SURVIVAL, PART 2: From friends to family.

The rocks kept us safe, but not for long. We moved out, unseen, unheard, as lesson three had taught us. We made it out of this one, but who knew how many more awaited us on the path ahead?

We carried on with our walk, the fear making us realise just how much more cautious we needed to be. We were afraid, and the more fear we had, the more careful we were. It’s almost as if fear was the factor waking up some dormant instincts inside us.

We kept on walking until nightfall, and decided it was unwise to walk in the dark as we would be quite blind. We stopped at another little opening in the mountains, too small to be a cave but big enough to take all of us in. Ryan and Rebekah would be guarding this time, as decided the previous night.

The exhaustion and pain in our legs didn’t seem to help us sleep. We lied awake. All of our muscles were aching, our heads had been burnt by the sun, our clothes covered in sweat.

Jace was sitting next to me with Aayat resting on his chest. I guess he noticed the fear in my eyes as my thoughts tormented me. At some point, the stress got to me. He looked at me, as if he was expecting me to say something, but I couldn’t. I couldn’t talk, I couldn’t move. All until I felt a soft hand grabbing mine gently.

“ We’ll be fine. We’ll find a way out of this.” A soft, comforting voice whispered.

It’s only when I looked up that I realised it was Jace talking to me, and it was his hand on mine. I looked at him, unintentionally blushing, then at Aayat, who had fallen asleep.

Me - Is she okay?

Jace - She’s tired, and scared.

Me - Must be hard for a 13-year-old teen to go through something like this. She seems strong for her age.

Jace - She is. She’s been through a lot in childhood. I’m proud of her, for staying strong so far.

Me - She had a big brother as good example.

Jace - I’m not THAT good.

Me - I saw you with her last night Jace. She owes you a lot. I’ve seen the way you take care of her, the protective figure you become when it comes to her, it feels like Kaleb when he’s with me.

Jace - She’s everything to me. I’d give my life for her if I had to, or even more than my life.

Me - And you have, in the past, I guess.

Jace - She gave me the strength to fight back then. When I looked at her, it just gave me the will to fight.

Me - It’s good. She’s lucky to have you.

Jace - How about you and Kaleb?

Me - We grew up together. We always have been protecting each other against family dramas. And I guess even today, we protect each other.

Jace - It’s nice.

He remained silent for a second. I looked down. Then he continued.

Jace - Hey are you okay?

Me - Yeah I’m just tired I guess.

At that moment, he put his arm around my shoulder and pulled me closer to him, until my head was on his chest, and softly whispered to my ears “we’ll make it out, no matter what, we will fight our way out.” And for a second, I felt safe. He made me feel like no one had ever made me feel before. I felt his heart beating, his hand on my arm, his breath on my face, and slowly, we fell asleep.

We had survived through our first two days, and we intended (hoped) to survive during all the others, no matter what it would take.

As we slept, nightmares of death filled our heads. The pain and the fear were getting stronger by the minute. But along with the fear came love, strength and friendship. We went from friends to best friends, to family.

We stood up and fought, not for ourselves, but for each other. Every minute we grew closer, all of us, and some more than others. So there was hope, as time went, that we would survive.