Social Experiment

Outcasts (Liz)

"Did you get the tools?"

"Yes."

Terrance smiles. "Well done, Liz. Construction begins at dawn."

"Hailey's a forgiving person,"

"Indeed she is."

I clear my throat, "but she is not open to giving you another chance if you blow this one," I pass him the knife, "we can use this to carve things. Fox Village has one as well."

"That's what Abbi's called her place?" He asks, veering off topic.

"Yes."

"Certainly has a better ring to it than Outcast Village."

"It's what were are, though! Besides, the name will remind the others that we're forced to live apart. We didn't choose isolation!"

"You chose it." Terrance reminds me.

"And so did Vincent, because we think people deserve a second chance to be trusted."

"Yes, and I'm grateful."

I gaze into his sparkling hazel eyes. "Back to the knife," I begin awkwardly, "Hailey gave it to us with one rule: don't use it or what we make with it to harm anyone."

He shrugs. "Simple enough rule to follow. All we need weapons for is hunting."

"You better make sure that's true!" I jump at the sound of the girl's voice.

It's Dameeka, a close friend of Abbi's. Accompanying her is Umar, a close friend of mine. Ex-friend.

He nods stiffly to me. "Liz."

My mouth twists into a bitter frown. "Umar."

"What are you doing here?" Terrance inquires, "this is Outcast territory."

"Proud of that, are you?" Dameeka asks, her face turning red.

"What else do I have to be proud of? My people are starving, unsheltered. It's my fault. Being outcasts is really all we have."

"What about your girlfriend?" Dameeka sneers, "she isn't something to hang on to?"

"If you're referring to Grace, no."

I explain before she can get another rude question out of her mouth. "Terrance exiled Grace. Unless she's in your village or Riverstone-"

"Trust me, she isn't."

"-then she's on her own." I finish.

"We're here regarding the construction tools Oswalt loaned to you."

Hearing Umar use his full name catches me off guard. Terrence answers calmly.

"Ozzie loaned us those tools because he's a good person. We asked and Hailey gave him the okay to loan them to us."

"Hailey gave you axes, hammers, and knives?" Dameeka looks absolutely disgusted.

"Welcome to Outcast Village." I mutter.

"Yes, she did. Is that so hard to believe? We only want to build a shelter and carve a few weapons for hunting. Same as your village."

"Fox Village." Umar corrects.

"None of my people have even come close to Fox territory. Liz has been the closest, and she was instructed to stay far away from Fox Village on the way to get the construction tools."

"We will be questioning Hailey about this," Dameeka informs us forcefully, "and we better not see any Outcasts near our terf again."

She turns and strides away, without even a glance back. Umar hesitates, staring at me for a long time, then follows. I watch him go, feeling a hand on my shoulder.