Left for Dead (book 1 in the Super Nova series)

Chapter 12

When I woke up, I was amazed at how much they'd done.

There was a small fire going, and they were eating... something. I got up and walked over, and I was disgusted to find out that what they were eating was a squirrel.

Ace says "hungry? We caught some food."

I look at the squirrel and my stomach growls. I go against my better judgement and take some of it. I sit next to Blaire and say "so, how long was I asleep?"

Finn says "do you really wanna know?"

I nod.

Ace says "you slept through all of yesterday. The sun just rose."

I look up at the sky, and sure enough, the sun was rising.

I say "oh my god."

They all nod.

Blaire says "we didn't want to wake you because we knew you were exhausted, so we let you sleep."

I nod and say "thanks." I close my eyes and take a bite of the squirrel. It was actually not bad. It was thoroughly cooked, and it tasted a little like chicken.

Finn says "Ace and I are looking for some stuff that we could build shelter out of. Even maybe just large sticks or something."

Blaire says "all I did was cook."

I laugh and say "so what am I gonna have to do?"

Ace says "make a bathroom. Don't make it too far away, but not so close that we can smell it."

I laugh and say "that's all I have to do?"

They all nod.

I say "alright, I can do that."

Ace says "can you do it now please?"

I say "why? You gotta use the bathroom?"

He says "just make a damn hole!"

I laugh and get up. I walk about a quarter mile from the clearing, and stomp on the ground. A small crack opens up. I open the crack so it makes a hole. I walk back to the clearing and say "alright, whoever needs to use the bathroom can-"

Ace immediately runs past me.

I laugh and say "wow he really had to go, didn't he?"

Finn nods.

Blaire says "we're gonna need water."

I say "we're gonna need a place to keep water."

Finn says "Ace and I will figure it out."

I nod and sit down by the fire. I stare into it for a minute, then I put my head in my hands.

Finn sits next to me and says "you okay?"

I say "no. I'm not okay. I'm only fourteen and I'm already a wanted fugitive, homeless, and living in the woods. My family almost gave me to the Government, I almost got burned alive. I made you all homeless. I have three powers instead of one, and one of them is the most dangerous power there is. I sure as hell am not okay. I ruined four lives within an hour."

He says "you didn't ruin anyone's life."

I say "I ruined mine. I lost my family, my home, everything."

He says "you've still got us. You're always gonna have us. We're not gonna leave you alone. That's why we're here. If this ruins our lives then it's our faults for coming, not yours for bringing us. None of this is your fault. You don't control what powers you get or how many you get. You didn't mean for any of this to happen."

I sigh and say "what if someone dies?"

He says "then they died trying to protect someone innocent who is being hunted down for no reason."

I sigh and say "what if I kill one of you? What if my power goes out of control and I kill someone?"

He sighs and says "look, Nov, you're not going to kill anyone. You wouldn't ever let yourself do that. You know that. So just stop worrying for a little bit."

I sigh again and say "I'll try."

It seems like he forgot about the conversation we had the other day, about him apparently being in love with me. I was kind of thankful for that, I kind of liked everything the way it was.

We sit in silence for a couple of minutes, then Ace comes back into the clearing. He sits next to Blaire and they start talking about something.

I stand up and say "I'm gonna go for a walk."

Finn says "want me to go with you?"

I shake my head and say "I think I just need to be alone for a bit. I'll be back."

He says "is this about what I said the other day?"

I say "no, it's not about that. I just need some time to think about everything that's happening."

He says "can we just talk for one minute, then you can go?"

I sigh but say "about what?"

He says "what I said the other day. Are we gonna, like, talk about it? Or are we just going to ignore it?"

I say "I um, I don't know."

He says "could you maybe think about it then? If you don't want to talk about it that's perfectly fine with me, if you want to talk about it we can. Whatever you want to do."

I say "I'll think about it on my walk, and if I decide to talk about it, I'll tell you when I get back."

He nods and says "enjoy your walk."

I nod and walk off into the woods.