Enhanced (first draft)

Chapter 8

"Let's go," Trace says, grabbing his things as soon as we arrive back at our camp.

He starts walking before we even react to what he said. The sound of his feet pounding on the ground start to move away from Cyrus and I. He doesn't stop to look back and see if we are following him.

I quickly grab my bag from the dirt. I sling it onto the comfortable place on my shoulder. Thankfully, it feels almost weightless as I try to lengthen my stride to catch up with Trace.

He is already to far ahead. The way that I can catch up to him is if I start to run, and I will not resort to that. Instead, I stay back with Cyrus. His eyes are dead set ahead of him, almost glaring at Trace. He seems frustrated.

"Where are we going?"

Cyrus whips his head towards me quickly, nearly startling me. His glare subsides to a more worried look. He speaks to me almost in a whisper as his head shakes back and forth slowly.

"I'm assuming Trace is taking us back to Lakeside, his hometown. He will want to see if they have any updates on Xander. As you can see, Trace has kind of an obsession with finding his brother. But I think it's good for him, otherwise he wouldn't have anything to do with his life."

We continue to trek through the woods, lugging behind Trace's set pace. He never looks back to see that we are following him, he must have heard us talking. Either that or he is confident that we are like sheep with him, so confident as to not need to make sure.

I think about what Cyrus said, that Trace's obsession with finding Xander is good for him. I can't really imagine why. From what I have seen so far, it seems to be more destructive than good. It gives Trace a false hope that this time, just maybe, he will find Xander. Then it breaks him down when he doesn't find Xander. I can't understand why Trace continues to keep with this task if it never is fruitful.

Maybe it is like my previous longing to escape from my old life in the Inside. I never thought that it would happen, but I always kept it in the back of my head. Making up little plans for how I could escape gave me something to do when there use all hope was lost for me. It gave me something to look forward to when Soren and I had arguments. It made me happy in a life of nearly continual misery.

I figure that it is something similar to that for Trace. It occupies his time and the thought of possibly seeing his brother again, knowing that this effort can bring him to Xander, makes him happy for the time being. Once Trace discovers that Xander isn't where Trace is looking, Trace momentarily loses hope and becomes depressed, but then he thinks of another place that his brother can be hiding at and the hope that Xander will be there overwhelms the depression.

As we continue on through the woods, my vision starts to become better as dawn begins to break. Sunlight begins to filter through the trees, lighting patches of the ground. I actually begin to pay attention to my surroundings.

We are in an area where the forest seems to be thinning around us. I can almost see through the trees into the clear to the right of us. I'm assuming that we are past the Inside by now. Up ahead to my left, I see a small stream flowing away from us. I can faintly hear the sound of the water rushing against the rocks and dirt.

Seeing the water reminds me that we all still have our disguises. If we are to go to towns in the Outside, I am assuming that Trace and Cyrus won't want to appear to be Enhanced around fellow Outcasts. I wonder what they would do to one who is Enhanced. Will I find out? Will Trace determine it best that I somehow disguise myself? Will they kidnap me if they know I am Enhanced? Will they return me back to the Inside? I decide that I trust Trace's judgement. He has helped me so far, I don't think that he will put me in too much harm now.