Steve waved his arms back and forth as he walked down the street, swinging the grocery bags around. He'd expected to be bored as hell when his father forced him to tag along for groceries, but then he ran into Claire at the store. When he'd first met her earlier that day, he thought she was an irresponsible girl who'd never go anywhere without her brother, but seeing her in that store changed his opinion; she was more responsible than he was. And she looked bored herself...

"Hey, remember me?" said Steve, sliding up to Claire's shopping cart.

She looked at him and sighed. "Unfortunately, yes. What are you doing here?" she asked.

"My dad dragged me down here, said I needed to help out with errands. Are you alone?" asked Steve.

"Yeah, my brother had stuff of his own to do, and Leon didn't answer his phone," said Claire.

Steve raised a brow. "Leon, huh? Is he your boyfriend or something?" he asked. Claire nodded, which somehow surprised Steve. "You look kind of young to have a boyfriend."

"And you look kind of old to be dragged around by your daddy," snapped Claire. To her surprise, Steve laughed.

"He just didn't want me to be sitting at home all day playing video games. Hey, maybe he'll let me hang out with you instead of being here!" he said.

"Don't you have school or something?" asked Claire, pushing the nearly empty cart towards the checkout.

Steve grinned. "I had a dentist appointment, so I got off school for the whole day. It's where I was going this morning before you ran into me. What about you, huh, don't YOU have school?" he asked, still grinning.

Claire shrugged. "My brother called the school to give me the day off. I was sleeping, so I don't really know why he decided to. Just went along with it I guess," she said.

"So, you wanna hang out?" asked Steve.

"Why would I want to hang out with you? You were kind of a dick this morning, and no offense but what are you, ten?" asked Claire.

Steve glared at her. "I'm twelve, and I wasn't being a dick...Look, please hang out with me? I'm bored of being around my dad and he won't mind, I know it! Besides, there's this awesome place I could show you," he said...

And so, Claire had agreed to hang out with Steve. He hadn't said what exactly he wanted to show her, which left her more intrigued. They now walked towards this apparently awesome place, both of them being awkwardly quiet.

"So..." said Claire, trying to break the silence.

Steve looked over. "It's not too far now. Oh by the way, what happened to your arm?" he asked, glancing at the bandage.

Claire looked down and sighed. "Got into a fight," she said.

"Cool!" said Steve. He caught a glare from her and grinned. "Hey, I was just kidding, it probably sucked. Stitches?" he asked.

"Yeah, three," said Claire, sighing. "Are we almost there?"

Steve looked out in the distance. "Almost, yeah," he said.

"Where are you taking me?" asked Claire.

"It's a surprise," said Steve.

Claire stopped walking. "I will kill you, Steve," she said.

He laughed. "Okay okay! I found this field behind those woods, where an actual war happened! Pieces of tanks, landmines, and bullet casings everywhere! It's so awesome!" he said.

"Landmines? That doesn't sound really safe," said Claire.

"Oh relax, they've swept them all a long time ago, there's really nothing to worry about!" said Steve. Claire sighed and followed him towards the woods, glancing back at the fading civilisation behind them. "Is it really far? It looks like it's getting late," she said.

"It's right on the other side, not far at all. And calm down, it's not late at all," said Steve.

They walked through the woods for nearly ten minutes. Claire was convinced they were lost since she hadn't seen a path, but before she could say anything they reached a clearing like Steve had said. They walked out into the open field, a shiver going down her spine. "I never knew about this place," said Claire.

Steve set the groceries down and walked over to a rusted piece of metal. "I know, it's so hidden and awesome! Hey, this looks like a piece of a tank!" he said, picking up the metal piece. "There's a bunch all around here!"

Claire set her bags down as well and walked over to another piece of metal. She saw the logo for Jeep, and grinned. This wasn't a battlefield; it was a well-secluded place for people to have demolition derbies. She looked back to Steve and noticed he was standing on a partially buried hub-cap. Perfect, she thought. She let the piece of metal drop down and put on her most worried expression.

Steve noticed. "What?" he asked.

"Don't...move..." said Claire.

"What? Why?"

Claire looked at his feet. "You're standing on a landmine..." she said.

"WHAT?" Steve yelled, looking down.

Claire threw her arms up. "DON'T MOVE! If you shift your weight the slightest bit, it'll go off! Just...don't move..." she said.

Steve was in tears now. "What do I do! DO SOMETHING!" he yelled.

"I will! I'll, um, call my brother! He can send help, or tell me what to do! Just don't move!" said Claire. She pulled out her phone and flipped it open, not even bothering to dial anything. She set it to her ear and did her best not to laugh. "Chris! Thank God! Okay, here's the deal. Steve stepped on a landmine and now we have no idea what to do!" she said, looking up at Steve and nodded. "No, Steve, you met him this morning after we fell in the river. Yes, you were there, Chris. Okay...Yeah, I know. So, what do I do about Steve? What? What do you mean it has a time-limit? I don't know, about a minute or so now...WHAT? NO!" Claire shouted and threw her phone to the ground. She threw herself on the ground, shielding her head.

Steve screamed and did the same, then waited for the excessive pain of his legs being blown off. He waited, but nothing happened. He looked up and saw Claire on the ground, holding her sides, laughing hysterically. He glared and got up slowly, brushing off the dirt.

"That wasn't funny," he said.

Claire sat up, wiping the tears from her eyes. "It so was! You should've seen your face!" she said.

Steve got up and kicked the hub-cap, then walked towards the woods. "I'm going home," he said.

Great, fit kid, thought Claire. She sat there and watched him walk away. "Oh come on, Steve, it was just a joke. Like you'd leave me here with all those groceries," she said.

Steve kept walking.

"Hey! You brought me all the way out here, I expected you to PLAN on having fun," she called out to him, still laughing a bit. "Come on, admit it, it was hilarious!"

Steve stepped between the trees and was no longer in sight. Alarmed, Claire stood up. "Steve?" she called out. She started towards the woods, looking down at the groceries as she walked past them. "Steve, wait up, I'm sorry!" she said. She got to the woods and saw Steve walking away. Relieved, she started following him but stopped and looked down. "Shit, my phone!" she said. She looked up at Steve once more, sighed, and turned back towards the opening, running for her phone. She got to her knees and looked around, sighing. It was slowly getting dark out, which made it harder to find the phone. When she finally found it, she got up and ran back to the woods, not even bothering with the groceries. She had to catch up to Steve before it got too dark, or things could get bad.