Natalia was the first of the group to awake, they had fallen asleep with their fire barely alight, with glowing embers, but at some time in the night it had flickered out, devoid of oxygen and fuel that it so desperately needed. The trees seemed so grotesque and giant in the early morning light, and Natalia noted how silent the forest was as she pulled herself up to rebuild the fire. She wanted to make some sort of breakfast for the three, they needed their energy if they were to continue to get away from the facility, but the worry that they could be found at any moment was hanging over her like a rain cloud.
Both boys were still asleep, Carter lying on his back, as though he had fallen asleep looking at the stars through the thick curtain of leaves above them, beside him lay Isaac, curled up into a ball, as though fearing he would be found if he didn't make himself as small as possible. Natalia sighed and turned away from them, the fact that she was so sure Carter had been experimented on before they left was haunting her mind and making her wary of her friend. What had they done to make him forget about the recent pain inflicted on him? And what if this was all a test, a trap. She barely dared to think about it.
Enveloped in her thoughts, she walked a little way from their camp, collecting dried leaves, sticks and twigs to restart the fire. She wasn't sure how long they would stay after breakfast, but a warm fire would be a welcome sight to wake up to, especially for Isaac, as she knew he had lain worrying for much of the night, as had she. Only Carter seemed oblivious to their fears, which added to her worry about him. It wasn't the first time she had worried about him in this way, a few times before she had been faced with the fear that Carter may become their parent's first successful experiment, a phrase she had heard passed around between the scientists quite often. She wasn't sure what being a success would entail, but her gut instinct told her that if it were to be any of them it would be Carter. Definitely not her. She could tell just by the looks on her parent's faces when they'd finished their tests on her that whatever they were trying to do to her was not working. She knew it from the way, as time went on, they became less gentle when injecting their chemicals into her body or taking a sample of her blood, more often than not, especially recently, they had roughly shoved the needle into her skin, often missing the required vein or muscle and having to repeat the procedure. They had been fed up with her. A failure.
But they were free of that now, they weren't going back, they couldn't. she reminded herself of this as she pulled the box of matches from Carter's bag and lit the fire, it took a few moments, but the flames soon ripped through the dry leaves and caught onto the sticks, making a small fire, but it was enough for them.
"Morning." She turned at the sound of Isaac's voice, he stood up and stretched, before moving to sit beside her at the fireside. She had to smile back at him, he had twigs and leaves tangled up in his mess of hair.
"Come here." She said, he leaned closer to her as though he knew exactly what she was about to do and allowed her to pick the forest debris out of his hair. She put them straight onto the fire. "Honestly Zac."
"Oh you love me really." He grinned at her and looked at the can she had just opened. "Lamb and leek soup?" He asked as he read the label.
"Well someone didn't bring any breakfast foods." She responded accusingly.
"Okay, okay this ones on me, I should have thought." He laughed holding up his hands in defence. "I brought bowls and spoons though."
"At least you did something right." She teased, he playfully punched her arm. "OW!"
"Oh I barely touched you!" He immediately defended himself.
"What are you two arguing about now?" Carter had just woken up; he was rubbing sleep from his eyes as he sat up.
"Zac punched me." Natalia responded at once with a mischievous grin directed toward Isaac.
"Oh I barely touched her!" Isaac repeated, once again in defence of himself.
"I'm sure you're fine Natty." The blond mediated with a yawn. "Mmm what are you cooking?"
"Soup." The red-haired girl replied, as Isaac began laughing. "Stop it!" She complained at him with a pout.
"Awe did I upset you?" He pulled a face back at her, she waved her spoon at him.
"Yes, and if you keep going Car and I will eat all the soup and leave you with none." She threatened, leaving him to look aghast at her whilst she tended to the can she had placed in the fire.
"Oh I see how it is!" He exclaimed dramatically, holding one hand to his brow as he flopped onto the floor across Carter's legs. "I know when I'm not wanted."
Carter just stared at him in deep concern. "You okay there Zac?"
"I'm starving actually." Isaac sat up as though nothing happened. Natalia shook her head as she began distributing the soup into their bowls. They had found a little creek nearby to wash their pots in the night before, so they were cleaned already. She held the can with the sleeves of her jumpsuit to stop her hands from burning.
"You're so weird." She commented as she passed him a bowl.
"Takes one to know one." He instantly shot back, earning a glare back. Carter just laughed at them, you were never short of entertainment when you had the two of them teasing each other.
"Shut up and eat your soup." Natalia waved her spoon at him again. He saluted her.
"Yes ma'am."
The three ate in silence, all stealing glances at the surrounding area when the other two weren't, just in case, they knew they had stayed in one place for possibly too long and were in danger of being caught up to. Once they had eaten, they quickly cleaned and packed up, before moving on, the broken remains of their fire the only remnants of their time there. They continued on the way they had been the previous night, trying to get to the next town, or village or even city, they weren't sure where they were, but they knew once they could figure it out, they could find somewhere that they would be safe and free forever, but that all ran the risk of them being caught before any such wonderful thing could happen.