"Hey! Get back 'ere!"

Danny shuffles quickly to his feet and takes off into the woods. I bolt after him at the speed of light, terrified out of my mind. We zigzag through the forest as if our feet were on fire, desperate to get the hell out of the vicinity of the guard.

Adrenaline pulses through my body as we sprint through the woods. A tree root trips me, but no guards shoot me when I fall. It's a silent blessing, a stroke of dumb luck.

I scan the land for any signs of movement, but no one storms through the forest. I get up hastily and wipe my knees off.

"Ashley," Danny calls in the distance.

I look up from my knees and, for some unknown reason, notice Danny's strong persona more than I normally do. Toned muscles paired with his light hair increase his attractiveness.

Why the heck am I analyzing Danny?

"Coming," I say, forcing my mind to concentrate on the real issues: the guards.

We continue to move away from town until we're both convinced the guards won't pursue us anymore. We hike uphill over mossy rocks to a spot near the base of a sloping mountain. With a final sweeping look of the forest, I sit down on a patch of grass and take off my backpack (which is considerably lighter compared to when I first received it). I also slide my bow off my shoulder and hug it close to my knees. Danny keeps his pack on but pulls out his gun instead.

Danny and I don't say anything for a while, too preoccupied with listening and looking for Guards. My heart hammers in my chest and ears, but I listen closely for noise. Birds chirp continuously, but no branches break or pound on the ground. I turn my head every now and again, alert as ever.

"I think we're safe," Danny says.

"I think so, too," I reply, standing up to listen. I glance at the grass, engaged in concentration. "We would have heard the guards a while ago if they were following us."

I sit back on the ground, a bit closer to Danny than I was originally. I fish an arrow out of my sheath and load it in my bow. After a moment more of listening and watching, I'm positive the guards decided to give up. The feeling, however, doesn't soothe my knotted-up stomach.

"Danny, something just occurred to me," I say.

Danny gives me a puzzled look. "What? What happened?"

"When are those guards going to wake up? The three guys we shot?"

"What do you mean--" Danny says. A light bulb pops on above his head, and his eyes widen. "We better move."

"Let's go," I say, grabbing my backpack. This time, I take the lead. We hike through the rest of the massive rocks, passing by more pine trees.

"Wait," Danny says. "We've got to move south." He pulls out his compass and leads us down a different path than the one I would have taken. I jog after Danny as we follow a river using the light coverage of the trees. After an extensive amount of jogging and panting, my pace becomes a walk due to a painful side stitch.

Damn you, side stitches.

I begin to keel over. Danny slows down a bit, too, but he doesn't look back. Instead, he scales the mountains around us. I think he decides to cross the steepest one that isn't snow-capped.

Just as I glance up from my awkward, bent position, I hear the soft pound of feet behind me. I quickly draw my bow, and my pointed arrow aims at a person. Panicked, I release my arrow, narrowly missing Taylor's heart and hitting inches away from the dead-middle of her chest.

This doesn't phase her at all, and she yanks the arrow out of her vest. I gape and reach for another arrow in horror. Crap, her shirt must be bulletproof or something.

Hell, her shirt is bulletproof. The only person I've seen wear that material is President Sheops under a formal suit jacket. Only the most elite ISA workers get those.

I fumble for another arrow as she sends a knife in my direction. I duck, finally managing to slip an arrow out and shoot at her crossbow-style. Unfortunately, I over-estimate the distance, and my arrow marginally zooms over her head.

Taylor tosses another knife at me, and it wedges itself right near my shoulder. I cry out in pain, completely stunned. Closing in on me, Taylor grins and rips the knife out with another one of my pained screams.

"Ashley!" Danny screams from somewhere far away.

I fight Taylor's knife as much as I can. I try to swing my bow at her, but she grabs it and tosses it aside. Taylor tackles me to the ground with a loud thump.

"What's that saying again?" Taylor asks. "An eye for an eye? I'm going to kill you before Danny kills me."

Taylor raises her knife menacingly over my head, and I turn my head when she aims for it. The knife penetrates my shoulder again, and only the handle is visible this time.

Screaming, I feel the harsh pounding of feet on the ground as Taylor reaches to pull her knife free. Someone lift her weight off of me, and I watch Daniel pins Taylor to the ground. His foot digs into her stomach, and a gun aims squarely at her forehead.

"Oh, are you going to kill me, Danny? You don't have the guts to kill, now do you, babe?"

"Shut up," Danny says. I see his hand shake, trembling dangerously.

"I would," she retorts, "but I've missed you so much. Is that why you took up with that girl over there? Needed someone to fill the hole I created?"

Through my vision, I can tell Danny's eye contact with Taylor is strong enough to kill her. Taylor fidgets under his grasp, laughing. Danny is conflicted between murder and knocking her unconscious.

"D-Danny," I gasp, my head pounding.

My voice triggers him into sending a silent bullet into Taylor's forehead, cutting off her manipulative pleas mid-sentence. Immediately, her sneering expression is gone, replaced with unconsciousness. Danny shoots three more bullets into her: one in each temple and one above her heart.

"She's not going to wake up anytime soon," Danny says, gazing down at her motionless body. Gritting my teeth, I try to stand, but he steps towards first. Danny slings my uninjured arm over his shoulder and helps me hobble towards a hidden location in the woods.

"Ow, ow, my shoulder," I pant, balling my hands into fists. The pain is excruciating. I hope my arm will be able to heal.

"I know, hold on," Danny says. He sets me down for a moment before setting up my pack like a pillow. While collecting the rest of our stuff, he hides Taylor's body (is she even dead or is she unconscious). He pulls out a first-aid kit from his bag and digs through it. First he covers the wound with gauze to hinder the bleeding. Taking out a tube of disinfectant, he squeezed a bit of the paste onto his pointer finger.

"This is going to burn, Cardry," Danny warns.

"Just put it on, Fadhill."

He shrugs his eyebrows in reply and pulls the gauze off. He rubs the paste onto my wound. The stuff burns like crazy, but I try to keep from protesting. I manage to keep it to a dull moan.

By the time my wound is cleansed, the sun is fully-visible and the sunrise is over. The mountains don't hide the sun anymore, but the treeline attempts to mask it. Small amounts of sunlight filter through the tree trunks, warming me ever-so-slightly.

As I glance at the sky, still feeling Danny's eyes trained on me. I roll my eyes like always.

"What?" I ask him with a faint chuckle. I gaze back at the sky, tilting my head.

"I'm your knight in shining armor," Danny declares smugly.

I roll my eyes again. "Don't flatter yourself too much. You didn't save me from the knife wound."

"Oh, but I saved you from death."

"Yeah, death by infection," I admit with another eye roll. I tear my eyes away from the sky and focus on Danny, "but if I wanted to hurt a knight for being so full of himself, I'd use a taser on your armor to electrocute you."

Danny smiles. "Shut up, Cardry, we've had enough violence for today."

"No problem, darling," I reply with a smirk.

※ ※ ※ ※ ※