Willa

"They're not back yet." I muttered. "Where.. What could've-"

"Willa. I'm sure it's going according to plan. It takes a while to infiltrate a government base full of green-eyed FBI agents."

I bit my lip. Jess grabbed my hand.

"Take a deep breath." She said.

"And Phil, where's-"

"He went to the store! He told us."

"Yes, but-"

"Wills."

"Sorry…"

I sighed, watching the puff of air leave my mouth. I was freezing, and this being a concrete warehouse wasn't helping the fact it was probably five degrees out right now. The abandoned building had three and a half walls- I say three and a half because one of the walls had a truck-sized hole in it. The ceiling had holes, too, so snow drifted down in various places, making random piles. The accidental 'skylights', makeshift 'door' hole, and light reflecting off the snow lit the place nicely, though it was still daylight. Me and Jess huddled on the metal catwalk twenty feet above the ground; Amanda hates when we're up here, but we like it, so here we sat. Amanda thinks it's going to fall one day. I think the thin, rusted metal is doing just fine.

"Where are we again, Jess?"

"Upstate New York."

"Hm. Do you think we could go to the city? I've never been there. We'd blend in. The green eyes probably wouldn't notice."

"Maybe. But do you remember what Philby said? He thinks it's 5-10% in major cities and towns. Five percent are green-eyes. There's like ten million people in New York at any given time, that's like a half million green eyes, best-case scenario."

I shrugged.

"How did there get to be so many?" I muttered.

"I don't know, Wills. You're the teenage super-genius, aren't you? What do you think?"

I shrugged.

"Maybe it was a poison. Or a disease, that turns them to green eyes. Maybe hypnosis? In movie theaters?"

She shrugged. "May be."

We sat in silence for a while. I shivered, pulling my arms into my shirt to keep warm. I had let Amanda borrow my sweatshirt before they left.

"Wills, do you want my sweatshirt?" Jess muttered.

"No, I'm fine."

"You're just wearing a t-shirt."

"I'm fine."

"We need to go into town and get supplies soon. Philby just went for food, but we need more sweatshirts and blankets."

"We need to travel light."

"I know." She looked down.

"How're we going to pay?"

"Charlie's Mom's card, I'm guessing. Her turn."

I nodded. Charlie's mother was the first to 'go green'. She had come home from work, completely dazed, and then Charlie had realized. She took her mom's credit card, and had run to my house. There we stayed until we had gotten news that Phil's parents, Mrs. Nash, and Mr. Whitman were green-eyes too. My mom had been the last. But we all took our parent's credit cards, and went to Maybeck's house. Aunt Jelly told us it wasn't safe, kissed us goodbye, and bought us train tickets. She'd be in contact, she said. We haven't heard from her since.

Now, we cycled through the cards, taking turns. We took large amounts out at ATM's and left town, so our purchases couldn't be tracked.

Jess hugged me, which I was very grateful for. I was warmer immediately.

"Do you hear that?" Jess breathed.

I listened.

Crunch…Crunch…Crunch…

That's someone walking on snow.

"Someone… A bunch of someones, walking. Here." I guessed. Jess nodded.

"Stay still, don't make a sound."

I nodded stiffly.

We looked at the door.

Crunch…

Closer… If it was police, or worse, green eyes, we'd be in some deep trouble.

Crunch… crunch…

"Jess?" A small whisper. "Willa?"

"Manda!" I stood up, and the catwalk creaked.

"What did I tell you about standing on the catwalk!?" Amanda nearly yelled.

"Oh… Sorry, Mand." Jess said, carefully climbing down the ladder. I followed. A few rungs were missing, so I held tight. We ran over to Amanda.

"Hey, Manda!" I said quickly. "Um.. Did you, uh…"

She smiled, pulling me into a hug. Then, she nodded towards the door-hole. Both me and Jess looked.

Finn stood, with Charlie and Maybeck.

"Charlie!" I screeched, and ran at her. I pulled her into a hug. She closed her eyes, resting her head on my shoulder, and grappling onto fistfuls of my shirt. Like I was going somewhere, and she didn't want me to leave. She was shaking, and I noticed she wore both Finn's and my sweatshirts.

Jess had run and hugged Maybeck, who looked like he needed it. He looked more serious than ever. No smile, no jokes. He Just looked down at Jess, and hugged her- very tightly, and you could tell he appreciated it- but very straight-faced. Jess rubbed his back a little, pulling out of the hug.

"W-Wills…" Charlie whispered.

"Yeah, Charlie?"

"M'wearing your sweatshirt…" She slurred.

"That's okay."

"Y- mhhh… Yeah, but…" She started to fall. Quickly, I wrapped my arms around her again, holding tightly.

"Char!" I whispered. I eased her down to the ground, and sat next to her. "Charlie, are you alright? Char!?"

"M'fine…" She muttered, letting herself rest against me. I wrapped my arms around her.

"Charlie, you just collapsed." FInn said, crouching on the other side of her.

I finally got a good look at her, and cringed. Her left eye was swelled up and a deep purple color, A cut ran from her temple to her jaw, and it didn't look pretty. Under her nose was dried blood. Her right cheekbone was swelled and purple, as well. And at the top of my sweatshirt, where the zipper ends, I could see cuts on her chest, as well- she had lost her shirt in that prison, apparently. She was shaking, I realized it might not all be from the cold, though. She looked traumatized.

Maybeck was no better. His face was swelled in many different places; his hands were bloody. His one eye would not open. He was only wearing an undershirt and shorts.

"Can we risk a hospital?" I breathed.

"No, Wills." Finn said. "You know that. Too dangerous."

I bit my lip, and nodded.

"We'll get you and Phil to look them over."

"Okay, but a class semester in first aid isn't ten years in med school, Finn."

"I know." He sighed.

I sat on the cold concrete in front of the wall, allowing Char's head to rest on my lap. She was asleep almost immediately. Amanda sat next to me, resting her head on my shoulder.

"Hey, Wills."

"Hi, Manda."

She scooted a little closer to me, and I was once again grateful for the warmth.

"You okay?" I muttered.

She nodded.

"She's so scared, Wills."

"I know… Maybeck, too."

She nodded. I looked over at Maybeck, propped up against the opposite wall. He was sleeping, and he had his head resting on Finn's shoulder, which was quite odd, but understandable. Finn stared blankly ahead, lost in thought. Where Jess was, I have no clue.

I leaned back, resting my eyes for just a second.

When I opened them again, it was dark. There was a bonfire going right outside the door-hole, heating up the little factory room slightly, and lighting it up a lot. I was lying down now, near the door and the fire, resting on a blanket and covered by a thicker blanket. It was incredibly warm. Phenomenal.

As I looked around, I realized everyone else was awake, except Maybeck, who slept right next to me, under the same blanket. It wasn't weird, though. Ever since we'd left home, we were all amazingly close. Sharing a bed with any one of the keepers was only weird because sharing a bed with more than one, or all of the keepers was the new norm.

Anyway, Finn, Jess, Amanda, Charlie, and (thank god he's back alright) Philby sat in a circle, whispering, as to not wake us.

Pushing the blankets onto Maybeck, I stood, stretching, and dragged myself to sit next to Philby.

"Hey, hun." I whispered. He wrapped an arm around me and pressed his lips to the side of my head, and stayed like that for a while. I closed my eyes.

His kiss ended, and he rested his head against mine. "Hey. How was your nap?"

I chuckled.

"I didn't even realize I was taking a nap."

"Hm."

"Did you… Uh, check them over?"

"I checked Maybeck and Finn for injuries. Finn's fine. And nothing broken on Maybeck. Just bruises. And cuts, none too deep though. You should check Amanda and Charlie over in the morning."

"It can wait that long?"

"From what I can tell, yes."

I sighed, nodding. I leaned against him, enjoying his warmth. I listened back in to the others' conversation.

"Are we sure we weren't followed?" Finn whispered.

"Pretty sure." Philby said. "However, we've been here for a week. It's time to move again."

I looked up at him.

"But, we're all tired." I said. "And with Char and Maybeck in the condition they're in-"

Philby adjusted his hat- that was something he'd picked up after we left home. A grey, turn-of-the-century newsboy cap. He'd picked it up because he'd said he doesn't like when it starts to grow out, and that's what it's going to do since we can't afford to get haircuts. Well, with the credit cards, we definitely could, but haircuts just seem like a waste. Amanda's been cutting Finn's hair for him, short, with a pair of scissors, and it was now scraggly and messy without his hair gel or conditioner, but the look suited him alright. Very boyish. And Maybeck's been going at his own hair with a razor he bought- not an electric one. The kind guys use to shave their faces. But he's been keeping it normal-Maybeck length with that.

Anyway, Philby adjusted his hat and sighed.

"There's an industrial train station up the road. That's where I was today after the store. I was listening in on the workers. There's one coming tomorrow, guys. It stops, they load the cargo, we sneak on, and there you go- a free ride to Kentucky."

"Kentucky?!" Jess grumbled. "What the hell could be in Kentucky!? There's like no one there!"

"Exactly. We should be safe there for a week or two."

"Only a week?" Amanda whispered.

"We have to keep moving, Amanda." Philby said.

"We can be tracked. We just need to move before they track us, right? I agree with Philby." Finn added. "We move around every once in a while, after a few days, and criss-cross the country. Or the continent. We keep moving so they can't catch up."

"The green eyes? They're everywhere." Jess said. "No matter where we run."

"… I think they mean the ones in the, like… FBI." Charlie's weak voice shut everyone up. We stopped to listen. "We're wanted criminals in the eyes of some FBI and police and investigators."

"Some, not all." Jess muttered.

"Yes, but the ones that do think we're wanted criminals- the green-eyed ones- have the tools to hunt us down. We're the green-eyes main concern right now." I muttered. "It may only be a small percent of federal agents who are green eyes, but that small percent is going to come after us. We can deal with and avoid the green-eyed shop keepers and school teachers, but not professionals tracking us."

We looked around.

"We'll wind up in Kentucky. After that, I'll find another place." Philby said.

"We're going." Finn said. And it was final. Finn is our leader, and it has never been more acknowledged than it has been recently.

"I'll put out the fire. We need rest." Philby said. We nodded, and got settled into our blanket beds. Basically, they were three layers. A thin blanket, the people, and then a thick blanket. Two people per 'blanket bed'. Three in mine. Philby and Maybeck in one, Amanda and Finn in another, and me, Jess, and Char in the last.

"Goodnight, guys." Phillby sighed, and the fire fizzled as he packed snow onto it to stop it.

As soon as the room went dark, Charlie scooted towards me. So I wrapped my arms around her, kissed her forehead, and closed my eyes. She's traumatized.

"You okay, sis?"

She just shrugged, already halfway into the realm of sleep.

.

Ooh, chapter two. Kind of uneventful, kind of not.

It'll pick up. Don't worry.

Poor Char. Poor Maybeck.

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