A/N: CHAPTER THREEEE! I Will be updating to Chapter 3 as of right now before publishing a chapter every TWO or THREE days! There will be no misses on days!!!!!

Please comment below and give me your thoughts on the new version or what you are thinking! I would love to hear from everybody!!!

Chapter Three:

There was no sign of any given war leaving me astonished at the sight before me. 

I had expected a battle ground, blood still coating the destroyed, once bright green grass. A rumble of rocks and gravel coating a toxic atmosphere of radioactive waste. Maybe even a few buildings, knocked to the ground, decaying as they were submerged and covered with the growing of new trees emerging from small sprouts, twirling around with small flowers blooming as if it were a greenhouse.

But the sight of multiple buildings within a large black-gated community was surely something I did not expect. Staring in awe, I glanced to my left where I saw rows upon rows of four story high buildings, lined perfectly parallel to each other. The large red bricked apartments were aligned with windows, mimicking the dorms and apartments I had once seen long ago when I was a young child exploring a large city.

Just a few years before the war.

My mouth opened stepping off the bus, following the small train of slow shuffling people in front of me as they too took in their surroundings.

I briefly registered Carter's hand hovering over the small of my back, hot on my hills when I took the final step off of the bus. 

Turning around, I saw him looking around frantically with wide eyes as he took in the bright, beautiful sight before us.

Looking back, I saw a large building directly in front of us. It wasn't as tall as the parallel streets that seemed endless to the left, but it was certainly much wider. I was mesmerised at the sight of the authentic structure of the building. 

It looked like something I had seen out of a textbook, many years back when I last owned one. It was almost ancient, but ancient in a way that it was luxurious and beautiful. The front of the building was a light with a mixture of white marbled stairs that curve in a large wide semi-circle shape. The stairs glistened as sun beams shone upon them, hitting so brightly it almost blinded me from the reflection. Large brown oak doors sat beneath the small shelter above the stairs with walls as bright as light itself, with two thick fluted pillars placed just before the doors holding the awning.

"I-I've never seen anything like it," whispered Carter in awe.

The astonishment was clear on his face and I looked over it, no doubt my face mimicked his. I nodded wide-eyed. "I never thought it would look like this here."

He glanced down at me, his eyes lit with excitement, "Just imagine..."

I nodded and watched as the blacksmith was cut off as a blaring speaker interrupted the conversation. I cringed covering my ears at its sharp noise and briefly registered the bus's ignition turning on behind me and driving away.

"Welcome Resdue's new arrivals, please refer to your envelopes instructions that will direct you to your given allocated quarters that have been assigned to you."

Glancing up, I watched Carter ruffle with the envelope he had grabbed, pulling out a piece of paper that had instructions on it where to find quarters. Carter looked intensely at the paper, as if he was trying hard to concentrate as he began reading it.

"It says that we are in building A202," he glanced upwards and stared towards where all the buildings were. "I'm guessing we are staying somewhere there?"

Nodding, I jumped when I felt someone bump into me from behind. Instantly, I felt a warm hand encircle my wrist and jumped again before following the large arm towards Carter's face.

"Thanks," I stuttered out, feeling myself lose my train of thought for a moment. His eyes bore on mine, studying me. 

I felt uncomfortable. 

"We should go find where we are staying," the words spurted from my mouth hurriedly.

I saw him nod and felt relieved when I watched him from the corner of my eye turn his head away from me and followed the group of new arrivals. Us. Towards the buildings. The groups stood clustered together slowly stumbling their ways through our new surroundings. I did not mind though, and instead stared in awe at the new buildings around me. For once I did not feel distressed surrounded by many people, too distracted to focus.

The red brick buildings towered over me and were so much different than the small, wooden, broken down buildings we have back home in Redlake. And my broken, rusting aluminium shed back home had nothing on these buildings.

Looking down, I beamed at the beautiful cobblestoned pathway that was paved to perfection, aligned with perfectly cut grass that was all evenly grown and not patchy. It did not matter how much I tried with the paddocks and empty fields of green on the small farm, after all the animals trotted along them, eating away at it, it never returned back to the same state.

It did not take long to find our building as it was the very first one on show. It was fortunate for us to have this building so close to where the larger looking hall was. A sign indicated that the buildings extended from A to T. It would be a nightmare having to walk back and forth from T and the front where everything seemed to be happening.

The building rose to its tall four stories, the beautiful red bricks were bright as if they were recently clean, having no specks of dirt or dust coating along them. Carter and I made our way up the small steps and I brushed my hand along the iron railing. 

Carter stared on amazed and whispered to himself, "This wrought iron railing... the welding, how intricate, the detailing, almost impossible to achieve."

I looked towards him to see the fascination and admiration on his face as he bent slightly, running a hand along the black swirly design below the metal bar on top. 

He did not linger on it for too long, but the awe never left his face as we entered the building.

He was the blacksmith's son and worked as one his whole life. It was that moment that really hit me, making me frown sadly as it really hit me that we were not home any longer. And who knew how long we would be here for.

Stepping into the foyer, I took in the long skinny corridors that cascaded down the building, looking as if it ended in a communal bathroom. To my left was a large spiral staircase that extended towards the other floors, seemingly made of an old stone having cracks within them. The cracks did not have the image of something that was broken though, it more gave them a story. A history that would be something worth telling, one you would want to hear.

It took a while to figure out where our room was, but eventually we figured the 2 meant level 2 and 02 represented our room number. Approaching our floor, we walked to find our room immediately on the right. The room was at the very beginning of the corridor, on the complete opposite side of the bathrooms. I could not tell if that was good or bad, considering we would definitely hear the cluster of people walking up and down stairs staying in our room.

Approaching the door, I latched onto the handle wanting to open it but frowned in confusion as the handle did not move.

"What?" I whispered to myself. Continuing to wiggle at the handle in frustration, hoping it would suddenly open, I gave up letting go turning to Carter. "Why won't it open?"

Suddenly, a beeping noise was heard and I jumped, flinching at it, stumbling backwards, knocking into Carter.

"Whoa," he exclaimed, his hands grabbing onto my waist steadying me. "You okay?"

I was quick to jump off him and saw amusement twinkle in his eyes. Turning back to the door, there saw a simple small black box next to it. Within a small circle, there was a flashing red light and I stared at it confused.

"What is that?" Carter voiced my thoughts.

I narrowed my brow, leaning forwards hesitantly. After staring at the small box for a moment, I attempted to push the light as if it were a button. But the light continued to flash and nothing happened. "Does the envelope say anything?"

Carter fumbled with the envelope and I turned to see him suddenly pull out two small white cards. I stared in confusion as he handed me one and I flipped the small white card to see a strange vertical black line cascading on the back side of it. "I have never seen this before."

Hesitantly, Carter reached out with his and I watched bewildered as he placed his card on top of the box.

"What would that do?" I was perplexed when suddenly the box beeped again and the light turned green. Baffled, I turned to Carter who had a smirk on his face as he glanced down at me. "Why don't you try now."

I turned and reached out grabbing the handle to find that it did not have any resistance and opened. He chuckled behind me and I rolled my eyes, opening the door wider.

Stepping in, I found a switch in the dark room on the door beside me and flipped it on. Carter slammed the door behind me with a loud bang and I smiled at the site before me.

The room was bland, a pale white with peeling paint and sections with paint completely peeled off. On the left side of the room sat a loud ticking clock on the wall as it counted away the seconds of the day. On the far wall was a long curtain and I could see through the gaps that a large window sat behind it. It did not match the image of the building outside and I felt my blood run cold at the multiple scratch marks on the far war. 

However, it was still in better condition compared to my house back home.

Tears suddenly began to well in my eyes at the sight of the two single beds in close proximity. I could not remember the last time I had slept in a bed. The only bed in the shed belonged to my bed ridden, sick, dying father.

However, the room was cramped, barely fitting the two single cream beds with thick cream blankets lying above them. Each bed had an individual small wooden drawer besides each bed on the insides.

Walking in further, I approached the furthest bed, nearest to the window and stood before it hesitantly. Taking my bag off my back, I placed it gently on the floor and leaned it against the drawer. I was not sure what to do with the bed before me. I jumped when I suddenly heard Carter's own bag hit the ground with a loud thump. Turning I watched him standing still, in shock as he stared at his bed.

"I have never slept in a bed before." He whispered.

He placed a hand on the bed and I watched as he hesitated and applied more pressure to the sheets and mattress, leaning downwards. He jumped back as it recoiled and glanced up at me with shock. He had a wild smile on his face, any sign of the smirk from moments earlier gone as he began to frantically take the shoes off of his feet and jumped straight onto the bed, bouncing along with it whilst laughing.

"On all that's holy... it feels like Heaven on Earth.

I could not but laugh breathlessly. Slipping off my broken shoes, I jumped on the bed myself. When my back made contact with the mattress and my eyes widened in shock. Carter was right. It really did feel like Heaven on Earth. My back screamed in relief. Everything suddenly felt lighter. I relaxed into the soft mattress and blanket before me, my head lying on the fluffiest pillow below my head. 

The feeling was indescribable.

I smiled, "I could get used to this."