Dane winced at the light that came through her window and rolled over. She hated this bed. She wanted the bed back at her own home but they ran out of food. Drake forced her to grab a few clothes and return back to Coates. They still didn't get much food, but at least they were getting some nutrients. She looked up and saw Drake leaning against the headboard, flipping through her notebook.

"Why are you awake?" she mumbled.

"It's 2 in the afternoon," he answered, not looking up from the notebook.

Dane moaned and pulled the covers over her head, enveloping her in warmth and darkness.

"Why are you so tired?"

Dane's blue eyes popped out from under the covers and glared at Drake. "I'm sorry, I would've slept yesterday but some kid wanted to go see how much food he could get from Ralph's before Sam shot him down."

Drake finally looked over at her. "We would have more food but some girl had to complain that she was 'tired'. The food won't last us a week."

"Not my fault Fearless Leader didn't plan to ration out food. Looks like Sam is the smarter of the two."

Drake smiled. "Don't say that in front of Caine or you'll end up like Chunk."

"Chunk already had it coming to him. I would've killed him if Caine didn't." She reached over and snatched the notebook out of Drake's hands. "Didn't anyone teach you to not touch something that isn't yours?"

Drake sighed before snatching it again. "Just looking, calm down. Not like you're hiding something."

Dane growled and reached for it again but Drake pulled it farther away, a grin on his face. "Give it," she growled.

"Or what?"

Dane reached over to the nightstand and grabbed the gun, aiming for his arm. Drake barked out a laugh. "Go ahead, shoot me."

Dane looked at Drake with careful eyes, trying to figure out his plan. She did a quick look over the gun. It was a real gun. It had a trigger, there was a safety, but she didn't know if it was on or off.

She looked back to Drake a confused look. With a grin, he pulled a magazine from his pocket and held it up for her to see. She looked at the butt of the gun. Sure enough, the gun wasn'teven loaded.

"You can't even tell a loaded gun from an empty one. First mistake. Second, you're not holding it right. If you shot it, the kickback would hit you in the face. Third mistake, safety is on. Opponent would shoot you before you could get your hands on the safety. Fourth mistake, you don't even have it aimed at me. If you did manage to get the safety off and shoot, you'd hit it above my head. Now I may not get that mad, but with anyone else, they'd shoot you down on the spot. Last, and the biggest mistake, you're scared."

"I'm not scared."

"Then why is your hand shaking?"

Dane looked down and noticed that her hand really was shaking. A lot. She dropped her hand. Before she could blink, Drake came forward, snatched the gun, loaded and unlocked the safety, and pointed it to her forehead, his usual shark-grin on his face. Dane cringed and closed her eyes. She heard a click and she opened one eye, looking up at Drake. He had pulled the gun away and clicked the safety off, removing the magazine.

"And you wonder why I don't give you a gun," he smiled.

Dane scowled. "Then teach me how to shoot one."

"It's not that easy."

"I think it is."

"Is that why you made so many mistakes?"

Dane just glared at Drake, causing him to laugh. "Get dressed."

Dane flinched when she felt the gun kick in her hands.

"Mistake," Drake said, not looking up from his whip-hand that he kept unraveling from his torso.

She dropped her arm, squinting to see the target that Drake had made. He stacked bags of fertilizer from the shed and leaned a giant painting of the Dean that he grabbed from the office against them. "I don't even see where it hit."

"Exactly."

She turned to glare at him. Looking back at the target, she raised her free hand. With a roar, a green/white light shot from her hands, disintegrating the entire target.

"Why the hell did you do that?" Drake demanded, suddenly behind her.

"You said I had to hit the target," she said with a smile.

"So what are you going to hit now?"

Dane stared at the spot where the target had once been. "Shit," she sighed. She scowled when she heard Drake laugh.

Dane wanted to say a snide remark, but she heard footsteps touch grass across the grounds. She whirled around, and aimed the gun past Drake, to a silhouette walking up to them.

"What do you want Ladris," Drake asked, not bothering to look around. He knew there were only two people Dane reacted this way to: Astrid and Diana. Astrid was smart enough to know not to go anywhere near Dane or Coates for that matter. Diana was a different story.

"He wants you," she said.

"Who?"

"Caine. He's up."

"He's been up before."

Dane lowered her gun and turned away, leaving Drake and Diana to argue. She looked out over the grounds, noticing the still water down at Perdido Beach. She just wanted to be back down there. It was normal down there; it didn't look like the scene of an apocalyptic battleground like Coates. There was order, there was food, there was...home. That home held the memories of her trauma, but it was still home. The house was a sense of calm in this new world of chaos.

"Go on, Drake. Go ahead and defy Caine."

Dane's attention turned back to Drake, who wore a look of defeat. Dane began to advance to Diana, her finger resting on the trigger of the gun she still held.

He caught her arm, holding her back. "Not yet," he hissed. "Not until Caine takes care of Sam. He won't expect it then."

Dane glared at Diana before nodding and resting her finger back on the trigger guard. She followed Drake and Diana to where a sick Caine was waiting.