Jax led them back up the tunnel and into the windowless workshop and placed his hands on the double doors that had brought them into his world. Marissa stood at the front of the little group, Ellie Rae to her right and Lincoln on her left. Jax raised an overconfident eyebrow and grinned.

"Ready to be wrong?" Marissa shook her head.

"I'm rarely wrong." She shot back. Jax shrugged and then pushed down on the handles and allowed the cool fresh air to fill the room as it filled the workshop. She took a sharp breath as the frigid air bit at her face, and she shivered slightly. It was the middle of summer; it shouldn't have been this cold.

Jax leaned against one of the doors, warily casting an eye out into the Expanse, watching for any hungry animals that might see four humans and decide they would be a tasty snack.

Marissa stepped forward, shivering more as she stepped outside onto the edge of the workshop floor and looked up at the sky, squinting at the dark clouds that had formed. It was not so bad. Just a bit cold and cloudy-

That was when a hailstone the size of a tennis ball hit the ground in front of Marissa, causing a loud shriek to come from her mouth. She stepped right back into the workshop, heart pounding as she stared at the hailstone. But that was just the beginning. As soon as the first one fell, another one crashed into the ground, which was followed by another, then another. Soon enough, the ground was covered in hail, and they were starting to bounce into the workshop. Lincoln slid past Marissa and grabbed one of the doors and helped Jax close them, sealing them inside and cutting off the wintery air, the room instantly warming Marissa up as the doors were shut.

Jax turned around and grinned, arms crossed over his chest as he took in Marissa's surprised but mildly stormy expression.

"Shall we get ya'll set up for the night?" He clapped his hands together. Marissa scowled and wrapped her arms around herself, hugging herself as Jax walked past with a spring in his step. Lincoln shook his head at her.

"Knew you shouldn't have taken that deal." Lincoln scowled. Marissa shot him a glare. "We could have stolen the stuff from him and then just disappeared in the morning before he even woke up."

"Lincoln!" Ellie Rae said sharply, disapproving of what he had said. Lincoln just shrugged and turned back to Marissa, who had closed her eyes to try ward off the killer headache that was forming at the base of her skull.

"He saved us from getting killed!" Ellie Rae argued, her cheeks going red, as she got angrier.

"We would have been fine!"

"You left Marissa and me!"

"I did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Can you two shut up?" Marissa snapped, opening her eyes, and glaring at the two of them. Ellie Rae seemed to shrink, and Marissa felt only a small pang of guilt for snapping, but she was too tired and annoyed to listen to them. "Lincoln, Ellie Rae is right. You did leave us and the only reason you came back was because you heard Jax come and get us out of the mess that we should have been in together. Yes, I should have known where we were, but things don't exactly stick in the brain when you're stressed. So shut up and move on." Marissa glared at Lincoln. He sucked in his cheeks and looked down at his feet, his ears going a bright red. "And you, Ellie Rae, do not need to hold on to that little nut of information! Yes, he is an idiot. Yes, I do not like him and wish we could just leave him here, but we can't. I shot him, it's partially my fault that he's here but that doesn't matter now. The three of us can keep each other alive, no matter how much distaste we hold for him, kapeesh? Once we find a safe place to be, we can go through all this again and be mad." Marissa looked between the two of them and relaxed when both nodded. "So, if this means helping Jax, so be it. We are a team now, okay? You understand?"

"Yes." They both said quietly, looking at their shoes.

"Good." Marissa nodded her head towards the tunnel that would lead back to Jax's bunker. "Let's get some sleep and get through tomorrow, okay?" They nodded and one by one, left the workshop until it was just Marissa standing in the room with Jax's monster of a car. She looked at The Duke warily and shook her head.

"We're so gonna die." She muttered before turning on her heel and leaving the car, hoping that tomorrow was not going to be as much of a disaster as she thought it was going to be.

She exited back down the hall and entered the underground bunker once more. Jax had gotten busy with pulling out bags of material and clips.

"Ya'll ever put-up hammocks before?" He grinned. He looked quite chuffed with himself. Marissa shook her head, as did Ellie Rae and Lincoln. Jax shrugged. "Well, pick a corner! We'll getcha settled and then tomorrow, we go on a trip."

"And where are we going?"

"Like I said, the guarded facility. We'll make a plan in the morning for what we're gonna do but we need to sleep, okay?" Marissa sighed and took the material and the clips he held out to her.

"Fine." She spoke. She wasn't happy about the lack of information. She felt like her whole last week was lacking in information. She knelt on the floor and let Jax talk the three of them on what they needed to do to get the material into perfect hammock order. She did it silently, which was probably a surprise to Ellie Rae, but her brain was too busy. She did as Jax instructed and then followed him to a corner of the room were had two metal clips sticking out. She clipped the hammock on and looked at him.

"Now all ya gotta do is get in!" He thumped her on the back, the weight of the thump almost pushing her into the hammock as he left to go help Ellie Rae put up her hammock. Marissa turned back to the hammock and put her hands on her hips and stared at it. In all her twenty-four years of life, she had never slept in a hammock. Never had to. So, looking at this hanging death contraption made her queasy. She pulled the material apart and then tried to figure out to how get in. She spread her hands out in the crease and then readied herself. She counted and then heaved herself on to the hammock. She managed to get semi-on and then her eyes widened as she felt herself falling sideways. She gave a small yelp as the material flipped her over and she fell on her back.

"Ow." She moaned. She stared up at the hammock and scowled. She got to her feet and dusted her jeans off and looked back at the material. She would get on.

Ellie Rae laughed watching her attempt to do this. Marissa scowled at her because she herself managed (with Jax and Lincoln's help) to get in and was now snuggled into a scratchy blanket that Jax had chucked to her. She watched Marissa flip right over the material again and again. She opened her mouth to say something, but Marissa's cursing stopped her from saying anything. She elected to silently laugh at all of them.

"Mar? You need a hand." Lincoln popped his head around the concrete block from his corner and looked at where she was. Her cheeks were pink from being flustered and she shook her head.

"I'm fine." She muttered and then tried again, this time with a bit more luck. She had come at it more sideways, using her butt to keep the material apart so that way she could comfortably get in without falling. Ellie Rae sighed in relief when Marissa finally relaxed into the hammock, holding tightly onto the sides as it rocked. She kept looking at the wall as though the hammock was going to suddenly break, and she was going to fall to the floor. Her hair was in messy waves around her face, and she sighed, finally just letting herself relax. Ellie Rae watched as Lincoln watched her, his face contemplative and then he turned back to his hammock and got in, copying what Marissa had done on her final attempt. Jax appeared from where he kept the cupboard with his blankets in it and grinned when he saw everyone swaying in their hammocks.

"You all got in!"

"Eventually." Marissa muttered. Ellie Rae grinned but nodded.

"Good on ya's!" He chucked a blanket at Marissa and then one at Lincoln. Marissa almost missed catching hers and when she did, she almost fell out of the hammock again. Her face drained of blood as the hammock rocked from the fast movement. It was evident that she did not like the hammock. She tucked the blanket around her and then tucked her arms under the blanket. Jax crawled into his bed in the corner and then grinned at everyone from the dimly lit corner, his teeth bright amongst his dark skin. "Goodnight everyone!"

"Goodnight!" Ellie Rae called back.

"Night." Lincoln said as the lights went out.

"Goodnight." Marissa said quietly into the dark. She stared up into the dark, heart pounding, the hammock still rocking. She wished she wasn't sleeping in her jeans and t-shirt. She wished she had her pyjamas. She could hear the hail pounding on the ground outside, which eventually must've turned into rain because after an hour or two, the hard thuds seemed to turn into softer thuds and then small pitter patters of raindrops hitting metal. It was only then that Marissa closed her eyes and fell asleep.

Marissa wasn't the first awake, but she certainly was the first to fall out of her hammock, considering she didn't quite know how one was supposed to remove themselves from the hanging bed. She landed with a thud on the floor, groaning from pain as her chin hit the ground and her chest from hitting the ground first. She rested her forehead on the ground and lay there for a short minute for pushing herself to her knees and sat there for a few moments, brushing any dirt off her boobs and stomach. She was never sleeping in a hammock again if she could help it.

The only other person awake was Ellie Rae who blinked at her owlishly from her hammock, her face peeking over the blanket Jax had given her. Marissa smiled at her, and she saw Ellie Rae's eyes sparkle.

"Alright?"

"Yeah, I guess, besides the certain wake up fall." Ellie Rae snorted then moved her head to motion her to come over to her hammock. Marissa got to her feet and came up to Ellie Rae, who had moved so that she was seated in the hammock instead of laying in it and patted the space beside her for Marissa to sit too. She frowned. "It's not going to take both of us, Ellie Rae." She wrapped her arms around her stomach and shook her head. Where Ellie Rae was slim and tall, Marissa was rounder and shorter. She did not trust these hammocks at all.

"Yes, it will. Come on, Mar."

"Ellie Rae..."

"Get. On. The. Hammock." Ellie Rae raised her eyebrows seriously. Marissa sighed and reluctantly sat on the material beside her friend. Ellie Rae grinned and threw half the blanket over Marissa's legs and used her long legs to rock the hammock. "It's been a week since we left home." She whispered.

"And we still have no idea where we are going."

"We're still going to get there." Ellie Rae whispered back and stared at her friend with her large brown eyes, hope sparked in her eyes. "I know you'll get us there."

"How can you know that? I don't even know what we're doing. Or where we are going."

"That's true but you're smart. You've always kept me safe, especially when mom and dad died. I know that you'll get us there." Marissa shot her friend a look.

"I know that. But why do you think I'll be able to keep us safe? I don't even know what to expect now. We don't know what's out there. Hell, we don't know if that rage machine of a man and his horse will turn up again."

"That's the thing about hope, Mar. I'm holding onto hope, just like you told me. I'm believing that we will be safe and home one day. And if home is somewhere else, so be it. And I have faith in you because your way too curious and determined to let anyone else tell you that you can't." Marissa rested her head on her friends' shoulder and breathed heavily through her nose. Ellie Rae rested her head on top of hers. "You'll get us there."

"Thanks, Ellie Rae."

"You're my best friend, y'know?"

"And you're mine." Marissa pulled her left hand out from the blanket and offered Ellie Rae her pinkie finger. Ellie Rae beamed and did the same, linking their pinkie fingers together. "We're gonna get through this."

"But first, ya'll gotta help me break into the facility." Jax was awake now, yawning widely from his bed. Light was streaming in through little slots in the ceiling, and she could see him looking blearily at the two girls, a sleepy grin on his face.

"Do we have to?" Lincoln was awake too, grumbling from his hammock. Marissa snorted.

"A deal is a deal." She said, not whispering. Jax nodded.

"You got that right!" He stretched and rolled out of bed, stretching again as he got to his feet. Lincoln grumbled and Jax rolled his eyes. "Time to get up, Goldilocks!" He was wide awake somehow and walked over to Lincoln and, in one smooth motion, flipped the hammock over so that Lincoln fell unceremoniously to the floor. Marissa snorted as she watched him get to his knees and grumble, watching Jax through half opened eyes. "Whoops, watch that leg mate. Wouldn't want you to pop a few stitches." Lincoln grumped as Jax grinned.

"Are you going to tell us the plan to get in this place?" Marissa asked as Jax got busy throwing more cans of food out to the three, hitting Lincoln on the top of his head with his can. Lincoln made to throw it back but a glare from Marissa changed his mind. Jax shrugged at Marissa's question.

"I like to more make a plan when we get there. Take it as it comes, y'know?"

"I... guess?" She opened her can of what appeared to be spaghetti and pulled a face as she ate the noodles cold. Ellie Rae was eating some beans and saw her disgust and then offered her can in trade of the spaghetti. Marissa smiled gratefully but shook her head and continued eating her food. Jax wolfed down his food in under a minute.

"I'm going to go apply the finishing touches to The Duke and then we'll set off! Feel free to help yourself to any of the toothbrushes in that box," He pointed to a corner where there was a plastic container with what appeared to be small toothbrush boxes. "And deodorant is next to it." He grinned.

"We are not taking that death trap of yours."

"Yes, we are. You're not going to want to walk, muchacho." And then he disappeared up the hallway and into his workshop. Ellie Rae was mid-bite, eyes wide.

"Are we going into the Wilderness?"

"I... Yes? I think so?" Marissa made a low noise. Lincoln blinked a few times.

"We're going in there. Now? We don't know what's in there."

"I'm sure that whatever is in there won't be as terrifying as your hair." Marissa quipped. Lincoln put a hand to his hair and tried to smooth it down. He had some serious bed hair. Marissa snorted and then shuffled off the hammock and made her way to where Jax had pointed to where the toothbrushes and deodorant was.

He had a neat little set up down here. There was a closed off area that was a bathroom, with what appeared to be pretty good plumbing for the toilet, metal sink and shower. There was a mirror above the sink. Marissa picked up the tube of toothpaste that had been left by the sink. She ran the water to wet the toothbrush and started to brush her teeth.

Marissa looked at her reflection in the mirror as she cleaned her teeth. Her hair was looking a little greasy and hung limply around her face. She had dirt patches on her face and dark circles were starting to form under her eyes. She wasn't sleeping very well, not since almost falling out of the tree, anyway. In just under a week, she was looking a little hollower and older than she was. Maybe it was because she was tired.

It was because she was tired.

She finished brushing her teeth and then took a few moments longer to turn on the shower and run her hair under the water, shivering as it didn't heat up, but it didn't matter. She gave her hair a good rinse, running her fingers through the knots in her hair and sighing in relief when the greasiness almost disappeared. Bits of dirt and leaves went down the drain she cupped the water in her hands and scrubbed her face. The cold water made her face slightly numb, but it felt good to have a fresh face. Marissa turned off the water and then rung her hair out, getting as much of the water out as possible, twisted it into a bun and then tucked the end of her hair into itself. It fell into a looser bun, but it would do until she could find a hair tie. She chucked on some deodorant and the exited the little bathroom, making way for Ellie Rae to then enter. Ellie Rae held out her hand to offer Marissa something. It was a hair tie. Marissa grinned and took it from her gratefully. Ellie Rae closed the bathroom door, leaving Marissa and Lincoln in the main area by themselves. There was lot of noise coming from the workshop, Jax clearly busy doing whatever it was he was doing to his monster of a car. Lincoln looked up at Marissa as she crossed the room to her hammock and knelt by her bag and started rummaging through it.

"Feel better?"

"Fresh as a daisy." Marissa didn't look at him. Lincoln snorted. "You should try it sometime."

"Try what?"

"Showering." He looked up at her and shot her a look, poking his tongue out at her. That she did see and couldn't help but give a faint smile at the childish gesture. Marissa heard her name being called form the bathroom, Ellie Rae popping her head out of the door.

"Mar, can you come here?" Marissa raised her eyebrows but nodded and got to her feet and stood in the space between Ellie Rae and Lincoln so that Ellie Rae could say what she needed to say and not have Lincoln hear.

"Do you have a pad?"

"Of paper?" Marissa gave her a confused look. Ellie Rae's brow crinkled, and she looked at her, dumbfounded, then raised an eyebrow. Marissa felt like a lightbulb went off in her head. "Oooooh!" She physically face-palmed and then turned around to her bag and rummaged through it before finding the thing she needed and rushed back over to Ellie Rae who gratefully took the little plastic wrapped pad and then disappeared into the bathroom again. Marissa shook her head at herself.

"I'm an idiot sometimes." She muttered to herself. Sometimes she forgot that amongst the crazy of the world, women still got their periods. It was a good thing she'd had the pads in her bag, even if it hadn't been on the forefront of her mind when she'd stuck them in the bottom of her bag.

"Everything okay?"

"Everything's fine."

"You're such a chirpy person in the morning." Lincoln mused. Marissa cocked her head.

"Call me chirpy again and I'll give your other leg a matching scar." Lincoln rolled his eyes and stood to his feet when Ellie Rae exited the bathroom and then he went in, closing the door behind him. Marissa watched the door for a minute, blanking out as she disappeared into her own mind for a little bit. She zoned back in when there was a loud clang came from the workshop and Jax swore. There was another noise that made Marissa dash forward, launching up the ramp to the workshop and almost ran back down when the sight of a giant, golden mangey lion stood at the doorway to the workshop, growling at Jax with teeth the colour of an eagle's talon and with the tail behind it whipped back and forth, looking like it belonged to an alligator instead of a lion.

"JUMP UP HERE!" Jax yelled, he was standing on top of his car, loading up something that looked like a potato gun with what looking like. A grenade?

"Is that a grenade?"

"JUST WATCH!" Marissa leaped onto the hood of the car and grabbed a hold of Jax's leg as she almost slipped off. She frowned as she saw what looked like a gunman's slot under the grate of the roof of the car, the shiny black metal of a gun sparkling up at her.

"Is there a gun in there?" Jax didn't answer but there was a sound like a firecracker blowing up as Jax fired the potato gun like a grenade launcher, sending the grenade shooting out of the launcher and into the lion's face. Marissa yelped and let go of Jax's leg and rolled off the car, hitting the ground with a thud. She heard the lion roar again as the grenade hit it in the face but instead of a bang and a flash of light, there was bang and then glitter proceeded to fall on the floor. She watched the golden paws take a few steps back. She frowned and popped her head up to watch what was happening. Jax was laughing maniacally as he fired again, another glitter filled grenade hitting the lion with alligator tail in the head again, covering the animal in bright pink glitter. It growled once more and Jax pulled a face at it and raised the launcher again, his finger ready to fire it. The lion seemed to make a split decision and backed off a few more feet before turning around and running into the buildings, leaving nothing but a few dusty prints and a trail of pink and green glitter. Marissa leaned around the car.

"What is that?

"Glitter bombs! Literally!" Jax jumped down from his car and passed her the launcher and grinned. On it, painted it literal gold sparkly paint was the words 'Danger Glitter 2000.' Marissa turned it over in her hands, looking it over.

"You made this?"

"Like I said. It gives me something to do. And you've met Jeff!"

"Jeff?"

"My lion!"

"Your lion?" Jax nodded and beamed. He looked over Marissa's head and waved at Lincoln and Ellie Rae,

"Did you guys see Jeff? He's totally covered in glitter. Head to toe. Tail too. Man, I love building things." Ellie Rae almost choked on her words.

"Jeff?" Lincoln looked at Marissa. "Monica, care to explain who Jeff is?" Marissa waved her hands in the air, just as confused as she had been when she had first seen Jax standing on his car.

"His lion? And Monica?"

"Who's Monica?" Jax asked, leaning on his car. Marissa just shook her head. "Well then, are you guys ready to go? The Duke and I are redo-commando." He mock saluted them. Ellie Rae frowned.

"Aren't you the one in-charge? Aren't we meant to salute you?"

"Right you are, E.R! So, let's get moving?" Ellie Rae mouthed the letters 'E.R.' She had never been called that before. "Come on, people. Get in!" Jax opened the driver's door and slotted himself in and tried the key, grinning when after a few turns, it came to life.

"Is it safe?" Marissa whispered to Ellie Rae and Lincoln. Lincoln made a face.

"Come back for me if I fall out?"

"No." Marissa and Ellie Rae said simultaneously. Lincoln breathed heavily through his nose.

"That's fair." He and Ellie Rae went around to the separate back doors and got into the seats, leaving Marissa to get into the front passenger seat beside Jax.

It was a wee bit cramped inside The Duke, but Jax had used every little space to jazz out the place. There was, in fact, a machine gun (Marissa didn't want to know how he had managed to get one of those in his car). Jax had attached guns around the car, a small hand machine gun attached to the middle of the centre consul above the hand brake. He had also strategically placed a series of knives. Marissa pulled on her seatbelt and clipped it in as she looked around the car and inspected the place as the car growled under her.

"It's not going to fall apart, is it?"

"I sure hope not!"

"You sure hope not?" Lincoln repeated, leaning forward. "What does that mean?"

"It means I hope I used enough glue!" He revved the engine and then reversed, the car shooting out of the doors of the workshop. "I'll be right back." He hopped out, leaving the engine running and locked the workshop door.

"Thiiiiis feeeeeels ve-e-e-ery we-e-e-e-ird." Ellie Rae was quite literally vibrating in her seat. Marissa snorted. They drove in silence for a while, Marissa, Lincoln and Ellie Rae staring out the windows through the armoured grates that Jax had attached. The car was noisy as Jax drove, but he was smiling as it shot down the road. He kept it straight and drove with some skill.

"You snuck out a lot, didn't you?" Marissa remarked. Jax gave her a lopsided grin.

"I wasn't like the rest of my family, what can I say? The inside was always just so..."

"Small?"

"Exactly. Small. So, I snuck out a lot. Started collecting things and when everyone got sick and came up here to die, I kind of just started building my workshop." Marissa smiled and nodded her head before falling back silent and watched the world fly by.

"We aren't going into the Wilder- Expanse are we?"

"Nope, we're going to a much more fun area." Jax grinned wickedly. Marissa gritted her teeth. This was going to be interesting.

Jax pulled the car up in-between two largely overgrown trees, the roof of the building they were going to just peeking out behind the hill that was block their view. It was a good hiding spot, Marissa acknowledged, but The Duke was also one beast of a car. It was like a metal Frankenstein's monster except with pieces falling off.

Jax cursed as something made a clanging noise, a piece of metal falling of the car. Lincoln looked to his side of the car and raised an eyebrow.

"I take it the car isn't supposed to do that?"

"I would've told you if it did." Jax shot back at Lincoln. Marissa's brow furrowed as she looked at him.

"No, you wouldn't have." Jax looked at her for a moment but then nodded.

"... That's true." Lincoln opened the door to get out and see what had fallen off the car, Jax and the girls doing the same.

"Ah bugger, that's a big piece!" Jax exclaimed as he bent down to pick up the metal that had fallen off the car. He swung it around to show Marissa and Ellie Rae, narrowly missing hitting Lincoln in the head with the metal. "This should not have fallen off!"

"What did you stick it on with?"

"Super glue." Ellie Rae face palmed.

'Superglue? We drove in a superglued car?" Marissa stared at Jax. He smiled warily.

"It got us here, didn't it?"

"By the skin of its... whatever that is!"

"Come on, man. Lemme stick this back on then we can get onto why we're here, aye?" Marissa and Ellie Rae exchanged a look but immediately started yelling as Jax turned around quickly, whacking Lincoln smack in the forehead. He crumpled to the ground and Jax froze, Marissa darting around the car.

"Whoops." Jax pulled a face. "That... Yeesh what a weakling." Marissa knelt down by Lincoln.

"Lincoln?" She shook his shoulder. Ellie Rae came down by his neck, placed two fingers of the side of his neck, and waited. Marissa held her breath but released it when Ellie Rae nodded.

"He's just unconscious. He's going to have one hell of a headache when he wakes up."

"At least he's not dead." Marissa got to her feet and faced Jax, taking the piece of metal from him. He let it go and put his hands in the air in surrender. "You need to be more careful."

"Sorry... I'm not used to having other people around?"

"Evidently." Marissa chucked the metal to the side. "Let's get him in the car, so he's safe." They worked together to get him situated in the back seat. He was much heavier now that he was a dead weight.

Jax closed the door once they got him sat up in the car, his head leaning on the gun that could be pushed up through the gunman's hole. Marissa sighed in relief, her back aching slightly from being bent over.

"Right, what's the plan?" Marissa put her hands on her hips and looked at Jax, who was wiping his brow.

"First, we arm ourselves. Then, we get to the top of that hill." Ellie Rae cocked her head.

"Arm ourselves with what?" Jax grinned.

"Excellent question, E.R. If you ladies will follow me." He went around to the boot of the car and opened it. Ellie Rae looked at Marissa.

"E.R?"

"Don't look at me. Clearly, he's given you a nickname."

"Didn't realize I reminded him of a hospital department." Marissa snorted. "What?"

"It's actually pretty fitting, if you think about it." Ellie Rae blinked a few times, clearly confused. "You're always patching animals and people up." Ellie Rae snorted.

"Why'd you never call me that?"

"Because I never thought of it." Marissa pursed her lips to suppress a smile as Ellie Rae gently punched her arm. They moved to join Jax at the boot and Marissa's eyes widened as she took in the boot of the car.

"What are you trying to do, arm an army?"

"I like to be prepared."

"I can see that." Ellie Rae picked up a machete. "You have a machete?"

"Never know when you're going to need to cut through stuff! Help yourselves to anything in here but just make sure you can run." He started to grab a couple of knives and then a gun as well as a pair of binoculars. Marissa shrugged at Ellie Rae and the two started to grab an assortment of things, each grabbing a handgun. Marissa grabbed a few knives, slid a sheathed knife into her right boot, and made sure the gun was loaded and safety was on before tucking it away in the waistband of her jeans. She also grabbed a small pair of binoculars and waited for Ellie Rae to do the same. She was still holding on to the machete when Marissa closed the boot, trying to not make too much noise unlike Jax. They may be far away to not be heard but she had already made enough noise to alert anyone on patrol to their presence.

Ellie Rae and Marissa crouched as they ran up the hill to join Jax, who was watching something through his binoculars. They got onto their stomachs and waited for him to say something.