Flashf0rward

Chapter 4: Family Matters

Ivy

By the time we reached Sanctuary, it was almost nightfall. The sun was slowly beginning to set over the horizon, and I could see the torches being lit in the village. Since we didn't have any vehicles to speak of, we had managed to find other uses for the gasoline. I sometimes wished we had a pyrokinetic so we could never run out of fire.

Riding back through the front gates, I cantered Fred over to my house and hitched him there. "You did good, Ivy. I mean that." I looked back at Jude as he stopped his horse so he could talk to me. I smiled a little. "Thanks. That means a lot coming from you. Guess all that training paid off." He smiled back, then looked down. "You know Wren worries about you a lot. He talks about you when him and I are alone."

Looking up at Jude, I crossed my arms. "What does he say?" Jude gave me a knowing glance. "Now, I can't tell you that, can I? Wouldn't be very fair to Wren." I scoff a little with a playful glare. "Sure." Jude nods to me. "Take care of yourself, Ivy." With that, he gave the reins on his horse a small tug as he rode off into the village.

Walking back inside the house, I walked into my room and started gathering up all my things. I had to make sure everything was ready. Placing all my supplies inside my bag, I looked around my room. It was small, but comfortable. A cot for sleeping, a small table with a chair that acted as a sort of desk, and a window that looked out onto the valley. For lighting, I had a small candle. It was weird living in a world without electricity. It was like being in the Dark Ages all over again.

As I headed towards the front door, I saw Julie face-down on the table, a gentle snoring noise coming from between her arms. Smiling to myself a little, I opened the door quietly so as not to disturb her, then shut it. The village was practically deserted at night. Save for a few guards, everyone else was at home having dinner or turning in for bed. Waving to a few guards, I walked up to Wren's place.

Knocking twice on the door, it opened shortly after, and I saw my brother standing in the doorway. "Hey. What's up?" He looked down at me, genuinely confused. "Can I come in?" I asked him, a smile on my face. Nodding, he stepped aside to let me in and shut the door behind me. Wren was one of the few people who got a house to himself. I supposed being the leader of the village had its perks. He'd tried to get a house closer to me, but I told him I was fine on my own.

Sitting down at the small dinner table he had, I looked up at him. "Alright, I want you to close your eyes." Frowning, he crossed his arms. "What's this about?" I laughed. "Just close your eyes, dummy." Sighing, he closed his eyes. "No peeking!" I said, and even though they were closed, I could tell he was rolling his eyes. "I'm not." Reaching into my backpack, I pulled out what I'd brought him.

"Ok, open them." Wren opened his eyes and saw my present. It was a huge loaf of bread, still warm, thankfully, decorated with a small pink candle on top that was lit. "You thought I forgot, didn't you?" I said with a large grin on my face. Groaning, Wren put his face in his hands. "Can we not do this?" I started to sing teasingly. "Happy birthday to you, happy birthday to you, happy birthday dear Wreeeeeeeeen, happy birthday to youuuuuu!" I sung horribly out of tune, just to annoy him.

He made a show of plugging his ears, but I could tell he was laughing. "Shut up! You're gonna make every morph in the valley hear you!" I looked at him and gasped with a fake look of hurt. "Is my singing really that horrible? How dare you!" I put my hand up to my chest, offended, and Wren shook his head. "You didn't have to do all this. Where'd you get the candle, anyways?"

I smiled. "Remember Grant? The street vendor? He and his wife apparently did a huge raid of supplies from a department store when everyone went up to Seattle. Got a bunch of little souvenirs. I figured that I would look around, and sure enough, they had a set of birthday candles. The bread's from Sven. Baked it fresh for you just this morning."

Sighing, Wren sat down across from me. "God, everybody's conspiring against me, even for my birthday." Smiling, I got up and wrapped my arms around him, squeezing him tight. "Happy 28th, big bro." He hugged me back, the two of us standing there for a while. "Thanks, Vee." After letting go, I sat back down. "Dig in. Didn't bring any knives, so we'll have to use our hands."

Taking the candle off, the two of us started eating, tearing off big hunks of the bread and eating them. It was good. Sven had put all kinds of herbs and nuts that we'd gathered from the woods inside of the loaf, giving it a ton of flavour. I hummed with delight. "It's not a cake, but damn if it's still not good." Nodding, Wren ate another piece.

After a while, both of us tapped out, unable to finish even half of the loaf. "I'll give the rest to some of the kids. They need it more than we do." Wren said, and I nodded. My heart went out to those kids. Some of them were even younger than I was when the Singularity happened. They'd grown up in this hellhole, and they would never know what a normal world would be like. I could still remember the first day as clear as anything. The bright light in the sky, Mom turning into one of those things and killing Dad, Wren grabbing me and running, then saving my life with his powers...it still chilled me to the bone.

Thinking about that reminded me of something. Looking over at Wren, I put my hands on the table. "So, how are your powers working?" Wren brushed some of his short black hair back. "They're alright. I get some training in here and there. I'm just hoping I never have to use them." He said as he sighed. "Water?" I nodded, and watched as Wren walked over to a small bucket that he had next to his table. Taking two wooden cups, he dunked them in the bucket and handed one to me. The water was lukewarm, but it was natural and non-infected. We had bottled water too, but we only used that for emergencies and hunting trips.

Sitting back down at the table, Wren looked at me. "Why'd you ask about my powers?" I thought about it. "I dunno. I guess...you don't seem to use them as much as the other metas." Looking down, Wren laughed a little. "Well, my powers don't have as many uses as the others. Mine only destroys, and I can't really do that when I have a whole village to run."

Sipping more water, I looked at him, and I could see the exhaustion in his eyes, along with the bags underneath them. He was tired, and looked like he'd barely slept. "It's tough for you, isn't it?" I asked him, looking at him with a sympathetic glance. He shook his head. "I just gotta push through it. Everyone's counting on me, and I can't let them down." Drinking his water, he wiped his mouth.

I looked down for a moment, feeling bad for my brother and wishing I could do something to help. Knowing there wasn't much, I sighed. Looking at him, I patted his back. "You'll get through it, big bro. You always do." I smiled, and he lightly smiled back. "Thanks, Vee." I gave a sly grin. "Besides, you need to so you can impress Katrina."

He frowned and straightened up. "What's that supposed to mean?" I laughed and shook my head. "Wren, come on. I've seen you two together." Wren sighed. "We're just friends. I visit her so I can talk about food control." Nodding, I winked playfully. "Riiiiight." Rubbing his face, he groaned. "God, I hate you sometimes." Giggling, I finished up my water. "Nah, you don't."

Getting up, I stretched. "Well, I should be heading home. Got an early day tomorrow, gonna revisit my old hunting spot." Wren nodded. "Good luck, and be careful." Rolling my eyes, I sighed. "I know. Say hi to Katrina for me." I winked and laughed as I opened the door, hearing Wren sigh behind me as I walked out and headed back to my cabin.

Opening the door to my place, I looked and saw Julie was sitting up, the headphones to the radio on her head as she was staring attentively into space. "Hey Jules. Enjoy your snooze?" I asked, then she raised a hand, asking me to be quiet. Frowning, I walked over to her, dropping my bag by the door. "What's up?" I asked quietly, and her eyes widened as she tuned frequencies. Quickly taking her headphones off, she passed them to me. "You need to listen to this."