Running with Rogues

This week we have LittleLone抖阴社区rGirl's version of Eva up top :) I'm sorry this chapter is a little bit late, but exams are over now (for a while, anyway), so I'll see if I can't speed things up and get this book finished by the end of summer.

It was the shouting which woke me up. And I wasn't best pleased about it. But they were loud, and they were barely twenty feet from my head, so it was inevitable, really. Beside me, Liam had rolled onto his back, going from sleepy to high alert in less than a second. He sat up around the same time that I did.

Rhodri turned his face into his pillow and groaned loudly. I didn't think he'd be able to help us much even if he did rouse himself, so I didn't bother to wait for him before pulling my shoes on and venturing outside the tent ... only to feel goosebumps erupt across my skin.

Nothing was on fire, and no one seemed to be dying, so I didn't feel too guilty about ducking back inside just long enough to grab a coat. The forest was damned cold in the mornings. Especially when the sun was only just beginning to peek over the horizon.

There were raiders scrambling around in all directions, but most of the shouting was coming from further away, where I couldn't see. I couldn't understand why anyone would be out of bed at this hour, let alone making a racket, but I didn't get much time to wonder about it before Hayden came running up, breathless and wild-eyed.

"Whoa, whoa," I said. "What's the hurry? You trying to escape?"

"No," Hayden panted indignantly. "Of course not. Your mother sent me to fetch you. It sounded pretty urgent."

"Shit, Lloyd," I said. "Alright then. Let's go."

It was worrying that Mam had resorted to using our hostage as a messenger. It told me that she was so preoccupied that she didn't even have the concentration to rouse us through the link.

Rhodri was now sat in the tent entrance, peering out with tousled hair and a bewildered look on his face. Honestly, it was a miracle that he was awake, but he didn't stand a chance in hell of getting up from the ground. His legs hadn't healed properly, and all the nerve damage had made them very weak.

Liam offered him a hand, and because he had some actual upper body strength, he helped Rhodri kneel up. Hayden trudged over to help for the actual lifting bit, and I handed him his crutches when he was practically standing.

And then we were off. Hayden led us through the trees at a breakneck pace. I was still sleepy and working on an empty stomach, so I wasn't sure how much use I was going to be.

"What happened?" I asked him. It wasn't like we were short of breath. Rhodri couldn't go very fast.

Hayden rubbed the back of his neck. "No one tells me much, but from what I've heard, the packs found another camp this morning and slaughtered anyone who didn't run fast enough."

My parents were outside the med tent with all the important people in the camp arrayed around them. It seemed like a strange place to hold an emergency meeting, but everyone knew where it was, and Aunt Cassidy couldn't stray far from it anyway, and it certainly kept the patients entertained. Today, that consisted of Eira, Hannah and one of the kids we'd rescued from Silver Lake's prison, who had a serious chest infection. They were all sat watching us with wide eyes.

"Eva," Mam said by way of greeting. "I won't insult you by asking if you knew about this."

I stopped near the crowd of important people and stuffed my hands into my pockets, uncomfortable with so many eyes on me. "Nah. Of course not. Which is a little bit worrying, ain't it? They can't trust us very much."