"What do you think you're doing? You know I know your blood scent now, and if this is a setup, then I know you don't have the manpower, we doubled in size since that one night. Levi would know better than to bring his weakened community out, especially after Adam." He takes a few steps towards me. "So, what are you doing?"

"I don't want you hurting the people in town. You can have me, but please leave them alone."

Others emerge from the darkness into the clearing. They whisper to each other, carefully creeping towards me.

"Stupid girl, do you truly think I wouldn't comprehend your ulterior motives?" This causes everyone to pause their advances. "If we come up to you, they're going to attack us."

I sweep my eyes across the tree line, not taking in the people, but the holes between bodies. "Do you really think Levi would use me? A live bait? Take me to Jude."

Faster than a blink, Jason is in front of me, his hot breath on my face. "Oh, little girl, you think I'm going to take you to Jude? I'm going to cut into your throat and drain you of every last drop."

I strike with the stake that I concealed in my sleeve, jabbing it as hard as I could in where I could guess his fourth rib was. The stake goes in fast and deep; I push it hard; the tip hits something, bone, and slips up deeper into his chest. I know I missed his heart, but the shock alone gives me ample time to pull it out and run for it as fast as my legs can carry me.

On to phase three.

I spot the perfect opening with the fewest kite, some seem to run towards him to help, while others went after me, only to stop when I show them my stake. Their tendency to become overwhelmed does little to comfort me, as it meant there's less help until I moved. But I take my chance, heading towards the cover of the trees, with the hope they would fall for the path Levi's people led. Under the denser trees, off any true path, I know I'm making too much noise as stumble over the roots and bushes. Pausing, I hope I can get back on my course, back towards more even ground, and that's when I hear the crack.

My breath catches, my eyes blindly search for the sources of the movement, but all I can make out is darkness. Releasing the air from my lungs, I take a step forward. There is no other choice. I need to keep moving. I scan my surroundings, hoping to catch even the slightest glimmer or movement in the night, but I am the only one here. Each step is slower, searching out with my foot first for anything I would run into, trying my damnest to remain quiet.

A hand yank pulls me backwards by my hair, my footing getting lost in the surprise. A cry escapes my lips are my hands release my stake to grip at the hand pulling me, but it's useless. They had me, I'm off course, I'm alone, I have no help; they won.

The air knocks from my lungs as my back slams hard into a tree, and I'm horrified by the green eyes looking back at me.

Milo?

No, please.

He pulls out a knife, ramming it into my shoulder, pinning me into the tree. I scream out in pain, my arm going numb when his hand slams over my mouth, pushing my head back against the tree.

"Shut up."

My head spun, a coldness floods my body as I struggled to keep focus, but one thing I can be sure of is that he is not Milo. His voice was too deep, and as he steps back into the moonlight, I can just make out his long, thin face with no features. Except for his eyes as my head slumped down towards my chest, I glimpse his dark green eyes, nothing like the light, sparkling sensation of Milo's.

Why would I ever consider it?

"Chit, what is it about you? Pathetic. I could even take you down, I alone have got you where he would want you."

Weakly, I raise my left hand, pulling hard on the knifes, but it doesn't even budge. "What...now?"

He turns away from me. "We wait."

I pant out what little I can comprehend. "For?"

"Jude."

Searching the ground, I spy the moonlight glinting off of my steak. I try to get my feet straight under me, pulling hard one more time with no luck. I tilt my head up, looking at trees, darkness, no eyes, no help. Help.

"Help!" My voice is not loud, but I had no other ideas. "Help, help, please, help."

The man turns. I can see the glare in the glint in his eyes as he starts to stomp towards me. "No help is coming, chit, no one out there will even know what happened." Right as he was up on me, he pulls the knife roughly out of my shoulder, leaving me to collapse. "No one would expect a nonworker to single-handedly to do what even the workers can't. I've learned more disciplines since I have no work to lean back on, I am my own master. I am better than the workers, I will stand within the ranks of Jude, and they will bow to me."

He squats down as I get myself pulled up, my back into the tree, a fear coming over me as he is inches from my face. His lips part to speak, but a shadow emerged from the trees with a palpable presence. He is covered by the dark as he is knocked out of his feet.

I reach out to the knife, pulling it close to me, my eyes never leaving the struggle. A tall woman plants her fist into his face.

"You pathetic nonworker, you think you're stronger than me?" She lifts him up as if he is a rag doll and tossing him into a tree. He struggles to push himself up as she walks up to him. "You think you can beat me? A body worker? I'm stronger, faster, heal better, I have more power than you can ever imagine."

She grabbed his hair, pulling him up to his feet, then hoisting him off the ground. The way his body jerked out under the grasp reminds me of a cat fighting for its life.

There has always been an imbalance of power.

"Let me show you what genuine power is." She tilts her head to me, her face softens. "Do you have your stake, sweetie?"

I don't turn my head towards it, just to him, now calmed glaring back at me. He possesses the knowledge of its whereabouts.

"No, no, I dropped it a while ago. I'm sorry." My voice is a bit slurred, and the word spins.

She steps towards the darkness, about to vanish, and yells in an unfamiliar language, possibly French. Another figure emerges from the darkness, her eyes shifting between the woman and what she holds, then to me. Without a question, she is over to me, helping me up. "Take the girl up the to the peak, I need to find this man a stake."

"No," I drop my head into my hands. "No, please. He's scared."

"Sweetie, we're all scared it won't stop them from killing us."

"Please," My hands slip over my sweaty face before looking up at the first woman. "Please."

"I will turn him into the head of my community, and whatever she says, I will do." She returns to the dark path without hesitation.

"She won't." The other woman turned my head, checking me out for my injuries. "She's a bit of a hard ass. Oh my, you need this taken care of now."

"I have blood." I slur out.

"No, not enough. You need straight from the source."

"Straight from..." My mouth is covered by her wrist, a metallic taste filling my mouth as I struggle to pull back, but her voice and hand insist I drink. The cloudy dizziness clears, the pain in my shoulder dulls down to a throb before she let me release.

"That should be good enough for now, we can give you more when this is over. You okay?"

"Yes, thank you."

"Anona." She beams at me.

A weak grin form on my lips. "Nice to meet you."

"Let's go, the others are coming." She squats down. "Get on, it'll be faster this way."

"I..." I hear it too, the crunching twigs, the voices, the eagerness in the air. I climb up on her back as she takes off, running fast. Trees seem to blur as we passed them by, I feel like I'm going to be sick. She stops, almost colliding with another one of Levi's friends he brought back. He was small, pale, short with almost white hair, his eyes were reddish, he smiles at us.

"Anona! Perfect timing."

"I have a little extra load with me." She rotates sufficiently for him to have a view of me on her back.

"I can see that."

"Where did Levi decide to meet?" He turns and pointed up a hill, and she nods. "We'll meet you up there then, Fillip."

We realize their growing separation from us, exceeding my expectations. I'm getting worried my plan may not work after all.

It's time for the final phase.

She races me up the hill, dropping me off near the top. "I need to help with the others, how do you feel?"

I turn my head, tilt it up and down, and flex my fingers. "Better, enough that I should be okay from here."

Anona nods. "Stay on the path, look for help if you need it, you're probably 10 meters."

I nod, holding onto my right shoulder. Her hand takes my hand, and takes in the injury one more time, her lips pressed into a thin line. She can't help. "It's okay, thank you, later, after we survive this."

She stands up straight, nodding. "Go."

With that, she speeds off toward the rest of the group. The rogues fight to get to me, but they have too good of a grip on them, and I take her advice turning away and running.

I can't stand still.

They are here to rip me open.

Running as fast as the pain that remains let me, I keep my eyes focused on upward, heading to the top of the hill, to Levi, to Nya, to Abe, my Abe.

Right from my peripheral, I catch sight of the gleam in Jason's radiant brown eyes just before he springs forward, fingers reaching out to snatch me, but a mysterious blur positions itself in front of me. But I could not perceive the unfolding events, but Jason collided with it, causing it to recoil momentarily while maintaining a powerful grip on him. Riiiip. Jason's head is flung to the side.

Milo, his face splattered in blood, runs up to me, clutching me with a powerful hug. I believe there is a possibility that he will bring me the rest of the way up, but his lips are pressed against my ear. "Go to the others. Don't stop moving."

He kisses my cheek.

It's soft and quick, but when he steps back, his eyes are brighter than I have ever seen them. "Now, Columbia."

Just then, the entire group of them verges on him, overwhelming him.

"Milo!" I take a step forward, but I catch sight of his eyes through the crowd of people, those bright green eyes pleading with me to move on, to not turn around.

So, I turn and sprint towards the top of the hill, perceiving the sound of steps approaching me from both sides but getting interrupted as others emerge from their concealed locations. Someone was behind me, they lash out, cutting into my shirt right through to my skin. I cry out in pain, but I persist until I catch sight of Levi's almost black eyes.

"Milo." I'm panting hard when I got to him, surveying the last few people, Nya being among them. "He got overwhelmed."

"He'll be okay." Levi nods.

"Where's Abe?" I say between breaths.

"He never met up with us, I thought he would be with you." Levi looks over the trees.

"Shit, that wasn't the plan." I turn around. "I have to-"

"Thea," Nya's arms wrap around me. "Don't go out there, please, we're safer here."

"But Abe. And what about Milo, we need to make sure he's okay?"

Levi sighs as he looks at the last few faces, the youngest kites. "I will go search for him, and make sure to check on Milo, don't you worry. Keep moving, stay with the plan. I'll meet up with you soon."

He runs off into the woods, leaving the last of us alone.

"I wish I took training more seriously." Nya's voice is muffled against my arm. "You reek of blood."

I shake my head. "I can't wait here, we're too open. We should keep moving or something."

"Maybe we should wait for Levi to get back, they probably held them back enough we might have some time."

My cheek tingled from where Milo had kissed me, we have to do what he would want us to. "No, Levi is right. We need to keep moving." I turn and start to run down the opposite side of the hill.

"Thea!" Her voice is far, but in an instant, she is next to me, the pounding feet of the others behind us.

I smile. Together we run down the hill, it has become much quieter on this side, but one by one the others following us brake off, fending off attacks before they even got near to us. When we hit the bottom of the hill, it's me and Nya left.

"What now?" I puff.

"We keep moving, that's what Levi wants. He knows where we're heading, so hopefully, he meets up with us soon." She turns around.

We sprinted ahead, straining our ears for any signs of someone behind us; if they were, they appeared to be sane. We decelerate, and I observe my surroundings among the trees, until Nya's voice disrupts the quiet.

"I had a brother once, as far as I know he's still alive, but to him I died almost thirty years ago." I turn back at her. "Chatri, that's his name. We were born in Thailand, he was old enough to remember it, but I was a baby when my family moved to San Francisco."

"Nya." I take a step towards her, the tears shining bright on her face.

"I loved him; he was my big brother. He was always there for me, he wanted to protect me because since I was a baby I was being followed. That's why my family had left, because of me."

Laughter echoes around us, someone has discovered us.

Before we consider defending ourselves, four rogues jump out of the darkness. One tackles me hard to the ground, my head slamming against a tree root. I struggle against her tight grasp, as I turn my head, and see one rogue drag Nya's struggling body into the darkness, into the darkness where three more sets of eyes leer out at me, the violet ones burning brighter than the sun.

"Nya!" I scream out towards her, but it's no use.

The same laughter shifts my attention to the woman on top of me, her eyes gleam in the dark woods.