Red

7

"Hey, lads, this is Tris," Van speaks up when we get close to them. They move closer, making room for me and Van in the circle. "Tris, this is Bondy, Bob, Benji, and Larry," he introduces them to me.

"H-hi," I whisper. I was never good with meeting new people. It didn't help that I didn't know if they'd be like Van or not.

"Tris, Tris, Trissy!" The man who Van introduced as Bondy says. "Nice to meet ya." He walks over and gives me an unexpected hug. I freeze for a minute and then wrap my arms around him. He seemed nice, at least. Way nicer than Van. I wish he was the leader and not Van.

"Alright, Bonds, that's enough," Van says lightheartedly. "Don't want to scare her off."

"Aw, I'm just playing. Tris doesn't mind. Do ya?" Bondy says, looking over at me with a goofy smile which makes me giggle.

"No," I say, shaking my head.

"Alright, well, what do you say we rearrange the plane? Make it easier to sleep in. Probably should get someone to go looking for some food to eat, too. Can't survive forever on the plane's peanuts and pretzels," Van takes initiative. 

"Yeah, probably should start getting some stuff together. Probably should let them over there know about what we're doing," Bob speaks for the first time.

Van nods his head, agreeing with him. "Hey!" He yells up the hill. His voice was loud, but it didn't sound mean, unlike when he spoke with me. The others looked back at us. "We're gonna get some stuff planned out!" He yells again.

The crowd makes their way down to us and everyone stands around Van. "I need a group to go looking for food," he says. His voice dropped to a quieter voice now that all forty or so people were here. I don't think anyone looked older than late twenties in the group. I might be the youngest.

"Got it," an older looking man says, probably around 25 years old.

Van nods his head at the man. "Thanks. Take some people with you," Van says. The man agrees and nods his head, some people walking over to join him before they wander off.

"Okay, I need some people to find some firewood," Van makes his next request.

A group agreed to do it and walked off after Van approved. I wonder why everyone was so willing to just let Van be in control. I guess since he was a doctor and he seemed to know what he was doing, but it was still surprising.

There were about twenty people left including Van's friends and myself. "We're going to stay here and tear apart the plane to make it more comfortable for sleeping," Van says pointing to his friends. "I'm going to need maybe six or seven strong people to help with that."

Six men and a woman step up, volunteering themselves. "Awesome. And the rest of you, I'm going to need you to look for a fresh water source. Waterfall, maybe. Water is absolutely critical. We're already low," he tells the remaining eight people. A few of them nod their head.

"Look in the plane for water bottles, or even bigger containers if you can find any and fill them all up," Van says and then nods his head at the group, letting them know they could leave.

Van looks down at me and then back at the water group. He sighs and then speaks to me only. "Wait right here," he tells me before running over to the group.

He stops a boy and starts talking to him. The boy nods his head every once in a while. I see Van smile before jogging back to me. The boy remained standing there and turned to face me.

"Tris," he says. He leans down a little, his hands on his knees, so he can be eye level with me. I look up at him. "That boy over there is going to look after you and you're going to go look for water with him. I don't want you to have to work in the plane and put pressure on that leg of yours by pulling things apart," he says to me.

"I-" I stop. I don't even know what I was going to say. That I can work in the plane? I couldn't. Even without a wound on my leg, I still wouldn't be strong enough. "I can work on the plane," I say, even though I couldn't.

"No," Van shakes his head. "You're going to go with him and find water." His voice was stern again.

"I want to help with the plane," I pout. In all honesty, I was scared of being around a boy alone. What if they weren't nice to me.

"Don't pout at me. And drop the attitude," Van speaks angrily. I see him clench his jaw. "I don't have time to play games right now, princess. You're going to go with that boy and find water."

I cross my arms, frustrated. "Fine," I mumble, beginning to walk around him.

Van grabs my arm before I can walk too far. "Didn't I tell you to drop that attitude?" He asks, his head cocked to the side.

I don't say anything. Maybe I shouldn't have been so stubborn. I was making him really mad.

"What do you say?" Van asks. He raises his eyebrows, expecting an answer from me.

"S-Sorry," I apologize, looking down. 

"When you apologize, you need to look me in the eyes, Tris. I need to know you mean it," Van says.

I look up at him and nod my head. "Sorry," I repeat quietly.

A smirk forms on his lips. "Good girl," he says. "Now, go on. I'll see you later."

I nod my head and walk over to the blond boy who was waiting around for me. He smiles as I approach him and I smile back.

I can only hope he will be nice to me.