Year E3029

Ocea

"Hold on," my mom said, prompting me to peek back at the Men Of Suits. Through the bushes, the scene of humans and safforians lined up as they scanned their foreheads. Others arranged their lives, believing they had the right to control them.

"Blue," the lady in the lab coat said after scanning the next one in line. "No movement besides the parts the chip is controlling."

The man next to her hummed in approval. "Assign him for the Men Of Suits program," he said, guiding the man to an unfamiliar area than the others.

A hand gripped my forearm, prompting me to look over at Wyatt. "Umm, let's keep going before they spot us," he said, pulling on my arm.

"Yes," my mom replied. "Do you know how much further?" she asked while Fin jumped a tall fence.

I looked up at the fence towering over me. It was too tall for my reach while I glanced at Fin through the slits in the rockwood panels. He motioned for me to move quickly with an attitude on his face.

Wyatt turned to my mom, intertwining his fingers together. He leaned his back against the barrier. "Here," he said to me while crouching down. "Foot on hands, and I'll leverage you over the fence."

I placed my foot on his hands, grabbing his shoulders. He lifted me while I gripped the top of the fence.

"We are about less than a mile away. You know where the cyprine shop is?" Wyatt responded to my mom, out of breath from my weight.

I pulled on the fence, barely lifting myself. I wrapped my arm around, hooking my armpit as I looked down at Wyatt.

"Yes. Didn't some teenager try to burn it down?" I said, as a hand touched my elbow.

I looked over to see the green-haired boy from earlier. He was part of the Saviors, but his welcome was not as friendly. The group that let Thomas walk off into emptiness. I knew I was just as much at fault for allowing Thomas to leave, but they knew what was happening. They could have helped. Right?

"Yes, I am that teenage kid that burned it down. I am Stopper," he said with a smile. "You can call me Stop, but most friends call me Stud."

"Nobody calls you that," Wyatt said with a whine from holding me up.

Stopper straddled the fence with his arms out. I reached while he helped me the rest of the way. I sat on the top with him eyeing me for too long.

"Hey." He pointed at me. "You are that girl from earlier. The one that ran off on that beetle."

I jumped, trying to get away from him. "Yeah, I didn't run far enough."

My mom landed in front of me. "Ocea, be nice to your friends," she said, following Fin.

"He's not my friend." I glared at Stopper.

Stopper shrugged his shoulders. "Yeah, I'm a lot to take in on the first day."

Wyatt jumped from the fence, landing next to Stopper. "That's an understatement." Wyatt shoved him, then walked by, pulling Fin back. "This way will be safer."

Fin pointed to the side. "But this is faster."

"Sometimes faster isn't always the right answer." Wyatt walked in his direction without letting Fin protest.

Fin crossed his arms over his chest while the wind picked up. His blue hair swiped across his forehead as a huff escaped his lips. His eyes glanced my way as he motioned for me to follow Wyatt.

Stopper shouldered Fin. "Some are born leaders," he said, looking at Wyatt, then at me with a wink. "And some aren't."

I glared at Stopper. "Some are born douchebags," I said, then ran up to Wyatt, walking beside him.

We ducked next to a house while voices from the inside prompted us to crawl alongside the grass. A girl's voice yelled in anger while a man argued back with her. Don't they know Safforia was under attack by some dystopian group? Maybe figure out your marriage later.

A loud thud in the distance shook my feet. I glanced at the horizon while orange smoke flew into the air. Another explosion flared near us, shaking the house while glass shattered. Wyatt wrapped his arm around me, ducking us under a porch table. A stinging pain shot up my arm. I glanced down to see a large piece of glass in it. Red poured down, dripping from my fingers.

"Ocea," Wyatt said in a muffled voice.

✧✧✧

"Ocea," Thomas's sweet voice echoed in my head. "Ocea."

I glanced up from my feet, fading out of my memory. The dark, forbidden forest surrounded me. Thomas stood in front of me with a confused expression. I glanced over his shoulder to see Dylan and Becca watching me, too.

"Umm, yeah. Sure, go for it," I said, causing Becca to laugh.

Dylan tilted his head. "No. She didn't hear him."

"Too bad. You owe me a moon rock," Becca said, pointing at Dylan with her other hand. "Cough it up, buttercup."

"Wait," I straight-smiled at Thomas. "What did you ask?"

Thomas continued walking beside me. "We were—" he said, looking at Dylan. "Discussing the chips and the best way to remove them."

"Oh, I don't think removing them is smart." I stopped, looking behind me at Becca. "I know it's eating at you to get it removed as soon as possible, but I feel it is best that we figure out the source of them first."

Dylan smiled with excitement in his step. "Yes. We have to go back to the beginning." He looked at Becca. "Who owes who a moon rock now?"

Becca rolled her eyes at him. "Let's just call it a tie."

I glanced at the dark sky. The forbidden forest was a maze at night. Without the sun to light up our path, sometimes the trees played tricks, guiding us to the wrong area. The moons were low tonight, giving zero reflection beside the silhouette of the low vegetation.

A nightwind bird chirped in the tree above me, causing me to stop and watch it flutter its wings. Its feathers glowed a bright red color, trying to make itself look like an insect, but a sunhover swooped down, grabbing it from the tree. As the sunhover zigzagged through the forest, branches whipped at it, trying to kill it.

Dylan walked by me. "This way," he said, pointing into the dark. "I think."

The glow buzz on my dress stretched while a clicking sound in the distance perked it up. Its wing buzzed before taking off, circling my face. The noise picked up in pace, waking the other glow buzz. The bugs attached to the others flew around our faces. I glanced at Thomas while he watched the glowing insect hover around his nose. He looked at me as the bug sped into the dark after the clicking noise.

Thomas stepped closer to me. "Where are they going?" he asked, eyeing the bush by us.

The needles shook a little as dirt pooled around the bass before a shadow jumped out of the pinethorn bush. The figure had all four glow buzzes snuggled on his shoulder, brightening his green hair.

"To their leader!" Stopper yelled, then pointed behind him. "The camp is this way. You shitheads are walking the wrong way."

Dylan looked up and went in a circle. "No," he said, pointing down our original path. "Shit." He strolled by Stopper on an alternative, with Becca right behind him.

A tiny, dim light shadowed the forest bed while we walked to the camp. The sign Stopper hung sideways while the wind swung it around. Camp Corn Pops, a mudhole. As I walked up to the fire center of the camp, Wyatt joined us from the rock cave.

"Ah, you found them," Wyatt said, looking at Becca. "The cave is for sleeping. There are two handmade hammocks and three leaf beds." He glanced over at Thomas. "The bathroom is the wood shack behind the cave. As you can see, we built a crappy fence around this oasis, and the only way in and out is under the broken sign."

"I'll fix that tomorrow morning," Stopper added, putting his arm over my shoulder. "Also, behind the willow veins is a shower."

I pushed his arm off me. "That thing didn't even work when you built it years ago."

Wyatt shrugged his shoulders while Dylan rolled a log over to sit on. They both sat down as Becca played with the dirt at her feet. She bit her lip, eyeing Wyatt.

"I will fix the shower and the sign tomorrow," Stop said, bringing a willow log over for Becca. "Here, the best for the queen."

I rolled my eyes while Becca glared at him. "Well, you best be sitting because the Joker always tests my things before I use them."

Wyatt laughed with Dylan before he stood up. "Here, take this spot next to Dyl." He walked around the fire, kicking the willow log Stop brought over. It rolled slightly, then broke in half.

We sat around the fire, daydreaming into the silence. Becca fell asleep on Dylan's shoulder while Thomas sat on the hard ground, closing his eyes. Wyatt kicked dirt onto the last ashes of the flame before walking to Becca. He lifted her, bringing her into the cave.

With Dylan helping Thomas to his bed, Stopper stayed with his eyes, watching the dead fire.

"You coming to bed?" I asked him.

"Yeah, but could you hold up for a minute?" He stood from the ground, grabbing his backpack.

Stopper shuffled through it for a moment until he pulled out a notebook. I recognized it right away. My dad's drawing notebook from when he was younger.

"Stopper!" I yelled at him, yanking it from his hands. "What did I tell you about going into my room?"

"Yeah, yeah," he replied, pulling at the book, but I wouldn't let go. He stepped closer, forcing it open from my grip. "I went into your room on purpose."

"Yeah, because the past times were accidents." I pulled back, closing my dad's book.

"Ocea, stop," he whispered, then gently touched his dirty fingers on the drawing book again. "I know why the spaceship door is familiar to us now," he said.

I let the notebook go, letting him flip through the pages. "On the last page." He stopped, pointing at the drawing. "I have flipped through this drawing book hundreds of times, waiting for you. Who drew this?" he asked. "Why do you have this?"

I glanced at the drawing while Stopper held up the notebook for me. My fingers traced over the number on the ship. "This was my—" I said to Stopper, not finishing my sentence because it would give away my secret. "He drew things."

"Three hundred and ten," Stopper said. "Same number."

I eyed the number closer. Was this a sign?

"This has to be one of the first ships down from the Nus," Stopper said. "The same ship door we found in the forest."

A sign of hope?

"Stopper," I said, glancing up at him. "This is amazing." I wrapped my arms around him, hugging his shoulders tight. Within a split second, I pulled away. "You know what this means, right?"

"Yes," he replied in a high-pitched voice. "No," he changed his mind. "Well, cool. We found the same door, but why does that matter?"

"Stop, my father was one of the first on Safforia from Nus. Finding the ship could be a step closer to the beginning of the Men Of Suits." I looked closer at the drawing. The pencil led faded over time while areas smudged. "I know this could mean nothing, but this feels like a calling."

"Wait," Stopper said, stepping back from me. "Your father?"

I looked up with wide eyes. My expression was in shock from slipping. Stopper stepped back from me, racking his eyes over me. He crossed his arms over his chest, trying to think. Like a light bulb, his eyes widened while he pointed at me.

"You-You-You—" he stuttered. "Nooo, this can't be," he said, scratching his head.

"Stopper." I stepped closer to him with my hands on his shoulders. "I am an interspecies offspring. My mom is a safforian, and my dad is a human. I know I should have told you and—"

"What?" a voice from behind me echoed in terror. I spun around to see Wyatt with his jaw on the ground.

Dylan and Becca stepped out of the cave in the same shock, not knowing what to think. Thomas walked up behind them, brushing his hand through his hair, straight-smiling at me.

"Fucking incredible," Stop said.

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