Sleepers Awake | Closed

Ritika

Ritika stood back-to-back with Jeremy - an awkward situation that both gunholders had been forced into. After all, Jeremy wasn't know for being very comunicative. Both the Beretta and Glock continued to fired in unison, but the oncoming horde seemed unstoppable. She ducked, allowing Jeremy to shoot the Sleeper behind her, and shot another one behind him as she kneeled. We should probably team up more often.. she thought.

Over their heads, Ritika could see Sam, Lorana and Mason fighting, with Dania behind them, her back turned to them. Claire was in the tree at the base of which Ritika and Jeremy were trapped. Ali couldn't be seen - Ritika presumed she was hiding in one of the trees close to the area.

The fight must have lasted only about an hour, but it felt like an eternity to the team. Once the last Sleeper was shot down by Sam's arrow, Claire scrambled down from the tree, trembling. She ran over to Ritika, who picked her up and held her, trying to comfort her.
"Sh.. It's okay sweetie. It's over Claire. We're all here. We're all okay."
"Is everyone okay? Sound off guys." Sam asked the group. Nothing could be seen in the darkness, and any light might as well have acted as a beacon - it would attract Sleepers like moths to a flame.

"Mason?" "Here."
"Jeremy?" "Here."
"Claire?" "I'm with Ritika."
"Lorana?" "Right next to you, Sam."
"Ritika?" "Here, dude."
"Dania?" "Here."
"Ali?"

There was no reply. The group drew closer together, unconsciously and Sam risked turning on his flashlight.
"Ali?" he asked again.
"Where is she?" he asked, panicking a little. Lorana, who was next to him, touched his elbow and said, "I think she's up there."
Lorana was right. In the melee, Ali had hid herself, terrified. This was nothing new to the others. Sam helped her down, relieved.

Everyone else was okay, just a little banged up. They went back to the side of the river where they had abandoned their stuff, to dress their bruises and scrapes and to get ready to move.

Spoiler

Sorry, I read your post wrong, Ritika.

Claire
Ali had left me some time during the fighting. As soon as it was over I ran to Ritika and hid. I liked her.
"Do you ever get scared?" I asked, hoping she would say no. Instead she laughed and set me down.
"We need to get moving. Staying in one place is dangerous. Come on," Sam started walking away and I followed him closely. He didn't even seem to notice me, but Lorana came up and held my hand. Soon Ali was on the other side, but she and Lorana didn't talk to each other. I let Ali take the bear, and spun my head around to try and find Mason. I saw him towards the back, carrying my bag. I smiled and kept walking, hopping a little bit after every six steps. I could see it bothered Lorana, because it was too slow, so after a while I stopped, but then I just walked slower. She opened her mouth to yell at me, but I gave her my saddest, sorriest face, and she closed her mouth again and kept walking.

Lorana

I held Claire's hand and looked down at her, she was walking real damn slow. She stopped and walked slower. I turned my head to face her, pissed, and she gave me her most sorry face. I sighed and closed my mouth, remebering she's just as fragile as my younger sisters.

I flashed a smile at her and reached down for her, picking her up and shifting her in one arm, still smiling. "Your a handfull arent you?" I chuckled, still walking.

Ali

She didn't know what was happening, didn't understand, until she was curled in the fetal position at the top of a tree. Even then, the tales and tunes in her head kept her from knowing the truth. Her eyes squeezed themselves shut as gunshots sliced through the air like shouts. She didn't hear her name being called.

A hand touched her wrist and she pulled away quickly, the fear from the fuzzy memories returning. She saw it was just Sam and tried to calm down, allowing him to help her down from the tree.

Blushing, she kept her eyes to the grass and followed mindlessly as they continued their journey. She couldn't believe she'd lost it like that...

Sam:

I breathed a sigh of relief. Everyone was accounted for and no one, at least no one to my knowledge, was injured. We had toughened up since our last battles, I thought to myself optimistically. As my adrenaline levels slowly evened out, I turned to address the next issue.

"Hello Dania. Thank you for helping us back there," I looked her in the eye and shook her hand.

Claire looked up at Dania with admiration, but I was concerned about her.

"Where is the rest of your group?" I asked her quickly. She seemed well taken care of, usually a sign of travelling with others.

"There are no others," she responded, her gaze hardening instinctively. She turned away from me quickly.

"Can she go with us?" Claire asked softly, looking down shyly at her bear.

I hesitated and turned to Mason for advice.

"She's already proven herself, if she wants to travel with us then she has earned the right to," he nodded reassuringly at Dania.

"We should head for the road," I continued. "We've attracted too much attention by the river."

Dania raised her eyebrow cautiously.

"Don't worry Dania. It's always like this. He keeps us on our toes," Lorana sighed, rolling her eyes at me. I shot her an irritated look but laughed it off.

"Okay everyone. Rules of the Road. Do get too close to the cars. If you see a moving vehicle, do not let the drivers see you. Sometimes humans that are awake are much crueler than those that Sleep. Let's move."

As I watched my group, still recovering from the fight and following Lorana's lead towards the interstate, my reservations regarding the road resurfaced. There were much worse things that one could face than the Sleepers in this world, and you could find at least 90% of them on an open road.

Dania's alright, I thought to myself, as we walked out of the straggly green bushes. It was a relief for me to know that we were out of here.

It had been adventurous the last hour, with adrenaline pumping in my veins with great force and my eyes jumping from one Sleeper to another. They were so many that I immediately associated them with ant colonies which breed rapidly.

The sun was yet to rise, and showers of waning moonlight fell through the netted pattern the leaves and branches of spindly trees formed. We weaved our way out of the jungle, the atmosphere quiet as grave.

Dania was a full five eleven and on top of that she wore high boots. It wasn't odd, I had seen many girls at the Band Jam who used to be tall as lamp posts. It was just that there was something odd about this girl. She seemed cheery alright, but her eyes reflected pain. I know everyone here had bitter pasts, but it seemed it had taken a different toll on her.

It was a wise decision Sam had made; to move away from rivers and go for the roads. It was a bit late, but not too late.

"Ritika, could we please stop? I'm really tired," Claire spoke in her caramel sweet voice.

Everybody halted, and Ritika, looking down at Claire spoke, "Not now, Ritika. We need to get out. You see how it's so dangerous out here?" Claire registered the words for a good long minute until she finally nodded.

"But I'm hungry," Claire started. "I'm just too hungry. Haven't had anything since that yucky ham sandwich."

"Here, you can have this," I barged in. I unzipped my bag pack and dug my hands into it. I searched for it until it finally came into my hands. Pulling it out, I handed it to Claire whose eyes shone on seeing it.

"A Hershey's bar?" Her mouth dropped open in glee as she took the bar from my hand. I smiled at her and she grinned too.

I looked up from her to see everyone staring at me. Nah, nah, not again. God knew I couldn't take another lecture.

"You can smile?" Ritika asked, as if that was the most unnatural thing she had seen. Loranna giggled and with that everyone burst into laughter.

"Sure he can," Mason replied.

I narrowed my eyes at them, and finally when I couldn't resist it I passed a thin smile. Claire came to me and took my hands and I took it as a cue that we could move.

Spoiler

Hey, Paramore? I know Jeremy's not up for love, and neither is Ritika, but I wonder if the following situation's a tad bit amusing because of that? I hope it's okay. XD

Ritika

"You can smile?" Ritika asked. It was amazing, really, the difference it made to the usually sour faced, unsociable young guy whom she was traveling with. Almost as amazing as that Hershey's bar he'd pulled out.

Claire walked, holding one of Jeremy's hands and one of Ritika's. Apparently she was unwilling to let go of either, and thus the two teens were forced together yet again.
"So," she began. He held up a hand to stop her. "If it's about the candy bar, I don't want to hear it."
Ritika looked stung. "You could've waited to hear what I was going to say y'know." she said.
"So you were not going to lecture me about the candy bar?" he asked.
"No. As a matter of fact, I was going to compliment you on your gunfighting abilities, but I've thought better of it and won't say a word now."
He looked surprised. "You were going to compliment me?" "And suggest we team up together, y'know, to make sure that Ali and Claire are okay. It's the least you can do after what happened with Claire last time, right?"
He glared at her.

Up ahead, Mason, Sam, Lorana and Dania were discussing the pros and cons of their next move. Ali walked a little behind Jeremy and Ritika who had begun to bicker. She looked lost in her own thoughts. After another hour or so of walking, Sam called the next halt.
"Okay. It's getting too dark to see now, and though we're nowhere close to the road, I reckon we should rest here till morning. I know we're all tired, and still a little more than bruised. So I call a halt."

Besides music, I guess this was the first thing I had been complimented for. I loosened up the collar of my jacket, feeling hot as hell here in this forest. It didn't make sense with all the cool oxygen trees releasing but it was atrociously warm but it could have been the fact that all the fighting had taken a toll on my body.

"You were going to compliment me?" I asked in surprise.

"And suggest we team up together, y'know, to make sure that Ali and Claire are okay. It's the least you can do after what happened with Claire last time, right?"

I glared at her. Why every fricking topic had to be related to that accident? I was guilty enough, and I didn't really think I had a need to show it every time. I didn't respond. Instead, Ritika's words echoed in my mind. We could team up, yes and kill all those jerk sleepers and be free.

I thought more and liked the idea of me and Ritika pairing up so we could kick some Sleepers butt. And plus, the sooner we reached our destination, the sooner I could go back to drum banging.

But I didn't reply immediately and it was an hour or so before Sam asked us to halt and take a rest.




"I think we could pair. During fighting. Let's give these Sleepers a chase for money," I said seriously a few minutes after we had stopped. Ritika sat hugging her knees and thinking dreamily about something when I announced my decision. She looked up and just smiled.

"Alright, next time we'll find each other so we could fight. And, please drop this dead look. You could smile more than once in a while."

I swallowed a lump in my throat and sat next to Ritika. She had a tanned skin, the kind of skin my mother used to be nuts for and her eyes were ebony, sometimes lighting up when she smiled. She wore this attire which was something I had not seen often with a long tunic and a round balloon swollen pant. It seemed interesting.

Claire was sitting with Ali who was still lost in her own train of thoughts while Loranna, Mason, Dania and Sam chatted.

I scanned the area and breathed a sigh of relief when I realized there were no Sleepers around. Getting up, I located an empty spot where I could take a leak.

I went quietly behind a tree and something scudded my shoe. I bent down to look at it and found a big cotton bag and on opening it found the largest amount of food I had seen in days. My first instinct was to shout and call others but something vile crossed my mind.

What if the food was poisoned?

Spoiler

Musica: I know both of them aren't up for love. But I don't mind making Jeremy okay with it and I could cut out Hayley's information. Anyways, I haven't really talked about her till now.

Dania Amber
I smiled forcibly at Sam and the rest. "I'm taking a short walk. I'll be careful." I said standing up smoothly. They all called out goodbyes as I walked quickly in the direction opposite of Jeremy. I made sure I couldn't see any sign of the camp and sat down my back against a tree. I rolled up my sleeve and sat looking at the old scars and the new cuts some over lapping most by themselves. I stuck my hand into my jeans pocket and closed my eyes feeling old memories start to surface. Lazarus and I fighting over whose turn it was to dye an Easter egg. Us laughing as we tackled our dad together. Mom announcing she was pregnant dad's eyes lighting up as he kissed her full of joy. Lazarus leaving to get the shot. Mom wasting away in front of our eyes. I opened my eyes the memories still flashing in front of my eyes. I slipped my pocket knife our of my pocket. I opened it and pressed it against an old scar gently adding pressure. I felt the memories stutter as pain overrode the old feelings. I added three more cuts and then covered my arm and knife. I stood smiling slightly enjoying the almost narcotic sensation of pain that still pounded through my body. I walked back to the camp and noticed that Jeremy was back and showing everyone the contents in a white cotton bag. I noticed Sam looking at me his face concerned and I smiled as reassuringly as I could.

Spoiler

Sorry guys! Actually, school started so I can get the computer only on weekend. I know it sucks, but have to go along with it.:S

Mason:

After I cut of necks of the Sleepers, I was tired. This was harder than I thought. They just creep up behind you, and you don't even know! Piece of shit. I saw Lorana and Sam working together, fighting them bravely. Just then, someone caught my neck, when I elbow-punched it, and turned to look.

Are you kidding me? A SLEEPER!

I took my knife and sliced his neck. Really. Just then, everyone gathered up. I saw little Claire standing with Ritika, holding her hand. She looked scared. I walked over to her.

"Hi, Claire. You okay?" I beamed at her.

"Thanks to Ritika, yes, I am." she replied, holding her teddy bear.

Sam checked on everyone, to know if every one of us, are still alive. Hopefully, all of us were. I wasn't willing to die. I sighed heavily. I still didn't have anyone to talk to here. Just like in school.

I went aside to a river and sat there, with my foot on the water. I felt so warm and calm. I glared at the moon. Sometimes, I can just look at it all night. I heard Claire complaining to Ritika that she was really hungry. I walked over to people who were gathered there.

Just then, Jeremy held out a Hershey's bar, where Claire took it happily. I saw him giving out a smile to her. Ritika, was amused.

"You can smile?" she asked. Lorana giggled to it.

"Sure, he can." I said. I mean, who CANNOT smile? At least one in a week, everyone smiles. Its a world-wide fact.

I looked away and stared at the night and everyone else. Lorana, Sam and Dania came up to me. We were discussing things to con on the Sleepers and what were going to be our next moves.

"Maybe, we should take the road next. I feel its going to be dangerous." Lorana said again, sticking up to her decision.

"Why don't we just decide on little Claire's decision? Its much wiser." I shot back .

"You guys, aren't going to argue again, right?" Sam asked us, narrowing his eyes on both of us.

"Well, she started it. Tell her to stop it." I said, looking at her.

"Oh, and I WAS correct, right?" She asked.

"No, you weren't. Who knows? They might follow us to the roads too. " I said. That should make her shut up. But no. She was about to open her mouth when Sam interrupted.

"Enough, already! Lorana, don't you remember what I told you before? Keep that in mind, please. Mason, I thought you were matured enough. Now both of you, stop arguing. Can't you two, get on with a conversation without your "river and road" decision? Perhaps you both know, we've already make a decision. That's final!"

Sam sighed, and got up. I looked at Lorana. Sam made an announcement.

"Okay. It's getting too dark to see now, and though we're nowhere close to the road, I reckon we should rest here till morning. I know we're all tired, and still a little more than bruised. So, I call a halt."

Finally. I can get some sleep.

Spoiler

And Choko, I was thinking since Mason and Lorana kinda hate eachother, I think it would be really interesting for a relationship. But thats up to you.

Lorana

I sighed, "Yeah Mason, I thought you were mature enough." I shot back at him before realizing it. I looked over at Mason and got up, and walked over to the campsite. I brushed my blonde ringlets and put on a short sundress that I could wear in the morning.

I couldn't sleep. I kept thinking about my siblings. Where they okay? What if I never saw them again?

When I did fall asleep It was a nightmare.

...People crossed me in all corners. My safety button was unlocked and they had an advantage. I heard and saw police lights coming my way. My brothers and sisters were running.

Suddenly thats when it happened. The police car turned sharply on its wheels. Blocking my brothers and sisters escape. I closed my eyes and heard three gunshots, each hitting my siblings. When I opened them the police where gone and my siblings were lying on the floor, dead...

I awoke screaming and sweating, and sat up, scaredto death.

Spoiler

Fine with me. But that's were the twist is. Outside, they hate each other but both of them know they actually like each other. So, we'll get on to that soon.

Mason:

"Yeah, Mason. I thought you were mature, enough." Lorana said, repeating the words of Sam.

I rolled my eyes. Why is it that everyone calls me "mature"? Even kids can be matured! Creepy people.

I walked back to my tent, and spread my sheets. Flipping my pillow, I rested my head on to it. Claire came running up to me with a warm smile. I smiled back at her and stretched my arms. She came right through, and hugged me.

"Goodnight, Mason!" little Claire said, touching my hair. "You have soft hair."

I laughed. "Yes, well. I'll let you touch as much as you want, tomorrow, okay? Goodnight, lovely." I said, winking at her. She giggled and walked back to Ritika.

Both of them, waved at me. I waved back at them and closed my eyes.

x--x

I heard a bad scream, just from the next tent. It was a girl's voice. I woke up and checked the clock. 12.30 AM. I removed my blanket from my legs and stood up. I walked over to the next tent, and slightly opened the tent curtains. I saw Lorana, sitting up, sweating and the most frightened look on her face.

"You okay?" I ran over to her and sat on my knees.

She couldn't speak. I fetched some water and lend it to her. As she was drinking it, I stared at her. I don't know why I got the feeling that I liked her. She gave me back the glass.

"Thanks. Just got a nightmare." She said, picking up the voice that was tangled inside her throat.

"No problem. Nightmares can be scary, just like they sound." I kept back the glass back on the desk. I checked her forehead.

"You should get some rest. I'm just near by. If you need any help, you could just call out my name." I said. Even if she did argue a lot with me, its not like I shouldn't help her. Everyone has their problems.

Sam came running out of his tent, with Jeremy by his side.

"I heard a scream. Is she okay?" Sam asked me. "Was it a Sleeper?"

"Relax. She's okay. Just a nightmare. Its been taken care of. Go get some sleep. No worries." I said and went back inside my tent. And after that, I had the most wonderful sleep, I hadn't got for years.

Spoiler

Right.

Lorana


I watched him walk back into his tent and sighed, plopping back down. For some reason I didn't really want him to leave. Did I like him?

I shook my head out of the thought and closed my eyes again, getting a better sleep
From before but not the best.

I woke up the next morning, yawning and stood up, walking towards the river. When I got there I splashed some water on my face and took a deep breath, trying to push the dream aside.

Mason:

I got up early, slipped into my slippers and got out. I stretched my arms and I was still in a sleepy mood.

That was the most pleasant sleep, ever.

I saw Lorana beside the river. Some part of me, made me walk up to her.

"Morning'." I said, winking at her. "Slept well?"

"Sort of, but not so well." she said, as she splashed some more water to her face. I washed mine too, feeling fresh as ever.

"Thanks for the help. I appreciate it." she said, suddenly blushing. She looked at me. Then, she tied her goldish-blonde curly hair, up to a ponytail.

"No problem. We should check on others. Sam must be up, already." I said. "Wanna come, along?" I asked, inviting her.

"I'd love to." Lorana said, and walked beside with me.

Lorana

I walked beside him, a smile forming on my face. "Your not half bad, Mas." I said, giving him a nickname. "Can I call you, Mas?" I asked, my smile growing bigger.