Now and Forever

I inhaled sharply as I jerked up. I sat on my blanket next to my dwindling fire, alone. I breathed out heavily and continued the process, panting because of my vicious nightmare. I'm fine, though. I'm safe, yet alone. My breathing slowed to a normal pace, and I looked around for an agile, black creature I call Fiver.

"Fiver!" my voice rang through the silent woods. The sun was coming up. Dusk. Any minute now. Any minute now, it will peak up over the horizon and show us its radiance, warmth, and light.

Fiver was nowhere to be found. I rolled my eyes, finding it useless, and reached into my olive green back pack. Pulling out a bag of broken robin shells and my steel flat plate, I walked to the dim fire. I poked it with a stick, shuffled the ashes around, and poured the eggs onto the steel plate onto the fire.

Several minutes later, I had gobbled up every bit of the eggs: the yokes, the whites, and the broken shells. I had even licked up the grease left over from cooking the eggs. To some, that sounds gross, but I need the fat, I need any food I can get my hands on so I don't die from starvation.

I called for the dog once again with no response from him.

He probably had gone hunting for his own breakfast. Well, thats what I had though until I heard shouting and barking, Fiver's barking. Immediately I packed everything up into my bag, left the embers burning and began to run to Fiver.

I was in no rush. Fiver probably found some people and tried stealing things. That is, tried, is, or had been stealing things. I stopped and hide between an big, old oak, watching the people chase my black lab.

There was a boy and a girl. The girl looked to be my age while the boy was much younger than both of us. He was the one chasing Fiver around as the girl was shouting to get the show back. I smirked at them and step out from behind the tree.

"Fiver, come on, boy. You don't steal shoes. Now drop," I said in a low, stern voice. It didn't fit me at all, but for some reason, it came out like that.

Fiver bounded toward me, dropping the brown boot along the way. I sighed and went to go pick it up, but the boy beat me to it. He glared at me as he wiped saliva of the boot.

I could feel the tension. I could see the dislike in the two's eyes. They must be siblings because they look a lot like each other. The boy gave the girl the shoe, and she put it back on and tied it tight.

She wore the same customary clothing as me: cold-resistant, skin-tight, dark gray leggings, a matching cold resistant long sleeve shirt, a dark brown and light brown camo jacket. Also cold resistant. We wore different shoes. She wore the customary brown boots while I wore my special black combat boots.

The boy wore uniform clothing, too, but boys clothing was slight different than girls for obvious reasons. People don't have to wear the uniform, but its the only thing the Supply Center gives us people, us citizens.

"Sorry about him," I blurt out, breaking the queer silence.

"Taming a dog? Thats risky, y'know?" The girl says, and wraps her arm around the boy. He whispered something into her ear, and she nodded, whispering back, "They're dangerous, Jag. Thats why." It was barely audible from where I stood at a safe distance. Safe being if they tried to attack me. Everyone is so hostile in this world.

"No. Its not risky; its trustworthy, reliable, loyal dog. My dad gave him to me before he died. Fiver is a advanced, special. So, no, its not risky; its safe and helpful. He's special," I replied defensively.

"A dog is a dog," she glared.

"A dog can save a life."

"No, a dog can take a life."

"Rin, is this about the hybrid dog debate? The deffects, right? They're dangerous and kill. Thats it. We learned it in school," the little boy tugged on the girls shirt.

"Yeah, well, the school teaches lies. Out of the 200 dogs bred, only 50 of them turned bad. Besides, Fiver isn't even one of those hybrids. He's been enhance," I argued.

"Whatever," the girl snapped.

"Rin, we should be getting back to camp"

"We should," she replied, still looking at me with a glare, "But, I have a question."

"What would that be?" I smirked.

"Where would your dad have gotten this enhanced dog? I've heard about them before. They were injected with the liquid from the meteors."

"My dad was Chief Royce."

Her eyes widened, "Your-"

"Electra Royce."

And thats exactly who I was. Electra Royce, daughter of the dead Chief Royce, sister of a ambassador, daughter of a back-stabbing traiter. But thats who I am. Just a comparisan, nobody special, yet special from my relatives. I'm nothing like them though. Nothing.

But, whether I like it or not, thats who I was - now and forever.