The next morning I was up bright and early, Cody and I jogged in blissful peace the whole time. Thankfully he never brought up last night, though I wasn't sure if he had knew what I was thinking, or it was simply because of the graceful exit.

Whichever his reason for not bringing up last night, I was grateful nonetheless.

That very same afternoon I was drying my hair from the shower I had just taken, and curled up with Chip on the couch when Sam walked in with Cody and they looked to be in deep discussion and I decided to just ignore them, as it probably wasn't my business.

Chip was pushing her head into my hand, giving me no alternative to petting her, as every time I would attempt to stop, she would start making noises and after a second it would wear me down. Which is why, amidst me talking to Chip and telling her how unbearably needy she was, I didn't hear when Sam tried to say my name to grab my attention.

"Kodi. Koooodi, Sunnnnshine.."

I glanced up after a minute of this, and found Cody looking at me, head tilted, and Sam was just smiling smally, his eyes wondering if I had been purposefully ignoring him.

"What? Sorry," I said quickly, "Chip was being needy.. nevermind, what did you need?" I squinted at him, hoping he wasn't about to ask just why I was talking to Chip like an actual person.

He smiled slowly, "Well, Beck told us about last night, and we saw you at the hot spring, and we were thinking that we could start training you for some other jobs to help out around the compound."

"Yes!" I said, standing up and dumping poor Chip on the floor, I cleared my throat and bent to pick her up, "I mean, yeah sure if that's what you guys want to do," I said, more offhandedly.

Chip glared at me, and walked off, towards the stairs. I sighed in defeat and straightened out again. Sam was grinning now, and Cody's eyes were filled with something that I couldn't quite decipher, but I saw the amusement sprinkled in.

"You'll be going on a supply run with me, Cody, Trish, and Tucker."

I knew I was staring at him with wide eyes, the last thing I expected was Cody to agree I should be allowed out. He was so hard on me while we trained. It was like he didn't see me, but what I could be, and while I was thankful for that inspirational motivation and support, I tended to not live up to his expectations. Whether it was how long and hard I could run, or how well I could aim.

I looked over at Cody for confirmation and he nodded, "Sam didn't think of it on his own. While we're all a little pissed you didn't bring a weapon with you, we are impressed you made it back and alive. The fact that you have had at least a dagger with you at all times since then is enough to prove that maybe that experience was needed. Now you're less likely to forget vital things," he folded his hands in front of himself, "Not to mention training. We've been at it less than two weeks and already you're improving greatly. More so than I could have hoped for," he cleared his throat and looked down, "So if you want to go you need to be packed within the hour. We leave right after we have a bite to eat for lunch."

He left then, and I was left looking at Sam with a mixture of surprise and delight. He winked at me, "Go get packed, I'll see you down here. I think Beck is seeing us off but you won't see Chester until we get back, and I am unsure about where your sister is. But this outing is a simple one."

I nodded and walked to the stairs, I was on the first step when Sam called out, "Oh Sunshine?" I turned, "Just because this mission is a simple one, doesn't mean it's low risk. Everything we do, every action, has a risk. Outside of that fence, everything is high risk."

****

At the fence we all met up. I noticed the girl, Trish, had short dark hair and even darker eyes. She gave me a once over and then turned away and asked Cody about something that was too quiet for me to catch. Beck was here, but only to say goodbye, as he wasn't allowed to come.

Sam got pulled away by Tucker to talk, and I turned to Beck who wasn't looking at me at all, but staring at Trish. After a few seconds it got a little awkward.

"You can go talk to them if you want? I don't mind," I said.

Beck blinked and then looked over at me, confusion coloring his expression momentarily, "Oh! No, I don't want to go talk to her," He shook his head at the idea, and pulled me a little bit away from the others, "Look, I know you'll be with Sam and Cody, but I just want to make sure you'll look out for yourself as well. The lines get a little blurred out there as to what is right and wrong," his intense blue eyes seemed to be digging into my own bland blue ones, "remember one thing, if not anything else. You're not expected to be a hero. If there's a moment where you could risk your life to save someone, and you're not sure you'll make it out alive, no one expects you to risk yourself."

I had no words to follow up with that, and so I simply nodded, my throat going a bit dry. He smiled faintly, and pulled me in for a brief hug. I buried my face in his shoulder. It was one thing to be upset and go out on my own. It was a complete other thing to go out here with other people, who may or may not make it back alive. Everyone says it'll be a simple mission. A medical run to make sure our supplies stay in stock, and any food we can get would be appreciated. Cody is to see if he can't hunt for any animals to bring back, and I'm basically just training.

Beck left shortly after saying something to Sam, and then Sam was coming over to me, his eyes bright and alive.

"Hey, got everything? Ready to go?"

I nodded and gave a stiff smile, "ready if you are," I said, wondering how I managed to get it out.

This was worse than when I left for the supply run back in the house with my step mother... at least there I knew I wasn't safe on either side of those walls. Here I knew I could back out and go curl up with Chip, take a hot shower, and sleep knowing that there wasn't a lot of things that could go wrong.

I thought about turning around, but knew if I did I would only hate myself for looking like a coward.

Sam smiled and nodded approvingly, "Right, well, Trish?" he called, and the girl walked over, her dark eyes looking at me.

She didn't exactly look excited, but she didn't look pissed off either.. more annoyed than anything.

"Yeah?" her voice was deep for a girls, but it was also silky and rich.

Sam gestured to me, happily, "This is Kodi, Kodi this is Trish."

I mustered up a warm smile, "Nice to meet you, Trish."

She nodded, "Mabel's told me a lot about you," she said.

I was too shocked to immediately reply, but the opportunity passed as Tucker called for us to all come over. The guy who stood guard by the gate was opening it up, and they didn't like it being open for long, without a good reason. Trish stood near the front of the group with Sam and Tucker while Cody stood somewhere between me and the front.

He looked back at me, his eyes curious but he didn't speak. It made me curious if he had been talking about me with Trish, and if so what had she said.

The gate creaked a little as it opened up, and then it went smoothly. I thought about how Trish and my sister could possibly know each other as I watched it open. The only thing that came to mind, was Trish was one of the people Mabel hung out with all the time. If she was Mabel's friend, then what had Mabel told Trish? I'm not going to pretend that Mabel likes me... but she wouldn't make up lies.. would she?

Doubt began to creep in and I clenched my hand in a fist, pressing it to my thigh.

Everyone else walked forward and out of the small opening in the gate, I paused at the opening and sucked in a breathe. No one turned around, and I glanced behind me, at the compound and wondered briefly if I could get away with turning and running back.

No, Trish didn't intimidate me, but making sure not to do anything stupid and risk the group? Now that worried me beyond belief.

I must have lingered for too long, because the guy standing guard cleared his throat a little, "Uhm, miss. You don't have to go if you don't want, but I need to close the gate soon.. if I were you, I would give it a shot. Not everyone gets the opportunity to train as one of the few who go outside the gate. Even if you don't end up liking it, you can say you gave it a shot... right?"

I looked towards the guard. He looked worn, not old. Like the circumstances had aged him far beyond his years and it made me sad. I nodded once, and walked forward. I hoped he understood that his little pep talk had meant a lot, but staying around to thank him was not an option, as it is, I already had to run to catch up with Cody.

I heard the gate close behind me, and as I glanced at Cody I could have sworn I heard him say something about passing the first test, but is was so quiet, I don't think I'd ever know for sure.