Word-Weave

    Magnus stared into the calm waters of a pond, breathing heavily. He’d been running for, he didn’t know how long. Since Ivan blew open the wall, and that was…a day and half ago? He was fairly certain that the people behind the facility they’d been in wouldn’t have expected them to run so far, I mean, they weren’t put into physical exercises or anything, well, besides a few mandatory times during the week, but not to an extent where someone could run for a day and a half.    And that was in part, his fault. His gift, his ability, had to do with genetic manipulation. Anything that was alive, or had been a

   Kevin Karl stared at the wall in front of him as Jonathan Magnus ran by, chased down by Amy Naphtali and Molly Andrews. Their postures, even the lines on their faces bespoke of fun and playfulness. And they were giggling, laughing, but Kevin Karl didn’t need those small features to tell that they were happy. His gift was an all-encompassing understanding of everything; he was a living, universal translator. And he hated it. He could converse with anyone about anything and still feel like he didn’t know what he was talking about, even if the other person understood completely what he was saying. And he understood what was being

    Heidi Veith was the eighth person taken for the testing, and her twin brother, Harold, would be the ninth. She sort of knew what her powers were, she hadn’t had any real chance to test them out, not ever knowing what they were. They hadn’t manifested in the ways that some of the others had. Cari Barns had grown a few extra limbs and could now spin spider’s webs from them, like the spider monster from a comic she’d seen.    So, upon entering into the gymnasium, Heidi stood firm, put her back straight, hands behind her  and waited for the voice to speak.    “STATE YOUR NAME.”    “Heidi Veith.R

   Doug looked at the large gymnasium sized room with wide eyes. The armed guards had ‘insisted’ that he come alone, and no one had bothered to raise their opinions regarding that bad idea. Doug had been taken down winding hallway after winding hallway, all dimly lit with plenty of shadows everywhere. He strongly suspected that should he disappear into one of them, his friends would be paying the price for his actions. And so, he’d been led here. To this vast, empty space, with a single table in the center.    “STATE YOUR NAME.” a voice intoned through the speakers spaced evenly throughout the ceiling space.  

  Xane looked up from where he sat against the wall as the door unlocked itself and swung open slowly. He'd tried the door several times, regardless of the fact that there was no handle, and had had no luck with it, go figure. He guessed, and only because he'd read all of his books and needed something to do, based off of the stuff he'd read and the shows he'd seen, one or more of his classmates could pass under or through the doors, or rooms, that the big bads behind all of this had figured 'Screw it!' and opened the doors for all of the kids to run wild through. It would make sense that they couldn't escape from this building, otherwise, wh

   Vicki Laine woke up to the sound of many voices humming. After the previous day of fake doctors, stomach cramps like you wouldn't believe and food that was at least as decent as the people who served it, armed guards, it was nice to wake to music. As she got out of bed she found a change of clothes, neatly folded, next to her breakfast and placed against the wall. The clothes were bland and grey, with a number on the left breast. Hers was 34. Joyous. This really was some kind of prison. At least the music was still going.   After changing into the uniform, Vicki looked under the door to see if she could see the musicians or at least make

   Freddy McDougal stared at the door in the white room. Despite the reassurances of the doctor's aid that had just left, things just weren't adding up. The lack of handle on this side of the door didn't help. The fact that his body was going through a small spasm attack was another thing. He didn't leave his bed until it was over, only a couple of minutes. The fact that he was still in his jeans, minus his shirt and the dart was still sticking out of his left leg. And then there had been those terrible screams from next door. He had recognized the voices of Yancy and Yack Oncflur, his conjoined classmates. And now that their voices had stopp

   'Ahh' Yancy said, reach up to touch her forhead. 'What was that? Did we hit a tree or something?' She turned to her conjoined brother and smacked his side of their middle leg. "Hey! Yack!" She shouted. "Wake up."   Yack stirred and sat up, blinking sleep from his eyes. "What time is it?" He yawned for twenty seconds. "Feels like I should still be sleeping." He looked around the white room, finally coming to rest on his sister.   "Why are you in your PJs?"   "I could ask you the same question." Yancy replied. "And what's with the room? Are we in a hospital?"   "I thought we were going on a weekend fieldtrip." Yack says as the door opens

   "A, my head hurts." Benjamin Barns said, sitting up in his bed, the covers falling down to his waist, rubbing his head. "Feels like I ran into a tree..." His hands found a large goose egg on his forehead. "Yeah, definitely a tree. Nothing new there." He stretched out his arms and yawned. And blinked. Why was everything white? A nurse stood next to a table that sat under a window, she was looking at him, very unsure of herself. She clutched a clipboard to her chest, made to speak, closed her mouth and left through the still open door. Which had no handle on this side fo the door...   "Okay..." Benny said, drawing out the word. He looked do