Hazel walked to the river's bank and dipped her hand in the cold water. It washed away the dirt and blood from small cuts and made her hand numb. She scooped some up and brought it to her mouth. It rushed down her dry throat and soothe red her.

Something touched her shoulder and she lurched forward.

"Woah! Easy!" Someone laughed and grabbed her before she went flying into the frigid water.

"Jacob!" Hazel said with anger as she turned to face him.

Jacob smiled innocently, "just came to see what you were doing. You've been here for a while."

"It's quiet," hazel looked at the rippling and glistening water and smiled, "it is peaceful."

Jacob shifted and sighed, "Well, we are in a bit of crisis right now, we have no time for relaxing."

Hazel nodded and brushed the hair off her face, "But I can at least have one last minute. We'll move tomorrow to DC and create a plan."

Hazel sat down on the cushion moss and started carving a small stick with a knife. The knife carved and peeled away shavings of wood and were carried away by the river's current that was strong enough to take them.

Jacob nestled down next to her and looked across the river at the woods. The only noise was the running water and the knife against the wood, it was all silent.

"There are plenty of fish to catch if you're up to it, have one last bit of fun before evident death," Jacob chuckled.

Hazel smiled to herself but then a realization hit her. She could and most likely would die. Her parents were already gone and her brother was all that was left of her family . Her home was gone, where all the memories were made. That could never be replaced.

Come out of it hazel, pull yourself together, say yes.

"Sure, where's Alex?" Hazel stood up and tossed the stick into the river.

Jacob lunged forward and grabbed it. Hazel pulled him back and he examined it.

"This could work as a fishing rod kind of thing, but my survival skills aren't the best so I wouldn't ask me," Jacob said.

"Me either," Hazel agreed, "trust me, all I knew was how to survive until the bell."

The two laughed and hazel smiled. A rustling in the bushes brought her to ten around and see Alex emerging from the bushes.

"I wondered where you two were," he said as he pulled twigs out of his hair.

"Fishing?" Hazel asked him.

"Sure but how?" He answered.

Jacob pulled a piece of string from his bag around his neck and quickly carved a little wooden hook.

"It will have to work," Jacob sighed and cast out the line.

The three survivors sat on the moss, pressed against each other to stay warm from the lack of proper layers. Hazel was shivering and her teeth chattering. The wind was not helping, blowing against her face and whisking her hair. Hazel looked like Rudolph the red nosed reindeer her nose was so red.

"This is taking FORVER!" Alex whines and rested his head on his knees.

Hazel remembered fishing at the town lake every summer with her family. Once when Alex was seven, he had caught a huge bass that was a fighter and flopped into the lake, dragging Alex with him. Hazel herself had almost fallen in from laughing.

Back then, life was so simple, she thought sadly.

She saw a tug on the string and Jacob stand up. He walked back and the line came closer to shore. The fish was splashing and hazel scrambled back to avoid the cold droplets.

"A bass!" Jacob gasped as he stabbed the fish with a stone.

"Like the one when we were younger that dragged me into the lake!" Alex laughed but hazel didn't smile, the memory made her even more sad.

Alex stopped and looked at her.

"What's done is done hazel, we can only move  forward, we have a whole life ahead of us, all of us," Jacob told her sympathetically and helped her up.

"Let's go prepare our meal," Alex suggested and lead the way to te cabin.

Hazel walked next to Jacob who was carrying the fish. They walked shoulder to shoulder but no one talked.

"So, what school did you go to?" Jacob attempted to make conversation.

"Town high school," Hazel responded dryly.

"Yeah, same. But for my town of course," he laughed to himself and hazel just looked at him and he frowned.

Alex ran over with panic written in his face.

"Someone's at the cabin!" He whispered with fear.

Hazel grabbed her gun but Jacob stopped her.

"Talk first, then fight," he insisted and hazel hesitantly listened.

Hazel pressed herself against the outside wall then slammed the door open.

"Put your hands up!" Hazel ordered and the guy, who looked to be in his forties, turned around.

Hazel watched him put a hand in his pocket.

"I said hands up," she growled.

"Sorry," he said and hazel pulled the trigger.

The sound  was ricocheting in her ears and the guy collapsed on the ground.

"Hazel! What are you doing?!" Alex exclaimed and pointed at the dead body.

"Saving your sorry a-"

"Ok, ok. Everyone relax," Jacob entered and stepped between the siblings.

"He would have killed me. Killed," Hazel emphasized.

"I get that, I am talking to Alex," Jacob told her.

Alex folded his arms and looked away.

"Help me get him out of here," Hazel ordered Jacob and grabbed the dead man's arms.

He had died from a shot to the gut and blood stained the wooden floors.

Jacob grabbed his legs and the two dragged him and threw him into the woods.

Hazel walked back into the cabin and sat on her bed on the floor made of like four blankets. The notebook caught the corner of her eye and she pulled it out. Just in case we survive, a journal isn't such a bad idea.

November 30, 2019,

Today I️ killed a man with a gun. I️ didn't even know him. Yesterday I️ met a stranger in the woods named Jacob who will appear for the rest of this tracker journal. We went fishing today and things have not improved. So far, no more enemies have been spotted but we will move tomorrow.

"Whatcha doing?" Jacob peered over her shoulder.

Hazel closed the notebook and threw it on the ground, " nothing!"

"Seems like a lot of nothing?" Jacob smiled.

"Just in case we survive I want to see what happened, sort of map it out," Hazel responded quickly, "wow I'm tired! Good night!"

She buried herself under the blankets and embraced their warmth that were on the floor.

"Well, if you don't want to eat then-"

Jacob started but hazel jumped up, "ok! I'm up!"

Jacob laughed and ruffled her hair and she batted his hand away.

"But first, here," Hazel handed him a gun, "the thing I was going to give you, you proved yourself."

"Thanks, hazel," Jacob accepted and took the gun.

They walked outside and Jacob pulled out a box of matches. Hazel gathered some pine needles and twigs and they slowly built their fire. Hazel put her hands around the flames, wanting them, while Jacob cooked dinner. Alex was inside doing who knows what but hazel couldn't care less.

"Will this be enough for all of us?" Hazel asked Jacob.

He nodded, "it won't be a feast but it will sustain us."

The sun was starting to set, it would start earlier each day.

The fish had finished cooking and they had brought it inside to not attract animals. Hazel wolfed down the fish before climbing into her floor bed.

"Just saying, I may forget you are there and step on you in the morning, just a warning," Jacob said.

"I couldn't care less," Hazel protested.

"Don't say I didn't warn you," Jacob reminded her and hazel scowled.

"Go bother Alex," Hazel said and rolled over so she wasn't facing him.

"No, don't bother Alex," Alex called.

Jacob lied down on his bed and Hazel took in a deep breath to try and calm her mind down after the crazy day.

"Could be worse," Jacob laughed and settled in.

Could it though? Hazel shrugged it off and went to sleep on her sliver of floor bed.

"You're going to get stepped on," Jacob chuckled.

Hazel ignored him. She refused and pushed him away. Jacob gave up and went to sleep and hazel did too.