Day 137 – Jan. 27
Red eyebrows furrow, staring down at the maps that have the Blue Cliff, Shallow Valley and Woods Clan lands detailed. The square table that the maps lie on is large, two metres by two metres, something her and Jasper had made specifically for mapping. Underneath of the two maps, a white light shines dully through a thick sheet of white plastic panel they'd jacked off of an old caravans shower screen walls. It had been demonstrably easy to start using actual lights instead of candles and lanterns, and it makes their home feel so much calmer, knowing they don't need to constantly worry about things like that anymore.
On the roof, there are several solar panels of different sizes that they had found either completely intact in underground parking structures or in busted up units that were being used as walls or decorations in villages. The task of making a small generator had been a bit more tricky. Thankfully, everything they could ever need and more has survived in concrete tombs that once made up the shopping centres and buildings of the old world.
Reviving car batteries proved to be one of Jasper's strong suits, giving him something to do that had an immediate pay off. One of the rooms in their small abode houses dozens of heavy car batteries they've salvaged to store the power their solar panels give them. Not all of them are in use, seeing as they only ever need one battery to power all of the lights in the house – and then some. A few batteries are wired together, to make sure that a caravans small fridge can stay powered 24/7. The teens can rest easy, knowing that they have enough batteries in the house alone to last them for the rest of their lives.
Down by her sock-clad feet, a low groan sounds. Looking towards the sound, a small smile graces her delicate features at the small calico coloured dog that sleeps under her chair. Myles rubs at the fluffy dogs stomach gently with her foot, before directing her attention back to the two maps stacked on top of one another in front of her.
The map on the very bottom is a basic layout of the lands, village names and keys detailing what's makes up the land there. On top of that one, a more intricately labelled thin sheet of paper displays the locations of supply points nearby. If someone were to just look at the top map, it would look like the mad ramblings of someone who's lost their mind.
Differently coloured circles distinguish the different kinds of structures that they know the locations of, and scrawled lists and markings beside them tell the two best friends when they were last there and the kinds of supplies they've been able to find. It was a crazy world, once upon a time, leaving behind obscure relics for them to piece together. Millions of cars sit, untouched by the bombs, in underground tombs filled with the remnants of their time and the simple, basic things that made up what everyday life would've been like for the billions of people who once roamed this very planet.
Shopping centres, business centres, schools, personal bunkers, bank bunkers, museum bunkers, subways, tunnels, basements, old sewers, zoos, hospitals, military bunkers, some factories and other miscellaneous structures all have underground workings nearby. Some of which are still intact and holding centuries old clothes, jewellery, technology and vehicles that they can scavenge parts from. Only the small bunker Clarke and Finn had dubbed the 'Art Supply Store' has been crossed off of the map with two lines, indicating that there's nothing left inside it.
Looking to her left, Myles' hazel eyes land on a large whiteboard. Raining across it are the rushed and careless scribbling of both her and Jasper; the sharp, long and sloppy letters of the latter being distinctly different than the loopy, small and delicate strokes of the redheads handwriting. Myles knows there's even more gibberish on the other side of the board, the two had run out of space very quickly and had tried desperately to squish in as much information as possible.
The board has the exact coordinates of the Factory, Alpha and Mecha Stations of the Ark, hopelessly trying to figure out where the other parts of the Ark could've landed. Thinking about it makes the red haired teens head spin and throb, knowing that there's a high chance that they'll probably never know for some of them. Only the lands directly around them are detailed as in depth as they are, everything else is in bits and pieces. Grounders near them have warmed up to the two Arkers, but there are still many of them who would rather have them back in space.
Having a tempting bounty on your head doesn't help with that much either. While there are some that like Myles and appreciate her work ethic, most are more interested in the hefty price that's attached to her life.
Turning her gaze away from the whiteboard, Myles leans forward to rest her elbows on the table and her face in her hands. Sitting there for a moment, the redhead slips her hands to rest near her ears as she looks back down at the maps in front of her. Heaving a heavy sigh and raking her left hand through her red hair that barely reaches her shoulders, Myles leans down to pull at one of the maps rolled up under the table. Pausing for a moment, the red haired teen hesitates and flicks her eyes over the labels of the compartments around it before completely pulling the paper out.
Laying the new map out, hazel eyes scan over the markings on it as she straightens it to align with the maps underneath of it and clips two of the sides down to stop it from rolling back up. Ducking back down, Myles pulls up a wad of different small papers and booklets that are clipped together. Dropping them onto the table, the redhead pulls the top one out of the clip and sighs.
It's a faded dark blue, the fragile paper decaying and falling apart in her hands as if it were melting. A yellow rectangle is in the top corner and a faded picture of some kind of lizard or snake is predominantly on the front. Most of the letters are faded on the back, only fragments still able to be seen. Squinting, Myles puts the pieces together in her mind.
'Come and join us', the words would've read in thick letters, 'Virginia Aquarium and Marine Science Center – open from 9am'. The address is almost entirely gone, but most of it probably wouldn't be of any help anyway. All they need is the street name, and most of them don't provide any insight into their locations on their own, needing other flyers and brochures to help place it somewhere. Most of the address is meaningless to Myles, only the street name ringing a bell.
Jasper and her had worked out which corner the Strawbridge Marketplace had been on this exact street, thanks to an old printed off dental work invoice in someone's car. Picking up an orange pen, Myles makes a line along where they know at least part of the street lays and notes the aquarium was somewhere along there. Clipping the brochure into another pile still tucked away under the table, Myles continues on, working through the pile of rubbish to try to find other supply points.
The red haired teen doesn't halt in her repetitive and mind-numbing motions until the dog under her chair perks up, staring at the lightly coloured wooden door to her right intently. Myles doesn't bother looking up, knowing that there's only one person who could be moving around outside of that door. Sure enough, after a few more minutes, the door opens and Jasper Jordan waltzes in.
He's slender, but not as lanky as he once was, instead he's filled out from all of the running around and training the two of them do. Jasper also carries himself as if he's more sure of himself, trusting more in his movements rather than just flowing with them carelessly. His mannerisms and speech are reserved, the light and airy playfulness barely a shadow of what it once was. They're both dressed in their sleepwear, their dull and faded long sleeved shirts and sweatpants hardly visible under the extremely warm robes they got from leygeda in Yujleda, Broadleaf, two months ago.
"Hey," Myles greets through the pen cap in her mouth, barely flicking her eyes up to look at her best friend.
"Hey," Jasper echoes almost instantly, and two cups of steaming hot coffee get set down on the table, one right between her face and her hands. Red eyebrows pull together in confusion, but her best friend is focussed on the extremely excited young dog bouncing around in front of him. "Hello, Max. Oh, hello!"
Pulling the pen cap out of her mouth and taking a sip of her coffee, "thank you."
"No worries," the short brown haired teen waves off, sitting down across from her and still fussing over Max.
"Can't sleep either?" Myles asks after she's swallowed another mouthful, looking at him properly before glancing down at her work. When he doesn't reply, hazel eyes sweep back up to see his brown giving her a pointed look. Just when she's about to say something else, Jasper leans back in his chair and tugs the ugly patchwork curtain behind him open. "Oh."
Dull sunlight streams in instantaneously as the sun starts to peek over the horizon, the dark night sky she was expecting to see slowly disappearing in shades of dark blue, purple and orange. It's not the first time that this has happened, both teens have had many sleepless nights in the last three months. Nights where they don't even notice that time is passing aren't strange either, but it's been a few weeks since either of them have lost time.
"Have you been doing this all night?" Jasper enquires, taking a drink from his cup and taking a peek at the maps as Max sticks his head in Myles' lap for a pat.
The redhead scratches at the dogs head fondly, "most of it, I guess." Taking a sip of her hot coffee before continuing, "just wanna make sure we know where we're going next."
"Aggie," the brown haired teen demurs, quirking an eyebrow mockingly and squinting his eyes as he scrutinises her. "We did a drop-off two days ago."
"Rule 28, JJ," Myles deflects halfheartedly, turning her attention back to the maps in front of them.
"Really?" Jasper challenges, tilting his head curiously and talking over the lip of his cup, "'no plan, you're a dead man'? You're scraping the barrel with that one."
Snorting obnoxiously, Myles meets his lighthearted gaze, "well, you know me." Max lies down on the floor and the redhead gestures with the pen in her hand while she quirks her eyebrows playfully. "Anything counts as an excuse." Picking up the wad of brochures and booklets, the redhead drops it back down onto the table noisily, "this… is insanity."
"No," her best friend drawls sarcastically, lifting the hand that's holding his cup up to point at the wall beside her and leaning back in his chair to balance on its back legs. "What's insanity is they keep going back to Mount Weather."
"Agreed," Myles agrees, lifting her red brows up high. Arkadia, previously called Camp Jaha, have been doing supply runs to and from Mount Weather by themselves, since Myles and Jasper had both adamantly refused to. "Fuck that place."
"So," Jasper wonders after another moment of Myles staring down at the maps and papers. "What's on the agenda for today, Cherry Red?"
Huffing a short laugh and leaning back into a more relaxed position, "I don't know yet." Flicking her hazel eyes up to lock on her best friends brown, "we could train. Or," Myles points with the hand that's wrapped around her cup like Jasper had done earlier, "finally give that book to Finn."
"How much longer's he got, anyway?" Jasper questions, rocking back and forth on the chairs back legs.
"Pssh… uh," the redhead thinks it through for a second more before replying. "Not this Friday, but the next one. 8th, I think."
"Woah," the brown haired teen exclaims, stopping his rocking and letting his chair sit on the floor normally. "I didn't think it was that long."
Myles hums through another mouthful of her drink, "He lost two days for the trip to Polis, then he lost almost two weeks when he got that flu that was going 'round."
Jasper let's out a low whistle and it's quiet for a beat before he speaks again, "do you know what time they're releasing him?" Myles merely scrunches up her eyebrows in question, "I'm just saying. We've gotta do a drop-off that Friday." A shocked bark of laughter erupts from the redheads throat and a bright smile crosses Jasper's face, "we could drop him off, too. Two birds, one stone."
"Dude," Myles marvels, lifting her hand up, "that's the best ide – "
The red haired teen is cut off by a device from their beefed up radio station letting off a rapid series of high pitched beeps. Both teens shoot up from their chairs, sending them scraping back across the floor loudly. Their radio station is a mess, mismatched cords, wires and radios sit squashed in together on a small desk shoved into the corner of the room. It's not a pretty sight, but it's the best spot to position the antennas.
"What is that?" Jasper quizzes, his carefree and cheeky tone gone and replaced with a seriousness that used to send shivers down Myles' spine.
"Tracking beacon," the redhead answers, staring at the small, hand-held radar that's slightly chunkier than a walkie-talkie. On the small screen, a red triangle flashes with an exclamation point inside of it, and a tiny red arrow flickers amongst the green circular rings indicating the position of the beacon. Tapping a few buttons, the red triangle turns into letters. The word 'Argo' makes both best friends look at each other, Argo Station, or Farm Station, is the Station that both Monty and Jasper are from. "Told you medium-wave disking could reach 500 miles." [AN: it's 'medium-wave DXing', but I thought I'd spell it how she'd pronounce it.]
"They're 500 miles out?" Jasper questions, the realisation that his and Monty's families aren't far out not lost on him as Myles grabs the device off of the table when she stands up.
"Yup," Myles confirms, popping the 'p' sound and rushing out of the room with Jasper and Max on her heels. "Just past the border to Azgeda. Gear up."
"Woah," her best friend interjects, gently pulling her to a stop before her feet can reach the short staircase up. Myles whips around to meet his worried eyes, "woah, woah! You can't go. Not to Azgeda, have you lost your mind?"
"Oh, please," the red haired teen huffs dramatically, spinning back around and following the strange bend in the house by taking the stairs two at a time. "You'll protect me. Plus," Myles pauses with her hand on her door to look at Jasper mirroring her directly across from her. "We've got guns."
"Oh, my god," Jasper groans over-exaggeratedly as both teens slip into their respective bedrooms across from each other, shutting the doors behind themselves. "You're gonna get us both killed."
Myles snorts, but doesn't bother replying, instead whipping off her thick robe and undressing quickly. On the desk beside her bed are her weapons and the braces she secures them to herself with. Starting with her stomach, Myles wraps and clips on a brace that wraps around the smallest part of her waist and sits just a fraction above her belly button. All of the knives and extra magazine clips for her guns are already tucked into their slots, allowing her to move onto her legs.
Similar braces wrap around both of her ankles, a knife on each and a pistol on her right ankle with an extra clip of bullets on her left. Yanking on a pair of long camouflage pants, the redhead quickly slips her belt through the hoops and starts attaching her walkie-talkie and the rest of the weapons that live there. Her arms are next, strapping a brace onto her left forearm and securing more blades and bullet mags, before pulling on a glove. The weapon that straps onto her right arm is trickier, and she needs to shove the dart-like metal arrows into its sleeve after pulling on the glove that connects to its straps. Using her thumb to slide the slim metal rod that runs up to her pointer finger down, the redhead closes her fist to press the rod into her palm to reset the springs that deploy the small metal arrows, just in case she needs to use it.
This weapon, Myles made herself, and it's greatest flaw is that the darts can only be shoved into the tightly wound and hard to move springs moments before attaching it to the brace on her arm. She'd called it the FAWB, much to Jasper's great displeasure, standing for Fucking Awesome Wrist Bow. With all but one of the weapons she wears in place, the red haired teen quickly shoves on a random bra as she hears Jasper run back down the stairs.
"I'll get our food packs ready," her best friend calls, and Myles slips the last pocketknife on the table into the small fabric hold on the underwire of her bra.
"Thank you," Myles shouts over the constant beeping of the tracking beacon, yanking on a long sleeved plain black top that hugs her skinny frame. "I've got the packs."
Quickly shoving her feet into her boots, the redhead doesn't even tie their laces up before hurrying out of her bedroom door with the beeping tracking beacon in her mouth. Running her fingers through her short hair, Myles wastes no time in pulling back whatever will reach into a tiny ponytail. The bottom half of her hair instantly falls loose, barely brushing her shoulders at its short length and Myles rushes past Jasper in the kitchen to get to the packs they had left from replenishing them last night on their small dining table.
The two best friends hadn't bothered much about trying to make things bigger for the two of them, both being happy just making enough for themselves and not worrying about the visitors they'll probably never have. They're both self-exiled outcasts, Myles for being a mass murderer that wants to escape her abusive father and Jasper for being too ashamed of his anguished outbursts to look the others in their eyes.
Myles knows the packs on the table are filled, knows that after they had returned home yesterday that they had stocked them up again, as they do every night. Still, the redhead hastily rifles through them both, counting quickly before zipping them up and slinging one on her shoulder. The redhead picks up the other and begins to turn away from the table when Jasper calls to her.
"Get Max's, too," her best friend prompts, jutting his head in the direction of where Max's pack lives as he pours the rest of the hot coffee he brewed into a thermal travel bottle.
"Max's?" Myles repeats doubtfully, swinging the other backpack onto her shoulder. "He's not ready for that!"
"Aggie," Jasper deadpans, levelling her with an agitated look, shifting to the other bottle. "We've been over this – "
"He's not ready," the red haired teen says with a harsh lilt of finality in her tone.
"He will never be ready if he never comes along for shit like this," the brown haired teen explains and Myles halts in her angry barging over to the back door.
"This isn't a run into a village or a supply scavenge," Myles argues, looking at Jasper like he's lost his mind, "this is Azgeda. Kill your loved ones and shove their heads on sticks Azgeda."
"He needs experience," Jasper stresses, shoving the thermals into emptied medkits that they took from the military supply depot. The Ark guardsmen had left the medkits behind when they saw that everything inside was either missing, ruined or expired. "Or he'll never be ready."
Huffing dramatically, Myles relents, "fine." Storming off into the direction of the pack hanging on a hook beside several sets of keys. Slinging Max's pack over her shoulder as well and picking up the rover keys while she's there, "but if anything happens – "
"It won't," Jasper promises, stepping out of the kitchen with the two repurposed medkits and looking to Myles. "I'll drive." The red haired teen instantly chucks the keys towards her best friend as he opens the back door, calling to Max. "Come on, Max. Come here. Good boy, on you get."
Myles is two seconds behind Jasper before she remembers, and whirls around to rush up to the bench top to grab the book they'd saved for Finn. Spinning back around, Jasper and Max are nowhere in sight, only the vast sea of green that surrounds their house. Slipping out the back door and locking it behind her, Myles grips the thick rope hanging in front of her as she steps off of the short balcony and onto the slab of wood held to a higher branch with the thickly woven rope acting as a makeshift pulley system. The second all of her weight is on it, it lowers down rapidly before halting a step away from the ground.
Stepping off, it shoots back up to hide in the treetops as the familiar hum and roar of the rovers engine greets her, and she hurries over to where the vehicle had been hidden under a blanket of leaves and twigs. Sliding in, Myles whips around to the backseat and the rover starts moving.
"Move, Max," the redhead huffs, chucking the bags into the back beside the dog before facing the front. "I'll switch it to the rovers antenna, so we don't lose the signal."
"Where exactly am I going?" Jasper asks as Myles buckles one of the only two seatbelts in the rover around herself.
"Just head as if you're going to the dropship," Myles directs, "hook around the back of Arkadia. As long as they're not in a vehicle, we'll catch up to them before we have to worry about directions."
"Roger, Dodger," her best friend replies, and Myles snorts with a bright smile at the expression as she pulls their breakfast out from their food packs.
"We should probably pull over up here," Myles suggests, looking from the radar in her hands to the forest in front of them. "I don't think Azgeda will take too kindly to the rover."
"Yeah," Jasper replies halfheartedly, slowing the rover to a stop as Myles unbuckles herself. Spinning around to the back, her hand barely touches her bow and quiver that live on the floor behind their seats before Jasper stops her. "Woah, woah. You're not getting out."
"JJ," the redhead says slowly, staring at him with raised eyebrows.
"You have a bounty on your head," Jasper reiterates in the same slow, condescending tone Myles had used.
"What?" Myles stammers sarcastically, "I just wait in the rover, and you and Max handle this?" Jasper doesn't say anything, doesn't need to, just stares at his best friend and waits. Myles huffs bitterly and passes him the radar, "fine."
"Come on, Max," Jasper coaxes, and the calico coloured fluffy dog instantly does as asked. Once Max is on the dirt beside him, the brown haired teen pauses before shutting his door and locking it. "Stay in the rover."
Myles waits until they're a few metres out before whipping around and grabbing her bow and quiver. Sliding out of the car and shutting the door behind herself, Jasper turns to the redhead and slouches in defeat. Jogging up to them, her best friend levels her with a disappointed stare.
"What?" Myles enquires, feigning innocence, but Jasper only shakes his head with a small smile.
"We're so screwed," he mutters, shaking his head and continuing forward with his eyes on the radar as Max starts to growl lowly. "Woah," Jasper breathes, tapping on Myles' arm incessantly, "they're coming really fast."
Myles instantly snaps her head up to squint at the dense forest in front of them. The heavy footfalls of rapidly approaching horses sounds loudly through the overgrown woods and Myles ducks to the side to hide behind a tree. Jasper, having performed this trick with her several times before, saunters forward a bit more, quietly telling Max to stay quiet and to stick to his heel. Someone calls distantly in Trigedasleng and Myles shuts her eyes fleetingly at the confirmation that this isn't Arkers, leaning her head back on the tree that she hides behind as anxiety tingles through her veins.
She hears the horses before she hears another word be said by the group, their galloping hooves thundering across the cold Earth as they neigh loudly. They slow to a stop when they reach Jasper, and Myles' fingers twitch with the nervous need to pull a weapon in dread.
"Hei," Jasper calls merrily and Myles breathes out a deep breath slowly. Myles had learnt Trigedasleng mostly on her own, listening and copying others, putting the pieces together like a puzzle. Jasper had mostly learnt the same way, except he had Myles, who had a slight head start and was able to guide him. One of the best things about learning by ear is that they got to pick up their accent. Both teens can speak Trigedasleng with a Trikru accent, and know how to apply that accent to their English to help blend in. "Bomas ste ai yo op raun hir." [AN: "Hello. Fancy seeing you around here."]
"Chon yu bilaik?" A gruff mans voice demands, and his accent is most definitely Azgedian. [AN: "Who are you?"]
"Trikru," Jasper answers straight away, without hesitating, trilling the letters out like the grounders do. "Ste lufa ai lukot au." [AN: "Tree Clan. Looking for my friends."]
"Ste lufa Wanheda au," another man's voice asserts, and Myles' heart stutters painfully. [AN: "Looking for the Commander of Death."]
"Ait," the teen with the short brown hair appeases, "yu get klin… ai pri os ai get weron Wanheda haden kamp raun…" the men shift on their horses and Max growls. "Ai foshou tel yo op taim yu huk ai op daun chouka." [AN: "Right. You know… I'm pretty sure I know where Wanheda is hiding… I'll gladly tell you if you give me that necklace."]
Someone gets off of a horse and Max starts barking, Jasper shushes him in Trigedasleng but the small dog continues to growl lowly. Myles can't make out exactly what her best friend says, but she understands the Azgeda warrior perfectly.
"Rak yu fecha op, skat," one of the men grumbles when the barking turns into slow rumbles, and two sets of heavy footfalls stalk towards Jasper. [AN: "Control your dog, boy."]
"Ai gouba ogonzaun kom Heda in," Jasper rattles off, taking a few steps back to show them that he means no harm and Myles' left hand presses a finger on part of her glove to make a throwing knife slide out. "Ait, oso na sis choda au, nami?" [AN: "I observe the commanders truce. Alright, we can help each other."]
"Weron Wanheda kamp raun?" A man demands angrily, continuing to match Jasper's steps until he's forced to stop or he'll reveal Myles. [AN: "Where's the Commander of Death?"]
"Ait," Jasper tries to calm the warriors closing in on him. "Tsa jos chil oso au… bilaik nou gaf gonplei in. Oso na – " [AN: "Alright. Let's just calm down… there's no need to fight. We can – "]
Suddenly, one of the warriors grips Jasper and yanks him to his chest, making Max go crazy. The sound of commotion makes Myles spin around the tree, coming face to face with an Azgeda warrior with a knife to Jasper's throat.
"Breik em au!" Myles demands angrily, pointing her right fist towards the group of warriors covered in Azgeda's white war paint as she's pulling the thin metal rod against her index finger down with her thumb, folding her fingers down to hold the rod to her palm. [AN: "Let him go!"]
The warriors all perk up at the sight of Myles, slinking forward predatorily as Max continues to bark and growl loudly. All of their faces are not only covered in the Ice Nations white war paint, but also the scars that distinguish an Azgedian. In place of where other grounders tattoo themselves, warriors and political figures raised in Azgeda all scar their own faces in various shapes and patterns. Their thick clothes meant for snowy weather make Myles anxious, not knowing how many other weapons they may have hidden.
"Dei em ste…" one of the men taunts, raising his bow and pointing it at her but hazel eyes are stuck on the man holding Jasper hostage. Myles' fingers twitch on the blade in her left hand as Jasper doesn't move an inch, looking at her with wide brown eyes. "Os Wanheda-de." [AN: "There she is… The Great Wanheda."]
"Breik em au," Myles warns darkly, tilting her head menacingly and preparing for a fight. "Ai na nou biyo em nodotaim." [AN: "Let him go. I will not say it again."]
The man with the knife to Jasper's throat turns to the warriors behind him fleetingly, huffing a laugh.
"Wanheda vout in em na fir ai raun," the man mocks, tensing his fingers on the handle of the knife to her best friends throat, and Myles swears she can see what's about to happen next. "Ha leyos." [AN: "Wanheda thinks she can scare me. How funny."]
Myles lifts her fingers and flicks her thumb out to shove the rod out of her right palm as the warrior presses the blade of his knife harder into Jasper's neck. The small metal arrow flies, lodging into the warriors blade wielding arm and stopping him from slitting Jasper's throat. Jasper falls forward, yanking the tracking beacon from around his attackers neck, as the Azgedian jolts backwards in shock. Max latches onto the mans arm, growling and shaking his head viciously.
The archers hand twitches and Myles' left hand flings her knife to him, lodging it into his shoulder and making his arrow shoot into the ground. Jasper swings his arm up, his handgun in his hand and pointing at the warrior who had grabbed him. Myles sees the glint of a knife being hurtled towards her and ducks, pulling a sturdier knife from her belt and throwing it at the man. He stands there for a moment, his arms frozen in the air before he falls to the ground with the knife imbedded into his chest.
"Max, down!" Jasper orders loudly when the man who held a knife to his throat grabs another blade, his sights set on the small dog.
"Osir nou gaf sich in," Myles informs the two left as Max trots to their feet, holding her palms up as Jasper steps backwards to her slowly with his gun still raised. [AN: "We don't want trouble."]
Both men continue to stand there menacingly, and the archer yanks the blade from his shoulder. He takes a stuttered step forward despite Max's warning growl, before yanking a long machete from his belt and storming towards them with a bellowing screech. Jasper shoots him twice, but Myles catches the movement of the other man and pulls up her pistol. Shooting the man once in the head, causing the knife he held high in the air to fall from his hand as his body slumps to the ground.
Dropping her arms to her sides, Myles looks at Jasper with an exhausted and exasperated expression that he mirrors. Neither one says a word, they merely stand there and take the moment to have a breath. Jasper breaks eye contact first, but only briefly, to lift up the Farm Stations tracking beacon that's flashing red. Myles bends down and picks up the radar Jasper had dropped in the scuffle, pressing a button to stop the beeping and flashing.
"They landed in Azgeda," Jasper summarises, and Myles rests a hand on his shoulder, rubbing it comfortingly.
"None of us can catch a break," Myles mutters darkly, looking from the tracking beacon to the three dead warriors at their feet. Max is silent now, watching them wearily, as if knowing that Jasper is grieving his parents. If they landed in Azgeda, they're as good as dead. "Alright," the redhead sighs, bending down to start picking up all of the weapons strewn about. "Who's gonna tell Lexa?"
Jasper snorts, "you suggested it." Myles snaps up into a standing position, looking exasperatedly at her sullen best friend. "That's your short straw."
"Fine," the red haired teen huffs in annoyance, bending back down to pick up the Azgedians weapons. "But your cooking tonight."
"Oh, good," Jasper jibes halfheartedly, "then we're eating at Stu's."
Hazel eyes flick to at him, straightening with the weapons in her hands and waiting for him to raise from his crouched position patting down the warrior. He's come a long way, and he's still trying, just like she is. When Marcus gave her the job to look after him for a little while, the boy had come to her as broken as she was, and that fact was what had held them together. And now, it holds him together, just like it has for the last three months.
Jasper straightens and Myles walks with him to the rover, Max sticking close to their heels. Bumping her shoulder into his when he stays quiet for the whole walk to the car.
"By the way," Myles jokes lightheartedly, "buying dinner is not cooking dinner."
"We're fucked," Jasper exclaims suddenly with a high and distressed lilt to his voice, flicking his thumbs up from the steering wheel to gesture.
His brown eyes are glued to the path in front of them, keeping the rover between the trees it can fit through and being cautious with what's laying on the ground while maintaining a decent speed. Hazel eyes don't look up at him, instead staring down at the map in her notebook with furrowed red eyebrows. Jasper's words finally reach her, they just take another beat to register.
"The coalition will protect us," Myles replies distractedly, still not looking up from her book.
"No, Aggie," her best friend frets, shifting his left hand on the steering wheel nervously. "This is the end of the coalition. The second people know that they murdered Farm Station, we're all dead."
"It's been three months since their last attack on someone outside of their border," the redhead relays, looking up and starting to actually participate in the conversation. "We haven't heard from or found another Station in that timeframe. What if we use the coalition to get information?" Jasper glances at her briefly and she continues, "find out if there's any other Stations that landed in Azgeda."
"They are not just gonna tell us," the brown haired teen points out bitterly, "otherwise we would've known already."
"Maybe," Myles sighs, looking back down at their map. "But at least then we have some closure. They might just hide behind the fact that it was pre-truce."
"How far out does that put the other Stations?" Jasper quizzes, glancing at her again but remaining focussed on driving.
"No idea," the red haired teen drawls out distractedly, "if we had the coordinates we could probably theorise a smaller radius. They must've collided… when they entered the atmosphere. Factory Station landed just shy of 50 miles east of Alpha, and Mecha almost twice that, but south. How the hell did Farm Station get to Azgeda?"
"No one's said anything about an explosion," Jasper scrunches up his eyebrows in thought, "just wind and giant, fiery – shit!"
Jasper slams his feet down on the brake and clutch pedals, sending the book in Myles' hands to go shooting forward as her hands use the dash to brace herself. Max lets out a short, high pitched, startled whine as his small body jolts forward with theirs from the force. Hazel eyes stare at the tree lying across path in front of them while she huffs shocked breaths and Jasper has his wide eyes staring forward, his body so still it doesn't look like he's breathing.
"You okay, buddy?" Myles coos softly when Max sticks his head between the two front seats, scratching at his fluffy fur.
"That wasn't there a moment ago," Jasper's quiet and panicked voice informs her, his frantic eyes finally moving from the fallen tree to scan their surroundings and his hand pulls up the handbrake.
Myles whips her head around at that, instantly pulling her gun from her waistband, "are you – " the redheads question cuts off when her gaze lands on the clean cut at the base of the tree trunk.
"Pretty sure, yeah," the brown haired boy breathes out in a rush as he undoes his seatbelt, and hazel eyes scan the trees surrounding them quickly.
Jasper jumps up from his seat and launches himself into the back of the rover with Max, twisting the lock on the ceiling and sliding the cover off. Myles stays where she is, scanning the woods around them as Jasper stands up straight to poke his head out of the hole in the ceiling and spin the Gatling gun mounted on the roof of the rover around. Slow ripping sounds make Myles' head spin to look out the back of the rover, and she yanks down on Jasper's shirt to pull him back into the rover as another large tree falls behind them, blocking them in.
The weight of the tree landing on the ground causes the rover bounce ever so slightly, the high suspension on the wheels that's there to aid them in traversing the difficult terrain jolting the car. Wide brown meet equally as wide hazel, before Jasper jumps back up to look over the roof of the rover and swing the gun around.
His spinning body suddenly goes still, and Max barks angrily by his legs, looking up through the small hole in the rovers ceiling. Dread pumps through Myles' veins, knowing that these people have managed to sneak right up to the rover without being seen or picked up by the pair at all. Crawling quickly into the passenger seat again, Myles pops the door open to stick her head up and point her gun at the cloaked man holding a knife to Jasper's throat.
Jasper's hands are raised in submission, and red eyebrows furrow as her mind tries to comprehend the scene as fast as possible. The man is completely cloaked, his whole body covered in a thick black blanket that's been turned into a robe with a hood. He's wearing some kind of mask, and besides the white of his eyes peeking out of the darkness his hooded coat hides him in, there's not a sliver of his skin showing. Myles has no way of knowing what clan he's from, and what they might be able to offer him to leave them alone.
"Breik em au!" Myles shouts the instant she opens the door, and Jasper watches her with an almost exasperated expression. The sight of her makes the man's posture sag and his head move back slightly, almost as if he wasn't expecting anyone else to be in the vehicle. Something moves behind her and she puts her right leg on the passenger seat to pull the pistol from her ankle and aim it at whoever is coming up behind her with her left hand. "Ai sei em, breik em au o ai na bum yu melon klin!" [AN: "Let him go! I mean it, let him go or I will blow your head off!"]
"Miss Mylinski?" A familiar man's voice blurts out, but it's not the fact that he knows her name that makes her expression relax. "Everyone stand down! These are our people."
The accent he speaks with isn't typical of any of the grounders, he doesn't slur over letters to make them have different sounds, doesn't make certain consonants harsh or add a vague trill to his words. Instead, the man speaks with a crisp and clear American accent, and realisation dawns on her that these are Arkers.
Whoever's behind her shifts, breathing out, "Aggie? Jasper?"
"Dad?" Jasper sighs out, sagging in the man's arms and slipping back into the rover seamlessly once the man holding a knife to his throat drops his grip.
Myles keeps the guns pointed at those around her as the back door opens, only lowering her weapons when she hears her best friend embrace his father. A woman's voice she hasn't heard in almost 7 years pipes up behind her and her hands tug at Myles, pulling her off of the rover and onto the ground to give her a relieved hug. Hazel eyes stay on the man on the rover until he steps off, and is blocked from sight.
"Max, quiet," Myles commands and the calico coloured dog falls quiet.
"Oh, Aggie!" Hannah Green, Monty's mother, gushes loudly and Myles returns her hug. "Look at how much you've grown! You were still so little when you were locked away, now look at you!"
Hannah pulls back to look at Myles and the redhead can't stop the kind smile that graces her delicate features. Monty's mother had always been beautiful, in soul and in looks, making even the dark patchwork cloak she wears seem radiant. Her hood and mask sit around her neck, letting her black hair that's tied in a bun be seen in the midday sunlight.
"You look just like your mother," Hannah proclaims, bringing her hand up to Myles' face as the redhead tucks her guns back away and the heart shaped pendant around her neck feels heavy at the words. Myles catches her hand and holds it before pulling one of the women who's always treated her like her own in for another hug. "Where's Monty?"
"In Arkadia," the red haired teen answers, peering at Jasper and his father at the back of the rover. The man who held a knife to his throat steps around the vehicle, his mask and hood down, revealing himself to be Charles Pike. "With the survivors from Alpha, Mecha and Factory."
"You have no idea how good it is to see you," Pike divulges with a huge smile, "never, in my entire career, have I had a student as bright as you. Spent most of your schooling years in solitary, and still managed to be my best student."
Myles pulls back from the hug as Jasper and his father start to approach, while several others slowly step out of the trees. Both father and son are wearing bright smiles and the redhead can't help but match her best friends expression, ignoring Pike's comment entirely. It's the first time he's seemed truly happy and relieved in three months. She never thought she'd get to see his face like that again. Max's tail is seen every now and then in the corner of her eyes, the black fur flopping back and forth as he enthusiastically greets the new faces.
"Uncle Ray!" Myles calls happily, walking up and into his open arms as Jasper greets Hannah with a hug and happy words.
"It's good to see you, rat-bag," Ray tells her, hugging her tightly and pulling back to hold her at arms length. "How are you two doing?" As he asks, he rubs his hands on both teens arms, "you look haunted. Are you sleeping alright?"
"We're surviving," Jasper answers, his expression falling from happy to gloomy. His brown eyes cast around the group, "Dad. Where's mum?"
It's Ray's turn to drop his expression and his touch leaves Myles' arm to have both of his hands resting on Jasper's. He struggles for words for a moment, and Myles' heart clenches with sorrow.
"She, uh…" the brown haired man swallows, pursing his lips. "She volunteered. For the culling." Hazel eyes slip shut in guilt and grief, "she wanted to make sure you had time, that we had time."
Myles opens her eyes to see Ray and Jasper hugging tightly again, Max rubbing against her best friends legs, like he can sense the teens pain. Her eyes flick over the faces around them, taking in the same exhausted and remorseful expressions shown on them all. The two teens aren't the only ones haunted, the people around them look as worn and broken-spirited as they are.
"Lacroix, Smith," Pike barks out to the people around them, "watch our six. Everyone else, I said stand down."
"And Uncle Nick?" Myles enquires softly, stopping her wandering gaze on Hannah.
The woman lifts her hand to gently touch the redheads arm, "no, dear. He didn't make it."
Pulling the woman in for another hug, Myles glances over at Jasper and Ray again, seeing them both watching the pair with sunken expressions. Max quickly makes his way over to Hannah, whining quietly and rubbing against her legs to comfort her. Glancing back at Pike, the redhead voices the question burning in her mind.
"How many of you are there?" Myles pulls back from the hug as she speaks, and Hannah bends down to pat Max.
"Sixty-three," Pike states, making Jasper and Myles' eyes lock in shock. That's low, that's really, really low. Not a single Station of the Ark had under 100 in them when they came down to Earth. "The rest are camped in the mountains north of here. Grounder killers, one and all. Am I right?"
Every single one of the Farm Station survivors immediately shouts 'hoo-rah' in reply, and dread pricks at Myles' heart.
"The grounders aren't a problem," Myles tries to placate, earning harsh looks from the people around them. "As long as you stay off their land and away from their property, they're pretty alright."
"North mountains," Jasper acknowledges, looking at the group with the same fretful expression Myles wears. "That's Azgeda territory."
"I don't care who's 'territory' it is," Pike stops him with a bitter tone, his dark eyes cold and hard. "We landed with over three times as many as 63."
"The Ice Nation can be ruthless," Myles relays carefully, "especially to outsiders crashing something the size of Farm Station into their land. We've got a truce, and several trusted allies backing us up, protecting our people."
"I'll have to take your word for it," Pike comments dully, and Myles and Jasper's eyes meet at his angry demeanour.
"How about we move these trees while you go and get the rest of your people," Myles offers after an awkward beat of silence. "We'll wait here for you, and then we'll take you all to Arkadia."
"It's 50 miles south of here," Jasper adds when Pike falters, "and we're more than happy to escort you."
"Your people will be safe there," the redhead finishes, and Pike lifts his hands up to clap them down on both teens shoulders.
"You're my people," the dark skinned man declares, his expression significantly kinder that it had been a moment ago.
"Sure thing, sir," Jasper dismisses politely, shaking his head slightly. "We'll see you soon."
"I'll stay with the kids," Ray offers when Pike steps back and moves to address the dozen Farm Station survivors standing amongst the trees.
"I'm staying, too, sir," Hannah asserts, sticking close to the teens as they start to make their way to the trees blocking the rover.
"Alright," Pike agrees, before raising his voice to call out to his team. "Everyone but Jordan and Green, let's move out, rendezvous with the others, and bring them back here to get everyone to Arkadia."
"Mount up," someone calls amongst the chorus of 'yes, sir's, "we're going back into hell."
Hazel eyes lock on the brown gaze of her best friend as she quirks a red eyebrow and the survivors start to leave.
"Okay," Ray huffs out, walking towards the rover, "let's get those trees out of the way."
Jasper and Hannah move to follow him, but Myles stops Jasper with a hand on his arm, and Max waits patiently by their legs. Brown eyes look at her, and Myles waits for the parents to take a few more steps away before putting her hand on the back of Jasper's neck.
"Are you okay?" Myles asks, her worried and sincere tone being emphasised by her hazel eyes that flick between his two brown.
Jasper twitches his head to the side, heaving a deep sigh before answering, "I have to be."
Myles keeps her eyes on his, searching in them as she nods her head, "it's okay not to be."
"Not yet," he whispers hoarsely, "when we're back home and they're all gone, maybe. But not yet."
"Okay," the redhead relents, clenching her jaw and squeezing his neck kindly. "If you need a minute to go into the woods and scream, let me know. I'll come with and take the blame."
Huffing a small laugh, Jasper breaks away to walk up to the two parents trying and failing to push the heavy tree by themselves.
"You always do, Aggie."
Myles walks with Hannah and Ray between her and the slowly crawling rover that Jasper drives through the woods on her right, with Max between her and Mr. Pike on her left. Most of the young children, about ten of them, are crammed into the back of the rover but the rest of the 63 survivors walk with them. The air is chilly, even though the sun sits high in the afternoon sky, and Myles can't wait for winter to be over.
They're still a long ways away from Arkadia, having only been walking for four hours of the sixteen hour trek. Myles knows they'll need to stop for a rest once the sun starts setting, but she can't help the itching need to keep going. That could just be because she's trying to escape the topic of conversation, though.
"Forty-two," Jasper states dully, his voice detached and Myles' left arm won't stop shaking. "That's all of us that got out alive."
"And Maya?" Ray prods carefully, looking at his heartbroken son with sorrow filled-eyes.
"Dead," the brown haired teen croaks out, "just like the rest of them."
"You did what you had to do," Hannah tells Myles, hooking her arm around her elbow.
"Doesn't make it right," Myles replies blandly, her tone empty and arm jittering.
"You did the right thing," Pike seconds, looking at the teens with a stoney expression. "Kill or be killed. So, is Mount Weather ours now?"
"It's no one's," Jasper snaps harshly, not even turning to look at the man.
"They use it for supplies," Myles explains lowly, wanting the conversation to be over.
"Supplies?" Pike blurts out in surprise, his face scrunching up in aggravated confusion. "It's a nuclear hardened underground city."
"No, it's not," the redhead quickly protests before either her or Jasper can fly off the deep end. "It's a symbol of hundreds of thousands of grounders being brutalised, of Arkers being tortured and killed, of the genocide of hundreds of people. Innocent people being tortured for more than a hundred years."
"There's a truce," Jasper adds morosely, "think about what that will look like."
"We need to think about what will happen when the grounders break that truce," Pike argues confidently. "Because they will."
Myles scoffs, shaking her head and keeping her eyes looking at what's in front of her as anger simmers through her veins. It's silent for a moment, before Jasper's dad pipes up cautiously.
"'They'?" Ray prompts hesitantly, Myles doesn't look to him, but she can see Jasper turn at the question in the corner of her eyes. "You said 'they use it for supplies'."
"We haven't set foot in Arkadia since we left three months ago," Myles clarifies after another beat of silence.
"What?" Hannah quizzes immediately, the worried lilt in her voice sends a twinge of regret through Myles' heart. "What about Monty?"
"Jasper?" Ray breathes, his worry for his son blooming with every heavy second.
"Aggie's spoken to him a few times," the brown haired teen shrugs, his tone low. "I haven't."
"Maybe you should," his father presses gently, "it sounds like it might be healing for you two."
"I can't, dad," Jasper refuses remorsefully, "those first few weeks were… bad. The things I said, what I did… it's not something you can just take back."
"Oh, honey," Hannah sighs, "you know he doesn't need an apology. Monty just wants you to be okay."
Another stretch of uncomfortable silence is broken by Ray again.
"How'd you get over it?" Ray asks quietly, his whole attention on his son, and it hits Myles that the man isn't as put together about his wife's death as he's portraying.
"I didn't," Jasper admits haltingly, "I wanted someone to hate, someone to blame. I didn't have anyone from Mount Weather to be that anymore, and the person who pulled the lever wasn't there, so I decided to just hate everyone."
"You're not anymore," Pike acknowledges, "that's a lot of progress, kid."
"How'd you stop?" Ray continues questioning kindly, "hating everyone?"
"Aggie," the brown haired teen divulges, swallowing thickly and Myles' left arm shivers violently.
"I gave him something else to do," Myles shrugs, acting as if the first few weeks they spent together hadn't been a total shit-show.
Jasper rolls his head against the car seat to glance at her, "you gave me a lot more than that. I couldn't understand it, before. I couldn't see past Maya." His voice still wavers on her name, even now, but it doesn't make him collapse into a wreck like it used to. "Then… I came to stay with Aggie. Monty kept trying to help me, they all did, but Aggie just let me go. Would let me scream until I didn't have a voice left, smash things, get blind drunk and no matter what I said or did, she didn't hold any of it against me. Never made me feel guilty, or ashamed, or like I was broken."
"And then she gave me what no one else could," Jasper states, his voice sounding slightly stronger now. Rolling his head to look at his father, "she helped me understand. I knew before I left what they'd done to her there, but it wasn't until the nightmares that I understood it. It got to the point that I could tell what part she was reliving by how loud she screamed. I got to see how she was living before it, how sleep deprived she'd get and how bad the nightmares were, how her mind worked. And I understood, I understood how it happened."
"Your mum would be so proud of you," Ray tells him, his voice thick with unshed tears as he reaches his hand out grip his sons arm. "I'm so sorry you've had to grow up so fast."
"We landed in the snow," Hannah starts, her voice taking on that dull, distant sound that the teens had been using to detach themselves. "Nick said it absorbed some of the impact. That's why we survived." Her eyes become watery as her throat closes around her words. Myles grips the woman's arm that's still hooked around hers and squeezes it kindly. "The snow looked so beautiful, it – I – Charles?"
"The children were playing in it," Pike continues for Hannah when she starts sobbing. "They were the first to die. Fifteen of them. If not for Nick, would've been more. He pulled four kids back into the ship. All four alive today. They got him when he went back for the fifth. Nick died a hero. We've been fighting Grounders ever since."
"That's Azgeda," Myles tries carefully, her tone small but sincere. "Not everyone down here is like that."
"They are to me," Pike announces, his tone hard and cold.
"That's why we're still out here," Jasper declares, looking from the windscreen to Pike. "Everyone else is happy to sit in Arkadia, but we're the ones who keep the truce held together. We fix what people break to keep us all alive, to keep us from another war."
They've been walking for almost nine hours now, and the sun is beginning to set on the horizon. Myles knows they'll need to stop for the night soon, but the familiar itch at the back of her head doesn't ease. It's been there for a few hours now, the feeling of being watched chipping away at her mind slowly.
At first, the redhead had written it off, saying it's probably her being paranoid in such a large group of people. Now, though, Myles isn't sure, and she doesn't want to let the group stop until she knows for sure that no one's following them. Flicking her hazel eyes around the tree line lining the wide, open path they walk down for the third time in the last five minutes, Myles still doesn't see anyone lurking.
Nightfall will be upon them soon, and they'll need to stop, having easily seven more hours worth of walking until they get to Arkadia. Everyone else seems to be oblivious to the paranoid inkling that keeps the red haired teen distracted, only Max joining in on her paranoid glances. The red haired teen doesn't know if that's supposed to mean he senses something, or if it just means that he's sensing her anxiety.
Spinning her head around again, her calculating gaze brushes over the large group she walks amongst as she searches for nothing in the trees. Hannah is walking closer to the rover, sticking directly behind Ray to talk with the kids still in the back of the car. Ray walks beside the drivers side door, having a quiet, but pleasant seeming conversation with his son. Pike is nowhere near Myles now, instead walking ahead and to her left and gesturing as he talks animatedly with some of the survivors.
They've formed a strong bond, much like the delinquents had, something that was necessary to keep them alive and sane. The loyal bond and their obvious hatred of the grounders makes an uncomfortable pit of dread sit in her gut, knowing that they probably won't adjust well to Arkadia's role in this society. It will be a hard and sudden change, and remembering how she handled it herself makes Myles worry for those around her. These people have been through so much, and everything they know will be turned on it's head the second they walk through Arkadia's gate.
Myles had already turned her eyes back to watch where she's going when Max halts. Stopping, hazel eyes turn to watch him as her red eyebrows pull together. Max's eyes are transfixed, his whole body completely still as he stares at one spot in the trees on the groups right-hand side. Everyone continues walking forward, but Myles steps to Max slowly, scanning her eyes on the trees once more.
Something dark flitters through the trees for a split second, and Max growls lowly. The movement was unnatural in the still air, and having a definite answer makes the tension ease from her shoulders.
"Good boy," Myles praises, and the dog snaps his head up to her before staring back at the trees the movement came from. "Come on."
Reluctantly, Max follows Myles as she jogs up to the rover. Swerving around Hannah, and jumping up onto the old pipe that she and Jasper attached to use as side step on the side of the vehicle. Gripping the mishmash of metal pipes and rods they made into a roof-rack, Myles quickly inches forward to get to Jasper's open window.
"Excuse me, Uncle Ray," Myles rushes out, already wedging herself between the father and son duo. "Osir don hon won sich in." [AN: "We got a problem."]
"Chit?" Jasper questions, his relaxed expression twisting up tensely. "Chit kaina sich?" [AN: "What? What kind of problem?"]
"Trikoven-de kaina," the redhead answers, and Jasper instinctually slows down to snap his eyes through the trees around them. "Rasad, raun triklama melkova ona der." [AN: "The shadowing kind. Right, near squirrel hair over there."]
Jasper snorts loudly, looking in the direction and muttering distractedly, "that's so bad."
"Well," Myles huffs, letting go of the roof rack to lean in the window completely. Quirking her red eyebrows up and down playfully even though he's not looking at her, "am I wrong?"
"I see him," her best friend informs her, slowing until the rover's stopped completely. "You drive, I'll handle him."
"Oh, no, no, no," the redhead refuses, gripping the pipes on the top of the vehicle to hold her to the car and stop him from opening the door. "I got this."
"What's going on?" Pike demands, his hard and authoritative voice cutting through the air.
Jasper flicks his eyes from the dark skinned man to Myles, saying, "nothing. We just need a minute." Pike slowly steps back, but Myles can still feel his attention on them. "You and I both know why they're waiting."
"Keep the group moving," Myles tells Jasper, knowing as well as he does that they're after the bounty on her head. "I'll be fine."
"Fine," the brown haired teen relents frustratedly after a moment, letting the rover start to move forward again. "But you're taking Max."
"Rodger, Dodger," Myles agrees, jumping off of the side of the rover to set her boots back on the grass.
"Wait, Aggie," her best friend calls, and the redhead looks back at him.
Jasper rummages around with one hand, keeping his other hand on the steering wheel before pulling two earpieces with their wires tangled together out. He fiddles with them for a second, trying to yank Myles' from his.
"I got it," Myles fondly offers, reaching in and separating the two earpieces, keeping one in her hand.
"Let me know if you need a hand," Jasper instructs his best friend, Myles nods as she inserts one end of the wire into her walkie-talkie and pulls the light beige earpiece up from under her shirt and through her collar.
"No worries," the redhead acquiesces, pressing the small earbud into her ear and flicking the small switch on the back of it. The brown haired teen presses the transmit button on the radio in the car, and a short burst of static sounds in her left ear. "Good to go. Come on, Max."
Myles starts changing direction, inching to the left but making sure to keep hidden by the rover. Unnatural flickers repeatedly echo in her vision from her right, and Myles tries to time this perfectly. Sticking close to a man and nodding to him with an awkward smile, the red haired teen waits for the tree coming up on her immediate left. A cluster of thick trees is just up ahead of the person fluttering between the trees to her right, and the redhead slows her pace slightly to make sure they both reach it at the same time.
"Alright, Max," the red haired teen mutters lowly, getting a look of acknowledgement from the calico coloured dog. "Hide."
Once she reaches the tree closest to her, and the dark figure disappears behind the cluster of trees and bushes, Myles slips behind the tree and stops. Max is down low, flattening himself to the ground beside her behind a bush about as high as her shins. Crouching down low, Myles waits until the corners of her hazel eyes can start to see the Farm Station survivors before quickly slipping forward.
Max follows her, keeping low down and staying silent. Slinking forward a bit more, the redhead passes a few more trees before changing her course and heading in the opposite direction as the Arker's group. Weaving between trees carefully and silently, hazel eyes can still see the disturbance following the Arkers. Creeping across the path they had followed, both Myles and Max move cautiously and with ease, trying to make themselves blend into the Earth.
There's no one behind him, only one man lurking in the shadows with his eyes on the group up ahead of them. The man is tall, his thick and bulky clothing making his tall figure seem stocky and menacing. He walks and creeps through the woods with certainty and poise, knowing exactly where he's going to step without ever having to look down. His clothes are typical of warriors, worn leather that's patched and layered with other fabrics, giving the illusion that he's wearing a net over his clothes. Two swords are tucked into a sheath strapped to his back, the sheath looking almost like a carbon copy of the bag slung over his right shoulder.
Myles and Max stalk him with the same confident and skilled stature, getting closer to him quickly. Commotion to her left gets her attention, causing hazel eyes to tear away from the tall man's back for only a moment. The Farm Station survivors are gathering around the rover, but they're still moving forward at the same pace. Quickly disregarding the movement as the group noticing that she's gone, Myles flicks her eyes back in front of herself and stills.
No one is in front of her, the short second that she'd been distracted, he'd used to his advantage. Instinctively crouching down slightly, hazel eyes scan around before Max's low growl warns her of the man's presence. Before she can even turn in the man's direction, something heavy and hard hits her on the side of her head.
Max's furious roars slur and warp with the blurry flashes of his frantically jumping legs, green grass and fur-covered, worn boots that her tired eyes manage to see before slipping closed.