Quite seldom did she wake up before her usual rising hour, but that morning, she did, and it felt as eerie as the cold vacant place next to her on the bed. She stared at the ragged ceiling of her tent wondering where Sara could've possibly slept for the night, that if she slept in the first place.

Sighing, she got up in a sitting position and flexed her limbs a bit, allowing herself to breathe the fresh scent of the dawn air, at least as fresh as it could be in the polluted atmosphere they were living in. But as soon as she stood up, she heard a light rustle, and a glance down suggested the fall of a paper, a folded old brownish paper to be more precise. Kris knelt to retrieve it, her curiosity already settled in her head. And the thing is, unfolding the paper and reading those four words on it only confused her more.

Had to go, sorry.

-Sara.

She might not have noticed herself doing it, but she scrunched the paper into a balled mass of white fibre, clenching hard enough to physically hurt her fingers. There wasn't an explanation for the anger, or even a reasonable trigger, she'd gotten angry and that was it.

With her tent's curtain furiously run through, Kris headed straight to Mike's. Crashing inside without a warning, she slapped him awake.

Way too startled to figure out what's going on, he ended up staring at her with his slightly widened eyes and tomato tinted cheek.

She folded her hands and cleared her throat.

"What? What was that for?" he yelled, disbelief ruling over his words.

"This." She said, throwing the balled up paper at his face.

It took him a while to unfold it, and when he did, he looked back at her with the wrath of a citizen protesting injustice.

"Would you kindly elaborate, Kris?" His teeth were clenched so hard, they looked as if they were on the verge of breaking.

She sucked in one long frustrated breath and said, "It's either she left 'cause she was so done with your mess or you kicked her out of the camp, and both of which are possibilities with serious outcomes."

Huffing, he got up to his feet and threw the paper on the floor. "That bloke loser you brought here is not worth my attention, this has nothing to do with me."

"This has everything to do with you, Mike, don't you dare lie to my face!"

"Oh come on!" he muttered, cornering her in, "How about we start talking about how she changed you?"

"What on earth do you mean? I don't change for anybody, and you know this."

His sarcastic exaggerated laughter that followed sounded in the silence around them.

"Well then, what happened to the Kris I know?" her name was finished off by his index finger gently brushing her cheek.

Her eyes meeting his, she held his hand and started twisting it, his pain contorted face spoke louder than any scream.

"That Kris died when she found out you're a bloody murderer," she paused to spit at him, "Sara was right about you, I should've never trusted you after that, people like you don't deserve to be trusted."

"Oh, so you're now believing all the nonsense that girl says? After all these years of friendship? You can't be serious."

"I've seen proof."

"If you really got something on me, let the guys see it too." He said in a challenging tone.

Rolling her eyes, she balled her fist and punched him so hard, her knuckles hurt, although she chose not to show a hint of pain.

Taken off guard, he stumbled backwards, and before he could react, Kris shook her head and strode off and out of his filthy presence.

Her mind was a jumbled mess, an intricate complex network of thoughts she couldn't get hold of, not to mention how her emotions were out place. But if there was anything she was sure about, it was that Sara's disappearance was against her will. How? was the right question that had no answer in her train of thoughts. She struggled to make sense of it, and even the crisp outside air choked her. Breathing was hard, for how could she bear the presence of such a monster? She had to get rid of him, but that scumbag already knew too much, exposing them would be easier than sitting at a table for lunch.

______________________________

Asli was making her way out of the airport when she found herself in a thick endless forest, engulfed in the darkness despite the fact that it was noon, at least that was what her watch suggested.

The air was light, nevertheless, and she could sense some peaceful harmony in the silence. It was clear that somehow everybody ends up in those woods the moment they hop out of the plane, given how proximate they are to the airport. What wasn't clear though, was the location of the camp her friend was staying in, Engin gave no other instructions besides saying that it's in the middle of all that lush greenery she was lost in.

Her head throbbed from the long flight she had to take, but she was grateful she could book a ticket right on the spot with no one suspecting her fake passport. She sighed and walked ahead through the dried mud, pushing away tree branches off her way and trying not to step on scurrying squirrels or curious rabbits.

But the silence didn't last for long. The ground shook with angry persistent footsteps the sound of which not in the slightest bit drowned by the grass and wet moth. Asli gulped, the air suddenly constricting and hostile, and in the darkness of her fear, she stood paralyzed, holding her breath as the footsteps grew dangerously closer to where she was pinned.

Her eyes closed and her hands tightened around the trunk of a tree, what Asli wasn't ready for was the terrified shriek that erupted without warning, and before she could make out the scene around, a terrified face was staring at her.

She gasped, too startled to notice the gun pointed in her direction.

"Who are you?" Asli blathered in reflex.

"Who am I?" the woman exclaimed, "You're the one who's trespassing my territory, who are you?"

She took in a nervous breath, "Asli, Asli Yïldrem. I'm here for Sara, have you met a Sara around here?"

The woman facing her suddenly grew quiet, her chest heaving in a lost rhythm. Lowering the gun, and taking in a slow regulated breath, she said, "I know you. I'm Kris, the leader of the rebel group. I think I can help you."

Asli stared at her outstretched hand for a moment before giving it a good shake, all while sighing in relief.

"What do you mean he's gone?" Asli was yelling, her patience wearing thin.

"I don't know, I punched him and just stomped out. I left him here, oh God, this can't be happening, this can't be happening,"

Kris was practically having a panic attack, that, Asli was certain of. The girl was pacing around, anxiously holding her forehead and blubbering out incoherent words some of which she caught as probably gave us away already and shit no no no.

On their way to the camp, Kris had explained how Sara went missing early today's morning, and that even though she left a note, Kris felt it was fake and then proceeded to confront the only suspect who's basically an old friend who goes by the name Mike. She promised her that she'll force out the right information from him and get Sara back in no time. As a matter of precaution, she even sent the rest of the members of the group to look for her in every possible direction.

But the moment they reached the guy's tent and found it empty, Kris lost her mind, and honestly speaking, so did Asli.

"Now what? Where could've he gone that quick? You said you just left him right before you bumped into me."

"I don't know, I don't know. That guy knows too much, the Separators might be on their way to capture us already. Oh heck, no, we must leave this place, find the others, just immediately vacate."

Her hands were shaking so hard Asli felt more pitiful towards her new friend's emotional state than being anxious about going to prison.

She approached her and gently embraced her broad bony body.

"It's okay, it's okay, we'll figure it out." She murmured, patting her back in the process, trying to soothe her as much as possible.

Few seconds later, Kris pulled away slightly and Asli could see her looking at something behind her. As she turned to check it out for herself, one of the rebels, the girl, came running towards them, the guys following behind, all of which had the same horrified expression on their faces.

The girl spoke first, "It's too late."

Then the Asian guy, "They've already cornered the woods, there's no way out."

And the African guy added last, "Trust me, we tried our best to get out but we couldn't."

Puzzled, Asli asked the one question everybody knew the answer for but dreaded asking.

"What do you mean? Who are they?"

Her face drained out of blood and alarm seething in her voice, Kris said it out loud, once and for all.

"The Separators, they are here."

The sentence, the fact now being out only added to the pit of doom they seemed about to drown in.