"Finally! The Gods have come to our savior, the sleeping beauty has been woken at last!" Dan shrilled in an angelic voice as Ashley woke up from his shoulders with drool covering the corners of her face.

She straightened up her back and looked around her surroundings.

"Um.... where are we?" She mumbled while rubbing her eyes.

"Excuse me, can't you see where we are? Oh, wait I forgot you just have on-", it was at this moment that he realized, he screwed it up pretty badly.

As predicted, Willow looked at him with glares that could shoot bullets.

Literally.

Without any hesitation, she forcefully made sure that her punch had a lasting effect on his ego.

Fortunately, it did worked well for her.

He fell on his face, landing on the sharp gravel road.

Was it painful? Indeed it was.

"The hell? I have a date-" Before he could finish his sentence, he stopped in horror as he watched her get down from the bike and cat-walk towards him.

"THAT'S WHAT YOU GET FOR MOCKING ME!" She screamed as much as she could do before nausea kicked in.

She stopped to hear giggles around her.

As she looked around, all she saw was pine trees.

Left, pines

Right, pines

Back, pines

Except for the front which was a police checkpoint. There stood three metallic barrier gates in front of them preventing them from going any farther.

All the officers were snickering and making comments about the problematic duo.

As she moved around, the small little gravel rocks started to move along her feet. She went over to the checkpoint, just to confront the officers about what was so funny.

People in their custom uniform with their guns hanging around their waist. There were even grenades lying on the table near their vehicles. That didn't even make her flinch. As she was about to speak her mind out-

"WOAH! Hold your horses, kid." Officer Harold chuckled, a brave red head man in his late-40ies, in his official work outfit which was just a jacket with torn sleeves revealing his grey-white sweater underneath and a grey trousers with colourful patches adored with it. As he entered the scene with his big black boots paving his way, he took a firm grip on Willow's shoulders with caution to come down the young lady.

He moved her cautiously to the side in order for the other guards to inspect their ride and bag.

At once she slipped a ticket from the bag and into the pocket without alerting anyone on site.

"Harold! Didn't see you there.... well, I am sorry for the commotion......um have we reached the inspection center yet?" she awkwardly apologized to the officer who keeps on putting his life on the line by taking shifts to guard all the gates 24/7.

"Nah, its fine kiddo. I mean everyone is at edge in these time. Either ways, nice coat annnnnnnd your scarfs on the ground." He pointed at the scarf while Ashley uttered a quick thanks and pulled her scarf around her neck.

It's ironic how this normal-looking man managed to go through the hardest time and still be normal. The same goes for his attitude. Even with the rudest travelers, he speaks in a soft tone without losing his anger.

It would indeed be a sad thing if he was to be sent back to heaven.

"Harold would mind......please...help...me..." Dan said in a weak voice as he tried to get up to his feet with his left arm and the other holding tightly around his nose. Fortunately, his back was facing the others so no one would know his unimaginable pain.

"We will get back to you .... but I must say you do deserve it," Harold nagged as he proceeded to give a lecture on how simple words can be a sharp as knife and to be considerate of the disabled people.

He looked back at Ashley to answer her question eagerly.

"Nah kiddo, you will reach in about....20 mins. Y'all are at the gates of the Old Town road." Harold answered while looking at his pocket watch. He took the clipboard from the nearest table and gave her the inspection list to sign. She gave him a confused look but managed to sign the list without any hitch. He thanked her and motioned her to continue her journey.

"ALRIGHT! THEY ARE IN THE CLEAR, SO LET THEM PASS THROUGH!" he shouted for clarification for the guards to push the barriers.

"Could you guys give a damn about someone who is dying right now? Come on, I got a date! This is the first time someone has asked me out!" He spoke out the truth even though he had a fair share of disastrous dates and relationships.

Ashley rolled her eyes as she and Harold went over to pick the man-child up for his epic date. She wondered who would even ask him, out of all the people, out. It had to be a joke.

"Hey, Harold? Would you mind... if you could you tell me why the security is so tight these days?" she asked him while helping her brother get on the bike.

For the past few weeks, new checkpoints and as well as gates started to pop up. New roads had to be navigated and explored to find the closest and the safest path across the marked regions from the unknown dangers of the new world that no one ever dared to seek out except for Ashley.

Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.

If it wasn't bad enough, she and Dan had to spent another hour in revising their maps again.

For the fifth time this week.

Harold at once murmured something to a dark women with dutch braids next to him. On command she swung her rifle over her head, swinging it to her back, for her to whistle her co-workers to help the so-called victim onto his bike making Ashley and Harold to let go of him.

In the meantime, Harold motioned her to come closer.

After making sure they were a bit far from the others, he gave Ashley a new map with the updates and future gates locations as well. Ashley stood there in shock and amazed to have such a fantastic informant. At once, she gave him a ticket to the medicine parlor so he could get his medicine on time.

Along with it, he gave her a bag of homemade honey-caramel candies as a birthday gift.

"Look, kid...I am not supposed to say this but remember the protest that took place a few months back?" he asked in a faint voice. It seemed that he wasn't quite comfortable speaking of the past trauma. He also wanted to say in simple words without discussing any gore details.

A tragic protest of a squadron of people marched and stood in protest. They were probably protesting over the inequality of treatment of people in sector of food supplies, healthy water, sanitary equipment etc. What made this protest even more tragic was that children were in the participation list made by the guards. Thus, the guards had to proceed the crowd with extra care but....

"Where 24 people died? Yes! Of course, I would remember." she harshly whispered back, wondering how on earth this is related to security tightness these days.

Even if one's suppose to be a lad, they ought to know the changes in their atmosphere.

"Bless those poor souls, but the rest who remained ...alive... well, have been looking at the incident in a different light. As a result, they have taken a different approach to the situation.... so, there have been a lot of gun purchases here and there......" He stopped himself before spilling the whole bitter truth.

"Are you telling me.... woah, even I need to get a lot of gunpowder too. You know? Birthday celebrations." She looked amused and excited to buy protection for the future. At once as predicted, Harold lifted his hand up to speak and give her another twenty minutes lecture on how despite being in American soil, one mustn't use violence as a means of protection. Only when the situation is extreme, you can proceed.

"...so please keep yourself safe and don't wander around here and there. Got it?" He cautiously looked at her in the eyes wondering if she got the message or not.

As well as being an pure minded and moral based person, he didn't want his honesty to get the best out of him and spook the young child.

"Yes, ... I got it" she nodded at him with her head hanged low and arms at the side fiddling with her new coat. This meant

No fishing,

No urban expedition,

No sunset sighting,

No morning walks,

For the time being.... at least.

Dan squeaked out a painful moan as he moved up his bike to make room for Ashley. Just before she took her seat, she scoped out her bag from the guards before dusting it off in Dan's direction.

It was quite evident what the hidden intent was.

As they passed by the police guards and their vehicles, Ashley heard something that made her heart leap from her chest.

"OH, YEA KIDDO! ONE MORE THING. FELICITY'S CREW IS BACK IN THE TOWN"

----------------------x----------x----------x----------x----------x----------x----------x----------------------

Felicity's crew is back in town

That thought kept lingering in her mind. It wouldn't just go away.

if Felicity is back then I can finally go-

"Was it necessary to swing at my face? That to my nose? You made me look like a mess! Do you know how bad I look?" Dan said it all in one breath.

"What I feel bad is for the girl..." she mumbled loud enough for Dan to turn his head back just to give his terrifying death glares.

"WHAT? ITS YOUR FAU-"

A cold breeze blew at them, which was enough to startle them. It lasted for a second before they felt coldness around themselves.

There was a pile of snow here and there. The leaves of the fir were dripping with dew. As the birds flew way away from the icy essence, they knew where they were. As soon as they stood near the path, they spotted the good old dock with the lively people carrying out work and barrels, cargo, etc here and there while the dockers fixed nearby boats and made new adjustments and upgrades to the surveillence yachts. The scene played out below down the shore, beyond the dreadfull point filled with officers and Inchargers who take notes of who and when enters it, they were right in front of the inspection center. They would pass if the inspector they thought wouldn't be there.

The duo kept their silence as they knew there would be consequences for noisemakers. They made their way to the shack holding their breath untill they saw the Marshalls. The mysterious brother and sister in their mid-fifties. Neither of them had family or that's what everyone's assumptions. But there was this one assumption that came true about them, they served in the army.

They saved people's lives by putting their lives first just like a soldier.

Mr. Marshall fought without any hesitation and shot down all those dangers like a soldier.

Ms Marshall taught everyone how to operate the ship function like a mariner.

That is the scenario, as per the rumors that may be true.

Nobody knows what their first names are.

People assumes that they were twins just by taking a glance. Both had brown eyes and raven hair. But with age, you do have to lose your beauty marks one by one.They have white strikes in their hair and their eyes have the good old eye bags. Ms. Marshall got her sight corrected with reading glasses. As for Mr Marshall, he just needs to take his inhaler sometimes.

This all happened after that.

The thing is, only their doctors know about their personal history because nobody has made the move to ask them yet.

The duo went inside the shack with the officer right behind them. They saw the inside of the shacks to be filled with huge stacks of papers here and there. But at the center lies the luxury for everyone, the sofa. After that, there was the desk of the Incharger. They both stood in front of the desk while the officer went to his her side. As Ashley and Dan approached Incharger, they handed out their id.

"Ah, we have a mutineer here." The officer peaked at the ID and then looked at Ashley with a head nod showing ounces of respect.

"And a troublemaker", the Incharger replied as she took one good look at Dan and knew the rest of the work to do.

"Look it wasn't my fault! I was drunk!" He gave an excuse which was not suitable to give his way out.

"Uh huh," as the Incharger stood from the desk, as she did so, her pencils and pens rolled on top of the letters and papers scattered on the desk. She walked over to Dan hitting his chest with a small rectangular notice.

"RESTRICTED FOR 6 MONTHS TO GO TO ANY B-" Dan read it aloud with shock before the Incharger glared at him.

"You should be grateful that you're still allowed to come back to Umbridge. This should be a lesson for you. Now stick that notice to your ID!" She ordered him to which he fumbled with the notice.

Fortunately, Ashley snatched the notice and his ID, and within a minute there was a sticker on Dan's ID. As she gave him back his card back to him, she couldn't help but hold back her laugh from him.

While looking around the shack, her eyes got blinded by the light bulb sticking from the ceiling. She turned to excuse herself. Right after she rubbed her eye, her blurry eyesight showed some blurry black figure. After a few blinks or so, a hooded figure came into view.

"Oh well, it's time to go. We'll see you around...?", Ashley stopped speaking as she turned to see a frightened look on Dan's face as well Mr. Marshall. The only person to have kept a straight face, aside from the stranger whose face was covered by their hood and Willow with her confused look, was Ms. Marshall though while speaking her voice cracked and came out as a whispering voice.

"What brings you here, Walker?"