A loud bang suddenly resonates through the air before I can give her an answer.

My head jerks to where it came from, realizing its in the direction of the camp.

"Dad." I breathe. Without a second thought I take off, dashing back to the camp. I hear Becky call out, then pounding footsteps as she runs after me.

I crash through the brush, now only a few yards away. When I finally sprint into the camp, I see a bunch of wakened guards gathered around Zero's cage.

Breathing heavily, I tilt my head upwards at the night sky and groan. Why does he have to have a tantrum now?

Becky catches up to e and comes to a halt, spinning in a circle as she takes in the camp.

"Woah." Is all she says.

I march towards Zero's cage, then start pushing my way through the guards. A few glare at me, and one even gives a little shove back, but I continue forward until I reach the bars of the cage.

Zero stands there in his full bodysuit, rage coating every feature, as he grips the humongous bars threateningly. I'm surprised to see he's even dented them a little.

"Zero." I snap, walking up to him. His grey eyes shoot up to meet mine, instantly changing from rage to elation.

I sigh, rubbing my temple with a hand. "Now is not the time for a temper tantrum."

He growls, before making a grab for me through the bars. I step beyond reach, waving a finger at him.

"No. You don't get to touch me after that whole thing. You nearly woke up the whole camp."

He rolls his eyes, as if to say, Yeah? So what? It's not like I care about these idiots.

I heave another sigh, growing more and more frustrated.

"I'm going to go check on my dad. Try not to cause any more heart attacks while I'm gone."

With that I turn and make my way out of the circle of guards, but not before staring down one of the soldiers who's holding a taser. He cautiously puts the taser away and out of sight. Good idea.

Zero lets out a few whimpers, but I ignore them, even going as far as too try to block the bond. I don't know if I'm doing it right, but so far nothing from Zero has been entering my mind so I'll take that as a good thing.

Becky waits for me at the edge of the crowd, tapping her foot impatiently. She trails behind me when I walk past her, a tiny skip to her step.

"I like this place. I think I'll stick around."

"Sounds great." I say distantly, not really hearing what she says but responding anyway.

I finally reach my dads tent and slowly unzip it, peering inside.

The snoring reaches me first, and I see the lump of my dad's form in his sleeping bag, soundly sleeping.

I step back and zip the tent back up, slightly more clam now that I know he's okay.

Now for the other problem.

I turn to face Becky, looking around the camp.

"I don't think we have an extra tent, so is it okay if you sleep in mine for tonight?"

She shrugs, blowing a piece of hair out of her face. "Any where's fine. I've braved the wild nearly my whole life, my strength building up over the years. I can sleep in almost any environment-Hey, don't walk away!"

Too late. I already am making my way towards my camp, stumbling more than walking.

She catches up to me, pouting, but I'm so tired I'm past the point of caring. Ad to make things even worse I failed in my quest to gather firewood.

I unzip my tent and push inside, seeing my suitcases set up and a lone sleeping bag rolled out. I measure the rest of the space and conclude it is large enough for another sleeping bag.

I step back outside and turn to Becky.

"I'm going to fetch a sleeping bag, but then it's lights out. I have some questions, but those can wait till morning."

She nods, and I motion for her to wait there, before beginning my search for an extra sleeping bag.

Five minutes later I'm in my tent, snuggled in the sleeping bag, my back turned to Becky who lays beside me.

Every other minute she shifts around, and her own nervous energy keeps me awake, but finally I'm able to drift off.

* * * * *

There's a flash in the darkness, and suddenly, something clamps around my throat.

My eyes fly open, my whole body jolting upwards as I attempt to throw the attacker off.

The mysterious person rolls to the side, the hand that was around my throat releases. I pant, gasping for air and reaching for the gun at my belt. I fumble around for a second before taking it out and pointing.

The person rolls over, and I hear a mumble come from them.

Breathing hard nd not taking my eyes off the dark form on the ground, I search my backpack that I had in my suitcase for a flashlight.

Grasping the handle, I flick it on and slowly move towards the person, gun pointed.

I take a deep breath, before nudging them onto their back, the light of the flashlight landing on their face.

I let out a short scream when I see the distorted features, but clam down when I realize its only the shadows the flashlight has casted on her face.

"Becky?" I question, disbelief lacing my voice.

She stirs, murmuring.

I nudge her again, and all she does is let out a low groan then turn onto her side.

Did she just try to kill me in my sleep?

"Hey Becky. Wake up." I say, giving her a little shake on the shoulder.

She suddenly lashes out, her fist hitting my right cheekbone.

I yelp, falling onto my butt from my crouch and rubbing it.

Playtime's over, I think, getting irritated.

I grab the detachable pillow from my sleeping bag and start hitting her with it. Show no mercy, is my favorite motto.

She finlly wakes, raising a lazy hand in defense.

"No...stop....don't do that."

"Good you're awake." I breathe, sitting back and watching as she sits up. "Now would be a good time to explain why you tried to murder me in my sleep."

"Huh?" She asks, rubbing her eyes. She looks around, taking me in with my bruising cheek and wild hair.

"You're not dead yet? I'm surprised. Now one has ever lasted that long."

"What?" I ask, my voice climbing an octave.

She shrugs, running a hand through her choppy black hair.

"I've been told since a very young age that I'm a very dangerous sleeper."

"And you didn't think to tell me that before I let you sleep in my tent?" I nearly screech.

"Calm down, I would have told you, but you dozed off before I could. I thought maybe a surprise would have been appreciated."

"Well It's not!" I exclaimed, falling backwards to lie down on my sleeping bag.

"Ashley? Is everything alright?" I hear my dad's voice from outside my tent.

I scramble into a standing position, running my hands through my hair and looking worriedly down at Becky.

I put my finger to my lips and she nods, before I unzip the tent and peek outside, only allowing enough space for my head to go through.

"Yep, everything's perfect! Did you get a good night of sleep?" I ask in a very enthusiastic voice.

He looks at me strangely, probably wondering why my voice changed drastically. He stares at me a second longer before shrugging it off, most likely blaming it on girl problems.

"No, not really." He sighs, rubbing the back o his head with one hand. "I stayed up the whole night. Couldn't sleep. Then I heard these strange noises coming from this direction. It sounded like a dying animal."

I wince, taking a second to look over my shoulder and glare at Becky who has a pillow covering her face as she tries to sleep again.

I reach out with my foot and kick her in the shin. She yelps and sits up, clutching her leg. There's no way I'm letting her sleep again.

"Well everything is A-Okay over here! You should go get some more rest. Breakfast isn't for another hour." I say in a rushed voice, hoping to get him away as soon as possible.

"I guess your right. See you in an hour. Love you, Ashley."

With that he strolls back to his tent and I let out a breath of relief, pulling my head back into the tent and letting the flaps close behind me.

The minute I'm back inside, an avenging Becky lunges at me. She swings her foot and it hits me square in the kneecap.

I yelp, falling to the ground and clutching my knee. Becky stands over me, smirking proudly.

"What was that for?" I whisper yell, still aware that my dad might be within hearing distance.

"No one kicks me in the shin." She says with a over-dramatic hair flip.

"Oh whatever." I say, attempting to stand up, but then my knee releases a painful pulse and gives out, and I fall onto my other knee.

"Ow, ow, ow." I repeat, putting pressure onto it with my hands.

Ashley! Ashley what's wrong? Zero's voice suddenly butts into my head.

I groan, because his voice is only causing a headache.

Have you been stalking my mind? I question. You know what, never mind, just get out of my head.

I don't know how he manages to do it, but he sends a whine down our bond. I sigh, because I know I'm being unnecessarily mean to him, and he doesn't deserve it, but right now I'm super irritated.

I'm sorry, Zero. I'll be distant today, so remember if they try to hurt you in any way, just call for me, and I'll come running.

I should be the one protecting you, not the other way around. He grumbles.

I roll my eyes. Well the next time you see me, we can run away and then you can protect me, but for now, I'm the only one between you and those desperate Scientists.

I'm only being sarcastic, but little did I know Zero wouldn't take it that way.





Dear Readers, Thank you for reading this chapter. So what do you think about Becky now? Did she purposefully try to kill Ashley, or maybe it was really an accident? And how will Zero take Ashley's words? Vote, comment, and kidnap your friends dog. Lots of love,

Dangeroustoken.