Alice

My eyes opened to find myself still in the bed I fell asleep in. For some reason, I guess I was expecting to wake up back home, in my own bed and room. I sighed, pushing the impossible to the side, and looked around the room. All of the beds were empty, and nobody else was in the house except for me. Confused, I climbed out from my warm covers and stepped outside to see if I could find them.

Sure enough, I saw Runo and Julie back at the boat dock; they seemed to be helping to clean up from what I could tell. My eyes searched for the rest of the group. I spotted Dan and Murucho talking with Brunswick by one of the many fishing piers. Last night we had learned a lot; more than I was happy about. Little did we know, our group was predicted to show up at this city.

It wasn't just a coincidence that the map took us here. It wasn't just a stop for food, water, or shelter. No. It was to help these people and get them out of harm's way before the Officials delivered the same fate as the people in the City and in Shun's home. But I couldn't understand why. Why was it this place first? And why would the Officials do anything to these people, when they probably didn't even know they existed.

My mind shifted from those antagonizing questions, to the question of where Shun was. I scanned the entire lake from the place where we had talked last night. My eyes finally found him further down the sandy bank. He was watching a group of people in a boat out in the water. The little man-operated boat bounced with the waves of the water as they pulled in a small net filled with fish.

I walked up to Shun and said, "There you are." He glanced at me, gave me a small smile, and went back to looking out at the lake. "The others were wondering when you were going to wake up," he said, still keeping his gaze towards the water. I hadn't thought I was that tired, but I apparently was.

"I don't blame them," I replied back. Small waves lapped at the bank of sand in front of us. It washed up plants and shells that were underneath the water's surface. Neither of us said much more; it was nice to take in the serene sounds of the lake, and to forget that we were in danger. The only thing that lifted us from our trace, was the cursing of somebody behind us.

Shun and I both turned around to see Marquis trudging through the sand, carrying a net full of fish; that was this city's specialty. That, and rice, which we found out that was what those plants growing in the water of the lake was. "Everything okay?" Shun asked him.

Marquis growled, still cursing at the flopping net. The fishy contents smelled, and I wished that he would continue on his way so I didn't have to breathe in the stench. He didn't seem to mind it though. If it did, then he was showing now signs of it. "Yeah, everything's fine. It's Val's fault for not showing up and helping me with this. Damn freeloader is probably taking a nap somewhere," Marquis said, then growled.

I didn't know if he was talking to us, or himself. It was kind of hard to tell. Shun was trying to hold back a laugh, and he quickly regained his composer before the huge man noticed. "Do you want any help?" Shun asked, pointing to the mess of fish. Marquis shook his head and told us, "Nah, I got it. But thank you for the offer."

He swung the fish back over his shoulder and continued on his way. I swore he said something like, "Val, if I find you, I'm shoving one of these fish down your throat." I blinked a couple of times, not sure if I should be worried about the safety of Val, or if I should worry about the fish.

Shun raised an eyebrow and said, "Well, that was….Interesting." I nodded in agreement. Interesting wasn't exactly the word that came to my mind. It was more along the lines of…..Well, I didn't have anything else to call it. So, Shun's word choice seemed to work out the best. The two of us hung around the bank of the lake, not making anything greater than small-talk.

I stopped every now and then, and took off my shoes so the water could run up the bank and rush across my feet. This place was so peaceful, and I wished that I had grown up here instead of the City. I glanced at Shun, and knew he was thinking the same thing.

This lake, this city, was a paradise when you compared it to where we came from. We had made our way towards the floating part of the city. I was amazed how they had made their small buildings float on top of the water. Shun and I walked along the floating walkway, passing by people that were leaving some of the buildings. We quickly found out that this floating part of the city, was what we considered the Business District back home.

Shopping, selling, trading, and everything else was going on. People were selling fish and water dwelling plants from boats along the side of the floating walkway. One woman was paying a man from one of the boats. She handed over her money, and he handed over a bag of small fish.

The way things worked here, it was so much different from the City. People could go where they wanted with no fear of getting in trouble with ravenous Officials. It looked like they had no fear at all. The floating walkway moved with the waves, and that was the only thing I didn't like about this place. Because I could not get my balance at all. And this resulted in one careless footstep that slipped off the slick side of the walkway.

Out of instinct, I tried to keep myself from falling into the water below me. Which meant, that I grabbed onto Shun to save myself. But he wasn't prepared for my plummet towards the water, and I ended up taking him with me. I heard our splash for only a second, then it was replaced with the rush of water in my ears. Immediately, I pushed myself back up the surface; Shun and I had both come up and the same time.

He shook the water from his short, black hair, then looked at me with a glare. But he couldn't contain the smile on his face, and we both laughed, not even noticing the people gathered around above us to see if we were alright.

The woman who was buying the fish from the man in the boat, who we later found out was named Nonia, helped us out of the water. I kind of didn't want to get out. That was as close to a bath as I had gotten in days, and the water felt good on my dirt caked hair.

The quick dip would have to be enough for now. Even though we kept telling the concerned people that we were fine, they insisted on making sure. Once their inspection was over with, they finally laughed and joked around for a moment or two.

Then, everything went back to the way it was before we fell into the water. Shun and I made a beeline for the solid ground; I almost fell in several more times on the way back to land. By the time we had left the floating buildings behind, I was starting to dry.

I hated the way my clothes were sticking to me, and Shun seemed to be the same way. We were wringing the excess water out of our clothing when Dan and the others walked up to us. Murucho raised an eyebrow and said, "Took a little swim?" I laughed and told him, "More like fell in."

They all laughed for a couple of seconds, then slowly stopped. "Well, we were coming over here to let you guys know that it's almost time to eat, and that Brunswick wants to complete last night's discussion," Murucho told us while pushing up his glassed. It was already time to eat? I looked up at the sky and saw the setting sun. Today went by quick. I told them, "Alright. We'll be there in a little bit."

Alice

Once Shun and I had gotten most of the water out of our clothes, and dried our hair, we hurried to the boat dock. Neither one of us wanted to miss dinner, and we needed to here more about what our game-plan was. We made it just in time to get something to eat; any later, and we might have gone without food for the night. It was some sort of rice and fish soup, but the smell was enough to make my mouth water. It was nice to have a meal every night; not all of us could say that.

All of us were gathered back around the fire, sitting on the logs like last time. Brunswick waited for all of us to finish up our food, and the minute we were done, he spoke. "I know I may not have been entirely clear last night, so if any of you have questions, feel free to ask." I had a few, but I felt like they needed to be solved by myself.

Like, why were all of these other cities involved with the Officials, when they had never seen or dealt with them until now? Why did we have to take all these people with us; not that I didn't want to. They weren't connected with the Officials, so what did they have to worry about? That's when it hit me.

Not with the help of Brunswick or anyone else, but on my own. All of these places marked on the map, would be in danger. Whether we stopped at them or not. We could have gone straight to the mountains and climbed over to whatever waited on the other side, and these people would have still been in danger.

Because, those Officials wouldn't stop until they found us. They would search all over the Wastelands, hunting us, destroying towns to find us, and killing the people when they found out we weren't there. It was our fault that these people were in the line of fire. If we had stayed in the City, faced our fate as it was handed to us, they could have continued on with their lives.

They wouldn't have to give up everything they knew. But all those years ago, we were the ones predicted to come here. We were the ones who were meant to survive the wrath of the Officials. I still didn't know why it was us though. Maybe a slip of fate? A coincidence? Or a fluke?

Brunswick continued to look at us, waiting for any questions we may have. I had solved my own, and wished it had stayed a mystery because reality was only getting worse and worse. He shrugged his shoulders and said, "Alright. Looks like I explained everything well enough to you lot last night. You're all more than welcome to turn in or do as you please."

Brunswick stood up and left us all in our little circle around the fire. Julie glanced at everyone and said, "I guess we all go to back to the house and go to bed." We had nothing else to do, so bed sounding like the best idea to us. All of us walked back to the house that was loaned to us during our stay.

The moon, that was half-full last night, was now nothing more than a sliver of glowing light. The sky would probably be dark tomorrow. When we made it back to our house, I didn't even noticed that Shun and Dan weren't with us.

Shun

I was lagging behind the group as we made our way back to the house we were staying in. None of them seemed to notice, so I remained quiet and allowed my mind to wander. While lost in my thoughts, I didn't notice Dan standing in front of me. I almost ran into him, but halted just in time. "What?" I asked in a neutral tone. I had almost enough of him, and I didn't want to see how much more I could take.

I had tried not to let his hate towards Outcasts get to me, but he hadn't cut me a break since we left the City. I looked over him and saw the others were already at the house. They would soon notice our absence, and I could only think about what Alice's reaction would be. She knew good and well about the mutual disagreement between me and Dan. "Don't worry about them. We need to talk," Dan said, pulling my attention away from the others, and back to him.

I could hear it now. He would probably rant on and on about how he didn't like me cause I was an Outcasts and all of that other crap. Sadly, I didn't think I would sit by and let him talk this time. But right when I was about to say something, he caught me off guard with what he had to say. "I know you like Alice," he said without looking at me. My words stopped at my lips, and I blinked in surprise.

"Uh, yeah. What's that got to do with anything?" I was beginning to think that he did like her as much as he liked Runo. But if he had, surely he would have been doing something to keep me away from her. "And I'm fully aware that she likes you back."

He still didn't look at me when he spoke. I was starting to grow annoyed. What was he trying to get at? All he was doing was stating the obvious. "And what does this have to do with anything?" I asked, trying to keep my voice from raising. This time, Dan did turn to look at me.

His eyes were sharp when he said, "Don't think that just because of that I'm going to change my views about you. You're still an Outcast, regardless of what's happening. And Alice is still one of my friends, and the second you do anything to harm her, I'll make sure you wish you hadn't." His voice was harsh enough to make me step back.

"Understood?" he asked. I didn't want to answer him, seeing that he was pretty much threatening me. But I was also in no position to get smart with him. "Yeah, whatever," I replied back, trying to match the coldness behind his voice. I didn't succeed. Dan turned around and started to walk back towards the house.

"That's all I wanted to say." I stood there for a little bit, making sure he was well in front of me before I returned back to the house with the others. I didn't like letting him intimidate me, but he had lived a much better life than me, and was much stronger. In a fight, he would probably win. I hated to admit it, but it was true. I sighed, and made my way back to the house.

my dearest apologies for not uploading the past two days. monday i was tired and had to straighten my hair (which take a LONG time) and i didnt feel like writing. and yesterday i had a band concert that didnt end till around 9 at night. but i'm back now. :p so, read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~