Alice
This boy was faster than I had expected, but he seemed to be tiring out quicker than I was. Maybe it was the bag of stolen food was slowing him down. We were running further and further away from the City, and deeper into the Wastelands. I shouldn't have even thought about chasing this Outcast.
I should have gone back through the fence before an Official or somebody else saw me. But something was telling me to chase after him. Was I planning on taking the food and turning him into the Officials so he could be killed? No. That didn't really seem like something I would no, being that I would probably do the same if I was hungry enough.
Then why was I chasing after him? The only thing that concerned me with him was that fact that he ran into me and knocked me over. That was it. Suddenly, he stopped and turned around. I wasn't paying attention to my surroundings, and ran into him.
I stepped back a few feet. Was he dangerous? I didn't know anything about Outcasts other than they were sent to the Wastelands for crimes. I didn't know anything else. "Why are you following me?" his snapped, his voice harsh and cold. It was dark around us, but I knew of everything that was around us; ash, dead trees, and the Outcast.
"I-I don't know why I followed you," I responded back, my voice more shaky than I expected. I guessed that I was worried he'd try to hurt me in order to keep me from telling the Officials about him. I saw his amber eyes narrow at me. "You need to go back to where you came from. You don't need to be out here."
It was more of a warning than a statement. "I'm not going to report you, if that's what you're worried about," I said, trying to reassure any assumptions he may have made. When I looked closer at him, he looked about my age. His black hair blended in with the stark night.
A small breeze blew through the Wastelands, causing the ashes of plants and other previous life to be disturbed and float through the air. The Outcast then coughed into his hand. I was able to see his face was flushed. "You're sick," I said. His eyes sharpened at me.
"It's from the ash. I'm not sick." There was defiance in his voice, but also worry. It probably wasn't a good thing to get ill out in a place with no help for the sick or wounded. Heck, they didn't even have any food, or else this Outcast wouldn't have risked his life to steal it from the market.
"I have some spare medicine back at my house-" His harsh voice cut me off. "I don't need anything from where you're from." I blinked in surprise, and to also rid my eyes of the ashes that had gotten in them. "Just get out of here. It'll save everyone a lot of trouble if you do," he snapped.
He picked up the bag of stolen food and started to walk off. It was probably for the best if I did leave. My grandfather was bound to be wondering why I wasn't home this late. I turned around and followed the dim lights that came from oil lamps back in the City.
I arrived back to the fence, and slipped through the large opening. Everything looked the same as it had when I left. There were no Officials patrolling, and I took that opportunity to get back home. Last night, the little Outcast girl had been in my thoughts. Now, it was that boy.
Shun
When I noticed the girl from the City was chasing after me, there was a moment when I felt stricken with worry. She's going to turn me in. I just know it. But I saw that she wasn't one of the Officials, which still didn't mean much. This girl could have still turned me in.
Finally, I had talked her into leaving the Wastelands and returning back to the City. I walked back to our little town, the bag of food still in my hand. There would be plenty to ration out to the rest of the people that lived with us, but the kids were the top priority.
They would get some of the food first, then the rest of us would get our servings. Christina was sitting outside of the small building that housed all of the parentless children. She then saw me walking towards the building, and jumped up. "Shun! There you are!"
Christina ran down the old stairs, almost tripping on her way down. "Where have you been? We woke up this morning and you were gone." Her voice was filled to the brim with worry. I hadn't meant to cause anyone grief, but they would certainly worry if I had told them of the stupid thing I did.
Her eyes fell on the bag that I had set on the ground. "What's that?" I opened it up, revealing the bread and other things that I was able to swipe. Her eyes lit up. For many of our people, this was the most food they'd see in their entire lives. The awe in Christina's expression faded though.
"Shun, where did you get this?" She knew exactly where I had gotten it, but she probably didn't want to believe it. "The City. I snuck in through the fence and grabbed what I could." She looked at me as if I had murdered somebody. "You could have been killed."
One of the kids that were inside of the house, was looking out the window at us. Christina waved her hand and said, "Go back to bed." The kid nodded sleepily and left the window. I said, "I know about the risk I took, but I didn't want to watch them starve."
I coughed into my hand like I had done back with the City girl. Christina looked at me and asked, "Are you feeling well?" She tried to place her hand on my face, but I knocked it to the side. "I'm feeling fine." I couldn't afford to get sick. But it looked like that both me and Christina knew I probably was.
The people in the Wastelands barely had an immune system, which left us very vulnerable to everything. Next to starvation, illness was our second biggest killer. She sighed and picked up the bag of food. "I'm going to put this up. I don't care if you're feeling okay or not, I want you to rest." I nodded my head and followed her inside of the house.
Alice
The morning went on like any other, but I knew it wasn't. I could already tell that the Officials were cracking down after that boy stole from the market. Whether they knew he was an Outcast or not, they didn't seem to care. They were being more strict about the laws.
The Officials claimed that it was for our safety, but I already felt like more a prisoner. I was sitting on my bed, watching as twice as many Officials were put up against the fence. If that boy tried to sneak back in a steal again, then he was in for a big shock.
There was something about the Wastelands though, that made me feel somewhat free. Maybe it was the fact that it was such a wide open space with no fence to cage people. I sighed, and laid back down on my bed. A knock came from my bedroom door, and my grandfather stepped in.
I sat up so he'd have room to sit down on the foot of my bed. "I didn't want to bother you about this last night since you looked tired, but why did you get back so late?" his voice was soft and gentle. Most adults would yell and yell at their kids for getting home late, but not my grandfather.
"I kind of ran into somebody." If anyone found out that I talked with an Outcast, then all hell would break loose. That was almost as bad as stepping out through the fence and into the Wastelands. He nodded his head, not wanting to push the subject any further.
"One of the upper class families that I know, dropped by this morning while you were sleeping. They were wanting to know if you'd help out around their house for a couple extra dollars." I smiled. This was one of the perks of having my grandfather. He had been crucial in the reconstruction of our City, and made plenty of inventions that had pulled us out of the dark and into the light.
"Of course, Grandfather. I'd love to help them out." This would also mean that I had a good amount of money coming my way. The upper class gave higher payments that the employers that were in our class. The only people who matched that pay, were the Officials.
My grandfather handed me a sheet of paper with the directions to their home. He then pushed himself up and off of the foot of my bed. "They said you can show up whenever you want." I nodded and watched him walk out of my room.
Since I didn't know what kind of work I would be doing for these people, I just slipped on one of my older, and least favorite dresses. I stopped in the kitchen, and made me a small breakfast with the groceries that I had just bought. "I'm gone, Grandfather."
He sipped his coffee and put it down to speak. "Ok. Be careful out there." I followed the directions on the paper. As I walked, the houses began to look nicer and nicer. I hadn't ever been in this area of the City. It was strange to see such nice houses, when really they were just like ours. Only bigger and without the leaky roof.
I found the house that my grandfather had given me the directions to. There was a small dog laying down on the dead grass of their yard, and he didn't even bark when I walked up to the door. Some guard dog. I knocked on the door, and was greeted with an elderly couple.
They looked about the same age as my grandfather, maybe even older. The woman said, "You must be Michael's granddaughter. Please, come in and make yourself comfortable." Her voice was nice and subtle. She was the basic little-old-lady. They let me inside.
Although the house looked like ours on the outside, it was totally different on the inside. The furniture and floors were in better shape than what was in our house, and there wasn't dust caking every square inch of the place. I asked, "What do you want me to do?"
The old man said, "Well, it'd be nice if you could dust some of the shelves that we can't reach anymore." I smiled and said, "That's no problem." They handed me a cloth to dust with. I took it and started on the shelves. The dust that flew up made me sneeze.
The floating dust reminded me of the ashes that flew up around me and the Outcast boy. I shook my head. I had to get him off of my mind. I went back to focusing on cleaning the shelf, and tried to push him out of my thoughts as best as I could.
Shun
My body was sore when I woke up that morning. I played it off as from running yesterday, but I highly doubted that was the root cause. I forced myself out of bed, and walked towards the main room of the building. Christina was already handing out small portions of the food that I stole last night.
The kids were taking it without hesitation, but remembered to thank her. I smiled. Christina saw me standing in the doorway, and quickly handed the last kid his food. She then made her way over to me. "I might not like how you got the food, but at least they won't be hungry," she said softly so the kids wouldn't hear us talk.
If they found out that I had snuck into the City, then they would think it would be ok for them to do the same thing. And I didn't want to be responsible for any of their deaths. "As long as their not as hungry," I said while watching them eat. Christina still held the leftover loaf of bread and held it out to me.
"You want some?" I shook my head. "I'm not hungry," I said tiredly. She raised an eyebrow at me, then quickly placed her hand on my forehead. I wasn't ready for her to do that, so I didn't have time to react and try to dodge. "Shun, you're warm."
I lowered her arm and said, "I'm sure it's nothing." Her eyes told me it wasn't nothing. She knew just as well as I did, that I was getting sick. "Maybe you should go lay down." I shook my head. There was no way that I was going, or wanted, to admit that I was sick.
Even though it was clear that I was. "I'll be fine. If I start feeling worse, then I'll take it easy. But right now, I feel fine." Christina sighed. "Suit yourself, Shun. Just take it easy though." I nodded and watched as she walked back over to the kids. Quietly, I coughed into my hand so they wouldn't hear.
ah. i love week long breaks. :3 i can sleep in and stay up without having to worry about school. life is good. ^^ well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~