Finally an update!

Unedited XD

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I stare past the haze of the fire, the heat radiating from it appears to ripple the dark sky around it. I can see Noah's silhouette, illuminated by the burning wood. Of course he was the one who volunteered to take the first watch. I too had raised my hand, offering to keep watch, but I was turned down. I don't think he trusts me. I don't mind, I don't trust him either.

The rest of the group lays scattered in varying positions within a reasonably close vicinity of the fire. We really only stopped walking because the dark of night was starting to take over and we knew we wouldn't be safe wandering around the forest at night.

Everyone else seems to be sleeping peacefully, despite the fact that the slight breeze is ruffling the leaves, chilling me to the bone.

I sit up, stretching and pulling the blanket that had previously been covering me, around my shoulders. Half walking, half stumbling, I make my way to the fire, stepping over Cassidy as I do so. It would be incredibly easy to 'accidentally' stand on her hair, but I show mercy. Now that in itself is a miracle.

Noah is so absorbed in thought that he doesn't even realise I'm there until I sit on the other end of the large log that we dragged in front of the fire earlier. He seems startled by my sudden appearance, and completely unprepared to deal with people. He has something in his hand that he quickly hides, stowing it in the inside pocket of his jacket. I watch him wipe his eyes with the back of his hand.

He clears his throat. "Can't sleep?"

I shake my head, pretending that I didn't just see him crying. He knows I saw him.

"No, sleeping doesn't exactly come easy anymore," I reply, watching the flames lick the chunks of dead tree until they burn red hot.

He absentmindedly nods in agreement, his eyes also fixed to the fire. His silence indicates to me that he does understand. He's not much of a talker, but I like it that way, he shows understanding and acknowledgement through body language.

A light hearted conversation every now and then wouldn't hurt though.

"I can take the next watch if you want to get some rest," I offer, watching as he clenches and unclenches his jaw while staring into the pit of smouldering wood.

God, what did that poor burning plant ever do to him?

"No."

His reply reflects his personality perfectly. Extremely blunt, with a side of negativity, and an unwillingness to put himself before others.

I shrug to myself. There are worse personality traits to have.

With that thought, I quickly peer over my shoulder to make sure Cassidy isn't taking this as her chance to shove me into the fire and burn me alive. Maybe I'm being a little paranoid here, but you never know. She seems slightly psychotic in my opinion.

Noah stands up, grabbing a large charred stick that he has been using to stoke the fire without being burned. He bends over to select a small branch that had been collected on our firewood hunt earlier. As he does so, the wind forces his jacket open, and pries a shiny rectangle of paper from his pocket. It flutters just short of my feet, and I grasp it with my fingertips before the wind can sweep it into the fire.

"Hey, you dropped this," I say, earning a very quick reaction from Noah. I flip it over as I'm passing it, noticing that it's a picture. I catch a glimpse of two faces, a man and a woman. I can't make out any facial features due to the lack of light and the brief amount of time that I spend looking at it.

It is more or less snatched from my hand, and then tucked gently back into the pocket that it escaped from before.

The only sound for a while is the constant crackle of the fire as Noah sits back down on the log.

After a while I get sick of the silence.

"Who are they?" I ask, referring to the people in the picture.

Noah's eyes snap to mine in a murderous glare, his gaze so piercing that I force myself to look away.

"It's nothing," he growls.

Oh hell, what have I done? Backtrack, backtrack...

"Uh yeah, of course, sorry. I didn't mean to pry, obviously that wasn't at all by intention..."

Or was it?

He shoots another glare in my direction, although this one is less venomous than the first.

"Stop talking."

"Oh right, yeah I'll just do that," I mutter a little awkwardly.

He rolls his eyes before standing up again and stalking off into the darkness.

"So much for safety in numbers," I scoff under my breath, already regretting the way that I just let him walk all over me. That tends to happen with most people of the male species who enter my life. It has taught me a valuable life lesson though; guys are assholes.

Psh, like I didn't already know that.

I don't sleep for the rest of the night, and I'm still wide awake by the time the rising sun causes the sky to glow orange.

The others are finally starting to get up, shuffling aimlessly around our temporary campsite for no particular reason.

Cassidy still lays splayed like a starfish on a bed of pine needles and dead leaves, a trail of drool leaking from her open mouth. I nudge her arm lightly with my foot. This earns no response, so I kick her arm instead. She scrunches up her nose and closes her mouth, but remains dead to the world. I crouch next to her face, frowning in concentration as I pinch her nose with my thumb and forefinger.

Let's see if this gets a reaction.

Almost immediately her eyes pop open and she starts flapping her arms like a baby bird who is yet to master the art of flying. I release her nose from my grip, smiling.

"Good morning," I greet.

She blinks slowly, clearly unable to comprehend the situation.

She doesn't say anything, which I find particularly amusing.

She always has something to say.

I snort, rolling my eyes as she sits up, looking around in a daze. She has dead leaves stuck to the side of her face with saliva. I start to walk away, only for a hand to clamp firmly on my shoulder.

I grip it and twist as I turn around. I hear a hiss of pain, but I instantly loosen my grip when I realise who the wrist belongs to.

"Mae?"

"Remind me to never sneak up on you again," she grimaces, gingerly holding her wrist.

"Sorry, it's a reflex. Are you alright?" I ask genuinely. I don't hate all people. Just most of them.

"I'm fine," she answers. "But it's not me that we should be worrying about. I can't find Noah anywhere."

I bite my lip. After Noah stormed off last night he didn't come back. There was no sense in stumbling out in the dark to look for him, so I figured he would either find his own way back, or I'd look for him in the morning when I had daylight on my side.

"I'll go look for him," I promise. "Just stay here, and if anyone tries to steal food, pretend you're a ninja."

"Uh yeah, sure," she agrees, not even questioning my odd request.

I quickly start making my way in the direction that I saw Noah head in last night. I walk past the fire as I do so, stopping as I notice something glinting in the sun. It lays in the dirt next to the fire, which burned out hours ago. I study the object as I pick it up. It's a small knife with a well sharpened blade and a handle made from some sort of bone. It's Noah's knife. I mean, assuming that the letters 'N' and 'P' which are carved into the side are his initials and don't just stand for 'no problem'.

I tuck the knife into my belt, continuing to walk North East of the fire which was the general direction that Noah seemed intent on following last night. I see the odd footprint, but it's difficult to follow them because of the pine needles which cover a high percentage of these woods.

"Dumbass," I mutter to myself. "What was he thinking? Oh yeah, this is a great idea, I'm just going to walk into the woods at night, by myself with no knife, and the potential to be killed by an unnatural creature. Sounds like fun."

I keep walking further into un chartered territory, with seemingly no luck.

"God, how far could he have walked in the dark?" I ask myself incredulously.

Yeah, I talk to myself a lot. The conversations are a lot more interesting than with another person. Although, they are a little one sided.

All of my prior knowledge tells me not to call out to him, but it seems like the only other option I have. Let's just hope it doesn't attract unwanted attention.

I cup my hands around my mouth in order to amplify the sound. "Noah!" I yell, my voice echoing.

If he doesn't hear me now, then he is severely deaf.

"Noah!" I yell again in attempt to locate his position.

Finally I hear the faintest voice from somewhere to my left.

"Noah? Is that you?!"

The words that are sent in reply are indecipherable, but it is undoubtedly Noah's voice.

"Keep talking!" I yell in response, following the sound, which increases in volume as I get closer.

I weave in between the trees, trying to avoid being smacked in the face by a low growing branch. I walk up a small hill, and the sight that greets me as I reach the top of the rise is rather comical.

"How's it hanging?" I ask, laughing to myself as I approach Noah.

"Just let me down," he seethes, narrowing his eyes at me.

"Hey, don't use that tone, you're the one who got your stupid ass hung upside down."

Noah is hanging vertically from a tree, a thin, but strong wire looped around his left ankle, suspending him in the air.

"Please," he says desperately. "I've been up here for four hours."

"And whose fault would that be?" I mutter to myself.

He glares at me, clearly having heard my comment.

I hold my hands up in surrender, taking the knife from my belt. "Fine, I'm going."

I edge closer to him, standing on my tiptoes in order to reach the wire above his feet. I touch the blade to the wire, applying pressure, but it doesn't budge. I begin to use the knife in a sawing motion, which seems to work better. Within a matter of moments Noah is laying in a heap on the ground. He groans in effort as he rolls into his back, but I'm not really paying attention. I look at the wire, following it with my fingers. The wire, which is now slack, runs loosely down the trunk of the tree to the ground where it is rigged to another tree a few feet away.

"It's a trip wire," I say aloud.

"I know," Noah scowls as he sits up, rolling up the left leg of his pants to reveal a deep laceration around his ankle, caused by the wire. "Someone really doesn't want us here."

He hisses as he touches the raw skin surrounding the wound.

"You should really bandage that," I say, watching as he covers it back up with the leg of his pants.

"With what exactly?"

Smartass.

I roll my eyes. "I meant when we get back to camp. You know you should be grateful that I cut you down."

He hauls himself up using the tree trunk, favouring his right foot as he walks towards me. I can tell he's in pain, but he doesn't show it.

"So how come you didn't yell out for help last night?" I ask as we begin to walk back the the direction we came from.

"It was the middle of the night. If I called out to you, then I might have attracted unwanted attention."

I give him a blank look. "You were hanging upside down from a tree in plain sight. If whoever set that trap wanted you dead, you'd be dead."

"Well that's a comforting thought, thanks for that."

"Like I told you, safety in numbers. You can't just go off by yourself, especially when it's dark."

He gives me a quick glare, but doesn't reply, wincing instead.

"I'm going to look at that when we get back," I tell him, gesturing to his foot.

"I told you, I'm fine."

"I don't care what you told me. You know what will happen if that gets infected?"

He doesn't reply.

"The skin will fester, and then eventually it will spread to the bone, and I'm not exactly lining up to amputate your foot."

"Fine," he says. "But what about you?"

"What about me?"

"Your cut, is it healing?"

I shrug. I actually forgot it's there due to the fact that it has become so painless. I lift my shirt, pulling back the bandage, only to be greeted with nothing. I stop walking and frown, running my fingers over the skin. It is completely smooth, no bumps or scar tissue.

Noah stops walking too. "What is it? Are you okay?"

"I guess you could say that."

• • •

Okay so sorry for not updating in ages, but hopefully this chapter makes up for it.

And like my maths teacher once said, if it seems easy, you're probably doing it wrong.

He's a really optimistic guy.

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Until next time.