Savoirs

Jason

We were walking east. Or at least that's what we thought. Jaclyn had walked on her own for a while but once we almost left her behind because we hadn't realized she wasn't with us until Lia looked over her shoulder and saw her laying on the ground. After that I helped her walk and when she blacked out I carried her until she came to and insisted on walking for herself. I was worried about her, she kept wincing in pain and was terrified of Serena and anything else out in the forest. I found myself worrying that we had moved on too fast and she might not be able to handle it. The sun was dipping below the horizon when Jaclyn stumbled and fell. Adam and I shared a look as she got back to her feet clumsily.

"We need to make camp." I said and the others nodded. Lia was stumbling as well lately and I was starting to feel tired from the days events. Serena shook her head, shooting an impatient look at Jaclyn.

"No, not here. We need to get deeper into the woods, find a stream or something." She says and Joseph glanced at Jaclyn who was leaning against a tree with her eyes closed. I saw her touch her side in pain.

"She needs to rest." He said, jerking his head towards Jaclyn. "We all need rest." Serena glanced over at her and shook her head.

"She'll make it." She replied, her tone icy. Lia looked to me.

"I'm fine. Serena's right we need to get shelter." Jaclyn said weakly and Lia shook her head.

"No. I may not have been as well off as any of you but I know when someone needs to rest and Jaclyn needs to rest. She's hurt and hasn't been able to take a break since we started this journey. We make camp here." She says forcefully and Jaclyn's footing slipped and she collapsed where she was. Serena stepped in front of Lia and the two girls watched each other, a fire burning in Lia's eyes, cold impatience settled in Serena's.

"We need to move to a safer area, street rat." Serena spat but Lia held her ground, not even blinking at the icy tone of which Serena dealt the insult.

"We need rest to move, whore." Lia threw back and Serena flinched. Lia had struck a nerve but it was gone to quickly to place the emotion on her face. Joseph leaned against a tree casually and watched as the two girls stared each other down.

"What do you owe her always?" Serena asked finally and Lia looked at Jaclyn, her expression softening slightly.

"Nothing but I hope she would do the same thing for me if we were in each others places. We aren't moving." Lia said ending the conversation quite efficiently. Serena turned on her heel quickly and looked at me, death in her eyes.

"I thought you were in charge here." She spat at me and I shrugged.

"I'm not about to argue with her. She's right. We all haven't had a wink of sleep in days and we need rest in order to continue moving. You want to keep moving you can go on your own but I'll warn you. The reason she's hurt is because we were ambushed. It would be a shame if that happened to you." I replied and she raised an eyebrow.

"Is that a threat?' She demanded and I stepped in front of her so she had to look up at me and the others wouldn't hear me.

"Its a promise." I say just loud enough for her to hear me and moved to tend to Jaclyn, letting my shoulder move Serena out of my way as I move past her. Joseph gathered firewood and Adam disappeared into the trees, knowing it had been decided that we were camping here for the night. Lia helped me tend to Jaclyn and made a circle of makeshift beds on the ground, made from pine needles and the tall grass around us. 

When Adam returned he was hauling a deer on his back. Jaclyn had been moved to one of the beds of grass and slept soundly as Lia watched over her from across the fire pit, making a soft bed of grass and pine needles for herself. I helped Adam skin the animal and started a fire to cook the animal. The sudden heat made Jaclyn stir but she did not wake up and Lia combed through her hair with her fingers and hummed quietly while the meat cooked. Serena watched Lia with a dangerous look and I made a mental note never to let them go anywhere together as long as either of them were armed.