Wilson's POV

"YOU'RE A MORON. YOU TOOK US ONE STEP TOO CLOSE TO DEATH, HALF-BREED," WX hissed to a defiant Webber.

"We're the moron!?" Webber shouted, sounding completely enraged. "We could've saved your life you ingrate! Besides! We tried to go away from the death-monster that wanted to eat us."

A lone spark flew away from the robot's shoulder, but he didn't pay much attention to it. "YOU KNOW VERY WELL WATER COULD KILL ME FAR MORE PAINFULLY THAN ANY BEAST."

"It's all about you, isn't it?"

WX sharply pointed at me. "HE NEARLY DROWNED."

"You're so afraid of water," Webber taunted. "when really if anything's gonna kill you painfully, it's us." WX took a threatening step forward, his fist preparing for the punch.

"Stop it!" I barked, thrusting my way between them and holding them at arm's length away from me. "You two have been arguing since we got back and I'm sick of it!"

Two enraged pairs of eyes turned to glare at me- one pair white and the other pair non-existent. "Good point Wilson! You were the one that decided to go that way even though there was something clearly there that wanted to kill all of us!" Despite the fact neither Webber nor WX was my size- WX's height brought him to about my nose and Webber's barely above my waist- they were beyond intimidating when they were both glaring at me with such intensity either might attack at any second.

"It was none of our faults! It was a simple mistake anyone could have made! Perhaps a mistake that needed to be made to learn about this world!"

"YOU FORGET THIS IS THE SAME ONE THAT WAS STUPID ENOUGH TO RUN RIGHT INTO THE BEARGER," WX sneered.

"And you two got attacked by a tree guard not three days after we came here," I growled, my patience wearing thin. I took a deep breath, trying not to lash out. "It's winter. We can't keep arguing and fighting like this if we want to survive it."

"WE WOULDN'T HAVE ANY PROBLEMS IF THE GENIUS ACTUALLY PLANNED SOMETHING."

"Look here." Finally snapping, I abandoned my stance to keep the two apart to shove my face into WX's. "We need each other to survive. We've made it this far together, and we can get through this together."

"WE DON'T NEED YOU, SCIENTIST." Before I could even respond or comprehend what was going on, I was flung backward, holding my nose as the world tilted and pain blossomed through my face. Something warm and sticky was dripping through my fingers, and it took me a second to realize exactly what happened and jumped forward instantly to return the punch. Before I could, however, I fell, still dizzy after the sudden trauma to my face. In the corner of my eye, I saw Webber lunge towards him, his knife gripped tightly in his hand as he apparently aimed to stab the robot in the chest with it. WX spotted the attack, though, and quickly grabbed Webber's dominant hand, apparently squeezing it a bit judging by the expression on the boy's face.

WX ignored him and instead glared down at me. "YOU ARE NOTHING BUT TROUBLE," he spat, and it took me a second to realize he was still talking to me. "YOU AREN'T STRONG, YOU AREN'T FAST, YOU AREN'T EVEN SMART EVEN THOUGH THAT'S WHAT YOU APPARENTLY PRIDE YOURSELF ON. WE DON'T NEED YOU."

"You're wrong! I'm the only one who knows anything about medicine and wounds!"

"We wouldn't need that if we never got hurt," Webber answered, breaking away from WX's vice grip and rubbing his wrist with muffled growls.

"Oh? And you think you can fight beasts like that on your own?"

"WE WOULDN'T HAVE TO FIGHT THEM IF YOU WEREN'T ALWAYS GOING OUT OF YOUR WAY TO FIGHT THEM!"

I narrowed my eyes, switching the hand holding my nose and pulled myself to my feet. "You know what? Maybe you're right." I grabbed my spear and grabbed it tightly until my knuckles popped. "And maybe I don't need you either." With that final comment, I turned and marched away, and I could feel their gazes boring into my back. No more. They can go get themselves killed if they want, but I'm not going to be a part of it.

…

Earlier

...

"It's too cold," Webber complained, his breath billowing out in a cloud. "We're gonna freeze to death." He looked up at the frosty branches above us. Even though this place had been a beautiful place during the fall with its multi-colored leaves, seeing the birch forest in winter was an even more amazing sight. The firey leaves that had clung to their perches in the months before now carpeted the ground and shone with a certain sparkle only frost and snow could give.

"Nonsense!" I replied cheerfully. "You're just being dramatic."

"I'M NOT PARTICULARLY ADVANCED IN THE KNOWLEDGE OF YOU MEATSACKS," WX mused. "BUT I'M PRETTY SURE COLD CAN KILL YOU QUITE EASILY."

"It's not that cold. Besides, we haven't all been exploring together since... well, I don't think we ever have, and I'd like to do that before it actually gets cold and we have to deal with that." I crossed my arms as Webber rolled his eyes- which was quite impressive given he had no pupils.

"Fine. Have us catch our death of pneumonia, see if we care when you idiots get yourselves killed without us." He shoved me in an almost affectionate manner. He was in a surprisingly good mood considering his recent bout of mild depression. I laughed a bit and continued walking, but Webber stopped suddenly, his whiskers twitching. "We shouldn't go there," he said uneasily. WX and I just looked at him.

"Why not?"

"We've learned to use our gut feeling to figure out where to go." He shook his head and pointed towards the path I was following. "That's not safe."

"YOU'RE BEING RIDICULOUS," WX scoffed. "THE ONLY THING THAT'S NOT SAFE IS STANDING AROUND IN THE COLD WAITING TO FREEZE TO THE GROUND."

"It's not safe!" He insisted. "We know! We've survived out in the wild before. You have like- what- a couple of months of experience?"

"It doesn't matter. We're going to keep going." I scowled at the kid. He had to learn sooner or later that he wasn't the boss around here. Given his age, he shouldn't even be out there. For all we knew, he could've been lying about everything.

"You're going to regret that," he hissed, but he followed anyway.

The path was actually better lit than the one we had been on previously. Bramble and brush had been shoved away as though it was a path often used by others. Maybe other humans! I thought hopefully, the idea bringing speed to my feet.

In hindsight, I couldn't have been more wrong.

Eventually, we reached a vantage point of the forest. You could look at it and see the entire wood, including a distant smudge I assumed was the savanna that separated the birch forest and the forest of evergreens that our base was hidden in. That wasn't what caught my attention though. Beside me, Webber stiffened with fear and even tough WX froze. For the longest moment, we weren't able to speak, and the silence felt unnatural before Webber finally broke it.

"That's a big deer," he hissed.

As though the sound of his voice wasn't as quiet as it had been, the monstrous beast was obviously alerted to our presence. It was far below us and probably a mile away, and considering how steep the landscape fell away from where we stood, it shouldn't have been able to get us. The moment that single, vicious eye locked on me, a deep feeling of dread made its way into my chest.

It was a certain feeling I was about to die.

I knew I was about to die.

I tried to take a step back but my legs refused to listen. The Deerclops and I stared at each other for what felt like an eternity. It roared and took a step forward. The ground shook under its enormous weight. "Guys," I forced out, even though my throat felt like it was full of gravel. As though breaking them from a trance, they slowly turned to look at me. "Run."

The calmly give order conflicted with its urgency, but they picked it up. Behind us, I could hear the beast's heavily thumping feet as it gave chase. I was going to die.

I was going to die.

I risked a glance behind me only to have pure terror drive me to run faster as the Deerclops cleared the drop in a single bound, its eye red with anger. WX was just behind me, and Webber was ahead of me. I gritted my teeth and pushed my body to its limit. I was already running out of breath, and even if I could think of a way out of this I couldn't breathe well enough to tell the others.

I was trapped in this state until I ran out of breath and then? What would become of me? Well, I'd probably get eaten by that one-eyed monster, so that wasn't really an option. My sense of direction had long since fled me, and I just blindly followed Webber's lead. When he stopped I barely stopped in time to keep from crashing into him. "What are you doing? Move!" I shouted, but he shook his head stiffly. I looked beyond him to see greenish blue motion, sloshing endlessly around until it met the sky and most likely even further.

The ocean.

It was the end of the line. Just as WX skidded to a half beside me, Webber flipped around with a scowl. The Deerclops, as though it had realized its prey was cornered, seemed to grin as it slowed down, apparently content to literally scare us to death.

"Jump." WX and I sharply glared at him.

"IMPOSSIBLE."

"Is that all you've got?" Webber challenged the Deerclops, stepping a bit closer to it. Now that it was up close, I could see just how large it truly was. It was taller than three of the trees around us put together and then some. It terrified me. How Webber was able to walk towards it like that was far beyond me. "Chasing pathetic, starving, and weak humans to their death?" He bared his teeth. "That's just sad, even for such an oversized throw rug." He spat the last two words.

"We have to jump." Desperation began to sink in as WX shook his head. "He's going to get himself killed if we don't."

"YOU'RE GOING TO GET ME KILLED IF WE DO!" He protested.

I frowned, trying to think quickly. The Deerclops took a step closer to us, nearly shaking me off of the cliff face. "Hold your breath." I didn't even have times to register Webber's words before I had been shoved over the edge.

I was in free-fall, the waves rapidly coming closer. I took the deepest breath I could muster before I hit the water. I felt my legs being caught by the undertow, but the adrenaline rush and the frantic flight drained me of almost all of my energy. I just managed to look up, seeing that single eye one final time before it turned and stalked away, apparently satisfied with how dead we were.

…

I coughed up a lungful of water, the salt stinging my throat and making my eyes water. I rolled onto my side with a soft groan, coughing up somehow still more water. How much did I swallow? I wondered dazedly.

"You're alright," Webber breathed- the first sign that I wasn't alone. I squinted up at him, trying to blink away the blurriness to make our any details of his face. I tried to speak, but my throat was burning too much. "WX is okay too. He's back at camp. We waited for you for a bit but when you didn't appear we came back for you."

"How long was I out?" I croaked.

"A couple hours at most."

I frowned and struggled into a sitting position.

"Are you okay?"

"I'm fine." That wasn't completely true. My limbs felt like they were made out of lead and my head felt like it was full of cotton.

"We'd better get back soon, then."

…

I tossed my head to the side. It didn't matter. I didn't need them. My spear weighed heavily on my shoulder, but the I admittedly like the sensation that there was something other than me. Half of the forest was in between the other two and me before I was able to relax. I took a deep breath and pressed my back against a tree and slid to the ground. I clenched my fists. If they didn't want me, I didn't want them. It wasn't survival anymore, it was a contest.

A contest I didn't plan on losing.