(Raven’s POV)

I sleep on and off for most of the day. When I’m not sleeping Lauren talks to me. She brings in a boisterous girl named Sammi who has vibrant purple hair and I find myself opening up to them immediately. It’s been so long since I’ve been able to have a conversation with someone and I’ve never been able to have a friendly conversation where I could speak freely and talk for however long I wanted to.

We talk about ordinary things. Each other’s interests, hairstyles, clothes. I don’t have much that I can say about any of those things but when I do add something they listen and treat my opinions like they are valid.

Lauren is calm and sweet while Sammi is wild and funny. The idea that I might actually be able to have real friends was something of a fantasy before. Fugitives from F.E.A.R. have to live in isolation from other people and civilians are strictly prohibited from having anything more than necessary exchanges with people outside of their household unit.
The next morning when I wake there is a folded outfit on the foot of the bed with a note from the girls on it.

We went to go swimming in the river. You can have these for now, we’ll get you some better clothes in the next raid. -Love, Sammi and Lauren.

I dress in the simple black shirt and pants, happy to be out of the dingy gray ones. I would have been even happier to see a torch put to them. I notice with some guilt that the girls also left me a bowl of berries and a glass of cold water on the bedside table, I’m hungry, but I really should be getting my own breakfast instead of letting them do it for me.

Regardless I eat the berries; Which are the same berries I used to gather by the town streams. I also down the glass of water, remembering how quickly I had become dehydrated in the custody of the Shadow Men.

I make the bed up again like I used to every morning in F.E.A.R. and flop back down on the white sheets to wait for the Prophet… Andy… He said he would give me a tour today but he didn’t say what time and I’m sure he’s got far more important things to deal with than me.
It’s early afternoon when he walks in.

“Ready to see the Catacombs?” I nod and he helps me up and leads me out the door. The sight awaiting me makes it clear that this is an altered cave, rough sandstone and granite make up the walls, though it has been cut and worn down enough to be much smoother and flatter than it would be naturally.

“Interesting name for a safe haven.” I remark, smiling. He returns it with his perfect half smirk.
“The people who originally discovered this place found irony in the idea that anyone desperate enough to seek refuge here might just be better off dead.”

“Cheerful.” I mutter sarcastically, enjoying the friendly banter after years of solitude. He just laughs quietly. He’s leading me down a narrow passage, almost like a hallway with rooms branching off on both sides. It leads to a flight of stone steps. As we descend, the rough sandstone is replaced with smooth black and white granite. Another short passage at the end leads to a wooden door. Andy signals for me to wait behind for a second and then he opens the door.

There is a crowd of people in the room. Talking in groups, eating at the counter that divides one corner of the room, splashing each other from the underground lake. The room is enormous. Everyone is dressed differently with vibrantly colored hair, almost everyone has at least one tattoo and some people even have face piercings.
Andy steps into the room and claps his hands once for attention. Most of the talking immediately quiets as everyone turns to look at him. He smiles slightly and motions for me to enter the room. As soon as I obey, every eye in the room is on me, pinning me to the ground. I take a nervous breath.

“Umm… Hi, I’m Raven.” I hope my voice wasn’t as shaky as it sounded. The chanting starts with one person in the back of the crowd and is quickly taken up by everyone else in the room until it becomes a crescendo.

"Raven... Raven... Raven! Raven!! Raven!!!"

The energy in the room is almost tangible. Everyone is completely unique and yet they think and move as one being. Clapping and screaming and chanting. It peters out after a few minutes and everyone returns to whatever they were doing before. Only now the atmosphere in the room feels warmer, friendlier. I haven’t been near these people for longer than ten minutes and already I feel like I’ve been accepted into the pack. That’s a huge weight off my shoulders.
We start to make our way through the crowd.

“Sorry about that. The story of you taking on a shadow man is supposed to be a secret so naturally, everyone knows. This room is pretty much the center of life for us, we call it the polestar.”

“Don’t be sorry, that was beautiful.” I elbow him playfully. “You guys and your eloquent names.” I instantly regret that, weary that I may have overstepped the bounds of acceptable discipline but he seems unfazed. He threads his fingers through mine and leads me through the twisting maze. Most of the other rooms are two-bed barracks but there is a bathroom and endless other rooms, we don’t bother go down many of the passages, some of which seem to lead to undeveloped parts of the cave.

At the end of one tunnel he pulls me through a solid black door. Inside, four young men sit around a wooden table.

“So you finally decided to show up huh?” joshes a man in a black cowboy hat and an open leather vest. He isn’t wearing a shirt and the word ‘outlaw’ is clearly visible scrawled across his abdomen. He tipps back in his chair and folds his hands over his chest, propping his boots up on the table and eyeing me up and down. “Your new recruit’s pretty hot.” He winks at me as everyone in the room just rolls their eyes.

“Guys, this is Raven.” Says Andy, then he points at the man who spoke earlier. “Ash, play nice.” Ash just smirks again.

“Ohhh I will.” I’m not really sure how to react to him. I’ve never had anyone hit on me before, but it kind of seems like a compliment I guess. Andy just ignores him.

“Raven, these are the four other Wild Ones.” He gestures towards the guys at the table. I stare at him. He announced it like he were telling me the time of day instead of informing me that I was standing in the presence of legends. The man sitting closest to me introduces himself.
“I’m the destroyer but feel free to call me CC.” They go around the circle with introductions.
“I’m The Mourner, call me Jake.” Says the man to the left of CC quietly.

“Jinxx, the mystic.” Says the next young man, even quieter. There is only one title left and it’s owner stands up from his chair and saunters up to me.

“Ashley Purdy” He brings my hand to his lips making me blush a deep red color. “The Deviant” CC reaches over from his chair and punches Ashley in the arm.

“Will you stop harassing the lady?”

“It’s all in good fun.” Pouts Ash but he sits back down anyways. Andy clears his throat.
“We need to discuss our plans for the next raid.” Then he addresses me. “Sorry, this will just take a few minutes.” He gestures to a rolled-up piece of parchment in the opposite corner of the room. “CC if you will?” CC grabs it and smooths out the map on the table. Jinxx addresses the room in general.

“There is no need for an inner-city raid. We only need basic supplies from the outer suburbia.” Andy nods seriously. His joking, playful attitude from earlier is gone. I am witnessing a leader in action.

“Okay, so we already have a route and we’re leaving at 11:00 AM three days from now. We just need to figure out who we want to take with us.” There is a long pause while everyone thinks over who would be best. I surprise everyone, including myself, by breaking it.
“I want to go.” My voice is so low that I barely recognize it but the second I say it I realize it’s true. I want to take back from F.E.A.R. I want to be a part of the Legion of the Black. Jake looks at me hesitantly.

“I don’t think that’s such a good idea. Raids are extremely dangerous and you haven’t had any battle training.” I sit up straighter and tip my chin up defiantly, staring him in the eye.
“I survived three years alone in the desert, I think I can handle it.” He looks mildly surprised.
“Can you fight?” He asks. I mull it over carefully, I’m not great but if I’m only fighting one I can usually hold them off long enough to escape. My area of expertise is more tending to wounds than causing them.

“I have some basic knife skills but I’m more of a healer. Handy if someone gets hurt.” Jake looks around the room at his comrades. They’re all grinning widely at him in obvious amusement. Ashley gives Jake a look.

“Dude, I wouldn’t fight her on this unless you want to lose a finger. She’s already proved she has the guts.” Jake chuckles and shakes his head disbelievingly.

“Alright Raven.” He looks at me and nods. “You’re in.” They name a few more people including Lauren and Sammi then the meeting disbands. Andy takes my hand and leads me out of the room.

“C’mon.” He smiles a dazzling smile. “There’s one more room I think you’ll like.” He leads me up a maze of winding staircases and narrow passages but before we enter the room he makes me shut my eyes. I hear the creak of a door and he pulls me into what I presume is the center of the room.

“Okay, you can open your eyes now.” I can hear the smirk in his voice. I open my eyes and immediately gasp. the room is large, with a tall ceiling and there are tables and chairs scattered about. Lighting is provided by a combination of electrical bulbs and patches of bioluminescent algae on the stone walls, but that’s not the amazing thing about this place. Lined along the walls are tall wooden shelves filled with more books than I have ever seen. I trace my fingers delicately along the cracked spine of an ancient book entitled “Animal Farm”

“I remember you said something about your mother smuggling you books and I thought you might like to read some of these.” I look around the me at the tall shelves, spanning the length of the room. I feel the same thrill of wonder as a young child does on Christmas day when he has woken up early to find that Santa Claus has left them a present.

“This is…” I struggle for a few moments, trying to find the right word. “...Amazing...” I breathe. He looks pleased with himself and pulls a chair away from its table to sit. I grab ‘Animal Farm’ and copy him. Each shelf is labeled by a black sign with white painted writing. ‘History’, ‘Fiction’, ‘Nonfiction’, ‘Classical’, ‘Informational’ then I notice that there is one shelf that is considerably smaller than the others that doesn’t appear to have a label at all.

“What are those?” I ask, pointing to the unmarked shelf. His smile fades a little bit and he pauses before answering me.

“Those are the other versions of the prophecy.” I can’t have heard him right. How could there be more than one prophecy? Does that mean that there are different possible outcomes? In my old book the rebels won the war in the end but what if that’s not the right one?

“You mean… There’s more than one prophecy?” I ask and he nods. There’s another silence for a few minutes and again I am the first to break it.

“Can I ask you something?”

“Of course.”

“Earlier you seemed to recognise that book and I can’t help but wonder…” His face instantly falls and his expression becomes more guarded. “You know… If you want to…” I fall silent. He doesn’t break the silence for several minutes and instead stares at his hands, folded on the table. After a little while I realize that he doesn’t want to talk about it. I should leave, I’ve only caused a problem with all my questions. I’m halfway to the door when he stops me.

"I was born in the working class city." he says in a low voice.

"You were?" I ask, slightly surprised. I had never thought of a young Andy. My subconscious only ever realized him as the stoic leader of the rebellion. But here he was, not just a strong leader but a kind and intelligent person. He nods continues in the same low voice.

"The book was something of a family heirloom on my dad's side. He used to read the story to me while we were supposed to be studying from the bible. He told me that the leader of the Wild Ones was destined to be in our bloodline but he was always a little eccentric so I never believed him. Not until I was eight years old sitting in church one day and I heard the pastor say that he didn't believe in god. Except his lips didn't move. And no one else seemed to hear it."

"Wait... You can read minds too?" The story... or I guess it's a prophecy, didn't go into too many specifics about The Prophet's powers. They were defined as power over the minds of people but when he showed me the memory power I guess I just assumed that was it.

"Sometimes, I rarely use it though. I know I wouldn't like the privacy of my own thoughts to be violated so I try to respect that boundary for others." I'm a little relieved to hear that. I trust Andy but I wouldn't want someone to hear my thoughts without my knowledge.

"So what happened next? Why did you leave?" I ask, not wanting to end our conversation so soon. He sighs and pushes his hand through his dark hair.

"About a year later my mother was late coming home from work. We were becoming seriously worried about her until she came marching into our house followed by five or six shadows. She'd sold my father out in return for being allowed to live on the outskirts of the upper-class F.E.A.R. city." He had been speaking bitterly but the next sentence was more painful than any other tone,

They killed him on site and arrested me. I was put with a bunch of other civilians in a kind of truck with a cell in the back made out of slatted wood. The other prisoners were mostly adults and I was the only one small enough to fit through the slats, so I jumped out while we were driving through the desert. The shadow men noticed and sent two of them to kill me. For once their own cruelty worked against them because after they cut open my side..." He lifts the hem of his shirt an inch or two to reveal a long scar just above the left side of his hip and then drops it again. "They just left me to catch infection, dehydrate and die. I would have if the other Wild Ones hadn't found me first. They'd all escaped or been driven out of F.E.A.R, in some way and had managed to find each other. Their families had all told them the legend of the Wild Ones and once we realized that we all had powers it became clear that the prophecy was finally coming true. We came across the catacombs by sheer luck and ambushed prison trucks or found fellow runaways to build the legion that we have now." I'm dumbfounded. How could someone so poisonous raise someone as strong and pure as Andy?

"I'm so sorry." I say softly. It's hard to see him in so much pain. "I would tell you my story but I think you already know it."

“Not all of it, I only saw them taking your parents away.” he says, looking back up at me. I freeze for a second, his bright blue eyes really are piercing.

“Well. um... I guess it all started when I began to realize how misrable everyone in F.E.A.R. really was. I thought that I could make one of F.E.A.R.'s government lackeys happy for a moment by drawing a flower in the margin of my journal." I laugh bitterly. "They put me in a labor camp for a week before deciding that both of my parents would be more useful to them, so they sent me back just in time to watch my only family being dragged away." A few tears escape the defenses I tried to create and I pause to wipe them away. “My mother smuggled all kinds of books home for me and I hid them under a loose floorboard. F.E.A.R. found them one day while I was walking home from school. The only book I had on me was 'Legion of the Black: Story of the Wild Ones' because it's small and easy to hide. I stole what I needed from a few homes and stowed away in a hearse to get out the gate. I've been surviving alone in the desert for three years.” I have to stop talking now because I’ve become so emotional that I don’t trust my voice.
“You were alone for all that time?” Andy asks in quiet shock. I nod and bury my face in my hands, hiding the tears that spring up whenever I think too much about my life. He wraps an arm around me

“Well, they’ve taken a lot from both of us. Now let’s take something from them.”

Notes

I'm so sorry that the update is late! I can't think of an excuse that wouldn't sound superficial but you are all writers so I'm sure you understand that sometimes life just gets in the way.

I have also started a new story called "deathless beauty" (stupid name, I know) because I realized that there was a lack of good vampire fanfictions on the site. (There are some good ones but they can be hard to find) So you guys should definitely check that out. :) Note that this will be somewhat of a side project as I am still dedicated to this story.

Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe. :)