James woke up with an excited jolt in his stomach. He had been looking forward to this moment his whole life. He took a deep breath and glanced around the room , it was going to be his last time he would be in civilization. He didnt plan on coming back once he had reached the mountains. He smiled happily to himself amd drifted back to sleep.

Rose woke up to the thumping on her back by Zoe's pillow. She rubbed her head and asked her what on earth she thought she was doing. Zoe pressed a finger to her lips , and pointed to the window.

"First light. "

Rose sat up immediately and began to mouth orders to Zoe , who had already woken up the boys. All of them did some last minute checking and packing of bags and stuffed some bread into their mouths which Rose had smuggled out from her kitchen.

Ethan waved a hand at Rose to ask her to get moving while she hurriedly scribbled a note to her family , explaining everything. She locked her window with a misty expression and left.

Once they were out of Rose's house and well on their way out of the area , Zoe let out a whoop and punched the air. They all knew why. She was finally free from getting beat up by her father. James slung his hand around her shoulder. Rose checked her map nervously.

"Right then , we'll need a car. Or maybe a truck would be better. "

"Yes we will need it because we don't have enough money to rent one nor know how to drive right?" retorted back Ethan.

Rose gave an impatient wave with her hand and pointed at James.

"Yeah , well what about the rent?"

Rose looked up from her map.

"ZOE! WE NEED A TRUCK!"

"GOT IT!" shouted back Zoe.

Ethan had no idea what Zoe was supposed to do , but soon enough he found out. She was poking and looking into every car to check if the car suited and fitted all of them.

He gaped and looked at Rose.

"We're ... gonna ..s - steal a c - car?"

"Desperate times , deperate measures."

Soon enough , Zoe let out the same triumphant whoop and presented to them proudly a Ford she had unlocked with a pick. James slid into the front seat and immedieately took the wheel.

"WILL YOU GET IN ALREADY?"

Rose folded up her map as Ethan trailed behind nervously.

"This doesnt feel right ...." he mumbled

"Nothing is right" said Zoe quietly.

"C'mon Ethan , you signed up for this" encouraged James. "Anyways , which direction are we heading to Rose?"

"Straight ahead. You know Zoe , maybe we should trade places so that I can sit beside James"

Zoe smirked and climbed into the back seat.

James tapped the accelerator and they sped forward. Ethan hung on to dear life ( and also the seatbelt ) as they zoomed into the road , not knowing where it would lead them . Not knowing what would be ahead of them. Adventure , that's what.

Andrenaline and fear went down in a chill into Rose's spine. She had never tried to leave home before , she had a perfectly happy family. Tears trickled down her cheeks at the thought of never being able to set foot into her house , or room again. Not being able to be hugged by her parents whenever she was sad ....

But it's alright. Its not too bad. At least I'm with the people I love. They will protect me now.

She looked fondly from one face to another. She really was glad to have them in her life.

James could'nt help but wonder how beautiful Zoe looked whenever she was excited or happy. But he also noticed that she had some new bruises on her body. No doubt made by her father. She also looked a teeny - tiny bit sad to leave .... James hoped she would be happier now that she was safe from her father. He loved her , nothing could be further from the truth.

Zoe swiped away some hair from her eyes. She would not look back. Nope. No regrets. That was the plan. No coming back. After all , why would anyone want to return after they had tasted something so wonderful? Wild birds were not meant to be caged.

Maybe that's why we have ribcages. So that our hearts and thoughts are not meant to wonder too far. As so to protect ourselves from being hurt.

But hers had already wandered , too far away to be able to be caged back.

A/N : Hi guyss! Sorry if this chapter kinda sucks but the following ones will be better! Till we meet again