Stuck in a Dream (INCOMPLETE)

Chapter 3

Her eyes flashed open and she sat up, reaching for her backpack. Because along with a tent and sleeping bag was a gun. She fished it out as quietly as she could and crawled out of the tent, looking around for anyone.

To her left, she heard another twig snap beneath the person's feet and she whipped her head towards their direction. Quietly, she crept towards them, using the shadows and underbrush as cover, her eyes sweeping across to scan for the mysterious person.

She pushed aside some branches on a bush, peaking through, to find a boy, no older than fifteen or sixteen, a backpack on his back and sturdy clothes covering his body. Boots covered his feet as he attempted to tread quietly through the forest. He turned to look right where Rose was peaking through. She ripped her hand away, remaining as quiet and still as possible so as to not get caught.

"Hello?" the boy calls out, his voice flowing out low and smooth. "Who's there?"

Rose remained silent, not wanting to give away her location. For all she knew, he could be some mass murderer or rapist. She heard him shuffle his feet, walking closer to the bush.

"Who are you? Don't worry, I won't hurt you. I promise. Here, I'll back away."

She heard him back away slowly,dried leaves crunching beneath his boots. "But the real question," Rose replies, trying to sound confident, "is who are you?"

He chuckles, a low laugh sounding out and echoing around. "Well, I'll introduce myself if you come out from behind that bush."

"And if I don't?" Rose questions, shuffling her feet because her legs were starting to hurt from crouching.

"Well I'm not going to force you, if that's what you're thinking. I'll just walk away, forever wondering who this mysterious girl was," he replies, and Rose could almost picture him shrugging his shoulders.

Rose ponders this for a bit; she could get up and take the risk of him shooting her or something, or she could stay down and forever be curious about the boy. She takes her gun and points it in front of herself as she slowly rises up from the dirt.

"Whoa! Put the gun down! I promised I wouldn't hurt you!" he exclaims, putting his hands up as he stares at the gun with a frightened look in his eyes.

"But I promised no such thing," she replies, clicking the safety off. "Now, who are you and why are you here?"

"My name is Logan Terry. I ran away," he introduces himself, stretching out his hand.

"From what?" Rose asks, ignoring his hand and keeping the gun pointed right at his chest.

"Let's just say you wouldn't want to be my friend if you found out who I really am," he says, a sad tone in his voice as he looks down at the ground.

"Who ever said I wanted to be your friend in the first place?" she retorts, quickly greeted with a smile as he looks back up at her.

"You're just full of sass, aren't you?" he asks, a huge grin on his face.

"No, I just have a low tolerance for bullshit," she replies, a hint of a smile appearing.

"I like girls with spirit," Logan replies, winking at her.

"Well that's great. But this girl is too busy to look for a relationship," Rose answers back, narrowing her eyes at him.

"Who ever said I was talking about you?" Logan asks. "So. What's your name?"

"Rose," Rose replies, lowering her gun. He takes a step forward, stretching out his hands and she quickly points the gun at his chest. "Don't step any closer, or I'll shoot."

"And why are you here?" he asks, putting his hands up again.

"I ran away from the PL Institute."

"What's that? Some kind of fancy boarding school?"

"No. It's a lab. They experimented on me ever since I was six months old. They said they were just letting me see my past life, but I have a feeling they're lying."

"So for all you know, you could have the ability to shoot lasers out of your eyes?"

Rose shrugs. "I guess."

"Wicked," Logan replies, a gleam in his eyes. "Now will you please stop pointing that gun at me? I told you, I won't hurt you."

Sighing, she lowers her gun, but she didn't put it away. "So where are you heading?"

"I don't know," he shrugs. "Just walking until I find civilization."

"Well I'm heading to a town about ten miles away from here. You're welcome to come."

"Really? Thanks!" he replies, a wide smile on his face as he runs forward and hugs her.

Rose stiffens up at his touch. She may have been hugged in her past life, but she's never even have physical contact with another human being until now in reality. She squirms out of his grasp and looks away from his eyes. "Well I guess we should get some rest now."

She walks away from him and heads towards her tent, walking inside. Realizing he wasn't behind her, she stops and turns, looking at him. "Well are you coming inside or not?"

Logan smiles at Rose and follows her inside. "I only have one sleeping bag, so you're probably going to have to sleep on the floor."

"Whoa. You don't know how cold it gets out here in the forest at night, princess. We're gonna have to share."

"What?!" she exclaims, looking at him like he was crazy as he takes off his shoes and climbs into her sleeping bag.

"Don't be shy," he says to her teasingly. "Come on, it's not like I have cooties."

With a sigh of exasperation, she climbs in next to him, lying down as far away as possible from him; which wasn't very far. He scoots closer to her and wraps his arms around her, his warmth wrapping around her like a blanket. Rose's eyes slowly closed and she drifted off into a deep sleep.

~*~*~*~

"Rose! Rose, wake up!" someone hisses into her ear.

"What?" she moans, wanting to sleep more.

"Rose, there are people around our camp, we have to move before they catch us. They have lab coats on; it says they're from the PL Institute."

She sits up quickly and looks at him. "You have got to be kidding me."

And that's when she heard the first gun shot.