I took off as fast as my little legs could carry me, ignoring the multiple scrapes and bruises the hanging tree branches left on me as I dashed through them. Running through a forest was not as easy as the movies make it seem; that was the first thing I learned from that experience.

The second thing I learned is that I was not made for running very far.

When I was still at the clearing, my brain had little time to process what was going on, but it was such an odd feeling, like I subconsciously knew what to do, that I should be running away and screaming for help, but that subconscious part of my brain was not connecting to the rest of me, leaving me frozen in fear. It was just like the first time 4 years ago, but that time I had no idea what to do. Now I knew what to do, but I wasn't doing it.

It wasn't until someone grabbed me from behind when my body finally snapped into action. The person grabbing me was too strong, though, and I was stuck before someone else punched them straight in the face. They let me go and I was dropped to the ground. I got back up as quickly as I could when I heard Kai yell at me, thankfully not an "I'm in trouble" yell, but an "I have to do something important and I have to do it now" yell, which still wasn't good, but what I much rather preferred.

"Lukey, run!" were the only two words they told me before more people showed up. They all focused on Kai as they began to attack the ambushers, leaving me with an open space to leave. That's where I started running through the woods with only one person deciding to chase me, but they were definitely more fit than me, and I'm 100% convinced that the only reason the chase went on for so long was because of my adrenaline pushing me forward. 

I have no idea how long I ran, just that I ran for way too long.  My muscles ached and burned by the end of it, so much so that when I tripped over a thick log, the pain of everything else masked the pain of my twisted ankle for a good few seconds.  And that was the third thing I learned; twisting your ankle hurt so much worse than any actor could depict it.  It didn't look like I reacted too much at the time, but that was just because I was super tired. 

I rolled onto my back to look up at the person chasing me, who had now stopped in his tracks right in front of me. He had on a dark grey and black suit that looked a lot like battle armor and held a pretty large gun in his hands. His hair was an orangey-red, freckles littered his otherwise pale face, the eye that was visible was a light blue, and his other eye, his left eye, was covered by a black eyepatch with a red "X" over it, which didn't cover a scar trailing downward across his bad eye, going all the way down to his cheek. Maybe he would've looked less intimidating if he wasn't planning on killing me. He took a walkie talkie out of his pocket and spoke into it.

"Signal to K-36, found the kid that ran off and they're currently mostly immobile. What do you want me to do with them?" He asked. The person he was talking to answered almost immediately, and while the volume was a little quiet, I could still make out what was being said.

"Bring them back to the camp area. Everyone else has already been taken away and there's plenty of them, so calling a worker all the way back to bring that one is just gonna be extra work. I'll see what to do when you get here."

He nodded and put the walkie talkie back in his pocket, walking closer to me and grabbing me by the back of my shirt. He dragged me all the way back to the clearing, which was not helping my ankle at all. Out of a frustrating sadness, I started to cry.

"What do you want from us?!" I yelled through my tears. "What did we ever do to you?!"

"Nothing." He answered calmly. "It's our boss that wants you guys back. Don't ask me why."

"Is this normal to you you psychopath?! Let me go!" I said, starting to flail around in an attempt to loosen his grip. Instead, it only tightened.

"Look, nothing's gonna get you out of this, and wiggling around like that isn't gonna help your injuries, so I suggest you stay still and quiet before I change my mind about bringing you back alive." He said. At first I didn't care, continuing to squirm as much as I could, but after a few minutes I grew too tired to keep moving sporadically like that, so I finally stopped and just let him drag me back. I felt bad about giving up so easily, but there was really nothing else I could do but wait for him to get to the camp.

When we finally got back, he threw me to the ground in front of the large metal can that held our still burning fire. Everyone else was gone and it was just me that was left of the group.

"So what do you want from them?" The redhead asked. I was too focused on my pain that I neglected to look up at the second person who was waiting for us. It was silent for a while until the other finally spoke.

"I think we should just leave them here. It's not our business if they die or not, and like I said, it'll just be a pain to bring them with the others. Besides, I'm kinda running on a bit of a time crunch here." He said, at least I assumed it was a he by the voice.

"Alright, fine." The first guy said. I heard footsteps stepping through the grass, but as I heard them fade out, I felt something light drop onto my shoulder. I finally opened my eyes to see the second person going to follow the first. I couldn't see his face from the back, but I could see that he had similar clothes to the first guy, except he had bright blue hair, slightly tanner skin, and a yellow tail with a patch of blue fur at the tip of it.

At the time, I didn't think much of the obviously not human tail, but what I did focus on was the object on my shoulder. Picking it up with my hands as they shook from the freezing cold and numbing pain, I realized it was a piece of paper folded into a small square. The front of it read "Do not open until the 5 layers connect".

With nothing else to do, I put the note in the front pocket of my overalls, figuring that even if I opened it now, I wouldn't be able to understand a thing. I was tired, cold, scared, angry, and almost every other negative feeling you could come up with. If what was in the note was as ominous as what was on the front, there was no way I'd be getting anywhere with it. I was starting to slip in and out of consciousness, doing so through the morning and all throughout the day. It was like a lightbulb that wouldn't work, turning on and off and blinking seamlessly until someone came to fix it, but that lightbulb was my only light, and I couldn't fix it on my own.

Dependency.  That was my character, right?  The lost and dependent child.  That was surely how I acted.  Maybe that was even what I wanted.  I never had a childhood, a real childhood.  My mom disappeared, my dad wanted me to be perfect.  John was the only friend of mine that he liked, and I never told him John was deaf and nearly blind.  After that, all the friends I had were my friends because I broke the rules to see them.  I met Kai at a pool party when my dad thought I was studying, I met Vinny and Jackson because of Vinny's cat, Biscuit, running away while I snuck out of the house one night, I met Dan because of the Bonfire 4 years ago, the Bonfire I wasn't supposed to be at.  I snuck out just to be there. Everyone around me thinks I'm an innocent kid. I was far from that. So far from that, yet that's the only thing people know me by. I know how to sneak around, I know how to steal, if I wanted to I could take anything I wanted.

I've stolen, I've lied, I've cheated, I've broken the law itself so many times.

I'm devious, and I'm seen as innocent. The innocent child of Kai.

Kai.

Mom.

They saved my life. Where were they? What did those monsters do to my mom?

***

"LUKEY!" I suddenly heard someone shout, quickly catching our attention.  Thomas ran as fast as he could to the source of the noise, leaving me not far behind him.

We snuck out less than an hour ago. Most of our time was spent preparing, grabbing flashlights, weapons and whatnot. We waited half an hour at the start of the dirt path, but the only people who showed up were Dan, Jordan, Jamila, Annie, and Alicia. We decided to just go with what we had and started looking around. Thomas and I agreed to search the pathway, while Annie and Alicia checked the woods together (we made it very clear that separating was a bad idea) and Dan, Jordan, and Jamila would search the main area for any items left behind. It's been less than a minute, and Dan already shouted.

When we got there, Annie and Alicia were already with them. They probably didn't even get a chance to head into the woods with how quickly they noticed the body.

Speaking of the body, there was Lukey, bloodied, bruised, and with a swollen leg. Dan was already knelt by them, gently helping them sit up while Alicia checked for a pulse.

"Holy crap are they ok?!" Jamila asked in shock.

"They're still alive, but I'm not gonna be able to fix this without professional help." Alicia said, helping Dan lift Lukey up. They muttered something, but it was completely incoherent to everyone. "We have to get them to the hospital."

I nodded, even though I knew full well what that could mean. It wasn't worth keeping this secret if it meant we'd be killing someone like Lukey.

"Just tell the doctors that they stumbled to Dan's house like this. It'll keep them off our tail for at least a little while." I said.

"Got it." Alicia said, carrying Lukey as quickly as she could back to Annie's truck. Annie followed with and so did Dan, so now it was just the 4 of us.

"I guess we can search around the campsite a little bit." Jordan suggested. "Maybe there are more people somewhere."

The rest of us silently agreed and went on to check the tents.