Chapter One:
Surviving

    The sound of the river filled my ears. Great rushing water, powerful enough to carve the mighty rocks in half. All my life I've been able to ear this sound. Even when I lived high above in the City in the Rocks, the height was not enough to drown out the noise. When I was lost in the desert, the sound carried me back home. Now, with nowhere to go and everyone gone, it's still hear. My mother use to say that water was powerful. It carved through the hardness of rock, and carried it long past what we could see. And though it took lots of time, a powerful force like that could never be stopped.
    Opening my eyes, the landscape filed around me. Sandy beaches, the green from small plants that somehow survive in the extreme conditions, high walls of rock that seem never ending in so many shades of red and brown you felt as if you could see every combination there was out there, and of course the big blue sky, without a cloud in sight. It wasn't going to rain today, not that that was a shock.
    Getting up, I swung the water buckets up my arms (causing a portion of it to pour down my shirt and pants), and head back to the city. I had gone to get water for me and the only other living survival. My long time best friend, Sydney Demetria Wilks. It was quite a climb to get up there, but having done it several times in my seventeen years of existence, I had grown quite use to it.
    "You know," Sydney says when I reached the top. "You could've used the stairs. It would have been much easier, and you wouldn't be wearing half of our drinking water on your shirt. I'm just saying."
    "True, but where's the fun in that?" Sydney just shakes her head. She takes the buckets out of my hand. We walk to the center of the City in the Rocks, and she sits down next to the fire. Though it is past noon, I have already hunted enough for our next three meals and collected water. Sydney has also tended to her garden. Even in the downfall of our city, she still somehow managed to keep her entire garden alive. She no longer tends to the garden in what was once her home, but instead the one closest to the center of the city.  Neither of us has spent time in our own homes anymore. Mostly we still live under ground. Besides it's warmer down there at night, than anywhere else.
    I look over at Sydney. She's lost in her thoughts, a small frown tugging at her lips. "So," She inquires a few moments later, trying to bring us back into the real world. In may ways I feel as though, the real world is worse than the horrid thoughts in my head. "What shall we do today?"
    "What is there for us to do? We have already collected enough water and food to survive today and the next if we have to rationalize. The only things we have left to do is go through the homes to find clothing, but neither of us needs that right now."
    Sighing, Sydney once again shakes her head. "Try to think more positively. We are alive, unlike everyone else we know. We should try and enjoy it. You know, live."
Live? I don't respond. Instead I just stare at her.
    A small smile appears on her face. "Well, I guess we could play a game?" I agree, even if it's just because I know she won't stop until I do. "Go," She demands. "And bring us some water to chinch our throats."
"It's right next to you, Shakespeare." Laughing slightly, I once again a grab a bucket. As I'm pouring the water into the glasses, some of it splaches onto my hand.
    "Someone's coming." A voice screams out. I drop the bucket and jump to my feet. Sydney stares up in shock.
    "Did you hear that?" I ask.
    "Hear what?" I can hear the fear and worry in her voice and she slowly puts the game down.
    "That voice." My hands are on my bow, before I've even realized it. They are drawing the bow string back, though I have no where to ame the arrow.
"What voice, Aleane?" Glancing back at Sydney, I realize I must look crazy.
"Nothing. I-I just thought. It doesn't matter. How about that game?"
"Are you okay."
No. "Yeah, I just must have not gotten enough to drink. Really it's no big deal." I sit down, and make a big deal out of drinking lots of water. I've already had a couple glasses today, and I know I'm not dehydrated. Sence it's not that, what just happened. Shaking my head, I brush it off as sunstroke. I have been sitting out in the sun a lot all week.
"Are you sure you're okay?"
"Yes."
    "Realy? Because even when we were kids, you always use to say that having imaginary friends talk to you was stupid. And the voices in our head, were only your own thoughts. I know we haven't seen anyone else in about a month, but if you're starting to hear things, then maybe-"
"I'm not starting to hear things, Syd." I say effectively cutting her off. "I must have just been thinking out loud or sompting."
She starts to say something else, but then we hear it. The unmistakable sound of someone's voice, crying out. There is no way either of us can hear what they are saying, but someone's yelling. Someone else is hear.
"Go. Hide." I whisper to Sydney, climbing to my feet. I once again grab my bow and arrows. This time though, I have someone to aim it at.
She follows. "No way. I'm not leaving you alone, not again. We promised."
I don't say anything, just head in the direction of the voice. Sydney, quickly follows, knowing I won't wait for her. It doesn't take long for me to find the person. Well, him. He's no longer just screaming out. He's yelling names, inside a house. I hear a crash. I realize that I know what he's doing. He's trying to find where his family's gone.
Not getting a good look at his face, I have no idea who he is. There is no way we can reveal ourselves. Many people were trying to kill us before, for all I know he could be related to one of them. I hear another crash, and feel Sydney flinch beside me. He's not going to find them. Whoever he's looking for. Everyone's dead, at least that is what we think. We never found any bodies. Not our dads. Not our moms. Not even my little sister.
After more minutes of relentless yelling and crashes, he rushes out. I still can't place him. He collapses to the ground. A large sob escaping him. This boy, he's crying, sobbing out foreign names in morning. I see myself in him. I did the same thing. If he's like me he'll get up soon and counting searching until he collapsed from a lack of sleep and hope. This moment is stagely personal. I turn my head and let him have his privacy.
Sydney starts around me. I grab her arm and yank her back out of sight.
"Aleane, we have to."
    "We can't." I whisper yell.
"Bu-but we can't just leave him there. All sobbing and confused. He has no idea what happened and-"
"We don't know who he his, Sydney. To throw ourselves out there. It could be suicide. You know that better than anyone."
    She steps back, stoung. Although I hurt her feelings, she doesn't go to comfort the boy.
"Look I'm sorry." I sart to say, when I realized something. The boy, he's no longer sobbing. In fact, I can't hear him at all. I turn around. He's gone. Flipping back, I grab Sydney's arm. Her eyes widen, sensing the danger we are in.
I drag us into an ally, and run quickly towards our temporary home. It's under ground so we should be same. Though my foot falls are soft on the ground, a skill I learned after years of hunting, Sydney's pound loud matching my heart beat. With that noise, I'm surprised he hasn't found us. All that emotion must have been a ruse to have us let our guard down. How could I have been so stupid. I'm supposed to protect us.
I stop across from the entrance to go underground. There's no way to get to it, without crossing the open court yard. That would put both of us out into the open. An easy shot. Unfortunately, there is no other way to get there without spending another ten to twenty minutes out here. Sighing, I decide to take the risk.
Looking at Sydney I try and tell her the plan. She get's it and nods. Holding up my had, I count down from five. At zero we race across the courtyard. I reach the door first and am about to open the door, when I hear.
"Stop." I flip around. There he stands. Tears are still cascading down his face, but his voice doesn't waver. Unfortunately for me, his hands don't either. The knife in his hand, falls darkly across Sydney's throat. "Don't move, or she dies" The boy says.