The Lost ( A Sequel To The Forgotten )

Travlin' With Shoot-y Pete

After everyone is all rested up, we continue down on the road. And by road, of course, I mean endless grassy plain. We walk for what seems like hours, saying nothing until Cass breaks the silence.
"I think Person needs a name." she declares. I glance at her oddly.
"He does have a name. It's Person." I point out. Cass sighs.
"Yeah, but Person isn't a good name. He needs a real name. Like... Sparky! 'Cause he shoots sparks!" I almost fall to the ground, trying to hold back a laugh.
"Sparky? That's your idea of a real name?" Cass' cheeks turn red in embarrassment.
"Person is yours?" she fires back.
"Just call him Biff and be done with it." says Ray grumpily.
"Biff?" cries Cass. "Biff? What kind of name is Biff?" ( No offence to any Biffs out there. )
"What kind of name is Sparky?" argues Ray.
"Guys, guys, guys." chides Tarna. "Why not let Person decide?" Person thinks for a moment.
"Um... I dunno. I've never really thought about my name." he says thoughtfully. "Maybe... Allen?" Everyone stops and stares a him.
"No!" we all shout immediately. He shrugs.
"Okay, what about... hmm... I'm not sure. I think Person is an okay name, actually." I grin at Cass, whose face gets even redder. In reply, she sticks her tongue out at me. I laugh again, and the mood is a bit more cheerful. Shawn, who's been slipping in and out of consciousness, sides with Cass, not giving up on Person's name.
"Harold!" he declares.
"No." says Tarna.
"Fred!"
"That'd get confusing." I say, dismissing the name. This doesn't seem to dampen Shawn's spirits.
"Pete! Shoot-y! Shoot-y Pete!" Tarna laughs, for once.
"Perfect. Welcome to the team, Shoot-y Pete!" The red jumps off of Cass' cheeks and onto Person/Shoot-y Pete's. Shawn, however, disagrees with his own idea.
"Patrick! Ronald! Tree!"
"Tree?" snaps Ray. "What kind of name is that?"
"It's not a name." explains Shawn. "I was talking about those trees."
"What?" exclaims Tarna. Squinting, I realize Shawn is correct. In the distance, there are indeed trees!
"Trees mean water. And shelter. And maybe food!" continues Tarna excitedly.
"Good eye, Shawn." says Ray, letting a smile break through.

"Yeah! I won it." celebrates Shawn, looking relieved, before collapsing into the ground.
"Man, those darts from the quadrupole-axe work for so long!" exclaims Rolly. "Or maybe he was just tired." We all laugh, and I once again scoop Shawn onto my back. We chatter cheerfully as the trees in the distance sway.
A couple hours later, although still cheerful, our group is thoroughly exhausted. The sun is going down, too, taking the day's heat with it.
"We should set up camp for the night." suggests Person.
"Good idea, Shoot-y Pete." says Ray with a smile. Person blushes and scowls.
"Call me Person." he grumbles. No matter what his name is, though, the boy makes a good suggestion, and we settle down for the night. Gazing up, the stars are beautiful as ever, and the light seems to be a reward for having a good day. I smile, and without looking, I know all the others are smiling too. Except of course, for Ray, who prefers to glare at all things bright and happy.

"Good night, Wrive." murmurs Cass sleepily. "Good night, Tarna. Night, Shawn. Good night, Rolly. You too, Ray. And of course, good night, Shoot-y Pete." I can practically see Person's burning face from here. Ah, good times.
We're up with the sun, even Shawn, and continue our long journey to the far off trees. Today's journey isn't as cheerful as yesterday's was, and we generally walk in silence. Until someone shrieks. Loudly. Very loudly.
"Ack! Whoever's doing that, stop!" cries Tarna. The shriek evolves into a scream. It doesn't sound like a scream of pain, more like a scream of fear. Plugging my ears, I look around, only to see the others doing the same.
"It's not any of us!" I yell over the screaming. Who could it be?
"Tarna, can't you use some kind of earth radar thing?" yells Ray. "Maybe search the ground for the screamer?"
"I can't focus with this screaming!" yells Tarna. Neither can anyone else, and any kind of attempt to search using our abilities goes haywire. Little patches of fire are whipped with darkness and lightning.
"Aaaaaargh!" screams Tarna in frustration. The earth beneath her goes up, sending a wave of dirt in all directions. We all tumble to the ground, and the ripple of earth ends. And... I hear nothing. Beautiful silence!
"The... the screaming stopped." says Person, voicing my thoughts. We all let out a big sigh of relief.
"Um, guys? You might want to see this." says Cass, kneeling in the grass. We gather in a circle, and to our amazement, there's a giant mushroom, maybe a foot tall. And as if this isn't weird enough, it appears to have eyes and a mouth.
"AAAAAAAHHHHHH!" it screams. The evil screaming starts up again, but this time we're right next to the thing that's causing it. Ray tries to solve our problem by punching the screaming mushroom, ( that's the Ray way ) which sends it flying. And, thankfully, the screaming stops.
"So... screaming mushrooms." says Person slowly. "Is this normal?"
"Nope." replies Tarna, staring in amazement at the dazed mushroom. This time, it stays silent.
"We should study it." Rolly decides. "This is a major scientific discovery!" He approaches the mushroom, and it immidietly began to do a warning scream. Rolly backs away, and the mushroom begins to quiet.
"Hmph." said Rolly. "I don't think a sane person could stand that for too long."
"Then we're the perfect people for the job." said Ray with a smirk. We laugh and leave the screaming oddity behind.
Hours later, after dozens of theories about the screaming mushroom ( our favorite being Shawn's: "I think it was so hungry it got magic! But then it started being all loud 'cause it was still hungry." ), the sun begins to set. The trees are definitely closer than they were yesterday, but we're still going to have to sleep in the fields. We all set down our loads ( except for Shawn, who is the load ) and lay down.
"Good night, Wrive. Shawn, Tarna, Ray, Rolly. Aaaand..."
"Don't you dare." growls Person.
"And Shoot-y Pete." A line of sparks flies from Person to Cass.
"Yow!" yelps Cass. We all chuckle, and one-by-one, fall asleep. Another good day, say the stars. Keep em' coming.
Once again, we use the sun as our alarm clock and get moving once it peeks out from behind the seemingly endless stretch of land behind us. We gather our things and start our hike across the long valley. At the pace we've been going, we might get there today!
As we get closer and closer to the trees, we seem to travel faster and faster. Sometime around noon, we reach them.
"It's amazing." says Person, speaking for all of us. The trees are absolutely massive, brimming with branches and leaves. We stand in absolute awe in front of the completely ordinary trees.
"They're beautiful." says Cass, and we nod. Even the ground beneath the trees has plants, bushes and more. We stand in amazement at the simple wonders of the world, and as much as we would like to stand here forever, I know we can't. I spot berries on a bush, and inform the others.
"Hey guys! Food!" I dash toward the berries and begin plucking them greedily.
"Now, wait." says Rolly. "How do we know they're not poisonous?" This stops my berry-picking.
"Good thinking, Rolly." agrees Tarna. "We can't be losing any of our members to simple berries!" I sigh, mostly because I know they're right.
"We can find a food source, somehow." Tarna continues. "There must be some way to tell if they're poisonous or not." We all look to Rolly.
"Well," he begins slowly. "If I had a few liquid-molecule studying prototypes, that'd be nice. But seeing as I don't..." he bends over to examine the berries, squeezing them to study the juice.
"Don't eat the red ones. They'll kill you." I immediately drop all the red ones I picked.
"The orange ones will give you a stomachache, maybe some vomiting, but you'd survive if you ate one." I leave 2 orange berries in my hand and drop the rest.
"And the green ones are fine." I eagerly pop one into my mouth. It's quite bitter, and there's not really enough of it to satisfy my hunger, but I have quite a few, so my hunger is quenched.
"They're... edible." I say slowly. Everyone gathers and tries the green berries. Ah, at long last we have a food supply!
We rest and eat, content and finally, for the first time since the U.T raid, full. For now, we aren't hungry, and that's a dream come true. Maybe, just maybe, we can survive out here.