Meet The Gang

"Hey everyone, this is Chloe and Lucy!" Paige, now Madison, announced proudly as she led the two newbies through into the spacious main building where the rest of the group were assembled. Lucy was the name Jade had come up with in the seconds she had between meeting Ellie and Paige and being taken inside "Lucy is from the UK, and it doesn't seem like any of the hunters are aware she is even in this country, which could come in very useful. Chloe, on the other hand, is being very closely monitored. It's a miracle we got to her before they did"

"Are you sure you weren't followed?"

The woman who spoke first referred to herself as Kara.

That obviously wasn't her actual name. If Ellie had really wanted to, she could have trawled through the Cursed Cuties database and uncovered everyone's true identities, but it felt safer not to have that information at all.

Officially, there was no leader of the group, but unofficially it soon became clear it was Kara. She seemed to be the chief strategist and was the only one who had the details to contact her equivalents in the other regions, as well as being the only one who they would even open emails or texts from.

"Yeah, we're good" Paige answered, deciding it best not to mention that Jade had managed to tail them without being noticed.

"This place is starting to fill up" a stunning woman with long, blonde hair noted "I don't mind rooming with one of the newbies"

She was calling herself Angel, and seemed the friendliest of Ellie's three newest acquaintances based on first impressions.

"Thanks Angel, I'm going to be sharing with Chloe so you can go with Lucy" Paige quickly decided.

"So what happens if we keep finding new people? Have we even thought about that?" the other person in the room asked.

Raven gave off an athletic, tomboyish energy. Ellie could see she wasn't being unfriendly or trying to cause negativity with her remark. It was an entirely practical consideration that had quickly occurred to Ellie herself.

"Honestly, I'm not sure how many more people we are going to find" Kara answered "We'll keep looking, obviously. But the numbers of unclaimed are dwindling daily, and those who haven't been found yet are probably pretty good at hiding. Some might have fled the country, like Lucy did. I doubt we will have to worry about this place overflowing any time soon"

"So are we going to get our makeovers now?" Paige asked "I'm starting to feel very nervous going out looking exactly like I do in the photos on that fucking website"

"Do I need one if I'm not in the US part of the database?" Jade asked, hoping the answer would be no.

"You're probably okay for now" Kara decided "And the makeovers aren't mandatory. I've lost so much already, nobody is touching my hair. I know Angel feels the same way. The only real advantage is that it saves the hassle of having to disguise yourself each time you go outside. But I think with both Madison and Chloe - I know who you are Chloe - being literally right at the top of the wanted list, those two can't take any chances"

While Angel - a hairstylist by trade - took Paige to be given her new look, Ellie was left to get to know the other three.

Kara was working as a lawyer until a few days ago and, though she played it down, Ellie got the impression she had been a very accomplished one. She had fled as soon as she saw her name on Brendan's master list, leaving her career and fiance behind. Home had been somewhere in Louisiana, but Kara wouldn't divulge more than that. None of the group was actually from Alabama but Angel, an Oklahoma native, had in-laws who owned the ranch and didn't mind her staying there indefinitely. Paige was from Florida, not too far from Miami, Raven hailed from somewhere in Tennessee and Jade came from Lincoln in northern England.

Jade was a sweet young woman who seemed to have been a receptionist of some sort before fleeing to the US, basically burning through all of her savings to do so. No female with Petersen blood from Lincoln would have stood a chance of remaining unclaimed unless they had left immediately. It was referenced in the documentary as the nerve centre of the curse, with significantly more women per square mile carrying it than anywhere else on the planet. As such it had been utterly besieged by hunters from the start. Alabama, in contrast, had very few listed curse carriers compared to most states, so was seen as a relatively safe place to hide. Ellie was happy Jade had made it there.

Raven was too cautious to reveal much more about her background than her home state and that she worked with code, and Ellie had no intention of prying any further, but she seemed pleasant, just guarded, which was more than understandable with all things considered.

"Okay, I'm done. Chloe, you're up" Paige announced as she stepped back into the room.

"Wow" Ellie remarked as she took in Paige's new bleach blonde, shorter haired appearance "Just wow. To think you were worried about how you were going to look"

"Angel is very good at what she does, it transpires" Paige giggled.

Ellie was whisked away and, after a pleasant conversation with the easy going stylist, she too looked markedly different. Her hair was now dyed red and she had replaced her glasses with contact lenses.

"I feel so much safer now. Even I don't recognise me" Ellie beamed as she reentered the main room.

"So this is what Chloe looks like. Just as hot as before, but a totally different kind of hot" Paige reacted positively.

The group had dinner together, after which it was decided, with Paige having returned from her earlier excursions with not one but two new Unclaimed, that it was best to lay low for the evening.

Both Ellie and her new roommate had endured long days and needed an early night, so retired to their room together;

"I hope you don't mind me not wearing anything in bed. I literally can't sleep unless I'm nude" Paige apologised.

"Of course not, whatever feels comfortable" Ellie tried to sound as blasé as she could about the magnificent sight in front of her. Sleeping next to that body every night was not going to quell the inappropriate crush she was quickly developing on her new best friend "I'll sleep in my underwear. I need to buy some new clothes tomorrow though. I only have what I'm wearing, everything else was either at home or in my car"

"I'm almost in the same boat, we can go together" Paige smiled as she climbed into bed "I feel like you and I are going to be super close from now on"

"Yeah.." was all a highly self conscious Ellie could respond with as she stripped down to her bra and panties and joined her buddy under the covers.

As she shut her eyes, Ellie felt a strange and unexpected sense of excitement. What had started as the worst day of her life now felt like the beginning of a new adventure. A life on the lam with her impossibly sexy new friends. Of course, once the novelty of that had worn off, and the cold hard reality and impracticalities her new existence had set in, she would doubtless feel differently. But this still seemed like a far better alternative to retaining her usual, mundane lifestyle while being under the control of her boyfriend. Like everyone here, Ellie was still in charge of her own destiny, and that was what mattered most.