"You, are stunning, you know that right?" Eli slurred as we stumbled towards the steps. I gave a short laugh.

"I know. And you are incredibly drunk,"

"I know," Eli gave me a toothy grin as he struggled to open the door. He intertwined our fingers and led us to the middle of the room. I kicked the door closed with my foot and followed his insistent tugging. We began to sway in the midst of the floor, back and forth, a slight stumble from Eli here and there. A private dance that only the two of us shared in.

I was in a quiet, contemplative mood when Eli spoke suddenly, spinning me, "Hey, we're married!" There was an element of shock to his voice and I giggled.

"Yes Eli, we are,"

He pulled me close, his breath heavily laden with the drinks he'd taken earlier in the night, "That means you can't leave now. It's just us," He pulled me even closer, his hand trailing down my back. Something didn't feel right about that so I pulled out for another spin. He pulled me close again, a little less forcefully, and wrapped me in an enveloping hug. We stayed like that for a few moments before I pulled away.

"I need to go have a shower," I gave him a grin, "You go onto bed,"

Eli pouted, giving me saucy looking eyes. They caused me to laugh, "Go," He returned to his pout but stumbled to bed. The shower was quick and efficient. Followed by a quick, pregnancy self-check. By the time I slipped into bed, Eli pretty much out, though he reached for me, his words muffled.

"I'm glad I chose you," He murmured.

"At the Claiming ceremony?" I asked, reaching over to switch off the light. The room washed into a murky dark, illuminated only by the moonlight through the gap in the curtains.

"No," Eli's words were muffled, "before that,"

"What do you mean before that?" I asked slowly, settling into the pillows, Eli's arm already strung over me.

"When you were in the outside, remember? With your grandma at the shops, I think,"

My blood ran cold.

A set of memories washed over me, murky from what felt like aeons ago. Grandma and I, a week before I left, had gone to the local shopping centre. It'd been a relatively uneventful place. We'd stopped at the local cafe and then had taken the escalator up to the ground floor. I'd remembered looking down and seeing a guy. His hair was long, a bit like a hipster and his eyes...

I'd remembered that I didn't really identify people by their eye colour. Normally that just wasn't something that my mind went to. But this guy was different, he was looking at me, tinged with curiosity and his eyes held this intense vividness to them. I'd remembered thinking in a fleeting moment 'I wonder if he's Christian'. We'd held one another's sight until the escalator had cut us off.

That was Eli.

I felt sick, my head spinning with pregnancy nausea and the newfound revelation. Eli wasn't my cellmate, he was my guard.

I clenched my eyes shut, trying to relieve myself of the bad dream. Eli's breathing had deepened, he was asleep.

Suddenly, my mind came to a singular point.

"Eli?" I whispered softly, choking out his name, a plea. No reply.

I shuffled back, slipping out of the bedroom, gathering my jacket and boots.

I was past waiting.

...

There was nothing except for the glow of the snow under and the moonlight and the looming shadows from the trees overhead. I moved quickly, my breath huffing out in short puffs. Tears froze on my cheeks before they could reach my chin and soon enough my whole face was numb.

I'm glad I chose you, those words, his words, ringing around the inside of my skull like a tennis match.

How could I have been so freaking stupid? I wanted to scream, my chest tightening with each movement forwards. The entrance that Eli and I had taken into town had branded itself into my mind. It was a twisting trail, lacing itself over a mountainside and then down another. At this time, it was my best hope.

Each step felt like a shuffle in the grand scheme of things. My knees and shins were numb; exposed in the subzero temperatures, my throat was parched and my mind spinning from fatigue and the revelation that Eli's words had brought.

Yet I needed to push on. I'd grown weak in my efforts to escape. I was an idiot for not taking the chance I had back in the town. Who willingly stays with their captor? My hand itched to slap myself.

I steeled myself, the town was sleepy and drunk on the night's celebrations. My chest panged at the thought of ditching Eli on our wedding night.

Eli, that, that...

My mind deflated as I struggled to find a word that quantified what Eli had done to me. He'd taken me, my trust, my everything. He'd been a confident, a friend, my best friend and by keeping his lips closed he'd taken the dagger of my trust and twisted it into my own stomach.

Eli had betrayed me in one of the very worse ways.

This was all because of him, I realised, tears springing to my eyes. I wanted to scream, to throw snow across the clearing that barely constituted a road. Instead, I steeled myself forwards.

Behind me, the candlelit glow of the community pulsed. It was quiet, sleepy. A siren called; it was a bloodthirsty hound calling for my name in a language I didn't understand. The community erupted into chaos. The faint sounds of calls, dogs barking and cars revving.

I began to run; sprinting through the snow. My limbs growing heavier with each step, the snowflakes battering at my cheeks with an increased fury.

Oh no oh no oh no, I wanted to cry. Distantly, at the top of the road, I could see flashlights searching. My heart seized in my chest and without a though, I ran for the gloomy cover of the tree line.

The snow was much much thicker here and there was little that I could do in regards to the prints I left behind in the snow. I cursed, they'd have the dogs set on me soon. I should've gone to the training grounds and risked it with a raft.

I set my eyes on my goal; the road behind me was mostly straight but once I reached the crest (roughly three hundred or so meters away), I'd be able to cut across the switchback roads and through a thicker tree line to where I knew a major road ran along.

I could catch a ride from there, I realised. The hope spurring me on. I began to stumble forwards faster. The cold positively freezing my legs. I tried not to think about the possibilities of hypothermia later on.

Faster, I urged, the crest was a mere two hundred meters away now. You used to be able to sprint this in twenty seconds flat.

Chaos behind me, the sound of an engine, they were closer now. They had cars and dogs and guns. My heart burned with then unfairness of it all.

No turning back, a part of me screamed, you can't go back towards that.

I ran faster, unsure of where the extra energy came from. It was no longer a time for whining or complaining, it was time for action.

One hundred meters! A part of me screamed, almost there!

I pushed harder, my arms pumping, my head spinning.

"Stop!" The voice cried behind me, suddenly my world flooded into shining, white light. Dazed, I spun around, my vision blinded by a set f high beam headlights. I shuffled back towards the tree line, my options running through my head; run and take your chances in the woods, give up or, stay and fight.

My fists clenched as I stared down the vehicle in front of me, my eyes squinting against the harsh light. Two figures got out. I knew instinctively that they'd be armed.

I steeled myself, struggling to get my breathing under control. The frosty mist curled in between us. My head was spinning and my legs were aching.

"Where are you going?" One of them called. I didn't answer, biting on my tongue to keep me from screaming in frustration.

Slowly they approached, they both had handguns in their holsters and one had a rifle at the ready.

After a moment of indecision. "Come with us," The other one said gruffly, it wasn't an offer, "they've been looking for you,"

I tentatively took a step forwards, keeping my eyes cast down at the ground. Maybe if...

I was prodded forwards, neither laying a hand on me. An obscure rule of not being allowed to lay hands on another man's wife came to the forefront of my mind. Thanks goodness, it'd make fighting them a lot easier.

Two armed, middle-aged men versus one pregnant, teenager was not odds that I liked. This required caution.

One was on my right and the other used his rifle to lead me to the ute. As soon as we stepped out of the glare of the headlights, I spun around to the left out of reach of the guy on my left and out of range on the guy behind me. I ripped the rifle from his grasp and in a fluid motion, brought it up, ready to fire at both of them.

There was a moment of silence and it took me a few seconds to take in the situation. Both men had a hand on their handguns which were not yet drawn.

"Back up," I hissed, they faltered. I didn't have time for this, "back up!" I cried, a lot more serious this time.

The two looked to one another, raising their non-gun hand in a sign of peace. Slowly, they took a step and a bit backwards. Out of my periphery, I could see another car approaching, I had a minute at best.

"Keys," I cried, my voice harsh but my aim solid. Thank you training. The two men faltered, looking towards the oncoming car, "keys!" I repeated again. My voice rising in intensity.

But it was too late, the new car had arrived. Two more figures got out.

"Marian!" One of the figures cried, my blood ran cold. He was here, "Marian, stop this,"

I kept my mouth shut, it was rather uncharacteristic, instead keeping my eyes firmly fixed on the man in front of me. "Keys," I hissed with a greater intensity.

"Marian!" The cry came again, I whirled around, swinging up the gun into the silhouette outlined by the car's headlights. My feet were growling numb, there was shouting further up the ridge. It was me against four others, my odds were slimming by the second.

"Stay back," I warned, my words already lumping in my throat. How dare he cry my name as if it meant something.

"Put the gun down," Eli was a mere step and a half away, I took one back, my body brushing against the car's mirror.

"Stay back," I cried again. I could feel the circle tightening around me, behind me the others shuffled forwards in the snow. I whirled back around to them in an attempt to get them to move back.

My biggest mistake.

Out of nowhere, I was charged, my rifle thrown up before I could swing back around. The cold of snow enveloped me and another hit across my face sent me into black.