VOLATILE (I) : peter pan ouat

When a Tag-Along Happened

"Charlie." The hands on my shoulders rattle me back and forth.

I open my eyes to reveal Max leaning over into my hammock. I sit up, rubbing the sleep out of my eyes only to wince sharply as my hand trails over my left eye.

"Better not touch that." He says. "Touch it and you'll get a black eye like me. It's only swollen now."

I nod, cracking my back. "What time is it?"

"We just ate breakfast. You slept for a good twelve hours." He offers me a hand, then hands me a canteen of water. "I heard about the fight, damn awful what happened. At least those boys are in the cages for now."

I down the liquid, following him out of the tent. "What am I supposed to do today?"

He shrugs. "The Hunt's on a hold because everybody is a little bashed up. So most people are out scavenging for food. Log team already came back. If you don't feel like joining Devin in the clothing tent you are basically free to roam."

I haven't really had to do much other than the clothing tent. It's been a week since the Hunt, which means everyone has exhausted the period of mourning, and duties are supposed to continue as normal.

I turn to speak to Max but he's already gone. People seem to have a habit of doing that around here. I walk over to the medic tent, then to Harry's tent, and find no one. Who knows where they have gone, they could be anywhere.

I've been told before to not go out into the woods on my own, but I choose to do it anyway. I'm not normally one for following the rules.

I begin walking through the forest, my purple knuckles grabbing at branches in my way, and snapping them off. My hands seem to be finally healing; the air will do them better now than the bandages would. The scab on my face seems to have crusted over in the spot in broke again. I'm definitely going to have a scar.

I trace my fingers along it, from my hair down to my chin. It's difficult to see, given its location on my face, but the red marks are still there.

I find myself in a clearing between the trees, with three paths branching down off it. Pausing, I decide to take the one on the left.

"Where do you think you are going?" Pan asks.

I turn around, slowly and grinning. "Pan, stalking me as always?"

"These paths are very dangerous." He tells me.

I chuckle. "Since when are you for avoiding danger? Doesn't seem like a lot of fun to me."

He leans back against a tree, gesturing to the path I was heading down. "Down that path is where the shadows live. No fun being down there, they'll rip out your souls. Down the second is where the Indians live, and down the third is a lovely trip to mermaid lagoon, which you have already been to. By all means, take any of the paths."

I fold my arms over my chest. "Why do so many boys die here?"

"So many, why only a few have died in your short time. Seven, I believe." He says. "And it was all fun and games. Most died because they couldn't follow the rules of the game."

"Like Lyle and Jared?" I ask.

"Lyle wasn't fair." He agrees with me. He fails to mention Jared though.

He does have a point though, Evan killed himself via tiger mauling. Who knows what happened to Nick, could've been the Natives. Caleb went into a storm, that other boy apparently went for a swim with the mermaids, and if anyone deserved to be killed during the Hunt it was Samuel. The deaths have been fair, almost as if weeding people out.