Chapter 3
Brianna was eating some crackers - which were stale, but good enough - when Sam knocked on the door of her boat.
She had opened the door in the blink of an eye. "Hi, Sam." She said brightly.
Sam jumped onto the boat. "Hey. Is Jack around as well?"
Brianna sighed. "Yeah. I bet he's reading an old comic or something. You know he brought them all with him?" She sounded disgusted. "I'll go get him."
All Sam saw was a blur and she was gone. He waited patiently, looking around him. It was evident that this was where Jack lived. Everything looked normal at first, but when you looked closer you could see dents in the furniture and random broken items.
Brianna blurred back into sight, with Jack a few feet behind. "Hi." He said to Sam.
"I need a favour from you guys." Sam said.
Brianna looked eager. "Sure. What do you need?"
"Some of us are going back to that train and bringing back the rest of the supplies, and we're going to shift those missiles. It's too dangerous to just leave them there. It would be great if you guys could come. Jack, you'd be carrying them away, and Brianna, you'd be running back and forth between the train and the lake, carrying some supplies." Sam smiled when he saw the excited look on Brianna's face. It was obvious that she hadn't done anything remotely interesting in the past week. Jack, on the other hand, looked slightly irritated that he had work to do.
"Cool." Brianna said. "When are we leaving?"
Sam thought about that. "Say, around, three? I'm not sure how long it will take to move all of it."
"That's fine." She replied. "Who else is going?"
Sam didn't want to make it awkward. Then again, Brianna didn't know that he knew about Dekka saying that she loved her. "The three of us, Dekka, Orc and Edilio." He couldn't read Brianna's reaction when he said 'Dekka'.
Then Jack spoke. "Edilio? Why him?"
Sam shrugged. "He wants to help." He paused, waiting for them to ask him anything more, but they didn't. "Anyways, I should get going." He gave a weak wave and left.
Taylor was able to bounce quite far up the highway, so she didn't have to walk that far to the lake. It helped a lot that she could bounce as far as she could see. It meant that she was bouncing along the path more than walking it.
She suddenly had an awful thought. What if she ran into Drake? No one actually knew what had happened to him. The last place he had been seen was at Coates. He could be anywhere. She looked around her quickly, paranoid. She knew that she could just bounce away if she ran into him, but it still scared the hell out of her.
She wanted to get to the lake before it got dark, but she still didn't know how she would find Diana. She had heard that it was a big lake, with loads of boats and tents. She could hardly knock on everyone's door and ask if Diana was there.
Then again, she wasn't sure if Diana had any friends to be with. All the people at the lake were hardly people she would usually hang out with.
In a way, Taylor was actually excited. She would enjoy threatening Diana. After everything she had done, it was time to give a bit of payback.
Sam, Edilio, Dekka, Jack and Brianna had all gathered at the FAYZ wall, on the opposite side of the lake. The only person missing was Orc.
They were just about to give up and leave without him when they felt rather than heard him approach. There were deep vibrations in the ground as he took each step.
Howard was with him.
"Oh, for the love of God." Dekka sighed.
"T'sup, guys. I decided to join you all and make this a much more pleasant trip." He said happily.
Sam looked at him sternly. "Howard, I'm being serious, if you say even one word out of line-"
"Whoa, whoa," Howard interrupted him. "Let's not get stressed out, Sammy. I'm sensing some negativity here."
Sam rolled his eyes, but he ignored Howard and turned to the others. "We should make a move, otherwise it'll get dark before we come back."
They walked together like a kind of procession; Sam, Edilio and Dekka at the front, Jack and Brianna behind them, and Orc and Howard at the back.
Dekka turned to Sam. "You could've told me Brianna was coming!" She whispered.
Sam smiled guiltily. "I didn't want you to freak out." He said.
"Well, I am freaking out! This better not be awkward." She sounded irritated, but he looked at her and she was smiling. "Thank you for caring, though."
Diana woke up later that evening. She realised with surprise that she had slept the whole day.
She automatically dropped her hand to her stomach. Yes, it was still there. She could still feel her baby's power.
She went outside. There were some kids playing around further down the dock. Others were sitting by the lake and talking. They looked happy.
A part of her wanted to go up to them. Talk to them.
But they were scared of her.
She remembered a time when she loved the way that people looked at her in fear. She loved that fact that they were intimidated.
And now she wished that they looked at her as a normal person, not an evil, manipulative witch. No one really knew her. Caine didn't know her.
She didn't even know herself.
All she did know was that she was going to be a good mother.
Diana turned suddenly. She was sure she had heard a noise behind her. But no one was there. Maybe she was getting paranoid. People were still kind of expecting Drake to turn up.
She thought about going to see Sam. Not for protection, just for company. But she knew that he didn't really like hanging out with her.
She went back inside and looked for something to eat. She hadn't eaten in a while, and she was suddenly hit with a pang of hunger. She ate some crackers and some dried apricots that Sam had left her.
Then she heard the floor creak behind her. She quickly turned around, her heart suddenly beating fast.
It was only Taylor. Diana started laughing for the first time in what felt like ages.
Taylor looked annoyed. "What's so funny?"
"You. I thought you were Drake or someone." She laughed again.
Taylor wasn't smiling. She reached into her pocket and pulled out a knife.
