I fallow Eli through the woods. He, after butchering the boar packed it into one of his bags and we set off.
"Where are we going?" I ask for the third time in a row. He is silent making his way through the brush.
"Do you even talk?" I start at a small sound to the left of us. The sun is already sinking we have been walking for hours. He has said a total of four words. "Come on let's go!" And nothing since.
"You know, you cannot really expect me to fallow you around without an explanation!" I say loudly. He turns and gives me a look that says "really?" He knows I can't leave. He knows everything about this place, and all I know is what they told me. I have no experience out here.
"Do you know what this place is even called?" I ask looking around at all the vegetation that is growing a murky dark green color in the setting sun.
"No." This is first thing he has said to me in hours it is so short it's aggravating.
"Where are we going?" He raises an eyebrow, and I, with contempt say please.
"Thank you, " he looks at me from the corner of his eye. "We are going into the never light."
"Yeah, because I know what that is supposed to mean!" I snort defiantly but smile lightly to myself. Eli glares at me then turns away. I smile triumphantly. I got him to show some emotion other than contempt even if it was anger. A small gasp escapes me as I trip over what looks like a decaying hawk. Hawks are one of the most deadly birds. They have a wingspan of ten feet, a sharp beak for tearing off flesh, and enormous talons for slashing victims to death.
"The never light, is a meeting, where we bring all the newcomers to introduce them to all the others." He smiles to himself. I'm really curious about his past. What happened to his old ally? Did he even have one? What was his over all training score? Which did he master in? Plants, animals, weapons, poisons, or traps? I mastered in plants. Which gives you a steady knowledge of poisons too. He seems shy yet confident and a little cocky at the same time. A weird combination. But then I am a weird combo too. Untrusting, slightly hesitant, confident, trustworthy, creative, and endearing. And I didn't just make that up. It was on my official report before I was dropped off. I was shocked when under my appearance it said I was pretty. I've never thought so. I'm plain, with light reddish-brown hair, slightly tan skin with freckles, and blue eyes so dark they look black. It came as a jolt anyone thought I was pretty. Although out of all the spectators in the Endless house only one of them would have to think me pretty to get it on the report.
"You are suddenly quiet." Eli's voice pulls me out if all thought and the words come tumbling out.
"What did you master in?" The world is instantly silent after I am done speaking. We both stop walking, and he doesn't say anything for a while, just stands there looking around the small clearing we are in.
"Weapons." He whispers looking slightly abashed at revealing this to me. I wonder if his final report said insecure.
"We are about there," he says looking through a bush. "We're early, the meeting is not for a few days yet." He sighs leaning against a tree.
"Do you think we can get in?" I ask looking at the small settlement below us.

A clearing lies in a gully, filled with small shacks some better constructed then others, made of different materials, some look newer, and others ages old.
"Only if the corporal is there."
"Who is that?" Eli starts to count on his fingers.
"By now someone new, I haven't been here since I was fresh." I glare at him but he just shrugs.
"It's what we call the newbies."
"Maybe I should start calling you old person?" He actually smiles at me when I say this. Then goes back to watching the buildings. It is peaceful here, like a blanket of calm fell over this place. I watch the huts too, not a thing stirs, it looks like the ghost towns we talked about in The World Before class, a class that tells you all about a place called Earth. The people who inhabited Earth were so self-confidant, they built a huge nuclear plantation that stored all of the world's nuclear power, then a huge flood came and it exploded. Almost every human was killed in the aftershocks of it. But a few scientists and willing people helped create our new world; they gave us animals from their world that seemed normal. But the effects of the nuclear explosion were passed on to them and it progressed until they became what they are today. We are lucky to get the training they supply, otherwise humankind would have gone extinct years and years ago. Some people, the ones who sit alone at lunch, who stand shadowy corners, not speaking except to tell that they think we shouldn't be alive. That they should have left us to die, not helped us through our struggles. Is Eli like that? He doesn't seem the, we need to die type, but neither did Angela at first, she escaped the endless house in the only way she could. With a knife. That day was a shock to all of us girls. Marie had found her lying in the yard. Blood ran down Angela's neck and onto the crisp white collar of her uniform. She had been shy the first two years then she voiced her opinions loudly, yelling at the top of her lungs about death being the only way out and how there was no escape from the torture. Everyone looked at her sadly. It was this kind of people who never graduated. Who stood by as all the girls younger than them graduated ahead. The ones who end up taking their own life one way or another. Then I notice it; a small light flickers on in the closest house. Small and yellow but bright and as welcome as the sun.