Survive

Chapter 2

"Annoying git." Said Falcon, watching Hunter sit against the rock at the riverbed and catch fish with his arrows for his bow.

"Oh, Falcon, he has that mental issue! He can't help it!"

"Oh, yeah? See that flip he did there? See how well he's catching those fish? No one who went insane has that much concentration!" he hissed at her, as they sat by the fire cooking the tiger they had found. Nepal certainly had interesting foods!

"Hey, Falcon? You're needed at the leader meeting!" came the voice of Striker, the youngest in the group, being only 10.

"Ugh. Sorry, Ry, I got to go. See ya!" and with that, he was off.

Ryder smirked. Having the second-in-command for a best friend was annoying, but he was the only person she could trust. So, turning the tiger in annoyance, she waited for him to come back. Finally, he returned, and she stood up to meet him. She brushed off her ripped black tank top, which she found on a Lanok victim, smacked him across the face, then tackled him in a hug.

"Bloody heck, Ryder! What was that about?" he asked, rubbing his face where she had smacked him.

"For taking so long, you idiot! Next time, don't leave me here for so long!"

"Ryder, it was 10 minutes!!!" he said, exasperation written all over his face.

"Really? It seemed longer!" mused Ryder, hands in her ripped black jeans, also a Lanok victim item.

"You are hopeless, Ry." He said, shaking his head.

After eating a dinner of tiger stew, Ryder climbed the tree to her mat. Around her, Falcon was climbing his, and waved at her from his mat. In the tree next to hers, Hunter was perched on a branch, looking alert, and giggling quietly.

Ryder rolled her eyes, and laid down. Just as she began to drift off to sleep, though, she heard an ear piercing shriek. The noise was inhuman, and came from the other side of the river. She sat up and looked at the Lanok. It had pale white skin stretched thin over the bones. It walked on all fours, and its eyes were voids of black. Part of its head was missing, and its brain showed clearly in the gaping wound. It screeched again, and crawled away.

Ryder let out a breath she had been holding, and went back to sleep, wondering which human had been turned that time.