Chapter Thirty

Never have I ever been so grateful to live in such a secluded area. Forests and farmland surrounded our little town, which was easily the route I chose to keep Ellie away from as much civilization as possible.

I remember complaining to my father how I'd prefer to live in the city, but he would scold me for not taking the greenery and clean air for granted.

I'm now taking it for granted.

Ellie and I have been walking on an old country road for almost two hours now. Fields surrounded us for miles ahead, and miles behind. I didn't even care, so long as only a few cars would pass by every hour. Ellie seemed to contain himself well enough anyway.

I even wondered if I should have taken him out here months ago. He seemed to love the nature aspect of our little journey. Sometimes he'd stop, pick up an ant on the road and examine the little creature like it was the most interesting thing in the world.

Currently he was examining a bird feather, I wanted to tell him to drop it for it could contain God knows what kind of diseases, but then again, I didn't think he got sick like normal humans do.

"Look at you." I said, biting back a laugh as I beckoned to his dirt-covered hands, "You're like a toddler."

He glanced at me, "A toddler?"

"Your hands are absolutely filthy from you picking up every rock and bug off the ground in the last eight miles."

He seemed not to mind, "Are only toddlers curious about things?"

I pondered, "I suppose not."

He was silent for a long, long while. I had retreated back to acknowledging the scenery, thinking that our conversation had ended.

And then he spoke, "I'd like to meet one, one day."

I glanced at him, "Meet what?"

"A toddler."

My heart warmed at his words, "One day you will."

"No," He said, a look on his face that I couldn't decipher, as he focused on the feather in his hand, "No, I don't think I could."

"Why is that?" I shouldn't pry, I noticed how upset Ellie gets when he talks about himself.

His inner demons, as I call them.

He dropped the feather, watching it glide in the air before it gently hit the dirt road. "I am different."

I stared at him, hoping he'd continue, but he didn't.

I sighed, "Ellie we are all a little weird-"

"No, not weird." He was staring at me now, his eyes locked on mine, "I am not weird, Ripley I am different. I think I understand that now."

"Well, that applies too." I tell him, "There isn't a person on the earth that isn't different."

"I am not a machine."

I stepped over to him, and intertwined my arm with his, "No, Ellie, you are not a machine. You and I are living, breathing human beings."

"Living."

We stayed quiet for a long, long moment. I didn't want to say anything to Ellie, he seemed to be in such a fragile state of mind. I noticed he has been questioning everything -even more than usual- which has left me questioning things too.

Why was he created? What was he? How is it possible that he can feel human emotion? How is he driven into fear so easily? Is it fear, or is it rage?

Ellie's curiosity of life itself has made me open my mind to so many different things.

Kissing him was one of them.

"Ellie?" I ask, turning to him. He stopped, and I stopped too.

"Yes."

"What are you feeling right now?"

He blinked at me, "What do you mean?"

"Are you happy? Sad? Are you nervous being away from home?"

His tone was neutral, "I am not."

"You are not what?"

"Feeling."

I crossed my arms, "What do you mean you are not feeling? We all are feeling things, we can't just feel nothing."

"Nothing."

"Stop repeating me."

"But I feel nothing."

"You're not even a little excited to be out of the house?"

"No."

"Why not?"

"Why why not?"

I frowned, "You know I hate it when you answer a question with a question."

"Why?"

I threw my hands up, "Now you're just ignoring the question all together." Though I was annoyed, the feeling disintegrated when I noticed the hint of a smirk on his lips that left as soon as it came.

I knew for a while now that he sometimes plays dumb because it amuses him, but I still couldn't be mad at him for it.

I'd probably do the same if I was in his position.

"Fine." I said in defeat, "I'll drop it."

He stared at me for a long, uncomfortable moment before speaking, "I'm sorry for not feeling."

"That's nothing to apologize for."

We both stayed quiet after that.

We continued walking for the next two hours. I didn't want to tell Ellie that I had no idea where we were going. It seemed like the miles and miles of bare land, crops, and country would never end.

It didn't help that the sky was getting darker, despite it being midday.

Ellie stopped walking and stared up at the sky, "Storm." He said, pointing up at oncoming clouds, "Cumulonimbus."

"You have got to be kidding me." I muttered to myself as I looked up. There was a gathering of bulky dark clouds coming rapidly towards our direction.

Yeah, definitely a storm.

I turned to Ellie, who was staring up at the sky admiringly. "We need to find shelter." I say to him, as I grab him by his arm, and begin too pull him along with me.

He glanced around, "I do not see shelter."

He was right, there was nothing but miles and miles of dirt fields surrounding us. We have officially entered the farmlands, which was a dangerous area during a storm.

The wind was beginning to pick up and being on an empty road in the middle of two large dirt fields that surrounded us, made it ten times worse. "Is this what a storm is like?" Ellie asked as he glanced down at the leaves blowing passed out feet.

"No." I tell him, "It hasn't even begun yet."

He must have heard the nervousness in my tone because he looked at me, "Ripley, are you scared?"

"I'm not scared." I lied, "I'm trying to think of a plan."

"We can go back home."

"We can never go back home."

"I would like to go back home and not be in a storm."

"Ellie!" I yell, half because I'm anxious, and half because the wind was getting so strong, I felt as though yelling was the right thing to do "We can't go back home. Ever."

"Ever."

"Ever."

"How long is ever?"

"Eternity. We can never go back." I began to speed up, there was nothing to be seen for miles besides dirt, fields, and an old railroad track that I wasn't even sure if it was still used anymore.

"Is that shelter?" Ellie stopped, and pointed to our right. I turned back to see miles away, was a small black dot in the field. I wasn't sure, but I think he was right, it looked like a building.

"We will never make it there in time." I say, as I stare up at the sky, which was growing darker and darker each second.

I grabbed Ellie's hand, and he held tight, "We're going to try anyway." I was out of options, and it seemed like the only smart thing to do.

I prayed that whoever was at the building was friendly.

I ran, pulling Ellie beside me. I wasn't sure how long he could run, being as it wasn't something he does often, but he seemed to have no problem keeping up with me.

In fact, there were moments where he passed me, and then slowed down until we were side-by-side.

I stare back up at the sky, and gasp, "Oh my god." I say, and Ellie looks up with curiosity, I point to the twisting clouds, "Those are funnel clouds." There were three of them. I knew it was tornado season, and we lived in a tornado red zone, but it still never occurred to me that we could run into one while we were out.

God, we've only been gone for a day. If I would have known this is what would happen, I would have risked our chances with the police.

I began to feel a few drops of rain, which pushed me to run even faster, though I was struggling to keep the pace without dropping to the ground and gasping for air.

Ellie, on the other hand, barely looked winded as he ran, beside me, he kept glancing at the sky, with a look not of fear, but absolute interest.

He is so innocent; it was astounding that he managed to slaughter our neighbors with no remorse.

Turning back to the building, I began to make out what exactly it was, and my heart plummeted.

"It's an old barn." I mutter to myself, surprised that Ellie heard me through the screaming wind.

"A barn."

Not only was it an old barn, it looked like it was still standing by a mere miracle alone. I felt as though I could blow on it, and it'd come tumbling down.

I started to wonder if it would be safer for us to just stay out in the open.

We continued to run, and at this point my legs began to burn in protest. The wind was getting stronger and stronger that I could barely keep my eyes open.

Finally, we reached the barn. I stopped for a moment, still debating whether we should risk going in and letting the thing fall on us, when Ellie walked over and slipped through a hole in the broken wood boards.

"Ellie?" I call for him, but he didn't come out. After calling for him a few more times, I huff, and crawl through the hole after him.

The barn looked on the inside just as I expected it too. Old, broken, full of holes where rain was pouring in. The wind was making it creak, and groan, but somehow, it was still standing.

"Ripley." Ellie's voice came from behind one of the old animal stalls. I walked over, my legs still shaking from the intense run, and from the fear of seeing three funnel clouds directly above us.

When I found him, he was lifting up a heavy metal door latch on the floor, and my eyes widened, "A cellar!" I exclaim, as I rush over and peer down into the dark room under the barn. It was dark, and impossible to see in, but despite that, I knew it was our safest option.

"We can hide here until the storm is over." I tell Ellie, as I slowly begin to descend down the wooden ladder.

The cellar was so dark, I couldn't see my own hands in front of me. Ellie climbed down the ladder after me, and I held onto him for comfort.

"This is going to be a bit difficult." I tell him, as I feel around the room with my empty hand.

"It is dark." He says, and there is a twinge of emotion in his words that is rarely ever there.

I hold him tighter, as I know he is not fond of the dark. Maybe that was my fault, for being too scared to tend to him when my father died. For locking him up in our basement for weeks by himself.

"It's alright." I tell him, holding on to him even tighter, "This is a cellar, so there must be a way to light up the place, either by candles or maybe there's a light switch somewhere." It took us a long moment to feel around the walls, before we confirmed there was no light switch. Nervous about the idea of staying in such a dark room all night, I walked into something that I, at first, thought was a spiderweb, before I realized it was too thick to be one.

It was a string no bigger than a shoelace. I pulled on it, and the whole room lit up.

My relief was extraordinary.

Ellie stared up at the old lightbulb which was unlike any lightbulb I have seen before. It must be incredibly old, which meant this barn was easily over eighty years of age. I was a bit surprised that the lightbulb still worked, but I wasn't going to jinx it.

I got a good glimpse around the room. There were old metal hooks hanging on the walls, and shelves up empty jars. "This must be where the farmers stored their canned and dried foods for the winter." I said to Ellie, hoping it'd calm him down, as his veins were a darker grey than usual.

I pointed to the hooks, "They'd hang the meat on hooks and coat them in salt, so they'd dry out and not rot, and then they'd store the dried meat away until the winter months, where food was harder for them to get." I ran my finger down one of the tables that were coated in dust. "It looks like this place hasn't been touched in decades, though."

Ellie walked over to the dusty table and watched as I drew a small frowning face in the dust with my finger.

He copied the face, but drew a smiling one instead, then he wrote, in all capital letters; RIPLEY.

I copied him this time, and wrote his name, right beside mine. Ellie and Ripley.

I wondered how long it'd be before someone came down here and saw our names drawn childishly in the dust.

A loud and unexpected crash of thunder reminded why we were hidden down here. I hadn't expected the noise, and I don't think Ellie was either, as he stared up at the cellar latch. "Thunder." He said, and I nodded.

"I think it'll be a while before the storm passes." I sat on the floor against one of the walls, "We might as well get comfortable."

He strode over and sat beside me, just as another boom of thunder shook the entire barn. It felt as though the earth had quaked.

"We're safe down here." I reassure him. I reassure both of us.

"Safe."

"Yeah." I sigh, "Safe."