no title yet ch 1

Chapter 1: Megan

"Run Tarah," I screamed, as the man, or robot, or I don't even know what chaced us across the foggy drainage ditch. We both peadled furiously across the soggy, overgrown grass, the robot-man keeping up with our bikes just fine on foot. I glanced over my shoulder, terrified to find that it was gaining. Just as it was about to grab Tarah, we burst out of the fog and up the steep slope of the ditch...

I should probably sort of tell you what was going on. Me and the other "Orphs", my cute nickname for our group of runaways, were out for a midnight ride around Melbrock Grove, a town who's back alleys we had called home for the last four years. I had decided to go out for a nice ride, and Tarah had wanted to come too. Anna had decided to join us, and Claire, her little sister, refused to be left behind. Claire and Anna were the only blood sisters in our group, but we were all close like family.

So we had all hopped on our bikes and started to ride, and for some reason I had felt pulled to this spot, like the gravity had increased or something. We had ridden around this cul-de-sac, one of those with an island in the middle, except this island was more like a ditch, one of those water draining ditches made to keep streets from flooding. The night was clear, but for some reason, the ditch was shrouded in mist. I stopped, because something about it seemed just a bit too weird, a bit off. A second later Anna pointed out the difference my subconcince had identified.

"The mist is green," she pointed out, and I mentaly slapped myself. Duh. Green.

"I wonder why it's glowing," said Claire, the wonder aparent in her 7 year old voice. For her this wasn't a mystery to be solved, but a wonder to be gazed at with her sky blue eyes so similar to her sister's.

"What is it?" Anna asked. "I can se that it's glowing, but why?" She was a naturally curious girl, and she always wanted to know why, why, why. Sometimes it could get annoying, but this time I agreed with her. This mist was mysterious, and I wanted to know what was making it glow.

Tarah spoke up. "I'm going to check it out," she said. I looked at her, surprised. Tarah, with her jet black hair and brown eyes, usually stood towering over us in the background. She was rarely the first one to speak up, especially about matters such as this. "Seriously," she continued "I'm curious." Then, showing the bold side she rarely let us know she had, Tarah dropped her black and white backpack next to Anna and rode purposefully toward the mist.

Well, I couldn't let her go into the myterious green ditch on her own. I set down my white backpack with it's two turquoise stripes down the sides and whispered to Anna "Stay here with Claire please. We'll be right back, and if we're not, come in after us. But don't worry. That won't happen." I started after Tarah, peadeling faster to catch up, my carrot-colored curls bouncing slightly on my shoulders.

My bike rolled down into the misty ditch. I struggled to keep Tarah in sight, though she was only five feet in front of me. As we rode deeper into the mist, which seemed to stretch farther in any directon than was possible, I could see that the glow was coming from the center of the ditch. Tarah slowed down as we got nearer to the glow's source, then stopped all together, about five feet away. Then, as we both watched, unmoving, the light seemed to get closer. The next part I saw is hard to describe. The glow was coming from a figure, or more specificly a box on it's wrist. The figure itself looked like a robot, made completely out of shining silver metal, or maybe an odd person dressed in a gleaming metal suit. Either way, the robot man was scaring me.

The robot was just staring at us, and we stared back at it. I was about to turn back around and climb back on my bike, when the man sprang into action, moving faster than any human should be able to. There was no crouch or slight movement to signal that he was coming, just  hunk of metal flinging itself at us at full speed.

"GO," I shouted, and Tarah and I hopped on our bikes and peadled furiously back in the direction we came. We sped along the soggy weed-choked grass, the creature keeping up with our bikes just fine on foot. Just as it was about to reach out and grab Tarah, we burst up the steep hill of the ditch and out of the fog, a short distance from where we had peadeled in.

Anna and Claire were waiting in the exact spot where we had left them, staring into the fog as if trying to see us through it. We peadled quickly toward them.

"Get on your bikes," I shouted as we approached the two younger girls. "It's coming!"

"What's coming?" asked Claire. I turned around and was stunned to see that the robot wasn't following us. As I looked into the fog, I could see the green light retreating. I told the younger girls what we had seen.

"It must not like the open," Tarah observed, voicing my thoughts. She and I watched the light retreat into the fog, until it sat once again in the center. Then, right before our eyes, the green light disappeared. I looked at everyone in turn, meeting their eyes, then picked up my backpack and climbed onto my bike. The other Orphs did the same, and we all got in a line, me then Anna then Claire then Tarah, and headed away from the ditch. We rode all the way across the town, back to the alley where we had left our sleeping bags. The four of us huddled against the wall, terrified that the robot man would come back. All night I lay awake, jumping at any noise.

In the morning I faked a satisfied a yawn, stretched, and asked how everyone had slept. Everyone ansewerd "fine," but I could see it on their faces. No one had gotten a wink of sleep, and I couldn't blame them.