When they started cooking the raccoon in the middle of the camp, she felt like she had won the lottery. Oh man, she was lucky. You don't keep raw food where you sleep 'cause it attracts predators, if you cook it though, it will become a fucking party. Animals can smell it from kilometers apart, they will be attracted by the smell kept on your clothes after you cook it.

Animals aren't clever but they are deceptive and kind of witty sometimes. They are practical which is really easy to admire but also really gross. In danger? Leave your children, hungry? Eat them. Survival at its finest.

They were eating with their fire still lit like a calling melody or a mark in a map. There already were small animals that have been attracted by the food. Easy to tell, too many birds in a single branch above her, little predators like petulant snakes roamed the clearing, still away from the source of food.

She didn't realize no one offered her any food, the masked man expected her to at least look at it once, she seemed lost in thought. She was planning to escape again, he didn't waste a second to whisper it to his team. He didn't have to, really, she couldn't understand them. He suspected she never learned to speak as she only grunted in response to pain, not a single word had left her lips.

Her delight reached skyline levels when they heard a bunny run away making the bushed shift, when she looked up there weren't any birds on it. Something big was coming, a predator was going their way and she was fucking ready.

…

She was upsetting him, he realized something was going on but he didn't know what, it didn't matter, she wasn't doing anything remarkable, just waiting. Even if he was suspicious he couldn't prove anything, she was tied to a tree and her hands were tied together too, she couldn't be more innocent. Actually that was a problem; with her hands tied together she couldn't reach for the knife in her pocket.

Ok, now she needed to think fast. She closed her eyes and steadied her heartbeat and breathing, her shoulders relaxed as she dived deep in her thoughts. Her head dropped as she meditated.

…

Her head rose again before he could reach her face. He was squatting in front of her; he looked slightly troubled for a second. His eyes were looking for signs of something, but he wouldn't find anything and she needed him to go. If he was close to her when the predator arrived it was going to be problem.

He didn't find anything she could tell by his face, but he didn't look convinced. He was still looking at her. He looked deep into her eyes, she could chew the tension in the air and she was so temped to smile and freak him out. But she didn't.

Log Man asked something and he turned away, breaking the tension. She breathed in and watched him walk away. She could feel Bandage man looking at her, staring intensely. Rude. Her hands itched as she suppressed the need to look at him smile and wink, how badass would that be. Sadly she really couldn't if she wanted to keep her eye.

After a few minutes of waiting she could feel another threat around her, the predator, and it was coming directly her way. It was just perfect. She couldn't wait, she was going to use it to draw their attention and get the fuck away.

She shifted her hips, until the pointy end of the knife was against her upper thigh, her hands were on her lap but she couldn't grasp it with her fingers. She shifted her hips one more time slicing through flesh. She couldn't grimace but she tightened her jaw and screamed in her head. Mask Man face reacted in the second blood dripped down her leg. She pressed her legs together and her hands turned to fist on her lap. He gave her a pity look before looking away. The blood was staining her pants, it was slightly visible from the front. Oh, he thought that her period just appeared. Good for her.

It was just behind her, moving slowly.

Once she could grasp it she cut through her pants. Once she could hold it in her palm she used it to cut through the ropes on her wrists. Those men hadn't realized a thing yet. She finished loosening the ropes around her arms when she felt a warm exhale next to her head.

"My territory". It was a bear. "This is my tree."

Bears don't use trees…unless…

"These humans were looking for your cubs, but they couldn't find them, they want to hurt them." The mama bear growled, deep in her throat.

"You are human too." She was shaking, being barely able to whisper under her breath. They looking at her now and they looked frozen. If you don't make yourself a threat to bears they won't charge at you but if you get between a bear and her cub… different story.

"I'm a prisoner, I'm not with them." The bear moved around so she had her body on her right side and began sniffing her hair. Mask Man was staring at her eyes directly; she moved her hands slowly cutting through the ropes on her knees, staring back." You smell like blood."

"They hurt me. They're evil, they are hunting bears, they want turn your cubs to blankets…" She smiled at him, meeting his eyes before looking at his tent where he had put her animal blankets." like they did to that bear".

The mother bear went fucking berserk after that, she didn't waste a minute to roll to her side, away from the furious bear letting the ropes she didn't cut through completely break by the movement. She ran right behind the bear, so they had to go through it before reaching her. Her legs hurt from struggling hours before, she was shaking but adrenaline hadn't kicked in yet.

She tripped twice over the roots, but kept staggering away from the camp, frantic and desperate. She wasn't going to stop running until she dropped exhausted or dead, whichever fate had for her. Ah, memories…

Hyperventilation was straining her throat, she could feel the anxiety bubbling in her chest and her senses became unfocused, hyperactive, there were too many threats around her, she couldn't tell if she was being followed until she was tackled. Her knife being dropped and forgotten.

She was being pressed to the ground by another body who didn't waste a second and grabbed her wrists and held them together with one hand. She struggled, swinging her arms with enough force to dislocate her right arm. He screamed in her ear, maybe he wasn't speaking louder than usual but her senses were too sensitive, she only stopped struggling when he put a knife on her neck.

She had to take her chance, this was… She won't be able to escape anymore! She needs to go. Leave! Now! She has to get away! This can't… Just… I can't accept it! I can't! NO!

In a swift movement she dropped all resistance on her arms before pulling away quickly freeing her hands, while her good leg impulsed her to the side, the knife cutting the skin on her neck.

Before blood even flew from her wound she was running, bolting, flying, getting the fuck away. She had only moved a few meters when a hand on her ankle made her trip again, a frustrated grunt left her throat leaving a trail of pain across her neck, nevertheless she turned her hands to fists and began crawling, she didn't care if she had to have her leg ripped off or if she had to bite her limbs off she was getting away… She was… going to escape… There's no way she was going to allow this! Her hands only grabbed dirt when she tried to get a hold but it didn't matter anymore she was being pulled and she couldn't do anything. She was helpless and ridiculous, she should have seen this coming, she was so stupid always thinking she's going to get her way and live happily ever after. Her life hadn't been a fairytale but she sure as hell acted as if, damn her stupid head for giving her stupid hopes, she was going to die or worse she was going to be abused for the rest of her life.

Fuck, fuck, fuck, her eyes watered as she accepted the situation. She was done, life's a bitch but she's always had that tiny little hope that it would get better, irrational fucking thinking. Just getting her hopes up before ripping them apart. She liked to think she was different from the naïve girl that watched her hometown burn to ashes and left behind the corpses of her loved ones as she ran away from the murderers thinking that maybe someone else got away, that she'll be fine. The only reason she escaped was because the animals lead her away from the monsters that butchered her family. She had promised herself that she'd get stronger, doing push-ups, running, hunting, surviving. And she failed, she was not strong enough, she was a sad, stupid little girl who couldn't keep a promise for her life.

When the man and she returned to the camp her tears had mixed with the blood spurting timidly from her neck. The men gathered around her. Her wound wasn't fatal at all, she had her sliced external jugular vein sliced, which was very painful, but not deadly. They applied pressure to the wound and let it close itself.

She was shocked and tired, her hopes were gone so she just gave in to her dizziness and let herself go. Darkness surrounded her as she fainted.