"Lily, I'm hungry."

Lily pushed back her hair as she turned around to see Ayame curled up into a ball in the back seat. She looked back at the time, 2:45am, they had been on the road for 3 hours now. Lily scanned the area looking around at the girls. Ayame in a ball in the back seat and Claire who was sitting next to her with her feet sitting on the dash, looking outside the window. They all looked exhausted, but none of them dared to go to sleep.

"We need gas," Lily stated, "there should be a gas station around here soon. It looks like we're finally close to a town of some sorts."

Lily sighed as she looked over at Claire, "We can't go walking around like this, people will talk."

They were all covered in blood, clothes torn and barefoot. There was dry blood that covered their faces and shirts. Lily knew if they walked out in public especially at this time of night someone would sure call the cops on them. They all looked like they committed a murder. Lily tapped her fingers on the stirring wheel as she tried to think of a plan.

"Beep, Beep"

She sighed, the gas light finally went off, they would have about 20 more miles left before they were completely out of gas. They have been driving for 3 hours now, and they have not seen a town yet. Just where in the world were they? She knew that they were in Montana, but that was about it. Claire told them that they needed to go to Washington, she just hoped that they were headed in the right path.

"We need to come up with a plan on how to get changed," Lily told the girls, "We can't just pop into a gas station with blood all over ourselves, barefoot. People will definitely call the cops and if they do, word might get back to Creed on where we are."

Claire looked over at Lily, "Creed, one of the men mentioned him when shit was hitting the fan. Who is he?"

Lily sighed as she looked back to check on Ayame who was currently curled up into a ball in the back seat, fighting sleep, "Creed's the ringleader, he's Erik's boss. Apparently, he's in charge of the camps in the northwest. I only met him once," she closed her eyes as she took a deep breath keeping her eyes on the road, "let's just say we don't want to run into him."

Claire nodded her head as she turned back around to the window, "It'll be okay you know."

"No, I don't think it will," Lily told the girl, "When Creed gets word of what happened, he won't rest until he finds us. I give it a week and then we'll be a target."

"Why not go to the cops?" Claire asked, "We could go and report him and call the cops on him, we'd be safe."

Lily signed, "It's not as easy as it sounds. Creed, well he's not," she gripped the stirring wheel, "I know this sounds crazy, but there's just something not right about him."

"What do you mean at there's nothing right about him?"

Lily tried to steady her breathing as she gripped the wheel tighter and tighter. She shivered as she remembered his cold, stonelike body. How he was stronger than the average man, how fast he was.

"I've been taken by many men in the 3 years that I've been captured, but there was something different about Creed. There was something not human about him."

"How so?" Claire whispered as she scooted closer to Lily.

"The way he took me, was the scariest thing I've ever experienced. Creed took me with force that I don't think any man was capable of having. He was so cold I thought he was dead, but fast that I knew he wasn't dead. He was fast enough to take control over me, but it still felt like a life time with him."

She felt the tears run down her face as she replayed the memory in her head of Creed using her for his enjoyment. She remembered how he stocked her like pray in his room. How he licked his lips and smiled as he slammed her against the wall, ripping her clothes off. She remembered how cold his body was pressed against hers. But the one thing that truly made him a monster was his eyes, his blood red eyes.

"I know this sounds stupid, but I don't think he's human," she whispered, "I don't think anyone would be able to stop him."

"But what are we going to do then?" Claire asked.

Lily looked back to see Ayame sleeping, her feet dangling down as he long curls covered most of her face. She looked back at the road and sighing, "Well, we're going to drop you off with your family and then me and Ayame will just keep running I guess."

Claire reached over and took Lily's hand, "You can stay with me you know. You don't have to keep running."

"I don't think that would be a good idea," Lily told her not looking at her, "You have a family, you don't need us staying with you. Besides, if Creed were to follow us, it would be to get me and Ayame. He doesn't know about you yet; I'd like to keep it that way."

The girls sat in silence as they keep driving. Lily was right though, Creed would only be coming for her mainly, and Ayame, but only because she was with her. Ayame was only 12, Creed wasn't interested in her. But Lily, well Creed had already taken an interest in her and she wasn't a child like Ayame, she was 24, there's no way Creed would let her get away, she knew too much. She couldn't let Claire get caught up farther into the mess that they were in.

"There's a gas station up there," Claire pointed, "it looks empty. We might be able to get away with our appearances."

Lily nodded as she slowly pulled into the gas station. Claire was right there was no one here but the cashier. She pulled up to the pump and noticed that the bathroom was outside of the gas station. Perfect, she thought.

"I'm going to go and open the bathroom so that we can clean up. Do you still have the wallet?" Lily asked Claire was she turned the van off.

"Yeah," Claire pulled out the wallet from her pocket, "There's about $200 in cash, Mark's license and his credit card."

Lily nodded, "Good, give me the credit card I can use that to unlock the bathroom."

Lily took the card from Claire and walked to the bathroom. She took the card and slid it into the gap between the door and the doorjamb. She began just above the door handle, and slid the card downwards and in. She smiled as she felt the card will press against the latch assembly allowing her to open the door.

Once she was in, she couldn't help but start to cry, the tears started off slow, but then they poured out of her eyes like a waterfall. The crazy part she thought, was that she didn't know whether they were tears of joy or sadness. She ran over to the sink holding onto the sides as she looked in the mirror and continued to cry. It was finally over, but at what cost, the lives of the girls she swore to protect. She looked up into the mirror and screamed with frustration as she saw her reflection. Her red hair was long and jagged, there was splatters of red blood on her cheeks and forehead, and her eyes, they were so pale that they looked more grey than blue. She angerly turned on the water and grabbed a towel as she started to clean her face. She continued to scream and cry as she scrubbed the blood off her body. This was never going to end she thought. She looked down at her clothes and sighed, there was a few blood stains on her shirt, but she would just have to live with them for now.

As she walked out of the bathroom, she went into the car and woke Ayame up.

"Hey kid, go to the bathroom with Claire and get cleaned up."

Ayame puzzlingly blinked, "What?"

Lily smiled as she brushed the hair out of Ayame's face, "Go with Claire and clean up. I'm going to go and get some food."

Ayame nodded as she unbuckled her seat and crawled out of the car following Claire to the bathroom.

Lily walked around the gas station picking up a few bags of chips and some drinks. When she spotted a set of flip flops and oversized t-shirts with beer bottles on them. She grabbed them and walked over to the counter, avoiding eye contact.

"Um, I'll just take this and a pack of camels, and these" she told the cashier as she grabbed the lighter and a map placing it on the counter.

"$66.76" The cashier told her. Lily pulled out the money and walked away with the change.

"Could you tell me where we are?"

The cashier sighed, "You're in Allentown."

"Thank you," Lily told the man as she grabbed the bag.

"Um," he started, "you're okay right?"

Lily noticed he was looking at her blood-stained shirt, "Um yeah, just had a bloody nose earlier," she told him as she quickly raced out of the store.

"I got gas," Claire told her as she saw Lily walk out of the pump.

"Cool, I got shirts, shoes and food," Lily told her as tossed her over the bag.

She pulled out a cigarette and leaned against the car lighting it. She sighed as she took a deep breath inhaling the nicotine, shivering as it traveled down her throat.

"All good?" Claire asked.

"Yeah, are we all ready?" She looked over and saw that Claire had changed into the beer bottle shirt and put on flip flops.

"Yep. Ayame is in the van and changed."

Lily nodded, "Cool, I'll be right in."

Lily took one last long drag of the cigarette before putting it out and getting back into the driver seat. As she got into the driver seat Claire had passed her the map.

"It looks like all we have to do is take I-90W and just follow the road until we get to La Push," she told Lily as Lily opened the map up, "it should take us a day to get there, but we can stop if needed," Claire looked over at Lily noticing the bags under Lily's eyes, "there's no rush, we can find somewhere to stop and rest. You don't need to drive there without rest."

Lily shook her head as she started to drive off, "No, it's fine. The sooner we get there the better I'll feel."

Claire nodded as she propped her feet on the dash, "Sounds good," she smiled, "I can't wait to see Quil again."

Lily smiled as she patted Claire's leg, "I can't wait for you to see him again either. I can't wait to meet him and your family."

"They'd love you," Claire whispered, "You and Ayame. They're the most loveable group I've ever met. I don't know what I'd do without them."

"They sound great," Lily whispered as she looked back and saw Ayame passed out again in her seat.

"Lily," Claire started, "How did you end up there?"

Lily took a deep breath, "It's a long story, but umm, I was in love with Erik."

Claire's eyes shot up, "You were, but how?"

"Well, I was young and stupid. I was 21 years old, and the only thing I wanted at the time was alcohol, drugs and attention, and well Erik, he gave me all of those things," She sighed as she ran her hands through her hair, "I'm not proud of who I was. I was a train wreck. I was a foster child growing up, I never had a family I was always going from foster home to foster home and well I sort of lived in my own pity party."

She continued talking ignoring the sad look that Claire was giving her, "One day Erik he asked me if I wanted to make some real money. I thought he was talking about getting a real job, but instead he took me to the house and told me I'd be sold before morning. I met a girl there, Jenny, she's the one that gave me this scar on my face," she told Claire as she reached up and grazed her scar, "it saved my life, no one wanted me after that. So, I ended up staying in the house and taking care of all the girls that came in."

Claire turned and looked down at her hands, "Wow, you were so brave Lily."

Lily shook her head, "I'm not brave, I'm a coward. I let all my girls die as I laid on the ground crying."

Claire reached over and grabbed her hand, "No Lily, you're the bravest person I know. You've done everything to protect all of us. I know that earlier wasn't the ideal situation, but I know that none of those girls would resent you for what happened."

Lily closed her eyes as her vision started to get blurry, "I don't know. I hope you're right."

Claire smiled at her as she squeezed her hand tighter, "I know they are. You've done everything for them."

Lily kept her eyes on the road as she continued to drive just thinking, thinking of the freedom she now has. She looked back over at the sleeping Ayame and smiled, she at least got one of her girls out. They were finally out and she refused to ever go back now.