...raises the gun again, level with the slave's head. Another boom of the gong and with it she pulls the trigger but is met with only a dull clicking sound.

Fuck, Jen mutters at the gun jamming. She barely has time to brace herself before the slave is upon her again. The gun tumbles to the floor of the tent as Jen tries to push the slave off of her, now trying to restrain her to the ground, blood pouring from his body onto her. She wants to scream but doesn't, knowing it could bring attention if the gun shots hadn't already.

With all of her effort she frees one foot and kicks the slave in the stomach. It tumbles backwards just enough for Jen to scramble out of the tent. For a split second she thinks she's free, ready to make a run towards the woods.

I'll regroup, then I'll rescue Danny, she thinks to herself right before her chin connects with the hard ground and she sees stars.

It takes a moment to realize what happened, but then as mud and dead pine needles form under her shirt and dig into her skin she realizes she's being pulled backwards. The slave had grabbed her leg, knocking her into the dirt. She pulls herself up and locks her fingers like claws into the soil, pulling back, kicking her feet. It's no use. She's being drug into the tent. She feels something run down her face and realizes it's blood. The fall had done a number on her. She felt as if her nose might be broken.

In the distance the gong hammered over and over, heating into her head.

Suddenly she felt a presence on top of her. The forest was dark, but she could still see, through darkened and blurry vision, the ground darken in front of her even more briefly.

Another slave, this is it... she thought, closing her eyes, only wishing in that moment she could save her brother and thinking how awful it was that after so many years apart they finally find each other again for this to happen.

But instead she heard two loud stomping sounds and felt the grip on her leg be released. She whipped around on her back and while her vision was hazy she saw another heavy boot smash into the back of the slaves head and then two uniformed arms slip a piece of wire around the slave's neck, lifting it up and tightening around it until the slave was back on the ground, blood pouring from its neck. The arms released the wire and a bloody hand extended towards Jen.

"I thought I told you to run" the voice said.

"Sheriff Clay..." Jen muttered, exhausted and confused.

"Come on" he said. "Get up"

Jen grabbed the hand and Clay pulled her to her feet way too fast. Pain shot through her body and she felt so dizzy she thought she might fall back down.

With two bloody hands Clay steadied her.

"Focus" Clay said. "You need to get your shit together and get out of here. Now"

"But Danny..." Jen muttered, somewhat incoherently. "Have to say Danny. They got him".

Clay didn't need anymore information to understand what had happened. He looked off in the direction the procession had gone.

"Shit..." he muttered, taking a deep breath.

"He's gone for now" he said. "It's too late. There's nothing that can be done right now"

"No!" Jen protested, too loudly, forcing Clay to immediately press a bloody finger to her lips to silence her.

"We have to save him..." Jen said, still incoherent but quickly regaining her barring's. "Kinslee's with him... I don't trust her..."

"Kinslee!?" Clay exclaimed under his breath. "Fuck" he muttered after thinking about this for a moment, taking a deep breath.

"You two are never boring, I'll give you that" he said, sighing. "If it makes you feel any better, he could be in worse hands..."

"What does that mean?" Jen asked. The world had stopped spinning.

"It means Kinslee won't kill Danny. Kinslee... is as much of a victim as most of these people... but in due time she might lead him so slaughter, or worse..."

"Sheriff..." Jen began.

"Look..." Clay said, gritting his teeth in stress and frustration. "We can't do this right now! It's not time! Not yet! Got it!"

"What's why we have to save him, Sheriff" Jen said. It was almost like he hadn't heard what he had just said. She was still in a daze. What Jen did know is she hated the way it came out, almost like a plea.

Clay calmed himself, trying to practice the empathy he had long abandoned until recently.

"I said in due time... we still have time..." Clay cut off his words at the sound of rustling on the side of the tent and suddenly one of his Deputies made their way around the corner.

"Sheriff...?" said, looking at him and then scanning the scene, confused. Then he put an idea into his head about what happened, but it wasn't the right one.

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Looking down at Jen the Deputy exclaimed excitedly, "Sheriff! You did it! You caught one of them! Xir will surely reward you for this!"

He then l looked down at the corpse of the slave, bending down, allowing Clay to inch behind him.

"God! That bitch killed one of the Flock too! Look at this!"

"Goddammit, Perkins" Clay muttered. "You couldn't follow goddamn orders, could you?"

Perkins made a confused sound and began to turn but not before Clay's wire was around his neck. Clay forcefully pushed him to the ground and tightened it.

"Shhh..." he whispered in Perkins ear. "Just relax and it'll be over quicker".

For some reason, Perkins seemed to listen and soon Perkins body was slumped on the ground.

He turned to Jen.

"This is what happens when you don't listen" he barked at Jen, angerly. "More good people that are just stuck being Xir's useful idiots have to die..."

Jen looked down at the scene. She almost felt like apologizing, but wasn't sure it mattered.

"Look" Clay said. "It's time for you to go. Now. Go in that direction and don't stop running until you hit the tree line"

Clay outstretched a hand. Reluctantly, Jen nodded and began to run in that direction, stumbling through the forest as she continued to recover. She wondered how bad her injuries were. She supposed better her face than her legs.

Back at the tent Clay looked down at the scene and shook his head.

"These two better be worth all this..." he muttered. "This has to work... the plan has to work..."

Wiping the blood off his hands with piece of cloth he pulled from his back pocket, he slipped inside the tent to look around for any clues that could cross up the story he was about to tell. That's when he found Jen's gun. He picked it up and years of experience told him instantly it was jammed. He snorted to himself, shaking his head, understanding now how the slave got the best of the girl.

He unjammed the gun and reloaded it, pointed it directly at Perkin's corpse. He hesitated as the gong sounded,, waiting for it to pass. Unlike Jen, he wanted it to be heard. Once it was gone he put a round right in the head before doing the same to the slave.

He then carefully cleaned off the gun, tossed it a few feet away and rubbed leaves and dirt all over his hands, shirt and arms.

His remaining deputies weren't far behind, running up and taking into the scene.

"Go!" Clay told them, clutching himself, pretending to be hurt and breath heavy. "They got the drop on me too. They ran that way"

He pointed them in the opposite direction he had sent Jen. One Deputy bent down, trying to tend to Clay but Clay shoved him off.

"I'm fine! They killed Perkins! Go get them!"

The Deputy nodded with renewed purpose, some anger across his face and rushed to catch up with the others.

Clay stood after a moment and walked in the opposite direction, towards the Ceremony.

Meanwhile, now several yards away, Jen ran drunkenly through the woods, breathing heavy and stumbling over sticks.

Just need to get to that tree line, she told herself.

But suddenly she was on the ground hard again. She thought she'd tripped on a root and her leg was still hung on it but when she looked back she realized it was a snare made of wire.

She tried to stumble up but was met with the barrel of the gun to the temple.

"I told you that would work" came another voice hiding behind a tree. It was a short Asian man carrying a silenced assault weapon of some kind.

The man with a gun took a step back and lowered it slightly, so she could see his face.

It was a slightly handsome, older, middle aged white man.

"You don't look like one of Xir's flock" he said, looking at her closely. "You don't look like anyone around here..."

"I'm not..." she said.

The Asian man and the white man made contact.

"We can't be sure" the Asian man said. "We better take her back to camp, Woody"

The man named Woody nodded.

"Sorry" he said. "Nothing personal..."

"No wait... my broth..." she began but immediately a black bag was placed over her head but kept her mouth from moving, silencing and blinding her at once.

"Sorry hun" came a female Southern voice from behind. "Maybe when this is all over we'll be the best of friends"

She was then bound. First her arms, then her legs and just as quickly she felt himself behind picked up and carried.

As they moved she watched as the the black vision of the bag turn to a white static and felt everything become distant around her right before the combination of the trauma she had experienced and dehydration caused her to pass out.