The Fifth World 2

Bo: I sigh as I rest in a tent Wendell assigned to me. I am lying down with my head on the pillow, my hair spilled across it and with my entire body stretched out. Derek and Johnson are sharing another tent not too far away from mine.

I am sleepy. I am upset. I am angry. Eventually, I get bored of staring at the same white sheet of a wall. I roll over and face the other side of the tent which resembles, exactly, what the other looks like. The sunlight is fading at the moment and from the inside of my tiny little "bedroom" I can still see the shadows of others walking by. I can hear them chatting, hear them chatting about me, about Adam, about Cynric, Johnson... other than the rebuilding of Seabrooke nothing else really goes on in this town anymore. Newcomers are forever reaching the walls and settling in perfectly with their new sense of freedom. There are many strangers around, I have noticed.

My eyes begin to droop as I pull some blankets up and over my shoulders and within a few minutes I am drifting into a deep and well deserved sleep. My mind wanders and I think about the future and obviously the past. What different events have lead up to this? I mean, so much has happened in this lifetime that it all cannot possibly come down to this; Cynric abandoning me, my brother hating me, my friends betraying me (or at least I suspect they might). The warmth around me begins to fade and in my sleep I stir as my body begins to shiver. What lies ahead? What pain waits for me there? Will I ever truly find peace? Will those I love come back to me?
My eyes open as the realisation hits me - I am no longer inside. I stand up almost immediately and see that the tent around me has disappeared, the warmth from the woolen blanket I had wrapped around me has gone too. Seabrooke does not surround me either. I have just jumped again, or time traveled... I cannot be certain of either until I figure exactly where and when I am. I grind my teeth together angrily as I tell myself off for losing grip on my focus - this rarely happens. As time has gone by I have taught myself to concentrate, even at the back of my mind, on keeping myself in the one place - of not letting my body jump from here to there, time and time again.

"I was trying to practice," I hear a high pitched voice, "but clearly with you here I cannot."

Nancy is dressed in three quarter cargo pants that are a taupe colour. Her black boots are laced up tightly and her white tee-shirt is a little bit dirty. She carries a sword and a scowl on her face.

"I- I didn't mean to interrupt."

Nancy smiles and breathes out a heavy breath, she is tired, "I'm joking, come here you silly girl and give me an actual greeting!"

It does not surprise me that my first actual meeting with Nancy again could begin this way - her being rude and not really caring. I mean, it's not like my arrival has exactly been peaches.

"I'm sorry," I say quietly, "I just... everything is different. Everyone is different."

I don't even move towards her. I just stand there not quite understanding why everything is happening. I see Nancy move towards me but I don't quite register it and before I even realise she is holding me and I am crying in her arms. Gosh, I am such a sob story.

"Bo," she whispers as she strokes my hair, "Why are you so upset? You're back. You have no idea how long everyone has been waiting for this."

"I have been waiting," I say, "aching... and now everything is ruined. Cynric hates me. Adam hates me. I don't even know what to think about Felicity, Caine and the rest of them."

"Well," Nancy says, "those Thornes really did rattle things up around here-"

I hear a snapping of twigs or a stick or something. I continue to cry until I hear it again. The tears stop - somehow. I manage to remove myself from Nancy's arms and the both of us turn around into the night and face the very empty and very quiet field ahead.

"Nancy," I whisper, "where exactly are we?"

I watch her as she observes what is ahead of us. Shadows are scattered across the long, green. The clearing is too large to be part of Seabrooke and the grass is too long also. It is usually cut and groomed making it close to impossible for anyone to hide in... this grass, however, is not.

"We are just outside the walls," Nancy responds in the lowest whisper I have ever heard.

"There's someone out there," I say.

Nancy's hand trembles slightly, I notice, and when she speaks again her voice shakes with it, "It could be just someone wanting to live here, moving here... from another city. A newcomer."

The both of us hear a sound... a short and sharp sound that anyone could recognise after living but a short time in this world. I jump from where I am standing and appear just a metre away from where I was positioned. An arrow narrowly misses my body and Nancy immediately jumps towards me.

"We will meet in town," she says to me, her eyes wide, "go now!"

I almost go to follow her as I think she is about to jump and disappear like I am sure she is instructing me to do... but she does not. Instead she decides to run to a collection of large oak. What in the hell is she doing? I consider running after her as I know that she is being completely irrational right now... but I then consider the lives of everyone else - everyone, especially Adam. Is it so selfish to leave someone I care very much for - Nancy - for everyone else that lies within the broken walls of Seabrooke?
I watch after Nancy and then I see how shadows behind some bushes at least a hundred metres ahead of me begin to move in all directions... very quickly too. I can see Thornes because I recognise the shape of their bodies and also the speed they move in... they are not alone. A pack of German Shepherd dogs begin to run across the grass and I know instantly that they are not werewolves or even wild dogs... they are Shape Shifters.

"Nancy!" I squeal as loud as I possibly can, "Get out of there!"

My eyes narrow as I try to look for her, without actually moving myself, in the trees. I cannot see her at all. A person suddenly appears in front of me. A Time Jumper. He stares at me with a sly look so frightening that I squeal again. I try to be selfish, I do, I really do. I try to leave... to jump away from the danger and warn the others... but I can't. I can't leave Nancy. I reach for my satchel but curse when I realise that I clearly do not have my satchel since I clearly did not expect to have to fight someone tonight. The Time Jumper swings a knife down towards my stomach and I immediately jump and re-appear where I was standing earlier. I then begin to sprint as fast as I possibly can towards the trees where I saw Nancy run. My heart is pounding, I can hear it thud in my ears. As much as I want to go back to town to warn everyone... I just cannot bear to tear myself away from Nancy. I have to make sure she is safe.

It is even darker beneath the trees. I am sprinting like I never have before. Sticks and twigs snap beneath my weight and I kick up stones and rocks as I run. My breathing is terrible. I haven't had to run and panic like this for a while now. I turn around sharply as I hear the man behind me but when my eyes adjust to the darkness I realise that he is no where to be seen - neither is Nancy.

"Nancy!" I hiss, probably too loudly.

There is no response. I know that I am definitely not alone in here. Someone can hear me... and I am unsure on whether the silence is a good or bad thing. Could it mean that Nancy is still around? Still breathing? And trying to simply keep herself hidden? Or does it mean that she is not here at all? Or worse?

I suddenly hear footsteps running towards me, they are thudding away so loudly that my heart jumps and I immediately jump with it sending my body to the outside of the trees, beside where I entered just seconds before. I can hear the footsteps still but they are further into the darkness. Do I dare enter again? I hear people behind me and see groups and groups of people forming - Shape Shifters, Time Jumpers, Thornes, Angelicans... even Justice Agents. I quickly hide in the trees as I watch them all. My breathing is still heavy, so heavy and loud that I am sure at any moment I will be caught. The crowds of people are heavily armed. They form a large circle and I see how one person stands in the middle of them all instructing them. I watch how a man is brought forward to the man in the centre. The man is young and I can tell just through a glimpse that he is an Angelican. His hair is a very dark black but with a hint of blue through it. His eyes, now bloodshot and surrounded in bruises are a very pretty blue.

"This Angelican," I hear the man commanding them all announce, "has been coming to us with news of Seabrooke for a long time now. A little snitch he is. He supports us, he has worked for us and risked his life for us."

The man, the man I am guessing they are referring to as the snitch, looks up at the commander with hope. He is hopeful even with his arms bound and his body beaten. I have not seen this man before but I am guessing that he is- was a citizen of Seabrooke... secretly living a lie.

"Ah," the man says to his captive and touches his head as if he is being affectionate, "Alistair, if it were not for you this night would not be happening. The hybrid has returned, she has broken the one condition of her banishment and tonight we will execute her along with all that attempt to protect her or stop us."

The crowd is very eager, I hear them chatter, I can feel the excitement brewing in the air... where in the world are the Seabrooke guardians? They should be here by now. Nothing this large goes unnoticed. I am certain that within the next minute they will arrive before the Hargon army can even reach inside the walls.

"Thank you, Alistair," the man says and he smiles at Alistair warmly, "We thank you for informing us... and now we will grant you your freedom. Your services have been fulfilled and as promised you will no longer be a slave to the Hargon government."

I watch how Alistair smiles and the hope present in his eyes twinkles. The man nods at a Justice Agent... a female Justice Agent. She is young, strong and clearly lethal like every other Justice Agent I have ever come across... a vision of Namara sweeps my mind but leaves it just as quickly as it entered. I must focus.
The woman looks at Alistair with such praise. She walks slowly around him, circles him and she removes the ropes from around his wrists. Alistair stands, with difficulty, and the Justice Agent smiles at him. I watch her, I watch how he thanks her almost silently and then how her hand creeps behind her back towards her belt. She pulls a metallic shape out and it catches the moonlight and my eyes. Just when Alistair is about to fall back into the crowd she whisks the knife around and into his chest... again... and again... and again. I let out a scream but it is muffled by a hand closing around my mouth. My entire body is pulled back into the trees and I try to kick and elbow and wriggle myself out of the persons grasp... but it is too late... they have captured me.