“You can’t trust me because I can’t trust you!” Arbon screeched across the tops of the buildings. She set her foot down as the side of the building in front of her cascaded down into oblivion. Her eyes met softer, but quite fierce eyes of the leader of the second group, Sawyer. There was an inescapable gap between the two groups, the building that had set the middle ground crumbling below. Two groups of kids on opposing buildings glared at each other, the sounds of destruction echoing all around them, bouncing off the surrounding broken down city scape.

Arbon’s group of rag tag teens was what group one called themselves. A long and fitting name for the worn down set of immature rascals. They all adorned stitched up tattered clothing and shook if one gust of wind was to set its fierce might upon them. Most of them appeared to be between the ages of 13-17, but some were much younger, the youngest kids ranging from 6-10. The young ones appeared to be carried by some of the more capable kids, slowing down the group but keeping their bond strong.

Sawyer stood strongly in front of a bunch of tall kids, they were all lanky and muscular, the kind of people to chuckle at the sight of someone struggling to pick up a box, though Sawyer was a kind soul truly, Arbon knew this. But Arbon also knew that she was untrustworthy, she held her hands behind her back, she swayed gently and told lies with clever twists and ties. Sawyers’ group of teens didn’t have a name for themselves, they tended to go off on their own and be loners. The group contained kids of around the ages 14-18, most being older and more independent than Arbon’s group. But that also made them weak, they argued constantly and left each other open with blindspots, and Arbon had taken advantage of that, slithering her way into Sawyer’s heart and then accidentally separating each group with the conflict that pursued. Arbon hadn’t really meant to do that but the drama had been fun.

Arbon was shorter than Sawyer, she held herself tall and fierce reveling in her leadership, she was 15, younger than some in her group but she carried leadership traits with her everywhere she went. She kept her hair long yet tied in clever knots, her clothing was filthy and tattered, it grossed Sawyer out. Sawyer was 16, she was lanky and not muscular like the rest of her group, she wore finer clothing than Arbon would ever want to and she kept her hair short and out of her face.

“Why can’t I trust you, Arbon?” Sawyer yelled over the wind, her voice calm and collected “You haven’t done anything to wrong me in particular.” She crossed her arms, fixing her posture. Arbon stuttered for a second, studying Sawyer’s face.

Quickly a new building sprouted between the ones the two groups were standing on, pushing the other two buildings over slowly, the walls reached outwards and sounds of windows shattering quickly spread, loud groaning noises came from the quickly falling structures as the two groups were stranded from each other.

“QUICKLY FIND A WAY DOWN” Arbon yelled out to her group who were panicking and grabbing the smaller children. They ran over to the ledge of the building scouting for some place to jump down to. While there didn’t seem to be any jutting outcroppings stuck to the buildings from years of structures randomly springing upwards from the ground there was a ledge a little ways away. If they could somehow climb dow-

The Building stuttered backwards, another rapidly springing upwards in front of Arbon, the two would compact the building they were standing on if Arbon couldn’t get out of there fast.

“CLIMB UPWARDS” Arbon shouted, grabbing onto an outcropping rapidly passing them, if they could get on top of this building they would have a chance of survival, the risk of getting squashed between the two buildings would be reduced. She swung herself on top of the outcropping, pressing herself down against the cold stone, watching the tops of the buildings quickly drop below her. She watched as the kids in her group hitched rides on different ledges and window linings, a lucky few catching rides on the occasional balcony. She counted each one of the people she saw over and over again, praying that no one was left behind.

Arbon watched as the building they had been on previously cracked and crumbled, the rubble spewing out into the writhing and ever changing maze of streets and broken down buildings below, destined to be reformed into other cityscape landmarks. Her eyes darted to where Sawyer once stood, wondering where she went and if her and her group were saf-

No, I don’t care about that. She cut her thought process off, I just need to know my rag tags are safe, that’s all I need. Arbon shook her head and leaned over the outcropping again, trying to count everyone now that the building was halting in its place. She squinted her eyes and counted slowly, using one of her hands to keep track of her place.
“Twelve… thirteen… fourteen.. Where’s… ah… there we go sixteen, but we’re missing one.” Arbon frowned, sitting up and crossing her legs. A head peaked out of a window below, shouting at some of the kids on a balcony, “And that’s Seventeen,” Arbon giggled out of pure relief, Seventeen being literally the kid’s name and that she was the seventeenth member that somehow always managed to get into some sort of trouble. Like the fact that right now she was inside of the building. Arbon’s eyes widened, she clung by one hand to the ledge and dangled herself downwards finding a place to set her foot and begin to climb down.

She landed with a grunt against the balcony, clearing her throat and staring at the kids trying to reach into the building with disappointment. They slowly turned to face her, their faces dropping. “Uuhhh hiii Arbon….” One sheepishly giggled, “whatsssupppp?”

“Where’s Seventeen.” Arbon demanded, placing one hand on her hip.

“Uhm..” The other fidgeted with their hands, “In…inside the building..” They waved their hand gently towards the very open window.

Arbon groaned in frustration “ooof course she is.” she sighed heavily, “I’ll be right back, get the others to the roof and stay there, make sure to keep track of everyone and I’ll make sure that no one else knows that you absolute..” she stammered for a second, trying to keep this from becoming an insult session “….. ehem I’ll make sure no one knows you tried to do something stupid.” Arbon nodded.

The other two quickly nodded before jumping off the balcony to go find the others. Arbon turned to face the open window, it seemed to beckon her, enticing her to enter, begging pleading. Only today she would answer it, she ducked down and crept inside.

Inside the building looked like a normal office complex, empty and barren, but a normal building. Arbon shook her head, shaking the feeling of normalcy from her skin, she’d been in one of these buildings before, they’re anything but normal. The twists and turns are uneven, unsteady. The rooms don’t line up and they aren’t built from the same materials. One moment you’re in a bedroom the next you’re in a school classroom, the tables over turned and crooked. One second you’re walking on hard wood then you’re walking on tile.

Arbon wandered aimlessly, trying to follow any tracks left behind by Seventeen. It seemed as though the walls wrapped around everything, it felt like they were watching her, observing her every move. Arbon shivered as she rounded a corner and observed a grave yard, empty headstones in uneven columns lined the room. The names that were on a few of the graves were scrambled and jumbled up, it was eerie, wrong.

Sawyer slammed her body against the window in front of her, the glass shattering into the building. She swiveled her head wildly, looking for signs of Arbon. “Are you SURE you saw her enter this building? Positive?”

Sawyer’s closest friend Mare nodded. Mare mumbled “Yeah her and that Seventeen girl.” he crossed his arms “I think Arbon was chasing after her, Hawk saw it happen.”
Sawer shook her head, “She knows how dangerous that is, the walls could collapse in on her at any second, they could entangle her, trap her, squish her!” she took a steadying breath “It’s not often people go into the buildings for prolonged periods of time and come back out fine, whatever is controlling them is.. Terrifying, awful, wretched. It wont stop to think ‘oh it’s a little child and her friend’, no it will snap anyone up whole.

“Eugh, bones and all?”

“Bones and all.”

Sawyer looked behind her, past Mare and back to her group. “Keep them safe, I’ll be fine. If anything goes wrong you’ll know, I’ll find a way to signal. Stay nearby. I just don’t want anyone getting lost inside these buildings. Try to enter from a floor below and work your way upwards, and then send another group to the floor above that one, unless you can see a fire inside the building.”

Mare nodded and bolted downwards and back across the building that had grown up in the middle of the two original buildings. It had split across the middle, leading to a tree like building, of course none of the inside of the building was visible from the outside so it really just looked like someone tried to build a V shaped tower.

Sawyer ducked inside of the building and took a quick glance around, it looked like a regular old kitchen, complete with a fridge that was half inside and half outside the building. She called out, “Arbon! Arbon, are you here?” her voice echoed off the walls. Her hands shook lightly as she clenched her teeth together, fear rushing through her veins. There was no response to her cries, just faint sounds of the building creaking and churning underneath her.

She shook out her hands and continued on, clambering up the stairway that stood to the right of the kitchen. The stairs twisted and turned, they changed shape, color and size. One second they were spiraling upwards the next it was a straight shot up. Sawyer took the first door she saw, yanking it open so hard the hinges rattled against the frame. “Arbon!” she yelled, the lack of wind making it hard for her to judge how loud she was being. Outside the wind whipped away the words you tried to say, you had to be loud, you had to cut through the gusts of wind with your voice. Inside the buildings there was no wind to steal your voice, inside there was just the faint rattle of Air conditioning, well.. Sometimes.

Sawyer shivered as the windows around her rattled against the outside forces. She took a shaky breath, exhaling slowly. The buildings always made her nervous, something about them just slowly crept into your mind and ate away at whatever sanity you had left. She pushed forward, creeping along the walls checking every corner for any sign that Arbon was here, any sign that Arbon was okay. She called out Arbon’s name over and over again, but nothing came of it. No response, no movement, nothing.

Sawyer lifted her hand to meet the door in front of her, she began to twist the knob when someone yanked the door from the other side. Sawyer fell forwards into the person as they sprinted through the doorway. They collided into each other and promptly fell forwards, Sawyer landing on top of them. Sawyer grimaced praying she hadn’t hurt them.

“Get.. off” The person coughed, squirming underneath Sawyer.

“Oh sorry sorry.” Sawyer mumbled, slowly picking herself up, she lent out her hand to them, “You okay?”

“Fine,” they huffed, meeting Sawyer’s eyes as they stood up “oh, hey Sawyer.” Seventeen’s eyes widened as she took a step back.

“Oh there you are little miss trouble,” Sawyer crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes “Where’s Arbon, and second of all where are your brains, in what world is it safe to come into these buildings.”

Seventeen shifted her weight uncomfortably, she looked away from Sawyer not daring to meet her eyes. Sawyer steadied herself before blowing up on the kid. It wasn’t right to yell at someone who had been curious. For all she knew this kid didn’t know Arbon was even in here. “Did you even enter with Arbon?” Sawyer grumbled.

Seventeen shook her head no, that wasn’t a good sign. “Have you seen her at least?” Sawyer murmured, loosening her posture.

“No I havent, I didnt… I didnt know she followed me here, I thought the others followed me but not her.” Seventeen’s voice shook, her eyes darted around the room. Sawyer lifted an arm to pat Seventeen on the shoulder.

“Well we’re in this together we need to find her, and quick. This building makes me quite antsy.” Sawyer looked around the room they were in, scouting for the next door they could go through. She quickly noted a door that opposed the one they were at, it wasn’t the one that she had entered through, the frame sparkled in old fashioned golden paint, it cascaded gold reflections across the floor and walls. She walked over to the door and let her hand wander over the painted surface, it was smooth and professionally done, expensive. She shook her head and pushed the door open, preparing for what could even be on the other side.

Inside was a small luxurious bar, the walls were dark and wooden, a small bar sat snugly in the corner of the room. The shelving was empty but it looked well taken care of, it didn’t look like patchwork at all, everything was seamless. Sawyer let her body relax, confusion bubbling up in her chest. “This is odd, it’s not everyday you see something so well preserved like this.” Sawyer mumbled, leaning down and grabbing a scribbled piece of paper off the floor.

“Its not like there’s anything here worth protecting either, it’s just… perfectly preserved.” Seventeen grumbled, kicking over a chair.

Suddenly a loud crash rang out, clattering and yelling bounced from the right side of the room, behind the door in the bar. “Arbon.” Sawyer realised, her eyes widening. “Quick, move” Sawyer pushed Seventeen to the side as she barreled to the door, crashing into it just barely managing to open it. Behind the door was a kitchen, shattered glass and silverware littered the floor. The smell of gas hung heavy in the air, and heat burdened the room.

“Arbon?” Sawyer quickly raised her voice, she swiveled her head to see one of the burners turned on, a flame flickered upwards dangerously. Her eyes widened and she pushed Seventeen backwards out the door, quickly pushing herself to the floor. The top of the room erupted in flames, the ceiling catching alight. She winced as the sound of popping wood quickly filled the room. “You alright back there Seventeen?”

Seventeen grabbed onto her pant leg and whispered “yeah,” in a small weak voice.

“We need to get through this room, Arbons in there somewhere I know it.. Actually” Sawyer rummaged in her pocket, “here, take this makeshift flair, just pull that string right there. Break a window and shoot it out of it, people will be here to get us out soon, quick go.”

Sawyer felt Seventeen flee behind her, she coughed as the smoke quickly filled the room. She squinted her eyes as she crawled through the room, tears welling in her eyes. “Arbon, Please!” She wailed, her voice growing weaker by the second.

Arbon curled up in the corner of the burning room. The smoke engulfed her as the flames ate their way across the ceiling. The door that had led her here had been warped by the building as soon as she had entered, the flame had already been sparked. She coughed and hacked as the smoke slithered around her and into her eyes.
A hand grabbed her ankle, strong but weakening. She looked down, tears streaking down her face as concern filled her brain. Sawyer looked up at her, a soft smile, faint but real, painted on her face. “Hey Arbon, lets get-” her voice was cut off by a strong coughing fit, “lets get you out of here, yeah?”