It's been two whole weeks since the Change, and we still hadn't gotten as far as Richmond. As if we were riding horseback and only going two kilometers or so an hour. Oh wait! We were. Not that I hate horseback riding or horses or naturey stuff, because trust me, I don't. But, I'd give up all the horses and nature and everything that I love if we could just go back to normal. Well.. maybe not horses...
I was on Harry today, and I liked Stormy's gait better, because it was smoother, but Harry was so much sweeter. Pearl was sweet too, but her attention span was terrible, seeing as she was so young. I was taking point again, and we were all just talking.
"Like a gazelle!" Elli cried.
I grinned and said with her, "Boing! Boing! Boing!" and my scar twinged.
We all laughed, even Cam and Ty, which was getting pretty rare, seeing as they were older, and had more... I'm not going to say 'mature' because they aren't, but let's say different humor.
"I wonder if we could ride to africa and meet a gazelle..." Lu said.
I snorted. My little nine-year-old. I turned to her and smiled. "Lu sweetie, we can't walk on water yet, but when we can, I'll be sure to let you know."
"What?" she asked.
Ry rode over to her and explained it to her. Lu scowled at me. "Don't be sarcastic Syrr! I don't appreciate it!"
I rolled my eyes and rode on. I heard a loud crack coming from behind and turned Harry around, Shadow, Stormy and Pearl following easily. Standing there was a girl about 5'8'', with golden brown hair that was wavy and went to her mid-back. She was very dirty, and her clothes were ripped and she was stumbling around, crying. She was coming towards us. She was also bloody, but not too bloody, and it looked somewhat dry.
I could feel her staring at my scar, which was now pink, mostly healed. It made me look grim and as if I was straining myself.
"Syrr?" Cam called. I rode forward quickly and took out my bow, and knocked an arrow, but kept the string loose and the arrow pointed at the ground.
"Who are you?" I asked warningly.
She looked up and her eyes widened. I instantly recognized her, when I was closer. She was so disheveled, and different from the last time I'd seen her. "Syrr? Is that you?" she said hoarsly, around the tears.
"Oh Letta!" I got down off Harry and put the arrow bac in the saddle quiver. I put the bow around my body and lead Letta over to Cam.
"Put her on either Dreamer or Lola?" I asked. He nodded from Deke's back. He got off and I gave her to him, and he helped her onto Dreamer. She was really unsteady but she was alright.
I had us keep going, and I got Ry to take point. "WHat happened Letta?"
She shuddered and then sucked in a breath. "Th-th-they k-k-killed my p-parents and my b-brother Syrr. They k-k-killed them."
"Who's they Letta?" I asked.
Tears were now streaming down her face, and her lip was quivering. "Six men, of different ages. They tried to- they almost-"
"That's okay Letta, we don't need to know any more, you don't need to talk about it anymore." I soothed. I motionned for Elli to come over and comfort her, seeing as they were really close before the Change, and they'd still be now too. I rode up to Ry and Tynk and told them of what had happened. Ty and Cam were talking quietly, and Rhea, Lu and Lyn were all talking together. Elli had gotten Letta to stop crying, so that was good. We entered onto a highway, with so many abbandoned cars, and trucks. We clip-clopped down, making a fair bit of noise. which made me pretty uneasy, seeing as it could attract unwanted attention.
It was beggining to get dark again, and we needed to find shelter soon unless we wanted to use the tents, which we hadn't tried yet. I figured that we shouldn't do the store thing again though, with those men so close.
"Oi! What say you guys to trying out the tents tonight?" I called, turning my horses around again.
They all rode up to me and we all made a circle, including everyone. I looked around at each face, and they all approved. "Perfect. Let's fast trot it and get off this highway at the next exit, or the closest entrance to the forest. We're going to do some camping tonight." I grinned.
Elli and Ry whooped, always ones for camping out in the tents in Ry's backyard when we could, and the others smiled.
"So how're we going to set up the tents? There are four tents." Ry asked.
"Well, I was thinking that we'd put a tent in the almost center, the fire will be the actual center. Then, we'd put a circle around the fire, circling that center tent. I'll put Lu, Rhea and Lyn in the center one, Letta and Elli in one, Cam and Ty in one, and then Me, You and Tynk in the last one. WHat do you think about that?" I asked.
"I like it." she agreed.
"Me too." Tynk piped in from behind us.
"Haven't you heard it's rude to eaves drop?" I turned in my saddle and grinned.
We got to the turn off and we turned, and got off the highway, and turned again, going to the forest. Thank goodness there was a trail so we rode that until we found a good sized clearing. I dismounted and smiled. "Perfect." I untacked my horses as the others did so too, and tied their lead to a tree, loose enough so that they could munch on leaves and grass and such. I brushed them out, and started putting up the tents. The others found it easy too, thank goodness for instructions. We had the tents up within a half hour. I moved some logs and grabbed some stone, clearing leaves and andything flammable away from the fire circle and placed the stones around it.
Finally, just before it got fully dark, I had a fire going. We all positionned the logs around it so that we were in a circle and I smiled.
"Dinner time!" I took out ten cans of whatever, and handed them around. We opened them and grabbed sticks. We stuck the end on the fire for a little bit to sanitize them and then let them cool in the air for a minute or two, them using them to scoop out the food from the can. Nobody had brought soup, which was really good. We didn't have any bowls.
Soon, we all departed, and went to sleep, except me, since I was taking the first watch. I had my bow strung and the rest of the arrows by my side, and I had made the fire go low, so it was just glowing, giving me enough light to just make out everything. I was leaning against a tree trunk andI had the best view of the camp. Cam had volunteered to watch on the other side, and I let him, not protesting that I could do it on my own, so I wasn't paying much attention to his half. Just enough to make sure that there wasn't anything bad, or anything being missed.
Two hours later I got up slowly and went to wake up Tynk for the second watch, when I heard a branch snap. I kept crouched, and brought the bow to the ready. Appearance always helps, because they don't know that I hit targets just as much as I miss them. I saw a figure moving in the shadows, and it looked male. There was one other figure approaching that also looked male. They seemed to be surrounding the camp. I tried whistling, and when that failed, I called out loudly.
"Stop right where you are!" I didn't take my eyes off them and didn't move from my cover either. So, they couldn't see me, but I could see them.
One stepped forwards, holding his hands up, palms forwards in the international we-mean-you-no-harm sign. He had darker brown hair, or what looked like it - you can't really tell in the middle of the night. "Come out and talk." he said. It didn't sound much like a question.
"Come out and talk what?" I asked and made it sound like I was mildly interested.
He scowled and took in a deep breath. "Come out and talk please." he spat.
"I'd rather not, but thanks for the offer. And I can see you weapons. I'm not stupid. Or blind." I smiled.
"Okay, you know what? I don't believe you're going to shoot us!" The other behind him said.
"Don't tempt me." I called back. I heard some rustling behind me, and almost turned to shoot them.
"It's me, don't shoot Syrr." Tynk whispered. I nodded and kept my eyes on the guys.
"Why don't we just talk this out?" the leader called again.
"When you put your weapons down, we will." I said and then groaned. "We'll be here for hours at the rate this is going." I whispered to Tynk.
"We will if you will." he called, still searching for me in the trees and bushes.
"But, it's your own fault for trying to attack my camp. So, we're not putting down our weapons. We're trying to be kind bud. We can see you, you can't see us. Therefore, we can shoot you, and you can't shoot us." I replied.
"Fine." he turned to his crony and had him put his weapons down in the clearing. He whistled and two other came from either side of the camp. They also put all their weapons down and then they put their hands up.
"Stand five feet away from each other." I called. They did as I asked and I stood up. It took awhile for them all to notice me but when they did their eyes widened.
"A girl?" One exclaimed incredulously. They were all staring at the pink and still freshly healed scar running from the ccorner of my right eye to the corner of my mouth, on the right side.
Is my voice really that masculine... I'll think about that later...
Tynk then stood and Ty, Ry and Rhea came out. Elli and Letta were probably watching Rhea, Lyn and Lu. Thankfully. Cam was probably taking watch on the other side.
"What? Why didn't anybody ever tell me?" I answered, rolling my eyes. I stepped forwards, my bow still at the ready, but now pointing at the ground.
"Well, we figured that the head was a girl with some puberty issues." the leader said.
"Well, obviously, you thought wrong." I said, smiling.
"Ry, Tynk, Ty, will you guys make sure that they all get to the campfire without distroying anything? I want to grab all their weapons." I asked.
I turned and started walking towards the weapons.
"Sure Syrr." they answered and I smiled.
I got to the weapons when I heard one of the guys exclaim, "You make them call you Sire?"
"Dumbass." I muttered. I turned back to them, my arms full with weapons, and called over to them. "That's my name dumbass! S-Y-R-R. Syrr."
That completely shut him up. When I got to the fire, and counted the horses, just in case, I looked the guys over for the first time. The one of the far left of the guys was a head taller then Tynk. His hair was a little darker then her gold-blonde and his hair was also slightly curly. He had fair skin and some muscle just peeking through his shirt. His eyes were green-blue, and stuck on Tynk. I smiled. I would definitely tease her about that later. I deposited the weapons just outside my tent and Elli came out and took them inside. I guess that's where they'd taken Rhea, Lu and Lyn. I heard some growling and yowling from inside the tent. The cat and dogs.
"Name?" I asked him. He looked up at me and looked like he was going to do something rude.
I raised my eyebrow at him and he closed his mouth, then reopened it. "Dake." I nodded and continued on.
The guy on Dake's right was shorter, closer to 5'6'' or 5'7''. He had black hair and dark brown eyes. He was slimmer then the other guys, but he also looked faster. He looked pretty bored.
"Name?" I asked him.
"Justen." he answered through his teeth. Note to self: he hides his emotions well.
The guy to the right of Justen had dark brown hair, cut fairly short, only a few inches long. His eyes were gold-brown and he was sneering. He was about 5'10'', about the same height as Dake. Ry was standing behind him, and I could only actually see her hands. I bit back a laugh and nodded at him.
"Name?"
"Dylan." he answered easily, with a grin.
I rolled my eyes and turned to the last one. The leader. He had darker brown hair then Justen, and it covered his deep green eyes slightly. He was the tallest of the four, at about 6'0''. He looked down on me with what seemed to be a half scowl, half smirk. It didn't ruin his face at all. His muscles were there but not enough there to be all hmm-did-he-take-steroids-before-the-change-and-then-go-into-withdrawl-therefore-reducing-his-muscle-mass?
"Name?" I asked.
"Christian. But you can call me Sexy. What's your name?" he was now smirking fully. He obviously wasn't fazed by my attractive scar screwing up the whole right half of my face.
"Syrr. But you can call me Uninterested." I smiled sweetly and turned away. I heard some snickers and rolled my eyes.
I opened the tent and my assumption was proved right. Rhea, Lu and Lyn were being watched by Elli and Letta. "Hey you guys can come out. The guys wont hurt you. They don't have the guts to try at the mo." I smiled. Lu grabbed my hand tightly and Lyn followed us out. Elli and Letta were the last to exit the cabin, with Rhea.
"What is this? A girls only camp?" Dake asked and then looked at Ty and Cam who'd just appeared. "Other then you two..." he said and then decided to stop talking.
"Why were you guys trying to surround the camp?" I asked Christian.
"We were trying to find food, and then we spotted the horses, and figured we could hunt with those easier then on foot." he answered.
"Fine. Were you prepared to harm any of us in the process?" I asked.
"No." he lied. It was obvious.
"That's a lie. How far were you prepared to go?"
"Not killing, that's for sure." he muttered.
"But maiming was fine, right?" Tynk exclaimed indignantly.
"Well, how'd you feel if you were in our position?" Christian said venomously.
"We have family to protect! I bet none of those three are related to you. See these two?" I pointed to Lu and Lyn. "My little sisters. Lu's nine. Lyn is twelve." I pointed to Tynk and then to Rhea. "Rhea is Tynk's little sister. She's Lyn's age." I pointed to Cam, then to Elli. "Cam and Elli, looking out for each other, since they're siblings. Ry and Ty, also siblings." I said pointing to Ry and Ty. "And finally Letta. She lost her mum, dad and her brother because some retards decided to play God."
The guy's faces were grave. They obviously hadn't had the same things happen, nor the same things to worry about.
"So don't you dare pull the 'go in the other person's shoes' shit now." I snapped.
Most of my group's eyes were watering even then guys. Letta had her lips pressed together, and was doing a great job of looking strong. I sat down on one of the logs and one by one, everyone else sat down, except Dake, Justen, Dylan and Christian, who all looked like they'd rather be anywhere else.
"For goodness' sake, sit down." I said quietly. After all that yelling, accusing and just being bitchy, I was really tired. I heard them all sit on one log, squishing together so that they wouldn't touch any of us. I rolled my eyes. "We don't bite."
"I'd like it better if you did." Christian muttered.
"Okay, I'm going to sleep. Ty, Tynk, it's your watch now. Does one more person want to, to watch their tent?" I asked. "We'll put them in the center one, and then Letta and Elli can sleep with Tynk and Ry, in their tent. Lu, Lyn and Rhea will move to Letta and Elli's tent, and I'll sleep in there with them. Cam and Ty don't change tents.
"I'll watch them." Ry volunteered.
" 'Kay. So, Lu, Lyn and Rhea, bed. Same with everyone else. We're starting early tomorrow, and we all know what happens when one person is grumpy." I dramatically turned my head to Ty and so did everyone else.
"It was one time!" he cried indignantly.
"One time that completely crushed moral for everyone." I smiled, my scar twinging again. Symba started barking again and I turned and opened the tent. Symba, Jazz, Max and Spot came running out, jumping on the guys.
"You keep dogs? How do you even feed them?" Dylan exclaimed.
"The same way you feed every other animal." Ry answered sarcastically.
I smiled and turned to go. "I'll show you guys your new tent." I heard them get up and when I stopped at the middle tent and unzipped it, they shrugged. They all entered and I closed it, leaving Ry watching it.
Everyone was now in their tents, except me. I walked over to the tent I was going to share with the little kids. I opened it and got in, falling asleep almost instantly.
Okay so, I know Ari, that I said I wouldn't until you did but you're pissing me off with not and this was already finished anyways so here. You better update now. It'll make me really upset it you didn't. But whatever. For anybody else who reads this then here's the chapter. And please review. It'd make me really happy. Like, really, really, happy.