Every Action //REBOOT, 5/5, CLOSED//

(yee)

(hell yeah)

(Okay! I'll get up a starter in a sec!)

(Or maybe a bit longer than a sec XD)

The hideout was dark and cool. Everyone walked as silently as they could, speaking in low voices, if at all. It was a place of fear and horror. Everyone was worried that they were going to be discovered or killed. The Racers, the species that had taken over their planet, were to blame. They were brutal killers, and, from the human's network of spies, they had been taking down hidden bases that the humans had thought were hidden and safe.

No one knew how it was happening, but there were rumors of the Finders. "Did you hear? They caught one of our spies and read their mind. That's how the others were discovered."

Holly, frankly, thought it was all bullshit. The Finders were rare, from what she had heard, so they couldn't be everywhere. Besides, the bases that had fallen were all on the other side of the globe. So the tiny base she was in would be fine. It wasn't that important… right?

She was in her room. Each person was assigned a cubicle, to share with one other person. She was lucky enough to not have a partner with her. Her roommate was currently on a mission, and while Holly was worried for her, at least she got the cramped space to herself.

The Racers were supposedly afraid of the underground, so, althought the dim lights and damp smell were annoying, at least she was safe… maybe.

She set down her book and stood at the sound of the dinner bell. It was time to eat.

Flynn hated her roommate. They were polar opposites, and Flynn was always happy to see the other girl go on missions.
She was in her room, strumming softly on her guitar. Music took her away from things.
She was interrupted by the dinner bell. With a sigh, she placed her guitar on her bed. She was thankful, however, since it felt like days since she'd eaten.

Noah was sitting in the hallway outside of his room when he heard the bell, hunched over an old medical book and replicating complex diagrams onto a blank patch of folded-up newspaper. The activity was quiet and helped him fill his head with information that wasn't non-threatening, although drawing in the dark probably wasn't good for his eyes. Either way, it helped pass the time. As people started exiting their rooms all around him, he wordlessly tucked the newspaper into his book and slipped inside the door to his room. He ignored his roommate, someone he hadn't gotten the chance to talk to much, and placed the book underneath his mattress. He didn't really think anyone would try and steal it, but he wasn't keen on risking one of his only forms of entertainment. Taking it to dinner with him wasn't exactly an appealing idea, either. Having accomplished his task, he wandered back out into the hallway and followed the stream of people to the dining place.

The dining room was your typical school cafeteria, with rectangular tables set in rows, with barely any room to squeeze through while going past. The lights were like the rest of the building, dim and white, and the floors, tables and walls were all white… well, more like a dirty gray. The place was glum and silent, the only noises being the faint shuffling of footsteps and the occasional whispers of a braver soul.

Holly got into the food line, picking up a tray. Some mashed potatoes and turkey, looking faintly green in the light, were dished onto the tray, and some cooked vegetables that were limp and sad.

She sighed and smiled ruefully down at her food. It looked dull and plain. At least they didn't have to wear uniforms.

She glanced at the billboard on the wall. They were given new seats today, and she wanted to see where she was sitting. There. Table 7, with four other teens: Farren Rowe, Noah Aubrey Michel, Peter-Flynn Maxen, and Caspian O'Connell.

Per usual, it took Farren a couple of minutes to register the sound of the bell. His eyes scanned an old photograph for any minuscule details that he might have missed, though it's highly unlikely. He shoved the photo deep into his pocket and rushed out his door.
When he's even a couple of minutes behind, though he usually is, it warrants him the last of the food. He slid into line and waited patiently. He offered a slight smile at the woman serving his food who only returned a blank stare. Yep, he had received the end of the food, but at least it was something. He glanced at the billboard and took a seat at the table. He surveyed his tablemates and gave a little wave.

Flynn wasn't the first to react to the bell, but she was a quick walker. Because of this, she was one of the first to get to the food line and get her food.
A quick glance at the Billboard reminded her that they had new seating. Just four more people she didn't really know and probably wouldn't get along with.

Noah nodded his thanks to the food distributor before moving on to his seat. He'd nearly forgotten about the scheduled seating arrangement and had to change mid-course so as not to end up at his previous table. With an inaudible sigh, he glanced appraisingly at his seatmates before quickly taking his seat. He smiled faintly at the one who waved, but otherwise kept silent as he struggled to impale his sad-looking veggies with a flimsy plastic fork.

Holly had her nose buried in a book that she had brought along. She wasn't a huge fan of socializing, plus there was the fact that her tablemates probably didn't want to talk to her, anyway. She was ust a short girl with a reading addiction, nothing cool. Also, they weren't allowed to talk. There was the hand gestures and writing on paper, but that took longer than anyone liked.

Caspian was already seated at his assigned table when the others came to eat. He glanced up at all of them once they were seated, but didn’t greet them and quickly went back to reading the book he’d brought along. It wasn’t a very entertaining read - it was a biology textbook, after all, but it was the only thing he owned that he hadn’t read five times over.

(bump)

((Maybe I'm just speaking for myself, but it's kind of hard to advance the plot when they're not supposed to be talking?))

(That's true, I just need one more person to respond so I can further the plot… actually, nevermind. I can get something up, probably. Sorry.)

A wind seemed to blow through the cafeteria, though no one but the teens at the table would feel it. It brought the sound of whispers and eerie voices, they would all feel… something. A burst of heat, maybe, or cold. Something to tell of what was to come.

When the wind blew through, Holly gave the tiniest of gasps. Her head erupted in pain, and she clutched it, clenching her teeth. Pictures flashed through her mind, going too fast for her to tell what they were, until it slowed, to a vision of Racers, bursting in through the ceiling. The scene looked exactly like the cafeteria did now, with the enormous clock on the wall. The clock read 14:31.

It was currently 14:30.

She shook her head. She was tired. Nothing would happen, right? This base was a safe place, there was no way they could be found out, not now. She was just afraid. The tension was affecting her. That was it. Soothed, she started to eat.

And then the ceiling collapsed in the middle.

Flynn looked up in confusion as one of the other girls clutched her head. That wasn't something normal, and something that probably wasn't allowed. She ignored it, going back to her mush.

And then the ceiling collapsed in the middle.

Flynn jumped up in surprise, narrowly avoiding her leg getting crushed. "What's happening?" She hissed, loud enough for the others at the table to hear her but soft enough to not be heard by anyone else.

"Racers!" Holly shouted, through the noise of the collapsing. She didn't know how she knew, she just did. She looked at the others at her table. Somehow, they would be important. She beckoned them. "This way!"

Any attempt to skewer his vegetables was abandoned as a sudden wall of wind rushed into him. The flimsy plastic fork fell from Noah's grasp and his spine went rigid. For the tiniest moment, he could've sworn the smell of sad cafeteria food had been drowned out by the unmistakable earthy tones of dirt, and that the stagnant atmosphere had been penetrated by a breeze of fresh, midsummer evening air.

And then it was gone.

He was so unnerved by what had happened that he almost didn't see his tablemate clutch her head in what looked to be some migraine-level discomfort. Almost.

Noah didn't have time to properly process what was going on, so when the ceiling caved in and things went to hell, he was one of the first out of his seat. Without direction, and with the shout of "Racers!", his body made the decision to follow Holly before his brain could catch up.

The ceiling collapsed straight in front of their table and Farren murmured a curse. Farren looked around frantically, not really knowing what to do.
He narrowed his eyes and he swore that something strange filled the cafeteria, but just as it had arrived, it left. He searched the eyes of his tablemates, trying to see if they too noticed the peculiar thing that had just swept through. He couldn't tell if the dining room grew colder or if it was simply him. He dragged himself out of his thoughts as he ran to catch up to Holly.

Flynn hurried to chase Holly, just wanting to get out of there. If Racers where here, shit was gonna go down. She didn't want to be in the area when that happened.
As she ran, she felt hot. Not a sweaty hot, but an internal hot. She tried to ignore it, pushing yet another feeling aside. She just wanted to get out of there.

Holly led them down a narrow hall, shoving past people who were heading into the cafeteria to see all the commotion. She didn't know exactly where she was going, but she had this… feeling, an instinct, of where to go. She glanced behind her, making sure that the others were following her, and slid into a closet. She felt along the walls, running her hand along the edge of a shelf, until she felt a button, hidden there. She pressed it, and a door slid open in the wall, a narrow staircase leading up.

She blinked. How had she known that it was there?

Caspian watched as the girl opened up a wall to a staircase. He suddenly regretted following her, wishing he'd just gone on his own. This girl knew some things she shouldn't have. The situation left him feeling strange, and for some reason he felt cold - as if he'd just been hit by a wave of icy water.

"This way," Holly said, her voice quiet and small. She winced.

Sounds of fighting, screaming, and destruction came from behind them, from the cafeteria, and the Racers. How had they got in? And how had they known that this was where there was a base? She shook her head in confusion.

Farren was always complaining that nothing exciting happened, but this was not what he was asking for. His eyes got wide at the sight of the girl opening the hidden staircase. Maybe the girl knew more than she was actually letting on? He quickly scolded himself in his thoughts, at least she was getting them out of there. Plus, maybe the others had strange feelings too. In the back of his mind, he thought that he could hear a storm. The rain, the thunder… Though, that was quite impossible. It's just the commotion of the Racers, right? Still, his mind did not think so.

Why were they all just standing there? Didn't they realize that bad things would happen if they waited here? Holly looked at the four of the desperately. "Please, come! We don't have any time! They could come any second!"

Noah blinked himself out of his stupor, nodding once. "…Right, sorry," he replied quietly, his voice a little hoarse after days of not using it. He could question everything going on later—if they survived, that is. He squeezed into the hallway housing the narrow staircase and, glancing back unsurely, began to climb.

Caspian glanced at the others around him, then hesitantly followed the other boy onto the staircase.