A/N: Okay! I am so so sorry this has taken so long, but I've had a crazy few months ." Also a minor writer's block so yeah... I probably won't update as often as I'd like to. But anyway, thanks for the comments :) and for lilirose101: I'm so glad you like it! :3 Actually I call all the characters by their Japanese names because I simply like them better than the English ones, but I call Tristan by his English name because I like it better than his Japanese name 0.o" it might seem a bit stupid but please bear with me! x)

The forest was quiet, save for an occasional chirp of a bird or rustle of a bush when the wind caught on the leaves. Malik glanced at Bakura, who was keeping a keen eye on their surroundings. A tense air surrounded them, caused by mutual distrust of each other. Yugi and Anzu had fallen behind, choosing to not partake in whatever silent war the two of them had going on, while Keith was blissfully ignorant to the hostility practically emitting from them, bored out of his mind.

Malik was furious. Bakura had been acting difficult ever since they first landed and what irritated the blond teen most was the fact that he didn't understand the motive behind Bakura's actions. The white haired male didn't seem like one to do things without a reason, but Malik couldn't think of any excuse for his behavior at all.
"What's the rush anyway, huh?", Bakura finally broke the silence, stopping in his tracks, "People don't survive a spear through the heart. He's dead already anyway"

Malik turned to glare at him, but his eyes caught sight of the gun in Bakura's hand. He froze and stared at Bakura with wide eyes, trying to figure out what the man was about to do. Bakura cocked an eyebrow at him, as if daring him to say something.
"Put the gun away, Bakura", Anzu's voice interrupted their staring contest. She marched up to them, "Jounouchi screamed when they moved him. If the spear had hit his heart, he would've died instantly"

"Doesn't mean we have time to waste", Malik said, sending a pointed look at Bakura and then at the gun he still held in his hand. Bakura chuckled.
"Take off that wristband and we can go", he said. Malik touched the band around his wrist and then stepped closer to Bakura, trying his best to look confident, "The only way the Ark is going to think I'm dead is if I'm actually dead. Got it?"
"Brave princess, aren't you?", Bakura smirked at him, but didn't make a move to either put away the gun or force Malik to take off the wristband. He just stood there, watching Malik. Malik suppressed the urge to fidget under his gaze and stared back.

"Stop flirting with each other. I thought we were on a tight schedule to find that mutt", a familiar, gruff voice startled Malik and he finally tore his eyes away from Bakura. Seto was stomping his way towards them, looking irritated out of his mind.
"We?", Malik couldn't help but smile just the slightest bit, "I thought you weren't coming"

Seto looked at him flatly and said, "Your little friends wouldn't stop whining my ears off. Now, let's go. I don't have all day"
Malik smirked at Bakura, who was glaring at the teen who had so inconveniently interrupted them. The blond tilted his head and said, "You heard him. Let's get going"
They started walking again – some of them more reluctant than others. Seto walked next to Malik, looking like he wanted to say something.

"I've been thinking about it", Seto finally said, "Why did the grounder wait for Jounouchi to cross the river? It's not like we were being quiet and they didn't know we were there"

Malik shrugged. The grounder could've easily speared any of them. It didn't make any sense for him to throw the spear at Jounouchi, who had been the farthest away from him and the most difficult to target. Malik stopped abruptly, looking up at Seto with a frown on his face, "Maybe the river is a boundary"

Seto nodded, as if pondering on the possibility. It would make sense.
Seto then sighed, "That means Mount Weather is off limits"

Malik scoffed and threw his hand up, "How are we supposed to get those supplies then? What are we gonna do for food?"
Seto didn't answer him. He probably didn't have an answer that would appease Malik. They trekked their way towards the river in another, not any less tense silence. When Malik heard the sound of running water, he nearly yelped in relief. It felt like they'd been walking for hours (which, they probably had) and his legs were about to give out from all the exertion. They stumbled out of the forest - only to find themselves in the wrong place. The river had narrowed down to a small stream. Malik supposed they had headed too far south while he was busy keeping an eye on Bakura.

He groaned in frustration, crouching down and burying his head in his hands. They didn't have time to waste if they wanted to find Jounouchi while there was still a chance he was alive.

"Malik, look!", Anzu suddenly exclaimed and Malik looked up at her. She was pointing at something across the stream and when Malik followed her line of sight, he saw a torn piece of cloth. It looked much like a black t-shirt – or what had been a t-shirt – similar to the one Jounouchi had been wearing. He stood up again and jumped across the water to take a closer look at the cloth. It was caked in mud and blood, torn in several places, but Malik recognized it as one of the shirts people up on the Ark wore.

"This is probably Jounouchi's", he said, voice filled with relief. Yugi crouched down next to him and pointed at the footprints in the soft soil. It looked as though someone had been dragging something – or in this case, someone – heavy behind them. Bakura pulled out the gun in his pocket and started following the path, careful to step silently and stay low. Malik followed him, thinking how ironic it was that now the gun in Bakura's possession made him feel safer, when not an hour ago it had scared him.

None of them said a word as they made their way through the forest, following the footsteps. A pained moan startled Malik and made them stop in their tracks. Bakura raised the gun and looked around for the source of the sound.
"What was that?", Anzu asked, her voice just above a whisper. Malik strained to hear it again, but the forest was once more quiet.

Another moan, and this time Malik realized where it came from.
"Jounouchi!", he gasped out. They sprinted towards the sound, until they came across a clearing. The grass grew tall, reaching up to Malik's waist and in the middle of the clearing grew a lone tree. Malik could only stare with wide eyes. His mind drew blank as he saw Jounouchi hung high from the tree, his hands bound tight above his head, while his feet were barely touching the grass underneath. Malik heard Anzu gasp next to him. He couldn't move, nor did he know what to do.

"What the hell is this?", Bakura growled out after a while of staring, looking around quickly to ensure they were alone. Malik, having somewhat come out of his stupor, dashed off to help Jounouchi, but was stopped by Bakura's hand gripping his shoulder. Before the blond had a chance to snap at him, Bakura pointed at the ground, where various traps lay waiting for an unsuspecting animal to fall into them. The traps were covered with branches and leaves, scattered across the clearing. Malik let out a stuttering breath and looked at Bakura again, who was now navigating his way around the traps towards Jounouchi.

He'd probably just saved Malik's life.

The rest of them followed Bakura, stepping where he stepped and keeping on guard for any surprise attacks from both, grounders and wild animals. Bakura once again put away his gun when they stood next to the tree, "Keith, cut him down"
Keith climbed up, grumbling and complaining all the way, and Anzu followed behind in case he needed assistance with getting Jounouchi down. Malik fidgeted, anxious to get the boy down and go back to their camp. They were in grounder territory and it was possible they'd come back any moment now.

"Why have they healed Jounouchi's wounds?", Seto suddenly asked, staring intently at Jounouchi's chest. Malik turned to look as well.

He hadn't noticed before, but Seto was right. The wound was sewn shut, with medicine – something that Malik didn't recognize – spread all over it.
"Why would they save his life just to string him up as live bait?", Malik asked, frowning at the sight in front of him. Keith was struggling with reaching Jounouchi, he couldn't cut the boy down safely. Anzu was trying to help, but honestly to Malik it looked like she was more in the way than of any assistance. It was taking way too long.

"Maybe whatever they're trying to catch likes its' dinner to be breathing", Bakura shrugged. He didn't look too concerned, though Malik could tell he was getting impatient. Malik resisted rolling his eyes at the other teen and looked around the clearing again. A sudden movement to their left made Malik jump back. He turned to look, but didn't see anything. His gaze bounced around, trying to find something out of ordinary, when a soft growl reached his ears and his breath quickened, "There's something in there"

Bakura turned to look as well, just as a figure bounced at them, having previously hid itself in the tall grass.

"Bakura, gun!", Malik screamed in panic, stumbling backwards while Bakura fumbled to reach his gun. He fired, a loud bang echoing in the forest clearing, followed by a loud grunt of pain from the bullet hitting its' target. Then, it was silent.

After several still moments, Malik dared to lower the hands that had shot up to cover his face and saw Bakura pointing the gun at a man lying on the ground. He wasn't dead, Malik could see him breathing rapidly, but he was no doubt injured. There was a bullet wound on his shoulder, his bronze skin now splattered with blood.

Upon closer inspection Malik saw the man wasn't the same one he had seen at the river. This one's hair was dirty blonde, much like Malik's, but it was spiked up, strands of hair pointing in every direction at absurd angles. Malik stepped closer to see him better. The man was wearing clothes much similar to those Malik had seen on the other man at the river, but this one had a sword strapped to his back instead of him carrying a spear. There was some kind of a pouch strapped to the belt made of leather around his waist. He was glaring at them, lavender eyes burning with hatred and pain. He, too, had framed his eyes with kohl and golden bands decorated his arms and neck.

Malik heard Seto bark at Keith to keep working on getting Jounouchi down, and looked up at the taller boy. Seto made his way to the man and crouched down, not too close, but closer than what Malik felt comfortable with. He opened his mouth to tell Seto to get back, but didn't get the chance as Seto said, "Did you string him up to lure us out?"

The stranger didn't answer. Malik wasn't surprised, really. They didn't even know if these people could speak their language. He only glared at Seto and moved his other hand to press against the wound on his shoulder. Seto sighed, "Can you understand what I'm saying at all?"

The man once again glared at Seto and again, he didn't answer.

Instead, there was a sudden blur of movement. Bakura let out an alarmed shout when the grounder swiftly pulled a knife out of a hidden strap under his belt and sprung up, aiming at Seto, leaving Malik to watch in horror as the knife sunk into Seto's side before Bakura could do anything. Seto yelled out in pain, hunching over with one hand pressing at the wound while Bakura hit the grounder over his head hard enough for the man to lose consciousness. There was another moment of complete stillness, save for Seto heaving on the ground with a knife in his side. Malik felt numb, he stared at the knife and then at the unconscious grounder. Bakura kneeled down next to Seto and tried to pull out the knife, but Seto grunted at him to not do it while swatting away Bakura's hands. He was breathing hard, looking like he was teetering on the edge of consciousness.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, Keith let out a victorious sound and when Malik turned to look at him, he had managed to cut down Jounouchi and was now supporting the injured boy, while Anzu ran to see Seto's wound. Malik staggered to Keith, taking Jounouchi from him and said, "You carry Kaiba, me and Bakura can handle Jounouchi. We need to get going already"

"I think I can walk", Seto said breathily, wincing when Anzu helped him up, "Keith, you carry that grounder to camp instead"
"What are you saying, idiot?", Malik asked, eyes wide, "Of course you can't walk back"
"He's got a point though, we have to get the grounder to camp with us somehow", Bakura said, looking at the man on the ground, "We need to find out what they know about us and what they're planning. Why they're trying to kill us, how many of them are there… stuff like that"
"We don't even know if he understands what we're saying!", Malik argued. The last thing he wanted was to bring a grounder into their camp.

In the end he lost the debate, and while Keith carried the grounder, he and Bakura handled Jounouchi. The walk back was agonizingly slow, thanks to Seto's injury, but somehow he was able to walk all the way without collapsing. It was a close call though, Seto looked like he might faint at any given moment.

Ryo was waiting for them when they got back. Malik was pleasantly surprised to see they had gotten a long way with building a fence around the camp while Malik and the others had been gone. The sun had set almost an hour ago, it was now dark all around, so dark Malik could barely see two feet in front of himself and an unsettling silence had fallen over the forest. They moved Jounouchi and Seto into the lower level of the dropship, while Bakura told Keith to carry the grounder to the upper level, tie him up securely and remove his weapons.

Jounouchi was looking worse than when they found him, no doubt from the exertion on the wound in his chest. Malik sat down next to him while Anzu ran out to get water and some other supplies so she could try to remove the knife from Seto's side. Ryo peeked in from the doorway, "You need anything?"
Malik shook his head, "I don't know. I'm not a medical expert"
Ryo sighed and walked in, sitting down between Malik and Seto. He looked up at where they could hear Keith tying up the grounder and bit his lip. They were silent for a while, neither of them sure what to do or say. Finally Ryo asked, "What're they going to do with that grounder?"

Malik glanced at him, but didn't answer. He was pretty sure Ryo knew even without him saying it out loud. If the grounder refused to speak, Bakura wouldn't be afraid to use violence to get him to speak. Malik had no doubt about it, if it turned out the grounder couldn't understand them after all, Bakura would most likely kill him. They couldn't afford to just let him go, either. Malik tried his best to not think about that, it wasn't like it had been his idea to bring the man into their camp. He had nothing to do with the whole thing.

Anzu finally came back with whatever supplies she had found and started working on Seto's wound. Malik watched silently as she worked, surprised that Seto didn't make any snide remarks or try to tell her how to do it properly. He probably was in a lot more pain than he let on though, he looked like he was just barely conscious. Malik was tired, exhausted from the day. While Anzu worked on Seto's wound and Ryo sat next to him, humming a calming tune, Malik felt his eyelids slide shut. He vaguely saw Bakura climb up to where the grounder was being held, before he nodded off.

The Ark

"Sir, we have located the guard who went missing yesterday"

Rishid turned around to look at the two other guards. The looks on their faces told him he didn't want to know what they'd found, but he listened anyway.
"He was injected with a dangerous amount of sedatives in holding cell 24. He's been taken to the medical wing", one of the guards said, "We checked, this cell belonged to prisoner 51, Bakura Akefia. He was a death row prisoner, with his execution scheduled to take place in two weeks when he turns 20"

Rishid exhaled heavily and nodded, "Thank you, I'll handle it from here"
The guard standing closest to Rishid gave him the prisoner's folder before they left and Rishid flipped through it. He would need to report this to the Chancellor, it was after all very probable Bakura had snuck into the drop-ship before it was launched and was now down on Earth with the rest of the kids.

Heading for the monitoring room once again, Rishid felt a headache pound against his skull at full force. Everything was getting so messy he wondered if they should have even sent the kids down to Earth in the first place.

The Chancellor and Dr. Kaiba were nowhere to be seen when Rishid entered the monitoring room. Only Dr. Kaiba's assistant was present, which was surprising. Rishid had thought at least one of them would be monitoring the changes on the screen at all times. He glanced up at Malik's picture and once again felt relieved to see he seemed to be alright. Since he last checked, they'd only lost five more kids, so thirty-six in total.

Dr. Kaiba walked in at that moment, seeming deep in thought as he flipped through a folder. Rishid looked at him and asked, "Is something wrong?"
Dr. Kaiba looked up. He seemed to be exhausted, no doubt having not slept ever since the drop-ship was launched. He frowned and raised his eyes to the screen in front of them.

"There has to be some reason we're losing so many of them", Dr. Kaiba said. Rishid also looked back at the screen, his eyes sliding over the dark tiles that represented the assumedly dead teenagers. Dr. Kaiba rubbed the back of his neck, stifled a yawn and said, "At least we know it isn't radiation killing them, no matter what the Chancellor says"

Rishid nodded, not knowing what to say. He wanted to believe all the kids were safe and sound, but there was not even the slightest proof of it. Finally he said, "Shouldn't we at least take into account the possibility that they're dying?"
Dr. Kaiba seemed to deflate, but nodded. They stood together in silence, watching the monitors, until they heard a loud crash.

"Great. What's falling apart now?", Dr. Kaiba asked as he looked around for the source of the sound. Rishid walked over to the door behind which the noise had come from, and when he opened it he came face to face with Ryuuji Otogi trying to climb up the ladder into the air ducts. He grabbed the young man and said, "Hey, hey, not so fast. Apparently you have a thing for air ducts, huh?"

Ryuuji sighed and hopped down from the ladder, walking into the monitoring room. He buried his hands into the pockets of his jeans and kept his head low.
"They're probably not dying", he said. Dr. Kaiba and Rishid both startled and stared at Ryuuji.

"How so?", Dr. Kaiba asked. He stepped closer to Ryuuji, who glanced up at him and shrugged.
"Well, I figured they're taking the wristbands off on their own accord", he said. Rishid watched him raise his gaze once again and look at the monitors. His eyes glided over the names and faces of the prisoners, until they stopped and he bit his lip. His posture relaxed a little, and Rishid concluded he might have someone important among the prisoners too.

"Why would they do something so irresponsible?", Rishid asked. He couldn't come up with a valid reason for them to do such a thing, even if he hoped it was the case. "Because you told them not to", Ryuuji said like it was the most obvious thing in the world, "At least that's what I imagine they'd do after you people almost killed them" Rishid and Dr. Kaiba looked at the monitors once again, this time with new understanding lighting up their eyes. They hadn't even taken into accord before that these were indeed teenagers, and could do such a stupid thing just to get back at them.
"Excuse me, Dr. Kaiba, Mr. Ishtar", Dr. Kaiba's assistant interrupted them, looking up from her computer screen, "the Chancellor sent me a message to tell you two that there will be a Council meeting in thirty minutes"

Dr. Kaiba and Rishid looked at each other. They both knew it was a meeting to decide whether they should reduce population or not, but now they finally had a valid theory on what was happening with the 100.

The Camp

Malik was jerked awake from his slumber by loud clanking coming from the second level of the drop-ship. He blinked wearily and frowned, feeling disoriented for a moment. Anzu was still working on Seto's wound, so Malik concluded he hadn't been asleep for very long. Looking around he noticed Ryo had vanished from the drop-ship and Malik stood up. Mai and Tristan were sitting on both sides of the still unconscious Jounouchi, chatting quietly with each other.
"What's going on?", he asked Anzu, who glared at the ladder leading to the second floor.

"What do you think?", she asked, returning to tending Seto, "Bakura went up there to wake the grounder up a while ago. He's been at it for God knows how long"
Malik shuddered. He didn't need to know the details to know that grounder was going to be in for a world of pain. Another loud noise from the upper level had Malik walking for the exit.

"Tell me if you need help", he said to Anzu and walked out. The night air was freezing and the only light in the camp came from the measly bonfire they had managed to put together. Ryo was sitting close to the fire, a jacket wrapped tightly around his shoulders. Some of the others were already sleeping in the tents that had been left for them at the drop-ship by the Council.

"We need to find a way to get food", Malik said when he reached Ryo. The white haired teenager looked up at him and nodded.
"I know. Everyone's getting hungry", he said. They sat side by side and stared into the fire.

It wasn't long before they heard Anzu scream.

A/N: Okay so here it is :) I hope you enjoyed it and if you did, please leave a review! I'm not sure when I'll be able to update again, but I'll try to be as fast as possible.
Also if anyone's wondering why I changed from calling Kaiba "Kaiba" to calling him "Seto", it's because I thought it was a bit weird calling him Kaiba and then calling his father Dr. Kaiba lol so he's gonna be Seto from now on.