*warning: this chapter is unedited and contains some strong language*

Liam patted the knife that was in his hand, holding at a ready stance, just in case anything tried to attack him. The tunnels had lead just outside of the cave through of the trees, which they found rather odd, but they were rather lucky that it didn't lead to something far more sinister than the woods. Sparna hadn't spoken at all yet, but William and Marisa had been talking a lot about where to go and how to approach their prey.

The four of them hadn't seen any life yet, but they knew it was coming. They had only been walking for an hour or two, so they had plenty of time before Zeke was going to tell everyone where they were, and they were bound to come across some sort of food source.

And when they did, they would be ready.

***

"They did what?!"

"Nico, calm down."

"No, I can not calm down! Don't tell me to calm down!"

Nico O'Keel's face was completely red, his hands bunched into fists. Zeke had just told him where his sister and the other three were.

"I'm sure they're alright. They're the strongest out of the group," Hedi said, attempting to defend Zeke, while he still felt a little worried about the four. 

"There are monsters out there!" Nico cried to Hedi. "You, Jayed, Eira and Dylan almost died! How long have they been gone?" He asked Zeke.

Zeke bit his lip. "A while."

"And you didn't tell us?!" Nico was full on hysterical at that point, breathing heavily and hands shaking. "She could be dead," He whispered.

"I'm sorry, Nico, but they told me to only tell anyone if people started to worry or they were gone for too long, and I had to keep that promise. I probably shouldn't have even said anything. You were supposed to stay with Ty so that you didn't notice she was gone."

"She didn't want me to notice?!" Nico cried. "She didn't even say goodbye and she could be dead right now!"

"She wanted you to be safe," Zeke said, trying to make him stop crying so he didn't feel so guilty. "Really, she did what's best for you."

Suddenly, Zeke saw Ty rush from where they were sleeping to Nico, asking what's wrong. He told them in a shaky voice, and they comforted him, hugging him. "Why wouldn't they want to tell us they were leaving?" Lany asked.

"They were scared that we would go outside and try to find them and we would hurt ourselves," Zeke explained. Lany furrowed his brows.

"Why the hell would we do that? There are fricking monsters out there!"

"I don't know, maybe to help them or make them come back?"

"That's exactly what we should do!" Nico said, trying to get out of Ty's grasp. "We can't let them die."

"They're not going to die," Naya said. "Liam took a bunch of weapons with him."

Hedi looked at her, confused. "How did you know that?"

"I saw him."

"And you didn't think that that was suspicious?!" Nico yelled.

"Liam said that he was just making adjustments, I don't think that's very suspicious. I mean, it makes sense. They needed a lot of fixing anyways. They were pretty crappy."

Lany yelled an offended remark, crossing his arms and saying that they were very well made for barely using any supplies. Nico's shaking only worsened, and Eira and Jayed exchanged nervous glances every so often. 

"Here's what we're going to do," Hedi said. "We're going to stay here and wait, and if they don't come back in four hours, then we'll go find them."

"Four hours?!" 

"Yes, four hours. That's enough time to hunt and come back. But if they're still not back, we'll know that something happened to them."

Nico was still reluctant, but he didn't say anything, either. Ty let go of him as he walked back to his wall, slumping down. 

"What do we do in the meantime?" Jayed asked.

"We can get to know each other a little better. Talk, make plans, all of that stuff."

"But four hours?"

"We'll figure it out," Zeke said. Finally, everybody agreed, dispersing back to their spots. Ty walked over to Zeke, wearing a dark stare.

"If anything happens to Sparna," They said in an intimidating voice. "you're dead."

***

Quinn sat against the wall, his knees to his chest and his arms locked around them. He tried to ignore the growing pain in his arms and legs, making sure that Jayed didn't see any sign of suffering. Jayed was right beside him, humming as he stared at everyone, mostly Hedi, who was talking to Zeke and Orion. He had been talking to a lot of people he hadn't really before, including those two, to get to know his team better and so he didn't get bored. The tunes Jayed was singing with his mouth closed sounded both sad and uplifting at the same time, depending on what part he was at. Quinn knew that if he spoke, it would come out as hoarse and frail. 

But he couldn't stand another second of Jayed's continuous humming.

"Jayed?" He said. Jayed's head turned to him. His humming stopped. Thank god. "Can I show you something?"

He shrugged, and Quinn moved so that he could reach inside his zipped-up pocket and grab what was inside. He sighed. He didn't think that he would ever show it to anybody.

"Now, you can't tell anyone about this, alright?"

"Of course not," Jayed replied, and Quinn sighed. He took the piece of paper and started to unfold it. However, before he gave it to Jayed, he explained what it was.

"Remember that journal that I really loved? How I used to write in it all the time?" Jayed nodded. "Well, I was working on a story, and... I salvaged this page from the crash." Before he could change his mind, he handed it to Jayed, popping his knuckles as he began to read it out loud.

"Aedias never believed in happy endings, especially when it came to his own life. He never showed it, but behind that intelligent, headstrong boy, there was someone that really didn't trust in the fact that he would ever be happy. He tried to push it down, but that feeling was always there. It stirred.

"However, Wilmar was the closest anyone had ever come to changing that. Out of everybody in the world, Wilmar would be the one to live happily ever after. His spirit was too bright and sweet to be corrupted by the terrible world. Sometimes, Aedias wished that he could be like him. That way, he wouldn't be so focused on the darkness that the world had in it. He-"

Quinn was confused on why Jayed had stopped, until he remembered that he only saved one page and that that was all that was written on it. Jayed looked from the paper to him. "Quinn..." He said, eyes watering.

"It's a bit dramatic," Quinn said quickly. But Jayed ignored that.

"Is this how you feel?"

"Well, not exactly." Quinn thought about how he would explain it. "I added a few things to it. But the second part, that's pretty accurate." He choked on the mucus draining down his throat. 

Jayed looked back at the page, eyes saddened and sympathetic. After scanning the paper again, he looked back at Quinn. "Does Aedias still believe that Wilmar will live his happy ending even after he almost died twice?" Jayed asked, a tear falling down his cheek.

Quinn nodded. "He always believed that his spirit would be enough to carry him." There was a moment of silence before Quinn nervously chuckled. "I'm sorry. That was so sappy. I'll just... forget I showed that to you."

But Jayed didn't forget. He held the paper close to his heart, turning around to hug Quinn. "Thank you for showing this to me," He said, not releasing. Quinn patted his back.

"Don't mention it, Wilmar."

***

It had been two hours, and the closest they had gotten to wildlife was the distant sound of a monster at one point, which they calmly handled by remaining absolutely silent.

"There has to be some life besides those beasts around here," William said. "Or at least some source of food. The living hells must be living off something."

"Maybe they don't need to eat," Liam suggested.

"Then why'd they kill Arabella, Nicholas, Ka-" Marisa stopped when he saw Sparna's upset face. She was tugging at her sleeves. "I'm sorry, Sparna."

"It's okay," She lied, staring at her shoes.

Marisa bit her lip, but then continued. "Point is, it hunted us for a reason."

"Maybe the food supply wasn't enough?" Liam said.

"No, the monsters would have been weaker than they were," Sparna said quietly. "They probably just felt threatened by our presence or doesn't want anything else on their island."

William nodded. "Good point."

"Maybe we shouldn't look for animals and instead we should focus on locating some edible plants," Marisa suggested. "If there is one source of food from a plant, there must be more. Plus, we're not having very good luck with the hunting."

"Another good point," William said. "Should we split up?"

"No!" Liam blurted out quickly. Everyone looked at him, a little surprised, since he was the daredevil and was usually up for danger. "Okay, I know what you're thinking, but I'm not being a coward-I'm being smart. Splitting up? Really? William, you're better than this."

William tilted his head. Maybe that wasn't his brightest idea. Ty almost got killed by going away from the group, and Elliot did get killed when the group split up. "Fair enough, Liam. But we do need to hurry up and find something."

"How about me and Sparna get the left side and you and Liam take the right? We'll check different areas, but we'll be close enough so we can still see each other."

The four agreed that that was the best solution, and the took to their sides, checking every inch of the ground for anything edible. Marisa found a few mint leaves on near a tree-her Dad always had them growing in his garden, so she knew exactly what they looked like-and sneakily took a bite of one, placing the rest in her basket. It was only a little, but it felt so nice to have something against her tongue. She hadn't eaten in far too long.

It was about seven minutes before anyone found anything remotely interesting besides those leaves. William called the three over to a small bush, pointing at the pink berries that decorated it. Liam's face lit up, but it quickly changed to a frown. "How do we know they're safe?" He asked. 

"I'm not sure, I've never seen anything like it," Marisa said, face conflicted. Everybody was silent for a moment, until Sparna pushed William aside and picked a berry from the bush, popping it into her mouth.

Liam shrieked, asking her why she did that while covering his face with his hands. She didn't answer, wincing as she waited for something to happen. William gaped, not expecting her to do that, and Marisa prayed. After five minutes, however, Sparna looked perfectly healthy, and didn't even feel any different.

"You fucking idiot! Why did you do that?!" Liam demanded again, holding his hair.

"It was the only way to find out if they are poisonous." She didn't look too upset, though she did look a little nervous. 

"There must be some other way!" Marisa said. "Oh my god, oh my god, oh my god."

"I'm fine, Marisa. At least we know that these are safe." She picked another berry, handing it to her. "Want one?" Terrified, she flicked it away.

"It could be a late-acting poison!" Liam suggested, still holding his hair in panic. "Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, FUCK, SPARNA!"

Sparna still didn't look worried, but she did look a little guilty for making Liam and Marisa panic so much. "Even if it was a late-acting poison, Liam, I still would have felt something by now."

"You don't know that!" Marisa cried. "Oh my god, Sparna!"

"Stop it! Guys, don't you see? I'm fine!"

The three, still shocked by her sudden action, took deep breaths, and slowly exhaled. She was probably right. She hadn't felt anything, and it had been five minutes. 

But why had she done that? She could have died, and it was just to find out if some stupid berries were poisonous. That was more selfless than any action anyone had done on that island before. It wasn't even brave; it was more stupid than that.

"You might be right," Liam admitted, releasing his grip from his hair. Goddammit, she better be right.

"Nobody touch these, we need to share them with everyone," Marisa ordered. Everybody nodded, placing all of the berries they could find in Marisa and William's baskets. Nobody questioned that leaves in Marisa's Liam was partly tempted to take one, but he knew that he might need it later, so he let it be. Plus, he still wasn't sure that they were completely safe, since they still weren't sure if it would affect Sparna later or not. 

The four continued to look for edible plants or bugs or anything that they could eat, but this time Liam insisted on looking with Sparna. Marisa and William obliged, and Liam made sure to use that as an opportunity to talk to Sparna.

"Hey, are you okay?" He asked her. At first she was surprised by his question, but then she just simply nodded.

"Of course," She answered, not taking her eyes off of the tree she was inspecting. Liam bit his lip. How long was she going to keep lying?

"Tell me the truth, Sparna."

"I am. Those berries didn't do anything to me."

"I'm not talking about the berries, idiot." Sparna stopped rustling with the leaves and stared off into the distance. Then, she looked at him.

"I'm. Fine." Liar. She looked him directly in the eye and lied to him.

"Is that what you're telling Nico?" That's when she couldn't take it anymore.

"Don't drag Nico into this!" She yelled.

But Liam wasn't finished. He was going to get her to admit it. "You didn't answer my question."

Sparna looked at him, surprised and maybe a little bit shocked. She closed her mouth, turned her back on him and went back to checking the tree. Liam sighed. She wasn't ready, and he would be a monster to push her any further. He walked away from her, trying to focus on his work. It was hard, though, Sparna constantly floating into his thoughts.

I'm fine, she lied. How long was she going to keep that up?

After a few minutes, nobody had any luck finding anything. However, that's when the sound of a person falling onto the ground filled the other three hunter's ears, the source too weak to let out a scream.

***

A/N

I hate to say this, but this is the first of a stream of pretty heavy chapters. Just a notice: there will be some triggers in some of the chapters, including strong language, homophobia, and other things that I can't explain because of spoilers. Also, deaths. I know you came in knowing that there will be deaths, but some of them are described in a way that might be upsetting to some readers. That's all I can say without spoiling anything.

But anyways, I just needed to write this author's note to let you guys know. This book will have more triggers than my previous ones, including Ashwock Academy and the Just A Game series (which is a HG fanfic so that's saying something), and will be more dark than I had originally planned.

I will try to put warnings in the top of chapters, but yeah. Thank you so much for reading. Ily guys, as always.

-Puffin <3