The Wastelands

Wastelands

"Stop!" Captain Terrance's voice roared out. "We're resting here for the night."He went to Spike and set him loose from the sled, patting and giving him a 'Good boy' for good measure, before grabbing something from the sled.

Everyone collapsed in relief. Even Lilia, who could carry five times as much, it was still exhilarating to have that rucksack off her back. They were walking for hours. Lilia quite honestly couldn't feel her feet anymore.

"That doesn't mean that you can slack off," The Captain continued, "We still need to set up camp." Lilia wasn't the only own that g.r.o.a.n.e.d. "The rules still imply here, but most importantly, don't lose sight of the path. Now, who to put in charge?" His eyes were searching, quickly dismissing Lilia, then the twins. Okay, she kind of understood herself and Heather, but Terran? Lilia looked over at the young man, who was trying to sneak peek at that Tessa girl, before looking at his feet. Okay, maybe she could; Terran wasn't the most forward person out there. "Mr. Sinclair, Miss Marrow? Please raise your hands." They both looked at each other, before, reluctantly, raising their hands. "If you need any advice, please go to these students instead, unless it's an emergency. If that's okay with you, Miss. Duncan?" He addressed the teacher.

"Sonya, please," Sonya said, "I'm afraid that I'm out of my element, so I have no issues for leaving them in charge."

"Good." Then he began to walk away, heading toward the river.

"Um, what are you doing?" The teacher asked.

"Fishing."

"Fishing?" The teacher asked incredulously.

Everyone watched as he slowly disappeared in disbelief.

"I could make a lemon-chive sauce that would work wonders with fish," Terran numbered. "Do we have lemons? No. Then sage and rosemary would have to do."

'Yep, that's Terran. Though fish sounds really nice.' Lilia almost salivating at the chance for just having a taste, but more than that, she wanted to get away and sleep for a couple of hours.

Her eyes searched for a good spot to sneak out. She wasn't too worried about the Wastelands; it was singing, contently.

*That's exactly the point.* Lilia closed her eyes in pain. The hike, even though exhausting, was a good distraction. Now her mind felt like her head was bouncing against one wall after another. There were a couple of people there that had natural shields, though it wasn't that unusual Rachel had it, so does Stella, but Stella more so.

What bothered her the most was the odd itching sensation behind her eyes. It was like her vision had split into two. Everything looked strange.

*Lilia?* Sil's voice sounded worried.

*I just need to center myself; that's all,* Lilia answered with a forced smile.

*Just wait and see. You may have a chance soon.* Sil advised.

"Fine," she whispered.

Lilia turned to the others, and that girl marrow was talking. "Okay, I lost at rock, paper, and scissors, so I am in charge. Yah!" She half-heartedly pumped her fist. "So call me Katy, and he is Daniel, first off, any questions?"

Tessa raised her hand. "This doesn't seem like an official campsite."

"Because it's not," Tessa stated; she had her hands on her h.i.p.s, shaking her head with a sigh. "And I am missing the caravan for this."

Tessa wasn't the only one who looked around nervously. "So where…"

Katy and Daniel pointed up.

There was a long pause. "You got to be kidding me." Conner g.r.o.a.n.e.d out. "Did you hear that, Tyson." He addressed the other boy, leaning on Tyson's shoulders. "They want us to camp in a tree."

"Don't touch me." Shaking Conner off, Tyson moved toward Tessa. "It kind of makes sense."

"Isn't that kind of dangerous?" Sonya asked.

Daniel spoke up. "The Wastelands as a whole is dangerous, especially at night. At least up in the trees, we are relatively safe."

"But what if we fall."

"Fall?" Katy asked in confusion. "Something from that height won't kill you."

Lilia coughed. "They didn't have Vine. Neither do the twins, remember." Lilia was playing along as a Vine survivor, but for various reasons. She was the only Lumeye in her group who was doing so. She looked down at the band, covering most of her forearm. For her, no one questioned her about it, and that was fine by her.

"Oh," Katy farrowed her brow in confusion, then she turned to the twins. "I don't think you two have any problems with it, right?"

"No," Both said in unison. "We're kind of used to it." Terran finished.

'Of course, they are. Heather can fly, and Terran is very durable.' Though that didn't mean non-Vine survivors were treated any differently. No, like any living thing, they learned how to adapt. The Outsiders, on the other hand, hadn't been as conditioned.

"Don't worry. We should have some equipment to keep everything safe." Katy glanced at the sled and stepped forward, but back up quickly when Spike's head jerked up from his nape and growled. "Um, Lilia, I heard that you're good with animals, so can you please…"

Lilia sighed and walked toward Spike in a slow, calming manner. "Ha big guy, do you mind? We need something from the sled."

*Protect.* Spike responded with his quells standing up straight before settling down. There were images of animal sounds and smells. Metal coated with oil. Dangerous. *To close.*

"We won't touch the guns, I swear," Lilia said.

Spike considered for a moment before trying and failing to scratch a spot near his shoulder, but was impeded by the harness. *Scratch.*

Lilia laughed a bit. "Okay, okay, it's a deal." The harness wasn't hard to remove, and his fur was surprisingly soft at the edges of his quells. Spike rolled his eyes in content. "It's fine now," Lilia told the others.

There was silence, and Lilia could feel Tessa's jealous gaze striking her back repeatedly. 'Ha, I can't help that animals like me.'

"Okay, that happened." Katy just brushed it aside. "Let's just get a move on then.

Everyone g.r.o.a.n.e.d. Lilia wasn't looking forward to it. Putting the planks on correctly was has finicky as heck, especially so high up.

Daniel sighed. "Maybe we can get some crossbow practice in later.

They cheered some half-heartedly. Though, Conner was the loudest.

"Um, I think it's going to rain tonight," Heather piped up.

"Then lightning protectors too," Katy said, thoughtfully, looking at the rolling clouds in the sky. "Who's going up the trees?" she asked.

"Me, me!" Heather volunteered eagerly, jumping up and down.

"I'll do it too." Daniel grabbed some ropes, tossing some to Heather. She gleed in delight, racing to a nearby tree.

"Okay, just make sure to not just check the branches for support, but we need headspace as well," Katy called out. "And check for bee nest."

As soon as Heather's hand touched the trunk of the tree, Lilia stopped her by saying, *Heather, it's not a race,* Lilia reminded the girl.

Heather stopped and gave Lilia a backward glare. *I know, I'm not a kid.*

Lilia smiled in amus.e.m.e.nt. *That's exactly what a kid would say.*

*You're one to talk,* Heather returned.

*True,* Lilia conceded. *Just be careful, we're not alone.*

*Yeah, yeah,* Heather responded, there was a moment of hesitation. *Are you okay?*

Heather was surprisingly preceptive. *I'm fine.*

"Ha, Heather, get up the tree, already," Terran yelled out, glancing at Lilia with meaning.

*Thank you,* Lilia send to him.

Terran nodded his head in response.

"Don't rush me! Geeze!" Then Heather scrambled up the try like a monkey, and that was to signal for everyone to get to work.

Terran was getting his pots and pans out, while the rest of them helped set up the tree base. Tessa, surprisingly, took to tree climbing like a champ; she said it was similar to the parkour she used to do in Towa. To be honest, parkour sounded like a lot of fun, the rush to going from one building to the next, while everyday life was still active below.

'Though it sounds kind of like how I live my life now,' Lilia contemplated, thoughtfully.

Captain Terrance finally showed up with a bucket full of fish. The Captain and Terran got to work cleaning and putting them on the fire, and everyone got the chance to wash up just in time for dinner.

On a full stomach, Spike included, and after cleaning up, crossbow practise was underway. Lilia slipped away on the pretense of scouting the area; Terran, who wasn't interested in the crossbow, decided to come with her.

No one noticed that one of the guns went missing.