Chapter 4

Zak awoke in a teen girl sandwich.

He didn't remember them coming into the tent last night. Nor had he woken at any point. That ... surprised him. The fourteen year old was a light sleeper. Anyone walking down the hallway outside his small bedroom would have him half open his eyes, waiting for the sound to pass. For these two to not just crawl in the tent, but then move around, limbs half on him, made no sense. Everything else so far he could accept, but not that.

He lay there, contemplating the universe. He was comfortable. Krissy was on her stomach, right arm around him as if he was a stuffed animal. It was a familiar feeling. His sister had not played with dolls much, instead holding and playing with him as they grew up together in their small apartment. Alice slept on her back, bare right leg hooking over his even as the rest of her body had drifted off away from him. The front flap of the tent was open, showing him it was somewhere in the darker part of sunrise. A light breeze came through the zipped screen door, refreshing. More refreshing than staying inside. Carefully moving limbs, he sat up and scooted down the sleeping bag he was on and peeked out the door.

The man, Tom, was fishing.

Zak looked down at himself. He was in yesterday's t-shirt and boxer underwear, probably good enough. He didn't want to wake the girls by digging around in the duffle bags. Besides, Krissy was using one of them for a pillow. Quietly, although they seemed to be dead to the world, he unzipped the screen and went outside.

The grass was wet on his bare feet. It felt weird. Nice, but weird. Standing up, he scrunched his toes. Definitely a nice weird. Having settled that, as well as deciding he was going to stay barefoot for as long as his sister allowed, he walked over towards the stream.

Tom was sitting on a large, flat rock, fishing pole in hand. He wore a pair of jeans, possibly the same ones from yesterday, although who could say, and a white t-shirt. His hair was messy, that of a male who has better things to do. Coming up beside him, Zak regarded his face. It was ... good. He felt none of the instant distrust far too many adults seemed to cause. He also saw contentment there. That, too, was rare. His eyes followed the black pole outwards, tracing the path of the almost invisible line down into the water. A red and white object floated on the surface.

"Watch where you step."

At Tom's voice, Zak almost jumped. Almost. His eyes went down to his feet. There, a few inches away in the grass, lay a fish, a bit bigger than his foot. It moved occasionally, as if trying to will itself back into the water. He took a half step back.

"Wow. I've never seen someone catch a fish."

"No?" The man turned to look at him. Zak shrugged.

"Nah. Just on TV. That doesn't count."

"That it doesn't." Tom gave him a longer look. "Want to give..."

He stopped, looking into the water. Zak looked too, seeing the floating thing vanish under the surface as the end of the pole bent. Tom gave a laugh.

"Got one!"

Zak watched him set himself, pulling the pole back as he wound in the line. The end seemed to zig and zag in the water, the pole bending farther. Zak found himself standing right at the man's side. He held his breath.

With a grunt, although not much exertion seemed to have been needed, Tom pulled back on the pole one more time. The red and white bobber came into view, right by the shore, rising into the air. Under it, stretched taut, another small piece of line ... then a fish.

"You got one!" Zak couldn't believe it. It was so cool!

"We have breakfast, I think." Tom reeled up the fish, swinging the flopping creature over towards Zak. Zak took a step back, laughing. Smiling, Tom brought the fish back towards him. As Zak watched, he grabbed the struggling creature, slackened the line, and carefully removed the hook from his mouth. Zak came a bit closer.

"Does the hook hurt him?"

"My dad always said no, but it probably does. I always thought catching and releasing fish was just cruel. We're going to eat these, though, so a little pain with the hook isn't the worst thing they're going to feel." He tossed the fish down on the grass next to the other one. "We're probably going to have to get a bucket or something next time. Have to keep them in water so they don't die before they're cleaned."

Zak knelt down next to the two fish. The first was not moving much, mouth gasping. The new one was flopping around, although seeming to tire quickly. Reaching out, he touched its skin. He could feel the scales, wet, smooth when he went down its body, rough when he moved back towards its head. Incredible.

"What do we do now?"

"Now, the not so fun part." Tom stood. He groaned a bit, Zak watching as he stretched. He handed the pole to the teen. "Lean this up against that tree over there, then I'll show you how to turn fish into food."

Alice dreamed.

She stood on the bank of the stream, the cool grass tickling her bare legs under the summer sun. She held her baby. Her son. Her beautiful son. His wide eyes were blue, hair a wispy light brown. Heart full of emotions never felt before, Alice cooed to him. Sang. Rocked him. Rocked her baby. Her and Tom's baby...

She opened her eyes.

Alice had not thought of having a baby of her own since she was a little girl. Walking through the park with her parents, when such time together had led to happy moments, pushing her doll in a stroller. Wanting to be just like Mommy.

As she had gotten older, saw, and understood, more, such desires vanished. Babies were to be avoided, a sign of failure by their teen mother. Her own Mother was to be pitied, her example one to be learned from, not emulated.

So, whence the dream?

"Ugh..."

Krissy's groan forced Alice up into a sitting position. She looked over at her friend, blinking into wakefulness. Krissy had her head on a duffle bag, arms clutching it like it was a stuffed animal or something, curly hair completely covering her face. Her shirt had ridden up in the night, bunching under her breasts, much of her back exposed. Alice glanced out the open screen door, saw the light. Smiling, she looked back at the groaning girl.

"Good morning! Time to get up!"

"No."

Krissy snuggled into the duffle bag. Alice's eyes flicked again to that bare back. Leaning over, she tickled at the base of the spine. Krissy rolled away as soon as she was touched, body almost coming against the side of the tent. Her expression was pissed.

"Hey!"

"I said to get up!" Alice reached her hand over again, avoiding the two arms defending that bare tummy to touch Krissy just above the belly button. Krissy brought her left hand back to grab her shirt and pull it down. Her other hand, deciding offense was a better tactic, reached towards the blonde. Alice pushed herself back out of reach.

"No time for that! I smell breakfast!" Moving quickly, she slid to the flap and wiggled out of the tent.

Standing in her shirt and panties, Alice shivered slightly in the morning air. She had thought, when she first woke in a tent outside the city, she had never breathed air so clean, so exhilarating. What she felt entering her lungs now made the backyard of Mr. Falk seem like the middle of Manhattan. THIS was clean air. One breath woke her completely.

"Move your ugly legs!"

Her legs were not ugly. They were shapely and beautiful. Still, she stepped away from the tent, allowing Krissy to crawl out. Her friend got to her feet, taking her own deep breath. Alice saw the shock there, the surprise. Krissy took another one.

"It's incredible, isn't it?" Alice said, softly. Krissy nodded.

"Almost makes me glad I'm awake."

Alice noticed movement. Tom sat before the fire, spatula in hand as something cooked in a black skillet. Zak knelt in the dirt next to him, watching. They almost looked like father and son. Glancing at her friend, she saw Krissy looking as well as the teen adjusted her shirt to cover all that should be covered.

"I dreamed," Krissy said. Alice blinked. "I dreamed of children. Babies."

"I did, too," Alice said. It was fading, though. She could no longer remember much beyond the feelings. Krissy shook her head.

"It's her, isn't it? She's giving us dreams. To get us to do what she wants."

Alice nodded. Yes. That was probably right. She had forgotten about the encounter last night. It, too, was a fading memory, more feelings than images in her mind.

"Is that bad?"

"I don't know. And that scares me."

Alice didn't feel scared. She wondered if that should scare her. Smiling, she took Krissy's hand.

"We just need some food. Come on."

Pancakes and fish where an unusual breakfast combination, but Krissy could not get enough. She was a hearty eater, when that was possible, and the fresh air was doing nothing to suppress that. Tom had cooked the pancakes in the same pan as the fish, the flavor carrying over into the fluffy semi-circles. There was syrup, some cheap store brand, but somehow it tasted divine.

That aspect worried her. Everything here was ... better. But, was it really? Krissy had seen a movie where people thought they were eating this incredible food, but in reality it was rotting, maggot filled slop. Was that the case here? Was this an illusion?

Krissy didn't like illusions. Or delusions. They hid evil. She had deluded herself that her family was happy. Stable. If she had seen the truth before, accepted it early enough, maybe...

Well, she'd keep her wits about her here. Not trust everything instantly. Goddess their host might be, but that did not make her "good". It just made her ... someone you didn't want to anger. Much like Dad, then. She had protected Zak from him, she'd protect him from the Lady as well, if needed.

"So," she asked, putting down the glass of some sort of orange drink, "what's the plan for the day?" Zak looked at her, grinning.

"Tom says we're going to explore!"

The way he said his name ... disturbed her. She didn't know why. Her gaze turned to the man.

"Explore?"

He nodded to her, expression serious. She liked that. Even as that thought crossed her mind, its counterpoint did as well. Why did she like him? Why did she trust him? Was it Her? Was the Lady making her feel that way? God, was she going to second guess EVERYTHING? Tom spoke, bringing her back to whatever this reality was.

"I haven't looked around much. Yesterday was spent bringing you here, and the day before I was mostly getting my bearings and building the altar at the Tree. We need to see what's here, what we have, and what we'll need."

"You actually think we can all live here, survive without jobs?"

The man chuckled.

"Jobs haven't actually helped me survive so far. I'm more than willing to try it this way for awhile."

Their first adventure was crossing the stream.

There was a very small falls near the western end of the clearing, where its flow narrowed to about five feet. The water slipped between a series of mostly flat rocks, dropping two feet before continuing on. Alice looked at the bridge suspiciously.

"That ... doesn't look natural."