"What is this place?" I ask the short man. "Why were my friends up there?" I ask.

"Yea. At least take us to them!" Miranda says.

"I can't!" He hisses angrily.

"And why not?" I ask.

"Because you two weren't signed up for scouts."

"Then sign us up!" Miranda says, her eyes glaring at him angrily.

"You want to sign up? I'll sign you up alright." He says and walks into a smaller room.

"This office smells disgusting," Miranda confirms. I nod. We both followed Ed after the shocking announcement, after watching our friends filed on stage like prisoners. And here we were, demanding to "sign up too" for this sick mission.

The door opened, and Luis came in. His solemn eyes met mine, and I quickly looked away.

"So is this supposed to be some type of concentration camp?" Miranda asks him. He ignores her, and steps next to the desk, waiting for Ed.

"He's not gonna answer," I tell her. She raises an eyebrow. He stood in a solid stance and glared over at me every three seconds. He kinda reminded of Carles. The guy that took Kylia away...

I wondered where she was... Maybe someplace safer than our group is.

Ed steps out, annoyed. He stops when he sees Luis. "What?" He asks.

"Two people tried to escape." He says.

"And why are you telling me this?" Ed asks. "They were looking for these two," Luis muttered, motioning to me and Miranda. Ed looks over at me.

"Luis. Take these two to Captain, sign them up for an available veteran mission."

"Veteran?!" I blurt. "You'll be with Luis for a couple days since you wanted to sign up, you'll be dealing with walkers," Ed says.

"What about the escaped one?" Luis asks.

"Sign them up too."

I wonder who it was... I thought silently to myself. "Let's go," Luis says. We both stand and follow him out the door.

We walk far behind Luis, and whisper to Miranda, "I promise we will escape. I promise."

"I'm starting to feel less hopeful.." She whispers.

"Hurry up." Luis snapped.

Luis walked slowly, his eyes cornered, watching us.

We walked out into the courtyard. It was still dark, and people were still up, they glanced at me and Miranda as we walked by. Luis nodded at a lady as if saying hello. She waves and started to read a book.

One child was playing with a doll, and she looked up at me and smiled eagerly. "Hi." She whispered.

"Hey.." I respond.

The lady grabbed her hand, pulling her away. "She killed your cousin. Stay away from her."

The child's face fell, and she nodded. "Sorry, mommy."

Miranda looks at me. "What did she say? Who did you kill?" She asks.

"I didn't kill anyone... Someone just died, and they blamed me for it.." I say. I started to feel more and more guilty.

We walked towards a small cabin, and Luis opened the door. The Asian man was there, standing near a window, watching a walker, pacing back and forth hungrily.

He slowly turned around. "Who are they?"

"The new ones. They were told to be signed up for the first available veteran mission. And so were the two that tried to escape."

"Take them to the gates. The mission starts soon. I'll tell Joe to get the other two."

The Asian man walked to me and Miranda. "Do not. Do not start any trouble." He says. We both nod. "Or else."

Me and Miranda we walked to a gate, where an even longer fence led to the forest. Then, two boys were being walked too.

"Hunter!" I shout. I throw myself on him and we both hug. I rub my face into his brown hair. "I.. Didn't know where you were..." I whisper.

"I was looking for you.." He responds. "It's all my fault... I wanted to go to the radio station." I say.

I look up and see Jone standing behind him. A scar was on his jaw, he obviously got the cold shoulder part of escaping.

I release my self from Hunter and walk over to Jone. He stared at me and didn't say much. "What happened to your eye?" He asks.

"Smacked with a baton. What about your jaw?"

"Smacked with a baton also." He responded. My face seemed to burn from how we both had the same reaction when we were kidnapped: to escape.

"The family reunion is over fresh meats." A loud voice says.

"The mission starts now." The tall man said. He had a bald head and grey eyes. "I am Mr. Tim. I used to be in the military before the apocalypse broke out. I've been here ever since." Me and Jone's eyes met. "What will we be doing?" Miranda asks.

"Searching buildings. For supplies."

There's nothing hard about that. I thought silently.

"And looking for survivors."

Doesn't sound hard either. Me, Jone, Hunter, and Miranda... We were gonna find the others, and escape.