Haven

Chapter 9

The forest is extraordinarily beautiful with its soft greens and dappled sunlight now that I'm not escaping my corrupt home. Every now and then I stop to inspect the wildlife that crosses my path and nobody complains that I'm holding them up. In fact, many of our pack stop to look with me. Some of the creatures are truly spectacular and beautifully camouflaged. One particularly captivating specimen was a frog with green skin of a hundred shades from emerald to almost black in places.

I remember when I first crossed over into the woods outside of Haven and how terrifying and intimidating the unruly way everything grew was to me. But now that just seems silly because it's not scary. The twisted roots and branches that reach out to snag your clothes aren't dangerous or scary, they playful and natural. Besides, the amazing beauty of the forest is enough to overpower any hostility I might hold against it due to my clumsiness and the frequency of which I trip and stumble. I hope that soon I'll become more adept at navigating this new world until I appear as comfortable and at home in this environment as the rest of my group do.

While I walked in wonder of the world around me, the rest of our group were busy collecting fruits and useful pieces of wood to take back. They taught me how to distinguish the edible berries from the poisonous ones and where to look for certain foods. It's all very interesting but I doubt I'll remember any of it, my mind is wandering too far into the woods to focus much on the people around me and the words they are speaking.

After an hour or two of walking we stop and about half of our group begin to climb the trees. These are the more experienced scavengers; I'm not allowed to go up because it's too dangerous to allow a newbie up a tree, despite the fact that I spend half my life in a tree house. Josh says that he doesn't want to take any risks with Jamie's sister, which makes me wonder how important he is around here. Well, I suppose our dad is the leader, so he must be fairly intimidating.

Anyway, our group consists of around ten people, including myself. I've only been properly introduced to a few of them but I've caught most of their names. Of course, there's Josh, but I haven't spoken much to him since we left the tent; he's been too busy up front leading the group. Liane is a girl with a coffee complexion and beautiful caramel ringlets. She can't be more than two years older than me and decided right from the start that she would be my companion and guide in the forest. She's walked besides me the whole way, chatting lightheartedly about the goings-on in the Outlands and surrounding forests. I like her.

Then there is her little sister, Amy, who would run up to us every now and then to show us something she had found. She can't be more than 8 or 9 and is utterly adorable. Max is the next youngest, maybe 12ish and keeps to himself mostly, doing what he's told quickly and with expert skill so that he can go back to walking silently on his own. The only people he ever talks to are Josh and Charlotte, the second in command, and only when he absolutely has to.

Charlotte is the same age as Liane and has straight brown hair in a messy bun that I'd die for. She's pretty and kind and I'm pretty sure she's Josh's girlfriend. Other than them there's Troye, Carla, Alfie and Mia. I don't know them as well and they pretty much just stick together.

But now Mia, Josh, Troye and Liane have gone up into the trees and Max and Carla have gone into the surrounding woods to collect firewood, leaving me with Charlotte, Amy and Alfie. Charlotte is busy amusing Amy a couple of meters away but Alfie has stayed with me. I can't tell how old he is but I think he's near my age. He has sandy blond hair that falls over his brown eyes and a small permanant smile that holds an inclination of mischeif. From his pack he pulls out a couple of sandiwches and I do the same, suddenly realising how incredibly hungry I am. Jamie gave me a backpack before I left with everything I would need in it. 

"So," Alfie starts, "you're new here. What do you think so far?"

I don't even have to think about my answer and I tell him how amaing and free it is here compared the Haven. "Back there, every part of your life is so controlled and I didn't realise until I came out here how nice it is not to live like that, how different the world can be when you're free to make your own choices."

"I wouldn't know. I was taken from the Havens when I was a baby; I don't remember any of it. They don't even know I was born." Something about the way he says it is so mournful that I can't help feeling there's more to the story than he's letting on.

"Why did your parents leave?" I ask, hoping to get something more out of him.

"They didn't." I don't say anything because I don't want to push but I don't have to, he carries on after a minute, "My parents were proclaimed traiters to the System just after my mum got pregnant. They didn't know that, of course, but then my parents had to go on the run. They couldn't leave the Haven, not while my mum was pregnant, so they just kept in hiding until I was born with the aid of a rebel doctor, and then they gave me to some friends of theirs that were planning to go to the Outlands. They didn't dare come with me, in case they were followed, so they turned themselves in to cause enough of a distraction while we escaped." His words fall into a sad silence and I dont dare break it becuase it would be disrespectful but after a while I can't stand it any more and I have to ask what happened to them. "I don't know, but hardly anybody survives more than a year after they've been denounced as a traitor. But anyway, I never knew them and their friends have practically raised me as their son, so I can't be too sad."

"I'm sorry, Alfie. It must be aweful never knowing your parents."

"Yeah, well, that's what the Havens do. They destroy lives and families wihtout a second thought, so long as they can keep their sacred System going. It's sick."

And in that moment I've never been so sure of any decision I've ever made; I will fight with these Outlanders until the System is brought down once and for all. Never before have I felt so much like I've belonged but now I am just a part of one living thing with a single motive to join all the pieces together. And I know that Alfie told me such a personal story to solidify my loyalty to the Outlands to which I now belong. Becuase I do belong. I am part of the Outlands now.

I am an Outlander.