Amara changed into her night gown shortly after the last bit of work with Lux on the new surveillance cameras. It was almost one o'clock in the morning, and she could feel her eyes growing weaker and weaker with every passing minute. The battle that had broken out during the meeting had completely exhausted her. This wasn't the first time something of this nature had occurred. Brady and Niko we're always going at it with each other, and Brady had never had a liking towards Lux. Brady never really had a liking towards anybody except for Bray.

How could Amara possibly maintain peace to so many different personalities? A sense of hopelessness swept over her, and she could feel her heart pounding in her chest. She sat down on the bed, her breathing becoming labored. Thoughts, the kind that filled her dreams every night since the Elders died kept echoing, each question taking the voice of an old fallen member of the tribe:

What if there's an invasion?

What if the entire tribe is murdered?

What if they starve?

What if one of them betrays you?

What if the Bulldogs destroy them?

What if they're captured?

What if you fail?

Whatifwhatifwhatifwhatif-

Tears began to fall from her eyes and form little wet puddles on her night gown. She tried as hard as she could to stifle the sobs. It felt as though her lungs would give out. More than anything, she wanted her mother there to touch her face and promise her that it was going to be okay.

"Why are you crying?" A voice asked her, disrupting her thoughts.

She looked up from her palms and saw Falcon standing in the doorway. His shirt was missing, revealing a white bandage wrapped around his abdomen. His dark brown hair was ruffled, probably from being asleep all day. Amara cleared the tears from her face and put on the mask that she so often wore when someone caught her at her weakest. "N-no, I was just deep in thought."

Falcon walked closer to her. "I was trying to find you to tell you how thankful I am that you and your tribe saved me. I figured you were asleep, but I thought I'd just check. I guess I was wrong." His eyes looked into hers, bearing into her soul.

Amara sniffled. She drew her eyes away from his. "It was no problem. We're not the kind of people to leave someone high and dry. You needed help, we helped." The voices began to come back in her head, asking her those questions that she didn't know the answer to. She turned away from him for a moment, rubbing her eyes. "W-why were you even around where we found you? Don't you know Bulldog territory when you're in it?" She turned back to face him. He could see right through her mask, and that scared her to death.

"I'm not from around here. The Eco's are way out in the woods, far away from these so called 'Bulldogs'. We used to be very big, but since the Elders died, there are only just a few of us… one of them being my sister." Falcon walked over to Amara's bed. He sat down, patting the seat next to him. "Sit. You don't look comfortable."

Amara instantly sat down, feeling light headed. "Before you blacked out, you said something about a locket?"

"Yeah…" Falcon's voice sounded a little less cheerful than before. "I wish I had it. It was a friend of hers, an Elder from this tribe. I wish I could see the face, I'd be able to point her out…"

"I'm sorry." Amara said.

"It's fine." Falcon told her, slightly smiling. "I came out here because I thought your tribe would know of the virus. Is it able to spread to us, the second generation?"

"We don't know. As fast as we found out about it, our parents began to die. They had found the cure in an abandoned government building and gave it to the entire city. It had never been written down, only memorized by a few of the members. Now that their dead, it's completely impossible to find and remake it. Anyway, I think we're safe for now…" She felt a little depressed… Safe for now- until it came back to take their lives as well..

Falcon placed his hand on hers. "Something is wrong. I can sense it."

"Wrong? What do you mean?" Amara stood up and turned her back to him. "I'm fine… just tired from the meeting."

He stood along with her, his body pressed close to her back. He placed his face right by her ear, brushing some of her brown hair away from it. "You don't fool me, Miss Amara. Those tears were tears of anxiety and fear." Falcon whispered. "You're scared you're going to fail."

Amara turned on her heel to look him in the eye. "Then I guess, Mr. Falcon, that you don't know me."

"Stop hiding from me- from everyone. You throw on this tough exterior, but I can see right through you." Falcon held up the back of his hand to brush against her cheek, but Amara quickly grabbed it.

"Somebody has to be tough around here. You weren't around when Brady and Niko got into another fight."

"It doesn't have to be like that, though-"

A crash from downstairs startled them both. A loud bell rang throughout the mall, causing Amara and Falcon to simultaneously cover their ears. "What the hell is that noise?" Falcon shouted over the loud wailing.

"It's the alarm… someone's broken in!" Amara slipped her feet into her boots and ran down the steps, Falcon behind her.

All of the tribe had woken up and were looking down the balcony at the gate. They all looked frightened. Bray, though groggy and half asleep, had a pistol in his hand. "It can't be Bulldogs. They would have already broken down the barricade. Good thing I sleep with this on my night stand." He kissed the barrel of the gun.

"HELP. PLEASE. FALCON." A voice screamed as five people ran inside.

"River?" Falcon said, in complete shock. He ran down to the bars, seeing his sister and four other Eco's, their clothing tattered and muddy. Each of them bore some kind of wound. He looked back at the rest of the Mallrats who were gawking over the balcony. "What are you waiting for! Open the gate!"

Lux nodded running back toward the cafe.

"Falcon, they attacked us… We barely escaped." The gate began to rise. River ducked underneath, along with the others, to get into the mall faster. She wrapped one arm around her big brother, tears falling down her cheeks. "Everything we've worked for… they burnt it all down. Every last bit of it."

"Who?" Asked Niko. None of the Mallrats moved… they could barely breathe.

"I-I'm not sure." River said to Niko. "They're… they're searching for someone. The name… I wish I could remember the name… my arm…" She held onto it, and Falcon knew she had been shot. "We ran into a hostile tribe as we came to the city…as if we needed anymore trouble."

"Bulldogs…" Tristan whispered.

"Oh, River." Falcon ran his hand through his sister's hair, embracing her. He didn't want to let her go.

"Everyone, escort them to the hospital downstairs. Tristan and I will resecure the mall." Bray said as everyone started helping the four other Eco's to the hospital, Falcon escorted River.

Amara ran up to him and stood alongside of River, helping her out as well. "It hurts so bad, Falcon. Why would anyone want to do this to us?" River moaned. The poor thing was in so much pain.

"Sounds like you ran into Bulldogs." Amara noted as they arrived to the Hospital. "But the burning down part… it seems fishy. You're so far from their territory. Lay on this bed, River." Falcon helped his sister lay down. The only critical injury she had was the gunshot wound to her forearm. There were a few cuts here and there on her face. It seemed she had been the only one to be shot. "Straighten out your arm… good girl." River did as she was told. Amara turned away from them, fumbling around on a table with already sterilized utensils.

"Falcon, I'm scared…"

"It'll hurt, but you have to be brave-"

"No, not this. These people had their faces covered in paint. They truly looked like death if I'd ever seen it… skulls painted there like they were actual bone…"

Amara turned back around with a tool to help extract the bullet, as well as a bandage. "I'm going to pull it out. It's going to hurt, but it needs to come out now. Are you ready?" River nodded, grabbing a hold of Falcon's hand, squeezing it to take her mind off the pain. Amara started to pull out the bullet and could see Rivers eyes filling with tears, her face beat red. Finally, for what felt like an hour to River, Amara pulled it out and put it on the table. She wrapped the girl's arm tightly. "All finished."

"Thank you." River said, the tears in her eyes seemed to just vanish. The girl looked back at the rest of the Mallrats caring for the other Eco's. "You have a tribe full of doctors?" She asked Amara, curiously.

"Everyone knows a little something about first aide. Our Elders taught us because they knew it would be useful." Amara told her. It was true. Lux was creating a make-shift sling for one girl and Brady was wrapping a male's torso. Niko was bandaging a child's forehead after she cleared some blood from her mother's nose.

Tristan and Bray came down the stairs. "Security is tightened. If they were being followed, we're ready." Tristan said, sporting a dagger in one hand and a gun in his holster. "Nobody's breaking in tonight."

Bray walked toward Amara, watching Falcon and his sister talking. "Bulldog attack?"

"They're blood thirsty people, but they would never go out of their way to destroy a tribe. When they reached the city, I think that they ran into a few… the bullet in Falcon's sister's arm is evidence of that. Bulldogs didn't destroy their camp… it sounds like something worse." Amara got the chills. "I don't like the sound of it, Bray."

River cleared her throat, turning to Amara and her half-brother. "They didn't follow us to you…the skeletons. I'm not sure about these Bulldogs." She said in a small voice. "One of the skeletons, I'm assuming that he was their leader… he was wearing this hat. It looked terribly familiar, like I'd seen it in old photographs." River was obviously a bit dazed from the severe pain she'd just endured. "He wasn't like the others in his tribe. He wasn't a skeleton. They were looking for someone. I don't remember the name…" She repeated as her eyes began to shut.

"She's exhausted…Where can they all sleep tonight?" Falcon asked Amara and Bray.

"We have cots. We can set a few up around the mall. And extra blankets and pillows.. we should have enough for everyone." Amara turned to the others who were talking and helping the Eco's. "Set up the cots and blankets, guys?" She asked, and they all nodded, sleepily.

"Thank you.." Falcon said, touching Amara's hand for a second. He then reached for River's hand and helped her up, escorting her with the other Mallrats to arrange the cots.

"He likes you." Bray noted as he watched everyone leave the Hospital. He slowly began cleaning everything up. "I can totally tell."

Amara's face fell into a deep blush. "Yeah, cool." Her heart began to beat faster in her chest. It was making her angry. "That's the least of my problems, Bray. We need to think about our newest threat."

"Let someone into that heart of ice, Freedom Fighter. You need someone to warm you up." Bray smirked.

"Bray, drop it." She snapped, then instantly felt guilty. "Sorry… I'm just not in the best of moods. I have a lot on my mind."

"Well, tomorrow we'll look into this new Tribe. I think you should go to bed, though. I'll do the rest of the cleaning up. You look a mess."

"Thanks, bro." Amara said, sarcastically, as she trudged upstairs.

What bothered Amara so much about Falcon taking interest in her? He could see through her mask- the wall she built after her mother had died. She needed to be a leader, someone who doesn't break easily. And yet she felt completely broken. The fact that Falcon called her out on this caused something in her stomach to tighten. She wanted to admit that she wasn't going to let him in, but she knew eventually he would barge right through her stone walls and fine the real her. Maybe Bray's right? She thought to herself as she lay in bed. Maybe I just need to let someone in for once? A chill went through her spine, causing the hairs on her neck to stand up straight.