In Saving the Imperfect

13. Abandoned by the fortune

At first, they thought that moving straight ahead was the most obvious choice for them. Of course, Troy suggested that if the woman was trying to run away, she probably wouldn't have ran straight to where she lived, still, they didn't have a better choice. They've already waited for too long for any traces she might have left to be visible. Even if they wouldn't have – none of them knew how to track people in the first place.

The group stopped in front of an old looking, large ditch. Probably made back when non-Rejects lived in the land. Now, all swamped up and with a trace of brown water on the bottom. They exchanged looks.

"We should just turn around," suggested Coden. "She definitely wouldn't have gone through this."

"Yeah, probably not," Troy agreed. "Probably turned somewhere."

"There's no way for us to know where. We don't even know how big the Land is."

Troy nodded. Layne chewed on his lower lip. He knew all they said was true. It was stupid to even hope to find anything at this point. However, he's been waiting for this day. He thought that was the time they'd find out something about the Land, something grand, maybe.

"We have to keep trying," he said.

Troy threw him a stern look. "There's no point. We could get lost."

"You said we'd do this, so... Let's do this."

"I said we could check it out. It obviously didn't work."

Coden's face shone with relief. Both him and Troy turned around to go back, but Layne stayed in place. Two men took a few steps before stopping.

"Layne, coming?" called Troy.

"Can we at least try to follow the ditch? We wouldn't get lost that way."

"Nor find anything," reminded Coden.

Troy thought for a moment. Finally, he sighed and gave Layne an agreement. It was obvious he only did so to keep the man from annoying him for days, but the reasoning didn't matter.

They walked alongside the ditch, only time from time stopping to rest. It was difficult to tell for how long have they been out there and Coden had started complaining about aching feet. Layne tried his best to divert his attention – unsuccessfully.

"You know," he said, "we could even find out something about the animals. Like, where they stay during the day."

Coden shivered. "I'd rather not."

"That'd be interesting, tho."

"Layne, you're scaring him," interrupted Troy.

"Doesn't matter." Coden sighed. "This whole situation is already messed up, couldn't get worse anyway."

Layne smiled and turned his head so that the others wouldn't see. Once again, they kept walking. Still no sign of anything interesting.

A dry branch cracked somewhere behind them. Layne flinched, just like his companions, and looked around, almost expecting to be attacked.

"Cat," he exclaimed. The skinny black dog watched them from a distance.

"Cat?" Coden kept backing away. Drops of sweat formed on his forehead.

"Did you keep feeding it?" Layne inquired Troy.

He didn't answer. The lack of denial was good enough, tho.

Coden's wide eyes wandered between the two men and the dog. He looked disgusted, almost. Maybe more terrified. "You fed that?"

Troy pressed a finger to his lips.