Book Two: The Legends

Chapter Three - The Boy With The Voice

When the music stopped, I had to quickly wipe my cheeks from the tears that were streaming down them. How long had it been since I had heard music? Ava was having a similar reaction to me, crying silently at the music. We were watching the boy up on makeshift platform pluck away at his guitar unconsciously and he chatted happily to some people, but I couldn't tear my eyes away, as much as I tried. Out of the corner of my eye I saw Mel approach the stage and whisper in the boy's ear who grinned and looked directly towards where I was stood huddling with Ava. He gave a short nod and cleared his throat. Sudden silence fell and Mel excitedly clapped her hands.

"In honour of our newest editions, Oliver's going to play another song," She bounced off the stage merrily and Oliver winked at me and Ava.

A drop in the ocean,

A change in the weather,

I was praying that you and me might end up together,

It's like wishing for rain as I stand in the desert,

But I'm holding you closer than most 'cause you are my heaven...

As Oliver sang, I lowered my head and grabbed Ava's hand, squeezing it tightly. We both reach down simultaneously and gripped Zoey's hands too. Then all three of us stood in silence, listening to the music we'd missed so badly.

***

"The layout of this place is pretty simple," Walter started, unfolding a large piece of paper, "I built the wall around a residential area because, well, people prefer it." He laid the large map on a table and I could see a pretty accurate array of squares and rectangles scattered around. He spent the next few minutes pointing out important buildings that would be helpful with our stay here. "I'd take you on a tour myself, but, I have things I need to do."

I gave him a small smile, "No problem."

"So, I got someone else who is willing to give you the tour," Walter said, starting to refold the map. Right on cue, the boy with the voice walked in, one hand gripping the neck of his guitar.

"Walter," He said with a grin, propping his guitar against a wall.

"Oliver," Walter answered kindly, but I could hear the odd tone of warning in his voice.

"Follow me, ladies," Oliver said, blatantly ignoring Walter. In my peripheral vision, I saw Ava roll her eyes but we followed obediently regardless.

We stepped out of the building and I winced at the light.

"As you have probably figured out," Oliver began, spinning around and spreading his arms out wide, "This is the main building. Sort of like how The White House is for the U.S. President. It's kind of a big deal. It lies in the exact middle of the wall's surroundings."

I rolled my eyes at his sad attempt at humour. But Ava let out a low chuckle. I studied the building and was surprised to see it was an old school. "I suppose school buildings work. All those different rooms," I murmured in amusement. Oliver raised an eyebrow at me and I surprised myself by thinking about how perfect his eyebrows were. Mentally kicking myself, I made a gesture for him to continue.

"Inside here are the offices for people like Walter. Those are on the very top floor. In the basement is where we store everything that we don't immediately need. Extra weapons, food. You know the lot. And the first floor, the one we were just on. That doubles as a lot of things." Oliver paused and brushed some of his black hair out of his eyes. "Most of that floor is our hospital. But there are a lot of different rooms for different things." Oliver stopped and started to walk away from the building.

"What's in the other rooms?" Zoey called out to his back and he froze. Then he slowly turned around and walked a few steps closer to her. With one arm I pushed her back instinctively.

"Zoey, was it?" Oliver confirmed blue eyes oddly curious. Zoey gave a sharp nod. "Nothing of importance, young one." He teased and then turned back the way he had walked. We followed reluctantly, slightly suspicious of his answer.

"As you see, the wall surrounds a simple few streets with many houses. A lot are occupied but people move around a lot. We'll see about getting you your own house. As you see, in front of the main building is town square, along with the stage, which I constantly perform on." At that, Oliver gave us a wink and a smirk.

I was starting to figure out what kind of person he was before the apocalypse and that he hadn't changed much. With a bound, Oliver leapt onto the edge of the stage and crouched down.

"To the left of the school is the schools oval. It's got a little playground for the little ones." Oliver directed that to Zoey who crossed her arms across her chest angrily.

"To the right is a small deli which is our records building. We'll be heading there next to sort all of you out."

Oliver stood up and was about to leap off the stage until he paused and pointed directly at the main building.

"Behind that, at the very edge of the wall is a parking lot. It holds all our cars and such. In a nice position in case we need to get out of here quickly."

"That's it?" I wondered when he jumped off the stage and sat on its edge as it came to his waist in height.

"Yep! We'll just get over to the records building and find you a place you can stay," Oliver smiled happily and reached for Zoey's hand, "You're safe now."

Zoey frowned and shook his hand away. "I was always safe," She whispered, glancing up at me and giving me a small smile.

--

Song is "A Drop In The Ocean" by Ron Pope. LISTEN TO IT. IT'S BEAUTIFUL. And I KNOWWW! The story is soooooo slowwww at the moment, but seriously.. I planned out a super exciting bit that you will LOVE! Thanks for sticking around, my lovely fans! ;3

Much love,

Lucie.

xo.