"The aliens probably dropped her off! Maybe she is an alien! In disguise.... trying to learn about humans by morphing into one!"
"Shuttup with the alien nonsense, Marcus. I think she's one of them. A spy, sent to steal our knowledge so they can use it."
The unfamiliar voices came from above me. I turned my head and opened my eyes to see two judgmental faces glaring down at me, barely a foot away from my face. All 3 of us screamed and jumped back; one got on their knees and started pleading:
"Don't take my brain! I will tell you everything I know about humans!" And covered his brown hair with his thin, scrawny arms.
I sat up and scooted back until I hit something.... a tree?
Where am i?
"For the last time! She is NOT an alien." This one was standing, and was about half a foot taller than I was. In his right hand, I noticed, was a piece of widdled wood, sharpened on the side, like a home-made machete. He turned his dark eyes on to me. "Who sent you? What do you want?" He raised blade up to my neck.
"No one sent me!" I choked out.
"Then what are you doing here?" His voice was hoarse, but forceful. He positioned himself over me so I couldn't move and I had no choice but to look in to his jet-black eyes.
"I don't know." I whispered; my attempt at sounding strong came out as nothing more than a raspy mumble. "I don't even know where here is."
Another voice sounded, this one more warm and less interrogating. "Derek, Marcus... What are you two doing?"
The man above me now straighted up, and I got a look at this new person. He was pale and skinny, but had some muscle. His mid-length chestnut-coloured hair swept just before his brow line. His blue eyes bolted from the other two to me. "Who is this?"
By now I gathered that the one that was interrogating me was Derek, and the one who thought I was an alien was Marcus.
"That's what we're trying to figure out. She's playing dumb." Derek sneered
"What's your name?" The one with the blue eyes said to me, he was walking toward me now.
"Nicole" I choked out, scared of what they might do.
He offered his hand to me, as I hastily took it and he helped me up, he said "I'm Declan." I forced a smile, and he continued "That's Derek and Marcus. Sorry about them.... they aren't exactly the nicest welcoming committee. Where did you come from?"
"Uhmm...." I thought back, but my memory was foggy. "All I remember is I was walking.... and now I'm here"
"That's alright." Declan reassured. "It'll come back to you. Follow me" He grinned then turned away.
Derek finally said something "Wait, Declan, how do you know you can trust her? What if she is one of them?"
"Her clothes. They're new." He pointed. I looked at my clothes to theirs, and for the first time realised how ragged and ripped theirs were. He turned to me "Were you a third child?" I nodded. "They must've just dropped her off" he turned away again and started walking deeper into the trees, and I followed.
I glanced around at my new environment. The air was humid and clung to my skin. The earthy smell surrounded me and fit perfectly with the forresty surroundings. "Where are we?"
"I wish I knew. They just left me here, like they did you. I'm surprised you got this old before they found you out."
"They?"
"The government. Ya know, the whole 'only 2 kids' law. This is where they bring the 3rds. They expect us to die and be forgotten. What they don't know is that we survived, and how many of us there are."
We arrived at a clearing in the trees; a large circle with a tarp made of leaves over-head. There were about 15 others, all ranging in age from what looked to be 6 to 18. The little ones were playing with dolls made of twigs while the older ones were talking and laughing with each other. One perky blond stood up and strutted toward us. "Who's this?" She smiled her warm smile at me, and her blue eyes were soft and very trusting.
"Nicole." Declan replied, before I could answer her myself.
The girl turned from me to him, her gaze got a little more harsh "Well, she has voice doesn't she? She can speak for herself." She once again faced me with her hand outstretched, the harsh face completely gone and replaced with the warm gaze from before. "Hi, I'm Brooke. It's nice to meet you." The smile had returned to her face. "I hope the boys didn't treat you to harshly. It's just there's others that we can't trust"
"Oh, no. They weren't to bad." I started, Then added in a mumble, "Just threatened me with knives...."
She obviously didn't pick up on the last part. "Good." She beamed. "So let me show you around." I followed her, away from Marcus, Derek, and Declan, to a group of people who looked about my age, 17. "Everybody.... this is Nicole. She's new."
Most smiled and introduced themselves, but others sneered and walked away; which made me even more self-conscious than I already was. Brooke noticed my discomfort and whispered "Don't worry about them. Some just don't like new people; they don't trust the ones that show up. They just haven't warmed up to you yet, but they will."
She lead me around their camp until we reached an area that was a little secluded from where everyone was. "These are the beds."
I looked down at the pathetic piles of leaves that were almost double my height. "There is an empty one over here." I followed her once again to one of the piles "It's not much, but there isn't really much to work with out here." She added, then walked away "I'll leave you alone for now, I know it's a lot to take in."
It was a lot. A lot more than I could handle. A lot more than I was ready for. It had all came so quickly.... barely an hour ago I had woken up to 2 savages threatening to cut my head off. I struggled to remember what had happened before I woke up; before all of this had happened. I sat down on my new "bed" and searched my brain, trying to figure out the events that lead me to this strange place. As I pondered, tears fell from my eyes.
Why can't I remember?....
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Thank you so much for reading. ;) I might not update very often now, but during summer I'll try to update at least once a week. Tell me what you think, any tips, or ideas by messaging me. I'll credit you. (:
