Chapter 2:

Amber…Rain had heard of her. She was a bit of a legend in the Eco tribe. Rain leaned over Hawk's shoulder to try and get a better look at her.

"What's that on her head?" Rain asked.

Hawk let out a quiet laugh, "That's her hair. Amber wears the Zulu knots to show she is a strong and able warrior."

"Ummm…Ok. Is she alone?"

"Not quite." Hawk replied with a small grin.

"What do you mean Hawk? She's either alone or she's not." Rain said, getting more frustrated with him by the minute.

Hawk turned to look at her then, "She has a child, little Bray; he is with her."

"Oh. Well why couldn't you just say that?"

Hawk reached out his hand and brushed a hair back from Rain's forehead, then bent and touched his lips to hers, "Let's go back to camp."

"But what about Amber? You're just going to leave her."

"Amber knows the way to the Eco camp, she's been there many times." Hawk told her, putting his arm around her shoulder and guiding her back from the ledge. "We shall alert the tribe that a guest is coming."

Rain looked back over her shoulder toward the small figure making her way through the valley below and wondered at what kind of woman she was, and what was going on with Hawk.

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Amber had stopped crying hours ago, but the pain was still there. Jay and Trudy had betrayed her once again and this time she would not forgive them. She was sick of all of the drama that surrounded the mall. Her friends seemed to be slipping away one by one. Patsy, Bray, Tai-San, Cloe, Dee, Sammy & May, they had all disappeared or left and now the little group in the mall was falling apart. Without an enemy to war against, they had begun to fight each other.

But Amber had hung on. It was her city, her dream and she was going to make it work. Until the morning she had walked in on Jay and Trudy together, making love. And then she had found out that Trudy was pregnant with his child.

That was it, she couldn't do it anymore. She had to get away. Without thought she had packed up her son and her belongings and headed off to the Eco camp. It wasn't until she was halfway there that she remembered Hawk's warning. "If you leave this time, you can never come back." Well, she'd have to take her chances, because she definitely was never going back to the mall.

Lost in thought, she crossed the valley at a steady pace. Suddenly an arrow flew through the air, landing just in front of her. Amber clutched Bray tighter to her chest and ran toward a nearby rock. Another arrow struck the ground close by.

"Over here…Run." A woman's voice called out in an urgent whisper.

Spotting the girl in the bushes not far from her, Amber decided that she must be an Eco and was not the one shooting arrows at her. Another arrow sliced through the air as she ran with all her might toward the Eco girl.

Suddenly, Amber felt a great, piercing pain in her shoulder. She reached the bushes and fell to the ground. The Eco girl took baby Bray from her arms and smiled down at her. "It's alright, I'm a friend. We'll get you to the camp soon. We just need to wait for Hawk, he's trying to find the archer."

"Hawk…" Amber repeated the name.

"Yes, just hold on, he'll be here soon." Rain said soothingly as she cuddled the woman's baby to her chest, trying to keep him quiet and calm as his mother lay bleeding nearby.

"Amber!" Hawk cried out as he reached the women's hiding spot.

"Hawk…my baby…" Amber tried, but it was no use, the world had gone black around her.