I awoke to screaming. A woman. I'd thought we were the only ones in this shuck desert for miles, but it seems we're not. I pull the fabric off my face and squint in the setting sun. The brightness still surprises me. We sleep during the day when it's brightest out because it's too painful to walk during the heat of the day. That means it's about time to get up and going anyway.

Minho and Frypan stir at my side and I quietly inform them I'll go check it out. Minho protests sluggishly, muttering something about it not being safe to go alone, but he doesn't try to stop me anymore than that, so I go. I have to backtrack a bit, following the wounded sound to a small metal hut, nearly invisible under the sand. I brush some of the gritty substance off of the door and push it open.

I immediately fall to my knees and rush to my sister's side. "Addy! Oh my gosh, what happened?"

Her eyes are bloodshot and a huge gash tears through the flesh of her left arm. Sweat trickles down the sickly pale skin of her forehead. Her dark brown hair is tangled and dirtied with sand. She's not well. I tear a strip of fabric from the bottom of my shirt and form a quick bandaged around her arm.

"No!" She screams. "You can't be here, Tommy!"

"Addy, Addy," I soothe frantically. "It's fine! You're fine!"

"No! You have to leave! They'll make me hurt you!" She sobs.

My sister pulls away from me and pushes herself as far as she can, leaving me confused and bewildered. "What's going on?" I ask again. "What happened to you?"

"Just leave, Tommy! Please, just leave!" Tears stream from her green eyes. "It's better for both of us!"

"No, I won't leave you!" I insist, moving closer and stretching my arms out to hug her.

Addy recoils and pulls a gun out of what seems like thin air and holds it against her head. "Leave, Thomas. If you love me, just leave." Her words are tear stricken, but hold a solemn sincerity that I can't argue with.

I back away slowly as my vision blurs with tears. "Addy, don't." If I leave, she could just kill herself, but if I stay, she definitely will. I have to leave, but it's the last thing I want to do.

"Stay away from me. It's for your own good." She pulls her injured arm into her chest and curls into a cocoon of misery.

As I leave, my heart shatters into hundreds of tiny pieces that mix with the minuscule grains of sand on the ground. The remnants blow into the hot wind and take with them my ability to feel. I don't speak when I return to the camp, even when I'm showered in questions. All I can do is walk, as seems to be the only thing left in my wretched life, and even that is a struggle.