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“Took you long enough dumb and dumber,” says the voice of Mouse.

“A little ways down the road its blocked off by a fallen tree,” a voice says steeping out of the black mud covered jeep. “We had to find another way around.”

Surprise slams into me like a ton of bricks. The man isn’t a man at all. It’s a boy, a teenage boy no older than Scotty. His mop of blond hair flops up and then down as he lands on the ground. His blue eyes shine with mischief as he looks at Mouse.

“You sounded worried just there a second ago Mouse,” the blond boy says in an amused way. “Did ya miss us?”

“Hell no,” Mouse says shaking his head in complete disagreement. “I’ve got a nice kitchen waiting back at the compound for me.” He rubs his stomach and licks his lips. “Tonight is a hot dog night.”

“Always living up to your reputation ain’t ya Mouse?”

“Stop taunting him Zach,” says the driver of the jeep.

Another boy around Scotty’s age exits the jeep with excellent balance.

“Enough,” Smoke speaks. Instantly the boys stop talking and Mouse stops rubbing his stomach.

“We’ve got a job to do.”

Eyes as black as a beetle looks pointedly at the windows, my window.

Think NoName, figure a way out of this.

I step away from the window careful not to step on any creaky wood. As I turn the faces of worry and anger meet me.

“We’re screwed aren’t we?”

Leave it to Scotty to be so blunt.

Instead of answering Scotty’s question my eyes skip over him to his currently vexed sister. Bunny regards me with eyes no longer of spring green, but with steel green orbs with suspicion wrapped around them.

She thinks I’m lying. She believes those people are with me.

“I’m telling the truth,” I say in a hushed manner so that my voice doesn’t carry. “I don’t know those people.”

She looks at me, or rather my shades, with disdain.

“Take them off,” Bunny whispers referring to my shades. “I can’t tell if you’re lying.”

“And you think you’ll be able to tell if I’m lying if you see my eyes? That makes no sense.”

“Oh yeah,” Scotty says, speaking in a hushed whisper as he takes a peek out of the window’s boarded peep hole.

“Everyone has talents. Hers,” he mutters under his breath, “she is a human lie detector. As long as she can see the eyes.”

He steps back to his sister’s side and looks at the door. The front porches steps groaning in discomfort is signal enough that my time is running out. It’s either act or hide.

You should decide, don’t you think, my snarky alter ego says. You’re running out of time.

“If I show you my eyes you’ll listen to me then?” I hiss, already angry at the situation. For all I know she’s only playing with me and following what he brother wants.

It doesn’t matter NoName, you’re running out of time.

The door knob twisting and voices floating into the in closed space of the cabin proves my inner thoughts right.

I shove Bunny and Scotty back in to the narrow hall determined to get them hidden.

“Hey,” Scotty protests in a hushed anger, “watch it!”

I don’t pay any mind to his protest as the voices outside increase in volume.

“Locked?” says a voice that sounds like it belongs to Mouse. “Maybe she is here, be alert.”

Bunny crosses her arms in a defiant way.

She’s not going to budge till I do what she wants.

“Fine,” I huff under my breath annoyed.

My hand darts up to my shades and whips them off my face. My eyes blink rapidly to adjust to my vision without the darkened tint of the sunglasses.

Huh, imagine that, everything has so much more color.

Even in the faint light Bunny’s hair looks fiercer without the tinted vision.

Wow,” Scotty breathes looking in awe at my eyes, “they actually glow.”

“Yes, now under the bed, and don’t come out till I come back.”

My hands fanatically shove them toward the bed.

“But-” Scotty says trying to protest.

“No,” I hiss, pushing my shades back over my glowing eyes, “under the bed now.”

I turn and enter the narrow hall. The front door shakes violently. They’ve given up on trying to find another way in.

“What is this door made of?” a voice on the side of the door grunts out, giving another kick at my door. Anger boils in the pit of my stomach. Who do they think they are?

Chasing me around for God knows how long.

My arm draws the bow from across my chest.

Putting the kids in danger.

An arrow is slowly loaded into the bow as a board falls off the door’s window.

And making me break my promise to Scotty.

I take aim at the door about to break off of its hinges.

I’ll get answers, and hopefully escape while I’m at it.

The thud of the front door hitting the floor signals the action to come ahead.

I’m ready.

Smoke stands in front of the other guys. It’s no secret he’s their leader. The others stand behind him looking mildly shocked to see an arrow trained on them.

“Looks like they were right,” Smoke smirks in a low voice. “Finally after six months of searching we’ve found you.”

As quickly as an arrow slicing through the air, question after question enters my mind, one after the other.

“Me?” I say inching into the room slowly my arrow still trained on the intruders. “What do you want with me?”

“Come on now, let’s not kid ourselves. Even without your memories you should know the answer to that question.”

My arm drops a fraction of an inch as I fathom how they could even possibly know that.

“Oh surprised that I know that?” Smoke says stepping into the room. “I know a lot about you NoName.”

“How do you know that?”

“Why don’t you come with us and we’ll explain everything.”

The guys that stood behind him quietly filters in and enter the room, all except one. Mouse stands in the doorway blocking the only route of escape.

“Not a chance in hell.”

‘Come on NoName, I really don’t want to have to be the bad guy here.”

“Hate to break it to you Smoke,” I say watching his reaction to his name coming off my lips, “but you’re already the bad guy.”

Shock flashes across his eyes briefly. He didn’t expect me to say that.

“Now tell me why you’re here and how you know me.”

A slow grin grows across his mouth.

“You’re still the same, you know.”

Fed up with his games I do something risky, extremely risky considering they could have guns that I can’t see. I’m as quick as lightning, maybe even faster. My arm moves slightly away from Smoke’s ear where it was originally trained. Faster than a millisecond I release the arrow and watch it fly. It hits the windows board behind Smoke with a crackle as it pierces the wood. If he’d moved even an inch he wouldn’t have an ear. He swiftly glances at the arrow behind him with a look of impression. When his eyes meet mine again gone is the lucid look in his eyes. Solemnness fills every inch of his black eyes.

“No more games,” I remark loading another arrow quickly. “I want the truth, and I want it now.”

“I know everything you don’t and more,” Smoke claims. “I know you can’t remember your name. I know you have perfect precision when you take aim with that bow. You could nail every one of us in under ten seconds without blinking an eye. I know why you hide behind those sunglasses. I know you have experienced some very confusing situations with Rotters and the Infected.”

Rotters again. What is with that term?

If I weren’t clenching the bow for dear life it would of dropped to the floor. Who the hell is this man, and why does he know so much about me?

“Now that you notice I’m not making up lies can you please get in the car. We left them running.”

Slowly a plan begins to take shape in my mind.

“How about you give me the answers I want and get out with your eyes still attached and healthy.”

Smoke barks out a laugh as if the idea is absolutely absurd.

“You wouldn’t dare,” he says, reaching to grab the arrow I shot.

He points the arrow at me. “We both know you won’t shoot us.”

He’s never been so wrong.

“You may know of my memories, but there’s your mistake. They’re memories of the past and not the present. You only know the past me, the present me will shoot anyone to survive.”

That’s exactly what I do. I take aim on Mouse first. My arm lets an arrow fly to meet its target, his leg. He lets out a yell of surprise, then a groan of pain as he hit the ground. The boy Zach lets out a yelp as I train my arrow on him. He throws his hands up in surrender, and you can practically see his eyes pleading with me. Don’t shoot, they say. I take mercy on him and aim at the other boy, but he mimics Zach’s body stance. That only leaves Smoke, who’s manifested a gun out of thin air. The black barrel stares at me daringly.

“Don’t make me do something I’ll regret,” he warns me.

If only he knew I have a thing for ignoring warnings. Besides, letting go is easier then squeezing on to something too tightly. I forge a look of defeat on my face and begin to let my bow fall to my side.

“I’m glad you’ve come to your senses,” Smoke says lowering his gun.

Rookie mistake, never let your guard down. Especially not around your enemy.

My bow lifts till my eye is looking direction down the side of the arrow. I can see Smoke attempting to pull his gun back up to at least have some form of defense, but it’s no use. My arrow is too quick. I take aim at his head, but a nagging image in the back of my head makes me change my arrows destination. The horrified faces of Bunny and Scotty after seeing a dead body  and watching the color of murder decorate the floor flashes across my mind. My arrow lowers, and I let go. It hits his shoulder with perfect precision.

Well, he wasn’t wrong about that.

I watch his eyes go wide with surprise and his gun flies out of his hand as he stumbles back against the wall. His face contorts into agony as he slides down to his feet.

I load my bow and take aim once again as adrenaline fuses my actions.

“Now,” I say bouncing the aim between the two teenage boys with fear plastered across their faces, “who’s going to give me the answers I want?”