Chapter 1
The boat had ended up in a storm, a fortnight after they had left the city, when Ram's AI-Zoot had released the deadly Virus. After the boat had been caught up in the storm, everyone was split up. Amber, holding on to Bray Jr., Slade, Lex and Trudy, who was holding on to Brady, were all washed up on the same shore. The others had been split up even more. Ebony ended up with Ruby on some other shore, and the younger kids, Salene and May ended up somewhere else.
Amber was the first one to wake up on the beach, and she was still holding on to little Bray. She tried to feel his pulse but couldn't feel it. She was getting distressed, she screamed so loud that she woke Slade and Trudy. Trudy looked around confused, and remembered what had happened. She checked Brady's pulse, she had one, so Trudy relaxed and crawled over to Amber. Slade just looked around and he too moved over to Amber. He could see Lex lying in the sand, passed out, but didn't bother to try and wake him.
"What's wrong Amber?" Trudy asked as she reached her. She put Brady down on the sand and tried to put her arm around Amber, but Amber pushed Trudy's arm away.
"He is dead, he doesn't have a pulse, I've lost him. I've lost all I had left of him as well," Amber stuttered between sobs. She began to cry in deep distress.
"Oh Amber" Trudy said, looking at the lifeless body of Bray Jr. in Amber's arms.
Lex was starting to wake up at this point. He heard Amber cry and wondered why she was so upset. He struggled forward, crawling over to them since he couldn't stand up in the soft sand.
"What's wrong?" Lex asked as he got there, and noticed that Amber's son was not breathing, and that Amber was holding on to him like she was never going to let him go. The three of them knew that they would have to get Amber to agree to bury her one and only child, since he would soon start to smell, and this would attract birds and other animals that ate corpses.
"Amber?"
"What is it Slade?" she asked and turned her head to face him.
"You know that we have to bury him so he doesn't attract animals."
"I know, but not yet. Let me be with him alone for a while" Amber said getting up from the sand. She saw her bag a few feet a way and grabbed it. She opened it and took out a set of dry and clean clothes for her son. She was determined not to bury him in dirty clothes, for she herself wouldn't want to be buried in wet and dirty clothes. She put on him a pair of light green pants, a slighly darker green shirt, and a pair of his boots.
"There, I'm ready to bury him now" Amber said, and walked over to Trudy who had picked up Brady again. Brady was thankfully still asleep. It meant that she would be spared some of the pain of seeing her younger cousin dead, even though she did not know what death meant. Brady would probably ask questions when she woke up and noticed that her cousin wasn't with them; but Amber knew what she would say to her.
Amber knew where she wanted to bury him. She had seen a beautiful spot with flowers and beautiful white rocks. The place was a few miles from the sea so that the tide wouldn't get to it. She had seen it from the beach since there were no bushes to hide it. She pointed it out to the rest, and carried her son there with others walking behind her. When they arrived at the special place, the guys found some sticks to dig the hole with. After they had dug the hole, Amber put her son Bray Junior to rest there. She gathered up some of the stones and placed them on the grave as a "B", so that she would know that it was there where her son was. No one said anything, since they thought Amber would, but she was too sad to even try and say anything. She just stood there looking at the grave, the grave she herself had built. She didn't want to say farewell to her son, but she had to. She knew that she would have to move on and live her life as if he had never existed; she knew it would be hard but she would have to do it for her friends' sake, and for big Bray's sake, if they ever found him.
When they had buried Bray Jr. Lex and Slade left Trudy and Amber to be by Bray's grave while they went back to gather their stuff that had ended up on the shore with them. There was a chest with clothes and some food in it. They also had Trudy's backpack with food in. Now they would be able to move away from the place, and to find a safe place to live in.
"Amber we have to go now. We have to find a safe place to stay" Trudy said and looked at Amber who was still crying.
"I know but not just yet. I don't want to leave him yet" Amber got out between her sobs. She was trying to stop crying but it was hard. He had been her life ever since he was born. She had loved her son more then her own life. She wouldn't do anything to hurt him, yet he was dead. Lex and Slade had finished packing their stuff in one bag and the chest. Lex and Slade were carrying the chest between them. It was almost full of food; there was also water and a couple of blankets.
"Amber, Trudy. We should get going now so that we have a chance to find shelter before night falls" Slade said as he and Lex approached the girls.
"We know" Trudy answered as she put Brady down on the grass so that she could pull Amber up from the ground. When she had managed to get Amber to her feet, she picked up a sleeping Brady. She put her left arm around Amber, and held Brady with her right arm and hand.
"Let's go" Lex said, and started to walk toward the sun. It was still quite high in the sky but it was past midday. They walked for an hour, and during that hour Brady woke up and looked around.
"Where are we mommy?" Brady asked as she looked at Amber who was walking next to Trudy.
"We are on some island. We don't know which one yet, sweetie."
"Okay, where's Bray?"
"He is with the angels up in the sky" Trudy said, she didn't really know how to explain it to her four-year-old daughter.
"Like grandma and grandpa?"
"Yes, exactly" Trudy answered and smiled warmly at her little girl who was growing up.
Half an hour later they saw a city below them. They had electricity, and street lights, and you could just hear cars driving around and see people walking. The four of them wondered if the adults here were still alive. It was hard to tell their age since they were still quite a long way, at least a mile away. Brady didn't know what the sound was, so she started to cry from fear.
"It's okay Brady; it's nothing to be scared of" Trudy comforted her daughter who continued to cry anyway.