|  I forget if I said this already but please please go check out the new video I made for this book. It can be found on the first chapter of this book or in my bio. Thanks! This fic is gonna start heating up very soon I promise we just gotta get through the fluff first.  |

Of course because I was in a new place, I found myself having weird dreams. They weren't necessarily good in any sense. In my dreams, I was back at the inn. I could see Ghoul in the darkness raising his gun and aiming carefully at Venus Boom. I knew what happened next. Ghoul's finger took an eternity to pull the trigger. But even after being covered in his gore, Venus didn't fall to the floor. Instead the man turned around and grabbed me by the collar of my shirt. His head was split in half and I could see inside of his skull. Except Venus immediately took form into my mom's boyfriend. Even with the split head I could see that signature smirk.

"You know I can get away with whatever I want, right?" He hissed.

It was then that I forgot how to fight like Ghoul had taught me. I was that small girl again. I stared into the darkness to look for Ghoul. But I was all alone in my old room with the sound of dripping blood hitting the floor.

Ghoul eventually shook me awake because I had turned rigid in my sleep. It was around 2 in the morning. My shoulders ached very badly and I didn't feel like I could sleep again.

"We are in a different timezone now." He explained. "I bet that's why."

"No." I replied quietly. "I had an awful nightmare."

He frowned at me in the dark. "Do you want to talk about it?"

"Only if we can turn a light on so I don't see him again." I was starting to calm down from the dream but I still could almost feel the man's hands on me.

I explained my dream to Ghoul and he commented something about needing a cigarette before falling back to sleep. I slipped on a pair of jeans, my shoes, and a sweatshirt. I made sure I had my ID with me to get back into my room as well as some cash from Ghoul's wallet. I decided at the last moment that bringing my phone would be a good idea.

I slipped out of the room silently but realized that I was too scared to go alone out into the dark world for a walk. I wondered if anyone else was awake. Just as I was about to type into the group chat, Jet slipped out of his room. His hair was sticking up in every direction (more than usual). He was so surprised to see me that he jumped back.

"Phoenix?" He blurted out. "Where are you going?"

"I could ask you the same thing." I raised an eyebrow at him.

"I'm a total insomniac so I wanted to try out this 24 hour coffee place down the street." He scratched the back of his head.

"Do you mind if I join you?" I asked. "I can't sleep."

"Be my guest." He cracked a friendly smile.

We left the building together in silence. There was almost no one around except for a new lady at the desk who greeted us. She had hair almost as curly as Jet and pale skin sprinkled with freckles. She seemed so friendly that it was almost as if we were long time friends. I waved to her as we passed through the door.

Jet and I never really talked about much before. We were in the same group and knew each other well, but we didn't really have the same interests therefore we had nothing to talk about. But he was one of those people that you could just enjoy their company without speaking. The silence with him was always comfortable. We walked side by side, trying to brace the cold.

I could see the sign for a coffee shop coming up. The sign was lit up in blue, announcing that it was proud to be open 24/7. Their soup of the day was their homemade chicken noodle. My stomach growled excitedly. It was loud enough that Jet could hear it and it made him laugh.

"Did you get the money that they left you guys?" He asked.

"Yeah, I might use some to buy myself something to eat." I pushed my hair out of my face and realized then that Jet was gawking at me.

"Where did your hair go?" He exclaimed.

"You just noticed now?" I laughed. "I cut it."

"It suits you." Jet complimented.

By then we had reached the coffee shop. Jet opened the door for me and we slipped inside. There were only about two people inside and they were sitting at a table in the far corner. There were chairs set up around one side of the counter like a bar. A coffee bar. Jet took a seat at the counter although I hoped that he would let me pick a table far away from anyone else. I was so nervous about ordering that I picked the easiest thing on the menu. I went with a hot, earl grey tea and the chicken soup to go.

"Who should I call when it's ready?" The man at the counter asked, standing there ready with a sharpie in hand.

I hadn't thought about this. There was no way I could tell them that I was Phoenix and my counterpart was Jet Star. I looked around the room trying to think of a disguise name I could use. My eyes landed on a poster of some rockstars in the back of the coffee shop.

"Courtney Love and Elvis." I replied.

The man laughed. "Funny."

But he accepted the names and wrote them both on our empty cups before walking away to fill our order. I breathed a sigh of relief.

"Good job, Agent Phoenix...staying undercover." Jet joked and nudged me with his elbow.

"Thanks. I feel like an idiot." I frowned and leaned my head against my hand.

Maybe I was tired after all. My anxiety was acting up and I wanted to just get my things and go back to the room with Ghoul. I didn't feel like enjoying my soup in public. I wanted to slurp it in bed while my husband snored next to me.

A few minutes later our food was placed in front of us. I clutched the to-go bag in my hand and balanced it carefully to make sure that my soup didn't somehow spill in the bag. But I could leave yet as the man who took our order was sure to start up a conversation with us.

"You guys seem like friendly folks. American, eh? It's refreshing to hear a new accent." He commented.

"As American as we can get." Jet breathed and glanced over at me.

"You never hear much about Battery City. I would stay away from those crazy people anyway. They are a nightmare. I don't blame all of the other countries from avoiding contact. Even North Korea is afraid of them! The last thing we need is the rest of our world being ruled by them." The guy paused. "Sorry if I'm being offensive."

"I don't support them. They killed my family." I replied. "Why would I be offended?"

The man shrugged and began to wipe down the counter in front of him. "I'm sorry about your loved ones. I guess it's kind of a hard subject to talk about for some."

I looked away towards the door. I could feel a tugging feeling in my heart when I thought about my mom. She didn't stop my abuse from happening but she was still my mother and I cared about her. It wasn't her fault that her boyfriend was a sociopath and manipulated her. I was glad her boyfriend was gone...wherever he went.

"You ready to leave?" Jet asked me.

"Yeah I have to get back to my loving husband." I forced a smile and waved goodbye to the man at the counter.

On our walk back, Jet kept apologizing for the guy who kept rambling on about America.

"It's not your fault, Jet. Apparently it's true that Americans are rare around here. We are a fascinating species. And to think they don't even know about the rest of the situation." I grumbled. "They keep them censored."

"It's probably a damn good idea." Jet replied. "You know how BLI is. They feed off of the attention they get. We don't need anyone venturing into America in search of the rebels. We don't need movie producers creating love stories about rebels in the desert fighting off an evil company. And, we sure as hell don't need other countries siding with BLI."

"I can't even believe we lived this long not knowing the world was still moving on without us." Tears began to fill my eyes.

It was honestly all a huge slap in the face for me. All of this time, BLI was still keeping us clueless even though we were no longer living in the city under their influence. I had believed that the world outside was dead. Maybe America was gone but the rest of the world wasn't. Anybody who had left the Zones never came back. Maybe because they did find life away from the city.

As we approached the apartments, I saw a crowd of people out in the streets and heard a siren from afar. I ran through the group still holding my soup. Eventually I found myself in the presence of Ghoul and the others. They were standing in pajamas and looked rather grumpy. My heart was beating fast. What the hell was going on?

"Someone was cooking a breakfast sandwich on the first floor when the microwave caught fire." Poison rolled his eyes. "I can't even fucking believe I woke up for this."

"Well is everyone okay?" I demanded an answer.

"Of course! But we still had to evacuate the building due to someone's fucking sandwich!" Kobra complained while smoothing his bedhead back with his hand.

I chuckled. "Well I guess this is just what you have to deal with when you live in the normal world."

Ghoul put an arm around me and pulled me to him sleepily. "Normal?"

"Yeah we need to get back to our normal life soon filled with gunfights and dust storms." Poison smirked.

"I agree." Jet nodded. "This place is too much for me."

"I guess we just have to let Ross know how we truly feel." I smiled. "I have some chicken noodle soup to eat."

I held up the bag and the boys laughed.