The Outsider (Original Version)

Chapter 24- Becoming A Family

We ride through a rain forest, this being the day after we left Cossintan.

Not once have we stopped to rest.

"This place could be full of dangerous things! We're not stopping!" Tucker exclaims for the fifth time.

Melanie grumbles.

"But we need to rest! Food is important you know!" She shoots back, making me roll my eyes at the two.

I turn around, digging through my saddle bag.

Inside it I find two cans of olives and a can of some type of beans.

"Here!" I shout angrily, throwing them each a can.

I keep one of the olives, opening the can easily and eating one.

"Whoa! Olives? Where did you get these?" Tucker asks, eating them as if he's in heaven.

Melanie and I both stare at him, making him smile shyly.

"I don't remember which town I got them from, but trust me, they had a whole lot of cans." I say, using g my arms to speak.

Melaine laughs a little as she leans over and swipes a spoon sticking out of my saddle bag.

Its different to travel with people, annoying at times, but different.

Sure I always had Spirit, but he didn't really speak much, and these two were always arguing and cracking jokes.

"Hey, just out of curiosity Mel, how were you even walking before? You did break your ankle after all." I point out, making her smile.

"I was taken to the hospital and they used some weird healing machine and the bone fixed immediately." She explains, making me smile.

I heard about those.

Most of them were taken to mars according to books in Cossintan.

Only four were left on earth, who knows where the other three are.

But that doesn't really matter.

"So where exactly is the most terrifing place to go, and how do we get there?" Mealine asks, reading the book's translation as she shovels another spoon into her mouth.

An ache goes through me.

"There is only one person I can think of that might be able to tell us. But its a bit of a journey." I say, kinda wishing I didn't have to do this.

They nod to me.

"Lead the way. We will follow." Tucker says, almost meaning something else entirely.

I turn my head so I can steer my horse, turning it to a certain way that I vowed never to take again.

"So where is this person anyway?" Mel asks, making me look down.

"He's in my very first town." I state.

Tucker looks surprised at the thought of me actually talking about an old town I was in, and the fact that we were actually going there.

But I stay quiet now as they talk quietly behind me.

In all honesty, I kinda miss that first town, no matter what happened there.

It was still technically the only place I had ever known.....

As home.

......

"Let's rest here for the night. Its a long journey ahead of us." I say, getting down off my horse.

Hazle flops into the grass, obviously tiered.