Chapter 6

More about Silver and the outlaws is revealed, as well as an... interesting... person.

 As we got further, going through our snacks quickly, we found kids from other towns. Some older, some younger, and just enough mean ones. Things went wrong, and fast. Bad people tried to catch us, and some of us were gone quickly. But there was a lot of us left behind, the clever, agile ones. We couldn't go back now, we didn't know where back was, and the world turned out to be a lot less willing to bend to our attempts. Heck, all we did was run around in the shambles of old buildings anyways. We were only hunted because we lived very illegally.

Eventually, kids got together with one another. The most vicious and clever of them became gang leaders. They controlled others, had power among the cities. Everyone else was beneath them, except for loners, like me. We don't have a rank, but if I had to place us I'd put us above all the others. We're clever, but not vicious, cruel. We just wanted to be alone. I didn't mess with the other kids, they didn't mess with me. We're resourceful, always able to find what we needed to stay alive. Creativity and fast thinking kept us safe. We didn't need to be physically strong or able, I'm not the strongest or fastest person out there. We just knew other ways to get ahead of the rest.

Shortly after that, I lost my two closest friends. I now decided that I had to live alone, and I couldn't get attached to anyone. If I did, they might disappear like my friends did. So I lived alone for several years, growing accustomed to the streets and skirmishes, turning into a bandit, a thief, a rogue. Whoever made that radio speech a long time ago had no idea about what the outcome would be, did he? Now this ruined country is filled with juvenile gangs and delinquents. I don't think we could be normal again if we tried.

We didn't always live in the cities though. We first ran out to the woods, all of us. Food was hard to get though, and none of us were well educated. We were smart, but had little knowledge of the world around us. We couldn't catch food, and we hardly knew which plants were safe to eat and which would hurt us. We were only out there for a few days, and we ran into the cities again. I don't think all of us moved. I believe that there's a some kids still living in there, living like animals, catching and searching for food. I shudder just thinking about life in there, in the dark, scary, unnavigable forest.

ROGUE

Someone is shaking me awake, and I open my eyes and moan. “Stop it!” I try to say, but my words are nearly unintelligible, partially from tiredness, partially from thirst. I push the hands shaking me away, and I sit up. The world seems to spin for a moment, and I start to fall, but someone helps me stay upright, and it comes back in focus again within a few seconds.

“Finally. You took a nap, and their was nothing we could do to wake you!” someone says. Someone, presumably the same person, thrusts a cup of water into my hands. “Drink it. It'll help you recover better.”

The person talking to me steps in front of me, and I can see her clearly now. She's Asian, with dark, glossy, and wispy long hair. She has old, cracked glasses, but they don't seem to be bothering her any. She looks amused, and it isn't hard to tell that she's not dumb. She's slender, and I think if we stood back to back, we'd be about the same height.

“Hi,” she says, her voice energetic, but wispy as well. “My name is Neko.” She sees my puzzled expression at her name and explains. “It's Japanese for cat.” I nod and sip the water, the cool, refreshing feeling sliding down my throat. It then strikes me that its been a long time since I had anything to drink, and I down the rest of the cup quickly.

“T-thanks.” I say warily. “I'm Silver.” I study her closely, but she doesn't seem to be hiding anything. She just watches, and doesn't act discreet about it. I'm feeling a little uncomfortable by her stare, but she doesn't seem to notice my discomfort. She almost seems to be in a trance, staring at me, but not at the same time. What a strange girl. “What... what are you doing?” I ask, confused.

Neko seems to snap out of a daze, and her sharp eyes focus on me once more. “Oh, sorry. Just thinking!” she says with an innocent smile. “Oh! I should probably go. Bye!” she says, hopping up and darting out of the room. I notice a shank, a homemade knife, latched around her waste, and I know that she isn't quite as innocent and scatterbrained as she first appears. As weird as she is, I like her.

As her footsteps fade away into the ruins, new footsteps replace them, heavier and slower. I tense and get into a crouching position so that I can defend myself. I wince as I shift, bruises and scratches coming alive, and I know that I wouldn't stand a chance in a fight. I'd rather go down fighting instead of allow myself to just get beaten without any effort. I don't know why someone would be coming to fight me or interrogate me. I guess it's just instinct to get ready.

The footsteps come closer and closer, and the person finally enters the room.

It's the boy.

Author's Note

How do I indent paragraphs on this site? I found an indent button, but it moves the whole paragraph, which isn't what I want.