Zac and Emilia stand in the middle of the street, arguing between one another as the street descends into chaos. I'm frozen in place at the sight, having only popped home to mine and Jace's house to pick up a couple of items of clothing. I missed my favourite jeans.

"Em—"

"What the fuck is going on?" I interrupt Zac, eyes wide as I look between them. Emilia's expression is broken, her eyes haunted as Zac clenches his jaw, clearly torn. My eyes flicker past them to the hordes of Enforcers slamming their batons down on people's backs, raising their riot shields and battering into people. "Why are the Enforcers killing everyone?"

Emilia's face falls before the heartbreaking words spill from her mouth. "They killed Rayden."

The words ooze through my skin, slowly but surely crawling their way to my brain. I stumble backwards the minute they sink in, hand flying up to clutch at my chest. It aches. It clenches. It breaks.

"What?" My voice is hollow. I don't believe it.

"He's dead, Kayla," Emilia tells me. Tears spring to my eyes and I shake my head fiercely. No! He can't be. Rayden. My Rayden. Our Rayden.

My heart splits down the middle, my knees weakening as my old love rival stares me dead in my eyes. Agony coils in my stomach and my lips open, but no sounds comes out.

There's nothing to say.

Rayden is dead. He's dead.

Coming to, I shoot upright, finding myself tangled in my blankets, the fabric sweaty and coiled around my legs. I can't see a thing in the black of the night, but the hair around my forehead is stuck to my face, knotted and wet.

My heart is pounding uncomfortably and I swallow. Rayden's face fills my mind. Rayden's laugh. His smile. I struggle to catch my breath as the nightmare swarms back through my head and squeeze my eyes shut, desperate to make it go away.

It won't.

Emilia's face as she told me he was dead... it stays there... haunting my mind...

"I count to a hundred."

The words slip back into my mind and my eyes fly open. Riley. Yes. Count to a hundred.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

I zone in on the numbers, concentrating my full attention on every single one, letting them increase and dissipate the memory nightmare.

By the time I reach 100, I exhale with a sigh of relief, half of the weight already lifted from my shoulders. My eyes flicker open.

"Go back to the first memory you have with that person."

Rayden and I both moved to Nottingham during the same half term. We were shoved together on the first day of school as the two newbies who didn't have a clue. On our way to Geography class we got lost and ended up at the bottom of the school field, not a classroom in sight. We ended up skipping the entire afternoon and getting to know one another as we shared a packet of Frazzles.

I smile at the memory.

"Then find your favourite memory of them. Relive it twice."

By the time the image of Rayden and I running through the streets of Nottingham to escape his sister, Lola — ending up wrapped up in one another's arms by the end of it — has ran through my head twice, I'm completely relaxed.

Shifting my butt up slightly, I rest my head against the wall and smile. It's gone. The nightmare has passed.

"How do you do that?"

"Jesus!" My hand flies to my chest and my heart skips a beat, jumping at Carl's voice. I forgot that other people are in the living room, sleeping beside me. "Do what?"

"Calm down so fast after a nightmare?" He's a couple of people away from me.

His words settle in my gut and I hug my left arm around the hoodie that covers me, reaching up with my other to curl my fingers over the dog tags that adorn my neck. They're warm to touch.

"Riley," I reply simply.

"Riley?" He sounds surprised.

"He told me how he does it," I answer. "And it hasn't failed me yet."

I hear a rush of air leave Carl's lips. "He really cares about you, you know that?"

"I... I mean... we were only just getting to know one another—"

"That man has it bad for you, Kayla. Trust me," he promises.

A surge of warmth floods my gut and I close my mouth, pursing my lips at the comforting words. A few seconds pass before I respond, "If that's true, I guess he can tell me himself as soon as he gets back."

"And I'm sure he will," Carl utters a quiet response.

"What are you doing awake?" I ask him.

"It's my shift on lookout in fifteen minutes," he replies. I hear him shifting on his make-do bed.

"Carl?"

"Yes?"

"Why are you awake so long before your shift?" I ask quietly.

He doesn't reply.

"Did you have a nightmare too?"

"No." His voice is gruff. I don't believe him.

"Okay," I say softly. Just in case he's lying, or for if he has one in the future, I tell him exactly what I do to help soothe myself back to reality. The way Riley told me to do it. He stays silent, only muttering a brash thanks at the end.

Soon, he stands, ready to start his shift and tells me to go back to sleep before disappearing out of the busy room. There's a small smile on my lips as I snuggle back under my blanket, hauling it up to my chin and closing my eyes.

*~*~*

It's been six days since initiating my first plan.

The group who headed to where Sheffield used to lie returned after three days with six extra supporters, but nothing else to report. It's a wasteland there, with no-one living nearby.

The group who were sent East to scour the areas that lie within ten miles of the wall returned after four days with three people, those sent West returned after five days with two.

We've gained sixteen people from daily night runs back to Nottingham. I've recognised three or four of them from the old married sector, greeting them as old friends the minute I saw their friendly faces.

The group who headed to Manchester came back after four days with, some would say, the greatest success. They found another, slightly smaller Resistance up there, people who were uncertain whether it was time to act, unsure whether they had the power to win. Upon hearing of their predicament, twenty two people at the farm volunteered to head back North to help them fight. To take over a city from the Enforcers.

Hopefully the majority of them will be back by this time next week.

We still await news from York.

Shifting the axe in my hand, I lift it above my head before moving my right foot backwards and swinging the weapon forwards, down onto the wood in front of me. It splinters apart and I grin, reaching down and chucking the logs onto the pile I've made beside me.

"Kayla!" 

I turn at the call to see one of the women running down towards me and give her a smile.

"Everything okay?" I place the axe beside the tree stump.

She nods, stopping in front of me. "They're arguing over who gets the bedroom tonight."

I blink at her. "Seriously?"

She nods. "Ryan wants to use it with Pippa, because apparently they're together now, and they think they deserve some private time—"

"There's a rota," I interrupt her.

"I know," she pauses. "I wouldn't have come down here... only it looks like Ryan and Andy are about to come to blows."

"For fucks sake," I mutter, dusting my hands against the fabric of my black cargos before stepping away from the wood. "We have far more pressing matters to deal with."

"I know," she babbles, trying to keep up with me as I stride back towards the house.

I hear the commotion before I see it, Ryan holding Andy by the collar of his shirt, his eyes blazing before he shoves him against the brick wall of the farmhouse. Fifteen or so people are milling around, wide eyed as they watch.

"Get out of here!" I yell, gesturing for all of them to disperse. Luckily, most of them do, sloping off with small giggles and whispers.

Andy pulls his arm back, catapulting a punch into Ryan's face. Fucking ridiculous.

"Save your aggression for the bloody Enforcers," I snap, managing to yank Pippa out of the way just as Ryan stumbles backwards.

"Oh, Kayla!" Pippa is crying.

Letting go of her, I step in front of Ryan, slamming my palm against his chest as he tries to approach Andy once more.

"What the hell are you doing?" I snap, darting my eyes between the two.

"I... We just..." Ryan trails off.

"You're acting like children is what you're doing." I glare at them. "Distracting everyone — including yourselves. What if the Enforcers turned up now? Hmm?"

Neither of them have a response.

"Andy was being unreasonable—"

"You shit!" Andy dives towards Ryan and I brace myself for impact, still in the middle of the two.

I stumble back into Ryan, nearly forced into a man-fight-sandwich before arms coil around Andy, hauling him backwards.

"Fucking pull it together," Carl hisses. "Are you both out of your mind?"

"No, he's a fucking dick—"

"They're arguing over the bedroom." I fill Carl in.

A look of disgust floods his features. "So you are out of your mind," he snaps at the two of them.

"We just wanted to be alone," Pippa murmurs softly, shooting me an apologetic look.

"Use the damn woodland like everyone else. It's not like this," I gesture around us, "is going to be forever!" I pause. "We have a rota for a god damn reason, and there's no way that only two people are going to sleep in the bedroom. You can fit six at least, it's winter, and we need as much warmth as we can get. We're being freaking hunted by Enforcers. You understand that, don't you?" My voice is harsh. Blunt. To the point.

Carl looks impressed.

"Yes," Pippa says quietly. "I'm sorry."

"One day, you'll all have your own rooms, and you can do whatever the hell you want in them," I promise.

The other guys nod and Carl finally lets Andy go before stepping backwards and brushing his hands off.

"Andy and Ryan, you can do a six hour lookout shift tonight," I tell them.

"Oh, really—"

"Andy will be watching the driveway, and Ryan, down past the lake," I interrupt Andy. There's no way I'm putting them together. "And Pippa?"

"Yes?" She almost looks scared, but I'm not about to punish her. She hasn't physically attacked someone who's on the same team as her. 

"Can you tell everyone that if I'm not around, and there's any trouble or decisions that need making in the future, to find Carl?"

Carl's brow rises.

"S-sure." Pippa nods her head.

I cross my arms across my chest and look over at Riley's close friend. "He's going to be my second in command."

They three of them scurry off, all looking subdued and somewhat disheartened. 

"Was that the right thing to do?" I ask Carl, scrunching my nose up. My fingers play with the dog tags around my neck.

"I think you handled it perfectly," Carl answers. It sounds honest.

I nod, twirling the smaller tag around my index finger.

"Riley would have enjoyed watching that." The words slip out of me, unintentionally. My eyes widen. What?

Carl just laughs. "He would. He loved the fiery side of your personality."

Warmth bubbles beneath the dog tags as I drop my hands. "He... he really spoke about me? With... you?"

Carl just nods, before shoving his hands into his pockets. "So... second in command?" His eyebrows pinch together.

I nod, smirking at him. "Yep. There's no way I'm dealing with that shit again."

His guffaw of laughter follows me as I turn, returning down the small hill to my pile of logs.