No one is alive out there. No one should go out there. Humans don't belong in the Wasteland. Maybe machines do but not humans. That's what Jonathan's father had told him whenever he asked about what was outside the city and why he had never been outside of the walls that had kept him trapped in this glowing world.

"I'd love to sneak out there at least once." Luke had once said. "It can't be just nothing out there. I want to see it." Jonathan pushed away the painful memories of Luke as he rolled over, his eyes on the thing curtain and the window behind it. He couldn't sleep and maybe it was because he didn't want to. He was terrified of having another dream of Evan.

"There is a whole world out there, Jon." Luke had said. "I bet our history books are wrong. People survived the war and they are out there. Think about what it would be like to meet them!" They had been sitting by Jonathan's large window, staring out at the neon lights and the smoke on the other side of the wall.

"They would have no idea that a city with a wall in the middle exists." Jonathan had said, leaning his head against the glass.

"I wonder if they are mutated." Like had said, his tone serious.

"From what?"

"The radiation."

What Luke had said sent a chill through Jonathan now. No one went out there; at least, anyone who did never came back. It was cold and barren in the Wasteland, or that was what he had read. His father said that New Towners have everything here, there is no need to go out there.

But there was something out there. Someone had sent those war machines from out there. With a sigh, he got up, pulling on his boots and jacket and grabbed the Vanoss-IV, or the 'Angry Evan' as Tyler called it. He stepped outside of the cabin and sat down on the front steps, pressing the on button. The tablet lit up but Evan didn't say anything, obviously pouting.

"Why were you sent here?" Jonathan demanded.

"To kill you, if that wasn't obvious enough." Evan snapped.

"Why? We haven't done anything."

"You destroyed New Town." Evan said. "Isn't that obvious? You thought that taking down a city like New Town would be easy, didn't you? It isn't. You took from very powerful people and now we are going to take from you. We have the real Evan's consciousness chip, the one you fucking threw off a bridge. Wouldn't be surprised if it's destroyed by the time I get back."

"You aren't going anywhere." Jonathan snapped.

"You are going into the Wasteland and unfortunately...you need a guide. I'm coming with you." The cruel Evan snarled.

"Why were you made to be so...so mean? Evan wasn't mean." Jonathan asked, struggling to keep his voice steady.

"How do you know? You never met him."

The faded owl patch watched Jonathan from where his jacket hung on the bedpost as he paced with its large eyes. Tyler was awake now, leaning against the wall with his arms around his pillow.

"Where did you say that you got that patch? I think I've seen it before…" Tyler mumbled.

"That's not important. The Wasteland is! We can't go out there, Tyler! There is something bad out there! Something that is smarter than me when it comes to machines and they are pissed off at us because of what we did to New Town! We're going to die if we go out there!" Jonathan cried.

"We'll die if we stay here too in case you didn't notice! Those war machines killed good people, Jonathan." Lui snapped from behind Jonathan.

"We don't have a choice. We have to go." Tyler sighed.

"And use this as our fucking guide?" Jonathan held up the Vanoss-IV before tossing it back down on the bed. "That isn't Evan! He won't help us get to where we need to go!"

"And where is that?" Brock asked. "He knows but we don't, right?"

"Yeah...They have the original Vanoss-III chip, the one that I stupidly threw away, too." Jonathan sighed.

"All the more reason to go then. Did the Vanoss-IV tell you?" Tyler asked; Jonathan nodded.

"More like taunted me with it."

"What if it's just trying to mess with you? Or if it's a trap?" Brock asked.

"Of course that's what it's doing. Whoever it is doing this, they want to fuck with us. Like you said, Jonathan, it's not a coincidence that it was Evan's consciousness and his jacket painted on those machines." Lui snapped.

"Are you done being mad at me?" Jonathan turned on his heel, glaring at Lui who sat on his bunk, his red hood pulled over his head.

"This is your fault." Lui hissed. "Are you going to apologise for it?" Jonathan stammered, trying to find what to say in response but there was nothing he could say. "That's what I thought."

"This isn't entirely his fault, Lui. We can fix this, I know we can." Brock tried to bring hope into the conversation but it withered under Lui's glare. "Look, we have to work together to deal with this. So can we try to be civil?" Lui laid back on his bed and rolled onto his side, clearly not wanting to be a part of the conversation anymore.

"So we'll need to bring weapons and we'll need a vehicle. Those machines came in on a helicopter so we can't walk." Tyler explained. "There is a truck in the tool warehouse. If we tell the others we're going after whoever send the machines, we can use it."

"We'll be going over the big bridge, won't we?" Brock asked as he climbed up to his bunk and leant against the wall, reaching for the book he had been reading under his pillow. Jonathan lowered his gaze at the memory of the creaking bridge.

"We will," Tyler said. "Just try to relax today. We'll leave tomorrow morning."

"Sooner the better, right? We're going to die out there, Tyler! Why aren't you listening to me?" Jonathan cried.

"We are listening, Jonathan. I'm scared too but we have to go out there. For Evan."

"We're not doing anything for Evan if we're dead." Jonathan snapped and stormed out of the cabin.

"He'll cool down…" He heard Brock reassure Tyler as the door closed. Jonathan continued down the steps, finding his left hand reaching for his right shoulder and the owl patch there, his fingers brushing against the faded thread.

He walked through the town, finding himself back in front of the tower. He looked up at the tower, feeling tears fall from his eyes. He pushed open the broken glass door and wandered up to the fifth floor, pushing open the heavy white metal door to the white hallway. He made his way to the small room and sat down on the bed, looking around it with tear filled eyes.

"I'm sorry, Evan." He whispered to the empty room. "I want to listen but I have to go...out there. Tell me. Tell me what I'll find out there." Of course, there was no answer, but there were footsteps in the hallway. No door had been opened. "Hello?" Jonathan called out, getting to his feet. "Hello?" He pulled the door open, looking around the hallway. Something red caught his eye, making him look down. Bloody footprints lead from the elevator that no longer worked to the room at the end of the hallway. "Who's there?" Jonathan called out as he made his way down the hall, following the bloody footprints.

There were boot prints, full of treads like those of a military boot. He made his way cautiously to the dark room, stepping inside of it. He moved around the disturbing chair, following the prints to the freezer. He remembered that the bodies had been taken obviously by whoever had taken the consciousness chips.

Except now, there was a body; a soldier. Jonathan advanced slowly towards the table, his breath catching in his throat as he realised it was Evan. He reached out cautiously, holding onto his freezing cold hand. There was something gold under his lapel, seeming to glimmer in the light like snow in the sunlight. He let go of Evan's limp hand and pulled back the lapel of Evan's uniform. The golden owl patch looked up at him with its large black eyes. Jonathan gasped, looking at the faded patch on his shoulder.

"It's not...the same…" He stammered. Evan's hand suddenly grabbed Jonathan's arm, making him scream.

"D-Don't go! D-Don't go o-out t-there!" Evan stuttered, his eyes wide with pain and fear.

Jonathan awoke with a scream, looking around the small white room as he heaved for air. From the small window, he could see that it had gotten dark outside, his seemingly short dream leaving him terrified. He got up quickly, knowing that the others would be wondering where he went by now and hurried back down the hallway towards the stairs, not noticing the bloody footprints leading to the room at the end of the hall behind him.

"I'm scared to go." Jonathan stood in the empty cabin. All of their things were packed and brought to the truck. The beds were made neatly as if no one had ever been there.

"Me too." Tyler said. He stood by the door, waiting for Jonathan.

"What if we don't come back?" Jonathan asked as he turned around to look at him.

"We will." Tyler smiled. "No matter what, we'll come back. Now come on; let's go." Jonathan nodded and slowly, he left the cabin. They made their way through town towards the warehouse, pushing open the large heavy doors. They were greeted by the loud rumble of the military truck. "Are we ready?" Tyler called out as he climbed up to the driver's door and pulled it open.

"Yep!" Lui called from the back where he was finishing tying down the stuff they had packed.

"You can drive alright?" Jonathan asked, looking up at Tyler who laughed.

"We had trucks in Old Town. Hell, this is an Old Town vehicle." Tyler laughed.

"Wait! Wait!" Jonathan turned, seeing Craig running through the snow towards them, his scarf flying behind him. "Wait!" Tyler's door opened and the others leant off the back off the truck, looking at Craig with curious expressions. "I want to go with you!"

"You don't know where we are going." Lui said as he leaned off the back of the truck by the pole that supported the canvas roof.

"Yes, I do. The Wasteland is the only place to go from here. There ain't nothing here that would help you figure out where those machines came from." Craig explained, slightly out of breath. "I want to go with you. I helped you the first time around. Let me help now. If I don't go...I'll be stuck here doing early morning kitchen duty for the rest of my life. Please."

"You might die." Tyler said. "Might see some real messed up shit."

"Better than making the same eggs every morning."

"Then make us pancakes on the road." Tyler said as he got back into the truck. Jonathan glanced at Craig who smiled slightly, a bit shocked that they agreed to let him come. Jonathan walked to the back and climbed up, offering Craig a hand up. Brock stayed in the back while Lui got up front with Tyler, not wanting to spend the trip with Jonathan. Jonathan wrapped a blanket around himself and pulled his hat lower over his ears as the truck pulled out of the warehouse and drove down the street.

"I like your patch." Craig said from the other side of the truck, pointing to the owl on Jonathan's shoulder. "It looks like an antique."

"Oh...Thanks. I don't know if it's that old." Jonathan laughed awkwardly.

"Where did you find it?" Brock asked. He sat beside Jonathan, turned to look through the gap between the side and the canvas at what remained of New Town and the wall that they fought to bring down. They were reaching Old Town, the wood and stone structures still home to many.

"In my old home. I think my dad kept it from his great grandfather or something like that. It was with a bunch of uniforms." Jonathan explained. "I have another one if you want it. You can have one too, Craig."

"That's okay. I just think that I've seen it before." Brock said, glancing at the patch. "There's the bridge!" Brock suddenly pointed. The bridge hadn't changed since the day that Jonathan dropped Evan off the side. Icicles hung from its cables and rails and it creaked and groaned in the wind. Jonathan couldn't help but stare at it as they went over it, the old iron weighed down by the military truck.

"It's seen better days." Craig muttered.

"I doubt there were ever any better days." Jonathan whispered. The truck passed over the bridge and continued on into the Wasteland, the place where no one came back from. Jonathan looked back at the only town he had known all his life and prayed he'd see it again.

He forced himself to look in front of him, at the vast, white world around him. Snow covered the ground and the few barren trees. In the distance, he could see the edge of what must be a forest. He had no idea how anything could survive out here. Nothing was supposed to survive out here but as the forest got closer, Jonathan could make out great trees looming high into the sky as if they wished to one day touch the stars. Birds soared overhead, their wings propelling them higher into the grey sky. The cold wind whipped around Jonathan, tugging at the blanket wrapped around his shoulders if it wanted to play. Yet as beautiful as it was, there was something wrong.

"Why is it always so cold?" Craig called out over the roar of the engine, pulling his scarf tighter around his face.

"There was a nuclear war about a hundred years ago. It screwed up the earth so much, temperatures permanently dropped. According to first-hand accounts, no one knew when it was snow or ash falling from the sky." Jonathan explained. "No one survived except those who went underground, like my great grandfather. He created the foundation for New Town."

"Should have stayed above ground, the dick." Craig snapped. He glanced at Jonathan and gave him a small smile. "There must have been some people who survived above ground."

"Who knows…"

As night fell, they set up camp near the road. Their tents billowed in the cold wind as they huddled close to their fire while Craig struggled to make dinner.

"Why don't we ask the Vanoss-IV if we're going in the right direction? We can pass the time." Tyler asked, grabbing Jonathan's bag. He pulled the tablet out and pressed the on button.

"What do you want?" Evan snarled.

"Did you make this?" Craig asked, his eyes wide.

"Yeah. I took the chip from one of the war machines. It's a copy of the Vanoss-III, the original consciousness copy of Evan." Jonathan explained.

"Where do we go from here? And don't even think of leading us in the wrong direction." Tyler snapped.

"You'll be dead before you get there anyways. No one survives the Wasteland." Evan taunted.

"Stop it. Where do we go from here?"

"Keep going west. Once you hit mountains, you won't be far." Evan said casually.

"Are you serious? That far?" Jonathan cried. The Vanoss-IV made a sound that told them that if he could, he would have shrugged like he didn't care how far they had to go. "Fuck…"

"It's fine...We'll just have to travel a bit farther every day then." Brock said, trying to keep things calm. "Why don't you turn that off, we'll relax and get some rest and we can figure out a plan tomorrow? Okay?" They all agreed and turned the Vanoss-IV off, ignoring its taunts. During dinner, there were jokes and casual conversations that made them forget about the fear that hung heavy over them like storm clouds.

After dinner, they doused out the fire and crawled into their tents. Jonathan was grateful to get into his sleeping bag, warmth surrounding him as he closed his eyes and began to slip into sleep.

"One...Two...Three…"

Snow fell gently from the white sky as Jonathan opened his eyes, looking around the forest. There were footsteps in the snow that he followed as if being compelled to do so. In a clearing, wearing his bright red leather jacket, white stripes wrapping around his arms, Evan watched the snow fall.

"Four...Five...Six…"

"You didn't listen to me." Evan said as Jonathan got closer to him.

"I'm sorry...I tried to convince them but they wouldn't listen to me and-"

"Now you are here." Evan sighed.

"Are you real?" Jonathan stammered. "Or are you a ghost?"

"Seven...Eight...Nine…"

"I'm what you need me to be." Evan said as he reached his hand up to touch the back of his head. It came away bloody but when Jonathan blinked, the blood was gone.

" I feel like I'm losing my mind...I need you to be real."

"Ten...Eleven...Twelve…"

"Then I'm real."