"Almost there, just a little bit further." Mark panted, mainly to encourage himself forward as he adjusted the position of Thomas and Paul. He was beyond tired, every muscle screaming in pain and exhaustion, his wound burning like it was on fire. His feet were caked in dirt and were trudging forward inch by inch robotically as if Mark was programmed to only move forward.

Mark felt Paul stir, so he paused for a moment to see if he would wake up.

"Where am I? Hello?" Paul groggily called out.

"Glad you're up." Mark carefully lowered him to the ground with a tired smile, allowing Paul to rest a hand on his shoulder so he could steady himself. He was glad to finally get a break, even if it would be a small one.

"You feeling okay?" Mark examined Paul's eyes for signs of head injury.

"Yeah, I'll be good in a sec." Paul shook his head as if in a daze.

"Concussion?" Mark grimaced.

"Definitely." Paul nodded, wincing at the movement.

"C'mon, the village isn't far from here." Mark started walking off.

"We can't go there, we'll be killed!" Paul exclaimed.

"I have to try and save my brother." Mark spoke through gritted teeth as he pressed onward, not bothering to see if Paul would follow.

Mark heard Paul mutter choice words under his breath accompanied by the his footsteps stomping after Mark.

"Do you really think they will help us?" Paul scoffed doubtfully.

"It's better than nothing." Mark attempted to shrug, which didn't really work since Thomas was still slung over his shoulder.

Mark motioned for Paul to stop for a moment as Mark edged close to the edge of the village, making sure he was still concealed by the thick line of trees.

"Who's there?"

Mark jumped when he realized that there was a man standing at the edge of the forest. He had white hair, but he wasn't Felix. His ocean blue eyes seemed gentle and even friendly as he scanned the borderline.

"I know you're there Shadower." The man'a lips turned up in a small reassuring smile.

Mark glanced back at Paul, but he was gone.

"Paul!" Mark hissed when he spotted his friend stepping out of the forest towards the man.

"Paul? It's been so long since I've seen you!" The white haired man exclaimed as he hugged Paul.

"It's okay Mark, you can come out." Paul coaxed Mark.

Hesitantly Mark crept out of the safety of the forest, eyeing the man warily.

"Mark, this is Matt. Matt, this is Mark." Paul introduced the two to each other.

"How do you know him?" Mark glanced between the two.

"Matt saved me when I was left in the woods, as he has done with a lot of other people." Paul explained.

"Can you help my brother?" Mark delicately lifted Thomas off of his shoulder and held him bridal style in his arms.

"My wife Amanda is a better nurse than me, I'll take you two to my home." Matt guided them to a house that was directly by the forest, far away from everyone else.

"Oh, more Shadowers. Come on in!" A brown haired woman Mark assumed was Amanda led Mark and Thomas inside and opened a trap door that led to a spacious basement filled with other people like them.

"You stay up here, I'll take care of your concussion." Amanda instructed Paul.

"I'll let you know when your friend wakes up." Matt promised Mark as he walked down the creaky wooden set of stairs to join the others, the door closing above him.

It was brightly lit with several light bulbs dangling from the ceiling, the floor made of wood like the walls. Cots lined all of the walls except the back wall, which had a knit rug, a couple of chairs, and a furnace.

"Hey, I'm Mike." A man with short black hair and a thick black beard introduced himself to Mark.

"Have you seen anyone else come down here?" Mark asked, a glimmer of hope igniting in his chest.

Maybe my friends survived and came here, Mark thought hopefully.

His hopes were crushed when Mike shook his head no.

"There's only myself, Devyn, Sam, Bobby, and now you." Mike listed off.

"Your friend is awake." Matt called down to Mark.

Mark immediately bolted up the stairs to see his brother lying in the living room on a cot similar to the ones downstairs, feeling his heartbreak at the sight of seeing him so bloody and broken. His eye was still swollen shut, but didn't look as black. He had a gash across his chest that was bandaged.

Paul was lying in a cot across from Thomas, his ribs and head bandaged. He seemed in better shape, but still looked in rough shape to Mark.

"It's good to see you again." Thomas smiled weakly at Mark, attempting to sit up.

"You need to rest." Mark reminded him as he gently pushed Thomas back down, tears pricking his eyes. He barely knew him, yet he had almost died to save him from a problem Mark had created.

"Is he okay?" Thomas glanced over at Paul's unconscious form with a hint of concern in his tone.

"Concussion and broken ribs." Amanda chimed in from where she was leaning against the doorway of the room, a tray of wooden bowls filled with soup in her hands.

"I figured you'd both be hungry." Amanda gave each of the brothers a bowl and spoon, as well as a piece of bread.

Mark didn't realize how hungry he was until he greedily slurped the soup down, saturating his bread with it until the soup was all gone.

"Thank you." Mark remembered his manners as Amanda took the bowl from him. Mark helped Thomas drink some of his soup before he slipped back into unconsciousness.

"He's very strong, nearly knocked me over when he woke up to find you." Amanda remarked.

"Felix is coming, I need you three to go downstairs so he doesn't find you." Matt told Mark, Paul, and Thomas.

"It's not safe to move Paul and Thomas due to their injuries." Amanda shook her head.

Mark jumped in surprise when he heard someone bang on the door.

"Matt, I know you're sheltering Shadowers!" Felix yelled as he continued banging on the wooden door, nearly breaking it off of its hinges.

"Take Luna and get as far as you can from here, I'll try to fight off Felix the best I can." Matt instructed Amanda, kissing her on the lips before she ran into an adjacent room, returning with a baby girl bundled up in blankets before she left through the front door with Matt in tow.

"There they are!" Mark heard Felix yell. His mind flashed back to an image of an unfamiliar woman holding him in his arms as baby running towards the woods. He shook his head before darting outside as well to help the couple.

Mark spotted Felix and Matt fighting with ice not too far away while Amanda ran with Luna to the safety of the forest, a man with short light brown curly hair running beside them to protect them.

Mark watched as Matt formed a sword made of ice in his hand that he used to fend off Felix's ice shards that he threw at Matt.

Mark started to run towards Matt's side, but was blocked by three figures, one which Mark knew very well.

"Dark." Mark growled.

"Good to see you're still alive. I would be disappointed if I couldn't kill you myself." Dark smirked coldly.

"These are my allies Infelix and Anti." Dark introduced the other two Shadows.

"What did you do to Sean?!?" Mark yelled.

"It's sweet that you still care even though he abandoned you. I left them in the woods." Dark shrugged casually.

Infelix noticed Matt fighting Felix and joined the fray, easily overpowering Matt with his efforts combined with Felix's by pinning Matt to the ground with spikes of ice.

"What do you want?" Felix glared at his shadow.

"You know why I can't let you die." Infelix scowled.

Mark opened his mouth to ask why, quickly closing it again when Dark shot him a "don't try it or I'll kill you" look.

"Mark, what's going on?" Thomas stumbled out of the house with his arm around Paul so they could keep each other standing.

They both froze when they saw the three shadows watching them and Matt pinned to the ground, Felix standing over him.

"I have an idea, let's play a game." Anti grinned at Mark.

"You manage to find your friends before we find you, we'll spare them. However if we find them first, we kill them." Anti continued.

"Don't trust them!" Felix told Mark with his ice blue eyes wide in fear.

"Fine, just leave Matt and his family alone too...it's the best way I could repay them for saving me and my friends." Mark ignored Felix as he glanced over at Matt, who was unable to move his head to look at him.

"Happy hunting." Dark waved goodbye before the three shadows shifted into their original form and disappeared.