Written by roxygal

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 1 - Why Can't You Understand?
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Amber sat down on the bed fuming mad with what Ebony put her and Bray through this past year. And what she did! This was low for Ebony, way low. And the explanation is enough for her to be sick. Love? What does Ebony know about love? Things will never be the same between her and Bray. There will always be something in the way. And Danni, who's Danni? Does Bray really love her. Why do I care? I'm over Bray right?
Amber slid off the bed and reached into a cupboard on the other side of the room. She pulled out a book and pen, sat down on her bed and began to write.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dear Diary
Of all the things happening to me at the moment, finding out that Bray has been caring for someone else nearly the whole time that I had been away has to be the worst. But then he must be thinking the same thing about Pride and me. But Diary you know that nothing has ever happened with Pride and me. Yeah sure we are pledged and everything. But really, we haven't even kissed. I couldn't have, even if I had want to. I would've felt too guilty. No one could ever replace what I had with Bray. But Ebony has made sure, that we will never get to be that way ever again. I wish it could, but I don't know how Bray feels. At the moment he thinks I 'm in love with Pride. Well Pride is wearing my ring. And I did give it to Bray to show my love for him. This is so messed up. Why didn't I go back and check if Ebony's story was true. I should've known that Bray would never have done that to me. But now I just want things to go back to the way they were. Unfortunately I don't think that can happen. I just want to talk to him Diary. I just hope he will talk back.
Sweet Dreams
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Bray explained what happened between him and Amber, and what words had been exchanged.
"Now I'm not so sure if we should of come. Look what happened."
"Come on Bray, it can't be that bad. And Amber is alive," Dal said trying to calm him down.
"Oh can't it. And Amber's dead. Eagle told me that. Our Amber died in a fire on Eagle Mountain and she isn't coming back," He said getting up and walking away before Dal could reply.
Dal was glad though, because he didn't know what he would've said to him.
He knew Amber had changed. But to say that to Bray, the man she once loved, and maybe still did, that was mean and hurtful. Not like the Amber he knew at all. Dal sighed and stood up. He had to talk to Ebony and Lex anyway, about what they were going to do about the Gaians. They had too put forward their case that afternoon if the Gaians were going to join their fight.
Then he had a date with Amber, Eagle, whatever she wants to call herself. He needed to know why she says that Amber's dead. And if she is ever going to return to her family, the Mall Rats and most importantly to being the sister he never had at home? Dal hoped so. But he knew Amber. You can't force her to do anything. She chooses.
'Jeez Ebony, that was really low," Lex said to her.
"Oh shut up Lex, lets just get this prep thing over and done with," She said turning her back to him as Dal and Bray walked in. Bray stared well clear of her eyes, but her eyes followed him to where he was sitting.
"Ok guys, if the Gaians are going to help us we need to put forward a strong case," Bray started.
"I think we should go with the straight talk about what's going to go down," Lex said.
"Oh and scare them off Lex? Great Idea," Ebony said sarcastically.
"She's right. They aren't going to help if we tell them that," Dal said, reluctantly agreeing with Ebony. Who at the moment he despised her as much as Bray.
"Well I think that we should just tell them a bit about the Chosen, what their cause is and so on. About Trudy and Brady, That sort of thing. What will happen if they don't help us," Bray said thinking logically, Dal nodding along.
"I agree," Dal said. "But we have to be careful. They are a very strong tribe now that Amber's the leader."
"Lex?" Bray asked.
Lex stayed silent.
"Come on Lex we need there help," He pleaded.
"Whatever. But I think we are being soft," Lex said. Their gaze turned to Ebony who snorted.
"Like I have a choice. But I'll do it," Ebony said.
"Lex I know this isn't your style but if we don't have their help it will be us against the entire Chosen. And you know who would win if that happened. We can't risk it," Bray said.
"You're the boss right," Lex said.
"For Gods sake Lex, grow up. I have better things to do with my time than argue with you," Bray said getting up.
"Yeah, sulk about Amber," He said under his breath. Bray didn't hear him. But Dal did.
"Come on guys, we're in this together if you like it or not," Dal said, being the peace maker.
"Whatever." Ebony said getting up and walking from the room.
The others followed.
"Right," Bray said.
Lex just scowled as they all walked out.
Dal, Lex and Ebony went off early for the meeting.
Bray went his own way and he walked out to where the lakefront was. He sat there for ages. Just staring out at the lake. Blue water gleaming. Sun reflecting. He just sat there. Thinking about what life had become, he had been through so much after the virus. At first it had been all about Trudy and Brady, keeping them safe. Then Amber. Danni. And now Amber again. There hadn't been much with Danni. She was just too much like Amber. But she was gone now. Never coming back. Just like Amber, or so it seems...


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 2 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Bray stood up. He was wasting too much time thinking about Amber. He had a family to save and his home, he needed to get to work. First thing to do, is to convince to Gaians to help their fight. It wasn't going to be easy.
He got up, dusted his pants off and headed back up the lake front to where he meet Dal about to head in the hall. Dal stopped, waited for Bray and they walked in together.
Amber wasn't there, neither was her friend Pride, he and Amber seemed pretty close. Bray didn't like it very much. But he had to deal, Amber was over him right, and he was over her. Plus, he owed this guy his life. And he was grateful.
He took his place with Lex, Ebony and Dal at the table up the front and sat waiting for Amber and the other Gaians to arrive.
Five minutes later the hall was almost full. Pride appeared at the door followed by several other Gaians. None were Amber.
Bray began to wonder if she was going to come. It had been pretty heated between them. But that shouldn't stop her from coming. This is her tribe. It wasn't her style to back down from confrontation.
As Pride approached he smiled at the Mall Rats.
Bray forced a smile. He was anxious. The Dal smiled stiffly. His faced showed that he too was feeling a bit nervous. Lex and Ebony gave no emotion.
"The meeting will start as soon as Eagle gets here, which should only be a few minutes. She said she would be here very shortly," He said to the Mall Rats who sat in front of him.
They sat back down and waited for Eagle to arrive.
Prides word was right and Eagle arrived just minutes after Pride had finished talking to them.
She walked up to where the others were standing. Everybody in the hall stood and were quiet as she made her way up.
Dal, Lex, Ebony and Bray exchanged looks and stood up with everybody else. Bray kept his eyes either towards the front or towards Dal and the others.
Lex stood there with a smirk on his face. Amber neared him, as she passed to open the meeting in the middle of the stage, he turned slightly so the audience couldn't see what he was saying.
"Well, well, well. Birds do fly," He said in a mock tone.
"Shut up Lex," She said.
"So, it does talk,"He replied.
"Same as always," She said, and took her place at the stand and called the meeting to order.
Bray glared across at Lex.
"What?" He whispered, gesturing with his hands.
Bray just shook his head and looked towards the front.
"We have called this meeting to decide the fate of this tribe. As you all know the people who sit before you, are Mall Rats, founder of the Antidote, and as some will now be aware, my old tribe." She paused to look over at the mall rats. She focused on Bray, their eyes meet for a second, but he broke the gaze and looked away.
"In the city at the moment, is pure evil. It is a tribe called the Chosen, who worship the ex-loco leader, Zoot. I know that most of you haven't been to the city since the virus, but I also know that you knew who Zoot was. The chosen have taken over the city, capturing people, torturing them and using them as slaves if they don't join their cult and worship Zoot. This in my mind is sick, and it shouldn't be happening. Now I don't know very much about them and what is going on in the city, but Lex, Ebony, Dal and Bray fled the city when the Tribes were taken over and their home is now the base for the Chosen. The reason I said at the start that this meeting was deciding the fate of this tribe is because they need our help. If we join them we have a chance of stopping this. But I can't make your minds up. After the Mall Rats have spoken, tonight we shall have a vote to whether or not we join their cause," Eagle said
and she turned to Pride.
"Bray, would you like to speak," He said.
Bray nodded and Eagle moved off the podium and let Bray take center stage.
"The Chosen as Amb...Eagle spoke of are indeed worse than they sound. And I'll be straight with you. We need your help. The chosen have turned many people to be in their cult. Most have crumpled under the lack of food. Some under the torture. But I'd better start with the whole story. As Eagle said, they worship Zoot. To tell you the truth. My brother," He started.
Eagle stared at Bray in surprise. In the time she had known him. He had only told this detail to the Mall Rats. And the only people who had known this also, were people who knew the brothers before the virus. She sneaked a glance at Dal. He seemed surprised too, but hid it quickly.
"The Guardian, Leader of the Chosen, is set on completing a circle. Him, Trudy, Brady and Me. Trudy was Zoot's girl friend before the virus and she got pregnant. She had Brady not long after. So if you figure it out, him, Zoot's girlfriend, daughter and Brother. Brady and I are the only people related to Zoot left, so he needs us. He got Trudy and Brady about two months ago. He caught me about a week ago. I refused to join, and he strapped me to a post to die. I won't go into what he was going to do with me, but Pride came and saved me. And here I am. Dal," He said looking over at Dal. Then as he left the podium he brushed ever so lightly against Amber. He flinched back as soon as he made contact and quickly looked up and saw her staring back. He looked away and took his place back in his chair.
Dal started to talk, "Bray basically gave you the information that you need to know. I'm just here to ask you once again for your help. Its not going to be easy, But better with a hundred than just four," He stepped down and people started to murmur once again.
"Lex, Ebony, anything to say?" Pride asked to pair. They both said no, shaking their heads. Once again Amber stepped up to the podium.
"Ok everyone, it's for you too decide. Think things over very carefully and remember be back here sometime tonight to vote," Amber said and closed the meeting.
Bray and the other Mall Rats stayed seated until the Gaians had all gone. Eagle and Pride stayed though.
Lex spoke up, "So does the birdie think that we can get their votes?"
Ebony smothered a laughter.
"Depends on what way they go, and by the way Lex the names Eagle," Amber said.
"Don't worry I wouldn't dare call you by your real name after you have made such a fresh beginning Eagle," He said mocking.
"Shut it Lex," Bray said sighing; he was tired and hadn't slept in 48 hours. How could he have? He couldn't really be bothered dealing with Lex. Any how's, some of the stuff Lex was saying was making sense.
"Bray, I think you need some rest. You haven't slept for days and we need you for leading this fight," Dal said reasonably.
"Yeah, are you sure you don't need me here, I am pretty whacked."
"You deserve it," Ebony said.
Bray looked over to her and sort of smiled.
"See you guys in the morning then. Make sure you wake me up though," He said.
"'Course," Dal said.
"Night," Bray said turning his back.
"Night," Pride, Ebony, Lex and Dal said.
"Night," Eagle called, a few seconds after
Bray stopped for a second and smiled. Then continued on out of the hall and down too his room.
When he touched the bed sheets he fell asleep straight away.
Eagle was walking along with Dal. Shortly after Bray had left they had all drifted off to their rooms. Dal wanted to talk to her. And she wanted some company.
"Do you think that they will want to help?" He asked.
"To be honest, I truly don't know. Our tribe is all about living in harmony. Everyone gets along, we don't fight, we help each other out. So I don't know," She said.
"Is that why you stayed here?" He asked suddenly.
"What?" She said stopping to face him.
"Because everyone gets along, and nobody fights. Unlike back at the mall right."
"No Dal, its completely different. I left because of my own personal reasons."
"What reasons? You and Bray were going great. Everyone else was fine, and I know what Ebony said to you. But seriously how could you have believed it."
"It's the same question I ask myself every night, Good Night then Dal," She said as they reached his door.
Dal hugged Amber.
"Good night Amber," He said.
She looked at him.
"You really think that after calling you Amber for as long as I can remember that I'm going to call you Eagle. Bray ain't gonna, probably not Ebony or Lex, you are always going to be Amber to me," He said turned around and walked down the hall.
Amber stared at his retreating back, and just smiled.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dear Diary
I spoke to the tribe today, about helping the City. I really, wanted to convince them, but I tried not to be pushy. I do want to help Bray and Dal, Salene, Cloe and the others. But I can't allow myself to be bias. I have to think of my tribe. If only this hadn't happened. The Mall rats were getting on fine without me, or so it seems. Bray had moved on, with Danni, or whatever her name was. Stop it Amber. Stop shifting into dream mode. You and Bray can never go back to the way things were. Just stop thinking about it. Who knows what Bray is thinking? We are barely talking. I mean I even hesitated before saying good night. But up on stage when I was talking to the Gaians, something happened. It was only for a second, but something happened. It felt like electricity. When Bray looked at me. Get a grip girl. Yeah, I probably, just imagined it. Anyway, there is more important things to think about, like whether or not our tribe is going to join the fight, but that's a whole other story.
Sweet Dreams
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

The next morning Amber awoke bright and early. She hurried down to Pride's room where she took one look at his face and was silent.
"They..." She started.
Pride shook his head. "No, not that. But the Council say that they need another day to decide," He said smiling a little.
"Well its better than no," She said flopping down on Prides bed.
"Do you want me to tell them?" Pride asked.
"No. I can handle it. But I don't know how long they will stay here. Tell the council to hurry up please Pride. The others under the Chosen's power don't have much time," she said.
"Dal, wake up," Amber said shaking him.
"Jeez Amber, what's the time?" He asked rubbing his eyes.
"About 8:30. But I need to talk to you all now," She said.
"What did the council say?" He said, sitting up a little.
Amber sat down on the bed and told Dal that, "The council say they need another day to decide. This is a big thing for this tribe Dal. Many of the members haven't been to the city since the virus struck. Half of them are too scared. I know that you wish that the council will hurry up, so do I, but we need to be patient," She finished.
"Do you think that them needing another day is good or bad Amber," Dal asked feeling a little queasy at the thought of them not helping.
"I truly don't know Dal," She said sighing.
Amber sat for the rest of the morning in her room. She just sat there thinking about what she would do if the council decided against helping. Should I go? But then that would be betraying my Tribe. History never repeats...right?

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 3 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dal sat down to eat with Lex and Ebony.
"Guys, I talked to Amber. The Council told her and Pride that they need the rest of the day to decide," Dal paused to see how they would react.
"Just as I thought," Lex said. "Well I'm not sticking around here. It can't be that hard to decide, they either help us and risk it, or they don't and risk waiting for the chosen to attack their peace happy tribe," He finished, speaking sarcastically.
"Lex that's not fair," Dal said.
"Oh come on Dal. If we are going to win this we need city kids. The Chosen aren't going to leave the rest of us alone until the Gaians decide what they are doing. We have to do it now. I'm leaving. Its bad enough having to put up with Bray and Amber's little soap opera, I'm going back to the city to find the remainder of the tribes. There is bound to be some left."
"But Ebony..." Dal started, but was cut off by Lex.
"No Dal, she's right, we are wasting our time. I'm leaving," He said.
Ebony and him stood up and walked swiftly out of the hall.
Dal groaned. He didn't really like them, but they had to stay together. He saw Bray coming through the door. Great, he thought.
Bray was fuming by the time Dal had finished telling him what Ebony and Lex planned to do.
"So they just took off and left," he said.
"Yeah, they were feed up with waiting and I suppose they didn't like the fact that they were relying on people."
"This is just wonderful," Bray said shaking his head.
There was silence for a moment. Dal figured Bray was thinking about what he was to do.
"You know Dal, they are probably right," Bray said resting his head in his hands.
"Well, how, how do you mean?" He asked. One minute Bray was fuming mad and now he's agreeing with Ebony and Lex.
"Can you imagine some of these people fighting? They're a eco-tribe Dal," He explained.
"But what about Pride Bray? Look at his skills, he saved your life," Dal said.
"That's one person Dal." He sighed.
"And there is Amber," Dal said trying to reason.
"Amber is another, but we need more than two people who can fight," He said.
Dal started to understand.
"Well, Bray we haven't seen them in action. Maybe they are all like Pride."
"Look Dal, Amber's going to tell us the councils decision in a few hours, I say we stick around to see, but I really don't think that they want to help us, they are too scared."
"Yeah, I have a feeling your right," Dal said.
Bray stood up, "I'm going to pack, make sure you get your stuff ready. After that I'm going down to the lake to think of our options.
"Sure Bray, But what about Amber?" He asked.
"What about Amber Dal," Bray sighed.
"Well what's going to happen? We just found her," He said.
"Look Dal, why don't you ask her. Her place is here now, we can't change it," He reasoned.
Bray turned and walked out of the hall.
He went straight back to his cabin. Lex and Ebony's stuff was gone; he followed suit, grabbed his bag and threw in his gear. He made sure he left room for food. At least Amber could do was give them some food.
Zipping up his bag he left it sitting on his bunk, and walked outside and down to the lake.
He looked up to the sky, no clouds. Good, he thought, hopefully it stays that way.
It was going to be a very long trip back, and if the weather stayed good, it would help a lot.
Bray heard a stick break behind him.
He turned sharply. Amber stood there.
"I understand Lex and Ebony have left. My tribe voted. They don't want to join your fight," She said.
"Yeah, Dal and I figured. We are leaving in the morning."
"Well, its for the best Bray," She said.
"Listen Amber, I'm sorry about some of the things I said. I had no right to blame you," Bray apologized.
"You've got heaps of reasons to let go of the past Bray, its the only way we can move on," She said quietly.
"I'm glad you have found someone though," He said.
"Who do you mean?" She asked, confused.
"Pride, he wears your ring around his neck," Bray explained.
"Oh that," She said. "I'm glad you have found someone to, Danni is it? Where is she?"
"The chosen got her when they first attacked. I'm hoping they have her held somewhere, but it's most likely that she's dead," He said.
"I'm sorry. I'll make sure you and Dal get food for the journey back," She said standing up.
"Thanks Amber."
"Your welcome," She said.
How did I act so calm? Amber asked herself.
That was one of the most hardest things she had to do. It was all so casual. And now they are leaving.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dear Diary,
My tribe voted against helping the others. I wish they hadn't. Bray and Dal don't know what they are going to do now. Telling them just about killed me. Not because of what I was saying, but how I said it. I had to act so calm Diary. I mean this is about peoples lives. Cloe's, Salene's, Ryan's, all the others. These are the people who are my family. Well, were my family. Why would they forgive me now? I left them by choice. The whole time I have been telling myself that I had to leave them. But now I realize, it was all in my head. I had the choice to leave. And I took it.
Sweet Dreams
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Amber sat on the end of her bed and sighed. She had finally found Bray and Dal, and now they were leaving again.
Why can't they understand that I love them both? Why can't they understand that I want to help?
The way I had been acting lately, she thought, Why should they understand?


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 4 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dal stuffed his belongings in his bag.
He was actuary quite angry. He and Bray came all the way out here, just to what? Get told they didn't have any support and that the Gaian's weren't going to lift a finger to help?
So now it's like Bray and him onto the rest of the Chosen. Ebony and Lex weren't going to be much help now that they had left without saying which way they were heading. He knows they were going to try and find city kids to help the fight, but most likely they would be caught and thrown in with the rest of the Mall Rats.
This thing with Amber was bugging him the most. I mean what is my problem, Amber is like my sister and she should be happy, he thought. The thing was, he didn't think she would be happy if they left. Sure she says she loves it here, but you can see it that in her eyes, she isn't. But being Amber she's too stubborn to admit that she wants to come home, back to the mall. It has to be killing her, he thought, just the thought of not helping the others. She has changed. But Dal knew that, deep down, she was the same Amber he had grown up with.
He heard a knock at the door.
"Dal can I come in?" Bray called.
"Sure Bray, I'm just about finished packing," He replied as he came in through the door.
"Are you sure about this Dal. I know that Amber asked you to stay. I wouldn't blame you if you wanted to."
"Bray, I'll say the same thing to you that I said to her. I can't be living in paradise when I know, my friends and my home are in danger," He said looking straight at Bray.
"That's great Dal, it would've been one hell of a lonely journey back to the city if you had said yes," He sighed, feeling relieved.
"You could've stayed too Bray," He said, buckling up his pack.
"I don't think that would've been such a hot idea Dal," He said laughing.
"Why not, Amber loves you Bray, you know that," He said.
"Really, she said that. Cause she's got a sad way of showing it, with the way she has been acting lately."
"Come on Bray."
"Don't worry about it Dal, we've both moved on remember? Lets go to tea," He said.
"Whatever you say Bray, whatever you say," He said sighing. It was going to be fun on the way back. Both feeling sorry for themselves, and over the same person, but in different ways. Amber had explained to him when he first got there about the pain she had been through over these past few months, what about him? What about Bray? But he didn't blame her for anything. He just wanted her to come home, back to the mall, where she belonged.
Amber wondered into Pride's room a few minutes before tea. He was talking to some of the other Gaians, they were deep in conversation, so Amber turned and was about to leave when Pride called to her.
"Amber, come on in. We are nearly finished," He said.
He turned and nodded to the others. They smiled and walked out the door, saying good-bye to Amber and Pride.
"Sorry, I hope I wasn't interrupting anything Pride," She said.
"No. But I just found out that most people did want to help Bray and Dal with their fight. Many knew people, mostly family, in the city."
"Well then how did they say no?" She asked.
"The council decides in the end Amber, you know that. There must of been enough votes against for them to decide. That's probably why they needed the extra day," Pride said.
"Then how could they have said no? Dal and Bray, and all the rest of my family, I, I mean friends.... the point is, I need to help them," She said.
"Then go Amber," He said looking at her.
"I can't Pride. That's the thing. To much has happened. Now could we stop talking about this please? I don't really need this right now. I just need to relax," She said.
"Ok Amber. But if you ever need to talk, come to me. I don't really know what happened, but I want you to tell me in your own time ok. May not be today, may not be tomorrow, but one day when you feel you can," He said.
"Thanks Pride," She said smiling.
"You hungry?" He asked breaking the mood.
"You bet," She said laughing.
"Shall we?" He asked, offering is arm.
"Of course," Amber replied in a bad English accent.
They walked out of the room laughing, all the way down to the dining hall. Pride was still laughing, but Amber's smile, had slipped off her face.
Bray and Dal looked up as Pride entered the hall followed by Pride.
Bray looked down at his food at the sight of Amber and Pride together.
Dal though smiled.
"Hey guys, over here!" He called over the din that the Gaian tribe was.
Amber's face smiled, as she dragged Pride off to the other side of the room where Bray and Dal sat.
"Last diner together, so I wanted you to be here," Dal said to Amber.
"Come on Dal its not going to be the last diner you have with me," She said laughing.
Bray muttered something under his breath.
"Did you say something Bray," Dal asked.
"No," He said.
Great, Amber thought, I get the one syllable treatment.
"You all packed and ready Bray?" Pride asked.
"Um, yeah. Apart from some food," He said, looking up. He caught Amber's eye.
But he looked away quickly.
"I promised them I would get them some food for the journey," Amber said, filling Pride in.
"Sure, I mean, of course. You can't hike all that way without some things to eat," He said.
"Yeah, thanks again Amber," Dal said speaking for him and Bray. Clearly he didn't want to speak. Maybe being at the same table as Amber AND Pride, made him feel uncomfortable. But then he couldn't have invited only Amber over to eat with them. That would've been pretty rude considering that Pride had:
a) Saved their lives
b) Let them stay at his tribes camp
and c) Helped them find Amber again
He took a quick look at Bray. He seemed to want to jump out of his chair and run out the hall. He had finished his tea.
"Um, sorry guys, but Bray and I need to figure out what we are going to do tomorrow, big day and all," Dal said, standing up.
"Yeah," Bray said jumping up.
"Sure guys," Amber said, looking a bit disappointed that they were leaving so soon.
"We'll give you the food in the morning. What time are you planning on leaving?"Pride asked.
"As soon as possible," Bray said, but his words got jumbled with Dal's.
"First day light," He had said.
"Um," Bray said looking at Dal.
"7:00am,"They said together.
Amber stifled a laugh. Seeing the two people she cared the most about in the world together, working as one, mad her feel happy. Though she soon remembered why they were working together.
"Bye Guys, see you tomorrow," She called after their retreating backs.
Dal called good night back, Bray didn't even turn around.
Amber looked down. She must of looked pretty pained, because Pride put his arm around her.
"You'll see them again Amber," He said.
She looks up and fakes a smile.
"It's not that. I just don't want to leave them on a bad note. Bray is hardly speaking to me, Dal is but, I know that he wants me to come back with them," She said slumping back in her chair.
"You've got till tomorrow to find something to say to make it better Amber," Pride said.
"Yeah...."She said. But she couldn't think of anything to make it better.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dear Diary
Bray and Dal are leaving tomorrow. It's crazy. I finally see them in what 7 months, and now they are leaving again. I can't help but feel guilty. Which doesn't really explain much. I have felt guilty the whole time. but now, I can't even support them when they are doing something to help other peoples lives, and to save the rest of my family. But now I have something else to feel bad about to top it all off. Pride. How am I going to tell him. How am I going to tell him about my past, why I feel this way. I'm supposed to be promised to him, but at the moment all I can do is lie. I don't know, it's so messed up.
I just looked back over the rest of my diaries, and found all the things I had written while living in the Mall. It's so different, our worst fear was the Loco's, now it's the Chosen. Oh and some of the things I had written in there about Bray? Why couldn't I just go back, wishing that he liked me, and wondering days on end if he felt the same way? Things seemed so simple compared to now. Simple is a word I don't think I'll ever use again.
Sweet Dreams
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Amber closed her diary. Fresh tears sprang to her eyes. She whipped the away, but more kept falling. She got into bed and pulled the covers up right to her chin.
Reaching over she blew out the candle, rolled over and closed her eyes. Though she knew it would be another sleepless night.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 5 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Bray awoke with a start, drenched with cold sweat. He had been having a bad dream, one about the Chosen. And one he didn't really want to have. Seeing all your friends and family being tortured in front or your eyes wasn't the best thing for the early morning. Or for starting the long journey back to the city.
He rolled over and looked out the window. It was still dark, probably about 5am.
May as well get up now, he thought, its not like I'll be able to get back to sleep.
He threw back the cover and sat on the end of the bed, rubbing his eyes. He flopped back down on the bed groaning. He sure could've used the sleep. But then he had sleep for hours the day before.
He had had a late night last night with Dal though. They had been discussing what they were going to do when they left. And basically, they had come up with zilch. Both didn't have a clue how to approach their situation. But they did both want the same things, to save the city, and their friends. Bray though had a suspicion that they also both wanted a certain person to come along with them.
Bray snorted, "Yeah, like that's going to happen", he said.
Dal was already awake when Bray knocked on his door.
"Thought you might be up. Rough night?" He asked.
"Tell me about it, first it took me hours to get to sleep, and then I had the worst dream," Bray said sitting down on the chair by the door.
"About the Chosen?" Dal asked.
"Yeah," He replied.
"I can't get them out of my head either. We don't know what's going to happen, we have no plan," He said.
"And no definite help. Basically the Gaians were our last chance."
"I know, but we have to keep trying Bray," Dal said.
"We can't give up," Bray said.
"Never," Dal replied giving Bray a sincere look.
"Right."
"Are we ready?" Bray asked.
"Lets go get breakfast," Dal nodded.
"I never really got to sleep last night," Amber admitted to Pride as they walked down the hall towards the dining room.
"Yeah. You look it," He said trying to lighten the mood, Amber hadn't cracked a smile the whole morning.
"Oh, thanks!" She said, a smile twitching in the corner of her mouth.
"Well, you really do look like you need a good nights sleep," He said.
"Yeah, but I don't think I'll get one right now," She said, speaking the truth.
She looked up. Bray and Dal were coming down the hall in the opposite way.
"Pride?" She said.
"Yeah?" he answered.
"Do you think maybe I could eat breakfast alone with the boys this morning?" She asked, feeling a little guilty.
"Of course Amber, I have a few things to discuss about the crops with Horse."
"Thanks," She said, as Pride walked inside the hall. She stopped and waited for the boys. They didn't notice her until they were a few meters away. Dal smiled, Bray looked tired and he attempted a smile. Amber knew him all too good to believe that he was happy.
"Uh, Hi," Bray said.
"Good morning."
"Morning Amber," Dal said.
"Listen, is it ok if I eat with you, we need to talk about, about your food," She said, quickly making a story up so that she could sit with them.
"Sure Amber," Dal said, Bray nodded.
"Great," She said.
"So um, Pride rounded up some people to pack you some food. It should last you about four days, depending on how hungry you are," She said.
"That's sounds good," Bray said.
"So are you leaving straight after breakfast?" She asked.
"Basically, we want to get a move on so we can cover some good ground before dark," Dal said.
"Good idea," Amber said.
The rest of the conversation went pretty much like this. Nothing that Bray had expected. There was a chance that they would never all see each other again. But Amber didn't seem too worried.
"We'll go get the food, then we'll leave in about 20 minutes," Bray said.
"Sure, um I'll be back to say good bye," Amber said, and quickly exited the hall.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dear Diary
It's just minutes before I have to say goodbye to the people I love the most in the world. I tried at breakfast to tell them the truth, about me wanting to come with them, but then I though of the people that would affect. Pride, the rest of my tribe? What would happen to them?
More later, I'm bound to want to write.
Sweet Dreams
*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

Amber closed her diary and hurried down the stairs, she had spent to much time writing. Other things were more important.
She ran as fast as she could down to the bush. She skidded to a halt when she saw Dal and Bray started to walk into the trees.
"Wait!" She yelled.
"Amber I thought you weren't coming," Dal exclaimed, smiling from ear to ear.
"Sorry, I was just writing. I forgot about the time," She said.
Dal's smile disappeared from his face, and he looked down.
"He what's wrong Dal?" She asked.
"It's crazy, I've just found you, and now I'm leaving. And I'll probably never see you again."
"That's crazy Dal. We are going to see each other again. You're my best friend in the entire world, and you are welcome here anytime. And if things go back to the way they were I'll come and stay at the mall for a few days. Hey, I mean it," She said, looking Dal straight in the eye.
"I hope so," Dal said. Then he hugged her tight. She hugged back.
"I'm gonna miss you Dal," She said, her eyes getting a little moist.
"Hey don't cry Amber," He said.
She hugged him once more and he stepped back, leaving her facing Bray.
"Um, it's been good seeing you Bray," She said.
"You too Amber, good Luck," He said. He was feeling a bit awkward. Here he was standing in front of the person her loves the most in the world, and he wasn't doing anything about it.
"Thanks Bray. Good luck to you too." Then she hugged him. But it was just a friendly hug right? All she knew was that tears were about to fall any moment, and Bray was, to her joy and relief, hugging her back. Maybe he felt the same way? She held on tight till she finally let him go. His eyes too were slowly filling up with tears.
"Bye," He whispered.
"If you find the others, could you tell them that I love them?" She whispered back.
He nodded.
Then turning he made a quick wave to Pride and the others and with Dal they left, disappearing into the trees.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 6 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Amber sat outside by herself back at the Gaian camp.
She was feeling quite angry with a few people.
Ebony, Lex, Her self, even Bray and Dal for leaving.
"Bray mustn't feel the same way about me if he just left", she said.
"Oh stop it," She said out loud. Bray left for all the right reasons. Any ways, the whole world wasn't only about her.
She suddenly felt guilty, and selfish. Bray left so he could help the people she loved, her family in this dangerous new world.
"Stop what?" Pride said emerging from behind a bush.
"I thought you might need some company," He said.
"It's all messed up Pride," She cried.
"Bray and Dal have left to help my friends, my family, and I'm sitting here on my butt not doing anything to help. I could've changed the council's minds, but I didn't for my own selfish reasons. I'm too scared of going back to the city, back to the place where I belong, because I'm scared that the people who, who where in my old tribe, would hate me for leaving. Bray hates me, I can tell. Dal, I know him too well to believe he doesn't resent me just a little bit."
"You can still help them Amber, you have been thinking, not doing. Now I don't know what went on at your old tribe, all you have told me is that they abandoned you, but that's not right Amber, you chose to leave them. And now when you have a chance to help them, you're hanging back. Thought you weren't scared of anything. You're always looking towards the future, but what about the past. I need to know what went on Amber, I need to know so I can help you. You haven't been happy here the moment you came, I saw that," He said taking her by the shoulders.
"I'm so sorry Pride, I should of told you everything before," She said.
Then the words just started pouring out her mouth, everything about her time in the city, all about Zoot, Bray, what happened at Eagle Mountain. Everything.
Pride listened through the whole thing, not interrupting her once. She needed to let go of the past so she could use her best judgment.
When she had finished, she felt this huge weight lift from her chest. It had been holding her back.
She looked up at Pride, he was smiling.
"You know what you need to do now," He said.
"Oh, thank you so much Pride," She said hugging him tight.
She got up and started to jog back up the bank.
"Hey Amber," He called after her.
"Yeah Pride," She said, turning around and stopping.
"I think that you should follow your heart. You love Bray, always have always will, and I accept that. I guess I have accepted that there was always someone there in the back of your mind. But we are still friends right?" he asked.
"Pride. Of course we're friends. We will always be friends," She said.
"Well, what are you waiting for? We've got a council to convince!" He said running after her. When he caught up, she gave him a hug.
"Thanks for understanding Pride," She whispered in his ear.
"That's all right," He said back, smiling.
"Lets go."
It didn't take long for the council to be convinced. Amber and Pride gave them more information about the chosen, things Bray and Dal had told them after they had said all they needed to the rest of the Gaian Camp at the meeting.
"I really believe this is the right thing to do," Amber stated in front of the council, after her and Pride had done all they could to convince the council.
"I speak on by-half of all of us here, when I say that yes, I think we should join the fight," One said, standing up.
"Oh, thank you, thank you, thank you," Amber said jumping up from our chair.
"I mean, you have made the right decision," She said, switching into 'Eagle mode'.
"Thank you, we shall get the camp ready immediately," Pride said.
"Well we shall go get prepared," One said on the council.
Bray sighed as another bush flicked him in his face. He and Dal had been in the bush for over an hour, just green bush.
"Bray, can we stop for awhile, I mean like in a clearing. I'm really hot and I think we both need a rest," He said, puffing a little.
"Best idea I've heard in a while. Look there's a clearing just up ahead," He said, pointing through the bushes.
"Great," Dal said, picking up his pace a little.
Bray thought that they had covered some good ground. But they did have a long days trek left before they would be nearing the city.
They entered the clearing and sat down on some of the logs.
Bray opened his pack and pulled out a couple of Apples.
"Here." He said chucking one at Dal.
He caught it, "Thanks Bray," He said.
"Is everybody ready?" Amber yelled over the noise.
It had taken a fair while to get everybody ready. But they basically had to pack up the camp, and their belongings. This was a big step for some people of the tribe, and Pride, and Amber didn't want to push them.
It went down to a low mumble as Pride continued.
"We are going to go as far as possible today. We need to cover some good ground before night fall."
"Right so if you do need to stop along the way, just call out. We are going to go in three groups. First, second and third. Pride will be in charge of group one, I will be with group two and Horse with be with group three, so could you split into those groups now," Amber said.
The group was quickly divided.
"Lets go," Pride yelled.
A few minutes later Amber led her group through the bush also.
Amber smiled as she checked on her group an hour later, they all seemed to be doing fine. She looked back past the last people, and saw Horse making his way through the bush a few minutes back.
Good, she thought.
"Does anyone need to stop?" She called out.
"No we're doing fine," A few called out, speaking for the group.
"Thanks everybody," She called back.
She turned towards the front and sighed. She was finally on her way home.
Five hours later Bray and Dal had slowed their pace, they were getting tired and needed to stop. Though both were too stubborn. It had been a long day, though it was only one o'clock. One thing though that had changed drastically, was the weather. Big storm clouds had been forming while they walked, which meant that they would have to stop and find shelter very soon.
"Bray, we have to stop," Dal finally said.
"I know Dal, keep a look out for any places we could build a shelter," He called back.
They walked around where they were, it wasn't long till it started to spit with rain.
"Great," Bray said.
"Bray look!" Dal cried out.
Dal pointed to a huge bushy area surrounded by some big trees.
"Good spotting Dal."
They rushed over to where Dal had pointed.
"Ok this will do, but we need a roof, scout around and we will see if there are any ferns or things like that," Bray said.
"Gotcha," He said.
Just then there was a flash of lightning followed by a burst of thunder, then the rain just came pouring down.
"Hurry Dal, we don't have much time," Bray yelled over the noise.
"I've found some, come over here," Dal called.
Bray started running towards him. He ran under a tree, just as lighting struck, a branch came crashing down on Bray's head. He crumpled to the ground.
"Bray," Dal yelled, running towards him.
He skidded down beside him and checked his pulse.
He couldn't feel it.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 7 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dal started to panic. He shifted his fingers slightly and he felt something. He kept his fingers there for a few more seconds just to be sure.
Thank you, he thought. He had a pulse, and he could see his chest moving. He was breathing.
"Bray? Bray can you hear me?" He called.
But Bray was unconscious.
"Oh man, this is just what we need," He said out loud.
He pulled Bray in under the tree; it kept the rain off a little more. He checked him again then ran to where the ferns were and grabbed as much as he could carry. When he got back to Bray he shook them off as much as he could and made a little shelter, so he could keep Bray a bit warmer.
"Blankets," He said, remembering Amber had given them extras.
He took his pack off his bag and reached inside to pull out a big blanket. He threw it over Bray covering him from his chin to his feet.
The he pulled one out for himself and wrapped it around his shivering body, this was going to be a long storm, Dal just hoped that it would stop so he could get Bray out of here.
The thunderstorm had been going for at least an hour. Everyone was cold, but they all pushed on. It seemed that they some how felt Amber's urgency to get to the city as quickly as possible.
Amber was plowing on as if the weather was fine, she wanted to make up the time that it had taken them to get moving.
She grimaced as a wet branch flicked over her face.
She turned around to check over the Gaians. Despite of them being cold and hungry, she thought they were doing quite well.
Looking up at the sky though, she knew it was going to be dark, and it wasn't the best idea to be out in a storm at nighttime.
The temperature had been dropping considerably over the past half hour. Bray was till unconscious but he was looking better, and he had more color in his cheeks.
Dal hoped he would wake up.
It was getting darker and he wanted to get somewhere safe to sleep for the night. Preferably somewhere warm and dry. Amber had told him before they left that there was an old farmhouse right on the edge of the forest, and he knew they weren't far from it.
Bray groaned as he opened his eyes. His head was thumping.
"Dal," He said, trying to sit up.
"Bray, your awake, lye back down, your too weak to try and sit up," Dal said, and careful pushed Bray back down.
Bray reached up and touched his head.
"Ouch, why do I feel like I've been hit with a sledge hammer?" He asked, rubbing his head.
"You got hit by a tree branch about an hour and a half ago, you were unconscious. Can you remember anything before that," Dal asked looking at Bray.
Bray shut his eyes for a moment, then opened them again.
"The storm had just started, and we were looking for cover or something," He said, thinking hard.
"So you remember about the Gaians and all?" Dal asked just to check.
"How could I not remember," He said groaning, looking at Dal.
"So its been raining for that long?" Bray said trying to smile.
"Yep, and we need to get somewhere sheltered. Before we left Amber told me there was a old house about 10 minutes away I think, we should go there," He said standing up still with the blanket on.
"Ok then," Bray said standing up to help Dal pack up.
"You stay down for a moment okay, I can pack up."
"Thanks Dal," Bray said sitting up against the tree.
It didn't take long for Dal to pack up, it was mostly Blankets.
"Ok, do you think you can stand now?" Dal asked Bray.
"Yeah I think so," Bray said standing up, Dal helped him up.
"Thanks man."
Together they stepped out from under the tree. It wasn't raining much anymore, so hoping, Dal thought that the storm was over.
Walking through the clump of trees, the house came into view.
"Amber," Pride called out walking through the rest of the Gaians.
"Pride, how are your guys doing?" She asked.
"We're fine, that old house is about 40 minutes away, so I thought we should just go there," Pride said.
"Sure, but lets hurry, I know the weather is getting better, but its just about dark and we need to get somewhere warm," She said.
"Right then, I'll go back and see how Horse is going," He said, making his way back through the bush.
"Thanks Pride," she called after him.
Dal sat down in front of the roaring fire with Bray.
They had found some old firewood in a back room, complete with a box of matches. They could come in handy. Dal wouldn't mind if they stayed another night, but he knew his friends needed him.
He turned his attention back to Bray who was being rather quiet.
"Bray, is something wrong?" He asked him.
"How could she not come Dal? How could she not want to come with us to help her family, our family, but no, she's just going to stay up in her little paradise with Pride and the rest of her new family, well I hope she's happy," He burst out.
"Look what she's been through though Bray, she had her reasons not to come back," Dal said, trying to reason with him.
"Her reasons. Don't you get it Dal, it's not just her who went through her 'death' at Eagle Mountain. Everyone in our tribe did, not just her. She's just being selfish. She's right you know, she told me she had changed, now I believe her, our Amber wouldn't of let us go like that," He said, tears building up in his eyes.
"Bray why are you suddenly so angry at Amber. Before you wouldn't even talk about her, now your blurting about silly things that aren't even true," Dal said.
"Have you even talked to her about you as a couple?" Dal asked." That's what this is all about right. You and Amber belong together, but you're both so stupid to admit it. I mean you think she's in love with Pride, but its so obvious that they are only friends."
"She told you that?" He asked.
"She didn't have to Bray, even Pride can see it, it's that obvious," Dal said.
"And now I probably won't see her again for another 7 months, if I do," Bray sighed. He had finely seen the light. It had been right there in front of him the whole time, but he had blown it.
"I'm gonna go check the other rooms ok Bray," Dal said, giving Bray a little time to think.
Bray didn't reply, he was staring into the fire, just staring.
Dal shook his head; he hoped Bray would be ok. But the one person who could help him, was miles away.
"Look Pride! There's a light on in the house," Amber said rushing up to Prides side.
"Yeah, I saw. I've sent a couple of the guys ahead to scout around it," Pride said.
"I hope its not some of the chosen," She said, getting worried.
Bray jumped. A loud crashing noise had broken him out of his trance. He jumped up quickly, nearly toppling over because of his head.
"Dal, was that you?" He called out.
"No, I'll go check it out," He said running into the room.
"No way Dal. If anyone's doing that, it's going to be me."
"Come on Bray, you need to rest," Dal said.
"Fine, you can come with me, but I'm going out," He said.
The boys advanced to the back door, where they had heard the noise coming from.
Bray slowly opened the door and stepped out.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 8 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
There stood three Gaians. Bray recognized their markings on their faces.
"What are you doing here?" Bray asked.
"We came to help. Pride and Amber asked us to check who was here, they thought that you might be part of the Chosen," One spoke up.
"Whatever. Well as you can see, we are not part of the chosen so feel free to come in side," Bray said sarcastically and walked back past Dal through the door, and up to his room.
Dal heard the door slam.
"Well, come on in," He said weakly.
"We'll go get the others," Another spoke up.
"Hey look, there's the signal. The coast is clear," Amber said jumping up from behind the bushes.
"Lets go everyone," Pride said waving his arm to the crowd behind him.
The Gaians all stood up and followed Pride down the bank.
Amber had run ahead, hoping to find Bray and Dal there.
"Amber!" Dal yelled rushing towards her.
"Dal!" She yelled back as they hugged hard.
"This is so great. You here," He said to her.
"I know. Um, Dal where's Bray?" She asked as they untangled themselves from their hug.
"He's not in the best of moods," Dal said as they walked inside the house.
"I understand," she said quietly.
Pride walked up.
"So I thought that we could get everyone in then crash for the night," He said.
Then he noticed Amber's downcast face.
"Hey what's wrong?" He asked.
"Lets just say that the person I wanted to talk to, doesn't want to talk to me," She said.
"Have you tried?" He asked.
"No," She said.
"Just go and talk to him Amber," Pride said giving her a little push.
Dal stared at them confused as Amber started to walk out of the room.
Weren't they like Pledged and all? Hey wait a minute, he thought, maybe she had told him the truth?
Dal smiled.
"Up the staircase, three doors to the left," He called out, as Amber made her way towards the stair case.
"Thanks Dal," She said smiling.
Amber knocked on the closed door.
"What do you want?" Came a voice through the door.
"It's me Bray, I want to talk to you," She said confidently.
There was no reply. Amber started to get angry. She didn't come all this way to be ignored.
She opened the door and stepped in.
"I didn't say you could come in," Bray said standing up.
"I didn't come all this way to be ignored Bray, I've come to help" She said.
"Oh, so big of you, it only took you what, a week to decide that your family, our family, was more important to you than your paradise you have made for yourself!" He shouted.
"Look Bray, do you know how hard it was for me those months?" She said back.
"Do you know how hard it was for me? Dal? Cloe, Patsy or Salene?!" He asked.
She was silent.
"I didn't think so, you didn't know how hard it was on us because guess what, you weren't there. You didn't even try to come back!" He said.
"I had my reasons!" She yelled.
"Oh yeah, and what would those have been!?" He asked.
All this yelling was making Bray's head pound. He still felt weak from his accident that afternoon.
Amber's words had all become slurred, she was still yelling at him, he could tell that. Feeling lightheaded, he turned and moved towards his bed. He needed to sit down, but before he could make it, he fell to the ground with a thud, hitting his head on the warn-out carpeted floor.
"Bray? Bray!" Amber yelled rushing up to him.
They had been fighting and then he had just crumpled to the ground.
She was so scared and she knelt down on the floor next to him and pulled his head up onto her lap.
"What did I do?" She said, tears over flowing in her eyes.
"Amber what's wrong?" Dal said as him and Pride burst into the room.
They had heard Amber's cries and had come running up the stairs.
"We were fighting, and he just collapsed," She cried out.
"Ok, Pride could you get some cloths and," Dal said.
"Some water," Pride finished nodding and he ran out of the room.
"Amber, Amber listen to me, Bray is going to be fine, it wasn't your fault. He has only fainted. This afternoon he got hit on the head by a tree branch, he was unconscious so he was still weak. This definitely wasn't your fault," He said looking her in the eye.
"I couldn't of helped," She whispered, stroking Brays face.
Pride came back through the door with a bowl full of water and some rags.
"Great," Dal said as he dipped one of the rags in the water and squeezed it out.
He placed it on Bray's forehead.
"All we can do is wait now," Pride said leaning back on the wall.
"I have a better idea," Dal said. He dipped his hands in the water like a cup, and splashed it on Bray's face.
Bray coughed and wiped his face with his hand.
"What's the big idea?" He groaned trying to sit up, but the pain in his head, made him lie down again.
"You fainted," Dal said smiling at him.
"Well my head still hurts," He said grimacing.
Dal and Pride laughed.
"Oh, uh, hi Pride," Bray said.
Then he noticed his head was propped up on something.
He looked up, and Amber was looking straight back at him.
He looked away.
"I think you should get some rest now," Dal said helping him get up and onto his bed.
"Yeah, thanks Dal," Bray said, lying down.
"We'll leave you too it," Pride said, as him and Dal left through the door.
Amber stayed for a moment, then turned and ran out after the boys.
Bray sighed. He had totally screwed that one up.
Amber sat down by the fire.
She was just staring at it, didn't even notice Dal come in.
"Amber?" He asked.
"Oh, hey Dal," She said.
"Are you ok?" He said, a concerned look on his face
"No. I'm not ok. I let my own selfish reasons get in the way of me helping the people who called me their family," She said.
"Amber, you had your reasons," He said.
She snorted, "Did I Dal? Did I really have a big enough reason to try and forget about you, and Bray?"
"You're here now Amber, and that is all that matters to me," He said.
"Now I don't know about you but I am whacked. Goodnight Amber," He said giving her a quick hug before leaving the room.
Yeah. I'm here now, but I could've been here long ago, she thought.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 9 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Amber had been tossing and turning the whole night. She just couldn't get to sleep. Not that she was expecting to get to sleep after all that has happened.
All she could think about was what she was going to say to Bray in the morning. She owed him an explanation, he deserved it.
But everything she thought of just wasn't any good.
'I'm sorry', sounded so lame. Two words couldn't make Bray change his mind. It didn't even change hers.
She pulled off her blankets and sat up, leaning against the cool wall.
Her mother had always told her to speak from the heart, something Amber had never really done before.
She decided is that at least she could try, he would probably be asleep now, and she knew how deep of a sleeper he was. Maybe she could work something out, then say it again when he was awake?
Worth a shot, she thought. She knew seeing him would give her some kind of inspiration.
Creeping slowly around all of the Gaians who were sleeping on the floor, she was soon a few doors away from Bray's room.
She took a deep breath and pushed open his door.
His back was facing her, so she walked in and sat down on the floor, leaning up against the wall next to his low bed. She didn't even check if he was sleeping or not, there was no point.
Bray was still. He had heard somebody come into his room, but his back was turned.
For some reason he felt that he didn't need to turn around to see who the person was. He felt no threat that they were going to attack, so they can't be anyone bad.
He opened his eyes, but stayed where he was.
He stiffened, when he heard the intruder speak.
"I don't know what I am supposed to say Bray. I'm sorry just sounds so stupid for what we have been through. But I am really sorry about before, I didn't mean to make you faint or anything. I want you to know Bray, that I don't love Pride. He's my friend and always will be, he knows that. So what I'm trying to say is.... um. God this is stupid, I'm talking to a sleeping person," She said getting up.
"What are you trying to say?" Bray said rolling over.
Amber gave a little squeal, then started moving back towards the door.
"I didn't know you were awake. Um I'll go," She said turning and walking swiftly across the side of the room.
"Amber," He said getting out of bed and grabbing her elbow.
"What Bray. I know your angry with me, and things will never go back to the way things were and..."She said not looking him in the eye.
"No things can't go back to the way they were, nothing can. But who says things have to go back?" He said turning her by the shoulders and making her face him.
Amber looked up at him.
She can't believe he was awake the whole time, talk about embarrassing. Not to mention what he was saying. Did he really mean it? I mean it sounds like he doesn't care about the past, and wants to look towards the future. Will that future include me? She thought.
"And you know what else Amber? I'm sorry too," He said, then he lent down and kissed her.
Tears filled her eyes as she realized he did mean it.
When they broke away, they just held each other tight, half in shock.
"Love you," He said.
"Love you too," She whispered back.
She looked up to his face. He was just about crying too.
"Are you crying?" She asked smiling.
"No," He said starting to wipe his eyes.
"Yes you are you big softly," She said.
"Was not," He said trying not too laugh.
"You tired?" He asked.
"Yeah, you don't mind if I stay here do you?" She asked.
"No, just don't steel all the blankets," He said and they climbed in the bed.
"Good night," She said.
But Bray was already asleep.
Amber laughed and feel asleep beside him.
Dal awoke the next morning after having a good nights sleep.
He sat up rubbing his eyes and look out the window; it was starting to lighten up. All the storm clouds were gone but then that's what happened last night.
He was hopeful though.
Dal groaned, "Well I'd better go and check on Bray. Then Amber probably wants to talk again," He said out loud to himself.
He threw off the covers and got out of bed, dodging some of the few Gaians asleep on the floor.
Dal already knew that they got up fairly early everyday, so he wasn't so surprised.
He walked into the main lounge and saw Pride in the corner with a few others, obviously thinking ahead of their fight against the Chosen. He veered towards them when three or four Gaians came rushing in pulling two people behind them, none of which looked too happy.
Dal looked on in surprise when the two started speaking.
"Let go of me," One said.
"Well, well, well, look who we have here," Said Dal, smiling.
"Ebony and Lex, what happened to finding city kids?" He said laughing a little at the look of frustration on their faces.
Ebony pulled free.
"Look, you needed us, so we decided to come back."
"In other words, you guys couldn't find anybody else and you came running back to us," Dal said.
"Look, where back. What are you guys doing here anyway, shouldn't you be back at your peace loving camp getting on with your lives," Lex said to Pride.
"No, we decided, well Amber decided to help these guys," Pride said standing up next to Dal.
"Whatever," Ebony said, trying to shrug of another Gaian.
"Let them go guys," Dal said.
The Gaians retreated.
"So are you guys going to help, or leave after you get some food?" Dal asked.
Ebony gave him the evils and walked off, Lex followed, but not before saying, "So where's lover boy?" She asked.
"Sleeping," He replied shortly.
Lex smirked and walked out of the room.
"Bray!" Dal shouted up the stairs at about 9 o'clock.
Bray rolled over, he had been awake for a while but couldn't be bothered going down stairs.
He felt Amber move beside him.
"Good morning," He said.
"Good morning to you too," She said and pulled down her sleeves of her jersey.
"It feels as though last night was like a dream," He said.
"Yeah, but it was real," She laughed.
"And now we have to get up and talk to Pride and Dal and all the others about what we are going to do, because honestly I have no idea," Bray said hopping out of bed, and pulling Amber to her feet.
"Lets go. Plus I'm really hungry," She said smiling.
"I'm sure we can fix that," He said pulling her out the door.
Laughing they walked down the stairs hand in hand.
"Well look who decided to get up and out of bed," Dal said.
"Yeah sorry," Bray said.
"So what's happened?" Amber asked.
"Well, you will never guess who came crawling back to us," Dal said.
Amber and Bray looked at him puzzled.
"Ebony and Lex," Dal said.
"Your kidding right, didn't they say that they didn't need us or something?" Bray said smiling.
"Obviously they do," Pride said, joining their conversation.
"Oh hey Pride," Bray said. "Sorry I fainted on you last night."
"That's all right Bray, gave me a reason to go to bed early," He said laughing.
Amber had been quiet.
"Uh Pride, could I speak to you," Amber said.
"What did I do this time," He said smiling, following her out the door.
"Wonder what that's about?" Dal said shrugging.
But Bray knew, and he hoped it didn't affect his and Prides growing friendship.
"So are you and Amber back together then?" Dal said a moment later.
"You could say that, but we have a long way to go till things are back to the way things were."
"Oh like Amber being constantly jealous about you and Ebony, you chasing after her every time you think she's mad, and both of you yelling at us too do our jobs," Dal said laughing.
"No! You know what I mean Dal," Bray replied.
"Yeah, I do," Dal said smiling. Finally things were beginning to look up.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 10 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So what's this all about?" Pride asked.
"Well, I thought you ought to know that, well, Bray and I have," She started.
"Decided to get back together. We talked about this Amber, you know that we are always gong to be really good friends," He said taking her by the shoulders.
"Thanks again Pride. I suppose we should start planning our attack," She said giving him a quick hug.
"Yip, lets get Bray, Dal, Lex, and Ebony through to one of our bedrooms so we can talk," Pride said.
"Ebony? Why does she need to be there?" Amber asked.
"Her and Lex are going to need our help, and lets face it, we probably need theirs. Plus, I think you and Ebony need to work out a truce or something," Pride said.
"I suppose your right. I mean if we are going into battle and all," She said groaning a bit.
"She's in the second lounge on the first floor to your right," Pride said giving her a little push.
"Fine, you get Bray and Dal and Lex, I'll get Ebony and we can meet in my room, third door on your left, down stairs," She said dragging herself out the door on her way to find Ebony.
I guess I can't Blame Ebony for much, me and Bray are back together again. I don't completely forgive her, I mean she kept me away from Bray for some very long months. But I suppose, I could forgive her, because if I believe it or not, she was doing it because she though she loved Bray.
Amber shuddered. Ebony and Bray as a couple?
It did happen though right?
Amber walked into the lounge where Ebony was sitting facing away from her.
"Ebony, can I talk to you?" Amber said walking up.
"What's there to talk about?" Ebony replied in a cold voice.
"Look. We are going to go through some tough times with the Chosen. So I think that we should call it a truce or something."
"So you didn't come in here to tell me that I ruined your life?" Ebony asked amazed turning around to look at Amber.
"It happen a long time ago," Amber said shrugging.
"Plus Bray and I are back together," She said.
"That didn't take long. So does Bray still hate me?" She asked.
"I don't know, you'll have to ask him that. Come on lets go, Pride called a meeting for you, Bray, Dal, Lex and myself to be a part of. We need to talk about our non-existent plan," She said.
"Great," She said a bit sarcastically and got up and moved from the room in front of Amber.
"Lets get started," Amber said a minute later as she walked into her room, behind Ebony.
Bray patted the bed beside him, and she walked over and sat down.
"So, does any of us have an Idea?" Ebony asked as soon as they were all settled.
"As a matter of fact, I think I do," Dal said.
"Great," Bray said.
"So, spill," Amber said.
They all sat anxious to hear what he was going to say.
"I think the best thing we can do for now is get closer to the city, and lay low," Dal said, then paused.
"Lay low," Lex snorted. "Great plan Dal. Not much different from what we are doing now."
They ignored him.
"How close did you have in mind?" Amber asked him.
"Guys, I don't know if you can remember but, about a mile or so out side the city there are some big warehouses. They could easily fit us all in. We also know that the Chosen have captured all the tribes who used to live there, so they won't be near," Dal said.
Pride spoke up, "That's a good plan Dal. And I think we should go with it. It's too cramped here for us to stay for long, and it would be easier to focus on the Chosen's movements."
"I know roughly where most of the work parties are; I heard the guardian and Trudy talking about how well they were doing. Most are out by the old mines; some are in town fixing up buildings for the chosen members. Then there are the slaves they have at the mall."
Amber took Bray's hand while he said that. All that they had worked towards, peace and freedom, had all been ruined.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 11 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"So why don't we leave now. We're wasting time here," Ebony said sharply.
"If that Guardian guy has laid one hand on my wife he will pay big time. I say lets go," Lex said, standing up.
"You're right, we should leave straight away," Bray said standing up.
"I'll go inform the tribe," Pride said as he left the room.
"Dal, are you sure we can find these warehouse easy?" Amber turned to ask him.
"Sure I'm sure," Dal said.
"I'm gonna go and get my stuff together," Ebony said.
"Me too," Bray replied. He gave Amber a quick kiss on the check and left behind Ebony.
"Be back and ready in the front lounge in five minutes," She called after them and said good-bye to Dal who left.
Amber reached into her bag that had been beside her bed, and fumbled around looking for her make up. If she was going to fight the Chosen, she needed to wear clothes that were easier to move in. Plus now that she was back as Amber, Eagle needed to go.
She pulled out her bag, then reached in the bottom and pulled out some Black leather three quarter pants, and her old black vest.
She smiled. Definitely me, she thought.
It didn't take long to get changed.
She rubbed off the old make up and changed it back to the way it was before Eagle Mountain.
"Much better," she said out loud.
But next she had to do something with her hair.
Mmmmmm, she thought. How does Bray like it?
Down. It had gotten so long though. Zulu knots?
Better.
Bray heard a knock at his door.
"Come in," He called.
"I'm already in," Amber said as she closed the door.
"Oh hey, I'm just about done packing," He said as he turned to look at her.
She smiled.
"Well, what do you think?" She said doing a mini spin.
"Wow," Bray said staring.
"I say you look like my Amber," He said as he walked up close.
"Well that's what I was going for," She said.
Bray leaned in and gave her a kiss.
Amber leaned back and looked into his eyes.
"Lets go get our family back," Amber said.
"There they are," Dal called out from front of the crowd.
He was right, in the near distance were three massive warehouses.
Amber sighed and rubbed her eyes. She hadn't really been sleeping lately, and she was so relieved that they would be able to crash for the night.
Still it was going to be a long few days after this. They had to devise a plan to get around the Chosen and into the mall too the Guardian. It wasn't going to be easy work.
Bray squeezed her hand.
"Hey what's wrong?" He asked.
Amber looked up and realized that he must've heard her sigh.
"I'm just tired," She said smiling at him.
"Ditto," He said laughing a bit.
"Come on let's go up the front, I think we should be there to scout out the warehouses," Bray said pulling her along.
"Right," she said, struggling to keep up.
Bray just laughed.
Dal was up the front of the group and lead them up too one of the big doors.
"Pride, Bray, could you help me with this, I don't think that it has been open for a while," He said struggling with the door.
Pride and Bray immediately stepped up, and Amber shuffled everyone back.
"It won't budge," Pride said, teeth clenched as he pushed as hard as he could.
"There must be another door to get in," Bray said, stepping back.
"Ok then. Amber, Bray, Dal. You go that way and see if you can find anything. Ebony, Lex, Horse, you go to your right. I'll take a few others around the back," Pride instructed.
"Ok then. If you find anything yell out ok?" Amber said.
The others nodded.
Amber lead Dal and Bray around the left side of the building.
They kept their eyes open for anything that resembled a door, but since the building were of low maintenance now that there was no one there to look after them, it was hard to see.
"Look, I think that's one over there," Bray exclaimed.
"Great. I'll go back and get Pride and the others," Dal said, walking back the way they had came.
"Thanks!" Bray called after him.
He tried the door, it was a little stiff, but he managed it easily and it opened with a creak.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 12 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"You go muscle man," Amber said laughing at him.
"Lets take a look inside," She said.
Bray grabbed her hand and they stepped in.
They walked around for a while, it was quite warm, and there was even some old hay in on of the far corners.
"This is great," Amber said.
They heard something behind them.
"Yeah, we know its great, it's our place," Said a girl crossing her arms across her chest. Behind her stood one other girl, and two boys. They all looked about Amber's and Bray's ages, 17.
"What do you want?" Said the same girl.
"Um, hi. I'm Amber and this is Bray. Sorry, we didn't know that anyone lived here, we thought that we could stay here," She said stepping forward.
"We thought the chosen had captured everyone along here," Bray said.
"Yeah, they came," the other girl said bitterly.
Bray seemed to read her mind.
"And they captured you're friends," He said nodding.
"What's it to you?" The first girl said again.
"Well, our tribe got captured too."
"What tribe would that be?" The same girl asked.
"The Mall Rats," Bray said softly.
They others looked at each other in amazement.
"So your Bray, the leader right?" one of the boys said.
"Yeah, Amber was the leader, but we uh, had an accident and she became leader of the Gaian Tribe. Actually, the reason we are here is to fight the Chosen. We have about 200 people willing to fight," Bray said.
"We know that the Chosen have a lot more, but we aren't going to back down with out a fight. Our Family is in there," Amber said.
"My boyfriend is, and our other friend," Said the girl at the back.
"All we know is that we need all the help we can get," Bray said looking at Amber.
The tribe again glanced around each other, giving the odd nod.
"I'm Tia, how can we help," Said the first girl who had spoken.
Bray and Amber smiled at the girl.
"This is great," Amber said.
"Could we stay here? Everyone's pretty tired," Bray said.
"Of course. I'm Eva, this is Jake and Logan. Our tribes called..............We've all been good friends for a long time, before the virus. The Chosen caught Neil and Genade before we could get away," replied the other girl in the warehouse.
"I'm sorry, but we're going to get them back. It's great that you're going to join us," Amber said, smiling reassuringly at her, and nodding at the boys.
"Everyone's comin'..."Dal said rushing in, but stopping in the middle of his sentence as he noticed the others.
"Um hi," Dal said giving Amber and Bray a weird look.
"Guys, this is Dal, Dal, this is Tia, Eva, Jake and Logan. There friends got captured by the Chosen too, and they want too join our fight," Bray said giving the introduction.
"Great," Dal said smiling at them. "Is it still ok if we stay here?"
"Yeah, bring everyone in," Tia said.

"Tia? Could we go for a walk?" Amber asked, the pretty girl who sat beside her.
"Sure," Tia replied smiling, but wondering what it was about.
"What's up?" She asked, as soon as they were out of listening range of the others.
"Well, I was just wondering how you all came to be here? I never heard of your tribe. Since I lived in both the City and the country, I thought I knew everyone."
"Well, we aren't really a tribe. I suppose you could call us a gang. We were all really good friends before the, well you know, and we stuck together. It was really hard when Neil and Genade got captured."
Amber gave her a sympathetic smile.
"So you have all been together ever since?" She asked.
"Yeah, like a family."
"So what about you? I take it you and Bray are going out," Tia asked.
"Yeah, but it's been really hard," She replied looking down, remembering over the past months that have been by.
"What happened?" Tia asked moving so she was sitting next to Amber.
Amber smiled, "Do you want the long story or the short story?"





~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 13 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Well the short story. I was in love with Bray, and we had just gotten together, at the Mall, with all the rest of our family. Then Bray got captured, by his ex-girlfriend and brother, Zoot, and Ebony," She started.
"That Ebony?" Tia pointed at Ebony across the other side of the room laughing with Pride.
"Yeah, she was worse back then. So I went to see him, and where he was and found Ebony more or less on top of him. I jumped to conclusions and ran. Back at the mall we had found the co-ordinates to a observatory, on Eagle Mountain," She continued.
"Oh, yeah, we heard about Eagle Mountain. While you were up there it exploded and two of your tribe" Tia said.
"Died? Yeah well, Ebony had come with us, and in the explosion, she told me her and Bray had had a baby together before the virus. She told me to go, and I did. She faked my death, and the next thing I know, Pride had found me and I had become the Gaians leader."
"Wow," Tia said, thinking of what Amber had been through.
"Yeah, I didn't know the truth about Bray and Ebony, until Bray and Dal, Ebony and Lex came back to our camp with Pride, and Bray made me listen to him, and here we are. Bray never gave up on me, no matter how many times I kicked him out of my room, and refused to talk to him," She finished laughing.
"He must love you a lot," She said smiling at the laughing girl.
"Well, I love him, so I hope so," She said.'
"And Ebony?" Tia asked, looking over at her again.
"No, I think we are right. I mean, I don't forgive her completely for what she put me and Bray through. But I can live with her. And she's changed a lot since then."
There was some silence.
"Now that I've told you my sappy story, how bout yours?" Amber said.
"What about mine?" Tia said trying not to blush.
"Well I'm pretty sure that you and Jake are going out," She said.
"Well," Tia said smiling, looking reluctant to say anything.
"Hey Guys, you want some food?" Bray said walking over to them, with a plate full of vegetables and canned Spaghetti.
"Saved by the bell," Tia said, smiling at Bray and getting up.
Amber laughed, and stole a carrot off Bray's plate.
"Hey," He protested.
Amber pouted at him, and his protests turned into a smile.
"I get one of yours," he said.
She rolled her eyes and smiled.
"So uh, have we worked out where we are going to sleep?" Pride asked.
"No, um, Eva, where do you sleep?" Dal said turning to the girl.
"We all sleep up in the top office, there's about 4 offices in each warehouse, and they would sleep about? 20?"She said looking at Tia.
"Yeah, about that much," Tia backed her up.
"Great, that's all of us fitted in. We brought our own blankets a stuff, so we are right," Amber said.
"I suggest we go to bed now, it's getting dark, and we have a long few day's ahead of us," Pride said.
"Well, if we divide, you up now, me and Logan can show you the way," Jake said.
"Thanks, well lets do that now," Ebony said.
"Ok can you all get into groups of roughly 20 people?" Pride called out to all the Gaians.
10 minutes later, Bray, Amber, Lex, Ebony and 19 other Gaians were walking together, to their room, for the next few nights.
"Not bad," Bray said as they walked into the room.
"Yeah, better than the old farm house," Amber said laughing.
"Much better, although Lex and I didn't stay the night. It must've been hell," Ebony said.
"Not if you had a room to your self," Bray said laughing.
"Are you guys set?" Eva said, she had showed them where to go.
"Yep, thanks again Eva," Amber said smiling.
"'night," They called as she climbed back down the stairs.
"Well, lets spread out and get some rest," Bray said, over the talk of the other Gaians.
They nodded.
"Amber, Bray," Ebony called out, her and Lex had gone into the far corner.
"Come over here," Lex called out.
Amber and Bray, clutching their blankets, made their way over to them.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 14 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"We figured, we could work out, some groups for watching and stuff," Lex said as soon as they had lay out their blankets, side by side.
"Good thinking, but we should be quiet, let the others get their rest," Amber said.
"Lets wait until they are mostly asleep then," Bray said stretching out, and taking off his jacket.
Amber turned back around.
"Lights out in 10 minutes guys," She called.
Then she reached into her bag that sat beside her, and pulled out a pen and a locked diary.
Bray watched.
"I didn't know you had a diary," He said.
"I started keeping one after the explosion. One of the Gaians gave it too me as a welcoming present," She said as she opened it to where she had last written.
Bray peered over her shoulder.
"Oi," She said giving him a playful shove back onto his bed.
"Oh, so it's a secret diary," Bray said laughing.
"I suppose you could call it that," She said smiling as she began to write.

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Dear Diary
Wow, so much has happened since I last wrote, and I only have 10 minutes to write, so I'll just explain what has happened briefly.
At the moment I am lying next to Bray on a floor of a old warehouse office. We meet up with Bray, and everything worked out. Then where we were staying as too cramped, and we moved here.
Tia, Eva, Logan and Jake live here. They invited us to stay, and they have joined our fight. Genade and Neil are also part of their tribe, though they do not call it that, and they were captured about three weeks ago by the Chosen. It's all working out Diary, Bray and I are back on Track, I've sort of worked things out with Ebony, I've made some new friends today, and tomorrow, we officially start our fight against the chosen, by gathering information on them, and where our family is. Bray and Dal, said they were in the mall, that's where the Guardian is, and most of the Chosen. So it's going to be hard, and it's not going to be easy.
I'm going to go now, Bray is resisting the urge next to me not to look over my shoulder and see what I am writing, and it's lights out in a minute.

Sweet Dreams
~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Amber slid her Diary shut and locked it with the key, that was tied around her wrist.
"When do I get to read it?" Bray said teasing her.
Amber blushed, "Well I suppose. Tell you what, you can read it, when we are back in the mall with the others," She said shaking his hand, and tying the deal.
"What's it got in there?" He asked, still teasing.
"You'll just have to wait and see," She, said smiling innocently at him.



~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 15 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"I think we should have groups of 20, like what we are staying in, on each partrol," Lex whispered.
The lights had been out for around about ten minutes, and most of the Gaians had dopped off to sleep.
"I think we should have about four solid groups," Bray said.
"You mean with only boys?" Amber asked, raising an eyebrow at Bray.
"No, it came out wrong, I mean..."He started, but was cut off by Amber.
"There are some girls in this Tribe who could hold their own in a fight," She said getting worked up.
"I know, I didn't say that, what I meant was that they should be filled with people who can actually fight you know? There is no point in sending out people who don't know how to fight," Bray said hastily, not wanting Amber to get upset. And he meant what he said, he knew that if Amber really wanted to she could fight all the boys in this tribe, and probably still be one of the top fighters. Same with Ebony.
Bray exchanged a glance with Lex, who was looking a little weary at the two girls.
Bray stifled a laugh, when those girls got worked up, you don't want to be within firing range.
"Ok Amber you and Pride will be the best at judging these groups, you are the leaders," Ebony said looking at Amber.
Amber nodded.
"I can do that in the morning," She said yawning.
"Yeah, in the morning, lets get some sleep guys," Bray said as he turned over and lay facing the ceiling on his back.
"Sleep is good," Lex said rolling over and facing the wall, Ebony did the same thing.
Amber lay facing the ceiling next to Bray on her bed.
Amber lay there listening to everyone's breathing as they slept. Lex and Ebony had fallen asleep with the Gaians not long after they had finished talking.
She was so tired, but she was cold and couldn't get to sleep.
"Tired?" Bray whispered beside her.
"Yeah, I'm a little cold," She said.
"Why didn't you say so?" Bray asked, propping himself up on his elbow.
"I thought you were asleep," She said.
Bray lay back down and stretched out his arm, pulling Amber towards him.
She shivered and he wrapped his other arm around her, and they both feel into a peaceful, warm sleep.
Bray awoke the next morning to a snoring Lex to his right, and empty arms.
He sat up and looked around, most of the Gaians were still asleep, but some were awake and talking quietly.
Chucking his shirt on over his head, Bray got up and walked over to ht e office window looking over the first warehouse.
Down below was Amber, and she was talking to Tia.
Bray smiled as he saw the two girls laughing.
'Better leave them too it,' Bray thought as he turned away and made his bed back up.
In the bed across from him Lex groaned.
"What time is it?" He asked groggily.
"About eight I think," Bray said.
"Too early for me," Lex said and rolled back over.
Bray just laughed and chucked his pillow at him.
Tia sat across from Amber in the 'dining room'.
They had been continuing their conversation from yesterday.
"Well, I knew Jake before the virus. We didn't go out or anything. We just knew each other because we were in the same class. He was one of those popular people and Genade and me hanged out together with our little group." Tia paused thinking of her best friend and what they had been through.
"After the virus struck, Genade, Eva, Neil, Logan and me were running from the Demon Dogs who where chasing us. We came to a dead end and in attempt to escape we hid in a clothes bin. They searched all around for us in the end they gave up, all except one, Jake."
"Jake was part of the Demon dogs?" Amber replied.
"Yip, we thought they had gone so we came out of hiding. Suddenly Jake jumped out at us. I went and stood in the front and stared at his eyes the only thing we could see besides his mouth. 'Who are you?' I asked him, 'I know you who are you' I added. Next thing I saw he was taking of his mask and he said 'It's me Jake'. In the end I convinced him to ditch the Demon Dogs and come with me"
"After he joined us we left the city. One afternoon we were having lunch and the others went off to get some water, or to go on a walk. So there was Me and Jake sitting under a tree when he turned to me a said, 'Tia I want u to know that before the virus, I was actually well, in love with you!' And we've been going together ever since."
"He sounds like a really nice guy," Amber said smiling.
"Yeah, he is," Tia replied blushing a little.
Amber laughed.
"Come on lets go see what our men are up too," She said standing up and offering her hand to Tia.
"Can we get on with the show? Or are you two girls still yakking?" Jake said wondering over to them.
"Oh hey," Tia said, as she kissed him on the check.
Amber saw Bray coming down the stairs in the distance.
"I'll see you over at breakfast," She told the couple and hurried off towards Bray.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 16 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
"Are we ever going to get anything done around here?" Lex said as he slouched down the stairs.
Bray and Amber laughed.
"Yeah, we could've got something done Lex, but you were asleep," Ebony said laughing at him.
"Get on with it then Amber," Lex said sitting down.
"I already have Lex, Pride and me read out the groups, they went off this morning, while you were still asleep," Amber said.
"Oh," Lex replied and went to get some breakfast.
"Honestly," Amber said rolling her eyes at Lex's retreating back.
"Listen Amber, about the patrol groups, um well, I thought maybe I should go out in one," Bray said.
"No way! Come on Bray, if you get caught, the Chosen will have a party. " Besides," She added, " I don't want you to go."
"I know, but I feel so helpless here, I can't do a thing except wait for people to come back with some information about them," Bray said leading the way back up to their room.
Some Gaians were still in there talking quietly, so Amber and Bray made their way over to the other side, in the corner.
"Bray you can't do anything, you know that."
"Which is why I want to go in and get Patsy and the others," Bray said raising his voice.
He was so angry that he couldn't help but be annoyed, with himself.
"Bray, you have to stay calm, for Cloe, Salene, Ryan, all the others. And we need you here Bray, you can help more by being here," She said staring in his eyes, trying to take his hands.
Bray pulled away.
"I have to walk," He said getting up. Amber watched him helplessly as he walked swiftly out of the room.
Nothing she could say would help Bray, as he said, he needed to be alone.
She hated seeing him like this.
Ebony sat down next to Pride.
"When are the first group supposed to get back?" She asked him.
"Um, first group? About another hour," He said.
"Are you sure it's a great idea for you to go in the patrols?" Pride asked her.
Ebony shrugged.
"I don't want to be stuck here. I know the city," she said.
"I suppose, but isn't the Guardian after all the Mall Rats? You could get caught," He said.
Ebony glared at him.
"I can look after myself," She said and walked off.
"I didn't mean it like..."He said but trailed off.
"Damn," He said to himself.
Pride didn't think that Ebony was the right person to get on the bad side of, and he had just put his foot in it.
Jumping up, he hurried off to find her.
Amber sat in her room, all of the other Gaians had gone off to tea.
"Can I come in," Dal asked peeking around the corner.
"Yeah," She said sighing.
"What's wrong? Where's Bray?" Dal asked positioning himself beside her.
"Brays gone for a walk, he needed to be alone," She said.
"Oh, you two have a fight?" Dal said nodding.
"No, he was angry with himself. He wants so bad to get the others back, I think he feels a bit responsible for the whole Chosen thing."
"He'll be right. But it's been hard on him, you know that," Dal said.
"I don't know what to say to him any more Dal? It's so hard, I want so badly to see all the others again, but its not looking to hopeful at the moment," she said, leaning her head on his shoulder.
"I don't know what I would do if he got caught."
"We'll get them back, we have to," Dal said.
Bray turned another corner of a city street, he didn't know where he was going, he was just walking.
I just want to help so bad, he thought.
He heard a cry on the street ahead of him and ducked in behind a container.
"Stop it! Please, just stop!" A young girls voice cried out.
And the voice sounded familiar, a voice Bray had been longing to hear.
He heard a whipping noise, and another cry rang out in the street.
Bray crept around the rest of the containers lining the streets, he was now behind a chosen member. In front of that member, crying out on pain, lay Cloe.
Bray's anger raged as he saw Cloe getting beaten, reacting, he jumped out and grabbed the guard from behind.
"Bray!" Cloe screamed.
The guard started to fight him off, but Bray, he wasn't giving up.
"Cloe, run!"
"Bray!" Cloe screamed again.
"Now!" He yelled back, but he was struggling, the chosen guard was stronger than he was, and Bray couldn't hold him back for much longer.
Around the corner, about five other guards came running.
"Cloe go!" He yelled again, just before getting punched in the face.
With one last look, tears streaming down her pretty, bruised face, Cloe grabbed the girl next to her, and they ran with all the others, down the street, and out of sight, heading out of the city.
But the chosen guards didn't follow; they had captured Bray, Leader of the Mall Rats.
Their search was now over; the circle was now complete...


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 17 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Cloe burst out into the open.
She and five others had been running non-stop through the dense forest.
Tears streamed down Cloe's face as she ran. She couldn't believe Bray had done that for her. And it was all her fault that he had been caught. He was like her older brother, always there when she needed him, if Bray was killed she would never forgive herself.
In the distance she could see three big warehouses.
"Cloe, we can hide there," said the girl next to her.
Cloe was so tired, tired and sore.
She saw movement, coming out of the bush on the opposite side, was a group of 20 or so.
"Are they the chosen?" Another kid whispered, fear obvious in his voice.
"I don't think so," Cloe said back, "They aren't wearing the robes."
"Oh no! There's more, and they're coming out of the building!" The girl next to her said again.
Cloe wiped away the tears forming in her eyes, so she could get a better look.
The people coming out in the distance, didn't look like the chosen, in fact they looked warm, and kind, though they had a sense of seriousness.
"I think we can trust them," Cloe said getting up and walking towards them.
The group stopped what they were doing and stared at the approaching youths.
"Who are you," Said one boy, stepping forward.
"We were slaves of the chosen, but we were saved by my leader. He sacrificed himself to set me free," Cloe said. Her lower lip trembled as she thought of what Bray had done for her. But she had to seem strong. She didn't want these people to think she was weak. She had grown up a lot since the Mall.
"We are the rebels, against the chosen. You'll be safe here. What tribe do you come from?" Asked the same boy.
They were about to reply when Ebony came bursting out of the warehouse, demanding to know what was holding up the scouting groups.
She stopped dead in her tracks.
"Cloe?" She asked, as she looked over the young girl.
Cloe just gapped, then ran forward and hugged Ebony.
When they had been back at the mall, she had been terrified of her, but now, now she was more than happy to see her.
Ebony almost felt the same way, she let her guard down for long enough to check Cloe over and give her a hug. She was really changing.
"Well, don't just stand there; go get Lex and your leaders," Ebony said to the nearest Gaian.
"Lex is here too?" Cloe said as they parted.
"Yeah, also Bray and..."Ebony started.
"CLOE!" Came a voice she never thought she would hear in her life.
"Amber?" She squeaked as the older girl came rushing towards her.
"It's me Cloe, it's me," She whispered and held out her arms.
Cloe rushed forward and hugged her tightly.
She looked up, Amber was crying, she was too.
"I though you were dead, we all did," She said.
"Amber there's something I need to tell you. Bray saved me, he gave up himself to the guards to free me," Cloe said, her lower lip was trembling again.
"The Chosen have got him?" Amber said.
"I was getting whipped, and he came out. Oh Amber I tried to get him to go, but he wouldn't listen to me," The young girl whispered, hugging Amber again.
"Come inside, everyone," Amber said leading the way.
"We'll get him back Cloe," Amber whispered to her.
But in the back of her mind, she was blaming herself. I should've stopped him, It was too dangerous. I knew it was too dangerous. I could've convinced him.
"Amber," Pride said. "It wasn't your fault."
"Wasn't it Pride? I could've gone after him! He could be dead!" She said.
"Dal!" Cloe yelled.
Dal came running over, and gave Cloe a quick hug.
"Thank God your all right Cloe," He said.
"Dal, Bray's been caught," Ebony said.
"He gave himself up to free Cloe," Lex said. Even Lex knew that without Bray, they were going to struggle.
He also knew, that last time Bray refused to be with the Chosen, he was just about burnt on a stake.
"Lets all sit down, Dal could you look over Cloe, and the others for injuries? Pride you can help," Ebony said, taking charge.
"Right," They said and gathered up the group. Cloe was resistant, but Amber insisted she got checked over.
"You've been through hell Cloe. And you're bleeding, go get fixed up, I'll be fine," Amber said pushing her off her lap, where they had been sitting.
"Amber I don't think we should send out any more scouts just yet, till everyone knows the situation," Ebony said softly sitting next to her on the couch.
"God I can't believe it," She whispered back.
"Amber! Oh Amber I just heard," Tia said rushing over. She gave her a hug and sat close on the other side.

Dal checked over the last person who was with Cloe.
Mostly they had just been bruised and cut. But Cloe was the worst. The cuts where she had been whipped were starting to get infected. Though he had fixed her up, he would have to keep a close eye on her. He just hoped that Bray was alive. They needed him, and he knew that Amber and the others wouldn't stop until they had freed him and everyone else.
"Dal, can I go back over to Amber now?" Cloe asked, noticing the far way expression on his face.
"Yeah, of course, I'm coming too," He said getting up and with Cloe, they walked toward their distressed leader.

"So we meet again," The Guardian said.
Bray didn't reply.
He had been knocked unconscious while freeing Cloe, and brought immediately to the Guardian. He had woken up soon after, but was too weak to attempt to get away.
He hoped she had gotten away, chances are she would've found Amber and the others. If she had gone the right way.
"Zoot is angry," The Guardian continued.
"Why's that?" Bray asked.
"You should of been one of the first to join us."
"Join you? You kill innocent people, keep them as slaves. You take joy in seeing pain that you have brought to others. Listen to me. My brother is Dead! He's dead, and he isn't coming back."
"The all mighty and powerful Zoot is not dead. His spirit is with us everyday. One day we will join him," The Guardian retorted.
"You're crazier than I thought," Bray said struggling against the chains that bound him to the damp, cold wall.
"I take it you have not changed your mind since we last met Bray," The Guardian proceeded.
"I am not joining you in bringing Chaos to the city. My brother is dead. Let him rest in peace. Then maybe we can get you some help," Said Bray coldly, repeating what he had said before.
"I don't think you are in the position to make these comments Bray."
Bray glared up at the Guardian, determined not to back down. But he knew all too well the Guardian was right. He had to see the others again.
"Very well then, Guards! We shall begin the ceremony tomorrow. The brothers shall be once again, reunited."
Within a moment, Bray was unchained and pushed out of the room.
The guardian turned to face the window. An evil grin spread across his face.
"Zoot be praised."
"And to his Chosen victory," Replied the guards that followed Bray out of the room.


Why Can't You Understand

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Part 18 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Pride, get everyone together, we need to have a meeting now," Amber said, putting on her best I-mean-business voice.
"Are you sure?" He replied back. It was obvious that she was still very much upset.
"Yes, everyone has to be here," She said back, keeping her voice strong and steady. But inside she didn't feel strong and steady. She felt like a duck on the water; on the surface she appears calm, but underneath she was struggling to hold herself together.
"Right, Ebony, Lex, can you help? Ebony come this way with me, Lex go get Jake and Tia. They can help too," Pride said, turning to Lex and Ebony.
Ebony refused to meet his eye, but nodded in agreement.
Amber looked between the two of them. If she hadn't been so worried, she might of laughed.
"Bring every one to the first warehouse, they can sit on the haystacks while we speak."
"Right," And they all left.
Dal and Cloe looked at Amber.
She looked back and read their eyes.
"I'll be fine when we get Bray back. The mall, and everyone else."
With that, she walked off to get ready for the meeting. Their future depended on it.
Cloe and Dal exchanged glances, and they seemed to understand. After all, they wanted the same thing.
"I guess we'd better go help Pride," Dal said and got up.
"Yeah."
"Get up," Yelled one of the guards, who had kept a closed guard on Bray, ever since he had left the Guardian.
Bray obeyed, and got to his feet. He was feeling stronger now, but he knew there was no chance on him getting out.
He was pushed once again, out the door, and into the Guardian's quarters.
There inside was also Trudy.
Bray looked away in disgust, he had nothing to say to her, nothing.
Trudy looked helpless.
"We will move to the hotel to begin the ceremony," The guardian said.
Bray stayed silent. He knew that if he opened his mouth, he would say something to make his death come quicker.
"We have decided, that your loved one's will join you in this sacrifice," He continued.
"NO!" Shouted Bray, his voice echoing in the large room.
"And there I was thinking you would be grateful," The Guardian replied soon after.
The Guard behind Bray, hit him hard on the head. Bray weakened at the blow.
"You're a monster. My brother would have never done anything like this, never." He yelled while being dragged from the room.
"We have learnt of the Chosen's actions from our scouts. But we know that the only way to defeat the Chosen. Is to go straight to the roots. The Guardian," Amber said, looking out at everybody.
"If you agree, we leave in an hour. There is no time to wait for nightfall," Pride said, stepping down from the high platform.
The rebels talked to each other, tension was in the air.
"I think we should give you some time," Amber said, her face showed her desperation.
"No wait," One person called out.
"Lets leave now!" Another yelled, and a great cheer came up in the buildings.
Amber burst out into a relieved smile. She hugged Dal hard.
"Thank you," She yelled into the tribe.
"Down with the Chosen," Some yelled.
"Peace and Harmony!" Others yelled.
"Lets do it!" Ebony yelled and lead the way through the opened doors, and out onto the field. All grabbed weapons on the way out.
The Mall Rats that were there - left with determined looks.
"Oh my God, It's Bray!" Salene Yelled.
With all that was going on, they were all smiling and racing towards him.
Bray looked up, with a sad look on his face, but it turned into joy as he saw his fellow Mall Rats, tearing down the street.
They couldn't get away of course, and were soon put in their place by the guards, but they still reached Bray, hugs all around. Well, before the guards pulled them behind.
"I'm sorry this has to happen. It's my fault," Bray said, looking down.
"Bray, somehow we will get out of this. And it's not your fault!" Tai-san protested.
"Look, I should've listened to Amber. She told me this would happen if I got caught," His eyes looked up at the group. They looked confused.
"Bray. Amber's dead," Patsy said quietly.
"No she's not. She's alive, oh you guys don't know! Ok, um, at Eagle Mountain, when it exploded, she was thrown away from all of us. Except Ebony. Ebony told Amber, that me and her had had a kid together before the virus. She left, and Ebony set up her grave. She was found by Pride, the person who saved me, Lex, and Ebony. We went with him to get reinforcements, and the leader turned out to be Amber, well Eagle. A lot else happened, but it's too hard to explain. We got back together, and well, we started the rebellion, where Dal, Lex, Ebony, Cloe and Amber are."
"She's really alive?" Ryan asked.
"Wow," Jack muttered.
"Yeah, and we are going to get out of this somehow," Bray said.
"Well, well, well I see that you have found each other," The guardian said, sauntering up to them, Guards all around him.
The Mall Rats looked instantly tense, and scared.
"You aren't going to get away with this," Said Bray as Guards came up and grabbed all of them.
"Oh yes I am," The Guardian smirked.
"When it is noon, the sacrifice will proceed. This is the last time, before it, that you will see each other."
Bray looked around his friends. His family. They all looked so small. He wanted the reassure them, but with the Guardian there, it wasn't the best idea.
The rebels entered the city, it was almost deserted.
"Are we too late?" Amber asked fearfully.
"No, not yet, but we have to move quickly," Ebony said, stepping up beside her.
"Let's hurry then," She said and lead the way.
"Look Amber, I know you want to save Bray and the others, so do I, and really everyone here. But we need to wait for the right moment to strike, or we might end up slaves too," Ebony said, running to catch up.
"I know its just, I don't want to wait."
"Amber, Ebony! Up there there's a group of slaves. There's only three guards, we can free them and get some information out of the guards of where Bray and the others are," Said Lex pointing out the group in the distance.
"Right, Lex, Ebony and Pride you come with me, we'll take the guards on. You others stay with Dal," She called out.
Quickly they ran up to the Guards and started to fight.
A moment later, Amber kicked the last guard in the stomach, and he fell over.
"Are you all right?" Pride asked the small group. There were three boys and about five girls.
"Yeah, thanks to you. Are you the Rebels?" Said one girl standing up, after Lex had cut the ropes which bounded them.
"Yes, and we need to know where the Guardian is. I'm Amber, this is Pride, Lex and Ebony," She said.
"I'm Genade, this is Flame, Candice, Emma, Butterfly, Neil, Cameron, and Brad."
Amber smiled.
"Genade, Neil, we've got some people in our Rebellion who you might be happy to see," Amber said, pointing back to the lead group.
"Who?" Neil asked curious.
"Tia, Logan, Jake, and Eva," She said.
"Thank God! We thought they were dead!" Genade yelled.
"Come back here with us," Pride said, and he lead the way. Half way back, Tia, Eva, Jake and Logan came rushing out of the pack.
"Genade! Neil!" They were yelling.
They ran too each other.
Tia and Genade hugged each other tight.
"Are you guys ok?" Tia asked.
"Yeah, we are," replied Neil looking around his group of friends.
The others that had been with Genade and Neil had found members of their tribes which hadn't been caught.
"Sorry to break this up guys, but do you know anything about what the chosen are doing now?" Amber asked.
"Right. Yes we do. They're having some sort of sacrifice? Um, the Mall Rats and Bray are going to be killed for Zoot," Said Butterfly, quietly.
"Not if we have anything to do with it," Said Lex.
Amber looked stricken.
"Do you know where they are heading to do this sacrifice?" Ebony asked.
"The hotel," She replied.
"It's starting at noon," said another.
Pride looked up at the sky.
"Lets hurry we don't have much time!" He said.
And the rebels hurried down the street, hoping they weren't to late.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Part 19 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
"Zoot, Zoot, Zoot, Zoot..."The Chosen crowd chanted.
The other slaves looked on.
The guardian stepped up to the platform, outside the main building, where Bray, Salene, Patsy, Ryan, K.C., and all the other Mall Rats were tied up.
Around the outside of the building, there were torches, ready to light the wood around the Mall Rats at noon.
There hands were tied, but they could move them the slightest bit. They were all in a semi-circle so close they were touching.
Bray putting his hands down, and reached out as far as he could, and grabbed Patsy's little hand. She looked up at him, and grabbed Salene's. In no time they were all holding hands.
Silent tears, streaked down most of the girls faces.
Bray looked into each of his friends' eyes, one by one.
I'm sorry - was what they read. The others shook their heads. They didn't blame Bray for this, he couldn't have done anything.
Amber and the rebels looked over the fence, but kept out of sight.
She couldn't see the Mall Rats, but she was hoping they were still alive. By the looks of the Guardian, they hadn't started the sacrifice yet, which to Amber was very good news.
"Wait until it starts," Ebony whispered to them.
Amber nodded.
"Wait for it, wait for it," She whispered to Pride. He was going to give the signal.
The Guardian looked up at the sun.
"It is time," And nodded at the flame carriers.
Amber nodded fiercely again.
"Now!" Yelled Pride and the rebels swarmed the Chosen.
The battle had begun.
The fire didn't reach the wood near the Mall Rats, but they were not put out.
Ebony ran up and kicked the nearest Chosen member near the fire. But more came at her. She couldn't get to the flames.
Lex ran through the door as it slammed shut behind him and untied Bray, he then turned and untied Patsy, but before he had finished, one of the torches outside was knocked over in the battle, and had set the wood on fire.
It soon caught on to the building, and was moving quickly over to where they were.
"The buildings on fire!" Bray yelled panicking.
Bray and Lex, worked hard at everyone's ropes, but it was getting so smoky inside, and it was hard to see.
They worked quickly, and when most were free, they started pushing on the doors, the flames were coming nearer and nearer.
"We have to get out of here!" Bray yelled.
He was struggling with K.C.'s ropes, everyone else was free.
"ARRRGGGHH!" They all screamed as they pushed against the door, it budged slightly.
"Come on guys, we can do this!" Ryan yelled.
"Push!" Salene yelled.
The beams holding up the roof near the door were starting to burn, and they knew that any minute now they would collapse.
Lex pushed hard on the door, they couldn't move it much. But it was just about big enough for them to fit out.
"One more push!" He yelled.
With that, the door groaned and slowly moved another few inches.
"Go, Go, GO!" He said, pushing Patsy, who was the nearest, out the door, followed closely by Jack and Ellie, Salene and Ryan and Tai-san. All were left but Bray, Lex and K.C. Bray was still struggling with his ropes, so Lex ran over to him and tried to help.
They loosened the ropes and K.C. slipped out, but before he could get out the door, two beams came crashing down in front of him.
"LEX!" He yelled running back.
Lex and Bray looked at each other.
"We're trapped in," Bray said looking all around.
"There's gotta be another way out," Lex said.
And they started to search.
Amber looked around after she had just knocked out another Chosen Guard.
But where were Bray and the Mall Rats?
Looking around she saw that the Chosen were dropping quickly. They were winning.
She saw a bunch of familiar faces running out of the building.
"Guys!" She shouted running over to them.
"Amber! It's really you!" Salene shouted as they ran towards each other.
"Wait, where's Bray, and Lex and K.C.?" She asked looking around, fear in her voice.
Ebony, Dal, Cloe and Pride ran over to them. Amber looked over at Ebony.
Ebony looked back hopeless at her.
"What's wrong?" She yelled back, running over to her.
Amber took one look at her face and guessed.
"NO, HE, THEY CAN'T BE IN THERE!" She screamed, tears running down her face. She peered through the smoke.
"Please no," She whispered.
She tried to run towards it, but Pride held her back.
"We can't do anything Amber. There's no way in," he yelled over the noise.
"If there's no way in that means, there's no way out," Ryan said quietly.
"Please no," She repeated again and hugged Patsy.
Together in a huddle, they stared at the building, tears streaking down their faces as they thought of what had become.
"They saved us," Ellie said.
"And we can't help them," Jack finished hugging her.
Inside the building, the boys had searched everywhere, but there was nowhere to go.
Their one chance of getting out had long been gone, and the building, was collapsing fast.
"NO!" Bray yelled and slammed his hand against the wall in frustration.
Then out of no where came a voice.
"Bray, Lex! This way," Said the voice.
The boys had no choice but to follow it through the smoke.
They saw a person, about Lex's height standing near a heater on the wall.
Who ever it was, was in a black cloak that covered them from head to toe.
"Who are you?" Lex shouted at the figure over the sound of crashing timber.
"A old friend, but that doesn't matter, come this way," The person said back.
It pulled at the heater, and it came off the way, reveling a door with a latch. The person unhooked it and opened it.
Lex looked at Bray.
"Lets go, it's the only way out," He shouted.
"K.C., you first," said Lex pushing his small friend through the door.
"Lex go!" Bray yelled and pushed him through.
Then Bray dived through it, and then the hooded figure, just as the rest of the building went up in flames.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Part 20 - ~Why Can't You Understand~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The boys burst out into the open, just behind the hotel.
"Are you guys ok?" Lex asked, coughing.
"Yeah I'm fine, K.C?" Bray asked.
"I'm alive," He replied back. He was obviously shaken.
"Do you know if everyone else got out, and what about the fight? Is it still going on? "Should we be back there?" Bray asked.
"The fight is over. The Guardian and about 50 members of the chosen got away. But everyone else was fine. There were no deaths, but lots of serious injurys," The hooded figure said.
"Thank God. Now your going to tell us who the hell you are," Lex said to the person beside K.C.
"Just promise me you won't try and kill me again Lex, I've changed," Said the person, and removed their hood.
The boys stared open mouth.
"Zoot?!" Lex shouted.
"No, it's not Zoot, it's Martin," Said Martin looking at Bray.
Bray couldn't speak, instead he pulled him into a brotherly hug.
"Sorry, I shouldn't of let this whole Chosen thing get out of hand, but I only heard about it a week ago."
"Thank God your back," Was all Bray said.
"By the way if you guys were wondering, I woke up and jumped from the raft, I washed up on the East beach, and I was found by a peace loving tribe, they hadn't heard of my former self because they lived in the country."
There was silence.
"Bray, um, do you know where Trudy and Brady are?" Martin asked, looking at his older brother.
"I don't know, but we'll find them," He said.
The Mall Rats and other Rebels stood staring at the burnt down building, it was still on fire, but it was dieing down.
"I think we should all go home now, the Chosen are finished," Pride said.
"Thank you all so much. I'm, sure we'll be seeing each other soon," Amber said, her voice shaky.
Slowly the rebels departed.
Amber turned to her fellow Mall Rats.
"I think we should go home now," She said. "Back to the Mall."
The others just nodded. Still in shock over the deaths of Bray, Lex and K.C.
"Amber, are you going to be OK?" Dal asked finally.
"I don't think I ever will be ok Dal, but I'll try," She said.
This is what everyone felt like when I 'died'. I didn't need to put them through that.
She started to walk, and felt Ebony's arms wrap around her. She lent her head on her shoulder; for once she didn't mind her company. She just wished it could've been under different circumstances.
"Lets go home," Tai-san said, her voice breaking.
And silently they moved out of the hotel and out the gate.
"Lets go find the others," Lex said, looking down the street.
Rebels were walking in different directions, going back to their homes. But there were no sight of the Mall Rats.
"Maybe there still at the hotel?" Martin asked.
Bray ran up and looked over the fence.
He shook his head.
"No, they're not there. Lets try the mall," He said, and turned left.
"Hey guys?" K.C. said.
"Yeah?" Lex asked back.
"Aren't they, aren't they gonna think we're dead?" He finished.
"You're right. We'll they're in for a surprise," Bray said laughing.
Lex, K.C. and Martin laughed along with him.
"Wait, they think Lex killed me," Martin said.
"Then uh, we can explain," Bray said, punching Martin lightly in the shoulder.
"You know what I'd rather be doing right now than see everyone again?" K.C. asked.
"What?" Lex and Bray asked. They were both thinking, What could be more important than seeing everyone?
"Eating," He said. "I'm starved!"
By now everyone was laughing so loud that you'd be surprised if the Mall Rats didn't hear them.
"True, true, but I want to see Amber again," Bray said.
"And Tai-san," Lex added.
"Yeah, well I can't wait to see Pats...."K.C said then shut up fast.
"Patsy eh?" Lex said, and they all laughed at K.C.'s face.
"How much further? I haven't been here for like two years," Martin asked.
"Um, a block," Lex said.
"Half a block," Bray corrected, pointing towards the side of the mall, which had now come into view.
"Hurry up then," Lex said running towards the sewer door.
"Right behind you," Bray said taking off.
"I can't believe I'm really back here," Amber said quietly looking around the mall.
There was a moment of silence.
"Well I don't really want to say this. But after we get settled back in, we have to clean this up," Salene said pointing to the walls, which were covered in Zoot graffiti.
"Sorry about that," Said Trudy walking in with Brady.
"What are you doing here?!" Alice shouted.
"I've come to explain," Trudy said looking at her feet.
They all peered around her, expecting the Guardian to show up.
"I'm alone," She said.
"Look, I didn't want this to happen. But they threatened to take Brady from me. They were going to kill me, and I couldn't not see Brady again."
The others looked at her.
"I'm so sorry, but I couldn't do anything."
Everyone was silent, trying to figure out if this was true or not.
"They were going to keep you from Brady?" Pasty asked quietly.
Trudy nodded, tears falling from her pale cheeks.
Salene stepped up, and hugged her.
"Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry," Trudy whispered over and over again.
"It's so good to see you Trudy," Amber whispered.
"We're all safe now," Amber said, joining the hug.
"Maybe not," Jack said and motioned for them to listen.
Sure enough there were noises coming from the sewers.
Amber picked up the nearest weapon, a lead pipe, and advanced to the sewer opening.
"It's good to be home," Bray said, stepping down the last ladder in the sewers before they entered the main entrance of the mall.
"Defiantly," Lex said. "I can't wait until I see Tai-san again."
"I just wanna see my daughter," Martin said.
"And you will. But we don't know if Trudy's with Chosen or not."
"Yeah I suppose your right. And she's defiantly changed a lot if she is."
They stopped and helped K.C down the ladder.
"This way," Lex said pointing.
Amber crouched around the corner and lifted her pipe, Ryan was behind her.
She put her hand up, to signal that they must be quiet.
Listening hard, she heard voices just off the corner.
She heard loud footsteps approaching, and she jumped up and around the corner, pipe lifted to defend herself.
The voices stopped, and all you could here, was the sound of a crashing lead pipe to the sewer floor.
"Bray!" She yelled and pounced on him.
Her force of her hitting him was so strong they both went crashing over on the floor, laughing.
"How did you get out?" She asked. "We were sure you were dead!"
"We had a little help," He said, kissing her.
"Um, do you guys want to get off the floor, we don't really need to see you rolling around," Lex said, and K.C. and Martin laughed.
"Well, give us a hand then Lex," Amber said smiling, and she reached out her hand.
Lex took it and pulled her up.
She then pulled Bray up, hugging him tight.
"Hey? Uh, don't we get a hug?" Lex asked smirking.
"Of course," Amber said and she hugged him.
Lex didn't of course expect her to do it, so he looked a bit shocked.
"Hey man, it's great to see you again," Ryan said to Lex, punching him lightly on the shoulder.
"You too," Lex said slapping his hand.
"Oh sorry, I'm Amber," Amber said to the boy standing next to Bray.
"Yeah I know. Bray's told me everything about you. And I've met you before. I'm Martin," He said extending his hand.
Amber gulped.
"Zoot?" She said quietly.
"No, It's Martin," He said smiling.
"It's good to meet you Martin. But ah, didn't you die?" She replied, shaking his hand.
Bray looked on and smiled.
"Didn't you?" Joked Martin.
"We'll explain later," Bray said.
"Come on, let's go see everyone," Bray said, putting his arms around Amber.
"Yeah," She said smiling.


~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
Epilogue - ~Why Can't You Understand?~
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*
The days went by after the Mall Rats had reunited. The Mall was back to it normal. Amber and Bray had taken on being joint leaders, as they once were, and they had moved into Bray's room together.
Amber told the others so often that she was so sorry that she had left them, that they usually knew what she was going to say, every time they talked about something that she wasn't there for.
Martin and Pride were asked to join the Mall Rats.
Martin accepted straight away, he and Trudy had decided to give their relationship another go, for Brady's sake, and for their own. He wanted to stay close to his family.
Trudy was regaining the trust of her fellow Mall Rats, though she still felt guilty about what she had been a part of, it took a bit of getting used to having Martin around again, but she was glad he was here, for Brady and her.
Pride had been resistant to accept the offer of becoming a Mall Rat. Not because of the Gaians, they had gone back to the country with a new leader. They had invited all of the Mall Rats and Pride to come a visit anytime. But because of the weird tension between him and Ebony.
It turned out that they just both really liked each other, but they had been too stubborn around each other, to realize it. And with Amber and Bray playing matchmaker, it hadn't taken them too long. So Pride agreed to stay.
Salene and Ryan were expecting another child, and getting on with their lives much like before.
Lex and Tai-san barely left each other's side. In fact Tai-san had gotten Lex to join in on her meditating!
The others were getting on great. They were pulling together as a Tribe. They even trusted Ebony now. Something they weren't sure a year ago that they could ever do.
The city was back up and running, much like it was when the Mall Rats had discovered the antidote, though this time, the people in their tribes, were doing it out for them selves, and not complaining.
It was getting cleaned up, and the tribes no longer feared the threat of the Chosen. Since the Guardian and few members had got away, the city kids had been a bit scared. But now they knew they were safe. Safe until something else came along.
Amber walked into the cafe area and headed straight over to Bray.
"Everything is sooooo great!" She said happily, grinning.
"I know. I can't believe it's really over. And your back, my brothers back to normal, and everyone's happy," Bray said smiling back, shifting over a seat so she could join him for breakfast, and placing his arm around her shoulder.
Cloe, Dal, Alice, Ellie, Ebony, Pride and K.C were already up and eating breakfast.
Jack, Lex, Tai-san, and Patsy were making their way up the stairs, laughing among themselves, and Salene and Ryan were just coming out of their bedroom for the day, and Trudy and Martin were feeding Brady in Trudy's room.
When everyone was arriving, Tai-san stood up to speak.
"We're here together; we've been through a lot together. I think we should do something as a tribe. Like what we did when we named ourselves the Mall Rats. Not all of you were there for that, and I just thought that it would bring us closer as one."
Amber smiled. She had missed Tai-san's spiritual ways, and she knew what she was talking about.
"I think it's a great Idea," Salene said smiling around at everyone.
"I wasn't here for it but, I'm up for it," Ellie said.
The others nodded, and stood up.
"Come down here everyone," Amber said.
Following her down, Tai-san motioned for them to join hands in a circle.
Surprisingly, they did this with no protest.
Amber laughed.
"Wait Lex, are you ok?" Amber asked.
He smiled.
"I'm fine, the Mall Rats is a good enough name for me."
"Good then. The Mall Rats we are, the Mall Rats we stay," Amber said.
"It's more than a name. It's a future." Tai-San told them, as those who had been here at that time, 3 years ago, remembered this special moment that had brought them together as a tribe, a family.
"We are the Mall Rats joined together as brothers and sisters," Tai-san continued.
"Together," Amber said, looking around at everyone, making eye contact. Then last she turned to look at Bray.
"Forever," Bray said, squeezing her hand.

The End