The sky above him was heavy and grey. Dark, water laiden clouds blew in from the north, covering the sun, which sat high up on it's throne in the sky. The air around him was still and quiet. The quietness bounced and echoed off the hills and valleys below him, broken occasionally by the whisper of the wind or the harking of a gull as it flew overhead.
He sat in silence, not daring to speak. If he spoke he wouldn't be able to hold it in any longer. It would all come flowing out of him like a fast flowing stream, shattering the already tattered world around him. He couldn't remember a day like this since the virus.
He had never been very good at handling his feelings or emotions. Talking or even thinking about them was unatural to him. For years he'd locked up his feelings, the part of his mind that allowed him to wonder and imagine, he'd never been very imaginative. He had lived his life by a set of rules - they offered him security. Maybe that's why he'd had such trouble adapting to this New World - because all the rules had vanished and they were free to end up wherever their imagination took them.
He had been the ideas man, a man who never let his heart rule his head - until he met her.
She was the only girl he had ever loved, the only girl he had ever allowed himself to love. Sure, before the virus there had been girls he fancied, girls he'd admired but he knew he could never make anything of it. They were all out of his league. He was the class geek. They never paid any attention to him unless they needed help with their math homework. He'd never been considered one of the pretty people.
But she had made him see that there was more to beauty than just appearances. It was all about imtelligence, wit - a good inner self.
She had it all. Sure she was beautiful - far prettier than any of the girls he'd seen at school. The way her long blonde hair swished and bounced around her waist, the way it shone as the glow, from the fairy lights that hung around the phoenix statue, caught it. Her eyes were deep and they sparkled and danced when she smiled. Her smile, itself could light up a dark room and it thawed his heart he had kept locked away and frozen deep inside him.
He could talk to her about things that would cause others to look at him like he wad abnormal or like he was the stupid one. She understood him. She understood his dry sense of humour, she understood his need for knowledge, his need to know everything and his need to feel important.
He loved her more than anyhting - even life itself. He even got himself captured in his quest to give her back her freedom during The Chosen occupation. It was the least he could do for her, considering what she had done for him.
She had taken him on a voyage of self-discovery, she had taught him how to love.
She was all he needed and he was all she needed. For a brief while anyway. He'd lost her now.
He had no one now. She had been the one thing that had helped him through his loss.
As he sat in front of his best friends grave he felt either side of the bridge of his nose begin to tingle as tears welled up in his eyes.
Those tears were because he missed him, just as much as he missed her, because he never had a chance to say goodbye, because he felt guilty that he'd never had chance to tell him that he was so much more than the practical man.
He had been his best friend, the one he had paired off with in the dark days that followed the end. It had been a very weird relationship. They had both been strong characters, with clashing personalities but their love of science had kept the together. They'd argued but they'd always made up.
They'd made big plans. They were going to start from scratch and invent a whole new way of life together. They were single handedly going to pull the tribe out of the primative world they had been plunged into.
He'd been the better of the two, in his eyes. He was clever, caring - everybody loved him, Amber, Trudy, Bray, Ryan, Patsy and Cloe. His friends people skills had always been so much better than his. Even though he never liked to admit it he'd always been jealous of him.
And now he was gone- forever. Snatched by the same people who had taken his beloved from him.
He supposed if he allowed himself to think about it, there might be a remote chance that he'd be able to win her back, but his best friend was gone forever. He was never coming back and there was nothing he could do about it.
They were both gone - his girlfriend and his best friend. He hadn't felt like this since he was taken prisoner by The Chosen.
He groaned and rested his head in his hands. He cursed himself for thinking about it all. For reliving the good times and replaying them in his head. He would never have allowed himself to get like this before the virus, before he'd met them - the two most important people in his life.
They were gone now.
He took his hands away from his sodden eyes and drew in a deep breath through his nose.
He caught sight of himself in a puddle of rain, which had gathered in a shallow ditch not too far away from where he sat. He'd never paid much attention to his appearance. Sure he'd tried to take care of himself and took pride in his appearance but he'd never really looked at himself. Not really.
He was suprised by the man who looked back at him. When the virus hit he had been a small, weedy and geeky looking boy with a high-pitched voice. Now only a few months on he'd blossomed into a tall handsome young man with chiselled features and little more muscle.
He grown so much in those short months, not only physically but personally too. And that was down to them. He owed them so much. They had made him the person her was - the better man.
They'd helped him in a world where he felt so lost and alone. She had given him the ability to love and use his heart. He had given him the ability to care. And together they had given him the ability to survive The Chosen.
Maybe he was destined to meet them? Maybe he had met them in order to find himself?
He shook his head. He was beginning to sound as whacked out as Tai San.
He looked at his orange hair and smiled. He'd wanted brown but he'd somehow mixed the wrong dye. But he liked it now. It was who he was.
He looked at his cheek. He still bore the markings of his tribe. The tribe he had taken in. The tribe he had founded. The tribe he had once called his family. The tribe he would never be able to forget.
But he had to put it all behind him, he had to move on. He didn't know where he was heading or what he was going to do. The only certain thing in his life right now, was that his life was uncertain.
But he was quietly confident. He'd left the Mall Rats just as he had joined them - with nothing. And look at everything he had achieved and gained since then. He could do it again. Rebuild a life far away from the pain of his past, on his own terms.
He placed a heavy rock on his dear friend's grave and rose to his feet pulling up his bag with him. He wiped his eyes on the back of his red leather jacket and looked out into the vast open space before him. The whole world was his for the taking.
He looked to the sky, which was clear now - true blue. The sun shone, bone white, causing the harbour to glisten like a mirror. The gulls now played quietly on high up air currents as light and warmth filled the valley below him.
For the first time in months he smiled. It wasn't because he was happy - because he wasn't. It was because he knew he now had a chance to be again in the future. He had created something for himself. Something no one else could give him. Something so pwerful it lifted his heart.
Hope.
All of the stars were fading away, but he didn't need to worry. He'd see them again some day.