The berries not only eased the hunger pains they’d all been experiencing, but also quenched their thirsts, making walking in the hot sun a lot more bearable. It was a good thing the berries were in abundance, and the three of them had the good sense to try them after seeing the ‘puffballs’ eat them. They wouldn’t have lasted very long on the outside in the blazing sun otherwise.

Back in Endwise no one ever went hungry or thirsty, and extreme temperatures were alien to them too. Endwise had its own air conditioning system which kept the city at a comfortable temperature at all times. But as idyllic as that might sound, Endwise also killed its citizens when they reached the age of thirty, there was no freedom of speech and they were ruled by time – amongst other things. Now that they were free of all that, the three fugitives were relishing their new found freedom.

“Do you think there really are other people out here?” AJ asked as he shielded his eyes from the sun and looked in all directions. He knew the former United States of America was a huge country, but he didn’t know if he could walk the length of it surviving solely on berries.

“I’m beginning to wonder that too” Emma sighed. Had she been a fool to join the rebels so readily without any real evidence of life outside?

They’d been walking for a few days and found nothing but bones (which could’ve been human), carcasses, derelict buildings, ruins and the occasional fluffy ‘puffball’. Not to forget their run in with the Luminary’s guards, in which one of them had met his end when he’d tried to kill Nick. Nick and AJ still couldn’t believe Evan had turned out to be one of the rebels, but Emma assured them that Evan was a trusted friend who would not give their whereabouts away.

Maybe they’d made a big mistake in leaving Endwise. But then again, if they’d never left the only home they’d ever known, they would never have seen the beauty of the sun as it set in the evening or the leaves as they floated on the breeze.

“Guys…don’t be so pessimistic, look at it out here…” Nick told them as he held his arms out wide. He was feeling particularly optimistic at that moment. “Just think, we can do whatever we want, whenever we want!”

“It would be nice to find something though” AJ shrugged “to let us know that we aren’t alone out here”. He was glad to be free; if he were still in Endwise he’d be locked away and counting down to the next batch of executions. But he couldn’t help wondering if the citizens of Endwise really were the only people left in existence.

“No more alarms telling us when to wake up, when to eat, work, sleep and then do it all over again day after day” Nick grinned. He didn’t know whether they’d find anyone else, but he wasn’t going to fret over it. He was enjoying the adventure so far and looked forward to where it took him.

“I don’t miss that at all!” Emma laughed.

“What do you miss most?” AJ asked curiously. He missed a cold beer at the end of a hard day, and he wondered if he’d ever see another movie, no matter how bad some of them had been. But he also knew that if he was still there, he’d be locked away twenty four hours a day in a cold and dark cell. He shuddered at the thought. Life outside wasn’t so bad after all.

“I miss my friends” Emma admitted “and I miss my comfy bed and the little luxuries I could sometimes get when I had a few extra credits. How about you? What do you two miss?”

“I miss the games room, especially a good game of pool with a cold beer” Nick confessed “but we’ll make a better life for ourselves…I’m sure of it”

“And when we do eventually come across a pool table, it’ll be my turn to kick your ass Carter!” AJ laughed. “I miss a lot of things, but I’m not gonna dwell on it because if I was still there, I wouldn’t be enjoying any of them anyway”

They carried on walking, occasionally stopping to rest whenever they found a shaded area. They’d come to realise that the sun was at its hottest in the middle of the day right through until late afternoon. But that’s not all they realised about the sun. They soon discovered that the sun was to blame for the change in colour to their skin. AJ’s skin had darkened to a golden brown shade; Emma’s skin had also turned brown although not as dark as AJ. Nick was more of a pinkish shade, although his skin didn’t look as raw as that first day.

The road ahead became obscured with tall climbing shrubs and they soon found themselves submerged in greenery. At least it was shady and cool.

“Hey, look over there” AJ pointed excitedly “I saw something moving”

“Where?” Nick asked looking in the direction of AJ’s finger. All he saw was green.

“What was it?” Emma asked curiously. She would’ve loved to have seen a lion or a tiger like the pictures she’d seen in a book about the jungle. This was a jungle after all.

“There, I saw movement again” AJ advised. Whatever it was, it had moved too fast for him to tell what it was.

“You’re seeing things” Nick laughed. He didn’t see anything at all, other than tall plants in every direction.

They carried on battling their way through, the mysterious moving object was soon forgotten as they whacked away creeping vines with sticks they had found. It was hard going as it got pretty dense in places. So when they came to a small clearing, they stopped for a rest.

“It’ll be getting dark soon” Emma observed as she looked up into the sky.

“Well at least we’ll be sheltered from the cold in here” Nick exclaimed. It may be hot during the day, but once that sun dipped out of view, so did the temperature.

Just then, a twig snapped, causing them all to look up.

“What was that?” AJ asked, although chances were, his travelling companions would have as much idea as he had.

“Shh” Nick whispered, wanting to focus his ears on it.

“I thought I heard voices” called an unfamiliar voice, making the three friends freeze with fear. Had the Luminary’s men really found them after all this time? Couldn’t they just leave them be and forget they’d ever existed? What did it matter if there were three people less in Endwise, all they were doing was helping to deplete the surplus population!

But it wasn’t a guard.

Emma gasped when the man came into full view. He was shirtless, with beads of sweat rolling down his deeply tanned body. His dark hair was long, much longer than the rules of Endwise allowed a man to have, and he had piercing green eyes. In one hand he held a spear, and over his shoulder he carried a large sack.

The three of them looked at the man with open mouths. They’d done it! They’d found life outside. He may only be one man, but surely he wasn’t the only one out here. There must be others nearby.

“Are you from Endwise?” the man asked, taking in the once familiar clothing. He had worn red, like the dark haired man in front of him. He wondered if the man was the reason they’d left. Was he a runner, trying to escape the city’s cruel fate? He had seen many attempt it in his years there, but they never succeeded. He wondered if the rules had changed.

“Yes…how did you know?” Nick asked, wondering how a person so far away from the city could possibly know of it.

“Because I used to live there” he replied calmly.

“You did?” AJ questioned. If this guy had really lived there, then why hadn’t he seen him around? And why didn’t he come back and tell others that life was possible out of Endwise’s walls? They could all be living outside instead of never seeing the light of day.

“I escaped a long time ago. I was a red, like you” he motioned to AJ’s ripped clothing. “I was lucky, but it was a different story for my friends who were caught and executed; or at least that’s what I think became of them. But I carried on running and didn’t stop until I was sure there was no chance of them ever finding me. Never staying in one place for too long until I knew for sure the Luminary and his cronies had tired of looking”

“Are there others outside?” Emma asked, needing to know that the cause she’d believed in was true.

“Yes” he replied. “We’ve not got the technology that Endwise has, but we get by just fine without it. You’ll soon get used to it”

“You mean we can come with you?” Nick asked.

“Of course you can! You don’t think I’d leave three city folk out here in the wild with no means of survival do you?” he laughed out loud “I’m Kevin by the way…follow me, we still have a way to walk before it gets dark”