Scarlett

“Mum?” I cry, walking through the creaking house. It’s falling apart at the seams, but it’s home. It’s always been home, I wouldn’t ever call anywhere else my home. The step underneath my light feet groans in protest, it’s pitch black and I can hardly see a foot in front of me as I walk from my first floor room up to my parents room. I breathe quietly, but it sounds so loud in our quiet house. There wasn’t a single response. “Dad?” I pad through the hallway and into my parents bedroom, they were gone and the window was wide open and the glass was broken from the outside in. It littered the floor, and I learned that the hard way as I walked over to examine it. Glass embedded itself into my feet.“MUM? DAD?!” I scream, my legs giving way underneath me. My screams echo through the dark, empty and ruined streets. Where had my mum and dad gone? Who had taken them? Why had they been taken? So many questions that my mind couldn’t bear to find an answer for. It had finally happened, I started sobbing and heard someone else padding into the room and felt a hand on my shoulder.

“Scarlett?” My brothers voice said to me, his tone was soft and hiding worry.

“Yeah?” I croak, and he kneels at my side.

“We’re going to be okay..” He tells me, his voice shaking now. I find it hard to believe him, because what if we weren’t okay? What if one of us died? It was bound to happen any day now. “I promise.”

That was four years ago when I was thirteen, and Ryder was twelve. He’s always protected me, despite his younger status. We’ve been living on the streets for the last two years, ever since someone found out that we were living without parental guidance. (Yeah, ‘found out’. I’m pretty sure whoever took my parents knew that since the day they disappeared. No one ever found out anything.) Our living has been random, and we sleep everywhere from alleys to living rooms of old and abandoned homes. Our once happy town is just ruins, with kids lining every alley way for miles. But that’s the least of our worries. If we’re caught, we’re sent to work camps for unknown periods of times, and thankfully Ryder and I have always escaped capture, only to feel bad for those that the ‘government’ managed to send to their work camps. No one really talks about them, though. Some say they have to make furniture for ‘government’ workers. But I don’t believe it. A girl I met when Ryder and I first took to the streets was seen in a ‘government officials’ get up recently, and she definitely wasn’t the same person she had been two years earlier. She was cruel, and tried to take Ryder and I to the work camps.

See, four years ago the government collapsed and was replaced by a group of ‘concerned citizens’. Yeah, some concerned citizens. People started disappearing, tons of adults who were never to be seen again. They started taking away things like books, art and music. Shops started closing, and our town fell into further disrepair and destruction. Ryder and I (along with all the other teens, and few remaining adults) weren’t happy. I mean, who would be? No one knows the cause of the sudden disappearances and drastic changes. Curfew is greatly enforced, and those who police the streets aren’t kind to anyone. They’ve got a great dislike for anyone under the age of 18, and pretty much everyone now that I think of it.. I try my best to avoid them, but thats hardly possible. Ryder sticks close to me, and we never leave each others side.  He’s my little brother, and I’ll always protect him. That’s what my mum and dad would want me to do, so I do it, and he does the same for me.

Ryder is sitting next to me now, and we’re trying to stay warm as it’s the middle of December. We’re with our little ‘posse’, if you could call it that. It’s more of a little group. We all found each other, or saved each other and decided to stick together. We’re a family, and protect each other like family. I’m the eldest of everyone, right along side Cassidy. Who is totally one tough chick, I’ve seen her taken a nail through the foot and keep running. Only to have it pulled out later without any pain killers to dull the pain.

“Oi! Knock it off!” Ryder hisses at one of the younger boys, Dane. He’s tossing pebbles at one of the girls in the group. Of course, he’s only bored. But we’re a family and we have to be kind to one another. Despite how much we might get annoyed by each other. A fire burns in a blaze from the pallets we found in the junkyard. You’d be surprised what is considered junk now-a-days. We found bags upon bags of clothes, plates and silverware recently. Lets just say that it’s helped us, a lot. We’re under a bridge now. Well, what’s left of the bridge. I’m trying to sit still, knowing I’ll ache if I move. It was a rough day of running place to place and bartering with others for food brought in from the inner city. The only place left that actually sells food for miles.

“He said knock it off!” Cassidy growls, smacking the boy over the back of the head.
“Oww!” Dean cries and I snicker, along with several others in the group. “That’s not funny!” His eyes well with tears and I frown and motion for him to come over to me. He obliges and wraps his arms around me in a hug. I pull him onto my lap and brush his hair back.
“It might not be, but it’s not funny to his Lianna with pebbles either.” A look of true understanding crosses his face and he nods.
“That’s what my mommy used to say..” He sniffles and I hug him tightly, my own eyes watering.
“Why don’t you get one of the sweaters and go to sleep, it’s getting late?” I instruct him and look to Ryder for him, he sees the tears in my eyes and I know I made a mistake looking at him, because his arms wrap around me quicker than I can blink. Everyone here, except for a few, really miss their parents. But I don’t blame them, I miss mine too.

“You okay Scar?” He whispers to me as Dean scrambles off my lap, thumb in his mouth as he goes to find something to curl up in to sleep. Seeing all these kids who don’t have a home breaks my heart. But, I have to be strong. Mum and dad would want me to be strong.
“I’m fine Ry, I promise. Just miss Mum and Dad, a lot.” He merely nods, because he knows what I mean.

“Why don’t we all sleep, I’ll take your watch tonight.” He says softly and looks to Cassidy, who’s menacingly flicking a knife open and closing it just as quickly.
“I’ll take watch tonight, I did almost nothing today.” Cassidy says, waving him off. “Don’t worry about it.”

“Cassidy, what’s wrong with the gov’erment. I hearded you, Lyssie and Ryder talking ‘bout it last night.” The youngest of our trio (and Cassidy’s adopted sister), Lottie, asks her. I cringe and look away. I hate having to discuss that with the littlest ones, they don’t need to know how bad the worlds really is. Which is why they don’t go to the inner city with us if it’s possible. But, sometimes it’s not possible and we have to take them.
“Just go to sleep Lottie dear. I’ll explain some other time.” She says with a weak smile, Lottie nods and curls up at Cassidy’s side, and I can’t help but do the same with Ryder. My head finds his shoulder and my eyes shut. My brain is whirring, but somehow I manage to slowly drift off to sleep. Maybe it’s a good thing, but I sure wish I could be awake and solving problems.

Ryder

I really don’t get how Scarlett does it, keep so sane I mean. I watch her slowly drift off to sleep, and I see the pain in her face. She doesn’t know she makes those faces at night, but I see them. All the time, and I try very hard to ignore them. I can’t help but wonder what she’s thinking of, she constantly tries to tell me that we’ll get our parents back. But she never seems sure, not when she’s crying for them in her sleep. Not that I’d ever tell her, even though I want to know what she’s thinking. She has every right to miss them, and every right to cry. I just wish I could do the same. I can’t fight the sleep any longer, and Cassidy sees me drifting off to sleep. Her kind heart bringing a blanket to put over my sister and I. I fall asleep holding tightly to Scarlett, her breathing slowing down and become less frantic. Her crying and shaking has stopped now, and I’m sent into a dreamless sleep.

I hear screaming when I wake up, but that’s nothing new. Not here, but my eyes still fly open and I look around frantically. Scarlett has slid down, and her head is in my lap. She too is waking up, curious about the screaming, no doubt.
“What’s going on?” She sits up quickly, wiping drool off of her face. I frown and shake my head.
Cassidy is holding onto a screaming Lottie, who seems to be sobbing for some reason. But I was wrong, several feet away from her lies a pool of blood and a body twisted at an odd angle. I immediately recognize the pale face as one of our boys, Ian. He’s about my age, and from the looks of it.. He jumped from the bridge, or was pushed.
“Oh my god. Cassidy, what happened?” She looks at me frantically and shakes her head.
“An officer pushed him, I heard screaming and yelling. He went to get us food this morning, alone. I guess. I didn’t realize, because I nodded off and next thing I knew I was up to screaming, and Ian was laying on the pavement. He didn’t survive, he was dead as soon as he hit the ground.” She said with a quivering lip. Sure, she was tough. But we’re a family. We treat each other, and love each other like family. My heart aches, and Scar clings tightly to me. She’s letting me know that she loves me, and that she was glad it wasn’t me. She hurts too, I can see it in her eyes.

“Let’s bury him by the bank.” Scarlett suggests to me. But I shake my head, it’s too cold. We’re lucky to be shielded somewhat from the harsh December cold. The ground would be too frozen for us to dig him a grave.
“We can put a marker at a grave spot, but it’s too cold to dig a grave for him. We’ll need to..”
“Burn it.” Cassidy says, Lottie’s head buried in her chest. Dean and a group of the younger ones are huddled together, watching with sad eyes. Ian made us laugh, and he always had a smile on his face. He’d always get a treat for everyone in town, and now.. He was just gone. Gone because of a selfish, brainwashed officer of a corrupted government. We already lost three of our little family members to stray bullets in the inner city. That had taken enough of a toll.
“And then we need to move on, we can’t stay here.” Scarlett looked at all the kids.
“We just got settled in here!” Dean protests, his soprano voice squeaking. He was little, but he is fierce and stands his ground.  
“Dean, this is for our own good. They might come looking for the rest of us. Scarlett is right.” Cassidy looks at him with saddened eyes before moving Lottie to the ground next to her.
“It’s all getting worse isn’t it?” Dean asks, his voice serious. He looks at all of us and shakes his head. “The gover’ment is falling to pieces, like a block tower on a lopsided table.” For six year old, he really knows how to visualize things. You could hear the oldest of us take in a deep breath and exhaling before anyone dared to answer.
“The short answer? Yes.” Scarlett says with a sigh, and stands up. Her body shaking from the cold, she walks over to him and the group of young ones.  “But we’re a family, and I won’t let the officers do what they did to Ian to all of you. I’ll fight for you, and die for you if I have to.” She hugs them all, her long arms wrapping around most of them into one big group hug. I smile inwardly. (Considering it’d be awfully rude of me to smile and show it, because hello, a close friend of ours just died.) I wipe away the tears welling in my eyes and stand, seeing the fire needed to be replenished. It was almost completely burnt down now. I pick up a pallet with two hands and heave it onto the stack, sure it’s a struggle. But others staying warm is my top priority right now.
I run my hands through my choppy blue and black hair, a sigh escaping my body.

“Well, where are we gonna go?”
“What about the subway tunnels..” One of the somewhat older girls Scarlett just finished hugging -- Pippa -- says softly, her eyes flickering to Ian. “We can burn his body and..” She stops, her voice cracks and she hangs her head into her hands. “I’m sorry.. I can’t do this.” She croaks, and curls up into a ball.
“Yes, Pippa, you can.” She’s about my age, give or take a year or two. And I can’t help but reassure her, we’ve all seen plenty of death, and we’ve all seen what true destruction is. We have no choice but to push on through the pain and ruin. I walk over to her, nearly tripping over my own two feet to hug her. I give her an awkward side hug, and she pulls away quickly.
“Pippa, Scarlett, we’ll go to the subway tunnels after we burn his body. Will you please help the younger ones get their few things into the bags we have for them?” Cassidy asks, still hanging onto Lottie. “Ryder and I will take care of Ian..” Her voice is somewhat terrifying, it’s so cold. I don’t understand how one could be so void of emotion when handling something as serious as a dead friend. Pippa nods and stands quickly. Her hands taking Dean’s, while he takes the hands of the girl next to him. I move away and to Cassidy’s side, Scarlett follows Pippa and they begin to pack things.
“Lottie, go help them. Please.” Cassidy says softly, and ushers her away from us.

“Are you alright?” She asks me, I nod slightly. The real question was, is Cassidy okay? She was acting so weird, well. It’d be weird to those who didn’t know her and weird to anyone who wasn’t familiar with her emotions.
“Are you?” She doesn’t answer me, and I know it’s best not to prod. “Nevermind, why don’t we just take care of this..” I walk to Ian’s side, and my heart sinks. The glass on his clockwork pendant necklace was shattered, and his long coat was fanned out behind him. “Would it be rude to take his necklace and coat, to remember him?” I ask Cassidy, and she shakes her head.
“He’d want to be remembered. That was who he was.”

Scarlett

I watch as the fire burns brighter, and feel the weight of Ian’s jacket wrap around Pippa and I. We shiver as we huddle together, children clinging to us as we watch Ian’s body go up in a ring of fire. Considering he was a pyromaniac, and loved everything to do with fire. I guess this was the best way to send him out. In a blazing ball of fire. I watch as the flames lick up over his body, and I can’t hold back the tears any longer, they flow out of my brown eyes like a waterfall and I set off everyone else. We all cling to each other, and Pippa cries into my shoulder. Ryder clasps his clockwork necklace behind his neck, tucking it into his leather jacket. One of the few things we retrieved from our now ruined home.
“We’re going to bring the gover’ment down, for Ian!” Dean shouts through tears. I nod, and we all let out a whoop of agreement. I lock eyes with Pippa when she raises her head, and find her hand, squeezing it to let her know I was there. She smiles weakly, sadly. But it’s a smile. We watch in silence, and Cassidy starts singing a song we all knew from when we were kids. Taught to us when we lost someone for the first time in our young lives.

“Far down the way you’ll find a path, and you’ll look far down ahead.
You’ll say a prayer, you’ll smile bright.
You’ll take a look, deep into the light.
They will run to you, they will run to you.
You’ll see them again.
Friends till the end.
And further on,
though they are gone.
You’ll be together, then and forever.
Just remember they’re not really gone.
They’re just away, and soon one day.
We’ll run into their arms.
We’re saying goodbye, because they have died.
But you should, it’s not forever.
Just hang on tight, long through the night.
This goodbye, isn’t forever.”

We all joined in a second round of the song, and slung our bags over our shoulders. I still hold Pippa’s hand, and try to keep myself composed as we turn around to leave what we once called home behind. But that was my life the last two years. I haven’t had a steady place to live since a year after my parents were taken, our home was torched a year after their disappearance. Ryder carries the littlest of our group, who is only four, and she’s a sweetheart who slept through everything that had happened this morning. Pippa and I both wear Ian’s jacket, and our little group looks like a wall of many colors, we all wear mismatched things that don’t fit us very well. But it keeps us warm, especially in this cold December weather. December, the Holiday was soon. As we walk up the embankment, we have to watch our footing. Otherwise we might just slip and fall on the ice and thin layer of snow.
“We’re going to be okay Pippa, I promise. Life is hard, and this world sucks. But remember the song? This goodbye isn’t forever. No goodbye is.” I squeeze her hand and try to fight the tears back. I hate seeing people cry or be upset, and I hate losing it myself.

“We have to cross through the inner city, don’t we?” Pippa says shakily, and the group falls silent. No one cries, no one sniffles, no one says a single word. We just keep walking, because we’ve never taken this group into the city. They don’t all know just what the city is like. We’ve tried so hard to keep it that way, though we’ve known that the subway tunnels on the other side would be our best bet for safety. I nod, just slightly. Just enough for her to see us. Cassidy and Lottie walk hand in hand ahead of us, the hem of Lottie’s wool dress drags in the salty, grey slush that lines the side of the road. We don’t care about being seen now. Because there is strength in numbers, no matter what age you are. The officers won’t mess with us, despite the fact we’re made up of kids ranging from four to seventeen. Sure, several of us carry knives, but the officers carry guns. I remember the first time I had to treat someone who had been shot like it was just yesterday. My mind is soon pulled back to some of the first days Ryder and I lived on the streets, and the day we met Cassidy.

“Don’t shoot me! I didn’t do anything wrong! You were the ones who killed my parents, why kill me?” Cassidy’s voice rang through the alleyways. It was shrill as it bounced of the brick walls. I cringed and hid behind a dumpster, my hand clutching Ryder’s tightly. Feet ran by, and I saw the blur of a bright pink hair. We’re new to the streets, and we’re trying our very best to stay quiet. The running stops, and the alley is silent. An eerie silence, a silence that chills Ryder and I to the bone. A shot breaks the silence, and a scream pierces the crisp air of that September. I hide a scream in my arm, and clung to Ryder. I didn’t know who had been shot, but I wouldn’t have wanted it to be Ryder, nor myself.
“Just go!” I hear the girls voice say weakly, and several grumbles from the officers in the alleyway. “I’m going to die anyways. Just let me die in peace, please.”
They oblige, and considering how brutal they seem to be. They just walk away, leaving the pink haired girl crying in the alley. Ryder and I wait, listening to her agonizing sobs. They hurt me, they hurt Ryder. We hate to hear people cry, that’s why we avoid the really destroyed parts of our city.

“Hello?” I speak up, and peek out from behind the dumpster. Something squishes beneath my feet, and my stomach does a nasty flip. The girl yelps and looks at me weakly. She’s bleeding from her side. But it’s not as bad as I had expected it to be. “Can I please help you?”
She nods, there’s hesitancy in her eyes. I can see it. So I approach her carefully. Ryder isn’t far behind me, but I motion for him to come slowly. I don’t want to overwhelm her.
“Just your side, right?” I kneel next to her on the warm pavement and raise an eyebrow. She nods. “May I?” I touch the hem of her shirt and bite my lip. She nods again as I lift her shirt up just past the bullet wound. It grazed her side, and took a chunk of skin with the pierce, but it wasn’t a hole or an embedded bullet. I let out a sigh of relief.

“Alright, it’s a pretty decent shot, somewhat a graze, but not a hole in your body. You’ll need stitches, or good clean bandages.. For now, I’ll have to use this.” I pull off my backpack and a roll of fabric I nicked from the craft store before it was burnt to the ground. It’s zebra print, soft and absorbent. So it’ll soak up the blood. She smiles and laughs slightly.
“I’m Cassidy.” She says as Ryder comes to help put her in a seating position, him becoming her back rest. “I was running from those guys for weeks, my mom and dad were killed by them. Some reason they’re after me. And I have no idea why.” She frowned and winced as I tied the fabric.

“That should be good, to you have anywhere to stay?” I ask her, curious. She nods slightly.
“I do, somewhat. It’s an old warehouse, used to house buses for the school. I sleep in a bus there.”  

And that was how Ryder and I met Cassidy. And slowly but surely we added more and more children to the group. Many passed on, or asked us to take care of their younger siblings. Because they just couldn’t anymore. We never sent anyone away, and we still haven’t. As we walk and turn down street that leads what used to be a beautiful neighborhood. I have a feeling of anger, a fierce anger towards our new ‘government’. They caused us this pain, and all we can do now is hope that we’ll make it to a new day and age. A new time that isn't full of pain. One where we can have  families of our own.

The silence is deafening. I want to say something, but what can I say? We have to keep moving and talk will only slow us down. So, quiet it is.

                                                                                                                                                Ryder

We've been walking for several hours now and the girl I am carrying a getting awfully heavy in my arms. She's sleeping now, her body half slung over my shoulder. I step carefully, avoiding anything that might jostle her from her sleep. Her breath is warm on my neck, and she kicks around. I narrowly avoid a kick to the gut. Who knew that children moved around so much in their sleep. As we near the inner city, Cassidy is instructing all the young kids to stay near the inner parts of our group, and take hold of someone’s hand. We can’t lose them, and if we need to run. We have to be able to drag them along with us. In all, we have nine people in our little family. Several weeks ago, it was 14. But, we lost three to being sick, one left and never came back, and well, we all know what happened to Ian. I cringe at the thought. Scar and Pippa are huddled close together in Ian’s jacket, and Pippa’s on the inside. Nearest myself and Dean. Who is huddled next to Pippa and I. He’s trying to be brave, I can see it in his eyes. But a kid can only be brave for so long.  Beggars line the street, drug addicts, and people who don’t have a shot at life. They’ve given up trying to live a good life. They don’t care about anyone but themselves. We call them the Downtrodden. It’s a simple enough term, and I try to avoid eye contact with them. They didn’t handle themselves properly after the downfall of our government, and the uprising of the new ‘government’. (More like new dictatorship, if you ask me.) It’s not entirely their fault, because I can see why they’ve done what they have. Whether it be drugs, or heavy drinking. But, seeing so many pre-teens, teenagers and some young adults with such glazed eyes and a frail look to them hurts my heart. Because they should’ve had someone like Scarlett, Pippa and Cassidy there for them. Someone to take care of them, and reassure them that everything was going to be okay. Then, they wouldn’t have had to turn to any of the drugs.

Even more, I see former members of the new ‘government’, their former statuses apparent by their bulkier look. They’re muscular, but it’s slowly deteriorating. One girl, whose eye is milky white looks right at me and mouths ‘help me’. I shiver. But I don’t have anything I can give her to help her. She springs to her feet, and before I know it. She’s standing right in front of our group.
“Don’t continue in there, it’s bad in there.” She rambles. “They’ll take you, and these kids. You won’t make it out alive. The testing, the false and empty promises. The officials in there aren’t good people. They’re condescending, don’t take anything they say seriously. They’re arrogant and rude! Don’t listen to them!” She screams at us, and the girl who I have been carrying stirs, sniffling and burying her face in my shoulder. Trying to tune out the noises around us. Cassidy pushes the girl out of the way, holding tightly to Lottie’s hand.
“We’ll live.” She says sternly, and we keep moving.”
“Resist them! Resist their evil ways!” She chants, and the rest of the Downtrodden join in. I shiver and look to Cassidy, but she’s focused on the path ahead. She’s desensitised to these things.
“Resist. Resist. Resist.” I hear loud behind us, my stomach flips and I feel nauseous.

“I’m hungry..” Dean says softly, his free hand on his stomach. One of the other boys, who’s about eleven nods in agreement. Parker is his name, and he’s a mess brown dreaded hair, and a crooked smile. He’s quiet, but kindhearted and just goes with the flow. His sister was one of the girls we lost, but he knew she wasn’t going to make it when they came to us. That seems to happen quite often, especially during the colder months. And when we can’t get enough food for our little family, the older kids have to sacrifice food for the younger kids. But we make due, even though times are always tough.
“I think there are some crackers in my bag..” Pippa says, sniffling. I notice she lets go of my sisters hand, and I raise an eyebrow. She digs through her large bag, careful to keep Ian’s coat around her. “Found them!” She cries in success and hands them to Parker and Dean. “Share them.” She instructs, and I smile. She’s always the sweet one, but normally Scar is the one passing around some form of food. It wasn’t until now that I realized how quiet she was being. Something was bothering her, and I needed to know. I wasn’t going to wait either, in case something happened.

“Scar?” I say softly, partly because I don’t want anyone to hear and partly because I don’t want little Mia to wake up. She’s stirred enough in the last hour, and she surely didn’t get good sleep last night. Scarlett grunts and looks at me, her eyes are red and it looks like she’s been fighting back tears for quite sometime. “What’s wrong?” I can almost hear myself being slapped, stupid question. Because, what wasn’t wrong? This world is falling apart. Ian was dead because of it.
“Have you ever wondered if Mum and Dad became a Downtrodden?” She says solemnly.
“I can’t say that I have..”
“I look into these kids, teens and the scarce eyes of the adults. I see Mum and Dad. What if they were the result of a failed test, and thrown onto the streets with no idea who they once were? The girl with one blind eye made me think, because she said testing. I knew it was out there, but we have no idea what kind of things they could have been going through, and if they’re still alive. We have no idea what they are still going through.” Scarlett’s voice cracks, and my heart sinks. I may just be a younger brother, but that doesn’t mean I can’t protect her. I may be a boy, but I can’t help but hurt for my sister. Tears well in the corner of my eyes, and I kiss her cheek. Trying to find a way to reassure her that it’s all going to be okay. But, I have no affirming words to say.
“Scar, I’m sorry... I have no words to help, I’m awful with words.” My voice shakes and I sniffle, wiping away the tears in my eyes. She shakes her head. She knows that she’s the one with a loving and compassionate demeanor. “If Mum and Dad are still out there, they’re okay. And we’ll see them again, but if they aren’t out there. We know that they would want us to keep going on. Despite the pain and suffering.” I sigh and my shoulders sink, there isn’t anything I can do right now. So it’s just best I shut up. I keep walking, and hear Pippa say something to Scarlett, but I can’t quite hear what she said. Cassidy looks at me, and sees the tears in my eyes. It’s only a matter of time before someone says something to me, the guy who can’t control his own emotions.

                                                                                 

Scarlett

“Scar, it’s okay to not be okay. I know that it’s hard, losing the people you love. I grew up with Ian.. It’s hard, and I lost my parents too. You know that all of us did. You can cry.” Pippa tells me, her hand finding mine again. My stomach lurches and I find myself stumbling several steps. I look at her, my eyes full of tears and I break down again. It triggers a waterfall of tears from her, but we can’t stop. So we keep walking, hand in hand with tears pouring down our faces. I try to force a smile, but it’s no good. It just strains my face. I brush my black hair out of my eyes, the blood red dye now fading. “I know you aren’t much of a talker when it comes to your own feelings, but you mean something to me. I want you to be okay, so please. If you ever need someone to talk to. Come find me.” I want to tell her how my stomach lurches every time she says my name. But I can’t, this would be an inappropriate time to tell her of feelings.
“Thank you, Pippa. It means a lot to me. I.. well, I can’t th-thank you enough.” I stop walking and hug her briefly, it was awkward. As she didn’t realize what I was doing until I pulled away. She smiled that brilliant, sad and enchanting smile of hers.
“There is no need to thank me, you comfort me. I should comfort you.” She shivers in the cold December wind, and the light snow that has begun to fall. I grimace. The last thing we need is heavy snow while we travel, especially after leaving the relative safety of our home under the bridge. In the Inner City, it’ll be harder for us to find a good shelter.

“What kind of tests do you think they do in the city?” Dean asks me, I shrug and Pippa holds up a hand to quiet him. This doesn’t help much, because Parker starts to speculate on what kind of testing they probably do in the city.
“I bet it’s like, genetic mutations. Injecting DNA of animals into people.” This was seriously coming from an eleven year old? You have got to be kidding me. Lottie hisses at Parker to shut up, and throws a snowball at him when he refuses to shut up and says something about grafting tails onto people. This initiates a snowball fight, and soon. Pippa and I find ourselves joining in. The slush numbing my fingers. We still stay next to each other, huddled in Ian’s coat. But, the sadness is broken by moments of joy, and Ryder has woken Mia to partake in the snowball fight. The Downtrodden stare at us in disbelief, laughter is scarcely heard these days. Particularly from kids, in fact. It’s highly frowned upon, and some officials will issue warnings for it. Laughter is a good thing, especially in these dark and depressing times. We shouldn’t have to live in fear of expressing our true emotions. We deserve joy and happiness, we’ve all suffered enough.

The snowball fight is broken by officials’ screaming at us, and Mia screams in horror. Ryder rushes to sweep her up, wrapping her up tight to his chest. She cries into his leather jacket. Her little, chubby face red, and her straight blonde hair peeking out of the too large blue winter hat we had managed to find for her. Cassidy pushes Lottie behind her, and Parker, Dean and Ash (Parker’s twin sister.) held onto her to protect her. We never know what the officials are going to do to us, but we have to hope they just chase us off.  
“We’re sorry, but we’d like to have a word with you. You’re found guilty of disturbing the peace.” The official’s voice is nearly robotic, and her eyes glow an eerie blue.
“Who would you like to have a word with?” Cassidy says, I can hear annoyance in her voice, thick like syrup.  She tosses off her backpack, and it’s only several feet away from me. I wince, what happens if we lose her?
“The eldest of this little group.” Robo-voice says to her, I cringe. Thank god it’s her, even if it’s only by a few weeks.
“You’re speaking to her, dim-wit. Surprised you can’t tell with all the technology embedded in your brain.” She growls, and I feel Pippa cling to me. What happens if we lose Cassidy? We can’t function without her, well. We can, but we don’t exactly know how. I can’t believe this is the girl I once treated after she got shot.

“Does not compute. Dimwit, does not compute.” Robo-voices eyes flicker off, and then back on.
“What doesn’t?” Cassidy bends down and starts doing something. Tying her shoe, it looks like.
“What does DIMWIT mean?” Robo-voice jerks her head to the side, and I hear Dean and Parker snicker. I glare at them, and smack them in the back of their heads. The stop immediately.
“It means stupid.” Cassidy laughs, and I see her standing up quickly and hurling a snowball right at the face of Robo-voice. “You, and all your friends here are DIMWITS, stupid!” She turns around and heads back to the group. “Do not disturb us again.” But they don’t listen, one lunges for Cassidy and knocks her to the ground. Lottie screams and breaks from Parker’s grasp, his glasses fling to the ground. Dean lunges for her, but he’s tiny and does no good. I yelp and Pippa looks up.
“Lottie!” I shriek, and Cassidy looks over at us, her left eye already swelling. She shakes her head, and receives a shot to the jaw. The official was tiny, in comparison to broad shouldered Cassidy. It was obviously that he was young when he was taken for testing, and genetic implantations. His body frozen at a seemingly young age.

I recognized the official. I knew him in grade school, he’d be as old as me. If he was still aging. He looked frozen at 14. That awkward stage where he couldn’t grow more than a few patches of facial hair. It was the boy who pulled my pigtails in third grade, and teased me for being so quiet at the time. I proved him wrong by breaking his nose and thumb. He was a cold hearted robot now, probably all technology and nearly no real emotion. It doesn’t seem possible for someone I once knew (and loathed) to be nearly a robot. Lottie jumps on his back, and smashes her fists into his head. He tosses her off and I break away from Pippa, to go to Lottie’s side and hold her back.

“Just run!” Cassidy yells to me, her nose gushing blood and I see Ryder and Pippa take the hand of Parker, Dean and Ash. My eyes fill with tears. “And take my pack!” She gets kneed in the gut, and I can hear the wind being knocked out of her.
“I can’t leave you. I saved you once, and I’m not letting you just go to become like them!” Lottie lets shakes away from you, and runs to Pippa. “We’re a family, and we stick together. No matter what the cost!” A scream of agony tears through the air, and Cassidy’s body convulses. I see robo-boy, (Zak, I believe his name was..) stuck something into Cassidy’s neck. It’s sparking. A tazer? I couldn’t tell. My eyes are too full of tears. I let out a sob and stand, stumbling back a few steps. “You can’t do this!” I shriek, and the group watches me from afar. “You’re fighting for the wrong reason! You’re fighting with the bad guys!” I clench my fists and the tears start falling.

“Leave or be doomed like your friend. If she isn’t dead yet.” The girl with the robo-voice says to me, her lips curling up in a sneer. I shake my head.
“She’s not ever going to be dead. Cassidy, if you can hear me,we.. we..” I stumble across my words and I feel someone at my side pulling me backwards. I look, and it’s Ash. Her blue eyes watering, and covered by her short red hair. She stops, and retrieves Cassidy’s pack quickly, before beginning to drag me back again. I hate that she has to be the strong one here, I hate that I can’t control myself well enough to think properly. “.. will find you again.” I finish, and turn away. I can’t fight them any longer, I can’t just pretend that we’ll be able to overcome everything, because this is solid proof of that. We just lost our leader, and it’s probably permanent. I can’t look on the bright side anymore, this was just too much for one day.

I hear the robo-officials talking in the background, and I wipe at the tears with my sleeve. I’m shivering now, the adrenaline has worn out and I’m freezing. Pippa finds my side again and wraps the jacket around me once more. We all walk in silence, away from our leaders limp body.
We just lost two of the most amazing people on this ruined earth, there aren’t enough words in the world that could comfort the eight of us, not now and probably not ever. Lottie sniffles into Ash’s shoulder and Ash’s long arms are curled around her and Dean. So much loss in the little ones lives. And most of them haven’t hit thirteen yet. Mia’s only four, Dean is only six, Ash and Parker are only eleven and Lottie is eight. Five out of eight are under thirteen, and the rest of us aren’t even adults yet. With me being seventeen, I’m now the leader. Pippa’s right behind me, with a birthday on the Holiday and then Ryder several months later. We just have to keep pushing on. No matter what the cost.

Ryder

My senses are numb, my heart is aching and I hold a crying four year old close to me. Her crying is silent, but I feel her body shaking and her tears soaking the shoulder of my shirt underneath my jacket. She’s curled underneath my jacket, in effort to keep her warm. But I don’t know how much longer I can continue carrying her. She’s a lot of dead weight, especially when she falls asleep. But we can’t let her walk, I contemplate asking Pippa or Scarlett to carry her, but I don’t know if that’s the best idea. Especially considering Scarlett really lost it after Cassidy was reprimanded all because of a snowball fight, and ‘disturbance of the peace’. Sniffling and hiccuping is all you hear from our little group, Ian and now Cassidy. It’s too much for the little ones to handle, sure. Most aren’t that little. But they’ve all see too much death for a young age.
“It was all my fault..” Parker says softly, kicking at a beer bottle on the sidewalk. It skids several feet on the packed slush, and shatters on the corner of the building. “Had I not started the snowball fight, Cassidy wouldn’t have been taken away from us..” Her rubs his eyes in effort to hide the tears and I frown.

“It isn’t your fault, they would’ve confronted us for sneezing too loudly.” I support Mia with one arm and use my free hand to pat Parker on the back. “That’s not a joke, either.”
Parker nods, and sets his head on my ribcage. He’s tall for his age. But, I’m actually quite short for mine. I only stand at about five-four, whereas Pippa stands at five-eleven. Sure, she’s a girl. But she’s a lot taller than myself, or Scarlett. Who is only five-two. We’re an odd group, with varying heights and nationalities. But we don’t let anyone tell us that we aren’t family. We may not be family by blood, but we are family by bond.
“Do you think Cassidy will be okay?” Parker asks me, looking up at me with brown eyes, hidden by red and blonde hair. I nod.
“Our Cass is a fighter, we all know that. Did I ever tell you about how Scarlett and I met her?”
He shakes his head and I take a deep breath and begin to support Mia with both arms again.

“When we found her, Scarlett and I were hiding behind a dumpster, and she was being chased by officials and was shot. It was a graze on her left side, it took a piece of flesh out. But she fought through the pain and Scarlett bandaged her up. I offered to carry her, despite the face I was only thirteen. But she refused and limped to what used to be our little group-- everyone but Lottie is gone now-- she repaid us by giving us this family, and for the last two years. We’ve seen a lot of people go. Except for the last year. We’ve only taken in one new person. Can you guess who that is?” I stop, and look down at him. Ash, Dean and Lottie are now at my side listening to the story.
“Mia?” He raises an eyebrow and I nod. “Because I know that Ash and I came a year and a half ago, and Lottie was already with you. But, where do Dean and Pippa come in?” Parker asks me, and I furrow my brow.

“Well, Pippa found Dean, he hadn’t really been eating much and was wasting away to nothing.” I look to Dean and see the tears forming in his eyes. He had only been away from his family for a few days since Pippa had found him. “Pippa was a part of our group from the start, she was new days before Scar and I joined. Pippa saved Dean’s life, more or less.” Dean smiled through the tears and nodded. He was four and a half when he joined our little group.
“So, we’ve seen a lot of people come and go, but we’ll be okay. Because Cassidy is a fighter. We’ll see her again, and we’ll fight for her.” I reassure them, and Mia looks up at me with wet eyes.
“Do yous really mean that?” She asks, wrapping her arms around my neck. I nod, and I feel her kiss my cheek. She scrunches up her nose, and I laugh slightly. “Yous itchy.” She rubs her nose and places her head on my shoulder again.

I really need to shave, but that’s a pain to do in the cold. My stubble is scarce. But it’s still there, and according to Mia. It makes me itchy. But, she’s only four. What else was she supposed to say? It was cute, by anyones definition. I continue walking, despite the fact my shoulder has grown numb from the weight of the little girl I have been carrying for what feels like forever.
“How far are the subway tunnels?” I ask Pippa, and she looks back at me. She and Scarlett are walking far ahead of me, but they’re still within earshot. They can’t just leave us all behind.
“The subway tunnels are on the opposite side of town, we’ll have to spend the night here in the Inner City. I wince, that was the last thing I wanted to hear. “We’ll have to find someplace indoors to sleep, because we can’t trust sleeping on the streets. Not here. It’s hardly safe to sleep indoors, but we really don’t have a choice. I think I might know a place we can go, if it’s still here. I stayed there before I joined up with Cassidy.. Not long, but it’s kind of an in and out place for those against the government.” Her voice drops lower when she says that last sentence, and I just nod. I trust her not to bring us somewhere to dangerous, because what really was dangerous for us these days?

“We should rest now, and eat something.” I suggest, and the kids all nod. “I have food in my bag, and maybe Cassidy does too..” I stop, and the kids slight smiles disappear. Ash slides Cassidy’s large pack off her back and stops walking. “Pippa, Scar. We need to break.” I say and they turn around and head towards us. Ash is looking through Cassidy’s pack and pulls out a can of fruit cocktail, dried beef, stale biscuits, somewhat dry cheese and wheat crackers.
“A feast fit for kings.” Dean says with a smile and accepts one of the pieces of dried beef, he begins to suck on it. Because not only is it somewhat tough, it’s also really cold and needs to be somewhat defrosted to be able to eat it.
“What’s this?” Dean says, pulling a brown bottle out of the backpack. My eyes widen when I recognize it as a bottle of whiskey. It’s not opened, and it’s one of those things that people would trade good things for. How did Cassidy get her hands on something like that?
“Whiskey.” Scarlett says, and snatches the bottle up. She begins to uncap it and I glare at her, but Pippa is the one to take it from her.
“No, we can trade it for a great deal of food.” She scolds and puts it in her own bag. Scarlett scowls, and I can’t help but laugh.

“She is right, you know.”
“Oh, I know.” Scarlett takes the block of cheese, and procures her pocket knife. Cutting it into thin slices. She discards the dry parts into the snow. Figuring that any animals would be grateful for some food, no doubt. She hands everyone a piece, and wraps the cheese in the cloth it had been wrapped in upon discovery. We all sip from our dented water bottles, the water is cold. But we have no choice but to drink it. Normally we’d set it, full of snow from a barrel we cleaned out, on the coals of the fire to warm it up. Because ice cold water lowered your body temperature. We couldn’t have that in the cold months. Mia snatches a biscuit from my hand, and I roll my eyes at her and take another. They’re crumbly, but they’re food. Food is food, unless rotten and moldy. I want to keep walking, just to keep my body heat up. But I’m weary. I set Mia down, making sure the ground isn’t too wet. She’s tiny, and if she were to get to wet and cold. She’d get sick, and without any medicine. We probably would lose her too, and I promised her brother that I’d look out for her. Good thing she doesn’t remember her brother, she basically thinks I’m her older brother, and I’m perfectly okay with that.

“So, what now?” I ask the group and the younger kids shrug.
“If I recall correctly, the safe zone I was telling you about is on 22nd and Lyons road, we’re on 20th and Frank Street now. So, we’re nearly there. Then we can just hope for the best, look for an appearingly dilapidated building, with a tavern side that says ‘The Haunt’ on the outside. It used to be a bar, it looks to be boarded up. But the entrance is around back.” Even after all these years, Pippa still remembers the place vividly. I’m jealous of her ability to remember things, because even I can’t recall what my bedroom at our old house looks like. “I just hope that it’s still there, because the last thing we need is for it to be gone.” It had been ages since I actually slept inside somewhere, so the thought of a warm(er) place to sleep for the night sounded absolutely thrilling. I hope that it will be there, I hope we won’t have to have another reason to be sad or disappointed. For the sake of the rest of the group, I don’t show my concern on my face.  
“Well then, we should keep going. Eh?” Parker raises an eyebrow and Ash shoves him sideways. “What wa’ that for?” He yelps, his mouth full of cheese. Ash smirks and ruffles her short ginger bangs. They’re peaking out from underneath the green hat she wears and I smile. She reminds me of Peter Pan because of this, and because of her free spirit. I roll my eyes at the two of them, I know just what it’s like to have an annoying sister. But, it’s cute