UNPROTECTED

Part Two

Alina's POV

"Alina, snap out of the daydream you haven't escaped since this morning!" My sister, Louisa calls. I glance at her and sigh - it's the trees. They get to me. They may be the only trees in the whole universe for all we know.

The tree houses were my grandmother's idea - she was a designer and felt like the trees needed a use rather than just standing there whilst everyone below got bored and contemplated chopping them down again.

"What is there to care about, anymore?" I think aloud, not expecting my sisters to reply.

"Nothing, I guess. Our parents are gone and the world is slowly suffocating." Delia sits down beside me and stares out of the large, empty window space of the tree house.

"Come on, girls - don't go all depressed on me. The world isn't ending just yet!" Louisa: the practical one. Sometimes, I just wanted to strangle her.

"It's ending everyday due to the lack of oxygen and the fumes from vehicles that we still use even though we are only making it worse on ourselves." Delia and Louisa get back to bickering as usual - it was just coincidence that, whilst they were talking about fumes, a loud, motorbike stood out at the center of the reservation.

It was Connor Drew. He didn't know who I was (and probably didn't care), but, everyone knew who he was.

It was all due to his no-good father, Jude being the head of this unscrupulous place - he had a bad boy reputation around these parts. Snobbish: yes. Flaunted it: definately so. Cared: absolutely not. 

Swinging down from my high vantage point, I joined the group slowly forming around his gleaming bike.

"Has anyone seen Marcus?" He calls out into the crowd.

"He's putting out fertiliser near the Eastern treehouse." A stranger tells him.

"Thanks. Oh, and sorry for the fumes that my motorbike emits into the atmosphere - we really should come up with a more eco-friendly form of travel."