Resistance

Part 1

In the Wild

The campfire had been reduced to a small pile of glowing embers. Tally quietly sat up and added wood to the fire. She stoked the fire, and looked over at sleeping David. In the light of the fire, he looked so innocent, and peaceful. Tally shuddered at the memory of what she thought of him when she first saw him, almost a year ago, while she was with Zane. In the quiet of the night, Tally could almost imagine she was a full-crazy special again. Every small, almost unhearable, noise, Tally heard. Only when she looked down at David, did she remember who she really was; Tally.

Her Special mind was cured.

Off to the distance, she heard a loud crunch. It was louder than it should for any animal. She quickly woke up David.

"David, someone's here. They're hiding in the bushes." She pointed towards where the noise came from. David and Tally jumped up and prepared for a fight. Then came the voice.

"Relax, Tally-wa, it's me," a figure leapt out from behind the bushes.

"Shay? What are you doing here?"

"Surprised to see me? You should be the last time we talked, or rather, the last time you pinged me, was almost four months ago, and then you waltzed off with David, and starting calling yourselves the resistance."

Tally still felt a stab of guilt; the last time any of her old friends from the cutters had spoken to her was when she told them she was leaving, but not gone, because she will be watching from the distance. She is the new resistance.

"I'm sorry Shay-la, but it had to be done. It still is being done. You take one step too far, and David and I might have to step in."

"That's why I'm here, Tally-wa, this whole resistance isn't going to work. People are talking in almost all of the cities, that it's time to dig up the ground and get the metal out from the ground like Rusties. How do you plan to stop all of the cities, when it is just David and you?"

David and Tally exchanged a glance. David spoke up,

"See, Shay, that's where you are wrong. Tally and I are not the only resistance. We are just the only ones living in the wild. All of our fellow members are safely in their rooms of your little cities. We get all of the information you do."

"That makes things trickier, David, but how many people can you have? Most people like the changes we've made."

"Think again, Shay. Things have changed, but not everyone likes what might happen to the world."

Shay hunched her shoulders and hissed, "Tally, I've seen you do some pretty stupid things, but this is the worst. First you decide to become something that is going to be hated. Second you are doing it with him. "

Tally flinched from the brutality in Shay's words. David protectively put his arm around Tally.

"Well, Shay-la, it's nice for your concern, but it's time you go back to whichever city you are staying at. You can leave David and I alone, we're big kids. But don't think this is the last time we'll see you. Like I said, one step in the wrong direction, and things could get a bit tricky. "

Shay turned to leave, retreating back into the forest.

"And Shay-la? I'm not the only one whose done stupid things, I seem to remember you've done some pretty random things."

Shay never even looked back.

Tally flicked on her Infra-red vision and watched as a yellow-orange blob slowly faded away. As she clicked it off, she turned to David, "I hate saying mean things to her."

"It's the only way, Tally. We have to ensure that she doesn't think we are messing around here."

"I know, but still, how would you feel telling Maddy you were going against everything she believes in?"

"That's not the same, Tally. Shay is not your mother. She's just a friend. A friend who has betrayed you multiple times." His eyes held a serious gaze. Tally shrank back involuntarily. She looked away from his stare, and poked the embers of the fire. David was right. Shay had left Tally behind when they were tracking Zane only five months ago. She turned her into a special. Shay was responsible for making Tally rewire herself, again. Tally wasn't sure how many more times one person can rewire themselves. Tally hoped she was rewired for the last time.

"Let's just get out of here, I didn't think we would be that easy to track, but Shay found us. I really don't want any more 'surprises' from any of my friends." Tally started to fold up her sleeping bag. David knelt to the ground and folded his too. He sat in silence as Tally cleared all of their marks on the land. She took one last glance around the clearing, and could not tell anyone had stayed there. She picked up the sack and shruged it on her shoulders. David stood up and walked next to Tally. Minutes passed in silence.

David spoke up. "Do you believe her?"

Tally was distraced by the sudden question, "Do I believe her?" she echoed.

"Shay. She hates us. She hates you because of me. Do you believe what we are doing is stupid?"

Tally turned to face David, "David, this is not the time to have doubts about the resistance. We have to keep going, keep trying. You can't listen to what people like Shay-la say. It'll only psych you out."

It was David's turn to be confused. "The resistance? I was talking about us. Do you think we are stupid? I know Shay has always told you since you got back to New Pretty Town that I am nothing, and that you should forget about me. When I first saw you again as a Pretty, I saw the hurt in your eyes, the ohmygod-he-is-ugly look. And then again, when you were a Special, I saw the supiority in your eyes. Yet, everytime it seems to disappear as you rewire yourself around the issue. You are the strongest, bravest person I have ever met. I love you with all of my heart. Do you think we are stupid?"

Tally stopped completley. "David. I. Will. Never. Think. That. I love you, sometimes I think it's too much for our own good. But the thing is, I'm not strong, or brave. I've always done what I needed to do, to be normal. Doctor Cable threatened to withold the Pretty surgary, I went after you and Shay. Zane was sick and I needed to find your mom, I escaped from New Pretty. I wanted Zane back, but as a Cutter, I forced him to run away too. I've never done anything tricky. I've always just tried to be normal, and in the end, I've always tried to remain me. Even now, I have the body of a Special, but an Ugly mind. If I ever thought you and I were stupid, I would not have asked you to come with me, to risk everything, and to ask you to leave Maggy for a long time."

David let a sigh of relief out, "Well, it's a good thing we are heading that way." He smiled and they walked on, laughing and talking into the sunrise.