Ella

My throat feels so raw when I wake up. I don't know how much more of the bottle of water we have left, but what I do know is that I need something. Without even just a bit I'm not sure how much longer I'll be able to have a voice.

Sitting up, I look over and see Dean sleeping. His body is curled tightly into a fetal position, and I can't help but laugh at him. "Dean," I say poking his side, knowing we slept in later than usual. "Dean," I say louder, poking him harder. He doesn't even budge. Now that's what you call sleeping like a rock. "Dean!" I shout, before shoving his shoulder.

"W-what?" He mutters, before sitting up and rubbing his eyes.

"We need to get going." I pick up the pack and rummage through it, until I find the bottle of water that my throat is screaming for me to devour. I take off the cap, and take two gulps, leaving about one fourth of the water left. "We need to find something," I say after handing Dean the water. "I don't think we'll last three more days out here." I don't mean to be a downer, but I have to be practical. "And we slept in today."

"We'll find something," he says as a drip of water rolls down his chin. "And I don't care that we slept in, we needed it. I actually slept better without the pack under my head."

"Good, because I slept better with it." I take the bottle from Dean, just a small bit left, and return the cap to the top before putting it back into the bag. "Do you want some breakfast? I'm going to save it for when I really need it." I try not to show how nervous I am about not having much supplies left, but I think Dean can see right through the facade.

"No, I'm fine," he says, his eyebrows knitting together. "But you should really eat some, just a bit." I open my mouth to tell him to stop worrying about my eating habits, but my stomach beats me to it. It rumbles in a very loud angry way, and the look Dean is giving me, could kill a person. "Eat something, Ella, you sound like you haven't even ate anything for two days." I give him a glare back.

"I did eat yesterday and I'm not eating. Stop being obsessed with my eating habits, it's annoying. I'm trying to save and you're trying to get me to eat it all. Why don't you eat, then, if you're so worried?" I half bark.

"Do you hear that? Neither do I. My stomach isn't howling, and when it does I'll eat." I roll my eyes, which causes him to grumble. "Let's get going then," he sighs before standing to his feet and brushing the dust off of him. I do the same, and swing the backpack over my shoulder. "I can carry that," he speaks up.

"It's my turn, you carried it long enough." He doesn't reply, and I don't wait for him, before heading off in the opposite direction we came from. I'm still not exactly on friendly  terms with him, but what's the use in continually bringing it up? I will never forget the sneer that came across his face when he just threw my  mother's death in mine. Just the thought makes my heart pound and my fingers clench with the idea of knocking him to the ground again. These thoughts aren't healthy, and since when do I really care what he thinks? He's the enemy, I should know that whatever comes out of his mouth is nothing but negativity.

"Are you sure you don't want me to carry the bag?" He asks after minutes of traveling. I don't know why he keeps asking me, it's almost as if he wants to carry on a conversation.

"I'm fine, I've already told you that," I mumble, my throat dry and sandy. I don't want to talk, the silence is golden to me right now.

"This part of the Earth is so dry, North was never like this," he mutters while gazing across the land we have yet to travel, his eyes squinting in the sun. His face is covered with green blood, scabbed over from the blistering heat that has burned him throughout this journey. If he looks so bad, I can't imagine how I look, nor do I want to.

"What was North like?" I ask, just to seem positive. I've heard stories about what North looked like, but I never knew if they were true. They were from a human's mouth, and sometimes we get our stories mixed up. I would trust Dean's explanation of his own planet more than anyone else's.

"It was large, larger than the planet Jupiter all you humans seem to swoon over."

"We don't swoon over Jupiter," I roll my eyes.

"Sure. But it was about the size of all the planets in your solar system combined." He pauses, and despite the ache my throat is trying to bare, I have to ask a question.

"Why didn't anyone find it before then? I never even heard of your planet until you all came here."

"We were in a far off galaxy. There is no possible way for your earthly equipment to reach how far out my planet extended from the Milky Way. It was a dark planet too. If you looked at it far away, I'm sure it seemed like a ball of silver. The air was so thick and silverish white, that's all you could see when you looked up. The planet itself was a blue black. Such a dark blue anyone would believe it was black, but it wasn't. It had white soil, and the contrast from the dark to the light was breathtaking. I wish we had cameras like the humans do, I would love to have a picture of it right now. It was far more prettier then this planet, yet far more solemn as well. It always felt right, and we all trusted one another, for who would betray their own kind?" He asks this question, and I can't help but think he's implying the humans. We aren't like the Norovians, we're totally different, I wish he would stop comparing the two.

"We're totally different species, Dean, don't compare our actions." I try to defend my kind, but what's there to defend? We shouldn't betray one another, we shouldn't harm one another, yet it's all we ever seem to do.

"That doesn't matter," he scoffs at me. "We never killed one another either, yet on the television there were murders all the time that happened. How can you defend those kinds of actions? That's the most inhuman thing you could possibly do."

"And since when do you know about being inhuman?" I half laugh, not knowing how he thinks he possibly knows everything about us, when he's not us. He never will be, he'll only ever be the Norivian boy who hated my kind and thought himself better than all of us combined.

"I'm not saying I know that much about it, but doing that kind of thing is inhuman. No one should want to take another's life, that's terrible. I wouldn't even kill a human, no matter how much I disliked them." I can't keep my head in the conversation. My brain is screaming at me to drink the rest of the water, but I can't. That water doesn't just belong to me, and I need to save it, for how many more days are we to be out here before we reach a town or something? "And no matter how many are killed, there's so many of you. You're like abundant."

"And why shouldn't we be?" I snap, before my voice catches and I cough a few times, my throat hurting worse than ever. "This is our planet."

"I didn't mean it like that, for Pete's sake, do you have to take everything I say personal? I'm saying it's kind of amazing."

"Are you complementing my species?" My voice is so hoarse, that Dean stops and pulls the pack off my back before I can protest. "What are you--"

"Drink this," he says before pulling out the water, "and if you refuse I'll pry open your mouth and shove it down. You sound like a dying frog."

"Always so charming," I roll my eyes, but take the water and drink it all in a few gulps. "Thanks," I say, before realizing I just drank the last of our water supply. Smart.

He shrugs. "And no, I wasn't complimenting your species, I was stating a fact. The fact that your planet never runs out of life, is amazing to anyone. North didn't have as many Norovians as you have humans, despite the size of the planet. It is dangerous for a Norovian to have a child, most of them don't survive the process, and if they do it's a miracle. We never had the technology you have, so coming here, in a way, was good. Now, almost none of the Norovians die during child birth." I can tell he's amazed, and it amazes me. I've never seen him like this, so into the conversation, so proud of what we could do to save his kind. It sort of calms me, to see one hold so much pride. If it wasn't for my aching throat, I would put more into this conversation. "I wish we could have saved more on the trip to Earth. So many died. We didn't even expect anything to hit us, it just happened. There wasn't even a shadow where it was coming, and with the planet so dark anyway, I'm not even sure we would have seen it if it was there. The only reason we even escaped, is because my father had this idea that we could travel in the air. Everyone thought it was absurd, but everyone wanted to be on the ship he built when we were climbing on. It was literally seconds after it took off that it hit. It blew up in front of my eyes, my home, the only thing I ever knew, and it was gone. Just like that. Years to evolve, only seconds to destroy." We're walking slower then usual, but I don't mind. He deserves the time to ponder through his thoughts, no matter how ignorant he will ever be, no can tell me that he doesn't posses emotion. He loves North, and with his solemn look and the crease forming on his forehead, I almost wish I could piece his planet back together, just to take the look off of his face.

I don't know why I'm feeling this, he wouldn't feel this way towards me if you paid him. Maybe it's because I'm not afraid to care. If someone needs someone, I'd be there, no matter who it may be, and maybe he's not like that. Maybe he's had his heart broken. No, when I die, I'm going to be in a warm bed sleeping next to the my significant other. His words repeat in my head of what he told me when were arguing, only a few days ago. It seems like weeks, it's been so long. I wonder who his significant other is. I want to ask, but I remember what happened last time, and I keep my mouth quiet.

The Dean I see walking beside me, is not the Dean I knew just last month. This Dean, although is rude and angry and cocky, seems more vulnerable, and I don't like that. He tries to hide it, but I can see past it. I never imagined him losing it, I never even thought he actually possessed emotions until a minute ago. I feel like if he's losing it, I should be worried, because he's pretty strong, despite how much I don't like admitting that. He was a cowered with how he treated me in school, but that wasn't when the balance of the world was resting on our shoulders to find survivors and save the planet.

"Let's stop and eat," he mumbles after about a half hour of silence between us. Not awkward, actually, just silence.

"Okay." I don't even try to argue. My stomach is still in knots from lack of water and food, and I'm pretty sure I'd eat the dust under my shoe if I had the chance.

Sitting down on the now familiar pavement, Dean pulls the backpack off his shoulders, and I suddenly remember that he never gave it back for me to carry. "I could have carried that," I say as he hands me the peanut butter. "I actually forgot all about it."

"It's nothing. I just wanted to get some water in you, you sounded awful. Well, you still do, of course, but not as bad." He gives me what I believe is a smirk, and I roll my eyes. You know you're in bad shape when Dean Schloric has trouble smirking. This sun is really hating on us, and I'm beginning to grow angry towards the ball of fire.

"Will you ever cease to be a jerk?" I tease, my throat hurting, but the conversation seems to be going well, so I decide to carry it on.

"I'll cease to be a jerk, when you cease to ease your temper."

"I do not have a bad temper!" I defend as I take a swipe of the sort of dry peanut butter.

"Right there!" He laughs. "Is what I'm talking about." I could see us, in another dimension, in another life, where Dean and I would get along. A place where we wouldn't fight, but tease each other and call each other when there's a problem like friends do. I shake these thoughts away, me calling Dean? I then begin to question if I really hate him or not. He's been nothing but rude to me since I first seen him, but I never will forget the day I actually seen him.

We were in tenth grade, and I was standing in the school hall near my locker, just after the Norovians arrived, and I seen him walking towards me. He was tall, his eyes were yellow, his ears were pointed, his hair was a shade of black, and he was smiling so bright. I can only imagine it was what his friends around him were saying, and I wonder if the Dean back then was as vulnerable. He just watched his planet blow up, yet he was laughing and acting like everything was okay. He says the Norovians don't lie like the humans do, but I believe putting on a facade is a lie, not matter how much you want to avoid the truth.

I try to push these memories away. I don't even know why I thought about that just now. Maybe because I was a prejudice sophomore and I didn't believe the Norovians should be on this planet, but when I seen him, I wondered if I was wrong. Dean is attractive, yes, but it wasn't his looks that made me question my choices, it was behind that. I can't exactly explain it, nor do I want to, but I liked what I seen and felt. I liked it until I got to know him, then everything related to him was vile. I hated him so much, I remember throwing up in the bathroom after he told me that I basically didn't matter and that no one would miss me if something happened and I just disappeared. That hurt more than anything he's ever said to me besides what he said about my mom. Strong feelings rush back into me, and I realize that I do still hate him. He was so vicious to me, I don't think I will ever get over it.

"Let's get moving again," I say quickly, before standing up and shutting the jar of peanut butter.

"What, why so soon?" He asks as he stands up as well and tries to take the pack from me.

"I can carry it," I sigh. "And I want to keep going, I want to get somewhere. I'm sick of eating peanut butter and I would kill for some more water." I don't even wait for him to reply, I just start walking. I think sometimes he can see when something's wrong, and I don't want him to see through this and find out what's bothering me. I thought that you could change my outlook on your species, but you only intensified it with your cruelness and I'll never get over how badly you treated me. I can feel emotion swell up behind my eyes, but I hold it down. So much for telling myself that I would be strong and not cry anymore.

I successfully hold my tears back, and push on.

**********

I don't know how many hours have passed by, but what I do know is that I am starving and parched and I just want to find something. The hope that we're going to survive this journey, is dwindling away. We can't survive, not without water. I can almost feel my insides shrivel and cave in.

The sun is setting, and I'm not exactly sure how much longer I'll even be able to walk. My legs are tired and my lungs burn from the dust, my skin stings from the sun, and my muscles ache just from walking. My throat feels as if it's on fire, and I think I dropped my stomach a couple hours back. "I cant--" I begin, my voice almost dead. "Go any--farther. I can't." I collapse onto the road, my body welcoming the feeling of resting. My tongue feels like a stone in my mouth, and I can't help but think that this is the end. This is where I die.

"Okay, okay, okay, okay, okay," he whispers as he sits next to me and places a hot hand across my head. "We'll rest. You're okay, you're just tired and thirsty, but you'll be okay."

"You've said that--like twenty times," I laugh, but my eyes are gradually closing. I need sleep, and I need it now.

"That's because you are." He sounds frantic, but I know that he's not. He may hold emotion, but he wouldn't show any towards me.

"I might be the first human you bury," I say, but immediately regret it.

"Don't ever say that again," he snaps, his voice holding so much force I slightly jump. "We're both going to make it, and I need you to believe it. We can do this, we made it this far." He puts the pack under my head, and I close my eyes the whole way.

"I believed, Dean, until now. I feel so empty and hollow. I just want to sleep." My brain feels fuzzy, and I wonder if I sound as weird as I feel.

I'm slowly slipping into the darkness, my mind letting me go and I'm so thankful. I just need some sleep, that's all. I won't die, I just need a good night's rest.

Dean is still talking to me, but I can't make out what he's saying. I try to, but it's muffled and I almost give up. But instead, before the darkness takes over, I try to figure out what he's saying one last time, but my ears must be deceiving me. "There's a town! Just about a mile away, I can see the outline!" I try to frown and tell him it's not funny, but I can't. All I can do is welcome the darkness with open arms.