Finally free of the trees, we came to a stop beside an outcrop of rocks. Gasping for breath, I kicked off my shoes once again and sank down in a heap.

"Oh, listen to me, there's no way I can go on anymore."

A serious cramp in my right side crippled my every step. Let alone the exhaustion. It almost made me think that the violation my body had been put through was finally settling its debt.

"This is as good a place as any I suppose." Dante stood in front of me, blocking the dappled sunlight.

"Do you never get tired?" My weary voice must have caused him to consider his response before jumping to the usual bitter volley of words.

"Yes. But not when there's danger." He  threw his backpack off, glancing around. "However, this looks like it'll be okay for a while."

"Well, let's all thank our lucky stars for that." I wasn't sure if he'd catch the sarcasm or not.

The overhang of the rock formation had given me the perfect, cool and shaded area to settle down. As I stretched out on the mossy ground, Dante surveyed our afternoon campsite with a keen eye.

I raised my arms, resting on my clasped hands, underneath my head. A sigh of contentment expelled from my chest. I felt safer than I had in a very long time with Dante around.

He, on the other hand,
scanned the woods, as ever on guard for the unknown. Or known as the case may be. He certainly seemed to know more about what was going on in this foreign section of the world than I did. Although, that wasn't something that I wanted spelling out to me either, despite what he may have thought. What was it to me? The only thing I had been aiming to do was to get through to an authority of some sort. Given the time to think about it, I didn't know if this would be such a good idea after all. Apparently, Dante had opened my mind to other, stranger options. Not necessarily comforting ideas of the strange world around me, but his insight gave me plenty to think about.

"Do you know where we'll be able to meet the officials?" I mumbled.

Dante sat down on the ground close by, but facing away with his back to me. He still seemed on edge.

"Yes. But I don't think that's the path you want to take right now."

His smug, know it all words of wisdom, thrown my way, were beginning to irritate me. I took in a deep breath and shook my head, grinding my hair deeper into the sandy ground.

"Could you possibly not speak in riddles to me just this once, Dante? All I want to know is if you are capable of showing me the direction I need to go, so that I can settle back into a normal way of life. That's all. It's hardly quantum physics."

He slumped over his crossed legs and I swear I thought he was starting to pray. But before I could gain the satisfaction of seeing him humbled, a shadow loomed over us, from above the outcrop of rock, and a deep voice which could only be Marco yelled out to us.

"Allora! Andiamo o non?"

Dante smiled as he shielded his eyes and looked up to meet his friend's face. "Of course, you big loser! Did they drug you and shag you senseless or something? Let's get moving, all of us."

Switching my gaze from man to man, I couldn't work out who looked happier, Dante for finding his friend alive, or Marco for rejoining his companion.

"Do you think they'll come after us?"

Dante held out a hand to help his friend down from the rock face.

"Well, I mean, do you think they'll still want to follow us?"

Marco took his friend's hand and clambered down the outcrop. He landed with a thump upon the dusty ground next to my sleeping area. He glanced briefly at me, with an expression of complete disgust and slapped Dante on the arm. He made some kind of derogatory remark, obviously about me, and Dante's response did little to comfort me.

"Life gives us what it wants us to deal with my brother."

Then he stomped off, clearing a narrow pathway through the thick undergrowth, out towards the open farmland.

Marco stood with his hands on his hips. He had a blank expression. His solid chest was still heaving from his climb down the rocks, sweat framing his broad face.

"Is there something I can do for you?"

He continued staring at me, his top lip curling slightly. Glancing over to Dante's retreating figure, he thrust his chin up and spat a large globule of flem near my feet.

I was about to retaliate with a scorching speech when he reached out and grabbed my arm in a vice-like grip. Stopping the circulation in my blood, it shocked me into silence. His dark eyes glared at me, threatening me to speak.

I'd seen this look before. I was certain of it, but I couldn't for the life of me remember where and when. Only the who. A man, similar to Dante, tall and broad with fine facial structure, but he'd been blonde. Short and cropped, with striking greyish blue eyes. He had gripped me by the arm the same way and with that menacing look, dared me to fight back. The man had terrified me. Recalling this moment, which was once lost in my past, made me realise that Dante could have been right in his theory that I may have been relocated more than once before.

Snapping out of it, I wrenched my arm free from Marco and stood my ground.  Recalling that horrible moment had somehow given me the strength to face him down. My glare must have been impressive enough, as Marco blinked, grunted and followed after Dante.

Letting out a huge breath of relief, I shook my arm to get the blood flow moving again. Although the sensation of his hand around my limb wouldn't budge. As I walked after the men on unsteady legs, the image of the other scary man's face imprinted itself on my mind. I raked through my memories, from early childhood through to finishing school at fifteen, but I could find nothing to place this event in time. At least not in any memory that hadn't been cleared by colony eight. This man could have been from somewhere before that place, and the real memories may have stared to sift their way through.

Lost in my thoughts, I plodded on blindly, following the trampled down path. A few metres ahead of me, Marco turned his head every now and then, checking that I was still around, probably under orders from Dante.

As the chirp of crickets began to increase, the daylight turned a shade of tangerine once more.

We were now out of the woods, strolling through knee-high grasses. The land rose and fell, yellow and green as far as I could see. We continued on, birds dive bombed insects in the air above us, the swish of the crops soothed my tormented head. When we rounded the top of one of these rolling hills, I saw the roof of a wooden structure, standing out at the bottom of the decline.

Dante stood still, searching around. I watched as Marco caught up to him and heard the rumble of his rough voice, thrown back to me on the breeze. I could only catch a few of Dante's lower toned words.

"Maybe, but that's not really, yes - I know that.... where?... Tonight we wait... risky... her..."

I joined the men and looked down at the building. It was completely rundown, more of a shepherd's hut than a house.

"We're not spending the night there I hope?"

Dante let out a snort of exasperation, throwing his hands in the air.
"I knew it!" He turned to Marco. "What did I tell you? It's too risky to spend the night here, and she's going to be complaining the whole time, I'm not about to put up with it for the sake of a few hours sleep."

Marco shook his head and argued with Dante for a while, I could understand that much at least from his tone. The taller man didn't let it go on for too long though, bringing Marco to a halt with a sharp word. "Enough."

He nodded in the direction of the field beyond the hut, and I looked closer at the horizon. Just where the bands of orange sunset merged with the crops, I saw jagged spikes of roofs, all different shapes and styles.

"That's where we need to be, Marco. If you want to stop here and meet us later tomorrow then that's up to you. I for one am in no mood for delaying what needs to be done any longer than is possible. If we keep going we can make it before dawn."

Marco seemed to have thought better of arguing his point, whatever that had been, and grunted in response. He held out his hand to Dante.

I watched Dante's expression as he took his companion's hand and shook it. He seemed to be disappointed to be saying goodbye.
"Be careful."

Marco grinned and slapped him across the back.
"Sempre."

Then, while Dante turned away and set out over the field, Marco's face flicked back to the hard stare he'd given me before. He sneered at me before heading off, slightly to the right of Dante, down towards the hut.

As before, his gaze brought back the eyes of that man. This time with the addition of a sound, clicking, something cracking or bubbling in the background.

Dante's shout woke me out of my memory.
"Poll! Get moving."