• There is no hope for me and my people. You must leave. They have already come. They have already destroyed. They have already gone. And by the time you read this, I will already be dead. You must leave. They will come back. And when they do, you must not be here. They cannot find you. They cannot know you exist. That is our only chance of defeating them. They still think you are dead. Do not prove Them wrong until it is time. Do not linger. Do not morn. Just go. Go now. And stop Them. Stop them or you will regret it.
    Tanya

    I looked at the small note in my hand. My hands shook and my lip trembled as I stood, stunned. Tanya was dead. Zim was abandoned. I was supposed to be dead. And it was I who had to stop them. No, not I, but Leif and I. Leif and Ashlyn. This was so overwhelming; I sat down in the hot sand. At least I wasn’t alone. But Tanya was dead. She was supposed to be here, fighting with us. She should not have left, I told her so. Now one of my best friends was gone. Gone forever.

    Leif reached over and pulled the parchment from my hand. His solid baby green eyes grew as they followed the rows of words. He reached to brush his dark brown hair out of his eyes with a strong hand. I did not care about my golden locks, caked with dirt. I could not believe that Tanya was gone. Leif and I were dead. Wonderful. But the tears would not come to my pale yellow eyes, as much as I willed them to do so. They just didn’t. Leif didn’t cry either. I don’t think he was as close to Tanya as I was. But it was still a shock to him, I could see that in his eyes. I knew him well enough to know that he was in the same confused state that I was.

    “So I guess we’re dead.” Leif’s voice was a little shaky. I nodded. I didn’t feel like talking. “I’m sure she’s in a better place. She said in her message not to morn. Remember her though. But we must continue our quest. Don’t make her efforts be in vain.” Leif knew me well. You form that sort of relationship when you are running for your life with a person for a month. Again, I nodded, standing up. He handed me my brown and green backpack, into which he had put Tanya’s note, and that also carried my possessions and the important items we had found along the way. He grabbed his own, a deep, solid blue. I climbed onto my wolf, Krisha, a Himalayan twice the normal size. Leif packed our food on his, Mayn, a Eurasian that so happened to be six foot seven at the tip of his ear. Then he climbed aboard, and we were off.

    The wolves’ paws kicked up clouds of the dry, cracked earth. I was again comforted by the Krisha’s soft fur. I felt the soft fur between my fingers and the hot air blew my hair back. It actually felt good, and my spirits rose. A small smile formed at the corners of my mouth. Leif did not seem to be having such a great time as I was. His brow was narrowed, his eyes staring at the back of Mayn’s neck, deep in thought. His left hand was working furiously, massaging the side of Mayn’s neck. I thought that a debate was being carried out in his head, and his twitching lips conformed this. I didn’t know what exactly he was contemplating, but it had to be serious.

    My smile disappeared.

    I turned my head back to the road, and I started to think too. Where exactly were we to go? Flankler? Or to the Lopay Wood? I could already see the line of trees. Yes, that must be where we were going. But what then? Did we continue our search? Did we attempt to learn more information about THeir attack? Or maybe…the plan. Tanya’s plan. And our quest. We had to continue our quest.

    “Leif!” I shouted. “We’re going to the forest, right?”

    “No, the desert. We gotta carry out the plan.”

    “Which one, 34 or 42?”

    He closed his eyes, trying to remember. “Um…I don’t think she said. But I don’t think we can carry out 42 by ourselves. So that would mean put plan 34 into action.”

    “How many people do you think we would need?”

    “Oh, um, I’d say, like, maybe ten? That sound good?”

    “I don’t think we’d be able to find any more than that.”

    He nodded his agreement. So we were going to the desert to carry out plan 34. That meant we would have to find the secret hideouts of the refugees. But we knew what they would look like. What the real problem was would have to be making sure that THey didn’t. We couldn’t be followed.

    I leaned forwards and laid my head on Krisha’s soft neck fur, closing my eyes and reflecting the past year. Who would have thought that that night, one long year ago, would have brought so much trauma? I remembered what little I had that had been left behind. This time the tear came. It was only one. Until I remembered my parents. Another salty drop ran over my pale cheek, then another, and another, and then many more. I wondered where they had gone, and if they had been captured by THem. I hoped not.

    We had left Eurase and gone to planet Sraku to live in Kinyic. Without much money, we moved in with Tanya. Five months after we settled, THey found us. We were forced to leave. Again. But our parents, our families, refused to leave. So we ran away. Leif saved our lives. I still didn't trust him. Tany abrought us together. Now she was gone.

    I had grown so much during the past year from the little 12 year old girl in the hallway.

    I let the thoughts leave my head. The back of Krisha’s neck was now soaked and kind of cold, and this coldness helped me to sleep in the scalding heat of the dead plains. My sleep was disturbed by dark thoughts as we set out to continue the battle that had been started long ago. And, for the first time in months, I cried in my dreams.