Drew's POV

Isabella and I get up the next morning and unlock all the doors, windows, and the fireplace. The glass from the window was cracked and the door was barely on its hinges. We need to fix it before tonight.

I head outside and go towards the woods. Picking up the sticks and fallen limbs, I carry them back and set them in the fireplace. I'm not going to set a fire today till it starts to get colder and it might not even be cold tonight. It was sweltering hot.

I see Isabella poking her head out of the shack before she comes out of it hesitantly like the monsters are gonna eat her as soon as she sets foot in the grass. She makes her way over to me before she says, " What can I do to help?"

"We need to put the door back on its hinges." I say, grabbing more sticks. "Breakfast should be soon."

She looks at me with confusion. "How are we going to get food? There are no animals or readily edible plants out here." I forgot to tell her about the food slot.

"Walk with me." I say, preparing to show her where it is. She looks at me hesitantly before we head over to the wall. Once we got there, she looks even more confused and then looks up at me.

" it's just a wall. What's so special about it?" She says. Oh boy, wait till I tell her about the whole exhibit.

"No, it's not. Look closer, really closer." She peers inside when all of a sudden she backs up with fright.

"Where... where are we?" She says, frighteningly.

"We are on a transporter. A spaceship that is going to take us to another planet before they sell us to a zoo."

"But that can't happen. We aren't even animals we can't be sold to a zoo. Who would sell us?" She says, hurriedly. She's terrified, I was just like her when I first found out.

"Technically, we are animals. We are considered animals to the ones that wish to buy us or see us." I say, wishing not to answer her last question. I don't even really know but I have ideas. And none of them are good. The Cokara species, to put it nicely, are dumb and are easy to manipulate. They have to be controlled by someone else. This is where my theory takes place.

Since I know that they have to be manipulated, they are easy to get around. But there are the select few that are like leaders or are higher up in the ranking than the others. These are the ones that you have to watch out for. These Cokara have special communication links transplanted in their ears. They talk to the links all the time, but since I don't know their language, I have no clue what they are saying.

The one that they are talking to, I assume, is the leader and my guess is that he isn't a Cokara or even human.

I snap out of my thoughts as I looked back up to Isabella. She was looking at me as if she was expecting me to answer her back.

"What?" I say, still slightly distracted by my thoughts.

"I asked you if you could hand over some tools so we can get to work. We don't have all day." She says

"Oh, yeah. The tools are in the shack under the floorboard where I have my photos and stuff. Let me get it." I say, starting to walk over there.

"No, I can manage. I've got it." She says, insistingly.

"No I've got it. You can work on gathering some branches..." I say, but as soon as I was finishing the word ' branches' I see her running wildly towards the shack.

"Oh you've got to be kidding me." I say, running up past her and reaching the shack before her. I make it inside and to the floorboard where I reach under the photos and letters and even clothes to get the tools I need. Isabella comes in behind me, trying to catch her breath.

"How.... are.. you so.... fast?" She says panting.

" I go to the gym everyday." I say, sarcastically

I grab the saw,hammer, and a tape measure; then, I put the floorboard back into place. Isabella and I head back out to the woods.

"We need to cut down a few trees so that we can make a new door. Grab the other end of the saw and help me cut them down." I say. She grabs the

handle at the other end of the saw and we head over to this thick looking tree.

It took hours, but we finally got it on the ground. I know that Isabella won't be able to lift it up so we've decided to cut it into sections and then moving it over.

It was probably mid-day and that means lunch is coming soon.

"Hey, we better head up to get lunch." I said, while sawing off a piece of wood and moving it over towards the other pieces. Isabella stops sawing her piece of wood and starts walking towards the wall where the trays are pushed through.

Once we get there, a tray gets pushed through and Isabella immediately grabs it. A second tray is pushed through and I grab it but it starts to wobble in my hands since I didn't grab it right.

I get a firm grip and then walk over towards Isabella. She was sitting by this lone tree that was standing in the middle of the field. Her back was leaning against the trunk and she grabbed a piece of bread with one of her hands while the other was gently touching the grass. She was looking around the habitat/exhibit and must be thinking. About what? I don't know.

I sit down on the grass and eat the food that was slid towards me. Today we had broccoli, buttered carrots, a baloney sandwich, and applesauce. It wasn't the best lunch nor was it the worst.

I look over to where Isabella is, seeing that she is staring off into space while her fingers gently touch the grass. I shouldn't bother her. Maybe she is having a good day dream.

I grab the baloney sandwich and take a bite. Mmmmmmhh. Just like the ones that we got at the military camp. I remember when Jerome and I used to hang out and come up with fake plans to get more food from the cafeteria. I would always be look out as he would grab the food and stuff it into his pants. I miss him a lot. I miss our small moments where his hand would brush against mine as we walked to training or when no one was looking he would gently squeeze my ass and then continue on as if nothing happened or when at night If I was having a nightmare, he would lay on the cot with me and cuddle me as I slept.

We fought sometimes but it was over small things. I remember this one fight we had before he..... he....died.

As I thought of the word died, a tear slid slowly down my cheek. An image of a a German soldier shooting him pops up into my mind. The soldier shoots Jerome and then I shoot the soldier. As both bodies drop, I run over to Jerome and lay his head on my lap and cradle him as his eyes slowly lose their light. " I... I love.... you..." he says, taking his breath for the very last time. More tears slide down my cheek as I remember his last words.

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Isabella's POV

I snap out of the daydream that I was having. I was just imagining how we were going to fix that door and all the other stuff that Drew and I had to fix when I saw tears sliding down his face.

"Hey. Hey, are you ok? What's wrong?" I say

His eyes lose the glazed over look and he stares at me before he wipes the tears away with the back of his hand.

"Uhh.... yeah. Yeah. I'm fine." He says. He gets up and walks away from his tray which still held the broccoli and carrots. He heads down towards the little stream that run nears the tree that I was leaning against.

I hope he is ok. I don't think I have seen a grown man cry since I saw my dad at my Nanna's funeral.

All I know about Drew is that he was in the military, he has been here since 1949, and he got a letter from the president himself talking about the horrors that he had to face. I still don't know what that means. Does it mean memories that he has from the war? Or is it something that had happened after that? I am too afraid to ask him. Besides, we just met. It wouldn't be polite if I just went out and asked him what the letter meant by horrors you have to face.

I get up and walk over to him, being careful as to not trip on the rocks that are partially hidden by the grass.

"Are you ok? Do you want to talk about it?" I say, gently placing my hand on his shoulder.

"No. No I don't want to talk about it." He snaps, shrugging my hand off of his shoulder.

Alright, I kind of deserve that. I should not have put my hand on his shoulder. "Ok. I'll be here if you want to talk." I whisper, as I turn around to head back to where my food was.

After a while, we headed back to the shack and finished the door and it's hinges. All we have to do is place it in and bolt it before the stars take to the sky.

" Isabella, grab the other end and let's carry it to the shack." Drew says. We haven't spoken about why he had cried and I was starting to get the feeling that I will never know why.

I grab the other end and carry it, just like drew asks. We head down the trail that was covered in weeds and rocks and I almost tripped as drew and I carried the slab of wood towards the home.

"Careful." He says, without looking behind him. He shifts the door a little bit so that more weight will be on him rather than it being on me.

"Sorry." I mutter picking up speed and shifting part of the door on one of my shoulders.

We finally make it to the shack and we set the door on the ground. I'd say that we have at least an hour or two til dinner is served. My tank top is covered in sweat. What am I going to do? It's not like I was able to bring one of my other shirts here. What am I going to do? What am I going to do?!