I'm probably only going to live a few more days, but I guess it doesn't matter. At least I'm not going to die at my house, a girl thought as she trudged through a forest. It was a cool, crisp, autumn day; a day that most kids would use to play outside. But she wasn't playing. No, she was running away from her home, and with a good reason too. She couldn't let anyone know the reason, not you or me or even the people closest to her.

The girl's name was Mila. She was eleven years old and had long curly black hair on top of a round head and a skinny but firm body. She had run away two days ago and she only found a few small streams of water and no food.

Mila stopped in a small clearing and sat on a large moss covered rock, just to rest for a few minutes. She laid her head back on a big oak tree and closed her eyes. She heard a faint trickling noise to the right of the direction she had been heading in. I guess I'll head that way,Mila thought.

She stood up and started hiking again. Eventually she reached a small stream. Again Mila decided to change direction do that she was headed downstream. After a while I'll stop and rest for the night, she thought. So she kept walking along, now with her head down from being tired.

After a few more minutes, Mila ran into the side of a giant rock, or rather, a cave. She took a couple of steps back and wondered whether or not she should go in it. It would make a good place to sleep, but it could be dangerous. There might be something like coyotes in there. But after a minute more of thinking, the curious nature that she had took over and she went inside.

The cave was a smoky grey color and was just big enough for Mila to fit comfortably inside. That's odd, Mila thought. The cave appeared to get brighter the deeper it was, rather than darker. Without thinking, Mila walked deeper into the cave. It was brighter, but Mila kept walking. This is too weird, I'm going back.She turned around, but the cave still got brighter. Mila realized that she had no idea which way she was going. By now the light was blinding. Mila did the only thing her body would let her do. She passed out.

Mila began to open her eyes, but she still felt too weak to open her eyes. However, she heard voices almost directly above her head.

"Will she be okay?" a young boy asked.

"Yes, but she probably won't be very active for a while," a girl replied

"What if she's evil?," a different boy asked.

"Then she's evil. I can't let anyone die out here. Anyway, even if she did want to kill us, she wouldn't be able to," the girl said firmly.

"Fine, let's bring her back to camp," the first boy that talked said reluctantly.

Mila felt eight hands lift her up and carry her. She had no clue what happened, where she was, or who those people were, but she was gad that these people were taking her back to camp. Hopefully there will be food or water there, she thought. Mila felt the strangers set her down. She lay still, trying to regain as much energy as possible.

Mila did start regaining strength, but slowly. I'll try to talk to them tomorrow, she decided. Shortly after that, she fell asleep.

The next morning, Mila had regained most of her strength and energy. She heard footsteps close to her, and she decided to find out who those people were.

"Wha…what happened?" she said hoarsely.

The person did a startled gasp.

"You're okay! Well, yesterday we found you in the middle of the desert."

It was the girl that Mila heard yesterday. She slowly opened her eyes. She was in a small log cabin with a couple of windows. Mila sat up and propped herself against the wall.

"By the way, my name is Rachael."

Mila looked over in her direction. Rachael looked to be a couple years older than she was. She had straight, shoulder length, dark brown hair and green eyes

"My name's Mila," she replied.

"Hold on, I'll go get the others that aren't on patrol."

"Patrol?"

"Yeah, like going out and checking our boarders."

Mila had no idea what she was talking about. Her expression must've shown it too because Rachael sighed and said "You aren't from around here, are you." Mila shook her head.

"You'll understand eventually. Anyway, I'll go get my friends… and some food. You look like you're starving."

Rachael turned and left the cabin. She was pretty nice to me,Mila thought. She just sat there thinking. I might live for a while. Actually, I might live here for a while, if I could. Oh, here they come.