The Center: The Hunt

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The Center: The Hunt

by:
Enemyoffun


Melanie and Delta Squad are sent off into the woods outside Beta site for a team building exercise. They end up bringing Daisy along with them which complicates things when Easter comes around. Melanie and her friends decide to give her an Easter in the woods but things don't turn out like they planned.

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Author's Note: Its holiday time again which means I had another inspiration to write more into Melanie Crane's interesting time. This time I spun an interesting Easter tale. I'd like to thank djkauf for the wonderful editing. Happy Easter everyone and enjoy :)

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The braying of my hounds was the only thing I could hear. They had this distinctive bark, loud and particularly annoying. It drowned out most of the rest of the noise in the forest, including the comm. chatter. I suppose all I had to do was wave my hand and they’d disappear but I kinda needed them at the moment. For the first time, we were sent off alone. It kinda surprised me actually, what with Marcus’ thing about splitting us up into pairs. But unlike the previous missions of Delta Squad, this wasn’t a Pick Up. It was a Seek the Enemy and Bring Him Back Unharmed type of mission. Why Delta and not one of the other teams, like Alpha or even Beta. Well, it was all our fault. Ok, so not our fault per se. It was actually my fault.

A rustle in the nearby bushes snapped me from my thoughts. I turned in the general direction. I thought about bringing one of my hounds back but if it was anything too dangerous, I could always conjure up some protection. Besides, I had a gun. I put my hand on my side holster, slowly creeping toward the bush. My heart was pounding a mile a minute in my chest. Whatever was in there had to be something worth scaring me. I crept closer, wetting my lips. My palms got sweaty and I thought about conjuring a big ass bear just for safety. But I shook that thought away---too much overkill. I nudged the brush with my foot and got the biggest fright of my life. Something brown hopped out, practically landing on my sneaker. I would have screamed if I hadn’t seen it first: it was a bunny. It stared up at me for a second then darted back into the woods. I cracked a smile, it was kinda poetic actually.

A stupid rabbit was half of the reason we were in this mess.

We were about ten miles from Beta site, in the dense wilderness. It had been almost a month since our last mission---a successful pick up---but Kris felt we needed to learn to work as a team some more. So she sent us to Colorado to work on team building. It was Delta plus one---the plus one being Daisy. It hadn’t been our idea to bring the kid along but Vicky didn’t want to leave her, I couldn’t blame her really. So we managed to get permission to bring her along just as long as she stayed out of the way. She was pretty good about it, too. It helped that Mattie agreed to come along as a babysitter. So while the team was out practicing our team building skills, Mattie and Daisy were back at camp braiding each other’s hair---not that Mattie’s was long enough to do much with.

Things didn’t go bad until Daisy started to fidget. It turns out that Kris scheduled our exercise a bit too close to a certain holiday. I’m not one for holidays. I didn’t exactly celebrate them when I was with my father, what with being in a coma for a good portion of the time. Easter was a weird one though too because it never fell on the same day. I think we were all too caught up in other things to notice, but not Daisy. Daisy knew everything. When she found out that the Easter Bunny might not be able to find her out here in the woods she put up quite a little fit.

Marcus came up with a beneficial solution: we were going to have to give Daisy some semblance of Easter. We only had the one truck---a Humvee---but it was enough. We knew from the map that we were about a mile and half from the nearest road, another mile or two from the nearest town. So Marcus, Frankie and Mattie stayed back at camp with Daisy while Thompson took Vicky, Jessica and me into town. The plan was simple: find some candy, maybe some cheap plastic eggs and figure out a way to create a good time for Daisy. We left while Mattie kept the kid preoccupied---if she knew we were going somewhere she’d want to tag along so we snuck off. What is it they say about the best laid plans? Well suffice to say, from the moment we left camp, things didn’t go very well.

_____________________________________

“What’s wrong?” I asked from the back seat as Thompson cursed.

“There’s a roadblock I think,” said the Corporal, drumming his fingers on the stirring wheel.

I tried to look over the back of the seat to see what he meant. I couldn’t see much because of all the traffic but I could just make out the flashing lights of the police cruiser up ahead. I sighed and dropped back into my seat. This was supposed to be a quick drive into town, an hour or maybe two, tops. But with the roadblock up ahead things were going to be really difficult. I had half a mind to conjure up a solution but that would have only made people mad. I have excellent control now, better than even before. The incident at the Circus had really opened things up for me. In the last month, I’d been working with Marcus to help center my gift. Stella was able to talk Marnie into helping me, too. I never thought I’d be one of those yoga kind of girls but breathing exercises were really good for concentration.

Dr. Tipps and I talked about my abilities too. In the past, I’ve misused them more than once. So it was all about finding a need for the things I do. “Small things, Melanie” she told me time and time again. She liked to be present for my power training, just to make sure I wasn’t going overboard. She didn’t mind me turning myself into a little girl to play with Daisy---she was actually happy that I was trying to make the Center’s first child feel welcome---but it was other things that bothered her. Like last Thursday. There’s this guy---Brady---in my Trig class, he’s a real ass. I’m not sure what his thing is, maybe it’s super powered annoyance. Anyway, he was talking crap in the back of the room so I conjured up this really big spider. He totaled freaked out, he fell back in his chair, knocked over a shelf of books and wet himself.

The whole class burst into laughter. It felt great to knock the prick down a peg but of course, the teacher knew it was me. After all, I’m the only Dominator in the whole place. Not that I call myself that---I prefer Illusionist. Ms. Fine prefers “Grade A Nuisance”. Not that she ever called me that but it was the look she gave me when the teacher sent me to Kris’ office. I got a stern scolding from Ms. F and urinal duty from Kris---the boy’s bathroom, trust me it’s the worst punishment. Dr. T wasn’t too happy either. She went on and on about such progress and then disaster. She thought about scratching my name from the forest exercise but Kris made it mandatory.

We set out for Colorado two days later. We’d been in the forest for a couple of days before Daisy sprang Easter on us.

“Can we go around it?” asked Jessie from the passenger seat.

Thompson shook his head. “I don’t want to risk it. But don’t worry I’m sure it’s nothing.”

Worry, who was worrying? It took us a bit to get moving, traffic was slow and nearly bumper-to-bumper. It surprised me that there were this many cars on a mountain road like this one. When it was almost our turn, I got a look out the window at the cruiser. It was a big tan SUV painted to look like a local police car. I guess it made sense, considering the roads up here. A big vehicle like that was ideal for traipsing around up here. There were two officers, on either side of the vehicle in front of us. The one on the right was looking in the back window while the one on the left was talking to the driver. The conversation didn’t last long then it was our turn.

Thompson pulled up slowly and cut the engine. The officer that came to his window was tall, broad and had a thin mustache. He and his partner were dressed in tan and had wide brim hats. They looked more like Sheriff’s Deputies than police officers. Thompson rolled down the window, making sure he had his creds. I’m not sure which cover story he was about to pull but I was guessing it was a pretty good one.

“What seems to be the problem, officer?”

The guy looked at him for a second then at Jess. The other officer looked into the back seat at the two of us, Vicky smiled sweetly at him. I think her icy blue eyes gave him pause but they were nothing too out of the ordinary. It was a good thing that I remembered to bring a hoodie, having my green hair covered helped a lot. There was no way I was going to be mistaken for a clown ever again. I suppose I could have made these guys think it was any color I wanted but it was easier just to cover my head.

“Is it just the four of you?” asked the officer at the window.

Thompson shook his head. “My partner is back at camp with the rest of the kids. We’re a Christian Youth Group on a Retreat for the week. I have the paperwork if you want to see it.”

He reached over to the glove compartment but the officer shook his head. “That won’t be necessary.”

Thompson smiled.”Suit yourself.”

I had to wonder if he really had paperwork in there. Knowing the Center, they were pretty thorough with their cover stories. When Becca and her team went to England, they went all out to make sure they were as authentic as possible. We were all briefed about the Cover before the exercise started. We even had t-shirts printed up just in case, not that any of us were wearing them. All of the girls in the group agreed last night that yellow was not our color; Jessie even went so far as to burn hers. Marcus wasn’t too happy about that but Frank helped. He burned his too. Marcus couldn’t argue about that, seeing as the two of them were getting along on something. I thought about letting her burn mine too, but I needed to stand by my man. He was the boss and what he said goes. If he wanted me to keep my ugly yellow shirt then I was more than happy too. There was just no way in hell that I was going to wear it.

Thompson did hand over his wallet though, showing the guy his fake ID. I’m not sure how good the cop was at detecting things like that but whoever did ours was a literal genius. Becca showed me her’s---the one she used in England---I even believed she was this other girl. When the officer looked at Thompson’s card, he stared a bit longer than I would have liked. I bit my lip, wishing that Marcus was here. I could read fear but that was all. It helped in my line of work, getting into people’s heads that way. I suppose I could do more too but I was afraid to dwell deeper. Marcus said the mind was a dangerous thing to go poking around in. An untrained person could get in serious trouble if they did it wrong. He offered to help me but I’m not ready for the hardcore stuff yet.

My Illusions were like mind control but it was mainly on the surface. I didn’t go any further than needed.

The officer handed back the card. He looked a little worried. “I think you should come into town for a day or two. We have a bit of a situation and it might be best if you and your group not be in the forest for the a few days.”

“Did something happen?”

The officer looked at his partner. The other man shrugged. The officer sighed. “We have reason to believe that a person of interest in a few bank robberies might be hiding out in the woods somewhere. Have you been watching the news?” Thompson shook his head.

“”Well the media is calling him the Easter Bunny Bandit. He holds the bank up wearing a bunny mask.”

You’ve gotta be kidding me. I guess it takes all kinds.

“Is he dangerous?”

The officer sighed. “He hasn’t hurt anyone yet but he is armed.”

“Are you evacuating other campers from the woods?”

“Not presently but…”

Thompson cut him off. “We’re far enough into it that I don’t think we’ll run into him. I have a radio and sat. phone. If we run into any problems, I can give you a call.”

The officer didn’t look too happy but he agreed. He gave Thompson a card. Then promised to come up and check on us as soon as he was done making the rounds down here. Thompson thanked him for allowing us to continue. Then the officer waved us on. I stared at him as we drove off, his face burned into my memory.
_______________________________________

The buzzing of a voice in my ear drew me back to the present.

“Mel, what’s your current position?”

It was Marcus, checking in. It’d been the third time in the last hour. I looked at the GPS indicator on my watch and gave him my coordinates.

“What’s up this time?”

Marcus sighed. “I found the truck.”

The truck in question was the one I saw at the roadblock yesterday. True to his word, after Deputy Meadows---thin mustache guy---made his patrol, he went into the woods to check on us. We knew didn’t know he was missing until Thompson picked it up on the police band. I guess that should have been our first indicator that something was wrong. But none of us were too worried about it back then. I guess we should have been because we might have been prepared.

I sighed. “Is there anyone in it?”

Marcus came back after a few seconds. I could hear him shuffling around. He sighed. “Its clean, his shotgun’s missing too.”

I cursed. It was one thing for the deputy to be missing but he’d been packing some firepower. That was going to complicate things a great deal. I thought about turning back. I looked up into the sky, night was starting to fall. I sighed heavily. If I turned back, now then it was pointless. I closed my eyes and envisioned the face of Meadows in my head. Like I said, it was burned into my memory. When I reopened my eyes I couldn’t help but see another face there too, one that was much closer to me than Deputy Meadows. I made my decision.

“I’m still going, there’s still some daylight left.”

“Me too” said Jessie.

Frank: “Ditto.”

Vicky: “Do you even need to ask?”

Marcus sighed. “Ok guys but the window is closing” There was a long pause. “I’m sorry Vick but you know the odds.”

Vicky said nothing. I wish he’d allowed me to go with her like I wanted. But Marcus insisted we’d cove more ground if we split up. I guess I couldn’t fault him for his logic but Vicky was a wreck right now. I so wanted to be there to comfort her, to reassure her that everything was going to be all right. Especially seeing how excited she was about all this yesterday. The whole thing had been her idea really. She wanted to make it special and she was damn sure to make it right.

__________________________________________

“Why do I have to be the Bunny, again?”

Vicky and Jess laughed. We were in this tiny little shop. It was one of many in town, situated along this quaint little street. After the roadblock and the traffic, it didn’t take us long to get into town. Thompson stayed in the truck while us three girls did some serious power shopping. First, we found this little Dollar Store that was selling a whole bunch of Easter crap half price. We loaded up our cart with candy and crap like that. Vicky made sure she found this cute little Easter basket and Jess found these plastic eggs. The two of them were kinda excited about it, swapping childhood Easter stories. I felt kinda left out but I busied myself by looking for some jellybeans. They were the only true thing I knew about Easter. I’m not sure why but I just knew kids were supposed to have jellybeans.

We spent an hour in the dollar store getting all the crap. I thought we were done but the girls had one more place they wanted to check out. On the way into town, we noticed a costume shop on the corner. It looked kinda out of place what with all the other stories being specific things. A novelty shop in this town seemed kinda odd, especially something that sold seasonal things. I could see it getting a lot of business around Halloween but the rest of the year business must have been really tight. When we went inside---the little bell above the door dinging---I think the guy behind the counter was happy to have customers. When he saw it was three hot teenage girls his face lit up.

That’s when we started browsing. I had no idea what we were looking for but apparently Vicky did. She pulled me right over to the bunny costumes. She found this sleek and sexy one piece suit, it was a like a giant rabbit skin that someone could step into. It was really freaky. The only thing that didn’t seem to make it more freaky was the cartoonish looking head. It was a Bunny caricature, a female one but still a caricature nonetheless.

That’s when they practically pushed me into the dressing room. Then they threw the costume at me. I tried to protest but as soon as I pulled back the curtain, they had a riot. They laughed at my expense. I didn’t even have the head on but I felt ridiculous.
I told them so, too.

“You look adorable,” said Vick with a laugh.

“Like a sexy Bugs” added Jess.

I frowned. “Why me again?”

Vick sighed. “Because you’re the only one who can fit in the suit. Besides, Daisy is going to freak when she sees you. You’re going to make her day.”

I sighed. That did it for me. Vicky knew I couldn’t resist making her little sis happy. So when I nodded and agreed, the two of them squealed, jumping up and down. Then they pushed me back into the dressing room. I took off the costume and the two of them paid for it. The guy at the counter frowned when he saw I wasn’t going to wear it out of the story. What a fricken perv. After that, we did some other shopping. We hit a little grocery store to buy some big people food---we were sick of the MRE’s that Thompson packed. In the end, we were in town for about two and half hours. On the way back to camp, the road was pretty much deserted. When we got to the spot where the roadblock was, there was nothing. So we were pretty confident they caught whoever it was they were looking for. It took us another hour and a half to get back to camp. Daisy was asleep by the time we got there which was a good thing. We roped the guys into helping us create Easter---Mattie jumped at the opportunity to help.

It took us nearly three hours to fill those stupid plastic eggs with candy and hide them. When we were done, all of us practically fell asleep right on the spot. When I finally crawled into my sleeping bag, I had a smile on my face, happy that I’d done something good.

________________________________________

The dogs stopped barking. I’m not sure if that was a good thing or not. I’d designed them specifically to pick up any signs of trouble. They were supposed to bark when they found something. I was so caught up in my own thoughts I didn’t even notice. Now the forest was deathly quiet, I couldn’t even hear the normal sounds. That sent a shiver up my spine. I closed my eyes and concentrated on them. There were three, created from my memories of dogs from the movies. All were bloodhounds but smarter than any real dogs. If they were not barking, it meant something was terribly wrong. I took a deep breath and reached out with my mind.

Though I wouldn’t let Marcus teach me any advanced telekinetic stuff, I did know some things. Of course, I didn’t do those things intentionally. When Becca and the original Delta team hit Section One, I’d been awake for a very short period of time. I was cold and alone and really scared. I had no idea what was going on or where I was. I’d been awake sporadically during my time there, mostly when I first got there. Every time I’d wakened in the past, my father was there waiting for me. When I woke up at that time, he was gone. I didn’t find out until much later that my father was dead, killed by Declan St. James. Whereas Becca had a grudge against that bastard Dekker, Declan was number one on my list. My father may have done something horrible things---putting me in a drug induced coma---but he was the only person who ever cared about me.

My earpiece buzzed to life again, Marcus checking in. “Mel, it’s too quiet.”

I sighed, touching my throat mike. “You noticed too.”

I made the dogs loud enough so even the others could hear them.

Frank piped in: “It was kinda peaceful, you know. I was getting used to the doggies.”

Jessie: “Speak for yourself, Match Head.”

Frank probably would have come back with something but Marcus cut him off. “Not now you two, concentrate.” There was a pair of sighs. Then he spoke to me. “I’m doubling back toward camp to rendezvous with Thompson, he and Mattie were able to get through to the Center finally.”

With all the dense foliage, communication was spotty at best. We knew that coming into this place, it was one of the reasons we chose this area. The earpieces and the throat mikes were low band, able to penetrate the trees because we had a nice transmitter. But to contact base we needed to use our antenna to relay with a satellite. With passing cloud cover and the trees, that wasn’t easy. We had initial contact with them yesterday, Thompson having apprised them of the situation about the bank robber. Luce said she had a team on standby in case things got out of hand. But that was hours ago and we haven’t been able to radio in since.

“Are they sending the team?”

Marcus sighed. “They’re coming but it might be a while. There’s a storm moving in---it’s supposed to be kinda bad. It might be a bit choppy to fly the helicopter so they’re going to have to come in on the ground.”

He didn’t need to finish that sentence. It took us hours to get to this spot on foot. It didn’t take a genius to figure out that we were on our own. But it was nice that they were on the way. The others chimed in on the situation, grumbling a bit. Vicky was really quiet but I knew she was still there because her GPS marker was active and moving. We all had markers, built into our watches. All of us, except Daisy. It was the newest thing that the Center was implementing. Once again, it was all thanks to Becca. After England when she was captured, The Colonel and Kris thought it might be a good idea to keep track of us when we were out in the field. The markers were a good idea. I just wish we’d thought of putting one on Daisy.

Marcus spoke again, switching to another channel. I heard him only in my left ear: “You ok?”

I knew why he was asking. There were only two reasons that the dogs would have stopped barking. The first being they were physically attacked. My dogs were only illusions after all, not tangible like the Santa Claus I created for Daisy. If someone were to say shoot them, they’d disappear quickly enough. The other reason was all on me. They would also disappear if I lost my hold on them.

I sighed. “This is all my fault. If I hadn’t left her alone…”

Marcus cut me off. “No one’s blaming you Mel. She was sitting by that tree when you left. You were only gone for a few minutes; kids have a tendency to wander off.”

I sighed. Easy for him to say, he didn’t lose his best friend’s little sister.

__________________________________

“Sweetie, I’ll be right back,” I told Daisy, letting go of her hand. “You wait right here, I’m going to look for the Easter Bunny.”

Her face lit up. “Do you really think he’s here?”

I smiled. “It’s the forest, where else would a bunny be.”

She got really excited about that. It felt good to see such joy on her face. When she woke up this morning, I think they heard her squeal all the way back in the town. We put her little basket in the tent with her, filled with all the chocolates and candies we bought yesterday. Her joyful squeal woke us all up. Thompson actually came running in his boxers, holding a Glock. It kinda scared all of us. I wasn’t the first one to the tent, that was Vicky. When I got there though Daisy was jumping up and down, happy that the Easter Bunny hadn’t forgotten her after all. It leaves a warm feeling in the pit of your stomach knowing that you’d done something good for a child. Seeing her so happy made me happy.

After Vicky and I got her to calm down, we got her dressed. Vicky bought her a pretty pink Easter dress when we were out yesterday. Daisy was so excited---bouncing up and down---it took the two of us to put her in it. After that, we took her by the hands and led her out of the tent. That’s when we told her what we “saw”. We filled all the plastic eggs with jellybeans and hid them throughout the surrounding area. We made sure not to put them too far from camp so she didn’t wander all over the place. The plan was that no matter where she was, one of us would either be with her or be able to see her.

I went with her on the hunt. There were twenty-four eggs scattered about. Over the course of an hour, we’d found all of them. Which was my cue to slip off and “look” for the Easter Bunny. I left her sitting by a tree, making her promise not to go anywhere while I slipped away. I doubled back toward camp, heading straight toward my tent. When I walked inside, I saw that someone had the costume already laid out for me. I frowned. It was probably Jess; she was having fun on my behalf. I made a mental note to do something awful to her in return. It didn’t take me long to get on though I was a little reluctant to put on that giant cartoonish head.

“Wow, looking real sexy” said Marcus as he stepped inside the tent.

I turned around---glad the tents were tall enough to stand in---and struck the sexiest pose I could think of. Ok, there was one advantage of dressing like this; it made my boyfriend’s pulse race. So that’s an added plus. “Tell me you’re not one of those creepy guys who have bunny girl fetishes?”

He smiled. “No but seeing you like that I think I might be a convert.”

I leaned forward and playfully punched him before we shared a kiss. We were officially one of the stranger couples at the Center. What with him being tall dark and handsome and me being the short, green haired girl who liked to make pretty pictures. At least that’s how I saw things. Our kiss turned a little something more. Before I knew the two of us were on the ground, he was fumbling around behind me trying to find the damn zipper. We hadn’t gone very far in our relationship, only kissing. Everyone knew we were a couple but that’s all they knew. We kept our relationship on the down low because we weren’t ready for anything too serious. There’s a lot of baggage dating me---the Dominator---and he was still getting over his first boyfriend, the one he had back when he was wearing the skirts.

I finally pushed him up, laughing. “I can’t do this now; I’m supposed to be out there with Daisy.”

He frowned. “Ok but when you’re done you’re wearing that costume tonight and sneaking into my tent?”

I smiled. “Is that an order, sir?”

He laughed then got to his feet, pulling down his shirt. Yeah, I can try to take off his clothes too. Then he reached out and pulled me to my feet. We kissed again then I slipped by him. He smacked my butt as I was leaving. I pulled the big head over my own and wandered through the camp. Vicky whistled, I struck another sexy pose then disappeared into the woods. I retraced my steps back to where I’d left Daisy. I couldn’t wait to see her face when I came walking up like this. I was so excited that I thought I went to the wrong spot. I looked around but Daisy wasn’t sitting where I left her. So I looked behind the tree then starting looking in the bushes. I knew it was this spot because I could see a few jellybeans in the grass.

I pulled off my head, tossing it aside. I took a deep breath. Don’t panic Mel. I pulled off the clothes too and rushed about, looking all over the surrounding area. But it was no use. Wherever Daisy was it was far enough away that I couldn’t find her. I bit my lip and panicked then.

I’d just lost my best friend’s sister.

_____________________________________

We’d been searching for her the last four hours.

After I discovered she’d been missing I rushed back to the camp and told the others. It didn’t take us long to scramble a search party. Things were made worse by the fact that Deputy Meadows was missing. That seemed to push us all into rapid motion. I tried to apologize again and again to Vicky but she knew it wasn’t my fault. In fact, Daisy had a tendency to do this. Apparently, she was always wandering off. She used to do it to their parents all the time. Now that I think about it, when Daisy wasn’t in their room, she was always wandering the halls of the Center. It was usually I or one of the other girls who brought her back. But this time was different. We weren’t in a safe place and there wasn’t some nut wandering around out there with a gun.

That’s when I conjured the hounds too, making sure I cued them in with Daisy. She was enough away that neither Marcus nor I could find her telepathically. But I was able to fuse what I remembered of her mind into the hounds, making them able to track her and only her. Then I sent them out, hoping against hope that they’d find her. Now they too had failed. This whole situation sucked. The only thing that would have made it worse is if I’d actually worn the costume to go looking for her. But that was the first thing I stripped out of. I don’t think a bright white suit was the proper thing to be stealthy in. Why stealthy because there’s a guy out there with a gun. Not that I didn’t have one too but I wanted to keep the casualties down to a minimum. Besides I’d never shot anyone before. I’d shot a lot of paper targets and dummies but never a real person. I wasn’t too bad at it now, getting better according to Becca. But I still had a long way to go before actually drawing my gun on anyone.

I closed my eyes. My last conversation with Marcus was about twenty minutes ago. I thought about reconjuring the hounds but he was right: I couldn’t concentrate. I knew this was all my fault. If I hadn’t gotten so carried away with being sexy for him I would have been back there to stop her from wandering. Both Marcus and Vicky said it wasn’t my fault but both of them knew it was. It kinda pissed me off that I could be so fricken stupid. I made a promise to myself when I was redressing that I was never going to allow my personal life get in the way of what was important. So when I was on a mission it was going to be all business and nothing else. Marcus and I could fool around in our rooms but nowhere else.

I pushed on. I was trying to utilize some of the tracking skills that Lara was teaching me and some of the other girls. Kris thought it a good idea that some of us had a wide range of abilities. I was chosen because of my lack of combat skills. Mattie, Clara and several others were in that group too. I was using some of my newfound skills now, keeping low to the ground, trying to think like Daisy. I thought about turning myself into a child but that only worked if there were others around me. Besides, it would have been another distraction. So instead I kept as low to the ground as possible, looking for any signs that someone might have gone this way.

It was pretty pointless because so far I’d found nothing. Three hours of trudging through the forest and I was about to give up too. I almost did when I spotted it. It was one of those things that you don’t normally find in a forest---unless of course it’s Easter. I smiled as I reached into the grass and picked up the yellow jellybean. A few feet away I found another one then another. I smiled. I’m not sure how or why but Daisy was dropping jellybeans. I tried to think if I’d seen anymore but I couldn’t remember. I was so guilt ridden I hadn’t bothered to look.

I tapped my throat. “I have a trail.”

There was a collective sigh of responses.

Marcus was the first to speak. “Did you find her?”

“No but I’ve got a trail of jellybeans.”

“Jellybeans?”

Vicky came on. “Bread crumbs. I’ve been reading her Grimm’s fairy tales at night. Hansel and Gretel left a trail of bread crumbs when they got lost, remember?”

I shook my head. I vaguely remembered the story. But I smiled nonetheless. Daisy was by far one of the smartest children I knew.

So I followed her trail of “breadcrumbs”. I just hoped she wouldn’t run out. But considering how many of those damn things we bought her it was safe to say that her trail would go on for a while. I kept close to the ground as I moved, picking up each one as I went. There was no way I was going to give them back---they were on the ground---but I made a promise to myself to buy her as many jellybeans as she wanted for as long as she lived. I tried to think of how many other kids would have been smart enough to leave something like this behind. I couldn’t think of any. Not that I knew any more kids but it was the thought that counted. But it was the fact that Daisy was clever enough at her age to come up with a way to keep her from getting lost.

I followed the trail to a clearing. At first I was about to run in, half expecting to see her sitting there. I wasn’t too far off because I heard a giggle. When I heard that I wanted to cry. I was definitely about to charge in then. But the giggle was followed by a laugh. It was a deep one, a laugh of a man. I stopped dead in my tracks, my heart hammering in my chest. Please God let it be Deputy Meadows. I crept slowing to the clearing, putting a large tree between myself and it. I peered slowly around the tree and saw the familiar of a tan uniform. I sighed with relief, it was a deputy. I took a deep breath and stepped into the clearing.

“Thank you so much for finding…”

My words caught in my mouth. Deputy Meadows was there all right but he wasn’t the one that laughed. In fact was laying against one of the other trees, the front of his uniform red with blood. Daisy was sitting a few feet away, not seeming to notice. Sitting across from her was a large man in a bunny mask. Daisy was giggling with him, eating jellybeans from her basket. For a second the man and I locked eyes. He and I both looked at the shotgun. It was too far away for each of us to reach but there was a knife in his waistband.

Daisy turned and saw me. Her face lit up. “Mel, look I found the Easter Bunny.”

I smiled and nodded, reaching up to brush my neck gently, turning the mike on. “That’s really good sweetie. Now why don’t you step away from the nice man in the bunny mask and come over here.”

Daisy frowned. “I don’t want too. We’re having fun.”

I frowned. Leave it to her to not want to leave. I smiled bigger. “But everyone is worried about you. You shouldn’t wander away from camp like that.”

I looked at the man in the mask. I could only see his eyes. They were dark and piercing. It was clear that like me, he was trying to figure out what to do. He had two options. I could see those options as well as I could. I just hoped he’d choose the latter and take off. Hell, I’d even give him a head start. Neither of us said a thing for a while. Then I nodded my head toward Meadows.

I cleared my throat. “I won’t tell anyone about that if you just give me the girl now and take off.”

Daisy put a finger to her mouth. “Shhh, the police man is sleeping.”

I smiled and nodded. “Then why don’t you come over to me and we’ll leave him to sleep here with the nice Easter Bunny.”

Daisy looked like he was thinking about it. She made her decision quickly enough. She started to get up and that’s when he made his move. He didn’t choose the latter. He lashed out, grabbing her wrist and pulling her into his chest. He didn’t need to use his knife with her. She was small enough that all he had to do was put his hand on her throat and start to squeeze. It wouldn’t take him long to snuff out her life. Daisy dropped her basket and started crying. Me, I was frozen in fear. He could see my gun; he could see there was no way I was going to let him walk out of her alive. He had the option of running but now that option was off the table.

“Throw the gun away, now,” he said angrily, his gun muffled by the mask.

I nodded and tossed the pistol. “Let her go.”

“You think I’m stupid,” he laughed, taking a step back. “This little lady is my ticket out of here.”

I shook my head. “I’m not the only one here you know. We’re all armed and the others…well, trust me when I saw this, you do not want them after you.”

He laughed again. “I’ve been watching you. Besides the big Army like guy, you’re a bunch of kids. What the hell are you going to do to me, nag me with your annoying teen drama?”

I smirked. Clearly, he hadn’t been watching us long enough.

I took a deep breath and closed my eyes, reaching into his mind. It didn’t take me long to find what I was looking for. I smirked when I saw it. Some people had some really elaborate fears while others were simple things. I liked the simple things so much better, they were much easier to manifest. When I opened my eyes again, I looked up to the tree behind him. At first there was nothing then slowly the biggest snake I’d ever seen started to slither its way down the tree trunk. I didn’t go overboard with it but it was pretty huge.

“Tell me, Mr. Bunny Bandit, what terrifies you more than anything else in the world?”

He looked at me like I was nuts, taking a step away. “What the hell are you talking about?”

I smiled. “What scares you?”

He stuttered. “Going to prison I guess.”

I smirked. “Really, well then I guess that giant snake behind you won’t be a problem.”

I saw the color drain from his face. At that particular moment, my snake chose to wind its way around his ankles. He let go of Daisy in a panic and looked down. As soon as he did, he let out a bloodcurdling scream. I guess I couldn’t really blame him; it was a big snake after all. He kicked and turned, trying to get it off of him. But the snake slowly started to wind its way up his body. I saw the look of sheer terror in his eyes. But I ignored him as he fell to the ground. Instead, I held out my arms as Daisy came running into my outstretched arms. She cried into my chest as I turned away from him. He was screaming and kicking.

I carried her away. Five minutes later---the guy still screaming---I ran into Marcus and Vicky. Both of them were running in a panic, huffing and out of breath. When Vicky saw Daisy in my arms, she broke down. I set Vicky on the ground and she ran to her sister, crying. I gave them their moment and turned to Marcus, pointing over my shoulder.

“He’s back there.”

Marcus raised an eyebrow. “What did you do to make him scream like that?”

I shook my head. “No one messes with my girl.”

He smiled and walked off in the direction of the clearing.

I walked over to where Vicky and Daisy were hugging each other. Daisy was sniffling but she looked better. “That was a bad Easter Bunny.”

Vicky kissed her on the head. “Its ok, he’s not going to hurt you anymore.”

Vicky and I shared a look. It was clear that when she was done he wasn’t going to hurt anyone ever again. I’m sure the world wouldn’t mind one less scumbag. I reached out and took Daisy from her arms. Vicky nodded, her icy blue eyes flashed as she too walked off toward the clearing.

I hefted Daisy, getting her as far away as possible. I’m not sure how far we got before I heard what sounded like a scream abruptly caught off in mid-holler. I pulled her close to my chest, burying her face in it. I wanted to make sure that she didn’t hear what I heard. WE got about halfway to camp when Jessie and Frank showed up. They both looked relieved to see Daisy in my arms. I pointed behind me and they ran off in that direction. I closed my eyes and set Daisy down. There was one thing I still wanted to do for her, one thing I’d failed to do earlier.

When I reopened my eyes, the largest rabbit I’d ever seen was standing before us. I crouched down and let it go off. She was still sniffling. “I’m sorry about before, Daisy; I should have never left you alone.”

She wiped her tears. ‘Its ok, Mel. I thought I could find the Easter Bunny and bring him to meet you.”

I smiled. “I think he’s found you.”

She turned her head and when she saw the big white bunny---complete with yellow bow tie---her eyes bugged out. I let her go and she slowly walked over, patting him on the head. I smiled and stood up. Happy Easter, Daisy.

Author’s note: As I’m sure all of you know, comments are life blood to an author. I’m not begging or demanding, but I certainly would appreciate anything you have to say (or ask). It doesn’t have to be long and involved, just give me your reaction to the story. Thanks in advance...EOF

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Comments

Visceral terror

One of the more potent emotions of the living beings. Mel's power is a great edge over most random encounters of the hostile kind. I do really like her Illusionist powerset. :)

Faraway


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Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Faraway


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Where you can fool around like you want to and most you get is some bemused good ribbing!

Her Power

Enemyoffun's picture

There has to be at least one good guy Dominator out there. I know I've written my fair share of bad ones. I was originally calling her a Fearmonger but Illusionist works so much better, doesn't it :)

The Center: The Hunt

Wonder what Vicki did to the cad?

    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine
    Stanman
May Your Light Forever Shine

Vicky :)

Enemyoffun's picture

I left it to the imagination but I have this theory: it involves deep freeze :)

Eek!

Frozen Swedish Meatballs...

and that's just the appetizer...

-sb

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Not your average Easter story

What a cute surprise!

It was the perfect length, EOF did not just keep rabbiting on just to stretch it :).

Daisy has to be taught not to talk to strangers, looks like.

If I may ask, what is Vicky's power set?

Whatever it was, justice will be served!

Kim

Oh I just got it!

Whatever it is, justice, revenge etc, it seems it is best served cold in this case :)

Kim

This Story

Enemyoffun's picture

This story actually came to me at one in the morning. I was about to take my dogs out to go to the bathroom when I saw this rather large rabbit in my front lawn. I was talking to another author on Skype and he said it was high time for another Melanie Crane story.

Rabbits?

Drakira's picture

It's like the day was telling you to write a Melanie story, with that rabbit showing up on your doorstep.

Good short story!

Drakira

Drakira

Let me guess...

You told EoF to 'Hop to it'.

-sb

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Coordinated
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Me?

Drakira's picture

What makes you think that I encouraged him to write it?

Drakira

Drakira

Thanks EoF

I'm Glad to see your Center crew back again. Cute story.

Joani

Dance, Love, and cook with joy and great abandon

Easter Bunny

Cute!

jdspadevil is watching

jdspadevil is watching

The Center: The Hunt

I always enjoy reading your stories.

Julie

thanks

another great holiday story. always welcome, alway appreciated.

Very well done!

Great story! Is this going to be a theme-Melanie stories on holidays?

Wren

Holiday Stories

Enemyoffun's picture

It won't be every holiday but if the story comes to me I'll definitely write it :)

Bunnies!

perfect little Easter story.

Dorothycolleen

DogSig.png

Thanks for the Easter Story

I'd somehow missed the clown story when it came out; so, I read and enjoyed both.

Altho sadly that the deputy

Altho sadly that the deputy was killed, the killer also got his just rewards and I am sure he did not care for the initial opening given him of the large snake. I have a feeling that he became all frozen up about it.

I wasn't sure

that Melanie was a character that could become a central character, to "carry" a story. I'm glad that you're busy proving me wrong! :-)

Nice story.

Janice

Another Melanie outing :)

It's just a shame it's going to be a long haul until the next international annual holiday/event - Mother's Day is celebrated on different dates in different countries (the UK have already had theirs, while the US' second Sunday in May is a bit close to Easter this year, as is the UK's extra holiday to celebrate a certain wedding), Father's Day is also a variable feast (besides which, in the UK at least, it's often regarded as a commercial enterprise rather than a genuine celebration), Independence Day is US-only, then there's not really anything else until Halloween.

-oOo-

This story again reminds us that although the residents of The Center have extraordinary powers, they are still teenagers, so don't always think rationally or logically. Not just Melanie's kissing and cuddling while Daisy was told to wait, but also going ahead with their plans to leave Daisy unoccupied, away from the rest of the group, while an armed robber was on the loose in the same stretch of woodland. That, more so than Melanie's unplanned diversion from the task at hand, should be the basis of their grilling when they get back to base. In general, they should always make sure they cover for everyone - not just themselves (if a Syndicate team turned up unexpectedly, there's no guarantee anyone at The Center could get away if they were alone) but especially for anyone less well protected than themselves (e.g. bystanders, other innocents, non-Emerged, Daisy).

-oOo-

A great story as usual. Even though it's likely to be six months before we hear from Melanie again (unless she gets a cameo in another Center story), I'm looking forward to her next adventure :)

 

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There are 10 kinds of people in the world - those who understand binary and those who don't...

As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!

YOUR STORYS

I have enjoyed many of your stories ... your writting has brought many a good days of reading ...

Many of the wierdos like me cannot get around any more and are stuck in bed ... Having MS is no fun YOU have brought many hour of enteresting and
well written stories ... THANK YOU ....

Hi there

Dear Enemyoffun,

Please don't stop writting. I am quite late into this center universe but until I have read it, now I am longing for more.. You know what... your story kick ass.. Keep it going k..

I am curious though.. if Melanie was able to create 'tangible' illusions, doesn't that mean she can somehow move at least light object: meaning she has more or less 'telekinesis' ability. If she keep work on it perhaps she can move heavier object if she really concentrate and channel all her energy to it.. or do something like a mind blast to knock off enemy.. that will be cool non lethal ability and very useful one to.. right? just thinking though.

Great Story.

Two Abilities

Enemyoffun's picture

Its actually not unheard of for Center students to have two abilities....it has happened. So its possible she might have a slight form of telekinesis and not realize it.

Of course I love your

Of course I love your writings! : )
Glad to see you doing the center..Now if you'd like to
write somemore of that town with all those witches,
vamps, wolves n coyotes..You'l really get my thanks!

alissa

A heartwarming story.

WillowD's picture

Violence and death in the middle of a fun, awesome, heart warming story. That is practically impossible to pull off.

I bow to the mistress.

Good story!

Aine Sabine's picture

Though I don't know why they didn't have her do the illusion in the first place instead of the costume. It would have been quicker and safer. Unless someone had stayed with Daisy.

Wil

Aine

Messed with the wrong kids

Jamie Lee's picture

It's hard for a little kid to lose their parents then have a new place to live, that isn't quite set up for young kids.

Daisy's needs often tax the ability of the Center to have someone with her to keep her from getting into bad situations when she gets bored. It might not be a bad idea for her to have a regular time to be in a classroom type environment so that she's occupied and learning at the same time.

Such was the case when Daisy made a decision instead of doing what she had been told. While her motives were sweet, she had never been taught about being alone in the woods or going off without letting others know where she was going.

Was Melaine at fault, really at fault? No, she gave Daisy instructions she failed to follow. However, they all knew Daisy had a habit wo wander in the Center so they all should have kept an eye on her and not dump the load onto Melaine.

But perhaps it was fate that caused her to wander off, because the bank robber was found. And because he tried to hurt Daisy if Melaine didn't do what he told her, he felt the wrath of "a bunch of kids." His fear of snakes was cured by whatever happened to him when Marcus and Vicki reached him. And good ridden to bad rubbish.

Others have feelings too.