"I'm disappointed, Anya." Savior grabbed supplies, placed them in a duffle bag carefully. He paused to glare across the room at me. "If we are taken, the blame will rest on your shoulders."

My arms behind my back stiffened and I tilted my head downwards as he went back to packing. I could hear my sisters' voices outside as they too packed what was needed diligently, pans and pots clashing together noisily as they searched for what they desired.

"I'm not sure I can trust you, Anya." Savior sighed, fingers flipping through pages from an old book, the title far too faint to understand. "Your sisters can't trust you."

I looked away when he said that, my chest contracting in sorrow and anger. Footsteps came from behind me and I watched from the corner of my eye as Ivy walked in, brushing past me as if I didn't exist. The soles of her feet were dirty from hustling around without shoes and her hair was damp with what looked like water.

"Savior." She bowed and then straightened. "I have a few questions pertaining the luggage."

Savior glanced to me. "Anya, leave." He dismissed me and with a tight jaw I did just that, Ivy's complaints of the many bags that needed to be carried being heard before she swung the door shut.

************

Muscles strained against the heavy load on my back and my legs slipped against the grass, my palms stopping me from hitting the ground. Ahead my sisters walked with Savior, carrying the few luggage that was needed, whilst I carried the most.

Perspiration trickled down my face and I grunted, slowly climbing to my feet. My back ached as I continued to walk, momentarily stopping every now and then to rest on a tree, my body springing into action whenever Savior's yell for me erupted.

My tongue stung after I bit it, barely holding in my screams of pain and frustration. My fingers pulled at the straps of the several bags on my back and I hurried my pace, barely keeping up with Brenda. Me carrying most of the luggage was what Savior deemed to be my punishment for releasing the girl and I had accepted it with a heavy heart, knowing the journey to the place that he viewed to be well hidden in the forest, would be a long one.

Throughout my strenuous walk, I had plenty of time to think. If the werewolves were to get into this forest, I was certain that them being able to find us would be extremely difficult. This forest was deep and vast, and even though I've lived in it for many years, I still haven't travelled all around in it. Certain areas I knew well, others not so much.

I bit the inside of my cheek, wondering if the little girl had made it back to the city. If she walked without resting and had been on the right path, she may have been able to reach the city before the night yesterday. From what Savior had told me, walking to the city took around three hours.

"How much longer?" My question was completely ignored by Savior and I fought back the growing urge to throw the bags I wore to the grass, to sit down. My lips were dry from thirst and my stomach ached in hunger. Brenda eventually slowed her walk, so that she was beside me.

"Just keep moving," She offered some encouragement. Her fingers wiped at my forehead as she pushed a bottle of water to my lips, allowing me to drink some of the cool liquid. "We'll soon be there. Just half an hour more."

"Brenda!" Savior's roar propelled her forward and she threw an apologetic look over her shoulder as she hurried to catch up to him. I nearly weeped when we finally came to a stop, not caring that there was little shelter or anything situated to protect us from any rain or strange animals that lurked in the forest. I took off most of the bags I held, stretched and grimaced uncomfortably as the shirt I wore stuck to my back because of my sweat.

Savior squatted slowly, his weathered hands pushing and pulling away bush to reveal a trapdoor. Naverna and I exchanged a long look of confusion and my head snapped back to Savior's direction at the noise of a loud bang as he opened it.

A rusty ladder was on the inside and when I stepped closer, I mostly saw darkness. I could barely see the top half of the ladder's steps and the rest below it was too hard to make out. Icy rapid fear shot through me at the mere thought of having to climb down into it, not knowing what was in this hole.

Savior looked up to face me, and a slow, almost wicked smile lifted his thin lips as he took in my expression.

"Anya." He waved a hand to the ladder. "Climb down, will you?"

My mouth parted in shock and for several seconds, all I did was stare across at him, wondering if I heard him correctly. When his face began to contort, I knew I had. Licking dry lips I heaved back on the bags I had been carrying before when Savior denied Naverna and Brenda's requests of holding them for me whilst I went down the ladder.

I lowered my foot on the step of the ladder eventually, feeling my body lean backwards because of the weight of the bags. My fingers tightened around the rusty sides of the ladder as panic grew and my leg trembled as I began to lower my other foot on the same step, wondering if it was strong enough to hold my weight because of how damaged it looked.

Fortunately for me, it did and I felt the stiffness in my chest slowly ebb away, but, still cautious, I remained in place.

"Move down, Anya!" Savior called from above. And with clenched teeth, I did. The ladder creaked with each step I took and my fingers trembled once I could no longer see what to hold, where to put my feet.

Painfully slowly, I continued going down, pausing at the sound of something falling below. I could feel my long black plaits swaying with each step I took, gently hitting my face as I looked down, which was useless, because I still saw nothing.

I lowered my body, got ready to put my foot down again on a step, but slipped. My scream was as short as the fall. The bags somewhat stopped what could've been a much more painful drop and I closed my eyes in relief, inhaled. The air smelt so strange and the earth beneath me felt sticky.

"Anya?" It was Ivy who called me. "Are you injured?"

I sat up slowly, shrugging off the bags I wore and squinted in the darkness, moving my arms and legs, checking to see if I'd possibly hurt myself without realizing. When I felt no pain, I called back, "I'm fine."

"How disappointing."

I rolled my eyes at her terse voice and stood. The ladder creaked as the ones above began climbing down and I struggled to become accustomed to the strong, almost overpowering damp-like scent that intermingled with the smell of my sweat. Curling my lip, I couldn't help but long for the warm water of the lake.

****************

With a couple clicks, flashlights were turned on and the bright lights flooded the entire area we stood in. I blinked at the sight of an old wooden table, a dusty purple mat in the corner of the small dirt tunnel.

"I created this when most of you were small," Savior said in response to my sister's and I confused faces. "And it's a damn good thing I did too, considering the situation we're in now."

I looked up, saw a millipede curling into itself as Savior shone a light in it's direction.

"How long are we going to stay here?" Naverna asked Savior, her nose twisting at the damp smell.

Savior carefully placed down a flashlight and directed Brenda and Sam to put the bags I had worn on the table.

"I'm not sure. I don't want to leave too early and be captured by the werewolves and it will be difficult for me to even know if they are or aren't in this forest with us being down here." Savior took out a gun which contained silver bullets. A couple more weapons were set out on the table, most of them guns and combat knives with silver blades.

Eventually, he staggered backwards, sinking down on the mat and resting his hands on his face in exhaustion.

"Do you regret letting the girl go now, Anya?" Ivy was the one who spat the question at me and I scowled, meeting her glare with one of my own.

"No." I told her truthfully, watching in satisfaction as she looked away finally from me, staring at her slipper clad feet. She moved to sit beside Savior, murmuring words of comfort. I turned to help Brenda and Sam unpack the rest of the luggage.

Canned beans, that Savior had brought from the city two weeks ago, were what we ate later that evening for dinner. They were also plenty of more canned foods that I had pulled out from bags and we would have to be careful with how much we ate, so that it wouldn't run out so quickly. To help stop that from happening, I shared a can with Brenda.

Afterwards, Savior called me over to assist him in cleaning the guns, handing over a cloth so that I could wipe the dust and webs from them. They had been packed away for a long time and spiders had made their homes around the area they had been placed in.

I flicked a small spider away and rubbed the grip of the gun carefully, watching the dust smear off onto the cloth.

I finally set aside the last one and looked in the direction of the ladder. "Will the werewolves be able to find the trapdoor?"

Savior paused, arched a graying brow at me. "With the bush surrounding it, I highly doubt they will. I hope they won't." His voice became thick with worry and my fingers clenched at my side, unsure of whether to comfort him or let him wallow in his concern.

Finally, I chose the latter and walked away, stepped over Ivy and Sam's sleeping bags and walked to my own. Naverna was sitting by it, arms folded and eyes straight ahead. Her lids lowered as I sat opposite her, fingers twirling a piece of wood that had dropped off from the table.

"We'll be out of here sooner than you think," Brenda tried to assure Naverna as I looked on. "They may find where we once lived, but they won't find us here."

But later that night, we were all awoken by loud noises above, deep sounds. I blinked rapidly to get rid of my blurry vision as I jolted up, stood slowly. Disoriented I looked to the ladder, still trying to shake the sleep away.

Savior pressed into the corner of where he sat, blue eyes wide in fear. His hand held the flashlight that provided the light we needed to see our surroundings.

"What is that?" Sam blurted softly, coming to stand beside me. She was wiping at her eyes, a frown marring her features.

"Engines." Savior whispered, voice hoarse as he too stared at the ladder. "Vehicles' engines."