Erin knew her family was different, she knew that by public standard they were "freaks". She didn't care. They were her family and that's all that mattered. She jumped at the chance to do the stupid reality tv pilot so that she could get out there.

You see Erin's ma and pa where from those woods. Her ma was a cousin to the four brothers and their sister. But her parents had met their end when her ma was real young, so she grew up with them being her siblings. And before she was born her ma had been taken away from her family and pa, and forced to live in the city. Oh, her ma had written Gramps, she had too. But when her ma died from a mugging when she was ten the letters stopped. She didn't have the address to send the letters. She was alone. She knew her ma had sent pictures of her up until she was ten to her family and that's what she was counting on. Her ma had been taken from the very woods she now stood in, because she looked the most normal out of the family, besides Gramps. Her ma's deformities had been in easy to hide places and so were hers.

She had known this was going to be stupid, and decided to not dress to impress the victims. She wore her favorite pair of shorts overalls with a blue tank top underneath. She had on a paid over shirt and some working boots for good show. The Director guy, M, was pissed at her for not dressing up but in the end he said it would work in a backwoods way. If only he knew.

After all the stupid formality of the 'show' they were paired off and headed in different directions, but as she had been the odd number she got to go on her own. She decided to keep the headpiece they gave her on, thought it would be fun.

She had been wonder around the trees, following some small trails when an arrow whizzed past her head and hit a tree. She grinned; this was the fun part, getting close without getting killed. See, ma hadn't just sent them pictures, they had sent pictures too. She ran in what she knew was the general direction of the camp and wasn't disappointed. It was empty just the way she wanted it. She ran around the fire barrel keeping it between her and who she knew was one of her uncles. He was easily the second least deformed of the siblings, having for the most part a cleft lip. He had his bow, with an arrow ready, but the flames were making it hard to aim. He didn't seem too pleased with her. Two others appeared from the tree line, one she assumed was her uncle's son, as they looked alike and the other was her pa. They were both laughing and chuckling; they must think her good hunting. "You knew my mother" Was all she said but it was enough, because as she said it she pulled out the photo's she had safe guarded with her life. Her uncle grunted at the boy and the boy came over and quickly grabbing the photos. All three huddled around the pictures, but the bow was still drawn. She waited patiently, not wanting to disturb them. She wanted them to come up with the conclusion on their own.

Her pa looked up first, and moved closer. She let him, she figured if she died it was better that it was his hands. But he didn't kill her; he grabbed her face and turned it back and forth. He looked closely at her, even sniffed her. He also chuckled and snickered the whole time. He wasn't the only one; her Uncle came over too, the bow forgotten. They looked at her head to toe, and then they started grunting at each other. They seemed to have made a decision because in the next second she was being pulled in to a tight hug by her pa. When he let go her Uncle gave her a one armed hug, but still managed to lift her up. She hadn't been held or hugged since her ma's death, it felt good. Her cousin looked at them awkwardly, like he didn't know what to do. She smiled at him, a real smile. He grinned back, and started jumping around.

She was the happiest she had been since her ma died, and that had been ten years. She heard a truck and when she looked over an old rusted red thing drove up. There were two women in it, her aunt and other cousin she guessed. Both did not look happy with the situation. So she stepped back, putting space between herself and her uncle and cousin. Her pa came closer, wrapping an arm around her and she wrapped herself into his side. This seemed to throw off the other two women and her aunt stomped over to her uncle. It sounded a lot like yelling, what she was doing to him. He came back just as strong. It was actually kinda funny looking. Her cousin, brother she would call him, handed the photo's to sister, as that's who it was. And sister looked at the pictures for a long moment than at her, after words handing them to her aunt. Her aunt didn't take near as long before she ran over and was as close as two people should be. She stared at Erin for a second than hugged her tight. Sister came over and hesitated, before she was dragged into the hug as well. They had this big hug going, she had barely noticed her pa letting go.

The moment was destroyed be the other constants, two of them were looking for her. M was with them too. "ERIN! Where the hell is that stupid redneck whore?" It was that slutty girl. All of her family growled at that, she looked at them for a moment than answered "Over here, just a sec." Her Pa and Uncle grinned at her. Her pa basically petted her face before they both ran back in to the woods, and the others got in the truck and drove away. Well, she figured they weren't far. The other constants and M came out of the tree line, not far from where her pa and uncle disappeared. "What the hell are you still doing here? This is a game, you have to play it to even get a chance to win." M said slowly to her, as if she was stupid. "Just cus I am the only one dressed ready for this party, doesn't mean you gotta act like an ass, Mister." Erin replied, she wanted to watch him die. The slutty girl was smirking at her like she had just gotten in trouble with a teacher "oh and honey, I wouldn't go around accusing others of being a whore. Even if you know what it takes to make one" Erin shot at her, the girls face scrunched up real ugly. She was pissed. The black man laughed his ass off, and Erin bowed. "Whatever, just go play the game, k?" M said, trying to diffuse a dangerous situation.

So Erin left, but not before saying "there is a lovely river shore about a mile east." Then she was gone in the tree line as well. But soon after she entered the forest a pair of hands grabbed her around the waist and mouth. She looked up at the face of her uncle, relieved, and let him pull her back. He dragged her back in to the underbrush about ten feet and then let her down. He was bent down on one knee and she was sitting on her butt, as they watched two of the other girls go past. She scanned the forest and she saw her other two uncles, on the other side, watching the very spot where they were at. She figured they had been about to make a mess out of her and her big uncle saved her. The other girls had pasted, long gone, when her uncle finally stood up. He walked out and grunted at the other two, then motioned for her to come out.

She walked out slowly, not as sure of herself anymore. Her big Uncle took some of the pictures out of his pockets and handed them to the other two. They waited. They seemed to be deep in conversation with each other. But slowly, the one ma had called, saw-tooth came toward her slowly. They all must have noticed the shift in her mood, in her confidence. He moved closer still, until he was no more than foot away from her. He brought his hand up to her face, tracing it slowly. Ma had told her that Saw-tooth used to do that with her all the time, like a safety blanket. She figured it worked both ways, cus she felt more and more relaxed has he continued to stroked her face. It hadn't been long, but long enough for her to feel comfortable around her family again. She hadn't noticed the middle child of the three, one-eye, had moved up beside her uncle that she would now refer to as Papa. She had pa and gramps, now she had papa too. They heard screams coming from their left and all began to run in that direction. Her uncles moved quicker than her, with a sort of twisted grace that came from knowing and living in these woods all their lives. She was quick though, and didn't let the forest slow her down too much. She glided through the brushes, flew over the fallen logs. She had never felt so free in her life.

They reached an old cabin that she recognized from a lot of the pictures, gramps. Just as they arrived at the cabin two of the other contestants, the two girls, were running away from the cabin. Erin dropped down behind some bushes as they passed, keeping herself hidden from them. She watched as the producer girl screamed and cried, running for her live. She noted with twisted humor that the girl didn't run fast enough, as Papa's axe embedded itself in her skull. The other girl kept going, never looking back. As Papa stopped to grab his axe her other two uncles ran past the body, chasing the girl at her heels. Erin stood, watching as Papa winked at her before following his brothers. She had noticed the truck at the cabin and grabbed the body's legs, dragging her toward it. Sister and Ma showed up then, also grabbing limbs. Together they got the girls dead body back to the cabin and mounted on the truck.

Her Aunt Ma and Sister drove away in the truck, she stayed back with gramps. She had thought bout it and was going to call her aunt Mama. As they were both cleaning up the floor from where Mama had had her baby, a gun was pointed at them. "Make one wrong move and your dead." It was that soldier host, he looked at her "What are you doing here?" She paused for a moment, standing up slowly and wiping off her legs "Help'in an old man clean up a mess two of the other contestant made." She replied evenly. He looked at her for a moment longer "You ok?" He asked "I am fine, why?" She decided to fake stupidly.

After her Gramps told the soldier guy and her about how her family got like this he jumped out of his chair and attacked soldier man. Gramps wasn't winning, so Erin grabbed the closest thing to her and hit the soldier guy with it, and she kept hitting him. When he was down she smashed the item on the back of his head, knocking him out. She looked at what she now knew was a frying pan and pondered on how good that felt. She looked up at her Gramps, making sure he was ok. He chuckled a little and said "Well sweetie pie, you sure did a number on him." They moved the guy out onto the porch and tied him up hogtie style. Her Gramps telling her about her ma and pa as they did, she decided that she was going to check on her dad. The guy had said he killed him, but Gramps didn't think he really had. She told him goodbye and that she would be back. He also promised to keep the gun on the man at all times.

As she got to the cabin her Pa lived in, it looked wretched out front. She got really worried, and followed the bath of destruction to the river shore. Her pa laid spread out on the edge of the water. She ran over to him and pulled him on shore the rest of the way. Turning him over she saw that he was covered in buck-shot. "Pa?" she whispered, nudging him with her hands. She picked him up and half carried half dragged him back to the cabin. She laid him down on his bed to recover, covering him with a blanket, and went back outside. She looked around and noticed that her pa was a bit messy. She cleaned the place up and fixed what had been messed up in the fight. Her pa had been in the middle of gutting the tech-guy when the fight happened. She finished what she could, remembering a lot from when she worked in a butcher shop at 14 years old. She left what she didn't know. She saw the girl from before lying on the ground, she left her too. She noticed some carving knifes and wood, at the front of the cabin and sat down to try her hand at it. She had been good at clay, and thought wood carving was kinda like it. It wasn't, but it was relaxing, and fun.

It had been maybe an hour when she heard movement in the cabin, she stayed outside. He came out wearing the same clothes basically, but without holes. He looked at her first, and then looked around. He seemed to be quite pleased with her job on the guy, and preparation of the girl. He looked all around the area, he smiled a real smile. Not unlike her own. he came over and pulled her up in to a hug. She loved the feeling, being held. "…Where….man?" he grunted out in a deep, gruff voice. It was obvious he didn't talk a lot. "He had made his way to Gramps cabin," Her pa's grip tighten on her, to her he seemed nervous "Gramps got in a fight with the guy, but we knocked him out. I think Gramps is still waiting for someone to come pick the guy up." Her pa relaxed, giving her a peck on the forehead before heading over to the table full of knifes and grabbing his own axe. He picked up a smaller knife and handed it to her, she took it willingly.

They arrived at Gramps cabin just as her Uncles came up in the truck. They didn't look too pleased to see the soldier guy at Gramps cabin. Gramps explained what had happened, and the guy got a few knocks to his head. Papa and One-eye picked him up like he was a feather, she stared dumb founded. It had taken everything her and gramps had to get that big asswipe out there, and they act like he is a piece of cotton. "They do that a lot, being stronger and all." Her gramps said behind her "Show-offs…" was her muttered reply. Gramps chuckled, so did her pa. Once they had him in the truck they all climbed on board and drove off. Erin waving bye to her Gramps as they went. Her pa and uncles had made her sit up front, so as to keep some distance between her and the soldier. They stopped at her Pa's cabin, grabbing what was left of the guy and grabbing the girl. Then headed off again.

They drove for a while before coming upon the very sawmill form Gramps story. They got inside, her Pa and Uncles bringing in the capture and kills. They made their way to the main living area and she noticed cages along a far wall, with a knocked out amazon girl inside it. They put the soldier man in his own cage, still tied up. The annoying boy, the one stuck on sex, was hanging from a hook not far from the cages. The look on his face when she walked in made her giggle, then out right laugh when Brother popped up in the guy's face. Chuckles and snickers were heard around the room. Sister pulled her over to a chair and made her sit in front of it, grabbed a hairbrush and brushed out her hair. They sat like that for a long time, before they heard a short scream from inside the building. Her uncles and cousins ran after the noise. Her Pa was making room for the new guest. And Mama was preparing M for dinner.

It didn't take them long to bring back a knocked out, bound black sports jock and dragging the other girl with them. They threw her in with the other girl and hung the guy up by his white brother. By this point the amazon girl had woken up and was glaring at her. The soldier was awake and seemed to be trying to find a way out of this. She ignored them. The jock didn't take very long to wake back up, but when he did….wow. "You…your one of them? You played us all this whole time?" He looked at her with disgust and spit in her direction. Papa walked over to the jock and cut off a piece of meat from him, then hit the guy in the stomach. "That means 'shut up'." Erin said from across the room, where she had cozied up next to Saw-tooth, so he could stoke her face. Papa and Pa both snickered at her. It was about this time that Gramps showed up, carrying some fish. "Not much, honey, but it's something" he handed the fish over to Mama, and sat down at the table. Mama fried up the fish and made a sort of mash out of M. Erin looked over at the others and smirked at their faces, and how Brother and Sister were playing with them. Sister got pissed at the Goth girl and opening the cage hit her on the head with the least dangerous end of a gun. She pulled the girl out fairly easily, but had a little trouble with the amazon. Brother came over and helped her out; together they got the Goth girl strapped down in a chair with barbed wire. Sharing a kiss over the moment. Erin stood from her spot against her uncle and helped set the table.

As they all were coming over to sit down for dinner, the Goth girl woke up. She didn't make much noise but she did freak out. The jock and the white boy were both begging for their little group to be let go, Papa grunted/repeated what they had said in a mocking tone. The group snickered, except for Erin and gramps, they chuckled. As they began to eat, Erin mostly picked at her food. She had noticed when Mama put the food on her plate that she had put more fish than flesh, she was amazed by the level of kindness they were showing her. She ate most of the…hmm…non fish mush and a lot of the fish its self. But Erin wasn't that hungry, she was use to small meals.

She could feel the jocks eyes on her, but she didn't look up. She didn't want him to remember her, to realize just who she was. "It's you isn't it?" He asked, the look in his eye's speaking of untold secrets coming to the light. "Erin…" He spoke her name, and while she didn't look up, everyone else did. „ I guess that answers my question." He spoke with an almost hate, but more of pity. "How the hell do you know her?!" The white boy yelled, asking the question on all of their minds. "I used to live in the same neighborhood as her orphanage. Moved away before graduating, but I knew who she was, everyone did." She looked up at this point in his story, emotion hidden from her eyes. One-eye grunted out for him to keep going "don't…stop…..boy." "Everyone knew who she was because of what had happened. The authority had said it was a mugging, but everyone knew better." Her Gramps looked at her; he had an idea of what the boy was talking about "Erin's ma." "Yea, the crazy lady everyone stayed away from." Erin's eyes flashed with anger. "Everyone knew that what really had happened was that Erin's Mother had been killed…" He stopped when the cry of pure anger and hatred came from Erin's pa. He waited for them all to calm down, before continuing "They had found her body covered in her own blood, signs of a beating and rape, everywhere on her. But nobody would do anything, they were afraid of her killers" He looked at Erin for a very long moment "Of course Erin didn't come out of it unscratched…" They all looked at her, their eyes checking her for scars "She was covered in whip lashes, deep ones. Keep her in the hospital for a month. The only place unscathed on her was her face." They were all beyond pissed, all of them staring at her. He started laughing, "And know I see that it was all well deserved." Erin was up and out of her sit in no time, half way across the room before anybody knew what was happening. She grabbed him by his collar with one hand, the other holding the knife her Pa had gave her "You know nothing, it was never deserved." She ran the knife along his chest, cutting through the shirt and in to him. She kept cutting him, years of anger and frustration being released in this single moment. "No one was afraid, they were just that sadistic. Let the little child fend for its self, she must be bad if her ma was killed." He was a horrible bloody mess before her uncle Papa pulled her away. Her pa and other uncles dragged him out of the room.

She didn't cry but she did snuggle in to his arms and let him pull her back to the table. Mama had moved most of the dishes and she got the idea, she sat her ass down on the table. He took her plaid shirt of first, looking at every scar on her arms; Mama was behind her rubbing soothing circles on her back. Her Pa and uncles came back in the room and sat back down at the table. When her Papa was done looking at her arms, he undid the buttons on her overalls. Her pa stood back up and got just as close to her as her Papa, they both took a side and moved it down. Her Papa then grabbed the bottom of her shirt and pulled it up, revealing a belly full of scars. Her Pa ran his good hand along some of the scars, looking at each one like it was an individual insult. And she supposed to him, they were. He didn't cackle, or laugh. He had a low growl coming from his throat. She clung to her pa, nuzzling his neck. He held her, stroking her face.

They went on with dinner, just with a thick silence. The girl, nina, didn't say anything else that night. Erin helped to put nina back in her cage and then left with her pa. When they got back to his cabin he pulled her inside. There was only room for one mattress, and Erin moved to lay on the floor, but her pa pulled her up and over to the bed. He pushed her down on it and then climbed in next to her. She didn't think of it as odd, she used to sleep with her ma before her death.

The next morning was easier, they cleaned up any traces left by the cast and crew. After they were all done they all headed back to the mill. Things started off quiet, and tension was thick in the air. The black guy was back hanging where he had the night before, but was gaged. Erin stood over to the side watching the lot of them struggle. When there were fewer of her relatives in the room she moved over to the cage with the marine man in it. And pulled a taser out of her bag. "You shouldn't have shot my pa you assfucker" Then she tased him repeatedly. He didn't scream, but it did look painful.