Chapter 3

Liek with every rainfall, the dirt seemed to be washed away, bringing a new, fresh and clean feeling.

The streets were muddy now, and any bit of mud that shifted during the night had covered some of the flowers. Still their camp had made it through the night.

All the men gathered in the middle of the town to view any damges that might have accured in the night. Adam stood off to the side, taking in the view and feeling as if he was watching through somebody else's eyes.

"Hm." Rob stood just a few feet from Adam. "Well it doesn't look too bad, but still some damages have been done. "

"Only a few hours of damage." a man name Paul said. "Maybe a full day's work at the most. "

Slowly Rob nodded, giving the near by houses a quick look over. Some of the wooden homes had shifted slightly from the lack of foundation underneath.

Some people begain to emerge from their homes to see what dmages had occured. As they looked around they begain to murmer amonst themselves.

"Hold on." Damn said. "A little damage is not going to stop us from living here. We-" he paused.

Off in the distance, he could hear the roar of the raven's engine rapidly getting louder. Was it the Cog? were they coming for their friend?

"Maria. Adam. I need you to to gather supplies needed to fix the homes."

Adam opened his mouth to argue, but Maria took hold of his arm and pulled him away. She too had heard the Raven. Everybody except Adam knew the sound of an approaching Raven.

He had forgotten what a Raven sounded like. He had truly forgotten everything about himself. Maria envyed him. He was just living from day to day.

"Maria..."

"Come on, Adam.."

She didn't even give him the chance to argue. The Raven was getting closer and they had to hurry and get some distance away from the camp.

She wanted to be free like that...

Rob stood at the edge of town and watched as the Raven touched down,. Several Gears hopped out looking quite threatening with their lancers.

Hoffman, Marcus, Dom, Cole and Anya stepped out and made their way toward the group of men that waited for them. Just inside of town, the women and children stood watching.

"We are not here to cause any trouble." Hofman said.

"Just leave then." Rob said through pressed lips.

"Yeah!" everybody cheered.

"Every time you assholes show up, either the Locusts or the Lambant show up!"

"Look." Hoffman said. "We are looking for somebody. He's been missing for a while now. All we want to know is if you have seen him."

"Doubt it." somebody scoffed.

Hoffman held out a picture of a scowling Baird.

Quickly Rob pulled it out of his hand and looked down at it. It was indeed Adam, with that trade mark frown. Other men glanced at it, knowing immeadly that it was Adam, but still they said nothing.

"No." Rob said quickly and threw it back at Hoffman. "Now get the hell out of here."

"Thaks for nothing." Marcus muttered.

Cole let out a sigh and bent over to pick up the picture. His missed Baird's scarcastic comments and voicing his opinions even though nobody wanted to hear, nor did they care. It just wasn't the same without him there.

"Come on." Marcus said. "We don't have time to waist."

The others watched as marcus begain to walk away. After several long seconds, they begain to follow in silence. Without a sound, they all squeezed back into the raven and it quickly took to the air.

It was so qu ick that Cole immeadly turned green and suddenly he was leaning out the side door, and lost everything that was in his stomach.

How he wished Baird was here to make a comment about that.

In the middle of the forest, Adam and Maria heard the Raven fly right over their heads. They looked up just in time for it to fly past in a hurry.

"Is that Cog?" Adam asked.

"Yeah.." Maria said quietly. She went deep into thought.

"Maria?"

"Hm..?"

"Uh.. I've been wondering..."

"About what?" She seemed a little distracted at that moment, and his next words suprised her.

"I have been wondering...where do I truly belong?"

"W-What do you mean?"

"I don't feel as if I belong here...no offence, but I feel as if there is somewhere else that I need to be and there are people who might be looking for me right now..."

Maria tried to loko indifferent. "I don't know what you're talking about."

She felt so bad for lying, but truthfully, she liked his company. She would truly miss him if he left now.

They continue to walk through the forest, gathering supplies that they needed to rebuild.

As they walked into town, the men looked as if they were in a really bad mood. They all were frowning, and standing together with their arms crossed and talking quietly amonst themselves. It didn't look good.

Adam had noticed it too. Did Gears come here? Waht was said that made the men so angry?

"Come on, Adam." Maria said. "Can you help me make dinner tonight?"

"Sure."

He seemed a little unsure, but still let her lead him back to her home.

Rob watched as his little sister walked away wtih Adam. He frowned, not liking how close the two have gotten. Any relationship between them was forbidden and he ahd told her that many times, but to his dismay, she simply dismissed his comment.

Playfully Maria pushed Adam and laughed. With a smile, he looked down at her and pretended to go after her.

Her laughter was musical as she dodged him and ran ahead, with her arms swinging at her sides. Adam chased after her, their laughter filled the air. At that moment, he didn't know how he felt toward her, but he loved her company, her voice and her laughter.

Still, he continued to feel as if he belonged somewhere else. At night, he would dream of a pretty dark haired woman who called him by a name he did not reconize.

Her dark eyes looked so sad as she reached out for him.

Some nights were sleepless after waking up from the same nerve racking dream of her.

'Perfect.' Adam thought. 'Just what I need, another sleepless night.'

He sat up, knowing that there would be no way he would be sleeping tonight. He looked out his window at the full moon, the vision of the dark haired woman's sad eyes.

TBC...

Thank you Babylon for keeping me going. I have been having...issues and just knowing that somebody wants me to continue keeps me going. I am gonna finish this I promise. It might take me a little bit longer but thank you thank you thank you