"Natalie! He's dying on the floor. Are you even listening?" Libby said waving his hand in front of Natalie's face. Natalie seemed dead into space until she snapped back into reality. "Sorry," Natalie said. "I got over-excited." She lent Cyrus a hand to help him up. It took a moment for Cyrus to get his balance. "From now on. We walk" He said panting, covered in sweat. "Fair enough," Natalie said laughing. They walked to the town and looked briefly in each building. To their shock, a man was seen with a dog. They both looked scruffy and skinny. The dog took a few steps toward the four but the man harshly pulled the dog's leash pulling the dog back. It was pure silent until the man spoke. "What are you new here or something?" He asked harshly

"We were just taking our leave-" Cyrus said turning around. Libby grabbed the back of his shirt and dragged him back. Choking him a little in the process. Libby glared at Cyrus then looked back at the man. "Yes sir. We don't know much about human society or anything. We just came to explore" Natalie said. The man raised an eyebrow. In his confusion, the man accidentally let the dog pull the leash out of his hand. The dog smelled the four. The dog seemed to take a liking to Cyrus. "Can I-?" Cyrus started but was cut off by the man "No! He's not supposed to be around others." The man snapped as he whistled for the dog to come over. The dog trotted over to the man as he grabbed his collar. Cyrus was a little disappointed but understood the man's rules.

"I'm Ray the twit over there is Cyrus, that's Natalie, and that's Libby," Ray said. "The names' Smith, Smith Robert." The man said. "This is here is Appolo." The man said, referring to his dog. "Nice to meet you," Natalie said. "Yeah, sure." The man said. "Now what do you want?" "As we stated before, we want to explore a bit," Libby said "The only thing you'll find is garbage, poverty, and rodents. This place is where the outcasts go. The ones without a home. The ones without money." "Isn't this your home?" Natalie asked. "I call it that. It's abandoned. So no rent payment." "How do you survive?" Cyrus asked, confused. "Barely," Smith said. "Well, maybe we could help each other!" Natalie said. "Help each other?" Smith said raising an eyebrow, thinking she was joking. Libby dragged both Cyrus and Natalie by the collars of their shirt a little far away from smith. Ray sighed in annoyance. "Give us a minute," He said before going over to the three.

"We don't even know this guy! And now you're trying to team up with him?!" Libby snapped. "It's not like he's planning to hurt us!" Natalie said "How would we even help each other?" Ray asked "We can help him survive and he can help us with human society and traditions! Our goal is to 'be the human' is it not?" Natalie stated. "We're not humans!!" Cyrus said frantically "Well, we'll try our best to become as human as possible!" Natalie snapped. Libby grumbled. "Fine. If this backfires. It'll all be your fault!" Libby said. They all returned to where Smith was. "So what do you mean 'help each other'?" Smith asked. "We help you survive, you help us with human cultures!" "What can you do to help me 'survive'?" "We can hunt, farm, build, and much more!" Natalie said. "What are you expecting from me?" "Simple things like reading and writing. We only know how to speak English. We don't know how people work and how people act."

"Why don't you know this stuff? Don't you have parents to teach you this stuff?" Smith asked "We're what you call orphans. We don't have parents." Natalie said. Cyrus looked down with a gloomy expression. Ray put a hand on his shoulder as a small act of comfort. Smith raised an eyebrow. He shook his head with a sigh. "It's not like I have anything better to do." He murmured. "Fine. Smith said. "Shake on it." He said holding his hand out. Natalie had a confused look. "It's a way of promising something. It's something people do" Smith said "Oh! Alright," Natalie shook his hand. Smith looked up and saw dark clouds. He gestured for them to go inside with his head. Natalie entered first and the rest followed after Natalie and Smith. Appolo hopped on Cyrus, having two of his front paws on Cyrus' chest. Cyrus backed up and whispered "no!" Cyrus said. He didn't want to get in trouble with smith or anything. He liked Appolo but he knew he couldn't interact with him.

"Appolo! Come here!" Smith said. Though Appolo followed Cyrus where ever he went. "He usually listens to me. Guess he likes you enough to not do so." Smith said. Cyrus chuckled nervously. "Sorry, I don't know why he's doing this." "It's fine. I don't care if you play with him at this point" Smith said with an irritated tone. "Oh, alright..." He said. He looked back at Appolo. Appolo sat in front of Cyrus wagging his tail. Appolo barked loudly which caused Cyrus to panic. Cyrus shushed Appolo by scratching the top of Appolos's head. "Hope you didn't expect some nice house with electricity and heating," Smith said. "We wouldn't expect it because we don't know what those are. We live in our small treehouses." Natalie said rubbing the back of her neck. "Where do you even live?" "Past the mountains. Where the forest meets the meadows" "So you've traveled far. Just to explore?" Smith asked confusingly "Well yeah, we heard that there was a town. We wanted to explore." "Who told you?"

"No one told us anything. We just went exploring and found this place" Libby interrupted Natalie. Smith raised an eyebrow. "Alright. So how old are you kids?" "I'm fifteen, Ray is fourteen, Cyrus is Thirteen, and Libby is fifteen," Natalie replied "And you've lived in the woods your whole life?" "Yes." "hmm." Smith scratched his unshaven stubbled beard and looked out a cracked window. "Guess I should start teaching you right?" "Today? But we don't have any way to hunt with the storm outside," Natalie said "That's what tomorrow is for," Smith said with a smirk. Natalie nodded. Smith left the living room and searched on an old bookshelf. He found an old dictionary and some paper. The paper was torn on its edges so Smith didn't take it. He brought the dictionary back and the four teens gathered around him. Appolo once again sat next to Cyrus. Appolo sat next to Cyrus. "We'll start with the alphabet," Smith said.