Part 1: Haven

The Only One

He decided to call himself Echo that day two weeks ago, the day his sister was ripped away from him. He didn't remember much about life before the end of the world, before his parents were killed, so he didn't miss them all that much. He had enough to worry about. He missed his sister terribly. After all, she was the one who protected him all those years afterward, as he had only been eight years old. He'd lived with her for seven years, by themselves, relying on nobody else. She told him to always rely on yourself, or else you'd run the risk of being let down, betrayed, or forgotten. That was why they'd never joined a pack.

There had been offers, of course. Everyone wanted young people, to keep it going when the others grew old. She always refused and he never protested. He trusted his sister.

They grew up together, staying solely in their city, on the Loner side. Sometimes, he'd hear someone in a pack call it the Looney side. No one in the right mind isolated themselves when the world was ending. There were others on the Loner side, but they never helped each other. They were all loners, just like they wanted.

Even though the apocalypse and the world wars killed most of the world's population, the big cities still had a reasonable amount of people living there. They still had laws, and food and fresh water was distributed. The smaller cities belonged to the gangs and packs, where there was no order and no regulations. It was a death zone to intruders. Usually, the smaller cities had two packs. With no one else to fight, they always fought each other. The human race loved to fight. They lived to die.

That's why he stayed with his sister on the Looney side of the small city, where it was safe from gangs and packs. There wasn't nearly as much noise, but there was still the light sound of talking, clanking, footsteps, and wind, and they called it the city noise. It was peacefully quiet almost all the time.

One day, it was eerily quiet. There were no footsteps, no voices, and the wind wasn't even blowing. They instantly knew something was wrong. Cautiously, his sister told him to wait in the dark alley while she took a look, and as soon as she stepped out, he could hear the sounds of many guns clicking. He remembered the voice clearly. "Don't move another muscle. We're not hunting you, but we won't hesitate to shoot you."

She froze completely and did as he asked.

"Now step further out and put your hands on top of your head. There you go, like that." A man in all black dropped down from the side of the building. "What's your name, little girl?"

"Alyssa," she said calmly.

"How old are you?"

"Twenty," she said.

The man gave her sickeningly sweet smile. "Ah. Is there anyone else with you?"

"No," she lied.

"Good. Take her back to camp." A group of men had dropped from the buildings and surrounded her in a second.

The boy watched them with his heart in his throat. He remembered thinking that this couldn't be happening. They began to take her away, and he couldn't stand there watching anymore. He ran out of the alley way and tried to tackle one of the men, but he was too small and the man didn't even budge. He just looked down and smugly said, "What do we have here?"

"Run!" his sister cried. "Run, you idiot, run! Please, get out of here!"

He remembered hesitating a split second too long and giving the man enough time to grab him around the throat with his enormous hand. He let out a choked yelp and tried to pull away, but he was too small and not strong enough. "What do you think you're doing, little twerp?" the man hissed.

The boy just made a squeaky noise of distress.

"What should we do to him? He's too small to be useful." The man pulled out a knife and the boy's heart beat faster and faster. His frantic eyes flickered between the knife point coming closer to his face and the man's morbid smile.

"Do whatever you want," the leader said. "I don't want to see him here again."

"I'll cut your eyes out," the boy's captor whispered. "For seeing too much. Then I'll cut your tongue out so you can't tell anyone what you've seen or heard or felt. And for good measure, I'll force you to eat 'em."

He remembered starting to cry as he was filled with overwhelming terror, even though he had never been a boy who cried.

His sister attacked the men with everything she had. They quickly restrained her before she could get to him. "Let him go and I'll come with you," she begged.

"Of course we'll let him go," the man said sweetly, lifting him off of the ground and resting the knife against the corner of his eye. "After we're finished with him."

"Let him go now, and then I'll come with you without resisting," she said.

The leader called the man's name, and he finally released the boy's throat, only after cutting him, just below his right eye. He cried out in pain as he immediately felt blood seep out and trickle down his face, and as soon as he was free, he pressed his hand against his face to try and stop the bleeding. It didn't stop.

"Get out of here before I let him cut your eyes out," the leader growled.

He scrambled to his feet and tried to tackle them again, but they stopped him before he could break through the lines. He screamed and fought against the men's grip, but he couldn't break free and was forced to watch as they dragged his sister away.

"Now I'm gonna take your prying little eyes, little twerp," the first man growled, seizing his wrist and yanking him toward the knife.

The boy screamed and fought back as the knife moved closer and closer. The tears fell more frequently, blurring his vision and making him weak. The knife was close enough to cut him -

Echo found himself gripping the rim of the sink tight enough to make his knuckles white. He pulled himself out of the past and forced himself to focus on the present. He was alone now, and he had been for nearly two weeks, with only the flashbacks of that day to keep him company. He stared at his determined reflection in the grimy mirror and touched the two scabs under his eye, where the cuts were still healing.

He took a deep breath and brushed through his auburn hair with his hand, wishing for something sweet to suck on. He hadn't had something sugary in nearly seven years, but he never forgot the taste. He remembered the honey sticks his parents would buy, and how he'd always pick the one that matched his hair color. That was really the only thing he remembered about life before the apocalypse.

After he'd finally broken away from the men that day two weeks prior, he'd run from the city, away from the men who tormented everyone there, escaping into the uninhabited wilderness. He wandered along an old freeway for days without food or water until he found a muddy creek - a creek that was probably a river. Rain hadn't fallen in North America for four or five or six years. There was hardly any water in the creek, but there was mud, so he'd scooped the dirt out until there was a tiny pool of muddy water, and it had been enough to sustain him until he got to this new city. No one travelled from city to city, so everyone had avoided him. This city had something strange going on. All the people he'd met talked about a pack called the Raiders that controlled the city, and yet, hardly anyone had seen them. The situation was fishy, and he didn't like it at all. Even though his original idea had been to find someone willing to help him find his sister, the whole city was too ... strange. It was nothing like the cities Alyssa talked about. It was very different from his own. He determined to find water and try to leave the city as soon as possible.

He stared at himself for another minute before he sighed and left the crumbling bathroom. Alyssa had told him that some of the old pipes still worked, and that maybe there'd be some running water somewhere. He'd been busy checking every building on this street.

It took him a minute, but years of experience helped him climb out of the debris and clamber down to the streets below. He wandered down the cracked pavement, trying to memorize every new sign and landmark as he walked. This city was quiet, too.

After a moment, he felt a pair of eyes on his back. He turned, scanning the crumbling buildings, and noticed that many of them were burnt out, like this city had been bombed. "Hello?" he called out, still scanning. He thought he could see someone walking toward him, but they were far away. He squinted to try and see better, but before he could get a good look at the newcomer, a pair of hands wrapped around his mouth and throat. His attacker pulled him down to the ground and pinned him by digging her knee into his gut, still keeping one hand around his throat and the other over his mouth. He gasped in pain and surprise and tried to push her over, but a second girl forced his arms against the road and knelt down on them, keeping him from moving more than a little lurch. Both of them were wearing black leather.

"Empty his pockets," the first ordered, keeping a firm hold on him.

He struggled, but he couldn't breathe and he was panicking. Were these the Raiders everyone was so afraid of?

"He's got nothing in his pockets except a Swiss army knife. Wonder where he got that?" the second said.

"Get off of me! I can't breathe!" he tried to say, but they could barely hear him, much less understand him.

"Anything tucked in his shirt?"

He protested loudly, but the second girl stuck her hand down the front of his shirt and found the locket he always wore close to his heart. She pulled it out and popped it open. She saw what was inside and immediately snapped it shut again, dropping it back on his chest.

"What's in it?" the first asked.

"A picture," the second replied.

"Of what?"

"His family. He's alone."

The first snorted. "Better for us, then. Take the knife. We'll knock him unconscious and get out of here before the Raiders catch us." She gave him a smirk. "Or before they beat the tar out of you before we can."

Echo decided that he didn't like this city.

The second girl tucked the knife down her shirt for safe keeping and then the two of them dragged him to his feet, the second linking her arms with his around his back and holding him in place. The first girl released his mouth and throat and he started coughing, trying to catch his breath. She wound up to throw a nasty punch and he panicked again.

"Hey - wait - can't we talk about this?" he asked, his voice embarrassingly high pitched. "You can have the knife. You can have anything you want. Just wait - no - please don't - "

She threw that punch, her fist cracking across his eye and nose. The second girl released him just before impact and he toppled over backward, landing hard on his back as his face throbbed and stars swam through his vision. It hurt like crazy, of course, but at the same time, it was numb and he couldn't feel a thing. His hand flew up to his nose and he noticed that he was bleeding. She moved to hit him again, and he quickly flipped over onto his side and curled up to protect his face and head. Before the blow came, however, he heard the sound of three pairs of feet landing on the dirt, and the girls paused. He glanced up for a second to see them surrounded by three people. One of them had some sort of biker helmet that concealed his eyes and was wearing a black jacket. Another had neat blond hair and a baggy coat with a white and blue mask covering half of his face, and the third had a real sword that took most of the attention. The three didn't match like the other packs did, but he thought that maybe these people were part of the Raiders.

Nobody moved for a long, tense minute.

Finally, one of the girls held her hands up in a timeout gesture and said, "Alright, you can have him. Sorry to bother you - "

The one in the biker helmet gave a quick nod and the three of them attacked in unison. Echo quickly ducked his head back down, but they weren't after him. A moment later, the biker guy grabbed his wrist and pulled him to his feet and into a sprint.

"You okay, kid?" he asked, his voice distorted by some speaker in the helmet.

"I think - "

"Good. Give me two seconds and we'll get you safe." The guy released him and spun around to rejoin the fight.

Echo wanted to keep running, but now he had no way to protect himself, since they'd stolen his knife, so he slowed and waited nervously, quickly tucking his locket back into his shirt. He kept his hand up to his face to try and stop the bleeding.

The one in the blue mask had what looked like strings or ropes he'd attached to one of the girls, and he seemed to control her every moment - everything except her screaming for him to let her go. After only a moment, she'd backed her friend up against the wall, pulled the knife out of her shirt, and handed it to the one with the sword.

"Get lost," the biker helmet guy growled. "And don't even think about showing your faces here again."

They both nodded, and then the masked one released the ropes and they both scrambled away, down the opposite street.

The three others walked casually back toward him, talking like they owned the place. They reached him and the masked one asked, "This is him?"

"Yeah. I'm sure of it," the sword guy said. He had a British accent, Echo noticed, and then his heart hurt again. Alyssa had been a great voice imitator, and taught him lots of accents. He recognized the first one as someone from the American region, most likely someone from the east coast.

"Okay then. I guess we'll get started. I'm Puppet," the masked one said, sticking out his hand.

"Uh ... " Echo said brilliantly, slowly shaking his hand with the one that wasn't covered in blood from his nosebleed. "Your name's Puppet?"

He laughed once. "Well, no, not really. Who would name their kid Puppet? That's what I go by here. Haven't been called my real name in a while." He pulled out what looked like a strip of bandage and handed it to him for his nose.

"What is it?" Echo asked, taking the cloth and pressing it up against his nose to try and stop the bleeding. "Your real name, I mean."

"That's where I stop you. Sorry."

"I'm Rogue," the one with the sword said. "That's Noisestorm. We call him Noise, because it's easier to say. Take off your helmet. You're probably scaring the poor kid."

"Like your sword isn't?" The last one pulled the helmet over his head, revealing a young man with messy black hair and mischievous eyes. "Like he said, I'm Noise. I'm in charge of this operation." This one had either an Irish or a Scottish accent; Echo couldn't tell.

"No, you're not," Rogue protested. "I am."

"Hate to break it to you, but Rogue's right," Puppet said unhelpfully.

"Oh, yeah?" Noise argued. "Who gives the signals? Who keeps everyone on track?"

"Who did Tris call? Me," Rogue snapped.

"Who does he constantly tell to stop calling him Tris? You."

"I don't see what that has to do with anything."

"Hate to break it to you ... again ... but ... " Puppet pointed down the street and raised his voice. "THE KID IS GETTING AWAY."

Echo glanced behind him as he ran and immediately regretted it as he saw how fast they were coming after him. He regretted it a second time as he ran head on into a lamp post and knocked himself over.

"Good work, kid," Noise said sarcastically as they slowed and stood over him. "Way to knock yourself out."

"Don't be a jerk." Rogue held out his hand and helped Echo stand back up. "Why were you running away? We're only trying to help you."

"I ... " he paused awkwardly, having nothing to say.

"We're taking you back to the Raiders, where you'll get acquainted and then you'll talk to Tristam; he's the one who wants to see you."

"Wait," Echo stepped back. "I'm not going to join your pack."

Puppet started laughing, but then awkwardly trailed off as he saw his expression. "You're serious?"

"I'm a loner," Echo said, feeling his heart flutter nervously. He subconsciously pressed the cloth harder against his face.

"Being a loner is like asking to be killed," Noise said. "Going out there alone is suicide."

"You were a loner," Puppet pointed out.

"Aren't you a little basket of unhelpful comments?" Rogue muttered.

"How'd you find me?" Noise demanded. "Starving, dehydrated, beaten, half dead. I abandoned my first pack three weeks before. Even if I hated you all, I wouldn't leave. I'm smarter than that. You should be, too." He glared right at the smaller boy in front of him.

"I survived," Echo said softly.

"For how long? Two weeks, it looks like. You're lucky we got you before those girls beat you to death. That's what they do here. The Alphas - they're our rivals. That's why there are no loners in this city. You won't last a night on your own."

"So, what's your name?" Puppet asked, changing the subject.

"Echo," he said.

"Nice." The other grinned at him, and then loosened his mask and let it hang around his neck, wiping sweat from his forehead. "Man, it's hot." Echo noticed that he had what looked like a metal robotic arm, and wondered how it worked when there hadn't been electricity for nearly seven years.

"Come on, kid, let's go," Noise said, starting to walk away.

"I'm not going." Echo backed up a little.

The three exchanged a glance. "Well," Puppet said regretfully, "we didn't want this to be a kidnapping, but ... "

Echo shrieked as he and Noise picked him up effortlessly and carried him away. "Hey! Put me down! I'm not joining you! You'll never make me!"

"Yeah, this is going to be harder than we thought," Rogue muttered.

"You think?" Noise growled.

Puppet just laughed as Echo continued screaming pointless demands, and by then, they were lost in the long shadows of sunset.