"Life is not complex. We are complex. Life is simple, and the simple thing is the right thing." -- Oscar Wilde.

I apologise for the foul language from the last chapter and in this chapter (for those who are uncomfortable with it).

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"How much longer do we have to keep walking?" Reece whined.

Beads of sweat trickled down the side of his face and lined his forehead. He huffed in annoyance as he swiped at it again.

George rolled her eyes. "Just shut up already."

"But I can't," Reece complained.

Lucas punched his arm and hissed at him to shut up as George took a threatening step forward.

"Ow! What the --" Lucas shoved him, cutting him off and he complained again.

Sam spun around to face them.

"Alright, guys, let's take a break here," she dropped her backpack onto the grass under a tree.

"Finally," Reece grumbled, only to be shoved again by Lucas.

"Quit it already, will you?" Lucas said in annoyance.

Jay-Jay dropped his bag next to Sam's and plopped down, taking a long gulp of water from his bottle. Chris and Carter sat further up, leaning against the rough surface of the tree's bark and started emptying their bags.

George was still scowling in Reece's direction when she sat down next to Jay-Jay, pulling Natt down with her.

"Why'd you have to bring that asshole here anyway?"

Sam laughed. "Relax, George. I didn't know Lucas was going to bring him in the first place."

Natt patted Geoege's back and offered her a bottle.

"It's no use wasting your energy on someone unworthy of it. Leave him alone, okay?"

She sighed and thankfully took the bottle, nodding at his advice.

"Okay," she said after giving the bottle back to him.

Brand joined them, muttering profanities under his breath.

"What is it with that guy?" he asked Sam, jerking his head in the direction of Reece.

"Luke is so much better than him. It's a good thing it isn't Reece alone here."

"I second that," George piped up, immediately keeping quiet when Natt gave her a look.

"Sorry," she murmured.

"Chill, guys. If you keep on thinking like this then you're gonna have a cloud handing over your head every time you think of him. Just be positive-minded, okay? Think of how he can help us instead," Sam said.

Brand was about to disagree when Reece wedged himself between them and slung an arm around Sam and Brand's shoulders.

Brand tried to shove him off, but when he couldn't, he glared daggers at him.

"Dayyum, you gonna burn your eyes, Brandy-boy," Reece mocked.

Brand clenched his jaw and turned his head away, trying again to shrug him off. Reece turned to Sam.

"All your friends hate me, Sam. What'd I do to them?" He whined.

"Oh, for the love of God, shut up!" George yelled, infuriated.
Reece raised a brow, amused at her sudden outburst. "I wasn't talking to you."

"I didn't say you were," she hissed.

"So?" he challenged.

Before George could utter another word, Samantha chuckled dryly and cut in. "How about we play a game?"

Reece's eyebrows rose so high they disappeared into his mop is wild blond curls.

"A game. Seriously? Do we look like kids to you?"

"Nope. You two look much worse than a baby goat, actually," Sam replied.

George rolled her eyes. "Just shut up. What's your so-called game?"

"You and Reece," she pointed at the two of them. "Have to have a civil conversation all the time. The first one to start bickering again will lose," Sam grinned victoriously, "and the winner will get," she paused dramatically, ". . . a quarter of my allowance," she finished off.

George gasped. "No way."

"Hell, yeah!" Reece cheered. "This is so damn easy."

Sam raised an eyebrow. "We'll see . . . Anyway, let the games begin," she glanced at her watch, "now!"

"Seriously, Sam. You're acting like we're in some major contest or something. Or The Hunger Games," George lightly smacked her arm, letting out a light chuckle.

"If it's The Hunger Games, then I'm Katniss. In other words, you stand no chance, Gee," Reece said, drawing his imaginary bow, picking out an arrow and aiming it straight at George's heart before shooting it.

Sam raised an eyebrow when he called her Gee but made no comment.

How cute, they have their own nicknames for each other.

"Katniss is a girl, dumbass."

"So?"

"So . . . you're calling yourself a girl," she pointed out.

"Am not," Reece argued.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Guys. Not even a minute into the game and you're already fighting," Samantha said, smirking slightly.

It truly was amusing how they found something to fight over everything anyone said or did.

Reece clamped his lips together and turned away. George zipped her mouth with her imaginary key and passed it to Reece to throw away. Reece, however, flipped the bird and motioned shoving the key into his mouth, chewing it and swallowing it.

George rolled her eyes and went to sit down next to Natt.

Sometimes I forget that Nat's even her twin, Sam thought.

They didn't look anything like each other, she noted again since the time she met them. The only thing the same about them was their comforting and understanding nature. She let out a light laugh under her breath.

"Guys, I know you wanna chill, but we gotta keep moving if we wanna reach there tomorrow," Sam said.

She knew they were trying to delay the time as much as they possibly could. She did, too.

She didn't want to discover it so soon; she was afraid, but she wanted to have answers to her questions.

Slowly, everyone started getting up and got ready to leave again.

"We're almost there, right?" Lucas asked, falling into step next to Sam.

"Yip. Not too long left now."

"You nervous?" he asked.

"Yip," she replied without a moment of hesitation.

"Scared?"

Deciding to be honest, she replied, "Yeah."

"Hey, hey," he said, noticing her expression. "There's nothing wrong with being afraid."

Sam nodded. "Yeah."

"Yo, Sam!" Brand beckoned her over.

Sam gave Lucas a small smile and walked over to Brandon.

"Yeah?" she asked.

"Can you just tell me where we're going exactly?" he sheepishly asked.

Sam chuckled. She knew that he had a tendency to forget things very quickly.

"It's somewhere around this huge man-made cave with this boulder-like thing covering the entrance to it so that people won't even know it's there and can't get in either," she explained.

Curiously, Brand asked, "How do you know this?"

"Well . . . ," Sam searched for a proper answer to give him.

"I managed to gather a few things from those pictures and the warehouse, but I could only find out the area these people are in. We're following Reece, and he picked up that they're hiding somewhere near this cave. I dunno how he knows that," she muttered under her breath.

"How do you know about this boulder-thingie?" Brand asked.

"Those people certainly don't know how to clean up and wipe their traces away completely," she said dryly.

"I pieced together a few things from the warehouse and it gave away their hiding place easily."

"Oh," Brand said, not knowing what else to say to that.

Jay-Jay, having overheard everything she said, asked, "But if they have the boulder -thingie covering the entrance, then how do we get in?"

"They're not staying in the cave, I think they're staying somewhere near it. But they do have an escape exit and one in the floor that drops you into the lake below them," she explained, "so we're entering through the escape exit if they are in the cave."

Jay-Jay nodded, impressed that she knew so much.

Suddenly, Reece stopped dead in his tracks and in a panicked, hushed voice said, "Guys, hide away. Quick!"

Without questioning him further, they all scrambled to the surrounding bushes and trees nearest to them.

Just as Reece concealed himself, a group of men in a sleek black car appeared in their view. Sam instantly knew who they were from how they were dressed: a rugged appearance, a tight black shirt and leather jackets -- she couldn't see further than that since the car obstructed her view. One or two had a cigarette between their lips and another was playing with a knife and sharpening it.

Obviously, Sam thought, it's not like they need to hide away here; no one ever comes this way.

The car moved silently across the grass and soon they were out of their view. They came out from their hiding places and gathered around each other.

"We need to be really careful here; anyone can spot us easily," Reece warned them.

They nodded in agreement.

"This means we're going the right way," Sam said.

She would've never guessed that they were so far out here in the countryside; it's hours away from town.

"Did you see those guys?" Sam heard Natt ask George. "They're so big."

"Massive is more like it," George said, chuckling nervously.

"Enormous," Natt agreed.

They walked on the grass for ages, passing numerous bushes and trees on their way. Once they could see the first farm ahead of them, Sam counted the amount of time they've been walking, how far they are from the town and how far left of their journey.

"Okay, guys, take a break here. We've walked too long and you need a break," she said, taking a sip from her bottle of water.

The road was on their left hand side and not one car was in sight. Sam could see the heat in the air and breathed in deeply.

She was glad that there were trees here to protect them from the scalding Sun. Sunset was rolling in quickly and Sam knew they had to reach their resting area before night settles in.

They ate their food, drank some more water and rested for ten minutes before moving again.

She glanced around at her friends and felt bad when she took in their appearances.

They were all tired and drained, she could see it by just glancing at them.

Just as the Sun went down, Sam stopped and turned around. "We're here, guys."

They were at the second farm. She jerked her head in the direction of a shed and walked towards it.

"What are you doing?" Lucas hissed at her, "we can be sent to the station if they catch us here."

"Chill, Lucas," Sam chuckled.

"I have a friend here and I called her to ask her if we could crash here for the night. Her parents are in the city now. She didn't question, don't worry, and she's not gonna tell anyone either."

"How do you know she won't tell?" Reece asked cautiously.

"She's a delinquent, Reece, and delinquents don't snitch people out."

Reece nodded in understanding.

"Wait," Jay-Jay said, holding up a hand.

"Harper? As in the one that got kicked out of school? Pranks, parties, graffiti? I thought her parents took her to the city," he asked.

"Yip, that Harper. She was in the city for a while, but they brought her here to the farm 'cause she caused more problems there," she explained.

"Oh. Damn," Jay-Jay whistled.

Sam laughed. "Well, come on then, guys. Let's go sleep."

"Why can't we go inside? Like you said, she won't tell," Reece said.

"Because the worker will tell, and she stays in the house."

Sam took the key from a hidden compartment in the door of the shed, grateful that Harper remembered to put it there, and unlocked it. She pulled the chains off and pulled the doors open.

She flicked the switch on and a dull, yellow light filled the shed.

"Won't the worker see the light on?" George asked.

"Nope. His bedroom is at the back and Harper said she'll keep him there so he doesn't see the light," she reassured her.

"But what about the morning? They wake up early," Natt asked.

"Like I said, Harper got it sorted," Sam said.

"You trust her that much?" Carter asked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Yeah, how can you trust her that much?" Chris piped up.

"Guys, would you chill? I got Harper suspended once because she asked me to and she said she'd pay me back although I told her not to. So this is her paying me back, okay."

"She wanted to get suspended?" Carter asked in disbelief.

Chris let out a low whistle. "Damn. She sure is crazy."

Sam laughed. She went inside the shed and found a bag of food in one corner. "Whoa. She really over-did herself this time."

They heartily ate the food and spread their sleeping bags across the soft ground. Sam closed the doors and locked it before slipping into the sleeping bag. She thanked Harper in her mind, hoping that she'd get the message somehow, before her mind rested itself and she fell asleep.

Unlike the previous nights, she had a good, dreamless and comfortable sleep.

- - - - -

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Croc