Just a heads up, the POV swaps between character's throughout this chapter and I'll admit some of the transitions aren't that smooth. I really hope it's not too jarring for most of you and that you will enjoy reading it.

It was maybe the fifth time Lyra had woken up that day not including Scout's morning visit. Her body was sore and aching and her could was wrecking havoc on her respiratory system. She slowly sat up to find the world was completely dark. She groped around the floor until her hands brushed against the rusted surface of the lantern. She fished her lighter from the few things she managed to save in her pockets and held it against the lantern. Her hands gently fiddled with the knobs until her ill-prepared eyes were burning from the sudden flood of light.

She was disappointed to find no sign of Scout making a second visit. The plate he had brought that morning was now empty and the hunger pains were coming back. She rested her head against a now sloppily bunched up sleeping bag, for at some point in the day she felt it was a little too warm to stay curled up beneath it.

To her dismay, she wasn't feeling much better from the cold medicine she had struggled to take in the morning. Although her throat no longer hurt like it did about a week ago, her voice was becoming hoarse again. The air rasped through her lungs, occasionally causing a nasty coughing fit.

She eyed the bottle of pills with a sense of apprehension as she remembered how torturous it was to down a couple of pills without water. She timidly took two of the round yellow pills in the palm of her hand. In one swift movement she tossed them to the back of her throat and managed to swallow them with some trouble. Her esophagus closed tightly around them, slightly bruising it's walls on the way down. She breathed deeply for a few minutes as her stomach churned in response to the whole ordeal.

Lyra flopped back down onto her sleeping bag and waited for the strange boy to return. Even though her illness made her exhausted, her body had enough with sleeping. She stared at the door as wondered what time it was and if Scout would even come back tonight. She stared on for a while, shrouded in mindlessness, until at some point she realized the room was getting a little stuffy. It took her a moment to find the motivation to get up and open the door to let some fresh air in, but her lungs felt refreshed as they were filled with cool outside air. The moon hung high amongst the stars and the landscape what painted in soft shades of grey and dark blue. It was pretty and rejuvenating in a way. She felt at peace as she took in the landscape around, and her lips curled into a smile as she saw a slender figure appear on the horizon.

"Where's Spy?" Scout asked, struggling to keep even a hint of anxiety out of his voice.

All around the table, his teammates responded with disinterested shrugs, with the exception of the Engineer, who didn't seem to even acknowledge a question had been asked. They all went around the table to cast their bets but Scout stared at the Engineer in an almost pleading way. The Engineer's turn came and while placing a bet of a sizable amount he made eye contact with the frightened boy. He gave Scout a weary, sorry smile.

The blood froze in his veins as Scout realized his worst fears had been confirmed.

"I gotta go to the bathroom-" Scout said, practically bolting up from his chair.

"You can't leave after putting in a bet," the Engineer replied, with a sense of urgency in his voice.

"He's right," the Sniper chirped in, "Sit down."

Lyra waved to the figure as it drew closer walking down the moonlit path to the shed. It stopped, and moved where it stood in a way that made it look uncertain of what to do next. This behavior struck Lyra a little odd, and made her feel a little uneasy. It began to move down the trail again and as it loomed closer, Lyra's heart stirred violently in her chest as she noticed that the figure coming to greet her was a much taller than Scout.

"I really gotta go though," Scout whined.

"Too bad," was the Engineer's only response. His lips were now pressed into a thin line as was clearly trying to hide his intentions.

Scout returned to his seat begrudgingly. He kept looking at the Engineer, almost hoping that if looked anxious or desperate enough he'd let him go.

The horrifying realization struck her immediately. She quickly pushed the door closed and blew out the light in the lantern; although, she knew it was too late to hide. She recalled what Scout had advised her if she was ever caught but she had hoped she'd never be faced with such a situation.

Lyra was not naive enough to believe Scout's advice was not valid. He had pointed a gun at her for Christ's sake, the sounds of screams and gunfire she heard while hiding in that crate still rung in her ears. She had gotten lucky with Scout, she knew that, as well as the fact that she wasn't welcomed on this little hell she stumbled upon.

She wasn't well enough to flee, but was she could she hold her own in a fight? She certainly was last night- but what about now? With her being so sore and weak, how could she hope to do anything?

Crunch! Crunch!

The man was close now; his footsteps could be heard approaching the shed.

Scout spotted a beer bottle to his right, which had given him an idea. As he reached his arm toward the center of the table to show his cards, he intentionally gave the bottle a rough nudge. It tipped over and all of its contents had spilled all over his legs.

"Oh geeze!" He cried. He shot up from his seat and bolted from the table before anyone could say a thing. From the corner of his eye he could see the Engineer rising to his feet and he could hear the stocky man's footsteps pattering after him as he ran and locked himself in the nearest bathroom.

Scout quickly wiped down his pants of the alcohol and the Engineer was already banging on the door.

"Scout-!"

"Would ya mind givin' me some privahcy, Engie?"

His teammate was silent then, but Scout could sense his presence lingering behind the door. Scout started trying to make it sound like he was still cleaning himself up. He was opening and closing the medicine cabinet a couple times and put the water on full blast. He hoped doing all this would distract the Engineer's careful ears as he slid open the bathroom's window.

Screech! Was the sound it made before he could even open it an inch.

"What was that?" There was no fooling the Engineer today, it seemed. The door knob started jiggling as his teammate was desperately trying to stop him from escaping. With all Scout's strength, he pushed up on the window as hard as he could. The sound of the jiggling doorknob was getting more intense.

Screech! Screech! the window went as he pushed and pushed.

"Scout-!" The man on the other side of the door sounded just as desperate as Scout was, "Please talk to me!"

There was a sound like the doorknob had finally given way and the door was opening behind him, but fortunately Scout had managed to push the window half-way open and escaped just in time. His feet hit the ground and he took off running and he did not dare turn back, but he could imagine the Engineer clutching a broken doorknob in his fists as he gawked at an empty bathroom.

Panicked, Lyra rushed to one of the walls and traced her hands of the gardening tools that hung there. Her hands grasped around a thick wooden handle, and ran her fingers along its side to feel the cold metal head of an ax. Her heart seized in her chest for she understood the kind of damage she could do with it, and whether she wanted to use such a tool. However, before she could decide her moral direction and choose which tool would be more appropriate, there was a sound of snapping twigs that forced her to forget herself. She now held the ax tightly to her chest and in three swift steps had her back pressed against the wall closest to the door frame.

The footsteps were just on the other side of the wall. Her heart beat furiously against her chest as she could hear them draw closer to the door.

Creek! was the sound the door made as it was slowly pushed open, allowing soft moonlight to stream into the shed. Lyra tried to silently eek away from the light as if to be touched by it would burn her alive. She held her breath as she watched a lanky figure hesitantly step through the doorway. It did not dare creep beyond the light, it stood very close to her perhaps just a foot in front of her but it did not seem to sense her presence. Lyra clutched the ax tightly in her hands and shook frightfully where she stood. In utter silence she rose the ax and swung with all the strength she could muster.

"Hello-?" was all the man could say before the head of the ax collided with his skull. He toppled to the floor and the ax fell out of Lyra's hands. A gasp escaped her lips as she realized she knew his voice. She dropped to the ground and scrambled for the lantern.

"No-no!" She murmured in a frantic whisper. Her hands closed around the device and in one click of her lighter she could clearly see Scout's body writhing in pain as the ax protruded from his skull. A blood curdling scream ripped through her throat and she was helpless to a wave of tears.

"Oh god- oh god-" she kept repeating to herself while she watched the suffering boy. She tried to think of a way to fix this, she knew some first-aid from her share of injuries on the road but could she treat a cracked skull, especially without her supplies? Her mind was too exhausted by hunger and sickness that it was near impossible for her to figure out how she could do such a thing.

At some point her body turned her away from the scene so that she wouldn't have to look at it. With trembling hands she began grabbing her things but the shaking was so violent that she couldn't hold them tightly enough to put them away. Her vision was blurred through tears she was trying to hold back and she had broken into a terrible coughing fit where each cough shot a pain through her chest in lungs. In her third attempt at putting away the sleeping bag she collapsed to her knees, trembling all over as she coughed and cried into the warm fabric. She brought herself to look at the dying boy and she was disgusted with herself.

She could not leave him like this. For the past few days he had looked out for her; he had spared her and her first instinct was to walk out on him after driving an ax through his head. Her heart was stirring painfully in her chest as she wondered what had changed her into such a person.

Lyra brought herself to kneel beside Scout. Her shaking hands tried to dress the wound with the utmost gentleness but even the slightest touch elicited the most horrible screams from her patient.

"I'm sorry! I'm so sorry!" she cried. Her hands and her clothes were being soaked in blood that just wouldn't stop coming. She tried removing the ax from his head but this only made the screams worse. She could not hold the tears back anymore, they begun to stream down her face and would not stop. She knew she was useless. Her breathing became shallow and she was breaking down into a quiet sob. She could not save him.

"I'm sorry- oh god- I'm so sorry," she kept murmuring over him. She had mostly given up. She had mostly reserved herself to crying beside him until he had finally died, but still trying to cling to a shred of hope, she pathetically pressed the wound together in an attempt to stop the bleeding. "I'm so sorry, Scout. I'm so sorr-"

"Oh gawd," a familiar voice spoke up from behind her. Lyra's heart felt as if it had , she turned her head toward the speaker. The was a scrawny boy standing wearily in the doorway.

It was Scout.

Author's note: This chapter was fun. Hope you guys enjoyed and hope the constant change in perspective wasn't too jarring. I'll try to get the next chapter up by the second week of December, I'll try to be sooner but I have a lot of end of the semester school work I need to catch up on.

Tell me what you guys think of the story so far in the comments! Feedback is much appreciated and thanks so much for reading!