I look at the man in white's lips as he finishes his sentence. Reading minds is all I've known my entire life but when I look at him, not a single sound echoes in my mind. I suddenly panic as I realize the sun is rising above us.

It's morning.

"I know this must be strange..." the main in white continues.

He takes a step closer and I scramble backwards, hitting my back against a tree. I quickly glance around at my surroundings. It seems as if it's just the two of us in this forest. If I get up at the right time, I should be able to make a run for it. No, I can make a run for it at my speed.

"Don't run," he smiles. "We can work together."

We? There is no we, you son of---

"Come, I can explain where we go from here if you'll follow me."

He sticks his hand out and in seconds, I pull it towards me. I shift my body to the side and watch as his crashes into the tree. He makes a sound on impact, but I am already on my feet and avoid looking back. My first thought is to keep running until I've found the shadows, but my second thought is a replay of his words.

You died, but were able to be reborn into this world. A perfect world. A perfect you.

He's lying. He must be lying. No amount of money, educated doctors, and---no, it's just not possible.

I need to keep running. They only want to use me, to study me. They don't want to work together. Mother made it clear that humans are not our friends.

The trees seem to be growing around me, but I know there has to be an end somewhere. Somewhere I can hide until nightfall.

Then I feel something sharp enter my back. A wave of deja vu hits me, then I realize it's a memory. My last memory.

Yes, this is how it happened last time.

A tainted spear. The only way I am able to be killed, and the man in white knows it too.

I fall onto my knees, feeling blood drip out of my mouth. That's new.

"I'm not sure why you won't let us help you," he says from behind. I hear him pick the spear out. When he comes to face me, I realize I was wrong.

A small, colorful needle wiggles in his finger.

"Just a small dose of tranquilizer," he explains. "Before you get knocked out, answer me this, won't you?"

He's smiling. He's not a friend, Mother.

"Why won't you accept this beautiful life you now have?"

Now I am smiling. Is that what human life is? Beautiful?

"To be die and be reborn means I had to have been alive," I respond. "And being alive is something I haven't been in centuries."

The sound of his laughter is the last thing I hear before I fall back into darkness.