For what it was worth, Eliza was right. Marching slowly through the woods, their dialogue replaced by glares, they were hardly a team at all. Two strangers with nothing to share but a hatred for the person by their side: Eliza knew why she couldn't stand his presence—he had left his friend to die, he had left her to die—but Xavier was left in the dark. All he knew was there was a history he could not recall, a past that he could not escape even when he could not remember.

"You know I wanted to get out here with you at some point," he said. They'd been in silence for maybe an hour, still no shots taken. The only game were rodents, and the one thing they could agree on was not to waste their bullets. Xavier wanted the glory of another deer, of a beast. Eliza wanted to save their ammo—she'd be the one who'd have to make more, and she didn't know the first thing about how to make a bullet out of scrap metal.

"So you could shoot me dead and no one would blame you?" she said. Another eyeroll. He'd had a plan, but he didn't expect Eliza to be so challenging. They clearly had history—what were the odds they'd gotten together before? If they couldn't remember the details, it would happen again. He couldn't escape his past."How charming."

"Wasn't thinking about this gun," he muttered, so quiet that Eliza wasn't sure she heard him right.

"Aren't you clever," she said, but she was hardly paying attention. Her gaze was drawn towards an imprint in the grass, a small space having been pressed down. She knelt down, fingers brushing against the ground. It was a footprint, far larger than their own, its the toes pointing inwards towards the rest of the woods.

"Let's go," said Xavier. "There's nothing there."

They could berate Wren for being reckless all they wanted, but Eliza knew she was right. They'd learn nothing by standing still; they had to face the monsters to find what they had lost. And having Xavier by her side was her greatest assurance—his aim was impeccable. If things went haywire she would need him, and if her suspicions were correct he'd need her too.

As Xavier kept walking, she made no move to stop him. He was following the inhuman footprint exactly. The toes pointed where they needed to go.

"Weirdly quiet today," he said, though Eliza was hardly paying attention. She was watching for any evidence of the creature they followed: imprints in the grass, knicks in the trees, bloodstains on the earth. The signs were everywhere, so obvious she was shocked that Xavier hadn't noticed.

Then again, he wasn't the most observant. He didn't notice how hard she tried not to scream.

She saw the beast first, its presence not a surprise but its physique was nothing what she had expected. It was larger than she imagined, its meaty body must have been over seven feet. Its face was deformed, but still fairly human.

It grabbed Xavier first from behind, drawing him into a tight chokehold. Though his mouth was covered, the message in his eyes was clear: Shoot. She wasn't a good enough shot, and even if she was she wasn't sure she wanted to. The beasts weren't trying to kill them, they were trying to take them, Wren had said. They wouldn't learn anything new if it was dead. So instead of shooting, Eliza simply froze, her terror only slightly feigned. She watched as Xavier fell unconscious, his head rolling to the side as the monster released him to the ground.

Biting her tongue to silence away every last instinct that begged her to flee, she raised her hands as to surrender. She didn't start to fight until it had grabbed her herself, until the could feel the air being choked out of her lungs and then she started kicking and scratching because her body could not allow her brain's control but still the darkness crept in, closer and closer until there was no air to breathe and Xavier's body disappeared from the ground along with the forest as the darkness took hold. They would learn nothing by standing still.

~*~*~*~*~*~

Two days had passed and Terra could not handle the elephant in the room. If what Wren had said about the Dead Haze was true, then they had to make a plan. Death was imminent in a mere number of months if they did not act soon. They couldn't just stand still. They couldn't just float by.

"We need a plan," she said once all she considered leaders had gathered in one of the cabins. Kennedy, Ronan, Casper, Bianca. Ronan hadn't argued with her when insisted that Wren not be present. The girl was but a child with violence where her heart should be. Being nifty with a knife didn't give her authority. "Where are Xavier and Eliza?"

"Hunting," said Ronan.

"Eliza can shoot?"

He shrugged. "She volunteered. Guess she got sick of being underground."

"Wouldn't be surprised if those two kill each other out there," Bianca murmured, but it received a slight snicker from the others. Even before the fog Eliza had had some unspoken animosity towards him. Then again, she hardly had patience for anyone who couldn't be of assistance. There was too much to do, too many things left to fix and holes left uncovered.

"So the big fog," said Kennedy. "Why don't we just go back into cryo? Ride it out?"

That was the obvious solution, but all the others gulped down the darkness and ice. Cryo was where their stories started, stuck in a haze they could not remember and awaking to a room full of strangers, strangers to their own minds. Nobody wanted to return.

"Are we even sure that's possible?" asked Bianca.

"We have months," he shrugged. "Eliza can get the pods working again."

Ronan frowned. "But what happens if we wake up before the fog has cleared?" he asked, "We'd be stuck down there with no food. Even with the freezer, nothing will last that long."

"We'd need the hydrofarm," said Casper. "But if we can get that working then we don't need cryo at all. We can use the bunker if we clean the rubble out."

"But how long until we can hunt again?" asked Bianca. "I mean, how long until animals come back, or what if the fog gets into their bodies? We'd be banking on the farm alone for months."

"Good point," Ronan nodded. "I bet Wren could find out more if she needs to. Those nomads trust her now—"

"We can't let her talk to them again," snapped Terra. She felt the others' eyes all shoot back to her, surprised by the conviction in her voice. "Right now they think this camp won't help us in the Dead Haze. If she starts asking questions that suggest we're gonna stay, then there's something of value to them here. Keeping Wren away is the only way we keep them from attacking."

"You underestimate the kid," said Bianca. "If we want to learn anything more she's our best shot, better than Eliza for this—"

"We're not sending her out there again." If Ronan hadn't said it then Terra would have. Their fate would not ride on a child, especially not her. That they could agree on. "There might be some records or old data down in the bunker. Once Eliza's back she'll be able to interpret whatever we can find."

"What if there's somewhere we can go?" asked Bianca. It was the question they all had but were too afraid to ask aloud. "If this region's just a passing ground then clearly someplace else must be survivable. And wherever that skyboat or whatever she called it might take people directly there."

"But we have no idea where that survivable place might be," Terra sighed. "We don't know where the Dead Haze ends."

"The nomads might help us if they don't think we're a threat."

"For all we know the nomads took our memories in the first place."

Her words hung heavy in the air, no one quite sure how to continue for she'd spoken the truth they did not want to bring themselves to admit. The woods were vast and filled with same unknowns as the void in their minds. No one to trust, no one to seek, and no one to hope for. Fully alone with nothing but the wind and the chill in their hearts. The talk had brought them nowhere but to a reminder that there would be no help nor salvation. Stranded in their stone walls, standing shoulder to shoulder all on their own.

"Sounds like the first of the hunters are back," said Casper, a much needed excuse for them all to disperse. Out in the clearing walked the group of three swinging a weighed-down tarp behind them.

Only three were back. They'd gone out in two groups, of course they would not return together. But Ronan's eyes found themselves meeting with Bianca as both shared the same sinking feeling deep in their stomachs. Only three hunters were coming home that night. They knew it in their bones. 

a/n

shorter chapter but things are getting spicyyy

also I know this is a bad time to update but whatever. I might have time to finish another chapter tomorrow so... double updates? 

QUESTIONS!

-Where is the beast going to take Xavier and Eliza? How stupid a plan was this? 

-Is Eliza going to get the answers she wants?

-We've now heard at least three different solutions to surviving the Dead Haze. Whose/which plan do you think would be most effective? Do you have any other ideas?

-Is Terra right that they can't trust the nomads? Could they actually have a connection to their memories being lost? Are all  nomads untrustworthy or only a select group?