It wasn't exactly bright, but the four O'clock summer morning let in enough light to start the mission. "You wanna do this?" I asked, aware of the fact that she may need time to prepare herself again.

"Yeah... for Sam... for Jordan. If they're still alive we have to help them."

"I know, but not being seen is still the most important thing, we can't help them if we're dead too." I said honestly.

"We're spies, remember?" The child grinned up at me and stood, put her backpack on and balled her hands into fists anxiously.

"Spies." I repeated, "We're spies." I got ready, unlocked the door and took her hand in mine. "Let's do it."

We left from the back door of the mall and walked left until we got back to the street that was labelled on Cory's drawing. Silently, and without hesitation, we followed the road, staying close to the gated houses. When we reached the vague area, a few yards away from where we were supposed to be, I stopped and pointed to a wooded area out of the backs of the homes and signalled to walk that way. We hid behind a few trees; I broke the tense quiet with a whisper. "I think it's gotta be up ahead, see the row of buildings?"

"Yeah," She whispered back, "We need to get closer."

"I know, follow me." I led her through the trees, avoiding grass and nettles that hadn't been cut in a month or so, and took care with each step so as to not make much sound. The cracking of scattered sticks and the crunching of crispy leaves made it difficult to be as silent as possible, in my mind though, it would be more likely for a Hunter to see us than to hear us. Speaking of seeing, we were approaching the buildings fast, there were five on the same row; a gym, some kind of community hall, a call centre, a courthouse, and finally, an office building. All were dark inside, but that didn't surprise me with how early in the morning it was. Weirdly, the closer I got to the buildings, the calmer I felt, it was obvious that if someone were in any of them, they were not awake. That wasn't the case for Kiersten, I could practically hear her heart beating out of her chest, and like her, I was filled with adrenaline too, it felt like I was in shock. Inside, my mind was racing, but, outside, I looked collected, ready for anything. The kid's hand felt warm inside mine, she was sweating, and her face was pale. But we continued.

We reached the gym and walked cautiously around the back, there was no movement. "I'm gonna give you a boost, look in the window." I told Kiersten quietly; she complied immediately and grabbed the window ledge to pull herself up enough to get a view. She looked around suspiciously, before nodding down at me. I placed her down gently and waited for her to speak.

"Empty, there's two floors, can't see what's up the stairs but it looks abandoned."

"Good job, kid."

We rounded the back of the community hall and thankfully there was a glass panel in the door. I put my finger to my lip and peered over the side of the wall, I had a good view of the interior when suddenly the large amount of windows reminded me of something Cory had said; "the place was filled with sunlight." I jumped back before I had a chance to look thoroughly. Kiersten was startled to say the least from my rapid movement, but I explained that I thought this place could be the one.

A few seconds of silence passed before I gained to courage to look again, and despite the fact that no one could be seen, there were empty beer cans strewn across the floor and a pile of food large enough to last for months. I continued walking, peering in every window I could find as Kiersten followed me closely. Bags of trash and broken glass was all else that could be seen through the windows on the backside of the building.

"We gotta see what's behind that wall and what's upstairs." I said and Kiersten agreed quickly. We whispered to each other for a while, discussing our options before we settled on what seemed like the safest one. Kiersten would stand on my shoulders and see if she could see into the second floor. After all, if you were going to be staying in a place with multiple floors, surely the higher you are the better it would be, especially with those 'sirens' around.

To say that Kiersten getting on my shoulders was havoc would be an understatement, her legs were shaking, and I am not exactly the strongest person in the world. The combination of the kid's anxiety and my inability to stay still made for quite a mess. It was a disaster, but it was also quite funny. Kiersten fell on the grass and I came tumbling down with her. Bad idea, but I was glad we had tried it, seeing the kid muffle her laugh was a welcome sight after all the stressful and tense moments of the day. We didn't get much time to sit and giggle though. The sound of a door opening near us made both of us gasp in shock, it sounded far too close. I put my finger to my lip and looked at the girl with wide eyes. We stayed crouched under the windowsill, praying that no one would see us. We stayed there for a long time, listening intently to the noises coming from the building behind our backs. The sounds of a door closing, the booming voice of a man yelling what sounded like 'rise and shine,' the following sounds of more people chatting amongst each other. It was louder than how most people would speak, yet, still to quiet to make out any of the words. It continued until a door opened again and the sound of voices got much clearer. The men had clearly gone outside and were out the front of the building we were hiding behind. Kiersten tried desperately not to cry while I did my best not to hyperventilate. As the chatting grew distant, we still stayed just as still and silent until we heard the unmistakeable sound of engines.

After another few minutes, when all fell quiet and we felt able to exhale in relief, I peaked up as stealthily as possible. No one was inside. If there had been people on the second floor they had left in the trucks. 

"We can't stay here, we gotta go." I muttered urgently to which Kiersten just nodded vigorously.

"Come on." I grabbed her hand and rushed to the building next door, the gym. I was so thankful the door was open. Looking back at this I realise how reckless we were, we didn't even look in the windows to see what was inside. We got lucky, nothing but exercise equipment and yoga mats. We kept running, up the stairs and inside the first door we saw, 'women's restroom.'

I splashed some water on my face and practically fell to my knees in exhaustion, Kiersten sat down beside me, her complexion was somehow both red and pale, like she was sweating but also as cold as ice.

"Oh my God." She mumbled, gripping her hands into fists nervously. "That was so close."

"Yeah," I whispered, trying to slow my breathing.

"Cass?"

"Yeah?" I asked quietly.

"They aren't in there anymore. If Sam and Jordan-"

"We don't know that it's empty, there could be more of them in there."

"We have to check, Cass, when else are we going to get this chance?" She asked as she stood up and wiped her face with water from the tap.

"We won't," I replied honestly, "but if we go in there and someone is there... they will kill us. It's too much of a risk." I stood up, looking at my reflection properly for the first time in almost a month. Have you ever not realised the face staring back at you? It's like you're trapped, trapped inside a body that isn't yours. I had the same dark hair, the same heart-shaped face, the same light skin and yet I still looked unrecognisable to myself. My brown eyes looked panicked, yet, empty and I looked older than I remembered, maybe it was the dishevelled expression or the bags under my eyes. I didn't look like me. I sighed and looked to the floor.

"I- I'm willing to take that risk."

I looked up immediately, the idea that a little girl, a child, would be willing to lose her own life for another person was both heart-warming and entirely sickening. No one in their right mind would die for a person they had only met a week ago, no one before all this, that is. But now, all Kiersten really wanted was to put everything on the line. Besides, how much more could she lose?