I wake up to Chase climbing out of my room. "Babe..." Chase looks back at me as I rub my eyes. "Where are you going?" I whine as the door opens.

"I need to get to my training sequence." He gently kisses my forehead, turning and walking out the door, turning to me and leaning against the door frame. "I get a half day today so I'll be back after lunch."

"O-Okay..." I stammer out. He sighs, climbing back into my room and sitting across from me, holding both of my hands.

"I'll get back by lunch, and we can hang out, okay?" I nod and he softly smiles, holding my jaw and gently kissing my forehead and softly smiling at me. "Oh, and Lily will be by later to take you on a checkup for your burns." I nod as Chase climbs out, running out of the room moments later with Nathan. Asha leaves with the twins and I bite my lip, leaning forward and running my fingers over the pad on the wall flashes with a word I don't want to see anymore. I slowly crawl out and go through my clothes, pulling out one of Chase's hoodies, a white tshirt and black sweatpants.

I turn my head as the door to the sleeping quarters, Lily smiling at me as she walks in. "Hey," she grins, "Chase told you I was coming right?" I nod and she smiles again, looking and writing something on her clipboard. "Follow me to go to your check up, and if you need to do anything else I can help you around."

"I-I was going to take a shower before." She hums, walking out the door. I slowly start to follow her.

"It would be better to take one after. Since you haven't been regularly leaving your sleeping chamber your burns are most likely infected." I bite down on my lip as I follow Lily. She chuckles. "Why're you so quiet? It's not like you."

"Living in the woods for months can change you." Lily nods slowly, sighing and stopping in the halls. I stop behind her and she looks at me, moving a strand of her red hair behind her ear.

"Olive, I'm so sorry you had to go through that, and I'm so, so sorry you have to live with the fact that our family is gone. But I can promise you I won't leave you." She holds one of my hands. "Okay?"

I nod and we walk down the corridors and halls, stopping in front of the doctors room. I slowly step in, biting my lip as I sit on the examination table and take off my shirt and hold my bra in place as Dr.Martin steps in. He looks at me, purses his lips and grunts, looking down at his clipboard as the door shuts behind him. He throws the board onto the counter on the other side of the room, walking to me and taking the bandages off. I think about Chase. How I want to see him shirtless, training and sweaty making him look more muscular.

"Your burns aren't infect, and appear to be healing quite nicely," Dr.Martin breaks my train of thought. I look up at him as he throws the bandages away. "You will be able to start working tomorrow if you wish, but unfortunately we cannot graft new skin to replace your burn markings yet."

"Yet?" I stagger out as he pulls out new bandages and only covers my shoulder.

"For skin grafting we pull skin from another part of your body, usually your gluteus or another place where you normally have extra skin, and pull off your chard skin, stitch it in place and then you'll be fine in a few weeks to months, but in your, frail condition, we won't be able to pull extra skin from anywhere on your body, so it'll have to be form someone with a close enough completion who has recently been deceased." A dead persons skin on mine. A dead persons skin on my body. "The only people to have died on base so far have been Latino, African American or skin far tanner then yours."

"Why can't you just use one of them?" I don't know why I'm asking.

"Don't you think it would be odd to have a white person with a very dark shoulder?" He lifts a brow and I slightly nod. He shakes his head, continuing his explanation. "Anyhow, we would also need to reconnect a few nerve endings, but in the case of taking it from someone else your nervous system would most likely be different spies with your nerves being a tad smaller then theirs. That's also why it's easier to take it from another part of your body, they'll morph together better."

I stare at the small fold of y stomach, then up at him. "How much do I have to weigh to graft my own skin?"

"For someone your size and age, around one hundred and twenty pounds." I gulp at the number. "In fact you have seemed to lost some weight, can I weigh you real quick?" I hesitantly jump off the table and walk to the scale, stepping onto it and biting my lip at the sight of ninety three pounds. Dr.Martin inhales quickly as I step off. "It's stepping towards the danger zone. Have you been going to meals?"

"No." I feel like I'm lying.

He hums, pulling up something on the wall and looking at me, then back to the wall. "Your monitor says that you have only left your sleeping chamber this morning in the last week." I lift a brow as he looks back at me. "The sleeping chambers have a record of when you leave the chamber, knowing your genetic makeup an can tell when someone other then you leaves or enters. The technology in this building has been kept from the world since its founding, only know are we using it," I nod like I know what he's saying. "Anyway, I'll be giving you a supposed, blue card, which allows you to go into the dinning halls up to an hour before or after a meal to eat if you don't feel comfortable eating with others, or to go first in line when there is a meal."

"I-I don't really know the base that well so I don't know where anything is," I slide my shirt back on when he turns away to write something down.

"Lily can show you." He walks out and Lily walks in, smiling at me and holding my clothes. I walk with her back down to my sleeping quarters, but we pass it and go to the showers.

"Are you showering with me?" I laugh as we walk in, steam filling the air as she pulls a towel from a rack and hands it to me.

"No, but I have been assigned to help you if necessary," she perks at me. I roll my eyes and she shows me to a changing room. I pull off my clothes, handing them to my sister behind the curtain and wrap the towel around my body. She shows me to the actual shower and I hesitantly step inside, taking the towel off and putting it on a hook before engulfing myself in the streams of water that seem to be reused and on loop, by how some of the steams of water have little bubble pockets from people washing their hair. I relax against the water, smiling as it hits my skin and closing my eyes.

"I have never seen you more beautiful then now," I flinch, yelping as I try and cover my body from the person in the steam. They step closer, and I prepare myself for a fight. Chase's smile emerges. I glare at him and push his chest as he laughs.

"What're you doing in here!" I yell as he laughs more.

"The toilets may be different but genders shower together," he laughs again, keeping his eyes above my neck.

"Why're you here?" I bore my eyes into him.

"It's currently the end of my training session which means I shower, get lunch, then I'm yours the rest of the day." He smiles, keeping his hands away from me, staying feet away from me.

"Why are you so far away?" If I know my sister, she's listening to every word we're saying.

"Because..." He drags out. I hum, scoff and cross my eyes.

"It's not because you want to fuck me right now?"

"No, why would you say that?" He scoffs loudly. I take a quick look down, slapping a hand to my forehead.

"You have a fucking boner, Chase." He nervously laughs, taking my hand and pressing his lips to my knuckles. I stare at him.

"Only know, it's because of you." He walks off and I blink before yelling. I know he's on the other side of the room, but I don't want to walk to him.

"What the hell is wrong with you Chase!" I hear him laugh, rolling my eyes and I continue to wash my hair. I walk out, quickly wrapping a towel around my frame and feeling hands run across my waist. "Chase, not now."

"I know," he kisses my neck, and I can't stop my skin from going into a darker shade of red. "And your sisters outside and the risks and all that. I just miss touching you. Your skins so soft, and your hands are so small in mine."

"I-I can't have sex right now," he gently kisses my neck again, letting go of my waist and standing in front of me.

"Olive, I don't want to pressure you into doing it. And I don't want to hurt your arm while it's healing. So," he holds both my hands. "Why don't we go on a little lunch date?"

–/\–/\–/\–/\–

Chase holds my hand as we enter the lunch area, lily already inside and sitting with a group of people that seem to be her age, a smile on her lips as she laughs at a joke. I look at everyone's meals. They're all eating something different. "Come on," I walk with him to the small line of people and stand in it. I know I should go to the front, but I don't want to leave Chase. I watch Chase as he stands in the line, walking up to the platform and the lunch person asking his name. "Chase McLain."

"Two hundred and five." She stats and Chase walks off, letting go of my hand. I bite my lip as she looks at me. "Name?"

"Olive Augustine." I lick my lips, holding my hands into my pockets.

She looks at the computer, then me and lifting a brow. "You new?"

"No."

"Occupation?"

"I don't have one yet." Chase stands behind me with a tray of food. The people behind me groan, yelling to hurry up.

"Doctor?"

"Doctor Martin." I hold my head down as Chase watches me.

She chimes and I look up. "Found you. Hundred and twenty six." Chase walks with me, explaining the number system. How each number is for each diet and each diet is usually only for about three people max. I find the number in the rows and take the tray of food and walk with Chase to a table, sitting down and staring at the food. Chase has a salad and I have a steak.

"Wanna switch?" He laughs as he tosses the leaves on his plate.

"Can we? I don't think I can eat a whole cow leg." He laughs and takes my plate, handing me the salad. He digs into the stack and I eat the salad. Nathan soon joins us, sitting across me and eating what looks like fast food McDonalds. I finish and Chase hands me a few chucks of steak. I eat them slowly. Our trays are taken and I bite my lip as Chase stretches his arms up, his shirt lifting and a small bit his stomach showing, and I try not to feel anything for him. He's probably found another girlfriend by now and hasn't told me.

Moments later Asha joins us with a bright smile, talking about how she put a cast on someone's leg, reset a shoulder, and got to watch a surgery where they fixed someone's broken ribs. Minutes later a girl around our age walks up to the table, smiling at Chase and leaning on his side of the table. "Hey Chase, up for a sparing match this afternoon?" Her brown eyes shine against the lights that hang from the ceiling.

"Sorry but I'm hanging out with my girlfriend with my time off." He nervously laughs as if he's uncomfortable, quickly wrapping his hand on mine. I don't understand why he can throw that word around so easily.

"For how long?" She asks with a smile.

"Six months," Nathan interrupts.

"How would you know?" She scoffs as Asha smacks her lips together as she eats her fish.

"We were in a van, in the middle of the woods with no one around for miles. All alone for seven months," Asha glares into her. "And who do you think you are?"

"I'm Heather Sawyer," she smiles, turning back to Chase. "So?"

"Like I said, I'm hanging out with my girlfriend, so maybe another time." She nods slowly and walks off, Chase slowly blowing out a breath like he was holding it then turning to us and leaning his head on my shoulder.

"What's up with her bitch ass," Asha mutters.

"She's thirteen, the most skilled person in our group and has a thing for me." He groans, lifting his head as Lily walks up to the table.

"Hey Olive," she smiles, holding a clipboard in her hands and at her waist, smiling at me as I squeeze Chase's hand. "I was wondering if we could catch up, talk about what happened when you were in the woods, Mom and Dad."

"Uh," I turn to Chase then back to Lily. "M-Me and Chase were going to hang out. He has the afternoon off a-and we don't know when he'll have it off again." Lily nods with a smile. She was always so understanding.

"That's fine, maybe I can stop by tonight or you two can talk to me about what happened. It's also a psychological test. I already did June and August, Asha and Nathan," they both nod as Chase nearly crushes my hand. "But we can do it together or apart."

"Together would be great," Chase speaks over me, and that's the first time I see Lily glare. He doesn't flinch. "Maybe in like an hour or two?"

"Olive," she looks down at me.

"A-An hour or two," I smile as Chase squeezes my hand again. Lily looks deep into me and I nod at her that I'm okay. She smiles and walks off.