hungry trees

burning.

i ignored fletcher since that kiss. it happend a week ago, but i ignore him still. fletcher tries to get me to talk to him, but i feel so digusted. why did i kiss him? he doesnt love me. leeth was getting better, his wound stopped bleeding finally. ember had gotten better at making fires, and i was missing my family more and more. one night, leeth woke me up and whispered to me, obviously crying "what if theyre all dead?" it took me an hour to get him to believe they werent, but i honestly had that thought that they were dead implanted into my brain for weeks. i just didnt say it. of course i didnt.

the next day, fletcher seemed to have enough. "talk to me eden!" he yelled. i winced, but ignored him. "what do i have to do to get you to answer me?" his voice broke down to a plead. i looked into his blue eyes. "you cant." my voice cracked. i turned and walked back to the cave. then started my plan on finding more people. "we cant just sit here and think that the gamers will just hand them all back. we have to do something." i tell them. "what can we do?!" "we can fight. but first, we need to look for more people alive." ember had made another backpack to keep the food in by taking the blanket we had forgotten about and sewed it together with an arrowhead and some string. we packed up and fletcher and leeth put the packs on their backs. ember held hands with leeth as i walked ahead, nerved and excited. hoping that we would find more people.

as we crossed through ember's broken village, we took a break. i had found a bag in a hut and we sorted everything out, putting some food and a sleeping bag into the new bag. i shrugged it onto my back and we kept going. when we reached the next forest, exiting ember's village, we heard a cough. "who coughed?" i asked everyone. "no one." ember said, obviously frightened. i heard a noise and started to run, looking for the source. and i did. a boy, he was beautiful. more than beautful, gorgeous. about 20. "im ruthless. and you are?" "Eden." i said, panting. "and you three are?" "im fletcher, this is eden and leeth." ruthless nodded. "its dangerous in here. theres muttations." he started. "we know. we fougth a couple in my village's woods." "were are you from?" he asked me. "lokus." i answered. he nodded. "we want our families back." ember explained. pain shot through ruthless' face. "i want my love back. her name is juden she got seperated from me when we were running." i looked at him. "lets go find her then." he smiled.

when we arrived at the next village's woods, a girl, about 12, a boy, about 17 and a woman, about thirty came to kill us. "we're here to help you." i exclaimed. the woman stopped. "im from the village of lokus, so is fletcher and leeth. ember and ruthless are from the village of seer." they nodded. "im celia, this here is lydia and my son, roost." now, he had to rest. we followed them to theyre cave and set out our sleeping bags, aquiring ruthless's and roost, celia and lydia's too. they all had backpacks,and we set up watches. i shared the first watch with ruthless. "theres eight of us now. not barely enough to get our familes back." ruthless tells me. i nod, afraid he's right. "go to sleep, ill watch." i nodded, to tired to fight back. i curled up next to fletcher and he pulled me close to him. i let out a few tears before i fell asleep.

the next morning, i awoke and fletcher turned to me. "i dont care if your still angry or not, but i have to do this.." he kissed be quickly before walking out of the cave to go hunt. i breathed, then, shockingly enough, i realized i wanted more.

i bolted out of the cave after him, "fletcher!" i called and her turned just in time for me to get to his lips. he wrapped me up in his arms. then it attacked him.