I grip the waxed string of my bow and draw it back before quickly releasing it. The arrow zips through the air before smacking the centre of the target which I had put up only weeks ago. Walking up to the beaten and splintered wood I pull on the arrow before the wood gives away abruptly, making me stumble back. The arrow rolls in the palm of my hand as I walk to my spot on the grass. I sit down as the tiny green blades part away from my weight, the dew still cool and shining on tips of the plants.

I close my eyes and rest the arrow and bow at my side as my head falls to my knees. I sigh and listen to the quiet birds chirping and let my mind wander as I twiddle a the grass in between my fingers.

"Jean! Stop!" Izzy calls out to me as I walk away spinning a blade a grass between my index finger and thumb, "you need to be patient."

"It's been three weeks Iz," I shoot back as I finish packing my quiver with arrows, "I'm going back to see the Immunis and mom."

"Stop lying to yourself, you're going back to see Luke."

"Even if I was what does it matter to you?"

"You're my sister," Izzy rests her hands on my shoulders and forces me to look into her eyes, "I can't let you make rash decisions because you want to."

I pull away and hoist my bag over my shoulder, "I'm not staying in this dungy cave in enemy territory like a sitting duck because my know-it-all sister says so." I whip around and burst out of the darkness into the cool air.

"Jean," James sighs as he walks towards me, "listen to your sister. You are being stupid and rash. Roxy isn't coming back and you can't take it out on your sister forever— she's the only one you have left."

I shake my head and push past James, "I don't care. I'm leaving this stupid place."

"This stupid place is keeping your ungrateful ass alive," Adam growls against a tree.

I turn to look at him, hate churning in the pit of my stomach which projects in my cold eyes. "Get out of here Adam. Let me spell it out for you, I. Don't. Care." I snatch the bow which rests on the side of the stone, vine-covered cave. It was once a building or monument out in the middle of nowhere, and now it's harbouring fugitives.

"Fine Jean!" Izzy yells as she breaks through the vine curtain over the cave entrance, "let Roxy die for nothing because of your stupid ideas. Don't avenge them because you are too caught up in yourself."

My determined walk stops and I turn around, "Don't talk about them. You don't know what I went through with her."

"I was her friend too," Izzy tears up and walks towards me, "I know how you feel, but doing this isn't going to help." I look away from her intense eyes as her hands find my arms, "We are all hurting, but we aren't training every hour of the day and pushing the ones we care about away because we think that's going to help with the feelings. Just let us in."

I feel the tears working their way to the surface so I push Izzy away from me, "I'm fine. I don't hurt, I want to hurt someone—to kill Lady and I will do exactly that with or without you." Turning around I walk away from the strangers behind me, "I'll kill her if it's the last thing I do."

I raise my gaze and shift my shoulders. They ache from sleeping outside. It isn't like it is in the movies, everything is tense and I can't help but let the hate and vengeance consume my heart. I stand up and pull my bow out before loading it with an arrow. I walk a bit before spotting a few fat grouse in a tree, pulling my string back I let it roll off my finger tips as the arrow strikes the bird underneath its wing. The rest fly off in a swarm, the thump of their wings only encouraging me to pull another arrow out. In the end two lay on the ground and I walk over to them, wringing their necks so their bodies finally stop twitching and convulsing as they try to resist the persistence of death.

I walk back to our cave before I hear mumbling past the vines.

"She's lost it Izzy," Adam whispers lowly, "she is crazy and dead weight."

"Be careful what you say Adam," Izzy hisses, "it doesn't matter if she's lost right now, she is still my sister."

I bust through the vines and chuck the two birds onto the ground, "the dead weight brought food." I turn to walk out as James and Izzy stare at me, Adam not daring to look up at my disgusting figure.

"Jean..." she tries to stand up but I shoot her down with a wave of my hand.

"Whatever."

Flinging the vines aside I walk to a nearby creek where I set my bow at my feet and wash the dried blood off of my arms and clothes. The water trails off of my fingers and brings me back to the rain of my first night away from everything.

"We're here," Isabelle stares at our new makeshift home as the rain pellets down washing away the remanence of dirt and failure on my clothes and skin. A collapsed concrete building which has formed a vine-moss covered cave that is tucked away among many tall and thick trees which support it.

"Is it stable?" Adam asks Izzy.

"Well... it lasted this long." She replies grimacing at the cracked stone.

"According to my calculations the building on the right is about 49 degrees resting on another plank which holds up—" James is cut off by Iz shaking her head as her hand covers his mouth.

"Give it to us straight," she sights, "is it livable?"

"Due to the angles the building has created when it collapsed and the rate of its current condition regarding the cracked concrete and corrosion I'd say we have about two years in this building at best. But there are also other future factors I haven't calculated so it could be less."

"So livable." Adam sighs and walks into the cave without hesitation.

"For now," James raises an eyebrow and follows after him, "Adam is more unstable than this building."

Izzy begins to follow after James, leaving me in the rain to soak in all of the events that have unrolled before be like a fallen ball of yarn. I drop to me knees and let my tears finally catch up as the hopelessness and frustration consumes me completely.

"Jean?" Iz turns around to see my shaking figure crumpling to the ground before her, "Jean... I know. It's hard, we lost everything but we can get it back."

"We can't get Roxy back, she can't be replaced or bought." My voice shakes as the world around me as the weight of my loss has finally rested on my shoulders, "she's gone forever and I'm never going to hear her voice again. I can't hug her or tell her I love her. I can't save her. She is gone and I'm at fault."

"Don't take this burden on yourself, we all share it," Isabelle plops down beside me as the rain washes over us.

"What if Luke doesn't survive? What if he doesn't come back?" I ask my heart physically aching at the pain of my loss, "He never let me tell him that I love him."

She sniffs and cries with me, "I know, I'm so sorry you have to go through this. I'll make it better, I promise."

I shake my head, and let a loud sob out, tears blending with the droplets of rain. I'm tired of promises, Luke made a promise to come back to me and I'm afraid he won't keep it. "I miss Roxy, I miss mom, I miss Luke, I miss home."

"I miss them too," Izzy sniffs and holds me tighter, "if Roxy were here she'd know just what to say. Probably insult us or mention how ridiculous we are being crying on the ground together."

I sigh in agreement, she would. She would hug me and we'd hold each other, all three of us together while Adam and James would be trying to conspire something. It would be so much easier if we were all together, but life isn't easy and strives to make us stronger with loss. I hate it. I wish with everything in my heart that Roxy and Danial could be here with me, but wishful thinking isn't going to get them back. I can't do anything except one thing; avenge them. I will train and fight every hour, so when the day finally comes I will be able to kill Lady.

I move away from the clear creek which rushes over the smooth clean rocks. Drying my hands I try to rub away the pain and frustration as if I can ignore it long enough it will go away.

Picking my bow from my feet I straighten up and sigh as the sunlight is broken by the leaves on the trees. The light scatters shakily on the ground like thousands of broken puzzle pieces.

A crack of a stick comes from the bundle of birch trees just across the creak from me. I slowly load my bow hoping it's a deer, I lift up my bow and draw the string to my cheek. I wait before walking forward a couple steps, something tells me this isn't a deer.

"So," I call out into the forest, noticing a hand grasping the branches, "what do you want?"

Silence follows before a figure steps out from behind a tree and smirks flirtatiously, "You."