Suburban Island

The A-Team (Dylan)

-Dylan-

I used to have a sister. Her name was Aleyssa. She couldn't take how things had changed.

-Monday Morning-

It's raining today. We can't go out when it rains. The water falls on the trees outside, spreading the poison. The barrier neutralizes the toxins, but it can only do so much. I stared out the window. Aleyssa used to get so depressed when it would rain.

"Why are you crying?" I asked her one day. Aleyssa turned to me with tears on her face.

"I don't know," she said, wiping away her eyes. "I just do sometimes." I walked over and hugged her. It got worse when the forest took over.

I looked up when my walkie-talkie crackled on. I reached over and turned it on.

"Hello, over?" I asked.

"You there, Dylan? Over," a small voice said.

"Kathy, over?"

"Yeah, over."

"What is it, over?"

"What is it, over?"

"It's just..."

"What?"

"I have been learning to the government radio and the man you guys found in dead."

The color drained from my face. "Oh..."

"And, I think he was a coyote."

I sat up on my bed. "Who ordered him here?"

"I don't know. He didn't have any cargo on his person. Not even on his body."

"Well... I didn't order anything."

"Neither did I or anything else."

"So, what did he come here for?"

"They don't know. But..."

"I'm sorry, I can't hear you, over."

"What?"

"I can't really hear you. Could you speak up some, Kathy?"

"Is that better?"

"Yes," I said. "What were you saying before?"

"Ah. They did find a single photo in his coat. It was of a girl with long dark hair. I think he was looking for somebody."

"Oh." I began to think about Aleyssa again.

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-Three Years Ago-

Aleyssa and I have always been close. I practically followed her around everywhere. She looked after me like a second mother. When I was really little, mom would say that Aleyssa would say that I was her baby. We used to have a fort in the backyard. It's still there, in fact. That tent of bed sheets used to be full of life. During the summer, Aleyssa and I would spend hours out there. Like always, she was the captain and I was her soldier.

Our parents worked all the time as we got older. We didn't mind. Mom called us every night. Dad started to be in the picture less and less. We weren't surprised when mom and dad broke up. He moved out to California to stay with his family until he could settle on his own. We all stayed in North Carolina. After that, mom started to spend more time with Aleyssa and I. We were all doing fine.

And then the forest came.

Dad and his family got caught up in it while was still growing. At the time, we didn't know what was going on. Except for small rumor sites, the news tried their best to keep things quiet. We had no idea of the trouble heading for us. Dad didn't call by the Sunday that the forest started to take over. Three days. Three days and California was gone. By the end of the week, the entire West coast was gone. When she hadn't heard back from him in weeks, mom went out to go check on him. In those days, Mom got frustrated.