the cold.

Sighing, Marie curled up as best she could, using the tree as a shield from the wind. It worked...somewhat. Despite it, exhaustion won out within minutes, and she found herself deep in the sweet bliss of sleep. Without truly meaning to, she had failed to ask who would have first watch.

 

[Joan]

Alex followed Marie's lead, finding a tree to sit with his back to while removing the various pointy things that had become lodged in the soles of his feet while they were running. As he worked, he was momentarily surprised by the amount of things that had found their way into his feet or decided to otherwise cling to them. Then he realized that he had had barely any chance to build calluses on his feet during his time at the lab, and then it made a bit more sense. At least it all came out relatively easily and didn't seem to have caused any serious damage. Once he was done, he considered his feet for a moment before noticing what Marie was doing with part of her shirt. That's not a bad idea, he thought to himself as he followed suit.

When she mentioned that he was bleeding, he glanced quickly at the area she was pointing at. "Ah, shit," he murmured to himself, his hand quickly going to the area. It didn't seem too bad, but before he could inspect it more thoroughly, the sun vanished behind the horizon and left them in near darkness. The cold came with the darkness, causing him to swear again under his breath and begin rubbing his arms furiously to generate warmth. Guess we have to tough it out until we're both a bit more rested...Well, I don't think it's cold enough to do more than annoy us, but what do I know? I've never really been outside the lab before, what do I know about what level of cold is or isn't dangerous?

As he mused to himself like this, he noticed Marie seemed to be asleep. So, she had left first watch to him. How does she sleep in this cold? he thought somewhat crossly to himself while he adjusted his position slightly and pulled his knees up to his chest. Good for her, I guess. She gets to rest. Hopefully she won't be out long.

Staying awake proved to be a battle after all, and he often had to shift his position slightly when he got a little too comfortable. As he struggled to stay awake, thoughts began to fill his head that discouraged him. Why the hell am I on first watch? She's the one who can actually control her abilities, and she's the one that actually thinks of stuff like bandaging her injured feet. I'm just a dumbass who can barely stay awake as it is, so why am I... The cycle continued in that same vein for a long while, until he heard something.

It wasn't much, just a branch cracking, but it caused his half-closed eyes to open wide. He stayed where he was, barely moving a muscle. He had just enough sense not to move in case somebody was watching him. He stayed that way for at least a full minute before relaxing again. The noises of the night were going on the way they had been before. That branch had just startled him was all. However, he had been on the edge of falling asleep when the noise had startled him, so...With a sigh, he crept over to Marie and gently shook her shoulder.

"Your turn to be on watch," he whispered as softly as he could once she was awake.

 

[Rae]

Marie's body jolted slightly as she awoke, but instinct kept her from making even the smallest of sounds. She looked at shadowed face of her companion, whose exhaustion was apparent even under the dim moonlight. She nodded groggily, stretching her stiff muscles and gesturing for him to get some sleep. She looked at the sky, judging for herself that it must have been only a couple hours since she had fallen into a restless sleep. Her rubbed her feet absentmindedly, expecting dull pain but feeling nothing. She glanced down, her eyes narrowing. Something was strange here, and she already had a feeling she knew what it was. The reason she was alive, the reason her feet had already seemed to be healing before she had even bandaged them. She'd heard the Aztec scientists discuss the possibilities before, but as far as she knew they had never been successful in their endeavor. Until now.

Regeneration. That was the technical name for it. It had to be somewhat slow-acting, or she'd never have felt the need to bandage her wounds at all. Chewing on her lip, she leaned back against the tree trunk, exasperated. Wonderful, she was even more of a freak than she had originally thought. The idea made her want to laugh and cry, but she did neither. Instead, she just sat there, listening carefully to the sounds of the night. It was quiet, save the dull buzz of cicadas and crickets. Occasionally, a bird's wings cut through the monotony, often accompanied with the hoot of an owl or the rustle of the wind. Part of her wanted to stay in that moment forever, as if she could pretend that no one was after them. But she knew it was a stupid and foolish thought, so she stamped it down as soon as it surfaced.

The minutes ticked on, the hours passed by. Finally, the sky began to lighten on the horizon, evidence of the sun beginning its daily rise. She got up without a word, tapping her foot on Alex's leg to wake him. They needed to get moving. If they were going to get out of this damn thing alive, they also needed food and water. Especially water. Although her exhaustion had caused her to ignore it before, her throat was absolutely parched. Saliva did little to remedy it.

"We need supplies. Fast. I don't think we'll make it another night without water," she said bluntly, keeping her voice low but audible. "There has to be a town somewhere around here somewhere." She ran a hand through her hair, finger catching on the worst of the tangles. Sighing, she worked them out as best she could, wishing she could just shave it all off at this point. "New clothes would be nice, too. And shoes." As she mentally listed all the things they needed the most, Marie felt more and more like kicking something. To hell with it all. Dying almost seemed like the better option.

 

[Joan]

Alex opened his eyes and blinked up at Marie sleepily. It took him a moment to remember where he was and to focus on what Marie was saying. However, once he had focused, he sat up and nodded along, a frown forming slowly on his face. She was right, on all points. As she mentioned water, he became acutely aware of how dry his throat and mouth were, and her mentions of clothing and shoes made his feet seem to ache that much more and the clothes he was wearing seem so much thinner and conspicuous.

When Marie mentioned a town, he nodded yet again and glanced at the area around them. "You're absolutely right. The only question is...how do we find one?" The last part of that sentence seemed to kind of fade away as he spoke it, due to the way he lowered his voice to little more than a mumble. He was staring up at the tree he had slept next to, eyebrows drawn togetherand lips pressed tightly together as he thought.

"This should work," he said, standing up abruptly and placing one hand against the bark of the tree. He looked up toward the top of the tree, squinting slightly. "See how high up that goes? One of us can go up there, we'll have a much better view, and maybe we'll see something..." The volume of his voice dropped again, and he turned to look at Marie. "The only question is, which of us should go up there? You're definitely smaller than I am, and probably a better climber at that, but you're also much better at controlling your powers than I am, so that makes you a better lookout by default...What do you think?"

At this stage, Alex hadn't even considered the possibility of Marie leaving for any reason. As far as his mind was concerned, they were in this together. If he had considered it, he may not have suggested the possibility that she act as lookout.