RADIO

chapter 15

"Follow" Duchess ordered, holding a hand up Infront of Riders remaining eye. She moved it around and Rider followed the movements with her eye. She checked on it one last time, flashing a light from her flashlight and watched as her pupils dilated.

"There" Duchess said, "all done"

"I can't thank you enough Duchess" Rider apologized with a hurt expression. "It's fine, we have to have each other's backs, it's only us you know" Duchess replied.

"You're a trooper Rider" Everett smiled, giving her a fist bump. "Thanks" she chuckled.

Duchess sat down on a box not far from Rider and finally relaxed. "how did you get this?" Dibbs asked, brushing a hand over the bandages. "Oh, me and these two found a new wander-breed I guess you could call it" she shrugged.

"Breed?" Monty frowned.

"Yep, this one looked like there were two wanderers merged together" Haze said, talking with his hands and mimicking two beings fusing together. "Really?" Jane gasped.

"Yeah, we couldn't kill it unless Duchess cut them in half with my sword" he continued, crossing his arms playfully. "Yep, then we came out of the store and seen this group of runners coming after us, so we booked it! We ran until we came across this fence with barbed wire at the top!" Everett said with a smile across his face with excitement.

"I made it up and over easily but then Duchess tried to get over but she got her arm caught in it and fell to the other side with it all wrapped around her arm and we couldn't get it out so we had to rip it out!" Haze exaggerated the story and the others listened to it like preschoolers listening to their teacher read a book.

"We didn't rip it out but yeah I gotta admit it wasnt pleasant" Duchess chuckled dryly. She didn't have much energy to laugh. She was still trying to catch her breath from earlier. Her lungs were damaged from being around smokers most of the time so she couldn't keep up with many other people.

"That's cool" Jane chuckled, "you're gonna have battle scars Duchess" she smiled, grabbing my good arm and shaking it playfully. "I feel like by the end of this we all will" she said, her smile dying slightly.

Everything was settling slowly in everyone's minds, but they couldn't help but distract themselves. They didn't want to carry the burden of the emotional impact of losing most of their friends and family.

It was just too heavy.

That night everyone had trouble falling asleep. Jane rest her eyes with her glasses beside her as she rest her head on her backpack with a small blanket over her shoulder. Monty and Dibbs were cuddling as usual and Everett and Rider sat across from eachother, talking quietly.

Duchess didn't pay it any mind, sitting on a crate that was beside the open door to the boxcar. She peered out at the sight of another city in flames as they passed it, going through the mountains. She grabbed her camera from her bag, snapping a picture.

The Polaroids film printed out the bottom and she took it out, shaking it and letting the picture appear on the film. She looked at the picture then back up at the burning city and sighed.

"You okay?" Haze asked, walking up beside her.

"I don't know", she sighed. Tucking away the picture as she leaned on the crate, trying to let her brain relax but it didn't work. "What do you mean?" He asked.

"Everythings gone…and I mean everything! Our homes, our lives, the internet for heaven's sake" she grinned slightly but it was short lived, "We had so much"

"I know, but we didn't lose everything" Haze grabbed her hand gently, allowing his fingers to intertwine with hers. "We still have everyone else, so let's just start new" he continued.

"With what? Our imagination?" She shrugged.

"It's worth a shot" he reflected her actions. Duchess simply nodded and tightened her grip on his hand. The boxcar fell silent again and all that could be heard was the rattle of the locomotive. The next 2 days were spent on the train, tending to each others needs.

Duchess checked up on Riders eye often and Monty's leg continued to heal. Though Rider was injured, it didn't stop her from working on a new prosthetic. Everett made sure to help this time seeing as they didn't want to have a rerun of Riders injury.

The third day rolled around and the train came to a stop. "Time to switch", Rider said, walking around the side of the train and to the boxcar where everyone stood. "Didn't I tell you not to work a whole bunch?" Duchess sighed.

"It doesn't matter, it's a bad eye not a bad limb" Rider said.

"How many painkillers are you on right now?" Duchess crossed her arms.

"You know I never thought to count," Rider mumbled. Everyone started to make their way off the train until Haze noticed that Everett was standing on the other side. "Everett," he spoke.

"Let's try this bad boy out" Rider said from behind Haze, dragging out the new prosthetic. It was identical to the last one but now had the new spring welded into place thanks to hazes help. "You sure this is gonna work this time?" Monty asked.

"Positive" Rider replied confidently, "tell them Everett", Rider looked up from her newest creation and seen Everett standing on the other side of the boxcar. "Everett.." she spoke again.

Everyone's attention was brought over to him.

"I think I should go now" he said, turning around, his gun in his hand and all of his supplies in his backpack. "What do you mean?" Tris asked, holding brownie in her arms and flicking her short sandy brown hair out of the way of her glasses.

"There's a military base around the area, maybe there's some supplies there, or maybe someone that can help us" he informed. "Well we can't just stop what we're doing and come with you, what if there's nothing there?" Dibbs said.

"Then I'll just go," he shrugged.

"There's no way you're gonna get there all alone at the start of all of this, imagine how many things must be over there!" Haze said, talking with his hands in a frustrated manner. "It's worth a shot," Everett said with a nonchalant shrug.

"Everett, we need all the help we can get" Duchess squeaked.

"Which is why I'm gonna go and check it out, if I find anyone or anything, then I'll contact you guys" he said. "No, if you're gonna go you stay in contact with us whether you find something or not" Duchess said, climbing back into the boxcar and grabbing a spare radio and handing it to him.

"Are you sure you wanna do this?" She asked, pausing for a moment In front of him.

"I'm sure", he answered. Determination flickered in his eyes behind his round glasses and she sighed softly. "Be safe" she pulled him into a tight hug. Everett had been by her side since freshman year of highschool. Duchess was a junior now, all of them except for Monty who was a senior, but with the current state of the world, no one worried about it.

He hugged her back tightly for a few seconds before breaking away. Haze embraced him as well and they exchanged goodbyes. Everett had been a good friend to all of them since before they knew each other and was there from the very beginning.

Duchess knew there was a possibility that they might never see him again and fought tears that rose to her eyes. The man finally left, walking in the opposite direction of the other few teens.

"He's gonna get himself killed," Tris commented.

"Nah, he'll be fine" Duchess said, trying to calm her own mind, "let's just get going"