[b]August 18, 2039 6:45 am
Culver Lake, New Jersey[/b]

The two had walked through the trees for a good fifteen minutes, finally coming to the lake. Adelaide sat down at the grassy edge, bending over to wash the soot off her arms and face. She rolled up her sleeves and enjoyed the feeling of cool, refreshing water against her cheeks despite the cool morning air. Standing up, she tied her hair in a messy side-braid. "I bet you're tempted to go for a swim, fish-boy. " A distant burning made her glance down at her hands. There were burns marking up her palms, darkening her pale skin. The pain had been irritating for most of the walk but it had dulled long enough after touching the water that she forgot it was there. "How far is the nearest town? We might be able to trade some stuff for a horse or something." 

Elijah was sitting against the trunk of a tree, fiddling with some wires. "Oh. Uhh." He put away his items and took out a crumbled, stained map from his backpack. "Not too far. Maybe we could get a car."

"A car?"She repeated with a sigh, "Like that would happen. Working cars are rare. Most of them were taken by gangs of bandits."

"Like the Wolves?" Elijah asked, "I always hear people say that and I don't understand what they are. People sure act like they're pretty scary. I feel like every town we go into has less and less people."

"That might also be due to the unknown creatures that keep killing everyone, "Adelaide stood up, brushing dirt off her clothes. She wasn't so sure herself what the Wolves were. She had heard it thrown around as well but no one seemed to want to talk about it.  She faintly recalled being warned more than once to watch out for them. There had been one time that really stuck in her memory. 

[i]There had been a night in the spring when a tall boy in black stopped Adelaide in a small village. She had been examining canned goods when his hand had fallen on her shoulder. When she had turned around, she had been met with piercing blue eyes. She recognized them immediately. This wasn't the first time she had seen this guy. For some reason, he seemed to be everywhere. 

"Tick tock, little girl. Your times running out." He had said eerily. She made a face at him immediately. What the hell was this supposed to be? " How much longer do you think you can survive by yourself..."He drew off, his gaze falling to Elijah. He was just a couple feet away at a different stand. "let alone take care of a child? No one will welcome you into a group with a child to feed. Children are useless in this world. My advice: get rid of him and find a group to take you in. "

Adelaide remembered getting fairly pissed at him. He had no place telling her what to do. "My advice: fuck off."She had stated coolly with narrowed eyes. "Get out of my way." She brushed past him only to be caught by the arm again.

"Listen, Adelaide. Young women are not going to do well on the streets in a world without rules. You know very well what may happen. In fact, it's happened enough already that barely any women walk around anymore. Take a look around you." He gestured around them. She glanced around. She was the only female here.  However this guy was wasting her time. Everyone knew it was more dangerous for girls. This was nothing new. "Not just women. Men too. It's dangerous for anyone now. The murder gangs, the bandits, the mutants... The Wolves."

Nothing had been news to her until he mentioned something about wolves. Why was everyone saying that lately? This guy was probably on crack or worse yet he was probably one of the rapists he was trying to warn her about or something. "That's fantastic, jackass but since you seem to think you know me, maybe you'd know that I've been doing this my entire life. I have yet to be raped or murdered. I don't know why you care or why you even know my name but just leave me be." She moved past and began to stalk off but found herself turning around to look at him, "What are the wolves? Are they those big mutant dog things?"

He put his hands in his pockets and smirked at her, "Nah, they're people. Some with mutant aspects I'm sure. They'll come for you, Adelaide. They come for everyone. You'll know them when you see them."

"Can't wait." She had sarcastically muttered before dismissively rolling her eyes. He smiled at her reply and she turned away. When she had looked back over her shoulder, he was gone.   [/i]

Adelaide hadn't really taken him too seriously then but now she wondered who he had been. Though she had already knew things he had said, they had been things she had pushed to the back of her mind. Her and Elijah were both minorities in this world. She had been taught from young that walking alone as a woman night or day could mean getting attacked by someone. Years ago, this would result in jail time for the attacker. Now many women were taken advantage of and killed and there was nothing anyone did to stop it. Some were taken in as little house pets for men. Then other women along with men were murdered by bandits desperate for food and supplies. This world was always dangerous for anyone. 

And Elijah... He was very lucky she had found him. Kids were a burden to people nowadays. They weren't expected to be of much use. The lucky ones were brought to small towns where already pregnant women could take care of them. She knew this much from being brought to one as baby. She remembered the woman who took her in had been named Anna and she had lots of other kids. Adelaide supposed this was supposed to be some sort of re-population attempt. There were many attempts at this but she always thought they had been dumb since it just created more mouths to feed.

"Probably some bandit gang that thinks they're all that because they can do what they want since there is no one to stop them."Adelaide finally answered. "Let's get going. We'll stop in town and see if there's anything but if not, we're walking and we're not stopping. I want to get there already. "

"I think they're way worse than that."Elijah had whispered under his breath but Adelaide did not hear him. She had walked ahead already. He quickly jogged up to catch up to her. He hated going into the small trading towns. There were fewer and fewer people with each one they went to. Not only that, but the people looked more terrified with every town as well.