TOTU: The Territory of Tribe Two

Not Time to Get Up Yet

Dedicated to Lynae17_happytimes because they voted, followed and are awesome!

Day 3

The sound pf the party woke Milo up a few times during the night. Once, he had propped himself up to see through the window and had caught a glimpse of Carter laughing as he lifted his little sister up into his arms.

Milo had an overall restless sleep, full of nightmares and shattered shards of images of the party. He was glad when he finally woke up at a time suitable for staying awake. It was not far past dawn, and Milo had noticed that some of the tribe were usually awake by then, going out of the camp for what Milo assumed was hunting. Today, though, it was very quiet. The whole camp seemed asleep. Lochie and the others were still resting, though Ari was stirring.

Not long after Milo moved over to his usual place next to the mesh wall, a Tribe-member with bags under his startling electric-blue eyes stumbled over to the building beside Milo's cell and sat down unceremoniously, immediately putting his head between his knees. Milo couldn't help noticing that the man's legs were covered with thick black fur whose shape reminded Milo of flare pants in the '80s. The guy seemed to have been saddled with the unfortunate job of looking after the prisoners.

Milo shivered slightly; there was an odd chill to the breeze this morning, and it was a temperature that could have even been called 'nice'.

"Morning, Milo," Lochie said with a tired slur, sitting down next to Milo and blinking the sleep out of his eyes.

Glancing at him while answering with a grunt, Milo was struck, not for the first time, by how different Lochie had been when he'd first met him.

It had been about two years ago, when Lochie had just turned thirty two, and he'd been one of the first people Milo had met at the GPC. Milo had been there on his own, with his resume in his shaking hand as he waited awkwardly at the reception desk, and he'd been introduced to a tall guy with dirty blond hair wearing a faded, obviously-well-worn Star Wars shirt. Lochie had been quite lanky and a little mind-all-over-the-place then, compared to his muscled and structured-thinking form that he'd swapped to, to become leader of their team. Milo had known Lochie when he was such a nerd, though, so he often blackmailed Lochie into movie fests after work researching the Tribes back home.

Milo and Lochie both looked up curiously as a howling noise started up. Milo didn't realise it was actually wind until a huge gust rolled through the camp, not getting into the cell but shaking the palm trees' fronds overhead. The Tribe-member who was on guard duty looked up at the wind, his eyebrows furrowed in a frown, and hunched his shoulders guardedly.

Milo watched him thoughtfully, not realising that Lochie had disappeared to wake up Arrakis, Ari and Tom until the other three made sleepy, protesting noises.

"Lochie," moaned Tom. "It is not time to get up yet."

"It sure is." Lochie kicked Ari. "It's exercise time."

"They're letting us out for a walk?" Arrakis asked, sitting up quickly.

"No," Lochie said, with much too much happiness. "It's Lachlan's Fitness Hour."

The rest of the team groaned, Milo included. Lochie pretended not to notice.

Lochie ended up making them do all manner of running, push-ups, sit-ups, planks and relays for what seemed to be more than an hour. No-one had fun except for Lochie and their Tribe-member guard, both of whom seemed to take immense pleasure in watching the rest of the team's pain. Their guard even gave them a little extra water and food for breakfast, which was dry but satisfying enough. By the team they had finished eating, most of the Tribe had appeared. A group of Tribe children ran past Milo's cell a few times, and he spotted Erri's ears towering above the rest of their herd.

The team were sitting around death-threatening Lochie after breakfast, when someone yelled, "Dust storm's coming!"

There was a pause as the Tribe heard this, and then there was a loud buzz of yells that at first was unintelligible to Milo. After a second, though, he made out that most people were saying, "Get inside!" He spotted a couple of adults herding the children past, parents racing to find them. The girl who had been poi dancing was helped along by a friend as she struggled to keep her delicate wings folded against her back.

Milo started as their guard unbolted the cell door and threw it open. Oreo appeared behind him, waiting impatiently.

"Come on," their guard snapped, his blue eyes narrowed. "Get inside. Bring the blankets." He and Oreo escorted the team out of the cell, and as soon as they were out of the shelter of the walls of the cage, they were hit by the first wall of wind. It was enough to make Milo stagger, and cough as the wind swirled up dust from the ground. Oreo pushed them into the building that the guards always sat against, and he followed them in. He closed the door, which was a large skin that covered the door frame, by pulling it taut and attaching it to hooks in the wall outside. Another breath of wind curled through the gaps left, but the skin did well enough, especially when Oreo and the guard started unfolding extra furs to insulate it from the inside.

"It'll pick up," Oreo said quietly in his rough voice as he packed piles of the team's food against a wall. And it did pick up.

The wind threw itself against the door, making powdery sand seep through the gaps. Eventually it collected in piles on the floor, and everyone in the room just watched them silently.

Arrakis and Ari settled in a corner and started playing red hand after a while, but gradually became bored with it and started other games. After about an hour without the storm letting up, Tom went to join them. Lochie and Milo decided to wait, but after another couple of hours they found themselves playing never-have-I-ever with the water they were given by Oreo and the guard, who seemed to think that all of them were insane.

Milo found himself silently thanking Lochie for making them do exercise this morning, because otherwise he would have been even more antsy.

Eventually Milo just found his own corner and leaned against the wall, a blanket pillowing his back. He yawned,and realised that his head had drifted to rest against the wall. He shuddered as another huge burst of wind exploded outside, and he closed his eyes. The last thing he remembered was the sound of the sand trickling onto the floor.

GPC is the Genetic Phenomeon Centre (where the team is from). :)

I can't wait to see the new Star Wars AHH!

The picture IS actually mine (gasp!) and I drew it in about 5 seconds lol.
I was bored, OK? His hands look retarded, but *cough* that's alright!
Tis of the guard with the blue eyes-- he has the legs of a gorilla!