All hell broke loose on a warm, humid Sunday night.

Connor would remember how warm it was, how the sweat dripped into his eyes as he ran. As he ran for his life.

—

Everyone was gathered in the village square to celebrate Mafala and Connor's birthday. Half of the feasting table was filled with plates of traditional Ugandan food, presumably all of Mafala's favourites. The other half of the table was filled with Connor's favourite foods, from mozzarella sticks to tacos, and the middle of it lay a big frosted rainbow cake.

All the trees lining the village square were decorated with fairy lights. Connor loved, loved, loved fairy lights. They make everything magical, even the most mundane of rooms.

It was the best party District nine has ever thrown, in Connor's opinion. Kevin was right about that. Gosh, it had seemed like eons ago, when the two of them were stuck with each other in the small hotel room in Kitgum.

"How did you guys even get half of these?!" Connor just gaped when he first saw the spread.

"Kitgum," Elder Neely answered beside him, "We had to go to that tiny cafe 'round the corner and ask to buy some of their uncooked nuggets. And the rest of the stuff was easier to make from scratch."

"How did you guys even keep all of these from me? Our kitchen is almost empty!"

"That, you'll have to ask Elder Price and Elder Thomas. They were the ones who planned the whole thing really. We just helped out."

Speaking of Kevin, Connor hadn't seen him since the start of the party.

"Where is he, anyway?" Connor turned around to look for his boyfriend.

"I don't know. Happy birthday, Elder McKinley!" Elder Neely shook Connor's hand, and skipped off to join the rest.

Connor made a round through the square searching for Kevin, stopping every few steps when people wished him a happy birthday.

"Arnold, hey!" Connor placed a hand on his shoulder.

"Aye!" Arnold yelled, "Here comes the birthday boy!"

Nabulungi beamed, "Happy birthday! You are getting so old, Elder McKinley!"

"Yeah, hopefully you'll become wiser too," Arnold cackled.

Connor rolled his eyes, "Haha, very funny. Have you guys seen Kevin?"

"Oh, Kev went back to the hut, he forgot the candles for the cake," Arnold replied.

"What? By himself?!"

"I asked if he needed me to come with, he said no," Arnold shrugged.

"Arnold!" Connor sighed exasperatedly.

—

Armed with his flashlight, Connor made his way back to the hut. Hopefully, he would meet Kevin halfway, so that he wouldn't have to walk the whole route.

The night air was still and heavy, but Connor couldn't stop smiling. He was happy. This was more than anything he could ever ask for. Kevin was more than anything he could ever ask for.

Connor would have to start thinking about Kevin's birthday if he was going to top this party. If Connor saved enough money, he could bring Kevin to Orlando for his birthday. Or it could be somewhere in Europe, somewhere romantic, like France.

A scream.

Connor broke into a sprint, the beam of his flashlight bobbing wildly in front of him.

"Kev?"

He rounded a corner, and his light landed on Kevin, picking up something from the ground.

"Kevin!" Connor ran the last couple of feet to his side.

"Connor," Kevin looked up, "What are you doing here?"

"Are you okay? I heard someone scream," Connor gave Kevin a visual once-over.

"Oh. Uh, yeah. That," Kevin tittered, "A spider landed on me."

"A spi-," Connor broke off and guffawed, "Oh em gosh, Kev! You-"

"Hey!" Kevin frowned, a hint of a smile pulling at the corner of his lips, "You'd have screamed even louder if it had been you."

"I just can't-," Connor couldn't stop laughing, "I've never heard you make a sound like that before."

"I plan you an awesome party and this is the thanks I get? Ungrateful idiot."

"Oh gosh," Connor blew out a breath and grinned, "Sorry."

"You can pick up your own damn present from the ground," Kevin pouted.

Connor bent down to pick up what seemed like a book wrapped in butcher paper and twine.

"A book? What is it?"

Kevin smiled, "Why don't you open it?"

"Now?"

Kevin shrugged.

Connor pulled on the twine to undo the bow knot. He was expecting a novel of some kind, but when he unwrapped it, it was a blue leather journal.

"You want me to keep a diary?"

Kevin fiddled with the candles in his hands, "We don't really have any photographs of our time here. So I thought that maybe this could be a substitute. You know, like a photo journal without the photos. Go on, turn to the first page."

Connor flipped to the first page carefully. It had a rough sketch of the lake covering the top half of the page. Below it was a date, and a short description of their first official date at the lake.

"Kevin."

The words blurred as tears filled Connor's eyes.

"It's not in chronological order or anything," Kevin shrugged, "I just filled it with things whenever I remember them."

Connor turned to the second page and it was about the party Connor had planned for Kevin when he returned from the hospital.

"Do you like it?"

Connor pulled Kevin in for a hug, "I love it. I love you."

"You'll have to pardon the mess on the last few pages. I had to write with my left hand," Kevin chuckled and laid his head on Connor's shoulder, "Happy birthday, Connor."

"Thank you, Kevin."

"Well well, what do we have here?"

The two broke apart at once when they heard a gruff voice behind them.

Crap.

Crap, crap, crap.

It was one of The General's men.

"You two, gay?" The man gestured with his rifle and his sight landed on Kevin, "I know you."

Both Kevin and Connor were frozen with fear, rooted to the ground.

The man laughed, "You were the boy who- you know what? Since you love your God so much. Come, allow me to do you a favour of letting you meet him tonight," The man pointed his rifle at Kevin.

Before Connor could even comprehend what was happening, Kevin pulled back his right arm-

"Kevin! No!"

And he threw a punch onto the side of the man's head. Kevin grappled for the rifle, as the man reeled back from the force of Kevin's punch.

Oh gosh. Oh gosh. Connor had to do something!

The man recovered quickly enough to snatch his gun back, and brought the butt of the rifle down on Kevin's face, twice.

"No!" Connor swung his flashlight onto the man's head with both hands.

The head of the flashlight shattered. The man finally stopped and crumpled onto the ground, unconscious.

Connor dropped onto his knees beside his boyfriend, "Kevin! Oh gosh, Kev."

Bright red blood streamed down the side of Kevin's face from a split above his brow. His eyes were clenched tight as he clutched at his shoulder.

"Oh gosh," Connor was panicking, "Oh gosh. Oh gosh."

Connor pulled his shirt over his head and held it onto the bleeding cut.

Kevin whimpered.

"Sorry, sorry," Connor's head snapped around when he heard noises coming around a bend, "Kev! Kev, up. Now!"

Connor yanked on Kevin's left arm and pulled the both of them upright.

"Wait," Kevin looked pointedly at the blue journal at the ground.

Connor shoved it into his back pocket, "Run!"

"No. Connor," Kevin shook his head, "Get…Get the gun."

—

They ran into the darkness, the lack of moonlight making it hard to see through the dense foliage. Connor hoped they were going the right way, back to the village square.

It was too hot, too humid. Connor didn't dare to even slow down a bit, even though his eyes were stinging with sweat dripping into them, and his lungs burned. The stolen rifle slung over Connor's shoulder hitting onto his back with every step.

Kevin collapsed with a hoarse cry, almost bringing Connor down with him.

"Kevin!" Connor placed a hand on Kevin's shoulder, "We're almost there."

Kevin's injured arm was shaking, hard. His whole body was trembling.

There was a lot of blood.

Connor didn't need to ask. He knew Kevin was done running. They weren't going to make it back, not together, at least.

"I can't- I can't feel my fingers," Kevin frowned.

"It's going to be fine, you're going to be fine. Gotswana will fix it."

Think, Connor, think.

"Hey! Kev, stay awake!" Connor hissed.

Kevin's eyes opened half-mast, "Connor, I can't feel my fingers."

Connor had to run and get help. He had to warn everyone before The General reaches the village.

But Connor couldn't leave Kevin out here in the dark? They didn't even know where they were exactly.

Think, Connor, think.

"How are you doing?" Connor used his shirt to wipe the blood off Kevin's face. It didn't do much, except now Connor got it all over his hands too, "Kev, I need to go get help."

Maybe if Kevin was able to make his way back to the mission hut-

"Hmm," Kevin looked confused.

"Do you understand what I said?" Connor's heart clenched. Kevin could have a brain injury from the blows.

"Kevin, look at me," Connor tilted Kevin's chin up, "What did I just say?"

Kevin tried to break loose from Connor's hold.

"Hey, stop," Connor held on tighter, "Whose birthday is it today?"

"What?" Kevin sighed, hugging onto his right arm.

"Whose birthday were we celebrating today?" Connor repeated.

Kevin blinked at Connor, and suddenly broke into sobs, "Don't know. I don't know?"

Oh gosh.

"It's okay, it's okay. It doesn't matter," Connor soothed as he stroked at Kevin's hair, "Uhhh…"

They couldn't split up now. Kevin was going to wander off, disorientated, and Connor was going to lose him to the Ugandan wilderness by the time he came back.

Connor's priority now was to get Kevin someplace safe.

"Alright, let's get up," Connor's grunted as he helped Kevin to stand, "Okay? Dizzy?"

If they could retrace their steps back to the dirt road, they could return to the mission hut. Hopefully without meeting any of the bad guys on their way back. The men should be gone by now, they should have reached the village square by now, and everyone was gonna-

Nope.

Connor should be focusing on Kevin right now.

Kevin took a step and his knees buckled.

Connor caught him before he could go down, "Oh gosh. Ummm…Here," Connor took the gun off his back and bent over in front of Kevin, "Up."

Kevin stumbled onto Connor's back and held on tightly.

"Okay. Okay. Here we go."