The Caravan (and other works by me) [Archive]

zerotech57

10-13-2010, 07:20 PM

THE CARAVAN
Author's Note: Okay, so I posted this story on a couple other forums, but nobody's ever really reviewed it for me. It hasn't gotten a lot of reviews because I think I kind of got it off to a weak start, but I like the premise and I'm determined to finish it at some point. I'm working on chapter 8 as I write this.

Main Characters:

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/ToanShepherd.png
Toan Shepherd, the protagonist.
He's a good-natured guy who's a bit rough around the edges, but means well. He's kind of at a crossroads in his life, where he understands that he's close to having to become an adult and assume adult responsibilities, but he's still kind of resisting it. He might say and do things that wouldn't exactly be considered intelligent, but he's actually fairly bright and does his best to get along with anyone he meets. Although he is presently romantically uninvolved, and has never been in any especially serious relationships, he has kind of a love-hate relationship with Ember Ingalls, which he is determined to keep secret from her brother. His most well-known quirk is his hatred of shirts with sleeves. If he can avoid doing so, he won't wear anything that has sleeves, claiming that it's too constricting. Even if he does wind up wearing something with sleeves, it is generally tight-fitting.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/CloudNewbern.png
Cloud Newbern
The ladies man of the group, and probably the least mature member, Cloud Newbern spends his time chasing women and avoiding work. Although he is generally a good-natured guy, he is thin-skinned, and has an enormous inferiority complex in relation to almost everyone in his life, from his older brothers to his best friends. Although not profoundly intelligent, he is very observant and does a surprising amount of thinking, even if it doesn't amount to much. He has known Toan since they were both young, and although they fight constantly, they are genuinely like brothers.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/DrewBateman.png
Drew Bateman
Drew is probably the calmest person of the bunch. He has low self-esteem, and somewhat of an interesting sense of humor, but he is easily the smartest person in the caravan, and after Toan, probably the second physically strongest. He is presently in a very interesting (to say the least) relationship with a girl he works with, at a job that he loves.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/HankMorton.png
Hank Morton
Every clique has that friend that's in a hurry to grow up, and Hank Morton is definitely that guy. He's got a job that he loves, and he's engaged to the girl of his dreams, all at the young age of seventeen. Although he's prone to worrying, he is generally fun-loving and easygoing when he has nothing bothering him. Although he doesn't always see eye-to-eye with his less mature friends, he would take a bullet for any of them without a second thought.

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/RonIngalls.png
Ron Ingalls
Ron is dumb as a rock, and friendly as a puppy. Probably the most intellectually shallow member of the group, he doesn't take much to keep himself amused. He has a job he likes, but isn't especially attached to, as well as a girl he's kind of on and off with. His best friends are Cloud Newbern, and Hank Morton.

Secondary Characters:

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/EveTrekkie.png
Eve Trekkie

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/PetraSnow.png
Petra Snow

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/DuckieMason.png
Duckie Mason

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/EmberIngalls.png
Ember Ingalls

http://i341.photobucket.com/albums/o386/the_riceman80/HomerHemmingway.png
Homer Hemmingway
(I know he's supposed to have dirty blonde hair, but I designed the character before I wrote the story, and when I pictured him for the story, he had dirty blonde hair)

Chapter One:

When one thinks back to an event that changes their lives, it's usually so hard to remember how they get from the beginning to the end. What seem (at the time) to be to be daunting, but completely isolated, incidents are truly linked by that person's own decisions wind up chained together in one trying, but ultimately rewarding experience, no matter how sad it may seem in the end. Eventually, it will be appreciated.

Toan Shepherd felt as though he would never truly grow accustomed to living in a colony, despite the fact that it had been fourteen years since the last of the cities had ceased to exist, and that the last time he had even lived outside a commune was some time before his fourth birthday. In the communal lifestyle they led in his area, the latest risers often missed out on things, and Toan was (by no fault of his own) , a late riser. It wasn't especially helpful that his role in the community was as a Night Watchman, as it had been since becoming an adult, by commune standards, a few months shy of his fifteenth birthday. The very name implied a perpetual graveyard shift, and the truth wasn't far from that. The job was bearable, but the novelty had long since worn off, and the fact that his closest friends all seemed to be moving on to newer jobs did little to make it any more enjoyable.

His closest friend, Drew Bateman, had been reassigned to "The Rebuilding Project" little over a year ago. The Rebuilding Project was a name given to the joint effort of five fairly close-by communes, Toan's included, to reconstruct the city that had once covered the area they resided in. Progress, according to Drew, was slow but encouraging. Though it was difficult to tell, since Drew wasn't the type to get emotional, Toan was certain Drew genuinely liked the job, and took a great deal of pride in it. Drew had even managed to find himself a steady girlfriend, during his tenure working on "The Project": A sweet-natured girl, named Petra who Toan didn't know especially well as of yet, since she and Drew were so often busy with "Project" work, but thusfar, she seemed like a good match for his best friend, even if she could be a little too flirty at times with the guys in her life.

His next-closest friend, Hank Morton, spend even less time in town then Drew, due to a recent transfer into Border Patrol. Toan was glad for him, since he knew Border Patrol was a lifelong dream of Hank's, but slightly deflated because that meant Hank was just another friend he was getting to see less and less of. The job entailed patrolling the unmarked (save for a few scattered wooden signs) region that bordered the five communes, repairing whatever needed repair, and helping out anyone who had the misfortune of living out beyond the main commune with anything they might need. Hank had always been the mature one of the bunch, Toan reflected, and naturally, he was already engaged to the girl of his dreams even at the young age of seventeen. Evelyn Trekkie was short-tempered, but had been quite popular with the local male demographic, to her chagrin, before she had began dating Hank. Unlike the others, her schooling wasn't complete yet, and she wanted to become a Doctor. Despite the distance between them, they made it work, and Toan had to admire that.

Ron Ingalls was a good buddy of his, who Toan had just recently begun hanging around with. Ron was also the only guy in the bunch who had never worked night-watch, having been deemed to slim to be effective. Initially, he had gotten work as a farmer, before being transferred to "Hunting and Gathering" until he finally settled in as a Chef in the Mess Hall, where everyone in the Commune seemed to stop in at one point or another in the day to eat a warm meal, get something to drink, and sometimes even swap stories, if they had the energy and disposition. Ron rarely saw his family, due to scheduling conflicts, and his relationship with Ducky Mason, a fellow chef, was on-again, off-again at best. The only way Toan could describe it was "Erratic". To top off Ron's worries, his little sister, Ember, had recently become an adult, and her favorite past-time was dating (Especially when she knew the guy she was dating was someone Ron disapproved of). Lately, Toan had become the object of her only somewhat unwanted attention, but this was a detail he chose not to share with Ron, in the interest of not heaping any more stress onto his friend's poor mind, and he doubted that attempting to explain how he was incapable of saying "No" to Ron's (Incredibly attractive) younger sister without having to mentally remind himself that she was his friend's sibling (and therefore, morally speaking, 100% off-limits) would help matters.

Then, there was Cloud Newbern. Cloud and Toan's friendship was an unbreakable bond at the best of times, as well as Rocky and uncertain at it's worst, which several issues (Mostly female-related) hadn't helped, but Toan chose not to think of that. Cloud was still a good drinking buddy, and a reliable friend, and that's how Toan decided to look at things. They had, after all, been roommates during Guard Training, and even shared a shift for a couple of years, until Cloud switched to Afternoon Watch, leaving Toan's route far quieter, and although Toan usually refused to admit it, more lonely.

Quite an interesting group they had been, way back when. Hank had been just about the largest, at around six-foot-four, and close to two-hundred-thirty pounds, with short-cropped brown hair, and wide blue eyes. Cloud was only slightly shorter, at only a hair over six-foot-two, but quite slim (One Hundred Eighty pounds, and even that was generous). He had piercing blue eyes, and black hair (in a buzzcut, generally speaking) as well as extremely high, prominent cheekbones. Toan was the most average of the bunch, a hair under six feet tall, with a square-shouldered, well-muscled frame, short arms and legs, medium length chestnut-brown hair, naturally wide green eyes, and a wide smile, which he was self-conscious about due to the lack of one of the teeth near the front of the bottom row. Ronald stood a hair under five-foot-nine, and incredibly skinny, and looked almost like a bobble-head, due to his large head in comparison to the rest of him. He had curly, auburn hair which he kept short, and gelled into place, as well as hazel eyes, and a big, dumb, toothy grin. Drew was around the same height, but as wide-shouldered as Toan, with an inverted triangle-like build. They possessed the same wide shoulders, powerful legs, strong backs, and powerful chest, but Drew's long profile (compared to Toan's round face, without much definition in the area of his jaw), blue eyes, and wavy blonde hair set the two apart, not to mention that fact that Drew had more muscle definition, even if Toan possessed the superior physical strength between the two.

They had all hung out longer then any of them really bothered to remember, and continued to do so whenever they didn't have their collective spare time limited by work, and adult obligation. All throughout their days as students, they had, mostly as a joke, planned to take off for a year, on a road-trip, just to get away from it all for a while. It had just been a joke to most of the gang, but after a few misspent night shifts mulling it over, Toan and Cloud actually seriously began making plans. Neither truly acknowledged how real it was starting to become over time. Then of course, fights happened, and plans got scrapped. A somewhat-bitter chuckle escaped Toan's lips. It seemed so naive, in hindsight. There was just too much obligation now to drop anything and just go. A weekend fishing trip was hard enough to schedule, at this point, let alone a year-long disappearance.

CHAPTER TWO
Toan sat up in bed, and began to stretch. He knew there was something he was meant to be doing on this particular day (which marked the beginning of his 24 hours off work), but what exactly it was that he was supposed to do was eluding him. He knew there was always the option of heading out to the Craters, for the day, of course. An old friend of his, Homer Hemmingway, would almost certainly be there, along with his cousin Donnie, and Reggie Stifler, a close family friend. The had convinced the council that, with the assistance and financial aid of Reggie's two older brothers, they would turn the Craters into a year-round, outdoor entertainment complex. On that note, a year had passed since they had gotten the proposal going, and very little progress had been made. The facility itself was little more then a long fence surrounding the patch of craters on the edge of their commune, and the "activities" that they were known for hosting were generally legally questionable (Such as Bare-knuckle boxing, two-by-four board-fights, dune buggy races, and red rover, once again using Dune Buggies. All of which were generally performed after the consumption of a great deal of alcohol).

As a rule, Toan liked to think he had outgrown such things. Occasionally, he would come back to watch, and if the event seemed like fun, he might even choose to partake. As a matter of fact, he liked to think he had once been a pretty dominating Bare-Knuckle boxer, before hanging up the "gloves". With the exception of Homer, who he had yet to fight, he was known for badly abusing every boxer of similar age and build to him. Of course, he had been somewhat slimmer, then. He had put on at least 15 pounds of muscle since, and that made him wonder if he might not even be in better fighting shape then ever before. On second thought, he decided there might be absolutely no harm in taking a look at what was going on down in the craters, today.

The journey from his place was short, and immediately after entering the enclosure, the first person he noticed was Ron, taking extended pulls from his Father's homemade glass bottles of moonshine. This wasn't a symptom of depression, and Toan knew it. This was just how Ron generally celebrated his days off: Going to the craters, and getting falling-down drunk, and then doing whatever stupid thing Reggie had cooked up. Toan sat down next to his friend, and glanced out to where Ron was looking. There was a fight going on, which wasn't uncommon. Bare-knuckle boxing was always a favorite activity. The combatants they were watching were Frankie Tucker, who Toan sometimes worked with on Night Shift, and Cloud Newbern.

Cloud was a solid eight inches taller then Frankie, but Daywatch had clearly made him slower, and lazier, and all the gusto and ring presence he had once possessed had clearly diminished to almost nothing. Still, it wasn't a bad fight. Cloud flailed around, and landed a fairly solid, but clearly cheap, blow onto the base of Frankie's neck, and followed up by grabbing the smaller man's shirt, and attempting to throw him to the dusty, rocky ground. Instead of falling on him, and continuing to fight, though, Cloud relented to catch his breath, which was all the time Frankie needed. He launched himself into Cloud's stomach, like a five-foot-seven, one-hundred eighty-five pound missile. As soon as Cloud's feet left the ground, Frankie continued to follow through, driving with his short, thick legs, and pinning Cloud against the crater wall (which was only three feet high), before raining punches down on his taller opponent. Cloud got a few nice ones in, where he could, but he was clearly outmatched. He attempted to pull Frankie's T-shirt over his head, to blind him momentarily, but caught ahold of Frankie's underwear instead, and didn't stop pulling up until he heard the telltale rip of an overly successful wedgie, and an involuntary yelp from Frankie. He only stopped because he caught Frankie's flat palm right on his nose, smashing his head repeatedly into the wall behind him. Frankie only stopped once Donnie and Reggie pulled him off Cloud. The victor there was hardly a mystery.

As Cloud crawled out of the hole, out of breath and still dazed, Toan walked over, pointing out the obvious fact that he had looked like complete shit in the ring.

"Oh yeah? Fuck you" grumbled Cloud "When was your last fight, again?"

"Long time ago. Don't even remember if I won or lost." Toan replied, with a laugh "I still never got messed up that bad"

"J...Just because nobody could....lift your big ass alone" Cloud gasped, out of breath but always willing to offer up a joke about Toan's stature.

"Coming from the guy who used to weigh like 220?" laughed Toan "Give me a break!"

"Oh fuck you" Cloud replied, with a chuckle "It was 215 by the way. Dick."

Toan knew he was joking, and they both laughed.

"TOAN! BRO! WHAT'S UP?"

Toan turned around, curious about the interruption. The source was far shorter then him, but slightly thicker. Homer Hemmingway looked almost like a bulldog, even with his short, stocky frame, dirty blonde hair, and slightly nervous smile.

"Hey Homer" he replied "You know, been working nights. Sleeping all day. No time to go drinking lately, bud."

"Shouldn't you be taking a nap now, then?" Homer laughed

"I've got the night off" Toan shrugged "I figured I'd come down and see if you had a heart attack yet, maybe get some fights in.... Do some drinking. The usual stuff."

"Get some fights in, eh? Looking to end my streak?" Homer asked, laughing his high-pitched laugh. Challenge extended.

"Only if you promise not to kill me" Toan replied, with a smile. Challenged accepted.

With that, they stepped into a vacated crater. Reggie caught sight of the match-to-be, and his obnoxious cackle of delight could be heard from across the complex. "WHOOOO! BIG ON BIG!" he yelled "HEAVYWEIGHT TITLE ON THE LINE!"

The yelling actually attracted some attention, as a couple stragglers sat down at the edge of the 5-foot-deep pit to watch. Reggie, Frankie, and Donnie were front and center. Homer extended his hand, and Toan shook. That was when the fight truly began. Homer pulled down hard, without letting go of Toan's hand, with the intent of knocking his opponent off-balance, but Toan retaliated with an uppercut to Homer's jaw. Homer's head snapped backwards, but his grip didn't loosen. Toan continued to rain hay-makers onto Homer, who seemed content to absorb damage, until he yanked down on Toan's arm again, and rammed him in the face with one large shoulder, nearly taking him to the ground. Toan managed to get his arms around Homer's expansive midsection, making it difficult for Homer to lift him up, or drive him backwards without losing balance. Toan pushed off hard on his right leg, and catapulted both to the ground, where he began raining more shots down on Homer. Finally, Homer managed to get an inside grip, grabbing the collar of Toan's sleeveless T-shirt and driving the slightly lighter boy onto his back. After wrestling around on the ground for a bit, Toan managed to get his feet into Homer's gut and catapult the larger boy off of him, into a wall. Toan got to his feet, and gave Homer the same chance. BIG mistake, on his part. Homer managed to get up, and then smashed into Toan, piledriving him to the ground, delivering a myriad of fists and elbows to Toan's face and neck as soon as they hit the ground.

While two knock-down drag-out fighters going to war for a nonstop half-hour SEEMED exciting in theory, time went on, stamina depleted, and the fight soon deteriorated into a lot of grunting, grappling and punching. The crowd lost interest before the fighters, and when Toan and Homer finally gave up and called it a draw, nobody was around to care, anymore. In the Craters, it was hard to hold anyone's attention for over 20 minutes at a stretch. It took Toan about the amount of time it would take for one to get one foot out of the crater before he barely avoided being hit by a Dune Buggy flying over his head. It was quite clear that there was a race going on. Someone yelled jubilantly from inside, and just as Homer and Toan managed to get into the crowd, another Dune Buggy flew over the crater, in hot pursuit of the leader. It was driven by a VERY inebriated Ron Ingalls, before edging it's way into first place with some deft (and Toan, assumed, lucky) driving by Ron, but the high speeds, and bad judgment caught up to Ron, which lead to him misjudging a landing, sliding a good ten feet on two wheels, and crashing into a 6-foot deep crater, upside down. Almost inaudible over the revved up engines was the drunken argument between Ron and Cloud over what had been done wrong. Toan could spot Larry Engvall leading the pack, with his best friends, Ricky McDermott, and Forscythe "Blades" Roach, along for the ride. All three were drinking liberally, and singing obnoxiously over the sound of the engines, to the approval of the small crowd. They were the only local band for miles, and had a very small, devoted fanbase who frequented the Craters.

"So, which buggy is Ronnie?"

Homer giggled that annoyed, high-pitched giggle that was almost like a whimper, as Toan's face lost all color, after thin, female arms wrapped around his shoulders from behind. "You ignoring me now, Ox?" Ember asked, talking into his back, clearly teasing him. Toan wished a bolt of lightning would strike Homer dead, at that moment, for all the enjoyment he was gleaning out of this awkward scenario.

"You know you make that pretty much impossible" Toan replied, clearly uncomfortable "You'd bother me until I answered you anyway. Your moron brother, and Cloud already crashed. He's hammered right now."

He gestured to the crash site, praying Ron couldn't see him.

She didn't change her tone of voice, but he felt her grip on him slacken. He figured that would do the trick. She wanted to get caught in this scenario about as badly as Toan did. Neither wanted to put that kind of stress on Ron. He turned, offering her a crooked half-smile, but desperately trying to ignore how similar she looked to her brother in the right kind of lighting. He noticed now the color was drained out of HER face, and she wasn't smiling. She had slightly large front teeth, and rarely showed her teeth when she smiled. It was almost a shame, he thought, her smile was actually pretty cute. The fact that it was the biggest difference between herself and her brother also helped it's case. "Well, shouldn't you go see if they're alright, Ox?" she asked, playfully.

"I probably should" he agreed, maintaining his smile. She returned the smile, kissed him lightly, lingering for a moment to see if he would kiss back. He didn't, but resistance took a good deal of willpower. Then she let him go, and disappeared into the crowd, beating a hasty retreat.

"You're picking up. I knew it!" Homer said, triumphantly.

"That's sick" Toan replied, looking genuinely nauseated "That's Ron's sister! That would be weird."

"You let her kiss you" Homer argued, eyebrow raised.

"Yeah, like you wouldn't" Toan replied, rolling his eyes.

"Even you know that's going to come back and bite you in the ass" Homer said.

"What's a couple innocent kisses?" Toan asked, playing the victim

Homer smirked, and raised his eyebrow again.

".... and a couple other times when things MIGHT'VE went a little further..."

"and?" Homer pressed him, clearly enjoying the interrogation a bit too much.

"and one COMPLETELY irrelevant time where she may or may not have gotten REALLY REALLY FRIENDLY with me" Toan explained, defensively "It doesn't count if I told her to stop before I did something I REALLY regretted, clearly"

"Would you tell Ron about it?" Homer answered, immediately.

"Do you tell Patty's brother when she gives you a....you know?" Toan snapped, annoyed.

"Only once. When she gave me....uh....a present... in the back of my Dune Buggy..." Homer replied, suddenly avoiding eye contact.

"That's messed up"

"What is?" Homer asked, suddenly more outraged then embarrassed "Getting a blowjob in a Buggy?"

"No, that's actually really cool. I meant telling her brother about it was weird" Toan explained.

"I was proud, and I wanted to tell someone" Homer explained, awkwardly "and he kind of asked..."

"He's 13!" exclaimed Toan "Wait.... He asked?"

"He asked what I got for my birthday" Homer explained "I wasn't going to lie to the kid..."

That brought on a fairly awkward silence. "So... Road head, huh?" Toan asked, not sure what to say. Homer nodded, uncomfortable.

Toan pointed to the crash, and replied "I have to uh.... go see how they're..."

Homer nodded. "Yeah, you should get on that" he agreed, clearly wanting to end the conversation. Neither made eye contact, and they nodded at one another before Toan headed off to go round up Cloud and Ron.

Author's Note: I toned down the conversation between Homer and Toan quite a bit from the original draft, but I think it actually seems more awkward when it's written this way, so it works.

CHAPTER THREE:
Toan bit into his lower lip, which was the face he made when balancing that would have easily tipped had he not exercised caution, such as two glasses of Orange Juice, one glass of Apple juice, and a plate full of sandwiches left over from the lunchtime rush. Toan was hungry, Ron was hungover, and Cloud just wanted orange juice. When he finally got to the table, Ron was describing something he had found at his fishing spot that stuck an excited edge into his voice which Toan hadn't heard in a while. Even more surprisingly, Cloud was quietly listening. "It'll be great shelter for the next time we get rained out!" Ron explained triumphantly.

"What will?" Toan asked, confused.

"Ron found some old, shitty RV" Cloud explained, but although his voice carried disdain and frustration, his eyes radiated curiosity "and he wants to fix it up, just for something to do when the fish won't bite"

Toan sat down, and asked "What weekend are we fixing it up?"

"Well, tomorrow" Ron explained, between bites "It's Hank's last day here, before he needs to go back to the outpost, and the only day off me and Cloud have on the same day for a long while. You can catch some sleep if you need to, and meet up with us later, if you want."

Toan mulled it over, as he ate. The plan definitely made sense. "I have tonight off" Toan pointed out "I can show up with you guys"

It was settled: They would go the very next day, and fix up the RV.
******************************

Toan groaned, and rolled over. He checked his watch for the time, and realized it was 6:00 AM. Who in the hell would want something from him at six in the morning?

Finally, the knocking stopped, and right as Toan was fixing to go back to sleep, Cloud burst into the room. "GET YOUR LAZY ASS UP!" he yelled, gleefully "WE'VE GOT FISH TO CATCH, AND STUFF TO FIX!"

"The fish are asleep.." Toan muttered "like we should be"

"Holy crap, bud! What do you have against sleeves?"

That exclamation meant Cloud had outright ignored him, and begun rummaging through his clothing.

"Not one damn shirt has sleeves? What the hell?"

A black undershirt was thrown onto his face, and Toan quickly pulled it on. "Sleeves are restricting" Toan explained, indifferently "The blood doesn't flow into my arms right when I have sleeves on"

"What about winter?"

"I have a box of long-sleeves somewhere. I don't know..." grumbled Toan, still waking up.

"What's wrong with wearing a coat?" Ron asked, walking in with his cup of coffee.

"What's wrong with waiting for me to answer the door?" Toan grumbled "Assholes. Barge in, rifle through my stuff, and don't even bring me any coffee"

Through all the chaos, Toan heard the sound of knocking on the door. It was timid knocking, and he knew only one person would still knock in this scenario. He answered it to see Hank's towering, nervous frame smiling awkwardly at him. "Hey" Hank muttered "They said you wouldn't mind them walking in..."

"It's fine, bro" Toan laughed "At least you knocked"

"If Toan's all woken up now, I think we can get moving" Cloud yelled, over the chatter.

So they set off. It was only about a 20 minute walk, while Ron, Cloud and Toan loudly argued the merits of sleeves back and forth, with Hank fueling the fire when he saw the chance. Finally, at quarter-to-seven they arrived. "Now, where's the hunk of shit?" Cloud asked, almost eagerly. Everyone knew what an RV was, although none of them had truly ever laid eyes on one before.

Ron wordlessly led through a short patch of bush, to a large vehicle. It resembled a trailer, yet it was attached to absolutely nothing. It was quite dinged up, but looked salvageable. Ron popped the hood, and began poking around, while Hank peered over his shoulder at the inner workings. Cloud circled around to the door, intent on scouting out the inside. Toan shrugged, pulled out his fishing rod, picked up the can of bait Hank had plopped on the ground, and headed off toward the lake. At least one of them was going to get some fishing done.

CHAPTER FOUR:
The sand was white as snow, and it stretched for miles around him. The red sun beat down, but he wasn't bothered. He was driving along in the RV (THAT RV?), alone. He wasn't sure of where he was going, or where he had come from. At the moment, Toan felt like the only person alive. He could hear God above him, telling him to awaken. Then, the flood gates were opened.

His eyes shot open, and he flopped onto his stomach, cursing, coughing and yelling. Ron had dumped the placid remains of his coffee right on Toan's face. When he finally calmed down, Ron explained that they had finished up fixing the inside, and the engine, but needed an extra set of hands to remove the RV from the entanglement of bushes, weeds, and roots it was presently trapped in, so they could clean off the outside. "You mean it could actually drive?" Toan asked, surprised.

"Sure, in theory, if we had any gas" Ron shrugged "but we don't, so it can't"

Toan looked slightly put out, but nodded and got up. "Not that it would matter, anyway" Ron pointed out "Where would we go, really?"

Anywhere but here.

Toan shrugged, ignoring the urge to blurt out the obvious answer. Then again, wasn't this the chance he had dreamed of since he was twelve? Then again, didn't he have enough going for him that he didn't NEED to chase a stupid dream he once had?

Maybe that dream was never truly put to rest.

Toan had to admit that he hated inner dialogue. Especially when his brain was telling him one thing, and his heart pointed directly to the open road. Even then, logic dictated that it wasn't doable. There was no motivation, no fuel, and no way to get everyone together, and on board with the idea. Plus, it was just irresponsible.

Failing to do so is just as irresponsible. You're not being true to yourself, in that case. Isn't that just as much of a crime?

Toan grappled with the urge the entire time he was helping pull the RV out of the bush. He continued the inner argument as he helped clean off the exterior, and even as the RV began to look newer and newer, he hardly noticed. He was too trapped in his own head, and from the look on Cloud's face, he knew he wasn't the only one considering the possibilities. Their eyes locked, for a moment, and the shared thought passed between them. That was enough to convince Toan he had to get this off his mind. If Cloud got the notion that it could work, and he thought he even had the slightest bit of support in Toan, there would be no stopping him, and Toan knew it. His fears were confirmed when Ron and Hank set off to begin fishing, and Cloud put a hand on Toan's arm, telling him to hang back for a sec. "I know you thought about it, too" Cloud said, looking dead serious.

"I think it's a beautiful piece of machinery, alright" agreed Toan, nodding, playing dumb.

"You know what I'm talking about" Cloud replied, finding no humor in the response.

Toan considered lying, and saying he didn't, but he was caught. "Yeah" he admitted "It crossed my mind"

"So what do you think?" Cloud asked "Would you still be up for it?"

"We can't" Toan replied "Too much responsibility, too much trouble if we left"

"Isn't the burden that's been placed on us the reason we even considered it?" Cloud reasoned, quietly.

Toan had to admit that Cloud could be pretty clever at times, and this might've been one of those times, but Toan continued to resist. "We promised we'd take everyone in the gang, and you know we can't" he pointed out.

"Why the hell not?" Cloud asked, an edge creeping into his voice.

"Hank's getting married, and we can't take Eve with us, because she still has Medical School! Drew finally found himself a girl, and it wouldn't be fair to mess that up for our sakes!" Toan replied, just as annoyed.

"This promise was made before any of that shit!" Cloud snapped back.

"Yeah well, being a man means it can't always be about what we want, doesn't it?" Toan responded, simply.

"Look at Mr. Petrillo! He's MISERABLE, and he makes every one around him miserable, because he never got to do any of the stuff he wanted to do with his life. You know how I know that? Look around his classroom! There are books all over the place, and every god damn one is about things other great men did, that he thinks he could've done if he had gotten out of this hole, and followed his dreams!" Cloud replied, reeling off his ace in the hole.

Russell Petrillo was their History teacher for years, in school. He had hated Toan, and the feeling was mutual. It WOULD be nice to prove, once and for all, he was already twice the man Petrillo was, at a quarter of the age. After sitting on that fact for a moment, Toan compromised. He was willing to go, he said, IF Cloud could find fuel and convince everyone else to go. It was the only way.

"The fuel is the easy part" Cloud explained, with a giddy smile "You know the craters?"

"Yeah" Toan replied, impatiently.

"Well, Reggie gets a new fuel shipment in every week, which he just leaves sitting around out front until Homer forces him to carry it in. That usually takes days. Especially next week."

"What's next week?" Toan asked, recognizing how out-of-the-loop he was.

"The Jamboree Festival. It's the Second Annual One." Cloud explained, impatiently "They always conserve as much fuel as possible by only filling up each tank halfway, so they have more fuel for the upcoming year. If each of us can just jack one container, and stick it in the RV, we'll be set for miles"

"How will we fill it?" Toan asked, having no idea how to siphon gas.

"Engvall has a fuel pump I bet he'd let me borrow" Cloud replied, with a shrug.

Toan had to admit the plan was solid, but the challenge was clearly in getting the others on board.

CHAPTER FIVE:
"You can't be serious"

After days of carefully planning his approach, and how he would turn Drew onto the idea, Toan hadn't factored in the idea that Drew wouldn't even let him finish speaking before making a decision. Drew had always been up for virtually anything, and he had expected this situation to be no different. "The Project is doing some important stuff. I can't really leave right now! Besides, Petra and I are doing really well and I just don't want to jinx it by ditching her for a year.." Drew explained "You can go without me, can't you?"

"Nope," Toan replied firmly "All or nothing. Cloud's down for it, and Ron's going too. We're waiting on you, and we're waiting on Hank. If you guys don't go, nobody goes."

That seemed to weaken Drew's resolve a tad, although it was hard to tell. "What makes me and Hank so important to this trip?" he asked, finally.

"To be honest.." Toan replied "Nothing. It was your dream, and his dream too, back in the day. That's why I asked."

Drew had nothing to say to that. He just crossed his arms, and seemed to think for a moment. "Where's this coming from anyway?" he asked, sounding almost curious "There's nothing to be in a bad mood about right now. We're all working jobs we like, and our lives are going pretty well. Why do we need to do this?"

I'm not.

Those two words were the first things that popped into Toan's head, but he didn't share that with Drew. "Sometimes, change is healthy. Now just feels like the only chance we'll get." Toan replied, with a shrug. "So if someone who was going to live to be ninety changed into someone who was going to die tomorrow, that's healthy?" Drew asked, looking curious.

"I said some change," Toan replied "Not all"

"Well, that's the kind of change this seems like to me" Drew replied "We're taking something that works just fine, and messing with it"

"So that we could possibly find something better" Toan corrected him

"What if it's worse... Out there?" Drew asked, willing Toan to consider the possibilities.

"Then we come back with a better understanding of how good we had it here" Toan explained "How can someone working on a project to rebuild our communities not be a progressive thinker?"

Drew digested that for a moment, and both sat there, on Toan's poorly-constructed front porch, just thinking. It had been a couple days since the RV had been discovered, and this had been the only day Toan could find to talk to Drew. He was sacrificing sleep, but he wasn't going to go without his best friend. "Cloud's been working on convincing Hank for the past couple days" Toan explained "From what he's told me, Hank's leaning towards going."

"Can I just talk to Petra about this?" Drew asked, looking off wistfully into the horizon.

"What about your family?" Toan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"I live with five siblings" Drew replied "My parents won't even notice I'm gone"

Toan doubted that, but didn't argue. Drew got up from the lawn chair he was sitting in, and walked off down the street toward Petra's house. Just studying the place he lived in, Toan would hardly have called it a house. It was basically a hut with a porch out front, and that porch was all that separated it from the rest of the houses on the block. His Grandfather had built the house years before he was born, so Toan presumed it was a rickety death trap long before he had moved in. The porch was stable, but he couldn't shake that feeling that it would collapse under him whenever he sat on it for any length of time. Of course, as far as housing went, he didn't have much to complain about. Everyone lived in the same kind of home as he did. The Project was supposed to be fixing that eventually, but from what Toan could tell, that was low on the agenda. He actually figured living in an RV for a year might even be an improvement on where he presently lived. Given nothing to think about but the grass and sand all around him, and the sun, hot as usual, above him, his mind wandered to the one aspect of his life he had to admit was pretty great: His special friendship with Ember.

It was hardly just a friendship. They spent a LOT of time fooling around, which he would've taken a wooden stake right in the groin before telling Ron about, but for all the time she spent pleasuring him physically (Although they hadn't had sex yet, something he took an odd amount of pride in), it wasn't the flings that made him keep coming back. It was who she was that drew him to her. Her sweet nature, and the fact that she wasn't as dumb as she acted at times. She wasn't great in school, occasionally lacked maturity and her vocabulary was limited, but she was by no means stupid. The conversations they occasionally had proved that. For every time she'd asked him for stupid favors because she was too lazy to do them herself, or said something head-scratchingly stupid, there were at least two occasions where she had displayed insight and maturity far greater then he was used to seeing from her, and that kept him coming back. All that kept him from wanting to settle down with her was his friendship with Ron, and her age. She was too young for him, he felt. He had been out of school and working for years, while she had just finished, and was finally beginning to work on her parents' farm. She clearly wasn't ready to settle down with one guy yet, and for all his considering, he wasn't ready to limit himself to just one girl, but it still gave him a weird feeling to think of her with other guys. As he reclined in his chair, feeling the exhaustion creep in from having worked nights and not slept yet, he dimly heard some shouting down the street. He wasn't concerned, since it was a fairly regular thing. The Engvalls lived at the end of the road, and they weren't the most peace-loving family on the planet. Finally, his eyes closed, and he drifted off into a fairly peaceful sleep.

When Toan awoke, he did so to an increased amount of sun, making him presume it was mid-day, and, to his shock, Drew standing over him. After the initial shock, he asked how the conversation went. "Badly at first" Drew shrugged "but she says she sees what you meant, and she's willing to make it work if I am."

"You look exhausted" Toan replied, sitting up in his chair.

"It's the heat" Drew replied, flatly

"Is that thing on your face a smile?"

"I'm excited to be going" Drew replied, devoid of emotion, but he didn't meet Toan's eyes.

"What's that on your neck?"

"A hickey" Drew replied, matter-of-factly.

"What do your fingers smell like right now?" Toan asked, with a smirk.

Drew thought for a moment, before sitting down, cracking a large grin, which was rare, and answering him. "Makeup sex" Drew explained "is the best way to wake yourself up during the afternoon"

Toan digested that for a moment. He took in the whole situation, and then burst out laughing. He was, by Na-Il standards, a grown man. He had a job, and he was supposed to be starting a family at some point, and yet jokes about sex always managed to crack him up. After he finally managed to get a handle on himself, but looked up at Drew. The eye contact alone was enough to make them both start laughing again. "You convinced her to let you go using sex?" Toan asked.

"No, first I convinced her. Then we celebrated." Drew replied, with a shrug.

"With sex?" Toan asked.

"By her making us some food" Drew replied, monotone intact.

Toan actually had to stop for a moment, and attempt to figure out if he was serious or sarcastic. "You serious?" he finally asked, unable to truly tell.

"Yeah" Drew replied, with a nod "Then we finished the food, and had sex."

Toan had nothing to say to that. "So... You're good to go?" he asked, to make sure.

"I'm good for as much time as I need" Drew agreed.

"I leave, I have to spend all my time convincing you guys to go with me. Cloud leaves, he gets to take time off work and watch Hank do his job while he convinces him to go. You decide to leave, and you get sex and a sandwich. Life isn't fair..." Toan sighed, but he wasn't really that bothered.

"I love it" Drew agreed "I got a sandwich out of the deal. Anyway, I've gotta go, Petra wants me to go try out some more sandwiches she's making."

"I wish I had your life" Toan replied, with a laugh "I have to sleep anyway. Seeya, man."

Before they parted ways, Drew turned back to Toan, and asked "How are we going to travel, anyway?"

Toan smirked, looked at him for a moment, and replied "You just leave that to me"

Then he walked inside, flopped onto his mattress, and passed out until about an hour before his shift was due to begin.

This time, when Toan woke up, it wasn't to Drew standing over him, it was Cloud. "I got Hank" he replied, with an excited grin.

Toan rolled over, and finally stood up, not yet understanding the magnitude of the situation. "That's great" he muttered "I have to get a lock or something..."

"Didn't you hear me?" Cloud asked, shaking Toan awake "I GOT HANK!"

That woke Toan up. "You serious?" he asked, suddenly excited.

"Oh hell yeah!" Cloud replied "He caved way faster then I thought he would!"

Toan was thrown for a loop. He'd thought Hank would be the last one to be convinced. This was a great occasion. "How did you convince him?" he asked, finally.

"I haven't even talked to him yet" Cloud replied, laughing "I talked to Eve about it. She thought it was an amazing idea. She said he needed the vacation, and that they could put off the wedding until he came back."

"She's definitely a keeper" laughed Toan "but Hank, himself, hasn't agreed yet?"

"....Not exactly" Cloud admitted "I'm not worried though. He's as good as convinced. Just leave it to me. Did you get Drew to go, yet?"

"He just agreed a couple hours ago" Toan confirmed, with a grin.

"Okay sick. Did you get your tank loaded in, yet?" Cloud asked, going through his mental checklist.

"Yup, what about you?" Toan asked.

"I went and got it the day we green-lighted the idea" Cloud replied, with a shrug "but we have to go pick up one more each. Ron's too busy to pick up more than one, and I assume Hank and Drew aren't going to know where to get them."

Toan nodded, and sighed. "I'll grab one at the end of my shift. When are we going, anyway?"

Cloud thought for a moment, and replied "Jamboree night, I guess. Hank and you can take turns driving until the rest of us sober up."

"Why do you assume I'm not drinking?" Toan replied, annoyed.

"You don't even like drinking that much" Cloud explained "I figured it wouldn't be a huge deal. Anyway, I've gotta go eat or I'm gonna pass out. See you on Jambo night."

Toan nodded, watching him leave. As he finally got around to putting on his (sleeveless, of course) Night watch uniform, he heard some knocking on the door. The laughter on the other end of the door, clearly coming from Cloud made the color drain from his face. His worst fears were confirmed when he opened the door. There stood Ember Ingalls, looking extremely uncomfortable about something. "We... need to talk" she explained "Can I come in for a bit?"

Toan attempted to close the door, offering some hurried excuse about needing to get to work, but she didn't move. "This is important" she explained, quietly "and I only need a couple minutes to talk."

Finally, Toan relented. He opened the door, and moved to let her in.

CHAPTER SIX :

The Na-Il Jamboree was only in it's second year, but it was already the Commune's marquee event among the youth of the area. It was an excuse to get away from the stress and daily grind of work. Anyone who could packed into the Craters for what was expected to be quite a night. As Toan locked up his door, quite possibly for good if it turned out that way, he couldn't help but remember all the good times he had spent in that shack. Just helping his Grandfather fixing things. Drinking with Cloud and Damien even when they weren't allowed to be. Among other things which he knew would be just as hard to put behind him. He checked his phone, and then stepped out from under his porch. The Jamboree had been poorly timed, to coincide with a very mild rain storm. He knew it would still be happening, though. It took more than rain to put the Jamboree off.

With one final, baleful look at the house, he took off. He felt odd, walking alone, but it had been expected. He was the last one to leave the house, since his shift had ended later than usual. He couldn't screw the people at work now, considering what he was about to do. He didn't pack anything, but he didn't need to. He had already thrown what he would need for the beginning of the trip into the RV before his shift the previous night. After spending some time just wandering, he finally arrived. They had found some functional Christmas lights this year, due to the clouds and rain, and the place was lit up like Toan had never seen it. Everywhere he looked, it seemed as though he could see someone he'd grown up with. There were Cloud, and Reggie playing drinking games. There were Aiden and Marie, fooling around in a mostly abandoned corner. Ron was prepping his buggy for what even he must've known might be a final run. Toan figured he would see if there were any fights he could get himself into, but that matter was solved quickly when Homer dashed towards him at an abnormal pace for such a large man. "Toan! Can I talk to you for a minute, buddy?" he asked, looking genuinely bothered about something.

"Yeah, definitely" agreed Toan, following him into a more isolated corner of the craters.

"You know Ricky Mcdermott?" he asked, anxiously.

"The guy that's always trying to get people to listen to his shitty band?" Toan asked "He's a moron. Is he trying to play or what?"

"He wants to box me. Normally, that wouldn't have anything to do with you, but I know I don't have to explain to you how he fights" Homer explained, trialing off.

That was the truth. Homer didn't need to explain at all. A lot of the reason Toan had grown into who he was had been due to constant fights with Ricky and the various friends he'd had growing up. He'd had his ass kicked at first, but as he got older and bigger, the fights grew more even. To tip the scales, Ricky had been known to pull out every dirty trick in the book. Things like grabbing clothes were frowned upon in the pit, but hardly considered dirty pool. The things Ricky thought up, however, bordered on sadistic. He'd attempted to conceal a knife in his shoe prior to a fight at one point, and had casually tossed a branch he had cut off a tree, and sharpened near his pit, just so he'd have an upper hand on three seperate occasions. Sometimes, he would grab a rock and pummel his opponent with it, but Toan knew Homer was tough enough that none of that stuff would've bothered him. "Who did he bring?" Toan asked.

"He says he wants this buddy of his to be his insurance policy. The guy he brought is skinny, but I used to live near him before he moved. He's completely crazy, and he looks like he wants me dead. I figure I can beat Ricky, but if his friend jumps in, I want you to be there to even out the odds. Frankie says he'll be in the crowd too. I'd just appreciate the support."

"When's the fight going on?" Toan asked.

"Pretty much right now" Homer admitted, uneasily.

"So my hands are pretty much tied, huh? Alright, I'm down." agreed Toan, with a laugh.

"I knew you'd come through for me, bro," laughed Homer before turning back to him, looking serious for a moment "I appreciate this, bud. If only there were more people like you out there."

Toan couldn't look him in the yes, after he'd said that. He just nodded, and followed him to the crater. The fight was actually over fairly quickly. Initially, they grappled around a bit but Homer was just too strong for Ricky, and after several solid punches to his solar plexus, Ricky was basically at Homer's mercy. That's when things got interesting. Toan had been watching Ricky's friend for the entire time, waiting for a sign of movement. When Homer was sitting on Ricky, dropping bombs on his face, Ricky's friend finally moved to go after Homer. Toan reacted quickly, like a snake uncoiling. He was into the pit, and he caught the smaller man before the fight could be interrupted. Toan got ahold of his new opponent's arm, which had been stretched toward Homer, and pinned it behind the guy's back. He forced this person out of the ring, and then sat down on his back, to make sure he wouldn't interfere. It had hardly been the dramatic part he'd expected to play, but he supposed he was happy with the outcome. Ricky's large, bald head was unportected now that his almost trademark bandanna had been knocked off in the scuffle, and his goatee had drops of crimson blood dripping down from his nose.

Finally, when a couple epople pulled Homer off of Ricky, the crowd chanted for some kind of salvo. There weren't a lot of Mcdermott fans out, and many of them wanted to see him get his head kicked in. Ever the good sport, Homer extended a hand to help up his badly beaten opponent. Ricky's eyes flashed, and he swung his arm around, striking Homer in the mouth with the first rock he could find. Before he knew what was happening, Toan had jumped into the ring, and he was in the middle of a melee that was mostly centered on pummeling Ricky. Homer had been the clear winner, and Ricky had violated an unwritten code of honor long-since established. There was nothing fair about lynching him, but there was nothing fair about punching someone in the face while holding a rock, either. After the dust cleared, everyone was a tad worse for wear, but Ricky and his goon had escaped into the night.

"Way to have my back there, Toan" Homer laughed, clapping Toan on the back with his free hand. His other hand was occupied with holding a tissue to his nose, which had been broken by the rock.

"Just looking out for a friend" Toan replied, with a shrug "I kinda messed up stopping the big trick he pulled, but I did my best"

"You're one of the good ones" Homer replied, with a chuckle before going off to drink.

Even if he joked about his Michelin Man physique sometimes, and insulted his intelligence, Toan had to admit he admired Homer's guts. It took a special kind of person to take a large rock in the face and go drinking moments after. The community was full of some quality people, and Toan knew leaving them wouldn't be the perfect scenario, but it was hardly a matter of forever. Speaking of that, he thought, he had better find one person who deserved a definite goodbye.

He tapped Ron on the shoulder. "Have you seen Ember anywhere?" he asked "She lent me something yesterday on night shift, and I thought I should probably get it back to her before we left"

Ron accepted the poorly constructed excuse, and informed him that he had seen her moping around near the back of the enclosure like her cat was dying. Toan nodded, thanked him, and headed off to go find her. He looked up, at the buckets of rain beginning to fall and marched on. Finally, he found her sitting by herself. "You doing okay?" he asked, sitting next to her.

"It's a rainstorm. You know I hate those. How great could I be doing?" she asked, managing to crack a slight smile.

"Is that all that's bugging you?" he asked, cocking his head to the side.

"You're stupid" she replied, her smile vanishing "What do you think I'm upset about?"

"Well sorry I had to take Ron with us, but he's as big a part of this as I've been" Toan replied, defensively.

"Ron's a grown-up. If he thinks he should go, I'm happy he's found a way to enjoy himself" she replied, still frowning "I'm talking about you"

"What do I have to do with anything?" Toan asked, confused.

"I'm pregnant" she said, looking dead serious.

He stiffened up at the mention of the word, and his jaw dropped. "W-what?" he asked "How? It's only been.."

"I'm joking" she replied "but how could we have done something like that without there being something between us, right? Of course I'm going to miss you"

"I thought you said it wasn't about that" Toan replied, with a small smirk.

"It wasn't. It isn't," she explained, taking his hand in hers "It's about the conversations we used to have at midnight about nothing that always guaranteed I'd fall asleep with a smile on my face that night. It's about how you could always make me laugh when I wanted to cry, and when I absolutely needed to, you were my shoulder. I'm going to miss all the... fun stuff we did, but what I'm going to miss the most is always having you there for me when I needed you. Not just as I guy I was only kind of seeing, but as a real friend. A lot of guys would've just ditched me after hearing some of the stuff I've told you. Maybe you never felt that way, but I always felt like we connected somehow. It's all that stuff that I'm going to miss. Not the other stuff, although that was fun too."

He squeezed her hand back, and although he felt like explaining all the stuff he was thinking at that moment, he didn't. He was wired wired that way. "I did," he admitted "I do"

"I have something to say before you go. Promise not to laugh?" she asked, looking slightly nervous.

"Why would I laugh?" he asked "Is it corny?"

"Kinda" she admitted "but I read it the other day, and I really liked the idea of it"

"I'm listening" he replied, letting go of her hand, and wrapped an arm around her shoulders.

"I don't really remember how it went..." she replied "but the point was that I'll never forget you. I've always loved you, almost as long as I've known you, and I bet I always will. No matter what."

He honestly didn't have anything to say in response, at first. He squirmed a little, clearly uncomfortable. Finally, he just hugged her, and she hugged him back. For a few seconds, it would've taken a supernatural force to seperate them. She pulled back just enough to kiss him, and that time, he kissed back. Just for a moment, he regretted his decision to leave. "I'll be right here waiting when you get back" she promised, finally.

"Don't be" he replied "You deserve better then how I've treated you lately. I'm sure you'll have found someone who deserves the loyalty by the time I'm home"

"Well..." she replied, thinking things over "Even if I do, can you promise to stay friends?"

"I can do that" he replied, readily "and I promise I'll be a better guy, when I get back"

"I know" she replied. It was hard to tell if it was just rain, or if she was crying at this point.

Finally, he gave her one last hug, and walked off, into the fog.

Only after he'd left did she let herself even consider crying. When she returned to the party, she was smiling radiantly, as if nothing had even happened. She ddn't think he'd look back, but he did, and before he climbed into the RV, and got behind the wheel, a simple thought crossed his mind.

I never got to say goodbye to anyone before. I've realized it's actually better to never get a goodbye then hurt someone the way I risked hurting her.

*********************

They rode out the storm after about fifteen minutes. It was still dark as they motored through the dusty remains of what had once probably been roads. Toan noticed that the true top speed the vehicle could reach was nothing close to what was being advertised. No matter how disappointingly slow it was, it was clearly more efficient then traveling by foot, or buggy when there was a group of people. Finally, around sunrise, Hank woke up and took over the wheel while Toan finally got some shut-eye. After a few more rotations, Toan was brutally woken up by the RV coming to a slamming stop. When he finally got his bearings, he followed his friends out the door, and followed their gaze. What they had found looked almost like a city, although it was more like a hollow shell of a city. Lights were on in various buildings in the general area they could see, but the feeling was like a ghost town. It felt dry and uninhabited, but not sterile. Toan even had to admit he felt kind of dirty setting foot in it, since it felt so much like defiling a grave. There were clouds overhead, but they weren't rain clouds. It didn't rain that often to begin with, but two days in a row would be some kind of record for the last decade. They were almost certainly ominous.

"You guys want to explore, or what?" Cloud asked, breaking the silence.

"Doesn't matter to me" replied Toan "They might have somewhere functional to get food. Who knows?"

Drew stayed silent, because Drew was the silent type.

"It looks cool, let's go!" Ron interjected, cheerfully.

Hank also stayed silent, and somewhat pale, but he finally nodded. It was settled; They would take a look around.

CHAPTER SEVEN:
The city looked like it was inhabited by ghosts. Toan knew such things weren't real, and that worrying about them would just be a foolish waste of his time, but it was places like this that were bound to bring out a tinge of nervousness. The entire place looked gutted. There wasn't a new-looking building in sight. Every building, street and feature of the city just looked dead. Granted, they frequently ran into vagrants roaming around as the drove through with the van, but nothing truly threatening. The biggest threat to their collective health would've been the darkness creating low visibility. They drove around for a solid half-hour before they finally heard the unmistakable noise of a motorized vehicle pull up beside them. Hank, who was driving, stopped immediately. When Cloud raised his eyebrow as if to ask "what the fuck?", Hank shrugged. It had been an impulse move on his part. The man who got out of the van (At least Toan thought it was a van) was short. Shorter than any of the guys in the RV. 5'7, generously spotted. He had wide shoulders, wider then Toan's, or Drew's and his blue eyes were hidden behind reflective sunglasses. "What are you boys doing driving around at this hour?" he asked, without a hint of malice. Whoever he was, he was clearly trying to make it clear he was just doing his job.

"We've just been driving for a while. We were planning on getting some rest soon" Hank explained.

"That van has beds in it?" the man asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah, it does. Only two, though. We've kind of started taking shifts, driving." Hank explained, cheerfully.

"Oh, okay. May I ask why you chose to come through this city?" the man asked, jotting down some things on a notepad.

"We're on a short vacation. We just happened to be passing through here" Toan explained, from the back.

"A vacation? Don't see much of that anymore," the Officer replied with a light frown "In any case, I'd recommend turning around and leaving right now"

"Why's that?" Cloud piped up, seeming offended by this man telling him where he could and could not ride around.

"Government orders. We've kind of got some stuff going on at the moment that I can't talk about, and this place is kind of dangerous for civilians"

Before Cloud could shoot back his own hastily thought up reply, a garbage can lid came spinning out of nowhere, and struck against the Government van. Next, a blur in some kind of metal contraption that was used to transport things smashed into the side of the van. Seconds later, another person, errily similar to the first, attempted to use his shoulder to smash through the front window of the van, failing to make much more then a crack before falling off the hood of the van, onto his side, groaning in pain. Seconds later, rocks began pelting at the group from all sides. Without really thinking about it, the Officer did the first thing to pop into his head: Ducked, circled around the RV, and jumped in. He flopped down onto the bottom bunk closest to him, squeezing his arm where a rock had bruised it. "That" he explained "Would be why you guys should leave: The Outsiders."

"Who are 'The Outsiders'?" Toan asked, confused.

"Okay, those two morons who crashed into my van are two of the lowest-profile members. They're called the Jacobs brothers, and the only reason they're in the gang is because they're stupid and easy to manipulate into doing kamikaze-type things nobody else wants to do. I'm almost positive that Waylon Boston, another member who's only slightly higher-ranked, organized that little rainstorm that just passed over by convincing the homeless people it would be funny. Don't get me wrong; These guys are annoying, but they're about as low on the totem pole as can be, as far as that group goes. The stuff this group thinks up can get pretty creative, in a sinister way, but unfortunately, I don't think just driving through it an option for you guys anymore. They'll probably know you guys helped us out soon, and an RV isn't exactly hard to miss in these parts. Maybe you guys should just stop in at one of our safe-houses for a little bit. Just until this whole event blows over." The Oficer explained.

"That sounds pretty sane, but what's your name, anyway?" Toan asked "It seems like a shame to get helped out this way and not even know the name of the guy who's sticking out his neck like this."

"My name is Jason Bagyl. I'm just a patrolling government officer, trying to do my job and keep my squad safe." Officer Bagyl explained "Now just follow my van and I'll lead you to the safe-house."

*********************************

The drive to the safe-house was, by the standards of their journey thusfar, uneventful. They passed a few suspicious-looking homeless people, and got a couple things pelted at their mini-caravan, but nothing major happened. Finally, Officer Bagyl lead them into an alleyway, and then turned again into a garage. There, he got out of his car and his gesturing implied that they should all do the same. One by one, they all piled out, and he locked up the makeshift garage. "That's so they don't fuck with your RV" he explained, dismissively, before bending down and pulling away a manhole cover.

"Why are we going underground?" Cloud asked, annoyed.

"Don't they have cesspools down there?" Hank asked, repulsed.

"Yup" Drew commented, not seeming overly bothered.

"It doesn't even smell like shit" Ron pointed out "How bad could it be?"

"It used to--" Bagyl started, but he kept being cut off.

" There's probably no shit down there, if it's a safe-house" Toan pointed out.

"It hasn't--" Bagyl began, trying to talk over the arguing.

"It's probably fine!" Cloud said, "Why would he make us stay in a toilet?"

"That's not what a cesspool is, you moron" Toan replied, annoyed.

"What the fuck is a cesspool then, smart-ass?" Cloud snapped back, really getting into the fighting spirit.

"THERE'S NO SEWAGE DOWN THERE!" Ron exclaimed, annoyed.

"He's right" Bagyl cut in, taking advantage of a moment of silence "It USED TO BE a sewage system, but we hollowed it out since nobody lives here, and now it's a series of catacombs. Don't go exploring down there. The area that's been gated off is the only secure area down there. The rest is inhabited by bums and Outsiders."

"Then how safe could we really be?" Hank asked, nervously.

"I'm sure you'll just be down here for a couple days" Bagyl replied, with a careless shrug "You can even continue to sleep in the RV if you want. It's just a matter of laying low for a bit until everything blows over"

Finally, one by one, they all descended into the shaft. Toan had a morbid feeling in his stomach, as he saw the cover slide over the hole again, trapping him inside. The lighting was decent, all things considered but it was by no means comfortable-looking. There were a couple chairs, a table, and true to Bagyl's words, fences over any underground exits snaking outwards. To Toan's immense shock, the chairs were occupied. Their new room-mates were both female, and extremely short and slim. One's hair was bright red, and the other's hair was an unnatural shade of purple. "Did they get you too?" the redhead asked, looking amused.

"What do you mean?" Cloud asked, confused.

"Well, this is a holding cell. I assume you guys got detained." the redhead explained, cheerfully.

"We were told this was a safe-house" Hank replied, confused.

"You're so naive. It's adorable," the redhead replied "That's Bagyl's favorite line."

"Bagyl" the purple-hair chimed in "is a fucking asshole"

"He seemed like a good guy when we met him" Toan shrugged "Just doing his job"

"He was just doing his job when he detained us, too" Red pointed out "but I still think he's a prick. Anyway, what are your names? If we're all prison-mates, we may as well know everyone's name."

"Toan" Toan replied "That's my name. The tall one is Hank, the skinny one is Cloud, the blonde one is Drew and the dumb-looking one is Ron"

"I'm Lise" the redhead replied "and my friend is Mandy. We're both 'Outsiders'. I bet Bagyl told you all about our group, huh?"

"Is there anything he usually leaves out?" Toan asked, seeming curious.

"The fact that his unit causes this city just as much harm as us, if not more, maybe?" Lise replied "The fact that everything was fine until his band of pricks came rolling in and ruined everyone's lives?"

"Yeah well, our first impression of you guys wasn't great either" Drew pointed out.

"Some morons started pelting rocks at us for no reason"

"I bet that was the Jacobs brothers and Waylon, right?" Amanda replied, seeming uninterested.

"You'd guess correctly" Drew replied, only half paying attention.

"The Jacobs brothers, as much as I love them both, are idiots. Nearly legally retarded." Amanda informed Drew, with a laugh "I bet they went face-first into a wall or something"

"As for Waylon, he's... just a jerk" Lise expanded, but didn't seem very willing to expand much more "All ego, no brains"

Toan eased himself onto the ground, and let his back against a wall. "How long are we stuck here for?" he asked.

"You guys? Probably a couple days while they check out your records. Us? As long as they can keep us here." Amanda replied, cynically.

"How long can they keep you here for?" Hank asked, sounding concerned.

"How long do you WANT to be here for?" Drew asked, absent-mindedly.

"Like we have a choice?" Amanda asked, sounding irritated.

"Say you were given the choice to escape" Drew replied, patiently.

"We'd be out in a heartbeat!" Lise exclaimed "Why do you ask?"

Drew moved away from where he'd been standing, revealing that he had managed to remove about half a piece of fencing covering one of the escape routes.

"Should we all go?" Amanda asked "I don't think some of you boys are going to fit"

"I'm not going" Hank replied "I'm worried about the RV"

"Me neither" Ron agreed "I'm not ditching our vehicle"

"I'll go," Cloud interjected "We could bring back help and spring the RV"

"Me too" Drew agreed "I wanna meet these 'Outsiders' people"

Toan had a tough choice to make. He could either go with the escape party, or he could just sit and wait things out. He weighed his options. Lise, in particular, was eyeballing him curiously. "Are you coming?" she asked, growing impatient.

On the one hand, he was also curious about the Outsiders. On the other, Bagyl hadn't seemed like a liar to him. If Bagyl said he was coming back, he was probably coming back. After taking a moment to weigh his options, it just made too much sense to stay. "I'll stick with Hank and Ron. It makes more sense to split up anyway, right?"

Lise and Mandy nodded, reluctantly before sliding through the grate and into the tunnel. Drew followed, and Cloud paused for a moment, looking back unsurely. His eyes met Toan's, and Toan shrugged. Do what you think is smart. Finally, conclusively, Cloud disappeared into the tunnel.

As he watched his friends disappear into the tunnel, Toan couldn't name exactly what he was feeling, but he had to admit he didn't like it.

As two or three uneventful days passed, Toan grew impatient. Drew and Cloud had yet to resurface, and Bagyl hadn't shown his face either. The three of them seemed as though they were on the edge of cabin fever, but Toan just had a feeling in his gut that something was going to happen soon. Finally, something did. The cover opened up, and grey light shone in. Even though there wasn't much sun above the smog of the city, it still hurt Toan's eyes. A guy around Toan's age was descending the ladder, but he wore the same jacket that Bagyl had worn. It was clear that he was part of the same branch. "Officer Tyler Sellers here" he greeted them, cheerfully "Captain Bagyl sent me to go check up on you guys and tell you that he wanted to meet with you today."

"And if we didn't want to see him?" Hank asked, seeming clearly annoyed.

Sellers laughed, shrugged, and climbed back up the ladders. Finally, Captain Bagyl descended. "So I'm guessing you guys figured this wasn't a Safe-house?" he asked, cheerfully.

"No shit" Toan muttered, with feeling.

"Weren't there more of you?" Bagyl asked, confused.

"A few people decided to leave" Toan explained, dismissively.

"You didn't?" Bagyl asked, shocked.

"You didn't strike me as someone who's fond of lying" Toan pointed out.

Bagyl nodded, slowly and turned to climb back up the tunnel. "Well, you guys are free to go" he called over "but as for your friends, they'll be hunted and arrested once we find them. I'd advise leaving tonight."

Toan walked over, and grabbed Captain Bagyl's large shoulder. "We don't leave without our friends" he insisted "Give us some time to find them"

Bagyl seemed to contemplate this, before nodding. "Fine. One day. Twenty-four hours. That's what you get. Find them and leave in that time, but if you can't find them, we'll be forcing you out. Fair?" Bagyl compromised.

"Fair" Toan agreed "Now where would we find them?"

In any case, if anyone has time to kind of skim through it, I'd appreciate some feedback. This is all I've written thusfar, but more is definitely in the works!