So, new chapter. hope ya'll like it.

I tried to scoot away from the boy who still had the knife at my throat. "Don't move or I might make this knife slip. I don't want blood in this car."

I stopped moving immediately. I felt hot tears start to run down my face and I tried to turn it away so he couldn't see them. "Quit moving or I'll kill you." He whispered

He looked down at my face and I could finally see his. He had black hair and emerald eyes. His nose was crooked like he had broke it once and it hadn't set right and he had a scar on his chin.

"Why are you crying?" he asked

I didn't answer but felt the knife move closer against my throat. I leaned my head back to take pressure off the knife and my throat.

"Why are you crying?" he demanded

My eyes shot down to the knife and he brought it away slowly. It had blood on it. My blood. "Now tell me."

"Please let me go." I whimpered

"Are you scared?"

I whimpered

"Is that a yes?"

I broke down and started sobbing. "I want to go home!" I wailed

He put a hand on my back and pulled me to his chest and let me cry.

"You'll be ok." He said

"Could you please shut her up, Blade?!"

"She is scared to death, Xander. Just be nice. It's my fault she is here so blame me, not her."

"You know that Elron and Scar will have a problem with her right?"

"I'll deal with them later."

I was calming down now and I pulled away from him and scooted to the other side of the car. He didn't try to stop me so I pressed my head against the window and watched as the city disappeared and we started out across desert sand. There was no road here and I briefly wondered if they knew where we were going. I fell asleep after an hour of desert nothingness.

When I awoke the boy, Blade was carrying me through trees. What happened to the desert? We broke through an opening in the trees and we were back in the desert. I twisted around and realized that the patch of trees and vegetation was only about fifty feet wide and one hundred feet long.

"Surprised? There is an underground spring that makes all of that grow. That's where I grow all of our crops. We pretty much live off the land here."

The other boy, Xander, stifled a laugh.

"Shut up, Doofus." Said Blade

"So what's up with all your names? Like Blade and Scar and Elron? Are those your real names?"

"Yeah. Well except Scar. He's the strange one of the group. We actually found him in the middle of the desert with no memory and half his face marked by scars. Don't stare at him. He was thirteen when we found him, and Xander teased him about it and he started crying. He's still a little sensitive to it so be nice."

"You found him in the desert? Was he alright?"

"I'll let him tell you the story sometime- if he ever gains his voice back."

"He can't talk?"

"Or doesn't choose to. He just never has."

He climbed the stairs to the porch of the little cabin and walked inside. Cold air washed over me and it took a while for my eyes to adjust to the dim light. One room. The kitchen was separated from it by a small countertop. Cupboards dotted the kitchen with food hanging out. Cords and wires stuck out everywhere. A fridge was in a corner with more wires hanging out.

In the living room were two couches and two chairs. The couches were occupied by two sleeping, snoring bodies and millions of blankets. The blankets and pillows were flung everywhere around the small room. Blade slapped the two boys who were asleep on their couches. "Wake up you idiots."

One was tall and gangly with black hair that fell in front of his face.

The other one was smaller than the other and when he stood up I realized I knew why. The others were around seventeen to twenty but this boy was my age- fifteen at most and the left side of his face was almost gone. His eye seemed sewn together and his mouth was the same. The left side of his mouth dipped in a frown when he saw me. He had shaggy brown hair and the one eye that I could see was white. I averted my eyes and looked at the other boy.

The other three looked kind of the same. They all had black hair and green eyes. I wondered if they were brothers.

"Guys this is... um what's your name?" asked Blade

"Acacia."

"Ok guys this is Acacia. I used her as a shield so the police wouldn't shoot me."

"Ok I forgive you but why is her neck covered in blood?" asked Elron

"I kinda got the knife a little too close to her neck."

Scar stepped close and held his hand out as if he were going to touch me but then he turned his head so I could only see the side without the scars.

Everyone was silent watching us. I walked one step and turned his head, running my fingers over the marks. He flinched when I neared his closed eye.

"Sorry." I whispered and stepped away.

I blushed when I saw everyone staring at me. "What?" I asked

"Scar has never let anyone touch his scars. What's so different about you?"

I looked back at Scar but he was walking back into the darkest corner of the room. I followed him. He sat on the huge pile of blankets and pillows

He flopped over on his side so his face was scar side up. I knelt next to him. "Why don't you talk?" I asked

He tilted his head up and I saw his eye again. He looked... "Are you blind?" I asked

He smiled

"Uh are you deaf?"

He touched my face then his arm dropped and his breathing evened. He was asleep.

I stood up. "Um did I just bore him to sleep?" I asked

"No he's just really tired. He's been hunting and working all day. He's still getting over a cobra bite from a week ago. He's lucky he survived. Hell, he's lucky we found him or he'd already be dead. He went through so much the week we found him, poor guy. Xander here was being a bone head the whole time asking if Scars girlfriend did that to him." Blade stopped to punch Xander "Finally he just snapped and took out all his anger on Xander. It was bad. Blood was going everywhere. Finally we got control of Scar enough so Xander could stand up. When Scar saw what he had done he ran into the woods. It took us three days to find him."

I looked down at the sleeping form of the small boy and started laughing. "Wait so he beat up Xander? But Xander is huge!"

I started laughing again and Xander stalked toward me with his fist in the air. "I can hurt you though, girly."

I stopped laughing and backed up to a wall. "No I didn't mean it. I just- I mean."

Xander swung his hand down but never made contact with my face. Scar had jumped up and pulled Xander away from me. Xander made contact with Scar though and Scars head hit the wall. He slumped down unconscious.

Xander went after him now but I jumped on top of Scar and tried to shield him. "Don't touch him, Xander."

Xander hit me away and when I tried to get back after him, Blade and Elron took my arms. "He won't hurt Scar too bad. Don't worry."

"No!" I broke free and jumped on Xander's back. He bucked up like a bull and tried to throw me off but I held tight. I easily stayed on the full eight seconds and longer. I heard a lantern break and Xander tossed us both over the back of the couch. He landed on me.

The air was knocked out of my lungs and I struggled to breathe. Xander picked me up by the collar of my shirt and slapped me. He threw me against the wall and I landed on Scars unconscious form.

Xander came at us again but before he could reach us Blade took his arm.

"Enough." He commanded

Xander looked back down at me and Scar. "She needs to get the blood off her neck." And walked out.

I looked down at Scar and saw his one eye open and half of his mouth smiling. I smiled back as my eyes started to droop and I rolled off of him...right into sleep.

I awoke tangled in a pile of blankets. The other four boys were snoring in different places around the room. I stood and quietly made my way outside where the sun was just starting to rise.

If I could find where they put the car I could hotwire it and get out of here. I ran into the trees and started running down a worn path. Two minutes is all it took to get to the end and find the mustang.

I quickly hotwired it and it burst to life. I'm not telling you how I did that because I don't need all of you determined readers hot-wiring your parents cars. I backed it down the large dirt tracks and got out into the desert sun. I turned it around and headed toward the dunes in the south.

Acacia is now running away. the only problem is that she's going the wrong way...