By mid-afternoon Susan saw the skid marks on the interstate and slowed down before doing a half doughnut with the SUV until it faced the forest. Exhausted from all the driving she turned to check on Jason. Finding him asleep again, Susan turned around in the seat and rested back in the comfortable seat resting her head for what was only supposed to be a moment.

When she opened her eyes, she quickly realized that she was in a tent out in the grass from the scent that filled her. She was laying down on homespun blankets that covered her from head to toe. The beige material of the tent rippled with the light breeze. Moving the tent flap aside she crawled out. Susan soon realized that she was in the camp.

To the right of her was another tent in green. The light cool breeze moved her clothing as she raced to see if Jason was in the tent. Pulling back the tent flap she looked inside the well lit tent and there was Jason.

Jason felt the cool air and turned his head to see if Laurie was back. His eyes met Susan's and her smile warmed his heart even though he was a little angry with her for driving for so long she collapsed of exhaustion. She shouldn't have done that. Not just for him. "Come on in and take a seat. As you can see there's a lot of extra room by the mattress." He sounded tired despite all the sleep.

Susan was extremely curious about how they got a mattress but figured she'd ask Laurie later on. The tent was huge compared to the one that she woke up in, at least 8ft. by 8ft. The ceiling was high and medicines were kept at the far end. "Are you alright?" She asked tentatively.

"Yeah." He answered as he looked back at his padded rear end. "Getting me here as fast as you did, helped save my life. The bullet was a .45 which is why it was bleeding so much. Stopping to pick up all the medical supplies and using some on me was the best thing that could have happened. I mean, I was really knocked out with fever but they tell me that it's coming down fast. Now enough about me, what of you? Have you slept enough yet?" He watched as she moved up and sat near his head.

Carefully she lifted his head sideways and scooted beneath him where she gently laid his head in her lap. "I'm fine, though I could still go for another ten day's sleep." Her smile was infectious but then it dropped. "You know they will be coming for us, right?"

Nodding she ran her fingers through his soft brown hair she answered, "I know they will. The cure is worth too much money and all countries that can afford it will buy it. They'd come after us because we created it and could create it for others, at a cheaper price. They'd no longer have a monopoly on it."

Susan turned toward the tent flap as cool air rushed in. She was physically relieved as she saw Laurie stick her head in. "We have a slight problem. It seems your CIA friends caught up with you already. We have six SUV's out on the road. Michael is holding them there at the moment." Laurie moved over to Jason and pulled back his pants.

"Laurie!" Jason exclaimed as he turned red faced in front of Susan's lap.

"No need to fuss. I'm sure Susan has seen a bare rear end before." Laurie chuckled as Susan turned her body to the side facing away from Laurie and giving Jason his privacy.

As quickly as they could, Laurie had Susan pass her the medical supplies. Removing the thick bloody gauze she cleaned the stitched up area with Betadine and placed padding and several layers of gauze over the wound. Taping it in place so it wouldn't move, Laurie raised Jason's pants back up for him knowing that he'd want to be there for the confrontation with the CIA agents. "Okay, it's safe to look at him Susan." She said with a grin.

With red cheeks, Susan turned back and smiled at Jason. "If you're not ready for dealing with the CIA out there, I can do it alone. Just please don't push yourself Jason." The wrinkles in her forehead showed how concerned she was.

Wincing Jason turned onto his good side and laid his hand against her left cheek. "I must have done something really good to have deserved you. However, Laurie had it right, I'm going with you."

Laurie turned around and exited the tent without a word with Susan following behind her. Jason did the same catching up to the women outside with a grunt of pain, as he stood up next to them both.

The forest smelled almost tangy to the nose due to the fire that had taken place there. New twigs and branches were trying to grow. It was still as lovely as they remembered. Sadly, only a few of the treehouses survived while tents were set up everywhere. Laurie had disappeared into the trees leaving Susan and Jason to walk the path to the SUV's together.

In the distance the SUV's showed up sitting across the opening of the path, the moonlight glinting off of their hoods. A single silhouette of a man stood before two misty blazing headlights with his arms held wide to show he had no weapons. It made an eerie sight which made them squint their eyes.

Jason took Susan by the hand until he stumbled a little. Quickly, she grasped his arm and tossed it over her neck to support him.

The headlights went out and soon Michael stepped out from the trees. "Good to see y'all again. Anyway, my guys have the 8 men in the SUV's held off with weapons, except for the one that is out in the open holding his hands up. He's been thoroughly searched.

As their eyes adjusted to the darkness they saw who it was.

Stephen.