After the World's End

Chapter Three

Max stumbled forward for the millionth time that day. They'd only caught him a few hours ago, but it seemed like they had already mastered the art of keeping captives. They'd tied a short rope around each of his ankles, so that if he tried to do more than take baby steps he would have fallen over. The idea of trying to run away like that would have been comical in a different situation. Max's hands had been bound and he was being led around like a dog by a leash. As if that hadn't been enough, Max had been blindfolded and gagged.

The girl who'd told him her name was Caroline, had spent the last three hours talking to him.

Max was getting steadily more annoyed. He didn't want to hear her talk anymore and he really thought she should have thought more carefully about asking him questions while he was gagged. Even if he wanted to, it's not like he could answer her. Max glared in her direction, feeling slightly better even though she couldn't see it.

He was angrier at her than any of the others except Cohen; a very reasonable thought process to him since Cohen was the one who'd held a knife to his throat and threatened to kill him and Caroline…he didn't really understand Caroline. It was so abnormal that someone was pretending that nothing bad ever happens and was so happy. Max couldn't help thinking that she was overwhelmingly fake and it hadn't helped anything that he'd held the faint hope that she would stop the others from hurting him, but she hadn't staid a word to stop them when they'd tied him up.

"Come on," Cohen snarled, yanking on Max's leash.

Max stumbled and landed on his knees.

"Get up," Cohen snapped again.

Max got to his feet unsteadily, but he only got a few steps further before blindly tripping and falling again. This time Max stayed down for a moment before trying to get up again. He was so exhausted and he hurt all over from falling and being caught earlier. Max heard someone, he assumed it was Cohen, sigh angrily and yank on the rope again just as Max was getting to his feet. The boy tumbled to the floor and stayed there this time. He curled into a little ball to protect himself from whatever Cohen was going to do to him for falling so many times. Max started to tremble, like he had done so many other times that day. He was so tired of being afraid.

"Stop, Cohen," a man, who had first asked him who he was, said.

Max hadn't seen any of his captors except the girl, but so far he had heard two boys and the girl talking. He knew from the footsteps that there were more people than just them. He was curious about them. When they had first caught him, he'd assumed they were all much older than him and probably were soldiers. Now, he wasn't so sure. Caroline looked young and Cohen had referred the others as friends.

Strong arms reached down and pulled him to his feet. He could feel hands on his ankles undoing the rope tying his ankles together. "Walk for another half hour. Then, we'll stop for the night. Okay?" the new voice asked. "Do you mind if I'm the one to lead you?"

Max just stared blankly in the direction of the boy's face. He couldn't say anything.

"Just nod, yes or no," the man said.

Max nodded, reluctantly. It's not like he really had a choice. Max stumbled on for the next half hour, before the boy stopped and gently caught Max's wrists and made Max sit down. He tied Max's wrists to a nearby tree, talking quietly to Max the whole time like he was trying to calm down an overexcited animal.

Max was shaking. He didn't realize how much it would scare him to not be able to see. It was almost as bad as being kidnapped by five strangers. He felt like he was going to be sick. The boy who'd kidnapped him clearly wasn't as good at this whole comforting thing as he had thought.

"We're stopping now," the boy murmured. "Sit down and be quiet. We'll figure out what to do with you later."

Max had no choice but to nod that he understood. He felt so completely and absolutely defenseless. He stared blankly, trying to listen to figure out what was happening. He could hear faint voices, but he couldn't tell what they were saying. It seemed that they were trying their best to keep him in the dark in every sense of the word.

Eventually, Max heard footsteps. That person reached behind Max's head to untie the blindfold, sighing in relief when the blindfold fell away. The young man in front of him was younger than he'd originally assumed, maybe 18 at the most.

"How have you survived on your own?" the boy asked in wonder.

Max frowned at him. "I guess I haven't survived very well. You've caught me," Max whispered, not looking the boy in the eyes. "Will you let me go?"

The young man across from him, shook his head. "You're a liar," he said, recovering himself. "You're with the looters. That's the only way someone as young as you could survive."

"I'm not though," Max protested. "Isn't that what you and your friends are part of? You're the ones who took my things and attacked me. You’re the looters," he said, forgetting everything he'd been thinking of earlier about not making them angry. At that moment, the injustice of it all loosed his tongue. He hated what they were doing to him. How dare they accuse him of anything when they were the guilty ones.

The young man backhanded Max across the face, making Max's head snap to the side. "Never say that again ," he snapped, looking like he was just barely restraining himself from hitting Max again. The hatred drained out of his eyes just as quickly when he saw what he'd done. Max's courage was gone. He bent forward, shaking and trying to hide his face from the man in front of him. He begged the young man not to hit him again; that he was sorry and he wouldn't say anything like that again. He flashed back to earlier that morning when Cohen had threatened to kill him. Max couldn't even protect himself, if the young man wanted to hurt him. He knew the whole, right side of Max's face would be bruised by morning.

"Look, kid. I'm sorry. Just…don't say that," he said.

Max's eyes filled with tears. "Don't call me that. I'm not a kid. Everyone is fine with beating me up, threatening to kill me, stealing from me, letting me starve to death, or any of the other hundreds of horrible things that can happen to me. The only difference between us is that I'm alone and I'm not trying to hurt anyone."

"Kid..Max, I- Ugh!" the boy sighed. "You're just trying to confuse me with your sob story. You're lying."

The young man started to walk away and with that Max's last hope of being freed dwindled. "No! You can trust me! Please, stay!" he yelled after the disappearing figure. He didn't particularly like this strange kidnapper, but he was the only one who would really talk to Max about what was going on and Max wasn't willing to give that up without a fight. He didn't want to be alone again without knowing what was going to happen to him. The uncertainty of it all was terrifying.

"Shut up," Cohen hissed, making Max flinch. Max looked nervous in Cohen's direction, careful not to meet his eyes. He couldn't help wanting to know what his kidnappers looked like, especially Cohen. Max was sure that they would all be just as ugly, scary, and evil looking as he'd expected. They weren't though. The two girls and three guys who had captured him looked perfectly normal, maybe even handsome or pretty, not that Max really wanted to think about that.

"Sh, Max." the other boy murmured, coming back to stand over Max. "I'll get you something to eat and sit with you for awhile, but you have to be quiet."

Max waited until the other boy came back with a can of something that Max couldn't identify and a disgusted expression on his face. "What is this? I found it in your bag. You don't actually eat this, do you?" he asked, wrinkling his nose.

Max held up his tied wrists, silently asking the other boy to untie him.

"Don't push it," the boy whispered. "We weren't even planning on feeding you today."

Max nodded, feeling irrational as blood rushed to his face. He didn't like feeling greedy because he'd always thought he was so independent and he didn't like being reminded that he wasn't doing such a good job of it. "I don't worry about my food tasting good to eat it," Max explained quietly. "Just having any food is enough. Thank you." Max held the can of food to his mouth and ate it all over the next couple of minutes.

The other boy sat next to Max and watched him. Max wouldn't even look at him. He was starting to feel scared again, combined with a new urge. He wanted to show them that he could be useful. If Max would have stopped to think about it, he would have known that it's wasn't new at all. He'd always wanted to help the other kids, even after his parents had been sent to the war. It had hurt Max when he saw all the other children die in accidents or from getting sick or run away. He'd always wanted to help, but there was no one else. Max would have known that while he was capable of being alone, he was frightened and unhappy. Part of him didn't want these new strangers to leave him. He knew that was absolutely insane. Max would have known all of these things if he had stopped to think of them, but it hurt to think about so he pushed all of those thoughts away. All that was left was the fear.

"Was there a reason you wanted me to stay here?" the boy asked after awhile.

"You don't have to stay here," Max whispered, feeling his heart sink at the thought.

The boy seemed to realize how Max was feeling, at least in part. "I know you're scared, but no one's going to hurt you just because I leave. I don't want you to think that I'm set on protecting you because I'm not. I don't know who you are, or what you've done to survive for so long on your own, if what you're telling me is the truth and you have been living alone," the boy said. "I don't know what to do about you."

"I don't know about you either," Max whispered, surprising himself with his own daring.

"What?" the boy asked, giving Max a strange look.

"I don't know anything about you," Max said, glancing up at the other boy before looking away again. "I was minding my own business and you kidnapped me. I didn't do anything wrong! You make me tell you about me and then you accuse me of lying! I told you the truth!" Max hissed. To his utter horror, he'd started to cry, but he still didn't stop talking. "Why should I have to tell you the truth when none of you have told me anything? You tie me up and threaten me and I'm still the bad one. I don't understand any of this!" Max curled in on himself, like he was trying to sink into the ground. It was hard to tell that he was even crying, except for the occasional quiet whimper.

"Kid, it's okay," the other boy whispered. "I don't want to hurt you, if I don't have to. If…If you're who you say you are maybe…maybe we could be friends?"

Max had never felt so confused. He was supposed to hate this boy and now the boy was offering to be his friend? Max didn't know what to do. He found himself whispering, "Friends don't tie their friends up and hurt them."

Max felt more than saw the other boy's anger. "Fine. I'm trying to help you, but if-"

"No, I'm sorry," Max murmured. He didn't think his quiet tone would have any effect, but the other boy stopped as soon as Max started talking. "I don't want to fight. I'm just scared and I- I can't trust you."

"It's okay, kid. I understand. It'll take time," the boy said.

Max nodded and smiled a bit. "It would help if you told me your name."

"Arden," the boy said immediately. He wanted to show Max that he wasn't a bad person. It hadn't even occurred to him how much he must have scared the boy and he regretted it so much.

"Arden," Max repeated. "It's n- Well, it would have been nice to meet you, if we had met in different circumstances," Max said, with a small smile.

Arden smiled back. "Try to get some sleep, okay kid?" He untied the other end of the rope that had been attached to Max and the tree, to himself so that he and Max were tied together. "I can't let you escape," he explained.

Max nodded and lay down, next to Arden. Just as they were about to go to sleep, Max said, "And don't call me kid."