Chapter One: Our Lives Don't Matter

Chapter 1: Our Lives Don't Matter

The tension in the room tightened as I slammed my fists onto the wooden table and continued my angered approach to the conversation. "I have lived my whole life asking questions nobody could answer for me! You are our leader, you know the most about the situation, but you won't answer any questions! You won't get off your throne of arrogance long enough to realize there even is a problem."

"Carla-"

"I went to school for four years to learn about a land I may never see, learned about cultures I wont ever be able to experience, learned about people I'll never meet. You've killed everyone's dream of going to the mainland, back to America."

"Carla-"

"Why were we dumped here? Were we abandoned? The cows are dying for no reason. I did the math; we'll starve to death within the next two months. Why haven't we been back to America? I demand answers! We all demand answers! You're obviously not telling us the entire story!"

My now bloodied hands trembled against the wooden table. The Commander, our leader, noticed and shook her head disapprovingly at me. We stood in her office: a makeshift house with a table, a chair, and some bookshelves. Her desk, a paper covered mess, was the nicest piece of furniture on the entire island.

The Commander stood up slowly, pushing the chair back with the back of her knees. She was quite a few inches taller and broader than my spindly five foot self. "Child," She said blankly with a disappointed facial expression, "You need to listen when I tell you I don't know anything. I'm sorry you're bored and want to barge into my office while I'm brainstorming ways to keep us alive just to satisfy your own boredom. We were put here by the military, if we go back they will shoot on sight. We are seen as a threat to them, they're not coming back and we're not going to go back. Be happy to be here or be angry that you're here; either way you're not hurting my feelings or satisfying them."

"It's the same answer every time Commander. It's always 'I don't know' or 'they don't want us.' But Commander if they didn't want us why did they give us books to know who they are and what they've done. Why would they want us to know how to live an American's life if we will never be there?"

Her teeth clenched. Jackpot.

"Carla 'I don't know' is an answer. I know you did not ask to be made a superhuman but every adult on this island signed up for it. You teenagers are the reason why we are stranded here. Those adults out there are soldiers, not civilians. The government created what those people are, they created them to make a super soldier; the soldier to win all wars, dominate every country. You were created by a sick, twisted human who wanted to test on babies to see if they would in fact have superpowers too. We are here because America does not trust you. Are you done yet?" Her voice stayed one pitch, one singular pitch: as if she'd memorized every word.

She sat back down into her seat, looking fully accomplished and proud of herself.

I turned on my heel to walk out; I clutched the doorknob in my hand before turning my head to look at her. "Commander the survival of our people should be your top priority." I pulled a piece of paper out of my jean pocket and opened it, text facing her, "Not how much you're getting paid to babysit us by the same government that you say abandoned us yet you work for. Have a nice day."

Her face paled and eyes widened slightly as I gave her a cheeky smile and walked out of the building, slamming the door behind me.

"You're gonna get yourself killed," A deep-ish voice said to the right of me.  I jumped at the sudden voice I wasn't expecting. A blonde teen who was about seven inches taller than me was leaning against the wall of the building. His blue eyes glistened in the sunlight that was slowly leaving the sky. 

"Carter!" I exclaimed in surprise, "Don't do that!"

We both started laughing as he shook his head at me.

"I'm guessing you heard all that," I said softly as we started to walk to the mess hall; it was almost dinner time.

Carter nodded, "Yeah, and while that was really cool and everything, it was really dangerous. She could tell someone you're gonna kill someone and you won't wake up the next day."

I looked to the path we walked on and thought to myself. He was right, it was reckless.

"Listen," I mumbled at first but my voice got stronger with the next few words, "I'll go to the Hideout and sleep there for a few days until we actually get everyone and everything ready to leave."

"Not like you have a choice now," Paige gleaned as she came to hug me. She must've overheard some of the conversation. Her long wavy blonde hair was pinned back with a headband that matched her mostly blue outfit. She seemed off put slightly, as if she was worried or maybe hiding something. Probably worried though, we've been planning on leaving the island for months now and now that the date is just a little less than a week away, our friend group is on edge. 

Carter's adopted brother ran to hug me, embracing me around my waist with his sweet little six year old body. "Sarah Turd you've been gone all day! How was the Commander?" He squeaked. Sarah Turd was his nickname for me. Why he called me that, I'll never know.

"Hey Peanut, she still doesn't agree with me. It'll be okay though, I'll convince her one of these days," I softly spoke so those who weren't in our group wouldn't hear our conversation. His actual name was Will but he was so little that we just called him Peanut.

"Carla you're back!" Kathy screamed as she ran full speed to me. She wrapped her arms tightly around me as if she hadn't seen me in months. Her voice was a whisper in my ear now, "We were worried the Commander killed you."

"I'm okay," I whispered back as Kathy slowly released her grip, "I promise."

"Good," Kathy said lowly in a serious voice, "That's why Carter was over there, if he heard anything fishy then he was gonna get you out of there and to the Hideout."

I nodded lightly before a thought hit me. "Has Nathan got the radios working yet?" I asked.

Nathan was Carter's older brother. He had dark brown fluffy hair and a medium brown eye color. He spends a lot of time in the Hideout trying to fix the radios.

"No they're being jammed or something is what he said. He didn't even come for lunch, I had to bring it to him." Paige explained, "Until we find out what's jamming the signal we won't be able to do anything with the radios."

"Glad to see your head is still attached to your shoulders." Nathan commented as he walked up from behind us, "How was the red queen today?"

"Arrogant as always," I responded as I gave him a hug.

"You've been in the Hideout all day and you decide to come up at the same time Carla gets back?" Paige comments.

Nathan responded with a shrug, "I came for the food."

"Glad to know I'm important," I laughed.

"Hey! I said I'm glad to see you alive," Nathan defended himself jokingly.

I shook my head with a smile, "I was joking."

"I know," Nathan laughed back.

Jasmine, a teen we aren't friends with, along with Chloe, and Jack tried to chime in. Chloe and Jack followed Jasmine around like lost puppies but neither of them really ever said anything to us. Chloe tends to shoot me sad looks whenever Jasmine is mean and I think she feels bad.

"Oh look who it is," Jasmine slyly giggled sarcastically.

"Got something to say Jasmine?" I snapped.

"No amount of talking to my mom is going to get you off this island," Jasmine snickered. She mirrored her mother in terms of her black hair and dark circles under her eyes. Her nose was slightly crooked, not fully healed from when I broke it years ago.

"I'm gonna leave this island with or without you and your haughty mother with me," I lowly growled out of my teeth.

"Oh no! Wolfy's gonna bite me!" Jasmine laughed, "Did you get your rabies shot yet?"

I went to lunge to tackle her when a strong hand wrapped around my arm to hold me back. My head whipped to see Paige holding onto my arm tightly.

"Control your mutt," Jasmine cockily said as she walked away.

"I'm gonna rip her throat out one of these days," I growled.

"No you're not," Nathan said as he nudged me towards the mess hall.

"You need to take a breather," Paige added.

"She called me a mutt!" I defended myself.

"You are a mutt Carla," Carter responded, "You're the only person to ever have more than one power and nobody knows how."

"That makes you a mutt but in a good way not the way Jasmine said it," Kathy added.

I guess.

We were created to be soldiers. Carter has superspeed, Kathy has energy blasts, Nathan has technology control, Paige has flight, and I can shift into any living thing. Jasmine refers to me as wolfy because when we were eight we played soccer in the fields and that's when I first shifted. She purposely kicked me into the dirt and was making fun of me because all I could do was change what stuff looked like and when I shifted I broke her nose with my head.

I haven't shifted in front of people since then. Everyone freaked out about it and now I'm known as the island freak. And a wolf is not the only thing I can shift into.

It's weird, you know. Your whole life you're told that the people around you are there to support you, we're the freaks of the world. I guess I'm the mega freak, the person with more than one power.

My shifted side, that's not me though. It's as if I have no control over what my body is doing. It's as if someone else controls my body, as if I'm sharing a body with someone I can't communicate with. I have little control over what I do when I shift. Kate, my adopted sister, can shift into inanimate objects and she can control what she does. I don't really know what is wrong with me.

"We should get in line," Nathan says, interrupting my thoughts.

I nodded and followed our group to the line. I looked around, realizing that we were missing three of our friends.

"Where's Cleo, Madelyn, and Liam?" I asked Carter whom was standing next to me, towering over my small self.

His face tightened as he ducked his head down a little and in a very low, almost whispering voice he said, "Cleo is back at the hideout, trying to find out how to get Liam and Madelyn out of prison without people realizing."

"Why are they in prison?"

"Liam and Madelyn have been under super surveillance by the Commander's henchman for the past few hours. A guard had grabbed Madelyn's arm and Liam punched him. They've both been under lockdown in prison, no communication," Carter clarified, "The guard he punched was Oscar, so he healed himself within a few minutes. He's really the only person who can get punched by Liam and not instantly die."

"Does Cleo have a plan?"

Carter answered with a light nod. His face lightened to flash a smile at Kathy who was looking at Carter longingly. She was worried and I could tell. She was such a sweet girl, being the baby of the group, she didn't want to hurt anyone. Carter's smile seemed to soothe her nerves.

Lately at the hideout, we've been talking a lot about the possibility of fighting to get off the island. Even though we don't want to fight, we know we might have to. It's been haunting around everyone's brains. We've never fought before, and we would be fighting against literal soldiers, people who could kill us with a napkin.

Not the mention that none of us are violent. While I tend to act on impulse, I'd much rather submit than fight.

"Carla, stop thinking so much," Paige told me quietly as she placed her hand softly on my shoulder. She was attempting to console me.

I wiped my face with my hands to clear my very apparent saddened facial expression.

"I'm okay, just thinking," I said softly as I reached to grab a plate off the table. Today was chicken and fries like usual.

I grabbed an extra plate for Cleo, she probably hadn't eaten in a while.

Our group grabbed our food and slipped out the door, like most people do so they can eat privately. We walked to the Hideout; simply just an underground cave on the far end of the island. It was where we hung out most of the time, and nobody walked into the forest anyway, they were too scared that something would hunt them.

It was only about a half hour walk so most of us had already finished our meals by the time we got there. Everyone was asking me questions about what all the Commander said and if it still fits the stories she's given us in the past. Most of my answers were short: nothing too elaborate. Nathan asked most of the questions, he didn't really let anyone else talk; which was probably why he was the only one to not finish dinner by the time me got the The Hideout. "It sounds along the same lines as everything else she's told us, almost as if she had rehearsed it," Nathan spoke wisely and with pride.

"It's always like that when she talks to The Commander," Carter answered for me. He looked at me with a worried expression, "You're not leaving the hideout for a few days right?"

I nodded gently as a response. I had been pretty quiet the last ten minutes, letting Nathan come up with his own opinions and theories without interjecting.

"You okay?" Kathy asked as she gently nudged me.

"Yeah," I lied, "I'm fine, just thinking ya know?"

Kathy's lips tightened, she saw through my calm words. She just nodded and faked a smile before turning away.

I guess I'm not as good with hiding my feelings as I thought, I really didn't want to worry anyone. Everyone looks up to me as a core member of this team and everyone's so strong.

And I'm the broken chess piece.

Author's Note:

Omigosh guys I'm so excited to be rewriting this book, this chapter came out so much better than the original!

I'll be updating as fast as I can so I must apologize if it's not as fast as you want it to be, I'm trying my hardest.

How do y'all feel about Paige now? I didn't want her to be rude like she was in the original copy.

Carla's insecurities really adds a nice twist on this story and I love it.

I love you all!

...