Before I could even push myself away from my spot, my heart already beating so loud it was blocking out all other noise, the boys had appeared at the edge of our clearing.

I didn't have time to search over all of them, to inspect them to see who was injured because I got my answer immediately.

Mason shirt was off, his leather jacket brushing his bare torso. He was covered in dirt and blood and small wounds. But what really caught my attention was his shirt wrapped around his hand.

The dark blue material was stained a deep red as he clung to it feverishly. His eyes were panicked, desperate and flustered.

When he saw me a brief moment of relief flashed threw his eyes and he fell to his knees before me.

"What happened to him?" I dropped to my own knees, hands automatically reaching for my bag as pulling it between us. Mason was white, the colour of the pale sand amongst the grass we sat on.

His back fell up against another bag, his body relieving itself from the energy it was taking to hold itself up.

"His finger-" A voice came from behind the boy, it was faint but told me all I needed to know.

I brought in a quick breath, preparing myself for what ever I was about to find. There was no time for me to allow my worry or guilt to overcome me- I had to be level headed and calm. The cries and soft screams that were filling the air told me that I needed to be calm because no one else would, I needed to be their anchor. Like Darcy had always been for me. Like Jesse was becoming.

Mason's eyes were squeezed shut, his face screwed up- demonstrating his pain. Despite this clear display of panic his body gave nothing away.

I reached out for his arm, pulling the hand to me. This created a flinch in response, a quiet squeak audible from the back of his throat. I felt his entire body tensing up as I began to pull back the shirt.

My fingers gently began to unwrap the blue material. I unwrapped it from the wrists and palms as quickly as I possibly could. All I had come across was more blood stained cloth. Nothing that all the blood had escaped from.

Until there was only one layer of material left. It was so thin that I could actually make out something. But only 4 something's.

The place where a pointer finger should have been, held instead a stump. A stump that stuck out from just above the knuckles.

Unable to take it easy any longer, I ripped away the shirt- throwing it to the side.

"Mason-" I couldn't help it, the words slipping from my mouth as my control lapse for a brief moment. "What happened?"

I didn't get a response, the boy's body still tensed up with his eyes releasing a stream of steady tears. This display of emotion pulled at my heart, twisting my stomach with guilt.

"I'll fix this, Mase." I assured him as I leant forward. My two hands held either side of his palm as I held it up to inspect it.

It was a clean cut, leaving nothing behind from above were the knife has clearly met it's target. Hands besides me held out the bottle of alcohol, ready to pore it over the finger for me.

I pushed the hands away, "That will just damage the tissue, we need water. Cold- not the hot water from the fire." Hot water would just cause more bleeding or further tearing of the tissues. We didn't need that, and although we didn't have a tap of running water all of our bottles should do the job for now.

Caila reached out and handed me about three bottles, shaking my head I signalled for her to pour it over herself.

"Slowly, and from above, not directly into the cut." I gave instructions as I turned his palm to face the ground. The boy was yet to open him eyes but I could feel his body release itself from the tense hold. His chest was heaving at a steady pace and the colour was slowly returning to his face.

His pain from coming from a breed of fear mixed with the actually nerve ending damage. With me working to fix it, I could visibly see the fear disappearing from his mind. This is what I needed.

I reached for the hem of my second shirt, pulling it over my head in a rush. I hastily wrapped it around his palm and up over his finger. I gripped is so that it was either side of his knuckle.

I pressed down firmly; apply all the pressure as I could- whilst the water continued to fall over his finger and the edges of my shirt.

I held on tightly for a while, waiting for the second water bottle to end. When it did I transferred the shirt to cover the opening of the wound. I continued to press it tightly as my eyes studied Mason's features.

There was another knife mark over his cheek, it wasn't deep and the blood had already dried. I could fix that later.

I noticed that the blood was steadying, the blood on my shirt spreading slower and slower. I breathed sharply in relief. He may have lost a finger but he wasn't going to lose his life.

I pulled away my shirt, my hands already reaching for the bandage in my bag. I delicately moved the material around his wrists and palms and the place where his finger used to be.

I secured it with some tape, ensuring that the bandage was held firmly and tightly. This would continue to apply pressure to the wound without anyone having to do anything.

There was a small spot of blood, but that was a good sign- the bleeding was stopping.

Patting his hand I dropped it from my grip, watching it fall into his lap.

"All done for now, Mase. Good news- it's nothing we need to worry about. If I keep any eye on this and keep fixing it then when they come and find us they'll be able to fix it properly. But I should be able to hold anything bad off. Sorry I can't do anything else." This time when I brought my eyes to his face they met his own pair.

The traces of tears, panic, fear and pain all gone. Left was a glimmer of thanks. His lips pulled up into a tiny smile, it was weak- but it didn't go unnoticed.

"Thank you, Dru, I owe you." With his words his eyes close again and his body visibly relaxed. He finally gave into his exhausted body and allowed him self to drift into sleep.

"What happened to him?" Cara spoke up, finally asking the question that was on all of our minds. The question we couldn't ask whilst Mason's life could have been in danger.

My gaze dropped to my hands in my lap, I watched as my thumbs played with each other. I couldn't bring myself to look up at the boys, because in a way it would be like facing my own inability to protect anyone. I should have been out there with them- I might have been able to stop Mason from losing a finger. But I didn't.

"We set of a trap, except a arrow didn't go of- a person came out from behind the trees and attacked us." Although it peaked my interested I just waited for Vincent to finish talking. "We tried to fight back but he got Mason, I couldn't really fight back and he was just too strong." I could hear the guilt in his own words, he was angry with himself for being unable to do anything about it- I knew just how he felt.

"Jesse told us to run, told us he'd make sure we weren't followed." That made my head snap up. My eyes rushed to find Jesse, my head whipping around to search every inch of the clearing around me. I pushed to my feet so quickly I stumbled over my own feet.

"Jesse?" My voice was frantic; I could feel my heart accelerating, my breathing becoming unsteady and loud. My body continued to turn, to search for the familiar face that I had never wanted to see so bad.

But all I found was Vincent looking back at me, expressionless. He had nothing to tell me.

"Jesse hasn't made it back yet." The last words I wanted to hear. When Emmet spoke my heart skipped a beat, it felt like someone had grabbed onto it a was yanking it up to my throat. A wave of nausea washed over me as my body blocked out any other sound that came after that line.

Why did I feel like this? Like a part of me was in danger with him, like if he died out there without me I wouldn't be able to keep all of these people alive on my own?

I felt like something had taken over my body, like it wasn't my own any longer. I couldn't feel anything- I was numb.

Jesse was out there. Alone. With a dangerous man that had killed a group of people following him. And I wasn't there with him. I should be.

I should be with him, we were a team- I needed him. I needed him to survive. I needed him to be okay. I needed him to survive myself.

I needed to find him.

"Jesse." I breathed out his name, my hands already wrapped around my bag strap and my feet pushed off. "I'm coming."

And I ran out into the dense, wild forest with only one thing on my mind- I needed him to be alive.