Amelia's eyes fluttered open to the light of the morning sun seeping through the tent. With a groan, she stretched her arms over her head. She turned onto her side, her eyes widening when she found herself face-to-face with Ben.

"Shit!" Amelia cried out, her forehead colliding with his as she bolted upright.

"Owww." Ben sat up groggily, rubbing at the now reddened spot on his forehead. "The hell?"

"Get up, Ben!" Amelia urged him, now on her feet. "We fell asleep in here! My dad's gonna murder you if he sees us like this!"

This woke him right up. "Okay, I'm up, I'm up!"

The two teens scrambled out of the tent, only to be met with Leland, whose gaze flickered between them, brow raised.

Amelia threw her hands up defensively. "Leland, it's not what it looks like. We didn't do anything, w-w-we were just sitting and talking and we fell asleep, I swear to fucking god!"

Ben nodded hastily. "It's true."

The three of them stood there for a long, painfully awkward moment, before Amelia pulled something out of her pocket and held it out to Leland.

"I'll give you a granola bar if you don't tell my parents," she said with a sheepish grin.

The older man sighed and rolled his eyes, then walked away, shaking his head. "Fuckin' teenagers," he muttered under his breath.


"During the summer, I used to help out on a goat farm."

It had been a relatively quiet, peaceful day without any arguing. Amelia's parents had taken off for a hunting trip, while Amelia and Ben stayed at the camp, giving them a day to relax and spend some time together. As the night descended, the fire crackled softly, casting dancing shadows on their faces, the warmth of the fire contrasting with the cold night air. They were sitting together with their hands intertwined.

Amelia looked over at Ben with a playful smile. "Aww, I can just imagine little Ben playing with baby goats." She giggled, Ben's heart skipping a beat as he watched her nose wrinkle. "My parents used to just dump me off at summer camp when I was too young to be home alone. Though I got sent home early one year when I punched a girl in the face. Her tooth got lodged between my knuckles...it was nasty."

She let go of his hand for a second to the spot on her knuckle. "Still have the scar."

"But why?" Ben asked her.

"Bitch stole my Yoo-hoo!" Amelia replied. "Knocked her on her ass."

"A Yoo-hoo? She deserved it. I would've cheered you on."

Amelia jostled his shoulder playfully. "Dude, you're my soulmate."

The two teens dissolved into laughter, earning them a glare from Leland, who was sitting a few feet away from them, trying to concentrate on his writing. "Can y'all keep it down over there?"

"Sorry!" Amelia called out before turning back to Ben with a more serious expression. "Can I ask you a weird question?"

"Go ahead."

"Do you..." she swallowed nervously. "Do you think we were destined to meet? I mean, I-I don't usually believe in stuff like that, but...meeting you, it was like something clicked. Like there was a part of me that was missing and you filled it."

Amelia's cheeks suddenly filled with color and she ducked her head. "God, it sounds so lame, saying it out loud."

"It's not lame," Ben said, wrapping an arm around her and pulling her close. "You know I feel the same way."

Ben could feel her breath against his lips as Amelia started to close the short distance between them. "Ben, I-"

"Look alive, lovebirds."

Ben and Amelia jumped apart from each other, faces flushed, and looked in the direction Leland nodded his head. Amelia's parents had returned from their hunting trip and were approaching the camp.

"We're back!" Marie called out to them.

"We managed to catch a rabbit," Todd said, setting the animal down by the fire. "It ain't much, but it's better than nothing, right?" He stopped in his tracks and narrowed his eyes at the two teens then. "Did we...miss something?"

"No, Dad." Amelia shook her head with a casual smile. "Just business as usual."

"Hmph," Todd grunted before settling down beside Marie.

"Happy New Year," Leland spoke up suddenly.

Marie blinked at him questioningly. "Huh?"

Leland flipped his notebook around to reveal the date at the top of a blank page.

January 1st, 2004

Todd's eyebrows lifted in surprise. "Well, shit. Should we celebrate?"

"I know just the thing." Leland got up to retrieve something from his tent, only to return moments later looking unamused. "Which one of you drank my whiskey?"

Ben and Amelia exchanged guilty glances and snickers. "Heh," Leland chuckled, sitting back down. "Figures. Little shits. I'll let it slide, though."

Leland popped the cap off the bottle, giving a crooked smile and swirling it in the firelight. "How 'bout some resolutions? I'll go first. Mine's simple - to survive another year," he said before taking a drink.

"Sounds more like a challenge for your old ass," Todd quipped, eliciting laughs from the rest of the group.

"You ain't got much room to talk, jackass." There wasn't a hint of malice in Leland's voice. It was good to see them getting along for once. He passed the bottle to Todd. "Why don't you go next?"

Todd eyed the grimey label for a moment. "To find more booze," he declared, taking a swig.

"Shiiiiit, I'll drink to that!" Leland laughed.

Todd took a drink and passed the bottle to his wife. "Marie?"

Marie took a sip from the bottle and cleared her throat, the fire reflecting in her eyes. "My resolution is to stay positve, keep our morale up. And also to find some place safe and secure to settle down. I'm tired of being on edge all the time." She looked at her husband then. "Sorry hon, but you know this isn't sustainable. We're gonna have to leave eventually."

"Yeah." Todd crossed his arms and simply stared ahead. "I know."

Marie passed the bottle to Amelia. "What's yours, Mellie?"

Amelia took a drink and then pursed her lips. "Hm. Maybe one of these days I could learn how to grow our own food. Can't rely on scavenging forever." She passed the bottle to Ben. "And last, but certainly not least..."

"I-I dunno." Ben cast his eyes downward. "It's dumb."

Amelia bumped her shoulder with his. "C'mooooon, spill it!"

Ben looked into the fire, his eyes distant as he began to speak. "When I was with my old group, I made a lot of mistakes," he said, his voice rough but steady. He took a deep breath before continuing. "I want to keep you all safe because you guys are my family now. I need to show myself that I can be more than the mistakes I made. If I'm going to survive, I want to do it by making sure we all get through this together."

The group fell silent, the gravity of his words settling over them. Amelia's eyes softened, a flicker of sadness crossing her face, and without a word, she leaned in and wrapped her arms gently around his shoulders, pulling him close.

The whiskey bottle made its way back to Leland, who raised it high in the air. "Welp. Cheers," he said, before downing the last of it.


Amelia was about to settle into her sleeping bag for the night when her mother pulled her aside. "Mellie, your father and I need to talk to you.

Amelia sighed heavily. "Great. What now?"

Todd was dousing the fire and preparing to take watch for the night. He glanced at her over his shoulder. "You really think it's a good idea to spend all day tromping around in the woods?"

Amelia crossed her arms. "I mean, what else is there to do around here?"

Todd shifted uneasily, looking to Marie for support. Marie stepped closer, her voice gentle yet firm. "We've just noticed you've been spending a lot more time with Ben lately."

Amelia's expression tightened. "Are we doing something wrong?"

"No, no," Todd said quickly. "It's just, uh...you encourage him a little too much. You should set limits.

"Don't you like him?"

Todd hesitated, searching for the right words. "I think he's a decent kid, yes. Better than the punks you used to run around with. But this ain't exactly the best time for romance, and frankly, I don't think I approve of all the necking."

Amelia turned her face up at this. "Gross."

"Look, just don't take things too seriously," Marie told her. "That's all we're asking."

Amelia's frustration bubbled over, her fists clenched. "I'm not a kid anymore. I can make my own decisions."

With that, she turned on her heel and stormed back to her tent.