Hey guys. Hopefully the story is about to get more interesting. I've also been working with some other drafts of stories lately. I'm not going to put anything up until I have something to get you guys interested.

Also, I'd like to say to everybody that's facing the swine flu outbreak, "Good luck" and "Hope for the best." I really hope everybody keeps healthy out there.

We made our way back to the half-mined room. We finished the space of the room not too long afterwards. We talked mostly about the little things that happened when we were growing up. He said he can't remember much before the souls took over because he was so little. Only found out when I was sixteen. He and his sister had been running for so long. My father and I weren't taken by the seekers for a while because we lived in an out of the way location that wasn't too far from the highway. We were half isolated from the rest of the world.

We finished off by sanding down some of the rough edges in the room. We then dusted off our hands and brushed the dust off our clothes.

"So…. What do you want to do now?" I asked.

"Well, we still have another hour and a half 'till lunch so we could head to the tower." He said.

"The tower?"

"It's just a fancy name for it. Here, follow me, I'll show you." He took my wrist lightly. I saw a small smile when I didn't flinch or pull away. He led me through some of the caverns that were currently empty because everybody else was working. We went past the mess hall to a small tunnel in the wall. He climbed in and crawled through it. He turned around and when he heard that I didn't follow. I can get claustrophobic sometimes. He offered me a hand.

"Trust me; it's not a long tunnel. It's worth the view." My heart fluttered when he said Trust me. Of course I would trust him, how could I not? I took his hand and climbed in the tunnel.

We crawled around in there for about a minute and a half when I saw light at the end. When we reached the top I found myself in a lookout. It was only made up of rocks that were slanted so that there was a roof to shield you from the sun. There were some dry grasses that surrounded us to conceal it more. We weren't able to fully stand up though. We had to stay on our knees.

Most importantly, it had a great view. You could see the rise and fall of the hills. The hot sun shined down on the golden orange land. Somehow, it was beautiful. The land curved and dipped from the flash floods that would arrive a few times a year. The land was created by water and was what it was by the lack of it.

"We use this place to watch out if any seekers are coming. Mostly it has a great view." I went to the side to look out into the valley. He followed. The valley was relatively very green. The plants had flourished from the rain that had come from a few days ago. The saguaros were the skyscrapers of the desert. They reached towards the sky whilst many of the other plants were down below.

"Beautiful" I murmured nonchalantly.

"Yeah" he said in the same tone. I turned to him and found him staring directly at me. He quickly turned away and looked at the valley; but not before I caught him blushing. Apparently, I did the same.

"So, where were you before you came here?" he asked to fill the silence.

"Well, before I came here, I was traveling around the east side of Phoenix. Before that, I was around Colorado."

"How many states have you been to?" He asked

"Fourteen; I went touring for a while. I had only been to four before I was changed. You?"

'Three; here, New Mexico and Utah. I haven't been to many wet places."

"To be honest, I prefer the dry. I never really liked getting wet. Probably because when I was little I was afraid of the pool. Some of the boys there would push me in when I wasn't looking." I chuckled.

"We better get going, it's around one now. Lunch will be ready in a few." He went back down the tunnel, this time, feet first. I followed.

Everybody was there except Melanie and Jared, they had to finish up in the corn fields; at least, that's what they said. I shuddered. One thing about living in close quarters was the fact things aren't kept secret and people knew everything about you.

"So we finished the new room, Jeb. Is there anything else that needs doing?" Jamie asked Jeb.

"Well, some of the rooms in these caves need maintenance. You can move some of the rocks that have been mined out to make some walls"

"Sounds good, Rose?" He asked.

"Sounds good to me too."

That's what we did for the next few days. We used the old rocks as well as the dust to make thicker walls around the caves. We were even able to make some sliding doors for the rooms. We just made a narrow hole in the wall and cut the size of the door from some rock. We eventually went outside to get some rock. We were only allowed to go at night though.

Then the end of the week approached and I had to go on the raid with Wanda. Jamie, Ian, Melanie, Jared and Kyle came too. Sonny had learned to be more independent without Kyle, for a few days at a time.

"Right, we'll start on the outskirts of Phoenix. We haven't been around there for a while. After that we'll head for Yuma. Once we get everything we need, we head back." Jared said.

The trip was fairly quiet. We were in the back of the van with Wanda and Jared in the front. Everybody else sat in the middle. Wanda was driving and Jared was in charge of the raid. Jamie fell asleep soon enough; apparently he sleeps his best in a moving car and especially when he's bored. Finding nothing else to do, I lay my head on his shoulder and attempted to fall asleep. After a few minutes I could hear Melanie, Kyle and Ian's conversation switch subjects.

"So… I wonder how Jamie's doing with his girlfriend." Kyle slipped in. Melanie smacked his arm lightly.

"Very good by the looks of it" Ian said referring to my position. Melanie sighed.

"It's quite nice that Jamie's found somebody his age. A lot of the kids didn't survive." She said.

"I say they are very nice together." Wanda said, coming into to the conversation.

"I wonder how long it's going to take Jamie to make a move." Kyle said.

"Who says Jamie's going to make the first move? Sometimes girls can be very cunning." Melanie said. Kyle ignored this.

"Maybe during or before the party. I'm guessing he won't be able to put it off."

"No way. After the party, most don't have a first kiss during a party. And I don't think that things will that move.

"This sounds like a bet." Ian stated.

"I bet that he'll either kiss her at the party or before the party" Kyle announced.

"I bet that she'll kiss him after the party." Mel said.

"I say that he'll kiss her after the party as well" Ian said.

"Fine," Kyle said with a grunt. "Whoever losses has to do the night shift for an entire week. And winner get's dibs on the leftover alcohol at the party"

"Deal" Mel said.

"Done" Ian said spitting into his hand. Kyle did the same and shook hands with Ian. They then turned to Mel to shake her hand. She pulled her hands back.

"No way. I intend on keeping myself away from the common cold." They chuckled.

When the van stopped, Wanda and I went shopping. We filled the cart fairly full but not overflowing so that we didn't attract attention. Our first shopping trip we got things like soap, shampoo, dry food and canned food. We stopped by a couple stores in the town. The next town we bought clothes. Wanda dragged me to the mall to find some decent ones.

"Are we done yet?" I whined. We had only been in the store for fifteen minutes.

"No way, you are definitely going to get a good wardrobe whether you like it or not."

"Ugh." We went through the shops finding clothes my size and clothes for the other people back home.

"Okay, let's make this shopping trip interesting since you find it…um…not." She gave me a mischievous smile."Truth or dare?" She asked me.

Oh crap.

"Ugh" I picked up my pace, she matched it.

"I'll take that as truth," I sighed. Like I was going to get out of this. To be honest, I really didn't like shopping. Something about going all over a mall for clothes in enemy territory and trying on clothes isn't my idea of fun.

"How many guys have you dated before you came with us and were any of them serious?" I groaned inwardly.

"One and I thought it was serious but after a while, I figured it wasn't." Wanda thought about it for a bit. "Truth or dare?" I asked in order to change subject.

"Truth" I thought for a minute. Damn, it's hard to think of a deep dark secret from a soul. Oh well, settle for something trivial.

"Do you want a girl or a boy?" She giggled at that.

"I'm not sure. I would love to have a cute baby boy just like Ian but at the same time… I would love to have a baby girl that I would talk to and ask me about things." We went into another store to get some warmer clothes for the night.

"When I get older I'd like a girl, if I could. I had always wanted a baby sister growing up. I always wanted somebody to talk to or just to teach things to." I flipped through a couple outfits in the store. I pulled out an earthy-brown colored poncho with beads hanging off the ends. "What do you think?" I asked her.

"I think they'd be good. Plus, it compliments your hair." I got three different sizes of it. "You can have a child you know. Remember, you don't need to wear sunglasses" She murmured later. She said it vaguely so the shopkeeper wouldn't understand if she was eavesdropping.

"Oh right." Once we found the clothes we wanted, Wanda gave them to the keeper and she checked them out. It felt odd not having to pay for it.

"Come on, we'll continue shopping and our truth or dare tomorrow" We then carried our bags to the van from the mall. When we got to the van and slid open the door I found somebody missing.

"Chill, Jamie's gone to the bathroom. Don't worry he's got sunglasses" I relaxed and climbed into the van. Wanda got into the front seat.

"We'll find a motel on the outskirts of the town." Jared said.

"So…" Kyle started in a detached tone. "When are you going to kiss him?" he said while feigning a cough. Both Ian and Melanie smacked his arm. I blushed crimson.

***

We headed towards the front desk; Wanda, Ian, Melanie, Jared, Jamie and I. Kyle was going to sleep in the van apparently. He said that you could never be too careful. The rest were behind us wearing sunglasses while Wanda and I talked to the lady at the desk.

"Hello, could I have two double rooms and one room with two singles please." Wanda requested.

"I'm sorry but we only have three double rooms free. We get very busy on Friday nights." The lady said.

Wanda turned to me and asked me with her eyes. I faced the lady, "No that's fine. We'll take three doubles." I said with a smile.

She gave us three keys and motioned to our rooms. We took our suitcases and headed for our rooms. I walked with Jamie, we didn't say anything but he seemed shocked that I was fine with sharing.

Before we went into our rooms I heard Ian murmur something to Melanie. "Do you think we should have made that bet?" I stole a glance and saw Melanie shrug. All six of us went into our rooms.

"Wow." I said when I went in. It was an average room; on suite bathroom, T.V., mini-fridge. It wasn't spontaneous but it was very different than what I was used to.

"What?" Jamie asked.

"I haven't been in a motel room in three years." I said. He smiled.

We unpacked our clothes and got ourselves ready for bed. He wore an old T-shirt and a pair of shorts. I put on some pajama bottoms and a tank top. I briefly caught a stunned look on Jamie's face before he composed it.

"Are you fine with sharing a bed?" Jamie asked timidly. I lightly laughed.

"Yeah, I'm fine. I trust you not to do anything."

I lay on my stomach on the bed facing the TV while Jamie was sat up. I could somewhat feel his eyes on me.

I heard some voices from the next room. It was Jared and Melanie.

"I wonder what Wanda was thinking. I mean; two hormonal teenagers who get along better than just friends, sharing a double bed in their own motel room, knowing that they are probably the last of people their age that are in the same country; How can you not get a little worried?" Jared said.

"I'm sure they won't do anything." Melanie stated.

'How would you know? I was once a hormonal teenage boy. It didn't go down very well with keeping myself focused in history class." Jared challenged.

"First of all, since when does anybody always stay focused in history class? Second of all, Jamie wouldn't want to do anything to offend her; he likes her too much for that. And third of all, Rose seems to keep to herself and doesn't 'see' everything despite her eyesight."

The conversation faded to a different subject that I didn't really want to know about. I was surprised that people were really that worried about us. I decided to lock it away for later and focus on the movie.

I was halfway through the movie when I yawned.

"Okay, this movie officially sucks. Could it get any cornier? I mean, where's the action?" I turned to him.

He was already staring at me. He shook his head when I met his eyes.

"I know. The movies now are horrible. Anyway, we better turn in for the night." He went under the covers. I went to grab the remote to turn off the TV. I then crawled into bed next to him.

At first we stayed some distance from each other. He then fell asleep. I couldn't help getting closer, he was so warm. And it was a cold night. I kept on trying to close my eyes and fall asleep but I couldn't. I always felt some sort of spark because of the fact I was near him. It kept on drawing me closer. I ended up being inched from him. I fell asleep immediately.

***

I awoke when I heard Jamie's voice. I also noted that it was very warm.

"Rose?" he murmured.

"Jamie?" I asked in a very sleepy voice.

"Um…Rose….I think we need to get up. And…um, I guess we definitely moved around when we slept."

My brow furrowed. I examined my position. I found myself across his chest when I awoke. I could feel his hand lightly on my lower back. I could hear Jamie's heart.

"Oh" I suddenly became very alert. I started untangling myself. I felt his hand on my back tighten as if to hold me closer for a brief second but then went limp. I quickly got out of the bed to grab a set of clothes and jump in the bathroom before my blush covers up my entire face. I couldn't help smiling a little at the fact Jamie actually had his arm around me when I slept.

We both got packed without saying much to each other. Once we got out our room we had blushes on both of our cheeks.

Nobody said anything but gave us suspicious looks.

Hope you liked it. Cause I have some bad news that you're not going to want to hear:

I'm thinking of stopping on this story for a bit. Chill, I'm not going to drop it forever. I know, this annoys me too but I really want to work on my other stories. They'll probably be coming out in less than a week's time. They'll be full-length stories and will need several chapters to come. I'll probabl;y continue this in a couple weeks and promise you guys that this will be updated before the end of May.

Again, really sorry. I hope this doesn't put you off on your reviews because every single one counts to me.

-Star of the Sky