When All We Wanted Was A Dream - 2/?

Title: When All We Wanted Was A Dream (2/?)

Author: wonderbread9

Rating: PG-13 - R

Character(s)/Pairing(s): Bray/Salene, Lex/Trudy, Ebony/Pride, the cast of the Tribe

Warning(s): AU, so far that’s the only warning—see chapter one

Summary: So, the world’s still out there?
--Desmond Hume (Lost), Adrift S2xE2

Author’s Note(s): Okay so after a long overdue update, chapter two is finally here, and it might be a tidbit disjointed, but umm…I warned ya, didn’t I? Unbeta’d so all the mistakes are mine. It’s going to get a bit bumpy, but bear with me, k?

WHEN all the world is young, lad,
And all the trees are green;
And every goose a swan, lad,
And every lass a queen;
Then hey for boot and horse, lad,
And round the world away;
Young blood must have its course, lad,
And every dog his day.
--Charles Kingsley, Water Babies

II.

Running was one of those things that Lex excelled at, one of those things that he found that he could do without much thought, without much planning save to shift, pivot and move into the direction that he needed to go. It was easy, something that didn’t require much brainpower; an instinctual drive that was taken over by intuition, leading him to safety. Like now, for instance: he could hear the labored breathing of Zandra behind him, and Ryan and Glen, with their heavy boots, thumping behind him as well, but he was sure in his movements, jumping over trashcans and obstructions, as fleet-footed as the wind.

“Lex, wait!”

Was that Zandra shouting behind him? He couldn’t tell, his mind was so set, so focused, like tunnel vision; they had to escape. Well, he more so than the rest, but if they managed to keep up then all the better for them. He wasn’t going to slow down; instinct was shouting, ‘faster, run faster, Lexy baby. Run’ and he wasn’t going to be fool enough to not listen to it. He leaped over another trashcan, looked up and saw a chain-linked fence barring his way. He felt the surge in his muscles, the adrenaline pumping in his veins, the thunder of his blood roaring in his ears.

“Please, Lex!”

He glanced back, only for a second: Zandra was so far behind, and Ryan and Glen were fairing no better. Did he dare stop? Indecision was not something that Lex was good at. He hated being confused, hated that feeling that befuddled his thoughts and made him feel like even more of an idiot than he sometimes told himself he was. He hated not having the answer presented right in front of him, simple and exact so that he didn’t have to pick it apart and ponder its pieces. He wanted to get away—further back from Zandra, a gang of Locos loomed and over the thoughts that were starting to befuddle his mind, Lex could hear the sound of sirens blaring, wailing the end of the world—but did he dare leave them behind? Lex looked back again, bit his lip, felt a frown line form between his brows.

His hands met the chain-linked fence, ears ringing with the sound of metal clashing metal, and gripped individual chain rings, cold and biting, between his fingers—“Lex!”—felt the muscles strain in his arms as he hoisted himself up, felt the power in his legs, propel him upward, vaulting over the fenced obstruction until he was flying for just a moment, suspended, then his feet met hard pavement and he stumbled to catch his balance. He looked up and back—Zandra’s angry blue eyes met Lex’s brown, and he stopped, paused, in his mad dash to get away—“Power and Chaos! Power and Chaos!”

“C’mon, Zan!” he shouted, motioning for them to hurry, looking past them and seeing the Locos getting closer. Ryan vaulted over the fence first, with Zandra following closely after.

“C’mon, Glen,” Zandra shouted in panic and Lex heard the fence rattle, glanced back, saw the angry red and blue paint of one Locos’ face as the boy growled at him from behind the fence. Glen gave a cry of alarm. Lex looked away as the Locos grabbed him. Zandra screamed, Ryan shouted; Lex felt the power surge in his legs. Run, Lexy-baby. Never look back.

“Leave him!” Lex shouted, retreating. He heard Zandra’s gasp of horror and Ryan’s protest, and growled, “Leave him or I leave you.” And took off, not caring if they followed or if they stayed. He had to get away, had to run, had to follow the instinct that was screaming at him, yelling at him, urging him to go, flee to wherever there was safety, to wherever the Locos couldn’t find him. He heard Zandra’s footsteps behind him, heard the heavy thump of Ryan’s boots also.

But he didn’t hear Glen’s, and all he could think: “Sucks for you, mate.”


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When night fell, Amber and Dal made their move.

Amber had been looking for a place for weeks for her and Dal to crash, a place to get them by at least, until they could escape the madness of the City and find their solace in the countryside. Their plan, however, had been hindered for weeks. Trying to find supplies had become a fast fading dream in the City no matter where Amber or Dal looked, and with kids scrambling to get as much as they could before everyone else, the usual picking grounds were drying up. The last place that she could fathom to still have anything worth taking was the local Mall.

She and Dal had been watching the Mall for weeks.

It was located in a remote portion of the City, where none of the other kids dared to venture. Maybe they believed that the large, looming colossus of a building was haunted, or maybe there were just too many memories of the old days lingering about the place like unquiet ghosts and no kid in the City was willing to relive the happier times. Either way it was perfect. They could hold up there for a little while, resupply with whatever was still left there and then escape the City when they were well rested.

She and Dal moved like shadows in the darkness, side stepping the street lamps that still flickered for a moment and flooded the night with yellow-gold luminescence. They moved from pool of darkness to pool of darkness, pausing when they heard the distant sound of sirens wailing in the distance; Amber wondered if the Locos ever got any sleep at all, or were they driven relentlessly on by their psychotic leader, Zoot? She shuddered even thinking about the Locos king with his silvery opaque eyes that seemed to look right through you, right down into the very dark depths of your soul. She’d encountered him only once, at the beginning when all this madness had began, and she didn’t ever want to relive the experience again.

“Amber?”

She gave a start at the barely whispered call of her name, met Dal’s eyes in the darkness, giving him a reassuring smile. He frowned at her, but said nothing, merely pointed ahead. She looked to where he pointed, and saw that the front entrance to the Mall was blocked. She frowned.

Blocked?

In all her surveillance of the place, it hadn’t been blocked. There had been no obstructions at all. Did that mean that someone else had already moved in?

“What’ll we do?” Dal asked, quietly, coming to stand beside her. He stared intently at the toppled trashcans, the piles of papers and shopping carts that blocked their way in. “Should we find somewhere else, d’you think?”

Amber breathed, staring hard at the Mall, frustration wanting to bubble up from her stomach in annoyance and anger. They’d been watching the Mall for weeks. How could it have just slipped past her that someone else had been occupying it, or had begun to occupy it? How could she have not seen someone moving in on their new picking grounds?

She turned to Dal’s expectant gaze and shook her head in the dark. “No, Dal, we’re not going anywhere. Let’s just hope that whoever they are, they’re willing to share.”

He nodded and followed her as she walked carefully through the dark, picking her way around obstructions and pools of light, attempting to find a different entrance into the Mall. She stared at its nearly unblemished walls, the windows that remained unbroken despite the chaos in the City and the few fires that crackled, popped and danced in their confines of metal trash bins. The place was virtually untouched, a fortress, almost impregnable, but there had to be a way in. There just had to. She didn’t want to believe that she had wasted weeks of hers and Dal’s precious time trying to make sure that the Mall was safe for them when it really wasn’t.

How did she know that this wasn’t where the Locos wee holed up? There was no evidence to support it, but then there was no evidence to the contrary either. How did she know that there wasn’t some other hostile band of kids in there? How did she know that she wasn’t risking hers or Dal’s life even standing here and looking at the building?

The truth was, she didn’t, and Amber hated herself for feeling so lost and indecisive. She’d only felt like this one other time and that was back at the beginning, when her mother’d left her—like all the parents had left their kids—and she promised herself that she wouldn’t feel the awful churning of confusion in her gut ever again if she could help it.

“C’mon,” she began, starting towards the side alley that lead to the back of the Mall. “Let’s go—”

She only had a split second to react to Dal’s sudden panicked shout before a large, hulking shadow came barreling out of the darkness and slammed into her at full force.

“Amber!” Dal shouted as her back hit the ground and the shadowy figure landed on top of her, driving the breath from her lungs in a painful rush. She could only vaguely utter a stream of obscenities in her mind as the figure grappled for purchase and she too struggled to be released.

“Amber! Amber, I—”

Dal’s voice was cut off in mid-choke and Amber felt her arms pinned to either side of her head, skin brushing against her cheek as a whispered threat brushed across her ear: “Make another sound and you’re both gonna get it. Understand?”

The voice clearly belonged to a male, and a cocky one at that. Amber’s breathing was struggled, harsh ragged breaths sucked into her lungs, as she nodded, feeling anger and frustration boiling hotly in her belly, defiance leaking into her limps and adrenaline pumping in her veins. As soon as the figure even gave her an inch of leeway, she was going to make sure they paid dearly. She waited and the figure finally drew back enough to give her some breathing room. Amber gritted her teeth, but still she waited. The figure moved even more, trying to get his balance to stand, and that’s when she struck. Lightning quick, she snatched her arm from the figure’s grasp, but before he could protest, she nailed him with a swift punch to the jaw. He recoiled and she kicked out, nailing him with her booted feet in soft, pliable flesh. He utter a cry of alarm and pain and she scrambled to her feet, trying to make out the attackers in the dark.

There were three of them: the one who attacked her, another, a girl, standing off to the side whimpering and the last, who held Dal in a vise-like grip. She didn’t know them, couldn’t distinguish the war paint on their faces in the darkness to see if they were Locos or Demon Dogs or some rogue element that wanted to get hostile.

“Let him go,” she growled at the boy who held Dal. He was a big fellow with features that—back in the old days—Amber would’ve figured inspired trust in anyone, even a wild, rabid dog. But these weren’t the old days and Amber wasn’t going to trust anyone aside from Dal.

“Don’t you dare,” growled the one who had attacked her. He was dark haired, she could see that even in the dark, with almond shaped eyes that glowered at her. He held his jaw and stomach. “Don’t you dare let him go. Not until I let her have it for one-upping me.”

“Lex, please,” the girl begged, her eyes wide and frightened. “What if she’s one of the Locos? We have to get out of here.”

“Cool it, Zandra,” the boy named Lex growled angrily. “She’s not a Locos. Lookit the way she’s dressed. No, she’s just some damn girl that’s going to pay. Check him, Ryan. See if he’s got any food or supplies. I’m going to deal with her.”

Lex advanced on her, and Amber stepped back, her gaze trained on his every move. She heard Dal’s sharp protest, saw out of the corner of her eye Dal trying his best to fight off the big bully that this Lex-guy obviously commanded. She gritted her teeth and hardened her jaw, her hands forming tight fists of anger. She felt power uncoiling from her gut, branching out into her body and she growled at the boy, “Alright, Lex, is it? You want to rumble? Let’s rumble.”

The grin that he gave her was a lupine one with all teeth. He narrowed his eyes even further, balling his own hands into fists. But before either one could make a move, the sudden sound of a wailing siren stopped them, held them frozen in fear, and for a brief second Amber saw the look of anger dissolve in Lex’s eyes to one of pure panic. He whirled and faced the direction of where the sirens were coming from, his breathing suddenly very shallow an ragged.

Amber snapped out of her temporary stupor though, and seeing hers and Dal’s chance shouted, “Run, Dal! Run!” Before taking off herself down the mouth of the alley. She heard a shout, the sound of flesh hitting flesh and then, “I’m coming, Amber! I’m coming!”

Dal’s footsteps echoed down the dark alleyway with her as they tried to find someway of escape.