Alex woke up forgetting where she was. But then she remembered. In the den. She stood, uncounscouisly rubbing the scar on her arm. She tied up her long black hair. She leapt gracefully over the others, heading over to one of the built in shelves, grabbing a bow along with a quiver full of arrows.

    She stepped out of the cave and into the moonlight. She leapt off the rocks, landing on the soft grass. She sprinted off, faster and more agile than the fastest animal in the world.

    Alex stopped dead in her tracks. Fifteen minutes away from her position, stood an animal. She crept stealthily closer and closer. The creature had an auburn colored pelt. Perfectly crossed between gold and brown. The animal had a limp gazelle hanging by its neck in its mouth. Perfect, thought Alex, that's more food for us.

    She remembered the bow slung over her shoulder. She grabbed it and an arrow. She notched it, letting it soar right into a tree close to the bear.

    The bear dropped the gazelle, looking her the eyes as if to say you missed. She had not missed however. She had only done that to get the bear's attention. She charged the bear, catching it by surprise. She jumped onto its back. It roared, trying to shake her off. It whimpered as she drove her dagger into its head, killing it instantly.

    She examined her work proudly. Then she let her guard up again. All of a sudden a twig snapped behind her. She waited until she was sure it was still there. Then she attacked, lunging out, trusting her senses. Her vision turned blank as she closed her eyes. When she opened them again, the blade of her knife was pressed against a young boy's throat. He let out a startled yelp, auburn hair a tad lighter than the bear's pelt. His electric blue eyes stared at her curiously.

    "Hey, uh, miss huntress person, can I get up now?" He asked sarcastically. Alex sheathed the blade, helping up the annoying kid on the ground in front of her.

    "Jonah," she sighed, "what is it now? Why are you out so late? Your brother is gonna kill you, I hope you know that."

    "Are you kidding me? Why do you get to be outside at night? And my brother is asleep, so he won't know."

    "One: I'm older. Two: I'm hunting. Three: Inyeta gave me permission. Also, Aki will know you were out here because I will tell him."

    Jonah looked at Alex in a state of panic. Inwardly she laughed. Outwardly, she kept a cold, but blank, expression. He looked down under her glare.

    "Fine. I'll go back. But I'm waking up Aki to help you with those." He pointed to the dead bear and gazelle in awe. "You won't be able to take those back yourself."

    "Says who?" Alex snarled. Jonah backed away, realizing the situation he had gotten himself into. Everyone in the den knew that Alex was loyal, stubborn, sarcastic, respectful, quiet. But mostly, she was proud. That was her weakness, a flaw you might call it.

    She was too prideful. Anybody who injured that pride was going to wake up unable to feel there body in the morning. Jonah should know, she had done it to his brother Akian, or Aki, when he said, just because she was a girl, she couldn't hunt. She had proven herself more than capable by catching more food for the others in a week than he had in a whole month.

    "I'm going to get him, whether you like it or not." Jonah took off running towards the cave. Alex rolled her eyes, and started dragging the animal back to the mouth of the cave.

    She made it to the cave mouth. I made it, and I didn't need any help from Aki. She tied the gazelle onto the bear, then she lifted them into her back. She stepped over everyone carefully. Alex was halfway to the room out back, when the youngest girl, Kora age nine, stirred in her little bed. When Kora stopped shifting Alex continued to the back room.

    Slipping through the crevice, Alex dropped the animals on the stone floor. This room was where they prepared and cooked their meals. She whirled around, grabbing some of the plentiful herbs they had. She went on like this for another half hour, throwing in perfect seasonings or healthy herbs. When she finished, her hunting clothes covered in seasonings and herbs, she heated up the broth while cutting up the dead animals. Alex dumped in the meat, stirring the stew with a wooden ladle.

    Another half hour later, Alex dropped to the floor, exhausted. She sat there, breathing hard, waiting for the food to be ready. She wanted to close her eyes and wake up and find it was all a dream. But Alex knew it wasn't. Her parents were really gone. Her only friends were the ones she lived with. Her shelter was wherever she slept at night, knowing that it was possible she may not find enough food for everyone.

    If she couldn't, she, along with the others, would give their food willingly to the young ones, who needed to be fed daily or they wouldn't make it. What if....No, Alex told herself. She would not torture herself about her friends. They could all take care of themselves, even the youngest, Kora. They had all done it before. Kora had been abused and used as a slave by her family, until one day she had had enough and ran away. She had gotten herself fed by stealing and tricking others. Until she found the groupleader Inyeta. Inyeta was at least nineteen. She wasn't the oldest, yet she was the first one to find the cave and earned her place.

    She brought herself back to Earth, remembering the cooking food. Alex stirred the broth, getting a strong whiff of freshly cooked meat. Her tongue watered as her stomach cried and begged for something that would satisfy its hunger. Alex however, stepped out of the room to wake the others. Some had already been awake and were now washing up while some hadn't smelled the food yet and were still asleep. She tried to wake them up as gently as she could, but she was getting impatient.

    The last kid hadn't woken up by her shoving his shoulder or smacking him. The others were hungry and agitated. So Alex went into the room, grabbed a small bucket and filled it to the brim with freezing water. She brought it over to the sleeping kid.

She posed it over his head and tried waking him up one last time. He wouldn't budge. She took a small breathe and turned the bucket over.
The kid woke up instantly, making a surprised yelp, soaking wet. He shot up like a rocket. Alex laughed inwardly, trying not to look guilty (which was really easy). Aki now stood soaking wet and frozen.

    He glared around, hair dripping into his eyes until he wiped it away. Aki looked at Alex, then noticed the bucket behind her back. The others had started laughing as Aki and Alex continued their glaring contest. Alex glared harder, making Aki look away.
"Well, now that that is over, let's get dinner set up." Everyone nodded, returning to their individual seats.

    "I will get you back for this, mark my words, Alex," Aki growled at her.

    "Ha! You wish," she snorted, "Now, if you'll excuse me, I have to get dinner passed out to everyone."

    She turned, leaving him alone and sopping wet. She gave herself a small smile. She walked back into that little room, it was like a kitchen, it just wasn't one. Alex came out, the pot of gazelle stew in her hands. You practically see them drooling from the fragrant aroma. She set it down to go get the plate of bear meat. When she returned again, everyone was waiting patiently, but stared at the food hungrily. Alex placed down the meat. They knew the drill. The younger kids grabbed one ladle full of stew, placing it in their delicately made bowls. Then it was the younger teenagers, not including Alex of course.
    Then finally the older teenagers, including Inyeta. Then the oldest, Dakota, Inyeta's twenty year old brother, took his turn. After everyone took their first bites, Alex then ladled out one spoonful, basically the rest, and grabbed a small chunk of bear meat.

    Everyone let out a savory sigh of delight. Alex scarfed hers down as soon as she got it. She may have gotten less than everyone but at least some of their hunger had evaperated.

She was used to it, seeing as she was the lead hunter. She brought home the majority of their meals.
But sometimes the others would give her a break, no matter how much she refused to take a break. They would lock her in a special cage they made if any of them went wild.....Or if they had an intruder. They did this because they knew that if she had a choice between eating or feeding everyone else, she would starve.

Alex stood, taking all the empty plates with her. She went out to the clear-watered river close to the waterfall. As she was washing all the dishes, she began to think about what life would be like if her parents had survived that fire nearly ten years ago.

A snap echoed through the woods, shaking her out of her daze. She shook her head, the thoughts dispersing instantly. She stood to leave. She left the dishes so they could dry. A soft breeze blew by. Her eyes dialated. Something wasn't right. She crouched on the ground, feeling like she was being watched. She sniffed the air, smelling something foreign. A thought hit her like water in the face. What had snapped that twig?

She stayed crouched on her stomach, not moving a muscle. Then she heard them, footsteps. Footsteps?! She put her ear against the soft, grassy dirt. They were getting closer, about twenty feet away. Fifteen.... Ten... Suddenly, they stopped at three feet away. As quickly and quietly as she could, she hid under a bush close by.
Alex turned on her side, preparing to roll out if caught. She saw hunting boots. And judging by the smell, it was a man, one who hadn't taken a shower in a while. She squeezed her nose with her hand. But then she noticed more boots following after the adult. They were smaller, but still male. The younger man had to jog to keep pace.

She was just about to leave, but something caught her eye. She glared at the royal blue design with hatred.

    The lines were curved, kinda like a torch without the wooden handle. The base of the lines had a dragon. Over the beautifully designed dragon were to pure black lines, making an X. It was the symbol of The Army. The monarchs had banned dragons. But what they didn't know, was that the dragons had made a surprising adaption to this law. They could change their forms. Right now, a whole clan dragons lived, along with many others, right under the monarchs' noses. And Alex and her friends were a clan of them.

Okay guys, I didn't mean for a short chapter. But, I did mean for the cliff hanger. *evil laughs* So please share, comment, vote and all that other nice stuff. I'm sorry for the bad grammar (If there is any). Bye.

P.S. I will try to update as soon as possible. ;)