Alice

Out of habit, I ran back to my old home. The door was still unlocked, and nothing else had been disturbed. An empty feeling hung in the air when I had to remind myself that my grandfather wasn't there anymore. It was only me. Coming back to my home, might not have been a smart idea. This would be one of the places the Officials would think to look first, but I felt like I needed to comfort that it provided me.

The safe feeling of an earlier time when I didn't have to worry about anything other than keeping enough food on the table. My eyes drifted down to the fake board in the floor. I knew its contents were empty, but I still wondered if anything else had miraculously appeared inside.

I shook my head. Stop being stupid, Alice. I sat down at the table in the kitchen, and buried my face into my hands. What was I going to do now? It was only a matter of time before I would be arrested by the Officials. How was I to help Shun in an allotted amount of time?

How was I even going to help him? I let out a shaky sigh. I had no plan. No idea. No nothing. I grew angry at myself for being so clueless, and slammed my hand down on the kitchen table. Shun's expression of betrayal and hate, hung in the back of my mind, occasionally resurfacing so I could push it back down.

I knew it wasn't right to neglect the trouble he was in, but I had too much on my plate as it was. A knock came from the door. I froze, expecting an army of Officials to come barging in. But instead, I heard a friendly voice from the other side. "Alice, are you in there? It's Runo. Let me in."

I wondered if the Officials were using her as a lure for me. It seemed like something they would do. I cautiously approached the door, pressing my ear against the wood to see if I could hear anyone else other than Runo. There was no other sounds.

The one thing I heard, was her distinctive breathing that meant she had been running. Most likely to catch up with me after I fled the scene at the Courtyard. I opened the door just enough to see outside with me eye. She was, in fact, all by herself.

Not even Dan or one of the others followed her. If they had, then they hadn't caught up with her yet. I opened the door the rest of the way, and saw the concern in her eyes. She let out a sigh and said, "Thank heavens I found you. I was worried I would have to look all over the City for you."

She stepped through the door and into the house. I shut the door behind her, making sure to lock it. She turned around and asked me, "Why did you run off back there?" I knew my actions wouldn't go unquestioned. "Uh.." I was at a loss for words and explanations. My bucket of lies was completely empty.

Nothing left. Drained dry with only silence in the bottom. Runo sensed my struggle to answer her and said, "Was it because of your grandfather?" To be honest, my grandfather hadn't crossed my mind during that time. I was too focused on Shun getting beaten down like a dog.

I shook my head. "No. It wasn't cause of my Grandfather." Runo tilted her head to the side. "Then why did you freak out? A lot of people are starting to come up with theories, and they aren't good ones, Alice." I clenched my hands into fists and snapped, "Let them say what they want!"

Runo flinched when I shouted. She, nor had anyone else, seen me lose my temper before. "Alice…" I bit my lower lip and sighed. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to yell at you. It's just….I let somebody down and I'm mad at myself and confused on what to do next," I said softly.

Runo had always been there for me. Could I trust her to hold onto my dark secret, and not turn me over to the hands of the Officials? She placed her hand on my shoulder, trying to comfort me. "How did you let somebody down? You're one of the most loyal and trustworthy people I know, and I have no clue how you could disappoint anybody."

When she called me loyal and trustworthy, I cringed on the inside. I was neither of those things when I stood by and let them hurt Shun. "I didn't help somebody when they needed it the most. And now, they're probably paying for it."

I started to imagine the horrible things they would do to Shun before they killed him. They were horrible thoughts, but they were probably true. They could have been happening now while I talked with Runo. Precious time I could spend trying to find a way to help him, wasted.

Runo asked me, "Who was it?" My legs felt weak and tired, so I sat back down at the kitchen table, running my hands through my hair. "If I tell you….You have to promise to keep it a secret." Runo looked at me quizzically before saying, "I won't tell anyone unless you say otherwise."

Runo's vow felt true and honest, a sign that I had chosen the right person to reside in. "That Outcast that the Officials capture earlier. It was him." Runo's eyes were wide with shock, her mouth was slightly gaped open. "Please, you can't tell anyone. The Officials are already after me as it is, I don't need it made any worse." My friend shook herself out of her shock induced trance.

"You….Know that Outcast?" This was a lot for her to take in, so I wasn't going to neglect her from any information. Somebody else needed to know about the Outcasts and what they were going through. Maybe Runo's views on them would be turned around like mine were.

Maybe she could convince Dan and the others to change their thoughts as well. And so forth. "I don't just know him. I've helped him before. Been out in the Wastelands and spoken with all of the Outcasts. I've got enough stack on top of me, that the Officials have every right to kill me the moment they see me."

Runo kept staring at me, then sat down at the kitchen table across from me. "You've been in the Wastelands too?" I nodded my head. She wasn't freaking out and calling me a traitor like I thought she would have. Runo was actually taking it very well. She asked me, "What's it like out there?"

It was then that I realized, that everyone had wondered what was beyond our fence. I wasn't the only one who had dreamed about the land on the other side. "There isn't much out there. Almost everything is dead, but the Outcasts manage to survive."

I sat there for a while telling her everything from when Shun stole the food from the market, to what happened earlier in the night. She looked amazed that all of this had happened, and I yet to be captured. "Yeah, but they're after me now. I know it. They're just waiting for the right time," I told her.

I reached over the table and placed my hand on her arm. I changed my demeanor to a more serious state. "Something's going to happen soon. Something bad." She stared at me, confused at the riddles I was speaking to her. "What?"

I looked down at the wooded floor and said, "You remember why the Officials took away my Grandfather?" She nodded. "Yeah, something about him planning an escape and helping the Outcasts. Honestly, I didn't believe that he would do something like that."

I bit the inside of my cheek and told her, "Well, they weren't lying when they placed those charges on him. They just never found the evidence to prove it. But I did." I got up from the table and showed her the hidden compartment in the floor. "There was a map and instructions in that metal box. They gave directions to escape from the City and go to the other side of these mountains in the Wastelands."

Runo got up from the table as well, and picked up the metal box in the floor. She opened it, staring at its emptiness. "Where is the map now?" I took the box from her and placed it back in its place, then put the board back on top of it. "The map and instructions are out in the Wastelands so they wouldn't be found by the Officials."

I looked up at Runo, who was looking back at me. I said flatly, "My Grandfather knew something bad was going to happen. Something bad enough that he planned an escape for it. And with all of the stuff going on now, I'm pretty sure he was right about it."

Runo's shoulders were hunched over as we sat on the wood floor. "So, what do we do about it then?" she asked quietly, as if somebody might here us. Runo would probably be as paranoid I was. I told her, "Well, first we need to get the map out of the Wastelands so we can follow it. Then, we have to get together the people who will follow us."

Runo seemed to understand the steps we needed to take. A lot of people probably wouldn't run away with us. Mainly out of fear that the Officials would arrest them for going against their laws. They have to understand what's at risk though.

Runo stared down at the floor as she thought about something. She then asked, "Where in the Wastelands is the map?" I had to rethink back to when I brought it out there. "The last person I gave it to was…..Shun."

Alice

Runo and I stared at one another for a moment. If Shun still had that map and an Official found it on him, then the torment he would face would be excruciating. They would make his life a living hell until the Officials got bored, or Shun died. I stood up from the floor and told Runo, "I have to find him."

She quickly stood up and grabbed my wrist. "Alice, slow down and think this through for a moment. You don't know for sure if he has that map. He could have left it out in the Wastelands." She was right. Shun could have left it out there with Christina, but I didn't feel like taking a chance of his death getting sped up.

"It's not just the map. I need to talk with him. I need to try and let him know that I wanted to help him, but couldn't. If I can't find a way to break him out before the Officials do anything to him, I at least want him to know the truth." I pulled my wrist from her hand and started towards the door.

I told her, "I'm pretty sure the Officials are going to search this house for me, so I'd suggest not staying in here for too long. There's no telling what they'd do to you if they thought you had information, which you do now." Runo nodded and followed me outside of the house.

We looked around for any Officials standing by the fence. There were none. I had a feeling they were all looking for me. Runo stopped me before I darted off. "Alice, watch yourself out there." I smiled and said, "I always do." We both smiled, and I ran from the house.

I wasn't brave enough to take a chance and run along the dirt road, so I stayed out of sight by running through the houses that made up the area that I lived in. The sky was pitch black, and showed no sign of dawn coming anytime soon. I kept on running, too afraid to stop just yet.

I slowed at a building, and peered from around its corner. Across the street, was the jail that the Officials took Shun to. Now, I just had to find the cell he was in, which wouldn't be too hard if I looked in the windows that lined the ground. I only had to watch out for the occasional Official that may have been walking the perimeter. I took a deep breath as I readied myself, and darted across the road.

aye. it had been one lazy day for me. :p but im not complaining. well, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~