Dean

I did sleep really well last night, which is a big help considering how much traveling I want to do today. We've already been traveling for a few hours already, and I feel pretty alert, considering how uncomfortable it is to lie on the road and actually get a bit of good sleep.

The sun isn't quite as hot today, either, and that's also a big help. Perhaps today will be a pretty good day. "Do we even know where we're going?" Carol pants, her brow dripping with sweat.

"Finding a town," Ella remarks as she looks over at her. "Some civilization."

"Yeah, I get that. But what are you guys trying to do? You know you can't save whoever is left on this planet, right? That's a nice idea, but you can't. And you can't blame yourself for whoever it is that you haven't or can't save." I don't know where Carol's sudden knowledge is coming from, but I really hope she stays like that. When she pretends to act dumb, it's highly annoying.

"I know. We know that," Ella whispers as she glances over at me. "We just want to find people, we want to start over. We want to get as many as we can together and--I don't know. We just want to find lives, relax, start living again instead of having to deal with this. I would do anything to lie down in a bed, I took so much for granted."

"Ha," I scoff. "Didn't we all? Who would have thought that this would happen? Who would have thought that their entire family would be wiped out in a blink of an eye? Who would have even thought that we would survive? We even take living for granted. I want to get out of this desert, but I'm even happy that I'm here, for that's more then a lot of people have gotten."

"Sometimes I wonder if life's even worth it," Ella dryly laughs, and I can't help but stop and turn to her, not knowing why she'd even say that.

"Are you serious?" I ask, slightly shocked. "Life is worth it, okay? It is and we are going to get through this and we are going to find people and we're going to meet families and become apart of them and we're going to grow old and grey, and it'll definitely be worth it." I didn't realize that I had both hands on her shoulders, until I stopped talking. I remove my grip on her, hoping that she knows that life is important. I've already said that I refuse to lose anything else that I might possibly care about, and I meant it.

"Carol?" Ella says as she turns away from me. "Do you know of any towns that weren't very far from yours?" I want to laugh, why didn't we already ask her this? She used to live around here, I'm sure her and her family have traveled from town to town.

"There was one that I remember going to when I was little. We hardly ever left our town, I only remember visiting it once, but I don't think it was too far. It was in this direction, too."

"Don't you think that would have been helpful to know?" I ask, getting annoyed.

"We were going in this direction, it's not like we aren't going to come across it," she huffs.

"Yes, but we could have gone farther last night instead of resting when we did, we might have been there by now if we did." Carol rolls her eyes at me, and I wish we never brought her along. She's not even a help, she's an inconvenience.

"I wasn't thinking, okay? I lost everything and I was--like--alone until you guys came into my life. My mind wasn't working right."

"We lost everything too, we've already been through this," I snap. "But we have to keep our heads together, that's what helps us survive. You have to think, alright? It's necessary, I mean what if we were going in the other direction? Would you have even said anything?"

"Stop," Ella interrupts, and I can tell Carol is thankful. "We don't need this. We should be happy, we know that a town isn't far away. Enough arguing. Let's get going, I would like to get there as fast as I can." She doesn't wait for a reply, just walks away, leaving Carol and me behind.

We catch up, but I still can't help but be irritated. At me for not thinking of asking Carol if there was a town, and for Carol not mentioning that there was. I shouldn't even worry about it, I should expect something like this from her, plus all of us did lose everything, and that does mess with your mind. When you lose your parents and siblings, are you going to have a certain town on your mind that you visited when you were younger? No, and I need to remember that the humans are different from Norovians, that they strive on their emotions. I'm beginning to see a lot of that in me, and I can't help but wonder if Ella is right, if there is a bit of human in me. There is definitely a bit of Norovian in her.

"There!" Carol shouts after a moment of walking, scaring Ella and me. "See it! The outline of it across the horizon?" She points, and I find myself squinting at what looks like a silhouette of black along the desert. Before I know it, I'm full on grinning.

"We've already found two towns, Ella. And just think that last week we didn't even have any hope. We were sweating all alone in the desert, sun burnt and thirsty, but we never gave up. Even after fighting for who should drink the last water bottle." I look over at her, and she's not smiling. My smile vanishes, and I ask her what's wrong. It's only midday and we found another town, she should be thrilled.

"I don't want to smell or see or hear anymore death," she mutters, and I look away. I don't want to either, but we have to find out what's there, no matter what.

"No one does," I reply, "but we have to believe that maybe there aren't any deaths here, okay? We can't just turn away."

"I don't want to turn away," she promises, "I just don't want to see anymore things that are bound to give me nightmares in the future," she dryly laughs.

"We won't know, unless we go see," I say, and we all begin the long walk, hoping that we reach there before much longer. I don't want to see anymore death either, but I can't help the excitement that has found its way inside me. Another town, we're doing so well, much better then I ever thought we would.

The road seems to stretch out for miles, and my mind wonders back to when Ella and I raced to make it to the road. She was upset that I beat her and that I made her use up more energy then she wished she would have. How funny it was, the idea of us getting along that day, but now it's not so funny anymore.

We're all tired. I can see the sweat gracing both Ella and Carol's brow, and I can feel the sweat fall down my back. I would love to have a shower, for I know that all of us have to stink, but I guess were used to our smell, which is highly distasteful.

Every step seems to take longer then the last one, but after counting to 11,054 steps, we can finally see the town up close, and it's not what any of us expected. It's in perfect condition.

"Where is everybody?" Ella asks, no foul smells hitting us in the face, no nothing. No one to even be seen.

"This is all so weird," Carol mutters. "This town is just abandoned."

"Maybe they knew something was coming," I comment, still holding onto the the idea that there may be lives in these abandoned buildings.

"But if people just abandoned this place, that means it should be thriving in supplies," Ella announces.

"Good, I'm sick of fighting for something to eat. I just want to open a fridge and have a soda. Something sugary and sweet besides peanut butter," Carol scoffs, and I want to tell her she's only had peanut butter for two days, she doesn't even know the extent of hating peanut butter like Ella and me. That's all we had in the beginning and by God if I never ate another bite of that stuff, it'd be too soon.

"Well, we never know if we just stand here in awe," I say, before walking past them, the road leading straight into the town. "Hello?" I call. "Anyone here?" Just after the words leave my mouth, something hard hits me on top of my head. "Ow! What the heck?" I semi-shout, as I turn around and glare at the girls.

"We didn't do a thing," Ella barks, and something else hits me on the head.

"Will you stop that?!" I yell to whoever is doing it. "We aren't going to hurt anyone, for Pete's sake, we just want to get some supplies, maybe sleep for a bit?" There's a beat of silence, before I hear--

"So you don't have guns?" A voice yells back, and that's when I know it's a child.

"No, only backpacks full of water and some stale peanut butter." We look around, trying to figure out where the kid is, and after a moment, we spot him on top of a house roof, holding a handful of what looks like rocks.

"Where are you from?" He calls down to us.

"Cheyenne, we're the only survivors," I point out, hoping that that might help.

"Oh," he mutters, and disappears, only to reappear a few moments later from the front door of the house. He's taller then I expected, and by the color of his eyes and shape of his ears, he's a Norovian.

"I'm Dean," I introduce, before turning to the girls. "And that's Ella and Carol," they both wave, but Ella walks up to the boy, and begins to talk to him.

"Where is everyone?" She asks, getting straight to the point.

"They left," he shrugs.

"How old are you?" She asks, only being curious.

"Twelve. How old are you?" He questions, before smiling, giving Ella the same smile Carol likes to give me--and I roll my eyes.

"Seventeen. Soon to be eighteen. We're going to try and get some supplies, okay? We need to fill up on more food then just peanut butter."

"You can come into my house," he offers. "I have plenty in the cupboards."

"Thank you...?"

"Mark," he smiles again. "And it's nice to meet you all. It's been a while since I've talked to anyone." I want to ask him what happened, but I figure he'll tell us when he warms up to us.

"It is nice, isn't it?" Ella smiles back. "It's nice to talk to someone new instead of the people you've been traveling with. Get's boring after a while." I can tell she's only teasing, and so can Mark, but Carol scoffs, taking it the wrong way.

"Well, come inside," the boy offers, and we follow him into his house. "There's the kitchen," he points straight ahead, "Living room, bathroom, upstairs is a couple bedrooms, and downstairs door is over there. It's a cellar, so it has a few jars of canned food if that interests anyone."

"Thank you," we all three say at once, but head for the kitchen. Just as he said, there is plenty in the kitchen. We don't want to be too greedy, but before we know it, we've eaten about all our stomachs can stand, and finish it off with a lime soda. In North we'd only ever eat lean meat and fruit, but I can seriously say that I like the way the humans eat better.

"What are we going to do now?" Carol asks, sighing in content against the dining room chair.

"I am going out and supplying my bag, for even though this town has everything we need, we still need to move on," Ella replies, before getting up and groaning, her stomach just as full as the rest of ours.

"I'll come with you," I speak up, before Carol sets down her soda and turns to us.

"Are you serious? We have everything here that we need! Do you know the last time I was actually able to eat more then needed? Why can't we just stay here!" She exclaims, her face filled with objection to moving on.

"Do you really want to stay here? Not find anyone else? Not be around anymore people? We need to find a civilization, Carol, not an empty goldmine." Ella's patience with her, never ceases to amaze me at times.

"No! If it means I get to eat and drink sodas, then no!"

"Is she always like this?" Mark questions, and Carol sends him a glare.

"Pretty much," I mutter. "Well then stay here, okay? No one is forcing you to do anything, but I'm not staying here. It's great that there's food, but we need a lot more reasons to stay and make a home then just food. I refuse to stay here longer then needed."

"It's lonely," Mark speaks up, "I don't want to stay here either, but I knew I couldn't travel on my own. It's not that I'm not smart enough, I just didn't want to do it."

"You can come with us," Ella offers, and the boy smiles at her. I can't help but think that maybe she does think of the Norovians differently. She's been nothing but kind towards Mark, way nicer then she's been to Carol, but then I also wonder if it's because he's so young. She realizes he didn't choose who he is, but then none of us did. I didn't choose to be an alien to this Earth, and no matter how long I stay here, I don't seem to blend in. I just want to be a part of this planet, I don't want to be classified as an extraterrestrial being.

"Is that alright?" He asks as he glances towards me.

"Of course," I assure him. It will be nice to have a conversation with someone of my kind, because we will see eye to eye on so many matters, even with the age difference.

"Can I come along then, to try and help you find supplies? I have a backpack upstairs that I used to use for school, I could grab it real quick and we could get whatever it is that we need?" He offers, as he stands up, leaving his rocks on the counter.

"Alright, we'll wait." He runs out of the room, and we can hear his footsteps pounding on the stairs.

"You're not serious about this, are you?" Carol questions, once Mark is out of sight.

"Why wouldn't we be?" Ella sighs. "I'm sick of being lonely and not being around people that care or not around a group of people where I feel like I'm at home, where I'm comfortable. I need to find a home, people that I can call my family, and I'm not finding it here in an empty town with a twelve year old boy." She's so exhausted, I can see it in her demeanor and I wish she wasn't like that. I'm exhausted too, but I think she's exhausted internally. She's almost drained from being around people that she thinks doesn't care. I don't know how many times I have to tell her that I care, that she's apart of this team. But that makes me wonder if she only thinks I care only because she is apart of this team, and if she wasn't then I wouldn't care. She's so wrong, though.

"I never thought of that," Carol mutters, and Ella dryly laughs at her.

"That's the thing, you don't think. Open your mind, we cannot not think in the situation we are in. I'm so tired of explaining myself and the situation to you. You don't have to come, come if you want, but you don't have to, and if you do, you had better start becoming apart of this team. That means no more complaining, a lot more helping, and no more arguing. I'm so sick of the arguments." Ella leaves the room, her backpack slung over her shoulder, and soon we hear the front door open then close. I glance at Carol, but not for long, and before I know it, I'm outside too.

"Don't worry about Carol," I say to her. "I think she's one of those humans that get whatever they ask for. She's used to not thinking, and she's used to getting her own way, something that neither of us got."

"It's not even that, Dean, it's everything. I'm sick and tired of traveling with an extra load. She doesn't freaking help do anything, she only ever thinks of herself. All she ever talks about is her ex-boyfriends and how much she misses being with someone. She doesn't care about this team, she's not even apart of this team. She's somewhere else, and you can't be somewhere else in times like this. You need to put everything you have into it. We've all lost everything, and yeah it hurts, but you can't make that the excuse for everything. I'm sick of excuses. She needs to grow up and realize that she has a responsibility to deal with, and it's not just herself." I look across the town, the buildings seeming welcoming as I take in what I've just been told.

"She's not like us, Ella, and that's why she acts the way she does. I'm sick of it too, I'm so tired of her, but it's who she is. She's never suffered, and that's why it's so hard on her." Ella doesn't reply to me, and I almost expected her not too. She's angry, and I don't blame her. I'm angry too. I'm even angry at her. She doesn't think that anyone cares about her, and that's crap. Like both Carol and I said, not everyone is out to get her, and she needs to start seeing and believing that.

I look down at her, and I can't help but notice they way the sun hits her brown hair, making it look a lot lighter in color. It also brings out the deep colors in her eyes, and I can't help but realize how truly beautiful she is. Why haven't I noticed this before? Sure, I always knew she was beautiful, but she's more then that. She's like the sun. Bright and beautiful, but so easily taken for granted. She's the light in this journey, and I don't think she knows how important she is.

"I'm back!" Mark announces as the door opens. We both turn around to meet him, a large blue backpack strung across his back.

"Let's go then," I say and we begin to walk down the middle of the road, before I ask him where we should look.

"Definitely the grocery store. I've searched pretty much everywhere else, and there we would get the best supplies," he shrugs. "Plus, I don't like the idea of stealing from the houses where my friends used to live."

"Alright, where is it at then?" Ella asks, and we set off, hoping to find more supplies other then peanut butter and canned fruit.