(Clayton's PoV)

    The other guy had gotten really close to our side of the barricade. Logan, Daniel, Trevor, and I all fired our guns, but we were unsure if it was even one of our bullets that killed him.

    "Too close," Daniel said breathlessly.

    The four of us retreated farther behind the barricade for some space.

    Daniel eyed his gun in disgust. "I hate this thing. I know it's for my own protection, but still..."

    Logan slumped down beside a large rock. His eyes glanced to the side and he immediately shot upright and let out a small scream.

    Trevor laughed. "You sure you're a bass?"

    Logan continued to babble as he pointed to the rock. From behind it, a large snake emerged followed by three slightly shorter ones. I had seen garter snakes before, but these were nothing like those. These ones were thicker, and were grey-ish in color with brown triangles running down their back. There were also black lines on the side of their head. I had never even seen snakes like these at the zoo.

    Logan continued to wail.

    "Do you think I could kill them?" Trevor speculated.

    Daniel's frantic sarcasm caused his voice to go up an octave or so. "With your aim, I'm sure that'll go wonderfully."

    "What's going on?" We heard a voice.

    Justin.

    His eyes widened as he came upon our scene.

    The mom snake--at least I think it was a mom. I wasn't sure about the sex, but I sure as hell wasn't about to check--curled up around her babies. A thought occurred to me that likely wouldn't have if it weren't for the berry incident last month. "Guys, what if they're poisonous?"

    "Actually," Justin cut in. "The proper term is venomous. Poison is ingested, while venom is injected."

    I sighed through my teeth. "Justin, I cannot express how much I am not in the mood for a vocabulary lesson right now."

    "But I was going to say it is venomous," Justin explained. "It's a Deinagkristroden."

    "No wonder it's pissed off," I muttered. "It's got a stupid name."

    "Well that's its scientific name," Justin went on. "It's more commonly known as the Taiwanese famous hundred pacer."

    "That's racist," I pointed out. "You're calling it Taiwanese when we are obviously in China. Not all Asians look the same, you know."

    Justin put his head in his hands momentarily. "It's not...it's native...never mind."

    I turned to Logan and grabbed his wrist. "Stop flailing around," I chided. "Maybe if we stay still it won't see us. You know how to hold a position. You're in show choir," I reminded him. "Like during a competition last year the lights went out at the end of our opener and we had to-"

    But apparently Justin had something more important to say.

    "Forget the Taiwanese part. It's called the hundred pacer because its venom--which is a potent hemotoxin--is so strong it is said that its victims will only be able to walk 100 paces after being bitten before dying."

    And with that Logan's whimpering escalated again.

    "But you should still be quiet and still," Justin advised. "It's more afraid of us and if you don't move, it will think it has a chance to escape."

    All of us remained frozen. Logan had to grip his hands together and bite his tongue, but we all refused to move.

    The mom snake eyed us, trying to determine if we were a threat. After nearly a minute of deliberation, it promptly slithered off with its babies past the rock and into some bushes.

    We let out a collective sigh. We decided it was in our best interest to get the fuck out of there and never come back.

    As we headed back to the barricade, Logan was attempting to dry his eyes and hide his blushing. Trevor put his hand around his shoulder. "Hey, don't feel bad," he told him. "Any joke I said earlier, I didn't mean. That was really scary."

    "Yeah," Daniel agreed. "But thank god Justin was here to help us."

    "We definitely owe you one," Trevor chimed in and Logan nodded.

    Justin shrugged. "It pays to do research."

    Fuck research. It didn't take a genius to determine that not provoking a creepy snake was a good idea. How did I know that? Because staying still was my idea first. I literally said it before him. But it didn't matter because Justin said it with bigger, fancier words. As always, Mr. know-it-all saved the day.

(Matteo's PoV)

    Finally, it had arrived. I clutched the letter against my chest. I missed Emmy so much. I opened the note to see her tiny, rushed handwriting.

    Dear Matteo,

        It's always so great to hear from you, although I wish letters would travel faster. But it's always so relieving to know you're safe. I can't imagine what you're going through. It must be awfully scary. But I can't lie.

    My heart stung at that sentence.

        I'm terrified to go back to school in a few weeks. They keep saying something horrible is going to happen and deep down I know they're right. I wish you were here with me. It wouldn't fix things, but it would at least make things easier. Even though we're in different grades and never have classes together, I always feel safer just knowing you're around. Also your brothers can't stop bragging about how brave you are.

    I set the note down and placed my head in my hands. She looked to me for protection, but I was helpless. I couldn't fight and got beat up because of it. I was afraid of thunderstorms and it reduced me to tears when they occurred. And to top it all off, I was here. Unable to even attempt to suppress her fears. I was so useless.

        But me and them can't wait till you get back. Stay safe. I love you.

                                        --Emmy

(Will's PoV)

    It's just like drawing, I told myself. Except you have to say things. I gripped my pencil and stared at the blank sheet in front of me.

    Rose, I wrote down. What was I supposed to say to her?

    Well, we're sixteen now. I know since my birthday was yesterday and we have the same birthday since we're twins and all.

    God, this is why I don't talk. I crossed out the entire first two sentences, and tried to focus on more important things.

    I know we haven't talked at all since I left, but I just wanted to see if you were all right. Are our parents acting the same or have they gotten worse? Or hopefully they've been in a better mood since I'm not around. I just want to know.

    I wiped my clammy hands on my jacket before continuing.

    But I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For everything I ever did to you. I was stupid, heartless, horrible. I didn't mean any of it, I swear. I didn't know what I was doing. But please, I want to know if you're okay. I want to keep in touch. Do you?

    My head was hit with a sharp internal pain, which forced me onto my back. My mind was flooded with images of 9 year old me peering through the small window of the hospital room, barely getting a glimpse of the nurses sticking a needle in my unconscious sister. My mom stood behind me, watching the scene. Her breath still smelled like smoke. "That little girl is going to get it for the bill this is costing me."

    I shot upright, fidgeting and sputtering. What I did to her was horrible. And no amount of guilt or any apology could change that. All I ever did was make things worse. She rarely spoke with me when we lived together, so why on earth would she want to now? I'm sure she hated me--why wouldn't she? Hearing from me would only make her upset. I promptly crumpled the note up and threw it away.

    I was the most awful person on the face of the earth. There's no way she would ever want to talk to me.

(Tristan's PoV)

    Kierra had learned to accept (or at least deal with) my jokes and was willing to write to me again, although she was still thoroughly annoyed.

    Tristan,

        I wanted to let you know that you shouldn't be expecting as many letters from me. School is starting soon and this year I am enrolled in several advanced classes so I should have 3+ hours of homework every night plus fencing practice and bass rehearsal. I am going to be very busy. Attached is my schedule.

1st: AP Physics 1

2nd: AP European History

3rd: AP Biology

4th: Honors Spanish 4

5th (1st semester): AP Government and Politics - (2nd semester): Cross Training

6th: Honors Precalculus

7th: AP Language and Composition

    I examined her junior year schedule in horror. Why would someone do that to themself? I knew she wanted to get accepted into a prestigious college, but she had to be overdoing it. At least I hoped that was the case. I quickly got out my own pencil and paper.

    Kierra,

        I see you're just as determined as ever, but don't kill yourself in the process. I would hate to see you die (especially since I'm the one in the life threatening situation here). But seriously, take care of yourself. And try to keep writing to me. (Who else am I going to brag about all of my achievements to)? You're insane for taking on that workload, but good luck. Keep in touch.

                                           --Tristan

(Landon's PoV)

    Shit.

    That was the first word that came to mind when I woke up. My head throbbed and my vision was blurry even after putting on my glasses. I attempted breathing through my nose, but no air would go in. I coughed a few times though.

    "God, damnit." My throat hurt as I spoke. My entire mouth felt swollen.

    Tristan had to suppress his laughter upon looking at me. "Looks like someone's beauty sleep wasn't effective."

    I tried rolling my eyes, but that just made me feel dizzy.

    "You think Sgt. Blake would let you stay back?" Gavin asked.

    "Doubtful," I mustered out. "I mean he let Clayton and Logan stay here for a day last month, but those two apparently had the flu." I didn't even bother asking. I knew he'd say no.

    Despite the 80 degree weather, I was freezing. The constant rain didn't help any. I pulled my jacket tighter around my body.

    Gavin kept looking from over the barricade back to me. "So what do you think you have?"

    "Probably just a bad cold," I replied, wincing at the pain of talking. Even just trying to say a simple sentence was enough to bring me into another coughing fit.

    I was absolutely miserable for the rest of the day. Come dinner, I was desperate.

    "Holly, do you have any kind of pain-killer or cold medicine," I begged as she passed out MREs.

    "Yes, but they're not for you," she answered without even looking back.

    "Come on," Tristan pressed. "Look at the guy, he's pathetic." I kicked his shin underneath the table. "He can barely talk."

    Holly turned around and gave an exaggerated gasp. "Oh, what a shame."

    "Please," I tried, straining my voice even further.

    She placed the last MRE in her hand in front of me and cocked an eyebrow. "Landon, are you dying?"

    "Well no-"

    "Okay, glad we got that settled. I do have medicine, but I'm saving it for bigger issues." She pushed a few loose hairs away from her face. "You have a cold. It's not that big of a deal. You can come crying to me when you get shot." She left to go grab more MREs from the back.

    "Sucks, man," Tristan commented.

    I nodded and felt my face begin to tingle. Before I had any time to turn away, I sneezed all of my food. I pushed it away and sighed. It wasn't like vegetarian chili was bound to taste good anyway.