Chapter 7

Sitting on a rock, I doodled on the ground with a stick. Benji was out finding berries or something in the woods, and Charlie was resting. He had taken sentry all night and needed his sleep. Last night, though, I should have slept. But thinking of how much of a risk it was by escaping, it left me on edge. Inside my mind was screaming, " Well, it's not a risk anymore, is it?" but my body couldn't shake off that feeling of being trapped, with no escape.
I ran the stick once more on the dirt before throwing it off the cliff that was in front of me. "I should be doing something!" I said to myself, getting myself up tiredly and looking for something to do. what do we need? I thought. what is important that I'm not thinking of? And then it hit me: A backpack.
While I walked around the woods, looking for backpack materials, I found an old potato sack that looked strong enough to hold some things. I smiled and grabbed a stick, then tied the sack to make it into a somewhat bag. When I sat down again, I was exhausted from running around but i felt triumphant for helping the three of us out somehow.
"Rosaline?" Benjis ten-year-old innocent voice got my attention.
"Yeah?" I asked, rubbing my eyes to stay awake.
"I found some berries for us to eat."
I smiled. "Thank you! That'll really help us out." He looked over my shoulder.
"What's that?" He asked.
"A backpack I made while you were gone." I said, picking it up.
"Great!" He said. " We should probably find something to store the berries in." I nodded and we looked around for hollow logs or something to safely hold the berries in. "How about this?" He found a empty log on the ground.
"It'll work!" I said cheerily. The log itself was only the size of a fist, oddly small. But it worked, and thats what mattered. There was only one hole, so the berries wouldn't fall out. Perfect.
"Should we wake Charlie and get going?" He asked, already back to his quiet self.
"Sure." I said. "But first: We need to get everything out of ourselves."
He looked confused. "...How?" He asked,probably thinking I went crazy.
"C'mon. Just let it out!" I said, and I ran into the woods, just laughing and smiling and doing whatever. I twirled, I danced, I skipped, I even ran around a tree. Soon, Benji joined in, doing what guys would do: Kicking things around and throwing rocks everywhere. He laughed like me, but didn't do the things I did. I danced until I was so exhausted that I just plopped onto the dry grass, staring at the sky. Benji sat next to me, staring at the same sky. I giggled like a little girl, but I didn't care. I was happy.
I heared a twig snap from behind me, and instantly my posture straightened, and I was on guard. Looking behind me, I realized it was only Charlie. He was smiling, leaning against a tree. I blushed without thinking, automatically knowing he had just watched me dance around like an idiot in the middle of the woods with his little brother. "Having fun?" He asked. I laughed, and stood, helping Benji up.
"I made a backpack." I said, as if that was our topic at the moment. "And Benji found us food."
"Nice job, team." He said cornily. "While I was sleeping, you two were having a secret relationship! I should've known!"
"It's not what it looks like!" I teased, putting my hands up.
" We were letting our emotions take over." Benji said smartly.
We laughed, and that was the time when Charlie came over, squeezed my hand, and said that we had to go. Now.

"What?Why?" I asked, looking into Charlie's eyes and seeing a worried reflection of myself.
"I saw a soilder walking around in the woods today, while you were doing...uh..what were you doing?"
"It's not important. What did you do?" Benji came up behind us silently and stood a little distance away from us, not wanting to disrupt the conversation.
"I stood still until he walked away. He didn't see me. But we have to leave." Charlie said, grabbing my hand and walking towards Benji. "C'mon, Benji." We all started walking through the trees, never stopping to do anything but collect food or water if we saw it. I think we passed through two or three towns before Benji got dizzy and we had to carry him deeper into the woods so we were'nt seen, then made a small fire to warm us all up.
"Benji. You have to eat something." I said, feeling guilty for waking him. Charlie and I managed to get a few berries and a piece of a semi rotten apple into him before he threw it up. "Jesus.." I muttered. He was acting like Anne was before she...never mind. I refused to believe he would end up like she had.
"Are you okay?" I asked him softly, lying him down next to the fire and feeling his too cold forehead.
"Dunno." He replied, groaning slightly. Charlie sat down on the other side of the campfire, watching us. When Benji had finally fallen asleep, I walked over to him and sat down, staring into the fire.
"I'm sure he'll be fine." I said, unsure myself.
"That's what's killing me. That I don't know if he will." He said, running a hand through his hair, frustrated.
"We can only hope." I murmured, staring into the fire. "Let's just try to act like everything's fine. Maybe we can convince each other that he will be alright."
"Rosaline..." He muttered.
"It'll work! We'll heal him!" I stood up and sat next to Benji. "He's going to be fine. Okay?"
"Okay..."
"Now come sit next to Benji. We have to keep him warm." He did as he was told. We tried to keep switches, but we soon grew too tired and passed out at once next to the dying fire.

We woke with a dead body in between us.