Koji and Sam spent the day on the opposite side of town from the day before. If anyone was following them, they decided to change things up a little. When they became hungry, they stopped in another park, camping out by the water fountain.

“I been thinkin’,” Sam said as he passed a bag of chips to Koji. “It looked like a lot o’ those buildings near th’ factories we saw yesterday were empty. Probably factories that closed down o’ somethin’. Looked dead anyway. We could probably hide out there, least f’ tonight.”

Koji reopened the chips. “Probably dangerous out there.”

“Yeah, but it’s better than bein’ caught. We can’t just hide out in th’ open.”

“No.” Koji munched for a while. Sam opened his own chips and began to eat. For a while they sat in silence. Sam turned to watch people walking the cement paths of the park. So many of them seemed to have a purpose. They walked as if the park was a way to get where they were going, not a destination. For a moment, he felt envy. It must be nice to feel a purpose.

Looking at Koji, Sam realized that his friend was staring into the bag as he ate.

“Y’ okay?” Sam asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah, I’m okay. It’s noisy here, that’s all.”

To Sam, it was relatively quiet. He could hear birds squawk from time to time, and the sound of people’s feet on the pavement. Sometimes he caught a snippet of someone’s conversation, not that he was paying attention.

“Th’ voices y’ mean?” Sam asked.

“Yeah. It’s funny. The only time it’s been really quiet is when we were in the library. When it was just me and you, it was all hushed. There was only one voice, and it was really soft. It didn’t bother me at all. Actually, come to think about it, it was that way along the highway too. Well, mostly.”

Sam nodded. “Y’ were only with me. No one else was around.”

“That was what I was thinking. And after what happened last night….well I know we don’t know for sure that someone was following us, we just weren’t taking any chances, but it felt so real. I guess…I guess I am hearing thoughts. You know my mom was like that too.”

“Yeah, y’ said that b’fore.”

“She used to drink to make them go away. That’s how we ended up on the street. She drank away our rent money.” Koji sighed. His food was mostly forgotten, even the chip still between his fingers.

Sam tilted his head. “Did the drinkin’ make the voices go away? I mean, did it work?”

“I don’t know. She tried to drink enough to pass out.” Koji shook his head violently. “I don’t want to talk about this anymore.”

“Okay.”

Koji looked up at Sam. “Okay?”

“Y’ don’t want t’ talk about it. Why should we?”

“I guess I’m just used to Dr Brown and the others pushing me even when I don’t want to talk about something.” He laughed, his face brightening. “There’s a lot to get used to out here.”

“Y’ know me better ‘n that.”

“You’re right. Sorry.” The forgotten chip made it into Koji’s mouth, and they ate in silence for a little while more.

Finished, Koji crumbled up his bag, looking a little disappointed. It hadn’t been a lot of food, but at least they’d had a decent breakfast.

“How about you?” Koji asked. “You keep rubbing at your neck. Are you okay?”

“M’ back is stiff.” Sam admitted.

“Probably from the way you slept last night. And yesterday for that matter. I’d be stiff too if I kept sleeping sitting up.”

“Nah, that’s not it. I mean, sleepin’ that way actually feels okay. It feels familiar. M’ back just feels like I’m carryin’ somethin’ I’m not used to. M’ balance is all off. I dunno, it’s just weird.”

“We can rest whenever you need to.”

“Doesn’t hurt, just stiff.”

Koji shrugged. “Okay.”

“Come on, let’s clean up. I’m done eatin’. We still got some stuff left. We should save it.”

Koji nodded in agreement. Together they cleaned up their space and got ready to leave.

By dusk, they had reached the factories in the industrial part of town. There was a faded sign that let them know this section had been a steel mill. Now, it sat silent, unused. The old storage buildings seemed the best bet. Those structures were probably less dangerous than the factory itself. Who knew what kind of industrial waste was still sitting in there.

After some exploration, they found a fairly empty building. It was in the midst of other buildings, close enough that some of their walls touched. Sam especially liked it because of the hole on the ceiling, moonlight could come down into the room. There were old dusty pieces of fabric covering pieces of machinery. After shaking them out, Sam and Koji decided the fabric would have to do to make their bedding.

“It’s better than nothing,” Koji admitted.

“Secluded,” Sam added.

“Kind of smells though.”

“We’ll get used to it. Not like we got t’ stay here f’ever. We stay t’night, and then plan from then on.”

“Right.”

Koji looked doubtful, but Sam figured they didn’t have a lot of options. Living day to day was a drastic change from always knowing the schedule of things. At Wellhaven, the day was always planned out. There was a certain amount of security in that. Now, on the outside, they had to find their own security. This building was not going to become home, Sam knew that. He wasn’t looking for that. Strange, but his idea of home brought him back to the dream of the trees in the middle of nowhere. It definitely wasn’t a place that smelled like fuel and sulfur. And of course he knew they couldn’t keep living on the little bit of food they scrounged. They needed real food. They needed to find money. But tonight, there was no point in worrying about it.

Koji wandered around the building, searching for anything useful.

“Hey, there’s a water spout,” Koji said. “Wonder if it still works.”

Sam walked over as Koji gripped the handle. First, nothing. Koji grabbed it with both hands, straining.

“Come on….” As Sam watched, he could see Koji’s hands were slowly moving. He couldn’t tell if it was because Koji’s hands were slipping over the handle or if the handle itself was moving.

“Whoa!” Koji lost his balance as the handle gave way. Dirty water splattered halfheartedly out of the spout, collecting in the drain on the floor.

“That’s appetizin’,” Sam said.

“It just needs to run clear. Mom and me would find water this way sometimes. It’s been sitting in the pipes a long time.”

“Uh huh.”

They waited for what seemed like a really long time. Finally it became obvious that the water wasn’t going to get clear, but at least it wasn’t the dirty muck that had first come out.

“Better ‘n nothin’ I guess,” Sam said, holding cupped hands under the spout. He tasted it. It was gross, but cold. Koji went next.

“It’s wet.”

“It is that.”

Koji turned the water off.

“We can clean ourselves off too. If we want to.”

“Sure.”

After a dinner of the last of the chips and cookies, the two of them stretched out on the fabric. It was itchy and smelled, but again, better than nothing. Actually, as Sam thought about it, he would rather have dirty water and smelly bedding than anything at Wellhaven any day.