∆|•Çømå•|∆

Chapter 11

"Someone has to ask her and I vote Lexi." Danielle raises her hand. I can see why she doesn't want to talk to Reina.

"Why can't Kevin ask?"

"You've technically spent the most time with her, so I vote you too." Kevin counters.

"Fine." I walk through the hall she went through and find an open door. Reina was sitting on the floor going through something. "Hey Reina. Danielle wanted to apologize for earlier." I sit next to her and see she was going through a box.

"It's fine I guess."

"We were going into town. Do you want to come with us?"I ask her.

"Why?"

"There's people there that take in people who escaped. If we find one we can live here." I smile but she doesn't.

"I don't want to live here. I rather spend the rest of my years in this house than go into that blasphemy new age." I didn't know what to say. She's definitely not coming.

"I remember my family now, and what happened to them."

"Welcome to the club." She lopsidedly smiled. "What happened?"

"I met them in the coma. My mom worked as the receptionist at my job. I only saw my dad a few times on the bus when I'd rarely take it. My brother worked at this café I went to every Wednesday morning. To think they were in plain sight, yet I never knew who they were."

"That's sad." Reina sighs then turns to face me. "This was my mom." She slides me a picture. "We were a family of nine." She shows me another picture with her whole family. "The day it first started, chaos was thick in the air. Everything was going down. There were bombs to quicken the pace. One went off in my house."

"That's terrible." I feel for her.

"I made it out with two of my brothers. Aiden, he was always so stubborn." She lets out a dry laugh. "He refused the dose so they shot him, right in front of our faces. My other brother ran. Wrong choice. They caught him and that was it. I got the dose, but deep inside wished I could have went with them." She shakes her head.

"Aww Reina." I wrap my arms around her and she cringes.

"Are you crying?" She slowly pulls my arms off of her.

"Well," I sniffle and wipe a tear. "if crying makes you cry then no."

"Ok that's enough of that." She puts everything back in her box and closes it. "You, you have a future ahead of you. Go to the wall." She playfully hits my arm, but it actually hurt. I stand up and walk away, but stop in the doorway.

"You sure you aren't coming?"

"I'm fine here. Don't worry about me." She smiles. I wave her one last goodbye before going back to main room.

"She's staying."

"Seriously?" Danielle stands up. I nod.

"We should get going then." Kevin says. We silently agree and leave. "At this rate, we won't be there for days."

"Is it just me or is it really dark out here?" She walks closer to me. It is pretty dark. Who knows what lurks here?

|•∆ ∆ ∆ ∆ ∆•|

"Did you guys just hear that?" Kevin slows down.

"No, not with Danielle breathing so loud. And you're cutting the circulation from my arm." I pull my arm out of her death grip. All of a sudden we hear a shuffle from our left, and we freeze. "Now that, I heard." I get behind Kevin. He grabs a nearby pipe and holds it up.

"Don't be alarmed." Someone says in the shadows. They walk out and look normal, like us. "Welcome to Topia. Follow me." He says. We all give each other a look before following the short man. We arrived to what looked like a little town. It wasn't modern, but wasn't too shabby either. "This is the lost civilization of the awakens." He brings his arm out over the view.

There were small houses, a stream going through, and people doing various things. In the middle there was a fountain and what looked like a town house.

"Reina should of came. This place is loaded with food." Danielle takes a piece of bread off a random lady's tray.

"We take in the lucky ones who escaped, and together we live in harmony. It isn't perfect, but it's better than what's inside the wall. Go on and find an empty home. You are safe now." He bows before leaving. We start walking down into the city.

"How are we supposed to know which homes are empty?" Danielle asks with her mouth full of bread.

"The homes that are taken have their sign up." I point to a small sign that says 'Macy and Baines'. "That one's empty." I point a little houses down. There's a turned down sign with paint in a small cup.

"Let's name it Danielle and her Crew." She eagerly grabs the paint brush, but I snatch it from her.

"Let's not. How about we use our initials?" I suggest.

"Dulka." She tries to pronounce it. I roll my eyes.

"How about we just call ourselves......" He holds up a finger. "ah, Lexinielle." Kevin says.

"That sounds like a street in some posh town. Lexinielle Alleyway." She says before laughing.

"Let's just use it." I paint the name on the sign. Kevin puts it in the ground. "This could be nice........ Where's Danielle?"

"These beds are unbelievably comfortable!" We hear her yell from inside. We go in and it looks way nicer than we thought. It gives off a homey vibe. I think I'm gonna like it here.