-:one month later:-

Dawn arrived on a day just like every other. But today was special. It was only that no one knew it was... just yet.

The bunker was calm. They had all been outside by this point--at least once, but a few had decided they hated being outside and rarely left after that. They went outside fairly often as a matter-of-fact, as most young kids hated being locked inside all day long, and so they played around in what was basically the "front yard" of the bunker. That, however, was about as far as they'd really gone. They didn't have any reason to, and they all remembered a little too clearly what the woman with the red hair had said.

No one was awake yet. But that was going to change. Right. Now.

A scream tearing through the dead silence of sleep.

Summer leaped to her feet--being the first to do so.

Finny, shaking his head and rubbing his eyes, muttered a slew of colorful words under his breath--which Summer immediately scolded him for. They were both used to it at this point, but that didn't stop them.

Summer gasped, noticing a short figure standing at the other side of the room. It was a boy with curly dark hair and a freckled face. It looked to Summer that he was about... 11. His brown eyes were wide with utter terror and he looked like he was going to scream again at any minute.

"There's another one?" Finny growled, "Oh my God--"

"Finny!" Summer snapped. Finny just rolled his eyes at her.

Summer looked around, noticing that everyone else was just kind of staring at him, one way or another.

Regina had an intense curiosity written on her face. 

Naomi and Olly stood just behind her--Olly seemed scared and Naomi was... blank. As usual.

Bernie seemed extremely interested, ready to blast into an onslaught of questions any second now.

Sapphire was glaring intently at this new child, almost like she viewed him as competition.

Azalea had grabbed onto to whoever was nearest to her--which had happened to be Quinn. Quinn was gently trying to push her off without hurting her feelings.

And Sawyer, oh Sawyer, seemed extremely confused and extremely concerned. Summer rushed over to Sawyer, trying to explain what had happened.

"T-There's a new kid here! He screamed, and everyone is awake now--" Summer's voice dropped to a whisper as she added, "--but nobody really knows what to do right now."

Summer waited for Sawyer to say that she understood, but she was interrupted by a shout.

"What did you do to me?!" the boy screamed. Even with his clear distress, his Irish accent was still very strong.

Naomi cracked her knuckles and stepped forward. She walked almost directly up to the boy. He started to step away, but she raised her hands up peacefully, and he stayed.

"You need to calm down..." she said slowly in her quiet voice. "We're all friends here. The same thing happened to all of us."

"W-What?" the boy seemed a lot calmer already, but still a little jumpy.

"All of us lost our memories too..." Naomi paused, "Most of our memories, anyways..."

"What does that mean?" the boy's voice was strained, but he seemed to be alright now.

"We don't need to talk about that. Just... talk to me. What's your name?"

The boy hesitated.

"That's okay. My name is--" Naomi started.

"Max. Max... is my name."

"That's great, Max. My name is Naomi."

"Can you... explain... what's going on?" Max said.

"None of us really know," Naomi's voice seemed to go even quieter than usual, even that was even possible. "About a month ago, we all wore the same shoes as you. We're just trying to make everything make sense."

"I don't understand..."

"You're not the only one," Summer suddenly said, stepping into the conversation. This conversation needed some sunshine; it was far too rainy. "But that doesn't make any difference! As long as we all work together a team, we can figure all this out...!"

"You don't have to listen to her," Finny leaned over, whispering to Max. At this point, Summer was seated next to Olly and Naomi--the only people that could consistently put up with her. "I certainly don't."

Max only seemed more confused than he had been, but Finny didn't seem to take any notice at all, as he had already turned away.

Max stood in the same place for a long while, watching the 10 other kids separate into several small groups.

Not a single one of them had introduced themselves outside of Naomi. Max realized he was going to have to figure all this out by himself.

As he stared awkwardly and confusedly around the room, a tiny girl with blonde pigtails hopped on up to him.

"Hi!" she chirped.

Max blinked. He decided he couldn't just ignore her. That was rude, and he wanted to make the best first impression that he could. Aside from well... 

"...Hi."

"You look confused."

"I feel confused."

"Why?"

Max really couldn't decide what to say that she would understand. There was a lot of things confusing him, none of which he wanted to explain to the little girl he had just met. He hesitated for a moment.

"Hey... What's your name?"

"My name's Lea! But you didn't answer my question...!"

She was too smart for that, okay.

"I was just... wondering about outside."

It wasn't entirely wrong.

"Oh... It's mostly just desert, all sandy and hot and dry. Summer really likes it."

Max had no idea which of the girls was Summer, but didn't bother to ask. He hadn't necessarily meant just outside the bunker... more about the outside world. There must be something out there, someone. They just couldn't be all alone...!

"Why are we here?" he asked, unable to bite back his curiosity any longer.

"Well... I don't really know. This lady told us it was to keep us safe."

"What? What lady?"

"When we all woke up... a lady appeared on the screen over there!" Lea pointed over to the monitor dug into the wall on the side of the room. "She said it wasn't safe outside of the desert, and she told us all to stay here."

Max's eyebrows furrowed.

He was going to figure all this out, even if the only help he had was a six-year-old named Lea.