They'd been walking for a few hours when the complaints started to roll in. Have you ever trudged through hours of hot desert sands with no destination in sight in a group of a bunch of children?

Because, as Regina was sure anyone here could tell, it wasn't fun. Regina usually tried to stay as positive as humanly possible, but she realized that she to bite back a retort every time someone said their feet hurt. Finny, on the other hand, did not hide his irritability.

There hadn't been anything official about it, but Regina had been "assigned" to lead Sawyer through the desert. But Sawyer had been eerily quiet the entire trip. Any attempts to talk with her had went unanswered, and eventually Regina just stopped trying. Her hand on Sawyer's shoulder, she tried to distract herself by talking to the others.

But it seemed like no one else had anything interesting to say. "My feet hurt" and "I'm tired" and "Can we take a break?" and "I'm thirsty" and "I'm hot" and--

"Alright, let's stop to rest" Regina overheard a voice say abruptly. It was Sawyer. Her first sentence since they left was...?

No one else seemed to really question it, most people eager to get off their feet for even just fifteen minutes. Regina squinted her eyes are she looked up into the sky. The sun was just above the horizon. She wiped several beads of sweat off her forehead as she took a seat on a large rock, Sawyer just beside her.

There was only a few minutes of peace before a noise that none of them had ever heard before, but that all could recognize instantly interrupted.

The unforgettable sound of a rattlesnake.

There was a scream, several actually, as everyone pushed past each other to get out of the way of the snake as it slithered closer. The group was split in two as the snake with brown diamond shapes on its back worked its way down the middle.

Regina had placed herself in front of Sawyer. Listening to the hissing and the rattle, her mind was numb. Sawyer did not need to be told what was happening--the sounds alone were enough to warn her of the danger.

The snake seemed to have its eyes locked on a select target, and time seemed to freeze when Regina realized just who.

Finny.

Paralyzed with fear, Finny stared with wide eyes at the snake, unable to bring himself to move. It was several feet away. It was two feet away. It was a foot away. It was rearing up, fangs bared. Its tongue flickered with anticipation.

The snake lunged, and there was a scream shortly after.

But not from Finny. 

Regina had leaped in the way, shoving Finny to the sandy ground as the snake bit directly down onto her calf and held on. Regina had fallen to the ground and was now crying hysterically, trying weakly to shake the snake off.

Finny regained control of himself and used his own hands to pry the snake off of her and throw it as far as he could. Normally, under any other circumstance, he would've been far too terrified to ever think about touching the snake but--

He then turned up to Regina.

"How stupid are-- Do you even know-- You're such an idi-- You should've let me g--" Finny couldn't even finish a sentence, completely unsure of what to say. He wiped at his eyes quickly, hoping desperately no one noticed the tears that had been forming.

Regina wanted to scream again. It felt like her blood was fire, like there was trees growing in her veins. Finny's mouth was moving, sound coming out, but only wordless noise reached her ears--which had blood pounding in them.

"I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I don't wanna die, I don't--"

"No, no, no," Finny said, a sharp gasp overtaking his voice. "You're not gonna die, you're not. We're can just-- We're gonna--"

"Finny, what are we gonna do?" Summer dropped to her knees on the opposite side of Regina. Regina's breathing was heavy, and her face had gone pale.

"I'm so dizzy, I wanna sleep--" Regina's mouth felt completely dry. She tried to keep talking, but she couldn't. Her mouth wouldn't move.

Quinn had appeared silently, holding a bottle of water in his hands. Regina reached out weakly towards it, but Finny stopped her. He took the water bottle instead and held it to Regina's mouth.

"Slow," he said, voice less than a whisper. 

Summer gently took the water bottle from Finny's hands. "Finny, you look sick. Go and... comfort everyone else or something."

Finny wanted to protest, but Summer's voice was flat. Her eyes were lifeless. And he couldn't bring himself to argue with her. Or anyone, for that matter.

Unable to look away from Regina, he got to his feet stiffly and stumbled backwards. Not even turning away, he found a rock and sat down leaning against it. He ran a hand through his curly hair before curling his knees to his chest.

Bernie suddenly sat down in front of him, but he really couldn't be bothered to talk to her very much.

"Are you... okay?"

"I'm fff..." The lie died on his tongue. He didn't say anything else. 

Bernie started to reach out her hand to touch him on the shoulder, but he slapped her hand away.

"Don't... Touch me."

Finny didn't even care about the hurt that flashed on her face before she stood and left him to be alone.

Everyone was very busy. Whether they were too in shock to much of anything, or whether they were completely caught up in tending to Regina, everyone was focused on something OTHER than the four figures that had appeared on the horizon, rapidly approaching as the sun started to sink below.

Until it was too late.

The group was made up of entirely teenagers, two boys and two girls. The two girls both looked 18, while the boys were 17 and 15, respectively.

All of the teens were in ragged clothing that looked like it was made of animal skin--probably something doglike. One of the girls had a coyote hat on her head, and held a slingshot in her hands. The older of the two boys had a spear, but that was all the weaponry between them.

"What are you guys doing here?" Coyote Hat demanded, pointing her loaded slingshot at them.

"Stop!" the other girl interrupted, grabbing Coyote Hat's slingshot and pulling it from her hands. "Aelix, they're just kids."

"Well, I'm sorry Fey, but I'm going to protect you, Marko, and Henry no matter who it is I have to fight," Coyote Hat--Aelix?--said, determination heavy in her tone.

The older of the boys seemed like he didn't agree with Aelix, but didn't want to say anything to disagree with her.

The younger boy did not even hesitate for one moment before leaving his own input. "We shouldn't just attack them! When was the last time we've seen anyone outside of--"

"Shh! Don't tell them about that! If they're dangerous, we need to keep--" Aelix said in a hushed tone.

"Let's just talk!" Fey ended their arguing, before approaching Summer. "Hey there, cutie. What are you and your friends doing out h-- Ohmygod!"

Hostility had vanished, weapons dropped quickly into the sand. After all, Fey had noticed Regina, still panting heavily in the sand. Fey hurried over to Regina, calling over her teenage friends as well.

"Hva i helvete?" the younger teen boy--who Summer thought looked a lot like a Henry, not a Marko-- said naturally, prompting several kids to ask him what'd he'd said. He simply ignored them, continuing absentmindedly, "What happened...?"

"...Jesus Christ..." Aelix muttered, then her hand flew over her mouth, "Sorry. Marko, what do you think happened?"

"Aelix... I have no idea," the older boy said, and Summer realized her guess had been correct, "She could be sick, it could be heat stroke, it could be something as simple as dehydration, or maybe something venomous--"

"It was a rattlesnake! It bit her!" Summer said abruptly.

"A rattlesnake? Where is it now?"

"I don't really know. Finny threw it away," Max explained, pointing at the boy who was (a) no longer the oldest and (b) still huddled up away from everyone else.

"Finny what?!"

"He picked it up and threw it away. It was still holding onto Regina though," Sapphire explained.

"Shi-- Oh no," Summer didn't miss how Aelix was about to swear but caught herself, "I'm surprised no one else was bitten. Wait, no one else WAS bitten, right?"

"No... Just Regina," Summer said.

Aelix put a hand on Regina's forehead. She then looked over at Fey. "What are we gonna do, Fey? We can't just... let her die."

"Die?! Regina's going to die?!" Bernie exclaimed loudly, causing all of the kids to hurry over in a panic. 

Summer didn't want anyone to die... Especially Regina! She hadn't even done anything wrong...!

"We're going to... see what we can do," Fey said, uncertain. She glanced nervously at Aelix, who could do nothing but stare in return. She suddenly stood to her feet, raising her chin up and saying in a leader-like voice, "The sun is almost set. Let's all just make a camp here and stay the night. We can... We can figure out what to do in the morning."

But there was a doubt in Fey's mind if Regina would even live that long.

"You," Aelix pointed directly at Max, "get me something I can make a fire with. I'll teach you how. And him if he wants to learn." Aelix made a sharp movement with her head towards Finny, who still had yet to move.

Aelix paused for a second, before adding with another thought, "Please."

Max nodded and scurried off to find anything remotely flammable.

Aelix turned to collecting various stones to make a fire pit. It wasn't likely that a fire would spread at all in the desert, but you could never be too safe.

Fey decided to take to Finny. Most of the kids here were too young to notice if someone was upset, but Fey certainly could. She crouched down next to him, but he turned away from her.

"Hey, wait," Fey said smoothly. "Finny, right?"

Finny said nothing, did nothing. He just kept staring off into the distance blankly.

"Let me guess..." Fey thought for just a moment, "Regina... she got bitten protecting you, huh?"

"W-What?" Finny said, taken aback.

"Regina got bitten protecting you. Am I wrong?"

Finny looked away.

Fey didn't move any closer. She only sat down, realizing this was going to take more than just a couple sentences.

"And now you're blaming yourself? 'It should've been me', right?"

Finny hid his face in his knees, not really wanting to be seen, but not really wanting to be left alone either. He muttered something under his breath.

"What was that?" Fey asked gently.

"...how do you know...?"