Eerie blackness envelops the unfamiliar space around me, weighing on me like lead and dragging me down into the bed. My body is heavy with grogginess, and the silence rings out in my head, deafening, maddening, cold. 

I can't hear Felix or Octavia's breathing. 

Bolting up, I glance around at my surroundings. 

I'm... 

Home? 

I'm sitting up in my bed, the hazy light from the early morning sun filtering in through the window, dancing around as the shadows of the large oak move in the wind outside. The birds' songs are muffled, echo-y, like a distorted ballroom tune put on repeat in an empty room. 

Was all of that just a dream? 

The tune of 'Back in Black' plays softly, warped, as though every other beat has been removed from the song, and it comes from downstairs, as well as the smell of something burning.

I push myself off from the bed, the heavy feeling never leaving my head as I stumble downstairs to the kitchen. Uncle Tommy is dancing at the stove, a small pillar of smoke rising from the pan he's cooking at as he's waving the spatula around like a microphone and wiggling his hips, seeming undisturbed by the distorted music playing from the radio. He flips one of the charcoaled pancakes with a flourish and tosses it on a plate, never looking back at me and not caring that he's burning the Hell out of breakfast.

"Uncle Tommy?" I venture, carefully stepping around the kitchen table to stand next to him. 

The music skips a beat.

Uncle Tommy never burnt breakfast...

He pauses, spatula held in the air as the second pancake he flips falls to the burner of the stove with a sizzling splat that makes me jump. 

The music scratches.

Or is it screaming?

Uncle Tommy is frozen in a tense, odd pose, aggressive, and the discarded pancake warps on the stove, smoking. An oozing pile of red meat grows from under the blackened, doughy mass, dripping thick dark liquid onto the floor. My chest feels tight, but I can't back away; I can't look away. 

The music is deafening now, slowed, scratchy.

Wrong.

Uncle Tommy jerks his hand down, slapping it on top of the growing, pulsating mass of flesh, and grips it, squeezing it between his fingers as he jerks it to his mouth. A wet crunch echoes throughout the kitchen as he takes a bite, the squelching of tearing, sopping flesh sending a violent shiver down my spine.

I'm frozen in place.

My limps refuse to move.

He turns to me, his face twisted in an unnatural grin that doesn't reach his pale, milky eyes. His blackened veins pulse heavily under his ashen skin, in tune with the distortion of the thunderous music. 

I can't find my voice to scream. 

Or maybe I am screaming, and I simply can't hear myself.

The kitchen erupts in flames, licking, biting, consuming, and taunting, ripe with tumultuous and caterwauling screams of agony. Uncle Tommy's face is suddenly in mine, the rancid stench of death and decay heavy on his breath, coagulated blood dripping from sharp, stained teeth. Oil-black hair clings to his face in clumps, chunks of dead, rotting flesh peels away from bald spots in his scalp.

"Hurry, Cassy." His voice is strained, warped, taunting, pained, and his body is consumed in the white-hot flames surrounding us, that twisted grin never leaving his lips.

I squeeze my eyes shut, unable to run, unable to scream, and blinding panic overtakes my senses. The sound of movement in front of me finally snaps me into action, and my hand shoots out, wrapping around something cold and tense. Air rushes into my lungs as I gasp, my eyes flying open, and light blinds me. 

"Whoa, hey there." The voice is soft, barely audible over the sound of the roaring flames, but a smudged silhouette enters my vision, haloed by the soft glow. I snap up in a cold sweat, looking wildly around. 

Dani stands over me, a worried - or concerned, perhaps - look on her face, and I realize that I have her wrist in a white-knuckled death grip tight enough to bruise. I pry my fingers from around her arm, my hands quivering as I run them through my hair, trying to force myself to wake up from that hellish vision.

"Sorry," I mumble, my voice almost failing me as I rub my face, reality slowly materializing around me. 

"Are you okay?" She asks, stepping back and rubbing her wrist. 

"Yeah," I breathe, taking a deep breath to calm my still racing heart, "just a bad dream, that's all."

Dani raises an eyebrow at me, and I notice that she's cleaned up from last night. Her hair is better groomed now - though it still looks like she lost a match with a weedeater - and the clothes she's in now are much cleaner than the ones she wore yesterday. Still, she leans to one side, favoring her ribs again, and unsolicited worry gnaws its way into my chest. 

She looks me over, dissatisfied with my answer. "Must have been one Hell of a nightmare, then."

"You have no idea..." I breathe, my heartbeat slowing. I glance around the room, noticing the absence of Felix and Octavia. "Where'd they go?" 

Dani glances out of the window, where I can see a lot of movement from the other campers. "Josh is helping them get the supplies you'll be needing before you leave today," she says. Her expression is neutral, but there's something about it that seems almost... 

Lost? 

I shake the thought from my head. Whatever, it's not like we were planning on sticking around anyway. 

"Why didn't you guys wake me up sooner?" I ask her, swinging my legs over the side of the bed and stretching. My muscles ache in a comforting way I'm not used to; the telltale sign of a good night's rest. Everything else hurts from fighting the Titan and Widow's.

"We figured you'd appreciate sleeping a bit longer in an actual bed before we send you on your way," Dani says simply, still not looking at me. 

"And who was this 'we,' exactly?" 

Dani doesn't say anything but takes the opportunity to head for the bedroom door. "You should get ready, your siblings seemed pretty restless this morning, and breakfast is being served in the mess right now." And with that, she leaves. 

Interesting. Not the response I was expecting.

I shrug, finally standing up and pulling my boots back on. It was nice to sleep without them on this time, but it's a luxury I don't imagine I'll enjoy anytime soon again. Grabbing my bomber, I step out of the spare bedroom and into the bathroom, washing my face with the ice-cold water. Waking up from one nightmare right into another one is never fun, but at least in the waking world, I can hide from my fears, if only for a while longer.

I scrub the dirt and ash from my face and arms and pick out leaves and small twigs from my hair that gathered in the fight with the Titan. I contemplate a quick, cold shower but think better of it, knowing that I'll never want to leave if I indulge in such finaries. Sighing, I pull my bomber on and head out of the bathroom, grabbing my backpack, bow, and quiver from beside the couch, and step out of the cabin. 

The early morning crisp air is a pleasant welcome to keep me awake, the chilliness much better to experience after sleeping in a warm cabin. The campers outside are busying themselves with packing up their non-essential belongings and loading them into different vehicles. Most of the morning buzz is centered around the burnt-out cabins, where several campers are sifting through the debris to scavage what they can. It's sad to watch, especially the children looking around and calling out for missing parents, friends, or siblings. 

I pause at the door to the mess hall, cursing my heart and how it aches for them. Why is it so hard to walk away from this? None of this is my problem to deal with. 

Damn it, but I fought and bled for these people last night. I risked my life to save them from that Titan, but even then, I couldn't save them all. 

Shit. 

Is now really the best time for us to leave? Is leaving going to keep my family safe?

I take a deep breath before stepping inside the mess hall, and right away, I can see Felix and Octavia sitting and eating with Josh and Dani. They perk up when they see me enter, and Josh waves me over. 

"Why, good morning, sleepyhead!" Josh greets me as I sit down with my siblings, taking a slice of bacon off Octavia's plate. 

"Hey!" Octavia whines, trying to snatch the piece from me before I stuff the whole strip into my gob. "Rude ass..."

I smirk. "Big sister privileges," I mumble through the mouthful of pork, and Felix giggles. I gulp it down, looking over at Josh and Dani. "When you guys said you'd be moving camp soon, I at least thought you'd wait for the wounded to heal." 

Josh sighs, rubbing the back of his neck. "That's what we thought," he breathes, "but Leon believes the Widow's will attack again in the next couple of days or so." 

He shifts in his seat, something off about how uncomfortable the news is to him. I ask, "What makes Leon so sure it'll happen that soon?" 

Dani sweeps in with a response this time. "He's military, dealt with groups of people like this before, years before this outbreak happened. He knows what he's doing." 

"Just because he's military doesn't mean he knows what he's doing," I mutter, knowing all too well from experience. 

"What does it matter?" Dani demands, watching me. "I thought you were leaving today." 

Felix and Octavia slump at that as though they just remembered. "Oh yeah, we are, huh?" Octavia grumbles. 

Something stops me from agreeing, like a voice telling me that these people need help, and I know that we can help them. Even though it's not my problem, these people have treated my siblings and me with kindness we haven't seen in a while.

Well, subjective kindness, anyway. What I take is the amount of compassion they can afford to offer to a group of strangers who wander into their camp, covered in blood.

The fact that they had every chance to kill us and haven't yet is probably the greatest kindness we've been given in the past four years.

Even though Dani and I fought in the woods yesterday morning, she defended my family and me from the campers who threatened to kill us in the same day. Hell, Josh has been acting with nothing but sincerity since we got here, and I shot at him yesterday morning.

Felix and Octavia notice my silence and eye me with curiosity. "We are leaving, right, Cass?" Felix asks. 

Josh and Dani are watching me now, equally as curious. 

Damn it, I can't believe I'm actually considering this.

"No," I eventually sigh, shaking my head. "We're not leaving just yet." Octavia's eyes widen, and her smile grows obnoxiously large. "But," I quickly add, eyeing my sister, "we'll only stay long enough to help you get ready to move camp. As soon as you're ready to move on, we'll do the same and part ways. Assuming that's fine with you two," I glance between Josh and Dani. 

Josh grins, and Dani gives me a look that I, once again, can't read; anger? Disappointment? Relief?

"Absolutely!" Josh interrupts my thoughts. "You're welcome to stay as long as you'd like!"

Dani rolls her eyes, "Assuming Leon is okay with it."

"It'll be fine, Dani," Josh grins.

Octavia squeals and slings her arms over my shoulders, and squeezes me in a bear hug. "Yes! Thank you, Cass! You won't regret it!" 

"Somehow, I feel like I will..." I grumble. 

"Well," Dani interjects, getting my sister's attention, "speaking of moving out and talking to Leon, I need to speak to him later today about picking up camp."

Josh glances over at her, curious. "What do you mean?" 

"If we leave now, it won't give anyone time to recover," she says. "We'll be targets out in the woods, easy to pick off, even in the vehicles." 

Wow, I actually agree with Dani on that one. It's good to see that, even though she acts as Leon's second in command, she has better morals than he does. 

"I agree," I add, and she looks over at me, curious. "I don't think that the Widow's will be attacking any time soon, though. They suffered some pretty heavy losses with that attack as well, and judging from the size of the raid, I'd say their camp isn't that big. They'll need to recover and regroup, just like you guys." 

Josh and Dani watch me for a moment with surprise. "You sound like you've done this before," Josh says eventually. 

"A couple times, back when we were traveling with our uncle," I reply. "We stayed in a safe zone in Louisiana that kept getting attacked by other survivors. Uncle Tommy taught me a few things about raids and defenses." 

Josh and Dani just blink at me, looking a little surprised. 

"Anyway, that's beside the point," I wave off, quickly getting back on track. "The Widow's tracks led to the east, any idea on what's over there?"

The step-siblings both pause in thought for a moment before Dani responds. "Not a whole lot, to be honest. I know there's a feed mill out that way, but besides a few scattered houses, not much else."

I nod. "Then, that's where the Widow's are camped out at."

"What, you wanna go out there and poke the nest?" Josh asks. 

"No," I groan. "Setting up traps in the woods around Cottonwood and fortifying the walls would be your best bet. After all, the best offense is a good defense." 

Octavia rolls her eyes at me. "You stole that line from every cheesy sports movie out there." 

I nab another piece of her bacon, much to her dismay. "Maybe," I say, chewing it thoughtfully, "but they're right. The Widow's might have the element of surprise, but you guys know these woods better than they do, you can use it to your advantage."

Dani hums in thought, Josh nodding along. "We'll take this to Leon, then," she declares, standing up. 

"What, right now?" I ask, snatching up the last of my sister's coffee. At this point, Octavia has given up in trying to defend her breakfast, only giving me a death glare as I'm yanked to my feet by Dani.

"Yes, right now! Take it to go!" Dani huffs, grabbing the sleeve of my bomber and dragging me away from the table. 

"Wait, wait, but coffee!" I exclaim, chugging the lukewarm gritty coffee as fast as I can and tossing the plastic cup onto the nearest table we pass as she drags me out of the mess hall. 

Josh, Felix, and Octavia follow after us, Octavia complaining about how I stole half her breakfast all the way up to the big house. Dani doesn't let go of my sleeve the entire way there, not even when she barges into the main lobby or marches up the stairs to Leon's office. She pauses, however, when we hear arguing from the other side of the door.

"We have to bury our dead!" A woman's shrill voice exclaims. 

"I'm sorry, Alison, but we simply don't have time to dig so many graves," Leon's calm voice responds. 

"We don't burn them like the Feral's!" The woman shouts, obviously distraught. "They were our people! Our children! Our families and friends!

Dani slowly opens the office doors enough for us to peek inside and see a middle-aged woman on the verge of a breakdown with a familiar young boy standing beside her, a blank expression on his face. The woman's attention snaps to us when she notices the doors open, and her expression softens.