The Marked

Gone

We woke up the next morning around twelve and decided to play for a few hours before we had to leave. Jenna had found a slightly deflated football and Josh and Will were all for playing. Will threw the football to Josh who caught it with ease. He then threw it in a perfect arc to Jenna who caught it. She threw to me and I caught it then threw to Will.

We went on like this until me and Jenna got tired. Will and Josh threw it to each other while me and Jenna went to go eat. Amy and Brody stopped their wrestling match when they smelled the bags being opened. Me and Jenna ate the remainder of the strawberries while Brody gobbled down his food. Amy's ears were perked up, listening into the forrest. She suddenly took off and me and Jenna sealed up the bags and ran after her, me on crutches and her at my pace. By the time we had gotten to the trees edge, she was gone.

We were about to split up when Amy came running back to us. She had two fat squirrels in her teeth and was grinning as if to say look at what I've brought you. Will and Josh ran over to see what the big commotion was. They both got the same idea and they grinned at each other. Me and Jenna just waited for them to tell us while Amy sat down beside us.

"Why don't we cook it?" Josh asked. Jenna looked at him, "Well I'm no Sherlock, (although I wish I was), but don't we need a fire for that?" I grinned at her Sherlock reference.

"I found a pack of matches in the gas station. All we need is some wood and some sticks to roast it on." I said as I pulled the pack out of my pocket. Will and Josh backed up. I looked at them confused, "There is nothing more dangerous than Addy with a weapon." Will said with a scared look on his face.

"Fine." I said and tossed Josh the matches. "Why didn't you give them to me?" Will asked as we headed back with Amy on my heels. I grinned at him, "Oh, there is something more dangerous."

I heard him pause as I walked on. "Hey!" He yelled as he realized what I meant. He probably would have chased me but he knew I couldn't run so he just settled for bugging me all the way back to camp. When we got back Jenna and I carefully took the squirrels from Amy as Brody tried to sniff them. The boys headed out to get logs for the fire. It soon turned into a race to see who could get there and back with the logs faster.

Jenna and I went down to the road and skinned the squirrels as the boys ran into the woods. After a few minutes had passed Josh emerged and ran to us with his arms of logs. He got to us and dropped the wood at our feet as Will emerged. Seeing that Josh had already won he took his time to get to us.

Will handed over the sticks to roast the meat on. Josh reached over and grabbed a metal canteen filled with water. He struck a match and dropped it onto the pile of wood. The flame grew as he put the sticks for cooking in the canteen. He used two bigger sticks from Will's pile to hold the canteen over the flames. When he was satisfied with how long they'd been cooking he moved it away from the flames.

He set the canteen on the road to cool. Jenna and I took the sticks out of the canteen once they had cooled. We then skewered the meat on them and handed the sticks to everybody. We soon had a great fire going and the meat was just starting to brown. We blew on it until it cooled, well, all except Will. He stuck it in his mouth eagerly and howled as it burned his tongue. He grabbed the nearest water bottle and gulped it down.

We all ate our food gingerly to avoid Will's mistake. After we'd finished we all gave the leftovers to the dogs. All of us licked our fingers clean. We had no idea when the next time we'd get real meat would be. By then it was time to go and all of us started packing.

"I'm really going to miss this place." I said wistfully as I looked around at our home for the past week. "I am too, but I am glad that we'll get to see new people and new sights." Jenna said with a grin. "I'm just looking forward to new food," Will said, "not that I don't enjoy bread and jerky," he added quickly. The three of us looked to Josh to see what he would look forward to. "I just look forward to a brand new start." He said.

We all took one more look around us before hopping back on the four wheeler. My crutches were put in the back and the dogs were being held by me and Jenna. Josh started it up and it roared to life. He backed it up into the street and then started down the road.

For the long ride there we played several rounds of I Spy. Will even made up a game where we had to guess what day he was born. The only stipulation was that Josh couldn't answer. Me and Jenna had no clue. "January 7th?" Jenna asked. "No" "December 23rd?" I asked. "Nope."

After several more failed tries Will finally gave up, "Guys this is pathetic how come y'all don't know my birthday?" He said clearly upset. "Oh yeah, when's my birthday?" I said with a smirk. Will looked like he was struggling to remember. "Oh come on Will it's easy." Jenna said. "July 27th." Josh said without looking back at us. We all were looking at him and he could sense it. "What? I know all of my friend's birthdays." He replied.

For the rest of the way down we couldn't stop talking about what it would be like when we got there. I closed my eyes contentedly, I was ready for whatever awaited us.

Will's pov
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I can't believe the girls didn't even know my birthday I thought to myself. I looked back to see Addy and Jenna talking to each other. Brody and Amy were sniffing each other happily. I turned back around when I saw I wasn't needed.

We finally got there and we were all eager to explore. There was a giant sign above the entrance reading "WELCOME TO GALLIFREY WHERE BOW TIES ARE COOL AND THOSE WHO THINK OTHERWISE ARE DESTROYED!" Addy and Jenna grinned at each other. While Josh just mumbled under his breath, "What a cheerful welcoming."

As we walked through vendors called out to us and people rushed by looking for good deals. Realizing how out of place we looked, we tried not to get noticed. We looked around for a while before we got to the food section. The dogs went crazy and Jenna and Addy had to hold them to keep them from attacking the food.

I suggested me, Jenna, and Josh go look at the food while Addy looked for anything that could help her out. Addy looked down at her crutches and readily agreed. Josh wasn't so sure, "We can't split up Will you know what might happen." He said as he pulled his shirt collar up higher.

I was about to argue that she'd already agreed when she cut in. "I'll be fine, the vendors are just over here and I can take Amy with me. If anything happens she'll help me out. Nobody will want to mess with her." Addy said as Amy barked in agreement. Josh thought it over and they argued until finally Josh said, "Alright you go on but you have to take Amy with you." He said. Addy nodded and took off with Amy to the vendors.

Josh and Jenna went ahead but I looked back one last time. She had disappeared into the crowd. Brody trotted after me as the three of us looked through the food vendors. Addy had left her bag with Jenna because she planned to meet back up with us as soon as she found something. But things don't always go as planned.

All of a sudden we heard Amy barking and Addy screaming. Josh dropped the fruit he was holding and ran after her as the vendor screamed at him. Brody led the way and we all ran behind him. We found Amy growling as Addy and the man holding her got into the the nearby van.

The last thing I saw was Addy's eyes. Her green eyes were wide with terror with his hand over her mouth. They pleaded for us to help her. We ran to the van but it pulled away and the doors shut. We were too late. People eventually moved away from the crime scene, but we did not. Nobody put out the blame but somehow I could feel like the finger was pointed at me. After all Addy did look into my eyes as she was kidnapped. Like she knew I was to blame as well.

Amy walked in a circle and whimpered for her owner who she knew would not return. All of us felt like Amy as we sat on the ground in a circle. "This is all my fault." I said as I looked down at my hands, the hands that couldn't save her. "I was the one who suggested we split up. And for what?" I laughed, the mocking kind, "Some stupid food?" I yelled.

Josh looked up, his eyes full of sadness and, was that guilt? "No, it's my fault. I should have said no and then she'd still be here with us." He said as he pulled at his sneaker laces. "Nobody is to blame." Jenna said. Me and Josh both looked up at her in shock. "Look this may be hard to hear as I know it is for me to admit, but Addy left on her own. We couldn't have stopped her if we wanted to." Jenna said as she started to cry. Not only had we lost Ashley, but now Addy as well.

I stared down the dirt road fresh with the tracks of the van that had taken Addy away. No matter what anybody said she's gone I thought to myself.

And it's all my fault.