I finally woke up, not sure if I'm alive or dead. I can feel the bruises all over me, and I'm pretty sure that I twisted my ankle. If I can feel pain, then surely I must be alive.
I don't open my eyes, yet I can see a faint orange light with my eyes closed. I can hear the crackle of a fire and distant voices.
"What are we supposed to do with her?" I hear a voice ask.
"What do you think, doofus?! We keep her!" another voice said.
"But, more people will just slow us down!" the first voice complained.
"So, what do you suggest? Let the Reaper eat her?!" the second voice snapped.
"Might as well! Isn't she dead?!!" the first voice exclaimed.
"Enough, you two! Bickering about it is not going to make things better!" a third voice ordered.
The 2 voices fell quiet. I couldn't take this anymore, them talking about me right in front of me. My eyes fly open. I see a boy with dark brown skin and curly hair, a girl with pale skin and red hair, and another boy with pale skin and messy dark brown hair standing around the fire. I can see the little girl near the fire. She had pale skin with freckles, hazel eyes, and light brown hair.
I sat up, my back aching. I rubbed my eyes. The little girl was the first one to notice that I was awake. She got up, tapped the boy with messy hair, and pointed at me. Everybody turned and looked at me.
I mustered the courage to glare at them. "You know, I could hear your whole conversation. First of all, to answer your question, I'm not dead. And second of all, you must be crazy if you guys think that I'm going to let you feed me to the Reaper."
The boy with the messy hair walked over to me, and crouched down to my level. "Don't worry, we won't." he said with a smile, "You're safe with us."
"For now." the boy with the curly hair mumbled. The girl with the red hair stared at him with a glare on her face, and he fell silent.
"Where am I?" I asked, still glaring. I didn't trust these people one bit.
"We're still in the forest, but we're in a cave." he said.
No wonder it was dark. "Is that thing still out there?" I asked.
"It is, but we're safe from it for the time being." the girl with the red hair said.
The boy helped me up. "I don't think we've met. I'm Cason, but you can call me Casey."
He pointed to the girl. "That's Blair."
"Sup." she said.
Casey pointed to the boy with curly hair. "That's Leon."
He didn't say anything, but he crossed his arms and glared at me.
Casey pointed to the little girl. "And, that's Kiana."
Kiana just clung to Casey, and buried her face in his leg.
"Sorry if she doesn't talk much. She's very shy." he said with a chuckle, "So, what's your name?"
I walked away from him, and slumped against the cold, cave walls. "Nova." I said quietly.
Casey walks to me, and sits beside me. "I take it that you're the new sacrifice?"
I roll up my pant leg, revealing the stupid kill mark. "What do you think?" I said harshly.
He doesn't flinch, despite the harsh way I said it to him. Instead, he rolls up his shirt sleeve. He has the kill mark as well, on his right shoulder. Kiana reveals the kill mark on her right leg, and Blair takes off her black gloves, revealing a kill mark on her left hand. Leon doesn't reveal his kill mark, but I can see in his eyes that he has it.
"We're all sacrifices. We might not have much in common, but this brings us together." he explained, "At first, it seems like a curse. But, in time you'll see that it's a symbol of strength. That you're not alone."
I almost scoff at the stupidity of the idea. "Yeah, sure."
I layed down on the cold dirt floor. "I'm tired. Let me sleep."
Casey frowned, but covered his kill mark, and got up. I actually wasn't tired, but I needed time to cry in private. I finally fell asleep, knowing that my life will never be the same.