So...I've been gone for a while huh?

I'm very sorry to all my fans but, if it helps, once exams were over I put a lot of my energy into working this out. I've taken some serious hits about my writing over the past few weeks which contributed to my hiatus. An agency has asked me to change the style in which I wrote my novel so, after making the decision to give it a go, I'm re-writing it. Although it takes up a lot of my time I've figured out how I'm going to finish this and will keep it up because I enjoy giving you guys what you deserve.

Side note, if anyone would like to be a beta reader for my novel then please PM me and I'll direct you to a site where you can read it.

So anyway, the rest of this story is to come and I hope my fans will still be with me so I can do right by them.

Enjoy!

I didn't like the quiet of the forest, it allowed my thoughts to wonder. In town I always had council work to keep me busy, only having the quiet of night for myself. There I could think about normal stuff, stuff any man my age with two teenagers living with me could worry about. Were they doing okay at their jobs? Was there a girl Jesse might consider going after? Would Ellie be able to handle that?

Right now I would give anything to be able to have those thoughts again. Now all I got where my own dreads of what was happening to Jesse, or what Ellie was doing to find him. Was she even going the right way? Sometimes those thoughts kept me busy, other times my own memories would invade my head.

"Is beard man staying?"

I looked past Tess to see the kid was back. Jesse, I think that's what she called him, must have taken Tess by surprise too because she whirled round. He was standing there, watching us carefully.

"I just asked him," Tess said then turned to give me a pointed look. At least she never bullshit the kid, only just switched it round so I would have to break the kids heart.

"Stay." The kid began to come closer but stopped at Tess, looking at me. "We have lots of cool stuff here. Tess will share with you."

"Uh..." I trailed off and looked at Tess. A ghost of a smirk graced her lips as she stared at me with hard eyes. "I got my own thing going on kid. Plus I ain't good with strangers."

I wasn't good with anyone but the kid didn't need to know that.

"I'll share my stuff," the kid said and pulled the knife he'd used against the hunter out of his pocket, along with a bouncy ball and a rusted paperclip.

"That ain't necessary kid," I said and he put his hands back in his pockets. "Look...I don't want to be caught up in some team shit. I don't work that way."

"It's not about working in teams," Tess said. "You can smuggle on your own if you want. As long as you report back here with the stuff we tell you to get then you can be as lonely as your scruffy ass wants."

I glared at her, but couldn't deny that it had been a while since I'd last attempted to trim it. "I don't have to work with others?"

"Not unless you say please." This time Tess let herself smirk. I scowled in reply, but I caught site of the kid, his bottom lip jutted out in a pout as he frowned up at Tess.

"Fine."

I broke out of my thoughts. Sometimes you could let yourself fall into what used to make you want to smile, but right now it wasn't safe to let myself indulge in easier times. Instead I focused back on Ellie's tracks. One thing I loved about Ellie was that she never really knew how to be subtle. A path clear as the sun in the sky cut straight through the forests floor. Snapped twigs, skewered leaves and trodden down grass, not to mention footprints impaling the mud in even strokes, showed me either where Ellie was headed, or where the world's biggest and most uncoordinated deer lived.

"Well at least she ain't running," I mumbled to myself as I followed the carnage. I hadn't stopped since I had left the settlement and wasn't about to. Ellie wouldn't stop, not if she could help it, she was far too stubborn. I only hoped I got to her before she caught up to what must be left of Jesse.

I shuddered as I thought what he must be like now. No thoughts to save him from the mindlessness, only the instinct to kill and his own screams. I wondered if he could still taste anything, the blood that spewed from those things and yet they still never died, the flesh they tore into when they found someone.

"Screw you, I ain't afraid," I said to myself a few times until the hammering in my chest calmed down. It almost worked until a twig snap made it jump back up tenfold, not in fear but alertness. I scanned the surrounding area, searching for whatever had made the sound. The leaves moved in tandem with the breeze, making the shadows swirl and dance about in a tango of suspense.

Another snap and I spun round. A shape flung itself out at me as soon as it noticed my movement, forcing me against the closest tree. The trunk dug right in between my shoulder blades and I cried out as whatever was attacking me scrabbled at my throat. It didn't get the chance as I grabbed it by the wrist and yanked up. The spindly arm felt so fragile in my grip and the creature shrieked when it realized it was caught. It kicked at my chest with both legs, shoving me into the tree again and I dropped the wrist as I felt something crack. Pain burned through my side and I clutched my side. The creature rolled away and sprang to its feet. I ripped my gun from the holster and pointed it at the animal.

"Don't move," I warned, holding my side. The creature froze, eyes trained on my gun. I let myself take a few wheezy breaths, each one hurting more than the last. "You – you got some nerve attacking me."

"L-Leav sick of h-humans in his fo-fo-r-woods!" the little thing snapped. "F-First b-boy break his leg, then p-pretty g-girl stab him and t-take dog. Y-You all get out!"

"What're you talkin' about?" I growled, taking a step closer. It hurt the entire right side of my body but I kept it down. "What boy? What girl?"

"T-They h-hurt p-poor Leav!" the little thing wailed as it came closer. I let it but kept the gun trained on it. "Not like y-you. Y-you nice, y-you help Leav. L-Leav will show you t-they went and y-you go and make them p-pay!"

The creature continued to gibber pitifully at me but I wasn't listening. It seemed to notice because it eventually stopped and stared at me. "D-Does b-beardy want something? L-Leav can g-get food."

"I don't need nothin'," I snapped. I was thinking. Jesse wouldn't break somebody's leg unless they gave him a reason, and Ellie wouldn't stab a person unless she was provoked, let alone someone already injured. Whoever this thing was talking about weren't my kids. Speaking of it, it was still watching me. I holstered the gun. "Don't sneak up on people."

I turned to go and it called out after me. "W-Wait. Y-You protect L-Leav now!" it wailed and I could hear it hobble after me.

"I'm not a body guard," I muttered. It still followed behind me at an uneven pace. I managed to find the tracks again and continued to follow them deeper into the forest. Groans and moans told me that Leav, whatever he was, was following me, making listening out for anything a lot harder. "D' you mind?"

"L-Leav doesn't mind at a-all."

I grunted and kept on, pushing deeper and deeper into the woods. A dome shape came up out of the ground, Ellie's tracks leading right up into it then out again. I knelt down to study them and there was no mistaking it, these were Ellie's alright. A set of tiny paw prints were scattered everywhere, coming and going from the hut before a fresh set followed parallel to Ellie's.

"G-Girl who st-stole dog," Leav muttered as he hobbled past. "Th-This home. Y-You rest here."

"I'm not stopping," I said as I straightened up. "What was her name?"

Leav shrugged his bony shoulders. "D-Don't know."

I advanced on him and asked again, "What was her name?"

"S-Sh-e didn't say." He started whimpering and tried to scoot around me, back into his hut. I caught him as he made a dash, wrapping my hand around his arm and leg. He wriggled in my grip but that only helped me get my hands around his neck. He started screeching wildly until I threw him against the nearest tree, holding him there with by his throat.

"Why do Ellie's tracks lead to your home?" I growled. Leav scratched at my knuckles, which were turning white with the force of which I was holding him. I barked at him, "Why?"

"Wanted m-mate," Leav wailed. I pulled him back and slammed him against the tree. No one talked about my little girl like that. He cried even harder. "S-She already t-taken. Looking f-f-for a boy!"

"Where?" I roared.

"L-Leav don't c-care. B-Both die!" he gave me a cruel smirk. "B-Boy half dead a-anyway!"

I saw red as a wave crashed in my ears. My hold on this creatures neck became locked, choking the life out of it as it scrabbled and clawed. He wouldn't escape and soon it stopped twitching altogether and hung limply in my grasp. I dropped it and let it topple to the ground in a dead heap. Without thinking I gave the creature a sharp kick. It didn't cry out, just rolled lifelessly away. I kicked it again, and again, one for every word it dared say about my kids.

When I was done the creature was a mess of blood and cracked limbs, the broken leg twisted at a particularly horrid angle. I leaned down so that my face was a few inches from the matted mane of hair.

"You don't talk about them unless I say you can." I stood up and left the bloodied wild man behind me.

So that's what happen's when Joel looses it. No one makes fun a desperate mans children.

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