Chapter Three

*A week after the Nuclear bomb attack*

It felt as if I had been here in the outpost for weeks. When Michael said he had bigger plans for me I didn't realize that it would mean having to spend so much time with personality-less people. When everyone got the news that the bomb were going to fall I made it to the outpost early along with another girl my age named Stephanie and an older man named Loki who goes by the name Oscar. When we arrived, we were introduced to the heads of the outposts Ms. Darach and Mr. Eden. For the young people they were they took their positions very seriously dressing in very formal clothing.

Upon first arrival they were very strict with the rules and how they wanted to be treated while we were here. "Welcome to Outpost 1. We have 4 very strict rules that will have punishments if broken." Ms. Darach said circling around us with her hands secured behind her back. "The first being no relationship while you are here, second being that no harm is to come under anyone in this outpost, third is DO NOT leave the outpost and lastly arrive on time to meetings." She then began to describe that we would have enough time in advance to know when a meeting would occur and if we were to disobey and break the few rules punishment would not be merciful. The one rule that would result in extraction from the outpost is leaving the outpost voluntarily because of the fear of allowing the small traces of radiation in the building. "If I were you I wouldn't risk your chances" Ms. Darach said smirking.

Ms. Darach was a younger woman being no older than 28. I found it shocking that she was chosen to be head of an outpost. She had a very oval face with well defined bone structure, a large amount of thick wavy brown hair, and almond-shaped, deep brown eyes with thick lashes. For makeup she seemed to favor dark eyeshadow, thick winged liner, and a maroon lipstick. The man who stood beside her, Mr. Eden, fit the bill of scary security henchman. Mr. Eden had to be a little older than 30, he also had a very muscular body and the suit he wore was able to show all of his muscles that hid underneath. He was handsome for an older man with short, black hair, and light brown eyes. When introductions were finished Ms. Darach took me to my room while Mr. Eden brought the others to their rooms. She explained to me pretty much everything I already knew. The co-operative, the outpost system, the slaves, and how we would dress there. We were pretty much allowed to wear what we packed but there was a spare set of cloths in our closets for special occasions that we had to wear.

Since then 4 more people showed up and tagged along in the boredom of pacing the living room to have something to do rather than listen to their thoughts Lillian Walker; An old lady that was known as a media role model, was the first ones besides the other two, then there was Loki Van Holding; He was very ungrateful man who would rather die than be in the bunker with us, Mitch Matthews; the gay one among us who lived for drama and talking shit about everyone, and finally Herminie Everly; One of the lucky ones that the government decided had 'perfect' DNA. That girl Stephanie that came here with me was given the role of an Important Slave also known as a middle class to us. She had the right to join our conversations, occasionally eat with us at the table and she was able to have a social life with the rest of us, but she would have to serve us.

Right now, a rumor that there would be our final two arrivals tonight that had made their way from their temporary shelter had spread across the outpost. Supposedly they were supposed to be joining us for supper tonight. Everyone was acting as if they were happy that there was fresh meat in the outpost only because they would have a new topic to talk about for maybe 2 days. They would ask them countless questions about the outside world, but with time everyone would get bored of them and wish them dead to clear more room for the rest of us.

When we waited around for the announcement that supper is going to be served I watched as Lillian walked around the living quarters to view the countless books that surrounded the walls. One thing that I have come to notice about all of these people is that they like to keep to themselves and talking to others is unnecessary unless the topic is something related to their lives. "What is it with these books? Also, why is a school in New York only have books published in Latin?" Lillian said to herself for the most part.

Getting out of my seat to see what she is talking about I grabbed onto the one book that sparked a lost memory 'Malleus Malefircarum.' It was a book I was able to read with the church because of how basic the writing is. Our temple made groups for new joiners to read old book so they could learn to understand Latin. They did this so that everyone could join in on choir songs and hims. Flipping to the first page I looked at all the residing spells, they were basic and very uninteresting, that is until I came across a page that read in big, bold letters 'The Seven Wonders.'

Skimming through the first couple sentences it said that a person with the ability to acquire all seven on the gifts had the power to rule so called covens that had learning witches. "Find something interesting dear?" Lillian asked because of my full attention towards this book. She walked over towards me and tried to see what literature hid among the pages, but before she could get close enough to see I closed the book. Even though I knew she would have no ability to read it in the first place. "Oh, come on Hun I just wanted to-"

Right before she could say anything else Mrs. Darach cleared her throat from the entrance of the living area. "We would like to ask you to start making your way to the dining room. Dinner is served." She stood there for a couple seconds looking around at everyone before making her way towards the dinning room. Lillian walked past me, and I placed the book back on the shelf a little bit forward as a marker, so I knew where to find the book. When everyone arrived at the table they all sat down in their regular spots, but two extra chairs were placed at the edge of the table, but as usually nobody noticed them.

We waited at the table for a couple minutes before the shadow of 3 people casted over us. "I would like to ask for everyone's attention" Darach said standing in front of two people I've never seen before. "This is Jaxon Foster and Raven Quinn. They are the chosen ones hand selected from the Co-operative like Herminie. Get to know them or don't, I don't really care." She said before they all started to sit down.

The man named Jaxon had this young devilish charm to him, he was definitely younger than me though. Jaxon had longer brown curly hair that looked like it had a mind of it own as it swung in front of his beautiful chocolate brown eyes, and he also had a tall, thin frame. While the girl that stood beside him, Raven, had that bad girl who kept to herself vibe. She also had long brown hair and brown eyes that were separated further apart on her face, she was beautiful.

For the most part everyone at the table stayed quiet in their seats while we ate, until Mitch opened his mouth and asked the question all of us were dying to ask. "So, Jaxon... Raven, what's it like up in the world?" He asked as he leaned towards the two for an answer. Raven avoided the question and kept her head down while she ate, and Jaxon held his hand up to tell us to wait till he is done chewing his food.

"All of it is gone. Every building we were able to see was demolished and the people that roamed the streets were deformed and starving," he explained fear within his own voice as he remembered the sight. "The society we build is gone," at this point he was just picking at the cube of vitamins that sat on his plate. Beside him Raven stayed silent and kept eating not wanting to remember the tragic things she witnessed on the mainland.

"Where are you guys from?" Loki said speaking up for the first time in a couple days. He didn't look very interested as he chopped up the tiny cube on his plate.

"I'm actually from New Jersey and Raven here is from Long beach," Jaxon said smiling towards everyone. Raven on the other hand kept her head down towards her food. She was really shy which is ok, but if she wants to survives she is going to want to make some friends. "If its not a problem Mrs. Darach I was wondering if me and Raven could excuse our selves to get out of these disgusting cloths and freshen up." Jaxon asked and Raven looked up at her. Mrs. Darach waved them away and went back to nibbling on her food.

Raven finished the rest of her food quickly and made her way up the stairs without Jaxon. "Don't mind Raven she is very shy and doesn't like a lot of attention. Hopefully she will ease up with time." Jaxon said as he made his way up after her. During the rest of supper not a word was spoken between the rest of us. Man, if this is what its going to be like for the rest of my life I might as well die, but I couldn't Michael had a plan.

______________

*Later that night*

For awhile I sat in my room and read the story's that I found interesting on the bookshelf, but my mouth started to get dry. I got up and left my room to get water from the kitchen. As I approached the door I heard a faint whisper from two people. "Thank you again for getting me settled in. What can I do to say thank you?" the mans voice said, it sounded like the new kids, Jaxon. Curiosity go the best of me though and a peaked around the corner to see Stephanie and as expected Jaxon. What I wasn't expecting was that they were extremely close, and his hand was placed on her cheek.

"What were you thinking Mr. Foster? "she said placing her hand on top of his. Both smiling at each other they knew what they wanted so they started to lean closer till I slipped and fell letting the glass smash on the floor beside me. The smash cause they to jump back from each other and notice me. I whispered under my breath 'shit' and got up careful to not touch the broken glass. "Malia right. What are you doing up?" she asked grabbing a broom and dustpan to clean up the mess.

"I came down for a drink of water and seen you guy having an intimate moment and fell" I said wiping the dirt off my shirt and Stephanie threw the glass into a hole in the wall.

"Can we talk somewhere private about this please?" Stephanie pleaded walking back towards me with Jaxon close behind

"I don't think there is anything to talk about... It none of my business what you guys do in the shadows, " I said as Stephanie and Jaxon noticeably relaxed. " But im pretty sure it is Mrs. Darachs business" I said fucking with them. Jaxon reached over and grabbed my arm pulling me into a closet of some sort.

"Malia you can't tell anybody about this. I will owe you." Jaxon said almost getting on his knees to beg. Stephanie assumed the same position and hands clasped in front of her. "Please Malia" Jaxon repeated.

"Alright, here's the deal. I wasn't planning on ratting on guys because honestly it would be pretty great to have some friends to rely on. This place is boring as shit and friendship spell out drama. Which is something I was born to create." I explained as they looked at me with confused expressions. They both got up off the floor and looked at me with joy soon after realizing I just wanted to be their friends.

"You know that asking to be someone's friend is a thing now, you don't have to blackmail us into a friendship, but yeah we will be you friend you smell like trouble." Jaxon said smiling at me.

"You have no idea" I said laughing.