Earth: Criminal Rehab

Chapter Nine

Pete

I walked with my tail between my legs, my head held low. I could barely look anyone in the eye. I dragged one foot in front of the other, not sure where I was going. We had been banished. Once again, I made a stupid move and nearly cost lives because of it. Now I, and fifteen other people, traveled off on our own, separated from the others.

Mikey cried quietly to himself. His own brother had left him for Ryan. Patrick walked silently behind me, though I could hear the lightness in his feet. I didn't look back to see him, but I knew he was standing tall, trying to seem strong and composed. Andy and Joe strolled along behind him followed by Tyler and Josh and Dallon and many others I have yet to learn the names of. Who in the right mind would want to follow me? It was something I questioned for far too long. The sun was starting to set.

"Pete," Patrick wheezed, "We've been walking for miles. Where are we going?"

I kept my eyes on the ground in front of me and continued walking. I was feeling sore and tired, but I couldn't stop to rest. Not now.

Joe said something next, "Pete, do you think we should stop here? You know... sit down for a while and talk and make some plans?"

Dallon kicked a rock. His fists were still scrunched up into balls at his side. He whispered angrily to himself, "He was supposed to be on our side."

I thought so too. And for that reason, I kept walking. 80 other people had turned their backs on me. There had to be something I could do.

"Pete..." Mikey pleaded.

Finally, I slowed to a stop and looked up at the sky. I wondered if my parents were still up there, if they lived okay after I was taken away from them. I wondered if they even lived at all. With the increasing severity of punishments for breaking the rules, it was possible that they got themselves ejected. Would they be proud of me? Would they have followed me? I lost my balance and started to fall on my side. Patrick threw his arm under my shoulder and helped prop me up.

"Come on," Patrick steadied me onto a large, flat rock, "we've done enough walking for the day."

The stream rushed on to our right. The ground was littered with pebbles and dirt. The wind pushed harder and colder on our skin without the trees to tame it to a soft breeze. Where were the trees? We walked so far away from them, there weren't any in sight. I could hardly remember where we came from. Everyone else dropped to the ground and with a sigh. Mikey buried his head between his arms and continued to cry. Morale had been low on the Legacy, but I had never seen a group of people so down. It was all because of me.

I didn't know what to say. It got to be too quiet. Fifteen people looked up to me, waiting for a plan to come sprouting out of my head. How was I supposed to explain that I didn't have one?

"I-I'm sorry guys," I croaked. Then, it went straight back to the roaring silent air.

"There was this story..." Tyler started. His eyes were staring off into space, completely lost in his head, "I read it in a book we have from years ago. Anyways, it was about a girl and she was walking down a path, kind of like this one, and she was on a mission to bring food to her sick grandmother across the forest. But, when she got there, her grandmother had these huge ears and a long nose and was all hairy. Turned out, a wolf had broken into the grandmother's house, ate her whole, and dressed up like an old woman. And then the wolf ate the little girl."

I raised an eyebrow at Tyler. I thought he was going to share this inspirational old story, "What was the point of that story?"

He shrugged, "I thought it was funny."

Josh erupted with laughter, "Dude... that's not funny! And that's definitely not how the story ended. The wolf ate them both, but a huntsman came through the door with an axe and sliced the wolf's stomach. He saved the grandmother and the little girl and ended up killing the wolf."

"So what you're saying is," I knit my brows together, trying to understand the point, "I should've killed the bear with an axe?"

Everyone seemed to get a chuckle out of that one. Tyler shook his head, "No, Pete. You've got to stop trying to make sense of everything. Some things just don't make sense. Like the reason why everyone else chose to stay with Ryan. You did what you could. You did your best. Stop beating yourself up for it."

He got a smile out of me.

Dallon still seemed confused, "Hang on... So the wolf ate the grandmother and the little girl and they still lived? Is that even possible?"

Josh started laughing again, "Well, it may not be possible, but is it plausible?"

It seemed to be some kind of inside joke between the two of them. They went back and forth, arguing about whether it was possible or plausible for a human to survive in the stomach of a wolf. The whole "not trying to make sense out of it" thing was clearly out of the window. Everyone started to get a kick out of it. Someone even suggested we got back to test it out on the bear.

I shook my head, "God. You guys take things way too far."

The laughter subsided into silence once again, but at least there were smiles on a majority of faces. Mikey rose to his feet and stepped out into the open, squinting off into the distance. He walked up a small slope of rocks and stood still, silently staring.

"What's up, Mikey?" I asked and stood up straight.

He pointed straight ahead, "I-I think you might want to see this..."

I glanced at everyone else, who were waiting to see what was up there for us. I took a deep breath and followed the path Mikey took. I stood next to him and searched for something he may have found interesting.

It was a house. A house that was, for the most part, still intact and usable. Sure it was weathered down and dark, but it looked pretty good to me. It wasn't far from here, probably a little less than a mile away from here. I clapped Mikey on the back and thanked him. I smiled and turned around, calling for the rest to follow. We were going into a house – an actual Earth house. It seemed unimaginable that it still stood its ground. No matter what, we were going to make it to that house.