I felt completely relaxed with Demi, maybe partially because the chills were already gone, but I'd like to think her presence had something to do with it too. We walked side by side on our way to the town. Even though we had a lot to do, we didn't want to rush it only to get taken out by being too obvious a target. We had found a dirt road that led where we were going and followed it, passing the time with conversation. We talked about our families. I told her that my parents were missionaries and that my sister worked at a professional music studio. I couldn't resist telling her that Sidra had gotten me Haley Williams' autograph and to my surprise, Demi was excited. Apparently, she was a big fan of her work too.

"Like I said earlier, my mom and I were always close," Demi said. "We'd get together almost every week. My dad is great too, but he's not home very often. He's a lawyer and doesn't get much time off. Mostly, I remember him liking video games and puzzles. He used to try to have a home life along with his work life, but I think his work sort of...overwhelmed him without him noticing."

"How so?"

"Well, when I was a kid, I'd see him every day. But after a while, he was coming home too late most weekdays. By the time I was in high school, I usually only saw him on the weekend or late at night, and even then, he'd be taking calls all the time. So when I went to college, I noticed that my mom really didn't have anyone at home, so I wanted to make sure that I could see her as much as I could."

"You don't have any brothers or sisters?"

"No. I'm an only child. I'm sure mom has friends, but it's not something you really think about, you know? Parents are just...parents."

"That must've sucked. I can't imagine my dad not being around."

"Sure. But it's not like I have the worst sob story ever."

"Yeah, I guess not. Have you heard Saris' story?"

She looked at me curiously. "No, I haven't. Not sure if he'd want it broadcasted though. Or do you not mind getting on his bad side?" She said, elbowing me with a wink.

I thought about it for a long moment. He didn't tell me about Rayne until we had gotten to know each other a bit better. He seemed a lot more guarded about himself, at least with what he thought was important. Even some of the information he shared with me was just for me to hear, like when he told me about the graveyard stalkers.

"You're right," I conceded. "I should keep it to myself. But ask him sometime. It's a pretty eventful story."

Demi nodded slightly, "I'll think about it. Sometimes sharing stuff like that is a bit too personal and I don't want him to feel obligated to tell me."

The dirt road turned into the usual pavement and the first line of buildings from the town were close by. It didn't take us long to reach our destination, or at least, it didn't feel like it. Talking with Demi on the way had passed time quickly and it was all too soon that we had to stop our conversation. Minutes after reaching the pavement, the chills came and we were on alert. A voice stood out from somewhere behind the building to our right.

"Someone's nearby," an unseen stranger hissed.

"Quiet," another voice whispered.

I knew we should hide somewhere. If we stayed out in the open like this they would spot us and attack but if we took cover, we could pin them down and explain the situation. It might be a bit rough, but it was the best way to approach them without getting attacked.

"Hey!" Demi shouted and my eyes darted back and forth between her and the road, looking for someone to strike. "We're trying to gather forces to fight against someone who's attacked the graveyard north of here. We need all the help we can get."

As if all of my assumptions are wrong, the two figures stepped out into the open, weapons out but not raised offensively. "Who?" one asked.

"A fire user. He's got quite the army right now. Ten days from tomorrow, we're going to lure him to the beach on the west side near some cliffs," Demi explained.

"I know the place," the shorter one said. "I can't believe someone would do that, it's disgraceful. We'll go and let other teams we find know too."

"Thanks!" I said, "That'll help speed things along."

"Right." Demi thanked them too and we were able to pass without an aggressive confrontation. After we got several steps past them, I began to breathe easy.

"I can't believe that worked!" I said. "We might actually pull this off, especially if we keep asking people to help us find more allies."

"Why did you think it would be hard to convince them?"

"Well, it's just word of mouth. How do they know we aren't lying just to get past them without fighting. Or we could've taken advantage of that and attacked them after they believed our story."

"This isn't the type of thing you lie about. It can get you in real trouble once word got out, and trust me, it would. It might work once, but as soon as people know it's a play, you're in for a world of hurt."

"Yeah, I guess that makes sense. Nobody likes being tricked and that's kind of a morbid way to fool people. Kind of like making a joke about a mass murder or something."

"You could put it that way," Demi agreed. After a few more steps she turned to me, "You hungry?"

"Starving."

"Let's find somewhere to eat."

We only had to walk a short ways before we found a Subway, which instantly put a smile on my face, as that was the first place we ate together when we met last cycle. I thought of it like a first date, although I doubt that she'd say the same. We scoped out the restaurant before approaching the food bar. Demi went behind the counter, just as she had last time and playfully said in a dull tone. "Oh. You're back. What do you want?"

"I'll leave it to the chef to decide."

"Yay," she monotoned but smiled. She got out a flatbread and made a classic steak and cheese, then toasted it. After it was hot, she added green peppers, pickles and spinach to it, topping it off with chipotle sauce. She went over to the register, bagged the sandwich and said "That'll be nine hundred and fifty dollars, please."

"Woah! Before it was fifty!"

She shrugged, her face impressively neutral as she simply replied, "Inflation."

"Put it on my tab!" I said.

"All tabs are due at the end of the month. Enjoy your sandwich."

She turned back and made herself some food. She made the same sandwich that she made me last time, a Spicy Italian, and we chose a booth near a side of the building that didn't have any windows. Demi sat next to me instead of across from me to ensure that no one would be able to see us from the windows in the front of the building. The back of the booth was taller than our sitting frames and we would be able to eat in peace.

"As expected, this was worth every penny," I said after swallowing a mouthful of meaty goodness.

"Awe, you're sweet. I can't wait to get my thousand bucks," she said, taking a bite of her own food. "Hmm."

"What?"

"I dunno. It just isn't as good as I wanted it to be."

"Want half of mine and I'll take half of yours?" I suggested.

"Really? Thanks." We exchanged half of our sandwiches with each other. "Hey, I've been meaning to ask. Sorry if this ruins things for you, but how did you take killing Zack? You were pretty rough after your first and I just want to know if you were okay...you know, with the second."

"Actually, I was alright. It felt different. Maybe it was because I had been defending myself or maybe I was just mad enough at Zack that it didn't affect me as much. I'm not sure, but I made it through without really stressing about it. Plus I didn't really have time to since the next cycle sort of happened pretty quick after that."

"Well, I'm glad you're okay," she blushed slightly, which made me blush. "Umm...Well, we should strategize our plan."

"Right."

"We'll be doing everything east and south from the graveyard. I'm not sure how far south it goes but east is the farmland and this town."

"There should be a school near the southern edge of the border," I said, remembering how Saris, Anne and I had arrived at the graveyard.

"Alright. It's a lot of ground to cover either way. I'm not really sure if we can manage it, to be honest. We might want to just stick with the larger areas."

"Anyone who helps us can search with us, like the two we met earlier. That should help speed things along, right?"

"Kind of," Demi said, scratching her head. "It might also mean that we'll be running into people who already know, which might seem like a waste of time."

"Great," I sat back, disappointed.

"It's not all bad, we just have to organize our timeframe. If we have eight days, starting tomorrow, before we need to meet up with Saris, that means we'll have that long to find as many people as we can. The town is probably the biggest area, right? So we'll stay here five or six days, plus the rest of today, then spend the other two or three days in the graveyard and moving down the farmland. We'll get to the forest the day we meet with Saris and keep an eye out for anyone else."

"Yeah, alright. That's a good plan."

"You sound skeptical."

I shrugged, "It just feels like a lot of guesswork, ya know?"

She nodded, "It will be. There might be days where we don't run into anyone, but we need to keep trying." Demi leaned back in the booth, "For now, let's have some fun and talk about something else."

I agreed and we shared more about our lives before the game. Still, I couldn't help shake a feeling of dread or hopelessness. There was so much ground to cover and who knew how many teams were left out here, not to mention they'd all be on the move. Most of the remaining people could already be in Fire King's army. Finding everyone else was a big task and I wasn't sure I was the right one for the job. Still, it had been my idea. I was just going to have to accept that this was going to take a while.