We're dead meat.

I gave up trying to estimate how far away from the village we are. We have, at long, loooong last stopped- And now each of us has our own personal pole we get to be tied to. It's terribly uncomfortable. It's as if the moment my hands are restrained, everything on my body decides to start itching like crazy. There are some huts here and there. The people I see go into them always seem to have guns.

Odette is beat up pretty bad already. She would go on a rage and every time the soldiers slapped one of our fellow unfortunate souls, which only got her pushed to the ground too. The bright color of her hair is dimmed by the dirt from the roads. It's sticks to her face, held there by beads of sweat. I'm sure she'll have bruises on her face soon enough. I fear it'll only get worse. For all of us, but especially her. She's too riled up for her own good. If she keeps up this act... I fear they'll go as far as to just... Get rid of her.

I bite my lip, fear rising up all the way into my throat. I look away from her for a moment. I've never seen her so defeated. She's never seen me cry either and I don't want today to be the first day. I swallow the lump in my throat and force myself to look back at Odette. She's about five feet away from me.

"Odette," I hiss.

She jerks her head in my direction. "What?"

I'm not even sure what I'm planing on saying. For moment, an awkward silence stretches between us. Finally I start by saying, "Odette, you... You've gotta stop showing so much resistance."

She glares at me. "Have you lost your mind?" she mumbles.

"No! You have!" I snap, a little too suddenly. She narrows her eyes at me, looking both angry and hurt. I sigh deeply and try to start again, a little calmer this time.

"Look," I sigh. "If you keep it up, they might sell you to some other creeps, or beat you more, or... Odette they might outright kill you!" I say desperately.

Her face softens. She chokes on her next words but tries not to show her pride crumpling. "But... I can't just let them think I'm going to put up with this!"

She always hated showing weakness.

"Odette... We'll get out of here," I say, more confidently than I feel. "But you won't if you keep making it look like you're trying to... Ya know? Trying to escape?"

She sets her lips in a fine line, refusing to give in. I decide I have to pull out the big guns and hit her somewhere where it hurts. I don't want to but she won't listen!

"Odette. Do you ever want to see the girls again?" I say, referring to her sisters. A sob escapes her throat and she looks at the ground as if hoping I didn't catch that. 

"Shut up," she whispers.

"If you don't remain calm enough to get a good plan, Jillian will blame herself when we don't get back in a week. You know how she is."

"Shut. up," she repeats, hissing through clenched teeth this time. I purse my lips and force myself to push on.

"Clara won't have you to help her with the jerks at school, Rachael won't have you to sing musical songs with late on Friday nights, Chloe and Zoe are so young, they'll only know you from the picture albums at home! Theresa and Grace-"

"OK!" she interrupts, loudly enough to get the guards in the distance to glare our way. When they've looked away again, she looks back at me. "Ok," she whispers. "I get it. I can't tick them off. Just shut up. Shut. Up about the girls." She sniffs and a single tear makes a streamline down her dirt-caked cheek. She quickly turns her face away from me.

I close my yapper and stare in front of myself again.

I suddenly hate and regret that I had to make her think about leaving her siblings without the guidance of their eldest sister.

Mostly because, I'm afraid that we may not ever get back. No matter how "well behaved" Odette is.