Lea's P.O.V 

After awhile, we have to move on. A meeting had ensued the next morning after Brian and I fell asleep outside, and it was decided that it's best to just continue on without Aaron and Brie.

Brian hasn't been too talkative since he had to make the decision to leave. It may be for the best, but it's not like we're content with it. And I think that he feels guilty that with the small chance that they are alive, he's not doing anything to help them.

Justin's been quite silent since the decision. I don't think he resents Brian, but he's definitely upset. He had finally done the right thing, only to come back to Bryna disappearing. He's treated me respectfully, and I can't be sure if it's because Brian's practically glued to my hip, if he actually respects me as a group member, or because he knows that Bryna respects me, as do the twins, and they'd all kick his ass if he so much as touched me. Probably the latter.

I think Alex has taken the biggest hit, though. He still hasn't spoken much, but he agreed with Brian on leaving without Bryna. I think that's eating him up inside. 

The guys have all known Bryna longer than I have, and for them it's not so much Aaron as it is Bryna. They want him back too, but Bryna's their leader and closest friends. I don't much hold it against them.

"How long do you think it is until we get to Rhode Island?" I ask Brian.

He looks at me then shrugs lightly. "Probably a few days or so. Brie was more accurate. It's not long now, that much I can say for sure."

I nod. "Do you have any contacts there?"

"Yeah. Alex and I have a family friend who lived there before the war. We're hopeful that they're still there. What about you?"

"Aaron mentioned an aunt and uncle once." I shrug.

"Mh. Do you think you'll be able to contact them with him gone?" Brian asks.

I hesitate. "I'm not sure. But I should be able to, right? I know their names."

"But not what they look like," Brian points out. "Anyone could pretend to be them." He frowns.

My heart sinks. It's times like this that I could use my brother's reassurance that he'd figure it out. I'm all by myself now.

Brian must have seen my expression. He puts a tentative arm around my shoulder and pulls me closer to him. "Don't worry about it. We'll figure something out. If it comes to it, you can stay with us," he assures me.

It's not Aaron's reassurance, but it satiates my worry for the time being.

~~~

That night we're sitting in a small apartment, all of us on the living room floor, eating the non-perishables from the kitchen that had been left behind. The bedrooms reeked of death, so we were avoiding them as much as possible, and the bathroom smelled pretty much the same. 

Justin scoffs at something, and we all look at him. He shrugs once he sees our looks. "I was just thinking that Bryna would have made some comment about how we could have chosen any room in the building and we chose one that smelled worse than the sewer we had to stay in three years ago."

Brian and Alex smile in amusement. "She would have, yeah," Alex says.

Guilt radiates off of Brian in waves, and I give him a small sympathetic smile.

"She'd also smack you for feeling so guilty about leaving her behind, Brian," Justin says, playing mediator. "She'd probably beat us all for moping around about her."

I laugh. "Aaron'd shake his head at me and remark that I'm insulting his dignity by crying over him."

"And then Brie would remark that Aaron lost any dignity when she saved his life," Brian says with a smirk.

I giggle, despite myself. "To which Aaron would probably frown at her and remind her of the time we brilliantly got stuck in that net while he had avoided it."

Alex laughs. "Bryna'd then go and remind him that she got us out, then managed to tackle Aaron and spared him from a world of hurt."

We all laugh, because we know it's true. Even Justin, who wasn't there, didn't have trouble believing it, because that was simply Bryna. 

We lapse into a fitting silence, finishing our rations and setting out our sleeping bags. Justin had raided a mall yesterday while we were asleep and got himself his necessities. He could have slept on the couch, but it's dirty, and there're stains that look suspiciously like blood. Suffice to say we avoided it with great reason.

Brian lays closest to me, with Alex to his left, and Justin near the door, keeping watch. 

"Usually Brie'd argue that she should take watch so that everyone else could get sleep," Brian says suddenly.

Justin chuckles. "Yeah. And then it'd turn into an argument that she usually ends up winning because she plays the leader card."

"And when she doesn't win, it's usually because she didn't want to keep watch, but offered for the sake of offering," Alex says.

It goes on like this for awhile. We reminisce, laugh and recall memories of both Brie and Aaron, and when Justin explains what happened when him and Bryna had their showdown, Brian, Alex and I are in stitches because it was so unbelievably hilarious that Brie had managed to overtake a trained Sentry who claimed to know her every move. 

Finally, Alex drifts off, and then Brian. I'm the last to go to sleep aside from Justin, and my last thoughts before dark oblivion takes over are that Brian and Alex seem to be slowly welcoming Justin back into the fold.

~~~

Of course, bad luck seems to be in our favor. 

I wake up to a crash, and then a shout that could only be Justin's. I scramble up and grab the knife from my backpack, walking cautiously outside, where Justin's cowering before a man in blue uniform.

Neither had noticed me, and I debate on whether or not I want to step in now or get Brian and Alex.

That decision is made when the Sentry pulls out a vial that I recognize from previous rendezvous with these guys, and I know instinctively that he's not going to hesitate in giving a lethal dose. 

 But I have to calculate. This is more of Aaron's expertise - running in and attacking on instinct. I calculate my moves and then make them with measured agility. He's the brawn, I'm the brains. 

If I attack without warning, I could take the man by surprise, but I'm not well versed in hand-to-hand. Especially with only a knife as a weapon. If I announced myself, I could distract the man long enough for Justin to get up and take the man out himself, but also endangering myself in the process. The latter seems more likely to get me killed, but the first one is more likely to mark me as a fool. Choices, choices.

If this were Aaron getting hurt I'd attack without warning, and Aaron'd finish the man off. But Aaron would have an extra weapon on him, and Justin doesn't, that I know of. 

Not to mention, this isn't Aaron. 

My decision is made for me, though, when the man takes the plunge with the syringe. I step forward, brandishing my knife, letting out a small cough.

"If you value your life, you should move away," I warn, sounding much braver than I feel.

It works. The Sentry halts, turning to me. He grins broadly. "And what're you gonna do, girl? Shriek my ears off until they bleed?"

I restrain the urge to laugh, instead raising an incredulous eyebrow. "Is that seriously what you think of me?" I hold up my knife. "I seriously doubt my vocal range is that lengthy anyway. More likely I'd just give you a slight headache, and ruin my throat." 

The man straightens up, tucking the syringe into his pocket and focuses on me, Justin forgotten.

 I resist the urge to roll my eyes. Normally I'm not a violent person, but this man is so stupid, I could probably kill him if I had better lighting and open space. But in a small hallway in the dark, I probably wouldn't get away with much.

"So what will you do then?"

"I mean, I have a knife, and using one is pretty straightforward." I shrug. "If you'd let your guard down, I'd be more than happy to stab you." Lie. I really don't want to kill anyone today.

He smirks. "Keep trying, babe."

Oh, gross. Now I know how Bryna feels when addressed like that. It's disgusting.

I wrinkle my nose. "Don't call me that. It's disgusting."

"What're you going to do about it?"

With our banter, Justin managed to get onto his feet and grab the gun that had fallen a few feet away from him.

"Me?" I inquire. "I'm going to do this." I fling the knife and pray to whatever God's out there that it hits it's target.

When the blade buries itself into the Sentry's shoulder, Justin whacks the butt of the gun into the man's skull with all of his force. From the way the Sentry slumps into unconsciousness before even letting out a scream, I'd say Justin was successful.

Justin acknowledges me with a nod. "Thanks. Nice hit."

I smile. "No problem. And no it wasn't. I was aiming for the guy's head." I'm joking of course, and we both know it. 

Justin chuckles. "Bryna's rubbed off on you."

"Nah. I was secretly terrified. Aaron usually handles these guys. I'm not usually the violent type."

He smirks. "Could've fooled me." He grabs the blade from the Sentry's shoulder and wipes the blood onto the man's uniform before handing it back to me. "I don't think we've been properly introduced."

"No, we haven't. The closest we got was when you came along with your cavalry and Bryna bartered our lives for hers."

Justin nods. "That's what I thought." He holds out his hand. "I'm Justin. Bryna's former right-hand and best friend."

I accept his hand and shake it curtly. "Lea Reece. Bryna's only female friend, and forever indebted to her and the twins. Pleasure to finally meet you, Justin."

Justin grins at me and takes his hand back. "Pleasure's mine, Lea. Lemme just take care of this guy, and we can head back in."

~~~

Bryna's P.O.V 

When I had fallen asleep on Aaron, I was at peace. Content - as much as one can be in our situation. 

I woke up a little bit later to Aaron still asleep. I don't know why I'd woken up, but I did. 

I sit in my same position as before, going through the events before the explosion. 

Before it happened, Damien had shot at me. Aaron had shoved me out of the way, getting grazed in his arm in the process. But when I asked him how he was feeling, he said that his head and back hurt - no mention of his arm. Now, I've been in enough situations to know that bullets hurt. Open wounds hurt. And the pain doesn't just numb after awhile. You feel it. It burns. So either his wound magically healed, someone dressed it before he woke up, or he lied to me.

Yeah, the latter options seem more likely.

Even despite this revelation, I can't help but smirk to myself. Aaron did exactly what I would have done, even while being terrified. Kudos to him, even if I don't particularly appreciate it.

I sigh and pick myself up, moving out of his grasp. He stirs, looking at me.

"What's wrong?" he asks.

"Your arm. You totally neglected to take care of it, so I have to do something before it gets infected."

"Oh. Sorry." He frowns, sitting upright. "To be quite frank, I didn't even think about it until now."

"Yes, I can see that, Aaron," I say dryly. I sigh. "Are you going to be difficult, or will you let me dress your wound?"

"Nah, have at it. It's only fair, and I don't really like the concept of dying from infection."

I nod. "Good. To be honest, you didn't have much of an option anyways."

He chuckles. "Figured as much."

I grab the first aid and flashlight, shifting over to Aaron as I turn the light on in the room. 

Silently, he helps me get his shirt off. Ignoring the awkwardness of all of it, I position the flashlight between my shoulder and head, observing his wound.

"Great thing is is that it's not infected. Not yet. But it's not exactly the best either."

"Didn't expect that much. It could be worse, though. Get on with it, then."

I roll my eyes at his dramatics and start cleaning the wound as much as I'm able to.

When I finish I start wrapping his arm, rather slowly because of the way I'm holding the flashlight.

I finally finish and remove the flashlight from it's perch. "The kit doesn't come with a needle, unsurprisingly, so I can't really stitch it."

"Great. This'll have to do, then." He shrugs.

"Yup,"  I reply, putting the med supplies away. "I'd normally say at this point that we'd find you a new, less dirty shirt, but situation as it is..." I shrug. "Just put your shirt back on."

"Aw, why?" he teases me. "You uncomfortable with me having my shirt off?"

"I will hurt you," I threaten halfheartedly as I sit a small distance away from him. 

He laughs. "Do I make you uncomfortable, Bryna?"

"Shut up," I say, shaking my head.

With the light still on, I can catch Aaron's grin. "Aw, Brie, are you flustered? It's okay if you are. It's a natural response."

I roll my eyes. "Your arrogance is infuriating, Aaron. Shut up."

"Brie," he singsongs, "stop denying it."

I flip him off, drawing my knees into a fetal position and resting my chin on them.

"I love you too, Brie."

I don't truly understand why I'm so uncomfortable all of a sudden. Probably it's hormones acting up a storm, but I really, really don't want to be near Aaron without his shirt on. It's just awkward. 

But I never had this trouble when stitching up Brian, Alex and the other guys. Ugh. Hormones.

Aaron heaves a sigh and pulls on his shirt, then grabs me by the waist and pulls me close to him. 

"You're cute when you're upset," he says, "but I'd rather not have you after my head just now."

I smile and rest my head on his shoulder. "You're lucky I like you," I tell him.

"We've said that a lot."

"I know. But you are."

I can imagine his smile as he reaches over and turns off the flashlight.

"Yeah."

We've been sleeping a lot, but there's not much else to do. 

I'm pretty much asleep when the door opens. Two men stalk in and yank Aaron and I up, pulling us outside and down a path. We're shoved into a canvas tent not unlike the one I was tortured in.

"The boss'll be in in a minute," one men says gruffly. "He has something to say to you two."

:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:.:

Hey! I'm sorry for being so late. My internet's been crap lately.

So, this chapter's... Well, it's crap. I know. I'm sorry. But we're getting closer to the climax, which means we're nearing the end of the book. 

What do we think of the chapter? Of Aaron and Brie's... Relationship? 

Do we trust Justin? 

Any other theories?

Off to slaughter a bunch of fictional characters,

-Musical_Author