I would never admit it, but I was terrified of the dark and who could be lurking in it. Soldiers escaping, Jaxlor's coming for us, anyone... The explosions didn't help. But I eventually calmed my thoughts enough for me to drift off into a comfortable sleep.

The sun peeked through the trees, shining down on us through the spaces between the leaves. It was a chilly morning. Not so much cold, but definitely chilly. A fresh coat of dew still hung on the blades of grass and us as we all slowly began to wake. I took a deep breath, only opening my eyes for a few seconds before closing them again. It was still early morning, but I couldn't tell the exact time.
"We gotta get up guys." I grumbled, throwing my arm over my eyes to shield them from the ever rising sun.

The first thing I noticed once I came to, was how much my body was aching. It was still healing and I had pushed it a lot yesterday, which unfortunately only made it all worse.
I sat up with a small groan and resisted the urge to stretch. Grabbing the bag I had used as a pillow over night, I dusted the dirt off and stood up slowly. Everyone was getting up, still groggy from sleep, even Emily, whose siblings seemed to be avoiding her.
"She's grumpy, I wouldn't say anything to her for at least another two hours. You've been warned." Joe said as he passed by me to get rid of any evidence of our fire.

I sat up and pushed myself to my feet, wrapping my arms around my ribs in the process. They weren't so bad, but they still hurt a bit.
"Look at that." I nodded towards the base camp. There was grey smoke rising into the sky. "What a sight to wake up to, huh?" I rubbed my eyes and cracked my back, turning away from the sight.
"Let's just get moving." Spencer yawned, running a hand through his messy hair in the process.

"I'm just glad we weren't there to experience it." Nina said as she heaved her bags onto her shoulders. "Em, can you please try to look a little more alive, seeing as you know, we are?"
There was no reply from Emily, only a cold hard glare as she stormed past her knocking Nina in the process.
"Ah, she's a sensitive one in the morning. My advice, stay away until she makes the first move." Nina said to Daisy and I. I nodded thinking this must be a serious thing if I'd been warned by not one, but two of her siblings.
"I suppose we go that way then." Spencer said looking after Em.
"I suppose so." I said and so we did.

It was a long morning. Spencer decided it'd be funny to mess with Em within the first thirty minutes of our walk. The siblings ended up having to pull her off of Spencer, seeing as she'd tackled him to the forest floor. After that followed much bickering and irritated sighs from all off us. After another two or three hours, I'd grown very tired.
"We should take a break." I suggested. "We've been at it for a while. I need to sit down for a bit." I stopped in my tracks and did exactly that. I sat down in the thin grass and eventually ended up laying there, closing my eyes and zoning out. I hadn't realized how tired I was until I'd just finally stopped.

"Food would probably be a good idea too." I said as I went over to Spencer. I opened up the bag that hung off of his back and began digging around until I found some fruit.
Handing some out to everyone, I managed to get a small apologetic smile from Em as I handed her an apple.
"I think having no breakfast probably wasn't the best of ideas." I said as I crunched into an apple of my own.
"No. I agree." Joe said from the ground as he ran his hand through his dark hair. "Food is definitely what I need right now."

I was handed a bright yellow apple and rubbed it on my shirt, getting rid of any little pieces of dirt that found it's way onto it. I was sure it didn't do anything, but it made me feel better. I took a big bite of my apple and instantly I began to feel life rushing back into me. I could swear it was the best apple I had eaten.
"We got any water?" I asked. Just seconds later a water bottle was tossed at my feet. I sat up and took a few sips, careful not to drink too much.
"I'd say it's about noon now." Nina spoke up, looking towards the few fluffy clouds above us. The sun was high in the sky so I figured she was right.
"So then we can chill for about twenty minutes before we get going again. I hear a nap calling my name." I yawned before taking another bite.

"Hopefully we're headed into the right direction. Can you imagine if we came across a Jaxlor camp?!" Spencer said with a laugh as he placed his bags in his lap, opting for a collection of nuts over the fruit.
"Yeah... I don't really want to imagine that, thanks Spence." Joe said with a roll of his eyes.
"Hey, if it does happen, we can just go around it."
I looked at Spencer. Was he serious? "You say that like you've done it a thousand times, but I really don't think it would be that easy."

"I don't think it'd be easy at all." I yawned, sitting my half eaten apple on my stomach as I drifted off into a nap. I knew someone would wake me once it was time to leave.
"Well maybe I have done it a thousand times, Plan Man." Spencer smirked. "Those Jaxlors can't handle me. Look at these guns." Spencer flexed, showing off his biceps that weren't exactly impressive.
"The only thing those 'guns' are gonna scare is your reflection if you do that in the mirror." Em joked and the siblings laughed. Spencer huffed, turning away from his brother and sisters as they all joked about him.

I almost spat half my apple out at the joke from Em. It felt good to laugh. Being in good company helped, but also the fact that we didn't have any imminent dangers on hand, we could relax a little. It was a much better feeling than constantly watching your back.
"Okay, okay. Spencer, maybe you were being a little bit of a dick, yes? I think so. Em... good one." Nina said trying and failing at sorting the two of them out, being the mother figure of the four wasn't really something to associate with Nina. There were times, but this was not one of them.

"Oh, whatever, Nina." Spencer rolled his eyes. "Maybe Em shouldn't act like a big baby every morning and learn how to be nice once in a while." Spencer shot Em a glare and she scoffed.
"Since I'm in a good mood, I'm going to ignore you." She paused. "Oh. Spencer? You were born last, so technically, you're the baby of the family." She finished.
Her siblings looked on, not sure what was about to erupt from their siblings. Joe stood up, looking to Spencer and Em, getting ready for whatever brawl these siblings were about to engage in. Nina kept quiet, deciding that speaking again probably wasn't the best choice. Spencer took a deep breath, standing up and walking towards, Em.
"Like I said before... What. Ever." He walked off into the trees, disappearing from everyone's sight.

I widened my eyes at the drama unfolding before us all. Once Spencer stormed off into the trees, Joe seemed to relax, whereas Em just shrugged, clearly not bothered by her brothers decision to disappear for a while. Hopefully he wouldn't go to far, we really needed to stick together at the moment.
"Well that was dramatic of him." Nina said looking after him slightly worried, her look quickly changed once she shook her head. "He's so sensitive sometimes."

"It happens." I opened one eye and peeked at the siblings. I sat up and stretched my arms into the air, looking at the rest of the group. "Couldn't get a nap with you guys fussing about." I was mostly talking about the siblings. "Hopefully he'll be alright. When are we leaving?"

"I guess as soon as he comes back." I said to Daisy then looked at the others. "He won't be too long, right?"
Joe shrugged. "Sometimes it can take him a few minutes to want to see any of our faces again, other times it can take a lot longer."
"Well, we don't really have a lot longer unfortunately, so he better try for the minute thing." I glanced over to where Spencer had left. "It's just we need to stay together and keep moving."
"He's just being a sissy. Spence won't be long, he knows there are more important things than himself." Em said.

"Well I hope he hurries. It'd suck if we had to put on a mini search party to find the kid." I half-joked. After a few minutes of waiting around, I could hear someone screaming something at us. I quickly stood up, scanning the trees for whoever was yelling.
"It's Spencer!" His sister pointed. "Oh my goodness this can't be good." She began to pick up some of the supplies.
"Run, run, run! Go! They've found us! Go!" Spencer shouted as he sprinted towards us. I looked at the others and they looked at me. We all knew what we had to do. Without a second thought, I picked up the nearest bag and began running as fast as my legs could take me. I looked over my shoulder to see Spencer pick up two bags and reach for a gun. Following behind him were at least fifteen people. Five of which were in a Jeep. The rest were on foot.
"We're doomed! They've got a Jeep!" I couldn't help but panic.

"Go! Just keep going!" I yelled, as everyone raced after Daisy. Spencer fled past me and I was straight on his tail. "Go!" I encouraged hitching my bag onto my shoulders. Spencer ran ahead, his gun tight in his grip. "Don't worry about shooting, just run." I told him, we had come this far we couldn't be caught now.
Ahead, I could see Daisy in the lead, Nina and Emma right behind her, none of them looking back. Good. Just keep running. Joe wasn't that far ahead of us but somehow he had ended up with most of the bags, slowing him down, though he was still faster than me.
I was beginning to ache, each step sent a horrible throb up through my legs and into my gut, but I couldn't let it slow me. I refused.

"I don't know where to go!" I shouted to anyone who was listening. I glanced behind me once more to see the Jeep speeding up. They were determined to get us. They'd catch up, capture us, or just kill us on the spot. I flinched, ducking and momentarily shielding my head as gunshots echoed through the trees.
"Look out!" One of the siblings shouted, "They're shooting at us!"
I pushed myself as hard as I could, running until I felt like my lungs were bleeding. The sound of guns being fired was endless.
Ahead of us, I could see a huge thicket. It would be a great place to hide or at least lose them for a bit.
"We can go through the thick-" I felt a sharp pain go through my thigh, burning and making my whole leg give out before me. I tumbled, crashing to the ground and dropping everything in my hands. I cried out in pain, writhing where I fell and grabbing my thigh. I've been shot.
"Shit." I looked down at my hands, blood oozing through the cracks of my fingers. My eyes grew wide at the sight. "Oh, shit!" This time I yelled. I'd been shot and the chance of me getting out of here alive was now very slim. But I wasn't going to give up. With a deep breath, I closed my eyes and bit the inside of my cheek as I mustered up the strength to get back onto my feet. I stumbled before grabbing whatever bags I had dropped and kept going. Each step sending excruciating pain through my body.
I breathed hard, letting stray tears stream down my cheeks as I tried power through. I fell every few or so steps, but I had to continue on. I couldn't die like this. Not here.

The sound of the gun shots were loud and shocking, though I should have been expecting them. I grabbed Sam's shoulder and veered to the left, dragging him into the denser part of the forest, the trees making it difficult for the Jeep to follow through behind us.
"Stay low." I told Spencer as he darted desperately through the bushes, panic all over his face. I glanced over my shoulder to see five or six soldiers running after the two of us. They held large guns in their hands, but the thick undergrowth made it difficult for them to shoot and chase us at the same time.
"Keep moving Spencer. Don't stop." I breathed heavily as we ran together. "We need to lose them."
"We lose them, we lose my brother and sisters!" He puffed angrily. "And I can't lose them."
"We already have. It's too dangerous to try and find them now, besides if we all split up the higher the chances of more of us surviving."
"More of us!? I want all of us to survive!" Spencer half shrieked in irritation.
"Look, you stick with me, I promise I'll get you back to them. It's better we do that together though. You know that right?" I asked breathlessly.
Spencer looked over his shoulder at the soldiers shouting orders at each other, then back to me and nodded. "Yeah, I do."

I huffed and puffed as I continued to run along. After what seemed liked forever, I made it through the thicket and into the dense brush. "I- I gotta... I gotta hide." I said to myself. I didn't know where Sam or The Siblings were. I didn't know if any soldiers were on my tail. And I didn't know if I would make it through this. I hobbled to the thickest part of the forest I could see and crawled through the bushes. I laid flat on my back and covered my mouth with the crook of my arm. Around me, leaves concealed me from the approaching Jaxlors. I couldn't see out and they definitely couldn't see in.
"She ran through here!" A man yelled. "She couldn't have gotten far! She's wounded!"
"Then find the skinny little brat!" A womans voice roared at her comrades.
I held my breath, waiting for them to go pass so I could let out the wheezes I was desperately trying to hold in. I had been shot, my asthma was acting up, and it was only a matter of time before one of them killed me. That or the Jaxlors.

They weren't letting up. The soldiers on our tail were stronger and clearly had more endurance. I doubted Spencer had been in the training camp for more than a month or two, no where near enough training for what we were both facing now.
It was up to me, as it apparently had been for the last week. Sam, The Plan Man.
But I couldn't do anything but run, and even that was becoming difficult. I had no plan. Run, hide, survive... Even that wasn't enough for now. These men wouldn't let us go.
Spencer was inching ahead now as I began to drop back, unable to match his pace. "Sam, come on! Let's go." He shouted as he noticed me slipping behind.
"Keep going, I'll be right behind you." I breathed out raising a hand to wave him on.
"No. We're doing this together. Remember? Together." He came over to me and wrapped his arm around my shoulders, helping me along. "You're not leaving me alone out here."
I looked at him then. He was determined now, his fear clearly driving him.
But we were still too slow. We weren't going to get more than fifty meters before they caught up with us.
I had promised to deliver him back to his family. I had promised myself I would find Daisy. I had promised too much, but unlike my father, I refused to break promises.
I stopped walking and held my hand out to Spencer. He looked at me, alarmed.
"Spencer. Give me your gun."
"Wha-"
"Give it to me." I demanded, shaking my hand.
He fumbled within his clothing and pulled out a hand gun, handing it over with a trembling hand.
"What are you gonna do?" He asked quietly, almost not wanting to ask the question.
"Go and stand behind that tree." I told him as I turned around, facing the oncoming soldiers.
"Sam-"
"Go! Don't make me break my promises."
Spencer scurried off behind one of the larger trees as I raised the hand gun as I had been taught. Pulling the safety back, I aimed, standing calmly as I waited for the soldiers to come into a clear shot.
I breathed deeply and pulled the trigger.
One, two, three, four... five.
Lowering my arm, I looked down. There was blood every where, each soldier lying still.
I could hear Spencer breathing heavily behind his tree and when I looked over at him, he had his hands over his ears, crouching low to the ground.
"Spencer." I said gently, waiting for him to look at me. He didn't. "Spencer. I'll collect their guns, but then we've got to keep moving. Okay? We can take a break when we are out of sight."
He didn't say anything as I went around to each soldier, pulling their guns off of their bodies. They had nothing else on them that would help us, so I turned away and headed over to Spencer who was still sitting there in shock.
"Let's go." I reached out a hand, about to rest it on his shoulder, when he stood up. Without looking at me, he fixed his bags on his shoulders and continued on.