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blinking slowly, the view of the green tent roof was the first thing the boy saw as he woke his head and body from a deep slumber. his hand rose to his face tenderly wiping a little bit of sleep away from his eyes that stayed half shut as his ears listened around him. he could hear the birds that were flying high already as the sun began to warm the material that surrounded him. the sound of his breath filled the tent as he pulled his jumper closer to him in search for more warmth as a smell of burning bread met his nose. turning his neck to the side, his hair slowly slumps down his face, the caramel and hazel curls dripping in front of his cocoa-coloured eyes. his body was constantly restless when he slept even with the amount of days since he was microchipped in that silly factory while his father was pulled away from him. his mother hadn't seen him that day and he missed her gentle touch and soft eyes. 'The test' was inhumane and destructive, all he could think was genocide as he lay stiff on his blowup mat in the little green tent. however after the past four years, the mornings had become more peaceful in waking as his tent created a boundary around him and the raging forest didn't belt down on him while he tried to gather energy from the quiet hours. he sniffed, sitting up slowly checking his little watch only to be surprised that it was early: the hour being 8. he could hear the shuffling around his tent of his friends as they ate breakfast and began to pack up for the day and continue across virginia to north carolina like they had been for a couple of weeks. pulling his legs out of his blanket, he pulled his pants on as well as a jacket. then without hesitation he drew the zip down the side of his tent chucking his doc martins that he had managed to find left unharmed in a ditch, maybe from a dead teenager but still it was the perfect size for him and one of his most prized possession.
"morning Jack" his eyes trained up as he tied his laces to be met with the icelandic but deep eyes of Daniel Seavey. Daniel was one of his closet mates since they were 10, they had learnt guitar together for a few weeks at a music course, lending his hand down he dragged Jack off the bottom of his tent floor up until he was standing.
"you beat Jonah and Zach. surprising" he sarcastically spoke as he left the curly headed boy to look around their camp site, he was usually up last. the area was clean and organised, since the group had formed routines that hadn't been broken for nearly a year now. the pans were cleaned last night in the last hours of daylight as was the left over scrapes placed into a small bag, then locked up in their truck so animals wouldn't be lured to the small, hidden clearing. it was like going on a school camp trip to the closest nature reservoir and spending 3 nights in the 'cold and tortuous' weather with the leaders harping about keeping everything clean.
except it never ended. the days they'd spent out here, fighting for survival was abundant and now just waiting to reach the age of 21. Jack could feel the rising worry of the pack falling apart in his stomach as Corbyn came into view carrying his tent packed up. he was turning 21 in a year's time, Jonah months before and the gnawing feeling that he will never see them again was eating him alive. He relied heavily on all the guys in this group and thinking that they were to be split left a shuddering feeling up his shoulder blades. He felt terrible for Zach though, knowing he had another 2 years purely by himself, defending, eating, living.
