The boat left and the mallrats still looked for a while at their city remembering everything they had experienced in it and how many times they had fought to control it and be able to make it a better place and now everything happened all over again, they had to leave their home because of a virus.
At least this time they left their home as a family, not totally complete but a family.
Jack had his arm around Ellie's shoulder while she was watching with saddens in her eyes how the distance to the city grew and Jack didn't notice but she past her hand slowly over her stomach.
How was she going to make it? Now that she didn't have to think about just herself anymore, no now she had to think for two. If at least Alice was there, she missed her so much and she refused to accept the idea she would never see her again. They were sisters and Ellie knew her older sister was somewhere out there waiting for her.
She turned her head slowly and observed Jack without him noticing, he would never leave her, they loved each other and they knew, but she just couldn't tell him.
Close to them was Lex, he too was looking at the city, so many times had he tried to get away and he always ended up going back but not this time. The strange thing he wasn't sure if he liked the idea of going away or not.
He had so many times found a girl that suited him and he loved, Zandra, Tai-San and Siva and now all three of them were gone, two of them dead for sure.
But he still had hope, yes he could still hope, two were buried but Tai-San was still alive and he would find out were as soon as he could, but for now he had to wait and see how things developed.
Lex: "Okay guys, who else thinks it's time for lunch?"
Amber: "Food… Oh no."
Lex: "You are not telling me our great leaders forgot about food??"
Jay: "As far as I know you are a leader too and if you hadn't noticed we were quite occupied trying to get out of the city, alive!"
Salene: "May can't you ask the Trader is he has some food with him?"
May: "I'm not sure… he is not the kind of person who likes to share; we haven't even paid him or pretend to pay him."
Unknown: "You're right there May, that's why you're lucky I'm here and not my brother."
May: "Michael! What are you doing here? Where is Trader?"
Michael: "I guess by now he is in hell, we left the city without him."
May: "What?! Don't feel attacked but can you even control the boat? Do you even know where you are taking us?"
Michael: "May I'm not the same scared boy you met nearly two years ago, I've grown up and I'm not like my brother and I had enough of his orders and all his evil plans to make loads and loads useless profit. He has been pushing me around since our parents died and using me to get his dirty jobs done.
You sounded all pretty hungry, there is a cupboard in the cabin full of food, it's just a few cans with baked beans but you know nowadays everything is better than anything. So, if you want to prepare some food go ahead and meanwhile I can tell you about my plans."
Amber: "That is very kind from you, Salene, May if you wouldn't mind getting something ready."
Salene: "Sure Amber. Let's go May".
Trudy: "I'll help you."
Amber with Bray Jr., Jay, Lex, Jack, Ellie, Slade, Ebony, Ram and Michael sat down on the floor and form a circle. Meanwhile Sammy, Gel, Lottie and Brady are cueing up in the kitchen and Ruby is poring some cold can food in each of the plates.
Michael: "There is an island…"
Lex: "Wait how do we know we can trust him? He left his brother behind in the city to die!"
Michael: "That is not totally true; he escaped with loads of our goods on a techno truck and left me behind…"
Amber: "I'm sorry Michael, that was not very nice from your brother… but we do trust you please tell us about that island."
Lex was about to interrupt again but suddenly he needed to hang over the side of the boat and you could hear grouse noises while he was emptying his stomach.
Ram: "That's one little problem fixed."
Michael: "Okay, I wanted to tell you about an island my father used to own, it's not well known because it was sort of kept in secret. It was a holiday resort for really rich and posh people, our guests used to be the most known pop stars and big billionaires who had all those business empires.
Anyway, my brother and I used this boat only to get there and then we would take one of the other boats, there is a couple of big sailing boats but the most useful are this huge speed boats, they are bigger than some houses."
Ram: "What do we want to know all this for?"
Ebony: "Shut up Ram and let him finish."
Michael: "Thank you em…"
Ebony: "It's Ebony."
Michael: "Thanks Ebony. Anyway where was I…?"
You can tell Michael is not used to so much attention and is getting more nervous as he sees everybody is watching him but he forces himself to focus again and continue, he doesn't want them to think he is a scared little boy like may thinks he is.
Slade: "Don't worry; we are not going to kill you if you can't promise us paradise."
Ellie: "We definitely had enough of paradise."
All glimpsed at Ram who just stared at the floor.
Even if they couldn't believe it, he was ashamed of what he had done to all those people and grateful for them taking him in, that didn't change the fact though that he was a genius and geniuses simply do crazy stuff sometimes.
Michael: "This Island is just half a day away. I thought we could go there and pack enough supplies on the big speed boats; there are three of them so there is enough space for everyone. The place is full of clothes so we can all change into something clean and it has its one water system so we can even have a shower."
Jack: "That sounds all great but I don't think we can stay there for longer than a day. It's a risk anyway because we don't know how far the virus is going to spread but I doubt that it will only stay in the city."
Ram: "He is right there. It won't go very far but we should have a few days journey between us and the city, just in case."
Amber: "How about if we go there for today and get us ready to leave tomorrow morning when the sun comes out?"
Jay: "Sounds perfect to me. Has anyone got something against that plan? No? Okay that's done then, let's go and have some food."
Everybody moved away satisfied with what they had decided for now.
Only Ram stood up and watches the last bit of the city disappear and he couldn't help it but he thought about Java, they could have been so happy together.
But he knew there was no point thinking about that anymore, he had to move on and it looked as if the mallrats were going to be his future for now.
He had to admit that for once it didn't feel bad not having all the responsibility and having to think constantly about the next move.
Thinking about moves he asked himself when Lex would come up with what Mega had told him.
Even if Lex didn't say anything they would end up asking him what he had done to their friends and he had decided it was time for the truth.