"Where are we going?" The girl named 135b7 asked, eyes wide, face smudged with dirt and soot.
It was absurd these kids didn't have real names. Just because they were born into the system didn't mean they were any less human.
"As far away from here as I... as we can get." I corrected myself, stepping over a fallen log.
The little girl grabbed my hand, squeezing it tight.
I was a little taken aback, but I didn't let go.
Growing up in the Grid, there were no parents, just Lieutenants, Generals, Commanders, Captains, and other "superior" authority figures.
No one capable of love.
Since the crash, we decided it better to pack up and get out of there before someone realized that we literally drove off a cliff to get away from them.
Talk about clingy.
I looked over to Charlie at my right, walking next to the little girl holding my hand.
He gave me a brief smile then looked down at 135b7's hand in mine. Charlie gave me this 'you sap' smile before rolling his eyes.
I raised my brows in a gesture to the boy he was currently piggy-backing, going on mile three.
Yeah, I'm the sap.
I looked over my shoulder at the rest of our group trailing in various states behind us.
Tyler and 627g6, the older girl, hadn't stopped arguing since we started walking, and Derek... well, now that I think about it, I hadn't heard or seen him in a while.
I stopped short, turning around; the little girl followed, still clinging to my hand.
"What's wrong?" Charlie protectively stepped closer as he scanned my alert features to the forest around us.
"Where'd Derek go?" I asked Charlie's face relaxed.
"He's a ways back." He sighed, turning back around to continue walking.
I didn't move till I saw him.
The outline of his dark figure moving noiselessly across the wood, at least 100 feet back.
"I'll wait for him," I said, sitting down on a log, 135b7 copying my actions, then looking up at me eagerly for my next move.
It was kind of cute, I'll admit that.
Maybe I could have my own mini-me.
Wait, maybe that would be a bad idea; the world can only handle one me, so it has been proven with all the shit that's gone down the past 6 months.
Charlie scoffed, stepping over a large branch while the boy on his back, 997h0, kicked his legs on Charlie's sides, saying, 'giddy-up horsey!'
Yeah, he's getting his.
I laughed to myself as my mini-me had a stick she started scraping along her upper arm.
"Whoa! Give me that! What are you thinking?" I freaked, snatching the stick out of her small hand and tossing it into the wood behind us.
Her eyes welled up, and her lip puffed out, blonde hair floating around her.
I crouched down to examine 135b7's arm. It was starting to bleed, the mud from her dirty clothes mixing with the thick red liquid.
God, it was going to get infected.
I looked around for anything I could use, then I remembered my backpack had a med-kit in the front pocket.
