"Sorry about punching you." Marissa grimaced as she applied a plaster to the side of Jax's head the next day. He made a noise and waved a hand at her.

"Nah, you're good. You were right to. I was just going to punch someone and it was probably going to be Lincoln. Wouldn't want to ruin his perfect face." Marissa glared at him as she sat back down. They had all slept for the first time, despite feeling like they were being stalked. Marissa had woken up once, sure she had heard the sound of a horse snorting and clipping the ground with its hoof. But no other noise had followed it and her eyes were heavy so she put it down to her imagination and being over tired and went back to sleep. When she woke up the morning and opened the curtain to peer outside, there was no sign of anything having been there. She huffed and walked away from the window and went to find a first aid kit because the cut on the side of Jax's head would at least need a plaster on it. In fact, they would all need plasters because they were all covered in scrapes and bruises. Once everyone had woken up, they each got assigned different missions. Find food, find clothing, find weapons. Get bandaged by Marissa.

She don't know why she had volunteered to do it but it was probably because she felt bad for knocking Jax out.

"You have a strong punch, y'know?" She hummed.

"I got into a lot of fights as a kid. Not having parents made me a target for getting bullied and picked on so, I punched back. And Ellie Rae got picked on a lot for no reason so, I would punch back for her. And then I started to just punch anyone who said a bad word about anyone." Jax smiled.

"What a hero."

"No, just someone who wanted to prove that she had her place among them." Jax nodded and hummed in response. "Did your parents ever used to go out from the bunker when they were alive." Jax nodded.

"Yeah, I think that's why they got so sick. I don't know what they did but they never let me leave. Apparently they used to go out before I was born but I don't know how true that is. Not that it matters. They're dead." Marissa snorted.

"Dead parents club." She offered him her fist and he bumped his fist on hers, shaking his head at her. She opened up another plaster and felt along her cheek and winced when she found the spot and suck it down.

"Man, we are getting our asses whooped out here."

"We didn't even intend to." Marissa added as she put a plaster on a nasty looking cut on her arm. She then moved to her leg and rolled up her pants leg to look at the bandage there, thinking it was probably time to change it. The door opened and Ellie Rae walked in, clothes hung over arm. Marissa sighed in relief and forgot her leg, standing up to move towards the clothes she held.

"You found clean clothes."

"They're a bit musty but they'll do." Ellie Rae offloaded the clothes onto the table in the room and picked up the ones meant for her and took them off to the bathroom and closed it behind her. Marissa watched her go, then turned to look through the clothing. Ellie Rae had organised them in sets, having selected a person's full outfit and paired it together so it wasn't a giant mess. Marissa found the on meant for her and was relieved to see that Ellie Rae had also found clean underwear.

That was the biggest thing she wanted, besides clothes that weren't covered in purple blood mixed with her own and dirt.

"I'm gonna go change, I'll be back." Jax waved her off and she set off out the room and down the hall, entering the closest room. She locked the door behind her and began the process of peeling her filthy clothes off of her. In some places, her shirt was almost stuck to her like a second skin because of the dried blood but she managed to get it off. She would have much preferred it if they had been able to change their clothes days ago but after losing their belongings and almost dying multiple times, freshening up had been the last thing on their minds. And they were lucky that for the first time, they had found a place that had running water.

Marissa got her clothes off and walked to the bathroom, clean clothes in her hands. Placing them down on the toilet seat, she turned and reached for the shower and flicked the water on. At this rate, even if the water was cold, she wouldn't care. There was soap and she would wash her hair and she could be clean. Clean was almost a foreign concept now.

She ran her hand under the water and pleasantly surprised to feel that it didn't feel like ice. It was room temperature. She almost jumped into the shower, literally. The water hit her skin and she laughed.

She stayed in there for as long as she needed to, washing her hair and body three, four times. There was a razor under the sink that she grabbed and was able to shave for the first time in weeks. It was a luxury to feel so normal for the first time. So she stayed in the water till her fingers and toes turned to prunes. She pulled off the bandage on her leg and let the water run through the wound. She hissed as it stung but she didn't care. Running water was all that mattered.

When she finally emerged, wrapped in towels, she felt clean. She dressed herself quickly, enjoying the feel of fresh clothes. Ellie Rae had been right, they did have an old, musty smell to them but they didn't know how long the clothes had been here. What mattered was that now they were being worn by people who needed them.

Marissa pulled on the jeans and the blue tee that had been provided. Her jacket was completely ruined so she left that. She pulled on her shoes though. Old and reliable, they had gotten her this far and they would get her back, she was sure of it.

With her hair wrapped in a towel, she knelt to look in the cupboard under the sink again. There were a few other things in there but she lucked out when she found what she wanted. A hairbrush. And a toothbrush. The toothpaste that was in there had since dried but she grabbed it anyway, thinking that she could add water, squirt it in her mouth and then brush her teeth like that. And it worked but it did not leave a good taste in her mouth. She spat it out after she finished and grimaced. Unwrapping the towel from her head, she quickly, and a little too aggressively, brushed out the strands so that it hung around her face limply. It would dry by itself and curl like it usually did eventually but she didn't care. She wound it into a bun on top of her head and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She looked so tired but after that super clean, she looked a bit more like her old self. She had lost weight over the past few weeks and it showed, all the running and lack of good eating was evident but it wasn't a bad thing. Some of it had hardened into muscle, some of it had just fallen away. Her face was slimmer but it was different, scarred.

Marissa took one last look in the mirror and grabbed the flannel jacket Ellie Rae had found for her and put it on before leaving the room, abandoning her destroyed clothes on the floor. No one would have any use for them anyway.

"You look refreshed." Lincoln commented as she walked in. He handed her a can of food and she took it. It was spam but at this point, it was better than nothing. She smiled at him and nodded.

"So do you. Amazing what running water and a shower can do for a person." And he did look refreshed. He had a scar across his eyebrow now that hadn't been there a few weeks ago but he did look better. Marissa looked down and away from him before she could think anything more about how he looked. She opened the can of food in her hands and sniffed. "Does this stuff ever expire?"

"No, that stuff was made to survive everything from a nuclear explosion to being left in the back of the pantry." Daniel walked in, a disappointingly small pile of guns in his arms. He dumped out some extra ammo on the bed with the guns and sighed. "There was barely anything and I didn't want to go too far." Marissa nodded and motioned to the clothes.

"Find a bathroom, freshen up. You'll feel better." He smiled tiredly and grabbed the last pile of clothing. As he walked out, Jax walked in, looking much better now that he too, had showered.

"Oh goodie, food." He grabbed a can of spam and opened it, immediately digging in. They had plastic spoons that Lincoln had placed on top of the cans for them to eat with, thankfully reducing the need to look like animals and eat with their hands. Jax looked up at Lincoln. "Hey, sorry about yesterday, man. I was out of my mind exhausted. Next time, I'll think about hitting Danny instead." Lincoln chuckled.

"No, its all-good man. We were all tired. We've slept, we've showered. Water under the bridge." Jax raised his spoon at him in thanks and continued eating. Ellie Rae appeared out of the bathroom.

"Well don't you all look dapper." She grinned. The three paused midchew to look each other over then looked at Ellie Rae.

"I wouldn't quite use the word dapper but I appreciate the compliment. Thanks for being my stylist." Jax winked at Ellie Rae as she grabbed a can of food and took a seat at the table, across from where Marissa was standing. She dug into her food and they ate in silence. It was a comfortable silence, one well suited for them. They finished their food within half an hour and Marissa sighed, her stomach feeling full.

"Now that's a happy noise." Lincoln grabbed her empty can from her and dropped it in the rubbish bin.

"It feels good to have food in my belly." She rubbed her stomach. Jax nodded in agreement.

"I don't remember spam being so good."

"Right?" Ellie Rae said through a mouthful of spam. They laughed. "Where's Daniel?"

"He went to shower." Ellie Rae nodded and continued eating. "He did manage to find some guns though. And a pocketknife. Yo, Jax." Lincoln threw the pocketknife across the room and Jax caught it with one hand, barely looking at Lincoln. Marissa blinked, impressed.

"Good catch." Jax looked up at her and wiggled his dark eyebrows. He turned the knife over in his hands and inspected it, opening each part of it. Marissa went to where Lincoln stood and looked over the guns and the ammo, pairing them together so that there was no mix ups when weapons were selected. She picked up a semi-automatic firearm and felt its weight before lifting and aiming it. She nodded her approval and put it down, trading it for a handgun and doing the same.

The four of them stayed in that room for another half an hour before Ellie Rae asked again,

"Where's Daniel?" Marissa looked towards the door and frowned.

"He was going to shower and come back." She looked at Lincoln who was also frowning, arms crossed over his chest. Marissa turned and grabbed the handgun and loaded it, stuffing the rest of the bullets into her pocket. "I'll go see if he's okay."

"And why are you taking a gun?" Marissa looked at Ellie Rae, giving her a 'don't question me' look. Ellie Rae slowly nodded, getting the message. Marissa headed for the door and turned the doorknob, opening it and poking her head into the hallway. She heard the sound of another gun being loaded and she saw Lincoln out of the corner of her eye coming up behind her, shotgun in his hands. She raised an eyebrow.

"I'm not letting you go alone."

"None of us are." Jax said, standing and grabbing a gun as well. Ellie Rae stood from her chair and nodded when Jax gave her a look. Marissa looked at all of them but knew there was no point in arguing.

"Fine. Jax, Ellie Rae, you take the right side of the corridor. Lincoln and I will take the left. Don't leave your assigned buddy." They all nodded and exited the room. Slowly, they each entered into rooms and checked for Daniel. When they came out of the room, they informed the other pair he wasn't there and then moved to the next room.

They continued to do this until every room on the floor they were on was checked. There was no sign of Daniel. It was like he had disappeared like smoke in the wind.

"The only thing I can think of is that he went to the ground floor" Lincoln said when they all met up again.

"But why? There was plenty of rooms and bathrooms up here he could have used." Lincoln shrugged, at a loss for words. Marissa looked down the hall and sucked in her cheeks as she thought.

"I guess we need to check downstairs then." Ellie Rae looked worried as she said that. Marissa reached out a hand and grabbed hers.

"Don't look so worried. He'll be fine." Ellie Rae didn't look reassured by this but followed Jax's lead as he took them to the flight of stairs on their end of the hall. They walked down, keeping their guns up but fingers off the trigger, not wanting to accidentally shoot one of their own in the head.

Down in the main foyer, it was a mess but it was empty. It looked untouched from when they had rocked up the day before. They spread out over the floor and searched for any signs of Daniel. When they found nothing, they came back together at the reception desk and lowered their guns.

"Nothing. No sign of him. He's completely disappeared." Lincoln scratched his head with the tip of his gun. Marissa reached up and pushed it down, shaking her head.

"Don't scratch your head with that end of the gun." He looked down and gave a sheepish smile.

"Whoops." Jax rolled his eyes and blew his cheeks out.

"Okay but where could he have gone? Surely we would have heard something if someone decided to take him? I mean, the least they could've done was let us know they were taking him."

"Right, because everyone finds the time to leave a ransom note." Jax gave her an unimpressed look.

"You know what I mean, Mar." She rubbed her eyes with her free hand.

"Yeah, I do. This is the second time he's just vanished. When we find him, I'm going to kick-." Her sentence was interrupted by a loud growling noise followed by a very unmanly scream coming from outside. Ellie Rae reacted first, eyes wide in terror. She ran towards the doors. Marissa cursed.

"Ellie Rae! Stop!" The boys followed behind her as she chased after her friend. Ellie Rae pushed the glass door open and ran onto the street. Marissa almost missed the door, the glass blending in with the windows. She didn't have time to recover, making her way out the door to see what Ellie Rae was seeing. She lifted her gun immediately and aimed.

Apparently, there were giant wolves. And with those wolves, with his leg stuck in the mouth of one, was Daniel.