How the other half live
AN: thank you to my first reviewer; Kat183, and to those who have put this on their alerts and have favourite this already, it really means a lot.
To help stop confusion, here are the ages of the OC's that will be in future chapters;
Anwen Sebers- 21 Jack Hamilton- 41
Molly Hamilton- 38 Samantha Charter- 24
Bill Dowdy- 28 Leo Prager- 15
Becki Laymen- 17 Jamie Walters- 7
Lindsay Braff- 10 Lara Kohnert- 13
Riley Curtz- 9
Anyway, on with chapter 2…
Chapter 2:
"Can I poke him with my stick?" a young Jamie Walters asked as he came through the door of the makeshift infirmary for what seemed like the hundredth time that day. Anwen gave him a stern look as she patched up the captains shoulder,
"You dare." Jamie shrugged as he jumped up onto the end of the bed. He tilted his head to one side and squinted,
"Is he dead?"
Anwen laughed lightly before she answered,
"No, he's just unconscious." She answered with a smile.
"He's quite good looking actually." The voice of 13 year old Lara Kohnert filled the room, as she winked at Anwen, the woman in question answered quickly,
"Really? I hadn't noticed." She stated whilst deliberately avoiding looking at the shirtless man in the bed closest to her, "and I think," She changed the subject, "that you should be helping Molly with the cooking, should you not?"
Lara pulled a scornful face and pointed at the smug young boy sitting on the bed, "He gets to be in here, why can't I be in here?"
Anwen rolled her eyes, "He isn't supposed to be in here either. Take him with you." She added as an afterthought with a wave of her hand. Lara sighed dramatically and grabbed the young boy by the wrist and dragged him out of the room.
()()()()()()()()()()
An hour later Anwen was sat opposite Becki Laymen as the group of eleven discussed the next day's hunting schedule,
"I'll go out." Samantha offered whilst chewing a rather large piece of meat, Leo piped up, also with his mouth full,
"Yeah and if the new guy's awake then he can come too."
Anwen's head snapped up, "If he wakes up, then he can go home." She glanced around the group, none of her friend's gazes would meet hers, "what aren't you telling me?" the room fell completely silent, this irritated her no end, "guys?" she growled. Jack Hamilton answered quietly from the other side of the table,
"The gateways closed. Sorry." He looked down at his feet; he of all people knew how much Anwen always set her heart on getting people back to where they belonged. In her six years of being stuck here, she had never given up; so far she had helped three people get home.
"How is the patient anyway?" Becki asked, Anwen opened her mouth to answer but was cut off by a quiet groan from the next room,
"Awake, apparently." Molly Hamilton spoke behind her cup.
Anwen was instantly on her feet, quickly swallowing the last of her water she jogged out of the room. The remaining people at the table shared a knowing smirk.
()()()()()()()()()()
Becker slowly opened his heavy eyelids and made to sit up, his muscles, however, protested as he felt a large wave of pain course through his body and was forced to lay his head against the pillow, he slowly glanced around the room, wondering where the hell he was. He tried moving his legs, they were stiff, as though someone had tied weights to him, he felt virtually pinned to the bed. A sharp pain suddenly swept through his arm, originating in his shoulder. He let out a groan and felt the bandage, he winced as pain shot through his body again as he heard the door to his right open gently, he turned his head to see the girl who had helped him. She gave a weak smile and slowly shut the door behind her. It was now that Becker could actually see her; she wore a large grey jacket over a black vest, with black shorts, grey tights and on her feet was a pair of battered military boot that came up to just below the knee.
"How are you feeling?" she asked, her voice gentle, "Stupid question, I know but I feel obliged to ask." She gave a weak laugh and turned to a small cabinet, pulling out a small syringe, she turned around,
"This should help with the pain." She stated softly, coming to a stand-still beside him, she noticed his confused expression, "Trust me." She added with a smile. When she was done she threw the now empty syringe in a small pot, before moving to the other side of the small room to the improvised fireplace, after adding a few small logs, she turned and brushed herself off,
"Do you want some paper and a pencil, talking can be quiet difficult for a few hours and I imagine you have a few questions."
Becker nodded and gratefully took the small pad from her grasp, he quickly scribbled; what's your name? She smiled and perched herself on the end of his bed,
"I'm Anwen, and you are?"
Becker, where am i?
"We think its America, around the year 6025."
We?
She gave a faint laugh, "There are eleven of us in total, and no doubt you'll meet everyone soon."
Where's the anomaly?
"Anomaly?" she hesitated, "oh you mean the gateways." Becker nodded as she continued her voice getting quieter and quieter, "your anomaly, as you call it, is… well…" she gave up trying to explain and instead looked him dead in the eye as she said; "sorry." Becker understood immediately, the anomaly had closed, leaving him stranded here, the young woman could obviously tell he was disappointed and tried to reason with him, "There is every chance that it might reopen, that sometimes happens here. Don't worry though, you will be looked after." She said with a smile and then mumbled, "Even if it means the occasional day of babysitting." Becker gave a small laugh at this and this in turn seemed to cheer her up as she beamed at him, before a penny seemed to drop in her mind as she realised something,
"Are you hungry? You haven't eaten for two days!" Becker was about to answer but she cut him off, "I'll go get you something, hang on." And with that Becker was left on his own to calmly ponder what had just happened. His mind drifted back to Jess and the others; they wouldn't even know what had happened, or whether he was even alive. He tried to look on the bright side, at least he was actually alive, and there was every chance that the anomaly would re-open at any time. He was dragged out of his thoughts as the door opened again and Anwen walked in, carrying a tray of something that looked like soup with a small slice of bread and a cup of water,
"It's not much, but it's hot, and Molly does make the best soup, considering that she hasn't got much ingredients." She shrugged lightly and helped him to sit up. He soon tucked in as she once again sat on the end of the bed, she calmly kicked off her shoes and sat crossed legged as she began to explain and describe the new world that Becker now found himself in,
"So the dogs are the main predators, you got off pretty lightly, some of the adults can be 5" tall! There are these things that live in the sewers, their like large ape things, Jack calls them predators; they locate their prey using sound. No need to panic though, they rarely come to the surface. The raptor things though, they scare the hell out of me." She noted the look of confusion on Becker's face, "Imagine a velocirapter but it walks on two legs and has no tail." She shivered involuntarily as she described the creature. By now Becker had finished his meal and was listening intently, watching as she absent mindedly fiddled with her long deep auburn hair,
"Anyway," she said suddenly, pulling Becker back down to earth, "It's late and you need to rest, how's the shoulder?"
"Not too bad." Becker managed to say, his voice scratched his throat as he spoke.
"Great, if you need me, I'm in the next room." She flashed him a quick grin before picking up his empty plate and leaving the room.
Any good? Please review.
