Heat warmed my skin. I could smell pine and feel hard ground beneath me. I sighed turning over once then slowly opening my eyes. The second my eyes opened a crack my head burst with pain. It felt as if I had been banging my head on a table for hours. It was almost as bad as after the surgery.
Then the image of me frozen in fear in front of the man with the gun arose from my memories. I could see clearly the picture of both the girl and the boy. They're eyes glued open staring aimlessly at the sky.
I burst up and quickly realize how stupid that was. My head is splitting open. I scream. Pain shoots through my whole body. I can only remember bashing my head into a brick wall.
A hand comes and grips my shoulders. I scream even more swatting away there hands but no images come. My screams stop, replaced by slow uneven sobs. Why weren't the stolen memories coming? I looked up at the owner of the hand. A boy leaned over me whispering something to me that I didn't quite process. My mind buzzed so loud that I couldn't even hear him.
Slowly it all seems to sink in.
"Are you okay? We won't hurt you I promise." I moved slowly away from him. What was wrong with me? Before I had blacked out I had had the images…when-when Cate had saved me. why weren't they coming to me now? i closed my eyes bringing my hands to my head and began running my fingers through my hair.
" Are you alright?" he asked again and this time when I opened my eyes there was a small girl at his side. She had darkened skin and beautiful black hair that was cut short. She wore rubber gloves and something that passed as a dress. She looked to be eleven or twelve. Behind them a boy stood with his arms crossed, he gleamed at me with hatred. He had brown hair and glasses that he had to push up each few minutes.
" I-I" I couldn't seem to answer that. I wasn't dead which was a good thing, but I was in pain. So it kind of depended on which scale you were calculating it on. " Where am I?" I asked staring right at the first boy who had come. He had sandy blonde hair and sky blue eyes.
" Well, we are…" he trailed off. " someplace…to tell you the truth I'm not too sure where we are, I'm pretty sure we are heading south. It would help if Chubs here knew how to read a map." He let out a faint laugh before getting up from his crouch and walking over to me. I squirmed away before I hitting a tree.
" Zu, could you get one of the cans?" he asked the girl. So Chubs and Zu. I couldn't imagine naming a kid Chubs so it must be a nick name.
The little girl ran off and came back with a can of beans and a plastic spoon. The can was open and I small trickle of steam oozed out of it. I grabbed the can from the girl and slowly started to eat.
" Who are you guys?" I was surprised by how strong my voice sounded.
" I am Liam, this is Zu and well that's Chubs. But I'm guessing by now you already know that that's just a nick name." Liam smiled sitting down. Chubs let out a puff of air and walked closer to the fire sitting with his back to us.
" I-I'm sorry about your head. That was unintentional, you guys kind of just surprised me." Questions arose when he stated his apology.
" What happened to him?" I asked looking down at the food.
"For all I know, he's still in the alley. But I seriously doubt that. I checked his pulse and by now he should be up." I let out a small breath. The man had been about to kill me but I still couldn't stand the thought of people actually killing others.
" Did some way offend him." I said nodding towards Chubs in between mouth full of beans. Liam chuckled then sighed.
" Chubs, no. he just had a hard past and its been just me Zu and him for a while. It will take a while but he'll warm up to you don't you worry." I continued eating until I realization of what he said soaked in.
" Wait. I couldn't possibly stay with you guys." Liam looked at me surprised almost. " Its-its just that the-" should I tell them about the experimentation or should I just make up a story about getting out of camp? Would they think I was crazy?
" But, you have to at least stay with us for a bit. You know get some food into that stomach of yours and rest up." I stared at him setting the empty can down.
" I guess I could stay for a few days, but I'll have to leave soon. There- there is some people after me. I can't put you guys in that danger. I couldn't risk it." I said. Liam nodded slowly but he still looked sad that I was planning on leaving.
" Lee, can you come here?" Chubs called angrily from where he was sitting by the fire. Liam gave a sad nod to me and got up. As soon as he was gone Zu came zipping in and sat in front of me.
she stared wide eyed at me as if I were some strange creature. I smiled at her and she smiled back. Slowly she crept closer until out feet were touching. I braced myself for the images but they didn't come? Why weren't they coming?
" What's your colour?" I asked her. She dipped her head and for a second I thought she wasn't going to answer but then the car started up suddenly. I gasped, startled. Then she shut it off and nodded to me.
" I-I don't know what I am anymore. I used to have a colour but now I just feel grey inside. as if every colorful thing in life is just gone." I couldn't help avoiding the truth. Did I really want them to know. I could figure all that out later she looked at me curiously. " See I had a colour but then the president experimented on me and now I'm not so sure." I said truthfully. She looked sympathetic and moved closer so that she was sitting right by my side. I smile at this? She had obviously been the only girl in this group for quite some time. She had no other girl to look up to. I couldn't stand the thought of being here for her and then just leaving. She looked up at me and pointed at my head. I understood right away.
" um… yeah my head hurts lots but I'm fine I've been through worse." I said and it was the truth. " so you don't talk much…?" I exclaimed shyly. She looked sad as she looked down and shook her head. Had something happened to her before? Zu looked up at me with tear in her eyes she quickly hugged me and buried her face into my side. Well this was a first. I barely knew this young girl, but still she thought I was a good role model. I slowly hugged her back, remembering a similar time where I had done this to Sam, on the first day of our arrival.