Alice

I stopped walking, allowing people to pass by me, and stared at the most recent place we had left. Little kids crying blended in with the explosions of gunfire behind us, only making them wail more and more. I wanted to cover my ears, to block out the sounds of despair, but I just let my arms hang at my sides.

Dan and the others were cutting their way through the sea of people, going against the flow of traffic. Runo asked me, "Alice, why'd you stop? We need to keep moving." Another flare shot up into the sky from where the lake was. They should have known why I stopped; I had allowed Shun to run off into that bloodbath when I could have stopped him. He might have been angry at me for taking him away from his 'payback' but he would have gotten over it.

But I had let him go, and now he could be dead and I wouldn't know. There were so many Officials when we left, and only more could have joined into the fight. They would have easily outnumbered Shun and anyone else who stayed behind to fight. I found myself speaking without knowing it. "I want to go back." I felt a hand take my wrist, and I turned around to see that Dan had done it.

"Alice, I'm sure you do want to go back and find him, but there's no point in it. Either he's alive or not, it makes no difference. We're on the move again, and he probably won't catch up with us. Going back there would only put you in danger, and I'm not going to allow something bad to happen to one of my friends."

I stared at him, the rain pelting on our faces; I wasn't sure if there were any tears on my cheeks or not. I became irrational, not thinking due to the shock of everything. "You don't want to go back for him because he's an Outcast."

It didn't matter if what Dan was telling me was the truth, or if it had any justification behind his words. I wasn't thinking clearly, and it was too much of a crucial time for that to be happening. Dan rolled his eyes and said, "I could really care less about that. I'm just trying to keep you from doing something stupid."

I snatched my wrist from his hand, prepping myself to yell words at him that I would probably regret. Dan was just trying to look out for me like he did all of us. My rant was cut off when somebody behind us shouted. "Hey! Wait up for us!"

We all turned to see Marquis and Val, who were helping to carry somebody; due to the darkness, I couldn't make out who it was until they were closer. They had Shun with them. At that moment, all my anger at Dan went away when I saw that Shun was okay.

All of us ran towards the three of them. Marquis and Val were a little beat up, but from what I could tell, Shun wasn't hurt. Then why was he out cold? Marquis was panting when he said, "It's a madhouse back there. I hated that we had to sneak out, but we were getting beaten to a pulp."

The rain was starting to cease, but the sky was still dark with the clouds of the storm. The gunfire was starting to become less frequent, and it was only a matter of time before the Officials were on our trails again. Val noticed this as well because he said, "I suggest getting out of here before we have to face them again."

We all agreed and started after the large group of people that had continued to go on without us. In no time, we caught up with them. All of us were soaked to the bone, and a couple of people were shuddering from the cold that was attacking their wet bodies.

I stared at the mass of people that had been added to our small group of only six. Now, we numbered in the hundreds, and I could only fret about the hassle and danger a large group brought along with it. This many people, would only slow down progress that we needed to make.

And it made us more vulnerable to attack. I felt horrible for it, but I wished we didn't have to take them with us. It was the morally right thing to do, but when you thought about it, Officials were killing us because they wanted to. So, where were the morals, and why did they matter anymore? But we had to keep them.

If we didn't, then we would turn out no differently than the Officials, and history would repeat itself once again. Marquis and Val were still carrying Shun, who had still yet to wake up. I was starting to grow worried. What had happened that had knocked him out like this?

Dan yelled up at Murucho, "We need to stop and take a rest!" I looked at the people that we were now taking with us. They were scared, confused, cold, and tired. Shelter sounded wonderful to them, just as it did to me and the others. But where in this empty stretch of land would we find a place that was safe from the elements and Officials?

There was nowhere like that. Our only choice was to rest out in the Wastelands. And to add onto the list of worse things, it was still drizzling rain. It probably wouldn't last that much longer, but it would still make things inconvenient. Murucho then came running through the crowd of people, expression of joy on his face.

"I think I found a place to rest for the night!" All of us looked at one another, then I turned to look out in the Wastelands. Where was Murucho talking about? All I saw was flat land with nothing else in sight. "Where is it, Murucho?" I asked, wondering if the short boy had gone crazy.

He motioned with his hand and said, "Follow me." We did as he said, and he brought us to a hole in the ground. It was big enough that Dan would be able to fit inside with ease, and looked like it had been dug out by a large animal. Julie raised her brows and asked, "Uh, how are all of us going to fit in that tiny little space?"

The people from the lake were standing around behind. Some of them were chatting as if nothing had happened, while others were mourning those who stayed behind to fight. Life was going on for some, but for others, not so much. Murucho pointed to the hole in the ground, and when he spoke, he sounded like a teacher.

"I went down there when I first found it. It's a lot bigger than you think. There's enough room for all of our group to fit. It might just take a while to get everyone down there." It was all we had, so what other choice did we have? We started to heard people down into the underground cavern, and I felt sorry for those who didn't like tight spaces or to be crowded around other people.

It's either this or let the Officials get you. The last of the people slid down into the opening, leaving me, Marquis, Val, Shun, and the others standing on the surface. Then, we all made our descent down into the cave. Murucho had been right about the space; there was plenty of it, and then some.

I looked up at the roof of the underground structure, thinking that it had to have been made by rushing water. Perhaps before the war, it had been an underground river. Marquis and Val laid Shun down on the smooth, wet ground of the cave.

They both leaned back, and I heard their spines popping with relief of no longer having to carry Shun around. Val even made the comment of, "He's heavy for his stature." I ignored their complaining, and knelt down beside Shun. This was the closest I had gotten to him since we left the lake, and I wanted to make sure that he wasn't seriously injured.

I didn't see any visible wounds on him. He groaned in his unconscious state, and I turned to Marquis and Val. "What's wrong with him?" I asked, hoping they could shine some light on what happened back at the lake. Marquis was rubbing his back when he said, "He's probably in shock. Poor kid had a gun stuck to his head and probably saw his life flash before his eyes. He's been like that since we got out of there, though."

I thought back to in the Courtyard, and how Shun almost had a bullet put into his skull. He had come close, but it was only a scare tactic used by a deranged Official. Brunswick broke through a wall of people and told us, "Everyone that came along with us seems to be alright. A little shaken up, but they're all okay."

It was clear he hadn't added Shun into the equation because Shun was a little more than 'shaken up.' The woman who had helped pull Shun and I out of the lake, walked up to us once she made it through the crowd of people. She looked like she had been crying, and I wondered if somebody had stayed behind at the lake, and hadn't made it out. She held something in her arms, which I made out as a blanket.

"We brought a few and wondered if any of you need one." I looked at Shun, who was starting to shiver from being on the cold ground; we all were shivering now. I nodded and said, "We'll take one and make due." She handed the blanket over to me, and walked back through the crowd, not even giving me time to thank her.

When I unfolded the blanket, I realized that there were two of them. At first, I thought that she had accidentally given us an extra, but when I thought about it, I realized that she had meant to give us these two. I took one of them, and used it to cover Shun up so he wouldn't freeze to death in his sleep.

The other one would be shared by us since it seemed big enough. It was on no used to us right then because we were all still standing around in the cave. So, we rested it on a rock that was off of the wet ground. As my feet began to tire, I sat at the base of the cave wall and the ground.

I let out a yawn, and started to let my eyes grow heavy. I tried to force myself to stay awake for a little while longer, but my efforts were futile. As I started to drift off, sounds started to fade off one by one.

First, it was the sound of people talking. The, it was the sound of their feet shuffling along the ground. The last sound to go away when I fell asleep, was the sound of water dripping from the roof of the cave.

Shun

It was like being snapped out of some kind of trance when I finally came to. It took a moment for my brain to catch up, but when it did, I started to freak out. I was somewhere else, and not back at the lake like I remembered. I was in a cave; all the people that had escaped from the lake were in there as well. They were all sleeping soundly, and it seemed like I was the only one awake.

Panic swept over me as I tried to figure out how I had gotten here. I slowly started to recall being carried by Marquis and Val. They must have carried me all the way here because I don't remember walking. I turned my head and saw Alice leaning against the wall, her eyes shut and breathing slow as she slept.

Occasionally, her body shivered then relaxed. That's when I noticed how cold it was in the cave, and that I had a blanket draped over me. I felt like I didn't need it any longer, and draped it over her. The shivers stopped as the warm blanket smothered the cold on her.

I leaned my back against the cave wall, and stared up at the roof of the cave. Water dripped off of stalagmites, falling to the ground below. I winced in pain and brought my hand up to my temple. Images of my second run-in with the same Official, danced through my thoughts, and the horrible phantom pains returned once again.

Each round of pain seemed to make my head pound, and the room spin. Why were they coming back now? These pains hadn't bothered me since we left the City. Had that encounter with my old assailant triggered them once again as a consolation prize with the memories?

The pain, as quickly as it had come, felt like it drained out of my body, leaving my brain feeling numb. I let out a sigh of relief, enjoying it now before they could return. What if something inside my head had been permanently damaged, and those pains would come unexpectedly for the rest of my life?

As some kind of sick reminder of the kind of world that I had been a part of for my whole life? I hoped not, thinking that I would be unable to tolerate that kind of pain for that long. My disoriented mind wanted to sleep, and I didn't deny it of rest.

remember, no update tomorrow due to a jazz festival i have to go to. attention all The End Of Our World fans! there is a poll up on my profile that is mandatory for you all to check out! it concerns the title for the sequel to my zombie fic that will be debuting late September/October. It involves the title for the story (since i have so many of them as ideas) so, i'm leaving it up to the people. (for the most part. this is not exactly a democracy, more like a dictatorship as my band director would put it.) so, check it out and let me hear your opinions. read, review, and other things. ~Copperpelt~