Chapter 2

When Ziv woke up again light was pouring in from the window. He needs to get used to that. He sat up slowly once again. He looked at the end table beside the bed. The pills and a note were laying there.

[Take these to help with the pain. When you are ready, come out and eat. If you are having trouble walking again, the wheelchair in there to help you move around.]

He needed to use the bathroom. He needed to go now. He rushed out of the room at his top speed.

---

As he washed his hands, the pain of running over there was getting to extreme levels for him. He was already past a ten on the pain scale. He wanted to believe he could walk, but it just hurt too much. He walked back over to the room and sat in the wheelchair. He looked up on his tech how to use one. Once he understood the mechanics. He started moving around. It felt much better on his ribs, not having to put pressure in that spot. Though that was when he wasn't wheeling.

"I guess if I am standing and it hurts all the time, some of the time is better than that."

Before he opened the door, he took a dosage of the pills before leaving the room and wheeling himself into the hallway. He was slow and it hurt, but once he moved into the living room/ foyer he stopped there. He saw Rin and a few adults talking in the kitchen area to his left and a tv and couch to his right. There were small kids playing around on the floor with different building blocks. They were laughing and giggling with each other.

Ziv turned back towards Rin. She had noticed him and was walking over.

"How are your ribs doing today?"

"It still hurts, but sitting in this wheelchair doesn't make it hurt all that much."

"That is good then. We just had breakfast, but I have your food ready for you. Do you feel like you can eat?"

"Yes please. Rin?"

"Yes?"

"Sorry, I was just making sure that is your name."

"Don't worry about it."

---

She brought him over to the table and put a plate of food in front of him.

"It's warm. What is this yellow stuff and that here?"

"Those are eggs and that is bacon."

"Oh… okay."

He took a bite of the eggs and bacon. He had seen some pictures, but he couldn't place what they were for a moment. Leaning forward to the table hurt him more than he expected and that made it hard for him to focus. He leaned back in his chair as he wheeled himself closer.

The taste of the eggs and bacon didn't really sit well with him. They just didn't taste good. He tried eating them, but he mainly stuck with the vegetables.

"You don't have to force yourself."

Ziv jumped a little. He was lost in his little world. Eating, the pain, watching the kids making all the noise in the room behind him to the right, he got scared when Rin spoke to him. That made his side hurt once again.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."

"It was my fault. I just haven't been around anyone else other than my parents before."

"I see. I should tell you before Veno and Kear get here that there are few people that know about Kear and where she is from. There are not many who will believe you if you tell them where you are from. Just a warning."

"I understand. I read stories like that before, so I can understand why that would be."

"What kind of stories do you read Ziv?"

"My parents made me read about different subjects. Like I needed to learn engineering to make sure I knew how to make the air filtration system work. My favorite fictional stories were about space and fantasy worlds."

"Engineering? You are very smart to understand that!"

That made Ziv blush a little. He was being praised for learning the basics of survival. Well for him.

"You don't have to learn that?"

"We do, just not something that advanced. A friend of Veno's is studying to be an engineer. Maybe you two could talk about that when Veno gets here."

A bunch of the kids started yelling. Ziv and Rin both looked towards them watching Veno walk in. Hugging and high fiving the other kids. It made him smile watching them all jumping up at him. While he was watching Veno greet the kids, he asked Rin a question.

"Rin, what is this place? There are a lot of kids here?"

"This place is an orphanage. You know what that is?"

"Yes, I read about them before."

"Well I run this place with my friends." She looks to her right to the other adults. "Veno was an orphan and I watched him grow up. He helps around here with Granno. Granno is Veno's best friend. He was the one I was talking about that was going into engineering."

"Cool."

"Hey Ziv are you ready to go?"

Veno had walked over while the kids had moved away from him. Or was it Kear?

"Go where?"

"Outside!"

Ziv looked towards Rin; she was nodding towards him to go with him. He looked at his plate and all the eggs and bacon were still there.

"Sorry I didn't eat it all. I wasted it."

"Don't worry about it. Go and have fun. Today is his day off from school, you three go out there and have fun."

She gave Veno or Kear a stern look and smiled back towards Ziv.

"I will take care of him. Don't worry Rin!"

"You better! Ziv have fun!"

---

"Ziv you ready?"

Veno was standing in front of the wheelchair looking at Ziv.

"Yea…"

"While I am pushing you I won't be able to tell what you are saying. If you want to talk or ask questions just tap me."

Ziv just nodded.

Going through the doors, outside, Ziv looked at all the green the world had to offer. Pictures couldn't explain the smells and vibrancy of the colors out here. There were trees, REAL TREES!

"Those trees are real!"

Ziv was brought to the park. Trees and grass. All the flowers. He heard Veno talking from behind him.

"When I first got here, I was enamored with all the trees too. I lived on space stations so I never saw a real tree. The smell of the flowers were so sweet and clear. It helped me a lot. I come here from time to time to see the view."

Veno, or Kear in this case, stood in front of Ziv.

"This is just amazing. The world was barren, nothing could live on the surface. We had a garden in the basement, but it was just food for us to eat. No flowers at all. Trees were just impossible to fit down there. We had plants that could produce apples and that was after my parents taught me how to genetically alter a plant to make food for us. I had seen apple trees in books, but the apples I had were nothing like how they were described."

With a smile Kear asked Ziv if he was still hungry.

"Yea I am. I didn't eat all the food Rin gave me. I'm sorry."

"Don't worry about it. Veno has some cash from his job and I think it is time to splurge."

"Well I mean isn't money something people want to save?"

"Don't be like that, it isn't my money anyway! Haha."

She stopped laughing.

"Ziv don't be like Kear in the future. All she thinks about is food."

"Okay."

---

As they were walking along the sidewalk, three people walked over. They had big smiles on their face.

"What are you guys doing here?"

Ziv heard Veno ask. It was getting a little easier to tell the two a part.

"Well I had just gotten off work. Plavlin and Wren met me outside the restaurant. Since you haven't been talking to us the past few days we decided to hunt you down."

'Hunt?'

Ziv could see their mouths moving in what was perfectly described in many stories as a mischievous. Ziv had seen that on his mother and father's face many times. So he had thought hunting was something bad, but based on their behavior he guessed that they were just playing.

"Well as you can see I am showing this little guy around. His name is Ziv. Introduce yourselves."

"Nice to meet you I am Granno. Are you new at the orphanage?"

"Yes."

"Well I'm Wren. I wear these trademark glasses because I'm smarter than all of these guys."

"Plavlin is my name and have you seen 'Sparkling Gate'?"

"Uh what is that?"

"My dear Ziv. I pity you. I truly do. It seems these uncultured people around you have yet to show you how amazing it is."

"Actually I think I read about it. Isn't it like a show or something? It was super popular a long time ago. It ran for like thirteen seasons."

Plavlin walks closer, really close to Ziv's face. He looked at Ziv with a serious face and right into his eyes.

"Ziv my child, you must be mistaken because the show will live on forever and it will never end." Plavlin moved away slightly changing into a charming smile. "You must be mistaken about the show."

He knew Plavlin was just making a joke, but that did scare him and it must have shown on his face.

"Dude you're scaring the kid."

Wren and Veno pulled him back. Then everyone but Veno looked at Ziv. Wren was the first to speak up.

"Did you say 'a long time ago'?"

Ziv started shifting in his seat and his eyes around. He made a mistake. He looked at Veno and Kear with an apologetic look. He winced in pain. He moved his hand down to his side again and looked at it. He was bleeding again.

"Now look at what you all did. Scaring Ziv like that. You all should be ashamed of yourselves. Now if you want to make it up to Ziv here you need to buy him a lot of food. The poor kid hasn't eaten at all today."

"Yes ma'am."

They all shout in unison.

"It's okay. I fi…"

He looked up after Kear covered his mouth.

"Didn't you all hear him. We need the best food around for him. The boy is gonna starve to death if we don't hurry."

"I think you are the one that is hungry Kear."

"Granno shut your mouth and called up best girl Juniqu. We are going to feast tonight!"

Everyone started cheering except Ziv. It's just too surreal for him. At first he thought he made a mistake by saying that he was from the future, which is still tough for him, then the situation turns straight to food. He was hungry, but it was just too much for him.

---

Along the way to the restaurant, Kear and Veno were keeping quiet. They let Ziv talk to the others.

"Why is Plavlin sulking?"

"Sulking is the perfect word. Well once he heard that Sparkling Gate was going to end at season thirteen, he knows there is an ending now."

Wren offered up a reasonable explanation.

"Plavlin, I mean I don't really know if this world is the past or if it is a different world. I mean the portal I opened could have gone anywhere."

The three all turned towards him as Veno stopped pushing the wheelchair.

"Portal?"

"Ugh… yea?"

"Kid you must be smarter than these creeps."

Wren pointed at the others around him. Granno and Plavlin were voicing their anger at Wren for that while Ve… no Kear was smiling. When Ziv looked up, the others looked at Kear as well.

"Just remember I need to keep Veno in shape. I wouldn't want to be stuck with Veno that whole time, maybe I will bring you all along. Ah but don't mind me. I'm just voicing my thoughts out loud. But if you all keep delaying the food, maybe that idea could really happen."

"Yes ma'am."

"Now before Kear gets any angrier, let's hurry to your workplace Granno."

Veno told everyone around the group. Ziv spoke up with an innocent and honest question before they moved forward.

"I read in stories that all the female leads liked food. They never gain any weight no matter what. Does that mean all girls are like that, eating food constantly?"

The three guys started laughing at his question. Kear walked in front of Ziv, with a little space for him, and looked him in the eyes.

"What did you say honey?"

"In all the books I read, all the girls liked to eat food. Well usually the female leads. So I asked them if all girls were like that? Then they started laughing."

"Now Ziv, you asked a great question. The best way to a girl is her stomach. That is a fact. In fact if you ever make me angry," she slowly turns around towards the other guys, "you should get me some tasty food. I mean I wouldn't want you kids to get hurt because I hadn't eaten anything yet."

*Cough cough*

"Yes ma'am. We will lead the way."

Kear turned back towards Ziv and whispered in his ear.

"Once we get there I will take you to the bathroom to put on fresh bandages and a new shirt for you."

She patted behind Ziv's back. He felt something hard back there. He turned his head around to see a first aid kit and two extra shirts in a pouch behind the seat. He didn't remember seeing that before nor feeling it being put there.

---

Once they got out of the bathroom they went to the table with the others. There was someone else sitting there. A young woman about the same age as she had black hair and a very small nose. She was wearing a thin sweater that had holes for her thumbs.

Veno parked the wheel chair. He leaned over towards Juniqu as she stood up and they kissed each other. They gave each other a nice hug. After the first few moments, Plavlin had covered Ziv's eyes.

"Jeez you two, you making Ziv sick over here."

"Well Plavlin, when you get that special someone in your life, you will understand how sweet a kiss really is."

After Juniqu said that she turned over to Ziv. She put her hand out in front her.

"Hello Ziv, my name is Juniqu. It is a pleasure to meet you."

He shook her hand. His father taught him how to give a hand shake. Though that was because he asked since he had read it in a story. He never met anyone to use it before.

"Now these three have told me many times while you were in the bathroom with Veno to ask where you are from. You don't have to tell me if you don't want to though. I don't want you to feel pressured or anything."

Ziv looked to the others then towards Veno and Kear. Those two just smiled. He sank a little in his chair as he talked.

"I'm from the future? Well I mean this could easily be an alternate universe or I'm dead and this is a last attempt from my brain to make sense of anything. I mean they never finished the portal so anything is possible I guess."

Everyone was a little quiet, but Juniqu spoke up.

"Ziv you're just like Kear then right?"

"I guess."

"Well how old are you, Ziv?"

"Ten."

"A nice round number then. I know when we met Kear she was thirty so you can't just judge a book by its cover right?"

"That's right! I've read so many books that sometimes there are some where I looked at the cover and I was like it looks stupid. Once I started reading though the story was better than I expected!"

"Yes… that's right."

"Juniqu dear, I think we need to have a talk. I'm clearly a young eighteen year old boy in my heart. I mean I won't talk about your old age in the open."

"Kear!"

"But today is all about Ziv here. We wouldn't want to take away from that. So Ziv what do you like to eat?"

The other guys are snickering to Ziv's right, while Veno apologizes to Juniqu.

"Um well... all I ate at home were vegetables, nuts and beans. I know you have meat here, but I don't think I really like that. So do you have something like that?"

Granno spoke up before the others, but that was because he worked here. He stood up from his chair and walked over towards Ziv and pointed out the items on the menu.

"We have salads that you might like, but there is other vegan stuff. Soups and wraps."

As he was showing Ziv the menu, the waitress walked over.

"Granno what are you doing here? Didn't you just leave work an hour ago? And Wren what are you doing here?"

"While I tell you to keep away from that hooligan Granno, dear sister, it is a special day for Ziv here."

He points to Ziv sitting there while Granno points and explains the different foods on the menu to Ziv. She looks towards Ziv.

"Your Ziv, I haven't seen you around before. It is wonderful to meet you. My name is Yyella. If my brother Wren over there messes with you too much, just let me know and I will beat him up!" She moves in closer to whisper, but it is easily heard by the others. "I'd watch out for Granno there. He is the biggest troublemaker there is!"

She starts laughing with the entire table. Granno pretends not to hear her and keeps explaining the menu to him.

"Well what would you all like to drink?"

Everyone starts to list off different beverages.

"And Ziv what would you like?"

"Apple juice! Please!"

"Gotcha."

---

With conversations running around the table, the others talk amongst themselves making jokes left and right. They brought Ziv in the conversation a few times, but he just nodded or shook his head. Social gatherings are not something he has ever experienced before. So he is nervous and anxious. Veno leans over to Ziv.

"Are you having fun?"

"Well I have never been to a restaurant or around this many people before. It has always been my mom and dad, well not anymore."

Ziv looked down because he hasn't really had time to come to terms with his mother's death and neither has he gotten over his father's. It has all been too sudden.

"I'm going to the bathroom. I'll be right back."

Ziv wheeled himself into the bathroom. He cried for his parents and for himself.

'Am I infected? Will I die just like dad? Do I need to do it myself like him? I should just get it over with now.'

He didn't want to be happy if he had to throw it all away. If he was going to die he didn't want to be a burden to the others.

He looked at his hazmat suit… oh he wasn't wearing it. Once he gets back he will be able to get it over with. He will dig himself a hole and bury himself inside. Sure he isn't infectious to others, but he doesn't want to have them bury him either.

He turned to leave, only to find Kear there. He could tell that it was her now.

"Ziv we need to talk."