Chapter 10: Captured

First Part Written by Mrs Oogie Boogie

Aubrey was woken up at the break of dawn, Janet pulling her from her sleep to get ready for the warm, eventful day. Janet had brought a change of clothes with her for Aubrey to wear, not wanting anything to happen to her normal attire and letting her get dressed. "We need to do something with your hair, too.. Can I put it up for you?" Janet wondered, Aubrey warmed by the kindness that Janet had shown her ever since she arrived.

Aubrey nodded with a tiny smile, "Sure, tha'd be great," she replied, taking a seat in the chair within the room and letting Janet do her hair.

After getting ready with Janet, her and Aubrey went outside to meet up with everyone else, Aubrey feeling a little guilty about being the last one to be ready and making everyone wait..

"Morning, Aubrey," Roman said with a smile and Russell then looked behind him, seeing Aubrey and his eyes glowed.

"Aubrey!" Russell called out excitedly.

Russell rushed over to Aubrey with a smile already intact, "You're awake! Did you sleep good?" He wondered.

"Yeah, I slept fine.. Thank you.. How about you?" She asked in return.

"Yup! I'm excited for today! Today's your test day!" He continued with the same excitement and Aubrey grew a little nervous..

"Test day..?" She questioned and he nodded.

"Russell, let's get going," Jude had called out to him, the group already beginning the walk and Russell grabbed Aubrey's hand.

"Come on!" He encouraged and he pulled her along.

They all began their journey and Aubrey still had no idea where they were going.. She feared the worst, What if these people are just dragging me off somewhere to be abandoned and left to die? What if they want nothing to do with me and they don't want me around them anymore? ..Am I just a liability? A nuisance?

"W-Where are we going?" Aubrey finally asked, looking to Russell for answers as he walked joyfully next to her.

"We're going to another pond we found not too long ago where there's still fish and stuff in it that's okay to eat, we need food so we can eat later," he replied with a smile.

"And.. How is this testing me?" She wondered.

"Well, it's like an initiation, you need to be able to provide if you want to be provided for. We all work together to stay alive, so unless you can contribute, we can't stick together. Don't worry, I know you can do it!" He encouraged. Though Aubrey was good at fishing, she didn't have a fishing pole, which is what she was used to catching fish with.. Anyone could agree. But, without it, it made her more nervous and she began to worry that she wouldn't be able to catch anything.. 

The walk to the new pond took roughly half an hour, but the walk was relaxing and listening to the sound of nature all around them gave Aubrey a new sense of calm that she hadn't felt once since she had arrived.. It was a little euphoric sometimes when Aubrey would simply listen to the scarce wild birds that occupied the canopies of the trees, she couldn't remember the last time that she had made herself stop and enjoy the natural order of the world that happened around her. Though she was within the walls of the most dangerous place in the world, she couldn't help but forget momentarily that she was within it..

After the long walk, they had finally arrived at the clear and clean pond, Aubrey hearing Russell let out a quiet, excited gasp of air at the welcoming feeling the pond gave off.

Janet was the first in the water, doing what Aubrey assumed to be searching for frogs, large snails or small reptiles. Aubrey grew more nervous now, seeing everyone taking their places or getting ready to get into the water and she didn't know how to begin. Jude removed his shirt and stood by Beatrice, chatting amongst themselves and Aubrey was startled a little when Russell then had done the same, removing his shirt from his tiny frame and excited to enter the water, "Woo! I haven't been swimming in forever!" He called out.

"Russell, we're not here to swim, we're here to get food, honey.. Come help out," Janet requested politely and with a gentle whine of a groan, Russell got into the water and began searing like Janet was. Jude soon got into the water with Janet and Russell while Roman took out a connective pole that he had fashioned out of materials he had found throughout his travels, Aubrey a little amazed on how he was smart enough to make one that got the job done when it came to fishing and she grew a little jealous that she didn't have one..

"What are you waiting for? Get in," Aubrey heard Beatrice say to her, looking down at her as she sat on the ground.

"W-What..?" Aubrey asked.

"Are you deaf? You heard what Russell said, didn't you? Do your part. Catch something, if you can," Beatrice replied coldly, Aubrey's heart racing a little as Beatrice made her more nervous and also from her prissy tone that seemed almost challenging.. 

"Why aren't you in the water?" Aubrey wondered. 

"Oh, I thought you were the one that wanted into the group? Seeing as how I'm already in it, I don't need to.. Not this time," Beatrice replied with a harsh tone and Aubrey frowned a little, hating her tone and how she was treating her. Aubrey then noticed, Beatrice hadn't taken her eyes off of Jude to even bother giving Aubrey her full attention.. Aubrey then looked to the attire Beatrice wore, wondering if she wore such revealing clothing all the time or if she was just looking for attention from someone.. No wonder he likes her.. Aubrey thought to herself, not only feeling nervous and insulted, but now she was starting to feel a sense of self-consciousness.. 

Without replying to Beatrice and not even wanting to continue their conversation, Aubrey swallowed her nerves and sucked it up, taking a deep breath and getting into the water with the rest of them. At first she didn't know how to go about trying to catch a fish without a pole and only using her hands, but she was determined to prove herself.. I can't just catch frogs and snails like they seem to be trying to do, I need to catch something that can feed us all and I can't leave until I know that none of us will go hungry tonight.. Aubrey told herself, a new sense of worth coursing through her and she decided to try something different.. Even if it didn't work, anything was worth a try now. Aubrey pushed her hands into the mud that covered the bottom of the pond, exposing her index finger only out of it in hopes that a fish would think it was a worm or an insect of some find and come to check it out.. She'd then hook it with her finger and grab hold of it, refusing to let go and refusing to admit defeat. As much as I have my doubts about them and the doubts I know they have with me, I need to do this.. I need to.

Wiggling her exposed index fingers and keeping as still as she could with the rest of her body was difficult to do for a long period of time, but she put forth as much effort and patience that she could muster. While she waited patiently, she looked around the pond, seeing Roman off by himself and he smiled at her when they made eye contact, smiling at him in return and continuing to look around. Her heart jolted slightly when she then looked to her left and found Jude already looking at her, her pulse rising as he continued to look at her when any other person would smile and look away abruptly. Aubrey couldn't look away, nor did she want to, her hands beginning to tremble slightly yet the mud they were submerged in helped keep them in place.

Out of nowhere, Aubrey broke their prolonged eye contact when something began nibbling at her finger, her eyes widening in surprise and she managed to slip her finger within the mouth of a fish, hooking it and tightening a pinch of a grip and she pulled out a large Kissing Gourami. She let out an excited laugh, holding up the fish triumphantly as Janet and Jude held shocked expressions when they had seen what she had accomplished.

"Yeeeaaaahhh! Go Aubrey!" Russell called out, throwing his arms up victoriously at the sight of her catch. 

"Wow.. That was fast! How'd you do that, Aubrey?" Janet questioned in slight amazement.

"No way.." Jude said under his breath as he looked at her catch.

Aubrey felt an amazing rush of happiness and accomplishment, smiling proudly towards everyone and feeling extremely lucky on the one day that she needed to prove herself, and she did so without fail. This was the best she had felt about herself in a long time, overjoyed by the fact that she had proven herself and seeing the disbelief in all their eyes made her feel even greater. She knew they didn't expect much from her, but proving to them and also to herself that she was capable of doing something as important as finding food made her unable to put her relief and joy into words.

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Second Part Written by LateKnightSimmer

My stomach growled loudly as I groggily opened my sleepy eyelids to see that I had fallen asleep in Neal's arms. Hearing that sound reminded me that we had been in this safe house for too long, especially for being in a Section that had no food. I woke up pretty fast after that, remembering that we had a little under four miles left to go before we would arrive somewhere with food. I had no plans to ditch Neal this time, so I pressed lightly on his chest to try to wake him up. His pectoral muscle felt hard against my palm, and I smiled, letting myself enjoy this moment before we had to get out of bed.

"Neal! Time to get up. We need to go find food."

"Hmm? What? Scarlett."

Neal was obviously not awake yet, as he seemed lost for a minute while he tried to gather his bearings. He rolled over onto his back, sliding his right arm under the pillow. I rolled on top of him, propping my elbow on the bed. I tried not to get distracted, but it was difficult because Neal was so handsome, and I definitely had a major crush on him. Who knew that I would fall for a former Surveillance Guard?

"Thank you for not making me wake up alone."

Neal mumbled in his half awake state, and I got off him, going to pick my clothes up from the floor so we could get going. Neal rolled over towards me and finally opened his eyes. 

"You're welcome, but Neal, what I was trying to say earlier, is we need to find food."

"Oh yeah. How long have we been here?"

"We've spent two nights here. It's not good to stay so long in one place, especially when we have no food."

Neal and I get out of bed and put our clothes on, then make our way out to the living area, where Daniel is asleep on the couch. Dammit. What the fuck are we going to do with Daniel? I don't know if we should take him with us, since he's obviously mentally unstable. He could back stab us for no other reason than he just didn't know what the hell he was doing. Before I can tell my thoughts to Neal, he is going over to wake Daniel up. ARGH, Neal... sometimes your sexy ass is so damn irritating. Seeing Neal decide to take Daniel with us combined with the hunger I feel enrages me and I swing the door open to the safe house, leaving it first so I can get to some food faster. Neal will follow me, he always does. He's like a lost puppy sometimes, and it makes me want to punch him. When I get outside, I look around to try to remember which direction Neal and I were heading before we stopped at the safe house. I figure it out and start walking. Not long after, Neal comes running behind me, and I see no sign of Daniel.

"Scarlett! Scarlett! Wait up!"

"I'm going to keep walking. I'm hungry, and this damn Section feels so fucking far away. The more I walk, the closer I get. I have no time for your romantic crap right now, Neal!"

I continue walking as I yell back behind me towards Neal. I hear his footsteps rustle the grass as he runs to catch up with me, and soon he's walking next to me again.

"Save your strength, Neal. We're going to need it since we're both starving."

"Scarlett, why are you pissed at me again?"

"Well, I'm hungry, as I said before, and we were both going to actually go through the starvation process if we didn't leave that fucking Section immediately. Plus, it's safer to walk around in the daylight, it's easier to see people who might be sneaking up on us."

"Don't bullshit me, you're still mad about Daniel, aren't you?"

God dammit Neal LaForge. I was mad about Daniel because I didn't think we should take him with us since I thought he'd be a liability. What the hell is wrong with me? I used to be so in love with Daniel, now I'm thinking of him like he's something to be disposed of? These are the days I hate myself because I know my cold-hearted state of mind is just for survival, but sometimes I wonder if it's actually starting to become part of my personality.

"Where is Daniel, anyway? Did you not get him to wake up? He probably needs food too."

"He was still really jittery. I got him up, but he didn't trust me enough to come with me."

"Ugh. Fuck. How much farther are we from the next Section? Jesus, it feels like we've been walking forever."

"We can take a shortcut, but it would point us off course from where we think Aubrey is."

Of course it would. Despite that fact, I decided that would be the best course of action for us since we would be pretty useless if we had no energy to continue our search. I nodded towards Neal and he grabbed my hand, leading me east bound rather than north. We walked for about twenty more minutes and then we saw the barbed wire fencing that marked the beginning of a new Section. D-2, the sign read.

 As we continued deeper into the heart of D-2, we saw several food stands lined up in sort of a flea market manner. No one was manning them, and they appeared to be abandoned.

"What do you think, Neal? Is this some sort of trap? You know, because the Sections are all about death and shit?"

"No, it's Section D-2. There are certain Sections that were set up for the purpose of resources, and this is one of them. That's why I suggested we come here with the use of the shortcut."

Neal was once again proving to me why I kept him around. Despite him annoyingly trying to make me feel things all the time, his knowledge of what all the Sections contained was invaluable. There was no denying that. Neal and I searched around in the food carts, and found some fruit. We ate some watermelon and grapes and then drank some of the water he had in his canteen. After sufficiently filling our stomachs, we walked to the large river that ran through the middle of Section    D-2 and refilled Neal's canteen. 

Now that we had food in our stomachs, we decided to go back north in the direction of Aubrey's last known location, and try to find a safe house before night fell so we would have a bed to sleep in. We were about three quarters of a mile into the next section after C-4 when we found one. We went inside and took a nap on the couch, which was the first place we could rest our legs. Except for our short stop to get food and water, we had been on our feet all day.

"Hey, get up! Who the fuck are you?"

I woke up to someone poking me whose voice sounded hostile. I pretended to still be asleep until I felt the person try to grab me off the couch. Once he did, I shot up with the full force of my body, jolting Neal awake and using my momentum to push the attacker away from us.

It was then that I saw he had a knife, which made me glad that I reacted so quickly to him pulling me up earlier. He easily could have killed Neal and I in our sleep. The force of my push caused the attacker to fall back onto the coffee table that was in front of the couch, tipping it over. 

I jumped on him and grabbed his wrist, smacking his hand repeatedly on the floor trying to make him lose hold of the knife. I was successful, but when I tried to start choking the life out of him, he didn't let me finish, and pushed me off him, punching me in the process. He tried to go and retrieve the knife, but by that time, Neal had jumped up and pinned him down with ease, since he was more muscular than the attacker.

After I got up, I grabbed the knife, and as soon as I did, I heard gunfire, which made me run for cover behind the overturned table. I saw a woman with a gun standing in the entryway, and I took aim at her with the knife. Just as I threw it, the guy in the red vest pushed me, making me miss, and the knife wedged itself into the wall just beside the woman. 

I fall back onto an end table, knocking it over. The woman is focused on me and starts coming towards me, so Neal takes advantage of the situation and sneaks up behind the woman, but the other guy alerts her, and she elbows Neal in the face. As he falls, he sees the knife stuck in the wall and I notice him grab it and put it in his pocket.

Neal gets back up and tries to grab the gun from the woman, but she smacks him hard in the head with the butt of her gun and he falls down unconscious. I lunge at the other guy again, but he pulls out a gun and points it at me, while the woman follows suit. Shit. Now what do I do?

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Distance between Aubrey and Scarlett: 976 miles