"Jay! Ryker!" I exclaim, wrapping my arms around my only family members left. My mom died of starvation, and my dad just left one day and never came back. But it isn't too bad. Everyone in our hideout is like a family to us. We're all just one family, even though we're not related.

"Stella, where have you been? You've never been out for this long!" Ryker asks, pulling away from my embrace. He's always overprotective and it drives me crazy.

"Uh, that's not important," I mutter.

"And who's that?" Jay points to the rope ladder, where Peridot is still clutching onto the rungs, shrouded in shadows. She claimed that no one would see her if she stayed there.

"Why are you two so full of questions today?" I yell. I'm not quite sure why I'm so angry, but something just wants me to be mad, I guess. I stomp off to another part of the underground shelter to run into one of my roommates that live in our hideout.

"Whoa, Stella, what's gotten into you?"

I look up to see Teddy, one of Ryker's best friends and one of the tallest humans I've ever seen.

"You're normally so calm and now you're, uh, rage." He glances behind his shoulder.

"I'm not rage! My brothers are just-- ugh!" I screech.

Teddy just pats my shoulder. "Stella, buddy, I think you just want to be mad. You're never like this."

"Well, Teddy, people change!" I tell the older boy frustratedly.

Teddy silently takes my hand and leads me to our food storage. It's a small hollow filled with any sort of edible item we can get our hands on. He reaches into the hole and takes out a single bunch of purple grapes. He opens my hand and drops the grapes onto my palm.

"What?" I ask, fingering the grapes.

"I know that grapes are your favorite food. Maybe they'll calm you down?"

I tentatively pick a single grape from the small bunch and pop it into my mouth. I let out a small squeal at the taste of food in my mouth.

"How long have you gone without eating? Three days? Four?" Teddy smiles.

"Almost six," I tell him through a mouthful of grapes. "Food really does bring people together."

Teddy nods in approval. "There's the goofy, calmer Stella I know. Now go talk to your brothers." He pats my back and disappears down a different tunnel.

I find myself flustered, as I always am when Teddy leaves. I look down in my hand. There are only two more grapes left.

I hear a scream coming from the entrance of the hideout.

Jay. Peridot.

I clutch the two small fruits in my hand and sprint to my brothers as fast as I can.