Chapter Four

2 months have passed at the Outpost since the arrival of Jaxon and Raven, all I can say is that things have unfortunately gotten duller and otherwise boring. To keep myself occupied it decided on reading the books that flooded the living area. For the past couple days, I had been working on reading through, Malleus Malefircarum, the book I found that one day with Lillian. Tonight, was finally the night that I would read about the 7 wonders. The 7 wonders are the important spells, that required a lot of energy that smaller witches cannot perform. I turned the first page to reveal the first spell

Pyrokinesis- the ability to create, control and manipulate fire.

According to the book it is one of the easiest abilities for the 7 wonders and most witches has the ability to perform this skill.

"What are you reading?" said a sweet voice from my doorway cutting off my thoughts. The voice made me jump and close the book right away and slide it under my pillow in a state of fear. When I look up I see the smiling face of Jaxon, he kind of looked confused and the sudden move I made. "Whoa are you hiding something?" he asked coming over to my bed to grab it. 

Once he got close to the pillow I grabbed his hand and pushed it away, "That's none of your business, mister," I said in a joking matter. He back away from the bed and rolled his eyes. "So, what did you come to tell me?" I asked bringing my knees up to my chest, holding them.

"Aw, come on its it so hard to believe I just came here to say hi to one on my best friends," he joked sitting down on the bed and nudging my shoulder. I rolled my eyes and glared over at him. "Ok maybe I do have some news... Its been spreading around the out post that Lillian has been sick. Apparently she is catching a virus from the outside and she won't make it much longer. Mrs. Darach has said it is harm less, but people are concerned," he said. In the corner I noticed that Stephanie had peaked her head in and smiled to see both of us. Once Jaxon realized that someone had walked in her turned around and also smiled. He then got off the bed and embrace his, now official, girlfriend. They both knew the consequences of their decision but made alternative plans to keep their relationship a secret.

The plans included Stephanie only being able to sit across from me and Jaxon when she was allowed to come for supper some nights, entering a room 10 minutes after one another walked in a room, and kissing was restricted to when everyone went to sleep or when I was in the room. Jaxon wrapped his arms around her waist and kissed her cheek. "I missed you Steph" he mumbled into her neck. They backed away from each other, but Jaxon kept his hand tightly secured on her waist. Stephanie placed her small hand on his cheek, and he nuzzled into it smiling. I had to admit that their relationship is probably the most interesting thing happening in the outpost and not to mention the cutest. They were like me in the way that they liked to say 'fuck it' to the rules. Hell, one time Stephanie stole bread from the kitchen to give us for late night snacking that I now hide in my closet.

"So, what were you guys talking about?" Stephanie asking in a playful tone looking over at me. Jaxon turned towards me keeping his hand on her waist and shrugged.

"We were talking about Lillian and how she not getting better from her 'cold' and she wont considering we don't have any supply for her" he said air quoting his comment. Stephanie showed a minute of remorse for Lillian but the smile towards her boy friend who nuzzled his face into her neck giving her kisses.

"Wait if you don't think it's a cold what do you think it is" I asked referring to his mocking gesture

"If I had to guess I bet Mrs. Darach and Mr. Eden did something to her. She is the oldest is needs more nutrients to survive. Without her they won't have to feed her double the amount of us anymore." He said shrugging. Before I could say anything back to him thought we heard the clicking of heels coming down the hallway.

Stephanie and Jaxon's eyes grew wide and he quickly kissed her before pushing her to sit next to me. The door creaked open and there stood Mr. Eden and Mrs. Darach. She stood there with an annoyed look on her face. 

"Stephanie, Malia and Jaxon funny to find you here when it supposed to be dinner time. Stephanie please help the others in serving dinner. Jaxon and Malia make your way to the dinner table." She said, we all looked at her in shock considering she did not seem mad. "NOW!" She yelled when we stared to look at each other. We scurried around her and walked towards our destinations. 

Me and Jaxon walked towards the dinning table and noticed people in Lillian's room. Around the door frame there was a clear plastic seal that blocked anyone from just walking in. The people in the room were wearing raider suits with tanks of some kind of liquid that they were spraying around the room that had a pungent smell. "Oh my gosh what is that" I said holding my hand over my nose. Jaxon had his hand over his nose as well, but he said nothing and rushed us towards the dining table. After we go far enough from the room, I stopped Jaxon and blocked him from moving any further. "Jaxon you clearly know, just tell me." I said

He sighed and unblocked his nose "They are spraying Lillian's room with a chemical water that kills germs and radiation instantly. Me and Raven were sprayed with it before we came into the outpost when we got here." Why would they be spraying Lillians room?

"Do you think-"

"She was infected? I don't know, but I don't think spraying her room was a good sign. Let's get to dinner maybe Mrs. Darach will bring it up something about it while we are eating and if not, we can ask her afterwords" I nodded to Jaxon only know that if I came to getting the truth from Mrs.Darach then we are gonna have to figure this out on our own.

Once we turn the corner we were faced with the rest of the survivors but for some reason though it felt empty. Everyone looked over at us with questioning eyes wondering why it took us so long to get to dinner. I felt a pair of strong hands grasped my shoulders and we are pushed into the remaining spots at the table. Looking around I notice something was missing or more like someone was listening I looked at everyones faces trying to piece together the puzzle until I realized who it was.

"Jaxon She's missing!" I whispered so nobody could hear me. Jaxon looked at me with a weary face and then looked around the table to notice what I realized only for shock and sadness to appear on his face. At that point Mrs. Darach banged on her glass of mineral water

"Quiet down everyone.... tonight we have some good news and bad news. unfortunately we have lost Mrs. Lillian Walker. About 2 hours ago we found Mrs. Walker unconscious on her bed with her airways blocked, so because of this devastating truth we have prepared a special supper for all of you." Behind her the slaves brought out the multiple pots that smelled divine in comparison to the gelatine cubes they've been making us eat. "We hope that with this treat it will make the grieving process we are all about to experience a bit easier. Enjoy" she said before sitting down in her chair.

Once the slaves notice that Mrs. Darach had sat down They started to scramble to each survivor placing a bowl of stew in front of us. As soon as the bowl is placed in front of me. The different spices wander to my nose igniting nerves I once thought were dead. I picked up my spoon And stirred the content in the bowl. As soon as I brought the spoon close to my lips I looked up at Stephanie to see a worried expression on her face. Pulling the spoon away from my mouth I mouth to her 'what' only for her to shake her head no.

I put my spoon down and look around to see that everyone else was on there third of fourth bites. Beside me, Jaxon picked up his spoon only for me to kick his shin. "Ow hey" he said looking at me with an angry expression, but once he sees my face his softened. "What's going on?" He said seeing I haven't touched my food.

"I think there is something wrong don't eat the soup" I whispered into his ear. Everyone else devoured their food enjoying the feeling of a different texture other than gelatin. Below me I started the stir the contents that remained in my bowl chopping the chucks until I hit something fairly hard. I decided to scoop the hard object with my spoon and noticed is was some kind of bone. My first instinct upon seeing it was that it was a chicken bone, but after closely examining it I realized that it was the bone of a much bigger animal. Turning to Jaxon I knew he knew what it was and he slapped the spoon out of my hand in terror causing everyone to look at us including Mrs. Darach. The bone bounced down the table and everyone realized what they were looking at.

Everyone gawked at it and dropped their spoons as well "Mrs. Darach, may I asked what the fuck is that?" Jaxon said pointing at the bone that Mrs. Darach ordered her men to pick up. "Is the soup Lillian?" he yelled causing everyone to get up from their bowls and back away from the table.

"Is that any language to be using at the dinner table? Now I will calmly ask you all to sit down and eat the rest of your dinner because this may as well be the last solid food you'll eat" Darach insisted. After a minute of waiting for everyone to sit down again Darach got impatient and slammed her fist on the table. "I said SIT!..." The men around us grabbed everyone and forced them back in their seats. "... the staff had spent a very long time getting this food so you best respect them or we can have these very strong gentlemen force feed you!" She said before going to eat again.

Confused as what to do I turn to Jaxon again he shrugged "What is Lillian was contaminated?" he asked stirring the food in his bowl.

"Darach wouldn't risk killing us all...would she?" I said whispering the last part to not worry him. Most people started crying while eating, some clearly looked disgusted and few ate the food without a second thought. Smelling the now getting cold dinner I realized that it didn't taste as foul as the thought if what it was made of. Cringing as I took a bite I swallow before even letting the 'meat' touch my tongue and I continued to do that till I finished.

After dinner I decided that living barricaded in my room tonight wasn't an option so I thought that I would join everyone in the living room, maybe even learn some things about them. I haven't been to the living area for awhile so I am assuming it has gotten fairly boring with no conversation starters. Walking in the room felt cold without the warmth of Lillian, I didn't know her well but every time she was around, she was very kind and a conversation starter. Sitting of the couch with an very uncomfortable silence I decided that I needed to say something. "I can't do this!" I shouted looking around at everyone's shocked faces. "How can we just sit here for who knows how long and not talk to each other?" Everyone looked around and then Oscar stepped forward.

"And this is coming from the girl who has been hiding in her room reading books for 2 months" He said confused as to why I would start socializing now. "This is our normal now Malia, to be our own company. Sorry you ran out of pages to read and now are being forced to talk to us," he scoffed.

I've grown a certain hatred for Oscar he was very grouchy for the young man he is, Ungrateful for the opportunity he was given. Out of all the people that would kill for this life, he was chosen they chose him. I ignored him and turn to the other and almost started to talk again until he interrupted, "Pathetic, if you haven't noticed. Nobody wants to be here," Oscar spat. 

"Well then what are you doing here Oscar! Why are you still here if you don't want to be?" I asked getting in his face. He stared down at me with intensity, scowling his eyes flaming with a burning anger as if a new flame had been lit within him. We stood there for a good minute before Oscar rolled his eyes again and walked away from everyone.

My idea to get everyone to talk was to get them to talk about themselves because who doesn't like talking about themselves. "I thinking we should tell each other about our past selves what you did, where you were from, ..." Everyone shrugged not really having a reason to reject the conversation. "Ill go first. I was from Los Angeles. My mother was a stone-cold bitch so I left her to go to my dad and I worked at a computer upgrading company. I like to draw, write and read and I'm excited to what the future holds."

I took a minute for people to join the conversation but everyone eventually broke down the walls they had up. Everyone had very different stories and some of them I did not expect. Turns out that Raven was a criminal that had a prison sentence for 50 years because she was found to have connections with a terrorist group. Herminie was a psychiatrist at a mental institution for the criminally insane. Mitch Matthews had a job as a Bartender at a Gay bar called 'Eighth Inch' and Jaxon told everyone that he was the CEO of a major company, believe it or not. Some people may find this heartbreaking that such people had lost their entire past that they worked fore but I only seen this as a brighter future. All of the people I'm looking at accomplished something which was only going to make the new world stronger.