Aer

12

The doors of the cabin burst open.
Alex, Daisy and Charlie are all sitting at the table. Dars appears in the doorway, hands on his hips, frowning 'I told you I didn't want kids coming to my gates'.
Daisy frowns 'What?'.

'A group and I went to watch the horde, heard a bunch of kids shouting for Alex, we avoided them but they're too close to here,' he says 'I'm not having any trouble come to my gates'.
Daisy looks at Alex 'Did you contact Lily?'.
'No,' he says 'I didn't contact anyone'.

'Oh for fuck sake,' Charlie rolls his eyes and leaves out a long exaggerated sigh.
'What?'.
'You should've told her you'd got caught up in the horde and you'd stayed the night in the tower,' Charlie says.
'She would've come and checked'.
'This is Lily we're talking about,' Charlie grins 'She would've been down to safety the minute she saw one Freak'.

'Look figure out what ye are going to do and get those kids off my mountain,' Dars leaves.
'Wait,' Daisy gets up and follows him out.

    'I didn't know this would happen,' Daisy says.
'Look I trust you,' he says 'but Alex...'.
'No,' Daisy says firmly 'I trust him'.

'Daisy, if he cared about you he would've never left you up here in the first place, he would've fought for it,' he says 'That's all I'm going to say'.
Daisy grabs Dars' hand, she quickly moves her hand up to his arm, hoping he doesn't think anything of her grabbing his hand 'We'll think of something, just worry about the horde'.
He smiles 'I appreciate it'.

Daisy watches as he walks away, there's just something about him. She's not sure if it is his confidence, his walk...there's just something she admires, not in a romantic sense but perhaps because she felt so restrained with Aaron as a leader that she admires how Dars handles his group.

     She returns inside to Alex packing his bags 'What's going on?'.
'This is for the best,' Alex says 'I'm going to go to a small hut we've secured and radio Lily, tell her I spent the night there'.
'But Alex we can think of something else,' Daisy says 'You don't have to go back there'.
'I shouldn't have left Conor behind, and all those other kids,' he says.
'Alex...' Charlie looks at him then awkwardly at Daisy 'Don't be a dickhead'.
Daisy doesn't want to admit it but he's right, it's the only logical thing to do 'It's alright Charlie'.

    Charlie and Daisy walk Alex down to the gates. Daisy gets a weird feeling of tension in the air, it's as if Alex has grown uncomfortable, like he's waiting to pluck up the courage to say something.

'Be safe,' Daisy says 'We're always here'.
'I know,' he watches the gates open 'I'm not fit for above the ground'.
Daisy frowns 'What?'.
'I tried to like this place but I know I'm safer in the bunker,' he begins to walk away.

'What a little bitch,' Charlie turns away, shaking his head.
Daisy watches Alex walk away 'but you'll come to see me'.
Alex turns around and shrugs 'I'm not risking my safety'.

The gates close and Alex is gone. Daisy's eyes fill up with tears, how could he say something like that? She feels an arm go around her, it's Charlie, he's come back 'That is a kid who has a lot of growing up to do, wait until he begins to lose people or has to make a hard decision then he'll come back crawling to you for your support. He's weak, mentally and physically'.
'I don't understand,' Daisy says quietly.
'He doesn't understand what he's feeling, that's the problem,' he turns her around to face away from the gate 'he's a fucking idiot, you deserve better'.

Dars approaches them 'Why don't me and you head out for awhile? I'm due to check some of the trials further up the mountain, you can come along'.
'Yeah, okay,' she says quietly.

    Daisy meets Dars at the gates. She changed her clothes, one of the girls dropped her and Charlie in some new outfits. She's wearing a tight red T-shirt and flowing black pants, she catches Dars looking her up and down as the gates begin to open.

'I like this route,' he says 'leads right up to the top of the mountain'.
'Nice view?' Daisy asks.
'Not as nice as the view of my face but close,' he smiles.
'Oh, very funny,' she rolls her eyes.

They chat about one thing and another as they climb the steep mountain. The conversation keeps them distracted from the tough walk. The air begins to feel different, as if there's less oxygen. It's a nice, warm day, Daisy can't imagine what it would be like on a cold day.

   'Now,' Dars leans on a railing, Daisy comes up beside him. They've reached the top. The view is spectacular. Daisy can see multiple towns and houses, the mountains in the distance and all the overgrowth. The sky is clear blue, there isn't a cloud in sight and the sun shines brightly in the sky, heating them.

'Sorry I didn't tell you about Olivia,' he says as he looks into the distance.
'It's okay,' she looks at him 'I just feel like I did bad to Olivia'.
'Nah,' he says 'there's nothing between us, obviously she's my girlfriend but there's no connection, nothing'.

Daisy thinks about Alex, was there anything between them? She was always waiting on Alex to act on how he felt or to at least make up his mind. Of course there was something there but Alex's indecisiveness stopped that something becoming any bit better or stronger, when she saw him walk away it was like everything she felt last night left with him.

'Like don't get me wrong,' he continues 'she's beautiful and is an alright person it's just there was never something there. I couldn't trust her either, I don't tell her anything'.
'That's not ideal,' Daisy concentrates on their conversation, trying her best not to think of Alex.

'No, it's not. And you know what happened the first night you came? I don't just do that with anyone'.
'Me too,' Daisy says 'It was a once-off anyway, it doesn't make a difference'.
'Exactly, nobody needs to know'.
Daisy smiles 'Well I'm quite good at lying'.
'You'd have to be a good liar nowadays,' he says.
'It's awful,' Daisy sighs 'Sometimes hiding things and lying saves your life'.
   'So sad'.

Daisy doesn't reply, there's nothing to say. It's sad how horrible their lives have become, how evil each and every one of them truly are, some are worse but nobody is good.

'Hey look,' Dars takes binoculars from his backpack and puts them up to his face 'The horde'.
Daisy takes the binoculars, they're further back the road they've been staggering along the last few days 'Do you think they're coming from that town?'.
'It'd be a guess if I was to answer that,' Dars says.
'Want to follow them?' She asks.
'Might as well'.