The soldiers are marching again, with the heavy sound of drums quick to follow.
Everyone in the town who knows what is coming stays silent and tries to hide, praying that they won't stop here, in Woodson.
And it's every week now that they pick a new...
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"Hold this for me, will you?"
I catch on to a rope from Camillo's hands as he drags a makeshift fishing net from the sea, little guppies washing up on the shore and seizing unpleasantly.
We've been walking along the beach again for a whole day, Camillo and I still pretending that nothing has happened between us to change our relationship.
As if his proposal is not constantly on my mind.
Right now, it seems like there's no one on the beach for miles, so our group decided to keep walking southeast instead of north, hoping to find some sort of life - hoping not to run into the Others before we can reach troops from Nation.
"I feel terrible for doing this," I say, wrinkling my nose at the raw fish we just caught.
Once Camillo pulls out another net full of fish enough to feed all of us, we both let go of the rope and wipe our sticky hands on our pants.
"Well it's either we do this, or we starve." Kade points out sarcastically.
His hands are crossed over his large chest, which glistens in the strong daylight.
"I guess so." I frown, and bend down to move the net full of little fish to our group's bonfire, hidden in the woods.
It's getting late, but we don't want to be caught out in the open sand, so we have buried ourselves a little in the woods for shelter.
There's so many mosquitoes here - and it's hot as hell - so I splash some cold salt water on my face to cool my sunburn down, causing it to sting.
I wince, and I see Andres do the same in the distance, copying me by swashing water over his head. "I haven't been sunburnt like this since the second grade."
And it's true - my brother's face and his arms are all an angry red worse than the times he's come home raw from farming outside.
"Me too, Andres. But at least it's getting dark now. Let's start cooking so we can eat."
My brother agrees, and together we walk up to the rest of the group.
***
"Nice catch, Cam, by the way." Kade says casually, as I throw another log into the flames next to him.
The fish Adeline and I caught hangs above the fire pit, and by the looks of it, the creatures are almost done cooking, the strong aroma of sea salt on the tips of my lips.
"Thanks, but don't give him all the credit - it was mostly him I was helping."
Adeline's joking voice snaps me out of my inner thoughts, just when I wasn't paying attention.
