I had to revise this chapter.

The sound of rain gently pattering on my bedroom window gives me a lovely sense of tranquility. I fight to return to sleep, wrapped in a warm cocoon of blankets, safe at home in Jackson. I have the flu and I'm lying in bed. Across my bedroom is the dresser mirror that reflects my youthful face staring back at me. Joel's warm hand strokes my cheek.

"Here, this will warm you right up." Joel gently tells me. With that, he sits me up, placing down a tray of food for me. A steaming bowl of soup with floating kale and broccoli. A golden-brown loaf of bread and a full glass of orange juice.

I smile at Joel. I want to hug him, kiss him, and tell him over and over on how I forgive him. How much I miss him.

But then there's a voice, two voices, shouting at each other, shouting at me and I'm terrified to the brim.

"Can you hear me? Hey! Hey!"

My eyes jerk open. I'm not home, not with Joel. Instead, a blonde boy is hovering over me, I feel something warm near my face, a wet snot sniffing my left cheek.

I'm sprawled on my stomach on a rocky shore, my entire body and clothes are drenched, I'm freezing even in the hot air of June. I feel my hands restricted with dry rope. Tight ropes scraped at my wrists causing crimson to leak to the surface, I flinch every time I move as the ropes dig into my flesh. They easily slice my skin, like a knife through butter. In my eardrum, I hear a menacing growling beside me. I could tell that from how threatening it is, I knew that it would not be wise to move.

"Lilly, sit," I hear a male voice command. Instantly, the growling ceased. "Levi, what are you doing?" I hear the blonde boy shouts at someone. The boy then directs his voice at me. "Hey! Hey! Are you okay? Can you move?" I get a good look at the boy. He looks to be near my age, maybe one year younger. Medium height, dirty blonde hair that falls in waves over his forehead, a round face, a fair complexion, and expressive blue eyes. He is dressed in a camouflage outfit. Around his waist, he has a white sash that holds a belt that is adorned with pouches and various weapons.

"Luke, don't even think about wasting our medical supplies on her," I hear another male voice, who I assume is Levi. I feel the pressure vanish. I moan weakly, my entire body is stinging. My head is violently spinning. I snap my head towards Levi, as I do, my heart nearly jumps out of my chest at the sight of Spencer's box leaning against a large rock. Levi is kneeling over Spencer. She is soaking wet, limp, lying on the rocky shore. I couldn't tell if she was dead or alive. "SPENCER!" A panicked shriek burst out of my throat immediately.

"No!" I yell, throwing myself at Levi, he's going to make it certain that Spencer's dead. No doubt they're a part of that horrendous group that attacked me before. I have to find a way to kill them. Injure them somehow and make a run for it. But the moment I lunge for him, Levi's hand comes up and knocks me so hard, so firmly in the chest that I go flying back into a nearby stone. I'm stunned with pain. I must have pulled something. The pain that surges through me was like a knife being twisted in my spine. It shoots up fast, erasing every thought from my head and paralyzing my body. I struggle to regain my wind as I feel Luke's warm hands trying to pull me up.

I see Levi close off Spencer's nose, but her mouth tilted open, I'm flabbergasted when I see him pressing his mouth against hers. He's blowing air into her lungs. I stay still and I see what he's doing. I can actually see Spencer's chest rising and falling. Then Levi begins to pump the spot over her heart with the heels of his hands. Once the shock subsides, I understand what he's trying to do.

He's saving her?

Agonizing seconds drag on as my hopes diminish. Spencer's dead, her chances of life unreachable forever, but then Levi ends his compressions and I see Spencer's chest moving up and down without assistance.

I ignore the excruciating pain surging through me as I crawl to her on my knees. "Spencer?" I say softly.

She's still in a coma, but alive. My heart soars with great relief. Tears run down my cheeks and I'm sobbing hysterically.

"Is she okay?" I hear Luke ask.

"Yeah. Her heart's still beating and her breathing is back to normal." Levi responds calmly.

I look at them through my tears in both confusion and gratitude.

I recognize Luke's voice, the one that startled me so badly that I fell off of a cliff. I let out a long sigh of relief. "Thank you."

Luke flashes me a warm smile. I go into a coughing fit with my nose running down my chin. Luke rips off a handful of dangling moss from a tree and gives it to me. I'm too emotional to question it and wipe the tears and snot off my face. "Look, everything is going to be okay, alright, sorry about scaring you back there,"

"Thank you," I whisper.

Since these recent days, I've watched Spencer getting infected, got attacked by vicious wolves, and seen Spencer die. So I suppose this small gesture of kindness is very meaningful to me.

All I know is that I'm not handling things all that well.

Luke smiles and is about to say more when Levi interrupts him.

"Luke, pick her up and we need to bring her back to the camp." He rebukes.

Luke shakes his head. "But she's hurt, they're both hurt. They need medical attention NOW!" He protests vehemently."She's hurt!"

"Your point? What does that have to do with us?" Levi replies coldly. "We have the medical center at camp. Our order was to bring them dead or alive back to camp. That's all." Luke manages to pull me upright and my eyes meet Levi's cold ones. His dour expression is unmoving. I shoot him a glare, but he acted as if I didn't exist. "Why are you carrying a kid in a box?"

I can't help my words spilling out of my mouth. "She's sick. She's in a coma!" I plead. All I wanted is to keep Spencer alive. I was lucky the first time and a miracle saved her, but this time Levi saved her, and awhile I'm grateful. I'm also infuriated because it means that I owe Levi and Luke.

"Luke, you take the girl and I'll carry the kid," Levi instructs.

"No! No! Come on, she needs our help now! I'll be quick! I just need to patch her up and then we'll go." Luke insists. "We can't just leave a girl out here to die."

Levi looks at him, with a ponderous expression. "Be quick. We need to be at the camp before they head out. Just take care of the wounds by using the minimum amount of medical supplies. Don't waste anything."

He proceeds to place Spencer back into her box. I catch a glimpse inside of the box, it is soaking wet inside, I see the disheartening sight of the journal saturated, ruined. "We're wasting time." He is wearing the box now, looking down at me as if nothing occurred. "I'm going to be a lookout." He says, marching into the forest. A lump forms in my throat as I watch Spencer disappear out of my grasp again.

I'm alone with Luke, and I contemplate if I should attack him. He looks easy to take down compared to Levi. But I can't. One; because he and Levi saved Spencer's life and two; I'm too injured to even move, let alone commit a full-fledged attack. Technically, I'm at the mercy of both of them, so it's best to be cordial for now.

I let out a sigh. "Alright." I relent.

With that, Luke begins. Placing down his first aid kit, then pulling out a small water bottle from another pouch on his belt and a soft towel. "I don't have soap on me." He admits. "This is going to sting."

He is correct. He does my injured thigh first. I find myself clenching down on my lower lip, stifling the bloodcurdling scream building in my throat. I'm burning to the brim, all the flames lick my muscles.

When he's done, I'm shaking like a leaf in a hurricane. Tears flooding my eyes, cold sweat running down my back.

"Alright, now I'm gonna put some pressure on this to stop the bleeding." With that warning, Luke presses a piece of cloth on my bleeding thigh. I fight the urge to cry. Luke swiftly applies an antibiotic ointment on my wound that scorches every nerve in my body. It is as if I'm being stung by a thousand bees inside my wound. "SHIT!" I grit my teeth. He then pulls out a pack of gauze, meticulously wrapping my thigh as tightly as he could.

I wince in pain, but I'm grateful. Perhaps this boy isn't as bad as I thought he was. Better than Levi.

"Alright now, your shoulders." He mumbles.

With that, I find myself twitching and spasming in pain for the next two hours. By the time, he is completely done and I'm wrapped in gauzes, Levi returns.

"Let's go. We need to catch up to the others." Levi explains, annoyance underlying his voice. Then he proceeds to walk into the forest.

I'm more stable than before, but I didn't realize how dizzy I am until I attempted to shoot myself up.

Luke sees this and holds me upright.

"Slowly would be better."

When I am able to stand still, Luke half-guides, half-carry me down the pathway with Levi leading us. Lilly dutifully follows her master.

My mind dances back and forth on what I should do. I'm in a very quiescent position, I don't feel afraid or intimidated, I know that I have to escape from them, but for now, I need to give myself time to heal up.

I remain silent, not knowing what exactly to say to them. My eyes only fixate on the box. We move down the slope two hundred yards. Lilly is leading us with Levi guiding her, she's sniffing the ground, following the scent of their fellow companions. The sun beats down on us. By nighttime and the temperature drops drastically, it's clear we can't go on.

"We'll sleep here for the night." Levi suddenly announces when nightfall comes. Levi chooses a campsite about ten yards near a rapid river. Luke cut down a bunch of hard nuts that hang like grapes and proceeds to collect other nuts and berries for us.

Lilly is ordered to watch me, she diligently sits close to me.

Levi pulls blades of the sharp grass and begins to weave them together into mats. Luke collects dark nuts and roasts them by the campfire. Levi collect berries and various nuts, methodically peeling off the shells and placing them all on the mats. I sit there, fidgety, bounded, and raw with the emotions.

"Hungry, um..." Luke asks me.

I nod. "Ellie," I say quietly.

Luke then proceeds to untie the ropes around my wrists, but I do not make a run for it. He hands me the cooked nuts and I proceed to fill myself up. They have a mildly sweet taste to them.

Luke suddenly starts to make small talk with me. "So….um….what happened to Spencer?" I could hear slight awkwardness in his voice, but there is a genuine concern.

I have to be vague. "She got hurt. We got attacked and she got hurt. Hit her head and she's been in a coma after since."

Luke appears sympathetic, visibly knowing who caused the trauma. "I'm sorry. I'm sure she'll wake up eventually." He reassures me. "Sorry about scaring you off. I saw you fall off that cliff and…..I didn't mean to scare you like that."

I recollect the moment he startled me, sending me running because of his shouting. "You're a part of that group, right?"

Luke nods. Surprisingly he is quite forthcoming. He gestures towards Levi. "Yeah, me and my brother were supposed to be looking for you."

Brothers? I glance at Levi who vanishes into the forest. Luke and Levi did not look blood-related. They did have the same round faces and tall stature. But that's where the resemblance ends. Levi looks to be my age, stocky and lean, dressed in a similar outfit. He has a solemn face that makes it impossible for me to read his emotions. He has short, straight black hair with intimidating gray eyes and pale skin. Levi and Luke are polar opposites, like day and night. "Just the two of you?" I question.

"Just two of us. We're just ordered to find you. We were just given a scent and we had to track it."

"So you don't know why?" I inquire.

Luke shakes his head. "Nope. They just said that you had red hair and a girl and you caused some "trouble" for us." He explains. He looks at me curiously. "So what did you do? If you don't mind. It's not every day we get an order like this."

"Well, that group you're working for, attacked me and Spencer at our house," I explain, unable to keep the bitterness out of my voice.

Luke appears flustered, his cheeks growing red. "I'm sorry," He scratches the back of his head nervously. "Usually my group tends to do that."

Instantly I start to become upset. I glare at Luke. He seems like a nice person, but yet he's traveling with a group of savages. "Why are you with them? With violent assholes that rob and attack the innocent?"

"Because it's how we survive," Levi interjects. I snap my head towards his voice to see him emerge from the woods, holding a rodent he killed. As he walks closer to us, I get a closer look at it. It's hideous, disgusting to look at, a large rodent with mottled silvery fur and two jagged-looking teeth protruding over its lower lip.

Levi continues. "You lived in this world long enough to know that you do what you have to do to survive."

I glare at him. "Hurting innocent people isn't survival."

"Survival is what's necessary. If you don't want to die, you do whatever you must do. How you survived this long with your naive mentality is beyond me."

I clench my fists in frustration. "I know that survival is necessary, but I would never go up to a house full of innocent people and attack them!" I growl. "Can you not even imagine how terrifying that experience must be for them?"

Levi remains composed, looking me directly in the eyes. "All experiences are subjective."

I'm taken aback from that strange answer.

He proceeds to pull out a carving knife to skin the animal. "Everyone has faced a violent act at some point in their lives. No one is untouchable, no one is an exception. In this world, there is only one lesson you'll learn; you can only survive with action."

"So that makes it okay?" I argue. "There are other options." I point out.

Levi narrows his eyes at me slightly, I feel like a child being spoken to by an adult. "Not always. You're going into a situation you would never imagine yourself to be in. So you have to make tough decisions in worst-case scenarios."

My head starts to throb as I struggle to understand his reasoning. I know what he means, I do understand reasonings. I can't help to connect this to Abby. Her death wasn't exactly essential to my survival, but it had to be done.

Luke chimes in. "We all have different methods of survival." He says in a soft voice. "We just work for them, regulating the supplies and tracking animals and stuff. In exchange, we get food and water and a nice place to sleep." He shrugs his shoulders. "We do what we have to do."

"I…." Levi cuts me off. He has finished his skinning and proceeds to cook the animal on the fire. "It doesn't matter. We need to get ready for tomorrow."

This chapter was longer, but I had to shorten it. So the next one will take time. I apologize that it took a long time to finish. The next chapter will come soon. Reviews and thoughts. Check out other stories, working on other ones. Hope you enjoyed it.