It took me three attempts to light the pile of furniture. Recently, my hands are really letting me down in every situation which is not Zach related.

I ran from the fast-growing fire without worrying if this will work or if this is a pointless action. I'm doing something. This is me increasing my chances of survival. I know this because Zach will see it. 

Zach will know it's a sign we are alive. He'll know we're trying to get back.

In the rapidly descending darkness, I find Bo sitting next to Haiden. She hasn't moved from the spot we placed her in.

'How is she doing?' I ask. Stupid question.

'She's not conscious.'

We sit and watch the remaining shard of sunlight disappear into the dark grey night. My eyes adjust to the lack of light however I can only make out the rough shape of objects close to us. We wait a little while longer, neither of us saying anything. Bo stands and without a word, we both pick up Haiden and stumble along the streets quietly, tripping on unseen cracks and over objects obstructing our path.

Occasionally, Bo mutters something under his breath or I inhale sharply when stumbling over debris. The rest of our journey is carried out in a strained silence which is sporadically interrupted by the faint ragged breathing of Haiden positioned in between. I wish her breathing was louder. 

Every one of senses are heightened. I'm aware of every noise, every smell. I can even smell the fire I lit which is far behind us. Once we leave the edge of the town and walk out into the open my chest tightens. There's no light, no sound of the trucks but I hear mine and Bo's breathing, our footsteps against the bare earth. Every noise we make sounds deafening. Bo was right. They would have heard the bicycle and trailer.

Haiden's body gets heavier. Sweat trickles down my back as my arms scream out in protest, and my dry tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. Dull lights come into view. Bobbing up and down, the moving lights slowly drift sideways.

'Avoid the lights,' Bo whispers.

'What?' I whisper confused.

'Our people are on the inside of the fence holding the torches, they are marking an Outsider on the outside,' Bo says.

I squint. It doesn't help. 'Are you sure?'

'You want to test my theory?' He asks.

'No. I trust you,' I say, and I do. 'What are we going to do?'

'You're going to head straight into the entrance.'

'What?'

'Follow me, and when I tell you to run, you have to run straight into the entrance but you'll have Haiden on your back. I'll distract them and draw them away.' Bo starts to veer us towards the entrance.

No. I'm not letting anyone takes risks for me anymore. I'm not risking anyone's life for mine again.

Nine days of waiting for Zach; not knowing if he was going to return made me realise if he didn't, I wouldn't be able to live with myself. I'm never leaving anyone behind again. 'No...'

'Quiet,' Bo hisses.

I stop abruptly, which means Bo has to stop as we're both holding Haiden. I lower my voice, 'not happening. Firstly, because I'm not leaving you and secondly, because I'm not leaving you.'

'Don't be stupid.' Bo growls.

Haiden groans loudly and we both freeze. No one comes running towards us. The fence is still too far away for the Outsiders to hear us. I hope.

We gently place Haiden on the floor and kneel on the floor next to her, panting heavily. I grab Bo and pull him towards me. Placing my mouth near his ear, I whisper, 'come up with a new plan. One in which we all survive.'

Bo huffs. We both lay on the ground on our fronts, watching the fence. Squinting, I follow the lights and occasionally I glimpse two figures: one on the inside of the fence, and one on the outside. Bo was right, they are marking the Outsiders for us.

I turn to Bo. 'New plan. I distract, you take Haiden in.'

'No.' Bo growls.

'I'll get them away from the entrance then hide back in town.'

'No. They have trucks and they'll catch you. Think of a different plan. One in which we all survive,' Bo says flatly.

I huff. We lay in silence. This silence is the worst so far. It's a silence full of empty ideas and growing hopelessness. An eternity later, there's still no plan we can come up which involves all three of us surviving.

I close my eyes and listen to the faint shallow breathing of Haiden. She's still alive.

Bo taps me on the shoulder. 'Fire.'

I look behind me and I see the edge of the fire I lit in the distance. A dim glow illuminates clouds of smoke which disappear into the darkness above.

'Not that one. There's a fire at the fence,' Bo says.

I face forwards and see the small fire. It illuminates the side of the fence, there are no people standing next to it only two chairs and I know immediately we have to go to it. 'It's a sign. Head for the fire.'

I start to get up. Bo grabs me and pulls me down. 'No.'

'Zach has a plan. The fire is meant to draw people in. He wants us to go to it. He knows I know that.'

'They'll see us.'

'We approach when the Outsiders have walked further along the fence. I know you have something against Zach but trust me, Bo. He's helping us.'

'Fine. But I'm only agreeing to go over there because I trust you.'

'Fine.' I shake my head and we pick Haiden up.

Approaching the fence slowly, we watch the torches carefully. As they start to move away from the small fire we both break into a sprint. Reaching the fence, there is no one there. My heart speeds up however I know this is what Zach wanted us to do. I'm certain of it.

'Zach?' I hiss loudly.

Zach and Cas appear next to the fire along with Dolly and Fara. A surge of relief hits me. Zach and Cas crouch down and pull out several large rocks which expose a small gap under the fence.

'Help get Haiden through. She's hurt,' I whisper.

Me and Bo position her at the gap, lifting her arms so Zach and Cas can grab them and pull Haiden through the gap under the fence. Her clothes get caught on the jagged edges of the fence and rip, Cas and Zach don't stop pulling her, there's no time to be slow and gentle.

Bo shuffles nervously behind me however I'm too excited to be nervous. Once Haiden is through Bo pushes me forward. I lay down and place my arms in front of me and start to shuffle forward as the gap is too small to crawl through. Zach grabs my hands and pulls me, dragging my body to safety. The fence digs into my back; any pain is overridden by the relief of being safe.

All three of us survived.

Zach lifts me up and wraps his arms around me. A scuffling noise and grunt makes me spin around. Bo is halfway through the gap however, on the other side of the fence two figures have a hold of his legs. We all dart forward as he's dragged backwards. All of us try to grab onto him but he didn't put his arms through first, they're down by his sides so our fingers have nothing to hook onto as he's dragged away from us, back to the outside.

Bo struggles as he's pulled to standing. One of the figures, a woman, draws out a knife and rests it against Bo's neck causing him to freeze. She holds his head, and positions herself behind him, continuing to keep the knife pressed against his skin. The flicker of orange and red from the small fire next to me casts menacing shadows across her haggard face.

'Let him go,' Doll says firmly.

'Those three are responsible for killing one of ours and knocking the other unconscious,' the second figure says as he checks the woman has Bo restrained. 

'We were defending ourselves,' I shout, stepping forward however Zach pulls me back, holding me tightly against him.

The second figure, a bald-headed man, looks me up and down. His gaze lingers over Zach's hands wrapped around my waist before he looks directly into my eyes and says, 'I'm not seeing a girl who fears for her life.'  He clears his throat and straightens himself. 'My name is Klein. This here is Olivia.' He points to the woman holding a blade against Bo's throat.

Klein smiles. 'We're interested in talking to you, Kit. Why don't you come out here so we can talk like civilised adults? I'll take your word that you were defending yourselves, and I'll allow this boy to go.'

'Leave her alone,' Dolly snaps.

Klein steps forward, ignoring Doll, his eyes are fixed on me. 'We don't want trouble, but Ethel, Roman and Doll always make it rather difficult for us to talk to new arrivals, like yourself, so we have to take extreme measures. I'm sorry if my people scared you. All we want to do is talk to you about your options.'

Doll growls. 'What a pile of crap. You don't offer her no options, only-'

'Don't start with your false accusations, Doll. You know that goes against the agreement,' Olivia interrupts. Her hand clutching the knife wobbles, and I see Bo's eyes close in fear.

'They're not false, Liv. If you actually opened your eyes and looked at what was going on, you'd see it just like I did,' Doll hisses. 'What's wrong with you, Liv? Look at what he's making you do. You're holding a knife to a young boys throat.'

'He killed one of ours,' Olivia snaps.

'I killed him,' I say loudly.

'I doubt you did it all by yourself,' Olivia says, her gaze drifting over me like the thought of me even trying to defend myself sounds ridiculous.

'I did. I definitely picked up the piece of glass and stabbed it into his neck. I did it all by myself when he tried to drag me away,' I say flatly.

Zach's arms tighten around me although I barely feel him. I'm too focused on the knife still being held to Bo's throat.

'Kit, you're not what I expected at all.' Klein laughs while Olivia scowls.

Doll steps towards the fence. 'Don't you dare look at her Klein or I'll rip you a new-'

'Doll, that's enough,' Ethel says from behind me.

'Finally, someone has arrived who will make some sense,' Klein says.

'Fara, take Haiden back to the house.' Ethel steps beside me and Zach, her gaze focussed on Klein. 'Klein, you're far from home. What brings you here?'

'I want to discuss the possibility of Kit coming with us,' Klein says.

'She's not coming with you, ever. I can promise you that,' Doll snaps.

'Don't make promises you know you can't keep, Doll.' Klein smiles sweetly but there's a menacing undercurrent to his tone.

'Klein, let the boy go, he's of no use to you,' Ethel says calmly.

'I will. First, I want to talk to Kit. I want to show her our community.'

'No,' Ethel says.

'Let me show her what we have to offer.' Klein stares at me. 'You know they'll come for her here, and you won't be able to keep her safe, not like we can. We're the better option. If she's with us, she'll be safe and she'll be contributing to the future. You believed in our future, Ethel, you were part of it-'

'Don't start with that again,' Doll interrupts.

'She has no signs of damage,' Klein says.

'She hasn't been infected that's why,' Ethel says with certainty. Does she really believe that?

'Maybe. Maybe, not. I doubt it very much though, especially if they're after her,' Klein says, 'we'll do a deal. I return this boy and you give me a week with Kit. In a week, if she still wants to come back here, I will let her.'

'We won't force her to stay,' Olivia says.

'You won't,' Doll mutters.

'I'll go.' I swallow hard. Attempting to move forward, I'm unable to move as Zach doesn't release me from his grip.

'No,' Ethel and Doll both snap loudly and simultaneously.

'She's wants to come,' Klein says.

'Let Bo go or our agreement is off,' Ethel warns.

'You don't have a say over what we do outside your land. We agreed that. Everything beyond your fence is fair game and you won't get involved.'

Ethel strides to the fence and raises the gun in her hand, positioning it within one of the holes of the metal fence. 'If you don't let him go, Klein, I'll shoot you in the head, and I'll order for every one of your people to be shot on sight. We'll come for you all, Klein.'

'Our community outnumbers yours. Don't be stupid, Ethel.' Klein laughs, however it sounds strained.

'I'm giving you one chance, Klein. Release him or I shoot. And I'm warning you, the rest of my community have been given the go-ahead to start shooting once they hear a shot. If that happens, you'll lose some of your most valuable trackers.' Ethel's thumb flicks something and the gun clicks. 'Don't be stupid, Klein.'

'She'll do it. She's not the person you remember,' Doll says in a low menacing tone.

Klein steps back and raises his hand in the air. 'Remember, you've decided this, Ethel. The agreement is off.'

Olivia releases Bo and also retreats.

'Bo, get in here now,' Ethel barks.

Bo scrabbles forward under the fence. Cas who has been standing to the side quietly, darts forward, grabs his hands and pulls him through the gap under the fence. Once he's on the inside, Bo crouches on the floor panting heavily.

'I forgot to mention you're a grandma, Ethel. It's a shame you'll never get to meet your grandchild but that's the choice you made, a bad one, I may add, just like today.' Klein continues to step back as does Olivia.

Ethel doesn't move, her gun is still pointed towards the two retreating figures. 'Zach, fill in this hole immediately. Doll, inform everyone on patrol to be alert. Cas, tell Roman to meet me by the entrance. I'll organise more people to patrol. Bo and Kit, get checked by Fara and Carlos then clean yourselves up. I'll find you once I'm done.' Ethel orders briskly.

Cas darts off. Zach brushes his lips across mine and squeezes my hand before letting go. Bo stands, the fire has faded but in the remaining light, a faint line is visible across his neck.

Me and Bo stumble through the dark fields towards the building.

'Thanks,' Bo says.

'For what?' I ask.

'For volunteering to swap. I wouldn't have let you but thanks anyway.'

I shrug. I wasn't happy about volunteering myself as a sacrifice. If I'd been taken, I would have blamed Bo, blamed Ethel. I would have been angry. However, the alternative was to watch Bo die for my own life. I wouldn't have been able to live with the guilt.

Nate is standing by the door holding a torch in one hand and a gun in the other which he raises and points at us.

'Shit, you scared me,' he mutters lowering his gun. He frowns, rests his hand on Bo's shoulder as we pass. 'I'll come find you, once I'm finished on patrol.'

'Ok.' Bo nods

My head aches. My muscles ache. My entire body aches. Walking towards the medical room, I don't feel the relief I experienced earlier. Dread unfurls heavily in my stomach as one question repeats in my head.

How did he know my name?

Author's notes:
What do you think? You may be confused but in two chapters things make more sense (I hope!).

PS I'm doing this on my phone so please let me know when there are mistakes xx