It seemed to take a second for the gunshots to grow fiercer and louder, it almost burst Sara's ears and her heart couldn't stop beating so fast, it pained her chest. She was aware that she had to move and run for her life, but she couldn't, and stood frozen in place instead.

It was until Kris yelled her name that she finally shook up from her fear.

"Mary! What the hell is wrong with you? Run!" Kris screamed over the distance between them, desperately trying to get her out of the shock.

Sara looked at Kris's eyes for a moment and didn't see panic and astonishment as she expected, but utter confusion, as if a certain plan in her head had gone wrong. Kris took out her gun from the pocket, and in a blink of an eye, she was firing with equal intense and confidence as the men in uniforms.

Asli's gun

The words floated in her mind, and she reached out for it but somehow couldn't have the courage to pull the trigger. Hating herself for her lack of inner bravery, she ran away after her father who was headed as fast as a bullet through the woods. It was clear that he had a place in his mind, and so Sara ran after him, stomping down her feet in a tense approach in order to catch up with her father.

He stopped in front of a pile of rocks in the middle of the woods and bent down to get through the hollow space in between them. Sara followed him and sat down next him, breathing heavily.

"Sara, I've missed you, darling." He said with a warm smile.

Sara acknowledged it with a tight hug, and when she pulled out, she said, "I missed you too, father."

"How are things going on with you? What are you doing in Pallid."

"It's pretty complicated, dad, I'm in a critical situation at the moment."

"Why? What's wrong?" he asked in concern.

"Nothing, yet. You know Asli, right?"

He nodded to her.

"Well, I'm here looking for her sister, Evran."

"And that's considered critical because?"

"Because I'm working with the rebels to help me find her."

"Oh, I get it now. But, let me tell you something."

She waited for him to say one of his wise philosophies.

"Never let the head frighten you when you're the feet. You have the power to either make it fall or stand, never forget this."

Sara understood the metaphor, the nation are the feet of the section and the Separators are the head. They don't control the people, the people control them. But is that true? Yes, no one seemed to realise it yet.

A few seconds later, Kris threw herself opposite to them, her chest heaving wildly. She shook her head after gulping in some of the water that she had in her backpack.

"I don't get it." She said after calming down a little.

"What is it?" Sara asked.

"How could they find us this time."

"Who are they, Kris?"

"They are the defenders."

"The defenders?" Sara asks in confusion, wondering where she heard that name before.

"Yes, they watch out for anyone against the system of the Separators and stop them immediately."

"How would they stop them?"

"Imprisonment or death, it's according to the rank of your activity."

"Oh," Sara found herself saying.

So now, the rebels have their lives on the edge. Great, that's just too comforting, I feel like I want to punch a wall.

"But," Kris started again, "they never know where we are because we change our location every month or two. The only times they could reach us was when Stella, a spy from the Separators, gave us away to them, and when we found a tracker in the bag of a new member. What made them find our whereabouts now, that is driving me insane."

"What kind of tracker did you find, Kris?" Sara asked out of curiosity.

"They are microchips planted in most of the supplies by the section governments. They might be in soda cans, mobile phones, guns even, and sometimes bobby pins. Anything metal, anything stolen from their headquarters, they all have trackers in them."

Guns even.

Guns.

Unintentionally, Sara touched the pocket where her gun stayed safely.

Anything stolen from their headquarters.

She remembered how some members of her survival group in Wheatland once came back from an errand with a pile of guns, saying they'd found them in an old ruined underground military base.

And then it hit her. The gun tracked them down. She basically helped the defenders find the rebels today. She was a betrayer by force.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "Kris, I think I might have an explanation."

"Go on, Mary." She urged.

Despite her father's confused glare at the mention of her fake name, Sara kept her gaze at Kris, trying to tell her what might've really happened.

"I have something that might have given you away."

"What is i- ouch! That stings like fire!" Kris squealed in pain, her hand pressing on her side.

"Are you hurt?"

Kris removes her hand and takes of her leather jacket. Sara gasps from the terrifying sight.

Dark blood drips down from what seems to be an eleven centimetre cut.

"I think they got me with one of their flying blades. I took it out, and thought it didn't hurt me because I felt nothing at the moment. But hell, that's big!" Kris said a sleepy tone.

Sara was panicking, she didn't know what to do. Kris was on the verge of losing her consciousness, and she didn't have anything to stop the bleeding.

"Kris, please keep your eyes open." She pleaded, frantically shuffling through her backpack for anything that might help.

She found a blue scarf in Kris's items and quickly wrapped it around her waist to cover the wound, but the bleeding didn't stop.

"Find Mike, he'll know what to do, he always does." Kris whispered before her eyes shut.

She went out of their hiding place and slid Kris out after her, telling her terrified father that she could handle it before helping her unconscious friend stand up, putting all her weight on her shoulders and moving as slow as a turtle towards the ruins.

After what felt like more than an hour, she called out to the ruins.

"Mike! Where are you? Mike!"

But no matter how loud her voice was, she heard nothing back more than an echo of her own scared calls.

She sat down on the dirty old footpath, letting Kris lay down next to her, with her head on her lap. She broke down in the darkness of destruction surrounding her, not believing she might lose Kris. She was surprised at how much she'd miss her even when they had just met a few days ago.

Her sobs grew louder and more agonising, and she kept pressing on the wound to try, even if it's hopeless, to save Kris's life.

She heard a cracking sound of a piece of wood and froze, fear turning her blood cold.

"Hello?" she called, but no one came out.

"I know you're there," she called out again, "Look, I need help. My friend is injured."

A shadow appeared, and Sara caught her breath in a second. He stood for what felt like a minute before he stepped out, tall and pale with hazel eyes and black hair.

"Please help me." She pleaded, looking down at Kris.

"It's okay, I got this." He said before flashing a kind smile.

Sara let him carry Kris over his shoulder while she followed behind.

"So what's your name?"

I'm not lying again.

"Sara, Sara Aamer." She answered.

He stopped suddenly and turned around.

"You're from Wheatland, aren't you? You're Asli's friend?"

Sara was taken aback by the information he had about her.

"Yes, how do you know that? Are a friend of Asli's too?" she asked.

"No, a bit closer than that. I'm her brother, Engin, remember me?"

NOT a stranger at all, Sara thought.

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Hey there! I hope you enjoy this chapter.

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With love,
Eman.