Thank you all for all of the support especially off the last chapter (given it was a lot of "how could you"s but still counting it). It truly has given me another boost to power through this chapter and actually next to the first few chapters, this is my proudest chapter yet. I'm really happy with it. I'm not too sure how quickly I'll be able to post for the next two weeks. I've got AP exams next week, senior exams the week after as well as tech week and my final performance… yay. Anyways as of now there's only three chapters left! I hope you guys have been enjoying the story and stick around to the (bitter) end.

An arrow zips through the sky tearing through the bitter cold towards its target. Daisy almost smiles as the arrow perfectly pierces the rabbit. She ties her mare to the tree quickly going to fetch her prey. The snow crunched loudly under her boots but she needed to hurry. Just as she bent down to fetch the rabbit, she spies movement out of the corner of her eyes. A flash of brown fur dashes between the trees. For a moment Daisy swears she is hallucinating. It'd been months since she had last seen a deer. Her stomach growls impatiently. A deer could feed her for at least a week maybe two if properly preserved. She bites her lip notching an arrow.

She holds her breath as she begins the chase. She can't help it. It's a habit. She can feel the beat of her heart thrumming rhythmically against her chest. Drawing her bow back she slowly lets out the breath she was holding and lets it fly. She smirks slightly as the beast rears back with the shot. It's pierced the stomach. Not a killing shot but it'll bleed out soon enough. The thing runs as fast as it can with the injury. She's sure she's going to lose it if she doesn't pick up the pace.

Daisy pants as she comes upon an abandoned farm. She smiles as she spies the thing collapsed in the snow. Just as she's about to sheath her arrow she's got set two figures emerge from the other side of the woods coming quickly upon her kill.

She fires her shot into the wood of the barn. "Hey!" She calls out viciously. The figures freeze as she makes her way up to them. She's already got another poised and ready as she stands protectively over her kill. "Move one inch and I put one right between his eyes." She warns gesturing at the shorter figure. As she focused on them she could identify both as men, one European looking and the other white. The European's eyes flashed to the taller man, he simply nodded for him to put his hands up. Good. Maybe this will be easy.

"Sir you can't be serious." Again the taller one holds up a hand.

"What's your name?" The man asks.

"What's it to you?" She snarls.

"Fine." He nods with a clipped smile. One that looked like it could cut. "My name is Grant Ward. This is my partner Sunil Bakshi." Ward states gesturing to his begrudging partner. "We're from a colony full of women and children. They're all starving and need food. We just want half of the deer."

"Yeah well I'm from a colony too." Daisy lies easily. "Women and children. Lots of them."

"Please. We can trade just about anything. Is there something you need?" The man, Ward, pleads. As she studies him he doesn't look too much older than herself. Definitely younger than Bakshi so how was it that he was in charge between the two?

"We have weapons, water, medicine, ammuni-"

"Medicine!" She shouts cutting off Bakshi in the middle of his sentence. "Do you have antibiotics?"

"We do. Just follow us."

"No!" Daisy snaps again. "I'm not going anywhere. Bakshi can go get the medicine. If you have what I need… it's yours."

"Deal."

"But sir!"

"Go Bakshi." Ward commands. With a hesitant look the man is trudging through the snow alone.

"I want your rifle too." Daisy demands feeling a little too confident in her negotiations. Sure enough he tosses the weapon knocking a bit of the snow up onto her boots sending a cold chill through her body.

"Can we get inside at least? I can tell you're cold. I've got dry firewood and matches in my bag." Hesitantly Daisy nods to the deer gesturing for him to grab it. As he drags it to the barn she switches from her bow and arrow to the rifle keeping the gun trained on him. In silence they set up the fire. She sets the gun down carefully making sure to keep it near just in case but her fingers were going numb even under the three layers of gloves. "So…"

"Not bonding time."

"What? You're not going to tell me your name you could at least tell me who you're doing this for. Someone had to teach you how to shoot like that."

"My name is Skye. The medicine is for my mother. We ran into a group of scavengers and she got hurt… really bad." It's not entirely a lie. She'd gone by the name Skye for the first thirteen years of her life until Andrew told her about her parents. Melinda might as well be her mother with all she had done for her. Just the thought of possibly losing her tossed her stomach and had tears welling in her eyes. It'd been nearly three weeks since Melinda had fallen off the horse nearly bleeding out in the middle of the road.

"Sounds like a fighter to me."

"You have no idea." Daisy laughs sadly.

"No I get it." He shrugs. "My brothers… may they rest in peace… they were both good fighters. Taught me nearly everything I know about fist fighting at least. Being the middle child wasn't the easiest." Daisy almost catches herself smiling at his reminiscing. "But my older brother… something snapped. He tried killing us both. Almost succeeded too." He raises his shirt showing a nasty looking scar across his abdomen.

"Yikes."

"Yeah… Had to stitch it up myself."

"You're good at that?"

"Better than most. My godfather taught me basic medicine."

"Do you think…" Daisy drones off. She knows this is a bad idea. She hardly knows this man. Sure he's barely older than her but she's positive she can't take him in hand to hand. Melinda has taught her a lot but from the sounds of it he's skilled as well.

"What?" She's out of options though. Melinda is miles away and likely catching an infection, a cold, or worse.

"Can you help me take care of my mother? In trade I'll hunt for you. I'm much lighter on my feet than either of you." Ward smiles for a second before nodding.

"Yeah." A sudden groaning interrupts them before the door smashes open. "Get down." Daisy drops her head on instinct just before three gunshots go off. She looks up in a mixture of pissed and startled. Ward is still on the ground with a pistol in his hand.

"Seriously?"

"You never asked if I had any other weapons." He shrugs. "At least you know I didn't shoot you." He smiles again and damn it. She huffs leading him out of the barn to check for more. Just as they finish she spies Bakshi running up with a book bag in hand.

"Syringes and antibiotics." His thick accent cuts with otherwise unexpressed anger. He doesn't like the arrangement.

"Take the deer. I'm going with the girl."

"What?"

"We've made a deal. I help her, she helps us. We'll meet up here once a week to trade food and antibiotics." With a pat on the arm Ward wishes the man a goodbye and they're on their way.

Surprisingly Ward is silent on the walk. She expected pressuring questions, demands to know more, and generally being annoyingly charming. She grabs the mare tying the rabbit she'd secured to her own belt to its saddle. He keeps his expression neutral until they approach the abandoned home. Daisy climbs in through the window throwing her own bag onto the couch, dust flying up in it's wake. She would've used it had it not been for her reluctance to leave Melinda's side.

Daisy scampers down the stairs quickly spying the woman in the middle of the floor. She was laying on an old mattress with a blanket strewn across her legs. She must've thrashed it off in her sleep. Her skin is a sickly pale and she's shivering. It breaks her heart to see the woman so weak.

Ward is by Melinda's side quickly preparing what he needs. Daisy lifts her shirt cutting the bandage she'd secured around her waist this morning. She'd spied new ones in his bag. Those would be better. Ward peers at the messy stitches Daisy had done through tears from weeks ago.

"Good thing is, it's not infected." He states. "Though I'll need to redo them if she's to heal properly." Daisy nods understanding and watches him as he works. He injects Melinda with the antibiotic first. Her body jerks at the invasion but she doesn't wake. His hand is steady, eyes focused as he fixes the stitches. It's almost fascinating to watch.

For the first time in weeks Daisy allows herself to truly sleep.

XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX

They go on like this for four weeks. Melinda has drifted in and out of consciousness but besides that generally remains unresponsive. If that worries Ward he sure as hell doesn't show it.

Daisy catches him sleeping in a nearby chair she'd set up for him in the basement to allow him to watch over Melinda during the night. Sometimes her terrors would become so violent that she'd almost tear her stitches. Since then Bakshi also packed sedatives in those cases. Daisy hated it but she knew it was necessary.

A small groan startles Daisy from her thoughts. Melinda's eyes are open, peering at her through the darkness.

"Daisy?" She grumbles, words slightly slurred. So she'd received a dosage of sedative today…

"Hey." Daisy rushes to her side dropping to her knees. "You're awake."

"What the hell happened?"

"You got into a scuff with a scavenger. You took a fall and got pierced by some rebar." Just bringing the incident to memory had Daisy's face running warm and tears welling in her eyes. "I thought I was going to lose you."

"Never." Weakly Melinda brings a cold hand to her cheek. Daisy lets out an overjoyed sob as she feels her wipe a tear away. The moment is cut off quickly as May goes stiff, eyes trained behind her. "Who the hell is that?"

"That's Ward." Daisy eases. "He's been helping me take care of you in exchange for hunting."

"We need to go." Melinda tries to get up but her movements are slow, riddled with weeks of misuse.

"Whoa. You're still not in condition to go anywhere. You're almost healed. Just another week."

"No Daisy listen to me." Daisy's mouth shuts at the firm command. "You need to run."

"Why?"

"Because that's one of the scavengers from the lab. I fought him before I fell." Daisy's blood runs cold. Did he recognize Melinda? Surely not if he'd helped her. "Go. I can stall."

"No May. I'm not leaving without you." Melinda's eyes are closing already, though, drowsiness overwhelming her body.

"No no no!" She cries. "May wake up!" Her heart is pounding against her chest. She has to do something. Get her gun. Get armed.

"May should've kept her mouth shut." A cold voice growls in her ear. Ice pours down her spine at the noise. She'd trusted him. Both of them. They'd known all along, Daisy realizes now. They had been playing her for a fool the entire time. Why was he helping her though? Why did he try so hard to save the both of them when he could've easily taken them both out in their sleep: unguarded and never the wiser. Venom fills her heart with anger. She tries to recall every bit of training she's had. How easily she could flip him over her back and fight with all of her might. But if this man was still alive he must've put up a hell of a fight. Daisy silently wonders to herself if that scar was really from his brothers or if it was from May. At the moment a dark part of her wishes for the latter. "And here I thought you'd be so… cooperative."

Melinda's still form is the last thing Daisy sees before the butt of his pistol makes contact with her temple, sending her world spiraling into darkness.