Alice

I blinked a few times. This woman was reacting about the way that I expected. "I'm Alice," I said, hoping that was the answer that she wanted when she asked who I was. I don't think it was, but she left my clueless answer at that and didn't probe any deeper with the same question. We sat there in an awkward silence. It would probably be like this till one of us bothered to talk to the other, or after the medicine started to take effect on the Outcast.

I didn't have to call him that anymore, since I now knew his name. But it must have become a habit. The woman sat down in a chair and said, "Let me introduce myself since I know your name now. I'm Christina." She held out a slender hand to me, which I shook. Compared to the other people I had seen outside, she looked the youngest. Next to the kids and Shun, of course.

Now, I had a name for both her and the stranger that I had helped. Christina then asked me, "What did Shun do when you ran into him in the Wastelands?" I thought back to the other night when I fell and landed right in front of him. He was hiding, and I had accidentally uncovered him. "He was kind of freaked out at first." She nodded her head. "Shun probably thought you were going to turn him in, or that you were an Official."

I doubted I could ever pass as an Official in a million years. "He seems kind of stubborn from what I could tell," I added on so the awkwardness wouldn't return. She laughed and said, "Stubborn he is. No, that may actually be an understatement."

I laughed along with her. It was hard to believe how similar these people were to the ones I knew in the City. I had to remind myself that most of them had lived in the City at one point, and then they were cast out. Then I remembered, they had committed crimes to get where they were now.

Did that mean that some of them were dangerous? If any of them were, then I doubted that they would allow a dangerous person to live around where little kids were. I need to quit thinking like those Officials. A little girl ran into the house, and I recognized her as the little girl that I had seen through the fence.

She stopped, looking me over as she tried to place where she had seen me. "You're that girl that gave me that food!" Her eyes lit up when she finally knew who I was. Christina raised an eyebrow and asked the girl, "You've met Alice before, Sarah?" She nodded her head vigorously.

"Yeah. She saw me through the fence a few days ago and gave me a little bit of food." I smiled down at the little girl. Christina looked at her and said, "You were next to the fence?" The little girl nodded and said, "Don't worry. I'm not going to go back there because Shun talked to me about why it was bad."

Christina nodded and placed a light hand on the little girl's back. "Okay. Go on and gather up the rest of the children. It's getting dark and I don't want them getting lost." The girl didn't protest and ran out of the house. "That was a nice thing you did for her, but if you see anymore of them around the fence, could you maybe tell them just to come on back here? So they won't get hurt?"

Images of all of the Officials piled up against the fence. "I'll try, but about three times as many Officials have been added to the fence after Shun broke in." Her eyes widened. "More Officials?" I nodded. I remembered how I could hardly see past them. If one of those kids came running up there out of curiosity, the only people that would see them would be an Official.

And no telling what would happen from there on out. They could kill the kid if they wanted to. I cringed. How much more authority would they end up getting if they did spot another kid or Outcast near the fence? They already seemed out of control in my opinion, but what they were doing was fine to many people in the City.

"That's what I originally came here for. To tell Shun about all of the new Officials in case he was going to try and sneak in through the fence again," I told her. At least, that was my best guess as to why I really came here. It was the only thing that made sense to me.

A group of kids then came walking into the house, all of them led by little Sarah. I then looked out of the door they left open. It was already night out there. I panicked, not knowing that I had been gone this long. I jumped up and said, "I really have to go."

Christina stared at me with surprise in her eyes. She wasn't expecting me to jump up suddenly and say that. The kids that had just walked into the house were staring at me as well; either from my outburst or because I was a total stranger. "I understand that you have to go back there.

I just want to thank you again, Alice. Will we ever see you again?" Christina's hazel eyes were quizzical as she waited for my answer. "I'll try. I really will," I told her. But I didn't know if I could keep this promise or not. Things back in the City were starting to get more and more confusing.

I told her good-bye and ran out of the house. All of the people that had been walking around, now were gone. All of them had vanished inside of their homes and gone to sleep. I followed my way back to the City by using the lights from oil lamps to guide me. I would have to hurry, because soon they would all be out as people turned in for the night.

Each time my foot hit the ground, a cloud of ash came up. I knew the ends of my dress had to be covered in the stuff. In the dark, it was harder to find the hole in the fence. I stayed out of the Officials' sight so I could locate the opening. It felt like forever had gone by until I finally say it.

I didn't hesitate before running through the weak point in the fence. Now, I just had to walk back to my home without getting stopped by an Official. That was easier said that done.

Shun

I slowly opened my eyes, only to find it was sometime late at night. There wasn't any laughing or squealing, which told me that all of the kids were asleep. I brought a hand up to my forehead. My fever wasn't gone, but it was a lot weaker than it had been earlier. Odds were it had broken while I was resting.

The cloth that Christina had used on me, was back in its bowl of water on the floor. I knew that little water soaked rag wasn't going to break my fever. Then what had? I tried to remember anything that may have done it. I knew it wasn't my immune system, since it was no better than anyone else's that lived out here.

I then remembered the little bit of water Christina had given to me. When she gave it to me, I didn't understand the point in it. I was as good as dead, and didn't need to have precious water wasted on something that was inevitable. But there had been something off about that water.

Most of the water in the Wastelands wasn't exactly to cleanest stuff of the planet, but the water that I was given was different from what I was normally used to.

It had a powdery texture, and a bitter aftertaste. I couldn't think of anything that was in it that would have done anything to break my fever.

Unless, there had been medicine in it. But nobody here had any of that, so that theory was out of the window. The only way we could have gotten some was if we snuck into the City and stole it.

I hoped that Christina hadn't taken a page out of my book and gone to the City in an attempt to help me. It seemed out of character for her, but it was also out of character for me when I went to the City and stole food.

I coughed into my hand. It was safe to say whatever medicine she had gotten, hadn't gotten rid of my cough just yet. I sighed. I just couldn't believe that somebody had risked their neck to go into the City in order to get me medicine. I knew that I was important to the people that lived with us, but my life wasn't worth risking another's.

Alice

An Official immediately stopped me when I walked out of the 'do not enter' zone of the City. "Why are you out walking around at this time when you should be sleeping?" It always seemed like these Officials only knew how to ask questions.

But they had put me on the spot with their little question. I couldn't think of a single lie to respond to them with. In my mind, I was sifting through anything that I could possibly use to save my hide. I got it. "I was working for a couple in the upper class part of town, and since I had never been there, I got lost on my way coming back home."

The Official raised an eyebrow, then looked me over. He was examining my ash covered dress. If I didn't know better, I would have said he could smell the fear on me. "Do you have anyone that can verify that you were working there?" I nodded. "Yeah. My Grandfather can. He's the one who got me a job up there."

The Official whistled, and another one came jogging up next to him. "Alright. We're going to escort you back home, and make sure that you're telling to truth to us. Is that clear?" I tried to act like I knew what I was doing and said to them, "Crystal clear." I may have seemed confident on the outside, but I was nowhere near it on the inside.

On each of my arms, an Official had linked his arm through mine so I wouldn't run off. "Up there. That's my house," I told them so they wouldn't keep on carrying me down the street. They walked with up to the door, and knocked. Little pieces of old wood fell off of the door and landed at my feet.

My grandfather then appeared, his expression shocked when he saw that I was in between two Officials. "Alice. What's going on?" His question was directed to the Officials, rather than me. Before one of them could speak, I jumped in. I needed this to go my way, or end up in big trouble.

"They found me wandering around the streets. I told them that I had been working up in the upper class homes and got lost on my way back here since I never go up there. They need you to verify that I was working up there today." I blurted out my words, and I had to focus to keep from rushing them. Please, Grandfather. Catch on to what I'm saying.

I kept mentally begging him to follow along with my little act. He then smiled and said, "Thank you for finding my granddaughter. I knew I should have given her better directions when I sent her up there this morning." He even snapped his fingers to signal that he forgot.

The two Officials looked at each other. Please buy it. Please buy it. In my opinion, my grandfather's act was pretty believable. The Official who found me said, "Alright. Everything seems to check out with your story." They let me go, and I ran over to my grandfather's side.

The old man was waving at them as they were walking away from our house. "Thank you again!" The Officials ignored him. He kept waving until they were out of sight, then turned on me. He had a hand on each of my shoulders, and his expression was extremely serious. "Inside. Now."

I nodded and followed him into our house. I had never seen him like this. He was shuffling around in the kitchen. "I'm sorry if I made you worry, Grandfather," I said softly. I really was. If I hadn't lost track of time out there in the Wastelands, then I wouldn't have gotten caught by Officials.

"Do you have any idea how scared I was when I saw you with two Officials? I nearly had a heart attack, Alice." I mumbled another apology to him. I probably did deserve to get yelled at for causing him so much worry. He then said, "Okay. Now tell me why you were so late getting back. Because I know for a fact that it doesn't take that long to bring medicine to Runo's, since she lives right down the street."

I almost thought for a moment he was going to say bring medicine to the Wastelands, then calmed down when he finished his sentence. I forgot that I told him I was taking the medicine to Runo. "I stayed a little while longer to help her with some things."

I didn't know that I was capable of lying like this. I hated not telling my grandfather the truth though. Ever since I got involved with the Outcasts, I had lied to him more than I ever had in my life. The only people I had been truly honest with lately, were the people out in the Wastelands.

My grandfather sighed and walked over to me, wrapping his arms around me. "I'm sorry. I'm just relieved that you're okay and not in any kind of trouble." I hugged him back. Yeah. No trouble. Yet.

chapter went much more fluently than the last. thank goodness. ^^'' hard to believe it's only Tuesday. o.o announcement before i forget, but i will most likely restate this. there will be no updates from March 22-26. i'm going on a band trip and will have no access to internet or time to update. like i said, i'm probably going to restate this several times. my brain could deserve a rest as well. :p well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~