My arm is writhing in pain, so much that I am finding it difficult to breathe. The floor is wet and sticky against me, the mud clinging to my exposed skin. "We need to keep going," I strain. I can't imagine the pain that Colton must be in. I glance at the cuts covering his torso and have to bite down a wince at the sight of the torn skin.

A small droplet hits my face and I curse at the world for deciding to rain. "You can rest for a second, we're hidden," Colton says and looks around, confirming his words.

Yes no one is here... yet.

"They saw us... they'll be scouting the area," I counter and he sighs, running his hand over his face. They were shooting at us, they will no doubt be searching everywhere. "They would have seen us go into the forest, we need to keep moving," I say and move to get up.

Another shot fires and I don't think I have ever moved so fast in my life. I launch back onto the floor and Colton covers my body with his. Both of our breathing is strangled and panicked as we try to keep hidden.

I cover my ears as more shots fire. Colton places his hands over mine and whispers "You're okay... it's okay," and I focus on his words and not the several gun shots sounding around us.

The rain falls heavily, wetting the ground even more, smearing the forest floor all over our clothes. It's okay. I repeat Colton's words and breathe deeply. In and out. More and more shots. How have they not found us?

I have heard enough gun shots today to last me several life times. The images push their way forward... here it comes, back to haunt me. I knew I'd have to deal with the people I had killed today but now is not the time I was willing for it to happen.

If I hadn't of killed them, then they would have killed me. If I hadn't of killed them, I wouldn't have Colton beside me right now. If I hadn't of killed them, I wouldn't have escaped.

I repeat and repeat.

I'm seventeen, this shouldn't be what my life is like. I shouldn't be haunted by the memory of all of the people that I have killed. I shouldn't even have to think about laying a finger on someone, let alone driving a knife through them. I shouldn't have to worry about being killed by a rogue group of rebels or them taking the one person that I love.

This isn't right, none of this is right.

But this is my life and the quicker I accept it, the better.

The gun shots stop but we still stay in our spot, not daring to move even an inch. I hold my breath and hope that they have moved to look somewhere else. "I think they're gone," Colton whispers and I lift my head. I can't help but be suspicious about why they stopped so abruptly.

I reach for him when he moves, stopping him. "Not yet," I shake my head and he stops. We need to wait this out, for how long I do not know, but we can't move, not right now.

My heart thrums in a steady rhythm and my breathing evens as we wait amidst the silence. It's quiet, too quiet. I move and wince at the shock that runs along my arm. The burning sensation is almost unbearable. I bite down on my lip to suppress a groan as the pain only intensifies. My eyes burn with tears and I have to swallow the bile rising in my throat.

The amount of rain has only magnified and we are both drenched, head to toe. A shiver runs down my spine from the bitter cold and I practically cling to Colton, from both fear and the sense of safety I feel when close to him. As if nothing in the world can touch me when he is near.

"Are you okay?" I ask. Colton basically flung himself over me when the gunshots had started, it must have hurt.

"I'm fine but you're not... we need to go," he says but I shake my head. I can wait this out. I'm not risking our lives because I'm in pain, that's a definite no.

"No, we can't leave. We don't know where they are or if they are coming back, we need to wait," I say and cling to Colton's arm, keeping him where he is.

"The longer you are out here in the cold with a bullet in your arm, the more susceptible you are at getting it infected," Colton says and tries to move but I latch onto his arm tighter.

"None of that matters if we are dead," I huff and Colton rolls his eyes.

"We have the options of possibly dying trying to get out or you dying in here from that wound... it's your choice," Colton says and I hate him for not listening to me. It's too risky.

"I'd rather I die than both of us," I meet those evergreen eyes and look into them, really look into them. Those green eyes that I have grown to seek comfort in, that I have found a home in despite the short amount of time that I have known him.

***

Colton

"Let's go," I say and yank my arm out of her grip, I'm not letting her stay here. I won't let her die and she should know that. We are both going to get back. Neither of us are going to die today or any time soon for that matter.

"No... please... no we can't," Rose says frantically but I ignore her protests. I lift her off of the floor by her waist and she tries to scramble out of my grip.

"Hey, I know you're scared okay but we can't stay here... nothing is going to happen," I cup her face with my hands and her eyes turn glassy. I can't imagine what it must of been like for her to go back to the rebel's base. I can only imagine the memories that had stirred in her mind as soon as she set foot in that place. All of the things that must have resurfaced.

We never completely spoke about what had happened whilst she was gone, I'd figured that she would do it in her own time but she never really told me.

I tuck her wet hair behind her ears and study her face, her face glowing underneath the moonlight. Study the curve of her lips, the arch of her brows, the soft hues of her hazel eyes.

Her beauty is unmatched.

"Please be careful," she whispers and I let out a laugh at the irony of that.

"You're the one with the bullet in their arm," I say but her face remains blank, no emotion residing in her eyes other than pure fear. I wish I knew what to do to remove her of the pain and dread she feels.

"I don't care about me... it's you that I am worried about," her voice is soft compared to the usual tone she uses with me and I can't help but find it unnerving.

"We will be fine, both of us," I say and she nods, although I can see the lack of faith she has in my words. I guess there is no other way to prove to her that we will make it through this without actually making it through this. "Focus ahead and don't look back... okay," I say and she nods, uncertainty still clear as day in her eyes.

***

The gun in my hand is covered in mud, only a few bullets left. My stomach feels like it is on fire with every step I take, the pain is almost insufferable. I was only there for a day at most, Rose was there for three weeks. I saw the marks they had made on her body and when I had seen Michael, I wanted nothing more than to give him a slow and torturous death for what he had done.

I tried but was overpowered. The guards practically tackled me to the floor when I had tried to use one of the guards weapons against him. That was when they took me to that god awful cell and tried to carve my insides out. They're all sick bastards and they know it.

I hate myself for letting my guard down, they'd ambushed us but I have no clue how. I was so convinced that we had the situation under control when we had left the facility. All we was going to do was scout out the area and see if we could find any weak points. But they had found out about our little ruse before we even got within reaching distance.

There's only one viable reason as to how they found out but then that means that we by no means can trust anyone who is stationed at the facility.

"I think they've got someone on the inside," I blurt out and Rose stops in her tracks. She looks over at me and I know that she thinks the same.

"That's what I think but... you know what that means," she whispers and I do know what that means. I know all too well.

That means that no where is safe, if the rebels have inside eyes at the facility we are utterly screwed. All we can do is keep high alert because we don't exactly have anywhere else to go.

"It's fine, we can use the event to our advantage. We'll figure something out but you're staying with me, you're not going back to your room," I say and she doesn't make any move to object.

"Who do you think would actually side with the rebels... after everything they've done?" she questions and I haven't a clue.

"I don't know but it can't be for a good reason," I admit and Rose nods her head a little.

Twigs and branches snap under my step and an odd silence surrounds us. It feels like there should be more noise or something. It shouldn't be so quiet.

"Do you know where we're going?" I ask as we walk through another opening in the trees. I don't know how she ever escaped by herself. I sure as hell couldn't.

"Roughly... it looks familiar but then so does every tree," she laughs a little to lighten the mood but I can tell from how forced it sounded that she feels quite the opposite.

Something is eating away at her but I can't exactly put my finger on it. The sun is beginning to rise so the quicker we get out of here the better otherwise anyone could spot us.

I halt and reach for her wrist, stopping her. "Did anything happen that you didn't tell me about?" I question, something is up and it's more than just the people that she had to kill.

"It doesn't matter, we can talk about it later," her face scrunches and I can tell from how deep the bullet is in her arm that it hurts more than she wants to admit.

"You promise?" I say and feel like a child but I need to know if something is wrong. She can't keep on carrying all of her problems by herself. She can trust me and she should know that.

"I promise," Rose says and I decide on letting it go for now.

When she is ready. I remind myself. 

***

A/N Thank you all so much for all of the reads, votes, comments. It never fails to make me happy seeing all of your comments and thoughts whilst reading. I hope you are all enjoying this so far!