Spere stood, and dusted the clumped snow from her sweats, Mayhem's hand on her shoulder for comfort. Although, it didn't bring much. Her and Mayhem weren't as close as they used to be. Not since Mayhem had accused her of being a murderer. At the same time, she welcomed him. She was thankful he was well, finally. And she was thankful that he even cared. He hated Stonehenge. That was clear.

The rest of the party walked past them with strange looks, until Mayhem, Stonehenge, and Spere were at the back of the pack. Fallen World stayed behind for them. They trailed the rest coldly.

Finally, as they walked through ice and snow, Stonehenge whispered, "Look, I'm sorry. What's the plan? We have to act now."

Spere gulped, "No. No. You guys aren't doing your plan, whatever it is." Mayhem glanced sideways at Stonehenge from over Spere's head. She narrowed her eyes and burrowed her frows. "So what? Now I'm getting left out of this?" She couldn't help but think it was her fault. She had told Boss her friends could be trusted, and he had trusted her.

Fallen World sighed in her motherly voice, "Baby, maybe it's best if you don't get involved."

"What? No. I'm not staying on the sidelines and watching those who I thought were my friends destroy my new family," Spere said, angrily but quietly.

Stonehenge sighed exasperatedly, "Your new family?!"

"Yes, yes. We're on our way to get our family but Windy and Boss and the others are part of that family, now, too! They've sheltered us and fed us," Spere said.

"They're killers, Spere," Stonehenge corrected. "Savages!"

Mayhem softly said, "He's right, you know. They tried to kidnap us." Spere stared at the ground as she walked. Only because they thought we were dangerous. And it seems like they were right!

Then, after a moment, she mumbled, "These people have done more for us than we've ever done for ourselves."

Mayhem responded, "Spere, we can take care of ourselves. They've done nothing but interfere with our lives." Spere noticed Fallen World not-so-sneakily sneak away from the four, and merge with the rest of the group. Spere's eyes widened. This was it. Mayhem would try to distract her. Ignoring what he'd said, Spere pushed past Mayhem and Stonehenge and raced into the small crowd of bodies.

"Spere! Wait!" It was Mayhem's voice, panic lingering in it. Before Spere was Fallen World, talking casually to Boss. A hand suspiciously in her pocket. Slowly, her arm moved.

Spere walked up and pushed between them, forcing the panic and fear and distrust down her gut, hoping to seem normal and casual, and presenting both Boss and Fallen World with a warm, fake smile. Fallen World groaned quietly.

"Spere?" Boss asked quizzically. Fallen World narrowed her eyes. Spere struggled to read her look. By the time she'd realized what it meant, it was too late. She felt Fallen World's kind hand on her back, first. Then, she felt the pain.

Fallen World's dagger had been lodged into Spere's ribcage. Fallen pushed the dagger deeper into Spere's abdomen. The blood began to leak down her side and seep into the once white snow.

Boss held her up by her arms, yelling something she couldn't make out. Spere let the pain shoot up her sides like fire and then let the cold numb it for her. Windy and Stonehenge and Mayhem and the others surrounded her now. But not because they cared. Maybe she had been wrong. Maybe they had never cared at all. She groaned, struggling to stand, clenching her teeth and crying. Stonehenge yanked her down by her arm, and she slipped out of Boss' grip and collapsed in the snow. The rest of the group had stopped and was surrounding them now, too, in a small bubble of chaos, yelling, and movement. Stonehenge stepped past Spere, and swung a dagger at Boss' face, nicking his cheek as the large man attempted to dodge. A different man that Spere didn't know the name of grabbed Stonehenge's arms, attempting to pull him back, but Stonehenge shook the man off, swung his arm again, and slashed the side of Boss' throat.

Spere cried out, on her knees in the red snow now, and another sharp pain ran up her side. She jumped at a hand on her shoulder, and turned, bleary eyed, to look at Windy's face.

"We should've seen this coming," he growled, eyes narrowed. She nodded.

She gripped his hand with both of hers, "Windy. You have to believe me. I'm not a part of this," she sobbed. He lifted her up to her feet, staring at the blood soaked on her shirt, and nodded.

"It's okay. Spere, I'll get you out of here," He said.

She leaned into him, growing dizzy, "What about Boss? The others?"

"Your friends will kill this group. I can save you, and that's it. Boss is done for."

"Okay," she sighed. Then she stopped for a moment, and said, "No. No. What are we doing? My group is just another enemy. We have to beat them now or we never will."

"Spere, I'd have to kill them. Is that really what you want?" He asked.

She thought for a moment, then turned to glare at Stonehenge as he fought the other members. She saw Mayhem, holding a man she recognized by the arms as Fallen World beat him.

"Yes." She said, turning back to Windy. "I want you to kill them. That's the only way our home and people will be safe."

Windy nodded sternly, gently laying Spere on the ground, and then pulled a sword from a sheath on his back, and charged.

Spere watched with wide eyes in horror and pity as he plunged the sword into Fallen World's spine. She froze, and then dropped to the ground, clutching her stomach and writhing in agony. Mayhem dropped the man he was holding back, and then attempted to throw a punch at Windy's face. Windy swung his sword, thwacking Mayhem's arm with the flat side of it, and Mayhem pulled his arms back.

Spere's eyes widened as she saw Stonehenge move behind Windy.

"Windy! Behind you!" She screamed.

He flipped around, and somehow, managed to thwack Stonehenge's dagger from his hands with his blade. Then, he thrusted his blade straight downward, but Stonehenge jumped backwards, and dodged, and then fell back into the snow. Mayhem wrapped his arms around Windy, pulling him back, but then Mayhem himself was yanked back and tossed into the snow by the man that he'd restrained earlier. Windy turned to glance at Spere, then turned back and looked down at Stonehenge, his sword raised.

"You and Mayhem are coming back home with us as prisoners," Windy growled. "Fallen World will be left here to die."

"Savages!" Stonehenge yelled. "Leaving her to die?" He spit in the snow.

Windy growled, then thrusted the sword down, plunging it into the snow and straight through Stonehenge's forearm. He screamed, and Windy pulled the sword up just as quickly, now streaked in blood.

"Get some," Windy hissed. Then, he pulled Stonehenge up to his feet by his uninjured arm, and turned to the other man. "Get some rope," he said. The man nodded, kicked Mayhem in his side to keep him down, and then began shuffling through bags and bodies along the ground.

In an instant, a fight broke out. Windy attempted to tie the rope to Stonehenge's hands, but Stonehenge would not comply. Ratherly, Stonehenge kicked him in the crotch, then shoved him to the ground with a yelp in pain from his wrist. Then, Stonehenge pulled the sword from Windy's back, and held it up menacingly.

Spere didn't know how to think. She was feeling lightheaded.

Windy grabbed Stonehenge's dagger from the ground, and managed to block a swing from the sword with it, roll over in the snow, and jump to his feet. Beside him, the other man and Mayhem were playing a ruthless game of tug and war with the rope.

Windy hesitated for a brief moment, and then raced towards Spere and helped her to her feet.

"We have to hide," He said frantically. "We don't have any weapons, and you're hurt, and this is pointless. We have to hide for the night and then get back to camp."

She paused, then nodded, "Sure, okay. Let's go. Off of the road." Windy nodded, and helped Spere limp across the road and through an alleyway between two small buildings. Past the alley way was, believe it or not, another road, and another line of houses. As they shuffled past buildings in the snow, Spere noticed a small path on the ground beside them.

Cat prints.

She shook her head, then said to Windy, "You're going to think I'm crazy, but I think we need to follow those paw prints."

"What? Wait a minute, the cat you saw in your dreams? You seriously don't believe that, do you?"

"No, I mean... I don't know what I believe. It's just a feeling," She tried to explain.

Windy sighed, "You're light headed from blood loss."

"No! Please, trust me..." She pleaded.

Windy groaned, then finally said, "Sure. Fine. Let's do that. If we die, then that's on you." However, Spere was certain it was right to follow the cat prints. And they did, shuffling through the deep snow. It didn't take long before they heard yelling behind them. Mayhem and Stonehenge.

They moved faster now. The cat prints eventually led to an alleyway lined with large, plastic blue barrels. After that, the prints faded. Each barrel had a lid.

"This is perfect," Windy exclaimed. "We can hide in these!" The shouting behind them had grown louder.

"This way! Follow their tracks!" Mayhem yelled.

Stonehenge replied, "Good eye! We'll make them pay!"

Spere gulped. How did it ever come to this? Windy gently but quickly helped her to sit down, and then began pulling lids off of the barrels to see inside of them. His face quickly faded from a hopeful grin to a distressed look.

"No, no, no, no. All of these are full of old corn feed!" He yelled. At the last barrel, he sighed, then said excitedly, "This one is empty except for a small layer of hay at the bottom!"

Spere sighed, "Let's hurry, then. Put some lids on the others so just the one doesn't have a lid."

"Good idea," he said, helping her up. She clung to him as she walked, her body feeling sore and drained and tired. He placed a few lids back on the barrels, and then helped Spere step into the empty one. Somehow, Windy was able to squeeze himself into the barrel as well.

Unfortunately, this meant that their backs pressed against cold hard plastic, and they were pressed uncomfortably close to each other. Still, desperate times call for desperate measures. Windy reached over and pulled the lid over them, and they were thrown into complete darkness with no sounds except each other's breathing, the whipping wind outside, and the nearby hollering of Mayhem and Stonehenge.

A few quiet moments passed, and then the two jumped as they heard a crash of one of the barrels being knocked over, and corn going everywhere.

"Aw, man, how did you do that?!" Stonehenge shouted.

Mayhem replied, "Sorry, but look! It's food! We can eat this, can't we?"

"You dumbass! You covered up their trail!" The two's bickering went on for some time, and eventually, they decided to move on and continue looking for Spere and Windy.

Just as they were in the clear, they heard pit-pat on the roof of the barrel. Hail.

Windy sighed, "Maybe we have to stay here for the night?"

"That would be safest..." Spere said, although with her legs bent awkwardly, and the cold on her back, she didn't know how she could ever fall asleep here.

"How is your wound?" Windy asked.

"Oh, it's fine. It still hurts though," Spere replied.

Windy chuckled, "I think I'd be worried if it didn't hurt."

"Right... I don't think you'd ever worry about me. I'm just that tough," she prided jokingly.

"I know you're tough but that doesn't stop me from worrying about you," He said seriously. "Or protecting you."

"Oh." Spere was too tired, nauseous, lightheaded, and cold to think about it too hard. Her whole body ached. She didn't know if the closeness to Windy was uncomfortable or pleasant. After getting over how much pain her ankles were in, she eventually decided it was pleasant. In the most miserably warm way, of course. She liked Windy. But so much more than that, she trusted him. She knew with every fiber of her being that he would not ever attempt to go against her in the way Mayhem and Stonehenge and Fallen World had hundreds of times. Windy had shown her true kindness, and true friendship. And it was pleasant to know she had a friend now. A real one.

A homie, she thought, and then quietly laughed to herself. How had the night lasted so long? Windy somehow had managed to fall asleep in the cramped position, but Spere could never. Although, the way the hail overhead made the entire barrel rumble, made her believe it was safest to stay in it.

Eventually, as the slow night dragged on miserably for exhausted and wounded Spere, the thudding dimmed, then stopped entirely. Not a sound outside except the slight whoosh of the wind. Gently, and careful as to not wake Windy, Spere pressed the palms of her hands to the roof of the barrel, and then quietly lifted it up. A stream of cool moonlight washed over her and Windy's sleeping face elegantly, in a sharp line across his eyes. She stared at him for a moment. It made his skin seem pale, almost deathly. Then, she turned back to the ajar lid, eyeing outside at the dark sky. Her body ached, and she was sore. Her wound throbbed painfully, like menstrual cramps, and it seemed getting out, having a breath of fresh air, and stretching could solve all of her problems. That's what her body wanted.

But another part of her wanted to stay alive. She took a deep breath of the crisp air, and then sighed and dropped the lid back down quietly-

Crisp air? The air was always dingy around here. Thick, and coarse, and hard to breathe. She could see the moon when she opened the top, for crying out loud! Usually, layers and layers of ash and dust in the sky obscured it.

A familiar voice purred, "See what happens when only a handful of people are slaughtered? Think of how God will appreciate you if you helped with the rest..."

"Back away, stupid cat," Spere whispered angrily. She could feel the cat around her, as though fur touched her cheeks, but could not see him.

"Aw, now that is no way to treat me, is it, my love? I led you to the safety of this dome, after all, didn't I?"