Powers Dawning

Cameron woke up and was instantly ready for action. It had taken him a long time to be able to do that but then again he had had quite a long time on his hands. He had lived on the streets since he had been abandoned on the side of the road at 6 years of age. Since then he had found ways to survive on the streets. Cameron thought he was about 17-18 years old though if the truth were to be told he wasn’t really quite sure. 1

He sat up and looked around him; he was in one of his favourite haunts. It was an empty building in a line of old shops. There was a power station over the road which probably was illegal being so close to the commercial area. Most people didn’t like being near the big building but Cameron had always liked how the power station made everything around him feel charged. He stood up and grabbed his knives; he knew how to use them though he preferred fists. He went to the mirror and looked at his reflection. He was about average in height at 5 feet 10 inches. He had tanned skin and a little bristle where he had forgotten to shave the other night. He quickly combed his hair, unlike most guys he preferred his hair at shoulder length it was typical brown colour with not much to separate it from anyone else. Overall there were only two things that made Cameron look any different than anyone else. First of all he was fit, really fit. He didn’t go to the gym or anything but if there was any fat on him it must have been under his fingernails. The other thing was his eyes, they were yellow like a cats' and though he didn’t realise it they allowed him to see in the dark better than most people, all he knew s that when it got dark he had no problem seeing everything at night. Here he looked around to see if anybody was near. He definitely didn’t want anyone else to know about his hideout and the social services people had a bad habit of finding anyone who got careless. Last time they had taken his stuff and kicked him out of the building he had been staying in. He was legally an adult now but they could still kick him out if they wanted to.2

When he was certain that no-one was around he took a running start and jumped to the building beside his. He then climbed up the side of the building and lowered himself over the wall to the next shop. He kept going like this, he was used to it. Since the year after he had been kicked out by his parents he had seen a group of kids running around on the rooftops and ever since then he had decided he would be a “Parkour”. A Parkour grabbed a map drew a straight line from here to there and went that way. Over houses, in the sewers they just kept going. 3

After over 10 years of this Cameron found that he was always more nervous wide open areas. He preferred to keep an escape route in sight and that usually meant the rooftops or the sewer ways. He could just about outrun just about anybody but he new his way around better up high or down low than he did on the streets. 4

It was blisteringly hot, just the way Cameron liked it. He loved the feel of the sun and couldn’t understand why most people liked to stay indoors. He’d never been sunburnt in his life though he was outside almost all the time. Personally he thought that if he had to stay inside he would either die of boredom or breakout in a day. When he got to his destination he saw an old piece of wood which had scratchings etched into it. To most people the scratchings were random and wild but in reality it was a sort of code. Cameron looked at the “notice board” and swore. It looked as if someone was making up a gang in his neighbourhood. There were two things Cameron new for certain about gangs, one they always wanted to fight and two, even if you join one it’s usually more trouble than its worth. Mainly because the leaders of the gangs only ever thought about themselves. 5

The guy that wanted to start the gang had left a place to meet so Cameron decided it would be best to see if he could find out what sort of guy he was dealing with. He stole a bun from a vendor while he wasn’t looking and started heading to the meeting place. The meeting place was an alley off the main street. Cameron smiled at the cliché. He got on top of a building and sat there while he waited. After a while guys started showing up. First was a girl who looked like she was bored, and then came three guys who were the sort he classified as muscle men. And then finally came the head guy. You could tell he was the guy who’d left the message because he had a self satisfied sort of look that said “I’m the top dog.”6

“O.K” said Top Dog “first things first, what’s your name and why should I let you in?”7

One of the muscle men said “Were all called Brad and were good in a fight.”8

Cameron almost laughed aloud at this.9

“You’re all called Brad?” asked Top Dog.10

“Yep,” said another Brad “That a problem?”11

“Not really” said Top Dog again, “and why should I let you in missy?”12

“Cause I can steal just about anything.”13

“Really?” said Top Dog.14

“Yeah, and you’ll get your wallet back if I can join.”15

Cameron snorted as he saw Top Dog reach for his pocket, he liked that girl.16

Unfortunately Top Dog must have heard him.17

“Who’s there?” demanded Top Dog.18

“Who wants to know?” replied Cameron19

“My name’s Sam”20

“Huh, well Sam, if you’re planning on setting up shop around here I’d appreciate it if you moved on.”21

“Oh,” smirked Sam “and why’s that?”22

“Cause it would be a problem if you tried to mug me, I might hurt someone.”23

“Right so you’re wanting to join too hey?”24

“Me? No, been there done that, no I just wanted to see what sort of gang you were starting. Answer to that is, I’m not really impressed.”25

Cameron always enjoyed baiting people; with this guy it was easier than usual but still fun.26

“Well mister big stuff you better watch your back cause sooner or later we’ll meet you again. In the meantime… Brad, why don’t you get him down?”27

“Our pleasure” replied the Brads.28

Cameron snorted “Yeah Brad why don’t you come get me down.”29

He shouted insults at the Brads until they were on the landing below him. Then, just as they thought there was nowhere for him to run to he climbed on top of the rail and jumped, landing on the fire escape below on the building on the opposite side of the alley. From here he climbed to the roof in a fraction of the time it would have taken the Brad’s.30

“Last and only warning.” said Cameron, he wasn’t joking anymore. He was deadly serious, “Don’t hang around, find some other place.”31

He smiled again, suddenly back to the impetuous kid again and looked at the girl/thief, “You however, I won’t mind meeting again, what was your name?”32

She smiled from where she had been watching the charade, “My name’s April.”33

“Pretty name for a pretty girl. I’ll be seeing you again, bonvoyage.” And with that he set off seemingly leaving. Once he was out of site he circled back to see the aftermath.34

When he got back the Brad’s were just getting down from the fire escape, all of them looking disappointed.35

“What did that guy say his name is?” Sam asked all of them.36

“He didn’t,” said April “though he does know all of our names.”37

“Shit,” swore Sam, “Did you see that jump? He must be crazy, wouldn’t have wanted him to join anyway.”38

“Sure not,” said April, “so are we going to have some base or something?”39

“Of course,” said Sam, “Why do you think I chose this area, empty buildings everywhere; tomorrow all we have to do is pick one, after that we’ll make sure the locals know that there is now a new gang running the street.” He smiled as he concluded his speech.40

April looked a little troubled “So this is where we’ll meet tomorrow?”41

“Nah, that other guy knows about this spot lets meet in the building across from the power station, it’s huge.”42

Cameron swore under his breathe, as he jogged back to his hideout. No way was he going to move just because some new gang decided to set up shop in his house. He kept on thinking as he jumped over a ledge and onto the next roof. The only real options he had were to either move which was immediately dismissed or to find some place in the building where he could hide away. Cameron started thinking of possibilities and went over his mental blueprint of the building. As he looked at a few areas he realised the basement had some definite possibilities. It had a furnace to keep him warm, was remote and best of all it had two exits, only one of which was on the actual blueprints. The unmarked exit was a manhole exit which opened up in the alleyway beside the building. When he had first gotten to the building the cover had been completely rusted shut but after a while he had managed to get it to open. Cameron sped up as he got closer to the hideout. Once he was inside he grabbed some of his ‘stuff and carried it to the basement. Once he got down he shuddered at how cold it was and quickly lit the furnace. It was a really old one running on wood and with a grate. As he carried the pile of pillows that served for his bed down they caught on fire. After Cameron had beat them out with his hands he decided to take a better look at the furnace. He had left the grate open so that it would get warmer. A flaming log had rolled out and set fire to the pillows as he carried them past. He grabbed the poker and tried to put the log back into the fire but after a few failures he lent over quickly grabbed it and threw it in the furnace. He looked at his hand for burn marks but couldn’t find any. Cameron was a little surprised. He had seen a lot of kids get burned for a lot less than what he had done. He slowly slid his hand into the furnace and wiggled his fingers. It was warm and felt great. Slowly he put his hand in the coals and picked one up. It felt nice and smooth and very comfortable. Overall a very opposite reaction than he had seen in others who had just touched one. He liked the heat and put the cinder in his pocket, promptly setting his clothes on fire. Swearing he slapped out the flames and sadly replaced the coal in the fire and went up stairs to gather the rest of his stuff.43

April went over what she knew of the guy who had crashed Sam’s recruitment. He was definitely a curiosity, with his long hair and suicidal jumps. She turned her thoughts elsewhere, if she was to find a place to spend the night she had better do it fast. The only reason she was joining a gang was because she didn’t want to stay at the shelter anymore. She remembered what Sam had said about their new hideout being abandoned and decided to spend the night there, t was starting to get late and she needed to get somewhere that was safe. She hitched her backpack up further. She wasn’t far from the building but wanted to get there before it got dark. Just as the sun was creeping down over the horizon April arrived at the building and went inside 44