Restless

The Trio Of Misfits

WARNING- THIS IS THE SECOND BOOK OF THE AWAKE SERIES. READ THE AWAKE BEFORE THIS BOOK!!! DO IT!!!

6 months since the attack. The entire world lies in a permanent sleep. All except us. The Awake.

"Are we there yet?" Zach complained from the back of the group.

"No, Zach." I answered. We were walking through the empty town, that we called home. I looked over and saw the reflection of myself staring back at me, in a shop window. I had changed over the past months. I have built more muscle and started to grow out my facial hair. My name is Drayton Jones-Castillo. In the glass, I looked at how much I had grown. I was about 5'9 and had black hair. I was developing a light mustache and I really liked how I looked with it. I looked a lot older than I was. In March, I had just turned fourteen. It was mid Summer in the state of Missouri. A cool breeze swept through the streets, taking away some of the June heat. It felt amazing when it hit my face.

"Are we there yet?" Zach moaned again. I just shook my head. I looked back at him and inspected his face. Zach was a few inches shorter than I was and had dirty orange hair. He was slightly sweating from the heat and the walking. Zach had an amazing talent, hidden somewhere under all his gingerness. He was a thief. The best thief I had ever seen. Some would say that having this trait would be a bad thing. Most of the time, they were right. Zach could pickpocket anyone that he wanted. He could pick locks, open safes, or take any item of his choosing, with no trouble at all.

"We're almost there, pal. Hang in there." Ben spoke up. I turned to him and noticed he was sweating more than all of us. The front of his shirt was drenched in sweat. Ben was about the same height as Zach. He had brown shaggy hair and always tried to smile. Ben was a good kid. He was mostly known as the class clown. The jokes that he would tell you made everyone laugh, not because they were funny, but because they were so bad.

"Ben, you want any of my water?" I asked, offering my water bottle to him. He kindly rejected.

"Man, it's so hot out here. You know what they say, the brightest day of the week is Sunday." Ben joked.

"It's Tuesday, Ben." Zach said laughing.

"Oh... It doesn't matter. A strange thing, the sun. And the amazing things science has helped us learn. Today's scientists allow us to see the Sun in a different LIGHT." Ben added.

"Enough, Ben." I said smiling. We were going to a store, at the request of one of our fellow group members. They wanted us to pick up some supplies that our group was running low on.

"Why couldn't we take one of the trucks, again?" Zach asked Ben.

"There's something wrong with the engine in one of them and the front tires are flat on the other." Ben replied.

"Then why didn't we stay home and fix them?" Zach asked, as I handed him my water bottle.

"I left Brianna and Ty to fix it. They're probably working on it right now." Ben answered wiping a drop of sweat from his forehead. "The truck's air conditioning sounds really good right now."

"If only." I said. Ben and Brianna both could drive at the age of fourteen. I never really asked how they learned. In the distance, I could see the store we were looking for. I looked back at Ben and Zach and smiled.

"What?" Zach asked at the sight of my grin.

"Wanna race to the store?" I asked smiling. They both smiled back. I stopped and let them get to the same spot I was.

"On the count of three." Ben stated. We nodded and got ready. "One... Three!!!" He yelled, dashing forward. Zach and I both weren't ready when he started running but we chased after him. We easily passed Ben and kept running. Zach was extremely fast. I was in front of him for most of the race. My heart was pumping rapidly. I breathed hard as I ran. We were almost there, when Zach passed me. A few seconds later, we passed the finish line.

"I win!! Yay, me!!" Zach cheered, starting to sing the Rocky theme song. I smiled as Ben strolled up next to us. He slowly clapped and smiled.

"Good job." I said to Zach. He danced around us as if he didn't even break a sweat.

"Where's my trophy?" He asked.

"Right here." I said dumping the remaining water, from my water bottle, on top of his head.

"What do I get?" Ben asked us.

"You get a participation award." Zach said shaking some of the water from his hair. We laughed and continued our quest for supplies. The store was more like a small shop. I pulled out the list that showed what we needed to find inside the store. On the paper it listed: bread, cereal, bottled waters, bandages, toothpaste, and toilet paper.

"Ben, you get half and I'll get half. Zach's reward can be that he doesn't have to carry anything back." I said as we entered the shop.

"If that's my reward, then I'll be next door." Zach said leaving the shop.

"What's next door?" Ben asked me looking back out the door.

"I dunno." I said as I approached the shelves of items. Ben grabbed twelve bottles of water, two tubes of toothpaste, and several boxes of bandages. I searched for the loaves of bread and boxes of cereal and collected three of each. Then I picked up a 12-pack of toilet paper. The pack was the only thing that wouldn't fit in my bag. It wouldn't be hard to carry because of it's weight. I returned to the entrance with Ben and, together, stepped outside. Zach was standing outside waiting for us, wearing a creepy clown mask.

"Where'd you get that?" Ben asked as we walked towards him.

"The Halloween store, next door." He answered from under the mask. We were quiet most of the way home. The scorching sun was starting to set as we made our way back down the empty road. We had quite a way to go.