A/N: Chapter25 will come out later today.

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ChapterTwentyFour: The Fence

November 2155

Hannah arrived home after meeting with her friends and mate. She still held the history books in her backpack. It was getting heavier by the minute, yet the bag felt much lighter. She guessed that she might have gained superhuman strength that the Hunters were projected to have. She felt her forearms for any muscle definition. There was actually, but still feminine enough.

She walked up to her house. She took a deep breathe, trying to calm her newly heighten emotions. She had a sense that her parents weren't exactly crazy about Natives. Her father even told her to not venture outside the city. She never really thought about going to see what was outside the city. Yet after being bitten, now she was curious to know what was beyond the fence.

Without any further delay, she opened the door. She looked around, making sure her parents weren't around. She silently snuck inside the house, making sure to make as little noise as possible.

As she crept to her room upstairs, she heard her mother's voice asking her, "Hannah?"

Hannah stood there, scared to face her. She bit her lip, and slowly turned to her. She said nervously, "Hi, mom."

Suddenly, her father walked up to the mom. He demanded, "Where are you even going lately? You've been out for several nights now!"

Just as Hannah was about to speak up, she noticed her parents staring at her face. They noticed her Gen-Mod-approved makeup foundation was beginning to fade. They saw a pale, purple-bluish bruise underneath the makeup that was beginning to melt. Then their eyes followed down to her fingers. They noticed the fingers had white bandages on the tips.

The father asked as his voice stiffened, "What are you?"

Hannah's face paled even more than it was even possible. She could tell her parents found out she's now a Hunter. She stood there, speechless as she stared at her parents through her sun-goggles.

The father repeated himself with an added stern tone to his voice. Hannah gulped nervously as she replied, "I'm...I'm a Hunter...the official name of those Natives...and those that came with us from Earth..."

The parents gasped in shock when they heard the news. Their own daughter is now a Hunter? Even more troubling, how did she know about those monsters? She could see her parents questioning all of this. She sighed with a nervous shake as she explained, "I...I found out from one of my friends."

The mother demanded, "Was it that mutant girl from the Surface Earth?"

Hannah retorted, "Mom! She's Gen-Mod!"

"Same thing!"

She sighed out of frustration, and said, "Look, I was bitten by a Native Hunter! But I'm not a monster! I'm still human. I'm still your little girl. I'm still a big sister to Alex and Ryley!"

Suddenly, there was silence. Her parents just stared at her with a mixture of emotions, such as anger and sadness. There was this uneasy silence until the father told her, "You're grounded."

Hannah bit her lip as she nodded, trying to hold back tears. She walked up to her room, and closed the door calmly. She dropped her backpack to the floor, and flopped onto her bed, crying into her pillow; crying over the fact that her parents don't see her as their human daughter anymore. She was now a monster in their eyes.

Hannah...a faint voice was heard in Hannah's head as she was sleeping. It was a cool night, roughly around midnight. The drama from earlier tired her out. She went to bed earlier than usual: 10pm.

When she heard the voice, she was deep asleep. Then voice repeated herself, slowly getting louder. It was stirring Hannah, slowly waking her up. The voice got loud enough to actually wake her up. Hannah's eyes opened wide. She grabbed her phone, and looked her eyes. They were still a very dull, almost colorless blue. She breathed a sigh of relief as her Hunter mode had not emerged yet.

Suddenly, she heard the same voice in her head. She groaned in pain as she held her head. Then the voice said, Hannah! This is Cassie! Can you hear me?

Hannah sat there on her bed. The voice sounded like Cassie's, especially since she said her own name. Then a word came to her mind: Mindlink. She gained this ability, but questioned how that was possible. Only the Gen-Mods had this ability.

She grabbed her phone, and texted Cassie, "Cass, did you mindlink me?"

After a minute or two, Cassie texted back, "Yeah. That was me."

"Okay, I don't know how to mindlink back. I thought only Gen-Mods had this ability."

"Yes, but it turns out that the Hunters also have this ability. Anyway, meet me at the corner from where your house is. There's something important I have to tell and show you. And bring those books with you."

"I'm grounded. And why?"

"I'll tell you in a bit. And please sneak out. This is important."

Hannah sighed. She got out of her bed, grabbed a hoodie, and her sneakers. She grabbed her backpack that still held the books. Her house was a one-story house, so she was able to sneak out of her window successfully and quietly.

She walked to the corner near her house, and saw Cassie's car. Well, borrowed car from Breyden. Cassie saw her, so she opened the door for her. Hannah got in and buckled up as soon as Cassie drove off.

Hannah asked as she yawned, "So where are we going?"

Cassie replied, "We're going to the Fence."

"What? Why?"

"That's where Liam, James, and Damon are at. I'll tell you more once we're there."

Hannah sighed as she looked out the window until she fell asleep. Before she knew it, they were at the Fence. Cassie woke her up. Hannah asked groggily, "Where are we?"

"At the fence."

"How long was I out?"

"Thirty minutes. Seriously, that's how long the drive is from your house to here."

So they two got out of the car. Hannah grabbed her backpack, and walked up to the guys. She asked Liam, "How are you holding up so far?"

Liam sighed, "I'm trying."

Hannah nodded and sighed. Then she looked at the fence. It was high with barbed wires. She saw at a distance a watchtower with the lights on. She assumed there was some military guards at the post. She then faced her friends and James. She asked, "So why do you all need the books?"

Cassie replied, "I only need the books. I asked the guys here because we all got stuff we must discuss."

"Okay...so why do you need the books?"

Cassie sighed, "My brother. He somehow deduced that I knew some stuff about the Natives. He got it out of me, so I told him that you have these history books concerning the Natives. He wants them, and he's going to give them to Lieutenant Commander Aaron."

"Lieutenant Commander Aaron?"

"Yeah. He's one of the main commanders for the city. Breydan told me that the military in all of the Six-City-States are working with the Central Government in Landon to get more information on the Natives. The issue is even more urgent since it's been revealed that the Hunters were also living on Earth and there had been reports of Normals being turned by the Hunters. They got a new name: the Bitten."

Hannah asked, "And what is the government going to do with this information? The history has too many holes in it!"

"That...I can't deduce. I assume the government this time is blocking this. I can't even tell if it's good or bad. I just know the government wants this information badly."

Hannah sighed. Then James spoke up, "There's another reason why I wanted everyone here."

Hannah asked, "What is it?"

"Those Native Hunters somehow got into this city. The question is how. This fence is looks like it has electricity, so the Natives couldn't have broken through."

"Well, Mason told me how it's done."

James' demeanor changed as soon as he heard Mason's name. He asked reluctantly, "What did he tell you?"

Hannah, ignoring the change in attitude, replied, "Some of the City Natives leave their cities and meet up with some of the Forest Natives. They would climb up to the Central Transit Center, where all of the commuter trains would stop at. Those Natives would climb up as the building is not on ground, and try to blend in with the Gen-Mods transferring trains. Then they'll go into the cities of their choice."

James scoffed, "They must be good climbers if they could climb that high."

Damon added, "We are."

Everyone looked at him. He explained, "It's like how the Gen-Mods can climb. We climb as well as they can. But there's not much room to climb when we're underground."

James said, "What if those fuckers climbed over the fence?"

Liam said, "They can't. Everyone knows this fence has electricity."

With that, Hannah picked up a stick that was on the ground. She threw onto the fence. Everyone stood back as the fence fried the stick. Suddenly, the light from the watchtower shone on the group. Everyone except Cassie and Liam covered their highly sensitive eyes. They immediately heard a male's voice on the loudspeakers nearby, saying, "Kids, go back to your homes!"

The light then moved away from them. As they were about to walk back to their cars, they heard a whimper. They looked at each other, wondering who made that sound. Then they heard whimper again. They looked at the fence. They were surprised by what they saw.

They saw a little boy outside of the fence. His clothes were ragged, colorless, and torn all over. His messy brown hair was in front of his face, but you could see he was both scared and sad. He looked at them with pleading eyes.

Hannah walked up to the fence, but still kept a distance from it. She asked the boy softly, "Are you okay? Where's your parents?"

The boy cocked his head to the right side, as if he didn't understand a word she said. Suddenly, she saw a woman in clothes that had seen better years walk up to the boy. She picked him up, and he hugged her neck. The woman looked at Hannah, and just growled at her, baring her sharp fangs. Then she turned away, and walked off. Hannah stood there, couldn't think of a word to say. Yet, everyone knew one thing: They had just met the Forest Natives.