Marc was sitting upon a small crate outside of the garage where his parents lived when his phone buzzed inside of the dark blue jeans he wore. He slipped his hand into his pocket and drew forth his phone and opened the text message he received.

Hey guys! We got the okay!
Dad said that we could take the guns too.
When do you want to go? I was thinking at the end of the week.
That will give us plenty of time to get supplies.
See you guys soon, Lyn.

He took a quick moment to read it and then smile happily before standing up and moving into the house through the back door into the kitchen. He looked away from his phone to pop open the fridge and grab a bottle of water and then back outside, but he turned opposite the way he came to a small table with his compound Bow and a quiver of arrows. He pulled the phone up once more and began typing a reply message to the whole group.

Wonderful. That is great.
End of the week fits for me.
I will see you all then, Marc.

Zack leaned under the hood of his jeep. The sun beating down on his back and the sweat dripping off his head. His T-shirt soaked. The only problem he's found with this place so far is the sun is too damn strong. And since Zack is "PIB" or "Pale Irish Boy" he can't do a lot with his shirt off. So he needs to suffer through it.

He reaches down behind the radiator with a socket wrench. As he begins pushing down on the wrench, his phone, sitting on the corner of the of the jeep, starts to vibrate. The noise startles Zack. His hand slips off the wrench and slams off the radiator.

"Son of a" He yells.

Zack pulls his hand out and starts to grumble as he picks his phone and sees "one new text message". Zack stops grumbling immediately, curious about who is texting him.

He reads Lyn's message and smiles. This is his in. If he can make some friends before school starts then this could be a great year!

"Can't wait! See you soon." He texts back.

This is gonna be awesome.

He decides that he needs to get his jeep ready for the trip and gets back to work under the hood.

Duck, Right hook, straight punch, knee to the gut, finish it with a leg sweep and kick to the side. This was a rhythm that Rurik was very used to, his father had taught it to him after all, and it was the same rhythm that had put the man in front of him on the ground. He was a senior at Rurik's high school, and he'd misconceived one of Rurik's jokes as him making a pass at the older man's girlfriend. So, he'd thrown a punch at Rurik, and Rurik had responded in kind. This was why the gentleman was now lying, bruised, on the ground while Rurik turned to the man's girlfriend, saying "Sorry about that! I didn't mean to make it seem like I was hitting on you, I was just joking around y'know? Anyway, seeya later, your boyfriend'll be fine he'll just be a bit bruised."

With that, Rurik took off at a run, heading for his house half a mile away. Rurik couldn't drive yet, not back in Russia and not here, but he didn't mind. After all, running distance had it's advantages, didn't it? After 4 minutes at a light pace, Rurik arrived back at his house, and pulled out his phone. He'd thought that he had felt it vibrate during the run home but he hadn't been sure, though sure enough, he had a text message from Lyn. He hadn't ever really talked to her, so her offer of a camping trip was surprising to Rurik, but he'd accepted none the less. Opening the message, he cocked a smile and replied

Alright, I'll be sure to come along, I'll bring my Machete and my rifle, sound good?

With that, he locked the phone and slid it back into his pocket. He headed to his room to get the rifle ready, while contemplating what to make himself for supper. His aunt was away on a business trip, as per usual, so he was on his own. The good part about this was all he had to do was text her to say he was going, which he already had, and then go. Opening his rifle case, he pulled the weapon out and looked it over. A 30-30 bolt action rifle, whose model he'd never actually known. It'd been sent over with him from Russia, a parting gift from his father. Looking it over and finding it to be in good shape, he put it back in the case and grabbed the 4 5-round magazines he owned, putting them in with it. In his Duffel bag went a small box of 50 rounds, his sheathed machete, and a few extras. Namely a heavy jacket, it got cold at night, a dark-green Du-rag in case he lost the baseball cap he planned to wear, a few water bottles and a canteen. He laughed at himself slightly because he'd packed so light that the big duffel really hadn't been needed. He zipped it shut and then lay back on his bed, sighing to himself and yawning, wondering what may happen on this trip.

“I just- I feel like it’ll be a waste. I only know Lyn, and even then I only hang out with her in class. What if I don’t like it?” Harper Taylor muttered, sitting beside her uncle on the back porch of their gorgeous home. Her aunt was out shopping with their daughter, her cousin, Samantha.

“Harper, I feel like ever since you got here you’ve been doing your best to be the opposite of what you were when you were little. What happened to the little book worm that made me listen to her read the just about the entire Nancy Drew books?” the older man chuckled, getting a small smirk from his niece.

“I want to be somebody worth remembering, that’s all,” she said honestly. Her uncle was glad they were finally getting to the heart of it all after sitting outside for almost an hour. “I don’t see why Renae had to punish me! I’m an adult, aren’t I?”

Rob chuckled, standing up and brushing his jeans off. “You’re getting there. I know you think she’s being hard on you, but it’s not so bad. A quiet summer might be nice. Learn to enjoy the silence for once, Harper. Besides, you’re going on that big trip, aren’t you? That’s hardly being grounded, I think you’ll be surprised how much fun you have.”

At that moment Harper’s phone went off. She nodded, giving Rob one more smile before looking down at the device. “Yeah, yeah. It’s better than being stuck in my room.” He left, leaving her to herself. Hm, the text was from Lyn. She really was an upbeat, happy person. Harper wouldn’t mind being around her at all, and hopefully the others going with them were the same way. Pleasant, that is. She texted back with a small smile, trying to go over in her head what supplies she might need. The girl hadn’t been camping since her parents died.

Thanks, this weekend sounds great.
I’ll bring any outdoorsy stuff I think I might need ;) Let me know if you need any help getting ready.

Zack stands near the door to his room. He still hadn't unpacked all of his stuff yet. He had developed a depressing habit of never fully unpacking because he would just have to pack it all up again for yet another move. But hopefully this was going to be the last stop.

He looks at his pack laying on the bed. He had all his clothes packed but now he needed to figure out what else's he would need. If he were camping back in the states he could probably guess but this is the frigan outback. He starts thinking about what animals they might encounter. And as is usually the case with Zack he starts thinking about what Australian animals he would be most afraid to fight. Zack starts laughing out loud as he comes to the conclusion it would be a kangaroo only because, according to all the cartoons, they were ferocious boxers.

"I need help" he sighs as he starts searching through one of his unpacked boxes for his football. Maybe he can teach this kids a little something about American football. Then it occurs to him, "maybe they have football here." He puts the ball down and goes to his laptop to find out if they do.

Marc sat himself on the stool tucked under the small table and pulled the eight arrows he had in the quiver, out to be adjusted. He laid them all out and picked them up one by one to examine the flimsy, rubber feathers that were glued to the back, and one by one he used a small, thin blade to shave them away by wedging the well-designed blade under them and into the glue. One by one he removed all of the rubber and then shaved away all of the glue to prepare them for the new, hunting feathers he had bought.

Once the rubber feathers had been replaced with stiff, thick, hunting-bristle feathers, he began to unscrew the small, rounded Fieldpoint Arrowheads off and screw on the bladed, Broadhead Arrowheads he had saved for hunting occasions. This took a lot less time then re-feathering the arrows, but it would still take a few moments. Once that was completed he picked up the Compound bow, checked the test in the draw, and then stood at a ready stance, as if he had an arrow notched on his cable, and then slowly pulled it back and held it a moment. It was rigged for deer, which was safe to say around an average test, but he would be bumping it up to what most American hunters would use for bears. After taking the time to adjust the entirety of the bow itself, he stood once more and readied himself in the stance, drew the bow up, and then drew the cable back. The test was much tighter and the force it took to pull it back was monstrous in comparison to before, but Marc was use to a heavier weight test, and he was satisfied with the work he had done. He packed the arrows back into the quiver, laced the bow over his shoulder, and then packed his stuff into his room and laid back on his bed with a smile shining at the ceiling.

"Camping.." He said aloud, but lowly to himself. "Camping, with some actual people this time, other then my old man. Wonderful." He said as he spoke again in his deep, but low voice before turning his head to look at the clock. After he caught the time he closed his eyes a moment while sliding his hands up and behind his head to rest himself a moment.

Well, it wasn’t like she had anything better to do. Putting her phone back in her pocket Harper got up and went upstairs to her bedroom. It was filled with awards from when she was a child, ranging from Future Problem Solvers to a few essay competitions. They were covered in dust and pushed to the back, however, a the bigger dance competition ribbon and trophies were in the front on her bookshelf. The room itself wasn’t very decorated, though, as if she hadn’t quite moved in for good yet. There were even unopened boxes still in the closet.

Half an hour later she headed downstairs dressed in a black skirt, blue chucks, and a light blue, loose tank top with her hair pulled halfway up in waves. After letting her uncle know she was going out Harper got into her “baby”, a fairly new red car she’d picked out herself. Honestly Harper hated driving, she would much rather ride and enjoy the scenery, but having her own car really was something to cherish. The teenager turned up “Livin’ on a Prayer” as she drove the short distance to the large, local store that pretty much everyone in town frequented.

Once inside she went straight to the camping, hunting, sporting…pretty much anything that happens outdoors section. “Oh boy…” she muttered to herself, checking out the brands of sleeping bags. This might take a while.

Rurik woke with a start to find that he had drifted off to sleep in the bed, and looked around blearily. About an hour had passed, which wasn't too much of a waste of time in his opinion. He got up and stumbled downstairs, looking about the kitchen for something to eat. Eventually, his eyes came to rest on some instant potatoes, which were soon popped in the microwave. Rurik knew how to cook, or at least kind of, that much he'd learned from his mother. However, in the end, Laziness had prevailed over the want for real food and Rurik accepted this fact.

As he waited for his potatoes to finish, he pondered what would come of this camping trip. He knew of the girls, but he hadn't ever heard of any of the other guys. Lyn was known for her job as a barmaid, and he'd heard she was a really nice girl. The other one, that Harper girl, was very popular, but Rurik had always been kinda suspicious of her. Something about that chick just rubbed Rurik the wrong way, and being out on a camping trip on her would only exacerbate that. Rurik was drawn from his thoughts by the ding of the Microwave, however. So, he went and retrieved his potatoes and a bottle of water, sitting down to a belated supper as he texted Lyn

Oh, Lyn, if you need me to pick anything up just give me a shout, eh comrade?

Still browsing through the supplies Harper again heard her phone go off, and pulled it out of her purse while praying it wasn’t her aunt telling her she had to be home. No, it was Lyn…asking if they wanted to shop together, all five of them. Thank goodness! And she was already here, so that helped. With a sigh of relief Harper fidgeted with the strap of her purse while walking back to the entrance, keeping her eyes open for Lyn. It didn’t take long to spot her.

“Hey, you read my mind,” she greeted with a smile. “I thought it might be a good idea to check things out, but I have no idea what to get. Did you know there are sleeping bags that hang like hammocks? Completely unnecessary, and makes me feel like a an idiot for wanting a normal one,” Harper went on with a grin, suddenly realizing she was probably rambling. “Uh…hey. Thanks again for letting me tag along. And for not announcing it all over the internet that I’m going. Everyone would think I’m really weird for thinking this might be fun,” she finished, looking down at her feet then back at Lyn with a shrug.

Having gotten the text, Zack doesn't even bother to respond. He's too excited to meet some people. He grabs his keys, checks his wallet quickly and jumps in his jeep. He turns the key and nothing happens. Zack rests his head on the steering wheel. "Come on, baby." He turns the key and the engine starts. "Oh thank god."

Zack drives to the plaza. He knew where it was but hadn't gone inside it. After finding a parking space, Zack walks towards the entrance, suddenly his stomach starts to churn and he realizes how nervous he is. He had never met any of the people in the group except Lyn, and he had never seen her when she wasn't serving drinks to people. Well he was already here so there was no going back.

After a few minutes, Zack finds Lyn and another girl together looking at sleeping bags.

"Lyn? Hi how are you?" He turns to Harper, smiles and stretches out his hand, "Hi, I'm Zack."

Rurik pulled out his phone when he felt it going off and glanced down as he shoveled the last spoonful of potatoes into his mouth. It was Lyn, asking if they wanted to meet up. He released a groan as he put his dishes into the dishwasher and considered this. The store wasn't too far, he could be there in 5 minutes tops, but did he really want to meet all these people right now? Sighing, Rurik accepted that this was a good idea and texted back

Alright sure, I'll be there in a few minutes.

With that, Rurik went up to his room and grabbed his wallet and pocket knife, shoving the wallet into his back pocket and carefully seating the small pocket knife in his jacket pocket. With that, he grabbed his house keys and jogged out, locking the door behind him. He then took off at a run towards the store, ducking through the sidewalks and around people occasionally. He saw the store that they intended to meet at, and he saw the boy named Zack walking in. He hesitated for a moment, but then walked into the store.

Soon enough, he saw Zack approach the girls, who seemed to be looking at sleeping bags. Rurik hesitated however, he'd never really met any of them and that made him nervous. He hesitated for a brief moment, debating on whether or not to approach, but decided that he had to. He plastered a smile on his face and moved towards them, waving casually. "Privet comrades! I'm RJ, how is everyone?" He casually adjusted his stance, leaning on a nearby shelf.

Marc noticed his phone buzzing and looked upon it with curiosity, but found that Lyn was looking to have everyone meet at the local grocer, and he pulled a smile across his face and nodded to himself softly as he quickly typed a reply into his little phone while also grabbing his bottle of water and heading out of the door.

"Of course, I will be there A,S,A.P. It will be nice to meet everyone."

He tucked the phone into his pants and started off on a light jog down the side of the road while smiling at the day's atmosphere and joyous weather. He titled his head back lightly every little bit to seemingly take in the moment while moving along and it wasn't more then fifteen minutes until he reached the small store and made his way inside. He started peering around, looking for what he assumed would be a small group of people talking or shopping for the camping trip, and he found just that in the sporting goods section. He rounded the corner while finishing a swig from his water and screwing the cap back on before actually stepping up to them.

"Well, howdy everyone." He said while smiling lightly and extending his hand out to everyone for a handshake. "It is a pleasure to finally get together with you all." He added while grinning.

RJ approached the group and stood closer at Lyn's request, commenting "No problem, I needed something to do, and my father always said 'Son, never miss a chance to enter a survival situation, it'll train you better for the real thing' Then again, Father's unit was always really big on that.' With that, he looked to the sleeping bags and ran a critical eye over them. He began to carefully survey the bags, grabbing them and checking what they were made of among other things. After a minute, he indicated a particular sleeping bag, saying "This brand is best, it'll trap the heat but not so much of it that you'll sweat while your asleep, and thats good since sweating could lead to catching a cold. Or at least, thats what father always said."

That said, RJ stepped back and turned to Marc. He gave a smile and offered his hand for shaking, saying "priyatno poznakomit'sya, nice to meet you Marc. My name is Rurik, but please call me RJ." Hearing that the man had graduated last year, Rurik's respect for him went up a little. The fact that he could go on this trip without anyone to finance him like Rurik did meant that he must have a decent job. That alone was enough to garner respect from Rurik. For now, Rurik didn't really have much of an opinion on anyone else, aside from his distrust of Harper and her popularity.

Listening intently to everyone, RJ caught Zack's attention. "RJ, you're father was in the military? Mine was too." Zack was eager to hear what it was like for a Russian army brat.

"So for food, my dad has boxes of MRE's. Those are 'Meals Ready to Eat', they're actually pretty good and super easy to pack and carry. They're already prepackaged and come in a bunch of different types, like pasta and stuff. All we'll need to cook em is some water. I mean if we want to do something else that's cool, but my dad said we could take them and it's one less thing to buy. We'll still need to buy the s'mores though." Zack hesitated for a second, just like with the football thought he wondered.

"You guys know what s'mores are right?"

RJ turned to Zack and smiled when he said his father was in the military and said "Da, my father was Russian Army! Actually, he was in the Spetsnaz, so I guess you could say he was special forces in a way. He was always teaching me all kinds of things so that I could join the Spetsnaz one day too, but I wasn't too sure about that." He stepped back so he could regard both Marc and Zack and offered "We moved to all sorts of bases across Russia, though we always had a home in Moscow. I've also spent a few months on base in Germany, the Middle East and even in China for a brief period, I can speak a little bit of each language too. What about you comrade, what unit was your father in?"