“What’s up with you two?” Clayton asked the next morning once everyone had awoken. We had packed up and we making our way to the Lightplane.

I couldn’t believe that we had to walk the rest of the day there all because the stupid Craft had broken. Curse my luck…

I remained silent, leaving the answer to John. He simply shrugged, walking quite a distance from me.

“John didn’t hit you or anything while I was asleep, did he?” Clayton asked only loud enough for me to hear. I shook my head, staring at the ground.

“You being honest, Ellie?” Clayton asked.

I nodded, unable to look at him. I felt dirty, rotten, sick, disgusting, horrible. I was at a lose for words to describe just how bad I felt. I felt like I had cheated on

Clayton, yet I knew I hadn’t. I felt like I had done the ultimate sin by kissing John.

I felt like a whore.

I knew I was.

The entire morning had been one awkward mess. John and I went out of our ways to avoid each other, which seemed no different than normal. I wasn’t

entirely sure what Clayton saw that was different about us, but he quickly noticed.

I was trying to act as normal as I could, but I couldn’t bring myself to say anything to him.

Luke was torn between who he wanted to follow. Eventually, he decided with John, seeing as Clayton hung around me. Every now and then I would catch my

puppy looking at me with unsure eyes. It broke my heart even more.

It had to have been around noon when the silence finally ended.

“I’m hungry” Clayton announced.

I licked my lips, sweat dripping down the side of my face. I was thankful Clayton had said something—I needed to stop soon or I would pass out.

And I was in less clothes than the guys had on.

I didn’t look up from the ground to see what they looked like, focusing intently on my feet. John was making sure that we stayed away from towns where I

could be seen. That was probably the reason as to why this trek was so long. A majority of it was uphill.

“We’ll stop at the top of the hill” John said without emotion. I never thought he had any to begin with, but I was mistaken. It had definitely been there because

now it wasn’t.

“Got it” Clayton said, slightly out of breath. I wiped the back of my hand across my face, feeling exhausted.

We still had most of the journey ahead of us too.

I could hear the crunch of the leaves under my feet. The silence was still something I hadn’t gotten entirely used to. It was just four breathes out of an entire

forest.

As we walked, I took the time to think about where we would be. The last I remembered, we were somewhere around when Pennsylvania was. Of course, I

could only assume we were near the Carolinas by the smell of the beach nearby.

As soon as we reached the top, Clayton fell onto the ground, breathing a sigh of relief. I cautiously sat next to him, making sure to avert my eyes from John.

I heard him sit down shortly after, Luke trotting over to me. He rested his chin on my sweaty knee, his tiny body just as hot as mine was.

Clayton reached into the bad, pulling out some Peesh, handing some to me. I held back at smile at myself for remembering what it was called.

“So Ellie” Clayton said “I’d say we’re only two or three days from getting you over to the Girl’s Side”

I nodded, biting into my Peesh quietly.

Clayton sighed, looking over at John, “John, how long will it take with the Lightplane”

I looked up from under my bangs, keeping my head down. Through my hair I could see John shrug, chewing slowly.

Clayton groaned loudly “Why won’t either of you talk?!”

John snorted, a slightly smirk coming across his face.

“Thank you!” Clayton exclaimed “Finally! An emotion!”

John simply rolled his eyes. I rested my eyes back on my food, taking another bite. This was definitely going to be awkward.

Clayton looked over at me, scooting my way. He sat in silence, waiting for one of us to say something to him. I couldn’t bring myself to look up at either of the

boys.

This continued for most of the day. Clayton was presistant with trying to make us talk. I knew I never spoke much before, so I thought I was keeping a

convincing act.

Guess Clayton could see right through it.

Dusk was approaching by the time any sign of civilized life came into view. I was exhausted. I was honestly about to fall over if we didn’t stop soon.

Walking all day with few rests did that to you. I couldn’t believe how tired I was considering a lot of our journey had been downhill.

Clayton gave a sigh of relief as we approached a fence. As we got closer, I realized it wasn’t a fence at all.

What appeared as lines of light criss-crossed to form a barrier that stretched farther than the eye could see. There was an entrance to the gate in front of us.

Two men stood outside of it, a gun in each hand. Clayton moved me in between John and himself.

My heart skipped a beat as I bit my lip. I was terrified to be standing next to John. He was bi-polar and after our little episode earlier… I wasn’t sure how he’d

react to us. I kept myself closer to Clayton than John, leaving much space between us.

As we approached, the two men’s faces hardened at the sight of me. I bit my lip, trying not to be offended and remembering I was the enemy here.

“What’s that thing doing here?” the man on the left spat.

“We’re escorting her to the Girl’s Side” Clayton said confidently.

I cowered back slightly as the man who spoke leaned forward “Says who?”

“The Nerd himself”

“What’s your code?”

John walked forward, whispering something into the man’s hear. John stepped back, the man nodding. He flipped a switch and the light lines holding us

back flashed off.

Clayton grabbed my upper arm, walking me into the area beyond the fence.

We walked into a building, one made of chrome just like the Nerd’s. I kept my gaze to the floor, resisting the urge to look around. I could feel John and

Clayton walking on either side of me, Clayton’s hand still on my arm.

We walked down a hallway, the silence engulfing us all.

Our footsteps echoed down the corridor, bouncing off the walls. The building seemed to be massive. The roof was already at a level that it didn’t need to be

and the walls could’ve been half a mile apart.

“What’s your business” A man called, stopping us in our tracks.

John stepped forward, “We’re here to return this girl to the Girl’s Side using the Lightplane”

“What’s your code?”

John leaned forward, whispering something in the strangers ears. The man nodded, glaring at me the entire time.

“Unfortunately” The man started “The Lightplane is currently in use. It should be back tomorrow around 11 a.m. though,”

“You’re kidding!” John growled

“If you want, we can arrange a room for you to stay in while you wait…”

John looked about ready to punch someone. Clearly, my presence on his side was definitely bugging him if he had to wait a few more hours before he got

rid of me.

Clayton stepped forward, putting a hand on John’s shoulder “Yeah, that’d be cool if you did”

The man nodded “Right this way.”

He hesitated, looking at me “What do you want done with her?”

“She can stay in the room with us. John’ll keep her in check”

John shot Clayton a look, which he simply ignored. The man nodded, leading us off to our doom.