A few hours passed but as soon as they'd quieted down and settled up against the trunk, Cally fell asleep against Reid’s chest. He wasn't exactly comfortable, but he was pleased she'd calmed down. It's been a bad day for you, hasn't it?

He hadn't fallen asleep himself, it was impossible to while so exposed. When he looked up a branch or two Cooper slept in much the same position as Cally but with Shannon. And although Shannon’s eyes were closed, every few minutes he shuffled and moved.

Reid looked down through the sodden leaves and listened to them rustle. Nothing else but rain.

So she’s gone then. He’d half expected her to show up a few minutes after rushing off into the brush. That Cazalla would slip past it all. With every hour his mind changed.

No ones comes back from that many.

He tried to push her from his thoughts. All the work and effort spent to keep her alive, not a bit of them mattered now. The months of tracking. The ember fires. The damp bedrolls. Through it all her eyes flickered in his memory like she was never afraid.

Below a rustle sounded. His pulse skyrocketed but he didn’t dare move. No groan, no lumbering shuffle followed. Reid tried to explain it away but he couldn't imagine what sort of animals would still be alive in this place.

Carefully, Reid reached up and tapped Shannon’s boot but he was already alert and looking to the trunk and the mud below.

Shane fell forward tripping over a root and onto all fours. His clothes were covered in mud and his skin barely visible. Little brown eyes looked around, oblivious to the four in the tree. Cally nearly called out but Reid slammed his hand over her mouth and shook his head.

Cazalla emerged just as filthy, her hair slicked back away from her face. The breath Reid had held in released in a silent sigh.

“Slow down,” she whispered with a smile.

Shane scrambled to his feet and moved to rub the mud on his hands off on his pants. It only gathered up more. Cazalla knelt next to him, the white of her eyes clear against the background of mud and brush.

“What do you see?” she said.

Shane looked around at the grooves in soil. “A lot of shoes.”

“How many?”

He counted the prints on his hand. “Four sizes. Four people?” Bending, Shane poked a print with his fingers. “It's all wet.”

“Which means its fresh. Or that it’s raining.” Cazalla pointed to the tree and the footprints of mud that stuck to the trunk. “What does that tell you?”

“They're here!” He jumped and looked up but still kept his voice low.

There was a moment of hesitation as Reid looked down to the two of them. How did they get away from the horde? Were they followed? What if one of them was bitten?

And then it hit him like a truck, like he’d actually forgotten. She’s already been bitten.

Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

Reid let go of Cally’s mouth. He leaned down and grabbed the small boy, lifting him up onto the branch. Cally embraced her brother and the two just sat there hugging. After a moment, Cally and Shane moved to another branch while Shannon came down to help lift Cazalla.

Each of them lowered a hand down to her and she wiped off as much mud as she could. Grasping two hands and walking herself up the trunk she made it look easy, or at least more than it’d been for Reid.

“I see you decided to listen,” she smirked but her lips were tight.

The branch groaned under the collective weight as the three stared. Hours before, she’d been strapped down and towed as a prisoner. Before that on death's door. And before that, they hunted her like an animal.

She held a goddamn knife to my throat. Threatened to kill me.

The awkward silence crept around them.

“So what, you know how to survive out here,” Shannon whispered as he started to climb. “Don’t have to be a fuckin’ shit about it.”

The tension drained from her lips and a tired smile took its place.

“Most would have gone back for the gear.” But she said it to them like she was impressed.

Gear. Reid sucked in a breath. We forgot our fucking packs.

Cazalla climbed higher and Reid repressed a curse. He only then realized how little they had. No food. No water. No weapons. Cut off from the sled Shannon and Reid only had the clothing on their backs.

But the smile, the knowing, greedy, almost playful grin that tugged at her lips as she swung off her pack, dug at Reid.

“Would have been suicide to go after them,” he said.

“Of course,” she mocked and his fists clenched.

“How the fuck did you lose them?” Shannon asked.

The three kids sat together but all eyes were glued on Ashley Cazalla. She rummaged around in her bag a moment more before she ripped at a sewn shut pocket in the bottom. One they hadn’t searched. Pulling out tin foil wrapped tubes she peeled them open to reveal jerky. Casually, she tossed a roll at Shane.

“Share.” Her voice was stern and her stare piercing. Cooper and Cally nodded obediently but Shane smiled and tore a chunk off the meat.

The next foil roll she tossed at Shannon who ripped it in half with Reid. Cazalla munched on her own slowly.

But she hadn’t answered Shannon’s question. It burned Reid that he didn’t know how. “There were at least two dozen of them,” Reid pressed.

Her eyes flashed up lined without an ounce of humour. “I ran.”

A low chuckle rumbled in Shannon’s chest. “No shit you ran.”

She stuffed her bag between her propped up knees and turned to her shoulder.

From where Reid sat, it looked like the mud got into the wound but she didn't seem concerned. Wiping her hand on the leaves, she started to clean it out leaving a small patch clear of the mud. It was red, swollen, and the skin still discoloured. But he couldn’t make out the bite itself.

“I should look at that.” He didn’t believe what he couldn’t see. If I could get closer…

She shook her head.

“Do you have some sort of plan? You know, aside from just running?” Shannon mumbled with his mouth half full of jerky.

Wiping off the last of the mud she reached back into her bag, jerky dangling from her lips. She pulled out her dry sweater Reid packed away days ago.

“Not much of one. We sleep and leave when it's bright enough.” With one more bite she returned the rest of the jerky to her bag. “First light should be around, five-ish? We'll talk more then.”

Why did you come back?

Reid considered asking but she turned from them, draped her sweater as a blanket and closed her eyes. He swallowed the words and tried to get comfortable in the chill.

Shannon had managed to fall asleep, and from what he could see so had Ashley. But the kids?

“How did you get away?” Cooper asked as quietly as he could.

“She's really smart.” Shane sucked on a piece of meat for what must have been an hour now.

“She tricked them.” He cupped some still wet mud and put it on his sister’s arm. “They can't smell through mud and can't see you if you blend in. We waited in a tree while they looked around for us after we got all covered in mud. They didn't know we were right above them.”

“I'm just glad you're okay.” Cally had repeated the phrase a half dozen times already. “Did you see Peter or Mom?”

Shane shook his head.

“What about Chandra? Did you go back to where-” Cooper stopped when Cally barely stifled a sniffle.

“I said sleep.” Ashley's voice gave them all a start. Even Reid.

Begrudgingly, Reid listened to her. If they were going to make it out of the valley they’d need the energy to run.