"What's that up ahead?" Elliott asks from beside me.
"I don't know. We're too far away to tell," I answer.
We slow down as we get closer. We see a village in the clearing. We stop right before we go out into the clearing. I look at Elliott. He shrugs.
"Why don't you come with me this time?" I suggest.
"Sure," Elliott says nonchalant.
I get off my scooter and shake my hair out of my helmet. I turn on the scooter alarm and make sure Elliott does the same. We walk out into the village. At first, things are fine, but then someone sees us.
"There's another Wolfum attack!" someone yells.
People start to come out of their homes with weapons in their hands. Elliott starts to back up.
"Stop," I say.
No one listens.
"Stop!" I yell.
This time people listen.
"Why? He's gonna kill us unless we kill him!" says a man in the front of the group.
"No he's not," I say, "He's peaceful."
The crowd is silent for a few seconds.
Then someone yells, "Get him!"
The crowd starts surging forward again. A little boy, with red hair pushes to the front of the crowd.
He starts walking toward Elliott saying, "Can I touch one this time!"
A woman pushes after the boy.
"Get back here, Fred!" She yells.
"No!" Fred says.
He tries to run away, but he trips on a pointy rock and falls flat on his face.
"Wah!" Fred yells.
Elliott runs over to him.
"He's gonna kill him!" yells someone from the crowd.
Elliott turns to look at the crowd. The crowd backs away a little. Elliott turns back to Fred. Fred reaches out and touches Elliott's tail. Elliott reaches out to pick him up.
"Stop! Don't touch him you beast!" The woman yells at Elliott.
Elliott marches over to her. The woman seems to have second thoughts about yelling at Elliott. Elliott reaches out and takes the lady's apron. The woman faints. Elliott rolls his eyes and marches back over to Fred.
"What are you going to do with that?" Fred asks.
Elliott doesn't answer. He tears off a piece of the apron and ties it securely around Fred's bloody knee. Fred looks down at it and moves his leg around. He hops up and starts doing a jig. Elliott tosses the rest of the apron on the woman, who was just waking up. The lady looks over to where Fred is doing a little dance.
"Lady, Elliott here, helped your son. He didn't hurt him," I say.
Fred runs over and hugs Elliott's legs. Elliott smiles and tousles Fred's hair. Fred looks over at me.
"What's your name?" he asks.
"Red," I answer.
Fred smiles even wider and runs over to the lady.
"Abby! The girl's name is Red!" Fred says as he pulls on Abby's arm.
Abby looks at me.
She walks over and asks, "Your name is Red?"
I nod. Abby smiles.
"This is your younger brother named Fred," She says.
I look at her.
I shake my head, and say, "No he is not. I had a little sister, but she died in a fire."
Abby breathes out.
"You know when your mom went away for a year?" she asks.
"How do you know about that?" I ask.
"Your mom came here during that time. She told me to keep Fred safe," Abby says, "Don't ask me why, though. I don't know."
I look over at Elliott who is being surrounded by all the kids. Fred is hugging his legs again. I smile.
"I'll take care of him," I say to Abby.
Abby smiles back.
"Call me Abby. Everyone does!" Abby says.
I nod and walk over to Fred and Elliott. Fred jumps into my arms. I stumble back a little.
"How old are you?" I ask Fred.
"Five," Fred answers, "How many years are you?"
"Fifteen."
Elliott looks at me.
"I'm fifteen, too," he says.
Some little kids grab his arms and force him to sit down. I laugh. I set Fred down and reach for Elliott's arm, so I can help him up. When he gets up, some kids sit on his feet and hold onto his leg. Parents come to get their kids. I can tell that they don't fully trust him.
"You can stay with me," Abby says.
We follow Abby through the village. Kids are playing, people are talking and doing chores. Everyone seems so happy and content.
"Here we are!" Abby says as she stops in front of a big house.
We walk in and see some kids and parents.
"I take in anybody who needs my help," Abby says as she gets a boy's frisbee off of a dresser.
Fred runs up to me from behind and reaches for my hand. We follow Abby up the stairs. She leads me to a room with a window that looks over the village and two beds. One of them is Fred's bed and the other is mine. Abby leads Elliott to a room across the hall. I walk to the window and look down at the village.
"It's beautiful isn't it?" Abby asks.
She joins me at the window.
"Don't be fooled by the smiles and laughs. Lurking under the surface is fear. Fear of everything and anything."
I look at Abby. She smiles and walks out of the room. Fred starts jumping on his bed the moment Abby's out of the room.
"Fred! I told you no jumping!" Abby yells from downstairs.
Fred stops jumping and flops on his back. Elliott comes in from across the hall.
"Hey," Elliott says.
"Hi!" Fred says as he runs over and hugs Elliott's legs.
"Hi, again," Elliott steps out of Fred's hug.
"Do you remember hearing someone say another Wolfum attack?" Elliott asks me.
I nod.
"What did you smell back there?" I ask.
"Slash."
Elliott stares out the window.
"Slash is on the move, again," I say.
Fred tugs on my shirt.
"Who is Slash?" he asks.
I reach down and pick him up.
"You don't need to know right now," I say.
Fred pouts. I laugh.
"See you two later," Elliott says, as he walks out of the room.
I set Fred down. I hear him jump down the stairs. I watch Abby walk out of the building and go down the street. I think about how I never knew that Fred is my brother, but he is. Could there be more siblings out there waiting for me to find them?