Survive

Chapter 1

Ryder hitched her pack up her arm further and kept pushing through the shrubs, following the pack leader, Shadow. She pushed her earlobe-length black hair out of her face, and groaned.

"Shadow?" she whined. "When are we going to get there?"

Shadow turned around to the tired 15-year-old, a glare on his face. "Soon. Now, stop whining and keep climbing, Ryder, or else I'll get Warrior to come hunting next time."

Ryder groaned again, but kept climbing. After hunting for a couple hours, they returned to the pack at the riverbed.

"Ryder! Shadow!" people whisper-yelled to them, smiling at the huge catches they saw in the arms of the teen and young adult.

"Sh! Keep your voices down, guys! The Lanoks might hear you!" said Shadow, gripping his dagger nervously, while looking all around him.

Ryder just rolled her eyes and headed over to her tree. Yes, tree. She scaled it with the spikes on her gloves and boots-all of the pack had them. She pulled herself nimbly up to the branch bed she had woven, about 20 feet by 20 feet, and whipped out her knife, tackling the thing in front of her. The thing moaned in pain, and she began to release it when she saw what it was.

"Falcon?? What are you doing on my bed?" she asked, pinning the older boy to the tree, her knife at his throat.

"Bloody heck, Ryder! All I was doing was coming to visit you!" he squeaked out, nervously eyeing the blade the furious girl was holding.

Sighing, she released the blade from his neck, and the blond 17-year-old fell to the ground, gasping for breath.

"Sorry, Fal. I'm still very on edge after..." she let her voice trail off, slumping against the tree, harshly brushing away tears.

Falcon was the only one who had ever seen her like that. Her wall that she had built never came down, except for him, her best friend. Actually, her only friend. She didn't know why they were friends. Maybe because they both had the same trust issues, maybe because they both had lost loved ones to the aliens.

"Hello there, my friends!" came a high pitched voice from above, and both of the teens jumped into the air, before grabbing their weapons, Falcon's spear and Ryder's knife.

A crazed laugh came from above. "Oh, my! Someone's on edge today, hmm?"

They looked up, and jumped back as a figure landed soundlessly behind them.

"Hunter! What do you bloody want?" asked Falcon, gritting his teeth at the insane boy.

Hunter made a fake pout. "Aw, is someone upset?" the frown changed to a sneer, as his one eye narrowed. Well, one visible eye. He always wore an eyepatch, because he had been attacked by a Lanok. After that day, he supposedly went slightly mad, and wore the eyepatch to hide the scars.

"Just leave us, Hunter!" said Ryder, gripping her knife tightly.

"Oh, well, if you insist!" and with that, he did a perfect backflip off the mat and landed lightly on the ground below, making no noise whatsoever.