Suddenly, the strap that Matthew pulled broke and it sent him face planting to the ground. He then got up and brushed off the dirt and aided the boys as they let go of their straps......and........pheasant, to take care of the broken strap.

Zack tied it into one of those sailor knot things that his father taught them long ago......Matthew really didn't have an interest in sailors and knots and that whole kind of gig, so he left that learning stuff to Zack, who found that fascinating.

When the strap was tightened and secure, Zack gave Matthew a thumbs up and walked back over to his side of the moose.

"You good?" A sudden familiar voice was heard, which shocked Matthew, but he turned to the voice next to him.

"Yeah, I'm good Max."

Max smirked at him and carried on.

Before he could catch his tongue, Matthew spoke. "It's good to have you back to you old self."

Max smiled. "Yeah, it's good to take my mind off of things for once."

Matthew smiled back. "You miss hanging out with your buddies?"

Max asked. "I guess you can say that I have."

"Good, cause I've missed you!" Matthew then said. He got a sudden feeling that the magic the crystal provided for him was dying out, because he was starting to feel dread. He shook it off and did his best to keep his confidence up.

"I've missed you too, Matthew. I'm glad to have friends like you." He said warmly.

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"Ah, brothers." Matthew corrected him.

Max's brow furrowed. "What are you talking about?"

"Well, you know, we've been loyal companions for years, we've reached the friendship mark....were beyond that....it's more like the family mark." Matthew explained.

Max groaned. "No, we're not family."

That word right there stung.

Holding back his hurt feelings, Matthew tried to reason. "Max, you got to wake up, man. Family doesn't have to be blood, you know that."

Max then let go of the strap and faced him. Matthew's anxiety began to rise. "Oh no." Zack was a ways behind Max.

Shadow was still walking ahead of them, until he stopped in his tracks and looked back at them.

Matthew turned back to face an irritated Max.

"You don't get it, do you? Ben was my only brother. My ONLY brother........my father's dead, the last bits of my family are gone!" Max exclaimed.

Matthew could feel tears welling up inside of him, as well as red hot anger. "You, are so fucking selfish! Welling up in your own God damn misery. Shutting people out, any one of us could have problems and you would immediately turn it back to you! YOU'RE FULL OF SHIT, MAX!"

"Matthew!" Zack shouted.

Out of fury, Max pushed Matthew to the ground. "You think I'm selfish? Really? All you do is whine and complain about every fucking thing. And that makes me a selfish one? I guess losing my father and brother is fucking selfish. And the fact that a whole fucking village nearly kill me because of prejudice....yeah.....makes me selfish too!"

Matthew was now sobbing. Shadow then got in between them. "Enough, this isn't the way!"

Max glared at Shadow. "It took us the way." He then looks back down at Matthew.

"Max, come on.....you need to wake up, Ben isn't coming back. You have to stick with the support group you have now! We're just as loyal to you as Ben was." Matthew pleaded.

Max growled. "You're fucking stupid! We ARE NOT brothers! The only brother I had was and always will be Ben!"

All the pain he had inside welled up inside like a volcano eager to erupt.

"Fuck you!" Matthew hissed. He then jumped up and started to run back to camp.

"Go on, get your ass back to camp! You're a worthless fuck anyway!" Max yelled.

Matthew heard all the words swirling around in his head as he was making his was back to camp.