"Don't come back," Teal had told me as he drove me on his bike to the plane, yelling over his shoulder.

"What?" I had no other home outside of our little home, yet my own brother was refusing to let me return home, "What do you mean?"

Teal had waited till we paused at a stoplight before he turned so that he could look me in one eye, "If you ever get a chance to come home, don't take it. Stay out of here if you survive. Don't ever come back."

I opened my mouth, "Teal, you're my brother, if I survive I want you to-"

"I mean it, Tawny," He snapped, "don't you ever come back here. There's nothing for you. Do what you've got to in order to survive and then get out of here."

I ducked my head as Teal pulled away from the light as it changed colors, pain filling me. My own brother was refusing to let me come home. And I knew it wasn't because he didn't love me but rather because he wanted me to do more than survive.

And that he didn't expect to survive.

"Hey," I opened my eyes to see Ethe staring at me, "you alright?"

I nodded, "Yes, why?"

"You're crying," he said gesturing to his own eyes before he pointed at my face, "at least I thought they were tears."

I shook my head, "Sweat. It's hot in here."

Ethe, who was slightly red-faced, nodded, "It is, huh?"

I glanced over at Koll, who was also asleep or at least appeared to be. Turning my focus fully on Ethe, I asked, "So how are you holding up?"

Ethe shrugged, "Been better. How did your bro react when you got chosen?"

I looked out the window, not wanting to reply but we'd be stuck together from here on out and we didn't have much choice. Better that we three get to know each other now and learn to live with each other then out in the war zone where we'd likely die first. So I told him.

"He told me never to come home."

Ethe looked only mildly surprised, "Oh. Is that all?"

I nodded, "Yes."

He pulled up his sleeve and showed me a tattoo of a red-tailed hawk, "I got this the day before I left. It's to remind me."

"Remind you of what?" I asked, seeing the fine detail it had.

"To never forget where I came from," Ethe replied, seriously. For once, the mischievous glint in his eye was gone and replaced with complete sincerity, "you know?"

I nodded, "I know." You never forgot home, wherever 'home' was for any of us.

Ethe leaned his chair back and faced me fully, "So why doesn't he want you to go back?"

"He wants something better for me," I replied, "but I don't know if there is anything betterout there for me. I'm a simple person, I have simple needs."

"Like?" Koll's voice made both Ethe and I jump.

"Like a home, a family, just the basics," I replied, "and freedom to do what I want."

With a wry chuckle Koll replied, "Pity you had to be Chosen, then."

I smiled, "Yes, a pity," I echoed, my voice empty.

It was a pity that there was a war, a pity that the war never seemed to change, a pity that the war was still going, a pity that it took two years to train fighters, a pity that the fighters had to be taken from their families, a pity that things had become so hopeless.

"I wanted to work on one of those ships that go all over the ocean," Ethe broke the self-pitying silence, "just sail on the Big Blue. What did you want to do Koll?"

Koll shrugged, "I wanted to pilot a plane, fly all over over the world, see the nine wonders and then settle down on an island in the middle of nowhere and just disappear," his eyes had partly closed as if he could visually see himself doing these things, live on his island. . .

I smiled, "You both have better dreams than I do."

"Really?" Ethe frowned, "I don't think so, I think yours is just as nice. Your boyfriend freak when you got Chosen?"

I smiled, shaking my head, "I'm not the boyfriend type, actually."

"Teal got anything to do with that?" Ethe guessed, turning to Koll, "Teal's her older brother."

Koll nodded and they both turned their gaze back to me.

"No," I replied honestly, "I didn't want a boyfriend. I wanted someone willing to make a commitment bigger than that and it must have showed because I've never had a boyfriend. But it doesn't matter now." I chuckled, morosely.

The two boys nodded, smiles of irony on their faces. If there were any way we could get out of this we would find it. But that wasn't likely. There had been too many who'd tried and failed to escape. The consequences of that...

"We're landing," The pilot called.

Ethe sighed and said sarcastically, "I'm buckling my seatbelt, return your chairs to the upright position, please remain seated as the plane descends, and remain seated till the plane comes to a complete stop. . ."

Koll chuckled, making the tension somewhat less harsh in the confined cabin. The pilot didn't even tell us but we did manage to stay still before the plane came to a complete.

Ethe stood up and looked out the window, "Guys," he said, tone full of awe, "you've got to see this."

Koll and I both went to the only other window and gasped.

The scenery had changed from trees and the few houses scattered all over the place and became a land as alien to us as the surface of the planet farthest from us. Buildings tall as mountains rose above us, blocking out the sky, hiding the sun from us. There was a hum- soft, mechanic, yet human as well- and as we watched we saw things that looked like cars hovering around, completely silent but the buzz of life from the people walking around was there. They didn't speak, they didn't talk, they just walked along memorized routes.

"Whoa," Koll breathed.

Behind us, the pilot muttered, "Hillbillies."

We ignored him, we'd only been to the villages near us and never once in any of the capital cities. Besides, it wasn't like he'd ben nice as it was.

"Alright, listen up," the pilot said and we turned from the windows to him, "you will go to the terminal, wait for two men in suits, and from there you're someone else's problem. If you try to run, you'll be shot down. So get out of here, good luck, and maybe you'll see my rust-bucket again in two years. Now scram," he turned and our audience was over.

So now we had only a door between us and a future we never wanted, never needed, and never planned for. I glanced at Koll and Ethe who nodded back at me. This was it.

I put my hand on the small door and pushed it open.

Then we stepped out into the unknown.