Bruce carried me on his back through the water the rest of the way, and didn't put me down once we reached the shore.

Neither Selina nor Harvey spoke when we joined them, and they both wore the same expression, eyes wide—stricken. We all understood what had just happen. Or, what had almost happened.

My life had almost ended at 13.

That was a scary thought. It's still scary now, actually. I think about it a lot. Not that my life turned out so fantastic afterwards. Didn't exactly exceed anybody's expectations. But I like to think that, at the very least, the people that took that adventure with me that day would have missed me. And watching somebody die will leave anybody worse off, so bare minimum, me being alive today helped their childhoods be a little less painful.

"Is…she OK?" Selina eventually asked, after we'd returned to the makeshift trail we were forging.

"She will be," Pam answered, resting her hand against my back as I clung to Bruce.

Harvey was leading the pack at this point, and his voice was so soft when he turned to ask, "This way, Harl?"

I nodded mutely. The tracks were just up ahead, and there were no more rivers in our path. We'd be there soon.

…which is when I started to really think about how this all would go down. In hindsight, this plan had been pretty poorly thought out. Just, right out the gate, from the get-go, a generally bad idea. There were a couple different reasons why. The main one being that, even with Bruce and Harvey, if Jack was there we'd have a tough time defending ourselves.

"Jack has a gun," I said aloud, though not loud enough for anyone but Bruce to hear.

"So do I," he answered, glancing nonchalantly over his shoulder.

I looked too, my gaze landing on Pam who was struggling behind us under the weight of Bruce's pack. I felt a little bad, but she looked determined and I'd just had a near-death experience.

It was coming up on 4pm now, so the sun was sitting a bit lower in the sky. Even though the swim had almost killed me, being wet made the heat a lot more bearable.

Pam's shirt was white underneath her overalls, and when I looked back at her again, I realized there were wet splotches on her arms where I'd gripped her. I was worried about that, and I could tell Pam was too. So I just crossed my fingers the shirt would dry before she started to turn, and looked ahead.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again—I took a lot for granted as a kid. Though my parents didn't seem to like me all that much, they didn't hit me. They didn't yell all that often. We made enough money to get by, even if we sometimes got a little low on food. That was more than I could say for most of my friends. And yet, even with the truly painful homelives some of them suffered through, they still found it in their hearts to love me unconditionally. Me! Harleen Frances Quinzel. I was loved unconditionally by people who didn't share even a shred of my DNA. Not all kids are that lucky. Not all people. But I was. I was loved.

Jack Kerr didn't love me. He never had. Heck, I knew that. I was smart enough to understand what he wanted. Wasn't an all-star student, but this was a concept I could grasp. I shouldn't have blown up at Pam about that whole 'flower' thing. I knew she just wanted what was best for me. Who was best. And that 'who' was not Jack Kerr.

"How much further?" Selina asked.

"Bout' another half mile to the spot I know, but like I said, he moved it, so we'll have to go lookin'."

Selina nodded, resolute, and we all trudged forward. Well, save for me and Pam, of course. Pam because she was hobbling and me because all 5'10", 170+lbs of beefy Bruce Wayne wasn't about to let my feet hit the ground.

"You alright, Pammy?" I turned to ask.

Sweat was dripping down Pam's forehead from beneath her hat, her pale cheeks bright red. "Yes," she grunted out, her words catching on some phlegm in her throat.

Bruce finally let me off his back once we reached the clearing I recognized. It was about a ¼ mile off the road Jack used to drive back and forth from town.

"He couldn't have taken it far…" I frowned, my hands on my hips as I surveyed the scene.

"We should probably follow the drag marks," Pam suggested, her words almost mixed with a laugh.

Oh, Duh, I could feel us all thinking.

Bruce took his pack back from Pam, and we all followed her lead, letting the drag marks be our trail away from the clearing.

The grass was tall outside the clearing's circle of trees, which made it even easier to track the fridge, as its heavy body had flattened all in its path.

I was right to say he wouldn't be able to drag it far. Because…he didn't.

The fridge was about 200ft from where it had begun, laying down horizontal at the base of a tree just passed the tall grass.

Selina started running as soon as she spotted it. I wanted to warn her about what she'd find inside, but there was no time. She was already on her knees next to it.

There were locks on the door, but they weren't fastened, Jack was too lazy to remember his key.

Without any true preparation, Selina ripped open the door, and we were all hit with a stench so vile, I watched us nearly keel over in unison.

But beyond that, there was a meow.

A feeble, shaky meow.

But a meow.

"Oh my god," Selina was crying, even as she lifted Isis out of the fridge, the cat's body covered in what looked like the innards of other decomposing animals. Selina didn't care, though, she clutched her close to her body and rocked her back and forth.

I was almost crying too. I hadn't been sure if we'd find her alive, couldn't be sure. And I honestly hadn't wanted to hope. But here she was. Alive. Shaken, but alive.

But the meow was soon drowned out by a sound that felt almost deafening, despite its subtlety.

Click-click.

A gun was cocked.

"You're trespassing, Kiddos."