In the morning, the morning routine was usual, wake up and have breakfast. Mara was very tired, she was up very late last night, she was used to staying up late and sleeping a little. She won't be tired for long and all day.

James did say she would train with him again today if they have enough free time, Slightly hadn't said a word since he woke up, Tootles was sharing a nice dream he had last night about flying and Curly was yawning while listening to Tootles and playing with his own blonde curls before plucking a strand of hair then flicked it off of his finger.

The camp seems smaller in daytime, looking above at the sky you'd able to tell if it's cloudy or clear, it was cloudy, barely any blue sky spots, it looked it was going to rain today but Mara wasn't sure yet. Today's weather wasn't on her mind but the question of what today will bring. Surprisingly, she wasn't nervous of what happens today, she was careless as the Lost Boys, let Pan surprise them and what he has for them to do.

It was only day six, she needed to stop counting days of being in Neverland, counting days will become twenty, fifty, a hundred and maybe thousand. She'll lose count when she reaches over fifty days probably or when she start counting months and years.

"How many days have you been here, James?" Mara turned to her friend.

"I don't know" James shrugged, "I've been here for a year and seven months"

Days won't matter soon. She wanted to ask Slightly how long he's been on the island since he's one of Pan's first Lost Boys, but the boy talks when he wants to, and he'll probably won't answer.

It's like when she lost count of days from the day she lost her father until over a year had passed while she was living with her father's friend.

"We're playing a game today!" announced Pan loudly.

Mara sighed, hoping she won't come across another restricted land and get herself almost killed again.

"The game is more of a survival and hunt game"

"Oh no here we go" Mara heard Tootles mumbling and had worried look on his face. His unpleasant reaction hinted the game won't be fun and easy. This must be the first time she seen the clumsy Lost Boy looking as worried like this.

"Only one will play the role of hunters and the rest of you will be the prey" Pan explained.

Mara leaned closely to James then whispered, "Is this an actual real hunt like they'll literally kill us?"

James scoffed, "Of course not, we're not that cold hearted to kill our own mates"

A little relief but playing the role as the prey was a bit scary and she prayed that she and her tentmates will play the role of hunters.

"You know there are traps out there which I set up while you were all asleep, only the hunters will know of the whereabouts" Pan went on as he circled around the burn out bonfire, "first group to get caught are the unfortunate"

"I hope we get lucky" Curly muttered, "James, you better save us"

"Shut up" James hushed.

Pan grabbed a small bag from his seat and went over one of the tables on the left side where the food usually awaits. He had placed five rocks on the table in a line before turning to everyone. "Guiders, you may" he gestured at the rocks.

That's when James moved forward to the table, one boy from each group; Felix, Thomas, Ace and one of the Twins. Ace was the first to reach for one of the stones then went back to his group without looking at the stone in his hand. James did the same, neither of them looked at the stones as they all stood with their tentmates until Pan told them so.

Mara was close enough to look at the rock, James lift it to check under it and there was nothing on the stone. James and the boys groaned while Ace's group were jeering which meant they were the hunters. The rest of the group were much as disappointed as her tentmates.

"All of you, preys, you know the rules, you're defenceless, you can't fight back the hunters, so you mustn't take any weapons, leave them here" Pan stood in the middle of the camp, "it starts now. Hunters will give you a sixty second head start, I imply you all to start running"

With that, James, Curly, Slightly and Tootles dropped everything, their weapons but only took their canteens and Mara quickly followed what they were doing. The entire camp was filled with rushing noises meanwhile Ace and his group began counting.

They had reached ten by the time Mara and the boys left the camp. The rest of the Lost Boys had scattered out of the camp, all left the camp so quickly that the place was mostly empty without all the Lost Boys.

"Good thing I refilled the canteens during breakfast!" Curly was running front while Mara was behind the boys.

They ran across the stream, they didn't need to run on a log, they just ran in the water, the water was up to their hips as they went across. Mara began feeling anxious, she didn't her tentmates to be caught first and be the losers.

When they reach the meadow where she and James trained yesterday, while they were jogging across the meadow, James then demanded "We have to split up, Slightly and Curly, you take the left! Tootles, go right and find the place to hide! And you, girl, follow me"

They parted ways in the middle of the meadow and Mara was behind James. She immediately knew why they all had to split up, if they run all together, the hunters could catch them all easily at once, splitting up was obviously good idea.

Out of the meadow and back into the woods. The ground became harsh, and the path was crowded like they were going through the walls of bushes. Many twigs and roots on the ground, and Mara tried not to trip over them and get her face whipped by the branches.

They didn't stop running until they ran out of breath, at least until Mara ran out of breath, it must've been the longest run she ever had probably, "I need to stop!" She panted, bend down and had her hands on her knees as she took many breaths. "I need a break"

James sighed heavily then took deep breaths as well, she sat down on the ground, grabbed her canteen to take a drink. "We don't have long, we need to get away as possible and find a place to hide"

"Do you want me to die from not breathing?" She glanced up at him.

James huffed, "You'll be fine" he sat down in front of her, they were out of the woods, in the opening with tall grasses, high grasses up to Mara's waists and she and James are hidden well when they sat down.

"So we can't fight them back?" She asked when her breath was normal.

James shook his head, "Once they catch you, you're out. We gotta watch where we're going, watch our steps and look out with caution because there are traps"

"Traps" she said softly.

"If you don't get out of it quickly, they find you and catch you"

Mara thought of Pan and about last night, she guessed that's what he was doing the rest of the night after she went to sleep, setting up the traps all over the island.

Once their break was done, they proceeded running, she wasn't sure where they were going, there was a familiar spot she recognized, a ledge where she fell off from while fighting a boy named Nibs on her first day here. Her first game.

"Where we going?" Mara questioned as she jogged behind James.

"Near the treaty line, maybe we could hide there somewhere, I don't know, best I could think of" he didn't sound assuring at all.

Mara lost track on how long they ran, the land was so quiet that she only heard herself and James running, and the birds chirping and flapping nearby.

"When does this game end?" Mara slowed down a bit.

"Hunters have until sundown to catch us all" James replied, "they never catch all the groups on time, they always catch at least two groups full"

"Have you played as hunter?"

"A few times, I imagined Slightly and others have played hundred times" James stopped, "Alright, I think we're far enough, enough time to find some snacks before we find a place to hide, this way"

They went left, the jungle seemed lighter and brighter, perhaps they're out of the dark jungle by then. Still it was cloudy, the sky was all in grey, barely any spots of blue sky, it was a good thing it wasn't sunny during this game because it would be all warm.

James started to pick up some berries from a bush on the left and there were more on Mara's right and she started plucking them off. She put them into her pouch. She collected the red and blue berries until her pouch was full.

As they were finishing, they continued forward and James lead the way. Mara spotted a pale green and yellow fruit on the ground on her right as they were about to leave the area. "Oh look--" she walked over it to pick it up, "--a pear"

She picked up as James uttered, "No, don't!" It all happened so quick when there was a sudden snapping wire nearby, the ground moved and the leafs and grass on their feet flew up along with Mara and James.

Next thing she knew, their bodies were pressed together as they were trapped in the net, swinging side to side. Mara felt stupid.

James exhaled sharply, "Great"

"I'm sorry" Mara murmured.

***

So how was this chapter? How is the story so far?
^_^ hope you're all enjoying this so far

Rest well on the weekend everyone, and stay weird 🖖🏽 see ya soon