Defiance | Book 1 [EXTENDED]

CHAPTER 47

"Where do you think you're going?" a voice said from behind me,

"Are you following me?"

"Maybe," Will said catching up to me, "So what are we doing"

"Well, I am going for a walk, you are going back"

"Oh please, we both know I'm not going to go," he said adjusting his backpack strap,

"What's in there?" I say pointing at the bag,

"Food"

"Food?"

"Food."

"How did you get food out of the locked storage room?"

"Those metal doors couldn't stand a chance against this guy," he said pointing to himself. I gave him a 'tell me the truth' look and he then said, "...and maybe Cal gave them to me" he shrugged, with a laugh.

"Why would Cal give them to you?"

"Turns out I was the only one who liked canned artichokes"

"Will, those artichokes are expired"

"Ugh, seriously? I ate one can already. I didn't know canned things could get expired"

"Those artichokes expired four years ago, according to the label. You might die," I said laughing at his disgusted face as he threw the cans out of the bag and into one of the old public dustbins that bordered the street. Suddenly I noticed something. I moved the cans and looked into the bin and found a old, hole-filled book,

"What is it?" Will asked looking at it,

"Alice in Wonderland"

"I haven't read it," he said flicking through the pages that had small tears and holes,

"My mom read it to me when I was very young"

"Take it" he said giving it back to me,

"Why? It's destroyed"

"Something to remember your mother by"

"Will, is it true? Did a mutant shoot your uncle?"

"Yeah. My uncle and cousin were my only family. My cousin died of a chemical sickness and my uncle..." he looked down, remembering their deaths.

"Let's not talk about this," I say walking forward slowly, "Where do you want to go?"

"How about...we visit my old apartment? I left some of my stuff there"

He pulled out a box from under his bed, putting a blanket and some clothes into it.

"what's this?" I say picking up a small book from the table,

"What's wh...Oh...um....nothing" he says taking it from me,

"Show me," I say grabbing it and running into the next room,

I opened it and flicked through the pages. There were pictures of faces, buildings, objects. All well detailed and finely done. And then and I saw the dragon. The dragon I saw in my dream, the exact copy. I flicked the page and I saw a figure, with a blurry face but it was the body of a woman.

"Did you draw this?" I say turning around to face him,

"Well the first one is old, the dragon. My dad had a tattooed one on his side, and when he died, I got one too. And the other one... Is hard to explain. You'd think I'm crazy"

"It was a dream" I whispered, shocked,

"yeah, how did you know?"

"Show me the tattoo"

"You want me to-"

"Just, do it"

He lifted his shirt from the back revealing the creature near his right shoulder.

"In the dream, did you see the girl's face?" I asked looking back at the book,

"No, why?"

"You're the guy with the dragon tattoo" I said quietly to myself,

"Can you please explain because I'm kind of slow when it comes to these things"

"I had the same dream. There was a guy with a tattoo, a dragon, and we were..."

"You're the girl?" he said with a unsure smile,

"I know it sounds a little unbelievable but-"

"No, no, it makes sense. When I first saw you I recognised you faintly"

"So did I"

"What does this mean?"

We stood in silence trying to piece things together but when I got nowhere, "I don't know yet. We should get back, it's getting dark"

"Yeah, we'll talk about this when we get back"