Young Writers Society

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When she awoke, Tasha found herself tied to a tree in the middle of a forest. Her heart skipped a beat as she recognized her predicament: she was trapped, disoriented, and unaware of where she was, with people who she'd been trying to kill only a few...well, she wasn't sure how long ago it'd been, but it wasn't a good way to start off with a new group of people. Now she was entirely at their mercy.

She jerked against the ropes, testing the knots that were surprisingly - and annoyingly - secure. She tried to slip a knife out of her sleeve next and quickly found that this attempt was in vain. They'd taken her knives. She growled and jerked against her bindings in frustration, the golden light giving a calm air to the forest that made her entire predicament seem very out of place.

James looked over to Tasha when he heard her stir.

"Oh, you're awake," he said casually.

She glared at him, not dignifying this with a response.

"James wanted to give you a second chance," Amy said, not looking at Tasha as she sat huddled next to Ari around the fire. She paused, looking solemn.

"I'm not sure if I want to. I don't want you tryin' to kill me again."

She didn't answer this, either, instead turning her icy gaze on the werewolf before her face set with determination and that particular guardedness of a soldier.

"What she means is, we're either bringing you along, or we're leaving you here at the mercy of the forest and whoever comes through it," James says. "I'm the least averse of us three to you staying amongst us, but I'm not going to demand it of you. Though I think, for your own safety, it is the better option."

"Yer a monster hunter, ya should know what's out here," Ari adds. "It ain't friendly."

She looks between them with a dark glare. "Why give me the option?"

"Well, I'd rather you not die," James replies dryly. "I'd rather no one here dies or gets hurt in any way."

"Why? The goodness of your heart?" she says, voice dripping with sarcasm.

"Believe it or not, some people have morals," James said back, mimicking her sarcastic tone.

"Not ones that last very long," she retorts dryly.

James sighed, finding it needless to defend himself to Tasha. "Well, let us know your choice soon."

She hated this. All of it. She was hungry, tired, in pain, and now she had to choose between what she knew was folly and utterly destroying her pride. All things said and done, Tasha was a survivor, but this was pushing her to the edge of what she could make herself do.

But Ari was right - she did know the monsters that lurked in these woods and if she was left, tied to a tree, in the night, she would die. Period.

"Fine," she spits. "I'll go with you."

"If you come with us you can't kill me," Amy said, her voice emotionless. She refused to look at the hunter and kept looking into the fire. "You have to promise not to kill me. Or hurt me. And if you try to..." her voice trailed off, and she looked up at Ari.

"Yeah, yeah, either he'll shoot me or he'll bash my head in, got it," she replies dryly.