Chapter four: sleep, darkness and a whole freakin' lota dust.

Me: so, now you have the fight, John's secret, and the beginning. So lets get it on with, shall we?

(Amanda's POV)

Salem stumbled out of the shack and into the dark night. Noelia and I rushed after her, catching her right before she fell to the ground. She shook her head and looked at us.

"Guys," She said. "I…I cant…I don't…Just…Just get me back to the tent, I need sleep." She sighed and dropped her head. Then arms came out of nowhere and scooped her out of our grasp. I turned and saw John cradling her like that kitten we had three years ago. She looked up at him with the same stunned expression I knew I was wearing. He started to walk towards the tent, pretty much ignoring everyone else. I looked at Noelia. She shrugged and followed John. I saw the rest of D-tent come out of the nurse's shack. X had a funny look on his face and Armpit looked half asleep. I gestured for them to follow us to the tent. X shrugged too and followed us out. I heard someone come up behind me. I turned to see Caveman behind me.

"Do you know what happened?" he asked. I stopped and looked at him. He turned around when he realized I wasn't with him anymore.

"I'm not sure Salem even really knows what happened. She has these episodes sometimes, but we don't have enough money to go to a hospital to get her checked out. We think it's some hereditary thing because Richard had a bit of a twitch." I started to walk again. Caveman fell into step with me, the pair of us in the back of the group.

"So what's their relationship like?" Caveman asked, nodding toward John and Salem. I laughed.

"Now that's gonna take some explaining." I said. Caveman looked at me funny. "John's dad was the one that pretty much raised all of us. John and Julia are his kids. Well, they were. He died in the fight that got us here. He took in Salem when she was 9. She was the first kid he took in off the streets. Her brother Richard, who died in the fight as well, came about a month later, from what they told me. Noelia was the last one he took in. I came about a year after Salem and Richard. He taught us all hand-to-hand and knife fighting. John and Salem are closest in age. They have only about a week between them. Everyone else, including me, is about a year younger." Caveman whistled.

"Intense." He murmured.

"You have no idea." I said. He looked at me with one eyebrow raised. I sighed. "We went to a psychic a few months ago, yes, we believe they work. Well, Teacher did. Moving on…"

FLASHBACK

I turned the corner out of the kitchen, holding a glass of soda. I walked into the hallway, and the glass shattered on the floor. Salem was lying on the floor, twitching and sobbing. I screamed for Teacher, Richard, John, anyone. I kneeled next to Salem, grabbing her hand, telling her to hold on, she groaned and curled into a ball around my hand. John and Richard came around the corner and Teacher came down the stairs. Richard yelped and tried to pick Salem up off the floor, but she was too heavy for him.

"I got her, Richard." John said. He scooped her up into his arms and started to head for the front door. Teacher yelled for everyone else to head for the van. I scampered after Julia, who had popped up out of the living room.

"What happened?" she asked. I explained as we got into the van.

"Teacher, where are we going?" Noelia asked. Teacher turned very sharply, trying to avoid a bicyclist. We all fell into each other, yelling.

"Sorry, everyone." Teacher said. Grumbles came from Richard and Julia. Teacher skid into a parking place in front of a purple building squished between a soup kitchen and a movie rental store. Teacher leaped out of the car. Richard gave the purple building a weird look.

"I know," is aid as he opened his mouth "'I have a very bad feeling about this.'" He grinned sheepishly. I rolled my eyes and clambered out of the car. John was standing outside the door with Salem still in his arms. She wasn't twitching anymore, but she was still sobbing. I walked up next to them and looked up at the sign.

"Madame Joolzan's psychic readings. Hooboy. This is gonna be interesting.

END FLASHBACK

"Yeah. The psychic said that she had inner troubles and conflict between her… well, I don't really remember, I was outside. I heard that stuff. John knows the entire thing, he and Julia were inside with Teacher. They don't really talk about it much. Salem and Julia are really close friends." I looked up at Caveman. He was staring at his feet.

"It really sucks that the guy that raised you is dead. And Salem's brother too. Man, I'd have mental problems too." We had gotten to the tent. Caveman walked ahead of me and held open the flap. I smiled at him and walked in. John and Salem were talking in a corner and most of the original D-Tent guys were out cold in their cots. The rest of my gang was all clustered around Salem's cot. John hugged Salem and they walked over to our group, which I had joined. Salem wiped some residual tears from her eyes and sat next to me. I put an arm around her shoulders as we all stacked our fists, our usual bedtime thing.

"All for one." Salem whispered.

"One for all." We whispered in unison. Then we went to bed.

END CHAPPIE