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"Hard to thank you when I don’t know your name"

I feel my hand trapped in his I look at him over the back of the couch and smirk, "Emma My dad called me Em"

He pulls my hand to him and kisses the back of it, "Thank you Eht them and pull my hand from his sweaty pale glass of it I pass it to hi this"

His blue eyes sparkle My sto I know you could have left me in that hole"

I break his stare and look at the hardwood floor

"It was nothing" I say

Anna looks at us and grins, "How old are you Em?"

I feel my cheeks flush, "Nineteen"

"I’m sixteen"

I feel sad when she tells me that I realize she was six when her mother never came home from work

"Jake is twenty-one"

I don’t knohat to add to the conversation I don’t have conversations

Leo senses my aardness and saunters to et hie face and smirk at Anna, who has already won him over

"He was at the doorstep one day I heard his ot the infection and died just after giving birth Her cubs ate her and got the sickness too Leo was the only smart one He never ate her He foundto shoot the baby wolves, as the e wolf, "He’s huge"

"Very But he is good cohs at that She is bubbly I re kids bubbly I wonder how bubbly Anna would be if she had a normal childhood I wonder what I would be like

I look at Jake who is sleeping again, "He falls asleep fast We need to make him some soup" I walk to the door and look back at her, "Can I trust you?"

She shakes her head, "No I like it here I will do whatever you want to let me stay but if it comes down to it, I will sell you out to save h" I like her candor I point to the books on the shelf, "Start with the top shelf They’re the easiest reading"

She bites her lip

I roll my eyes, "You can’t read?"

She shakes her head, "Not so well" Standing next to the huge bookcase tea with books, she looks tiny and vulnerable I know not to letof the out dated cottage is coe s I haven’t seenAnna and Jake in my house makes me realize how lucky I am I wonder when the last time they rested on comfortable furniture was

"The books at the top are easy reading Practice makes perfect"

Leo’s yellow eyes meet mine He speaks to me with his look He wants to stay with them He doesn’t completely trust them either I can see it in his eyes I nod at hirouse or pheasant or wild turkey There aren’t a ton of thee tall fir trees and brush Green is everywhere Itcompared to e points I could see the infected stepping through the brush, ar sores covering their skin The tattered clothes and the sround

I could see the others I could hear ers bit into ed me into the woods In the woods where I would screa of the clothes hauntedThe infected tore flesh and the others tore clothes and the sound could s you up

Now I see the greenery and listen to the sounds of the forest, and know I am safe The forest is , but it has earned my trust over time

Like Leo, it has becoained another

The branches break underand squirrels nattering It is a gift I learned it from Leo He is able to wander the forest quickly, but in sync with the woodland creatures

I stop at the sreat view here I blend into the trees and listen I closethe forest sings You only hear it when you stop being you and beco and falling with the wind

I grab et read I wait for it I hear the sound I a face of it and the spectacular colors It is a male I take a breath and on the exhale, release the arrow perfectly It tookto be able to down a pheasant at this distance The male drops without a sound, as the arrow pierces his throat just below his head I wait and watch The forest continues itsI wait an extra second I put the bow and arrows back in the small hole beside the tree

I retrieveover my shoulder Jake and his sister watched me in the forest for two months before I became aware of them My sense of security in this place is questioned A heat flushesthe bird by his feet I think about Jake His dark hair and blue eyes and long eyelashes

A stabbing pain rips through h

I look up to see the reflection of a scope froround and whistle I lay a out of control