I couldn't stop the tears from flowing. I'd tried. I'd tried so hard. For a few days, it looked as though she would live. None of her wounds were infected, her leg was setting well, and she was eating and laughing with me. Then one night, she took a turn for the worse. Her fever returned with a raging madness, ravaging the health from her body. Her cuts changed from a healthy, healing pink to a disgusting, diseased red and yellow.

She no longer responded when I asked her questions, and it was all I could do to force liquids down her throat. Her eyes didn't open anymore, and a layer of crust sealed them shut. She didn't move her arms, or legs, and she never got up to go to the bathroom. It was up to me to keep her bed clean, which was a rather awful chore to be stuck with. But I did it for her.

It was all for naught. Her condition only worsened. Her breathing came in shallow, short gasps, and her heart seemed to beat slower with each passing day. She died in her sleep. I was there when she took her last breath, and it was as if she'd stabbed me in the stomach.

I tried shaking her, as though I could wake her, and make her breath again. I screamed her name, sobbing and shaking her. Her body moved limply with my motions, and I knew that she was gone for good. There was nothing that I could do to bring her back now. Everything that I'd done to try and save her, and heal her had gone to waste.

She was dead. And she was never coming back.

It was nearly overwhelming. My chest heaved from pain, so deep and intense that I could barely cope with it. At times, it seemed as though I was dealing with it. It would fade away for a few hours, only to return. It had a narrow and biting quality about it, triggered by even the slightest thought of her. I thought the sorrow and hurt would never go away, and would only get worse with time.

In a way, I was right. I hadn't yet experienced the exact, sharp pain of the memories. Each one brought an acute pin prick of pain, but there were so many, so very many, and each one cut so deep.

It had only been a day since she passed. I hadn't eaten a single morsel of food; there was no desire in me to do so. It seemed as though I would be mocking her death by just going on with my life, and yet I knew that was what she would've wanted me to do. She would have wanted me to move on, to go join the rebels like I'd always wanted to, and make her death count for something. But I just couldn't bring myself to do it.

I wanted to drown in my sorrow, and let my mourning cover me. I didn't want to go join the rebels. Lessi had probably been right about them. They were cruel, heartless, and would only lead to more death. I was better off on my own than with them.

At times, I would turn to talk to her. I wanted to tell her how badly it hurt, or ask her what I should do next. And each individual time I did, it was as though she'd died again. Her loss would hit me like a ton of bricks, and any control over my emotions that I'd managed to gain would be thrown out.

I didn't have the heart to bury Lessi yet. It felt too permanent to do so, like I'd be saying goodbye for the very last time. I wanted to spend more time here, finish my mourning, and then bury her. At the same time, I knew I didn't have very long. As gruesome as it sounded, we wouldn't have very long before wild animals started nosing their way around, looking for easy targets. With me just sitting here, and her unable to defend herself, we fell under that category now.

I would give myself two nights. That was it. We were on the edge of the mountain forest quadrant, which meant that we were incredibly close to the COMPOUND. It made me hesitant to linger any longer than that, for fear of attracting attention from the guards. Lessi told me that they weren't afraid to try and track down those of us outside of the COMPOUND if they suspected that we were here.

It was hard to try and keep a close eye on what was going on around me while I mourned, but I knew that it was necessary. I wasn't going to let Lessi's death be for nothing. I was going to make sure I kept myself safe, and remembered the things that she'd taught me. I owed so much to Lessi, and I didn't want to let her down.

I passed the day of Lessi's death sitting at her feet, crying. I tried to stay at least a little bit quiet, but it was impossible to think about anything other than her. I cried, loudly. My sobs echoed around the trees, and it only occurred to me on the second day that I very well could have alerted any nearby guards to my presence. I needed to be a lot more careful, and I needed to monitor myself better. I used to have Lessi to do it for me, but now that she was gone, the responsibility fell on me.

The second day, I'd recovered more than I would've hoped to yesterday. I was still incredibly upset, and my thoughts were sort of scattered. But I was able to remain more composed, and I kept my tears to a minimum. I killed a squirrel, and made myself eat something. I saved the skin for a later use. I was productive. Smart.

All day long, memories of Lessi plagued me, but I didn't allow myself to indulge in them. I would have plenty of time for that later. Right now, I needed to start preparing myself to bury Lessi and say my final goodbye.

The main thing I needed to do was find a good spot to bury her. I wanted there to be trees nearby, but if there were too many, or if they were too big, it would be too hard to dig a deep enough grave to preserve Lessi from the animals nearby. The spot simply had to be perfect.

I spent most of the early morning looking for the right spot, before I finally found it. About 50 paces away from a small stream, there was a plot of mostly open ground. Trees flanked one side, but the other side faced down the mountain, looking out into the vast openness of the quadrants. Lessi would've loved the place, and I knew she would appreciate having it be her final resting place.

For the next couple of hours, I dug. There were some rocks nearby that I used to dig the grave. They were sharp, and dug into my hands, but I paid it no mind. I knew I had to dig it pretty fast, because of how long I'd spent sitting there doing nothing. It took me several hours, and a lot of exertion, but I finally had it deep enough. Once I laid Lessi in it, and covered her up, I doubted that the animals around here would be willing to spend the time and effort it would take to dig her up from that deep.

With the grave dug to my liking, I worked on creating a tombstone. The one we'd placed at previous burial sites were generic, since we never knew their names. But I wanted everyone to know that this was Lessi, and that she was quite possibly the best person who had ever lived. I wanted them to know about her, and the good deeds she'd done, and how she'd given up so much of herself to raise me. It didn't matter that no one would ever see this tomb. I would know that I had done everything that I could to ensure that her final resting place was as beautiful and as comfortable as possible.

I found one of the most perfect rocks I'd ever seen. It was completely flat, rounded around the edges, and a deep black color. The top was impossibly smooth, and I couldn't stop running my fingers across the glossy surface. This was perfect for Lessi. I found another stone, sharp and pointed on one side. Lessi had used one like this to carve out a message on the marker of other tombs. I would do the same for hers.

It took me a long time to decide what to write on the stone. There were so many things that Lessi was to me, and she deserved so much more than I could write. She was my friend, the one who'd not only been my constant companion, but also the one who raised me. She taught me everything that I knew, and gave me all the skills that I needed to survive. She loved me, and I loved her.

There wasn't really a way to convey that to someone who would pass by, and maybe read it. It wasn't what she deserved, but there was only so much that I could do for her, say about her.

On the stone, I carved out the following words, "Lessi. A teacher, best friend, and sister. Words cannot describe what she has given me."

I placed it carefully at the head of the grave, knowing that it would be there for me when I came back to bury her.

This was the last night that I would spend in the mountain forest quadrant for a long time. Tomorrow morning, I would bury Lessi, say my goodbyes, and continue on my way. I wanted to do something special for both of us. I wanted to remember this night for the good in it, rather than the bad. Burying Lessi was incredibly hard to do and something that would pain me for the rest of my life. Leaving this quadrant was also very hard. As such, my memories regarding this whole situation would be vastly negative, and I didn't want that. I wanted at least one sweet, happy memory to carry with me.

I planned my evening out. I would make a fire. I knew how risky it was, but it was getting cold, and I needed one to keep me warm throughout the night. I would try and use the driest wood possible, so that there would be very little smoke. While I sat at the fire, I would make a slat to cover Lessi with. It would help prevent animals from getting at her, and it would make saying goodbye and burying her just that small nick easier.

I gathered twigs and leaves to make the mat with, and also to start the fire. Lessi had taught me how to make a fire a long time ago, and it was something that I'd never forgotten. Just another indescribably beneficial skill that I'd learned from her. I set to making the fire, and once it was lit, I nestled in by Lessi to weave the covering for her. The leaves and twigs that I had were fairly pliable, and as such, it was easy to fix them into place. I wove them carefully, breaking off any imperfections that I found. I wanted it to be as nice as possible for her.

As I wove, I heard a noise off to one side of me. It set my heart to racing. I knew the natural and normal sounds of the forest like the back of my hand, and I knew that this was different. This was something incredibly foreign. It sounded like... a group of people moving through the forest.

I sat there for a moment, convincing myself that I was wrong. I heard it again, moving towards me. I could feel my pulse in every part of my body, tingling out into my fingertips and toes. My face drained of blood. Lighting the fire had definitely been the wrong thing to do. It had drawn the attention of nearby guards, and now I had to go.

I couldn't take the time to gather up all of my things, because I didn't know how long I actually had. I could have half an hour or I could have a few minutes. I stood up quickly, looking around me desperately. I didn't want to leave Lessi. The very idea went against every fiber of my being, but I didn't have a choice. It was leave her here, or I'd end up the same way.

I snaked my way around the fire, fleeing to where I'd dug her grave. It was a ways away from the camp, but close enough that I would be able to tell if they left once they'd looted the place. I paused, placing myself behind a tree to wait.

I was glad I'd left when I did. The group showed up faster than I had expected that they would. Not only that, but I was intensely happy that I had left period. Four of the five were decked out in guard uniforms. One still wore a mask. The fifth member of the group looked to be some politician brat who'd tried his hand at being a slicker, and had given up once he realized that it was harder than living a coddled life at home. They walked around the campsite, finding my makeshift pack and the beginnings of my woven mat. I winced. Those things, along with the dwindling fire, would give away my presence for sure. A dead person wouldn't have the half-woven mat, the pack full of items ready to take away, or a fire.

The group hadn't yet noticed Lessi's body, as it was a bit in the shadows. I heard the shouts of horror when they did. Their accusations hurt, claiming that some slicker had gone mad and killed their companion. The politician kid seemed especially upset, gesticulating wildly all around. The guards tried to console him, but from what I could tell, it was to no avail.

He fell to the ground, sobbing. I wanted to join him, in a way. He stayed like that, huddled on the ground crying, for quite some time. Longer than I would've thought. Most politicians didn't have that level of compassion, from what Lessi had told me. This kid seemed entirely torn up about a girl he'd never even met. More than an hour passed before the guards were finally able to comfort him enough that he stood up off the ground.

I hoped that meant that they would soon leave. Maybe they bought that Lessi had been the only one there, and that there wasn't anything left for them to stay for. My wish didn't come true. From the look of it, they planned on making camp there. I cussed under my breath. I didn't want them to be around Lessi. I didn't want them to mourn her death. They didn't know her. They didn't deserve to mourn her.

I really wanted to go and force them out, so that I could bury Lessi myself. I wanted to mourn for her like I deserved to. But I didn't think that I could. I would be found and caught, and taken back to the COMPOUND. Or else I'd be tried for murder. I'm sure they thought that's what I did to her.

I knew I couldn't stay, and that the longer I stayed, the harder it would become to leave. So I steeled myself. I had to leave, and I was going to leave now. I cast one last look back at the five intruders enjoying my campsite. It made me feel sick. And to think, I'd wanted to leave the mountain forest quadrant with a positive memory. It was ironic that I would now be leaving with only the worst memories of my life.

I swallowed. I couldn't stay any longer; it was just making me sick to my stomach. I tore my gaze away, and forced myself to turn. I started on my way forward, pushing past the grave I'd dug for Lessi. She wouldn't have her final resting place there now. They would most likely take her back to the COMPOUND to study her, to try and find out what had caused her death. She wouldn't rest as well back there, I knew that much. She'd literally given her life to escape, and it was cruel to force her back after her death.

I wiped away a few tears that had gathered, frustrated that they were even gathering. I couldn't let my emotions get in the way, or I'd convince myself to go back, and I knew that would only lead to trouble.

Just as I was about to turn, and direct myself towards the next quadrant, I felt a strong mass grab onto my hand. Instantly, two arms were wrapped around my chest, pinning my arms to my side. I couldn't move, but I could scream, and scream I did.

I could only hope that it would help.