The following 2 days passed slowly. Within a few hours of the murder of Zee, the Boys’ military had found her floating body and hopefully assumed it was me. John didn’t want us to leave until he was positive that they wouldn’t be waiting for us outside of the cave we were in.

Clayton hadn’t spoken to me once. He went out of his way to stay away from John and I, grumbling about anything that involved us. He had made his own little corner in the back of the cave to where he stayed.

John had found a type of plant that was edible for us along the edge of the lake. That’s all we’ve had aside from the lake water. My stomach was constantly growling for more, unsatisfied.

John and I hadn’t spoken much since before, but we did talk more than Clayton did. It was eerily silent without Zee.

John grabbed my elbow, pulling me over to him.

“You have to talk to him” He growled threateningly

“What do I say? He’s pissed at me” I said, feeling horrible inside “He saw me cheat on him…”

John’s expression flickered to confusion before he shook his head “Look, Clayton never finished school. He doesn’t have a firm knowledge of what life was

like before the War started. Bullshit something up.”

I bit my lip, not liking the idea of lying to Clayton “But…”

“Just do it” John said in a terrifying voice.

I sucked in a deep breath, nodding slowly “Alright”

“Now” John gave me a shove. I stumbled forward before catching my balance. I took a deep breath before walking over to Clayton’s corner.

He didn’t look at me, grunting as I sat in front of him.

“Clayton I want to explain” I said quietly

He made no move that he heard me.

I sighed, regretting this already “Clayton, John told me to explain to you what life was like when I lived. I know you’re furious that you saw me kiss him and

then say that our kiss meant nothing but…”

I trailed off, noticing his body shift towards mine. I licked my lips, my heart skipping a beat. He was listening.

“But I lied before.” I said truthfully “Our kiss meant a lot more than you realize. But you’re supposed to hate me so I lied to you.”

The truth stopped there “The year I come from wasn’t what you think it was. Do you know what polygamy is?”

He didn’t move, waiting for me to continue.

“It’s when you’re with more than one person. In my time, that’s how life was. Which is why I kissed John too”

I felt horrible lying, but there was a point in time where polygamy was popular. I just wanted him to understand that I felt horrible.

“I want to apologize” I whispered. He looked at me for the first time. I held back a smile “I’m so sorry that I didn’t think about your feelings in this. You don’t

know how bad I feel, Clayton. I…I really like you”

He sighed, leaning his head back “Can you tell me something honestly?”

I nodded “Anything”

“No matter how much you don’t want to?”

“I pinky promise”

“Pinky…?” He looked at me confused

“It just means I promise a lot” I summarized, not wanting to explain the childish promise.

He nodded as if he understood “Did you like kissing John and myself more?”

I bit my lip, thinking about it truthfully. I didn’t want to lie to Clayton anymore. But I didn’t want to hurt him. I had to really think about this. When I kissed John, I

felt an intense, fiery passion that was unknown to me before. It made me want more.

But it was simply lust.

When I kissed Clayton, I felt emotion. I felt safe and happy. I felt tingles that lingered long after he pulled away. It was amazing.

I smiled to myself, realizing something rare in this era.

“Clayton” I whispered, looking in his eyes “I loved kissing you so much more than John”

He smiled to himself, looking away. I sat back, a faint smile on my lips.

“I don’t forgive you yet, Ellie” He said.

“I can’t imagine you would”

“But I want to.”

I smiled, feeling my eyes water slightly “Thank you Clayton”

I stood up, a small smile across my lips as I walked over to John. I gave a slight nod to him. He looked away, with a hint of a smile.

It was silent for a moment as everyone took in the reality.

John stood up, addressing both of us.

“Alright, I haven’t seen any sign of the army since we saw them talk the other girl” John said, crossing his arms and leaning against the side of the cave.

“We’re getting out of here tonight”

“Tonight?” Clayton asked, standing up “You sure?”

“I’m starving. I want to be in my own house with food and entertainment. Let’s get the hell out of here” John growled.

I nodded, agreeing with him.

“There’s a dam that stops this lake from flowing into the main river stream. If we get over the dam, we should be able to walk along the shore” John said “I

think this is the Lebanson River, which leads straight to the central Speed station. We get there, we get home”

“What about Ellie?” Clayton asked, pointing to me “She’s not exactly manly looking”

“We’ll figure that out later”

“How do we get out of here?”

John smirked, pulling his shirt over his head. I bit my lip, my cheeks heating up. I looked away, shifting uncomfortable in my spot. John tossed his shirt on

the ground, “We swim”

Clayton grinned, pulling his shirt over his head also.

“Are you guys just going to walk around without shirts now?” I asked incredulously

“I’m not swimming in one” Clayton laughed “Plus we have a fairly long walk to civilization”

“You might want to lose the baggy shirt, by the way” John said to me.

I blushed furiously as I slipped the shirt off, leaving me in underwear. It wasn’t like I hadn’t been in this the entire time, but it was different now.

They were also half-naked.

“What are you waiting for?” Clayton grinned like a little kid “Let’s go swimming!”

He took off, leaping over the edge of the cave. A splash erupted from the nearly dead lake before Clayton’s head popped up. His hair was matted to his head,

a foolish grin on his face. “Come on!”

John smirked slightly, walking up behind me.

I looked over at him “Are we just swimming across? Really?”

He nodded “Yeah. That’s exactly what we’re doing”

I bit my lip “I don’t really—”

The water hit my face before I realized what was happening. I sucked in a lung full of murky water, thrashing about to the surface. I gasped for air, choking out

water. Clayton was laughing next to me as John jumped in, spraying us with water.

I glared at John, who floated over to us on his back. “Asshole”

“Leech” He said, rolling onto his front. He brought his arm forward, swimming freestyle. I looked over to see Clayton mimicking him.

With a sigh in defeat, I swam with them, trailing behind slightly. My hair kept getting in the way as we swam, causing me to go slower and slower. I would’ve

loved to have been frozen with a pony tail on my wrist.

The dam was incredibly small. It must’ve been a natural dam, for we got over it in no time. John led us across to the edge of the river.

I shivered, trailing behind the boys as we walked. I kept my arms crossed over my chest so that my erected nipples were hidden. My hair dripped down my

back, goose bumps all over my body.

I noticed how John and Clayton pulled apart enough for me to move between them. My arm brushed Clayton’s gently, his just as could as mine.

“How far are we walking?” I whispered, my teeth chattering.

“Not far, just a couple miles” Clayton said

I bit my lip hesitantly “Where did Luke go?”

“The dog?” John checked

I nodded

“I assume he’s being inspected by the government” Clayton shrugged

“Why?” I gasped

“Ellie, we don’t exactly have wildlife anymore. He’s a rarity. They’re going to want to see if he can be bred”

I sighed remorsefully “So I’ll never see him again?”

John laughed devilishly “You never know…”

I bit my lip to hold back the smile that formed. Luke had grown on John enough for him to say something like that. Even if he was just getting the dog for

himself, it was nice to know he had feelings. I could always pretend he did it for me too.

We walked in silence for a while. Every now and then I would lightly brush up against one of the guys, which caused them to move farther away from me. I

was mostly dry thirty minutes later, my hair still damp.

Clayton and John were left with fairly damp pants on.

Slowly, a roaring sound grew louder as we walked. It got to the point where it drowned out any hope of conversation between us.

John stopped us with a smirk across his lips.

I raised an eyebrow curiously as he put a finger up, telling us to wait. He disappeared into the forest along the bank of the river.

I stood by Clayton awkwardly, shivering slightly.

I felt arms wrap themselves around my body, pulling me closer. I smiled and leaned back. Clayton placed his chin atop my head, rocking us back and forth

gently. His body heat molded with mine, giving me an extra layer of warmth which felt heavenly.

My arms were trapped between my body and his so that I couldn’t hug him back. I was perfectly happy like this though. It felt wonderful to be back in his arms

again.

I hadn’t realized how much I missed the feeling.

Clayton pulled away when John returned. He grabbed my hand, pulling me in the direction of John.

John threw me a shirt and some baggy pants, which I gladly slipped on. I didn’t want to imagine where he got these; I was just grateful I had clothing.

John led us through the trees to a small pathway that required us to go in single file.

As slowly as it arrived, the roaring decreased. I assumed we had been walking by a machine or something for it wasn’t a natural sound.

Once it died down completely did I ask anything to the guys “Where are we going?”

Clayton shrugged, looking to John for an answer.

“We’re headed to a little friend of mine” He said mysteriously

Clayton groaned “It’s not CJ is it?”

John laughed “It is CJ”

“Who’s CJ?” I asked Clayton

“CJ’s John’s old friend. He’s an idiot, but he can do almost anything you need illegally” Clayton explained “The only problem is he’ll call in favors in the later

years”

“He hasn’t called me for any favors” John grinned triumphantly

“That’s because you threatened to cut off his ear if he did” Clayton growled.

John just shrugged while I stared incredulously at him. I shouldn’t have been surprised by that considering how he treated me before. I already knew he was

an incredibly violent person.

“How far away is CJ?” Clayton asked

John paused for a moment to think “Not far.” He pulled away some branches, holding it back so that we could walk through.

A lone house came into view, one that looked as if it was from my time. John led us up to the door, not bothering to knock before opening it.

“Get da fuck outta my house” A drunken voice shouted from within. I cowered behind Clayton, using my hair to cover my face

“Shut up, CJ, it’s just me” John growled, motioning for us to follow him. He led us into a living room where a half-asleep man lay with a bottle in his hand “I

brought friends”

“Go away” The man whined, shooing us with his hand “I’m tired”

John rolled his eyes, taking the bottle out of his hand. He examined it for a moment “Cj, you drank the entire bottle? This is really hard stuff!”

The man who I presumed was CJ grinned foolishly “Did you want some?”

John sighed, looking as if he did “Nah, I need a favor”

“What is it man?”

“I need you to get us a ride home. But… without going into public”

“….Is that all?”

“Yeah” John shrugged

“Piece of cake” CJ chuckled to himself. “Who are the other two?”

“That’s Clayton, remember?” John said “And that’s El—I mean, Eli. He’s a…friend”

I bit my lip, trying to keep my head down.

“Can’t see a damn thing with this blurry vision.” CJ muttered. “Anyways, I’ll get right on it tomorrow. I’ll hook you up with the Speed”

John grinned “Thanks man”

“Yeah, just let me keep my ear” CJ said. He began to giggle as if it was the funniest thing ever. John rolled his eyes, leading us into the kitchen.

He pulled out a bottle, raising the opening to his lips.

“What’s the Speed?” I asked quietly so that my girlie voice didn’t carry over into the next room.

“It’s like the Lightplane, but it only works on one person at a time” Clayton explained “It hasn’t been approved by the government because it glitches

occasionally and will send someone to a different area”

“Can’t they just do it again?”

“Well, a lot of the time it sends a guy to one of the Girl’s versions of the Speed which are SP-16. Don’t ask me what it stands for, cause hell if I know”

“Oh”

“Yeah, the girls didn’t even give the guys a chance, they killed them on spot”

“Oh”

“But don’t worry. CJ’s got a good hook up. Never glitched once” John interrupted. The bottle which he had been drinking out of was nearly half way empty. He

winked at me before taking another chug.

I sighed, collapsing into a seat.

I had no idea what was going to happen now.

*I will tell you guys, there are only three chapters left, including an epilogue.*