Stephen nodded at the goon who kept hitting me and he backed away. He leaned forward "Answer my questions without attitude and you won't get hurt. Understand?" He said to me. I looked up at him, then to Samantha, then back to Stephen. I didn't say a word, I only sat upright again.. "Where do you come from?" He asked. "A.. a village, far from here." I said. "There are other people there?" He asked. I nodded. "How did they survive?" "Um," good question... "I hid in an underground parking lot, far underground... and umm... I came up after a while and I found the ruins of a mall and made a shelter... and... one by one, survivors joined me..." I lied. it's amazing what you can come up with under pressure. He nodded, by the looks of it he believed me. "Where abouts is this village?" He asked. "It... was destroyed... that's why I left." I said, trying to get him to give it up. "That's why I left." "He lies!" The big guy said, getting ready to hit me again. "Back off Shane" Stephen said firmly. "Stephen, he's sick. They shot him with an arrow for goodness sake! Let him rest" Samantha begged. Stephen nodded "That's enough questions for today." Samantha came over to me and helped me back to the tent. "Thank you." I said, struggling to walk back. She helped be back down into the cot that I had previously been resting on. I laid back and slowly the pain went away. "Here, drink this." Samantha said as she lifted my head. I took a few sips and made a face. "This is awful!" I said. "Drink it. It will make you well." She said. "Are you sure your brother didn't employ you to kill me with that?" I asked, half joking. Her face clowded at the mention of Stephen "He really isn't a bad person" She said sadly. "I'm sure he's normally a really peachy person." I said, "But he doesn't take too kindly to strangers." "There aren't supposed to be any strangers" She said "As far as we'd known, there were no survivors. Besides.." She looked away "I think Powers gone to my brothers head. He's changed a lot in the last couple of years." "Your brother?" I asked in shock. She nodded silently. I could see a tear glisten down the side of her cheek. "I wish I could see the old Stephen again." "Hey," I said softly. I stood up as much as I could and said "it's alright. It's going to be ok." She just nodded "I have to go" She said standing up and walking to the door "Try to rest" She said turning to look at me one more time, before disappearing outside. ...Amy... "There's got to be something we can do!" I said, pacing around. "We can't just sit here!" "Amy, it's the middle of the night." Damien said, taking my hand."Now come sit down and try to relax." "I can't relax when he's out there" She said "What if he's hurt?" "Look" Damien tried to reassure me "First thing in the morning we'll go look for him. But we won't do any good going out now. We'd likely get lost, and hurt ourselves" I nodded. He was right. But I still felt horrible about it all. Danny walked up and sat down in front of the fire. He looked really tired and just as frustrated as Amy. "How are you holding up?" I asked. "I'm doing ok, I guess." He said, "Mary-Kate's still really worried, as well as Ashley." "Where are they?" I asked. "Ashley convinced Mary-Kate she needed to get some sleep, for her health and everything. And Ashleys staying there with her" I nodded and went back to looking at the fire. ...Sean... I woke up and rubbed my eyes. I looked around and saw Samantha making something. It looked like a small sack made out of some sort of furry leather. "What is it?" I asked, my voice kinda scratchy from the lack of use during the night. She looked up at me and smiled. "It's a medicine pouch." She looked at her work and then continued to make it. "My mother used to make them and taught me how." "It's really lovely." I said. "I painted some flowers and colorful lines on it, see?" She said, displaying her artwork. "Very nice." I said as a sharp pain hit me. "How many times have I told you not to move?" She scolded me "Sorry." I said, smiling a little bit. "What's so funny?" She wanted to know. "Nothing." I said. "Your bandage will need to be changed soon." I stopped smiling. "Baby" she said with a laugh. "I'm not a baby!" I pouted. Samantha gave a small laugh and started to mix some herbs together. She crushed them and put them in water. She brought it over to me and got a rag. "What's that?" I said eyeing it suspiciously. "It's a blend that will help your wound heal." She said. "Now turn on your side." I reluctantly and painfully rolled onto my side so she would access the wound. "UGH!" I said in pain as she unwrapped the wound and applied the blend. "Oh yea, might sting a bit." She said. "Thanks for telling me" I said sarcastically. "Is Samantha in there?" I heard a male voice asking the guard at the entrance to the tent. The guard grunted in response. And the person walked into the tent. He was about Samantha's age and I hadn't seen him before. "Hey Sam" He said as Samantha finished with my bandage. "Oh hey Jason" Samantha said turning away from me.
