The group stood outside of the building that housed the party. The evening breeze blew on their hair and skin, moving some dresses in the wind. It was mostly dim, aside from a dull orange glow.

"Well, here we are!" Maddie smiled, opening the door for everyone, releasing loud music out into the outdoors. Frost moved to take the door from her and Maddie entered, Ryft and the rest of the group following suit. Frost was the last in, shutting the door behind them and remaining there.

The room was about the size of half of a football field. Along the back wall was a DJ area, along with a dance floor. Along the right side wall was a concessions stand that lacked concessions. Other than that, the room was large, sparsely decorated, and full of people. Also, it was very loud.

Raven shrunk to the back of the group while Atlas and Silver surged forward.

"YEET!" Atlas shouted, running at full speed towards the dance floor.

Right behind her, Silver was giggling uncontrollably. This was the fun they had craved for months.

"C'mon, Jade!" Ryft grabbed the other girl's hand. "No one go alone! Buddy system, please!" She added over her shoulder.

Soul and Spirit stuck together, of course. They were as shifty as always, making their way to the empty concession stand to find a place to camp out.

Upset they had left her, Cricket chased Ryft and Jade. She was slightly offended and didn't want to be left with an unenthusiastic Fang.

That left Fang and Raven, both of whom would rather not be there. It only took a look between them to agree to hide in a dark corner together.

-Jade-

Ryft pulled Jade by the wrist to the near right corner.

"What's going on?" Jade asked, running after Ryft who promptly stopped.

"I don't know why, but I don't really trust this place." Ryft explained hurriedly. "I'm going to find out as much as I can from the local people."

"Yeah..." Jade agreed. She had found it strange that Cavy had a gun along with the alleged snipers. The gun abolishment act of 2034 made it nearly impossible to own even a pistol. Firearms were so rare that it would be strange to find one. Jade's mother had told her that the act nearly started a second civil war.

"Count me in!" Cricket popped up behind Jade, making her jump.

"Oh- of course!" Ryft laughed nervously, feeling bad for leaving Cricket. "Just don't tell anyone- especially Atlas and Silver - that we're gathering info. They really need this day off."

"Yes, Ma'am!" Cricket saluted.

"Understood!" Jade went along with the military theme. Time to talk to some strangers.

-Atlas-

Atlas weaved through the mass of people, enjoying the bass pumping through the speakers. She knew Silver was close behind. Their bond had become much stronger in the past month.

She began to dance, boping to the rhythm with the synchronized pulse of the crowd. Silver danced in front of her, facing Atlas.

People were beginning to take notice of their enthusiasm and slowly began to watch the pair. A circle began to form around them and cheers sounded here and there.

Atlas loved this. She felt so alive. Silver looked somewhat nervous, but didn't stop dancing. The song had changed to a faster one and the cheers got louder. Was this a dance-off now?

She wasn't sure but judging by the look Silver gave her, it was about to be.

-Cricket-

"Hey!" Cricket greeted a pair of teens, shouting to be heard over the bass.

"Hi!" A male answered, turning his attention to Cricket and scanning her.

Slightly uncomfortable now that she'd started a conversation and didn't know exactly how to continue, Cricket shifted her weight and gave a nervous laugh. "So, How long have you guys been living here?"

"Since birth!" Answered a female, smiling warmly. "I was born here. Sage here came from Urbandale- traveled here about a week after the blast."

It was clear the two were close -maybe even dating.

"So, what do you think of Goose?" Cricket tried to sound casual. She didn't want to let them know she was new quite yet.

There was a slight pause, as if they pondered her question.

"I think he's pretty cool!" The female spoke first. "I mean, he was probably the most popular kid in school- no wonder he rose to the top!"

"Yeah, he's cool." The male agreed. "He keeps up morale for the most of us while outside gangs are kept at bay by those who volunteer."

"Outside forces?" Cricket was slightly taken aback. "Tell me more."

—

-Soul-

Soul smirked and ducked below the counter, sitting to face Spirit. "So, we're gathering info, eh?" No conversation was beyond the ears of Soul.

Spirit sighed. "Why didn't they ask us to help? We're useful.." the girl was slightly offended.

Soul shrugged, a look of resentment passing over her features. "They still don't trust us, remember?" She moved some blonde hair behind her ear.

Spirit frowned sadly. "That's true..."

A slight pause in the conversation was created, a feeling of sadness hanging in between the two girls.

Finally, Soul broke the silence.

"What if we just leave?"

"What? No!" Spirit stuttered, taken aback by Soul's suggestion. "We can't! That's why they were suspicious with us in the first place, right?"

"Barely." Soul broke eye contact with Spirit and looked at the ground. "I don't think they ever trusted us."

"To be fair, we did try to steal their food." Spirit shrugged.

"But what if they never trust us?" Soul ignored Spirit, beginning to worry. "What if the group decides to move out and they just dip without telling us?"

"Soul..." Spirit sighed. "If they do, it's their loss. We have each other no matter what, okay? Plus, they can't afford to lose you. Not since lately-"

"Stop." Soul interrupted abruptly. "I- I'm sorry. I just- really don't like talking about it."

"It's okay. I'm sorry." Spirit put her hand on Soul's shoulder. "I went to far, it won't happen again."

"Thank you, Spirit." Soul smiled.

-Ryft-

About an hour had passed and Ryft had learned a few things. One being that though united, the Des Moines civilization was surprisingly separate. Sometimes, fights broke out and had to be broken up by guards or other teens.
Another thing that she learned was that the surviving kids had managed to break into the police stations around the city, thus obtaining the forbidden guns.
Also there was a lot of drug use. Goose had quit trying to police it.

Ryft caught sight of Fang hanging around the bathroom entrances and decided to go over to him.

"Hey, you enjoying the party?" She asked, reaching the boy.

To this, Fang shrugged.

"Where's Raven?" Ryft asked, feeling her stomach drop at the girl's absence.

"She's been in the bathroom for the last twenty minutes." Fang spoke only just loud enough to be heard over the crowd.

"What?! And you're okay with this?" Ryft scolded in alarm. "Why haven't you checked on her?!"

"Figured it was lady problems." Fang mumbled uncomfortably, looking at his feet.

To this, Ryft scoffed and entered the girl's bathroom hurriedly. There was no door, just a hallway curving sharply into a room with stalls.

To her dismay, Ryft rounded the corner to see Raven on the floor with two girls talking hurriedly to her. Raven was shuddering and there was something trying to grow from her back.

"Raven!" Ryft shouted, skidding down to her knees at the girl's side. The two strangers turned their faces to watch Ryft.

"You know her?!" The shorter one gasped. She had silky black hair, tan skin, and dark brown eyes.

"Thank God!" The taller girl exclaimed, widening her dark blue eyes. She had to be at least 5'11.

"Fang, get help!" Ryft shouted, hoping to be heard by the awkward male. The two strangers flinched.

Raven was shuddering violently, a sheen of sweat showing on her exposed skin. Her breathing was incredibly labored and fast. It sounded almost like she was trying to scream. There were small dark dots trying to grow out of her skin on her face and back of her neck. She had tears streaming out of her shut eyes.

"Oh my God, oh my God-!" Ryft had no idea what to do. Raven was dying! Was it parasitic? Was it... them?

"Which one of you did this?!" Ryft shouted angrily at the shorter girl who flinched backwards instantaneously.

"Hey! Don't go pointing fingers!" The taller girl asserted. "Rosa is just trying to help!"

"I came in and heard someone crying!" The black-haired girl- Rosa- explained hurriedly. "I knocked on the stall and asked if she was okay, but when the door opened, she could hardly stand!"

"And that's when I walked in." The taller girl continued Rosa's explanation. She ran her fingers through her brown hair, which was in a pixie cut. "She's been like this for the last five minutes."

Ryft nodded, acknowledging the story, before tapping Raven's face. "Raven! It's me, Ryft! Can you hear me?"

To this, Raven responded with a small whimper.

Ryft was doing her best to not hyperventilate. "Can someone get some toilet paper and run it under cold water?" She didn't look up from Raven. "Fang... where are you?"

—

-Silver-

The dance battle that Atlas and Silver started had escalated much past them. Silver found herself as part of the ring, watching Atlas and a random male duke it out. She didn't know someone could dance for a straight hour. But then again, this was Atlas she was thinking about.

Suddenly, a hand firmly gripped Silver's right arm and she was yanked out of the circle and into the general crowd. Silver screamed, startled, but she wasn't very audible over the blast of the music. She came face-to-face with a panicking Jade.

"Where's Atlas?" Jade asked hurriedly.

Unable to process everything, Silver pointed shakily to the dance-off circle.

"Oh, for God's sake!" Jade exclaimed, frustrated.

"Jade, what's going on?!" Silver needed to yell to be heard over the pulsing bass.

"Raven's in trouble, Fang told me to get you and then left to find help." Jade was very stressed, to say the least. "Atlas will have to find us on her own, there's no time." Jade began to drag Silver through the crowd towards the bathrooms.

"But the buddy system!" Silver squeaked, worried about Atlas.

"Right now, getting you to Raven is priority!" Jade pushed past a large group, which spat profanities at her. She ignored this.

Finally, they managed to make it to the girl's bathroom. Turning the corner, they found Ryft, Soul, Spirit, and two strangers.

"I got Silver!" Jade exclaimed, skidding to a stop behind Ryft.

"Good! Silver, come here!" Ryft called without looking up.

Silver kneeled down next to Ryft, absolutely horrified at what she was seeing.

Are those... parasites?!

Ryft looked at Silver expectantly.

"W-What?" Silver was shaking now.

"Heal her! You can heal her, right?!" Ryft met Silver's panicked gaze.

"No! I can't!" Silver shouted in exasperation. Does she think I can control my healing?

Ryft looked from Silver to Raven in pure terror.

"We need to move her!" Spirit spoke up, moving closer to Raven. "Soul, get her left arm, I've got her right. Blue, Rosa, please help us!"

"Okay!" Rosa spoke while Blue, the taller of the two strangers, moved to take Raven's left leg.

"Let's get her to the entrance!" Ryft tried to regain some composure. "Fang should meet us soon!"

"Please! Hurry!" Silver whimpered.

Hang in there, Raven.. we need you!